A/N So last week, this week, and next week are all super busy for me, so I'm going to cut back to one update per week as opposed to per every 4 days or so. You guys have been so patient, I really appreciate it!

In other news, just found out that Season 2 finished filming this weekend. Not helping my chronic depression... jk but it still makes me a little sad. Eh well, I've got bigger fish to fry (like this one!) before I worry about new episodes. Enjoy the chapter, it's a doozy and it took forever to edit! :D

The Traitor

As fate would have it, she got the opportunity to tell him so on November 26, 2011.

It was evening, and Olive and Oscar—the latter having just returned only that afternoon from the front lines of the Great Worm War, he was actually at his desk for once!—were packing up to head home for the evening. No sooner had he arrived than Oscar had launched into six years' worth of tales about negotiations with, spying on, and even eating the battling worms, topping it off with assurances that he'd missed her and was glad to be back at Odd Squad once again. Though she didn't show it, for the first time in a long time, Olive felt something close to totally content. Finally she had an explanation for why he'd been spending all his time in the lab (or so she thought). Now, her partner was back to stay, and with the war over, maybe Ms. O wouldn't need him so much in the lab anymore—

"ScribblesIneedtotalktoyoualone!"

Olive tensed.

There could only be one possible explanation for Todd's sudden appearance and frantic outburst on the very day of Oscar's return. She could guess what was coming and she didn't exactly want to hear it. "Um, can it wait until tomorrow? I kind of have to get home now—"

"No no, it can't wait!" he hurriedly cut her off. "I gotta tell you now."

"But can't Oscar at least stay—"

"No!"

Olive bit her lip and looked pleadingly at Oscar, but he was withering under Todd's angry glare. "I-I think it'd be best if I…just…go…" he stammered, and with an apologetic glance, he grabbed his things and rushed out, leaving her alone with her dread.

As the lights dimmed down for the night, Todd smiled and sat on the corner of Olive's desk in front of where she apprehensively stood. Now I've got her where I want her, he thought smugly. There's no way she can say no. "Scribbles," he began, "there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a very long time, and I believe the hour has now come." Reaching behind his back, he pulled out an Oreo creme pie and held it out to her. "Here. For you. It's your favorite."

Olive blinked. "Okay…?" she said, clearly trying not to eye the mouthwatering dessert.

Come on, Todd, don't beat around the bush. "You see…well, I know we're only about eleven, but…" He took a deep breath. "Scri—Olive, from the moment I met you at the Academy, I singled you out from the other gi—"

"No."

He paused, unsure he'd heard right. "I'm sorry?" he said, a confused laugh escaping his lips.

"I know what you're going to say and the answer is no." Discreetly she nudged the pie back towards him. "Look, I really appreciate you helping me with all my cases and letting me come along on yours, what with Oscar gone and all. I really do, I've learned a lot. But…it's just that…you're my friend. That's all. I-Is that okay?"

Todd's lip quivered a little. This was unexpected. "Just your friend? But why?"

She crossed her arms. Come on, Olive, don't back down. This has gone on long enough. Show him who's boss for once. "Well, you haven't exactly shown your interest in the nicest way. Insulting me and showing off on every case isn't going to get me to like you, you know."

Insulting…? Showing off…? The words echoed through Todd's mind and he shook his head. This didn't compute. Hadn't he only been trying to demonstrate to her how worthy he was? Never mind. Time to remind her and her stupid Bears who's boss. "Pssh, oh puh-lease," he scoffed, pushing the pie back at her. "Would you rather I stop helping you on cases altogether like someone we both know?"

His contempt was scaring her. But Olive was ready for that one. "First of all, you haven't actually helped me on a case ever," she pointed out cooly, daintily moving the pie aside with a finger. "Helping doesn't mean solving the case all by yourself while I'm stuck watching and scribbling notes. That's why I can't solve cases as good as you can, because you never let me learn! Second of all, if you want to show how you like me, building yourself up and pushing me down isn't the way to do it. Now Oscar, on the other hand—"

That did it. Deep inside Todd, the last straw of decency he had snapped forever.

