Author's Note: Wow! Over 100 reviews? You guys are simply the best! Thank you to everyone who has read, favorite'd, alerted, and reviewed this story. Your support and encouragement is greatly appreciated, and I hope that you all enjoy the rest of the story.
This chapter was supposed to be posted much earlier, but I experienced a lot of technical difficulties with it. Sorry for the delay!
Chapter Nine: Rescue Team
Vanessa remained kneeling on the floor, frozen to the spot as the tripod flew away from her father's penthouse; the figure of Ferb struggling to hold onto Perry the Platypus embedded in her mind. Would Perry be able to save Ferb? He may be a secret agent who held an infallible victory record against her father, but would he be able to hold his own against that thing?
"Hey!" her father exclaimed, picking himself off the ground. He marched past his daughter, giving off a strong, annoyed aura. "Where does Perry the Platypus think he's going? You know, the nerve of that platypus sometimes—he didn't even greet me in my own home!"
Snapping out of her state of horror, Vanessa glared at her father. "Dad! Is that really all you can think of right now? Ferb's been kidnapped!"
"As was my nemesis! Technically-speaking, of course," her dad replied, glaring at the tripod's disappearing form. "First he breaks routine by attacking me this morning, then he further breaks it by sneaking around my home without me doing anything evil, and now he's focused on another evildoer!"
"I'm confused," a small, girlish voice stated, causing Vanessa to look over at the dark-haired girl with a pink bow in her hair. She meant to ask Ferb what his friends' names were before... "Why was Perry wearing a hat?"
"It was his secret agent hat!" her dad answered as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "All animal agents wear fedoras—everyone knows that!"
"I knew it!" Vanessa watched as the small Indian boy with the pale, large boy slowly came to their senses, giving their attention to the orange-haired freakish kid with the glasses who had made the proclamation. She had to wonder how anyone aside from her, her father, and other evildoers were aware that secret animal agents wore fedoras. "It all makes so much sense now! That's why he always sneaks away during the day!"
"Yeah," the orange-haired girl who Vanessa recognized as the girl who answered the number of the cellphone Ferb had given her earlier that day suddenly spoke, her voice raising as she became more confident in what she was saying. "Yeah! I remember seeing him in that hat before! We were in that stupid cave, but I thought I was hallucinating, but I really wasn't, so everything that happened wasn't just in my head!" Her tone of excitement sharply fell. "Do you think he'll be able to save Ferb?"
Vanessa looked to her father for an answer, but he was preoccupied with clearing off the hovercraft he had crash-landed into his lair earlier. It seemed a bit banged up, but only another machine that was inside it seemed beyond operational. She guessed it was the magazine vacuum that her dad had mentioned to them.
"Perry loves Phineas and Ferb," the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy standing next to the orange-haired girl stated, responding to the girl's question. He stood up and offered his hand out to the long-necked girl. She took it with a small, grateful smile. "He'll give his best to save them—both of them."
"Yeah, yeah." A loud clank accompanied her father's grumble as he tossed out the final bit of debris from the hovercraft. He wasted no time in climbing in it. "Vanessa, go in my desk and find that map, and call me on your cell when you locate that address."
"Uh, sure, Dad..." Vanessa responded, albeit slowly as she regarded her father. "Where are you going?"
The engine of the hovercraft roared to life, and the mechanism ascended straight up into the air. A look of irritation still remained on her father's face, but there was also something else. She couldn't place it.
"Well, I can't let Perry the Platypus get himself killed by some other evil person," her father stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "We are supposed to be frenemies after all."
It was probably one of the most endearing things Vanessa had ever heard her father say in regards to Perry the Platypus.
"Good luck!" she called out as her father pressed the gas on the hovercraft, zooming out of his evil lair. She watched him leave after the tripod that was only a speck in the sky now for a bit before turning to the remaining people in her father's penthouse. There was a strange silence amongst the lot of them; half of them seemed to be lost in thought while the other half seemed thoroughly confused. All of them looked equally worried, though.
