Chapter 2: Old-Fashioned Spy-Work

Penelope

"There's nothing here that indicates I or my brother even exist," I noted upon looking at the notes I had been poring over. The Candace and Fireside Girls of this dimension had a lot of information on Doofenshmirtz. He and his wife were criminal leaders and had enslaved the Tri-State Area before. The motive behind the takeover was rather… weak though.

"Every decision and indecision results in a different outcome. You may not even exist in this dimension," said Baljeet.

"That's the thing. I've been looking into the dimensions rather closely through this screen here…" I indicated the remains of my bike. I had taken it apart and rigged up a way to look at and track the dimensional flow so that I could figure out how to go home while learning some space-bending things in the process. "My machine indicates the very strong possibility that the closer we are to the Prime Dimension, the name I gave my dimension, then the more similar they are.

"However, upon getting further from the Prime Dimension, the more dissimilar they are in reality and means. Therefore, the likelihood that I exist in this dimension is greater. Furthermore, I have scans of all of the boys' inventions. Their remote was not going through one dimension at a time, it was actually exuding enough power to jump past dimensions."

"How did they get home so easily then?" asked Perry.

"Luck… or perhaps more than that. Either way, if they had travelled through all the dimensions, even if they were taking them only a few seconds at a time, it would take them years to get home, relatively speaking," I replied.

"If what you are saying is true, they must have been jumping thousands of dimensions," said Baljeet.

"Exactly," I replied.

"So, how is it that you can determine which dimensions are close to or far away from yours?" asked Isabella.

"This dimensional map that I have created suggests that the dimensional flow works like a pendulum. The Prime Dimension at the bottom of the swing is straighter, saner; however, upon the peak of the swing, the dimensions lose more reason, more control. They have no sense, rhyme, or reason. Therefore, the best way to go home, as opposed to ticking the pendulum back and forth, would be to simply go to the top of its swing and jump from there. I have designs for a stopper that should go off when I reach the Prime Dimension," I said.

"Well, whatever you wind up doing, resources are gonna be tight," said Candace.

"That is exactly why I agreed to help you out first. By bringing Doofenshmirtz back out of power, the control of the Tri-State Area will go to better officials.

"Perry, I'm gonna need your help on this one," I said.

"Me? Why?" asked Perry.

"You were an agent in this dimension. I see no reason why you won't be as helpful as in the other dimension," I said.

"I guess… but we have to be careful. If Doofenshmirtz or any of the animal-borgs catch me, I might get turned back into another drone or scrapped."

"As long as I'm here, I won't let that happen." I smiled hopefully at him and I saw my Perry in his eyes. "We better get going. If my theory is correct, Doofenshmirtz is the least of our worries."

"And what exactly is your theory?" asked Baljeet.

"Someone far worse if pulling the strings," I replied.

It was some time later and Perry and I were in the air ducts of Doofenshmirtz's building. Since there were more dangers that came with us separating, we decided to stay together. However, this made the search take longer. We combed through the building for any sign of something amiss, but everything there was familiar to Perry.

"This is stupid. We're getting nowhere," I said quietly.

"Come on. Let's head back downstairs. Maybe we'll see something more tomorrow," Perry actually chattered. It was deep and throaty and upsetting in a way I had been missing for a while. I braced myself against the walls to silence the jump I made at hearing him speak. "What?"

"I wasn't really sure you talked or, if you did, that it would sound quite like that."

"I can sense that," he replied with an eyebrow wiggle and an alluring smile.

I pushed him back as I stifled a laugh. "You are such a dork!" I said as quietly as I could through my humor.

"A loveable one though, I hope?"

I rolled my eyes. "What do you know; he flirts with me no matter where or when we are." I gave another smile before saying, "Come on, let's get going."

We found ourselves on the bottom floor close to where we had gotten into the building. It was a loading dock and there were a few vehicles and unmarked crates going about, along with animal-borgs. "Well, this side-trip has been anything but boring so far. Got anything else for me?" I asked.

"Something new. I've never seen that truck before," said Perry.

"Should we follow it?"

"You wanted me to show you something out of the ordinary and an exterminator's truck in a place that encourages free animal labor is out of the ordinary."

"This may lead us to that 'something bigger' I mentioned earlier."

"Care to share with me, darlin'?"

"Darlin'? Did you just call me darlin'?" I asked, trying to hold back laughter once more.

"Well, you said so yourself that we're married in the other dimension. That's what I would call you."

"My Perry has never called me darlin'. He calls me 'Pen' mostly or 'my love' or, sometimes, 'sweet heart'."

"I guess we're not as similar as you think then."

"Or maybe they fried your brains more than we originally thought."

"That statement simply does not compute with me."

"I hope this dimension's me is not too messed up. I wouldn't want to leave you alone after all the hard work you put into flirting with me."

"I would call it a different word, but all right." He winked at me and my face went into a hot blush. "Come on. Get some of that blood to your legs. The truck's leaving."

"Fine, but this conversation is not over." We started crawling out of the vents, sneaking around corners, then finally finding a place under the truck. I still had my Perry to get back to and I was only going to be loyal to him… but I had to admit that this Perry was highly intriguing. He was similar enough to Perry I almost didn't miss him, but the dissimilarities were becoming more apparent and, I knew, would only make me miss him more.

Hmm… that's interesting. So, should I follow Penelope in the next chapter or shall we see what Prime Dimension Perry's up to? Let me know what you guys think. I hope you will please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)