In Odd We Trust

by marmalado

The Dual Plans

As Odd Todd turned the lights in the back room on, Twilight could see that the whiteboards were filled with even more drawings and notes. She was impressed that he was able to come up with so many ideas to take down Odd Squad and its agents in a day.

Still, she didn't let it distract her from the task at hand. She cleared her throat and levitated the fish phone and the key towards him.

"Surprising. You were able to get Ms. O's special key..." He reached into the levitation field and pulled it out, eyeing it with intense curiosity like a future aviator growing inspired by a toy plane in their hands. "It's authentic."

Remember what Rarity told you. Be cool-headed. Suave. Like you have the upper hoof. "Of course. I wouldn't give you some fake key, now would I?"

His gaze shifted towards the fish phone that she was also levitating. Setting the key down on the desk beside him, he pulled the phone out of the magic field next, causing her horn to stop glowing. Instead of the object being met with curiosity, however, it was met with a rather disappointed look. "I wanted you to bring a real fish."

"Fishing's not my thing."

"Well, whatever." He set the phone down next to the key. "A fake singing fish will do fine. It's my fault for not specifying."

Twilight watched as he took a few steps forward, eyeing her white-streaked mane. Relief washed over her as a pleased expression took over his face, followed by a surprised one upon noticing her white-streaked tail.

"You dyed both your mane and tail? Very impressive. I'll admit, I should have mentioned that you need to dye your tail as well. But I'm very happy you did. Good job!"

The alicorn mare gave a silent, mental thanks to Rarity for her quick thinking. Olive was right. Partners really do help each other. And so do friends. She allowed a smile to settle on her maw, a smile that only got bigger as Odd Todd spoke the words she wanted to hear the most.

"Congratulations, Twilight. You are now a part of the Todd Squad!"

Yes, I'm in!

A splashing sound, and the mood was ruined.

She was covered head to hoof in yellow liquid, dripping onto the floor and seeping into her fur. She blinked a couple times, trying to get the gears turning in her head and process what just happened.

A shrill cackle from Odd Todd brought her to reality.

"Ohh, you should see yourself! Covered in lemonade! I love it!"

As if on instinct, Twilight shook out her fur a little, feeling grateful that it wasn't urine or anything super-gross. She gave an exasperated sigh. I guess I'll have to get used to stuff like this now. I just wish oddness wasn't so messy.

"Here, here. Have a towel to dry yourself off." Odd Todd turned around and grabbed something out of the mare's view.

Which turned out to be a literal wet blanket.

This sent the ex-agent into another fit of laughter as she levitated the blanket in front of her and tried her damndest to suppress a growl of frustration. Fluttershy told me to keep my cool, no matter what Odd Todd tries to pull. I can get through this.

"Why, thank you!" She let out a relieved exhale. "It's so hot outside. I could use this to cool down."

As she rubbed the blanket on her face, Odd Todd immediately stopped laughing and eyed her with shock. He had expected her to throw a fit, quit right then and there, and go tattle on him to Odd Squad. But it seemed that wasn't the case.

A smile slowly crept onto his face, one that told everyone who saw it that he had a winner on his hands.

We are going to have so much fun, you and I.

---

"So as you can see, Oprah likes to take her breaks at exactly 2:00 each day. That is a good opportunity to ransack her office."

"Aren't the doors locked?"

"Nah. She never locks them. She thinks everyone's too scared to go in there and face her wrath anyway, so she doesn't bother."

It had been an hour since Twilight's induction into the Todd Squad. Although she hadn't fully cleaned herself free of the lemonade that was dumped on her, she didn't mind so much now -- she was much more intrigued by Odd Todd's vast insider knowledge of Precinct 13579. He had gradually made the switch to the side of oddness because being normal was too boring for him, but for someone who disliked how the organization ran things, he seemed to have quite a bit of information on one of its precincts.

Two stacks of papers sat on each side of the alicorn mare as she levitated a pen and another piece of paper, her eyes widening with curiosity and joy. Never mind that she was learning about something she was supposed to fight against -- it was learning. And Twilight would absolutely not miss a chance to take notes and gain new knowledge about a topic she didn't know much about, especially since she was on an important mission in a foreign world.

