Part 2: Diplomatic Breakdown
(A/N: Wow. I seriously did not anticipate for this fanfic to have more than two parts to it... But I feel that it's necessary to split it. Six pages is quite a lot for me when it comes to fanfiction. Any more pages per chapter and no one would read it. Plus it helps with the formatting. Well I hope you enjoy! Please don't be afraid to comment, I want to hear everything that you have to say about it!)
"Where are you, Platyborg? Why do you resist my authority? You know it's futile. Only I can reprogram you, so at one point or another will come crawling back to me. Why resist?" A voice whispered in my ear. His voice whispered in my ear.
I jolted awake and activated the blaster installed into my arm. Pointing it forward I readied myself to fire it at whoever was in front of me.
"Hey! Woah! Woah! Calm down, boy! Every thing's alright!" Phineas shouted, my blaster inches from his face, "you don't have to shoot anyone! We're all safe!"
I had to remind myself that I was no longer under His control, that I was free. I slowly lowered my arm and reverted the blaster back into a hand. I looked apologetically up at Phineas. It wasn't noon yet and I had almost hurt him twice.
"It's okay, Perry, I'm fine." He looked at me sympathetically as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I could not it feel through my metal exoskeleton.
I examined the room. Empty bookshelves, various chairs laying around the room, several desks shoved next to the wall, we were at the library. I was laid out on the information desk as I noticed that Candace was waiting at the window that looked out onto the street below. It was 9:30, obviously the representatives from the United States were running late. I could see several of the Firestorm girls strolling in between the bookcases, looking at what remained of the library's selection. Only a few days ago these shelves would have been stocked with propaganda. Phineas and Ferb were watching me intently, only about a foot away.
"Perry, stay still," a high-pitched voice with an Indian accent ordered me from behind.
I turned to see 'Doctor' Baljeet with a hand full of wires in his hand, my wires. I looked away, suddenly feeling sick. It was times like these when I was almost glad that I could hardly feel anything.
"Perry, I told you to stay still!" Dr. Baljeet reiterated to me, accidently touching two wires together, forcing my arms and legs to flail wildly around.
I glared at him, annoyed. I didn't like my wires to be played around with.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized before explaining, "you fell from pretty high up. The fall made a huge dent in your armor from the impact, and your CPU was temporarily fried; it was a good thing that Phineas and Ferb called since there was no way to tell how long your life support could have lasted without anything directly controlling it. I've managed to get it back online, but some of your operations are still not working. I've activated your basic motor abilities, but it'll take some time to get them back to normal capacity."
I noticed a large twisted hunk of metal on the floor beside the desk. I tried picking it up, but my movements were stalled by a few seconds and the first time I tried to grasp it, my hold was too weak, and it fell back to the ground. As I examined it closer I noticed that it was the back of my exoskeleton, and judging from its appearance, it had changed from convex to concave in the matter of a few seconds. It would be a trial to get it back to normal.
"What were you thinking? Jumping off of a 20 story building like that. If you weren't mostly made of metal you'd probably be dead right now."
Then I remembered. Where was the girl? Was she okay? Was she still alive? I turned to Phineas and Ferb, desperate for an answer.
"It's all right, boy." Phineas turned and beckoned to a girl hiding in the corner.
I couldn't help but sigh, grateful that she was seemingly unharmed.
As I examined her further and noticed that she was shivering. Her azure eyes were wide, transfixed on me, her lip slightly quivered, and when she came close, she grabbed Phineas' hand and held it tight. It was plain to see that she was scared, and I knew why. It was me, it was always me. Everyone knew my face, and everyone had the same reaction to meeting me. Fear... always fear and nothing else. The Resistance was the only exception, since they had felt obliged to attack. I looked away once she had placed her hand in Phineas'.
I wanted to protect her, I wanted to tell her that everything was alright, and that she's safe from all that would hurt her, but for now she saw me as a monster. No matter how much I wanted to keep her safe, I didn't want to see her face when she started to cry. I sat there, downcast and broken, waiting for the girl to shed tears in remembrance of what she had lost because of me.
I only vaguely noticed Phineas whispering something to the girl.
