Phineas narrowed his eyes slightly. "What do you mean, 'help'?"

"By that, I propose that you and your brother undertake missions that I will give, so as to properly solve this matter with the robots. We're short of man – I mean animal – power here at the moment."

"But… Why us?"

The newly-promoted colonel scoffed. "Well, you've seen Agent P already, right? And secondly, don't think we don't know what you guys are capable of. Agent P here has recorded every single one of your inventions, and it seems to me that you've all done what even adults cannot do."

Phineas gaped a little. "So he has been watching us the entire time…"

"We cannot guarantee your safety in all these missions, though. Any questions before you're both recruited?"

"What about our parents?" After being through all that had happened, Ferb finally spoke up.

"That is a minor detail. We'll give them a discounted vacation that they can't refuse. They'll be safer overseas…"

"Can't you just protect us, instead of going through all this trouble of giving us jobs, sir?"

"Oh, we can protect you all right, but do you think those rogue robots are just going to stop bothering you? Definitely not. Furthermore, we can't safely say that those same robots will not simply plant a bomb near your house and blow you all up sky high. You'll feel more secure where we'll be sending you."

"And where would that be?"

"That, son, is classified information. We'll not tell you that until you agree to join us, and have signed the appropriate forms."

Phineas folded his arms. "Okay, I'll join you. But on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Some of our friends get to assist us as well. I think we'll need all the help we can get."

Monogram didn't like this. "You want us to let other people into this secret? How sure are we that this organisation wouldn't be revealed?"

"If you want to recruit us, you have to recruit them as well."

The colonel stared into the teenager's blue irises. "Or I could simply ship Perry to another family, and let you guys deal with this robot problem by yourselves."

There was a tense silence.

"I don't think so," Ferb spoke. "When Perry fought those robots, one of them recognised him as an agent and attempted to capture him. This problem is related to not merely us, but your agency as well."

"Urgh… L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N... I should have known. I wonder how they could have built those robots while still continuing with their normal plans… " Monogram mused. Then he glanced at Ferb, unimpressed. "Anyway, you're really pushing it, kid. Fine, but no more than four."

Phineas thought hard. "Hm, how about Isabella, Baljeet and Buford and Candace?"

Ferb looked at him sideways, and quietly commented, "Candace's going to college. Let's not implicate her."

"Good point. Irving?"

His brother shrugged.

"Okay, we're taking Isabella, Buford, Baljeet and Irving."

"Fine, so now, you and your brother are officially recruited. We'll get your friends over here and brief them later, but they will have no liberty of declining, since they will then know that this organisation exists."

Phineas shifted uneasily to another foot. "One more thing, though. We have absolutely no experience in fighting."

"I guess we'll send you to the Second Dimension to be trained. As I mentioned before, we don't have the sufficient manpower here to teach you. I can only assume that they'll be quite free, since the Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz has already been arrested… Which reminds me." At this, Monogram pinched his forehead and sighed. "We need to give you back your memories of the Second Dimension. CARL!"

"Yes, sir?" The now paid intern hurried over.

"Is it possible to reverse the effects of the Memory-Erasinator?"

"Not really, sir… Putting those memories back in would destabilise others, causing them to be lost. It's like some kind of exchange."

"It is crucial that they get back those memories. Is there any other way?"

In his usual nasally voice, Carl answered, "Well, basically, reminding them may jumpstart their neurons, so… " He glanced at the two boys over his purple-framed glasses, and commented loudly, "Doctor Doofenshmirtz."

"Won't work. They already heard that one," huffed Monogram.

"Oh, okay. Erm… " Carl scrunched his forehead in thought. "Platyborg. Remember anything?"

"Nope."

"Normbots."

"Nothing."

The intern sighed in frustration. "Sir, apparently they need some other type of stimulation. Auditory doesn't seem to work here."

The teal platypus, who had been sitting quietly in one corner watching the exchange of conversation, suddenly had an idea. Taking off his fedora, he pulled out several square pieces of film and showed them to Carl and Monogram.

Monogram raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Agent P, that might work. You could try using that. But may I ask – How did you take those pictures?"

Ignoring his boss, Perry proceeded to pass one to Phineas. The redheaded inventor took one look at the picture, and his eyes went wide. In seconds, he was sitting in Perry's chair.

"Platypult… Normbots…" he muttered dazedly.

The platypus then took the picture out of Phineas' hands (who was still staring into space) and handed it to Ferb. In a matter of moments, he was sitting next to his brother as well, head in his hands.

"Good work, Agent P," Monogram praised him. "Now all we have to do, is send them to the Resistance, and hope that they won't be too busy over there. After all, Doofenshmirtz has been defeated there…"

"Hold on a second." Phineas got up unsteadily, swaying from side to side. "Who's the Resistance?"

"Oops," Carl muttered.

Perry took a look at the picture himself. Apparently it was the first one, when Phineas, him and Ferb were gliding down in a parachute to safety, and his feet were still stuck in that annoying skull. Chattering, he held it up to the screen.

"Yes, I agree. Probably a picture restores one single set of memories belonging to a certain period of time. Pass them the other pictures, and see what happens."

And so it went on; Perry handing the pictures one by one to the brothers, both of them complaining of a headache, until there were no more pictures in Perry's hands.

"Okay, so now, what can you remember?" Monogram pressed.

After resting for a few moments, Phineas replied, "I think I can remember everything, up to the time you sent us to get our memories erased… I only recall the Resistance stepping into the portal that leads to the Second Dimension, and our goodbyes."

"Ditto," Ferb nodded.

"Don't you have any more pictures?" Monogram asked his best agent. Perry shook his head no.

"That will just have to do. The bit involving your memories being erased isn't so important, anyway."

"May I ask a few questions, sir?" Phineas leant towards the big, luminescent screen.

"Fire away, recruit."

"I would just like to know about this… secret agency. Why, instead of humans, you decided to hire our pet platypus to become your agent."

"Well, that's quite simple, actually. Animals can go to where humans can't…"

As Monogram continued his rant, Ferb slid closer to his pet. "The aforementioned last bit must be significant after all, since you had to conceal the last picture." Apparently he was the only one who had seen Perry hiding one picture in his fedora.

The platypus rolled his eyes and chattered quietly with irritation, then passed the last picture, which depicted Phineas hugging the agent, to Ferb. The green headed boy took one glance at it, remembered what had happened, and fell to the ground laughing.

"What's wrong, Ferb?" Phineas blinked curiously at his brother.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." Ferb quit laughing, but still had a gigantic grin on his otherwise usually expressionless face.

"So if everything is alright now," Monogram cast a suspicious glace at Ferb, "I would like to conclude by saying that I'll be sparing you one of my agents for your missions."

"Oh, okay. What animal is he?"

"He isn't an animal," muttered Monogram. "Probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made."

The door at the side of Perry's den opened, revealing a familiar blue-haired boy.

A/N : Sorry for the wait, guys! I've been busy with quite a lot of things these few days... And being the perfectionist I am, I kept checking and cross-checking to ensure I didn't leave anything out. XD

As you can see here, Major Monogram got his old Christmas wish. He got promoted to Colonel.

And this mystery guy shows up again. Who IS he, anyway?