Under New Management

Chapter 5

At the end of the day, all agents were required in a meeting, again. This new guy must be fond of those, Gru thought, as they settled into their seats. Lucy was still leaning into him. She had stopped crying long ago, but he could tell that something was still very wrong.

"I would like to begin with a thank you to all of those who participated today." Devin said. "Today gave us an idea of what we are working with, and what changes clearly need to be made."

The more that this guy spoke, the less Gru liked him. He seemed to have little experiance, yet always acted as though he did. Gru had looked into him last night, and found that he had never been employed as an agent anywhere, much less as a director.

"Furthermore," Carla stepped in. "We will be beginning our changes immediately."

This girl got on his nerves even more than the guy. She had even less on her resume than he did. It appeared that the only reason why she was here was because she was dating him. So far, he had yet to see her in anything relatively decent. Today, her dress was dark red, with a plunging neckline.

"Firstly," she continued. "We will be making some, er, cuts in the staff."

Wait, what did that mean?

"If your name is called, please come up here, hand over your badge, and leave." Devin concluded.

Lucy sat up straighter, and looked at Gru. She had a puzzled look on her face, and he knew why. AVL agents went through a series of rigorous trials to get in. Everyone here was meant to be here.

Carla began to read off the list of names.

"Gregory Jones, Tricia Bolt, Emily Collins," she read off. So far, no one that they knew.

"Richard Drake, Ronald Miller, Lindsey Smith," she continued. "And lastly,"

Everyone held their breath, waiting.

"Lucy Gru."

The silence was so dense you could've cut it with a knife. Everyone turned and stared at Lucy, who sat rigid, next to her husband. Slowly, she stood up, handed over her badge, and walked out.

How could this have happened. His wife was the best agent here. Everyone was whispering around him, and giving him sympathetic looks. He wasn't the one who should be receiving their sympathy. Lucy was.

Lucy. How was she taking this? This was her dream, her passion. Her parents had done this before her. She must be crushed. She was already sleep deprived, and her simulation hadn't gone well. He desperately wanted to go to her, but then Devin began to speak again, and he knew that he would have to wait.

Devin went on for awhile longer, with Carla occasionally stepping in. Gru wasn't really listening, though. All he could think of was his wife. When they were dismissed, Gru was the first to leave. He rushed into the hallway, looking for her. Eventually, he discovered her in the locker room, cleaning out her locker.

"Hey, honey," he began. "Are you ok?"

She opened her mouth, but closed it as other agents began to file into the room. She gave him a look that said 'let's talk about this when we're alone.'

They walked home in silence. Normally they talked the whole way, but neither of them seemed in the mood. Gru longed to wrap his arms around her the whole way home, but she seemed stiff and icy tonight. He thought that it would probably be best to just leave her alone until she was ready.

They walked through the front door, with no girls coming to greet them. At first he was surprised by this, but then he looked at his watch. It was way past their bedtime. They were probably sound asleep. Gru hadn't realized how long they had taken.

They walked straight up to their bedroom. Kicked off her shoes, and hung up her purse in silence. Then she turned to look at him, and he saw that her eyes were full of tears. He pulled her close to him, letting her cry into his chest.