"Can someone explain to me why we're talking about Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus?" the Indian boy asked, breaking the silence. Vanessa gave him a surprised look.
"Wait, you guys know Perry because he's Ferb's pet?" she shot back. From her father's stories about the platypus, she always assumed that he lived with the agency that he worked as a secret agent for. Ferb could not have been part of that agency, could he?
"And Phineas'," the orange-haired girl added in. "Yeah, my brothers got him a little over five years ago at this new pet shop that had opened up. We got him because, according to my brothers, platypus aren't known for doing much." She gave an unladylike snort. "Yeah, being a secret agent is totally the definition of not doing much."
"Perry's a secret agent?" the large, pale boy next to the Indian boy asked. Now Vanessa wished she had the foresight to ask her father if she could come with him. They weren't supposed to be focusing on her father's nemesis, and that's all that they wanted to talk about!
"Listen up!" the girl with the pink bow raised her voice, and Vanessa was surprised by how authoritative it sounded, almost as if the little girl had prior experience to handling large groups. "Ferb's been taken! We need to do whatever we can to help him!"
"She's right." Vanessa nodded her head in agreement. "My dad left me with instructions to find the map, locate the address, and then contact him with the information."
"Yeah, then we can go after 'em to kick some butt," the large, pale boy added, sounding delighted at the idea of getting to kick some booty.
"And contact the police," the blond-haired, blue-eyed teen added. He turned to the orange-haired girl who was still standing next to him. "Candace, you should really call your parents too. Keeping them in the dark like this isn't good."
"I will," the girl, Candace, agreed. "We're not out of the dark yet, so I'll call them once we are." She brought her attention to Vanessa. "Hey, um, what's your name again?"
"Vanessa. Vanessa Doofenshmirtz."
"Vanessa," Candace addressed, getting a feel for her name. She motioned to the Indian boy. "Baljeet will help you with the coordinates."
Baljeet nodded his head, walking over to Vanessa. "Just show me the map and I'll figure the location out!"
"Vanessa?" Vanessa looked at the girl with the pink bow. "Mind if I have my Fireside Girls come over?"
"Um, no, but why?" The request seemed rather strange. What would a bunch of Fireside Girls assist with? This was not the time to sell their logs of goodies.
"Isabella, what are you planning?" Candace asked the dark-haired girl with the pink bow, revealing the young girl's name to Vanessa.
Isabella gestured around Vanessa's lair. "There are tons of parts around here. If we're going to help rescue Phineas and Ferb, then we're going to need to think like them."
Vanessa didn't understand what Isabella was getting at, but Candace grinned, getting this little twinkle in her eyes.
"Fight fire with fire, huh?" Candace's face held nothing short of confidence and determination. "Guys, I know what we're going to do today!"
That line must have been popular with the group, as only the blond-haired guy and Vanessa did not burst out into enthusiastic cheers. Everyone had such spirit, though, that Vanessa couldn't help but feel comforted. She only hoped that her father was able to help Perry the Platypus and Ferb...
Linda mindlessly walked around the inside of her house, trying to think of something more to do to help find her baby. Lawrence had suggested that she lie down and take a short nap to help clear her head, but she was too restless. Over ten hours had past since she discovered Phineas was missing, and the police had still found no clues, trails, or leads to go off of. No one had been able to call in with any useful information, and the situation was becoming bleaker and bleaker.
Her heart nearly stopped when a detective mentioned the mere possibility that they could be looking at a homicide case. They had all just about lost hope that her innocent, caring baby boy was still alive.
She didn't. She wished that meant more, though.
"Linda, please sit down, dear," her husband begged as she walked by him in the hall for the eighth time. She'd circle the house, stopping in the boys' room for a bit to stare at the empty beds, and then continue her route.
