Warning: Off-screen building collapse and death.
There'd been an accident.
A building had collapsed downtown. A bakery.
Perry skidded to a halt in front of the rubble, searching frantically. Sirens were getting closer, but the sound was muffled.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He squinted. The dust was still settling.
A cough came from underneath a pile of rock.
"Perry the Platypus? What are you doing here?" his nemesis said weakly.
Perry rushed to his side, chittering anxiously. He was buried in concrete from the waist down and covered in cuts and bruises.
He attempted to lift a piece of debris off, barely managing to carry it. A sharp pain in his side let him know he was straining himself, but he ignored it. He pressed a button on the side of his watch and hoped that someone from OWCA would be there soon.
"Hey, would you grab my phone? I can't reach it," Heinz said. It had fallen a few feet away. "Thanks. Could...could you get Vanessa from the mall later? Charlene's getting her hair done or something. It's at four."
Perry nodded. His vision grew blurry.
He dialed a number as Perry kept working and sighed as it went to voicemail. He called twice more before whoever it was picked up.
"Hello, Vanessa. Yes, yes, I know. Don't worry, I won't embarrass you in front of your friends later. Actually, I...I don't think I'll be able to pick you up." His breathing sounded labored. "Perry the Platypus will. No, everything's alright. Just...something came up. Yes, that was all. Goodbye, Vanessa. I love you."
Heinz leaned against a piece of concrete and coughed.
Perry winced as he cut himself on an especially sharp piece of ceiling.
"What are you doing here, anyway?"
He paused for a moment, giving his nemesis a confused look. What did he think he was here for?
"You know, I'm not always doing evil. There was no need for you to- no?" He frowned as Perry shook his head, still attempting to free him from the rubble.
"Oh...oh, you...you came to check on me? I...thank you, Perry the Platypus."
Perry didn't look, but he sounded like he was trying to hold back tears.
"You know, I still don't get that genie thing."
He couldn't lift the debris.
"It's weird that there were ocelots in Drusselstein, isn't it?"
He had to lift it.
"Why is it called 'high school'? I've never understood that."
Where were the ambulances?
Heinz coughed. Perry could hear his breaths growing more ragged by the second.
"Hey, if I don't make it out of this-"
Perry growled, glaring at him. He was almost done and then he'd get him to a hospital. He'd be fine.
"Listen. If I don't make it out of this alive, I just wanted to say that I'm proud to have been your nemesis."
His shoulders shook as he fought to contain sobs. Tears spotted the ground below.
"It's okay, Perry the Platypus," Heinz said quietly.
He lifted the final piece off of him and winced. There was no way his legs weren't broken, not to mention all of his other injuries. His arms were titanium, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue, but...
Perry glanced toward the road desperately. The sirens and sounds of the city were muddled, like he was underwater.
He could try to find someone to help, but he didn't have his hovercar, and they wouldn't be able to understand.
He sat next to his nemesis, leaning against his side.
There was nothing he could do but wait.
"Curse you, Perry the Platypus," Heinz murmured. His eyes closed.
Perry stood frantically, putting a paw to his wrist. His heartbeat slowed.
His breath hitched and tears welled up in his eyes.
It stopped.