Hey finally the double digits! So this week is gonna be busy so updates may take a bit but I will do my best to update as quickly as I can. Please enjoy!
Roland peeked his head in Mandarin's room that night. As if on cue, Mandarin sat up and grumbled.
"How is it almost midnight?" He grumbled to himself before noticing Roland.
"Oh um..."
Roland motioned towards the living room.
"You wanna watch tv? Boiled blood is on." He said.
Mandarin sat up a bit more, the sounds of Otto snoring filling the silence.
"Erm sure." He said before getting up.
Roland waited for him in the living room before turning on the tv.
"And Horaz turns and punches Aeron in the chest!" A TV announcer said as a skinny blond man punches a man with green hair.
Roland groaned in annoyance as Mandarin flinched slightly at the sudden volume.
"Not this episode again! I swear their new episodes take longer and longer to make." He complained, turning the volume down a bit.
Mandarin almost laughed at that.
"It isn't like there aren't idiotic fights that break out everyday in this universe." He said.
"I know! How hard is it to find footage of people fighting each other?" Roland said before laying on the bean bag chair.
Mandarin tilted his head and thought as the two guys were pulled apart.
"Maybe some places in the universe have strict laws against that sort of thing?" He suggested.
"Maybe, if so that's dumb." Roland said.
"That it is, then again it is their laws."
"I guess...still dumb."
Mandarin nodded as the two continued to watch the show. Mandarin looked down at Roland as his eyes lit up at the show. He smiled a bit before turning his attention back to the screen.
"Ooh this next fight is cool, it's during a food fight in a cafeteria." Roland said, quickly getting comfortable.
"A food fight? Now that is interesting."
"You're telling me. I'd love to get into one of these. It just sounds messy and fun." Roland said, smiling mischievously.
Mandarin raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Oh do you now?"
Roland nodded. Mandarin actually felt a bit more comfortable with that than him wanting to fight everything. Mandarin made a mental note that when he gets better he should find out how to control and settle Roland's temper issues.
The clip was right in the middle of the pandemonium, food flying everywhere and students screaming. Suddenly two students hopped over the tables and jumped on each other, their adrenaline taking control. Students tried to get them off each other but they just kept going at it.
"Okay, where are the teachers? They should be stopping this." Mandarin ranted.
"They'll get there don't worry." Roland assured him as the teachers flood into the room and pull the two students apart.
Mandarin rubbed his face in irritation.
"They're so incompetent, they only now just show up?"
Roland giggled and Mandarin looked down at him.
"I've never seen you get so irritated before. It's funny."
Mandarin blinked and looked back at the tv, his mood changing.
"Only because you see the new weaker me everyday..." He said softly.
Roland abruptly stood up and crossed his arms.
"Who told you that? If so I'm gonna kick them in the shin!" He snapped.
Mandarin flinched back a bit by his tone but Roland softened up.
"Look you're not weak for any of this. I'd be pretty messed up too if I had a hundred bajillion babies watched them be forced into an army. That's messed up!"
Roland went over to him and dug his face into his side.
"You got us here with the Hyperforce...that's something I don't think a weak person would do." He said, looking up at him before realizing Mandarin was tearing up.
"Oh crap I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry! Oh jeez-!" He began to search for tissues before Mandarin snickered.
"No it's fine, I'm just so glad the team raised you so well." He said, wiping his eyes.
Roland's face lit up before he scratched his chin in embarrassment.
"Heheh I dunno...I guess they did."
Mandarin snickered as Roland plopped down next to him.
"So you ain't weak. I mean with muscles as big as yours I figured you'd lift as many cars at Skeleton King as possible." He said.
"When I get myself back in order of course."
"Eh true."
The two continued to watch the show until Mandarin's door opened and Roland scrambled for the remote and changed the channel to a cooking show. Otto yawned as he looked around until he saw Mandarin.
"Hey you, what are you doing?" He asked.
Roland peeked out at him.
"Watching tv with me since we can't sleep." He coughed.
Otto sleepily smiled and yawned again.
"You can't sleep either? Aww what'cha watching?" He asked.
Roland and Mandarin eyed the TV.
"A cooking show." He answered.
Otto's eyes lit up at that and he went over to them.
