Chapter 3
It was still day time, an hour since the gang came back home from their confrontation with the small triangle-headed boy. The green-haired Brit decided to continue the day, pretending like nothing happened and what he said to his brother an hour before, and spend it with his friends to do something fun. Of course, the rest had been with Ferb long enough to tell that he was upset. His facial expression was generally blank but he had a different stare that he usually carried.
His eyes read depression.
It was still in the early afternoon when Candace busted through the door, asking what they were doing. When they responded that they were just playing a board game, Skiddley Whiffers, she decided to join them so they could be busted. Of course, she asked where her biological brother was but they just replied that he was at his friend's place. She knew something was up.
She could feel the tension.
It was still bright out when they heard police sirens in a distance. It was hard to believe that they heard it, so they thought they were imagining. Barley any crimes happen, especially in the suburbs. They then heard some people from the backyard next to them that the police were out searching the area, someone was wanted. Once again, it confused them since there were barely any crimes in the suburbs. Maybe in the main city but not where they live, so it made them a little nervous.
They could almost feel the fear.
It was still warm and happy when Phineas busted in through the fence gate, sweating more than any animal they know, and force the door closed. He pressed his body against the door and squeezed his eyes shut. A police siren slowly came closer until it passed them completely and fade out in the distance. That's when the boy in the white and orange striped shirt sank to the ground in relief and exhaustion. The entire group was extremely confused, but by how the boy reacted when the cop car passed by, they could only imagine one thing.
Phineas was running from the police.
"Phineas, are you okay?" Isabella asked, getting up from her position and kneeling beside the boy, making sure he was fine since the others were frozen with shock.
The boy nodded. "Y-Yeah… just… a little… tired," he wheezed between large breaths. Once he managed to get his breathing under control, he just banged his head against the wood, eyes still closed. "I messed up, bad."
"What did you do so I could bust you to mom?" Candace stood up, as well as the others, and walked over to him. At the mention of the mother, Phineas' eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet.
"No, you can't tell mom," he whispered, looking at all of them with pleading eyes and frantic gestures. "I don't know how she will react when she knows that her son is wanted by the police, but I know it won't go well."
"Why are you wanted from them?" Baljeet questioned, none of them seeing the boy in front of them as a criminal. Phineas sighed and took out something from his pockets and showed it to them. "Their rings. Did you steal them?"
"Wha- no!" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Dr.D and I built them. They are rings that give you superpowers for a short time. It shoots a small amount of genetically modified cells into your bloodstream, the main component to get your powers. For example, if you want to fly then you could but only for about ten minutes, then you have to wait for those cells in your blood to recharge its source, which might take twenty minutes, so you could use it again."
"Why would the police be after you then?" Buford asked next.
"Because I may or may not have used illegal chemicals to do this…," he trailed off, not looking at them in the eyes.
"Why would you make them then?!" Isabella scolded, which she never would have thought it would happen, especially to her crush. The boy still holding the rings shrunk back a little, not because of the outburst but the reason he built the invention.
"I built them so you guys wouldn't be mad at me if I gave it to you," he whispered, not making eye contact. Buford immediately grabbed two of them, for him and his nerd, so they could play. He then ran off with 'you're forgiven'. Baljeet immediately chased him deeper into the backyard. The other three carefully took the rings from the boy's hand, to which he dropped when it was empty, and placed it on their fingers. They didn't test it out, just continued to stare at the boy.
'I'll let you guys work this out' Candace eyed the two kids, then walked to where the other two were. Ferb sent a look to Isabella, making her reluctantly leave the two alone. The Brit didn't notice that the boy was back against the door and on the floor, arms covered his face that was on top of his knees. Ferb just sat next to the boy and didn't do anything.
"I'm sorry," Phineas croaked, making the boy assumed he was on the verge of tears. Ferb didn't do anything for a while, upsetting to the slightly younger boy more. He knew his brother hated him. At least, that was his thought until his said brother wrap him into a hug. Phineas returned it nonetheless, letting a few tears escape and stain the other's shirt a little.
"I should be the one that's sorry, not you," Ferb's British accent rang in Phineas' ear. "I shouldn't have reacted like that but… I was just worried."
Phineas could have sworn that he felt a drop or two of water on his back. Maybe rain? But he didn't feel anything else. Weird.
"No, no it's my fault, let me take the blame," the boy declined, pulling apart from the other.
Ferb shook his head.
Phineas nodded.
