Thanks to all those who reviewed chapter three! Much appreciated :)

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Four:
They're Not Coming Home

As they laughed happily over something that didn't particularly matter, Dru and the girls made it back to the front garden of the mansion, three of whom had huge smiles on their faces. Margo was still at odds with her own worries, but for the last ten minutes, was slowly starting to find some slight form of positivity. The amused giggles of her sisters always seemed to make her smile, even in concerning situations.

Sitting on one of the many front steps to the home was the butler Fritz, his attire a little messy and his expression flooded with worry. When he spotted the uncle and his nieces approach the home, he leaped from his spot and ran over to them, clearly in some form of small panic.

"Dru, there you are!" He exclaimed, halting in front of the four. "I flew here the moment I got your message! Is everything alright!?"

"Ah, yes, Fritz. I'm glad yoo made eet!" Dru replied, his face brightening tenfold. "I need yoo to cook up de biggest, fanciest meal yoo've ever cooked een yoo're whole life! And could yoo make eet queeck, please? Eet's already getteeng pretty late."

Not expecting this instruction, Fritz glanced at the girls, who replied with beaming smiles, and handed Dru a puzzled expression.

"I...I flew all away from Freedonia to make...dinner?"

"YES!" Dru exclaimed, jumping up. "De most FANCIEST deener!"

"B-but..." Fritz replied quietly, unable to hold back his slight frown. "In the message, you said that you were in 'really big trouble and needed my help urgently'."

"We do!" Dru argued, holding his arms out, as if he didn't understand the problem. "We're starveeng!" As they gave a small giggle, the blonde uncle glanced down at the girls and watched them for a moment, his bright expression faltering. "Plus...de gurls need sometheeng super special right now, like a really amazing dinner. So...chop, chop!"

Dru clapped his hands in a commanding fashion as the four of them energetically dashed past Fritz, who was practically glued to the spot in fatigued annoyance. The butler watched as they ascended the steps and threw themselves into the house, a deepened sigh escaping his lungs.

"Uh...yes, Mister Dru." He ran his hand across his forehead, as if to wipe away the stress. "I'll get right on it."

Continuing to giggle a little, Dru and the girls piled their way into the living room, the youngest not wasting a second in leaping up on to the crocodile couch and bouncing on the spot elatedly.

"Thanks for taking us to the park, Uncle Dru!" She exclaimed, her head lifted happily into the air. "It was so much fun!"

"No problemo, Agnes." The blonde replied, ruffling her ponytail a little, making the little girl stop to giggle a little. "We should go dere more often."

"Ooo, ooo, when mommy and daddy get back, we can all go to the park together!" She exclaimed, consuming the room in a huge, beaming smile. "You can show daddy the big girl swing!"

Again, Dru's smile gave away for a short moment, his head dropping slightly.

"Uh...yes, yes! Of course!" He exclaimed, slumping down beside her on the couch, nodding as a method of keeping his bright expression alive. "Dat's a...great idea!"

As she sat there, continuing to beam a super toothy grin, Dru couldn't help but question how she was remaining so upbeat. Maybe spending some time with him at the park helped her to completely forget what was going on, to the point where she was now completely expecting Gru and Lucy to return without fail. He had to admit, he was very proud of her resilience...

...even though she could quite possibly be reminded of yesterday's news in the worst possible way.

Thankfully, he didn't have too long to dwell on that thought, since Edith ran over and threw herself onto the couch as if she was some sort of professional athlete, going for the world-record in the long-jump event.

"Can we watch a movie?" She questioned, lifting her hat from over eyes, which must've drooped after she landed so heavily.

"Sure we can." Dru answered, nodding. "What do you fancy?"

Edith turned her head away, wracking her brain at speed. "I dunno. Something cool, with action and fighting and stuff in it."

Chuckling a little at her very broad decision, Dru looked over at the big shelf in the room, where all of the DVDs and boxsets were stored. As he scanned it quickly in search of a desired movie, he caught a large glance of Margo, who was stood off to the side staring at her feet with a solemn expression. Keeping his eyes on her for a few seconds, a slight smile spread across his face, as he came to an idea.

