Where's Ferb?

Cezille07

A/N: Up for some Doof drama? That and more action as we get closer to answers. ;)

Chapter 3. Hate to Admit It.

Isabella's cellphone gave a quick jitter before erupting into a recording of Phineas' voice saying, "Hey Isabella! Whatcha doooooin'?"

She grinned for a moment, remembering that odd day she was asked the question. "Yes, Candace? What is it?"

"Any luck?" asked the redhead from the other end.

"Unfortunately not. We've done an exhaustive search on the city's main thoroughfares, the suburbs, and the Googolplex mall, but no one seems to have seen him at all," Isabella replied. "How's Phineas?"

"Well, could he get any worse than he was this morning...? Unfortunately, yes."

"Candace, I'm really worried that he could be so disoriented, this lonely."

"I know! Living with him for more than ten years has proven him an optimist beyond possible optimism. But I think I understand now why he's like this; he and Ferb have been together through everything. They've never been separated at all, not for a single day. Ugh! He could as easily build some kind of missing...locatinator type of gadget if the inventor in him hadn't been crushed by Ferb's absence," finished Candace.

"Wait, say that again!"

"Uhh, missing...locatinator?"

"No no no no, the part about inventors! That's it!" Isabella was breathless. "Buford and Baljeet are raiding magazines full of info on new gadgets by evil scientists! I hate to admit it, but Phineas and Ferb aren't the only inventors in Danville!"

"Of course I know you're wondering what happened to me, why I look like a dry raisin. Did I really overwork myself building a Relaxinator just so I can bum around the last five days? Well—no, that's stupid. I am dead tired because I went back on all my inventions, trying as best as my distraught mind would allow to upgrade each Inator I had ever created."

Doofenshmirtz walked around his Relaxinator, grinning widely as his nemesis struggled to move. "You see, Perry the platypus, after your last visit, I was sitting on the floor of my lab, not even noticing the minor injuries I procured from your blows, staring at the mess that was left of my previous Inator. Norm came in to clean up the mess, but I didn't want him to. I was blank and fazed...and rather nostalgic: All my life was a tragic string of failures and broken Inators.

"And I have had enough. With the last of my power, I worked through the night rebuilding my very first invention as a child, taking pieces of Norm's robotic body as spare parts. When I finished, the door to my storage room let in a tiny crack of sunlight, illuminating the long array of inventions that all backfired at me at one point or another. I didn't leave DEI for all of five days, and Norm was reduced to a set of wires and used batteries."

Perry was ready to give the doctor exactly what he needed: a full-blown Bring Back Your Mind to Earthinator, in the form of a good beating. The Relaxinator, however, had other plans for him.

"But this is the beauty of it all! I get credit for the first time in my life, while you can sit there watching the mayhem unfold through this large hole in my window, courtesy of you," spat Doofenshmirtz when he saw the fragments of glass on the otherwise clean floor. "Anyways, it doesn't matter. After I take all these to the Evil Scientist Convention at the mall, all those megalomaniacs posing as evil scientists will be put to shame, and I will be recognized as the best inventor, the best evil scientist, and most importantly, the only clever inventor-slash-evil-scientist in the Tri-state area! No more 'Roger is better than Heinz!' No more 'Baking soda volcanoes always win science fairs!' No more Perry the platypus to stop me! HA! I'm brilliant, aren't I?" he chuckled, winking awkwardly at Perry. And his maniacal laughter resounded in the building as he finally bellowed, "Farewell, my dear nemesis!"

"You're in luck! There's an ESC today at the mall's activity center. Every self-respecting, egotistic inventor who's ever tried a baking soda volcano will be sure to present something!" Baljeet proclaimed excitedly, twenty minutes later, in his bedroom. The four other people gathered there, Isabella, Candace, Phineas, and Buford, waited for a definition of the acronym in his statement.

"Uhhm, what's ESC?" Isabella finally piped.

"It's an Evil Scientist Convention!" the Indian boy answered proudly.

"Oh," snorted Candace, "I thought it was like 'Escape' or something."

Buford crossed his arms. "Baking soda volcanoes are lame."

"But every self-respecting mad guy knows that those little babies are the very heart of a child's wonder! They...are the reason science fairs thrive! The first of many achievements that would fuel endless possibilities for a budding inventor!" Baljeet cried in defense. "I made one long ago...and it was a failure."

"So much for 'endless possibilities', eh?" Buford goaded.

"Well I know my brothers didn't start with a stupid chemistry experiment; they began with a roller coaster for crying out loud!" yelled Candace.

"Of course, Phineas and Ferb are that brilliant," Isabella cooed, leaning closer to Phineas, who didn't react. Upset, she went on, "So, how likely are we that some random guy has built a locator that accepts specific people as targets?"

Baljeet smiled broadly. "Very likely! You'll be surprised at what the editors of the magazine have witnessed..."

Linda opened her eyes for a moment. After lying the entire morning on her belly, she adjusted her head the other way to look at the door, where a small circular window gave a view of the mall's lobby. The hunky man who was massaging her back was now done with her hips, and he had applied perfect pressure as he slid his hands firmly down to her legs. She almost laughed—and kicked him unconscious—if she hadn't spotted five familiar children walking past the Spa Center's main windows.

Candace and her friends? she thought, amusing herself. She hasn't even called. Looks desperate, but likely another exaggeration.

A/N: Suspicious? You should be. More explanations are due, and explanations we'll get. Up next, Ferb's first scene as we find out more of what happened the night before... Meanwhile, please review! :D