A/N: I remember someone asking where Antonio can be seen, so I thought that question should be answered before we get on with the chapter. Antonio's debut is in Angelus19's comic book "Chaos Through Time", which can be seen on DeviantArt. There is also a fan-made trailer on Vimeo. I recommend watching it; it's awesome.
Enough chitchat! ENJOY!
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS:
-Marie Flynn DOES NOT belong to me in any way! All claims of ownership fall to Angelus19 and sam-ely-ember.
-Thomas Fletcher DOES NOT belong to me in any way! All claims of ownership fall to Melty19.
A stormy night fell upon Danville, and the police hadn't gotten any closer to finding Marie and Thomas. Kestler and Easton tried to interrogate Svend Flagstad, but ever since he delivered Phineas and Ferb a letter sent from his employers, he has yet to speak another word. No one could blame him, for his wife and three kids were also kidnapped and likely suffering similar conditions as Marie and Thomas.
Phineas and Ferb paced around impatiently in the Fletcher living room, while everyone else was seated in chairs or the sofa. Having joined the group was Candace's husband Jeremy Johnson and their children Amanda, Xavier, and Fred, whom were finally given access to their wife/mother after learning that she was nearly killed in the shootout at the police station. Doofenshmirtz was still mysteriously absent, and there was a lesser presence of officers inside and around the house, for now that one of their own had been slain in the shootout, the Tri-State Area was put on the highest alert for the kidnappers, now judged to be armed and dangerous.
"Okay, so how would those guys have access to the P&F Industries headquarters?" Phineas asked. "It's obvious they were able to break into Gretchen's house to make that call for Isabella, but our installed security systems would've been able to detect something wrong, such as someone impersonating someone else's voice in order to make a legitimate phone call. Ferb, are you sure those systems have been checked?"
"Yeah," replied Ferb. "Joey sent me back the results. There was no breach of security, of any sort."
"Look, I know you both want to bring Marie and Thomas back home safely," Jeremy said, "but I think you should let the police take care of the investigation. The two of you are really working yourselves, way above your own standards."
"I agree," added Candace. "Look at you two! The both of you haven't taken a rest, and you look like hell!"
"Rest? Rest?!" Phineas exclaimed angrily. "My daughter and Ferb's son are out there, somewhere, suffering God knows what, and you're suggesting Ferb and I should rest while the police do their work? Look at what happened! A cop is dead for crying out loud! This obviously is no game! Marie and Thomas are gonna die if we don't find them soon! I can't let my little girl go just yet! I-"
"Phineas," Ferb interrupted, "I'm afraid that I also agree. This is probably what the kidnappers want us to do, use all of our strength and intelligence to pursue mere goose-chases until we completely tire out physically and mentally."
Phineas looked from Ferb to the others, and with a groan of frustration, he collapsed onto a chair. "I'm sorry. It's just that...it's just...I fear of actually seeing her again."
"What do you mean, Phineas?"
Thomas groaned and opened his eyes, staring into the dirty, low-powered light generating from the bulb hanging from a ceiling. The first thing he could feel was semi-dry blood encrusted over his nose, lips, and chin, as well as a slightly dizzy feeling that distorted his senses. He tried moving his arms, but they were quickly and tightly restrained by some sort of bond. Looking around, he realized that he was tied to a chair, and that he was not in the cell.
"Isabella, for all of the nine years I've known our daughter-"
Thomas then heard a sniffling, and it wasn't coming from him. He instantly saw Marie hanging in front of him, suspended a few inches off of the floor by a set of robotic arms, her limbs stretched out. Unfortunately, that included her broken right arm, which was in some sort of awkward, painful position. Marie's eyes suddenly fluttered open and looked back at Thomas with, to the boy's opinion, the strangest of expressions.
"-she's been the brightest, most optimistic girl I have ever seen."
"She takes after you, Phineas, you know that."
"I know. But-"
Thomas soon noticed that boards were encircling the two. Observing them, his eyes widened upon identifying them as many photos, magazine covers, and newspaper clippings of Phineas and Ferb throughout the years; some of these photos included him and Marie, starting from when they were newborn babies.
He also noticed that there were two videos currently playing from side to side of the two, their sounds muted out. One video was a press conference held by Phineas and Ferb, announcing something that was evidently good news, judging by their smiles and movements. The other video was the security video Thaddeus showed the two, of their fathers tampering with a strange invention and causing a fire in the process.
"-after all those torturous hours she's spent with her captors-"
Thomas glanced at Marie again, and saw that tears were flowing from her eyes, and her lip was quivering terribly. His jaw slightly dropped in horror at the sight.
"-I am afraid of what I'll see if she's rescued."
