Toy to the World

"Not that I'm complaining," began Apollo, trotting after Mavis as she power-walked through the mall, "but you said you were sick of coming to the mall."

"We're not going shopping," was all Mavis said in reply.

Apollo fell silent. He had learned by now not to question his girlfriend too much.

After a few minutes, she stopped at a clothes shop that Apollo had seen before and went inside. Apollo took a moment to survey the store before going in after her.

Apart from the bored-looking clerk behind the till, there was only one person in the shop: a teenage boy with brown hair, who was casually perusing a rack of backpacks. Apollo had never seen him before, but Mavis appeared to recognise him. She situated herself next to him, smirking up at the display. "In the market for a new bag?"

"I keep asking the major to add rainbow-patterned stuff but he always refuses," the boy said casually, revealing a slight Australian accent. "Anyway. How are you?"

"Oh, not too bad. Doing some exciting work. Speaking of which, do you have something for me?"

The boy nodded, but that was when he caught sight of Apollo lurking a few metres away. His eyes flicked up and down, sizing the doctor up. "Is this your boyfriend?"

Mavis nodded and beckoned Apollo closer. "Yep. This is Apollo Hastings, an OWCA doctor."

Apollo managed a friendly smile. "Hi."

The teenage boy nodded in greeting. "Hey. I'm Kane Kennedy, OWCA's apprentice quartermaster. Mavis uses me as her own personal inventor and repair man."

"Heyyyy, you like me really." Mavis gave him a friendly nudge. "So, did you get the thing for me?"

Kane chuckled and fished a small box out of his pocket. "Yeah, here you go."

"Great, thanks!" Mavis beamed and casually tossed the box over to Apollo, who fumbled and nearly dropped it. "This is for you."

Apollo slowly opened the box and found what appeared to be a small clip-on device with a blinking red light inside. He glanced up at Mavis and Kane in confusion.

"It goes on your ear," said Mavis, demonstrating with her fingers. "Like this."

Apollo carefully clipped the device onto his ear, half expecting an electric shock or something similar when it touched his skin. But nothing happened. "What… is it?"

"It's a translator," Kane explained. "It'll let you understand Agent P's chatters as words, the same way Mavis hears it."

Apollo glanced at Mavis in shock. "You have a translator too?"

"No, I grew up around animals so I can understand most of them naturally."

"Oh, right. Nice. Thank you."

Mavis grinned at him. "No prob. Right, we should probably get going. Dad said to meet Perry at the lair at nine."

Kane waved them off. "Good luck, you two."

…

When Mavis and Apollo reached the lair, Perry was already there waiting for them. He crossed his arms and gave a displeased chatter as they came in. "Late, late, late."

"Oh, as if you're never late," snorted Mavis.

Perry rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What's that thing on your boyfriend's ear?"

"It's a translator," said Apollo, somewhat smugly. "I can understand what you're saying now."

Perry blinked, eyes flickering from Mavis to Apollo. "Please say he can't."

Mavis just smirked. "Come on, let's get on with our mission."

She and Apollo sat down in their chairs, though Perry now looked rather displeased.

Major Monogram's face appeared on the screen. "Ah, good morning, Monoteam. We suspect Doctor Doofenshmirtz has been pilfering bricks from buildings across the Tri-State Area. Animals are rioting, convicts are escaping from the zoo." He shuddered. "It's chaos! You've got to stop him before everything falls down."

The three agents saluted at the same time and dashed for the hovercar. After a brief fight over who got to fly it, Perry kicked the vehicle into gear and took off into the sunshine.

Mavis, squashed in the backseat with Apollo, sank into her chair with a pout. "I hate you, Perry."

"I'm not letting a sixteen-year-old fly me around like a chauffeur."

"Chauffeur?! You WISH I was your chauffeur."

"I just said almost the exact opposite."

"Guys, come on," sighed Apollo. "It's annoying to have to sit here and listen to your arguing."

"Well, you wouldn't have to listen to it at all if you didn't have that stupid translator," said Perry snappily.

Apollo spread his arms in indignance. "WHY is it such a big issue that I can understand you? WHY am I not allowed to participate in your conversations?"

"Because I don't want to have conversations with you! I never even wanted you to join this team in the first place!"

Apollo flinched like he'd been slapped in the face.

"Perry!" snapped Mavis. "What the hell?!"

But Perry said nothing more, and finally, the hovercar began to descend in a warehouse in the centre of town. Ignoring the "Doofenshmirtz Evil Annex!" jingle, Apollo leapt out of the car just before it landed and disappeared into the shadows.

"Apollo, wait!" Mavis called after him, as loudly as she dared.

But he was gone.

Mavis angrily turned on Perry, but the platypus was already making his way further into the warehouse, which held piles of bricks all over the ground. Claws moving overhead were transferring bricks from the piles to about a dozen waiting trucks.

"Perry, wait for me," hissed Mavis, picking up speed to catch up with his partner.

He stopped in the middle of the room. Mavis stopped next to him and was about to snap at him again when he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her down next to him. "Perr-!"

Less than second later, one of the overhead claws dropped a ton of bricks on them, which formed a box around them with a small opening at the front to see through.

