Chapter One

Pressure

There was a town in the Tri State Area of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. It was the town of Danville, a prosperous town whose main exports were milk, grass and flowers.

Phineas and Ferb, two local boys from Danville were local geniuses. More specifically, they were imagineers- people who use their imagination to create seemingly impossible items from nothing. Phineas and Ferb were only 13, but they still had that spark of youthfulness and innocence that is both strange and intriguing.

To make Phineas and Ferb even more interesting than they already were, they had a pet platypus. Perry, the platypus, didn't really do much of anything. In fact, he was the least interesting and least talkative, for being a platypus doesn't give you much of an option to voice your own opinion about things. But just because he didn't say much, didn't mean he had nothing to say.

In fact, Perry had lots to say, and Phineas and Ferb listened. If you call staring at a platypus for thirty minutes listening to what said platypus had to say. But it didn't really matter for Phineas and Ferb interpreted their own thoughts through him, and that was just fine for Perry, for he had some secrets of his own.

On this day, Phineas and Ferb were working on their latest invention, The Great Thingy That We Don't Really Know What It Does Thing. They gave it this name for good reason because it was actually a compilation of everything that they ever built. It required an entire reconstruction of three years worth of work, but it was worth it.

"This is going to change the world, Ferb." Phineas said proudly as he looked upon the large unexplainable thing that they recreated. Ferb said nothing, only nodded in agreement, for he was not much a talker. "You don't say much do you?" Phineas asked only half concerned, "I'll speak when I want to. Right now, I just want to savor this moment of certain victory." He finally spoke after several minutes, only to resume this pattern of silence.

Perry was lying underneath the large oak tree in the middle of the backyard when Phineas and Ferb came over. Perry at present, did not want Phineas and Ferb to bother him, it was his only day off from his job in five years. He wanted to enjoy it without any distractions, but then again, if he were at his job he would be missing Phineas and Ferb. Talk about a two edged sword.

Perry's job was the most unusual job for a platypus to have, if you completely ignore the fact that a platypus has a job to begin with. He was a secret agent. Perry's work for the government had so far proved beneficial to himself and the rest of the family, but now he was not so sure how safe he really was. In five years of being in the OWCA, the organization that Perry is affiliated with and the government's own private animal spy group, he had been close to dying the field exactly 3,897 times, and that's not including Doofenshrimtz's daily routine of trying to take over Danville and presumably, the world.

Perry was tired, very tired. He was tired of the agency, he was tired of Doofenshrimtz and his schemes, and he was tired of living. "There's only one thing that keeps me going..." he thought to himself, "The family's love for me. If it wasn't for them I would've left a long time ago."

Perry tried to get away from Phineas and Ferb, but their grasp was too tight. He was close to suffocating under Phineas' embrace, at least he would die happy, but just when he was about to give up Phineas let go and Perry breathed heavily, but not too heavily, he didn't want them to worry.

In truth, Perry was not well, his health deteriorated as a result of the stress of balancing his job and his family. It was getting too much to bear. There have been many times when he was close to revealing his identity, if only to stop all the pain that it had cost him. "It won't be long now," he thought to himself once more, "It won't be Doofenshrimtz that kills me, it will be the pain of losing family over my job. But at least I would die in peace..." Perry walked over to the house, and when Phineas and Ferb were out of eyesight, Perry went deep underground to his lair, to ponder on the issue in safety and solitude.

Perry's lair was dark when he entered it. Unfortunately, the light switch was on the other side of the room. As he made his way through the darkness Perry tripped over several boxes, which contained several breakable items and spilled shards of glass all over the floor. When Perry found the light switch, he looked down at his webbed feet, they were bleeding and had several pieces of glasses inside of them, but he didn't really care. He made his way slowly to the computer and sat in the not so comfortable chair.

Perry looked around his lair; he looked at the floor and noticed that the glass was from old pictures that had broken upon impact with the floor. He decided that he would sweep the glass later, but now he had more important things to deal with than housecleaning. Perry put on his fedora, which is an improvement over the last design, because it transfers animal thought to human speech, making conversation between humans and animals that much easier, especially when your superior is Francis Monogram.

