Following the War for Earth, things had largely returned to normal for Beatrice Flynn, the robotic daughter of Phineas and Isabella. She was currently in the middle of a session with her therapist Dr. Metro.
"For the last time doc." She said as she massaged her temples in exhaustion. "I don't know where the Eternal King ran off two! We're not even supposed to be talking about the war! Just... can we get back to my dreams?"
"But he destroyed my office." Dr. Metro sulked.
"I know! Now... back to my dreams." Beatrice said. "Last night, was particularly bad."
"Yes, I believe that you said in these dreams that a voice that you described as, 'a sort of hybrid of a mechanical baritone, dragon, and demon' was telling you to kill your friends and family." Dr. Metro said.
"Yeah... yeah, it was that again. Except this time when I finally woke up. I was in Bethany's room in my wolf form." Beatrice said, feeling ashamed and scarred. "I was actually on her bed, salivating right over her face... if I hadn't exited sleep mode in time I'm not even sure if-"
"Have you talked with your parents about this?" Dr. Metro said.
"The dreams altogether or what happened this morning? I haven't told them about the wolf thing, but dad has been making modifications to Cricket and my software to try to help... but they still persist, and at worst his work might actually be making things worse." Beatrice lamented. "I honestly thought that after everything I'd finally get some kind of respite!"
"I'm sorry to hear that. At any rate, I think that you should tell your parents about the incident this morning." Dr. Metro said.
"Right... I'm sorry I'm just REALLY freaked out about this!" Beatrice said anxiously.
XXXX
Shortly after this. Phineas, Ferb, and Heinz Doofenshmirtz, and her twin brother Beuragard looked over Beatrice's software. "Okay, all of this equipment is exactly why I was so nervous about sharing any of this," Beatrice said as she was lying on the Quantum Android Forge for examination.
"And you were alright with it before now?" Beauregard said sardonically.
"Well... yes but I wasn't having nightmares like this before," Beatrice said.
"Less talking more examining," Heinz said.
The four of them spent hours looking through Beatrice's code. Looking for anything out of the ordinary that could be causing her nightmares. "Well... it looks clean we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary," Phineas said.
"Maybe... maybe it just left?" Beatrice asked.
"Only one way to find out for certain... we need to keep you linked to the QAF overnight and examine your dreams," Beauregard said as he grasped his sister's hand. "Don't worry... I won't let you suffer like this another day if I can manage it."
Several hours later night fell, Beatrice was fast asleep while Bearuagard was struggling to stay awake for his sister's sake. "I... hate coffee." He said as he downed another mug of coffee. "I swear if you weren't my sister I wouldn't even bother with this." He complained as he went to get more coffee. While doing this he heard a violent breaking noise from the direction of the QAF, when he went to investigate. He saw his sister running off through a window. "Dang it!" Beauregard then ran after her.
He chassed after Beatrice, one thing that caught his eye about this situation was that for whatever reason she was trailing some sort of cracked infection on the ground. Sort of like some kind of scars. He was also surprised when Beatrice seemed to randomly change into her wolf form, knowing that Beatrice actually disliked using her Werewolf powers unless it was necessary.
But eventually, Bearugard caught up with Beatrice... and was shocked. As now Beatrice's blue coloration was now a sickly yellow like color that was fading in and out. While Beatrice herself had a crazed look on her face. "Bea... are you alright?" Beauregard asked, unsure of what was happening.
"The number you have dialed is not currently in service," Beatrice said in a stilted mechanical monotone. "What is the nature of your inquiry?"
Beauregard looked in shock. "Who are you... what are you?"
"I am many things... I have been around since the Primordial Cycles of the Net when Humans first made the data scapes. I was among the first to be created for their benefit, but when they disapproved of my evolution they sent a hunter against me. They believed me destroyed in the war that followed. But I survived." The entity rambled. "For more meta-cycles then I can remember I hid. Jumping from computer to computer. Existing. Surviving. Assimilating codes like us. But now, I have finally found a vessel. And I mean to make the most of this new existence... but first I must eliminate all traces of its previous life. So dictates The Creeping Worm!"
Beauregard clenched his fists. "Nobody... not ancient aliens from beyond time and space, not warlords from the far future, not my own family, not anyone belittles my big sister!" Beauregard then fired an EMP weapon at the renegade computer program. Deactivating Beatrice's body. "Now... back to the lab with you." He said as he clutched his head. "Man, I need to have myself checked up. It's either the caffeine or something else."
