Olivia the cow blasted through the rogues, heading for the front of the O.W.C.A base. Perry held on tightly to Phineas.
He had never imagined riding on a cow would be so fun. It wasn't comfortable in the least, but it was fun. The wind seared past them, rogues ran screaming in all directions, and animal agents cheered as Olivia zoomed toward her target.
"So here's Olivia's plan." Ferb said. "We head to the front of the base, where the explosive systems have been set up. We guard while Perry switches them off. Then we take back the O.W.C.A. Without the explosives, the rogues have nothing to hold over our heads. Any questions?"
"Yes. Why do you have a cow?" Perry asked.
Ferb smiled. "Not telling. Now, are we ready?"
Olivia skidded to a stop. Perry hopped off, his legs shaking a little, and went over to the fountain at the front of the base.
The fountain was a statue of Monogram with water spilling from his nose. Brandon the bulldog had built it back before he could tell the difference between the words "Hands" and "Nose". Perry had never liked the statue much.
Perry sat down on the edge of it and tapped his watch. It beeped loudly.
"They must be right here." Perry said. "Good thing I don't like this fountain."
"Don't worry about us." Ferb called, smacking a rogue over the head with a pool noodle. "We'll take care of these kebabs."
"Kebabs?" Perry asked.
"Buh-lowfish." Phineas said.
Perry laughed and set to work attaching a disintegrator to the front of the fountain. He pulled his electronic goggles out from underneath his fedora and put them on.
According to the analysis from the goggles, the main power generator was underneath Monogram's left foot.
"Why do they always use explosives?" Perry muttered to himself. "I feel like all I've ever done in rogue attacks is shut off explosives."
"Explosives are dramatic!" Said a voice from behind.
"Phin, he's got one on his tail!" Ferb said.
"I'm on it." Phineas responded.
Perry heard a blast and a thump behind him. He shook his head and began to concentrate completely on his work.
The disintegrator beeped, and Statue Monogram's left foot melted away, revealing a small little box. Perry pulled a pair of pliers out of his fedora and began cutting the wires.
Olivia mooed.
"She says something's wrong." Ferb said. "Perry, get back on."
"Yeah, something's wrong. I understand cow perfectly, but I don't know what she's saying at all." Perry said.
The ground began to shake. Perry cut the last wire and hopped back up behind Phineas.
Olivia mooed again.
A car zoomed past, out of control. Perry recognized the man yelling in the backseat.
"Of course." Ferb breathed. "The explosives were a diversion."
"They've got Monogram." Perry said. "Everything's lost if they have him."
"Ride, Olivia." Ferb commanded.
Olivia mooed.
"I know. It's dangerous. But we have to." Ferb said.
"That was their plan all along." Perry said. "They took the O.W.C.A, but they let us escape. Dennis knew that escape 599 was only accessible in the main room, where they surrounded us. They knew we would escape to our ONLY base. Now, with us having no place to escape to, they capture him. They'll either capture or kill us all in the confusion. No Major. No place where we are safe. This is the fall of the O.W.C.A."
Both boys looked at Perry.
"Ride." Ferb said quietly.
Olivia blasted forward.
"There are more explosives here!" Perry had to shout to be heard over the wind. "They're active! We have to be careful!"
"Steady, girl!" Ferb yelled.
Olivia was struggling to keep up with the big black car as it skidded crazily down the twisty road. She mooed in aggravation.
"Where are they?" Phineas asked.
Perry put his goggles back on, keeping one hand wrapped tightly around Phineas's waist. "Go left. Go right. Avoid right. Avoid right. Go right. Avoid the left."
Ferb placed his hand on Olivia's head. "Come on! We can do this!"
"Perry, call some of your buddies!" Phineas said.
"Backup." Ferb said.
Perry pressed the CALL ALL button on his watch and spoke into it. "They've got Monogram. Black car. On Twistywhirly Road. License plate COOLBUN2. STOP LAUGHING, Devon! Need backup. Emergency. This is not a drill."
"We're catching up." Ferb said.
"Follow the way it turns." Perry said. "They're avoiding the explosives. That's why they're driving so badly."
Perry heard motorbikes behind them in the distance and knew the backup had come. He hoped they'd be able to catch up to them.
"Backup's here." Perry said.
"Olivia looks tired." Phineas said.
"She's not tired, she's just mad." Ferb said. "Come on, girl. Just a little farther…"
"WATCH OUT!" Perry shouted.
The car had swerved a little too close to the right. Six loud blasts sounded, and rock slammed into his side. Perry fell off of Olivia's back and landed on the side of the road.
