DISCLAIMER: Roadkill, but true.
Everything came back with a bang.
The now 4-year-old 'evil' scientist woke up with a start, gasping for breath. A blinding white made him quickly shut his eyes tight again. He laid there, trying to regain his breath and a relatively normal heartbeat.
Serina... How...
Heinz was shell-shocked. How did he ever forget her? He had no recollection of her in his thoughts after that night. He remembered coming home all those years ago in a wreck, flopping on his bed crying and then falling asleep. After that... nothing. He couldn't remember. It was like she never existed. It must have been a memory he dreamt. But why now did he recall her? She was the best memory of his childhood! Why hadn't he told Perry the Platypus about her? Many questions were forming a tornado of confusion in the doctor's brain.
Oh well, he thought, pushing the questions to the back of his mind for now. I should get up. I probably slept in, and Perry the Platypus might've been waiting for God knows ho- Who the heck turned on the lights!?
Doofenshmirtz attempted to lift a hand to shield his face but they were being held down by restraints, tight metal cuffs. Recent memories flooded in rapidly and he suddenly lifted his head sharply, his eyes now adjusting to the light. He looked around at his surroundings and saw that he was in a dark room. His arms and legs had been shackled to a cold metal table. A gray, low ceiling lamp was glaring down on him showing that he was wearing everything but his lab coat. Doof felt bare, cold, and somewhat unsafe without it. He shivered.
"OK, so I've been kidnapped and knocked out, shackled to a table in a dark room maybe in the middle of nowhere, had my beloved lab coat taken away, and they couldn't even afford anytime to install a heater in here," Doofenshmirtz griped. "What's up with that? Oh, I'll bet Roger had everything to do with this. I didn't see anything in that warehouse. Wait 'till I get out of this..." He trailed off hearing footsteps outside the room.
"-want to use my new club on him... spill some blood..."
Doofenshmirtz gulped hearing those words and shrank back in his restraints. Whoever said that didn't sound too fond of him at all.
"No! We need him first. You won't touch him unless he tries to escape. Or needs some persuasion..." The doors opened and two men walked in. One looked like a body-guard in a black suit and had indeed a wooden club in his grasp. He was wearing a permanent scowl on his face and he was looking eagerly at Doofenshmirtz as if looking for the best place to pummel him.
The other person was completely different. First, he looked much happier than the guard, a little too much for Doofenshmirtz's liking. Second, he didn't even look old enough to be a man really. He looked as if he just turned 20 years old, and 20 wasn't manhood in the doctor's eyes; really 30 was. Third, he was wearing a white suit that reminded Doofenshmirtz of the movie The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. And he was more tan and Spanish looking than his pale American guard. Lastly, he was also looking at the doctor acquisitively, but he had suspicion that it was for a different reason altogether. And he didn't like it.
"Ah, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, you are awake," the boy (not 30!) said eagerly in indeed a spanish accent. "Perfect timing, sí sí perfecto. Or have you been awake for some time now?"
Doof answered, "actually, I just came to. But who are you, where am I, and what do you want with me?" he inquired.
"Oh, Doofenshmirtz, you must remember me."
"Sorry, you don't ring a bell."
"My memory eraser potion must be performing properly then."
"Memory eraser?" Say whah?!
In answer to Doofenshmirtz's stunned expression, the boy simply shrugged nonchalantly. "I had to make sure you wouldn't recall me in certain memories, no? It took a lot of visits to get you here. Visits to you, your family, friends, dates, enemies, people you only pass by everyday. Am I forgetting someone?" He scratched his chin in thought while Doofenshmirtz stared at him in complete confusion.
He then snapped his fingers. "Ah, yes. Your nemesis, Perry the Platypus. He was probably the most difficult to even catch, much more restrain and erase his memories. You see, he already knew about me after he caught me kidnapping your charming daughter to get more information of you." He sighed rather wistfully then continued, ignoring the doctor's angry "Hey!"
"We had to be more careful now that Agent P was on our tail. We couldn't have him blab to his agency about us. So we arranged a midnight... petnapping for the platypus at night, while he was at his host family's home. He put up a good fight I must say, somehow not waking the residents of the house, but of course my superior ninjas of about twenty were too much for him. We had Agent P brought to our secret society here where you are now.
