CHAPTER 2
The sun rose over the Tri-State Area, looking slightly drabber and duller than it had looked before. Danville was busy as usual, but people were still unconsciously looking over their shoulder as they went about their daily business, glancing at the vacant triple-headed building formerly housing Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. Nothing had happened in the last 8 1/2 years, but the memories of the Doof era still haunted the citizens of the Tri-State Area, especially so since no one had seen hide or hair of the Doofenshmirtz ex-rulers since they disappeared only 2 months after the downfall.
Along the outskirts of the suburbs, far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city so anybody who wanted to do so could live uninterrupted by the day-to-day events, was a seemingly-abandoned house falling into disrepair. However, a trapdoor in the pantry floor flew open, and a tall figure, slightly hunched over, emerged from the darkness surrounding the pantry and began to descend into the basement below.
The previous 8 1/2 years had not been kind to Doof or his family. They had been forced to live on the run for a good period of time, as they were the highest-profile targets of O.W.C.A. across all the dimensions. It was only a couple of years ago when they had managed to work their way back into the country and find a way to settle down in the Tri-State Area, as close as they dared to the city he used to rule. Thanks to the help of Vanessa's husband Tony Marzulo, who was the only one of them able to go undercover, they were able to find sustenance and materials needed to start building again.
However, here was where the biggest issue came in: the two months Doof spent in O.W.C.A.'s high-security cell with Choo-choo had dulled his once-feared inventive mind. Of course, while he had no need to make as many imprudently impressive or idiotically ingenious -inators as his counterpart from the first dimension, Doof was still able to create the Normbots and a few other evil inventions, which easily cemented his rule over the Tri-State Area. Now, it was almost all completely gone.
The basement in which Doof had entered was littered with of failed and broken attempts at building Normbots, with pieces of -inators interlaced among the strewn items along the floor. The few working -inators were lined up neatly along the far wall, and Doof absently ran his hand along them. Unfortunately, even with the help of his wife, as well as his daughter and her husband (evil man, Tony Marzulo, and very good for Vanessa), most of what they had been able to make had been essentially harmless, not able to assist them in retaking the Tri-State Area. Vanessa and Tony simply did not have the imagination required, and Charlene, well, she really worked best with some sort of biological base construct with which to experiment, but they had none. Doof had finally given up, realizing there was no way for them to re-create and mass-produce his beloved Normbots on their own.
While aimlessly pulling together mechanical parts from his workbench, Doof turned his head upward and yelled "Curse you, Perry the Platypus and owners from the other dimension!" It was a recurring phrase in his life. They, along with his doppelganger, had managed to deactivate all his Normbots and then give him Choo-choo, which caused him to destroy all his Normbots after turning soft. Of course, even after Charlene had freed him both physically and mentally, there was still no way to undo the destruction he had caused to his own efforts, and now with O.W.C.A. on high-alert for any sign of them, even Peter the Pandaborg, this was the situation into which they were forced.
Sighing, Doof let his thoughts wander as he continued to build, not really focusing on what he was creating but on the shortcomings he continued to endure, as the day continued to roll on. Acting almost completely on autopilot, it wasn't until he could faintly hear the Danville clock tower striking noon when Doof refocused on the now-completed machine sitting on the ground in front of him.
"Huh," remarked Doof. "This is a surprise, I don't think I've ever made something like this before." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a simple walkie-talkie. "Charlene, Vanessa, could one of you come down to supervise me as I test the usage of this new machine I apparently just built?"
Static echoed across the line for a couple seconds before Charlene replied "Roger, on my way." Doof shivered. Although he knew "Roger" was just ubiquitous classic radio-speak, it still brought about an acidic taste in his mouth, for completely unknown reasons. He had never met a Roger before, at least to his recollection, but Doof knew this feeling was due to someone named Roger.
Charlene opened the trapdoor and walked down, sighing as she walked over to Doof. "So, what have you made this time?"
"See, there's the issue, I don't really know." Doof scratched the back of his head. "I honestly don't even remember making the machine, but apparently I did, and according to the energy reader I installed here, it was even used once."
Charlene frowned. "OK, well, maybe you should try it again." Shrugging, Doof pulled out his remote control and pressed "activate". The machine turned from his position, pointed directly at Doof, and fired a white flash of light, causing him to fall down to the ground in front of an alarmed Charlene.
