An Excuse Maybe

Chapter 4

"Antauri you know how I need to have my boundaries respected!" He huffed.

"Just...just give me..."

Antauri then blinked then went silent. This silence went on for nearly a minute before Antauri's eyes softened.

"How?" He questioned, his voice full of emotion.

Mandarin crossed his arms.

"Oh so you noticed, I mean isn't the color of my pupils a clear indicator?" He huffed.

"Now that you mention it they are much lighter." Antauri agreed.

Sprx shook his head, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Wait! Wait! What's going on Antauri?" He asked as Otto lightly gasped.

"Is he...is he on our side again?" Otto asked softly.

Antauri turned to the hopeful Otto and smiled a bit.

"From what I can sense, the corruption in his soul has been cleansed. So yes." He said, receiving a mix of reactions.

Otto looked up at Mandarin and went over to hug him, but Mandarin backed up a bit. Mandarin frowned a bit, causing Otto to drop his arms.

"O-oh I'm sorry I forgot-" Otto began, looking sad.

Nova sighed.

"Don't even try Otto, he's still a massive jerk. Evil or not. " She said, not forgiving him for the training room incident.

Otto turned to her.

"He wasn't always a jerk at times Nova, remember? There were times where he was a huge sweetie." He said.

"Lies!" Mandarin hissed, face flushed.

Nova crossed her arms and averted her gaze, anger bubbling in her chest. Chiro frowned a bit.

"Wait, how is this possible?" He asked Mandarin.

Mandarin paused, gathering his thoughts. He then sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to escape for the moment.

"Well a couple of years ago while I was in prison, I was attempting to escape when I felt terribly sick, almost as if someone force fed me acid." He began, Otto sitting down.

"After a while I had one of the worst cold sweats I've ever felt. I haven't felt that awful ever since I've turned into...well this." Mandarin motioned his body.

Sprx's snout wrinkled.

"Yeah I bet." He said with discuss, causing Otto to frown at him.

"Hey." He huffed, not wanting him to be rude.

Mandarin sighed.

"Anyway, I thought I was going to die that day. Instead what I can only describe as some sort of dark energy vomiting out of my pores and escaping away from me. I'm not sure where it went but after that, all of the dark thoughts and ambitions I had before just..vanished." He explained, causing Gibson to raise an eyebrow.

"Vomiting?" He questioned.

"That's what it felt like."

Antauri thought on it, it sounded plausible but the explanation on it was a little fuzzy to him. Then he lifted his head.

"Wait, did you feel something off with the Power Primate around that time?" He asked Mandarin.

Mandarin's eyes widened.

"Yes! The day before actually."

Chiro's mouth dropped a bit.

"So wait! Does that mean that Skeleton King used his corrupted Power Primate to help bring the Dark One Worm?" He questioned, causing Mandarin to flinch.