Under New Management

Chapter 1

This one was simple. Their orders were to find and capture this scientist. He was a minimal threat, working in this lab that was practiacally falling apart. Really, they could be done with this one in time to get back home for dinner.

His experiments involved a lot of genetic mutation. Thankfully, if they nabbed him today, he wouldn't have started work on human specimens yet. So far, all of his work had been with animals. The AVL just wanted to stop this problem before it became one.

Gru went in first, with Lucy following closely behind. So far, it appeared to be empty. Lucy put on her infrared goggles, and scanned the room.

"I see something down that hall." She whispered to her partner.

He nodded, and slowly crept down the hall. He looked back at her, and she gestured to the room at the very end. They crept right up to it. Lucy stepped back, just before he broke the door down.

They both sprinted into the room, weapons at the ready, only to find it empty.

"That's strange." Lucy said. "Maybe they're broken?" She held up her goggles.

"I'll check them out when we get back to headquarters." He said, holding his hand out to take them from her. She handed them over, and began looking around the room again.

"Hang on," Lucy said, suddenly. "I think there's something beneath here."

She stepped on a section of floor, and it made a hollow sound.

"There it is." Gru whispered excitedly. "I think you found 'em, babe."

Lucy got down and pried up the floor board that she had stepped on. She was about to just stick her head down in the hole, before Gru stopped her. He held up the X-Ray goggles.

"I want to scan it before you just stick your head in there." He said.

She grinned sheepishly. She had the tendency to just jump at things without thinking. Gru had stopped her from making many stupid decisions in the past. She waited while he scanned.

Suddenly, Gru stood up, and started backing away from the hole in the floor.

"Lucy," he said. "Get behind me."

She hurried over. What could possibly be beneath there, to make Gru seem so freaked out.

"Is he down there?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Then what is it?" She asked. If not the scientist, then what could possibly be down there?

He set aside the goggles, and looked at her, but before he could speak, there was a crash from the other side of the room, and Lucy suddenly understood what Gru had seen.

It was a snake, but not just any snake. This was a giant King Cobra. She didn't even think she could wrap her arms all the way around it's middle. It towered over her and her husband, poised to strike.

"Lucy," she heard Gru say. "Run."

She wasted no time doing just that. She sprinted as fast as she could, out the door, down the hallway, and into the main area of the laboratory, before she realized that Gru wasn't with her.

"Gru!" She shouted, running back for him. She ran back into the room, to find her husband wrapped up in the snake's coils.

"Lucy, go!" He said. "Leave me. I'll distract it!"

"Not a chance!" She exclaimed.

She had to think. This thing had itself wrapped around Gru. Any second now and it could squeeze him to death.

But then she remembered. This was a King Cobra. It wasn't a constrictor. It killed with venom, it didn't squeeze it's victims. Not that that was really any better. Her husband still had an extremely venomous snake wrapped around him, but at least she knew that it wouldn't crush him.

Then she had a thought. It was probably a stupid one, and she knew that Gru would scold her later, but she didn't care. She pulled out her freeze ray. (Gru had made one for her after they had gotten married.) Right before the snake was about to strike her husband, she aimed right at the head, and fired.

It instantly started writhing and twisting, but it loosened its grip on Gru long enough for him to get away. He immediately ran toward Lucy. They wasted no time in running toward the little turquoise car, changing its mode into a plane, and flying away.