"Well, actually, how about we let Margo pick de movie?" He proposed, turning back to Edith, who immediately seemed unsatisfied. At the mention of her name, the twelve-year-old looked up and stared at her uncle, who returned a bright expression.

"Aww, no fair!" Edith sulked, crossing her arms in protest. "It was my idea! Why does she get to choose!?"

"'Cause she's had a bit of a hard day." Dru replied, giving the tomboy a smile, something that didn't aid in swaying her frown in the slightest. Retaining his happy look, he turned back to Margo and nodded his head towards the shelf, making the eldest glance at it for a moment. "Well...go on den. Pick sometheeng."

A grin rising from her face for a moment, Margo strolled over to the shelf and started flicking through the DVDs, not in search of any specific movie in particular. More so, she was waiting until she found one that caught her fancy. Soon enough, she reached and pulled out the case for one called 'Story Of The Dance', before revealing it to the rest of the family.

Based on Edith's instant frown-based reaction, she wasn't a big fan of the glittery, extremely girly design of the front cover.

"I used to watch this all the time when I was really little..." The eldest sister explained, her eyes locked onto the case in her hand. "Before I was put in the orphanage."

With that, Dru watched with slight unease as she continued to glare at the DVD, seeming consumed by her own thoughts. He had totally run out of consoling methods at this point. He'd used them all in the park earlier and none of them appeared to have much of an effect. So, at this point, the only plan of action he had left was to just put the movie on and hope it made her feel better.

"Well, what are yoo waiteeng for?" He questioned with a cheer, stealing her gaze back from the cover. "Put eet een."

Finally giving him a full genuine smile, Margo paced over to the DVD player and inserted the disc, as Dru grabbed the remote and switched on the TV. When the interactive menu displayed on the screen, which was littered with flowers and dancers and glittery things, Edith couldn't help but audibly groan.

"This is gonna suck."

Finally, she'd managed to suppress her crying. Thirty minutes prior, Lucy was practically inconsolable, but after letting out all of the fear that had built up throughout the day in the form of tears, she was now feeling a little more determined and concentrated.

Only a little more, though. Again, this situation seemed absolutely hopeless. How on earth was she going to escape this cell, find her husband, and then get out of this god-forsaken village without injury or execution? She truly didn't have a clue.

However, 'not having a clue' had never stopped her before, so why would it now?

Currently, the female AVL agent was sat against the cold, wall of the prison, her head down in thought. She overviewed everything. How she got here, what happened, how it all went wrong. She analyzed every event in search of something that stood out. Unfortunately, all of it seemed clouded in this blinding sense of disturbing mystery.

In all her AVL years, never before had she come across a situation as confusing as this one. It appeared they weren't a big fan of context around here, since absolutely everything held that same air of obscurity. Like those notes pinned up on the wall. Even if the words that were missing were actually there, Lucy still didn't believe they would've provided much help.

Sighing deeply, she rubbed her tired, red eyes and dropped her head further, her thoughts pausing for a few seconds. She desperately needed Gru right now. When the two of them were together, absolutely nothing could stop them. They had the ability to do anything, the strength to stop anyone, and the intelligence to break their way out of every hopeless situation.

However, when one of them were taken out of the equation, fear always had a detrimental effect on those traits.

Where could he be right now? Was he okay? Was he hurt? She wanted the answers, but at the same time, dreaded hearing the wrong ones. In all honesty, she just wanted him here. She didn't even mind if it meant being trapped in a prison cell, she really just wanted him beside her. To comfort to her, to tell her that things will be okay, like he always did. He was practically a professional at that.

Feeling herself grow upset again, Lucy turned her head to look down at her arm, specifically at the red and blue, jeweled bracelet that Gru gave her for her birthday. Though originally she wasn't too keen on its large size, she realized that it didn't particularly matter what the present was, rather who it was given by. Besides, though the enormity of it was certainly a little weird, she actually found it quite charming.

