Perry saw the boys off at the bus stop, then was about to head for his lair when he saw Annie's car. He paused, then plodded though the pet door, and into her kitchen. He yawned, and scratched an itch against her doorway, ignoring the fact that she was running laps around her table.
"Morning..,
…puddin'…
…wanna..
…cuppa…
…coffee?"
He dodged her, climbing up onto her counter to get himself a cup, bill twitching into an amused smile.
She slowed down, pulling out a stop watch. "My time's still down."
He poured the coffee, giving a questioning chatter.
"No, no special reason. Just trying to stay in shape."
He climbed back down with his cup, and settled into his usual chair.
"So… how was your weekend?"
He leaned back with a smile and a contented chatter.
She reached to pet him. "Good for you. And… the house?"
He pulled a slip of paper from his hat, and handed it to her.
"Yikes! How'd they mess up the tree?! That's not going to be hard to explain, or anything. New lair equipment though, nice. A bit low of Monogram, but still, little perks are better than none."
He smirked, finishing his coffee.
When he put his cup in the sink, he frowned and pointed at the coffee pot.
"DO you want more?"
He shook his head, and pointed again.
"Oh. I don't drink it every morning."
He pointed at the coffee pot one last time, a skeptical look coming in his eyes.
She smiled. "I just always put a pot on, just in case I have company. Now that you've mentioned it, though…" She filled a travel mug, and added sugar, and a lot of cream. "Want one to go?"
He shook his head, and followed her out to her car, pointing.
"Sure, I'll give you a lift. Hop in!"
It made more sense than them both traveling in separate vehicles. Besides, if she drove, his weekend wouldn't be over until they showed up at work. He leaned back against the seat, and closed his eyes, fully relaxed.
Her finger stroked the side of his face, and he smiled, not bothering to open his eyes. She wasn't Doof, so he doubted she was looking at him instead of the road.
All too soon, the car stopped. "We're here, Boss."
He opened his eyes, and adjusted his hat.
"So, what are we working on today? Town Square Riot, or Escape the Ancient Ruin?"
He thought for a second, then shrugged, and pretended to put glasses on.
"Right… I haven't heard if Carl found the Day Players yet, either. Good point."
He froze. Something was missing. There was something else he…
He broke into a huge smile as he remembered, and hugged her before she could get her door opened. She snuggled him close. "You thanked me. And you didn't have to."
He nodded, and hopped out of the car, smiling at the bright new day.
"Yep, things are back to normal."
He shot her a look. Her tone was off, and something was bothering her. Come to think of it, it wasn't strange to barge into her house and find her training, but laps around her table first thing in the morning?
She was already pressing a button on her watch. "Hey, Carl. Agent P and I just got here."
He couldn't see the screen from down here, but he could hear the nasally voice easily enough. "Um, alright… you guys hardly need to check in, you know, Agent X. That's what the hand-print scanners are for."
She finished the last of her coffee, and turned back towards the car. He clapped, and held his hands out.
She smiled her thanks, and tossed it to him, finding her keys, and clicking the doors unlocked.
He ran it back and put it in the cup holder, hitting the lock button on the door before heading back.
She'd already finished her conversation. "He got the day players, and some extras, so we have to run Town Riot today, and we're only going to get one shot. It figures."
He nodded, refusing to sigh. The Town Riot section in the handbook only outlined basis crowd control procedures. They had less to go on than before, and the way the team wasn't exactly coming together… he sighed.
Annie stopped short, and he froze, too, shooting a glance at the worried look on her face. "Is Doof sleeping in again?"
He inhaled sharply and followed her gaze to only three team members. The new agents were still required to clock in early for extra training, and Doof had been doing well about getting there on time, except for the purposely early morning mission scheduled on what he now referred to as Doom's Day.
He pressed the button on his watch, letting out an angry chatter as the call was answered with a fake cough. "Hey, I have sick days, Perry the platypus, and I'm taking one."