"Are you OK?" Charlene cried as Doof stood up almost immediately.
Doof glanced quizzically at Charlene. "Yes, why wouldn't I be? You just came down to help me test the machine."
"You just tested it, honey, and it hit you with a ray of some sort. It caused you to fall down to the ground!"
His eyes widened. "Really? I have no recollection at all. I only remember brooding all morning and asking you to come down to see this new machine, but according to my energy reader it's been used twice now."
Charlene bit her lip in puzzlement before her face lit up. "It must be a memory-erasing device! And, I must say, it seems to be working very well!"
"Oh, yeah, baby, I'm back!" Doof yelled, his glee apparent to his wife. "Now, all we need is a way to test it." He turned to Charlene, saw the evil glimmer in her eye, and smiled horrifically. "I assume you have a plan?"
"Well, I do, but we'll have to be careful," replied Charlene. "The more time we take, the better off we'll be. If we can wait even a year, the old Firestorm Girls and the other Resistance members will be off to college, probably elsewhere in the country, and we'd only have to deal with O.W.C.A."
Doof grimaced but nodded. "OK, makes sense. I guess since we've been waiting this long, we can wait a little bit more."
Charlene smiled and placed her hand on his. "I know we can do this, just trust me. Besides, this will also give me time to finally work on fixing up Peter the Pandaborg's wiring and see if I can make him invulnerable to those pesky O.W.C.A. fedoras." She started to head out of the basement.
"But… I guess I just don't know what our plans are after we figure out the memory erasing device," Doof spoke up, causing Charlene to turn to him. "Like, I don't think it will be enough to take over the Tri-State Area again."
She shrugged. "Well, we'll have a year to figure it out. And it's not like we can do much else other than wait."
And so, they waited. Biding their time, the Doofs sent out Tony Marzulo and Peter the Pandaborg to kidnap random passersby to use as test subjects, waiting at least a month or two between events in case their actions were noticed. But it seemed to all go swimmingly. Doof was able to figure out the device not only removed memories, but also could stimulate the cranial nerves to automatically create new false memories while the victim was incapacitated, which would end up being strongly reinforced by the experiences in the immediate aftermath of them waking up.
Charlene was also able to finally focus on upgrading Peter the Pandaborg but hit a wall when she realized she actually didn't know precisely what the fedoras did to short out her wiring. In order to do so, she was going to need to obtain an O.W.C.A. fedora. And the only way she knew how to do it was to capture an O.W.C.A. agent. So, relying on Tony yet again, Charlene sent him into the city with Peter the Pandaborg as an intel adviser and hidden last-resort backup, to attempt to find an agent and bring them back to the house. It was a foolhardy mission, and long in duration, but they had time.
After five months of waiting, and with only a month left in the year Charlene had promised Doof, Tony and Peter the Pandaborg returned with Agent T. Keeping the turtle around for any period of time would jeopardize their position and risk O.W.C.A. catching onto them, so Charlene quickly found the magnetizing programming chip in the fedora and created a magnetic shield on a copy of the fedora. She then had Doof wipe Agent T's memories using his new machine, and then had Tony Marzulo leave the turtle alone in the center of Danville, completely unaware.
One evening, Doof turned to Charlene. "I admit, I've been racking my brain for more ideas, but I just can't seem to find anything good, and the year is up." He looked down at the ground, miserable at his own failures.
"I understand, and I'm sorry we weren't able to figure out a way yet to take over the Tri-State Area," Charlene consoled him.
Doof again looked up at the sky. "Curse you Perry the Platypus and owners!"
"What exactly happened over there anyway?" Charlene asked her husband. "You keep saying the phrase, but you never actually told us how you were defeated."
Doof turned away from her. "Well, I got beat. What else do you want me to say?"
"If you can tell me what happened, maybe we can figure out how to stop it from happening again. Please, just talk to me," Charlene implored him.
"The other dimension's Perry the Platypus and his owners destroyed all my Normbots with their crazy inventions – wait, what's wrong?" Doof noticed Charlene was rolling her eyes at his last statement.
She shook her head. "It looks like other you's obliviousness wore off on you a bit," she responded. "Let's just grab our versions of Perry's owners again and have them make stuff for us. The green-haired kid would've made a nice boyborg, if I could have ever figured out the wiring."