Although, after questioning him on it one day, he confessed that he had Dr. Nefario make it for her, so he could ensure that it was, in his words, 'as perfect as her'. Apparently, the scientist had a strange habit of making his inventions unusually large, mostly to fit the wiring for the extra features that he was insistent on including.

Wait...

Extra features?

Her eyes widening with abrupt hope, Lucy lifted her arm to her face and closely inspected the bracelet, searching for anything that could indicate something unusual. A button? A screen? Some antennae? Anything that could provide some form of electronic function. Unfortunately, it seemed irritatingly normal. Nothing on there but a string and some jewels.

But, Lucy reminded herself, normal wasn't something Nefario preferred, so this truly couldn't be the case. As they always say, never judge a book by its cover.

Or in this case, don't judge a possible butt-kicking device by the fact that its a bracelet...

Giving the item a deep inspection, the AVL agent lightly tapped upon one of the jewels, in the hopes of it activating something. When nothing happened, she decided to go around and tap every single one, just in case there was a specific jewel that held the extra feature.

And, after going around and tapping them all, a small beep sounded from the band and the jewels started to flash a series of different colors. It appeared, to avoid accidental activation, you needed to tap every single one in succession to grant access to the hidden function.

Lucy couldn't help but grin.

"Nefario, you genius." She muttered quietly, ensuring that the nearby guard didn't hear her. "Now, what does this thing do?"

She awaited something to happen. Like the barrel of a gun or a hidden taser to emerge from the band. But, when nothing but flashing continued for around twenty seconds, the AVL agent grew concerned. This must do something, right? There was no way this was just an aesthetic feature. It simply must have some sort of safety or defensive purpose.

She gave it a shake. Nothing. She tapped the flashing jewels again. Nothing. She whispered a demand into it.

"Hey. You can start doing secret stuff now."

Nothing.

When two minutes passed and still absolutely zilch had happened, she unwillingly realized that maybe she was wrong. Maybe it was just an aesthetic feature. If it truly did do something, then why would the scientist make it so insanely obscure? There would be no point. Truly, it appeared that this was only here to make it a little more unique.

Though a part of her appreciated the gesture of putting these flashing colors on her otherwise standard bracelet just for her, another part of her grew a little irate with its pointless nature.

"Nefario, you idiot."

Dr. Nefario was very bored.

Right now, Dru was too busy looking after the girls to be bothered with any acts of villainy, Gru was too busy fighting Portuguese cults to be bothered with any weapon designing, and all of the minions were too busy rectifying a recent lab explosion to help in...whatever they helped him with.

The little yellow creatures insisted that the explosion wasn't their fault, but for reasons that were pretty self-explanatory, Nefario had a hard time believing them.

So, to avoid going absolutely insane with boredom, he was currently sat at his lab table, tinkering with the same vial of light blue liquid that Edith asked to drink on her first visit down here. Nefario had warned the little girl that it would make her explode, and though the serum did hold such an ability, she probably would've fine been if she did in fact drink it. At the moment, it becomes completely useless when it mixes with digestive acid, or any other form of liquid for that matter.

So now, he was trying to find methods to make it work. To make it durable against anything it came in contact with. To make it explode without any complications.

Why was that necessary? He didn't particularly know.

However, with all these hours with nothing to do, he was actually pretty close to cracking this seemingly pointless code. Looking back, it was a stroke of luck that it hadn't actually worked before. Considering Edith's rebellious personality, she probably wouldn't have abided by his warning for too long.

After carefully adding another dose of the purple liquid with a very long name, a deafeningly loud alarm started going off around the lab, nearly giving the elderly man a heart attack. Almost dropping the vial, he stuttered in shock and spun around in his seat, unsure for a moment of what was actually happening.

But, when it clicked, he immediately jumped from his seat and muttered a series of obscenities under his breath. He definitely wasn't expecting this right now.

