A/N: Part 2 has begun! I've already mapped out a lot of story concepts so wherever this thing goes, at the very least I'm sure how this part will end. I hope you guys have as much fun reading as I do writing. We'll definitely be getting a bit fluffier with the mushy stuff, too. I have also called the audible of no longer keeping a tight schedule and am instead set on releasing these chapters as soon as they are done and sufficiently edited. I've also started crossposting on AO3.
JetZFlare: The fic takes place about 4 years after the first summer, assuming the oldest of the kids (Buford and Ferb) are 12, and the youngest (Phineas, Isabella and Baljeet) were 11. AYA screws with that timeline to be sure, but the primary implication I wanted to avoid was a massive age gap between Ferb and Vanessa. Suzy is about 10 now, and her crush on Buford was literally a "because it would be funny" moment. After all, isn't Suzy in the main series just a tiny bully? As for the Milo progress, you are good to go. I wouldn't even consider what I say concerning Milo here to be a spoiler of anything but what everyone knows: He's unlucky and he knows Dr. D.
Also, the second part isn't a separate fic :) it's just gonna stay in here so the whole story can be enjoyed by newcomers.
Part 2: Phineas and Ferb's Dimensional Disaster
Chapter 11: A Stranger Place
"Is everyone alright?!" Phineas sat up from the floor with a startle. He slowly rubbed his head as he regained his senses. "Oh, man. That was some wild dream." He turned to face Perry, who was sitting squarely on his chest. "Candace got married, but Vanessa's dad was the officiant, and she fainted, and then..." He looked around at the others in the room, who were starting to come to. He felt the rough red carpet beneath him. His eyes widened as his speech slowed. "... we fainted." Suddenly, his head started to ache. A ripple effect passed through his mind, but it wasn't as bad as the one he had when he remembered Milo. Perry chattered at his owner. Phineas gawked in surprise. "Y- you're a secret agent! And we got our minds wiped! To protect you!"
Perry's shock was visible as he reeled back onto his hind legs. He glanced around the room, eyeing everyone else, who, to no one's surprise, were all laser-focused on him. He shrugged, unsure of what could be done in this situation. There was an exception. Lying next to Phineas, Isabella was practically beet-red-blushing. Phineas turned to her and chuckled. "And you totally kissed me!" He leaned in close and whispered. "And for the record, I liked it."
A few scattered giggles from around the room were quickly replaced by an awkward silence. Ferb pulled Vanessa to her feet. Isabella, still flustered, waved Phineas away for a moment, and got up on her own. Phineas shrugged. Candace and Jeremy quietly observed from their corner of the room with the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Stacy slapped her hands to her cheeks in mock-horror. "Oh, no! Perry the Platypus is actually a secret agent! Who could have possibly known?"
"D-did you... know?" Jeremy trailed off. Stacy pretended not to hear him as she quickly sped out the room. Hands spread to the sky to indicate her incredible surprise.
"We'vegottacheckoneveryoneelseokaybye!"
Perry reached out after Stacy, as if hoping she had some kind of solution to his situation. He began to sweat milk rapidly, that is, until Phineas and Ferb gave him hearty pats on the back. "Don't worry, pal! I'm not mad! We already went through that whole thing!" Phineas stretched out his hands. Isabella grinned. Ferb gave him a thumbs-up. Phineas grabbed the platypus' now-slick body and wrapped him up in a hug, stroking his back tenderly. Perry, now that his cover was blown, was finally able to hug back. The others funneled out of the room, shooed out by Candace and Jeremy. The moment passed. Phineas set Perry on the ground as Perry grimly cast his gaze downward.
"And you know what? As a matter of fact, I don't think we should let 'them' whoever 'they' are, take you!" Phineas smiled. Perry's face didn't lose it's dour look. He instead took out his watch, clicked the communications button and...
Nothing.
"Huh? Was that supposed to be that military guy?" Phineas peeked around at the watch.
"Major Monogram." Isabella corrected.
"Ah, so she can speak." Ferb noted. Isabella glared at him as Phineas chuckled.
"That is strange, though," Phineas took a closer look at the watch, much to Perry's chagrin. "There's a network tower not too far from here, and the explosion..."
His eyes cast across the room. He took stock of everything, but it was exactly the same as it was before, save for a pool of water that had formed because a sink had been left on.
"... Didn't... explode... anything."
"Alright, I'm getting a really weird vibe here." Ferb noticed his surroundings just as his brother had. Isabella looked around, taking a bit to connect the dots, but the conclusion was the same.
"What kind of bomb doesn't damage anything?"
"What kind of bomb makes us remember erased memories?"
"What kind of bomb seems specifically engineered to embarrass Isabella?"
"Ferb! I liked you better when you shut up!"
"I'm sorry, it's just a lot to think about."