"ODD-DAMNIT SCRIBBLES WHY DON'T YOU GET IT?!" he exploded, thrusting the pie back into her arms. "OSCAR DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU! HE AVOIDS YOU! HE'S NEVER THERE FOR YOU! DON'T YOU SEE?!"

"No, that's NOT what I see!" she shouted back, desperate and frightened. "What I've seen is someone who's encouraged me and shown me how to solve a case for myself! What I've seen is someone who'd get upset whenever you bullied me! What I see is someone who's kind, sweet, funny, and caring! And what I SEE is someone you will never, EVER BE!" And with that, she took the Oreo creme pie in both hands and shoved it at Todd's face with all her might.

Splat!

THUD!

Todd fell heavily to the floor and hit his head, hard. The darkened room spun in a bitter swirl of whipped cream and cold rejection.

She said no.

She chose Oscar.

She still can't understand.

Why won't she understand?

… … …

And in that moment, Agent Todd realized something.

Odd Squad had begun to bore him a long, long time ago.

There was only one reason he had stayed on so long. And now she was gone too.

Nothing was left for him here. Not anymore.

… … …

Well.

If that's how she wants to play.

Shaking, Todd slowly pulled himself up to his feet. "So be it," he ground out, voice quivering with rage as globs of pie filling and Oreo crumbs dripped down his face and uniform. "I gave you your chance, Olive. Now just you wait. I'll make sure the whole squad knows what you did to me." He backed away and the doors slid open. "I'll do something they'll NEVER forget! YOU'LL SEE!"

The doors hissed shut. He was gone.

Olive gasped and stumbled back against the filing cabinet, trying and failing to remember everything she'd just said. Defending her absent partner…driving away the closest she'd had to a friend…

And was it just her, or was his threat hinting at something deeper and more ominous than it seemed?

What have I done?

Agent Todd came to work the next morning looking chipper as usual, as if nothing at all had happened.

But that very day was when the trouble began.

After spending months devoted to research and testing the effects of training videos on the learning patterns of recruits, poor Ophelia and Oakley had their important meeting with Ms. O interrupted and ruined by him. Oksana complained to anyone who would listen about the mess and stink in the break room from him eating with his feet. The Maintenance and Security agents were mystified at the entire drum set that repeatedly showed up in the shower systems before disappearing without warning, only to reappear weeks later.

Once, Olive even found gooseberries on Oscar's desk in the shape of the number 43.

Todd stopped accompanying her on cases, of course. Rather, she stopped seeing much of him at all, the one exception being a time when she had run into him in the break room tinkering on his badge with a palm tree screwdriver. For her part, she was too nervous to tag along on his cases anymore, anyhow.

Oscar (surprise!) still wasn't around much either. After the night of November 26, when it became clear his hiatus from Investigation still wasn't over, Olive started feeling less and less confused and disappointed about it, and more and more indignant. But on the rare occasion that she did see him, either in the lab or Ms. O's office nowadays, she could never quite work up the nerve to confront him and ask why (what with the Great Worm War over now) he still wasn't working with her anymore. And in all honesty, Olive already had Todd to worry about. She didn't really want to think about the possibility of burning another bridge until the first storm blew over.

And for awhile, it seemed as though it might. About a week before the end of March, all of the odd behaviors Todd had been demonstrating suddenly stopped. He went back to solving cases normally and without a lot of drama or fuss. A few times he even passed Olive in the hallways and flashed her a wink and a smile. Relieved, she didn't even consider the possibility of these actions being non-genuine. She was just glad to see him acting reasonably again.

Until March 31, 2012 rolled around.

Having returned from a tour in Russia, Tiny Dancer announced her homecoming with an epidemic of dancing houses in Scarborough, causing several complaint phonecalls in Ms. O's office. ("I won't stand for having the Banks household in disarray!" went one such call. "This whole thing is worse than that infernal cannon of Admiral Boom's!") Distressed, Ms. O immediately dispatched the Department of Science's forensics team to the most recent crime scene to look for clues, then called both Olive and Todd up to her office.

"I understand you've worked together in the past," she told them, "and I have no other partnered agents available. So I'm going to assign you both to this case, and I expect you to find how and where Tiny Dancer will strike next so you can catch her. Got it?"

