Odd Todd heard something moving behind him. Before he could turn to look, he heard Alfred, the Wayne family butler, coming toward the door.
"Blast!"
Todd quickly closed the Shakespeare bust and ran to hide behind the curtains, just missing seeing the secret entrance to the Batcave slide closed. Alfred poked his head in, looked around, and left.
As soon as he was gone, Odd Todd undid the latch on the picture window, slipped out, and climbed down to the lawn to make his escape.
#
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, YOU..."
Chief O'Hara struggled to keep his grip on Delilah, whom he'd just dragged into Commissioner Gordon's headquarters.
"Jackpot, Commissioner!" the Chief explained to Gordon. "The hooligans were there all right, and without their leader, they surrendered pretty quick. We've recovered most of the stolen merchandise, though somewhat worse the wear, I'm afraid. Plus, we found this she-cat locked in a closet."
"Excellent!" Commissioner Gordon glared at her. "A shameful thing, forcing your own daughter into a life of crime just to feed your hunger for fame and fortune!" He sighed in disgust. "Take her downstairs and put her in a holding cell. I'll call Warden Crichton..."
"I know my rights, I know my rights!" Delilah shouted back. "I want my one phone call!"
"Aye, and ye already had it!" Chief O'Hara responded. He turned to Gordon. "She called her publicist."
"Indeed! Well, I know how to fix that!" Commissioner Gordon called his secretary on the intercom. "Bonnie, see that we're not disturbed. I especially want no press."
"No... Press?" Delilah's eyes went wide. "NOOOOOOO!" She was still screaming as the police matron led her away.
Commissioner Gordon nodded. "That's good enough for the likes of her! Now all that's left are the two ringleaders!"
"Oh, and we found this list on a blackboard in a classroom," he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Commissioner Gordon. The Commissioner skimmed it, smiling.
"Well, now we're getting somewhere!"
#
Olive stared into Oscar's eyes. They reminded her of Odd Todd, glowing with a wild rage. And behind the rage, absolute desolation.
Oscar stared at Olive and Otto. His face softened slightly.
"You... weren't supposed to be here..."
"Oscar..." Olive tried to keep her voice level. "You... The Pienado, Oscar?"
"Yes, well..." Oscar shrugged. "Y'know, I know it's derivative but it's such a great idea, I felt like it could stand another go-round..."
Otto shifted his weight to his other foot. "You're planning on releasing a pienado in headquarters?"
"No, no, no..." Oscar sniffed. "I mean, that's been done. I kinda wanna take it out to the middle of town. That'd be so great..."
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
"Well, yes. I think so, yes. Yes, definitely. I... Well, you know, it's more a madcap, zany sort of thing..."
The agents looked around, finally spotting Doctor O on the catwalk above. She was almost close enough to zap him but needed a couple more seconds. Oscar's bald head was sweating profusely, his scalp growing redder and redder. And as they watched, white letters seem to form, etched on his forehead: 'HELP ME.'
"I can't let you, Oscar," Olive said quietly.
Oscar's eyes hardened. "You can't stop me."
"If you want to destroy the city," Olive positioned herself directly in front of the pienado. "You're going to have to go through me first."
#
The Todd Squad edged toward Batgirl, Ms. O, and Ori, twangy surf guitar music echoing in the background. Ori nodded his head in time to the music, smiled, and started dancing. Truby stared at him, shrugged, and started dancing too.
Snarling, Tilya leapt at Batgirl, slashing with her switchblade. Batgirl dodged to one side, spun, and kicked the blade out of her hand.
Telena's length of chain whipped at Ms. O, who caught it between her teeth. Then she bit it in half.
"Uh-oh..."
Tilya leapt at Batgirl again, who dodged again. Reaching behind a bush, Batgirl produced a vase and hurled it at her opponent.
"What in the...?"
Tilya caught the vase and tossed it aside, then just managed to dodge as Batgirl balanced on one leg and kicked at her chin.
Telena ran past them into the woods, a viciously grinning Ms. O in hot pursuit.
Grabbing a fallen tree branch, Tilya swung it like a club. Batgirl ducked, spun gracefully, grabbed another vase that had just dropped down from a tree, and hurled it at Tilya, who batted it away with her club. Batgirl did another high kick, knocking the branch out of her hands.
"What... What's with the high kicks and the vases?" Tilya snarled. "Why can't you just fight like a normal person?"
Batgirl sniffed. "Because it's not ladylike."
Telena ran past them again, a growling Ms. O hot on her heels.
Ori and Truby continued dancing.
#
Oren stepped into the convention center.
"It seems... strangely quiet in... Oh no! OLAF! OLAF, DON'T LOOK!"
It was too late. Olaf stared in horror at the hundreds of potatoes thrown about the huge amphitheater. Skinned and tossed aside, they lay exposed and raw on the floor, on the tables and chairs, wherever they'd been thrown, abandoned and left to rot.
With a strangled sob, Olaf ran past his partner and knelt on the floor, cradling a dirty, skinned potato in his hands.
"You will be avenged, my little ones."
Just then, The Joker stepped in, a huge sack of potato peelings flung over his shoulder.
#
"C'mon, Oscar," Otto edged toward Oscar, trying to sound casual. "You don't wanna do this."
"Oscar, listen to me," Olive added. "You're suffering from an Odd Disease. Just let us help you and everything'll be back to normal..."
"You won't stop me." Oscar's voice was a growl. "Nobody can stop Oddscar..."
Olive paled slightly but kept her position in front of the cannon. Doctor O was still edging toward them. But she needed a few more seconds.
Otto reached behind his back. "Okay Oscar, if you won't listen to us," Oscar watched carefully, his finger on the trigger to released the Pienado. "Maybe you'll listen to... him!"