Perry turned on the computer and saw Major Monogram, sleeping on his desk. Monogram is a poor excuse for a Major. He is incompetent and extremely lazy- but after serving for three tours in World War II, Vietnam, Korea and Desert Storm for a total of 4,000 hours combined in the service, you have to give the man your respect.

Monogram's incompetence was in large part due to his old age, he was 78, and in a small part due to his obsession with using animals as secret agents after the Cold War. The idea behind the OWCA was originally to look into the Russians activity in Afghanistan, their nuclear weapons development and their space technology. After the Cold War, the OWCA was remodeled for government defense; it changed again after 9/11, dedicated to stopping terroristic threats and nuclear weapon technology.

Monogram was looked terrible on the screen, it was obvious that he hadn't shaved in weeks and it seemed that he had been sleeping in the same room for days, possibly weeks. "Sir," Perry said, "It's time to wake up." Nothing. Monogram was snoring. Perry rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself "Of all the days to be lazy, he had to pick this one." Perry looked at Monogram; he knew that only one thing would get him out of it, "Doofenshrimtz!" Perry shouted as loudly as possible, with that Monogram sat straight up and looked around, ready to attack. When he saw Perry stared back at him, his face was turning red, "What happened?" He asked, still dazed from sleep. "You were sleeping again sir" Perry answered, quite annoyed with him but not wanted to say so.

Monogram straightened himself out, "Very well. I have a new assignment for you." Perry sat up as well; he hadn't gotten a new assignment in...Well he never got new assignments, Doofenshrimtz was always a problem. "You're to go to Doofenshrimtz." Perry rolled his eyes once again, "Of course, it's him..." Perry thought to himself, "Tell me something I don't know sir" the platypus replied. Monogram pulled up an image of a canister, "This canister contains important information, vital to our organization." Perry looked at the canister, "It looks like an ordinary canister. What could be inside it?" Monogram paused, searching for the right words, "The key to end your suffering Agent P."

Perry was not surprised that he would play that card. He had used it so many times against him that he was beginning to believe that he was going to stay there forever. "Nothing you can say or give will end my suffering sir. Unless that something is a gun with a bullet to the head."

Monogram had no reaction to his statement; personally he did not care about Perry's wellbeing in the slightest. All he really cared about was the job getting done. He wasn't concerned with anything else because that's all he knew. Personal matters weren't to be in an agent's life, basically according to him, the only family you ever needed was the OWCA.

"Sir, why would Doofenshrimtz have this?" Perry asked after moments of thinking the situation over. "None of your business, Agent P." Monogram said coldly. "Sir, I'd really like to know what this has to do with me." Perry persisted. Monogram began to sweat, "It's none of your concern Agent P." Monogram hissed, "Now get to Doofenshrimtz." When Monogram left, Perry looked around. "This is going to be a long day" he whispered to no one in particular, "I just hope I make it through."

Perry stood, careful to avoid the glass on the floor and picked up his jetpack from underneath the desk. He opened the drawer; inside he found the one thing that he kept hidden from everyone, a gun. Along with the gun was a bullet, a pen and piece of paper. He nodded as he closed the drawer and locked it with his key. As the door to the outside opened above him, it was all he could not to open it again.

Perry was in the sky in a matter of seconds, heading towards Doofenshrimtz Evil Incorporated, Doofenshrimtz's headquarters. He realized that Doofenshrimtz was the only friend that he ever really had. But he also knew that Doofenshrimtz was mentally insane and can't be trusted for anything. Nevertheless, Perry trusted him all the same;" He may be crazy" Perry said to himself, "but at least Doof's consistent."

There are many reasons why people trust their worst enemy. In Perry's case, it wasn't that Doofenshrimtz was bad, in fact he was one of nicer of all the crazy psychopaths in the world. It was because Doofenshrimtz listened to everything. Not to diminish Phineas and Ferb's role in his life, but trust is something that is not easily given, easy to break, and once broken, almost impossible to fix. Since Doofenshrimtz wasn't connected to him in anyway, it provided Perry with a social outlet.

Perry landed on the patio of Doofenshrimtz Evil Incorporated, half expecting a trap to spring out at him, and then remembered why he was there to begin with. Doofenshrimtz had a key to give him.

