~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Perry returned to the Flynn-Fletcher family with a heavy heart. He felt guilty- guilty for leaving the boys, for making everyone worry, and especially for missing more of his boy's fun adventures. However, he couldn't help but feel glad when he was received with never-ending hugs and kisses when he returned home.
However, Vanessa's strange disappearance loomed over him. He kept all his locators on high alert, and spent stolen minutes scouring all the security cameras he could gain access to, but it seemed the girl was nowhere to be found.
Phineas held him all afternoon, as if afraid to let him go. Perry tried to enjoy his attention for a few hours. But even though the warm sunshine mixed with a slightly cool breeze made the atmosphere perfect, he couldn't relax.
The boys were planning a giant game of dodgeball, and had a whole arena made, with tricked out levels that changed throughout the game, and a giant floating baby head as a referee, for some reason.
Phineas and Ferb were exhausted by the time they finished their game, and promptly plopped into bed right after dinner. Perry sleepily laid on Phineas's bed and watched the boys start a game of Go Fish before lights out.
"Do you have any aces, Ferb?" The quiet boy shook his head.
"Oh, snap. Well, looks like you win again!"
The boys put away their cards and laid awake, staring at the glowing star stickers they'd placed all over their ceiling.
"You know, Ferb, I'm really glad Perry's home." Phineas smiled, putting Perry's head. Perry purred contentedly. "Do you think we should do some more searching tonight? I mean, we've already looked everywhere.." Ferb shrugged his shoulders. Phineas let out a long sigh and pulled up the covers. "I guess you're right. We shall try tomorrow."
Perry was already asleep by this point, completely exhausted and comfortable snuggled under Phineas's arms. He didn't wake once, not even to get up and switch beds, until his watch beeped around two in the morning. Sighing, the platypus jumped up and disappeared into his secret lair.
Major Monogram appeared on the screen, dressed in his pajamas. "Sorry to disturb you, Agent P. We hope you enjoyed your little vacation. Miss Lyla Lolliberry sent us some pictures!"
Perry smiled to himself. That girl was just too good at undercover work.
"We have bad news and good news. As you know, several of our agents have been working on the case of our attack at HQ from just over a week ago. The bad news is, we have discovered no leads, and are in jeopardy of having to close the case."
Perry held his breath. That X character really had been as good as Pinky promised.
"The good news is we have an extremely easy assignment for you. One of our agents, Agent Liam the Lion, has gone missing. He was assigned to a Dr. Blood-Pudding, and left to defeat him earlier this evening. We still haven't received his report. We want you to infiltrate, and see what you can find out. Good luck, Agent P."
Perry saluted and jumped into is hover-car. Dr. Blood-Pudding's condo wasn't very far from this location. If Perry remembered correctly, the man liked to stay in the comfort of his own suburban household.
The agent landed in front of the man's house and promptly jumped around to the back lawn. Climbing the fence was easy, but unsurprisingly, the back door was locked. However, Perry noticed that the house had a full chimney. Cringing, the platypus crawled up to the top, and forced himself to jump down.
Coughing, the agent peeked into the house through the bottom of the chimney. He could see the evil scientist, ranting and raging, with a caged Liam the Lion in the corner. Perry could see there were additional chains all around the agent's arms and legs. What was going on?
Dr. Blood-Pudding was throwing things left and right, screaming. A giant machine stood in the center of the room, unactivated. But from the unintelligible mess coming from the doctor's mouth, Perry could make out vague threats about the man activating it.
After deciding the man was too enraged to notice him, Perry crawled out of the chimney and swooped behind the couch.
"My son! My son! WHERE IS MY SON!"
His son?
Liam the Lion was growling and thrashing at the cage. The chains looked electronic; the evil scientist must be sending painful shocks to the agent through them. Perry surveyed the scene, looking for any means of escape. After a couple of minutes, his eyes finally landed on the release button. It was sitting on a separate remote, just above the cage.
Perry waited until the evil scientist was facing away from him, before grabbing his blaster, and shooting the doctor in the back. Blood-Pudding cried out in pain and anger, clutching his hips and screaming. Perry took that moment to jump onto the cage, grab the remote, and free Liam. The lion saluted to him, gratefully. Perry motioned for him to run.
But Liam refused, and stood on two feet, roaring. At this point, Dr. Blood-Pudding had recovered, and grabbed a blaster of his own, ready to attack. But the man was no match against two fully trained agents. Perry and Liam took him down quickly, and dismantled his giant machine.
"Good work, Agents P and L." Major Monogram praised. "We will come pick up Dr. Blood-Pudding and transfer to our prison. Thanks to your bravery, a crisis was averted. You may return home."
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
As soon as Perry reached his lair in the Flynn-Fletcher household, he parked his hover-car and hopped onto the computer. Dr. Blood-Pudding's screams were still ringing in his ears. Evil scientists didn't usually torture their nemesis', unless they were absolutely desperate. But desperate for what?
Perry pulled up some public O.W.C.A. files on the man. He had a wife still, and two kids, one about Phineas and Ferb's age, and one about Vanessa's age. The oldest was named Todd Blood-Pudding. There was a police report filed by Dr. Blood-Pudding that had been created just a couple hours ago for the missing child. Apparently, law enforcement was already looking into it.
Hm, why hadn't Major Monogram mentioned it? Maybe they didn't know?
Perry thought that seemed unlikely, but decided to gloss over that detail for now. He pulled out the scans he'd taken from that night he'd noticed Vanessa at the Students of Evil conference, and flipped through the list. There he was. Todd Blood-Pudding. So Vanessa went missing, and now Todd? Something was definitely going on.
Perry was reluctant to get O.W.C.A. involved, but he knew he had no choice anymore. Although he didn't want to assume the worst, if these children were all missing, then something dire was going on, and it could not be ignored. Perry clicked a couple buttons on his computer, requesting Monogram's presence and waited for him to reply.
"Agent P! I hadn't expected your report until morning. Is everything alright?"
The man was still in his pajamas, and had only just begun getting ready for bed. Perry shook his head, and typed up his concern for Vanessa's disappearance, along with the evidence he'd gathered that the children were seen together at the Students of Evil conference.
"Hmm." The major pondered. "Really, it's not uncommon for teenagers to run away for a couple of nights, especially teenagers with evil scientists for parents. But I can see why this may be a concern. I will have Carl and some of the agents at IT filter through security cameras around Danville to see if we can pinpoint a last known location. We will let you know if something comes up. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
Perry saluted once more, and let the screen go dark. It wasn't until he returned to Phineas and Ferb's bed that he noticed how exhausted he was. But despite his body's desperate plea for sleep, he could not shut off his mind, and stayed awake, thinking, until morning.