Olive shot an apprehensive glance at Todd, but his expression was placid and he showed no signs of being angry or uncooperative. Pushing her doubts aside, she agreed to the case. Still, if only Oscar could be here instead.

But as it happened, once she and Todd popped out of the tubes at 4, Fourth Street, the first agent she spotted investigating the scene with the scientists had a bushy blond afro.

Next to her, she felt Todd bristle. But with her heart soaring, Olive wouldn't allow herself to notice. All she could think was Oscar had finally been assigned to the same case with her!

Quickly she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and briskly walked over to where her real partner was kneeling. "What do we got here, Oscar?" she asked in what she hoped was her most professional voice.

Turning around and upward to meet her eyes, Oscar blinked in surprise and rewarded her with a smile. But as he stood up to face her and pocket his banana and magnifying glass, something seemed…different, about him. Like something that wasn't there before.

"Looks like Tiny Dancer's back in town!" he announced, nodding at the wiggling and jiggling house behind the caution tape. "She made this house dance."

Out of the corner of her eye, Olive saw Todd roll his eyes. "Yeah, we know that already. Did she hit anywhere else?"

"Uh, yes…" Reaching behind his back with latex-gloved hands, Oscar pulled out one of those new tablets that Odd Squad had gotten for its agents and checked the display. "She hit at 1, First Street, then at 2, Second Street, and here at 4, Fourth Street."

"So she's headed to 6, Sixth Street next," Todd cut in, grabbing the tablet.

Olive glanced up from her trusty journal book in astonishment, having only just begun to record all the information. Normally she'd take his word for it, but her earlier doubts had resurfaced. "Wait, are you sure?" she asked, eyeing the number 1 she'd just written down.

"Sure I'm sure. Look." Just like he'd done for the past six years, Todd held out the tablet and patiently explained to her. "Two and four are both even numbers. The next even number after four is six. It's Sammy Squirrel all over again, remember?" he concluded, tossing the tablet back to Oscar and starting towards the edge of the caution tape.

Of course I remember, Olive wanted to retort. However, that number 1 needed to be addressed. "But Tiny Dancer was also at 1, First Street," she countered, trotting after him.

Sure enough, Todd stopped and turned to face her with arms folded expectantly, while Oscar hopped over the caution tape and looked on with a hint of admiration in his eyes. Feeling a surge of encouragement, Olive opened up her journal to show the boys. "The number 1 is odd, not even," she went on. "See, you can tell a number is odd because it can't split into two equal parts—"

"Listen, are you gonna keep scribbling in your notebook, or are we gonna go solve this case already?" Todd interrupted, spitting out the work 'scribble' as if it were disgusting to him. "We're going to 6, Sixth Street." With that, he grabbed her hand and began dragging her along behind him.

Olive's mind was racing. Something was very wrong about this, she just knew it. Furthermore, she knew for sure she was actually right for once, and Todd wasn't. But once again, he couldn't respect her for it. Certain of what Oscar was probably thinking at the moment, Olive craned her neck behind her to shoot him an apologetic look for not believing him about Todd—and that's when she suddenly realized why he looked different. All other thoughts flew out the window as she stared at it in disbelief.

His Investigation uniform was missing its red necktie.

In its place was a green bowtie.

Todd was wrong, of course.

On purpose.

When they were summoned up to Ms. O's office the next day, Olive had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that only got worse as she sat through Ms. O's fury. What she didn't expect was the sinister tone in Todd's voice as he cheerfully confessed to botching the case on purpose. That said, it was only inevitable Ms. O would try to fire him, moreso that he would agree of his own free will. Ironically it was April Fool's Day, but it was obvious this was no joke.

Still, Olive tried to deny it. Bully though he'd been, Todd was still the closest she'd had to a friend. And with Oscar never around, he was her only friend. She tried to convince Ms. O to change her mind, but as Todd handed the badge to her and cast a menacing look back at Olive, it became clear that arguing would be futile. Only when he had calmly walked out of the office did the full realization of what had just happened hit her. "Oh, no…" Olive murmured, sinking back down into the chair. More and more, she was beginning to regret burning the bridge back in November.

