March 20, 2015
Colorado Avalanche vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Gabriel Landeskog skates hard down the wing, running at a Tampa Bay player with the puck. He knows that he isn’t going to make it. “Damn! Nathan, cover me!” He throws his hands out before him and spots a chunk of ice curve upward out of the ice. The Tampa Bay player trips on it and stumbles to the ice, losing the puck.

Nathan Mackinnon skates hard and reaches the puck, scooping it into his blade. Gabriel passes the fallen player, who slams a gloved hand on the ice and scrambles back to his skate.

“You bastard!! You tripped me up on purpose!” He clenches his fist and starts after the Colorado captain.

“Vladdy, no!” another person shouts. “Not the time!”

“You saw that, right?”

Nathan shoots at the net and the puck is gloved by Ben Bishop, the goalie. The whistle blows and the play halts. Gabriel rounds the goal and fist pumps his teammate.

Vladislav Namestnikov, the Tampa Bay player, is steaming with anger. He begins to cuss and then rant to himself in Russian. He slashes his stick at the boards in anger.

“Better luck with the puck next time Vladdy baby!” Gabriel catcalls as he skates by him.

“I swear--you’re just lucky that I can’t drop the gloves and get your ass!” Vlad snaps back.

“That supposed to mean something Russian?” Gabriel snarls, whipping around and heading back toward the Lightning player.

Vlad holds his ground. “Yeah, you tripped me up with your stupid glaciokinetic powers! I saw you! I’m no stranger to superpowers, but I know you shouldn’t use them on the ice. That’s cheating and it’s just not right man. Oh, and you really don’t want chaos to break out.”

“Chaos? It’s cute to think that a ‘Russian Bieber’ possesses ‘chaos’...” Gabriel headbutts Vlad’s helmet, getting further into his face.

Vlad shoves him back with a powerful shove. “Piss off Landy!”

Gabriel catches himself, stumbling backward. “I can do what I want with my powers, you can’t control me! You need to cool down Lightning Bolt...you’re getting a little heated...maybe I can help you out!”

Vlad screams and narrows his eyes at Gabriel. It is enough to draw the refs over and the two are instantly separated. Any fire that Vlad had build up is gone as he is shoved toward the Lightning bench. The Lightning player enters the bench and slams the door shut behind him. Normally players would let the player figure things out and cool down, but they know that Vlad is not one of those players.

“I got him!” Tyler Johnson shouts and jumps up with Nikita Kucherov at his side. “The period’s almost over, just let us calm him down!”

They reach Vlad and guide him down the tunnel. He tosses his stick to the side and growls angrily. He also begins to glow a bright reddish-orange. The hurry him into the locker room and close the door.

“Vlad calm down, you’re glowing again!” Nikita Kucherov remarks, raising his hands up.

“Yeah, easy Vladdy,” Tyler Johnson remarks.

Vlad slowly relaxes and the glow diminishes around him. He unclips his helmet and throws it to the side. “I hate Colorado, especially that stupid ass captain! Cocky son of a--”

“Vladdy, stop, you’ll just get more worked up. You gotta learn to channel the anger!” Tyler remarks.

“I was fine until he made things worse! And please tell me you saw what he did!?”

“All I saw was that you had the puck, lost your footing and coughed it up to Nathan Mackinnon,” Nikita snorts with laughter at the memory.

“Yeah, cause he flippin’ tripped me up with his glaciokinesis!” Vlad snaps.

“Vladdy, powers don’t exist. Maybe you’re dehydrated and hallucinating?!” Tyler exclaims.

Vlad gawks at them. “Are you kidding me right now? Tell coach I’m done for the night! Tell him I suffered a concussion or something! I don’t care what, but I’m so done with this game!” He plucks his gloves off and throws them away from him.

Tyler and Nikita share a look and nod. It’s no use fighting him and making him even angrier. For some reason Vlad has just always had a temper but tonight, his anger is off the charts. They figure it is best to just let him be.

“Alright man, we’ll let coach know, but something’s wrong with you Vladdy and you should probably seek some help,” Nikita Kucherov says.

Vlad removes his uniform, mumbling to himself in Russian and then throws on a t-shirt and jeans and stomps past them, out the locker room. He enters the hallway and instantly relaxes. He turns back to the locker room and peers back in, seeing Tyler and Nikita sit down in their stalls, which are side-by-side.

“I wish you both could understand the truth…” Vlad whispers.

He spins around and heads down the hall and slips into the main hallway, narrowly colliding with another person. He skids to a halt and blinks twice. Before him is a dark haired man in a black jacket and jeans.

“Portal?!” Vlad questions. “Don’t do that!”

“That’s John Tavares to you, we’re alone.”

“Yeah, but still...what the hell are you doing here?”

John folds his arms. “Oh, just popping in. I know you’re playing the Avs, wanted to check in on…”

“Yo Tavy dawg!” a voice cries out. Vlad spins around. He finds himself looking into the eyes of the Avalanche captain. Gabriel’s smile vanishes instantly.

Gabriel and Vlad look at John. “You know this guy?”

John rubs his arm. “Yes, I do. Gabriel Landeskog and Vladislav Namestnikov, I take you’ve met.”

“Met?” Vlad questions. “This cocky bastard tripped me up on the ice!”

“Only cause he was being too cute with the puck and besides it was an accident.” Gabriel shrugs.

“Accident?” Vlad roars, getting heated once more.

John steps forward and puts an arm around them both. “Listen here fellas, I don’t care what happened, whose fault it was...whatnot...Landy, using your powers on the ice is prohibited. And do you know why that is?”

