~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Perry's hands were covering his head. There were no windows and no doors, just four walls, and a sea of darkness that engulfed him completely. The only remnants of an outside world were loud, thunderous bangs that kept pounding from outside. They were growing louder.
Someone was coming.
Perry wanted to scream; he knew what was about to happen. But the cries stuck in his throat like peanut butter. He cowered in the back corner, quivering, as the thuds vibrated the entire room, and the walls around him grew bigger and bigger.
A giant hand slammed the door open and grabbed him by the throat. Perry struggled, but to no avail. Deep laughter reverberated off the walls as Perry was pushed to the ground, strapped down and forced to stare into bright lights.
Cords were being attached to his limbs and forehead. He spasmed.
"No! No! Please..no..Dad.."
"Shut up, worthless freak."
A switch was pulled. The laughter grew louder and louder as Perry screamed from the sheer pain of electrocution.
It was unbearable, and it wouldn't stop. He screamed and screamed and screamed, while the man above him laughed with every jolt.
"NO!"
Perry bolted awake, hands drawn to his side as if grabbing for a weapon. Two faces were squished in his close proximity, frightening him. He squeaked and cowered underneath the bed.
It took a few minutes for the platypus to realize he was a platypus. And hiding under Ferb's bed.
It was just a nightmare. Calm down, agent.
"What's wrong, boy?" Phineas cooed, reaching down to pick him up. Perry swallowed the anxiety that was still pounding through his system and allowed himself to be carried. Both boys sat in silence, holding him and petting his fur.
Perry shamelessly enjoyed the attention for a minute. A part of his mind was still caught in that horrible nightmare and he couldn't stop shivering.
After a few minutes, once his heart rate was back to normal, Phineas let him down and motioned for him to come downstairs to eat breakfast. Suddenly noticing his extreme hunger, the agent happily obliged.
Ferb poured him a bowl of food, then joined his brother at the kitchen table, where both his parents were reading the newspaper.
"Hey mom," Phineas spoke, "I think Perry had a really bad nightmare."
"Pour little guy." Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher commented. "At least he's eating."
"I'm worried." Phineas continued. "Maybe we should take him to the vet? He wouldn't stop shivering."
"Hm.." The mother sighed. "If he starts acting strange later today, we'll take him to the vet."
"Thanks, Mom." Phineas smiled. With one last affectionate smile in Perry's direction, he grabbed a box of cereal and began pouring himself a helping.
Perry gulped down his food, feeling the affects of the anxiety beginning to wear off as he focused his mind on trying to forget it. It'd been awhile since he'd had a proper nightmare. Usually, the DNA chip that allowed himself to become a platypus put his brain in a less complex state, keeping the nightmares at a distance. Why had he suddenly had that nightmare now?
He shivered. He honestly didn't want to think about it.
Before long, the boys were out tinkering and having fun, leaving Perry plenty of space to answer a call from headquarters.
The platypus landed in his lair with a smooth thud. As predicted, Major Monogram was positioned and waiting for him- except that his mustache had been completely removed. Perry tried his best not to stare.
"Good morning, Agent P. And yes, before you say anything, I shaved my mustache. I just figured it was time for a new look, plus, with it being summer, this thing gets super hot."
"I, for one, think you look lovely, Sir."
"No one asked for your opinion, Carl." The major barked. "Anywho. We recently discovered intel that Doofenshmirtz just bought an entire tub of Nutella. And I don't mean like the gallon size you can buy over the internet, I mean a tub of Nutella big enough to feed every citizen in Danville for a week. Provided they don't have a peanut allergy."
Perry raised his eyebrows. "We don't know what he's doing with all that sugar, but it definitely cannot be something good. Find out what he's up to, and put a stop to it."
The agent saluted. Danville was baking in a hot oven as Perry flew off to Doof's apartment. The platypus had already begun to sweat. Hopefully his nemesis would not be planning his evil scheme outside.
When the agent arrived, he dived onto a closed window and pried it open. He landed inside, expecting a trap of some sort, but nothing jumped to grab or trap him. It didn't take long for Perry to notice the loud voices emanating from the other side of the room.
"Vanessa, Sweetheart, I'm just trying to help-"
"Look, Dad, I know you are, and I think you have every right to be mad at Mom, but this stress is just making me feel so-"
"Aww, Pumpkin, you're stressed? Why don't we just go to the park and spend some quality time together?" "Dad, you're not listening-"
"You used to love going to the park. We can take a walk, get some hot dogs.."
"Dad."
Vanessa's face was going redder and redder by the minute. Perry decided if he didn't intervene, he might not be the only one giving his nemesis bruises that day. The agent knocked over a stack of books and looked expectantly at Doofenshmirtz.