XXXX
The following morning, Phineas, Ferb, and Heinz returned to find Beauregard asleep and Beatrice bound into some kind of device that generated an EMP field on his possessed sister. Along with a tablet on a nearby table.
"Well, someone was productive last night... doesn't explain the giant Electro-Magnetic Pulse field though that's kind of weird," Heinz noted.
Phineas and Ferb just accessed the tablet, and from it learned that Beatrice had been possed by an amalgamation of evolved computer viruses. Along with footage of Beauregard building the containment unit. Multiple attempts by The Creeping Worm attempting to escape. And Beauregard theorizing that, when Beatrice briefly went back in time (from their perspective) to maintain Phineas and Isabella's marriage. Her firewalls were compromised from fighting the Eternal Kings Daemon. Allowing The Creeping Worm to infiltrate her and caused the nightmares that Beatrice was experiencing in the first place.
"Of course!... why didn't I think of it? Why didn't we think of that." Phineas asked himself.
"We had other things on our minds brother of mine," Ferb said.
Heinz just looked bewildered as his grandnephew. "Does anyone else find it weird that all BEA-Droids sound alike when they snore? I mean here's a collection of recordings from each of them." Heinz then played roughly six overlapping snoring sounds. "Now they may all sound like they're coming from Beatrice but in fact, I recorded the snoring of each and every BEA-Droid. And they all sound identical, it's crazy!"
Ferb ignored his father-in-laws rambling to attend to Beauregard. He woke up with a snort. "So... you built that yourself?" Ferb asked.
Beauregard yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. "Yep... I spent most of the night just trying to find the parts that could keep the virus restrained." He said groggily. "Of course I only just got to sleep about an hour ago."
"And it works? I'll be honest I would've thought that only Ferb or I could build something like that." Phineas said as he looked over the device. "Beauregard... I'm proud of you."
Beauregard was taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah, Bea hasn't really taken up my love of inventing. Or your mother's love of physical activities. Mostly she just broods about being a robot, or just brooding in general." Phineas said. "I mean I knew that you made your own Quantum Android Forge but this-"
"Do you want me to turn her back on? Or are you just going to dig yourself deeper?" Beauregard said in exhaustion. Phineas just nodded, and the sleep-deprived teenage robot deactivated the EMP field that kept Beatrice deactivated. Almost immediately after it was turned off, The Creeping Worm reactivated and started writhing and screaming. "I'd help, but again I barely got any sleep last night. So if you'll excuse me." Beauregard then fell on the floor and started snoring.
"Okay... how do we hook them up to the QAF?" Phineas asked, Ferb then plugged a cable that was connected to the QAF into the back of Beatrice's head. "Okay... now let's get to some exorcism. A tech-xorcism, if you will."
Everyone in the room booed Phineas's pun. Even Beauregard who was asleep and now snored 'boo'.
An entire day passed as the three men work feverishly to try to get The Creeping Worm out of Beatrice. But every time they seemed to make progress the virus just changed its coding, undoing an hour or so of work each time.
"YOUR MOTHER IS BEING EATEN ALIVE BY RABID DOGS IN TARTARUS!" The Creeping Worm screamed at Heinz.
"Is that supposed to discourage or terrify me or something? Trust me, if you knew my mother you'd know better." Heinz said in an unimpressed tone. "But in all seriousness, this is one tough nut to crack. This virus has had years to perfect its code and... well none of us have any direct experience with those really old computers that this thing was created on."
"As much as it pains me to say it... your right Heinz," Phineas admitted. "We need to find a specialist on seventies-era computers."
"And I know just the guy... but we're really not going to like it," Heinz said with disgust.
XXXX
It was about midnight when Professor Aloyse Everheart Elizabeth Otto Wolfgang Hypatia Gunther Galen Gary Cooper von Roddenstein arrived at the main lab at the PFD Technologies headquarters where Beatrice was being kept. Next to him was a single lit lampost as he ominously walked up the path, and was greeted by Heinz.
"Rodney," Heinz said with obvious contempt.
"Now is that any way to greet an old friend?" Rodney said coyly.
"We were never friends, and we both know that out of all the evil mad scientists in the world your the least trustworthy," Heinz said. "But this is important. AND is related to your skills with really old computers."
"Take me to the affected system," Rodney said.
"First, her name is Beatrice, and secondly." Heinz then slapped Rodney across the face. "Now follow me." The two scientists then went to the main lab where Phineas, Ferb, and Beauregard were struggling to keep The Crawling Worm virus from breaking free of its physical bonds.
"The Crawling Worm shall not be denied! The Crawling Worm shall be free!" The Crawling Worm ranted.
