With Milo leading the way it wasn't long before they got to Professor Time's address. As they went, Dakota kept half of his attention on what was in front of them, and half his focus on any video footage he could find around the city. He didn't want them to be caught off guard by a surprise pistachion ambush. As much as he could, Dakota wanted to be prepared.

As soon as they got to the building's underground parking lot, Dakota eased up on keeping an eye out for pistachions. They should still be ready for any unexpected pistachion appearances, but there was a more immediate concern that Dakota was thinking about.

Professor Time, although in this time period he still went by the name of Heinz Doofenshmirtz, was a man who enjoyed his privacy, and who liked to be in control of situations. Because of this, Doofenshmirtz would frequently set up traps, mostly for his nemesis, but also for anybody who just so happened to walk by.

As they stepped off of the elevator, Dakota was glad for the fact that Doofenshmirtz relied so much on technology, both of his own invention, and more traditional tech. It was all too easy for Dakota to hack into Doofenshmirtz' systems, even with the firewalls and security systems set into place. Dakota might have struggled a little more if it weren't for the fact that Doofenshmirtz was the founder of the B.o.T.T, and a lot of the security systems that the B.o.T.T. used came from him. Dakota was as familiar with these systems as he was with the back of Milo and Cavendish's minds.

Dakota was immediately able to see that Doofenshmirtz did, indeed, have traps in place. There weren't as much as there normally would be, as Doofenshmirtz had recently quit the whole evil business, but there were still traps, and they didn't have the time to deal with them.

"Wait," Dakota said before they could go too far in. He grabbed Milo's arm and held him back. Cavendish could feel the urgency in his tone, so despite his excitement of meeting Professor Time himself, he stopped as well. Orton was the only one who kept going. He only took five steps before he activated one of the traps.

At an instant's notice, Dakota cut off the triggering system of the trap and the trap itself. Dakota was sure that the trap wasn't harmful, as even when Doofenshmirtz was evil he had no record of actually being cruel, but all of Dakota's files said that when Doofenshmirtz successully trapped someone, they monologued to them. Dakota thought it was good for him to have found a way to get things off his chest, but during a pistachion invasion was not the time to do that.

A moment later, Doofenshmirtz began to come out the door. When he saw them, he blinked in confusion and crossed his arms. "I thought my pizza delivery guy trap went off, and...wait, you're not the pizza delivery guy, are you?" Doofenshmirtz gave them a suspicious look, like he expected Milo to pull a box of pizza out from his backpack.

"Uh, no, Professor Time, sir," Cavendish said. He still sounded in awe, but he was also very confused. He idolized Professor Time, and even though they'd just met him Cavendish could tell that he was different from how he had expected. It usually took Cavendish a lot of time to adjust to his opinion and view being proven wrong.

Cavendish was so flustered, so Dakota took it upon himself to take on the explaining. "We're time travelers from the future. Well, we're from the future," He gestured to himself and Cavendish. "He's from the past and just got dragged into this," He pointed to Orton. "And Milo's just from this time period."

Doofenshmirtz' didn't seem confused, but still incredibly suspicious. "...What do you want?"

He wasn't immediately dismissing them, so Dakota considered that a win. "There are sentient pistachio monsters that are taking over the city." Dakota's eyes flashed as he slipped back into Doofenshmirtz' systems. He turned on the man's television and radio in the other room. All of the news channels were talking about the pistachions. Even from the hall, they could hear the reports.

Doofenshmirtz glanced back into the other room. He looked alarmed. "How did those turn on?"

Dakota smirked in amusement. Maybe he should be more worried about the urgency of the situation, but Doofenshmirtz' curiosity about electronics and technology was fascinating. "The same way that I deactivated your trap." Dakota took his glasses off and let his eyes flash. Doofenshmirtz' own eyes practically lit up in excitement.

"Interesting," Doofenshmirtz muttered under his breath. He came closer to Dakota and poked his arm. "How far into the future did you say you were from?"

"2175," Dakota answered. Doofenshmirtz nodded, like it was something along the lines that he had expected.

"You sure feel and look human," Doofenshmirtz took a step back. "You're not an android or a robot, are you?"

"Not quite," Dakota said. "I'm a supercomputer programmed into Cavendish's brain," He gestured to his partner, who was starting to look frustrated. "Oh, and Milo's brain."

"So you overpowered my security," Doofenshmirtz seemed to be more impressed than upset. "Alright, so say you're a computer. Why do you feel so human?"

Cavendish huffed slightly. "We don't have time to discuss Dakota's programming. There are pistachions out there in the city even as we speak."

"Right, yeah, evil pistachios," Doofenshmirtz waved it aside like the whole issue was of secondary concern. "And why do you need my help."

"Because you're Professor Time," Cavendish shouted half in enthusiasm and half in frustration. "You're the inventor of time travel," Dakota made a small hum, and Cavendish shot him an annoyed look. "Yes, yes, alright, the researcher of time travel, but regardless, we need to go back in time to before this whole mess started, so we need you to invent a time machine."

