~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Phineas and Ferb were in the middle of constructing a flying car. Isabella and Baljeet were helping them assemble the parts, laughing and chatting about how much fun it was going to be flying it around Danville.
Phineas joined in the fun, but only half-heartedly. He was secretly a little worried about Perry. Yeah, the platypus had been disappearing a lot more lately, and always ended up coming home. But it was so unnerving when he wasn't home for more than twenty-four hours. What if..
Ferb suddenly put his hand on his shoulder. Phineas smiled. They couldn't worry about Perry now. They had another mission to settle on.
Although the flying car was going to be fun now, Phineas couldn't wait till they got to use it for its real purpose. They had finally developed a device capable of recording their dreams. Sure enough, they had both been having the same dream, only from slightly different perspectives, and saw the same man in those dreams. Now that they had a picture, they planned on looking for him. And hopefully, they would find him soon. These strange dreams were really starting to get to him..
"Phineas, are you okay?"
Isabella was looking at him rather oddly. Phineas forced a smile and shook his head. "Of course! Sorry. Lost in thought. Where were we?"
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Thankfully, Lyla was able to convince Major Monogram that Perry really wanted to take a week to visit her in Canada. Since Perry never asked for vacation time, the major complied, so long as Doofenshmirtz didn't do anything too ridiculous. Perry hoped the evil scientist could keep from being tempted for a few days.
Perry had already read through the magazines in about twenty minutes, and was now bored. He tried to stand and walk around. His legs were stiff, but at least they weren't as bruised as his arms and face. He managed to take two laps around the room before feeling nauseous.
As he was walking around the apartment, his gaze landed on a book tossed to the side. It must have flown off the table during their last fight. Perry picked it up and dusted it off. It was Dr. Wexler's biography, Inside an Evil Mind. There was a bookmark still lodged into the middle.
The temptation was too great. The agent took the book and returned to the couch. Upon opening it to the designated page, he saw a quote that had been underlined and circled dozens of times. It was the exact same quote that had gotten him through a lot of hard times in his days as an evil scientist.
"My advice to those who deal with the direct denial of everyone around you, to those who feel the hatred, mockery, and fear from the crowd, and yes, even from friends and family. Revel in it. Revel in the hate. For evil begins with the pain and suffering of a broken heart."
He hadn't read this book in forever. Before he realized what he was doing, Perry was turning to the beginning, and became absorbed in the words on the pages. The memories that flooded through him weren't necessarily bad memories, rather, they reminded him of all the hard work he'd put into his inventions and his career.
He was so absorbed in the book and his memories, in fact, that he didn't hear Doofenshmirtz return.
"Whoa. Are you reading my Dr. Wexler biography?"
Perry glanced up, startled. The man had a bag full of groceries and his usual collection of freshly washed lab coats, and was staring at him quizzically.
Whoops.
Perry coughed, trying to look unsurprised. "I've read this before. It's just been awhile. I'm sorry, I found it and was curious."
"You've read it before?" "Knowledge is knowledge." The man shrugged. "I like to understand all sides of a war."
Doofenshmirtz didn't look convinced, but didn't make a further comment. He dropped the bags in the kitchen and returned with a few random books. "I got these little puzzle books at the store. I'm sure they're cheesy, but I thought you'd be bored, and you seem like the type of guy to like puzzles.."
"Thank you." Perry nodded. "You didn't have to do that."
"Yeah, well.." Doofenshmirtz shrugged.
Perry looked at the puzzle books, confused. The man claimed to be extremely angry at him, yet was treating him like a VIP guest. It couldn't just be because Perry was hurt, even if it had been pretty brutal. He desperately wished to know what was going on in the man's mind.
"Is Vanessa still here?"
"She went to visit a friend." Perry sighed. "Someone named Lacy."
"Ah, yeah. I think they had planned to go to a movie today."
Silence. Perry watched as the man began removing random parts from his bag and placing them in the apartment.
