Despicable Me 3--The Junior Novel Page 5

  He turned, leaving with the pig.

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure I won’t forget you, either,” Margo said as the door slammed behind him.

  Lucy let out a deep breath.

  “Wow, that was crazy!” she said. “Wooo!”

  “That was totally humiliating!” Margo snapped. “Taking a bite of that cheese was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Why did I listen to you?”

  “Right, but it’s over now, so—”

  Knock knock knock!

  Lucy turned back to the door. How many times did she have to tell this kid? No engagement. Ever. Never gonna happen.

  But when she opened the door, Niko was standing next to a round, angry-looking woman carrying a baby. “You!” the woman yelled. “You refuse my son’s engagement pig? May you and your daughter die a slow death and be buried with onions!”

  She spat. The baby spat.

  “Alright, lady,” Lucy said, having had enough. “That’s it! Okay, I know we are visitors here, and yes, your country has some pretty messed-up traditions, but nobody—nobody!—curses my daughter! You got that?”

  Lucy poked her finger into the woman’s chest, backing her down off the porch.

  “Because if you mess with Margo,” she said, yelling now, “you mess with me! And I promise, you do not want to mess with me! Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes,” Niko’s mother said, running away.

  Lucy turned back to Margo, not sure what to say. This was all her fault. Margo had every right to be furious, and if she didn’t speak to her for ages, she would just have to deal with—

  Margo threw her arms around Lucy, hugging her tight. Lucy was startled at first, but then she wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her close. She’d been waiting for this moment for so long. To finally feel like Margo loved her as much as she loved Margo. To finally feel like a mom.

  Just when Lucy was thinking she could stay like that forever, Margo pulled away. She ran off to her room without saying another word.

  Lucy stood on the porch, stunned.

  “I’m a mom,” she said out loud. Then she smiled. “I’ve got to tell Gru!”

  She turned to go back in the house when she heard the sound of an engine firing up. She looked down at the water, noticing Gru and Dru in Dru’s boat. They sped off over the water.

  What were they doing? Why hadn’t Gru told her they were going somewhere? And why on earth were they wearing spandex?

  “Fritz!” she called, wandering through the house, looking for the butler. “Oh, Fritz!”

  CHAPTER 19

  The boat sped over the water. Gru was steering it, the wind in his face as they got closer to Bratt’s lair.

  “Look at us!” Dru called out. “Two brothers pulling a heist. And that diamond will make us the richest, most powerful villains in the world! Right, Brother?”

  “Sure…,” Gru replied half-heartedly. He thought of his real plan of returning the diamond to AVL. He could still picture Valerie’s smug face.

  “Look, we’re here!” Gru said, changing the subject. He pointed at the tower out in the middle of the water. Jagged, razor-sharp spikes jutted out all around the base of the fortress. “I’m going in. Take the wheel.”

  “I still don’t see why I can’t go with you,” Dru said.

  “Hey, we discussed this,” Gru tried. “Now is not the time to mess with the plan.”

  Gru hit a button on the dashboard and BOING! He ejected himself from the boat and went flying toward the tower. Using the controls on his wrist, he cycled through different modes, eventually choosing STICKY. By the time he hit the building, he was as sticky as glue. His suit would now hold him in place as he climbed the tower.

  He reached up, beginning his climb, when Dru crash-landed beside him. Dru hit the building hard, his face smashed flat. “Hey, Brother,” he mumbled.

  “What are you doing?” Gru cried. “I told you, you were supposed to stay in the boat!”

  “I didn’t think you meant that literally!” Dru said.

  “What other way would I have meant it?” Gru asked. He let out a deep breath, knowing it was too late now. Dru was here, and he’d have to deal with it. “Alright. Let’s move. Just follow my lead.”

  Dru lifted up one hand then immediately went tumbling down toward the spikes.

  “Help me!” he yelled. “Ow, ow, oh no! The poison spikes! Oh, I’m gonna be impaled!”

  Dru kept falling toward the bottom of the building, trying desperately to get his sticky suit to work. Finally, he stopped just inches from one of the spikes.

  “Ha!” he called up, realizing he was still alive. “I’m okay!”

  “Come on,” Gru said, scaling the side of the building.

  Dru hurried to catch up. But the security bot had already sensed something was off. Its red light was beeping as it swooped down to see Dru.

