Chapter Text
"If you couldn't guess already from my earlier comment, it'd be very hard to spend time together during my molt. Mainly because I don't like being alone for... reasons. And because of these reasons my family doesn't let me go anywhere without someone at my side."
"And even if I didn't have my own issues with being alone during a molt, they probably wouldn't let me be alone regardless. We always pair up during a molt whether or not if there's trauma involved," he remembers continuing. "Even in days leading up to a molt just in case stress triggers it early."
Wilbur swept over the roofs of buildings, eyes scanning below him to make sure he didn't race too far ahead of his twin.
They did plenty of patrols together during day hours, not recently due to the constant factor of him getting pulled away by Ace's shenanigans, but normally he played support for Techno during daytime. It was another reason why he preferred his night months, he always felt more independent.
It was a quiet day so far, nobody aware of the chaos that was about to break loose.
"If we want to spend time together, we're going to have to find a way to separate me from my family. Because all things considered... I really do think that your nest and the casino would be a better place for me to molt. So... I propose this:"
"See anything up there Magpie?" Techno radioed his com, probably not wanting to shout so that the avian could hear him.
Wilbur pressed a talon to his com, "Nothing on my end-wait. I think I see some smoke a few blocks down. Shopping District from the looks of things. Considering the smoke it could be anything from Anarchy or Pyro to-"
His comment was followed by a loud explosion that seemed to shake the sky, fire roaring in the area the smoke had been previously.
"... Ace, be on guard and let me handle this," the taller twin snarled into his com. "Protocol ten, we should work with the assumption that there could be other villains involved, I want you to watch my back. Can you handle playing support this time, Blade?"
"Yeah I read you. Nemesis bullshit, I get it," Techno responded. "Roger. I'll keep my eyes peeled for any secondary villains. Ace works with others pretty commonly, doesn't he?"
"Especially Anarchy. There's also a chance of Mr. President involvement and potentially even Loki," Wilbur radioed back, trying to suppress his surprise with his twin's willingness to cooperate. "Be aware of any firestarter villains, drunken bastards who Phil bullies constantly, and shapeshifters. Oh, and there is a chance that Smile might be involved."
"If Smile is involved I'm going to punt his homeless ass back to the seventh district," Techno growled. "Roger."
The rescue hero couldn't help a soft grin, not that anyone would see him making it.
"Race you there, Tech."
"We stage a kidnapping."
Wilbur beat his wings and shot off in the direction of the explosion, trusting that his combat oriented twin should be able to keep up. The Blade always arrived on the scene fast, and he was the avian's twin after all. Speed was their family's main selling point.
"A kidnapping?"
"My kidnapping."
"You're asking me to kidnap you?"
"It's the only logical way to get me away from them. All week they're going to be guarding me, and even in the days before that I'll have either Techno or Phil patrolling with me. Without my ability to fly I can't just sneak out the window and you're not going to be able to sneak in unless we want Tommy to discover what we're doing. Literally when it comes to my molt it's either all or nothing. You're either getting me for the whole week or-"
"I'm not going to be able to see you at all... and I don't think either of us want that."
"Exactly. So, here's what we're going to do:"
Wilbur and Techno arrived on the scene very shortly after each other and the rescue hero couldn't help but feel a little drum of anxiety. Adrenaline quick to burn through his system. Especially when a quick scan of the area resulted in him spotting Ace.
The villain cackled, flying out of the burning fire with the flames licking harmlessly at his feathers.
One of Foolish's potions: Fire immunity.
"Well well well," Ace chirped cheerily, slowly folding his wings in to land a few paces away from the twins. "If it isn't The Minecraft's dynamic duo! Magpie! Songbird! Lovely to see you again! Blade... I wasn't really expecting you."
Techno didn't respond to the villain's jab, reaching for the dagger on his belt. Meanwhile Wilbur eyed the building burning behind Ace.
They already worked out that nobody was going to be inside...but of course, Magpie wouldn't know that, would he?