"Yet, that platypus would just keep slipping through my fingers, escaping from every cell just to be caught again and again and brought right back to a new one. I could never get to him in time to force the memory eraser down his throat! Ugh, he was like that annoying jején that you can't get rid of, que le molesta a ningún extremo!" The kid paused, shaking in anger, before taking a deep breath and smiling more optimistically.
"But, of course I, Rodrigo Rivera Martinez, got out the, well, bug bait and put it to good use.
" 'What was the weakness of Perry the Platypus?' I asked myself. Everything and everyone has a weakness. If you know your enemy's weakness, you can use it have absolute control over them. As for Perry the Platypus's weakness, that was easy to find out. His family. Everyone he loves and likes. He can't bear to see them in any danger. He would do anything for them. All I had to do was threaten him with a little accident with two certain boys he loves the most and he gave in almost at once. It was really all too easy, no?"
"Huh. actually I never stopped to think that Perry the Platypus might have a family-"
"Of course you didn't because you are an incompetent fool. As I was saying: the agent let us wipe his memories of us with the promise of keeping his family out of this whole thing. Regrettably I don't intend to break any promises. Buuut, I am sure there are plenty of ways to keep that platypus under control." At this, he gave Doofenshmirtz a smile that made him gulp again.
"So," Rodrigo continued. "Doctor Doofenshmirtz. Do you know exactly how special you are?"
Outside, some floors above, stood an old drafty brick church. With sections of the roof caved in, and the broken stain glass windows, and one of the great wooden doors at the entrance busted through, no one wanted to go there any Sunday. And it was more out of the country so no one had ever wanted to repair it to its old glory. It sitting there alone for the past twenty years made it already stamped on as haunted. Sometimes if you were to walk by the church, which few do, you might see a glimpse of a dark large silhouette in one of the broken windows. That made it haunted, because when ever someone tried to look in to see who it was, no one would be visible for miles. So they tend to not stay long, then return home to make up some scary fake tale of it.
Therefore, it was the perfect place for a secret society.
A dark shadow peered through one of the windows. No one was there, as usual. The shadow disappeared, disappointed. He was anticipating the moment he finds that agent snooping around. Then it wouldn't be so boring in there.
Another figure in the bushes waited for the shadow to duck before sneaking through the back door of the old church.
"Um, what?"
"Oh, I'm not messing with you, Doofenshmirtz. You are much more special than you think."
"How?" Doof asked suspiciously.
"How long has it been since you saw your dear friend Serina?"
Doofenshmirtz didn't say anything. Rodrigo smiled more.
"Yes, it's been a long time. Would you like to see her again? You can do that, you know."
The doctor was angry. "Is this some kind of sick joke? I swear, if Roger put you up to this-"
"Oh, Roger doesn't even know you're here. He thinks you've been, well, put away."
"What?!" Doofenshmirtz's eyes widened in shock.
"He did not mean it that way," Rodrigo added smirking at his reaction. "See, he had reason to believe that you were dangerous, even if you didn't think so. Look at what ruckus you make at DEI every day, all the time. There are always neighbors calling in complaints about the ceiling blowing up or all the noise above their floor. It's always the noise."
"Well, I'm an evil scientist, duh!" Doofenshmirtz defended. "I'm suppose to cause discomfort and noise. Lots of noise! I don't see why Roger is bothered by all that now. I've been evil for a while, you know."
Rodrigo sat on a metal chair that seemed to come out of nowhere and folded his hands. "Oh, the mayor had been concerned for a while. It was just everything would resume to normal the next day, so he ignored it for a while. Only when you took that trip to the second dimension and brought back all those robots did he put those concerns under consideration"
He was suddenly cut off by a slight noise, a small bang, in the air vents above. Only he heard it so both Doofenshmirtz and the body-guard looked at him curiously. Rodrigo looked up warily. Everything was silent.
Then he stood up and picked up the chair, carrying it to underneath where he was sure he heard the noise. He started talking again as he stepped up on it. "Yes, the second dimension. You went there with those two boys and Agent P."
Suddenly his hand shot up and with supernatural-like strength and speed, ripped down a fraction of the air vent and tipped it over. Out slid Agent P into his waiting arms.
