Disclaimer: Who knows that these characters don't belong to him? This guy!
Chapter 4 – The Work
Perry closed on the main building of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, determined to get this mission over with as soon as possible. It was still a mystery as to why Doof would do anything today; it was well known within the organization that Doof usually took a break from his usual evil schemes for the sake of the holidays. But he drove that thought out of his mind. He had to focus.
Perry flipped out of his aircar, landing on the balcony of Doof's laboratory...and was immediately restrained by a metal coil coming from the floor, his arms pinned to the side of his body.
"Ahhh, Perry the Platypus!" The scientist exclaimed, dropping the wrench he was working with. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show up, with it being the holidays and all. Good to know that you are always reliable for a good trap."
Perry tried to free himself of the coil, but to no avail.
"You like my trap, Perry the Platypus? It's so simple, yet effective. I'm surprised I didn't think of it before. But enough about that." Doof paced around the room, ready to go off on one of his backstory diatribes.
"You see, Perry the Platypus, I had entirely way too many sweets for the holidays. Especially my almond brittle, even though I looooove iiiiittt!" Doof said with a wave of his arms. "So I packed on a few pounds over the last few days, and I was trying to find a way to get rid of them. So I came up with this!" He motioned toward the contraption that he was working on, which consisted of a large ray gun on a pedastal, metal coils wrapped around every viewable surface.
"Behold, Perry the Platypus! The Spring-inator!" the scientist yelled. "I bet you're wondering how it works. You see, all I have to do is shoot the laser at an object or person, and they will immediately have springs attached to the bottom of their feet. I just used it a little while ago on myself, and I got rid of all of my puppy fat! Of course, it was rather difficult to press the reverse button when you're bouncing around like a madman, but I did it!" He gingerly put a cold washcloth on the back of his head. "But not before I hit my head on the ceiling. Totally worth it, though!
"After my headache-inducing trip, I got to thinking: What if I used this as a service for a weight-loss program? All of the citizens of the Tri-State Area who wish to lose that holiday weight can get shot by the laser and pay a small, ever-so-minimal fee of one million dollars! Or ten dollars if they join in the next five days! I'll make money in no time!"
Perry shot him a look of exasperation, clearly not impressed with his plan.
"I know what you're thinking. Doof, why can't they just join a gym or something? Well, then they would have to go out and get a membership and have to visit a certain number of times a month! This is so much easier, trust me on that!" He began to push the machine toward the balcony, but the horrendous metal scraping on the floor reverberated through the room, impeding his progress.
"Man, I wish I would stop making these things without wheels. You think I would have learned from the first time." Doof was panting heavily from his short trip across the floor. "But as soon as I get this over to the edge, Perry the Platypus, you will wish you had ten dollars on you!"
Perry struggled against his binds once again, but it was not coming off. No worries, though; he knew that he still had plenty of time left before he had to anything substantial.
Phineas knew that he didn't have much time left.
He had made great headway in his construction, though. The materials had been delivered, as promised by Mort, to the front of the house by Chad. He was lucky his compact smelting kit was still functional, having used it only a couple of times in the past year.
He wished that he had given his friends a better explanation. He had ran out to the backyard, handing over the prints of the Chinese Dragon to Ferb and told him that he would be busy doing something else for the next few hours. Ferb's eyes had never felt more penetrating until he turned and went back into the house.
But he had to drive that out of his mind. Not only did Phineas have to focus because of the very dangerous melted materials, he couldn't think about what Ferb or Isabella or anyone else were doing. All he could do was focus on making the best final product he could muster.
There was a knocking on the kitchen door, the one that he had purposefully locked in order to keep everyone out.
"Who is it?" Phineas shouted.
"It's your brother. Perhaps you would like to explain why you've locked every discernible entrance to the garage."
The redhead froze. He didn't need this, not right now. "Highly dangerous materials, Ferb. It's better if only I'm in here."
"That's a load of crud and you know it, Phineas. Open up. I need my laser wrench anyway."
Phineas slammed the lid down on his cauldron, throwing a flame-proof tarp over his entire workspace. Spotting his brother's favorite wrench near the washer and dryer, he grabbed it and walked over to the door, creaking it open slightly. Ferb's dark blue iris peered through the crack back at him.
"Did you find it?" the green-haired boy asked.
"Yeah, I did." He fit the wrench through the crack and slapped it in his hand.
