Devon arched an eyebrow, "Girls?"

Vector pursed his lips in a crooked smirk, "Wouldn't have guessed, would you? And you might think they're innocent little angels, but they're just as much in on Gru's plans as he is," his voice lowered to a hiss, "Don't turn your back on them."

The bag in the back seat thrashed violently again, and one of the voices inside yelped, "Mr. Gru!"

"Put a sock in it, kid!" Vector glared, "Daddy's not anywhere near to save you!"

"Vector?" this voice was distinctly different from the first. This girl was obviously older.

"Didn't think I'd be back so soon, did ya?"

A third voice scoffed, "Gru will just come and kick your butt again. It's not like you stand a chance, anyway."

Vector snickered, "You think I haven't updated my security system since last time? Isn't that just darling? That old has-been won't be getting through my state of the art defenses this time."

"Yeah. That's what you thought last time," the second girl said in a surprisingly nonchalant, yet matter-of-fact tone, "Gru's a better fighter than you, and a better villain than you, and you know it!"

"Shut up!"

Devon could tell Vector was getting riled now, his cheeks were flushed and his glasses were starting to fog, "Keep quiet, and maybe I won't decide to feed you all to Phish when we get to my fortress!"

Devon fumbled with her seatbelt, glancing quickly from the bag, to Vector, then the road in front of them. Vector had sped up in his anger, and now they were already almost there.

"So…I know this is my first kidnapping and all…but shouldn't we have left a…ransom note or something?"

Vector's answer to her question was cut off by girl number three whispering much too loudly to her sister, "I wonder who that is. You think Vector has a girlfriend?"

Devon went rigid, "Um…intern! Not—"

"What's it to you if I do, ya little brat?"

She didn't reply, not because she didn't want to press the matter further, but because her older sister had placed a hand over her mouth, "Shh! We don't know the other one," she warned quietly, "she might be a threat."

They finally pulled into Vector's garage. He hurried to get out and grab the sack with the girls.

"Agh! Stop-squirming!" a small fist extended from the opening, striking him rather hard in the gut, "Oof! Hey!…Dev! Get over here and help me!"

"Fine! Fine!" she grabbed one end of the bag, struggling to keep whoever it was she had a hold of from struggling out of her arms and onto the hard floor.

She barely kept from losing her grip when whoever it was she was wrestling cracked a foot against her jaw, "AH! Jeez!" she opened her mouth, stretching her jaw to try and ease the pain, "Seriously, kid! I'm gonna drop you if you do that, and you'll smash your head on the floor."

Vector struggled to balance the squirming bag between his arm and his hip as he pressed a series of buttons on the wall. A large, clear suction tube emerged from the ground where they let them drop.

"And done! Mission accomplished," he rubbed his hands together with a grin and chuckled, "I hope they don't get stuck in the tube…"

His mood seemed to be improving somewhat from that morning; he had a bit of a bounce to his step as they went up the stairs to the living room. That good mood was taken down a few notches, however, when he spotted a certain fur ball with its head buried inside his couch.

"Wh—what are you doing? Get out of there!"

"Petunia! Bad girl!" Devon was about to reprimand her, but Vector stormed over to her before she could stop him.

"GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF MY COUCH!"

"No, Vector!" but it was too late. Petunia snapped, and faster than Vector could even react, she had turned around and latched onto his arm.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OOOFF!"

"Calm down, Vector! If you struggle, she won't let go!"

"SHE'S BITING MY ARM OFF! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN?"

"Just hold still," she said calmly, "stop moving…

"Petunia!" she held out a scolding finger, "Let. Go."

Petunia growled at her prey, still refusing to release him.

"Petunia!"

She gave Vector one last look of annoyance then unlatched her jaws from his wrist.

"Aaaaahahaaagh!" he held his wrist in his other hand and whipped his head toward Devon, "You!"

Devon furrowed her eyebrows as Vector approached her irately, "Your furball almost bit my arm off!"

"I told you she gets restless when she's left alone!"

"You didn't tell me she'd try to eat me!"

"I told you not to scold her! She doesn't respond well to people other than me yelling at her!"

Devon grabbed Vector's hand to examine it then shoved it back toward him, "Oh, stop being such a baby! You're not even bleeding!"

Vector fumed with a pout that made him look like a little boy, "Ergh! Forget it! Come on…we need to check on Gru's brats…"

Devon glared toward Petunia, who seemed to hang her head in shame, "Thanks a lot…"

She followed Vector up to the top level of the fortress where she could now see all three of the girls, sans bag, in a large, glass sphere.

"You really think Gru won't find a way in to rescue us?" the eldest, a girl with a pony tail and glasses, glared back at him, holding the youngest, a little black headed girl carrying a large, white and pink stuffed unicorn.

"Ha! Highly doubtful," he turned to Devon, "Now…I'm going to need to get a few things in order around the crib, so I need you to keep an eye on these three."

Devon was taken aback, "Wh! I didn't sign on for babysitting!"

"We'll continue your training after everything's taken care of."

"But…I…I'm not good with kids!"

"You'll be fine! What was it you said? Stop being such a baby?"

It was Devon's turn to fume. She turned to the girls and cringed, "Vector! They're staring at me!" she mumbled through her teeth.

"Come on, it can't be that hard," he headed toward the door, "You chicks have motherly instincts and all that, right?"

"Uh!—"

"I'll be back in a few hours."

"Vector!"

But he was gone.

"Great…" she turned slowly toward the girls.

Oh, Vector was going to pay for this…