12

Jones; what can I say about him; other than the fact that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time; or in my case; in the right place at the right time. A shame for him that he was to be the next, and therefore the one that I had to use most caution with; as Henry and Joe had alerted to them as to what was going on. I found it strange that Henry and Joe, not my initial warning, caused them alarm; but I suppose that was to be expected; the car had appeared to be an accident; and so, with Jones, I was forced to use my wits to create a plan that none would be watching out for; the one thing I had on my side was that none knew that I was targeting… all.

"He's at least stable now." The doctor said, leading Monogram, Carl and the other animals down the hall of the O.W.C.A hospital. "We were worried he wasn't going to do make it through the procedure, but he survived. He's very strong. We got the majority of the poison out of his system. Unfortunately, there's still enough to make him sick. We're going to do our best to keep him stable until we can analyze the poison used, match it with its antidote, and cure him." The doctor stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it. "Go on in. He's tired, so he may be a little confused."

Monogram went in first. The animals slowly filed in, followed by Carl.

Monogram knelt down next to the sleeping Perry, teary-eyed. "Oh, Agent P... who will I complain to about the food selection in the cafeteria now?"

"You awake, Perry?" Darren asked.

Perry slowly opened his eyes. He looked wearily up at Monogram. "M…mom?"

"That's Monogram, Agent." Ernest said.

"Mom…" Perry said.

"We'll try to contact her." Ernest said. "How are you?"

"Did… did the boys build something today?" Perry asked weakly.

"I'm sure they did." Darren said.

"Good." Perry closed his eyes again.

"We need to find out who's doing this." Monogram stood up. "Someone is definitely going after the agents now. Someone injured Agent H and poisoned Agent P. We need to get to the bottom of this before there are any more accidents. This attacker is attempting to kill. Excuse me. I need to ask the doctor a few more questions." Monogram left the room.
"I think Perry may know who it was." Devon said. "He asked me to tell the boys something really weird. Sounded like code or something. Maybe he figured it out."

"What did he say?" Ernest asked.

Devon looked down at the napkin in his paw. "Em equals why two minus why one over ex two minus ex one."

Ernest frowned. He took the napkin from Devon and scribbled something underneath it.

M = Y2 – Y1

X2 – X1

"Oh, yeah." Devon said. "I guess that makes more sense."

"Wonderful, he asked you to tell his owners about point-slope formula." Ernest rolled his eyes.

"Maybe it means something." Devon said. "Something only the boys will understand."

"Well, Perry did say once he wanted his last words to be numbers." Darren said. "Maybe he just thought he was dying, and that didn't have anything to do with the person who poisoned him."

Ernest huffed. "He jokes around too much for his own good."

"But that wasn't the last thing he said." Devon said. "I'm sure this means something."

"D…did the boys build something today?" Perry asked suddenly.
"Yes, Agent." Ernest said sternly. "Go back to sleep."

"Wait." Devon held the napkin in front of Perry's face. "Perry, what does this mean?"

Perry squinted. "What… what is it?"

"It's the point-slope formula. The thing you told me to tell the boys."

Perry closed his eyes. "Elephant tap shoes."

"Elephant… tap shoes?" Devon asked.

"He's confused, Agent." Ernest said. "He's confused from the painkillers. He doesn't know what he's saying."

"All the same…" Devon said. "I think I'd better get it to them. I'll be right back. I need to call my Carrie dear. She's probably worried."

He started to leave the room.

"Oh, and Darren… clear is a color."

"DEVONNNNN!" Darren shouted.

"Find anything?" Phineas asked.

"Six rocks and an acorn." Ferb said, holding out his hand. "The acorn was buried in the snow. We can make acorn cheese."

"What's acorn cheese?" Phineas took one of the rocks and tossed it in the air.

Ferb broke open the acorn. "See, the inside of an acorn looks like cheese. So we can cut it in slices like cheese and feed it to squirrels."

"Cool." Phineas looked up at the sky. "Wow, it's dark. I forgot it was so late. We should probably get home."

"Time flies with acorn cheese." Ferb said.

Phineas's phone began to ring. He picked it up. "Hi, mom. We're coming."

"Phineas, this is Monogram."

"Oh, hi, sir. Is everything okay?"

"Listen… Agent P was poisoned. We got him to the agency hospital in time and he's going to be all right. But he may be in there for a while. They just analyzed a sample of the poison and found that it isn't one they recognize, so it will be difficult to get an antidote. In the meantime they're going to keep him in the hospital. He's still got some traces of poison in him that are making him sick, so they have to monitor him until they can get an antidote that will neutralize it."

"Oh, no…" Phineas felt his stomach drop. "Oh no… can we see him? Are we allowed to come see him?"