She breathed a heavy sigh. "Lawrence, I... I can't. I need to pace. I just—I just need to do something."
"Yes, yes," Lawrence responded with a tired sigh of his own. "I understand; I feel the same way." He walked up to her, taking her hands in his. "But I don't want you to drive yourself crazy, love."
Linda leaned forward, using her husband for support. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I just can't handle this. Today has felt like an entire lifetime to me, and without my daily routine..." She picked her head up, looking at Lawrence with sudden concern. "Candace hasn't called me once, and neither have Ferb or her checked in with us."
Lawrence's eyes widened for a quick second before returning to normal size as he quickly recomposed himself. "Well, Candace is probably with Jeremy, and Ferb is probably off with the neighborhood kids. There's no need to worry."
His wife shook her head. "No, they would have checked in by now, especially with everything going on." She pulled away from her husband, walking over to her purse where she rummaged through it until she found her cellphone. Flipping it open, she checked it for missed calls or messages.
She turned back to Lawrence. "No calls or messages. There's always something going on when Candace doesn't try to contact me within a few hours of being away from my side." She pressed some buttons on her cellphone and held it up to her ear, waiting. "... She's not answering. Lawrence, she's not answering!"
"Calm down now," Lawrence told his wife in the calmest voice he could muster himself. "Let's just call the kids' parents. I'm sure they're over at one of the houses. They're smart kids."
"You're right," Linda agreed, but she desperately tried to back up her husband's claim by calling a few numbers. Dread filled her heart and stomach as each and every household she called claimed to have not seen Candace, Ferb, and a few others of the neighborhood children for hours.
"No, Isabella was with Ferb the last time I saw them. I thought they were in your backyard. Have you called Baljeet's mother?"
"No, Baljeet was with his good friend, Buford, and went off to see Ferb. I haven't seen him since."
"No, Candace isn't here. Jeremy did go over to your house a few hours ago. I haven't seen him since."
Every house she called said something along the same lines, only some parents mentioned their daughters leaving not too long ago for a Fireside Girl meeting, but none of them knew the exact location of where their children had gone. Fireside Girls tended to have impromptu meetings anywhere, so it didn't bother any of them.
Linda dialed one more number, on the verge of tears. Lawrence stuck by her side, gripping her shoulders as she made the last call that would confirm her deepest fears.
"Dr. Hirano?" Linda shakily asked into the speaker as a feminine voice greeted her. "It's Linda. Does Candace happen to be there? ... No? Oh, well, um, does Stacy happen to know where she could be since Candace neglected to tell me where she was heading and—oh, you're putting her on the phone? Okay." Linda waited, taking a deep breath before she conversed with her daughter's best friend.
"Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher?"
"Yes, Stacy, have you heard from Candace recently?"
"Not for a bit. Why? Is something up? Have they found Phineas?"
The hope in her voice only served to hurt Linda. She wished that this were the type of call she was making, but at least Stacy still had hope that the police would find Phineas too. "No, not yet."
"Ah, man, and Candace sounded so sure that she would find him."
Linda almost dropped the phone. "Wh-What?"
"Yeah, Candace, Jeremy, Ferb, Isabella, and some of the other neighborhood kids were heading off to go find Phineas. I thought for sure they would have found him by now."
"Y-Yes, well, thank you, Stacy." Linda hung up the phone, sluggishly handing it to Lawrence. "Honey?"
"Yes, dear?" Lawrence asked, taking the phone from his wife's grasp. "What is it?"
"Call the police. We have the whole freaking neighborhood missing now."
Lawrence grimaced, dialing the emergency number. "Oh dear."
Perry stood on the cushioned seat next to Doofenshmirtz in the hovercraft. They were moving at a relatively fast speed, and they were starting to catch up to the tripod. Ferb's figure was coming into view, giving Perry hope that they would be able to save Ferb before he suffered Phineas' fate of being kidnapped.
