I was with Gladius, Zomboss, Galacta, Barranco and Dave in a room that resembled something out of Star Wars. We were all around a low table that had a hologram projection of the mansion The Powerpuff Girls chased the ice cream truck back too. The same one that the party was at.

Majima was currently out with Star and Marco, the three of them hoping to cobble together some disguises for those going in, and to snag some invites.

"So, the party is all here in the courtyard", Zomboss began, holding a laser pointer as he marked out the courtyard. "And we can assume that the hallways leading to the bathroom and similar rooms are all available to the public. So that means we have space to stay in the crowd and not be suspicious."

"I'll provide aerial support with the girls", Galacta said in a firm tone.

But to all of our surprise, Zomboss shook his head. "I want you to be part of the team that'll be looping around the outside. The Powerpuffs can handle aerial support."

I gave a questioning look to the scientist, but he just ignored me and continued. "Since Majima knows what he's doing, he'll be living it up in the party with Caleb, Gladius, myself, Jennifer, Steven, Maria, Manolo and Hilda. Everyone else will be on the espionage side, searching for anything inconspicuous by sneaking around breaking in."

Barranco elbowed Dave and gave him a smug smirk. "Look at that. If this guy is the one behind your buddies going missing, then it'll be fun to trash his office."

The Minion gave the Rabbid a sinister grin. "Oh, you know it!"

I snorted at their banter, while Gladius hummed as he looked over the hologram, then the flyer in his wings. "This is a birthday… for the owner's son…" He hummed a second time, this time more unsure. "How are we sure Majima can get an invite? There's a lot of us sneaking in, and we… don't even know the owner's name."

Zomboss shrugged. "We'll just roll with it and see what happens. If there's flyers, then I assume just anyone is allowed in."

"From what I know", I added, "Big shots with money to spare tend to do these big extravagant parties as a sign of goodwill, and to flex their wealth."

Galacta hummed, and Zomboss coughed into his fist sheepishly.

"Well, whatever reason, we'll get in", I said with determination. "Even if Majima can't find invites, or if we just aren't allowed in, then we'll all just full send the 'breaking & entering' route side of our plan."

Barranco nodded and scribbled that down into a notebook that he… found? I shook the barrage of questions out of my mind as I looked to see Jenny and Steve wander in.

"What's the ETA on Majima's part of the plan?" Zomboss asked as he kept his eyes glued on the hologram, trying to find more entrances.

"He's got the clothes", Jenny replied as she stood to my right, sandwiching Gladius between us. "And Star was able to magic up some invitation duplicates. It'll give us special access to some areas."

Galacta hummed again. "That's good to hear. Once they get back, me, Zomboss and Goro will finalise the plan." Everyone nodded, and I left with Gladius, Jenny and Steve.

As we walked through the underground base, Steve spoke up. "Something about this whole thing feels off to me…"

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"It's just… Dave told us our first day here that the Minions are a decent secret", the crafter explained, "But yet someone is kidnapping them by the hundreds. What if… the kidnapper is someone who knew Gru and that he had this army with him?"

That made us all fall silent. "That… could be a possibility…

"Let's just focus on our plan", Jenny said quickly. "Dave is already freaked out enough. If he hears that, it'll make him spiral."

"I agree, Jennifer", Gladius said in a sophisticated tone. "Let's leave this for now and head back to camp. I want to see the disguises Star and Marco found."

We all nodded and made our way swiftly back to our tents. But to our surprise, when we finally got there, Majima, Star and Marco were already back. The yakuza was talking to Izzy and Ralph, probably giving them tips about their side of the plan.

Star and Marco sided up to us, but it was clear Diaz was seemingly tense.

"Everything okay, Marco?" Gladius asked.

Star grimaced, and said boy sighed. "While we were at the mall to snag disguises, we saw the owner of the Mexican restaurant talking with Gru and that woman."

We were all silent. "What's so bad about that?" Steve said with a questioning look.

"It was his tone", Star explained, "It was like he… knew something more. He was inviting Gru to the party, and he seemed… a bit too hopeful."

My eyes widened a bit. "Oh, that's not good."

"So it's safe to assume he is a supervillain in hiding then", Jenny spat. She crossed her arms and scowled at the thought.

"That just gives us more incentive to find the dirt against him." Everyone nodded at my statement, and we all split up to gather everyone back together.

Time to put the plan into action.

~X~

I pulled at the collar of the suit I was wearing, trying to stretch it out so I could actually breathe.

Sadly, Maria had other ideas.

"Caleb!" She quietly hissed, slapping my hand away. "Stop doing that. You'll wreck the suit."