Otto held up a stuffed bear. Oscar reeled back, his eyes clearing. "Norman... is that you?"
Olive looked toward her partner and nodded. Good thinking.
"Come on, Oscar," Otto said in his best teddy bear voice, bobbing Norman back and forth in time with the words. "You don't wanna hurt me, do ya?"
"No! I... No... No..."
Doctor O was almost in position...
"Wait!" Oscar looked up at Otto. "That's not Norman's voice! Norman has a Scottish accent!"
Otto and Olive looked at one another. "He... What?"
"IT'S A TRICK!"
Realizing she had to strike now, Doctor O fired the hair-grow-backinator. Oscar dodged, flipped, and leapt up onto the catwalk, high above them. He stood there, hissing balefully at the agents below.
Otto's jaw was on the floor. "Holy..."
Oscar blinked, looking around. "Wait a second. How the Heck did I do that?"
Seizing the moment, Doctor O fired again, hitting him dead-on. Oscar shuddered, stiffened, and lost his balance, falling headlong into the ball pit.
"OSCAR!"
Panic-stricken, the three agents ran to the pit, just in time to pull Oscar, sputtering and confused, out from the sea of spheres.
"Where am I? What happened?" He looked at them, adjusting his glasses. "Guys? How... What's going on?"
A huge, elaborate bouffant hairdo sat atop his head.
Olive smiled at him. "Welcome back, Agent Oscar."
#
"Well," The Joker smirked at the two Odd Squad agents. "Hello again, boys..."
Olaf glared at him. Oren could hear him growling, deep in his throat.
"Olaf... Olaf, no..."
Dropping the potato, Olaf rose slowly.
"That's The Joker, Olaf, we can't..."
Olaf leapt at the villain.
#
Odd Todd ran through the grounds of Stately Wayne Manor, across the aftergrass and into the nearby woods. Pausing, he noticed a small, flowering dogwood tree.
"Ah, perfect!" He snapped off a branch. Then he continued to the nearby road. Crouching in the brush, he watched his Todd Squad's battle, such as it was, with Batgirl and the Odd Squad agents. He reached behind his back.
Tilya was dodging yet another kick and catching yet another vase when a smoke-bomb sailed over her head. Smiling, she turned to see Odd Todd racing from the woods, she-wolf bone in hand.
"GO!"
The bomb exploded, thick clouds of multi-colored smoke blinding everyone. Tilya ran and leapt onto her motorcycle, Todd bounding into the sidecar. They raced off, leaving Batgirl, Ori, Ms. O, and the rest of The Todd Squad behind.
Coughing, Ms. O produced a faninator to disperse the smoke.
"Well," Batgirl sighed. "Those two got away. But we still have this pair!" She nodded toward Telena and Truby.
Despite the music having stopped, Ori and Truby were still dancing.
Telena rolled her eyes. "This is so totally lame..."
Ms. O was about to say something when her badge-phone rang.
"Go for O!" Pause. "Good, good." Ms. O nodded, then stopped, confusion written across her face. "But... none of the spells need potato peelings."
#
Back at Odd Squad headquarters, a fully recovered Oscar had ordered the Oscarbots to release his prisoners. The newly freed agents filed past Olive, Otto, and Doctor O on their way back to their work stations.
"Sorry..." Oscar was at the end of the line, handing them compensation packets of M&Ms as they passed him. "Sorry... Sorry... Bit of a mixup back there, sorry... Heh, heh... Um... Sorry..."
A few of them stared at Oscar's hair. For the most part, however, they were just happy to get the M&Ms.
"What was the pienado doing out?" Oscar asked. "I mean, I would've thought that'd be the last thing you'd want..." Oscar saw the looks on his friends' faces. "You mean, I..." He blushed. "Oh, Olive, I'm sorry..."
"Never mind," Olive responded. "At least we were able to stop you before you unleashed it on the world."
"No one was hurt," Doctor O commented. "Which is good because no one was hurt. However, it's also bad because if they had been hurt, I would have been able to help them because I'm a doctor. But since no one was hurt, they don't need a doctor. Which bums me out a little, but is also a good thing, I suppose..."
Otto blinked. "Uh, yeah."
Olive looked around. "I don't see Batman and Robin. Oscar, do you remember what you did with them?"
Oscar thought. "Batman and Robin? Oh, sure! I..." He paled. "Oboy..."
#
Crouched in the sidecar, Odd Todd hung on for dear life as Tilya took a sharp corner.
"So..." He coughed until his voice dropped back to normal. "So, you got all the stuff?"
"Right in there next to you," she responded. Odd Todd pawed through the sacks tucked in the corners of the sidecar. "Snuck 'em out just before the cops showed up."
Todd examined the sacks' contents, gloating. Another sharp curve sent him slamming against the side of the car. He donned his Panzer helmet and goggles, glaring at Tilya. But before he could say anything, they both heard a strange sound.
'eeehahaha... eeehahaha... eeehahaha...'
Reaching into his pocket, Todd pulled out his cellphone. "Hello?"
"Toddy, baby!" The Joker screamed from the phone. "You've got to help me! That little pudgy fellow, he's all over me! You've got to..."
"Sorry," Todd motioned to Tilya. "You're breaking up. I think we're going through a tunnel or something..."
"But Todd, you..."
Todd snapped the cellphone shut, then reached down to pull out the she-wolf bone.
"Well, we won't needing this anymore..." He tossed the bone over his shoulder. It bounced in the road behind them as they roared through the countryside. "Change in plans, Tilya: We're going to the airport." He leaned back, arms behind his head, smiling smugly. "I just love it when an evil plan comes together, don't you? EEEEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
#
