Phineas was sitting on the edge of his seat. Surveillance systems had seen the American interceptors rocketing toward the border, and he hoped beyond hope that Isabella had managed to get away after all.

And then, they'd picked up the broadcasts from the planes, telling an unidentified hovercar to land or be fired upon. He knew the hovercar couldn't survive any sort of combat - that wasn't its purpose. How were they detecting it, though? He'd made it invisible to practically every type of electromagnetic wave known to man.

The radio transmission came in again. "Turn off your cloaking device and land now. You have thirty seconds to comply."

He closed his eyes and winced. So close.

He sat up suddenly. "Wait, why are those fighters telling them to turn off the cloaking device? If they can target it, why can't see they it?"

"Wait," Ferb said, catching Isabella's hand. "The threat indicator isn't showing a targeting lock. They don't have us on radar. They're bluffing."

"What?" Isabella asked.

"You have ten seconds to comply," the voice said.

"Turn left ten degrees and drop down so we're below them," Ferb said.

Nodding in comprehension, Isabella turned the hovercar to the left ten degrees as she decreased the altitude. The interceptors continued straight along their original course.

"This is your final warning," the radio blared. "Drop your cloak NOW!"

Isabella silently drew the hovercar to a stop and let the interceptors overshoot them. One of the interceptors launched a missile, which flew off, untargeted.

"Thank you," Isabella said. "I didn't realize."

"Let's get moving again before they get better sensors up here," Ferb said.

With a nod, Isabella brought them back up to speed.

"What's that big bright symbol on the sensor screen?" Doctor Tjinder asked, leaning forward from the middle seat.

"It's an AWACS," Isabella said, keeping her eyes busy scanning the skies around them. They were approaching the Canadian border, now just twenty kilometers away - a mere five minutes at their current speed.

"Is that bad?" the doctor asked.

"Maybe," Ferb said. "It's got much better radar than anything else in the skies. It's possible their radar is strong enough to penetrate our cloaking device."

"Oh. That is indeed bad."

"Yes. Yes, it is," Ferb said.

"Taking us lower," Isabella said, dropping down to just above treetop altitude. "It'll make it harder for them to spot us against the noise of the ground cover."

They skimmed along the canopy before reaching a broad bare patch of prairie just before the border. In the center sat the unmistakeable shape of a surface-to-air missile battery, just warming up its radar. The threat warning on the control panel lit up as the battery's radar overpowered their cloaking device.

"Hold on!" Isabella said, banking the hovercar to one side and diving even lower. The threat indicator went off as they went too low for the battery to follow, skimming a couple feet above the ground. She poked up as high as she dared to avoid obstacles, dodging around the occasional bison that was confused by the wind of their passage.

"Interceptors coming in from above," Ferb said. "They can follow us from our wake in the grass."

"Six kilometers to the border," Isabella said. "Taking it up a bit." She lifted up high enough to not cause wind effects, but the incoming AWACS and the ground radar both caused the threat indicator to light up, so she slowed down and took the hovercar back below their radar.

"We can't just sit here, the AWACS will be able to spot us when they get close enough," Ferb said.

"I know," Isabella replied testily. "Sorry. Flying wasn't my job, I was special forces."

Ferb smiled at her. "I realize. My apologies."

"So we get shot down if we move, and caught if we don't?" Holly asked.

"Pretty much. Unless something lures the planes away."

Phineas flew the drone along as fast as it would go. He'd realized that the hovercar might need some help getting across the border, so he'd brought up the drone and sent it along to act as a decoy.

Behind him, Colin kept an eye on the sensor feeds from the planes near the border. "Looks like the interceptors may have found something, they're diving."

"Damn," Phineas said. "I'm not quite there yet...how far out are they?"

"About six klicks off the border," Colin said.

"Okay. I've got an idea."

A light pulsed on Ferb's side of the console, and a speaker came to life with Phineas's voice. "Hey, folks, sending out an encrypted message for you. I'm going to try to draw them off. Hold as still as you can until I can pull them away, then book it across the border on emergency power. Should take you no more than a minute. I'll tell you when to go."

Isabella looked at Ferb and nodded, keeping them creeping along forward. They were practically in the grass, flying slowly enough that their wake just looked like wind.

"Threat indicator increasing. The AWACS should be able to see us in a couple minutes, even down here," Ferb said, scanning the board.

"I don't see where we have a better idea, though. If we move fast, the interceptors will see where we are, and if we go up higher, the AWACS will pick us up even faster."

Ferb nodded, watching the board. The infrared signatures of the interceptors swept back and forth above them, with more inbound. Whatever Phineas was going to do, he'd need to do it fast.

Colin watched the airspace near the border, shaking his head. They had a rough idea where the hovercar was, but the problem was, so did the Americans. If it moved, it could be shot down before it reached Canadian airspace. If it didn't move, it would be detected soon and forced to land or be shot down.

On the American side, interceptors were congregating in the area, and an AWACS with a fighter escort was approaching as quickly as it could. On the Canadian side of the border, air superiority fighters were patrolling the border, keeping an eye on their American counterparts.

Phineas claimed to have a plan, but he had yet to share it with Colin. Right now, Colin had to watch the inevitable death or capture of his friends - Isabella, and Ferb, and even Doc Tjinder in his own stuffy way. They were almost to the border, but the Americans wouldn't let them get across alive.

"Okay, Colin, tell..." Phineas checked the screen. "Ace 4, 6, 8 and 9 to form up on the drone as it crosses back over the border at these coordinates."

"And they'll do what you say because...?" Colin asked, punching in the instructions.

"Because right now, they'll listen to anyone coming in on an authenticated channel. It's easier than wondering what the hell to do, and if the war is going to start here and now."