Something warm, almost like a sensation, slowly crept its way into my hand. What was this pleasant feeling? I looked down to find the unknown girl's hand in mine.
She looked up at me with young, innocent eyes. "You're the Platyborg?" she asked in a sweet tone, too young and nieve to know what terrible things these hands have done.
I slowly nodded. I noticed that her composure was calm, happy even, so much different that a minute before. How could she stand to be so close to me, and hold my hand with nothing more then a slight quiver?
"His name's Perry," Phineas added, his smile ever so cheerful.
"Perry the Platyborg..." the girl muttered to herself, then she looked up and continued, "Mommy always says that you're a bad, bad platypus. She told me to run away if I ever saw you. But you aren't that bad, are you?"
I didn't know how to respond to that. Is who I was who I am?
Phineas answered for me. "Of course he isn't! He's the best pet a boy could ever own! He brave, strong, and can clean his own litter box too! Sure, he keeps secrets from us, but I trust him. He may have done bad things in the past, but that wasn't our Perry. He's our best friend. He's family!"
Phineas' praise managed to crack a thin smile onto my face.
"Well, it's good to see that you're getting along," a deep voice spoke from behind us. We turned to see Major Francis Monogram. "Good to see you Phineas, Ferb, Agent P," he addressed, nodding to each of us in turn.
Why did he call me by that title, even now? I am not part of the OWCA anymore. Sure, I was born into the program, and had spent all of my early years with them, but I couldn't be an agent anymore. I could only be Perry the Platyborg.
The Major must've seen something my face, and immediately apologized, "Oh, sorry! I meant to call you Perry, of course."
I sighed, rolling my eyes in his direction. How did he ever become a major with smarts like those?
"Oh, by the way, Carl told me to say 'hi,' and that he's doing much better in this new hospital outside of the Tri-state area. You know with real doctors, and medicine that actually works instead of what we have here."
Another heavy pang of guilt. Why was the Major always so dense? I didn't need any more reminder of how low I stooped. Was he just ignorant as to how Carl had gotten injured?
He must've been at least able to read my face because he apologized again, "Oh! Sorry, was I not supposed to bring that up?"
I gave him an exasperated look.
"Right. In any case where're the representatives from the United States? I thought we were going to make some treaty with them." He noted, looking around.
"We are. They're late, and so are you." I turned to see Isabella stepping out from behind one of the bookcases.
"Sorry about that, Isabella. I was helping to clear the debris from when we destroyed the Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc. building, and I lost track of time."
"Well, at least you're here now," Candace said before Isabella could interject. "And since everyone's here let's take our seats."
"Yes, sir!" Everyone in the room saluted Candace as they arranged themselves around the large table in the center of the room.
Candace sat at the head of the table closest to the door. To her left was Ferb, and her to right, Isabella. Down Isabella's side sat the six Firestorm Girls. Phineas grabbed my hand and dragged me to the table, much to Dr. Baljeet's and my dismay as a good number of wires were ripped out of his hand and myself. I waddled behind Phineas who sat on the other side of Ferb. I tried my best to squat down on the chair next to Phineas in a position that Dr. Baljeet could work on me in, who of course took the seat next to me. Next to him was an empty seat where Buford would have sat, but obviously he was 'resisting' us again. The little girl later stole this chair. At the end of the row sat Major Monogram. We decided to sit on the side closest to the door so that if things went sour during discussion the Americans wouldn't be able to get out that easily, while we could. Also, they would have to walk past a row of children in order to get to their seats, children who would willingly take up arms and fight at any moment to protect their families. Once they had seen all that only then could they see the only real adult in the room. If we were lucky, they might even know the Major, since he was the one who set up the meeting. Once everyone sat down and got comfortable we started to wait.
.~.
Tension lay thick in the air. It had been an hour and they were still late. Everyone talked to each other in hushed voices. What could they possibly be doing? Could they have forgotten? Rescheduled? Given up on us?
Finally, the doors slowly opened, and a group of six or so people came in. They all surrounded a defeated looking man as they muttered words of encouragement to him.
"I'm sure she's okay. After the meeting, we'll go out and search for her some more." I caught one woman saying to the man.
