A/N:No notes here. Just want to say, though - things are gonna start to get a little exciting from now on, both emotion-wise and action-wise. Starting with this chapter. Ohhhh yeah.

Also, I don't own Family Guy. Whoops.


Later that night…

Phineas and Ferb stared at the City Hall, the silhouette looming before them in the twilight sky of dusk.

"You do realize we are breaking about a gazillion federal laws to do this?" asked Phineas.

"Yup," was Ferb's terse reply. He was too focused on making sure every minute detail of the phasing machine was perfect to elaborate more.

"We are going to hack into the City Hall's security – one of the most complex in the nation, I might add – and shut down the laser guided alert system. We are going to find – without a map or any directions of the sort – the exact location where our invention is being held in one of the hundreds of underground vault rooms. And we will do this all while bypassing dozens of guards with military combat experience and guns, who must be able to see us at all times while we're in the building." Phineas grabbed his brother's shoulders. "And all we're planning to do is see if this anomaly shooter is still there if we turn it on? That's it? Do you know how crazy this sounds?"

"No, Phin," said Ferb, grinning. "We're taking back what is rightfully ours."

Phineas snorted as he approached the cable box panel on the side of the building. "You mean the invention?" he said, holding a black light to the glowing pad of numbers on the lock and analyzing the fingerprints under the UV light.

"Yes, the invention," said Ferb impatiently. "Hurry up."

"I'm being careful, bro," said Phineas defensively, still studying the number pad. "This is a booby trap. If you press one wrong number, it sends out a paralyzing electric shock. Not as forgiving as an iPhone."

"Oh," said Ferb.

Phineas finally punched in a seven-digit code, and the panel swung open with a hiss. He grinned at his brother and pretended to parade around the panel. "Eh? Eh?" he crowed.

"Hurry up," said Ferb, laughing with relief.

"Patience you must have, my young padawan," Phineas joked as he began disassembling some wires. He inserted a small red computer chip (courtesy of Evelyn) to which he added a few tweaks. "Why do we even want the invention?"

"Because someone might tamper with the evidence and make it seem indubitable that we were the killers," said Ferb, tapping his foot as he looked as his watch.

"Whoa, big word alert," said Phineas. Sparks flew from the box as he ripped out a few more cords. "Ouch! Also, wouldn't people think that we would tamper with the evidence if we took it?"

"That's why we need to make sure the guards can see us," Ferb replied. "If we can ensure that the anomaly shooter was a freak accident or the work of someone trying to frame us, we need a way to make sure they know we haven't done anything to it. And the guards and whatever security cameras they have will be our witnesses."

"I still think this is insane," said Phineas, inserting five more computer chips – orange, blue, silver, green, and purple – of his own design. "But it makes sense. In a weird, nonsensical sort of way."

"Are you done yet?" said Ferb, observing his brother's hands flying across the circuitry board. "Do you need help?"

"Just keep watch for a couple more seconds," Phineas grinned as he worked. "Remember I was the one who took that crazy course on circuitry and computers last summer… there!"

He pushed a red button inside the box and swung the panel shut. "Man, they'll rue the day they left this cable box out here," Phineas laughed.

"C'mon," Ferb insisted. "The door should be unlocked, but it'll lock in exactly one minute—"

"See, I thought about your original plan, and then I was like, nahhh," Phineas said nonchalantly. He motioned towards the huge main door, which had just swung wide open. The EXIT sign now glowed WELCOME. "I added a little spice," Phineas grinned.

"Phineas, this is just a cable box," Ferb gaped. "How on earth…"

"First rule of thumb about circuitry, bro," Phineas laughed, running towards the stairs. "Anything is possible."

Ferb still gaped at his brother.

"Okay, you got me," said Phineas, putting up his hands defensively. "That's not what they say. It's just something I made up on the spot. They don't actually have a rule of thumb; I'm just pretty good with wires and stuff."

Ferb still gaped at his brother.

"Bro. We need to hurry," said Phineas impatiently. "The guards only take so long to switch positions. Our window of opportunity is slim."

