~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Perry jumped awake with a startled yelp. His heart was beating out of his chest, and sweat was dripping down his forehead and back. He'd had another nightmare, and this one had been a particularly bad one.
After calming himself down, the agent tried to shut his eyes and drift back to sleep. But after half an hour with no results, Perry got up, pulled on a shirt, and crept into the kitchen to make himself some tea.
He was surprised to see the lamp on and Doofenshmirtz sitting wide awake on the couch. The evil scientist glanced up at Perry. His eyes were bloodshot. It didn't look like the man had been getting much good sleep either.
"Sorry if I woke you." Perry sighed.
Heinz shook his head. "I've been up."
"Do you want some tea?"
"That'd be nice."
Perry grabbed the kettle and began brewing some of his favorite green tea. Once done, he poured two glasses and brought them over to the couch, setting them down on the coffee table. The agent sat next to his nemesis, as Doofenshmirtz took a long sip.
"Thanks."
Perry waited for the long rambling that his nemesis was about to spill. However, the silence continued without pause, expect for the occasional clinking of glass against their fingertips. After a few minutes, Perry realized that Heinz wasn't going to say anything at all. Clearly, the man was trapped inside his own circle of thoughts.
"Anything you want to talk about?" Perry finally questioned softly.
Heinz didn't speak for another few minutes, before letting out a long breath. "What if she dies, Perry the Human? What if.."
Without thinking, the agent grabbed his nemesis's hand. He instantly regretted doing it, but knew it was too awkward to pull away now. Heinz's palm was so rough from all the tinkering and inventing he did, but it was strangely comforting to the platypus. Like a firm, reliable touch.
"She's not going to die." He replied sternly. "I promise."
"You.. promise?"
"Do you trust me?"
Perry was now so close he could smell the green tea on the doctor's breath. They locked eyes for a solid minute, as Doofenshmirtz pondered Perry's haunting words.
Do you trust me.
Were they really at a stage in their.. whatever this was.. that he could demand an answer for such a statement? But as he watched his nemesis's eyes, and knew something was shifting in that ingenious brain of his. It was almost like watching their very relationship unhinge and restitch itself back together into something completely knew.
"Yes. I trust you." Heinz finally murmured.
Perry had the strangest urge to lean in and kiss the man, but he pushed that thought to the very corner of his mind, and punished it by locking it away. Instead, he held onto Heinz's hands tighter and whispered, "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure Vanessa is safe. Everything. Those people won't get away with this."
Heinz smiled. It was the first smile Perry had seen it in a quite a few hours. They continued with their tea in silence, feeling a heavy weight lift off of both of them.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
At about five in the morning, both Perry and Heinz received an urgent call from headquarters. Apparently, Vanessa had woken up, and had asked for both of them.
Perry rushed Heinz over to the medical ward in his hover-car, and both figures sprinted into Vanessa's room. She was still white as a sheet, but there was a small smile on her face. Heinz immediately wrapped his arms around the girl and cried tears of joy.
"Dad, Dad, it's okay, I'm okay.." She laughed, hugging him back. She caught Perry's eye, and mouthed a little thank you. The platypus tipped his hat in return.
"Oh, Vanessa, I was so worried. Are you hurting? How do you feel?"
"I'm a little sore, and my head is killing me, but the doctors are giving me all they can."
"What happened, Sweetheart?" Heinz sighed. "Who did this to you?"
The teenager squirmed, but Perry knew she had known this was coming. O.W.C.A. had probably already received a full report from her on the situation.
Vanessa launched into her spiel, describing the other kids at the scene, how they'd gotten in, and a vague description of the woman that had talked to them before they were gassed and passed out. Perry felt his heart clench at her description of the events. Those bastards were going to pay for what they did.
Heinz was hugging his daughter again, promising her the very same thing that Perry was thinking. He watched the heartfelt exchange with a sad smile. An undesirable emotion was tugging at his heart, and it took the agent dramatic effort to refocus his mind.
Vanessa's test results had returned, thankfully with nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty soon, she was cleared by the doctors, and allowed to return home.
Perry knew that the other kids that had been found, including Todd Blood-Pudding and Orville were also waking from their comas, and would be returning home very soon, since their tests also came back completely clear. Perry still felt uneasy about the situation, however. It wasn't like Dr. Gevaalijk to just kidnap someone and leave them for the agents to find. Unless that had been her plan all along.
O.W.C.A. would definitely be looking for the professor, but Perry knew he had to act faster. But how was he going to get one step ahead, when he couldn't beat his own self?
His thoughts were interrupted by Vanessa, who had grabbed him in a hug and thanked him for coming to save her. He squirmed, very uncomfortable, but accepted her gratitude with a smile.
