One day, seven hours, and forty nine minutes before Sententia.

"That was irresponsible," Reaper said as Alchemist bandaged Phoenix's hand.

"He made me mad," he muttered, "I got carried away. The way he talks about his siblings…"

"They're not our concern," snapped Reaper, "No more over-using your powers from now on. Do you understand?"

Phoenix nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry."

"I can't have any of us getting hurt," Reaper sighed, "But in any case the board is still the same."

All of their eyes flickered over to a holographic game board. Alchemist nodded her head, reassured as she looked at the game pieces.

"They were better then we thought. We'll just have to try harder next time."

"Yes, next time," Reaper sighed as he massaged his temples, "How's Cat?"

Comet shook her head from where she was. Ghost, or Cat, was lying on the couch, a thick white bandage wrapped around her throat.

"Still stable and sleeping peacefully. Maybe we should get her another body."

"That bad?" Reaper asked anxiously.

"Yes and no," replied Comet as she took a seat, "Athena managed to save her. But I'm not so sure about her soul's stability right now. It was a bad wound."

Reaper walked slowly over to where Ghost lie on the couch. Tenderly he brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

"I think it'll be fine," he said, "Done yet Athena?"

Alchemist finished bandaging Phoenix's hand. She rubbed the bandage down, smoothing the bandages slowly into skin.

"Yes Neil," she chirped.

"Good," he said, "Now I've picked up readings that a rather unusual boy with a chimp have been seen flying around the city. I suppose that this is the good doctor and Traveler. Sententia is very soon. We need to move fast. And this time we need to resort our priorities…"

.

.

.

"Where is everyone getting these drugs?" pouted Séance as he looked enviously at Georgiana's blue skin, "Everyone's on something amazing except me."

"You're going to have to exclude me from that count," she smiled apologetically, "I can only digest mineral water on your planet."

"Why are you here?" asked Space quietly and rigidly.

"It's like I told you earlier," Georgiana said as she shuffled her human hand skin back on, "Your father left me things in case of his death before Sententia. It's a shame really. Everyone was looking forward to watching him play…but these things happen."

"What's Sententia?" Space asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well," Georgiana said calmly, "it is quite complicated."

Spaceboy folded his arms. This woman was starting to get on his nerves.

"I'm listening."

Smirking a little Georgiana said;

"I should compare it to Chess really. But if I did that it would be giving that silly little game you humans play far too much credit. This is something much more difficult and entertaining. It started as a way to stave off political crises on Stigand."

"Our system of government is quite old and…well everyone says ineffective. So whenever a major political disagreement comes up then the arguers play this game and it solves the issue. That is done with pieces made of rock. When it is over something as big as a planet…it's usually done with pieces made of flesh."

Space started to go rigid. .05 was narrowing his eyes. They could tell that this wouldn't end well.

"Now any planet not part of our system is considered a threat really. It's unstable. So we have to figure out a way to influence it and control it," Georgiana continued, "Or if bad comes to worse we simply destroy it. Now when Earth came on the block there were two arguments to how it should be used. Your father wanted it to be a sort of wildlife preserve. He wanted it to be his little science experiment."

All of the Hargreeves sibling tensed. There was something infuriating with the way that Georgiana went on with that patronizing smile.

"There were others, of course who wanted to mine the molten metals in its core. We don't have much metal on our planet. Spearheading the effort was…well…her name doesn't translate well. To you it would sound something like Lenore I suppose. You might not have heard of Lady Lenore Cain on your planet-"

"Head of a shadowy organization called the Black Hand," recited Space from memory, "A dangerous group of mafia and assassins. Its influence and reach grew until Lenore disappeared fifteen years ago."

"Most of the assassins ended up in the clink," Kraken said, "The rest in the insane asylum babbling about the Queen of Hell and her demon guards."

"Then you do know," Georgiana smiled, "Well this game isn't something to enter lightly. It lasts forty-three years which is half our life span. Thirteen years to establish yourselves then thirty years to train your pawns. Your father and Lenore were great friends, only on different sides of the board. I think they relished the opportunity to fight against each other. She is the other player in this game. Or was anyway. Her pawns murdered her, like you said, fifteen years ago."

"Pawns," Rumor said slowly.

"Yes," smiled Georgiana, "she called them her Sentinels. I believe you had your first encounter with them awhile ago. But Hargreeves and her are dead now. Still, things don't stop just because the controllers are dead. The same thing happens if their pawns win without them, just different people get to be in charge. Sententia goes on."

"You still haven't explained what Sententia is," said .05 coolly.

"I am getting to that," she said.

Taking a small remote control out of the briefcase she held out her hand and turned it on. A holographic projection of a board with several differently colored pieces scattered around it appeared. Three pawns stood off to the side of the board.

"This is a good place to start," she said approvingly, "The pieces with the black stripes on them represent you and the ones with the white strips represent the Sentinels. And I'm sorry to tell you this, but by the way the board looks, you're losing."