Perry wandered aimlessly around the house. He had no idea what to do, and he really didn't feel like doing much of anything anyway.
His fury with the unwanted alien visitors mounted. How DARE they kidnap the boys? How DARE they take over the town? How DARE they…
"I care so much about you!"
Perry yelped. In his anger, he had accidentally stomped on a Carlos the caring clown doll someone had left on the landing of the top stairs.
Disgusted, he tossed Carlos into the pile of toys that sat in a large indoor balcony facing the front door. He headed into one of the bedrooms.
The pups and Prince were all downstairs, watching some movie Perry hadn't found interesting, so no one was in the bedroom at the moment.
The room was small and painted white. A large lace-covered bed sat in the middle, next to a tiny crib filled with toys. Pictures and antique plates were on the vanity across from the bed.
Perry looked at the pictures. There was that look-alike platypus again, grinning at the camera. And there he was again, playing with some toy. Another photo frame had a picture of a young female platypus.
Perry opened up one of the drawers and found a piece of paper that was slightly torn at the edges. It appeared to have once been a letter.
He began to read.
Dear Pillow and Pickles,
I am so happy for you. Congratulations on your newborn son. I would like to meet him someday. Does he have brown eyes like you, Pickles? Or green like you, Pillow? Anyhow, I bet he's very handsome. He'll do amazing things. I hope you both are doing well.
Sincerely,
Fitzwilliam the ferret.
Perry carefully placed the letter back in the drawer and closed it. He went into the next bedroom through the bathroom.
This bedroom wasn't quite as frilly. It seemed like an office. It had a large desk covered in papers, a television, a leather couch and a bed with chocolate-brown covers.
Perry sat down at the desk and sighed. No matter how hard he tried to distract himself, his thoughts always went back to Phineas and Ferb.
Suddenly two papers imprinted with the O.W.C.A seal caught his eye. Perry unfolded the first paper and read.
PILLOW and PICKLES,
It is my regret to inform you that your son has been officially discharged from the O.W.C.A for attempting an overthrow of the agency and deliberately attacking other agents. He will have his memory erased and will be moved to a different location where hopefully he can live out the rest of his life in peace. I assure you that we were all just as shocked as you must be. We did not see this coming. We believe that it is dangerous to reveal his location to anyone lest his memory block come undone.
Deepest condolences,
MAJOR FRANCIS MONOGRAM
His heart thumping, Perry opened the second letter.
PILLOW and PICKLES,
Although we have advised you to stay away from your son for memory reasons, we believe you needed to know that he and a mate recently had a litter of seven pups, one of whom appears to be missing. Attached is a photo.
MAJOR FRANCIS MONOGRAM
Perry knew who was in the photo even before he looked at it. But he checked anyway.
Percy and Pansy sat in the middle of the Danville Zoo, surrounded by six baby platypuses, barely hatched.
One of the platypuses was snuggled up against Pansy. He had huge brown eyes.
"Me." Perry whispered to himself. "This house used to be my father's house."
...
"Pass the salt."
Perry gazed at the cupboard on the wall opposite him. It was strange, seeing pictures of his father at such a young age. A father he barely knew.
Perry felt a strange desire to talk to Percy again, but it soon was replaced with anger. Percy hadn't responded to any of his letters.
"Pass the salt. Have you gone deaf or something?"
"Sorry." Perry said. He handed Prince the salt. She sprinkled it on her dinner and went back to staring at her book.
"I found some stuff of yours." Perry said. "It's back in my lair."
"What stuff?"
"Just clothes. I managed to wrench them out of Rex's hands."
Prince looked up. "You get boots, too?"
"Yes."
"Good. I missed those. A lot of memories are attached to them. These new ones I got a few weeks ago don't have the same feel."
"I figured."
"I wore those old ones the day we met." Prince said. "Remember?"
Perry sighed. "Yes. Not one of my best memories."
"Hey, most couples have some cheesy romantic tale of meeting in a rose garden or Mr. Slushie Burger or something. We've got an actual history."
Perry's mind drifted back as he stared at the wall again.
Perry crept very quietly along the back alleyway toward the noise.
He had caught her in the act. The perpetrator was putting the finishing touches on her vandalism.
"You're under arrest." Perry said, holding up his badge.
She dropped her spray paint can in alarm and whirled to face him: a female platypus with green eyes and thick teal fur. She was wearing a leather jacket over a black outfit, complete with scuffed black boots.