Ferb shook his head.
Phineas nodded.
"It's my fault, not yours!" They both suddenly exclaimed. There was a beat of silence. The two kids suddenly grinned at each other, then laughed. They were good, the two could tell. The pair of brothers turned when they were called over by the rest of their friends and sister, which they did.
"Phineas, these are awesome!" Isabella squealed. Looking at her purple ring. She waved a finger to the ground and a flower bloomed, making her squeal again.
"Girly's right!" Buford agreed, taping his black ring. He fisted the ground, making a little rumble and small pebbles flew up a bit.
"I am having so much fun with mine!" Baljeet laughed, his blue ring wedged perfectly on his finger. He waved his hand in front of the bully, somehow making him wedgie himself. Buford glared, not having control over his body, making the small boy sheepishly let go of him.
"I would totally be busting you with this… but it's kind of cool," Candace mumbled, her red ring shining bright on her finger. She raised her finger, managing to pluck the flower from the ground and give it to her other hand.
"Well, I guess it's our turn Ferb!" Phineas grinned, pulling out the grey ring of his own. Together, he and Ferb slipped on their rings, which changed to their respectable colors. Phineas went first and, with his orange ring, he raised his hands and a larger version of his dinosaur from earlier appeared. It was solid but more like an orange outline, sort of see-through. "Cool."
Ferb looked down at his green ring and raised his hand, a sudden work table with tools covered it. "Looks like I can create solid holographic projections."
The sirens came by again, making Phineas tense. The group looked at the gate and him but when the sirens finally died down in the distance, the boy let out his breath he didn't know he held.
"What am I going to do?" He mumbled, covering his face and slowly falling to the grass, the others just sat and watched him struggle. "I'll just do the good thing and… turn myself in? Nope. Bad idea. Ugh... I should have just left the projects when Dr.D said he didn't have any permits. Ugh, I'm so~ stupid...You know what? Yeah, I will turn myself in! Yup, going to juvenile hall for the rest of the summer and perhaps more. Oh gosh, I'm so dead when mom and dad find out. Might as well tell them now, it'll be faster so they could turn me in faster or ground me or disown me on the spot. That option might be better. I wonder if adoption centers like juveniles-"
The group exchanged glances. They had never seen the optimistic boy so negative and careless. It was quite uncomfortable to watch the kid ramble to himself. It was like seeing the literal hope of having a good life leak out of him. Having enough, Ferb rolled his eyes and turned to Phineas. Not thinking any thoughts, he grabbed the boy's shirt, making him widen his eyes and move his arm out of the way.
But what they didn't expect Ferb to do was to slap Phineas.
"...Dude!" Phineas exclaimed, registering the slap and pulling a hand to his face. He glared at his brother. "What was that for?!"
"You were talking nonsense," he simply answered. Phineas rolled his eyes, hand still on his cheek. "You can't give up hope. I'm sure that everything will turn out good in the end."
At that moment, Phineas' phone started ringing. Confused, he answered it.
"Oh, hey Vanessa!" He cheerfully grinned, but the rest could tell it was strained. "Yup that's me!... Oh really?... Okay! Thanks… no, I'll figure something out… okay, thanks, bye." He hung up, grin still intact.
"I'm assuming it went well?" Isabella guessed, based on expression.
"Oh, nope. It actually got worse. I'm all over the news!" He exclaimed nonchalantly. "Yeah, they're searching for me and, most likely, the cops will be here in about two minutes."
"What?!" They all exclaimed. What freaked them out more was how calm the other was acting. Hearing sirens in the distance, Ferb went into overdrive. He clicked a special button of the tree, which opened a passageway. He gestured them all to quickly go down the tube, which they did, but he had to push Phineas inside. Once everyone was in, the door closed automatically. They had all landed on a mattress. They were in the Beak's secret hideout.
"When has this been here?" Candace demanded. Ferb just blinked at her and moved to the large computers that were in the corner. He looked at the live security footage that surrounded the house and saw the police arrive, he felt the others gather around him. The police knocked on the door but received no answer, so they busted through. The Flynn-Flecther parents were off to a week business trip, which they were thankful for. The less they know, the better. They see in different cameras the two policemen thoroughly search the house but come up with nothing. The group sighed in stress when the police left and drove off.
They turned to hear a small roar and saw Phineas laying on the floor, legs propped against the wall, watching a small dinosaur play with the giant outline of himself. They sighed once more, but longer. Now they had to fix the broken Phineas.
