Perry didn't even look at Monogram for the next week. He felt more betrayed by Monogram than Monogram would have felt from Thad. His mood wasn't made any better by the fact that the graffiti around Danville seemed to be getting incredibly personal. The graffiti included names and deformed pictures of people Perry knew, mostly Phineas and Ferb. His own name had been painted so many times that he began to ignore it when he passed by. He suspected Thad was just using the graffiti as a means of taunting him.
"Ew!" Phineas said as they walked downtown together. "Why is the water in my thermos so weird-tasting?"
"I put icing in your thermos." Ferb said.
"Watery icing?"
"I made it myself, and it's NOT watery."
"It's the consistency of water! And why did you put icing in my thermos, anyway?"
"To see if you would notice. You don't notice a lot of things sometimes."
"Oh, there you are, Perry."
"I've proven my point." Ferb said under his breath.
"You seem really cranky lately." Phineas said to Perry.
"I'm not cranky." Perry grumbled.
"Ferb baked you cupcakes to cheer you up." Phineas said. "But the icing was so liquidy he poured it onto each cupcake instead of spreading it on. It was like milk."
"Stop making fun of my icing!" Ferb said. "You were the one who added six eggs into the cupcake mix!"
"Thad's attempting to take over the agency." Perry blurted.
Ferb fell silent. Phineas seemed to be debating whether to say anything.
"And Monogram doesn't believe me." Perry said. "He thinks I'm just trying to get on his good side by looking like I know who's been attacking the security."
"But you're not!" Phineas said, horrified. "You know who's been doing that! How come he doesn't believe you?"
"For the same reason I didn't believe you when you told me he was up to no good." Perry said. "All the proof he has is my word."
"I never said that. I said I didn't trust him."
"All the same, I should have been more wary. And Monogram should… he should listen to me."
"Maybe we should make an extra batch of cupcakes." Phineas said.
"Cupcakes aren't gonna fix this-" Perry stopped.
They had come to a large brick wall. The letters O.W.C.A had been painted across the whole thing.
"That's it." Perry huffed. "If Monogram's not going to get rid of Thad, I suppose I should just do it myself."
...
Perry snuck around to the back of the O.W.C.A. Hopefully he'd be able to think of some kind of way to arrest Thad without Monogram's help. Perry would surely be able to beat him senseless and tie him up, but dragging a whole human being to the O.W.C.A prison was too much of a task for him.
Perry slowly opened the back door and crept inside, keeping a hand near his grappling gun, just in case. He walked silently down the hall, keeping a close eye out for anything…
Thad's office door had no light coming in from underneath it. Perry pushed it open and groped for the light switch.
Perry opened up drawers and cupboards, searching for evidence. All he found were old photos of Thad and Monogram as small children.
Thad really had covered up his tracks well.
Perry noticed Thad's laptop, still open on his desk. He went over and checked the web history.
How to grow the perfect tomatoes, … Simplicious Hair-Styling… the Master O.W.C.A file…
Perry clicked on the O.W.C.A website link. Instantly a page came up asking for identity verification. Perry typed in his fedora number and birth date.
An article flashed onto the screen.
The O.W.C.A master file, or the O.W.C.A.M.F, has been around as long as the agency. This is the only file that can be used to hack into Danville's entire electrical system, if ever needed. If activated, this file will allow the hacker to access any information in any computer or data storage device in Danville, limited to nothing. This file could be dangerous if in the wrong hands. Many O.W.C.A agents believe this file should be destroyed. For safety reasons, Major Francis Monogram placed the file in the care of an unknown former O.W.C.A agent who is no longer affiliated in any way with the agency. The database itself has no information on the whereabouts or identity of this agent in case of a security breach. Admiral Wanda Acronym said…
"I don't remember inviting you into my office." Thad said.
Perry looked up and grabbed his grappling gun, but Thad was faster. Perry felt a sharp pain in his elbow and looked down to see a small dart. He felt a calm feeling spreading through his body.
No. He had been trained to fight the effects of tranquilizers. He couldn't let this stop him.
He fell to the ground and crawled toward the exit. His vision was blurring rapidly as his consciousness slipped away.
