A/N
Nice long chapter for you guys today! Straight onto reviews.
Chapter 19 reviews:
WordNerb93: Thank you, Irving passed the message along to me! He's not hurt badly, just a bullet to the shoulder. Well I guess you can't say that's not bad, but compared to his brother, yeah… Oh, that'd be fantastic! And I loved Meapless in Seattle!
MuchuFox: Haha, I hope you're joking, otherwise I may have to kill some characters to take revenge, though I don't know how I would do that, being severely injured…
BroadwayFanGirl91: I know! Poor Ferb!
Wii Guy: I do apologise for that, I'm quite evil to characters some days! I absolutely love Meapless in Seattle, definitely one of the best episodes so far I reckon.
writer-person2: Sorry about that!
NattyMc: I know right! And I shall!
Sierra-275: Ah, don't worry, no more cliffhangers until the epilogue, which is about 7-8 chapters away now! Monogram is in this chapter, finally! He took long enough!
ReneeSpector: Sorry! I seem to have a thing for cliffhangers! And thank you! Happy late Easter to you too!
iheartphinabella05: I know, poor Ferb!
anon: They are armed gunmen, but if you remember, when Ferb was dropped, he used the device Doofenshmirtz gave him, and disabled the guns, but also disabled all electronics within the warehouse too, meaning no mobiles or anything worked.
Chapter 20 reviews:
NattyMc: Yus he does!
iheartphinabella05: Yup, the doctors are always right! He'll pull through (this time), he's a fighter! Aw, sorry aout that! I'm actually kind of happy though that I can cause such an emotional response in someone though!
WordNerb93: Thank you, and no he can't! He is Ferb Fletcher! Yup, that will be added in eventually, once all is good again, for the time being anyway!
BroadwayFanGirl91: Haha, wow! I shall present you with the next chapter now! Sorry for the wait!
Radar180: I'm so glad, and here shall be the next chapter!
PFTones3482beinglazy: Haha, it's okay, and here is the update!
Wii Guy: I know! But she feels responsible for them, being all grown up and stuff. And yup, thank you doctors! Doofy is coming in in this chapter. He's mainly being fretting and rocking backwards and forwards in a corner! I wish you luck!
MuchuFox: Yus, come on Ferb! I do apologise for the wait, here is the update!
Sierra-275: Sorry about that, we have the next chapter here!
"You… You mean, he's alive?" Vanessa couldn't stop the words from forcing themselves out her mouth. She felt happy, glad, relieved, there was no word that could properly describe the level of elation she felt, yet she still doubted it. Vanessa knew how long Ferb had been without a pulse, and she knew he'd lost a lot of blood. The tiny bit of doubt left still tugged away at her thoughts.
"He's definitely alive. He should be awake within a few days, and able to move without severe pain in around a week." Candace gulped. In a few days' time, their parents would be back from the holiday. It was either tell them now and have them rush back, or tell them later and face punishment, but have time to come up with a feasible story.
"Thank you… Thank you so much…" Phineas blurted out. He didn't know what he wanted to say, or how to say it, so he just opened his mouth and spoke. Isabella squeezed his hand slightly as she heard the quiver in his voice, but she was delighted that there was nothing at all left of his depressing, fearful tone. She smiled at the doctor, and hugged her boyfriend (?) tightly, thankful that they hadn't lost the British teenager, who though brave, Isabella had decided he was idiotic too, for trying to pull off a one-man rescue mission, more than certain that he was going to be killed or at least severely injured.
"If possible, we want to have you all checked over by doctors. The police want a statement as well. I'm sorry, but we're obliged to report things like, well, that…"The doctor trailed off. Candace felt rather panicked, not sure how to confront the situation that had arisen. Go take down a bunch of armed goonies and a maniacal scientist? Any day. But this? Candace couldn't think of a way out of the situation.
"I don't think that'll be necessary," spoke a new voice from behind the doctor. He twisted to have multiple papers thrust at him. The doctor scanned over them quickly, then rushed off, almost running. Perry chattered in amusement: he'd already figured out who it was. The doctor had run off to the police, to tell them to get lost. This was over their head.
Major Monogram walked in, accompanied by Carl, seemingly stuck to the man. He smiled at them, and let a breath of relief out at seeing Phineas and Vanessa, and his best agent uninjured. His smile quickly dissolved though, to be replaced with a scowl.
