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It had been such an incredibly long day. One of the longest Perry had experienced in his short time as a field agent.
He’d just started his first assignment a few months ago after graduating from OWCA Academy. His entire life had been leading up to this. Leading up to the day he met Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, founder and sole member of Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. Perry had been born in the clutches of OWCA, raised and trained under their strict command until the day he was sent out to be assigned to his host family. He was fortunate enough to be adopted by a kind, recently blended family of five. Linda and Lawrence were a newly wed couple, and their combined three children, Candace, Phineas, and Ferb were excited to bring a fuzzy friend into their lives. Well… Phineas and Ferb were excited, Candace was a bit on the fence, but she warmed up to him. The family lived in a small, three bedroom house outside of city limits. It was cozy, but somewhat cramped. It had been just perfect for Linda and her two children alone, but with Lawrence and Ferb recently introduced it was beginning to feel as if the walls were closing in.
From the time he was adopted at six weeks old, until he graduated, Perry lived under the care of the Flynn-Fletcher family. Sneaking off every day to attend lessons and training for OWCA. Now that he was a real field agent, he continued sneaking off every day, only now it was to ensure that the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz didn’t cause any harm to the city he’d learned to call home.
Frustrating as the scientist could be, Perry couldn’t deny the fact that he was already starting to develop a sort of soft spot for him. He found himself pulling his punches and sticking around after destroying his inventions to make sure that the dark haired man had made it out of the wreckage in one piece.
As much as he’d grown to like him however, he was still his enemy and he was still dangerous. And annoying… Mostly annoying.
Today had been a rather difficult one. Doofenshmirtz had created a large machine that was intended to change the very color of the Danville sky. Something about how living in the southern side of the United States was a big adjustment for him as the sky in his home country was typically smoggy and greenish in color. The machine had actually fired before Perry could stop it, and a haze had started forming over the city, carrying with it a thick, polluted, cloud that was slowly starting to stretch from the oddly shaped purple building over the rest of the city.
The idiot scientist hadn’t thought to create a reverse switch, so Perry had had to get creative. While fighting off the evil doer threatening him, he’d had to reverse engineer the machine. Progress was much too slow, and sometime during their battle one of them had bumped into the self-destruct button that Heinz never failed to install. Without any way to efficiently clear the air, Perry had had to use his jet pack and a large electric fan hooked to a small generator to break up the smog and clear the skies. It had taken nearly all night and he was exhausted.
He’d gotten better at precisely flying his jet pack into the narrow lair entrances installed in the Flynn-Fletcher house’s rooftop. He’d zoomed straight down and landed, letting the jet pack fall off his small shoulders like a heavy backpack and crash onto the floor. Perry usually waited until he was topside to drop onto four paws, but his flat feet were aching, so he immediately assumed the quadrupedal stance and made his way upstairs.
The family was already finishing their dinner, the sounds of metal cutlery scaping against near empty ceramic plates filled the kitchen as Perry tiredly waddled in. He half smiled, finding his food bowl freshly filled with the dried platypus kibble as well as mealworms and a few uncooked shrimp. He could tell by the scent wafting down from the table that the Flynn-Fletcher family had had shrimp included in their meal this evening, and the boys must’ve convinced their mother to leave some of the prawns uncooked so they could toss them into their pets dish.
At only five years of age, Phineas and Ferb were incredibly smart. They’d gone to the Library with their mother and checked out several books on Australian wildlife after they’d adopted him. Once they’d exhausted their research limits in the children's books, they’d wandered into the adult section and found more, insisting their parents help them read the bigger words so they could learn all there was to know about their friend. It was a sweet gesture, and one Perry greatly appreciated. Truth be told however, he’d never set foot in Australia. He wasn’t sure where OWCA had gotten his egg from, but he’d taken his first breath within the US of A, and he’d been here ever since. Heck, Ferb and Lawrence were closer to being Australian than he was!
“Oh there you are, Perry!” Phineas’s excitable voice rang out as he buried his bill into his foot bowl, plopping his backside lazily onto the ground. He’d gotten used to hearing that phrase. It seemed that someone within the house, normally Phineas, would shout it every single time he came home. OWCA training had taught him that his host family would be very excited to see him and notice when he’d disappear and reappear for the first few weeks he lived with them, but eventually the hype would die down and they’d pay him less attention. Not this family. They were practically obsessed with his wearables and behaviors throughout the day, the boys especially. They didn’t spend a lot of time looking for him when he snuck off to attend his job anymore, but they still took instant notice of his absence and reappearance.