  “It’s a scanning device!” Gru hissed. “Quick—camouflage mode.”

  Dru hit the button on his wrist, cycling through all the different modes. Scuba, nope. Armor, nope. Flame, nope. He finally got to camouflage just as the bot flew by.

  “Freeze!” Gru called down. “And close your eyes. And your mouth. Don’t forget the mouth!”

  Dru did what he was told. He tried to stay completely still as the bot scanned the side of the building, trying to detect if anyone was there. Gru watched, waiting to see what would happen, afraid this was it. Would it all end here? Would they be caught before they even got inside?

  He held his breath, and then the security bot finally flew away. He began another long circle around the tower. Gru knew this was their chance.

  “Take my hand!” he called down.

  They climbed together toward a narrow ledge halfway up the tower. They were still a few yards from the top. Gru hit a button on his palm, filling the suit with an air bubble that looked (and felt) a lot like a fart. He floated up and up, his suit like a helium balloon.

  “Follow me!” he called to Dru, who hit his own button.

  Gru used sticky mode to stick to the side. He was right at the entrance to the lair—a small vent in the top, which was just big enough to climb in. He was about to enter when Dru flew toward him, totally out of control. He looked like a balloon that someone had untied—all the air was rushing out of his suit, making him do big, crazy loops in the air.

  “Look out!” he yelled as he slammed into Gru.

  The two brothers went tumbling through the vent and into the lair below.

  CHAPTER 20

  They bumped and bounced along the inside of the air shaft, plummeting toward the bottom. SMASH! They hit it hard, all the breath leaving their bodies. They lay there, feeling bruised and beaten.

  “We got in!” Dru said after a beat.

  Gru checked the screen on his wrist. It was a radar to help him locate the diamond. “Come on,” he grumbled. “This way.”

  Gru crawled as fast as he could toward the diamond.

  “Okay, finally!” he said. “It looks like it’s right above us.”

  “Okay!” Dru said. “What do I do? Should I wait in the vent?”

  “No,” responded Gru. “Come with me.”

  Gru climbed up out of the vent. It looked like they were in Bratt’s bedroom. He turned his back on Dru for a second and suddenly realized that Dru had sat down… at the foot of Bratt’s bed. The villain wore a sleep mask as he snored away, clutching the diamond in both hands.

  “Yes, I’d like to thank the Academy,” Bratt murmured. “Yes, yes, Molly Ringwald. I will take you to prom.”

  Gru grabbed Dru, pulling him away from the bed. Then Gru reached out for the diamond. Dru pushed his brother aside, trying to reach the diamond as well. Then they started to struggle.

  “There we—no, no!” mumbled Gru as he fought off his brother’s grasp.

  “I can do it—” insisted Dru.

  “No, no, no, no, no! Don’t, don’t, don’t!” Gru scolded him.

  They went back and forth until Dru stepped on
a toy on the floor, which made a loud beeping sound. Bratt’s alarm went off.

  “Who… Who’s there…?” Bratt grabbed for his sleep mask, pulling it off.

  Dru and Gru rolled under the bed. They held their breath, hoping Bratt wouldn’t notice them there. He didn’t. But now he was up, wide awake, and walking around the lair. He grabbed the diamond and padded off.

  When they were certain he’d left the room, Gru and Dru got up and started down the hallway. It was lined with rows and rows of vintage Balthazar Bratt action figures. They were the same ones from the eighties, with purple jumpsuits and eyes that lit up red.

  “Dolls?” Gru asked, realizing they must’ve been the same action figures from Bratt’s show. “Looks like Bratt was the only one stupid enough to buy this junk.”

  “Oh man!” Dru said, picking one up. “I used to have one of these! Pew pew pew! Aaah! Oww!”

  Dru accidentally activated the doll’s laser beam. Blinded, he dropped the doll to the ground.

  “Hey! Shh! Come on!” said Gru. He kept going, gesturing for Dru to follow him into Bratt’s lab. But as they walked out of the room, the doll’s eyes started to glow red.

  Inside the lab, there was a giant vat of bubbling pink gum.

  “Gum!” Dru said, popping a piece in his mouth.

  “Hey! Focus!” Gru snapped. “We’re after the diamond, not the bubble gum!”

  They approached another door and heard voices. Gru slid behind a crate with Dru close behind him. They both peered inside.