"We appreciate it, we do, but do you realise how idiotic that was? You're incredibly lucky no-one was killed! We have Rodney in custody, but only because of the tracking device in the Sun Beater 9000. What would've you done if you'd been ambushed? If more people got injured?" Major Monogram sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, before rubbing sleep deprived eyes. "Look, at least get check-ups. I promise you the moment it becomes possible, Ferb will be moved to our medical wing. We'll have the best looking after him. But right now, you have to try and think about your own health." He looked toward Candace, the self-designated leader of the group present, trying to win her over. She glanced at him, then nodded slightly.
"Carl, go fetch our doctors," he said with a cheeky smile, and a deep chuckle. Perry rolled his eyes: trust Monogram to bring his own team of doctors. The platypus often wondered if the power had gotten to his superior's mind, as whenever the opportunity presented itself, Major Monogram was swift in using his power to try and solve it. Carl walked back in, followed by multiple pharmacist-type people, who had obviously each been designated someone, as they moved in a swift, practised, uncluttered fashion, then proceeded to vacating the hospital's free rooms with whom they'd been told to treat. Monogram just stood, smiling smugly and looking rather pleased with himself. Carl just looked at him curiously, wondering whether to upgrade his threat status from 'minimum threat'.
The man glanced between the rather bruised girl with swollen eyes sat before him, and the bullet wound in her shoulder, a wound he hadn't expected or been informed to expect. The roughly-wrapped bandages lay discarded on the floor next to them.
"You've been shot…" Vanessa creased her brow slightly in disdain: this man was supposed to be a doctor? Isabella had done a far better job. She nodded slightly, biting the inside of her lip to stop the whimpers begging to leave her mouth, as moving the bandages had caused the throbbing to start again. The man merely blinked at her, and begun rubbing a cloth over the wound, provoking a stinging sensation in her arm.
"Does it hurt?" Vanessa blinked at him, completely and utterly annoyed with the man's idiocy. Of course it bloody well hurt! She gave him a glare, hoping it would answer his question, but he just sat, waiting and watching her. If this man was classed under the 'best' Monogram had earlier talked about, Vanessa would rather if her love stayed her, instead of being moved to a medical wing with some crappy doctors.
"Of course… it goddamn… hurts…" She hissed under her breath, when it became clear he was just going to wait for her to actually speak and tell him. How could a man so stupid and yet still be hired by a secret agency as a doctor? Was he just having a bad day, or were their standards crazily low? She returned to biting on her lip, deciding that once this was over, she'd interrogate Monogram herself over it all.
"I'm going to have to put you out to remove the bullet then." If she hadn't of been biting her lip, Vanessa was more than certain she would've growled at the man. She was supposed to be getting help here, and yet the man reminded her of all the things she hated in life. When Monogram next came, she was definitely asking for a new doctor.
The man turned to a tray behind him, and picked up the syringe that lay atop. He flicked it a few times, then squeezed it, a few droplets trickling over the top of the needle point. He placed it back atop the tray, and pulled out a breathing mask, connected to machines and canisters, and placed it over Vanessa's head.
"That's to make you unconscious, and this," he paused and picked up the needle, "is to numb the area, so it won't hurt as much when you wake up. Could you lie down?" Vanessa complied, despite not trusting the idiot with the simplest of techniques. She felt the needle prick her skin, and began counting in her head. Slowly, everything started to blur together until everything was one, and it was all black.
In a flurry of white, the hospital doors swung open, and Francis was almost knocked off his feet as the man jumped at him, one hand on either shoulder, and started to shake him.
"Where's my baby girl? Francis, you gotta tell me where my baby is!" Heinz shouted, his voice quivering with fear and excitement, anxiety and happiness at the same time. Monogram blinked a few times, trying to regain his mind set as the scientist looked at him pleadingly.
"She's… she's unconscious at the moment. Just had a, um, bullet removed from her shoulder." Francis shook his head, still a little fazed by the overly energetic pharmacist-lookalike in front of him. Heinz looked at him, eyes ridden with terror, a massive change from the earlier excitement that danced in them.
"Don't worry, she's fine. Also, did you call me Francis? You did, didn't you? Great googly moogly, no-one's called me that in ages…" He laughed slightly, trying to diffuse Heinz's nerves, the man visibly shaking in front of him. He saw the scientist relax, if only slightly, and the hands gripping his shoulder's loosened.
"Wait, where's that hooligan? You know, the green haired one! Shouldn't he be here? I knew he was just like the others, didn't really care for my baby… There'll never be anyone good enough for my baby…" Heinz sighed. He'd wished this one had been different. But none of Vanessa's boyfriends had ever been good enough for her. He thought Ferb was different. He noticed Monogram frown slightly at his remark, so Heinz narrowed his eyes slightly, his eyebrows creasing. "What?"