After dinner, Ferb scooped the growing platypus up off the kitchen floor, their pet nearly too long to be held in their five year old arms anymore, and definitely not without his flat tail dragging the ground behind them as they toted him around. They plopped him down next to them on the couch and the boys watched a cartoon together. Their current favorite was about a super smart boy-genius kid who would invent impossible creations with the help of his some-what dimwitted friends. Having seen the entire show front to back in the short amount of time Perry had lived with the Flynn-Fletchers, he fell asleep next to them, thankful for the platypuses' ability to shut their ears so he could tune out the noise.
He dozed off in blissful silence, only stirring every so often when Phineas would shout or Ferb would run his fingers through his fur. Soon though, even those brief interruptions faded, and Perry finally managed to slip into REM, resting off the exhaustion of the day.
He dreamed he was just a newborn puggle training at OWCA headquarters. His instructors harshly shouted at him for seemingly minor mistakes as they drilled the OWCA code of conduct into his head.
Never back down.
Never give up.
Never get attached.
Never be exposed.
The last two lines seemed to be repeated the most often by the higher ups. They constantly reminded their agents that if their host families discovered their secret identities then they’d have to be separated from them and shipped far away. This shouldn’t be a problem since the rule before that one stated that Agents weren’t supposed to get too attached to their host families in the first place, so leaving them shouldn’t be that big of a deal. It wasn’t the families OWCA worried about though, it was their nemesis that they’d have to reassign. If too many OWCA agents were exposed within a certain area, they might not have enough replacements to ensure that the evil doers in said city were kept under control.
Perry was struggling with the never get attached rule. He’d heard from his friend, Pinky, that it was the hardest rule OWCA set. Animals were naturally loyal and loving, so once they’d started forming a bond with their owners, there was nothing they could do from breaking that rule. Perry had thought he’d be okay. He knew that platypuses were solitary animals in the wild, not made to get attached to each other. They’d find a mate, separate, raise their young until they were old enough to be kicked out of the nest, then move on with their lives. Their main focus was food and survival, and to survive you can only count on yourself.
He was proven wrong fast. The very first time Phineas whispered “I love you, Perry” in his ear, he knew he was done for.
The dream droned on, like a loud beeping noise in his ears, the rules repeated over and over. Over and over until they actually started to sound less like words and more like an alarm. The little puggle kept training, sweat pouring through his fur. Was it getting hotter in here or was it just overexertion? The blaring alarm, the rising heat, something was wrong.
Perry’s eyes shot open and he sat upright on the couch. The world around him was pitch black at first until suddenly, red hot flames engulfed his vision. Was he still dreaming? A burning in his side quickly assured him he wasn’t! The house was on fire!
Perry leapt off the couch, landing on his hind legs, he darted towards the kitchen, having to dodge flames and crumbling debris as the walls and ceiling started to buckle. As he reached the side door, he skidded to a halt. Where were the people!? His people! He jumped upwards, hooking his fingers into the small window panes on the door and straining to pull himself up. As he looked outside he could see that Linda and Candace were starting to gather at the front door. He watched momentarily, arms beginning to shake as he held himself steady. Eventually, Lawrence appeared, pajamas covered in soot as he coughed. Perry couldn’t hear what they were saying through the roar of the flames growing by the second behind him, but it looked as if Lawrence, in a very distressed manner, was telling Linda some horrible news. His heart sank as he watched the red haired woman try to run back towards the house herself, only for Lawrence and Candace to hold her back. Firetrucks were starting to arrive, men in suits jumping out to help Lawrence restrain his wife. Perry knew without a doubt what he’d told her. Phineas and Ferb were still inside.
He let go of the door and dropped to four paws, the thick layer of black smoke starting to fill the room from the ceiling first. He ran back into the deepest part of the house, furthest from any door. The part of the house where Phineas and Ferb’s room was situated. They’d given the boys the master bedroom, deciding that not only would they be safest back there, but also that they’d have plenty of extra room since they shared a space.
As he rushed down the hall, Perry could see why Lawrence had had to leave without his sons. Beams from the ceiling had already collapsed in an X shaped blockade, crumbled bits of the walls and rafters laid around, each one entirely engulfed in flames. Embers floated up in all directions, stinging Perry’s fur and paws as he rushed past them. The flames licked at his skin and smoke burned his eyes as he pressed onwards, navigating the seemingly impossible obstacle course in a way only his small body could.
He reached Phineas and Ferb’s room. Their door was closed, but he could hear crying on the other side as the two five year old boys panicked, calling out for their mom in hoarse voices. Perry could hear the sound of the front door being kicked in, a deep voice shouting out Phineas and Ferb’s name as firemen trudged into the house to find them.