He forced himself to focus… on sleep… no… he had to focus on getting away…
The walls around him began to swim. He heard voices, but they made no sense. A calming feeling was spreading through him… as though it didn't really matter whether he got out of here or not, he could just sleep right here if he wanted to…
"Foccuussss!" Perry hissed at himself.
"YOU… YOU MURDEROUS TRAITOR!"
Perry looked up. A spinning marshmallow was standing in the doorway, yelling at Thad.
"I didn't kill him." Thad said. "He's simply tranquilized."
Perry's eyes were trying to close. He forced them to stay open. It took all of his effort to keep crawling…
"I knew you were up to no good!" Monty shouted, his marshmallow head dissolving into a cucumber. "PERRY! Perry, get out of here! Go get dad!"
Snapping back to attention, Perry heaved himself out of the spinning, dizzying room. Colors and images were flashing in front of his eyes, and all he wanted to do was sleep…
Thad was a very large teddy bear… Monty sounded like he had inhaled helium… and now everything was spinning very slowly…
Perry clawed his way into Monogram's office. He heard Monogram speaking very slowly in a language he didn't understand. Why was Monogram speaking English? He didn't know English. Only beavers knew English.
And now Monogram was bending over him. Monogram's shoes were a pair of French toast. And Perry was tired…
Perry closed his eyes.
...
Perry woke to the sound of alarms. He was still lying in the middle of Monogram's office, but the dart had been removed from his elbow.
Shakily, he stood up. The room was dark, save for red lights and emergency warnings blaring on the screen. Perry ran out of the room.
Agents were running up and down the halls, screaming in terror. Baby Ned the narwhal was running and squealing too, but he was simply playing tag with a baby cheetah and was not at all aware of what was happening.
"THE O.W.C.A IS UNDER EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN. ALL AGENTS ARE TO SIT AGAINST THE WALL. PLEASE DO NOT PANIC. ALL AGENTS ARE TO SIT AGAINST THE WALL."
The agents continued to panic. Perry found Darren, Devon and Pinky sitting against the wall and sat down next to them.
"Have any twos?" Darren asked Devon.
"Go fish." Devon said.
Once the alarms shut off, the agents calmed down and sat against the wall, talking excitedly to each other. Carl walked up and down the hall, calming down nervous agents and trying to stop baby Ned from shouting "underpants".
"I wonder what happened." Pinky said. "Where were you guys when the alarms started?"
"I was in the bathroom." Devon said.
"I was in the storage closet." Darren said.
"I was unconscious on the floor." Perry said.
Before Pinky could ask, Monogram walked solemnly into the hall. All of the agents fell silent.
Monogram cleared his throat. "Thaddeus Badley has infiltrated the O.W.C.A and shut down all of our systems. The SS SN men were overthrown by his accomplices. You are all to stay inside of the agency, where it is safe, until further notice."
Monogram looked toward Perry, and their eyes met.
He mouthed the words I'm sorry.
Perry gave a slow nod.
Monogram turned away. "I need to go and find someone who can explain exactly what is going on, and warn the other branches of the agency… Carl?"
Carl rushed over to Monogram. "Yes, sir?"
"I need someone to look after things while I'm not here." Monogram paused. "Please tell my son to take over while I'm gone."
Carl looked slightly annoyed, but he nodded.
"We must recover our information and make sure Thaddeus does nothing with it."
Perry stood up and tugged on Monogram's pant leg.
"Yes, Agent P?" Monogram asked quietly.
Perry handed him a napkin he had written on.
Monogram sucked in his breath. "Of course he'll be after that. Unfortunately, I don't know the current location of the O.W.C.A.M.F. May I appoint you to look for it?"
Perry nodded.
"Find it before Thaddeus does." Monogram instructed. "If he gets hold of it, it's all over. I should have put that file in a heavily guarded safe… I figured it would be less conspicuous out in the open… but it's less defended out there…"
He turned and walked out of the hall. All of the agents stared after him.
"What now?" Devon asked. "Do we just sit here and wait for him to come back?"
"Of course not." Said a voice. "We fight back."
Everyone turned.
Peter stood in the end of the hall, a little unstable, but fully conscious.
Perry smiled. "He's right, guys. We're not cowards. We're not going to run away to a safe hidey-hole. We're going to fight."
To Be Continued In The Next Story, Attack of the O.W.C.A