In the dark room there were 3 cloaked figures besides her seated in an incomplete circle, each wearing identical black garments as well as dark gloves and ceramic masks which went as far as to hide the eye colour of its wearer. All those measures were necessary for the mutual safety of all parties involved. The Overseer Council couldn’t exactly meet face to face, because if someone knew another member’s identity it would open up the danger of blackmail. In fact, her predecessor had been impeached because he was suspected of suspecting another member's identity. Although the environment ensured maximum safety, it also caused the members to be unable to contact each other directly. Because of that the scheduled meeting had already been delayed by more 10 minutes. Seemingly not to long, however, the members of the council were also simultaneously regular members of the Foundation with various tasks and positions. Some of them couldn't just disappear for too long without raising suspicion.

"Sorry," a mechanical voice sounded from the entrance as a new figure stepped in. Its height was rather short and gender beyond identification in that all covering black robe.

"You are late, Mercy," she complained towards the person who had just entered. Her voice was also heavily mechanical though she had at the very least left a bit of feminine tone within the voice modulator. It didn't matter as at the very least half of her companions probably considered that a bluff and assumed the opposite gender, "Especially considering how important this meeting is."

"And whose fault is that, Wisdom?" the person seemingly retorted though the tone of voice had been filtered too much to be certain.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Wisdom grinned beneath her mask, though it did not seep into her speech, "Shock and awe was a tremendous success. I had accomplished all but one of my goals."

"Then how do you justify the lives lost to your lunacy," despite everything, agitation and even emotion managed to slightly leak into the voice. Wisdom often wondered how someone as incapable as Mercy even landed in the Overseer Council.

"The proposal of shock and awe had passed 4 to 1," Wisdom reminded, "It would be great if you could get rid of your conceit against me and do your job for once."

"You should still explain what went wrong in your schemes," another mechanical voice sounded in support of Mercy from the side.

"Wrong, Hound?" Wisdom said, "So far there had been only one event which eluded my predictions."

"There had been a nuclear terror attack," Mercy spoke again, "This is your responsibility."

"I see. There seems to be a misunderstanding between us," Wisdom nodded, "Did all of you actually believe this war could be won without sacrifices?"

"You expected this attack," another person sounded. If the person was surprised the mechanical tone hid it well.

"It was extremely likely, basically inevitable," Wisdom nodded, "Since that was the case I have pulled enough strings to make them attack the lowest priority target possible."

"You haven't told us any of this," Hound sounded from the side, seemingly displeased.

"If I had explained every possibility I was putting into consideration, our previous meeting might still be ongoing," Wisdom shrugged.

"We could get you removed for this," Alpha said, "The plan you had presented should have destroyed the Covenant and suppressed the Church of Creation. Nothing more, nothing less. You had lied to us. That is enough to start an impeachment vote."

"You are right, Alpha," Wisdom affirmed, "You would have had the opportunity to get rid of me had you found out during the last meeting. Now, however, it's too late."

"You cannot force anyone to side with you," Mercy announced starting at Wisdom.

"And you cannot afford to fight this war without me," Wisdom said as a smile crept up to her face, "While you had been patting yourselves on the back about the success of Shock and awe, I was busy preparing the next 25 steps. I have put into motion things none of you would ever even consider. Now that you had allowed me to push the Foundation beyond the point of no return I am by far your safest guide. And the path through which I am going to lead you ends in a world where the Foundation alone reigns from the shadows."

"You have gone mad," Mercy did not want to admit that Wisdom was right, "The Wardens made a huge mistake selecting you as our member."

"The Wardens chose me because of my ability as the fairest judges there are," Wisdom did not let the remark slide, "The goal of the Foundation was, is and always will be the protection of humanity as a whole. Those who had been sacrificed are far fewer than those who would have died beneath the guise of your cowardice to the claws of the unnatural freaks. Since you dared not do what must be done I have decided to force our hands."

"We have heard enough," Alpha finally interrupted, "I officially declare the vote for the immediate expulsion of Wisdom from the Overseer Council. All who vote for, raise your hands," as those words sounded Mercy did not even hesitate to raise a hand and Hound followed soon after. Despite raising the proposition Alpha kept his hand down and so did the last person which had not spoken beforehand.

"Alpha, what are you doing?" Hound looked at his fellow council member.

"Although I dislike her methods, she is correct. Removing her now will only resolve on further disaster," he said and then looked at Wisdom, "However, I hope you understand that there will be consequences once the dust settles," she did not react to his threat.

"2 against 2, the Wardens' decision is not overrun," the fifth voice finally sounded, "Congratulations Wisdom, you played us all like a fiddle again."

"Not you, Red," Wisdom stared back at the last figure. In this entire room, everyone except Red was easy enough to manipulate. Out of the entire overseer council Wisdom considered only herself and Red the most worthy of the position.

"I like to play along as long as I fancy the direction," Red shrugged, implying he had been aware of Wisdom's intentions all along, "I was originally the one who suggested Salt should be replaced by someone radical and I have to say: I am overjoyed that the Wardens chose you."