"But I can't breathe!" I whined back.

I was currently with my side of the group right outside of the mansion. The party had started half an hour ago, and we were all stationed in the parking lot, inside a van Dave and Zomboss had put together, doing some final finishing touches on our disguises.

The van was much bigger on the inside thanks to Star's magic, so we were all able to squeeze inside, though it was still a bit cramped.

Majima and Ralph chuckled as the wooden woman fussed over me, trying to get my disguise up to perfection. The other members of my group were all already in their disguises, wearing a variety of suits. Hilda was in a simple faded red dress, while Gladius was wrapped up in a bouquet of red roses.

"This is why I hate suits!" I whined louder. "They're tight, itchy, and make me feel stuck up."

"At least you're not shoved into a batch of prickly pollen bombs", Gladius grumbled.

Maria rolled her eyes. "I'll remember that when I invite you to mine and Manolo's anniversary party."

Jenny snorted as she adjusted the hem of her dress, and her changed hair. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get out of that suit."

I scowled, and as soon as Maria was finished doing final adjustments, I whirled around to face the yakuza and wrecker. "You guys better find the dirt fast, please. I feel like a clothing store mannequin."

Ralph waved off my concern. "Relax kid, we'll work fast, don't worry."

I frowned at his nonchalant answer, but didn't press as the back of the van opened.

Zomboss, dressed like a dapper English gentleman (complete with a monocle), greeted us. "C'mon, we're wasting time. The others are stationed around the side already."

That was our cue, and the rest of us in the van filed out. My group made our way to the front entrance, while Ralph and Majima joined the others around the side of the mansion on the cliff edge. Our van was parked to keep them hidden enough, and no one else had seemed suspicious.

I held onto the bouquet that housed Gladius, and he quietly grumbled until we entered the main courtyard. The sun was almost done setting, the lights of the party brightly lighting up the sky. I looked up, and could faintly see The Powerpuffs up above. With that, we split up, myself happening to gravitate towards the residents of San Angel.

"So, how are we supposed to help with this?" Manolo asked.

I hummed as the three of us went off to the side and sat at an empty table. "Well, we should find time to sneak off and find an office of some kind."

Maria nodded. "Agreed. The issue is just how we do that- There's Gru."

Her sudden sentence switch was jarring, and I followed her gaze to see just that. Gru was out on the dance floor, seemingly trying to weasel towards Margo, who was dancing with a mysterious boy.

"Wonder what that's all about…" Manolo quietly inquired.

"That might be the birthday boy", I said.

"How can you tell?" Gladius mumbled.

"He kind of looks like the restaurant owner."

The two adults looked at him for a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, I see the resemblance…" Maria said quietly.

"Guys", Manolo said, nudging the two of us. We both faced him, and he very subtly pointed off to the right. I glanced at it, and I could see Iris and Izzy waving at us discreetly just over the wall. The Psycho Hose Beast began to point frantically at a couple of windows next to the two of them, and I took that as a sign.

"Let's go", I whispered. The Sanchez's nodded, and we all dipped out of sight from the party. Trailing along the wall swiftly, we ducked into a hallway. There were very few people around, but luckily there were none around the staircase that led upstairs, so we slunk away and finally escaped the party. Working fast, I rushed over and began to check each door, Gladius hovering beside me, still in his disguise. After checking through several empty rooms, I came to the window Izzy and Iris were waiting at, which happened to be the window for a very expansive study.

I dashed over and opened the window just as Maria and Manolo entered and closed the door behind them.

"Did anyone else find anything?" I asked as the two daredevils climbed in.

Izzy nodded, a look of distress plastered on her face, which was very unlike her. "We found this storage room, and this guy is apparently a supervillain named El Macho who faked his death."

"There were boxes filled with newspapers talking about everything he did", Iris added. "So we came here hoping there was something else…" The cyclops trailed off as she looked at Manolo, who had opened a file cabinet and was looking through a file.

"El Macho hired Dr.Nefario…" I said. We all perked up, then gawked.

"What?!" Maria hissed angrily.

The musician showed us the file, and it had everything. Dr.Nefario's resume, a picture of him, and other more personal stuff.

"Oh this isn't good…" I said in a cracked voice. "Dave's going to lose it."

"Guys?" Izzy said in a very uncharacteristically strained voice. We all looked over her shoulder, and read over the paper. It was just a fragment of a plan, but just enough to see what it meant.

El Macho and Nefario were the ones that kidnapped the Minions, and were going to use a serum to make them unstoppable to conquer the world.