Buford and Baljeet could be heard screaming down the corridor. The noise quickly got closer as they rounded the entrance to the back room. Buford shook Phineas and Ferb rapidly. "Guys! Guys! You have got to see what's going on out there!"
"What's going on out there?" Phineas shoved Buford's hand off of his shoulder.
"I can't describe it! That's why you've got to see it!"
Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella were shoved along at mach speed by the two, frantically pushing their way through the crowded lobby, where everyone was in abject panic.
"Now they've got me worried." Phineas shrugged as he grabbed the collar of his shirt. With a final shove, the three tumbled through the doors to the outside-
They didn't blame Buford for calling it "indescribable". The sky was a swirling mass of paint-stroke colors, like a classical painting. The moon in the sky had a dimmer light, and a fluid quality to the surface. It rippled in the air, feeling significantly closer than before. The feeling you get when you stare up at the stars and all you can imagine was how far out they were? The feeling was missing in a dreadful way. The purple and blue hues created an almost textured appearance, and the stars were like small paint blotches.
"Is that a skybox? Like a giant dome over Danville?" Isabella clutched Phineas fearfully. Phineas scratched the back of his neck.
"I-I suppose tit could be. It just seems so..." He reached out as if to touch the moon. "... real. It's kind of beautiful." He scratched his chin.
"It's kind of terrifying." Isabella's voice chilled.
The three pondered the nature of their new atmosphere for a while before a new development. North of the moon, a small green flash... flashed. What appeared to be a small rock soared through the sky before landing about 20 feet from the trio with a large crash. Isabella shoved the brothers to the ground and shielded them before they all collectively realized they weren't dead yet.
Phineas poked his head out from under Isabella and raised an eyebrow. "That was no ordinary meteorite. I think what we just saw was a portal."
Ferb threw Isabella off of him, putting her almost entirely on Phineas, who waited for her to get up off of him patiently. She dusted herself off and blushed furiously. Phineas snickered. "That was noble of you."
Ferb motioned the two over as he inspected the meteorite. It was dimly glowing multiple colors in a cycle. He circled his finger around the texture of the rock.
"You're right, Ferb. That's not an element I've seen before, either." Phineas knelt down to inspect it. "That's definitely organic, though. No noise from a power source or anything. Naturally occurring light shows... Neat." He and Isabella looked back up at where the flash had appeared.
"As soon as we make sure everyone's safe in there, we need to get up there." Isabella crossed her arms.
Joseph Garcia-Shapiro and the Fireside Girls were doing a bang-up job of making sure everyone was safe in there. The initial panic of the bizarre new atmosphere combined with the nervous confusion of the fainting bride had made for a chaotic social stew. Cursing his rotten luck, he stood up on top of a chair and looked over the chattering crowd sternly. The Flynn-Fletcher's pet platypus was also present, for some reason, and the Fireside Girls were eyeballing him.
"QUIET!"
Addyson's shout was so loud, so abrupt, so sharp, and so authoritative that the entire room had no choice but to face her. Joseph let out a huff. He was gonna be the guy that shouted 'QUIET!'. Addyson motioned towards the chair, as if to indicate Mr. Garcia-Shapiro, who quickly tightened his tie and prepared to speak...
"Everybody just calm down! Phineas and Ferb probably know what's going on." She assured the room. The kids seemed satisfied with her assertion, but the adults in the room were mostly confused. Mr. Garcia-Shapiro could be more accurately described as 'frustrated'.
Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella happened to saunter through the door seconds after. All eyes were on them as they looked around the room, growing aware of the increased attention that was on them. Phineas held up the small meteor in his hand. "This fell outta the sky!"
"Leapin' Lizards, boy! Get that thing away from us!" Joe recoiled in his chair, tipping it over and falling over. He scrambled to his feet, grabbed the meteor out of the surprised boy's hand, and promptly threw it out the window at fastball velocity. The glass shattered and made a mess on the floor.
A few more seconds of awkward silence washed over the crowd as Phineas grasped at the rock that was no longer there. "It was just a weird rock, Mr. Garcia-Shapiro." He raised his hands to the crowd. "Now, it's my assessment that everyone is apparently waiting for us to make a statement on recent events?"
The crowd murmured amongst themselves before they all nodded in the trio's general direction.
"Why exactly?" Linda whispered in the back.
"Well, frankly..." Phineas started. He pointed up at the wispy moon. "The sky's looking different, something from another dimension crossed over through a portal in that sky, we now remember that Perry is a secret agent, and we can't make heads or tails of what else changed."
Ferb nudged his brother and motioned to his phone. "Springing Salamanders!" Phineas exclaimed. He took a closer look at the phone, fiddling with it a bit. Isabella leaned in and gasped in shock.
"Airborne Aligators!" Isabella exclaimed, taking the invisible award for 'strangest exclamation'. "Uh... the GPS says we're not on earth." She gave Phineas a concerned look.
