"This door." Ferb said.

They sat down in front of the back door of the large white house. Phineas could barely see the small black cord that ran out of the bottom of the door, snaking towards the front of the house, where it had undoubtedly found an outdoor plug somewhere.

Phineas dug around in his pocket and pulled out a wire cutter.

"Let me do it." Ferb said.

"Be careful."

Ferb took the wire cutter and carefully began to cut the cord. "Keep watch."

Phineas looked toward the street. Nothing much was happening.

"Ow." Ferb drew back suddenly.

"What?" Phineas asked.

Ferb stood up and fanned off his hand. "Rubber glove and a key."

Phineas reached in his other pocket and gave the two items to Ferb. Ferb slipped the glove over his hand and stuck the key in the lock.

"Good." Ferb said. "No current. We did it."

Phineas breathed a sigh of relief.

A branch snapped. They froze.

"Someone's coming." Phineas said.

They jumped up and hid behind the nearest tree.

A padding noise sounded in the grass. It got closer and closer…

And a panda emerged from the bushes. It was looking at a phone in its paws.

After a moment, it turned around and walked away from the house.

Phineas breathed a sigh of relief. "Peter. Looks like he got the message that the coordinates were wrong."

"I'm glad we disabled it, anyway." Ferb said.

When Phineas and Ferb came to visit Perry the next day, he was sitting up a little more than he had been able to before. He was focused on the television.

There were three men on the television.

"I can't believe you kissed my fiancé!" One man said.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I can't believe you cheated on her with my girlfriend!" The second man said.

"Well, I'M DATING YOUR MOM." The third guy said.

Perry muted the television and turned to the boys. "You can't make fun of soap operas. There's nothing to exaggerate."

"We brought you food." Phineas held up a Mr. Slushie Burger bag.

"Yessss. Bring that delicious goodness over here."

Phineas set the bag down in Perry's lap. "Good to see you're sitting up."

"The pillows are doing most of the work." Perry took a bite of his veggie burger. "Mm. This is like… amazing. I can't describe it. Actual food."

"That's a good way to put it." Ferb said.

"And we brought your blanket…" Phineas spread the blanket out on the bed. "And your squeaky cupcake toy. Aww, have people been getting you teddy bears?"

Perry smiled at the bears sitting in the large armchair next to the television. "Yeah. Doofenshmirtz and Monogram each brought one. Some of the agents gave me the littler ones. Doofenshmirtz also brought me some chips or something… I didn't eat them."

"Those were cookies." Ferb said.
"Now I'm super glad I didn't eat them." Perry said, grabbing a handful of fries from the bag. "Pinky got me a bunch of chocolates, which I ate already to help counteract the hospital's excuse for breakfast, Prince sent an empty spray-paint can, which I'm assuming is supposed to be a nice gesture, and Peter sent me a 'Save The Pandas' t-shirt."

"That's so nice." Phineas said.

"Yeah." Perry licked the salt from his fingers. "Almost makes this place a little less lonely. …So… how are things at the agency? Have there been any more attacks?"

"Only Harry the husky." Ferb said.

Perry nodded. "Heard about him, poor guy. Messed with his head a bit. They say he'll be okay, though."

"We stopped Peter from getting electrocuted." Phineas said. "And Lowe's gonna help us make sure no one else gets attacked."

"Be careful." Perry said sternly.

"We will." Phineas said.

Perry took another handful of fries. "These are so perfect. It's like the grease fairy and the salt fairy fell in love and had little potato fairy children."

"Is the potato fairy the one that comes into your room at night and takes your potato and leaves a coin under your pillow?" Ferb asked.

"Yes. The salt fairy, however, sprinkles salt on your head while you sleep and makes you sneeze." Perry said.

"That would be the pepper fairy." Ferb said.

"Dang. My painkillers are making me mix up my condiments."

"You seem much better than the first time we saw you, though." Phineas said.
Perry laughed. "I'm less crabby, that's for sure."

"You're definitely getting better, though." Phineas smiled. "I bet you'll be home soon. And once this is all over, Ferb and I will get right on inventing an antidote."

"It will most likely take a great bit of the afternoon." Ferb said. "But great discoveries cannot be rushed."

"Aww, it has whipped cream and a cherry and everything!" Perry exclaimed, pulling his shake out of the bag. "You guys are the best."

"We love you, boy." Phineas said. "Is there anything else you want us to bring you next time?"

"Socks. My feet are freezing. The doctors like to keep the air conditioning Pluto temperature. Do you know anyone who can knit soft little platypus socks?"

"Aw, that sounds so cute." Phineas said.

"I know. I specifically cutified the sentence to make you take pity on me."

"We'll make you socks." Phineas said.

"Yay. Master is going to give Perry a sock."

"We're not your masters. Just your owners." Ferb said.

"Perry is a free platypus."

"Exactly."