My whole body went rigid. "This is really bad…"

"We've got to stop him!" Iris cried.

"But how?" Maria said. "Whatever this serum is… we don't have any sort of cure!"

Manolo glared in a random direction. "Even if we don't, we need to do something."

"I'll call the others", Izzy interjected. She stuck the files we had taken out back into the cabinets. "We need to get back Gru's place now, otherwise-"

The sound of approaching footsteps made us all freeze. They were getting closer, so we all scrambled out of the room through the window and ducked out of sight. I could hear the study's door open then immediately close, and someone talking, although it was muffled.

We all waited on baited breath as the sound of the window locking sounded off, and then the sound of the cabinets opening and closing. After a bit, all sound ceased, and the sound of the door opening and closing again.

We all breathed a sigh of relief at that. "Too close…" I mumbled. I then snapped out of my funk. "We need to go. NOW."

My friends nodded, and we all dashed across the roof and down the back wall (Gladius flew me down). Once we were on the cliff edge, Izzy turned on her walkie-talkie and told the others to get back to the van. As we dipped back around the corner and filed into the back, I took the opportunity to undo the tie I had around my neck and ruffle up my hair.

Gladius shed his disguise, and peaked through the curtain that separated the back of the van with the driver's seat. "Hmmmm… it seems Gru is heading home."

"Party must've sucked that much", Majima said. We turned around to see the yakuza step inside, flanked by the rest of the group.

"What did you guys find?" Marco asked as he ditched the suit he was wearing for stealth purposes.

I shared a look with those who were with me in the study, and we all grimaced. "It's bad. Really bad."

"How bad are we talking?" Blossom pressed.

I looked at Dave with a miserable look, and soon everyone followed my gaze. The Minion began to shift nervously under all the eyes.

"What?" He asked.

~X~

"WHAT?!?!"

I flinched as the noise of everyone's combined voices bounced off the walls in Gru's underground base.

"Kid, you can't be serious!" Ralph shouted in disbelief.

"Nefario just turns on Gru, just like that?!" Jenny shouted, pulling at her pigtails in anger.

"What the actual fuck", Majima droned, mouth agape and eye wide.

"We saw it all, it was clear as day gang", Izzy grumbled. She was massaging her temples, trying to keep at bay the growing headache from all the noise.

And yes, it was very noisy. At the drop of the news, everyone had erupted into confused, angry squabbling. Amongst the chaos, Dave's face had morphed into utter misery and betrayal.

"I can't believe it…" Dave whispered. He was closest to me, and it seemed I was the only one to hear him. "Gets tired of Gru not being a villain, leaves, only to help another villain kidnap us…" He sighed sadly. "But I guess it makes sense. Villains will be villains, after all… And I like this. I like jam making. I like the girls. I like this life. So this just… it hurts…"

I sat down next to him and pulled him into a side hug. "Don't worry, Dave. We'll stop this, save the Minions, and crush El Macho."

"Of course, Caleb", Galacta said calmly as he hovered to my other side with Gladius.

"Do you know anything about El Macho, Dave?" The sword asked.

He shook his head. "Aside from the fact he, apparently fake, died by skydiving into a volcano while riding a shark that was strapped with way too much TNT onto it? Not much."

The three of us baulked at him. "That is such a bizarre way to fake your death."

"It's excessive." Gladius added.

"Considering the man he is, I'm not surprised." Galacta finished.

Dave was silent for a moment. "I think it's best just the four of us go and stop this."

I gave him a look. "Are you sure, Dave?"

"I'm positive. Use Minions are durable, and if that serum works how I think it does, they'll be wild. I don't want to throw all of you into the fray."

"Count me in."

The four of us looked to see a smug Flowey right in front of us. "If you think I'm gonna miss out on this, you are dead wrong. Because without me, that's what you'll be."

I gave him a flat look. "Thank you for your concern, Flowey." My gaze then looked up to my still squabbling friends, and my determination steeled as I looked back to Dave. "Alright. We'll do this. The five of us will wake up early in the morning, and get a move on before anyone knows what is happening."

They nodded, and we were quick to retire. Luckily, it seemed the mass confusion and rage had made everyone else lose all their steam, so they were quick to follow my lead. Everyone got comfortable in their sleep, except me. My eyes were wide open as I stared straight up, the thought of what I just agreed to spinning in my head. I wasn't crazy, I knew this was suicide. But it was also so enticing because of the thrill. Plus, being able to trounce a supervillain like El Macho was so much simpler compared to what we had to deal with the last two places we stopped at.