"And the internet isn't connecting to any servers, in spite of the Tri-State network being alright."
The three whispered amongst themselves as the onlookers resumed panicking, albeit in a polite, quiet fashion.
"Wait a second, why are Phineas and Ferb the authority on crazy happenings?" Linda asked Addyson.
"Well, we've seen more crazy happenings than anyone else. They went to space, they fought those robots, they escaped the ripped fabric of time..."
Addyson was listing off achievement after achievement. Linda began to hyperventilate. This was certainly no time to be using the kids' absurdly overactive imaginations, unless...
She believed that it happened.
Linda stiffly walked over to the boys and leaned down to check on them. Ferb looked up at her and tapped Phineas' shoulder. Phineas quickly joined his brother. "What's up, mom?"
"Why aren't you panicking?"
"Well, gee, I didn't think that would help. We were actually just going to go for a drive to see if anything unusual is happening around town."
"This is ALREADY unusual, Phineas! It's probably not safe out there! Whatever's happening!"
"It's not really that 'unusual' by our metrics, so we figured we could probably handle it together." Phineas matter-of-fact mannerisms and his earnest grin only further exasperated his mother.
"You mean this is the kind of- Candace is- it's- you-"
"Are you alright, Mom?" Phineas accepted a cup of water from Ferb, and gave it to his mother. "We'll be fine! Doesn't Candace tell you that we do this kind of thing regularly?" Linda couldn't force anymore sentences out of her mouth. She just stood there, mouth agape. Phineas and Ferb motioned to Buford and Baljeet, who quickly joined the trio as they hopped into Ferb's car. Phineas pointed playful little finger guns at his mom. "Perry will get you home safe! We'll be back in time for dinner!" The quintet (it's a word) sped off, leaving Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher in the dust.
"B-B-B-B-But..." She stammered. "Perry?" Perry, on his hind legs, simply shrugged.
"I'm telling you, Vanessa! This is nothing that I've seen before! And I've seen... a good many... things!" Heinz was on the roof of the church, ranting and raving to his daughter, who, though accompanying him, was barely paying attention. She watched as Ferb and the gang sped off. She sighed discontentedly. Suddenly, her dad was squatted next to her, motioning out to the stars. "What I think we just saw was a miniature portal storm!"
She rolled her eyes. She had no clue what a 'portal storm' was, and she had no intention of finding out. Of course, her father was not about to let a teaching moment go to waste.
"You see, Vanessa, a portal storm is a theoretical event in which objects from random places are thrown about through portals, mimicking a storm. Hence the name."
"Random... portals?" She suddenly became deep in thought. She turned her face to Heinz'. "Dad, wasn't that thing you made with that kid... meant to make portals?"
Heinz scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I don't see why that's releva-" He stopped suddenly. "You think the kid did this?"
"Well, he did say something about 'remaking the universe' and 'killing us' so I think it's safe to assume Flint's got a hand in it." Vanessa shrugged.
"The nerve of that guy! I gave him a whole dramatic speech and everything just yesterday!" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed. He ducked under another rock that fell from the sky. "That makes three."
"To be fair, Dad, you are an awful public speaker."
"What? I'm charming! And charismatic!"
"I'm almost grateful this whole thing distracted everyone from how embarrassing your little speech was at the ceremony!"
"I was being brutally honest, Vanessa." Heinz inspected the rock. Glowy. He made a mental note of it. "You know what they say: If you don't have anything candid to say, say something else."
"Nobody says that!" Vanessa crossed her arms. A small vibration came from her pocket. She whipped out her phone and gasped slightly. "Oh, my gosh! Roger!"
"What, did one of these rocks hit him?" Doofenshmirtz hopefully smirked.
"No, he needs all hands on deck! There's panic in the streets!"
"Yeah, it's right over there." Heinz pointed in the direction of the Googolplex Mall, which had a few small fires lit at the entrance and a crowd of chanting people. "Oh, and there!" He pointed at City Hall, which was under siege from an equally angry but probably smarter group. "Our ride is gone, so we'll have to take the giant head."
Flint was rapidly pacing around the still unoccupied DEI, practically tearing his hair out in frustration. He stopped, took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, and promptly began to panic again. This had been going on for the last 30 minutes. Suzanne watched from the couch while she assessed their new situation.
"Hey, Phin. I know you're having a thing over there but do you mind explaining to me what you're having a thing over?" She stared at him from across the room. He met her gaze briefly and snapped his fingers as if trying to summon confidence.
"I- uh-" He sounded like he was choking with a dry mouth. "It's- You know? I might have kinda- destroyed a dimension."
"Again?"