  Bratt and his robot Clive were staring up at a giant Balthazar Bratt action figure. It was one hundred feet tall, with glowing red eyes. A ladder was resting against its head.

  “And now to put this where it belongs,” Bratt said, holding up the Dupont Diamond.

  Gru leaned closer, trying to get a better look, but Dru was making gagging noises behind him. “Will you please shut up?” Gru asked. “He’s gonna spot us.”

  When he turned back, Dru was twisting and turning, obviously in pain. The bubble gum was the same type that Bratt had used on the tanker ship. It expanded in Dru’s mouth and was now coming out his nose. Gru tried to pull it out, but his hand stuck right to it.

  “Spit it out!” Gru hissed. “Spit it out! I told you not to touch anything!”

  Gru turned around, getting behind Dru to perform the Heimlich on him. That’s all it took for Clive to sense them there.

  “Intruders!” the robot yelled. “Intruders!”

  Bratt ran into the lab, aiming his Keytar right at them.

  “Gru!” he sneered. Then he turned to Dru. “There’s two of you now? Then this will be twice as much fun.”

  Gru clutched his fist around Dru’s belly, pushing down hard to clear the gum that was stuck in his throat. The gum flew out of Dru’s mouth and hit Bratt and Clive, sticking them to the wall. Gru ran across the room, grabbed the diamond, and headed for the door.

  “Aaaaah!” Bratt yelled, trying to break free of the gum. “Give me back my diamond! Total lockdown!! Go get ’em, Bratt Pack!!”

  Alarms screeched. Lights flashed. One by one, each of the Evil Bratt action figures came alive and climbed down from the wall, their eyes glowing red. They took off after Gru and Dru.

  “They’re gonna get us!” Dru screeched. He was too afraid to move. “They’re gonna get us!”

  “Run!” Gru yelled. They started down the corridor, the action figures close behind them. Gru spotted a door ahead and leapt through the air, crashing into it. It shattered, and Gru and Dru ran through, ending up on the ledge outside.

  All the lair’s weapons were now armed. Missile launchers emerged from the sides of the building. More spikes shot up out of the water. The alarms continued blaring as Gru peered down the side of the tower, realizing they were stuck. There was no way they could get off the ledge now, and the army of Evil Bratts was coming for them.

  “Oh no…,” Gru said, realizing how bad it was.

  “Oh no?” Dru asked, panicked. “What does that mean? ARE WE GONNA DIE?? ARE WE GONNA DIE?? WE’RE GONNA DIE!!”

  Gru looked around. For once, Dru was right. They were completely trapped. There was no way out. Gru had been in hundreds of terrible situations before, but none of them had been this bad.

  A strange sound mixed with the blaring siren. Somewhere in the distance, Gru heard the wup wup wup of a helicopter. He turned, spotting Dru’s red copter coming toward them, just low enough that they could climb on.

  He glanced back inside. The Evil Bratts were so close, their weapons aimed at Gru and Dru as the army marched down the hall. The brothers were out of time.

  “Dru! Gru!” Lucy yelled from the cockpit. She swooped down, getting as close to the tower as she could. “Hold on!”

  Gru and Dru leapt into the helicopter and Lucy steered it out over the ocean, dodging missiles as they flew away from Bratt’s lair. No one spoke until they were sure they were safe, with the giant purple tower disappearing behind them.

  “Thank you for saving us!” Dru said, staring at the dazzling diamond. “Look! We got the diamond! And we’re going to—”

  “Take it to the AVL to get our jobs back!” Gru said.

  “Wait, whaaa?” Dru said, stunned. They were supposed to be in this together—brothers turned super villains. Just two buds bent on taking over the world.

  “That’s amazing!” Lucy said. “And the best part is you are never going to do anything behind my back ever again! Right?”

  “Yup! Yup! Right,” Gru said. “Lesson learned.”

  Gru glanced down at the diamond in his hands, feeling better than he had since that day at AVL. Maybe he’d made some mistakes, maybe he hadn’t always been perfect, but he’d defeated Balthazar Bratt. And even though returning the diamond disappointed his brother, Gru had done something AVL couldn’t—he’d gotten the Dupont Diamond back. He’d won.

  He smiled, looking out over the ocean.

  I won, he repeated to himself.

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