Everybody was tranquil... except one.
With his fedora fixed on his head, walking with silent step and wary, Perry the platypus was ready to come into action. He was able to get away like a thief in the night from the sight of his two young owners and, promptly, he slipped inside of one of the many secret passages hidden in his habitation, rushing stealthily in the secret base, where he was convened regularly by Major Monogram, to stop Doctor Doofenshmirtz's evil schemes.
For years, he skilfully managed the roles of pet and secret agent, matching his double life in an impeccable way. No one of the humans who lived the everyday life with him had never suspected anything about his sudden disappearances and him, on the other hand, was really good to elude their surveillance and to not get caught.
So, that day, he didn't expect nothing different and, used to his duties, Perry prepared himself to listen the new orders from his superior. He was ready to hear Major Monogram's usual suspects about Doofenshmirtz's strange behaviour and, like always, he was ready to stand in his way...
But that day, there was something different.
Infiltrated in the secret base, Perry listened to the Major's directives, who showed himself head and shoulders in a computer's monitor. The man illustrated Perry about some suspicious attitudes from Doctor Doofenshmirtz and, even if his voice was a little hesitant, he tried to keep his usual serious tone: "Agent P, in the last hours Doofenshmirtz bought an excessive and so suspicious dose of pain medications and antiblastics; we don't know what's he's planning to, so you have to infiltrate in his apartment and figure out which are his intentions".
The platypus, who was sitting on a red swivel chair in front of the monitor, rimained in silence staring at his superior, with an interrogatory expression on his face. Consequently, Monogram cleared his throat and, feeling a little under the pression of the secret agent's suspicious gaze, continued: "These are the orders, Agent P. After all those evil deeds made by that man, we're in right to suspect of every move out of the ordinary!".
At that point, Perry hesitated no more: he gave the Major a military salute and rushed out of the secret base, directed to Doofenshmirtz's apartment. While he was directed to his destination, he started to think what have incited his enemy to buy all those medicines. He was used to all his bizarre purchases, in order to build as many strange inventions in an attempt to conquer Danville or just for satisfy some personal revenges against the society or against his hated young brother, the city mayor. But why would he have needed all those medications? Did they have to do with drugs? That thought particularly alarmed him and, fixing his fedora on his head, sped up the pace to his destination.
Sitted on a sofa in his apartment, Doctor Doofenshmirtz was looking at the floor. The despair and the helplessness which were gripping him, were skilfully hidden to anybody who would have look at him: the expression on his face was melancholic, but, apparently calm and quiet; with his eyes half-closed and the relaxed body, it seemed that he was about to fall asleep.
Yet, actually, he was listening carefully. He was waiting for something, or better, for someone.
He sighed: standing up from the sofa, he putted his arms behind his back and walked to a big window, which showed the city's streets. The sun was high in the sky and, with a hand, he covered his eyes to protect them from the sun rays, which were hitting against the window glass. The roads were empty and, distractedly, the doctor lifted his white coat's sleeve to check what time it was from his wrist watch.
"He should be here already, he's late" - thought to himself.
But he didn't have to wait longer.
Opening the door with a well-executed kick, Perry the platypus jumped in the middle of the room. He looked immediately for his nemesis and, once he saw him, he positioned himself in a fighting position, ready to defend himself.
The man didn't react. For almost 4 years, Doofenshmirtz and Perry were bitter enemies: one always ready to commit crimes and realize revenge plans, even if the most of the time they were harmless actions, whereas the other was always ready to interfere with his evil-deeds, regularly blowing his plans.
Their relation was strange: they were linked by a bond of frienship and hate built in years and, for better or worse, the one couldn't live without the other. Perry, serious and scrupulous, felt a sort of tenderness looking to Doofenshmirtz's clumsy attempts to get noticed from a society which had forgotten him too many times, and Doofenshmirtz, often feeling alone and misunderstood, found in the silent company of his nemesis, a perfect outlet for all his frustrations, disappointments and emotions that he hardly frankly manifested during his own life.
