A few hours had passed since RZ and Joseph had put heir respective plans into action, and Ash's team could be found in the Broncos stadium awaiting for the arrival of Wild Card and his hostages, their friends included.
"RZ, we've arrived in Denver and are awaiting the arrival of Wild Card, any word from him?" Ash asked her leader through the communicator in her NFL-R.
"He's should be there an-." RZ began before a familiar voice cut him off.
"Hello Guardians," Wild Cards voice said as he teleported himself into the stadium, "I see you have decided to do the sensible thing, took you long enough." Wild Card said in a mocking tone as he kept a reasonable distance from his enemies.
"Where are our friends, Wild Card?" Ash asked their enemy.
"But of course." Wild Card said with a mocking bow as he pressed a button on his wrist and Ish, Troy and Tua appeared in a flash of purple light, all gagged and restrained in an energy net, and without their NFL-R's/
"Let them go, now!" Ash demanded, and it was clear to Wild Card that the red-headed Guardian was losing her patience, but he decided to toy with her as much as possible, milk the moment for everything it was worth.
"Let them go, or let him go, Ashley Reynolds," Wild Card said in a taunting tone, "I know you care for all your friends, but do you have special feelings for your leader, Ish Taylor?" Wild Card said in a mocking tone, and that made Ash blush underneath her gray visor.
"I care for all my friends, I will not single any of them out." Ash shot back in a defensive tone, and it was clear to Wild Card as well as everyone present, that he had struck a nerve.
"Really touched a nerve there, didn't I?" Wild Card said in a cruel mocking tone as he began to laugh evilly...
"He's out in the open, we should attack now and destroy him." Angkoro snarled as he and his Anticorian allies where hiding in a tunnel inside the stadium.
"We agreed to wait for the Guardians signal, trust me I want him dead as much as you do, but we must be patient, or we will miss our chance." Stellaria said in a calm tone as she calculated a plan of attack, to which Zich just grunted his approval.
"What kind of signal are we looking for?" Angkoro said an in annoyed tone.
"He said we'd know it when we see it." Stellaria said as she cracked her armored knuckles.
"But now unto business," Wild Card said as he had finished toying with the female Guardian, "I've showed you your friends, now show me the MEgacores." Wild Card said in an almost sincere tone, and in response the three Guardians stepped aside revealing ten Megacores inside a giant bag.
"Excellent," Wild Card said as he made a fist with his left hand, "Now hand them over, and I'll hand over the hostages." Wild Card said once again in an almost sincere tone, as Ash picked up the Patriots Megacore and slowly walked towards Wild Card as she held out her hand with the Megacore in it, but just as the transaction was almost complete, fireworks erupted from the top of the stadium, generating loud bangs and explosions of light, which made both groups look up at the fireworks in shock and confusion.
"What is going on?" Ricky whispered to Marty as suddenly orange laser blasts erupted from one fo the tunnels that lead unto the field and struck Wild Card sailing backwards, as the Anticorians rushed unto the field.
"Hello Wild Card, surprised to see us?" Angkoro said in a mocking tone as he and his allies proceeded to hammer their enemy with constant laser blasts.
"I think that answers the question." Ash said quickly as she ran up to the net where her friends where entrapped and absorbed the energy, allowing herself the time to quickly break the net open with her enhanced strength.
"Thanks for the save, Ash." Ish said with a smile as he, Troy and Tua got behind the three armored Guardians since they where still without their NFL-R's.
"Everything has a breaking point, let's test yours." Stellaria snarled as she hit Wild Card with a strong burst of wind, that trapped him to the goalpost near the end of the field.
"Enough of this!" Wild Card shouted as he managed to raise his right hand and fire a bolt of purple lightning from every finger that struck Angkoro and Stellaria and made them drop to one knee, but Zich was unaffected as with a snarl he rushed at Wild Card and tried to punch his enemy with his enormous strength, but Wild Card used his superior mobility to jump into the air and front flip over the larger Anticorian and shoot him in the back with a purple energy blast, and Zich went down.
"As you said about me, let's test your breaking point!" Wild Card snarled as he began a continues barrage of purple lightning that paralyzed Angkoro and Stellaria, and made their bodies twitch from the energy lightning, but suddenly a blue energy blast struck Wild Card in the back and made him loose his balance as Joseph materialized on the battle field, using his copied teleportation ability from Marty.
"'Sup Wild Card, remember me?" Joseph asked in a mocking tone as he took up a fighting stance.
"I'm going to kill you!" Wild Card snarled as he lunged at Jacob and drew back his right fist for a punch, Joseph did the same and the two punches collided, and threw them both backwards slightly.
Wild Card shot a lightning blast at Joseph, but the rookie Guardian front-flipped over the attack and attempted a dive kick, only for Wild Card to grab his foot and twist him around in the air and slam him into the turf, where Joseph used his free foot to kick the man in his face and jump into a fighting stance.
"Your persistence is annoying." Wild Card snarled.
"One thing you'll learn about me is I never give up." Joseph said as he again took a fighting stance as Wild Card ran at him and attempted his own dive kick.
"Reaction Time!" Joseph shouted as time slowed to a crawl from his point of view, even though Joseph knew he'd only have ten seconds before his ability would need to recharge, so Joseph delivered a devastating round house kick to Wild Cards chest just as his ability wore off, and sent his enemy flying backwards and into a kneeling position.
"Had enough?" Joseph snarled as he walked forward and prepared a sleep educing punch, only for Wild Card to teleport away in a blinding purple light.
"Coward!" Joseph spat as he looked to where the Anticorians had been lying, only to notice they had vanished, having teleported out as the battle progressed, with a sigh he walked over to his fellow Guardians, where they where glaring at him.
"What where you thinking, Joseph?" Ash asked the rookie.
"I was thinking since you and Ricky voted for the least sensible option, I had to take action." Joseph said honestly as he folded his arms in defiance of the scolding he knew he was about to receive, but surprisingly Ish came to his defense.
"Ash, we all have made choice where we think we know better than anyone, and this one actually turned out to work, while it's something I would not encourage in the future, I do have to give credit where it's do, his plan saved us and the ten Megacores." Ish said with a serious tone and expression.
"But we lost the kids because of his actions." Ricky said angrily.
"There where no kids," Tua said, and that shocked everyone present, "Wild Card built Blitz Botz that looked so conniving they could pass for kids, and he's got more than just seven of them, he's built a whole army of them." Tua informed the four Guardians who had avoided capture.
"How the heck do we spot them?" Marty asked Ish.
"I don't know, but RZ might, let's head back to the HOK, and inform him of what happend hear tonight, and let's take these Megacores home, I'm sure the Rushers will be happy to see them again." Ish said with a smile as they walked into the stadium, oblivious to the danger they would soon be in, for someone was watching through a hidden security camera...
'Children this whole time, how foolish,' she though to herself as she sat on her giant throne, for she had noticed the fireworks display in Denver had made the nightly local news from Denver, and quickly hacked into security footage from the stadium, to reveal a three way battle between the Guardians, the Anticorians, and Wild Card, she was tempted to send one of her mech's into battle, but decided it would be a waste of time, and reveal that she had been watching, and that proved to be wise decision, for she had learned some big secrets.
'The Guardians are children, how interesting, but who are they really?' she thought to herself as she looked at the still images she had taken from the camera, and with a simply thought she began running the images through databases from around the country, and soon, she would know who they where...