It was nice, and the buzz was keeping me awake. So much so, I saw Gladius start to leave the tent. As carefully as I could, I followed after him, and was greeted with Dave quietly talking with Galacta and Flowey.

"Are we leaving already?" I whispered.

"Yeah, we are", Dave confirmed. "I don't know what you were doing, but it's been five hours. Gru took two others with him, and I could tell it was to get El Macho."

"Why so early?" Flowey asked.

"Nefario called, finally realising he's gone too far. He said that Macho captured Lucy, the girl Gru's been working with these past few days. Gru likes her, that's painfully obvious, so he's gone on his bike to save her."

"This could be our chance", Gladius said firmly. "Gru will provide a distraction, and we'll take out El Macho before he can blink."

"There's still the issue with your corrupted brethren", Galacta mentioned. "If the situation gets too violent, I will be forced to intervene and defend you all."

"Eh", Flowey began with a motion that resembled a shrug, "Sure, I'll do that with ya', Angel Wings." Galacta's eyes flew a deep red at that name, the knight slowly facing the flower.

Before a confrontation could start, I picked up the flower and began to quietly dash toward where the elevator was. The others followed behind closely, pretending nothing had happened as we started the grand finale.

~X~

Flying with Gladius was really nice, even if it was terrifying. Galacta carried Dave, his multi-barreled dart gun strapped to his back as he held Flowey in his grasp (I needed both hands on Gladius to make sure I didn't fall). After a while of flying, the sun was now decently high in the sky, and we all landed not too far from El Macho's mansion. Shifting on my feet as I adjusted, I looked to the front of the building to see Gru's custom bike parked out front.

He was currently in handcuffs, the two Minions he brought with him painted purple over their yellow skin, and black over their overalls.

"I see he's going the mock captured route", Gladius said in an almost flat tone. I smacked him and he spun in the air for a bit before correcting himself. He huffed, and we all quietly snuck around the wall. With some help, we all scaled it and looked over the whole courtyard.

All the kidnapped Minions were flooding the area, only they were taller. Their arms were stretched out, and their haircuts were messy and chaotic purple bushes. The most striking detail was, like the hair, the corrupted Minions were a bright purple, and were just letting out incomprehensible roars and gurgles.

"That serum did that to them?" Dave whispered in terror.

Galacta grunted, and we looked at where he was looking. Up at a balcony, watching as the corrupted Minions filled up large cages attached to rockets, was our main target himself. El Macho, dressed in a red and black luchador outfit.

"Well, he at least plays into his namesake", Flowey spat.

I nodded, then returned my attention back to Gru. He was still playing up his plan… at least until one of his Minion's paint was smudged off, revealing the yellow skin.

I cringed as the corrupted Minions let out a vicious, almost insulted sounding roar, and the whole horde began to converge onto the ex-villain.

"C'mon, guys", I began, "El Macho can wait. We need to help Gru!" My friends nodded, and we all jumped over the wall. Luckily Gru was running by on a metal catwalk, so I was able to land behind him as he ran past.

He looked back at me in shock, but I just shot him a reassuring look. "We got this, Gru! Go!" He nodded as Galacta and Gladius hovered next to me. "You two ready?"

They nodded, and we began to unleash hell. Galacta was able to do the most work, blasting hordes of the Minions off the catwalk. Gladius acted as defence, swatting away any Minions that got a bit too close.

Above, Dave and Flowey provided ranged support. While Dave fired his dart gun repeatedly, Flowey was launching off dozens of his pellets at blinding speeds.

It was incredible to see it happen so close.

As we continued to fight back, I was quick to notice the Minions were coming from behind us.

"Guys, we've got to move now!" I barked. Gladius was quick to sweep me into the air, Galacta doing the same to Dave and Flowey, and we all found ourselves in the middle courtyard. Minions began to swarm us, and I was gearing myself up for a massive fight…

Only for Gru's ship to fly over the wall, Edith manning a gatling turret on the side. She shot out some weird gunk that splattered on the back of the Minion's, and when they turned, it entered their mouths.as soon as it did, they reverted back to normal.

"YEAH!" I cheered. "NICE GOING GUYS!"

"DON'T MENTION IT KID!"

I did a double take as Ralph appeared behind Edith, and he jumped out alongside all the rest of my friends. I cheered even louder as they began shoving the cure-infused jam into any Minion mouth they could, either using their bare hands or paintball guns loaded with the stuff.

Flowey let out his twisted laugh as he launched out multiple vines. They wrapped the corrupted Minions up, but before they could free themselves Blossom and her sisters dashed by, shoving the jam into their mouths.

