The agents gasped.
Perry squinted. "Me?"
"Of course. I'll leave your owners alone. What would be the point, anyway? I only use them to manipulate you. And that kid of yours… You two are worth about the same. You were trained at a relatively young age, and he can't even talk…"
"You say if I go with you, you'll leave my owners and son alone?"
Dennis smiled. "You're smarter than you look, Perry."
"Don't go!" Pinky grabbed Perry's arm. "He's tricking you! Not only that, they might hurt you!"
"I don't have all day." Dennis said.
"Pinky, I have to."
"You don't! We can take him. We could even guard your owners twenty-four hours a day!"
Perry shook Pinky off and stepped forward. "Fine, Dennis."
Dennis nodded. "Wise move. And I didn't even need Fir for this diplomacy."
Fir glowered.
"And you three." Dennis hissed, gesturing toward Carrie, Devon and Pinky. "You all better head home before I count to ten, or… an unfortunate mishap may take place."
Carrie shot away.
Devon and Pinky stayed put.
"Go." Perry told them. "I'll be fine."
"We'll get help." Devon promised.
"I wouldn't." Dennis said coldly.
Once they were gone, Dennis sized Perry up. "Not bad. You're a little skinny, though."
"That's the opposite of what I usually hear."
"I don't really have any plans for you, I'm sorry to say. You're pretty much just a thorn in my side. I might as well fix you."
"Fix?"
"Come on." Dennis pulled him along.
Perry followed. He was certain Dennis had been intending to kill him on the spot. Why hadn't he?
They came to a small door in the middle of a dark alley. Dennis pulled out some keys and stuck one in the lock.
He swung the door open and shoved Perry in.
It was surprisingly nice on the inside. The walls were decorated with rose wallpaper, and a small bed sat at one corner next to a bedside table with a cheery red lamp. There was a desk and a refrigerator, a ceiling light, and a portable television.
There weren't any windows, though.
"The only people who will come in here will be Courtney or me. Court's a black cat. She'll bring you your meals."
"Huh?"
"I may pay you a visit soon enough. Keep active. Run around a little. But you won't leave this room." Dennis closed the door. Perry heard the key lock it.
It was a pretty good place to be trapped in, he guessed. A lot better than some cage with no snacks.
Perry probably could escape.
But this was the way to keep Palmer safe.
He went over to the bed and crawled under the covers, switching off the ceiling light. Without windows, the place was pitch black.
He felt the fatigue slowly draining from his body. He was exhausted.
He closed his eyes.
p***
Courtney came in the morning.
"I brought food." She slammed the door.
"Waking up is not fun." Perry mumbled.
Court flipped the lightswitch.
The sudden light stung Perry's eyes. He covered them up and waited for them to adjust.
"You can't just be lazy and sleep all day." Court snapped. "You gotta get some exercise."
"It's still dark out. Darkness equals sleepytime."
"It's light. Now get up and eat." Court put a tray down on the desk.
Perry stretched and got up. He drowsily ambled over to the desk and took a bite of cereal.
"Good." Court turned to leave.
"Why is Dennis doing this?"
"You gave yourself up, I recall."
"I thought I'd be dead by now. Not being fed large portions or having a comfortable place to sleep…"
"Who knows. He only told me he had an offer to make you. Keep moving or you'll forget how to fight." She left, locking the door behind her.
Perry looked over his tray. There was the cereal, some milk, fruit… and cake.
"Now we're talkin'." Perry started on the cake.
He couldn't help feeling just a little suspicious. Dennis obviously had some kind of plan.
And how was making Perry happy going to benefit him?
p***
"Let's all calm down." Monogram said.
The animal agents were running back and forth, barking, meowing and howling. Ferdinand the frog didn't even know what was going on, but he was jumping up and down.
Pinky was yapping furiously. He'd obviously wanted to say much more than he could write on a paper.
"I understand, Agent P. Please quiet everyone else down."
Pinky took a deep breath, and then stood on a chair. He gave out a huge yelp.
p***
"QUIET!" Pinky yelled.
The agents all stopped running. They stared at Pinky.
"Does ANYONE HERE even know what this is all about?" Pinky asked.
"Monogram said 'oh no' when he read your note." Carrie said. "That meant something bad happened. So we all decided to panic."
"Listen to what we have to say, and THEN panic." Pinky said. He nodded to Monogram.
Monogram cleared his throat. "Agent P- the platypus Agent P, not agent Pinky, mind you- has given himself up to Dennis."