"A-a-a-gai..." He couldn't even get the words out as he collapsed. Suzanne hopped over the couch, grabbed a bottle of water, and poured it on his face. She slapped him back into his senses and he rubbed his cheeks. "Thank you for that."
"Any time." She stood up and clasped her hands together before making a pointed, matter-of-fact gesture. "So here's why that logic doesn't track."
"It doesn't?"
"Yeah. We're not dead yet. Or floating in the dimensional void. When you blew up 164, Gretch and I were close enough that we got sucked into the dimensional matrix with you. It's just that we followed you by manually navigating the matrix, and while it wasn't long for us, it took weeks over there."
She motioned at the sky. "See that? It's NOT the dimensional matrix. So no, you haven't doomed us all. In fact, this is an opportunity."
"I-it is!" Flint caught on to his partner's logic. He dug around in the junk drawer until he produced a telescope. "If it's not the matrix, like you say, it is." Flint was quick to remind Suzanne that he had never seen the matrix. The dimensional matrix was a theoretical realm Flint envisioned that contained a 3D graph matrix of all accessible realities. This meant that on top of going in a circle, there were separate lines along those circle points that contained their own circles of reality. It could be summed up as moving across the Y axis of dimensions, which is why it was called a matrix.
"The dimensional matrix isn't nearly this pretty, either." Suzanne sat on the ledge of the building as she looked out at the painted hues above her. Flint brought up his telescope and looked out at the horizon. He turned to his partner with a fiery grin.
"Just as I thought."
"You mean, I thought?"
"An EDGE!" Baljeet's horror overtook him as he looked over the boundary between Danville and a bottomless void. "Danville has an EDGE!"
"The Tri-State Area has an edge." Buford corrected. He spat a chunk of saliva down towards the dark hole. It seemed to be pulled to an area underneath the city rather than directly down. "Gravity's even a bit screwy."
"I'm with Baljeet on this one." Isabella said from the car. "That's definitely freaky."
Buford shrugged. "Usually my first thought when I see a ledge is how my spit's gonna react to it. Now that that's done..." He shrieked in horror and pointed down at the pitch-blackness. "HOLY COW! THE EDGE OF THE WORLD!"
Ferb searched his pockets, but sighed as he was unable to find a measuring tape that reached far enough to see how far down the hole went. Phineas threw a pebble. "When we hear this thing hit the ground, we'll know how deep the pit is."
The five teenagers waited in absolute silence for a minute.
"O-or not." Phineas nervously admitted. "Obviously this place that Danville-"
"The Tri-State Area."
"- Same difference, Buford. Obviously this place that Danville's in isn't governed by the laws of physics as we know them."
"Fascinating, professor." Ferb quipped.
"Yeah, that much is obvious. I don't know whether to be scared, excited, terrified, thrilled, optimistic, pessimistic, or any other number of descriptors! There's so much to do now- it's crazy!"
"First," Isabella got up out of her seat and stood up. "We ought to set up barriers around town to make sure no moron goes careening off the edge of the world." She jumped off the seat and promptly began to pile some rocks by the ledge. Ferb tried not to be bothered, but it was the original manufacturer's leather.
"Alright. Isabella, let's round up the Fireside Girls and get started. Ferb and I are gonna go to the Mayor's office, to offer aid."
"And what are we supposed to do?" Buford asked.
Phineas shrugged. "Stick with Isabella. If there's anything unexpected or dangerous, take care of it." He beamed. "Hop in, guys! We'll drop you at the First Baptist!"
Isabella frowned slightly, but nonetheless sat in the back between Buford and Baljeet.
Vanessa and Heinz arrived at City Hall just as the panicked crowd was reaching pitchfork-and-torch levels of riotousness. The giant head they came in on created a part in the crowd as people really didn't know what to make of it and felt the need to get away from it. It landed slowly, right at the base of the city.
"Hey, wait a second, weren't that kid and that girl up at the penthouse? How come there was no one there when we got the head?"
Flint and Suzanne hastily threw a tarp over their machinery and dove behind the couch as they heard the doorknob rattle. Pinning themselves to the ground, they tensely listened for any sign that they were found out.
"Well, here we are in Doofenshmirtz Engineering Incorporated penthouse suite!"
The two heard machinery rattle and creak.
"And here's the giant flying head on which we will fly to City Hall!"
"Okay, Dad, but why announce it?"
"Good point."
They heard the clatter of feet and an engine roaring to life. The head shot off the balcony in the direction of City Hall.
"Are they gone?" Flint asked.
"No, genius, their ship took off without them." Suzanne hotly glared at him as she thunked him on the forehead.
"Alright, alright. Jeez." Flint rubbed his wound tenderly.
"Well, we didn't see anyone there in the 10 seconds that we were there, so what reason do we have to suspect that they were?" Heinz asked. "I know if I destroyed the fabric of space I would try to get outta dodge."