"I see you've taken a lot of notes." Odd Todd's eyes drifted towards the stacks as he spotted Twilight furiously scribbling. "Very good. Now, let's brainstorm your first odd deed. Together."

He walked over to his bouncy ball, where he sat and began to make a noise that could probably best be described as "weird, garbled yelling". Twilight was taken aback by the noise he made at first, but soon, her hooves made her way to the other bouncy ball that sat right beside him. She attempted to sit up, but quickly found herself rolling off, so she settled for just laying on her stomach with her back hooves planted on the ground. The noise she made didn't quite match Odd Todd's, but she supposed that whatever odd noise she could make was fine by him. Although the noise was distracting, she tried to think nonetheless.

Breaking into Odd Squad...well, we already have the key to turn off the power. So maybe we could do that. But that would wreak all sorts of havoc. Uh...okay, so what about...releasing an odd creature into the world? No, no, that would do too much damage. It has to be something minor. She had to admit it. Finding an odd crime to commit was hard.

Her brain continued to churn away as she ran through a myriad of different ideas, ranging from the mundane (a jack-in-the-box hidden inside of a pie...really?) to the extreme (was there some kind of oddity that would eat the entire planet?). It seemed like hours had gone by since she and Odd Todd had started to think up ideas, and her throat was getting dry from the noise she was making.

She stopped making noise suddenly, sliding off of the ball and making her way towards the front room while also looking back to see if Odd Todd would notice. He didn't -- he had his eyes closed and looked like he was deep in thought. So she continued to trot, lighting up her horn to navigate her way through the darkened room in an effort to get to the door.

Outside, she gave a big exhale of both relief and fatigue. Twilight was used to the hustle and bustle of both Equestria and Odd Squad, but not usually when it came to thinking about important things. While her hooves took her along the dimly-lit halls in an effort to find a water fountain or perhaps a bathroom of some kind, her mind continued to toil away as she tried desperately to think of something odd, anything odd, that she could help cause.

Anything just to prove her worth as a Todd Squad agent.

Descending a couple flights of stairs, she began to think of her friends.

What would they come up with?

Probably something better than anything I could ever think of. My mind is just turning up nothing. I'm not used to causing oddness yet, how does Odd Todd expect me to come up with a plan to stop my own-

She stopped.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Friends...yes, friends...Odd Todd is in close contact with the other villains, isn't he? He said that he rules over all of them.

So what if...

Oh my Celestia, that's it!

Forgetting all about quenching her thirst, she took flight and rushed back to Odd Todd's lair, her body filled with a large rush of excitement as she wore a big grin on her maw. Once she was sure she reached the right door, she barged inside, not bothering to light up her horn as she stumbled her way through the clutter that was on the floor.

"Odd Todd!"

His inelegant yelling was replaced by a sour growl as his blue eyes bore into her. "Oddlight, can't you see I'm busy? Take this as your first lesson: never interrupt me when I'm trying to think of ideas!"

"But I have an idea! It's a great one, too."

"Oh?" He nonchalantly cracked his knuckles, a bored look settling on his face. "Enlighten me."

"Gladly." Twilight cleared her throat. "Odd Squad is about teamwork, isn't it?"

"Yes..."

"And you said you were the leader of all the villains in this town, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Have you ever heard of the phrase "hoisted by his own petard"?"

Odd Todd was taken aback by both Twilight's smug attitude and what she just said, and he blinked twice as he tried to recollect whether he had heard the phrase or not. "Uh...yeah, I've heard of it. Why?"

"Theoretically speaking." The mare advanced towards him, keeping the same cool-headed attitude while also trying to stifle the excitement bubbling up inside of her. "What if we were to gather up all of the villains in town and have us all work together to defeat Odd Squad? We can throw their stupid ideals of teamwork right back into their faces and tell them to shove it up their ugly a-"

"Okay, I get it! I get it." Odd Todd held out a hand to stop Twilight before she could drop a no-no word. "Anyway, your idea is pretty good. That stupid "value of teamwork" that they preach always manages to stop us before we even get close to hurting them. I'm the sole exception because I worked from the inside." He stood up and began to pace around her, chuckling. "I have to say, you're one smart pony. Took you long enough to come up with an idea, though."

