A/N Hi guys! Since Odd Squad is such a new show, and it's really meant for little kids, I don't know how many readers I'm actually going to have for this story...but anyways, for those of you who are reading it, welcome!
This isn't going to be a terribly long story, probably only about four chapters at the most. My intention is to keep the plot feeling roughly episode length, as I want it to be as canon as possible. So I'm starting with an introduction adapted from the end of the first episode, "The Zero Effect". After that we'll get into my stuff for sure. Welp, enjoy!
Prologue: "The Zero Effect"
It is Agent Otto's tenth birthday. Chatter, laughter, music, and oodles of cupcakes fill the front room of the cupcake shop. Every member of the Odd Squad is here, celebrating the special day of their newest agent, not to mention his and his partner's latest success in defeating the Number Hog. After all, could there be any better way to get off work and make a new member feel welcomed—at the same time? Of course not.
Otto sits at the booth in front, surrounded by a mound of presents. He is enjoying the birthday cupcake that his partner, Agent Olive, brought him earlier. Olive has just left to get the cupcake she ordered for herself, plain with no frosting, just like her personality. Otto has to chuckle. He has yet to see the day that his partner drops her no-nonsense façade and actually tries to have fun, even for a mere cupcake.
With Olive gone, Agent Oscar, the Odd Squad scientist, gadget-builder, and favorite of Ms. O, slips into the booth beside Otto. A vanilla and blue-frosted cupcake is on his plate and a huge grin is on his face. "Glad to have you on the Squad, Otto!" he announces cheerfully. Then without really thinking, he adds with a flourish and an eyeroll, "You're sooooooooo much better than Olive's last partner."
Otto stares at him. This is new. At twelve years old, Olive is obviously a veteran agent, but Otto never really pictured Olive with any previous partners. I guess I should've known, he tells himself, a little miffed. No agent at Odd Squad ever works by themselves. He watches Oscar daintily yet eagerly cutting a bite off his cupcake with a knife and fork, and slowly asks, "Who was her last partner?"
Oscar opens his mouth to reply but freezes, knife and fork forgotten, as he realizes what he's said. "Uh, w- I, uh..." Dagnabbit, Oscar! he berates himself. Why'd you have to go and put your foot in your mouth—again? Unwanted memories quickly begin to resurface, one after the other, until they threaten to overwhelm poor Oscar's squirrel-like mind. A cold sweat breaks out on his forehead. He has to get out of here. Fast.
Frantically Oscar scans the room, searching for something, anything, to distract the curious Otto. Then his eye falls on the cupcake stand in a corner of the room, where Agent Orson is shoving cupcake after cupcake into his little baby mouth. Indicating with his knife, he quickly stammers, "Uh, look at Agent Orson, haha, out of control as usual, heh!"
"Hmm?" Otto turns around to look. He laughs and shakes his head, tutting at the nerve of Odd Squad's youngest agent. "Crazy—baby…?" he trails off as he turns back to find the seat next to him empty, cupcake abandoned. Glancing around the room in surprise, he can't see Oscar anywhere. Otto then looks questioningly at Orson, the only other agent that saw Oscar and him together. But the baby merely giggles and reaches for another cupcake with his chubby hands.
Meanwhile, underneath the table, hidden by a thick white cupcake-patterned tablecloth, Agent Oscar huddles in a ball. His former cheerful mood is gone, replaced with heavy guilt and shame. The tears on his cheek go unnoticed as he lets the awful memories engulf him. Above all, one thought circles mercilessly through his mind:
I let her down…