With that, Ferb broke out of his trance and followed Phineas inside.


"That was pretty amazing, Phin," he breathed, resting against the body of an unconscious guard. "You opened the computerized lock on the door… and turned off the security system in the foyer of City Hall… from a cable box."

The two had made it inside with just enough time to hide themselves behind the main desk; a few seconds later, the guard appeared from a door at the end of the foyer. He sat down at the desk, and Ferb quickly immobilized him with hits to the groin and temple.

"Now it's your turn to lead, bro," said Phineas, whistling at the guard's current condition. "Sure hope that guy's okay. So, what next?"

"We need to get to that elevator at make it down to the 'Secret Vault' floor level," Ferb stated authoritatively. "But that's just a ruse. From there, there's another elevator that leads to six more floors with five vault-rooms on each level.

Usually, the bigger vaults are on lower levels, so they'll probably have our invention on the bottom floors. Once we find which room it's in, we need to alert the guards of our presence before we enter the room, so that there's no chance they could accuse us of tampering with the evidence. We need to then use our phasing machine to make it in and out of City Hall alive."

"Question. How are we going to see which room has the invention, without actually breaking into the vault?" Phineas asked.

Ferb smiled and brandished a pair of X-Ray Glasses they had made years ago. "Voilà," he said proudly.

"Awesome!" Phineas crowed. "When did you get them?"

"While you were prepping the computer chips, I went back to our house and got these really quickly," Ferb said.

Phineas' smile dropped. "You saw Mom and Dad then?"

Ferb started to say something, then turned away. A tear flowed down his cheek, glistening in the eerie glow of the neon EXIT signs.

"What? What happened?" Phineas pressed in a quivering voice. "What did you see?"

Ferb glanced at his watch, then began to speak.


Several hours earlier…

"Lawrence, dear, what's the matter?" said Linda. "You haven't touched your plate of fried chicken. And it's all right if you say it isn't good, because it's takeout."

"Honey, we were too harsh on the boys," Lawrence said. Linda was taken aback at the amount of sorrow flowing out of his voice.

"I know," she whispered. "I've been thinking about it too."

"No, you don't understand," Lawrence insisted. "I am Ferb's father. He is of my flesh. He's the only son of my blood I've ever had.

"And I called him a killer, when he wasn't a killer. I called him a fault, when he wasn't a fault. The last words I said were that he was 'dangerous.' The boy wouldn't have hurt a fly, let alone his sister. Of course he didn't kill her. She's fine and recovering well… but I still lost children that day."

He turned to Linda with bloodshot eyes. "And here we sit, alone. Here we have sat for the past three days with all three of our children missing. One of them almost died. And two of them could die at any moment. What kind of parents are we? How do you think I feel?"

She moved to sit next to him at the table and put her head on his shoulder. "Exactly how I feel," she choked out.

The two began to cry.

It was dark outside. The only light was from the lightbulb overhead. It tried halfheartedly to reach the picture of the entire Flynn-Fletcher family behind Linda and Lawrence, but they blocked the light's path, casting a shadow over the once happy family.


Phineas began to cry.

"Stop it!" Ferb commanded, partially because he didn't want to be overhead and partially because he knew that eventually he would begin to cry too.

"You saw that?" Phineas whispered. "As you were getting the glasses?"

"As I was just about to slip out of the side wall using the phasing machine," Ferb said soberly.

A few moments passed before Phineas' sobs subsided. "We gotta go back to them," he muttered. "Gotta let them know we're okay." He stood up and turned towards the door.

"Phineas!" Ferb hissed angrily. "Get your act together!"

"No, you get your act together," said Phineas. Ferb noticed with alarm that he was visibly shaking. "I can't go on like this, Ferb. I need my parents. And they need me. I don't care what you say."

"Phin, be reasonable," Ferb pleaded. "Think about our plan!"

"Take a taste of your own medicine, bro," Phineas replied harshly, his voice echoing in the empty foyer. "Stop thinking and start feeling."