"Thanks." Ferb, in a flash, fit the head between the door and the frame and twisted, launching the door open and throwing his brother back. "That's what you get for giving me a wrench. Especially one that I made." He stepped through the door and was suddenly hit by a wave of hot air. It would have been intolerable if the garage was not opened a little. Not enough to even crawl under the door, but enough to let out excess air. He looked to the center of the room and saw the giant tarp covering...something. He turned to Phineas who was dusting himself off from his trip to the floor.
"Phineas...what are you doing?" Ferb asked.
"I can't tell you that, bro."
"Can't?" The green-haired boy raised an eyebrow at his stepbrother. "Or won't?"
"It's a little bit of both."
"Phineas, if this has something to do with the display, you can just tell me and I can help you with it-"
"It has nothing to do with it, OK?" Phineas yelled. "It's something that's going to require my full attention for the rest of the afternoon."
Ferb flipped the wrench in between his fingers. "Phineas, you're kind of freaking me out a little. Are you sure you have to keep it a secret?"
"Ferb, you're just going to have to trust me." Phineas drummed the garage door with his fingers. "Believe you me, I want to tell you. It's just...I have things that I need to figure out. And no offense to you or anyone else, but I need to do it alone. I only need to do this one thing, and I'll be back to my regular non-secretive self. Hopefully."
His brother opened his mouth again, presumably to offer another piece of advice, but Phineas was not having any of it.
"I don't really have the time for your speeches, Ferb," Phineas said, rolling up a spare piece of parchment. "This is something that I need to do, and it needs to get done today. If you want, I can put you in charge of the fireworks display. You can get it done just as easily if I was overseeing it."
"I've pretty much been in charge anyway with Isabella."
"OK, then that's fine. Just as long as she keeps busy and doesn't know that you're-"
There was a sudden knocking on the other side of the garage door, interrupting the brothers' conversation.
"Guys, are you in there?" a girl's voice said.
"Dang it, it's Isabella," Phineas whispered. This was the last thing that he needed right now. "Ferb, you have to go out there and distract her."
"Distract her?" Ferb murmured back. "I thought you didn't need my help."
"Well, I do now. All you have to do is keep her from coming inside here until I'm done."
"And how exactly am I suppose to do that?"
"You're Ferb, bro," Phineas retorted, pushing him toward the kitchen door. "You know everything. Just improvise." He shoved him through the door, quickly shutting the door behind him. "Isabella," he yelled, "Ferb will be out in a second."
Isabella, from her vantage point, could only hear a muffled reply from Phineas. She was about to yell back at him when his brother came through the back gate, his hat being placed back on his head.
"Ferb, what is going on in there?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Ferb Fletcher," Isabella said, crossing her arms, "You have ten seconds to tell me what is going on in the garage or I'm going to go in there myself."
"..." The boy was being unusually tight-lipped, even by his standards.
"The garage door won't open more than it is already, and the door from the kitchen is locked," Isabella continued. "That usually adds up to something top-secret, and if it's about the display, wouldn't it be more advantageous for at least me to know about it?"
"..." Another no-response from Ferb.
Isabella sauntered up to him, her most dangerous expression set on her face. "Ferb...why don't you tell me what's going on?"
"Because it's a surprise."
Isabella reeled around to see Phineas coming through the backyard gate and simultaneously backed away from Ferb. "What do you mean, a surprise?"
He scratched the back of his ear, desperately trying to think of something that would shift her suspicion elsewhere. "We...umm..." He looked to Ferb, who wisely cut into the conversation.
"It's a special firework that he's working on, Isabella."
"What?" Phineas was not prepared for that.
"Yes, Phineas," Ferb emphasized. "Stop trying to be modest. I know you didn't want to tell anyone, but..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Phineas tried his very best to play along with his ruse. "You see, Isabella, there's a special firework that we're going to set off in the park, but it's not ready yet. And no offense to you, but I was trying to keep it a secret from everyone."
"It's true," Ferb added. "I just found out now by accident. I wouldn't have even known otherwise."
"It's sort of my gift to Danville for the New Year, you see?" Phineas continued. "I just wanted to work on it by myself, but Ferb sort of ran into it, so that's why he knows now."
Isabella looked at both of the boys, their information sinking in. "You could have just told me, Phineas. I wouldn't have mentioned it to anyone."
"No, I know you would have stayed quiet. I never intended to make you feel bad." Phineas put a hand on her shoulder, noting it was shaking quite a bit (although now he could probably fathom a reason why). "Can you forgive me?"