She quickly put on a bored expression. "What for?"
"Vandalism, obviously."
She narrowed her eyes. "It isn't vandalism. It's art."
"Yes, spraying two feet of illegible words on a wall is art."
"Beat it." She muttered, picking up her spray paint. "I don't have time to deal with you right now."
"Put the can down."
"I'm armed, punk. You'd better get out of here."
Perry cautiously walked toward her, holding out his grappling hook in one hand and his handcuffs in another.
She quickly sprayed him in the face with her paint. He jerked back and wiped his face off.
She snickered at him.
Perry's anger grew. He jumped on her before she had time to respond and snapped the handcuffs onto her wrists.
"Let's go." He said.
"You're asking for it." She growled. "You're really asking for it."
"YOU asked for it the instant you joined the Silencers." Perry said. "Or are you their leader? Reckless, right?"
"No, Prince. I don't lead the Silencers. I'm just one of the people who goes around and paints illegible words on a wall."
"Are you mocking me?"
"No, I'm just borrowing your words."
"You'd better give me credit when you use 'em."
"I don't cite my sources, sorry."
Perry didn't laugh. He led Prince out of the alleyway.
She suddenly tried to make a break for it. Perry snatched her by the arm and pulled her down.
They wound up tussling on the sidewalk. Perry grabbed her hands and held them together.
"It's not a good idea to resist arrest." He warned. "It just gets worse for you."
"Not if you get away." Prince said.
She punched him, hard, in the eye. Perry cringed from the pain and fell.
Prince broke away, tearing down the street, still in handcuffs. Perry could barely see her through his watering eyes.
"Evil never wins!" He called after her. "We'll find the Silencers! You can't hide forever!"
Perry finally broke his gaze away from the cupboard and sighed. "I couldn't stand you."
"We did have a mutual hate thing going on for a while, didn't we?" Prince said, grinning.
"I don't like to remember that part."
"That was the whole beginning. What's so interesting about that cupboard?"
"Huh?" Perry hadn't noticed he was looking at it again. "Oh. Well… the photos. My father… used to live here."
"That'd explain why the pup in the picture looks creepily like you." Prince said.
"I'm just kind of mad at him right now." Perry said. "And I wish I wasn't."
"You're a complicated individual." Prince said. "You're sad, you're mad, you're mad you're sad, you're sad you're mad…"
"There's just one person I usually talk to who helps me feel better." Perry said. "And he's not here."
...
"We HAVE to get out of here." Pinky said.
Lowe had begun to float. Kyle looked like he was about to. Peter's flower was almost in full bloom.
"And how are you today, Lowe?" Peter asked.
Lowe sighed. It seemed to take him a lot of effort.
"She'll use us all… to grow stronger." He warned. "She knows we are rebelling, and she knows who else is rebelling. She's gathering our strength to fight them."
"And out of all the highly trained animal elites to gather strength from, she picked Lowe." Billy the beaver said. "No offense."
...
"What's the point of coming up here if there are no life forms around to possess?" Arthur the alligator ghost demanded. He would have been swishing his tail in frustration if he still had the other side of his body. "We're about as helpful to the city of Danville as a summer breeze!"
"Summer breezes can be helpful." Piped up a dashing young ghost in a top hat and spats. "What if some guy was really hot, and about to die from heatstroke? And then a light breeze came by and saved him."
"Oh, can it, Mr. Brownie." Arthur snapped.
"Are we going back, then?" Asked a pig ghost.
"No way." Daly said. "We are helping the friends of Terrence. And Bucky, apparently."
"It'd be nice if we knew where they were." Said a snake.
"Hang on." Terrence said. "I have a good feeling about possessing a police officer in the Quad-State Area."
"That's miles away from here. How's that gonna help us?" Daly asked.
"I have this weird feeling like someone will lead us to where they are." Terrence said. "We have to try it."
Daly shrugged. "Might as well. We're only doing this for you. And there's nothing fun to possess around here, anyway."
They all started toward the Quad-State Area.
A woman ghost stopped and stared toward the mayor's building.
"You know something we don't?" Daly asked.
She shook her head and started to follow the others.
Daly waited until the snail ghost, Sylvester, had finally caught up to him before he started walking again.
"Well, Sylvester, are you ready to impersonate a police officer?"
"Isn't that illegal?" Sylvester asked.
"When you're alive, yes." Daly grinned. "But they can't do anything about you when you're dead."