Doof scowled at her. "You think I didn't think of turning them into boyborgs? Turns out we did such a good job of oppressing them during our regime, they didn't show the capability or creativity required to match up with their counterparts, even though they were a part of the Resistance. At best, they could maybe match up to me now, if given all the resources of the Resistance and a bunch of time to work with. And no, they wouldn't be able to help us, they have been too scarred by us to break easily."
"Oh," Charlene frowned. "Well, is there any way to get the versions of those boys who actually did beat you?"
"We'd have to figure out a way to get into the other dimension, and I don't have the machine required." Suddenly, Doof's eyes widened. "But I do know who might know how to make it. We'll need Peter the Pandaborg to infiltrate the old Resistance headquarters, they were the ones who were connected to the version on the other side, and they had some way of getting to the other dimension easily."
Charlene clapped her hands. "Oh goody. You set up the recording equipment, I'll get Peter the Pandaborg ready."
And so, Peter the Pandaborg, with his magnetic-shield fedora on just in case he ran into O.W.C.A. agents and needed to pass as a friendly, headed back into Danville and entered the old abandoned mine shafts underneath the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building. After heading through the tunnels and doubling back through the dead ends, they finally found the old Resistance bunker.
"Hmm, Peter the Pandaborg's tracker says this is at 2307 Maple Drive…do we know who lives there?" Doof asked Charlene.
Looking online, Charlene smirked. "Well, it looks like the house is registered to a Mr. and Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro, and I just happen to see a girl who just graduated from Danville High School this year by the name of Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, ex-Firestorm Girl. Also, another dead giveaway: 2308 Maple Drive is owned by Linda Flynn and Lawrence Fletcher, who have a daughter named Candace Flynn and sons named Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher. Candace was a confirmed member of the Resistance, possibly even the leader after O.W.C.A. fell; her brothers were unconfirmed, but we know them to be."
Doof's eyes narrowed as he grinned. "Let me guess; all part of the same group who came in to your apartment with me, the Firestorm Girls, and Perry the Platyborg 2 months after I was arrested."
"Right in one," a smiling Charlene replied.
However, Doof's grin faded. "Well, we can't do anything about it now. However, after taking over the Tri-State Area again, we know our first stop."
"True," admitted Charlene. She looked back at the live video feed from Peter the Pandaborg. "Yes, here's what we're looking for!"
Doof leaned over and gazed at the feed. "It looks like the remnants of some sort of stabilization device, maybe it was used to hold open the portal between the dimensions! Now if only I knew how to build it…"
"But you were right earlier! Now we know who built it," Charlene cried, pointing at the faint engraving of Dr. Baljeet on the side of the device. "And we know where he works now," she continued almost breathlessly. "He's now a professor of physics at Tri-State State University specializing in quantum mechanics, despite him being the same age as those Flynn-Fletcher boys."
"Well, then I think we should invite this Dr. Baljeet to give a lecture on quantum mechanical travel through dimensions to a group of interested scientists," Doof said, and he threw back his head and gave off a true evil laugh, which he hadn't done in years, Charlene joining in effervescently.
"Ugh, really? Maniacal laughter again?" their daughter asked, poking her head into the room from the pantry above. "Fine. Well, just let me know when you actually have something for which you need me," she called over her shoulder as she left, and the trapdoor closed again. Her parents took no notice of her.
Dr. Baljeet sighed as he crossed out another failed solution to the higher-order dimensional teleport stabilization equation on the blackboard in his office. At 18 years old, he was the youngest professor in the history of Tri-State State University, but he was the one who had figured out the most stable (and so far, only stable) solution allowing for inter-dimensional travel. He had stumbled across it somewhat accidentally almost 10 years ago, right after he had first received an online doctorate in physics through self-study. However, he was unable to replicate it for years, having lost the device to do so after the downfall of Doofenshmirtz. When he finally did, he immediately wrote his landmark paper on the technology…only to have it suppressed and confiscated by the federal government, wary of another person like Doofenshmirtz (or even the man himself!) trying to take power in the Tri-State Area using dimensional portals.
Not to say Dr. Baljeet was not in a good position because of his work being silenced. The government had compensated him nicely for his work, gotten him a tenure-track position at Tri-State State (although he knew they could watch over him easily), and provided many other civilian contractor benefits.