"Ah, Perry the Platypus, you're just in time!"
A rope trap sprung up from the ground and mounted to the wall, leaving him suspended.
"Just in time to be trapped.. Aha!"
Vanessa folded her arms and rolled her eyes, muttering to herself as she stormed off to her room. Doofenshmirtz didn't notice, now completely focused on the moment.
"Now, Perry the Platypus, behold.. the Too-Much-Of-A-Good-Thing-Inator!"
Perry stared.
"I know, the name means work. But you know how people always say, 'there can be too much of a good thing'?" Doofenshmirtz mimicked. "Ugh, my parents used to say that to me over and over, it makes me sick! Soooo…
Once I fire my inator, whatever I shoot, will instantly triple! Thereby giving everyone too much of a good thing! That way, I can finally give payback ahaha! And it's also powered by huge quantities of Nutella!"
Perry kept staring. He had no words. Doofenshmirtz's evil schemes had been trickling down to mere instances of petty inspiration; perhaps it was something he should mention in his next report.
"Alright, my machine is almost ready." Doof commented, digging in a box of wires. "Hey, Vanessa, have you seen the remote?"
No answer. Heinz's eyes darted around, but when he was met with an empty room, he frowned. "You know, Perry the Platypus, I've been trying so hard to make it up to her. But she still doesn't want to spend time with me."
Perry sighed. Vanessa did seem a little distant. Had she told anybody about that night?
A beeped noise distracted the man, who hurriedly grabbed the remote and aimed his inator into place.
"Say goodbye to your 'good things', Danville!"
The agent wasted no time in pulling out a pocketknife and slicing the rope from underneath him. Immediately, Perry jumped on the doctor and pushed him to the ground. "Hey!"
Doof grabbed a metal pipe from the ground and started swinging at him. The platypus ducked his blows with ease, jumping from one position to the next before landing on top of his nemesis' machine. In a heated moment, Doofenshmirtz swung the pipe right at him, but hit his inator instead when Perry jumped out of the way. The machine began to overheat and began firing randomly.
"Uh oh. That can't be good."
Alarmed, the platypus jumped back on top of the inator and began pulling wires. It was swerving too violently for him to hold on too long. He fell to the floor with a thud. The machine still didn't stop.
Doofenshmirtz was frantically pressing buttons on his remote, while running in circles around the apartment. Perry forced himself to get up and grab the machine. He swung his tail at the control panel, broke it open, and pulled out the power button.
Thankfully, the machine stopped. Perry breathed a sigh of relief.
Doofenshmirtz stopped running and crossed his arms. "Ugh. Curse you, Perry the Platypus."
Screws and wires were displaced everywhere. Plus, the inator had hit a few things in the apartment, causing enormous piles of them to erupt everywhere, leaving a huge mess. Perry actually felt a little bad for him. Maybe he could stay.
And maybe sneak in permission for Vanessa's request.
He chattered, causing Doof to turn around.
"What is it, Perry the Platypus? You can go- my inator is toast."
The agent gestured to the mess with raised eyebrows.
"Really?" The doctor scratched his head. "You want to help clean up?"
Perry nodded. His nemesis seemed to debate it, but finally shrugged his shoulders. "If you insist."
The two immediately began working on sweeping up all the spare parts and shoving them in trash bags. Doofenshmirtz scoffed at the piles of couches that lay stacked in the left corner. "What does a person even do with so many couches?"
As Perry finished up the last pile, he decided now was as good a time as any to ask his nemesis Vanessa's request. He cringed. After the words the man and his daughter had had with each other earlier, it seemed so inappropriate. But he couldn't keep putting it off.
He tugged on the man's lab coat and held up a piece of paper.
"Hm? What's this?"
The man opened up, and immediately, his eyes shot wide open. "Is this a joke?"
Perry shook his head, and motioned into the hall where he knew Vanessa's room was located. The scientist ran over and knocked on the girl's door. Before she had a moment to speak, he blurted, "You want to learn combat? From my nemesis?"
Vanessa sighed. "Oh, Dad, you're making it seem more dramatic than it is.."
"My daughter wants to learn how to fight like some, some, good guy.."
"Dad, please, I don't want to be some bodybuilder O.W.C.A. agent, I just think it's good that I know how to, you know, protect myself. And don't you trust Perry?"
Doofenshmirtz stared back at where Perry was observing the spectacle. For a moment, his eyes narrowed, but it was only a moment. Finally, the man let out a long sigh and leaned against the bedroom wall.
"I must be crazy, but yes. Fine. But I have to be present."
Vanessa grabbed her dad in a bear hug. "See? I knew you were cool!"
Perry smirked at the way Doof's face reddened.