“Ever play three-card monte?”
“It’s real easy. The dealer has three cards; two Jacks and a Joker. Your job is to watch them move real closely and once I’m done, you tell me where the joker is. Got it?”
“Only it ain’t that fuckin’ simple.”
“When the dealer shuffles those cards around, you’ll be so god damned sure you’re starin’ at the Joker only to find you pulled a Jack instead. No matter how closely you watched, how perceptive you are, you’ll never find the fuckin’ Joker.”
“And you wanna know why?”
“It’s because the game is fuckin’ rigged.”
“See, those Jacks? They’re not just there to make the game harder, they’re the tools that make this whole con work. A good dealer can sacrifice those cards, force the crowd to pick them over and over while he hides the winnin’ card and pockets their credits along the way. You aren’t meant to win, and the Jacks aren’t meant to be more than disposable.”
“And let me tell you, Gemini and Gravedigger make perfect fuckin’ Jacks.”
“But don’t just take my word for it, Arcadia has a long line of con-men all happy to use them for their own gain. That creepy old fuck John had his hands all over Gemini when he was tryin’ to open that door, didn’t he? And Tombstone was all too happy to use Gravedigger as a tool when he formed Six Feet Under.”
“At Chain Reaction I used the two of you to walk away from that clusterfuck with a win under my belt.”
“Shit, even now Zeus is usin’ you two as pawns in his game. You’re gettin’ mixed up, thrown around, and bent up all so that he can make sure he stays in power.”
“You exist in The House of Judgement entirely to make sure the house always wins. No matter what you do, no matter how useful you are, your only purpose is to make sure he walks away from any game he plays twenty credits richer.”
“You’ll never be the winnin’ card.”
“At Olympus, I’m walkin’ into Zeus’ house to take on his two favorite pieces of cardboard and he’s just hopin’ that one of you two gets flipped up. After all, if one of you comes out on top, then he’s one step closer to gettin’ that pretty little title back in his possession.”
“Gettin’ just that much richer.”
“But the one thing he didn’t expect? I know how this game fuckin’ works. I know he’s rigged it so that any dipshit can fail.”
“So I’m ganna win the game the one way I know how.”
“I ain’t gonna play it.”
“I’ll tear you two in half and throw you away. I’ll make sure he can’t hide behind his two Jacks any more.”
“All so that I can flip up that Joker as I stare him in his wrinkled old face and claim the prize I deserve.”
“Both of you know this.”
“And Zeus will learn.”
“The house always wins.”
“But eventually? Everyone gets downed by the clown.”