The next fifty-three days had an eerily quiet feel to them. Olive didn't know what to do with herself. There were so many cases that needed solving, but with nothing but a worn journal book as a partner, it was hard for Olive to get anything done without making some huge mistake or another. Places like Pine Hollow and odd objects like the flying yellow hat all blended together in her mind into one overarching thought: I'll never be as good as Todd or Oscar.

Oscar.

Sitting at her lonely desk once more on May 25, 2012, she shook her head angrily. Stop it, Olive. He's not—

"Oliveoliveolive!"

—interested in you…?

The way her golden-brown eyes looked at him made Oscar completely forget everything he had just sprinted over here to say.

She cocked her head, and tresses of her adorable half-ponytail fell to the side. "Um, is there something wrong?" she asked, a little warily.

"Oh! Uh, r-r-right, yes!" Oscar stammered. "Er, sorry, no! I mean, yes, there's nothing wrong, heh…" He cleared his throat. "Ahem, um, I just wanted to show you something, y'know. Come on!" Motioning for her to follow, he hopped around and hurried over to the lab.

"And…tada!" he announced a few minutes later, turning to face her hopefully. "Whaddya think? Does it look too big? I'm not entirely sure, I only just tried it on for fun a little bit ago."

Olive opened her mouth, shut it again, then bit her lip and looked away. "It looks perfect," she said, clenching her fists. "It suits you well."

Oscar's brow furrowed. She sure sounded impressed with the lab coat based on her words, but she didn't quite look it. Maybe if I show her the gadget with it, she'll like it better. Then I'll finally be able to tell her about my new job. "Oh, and check out what I made for you!" Reaching behind his back, he pulled out the brand-new gadget he'd invented the other day and held it out for her to see. "It's called a Triangulator!"

"You made…?" Olive peered at the gadget, and Oscar watched as a myriad of emotions ran across her face. Though he wouldn't understand what they meant for a long time, he did know why sadness was there. She always looks so sad now, he thought with a pang in his heart, half-correctly guessing it had something to do with Todd's departure. I mean, I never liked him, but I guess they were good friends. He liked to build gadgets for her, too.

Come to think of it…she probably likes him. Really likes him. Not me.

Now Oscar was the one feeling sad. But before he could think too much more about it, she interrupted his thoughts with the trigger question, "What does it do?"

The scientist in him was back. "Easy, it makes triangles! Watch:" Holding it up and aiming for the glass wall of the containment bay, he explained, "You just point it at the spot where you want the triangle, and with the push of a button—"

He pressed it, and out shot a green beam. In the next instant, a green rubber triangle had slapped itself on the glass. "Tada!" he finished proudly, handing it to her.

Olive took the gadget hesitantly. "Thanks, Oscar," she said with a half-smile and a sidelong look. "But, um…what can I do with this, again?"

It was time. The moment he showed her what it was for, Olive would know he was meant to be a scientist, and she would express her gratitude for his staying out of her way while she had room to grow in skill and experience. Oscar felt giddy at the thought. "What can't you do with it?" he began, preparing to segue into his career choice. "It could make—"

But, as we all know too well, he never even got the chance.

Off went the klaxon.

Math Room's calm voice echoed through headquarters even louder: "Warning: Code. Three. Point. One. Four. One. Five. Nine. Two. Six. Five…"

Up in her office, Ms. O went cold. Of course. There was only one person besides herself and Oscar who would know how to trigger Code Π. Too late she realized she'd forgotten to deem Todd a rogue agent before firing him.

Her mind flashed back to 1995, the year before Oscar and Opal had been hired. Only this wouldn't be like Agent Ocean at all.

This was going to be much, much worse.

Before Olive could fully grasp the first two warning signs, documents from all different departments were flying in her face. Blinking in the foudroyant wind, she and Oscar flailed their arms about trying to bat the papers away. She was just about to ask what was going on when out of nowhere Dr. O appeared, bearing news that would change Olive's life forever.

"The pienado's been released!"