"Oh yeah, and one more thing." She could hear a ding sound as she looked up to find a lit-up lightbulb floating above her head -- an actual idea bulb. But she chose to ignore it, and continued on with the addendum of her plan. "We could do some manipulation in Headquarters. You can't go inside and help me out, obviously, but if you direct me somehow, I could do all of the dirty work for you."

By this point, Odd Todd had all of the excitement of a kid receiving a new Shmumbertendo ShmumberCube for Christmas. He looked about ready to rocket into the sky and explode. Whatever professionalism he was trying to maintain went clear out the window as he rapidly nodded. "Yes, yes! That's perfect! Give me more details!"

"Mmm..." Twilight shook her head. "I'll need a day to put it all together. Meet back here tomorrow? I'll have it drafted by then."

A scoff. "Fine. If you need a day, then I'll give you a day. And this ham sandwich." He reached behind his back and pulled out a sandwich piled high with ham, pickles and Dijon mustard, offering it to her. She promptly levitated it with magic, meeting the gift with a rather awkward smile before tucking it away behind her back.

"We'll need lots of rest for tomorrow." Odd Todd walked over to the light switch on the wall and flicked it, causing the lights to flicker off and Twilight's horn to glow. "Good luck with drafting the plan. You'll need it."

As the pair made their way through the front room, Twilight subtly winced at all of the clutter lining the floor. As much as she wanted to clean it up, she had to fight back the urge and leave it be, although it didn't stop her from vowing to clean it up entirely once Odd Todd was defeated.

The gray door creaked open as both ex-agent and mare stepped out.

The former left without saying goodbye.

The latter eyed him intently until he turned the corner.

And then, the excitement that she had been holding inside of her burst out like a pressurized soda can.

She went from leaping up into the air to happily trotting in place, all while squealing in excitement. I did it! I made my first plan! A plan that will help me defeat Odd Todd once and for all! She felt like an excited filly again, up to mischievous tricks. And even better, there was no one watching.

Or, well, so she thought.

Although he was a good distance away from her, Odd Todd could smell her excitement. Hear her squeals. Feel the air changing around him.

He knew that something was up. It was an instinct he felt in his bones, an instinct that came from years of making Odd Squad the prime enemy. But exactly what Twilight was planning, he had no idea.

I'll find out anyway. I always do. This whole situation reeks of suspicion and three-month-old eggs. That pony has something up her sleeve.

I've got the pieces spread out on the table. Now I just need to put them together.

Giving a small smirk, he walked towards the stairwell and through the changing air, now paying no mind to the mare around the corner having a happy moment seemingly all to herself.

---

She felt as excited as Pinkie Pie on any given day as she trotted into Headquarters, her airy gait and happy aura not going unnoticed by other agents.

"Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash rushed over to her friend, greeting her with a small wave.

"Hey, guy! Uh...wait, I mean gal. 'Hey, gal' doesn't have the same ring to it, though, heh." Oscar, carrying a rather large gadget in his hands, adjusted his glasses, although it was hard to do without a free hand and he nearly dropped the gadget.

"Rainbow Dash! Oscar! Great to see you!" The alicorn almost felt like hugging them, she was so excited. But she resisted, instead settling for a large toothy grin.

"You look pretty excited. What happened?"

"Well..." She rubbed her hooves together and looked around to see if anyone passing by would eavesdrop. Although the bullpen seemed quiet, she opted to keep her voice hushed. "I went back to Odd Todd's lair and gave him all the things he asked me to get. Once I did that, we got to thinking about what oddness I should cause first."

"Ooh! What is it? Making every giraffe in the world work in business? Releasing pair of super-large flying goldfish? Making an actual foot colored like a football?!" Now it was Dash's turn to wear the grin, her cerise eyes shimmering as her mind ran through all of the options while Oscar shot her a rather wary look.

"Shh!" Twilight spotted an agent, a girl with strawberry-blonde hair tied up in twintails, eyeing the trio in curiosity before shrugging and continuing on her way. Although the mare briefly considered moving the conversation to a more secretive area so as not to cause alarm, she was far too excited to be rational, and thus, she continued on. "We're going to use Odd Squad's own value of teamwork against them. By gathering every villain in the area and getting them to team up, Odd Todd and I can turn the tables!"