Ferb took a deep breath. "Phineas, I'm not going to fight with you," Ferb said calmly. "But you know that now is not the time to feel. Now is the time to think."

"Oh yeah?" Phineas yelled back.

During the brothers' argument, the walkie-talkie on the unconscious guard's body crackled with static. "Powers. Status check," said a clipped growl. The walkie-talkie automatically clicked into the receiving mode.

"And why is now not the time to think, brother of mine?" Phineas said caustically.

"Oh boy," said Ferb, eyes wide as he saw the blinking light on the walkie-talkie.

The walkie-talkie crackled to life. "Units three and four, move to the foyer. Powers is unresponsive. It looks like we have an intruder," the voice said grimly. Seconds later, six guards burst into the hall, clearly brandishing their machine guns. "Intruder! Stop what you're doing and put your hands up! Now!" one of them barked, approaching the desk.

"Phineas, now would really be a good time to start thinking," Ferb said in a clipped voice, crouching behind the wooden desk. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Phineas finally broke out of his emotional trap, and much to Ferb's chagrin, a grin slowly formed on his face again.

"Oh, this'll be good," he laughed softly, taking out a small panel with a silver button and a joystick on it. "You just stay down, bro." Phineas stood up from behind the desk and waved his arms. "Hey, guards!"

The guards immediately locked their sights on him. "Intruder! Put down your weapon and kneel where we can see you with your hands behind your head!" a guard shouted.

"But it's not a weapon," Phineas insisted. "It's way cooler."

"Intruder, we will give you a count to three before we open fire unless you drop your weapon and kneel where we can see you with your hands behind your head!"

Phineas smiled. Three seconds was all he needed.

He pushed the silver button.


That night…

"Wow, this place looks amazing," Isabella oohed as she entered the backyard of Thaddeus and Thor's aunt's house. Streamers sparkling with light were strung across the trees and a massive line of tables piled high with every food and drink imaginable spilled out of the yard into the street. In the middle of the street, a large structure the size of a house was blocking the road. People milled around everywhere, talking and laughing. Isabella found it hard to imagine that these were the same people who less than a week ago had suffered the trauma of a shooting.

"Isabella! How are you feeling?" Ginger squealed, running up to her.

"Ginger? You're here?" Isabella asked. "Who else is here?"

"Basically everyone in the city! Just kidding," Ginger laughed at Isabella's bugging eyes. "But everyone we know is here! Looks like Thaddeus is really starting to make his way around Danville, huh?"

"Yeah, he's only been here for like three days, and already he knows a ton of people," Stacy said as she approached the two girls.

"Stacy!" Isabella said guiltily. She took a breath to continue speaking, but Stacy stopped her.

"Look, Isabella. I'm sorry about what happened in the car a few days ago. I was feeling freaked out and said some stuff I shouldn't have. Also, leaving you outside in the rain was kind of a jerk move."

"You think?" Ginger snorted. Stacy glared at her.

"No, it's really my fault," said Isabella, shaking her head. "I've just been going through a hard time too. It's like I really want to hate Phineas, but I miss him so much at the same time. You know?"

"Well, maybe it's time to move on," said Stacy, glancing at Thaddeus. "One triangle-headed guy for another. What do you think?"

"Stacy!" Isabella gasped in mock horror. The three girls laughed.

"All I'm saying is, he's kinda cute," Ginger said slyly.

"Cute?" Isabella gagged. "Ginger, please. Saying that Baljeet is cute is enough, don't you think?"

"But seriously, look at his hair when you get the chance," said Katie, approaching Isabella and giving her a quick hug in greeting. "It gives him… that dreamy look."

"And his eyes…" Ginger swooned, only half-joking.

"You girls are out of your minds," laughed Isabella, gesturing with her bowl of matzahlsa. "Where should I set this down?"

"Over here is fine," a voice pierced through the din of the crowd. Isabella turned towards the end of the table and almost fell over. Ginger and Katie were right; or was it that she found all triangle-headed guys cute? She gaped at him, unable to say anything.