Vanessa shrugged and refocused her attention on shoving her way into City Hall, her father in tow. She tumbled through the front door, where the few on-duty cops were trying their best to hold the crowd at bay. The secretary on duty was cowering behind her desk as Vanessa slammed her hands on the counter. "Where's Uncle Roger?" The frightened woman pointed a shaky finger in the direction of his office. Heinz stumbled in clumsily after, hot on her trail.
Vanessa raced up the stairs to the mayor's office and tried the door. It was locked. She fiddled with the handle a bit before beating on the frame rapidly. "It's Vanessa! Roger, let me in!"
There was silence on the other end of the door for a few seconds. A nervous, twitching turn later, the door creaked open slowly. Roger peeked in from the gap. "Vanessa? Oh, thank goodness you're here!" He let them in, only after the fact noticing Heinz was following her closely. "Heinz." He barely acknowledged his brother as he slipped through the door quickly. The three stood in silence for a moment. "So... did you guys bring me a solution to my problem..?"
Vanessa rubbed the back of her head. "I realize we didn't actually think this far ahead." She looked over at her father. "You got any ideas, Dad?"
Heinz shrugged. "In all honesty, the idea of your own constituents being the ones to burn down City Hall and oust you from power is an appealing irony." He remembered that he was supposed to be a good guy now, and joined his daughter in back-or-head rubbing. "So I also didn't think of anything."
It was at this moment that another set of people managed to burst into City Hall. They clambered up to the mayor's office and set themselves in front of the mayor's desk.
"Mayor Doofenshmirtz! I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what's going on right now!" Phineas saluted the mayor. Ferb put Phineas' hand down. You don't salute the mayor.
"Yes. Yes I do." Roger feebly put his head down on his desk, resting his hands on his scalp. "This is the angriest I've ever seen Danville! They demand action, but I haven't a clue what's going on!"
"That's just the thing, sir. It's simple." Phineas made a large sweeping motion out towards the sky. "Danville has somehow been relocated into a void between dimensions."
"That doesn't sound simple at all." Vanessa intoned.
"He means Danville isn't connected to the rest of the planet, somehow. We can't leave, we can't get help, and the world now has an edge." Ferb responded.
"See, that makes a little more sense," Vanessa huffed, "But why are we all still alive? Why do we still have oxygen?"
"Or an atmosphere, for that matter? Gravity? Electricity? Running water?" Heinz lumped a further few questions on the boys.
"We... don't know, yet. We're actually trying to find the guy that caused all this, because he might. I can tell you that Danville's local power grid will stay up for as long as the dam is running, which will keep running until all the water falls of the edge of the world, which is a very frightening prospect." Phineas paced back and forth in front of the desk.
"So we have time?" Roger squeaked, nervously.
"Quite the opposite, Mr. Mayor. We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to need parts for the machines, which will require... funding." Phineas finished, tactfully.
"I'm afraid I can't just relocate city funds for this. After all, what about the mid-summer fair, and the meatloaf cookoff, and the Mexican-Jewish cultural festival?"
Everyone stared at him blankly until they realized he wasn't joking. Phineas took a deep breath inward, and composed himself. "Roger- Can I call you Roger?"
Roger didn't have time to respond. Phineas snapped a finger as he regained his focus.
"What you have on your hands is a city in chaos, in dire need of some brilliantly engineered technology. Ferb and I can handle that, and we'll handle it at no cost to you... except for the materials required. This is higher priority than a fair, a cookoff, or a... festival."
Phineas slammed his hands onto Roger's desk violently. Roger leaped back in his seat. "It's just- the budget is the budget. Take a collection from the crowd if you need to! The city needs it's funds!"
"T-that's ridiculous! We need parts NOW, Roger. Get over your idea of what government was two hours ago! We have to take an initiative before the people out there start behaving like animals!"
"A-alright, boys. I'll call a meeting for as soon as possible with the city council, we should be getting this ball rolling in a day or two." Roger recomposed himself and pulled out a phone book, handing it to Vanessa. "Vanessa, can you be a dear and take down the names and numbers of the city council members? No pressure, it's just that we could all die in a violent coup."
Vanessa rolled her eyes. Phineas angrily stormed out of the room, muttering something about bureaucracy. "You look at that and tell me you wanna be President," He whispered at his brother. "Sheesh!" Ferb had no response. Government was, for the time being, not the savior of Danville. Phineas perked up slightly. "We could try to take a collection, though! Think about it! An appeal to the basic good in human nature!"
The Flynn-Fletcher family rode home in silence. Perry sat in the back, buckled up beside a shaken Candace. Linda stared at him awkwardly through the rear-view mirror. Lawrence exhaled a large breath and cleared his throat.
"So, uh, Perry. How long have you been a secret agent?"
Perry chattered.
"Oh, I suppose you can't speak, so we would have to ask... yes or no questions."