He grunted a word of thanks as he reached the far side of the table. "I'm sorry for being late. Something came up and we couldn't make it on time." He didn't look up as he spoke, and instead he picked at the paint on the table.
"Daddy?" the little blond haired girl wondered aloud.
The man paused for a moment before shaking his head and going back to picking at the table
"Daddy? Why are you sad?" the girl asked.
The man looked up, stunned at what he saw. "Melissa?" the question hung in the air as if his eyes were deceiving him. Then his face burst into a broad grin. "Melissa!" He practically shouted, running around the table to hug the girl, Melissa presumably.
"Daddy!" Melissa exclaimed, practically jumping into the man's arms, "I've missed you, Daddy. Mommy said that you aren't allowed to come home anymore, that it was against the rules."
"Well, the law changed. Now I can finally come home," the man explained, "but, look at you! How you've grown!" He clutched the girl tightly to his chest, smothering her with love.
"Jonathan..." one man addressed the parent.
"I was so worried about you when I couldn't find you," the man kept doting.
"Jonathan."
"You have no idea how much I missed you."
"Jonathan!"
"What!"
"We should start the meeting, these kids have been waiting for us for over an hour." the man told him.
"Oh, right!" He turned to us and apologized, "I'm sorry, my name's Jonathan Adina, I'm Melissa's father. I used to live here, in Danville, but once Doofenschmirtz came to power, no one was let in or out of the city. I was on a business trip at the time, so I was locked out. Sorry if my daughter caused you any problems."
"Not a problem at all, Mr. Adina." Candace told the man.
"Daddy, he saved me from a Normbot!" Melissa exclaimed pointing at me.
Jonathan turned his attention to us. His eyes were a vivid shade of blue, just like Melissa's, and sharply contrasted with his black hair. "Really? I thought that all the Normbots were destroyed." He stood up and walked up to Phineas. "Thank you, little boy, for protecting my daughter. What's your name?"
Phineas blinked cluelessly for a few seconds before shaking his head and saying, "no, sir, it wasn't me. I'm Phineas, but my pet platypus, Perry, is the real hero. He's one one that helped your daughter." He held out his hand and pointed at me, pride evident on his face.
Everyone turned to stare. This is what I wanted the least. I squirmed uncomfortably in the silence. I attempted to smile, hoping that everyone would look away.
"You..." a familiar voice uttered, breaking the silence.
I gulped. It couldn't be...
"You son of a bitch!" the voice shouted.
"Mr. Robins! There are children here! Watch your mouth!" a woman in the group scolded the man.
"Shut up Beatrix! It's him!" the man continued.
There was no doubt in my mind of who it was, but I still had to make sure. I turned to look at the man. He was stout, he had graying brown hair, and light brown eyes tinted with green, he had gained a few pounds in the past few years, but what bothered me the most about this man was the cane he held and the limp he walked with. There was no denying it. It was Benjamin Robins.
"It's the thing that broke my legs!" he accused.
I looked down at my lap, ashamed. What he said was true and there was no way I could dismiss it.
"Don't pretend that you can't hear me! I know that you understand what I'm saying!" He limped over to me. It was painful to watch. "What are you doing here? I thought that all scum like you was cleared out of here." He pressed his face close to mine. "Yet you have the nerve to show up here, at this meeting. What are you? A slave to whoever has the power in this sad, sad little area?"
I wanted to look away, I wanted to hide, I wanted to run from here and be forgotten. On the other hand every circuit in my body screamed at me to hit this man and give him what he deserved. I couldn't do either and instead just froze in place, unable to do anything.
"Benjamin!" Jonathan ordered, "You are going too far! Can't you see you're bothering him!"
I didn't deserve to be protected.
"Good. Then maybe he'll learn to regret his actions, and get what he deserves." Taking his cane he hit me across the face.
It stung, and I predicted that it would leave a bruise on my flesh, but no one would see it from under my fur. I could almost smile. Finally, someone was going to make me pay for my sins. I would gladly accept a thousand blows from this man if it meant forgiveness.
He pulled his cane back for another blow, but someone stopped him. Candace grabbed the end of his cane as everyone else watched, stunned by the scene.