And his first instinct is always to save people.
"The first thing we've gotta do is that we're going to have to act. We need to keep up appearances, behave as we always do and try to be as least suspicious as we can get."
The magpie avian spread his wings and shot for the burning building. He nearly passed Ace before the shrike avian grabbed his arm and spun, throwing him back at his twin. Wilbur yelped at the action, trying to right himself in the air. Techno caught him, bringing him back to the ground with a worried look.
Ace clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Now now, none of that. For your information, songbird, there's no one in there. I know how you are, always trying to prioritize the rescue. So there's no one in that building for you to save. No hurting yourself trying to save people who don't even know your name."
The rescue hero winced slightly, but keep his gaze firm.
It was an obvious enough wince that both Techno and Ace would see it due to their proximity, but anyone else in the area would just see him glaring his nemesis down unwavering.
"And you expect me to believe you?" Wilbur shot back.
"When have I ever lied to you, songbird?" Ace questioned with a smirk. "I knew you were going to shoot for that building. Especially if you have backup who could've handled me while you saved people. You always do that. Always default to playing second fiddle to someone else. But no. Not this time. There's no one for you to save and last I checked, you're my nemesis. And do you want to know how this is going to play out? You're going to stop holding back. You're going to stop pretending to be some low tier sidekick and you're going to fight me."
"Enough," Techno cut in. "I don't know what your game is here, Ace. But we aren't playing it."
"Oh really? But he loves this game," the shrike avian smirked, shooting a look at the tallest of the three. "Don't you, songbird? You love getting to be an actual recognized hero. You like it when you get to be the person taking out the villain. You've been getting a lot more popular lately, haven't you? How does that make you feel? Do you feel more confident? Do you feel like you're actually seen by people? Are you being recognized for the years of hard work you've put in?"
"And in that lane, I'm going to need you to go on your usual bullshit. Hit me where it hurts. While I can fake winces to certain things, some of my reactions have to be genuine. So I really need you to hit me where it's going to hurt, I need you to come at my insecurities as a hero so that people won't assume we're faking this."
"... You're asking me to-"
"Yes, I need you to spit villain propaganda at me in front of an audience. As many times as you can manage to squeeze it in. If you hold back even slightly people are going to suspect that something is up."
"... Alright. I can do that."
"Just remember, songbird, I recognized you before any of them did," Ace laughed. "They might be catching on now, but I was the first one. I looked at you and I saw potential where nobody else did."
"They're never going to appreciate you. Not like I do. And doesn't that just get a fire under your wings? Knowing that no matter how hard you tried in the past they're just now starting to notice you? I mean c'mon. Of course they only start to notice when you've got a villain to fight. They just couldn't acknowledge the fact that you've been saving their asses for well around seven years now. But you're never going to admit that you're angry. You're never going to admit that you're bitter and upset that your work as a rescue hero was never appreciated."
Wilbur was...starting to regret telling him to go all out. When he asked for his nemesis to rip into his insecurities he didn't expect him to unbury new ones.
"No, you're not going to admit it. You'd never even admit it to yourself. Admit that you're afraid that the second you mess up even once that all of it is going to go away. Never going to admit that you're afraid of going back to being his shadow," the villain gestured his head at Techno standing next to him.
His twin jolted at that, turning to look at him.
The magpie avian was suddenly keenly aware of how many eyes were on him right now. The crowd that had gathered from the explosion, the news crew that had arrived moments earlier, Techno, Ace, everyone watching the news coverage.
Before? A few months earlier?
He probably would've frozen. Maybe he would've tried to run.
But this time?
This time he fought.
The rescue hero shot forward, surprising everyone, including himself as he charged his nemesis. Quickly sweeping the villain's legs out from under him and moving to pin the shrike avian's arms.
Judging from the brief widening of Ace's eye, he wasn't expecting the more volatile reaction.
But it quickly faded as the villain managed to flip away from him, laughing.
