Part 3

"Perry!" Stacy screamed.

"Dad!" Vanessa said, in an annoyed tone. "If you keep treating your nemesis like that, he's not going to want to come thwart you anymore!"

"Oh, I'm counting on that," Doofenshmirtz said, grinning. He turned to Perry. "How do you feel, Perry the Platypus? What do you want to do, or not do, right now, more than anything?"

"Perry?" Stacy asked. "You need to fight it, okay? You're the secret agent, not me! I came to help you, but if you leave now, whose going to help me?"

Perry looked back and forth and each of them. But then he slowly reached up and took off his fedora. He handed it to Stacy.

Stacy took at and looked at it before up at him in horror. "So that's it?" She asked. "You're just giving up?"

"He has no choice, if that's what he's tempted to do right now!" Doofenshmirtz laughed. "Looks like you're the secret agent now, kid."

Stacy looked at Perry with fear in her eyes. "Please, Perry?" She whispered. "Please tell me you're faking this?"

He shook his head, and waved. Then he made his way over to his jetpack, and flew off the balcony.

Doofenshmirtz began jumping up and down. "Yes, yes, yes! I stopped Perry the Platypus, I don't need to worry about him anymore!"

"Maybe not," Stacy said. "But you still got me to worry about, ya delusional pharmacist!"

He was distracted by her outburst, as she'd hoped he would be, and so she was able to leap at him and grab the inator out of his hands.

"Hey!" he cried. "Give that back!"

"Can't do that, sorry," Stacy said. She put the fedora on her head. "You said it yourself, I'm the secret agent now."

"And what are you going to do with it?" he asked. "You can't destroy it, because the people I've hit will never recover if you do."

"I know that," she said, trying not to let her hands shake.

"And you can't shoot me," he said. "I mean you could, but it probably won't help you."

Stacy began taking deep breaths, and after finally steadying the ray, she quickly turned and shot it at Vanessa.

"NOOOOOOO!" Doofenshmirtz cried. "Not Vanessa! Don't you know what that could do to her, you little brat?"

"I'm going to go get a tattoo, Dad," Vanessa said. "I don't care what you do to me."

"No, Pumpkin Pants, please, stay here!" her father begged.

"And if my boyfriend wants to propose to me today, I'll probably say yes," she said.

"No, sweetheart, you can't just throw your life away like that!" he said, on the verge of tears.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I was invited to go skydiving with Lacey," she went on.

"Skydiving? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"Oh my gosh Dad, you're so overprotective! You know what, I don't think I want to come over here anymore," Vanessa finished, stomping towards the door.

After slamming it behind her, Doofenshmirtz sank to his knees. "What have I done?" he wailed. "What have I done?"

After a pause, Stacy cleared her throat and said, "You know…if you turn it off, she'd probably go back to normal, right?"

"Maybe," he sniffed. "I mean, yeah, I think I built it that way."

"You really love her, right?" Stacy pressed. "I mean, you want her back more than anything, don't you? Even more than the Tri-State Area?"

"Of course! I mean I do, but—"

That was all Stacy needed to hear. She shot him with the inator without a second thought, and then tossed it to him. "Then do it! Turn it off, right now!"

Doofenshmirtz rushed over to his worktable, and after grabbing a couple of tools and working on it, he turned to the door expectantly. "Okay, I think that should do it."

Sure enough, Vanessa walked through the door moments later. She ran into her dad's arms and said "I'm sorry Dad, I don't know why I said any of those things. I was just mad about the tattoo, I guess."

Stacy beamed and put her hands on her hips dramatically. "Oh yeah, I did this, guys. 'What's that, Stacy? Did anyone help you with saving the world?' Nope, it was just me, by myself, oh yeaaaaah."

Perry came back too, with a very guilty look on his face. But Stacy just grinned at him. "Don't worry about it, partner, I know you couldn't help it! Besides, I'm a hero right now."

Perry smiled back, and then his wrist communicator beeped. "Well done, Agent P," Monogram said. "You successfully turned off the inator, and everyone is back to normal."

Perry shook his head and pointed at Stacy. Monogram was surprised. "You turned it off? Oh, well, good job, Agent…"

"Stacy," she said proudly.

"Right…" he said. "Very well done, young lady."

"Thanks," she said, wondering if her cheeks were going to be permanently damaged from smiling so much.

Monogram leaned off screen and whispered, "Carl! Did we ever hire a teenager named Stacy?"

"Not to my knowledge, sir," Carl replied. "Though there might be some interns I forgot about."

"Right, right…" Monogram said, as Stacy looked at Perry and giggled. "Well," he said, coming back on the screen. "The world certainly owes you a debt, Agent Stacy, and we're very grateful to you. Agent P, I trust you'll make sure the machine is disposed of."

Perry gave a quick nod, and motioned for Stacy to stay where she was. He ran to the inator, pressed the self-destruct button, and ran back to the balcony as the thing exploded. He and Stacy exited the balcony, but could still hear Doofenshmirtz call after them "Curse you, Perry the Platypus! And your little friend, too!"

Perry dropped Stacy off back at her house. Stacy looked towards her front door and sighed. "Well, I guess this is it," she said. "Too bad, I was really starting to get into it."

She turned and looked back at him, and he smiled and saluted. She solemnly saluted back. "It's been fun," she said, and he nodded in agreement. "You come to me anytime you need my help again, you hear?" she asked and he nodded again enthusiastically. "Oh, and I guess this is yours," she said, taking the hat off and handing it back to him. "Thanks for the loan, I guess that's what made your guys think I was an agent." Perry grinned and put the hat back on.

She sighed again and waved. "Okay, I'm dragging this out too long. Bye Perry, I guess I'll see you sometime at Candace's." He nodded and waved back, not turning away until she was inside her house.

Stacy didn't know if she could go back to civilian life after that, but after going to the mall with Candace she realized her fears had been in vain. She'd just about moved on from the past 24 hours when she finally went home, until she found a present on her bed. There was a note on top that said "Thanks for everything, Agent Stacy, I really owe you one! –Agent P" and inside was a fedora.

Stacy grabbed the hat and put it one. She looked at herself in the mirror, and a huge smile crept along her face. Agent Stacy was officially a thing, baby.

The End