a/n: we back and i'm actually kinda proud of my writing for once...also this has those oprah/o'donahue vibes bc it's an underappreciated ship

--

"o'donahue."

the curly-haired boy tenses noticeably, but doesn't look away from the lake. "what is it, pf?"

"i need you to help us find oprah."

"no."

otis grits his teeth, but then remembers that he can't be the villain. he needs o'donahue to trust him. "please. we just need to talk to her."

"no." the boy's voice is brittle as he turns to face the trio. "i'm not leading you to her just so you can use her as a hostage or plaything. kill me if you need to. i'm not letting oprah get hurt."

the pain in his voice shocks otis, but not as much as the words 'kill me if you need to'. "they've been...killing people?" oona whispers, horrified.

o'donahue glances over her, puzzled. "yeah, beady." he spits. "you killed ori yourself. don't you remember? gone from oscar's sweet little assistant to todd's assassin."

oona makes a choked sound and presses a hand over her mouth, other arm wrapping around her waist as she caved in on herself. otis instinctively wraps an arm around her, feeling tears springing to his eyes.

olympia comes in for the save, stepping forward with confidence. "we're not who you think we are."

"olympia-"

she pulls off her mask, and o'donahue stares, clearly stunned. "o-olympia. oprah's employee. i thought you were dead. otis killed you."

otis chokes on a sob. here, he killed his best friend.

"but that means..." o'donahue looks over to otis and oona. "who are you three?"

"we've been trying to tell you." oona moans, hand still pressed against her mouth. "we're not from this timeline."

-

the hut o'donahue leads them to reeks of fish and sweat, which doesn't do much for oona's unsteady stomach. she's already excused herself to vomit into the lake twice, and they've been there for fifteen minutes.

"so, let me get this straight." o'donahue folds his hands on the table in front of the trio. "beady - i mean oona - took you guys time traveling so you could see the moment oprah became a ms. o, but you messed things up so bad that you ruined everything here."

"yes."

o'donahue sighs. "jeez, didn't anyone warn you about the dangers of time travel?"

"...yeah." olympia squeaks sheepishly. o'donahue laughs quietly, and otis can almost see the boy his old boss had told him about.

"alright, here's the dealio." o'donahue's voice turns serious again, and otis leans forward. "i'll tell you where to find oprah. but you have to promise me one thing."

"yeah." otis nods slowly, urging him to go on.

"you need to promise you'll get her into power. before you leave. and if you can't do that, you need to promise me you'll free the ones you can."

otis is about to object, but then olympia nods. "promise." from the look in her eyes, she's thinking about ocean.

"promise." oona says hoarsely, and otis can almost see the words hanging over her head- "gone from oscar's sweet little assistant to todd's assassin.

"promise." otis relents, but only because o'donahue seems to know more than he's letting on. the fisherman just nods, though. "oprah is working at the schmumber juice factory. straw sharpener, i believe. yucks and her brother are a neutral party, but they've got a soft spot for former agents- the ones that are still alive, anyway. do any of you have a badge?"

olympia slips hers out of her skirt pocket and holds it up. this seems to satisfy o'donahue, and he stands. "one more thing. you want to find the green light twins."

"the who now?"

"they're a resistance. oona, you should recognize them. oscar sure did." o'donahue snickers at his own joke, then walks past the duo. "remember, agents. until you find the twins, you've got ears everywhere but here. be careful."

the trio nod. as otis and oona leave, olympia hangs back and gives o'donahue a one-armed hug. "thank you, o'donahue."

he smiles sadly. "this isn't for you, kid. it's for oprah. she deserves to be back in your timeline." then he shakes her off and grabs his fishing pole, leaving olympia to stand there, processing his words.

-

"i want to find the green lights," is the first thing oona says once they've made it halfway down the pier. otis sighs. "we find ms. o, we fix this, we get out."

"o'donahue said oscar knew them. i need to know if he's alive or not." oona says, desperate. otis and olympia exchange glances, and she narrows her eyes. he sighs. "fine. we can make an attempt to find them. but chances are we go back, and oscar will be alive in our universe, and the green light twins won't even be needed."

oona shrugs. "good enough for me."

and the three walk off into the city, ready to find their boss.

-

o'donahue hears a knock on the door, and he wishes it was oprah. that particular feeling of longing and loneliness has become so familiar that it only makes him grit his teeth. no more tears.

"come in!" he calls, figuring it must be the trio with some more questions.

the door squeaks open, and the voice that wafts in shocks him cold.

"hello, o'donahue!"

it's todd.

the fisherman lunges for the chest in the corner, where he keeps the one gadget he'd kept after he was fired- a generatinator. as the name suggested, it was charged with high amounts of energy. odd squad would have used it as a power generator.

o'donahue keeps it as a weapon.

he throws open the chest, fumbling for the gadget, which is buried under old life vests.

"orko, search the place." todd says coolly. o'donahue watches the blond scientist out of the corner of his eye. he recognizes the kid- olive had spoken about hiring him more than once. orko sanchez, he could put the name to the face. but didn't he have a-?

"ORKO!" todd's roar makes the kid cave in on himself as he moves faster, pawing through drawers. "i killed your twin and you still can't do your job! who else do i need to kill, your little redheaded friend? i can do that, too!"

o'donahue's blood runs cold. orko sanchez had a twin sibling named ozzy and todd killed them because orko wasn't being as efficient as needed.

"antoinette, tash, get him." todd's voice is light again, and o'donahue whirls around as a shadow falls over him. looking up, he sees a winged girl that he knows to be otto's sister flying towards him, net in her hands. the last thing he thinks before he fires is i'm sorry, man.

as the girls crashes to the floor, he trains the gadget on a girl in a rainbow getup almost identical to todd's, who's holding her own gadget. it doesn't look like anything the squad has ever produced, and o'donahue is about to fire when todd smirks. "annie, go."

the girl taps two buttons and in a split second, o'donahue is wrapped so tightly in yarn from his ankles to his shoulders that it's difficult to breath. only his hands are free, and it's because he hasn't let go of the gadget. antoinette presses another button and a thick vine of yarn snakes out and wraps around the gadget, retracting and depositing the gadget safely in its owner's hands. yarn seems to grow around his hands of its own accord, and the girl hands the generatinator to todd. "all you, sir."

she leans toward the villain as he turns the dial, aiming the gadget at o'donahue, who is now thrashing in his bonds, breath coming harshly. "sweet dreams, agent!"

todd presses the button, and as 85 volts of pure energy hits him, all o'donahue can do is scream as his knees buckle and his body crashes to the ground, vision going black.