"Ooh that sounds good! What are they making?" He asked.
Roland watched as the chefs cooked some rice and vegetables.
"I think a stir fry."
"Oh that sounds so good right now!" Otto whined.
"It does but dinner was a few hours ago though." Roland huffed.
Otto hummed before looking at Mandarin.
"Doesn't that sound good Mandy? Mandy?" Otto noticed Mandarin just staring at the tv.
He then abruptly stood up and rushed into the kitchen.
"Mandarin?" Otto asked.
"Now I'm hungry! Great!" Mandarin huffed as he got the ingredients the show stated.
Roland peered into the kitchen.
"I thought you ate already?" He asked.
"He's eating for three, Rolly. So he's gotta eat a lot." Otto said, going into the kitchen.
"Oh yeah..." Roland sat for a moment before getting up.
"Wait can I have some too?" He asked, turning off the tv.
"If Mandy doesn't eat it all!"Otto chirped.
"I'll try not to." Mandarin said as he started cooking.
Otto smiled as Roland went up next to Mandarin and continued talking with him. He then began to look over the notes that Gibson gave him for their plans, studying on the weapons.
After that day, the kids were dealing with the news of Mandarin being their mother in their own way. Penny was quick to accept him and hung around him, Violet grew less clingy but she still was close to him, Kuzon and Angela were working up to help in any way, knowing that the horrible things that happened to him were extremely traumatizing, and Roland also helped too while slowly warming up to him. Maurice? He just kept leaving the room and spending time by himself. Antauri tried to talk to him but Maurice kept insisting that everything is fine and walked away.
"C'mon Mo it'll be fun!" Penny chirped.
Maurice looked off to the side before sadly smiling. The team were planning to spend time together in the command center and Mandarin was resting up there for the time being.
"I'm sorry but I have studies to get to." He said before nearly running into Roland, who looked at him suspiciously.
"Oh sorry R-"
"Why are you avoiding mom?" He asked, getting right to the point.
Angela nodded and looked concerned. She walked up next to Roland.
"Yeah what's up with that? Everytime he's in the room with us you quickly rush off. Are you feeling okay?" She asked.
Maurice shook his head, really not wanting to talk about his feelings right now.
"I don't know what you mean. I'm fine." He lied.
Kuzon went right up to him.
"No you're not, remember we share the same room. You look so angry and upset." He said.
Maurice flinched before Penny held his hand.
"What's wrong Mo? You always talk to us."
Maurice's throat dried.
"Are you...are you mad at the team for not telling you about our mom sooner?" Violet asked.
Maurice's face softened.
"No of course not-"
"Is it Skeleton King? Because I agree with you on that." Angela huffed.
"No, no."
Roland's eyes narrowed.
"Then who are you mad at?" He asked.
Maurice opened his mouth but nothing came out. Kuzon wanted to ask, but he almost didn't want to.
"Hey Penny, why don't you get your dolls. I'm sure the team would love to play them with you." He said, smiling..
Penny's worried face lit up.
"That's a great idea! I'll be right back!" She said before running off.
Kuzon turned back to Maurice. He didn't want Penny to hear this.
"Is it...is it mom?" He asked softly.
Maurice flinched. He turned to him before looking away, eyes closed. Angela frowned and crossed her arms.
"Wait why are you mad at him? He's the one who sent us here, so we could be safe." She said.
"That's just it."
Everyone grew confused as Maurice tightened his fists.
"There were other ways he could have gotten help. He could have called the team, or escaped. Jeez he could have taken the robots by himself! I mean look at him!" Maurice snapped.
Roland glared at him harshly while Violet stepped up.
"Maurice you weren't there, the robots abused the heck out of him to the point where he felt like he had to stay." She said.
Angela's stomach sank.
"He was abused there?" Angela sadly asked.
Violet quickly turned to her.
"Of course they did! They did everything in their power for him to stay." She explained before turning back to Maurice.
"So look Maurice it wasn't as if he abandoned us because he didn't care, he had to leave us here because-"
"It doesn't matter why he did it! He still did it! I just can't believe that all this time he left us here wondering who the heck our parents were!" Maurice snapped.
Roland was seriously getting pissed off with him. Does he not get it?