Perry nodded 'yes'.
Candace piped up in the back. "First off, Perry couldn't tell you he was an agent because we're his cover, BUT-" She paused, collecting her thoughts. "-He does care about our family dearly. Actually saved a whole alternate dimension with the boys' help."
Linda muttered something under her breath. Candace, once again, was shocked at how unsatisfying this whole thing had been for her.
Perry affectionately chattered at Candace as he put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. It was really weird, because his hand felt a bit wet, and his smile was a bit inhuman. Nonetheless, it served as a comforting guesture.
Meanwhile the appeal to human nature wasn't working. Human nature was, at the moment, panic, broken glass, car alarms, and fire. Phineas looked down at the crowd, dismayed. He hadn't even been able to get their attention with the megaphone. Suddenly, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet met him on the stairs.
"Isabella! Buford! Baljeet! Boy, you sure are a sight for sore eyes!"
"Phineas, it has been, like, 45 minutes." Baljeet managed to gasp out. His leg still wasn't perfect, so he was tired.
"He was saying he missed us!" Isabella shot at Baljeet. Buford rolled his eyes.
"Barriers are set up all around the city, Dinnerbell. The ladies are finishing up the last of it. How'd it go with Mayor Doofenshmirtz?" Buford asked.
"We're voting him out next term if we can swing it." Ferb answered. The gang looked down dejectedly.
"If only Danville had a leader that was any good at, you know, leading." Isabella glared up at the window in the mayor's office.
"Like you, perhaps." Phineas rubbed his chin. "But you aren't old enough to be elected."
"Yeah, yeah. Chapter 4. One of my favorites." Buford cut him off. "So how are we gonna build... whatever it is we're gonna build?"
"The first idea was a way to keep the water from falling off the edge, but it's gonna have to wait. We'll just have to fill it up from bottled water once we get it up and rolling." Phineas was still thinking through his potential options. "Today was supposed to be perfect, and it was, to a point..." He made a strangling motion with his hands.
"Aw, that's too bad, Phineas." Buford sarcastically chided. "Should we change your diaper and make you dinner, too? Should we put you to bed? Tuck you in really tight? Like the burrito fold?" Isabella elbowed him violently, but he shrugged it off with a glare.
Phineas understood that what Buford meant was 'Man up and get it together,' but still, the idea of a burrito-fold-tuck sounded really good right now. "I guess we could draw up detailed plans tonight, Ferb." Ferb gave him a thumbs up and produced a clipboard and pencil, scribbling rapidly. Phineas' eye twitched slightly.
As the gang started to head to their homes, Buford and Baljeet split off from the other three as they went in the direction of their own houses. Baljeet rubbed the back of his head. "So, today was... eventful."
"If you're wanting to talk feely crud, nerd, stow it."
"No! Not at all! It is just... strange that we are heading turning in having not solved the problem."
"You're right, Jeet."
"And..."
"And..?"
"Maybe, I figured, if we are in such a unique situation, with so much stress and duty placed upon us, maybe we could adjust the workout schedule?"
Buford laughed heartily and slapped his friend on the back. "Oh, no way, dude. I'm not letting you off the hook just because we're in a horrifying worst-case scenario. 8:30AM tomorrow."
"Ah, okay..." Baljeet muttered.
Buford waved goodbye as Baljeet approached his own front door with a knock. His parents welcomed him in quickly, and he waved to Buford just as they slammed the door shut.
"Jeez, he wants that Ginger girl's attention, but he doesn't want to put the work in. What am I gonna do with that kid?" Buford asked no one in particular as he walked off into the night, towards the safety of his own home.
Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella were tired and battered from their day out. Phineas couldn't help but glance up at the sky and wonder about the nature of their new circumstances. "It's like a dream. This whole scenario is so... Bizarre." His observations served as a nice distraction from Isabella's hand in his. His nerves were going crazy in two entirely different ways.
"Nightmare is more like it," Ferb suggested. "We're going to have to get this fixed as soon as possible."
"And I'll bet Perry will be a good asset in our hunt for the fugitives." Phineas rubbed his hands together. "So we should have this, uh, in the bag, so to speak." There was a slight shake to his mannerisms, and both of his companions noted it.
The three approached the Flynn-Fletcher's front door and Ferb let out an exaggerated yawn. Slumping his shoulders, he waved the two of them off, sluggishly opening the door and slipping into the living room.
Phineas faced Isabella and gulped. He had a good time. She had a good time. They were now aware of how the other felt. So why was it so hard for him to speak? "I-Isabella. It was, uh, most of the day was fun."
Isabella giggled nervously. "It's alright, Phineas. You'll figure this whole thing out. There's no need to worry."
But I am worried. Phineas' mouth dried up a smidge. "I'd better get you back home. Your parents are probably worried sick."
