Chapter 2

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Perry awoke to gentle kisses being placed all along his face and jaw. The agent groaned, and rolled over, scooping up his partner and pulling him on top of him. Heinz squeaked playfully, and continued to pepper kisses against Perry's forehead as the agent gently scraped his teeth against Heinz's neck.

This drove the man crazier, and he bucked his hips against the man's chest. Suddenly getting an idea, Perry rotated their positions, enjoying the needy look on the man's face, and ducked down, running his lips over Heinz's stomach, then tantalizingly down his legs.

"You.. tease.." Heinz panted.

The agent grinned. He loved how he knew just how to make his partner squirm.

By the time their alarms sounded, both men were sweaty, sticky, and panting next to each other. Heinz had his face against the crook of Perry's neck, and was breathing in heavily, letting the heavenly haze clear.

"Did I leave enough time for breakfast?" Heinz asked, smiling.

Perry leaned over and kissed the man on the forehead. "I'll take it to-go."

By the time Perry was finished getting ready, his partner already had his breakfast waiting on the table, and was already deep into his work. Heinz worked for an agency, doing both graphic design and studio artwork for different companies. He had a particularly large project projected on the screen, and seemed to be applying the final edits. Perry kissed the man goodbye.

"Are you leaving, Perry the Platypus?"

Norm. Perry chuckled at the robot. No matter how many times they tried, Norm would never reduce that long name.

"Yeah. I'll see you later, okay? Maybe we can keep working on that female robot for you."

"Oh boy! I would love that!"

Norm was quite a strange robot, certainly not as programmed as Heinz claimed he was. The more he existed, the more he seemed to have a mind and emotions of his own. Despite Heinz's reluctance to let the robot continue to be activated 24/7, Perry felt a sort of pity for Norm, and wanted to acknowledge his emotions.

They were still working on Heinz's sarcastic retorts against the robot, but progress was being made.

When Perry arrived at headquarters, there was a mountain load of e-mails to be answered. The only thing the agent hated about his new job was the amount of paperwork he had to fill out. Boring, boring, oh, save that for later. This one's urgent. Star that. Boring, boring, uh.. what is this?

A strange email popped up at the very bottom of Perry's inbox. It was sent late last night. He didn't recognize the source, but it wasn't spam, else O.W.C.A.'s system would have blocked it before it could get through. There was no subject line, either.

Curious, Perry opened the email and scrolled down.

Letters and numbers. That's all it was. Letters and numbers.

SGVsbG8sIFBlcnJ5LiBJZiB0aGF0IGV2ZW4gaWYgeW91ciByZWFsIG5hbWUuIEkganVzdCB3YW50ZWQgdG8gbGV0IHlvdSBrbm93IGhvdyBtdWNoIEkgaGF2ZSBzdWZmZXJlZCBqdXN0IHRvIGZpbmQgeW91LCBhbmQgaG93IG11Y2ggSSB3YW50IHRvIHRha2UgeW91IGFsaXZlLiANCg0KWW91ciBzZWNyZXQgYWRtaXJlcg0KDQo=

It looked like someone had tried to write an e-mail and fell asleep at the keyboard. Perry read the small note two or three times, looking for some kind of hidden code within the hodgepodge of verbiage. However, his limited knowledge of coding didn't help interpret it at all. Deciding to bring it to his boss's attention at a later date, Perry moved the e-mail to his starred folder, and continued on with his work day.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Perry returned home to find Vanessa in the living room, reading one of her teenage magazines. The agent suddenly remembered that it was Heinz's weekend. Despite the fact that Vanessa was now an adult and could visit either of her parents as she pleased, she usually kept the same schedule, as it seemed to work for all parties involved. When she saw Perry, she jumped up and gave him a quick hug.

"How was work?"

Perry laughed. "Uneventful. Which wasn't a bad thing. Although my boss, Major Derrell, totally fell during a presentation today, and was so embarrassed. I almost felt bad for the man."

Vanessa giggled, raising an eyebrow. "Almost?"

Suddenly, the back door swung open and Heinz waltzed in, looking bright but tired. He hugged both his daughter and his boyfriend before announcing that pizza would be arriving shortly.