"There we go!" He shouted. "There's what I'm looking for! Get angry, songbird! You want people to see you? To recognize you!? Then quit holding yourself back and be your own hero!"
"Techno is going to be with me in the days before my molt. We'll need to find some way to keep him from getting involved if we want this to work. I don't trust that he'd tend to civilians and do the job I usually do while staying out of the fight."
"Yeah, I think I've got a plan for that. A certain someone owes me a favor."
"SMILE!" Ace shouted, causing both twins to spin around as a flash of green sped at the combat hero.
Techno caught his nemesis's attack, glaring hard into the childish mask of the villain.
"Magpie, I'll take care of this, you focus on Ace!" His twin shouted.
"Roger!" Wilbur called back. "I'm holding you to what you said earlier!"
He heard a sharp laugh in response to that as both twins launched at their respective nemesis, terrifyingly synced as they both went for right hooks.
And just like that, the fight was on.
"We can also use this as a way to boost my ranks a bit. Make the fight flashy and eye catching. There's going to be cameras pointed us with Techno fighting one villain and me fighting you. You're number six on the board, and I'm sure whoever you're bringing is going to be at least A-tier?"
"S-tier. There's definitely going to be cameras."
"Perfect. So we need to make sure that we're doing this fight in all our dramatic avian glory. And because those mics are getting better and better at picking up what heroes and villains say to each other even with distance between them, hell, we've gotten good audio even while explosions are happening before, we're going to have to continue whatever spiel you've started to go on. We need to banter. And you need a monologue or something in that lane."
"Oh I can do that. You've gotten a lot more fun to fight with now that you're using your wings more."
"You mean to say that I'm actually challenging you now, sunrise?"
"You always did pretty boy. I just like seeing you feral."
Fighting, even if at most it would be considered playful sparring for them, with Ace always felt freeing somehow in a way. He wonders if that's why combat heroes always seemed so trigger happy, clashing with his nemesis did something to his brain that just made him feel like he could do anything. Maybe it was the adrenaline in his system making him feel like he was alive, but not having to be the one on the sidelines keeping civilians away from the fight and dealing with the collateral damage was damn near addictive for him.
Maybe he was getting carried away with how often he'd fly up and then swoop down, attacking his nemesis with a barrage of kicks and swipes of his gloved talons. Maybe he was getting carried away as he let Ace catch some of his attacks and counter with sharply pointed kicks and a flash of a blade in his hand. But either way, they kept it entertaining, flying up into the air and dueling above the battle ground before dropping back down and charging each other.
But it was getting really hard for him to focus on what his villain was saying. He was still passively listening to the jabs against his insecurities, still aware of the monologue Ace was going on about how even the nicest of heroes have limits that can be reached.
However...it had started going in one ear and out the other without sticking. The rescue hero was losing himself to the steady drum beats of Ace's fighting style, strong and powerful attacks that somehow managed to meld perfectly with the more precise strikes and counters of Wilbur's own waltz melody. How they managed to flow like this he'll never really know.
His brain just keeps pulling him closer, keeps him swinging and flying circles around the villain.
The magpie avian started to realize that maybe, just maybe, his instincts were urging him to court Ace. Trying to get him to incorporate more stylish and strong movements into his flying, encouraging him to add more flourish to his kicks.
It was all probably triggered by how he tended to compare fighting to dancing. And magpies tend to court through dances.
He should stop thinking about this. He's getting distracted.
"This'll happen a day before you're set to-but what if you start earlier during the fight?"
"Then we play into it. Act as if you knew I was going to be molting soon. Heroes and villains alike will target the opposite sides' avians when they're molting all the time. Play it off like you knew I was going to start molting any day now. If I start to molt early then we're going to treat it like it was your play all along to capture me."
Ace had hummed, sound quiet and soft.
"And when the time comes where I have to let you go? What are you going to tell them?"