"What do you fear of seeing, Phineas?"
Until now, Thomas never knew of his greatest fear, the thing that had the ability to eat away the corners of his subconscious like a contagious, ravenous disease. But now, the image of this fear was before him, manifesting itself through the damp, dark room with furious ferocity. The boy couldn't help but feel like a cornered animal, being caught at last by the predator that was chasing him.
"A broken Marie."
Just then, the front door flew open, and Lieutenant Kestler frantically ran into the house, holding a slightly torn package.
"We've got something!" he exclaimed.
"What? What happened?" Vanessa asked. "Did you find our children?"
"No, but we found Svend Flagstad's family, all safe and sound. They were found when they wandered into a gas station alongside a highway leading into Danville, and the wife was carrying this package. She said that her captors instructed her to give this to you two." He lifted the package for Phineas and Ferb to view. Scrawled all over the package were the words 'GETTING WARMER'.
"Let me see that," Phineas said as he took the package from the lieutenant, ripped it open, and took out its contents...
"A DVD case?" asked Isabella.
Phineas walked over to the family room, approached the room's DVD player, inserted the disc, and turned on the TV, setting it to the proper viewing channel. Everyone, sans Amanda, Xavier, and Fred (who were kept out of the room by Jeremy), watched as the DVD played before their eyes.
The first minute is just a black screen. Strange music plays.
HELLO, PHINEAS AND FERB
LONG TIME, NO SEE
A video recording appears, showing clips that were evidently shot earlier that day. The clips are of Thomas protesting at Ferb before Ferb leaves the Fletcher house, and also Phineas and Isabella dropping Marie off at the same house. All of the clips were recorded at a considerable distance.
IT'S NICE TO MEET UP WITH YOU TWO AGAIN
For a minute, the video is silent, and no words appear.
NOT!
A slightly shaky, black-and-white video appears, showing a man with curly hair and wearing glasses, who is laughing while a large, bulky man stands silently behind him.
HA HA HA
TRUTH BE TOLD
WE ARE NOT PLEASED TO SEE YOU AGAIN
WHICH IS WHY WE EXACT REVENGE
ON YOU
A tape of Marie and Thomas in a cell appears.
YOUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN
INNOCENT THINGS, AREN'T THEY?
A tape appears, and it is of Marie suspended by robotic arms as she faces someone who is off-screen. "I want my dad to DIE!" she screams.
THEY ARE INNOCENT NO LONGER, THOUGH
WE'VE SHOWN THEM THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU
A security tape appears. It shows a teenage Phineas and Ferb tampering with a strange device, causing it to spark on a nearby curtain and start a raging fire.
AND THEY HATE YOU BOTH FOR IT
A tape of Marie and Thomas staring hatefully at the camera appears.
TRUST US, PHINEAS AND FERB
THEY'RE BETTER OFF IN OUR CARE
THAN YOURS
BUT IF YOU WANNA SEE THEM AGAIN
FOLLOW THE SURNAMES
REEXAMINE THOSE THAT YOU TRUST
AND
A tape of news footage covering a fire consuming a fairground appears.
FIND THE FIRE
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON
PHINEAS AND FERB
TNT
The DVD ended, leaving behind a shocked and horrified audience. A deathly silence had fallen upon the room, punctuated only by terrified whimpering from Vanessa.
"What the hell was that?!" demanded Phineas finally, his face crimson with uncontrollable rage, his fists clenched menacingly. "That didn't answer our problems; it only offered more questions! Those goddamn bastards, they're just playing with us, that's what they're doing!"
However, Ferb said, "I think I know what that video was talking about."
"What, Ferb?" Phineas and Vanessa asked simultaneously.
"Phineas, remember the old Danville Science Fair?"
"Yeah," Phineas replied, his eyebrow raised in slight confusion. "It burned down though, after-" The realization hit him head-on, and he exclaimed, "GODDAMN IT!"
"What?" Kestler asked. "Do you know who it is?"
"Yes, yes we do. Thaddeus Fort and Thor Flagstad. They were our arch-rivals in inventing from when we were ten to our high-school years. They disappeared after an invention of theirs nearly malfunctioned during the old Danville Science Fair and caused a fire that burned the fairgrounds down. The city was experiencing an economic windfall at the time, so the fairgrounds were left as the smoldering ashes they were and a new fair was built elsewhere."
"Yeah, I remember that!" Isabella exclaimed. "You found a flaw in Thaddeus and Thor's equation for their invention, and since those two were up in themselves, you two had no choice but to try and shut down that invention before it could self-destruct!"
"Unfortunately, the fire came along," added Ferb. "But it would've been worse, had Phineas and I not intervened."