"He couldn't! You know why he couldn't!" Violet snapped.
"You haven't been feeling what I have felt being here! None of you felt abandoned like I did!"
"Hey you think we were just happily living through life not thinking who our parents were and why they left us?! We're just happy that our mom is here now!" Angela argued, also growing tired of this out of nowhere attitude.
Maurice glared at her.
"You think I can just accept that right away?! You think I'm just gonna accept that he's here now after months of feeling abandoned?! That he is not only a male who gave birth to us in a lab but is only one of the most dangerous villains that the team had to face?! You really think I'm just gonna be so happy at that?!" He shouted.
Roland began to walk over, his anger taking control.
"I'm not saying that I just mean-!" Angela tried to say before Maurice interrupted her.
"Then what?! Because as far as I'm concerned he isn't any mother to m-!"
The next thing Maurice knew he was pinned to the wall with Roland snarling at him.
"Now you listen." He growled, causing the others to feel sick at his tone.
"I don't give a crap what you think of him or if you even like him. But the moment you start acting like he should be blamed because he left us here with people that can take care of us instead of a freaking lab and think he didn't care about us then you'll have to start answering to me."
Maurice raised an eyebrow.
"Are you threatening me?"
Roland licked his lips and gripped him harder.
"Yep. You have no idea what he's been through. You should be freaking thankful that mom basically saved us so you better shut up before I-!" Angela then pulled Roland back.
"Roland that's enough!"
Kuzon went over to him and held out an arm in warning Maurice just shook his head. Violet looked between the groups, shocked by what just happened. She needed to talk to Maurice about abuse because he clearly doesn't know anything about it. That and talk to Roland because holy shit! Penny then bounded into the room, a basket full of dolls.
"I couldn't decide which one to pick, so I picked all of them!" She cheered before noticing the tension.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
Roland's anger simmered down and he smiled.
"Nothing Pen. Big kid stuff y'know?"
Penny frowned a bit. Didn't seem like it, it seemed very serious. Though it was probably best if she didn't know right now.
"Okay...can we go up now?"
Violet was still in shock before getting back to reality.
"Yeah c'mon I got things to create!"
"You say things like that and I don't like it." Penny said as the others followed him. Roland shot Maurice a harsh glare before going back to talk to Penny. Maurice looked down.
"What the heck was up with that?!" Kuzon asked, a bit upset.
"With what? What I said? Because I'm not gonna go back on it. Not now anyway."
Kuzon sighed and rubbed his head. Oh boy does his brother not get it.
"Jinmay I got the dolls!" Penny called to Jinmay, rushing over to her.
Antauri quickly sensed the tension between Roland and Maurice. Roland quickly went over to the large screen to play his games, wanting to ignore this whole thing. However he was quickly stopped by Antauri first.
"Are you two okay?" Antauri asked.
Roland looked up at him and nodded.
"Oh yeah, fine." He lied before going to play video games with the others.
Antauri turned to Maurice.
"What about you?" He asked.
Maurice sighed.
"I don't want to talk about it." He said.
Antauri raised an eyebrow. This was the third time he's heard that. Before he could talk to him, Maurice went to some chairs to wait on Gibson for chess. Angela began to walk past him.
"I suppose you're not going to tell me what happened either. I heard yelling." Antauri said, not looking at her.
Angela froze but sighed.
"Maurice is being an idiot right now. Even after spending time with him...never mind I'll talk about it when I'm ready." She said before following Penny.
Antauri blinked as the kids got to their usual spots. Violet went into the lab where Mandarin and Gibson were lurking in. Kuzon sat down with Otto as he was feeding Erin.
Something doesn't seem right.
Fifteen minutes later Gibson left the room and Mandarin peeked his head out before sitting next to Otto.
"Hi Mandy." Otto chirped as Erin squealed.
"Hello." Mandarin greeted before Maurice caught his eye.
He was playing chess with Gibson and seemed to be okay, but he sensed a lot of anger and hurt. He saw Mandarin looking at him and quickly looked back at Gibson. Mandarin sighed, he must be upset with him. Why else was he avoiding him, not that he was surprised or anything but still why does this hurt so much? He then saw Roland glaring harshly at Maurice before noticing Mandarin. He quickly looked back at his game. Now that was concerning.