Moving as fast as his decrepit legs could manage, he made his way over to the lab's supercomputer, and sure enough, a huge alert sign was periodically flashing on-screen. He dashed over and jabbed his finger at a few buttons, and when a text box detailing a list of seemingly random numbers appeared on screen, the alarm went silent. He typed these numbers into another satellite program, and when it zoned in on the location, his heart almost stopped dead.

Ensuring to take a note of this, Nefario spun and took off out of the room, plodding back to his lab desk...

They were now around three-quarters of the way through the movie, and though he originally doubted he would, Dru was gradually starting to enjoy it. The extremely girly tendencies it obviously had wasn't bothering him too much, even though he found it a little wince-worthy at times. However, the same couldn't be said for Edith, who was leaned so far back in her seat out of boredom, that it was a wonder that she hadn't sunken into the couch.

On the other hand, Margo was absolutely loving it.

Finally, for the first time since she'd been informed of this stupid Portuguese cult mission, she was feeling relaxed. It was like some sort of weight had been lifted. Like sitting here next to her uncle and her sisters watching a movie that she hadn't seen since she was a very young child was the medicine she was looking for.

She couldn't really explain it, but at this moment in time, she truly didn't care.

That was up until the screen suddenly went a little haywire and the movie cut off, transitioning both the television and the room into a short period of silence. The four of them glanced at each other in befuddlement, but before anyone could voice the obvious question in the air, Dr. Nefario appeared on the screen.

"DRU! I really need to spe-" Once he spotted the owlish glares of the three resident girls, the scientist held back his very frantic expression and immediately transitioned to a state of fake nonchalance, speaking with an eerily slow tone. "Uh...D-Dru, could...could we have a s-small chat i-in the lab? I am...I am in need of some...help."

"Help?" Dru questioned, rolling his eyes and sighing after a moment's thought. "Nefario, we discussed dis. I am lookeeng after de gurls and I do not have time for villainy hijinks and de such. All of dat will have to wai-"

"No, no, t-this isn't anything to do...with villainy." Nefario was constantly shooting glances at the three sisters, as if he was checking that they didn't seem scared or concerned. Margo was picking up on this, and hence, was returning narrow-eyed glares. "It's something very...very important."

"Okay, well...what ees eet den?"

"I...I am not able to talk about this through the TV. C-Come down to the lab so we can have a...private discussion."

Not used to seeing Nefario in such a worried and delicate state, Dru's face fell a little, knowing this must truly be important if it had shook up the scientist this way. Part of him wished that this was just a more pessimistic side of his thoughts sparking unneeded panic, but whether or not that was true, he reasoned it was probably best to just see what the elderly man wanted and get the answers.

"Uh...s-sure." He replied, glancing at the girls for a moment, who returned light frowns. "I'll be down now."

With that, the screen quickly cut to black and the room was once again plunged into silence. Only this time, no on-screen content was to interrupt it. Sighing deeply, Dru rose from his seat and ushered the girls towards the living room door, as they returned solemn and interrogating gazes.

"Come on den, gurls, I'm goeeng to need de elevator." He stated, as the three stood and unwillingly followed him out of the room. "Play weeth Fritz een de keetchen for a leetle while, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"W-Wait, what's going on?" Margo questioned.

"Do not ask me! I do not have a clue." Dru answered, as they approached the kitchen, where Fritz was frantically throwing things in saucepans and frying pans in the hopes of making something that appeared fancy. He'd enlisted the help of two minions that he strolled past, but after about four minutes, he was already regretting his decision. Somehow, instead of simplifying the process, they were making things a lot more difficult. "He probably just needs some help weeth de lab repairs...or sometheeng like dat."

Entirely unconvinced, the eldest shot Dru a small frown as he carefully directed the three sisters into the room, which held a concoction of different pleasant smells. As they arrived, Fritz shot the blonde a drained look, as if to plead for mercy. Unfortunately, he was here to provide the exact opposite.

"Fritz, could yoo look after de gurls for a leetle while? I've got some stuff I need to deal weeth."

"W-wait, I-"

"Thank yoo!"

