I've had "Monochrome Ward" by Len and Rin Kagamine stuck in my head… A very scary song. It has no real background music, mostly just al capello with some sound affects, like heart monitors and out-of-tune music boxes. The lyrics don't make much sense, either… "walking on gravel is very noisy"? And then there's the part where they keep repeating "their corpses will be switched"…
For those of you familiar with it… You know what I'm talking about. It's even worse than "Circle You Circle You", but at the same time, I like it better. I first watched it on Halloween.
Phineas stared up at his brother. "Ferb… Is that why you…?
F looked away.
"It… is. That's the real reason you came back."
"…Not… the only reason."
Isabella looked on the verge of tears, and Baljeet put a hand on her shoulder. Buford shook his head solemnly.
Carl blinked. "Wait… Phineas and Ferb?"
"Yeah…" said Phineas. Then he made the connection. "Carl?"
"And you're Carl's dad…"
The older man cleared his throat. "Ahem. That's a… highly classified story. My name is Major Monogram."
"But aren't you both, like, 15 now?" asked Carl. "Why's Ferb so old?"
"Well… The Ferb in this time just turned 16. But this Ferb's from the future," explained Phineas.
"Oh."
"Well then," said Monogram, "You really do seem to know Agent P. We can let you in to see him for a short while, but there's no telling if he'll be awake or not."
"Thank you, sir."
"And JUST you two. The last thing Agent P needs in this condition is a huge crowd."
"Awww…"
The brothers followed Carl away.
"…Ferb?" said Phineas.
F turned in notice.
"About what you said… What…" Phineas stopped. "Never mind. So… Should I know Agent P?"
"Yes," answered F. "But you won't recognize him."
0-0-0
They entered a room with white walls, a linoleum floor, and a hospital bed in the center. Lying on it, hooked up to several machines, was a short, blue-haired man with an innocent, boyish face.
"Perry."
"Wait…" Phineas stared up at F. "Perry? As in… Our Perry?"
F nodded.
"But… how?"
Monogram had met up with them, and decided to answer. "Years ago, Doofenshmirtz invented a ray that could turn any human into an animal. He ended up transforming half of our entire department into a zoo, and was about to use it on the people of the tri-state area. That's when we decided to send Agent P to stop him as his first ever assignment. He was able to stop Doofenshmirtz, but at the cost of being turned into a platypus.
"At this point, we assigned him a host family, to give him an identity as a mindless household pet. We also discovered that animals can be trained as secret agents, if taken in young enough. And they don't require a salary!"
Phineas nodded. "Oh, that makes sense. Still, why is he human again?"
"He was severely injured on his last assignment. That near-death experience must have somehow triggered a reaction in his system that turned him back to his original form."
"What happened to him?"
"He…" Monogram looked up awkwardly. "He was hit by a truck shortly before returning home."
"Oh. Wow."
"Yeah… It's not very action-y. It's just bad luck."
Perry moved slightly in his sleep. He blinked open large brown eyes, and looked up at the others groggily.
"…Perry?" asked Phineas.
Perry's eyes widened upon seeing Phineas. He quickly turned to Monogram.
"It's alright, Agent P. They already know. Apparently, it's a matter of global security."
"Are you okay?" asked Phineas.
"He can't talk," said F. "He's mute." He turned to Perry. "Perry. I'm Ferb, from ten years into the future. I need to ask you something."
Perry stared up, attentive.
"How do you get into the Doofenshmirtz building?"
F gave Perry a pen and a pad of paper, which he took weakly.
There's a door.
"I know that."
…Just go through the door. Not locked.
"… Really?" F sighed. "No security or anything?"
Only platypus-sized traps.
"Oh, that's just stupid."
The enemy isn't too bright either.
"I gathered that… Phineas."
"Hm?"
"Are you ready to go?"
Phineas nodded. Before leaving, he turned around to wave at Perry. "Get better soon, okay?"
Perry smiled.
The brothers were now walking alone through the hallway. Neither of them spoke.
Surprisingly, F was the one to break the silence this time. "… Are you alright?"
"Sure," said Phineas. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"That was… a lot to take in," replied the elder.
"… Maybe a little."
"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner," he added.
"That's okay." Phineas continued walking. F put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Stay." He turned his brother around to face him, then put his other hand on the other shoulder, staring directly into his eyes. "Don't worry. I'm here now. I promise you, I won't let you get hurt."
Phineas nodded. "I know." He closed his eyes, smiling. "I trust you, Ferb."
"Then you're not afraid?"
"… Maybe a little."
F pulled his brother into a one-armed hug. "Don't be."
0-0-0
Meanwhile, Doofenshmirtz yawned melodramatically. "Ahhhh, I haaaaaate this!"
He was working on the Destroy-everything-in-sight-inator, as he had been nonstop for the past two days.
"When will this thing get finished?" Dr. D moaned. "Ah! It's not even halfway!" He sighed. "Perry the Platypus isn't even here to thwart me… It's a little boring."
The door slammed open. Dr. D. looked up quickly.
"Perry the Platypus?" It wasn't. "Oh, no… It's some man and a little teenager… Don't get my hopes up like that!" He sighed. "Well, what do you want?"