"What are we even talking about?" Phineas asked.

"What kind of agent would go into an abandoned factory?" Phineas asked, watching the floors pass by through the glass doors on the elevator.

"Scavenging agents." Lowe replied. "Agents that look through the trash and old files for information."

"I had no idea there were so many different kinds of agents." Phineas said.

Lowe nodded. "They each use their different talents for different things."

"What kind of agent is Perry?" Ferb asked.

"I believe he specializes in hand-to-hand combat." Lowe said.

"That sounds about right." Phineas said.

The elevator stopped on the very top floor of the factory. Phineas glanced at the book passage again.

…I sabotaged the box so that, if walked underneath, it would fall; the motion sensors I equipped the box with would surely do their job.

"I hope this is the right factory." Phineas said.

"This is really the only abandoned factory in Danville." Ferb said. "They re-opened the vacuum place."

"There's the box." Phineas pointed.

A large wooden box was dangling from the ceiling, held up by a humongous carabiner.

"I bet that thing releases it." Ferb said.

"All we have to do is disconnect the motion sensors from the bottom… and the carabiner." Phineas said. "But how are we gonna get up there?"

Lowe peered over the edge of the railing. "Not safe to jump. Is there any way you can neutralize the sensors from afar?"

"I did happen to bring something." Ferb reached into his pocket and pulled out a long stick with two plastic hands on the end.

"Oh, one of those grabby-things we used to use to get stuff out from behind the couch." Phineas said. "Wait… how'd you get that from your pocket?"

"Science." Ferb said. He leaned over and began to disengage the motion sensors. Phineas held onto his belt.

"Use caution." Lowe advised.

"Think I got them all." Ferb said. He waved the stick underneath the box. "Yep. This box isn't going anywhere."

Phineas pulled Ferb back onto the balcony. "Good job, bro."

A clanking noise sounded down below. The boys looked over the edge again.

Way down below, a raccoon was sorting through a recycling bin.

"Yay. We saved the raccoon." Phineas said happily.

"Carriebear and I brought you some flowers." Devon said happily, bursting through the door. He set a vase of flowers down on Perry's bedside table.

Perry was sound asleep and did not respond.

"And I brought an assortment of Swiss chocolates." Peter said. "But seeing as you are asleep and won't be needing them, I shall eat them in your honor."

"He looks so tired." Carrie the cat said quietly.

"Well, obviouthly." Peter said, his mouth full of chocolates. "He'th thleeping."

"Should I turn the television off?" Carrie asked.

"Nah." Devon said. "Sometimes the sounds of voices are soothing to sick people."

"Dad…" Perry whimpered in his sleep. He rolled onto his side. "Mom... maybe Carl... I don't know..."

"You think he wants his parents?" Peter asked.

"Maybe." Devon said. "Ernest said he'd try to call Perry's mom, but he never did."

"Poor Perry." Peter said, patting Perry on the arm. "I still remember the day you and I first met. I was stuck in a closet, and you opened the door… and then you hated me for pretty much forever. Until we became friends."

"I'll find his parents for him." Carrie said. She went over to the phone. "…Why is there a button to call 911? This is already a hospital."

"What if the hospital catches on fire?" Peter said.

"That is a good point." Carrie said. "All right, what random number should I try first?"

"Maybe we should wait until Perry wakes up, and then ask him what his dad's number is." Peter said.

"Aagh." Perry rolled onto his back. "You guys are so loud. Go away. Be quiet. One of those things."
"We were going to call your parents." Devon said.

"Don't worry about it. They're already coming." Perry yawned. "They called them this morning."

"Oh, that's good." Devon said. "Is there anything else we can do for you, then?"

"Quiet."

"I can read to you." Carrie picked up a large book that was on the bedside table next to the flowers and opened it up. "I'll start at the bookmarked page, okay?"

"What bookmarked page?" Perry mumbled. "I wasn't reading anything."

"Hm. This page looks glued in. No matter." Carrie cleared her throat. "Seeing as I failed with Jerome… and all the others, I decided it was time for a different plan. It was a shame to drop the plan of my beloved idol, but it just wasn't working, and revenge is not properly executed with a plan that doesn't work out. But it wasn't her fault it didn't work. It was Cecil's. I knew it was. I would come to his door at night, and when he answered, I would smother him and leave him to be found. Afterwards, I could continue on." Carrie frowned. "Gosh, that's depressing."

Perry sat up suddenly, his eyes wild. "Who. Brought. That. Book."

Peter shrugged. "It was here when we got here."

Perry grabbed for the phone.

"Careful, Perry." Devon said. "Don't move so quickly. You'll hurt yourself."

"CAN IT, Devon!" Perry snapped. He began to dial a number.

"Moving around so fast will really hurt later." Carrie said quietly.

"It hurts now." Perry waited. "Come on. Pick up. Pick up."