"How exactly are we losing?" asked Rumor, trying to make sense of the positions of the pieces.
"The machine takes in many factors, so I can't tell you why exactly," shrugged Georgiana, "But I can tell that that's how it is. If you don't do something then you're going to lose your chance to decide the fate of the world. Its people enslaved and forced to hollow out the planet or it's used as a nature conserve. Your choice."
"How can we do something if we don't even know what it actually is?" Rumor near-screamed.
"Actually," .05 said slowly, "I think I get it. We're the pieces in a giant chess game. Hargreeves and this Cain woman were the players."
"Yes and no," said Georgiana, "That's what everyone says. You all think it's like chess. But it's actually a lot more complicated then that."
"Explain," demanded Space.
She gave him a slightly hostile look before saying;
"To begin with, it starts with forty-three cards."
As Georgiana finished speaking she pulled a deck from her briefcase. Casually she threw the cards on to the table. For a minute they spread out, going everywhere. Then they pulled together, their backs facing up in straight rows.
"Before the game even starts," Georgiana continued, "we infect a planet with a virus. What it does is seek out a woman host who is quite strong. It infects them, and immediately a child forms to represent one of the forty-three cards. Depending on a number of factors, such as temperature and annual wheat production of the country, it will give the child a power that goes with the 'theme', so to speak, of the card."
"For instance," she said as she skimmed the surface of a card with a tip of her finger. It flipped face up to show an impossibly large creature balancing on the Milky Way. Its fists were clenched, showing off its muscles.
"Colossus," she said grinning, "There are several variations on this card. Growing very tall is one of them. But generally those representing this card grow to have…shall we say…unusual speed and strength. Generally they also lack any real brain power. Sound familiar Mr. Hargreeves?"
Her look was directed at Spaceboy. He glared coldly at Georgiana.
"On our planet they look a little different. Things tend to change for the beholder. There's more to the game though," she smirked, "Each controller gets to pick seven cards, seven pawns. Each card falls into three categories; Regent, Chance, and Destructions. The categories have sub categories, but I'll get to that later. No controller can pick more then four cards from each category."
"Now Colossus falls under Regent, sub-category Warrior. Regent guarantees that no matter what you will get a good pawn. Warrior simply means that they will be offensive, not defensive. Chance means that the pawn will be either very weak or incredibly strong; no middle ground. Destructions…they're unimportant right now."
Georgiana gestured towards Séance and .05.
"Seer and Traveler," she said.
As she spoke she moved her hand and two more cards flipped up from the table. One card showed millions of pairs of eyes. Another showed someone riding on a horse at what appeared to be breakneck speed. Séance picked up his card.
"This looks like the Tarot Cards I used when I was five," he said in disgust.
"Never heard that before," she said as she rolled her eyes, "Both of you are Chance cards. Seer is sub-category Graveyard and Traveler is sub-category Paradox. I believe that the other Chance, Crossroads, died? That was a Grounding card you know."
"His name was Ben," snapped Rumor.
There was something about her coldness that made Rumor want to strangle her.
"Perjurer," she smiled and flicked her finger.
A card flipped up showing a figure speaking and twisting its words with its hands.
"Regent, sub category Shaper," she said, then turning to Kraken, "Lastly Hydro."
A card showing a Tsunami crashing onto a beach flipped over.
"Hydro is a Regent sub-category Elemental, nice choice really. Not very popular because of its prickly mannerisms though."
"Lastly we have Music Box" she asked as she jerked her hand, causing one more card to flip over. It showed a small music box playing notes. The notes were stabbing stars and blood dripped down from the wounds, "Your other sister I believe."
"Vanya's upstairs alien-bitch," snarled Kraken.
"See what I mean about the prickly temperament?" she sighed, "In any case now I get to Destructions. There are only three cards in that category because it's too dangerous to have more. No sub-categories. Your sister is a Destruction card."
"Vanya doesn't have any powers," said Rumor.
"Oh yes she does," snorted Georgiana, "The virus never fails. Destruction cards are highly volatile. Little things set them off. Usually they have to be killed or they'll end up destroying everything. Music Box is the worst of the worst. But Hargreeves insisted."
"Why didn't we know about this sooner?" Kraken asked sharply.
Georgiana rolled his eyes.
"Lady Lenore and Sir Hargreeves thought that it would be funner if neither of you knew until the end. I had to tell the Sentinels earlier of course since they killed her. Now seeing how Hargreeves died the day before yesterday I think I got here rather quickly."
"In any case, Sententia starts in about…oh…a day or so.. Oh, and I should tell you that because Hargreeves picked his cards first they get to pick the battlegrounds. They'll contact you when the time comes. As for rules, it only ends if one team surrenders or if one team wipes the other out. You've already all survived the preliminary battle. Don't worry, they aren't allowed to do anything else until the final match. You should have a good idea about what their powers are now. Here are their cards though, in case you don't know about them. It says the sub-category at the bottom. Those are the only rules you need to concern yourself about at this point in the game. Now then, I have to get going," she said as she got up, placed the cards on the table, and headed towards the door, "These games don't organize themselves you know."
"So let me get this straight. Our whole lives have been part of some sick game that we didn't know about?" Kraken growled.
"Yes," Georgiana said blandly in the door frame, "If it makes you feel better it's quite entertaining."