"Hey Phineas, whatcha doin'?" Isabella stepped forward, her cheer returning to her.
"Waiting for someone to arrest me," he morbidly said. The girl stepped back, cheer gone. "Don't you think it's interesting that one minute you happily play with your hologram dinosaur then the next minute your brother and friends barge into your business and tell you off but when you try to make it up to them, you managed to break at least three federal laws and get your friend get arrested? Funny isn't it?" He continued, with a smile.
What weirded them out was that they couldn't tell if he was joking.
"Er, how about we do something fun? Like challenge each other with our new powers?" Buford suggested.
"Yeah," the rest agreed. They turned to the boy again, only for him to shrug.
"Sure," he agreed, moving from his position and fully standing up. They nearly gasped when they saw the condition he was in. It was like all the positivity and everything they knew about the boy was completely gone, all was left was the shell. They lined up while Buford and Baljeet went up first.
The bully made the first move and hit the ground with force but the nerd managed to move out of the way in time. Baljeet quickly went and used his powers to stop Buford in his tracks and casually went over and tipped the boy over.
"Match goes to Baljeet," Isabella announced. Baljeet chuckled when he undid his damage, which he got a glare in return. The girl and teen stepped forward, since it was their turn in line. They waited a moment to prepare then began. Isabella somehow sprouted roots from the ground and made then charge at Candace. She used the same technique as the first and dodged then used her telekinetic powers to pick up a pole and wack the vines away, which worked. Unfortunately, that gave her too much of an opening which allowed Isabella to swoop in and tangle Candace in vines from behind her.
"Match goes to Isabella," Baljeet called. Phineas and Ferb were next, so they got into positions. Without waiting like the rest, the triangle headed boy went straight for the attack, sending his newly shaped hawk for a swoop. Ferb was able to create a solid holographic panel that saved from being pecked. He then created another thing, which was an automatic water balloon launcher, and aimed it at the bird. Phineas used his hands to make a swerved shape, changing the animal to a snake, which slithered past the machine. The boy made a fist, which changed the snake to a gorilla and smashed the hologram to pieces. When the creature to him, Ferb went out of the way before it charged and created a cage around it, then he turned to his brother.
"Lost your chance bro," Phineas remarked. Ferb, confused, saw a ginormous spider behind him and his cage broken. He was frozen in fear. The spider walked closer, making the boy shrink back and tightly close his eyes, waiting for his end.
But nothing happened.
Ferb opened his eyes to see that the spider disappeared, so he looked at his brother just to see him blankly stare at him then leave the room. The Brit looked incredulously at his brother's retreating back.
"What was that all about?" Candace asked from behind him. He didn't make a move to respond, only clenched his fists, and went after his brother. It was a different room, sort of like a bedroom, that had two beds, two desks, two computers, two lamps, and two drawers. He found the red-headed boy sitting on a desk that had a computer on it and he was typing madly away at it.
"What's wrong Phineas?" He began after a deep breath. The boy paused his typing for a second, then continued.
"Nothing's wrong," he answered with the same careless voice Ferb was hating at the moment. Ferb moved over to where the bed was and sat, not in front of the boy who didn't acknowledge he was there. Phineas kept typing and clicking away, making the Brit certain he was trying to find something important.
"Are you scared?" Ferb asked quietly. The boy paused again, glanced at him with the same blank eyes, then return to his task.
"No," he answered with a sterner attitude. But his mistake was that he scratched his ear in front of his brother, one key detail to see if he really is lying.
"I know you're scared, we all are, but you have to keep up hope. This will fix itself in the end, trust me. I'll be here with you until the end, remember?" The Brit told seriously. Phineas didn't pause this time but his typing became even more aggressive. Ferb sighed and got up from his position on the bed and, with one last look, he left the room. Phineas glared at nothing at particular but he was mad at himself, he shouldn't be so stubborn when everyone is trying to help him. He sighed, knowing he messed up AGAIN, then continued with his plan.
It soon turned to night and their friends all had left. Candace went back to the house to sleep there while Ferb and Phineas slept in the nest, or the bunker of the Beak. After an hour or so, Phineas made sure that his brother was asleep when he snuck out of the room and left the bunker, off to his designated area. Unfortunately for him, Ferb was awake at that time and followed him out, being very careful not to give away his location. Finally, he was lead to the place where their situation began;
Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.
To be continued...