Colin nodded acknowledgement and picked up the mic. Orders relayed through regional control and to the fighters, and Colin saw them starting to move to escort something that wasn't there.

"Blip enhancer active," Phineas said. "Drone crossing back into Canadian airspace in ten..."

The drone came back toward the border, twenty klicks to one side of the estimated position of the hovercar, its blip enhancer making it appear to be the cloaked hovercar to the Americans. Two interceptors pulled off and raced toward it, while the remainder went higher to scan further afield.

Phineas picked up the mic. "Okay, Isabella. Give it about twenty seconds to draw the interceptors away, and then punch it."

Isabella watched the interceptors pulling away, even as the AWACS got closer and closer. There was a fine line to balance here; if they jumped too soon, the interceptors would see them, but if they waited too long, the AWACS would get through their cloak.

A bright spark flew from one of the interceptors, a missile streaking toward the drone. It would strike just before the drone crossed the border.

"Now," Phineas said, and Isabella pushed the throttle to full. The hovercar leapt forward, and she brought it a bit higher to keep from hitting any hills or trees.

"Radar lock in five," Ferb said. "Forty seconds to the border."

"Interceptors?" Isabella asked, wishing her enhanced reflexes were more useful when flying. Unfortunately, the momentum of a hovercar doesn't care how fast you can twitch your fingers.

"Still not noticing us. Radar burn through...now. They can probably see us. Thirty seconds to the border. Interceptor inbound!"

Isabella nodded and concentrated on flying as fast as she could. Dodging and jinking would just slow them down right now; their best hope was speed.

"Twenty seconds. Interceptor missile radar hitting us. They have lock. Fifteen seconds," Ferb narrated. "Missile away!"

Isabella scanned the terrain in front of her; nothing interesting except a few stray cows.

"Border in ten. Impact in five," Ferb said. "Second missile fired."

"Brace yourselves!" Isabella said, diving back toward the prairie. She dodged a cow, then vectored directly away from the missile.

Behind them, the missile detonated, shredding the briefly-startled cow. "Border in five, missile in ten," Ferb said.

They shot across the border, the hovercar climbing as they went. "Ejecting now!" she shouted, firing the ejection seats. All six seats shot into the air as the hovercar's stealth system, compromised by the holes in the roof, turned itself off. The seats were buffeted by the winds, sucking Isabella's breath away, and they began to fall as the seats' AI tried to get them away from the imminent impact.

The missile struck the hovercar, shattering it in a fiery explosion. The shockwave buffeted the seats as they slowed, and their parachutes deployed as their momentum carried them further into Canada. A squadron of F-15 fighters flew along between them and the border, almost daring the Americans to make trouble.

"We've got them," an unfamiliar voice came over the radio. Canadian Forces helicopters had been dispatched to pick up anyone who made it across the border, and had made it just twenty minutes after the hovercar had been blown out of the sky. "Five on board, no injuries."

"Five?" Phineas asked. Colin shrugged, and spoke into his microphone.

"Five," Colin confirmed. "Isabella, Ferb, Doc Tjinder, and two other prisoners, a Holly Washington and an Erik Bailey."

Phineas sat back and blinked. "Holly? Seriously?"

Colin looked at him, confused. "You know her?"

"She's my ex-girlfriend."

Holly looked around at the room she was led into, filled with cheering people. "You made it!" Phineas said, charging toward Isabella, who met him halfway in a hug. He then went on to hug Ferb and even Baljeet, who responded with a smile. He then turned to her and hugged her as well. "Holly, what the hell were you doing there?"

Holly laughed. "You may have heard about a recording of General Archer and Mayor Abercrombie drinking?"

"Oh! You made the recording, of course. Thank you! You may have helped us keep the Americans off-balance. Who's this?" He turned toward Erik, trailing.

"Erik Bailey, formerly a Southwestern Senator, and before that, part of the Council of Sanford. The man who can tell us everything we need to know about the American leadership," Holly said.

Erik stretched out his hand, and Phineas pulled him into a hug as well. "Good to have you on board. Welcome to Canada."

"Thanks," Erik said. "Hopefully, we can get my information out so that it can undercut what the government is saying. From what I've heard, they're off-balance and dealing with internal strife. Knowledge of what the Council has done may tip it over the edge into full-fledged resistance against the government."

Ferb leaned in. "Assuming they don't get desperate enough to do something drastic."

"Hey, the American President just cut in to all their programming," somebody Holly didn't recognize said, looking at a screen. "Let me put up the audio."

The voice of President Sherman came over the room's speakers. "... have ignored these repeated provocations from Ottawa in the interests of peace. No more. Canadian forces swept into Montana, attacking an American military base and abducting several American citizens for whatever prurient purposes they may have. This is a bridge too far, and we will not stand for it."

He cleared his throat. "I have sent a request to Congress, asking them to declare that a state of war now exists between the United States of America, and Canada. I have also sent notices to all European embassies, as well as the Mexican embassy, stating that their mutual-defense agreement does not apply because this war was directly caused by Canadian attacks on American soil."

Holly looked around the now-silent room. All the faces around her were full of determination and fear, hope and horror.

The President continued, "Under my authority under the War Powers Act as amended, I have authorized the launch of tumbler missiles toward Canadian military bases and defense contractors. We are launching as I speak. It is my sincere hope that the Canadians recognize the overwhelming might we can apply, and surrender immediately."

Phineas looked at Ferb. "I think that qualifies as drastic."

And we'll wrap this up here. A third and final story is planned, tentatively titled "Land of the Free", but I have not yet begun writing it. There's also a little side story about Ginger and Buford that I'm working on.

Many, many thanks to everyone who's read this far. Special thanks to Sabrina06 for beta, and to foxflowers, MyronGreenleaf, EDD17SP, and Rebb R-01 for reviews and comments.