There was silence.
Then the agents resumed their panicked chaos.
"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Pinky shouted. He looked over at Poppy and Palmer.
Poppy looked devastated. Palmer was chewing on a wire. "Now… the situation was dire. Perry gave himself up to protect his son. And… as far as we know…" He looked down.
"Maybe he's not." Said Peter the panda. "Maybe Dennis is keeping him alive."
Pinky swallowed. "I don't think so."
The agents were silent again.
"Call him." Poppy said.
"What?"
"Call him. He has his videophone on him, doesn't he?"
Pinky hesitated. Then he drew out his own phone and dialed Perry's number.
The agents waited while it rang.
Then… the phone lit up.
"Need something, Pinky?" Perry asked.
The agents cheered. "He's alive!"
"HUSH!" Pinky growled. He looked back at his phone. "Perry, are you okay? What's the situation?"
"I'm fine. He's feeding me. I'm not really sure what he's gaining from it, but what the heck."
"We'll bust you out. Where are you?"
"I don't need to get busted out. Palmer's safe as long as I pretend to cooperate."
"We can't just leave you locked up in there! Don't be crazy!"
"It's the only way. I gotta go."
The phone switched off.
"I'm conflicted." Said Ferdinand. "He's obviously right, but… he's needed here."
"I hate the thought of him being cooped up somewhere." Devon agreed. "We should have fought for him."
The lights turned off.
"Palmer!" Poppy scolded. "We don't bite wires in half!"
p***
Perry was watching TV when Dennis opened the door.
"Mind if I ask you something?"
"Nah. Nothing good's on, anyway." Perry switched the TV off and turned to face him.
"You could have escaped by now."
"I chose not to."
"Good choice." Dennis nodded. "I suppose you wonder why I've been keeping you like this."
"That wonder has crossed my mind, yes."
"You're a good fighter, Perry. You're legendary. One of the best agents. I have been keeping you in shape, keeping you eating right…"
"Yes, because cake is a very healthy food."
"The cake was to make you hyper so you'd run around."
"That makes sense."
"Anyway, I've done all that in hopes that you may fight by the rogues' side if needed." Dennis stared straight into Perry's eyes. "It would be a nice thing in return for your son remaining with the agency."
"I'll think about it." Perry said.
Dennis didn't move.
"I will."
"Of course." Dennis got up. "I'll ask you again tomorrow."
After Dennis had gone, Perry flopped down on the bed. He wouldn't be able to hold out daily. But he couldn't say yes. It was too painful, even if it was a lie.
Palmer was the most important thing right now.
p***
"What are we going to do?" Asked Devon.
"I can't believe you just let Dennis take him like that!" Poppy said. "You should have helped him get away!"
"He was really stubborn." Pinky said. "So we went to get help."
"But he doesn't want it." Devon added. "He always was difficult."
Poppy clenched her fists. "If anything happens to him… I'll kill him."
"Mergia." Said Palmer.
"Hey, he was trying to help your son!" Pinky said.
"What if the thing that happens to him is he gets killed?" Carrie said at the same time.
"It's a figure of speech, Carrie." Devon rolled his eyes. "She means she'll just be really mad at him."
"He's my best friend." Poppy said quietly. "More than that, even, but I feel like he doesn't feel the same way."
"He doesn't." Billy the beaver said, walking by. Billy always spoke his mind.
Poppy frowned. Then she stood up. "Can one of you watch Palmer?"
"Where are you going?" Asked Pinky.
"I'm getting him out of wherever he is." Poppy said.
"He doesn't want us to get him out." Devon said. "That's the whole reason why we had this meeting, to figure out what to do."
"Getting him out is what we should do." Poppy insisted.
p***
Perry crawled under the covers. He was freezing. The autumn chill had come in through a few cracks in the old door.
His blood was probably frozen solid in his veins. His saliva was ice.
Perry curled up to conserve body heat. The covers started to warm him a little.
Footsteps sounded outside. Perry paid them no mind. People walked by all the time. Who cared about the old abandoned wooden door that only an animal could fit through?
Suddenly there was a repeated banging noise against the door.
Perry sat up, his heart beating furiously. He had no weapons, save for his fighting skills.
The door shook with each bang. Finally, with a huge groan, it fell forward.
Perry stared. The moonlight cast a soft glow on someone.
"Bored of this place yet?" Poppy asked.
Perry smiled with relief. "Took you long enough." He said.