Above him, the ceiling started to creak and groan, hot ash raining down on him. They’d never be able to traverse the nearly destroyed hallway in time. The roof was going to cave in and crush the boys before anyone could reach them. Steeling himself, Perry took a step back, standing up on his back legs. He couldn’t open the door. It was likely supporting the caving walls, and if he opened it, the roof would collapse all at once and kill everyone inside. No, he’d have to use the same technique he’d been using to get into Doofenshmirtz’s building. He rolled a shoulder backwards before rushing forward and smashing a hole into the bottom of the door, landing in an action pose. The room was dark, filled with smoke but thankfully no flames had reached here yet. Phineas and Ferb were crying, holding onto each other in the corner. They hadn’t even noticed him yet. He dropped back onto four paws and tried to call out to get their attention, but his little platypus noises weren’t loud enough. The walls creaked again and his eyes were drawn upwards to the rapidly growing cracks in the ceiling directly above the boy's heads.
He stood upright and ran, grabbing them each by the arm and yanking them up off the floor. He pulled them out of the room just as a portion of the roof caved and covered the place they’d been huddled seconds prior. He turned around, never taking his hands off of them, and ran back through the hole he’d created in their bedroom door. They stood only a few inches taller than he did, with guidance, there was a chance they’d be able to make it through the same treacherous path he’d taken to reach them in the first place. It’d be dangerous, the flames had doubled in the few seconds it had taken him to reach them, but they didn’t have any other choice. He held them tighter and ran forward, hearing their screams behind him as flames grew closer. He stopped at the first blockage and guided them through one at a time, constantly scanning the surroundings. It was getting darker, and his lungs were burning for fresh air. He heard Ferb’s quiet shout as a jagged exposed beam scraped across his leg, slashing deep into his ligaments. He started to fall but Perry quickly threw his arm over his shoulder, supporting his weight. Carrying nearly all of Ferb on one side and holding tightly to Phineas on the other they pushed forward.
At times he was leading them blindly, unable to see where he was going. He’d just pick the darkest part of the path and go in that direction, knowing that was where the least amount of flames were. They followed him every step of the way, not stopping to question how he was standing on his hind legs or where they were going. They’d come silently to the conclusion that he was helping and they should trust him.
All at once, Phineas dropped to the floor, dragging Perry and Ferb down with him. Perry let the boys go and stood up, looking them over to try and find out what had happened. Phineas was coughing so badly he could barely breathe. Perry wondered how long he’d been doing that. He knew it was unusual for the typically chatty boy to be so quiet, but he’d just assumed it was because he was afraid, not because he was coughing up a lung. He and Ferb were both covered in soot from head to toe. Their matching dinosaur print pj’s were ruined. Once white with pastel colored dino silhouettes, now gray and black with burned and fraying ends.
Perry reached down to try and help them stand again but stopped, Phineas was exhausted, and Ferb's leg was bleeding badly. They couldn’t keep going like this. He felt like they’d been running forever and yet they hadn’t reached an exit yet. The house that had once felt so small and compact now felt like an unending mansion. He looked around, hoping to see a door or window. If there was an opening close by, maybe he could help the boys out one at a time. He was small, but so were they, he’d be able to lift them out a window or drag them through a door, right?
Nothing looked the same. The entire landscape of their home had changed. Flames and dark ruins in every direction. Suddenly, a flicker of movement caught his eye and he spotted the two firemen who’d come in earlier to find the boys. They were using an axe to chop away at the debris piled in front of the hallway. Perry couldn’t even remember escaping the hall in the first place, but somehow they’d gotten out before the firemen had even reached it. They still thought that they were trapped in their bedroom, they were wasting their time.
Quickly, Perry dropped back onto four legs and rushed towards the men, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure the flames eating away at the carpet hadn’t reached Phineas and Ferb yet. He skidded to a stop next to the fireman with the axe and bit into his pant leg, pulling backwards, hoping to drag the man in the right direction.
Out of reflex, the fireman kicked at the seemingly aggressive animal, striking Perry in the ribs.
Winded and caught off guard, Perry rolled over himself on the floor. Disoriented, he stood back up, limbs shaking and lungs burning. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until now. His side ached where the thick steel toed boot had struck him and he wheezed, unable to catch his breath in the thick smog. Stumbling, he went back to the fireman, having no other choice. He chittered up at the human pleadingly, knowing his weakened voice wasn’t going to reach the ears hidden under the mask and helmet. He pawed at the hem of his pants before biting again, and this time when the fireman lifted his leg to react, the second man stopped him, watching Perry closely.
“Wait, Johnson, it’s trying to tell us something!”