Doofenshmirtz stared at Cavendish for a moment before turning back to Dakota. "So...do you just look human, or do you act and think like one too?" Cavendish let out a strangled sound of frustration. Dakota felt slightly bad for finding Cavendish's anger a little amusing. He knew that Cavendish had a point, that they needed to get out of here and fix the problem before it came and bit them in the butt.

"Tell you what," Dakota came up with a compromise. "When we don't have to worry about pistachions anymore, I'll answer any questions you have about my programs and functions." It was a nice change of pace to have someone who was so curious about him just on a technological standpoint. Doofenshmirtz wasn't like Cavendish or even Milo, who wanted to know how human and moral he was, or Savannah and other B.o.T.T. agents who wanted him to behave more like a traditional Squip. Doofenshmirtz was just a scientist who wanted to know how this new bit of technology worked.

"Fair enough," Doofenshmirtz shrugged. "So, let's get this time travel figured out," Maybe it wasn't all that realistic to ask someone to just create a time machine, but if B.o.T.T's records on Professor Time listed even a fraction of the scientist's inventions, then Dakota thought they had nothing to worry about. If anyone could figure out, it was Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Cavendish and Orton were eager to follow Doofenshmirtz. They were both interested to see his working process. Milo stayed close to Dakota's side, and he looked extremely confused about something.

"What's on your mind, kid?" Dakota asked. His connection with Milo may be cut off at the moment, but Dakota still cared about Milo's thoughts and concerns.

"I'm just...a little confused," Milo looked at Dakota. "Did you choose what your voice sounded like?"

Looking towards where Doofenshmirtz was muttering to himself and already piecing together some mechanics, Dakota chuckled. He knew what Milo was thinking. "Yeah, I did, and before you ask, yes, I meant to have my voice sound like a lot like Doofenshmirtz'."

"Why?" Milo asked. "Did you just not know what else to do?"

"Honestly, it was my subtle way to get Cavendish to listen to me a little better," Dakota grinned. "He practically idolizes Professor Time."

Milo laughed slightly. "Yeah, Cavendish is a little passionate right now,"

"Intense is the word that I would use," Dakota smirked, making Milo giggle again.

"Oi, Murphy, Dakota," They looked towards the others to see Cavendish looking at them. He looked annoyed, but Dakota could tell that it wasn't just because he was caught off guard by Doofenshmirtz' behavior. Something else was on his mind, but Dakota knew he wouldn't have to read into it, because Cavendish frequently spoke his mind. "I think we have a problem."

Milo frowned in concern while Dakota just groaned in annoyance. He was tired of them frequently having problems. This wasn't even because of Murphy's Law. This was just a combination of all of their bad luck.

"What's going on?" Milo asked.

Cavendish fidgeted nervously with his hands. "Time juice hasn't been discovered yet."

Dakota frowned. Right, he knew that. He should have remembered it. How could he have forgotten?

"What's time juice?" Milo asked.

"It's an element on the periodic table that makes time travel possible," Dakota said with a grimace. "We can't go anywhere without it,"

"Well, can't we just discover it?" Milo asked. Up to this point Doofenshmirtz had been talking to Orton, but at Milo's words he scoffed and came to join them.

"Okay, it's one thing to ask someone to invent a time machine years before they normally would," Doofenshmirtz gave them an annoyed look. "But to discover a whole new element on the spot? I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker."

Milo bit his lip slightly. "What are we supposed to do?"

Dakota closed his eyes. There had to be a solution. Dakota refused to admit that there wasn't. If time juice hasn't been discovered yet, then they would have to find a time juice source from the future. What was time juice used for? It powered time travel machines, but Dakota doubted that their time vehicle was safe now. The pistachions had to have found it by now. The only other time travelers were Brick and Savannah, and Dakota knew that they had been captured. Time vehicles weren't the way to go right now.

The only other thing that Dakota knew of that had time juice were clocks from the future, but there was no way they could get their hands on a clock from the future, except...wait…

Dakota opened his eyes. "Milo, you still have that clock I gave you from the time stream?"

"Of course," Cavendish's eyes widened in realization. "The clock was from the future. It should have time juice in it."

"I, uh, don't think I have it on me right now," Milo took off his backpack and looked in it really quickly. "Nope, it's probably in my bedroom." Milo put his backpack on. "If we need it, I can just go grab it really quickly."

"What? No," Dakota's eyes flashed. "It's too dangerous. The pistachions are out there. You can't just run off on your own,"

"The more people who are out there, the more people that could get in trouble," Milo said. "If it's just me, I don't have to worry about anyone else." As much as Dakota hated it, he could see what Milo was saying. Dakota had a lot of frustration with getting Milo to think just about himself. Milo had gotten hurt because he couldn't bring himself to worry about himself if someone else needed help. If he was on his own and had a specific place he needed to go, Dakota knew that Milo could dedicate all of his resources and focus on himself.

