"Behold! My Glassinator!"

Perry did so. Or as close to beholding as he ever got.

He had to admit, though, this one did look a bit more impressive. Not to mention it was basically a devastating heat-ray. True, the doctor was planning to use it to turn sand into glass to get his revenge on sand, as well as to inconvenience the construction-site across the street that had been bothering him with all the noise.

But still, a heat-ray. It was somewhat of a step up from unstucking spatulas in an evil way.

He had acted as Doofenshmirtz's nemesis for a few weeks, but hadn't still figured out what his opinion of the scientist was.

The man annoyed him, that was certain. His plans were often nonsensical, his monologues rambling and going on weird tangents, he was short-sighted, inobservant and dense, and despite all of his faults he still managed, for some unknown reason, to trap Perry far more often than he should have. The agent blamed his unconventional methods and the ways he never stuck to the same trap twice. He was just rather difficult to predict. This time Perry had found himself buried knee-deep in a box of sand that was now hardened into glass.

Really, now? Glass? What was wrong with a good old-fashioned pool of acid, or just tying your nemesis to a time-bomb? Classics generally were classics for a reason, well, maybe not the bamboo-trick. Yes, it sounded very impressive to tie your nemesis over some bamboo and let the plants dispose of them by growing through the victims, impaling them, but it was difficult to pull off with any kind of success, usually it took much longer for the bamboo to grow than you estimated, and aiming them at your target was a whole another issue. It usually ended up being a totally non-threatening for a death-trap, and that was just embarrassing for everyone involved. Perry was glad it was going out of style.

Great, now he was going off-tangent in his thoughts. What was he originally thinking about?

Ah, yes, how he was primarily annoyed with Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

The agent shook his head. That whole line of thought was unproductive, his feelings and whether he found the doctor annoying or not were inconsequential. What mattered was his evaluation of the doctor as a threat.

"Hey, are you listening?"

Perry was shaken from his thoughts.

He focused his attention to his captor, nodding. No matter his opinions, he didn't want to be rude. Since the doctor had gone to the trouble of preparing a monologue and an accompanying slideshow to explain his plan and the reasons behind his hatred for sand the least Perry could do was to sit through it.

True, the doctor had accidentally included several slides from his last holiday in the presentation, but that made Perry even more determined to bring some professionalism in the proceedings. Also now he could add 'a horribly untalented photographer' to his description of Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. I guess that's it, actually. But I will be bothered by sand no more! As it will be all turned into glass! Which is… uh. As far as schemes go, it's in a glass of its own!"

Perry gave him his second most unimpressed stare.

The human sighed.

"Yeah, it- it wasn't very good, as far as puns go, was it? One would think there are a lot of different puns and jokes you could make about glass, and in fact when I was writing my monologue earlier this morning, I just thought that writing the puns beforehand wouldn't be necessary, since I could just come up with them on the spot, which is kinda not working too well…"

Perry figured the doctor had finished his backstory and explanation, and that he could make his escape.

He jumped backwards on his hands, lifting the block of glass still around his feet in the air and brought it down on the hard floor, shattering it to pieces, freeing himself.

"All I can come up on the spot are something about throwing rocks in a glass house, or hitting the glass ceiling, both which I could use, with the right setup, come on, Perry the Platypus, help me out-"

He was interrupted by a webbed foot hitting him on the chin.

Perry spun around in the air, slapping the human with his tail and sending him crashing backwards.

And felt really good about it.

"It must be nice being a platypus."

Before either one of the boys (or most likely just the red-haired one) said anything, Candace continued:

"I mean, all he ever has to worry about is finding a nice place where he can take a nap. Food just gets carried in front of him, he doesn't have to worry about money or school or that the cutest boy ever who just happens to sit behind you in English class will never ever speak to you again after you said his name when the teacher asked for yours because you were thinking about him at the time, and now he thinks you're some kind of a weirdo-"

Perry liked hearing her speak of him in such a way. It meant his cover family had no idea about his secret life. Just in case, he gave Candace the most vacant stare he could muster.

"Well, he is a platypus. They don't do much. Or rather, for a platypus, just being a platypus is enough."

"What are you talking about, Phineas?", Candace asked her little brother.

"Well,"

Phineas paused, seemingly trying to find the best way to phrase whatever he was planning to say.

"I've been thinking."

He paused again, and then continued with an introspective tone:

"I think, that sort of, once the day is gone, it's gone. And you're never going to get it back. So you'd have to make the most of every day."

"Sounds stressful, you mean you'd have to be stressed out every moment, so you don't waste any moment?"

Phineas slowly shook his head, deeply in thought:

"Not really, I don't really know what I think, I mean, I'm not saying you should feel stressed out-"

"Carpe diem."

All eyes, even Perry's turned to the green-haired boy. The platypus quickly regained his guise of a mindless pet, though, and only left one of his eyes on the British boy as he continued:

"Seize the day. It means you should live in the moment, enjoy every second fully for what it is, purely for its own sake, without worrying about the future."

"Yes, that's what I meant. You said it better, Ferb."

The teenage girl scoffed:

"Sounds like a bad way to live your life, not worrying about the future. Are you planning to stop studying and doing homework, then?"

Phineas shrugged:

"Well, maybe it's not a perfect philosophy."

The usually ever-present smile spread back on his face:

"But maybe it's something we could try on holiday. Maybe next summer?"

"Yeah, sure, sounds like a great idea." Candace, losing interest in the discussion, turned back to her texting, most likely not even listening anymore.

Phineas, noticing that, turned to his green-haired brother:

"Maybe we should follow Perry's example. Since, you know, I think just by being a platypus, you pretty much live in the moment."

Perry decided to give some thought to this. Candace was certainly right, you couldn't live your life without a care in the world, with no worries of the future. He couldn't, anyway. He had responsibilities.

But…

Fighting Dr. Doofenshmirtz was a part of his job.

And since Perry was stopping him, he was doing his duty and protecting the Tri-state area. So, Perry reasoned, it was okay to take him on on day-to-day basis, without worrying too much about putting an end to his schemes altogether and moving on to a new nemesis.

For a little while, at least.

And Perry had to admit, the Druelselsteinian scientist was different from any other enemies he had faced. His enthusiasm was contagious, and foiling his plans was actually fun. And that was disturbing to the platypus. Sure, he had enjoyed his job before, knowing he dealt a devastating blow after blow to Evil and taking pride in his skill. And he, of course, hated Evil. But he hadn't really hated or even disliked any of his previous opponents on a personal level, and had always thought of such behavior as unprofessional.

But now here he was, feeling annoyed at Doctor Doofenshmirtz. And enjoying thwarting him. More than that, he actually was looking forward to seeing what his next scheme would be, fighting him, and stopping him.

But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, after all.