Wilbur huffed before dramatically flopping into his villain's arms as if he was fainting, "Oh woe as me! He tried to convince me to join him! Using my instincts against me while I was molting! I barely managed to escape while he wasn't looking!"
"You're awful," the shrike avian sighed, fond.
Something shifted in his demeanor then, his gaze changing.
"And what if I decide that I don't want to give you back?"
His nemesis's voice had darkened slightly as he pulled the dramatic hero closer into his arms, cupping his face.
"What if I decide to kidnap you for real instead of faking it? What are you going to do then if I decide that I don't want to let you go?" Ace asked. "What if... you stayed. You stayed with me and didn't leave. What if I keep you in my nest and never let you go until you decide to actually join me?"
Wilbur tried to ignore the way his heart started beating at the possessive tone. The look in the other avian's eye something paralyzing.
"What if the 'villain propaganda' as you so affectionately call it has actual intentions behind it? What if I decide to sink you into your instincts and I kidnap you for real?" His nemesis hissed. "What if-"
"I know you're not going to do that," the magpie avian said slowly, beginning to sit up with the villain's hands still on his face.
"And how can you be so sure?" Ace prompted, the possessive look in his eye getting worse. "What if I decide that they don't deserve you considering how they treat you and how much you give them? What if I decide that you're mine?"
Wilbur's gaze softened, sighing quietly.
He leaned forward and gently kissed the shorter much to the shrike avian's apparent surprise.
There wasn't heat or anything really passionate about the kiss, just a gentle press of his lips against the other's.
"Because I trust you," the magpie avian whispered against his villain's lips. "I trust you, and I know that you aren't willing to lose that trust. You wouldn't do that to me, even if there's a part of you that wants to."
The possessive fire simmered down then, his nemesis's wings shifting slightly as he seemed to shrink on himself. Ace broke his gaze away from the hero's, letting go of the taller's face.
"... But you aren't mad at me for thinking like that," his villain observed. "... You aren't-"
"-I wish I could be," Wilbur muttered, looking away from the avian in his nest. "But I'm not. Even if we agreed to keep the villain and hero shit out of... what this is... that doesn't mean that I'm expecting you to stop thinking like that. I know who you are. Kind of hard not to be aware of it considering I don't have anything to call you but your villain name and the various nicknames in my head. But either way... you're still you. And I know that this, having even the slightest taste of getting to call me yours, it does things to you. It makes you think."
"I'm not an idiot sunrise. I'm not asking you to deny your nature. Especially since I know that the possessiveness is just... how you show your affection."
"Are we really having this talk right now?" Ace chuckled, fidgeting a slight bit. "Really Wil? When we're plotting your own kidnapping?"
"Ace we have to address it eventually," the magpie avian stated.
His nemesis's wings drooped a slight bit, his expression twisting.
"... Yeah... Yeah I know. That initial 'forget who we are and what we're supposed to be' thing lasted for a lot longer than I originally thought it would."
The hero breathed.
Slow and controlled.
He extended a wing, tucking it around the shorter and pulling him to comfortably rest tucked into the taller's side.
"I feel like... we need to have talks like this. Because it needs to be addressed sometimes," Wilbur spoke quietly, turning and placing a kiss on top of Ace's head. "But that doesn't mean I want it to change... I like you. I like this. Never thought I'd hear myself admit it but... I like stealing moments with you and getting to see the other side without feeling like I'm pressured to pick a side in the first place. But we're still something forbidden. We have to take measures to keep it secret. And we have to acknowledge what we are sometimes."
"But that doesn't mean all the time," Ace hummed, looping one of his arms around the hero's waist.
"No. Definitely not all the time," the magpie avian huffed in amusement before his gaze turned serious again. "I... Ace I'm..."
His nemesis gave him a soft headbutt, chittering under his breath.
"Yeah yeah, I'm getting on with it," the taller growled back playfully, flicking the other's mask with the tip of his flight feathers. "... I know you're a villain. You're a villain and you've done some bad shit that I don't exactly approve of. ...But I'm not going to ask you to change for me."