Perry tugged on the pants leg again before turning around, rushing dizzily back in the direction he’d come from. He heard the footfalls of those same steeltoed boots behind him, and though the world was blurred and spinny, and his limbs were heavy and slow, he led them back to Phineas and Ferb, collapsing once he’d reached their side again. He forced his tired eyes to stay open long enough to witness the firemen each scoop the boys into their arms, then he let himself go slack as they grabbed him as well.
The rush of fresh cold air in his face startled Perry at first, but other than a small flinch he didn’t react, he was too tired to react. He heard people shouting, sirens blaring, and fire officers shouting commands. A noise that sounded like the back of a truck opening, and the clattering noise of a gurney being loaded up into an ambulance. Suddenly, the arms holding him shifted, and he was placed on Phineas’s legs. His eyes fluttered as he tried to adjust to the harsh fluorescent light. He turned his head just slightly, looking up at Phineas’s pointed face as the EMT fitted an oxygen mask over his nose. He glanced to the side, seeing Ferb close by, his mask was already on and there was another EMT tending to his leg. The world shifted slightly as the vehicle started rushing them to the hospital, sirens blaring on the roof above him. Perry took a deep clean breath of air, picking up several new smells at once. The sterile scent of the ambulance, the almost-too-clean oxygen leaking from Phineas’s mask, the rubbery latex gloves of the EMT, one of which would occasionally stroke his fur. Suddenly though, he caught a whiff of something familiar. Something horribly familiar. He struggled to pull himself further up Phineas’s motionless form, laying his bill down on the boy's abdomen. He sniffed at the ashes covering his owner's pajamas and his heart tightened in his chest.
Jetpack fuel.
The fire was his fault.
Animals weren’t allowed in the hospital, but for Perry they’d made an exception. Of course, he’d passed out on the ambulance ride alongside his boys, so he had no idea he’d been brought in with them. Not until he felt something cold stinging his side and he jolted, letting out a squeak of surprise. He forced his eyes open, once again trying to adjust to the harsh lighting and pale white surroundings.
“Easy, boy, you’re alright.” A voice assured him, and at first Perry assumed he’d died. Soon, the scent of medicine and cleaning solutions told him he wasn’t. He was lying in a shallow tupperware tub of water, his head propped on a folded up wet towel. The water beneath him had been treated, the clinical sting irritated his skin. The veterinarian by his side had a sponge in her gloved hands and was dipping it into the water, placing it on his back, and squeezing, ensuring his whole body was saturated.
He hadn’t realized how bad his own injuries had been until now. He’d been too focused on Phineas and Ferb to notice the burns along his sides and feet. His teal fur was singed, missing in patches, leaving rough red burns in their place that, if he squinted, almost looked like some kind of overcooked lasagna. His paws seemed to have taken the brunt of it, but his tail had suffered a good bit too.
His eyes scanned the room until he spotted two hospital beds not far from him, the small forms of Phineas and Ferb sleeping peacefully under thin blankets. He relaxed once he saw their faces, clean and free of burns, no longer requiring oxygen masks to breathe.
The vet seemed to notice what he’d been searching for and followed his gaze, smiling softly as she looked back at him, stroking the fur on his head before dipping the sponge in the water once more. “They’re gonna be alright, thanks to you. You’re such a good boy.”
He didn’t feel like a good boy. None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for him.
He’d been so reckless when he’d gotten home that evening. He’d carelessly thrown his jetpack down without checking to ensure it had been properly turned off. It was still hot, and had possibly sprung a small leak due to how he’d dropped it instead of returning it to its proper place hanging on the wall. It had probably caught fire while he and the boys watched their show, and it had taken the flames a while to consume his lair before it burned up through the floor of the home. By the time the house was ablaze, the Flynn-Fletcher family had all gone to bed, leaving him to sleep peacefully and innocently on the couch. By the time the smoke detectors picked up the fire within the house, it was already so bad beneath them that there was nothing they could do to extinguish it. They were lucky the floor hadn’t caved in and killed them all.
The veterinarian finished tending to him, wrapping his worst wounds in waterproof gauze. After she left, Perry sat in his shallow pool for a few hours, soaking in the warm medicated water. Eventually, a nurse came in and carefully scooped him up, dried him off, and put him on the end of Ferb’s bed. The bottom of his paws hurt to stand on so Perry scooted himself up to Ferb’s side, nuzzling close to the green haired boy who instinctively put his arm around his pet in his sleep.
He wanted so badly to tell him he was sorry. To tell them both that he was sorry. They were hurt and it was all his fault.
The word quickly spread through newspapers, human interest stories on morning talk shows, and small slice of life blogs on the internet. Everyone was talking about the strange exotic pet who’d saved his owners lives during a ranging housefire. They called him a hero, but Perry didn’t feel like a hero.
