Balance of Terror

This is the 6th story in fanfiction.net author Klingon64/Fanon Wiki contributor Tiberius64's series. In a small deviation, this story is actually a prequel to the 4th story in that series, The Terran Empire, and takes place in that parallel universe where Doofenshmirtz is the emperor. The previous stories, in order, are Celestial Feelings, If Summer Only Lasted One Day, An Interplexing Future, The Terran Empire, and A New Star is Born. This is also the first story to touch on adult themes such as lust and certain degrees of violence given the setting. The accumulation of all events explains what led to the foundation of the Terran Empire, what Phineas and Ferb had to do with it, and how they arrived in the Prime Universe, where they fought Phineas and Ferb Prime.

Balance of Terror

Chapter 1: Foundation of the Empire
Here is original story text:


 * "It was 3 years before the 104-day summer vacation we all knew in the Prime Universe. The year: 2008. The place: earth, parallel universe. Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, as we all know, had a horrible childhood and decided to let himself be defined by that, thus becoming an evil scientist out to avenge himself on all who made his early life miserable. In this universe, however, he got smart early on how to successfully take over more than just the Tri-State Area; he intended the whole' 'world as his goal of acquisition. Over a period of time, he began creating or acquiring nuclear weapons and building up a robotic army to prepare for world conquest.


 * "In 2008, he let all Hell break loose from Professor Destructicon's secret base (after assassinating him) by sending nuclear missiles at major cities all over the world; New York, Moscow, London, Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, and many others had massive casualties within a matter of hours. The world economy was sent into frenzy while armies across the world armed and prepared for any assaults to come. It was at this armament that Doofenshmirtz sent out his legions upon legions of robots throughout the world.


 * "Many countries fell quickly; the United States, its Allies, China, Israel, and some other Middle Eastern countries resisted valiantly, but in futility—after a year's-worth of fighting, and with all world icons of freedom in ruins, Doofenshmirtz established the United Earth Empire with himself as the ruler in 2009. Shortly before the empire's foundation, institutes of evil were promptly set up and children were taken by force from their parents to be indoctrinated in evil ways. They were placed in class by mental and physical aptitude; some of the more apt were able to escape and join military resistance groups. These small resistance efforts rarely attracted too much attention unless the rare occasion arose where severe damage was inflicted.


 * "In 2010, satellites were able to pick up the signal from a few space exploration craft entering the solar system. First contact was made on April 5th with some adorable aliens that spoke with "meaps." When they were nearly killed and their ship nearly taken, they promptly left earth. Doofenshmirtz thereby commissioned experimentation of capabilities to break the speed of light barrier so that he might expand his iron fist's control to other worlds. It was at this moment that he also renamed the empire The Terran Empire, whose new goal was conquest of all other worlds possible."

Chapter 2: Thinking Back...
This chapter begins in 2009 with Phineas and Ferb both sitting in their quarters at the Doofenshmirtz Institute for Advancement of Humanity watching the news about resistance movements going down left and right. Phineas then takes the time to reminisce over what had happened two months ago that landed them there. Two months prior, it had been a week since Candace had run away from home to join military resistance groups against the newly-self-appointed Emperor Doofenshmirtz, saying that she would rather die on her feet than live on her knees. And now, robots are swarming all over and attacking homes, taking children by force from parents. When two overpower Linda and Lawrence Flynn-Fletcher, Phineas and Ferb blast them with homemade blasters. They then shoot at robots across the street that are attacking Isabella's house, which draws their attention. They then start shooting at the Flynn-Fletcher house; one switches its arm to a tranquilizer dart shooter and successfully puts the boys out.

The following day, Phineas wakes up in a cell-filled room, where all his friends and are behind bars. He notices Isabella in the cell next to him, crying in the corner. He calls her, and they both approach the bars together. She beckons him to come closer and she kisses him passionately. When Phineas confesses his feelings for her as well, he asks why she had never told him prior. She tells him that it is all she has to cling to now and that she had felt the risk appropriate now. They keep each other company and comfort each other for the next hour; then, Norm-like guard robots come in and escort the captive children to the Doofenshmirtz Coliseum, where Emperor Heinz Doofenshmirtz will sign the United Earth Empire Charter, as well as where they will perform various aptitude tests and fights.

