Olivia flew on and on through the clouds.

"I can't believe you actually have a cow." Phineas said. "When you kept saying 'My cow', I thought you were just being random."

Ferb smiled. "I was just being random. But I also do happen to have a cow."

Olivia mooed.

"Ferb, are you still mad at me for not telling you about the lamp?"

Ferb shook his head. "No."

"Good. Hey, I can see our house from here. And Isabella's house. And Baljeet's house. And the mall. And the charred remains of Danville Farm. And the roller-rink. And Little Duffer's. And Ferb, where did your cow come from?"

Ferb laughed. "Nice try."

Phineas laughed too.

Finally, Ferb took a deep breath. "Well, we're all alone. No one here can hear us."

Phineas stopped laughing.

Ferb looked at him sternly. "You understand you're the ONLY person besides me who will know this secret. You and I. The only ones."

"Of course, Ferb." Phineas said.

"Autopilot, Olivia." Ferb told the cow. He turned around on her back to face Phineas, and whispered the tale into his ear.

Phineas's eyes widened as he listened.

"Oh. Wow, Ferb. So this is why you always say you live a double life?"

Ferb nodded.

"Wow." Phineas breathed. He patted Olivia fondly. "Wow. …I… Ferb, I think I'll tell you my secret now. But only you and I can know it."

Ferb nodded. "I don't talk to anyone else, so you've got nothing to worry about."

Phineas whispered his secret into Ferb's ear.

Once he finished, Ferb pulled back and stared at him. Then he started laughing.

"No, seriously, Ferb! It's not a joke!"

Ferb wiped his eyes. "Amazing. I'm glad you told me."

Phineas smiled. "Me too."

Olivia began to descend.


"Come on, Perry. Why don't you walk around a little?" Pinky coaxed.

"Go away." Perry murmured.

"You got to lie in bed for a whole day. Come on. You need to get up."

"I need to punch you in the face." Perry responded.

"At least he's talking now." Devon whispered to Pinky.

"Help me get him up." Pinky pulled Perry to his feet.

It scared Pinky to see him like this. The light was completely gone from Perry's eyes.

Pinky was determined to get it back.

"Come on. Just get a drink of water." Pinky led him out of the room, followed by a nervous Devon.

They walked Perry into the bathroom and switched on the light. Perry shrank back. "Turn it OFF."

"Your eyes will adjust." Pinky said. He filled a plastic cup up with water and handed it to Perry.

Perry drank only a little bit of it and set the cup back down on the counter.

He looked up and stared at his reflection as though seeing it for the first time.

"Your fur looks a little greasy." Devon commented.

"'Course it's greasy. I've been lying in bed for twenty-six hours." Perry grumbled.

"You could probably take a warm bath if you wanted." Pinky suggested.

"No." Perry said. He pushed past Pinky and began walking unsteadily back into the dark bedroom, where he fell face-first down on the bed.

"Do you at least want to eat something?" Pinky asked.

"I do." Devon said quickly. "I'm gonna go grab something." He scrambled out of the room.

Pinky sat down in the chair next to the bed and stared at Perry.

"I'm sorry, Perry. They were great kids. We're all going to miss them. But it'll be okay. You'll be all right."

"You remember that story?" Perry said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "About that girl that opened the box and all the bad stuff came out?"

Pinky nodded. "Yes. Pandora's Box, right?"

"Yeah…" Perry said. "And… the only good thing that came out of the box was hope. And because they had hope, all those other terrible things didn't matter anymore."

"Exactly." Pinky said.

"The boys… they were the thing with feathers." Perry said. "That was why the terrible things didn't matter. Because they were there. And now they aren't. They're gone."

Perry buried his head in his pillow and began to sob quietly.

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Pinky asked.

"Go away."

Pinky stood up and slowly left the room. He was surprised to find Lowe standing on the other side.

"He's so upset." Pinky said.

Lowe nodded slowly.

"I don't know what to do."

Lowe looked into his eyes. "It's not your job to fix everything for him. He's going to have to do most of it himself. You can support him, but it's not your fault if you can't do any more than that."

Pinky looked at the ground.

"He's lost his friends, his brothers, his parental figures, and his children all at once." Lowe said. "He will get better. But it's not the kind of pain that goes away completely. And you can't change that. All you can do, which I know he appreciates, is be a good friend. But you don't have to blame yourself for his emotions."


"THE O.W.C.A IS SAFE!" Phineas announced, opening the door to the base.

His statement was only acknowledged by a baby narwhal attempting to swim across the floor. The narwhal blinked at him and emitted a long, low noise.

"Um… where is everyone?" Phineas asked.

"Perhaps they're all in different rooms." Ferb said. "See, here comes one now."

