Full Summary: Phineas Flynn is The Glitch, the most recognised and appraised superhero in Danville and leader of The Danville Daredevils. After working on a particularly dangerous mission with the help of Isabella Garcia-Shapiro (AKA The Streak), Phineas realises a terrible truth: he's fallen in love. But with the law stating superheroes can't have relationships with other superheroes, Phineas's only option is to try and win her heart as a regular civilian. Will he be able to succeed without the government finding out? Phinabella AU.A/N: If you've read my other recently published story 'Double Date' (and yes, I know the names are very similar - if anyone has a better title for this one, please let me know) then you'll know that I was struggling with Phinabella story ideas. The first thing I decided to do actually, is come up with an AU – which I found harder than I thought. Either way, this is the end result, I hope you like it.Disclaimer: I don't own any Phineas and Ferb characters but I own this universe and my OCs.
The best day of Eddie Thompson's life started like any other. Danville was renowned for its calm and tranquil mornings. The sun rose lazily, gradually warming darkness into light. A gentle breeze whistled through the trees. Danville came alive. Alarms went off, lights switches clicked, kettles boiled, microwaves whirred.
Eddie woke up as usual at 7:15 and started getting dressed for school. He was an average lad, nothing special about him but then nothing wrong with him either. He went to an average school, that took him and his best friends Trent and Kaley ten minutes to cycle to. When he set off to meet them at their usual spot, he was expecting another average day in his average life. But the moment the police cars sped past him; he knew something crazy was about to happen.
"Did you hear?" Trent demanded as Eddie skidded to a stop beside him and Kaley. "There's some sort of crisis downtown!"
"We're skipping first class and checking it out," Kaley added. "You coming?"
Normally Eddie would refuse to miss school but a crisis in Danville was too good to miss. "Let's go," he grinned.
And they were off, pedalling after the sirens as fast as they could, desperate not to miss a moment of the action.
The crisis was better known as a hostage situation. Four hostiles, eight hostages, a whole police force working to ensure nobody got harmed. The site, a bank, was completely blocked off to the public but Eddie and his friends had no trouble sneaking under the tape to get a closer look. They quietly made their way to the main gathering of cops to listen in on their conversation.
"We have four innocents on the line," the police captain was saying. "We can't afford to risk their lives."
"We also can't back down to their demands," his lieutenant argued.
"I'm growing impatient." The man who had been singled out as the boss of these robbers pulled a pistol from a holster at his hip and fired a shot in the air. "Need I remind you of the terms?"
"We need a little more time," the captain said. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as letting you run off with a couple bags of cash. The banking business is primarily done virtually these days."
"Spare me the lecture, grandpa," the boss snapped. "You have until the count of three before I start blowing some heads off."
Eddie exchanged a terrified glance with his friends. This was not what they were expecting to happen when they made that impulsive decision to skip school this morning.
"Listen, Sir," the captain tried again.
"One!" The boss interrupted. "Two."
The was a slight breeze accompanied by a blur of blue tinged purple and when the boss called out the number three his gun was gone. In its place, an opened banana and he stared at it in utter confusion.
"What?" He spluttered. "Where's my…?"
"Looking for this?" All eyes turned towards the voice. Standing at the end of the street was a woman. She casually tossed the gun in the air and caught it. "Sorry about the banana, I was on my way to work and that was my breakfast." She tilted her head and grinned. "Plus, I couldn't resist the gag."
"It's The Streak!" Eddie whispered excitedly to his friends. "I can't believe it!"
"Shoot them!" boss yelled at his men. "Shoot them, now!"
The police force all raised their weapons but The Streak had already taken care of the other guns. The remaining three robbers found their holsters empty. They all exchanged a fearful glance between them.
"So," The Streak folded her arms. "You're trying to rob a bank?"
"No?" the boss offered. The Streak, it seemed, didn't like that answer and a split second later, the boss was out cold. It all happened so fast that no one saw how The Streak had broken into a run and driven her fist into his stomach before clocking him right on the chin. The sharp blow jolted the sinus, altering the blood and oxygen flow just enough for the man to lose consciousness.
The Streak stepped back and spread her hands. "Who's next?"