"What?" Ace flinched, pushing back and giving him a confused look. "No no, hold on, back up, you don't just say shit like that."
"Well I just did," Wilbur snorted, gaze sweeping up and down the shrike avian. "I'm not one of those assholes who's going to be like 'oh, I can change him'. No. I know you aren't going to change for me, and I'm not expecting you to do so. You... you care a lot about your freedom. About living your life the way you want to live it. And I'm not going to get in the way of that. Even if I don't approve of the arson and murder and all the crimes you commit, even if, as a hero, I've been raised to always want to do the right thing... I don't think it'd be right to try and contain all your chaos in a little box. I know you wouldn't be happy like that. So I'm not going to make a condition on whatever little agreement we have that you have to stop being a villain for me. I'm not going to ask that of you."
"Besides... I wouldn't want you to change. Even if... if everything I've been taught, every instinct I have, goes against it... I like you. I like you and the way you're just so unapologetically yourself. It's wrong, and it's twisted, and I know that doesn't speak well for my mental but... I'd hate it if you changed anything that you do or are."
The shorter just...stared. Completely silent.
"... Even if I still think you'd be happier as a villain? You'd still rather have me constantly thinking that you should join me and ditch the heroes? Would still rather have me trying to convince you at every turn to become a fallen hero? You're... you're really willing to put up with that...?"
Wilbur laughed.
"Is it really 'putting up with it' if that's something I enjoy?"
"Wha-"
"Ace. Sunrise. Darling," the magpie avian turned, grabbing the other's hands. "I like knowing that... that I'm wanted. And whenever you talk like that... fight so hard to convince me and get me to doubt this path I chose... it... makes me feel like you'd rather have nothing more than me. It's comforting knowing that if I one day snap under the pressure, because gods know how close I've gotten on some really bad days, that it wouldn't be all over for me."
"Because you always promise that your door would be open for me... right?"
"... You enjoy it-"
"Yes. I do. Again, I like it when you're completely, utterly, unapologetically yourself."
Before the hero even knew what happened he had been tackled by Ace again, the shrike avian throwing his arms around the taller's shoulders and looking at him like he had hung the moon and stars.
"Fucking hell I love you," his villain spat, starting to laugh with a slightly teary eye. "For fucks sake you can't just say shit like that to me!"
Wilbur allowed himself a small cooing noise, tapping his forehead to the shorter's.
"But I just did, didn't I?"
His heart positively sang.
It was the first time Ace had said 'I love you' to him. If he hadn't known any better, he would've thought that the villain was afraid of it. Afraid of saying it. Afraid of making it real.
...Like how he was afraid of saying it.
But then, all of a sudden?
It was there. It was hanging in the air and it was real as the shrike avian dug his fingers into the hero's shoulders. Holding him like he might disappear if he lets go.
"I love you too," the taller responded quietly, making it all the more real. All the more present.
Four letters. Four letters to put a name to the rapid beating in his chest, the constant excited fluttering of his wings, the twittering of his instincts, the urge to coo and purr and chirp and all those things he wasn't supposed to do. A name for the desire to hold the bastard close and never let go of him, to see him as often as he could.
And that emotion was real. Once he acknowledged it he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to pretending that it wasn't what he felt.
They had talked, planned, and plotted well into the night. Wrapped up in each other's wings and hidden from the world high above the city in the tallest point they could be. They grew quiet when footsteps could be heard, snickering and hushing each other when those same footsteps would get quieter and quieter. They stole kisses and made small little flirty jabs between accounting for any strange variable or sudden twist that could mess with their plans.
All the while finally having acknowledged that it was love.
It was a good thing they had accounted for what to do if his molt started early.
It would've been better if they had considered the strong possibility of Wilbur getting lost in the adrenaline and instincts of a good fight and not noticing the growing itch in his wings though. They really should've thought of that. An oversight on Wilbur's part if he's being honest with himself.
