~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Lyla, Perry, and Peter all kicked, knocking three attackers back with ease. Then, the platypus lunged forward, and grabbed Phineas.
The triangle-headed boy growled, and struggled underneath Perry's grip. The agent cursed under his breath, desperately trying to pull the kid forwards. But Phineas harshly bit him on the arm, causing the agent to let go and take a step backwards.
Lyla wasn't having any luck with Candace, either. And compromised citizens of Danville were beginning to surround them.
"We can't carry them!" She cried. "We have to lure them away!"
Perry nodded, and turned around, kicking down the emergency exit. The whole building began to flash red, causing another distraction. The three agents took the opportunity to run. Sure enough, Phineas and Ferb followed, arms outstretched, an enraged look on their face. Lyla, Peter, and Perry bolted towards the light, and fled out of the building. All of the people scurried after them, nostrils flaring.
"Where's Norm?" Peter yelled.
"I have another idea!" Perry shouted back. "Follow me!"
Perry's two partners looked dubious, but ran with him anything, crossing over the street and running in the other direction. Many of the people were unable to keep up with the fast agents, probably due to older age. But the younger crowd kept pushing, screaming after them for miles and miles.
Perry held up his communicator. "Norm! Norm! Where are you?"
No answer. They kept running, back towards the outskirts of the city. Lyla pushed a few citizens to the ground who were catching up. Perry had to dodge a couple punches. Exhaustion was creeping up on his muscles.
"Are we there yet?" Lyla screamed.
Perry squinted his eyes. He could see it.
He motioned for the girl to push forwards as they crossed another street. But just as they were about to reach it, Lyla tripped.
Immediately, the boys stopped and stooped down to help the girl up. She protested, pushing them forwards. Perry gasped; all of Danville was about to pounce on them, some with guns raised. He ducked, waiting for the impact, when a giant metal thud caused both him and Peter and Lyla to jump into the air. The dust cleared, and they looked up to see Norm on the ground, his robotic body blocking a hundred attackers, who were all unconscious against the concrete.
"Go, Norm!" Lyla cheered, getting up.
"Why, thank you. It was no problem."
Perry darted up and grabbed his boys and their friends, dragging their unconscious bodies across the street. They probably wouldn't be out long, unfortunately.
"Where are we?" Lyla gasped.
Perry pulled the boys forwards, when Peter ran out and met them. He concernedly handled one of their friends, picking up the poor child and carrying them through an open gate.
"What is this?" The female agent questioned.
"This is an O.W.C.A. holding facility." Perry answered. He gulped. It seemed very wrong to take his precious kids to an O.W.C.A. prison, but he couldn't think of any place safer. The criminals were all gone, the security abandoned. As long as he could trick out the security's technology to keep Dr. Tecton out, there was no way the kids could escape once they woke up."
The three adults locked the kids, as well as many other Danville civilians, in a cell, keeping them all separate from each other just in case. Once that was finished, Peter collapsed against one of the doors. "It's a man house out there. I'm surprised we got out alive."
"Thank Norm. He saved us."
Norm was pacing the prison, clearly not listening, looking like a fish out of water.
"Anyway," Peter sighed, "What's the plan now?"
"Heinz. And Vanessa. And then we need to take O.W.C.A. headquarters back." Perry answered determinedly.
Lyla raised an eyebrow. "How are you planning to do that?"
Perry grinned. "You know how O.W.C.A. has an emergency lockdown system that activates once a threat has been identified?" The other two nodded.
"We just need to scare everyone out, then activate that lockdown. It'll give us plenty of time to stash up on weapons for an attack. Maybe we can buy the FBI more time to figure out a cure."
"That Dr. Whatchamacallhim will definitely be after us once we try that, eh?." Lyla replied. "And I don't see him being stopped, even by O.W.C.A.'s protective barriers."
"She's right, Perry. He's probably looking for us as we speak."
At that moment, the TV in the corner of the prison began to buzz and crackle. A deep evil laugh reverberated through the room. Perry gulped; Peter had spoken much too soon. Dr. Tecton's face appeared on the screen, his face uncovered this time, standing on top of a building that overlooked Danville Mountain. He swung the camera around, selfie style, laughing until it focused.
"Hello, outsiders. Unfortunately, if you're listening to this right now, it means I'm aware you're here, and I'm going to annihilate you. All of you." The villain paused. "But I have a very special score to settle with one Perry Michael."
The camera then zoomed out of Dr. Tecton's face, and into the background, where Heinz and Vanessa were tied to a pole, surrounded by dry wood and gasoline. Perry's blood ran cold.