"That is enough, Mr. Robins!" Candace ordered.
Why did she protect me?
"I understand how you must feel, but this is not the time or the place to fight over what happened in the past."
She didn't have to...
"We came to you asking for peace and forgiveness, and since you are here now it shows that you have acknowledged our plea."
Why wasn't I doing anything to stop her?
"Don't ruin this by getting your personal grudge involved."
Of course. It was for the sake of politics. If this man kept going he could upset the rest of the representatives, and the mission could fail.
"If you want, you can deal with this outside, but only after the meeting is done. Do you understand?" Candace commanded.
Benjamin looked at the teenage girl, who spoke in words beyond her years, with a disgusted glare. He lowered his weapon and growled, "fine. If you want to protect that thing go ahead. Don't complain to me when he betrays you, your trust, and your family."
"I won't." Her eyes fell on me momentarily from behind her dark shades. "After all, he already has." She turned to peer at Phineas and Ferb, a smile fluttering on her lips. "But nevertheless he is still family."
Everyone took their seats and the meeting started.
.~.
I didn't care much for talk, so I just zoned in and out of the conversation, only getting bits and pieces of information here and there. Besides, if I really wanted to listen I could always do so later by going back into my data bank to re-watch what was happening. I couldn't even interject, so this entire meeting, while being important to the future of the Tri-State area, wasn't very relevant to me. I slowly began to drift off to sleep as they were starting to ask how we had gotten our freedom, a story I remembered as if it was yesterday.
.~.
"What are you doing here?" a voice echoed in my head.
What am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a nap until this meeting wraps up.
"No. What are you doing here, among the enemy?" the voice asked.
Enemy? There's no enemy here. Just a bunch of kids.
"They are the enemy." the voice told me.
Them? The enemy? How could they? They're kids. They're my... family.
"You never had a family. You only ever had me." the voice made me feel warm and safe from everything around me.
Really? But they're kind to me. They treat me fairly and protect me like a family would.
"They're lying. You are nothing more to them than an object. A prize to be won." the voice tried to convince me.
No I'm not. They care for me.
"Then why did they let that man hurt you?"
Because I deserved it.
"Did you really? What have you ever done to deserve it?"
I traumatised their mother to start, then I broke that man's...
"No. Those were done under orders. What did YOU do to deserve it?"
I... I don't know... Why do you ask?
"I think It's time to deliver some fair punishment, don't you?" The voice sounded terribly familiar.
... Who are you?
"Who am I? I am you." The voice was lying.
No, really, who are you?
The voice broke into laughter. "I am you. I am your master. I am..." The voice paused for a moment to let everything sink in. "Doofenschmirtz."
.~.
My eyes flew open. What a bad dream... Was it a bad dream? I couldn't remember. I looked around in confusion. Where was I? These weren't my quarters. Was I being held prisoner? Apparently not. I wasn't bound to anything. Where was I? I looked out the window, but could not see any sign of my master's building. My GPS system said that I was in the library, but where were all the books? The shelves were completely devoid of any Doofenschmirtz regulated propaganda.
"Perry?" A young voice asked me.
I turned to see a boy with an unnaturally triangular face looking at me. What was that in his eyes? Concern? Pity? I scanned the area some more. Was that the leader of the resistance with her two little brothers? Was it that sniveling coward Benjamin Robins? Were those the the firestorm girls? Why yes, yes they were.
I may have not known where I was or what I was doing, but now I was compelled by a single order. Attack.
(A/N: You want to know something. I actually didn't initially intend for the little girl to be anyone special or specific. I just needed someone for Perry to save. Now I actually gave her an identity. Remember the little girl from 'We Call it a Maze?' This is her.
I need some help. For the next chapter I'm considering putting a flashback of what happened to Carl, Linda, and most pressingly Pinky. I want your feedback.
I'm sorry that I have now strayed into OC land. A land that I now try to avoid like the plague. I just hope that they help the story along somewhat and don't completely annoy you.
Please read, review, and critique. I really want to know everything you have to say about this!)
(Edit: urrr yeah... if you got this in the first few minutes of posting, I'm sorry for the funky formatting, I think I fixed it... tell me if I didn't)