"With the voting it of the way, let's move towards our next topic," Alpha interjected their conversation. Although the person was biased towards pacifism, Alpha could always be convinced by sound enough argument. At least Alpha was far more logical than Mercy or Hound, "This is a recording sent to me directly by the Wardens right before the meeting began"

Alpha reached beneath his table and from above their heads 5 screens descended, turning on as they arrived in front of each of the council members. The shown imagery was a relatively zoomed out satellite recording of a mountain facility. The footage was almost static when suddenly after about two seconds a winged figure appeared directly above the facility. Her altitude as well as the angel barely allowed one to peer into the beings face, and Wisdom found herself stunned by the beauty of the being. Although she considered herself someone who did not hold interest in vanity or flesh she was astounded by that basically perfect and unfathomable elegance, stunned to the point where she couldn’t even question the monster's sudden appearance. That admiration quickly turned from an astounded daze to stun of horror as the recording showed that winged figure raise her hand, creating a dazzling golden flare. That wouldn’t be as terrible, though what terrified wisdom was that the recording showed the being launch that flare at the facility, resulting in a flash of light that temporarily obscured the cameras. When the imagery returned, the facility was gone, demolished to the foundation. It was an attack faster than nuclear weaponry, delivered without any warning or time to escape.

“This is troubling,” Wisdom breathed out and said, stopping the video. That snapped the rest of her companions out of their daze enough to also stop their footage.

“What in the hell is that?” Mercy cursed.

“An angel,” Wisdom guessed, “At least based on the gilded wings and beauty which defies logic. We have encountered them before, in fact, one of them was killed during Shock and awe.”

“But this one is far more terrifying than anything within our records,” Red solemnly noted.

“This exceeds calamity class,” Hound said, “And by a significant margin.”

“Not technically considering a calamity has no upper limits,” Alpha said, “It's just that all previously recorded calamities barely qualified. Moreover, this is the first calamity that is an Opponent rather than an Object. I officially suggest qualifying her as new O with overseer security clearance, effective immediately. All for, raise your hands,” as Alpha finished he raised his hand and so did everyone else in the room.

“O-356, what about the name?” Wisdom asked.

“Archangel,” Hound said from the side, still staring at the image.

“Anyone in opposition of the name?” Alpha looked around the room, but no one seemed to be against the suggestion, “So be it. O-356 Archangel is now its official name. I will write and deliver the report for the Warden council.”

“Did you anticipate this, Wisdom?” Mercy stared, probably mockingly.

“This is troublesome. Considering the circumstance, this is certainly the hidden trump card of the Church of creation,” Wisdom ignored her mocking companion as she reached within her robe and took out a cheap phone, dialling a number of one of her most loyal subordinates from memory. “Wisdom speaking. Cease operation Grace A immediately and cut all loose ends. You have full authority to adapt to unexpected changes. Focus on removing traces,” she did not wait for a reply as she ended the call and quickly snapped the phone in half before putting it back into her coat for later disposal. Those were provided to council members specifically as a single use items.

“Grace A?” Alpha looked at Wisdom, likely suspicious beneath the masks.

“As I have said. Things beyond your wildest imagination were set in motion,” Wisdom answered, “Grace A was an operation aimed at completely crippling the Church of Creation with minimal impact on society. Unfortunately, that plan had assumed that the Church of Creation has at most 4 times its estimated combat potential. O-356 breaks that assumption by herself.”

“What makes you so certain she belongs to the Church?” Hound asked.

“2 out of the 3 recorded angels used to work for the Church and one of those two had been killed very recently,” Wisdom explained, “The next thing we know there is an unfathomably powerful angel attacking a secret facility. It’s retaliation as well as a warning.”

“How deeply does this affect your plans?” Red asked.

“Extremely. I will have to put her death as my number one priority for now,” Wisdom replied grimly.

“How do you kill something this fast and powerful?” Hound seemed doubtful.

“That is up to me to figure out. In the worst-case scenario we will get to test out the newest fusion missile we had hoped to never use,” Wisdom said.

“Do you have any idea how much worse that will make everything?” Hound raised his voice.

“We are beyond the point of no return,” Wisdom shook her head, “It’s the last measure, however, I would like to get your clearance immediately.”

“I officially initiate the vote over the usage of fusion super missile Dying light as the last measure in killing O-356 Archangel. All for, raise your hands,” Alpha announced as always. Wisdom naturally raised her own hand and so did Red. Hound and Mercy were already dedicated to not allow another nuclear launch. That left Alpha as the tide breaker. After a few moments of hesitation he raised his hand.

“Based on our votes, a direct command from a member of the overseer council may initiate the launch of Dying light fusion super missile as the final measure against O-356 Archangel. Misusing this authority in a situation that has other options would be punished heavily,” Alpha stared at Wisdom as he pronounced those last words.

“We should finish the video,” Red said once the commotion from the vote calmed down. To Wisdom’s surprise, she was so disturbed previously she had not even noticed that the video was far from over. Together with the other council members, she unpaused it, staring as the dust and debris settled. What she noticed next stunned her as much as the devastating attack. Among the broken remnants, there was a single place obvious that was not completely devastated, and there stood 3 figures, all of which Wisdom recognised. Two were the runner up for the director position and one of his closest assistants, but that duo was mostly ignored by her. What caught Wisdom's eyes was a figure cloaked in ocean blue regalia, its face covered by a golden mask. It reminded her of her one failure. Of the one time she had been utterly defeated.