Logically, it was a smart plan, but it didn't feel right. Dakota was a Squip, a computer, he should be jumping at the chance to follow Milo's plan. It was a good plan, but Dakota didn't want to go through with it. His artificial emotions were overcoming his logic, and it sucked.

Cavendish was not feeling the same conflicts that Milo was. "That is a great plan, Murphy," Cavendish raised an impressed eyebrow. "While you're gone, we can help Professor Time to build the time machine."

Cavendish and Milo were both incredibly calm about discussing how to stop the pistachions. Dakota was too high strung to be on the same level as they were. "Let me come with you," Dakota said to Milo. "I can help."

"Don't be daft," Cavendish gave Dakota a confused look. "If you and Milo were properly connected, maybe you'd be able to help him enough, but as it is you would be much more useful here. You can access time machine blueprints. There is no reason for you to not stay here."

Dakota could think of one very good reason why he should go with Milo. He'd endangered the boy with this stupid pistachio scheme once, he didn't want to do it again. If anything happened to Milo, it would be all his fault. Especially if Dakota wasn't there to at least try to stop it. "What if I turn on the connection again? It might be working."

Cavendish looked even more confused, but in a concerned kind of way. Dakota could practically feel Cavendish's concern coming right through their link. "It takes hours for the two of you to recover from what happened."

"Well, yeah, but-" Dakota was feeling desperate. He paused when he felt Milo's hand on his arm.

"Dakota," Milo gave him a small smile. "I'll be okay, I promise,"

"You can't promise that," Dakota could feel himself sparking, and he felt even worse when he saw both Cavendish and Milo flinch in discomfort and slight pain because of him. Cavendish could feel Dakota's lack of control through their connection, and Milo could feel the spark because of the physical contact. Dakota was hurting them, he knew he was, but he couldn't seem to make himself stop.

At that moment a small teal thing came crashing through the window. "Ah, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz smiled amicably at the intruder who was, indeed, a platypus. "Now, I don't know exactly what's going on out there, but it's not my fault this time,"

"It's mine," Dakota pushed his glasses up and squeezed his hands against his eyes in a vain attempt to get them to stop sparking. "If I hadn't-"

"Well, you did," Dakota looked up in surprise to see Doofenshmirtz looking annoyed, but not unkind. "So you messed up and now the world's in danger? Who hasn't done that?" Dakota was fairly certain that very, very few people had done that, but Doofenshmirtz wasn't about to let that little fact stop him from making his point. "You can't just go back and change what happened...well, I guess you can, since you're a time traveler, but that's not the point."

Doofenshmirtz shook his head to try to get himself on focus again. "The point is, you're not doing anybody any good wallowing in the past, wishing that things could be different. If you want to change things, get up and change them yourself,"

For the first time since they got there, Cavendish looked at Doofenshmirtz as though he truly was the Professor Time that he had come to admire. After a moment, Cavendish turned his attention to Dakota. "He's right, of course, and the best way you can change things is by staying here." Cavendish's tone was firm, but still gentle and understanding.

"I know," Dakota all but whined, and he really did. He knew that they were right. "But what if something happens while Milo's on his own?"

"He won't be on his own," Doofenshmirtz said as though it was obvious. The man looked towards Perry the Platypus, who was watching them all cautiously. "Perry the Platypus, can you go with Milo?"

Perry had no way of knowing where Milo was going, or what kind of trouble he would be getting into by joining him, but when Perry looked at the boy he just nodded without a moment's hesitation.

"You...you're sure?" Dakota asked Perry, who nodded again. Dakota was relieved. In all the biographies and databases about Doofenshmirtz, they mentioned Perry the Platypus, and how he was one of O.W.C.A's very best agents. Perry the Platypus was known for being very capable, and very very protective. If anybody could not only keep an eye on Milo, but also keep an eye on themselves enough to not become a liability when Murphy's law hit, it was Perry the Platypus.

Dakota grinned uneasily. It was incredible just how relieving it was to know that a platypus was going to be keeping an eye on Milo. "Thank you,"

"The two of you had better get a move on then," Cavendish said to Milo and Perry. "We shouldn't waste any more time."

"Right," Milo gave Dakota one last reassuring grin. "We'll be back soon,"

"We'll try to be ready by the time you return," Cavendish said. Dakota thought that was a pretty unrealistic goal, but Doofenshmirtz really was a genius with his inventions. They may blow up in his face sometimes, but they worked as they should, and he could make them pretty quickly. They may just be able to do this.

Once Milo and Perry were gone, Doofenshmirtz turned to them. "Right..let's build a time machine."

A/N: Doofenshmirtz is a bit of a challenge to write. It's kinda fun though. Now I just have to figure out how to do a little more with Orton so he's not just a guy who's there.