"I'm guessing that Thaddeus and Thor were hit hard by that fire," Kestler said.
"Yep," Phineas replied. "Word immediately got out that it was Thaddeus and Thor's invention that caused the fire, and the two were blamed by the entire region for devastating such a beloved landmark. They withdrew from society and eventually fell off the grid. No one's heard from them since."
"That's almost everything! We have identification, motive, evidence...but what we don't have is where they are, and where they're keeping the children."
"We know where they could be," Phineas suddenly said. "And they're gonna want me and Ferb to come in. No one else."
Overhearing the conversation from the backyard, Perry and Steve looked at one another.
"Do you know these Thaddeus and Thor persons could be at?" Steve asked.
"I believe I know as well," chattered Perry, "and I have a very bad feeling that there could be a trap waiting for my owners. We've gotta get to the old Danville Science Fair quickly and sabotage the trap before Phineas and Ferb walk into it. Come, Steve!"
The platypus and the chameleon hopped onto the former's hovermobile. It flew away into the sky unnoticed.
"Follow the surnames, reexamine those that you trust, and find the fire," Ferb explained. "We have surnames; Thaddeus and Thor wanted to subtly hint that it was us, and they got Garrett Fort and Svend Flagstad to attack the police station because they have identical surnames. We also have the fire. But what I don't understand is that second part, reexamine those that you trust. ...Is there someone who knew Thomas and Marie were gonna be taken?"
"Of course not," Phineas replied confidently. "That's probably part of their game; they want the both of us us to turn against our loved ones, and probably each other. We cannot succumb to that, Ferb! We have to stay focused!"
"That's right. We've gotta get to the old fairgrounds!"
"NO!" Vanessa exclaimed. "There could be a trap!"
"Phineas, Ferb, don't go!" added Isabella. "This is probably what Thaddeus and Thor want you to do, walk into their trap and get killed in front of your children!"
"But if it'll free Marie and Thomas," Phineas said, "then we must do what is necessary. And right now, walking into Thaddeus and Thor's trap is necessity, as long as their lives are spared. I'm sorry, Izzie, but I'm all in for this."
"Me too, Vanessa," Ferb added.
"But you can't just go in alone!" Vanessa shouted.
"We have to protect our children," replied Phineas. "As parents, we promised ourselves that we'd lend our lives in exchange for our children's safety the moment Marie and Thomas were born. It's time Ferb and I lived out that promise. Isabella, Vanessa, we will get our children back. You can depend on us for that."
Isabella and Vanessa looked at their husbands, reluctance on their faces. Finally, Isabella nodded, followed by Vanessa.
Standing outside of the fair theater, Thaddeus was looking up at the starry sky. The crescent moon cast a small light on the burned, ghostly landscape. The disgraced inventor felt a presence behind him and smiled.
"No matter how quiet you are, bro, I am so accustomed to it that I'll always hear you." Thaddeus turned around to look up at Thor, who looked back silently. "Tonight's the night we gain our rightful place in society, Thor. We will expose Phineas and Ferb for the liars and frauds they are, and we will live out our dream of being the two world-famous inventors who changed the world! Our names will be etched across the stars! We'll NEVER be forgotten!"
"Thaddeus, we're here," a female voice said.
"Excellent." Thaddeus turned to his side and saw eight people approaching him and Thor. "Is the invention ready to go?"
"Yes."
"Good. Thor, get the children."
Thor nodded silently and left, while Thaddeus approached the eight people who were his acquaintances. He suddenly hugged the woman who had addressed him.
"Good to see you again, sis," he said.
A/N: GASP! So Mandy's also in it! And you'll find out later, but in a way that you wouldn't think. And who do you think are the other seven people? You'd better think, because I'm giving them all identities, and I believe you are familiar with some of them! ;) ;) ;)
I'd like to thank those who reviewed:
tigerevans: Well, fifteen years of having to brood on a tragic event does that to people.
Deborahpflover: Actually, there's another purpose to that whole Russian Roulette game. You'll see later.
woodland5 (guest reviewer)
14AmyChan: Oh, indeed! Thaddeus has officially gone psycho.
gamelover41592: Yep, practically Saw-style. And what do you mean by was it true, or was it them?
Sabrina06
BlytheHasFreckles: Of course you get cyber cookies! You're this story's 100th reviewer! I do that to all of my 100th, 200th, 300th, so-on reviewers. Thanks for your review! It really showed your enthusiasm of seeing this story to the end!
agent josie: Looks like you found out.
Wow. I really should get on with updating my "Evil Phineas" and "Midsummer Tragedy" stories. I didn't even update the latter in such a while!
Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!