A/N: Hi everyone! Wow, I don't really know how to explain it. I started this story with an idea, lost interest, got busy, ended up with holidays, and now I've decided to resurrect this story. I can't fully recall the plot as I originally envisioned it, but I'm going to do my best. Please be patient with me though; updates may be sporadic.

Chapter 2

Lucy sat down beside Gru and waited for him to continue. Gru took a deep breath as his mind flashed back…

Gru was waiting impatiently in AVL headquarters, awaiting the briefing on his next assignment. He looked up with a scowl as Silas Ramsbottom walked in and sat down opposite him. Ramsbottom acknowledged him curtly. "Agent Gru." There was no love lost between these two.

"Well, do you mind hurrying this up a little? I am a busy man!" Gru snapped. "I have to pick up my girls from school in half an hour."

"I have a name and title, and while you are on the AVL's payroll, you had better respect your superior." Ramsbottom remarked acidly.

"Fine, Director Ramsbottom." Gru stated deliberately, placing emphasis on the last two syllables. Beside him, Phil started chuckling. "Bottom!"

Ramsbottom sighed. "Agent Gru, we want you to investigate a kidnapping operation. Several famous world leaders' children have been kidnapped, and police have drawn a link between these high-profile cases and many other smaller kidnappings."

Gru raised his eyebrows. "You call me in about this? I am an ex-criminal mastermind, proven in the field, and you assign me to find kids?" He stood up.

"Gru, the AVL specifically assigned you for two reasons. One, a high-profile ex-criminal and mastermind of the moon heist would show that the AVL were really committing their resources to this case."

Gru smirked, rubbing a hand over his bald head proudly. "Weeelll… I suppose that's true," he drawled. "But no, I've got to go."

Ramsbottom held up a hand. "Gru, why do you have to be so impatient?"

"I have to pick up my girls! Didn't I say that before?"

"That leads me to the second reason."

"I'm… impatient?"

"You are a father. You know how heartbreaking it would be to lose a child." The screen displayed the pictures of the children who had been kidnapped.

Gru was rendered speechless. His heart went out to the innocent youngsters. He remembered how he felt after Margo, Edith, and Agnes returned to Miss Hattie's Home; the aching void deep in his heart. For a parent to lose their flesh and blood, it would be immeasurably more painful. He nodded quietly. "I'll take the case." Ramsbottom smiled in satisfaction. Gru immediately scowled. "Not because of you, understand? It's for the kids."

~0~

Gru hefted the thick file in his hands as he waited outside Agnes' kindergarten. The shrieks and squeals of kids playing warmed his heart. The car door snapped open and Agnes scrambled into the backseat. "Thanks, Miss Carmen! Hi, Daddy!"

"Hello, kitten. Did you have a good day?" Gru asked as he set off toward Lincoln Elementary, the school that Edith and Margo attended.

"Yeah! Look at this!" She stuck her arm under her dad's nose to display two animal stickers. "I got these for spelling the words giraffe and hippo..hippopot..top…um, hippopo…"

"You mean hippopotamus?"

"Yeah, hippotomatomus!" Gru chuckled. They pulled up in front of Lincoln Elementary and Gru stuck his head out the window. "Margo! Edith!" he called.

The two girls waved goodbye to their friends and raced for the car. "Shotgun!" they both cried at the same time. Margo, who was closer, reached the car first and hopped into the coveted front seat.

"Aww…" Edith moaned. She sulkily climbed into the backseat. "Why does Margo always get the front seat?"

"That's not true. You always ride in front when we go to ballet!" Margo pointed out. "Hi, dad!" Spotting the thick file Gru had left on the dashboard, Margo asked, "Did you get an assignment today?"

"Yeah, actually I did."

Edith leaned forward. "Oooh, is it gonna be like last time with the superspy gadgets and we all came to help on the helicopter?"

"No, nothing like that this time." Edith sank back into her seat, disappointed.

"So, what is it this time?" Margo pressed.

"Well, kitten, I can't really tell you."

"But Dad, you told us last time! Why not now?"

"It's not like last time." And that was all the girls got out of Gru for the rest of the ride home.

~0~

Gru and two of his trusty minions stood outside a large warehouse on the outskirts of the city late at night. After a week of hard work together with the AVL's analysts, Gru had found strong evidence suggesting that this storage building was the headquarters for the American branch of the child kidnapping ring.

"Okay, guys. I'll head up first. When I give the all-clear signal, you two come up as well. Got it?" Gru instructed. Dave and Phil saluted. Gru aimed and fired a grappling hook attached to his belt upwards, and it hooked onto the edge of the roof. He pushed a button and the wire hummed as he slid upwards. Dave and Phil lounged around, looking up and waiting for Gru's signal.

After scanning the roof for threats and determining the way in, Gru stuck his head over the edge of the roof and signaled his minions. Dave and Phil hopped up and dashed to the side of the building. Before they fired their grappling hooks, Phil nudged Dave. "Hey, Dave! Para ko rasy topa? (Race you to the top?)"