Dru didn't waste a single second and sprinted out of the room before Fritz could coherently argue with him. He made his way back to the living room to activate the lab elevator, while Margo, Edith, and Agnes watched in befuddlement. Once he disappeared, they turned to each other with the same expression.

"What was that about?" Edith questioned.

"I don't know." Margo replied, her gaze turning to the floor. "But...something doesn't seem right."

Proceeding that, the three sisters stood there in silence, their gazes locked in place as they consumed themselves in thought. After a few seconds without a word, Edith shrugged and turned towards the booth sofa, deciding to instead search for a source of entertainment. It didn't take too long for Agnes to follow her.

"Fritz?" The youngest asked, gathering the irritated butler's attention away from the oven.

"Yes, Agnes."

"Why are you called Fritz?"

The man seemed slightly taken aback by the question, simply because he had no idea at first on how to respond.

"W-Well, b-because...because that's my na-"

"Why did you become a butler?"

"Uh...b-because my father had originally worked for-"

"What was your daddy's name? Was he called Fritz as well?"

"N-No, my father was c-called-"

"Why do you work for my uncle?" Fritz couldn't hold back the aggravated frown anymore, even if he really wanted to.

"Okay, which question would you like to me answ-"

Unexpectedly, a huge crashing sound interrupted him and a litter of saucepans clashed against the floor, one of which fell directly onto his foot. The butler yelped and jumped around in pain for a few seconds, before darting his accusing gaze at his assigned minions, who both turned away and whistled with pretend innocence.

The very fact that they were standing on the counter, right where the load of saucepans just were, was proof enough that they were guilty.

Sighing heavily, Fritz practically fell onto the kitchen counter in a fatigued heap, closing his eyes tightly to enjoy some time in the darkness.

"Ugh...I really need a new job."

Ignoring the commotion going on around her, Margo continued to stand there, her head still sealed deep in thought. She simply couldn't shake the feeling that something was up. Nefario rarely looked that concerned, and whenever he did, it meant something very bad was happening.

For example, like that time when he contacted the TV from El Macho's mansion, to inform Gru of Lucy's kidnapping. Then, he looked down-right fearful, both because he knew he'd made a significant mistake, and because he knew his family's life was in danger.

Fast-forward to the present, where her parents had just left for a life-threatening mission, and that down-right fear had made an unwanted return...

Balling her fists, Margo strutted forward and made her way out into the hallway, a determined frown populating her expression. She was sick and tired of being so clueless now. Since the very beginning, she didn't know what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, and whether or not these happenings would ruin her life.

Well, now, she was going to get the answers.

"Margo!?" Edith called, suddenly appearing at her older sister's side at pace, Agnes following on a little ways behind her. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere." She replied firmly. "Stay here you two. I'll be back now."

"Nuh-uh." Edith stated, moving to block her older sister's path, her arms crossed defensively. She eyed the twelve-year-old a moment, analyzing her angered expression. She'd known Margo for most of her life, and in that time, she'd learned to recognize certain traits about her. For example, when she was curious about something and wanted to disobey certain rules to grasp an understanding, she wasn't too hesitant in doing so. "You're following Dru down to the lab, aren't you?"

Seeming a little surprised that the tomboy figured that out so effortlessly, Margo shot Agnes a slightly concerned glance out of the corner of her eye, before sighing and directing her glare back to the nine-year-old.

"Nefario never looks that shook-up, Edith." She explained, shaking her head. "I just wanna know what's wrong and then I'm coming straight back."

"Not without us, you aren't." The tomboy demanded, raising her head as if to challenge her to refuse. At this moment, Agnes ran over and stood right beside the middle-child, a determined expression dominating her face as well.

"Yeah! We're coming too!"

Watching her two younger siblings for a short while, Margo narrowed her eyes and considered her options closely. She knew how irritatingly stubborn Edith was when instructed not to do something, so telling her to stay upstairs seemed like an impossible option at this point. As well as that, Agnes wouldn't feel comfortable staying up here on her own, so she would've eventually followed her older sister to the lab.

