This chapter is intense, though I tried not to describe anything too graphically. Specific warnings are in the end notes. Most of you probably see where this is going.

Hold onto your hats, folks!

Perry was floating in a nearby pond, having just foraged a decent breakfast, when he heard the scream. He was instantly alert, as any OWCA agent would be at the first sign of danger. And Perry knew that scream. Heinz's terrified scream hadn't changed in thirty-five odd years.

He was immediately up and running, wishing now more than ever that he had his hat and access to his agent tools. He was a platypus, and thus had some built-in weapons, but it was easier to use just about anything else. Plus, he really didn't like poisoning anyone unless the situation was dire.

Another scream echoed through the woods. This one wasn't of fear, though. This was a scream of pain.

Perry pushed himself to run faster. This couldn't be happening. Heinz had to be fine. He had to grow up into the brilliant man that Perry loved to thwart.

He could hear the growling before he reached the clearing. A goozim. He had to focus. He couldn't think of the last time he'd faced a goozim, hanging over lava, everyone he loved in danger — Heinz was in danger now. The thought snapped him back to the present just as he burst into the clearing.

The Inator had been knocked over and crushed beneath the goozim's paw, and was now just a pile of wires and scrap. Though the creature's back was turned to Perry, he could see something dangling from its mouth.

Perry leaped onto the its back, barely even able to think, just reacting. He pulled himself up and forward, fighting with the thick ropes of fur. If he could just get to the goozim's head, where the fur was thinner, he might be able to do something. He had no idea how platypus venom would affect something this large, but hopefully it would at least distract it.

The goozim quickly noticed Perry crawling up its back. It roared and shook its head, trying to get at the platypus, and in doing so flung the thing that had been in its mouth to the other side of the clearing.

'The thing' was Heinz. He landed in a heap at the base of a tree across the clearing. What used to be his right arm couldn't rightly be called an arm anymore, and his skin was deathly pale.

Perry saw red. He flung himself up, moving on instinct, and dug both of his spurs into the skin at the base of the goozim's skull.

It roared again, loud enough to shake the trees around the clearing. Perry clung on as the goozim did its best to dislodge him. It whipped its head around vigorously, but Perry's grip was strong and he'd been in many situations where he'd had to hang on during worse.

The goozim stopped thrashing after a moment, and Perry adjusted his position on its head, trying to figure out what to do next. He noticed with some satisfaction that the area around where his spurs punctured the goozim was swelling. His venom must be working. The creature was probably in excruciating pain, and Perry couldn't bring himself to care. It had hurt Heinz.

Goozim were violent and dangerous creatures, but they weren't particularly smart. For some reason, this one got the idea to try to slam itself into the trees to try to remove its hanger-on. It succeeded, but only in that it broke clean through the trunk of the tree that it hit and Perry was forced to drop from the creature in order to avoid being crushed.

He dodged towards the wreckage of the Inator. With all that metal, surely there was something sharp enough to serve as a weapon. Perry grabbed the first viable piece of scrap he saw, a long and twisted metal rod, and rolled out of the way of the creature's massive paw. He swung the rod around, letting the momentum from the roll carry the rod up to slam into the creature.

The goozim had been in mid-turn towards Perry when the rod slammed into its face. It staggered, going cross-eyed in an expression that might have been comical in any other situation. As it was, Perry barely even paused before stabbing the end of the rod right into the creature's eye. The goozim roared and tried to rear back, but Perry forced the metal deeper. After a moment of resistance, he felt something shatter and the rod slid almost easily deep into the creature's head.

He only paused briefly to check if he'd killed it. The goozim had slumped over, completely silent; it didn't even seem to be breathing, so Perry figured it was safe enough to help Heinz. If that hadn't killed the thing, he wasn't sure what could.

Turning away from the beast, which was almost certainly dead, he hurried over to Heinz. The boy's skin was white, and what used to be his arm looked like ground beef with splinters of bone. Perry swallowed. The arm was definitely past saving.

Perry thanked any god, spirit, or other metaphysical concept that was listening that he didn't keep his first aid kit in his hat. He reached into the pocket where he usually kept his hat and pulled out a large trunk, full of anything he could possibly need to help Heinz and a few things he didn't.

