He missed Perry so much, he thought his heart would burst. And not just Perry. He missed all of his friends, and the taste of summer they'd gotten before Charline Doofenhsmirtz had decided to break her husband out of jail.

There was knock at the front door, and Candace was there with her bowstaff in an instant. "If anything goes wrong, you know the drill; get to Perry's lair, and stay there!"

He nodded as she looked through the peep-hole. She gasped in surprised, and yanked the door open. "Isabella?"

He didn't know why he was so happy to see her; probably because she was the first friend he'd seen in what felt like forever. He raced to the door as his sister yanked the girl inside. "What are you doing here, soldier?"

She held out a small rectangle. "I needed to return this."

Candace looked upset, and as he recognized the I.D. card, he understood why. "Is that AJ's?"

The young girl wrung her hands together. "Yeah. She gave it to me when I refused to stay out of the fighting. Said she didn't dare use it anyway, and explained that it might offer some protection against the robots. It, it saved my life."

He suddenly wasn't so upset that AJ didn't have it anymore. "What happened?"

He could tell Candace was leveling a look at him, even though she had her sunglasses on. She took over, getting the details she considered more important. But even after hearing how the town had been emptied, and they were on their own, all he cared about was hearing, "But how did that tag save your life?"

Candace shrugged, and walked away, like the only thing that mattered was that it had done it's job. She could be like that sometimes. He tried not to get mad at her for it.

Isabella sighed.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine…"

"No, it's alright. I just… it was closer than it should have been. It makes me angry to think I might have gotten shot if I hadn't had this tag in my pocket. So incompetent."

She sat down on the ground, and he did the same, scooting close. "I hate to think that, too, but not because you could ever be incompetent. So what happened?"

She shot him a surprised look, and the story started spilling out against her will.

—_

She considered throwing the lock picks as far away from the cell as she could, just so that the temptation to flee would be out of reach, but she opted for keeping her cool.

That worked, until the heavy metal door swung open. She jumped, but it was only Perry, bringing in her tray. She studied his face, and noted sadly that he was getting used to this. Not to the point where he enjoyed it, but to the point where tolerating it was getting easier.

As much as she hated it, there was no point in reopening old wounds. It would never matter how much he was suffering as long as his family was safe, so why not let him have a reprieve from the guilt while he could.

He slid her tray into the cell, and turned to go. He stopped halfway to the door, and turned his head to look back at her. There was nothing in his expression to indicate what he was thinking. No sadness, or anger, or even curiosity.

She offered him a smile, and picked up her bowl, taking a bite. He was still sticking to the 'just add water and boil' food group, but he was getting better at it. "Couldn't have done better myself."

There was the tiniest upward twitch in the corner of his bill, and for a second, she could have sworn the twinkle was back in his eye. And then it was gone. He blinked, and looked around the cell block, and his shoulders slumped.

Drat.

"I know things seem bad, but, we've been in worse situations before, right? And Doofenshmirtz… there's something different about him this time. Now that the city's been taken, maybe it won't be so bad."

He nodded, and started to leave again. Something lurched in her chest as she realized that if Charline made good on her threats, the next time she saw the little guy, she might not have a clue who he was. In her haste to stop him, she almost said his name. "No matter what happens, I want you to know that I knew what I was doing. I'm so sorry that ended up hurting you, but we both know I'd do it again if I had the choice, just like you'd always choose to help your family."

He turned to look at her, seeming a little confused. He deserved a warning of what could happen, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that the only member of his family that he was still allowed to see was about to be wrenched from him.

"It's just… if Doofenshmirtz decides not to let you see me anymore or something, I was you to know that, if I could change anything, I'd just try to be there for you more, and I don't care what ends up happening. It doesn't matter. You're worth it. You'll always be worth it."

He glanced over his shoulder, almost guiltily, then walked back over to the cell. She hugged him through the bars. "If it wasn't for you, I'd never have been part of a family. So don't you worry for one second about me, okay? We're in the same boat again. Whatever you have to do to keep them safe, I'll go along with." Even if that included letting Doofenshmirtz turn her into a cyborg, or just plain disposing of her.

As Perry left, she considered the two options, not sure which she ultimately preferred. She'd rather die than serve the heartless dictator, but… she knew better than anyone that as long as there was life, there was also hope…

_—

Isabella stared down at her hands as she finished her tale, still embarrassed at how close she'd come to failure. Complete failure anyway. Technically, she's already lost Pinky again, and one of her Firestorm girls for the first time…

What she didn't understand was how much she felt like crying right now. Candace's little brother wasn't helping anything. For some reason, she found his presence comforting to the point where, if she had to pick a single person in the Tri State Area to lose her cool in front of, it would be him, and it had nothing to do with the nosedive the population had taken.

She looked back up, hoping to take some hope from his ever present smile, but it had vanished. She felt bad for chasing it away. "Listen, don't let it get you down. I'm sure things aren't as bleak as I'm painting them."

"Not bleak? Isabella, you could have been killed! We've got to put a stop to this."

He reached for her hand, and she yanked it back. "There's no we about it. There's not really anything left for the resistance to do but protect you guys, and…"

She'd gotten so used to the boy's cheerful disposition, his anger startled her. It was just so, misplaced…

"You don't know how sick and tired I am of everyone trying to protect me! None of us would even be in this situation if it wasn't for me. I got captured. I should be the one sitting back in Doofenhsmirtz's cell, trying to get free. He sure as heck wouldn't have made me be his general. I put everyone in danger."

"It wasn't your fault, Phineas. It was Doofenshmirtz. It's always Doofenshmirtz."

A hint of his smile returned at her words. "Well, technically, it was his wife this time."

"She's still a Doofenshmirtz."

Why had cheering him up given her the hope she'd been looking for? She shrugged the thought away, and started to get up. "Thanks for listening."

He scrambled to his feet and offered to help her up. "No, thank you. I mean it. You can talk to me anytime you like!"

She hesitated, then took his hand, wondering what had brought his smile back so quickly.

_—

A?N: I think the first dimension Isabella would be shaking herself by the shoulders at this point.

Dreadwing216, you've had an unanswered question for over a week. I'm sorry about that, so I went ahead and added some extra Phinbella into this chapter, just for you. (Okay, and for all the Phinbella fans that ever read this, but they shall read it in your honor; ) And yes, I am planning on more Alt. Phinbella in this story. A word of warning though, my stories don't tend to be very Phineas and Ferb heavy, even though I try to work on that.

Thanks for reading, everyone!