It was all Devon could do to not curl up on the couch and fall asleep.

Although, she wouldn't have been able to if she tried, she was sure. Between the constant whines of "I'm bored", and the incessant derogatory comments from Margo, she was surprised she hadn't murdered one of the little brats yet.

She rolled her eyes as Margo made threats, yet again, of what Gru would do to her if he caught her with them. Not that she doubted her, of course; she would have even welcomed a visit from Gru at this point. Even a beating would have been better than this.

And that song!

Agnes had been singing that annoying unicorn song for two hours now, and Devon knew she was nearing her breaking point. She was almost completely positive Margo had been encouraging her to sing it louder and louder.

And people have kids? Willingly?

"Mr. Gru dodged six missiles at once one time," Margo bragged, "He could get through just about anything."

She was answered with a disinterested, "Cool story…"

Devon was flipping through the same issue of Squid Fancy for the eleventh time now, trying to pay more attention to the article on "suction cup maintenance" than the girls.

"He punched a shark," Edith piped in. She was now reclining against the glass, hands behind her head and her toboggan pulled down over her eyes.

All the while, sing-song chants of "unicorns, I love them, unicorns I love them" drifted in and out of Devon's consciousness as Agnes belted it out nonstop.

"Ya know, Gru could get into Vector's fortress, no problem. He's done it before."

"He melted a carnival stand."

"Uni-uni-unicoooooorns…I looooove them!"

"There was another time a few weeks ago he stole a country's entire weapon supply."

"Burned a hole right through the steel wall!"

"Uni-unicorns! I could pet one! If they were really real, and THEY ARE!"

On and on and on and on until Devon couldn't hear herself think. Her brain pounded in her head, teeth grinding together and cheeks reddening as if she were about to explode.

"ALRIGHT!"

The three girls jumped at the sudden outburst and watched Devon wide-eyed.

"If I find something, ANYTHING for you to do, will you please shut UP and leave me ALONE?"

The three glanced at each other, the surprised looks gradually fading from their faces.

Edith's lips curled into a semi-innocent smirk, "Anything?"

Vector was feeling better and better by the second. Better than he had in months. He could just imagine the look on Gru's face when he learned of his little scheme. Priceless.

He had been itching to inform his nemesis since he had performed the deed, but he had held off. It had to be at exactly the right moment; the most important rule of a kidnapping was timing, after all.

But he just couldn't wait! As he pulled his car into the garage, he pressed one of the many glowing buttons on the dash. The windshield lit up, acting as a semi-transparent screen on which a very confused Gru could be seen sitting on a couch that resembled a large crocodile.

"H—wh—YOU!"

Vector chuckled, mustering all the wickedness he could, "Yes, Gru, I take it you missed me."

Gru's eyes flashed, "What do you want, you little twerp?"

Vector pouted mockingly, "Hey! Hey! Can't a guy call up his rival just for a little conversation once in awhile?"

"Well, I am afraid that your welcome is being worn," Gru held his remote up, about to turn the TV off.

"Ah-ah! Not so fast! I just happen to have a liiiiittle tidbit of info you just might want to hear."

Gru raised an eyebrow toward the screen expectantly, and Vector continued, pretending to examine his nails.

"Do you notice anything…different around your little lair?"

Gru rolled his eyes, "Alright…I will play along. Ahhh! Whatever have you done to my precious lair?"

"Oh, not to worry…your stronghold is safe. I was just curious as to whether you had noticed that something was…missing?"

Gru feigned concern, "Something is missing? Oh, no! My boots are shivering!"

"Three somethings, in fact."

"Three someth—" realization hit him, and his expression darkened in less than a second, his tone darkening with it, "What have you done with them?"

Vector giggled cruelly, "Ya want 'em back, you come to my place unarmed, and we can discuss my terms. And don't bother trying to infiltrate my fortress; my defenses have been increased substantially."

And with one last maniacal cackle, Gru was left to stare at a blank screen.

Vector practically danced as he entered the fortress that evening. He hummed some little song he had heard on the radio on his way home, crossing the kitchen and making his way up the stairs to the living room.

That was when he heard it. Giggling. Little girl's giggling.

He scowled, "Devon! Deeeeeeev?"

As he neared the sound of the laughter, he realized it was coming from the hatch to the shark tank he used to feed Phish from.

He growled, "I give you one job to do, Dev, and you can't even—"

He stopped in the doorway and gaped. The three girls were in the open hatch where the water was shallow, all three in bathing suits he didn't remember them being in when he had left, and the blond one holding his Squid-launcher. Sitting at the edge of the water was Devon, also clad in swimwear and clearly condoning of the situation.

The giggling stopped as the girls noticed Vector, and he shrieked as he found his face covered with a particularly fat squid. He tugged at the creature, each suction cup detaching with a loud pop only to be replaced with several more from another tentacle.

"Devon, I gave you a job to do!"

"And I'm doing it," she chuckled with a shrug.

He grunted as another tentacle attached itself to his nose, "I told you not to let them out of the glass dome!"

She stood up, dripping water across the floor, "Noooo, you told me to keep an eye on them. You never said anything about letting them out."

"I—" he paused as he realized she was right, "Errrgh! Well that should have gone without saying!"

When he was finally able to detach the squid completely from his face, he grabbed the launcher from Edith and stuffed the animal rather harshly back into the barrel.

"And where did you get this?" he waved the Squid-launcher toward her.

"You left it lying on the couch! It looked like a super-soaker to me," she fibbed.

"A super-soa— Listen, baby doll, this is a state of the art weapon designed by me! And any second rate villain would know that."

She rolled her eyes with a scoff but decided it wasn't worth it to retaliate just yet.

He wiped off his weapon gingerly and scowled toward his intern, "Just put them back…"

She sighed, "Alright, back to the fish bowl."

The girls groaned in protest, but Margo quickly convinced the other two it was best to comply.

Vector glared as Devon gathered up the kids to lead them back upstairs. However, he found his anger subsiding a bit. It was probably due to the great mood he had been in earlier, though he would be lying if he said it didn't have a little to do with the amount of cleavage Devon's bathing suit was allowing him to see right now.

It was becoming apparent to him that Devon might end up being more of a challenge to mould in his image than he had thought. He simply shrugged it off for the time being; the more challenging she was, the more impressed his father would be once he was successful. There was really no need to get frustrated yet.

Besides, he had a master plan to unfold.