The outskirts of Danville were said to be the home of monstrous creatures created by an old science factory that was there years ago. But in reality, it was just a place where people felt they could dump their trash. Though the rumors of mutant creatures had died out years ago, many still didn't venture outside of the city limits because of all the trash.

"Why would anyone have property out here?" Vanessa asked as she stepped over an old tire. Ferb just shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk forward. "Why haven't you and Phineas made some invention to clean all this up?"

"We tried to," Ferb replied, "when we were five. But we didn't have enough supplies so the plan fell through. We haven't tried since then."

"Maybe when we get Isabella back you guys could try again," Vanessa said, jumping over a broken microwave. She could hear Perry doing the same thing behind her.

"Yeah," Ferb said. "Maybe." After that, there was silence. No one was in the mood to talk. All they wanted to do was to find Isabella and get her home.

"Is that it?" Vanessa asked as they arrived at a clearing. Ferb nodded. Vanessa whistled at the sight. A three-story building stood in the middle of the clearing with tall grass all around it. The small parking lot around it had weeds growing through the cracks. The building itself was covered in kudzu. It was hard to tell what color it was, or if there was any building underneath it at all.

"We better start moving," Ferb said. "Baljeet and Candace are going to keep the game going as long as possible but there's no telling when Irving will get back."

Isabella was exhausted. She had not seen her captor since early this morning when he had given her some bread and water. Usually he was in here much more than that. By now he would have been in here five times already. At first she was curious as to where he could be but then became afraid that she was connecting with him and quickly stopped caring. She had heard about captives who fell in love with their abductors and she wasn't going to be one of those girls.

"I love Phineas," she said. "I love Phineas." Every time she had those kinds of thoughts, she'd repeat those words. They always reminded her that she was strong. She was going to live to see her wedding day even if it killed her. Okay, maybe not kill her.

But even she knew that her days were almost up. She could feel herself hallucinating from the lack of nutrition and she couldn't help but notice that the more she tried to get herself to stretch, the more she fell back down in exhaustion. She couldn't hold herself up anymore. Soon, she wouldn't be able to feed herself. Once that happened…no, she wasn't going to think about that.

"I love you Phineas," Isabella said. "I love you so much." With those words, she fell quickly asleep.

"So what should we do first?" Vanessa asked after they had made it across the abandoned parking lot.

"Irving's probably got booby-traps on the first and third floor and Isabella on the second floor," Ferb replied. "If we can somehow bypass those two floors, we should be good."

"Okay," Vanessa said. "How are we going to do that?"

"I can try to break the security code on the first floor but it may take some time," Ferb said. "If it's anything like the videos we may have a problem. But you and Perry can go up to the roof and crawl through the air ducts to the second floor."

"Sounds good," Vanessa said. "But what about you Ferb?"

"I'll stay down here and work on the security system," Ferb replied. "Isabella will be in no condition to climb the air ducts once we find her. We'll need to have another exit strategy."

"Aye aye, captain!" Vanessa said, saluting her husband. Taking out her grappling gun, she shot it up into the air. After hearing the satisfying clink of metal hitting brick, she flew up. Perry also saluted his owner and followed his arch nemesis's daughter.

"Why does everyone feel the need to salute me?" Ferb said to himself as he began trying to decode the door.

"Rook to D-7," Candace said, sending her white rook forward.

"Nice battery attack Candace," Phineas said, cheering on his sister.

"Not bad," Irving said. "Not bad at all. Queen to D-7." Everyone watched as Irving's queen took Candace's rook. Jeremy and Buford oohed in pity as the rook was vaporized but Candace, Baljeet, and Phineas only smiled.

"I wouldn't have done that if I were you Irving," Phineas said.

"Done what?" the young adult asked.

"Candace I believe it is your turn," Phineas said, ignoring Irving's question.

"Bishop to D-7," Candace said. Irving's eyes widened as he watched his queen get obliterated.

"Wonderful use of the clearance sacrifice Candace," Baljeet said from the piece Candace had just sent forward. "Just make sure to keep me safe. I do not want to be vaporized too."

"Don't worry Baljeet," Phineas said. "Anyone on the pieces will be transported safely to the edge of the board." Phineas watched as Baljeet sighed with relief and reminded Irving that it was his turn.

"Any idea when Ferb's supposed to get back?" Jeremy whispered.

"I don't know but I hope it's soon," Phineas said. "Candace is doing better than I thought she would. This game may not last much longer."

"Well Perry the Platypus, are you ready for some real action?"

"Grrr!"

"I thought you might say that," Vanessa said, smiling. She hooked the rope the semi-aquatic mammal had given her onto her belt and started lowering herself down the chute.

"Grrr!"

"You can come down as soon as I find somewhere to put my foot," she replied. Perry stayed silent after that, only replying back when Vanessa asked for more slack on the rope. After a minute or so, Vanessa finally felt solid ground beneath her feet. She sighed with relief. But before she could yell back to the secret agent, she felt the ground beneath her feet disappear.

Up on the roof, Perry watched as more and more rope fell down the chute. He tried to grab hold but it was moving too fast and Vanessa was too heavy. He too began to fall down the chute. He pushed his hands and feet to the sides but the friction was too much and he had to let go. All he could do was make sure his head didn't bang against the sides.

After a few minutes, he heard a loud bang. Vanessa had hit the bottom of the chute. He could vaguely hear her moan in agony before she shouted up that she was alright. Perry knew that he wouldn't be as lucky. He had been falling for much longer than the adult Goth and he'd be lucky if he got only a few broken bones. Taking out his grappling gun, he pointed it to the top of the chute and hoped he had enough rope left to get to the top.

The door to Isabella's room opened again, letting the light from the hallway flood in. Isabella slowly opened her eyes but squinted them closed. Her abductor was here again. She could tell he was smiling at her. It was a feeling she had picked up over the last few weeks. A feeling she did not like at all.

"What do you want now?" she asked weakly. Her head was still resting on the floor, her eyes still half closed. The man chuckled in that creepy voice of his.

"Well if it isn't Ms. Sleeping Beauty?" he said. "How long has it been since I saw you last?"

"Please leave me be!" Isabella begged, tears streaming down her eyes. "I can't take this anymore."

She watched through her tear filled eyes as the man got closer, her pleas falling on deaf ears.

How could this be? Is Isabella dreaming or is really not Irving? Did he come back early? Only three more chapters left!

~AvatarRikki