"So, who are these boys to you?" Doofenshmirtz asked, glimpsing over at his nemesis before quickly bringing his eyes back to in front of him. "You seem to know them, and my daughter does know them, so I kinda feel a bit left out here. Mind filling me in?"
Perry only gave him a short glare before concentrating his attention on Ferb. If Doofenshmirtz was able to get close enough to fly alongside Ferb, then he could trust the hovercraft to be in a perfect position to catch Ferb. He already had an idea of how to get his owner out of that grasp.
"Fine, fine! Don't tell me, but I will find out later, Perry the Platypus, so you're fooling yourself if you think I won't." The evil scientist tried to appear smug, but his expression faltered and turned to a look of horror. "Wait, that boy has green hair. He isn't, you know, related to you, is he? Because you're a platypus! And technically-speaking, that shouldn't be possible, but evolution is a crazy thing, and with the help of science—" He stopped rambling once he noticed the deadpanned look Perry was giving him. "Hey, it was a logical argument. It's not as if you gave me anything to go off of."
Shaking his head at the evil scientist's sometimes-ridiculous theories, Perry readied himself to leap back onto the tripod once they were close enough. Just a few more feet ought to do it.
The tripod veered off sharply to the right, heading towards the outskirts of Danville. Perry nearly fell out of the hovercraft as Doofenshmirtz attempted to take the same turn, keeping his trail close behind the tripod.
"Geez!" Doofenshmirtz shouted, bearing his teeth as he steadied the hovercraft. "You know what? Whoever decided to kidnap two underage boys has to be some sort of sicko! I'm not even that vile!"
Perry had to agree with him, even if he still thought of Doofenshmirtz as being vile on some level, but the sudden glare he received from Doofenshmirtz made him retract that thought.
"Hey, I just realized—you thought I kidnapped that other boy! That's why you attacked me and broke our routine!"
The platypus had to bite his tongue to keep from letting an exasperated groan escape. Couldn't they discuss that later?
"Oh, you bet we'll talk about this later!" Doofenshmirtz snapped, having years of practice to read his nemesis' thoughts through Perry's actions and mannerisms.
A large building that seemed to be in the shape of a lollipop appeared before them. It was turquoise and metallic in color, and a huge, glass, garage-sized passageway opened up to allow the tripod entrance. Doofenshmirtz pressed the gas petal to the floor of the hovercraft, building up even more speed until they were right on top of the tripod that was just entering the building. Doofenshmirtz's expression immediately turned to one of horror.
"I, uh, there are no brakes," came his hurried explanation. Perry looked at him in alarm, realizing what this meant.
Without leaving any time to second-guess himself, Perry grabbed Doofenshmirtz and threw them both from the raging hovercraft, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with the tripod. An explosion sounded as Perry's webbed feet landed on the metal ground; his nimbleness saved Doofenshmirtz and his life. He looked up, watching as the impact caused the claw holding Ferb to shorten out, dropping him in midair. Thinking fast once more, Perry pushed Doofenshmirtz so that the older man slid across the metal floor on his behind, keeping him in sitting position. He looked over his shoulder to shout something at Perry, but not even a moment later did Ferb plummet directly into his lap, causing the evil scientist to scream in pain.
"Owww!" Doofenshmirtz yowled, and Ferb quickly rolled himself off the man, bringing himself back to his feet. He wasted no time in running to Perry who met him halfway. Ferb knelt down, grabbing Perry into a hug that the platypus gladly returned.
"What is the meaning of this?"
The three of them froze, slowly looking towards the direction the voice had come from.
Professor Poofenplotz glared at them, holding a girly, antique mirror in one hand. "I only wanted the boy, but I guess I should have some other admirers too."
Three fully functional tripods appeared behind her, and she smiled cruelly down at them. Doofenshmirtz audibly gulped. Perry just kept Ferb behind him, prepared to fight to the death to protect his owner.
She pointed a manicured finger at them. "Seize them."