Isabella raised a hand to her mouth as she let out a small gasp. "Right! Omigosh!" The two walked across the street to the Garcia-Shapiro's front door. Phineas rapped on the door, hearing shuffling behind the door.
"Isa!" Vivian opened the door quickly. She smiled at Phineas. "Thank you for getting her home, Phineas. And... I guess the fact that you're actually some kind of genius is fortuitous considering the situation. It seems we're going to be counting on you!"
They're all counting on me.
They're all counting on ME.
THEY'RE ALL COUNTING-
Phineas' thoughts were interrupted by a quick peck on the cheek from Isabella, and they didn't start up again for some time. Isabella smirked at him. "Now the shoe's on the other foot, I guess. G'night, Phin." She waited a moment. Phineas sheepishly rubbed his neck. She shut the door, sinking to the floor against it. She could barely suppress the heat in her cheeks. Isabella exhaled a breath in satisfaction.
Outside, Phineas blinked. I guess it's not all that bad. He hopped off the front porch and walked in the direction of his own. As soon as he cleared the awning above him, he felt a drop of water on his head. He looked down at his wet sneakers. A puddle.
Phineas held out his hands and gazed up at the sky, which was becoming a swirling mass of flowing, painted whirlpools. "Wow. And the water issue isn't gonna be too bad, either." Suddenly, a metal rod landed next to his feet, slamming ground and splashing water up at Phineas. Fear shook through his body as he took a closer look.
The sky was spitting out THINGS.
All sorts of things. From what he could identify, they were mostly rocks, plants, and metal chunks, but he could also see the odd machine, like a fridge or a classic car. Realizing that he was in mortal danger, he sprinted to his front door as fast as possible. I guess it is all that bad after all.
"PANIC ROOM!" He yelled. Lights turned on around the house. A sleepy Lawrence stumbled out of the bedroom. Perry was already up, having been on the communicator with Francis Monogram before bed. He seemed worried about the consequences of blowing his cover.
"Ah, Phineas! You and Ferb got home safe?" Lawrence rubbed his eyes as Phineas clasped his shoulders.
"None of us are safe! It's raining... STUFF! Metal! Dirt!" Phineas shook his dad awake. "Get Mom! Get Candace! Get Ferb! PANIC ROOM!"
The stuff made impact with the roof of the house. The hard patter sounded almost like the impact of bullets. Phineas looked out across the street.
Lawrence put his hand on Phineas' shoulder. "Woah, son. I think I know what you're thinking." Perry chattered, echoing Lawrence's concerns.
"Then you know you aren't gonna stop me." Phineas' left eye twitched suddenly. He took a deep breath in and sprinted across the street in the pouring rain, narrowly dodging a canoe that had fallen from the sky. Tumbling across Isabella's front yard, he jumped into the air and drop-kicked the front door.
The door bust open explosively. Phineas got up off the ground, scrambling to his feet. Isabella and Vivian reeled back in fear at his sudden appearance. "I know I look like a maniac right now, but that sound you're hearing outside is stuff falling from the sky! Your house isn't safe!"
Joseph fell down the stairs, crashing through the railing. "Phineas!" He rubbed his head as he slowly got back on his feet. "What is the meaning of this?"
"No time! Get to your..." Phineas speech slowed. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You guys have a basement, right?"
"Yes. Yes we do." Isabella's mother clung tightly to her as she tried to speak. "Couldn't you have called instead of smashing through our door?"
As if to answer, an unknown object made a thunderous sound as it made impact with the roof. Everyone's eyes widened as they heard wood displaced, falling all over the attic. Joseph quickly ran to the basement, opening the metal blast doors. "I guess it does pay to be paranoid."
"The blast door certainly cost enough." Isabella muttered.
Phineas tugged Vivian, who appeared paralyzed, off of the couch. Isabella quickly came to his aid as the two picked her up and hurried off to the basement. Joseph motioned them in and followed, shutting the door behind them. The lights cut out, and Phineas lit up his cell phone to see in the dark. They were in the room formerly belonging to Flint. The staircase was very deep, so they ended up some way beneath the ground.
"We have about, eh, 6 feet of foundation between us and the storm." Joseph assured everyone. "And most of this stuff isn't huge, right? This should be more than enough."
"Let's hope so." Phineas' eyes darted around the room as he rustled through his other self's belongings. "Looks like Flint left some of his old things here." Phineas touched a small orb he found in a backpack, and it began to glow, illuminating the room.
Isabella set her mother down and took stock of the closet. "Looks like we have a sleeping bag. Mom, Dad, do you think you could fit on the guest bed?"
"I suppose." Joseph glanced up at the stairwell on and off.
Phineas unfurled the sleeping bag and set it on the floor. "You take this one, Isabella."
