Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Ferb saw Hazelton pull out a syringe as Phineas kept walking to him. Phineas saw it a second too late.
The syringe was in his arm before he could do anything. Hazelton pushed down on the plunger, and withdrew it in a second.
"Ouch, that's painful, what-" He froze at the sight of the syringe. "What did you-"
The drugs took effect and Phineas slumped to the ground.
With his last wisp of consciousness, Phineas knew his dad had tricked him a second time.
Ferb foresaw everything. Yet he did nothing.
He stayed motionless as Phineas was injected with god-knows what, and he did nothing before that. Maybe it was the toll of doing an all-nighter and surviving mortal danger, but his legs seemed like lead and stuck to the ground like quicksand.
Yet now he had to act. He rushed Hazelton-
"It's okay! He's alive! I've just knocked him out for awhile!"
Ferb stopped so abruptly he nearly tripped. Yes, Hazelton would make a fine U.S President. He could convince people so entirely just by using his voice.
He was in two minds. And in that brief moment, Hazelton took the chance to hit him with more info.
"He'll only be out for five minutes, no longer. I guarantee it."
Now Ferb was totally won over. He still had one question, though-the most obvious one.
"Why did you do it?"
"Why? Is it necessary to ask why? I've taken years of his life without his father. It's only fair I make sure he gets out of here alive, which I cannot do if he is awake and obstructing my attempts to save his life."
"You're taking his place?"
"Absolutely." Hazelton said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like the Sun rising in the East. Or rainbows forming after rain.
"Oh, and Ferb-"
His eyes caught Ferb's and held them there.
"Regarding her-"
The way he said it left Ferb in absolutely no doubt who he meant. Not Isabella, but Vanessa. How Hazelton even knew, Ferb had no idea. Maybe Phineas caught on and told him. Maybe Irving told him. Yeah, that was probably it.
Ferb's eyes still held Hazelton's.
"Age is not a barrier to love, however it can be a barrier to smart love. Choose wisely, but do choose. Do you understand?"
Ferb nodded.
Hazelton offered him one final smile, and said, "I am proud to call the two of you my sons."
Then he opened the steel door and walked inside.
For a second, the steel door stayed open, which left open the possibility that Hazelton might not have to be trapped-
-but then Ferb saw that the switches and knobs on the control panel had not flashed on like they were clearly supposed to.
Hazelton pulled shut the door and the switches came to life. He pulled a lever and hit some buttons.
Instantly the elevator pinged. The doors slid open.
Hazelton, his work done, stayed at the window, awaiting his end.
Yet somehow Ferb still stayed by the door. Till the end, he mouthed.
Hazleton's response was to simply point towards the two bodies of Isabella and Phineas, with the latter already starting to stir.
Ferb understood. Go.
Phineas, however, at that moment, aroused-
-and stared up at the face of his dad.
All too quickly, he caught on.
"Dad!" he yelled and hammered on the Plexiglas, as if it was going to do any good.
Hazelton just gave him a sad smile and mouthed three words. I love you.
Phineas didn't need him to say that. He already knew.
Through all that, Phineas still had the composure to realize that, if they didn't get out of here, another love of his life would not make it-
-and so he turned resolutely away from Hazelton, choking back the tears. It tore him up that he could not be with his dad all the way. At least he was with Ariana when she died.
He had found and lost his dad in the space of one night. True, his dad had tried to kill him, however, at heart he was like all dads are: the big protector of the family. First the protector of his girlfriend, then his fiancee, then his wife and kids. And he mourned the fact that his dad would never grow old and watch his son play with his grandkids, would never sit them on his lap and tell them stories of his youth. He died too soon.
It's not right. Nothing like that ever is. For the first time he wondered if he needed to keep playing life's unfair game, on an unfair ground.
But he needed to get Isabella out of here. The philosophy could wait. Isabella clearly could not.
"Let's get out of here."
The elevator broke the lake surface and the three of them tumbled out in their diving suits. Phineas could hardly control himself during the ascent.
Slowly, slowly, remember the bends...
Is that the shore? It is!
The three of them stumbled on the shore. The first bit of sane land they had been on for hours.
Ordinarily, the three of them would have collapsed there and then from sheer exhaustion. But Phineas and Ferb carried on, carrying the half-conscious Isabella between them. They found what Ferb anticipated would be there-
"Tire tracks!" Sure enough, the marks from the cars that had taken them here were still there.
They followed the tracks all the way into town, and before them they could finally, see the outskirts of Danville.
But Isabella's resolve at last broke and she collapsed totally in the two brothers' arms.
The two brothers carried on and at last, at long last, managed to flag a car down. The three of them collapsed into it, and Phineas knew he was not taking another step that was not absolutely essential to his or Isabella's survival.
"To the nearest hospital!" Ferb told the driver, and then he, too, collapsed.
The driver sped on, wondering what on earth happened to the three kids. He didn't know the kids-he was a newcomer here, but his heart went out to them. He pushed the speedometer even higher. There was one girl clearly very badly injured. The driver understood that how many miles per hour he went decided if the girl survived or not.
70 miles.
80 miles.
90 miles.
100 miles.
Inching closer to life. Inching closer to death.
Reaching the hospital and still having the girl alive seemed like a small miracle. The paramedics came and took her away after the driver had informed the people at the counter of the situation.
Now he could only sit and pray he'd done enough.