Candace stayed for dinner that night. On any normal occasion, Perry would have come down and ate on the floor near the table, just as he always did. He would pretend to be mindless but listened to the conversations the Flynn-Fletcher family had. With his family, the conversations were often interesting.

This time, however, he did not come down to dinner.

While the family was busy talking about that day's events, Perry was upstairs in Phineas and Ferb's room, sitting down at the boys' computer. It was not often that he punched in the password without his owners' consent—Ferb had not been too pleased to learn that his pet platypus had decoded it. Considering Perry had a secret lair beneath the house, he hardly if ever used Phineas and Ferb's.

But today was different. He had no time to go down to the lair and reactivate the entire computer system. It was urgent that he got the issue resolved immediately.

There was a reason why he had not been gone the entire day. As usual, he was given an assignment by the OWCA; Doofenshmirtz had gone and built another inatorin revenge for something his brother Roger had done again. But when Perry had arrived at the doctor's lair, he found…

…nothing.

And when he meant nothing, he meant absolutely nothing.

No inator, no trap, no… no Doof. Sure, his things were still there, and his lab looked exactly like it had the day before. But there was a stunning lack of evil contraption and evil scientist.

And not a single attack on Roger Doofenshmirtz.

Perry did a full-scale search by satellite link for the doctor, but nothing showed up. His actions since the beginning of the week had begun to worry the secret agent. He had continuously gotten the feeling that the contraptions he was ordered to destroy had only been decoys. Doof was up to something bigger this time, but Perry had no idea what it was about.

I did a global search for him twice but still nothing, he typed onto the computer with a frown. It's beginning to worry me; Dr. Doofenshmirtz never does this kind of thing. He's not smart enough to.

… Obviously, he is, if he's actually managing to hide something from you, P, came the reply after a moment or two. Perry was currently chatting with Pinky, the dog from across the street. Like Perry, Pinky was also a secret agent for another branch of the OWCA. He had his own nemesis to worry about, although she did not cause nearly as much trouble as Perry's did. Because the two were neighbours, they often shared information when the time seemed fitting.

Not to mention you did a global search? Pinky added. Wow, Perry; that's intense. Do you think he would have gotten that far in one day?

Perry frowned. Are you kidding me? He can build a new machine overnight. If he can do that, then how can he not travel around the globe in a single day?

Fine, so he's amazingly good at going from one place to another… If you can't find him, and he's not causing trouble yet, P, just relax, okay? You're off duty, so just lay low and enjoy the time you've got off. Pinky paused here before typing again. Btw; how's your kid's Vocal Blues issue coming along? I heard Isabella mention something about… uh, keeping his voice in tune for Saturday night?

Perry rolled his eyes. That was a cover up, he replied.

Okay… for what?

… Phineas has sort of gone mute.

ARE. YOU. SERIOUS? Omg, no way; I can't picture that kid without a voice, man! That's just… that's just weird! The house must be so quiet without him chattering constantly!

Perry growled as he typed his response. Keep your comments about my Kid to yourself, Pinky, he typed. Phineas may be a chatterbox, but he's still my owner. So unless you want me to number the faults of Isabella, I'd keep my trap shut.

He could just picture the Chihuahua shrugging apologetically. Okay, okay, I'm sorry, he replied. I didn't mean it in a bad way, Perry. I was just… you know, sayin'… Anyway, I should be getting off of Izzie's laptop. She went out with her parents for dinner tonight, and I kinda don't want her coming back seeing her dog typing like a genius. Gotta keep a cover, right?

Perry did not reply. He only rolled his eyes in amusement.

Oh, wait; you don't have that problem anymore. Your owners know about your identity… Lucky butt. It must be nice not needing to act stupid twenty-four-seven around the entire family now, huh?

Perry scoffed before typing his reply. Are you kidding me? Phineas still gets a crack out of how fast I can hide my fedora, he said. Not to mention he likes to sneak into my lair whenever I'm not around. He and Ferb are good kids, but they're way too curious for their own good sometimes.

Haha! Downfall of being owned by a pair of boys, hee hee!

Oh, cannit, Mutt.

The sound of the people climbing the stairs caught Perry's attention. He looked up in surprise before hastily typing on the keyboard. Gotta go, Pinky; I need to log off or else Ferb will get upset that I used the password again, he said.

Pinky immediately wrote back. That's why you have a lair, ding-dong.

Snap it.

Hee hee! Okay, okay. Later, P.

Perry quickly closed the window and got off of the internet. Just as he had logged out from the computer, the door to the bedroom opened and in walked the platypus' owners. Phineas looked over at Perry quickly before widening his eyes and pretending to slice his throat with his hand. He then nodded towards the hallway, just as Ferb entered the room behind him.

Perry immediately recognized this sign and leaped to the floor. Getting down on all fours, he took upon the look of a mindless animal before chattering and walking over to the red-head.

Sure enough, Lawrence and Linda walked into the room behind their sons. "… Anyway, if you boys want to have your friends over to practice on Friday, then make sure not to make the house rattle again, okay?" the woman said as Phineas reached down from his bed and picked up his platypus. "Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro will be over for some tea, and I don't want you to break another one of my vases."

Both boys nodded simultaneously. Perry chattered in response.

Linda looked at the platypus for a moment before walking over and placing her hands on Phineas' cheeks. "Why don't you say something, Sweetie?" she asked, almost sounding desperate. She rubbed noses with him. "I miss hearing your beautiful voice in this house. Why don't you say something for me, hm?"

Phineas stared at her in silence before smiling pitifully. Slowly, he shook his head.

"Once Saturday is here, you'll hear his voice again, Mum," Ferb replied. "… Guaranteed."

Linda and Lawrence looked at him in silence for a moment before the woman sighed and kissed her youngest son's forehead. "Okay, but I want to hear him say something for a longtime after that," she muttered.

Lawrence rubbed Phineas' head. "You hear that, Phin?" he said with a grin. "We actually miss hearing you talk about things. Not everyone thinks it's irritating."

Phineas seemed to try and smile gratefully, but Perry noticed the sadness behind it.

The boys' parents left the room while announcing that curfew was at ten thirty. Ferb got up and closed the door behind them before turning around and looking pitifully at his stepbrother. Perry ceased being mindless and looked up at the red-head as well. Phineas' forced smile had disappeared now, and his eyes had glazed over. Setting the platypus aside, he kicked off his shoes and lay down on his bed while staring up at the ceiling. He seemed to be fighting to keep his chin from trembling.

"Did you… want to try a little more with the Vocal Box, Phineas?" Ferb asked, almost reluctantly.

Phineas sighed heavily before turning onto his stomach and burying his face between his crossed arms and his pillow. He shook his head.

"Cheer up; we'll get your voice back soon. I promise."

Again, Phineas only shook his head. Perry was unsure if this was because he did not believe his brother's words, or if because he just felt like doing so again. Worriedly, Perry stared at him a moment longer before looking at Ferb again. Ferb seemed to be thinking the same thing as the platypus:

If his promise did not follow through, they would have to come clean with their parents about Phineas' muteness.

Or, in Candace's words, bust themselves.