...And I'm two days late. Yeesh. Well, happy late Thanksgiving and such. If you're into that.
Review responses:
Dreadwing216: Thank you. I think. And yes, P+I will happen... Eventually. It's just taking a while for them to meet and such.
Phineas A: I'm going to go with a long story. It's already, what? 12k+ words? (10/21/15: Aw, only 12k. :3)
"Are you entirely sure about this?" Eliza inquired, wincing a bit at the sight of her friend's endeavor.
Vanessa grunted and reached for the next rung. "It's the only way I can think to find him," she explained, trying to focus all her attention on her mission. The telephone pole she was climbing sure seemed shorter from the ground...
"Vanessa, this is crazy. We'll figure something else out," Lacie commented.
"Nope, only way. Be quiet, please..."
Lacie exhaled. In an instant, Vanessa was able to scale the pole and retrieve the video camera that they would use to attempt hearing where the invisible bike went; now, though, it did not seem that getting down would be an easy accomplishment.
Vanessa looked cautiously downward and regretted it. She cringed at the task ahead of her and steeled her face. C'mon, Vanessa... You're a rough-and-tumble secret agent! The US government doesn't select just any fifteen-year-old with insanely rich parents to do these kinds of things!
Wait...
These were the thoughts running through Vanessa's head when the video camera slipped out of her grip; her first instinct led both of her arms to snap out and clutch the valuable piece of equipment, which she was able to do. However, this resulted in the immediate loss of grip on the pole, and before Vanessa knew it, she was airborne - but not, she was certain, for long.
She was correct in this assertion in that after only two seconds of fall time, her trip to the ground faced an abrupt stop. What she was not expecting, however, was to live to tell the tale. Confused, Vanessa's eyes flew open to see some kind of energy surrounding her, suspending her in midair.
"Woah..." She mouthed, "What is this, some sort of tractor beam?"
"I think it is a beam," Jenny observed. "It certainly isn't a tract."
Mandy waved her off, her closed hand extended towards Vanessa. "No, but close," she revealed. "Zero-point energy gauntlet. Stole it from Thor." Her smirk intensified as she placed Vanessa semi-carefully on the ground. "Didn't break the camera, did you?"
Agent V dusted herself off. "Don't think so. And, Mand?"
"Yeah?"
"Next time any of us is in a life-or-death situation and you have the technology to save us, please don't wait to use it!"
Mandy thought. "Not making promises," she refused. Vanessa sighed.
Graciela Guerrero was the worst critic of her own resourcefulness. Sure, she had navigated her way from Mexico to the Tri-State Area, and she had escaped the family with that somewhat-creepy girl in the hotel room, and she had been able to finish Phase II of the mission she and Ferb designed themselves (a video chat through their wrist communicationizers had proved that earlier), but she had a horrible feeling this was as far as she was going to get. Tomorrow was the day of the big test, and she had zero way of getting there.
She watched from her place in the garden - on the very stone she rested on last night - as the car drove off down the street, to be seen again only when the boy inside of it had proven to the world what would happen when two perfect and evenly matched beings were pitted against each other in what many would call a test. She called it a war.
She picked up a loose pebble or two and threw them in frustration. Ferb was absolutely going to give her a hard time.
Suddenly, a familiar voice knocked her out of her thoughts; its source was standing in front of her, smiling nicely.
"Graciela! Did you need a ride somewhere?"
Graciela looked up to find Irving swinging keys around on a chain. "...I do own a motor scooter..."
A smile spread across the young girl's lips. "Do you now?"
Two hats fluttered around with the wind: one, a fedora; the other, a beret. "Follow that pharmacist!" Graciela cried out, holding onto Irving in front of her with one arm and commanding the charge with the other.
"What?" Wondered a confused Irving.
"Sounded like a thing good to say. That was wrong."
"That's alright. Isn't this your first time in the U.S.?"
That had not even occurred to Graciela. "Yes. It is." Her sash flapped against her side.
"So, if you don't mind my asking, why did we turn invisible again?"
They had somehow managed to revive the large version of the Invisinator, and Graciela had thought it a good idea to go under its effects for the reasons she explained just then. "Well, if she can see us, we can not follow him, right?"
"Who's she?"
"He! I mean 'he'," Graciela corrected herself, alarmed. Irving just chuckled.
Nearby, another group was discussing their next action. "Now let's see if we can't find something to play this on - hey! Do you hear that?"
