And so begins my journey towards two-fifths completion. Joy of joys!

This little number is an Otto/Mandarin Friendship piece.

The drama!

Allies

He would be coming to talk to him. He always came to him.

They were allies.

88888

Otto was in his workshop, engrossed in a design for a zero-gravity motorcycle, when the sound of the door opening caused him to turn around.

Mandarin stood in the doorway. The orange monkey's face was unreadable, as usual.

"Hey, Mandarin," greeted Otto. The green monkey put on his goofy grin.

"I require a moment of your time, Otto," said Mandarin. "Please, stop whatever it is you're working on. This won't take long."

Otto pushed his design away and spun around in his chair, giving him a complete view of Mandarin. "Okay, sure. What's up?"

"So I assume you have not heard?" asked Mandarin. The orange simian marched into the room, and something about his posture struck Otto as…off.

"Uh, no. I've been in here all day working on that project you gave me," replied Otto. "Why, what happened?"

Mandarin came up next to Otto and leaned forward against the mechanic's design table. The orange leader did not look at Otto, instead staring at the wall.

"Today, in the training room, Antauri challenged my authority as team leader."

"What? Really?" asked Otto. "That doesn't sound like Antauri."

"Precisely," agreed Mandarin. "It's not representative of him. I would expect such behavior from Sprx, or perhaps Gibson if he was in the middle of an experiment, but never Antauri."

"Why did he do it?" asked Otto. With a sigh, Mandarin finally turned his gaze to the green primate.

"I'm not sure, Otto," admitted Mandarin. "But ever since I revealed my plan for the future of Shuggazoom, I've sensed a growing rift between us."

"Well, to be honest, your plan is a bit…radical," said Otto.

Mandarin slammed his fist on the table, making Otto jump. "I know that, Otto! But these are desperate times. I must do whatever I can to defeat the Skeleton King."

"But how does enslaving Shuggazoom help us do that?" asked Otto.

"No, no, no," said Mandarin, shaking his head vehemently. "Not enslaving, Otto. Ruling Shuggazoom. How can we hope to protect these miserable creatures if they don't even know how to run their own lives? We need to impose order. It's the only option."

Otto swallowed a large lump in his throat. "I…I understand, Mandarin. But the others…they think you just want the citizens to worship you."

"And they should!" exclaimed Mandarin. "It would be justified, considering all we do for them."

"But we help them because it's the right thing to do."

Mandarin waved Otto's words off. "Yes, yes, I know. Justice is its own reward. I didn't come here to talk about that."

"Then why are you here, Mandarin?" The orange monkey leaned against the wall and was quiet for a while.

"There's a battle coming, Otto," Mandarin said at last. "Not with Skeleton King, but within the team. I've longed hoped to avoid it; that I could make them understand. But I've come to realize that this conflict is unavoidable."

Otto nodded, a terrifying sense of dread overtaking him. "Uh-huh."

"I came here to ask for your help in the coming battle, Otto," admitted Mandarin. The orange monkey walked over to Otto and placed his hand on his shoulder. "You've always been my greatest ally; the one person I could count on and confide in. I ask that you continue that trend in the coming days."

"I…I understand, Mandarin," said Otto. The orange leader gave Otto's shoulder a squeeze.

"I'm glad to hear it." Mandarin stood up and made his way towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other matters I must attend to. I would like the project finished by morning."

"Yeah, no problem," said Otto, his goofy grin returning.

"Excellent." The door closed behind Mandarin, leaving Otto very much alone.

"No problem," Otto muttered to himself. The green monkey slumped forward in his chair and covered his face with his hands. The room was silent for several long, painful seconds.

"I guess you heard what you were looking for?" Otto asked the empty room.

There was a rustling sound behind one of the large, half-finished engines that populated Otto's workshop. A shadowy figure stepped out from behind the engine. It was Antauri.

"Unfortunately, I did," replied the black furred simian. Antauri had never looked quite as serious as he did right then. "Thank you, Otto."

"Yeah. Sure." Antauri walked up to the green mechanic and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"This is hard on all of us, Otto," said Antauri. "And I know it's especially hard on you. But we must stop him. He won't see reason."

Otto gave a loud, wet sniff as he rubbed his arm across his moist eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

Giving Otto a friendly pat on the back, Antauri exited the workshop. After a few silent moments of thought, Otto turned around and resumed his work on the motorcycle.

88888

He had come to him. He knew he would. And as a result, the team knew it was time for a coup. And he helped them do it. He had to.

He was his greatest ally.

Just my idea on what happened before the team took down Mandarin.

I liked this one. I liked it from the moment the idea came to me.

Hope you folks enjoyed it.

Once more for emphasis:

SAVE SEASON 5!