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.