Rainbow Dash's mouth hung low in an "O" shape. Oscar, on the other hand, was rather surprised, but also wore a nervous expression, as though he thought she was beginning to turn to what was colloquially referred to as "the odd side".

You were supposed to keep it minor! her brain, struggling to grasp any sense of rationality, screamed at her. If this plan goes through, you could destroy Odd Squad instead of saving it!

Nonsense. I'll work together with Precinct 13579 and we'll figure out a plan. Odd Todd doesn't know it yet, but I'm luring him right into a trap. He's going to be sorry he ever underestimated this pony. She let out an exhale, the excitement inside of her gradually fizzing out second by second until she was back to her usual self.

"Y-you're not gonna actually turn the tables on us, right? I mean, you wouldn't do that..."

"Of course not, Oscar." Twilight waved a hoof dismissively.

"And you're not actually turning tables?" Rainbow snickered as Twilight rolled her eyes. Such sayings taken literally was not an uncommon sight in Odd Squad, and it seemed the Pegasus mare had already gotten in the spirit of being literal-minded and cracking jokes. Such an idiom as "time flies when you're having fun" could be taken as someone saying that when they have fun, clocks of all different kinds fly in the air.

"I have to go see Ms. O about this, right away. Where is she?"

"She should be up in her office. I would be careful, though. She's been a little testy for the past hour because she ran out of apple juice boxes, heh." Twilight could swear she saw all the color drain from his face as though he had witnessed her rage firsthand, and although she wasn't that terrified, she was put in a state of unease as her eyes darted towards the office on the second floor.

"What's the big deal? I could take on that kiddo any day!"

"Nonono! Don't even try it."

"But-"

"Just take my word for it, Rainbow Dash!"

As Oscar and Rainbow Dash continued to argue, Twilight ignored them and began making her way towards Ms. O's office, ascending the staircase and spotting the Director drawing something with crayons. Although she was still a little uneasy by Oscar's comment, she had her priorities in check, and knew that she had to update her boss on the mission.

A knock-knock interrupted Ms. O's coloring. Giving an irritated sigh, she called out, "Come in."

Twilight opened one of the glass doors with a small creak and trotted in. "Ms. O? Are you busy?"

"Not particularly." She put down her crayon and closed her coloring book, chucking it behind her and allowing it to nearly hit her computer. "This is about the mission, isn't it?"

"Yes." Twilight nodded. "I've been accepted into the Todd Squad. And Odd Todd and I have come up with a plan for my first act of oddness."

Ms. O's eyes widened in surprise. He let her in?

A pause as she allowed a smirk to settle on her face.

Heh. It only took him a couple hundred tries. Mostly from Olive.

Taking a sip from a grape-flavored juice box, the Director pressed on. "So what is your plan?"

"I proposed that we gather up every villain in Toronto and have us team up to take down Odd Squad using teamwork."

"Are you fucking insa-"

The feeling of something wet against the palm of her hand made Ms. O stop as her steely brown gaze slowly, ever so slowly, drifted to the source of the new feeling.

Her juice box had been just the latest victim of her anger, so crushed in her hand that juice was now dripping from her hand onto the desk.

Shit, shit, SHIT! A flurry of swear words, both from olden times and from modern, flooded her brain. It wasn't often that she swore -- she had her former partner O'Donahue to thank for introducing that concept into her life -- but kids took after adults, as it were, and although she was well over a millennia old, her physical body was still well rooted at the age of 7. All she had to do was remember to bite her tongue when she was around her agents.

Clearly her memory had a brief two-second blackout.

She tried in vain to shake the juice off of her hand before resorting to walking over to her coffee table and grabbing a tissue from the tissue box that sat elegantly on it, stifling a growl as she deeply contemplated strangling Twilight in spite of her conscience telling her to never lay a finger on her because she was a leader from another world. Going to the juice bar, she wiped her hand, then grabbed two small glasses and some small tongs, using them to start emptying the first glass full of colorful fruity ice cubes into the already-empty second glass.

