Phineas sat staring at the floor until he chattered. Only then did the boy look up at the people coming towards him. "Perry!"

The former O.W.C.A. opened the cell door, and he raced into Phineas's arms. His boy seemed to be alright.

The bright smile faded. "Did you guys get captured, too?"

AJ watched the bionic panda leave, then stooped down to join the hug. She whispered, "We had to get to you somehow."

Phineas brightened again. "So this is a plan, then?"

"A working one. We knew we couldn't trust Doofenshmritz, but we also had to comply to his demands. He took Perry's weapons offline. It's too bad no one in this cell knows how to hook them back up again."

He grinned at Doofenshrmtiz oversight. He probably expected that there were a team of scientists at O.W.C.A. that had modified him. He'd never have suspected that the little inventor and the girl had done most of the work themselves.

"We'll need tools though."

"Ferb took care of that."

He indicated a compartment with a secret button. Metal tools weren't exactly hard to hid on his cybernetic body, and right now, he was ever so grateful for that fact.

"So, when do we start? We don't want to get caught."

"But we need to get you out of here, A.S.A.P. Preferably before Candace gets impatient, and storms the place."

"But she won't be able to find it. Doofenshmritz has a force field around the place that scrambles the signal from tracking chips."

"We knew that when we stopped receiving your signal. So Ferb and I made a few adjustments. With any luck, they know where we are now."

"Oh good. For a second there, I was afraid you guys blindly turned yourselves over to Doofenshmirtz in a hopeless attempt to get him to release me."

Perry hugged him closer. I would have, Phin. But that wasn't all I could do to keep you safe.

Annie brought them back to business. "So it's risky to wait, and it's risky to act now. Which is, guys? It's your call, Perry."

"Well you're both rescuing me, and I say that since either is risky, we should see what we can find out from Doofenshmirtz before we leave. It could make things easier, and safer than acting rashly."

As much as Perry wanted to rashly smash through this cell and get his boy to freedom, he could see the wisdom in his words. Besides, this was all about Doofenshmirtz getting his general back. As long as they were good prisoners, he had no reason to hurt Phineas.

How dare that bratty teenager upset his plans? He'd thought he had her pegged so well. Hmm, maybe she knew that the second he had his hands on all three of them, they were all dead. It was more likely than him being wrong.

He wondered what his little prisoners were doing right then, then shrugged. He really needed to get some security camera's installed in the cells in his buildings.

He sat down at his desk, mulling over his plans. He could, of course, just wipe Platyborg's mind again. Heck, as sacrificial as his former general's nature was, he could probably just order him to reprogram himself. But there was a flaw in the programing. All he got was a robotic facsimile of the platypus's talents. Sure, he was loyal, but under the programing, he just blindly followed orders. It had been satisfying at first, but now it was stale. He'd been there, done that.

And unlike that stupid Regurgitator, he knew the flaw in the whole 'just keep a gun pressed to the head of whoever he cares about most' plan. It was only useful to an extent, and very dangerous if the hostage ever got free. So he needed something different. Something really clever. Something he couldn't lose control of.

The bottom line was, he was not going back to jail. So that didn't leave him much choice, or time. If he couldn't come up with that perfect scenario, he was going to have to just get rid of the lot of them. He probably should anyway, but he wasn't sure if he could kill the platypus at this point. He hadn't been able to when he'd been intent on torturing him to death. Something had stopped him from pulling that last plug, and that same regret swelled up every time he thought about even a merciful death for his former general.

Still, regret was something he could live with.

Doofenshmirtz had been thorough. Every single gadget in his body was off-line. He had a full range of motion, but even his jets had been shut down. Oh well. He stilled packed a heavy punch, and it wouldn't take Phineas or Annie long to get him back to the way he was. And… he frowned when he realized it would be hard for even them to be any gentler than Doofenshmirtz had been.

He gripped the bars, looking out at the cell-block. What was the evil scientist up to? Some sick mind game? His gut reeled as he tried to shove away the thought of Phineas being turned into that human cyborg Charline wanted. Annie wasn't safe, either.

Safe. Like that was a word that could describe anything since the initial takeover. Phineas put his arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, boy. We're going to be fine. You're here. And Candace is looking for us."

He smiled at his boy's blind faith, glad that someone was unable to imagine him or Candace failing to protect the boys.

Annie was curled into the corner of the cell, eyes closed. Alert, but in some sort of standby mode. He remembered wryly that he used to think of it as resting. He'd once been as naive as Phineas. He'd once thought that he was invincible. That nothing would ever come between him and his boys.

Maybe that was why it hurt so much that, when Phineas had only had one second to call out for help, he'd called for his sister, instead of his cybernetic pet. Because Candace hadn't failed him.

A mournful sound escaped the tangerine bill. For some reason, the arm he'd put around his pet didn't cheer him up for very long. He wished he knew how to fix things.

"I bet they'll leave the decorations up for us." He smiled at the happy memory, but Perry seemed to be dwelling on less pleasant reminiscences. He didn't understand it. Why couldn't people be happy all the time? Sure, things looked kind of grim right now, but they were already so much better than they had been.

Doofenshmritz had told him he'd never see his family again, but it hadn't been very long before they'd showed up, and then things barely looked bleak at all.

Perry moved, stepping closer, and slipping his none cybernetic arm around his waist with a comforting chatter that reaffirmed that everything was going to be just fine. Perry nudged him gently towards AJ, and laid his head on his hands, indicating that he should get some rest.

He wasn't really tired. They'd done nothing but be captured all day. But if it would reassure his pet, then he'd try. He sat down beside AJ, and she slipped an arm around him. Perry sat down next to him, but he didn't lean against the wall.

His bionic eye was down, and so his sentry setting probably was, too, but he doubted his pet had ever needed it. The brown eye that blinked at him was alert.

He wasn't sure what the point was, keeping watch when they were all locked in a prison cell, but for some reason, it did make him feel better to know Perry would know the minute something happened.

He patted his lap.

The cybernetic platypus hesitated, then laid down, resting his chin on his knee. He smiled, and stroked the fur. He missed Ferb, and Candace, and his parents, but at least he had Perry here.

A/N: So there's another chapter. A bit boring, but Doofenshmritz is up to something.

Doof: "Oh that's reassuring. Do you have any clue what he's up to?"

I do. But that's subject to change. If a better plot comes along, we'll head that way.

Doof: "Great. That's just great. That's how you write all your stories, isn't it? And what, is the moral of this chapter supposed to be, 'Your year went great if you're not sitting in an evil dictator's cell waiting to be executed even though you're too naive to know it?'

What? There isn't a moral… it's a chapter! I write chapters themed to seasons sometimes… like your old schemes. It doesn't mean I do it all the time. This is the second dimension. It has nothing to do with new years.

Doof: "But it was just Christmas!"

No! They had a Christmas party to cheer up Annie.

Doof: "You are so weird."

Says the man who once tried to get revenge by insulting the whale that stole his girlfriend.

Doof: "See, you tried to turn that back around to me, but you really just insulted yourself. Even I think you're weird."

Well I happen to like being weird. SO :P

XD Thanks for reading guys!