With everything here being handled, me, Gladius and Dave joined up with me as we went to face El Macho. Gru had already beat us to the punch, locked into a fierce brawl with the supervillain. Only problem was Macho clearly injected himself with the serum, if his new hulking and purple furred stature was any indicator.

Gru fired his freeze ray, and it was at that moment the three of us stepped in.

"Gru! Leave El Macho to us! Go save Lucy!"

"Are you sure?" He asked warily, glancing at the purple beast as he was attempting to free his frozen hand.

"We're sure. Go." He nodded at me and dashed off just as Macho freed himself.

"You kidnapped and hurt my friends!" Dave screamed. "Now you get to face the full wrath of Minion rage!" He aimed his dart gun at Macho, and began to unload all he had.

As the supervillain staggered back from the bombardment, me and Gladius took up the hyper-aggressive close quarters offensive, tripping the beast up as I slammed Gladius into his leg.

Macho let out a roar of pain as he toppled forward, eating a face flu of darts before he collapsed in a heap. But just as he crashed into the floor, he began to swing his massive arms around in a desperate attempt to hit me, so I was forced to back off. Dave provided support for my retreat, but once I was a safe distance away Gladius flew out of my grasp and rammed his handle into Macho's gut.

I winced as Gladius began to bat the beast around, nailing him under the jaw, over the head, both sides of his head, right arm, left him, and right in the middle of his face. The last hit actually launched him out the open balcony window, and he crashed onto the ground.

Which, coincidentally, wasn't far from where Gru was trying to free Lucy from a rocket with too much TNT attached to it.

I jumped down, forgoing any of my usual caution to drive my elbow right into the beast's chest.

My elbow nailed him, and he let out a wheeze. His face twisted into a goofy expression before he fell unconscious.

I sighed and stood up, only to nearly fall over when I was hugged on either side by Dave and Gladius.

"Caleb, that was incredible!" Gladius praised. He then slapped me gently with his wing. "Just never do that again."

"Trust me, I won't", I reassured him. "That is the most action I'll take for a lifetime." I paused. "Or until the next world, considering our situation."

"KID!" I heard Ralph call. Spinning around, I was pulled off the unconscious El Macho and brought into a group hug with Ralph, Jenny and Steve all keeping me close.

"Never do that again, please", Jenny said frantically.

"Seriously", Steve added. "When you weren't anywhere at camp, we started freaking out that Macho had somehow kidnapped you!"

I laughed. "Trust me guys, I'm good." I looked over my shoulder, and smiled as Gru freed Lucy. "Everything is good."

~X~

After that was all said and done, I was smiling. Macho was carted off to prison courtesy of Lucy's agency, all the Minions were returned to normal thanks to Nefario's cure (to Dave eternal happiness), and we all had another victory under our belt.

Which made us packing up our camp, oddly, bittersweet.

Back in Gru's underground base, we were finishing up packing up when Dave approached us, his dart gun still strapped on his back.

Barranco was the first to greet him. "Ha! So you do want to tag along with us, huh? Wanna see what this travelling circus will do next?"

Vanellope smacked him in the back of his head, and Zomboss rolled his eyes.

Dave chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. After everything you did to help me, it's the least I could do."

Hilda beamed and ran up to him, giving him a big hug. "Well, welcome aboard Dave! We promise you won't be disappointed."

I grinned as Dave helped us finish packing, and once it was all dealt with (and magicked away thanks to Star), everyone turned to face me.

"You guys all ready to get a move on?" I announced proudly.

"You know it, kid!" Ralph said happily.

"Bring on the chaos!" Vanellope cheered.

"Whatever happens…" Jenny trailed off.

"No matter where we go…" Steve continued.

"We'll kick fucking butt!" Majima said in sadistic joy.

Everyone else sounded off similar affirmations, and I smiled as Dave and Barranco happily chatted between each other.

I turned to Gladius. "Ready, Gladdy?"

"As ready as I'll ever be", he said with a nod.

Grabbing hold of his handle, he aimed me in the right direction, and I sliced the air. A portal opened, and one by one we all hopped in, ready to take the next step in our adventure.

~X~

And so ends the Despicable Me arc. And, we have now reached the halfway point of this story! 50 out of 100 chapters. That's so crazy to think about, considering this story was originally only a vague idea in my head.

I honestly have to thank you all for reading and loving this story. It means the world to me, and whatever happens next I'll be so glad you all get to be there along with me.

Up next: Caleb and Co. find themselves within the Scottish wilderness, and befriend a certain redhead, archery loving princess that wants to carve a path of her own.

~Caleb~