"Yes!" Vanessa cried.

After the three were finished eating, Vanessa escaped to her room, Heinz settled in the living room to read a book, and Perry crouched on the floor, continuing to work on the main engine that would run a female robot for Norm.

Norm watched him with fever, and made sure Perry had every tool that he needed available.

The evening continued on in peace, despite Norm's random, and fairly loud comments throughout Perry's work.

After a particularly startling comment by the robot, Heinz let out a loud sigh. "Norm, I swear, you're-"

Perry gave his partner a glare.

Heinz sputtered. "Ah- you're, going to be really happy once Perry's done, I'm sure."

"I know. She will be so perfect!"

Perry smiled teasingly at Heinz, who glared back at Perry. Yes, progress.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Vanessa immediately pulled off her clothes and stepped into the shower. Today had been a harder day to get through than normal; and not for any reason that she could pinpoint. She just had hard days like today, sometimes.

The teenager let the warm water hit her body, relaxing against its calming power. Weariness washed off her like a bad smell. But despite her attempts at breathing in and out, anxiety lingered.

Why was she so useless?

Those little voices would never go away, would they? And before Vanessa knew it, she was digging her fingernails into her arm, trying to make their taunting stop. But it wasn't enough. It never was.

The razor blade was loose and blood was streaming down her arm before she knew what she was doing. Vanessa looked at herself, and counted up the cuts, both new and old, trying to find any release that she could.

One, two, three, ten twenty, thirty..

Too many. So disgusting.

When the shower stopped, the blood was gone, and she wrapped her arms in a few bandages, trying to get the bleeding to stop. She'd tried months ago to end this hopeless cycle, but Vanessa was already feeling a bit better as her mind focused on the pain rather than her own thoughts.

After getting into her pajamas, Vanessa jumped onto her bed and pulled out her phone.

Lacie: Hey, we need to talk

About what? Vanessa typed back.

It took a couple minutes, but soon the girl could see her friend replying. After a minute, another text popped on her screen. It's Orville and his gang. They're talking about revenge. I think they're going to try and kill you.

What?

Vanessa had talked Lacie out of affiliating herself with the likes of Orville, and the other evil scientist kids that had caused major trouble last year. But although Lacie had made a promise, Vanessa still suspected her friend of dating one of the members off and on. And because of it, was still technically involved in the gang's business.

Honestly, Vanessa knew those idiots would try something drastic like this. But she hadn't expected it so soon. And despite her new training at O.W.C.A., it still terrified her.

What should she do? Go to her father? Go to Perry? Go to her boss? Either of those would be fairly safe options, but there wasn't much they could do about it, was there? Lacie was merely warning her that there could be a plot. She'd be making a scene for no reason.

Thanks for the tip. Vanessa replied. Are you with them right now?

No. Just got home. I'm sorry, I know I said I'd stay away..

It's okay. Vanessa sighed. Just please, be safe. And thank you.

Lacie disappeared from the chat. Vanessa let out a long breath of air and painfully rubbed her forehead. Why did all this shit have to drag itself out like this? Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

The teenager pulled out a set of headphones and put on some music, hoping it would help her fall asleep.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Perry jumped, startling awake. Immediately, he reached for the counter, grabbed his blaster, and pointed it forwards. For a moment, the world spun in a hurricane of adrenaline, until the agent noticed who was standing there, with arms raised.

Heinz.

Perry dropped the gun and took a deep breath, only just realizing how much he was sweating.

"Perry?.." "I'm sorry." The agent gasped, forcing himself to calm down. "I'm sorry. Just.. don't sneak up on me like that."

The man looked pained. "I forgot my retainer. I didn't mean.."

Perry nodded and held out his hands, motioning for the man to come back to bed. Immediately, the artist settled into Perry's arms and held onto his chest, scratching his head and whispering how much he loved him.

The agent tried to push away the guilty feeling, but deep down, he felt horrible. Why couldn't the nightmares just stop? Why did he have to feel so trapped all the time?

What if he actually hurt Heinz one day?