An Excuse Maybe

Chapter 7

"So...whatcha been up to?" Otto asked, not taking his eyes away from his trinket.

Mandarin snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at him.

"You mean after I was replaced?" He asked.

Otto looked back at him and nodded.
Mandarin looked to the transport tube before looking back at Otto.

"Skeleton king placed me in one of the dungeons he made for 'incompetent servants'. He placed me in the strongest one he had in order to keep me occupied until he figured what to do with me. I was supposed to be executed however I guess they got busy and forgot about me." Mandarin said.

"How'd you get out?" Otto asked.

Mandarin smirked.

"I guess that cell wasn't as strong as it seemed. After I broke out I got off planet and just wandered for a while." That last part was a lie.

Otto smiled. It's been so long since he last talked to Mandarin, especially like this.

"So where'd you go?" He asked.

Before Mandarin could say anything else the doorbell went off and a man with a bunch of different sized boxes appeared on the screen.

"Erm I have some packages." He said.

Otto frowned in confusion before turning on the microphone.

"Uh we didn't order any-"

"That would be for me!" Mandarin interrupted.

Otto looked up at him as the delivery man nodded.

"Then can you please sign this?"

Mandarin nodded and quickly made his way to the transport tube.

"Wait Mandarin!" Otto called out to him.

"Don't worry it's just my things." Mandarin said before he went down.

Otto watched as he signed the paper and quickly brought all the boxes inside. Something's not right.

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Mandarin tried to push all of the boxes into the large room next to his, wondering why there were two huge storage rooms to begin with anyway. As soon as he got every one of them in he looked over the biggest one.

"Ugh this crib is going to take forever to put together, perhaps if I use some of Otto's tools maybe-"

"Mandarin?"

Mandarin quickly turned to Otto, who stood in the doorway.

"What's all this?" He asked, looking at one of them.

Mandarin's eyes widened and he stood in front of them.

"It's nothing! Just some items I happened to acquire while I was gone." Mandarin lied.

Otto frowned.

"But they're all baby stuff..."

Mandarin gulped nervously. Not today, not today! He wasn't ready for this!

"Oh is that so? Wow and I thought I got something else, oh well! Who knows we might have citizens in need of this stuff so that can be one of the things we can do with this."

Otto balled his hands into fists. He's doing it again. It's happening all over again.

"Or we could possibly sell it, that could be arranged too." Mandarin chirped, moving one of the boxes.

"You're doing it again." Otto muttered.

Mandarin blinked.

"Doing what?"