Isabella grinned at him and leaned forward cutely. "You know, it looks like there are only two spots to sleep here tonight."
Phineas was already sweating from exertion, but he gulped all the same. "Floor. I'll do floor."
"Good answer." Joe glared at his daughter. She let out a little chuckle and got a pillow out of the closet.
"C'mon, I was just kidding." Isabella handed Phineas the pillow. "You take the pillow, then."
Phineas laughed. "Well, gee, if I'm stuck here..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I really didn't think this through."
"I don't see how you two can banter when the atomic bomb is going off outside. We have no idea how long this thing's gonna last. We could all just-" Joseph glanced over at his shaken wife, who was curled up in the bed. "-die." He whispered, angrily. Isabella glared at him, as it was no where near quiet enough that Vivian didn't hear.
The odd quartet tried their best to sleep with the intense noise above their heads. Phineas set his pillow next to Isabella's head so he could attempt to share it, an idea she did not object to. Isabella had the best time of it, and Phineas was drifting off to sleep, but the adults in the bed were ironically having the least comfortable time.
Heinz Doofenshmirtz was in awe of the storm, having placed himself on the City Hall balcony. His long-suffering daughter was stared at him with some worry as he cackled in the rain.
"This is brilliant!" He glanced back into the mayor's office, where Roger was cowering and Vanessa was glaring at him with a frown. "I- I don't mean the destruction, it's just- look! The sheer insanity of it! It's like a rainstorm, I've just gotta be out here for it!"
Green portals flashed in the sky as they deposited debris all over the Tri-State Area. Heinz jumped back as a toilet suddenly landed by his foot. "On second thought, maybe inside is good."
He slipped back into the mayor's office, where Vanessa had only just begun tracking down numbers of the city council and the contractors necessary to get a reservoir solution in place. He sighed heavily, grabbed another phonebook, and leaned up against the wall. "This is a pretty tough roof, so we should be good for a while. Vanessa, I'm going to start at the names with N, alright?" He got out a small notebook and began to take down some numbers himself, cross-referencing it with several parts dealerships. It wasn't long before they were done.
It was about 20 minutes before the pattering stopped. Phineas opened one eye. He got up and looked over at Isabella, who was, surprisingly, sound asleep. The two of them smelled like garbage after the hard day they had just endured, but having her close was oddly comforting to him. He looked over at her parents. Mr. Garcia-Shapiro was already sitting up in bed, having also caught on.
"Welp, Phineas, thanks for your help and all, but now that it looks like you won't die out there..." He started.
Phineas raised his hands to stop him and walked up the stairs, stopping to move his pillow under Isabella's head. "Say no more, Mr. Garcia-Shapiro. I need to make sure the others are alright, anyways."
He tried to open the basement doors, but they wouldn't budge. He pushed with all of his strength, and they simply would not open. He tiptoed back down the stairs, earning a glare from Joseph.
"Bad news. I'm shut in." Phineas shrugged. He looked down at Isabella and realized that he had given her full ownership of the only pillow he had. The two men huffed in frustration, and Phineas awkwardly positioned himself on the floor, putting his hands over his stomach.
A blanket suddenly fell over his upper body. He sat up and glanced over at Joseph. Joseph shrugged as he pulled the sheet over him and his wife. "Considering circumstances, you did good today, kid. Better than I ever expected. You earned it."
Phineas nodded and folded the comforter over itself to form a pillow and wrapped himself in the rest of it.
Burrito-style.
Flint and Suzanne had no idea what was going on outside. They had found themselves a nice new hiding spot, and it was far, far underground. It wasn't much, but they had new equipment they had procured during the riots as well as nice, soft air mattresses. Suzanne insisted they acquire two mattresses, much to her boyfriend's chagrin. He sighed contentedly as he looked over at his roommate.
"Knock it out of the park tomorrow, bud. You'll get us home." He whispered to himself. Suzanne stifled a laugh. "Oh, you were still awake?"
"To hear that, I'm glad I was." She turned over and adjusted her covers. "Dork."
Buford, Baljeet, and their families had gathered in the Van Stomm panic room.
"Why do you have a panic room beneath 10 feet of reinforced steel?" Baljeet finally worked up the courage to ask.
"Nuclear bomb." Buford responded, without missing a beat.
A/N: Ooh! I'm excited now. This idea kind of solidified in my head around chapter 5 or 6 in part 1, and I'm very happy to finally be writing it. Thanks for all the traffic around this fic! As I predicted, CATU kinda brought us some really cool new fics and writers. If y'all are looking for some good fluff, I cannot recommend Frostwinghatchling's "Passing Notes" enough. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, and a few have even influenced the direction of my writing in a positive way. It's very helpful as a first time fic writer.
Next Time:
Drusselsteinian Dynamite
The neighborhood bands together! Bureaucracy gets in the way! A new threat emerges!