He gave up the ruse, and leaned in close, whispering, "Don't tell anyone, but Vanessa is spending the day here, and I've been so busy lately, I haven't gotten a chance to see my baby girl."
He could sympathize, but…
Annie clicked her watch on. "You're an agent, now. Personal time is a fondly remembered dream."
Doof gave a gurgle of indignation. "Perry the platypus! I told you not to tell anyone."
Annie rolled her eyes. "You whispered it so loud, Monogram probably heard you!"
"Rude, MC. Totally rude."
"Doof, we're doing the Town Riot today, and we can't postpone it. Are you really going to abandon your team?"
He gave a dry laugh. "It's probably the most helpful thing I can do for you guys. Good luck." With that, he clicked the watch off, and refused to answer.
He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his bill, trying to rub away the headache as it crept back.
Annie stooped down and put her hand on his shoulder. "Should one of us go get him?"
He looked around and saw that the test was nearly set up. He shook his head with a frown, and walked over to their other team members.
She followed, and Monogram stepped out to brief them. "Well, it looks like Doof has the Alcopocococowaka flu, so you're going to have to roll out without a full team… well, your full team. With AJ in the group, you're technically still a team of five. Still, there's an applicable lesson here. When duty calls, you need to be ready to answer, full team or no."
He cleared his throat, and read from his clipboard like he was handing out an assignment. "Agent P, we've noticed a disturbance down in the town square where discontented crowds have been gathering. I want you and your team to go check it out, and defuse the situation if possible."
They saluted, and walked on set.
There were a lot more day players. So many, he couldn't help but wonder if the memory wiper was going to be used later, and if not, what these people had been told.
He pointed to Maggie, then up. She saluted, looking a little annoyed to be surveillance again, but what did she expect?
He pointed to Harry, and motioned mid left, then pointed towards the mid right for Karen. The cat would do her own thing unless and until a fight broke out, so he could only hope she'd find a box to curl up in and stay there.
He smiled at Annie, and pointed to the right. She nodded, and should have started off as quickly as the others, but she was giving him a worried look. She got down to one knee, talking in a quiet whisper. "Are you sure your head's well enough for this?"
He nodded reassuringly, and gave her a thumbs up, pointing right again. She saluted. "Got it, Boss."
He smiled, and headed left, wondering when the test would begin. Right now, the crowd was just mingling.
"Announcing Mayoral candidate, Preston Finley!"
A random day player crushed his foam coffee cup. "I can't stand that guy!"
A woman with a large purse pulled out a club. 'Me neither! Let's get him!"
Not exactly subtle, but he understood now. These must be trained fighters, either from other agencies, or being told that this was a training exercise. The best tactic was to calm the crowd down, but since no one was listening to Annie…
He smiled when he saw Harry and Karen were already sparring. Quite well. Annie got the idea as a man grabbed a woman's purse, and swung it at her face. From the looks of things, he early morning training hadn't tired her out too much.
He grinned, and leapt up to punch a man with a torch in the face. He fought till he could barely stand up, then sat down to indicate he was tagging out. Some people tagged out when he so much as looked at them, but most people seemed to be there to fight.
It wasn't a problem.
When the dust cleared, very few moments later, his team were the only ones left standing.
He smiled, proud of each of them. Something twinged in his chest, though. It would probably have gone just as smoothly with Doof. He really didn't see how the man could mess this up, not that it was always obvious…
Maybe he was worrying over nothing but… no, he'd known Doof too long, listened to too many back stories. This was going to bother the former evil scientist.
And the worst part was, he wasn't one hundred percent positive it hadn't gone so smoothly because Doof wasn't there.
A/N: Sorry if that chapter seemed a little off. It's hard to go to Perry's POV without using his thoughts in italics. If we get to a point where I need to say what he's thinking for an awwww factor, I'll probably give in, but I'll refrain until that point.
Thanks for reading!
