A Mockingbird In The Crows Nest

Origami Bird

Identities in this chapter: Warden= Sam, Lotus= Ponk, Totem= Foolish, Charon= Phil, Captain= Puffy, Mirage= Dream, Hypnos= George
The villains don't have dsmp identities!

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Vex stands at attention before his superiors; a wood-carved bird mask settled over his face and his back ramrod straight. Silent, and perfect. He has to be perfect for this meeting to go well. His mentor- a fearsome villain in a plague doctor mask by the name of Raptor -stands beside him, a tight grip on his shoulder like Vex is being shown off like a trophy. Which in a way, he kind of is. Vex is his mentor's greatest accomplishment, and the board can see it in his files. His record is spotless; full of high-level heists and dozens of successful spying missions. Many of which he'd tackled single-handedly.

He and his mentor stand on the floor before the stacked podiums raised above them to make up the League as they go over the plans Raptor handed over. Instinctively, Vex scans the group of 6 above him, searching for any sign of weakness or hesitance. But of course, he doesn't get anything. Even if every villain up there was maskless, they still wouldn't give away much about their thought process. They were the biggest and longest-standing villains in the country. So of course a mid-ranked villain like Vex wouldn't catch anything from them.

Although when he and Raptor had entered the room several minutes ago, Vex was a little startled to see a Rogue sitting amongst the villains. He wasn't worried, of course. He could recognize Spade in his dull purple suspenders any day- with or without the stupid mask of shulker shells hiding away his nose and mouth. The guy looked straight out of a mobster movie.

One of the League members- Shade -flicked her ear in irritation before taking a deep breath. Vex shifted his charcoal-covered wings in anticipation.

"You can't possibly be serious, Raptor." The goat hybrid deadpanned. Their white eyes on black sclera shifted to give Vex's mentor a disbelieving look behind the deer skull on their face.

"I'm dead serious." Raptor says. He tightened his grip on Vex's shoulder, and he stood up straighter on instinct. "Vex is more than capable of pulling off a mission like this. He's gone undercover before."

"Vex is still a teenager." Flatline adds, pushing a strand of light brown hair off her forehead- and Vex has to stop himself from bristling at her words. "No offense, but I don't think it's wise to stick a child in the middle of enemy territory."

"The reason I chose Vex out of all my underlings is because he's a teenager." His mentor stresses; his own wings bristling. "Think about it! They won't suspect a teenager to be the reason for their mole. They'll underestimate him, and that'll just make it easier for us to destroy them from the inside out."

The League murmured to each other, most of them sounding bored, and a few sounding annoyed. Spade, who sat off to the side, looked the most bored out of anyone there. In fact, the bastard was literally on his phone, like he was playing a game. Static- the head of the League and the most powerful villain in the country -has his glitched eyes trained on Vex. And he's not blinking. Vex stays still and silent, arms folded behind his back and mask-covered face angled down towards the ground to show respect.

"I don't see what we have to lose." Static suddenly says, cutting everyone else off.