A knock at his door interrupted Dr. Baljeet's work. Turning his head, he saw Phineas and Ferb peeking their heads into his room. "Come on in, guys," he beckoned, walking back to the chair behind his desk as the two of them fully entered and sat down in front of his desk. "What is up with you?"
Phineas ran his hand through his short buzz-cut, which he had never stopped getting after they liberated the Tri-State Area. "You know we're starting school here in three weeks, right? And we're ahead of the track when it comes to courses, what with our high school inventing an all, and I want to do nano-engineering while Ferb studies physics, but we were wondering if we could take your introductory quantum mechanics course in the first semester?" All of this came out in one breath.
"Slow down, Phineas," Dr. Baljeet raised his hand to quell any further verbal utterances from the red-haired boy. "You have forgotten, I know your knowledge and skill level exactly from 'back in the day', so I can easily extrapolate forward to what the two of you would be able to do now. Plus, with Tri-State State finally getting back to its pre-Doof levels, I would say you two would have no problem in my quantum mechanics class. Although," and here he trailed off. "Would you not have wanted to go to school at Camford-on-Oxbury, Ferb? It is an amazing school, and in your home country."
"For nano-engineering it's great, but Tri-State State has better physics," replied Ferb.
Dr. Baljeet nodded. "Ah, yes, makes sense. Well, I am sure I will see you two in class in three weeks!"
"Thanks, Dr. Baljeet!" exclaimed Phineas, while Ferb just nodded his head.
"Any time, friends! I am really glad Candace finally let you guys out of her protective shell 10 years ago, it has been good to get to know you and see what we all can do together," Dr. Baljeet replied, smiling.
Phineas also smiled. "Well, I'm glad we were able to use what we learned from the first-dimension versions of us to make each summer the best we possibly could." Starting out by playing their version of "sports", which they had quickly learned was actually an amalgamation of a lot of different actual sports thrown haphazardly together, and quickly getting into small inventions, the two stepbrothers gradually grew into people who made things fun for the city, to steer minds away from the horrors of the past.
"And then from there, with you and the ex-Firestorm Girls being able to help us make the days fun, well we considered it just a bonus." Phineas then elbowed Ferb in the side with a sneaky grin on his face. "Besides, I know Ferb really enjoys your and their company. Well, at least one of them in particular."
Ferb shrugged at the inquiring glance from Dr. Baljeet. "Gretchen is also coming to Tri-State State, and we may have ended up in the same dorm building this year, only one floor away from each other."
"Congratulations, Ferb!" Dr. Baljeet said, happy for the quiet young man as he remembered hearing about Ferb asking out the equally quiet but strong young woman. "I am sorry I missed you asking her to date you, but it was during the time when I was finally able to complete the work to obtain this position."
"Yeah, can you still not tell us anything?" asked Phineas, his smile disappearing. "Or how about where Adyson and Buford are? Because we both know you know at least something important about what's going on, and all of us back home would really appreciate it if you could tell us anything."
Dr. Baljeet sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am sorry, guys, but I am still forbidden of speaking anything on the matter to you or your friends. I truly do not know where Buford and Adyson currently are, and all I can hope and wish for is their safety and happiness."
What he was not telling them spoke more. He had a good idea of where they were not: this dimension. Three years ago, when Dr. Baljeet had first come up with a plan for the first inter-dimensional travel since the fall of Doof, Adyson had volunteered to help with the project. Buford had resisted, naturally, because he really liked resisting. However, as it turned out, like Candace and the rest of the Firestorm Girl alums, Adyson had a strong rebel streak Buford found naturally attractive, and it was not long before he decided to join his newly-minted girlfriend in working with Dr. Baljeet. When he had first created a portal to the next dimension…but it would not help to reminisce about what all of them had lost. In any case, the only thing told to the rest of the gang was Buford had decided to resist elsewhere, without contact to the outside world, and Adyson had joined him. Dr. Baljeet could tell nobody believed the story, but out of their friend group only he, and possibly Candace, had any inclination about what had happened to the two of them.
Phineas sighed and rubbed the tip of this nose. "OK, fine, thanks Doc. I just thought, you know, we'd be able to hear something about our missing friends from someone who would be in the know."
"Trust me, I wish I knew where they were, too," Dr. Baljeet admitted. "Buford, for all of his single-mindedness, was a good guy to have around during those days, and we all knew how good Adyson was in a bind. Also, the two of them working together were dynamite, I wish Buford had realized it 10 years ago."