Besides, if something had gone wrong and Margo was to find out on her own, then hiding it from her little sisters also seemed like an impossible option. She truly wasn't resilient enough to keep up that kind of brave-face.

"Fine..." The eldest gave in. Edith and Agnes both grinned. "But, I'm just warning you...if the three of us go down there, we might find out something that...we won't like."

Those prior grins soon evaporated.

"What do you mean?" The littlest asked.

Margo opened her mouth to respond, but upon spying the slightly concerned looks on her little sisters' face, she decided against answering that question honestly. The two girls had only recently gotten themselves out of that pit of worry by going to the park with Dru, so just in case her nerves were acting up erroneously, there was no need to put them back there.

"N-Nothing." Margo replied, shaking it off and pacing her way towards the living room door, her little sisters glaring at her puzzlingly. "Come on. Let's go, then."

Just as they started following the twelve-year-old down the hallway, Fritz lifted his head again and spotted them disappearing out of the room, making another reason to huff present itself.

"Hey!" He called lightly, moving from behind the counter, attracting their attention. "Please stay here, would you? I need to keep an eye on-OW! OW, OW, OW! WHAT are you doing!?"

The two minions started aggressively kicking at Fritz's shins and uproariously laughing, and in an attempt to avoid them, the man was spinning around in circles and jumping all around the room. Too busy with trying to dodge the attacks, he never noticed the 'Kick Me' sign that had been taped to his back, written in red marker.

"Wha...wait." Margo began, turning to Edith, who was watching the scene and giggling. "When did you put that there?"

The tomboy shrugged nonchalantly, an evil smile lingering on her face.

"I've got my ways."

After practically leaping out of the elevator, Dru paced his way through the underground laboratory at a slight speed, heading for Nefario's desk. However, to the blonde's minor surprise, the scientist wasn't anywhere to be seen. He surely couldn't have gone far. They'd only had their TV conversation a mere two minutes ago.

He spun his gaze around his surroundings in search of him, but sure enough, he wasn't anywhere. Why on earth would he just disappear like that? Maybe, Dru hoped, this was a sign that things were actually okay. If they weren't, surely Nefario wouldn't have moved at all...

Right? Or was he just telling himself this? God, he really didn't know anymore.

Shaking away his fatiguing thoughts, Dru reasoned that his only option left was to find one of the minions and ask where he was, in the hopes of receiving an understandable response. He'd gotten pretty good at perceiving Minionese now. But, there were still occasions where he would be left confused by their gibberish.

"Mel!" Dru called, attracting the creature's attention away from one of the explosion marks in the wall, which he had been pretending to repair. "Where ees Dr. Nefario?"

"Ooo! Boomba dee." Mel replied, pointing through one of the hallways towards the vehicle maintenance room. Responding only with a nod, Dru turned and ran towards the aforementioned location at such a speed, that he didn't even hear the elevator ascend towards the house again...

Sure enough, inside the expansive repair room was Nefario, trudging his way around Gru's stationed airship in an inspective manner. When Dru spotted him, he didn't waste a second in sprinting in his direction.

"Nefario!" He yelled, almost instantly making the scientist spin to face him. "What ees goeeng o-"

"Quick! Come with me." He interrupted authoritatively, ushering the blonde villain towards a nearby table. It was bare apart from a single piece of paper, which held a series of seemingly random numbers and snippets of information upon it. "Something bad has happened."

"What? Sometheeng bad's happened? What ees eet!?" Dru continued to ask more questions, not giving Nefario any chance to answer them. "Ees eet really bad!? Ees someone hurt? Deed one of de minions get injured!? Has-"

"I don't know what's happened! All I know is that it's bad!" Nefario exclaimed in response, as he slumped down near a computer and began typing on the keyboard, seeming quite concentrated. Dru stared at him blankly, now utterly lost.

"Wh...I...yoo...Nefario, what are yoo talkeeng about!?"

"Lucy's emergency danger alarm has been activated!" He exclaimed, not taking his eyes off the screen. The blonde's face instantly dropped like a pebble in a well. "I tracked the location of the alert and the distress signal is indeed coming from Portugal! They must be in trouble."