Doofenshrimtz entered the room almost nervously. It seemed that five years of doing exactly the same thing have taken its toll. His eyes were bloodshot red from lack of sleep, his legs were wobbly, his hair was white, caused by stress and his face overall was breaking out in unusual scars and rashes. He was a complete and total mess.

The second that Doofenshrimtz saw Perry, the doctor knelt on the floor, as if he were trying to hide. Perry rolled his eyes and raised his hands, as a sign of peace. Doofenshrimtz slowly rose from the ground, still shaking and pulled out the canister. "Are you okay Doof?" Perry said with concern. Doofenshrimtz, not wanting anything to do with Perry or the canister, said nothing and only stared at Perry in fear and with the waving of his hand, begged him to leave.

Perry turned reluctantly, for it was difficult to see Doofenshrimtz in such a condition. Doofenshrimtz sat on his couch and stared at the wall. The two parts of the platypus were fighting against each other, one part-the agent, wanted to leave. The other-the pet, wanted to stay. Perry went with the latter.

Perry walked over and sat on the couch, hoping that this would get Doofenshrimtz talking. It did not; Doofenshrimtz didn't even acknowledge his presence at all. Perry, still holding the canister in his hands, shrugged and attempted to open the canister.

Doofenshrimtz stared blankly at Perry, just as his hand was about to open the canister, Doofenshrimtz woke from his trance. "Don't open it Perry the Platypus!" the doctor cried, Perry looked at him with a confused look on his face, "What's in here Doof?" he asked curiously. Doofenshrimtz grabbed the canister from Perry's hands, "It's nothing, Perry." he answered, "Absolutely nothing." Perry knew that this was the case the moment he heard Monogram, he just didn't want to believe it. "Monogram wanted you to believe that there was a way out." Doofenshrimtz continued, "it's a red herring Perry. There is no way out."

Perry looked at Doofenshrimtz, he wanted to say something, something meaningful, but he couldn't find the words. Doofenshrimtz grabbed a glass of water and pulled out a small yellow capsule. He put it in his mouth with all the carefulness of mother with a newborn. "I'm sorry Perry" Doofenshrimtz whimpered, "I never meant for any of this to happen." The platypus laughed sarcastically "What do you mean?" he asked at the same time a worried look came on his face, for he was afraid that Doofenshrimtz was going to do something drastic." I made the agreement with Monogram" Doofenshrimtz explained, "He wants to destroy your confidence, make you weak. He wants to kill you. I agreed to lure you here, while he made the final preparations. Whatever you do, do not go back to your lair."

Perry knew in his heart that Monogram was out to get him from the very beginning; he just didn't have any proof. But then, how could he trust Doofenshrimtz, his arch enemy for years? Doofenshrimtz stared at Perry, "I can see that you're thinking things over Perry the Platypus. Don't be afraid. You'll find a way...you always find a way." Perry shook his head in confusion "You're not making sense," he replied, "What are you getting at?"

Doofenshrimtz bit down on the capsule, his body began to jerk violently, "Heinz!" Perry exclaimed with a hand on his friend's head, "Goodbye...Perry" Doofenshrimtz gurgled as he looked up at the sky, the foam coming out of his mouth as he died in Perry's arms, who was crying in part for himself and for losing his only friend in the entire world.

Perry closed Doofenshrimtz's eyes and wiped the tears from his. He sat there for a long while, not saying anything, just reminiscing on all the times he had foiled Doofenshrimtz's plans to take over the Tri State Area, when all he really wanted was a little attention. Perry liked to think that they were more than just enemies; in fact they weren't really enemies, more like friends who have opposing sides on an issue.

The sun was nearing the horizon when Perry left, his heart heavy and his mind clouded with Monogram's betrayal. Taking Doofenshrimtz's parting advice, Perry did not return to his lair, he went straight to the backyard, hoping to fade into the scene, without accidently causing one.

It was night fall when Perry entered the backyard. Phineas and Ferb's invention was still there, he could hear the noises of laughter and machines, an interesting combination. He thought about joining them, of course he couldn't fully partake; for that would compromise him, but then again that would be exactly what he had been wanting for the past five years.