Beside her, Oscar turned to squint at the doctor in disbelief. "Are you sure?" he called over the roar of the wind.

Right on cue, the fourth and final warning sign of the pienado made its spectacular arrival by launching right into their midst and splatting itself on the wall.

All three of them gawked at the splotch of whipped cream where Dr. O's head had been a moment ago, then in unison looked down at the empty pie tin lying on the floor.

They looked up at one another. "I'm fairly certain, yes!" Dr. O pointed out the obvious.

Olive glanced wide-eyed at Oscar, and he mirrored her expression. Her agent instincts kicked in, and without another word the partners broke into a run and followed Dr. O out to the slim shelter of under the staircase for a better look at the situation.

A costly better look, as it turned out. As the tallest of the three and the farthest away from the stairs, Dr. O was a prime target. Olive was just taking in the blinding blue light and the pies zooming every which way when she heard a whumph and a cry directly behind her. Turning, she watched horrified as the doctor staggered back, her face and shoulders covered in whipped cream. "Is there a doctor in the house?" she cried out.

"It's you!" Olive reminded her, pointing.

Dr. O forced her eyes open and gave them a glassy look. "Then good luck," she said in firm resignation. "You'll need it." With that she took a tottering step backward and fell to the floor unconscious.

Olive clapped a hand to her mouth in horror. That's why she needs a doctor. The pies are contaminated! She turned back to watch the pienado cycle out of its giant containment unit, ducking to avoid the blasts. Which means if any agent tries to get close enough to stop it…

Crumpets.

"This is impossible!" Oscar was shouting. "The only way to open up that door is with my nose!"

Had she heard him right? "What?!" Olive blurted out, giving him a sharp look. What does he mean, since when and why his nose?

Is that why he couldn't believe it when Dr. O told him the pienado was released?

Naturally he misinterpreted her, instead explaining why he used a nose-shape lock rather than a key. Olive was about to interrupt and ask him when Oscar inadvertently dropped the bomb. "Er, but I've been with my nose all day, so I-I don't know, I…"

And that's when it dawned on her.

"…A pienado? What's that…?"

"…See, I took apart a Stretchinator and a Colorinator, uh, adjusted some stuff, aaaaaand…I can make any nose I want…!"

"…I'll make sure the whole squad knows what you did to me. I'll do something they'll NEVER forget! YOU'LL SEE…!"

"Todd!" Olive gasped.

Years later, when Olive would try to remember what had happened next as she told Otto the story, all she would find in the dark recesses of her mind were decaying remnants of blurred images and feelings. She would fill in the gaps as best she could, later with Oscar's help, but what she had were these:

bluenosed Todd materializing from haze

terrified Ms. O jumping between them searching for strength

cackling and begging and cackling

hair blowing in her face struggling to brush out of mouth and eyes

the hurt in eyes of ice wellhidden behind crazed gleam of revenge

two pies

kneeling between two victims screaming her boss's name

And these, crystal clear in her broken memory:

"Forget about us!" Ms. O pleaded, clutching her chest and fighting the effects of the pie. "You have to stop that pienado. Think like you've never thunk before!"

Olive shook her head violently and confessed the horrible truth: "But Oscar and Todd always did all the work! I don't know enough and I can't figure it out in my head like them!"

But Ms. O only grabbed her arm and looked directly into her eye, her fiery spirit still burning brightly as ever. Olive shuddered, feeling as though her very soul was being examined. When her boss did speak, the words stayed with her forever:

"Listen to me, agent! I don't care how long it takes! If you count on your fingers and toes, or use a million pieces of paper, solving the problem is solving the problem! Solve—this—problem—!"

Then a stray lemon meringue pie silenced her.

She doesn't care how long it takes…

…solving the problem is solving the problem, no matter how I do it…

…maybe I'm not so useless, after all.

From that day onward, the timid-and-shy-and-scared-am-I Olive who let everybody do the work for her was gone. All that was left was everything Oscar had known her to be: skilled, promising, ambitious, capable, and even worthy.

Slowly she rose to her feet. Jaw clenched with determination, she reached back behind her and yanked out the scrunchie holding her half-ponytail up. As the chestnut curls tumbled out behind her in the wind, she reached back again and grabbed it all, then tied it into a single sophisticated corkscrew ponytail.