OWCA had stepped in very quickly, taking the investigation of the fire over from the fire chief so they could correct mistakes and keep Perry’s lair from being uncovered. They told the world that the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the house, which only confirmed to Perry that his jetpack had been the real cause. If it had been anything else, they’d have put the truth down on their report. There wasn’t a thing wrong with the wiring in that house, that was just the most convincing explanation the organization could give.
OWCA also took great care of the Flynn-Fletcher family in the aftermath as well, ensuring that the boys got only the best care. They fully paid for the family to move into a new home, one much larger than their previous house. The one was large and yellow, with three bedrooms, a study, an attic, basement, garage, two living rooms, and a huge kitchen. A backyard with a large shade tree and a picket fence. It was in a good neighborhood surrounded by other kids the boys' age, including their next door neighbor Isabella who was the host family for Perry’s friend Pinky. And since OWCA had access to the house before the Flynn-Fletchers moved in, they had set up a multitude of lair entrances for Perry.
This hadn’t made sense to him at first. He’d been exposed. Phineas and Ferb had seen him walking on two legs and using his training with their own eyes. According to the rules, he should be packing his bags and shipping out to the west coast by now.
Sensing his confusion, Monogram had explained that because the boys had been the only ones to see him, he’d be alright. They were young and in the middle of a very traumatic event. No one believed them when they said their platypus stood on his hind legs and physically pulled them out of the flames, they simply believed that the boys had interpreted it that way. As they got older, they too would accept that all Perry had done was guide them out on four paws the way any regular animal could. It was still impressive, just not impossible.
He couldn’t understand why even OWCA, the people who knew the truth about the cause of the fire, called him brave. They knew that the fire was his fault, and that if it weren’t for his own recklessness none of it would’ve happened.
News outlets called him an angel. Magazines said he was spectacular. Talk shows called him a hero.
He wasn’t a hero. He was the villain.
For months after the accident, Perry couldn't sleep. It was more than the pain keeping him awake. It was guilt. Guilt that swirled around in his stomach and wouldn’t leave him alone. Every night after that, he slept in Phineas and Ferb’s room. Waking up periodically to switch beds so both boys got the same amount of cuddles. It was all he could do to apologize, and it wasn’t enough. He sat with them in the backyard, on the couch as they watched TV, and under their feet at the dinner table. Whenever he was home, he was near the boys. They grew much closer than they had, and the third rule of OWCA was shattered and left far behind. He wasn’t just their pet, he was their brother. As human as they were. He’d made a vowel in that hospital room that he’d never let anything bad happen to them ever again, even if he had to break more of OWCA’s rules along the way…
~Five years later~
The Flynn-Fletcher family loved their house. They were blessed to have it practically given to them after the tragedy that had faced years ago. It was perfect in every single way. Nothing seemed to break, they had a big backyard, plenty of friendly neighbors, not too far from the city, it was perfect.
There was one unexplainable quirk about this place though. There was some unexplained force, Candace called it the mysterious force, that had a nasty habit of making things disappear without explanation.
Candace claimed that the mysterious force made the crazy inventions her now ten year old brothers made disappear, but no one but her seemed to believe that. Still, they couldn’t argue with her that there was something strange about their home.
If anyone in the family lit a fire in their fireplace and left the room, the fire would put itself out. Candles too would cover themselves when left unsupervised. Lighters and matches mysteriously ended up in the trash, and Linda had even found out a few times that if she stepped outside to do gardening or tried to take a bath while the stove was simmering, she’d return to the kitchen to find the burners turned off and her unfinished meal cold. When Lawrence had shown Phineas and Ferb how to weld and use his blowtorch, they’d woken up the next morning to find some of the most expensive protective gear in the garage with no explanation for where it had come from. Every fourth of July, extra fire extinguishers, burn kids, and protective measures would appear at their front door. The batteries in the smoke detectors never needed changing, and nothing flammable was ever left in the open. It was strange and unusual, but whatever this force was it seemed to have their best interests at heart so they didn’t question it.
Perry was glad they didn’t question it. If they did, they might’ve found out that he was the one behind it all.
Ever since that horrible night, the platypus found himself shaking with anxiety at the thought of fire. Ironic for someone who blew things up daily. He’d gotten good at hiding his fear for the sake of his job, but anytime he saw a flame, especially within his host family's house, his heart rate would spike and his body would shake. He could still vividly picture Phineas and Ferb lying on the floor of the burning house, nearly dead. And it was his fault.
He’d promised himself he’d never let that happen again, and he meant it. No matter what.
End