The man was used to receive his rival with a trap, which would have temporarily paralyzed him sufficient time to show him his new invention, or Inator, like the doctor was used to call them, in which he would've tried to ransack the pacific city of Danville, for his own purposes.
The platypus, on the other hand, always managed to set himself free in time, being able to stop the man before he could come out triumphant, with Doofenshmirtz's big frustration. But that time, things turned out differently: no traps or devices were developed with the purpose of stop the animal and, looking around, Perry had been able to notice that no Inators were built. The agent was perplexed, but not less cautious; he carefully observed his nemesis, scrutinizing his lineaments: there was something different in him, something sad... something sick.
Doofenshmirtz turned around looking at him and cracked a smile: his pale face and the dark circles under his sunken eyes contradicted the expression on his face and Perry, looking at him, couldn't help but stepping back.
The doctor didn't pay him attention and started talking with his pronounced german accent: "Ah, Perry the Platypus, don't stay up, you make me feel upset! There, feel free to have a sit on the sofa!".
The platypus followed his advice and, always keeping an eye on him, sat down suspicious. Doofenshmirtz kept talking, with a calm tone: "You'll be wondering why I haven't received you with one of my usual traps or where my new Inator is, but, for this time..." - sighing, he stopped talking for a while - "... or better, I think that for a plenty of time, if not forever, I'll do without them".
Perry tilted his head trying to understand better what his rival was trying to say and, unable to speak, chattered quickly his teeth producing a sort of growl in order to ask for an explanation.
Doofenshmirtz went back to look out the window, bowed his head and for a while he remained silent. The platypus stayed seated, but not getting any response, he growled again, persistently.
The doctor lifted his head up and, turning his back on the agent, continued: "The truth is I'm diyng, Perry the platypus". The animal opened his eyes wide and leaped up: did he hear him clearly? Doofenshmirtz really said those words? Like he was paralyzed, Perry stared at the doctor's back speechless but, when he was about to get closer to him, the man whirled around and the platypus walked backwards; Doofenshmirtz's face was tear-stained and he was squeezing the corner of his white coat: he tried to stay strong, to smile... He didn't want to break down in front of his enemy, but the pain and the despair overcame him and he wasn't able to help himself anymore: "Oh my God, Perry the platypus, it's terrible! Usually you think that this could happen to someone else, to a person you hate and you even wish this can come true, but..." - he stammered, like he was afraid of his own words - "but... but... you don't think that it's you who could get a tumor, Perry the platypus!". And with that, he covered his face with his hands and didn't hold back anymore: he broke down and cried falling on his knees, weeping desperately.
Perry looked at him shocked: Heinz Doofenshmirtz, his nemesis, the person he spent most time with, after his owners, the one he learned to know so well and predicted his every move... his, after all, friend was dying. At the sight of so much despair, Perry felt his heart constricted and he was about to cry, too, but held back: at least he had to stay strong.
He get closer to him, putted a paw on his shoulder and murmured a growl. It seemed the man understood what he was trying to say and, trying to put himself back together, he answered: "Unfortunately no, Perry the platypus, Inators are useless against a so degenerative illness. Trust me, I tried everything, I've stayed awake whole nights trying to understand what kind of mechanism or device I could invent to even slow down the tumor's progress, but there's nothing to be done. There are obscure things even for the most sophisticated science" - He pulled out a tissue from a small pocket of his white coat and dried his eyes - "It's in the head, you know? Right here" - He tapped his frontal lobe with the index of his hand - "and it's at his end-stage, the doctors say there's nothing left to do".