Phineas comes back to reality mentally and puts his hand to his left eye, where he notes the scar over it left from a guard robot that had successfully slashed him with skin-searing claws. He remembers that the next day is Field Test Day, where he will have to show all he has learned. He, as a result, begins to quesiton all that he has known to be true and right throughout his life. He then notes that it is 7:00 PM (dinner time) so he nudges Ferb to go down to the mess hall with him. In the hallway, they meet up with their friends and head down there together, where they hear the jingle "Doofenshmirtz Nightly Announcement."

Chapter 3: The Results
The following day was a relatively good one for Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and the rest, as they had all been placed as the elite "gifted" class members. All had done well at their aptitude field tests, although Baljeet, Holly, and Milly had gotten injured throughout the day (scars over their eyes) and Buford had lost his left eye entirely. Phineas and Ferb, in their quarters, watch the nightly news in their quarters to hear Doofenshmirtz announce that them, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, Irving, and the Fireside Girls were placed among the elites. It is at the moment that the two are about to leave that Norm guard robots enter and offer bodyguard protection to the new elites. Phineas and Ferb begin to give in more and more into the idea that they are right in following in Doofenshmirtz's evil ways and in satisfaction join their friends in the hallway. They are all treated to a nicer dinner than the rest at the institute that evening.

Chapter 4: The Replacement
By a year later (2010), Phineas, Ferb, and the rest are no longer the innocent children they once were; nor were any of the other children at the institute. Attitudes of self-seeking and malice prevailed among many in the institute and society itself. At this time as well, satellites begin to detect never-before-seen plasma anomolies in space and deformations in space itself. Then, on April 5, 2010, first contact is made with Meap's species; Meap himself, who is on the survey mission, offers his hand in political friendship. Doofenshmirtz offers them a talk over dinner at the palace; two hours later, they leave in haste, as Doofenshmirtz has tried to have them killed and their ship and technology stolen. At this time, Phineas and Isabella share quarters, as with Ferb and Gretchen, and they see a breaking news flash; the events of the first contact are reported, where Doofenshmirtz gives his fear that their superior technology can allow them to devastate earth if they so wish. He also announces his will to force all non-Terran species into submission. He announces all the legal paperwork to be finished the next day.

At 7:00 PM that night, in the mess hall, Doofenshmirtz comes in and personally commissions Phineas and Ferb to building the first faster-than-light ship, which will give way to an imperial navy. He also tells their friends that they are to be the future crew of that ship. These events make them all proud of being in the elite and being a part of a seemingly-bright future. The following day, Doofenshmirtz signs a new charter replacing the United Earth Empire with The Terran Empire (from Latin terra, or "earth"), which will seek the conquest of all other worlds possible. On June 14, 2010, the Doofenshmirtz Shipyards are dedicated, where Phineas has the honor of giving a short speech after Doofenshmirtz, after which he cuts the ribbon at the simultaneous raising of the recently-established Terran Empire's flag and the flyover of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

Chapter 5: Phineas' Phoenix
It's June 21, 2010, only a week after the dedication of the Doofenshmirtz Shipyards, and the first prototype Flynn-Class starship, the USS Phineas, is completed and ready for a test launch and humanity's first warp flight in space (the destination is Pluto and the Kuiper Belt). Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, Irving, and Fireside Girls Holly, Milly, Ginger, Gretchen, Adyson, Holly, and Katie board the ship. Baljeet and the Fireside Girls stay in the engineering sector while Phineas and the rest go up to the bridge. Phineas gives Ferb, the helmsman, the order to take the ship up; it flies gracefully upward for a minute through the atmosphere before entering space. Once clear, Phineas orders Ferb to set a course for Pluto at Warp 3; at the success of jumping to the faster-than light speed, Phineas pulls out a bottle of champagne that he had hidden aboard the ship for the occasion. After the uneasiness of everyone, Isabella is the first to come forward and say that she trusts that he knows what he is doing, causing everyone to join in a toast Phineas makes to "the undiscover'd country" (the future; Hamlet, Act III, Scene I).