He suddenly felt one of the twins kick as he rested a hand on his stomach. Mandarin groaned as
Otto chuckled.
"They're getting active again?" He asked.
"They are and I hate this." Mandarin sighed.
"Don't worry it'll be over in four months." Otto said as Erin babbled loudly.
"Yeah and from what I heard they go by quick." Kuzon said, trying to comfort his mother.
Mandarin only groaned in response. The pregnancies back in the labs sure felt like an eternity. Penny then suddenly rushed next to him and climbed up on him, making the orange monkey wheeze in shock.
"Hi mommy!" She chirped.
"Where did you come from?!" Mandarin wheezed as Otto laughed.
"I was playing with dolls but now I'm done." She said.
"Be careful up there Penny." Jinmay advised as Angela too came over to him.
"Kay."
Penny settled herself on Mandarin's chest armor and nuzzled him. Angela wanted to ask if the robots really did abuse him but she couldn't ask in front of Penny.
"So whatcha doing?" Penny asked.
"Sitting."
Penny frowned.
"That's boring."
"Not to me it's not."
Angela smiled as she sat next to Otto. Even though she hated Skeleton King for hurting her mom like this, she was still awfully curious about him. For reasons even she doesn't know at the moment.
Erin babbled a bit before attempting to gnaw on Otto's finger. Otto giggled before pausing.
"Lemme see your gums." He said softly before lifting one of Erin's lips.
Right on the bottom of his pink gums was a small tooth growing in. Otto's eyes brightened as he called to the others to show Erin's new tooth off. Erin was suddenly confused by the attention, but that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy it. As Erin gnawed on Antauri's hand, Antauri noticed Maurice and Roland a good few ways away from each other. He frowned a bit, that was unnerving.
Antauri was walking by the children's rooms, just got done with tucking Penny in. As he passed by Violet's room and was ready to go in he heard Angela and Violet talking.
"I just don't think Maurice really knows the extent of what the robots did and why. I don't think he even knows how abuse works! I mean yeah I can understand why he feels hurt a little, but to say all of that and then fully admit that he doesn't consider him our mom? That's just-" Violet's voice said, full of frustration.
Antauri's stomach sank, what was Maurice talking about? What did he mean that he didn't consider Mandarin his mother?
"I know and trust me I'll talk to him. Maybe I'll get Antauri to talk to him too, he listens to him." Angela's voice rang out, sounding frustrated.
"Yeah maybe...I just want to forget this even happened for a while."
"I know, me too. Night."
Angela then walked out of the room and stumbled back when she saw Antauri.
"Oh jeez you scared me!" She gasped, placing a hand on her chest.
"I apologize, what were you two discussing? What was Maurice talking about?" Antauri asked, frowning.
Angela flinched and looked down.
"Umm...can we sit in the kitchen?"
After explaining what happened, minus the part of Roland pinning Maurice to the wall, Antauri closed his eyes.
"I had a feeling he was feeling upset, every time I try to talk to him he just denies it or leaves. I just had no idea he felt that way." He said.
Angela leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling.
"I didn't either. Jeez I know he did a lot of evil things before but it's not like that now!" She groaned,throwing her hands up.
Antauri smiled a bit.
"I know."
Angela sat back upright and kept frowning.
"But obviously he doesn't or at least is too hurt to admit it. Or even realize how abuse can make people want to stay in an abusive environment. I have known all of this just by Violet telling me alone."
Antauri nodded, the girl was really bright on things like this and it made sense. She lived there.
"I will try to find time to talk to Maurice about this. I can understand he's hurt but that's no excuse to avoid his mother like this." He said sternly.
Angela nodded. Antauri patted her head.
"Go to bed, we have training tomorrow morning."
Angela nodded and they exchanged their good nights. Once Angela got to her room she hopped onto her bed. She paused before turning on her reading light and pulled out two huge files One of them had the title, "Skeleton King" and the other had "The Labs". The Labs file just had what the team knew about the labs so far. She opened the files and began reading.
Oooh Angela what you doing? Also yes I know Maurice is acting like a lil shit right now, but that's the point! Trust me this will all add up later and he will recognize his mistakes later.
Thanks for reading!