ENDGAME

I stand completely still as the car swings up and stops right next to me. The passenger door opens and I see that Jen had moved to the backseat, in-between Andrew and another girl. She's got long black hair just a few shades brighter than Andrew's.

I can see her deep blue eyes from outside of the car. I'm guessing how she seems attached to Andrew at the hand they must be involved in some way. I see Jay flash me a smile and he cocks his head, "Hop on in, Gavin. We have a lot to talk about," he says.

"Certainly," I say.

I open the door and step inside, pulling the door closed. Jay begins pulling out and onto the street. He's going rather fast, but I'm not complaining.

"So, you are one of the ten?" Jen asks me.

"Uh, yeah. Jay, did you explain Radical-9 to them?"

"Yeah, before we go farther with that I should introduce you. Andy, Jen, Lindsey, this is Gavin Daniels."

"Daniels...wait, you were the one from the vision," Jen says.

"What?" I ask.

"Jen had these visions of the past when we were trapped inside of Elysium, you hear of that?" "Andy" asks.

"Yeah, I heard of it."

"Well, it was your parents, they saved me," Jen says.

"Must have been when they died," I say.

"Gavin, your parents were brave people, and I'm sure that they're proud of all that you've done."

"Well, I'm Andrew, Andrew Cress, but please call me Andy. It makes it sound less formal. I'm not one much for formalities," he laughs.

"And you're Jen, right?" I ask.

The younger blonde nods her head. I can see the resemblance she had to Megan.

"And you're Lindsey, who are you?" I ask.

"I met Andrew inside of Elysium. Now, I'm not like you guys, I don't have this...Radical-9 stuff inside my body, but I'm fully committed to help you guys in whatever you need."

"And you two are..." I say, pointing to Andy and her. She nods.

"Okay, so, Jack is still alive," I drop the bomb. "And frankly I bet he's pissed."

"We're going to have a long ride, so feel free to get any stories out while you can," Jay says.

I nod my head. "It all started back in 2018," I begin. I tell them the adventures through my first kidnapping. Meeting myself in the future…being betrayed by myself in the future, even realizing I'm not even in my own body anymore.

I tell them of my power to travel through time and I also tell them that I've heard of their journey, their adventure through the mystical virtual world, Elysium.

"How is that possible? We only just left there not a few hours ago," Lindsey asks.

"In the future I'd been in, your journey had already happened. My future self was the only one there to remember it, everybody else was comatose or too busy trying to keep the human race alive to prevent Radical-9 from spreading and making us all extinct," I explain.

"But in the end, your other self betrayed you for power," Jen says.

"I don't think it was the power he wanted. I feel for him. He'd been forced to live as the caretaker of the world while it all hung on his shoulders.

He'd had nobody else to comfort him and he had a longing. A longing I once knew. I…I wasn't really social before all of this. I didn't really need anybody else after my parents died," I say.

"I'm so sorry," Andy says.

"I believed that I could do it on my own and I've learned firsthand what being alone leads me to. I've learned the value of friends, even in losing them. I've learned the one thing that separates me from him," I say.

"Well, I'll say, no matter what you turned out like in that future, you aren't going to be as bad as him," Andy says.

"Yeah, there's no way we're going to just let that happen," Lindsey says.

"We have to stop him, because he is going to be the end of this world if we don't," I say.

"Okay, do you have any inkling where he may be now?"

"I do. He's going after your son, Jay. Jack set up a fail-safe with Micah to go after him if he failed to get me."

"We're already heading there, Gavin. No need to worry."

"We have time, Micah said he needed time to learn his abilities, but we cannot count on that. We need to find him as fast as we can."

"It might be a little difficult, because the people I gave him to went deep into hiding. They changed their names for this because they understood the gravity of the situation. We're going to need some time to find them," Jay says.

"Well, then let's get a move on, shall we?" Jen asks.

"I'm already clocking eighty on this thing, it wasn't in the best of shape when I picked it up, so I don't want us ending our journey because of some engine fire or something like that starting up," Jay says.

We set our sights on our transcontinental journey and now our destination is New York. Hopefully Jay's kid is still alive and kicking, because we have one hell of a fight on our hands.

"Hero. My hero."

Megan, I think I'm finally beginning to understand what you called me. I think I'm finally ready to take up that mantle. This is going to end, all of it and you're memory will finally be able to rest in peace.