The other three didn't like their chances. The Streak was one of the most feared freelancers in Danville. There was no point in trying to run; her super speed would ensure she caught you instantly. There was no use in fighting; even without her speed, she was agile, fast and able to take down a body three times the size of her in just two moves. With no other options, the robbers dropped to their knees and put their hands in the air.
The Streak gestured behind her and the police rushed in to cuff the hostiles and free the hostages. As she turned and hauled the boss to his feet, one of his men lashed out suddenly at his officer and tried to launch a surprise attack on the superhero.
There was a blur and the man toppled to the ground into the space where his target had been but seconds ago, while The Streak looked on amused from behind him. The robber got a buzz from a taser for his efforts and after his body stopped spasming, was led into the back of a police car to be transported to jail with his buddies.
Eddie and his friends could no longer supress their awe and all but trampled over each other to meet a real-life superhero. Sometimes Danville's heroes were less than welcoming, preaching that they had a job to do and anyone dumb enough to get in their way would be disposed of, whether they be good or bad. But Eddie Thompson's pride and joy was his hero card collection. He knew everything there was to know about every hero in the city and as such he knew that The Streak was always up for meeting her fans.
"Now, how did a couple of kids manage to get themselves on a crime scene?" The Streak asked humorously as the three teens stood before her starstruck. "You ought to be careful."
"It's such an honour to meet you," Eddie blurted. "I've read all of the comics based on you and I have all your merchandise and I even have your special edition collector's card set."
The Streak raised an eyebrow, "It's truly my honour to meet a superfan."
At her words Eddie almost fainted. His favourite hero, his role model had just called him a super fan. What more could a boy want?
"You're the first hero I've ever met," Trent said.
"I've met one before," Kaley admitted. "But he was very full of himself."
"Well," The Streak frowned suddenly. "There are some heroes out there who seem to forget that we fight to protect this city and it's people. Not for popularity or other selfish reasons."
"That's so pure," Kayley whispered.
The Streak winked at her before tilting her head, "Shouldn't you guys be in school right now?"
"Uh… Yes?" Trent spread his hands. "We should probably get going."
The Streak laughed, "It was amazing to meet you three. You're the sort of people that remind me why I live the life I live."
"I'm so awestruck I don't know what to say," Eddie murmured.
"I'd better be off as well," The Streak sighed. "I'm late for work. I hope you guys have a good day."
"Bye." As the three kids returned to their bikes, The Streak smiled fondly before turning around and whizzing off. Time to become regular old Isabella Garcia-Shapiro again.
Across town, Phineas Flynn was having a bad day. Of course, he wasn't currently Phineas Flynn. He was The Glitch, Danville's most recognised and appraised hero. He was the leader of the Danville Daredevils, a tight knit group of his best friends that fought crime and supervillains to protect the city.
Normally, there was nothing that could actually beat the Daredevils. Between the four of them, they had every angle covered. But when it comes down to fighting your nemesis, it's bound to be a difficult fight. And for the Daredevils, it seemed like it might be their last.
Foresight had been their number one enemy for years now and despite all his defeats he always managed to come back stronger. His ability to see three seconds into the future made fighting him a hard ordeal as it required the team to be creative in their attacks. Despite these hardships, though, they always managed to prevail.
So, the fact they were badly losing was not helping with The Glitch's bad mood. Somehow, Foresight had predicted their every move so far, which wouldn't have been a problem had he not acted on preventing them from preventing him before they'd even come up with a plan.
The moment they'd arrived in their jet, things had started going wrong. For starters, Foresight knew where they were going to land and had rigged a ton of rubble accordingly. Kraken, AKA, Buford, AKA the man who could harden the density of his atoms, was instantly crushed beneath the dropped rubble and to Phineas's knowledge was still trying to get out now. Without their heavy hitter, Phineas had instructed Dr Matter, AKA Baljeet, to use his telekinesis to launch large objects at their enemy while The Silencer, AKA Ferb, used his invisibly to sneak up on him for a surprise attack. But Foresight somehow knew about this new plan and with the help of infrared lenses, found Ferb and positioned himself so that the objects Baljeet lobbed at him hit the invisible man instead. Still reeling from the takedown of his friend, Baljeet was caught out in the open while Foresight launched large boulders from beneath camouflaged sheets. Overwhelmed by all the objects it was trying to control, Baljeet's mind shut down and left him unconscious.