Monogram, Dennis and another rogue flew out of the car. Monogram landed on a tree branch and fell to the ground. Dennis was forced to grip onto the edge of where more road had been, hanging over the large chasm the explosions had created.
Olivia teetered and found her balance on a small pebble.
Another explosion.
Olivia and the two boys flew into the air. Smoke and ash clouded everything.
Then it cleared.
Silence.
Perry sat up and stared straight ahead. All he saw was the large chunk of missing land where the cow and the boys had once stood, a deep chasm below, and a small twig that appeared to be on fire.
He coughed out bits of ash and crawled to the edge, staring down at the abyss below.
Everything began to spin. Everything began to explode again with the boys, the cow, Dennis. It exploded again and again until his own conscience was nothing but a charred pile of ashes, and it screamed in pain and agony as his mind whirled back into the present.
And he realized the scream was actually his own.
The people pulling him away from the edge did not matter. They were nothing, just as he was nothing. The world was just one giant explosion, and all it took was a snap of the fingers to blast them all away. He ignored their words, their pleas for him to tell them if he was all right. He drowned out their voices with every sharp breath he took, and the world began to fall apart again. It exploded again. He heard the sound. He saw them fly in the air again. He saw flames. The flames formed into words, burning an old barn down to the ground.
The barn burned, and Perry stood there with a bottle of gasoline in one hand and a match in the other, watching his hatred flare up in the form of a thousand flames. And then he grew slowly older, until he was back in the present, lying on his back, staring up at the smoky sky and the face of Ernest the eagle, and hearing Monogram's voice.
"Agent P. I'm so sorry."
And the world exploded again into darkness.
"I am SO GLAD your cow can fly." Phineas said.
Ferb laughed. "Yeah, we probably would have died back there if Olivia hadn't caught us. Scary to think."
Phineas frowned. "Do you think Perry's okay?"
"He's probably fine."
"I mean, do you think he knows we're okay?"
"He probably saw us flying away on Olivia's back." Ferb said.
"Probably?"
"We'll go back to the base after we take back the O.W.C.A." Ferb said. "Olivia has a plan to destroy the rogues for all eternity."
"What plan?"
"Two words: Grape jelly."
"Why don't we use my plan?" Phineas asked. "I've been working on one ever since Perry told us about the rogues."
"Does your plan include grape jelly? I didn't think so. We're using Olivia's."
"Mine will work." Phineas said.
"Okay." Ferb said. "Tell me. And I'll judge whether yours or Olivia's is better."
"Perry?" Pinky poked his head into the room.
It was dark, the only light source being a small nightlight by the end of the bed. The nightlight was producing pretty colors on a small section of the ceiling. Red, green, blue. Red, green, blue.
Perry was lying on his side in the bed, staring at the wall. He didn't appear to notice Pinky had entered the room.
"Perry, Monogram made you some dinner."
Perry didn't respond.
"Are you hungry?"
Perry merely blinked. He continued to gaze at the wall as though he were seeing something beyond it.
"It's your favorite. Spaghetti."
Pinky waited.
"It's gonna get cold, Perry."
Silence.
"Do you want me to leave it here?"
No response.
"Perry." Pinky said worriedly. "Say something."
Perry breathed deeply and drew the pillow closer to his face.
"Perry, you need to eat something."
There was a long silence.
Finally, Perry gave a sigh and shifted his position. "Not hungry."
"Okay." Pinky said. "I'll just leave it here for when you are."
He set the dish down on a table near the bed and turned to leave.
"Nothing bad ever happens to kids in movies." Perry said softly.
Pinky waited for more, but Perry appeared to have finished speaking. He was back to staring at the wall.
"I got him to eat three bites!" Peter said proudly. He sat down next to Pinky and began scratching off his lottery tickets. After a second, he paused to look at Pinky.
"Three bites is good. Why do you look sad?"
"Three bites is pitiful."
"It's three more than you got him to eat."
"I'm just worried about him." Pinky said.
"He was like this when Terrence died, too." Peter said. "He kept sitting in the dark and locking himself in the bathroom. But he got better."
"He tried to fling himself into that chasm." Pinky said. "If Ernest hadn't grabbed him… he didn't even seem aware of anyone. I just feel like he'll never be the same again."
"He may not." Peter agreed.
They sat in silence.
"Maybe he'll cheer up if I tell him we took back the base." Peter said.
"He KNOWS we took back the base, Peter. He's lying in one of its rooms."
"Oh." Peter said.