Cloak and Dagger

As they grew into adolescence, the three Atlanteans found their niches in society. Teo was patient, kind and most of all, pious. He devoted himself fully to the pantheon of gods worshipped by the court, bending his knee at their shrines every morning and night. Jasper grew in size and strength, laying flat any challenger that considered himself man enough to defeat her. Not only through physical prowess, but her sharp mind for combat had her in line to graduate straight into a commander's rank once she left training. Clemmons was more subtle in his approach, few folk noticed a solo Ovi hanging around and their tongues grew loose without even knowing he was there. Confronted with the threat of their deepest secrets being laid bare to the entirety of Atlantis, Clemmons found himself in possession of quite a few favours. 

"Faith, force and fear," Clemmons had said gleefully, clicking his claws together. Between the three of them they each held an important tool to manipulate the council and worm their ways inside. Jasper hated to admit that the sneaky little raptor had done anything right, but she felt his decision to recruit Teo was instrumental to this. Not only was he manipulating an entire branch of the council, he was also such a goody-goody that no one would even suspect that he was working with them. Sometimes she suspected that even Teo barely knew he was working with them.

Their only place where they could meet and speak freely was the basement of a weapons cache at the far end of the dome. Beyond the waterlogged and overgrown human weaponry, they slipped down through the broken elevator shaft and sat below the ground, another layer of protection against prying eyes. Teo and Jasper barely fit anymore and the three of them knew this hideout wouldn't last forever, so their meetings had increased in frequency over the last few months. Most of them were keeping each other updated on their respective missions but Clemmons was growing impatient knowing their time was limited. There was no guarantee they could find somewhere this hidden again, and this may be their only chance to finalise their plans. With this in mind, he decided to push the issue even with Teo there.

"We need to talk about what we're going to do about the current council," he said bluntly before the brown Iggy could even sit down.

"Oh? I assumed we would replace them when they retired?" Teo asked cautiously.

"That won't work," Jasper grunted, "when they step down there's always someone waiting to step in."

"And isn't that what we're aiming for? To earn their trust and be that someone waiting in the wings?" Teo looked confused, like the rug had been pulled out from under him. In a way, this would be the first time Clemmons and Jasper would broach the subject of more... nefarious actions around him. Jasper gave a sidelong look to the Oviraptor, disapproving of involving Teo at all in this side of things. He was their plausible deniability, their alibi, their so-called moral compass that meant no one would expect something underhanded from them. He also couldn't lie to save his fucking life and Jasper didn't trust him anything he didn't need to know.

"We could spend our whole lives working to be that person and end up being replaced by their offspring," Clemmons scoffed, "That's why our first target is councillor Kratti, he doesn't have any children and I've managed to ingratiate myself into his routine. Jasper's being trained in his regiment too."

"Regular teacher's pet," the Iggy in question grinned.

"I don't know him very well," Teo admitted, " I never see him at the temple."

"You wouldn't, he isn't a man of faith," Clemmons shrugged, "That's why you're befriending Sera, right? She's very devoted, and she thinks very highly of you and your studies."

"I- yes I suppose so, she's very easy to talk to," Teo admitted.

"Then we have two ways in, Sera doesn't have any kids either," Jasper noted.

"But we could always thin the pool even further, I have enough dirt on most of the council members to get them removed. Enough shuffling in a short space of time and they'll run out of replacements," Clemmons suggested. A stone skittered across the floor of the cellar and all three looked up sharply to see an Oviraptor silhouetted in the entrance of their hideout, looking directly at them. 

Banding, blue leaf war paint, it was Mischief. She could almost be considered high-ranking if she wasn't an Oviraptor, but either way she had the ear of those higher up than her. And she had just witnessed their plotting to overthrow the council. 

Teo tried to say something, to smooth over the situation, but Clemmons was faster. He may have been younger but his savage burst of speed and the element of surprise caught Mischief off-guard, knocking her to the ground and giving him the opening he needed. With a swift motion he dragged his sharpened thumb claw across her throat and split it open. Mischief's eyes widened in shock and fear, making eye contact with him as she flailed her limbs helplessly, like she was grabbing for air that no longer entered her lungs. It took another moment of wheezing and gurgling, but soon the Oviraptor lay silent forever.

"What have you done?" Teo asked, his voice pitched with terror.

"What had to be done," Clemmons snapped, wheeling around with blood still soaking his hand, "If you think we could have asked nicely and talked our way out of that one then you're a fool!" 

"Well now we'll never know!" Teo retorted, shrinking back from the wild-eyed Ovi.

"And now we have a body to dispose of, we'll have to make it look like an accident," Jasper remarked, going over to look at Mischief's body.

"I- that's not the problem here! Clemmons just killed someone!" Teo cried. Jasper turned back on herself, getting right up in Teo's face and holding his by the neck. 

"It's our problem right now, nothing else matters," she growled at him. Teo's eyes went wide, the way Mischief's had before she died, and his beak began to quiver.

"You're both- you're both monsters," he whispered desperately. His head was spinning, if he told the council he would have to come clean about working to replace them and they would have to believe him. If they didn't, there would be no place in the dome he could hide from Jasper and Clemmons, they would hunt him down and silence him the way they had silenced Mischief.

"Hey, take a breath," Clemmons demanded, coming up to push Jasper off of Teo, "Look, I didn't want this to happen, Jasper sure as hell didn't want this to happen, but we cannot allow anything to interfere with our plans."

"Our plans... people's lives are worth more than our plans," Teo hissed.

"You're not getting it, Teo! After all these years you still don't get it!" Clemmons yelled, "The dome is cracking, the maintenance teams are finding new leaks every other week, Atlantis will flood while the council sits on their asses making pointless plans to keep themselves safe and fed. If we don't make a change, anyone outside of their ivory tower will be drowned and the council will pull up the ladder behind them." He stopped himself, breathing heavily and allowing his rage to simmer in the air.

"The council don't care about the folks you've been helping your whole life," Jasper said quietly, "Every Ovi and Euoplo will continue to be sacrificed for their benefit, even Iggys they deem unclean or unworthy are nothing but bodies to them."

"What makes us any better then? There's blood on our hands now too," Teo said, looking over Jasper's shoulder where Mischief still lay in a puddle of blood.

"Because we see the bigger picture, Teo," Clemmons insisted, "We see an Atlantis united in its species and stronger than ever, a place where everyone can have an equal say in their lives. Isn't a little bloodshed worth that in the end? Please, we only want the best for everyone who lives here, especially in these times of crisis." There was silence after Clemmons' final plea, Teo not taking his eyes off of Mischief.

"I- we could leave her in the jungle. The plants won't allow her to stay there for long," he said finally, his voice dull and dejected.