"Yeah, their pairing worked out almost as well as Ferb and Gretchen," Phineas winked at his stepbrother again.
"What about you and Isabella?" Ferb replied blandly, but with the hint of a smirk on his normally taciturn face.
Dr. Baljeet leaned forward, interested. "Oh? Is there any news?"
Phineas sighed and shook his head. "She still doesn't know, and I don't think it will ever happen. She's a strong, independent woman who doesn't need a man in her life, and if I ever try to push something between us beyond the friendship stage, she'd be able and likely to physically destroy me."
"You know, for a former Firestorm girl, I cannot believe she is still so oblivious," Dr. Baljeet said.
"Well, I guess it's because they had to focus on other, more important things," Phineas responded with a shrug.
Dr. Baljeet frowned. "Their training did not stop Gretchen, Adyson, and Ginger from forming lasting relationships later on in their life."
"Yeah, but Isabella was their leader, the second-in-command behind Candace. She needed to be perfect, and maybe it hasn't left her just yet." Phineas looked down, aware of the sympathetic gazes he was receiving from his friends. "It's not important, and I value my friendship with her too much to risk losing it because of a crush I can't get over yet. Because she's not afraid to beat me up to get her point across."
Ferb just made a "Rrrowr" noise and smirked at Phineas.
"Yeah, she's feisty, she's a tough girl. It keeps guys from getting too close, she just scares them away." Phineas grinned at the memory of what happened to the last boy who had tried to do so. Poor Thaddeus, he never stood a chance.
Dr. Baljeet noticed this but decided not to comment. "Well, I wish you both the best of luck with your romantic endeavors." He waited a second, before asking, "I assume Isabella is also attending Tri-State State?"
"Why do you think Loverboy is here and not at Camford-on-Oxbury himself?" Ferb asked in return, shrugging at Phineas's glare.
"Thanks for your time and letting us take your class, Dr. Baljeet, but Ferb and I have to go now." Phineas growled as he practically dragged Ferb from the office. Dr. Baljeet simply chuckled as he returned his focus to his whiteboard again, only to be interrupted by another knock on his door.
"Excuse me, Dr. Baljeet Tjinder?"
Dr. Baljeet nodded. "Yes, I am he. What is your name?
The man at the door smoothed out a well-worn Drusselstinian-style jacket, which caused Dr. Baljeet's eyes to narrow. "I am Anton Marzulski, and I am here at the behalf of the Collection of Scientists of the Eastern Seaboard to invite you to give a talk describing your work at our convention in a couple of days."
Dr. Baljeet just looked at him suspiciously. "You are Drusselstinian, are you not? Just like a certain family who used to live here 10 years ago?"
Marzulski nodded, grimacing. "Yes, but my family comes from Stumblegimp, and we hate everything to do with any Gimmelschtumpian. Where they go low, we go high. When they walk their goats left, we walk them right. When they attempt to boss us around, we resist," he bit out around clenched teeth.
Dr. Baljeet leaned back in his chair. "Interesting. How long did you live in Drusselstein, if I may ask?"
"I was born there, traveled around the world with my parents for my childhood and schooling, but returned home to Stumblegimp after school and stayed until about 5 years previous," Marzulski replied.
Paranoid fears of this man being Doof in disguise quelled, Dr. Baljeet viewed the letter Marzulski handed him. It was written by the head of the Collection, congratulating him on his achievements at such a young age and apologizing for not having any correspondence earlier, apparently there was some bylaw which required members of the Collection to be at least 18 years of age, which he had just reached this year. They also wanted him to give an early address at the convention, scheduled for two days from today.
"I would be honored to speak at the convention, but if I am to make it in time I must leave soon," Dr. Baljeet finally said.
"Great!" Marzulski replied. "I will let the organizers know to expect you later today. Thank you very much for accepting our proposal." He shook Dr. Baljeet's hand energetically and quickly left the room.
Dr. Baljeet grabbed a few of his most recent papers from his desk and headed down to his car. He would need to stop by his apartment and grab a good set of clothes before heading on the road. Preoccupied in composing the beginning of his lecture, he missed seeing Marzulski standing alone along the side of the building.