Rodrigo climbed down from the chair with his arms around Perry's neck in a headlock, nearly cutting off his air supply. Perry tried to fight back, but this mysterious kid seemed pretty strong for his appearance. He inwardly cursed himself for letting himself be caught so easily.
"Perry the Platypus!" exclaimed Doofenshmirtz seeing him being forced on a table like his own. He was actually rather relieved to see the platypus. With his help, he could escape this sociopath.
"Now that that is over with." Rodrigo clasped his hands together and gave a glaring Perry a smile. "Ah, Perry the Platypus, so nice of you to join us. I was rather hoping you wouldn't, but I guess it can't be helped. In that case, since you are here and will be disposed of anyway after I deal with the doctor, you might as well listen in to uncover a little more about your nemesis before you never see him again."
Perry just shot him a dirty glare and attempted to escape the metal cuffing him down. Unlike the last time he was shackled down, the cuffs were definitely fit to keep down smaller animals.
Rodrigo signaled to the guard behind him and he pulled out a cart with a small contraption on it next to Doofenshmirtz. He took out a helmet with buckles and cords connected to the contraption out from behind it proceeded to fasten it on Doofenshmirtz's head.
"What's this?"
"Ignore it for a moment so I can tell you some important history." Rodrigo stood next to the small machine and flipped a small switch. It started making a whirring noise. "Now, while it's warming up..." He leaned over the doctor. "You remember when Serina told you that she was your guardian angel? Well, that was half a lie."
Perry looked baffled and Doofenshmirtz responded furiously, "Of course it's not! She saved me from falling off that cliff, I saw her wings! What the heck are you talking about?!"
Rodrigo answered, "I took a rather interesting study in a book I found a month ago. It was hidden in a log in one of the oldest trees left in existence. Lucky for me, in was near my summer home in England. It was an old journal owned by Able Bwiiscap, who had recorded a extraordinary find in.
"You know that little voice in the back of your mind that tells you right from wrong most people ignore? That's your conscious."
"I know that-!"
"But do you know that other little voice in your head that's... well, not exactly you? It sometimes tells you right from wrong, but it somewhat acts like another person entirely, having it's own opinion that's not always yours. Another being inside you. Yet it can understand all your feelings, your whole life, what you've done, everything about you. Do you know that little voice?"
"Um..."
"Of course you don't realise it yet, but you do. Able had discovered everybody has one. And some people have their voices living outside of their mind. For example: you, Doofenshmirtz. Yours you've named Serina, or she named herself, either one. These voices when outside the mind gain a solid body of their own. They are all called Vox, meaning 'voice' in Latin. Now, some had joined together in a flock thousands of years ago, Vox that had somehow survived after their humans had died. Somehow that's possible, but I do not know how yet.
"Their flock was named the Evangels because of their wings and angelic-like appearance. So far, only one Vox has become a member that still has her human alive. That would be Serina. Now, what I find so interesting about you of all people is that your Vox was able to at all. You have to have a dead human to join, no exception. But, somehow, she flew right up to them and was accepted with no problem. Why did they let her in? What was so special about you?" Rodrigo peered closely at Doofenshmirtz, curiosity written all over his face.
The doctor was just trying to take it everything in. Though, somehow he did believe it. It somehow made sence to him. He wondered if Serina was with the Evangels right then.
A loud BEEP! cut the awkward (well, awkward for Doof) stare from Rodrigo. The boy eagerly turned to the machine and pressed a button on it that revealed a much bigger one on the other side. "Well, Doofenshmirtz, we'll find out why with this."
"Again, what is it?" Doof pressed straining to see the machine, Perry doing the same.
"That's for me to know and you to find out." Rodrigo was about to push the big ominous button when he heard growling and turned to see Perry fruitlessly attempting to squeeze his hands through the bars holding him down.
"Oh, yes. I almost forgot about you, Agent P" Rodrigo went to the agent's side and pulled out a red remote with another big menacing button from a hidden pocket in his suit. "Now do you remember me?"
Perry looked suspicious but he shook his head slowly.
"Would you like a little help?" Before Perry could do anything, Rodrigo pressed the large evil button. "I think I can be of assistance."
The room seemed to hold its breath. Perry prepared to fight off anybody or anything despite being strapped down, but nothing happened.
"Um, was something suppose to happen?" Doofenshmirtz's voice rang out.
