Chapter 7
Phineas walked in with Ferb to the kitchen where Mom was making dinner fussily. The radio wasn't turned on and she wasn't singing while she was cooking. Yes something was definitely wrong.
"Mom."
"Yes Phineas I'm kind of busy right now can you talk to me later?"
"Mom," Phineas said sternly, crossing his arms and glaring. He nudged Ferb with an elbow and his step-brother did the same.
"What Phineas?" Linda asked, throwing her arms up in the air with exasperation. She almost felt her heart stop when she recognized the same pose her ex would make if he was ever being serious about something. She wiped her hand with a towel and let out a long sigh. "What is it?"
Phineas's eyebrows furrowed. "Why did you make Dr. D leave? He wasn't doing anything."
Linda sighed and ran her hand down over her face. She wanted to tell Phineas. But she couldn't. Not now. It-It was too soon. She had to have time to think about this. She had never expected Heinz to show up on his own accord. And how did he find out where she lived?
"Phineas," Linda started, "he used to be a, friend of mine and he did something that didn't really put him on my friend list anymore."
"What'd he do?"
"That is none of your business."
"Mom," Phineas glowered even more deeply. "Dr. D has been visiting us every day now for almost three weeks. He's one of the best friends I've ever had, you know, even for an adult."
Linda looked down at him, her lips in a thin line. "Phineas I can't do this with you right now." She turned to continue making dinner.
"Mom you can't just-"
"Yes I can Phineas! Now, will you please just go? I have to make dinner for the family." Linda turned away, her throat choking up. Her arms trembled slightly and she clenched her fists tightly against the white top of the counter.
Ferb glanced at his brother, imagining seeing his aura a bright red with fresh and furious anger. He could see the tensed up shoulders, the fists, the burning hatred in his step-brother's eyes. Ferb patted Phineas's shoulder and Phineas turned his head to look at him. Their eyes met and Phineas looked down. He understood.
"Okay Mom. Sorry. We understand."
"Thank you," she said almost coldly. "Now I have some work to do. Excuse me boys."
Phineas kept his glare and turned away, going up with Ferb to their room. The instant Ferb closed the door behind them Phineas had whipped out a piece of paper and pencil. "We're going to find Dr. D Ferb. Based on what Mom said to him I don't think he's coming back. Do you?" Ferb shook his head once. "I don't think so either," Phineas agreed. It was almost like talking to an imaginary friend or just himself, but it was enough to have Ferb there.
two days later at DEI
Perry crashed in through the window again to face Doof. Their little moment together those couple of nights ago had been forgotten to the pair of them. They couldn't afford to show weakness or Perry would get in trouble. And Doof had a reputation to uphold.
Of course the OWCA didn't know that Doof was Phineas and Candace's Dad, so they didn't hesitate to send Perry out on the job again the next day after Doof totally got thrown off by Linda.
"Oh, hello Perry the Platypus," Doof had said so hesitantly that first day. His eyes were red and puffy when Perry came in. He had been crying before his nemesis had arrived. They didn't even fight that day. Doof was too worked up about the recent events. Perry had understood.
"I'm sorry Perry the Platypus," Doof said, wiping a tear or two from his eyes. "I'll build an inator for you to destroy tomorrow, okay? I'm sorry."
Perry reached up a hand to gently pat Doof's knee. That was as high as he could reach. "Thank you Perry the Platypus. I'll see you tomorrow at noon then?"
Perry nodded, still aware of the tears threatening to burst from Doof's eyes. He knew his nemesis was going to cry as soon as he left.
But the platypus couldn't do anything, so he had left.
Now it was the next day and Doof seemed more in to it today. "Ah Perry the Platypus how surprising of you to come. And by surprising I mean not surprising at all!"
A trap instantly contained Perry, metal cuffs going around his ankles and keeping his feet planted to the ground.
"Now Perry the Platypus, witness what I will use to destroy all of Italy!"
Good. He's back to normal, Perry thought with a satisfied and relieved smirk to himself. But he wiped it off quickly and began to think of a way to get out of this trap. It was simple really. Doof had forgotten about Perry's hands.