The two were gagged, but were struggling and screaming. Despite Dr. Tecton's drug, they seemed to be aware what was going on.
"I want your surrender. If not.." He chuckled ominously. "They die. You have three hours. Think carefully."
The screen hissed to black. Perry slammed his fist into the wall, suddenly filled with rage. He hated this.. thing that looked and sounded just like him, he hated-
"Whoa, whoa, Perry!" Peter grabbed his arm, and slightly shook his body. "We will save them. Both of them. I promise."
"Dr. Tecton can't possibly hold off all three of us." Lyle smiled warily.
Perry sighed. "You don't know what he's capable of. I have to surrender."
"What?" Lyla cried. "Dude, that's insane. No way. We will figure this out."
"Then what do you suggest?" The agent snapped.
"We do what we planned." Peter replied determinedly. "We go to O.W.C.A. We get the weapons. Then we attack."
Perry looked dubiously between the both of them, but finally nodded. His heart was still pounding, and he felt like he was going to be sick, but he knew they were right. If there was anything he was sure about in this whole mess, it was that his evil self wouldn't let Heinz and Vanessa go so easily. The man was full of lies.
That thought made Perry even more sick.
After making sure the security had been updated, Perry crawled into Phineas and Ferb's cell, and gave each of them a kiss on the forehead, whispering promises of safety. They looked so peaceful while unconscious. It made the platypus's head spin.
Finally, the three headed out, using O.W.C.A. secret tunnels to once against maneuver around the city. They ran into a few compromised agents on the way, one of whom being Agent Pinky the Chihuahua. She tried to crack Perry's neck and bite through his skull, but Perry was able to brush her off. Not without hurting the poor dog, however. He felt guilty, but didn't check to see if she was okay.
The agents finally made it to O.W.C.A. headquarters. The building was guarded with twice as many agents, each on their stationed pathways. It didn't even seem that they were allowed to blink. They just kept staring out into the open, at a complete standstill. It was strange to see animals so statutory.
"Your headquarters doesn't happen to have an underground entrance, does it?" Lyla questioned.
"It does." Peter sighed. "But I doubt it's unguarded. What do we do? Blast our way through?"
"And hurt the poor, little agents?"
Perry crumbled. "I don't like the idea any more than you do, but I don't see another option here."
"Just don't do anything fatal." Peter added.
"But-"
But the two male agents were already charing forwards. Lyla rolled her eyes, but followed, grappling hook drawn. Perry was in full agent mode, knocking back anyone and anything in his path. The agents stuck close, hoping to simply push forwards, but about half way to the building, it seemed there was just too many of them.
Perry growled as a pile of compromised animals jumped on top of him, clawing and scratching him, pushing him to the ground. Lyla jumped up and began to fight them off, but it only attracted more of the animals, weighing her down too.
The two were eventually able to break free, but not without quite a few scratches and a black eye. Peter ran up, and pointed towards the building. It seemed the animals were swarming from all directions.
Perry was about to pull out his blaster, when Peter grabbed his shoulder and pointed to his shoes.
Of course. The rocket boots.
Perry grabbed onto his arm, and Lyla did the same on Peter's other side. They waited with bated breath as animal agents crawled closer and closer. Their growls and hisses were like an enormous crack of thunder.
Peter waited, then at just the right moment, activated the boots. Perry and Lyla screeched as their bodies were thrust into the air, but Peter gripped onto both of them. They floated above the crowd, flying freely towards headquarters.
Agent Emmy the Eagle darted from the skies, ready to bite, but Lyla was able to kick her off course.
Soon, they landed right by the front entrance.
Lyla gasped. "Hurry!"
Perry scanned his hat, and immediately, the entrance opened, allowing them in. Once the door shut, Peter and Lyla held it shut, while Perry pulled out his SIG and began shooting at the lobby. The building's emergency systems kicked in, and giant metal walls fell down, trapping them inside. Eventually, the attacks of the agents died down.
"How long until the walls open?" Lyla begged.
"Thirty minutes. Plenty of time."
"Well," Perry sighed, "until that maniac comes after us."
"Why do you suppose he's targeting you, anyway?" Lyla questioned. "Why you, of all people? Did you piss him off?"
Perry shrugged. "You could say that."
Lyla looked suspicious at his nonchalant answer, but didn't say anything further. Unfortunately, the bulk of O.W.C.A. was completely ransacked, and all the immediate weapons were long gone. They decided to split up, and see what they could find.
Perry crawled along the upper floors, looking through drawers and cabinets for anything that might have been missed. As he dragged around the rooms, very disappointed, his eyes landed on a very familiar office.
Major Monogram.