"Ferb is here…" Heinz just looked at him with an even more puzzled look. "Ferb has been here since Vanessa arrived. He came in with them…" The way Monogram kept trailing off worried Heinz slightly. Then it clicked. Something was wrong. Very wrong. If the 'hooligan' wasn't with Monogram, and he wasn't with Vanessa, then where was he?
"Francis, where is he?" Heinz felt his chest tighten slightly, and realised he actually cared for the boy a little bit. But only a little boy. It wasn't like he knew Ferb all too well apart from being with him almost non-stop for the past few days.
"Ferb's… Ferb's in the ICU. He was the worst injured. From what I can gather, he attempted a suicidal rescue mission. He didn't plan on surviving it, just getting Phineas and Vanessa out." Heinz felt his eyes widen slightly, and then even more when he remembered their little chat a few days back.
"Crap! I promised him he could marry Vanessa if he got her back!" It was only after the words left his mouth that he realised just how inappropriate his little outburst was. But he continued anyway. "Could you imagine that wedding? Perry the Platypus would be like, the best platypus or something! Do you think Vanessa would rather Norm give her away? Oh god! That'd be a terrible wedding! I'd have to organise it. If not, it'd only end in shambles. Did he get hit on the head? He might not remember my promise. That'd be good!" Monogram simply stared at the delusional, over-excited evil scientist who stood in front of him, rambling on about marriage in the middle of a hospital. Only Heinz Doofenshmirtz…
Candace hissed impatiently as the 'doctor' poked and prodded her, trying to see if she'd been injured in her little showdown. Only a few bruises and minor cuts. Well, the doctor said cuts, Candace insisted she'd seen bigger scratches. Jeremy sat the other side of the room, just smiling at her, amused by Candace's protests. Jeremy had already been checked over, and after re-assuring the doctor that he was fine, and not in shock, he was allowed to move away again.
"Are you done yet?" She growled, still feeling the after effects of the rush pulsing through her veins, urging her to get up and do something, anything.The doctor looked at her, then rubbed his eyes and groaned.
"Yes, yes. You seem to be fine. We would prefer to keep you in under observation ica-"
"No." Candace said, rather bluntly, cutting the doctor off mid-sentence. She stood up, and walked out the door, Jeremy trailing behind her and smiling apologetically at the stunned man sat at his desk. The moment the door shut, Candace turned to face Jeremy, her expression changing to one of worry.
"Jeremy, what the hell am I meant to do?" Candace watched him pleadingly, begging for help that Jeremy didn't know how to give. So he pulled his fiancé into an embrace, and held her tight against his chest as her body shook, her voice ravaged by sobs.
"F-Ferb's almost dead… It's my fault! If I'd just have been faster, I could've stopped that man before he'd even laid a hand on Ferb. I should've let Ferb know that I was here to support him fully… Maybe then he wouldn't have gone… alone… And how the hell am I supposed to tell Mom and Dad? I can't just pretend nothing happened… Ferb's lying unconscious and broken somewhere here! Phineas is acting different, and he's been shot in the shoulder! I think the bullet wounds would give it away, if the fact that one of their sons is lying in ICU doesn't!" She looked up at Jeremy, her eyes sparkling in the dimly lit corridor. Jeremy kissed her and pulled her in slightly closer, holding her and trying to protect her from everything that had happen, and all she still had to face.
"Can you please just get this over with? I want to see my brother…" Phineas said, in a rather grave tone, to the man who kept looking at the wound on his shoulder. The doctor smiled sympathetically at him, trying to ignore the teal monotreme perched on the bed next to him. He may be a doctor for the OWCA, but the fedora wearing animals still confused him slightly. The idea that they could be taught to do what humans do and better was what puzzled him most: he'd always learnt about animals being rather stupid.
"Of course… Could you lie down?" The doctor pulled the mask from under the bed as the red-haired boy obeyed, and lay down slowly, and the semi-aquatic mammal still stood protectively by his owner. "I'm not going to hurt him Perry. You have to believe me. Trust me." Perry looked over to Phineas, who just nodded at him slightly. Perry relaxed slightly, but didn't move, instead softening his glare at the doctor. The man took it as a good sign, and placed the mask on Phineas.
"Just stay calm, and take deep breaths. It'll all be over soon…" Phineas forced a weak smile, and began to breath slowly at first, allowing the gas into his system. It soon started taking effect, and the last breath Phineas remembered taking was a breath of relief.
A/N
Tune in next time for a daddy-daughter re-union!