They probably should've agreed to keep the fight on the ground or at least as close to the ground as they could get it.
It hits sudden and strong, an itch quickly overriding Wilbur's brain and his senses as he processes the sensation of new feathers trying to push old ones out, his wings beginning to go numb.
"Oh shit," he muttered, the feathered limbs suddenly locking up on him as he began to plummet.
Wilbur was able to see the flash of panic cross Ace's face.
He heard a scream from the crowd and a call of his hero name, probably from a panicked civilian or the news crew.
Felt his wings go numb and his instincts bubble just under the surface.
And then the panic set in full, as it always did at the start of his molt.
At least there was open sky and not walls around him. That would've sent him straight into a panic attack and he knows it.
The wind brutally tore loose feathers off his wings as he fell instead of letting them fall out naturally.
The hero forced himself to take quick deep breaths.
Well then, time to put those two years of theater to good use.
Feigning the most panicked expression he could (which wasn't hard with the actual panic rising in his system) he took a deep breath and screamed with everything he had.
"TECHNO HELP!"
Two things happened then.
He saw Ace pull his wings in and dive after him.
And he heard the sound of something going crashing through what sounded like bricks.
His own scream for help rang in his ears, sensitive to loud noises.
Wilbur reminded himself to take deep breaths when he felt his nemesis's hands snatch him out of gravity's grasp.
Ace had to jostle him around a bit to get a strong hold and to make sure he wouldn't touch the magpie avian's wings, but he wasn't falling anymore. Though the itch in his wings was becoming more overwhelmingly irritating the longer it was left unattended.
"Got you," his villain muttered softly.
If any mic managed to pick it up (which Wilbur highly doubts) hopefully it'll be more menacing sounding.
"ACE," Techno roared from the ground. "YOU LET HIM GO RIGHT NOW!"
Wilbur went completely still, pretending to be hyperventilating.
He knows that Techno is aware of his trauma response when it comes to his wings and molts, he has to be convincing.
...Again, it wasn't hard. Panic always happened when his molt started, no matter how safe he was. If he's lucky he sleeps through the beginning of his molt so he's not as panicked.
"Aw, poor dear is scared stiff," Ace cooed, loud enough to be heard as he shifted his grip to tilt the magpie avian's chin up with a hand. "What's wrong, songbird? Don't tell me you're molting."
Whatever he was doing he must've been doing it right judging by how his villain's expression wavered for a brief second when he saw the hero's face.
"How did you-you couldn't have-" Wilbur stuttered, trying to pull away from the hand holding his face.
He subtly dug a talon into Ace's side, hidden from Techno and from the cameras.
"Oh what? How did I know you were going to molt soon? It's a lot easier to figure out than you think it is," the shorter purred, still projecting pretty well despite the soft wince at the talon to his side. "Though I will admit... you're surprisingly distressed about all this. And you're non-instinctive! I'm surprised... I was hoping you would've fallen into your instincts the second that your molt hit. Would've made taking you a lot easier."
"Magpie I need you to fight him!" Techno called, glancing between the two avians with barely concealed panic of his own visible if you knew where to look.
"Please, I don't think this songbird could fight anything right now. Least of all me," Ace taunted, holding the magpie avian just a bit tighter. "So frightened... what has you so panicked, hm? Are you afraid of me? That's not normal... you're never really afraid of me. Oh... are you worried about what I might do when you can't fight back?"
Wilbur weakly struggled, kicking just a slight bit as his gloved talons dug into his villain's shoulders.
"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," the shrike avian chuckled. "Long way down if I were to drop you."
The comment made the hero freeze in a brief flash of actual fear.
Oh he never did well about heights when he was molting. He could still do a little bit of flying in this early stage but it would hurt like a bitch if he tried. He had learned that the hard way during the camp.
That was what had gotten him in so much trouble in the first place. The dip in performance. It was like the trainers knew nothing about avians and what to do when one started molting.
But he calmed down pretty quickly, taking more deep breaths.