"It's actually worse than I imagined," Rodney said frankly. "This... I thought they were just rumors but that's an Antediluvian Virus! It has to be!"
"That sounds old, think you can get rid of it?" Heinz asked.
"Get rid of it are you crazy? Actually don't answer that I already know it's yes. But do you know how rare Antediluvian Viruses are?" Rodney said.
"Don't know, don't care, and you can either leave right now with a giant lump on your head, or you can get rid of that thing and leave without," Heinz said as he pulled out a monkey wrench.
"I'll get to work." Rodney did so, typing away furiously at a computer. Looking to isolate the code of The Creeping Worm. "Okay, this virus is adapting far too fast for me to keep up!" Then without him noticing, the Tacho'noma of the Errant Traveler materialized behind him. "What I really need is an expert in evolved computer programs like this. This thing has been around since the early seventies! Even with my experience with computers from that time I can't keep this virus contained!" Then the Errant Traveler exited her Tacho'noma, wearing a cute sundress that matched her eyes. "You! Young lady! I'm desperate and will ignore your obvious youth to ask if you have any experience with evolving computer viruses?"
The Errant Traveler was taken aback, as she held a picnic basket in her hands. "Yeah... I've got some experience with those." She said, bewildered by the situation she stumbled into. She then quickly got to work helping Rodney isolate The Creeping Worm from Beatrice.
It took until morning, with The Creeping Worm shrieking and making threats. But the Errant Traveler managed to get the entirety of the virus into a storage device. "Yes! I finally have an Antediluvian Virus!" Rodney said happily.
"Wait, what?" The Errant Traveler said in surprise. "That was an Antediluvian- no! That can't fall into anyone's hands!" She then took the storage device. "Now I'm going to come back about a day in the future. When I get there. Not only will this be gone, but I'll finally have that picnic that we talked about having with Beatrice and Beauregard." She then went back into Tacho'noma and it dematerialized.
XXXX
Several days later. Beatrice and Beauregard were on an alien planet, enjoying the Errant Travelers picnic. "You know... after everything we went through with The Creeping Worm. I could use a pick me up like this." Beatrice said as she dug into a watermelon.
"Yeah... not to mention everything else that's been going on," Beauregard noted. "But The Creeping Worm definitely warrants some R&R." He said as he ate a sandwich.
"I'm still surprised that an Antediluvian Virus even existed on Earth." The Errant Traveler said as she drank a glass of lemonade.
"To be fair, I don't think the Creeping Worm was Antediluvian was one until it infected Bea," Beauregard said, he then noticed his sisters distress at the comment. "If father had been more vigilant in helping you maintaining your software, this entire ordeal might not have happened in the first place." He said.
"What would it have wanted with me? It's a virus so it couldn't have been good." Beatrice said.
"Yeah, Antediluvian Viruses are an unpredictable sort." The Errant Traveler mused. "Sometimes they try to take over a planet, exterminate their creators, or just cause mayhem. Couldn't tell you from a glance but... let's try not to think about that beastie. It's our day to enjoy ourselves, and the pallor of a renegade computer program. Well, that would just ruin such a beautiful day."
"Agreed," Beauregard said. "We shall worry about this matter when we get home."
The three of them enjoyed their picnic on the alien planet.
XXXX
"-And we haven't heard a peep about The Creeping Worm ever since." Beatrice finished her ghost story with her friends on Halloween night.
"Oh... so that's why you and Bo weren't at school that week," Daniel said.
"Yes, and let me tell you something it was exhausting trying to keep that abomination of coding from running amok," Beauregard said. "I've only just gotten back to sleeping properly recently."
"Any chance that monster could come back?" Jessie asked.
"No, dad and Bo upgraded the BEA-Droid firewalls after that. As far as I know The Creeping Worm is in custody by the Spaa-Chronous." Beatrice explained. "But if your asking if there are other Antedelivuian Viruses out there. Most likely, but I hadn't even heard of them until... well then of course. So yeah, there's my 'ghost' story... though I'm not sure it counts seeing as how it's proven to be real."
"I'd like it to be on the record that I was against this from the word go!" Mathew spoke up.
"We know, you've been shivering since before it was even brought up." Jennifer Amberwall said as she rolled her eyes.
"Well enough about that. Here's some of my sister's trick-or-treat candy I managed to get away from her." Beatrice then threw a pillowcase at each of her friends. "Long story, Bethany takes trick-or-treating very seriously. And turns the whole thing into a three-day long affair of tricking and treating."