So as Doof began to rant on about his troubles he had in Italy, Perry worked on getting the cuffs off. Simple really. All he had to do was start his hat to become a little chainsaw and all would be okay. He just couldn't graze the skin. That would hurt.
Perry got out silently and launched himself and Doof, giving him a kick in the face, sending his nemesis crashing on to the floor. "What Perry the Platypus I hadn't even finished with my evil scheme!"
But Perry just shrugged and hit the self destruct button, jumping away from it as it exploded just a few moments later. "Curse you Perry the Platypus!" Doof screeched as the smoke billowed out through the apartment.
"Ugh," Doof said as he got up to his feet. "He usually doesn't defeat me that fast. He must have something to do at . . . home."
There was a reason for Perry wrapping it up so quickly.
He wanted to watch Doofenshmirtz. He wanted to see how his nemesis really was doing without his son and daughter to keep him in high spirits. He wanted to see how Doof would act when alone.
Almost instantly when Doof just took a simple step forward to pick up the broken pieces of what was left of the inator he broke down, falling to his knees and starting to sob again. This went on for several minutes, and every second of it felt like torture to Perry. He wanted to offer some consolation to his nemesis, but . . .
That was strictly against protocol.
Perry slunk against the wall and found a good spot behind the couch to watch his nemesis from a safe distance. "Norm!" Doof cried in a broken voice. "Come clean this up! I'm going to bed."
"But it's muffin time Sir!"
"I don't care! Just do it!"
Perry waited for Norm's arrival and a chill shudder up through him as he heard the whirring of gears and clanking of metal behind him. "Oh, hello Perry the Platypus," a mechanical voice said.
"What?" Perry heard Doof call. Perry whipped around.
Crap.
A metal hand wrapped around Perry's middle and carried the struggling agent over to Doof, who had stood up quickly, brushing himself off quickly. His eyes were hard and angry. They were actually a serious angry.
Perry felt his fur bristle. Why was he so scared? Doof had never looked this way before … He had never looked so full of hatred.
"Perry the Platypus were you spying on me?" Doof asked incredulously. There was plain shock on his face and Perry watched as his nemeses' eyes furrowed down, showing clear disapproval and embarrassment at being found crying. "You-You had no right to!"
The agent gave him a 'Yeah right' look. Doof clearly got the message. "I don't care if you're my nemesis! You had no right to be spying on me! What are you even doing here? You already destroyed my inator for the day! Why can't you leave me alone?" Doof shouted.
Perry flinched away and suddenly slid his sleek body through Norm's metal fingers. He swung around to jump on Norm's back, clicking the Deactivate button. Norm shut down instantly and Perry ran off in to the shadows as all of the lights went out instantly.
"Oh dang it why did I use Norm to be the one in control of the lights? Oh well he'll reactivate on his own in a few minutes. I'll have the lights on then. Perry the Platypus, where are you?"
Perry pressed himself in to the wall of the apartment, trying to shrink in to it as far as he could. He heard the door lock shut as well as the windows. He flinched when Doof whipped out the curtains as far as they would go. Light threatened to reveal his hiding spot and he inched away slowly.
There was one reason why Perry was so terrified right now of being found.
Right as he had shut down Norm and the lights went out, his ears caught the unmistakable sound of the safety on a gun being turned off.
Doof was serious. Dead serious. Real and true anger was coursing through him and it was dangerous. Perry had never seen this side of Doof before, and he didn't want to make it mad.
The minutes, (or was it seconds?) ticked by. And those seconds (or were they minutes?) felt like an eternity. Perry could faintly hear Doof walk around, searching and calling for his nemesis. Perry kept still as a statue. Then he listened intently as a door opened and slammed shut. Doof must have left.
Perry relaxed for a moment and wiped his hand down his face, sighing quietly. He took a step forward and a cold cylinder was pressed to his forehead. The lights flashed on and he lifted his arms to shield his eyes, his pupils shrinking dramatically. Then as his eyes adjusted to the light he felt ever muscle and emotion in him freeze so that the only thing left was fear.
Doof was holding a gun to his head.
Doof. What the heck are you doing? Perry thought in horror.
"Now Perry the Platypus I have you!" Doof's eyes hardened as he started to pull the trigger. "Say goodbye Perry the Platypus."