During these festivities, Phineas realizes that Pluto has most likely long passed; he has Ferb drop the ship out of warp just outside of the Kuiper Belt. They all witness the never-before-seen beautiful view of the outside of the Sol System. At this, Doofenshmirtz contacts the USS Phineas and tells Phineas that he and his crew need to return home so that more starships like it can be built. Phineas and the crew look sadly out the viewscreen before Ferb turns the ship back towards earth, where a celebration feast and commendation ceremony await. This was the foundation of the conquest to come from the Terran Empire.

Chapter 6: Ranking and Christening
It's July 6, 2010, the day of the rank ceremony at the Doofenshmirtz Coliseum, where many bloody fights and tough aptitude tests have taken place. Doofenshmirtz announces that he will award ranks to the new official crew of the ISS Phineas, as well as give Phineas a bottle of 2003 Vintage Dom Perignόn to break over the warp core inside the ship as a christening ceremony. The ranks given to the crew are as follows:
 * Captain Phineas Flynn
 * Commander Ferb Fletcher
 * Commander Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
 * Lieutenant Commander Baljeet Rai
 * Major Buford Van Stomm
 * Lieutenant Commander Irving [last name still unknown]
 * The Fireside Girls Engineering/Medical Team (all ranked Ensign)

The youth are all given their uniforms and accomplishment medals and patches at their rank awardings. Once complete, Doofenshmirtz hands Phineas the bottle of champagne, which he takes as his crew and a camera man follow him inside the ship via transporter. Phineas yells out "long live the Terran Empire!" as he breaks it over the plasma-containing transparent aluminum warp core. It is revealed at this time that Candace has kept some degree of contact with her parents; she had joined in a military resistance group with Stacy and even Phineas and Ferb's friend Django Brown. Their efforts had been slow to start, but by this time, the resistance group is amassing weapons and supplies steadily, including some stolen from the empire itself.

Chapter 7: A Deeper Intimacy
'''[WARNING: RATING OF PG-13. Slight degree of reader descretion advised when reading this chapter, more so when reading the actual story on FanFiction.net]''' It is sometime in 2011, and Phineas and Isabella live with each other in the same room (as is revealed earlier in the story). It is revealed that at this point, Phineas is the Fleet Admiral (which maintains the rank of "General") and that three alien species--the Thoroni, Soruna, and V'malnons--have fallen entirely under imperial control. Getting back to the actual story, one night at around 1:00 AM, Phineas, unable to sleep, begins to kiss Isabella passionately before stopping himself in guilt. He tells Isabella that he feels that he was going too far because of how young they are and the fact that their parents, who grew up in a more decent society, never were like this in their time. They both acknowledge that they are both too young to be married, so Isabella suggests bringing it up with Emperor Doofenshmirtz so he can possibly offer advice. They both try to sleep the rest of the night. The next day, the two go into Doofenshmirtz's office, where he is going over military reports. He warmly greets his most trusted subjects before asking what they need.

Phineas and Isabella bring up their relationship with each other, which Doofenshmirtz is already well aware of. They tell him how much they deeply love each other and how much they wish they could be more physically intimate while being or feeling proper. Doofenshmirtz replies by saying that in the Terran Empire, anything behind closed doors that is not in rebellion against the government is fine with him. He also reveals his liking of the Hedonistic Greek ideas of the pursuit of pleasure as a life goal, yet still offers an idea on what to do for their sake and wanting to feel "proper." He calls in Norm (the original prototype, which this Doofenshmirtz built some time before his Prime Universe self), who prints out a Document of Legal Partnership, which places eager couples on a near-married status if they so wish, meaning that they have most benefits of a legally-married couple. Phineas and Isabella sign off on it, thus making Isabella's last name "Flynn." After thanking him and returning to their quarters, Phineas looks over some military reports for a few hours before falling asleep; Isabella wakes up and wakes Phineas up with a kiss before the two engage in unspecified erotic activity.