"W-what...what danger alarm!? Lucy has a danger alarm?"

"You all do! I installed hidden distress alarms into all of your clothing or jewelry so that you can signal for help at any time. I've told you that a million times!" Nefario exclaimed. However, after announcing that fact out loud, he suddenly came to a concerning realization, and he turned to face Dru with an odd look. "Wait. Have I told you about that?"

"No!" Dru exclaimed, becoming immediately panicked. "Not once!"

"Oh. Well...you do."

Though a part of him was actually quite interested to know where his hidden distress alarm was located, the more concerning section of this conversation was taking center-stage in Dru's mind.

"Okay, okay! Hold up!" He put his hands in front of his face and shook his head, as if to pause the entire world for a second. "Lucy ees een distress!? Nefario, why deedn't yoo just say dat over de TV!? She could already be hurt!"

"Because, after what happened with El Macho, I promised Gru that if anything bad was happening to either him or Lucy during a mission, then I wasn't allowed to break the news to the girls." He explained, now turning back to the computer to continue whatever task he was undergoing. "He didn't want them to know until it was conclusive that...they're not coming home."

Dru cringed.

"Oh, god! What de hell could've happened!? What eef dey've been keednapped!? What eef dey're hurt!? What eef dey're...what eef dey're DEAD!?"

"Right, Dru, calm down." Nefario stated as he turned back in the blonde's direction, talking extremely direct. "They're gonna be fine and no-one is gonna get killed, okay?.

"How could yoo know dat!? Yoo don't know dat! Nobody knows dat!"

"Yes, I do know that." Nefario replied softly, trying to alleviate the blonde's frantic reaction. "Do you wanna know how?"

"H-How?"

"Because..." The elderly man began, pointing over to Gru's airship. Dru turned and investigated it momentarily with his gaze, his eyes still wide and frightened. "You're gonna save them."

"Wh...me...I..." The blonde man quickly switched his apprehensive glare between Nefario and the airship, taken slightly aback. "But...how!?"

Nefario reached over and grabbed the paper from the table, immediately shoving it into Dru's grasp.

"This lists the co-ordinates that Lucy's distress signal was located from." He stated, as his villain accomplice fearfully glared down at it. "The airship's computer system can log these and create a waypoint to that location on the radar system. Go there and save Gru and Lucy's butts, before it's too late."

For a good five seconds, Dru kept himself frozen in place, the ability to move seemingly erased. His glare continued to zone-in on the piece of paper in his hand, more specifically at the series of numbers that were written on it. For whatever reason, it felt like they were glaring right back.

How could he possibly save Gru and Lucy? If this cult were too much for them, then how could he ever expect to do any better? As well as that, he'd already promised his brother that he would stay and ensure the girls were not placed back into an orphanage. If he was to leave and also never return, then who else was capable of taking them in?

Although, he just couldn't leave his brother and sister-in-law to die. He'd doubted himself when Balthazar Bratt attacked Hollywood, but as history shows, he saved the day. He saved his brother's life when he was in desperate need of help. And now, it appeared he needed it again. In fact, giving it a second thought, he deduced that there was absolutely no reason to fear the girls being orphaned again...

...because he WAS coming home. WITH Gru and Lucy.

His mouth twisting with vengeful rage, Dru balled his fists and nodded at the scientist, almost shivering with the determination racing through his veins.

"Got eet."

Nefario returned the nod with a grin, actually admiring the blonde's demonstration of courage.

"Well done, lad." He stated simply, before motioning for him to follow him. "Come on. Let's get you weaponed up."

Dru trudged on behind the scientist, that almost stone-cold expression not fading in the slightest.

"Good idea."

As the two traversed the large room to get to the armory section of the lab, Margo, Edith, and Agnes stood in the entrance, watching them disappear with almost mortified expressions. As the eldest had warned, coming down here to eavesdrop had a chance of revealing some news that they may have not liked.