Now it was up to Phineas. He was doing a classic Glitch move, teleporting behind and firing his laser eyes but Foresight seemed to know that he couldn't keep it up. His eyes were already streaming and too much teleportation would render him exhausted before long. But no matter where he appeared, Foresight knew he was coming and was dodging every beam Phineas sent his way.
Although he would never admit it out loud, Phineas knew that this fight was won and he was on the losing team. His friends were out for the count and there was little he could do on his own.
"I know you can't keep this us," Foresight called. "I know that any minute now your powers are going to fail you and then you'll be completely at my mercy. Why delay the inevitable?"
From his hiding spot behind a dumpster in the back alley where they were fighting, Phineas raised his head in defiance but Foresight was right - there was next to no juice left. He was completely spent.
"I don't understand," he said, coming into the open. Foresight smiled at his weakness but Phineas was playing it up a little. "How did you do this? How did you outsmart us at every step? That isn't your power!"
"I didn't only use my power," Foresight declared. "I also used math to calculate the probability of every move you would make. Something I'm sure Dr Matter would appreciate," he nodded his head towards Baljeet's still form.
"In that case," Phineas dug deep and called up the last of his energy. "I doubt you predicted I do this."
He drew back his fist like he was going to teleport into a punch and when Foresight raised his forearms to block, he instead teleported to Ferb's side, then Baljeet's then the rubble pile where Buford was buried.
"What?" Foresight screeched. "I don't understand!"
Phineas flapped his hand weakly in a farewell before he teleported himself and his team back to the Daredevil base.
Ambassador Clark was by no means a happy man at the best of times. He was a middle-aged cranky man who also happened to be in charge of managing Danville's superhero/supervillain problem. Little was known about his background other than he was a good friend of the mayor of Danville and as such was entrusted to keep the supers away from political affairs. So long as the heroes had someone to keep them in line, they could peacefully coexist with the civilians. But managing a bunch of superpowered human beings was no easy task. If anything, it was near impossible to keep track of where every hero was, which super villain they were fighting/had fought/are intending to fight (granted, of course that it is a super villain and not just a civilian problem that happened to break out while they were in the area).
In a nutshell, Clark was a man who hated every aspect of life simply because that seemed to be the only thing he had any control over.
To be fair, it has to be said that he was good at his job. His first act was to assign a director to each team that agreed to join under his supervision. The Danville Daredevils had been the first to sign the contract and far from the last. Over time, most Danville's heroes had agreed to Clark's terms and had been rewarded with better equipment, facilities and their very own director who reported directly to Clark about how the team was operating each week.
Needless to say, when Clark found out about the Daredevil's recent (and first) defeat at the hands of Foresight, he was bordering on disbelief. If it hadn't been Director Dennis Davis who sent in the report, he would have dismissed it completely. But Dennis was almost as serious as the ambassador himself and would more happily die than send in an incorrect report.
A defeat was not uncommon for the Danville heroes but the Daredevils being beaten was not good for Clark's image. The Daredevils were the linchpin of his entire operation. They were supposed to project strength, resilience and confidence. A loss did not sit well for the ambassador at all. Which is why he got straight on the phone to Dennis and demanded to know every single detail about what happened and how.
It seemed there was only one thing he could do to ensure that this defeat went unnoticed by the rest of the heroes and that was to secure a win. But the Daredevils were hardly in any shape for a rematch. Hopefully after a couple of hours with the healing brothers they should be back to fighting form but mentally recovering from their first defeat at the hands of their oldest enemy was something no one was coming back easy from. This meant he needed to find something… or someone that could guarantee that Foresight could not exploit his powers like he had previously.
It was clear there was only one hero to call.
Phineas was feeling low. And not his usual low, because the majority of his days in the past few years had been spent feeling low. No, this low was the low that came after spending three hours waiting for his team to pieced back to health by the healing brothers. Buford came out the best. Foresight knew that he couldn't physically hurt Buford due to his power so decided instead to find a way to keep him out of the fight. The weight had done nothing to physically hurt Buford but it had achieved its purpose to keeping him pinned to the ground.