Isabella's smile was a welcome sight to his eyes. "Of course, Phineas. I know your intentions were good. And I didn't mean to give you the third-degree, Ferb," she added to his brother. "I guess my curiosity got the better of me."
Ferb gave her a thumbs-up, his way of silently accepting her apology.
"Of course, now that you know," Phineas said, leaning in closer, "It would be appreciated if you didn't mention it to anyone else. It'll be...our little secret, OK?"
Phineas saw Isabella's face light up as he said this, her expression the exact opposite of earlier. "OK! Our little secret." She giggled a little, which made Phineas' stomach flip-flop in his belly. Now that he was actually paying attention to her a little more, it was a wonder that he didn't catch on to Isabella's feelings earlier. Or...when he was six. Or...ever, for that matter.
BOOM!
A sudden commotion from the backyard caught the attention of the trio. White smoke was billowing over the fence, along with the smell of burnt fabric.
"What in the world was that?" Phineas asked.
"Oh, while you were in the garage, we were testing the propulsion turrets of the fireworks display. This is the last test to do before we start on the control panel construction."
"And what have you been testing the propulsion with?"
"You know, the usual." Isabella ticked off the items with her fingers. "Fruit, pillows, the occasional Fireside Girl troop member."
"Wait, what?"
Ferb silently stretched his arms out, and from out of the sky, a small mass came careening down into his grasp. A helmeted, bespectacled mass.
"Chief, for the record, even though I drew the shortest straw, we may want to consider a more diversified selection technique." Gretchen coughed out a little smoke after her statement.
"Would you prefer 'Eeney, Meeny, Miney, Moe', Gretchen?" Isabella smirked.
"I said more diversified, Chief, not elementary."
Two head appeared over the fence, belonging to Holly and Ginger. "Oh hey, that's where you went, Gretchen," Holly said. "We didn't see where you went because of the smoke."
"I'm fine, Holly," Gretchen replied as she was gently set down by Ferb. "Although we may want to recalibrate the trajectory of those turrets."
"Which we can do right now," Isabella interjected, checking her watch. "We only have a few hours left before this had to get to the park, so let's get moving, girls."
Holly and Ginger ducked behind the fence, yelling instructions to the other kids. The other two girls made their way through the gate and shut it behind them. Phineas turned toward his brother to mention something else, but the second-in-command poked her head back through the gate, looking at Ferb.
"Oh, and Ferb? Thanks for the...umm...catch." The red scarf around her neck only highlighted the blush coming across her cheeks. It was a sight that Phineas was beginning to relate to. She moved back out of sight, the gate closing behind her.
"Well, now that that's settled," Phineas started, but the sharp poke of Ferb's finger cut him off.
"Do not make me do that again."
"Do what, Bro?"
"Lie to Isabella, that's what." Ferb's face was stern, a complete contrast of his usual demeanor. "I only did it because I'm worried about you, OK? Look, whatever you need to do in the garage, get it done. But don't expect me to lie for you again, all right?"
"I'm...not asking you to. Not again."
Ferb turned on the spot and went to the gate himself, opening it rather assertively. Pausing for a moment, he looked back at his brother.
"Whatever you are doing in there, Phineas (pointing to the garage), it had better be worth it." With that, he slammed the gate closed, which would have been displeased by the work it was putting in within the past few minutes.
Phineas stood still for a moment, lost in thought. He brought the sheet of parchment from earlier out of his pocket and unfolded it. Bringing it up to his eyes, he stared at the hand-drawn picture, one that he had sketched only a short while ago.
"...You and me both, Ferb. You and me both."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ferb does not like lying. Let's just leave it at that.
And no, I can't tell you what Phineas is doing. That would remove the surprise, wouldn't it?
Some people may be wondering as to why I've decided to go with Ferb being somewhat talkative in this story. Well...Ferb not speaking in a cartoon is much easier to do than in a written format. Can't rely on actions that much or facial expressions (not that Ferb has a wide array of facial expressions, but still). So, I figure he talks, but just not as much as the normal person does. Or when he's only with Phineas or a few people at a time.
The Doof part will be wrapped up next chapter, as well as everything else before we head to the park for the final few chapters. Doof and Perry were never meant to be a huge part of this story; the main focus will be Phineas and Isabella.
The next two chapters after that will be the longest so far. That can mean only good things for you, the reader.
Read and review, if you like.