“Who is that?” Alpha asked and everyone stopped their videos.

“Golden mask,” Hound glanced at Wisdom as he said the assailant's name.

“I had intended to bring him up later in the session,” Wisdom nodded, “However, it seems that is going to move forward. Out of the 262 objectives of various difficulty I set for Shock and awe, 261 had been accomplished with at least some degree of success. The only utter failure was my attempt to capture this freak the Foundation came to call Golden mask.”

“Is he already within the database?” Red asked as he fidgeted with his screen.

“Yes, O-354 Golden mask, though the information is severely outdated as I had wished to increase the security clearance from Highest clearance to overseer and classify O-354 as a calamity,” Wisdom nodded.

“Seemingly instantaneous group invisibility, first spotted a bit over a month ago,” Red read through the file he had brought up, “If I am correct this is the first legitimate invisibility the Foundation has encountered to date. However, calamity classification requires something to be as dangerous as a natural disaster. What further information do you have?”

“During Shock and awe, I had personally directed the efforts of capturing him. He had intentionally fallen into my trap and then still escaped. I have a list of confirmed and suspected abilities. Confirmed are: Supersonic flight, near-instantaneous acceleration, reach unmeasured; Group invisibility as the files already say; Immunity or extremely high resistance to electricity-based mana syphon; Superhuman durability and speed; Medium precision telekinesis, not utilised lethally yet; Rapid retina regeneration or protection; and illusion creation. Among suspected: Superhuman sight; Superior intellect; Extreme power reserves; Personal invisibility; and either immunity or high resistance towards radiation, electricity and heat. There is next to no record of his combat prowess besides a moment where he simultaneously knocked and held down multiple soldiers with some sort of telekinetic ability, though I suspect significant combat firepower considering his other traits. That is the abridged version of my report on him. I will redirect a full report including satellite recording through the Warden council,” Wisdom finally finished her speech.

“That explains how he hid inside the facility, and you should probably add a high output shield or redirection considering he survived O-356’s blast,” Red suggested.

“I will,” Wisdom nodded.

“We can be bothered about him once we see how the recording ends,” Mercy pointed out, “In the best-case scenario there will no longer be any point in worrying about him,” with a nod, everyone once again unpaused their videos. Next Archangel spoke to Golden mask, her visage clearly visible in the process.

“Can someone read lips?” Wisdom asked.

“She is not speaking any language I know,” Hound replied.

“She's an angel. She could be speaking the ancient tongue. Try reproducing the sounds,” Red suggested.

“You can translate that?” Alpha seemed surprised.

“I will not go into details, however, I once had the opportunity to learn the basics,” Red explained evasively.

“It’s worth a try,” Hound said and attempted to imitate the sound of her lips during the following conversation between the two monsters. Of course, since the satellite video was silent there were also pauses when Golden mask spoke.

“From what I can understand, they know each other. Enough for recognition on first sight,” Red tried to translate, though at this point Wisdom was paying attention to something else she had noticed “It's a bit incomprehensible, however, from what I can tell the angel is asking whether Golden mask now sided with someone, probably us. At the very least that means those two are not working together. I could not understand much from the longer parts, though one word sounds extremely similar to the expression for kin when she sparks with fury. That probably confirms Wisdom’s conviction that the Archangel works for the church of creation.”

“This flame,” Alpha pointed out, rewatching the two remaining humans be instantly incinerated by Galileo's green fire, “Its combat potential would not be small even if it requires direct touch. Moreover, why did he reveal his face to the man?”

“That man was runner up for the spot of facility director,” Wisdom said almost absentmindedly, carefully rewatching a certain part of the video “I will look into all his connections and search for people who might be Golden mask.”

“What was that boy?” Mercy asked, apparently unfamiliar with what the angel had brought away.

"O-219 Youth,” Red had no trouble recalling, “Despite his appearance, he is about 30 years old, though his body growth had stopped around the age of 8 and his mind is somewhere around that of a 2 years old. I don’t remember the rest of the report.”

“There is one more important thing about O-219,” Alpha interjected, “When he was born there had been a flash of blinding light covering the entire region and the village of his parents had been scoured from the map. We could never wrap our heads around those events considering how powerless O-219 appeared to be, though there seems to be something that the Church found out before us.”

“That is not important right now,” Wisdom suddenly said, finally certain that her eyes were not deceiving her, “Roll back the video, around the time that Archangel first looked at Golden mask, slow it down and zoom on her hands,” she instructed and the rest followed her lead. For a few moments there was silence as the other 4 looked over the footage and Wisdom contemplated the far-reaching implications.

“I hope I am the only one seeing this,” Hound eventually said as his fist clenched slightly.

“No matter how many times I look at it, what happened is difficult to deny,” Alpha sighed while the rest maintained grim silence.

“There is no doubt,” Wisdom said, her thoughts spinning, “Archangel trembled in fear.”