Doofenshmirtz could be heard chuckling evilly from the shadows. "Well, if it isn't the Monoteam! You've arrived precisely-" He broke off and frowned. "Hey, wait. There's only two of you."

"Just two today," said Mavis, shooting a glare at Perry, who ignored it.

"Well, anyway. Allow me to explain my scheme!"

With a flourish, he revealed a small replica of the Tri-State Area. "Voila! A precise 1/100th scale replica of the Tri-State Area!"

Mavis blinked. "How much free time do you have?"

"Heh, you'd be surprised. Anyway, with all the bricks that I've, uh… "collected", I'll construct…" He paused for dramatic effect. "...the Great Wall of the Tri-State Area! Thereby cutting off the citizens from the rest of the world!"

A small brick wall rose up from the table to surround the model.

Doofenshmirtz laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "And how do people get in and out the city, you ask? With this!" He held up a small white box. "Official Doofenshmirtz-approved toll booth! I haven't really worked out a price point yet, but it won't be cheap, I can tell you that!"

"Money," Mavis said, glancing sideways at Perry. "Money, revenge, or laziness. It's money today."

Doofenshmirtz scowled at her. "What's the matter with you two today? You're being so testy. Are you in a mood because your boyfriend's not here?"

"Sure."

After a moment, Doofenshmirtz rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

He lifted himself up on a scissor lift and manoeuvred more bricks into the last truck with the claw.

In the brick box, Mavis rested her arms on her knees, then buried her face in her elbows. "I'm sorry, Apollo…" she whispered.

After a brief pause, Perry unexpectedly said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh to Apollo."

"Then why WERE you?" snapped Mavis.

"I… I was jealous."

Mavis glanced up in surprise. "What?"

Perry guiltily wrapped his arms around himself and averted his eyes. "I didn't want a partner at first. I thought I could do this job on my own. But the first few missions with you were… really fun. I suddenly had a partner, someone who had my back. We were bantering and defeating evil together and I… I absolutely loved it. It was the first time in my life that I had someone I felt I could call an equal. Then Apollo showed up, and I tried to be happy that you found someone who really cares about you, but the truth is… he just… annoyed me. And I never figured out exactly why until today."

Mavis stared at him with sadness in her eyes. "You're jealous because I have to divide my attention between you and Apollo."

Perry slowly nodded. "Yeah. I took comfort in the fact that he couldn't understand me, so I could still have private conversations with you. That's why that translator became such a big problem. I mean, I felt like the only thing keeping me close to you was gone. It's not that I didn't want Apollo on the team; I just felt like he was slowly replacing me in your heart."

"Oh, Perry…" Mavis reached out and gently placed her hand on the platypus's shoulder. "There's more than enough room in my life for both of you. Apollo may have things that you don't but the opposite is true too. Kicking ass and trading witty lines with you is some of the best fun I have nowadays. You're a great partner and a great friend, and my life wouldn't be the same without you."

Perry gazed at her for a moment, then gave a small smile. "Thank you. I guess I'd better start working on my apology to Apollo, huh?"

"Don't worry about that now; we have to get out of here."

"Oh, right…"

Frowning thoughtfully, Perry leant sideways on the wall and promptly fell right through it. The cage of bricks collapsed around them.

Perry and Mavis shot each other a grin. "No cement," they both said at the same time.

As the two agents dashed towards the scissor lift, Doofenshmirtz caught sight of them. "Wait, what?! How did you two escape? Oh, wait… I probably should have used cement. Eh, doesn't matter; you'll never catch me!"

He leapt from the scissor lift to the metal balcony, then rushed towards the door to the roof. Mavis and Perry hurriedly climbed up the ladder and followed him over the metal walkway.

Doofenshmirtz burst out onto the roof, closely followed by the two agents. They vaulted over skylights and scaled ladders in pursuit of the evil scientist. But the gap between them was widening.

"You can't stop me, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz yelled triumphantly over his shoulder.

"No, but I can!" proclaimed a familiar voice.

Doofenshmirtz skidded to a halt as he found his path blocked by Apollo Hastings, but before he could say anything, he slipped right through the open skylight between him and the doctor, grabbing at Apollo's heels. Unfortunately, he managed to grab Apollo's foot and bring the doctor down with him with a cry.

However, just before he disappeared through the skylight, Perry and Mavis both grabbed one of his hands and saved him from falling. Doofenshmirtz lost his grip on Apollo's foot and tumbled down into the building.

Perry and Mavis quickly pulled Apollo out of the hole and safely onto the roof, where he collapsed, trembling, into Mavis's arms.

"I just saw my life flash before my eyes," he panted.

Holding him tightly, Mavis kissed him on the forehead. "I genuinely can't tell you how proud I am of you right now. That was brilliant, Apollo."

"Thanks."

Standing to the side, Perry placed a paw on his shoulder and gave him a slightly sheepish smile. "Good job."

Apollo glanced up at him with an odd expression on his face. "Th-Thanks."

Sensing there was still tension between them, Mavis lifted Apollo to his feet and gave him a gentle push in Perry's direction. "You two need to talk," she said. "I'll be down there when you need me."

With that, she hopped off the edge of the roof onto the fire escape and slowly made her way down. A small smile came over her face as she moved from rung to rung.

Somehow, she knew her boys would be okay.