First, a tourniquet. Thankfully Heinz's shoulder and a portion of his upper arm remained mostly intact, so that wasn't too hard.

Next. Well, next would be getting Heinz to a hospital. But it seemed likely that he'd injured his head or neck when the goozim threw him, and Perry was reluctant to move him without knowing for sure, especially not knowing where the nearest hospital actually was. Besides, there was likely no one in Gimmelshtump who would be willing to help get Heinz to a hospital, or even help him at all. Their attitudes towards the boy ran the gamut from indifference to loathing, and not one of them would care if Heinz died. So Perry was on his own.

Heinz seemed to be going in and out. His eyes were glazed, and he occasionally moaned a little. Perry stroked his forehead, attempting to soothe the boy, but got no reaction. Heinz likely wasn't aware of much other than the pain in his arm.

Perry started to build a fire. Heinz was probably freezing from the blood loss. Anything to get him a little more comfortable, and to take Perry's mind off of the surgery he was going to need to perform.

He was going to need to remove Heinz's arm himself. The germaphobe in Perry was screaming that this was a bad idea, that this clearing was nowhere near sterile, and that he was just going to end up killing Heinz. But he pushed that voice away, knowing that this was the only way to save his friend's life.

Perry almost giggled to himself, feeling slightly hysterical. He remembered when Doofenshmirtz had commented offhand that he'd lost both of his arms. Perry never thought he'd be the one removing one of them.

.:.:.

Heinz wasn't sure what was happening. He was cold, freezing, but his right arm was searing, hot and cold and pain all wrapped into one. Someone was moaning something far away, and when he opened his mouth to respond, he found that his mouth was already open and the moaning only got louder.

He opened his eyes (when had he closed them) and tried to look around, but all he could see were blurry shapes and teal. Teal. Teal was important, and he tried to reach for it, but his left hand only twitched and his right arm exploded into fire. Someone screamed. His throat hurt and the colors hurt his eyes so he closed them and everything was fire, fire, until cool blackness overtook him.

.:.:.

It took Perry several hours to remove the mangled mess that had once been Heinz's right arm. He'd managed to save about a third of the upper arm, but that victory felt hollow. He was surprised the goozim hadn't ripped off the arm entirely. He was surprised that Heinz was still alive.

Perry was dead on his feet, so far beyond exhausted. He hadn't been trained for this. He hadn't been trained for any of this. OWCA had a gaping hole in their training protocols. They needed to train their agents on what to do when they got flung into the past and had to try to save the life of the child who would grow up to be their nemesis.

At least he knew that Heinz would be able to build himself a new arm. The kid would make do. He always did.

Perry curled up right next to Heinz, not caring about the blood that covered them both. He knew that this turned out okay. That Heinz was Doofenshmirtz and Doofenshmirtz was alive and arguably well in the future. It would all be okay.

.:.:.

Heinz opened his eyes. He felt like he'd just been sleeping, but he couldn't remember going to sleep. Or even where he was. He was dizzy, and his right arm was throbbing. He tried to move it –

What.

He flung himself up into a sitting position, which did nothing to help the spinning in his head. Still, he looked at the stump where his right arm used to be. That was not good.

Heinz looked around. He seemed to be in a clearing in the woods. He was having trouble making his eyes focus, so he wasn't entirely sure which one. There was a pile of smashed machinery across the clearing, and –

Was that a dead goozim?

Heinz blinked, then blinked again, then went to rub his eyes before the pain reminded him that he now only had one arm.

What was going on?

Something shifted next to his leg, and he looked down, startled. There was a teal… platypus? curled up asleep next to him. It was covered in blood, but then, so was Heinz now that he was looking. Somehow, the platypus seemed to be the most surreal part of the situation.

Then the platypus started to glow. Heinz blinked, and the platypus disappeared.

Heinz lay back down, mind blank. This was probably a dream. That's it. He was going to wake up, and this was all going to be a dream.

But when he woke up again, he was in the same place, with the same dead goozim, still missing his arm, and the platypus nowhere in sight. At the very least, the non-platypus parts definitely weren't a dream.

So what happened?

Warnings: Intentional killing of a large animal (the goozim). Traumatic injury leading to an off screen field amputation.

I must have rewritten that fight scene five times. Hopefully it reads okay. Only the epilogue left!