Perry agreed to take the two home, seeing as Heinz had left his truck at his apartment. After getting a nod of approval from the major, the agent guided them to his hover-car, and took off into the sky.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Doofenshmirtz couldn't stop watching Vanessa as she walked into the apartment and sat down at the kitchen table. She still looked a bit fragile, but he was just relieved to see her alive and walking. She seemed to notice his unusual looks, and smiled at him.
"Honestly, Dad, you'd think I actually died or something."
"Don't say that!" He cried in panic. "Please don't say that!"
"Did you tell Mom what happened?"
Heinz hung his head. "No, I didn't. If the doctors had said your condition was critical, I would have, but.. She just doesn't understand O.W.C.A. or any of that, and well.. I should have though, I know."
Vanessa nodded, clearly unsure what to do with the information, but deciding to take it at face value, which the doctor was grateful for. He made her a sandwich and a cup of tea, before letting her go on up to bed. The girl was clearly exhausted.
Heinz decided he was going to try and sleep as well, as he hadn't been fully rested in a very long time. However, once the doctor laid down, he couldn't help but feel his thoughts wander, specifically on a certain someone that had teal hair and weird piercings.
Perry Michael. When Heinz had known him as just Michael, he'd had a strange liking to the man that he couldn't quite explain. His calm, quiet demeanor and strong, bold personality had been something of an attraction to him.
When he found out that Michael was actually a human version of his nemesis, he'd been hurt and very, very confused. When he had looked at the man then, all he saw were the battles and scars that had been shared between the two over the years.
But now that the shock had finally passed, Heinz was seeing both Michael and Perry the Platypus as the same person, just with all the features combined, and that old attraction had started to creep up again.
When Perry had grabbed his hand the other night, it'd sent warmth all throughout his entire body, and yet made him shiver at the same time. Perry's hands were soft and inviting to the touch. The doctor couldn't help but wonder what the rest of his skin felt like.
The evil scientist cursed himself. There was no way his nemesis felt the same way. And maybe, it was bad that he even felt this way to begin with. He had to let these distracting feelings go.
Heinz looked out to where Vanessa's closed door stood. No, he had another mission now. He had to keep his daughter safe. To hell with anything else.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Vanessa was glad to lay her head on her own pillow. But strangely, the atmosphere of her own bedroom wasn't quite as comforting as she thought it'd be. She shivered. Her anxiety was ten times worse tonight. She debated sneaking into her dad's room and asking to sleep on a mattress by the foot of the bed.
She was a grown woman, for heaven's sake. She could handle this.
All of a sudden, there was a slight tapping on her bedroom window.
Vanessa jumped, startled, and slowly pulled the curtain back to look outside. Her face relaxed when she saw it was just Perry. He was hanging off the wall, secured by his grappling hook, and very much human. The teenager opened the window and let him inside.
"I know this looks creepy." Perry whispered. "I'm not stalking you, I promise."
"It's okay." The girl breathed. Secretly, she was grateful to see him. Perry always had a way of making her feel safe.
"I know you've been through a lot of trauma." The man began awkwardly. "I'm not here to ask you to rehash it."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Oookay. Then, what?"
Perry took in a deep breath and steeled himself. "Did you steal my keycard and attack O.W.C.A. headquarters?"
Shit. He knows.
Vanessa opened her mouth to speak, but knew no lie would bypass the agent's inquiries. After a moment of hesitation, the girl sighed and hung her head. "I stole your keycard. But I didn't attack O.W.C.A. I told them I wasn't able to do something like that."
"Until you learned how to fight, correct?"
Again, she cringed. Did the agent ever miss anything?
"I'm sorry." She frowned. "I know it was wrong. I shouldn't have done it. Are you going to report me?"
The man pondered her question for a second, probably trying to weigh his judgement on her honesty. "No." He finally admitted. "Vanessa, I'm on your side. Let me help you out of this mess."
The girl shook her head. "You can't."
"I swear, I'll have them all punished. They won't bother you ever again, once I'm done with them."
"Perry, I can't." She snapped, almost sobbing. "They'll.."
Her breath hitched and she stopped. They'll kill me.
But Perry backed down. "I don't want to pressure you." He whispered. "I just want you to be safe."
"I know." The teenager sighed. "I know."
"Everything will be okay. I promise. For you and for your dad."
Forcing the tears back, Vanessa cleared her throat. "By the way, my dad told me about you and your restaurant job. Do you promise you weren't just spying on my dad?"
Perry's eyes were haunting. Apparently, it was a loaded question, but one that had been bugging her for awhile.
"I promise."