He flashed a smile and jogged over to her. "Let me take this," he said, taking her bowl. "What is this? Matzo balls in salsa?"

"Yeah, it's something we do at my house," said Isabella offhandedly. "Mix foods from different cultures."

"Sometimes the most different things, or people, do come into the best harmony," Thaddeus said thoughtfully.

Isabella shoved him. "Already making a move on me?" she quipped.

Thaddeus laughed as he set down the bowl on the table. "'Course not," he replied. "Just saying that this matzo-salsa—"

"Matzahlsa," Isabella corrected him.

"Matzahlsa, sorry," he said, popping one into his mouth. "Just saying that this matzahlsa is amazing."

"Made it myself," Isabella said proudly.

"A good cook always does have a lot of sass," Thaddeus pondered.

"Thanks—wait, what was that?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

"You just said I have a lot of sass!" Isabella said indignantly. "That was pretty mean."

"Like how you yourself said all I wanted to do was make people look bad?"

"It's partially true!" Isabella said defensively.

"Was partially true," said Thaddeus, smiling. "Here, I have something I wanna show you."

Reluctantly, Isabella followed him towards the black house-like structure in the middle of the street.

Some distance away, Ginger, Katie, and Stacy were watching the scene with Thaddeus and Isabella unfold.

"Uh oh, looks like it's getting a little too hot in here for them," Katie giggled as she watched the two walk into the black structure.

"Don't you think Thor's kinda hunky, too?" said Ginger.

"Nah," Stacy scoffed. "His big nose makes him look like the dog from Family Guy."

"Brian's kinda hunky," said Ginger defensively. The three laughed and went to enjoy some of the food.


"This isn't like one of those horror movies where you kidnap me and lock me up in a torturing room, right?" Isabella interrogated Thaddeus in the pitch-black room. She looked around, fighting off the small shivers of fear up her spine.

"You tell me," came his reply. Isabella heard the thump of a heavy switch and immediately, she found herself standing in… outer space.

"AHHHH!" she screamed, flailing her arms as she ran around space. "This is so much worse! Get me down! Get me down!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, calm down," Thaddeus reassured her, restraining her with a bear hug. "I told you, it's a machine that projects yourself into outer space. You're still on Earth."

Isabella took a few tentative steps around, accustoming her brain to walking on nothing. After her vertigo had subsided, she could actually appreciate the exotic beauty of outer space. She began dancing around the stars, laughing in wonderment at the beauty of the infinite twinkles of red, blue, yellow, and white light.

She heard the snap of a camera shutter and whirled around to see Thaddeus smiling at his phone screen. "Did you just take a picture of me without me knowing?" she demanded. "That's not creepy at all."

"Look," he said simply, showing her the picture. She squinted and saw herself with the first smile on her face in forever, her eyes shining and her face glowing like an angel in the starlight as she reached up for a twinkling star.

It was the first time she had seen herself happy in forever.

"See? I don't just make people look bad," Thaddeus said softly. "I can make people look good. And you look really good. You look beautiful."

She stared at him. Thaddeus was surprisingly the first person to make her feel happy since Phineas left. He stared back. They slowly moved closer to each other and he caressed her arm…

…when the door burst open and Thor came tumbling in, the star projection automatically shutting off as he did. Thaddeus stomped over to his brother and shook him.

"This had better be good," he growled.

"They found them," said Thor quietly.

"Who?" Isabella asked, her arms crossed.

Thor glanced at both of them. "Phineas and Ferb," he said slowly.


Oh yeah. Now we're cookin' with gas.

Please review! They are always super awesome to receive and read. Your thoughts really matter to me.

UPDATE: Forgot to respond to the kind reviews from chapter 8. I told you, I'm new at this. Please be patient.

The-Snowy-Owl13: Very deep! Hahaha. But yes, that's one part of the mystery. One very small part. :)

Hyper-Blossom Z: You're pretty spot on, but it's hard for even Thaddeus to break every law of physics imaginable and turn holograms into real people and real bullets. It gets a little more devilish than that.