The sound of Irving's scooter trailed away from a certain telephone pole, at the bottom of which stood Vanessa and her team examining the tape. "Ferb came back. Quick, follow him!"
Graciela turned sharply. "We have a tail!" She informed, and Irving advanced. He noticed the six at the apartment and knew that although they were not looking for him, he could not let himself get caught, for his friend's sake. Ferb's location was not a problem at the moment. Graciela wrapped both arms around her also-invisible partner tightly. "Ellas están yendo más rápido. Speed up!" She whispered urgently, then spat under her breath, "Quiero mi bicicleta..."
"Ugh, you know, Ferb…" Vanessa mumbled after them, "It really is easier when you aren't invisible. Stacy! Any more lemon juice?"
The teen in blue checked the tank. "All out," she reported.
"Drat." Vanessa gripped her motorcycle's handlebars tighter. "Looks like we're going to do this the hard way, then..."
"Ready to fire on your command," announced Mandy, adjusting the zero-point gauntlet on her wrist, grinning in the thrill of the chase.
"What?" Vanessa turned to her cohort, realizing what was meant. "Amanda Bertha Thorne!" She scolded with a gasp, "That is so dangerous... And, actually, maybe not a bad idea. Think you can aim that thing at invisible targets?"
"Um..." Apparently Mandy had not considered that. Eliza spotted an oil truck next to their pursued, and an idea formed.
"Maybe she doesn't have to!" She offered, and sped up a little. She placed one foot upon the space between the handles, letting the scooter propel itself forward, and the other on the back where the wheel was covered. Using the extra height standing like this allowed her, she removed her fedora, pulled the cord inside it that turned the rim into a saw blade, and gingerly threw it like a throwing disk at the gleaming gray canister attached to the oil truck.
There was a leak, just not the kind Eliza was expecting; the back substance poured out onto the busy highway across the invisible children's paths, not landing directly onto them but making their escape tremendously more difficult.
Eliza hopped back down onto her scooter. Stacy whooped. "Wow, you're fearless!"
This time, Jenny's confusion was a bit more understandable, seeing as the praise was sent out over the din of the wind passing the riding children. "Of course she's beardless! She's a lady!"
The others waved this off as always. "Mandy, you think you can get a clear shot?"
"I can try," she responded confidently. Each of her shots missed differently, but each caused Irving and Graciela more trouble than they had come looking for.
"You know what?" The latter offered, "Maybe I should drive."
"You want to take the controls? You can't even see the controls! Let's just get out of here!"
"We can't, we have to follow Doofenshmirtz and Perfeneas!"
Irving exhaled. "The things I do for you."
He tried going farther, but while he couldn't see the dashboard, he started feeling like there was a gas problem. "Oh, come on! I'm not supposed to have to worry about this for a long, long time!"
The group pulled out onto an exit at that moment ("Oh thank gosh!"), and a mile or so down that road, all six pursuers suddenly skidded to a halt. Looking back, Graciela realized there must have been a red light. "Did just break the law?" She asked Irving, impressed and disappointed simultaneously.
"...And where's your passport?" The boy countered, and she blinked.
"How did know?"
"You're missing a couple 'you's'," was Irving's only response. Graciela should have known better: if Irving took a liking to someone, he would learn everything there was to know about them. That ignores the fact that he had no clue of her secret agent status, and thought that revealing his - something she had learned from Ferb long ago - would actually impress her.
The two pulled into the gas station when Doofenshmirtz did, and Doofenshmirtz pulled up to the testing facility when they did.
Vivian did not know what to make of it, but there was no denying that Isealia was acting at least a little different today. Everything about her composure screamed that something was wrong. The scientist was not terribly worried, as her daughter was still the perfect little girl she had come to be, but occasionally Vivian noticed that her smile appeared more genuine than ever before; and that while her focus never veered from her training for the next day's event, some other thought seemed to demand her attention when she was not preoccupied.
What brought about this change? Vivian wondered, Or, could it be... Who?
Dra. García-Shapiro kept a close eye on Ferb all day. The kid was also also acting - unconventional, as Isealia would call it - constantly looking around as if someone was searching for him. She had her reasons for being suspicious, but the thought was mostly blamed on her parental instinct to protect Isealia. That night she took extra care keeping her daughter close, far from the influence of the apparently paranoid boy.
Tomorrow was going to be their day - Isealia's time to shine. The time for her to spread her wings and soar, demonstrating not only the success of her country but the pinnacle of human achievement itself.
And there was nothing and no one on this Earth that was going to stop her.