A large bulldog was coming out of a room. He glanced at the boys and kept walking.

Then he stopped and stared at them.

The narwhal pointed at them with his fin and made another noise.

The dog began to bark.

Animals came rushing from different directions. Last of all came Monogram, holding a frying pan over his head. "ZOMBIES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"Zombies? What…?" Phineas turned to Ferb, who shrugged.

"You… you died in the explosion!" Carl said, pointing a shaking finger at the boys. "We… we saw it happen!"

"ZOMBIEEESSSS!" Monogram wailed.

"No, we didn't." Phineas shook his head. "We just flew up when the ground under us gave way. Olivia caught us both and flew us away."

Olivia mooed.

"REMEMBER YOUR ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE TRAINING!" Monogram yelled.

"Hush!" Admiral Acronym chided. "Can't you see these children are ALIVE? They survived the blow is all!"

"Yeah, and we got the O.W.C.A back for you guys." Phineas said. "Olivia fought the rogues and chased them out. Then we upped the security system so they couldn't get back in. It's so complex now, only Ferb knows how to break it."

"And my cow." Ferb said.

Olivia mooed.

"No, not you, Olivia. My pretend cow." Ferb said.

Olivia looked annoyed.

"So, you're not zombies?" Monogram said.

The boys shook their heads.

Monogram dropped his frying pan. A few agents in the back of the crowd dropped the torches and pitchforks they had been holding.


"Wake up, Perry." Darren the duck said.

"Everyone. Leave me alone." Perry snarled.

"There are some people in the base. I think you'll want to say hi to them."

"I hate people."

"Not these people."

"No."

"Come on, Perry! You'll be really happy. I promise."

"You shouldn't break your promises, Darren."

Darren lifted him up.

"I hate you. I hate all my friends that lift me up against my will. Put me back down now. I'm not in the mood for this."

Darren dragged him out into the main hallway. Perry's head hurt from the sudden light, and he was dizzy from hunger. He was furious with himself for being too weak to kick Darren in the stomach.

"Perry!" Phineas called.

Great. Now I'm hallucinating. My brain hates me. Darren let Perry down, and Perry slumped to the floor, trying to keep himself from fainting.

"Perry, Perry! Come here, boy! Perry! …Is he okay? Perry?"

Perry looked up.

He wasn't hallucinating. They were really there. Standing there. Covered in ash and a little bruised, but they were there.

Perry stood up. They were there. They were okay. They weren't… dead.

He ran to them and grabbed onto them, burying his head in Phineas's chest, hugging Ferb to him so tightly Ferb started to choke a little. He breathed in their smell… machine oil, crayons… a hint of smoke, but that didn't matter. They were here, against him, Phineas's thin arm wrapped around his back, Ferb patting him gently on the head.

"Perry, are you okay? You look terrible." Phineas said.

"Sir Phineas of Compliment." Ferb said.

"Oh, be quiet, Ferb."

"You guys are okay." Perry sobbed. "You're okay."

"Of course we're okay. We had Ferb's cow." Phineas said.

"You're here."

"Actually, we're in Las Vegas." Ferb said.

Phineas nudged him in the side.

"I love you, boys." Perry said.

"We love you too, Perry." Phineas said.


"I guess that'll teach Monogram to employ former rogues as O.W.C.A members." Peter said.

Perry nodded. "Mercenaries, too. Once a mercenary, always a mercenary."

A beach ball hit him in the head.

"Hey, watch it!" Perry snapped.

The agency's pool was crowded, but it wasn't half as bad as it had been at the base. Agents were still splashing around and causing trouble, but at least Perry had some breathing room.

"Who wants cake?" Monogram called.

"This is the best 'The Agency Is Safe' party ever." Peter said.

"Hey, do you mind swimming me over to the edge so I can get a bite of cake?" Perry asked.

Peter pulled the inflatable chair over to the poolside. Perry climbed out of it and stood in front of Monogram.

"Good to see you happy again." Monogram said. He cut Perry a large slice of cake and handed it to him. Perry hopped back into the pool chair and began eating it.

"Today is great." Peter said.

"Back at the agency… back home… the boys are okay… Ferb's cow is still random and completely unexplained… yeah." Perry grinned. "Life is good."

"SWIM!" Dolly the dolphin squealed, zooming past them. "SWIM FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Instinctively, Perry looked up at the diving board. Henrietta the hippo was preparing to jump.

Perry shook Peter's hand. "Well, it was nice knowing you."

"Likewise." Peter said.

But it was not Henrietta who jumped.

Ilana the ibis, who had been standing on Henrietta's head, leapt gracefully into the water and rose up again, laughing.

Henrietta gave a roar of happiness.

Perry smiled. It was good to have everything back to normal again.