"Yes. I'll give you directions." Monogram said. "He may not be very talkative. He's been sleeping for most of the time…"

"That's okay. We'll be right there." Phineas grabbed Ferb's arm. "Where do we go?"

"Who did this to you, buddy?" Phineas asked softly.

Perry continued to sleep. Ferb patted him gently on the head.

"I wonder if he can hear us. He probably can." Phineas said. "It's a good thing he's sleeping, though. It'll help him get better. I wish we knew what the poison was so we could find an antidote ourselves."

"Odd, isn't it, that there can be a kind of poison no one knows about." Ferb said.

"Yeah…" Phineas said. "Like… someone created a new chemical or something."

A dog came into the room, followed by a striped yellow cat. They stood by the bed and gazed at Perry.

"Are you some of Perry's friends?" Phineas asked.

The cat meowed.

The dog's eyes suddenly widened as though he had remembered something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a napkin.

He handed it to Phineas.

"What's this?" Phineas asked. "Point-slope formula?"

The dog took the napkin back and scribbled something on it. He handed it back to Phineas.

PERRY TOLD ME TO TELL YOU THIS BEFORE HE PASSED OUT FROM THE POISON. I THINK HE MAY KNOW WHO DID IT. DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?

Phineas frowned. He showed the napkin to Ferb, who shrugged.

"I think we'll need some outside help." Phineas said. "I don't remember ever having any conversation with Perry about point-slope formula."

"Yes, that is the point-slope formula." Baljeet said, inspecting the torn-off portion of the napkin holding the formula.

"But it's got to be more than that." Phineas said. "Has the formula ever meant something in history? Like as code? Or…"

"If it had numbers in it, it could make a graph or be a code." Baljeet said. "But this is just the formula. It really is not much more than that. It is just the point-slope formula, more fondly known as the formula of rise over run."

Phineas jumped up, knocking over the stool he was sitting on. "Rise over run! I remember Per- I mean, Ferb, I remember that friend of ours saying something like that once. It must be an inside joke we had. I remember him saying it kind of jokingly. What could it mean…"

Phineas closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could.

Rise over run.

Rise over run.

…Not to be confused with Rise over Run…

Yes. That was what Perry had said. Now in what context…

"THE RISE OF THE RISEN! Not to be confused with Rise over Run."

"I'VE GOT IT!" Phineas shouted. He opened his eyes. "Ferb, do you remember when you were reading this book and Per- our friend, I mean- was making fun of the title? He was talking about how its sequel should be called The Rise of the Risen: Not to be confused with Rise over Run."

Ferb snapped his fingers. "The Fall of the Fallen."
"Yes!" Phineas said. "That's it! I bet whatever he's trying to tell us has to do with that book. Thanks, Baljeet!"

"Um… you are welcome, I guess…" Baljeet scratched his head. "I am not sure quite what I did to help, but…"

Phineas ran out of Baljeet's room. Ferb followed him.

"So where'd you put the book?" Phineas asked as they walked home.

Ferb squinted. "I can't remember. I don't think I ever got very far in it. Oh, wait… Perry got rid of it."

"Got rid of it? Did he tell you where he was putting it?"

"I think he sold it online." Ferb shook his head. "He said it was rather rare, as books come. I think he used some of the money he received from the sale to fund our inventions."

"Dang. How are we supposed to get a copy?"

"The book was written by a villain, if I remember correctly." Ferb said. "Perhaps Doofenshmirtz has a copy."

"There's a good idea." Phineas said. "He likes us. He'll probably let us borrow it."

"If he has one." Ferb said.

"He's got to have one. …I hope we really figured it out. It's kind of weird that Perry wants us to find a book, isn't it? I kind of thought he'd lead us to a person or something."

"Maybe the book's author." Ferb said. "The author was a villain, after all."

"That's right!" Phineas said. "Okay, so… let's find Doofenshmirtz and figure out the author. I'm really glad we figured this out. It's scary thinking there's someone out there who wants to get Perry…"

They set off for Doofenshmirtz's building. It was pretty easy to find his room once they got there. There was smoke coming from underneath the door.

Phineas knocked three times before Doofenshmirtz finally answered.

"Kind of in the middle of baking here- oh, it's you guys." Doofenshmirtz opened the door up. "Come on in. I heard what happened. I didn't do it, I swear. I was just about to deliver some baked goods-"

"We know you didn't do it." Phineas said. "But we believe we know who did. Do you know anything about the book The Fall of the Fallen? And its author?"

"Kneada Knap?" Doofenshmirtz asked. "Sure. But she couldn't have done it. She kicked the bucket two years ago."

"What bucket?" Phineas asked.

Doofenshmirtz sighed. "Just come in already. I gotta get the cookies out of the oven."