VEX

viii.

The football graffiti is covered by Thursday. The weirdest part about that is that James, Thomas, and none of the executives at London Studios ordered to have it covered. They check the security tapes, and either someone who dressed exactly like Vex, or Vex themself covered it. If Vex covered it, then they clearly didn't do the original Arsenal piece.

Though, as confusing as Vex always is, Brooke is suspicious of the sudden cover. She's never seen Vex cover up their own works, but people have never posed as Vex before. Brooke goes up to her office, and begins working, forgetting about Vex until she and Dylan leave that evening. Dylan, who drives Brooke to work, drops her best friend off at her apartment, before driving off. Unsatisfied with what Thomas and James found on the security tapes, Brooke stalks r/vex on Reddit. She shares what it says, without the video evidence, and continues looking through the subreddit. There are quite a few new posts about other people finding that the graffiti on the London Studios building was painted over, but no new theories on what Vex was doing.

Brooke texts Dylan, wondering if she is up for some takeout and a binge session, and, uncharacteristically, doesn't get a response. Dylan has always been a reliable person, and she is usually on her phone. Brooke knows that Dylan is working on her new project, but Dylan has never been the type to bring work home, unless it was necessary. Dylan has always told her best friend about dates and arrangements, so her not responding is completely out of character.

Friday morning, there is a new piece, right where the Arsenal and Spurs graffiti was. It's a person, dressed in black, painted to look like they were covering the old piece, with the football propaganda peeking out from under it. The head is turned, and the brim of a black flat-brimmed hat along with a red bandana is visible. A shadow shrouds the person's eyes, and gloves cover their hands. It's tagged, exactly where the two other Vex signatures are, and this one is on the Vex Instagram page. It was posted around six, with the caption, 'operation coverup.' It's impossible to tell whether it means Vex was covering up their piece or an imposter's.

Many of the designers are watching the monitor with James and Thomas to see if they can find any new information about Vex. Again, they seem to have a knowledge of the cameras, and never expose any skin. There's a light right above where Vex was painting, but that just helps the hat cast the shadow across their face. Vex was caught pulling their iPhone out of their back pocket, and the lockscreen is captured on the camera. It's hard to tell, but the lockscreen looks like one of those default Apple options (Why are they so thorough with coving their tracks?). They turn their back to the camera as they pull the bandana down to unlock their phone, and everything is back in place when they turn to take a picture. Instagram is already open, and they snap a picture once they're finished, around two. Scrubbing through the video, a figure in Vex's black outfit is caught taking another picture of the wall around six, and they stand there to post the two pictures. It's a bit unusual for a picture of the piece to be posted with the sun shining, seeing as every other picture was of some graffiti under the light of nearby street lamps and the moon.

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Vex knows it was risky to go back and put a piece on the London Studios building where they had covered the original commissioned pieces, but they found the idea too interesting to pass up. The new art made it obvious that Vex was the one to cover the football chants, but the post's caption was very ambiguous, not clarifying if they had done the first two pieces. Vex knew it was even more risky to go back to the building to take a picture of the new piece in daylight, even if the sun had just barely risen. Vex has never been one for good decisions. See them becoming a street artist as a prime example. Street art, or graffiti, depending on the perspective, isn't exactly legal, and they face a prison sentence if caught. There are plenty of people trying to figure out who they were, perhaps so they could turn them in and get the £500 reward. It is difficult to stay anonymous, but it paid off because it got people interested in who Vex was.