Under New Management

Chapter 17

"Alright." Carla commanded. "To your stations."

Gru and Lucy hesitated. They looked at each other, like they had something they wanted to say, but nothing came out.

She was, honestly, kinda touched watching them. In all the time that she had seen them, since they came back, Gru's hold on Lucy never loosened. He was always touching her in some way. Protecting her. She hadn't realized how scared he had been when they shot down her ship.

"Be careful." Gru whispered to her. She nodded, and kissed him on the cheek. They both dispersed to their positions, and Carla followed suit.

Gru took a breath in, readying himself. He waited for Carla's signal.

There it was. He let his breath out, grabbed the key that she had given him, and set to work.

Lucy saw Carla's signal, and took off. She followed the course that Carla had given her. She ran, but not as quickly as she normally would. She wanted to be easily spotted.

She looked behind her. He wasn't chasing her, yet. She looked up at one of the cameras. It was following her. So, he was already watching.

Gru unlocked each of the cages, one by one. He almost left the flies in their cage, knowing how much they scared Lucy, but decided against it. Carla had said to let them all out, and he really needed this plan to work.

Lucy kept running. So far, nothing. Suddenly, a wall popped up in front of her. Where did that come from? She turned around and kept running. She turned down a new hallway, and another wall popped up. He must be watching, and trying to control where I go, she thought.

Gru came up to the last cage. This one had a giant gorilla in it. When he unlocked the door, the gorilla didn't come out. All of the other creations were running around, wreaking havoc all around them, but this one was just sitting there, watching him.

He didn't have time to contemplate this. He wanted to get to Lucy. He didn't all the way trust Carla, and he hated that they had been apart for this long.

Lucy stopped short of another wall. She had run out of options. There was only one way to run now. Ugh! She hated this! Devin was controlling this, and she knew it. But, that didn't matter. The important thing was that she needed to keep him away from Gru.

"Ha! Gotcha!"

Suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind. Apparently he wasn't watching the camera feed anymore.

She slipped out of his grasp, and punched him in the face. He winced from the pain, but it didn't really slow him down. He aimed a kick, she dodged, and aimed one back at him.

This continued for awhile before Lucy noticed Carla standing behind Devin, syringe poised. She lifted her arm to strike.

Wham! Devin whacked Carla over the head. As she fell, he grabbed the syringe, and injected the serum into Lucy.

"No!!!" Carla screamed.

"You won't be getting away this time!" He cackled.

Gru ran as fast as his legs would let him. Suddenly, he saw a flash of orange. There! He turned the corner, and saw Carla poised over Devin, who was fighting his wife. Then, he heard Carla scream. His wife collapsed on the floor, and his blood ran cold. He watched in horror as Devin picked her up like she was a sack of potatoes.

"Get your hands off of her!" He screamed.

Devin just laughed, and began to saunter to his lab.

"Let her go, you monster!" Carla groaned, still on the ground from when he hit her.

"Oh, yeah." Devin laughed. "I forgot about you. Thomas!!"

The gorilla came running, waiting for his command.

"Bring them to my lab." He commanded.

The gorilla looked at Carla, still on the floor, and at Gru, standing there helplessly.

Suddenly, he turned to Devin, and grabbed him, holding him up in the air. Lucy fell from his grasp.

"Go!" Thomas shouted. Gru stared for a second, shocked by this gorilla talking to him, but snapped to action, and scooped up Lucy.

Carla got up, and began to run.

"Follow me!" She shouted to Gru.

"No!" Devin shouted. "You fool! Let go of me!"

"Get out of here! Carla shouted. "Mutants, follow them!"

"What about you?" He asked.

"I have a plan." She said.

Gru climbed up the ladder, while still holding onto Lucy. She was his first priority.

"Thomas!" She called to the gorilla. "Let go of him! Get to the surface!"

The gorilla obeyed.

Carla ran down the hall to the cells. She opened each door, and water began pouring in.

"You fool!" Devin screamed at her. "You'll kill us both!"

"I know." She replied.