It had been three days since Isabella Garcia-Shapiro had disappeared. The Organization Without a Cool Acronym, or OWCA, had sent out many of its top agents in order to find the young woman. Perry and Isabella's dog Pinky were two of those operatives. No one worked harder than those two in trying to find Isabella. Pinky wanted his owner back safe and sound. Perry wanted his owner to be happy and not off in his room alone, without any company whatsoever.

"How is he?"

"Please tell me that is a rhetorical question."

"Sorry Ferb. I just wanted to know if he has been getting better."

"It's been three days and no one has anything new. I don't even think I would be okay if I was in his situation."

"You'd better not be."

"Shut up Vanessa."

"I can hear you guys out there, you know." Ferb sighed and pushed open the door to his brother's bedroom.

"Sorry Phineas," Ferb said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You don't need to side-step around me," Phineas said. He was sitting on his bed, hugging on to a stuffed bear that really needed to be cleaned. He looked like he hadn't showered in days, and he probably hadn't. His hair was messy, his teeth were a pale yellow, and there was a weak scent of B.O. in the air.

"Of course we don't," Vanessa said. "You are perfectly fine here…in your room…with little food…and no shower!"

"Easy Vanessa," Ferb said, patting his now fuming wife on the back. "I don't think this is helping him."

"It's been three days," Phineas said. "Where is Isabella?"

"Pinky says the tracking device in Isabella's earing has been disabled," Vanessa said. "Agent W found it buried in the forest a few miles from her work."

"That was the only way the OWCA could find her," Phineas said, tears forming in his eyes.

"That is only one of the ways," Ferb said.

"Ferb is right Phineas," Vanessa said. "Agent E is searching the skies for any signs of Isabella and don't forget that the police and many of the land agents are searching the ground. There is nowhere in this city that they can hide someone without us finding them." Suddenly a beeping broke apart their conversation. The wall in front of Phineas's bed opened to reveal a TV screen with the face of Major Monogram of the OWCA staring back at them.

"Mr. Flynn," Major Monogram said, in his low, monotone voice.

"Yes Sir?" Phineas asked, standing up.

"As much as this organization understands how important your girlfriend is to you, we cannot keep sending out agents to find a girl that is long since gone."

"What?" Phineas, Ferb, and Vanessa exclaimed.

"Sir, you didn't tell me you were going to say that," an alarmed voice off-screen said. "You said you were going to offer your condolences."

"Well I changed my mind Carl," Major Monogram said, turning to look at where Carl was standing. "Aren't I entitled to that?"

"I suppose so Sir," Carl began but was cut off by Phineas yelling.

"You can't do that," Phineas said. "We need to find Isabella."

"But the OWCA doesn't need to," Major Monogram said. "We have allowed you to keep your memories of your pet being a secret agent after Agent P told you…again."

"Again?" Phineas said, raising his eyebrow. "What do you mean, again?"

"Anyway," Major Monogram said, clearing his throat. "We let you keep your memories; we let Doof keep his memories after Vanessa told him when Ferb told her so we owe you nothing."

"What about Pinky?" Phineas asked.

"We will find him a new home," Major Monogram said. "If the OWCA couldn't find her in three days then she is gone forever. I am sorry Phineas. But this must be done." With that, the screen went black and retreated back into the wall.

"They can't do that," Vanessa said. "You can't do that," she screamed, pounding on the area of the wall where the screen had vanished.

"Don't worry Phineas," Ferb said, putting a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Now what do we do?" Phineas asked, his voice quieter than Ferb had ever heard it.

"You get cleaned up," Ferb replied, looking at the wall in front of him

"What?" Phineas asked, looking at his brother.

"Get cleaned up and meet us in the kitchen. We're going to find Isabella."

"I don't know about this Ferb."

"Come on Phineas. I never saw you as a person who would just let the police take care of things." Phineas looked over to where his sister-in-law was standing and gave her a sad smile.

"That's because Isabella was my inspiration," Phineas said. "Everything I did was for her." Phineas looked over to where his brother was standing, staring out at the skyline of Danville. At the moment, the trio was waiting, on the top of a three story building, for the last person to leave the building of the Danville Gazette. Ferb figured that the best place to start was at the scene of the crime.

"There goes Annette," Vanessa said. Phineas turned to see the blond editor locking up the front door of the building and walking towards her car.

"Isabella liked to work late," Phineas said, barely moving his lips as he said it. "She was usually the last one to leave. Sometimes she and Annette left together."