"You're Doofenshmirtz?" asked Phineas.
"Yes, yes I am," he answered. "And wait, how did you know that?"
F took out a gun, pointing it at the man.
"Whoa, hold on just a second! What's with that thing?" Dr. D. asked, panicked.
"Where is she?" asked F, calmly.
"Where is who? I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Of course you don't," F replied sarcastically. "All my brother and I came here to find out was her location. Once you tell us that, we'll leave."
"Okay, okay!" Doofenshmirtz sighed. "…Who was she again?"
F sighed, losing patience. "In ten years, she helps you take over the tri-state area."
"She did? Oh, that was nice of her…"
"Then she got the idea to take it from you and spread her dark empire across the entire world!"
Doofenshmirtz frowned. "Hey! She can't do that!"
"Our job is to stop her."
"Yeah! All right! Go get her!" cheered Dr. D. "…You know… wherever she is."
"Maybe...she's… really not here," suggested Phineas.
"Yes!" agreed Doofenshmirtz. "Listen to the boy! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
F sighed. "She's a grown woman. She could be living anywhere by now."
"What should we do?"
F ran a hand through his bangs in frustration. "We need to talk to Baljeet."
"Yeah," said Dr. D. "You go talk to this Baljeet!"
"Baljeet?" asked Phineas. "But… What would Baljeet know?"
"No. The Baljeet from my time."
"Oh. But how're we gonna get to the future?" asked Phineas. "The time machine in the museum?"
"The future, huh?" asked Doofenshmirtz. "You know, I happen to have a Timetravel-inator downstairs that you can use."
"Wow," said Phineas. "That's very… nice of you."
"Oh, no problem. Just make sure you stop her. That's my dark empire!"
"Okay… Come on, Ferb."
"…"
"Uh… Ferb? You can… put that away now."
"… Right."
0-0-0
After going through the Timetravel-inator, they both found themselves in a dark, desolate building. The air was damp and held a faint scent of decay.
"Are you alright?" asked F.
Phineas nodded. "Yeah…" He looked around, taking in what was once Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. "So… This is the future."
"Actually… This is probably the nicest part."
"Wow…"
F sighed. "We'll have to get back to headquarters… But it won't be easy explaining to everyone why we're here." He smiled. "Still. I can think of at least one person who'll be happy to see you."
The smile faded almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving F expressionless once again. "Stay where I can see you. You may want to keep your eyes closed and let me lead the way."
Phineas shook his head. "No… I think I can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
"I think so."
"Alright. But I warned you."
The outside world was, as promised, much worse than inside the building.
There were totaled buildings lying in piles of rubble, bodies left to decay without even being moved. Phineas wondered with a shudder how long they'd even been there. He walked, slowly, through the rubble, until something nearly tripped him. Looking down, he saw what it was, instantly realizing that to look was a mistake.
It was the bullet-torn body of a child, no older than five.
The sight was too much. Phineas shuddered violently, then fell to his knees and vomited.
F knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his back. "Still think you can 'handle it'?" he asked.
"G…..God…." Phineas shook, wide-eyed. "What happened here?"
"This part of town was ambushed nearly a week ago," F answered. "It held hundreds of refugees, mostly innocent people with families. The empress got word of this and sent troops to massacre all of them."
"Why?" Phineas asked, looking up. He was shocked, upset, more so than F had ever seen him. "Why… How could anyone do something like this to people?"
F sighed. "I don't know."
Phineas was still innocent. Before now, he had had yet to witness the evil of man, or know of the tragedies of the world.
"She…"
F took Phineas in his arms, hugging him. The boy broke into sobs.
"Sh… I know…"
"I… j-just…"
"Shh…"
There was a sound of heavy, tapping footsteps. Metal against the gravel of the road. F looked up with a start.
"Damn it…"
Phineas looked up as well. "…What is it?" he asked.
There was a spider-like android with a single lens eye coming at them.
"It belongs to the empress," answered F. He took his brother by the wrist, pulling him up, then dragging him along as he ran. The thing continued to follow them.
"Can't we get rid of it?" asked Phineas, still running.
"There's no use. She already knows where we are," answered F.
"Then what do we do? Keep running?"
"We have to lose it." F yanked Phineas into an alley. "This way."
They crouched, panting for awhile.
"Is it gone?" whispered Phineas.
The same metallic footsteps were heard. F put a hand over his brother's mouth, forming the words 'Don't move' with his lips.
The thing rounded the corner, and the two held their breaths.
A figure appeared and stepped on it with a loud crunch, just before it had the chance to turn and notice them.
"Letting a girl save your ass again, huh Ferb?" asked a woman's voice. "Hope this isn't gonna be a pattern from now on."
F sighed heavily, as if getting a headache. "Isabella."
A beautiful woman with long dark hair and red lips stepped out from the shadows. She wore a gray tank top, shorts, and boots that went up to her thighs. With one look at Phineas, she gasped.
"…Ph… Phineas?"
Future Isabella… Wow. xD
As for her appearance, think Aeon Flux, in that episode with the boy in the cave and the fat baby.
If you don't watch Aeon Flux… Just come up with something on your own.