Gabriel grumbles. “Yeah, because I might get caught or some villain might discover them. But Vlad--”

John slaps his hand over the Avalanche captain’s mouth, muting him. “Gabe, that’s enough. You messed up, the blame’s on you. However, Vladdy, don’t be so arrogant all the time. You two need to learn to work together. We three are the only one’s with powers here after all.”

“Right...I still don’t like that he tripped me up on the ice and then he had to go and chirp me...I mean what’s--”

John slaps his other hand over Vlad’s mouth. “That’s enough from you! Get along, I’m serious. In fact meet me in Boston tomorrow, before the Islanders-Bruins game!”

Vlad and Gabriel groan. “Tavs!”

“Don’t Tavs me, if either of you aren’t there, I have ways to make you,” John remarks, disappearing into thin air and then reappearing before both of them. “Capiche!”

“Capiche.”

John sticks two fingers to his eyes and then points them at both players, before he disappears once more, this time for good.

Vlad then turns to Gabriel. “That wasn’t cool Iceshot, keep better control of your powers!” He spins on his heels with a sharp nod of his head and heads toward the exit of the arena.

“Maybe learn how to handle a puck better, Chaos!” Gabriel shouts after him.


The next day, John, Gabriel and Vlad meet up in Boston. While they are there, talking and kindly hanging out for once, havoc breaks out. A gunman has picked their location, a small restaurant in the middle of the Downtown area to rob. He takes the whole shop under siege and holds them all hostage.

“The hell I’ll be held hostage!” Vlad remarks, getting to his feet.

Gabriel and John grab him and sit him back down, before he can attract the attention of the man with the gun.

“First of all we need a plan, Vlad,” Gabriel hisses.

“Here’s a plan: I wreck chaos!” Vlad snaps.

“No!” John exclaims. “We do this together, as a team. Gabe will distract him. Vlad and I will jump him from behind!”

“Good to me!” Gabriel remarks jumping up. He begins to shoot ice out of his hands at the robber, who is taken by surprise. “Yeah, you like ice buddy? You picked the wrong place to rob!”

Portal grabs Chaos in a hug and they teleport to a spot behind the robber. Portal releases the Lightning player, who instantly charges forward and jumps onto the robber’s back.

“NEVER HOLD CHAOS HOSTAGE!!” Chaos snarls, before he is flung backward.

“My, my, a couple of hero wannabes...just my luck! I picked the RIGHT restaurant to rob!” The man morphs into a giant cobra and flicks his tongue out.

Iceshot skids to a halt. “Uh, Tavy, this wasn’t the plan!”

Chaos scrambles to his feet and charges forward again, glowing the red-orangish color. It brightens, fueled by his anger and then suddenly rings surround him and shoot off in every direction.

“Well, he’s officially pissed of Vlad!” Portal remarks, rubbing his head. “Great!”

“He’ll destroy this place, Tavy!” Iceshot exclaims, joining Portal.

“We have to get them both outside,” Portal comments.

One of the rings flies off and lands near them. Portal nods to Iceshot, who ices the flames spreading from where the ring had hit. Portal teleports around the snake and Chaos, teleporting them at the same time, seemingly guiding them toward the door. However the snake man suddenly lashes its tail up and makes it coil around Chaos, while snagging the zippy Islander with it. The snake’s tail wraps tightly around them both, pinning them back-to-back.

“You think I haven’t tangled with heroes before,” the snake hisses. “Or even hockey players…?”

“Okay, Jafar, you’re a little out of shape,” Chaos chirps.

“And you nosy hockey players are in over your head!”

“Gabriel!!” Portal calls out. “NOW!”

Iceshot whips his hands around and then throws them up at the villain, shooting chunks of ice out of his hands, right at the snake. The creature stumbles out of the door and out into the open. The Avalanche player keeps on him, pelting him with the ice.

Suddenly something blocks out the sun. And then a magnificent white winged woman soars down from the sky at them. She flings a few star-shaped discs at the snake, hitting him with exact precision. The snake lets Chaos and Portal down as the woman slams into him and sends him sailing across the street outside and into a building.

The villain is unphased and shoots back across, however the newcomer blasts it with purplish-pink energy. It fights through the power and whacks her with it’s tail. She falls to the ground in pain and her wings cover her in protection. The snake prepares to strike her.

“Come on, she needs help!” John states.

Gabriel, Vlad and John dart forward, however they skid to a halt as the villain speaks.

“Zvezda look at you, reduced to cowering behind your wings...pathetic! Val would be ashamed of you!”

Suddenly the wings part and she gets to her feet. She yowls and waves her hands around before her and then throws them out. A black hole forms and the snake is sucked in. “Look what I can create, Adam!” the girl named Zvezda shouts. She rapidly moves her hand in a gesture and the black hole disappears in thin air. She spins to the trio.

“John Tavares, Gabriel Landeskog and...Vladislav Namestnikov? What are you all doing here?” she asks. “And you have powers?!”

“Yeah, why is that surprising?”

“You’re not alone.”

John, Gabriel and Vlad share a collective look. “What do you mean?”

“Uh, you’d best come with me, teleporting is the quickest way, unfortunately I don’t seem to possess the same abilities as John there. I saw you had teleportation and it is magnificent. I’ll teleport there on my own, via my stellar twinkle. I’m taking you to the Hockey Avengers headquarters at the Garden. We call it, North End.”

She starts to twinkle, but then flickers and she doubles over in pain, gasping for air. John runs to her aid at once. He puts an arm on her. She recovers and straightens back up.

“What happened?” he asks her, concerned.

“Or not...I guess that maniac destroyed my ability to teleport. Man, that hurt. His tail must have done damage. But luckily you can teleport still, John.”

He nods and signals the other two over. They gather together and disappear at once, and then reappearing in front of the entrance at North End.

Notes

Next up: Tying Up Loose Ends