"If you'll just let me explain..." Twilight chose not to comment on the rather foreign word that her boss had used, instead attempting to break the silence that hung in the air. "I'm not going to go through with it until I work with Odd Squad to formulate a plan to stop Odd Todd. You've known me for quite a long time now, Ms. O. I would never betray Odd Squad. I would never betray the...humans that I've come to call my friends."

Ms. O froze, but not before she was halfway through setting her open bottle of grape juice down on the countertop.

"You had faith in me when you chose me as the agent to carry out this mission. Don't tell me you've abandoned it because you think I'm a traitor?"

"I haven't, okay?" The Director whirled around. "I haven't."

She made her way back to the desk, a frustrated look settling on her face as she plopped down in her chair and took a sip of her newly-made drink.

"I know you said you would make a plan with us first. But if Odd Todd's plan went through, there's no doubt that it would bring this precinct and its agents serious harm. This isn't some TV show where the heroes always end up winning." She shook her head. "If you're going to make a plan, it better be a good one."

"It is. And I already have one in mind." Twilight nodded. "In Equestria, we have magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. These Elements have helped us beat villains time and time again. And I believe it can work for the villains in this world." She put her hooves on the desk and leaned closer to Ms. O. "Have the villains here ever teamed up before?"

"Yes. Several times. And every time, they've managed to fail."

"Forgive me for being redundant, but why's that?"

"Because teamwork and villains creates a recipe for disaster. They bicker and fight with each other, as adults do...no offense." Ms. O cleared her throat. "And they can never work together to defeat Odd Squad because of it. They can, however, work together to cause oddness in other ways that just creates more work for us to do. But." She held up a finger just as Twilight opened her mouth to speak. "Odd Todd is a very powerful influencer. Him and the other villains destroying this precinct in particular, and then going on to destroy all of Odd Squad...it's very much a possibility."

Twilight nodded. She could understand what Ms. O was saying, and she knew her boss was absolutely right. Odd Todd was a capable leader and had his ways of digging into agents and luring them into his grasp, so it wasn't too far-fetched to assume he could control villains into carrying out his wishes -- that is, if there was something for them on the other end of the deal.

"It will be a battle of friendship and teamwork versus evil and teamwork. Maybe we can't convince your world's villains to turn to the side of good unlike Equestria's villains...but we can at least give them a lesson." Her eyes widened. "Except..."

"Except?"

"I think there's hope for Odd Todd. He's deep in the side of oddness. But we can pull him out of it and help him reform."

"You aren't serious?"

"I am serious. He has potential to do great things if he's on the side of good."

"Like what?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak again, but no words came out. She was at a complete loss as to what Odd Todd could do if he were good instead of odd. He can't be an Odd Squad agent again, I know that much. There's no way the Academy would let him in...not with his kill count. In that moment, she regretted not getting to know Odd Todd better, not inquiring about any other hobbies or interests he may have had aside from causing oddness. She didn't even know if he had any hobbies or interests aside from causing oddness. For all she knew, his entire life's purpose was causing oddness -- which would make for a rather strange cutie mark, if one thought about it.

"You're aware that we're dealing with a murderer, Agent Twilight?" Ms. O broke the brief silence, standing up and fixing the mare with a rigid expression. "We have no sympathy for murderers."

"But we-"

"Besides, did Olive not say she wanted you to get rid of him?" The Director's tone rose more and more with each sentence. "I, personally, want to see him dead. Eradicated from the Earth."

"Dead?! But won't that make everyone hate Odd Squad?"

A sigh escaped Ms. O's lips. "Look. If you want to use your Elements of Harmony to try and reform Odd Todd and the rest of the villains, then by all means. You have my permission to do it." She took another sip of her drink. "But don't be surprised if it doesn't work."

If it doesn't work... For all of the time she had been in this world, she knew very little about if magic in Equestria worked the same way here as it did there. The innate magic of her and her friends worked fine, so that was a start. But who was to say if more powerful magic transcended across worlds or not?

"Thank you, Ms. O." Without waiting for the Director to shout her signature catchphrase, Twilight took flight and headed out to the bullpen, completely lost in thought.

Ms. O opened a bottom drawer and took out a baby wipe from a brown box before closing the drawer and cleaning up the spilled grape juice, letting her vocal cords become loose and giving a soft growl of frustration.