Wisdom sighed in relief and removed the phone from her ear, still adorning her dark cloak and ceramic mask. The number of strings she had to pull to get her hands on 5 entire railguns was something she did not want to even think about, however, the results were worth it. From the very beginning, she knew that the only way to kill Golden mask would be through his arrogance. As a consequence, her entire plan was constructed around that single surprise attack.

“We did it!” one of her man in the control room laughed. That was to be expected considering just how gruelling the task was, and seeing the barrier withstand the simultaneous impact of 4 high calibre howitzers had not relieved the tension of whether their plan would work. But in the end her plan had worked. With a hand Wisdom felt the remote switch hidden within her cloak, thankful she didn’t have to press that button.

“Get the on-site team to secure the body and try to identify his face,” Wisdom commanded as she stood up from her chair, the modulator making her voice familiarly mechanical, “As per procedure, remain within the room and wait for your amnesiacs to be distributed. Thank you for your work today, each of you had done humanity a great service,” Wisdom continued as she already trod towards the exit from the room. Loud cheering sounded behind her as the satellite footage cut off. Right behind the soundproof door two guards stood sternly, prepared to stop anyone but her from leaving. With quick steps Wisdom walked through the short corridor and found herself immediately at the exit. Once she passed another row of guards Wisdom walked up a long flight of stairs which lead into a small shed in the middle of nowhere.

That underground command centre was barely ever used, however, it was perfect for the operation. Wisdom made a gamble when she assumed Golden mask would reside somewhere around this area since all that was based on was the relative reachability of the events where he had been spotted. Had he not been in an area where he could reasonably reach the forest, everything would have gone to shambles. Thankfully, everything had mostly worked out according to her plans.

“Get me to the site,” Wisdom commanded as soon as she stepped out. The squad she had gathered as her escorts were professional enough to not ask any question as they gathered on a moment’s notice, welcoming Wisdom into one of their 4 armoured vehicles. Considering the desperate last measures that were put in place, the site itself was very far away. They had travelled for at least 5 hours through mostly forest paths which had greatly limited their speed. At least she finally had the opportunity to rest. Wisdom hadn’t slept for a long time as she had been awaiting the call. Finally, they reached the sealed-off area where Golden mask had been killed by dusk.

“Lead us to the body,” Wisdom commanded the nearest important-looking person in the welcoming party as soon as she got off the vehicle, the armed squad following her just in case.

“This way, please,” the man nodded and lead the way. They walked past the crater created by the heavy artillery fire that had been directed towards Goldman mask earlier. The hole had an interesting shape as the ground was devastated only outside the area which the monster had defended with the barrier, “It’s over there,” the man pointed and in the twilight Wisdom noticed the unmoving body in a pool of half-dried blood. A putrid smell was present in the area when Wisdom stepped closer, and she quickly noticed some sort of tattoos on Golden mask’s chest through the partially shredded robe.

“Why is his mask still on?” Wisdom looked at the person next to her. She had been rather explicit that they should attempt to identify the man beneath before her arrival.

“It just didn’t feel right to not let you do it personally after your triumph, lady Wisdom,” the man duly answered.

“You defy orders because of…” Wisdom’s anger sparked but she stopped herself. The unusual address, strange reasoning and dull gaze. She was far too familiar with those signs, “Fuck!” she let slip as she realised she had been had. The man speaking to her had been undoubtedly coerced by some sort of mind magic, and there was only one being present that could have done something like that. Wisdom reached into her black cloak, attempting to grab the switch. In a mere instant, Wisdom realised that she was already dead anyway, at least she would not let it be meaningless.

“You took a long time to arrive, Wisdom. With this you are defeated,” a vaguely familiar voice sounded and Wisdom’s hands froze. Not out of fear of shock, but as though there was an unbeatable force stopping them just outside the reach of the remote switch, “It was arrogance, the doom of all men. The very same thing you attempted to use against me,” the body on the ground twitched and the wounds began to rapidly meld. Even the tattered regalia recovered into its former seamless grace as Golden mask stood back up, the pool of blood beneath him drying.

“I am not Wisdom,” she attempted to bluff, “Merely her double.”

“I have no idea what that switch is,” the man laughed back at her, “However, I highly doubt you would give it to a double considering your confidence it would make a difference against someone who can recover from such a lethal injury.”