"Can I help you with anything?"
Doofenshmirtz didn't even look over at him. "I'm fine. You need to heal."
Perry slumped back into the couch and picked up the book again. The man was acting very, very strange and it was starting to make Perry nervous. He found the last paragraph he'd been reading and continued to dig into the pages.
"Evil is not a hatred for all things good, or wonderful in this world, as some might believe. It is, in fact, the manifestation of the only love that shall ever survive in this world. The love of the self. What I do is not for the demeaning of others, but rather the only way I know how to contribute to the wealthy and survival of humanity."
Perry didn't realize he'd spoken that quote out loud until Dr. Doofenshmirtz stopped and looked at him.
"You like that line?" Heinz asked, amused.
Perry cocked an eyebrow. "This man is very misguided."
Of course, I once thought like him, but oh well..
Doofenshmirtz shrugged. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."
Perry wanted to retort, but kept his mouth shut. There was no point in arguing about this topic, especially when he wasn't sure how much he wanted the doctor to know. The man had been very civil, maybe as far as nice to him recently, but that still didn't change years of their nemesis-ship.
"You know," Heinz continued off-handedly. "Michael told me once that he liked to tinker. Was that really true?"
"It was. You knew that. I've helped you on many of your inventions and projects.."
"Yes, I knew you could, I just didn't know you actually liked to." Doof explained. "You also said something about inators." He crossed his arms.
"I didn't say anything about inators."
"Yes, you did, you said-"
"No, I called them 'unnecessary devices'."
"Well, you called them 'unnecessary devices that bent the laws of nature to make things go your way'. That's basically an inator." The man argued. "And you say that you weren't spying on me."
Perry groaned. "I wasn't spying. I'm sorry, I just.."
"Wanted to get my attention? Make me trust you? Honestly.." The man threw up his arms in frustration. "I can't believe you're still trying to deny this."
"D.."
"No, I know you, you O.W.C.A. agents spy on us all the time. There's no way you didn't know that I go to that specific restaurant every Friday night! You guys- Major Monogram probably- came up with this brilliant idea to turn you human, and then make a fool out of me! See, you don't deny it, do you? You don't deny that you and all your little O.W.C.A. friends were laughing at how stupid and worthless I am.." The man was now borderline hysterical. Perry jumped up, despite the pain. "HEINZ."
The man stopped, his face completely red.
"Look. This was not the agency, okay? I voluntarily decided to take on another job for my own personal interest. They have no idea I even have the serving job."
"I doubt that." Heinz protested.
"I'll admit, I was trying to get a rise out of you by mentioning 'unnecessary devices'. But it stopped there. I actually.." Perry blushed, suddenly realizing how hard this was for him to say. "I.. liked hanging out. It was nice just to get to see you without having to keep this professional, nemesis-based relationship."
Heinz blinked. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Look. I'm human, okay? This is me. This man you see here is the real me." Perry dramatically motioned to his body. "It's just that these last few years, I've spent a lot of my time as this platypus and well. It's draining after awhile. I wanted to do something outside of the agency, something that required me to be human.
Maybe, maybe, I did know at one time that you visited that restaurant every Friday night. But after our first two weeks of being nemesis's, according to the agency, spying on you is no longer my job. My job is to be your nemesis. So, even if I did know at one point, which I might have, that you visit that restaurant, I didn't remember when I decided to take the job.
And then you sat at my table and well.. it all just happened. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for keeping this secret. I just didn't know what to do. Maybe it was fun to remember being fully human with real human friendships for once."
Now Perry was almost hysterical. He forced himself to clear his mind and calm down. The man returned to the couch and put his hands on his head.
Doofenshmirtz didn't say anything for a minute, but eventually sat down next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Alright, alright. I believe you. And I forgive you."
As an added thought, Heinz whispered. "Does O.W.C.A. know?"
Perry shook his head. "And if you really are my nemesis, you'd keep it that way. Else I'm definitely going to be terminated."