Ferb and Baljeet however needed a lot more attention. Baljeet was nothing short of a genius which was evident in the way he could move objects with the sheer force of his mind. But should his mind get overloaded like it did, it could have disastrous consequences. Which it did. Not to mention the power of his throws were enough to shatter eight of Ferb's ribs. Baljeet's guilt at what he did to Ferb was also keeping him from fully healing mentally, even after his body and mind was all fixed up.
Phineas didn't know how he and his team were supposed to come back from this. They had been beaten. The supposedly unbeatable team had been beaten. The other heroes were probably laughing their heads off and the people of Danville were more than likely already blaming the heroes for every little inconvenience in their lives. This was the sort of thing Ambassador Clark had warned the heroes about: the people of Danville are constantly on the search for something, anything to blame the hardships of life on. If the heroes even slightly screwed up the blame would fall them and they would have to work extra hard to shift it back.
"Daredevils." Dennis's curt call rang crisply from the speaker embedded in the wall above the door in the common room. "Please join the ambassador and myself in the bunker."
Phineas exchanged a glance with Ferb and Buford. Baljeet was working in the laboratories so the three of them decided to take some time to dwell in their miseries. Buford grunted and heaved himself to his feet as Ferb adjusted his mask. Around Dennis, the team of heroes rarely felt the need to wear their mask but it was against the law for Ambassador Clark to know the identities of heroes for privacy reasons.
They assembled in the bunker; a huge room that was part dojo, boxing ring, shooting range and gym where the team trained together if they weren't off fighting evil. Director Dennis and Ambassador Clark was seated in Dennis's control centre where he monitored each mission.
Clark stood up to greet them as they approached, "Good afternoon gentlemen," he said warmly. "You have my condolences for what happened earlier."
Phineas scoffed, "Save the fancy talk, Clark. Cut to the chase."
"Very well," Clark clasped his hands before him. "I think you'll agree you can't allow Foresight to remain at large."
"Are you blind?" Phineas snapped. "He almost destroyed us this morning. How exactly do you expect us to take him on again? Especially now he knows our weaknesses."
"Mr Glitch, Sir," Dennis butted in carefully. "Please allow the ambassador to finish."
"Thank you, Director," Clark said pleasantly. "Now, as I was attempting to say, Foresight needs to be taken down. The problem being, however, that he knows what to expect from you. So, the question is, how can we do the unexpected?"
"We can't," Baljeet pointed out. "With his power and his new found mathematical skill to use said power to calculate the most probably future, anything we do will be expected."
"Well yes," Clark conceded. "But what is something he'll never expect?"
"For us to leave him alone," Buford offered.
"Almost," Clark smiled patiently. "We can't afford for someone else to take care of this, but we can definitely make an addition to the team. Someone no one would expect."
"A freelancer," Baljeet realised, working it out. "You're going to recruit a freelancer into the Daredevils."
"Not just any old freelancer," Clark amended. "The best, most successful, most recognised freelancer in the city."
There was a slight breeze and. in a whoosh of blue tinged purple, The Streak was standing beside Ambassador Clark with a slight smirk on her lips. "Nice to meet you, boys."
"Gentleman," Clark gestured to the newcomer. "This is The Streak. She is the most successful freelancer in Danville."
The rest of The Daredevils sent a round of 'hey's and 'welcome to the team' her way but Phineas was speechless. For someone who was usually quick witted and sharp tongued, the mere sight of this woman was enough to drain any comprehensible speech from his mind. He stepped forward and offered his hand to her. She took him up and as their hands clasped together, their eyes met and Phineas felt his breath catch in his throat: a feeling he hadn't felt in years.
As he took in the blue and purple suit and those crystal blue eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul, it was clear to him that beneath that mask, this woman was a beautiful as she was dangerous. And as Danville's most respected freelancer, she was extremely dangerous.
I hoped you enjoyed Chapter One! There's more to come, but it's my GCSE year and my schedule's pretty packed. Hopefully you can expect to see a new chapter every Saturday. Also, in terms of superhero designs, my amazing friend agreed to draw out the characters in this universe and I was hoping to post them on my Pinterest account. However, they're currently stuck in France due to COVID and can't send them to me… I was going to wait until they're back to upload this chapter, but if I wait any longer I'm probably going to run into writer's block. We're working to find a solution but currently the chapter's all I can give you guys. Stay posted.