The Fast and the Phineas

Today's mission was very simple: find out why Doofenshmirtz had bought a large blimp. Perry and Mavis hopped into their hovercar and flew off to find it. Luckily, it was big and purple and not that hard to spot. As they approached it, they heard one of the Swamp Oil 500 announcers tell the crowd, "And with the race about to start, there's the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated blimp!"

Immediately, they heard the normal, "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!" jingle, causing Mavis to groan.

"That is SO stupid. Don't you agree, Perry?"

The platypus didn't respond. Instead, he waited until they were close enough, then he leapt out of the car and through the glass window. Rolling her eyes, Mavis followed. He always has to be so theatric.

Doofenshmirtz was standing beside his latest –inator, grinning like always. "Ah, Perry the Platypus and Agent Mavis. I'm glad you're here, actually." He went over to a lever on the wall. "I was just getting ready to serve some AGENTS UNDER GLASS!"

Mavis knew what was going to happen before it did, but as usual, she couldn't stop it. A large glass dome with a few holes in it fell from the ceiling and slammed to the ground over them. Mavis sighed, but at least it was more spacious and less humiliating than that pet carrier trap.

"You're just in time to witness my latest invention!" Doofenshmirtz strode back over to his device. "My Deflate-inator Ray! Which I will demonstrate by deflating the tires of the Jefferson County Motor Speedway! After which, I will deflate everything in the Tri-State Area! That way, if anyone want's anything flated, they will have to talk to me."

"Flated isn't even a word," Mavis sighed. "I think you mean INflated."

Doofenshmirtz glared at her for a few seconds. "Shut up."

Mavis smirked. "Also, your plan is super dumb."

"Hey, wanna see how you'd look if I deflated your face?" Doofenshmirtz demanded.

Mavis fell silent, imagining how that would look and feel. Considering looks were the most important thing for pretty much every teenage girl ever, she shook her head, subdued.

"I thought not," Doofenshmirtz crowed, before heading over to the window.

Mavis shuddered, then she felt Perry put his paw on her arm. She smiled weakly at him. "Guess I asked for that, huh."

Perry shook his head, which made her feel a little better.

The sound of Doofenshmirtz laughing drew their eyes over to the evil scientist by the window. "Listen to those fools, as they worship their candy-coloured race car man." He rushed over to his laser and aimed it. "How about a little demonstration of my deflationary prowess?"

Mavis gasped, but neither she nor Perry could do anything to stop the –inator from firing. Craning her neck, Mavis managed to look out the window and spot the ray hit a beach ball, which then deflated and flew onto the windscreen of one of the cars, causing a massive crash.

As Mavis gasped sharply, they clearly heard a female scream.

"Already they fear me, listen to their screams, huh?" Doofenshmirtz grinned. "Imagine the mayhem once my Deflate-inator ray is fully charged!"

He opened the side of the machine and looked inside. Mavis raised an eyebrow when she saw a small mouse running on the wheel inside it. "Run! Run like the wind, my little indentured rodent. And I will give you some cheese."

He went over to the random fridge that seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere and rooted around in it. "Heh, I know I had some around here somewhere…"

From out of his hat, Perry pulled out a briefcase filled with cheeses. Mavis stared at him. "Seriously? You had THAT in your hat?!"

Perry ignored her, grabbing the stinky cheese from its slot and loading it onto a crossbow.

"And a crossbow?!" Mavis blinked a few times in surprise. "Man… Why don't I get anything cool like that?"

Again, Perry ignored her. Doofenshmirtz was muttering to himself, his backside facing the glass dome trap. Mavis's eyes widened as she realised what he was going to do. "You wouldn't…!"

The hint of a smirk on his face, Perry fired the piece of cheese into Doofenshmirtz's pants. Mavis winced and covered her eyes. "I can't watch…"

She heard the mouse squeaking, then a small pause, then Doofenshmirtz began screaming loudly. As it got more high-pitched, the glass suddenly shattered into dozens of little pieces. Mavis raised an eyebrow at Perry. "You're cruel."

For the third time, Perry ignored her. He rushed at Doofenshmirtz and kicked him in the face, sending him flying backwards into the ray, causing it to fire. Mavis rushed to the window and watched as the beam hit a mirror on the ground and reflected back up to the blimp. Which, of course, then began to deflate.

"Hmm." Doofenshmirtz paused. "I suppose I should've seen that coming."

"WHAT?!" Mavis shrieked. "That shouldn't have happened! The mirror was angling DOWN, not UP! The beam should have gone into the ground, NOT UP AT THE BLIMP!"

"Take it up with the writers," Doofenshmirtz suggested, shrugging.

Mavis clenched her fists, but suddenly, the blimp jerked violently, causing Mavis, Perry, and Doofenshmirtz to tumble to the floor. Mavis grabbed the side of the open door to avoid flying out of it.

Over the whistling wind, they heard one of the Swamp Oil 500 announcers yelling, "Oh no! A blimp is about to hit the broadcasting tower! Oh, the HUMANITY!"

Just before the word "humanity", the blimp crashed into something hard and knocked it to the ground with a massive crash. Mavis's head hit the wall very hard upon impact, stunning her. She pressed her fingers to the wound, feeling blood there.

A few seconds later, Perry appeared next to her, concerned. "I'm okay, I'm okay." Mavis pointed out the hole. "Go get Doofenshmirtz."

Perry hesitated, then nodded and jumped out after his nemesis.

Mavis crawled to the hole in the blimp and slid out. One of the announcers came up to her to ask if she was okay, but she covered her injury and lied, "Yeah, I'm fine," and he backed off.

As she made her way out of the stadium, she was met by a handsome blonde boy of about the same age as her. She recognised him as an O.W.C.A. member—he was wearing a white lab coat with the O.W.C.A. insignia on it—but she didn't know who he was. He approached her slowly, a concerned look on his face. "Mavis Monogram?"

Mavis nodded warily. "Yeah…?"

"I'm Doctor Apollo Hastings. I'm with the same people you are."

"Oh…" Mavis blinked. "Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?"

"Yes, yes I am. I'm not a full doctor; that's just my O.W.C.A. title. I wouldn't be able to operate in an ordinary hospital. But I can treat O.W.C.A. agents, and it looks like you need it."

"What?" Mavis self-consciously covered up her bleeding cut. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm guessing you were in the blimp when it crashed? I was watching the race when I saw it happen. Are you sure you don't need help?"

Mavis slowly sighed, before uncovering the injury on her forehead, which promptly began leaking blood down the side of her face. "No, I'm not sure."

"Ooh, that looks nasty." Apollo reached up and touched the side of the wound gently, causing her to blush. "Do you want to come and get it sorted out?"

"O-Okay. It won't need stitches, will it?"

Apollo shook his head. "It shouldn't. But it still needs cleaning and disinfecting. Shall we go over there, then?"

Mavis nodded and followed Apollo to the side. On the way, she got a call on her watch. "Perry, hey. Did you get him?"

Perry nodded. "Car wash."

She snickered. "Brilliant. I can't wait to hear all about it."

The platypus gave a smirk, then pointed to his forehead.

"Oh, I'm fine. O.W.C.A.'s doctor is helping me out," Mavis said, her cheeks turning a little red. "Apollo."

"Oh, I see."

"Do you?"

"Yep."

Mavis scowled. "Don't you dare think what I think you're thinking."

She turned off the watch and glanced up at Apollo, who had set up a blanket on the grass outside the stadium. "Hey, Mavis! Come sit over here and we can sort that cut out."

Mavis smiled for the first time in a while as she headed over to him. "Thanks for taking the time, Apollo."

"No problem."