He knew Ace wouldn't actually drop him. His nemesis would rather let himself crash.
"Ace!" Techno shouted. "I swear if you-"
"Oh relax, like I'm actually going to drop him," the shorter called back, rolling his eye in an exaggerated way. "Not when I fought so hard to capture him in the first place. Do you know how much effort it takes to track another avian's molt down to the exact day it's most likely to start? And knowing how much stress it would take to trigger one early? And you expect me to waste all that effort just like that? What do you take me for? Your nemesis?"
Speaking of Smile...where did he?
"Fuck you Ace!"
Ah, there he is. Techno must've tossed him through that building when the rescue hero screamed.
"... Alright, alright! Just don't hurt him!" His twin started, raising his hands as something desperate crossed his gaze. "What do you want?"
"Oh? Are we taking this route now?" Ace questioned, the smirk on his face cruel. "And what if I told you that I already have what I want?"
The combat hero stiffened, anger twisting his face, "You-"
"Go ahead, tell me why you think I went to all the trouble of kidnapping this pretty bird," his villain cackled. "I'm curious and what you're thinking."
"You-you're going to hurt him obviously! You're a villain! That's what you do!" The younger twin spat. "Use him as ransom to get at the family! Hurt him to hurt us! There's a number of bad things you could be plotting!"
The shrike avian snorted, wing beats steady like a drum beat as they bobbed up and down in the air. There was a soft rumble in the shorter's chest, helping him stay grounded amidst the waves of panic that kept battering into him.
Ace chuckled, "Do you really think that's all this is? Please. I guess we know which twin got the braincells, huh? Well songbird? Think you can explain to your twin why I'd try and take you during a molt?"
Avians typically always went instinctive when they were molting. And even if they didn't, it was much easier to get them instinctive or to react to certain things. No matter who you were, no matter how well buried your instincts were, they would always get drawn to the surface during a molt.
Logically, there were very few things Ace would need him molting for that he wouldn't be able to do just normally. A molt just made it easier to capture him under normal circumstances.
Of course, their situation was never really a normal circumstance, was it?
No...they had discussed this. Wilbur knew the 'plan'.
Internally he smirked.
Outwardly, he widened his eyes, beginning to struggle.
Oh this would probably have him on fallen hero watch unless he made sure to sell his resistance well enough. If he manages to put on a good enough show he should be able to manage scrapping by with a quick mental evaluation when he gets back.
"I'm not going to fall for it!" He snarled, pushing and struggling as realistically as he could without achieving success in managing to wiggle away. "I'm never going to listen to you! You're not going to win! Instincts or no instincts your stupid fucking villain propaganda isn't going to work on me!"
"We'll see about that," Ace hummed, shooting a grin at Techno. "You wouldn't understand since you don't share our instincts. But molting... does things to us. It makes us seek comfort and safety wherever it is we can find it. Much easier to make instinctive if you weren't already instinctive. What would normally be an iron wall of resistance..."
The shorter gave him an affectionate nudge, beginning to purr and chirp comfortingly in the magpie avian's ear.
Oh...
Oh that's more affective than he thought it was going to be. Shit.
It felt like everything just became honed in on those comforting noises, causing him to slump against his villain as the fake resistance crumbled. Hell, he gets the feeling actual resistance would fall just as easily.
His eyes drifted shut for a few seconds before he forced them back open, struggling to keep it up now that the rumbling noise seemed even louder to his already sensitive hearing.
"Crumbles as if it was nothing more than sand," the shrike avian continued smugly. "Look at that, poor thing must be exhausted from how much pressure you bastards put him under. The smallest amount of comfort is enough to almost send him right into an instinctive headspace. He's barely holding on. I wonder how attached I can make his instincts in the span of one week. What do you think, Blade? Wanna gamble with me on how strong your twin's willpower is?"
"I'll tell you want I want alright."