"Now we know the building is empty," Ferb said. He went over to the edge of the roof and grabbed the rope already tied to a flag pole. Taking a deep breath, he began repelling down the side of the building. "Come along Flynn," he said, gesturing with his hand brother to follow him. Once Phineas had landed on the ground next to his brother, Vanessa did the same.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" Vanessa asked as Phineas took a paper clip out of her pocket and placed it in the keyhole.

"Psh, do I know how to pick a lock," Phineas said, stepping back and opening the door. "Can you believe her?" he asked his brother.

"You'd think she'd know us better by now," Ferb teased.

"Shut up you two," Vanessa said, pushing past them. Phineas and Ferb chuckled and followed the adult Goth into the building.

"Does this place have an alarm?" Phineas asked, closing the door behind them.

"No," Ferb said, turning his flashlight on and shinning it down the dark corridor. "If there was it would have already sounded."

"What about a silent one?" Phineas asked, turning on his own flashlight.

"I would have heard it through my ear piece," Ferb said, pointing to his ear where a skin-colored ball was stuck in his ear.

"Why do you even have that right now?"

"For situations like this, of course. Now Vanessa, find the tapes and bring them to me. The police would have taken the originals but there are always copies somewhere on the computer. Phineas, you'll come with me and we'll check out Isabella's desk together, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good, now split up," Ferb said. Vanessa nodded and ran off to do her part while Ferb and Phineas walked to Isabella's desk.

"So what were you planning as a theme?" Ferb asked, picking up a bridal magazine with green aliens on the cover.

"I don't know," Phineas said, shrugging his shoulders. "Something exotic, I guess. We never talked about a theme, per se. It was mostly just colors and venues."

"Well most of these magazines definitely have an exotic theme, I suppose," Ferb said, picking up another magazine, this one with a spider monkey and a capuchin on the cover. "Maybe Isabella was taken by a disgruntled bride who didn't want her wedding to be upstaged by some nobody from Danville."

"She's not a NOBODY!" Phineas yelled, slamming Isabella's copy of The Fireside Girls' Handbook onto her desk.

"I know she's not!" Ferb said, holding his hands up. "Just calm down before somebody hears you."

"Hello? Is somebody there?" Phineas's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. It was Carlton Williams, the janitor for the building. How could they forget about him?

"Come on," Ferb whispered, grabbing Phineas's arm and pulling him to the ground. "We can't be seen." Phineas nodded and started crawling towards the door.

"Hello?" Carlton asked again. Phineas and Ferb continued to crawl towards the door as Carlton made his way towards the desks in the back. "I know someone is in here. I heard voices. Don't you dare try anything. I have pepper spray." Ferb rolled his eyes. By this moment, the two brothers had made it to the door. After getting into the hallway, they got up and started running towards the exit only to be cut off by a figure in dark. Ferb jumped back in surprise.

"Vanessa," Ferb said, trying to catch his breath. "You gave me a fright. I thought I told you not to do that."

"Well I wouldn't be rushing if someone had memorized Carlton's schedule," his wife said, punching him in the arm. Ferb rubbed where her fist connected with flesh.

"Fine," he said. "Did you get the tapes?"

"Who has tapes anymore?" Vanessa said, holding up a small memory card.

"Good," Phineas said, grabbing his sister-in-law's hand and pulling her out the door. "We need to get out of here before Carlton finds us."

"Good idea," Ferb said, running behind them. They did not stop running till they had gotten to an internet café a few blocks away from the office.

"Ready to see what's on those videos?" Ferb asked, walking into the café and taking out his cell phone.

"I don't know," Phineas said, but Ferb was already putting the card into his phone.

"Whoa," Ferb said.

"What? What is it Ferb?" Phineas asked, trying to get a look at his brother's phone from over his shoulder.

"Nothing," Ferb said, shocked. "I am not getting anything."

"Can't you try some video trick?" Phineas asked.

"I'm trying," Ferb said, punching the keys on his phone. "All of the tricks are not working. Not even the ones that I created."

"So what does that mean?" Vanessa asked, resting her chin on her husband's shoulder.

"It means we have nothing," Phineas said, his eyes filled with sadness.

"Nothing?" Vanessa asked, her eyes widening at the thought.

Nothing," Ferb confirmed.


I personally love those last lines of Ferb. But then again, I'm the writer so that's not saying much. So, I've noticed that I've been uploading the chapters in groups of three everytime I get on the Doc Manager. Why? I have no clue. But I'm going to continue to do that. Why? I have no clue about that either. But I do want to give a break between each chapter just to slow things down. Some notes though, just to clarify, Agent E is an eagle agent and Agent W is a worm agent. I don't know if that is in the show or not so I'll say it just in case.

~AvatarRikki