"Oh, it won't be occurring out here," Rodrigo said moving back to the doctor's side. "Remember when I said the memory eraser was a potion?"
Doofenshmirtz thought for a moment. A potion... a potion... so... His eyes suddenly widened at a possibility.
His expression worried Perry. He tried not to show it, but he was sure he didn't look calm, cool, and collected anymore. What was going to happen to him?
That was when the tiny gnawing he felt deep in his stomach a minute ago became quickly worse.
It was something small. So small that he barely felt it before. That was why he didn't notice it at first. But it was definitely something to register now.
Perry grit his teeth as a sudden cramping pain flared through his body, from his stomach, to his chest, to his head. It was the kind of pain that made you want to curl up in a ball to make it stop, but being shackled too tightly he could only contract and shut his eyes tightly. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. He felt hot and cold at the same time. His stomach churned and nausea began infecting him, becoming worse and worse by the second as he tried to hold it down. Pain surged up through his stomach. His body jerked and the platypus let out a quiet whimper. Whatever was inside of him wanted to come out, however scared he was to let it. But it hurt so much. Now the sharp pains were happening at a more rapid pace. He trembled in agony, but all that he would let himself do was whimper despite how much it hurt. He would absolutely not cry out.
"What do you think, Doofenshmirtz? Pretty evil, no?" Perry heard. Rodrigo's voice sounded farther away, and he fought to keep conscious. "I wanted a little torture out of whoever wanted a remedy to my potion. Agent P got to be the first test subject. The outcome's innominate; even I don't know what will happen. I would like to see how it ends. Wonder if he'll still be alive?"
Calescent burning pain coursed through Perry making him jerk even more violently and finally letting out a high-pitched yelp. His stomach lurched. He felt it coming up and he couldn't hold it down any longer. He turned away to heave onto the ground next to him. It was disgusting. Grayish goo splattered down that burned like acid in his mouth. He kept going until he was only dry heaving, then let his head drop back on the table breathing heavily.
Oh, god. Sweet relief, he though nearly hysterical. The pain was gone, though Perry felt very sore and very, very weak. He trembled and opened his eyes a slit. Still too bright. He wanted to lie there and drift off in peace, but he had to get out of there and help Doofenshmirtz escaped Rodrigo...
That's when the memories came flooding in.
"And that's how the remedy works." Rodrigo looked a little disappointed if anything.
Doofenshmirtz was still in shock by what he had just seen. "Wh-what? Wait, Perry the Platypus isn't going to die, is he?" he asked with more worry than he wanted, a pang of guilt hitting his heart.
"Ah, no, sadly. I don't think so. That seemed more mild than I hoped."
More mild?! The heck?! Doof thoughts were also in shock, if that made any sence.
"I think it's less life threatening on animals. Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes." He held a finger over the other life-threatening button. "Here we go-"
Another distraction whooped him in the face, and it was in the shape of a webbed foot.
Rodrigo was sprawled out on the floor, stunned for once, looking at an infuriated and still nearly hysterical Agent P.
"Wh-What?!" he stammered. "But how?! You were half-dead, and I strapped you too tightly t-"
Perry held up a hand-held laser rod (kinda like a light saber from Star Wars, ya know?) and pointed to the table. The bars had been clearly seared clean off.
"Well, that looks obvious enough, but I still don't know how you could reach your fedora in the first pl-" Rodrigo was given another punch to the nose cutting him off. His face turned beet red.
"MO! Get that platypus!" The bodyguard, who had gotten bored a long time ago and had used his knife to clean his nails -not that it did any good-, threw the knife to one side, grabbed his club, and charged at Perry, yelling barbarously. Perry only gave him a 'seriously?' look before easily dodging him and jumped up to slap his tail against the back of his head, causing him to fall smack against the wall.
Rodrigo knew he was in trouble and made a grab for the sinister button, but Perry got there first, smashing the machine against the floor. It started powering down.
"NOOO!" Rodrigo wailed in disbelief. He saw Perry freeing Doofenshmirtz and his eyes blazed in furry.
Doofenshmirtz climbed off the table, glad to be free of those shackles. "Wow, that feels much better. Thank you, Perry the Platypus."
Perry only nodded in reply and headed behind Doofenshmirtz to the door.