Smirking, Tony Marzulo waited until he saw Dr. Baljeet leave the building and peel away from the parking lot to turn on his communicator. "The target was receptive, and the trap is primed and set."
"Good. Let the dominoes fall as they may, and return home," crackled a high-pitched male voice over some light static.
"Roger, over and out," Marzulo replied before heading around the back of the building to his car, ignoring the shiver he heard on the other end. He knew Peter the Pandaborg would be able to handle the situation.
"Ugh," Dr. Baljeet groaned as he regained consciousness. Wait, I was unconscious, not a good thing to realize once waking up. The last thing I remember is driving eastward out of Danville towards the Eastern Seaboard to attend the conference. So, what happened? Opening his eyes, he realized he was trapped in a metal cage in the corner of a dimly lit room. Eyes widening, Dr. Baljeet surveyed the room as he tried to gather as much information as possible about the situation he was now stuck in.
OK, I somehow pass out while driving. I wake up as a prisoner in a cage in what appears to be someone's basement, and a high-tech one. Best case scenario, I was mistaken for someone else by a person with a petty grudge, and they will either let me go or ransom me off as they try to catch their actual target. Worst case scenario…oh, no.
"Ah, I see our visitor is awake." Out of the shadows stepped two people he had last seen almost 10 years ago, and who would still make anyone's blood run cold if they walked the streets of Danville today. It was Doofenshmirtz and Charlene.
Dr. Baljeet shrank away from the edge of the cage, before his eyes hardened and he steeled his resolve. "So, you came back to get your revenge? Let me guess, you are going to take us out one by one until there's no one left to resist you? You do realize everyone will know I disappeared, they will be on high alert and ready to stop you, right?"
"In order: yes, no, and of course I know. What, did you think I had lost my evil genius over the last 10 years?" Doof snarled at the young man.
"It was a plausible hypothesis." Dr. Baljeet stared right back at the man. "After all, it only took a toy train to stop you last time."
Charlene laughed. "Which I promptly destroyed when I saw it, and there is no way of retrieving it now."
Doof grinned. "So, since you've been such a good sport about all this, let me tell you what I do have planned for you. Remember this?" he asked triumphantly as he pulled a sheet from an object in the other corner of the room.
Dr. Baljeet gasped slightly. The device I first used to create stable inter-dimensional travel 10 years ago, for the other dimension's Phineas, Ferb, Perry, Candace, and Doofenshmirtz to stop our Doof! Still, he recovered quickly and tried to play it off like he had no idea. "Umm, no, not really. I do not think I have ever seen it before in my life. Should I have a recollection of what it is?"
Doof pulled up short. "Wait, what? Dude you built this thing yourself like 10 years ago. When you were resisting my rule?"
"Of course he knows, honey," Charlene laid her arm on Doof's. "He is just trying to play dumb in hopes nothing will come from this." She smirked back at Dr. Baljeet. "Unfortunately, we all know he's too smart to act dumb." She stalked over to the cage and stared menacingly into Dr. Baljeet's eyes. "Let me be absolutely clear," she whispered to him. "You WILL fix this device, and you WILL create a portal to the other dimension. Otherwise, you won't like what we have planned to do to you."
Dr. Baljeet scoffed, but his strong facade was wavering slightly. "Physical mutilation? Doing so will only further the suspicions of whoever finds me after you release me, and I have already explained what would happen if you do not release me."
"We're all aware of the fact," Doof spat out from behind gritted teeth.
"No, Dr. Baljeet, we're not going to physically hurt you." Charlene straightened up and smiled, but there was a sense of malice behind it. "Besides, it might cause you to be unable to work on the machine, and we don't want mere physical torture to keep you from your work." She leaned down towards him again. "However, if you do not comply with our orders, then I will attempt the boyborg process on you. I almost had it perfected, 10 years ago, but the dastardly Fletcher boy outwitted me, and now I've lost 10 years of practice. I might be a bit rusty, but I still think I can get the job done."
Dr. Baljeet sat back, trembling slightly. "The boyborg process?"
Charlene nodded, a self-satisfied look coming across her features. "Yes, the natural continuation of the animal cyborg process I achieved all those years ago. Right now, though, I'd say you'd have a 60% chance of successfully becoming a boyborg, a 35% chance I accidentally destroy your brain and leave you as a vegetable, and a 5% chance I mess up completely and you die. However, since the odds are better than 50% in our favor, I'd be willing to try it. For you, though, you lose the ability to control your brain in every case, so you should definitely think about which way you want this to end. Use your big brain to figure it out, we all know it's your best asset."