Doofenshmirtz stood up, staggering a little and Perry, instinctively, sustained him. The man, without mind it, went on: "When Vanessa found out it, she started to cry, poor thing, and yet she doesn't come to visit me. Her mother says that be in my company make her sad and she doesn't want to shock her more than she should, so she thought to keep her away from me. How to blame her? Which teenager would chose to spend the weekend by the side of a sick father, in a climate of despair and illness rather than stay with her friends?" - Heinz tried to smile again - "She's young, Perry the platypus, it's not her fault. At that age you wanna have fun, you don't want to stay with the elder, especially if they're moribund. My ex wife told me she will support me, that she will cure me and I appreciate it..." - He stopped talking for a while, and then went on - "Do you know what that insolent of my brother Roger said, instead?".
Perry shook his head; Heinz's tone of voice became more angry and exasperated:
"I told him by telephone! Charlene insisted so much, she wanted me to tell him too, but, between you and me, if it was up to me I wouldn't tell him anything, I don't want his pity! Well, he had the cheek of tell me "I'm sorry, Heinz, is there something I can do for you?".
He wringed again his hands, this time because of the anger and snapped: "Something for me?! What the hell would you do for me, you damned bastard?! You've always been head and shoulders above... or better, years ahead of me, mom's favourite, dad's pride, mayor of Danville city, loved and respected by everyone and you never had regard whatsoever for me! You always left me behind, you took the love of my parents away, you always had everything I wanted... and now you're telling me that you feel sorry for me and that you'd like to do something for me, for support me? Go to hell, Roger!". Said that, full of hate and despair, he threw on the ground some decorative objects on a shelf with a bump of his hand, destroying them.
Perry jumped, scared, but then he ran by the man side, who keeled over on the floor again, crying. This time, he put both his paws on his shoulders and slowly shook him, growling more loudly than usual to drown out his sobs. There was a sad look on the platypus' face and he felt a sense of powerlessness: however much he wanted to, there wasn't anything he could do to lift the spirits of a dying man.
Heinz, through his tears, tried to calm down and to not cry anymore. He put himself together then addressed Perry: "Forgive me, Perry the platypus, lately I find myself to act in a really bizarre way, I don't recognize myself anymore." Perry shook his paw to not worry and encouraged him to go on. "Like I was saying, I don't want Roger's compassion, I don't want to see him shaking his head having pity for me and excusing himself because he has never been part of my life. I wanna do this alone, with my own abilities, like I did through all of these years" - he went on - "You know Perry, I didn't tell anything to my parents, I don't know how they could react. I don't even know if they would be too much worried for me, but they're a certain age and I don't want to distress them... if my brother won't tell them, I'll keep them out of the loop".
Doofenshmirtz stood up and crossed his arms: "Our battles end here, Perry the platypus. I won't try to conquer Danville, I won't plan revenge anymore, I won't ruin my brother's public debates, I won't try to reverse the Earth revolution, I won't try to summon aliens on the Earth through some music discovered in an Egyptian pyramid, I won't try to expand the hole in the ozone, I won'tdo anything at all. Probably, they'll commit you another nemesis to fight, but, from me, I swear out loud I won't disturb you anymore! You can officially forget about my face and my name! You're free, Perry the platypus." - and saying that, he tried to giggle.
Perry, on the other hand, looked at him with a proud expression and with teary eyes, trying not to cry. He didn't want to pity him, he felt a great respect for him and within himself he was surprised to see how much strong was his rival who, apparently looked so frail, hid whitin himself an enviable fortitude and tenacity. Instinctively, he put a paw against his forehead to make a military salute to him, looking proudly at him.
Doofenshmirtz was positively surprised. Smiling, greeted him back and then he said: "Heh, I didn't expected that! Take care, Perry the platypus. You are and you'll always be the best nemesis I could have!".
Perry smiled at him and, growling softly, said goodbye to his enemy-friend. While he was walking back home, the sunset painted the city and its buildings with bright red, and a warm wind blew in the evening. Perry took a last look to Doofenshmirtz's apartment and, with the tear-stained face, took off his fedora out of respect and, when the wind started to blow harder, he released it in the air, making it fly away.