"Oh no you don't!"
Doof whirled around to see Rodrigo's arms around Perry's neck lift him up, choking him fast. Perry frantically tried to kick and push him away, but even with the skirmish earlier, he was still weak. He couldn't breath and his face was turning purple quickly.
Rodrigo looked a bit insane as he shouted, "No, no, you are not going anywhere! If you ever want to see Agent P live another day, I suggest you get back on that counter!"
The doctor's eyes darted from Perry to Rodrigo and he put his hands up, taking a step forward. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Roberto, you don't have to take it this far-"
"Doofenshmirtz! Are you even listening to yourself?!" the kid yelled, squeezing the platypus's neck to emphasise so that it made his eyes bulge out. "You call yourself evil! HA! You think there's a good evil and a bad evil! HA! There's only one kind of evil, Doofenshmirtz, and you're certainly not it!"
"What, yes I-" Doof tried to argue, but Rodrigo cut him off again.
"No, if you were 'evil', you wouldn't need help! If you were 'evil', you wouldn't be here in the first place. If you were truly 'EVIL', you wouldn't be best friends with your nemesis!" Rodrigo laughed cruelly and squeezed Perry all the more so that he saw blurred edges in his vision. "This is your final test, Dr. Doofenshmirtz. If you are really and truly evil, leave right now and ignore me strangling your nemesis. Your enemy, whom you should hate and want nothing to do with. Who gets in your way all the time and whom you should want dead. Decide."
Doof looked wide-eyed from Rodrigo to Perry the Platypus and suddenly everything started to sink in. He had to choose between evil and his nemesis. And this time he couldn't have both. How was he suppose to choose? He was evil, he should be able to escape without needing any help.
But what about Perry? How could he just leave him there to die? Perry was his nemesis. Did Romeo not understand that? Yes, he did understand. And he thought having a personal enemy and a regular schedule wasn't evil enough. Though, now that Doof thought about it, it really wasn't that evil if you haven't already destroyed your nemesis...
But the agent was also his friend. Best friend. He hated to admit it, but it was true. How horrible it was, to have your enemy be your best friend. How could he be evil? if he saves the good guy?
The platypus's face made Doofenshmirtz even more torn. Perry was scared. He could see it pretty clearly, to his surprise. But why wouldn't he? He was seconds away from death, and the evil scientist had to decide his fate. He was probably sure Doofenshmirtz would want him to die. But what was he suppose to do? Evil had become his life. Would he really ruin all that work to keep Perry alive? Would he?
"In your future, when you're about, say 47, you'll be kidnapped by a boy who wants something from you for very bad intentions. Your nemesis will try to rescue you. What I need you to do is this: ignore any and all pride and embarrassment you're gonna get and let him help you escape."
He remembered what Serina had told him a long time ago. Should he listen to her?
...
Well, she was his guardian angel. He had to trust her. No, it wasn't blind trust. No, what Rover said about her didn't make him doubt everything he knew about her. Much.
Perry blinked before closing his eyes and falling limp, slipping into unconsciousness. The doctor's own eyes widened. Then narrowed angrily. Not on my watch.
"Oh, well." Rodrigo glanced at the limp platypus in his arms. "Guess your decision's been made up for you, heh."
Doofenshmirtz immediately ran forward and with a swipe of his leg knocked the boy's legs out from underneath. Rodrigo yelled in surprise and lost his grip on Perry. Doofenshmirtz quickly grabbed him before Rodrigo could regain it.
"No," he said to a seething boy on the floor, "it hasn't, in fact."
"You're making a big mistake, Doofenshmirtz!" Rodrigo screamed after him as he dashed past the still out-cold guard and ran out the door.
It was empty in the long corridor. That was fine with Doof. What the problem was: There were no doors as far as he could see, and that was pretty far. All he could do was keep going. Hopefully, there would be an exit somewhere. Doofenshmirtz glanced down at the platypus in his arms. He was still out. His chest was only just rising up and down, so he was alive. But barely.
After a whole lot of running later, Doofenshmirtz came to a doorway into the dark. He really didn't want to go into a dark and ominous place, but given the circumstances, he didn't really have a choice now, did he?
He suddenly heard loud footsteps and shouting and he started running again.
"No choice indeed," he muttered exasperated.