"Y-you would not," Dr. Baljeet asked, his voice now stuttering with fear.
"Run the calculations, brain boy," Doof interjected again. "Have we ever bluffed before?"
Dr. Baljeet sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Let me out of here and I will make the device properly functional again. Although I have no idea where you will find the energy you need to run this all the way out here."
"Well, if you feel better about yourself, we don't have a plan yet. Priority number one is to actually have the device. Once we have it, we'll figure out the other details." Charlene leaned down at him again. "And if you think we're rusting you not to sabotage it, think about what would happen, if we found out you did sabotage it, to you, your friends and family, and everyone in the Tri-State Area."
"You know, the one thing I'm still the best at is making things self-destruct. Maybe I will do it to the Tri-State Area if there's nothing left to lose." Doof grinned, glaring at Dr. Baljeet through his one good eye.
Dr. Baljeet simply nodded. Drat! There are many plausible ways to go about this, but they have stifled so many of them with the threat of local annihilation…I have to figure out something, I just have to! Both dimensions are at stake! He looked over the tools and parts they had given him to fix it and sighed. Well, I need to do this for my sake, and I need to do it right for the sake of everyone else.
It took Dr. Baljeet a couple of hours to complete, since he had not worked with the device in nearly 10 years, but he figured he was able to fix up and stabilize the device. However, he did add in a few unnecessary parts to suck up even more electrical power, sending the energy sink even higher than the previous version. When he was finished, he stood up and dusted off his pants before turning to Doof, who had supervised the whole thing while Charlene left to parts unknown earlier. "There, it is finished. At least, as far as I can tell. Obviously, you will need to find somewhere with enough energy. Now, I would be interested to hear how you are going to release me without the details of you being spread all over the Tri-State Area within minutes of my return."
Doof chuckled. "Well, we could just threaten you and your entire existence, just like we did with the device, but in this case what we have works much better. And we might as well tell you, because you'll never remember." He turned to an object under a tarp and pulled away the covering. "Behold, the Memory-Erase-Inator! I got the naming convention from the alternate me, see?"
"So, you are going to erase my recollections of this event? Will it not cause concern with people when they find me, without any memory of the day?" Dr. Baljeet asked, hopeful he had found a mistake with their plans.
"Well, it would definitely be a problem…if it was all the Memory-Erase-Inator did, of course," Doof said. "However, it also stimulates the nerves in the brain to accept specific stimuli as false memories, which can be enforced extremely strongly by the immediate aftermath. So, what we're going to do is wipe your brain, make you think you crashed your car on the way to the convention, and you have fuzzy memories of the day because you hit your head hard in the wreck."
Dr. Baljeet simply stood there with wide eyes as Doof pressed the activation button. A beam fired out of the machine and hit Dr. Baljeet directly between the eyes, and almost immediately afterwards Peter the Pandaborg stepped out from the shadows and promptly knocked Dr. Baljeet out cold, delaying his return to consciousness.
"Good. Let's get him strapped up to his car and wreck it outside!" Doof cackled. He pulled Dr. Baljeet up and out of the house and buckled him into his car, which had been parked outside by Peter the Pandaborg after he had neutralized Dr. Baljeet the first time. Doof turned on the ignition and placed Dr. Baljeet's foot on the accelerator before quickly jumping out of harm's way.
Dr. Baljeet's car sprang to life and headed down the road, before veering slightly on a bump and turning to the left. This put the car on a collision course with a broken-down wall situated on the edge of the property, and since there was no one controlling the car, it rammed head on into the wall with a sickeningly loud crash, tossing Dr. Baljeet around inside the car. From the nearby house, a woman with blonde hair came running out screaming in terror, calling emergency services as she did so.
Dr. Baljeet slowly regained consciousness. Why do I feel like I ran into a brick wall? He tried to sit up, before he realized his body was stuck in his current position by the ruined frame of his car, which had run into a brick wall off the side of the road. Well, I guess I did run into a brick wall. I must have fallen asleep at the wheel! How stupid could I be? Now I am going to miss the conference!