Who needs knowledge or natural talent when you're willing to try your best?

Time to show them what I'm made of.

"Let's go."

Back in the lab, Oscar was struggling to sit up. The pie had grazed his side and he'd avoided a direct hit like Ms. O's or Opal's, but the effects were still taking their toll. His eyes and mouth were already dry from all the wind blowing, and now he was fighting to breathe and stay awake, let alone pull himself to his feet.

It was the sight of his partner that stopped him. Oscar watched as, almost in slow-motion, Olive took a running leap from behind the slide, threw herself through the line of fire, shot another triangle at the opening of the giant containment unit, and landed unscathed behind an overturned desk near the lab. He blinked and adjusted his glasses, smiling. There's the Olive I know, he thought with pride. Even better, she's using the gadget I made for her.

Olive shot three more triangles in quick succession, until only one opening remained. However, Oscar saw with dismay that as a result, the pies were now all concentrated in her direction. Worse, she hadn't noticed yet. "Olive!" he shouted. "You need to get out of there!"

She turned around and started to stand up. "What—?"

Splat!

"OLIVE!"

She stumbled to the floor, a direct-hit pie across her back. I have to go help her, Oscar thought. I just need to GET UP!

With considerable effort he shrugged out of his pie-splattered lab coat, and managed to rip off the green bowtie constricting his neck. Agonizingly he crawled forward until he was at her side. "Olive, I'm here!" he grunted, wincing.

Miraculously, she had pulled herself back up to her knees and was still trying to aim the Triangulator, somehow shrugging off the effects of the pie. "One triangle left, Oscar!" she called over her shoulder. "I can't get a clear shot! I need to get closer!"

A memory flashed through his mind of something he'd once told Ms. O. "Olive's going to be your best agent someday. I just know it. And I wanna help her get there."

Suddenly he knew what he had to do. "I'll cover you!" he shouted, pulling himself into a crouch.

The look she gave him held worlds. "No!" she cried.

He took her hand and squeezed it. "It's the only way! You know that!" he insisted.

Olive looked at him for a moment longer, then nodded wordlessly. Okay. I trust you, her beautiful sparkling eyes seemed to say.

Before he could think about changing his mind, Oscar slowly stood up and anchored himself in the line of fire. He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

Pie.

Pie. Pie.

Pie and more pie.

The pie was everywhere.

Everything faded away until there was only pie.

In his nose, in his eyes, his glasses, his mouth, his hair, skin, lungs, clothes.

He couldn't breathe.

Spots appeared in his whitened vision and his feet gave out from under him.

But as he fell to the floor, one clear thought gave Oscar peace.

I finally did something right for her.

Zzzap!

The last triangle locked into place. There was silence.

Olive gazed numbly at the creamy carnage surrounding her. Somehow, she was the only one left standing, covered in pie like all the rest and feeling lightheaded but still standing.

Dimly she realized some of the contaminated pie filling had gotten in her ears. Slowly, mechanically, she stuck a finger in and cleaned it out. Unbeknownst to her, the damage had already been done. Her hearing would never quite be the same again.

She looked down at Oscar, lying unconscious in front of her. Even underneath all the pie, she knew the lab coat and green bowtie were gone. "Oh, Oscar," she whispered, touched by his brave act of loyalty. Wiping the sickening pie filling away from her mouth, she looked back up at where the pienado had been. "Too bad," she said with a shaky breath, in an answer of defiance for Todd. "I used to like pie."

From that day on, any time Olive saw or heard pie, her mind would paralyze with fear and she would scream, convinced Todd wouldn't be too far behind. It would haunt her for a long time.

The Triangulator fell from her grasp and clattered to the floor.

Her two friends had betrayed her today.

One had forever.

The other had tried to fix it.

Only time would tell how long that would last.

Olive didn't know how long she stood there, but next thing she knew she was kneeling at her partner's side, wiping the cream from his glasses. Unbidden, a tune came to mind.

"Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share…"

A/N Oh and Happy Leap Day! How ODD! XD