“Then get on with it and kill me, monster,” Wisdom scoffed back at him, giving up the pretence. Perhaps provocation would at least earn her quick demise.

“That would be both boring and a waste,” he took a step closer and Wisdom even saw his height from up close, “What I want is to know where I can find the Immortal. You can speak without worry, everyone around had all their senses cut off and they thus cannot hear.”

“I have already told you I don’t know,” Wisdom attempted to struggle against the force holding her hands in place, but it was far above anything she could deal with.

“Yet you have an idea where I could find the so-called Red,” Golden mask was not convinced.

“Go ahead and torture me, I will not speak,” Wisdom taunted. She was confident she could at the very not tell him the truth during torture.

“We both know that would be just a waste of time,” he said as Wisdom felt something encroach on her mind. She was familiar with the force. There had been many times someone had tried to force her into submission through mind magic. Yet just when her control over herself was about to slip into utter obedience, the connection shut off. Her unique talent which Wisdom kept as her deepest secret. The magic had been close enough to the completion to create the illusion of success. And that was exactly Wisdom's goal.

“As far as I know, Red has infiltrated the Church of Creation,” Wisdom absolutely made up, even adopting the expression of compelled submission beneath her mask. She had observed it many times on people infected by such spells. There was a simple thought process behind her words: If there was any hope left for mankind, it was pitting Golden mask against Archangel, “He is almost certainly one of the cardinals residing in the holy city, however, I have no idea which one.”

“Interesting,” Golden mask nodded, “This is… unexpected,” he stared directly at Wisdom though he seemed convinced that his spell had worked, “Either way, that is all I needed to know. That man will answer all my remaining questions,” he eventually nodded, “We will meet again very soon. I cannot wait for our next match,” Golden mask flicked his hand and a strange sphere of contorted and twisted images appeared before him. Wisdom couldn’t even begin to comprehend what it was depicting. Without any further delay, the man jumped inside headfirst and vanished, the sphere collapsing mere moments later.

“What the hell happened?” one the people belonging to the original on site team yelled and Wisdom suddenly realised she was no longer frozen in place. She bit her lips, considering what to do. The sun had just left beyond the horizon as she came up with a solution.

“He must have fooled us somehow,” she eventually said, “This is above your qualification, leave the consequences to me. Write your full report and relay it through the strike team. I will leave it to them to administer amnesiacs. Half of them will remain here while the rest returns with me to the facility,” she commanded as she beckoned for the rest of the assault team to follow her. Once they got into the car she turned towards one of them, the man was rather specific in that there was a unique badge on his uniform, identifying his as the squad's captain, “Send me your complete coms recording and then erase it without a trace, ASAP,” once the man nodded Wisdom relaxed a bit in the back of the vehicle and contemplated. She was uncertain whether Golden mask would really stir trouble with the Church of creation, but she had to be ready for either case. She felt for the switch beneath her clothes. Today she realised that there was only one thing that could kill monsters like Golden mask or Archangel, and Wisdom only had one shot.

Only after releasing her silent grip did Wisdom realise just how utterly exhausted she was. Besides her previous tiredness, she just came face to face with death. Although the acceptance and feeling of duty had suppressed it for a while, once she allowed her body to relax she felt the pent up stress and pressure erupt at once. Wisdom’s mind became fuzzy and she quickly understood that it would be impossible to plan for the fallout in such a state. Instead, she thought about her plans for the following day. It was her rare window for relaxation in the increasingly stupendous cluster fuck that the consequences of Shock and awe became, mostly because of 2 stupendously powerful individuals. Her memories turned towards her previous day off and then they suddenly froze as her mind once again cleared up with focus. Nearly involuntarily she recalled her face to face meeting with death from earlier and something suddenly clicked when she compared those memories.

When that new idea popped out in her head she wanted to deny it as she considered all the things she was certain off, yet one by one they instead confirmed Wisdom’s hypothesis. She desired to struggle against what she had just realised, to bury it deep in her mind and keep it locked away forever. However, she was far too logical for that.

“Captain,” she eventually spoke, still choking with the sudden outburst of emotion as a single tear ran down beneath her ceramic mask, “Before you distribute the amnesiacs call in the backup squad. I am going to need them tomorrow,” she said and sunk into her seat. Her fist was clutched as she tried to not make her choking audible. The sheer emotional shock was thankfully enough to send her into sleep not long later.