Ace made a sharp whistling noise that startled Wilbur out of his slight haze, just in time to see many of the shrike avian's casino staff dressed in dark masks and wearing gloves as they all rushed and tackled his twin. It was like they all unanimously decided to dog pile the combat hero, pinning him down much to the younger's clear anger.
Once they all looked up at the villain he began to descend.
Landing just out of reach of Techno's hand.
Wilbur made a show of struggling again only to have his nemesis settle him again with those same noises. Not enough to make him completely hazy but enough to make it very hard for him to think straight.
"What do I want, Blade? I'll tell you. I want him," Ace said, holding the magpie avian tighter. "I want him since you bastards never seem to recognize all the effort he goes through to keep you all safe. He's spent his entire life living in your fucking shadow, and I'm really fucking tired of people always comparing him to you."
The taller made a slightly distressed warbling noise, trying to get his villain to back off. They should really get going before reinforcements arri-
"He's so scared... if I didn't know any better, I'd assume that he has trauma associated with his molt," the shrike avian jabbed much to the hero's growing distress. "That's not normal or healthy for an avian. He shouldn't be this incapacitated by fear, shaking like a leaf as if he's expecting me to hurt him."
What the hell is he-
Wilbur struggled, trying to get his nemesis's attention to fucking knock it off. He needs to quit poking the bear.
"Shh, just relax songbird," the shorter hushed, reaching around and-
Shit-
There was a gentle touch being ran through his feathers, scratching at the spots that were the most irritated with new feather growth.
It was like an immediate off switch.
The touch was just so soft. Gentle and considerate with where he scratched and preened, old feathers being cautiously preened and collecting into the scattered mess of feathers that now had begun to litter the battlefield.
It was nice and it made the anxiety and panic vanish for a few moments, just warmth and hazy fuzz and the sound of his partner's purrin-
Partner.
It started repeating like a chant from his bird, the magpie echoing the word with an excited caw and flap of its wings.
Partner, partner, partner, partner!
"I'd never hurt you... never you," Ace muttered, arms full of a melting magpie avian. "In fact... I'm going to protect you. You'll be so much safer with me. No villain is going to dare fucking attack me, nor will any hero or anything in between. I won't let them. Nothing will get to you, nothing will hurt you. All you have to do for me is listen. Relax and stop fighting me so much."
He shoots a particularly nasty glare at the trapped combat hero then, smirking something especially cruel, "I have what I want right now. And you're never getting him back so long as I can help it. And I'll do a much better job of protecting him than you could."
Techno borderline snarled then, reaching out his hand and trying to grab the villain.
It didn't yield any results.
Ace turned, slowly beginning to walk away from the younger twin.
"See you later, Blade."
And that was all he said, no matter how many times Techno shouted and swore at him.
Wilbur felt like he couldn't do anything, brain progressively getting filled with more honey and warmth the longer that Ace preened his wings, managing to find all those spots that were itching so bad.
But he had to make one last effort to really sell the struggle.
The magpie avian lifted a shaky hand, reaching out towards his trapped twin.
Techno noticed, reaching out for him too.
"Techno!" He called, forcing his voice through the cotton that was beginning to settle around his head.
He didn't hear if Techno called back, his villain taking off and quickly rising high above where the mics would hear them.
Still, he waited until they had flown away a decent distance before speaking.
"Oh dear god never make me do that again," Ace breathed. "I was so scared you were actually having a panic attack. Oh for fucks sake let's get you home you dumbass fucking mastermind."
Wilbur grinned softly, shifting so he could finally wrap his arms around the shorter's shoulders. He couldn't bring himself to talk, instincts rising at a rapid rate.
They were going to have to talk about that later but...for now he could let himself sink.
He would be okay...he would be in a safe place soon enough.
Once his head was clear of the magpie's flapping wings and ruffled feathers and chirps of 'partner' they could talk about...all that. The villain went too far over the line and it needed to be talked about.
At least they sold it.
Considering that last bit he really truly hoped it looked convincing.