Chapter 8: A Thorn in Their Side
4 years later, in May of 2015, the Terran Empire had grown on large scales. It is revealed that the alien races conquered include the Thoroni, Soruna, V'malnons, T'larans, I'lin, and "a dozen or so others." Only Meap and "Species 1" (the name which the Terran Empire has given Meap's kind) have been able to successfully defeat and resist their brutal rule. At this point in time, Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and their friends are officers at this point, and have survived unspecified assassination attempts from others, as for the fact that all officers, trainees, and cadets carry daggers and disruptor pistols on them at all times; Phineas and his friends apparently all have access to the best weapons, and only Phineas himself has permission to wield a lightsaber, which had been recently created by him.

One night, while Phineas and Isabella were...busy...at their officer residence together, they receive an emergency call from Doofenshmirtz's palace to meet at the Mission Briefing Room at the palace. They arrive late, everyone well aware of what was most likely going on. After a brief awkward moment, Doofenshmirtz describes the scenario: two of the empire's ships, the ISS Ares and the ISS Dauntless, were both on a reconnaissance mission when they intercepted transmissions from Meap and Species 1 about plans to attack earth in the near future. They had already amassed a large fleet with comparable numbers and power. Both the Ares and the Dauntless were cloaked, but they hit a gravity mine and alerted the fleet to their presence. The two ships escaped and are at this rate on their way towards earth, but so is a smaller fleet led by Meap himself (who is the Fleet Admiral). Doofenshmirtz sees this opportunity as a chance to send a crippling blow towards Species 1 and tells Phineas that he will lead 2/3 of the Terran Empire's fleet to go meet with this threat. Within an hour of leaving the Mission Briefing Room, 2/3 of the Terran Empire fleet is en route to a planned battleground in space.

Chapter 9: The Temporal Disruption
Phineas tells the fleeing ISS Dauntless and ISS Ares to drop out of warp and cloak at the predetermined coordinates for the battle. The Terran Empire Naval Fleet drops out of warp at the specified coordinates and makes visual contact with Meap and Species 1's fleet; he then hails them (calling himself Captain for the sake of their understanding). After Phineas offers them a chance to surrender or perish, Meap sends out his small attack fighters, to which Phineas sends his own. With neither side wanting to succumb to the pressure, Phineas orders the ISS Avenger, ISS Bludgeon, ISS Agamemnon, ISS Perseus, and ISS Sitting Bull, all of which are most likely large battle dreadnoughts, to take the side and flanks of the fleet, which proves ineffective as a battle strategy. Phineas rethinks the strategy and orders his fleet to entirely ignore the large and powerful ships of the Species 1 fleet; he tells them instead to focus on the smaller, weaker, or older ships entirely. This plan works, inflicting heavy damage to Meap's fleet; Meap orders the Species 1 fleet to retreat for a temporary respite, but the Terran fleet follows.

Out of nowhere, a blue anomoly appears (which Irving identifies as some kind of temporal disruption due to its gravimetric readings), and Meap orders his fleet to splinter off around it. Phineas, in his curiosity, orders the fleet to enter. Buford, first upsetting Phineas by calling him Captain, then objects, calling the move an unwarranted gamble on their own security; Phineas responds by threatening him with his disruptor pistol and a warning that he'll have Baljeet prepare the agony chamber for him if he dares act out of line like that again. Returning to protocol, Phineas has the Terran fleet continue on its way. When they all emerge on the other side, they find themselves in the same location of a different universe; there is a small fleet of ships that almost perfectly resemble those of Meap and Species 1 of their universe. When hailed, Phineas orders silence from the fleet, eventually ordering the fleet to attack. Meap Prime has his fleet back off, to the pleasant surprise of the Terran Empire fleet; Phineas orders the fleet towards earth to see what it is like in this universe. Meap Prime, currently in the USS Phineas, goes to earth at maximum warp to warn Phineas and Ferb Prime and return the ship to them. The Terran Empire fleet takes it time to head towards earth from there as Phineas anticipates the possibility of seeing his own self of this other universe.