Before he realised it, he came to the edge of a deep pit. He wobbled, nearly falling over the edge, and gulped at the rattlesnakes below who were somehow giving him the 'I'm watching you' gesture.
"Where to go, where to go..." Doofenshmirtz looked for another way out. All he could see were the group of guards coming towards him. "Come on, why now?"
He looked up and saw a high ledge on the other side of the pit that led to a door marked with a big EXIT sign. "Beautiful. How am I going to get up there?"
He suddenly heard a quiet chatter and he looked down. Perry was weakly reaching for his fedora.
"Perry the Platypus?" How the heck did he recover so fast? He was nearly choked to death!
The agent nodded before attempted to lift a grappling hook out from inside his fedora.
"Oh, that'll work." Doofenshmirtz took it and placed the hat back on Perry's head. Then he aimed at the ledge on the other side and fired. They were lifted off the ground just as the guard in front of the group made a grab for Doof's foot. Luckly, he missed.
The doctor landed on the ledge, narrowly missing the edge, which broke off and crumbled down into the pit, conking a rattlesnake on the head. Doofenshmirtz sighed in relief.
"That was a close one." Perry nodded again in agreement. He looked up at Doofenshmirtz who was sticking his tongue out immaturely at the angry guards bellow. Perry realised the position he was in and he flushed a little. It didn't help that he liked it, too.
"Perry the Platypus!" Rodrigo shoved over a guard positively outraged. He pointed at the two above him. "You will regret the day you ever involved yourself in any of my business! I will ensure, when I find your family, they will receive every single strike a hundred times over that you have ever given me!"
Perry's heart nearly stopped. He remembered the deal Rodrigo had made with him. Now it had been broken.
"They will suffer! They will all suffer because of you!"
How dare he! Fury boiled up in Agent P until he was blinded by it. How dare he threaten my family! Perry struggled to jump out of Doof's arms and give Rodrigo a piece of his mind. But either he was still weak or Doofenshmirtz suddenly gained superstrength for he held him down pretty well as he jerked open the EXIT door. He could still hear the boy yelling some inappropriate words as they escaped through the door and out into the starry night.
Wow. A whoppin' 4,848 words, not including the AU and Disclaimer. That's the longest chap i've ever written in my life! O_o Well, it's done and i feel horrible. Yup. I finally got sick. My family caught it last week, everyone but me and my brother. Now everyone else is fine and i'm the only one sick. And next week's school! AHH! 0o0 I need to get better quick!
Anyways, this is chap 4. Lots of Rodrigo in this (and rambling T_T Sorry if you think he talks too much. Not my favorite chap.) Actually, before i was going to creat a character of my own to play (one) of the bad guys in this fic. But after seeing Minor Monogram, i kinda fell in love with Rodrigo. He's the smartest and vilest villan in Phineas and Ferb in my opinion, next to Evil Carl, of course. Why not use him for this? And this is what came up. Tada! :D So, now that i looked back at the first chapter, i think it may need to be written yet again. I still cringe seeing it, and i want to fix it so i can at least read it without cringing. I won't rewrite the whole thing, just probably mostly the beginning of chap 1 and do some fix-ups to 2 and 3, nothing too big. You probably won't need to reread 2 and 3. I'd like for you to at least read the beginning of 1, or all if you prefer. I really do apologise for doing this again, but i think the chapters aren't sounding right together, like a different person is doing each chapter. Is it just me? I'll rewrite 1 and then i won't touch it again. Pinky swear :)
One more thing i'd like to ask you all. Xmas Day, i submitted a chapter of my P&F Xmas fic. I only got two reviews (thx Dallimater and randomfanfictioner01 btw :) ). Would y'all read it and give me some good reviews about the vote i mention in the AU at the end? It would help the story a lot :) Also, just a thought, but do any of you think i should put this story on hold till next Xmas? Seeing this, my brother said people might not wanna read a Xmas fic after Xmas, and i might get more attention if i hold it till next year. What do you all think? Should i hold it till next year? Or can you not wait and want me to finish it now? I really don't mind either way, i'm not sick of Xmas yet XP And i could get a whole year to finish it before next December. So review there and tell me your thoughts. They will be greatly appreciated :)
Happy New Year! Gosh, it's 2013 allready! 0_0