"Sir, sir, are you alright?" Dr. Baljeet turned and saw a woman with blonde hair yelling at him through his smashed car window, holding a cell phone to her ear. "Yes, he is awake and somewhat responsive, but I don't think I can get him out of the car," he heard her say, presumably to the paramedics.
Dr. Baljeet tried moving, but simply flopped back and shrieked as a searing pain washed over his torso. I have at least 2 broken ribs, and I hope there is nothing wrong internally. He could hear the woman frantically speaking into the phone, but he just waited without moving until the paramedics arrived and were able to remove him. As they were walking into the ambulance, Dr. Baljeet realized he could not tell the paramedics exactly when he left for the conference, how long he had been driving, nor how he had crashed his car. The crash must have affected my memories somehow, I must alert the paramedics to the possibility of a concussion or further brain damage.
As the ambulance drove away, the woman with blonde hair grinned and walked back into the house, removing the wig as she did so. "They don't suspect a thing," Vanessa told her father and mother.
"Excellent!" cried Doof, smiling wickedly. "Now, we just need to figure out a way to power this baby up and make sure it works…"
Tony walked in then. "Well, what if I just head into town and disguise myself as an electrical technician? Then I could get into the Danville Megastation power plant and siphon off enough energy to power this."
Doof stroked his beard as he thought, completely unaware of the cliché. "Yes, it might work, the only issue would be who to send through. I don't think Charlene and I should be anywhere near there, and I'm still not sure about Vanessa." His daughter rolled her eyes again at his over-protectiveness.
"Well, just send Peter the Pandaborg through, I'm sure he could take out at least one of the boys himself and bring him back over to our dimension." Tony replied. "I'd put my money on the red-haired one, if your experience with the boys from our dimension is characteristic of how the two operate."
"Yes, probably a good idea. He seemed to be the one with more inventiveness, while the silent green-haired one was more of a builder. Now, what is the best way to get him to work with us?" Doof wondered.
Charlene spoke up. "Well, something we can work on while Tony and Peter the Pandaborg start their mission. Let's get them prepared."
And so, in the dead of night one week later, a Stumblegimpian man walked into Danville Megastation, with all his credentials passing inspection from the night-time security. Something had blown in one of the smaller areas, so he was called in to fix it. Looking around, Tony Marzulo looked around carefully before heading to central command and pulling out the device. Quickly, he rerouted the necessary power to it. Incredibly, what looked like a portal opened up, bathing the entire room in a sickly green light. However, his joy was short-lived. Immediately, alarms began blaring throughout the plant as multiple sections of the city went dark, completely losing power.
"Move! I'm going to have to close this!" whispered Tony as Peter the Pandaborg quickly jumped out of the oversize toolbox Tony had brought. There was no time to test Dr. Baljeet's willingness to sabotage the construction, which is why Peter the Pandaborg was going through. In the eyes of Doof, at least, he was the second-most expendable member of the group, preceded only by Tony Of course, the boy was oblivious to this.
Peter the Pandaborg saluted Tony and jumped through the portal, which sparked as he went through and automatically closed itself. The alarms stopped sounding; looking out, Tony saw the power being restored to all of the city. Scanning the device, he couldn't see anything burnt up or otherwise compromised to as to make it unusable again. Hearing footsteps and panicked whispering coming his way, Tony shoved the device into his toolbox and leaped back to the control panel.
A security guard came bursting through the door not one second later. "What in blazes happened in here man?"
Tony took a deep breath to calm himself and stood up. "Well, you're lucky I found this when I did. The small issue you called me in for was actually a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and remove power from a large portion of the city. I accidentally figured it out when I changed the wiring on a section over here. I had to put in a temporary safeguard to stop the overflow, but I'm not sure if it will hold or when it might go again. I've got a sensor on it, and it will alert me if anything seems to be building up. Meanwhile, I'm going to continue tinkering around and see if there are any other issues here. When there's one, there are usually more hidden underneath, showing up later."
The security guard looked confused but alarmed at what he heard. "OK, well, glad you found it before too much had gone wrong." He turned and walked quickly away from the central building.
Tony released a sigh of relief. Good thing they know nothing about electricity. He whispered into his wrist communicator. "Anything?"
A picture of Peter the Pandaborg materialized quickly, giving a salute before disappearing again. Doof's voice came over the communicator. "Great job! Now, Peter the Pandaborg, find Phineas Flynn, and bring him to me!"