Dave replied, "Okey! Beedy, ko! (Okay! Ready, go!)" He fired his hook and started up the building, chuckling down at Phil.

Phil grunted angrily and quickly fired his hook too. Speeding the rate of ascent, he caught up to Dave and punched him in the butt. "Tu kacheep! (You cheated!)"

Dave swung a return blow, but Phil deftly ducked and stopped his ascent. Dave also stopped, descending back to Phil's level. The two minions engaged in a one-handed slap fight as they tactically ascended and descended. As they battled, they started swinging around, eventually entangling themselves hopelessly. They looked at each other blankly for a moment, stunned by their predicament, before resuming close-quarters combat.

Meanwhile, Gru was waiting impatiently at the top. After a couple of minutes, he stuck his head over the edge to check on their ascent. To his astonishment, Dave and Phil were swinging just below the edge of the roof, entangled but still smacking at each other.

"Hey! Guys! What do you think you're doing?" Gru whispered angrily. Dave and Phil looked up and smiled sheepishly. Impatiently, Gru hauled them onto the roof. "Get yourselves untangled, lovebirds. I don't have time for this!" The minions obligingly started wriggling around, ending up in a quarreling heap about whose fault this was.

Gru slipped down a ladder into the warehouse. He activated his night vision goggles as he stealthily crept through the hallways. The third floor was deserted. On the second floor, he came to a padlocked and bolted door. He looked in through a small window. To his shock, several children were sleeping on the floor inside, each chained or handcuffed to the wall. His blood began to boil. Even as a villain, he had had standards.

Slipping down to the first floor, Gru encountered the first guard. A tranquilizer dart sent him off to dreamland. Another two guards were then left in a deep freeze. As he continued his search, a flashlight in the darkened hallways caught his attention. He tiptoed carefully towards it. Readying himself, he pounced. To his surprise, he found himself holding the diminutive figure of Dave. Phil yelped and swung his weapon around, thinking Gru to be an enemy. "Uh oh…" Gru recognized that distinctive watering can-like spout. He hit the ground, holding his breath as a cloud of noxious gas spewed out with a 'prrt'. When the cloud dissipated, Gru, Dave, and Phil stared in surprise at each other and at the guard alerted by the noise. That unfortunate guard had sneaked up on the trio but had taken the full brunt of Phil's weapon.

"Why on earth are you holding the fart gun?" Gru questioned Phil.

"Wa ku? Eh laka… Tara ga bi talo… (What? I like it… It worked on the guard…)" Phil muttered.

Dave tugged on Gru's pant leg, pointing to a room at the end of the corridor. They crept to the door and burst in, startling a stocky man dressed in black. Dave and Phil assumed kung fu positions and leapt forward. With surprising agility, the man dressed in black knocked the minions out in midair and unsheathed a pair of blades. "Panther!" Gru snarled. His opponent bared his teeth, exhibiting the behavior of his namesake. Gru's eyes narrowed.

Panther was a fairly well known assassin for hire. A no-nonsense hardman with a history as a street fighter, his services were available to anyone at the right price. Gru had dealt with him once or twice before, but had never hired him. His minions had served him well enough. Gru's fingers curled around an electric baton, and he set himself for the battle.

Panther made the first move by leaping at Gru, who neatly sidestepped. A flash of metal, and Panther's claws raked down Gru's arm. Gru smiled, as the lightweight full-body armor he was wearing served him well. He returned the attack with several jabs and swings of the baton, forcing Panther to duck and weave. Panther rolled under the final swing of the baton and kicked upward. Gru blocked the kick and sent Panther sprawling.

"I had thought you had more honor than to abuse children this way." Gru spat.

"I do the job I am paid for, Felonious. Why do you care? Have you gone soft, as I hear? Started a family?" Panther retorted, crouched catlike.

"I used to be a villain, but at least I had standards."

"Used to?" Panther paused uncertainly. "You turned?"

Gru flashed his AVL badge. "Take him down, boys." Panther stiffened and then crumpled to the floor. Dave and Phil peeked out from behind the desk, a tranquilizer gun poking out in front of them.

"Eh, eh, boss! Kee tada! (We did it!)" Dave cheered.

"Keep it down. Contact the AVL to pick him up, and then free the kids downstairs." Dave and Phil saluted, before turning their attentions to Panther's inert figure.

A quick search of the room turned up some evidence regarding the kidnapped children, as Gru had expected. However, he had no idea how personal some of the information was to become.

~0~

"Well, don't just stop there! What did you find?" Lucy whispered impatiently.

Gru stood up and brought out his mission file. He flicked through the papers before pulling out several sheets stapled together. He sat back down and sighed. Lucy gently took the papers from his hands and glanced over them. The title 'Orphanages and Children's Homes' caught her eye, and one name in particular was highlighted.

"Is that-" Lucy began. Gru nodded soberly.

A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Review please; let me know your thoughts, ideas, etc. See you soon and God bless!