After listening in on most of that conversation, it turned out she wasn't wrong.

"Margo?" Agnes's voice spoke softly. "Are mom and dad really gonna...die?"

Both her and Edith expected their older sister to instantly respond. To extinguish their doubts and worries with a reassuring comment, as she always did when things weren't looking up. But, when she kept herself silent for a concerning amount of time, their doubts and worries were evolving at a rapid pace.

"Margo?" Edith spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically very high. "Ar...are they?"

The twelve-year-old didn't know what to say, nor how to say it. Should she lie to them? To do what Dru had been effectively doing this whole time? Her older sister instincts told her to do so. She'd been doing that ever since they met each other in the orphanage, as a method of keeping them happy and optimistic, so why would she change tactics now?

Well, possibly because the inevitable was bound to happen anyway. She would simply be prolonging the news that was eventually going to distraught them. Besides, if she told them a lie that their parents were totally fine and didn't require the slightest bit of help...

...then how would she explain the sudden trip to Portugal via airship?

"Possibly," She replied bluntly, pushing herself forward into the room. "But we're not gonna let that happen."

Edith and Agnes watched with significant dread as their older sister approached their father's airship, her stride so fierce that they could've easily mistaken her for a super-villain. Once she made it to the flying vehicle, the girl leaned forward and slammed her palm onto the button beside the door, making it open up like some form of spaceship.

"Woah, woah!" Edith exclaimed suddenly, as she and Agnes sprinted over to her sister at a blistering pace, attempting to stop her. The middle-child grabbed her by the shoulder as she went to take a step forward, holding her in place. "What are you doing!?"

"I'm going to save our parents, Edith! I'm not gonna let them die!"

"Are you insane!?" The nine-year-old yelled, looking at her sister as if she'd transformed into a mythical creature. "We can't go to Portugal! It's like...a million miles away!"

Margo's frown grew tenfold.

"Well, would you rather go to Portgual...?" She began, glaring down at the two with atypical aggression. "Or back to the orphanage!?"

After the bespectacled girl yelled that clearly loaded question, Agnes tensed up in fright and swiftly grabbed a hold of Edith's hand, trying to instantly find some form of reassurance. Momentarily surprised, the tomboy turned and gazed down at her little sister questioningly, who returned an almost pleading expression. Truth be told, the sight of her little sister looking so frightened was sincerely upsetting her.

She looked absolutely terrified, and right now, Edith could relate.

Tightly squeezing the six-year-old's hand comfortingly, the middle-child nodded slightly and turned back to Margo, who now seemed a little calmer.

"Let's go."

Margo didn't have much time to respond, because at that point, the distant of sound Dru's voice thanking Nefario crept closer, indicating that he was returning to the room. Her eyes widening in trepidation, she threw herself forward and yanked Edith and Agnes into the airship, making the two yelp a little in surprise. Once inside, she scanned the small interior, trying to find a decent hiding spot.

"Quick," She directed quietly, ushering them towards the small booth table. "Underneath this."

Edith and Agnes followed her sister's command and hid underneath the small piece of furniture, just in time for the three to sneakily watch their uncle board the ship and angrily climb his way up into the cockpit, where he quickly grabbed a firm hold of the control wheel.

Right before he opened the lab's hatch and took flight to Portugal, his eyes caught onto a small printed-out photo of the whole family, which Gru must've placed beside the controls a little while ago. Maybe he'd accidentally left it here. Maybe he'd put it there as a nice aesthetic choice. Or, and this one was the most probable explanation, maybe he'd put it there as a constant reminder of the great people in his life.

He had to give him credit, Dru was now sincerely appreciating that idea.

"I've said eet before, and I'll say eet again..." He muttered to himself, his teeth gritted together.

"Nobody messes weeth my brother."

And there we go! Hope this was worth the wait!

Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out. I've been pretty busy with some stuff and the time I've had to spend on fics is pretty low at the minute. I'll try my best to get the next one out real soon!

Thank you if you chose to review! It's sincerely appreciated :)