Here is the final chapter my good friends., I also want to thank my great friend and co-creator Duroth for helping me write and edit this chapter.
"How did this happen?" Ish asked as he and his friends stood inside the HOK.
"I'll tell you how it happened, we failed." Ash whispered.
"I have to agree. He was our little brother, and we failed to protect him." Marty said, his face uncharacteristically grim.
"Guardians, you cannot blame yourselves. You did everything you could to help him," RZ said. He as well felt guilt for the loss of the rookie Guardian, for he had allowed him to go into combat earlier than he wished.
"Is it possible that he survived?" Ricky said. Everyone perked up. "Joseph was wearing his armor at the time the satellite was destroyed, so he could have survived when he was sucked out into space."
"It is possible for him to survive the vacuum of space," RZ said, and that raised their hopes. "But as sad as it is to say, he was most likely killed in the explosion or upon re-entry–"
RZ was halted by Tua speaking up. "We survived re-entry just fine, why wouldn't he?"
"Because even if he survived the explosion, he might have been unconscious, and therefore unable to control his re-entry." RZ said. The Guardians all looked away, their spark of hope gone.
Suddenly the familiar sound of the passageway was heard, and the passageways to all thirty-two stadiums opened. All thirty-two Rusherz entered the HOK simultaneously.
"Is it true what happened?" Swoop, the Eagles Rusher asked. The other Rusherz assembled behind him, letting him take point on the loaded question. Ish answered with a single nod.
"... Oh. I'm so sorry," Swoop said, lowering his head. The HOK was quiet for a long, sad moment.
Freedom, the Patriots Rusher clenched his fists. "Endgame, how could you do this?"
Ash head the question and looked up, blinking away angry tears. "Endgame is insane, end of story."
"I know that, but she–" Freedom was cut off as Bolt, the Chargers Rusher, put a hand over his mouth.
"That's enough, Freedom."
"No, let him finish." Ash said.
"I don't think that's a wise–"
"A wise what?" Ish shouted Bolt down.
"Guy's we can't play stupid," Beast, the Lions Rusher said, heaving a sigh. "I think they deserve to know the truth."
"'The truth about what?" Troy asked.
"You deserve to know the truth... about Endgame." Beast said. The Guardians all took a step back in surprise.
"I thought you never knew anything about her," Ash said. "We asked you about her weeks ago!"
"I lied." Freedom answered simply. Bolt turned and tried to stare him down, but Freedom ignored him.
"You knew about her, and you didn't tell us?" Troy roared.
"Yes, we did, we all did." Freedom said as he turned around and faced all thirty-two of his counterparts.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ish asked, calmer than Troy.
"Guilt," Freedom began, earning a surprised look from all the Guardians. "Endgame is our biggest failure. We couldn't save her, just like we couldn't save Joseph."
"How is she you biggest failure?" Marty asked.
"Endgame was once one os us, a Rusher," he began. "When Sudden Death attacked our world, Endgame lead the defense against him–"
"What happened to her?" Ish asked.
"I'm getting there," Freedom answered simply, "When we started to loose the war, Endgame mechanized herself, replaced every part of living flesh with unforgiving pistons and wires."
"Why did she go bonkers, was it the mechanization?" Tua asked.
"No, she proposed removing the core and using that as a weapon to fight the Anticorians. But when we refused she turned against us. She became convinced that we weren't doing enough to save our world, so she created her own Core; some kind of negative version of it. Ash, you've experienced these so called Negacores. They feed off of negative energy; hate, despair, fear."
"What happened next?" Ish asked.
"We never knew for ceratin. She vanished before we removed the core, and we thought that she had died or had fled our world. I'm guessing as I'm saying this, but it seems that she somehow followed us to Earth, and was just recently activated again."
"I can't believe you kept this from us, after all we've been through!" Troy spat.
"We trusted you, Joseph trusted you!" Marty hissed.
"How many more secrets are you keeping from us?" Ricky snarled, "and I'm not just asking about Endgame."
"Guardians please, we didn't want to keep this information. We felt to guilty about our role in Endgame's rise." Freedom pleaded, desperate for forgiveness.
"I hope you feel guilty," Marty hissed again, "RZ, what do you have to say?"
"I can see both sides of this argument." he answered simply.
"Now it does not matter what we hid from you." Beast began, "We must act fast if Endgame survived, and that means–"
"What are you saying exactly?" Tua asked.
"We need the Guardians back at full strength. We alone cannot hope to stop her, RZ, it's time to activate another Guardian." Beast said, and that earned loathing looks from three of the original Guardians.
"Your going to cast him aside–" Troy began.
"He literally just died to save us, and your–" Ricky snarled.
"Going to cast him aside as if he was nothing!" Marty finished.
"Guardians, please calm down." RZ pleaded to his three angry Guardians.
"If they think like that count me out as a Guardian." Troy spat angrily.
"Same here, your lie killed our little brother." Ricky said with much malice.
"You killed our best friend, hope you can live with that on your conscious." Marty said as he and his two other friends prepared to leave the HOK.
"Turn in your NFL-R's if you are quitting," Bolt said, "you walk out that door, you don't deserve them anymore."
"You can replace them, just like you replaced Joseph..." Marty said as he, Troy and Ricky excited the HOK. Ish, Ash and Tua as well as the Rusherz started in silence.
"What are you three going to do?" Bolt asked.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to destroy Endgame, for Joseph." Ash said as she clenched a fist.
"I'm the leader of the team, and I will have to live with the fact that I failed to protect him. I will not let Endgame take another friend from me." Ish said in a determined tone.
"Joseph would not want us mourn. He would want us to continue the fight, and I will do that." Tua said with a head nod.
"Glad you can forgive us." Swoop said with a heavy sigh.
"I personally can't say I forgive you. But if Joseph where here, he wouldn't want anger to cloud our vision." Ish said wisely.
"Glad to still have you in our corner." Beast said softly.
"Agreed, me must remain level headed, for Joseph." RZ said.
"RZ, we are going to need more than one Guardian." Freedom said.
"Don't worry." RZ began as he pulled up displays of seven profiles, with the words "Non-Active" highlighted in red next to their names. "I have a few names in mind." he said as he switched the words to green font that read "Active..."
AN: I want to thank my friends and fans for making this story my most reviewed and popular story in all the seven years I've been writing. unto the End Credits:
Nobel Six: Creator/ Writer
The Dark Lord Duroth: Co-Creator/ Writer
AliE96: Consultant/ Writer
Death Fury: Consultant
Fatheringbottam: Consultant
The Story's Shadow: Consultant
Darkest Nightmare's Dread: Editor/ Writer
And last but not least, I want to thank all the loyal fans who have stuck by this story, rest assured. A sequel is int he works, with the same team working on it. I hope y'all enjoy it, till then Nobel Six over and out...
Coming Soon: "NFL Rush Zone: Power Struggle"