Ships Ahoy!

The Dreamer

A/N Once again, this chapter deviates quite a bit from the canon, so there's that. Also still keep in mind that I wrote this entire story before Season 2 came out, so yes there are some discrepancies there. Otherwise, hope I did a good job of keeping Oscar in character. Enjoy!

The next morning, against his better judgement, Oscar went to visit the Vancouver squad.

And, for the first time ever, rode the tubes.

"Incoming!"

As he popped out of his yellow ball and into the Tube Lobby, Oscar picked up his broken glasses and put them on as best he could. Next time I ride in the tubes, he thought ruefully, I need to hold on to these.

"Are you the new agent from Toronto?"

Oscar looked up. Sitting at the console in front of him was an agent wearing a huge fur hat. "Um, y-yeah?" he said with a wince, jaw hurting as he tried to talk. Man, that tube ride messed with my braces. He made a mental note to let the orthodontist know to loosen them at the next appointment.

"Oh, good. My name's Omakov. Your Ms. O called a little while ago and said you'd be here. Agent Odie's waiting for you in his lab."

"Oh. Um, okay, th-thanks." Oscar headed for the door and ran straight into a brick wall.

"Sorry, it's the other door!" Omakov called.

Eventually, Oscar found his way to the lab, where he saw a tall, older agent with a white lab coat and a blonde mullet cleaning a test tube. "Exc-cuse me," he said, clearing his throat nervously. "Are y-you Agent Odie?"

"That would be me." The scientist looked up. "Oh, you must be Oscar!" he said, setting down the test tube to shake his hand. "Welcome to Odd Squad."

"Thanks," Oscar said, smiling awkwardly. "So...I g-guess I'm supposed to ask w-what it's like running a lab?"

"Yes, you are. And I'm supposed to convince you that you shouldn't work as a Tube Operator, apparently," Odie replied, glancing at Oscar's uniform with no small amount of disgust.

"Oh, well—it's only f-for now. While I'm u-undecided."

Odie's expression was unreadable. "I see. Well, sit down," he offered gruffly, leading him to two swivel chairs in a corner of the room. "We can chat here."

As it turned out, Oscar ended up staying the entire work day to chat with Agent Odie. He learned lots of things about the Department of Science and what being a Lab Director was like. ("You don't wait for an odd case to invent a gadget. You invent the gadget first, and then wait for an odd case that'll need it.") As he hopped in the tubes to go home, Oscar decided that whether he went into Science or not, he would always see Odie as the best Lab Director in the world. Not to mention the one with the best hair. That mullet, though, he thought. May have to grow one for myself, heh.

Upon his return to the Toronto squad (which went a lot smoother this time), Oscar stepped out to find an Investigation agent arguing with the Tube Operator. "This is ridiculous, O'Brian!" the agent shouted angrily, jabbing a finger at the tubes. "How am I expected to get home if you're tube-blocking me?"

O'Brian shrugged. "You're the one who made me mad, Orbot," he replied flippantly.

Orbot stamped his foot. "That's it! I'm reporting this to Ms. O!" And with that, he stormed out of the Tube Lobby.

As Oscar drew nearer, O'Brian flashed him a wicked grin. "It's the last time he'll ever report to her," he said maliciously, pressing a few buttons on the console. "Nobody messes with the Tube Operators. Right, new guy?"