The Inner Circle, Champions HQ, New York City
The Champions of Peace. Such an ironic term for their operation. How easy it was, deceiving the public. Playing to their fears, preying on their weakness. And the best part? They adore us. Infallible defenders, always honest, always trusted. Ready to save them from themselves.
Victor's dark armor whirred with activity, a routine diagnostic being run on all of it's systems. His nanomachines swirled dangerously behind his eye, changing it's color from green to blue, then pitch black. Then they re-adjusted to their normal brown. The machines made his skin crawl (literally) as they returned the cells to their previous locations. Now he appeared as he always did before. Such disguises were inconvenient, but necessary. If they were to successfully keep this charade going, they would need to operate with the utmost caution. Watchers were everywhere, ready to pounce on the first mistake, a mistake that would put the entire organization in jeopardy. But it didn't matter how he looked; not here, not among his Inner Circle. A group of extremely powerful like-minded individuals, each with the intelligence and the conviction, unrestrained by morality, that was necessary to accomplish what they had in mind. For a short period of time, Victor had entertained the idea of releasing his nanomachines into the room and enslaving them all. But...they were all incredibly capable beings. And they would all make incredibly dangerous foes. Provoking them would not be well-advised, to say the least. Odds are that his microscopic attack wouldn't even work against most of them. Besides, Victor admired their intellect. It would be a shame to wipe away such works of art.
"Gentlemen," he spoke, standing in the middle of the room, "and ladies. We all know why we're here. We all know what we are capable of. And the general public does not. Yet." His helm was retracted, though his armor's gears functioned silently, in constant motion across his form as he spoke. "They want heroes. They want angels. Well, I'm afraid they're going to get demons instead." He gestured at the hologram in the middle of the room. It had previously been showing the newsreels of the new team's introduction in Central Park. Now, it instead showed footage of a masked adventurer, blazing with power, performing various acts of altruism. "It is time to begin our deception in earnest. To showcase our power, and simultaneously rid the world of one more fool who would stand in our way."
"I present to you, the so-called Amazing Angel. We're going to kill him."
Briefing Room, Champions HQ; Twenty minutes later
Victor strode across the briefing room, his disguise intact, his armor sporting the proud colors of the United States. He held his helmet under his arm. His face had been remodeled once more, his entire appearance changed. Even his voice was no longer the same. The sinister, ominous tone had been replaced with a friendly Middle-American accent, as if he truly was just a young man who had grown up on a farm in Kansas. A real American dream, he had told the press. Just a simple young boy who wanted to help his country any way he could. It was almost comical how they ate up his lies. A small-town kid from a Kansas farm? Ha! Where did they think his armor had come from? His exploding home planet? It was truly laughable. No, ma'am. The government made this possible. I told them I wanted to help, and they gave me this, so that I can protect and serve. I'll keep you safe. I promise! The imbeciles! It was like they were asking to be ruled!
It was for this reason that he was chuckling quietly in the right before the meeting with the main part of the team. Both those aware of their ulterior motives, and those ignorant of what they intended. He reminded himself that this was not a happy occasion; they were going to deliver the information about their very first mission as a team. Clearing his throat (and putting on that stupid American accent), he addressed the team.
"Hello, everyone. As I'm sure you all know, we recently lost our Vice President in that tragic incident. He was a real American man, and it was not his time. But now...we have information that nobody else has ever seen before. Information on the whereabouts of someone who had a hand in his death. This may come as a shock to some of you. It is possible, no, it is known to us now, that one of the men responsible for our loss is another member of our superhero community." The vid-screens came online, displaying pictures of their target. "The Amazing Angel has been deceiving all of us for a long time." It's hard not to laugh at this. "Not only could he have prevented the death of our Vice President, he was crucial to the entire operation. And now, it's up to us to stop him." Damn, this is hilarious. Look at them! They're so surprised that this friend of theirs could do something so awful! I need to watch myself. Even so much as a smile and it's all blown. "We need to avenge our Vice President (Dammit, what was his name?) so that he may rest in peace. The American people deserve justice. And it's justice that we will bring them. We will bring them, and our Vice President, peace." He stepped back from the podium, awaiting the stream of questions and denials from the Regulars that was sure to follow his little speech.
Angels and Demons. That's what we are. Let the games begin.
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