With the challenge on the clock, the NWHL power players are working hard to find Auston’s location and train to supernaturally battle against him:

Nicole and Hilary are emitting their powers at dummies in their basement training room. Katie is in her room behind her laptop with glasses on, scrolling through rows and rows of code, searching for Auston’s location. And Emily is spying on the CWHL’s progress.

“They’re training!” Emily cries out to Hilary as she appears in the training room. She immediately disappears, then reappears with an update: “I almost got struck by Howe!” She vanishes in a blink of an eye and materializes back into view. “They can’t find Auston!” She then becomes invisible and visible, throwing out different updates on their rivals:

“Spooner almost blew me up!”

“Still can’t find Auston!”

“Burns barely impaled me!”

“They’re packing!”

“Téllez almost set me on fire!”

“They still can’t find Auston!”

Emily then pads back into the training room, clearly exhausted. “Julie led me to come back here.”

---

The ladies are now back in the brightly lit meeting around, sitting in their usual places with the absence of Dani. Hilary peers diagonally across the table, catching the sight of Katie absorbed in her laptop, who is furiously typing on her keyboard.

“Katie?” she calls out to her.

Without tearing her eyes away from the many windows of black and green code and maps she has opened, Katie reports: “I am doing my utmost to trace where Auston’s call came from, but the location either comes out as extremely vague or unknown. I cannot detect a specific location.”

“Well, he has to be calling from a specific location, right?” Nicole asks with a shrug from next to her.

Katie halts her type and turns to her. “Correct.” She adjusts her glasses. “He must’ve bugged the detector to befuddle me.” She turns back to her laptop and resumes her mad typing.

The other goalie furrows her eyebrows at the screen. “Can’t you call him back?”

Katie halts her typing. “Possibly.”

From across the table, Hilary calls out, “I’ll do so.” She then holds her wrist at eye level, bringing her intercom into view. She pulls back Auston’s call and calls back the number.

Immediately, two green words flash on the black screen: Number Invalid.

“Guys,” Hilary grumbles, “it says the number’s invalid.”

Katie perks up at the Master with a bewildered expression. Hilary holds her wrist out at her, showing her the words on the intercom. The goalie takes a good look at them before returning to her laptop.

“The number he used doesn’t exist.” She hits more buttons harshly. “He must’ve suspend it.” She halts her typing, peering up at the others. “That explains the whole lot:” --she tears off her glasses-- “How can I trace him down through his call if the number doesn’t exist anymore?”

Hilary scowls at the table’s surface. “Dang it.”

“He must be some tech freak like you, Fitz!” Emily blurts out, her arms out at the goalie.

Katie narrows her eyes at her, slamming her laptop’s screen closed against the keyboard.

The small skater shrinks into her large swivel chair while turning red. “In a good way…!”

Nicole whirls to the Master. “Auston said he has powers right?”

Hilary nods her head. “Yeah.”

“Which powers are they?”

“I recall them being botanokinesis and sirokinesis when I detected his strength level,” Katie replies matter-of-factly.

Emily gawks at her. “Can you reword that in English?”

Katie folds her arms on the table. “Plant manipulation and syrup manipulation. Those are his supernatural abilities.”

The defenceman lets out a snort in an attempt to stifle her laugh. “What type of powers are those?”

“What team power is that?” Nicole adds in, gazing at the goalie.

“He’s not even drafted into the NHL yet!” Hilary cries out, throwing her hands into the air. “I gotta ask Dani about this.” She pulls her intercom back into view and calls Dani.

With her arm extended toward the centre of the table, the hologram of Dani flashes into view. “Yes, girls?” the founder asks gently.

“Just out of curiosity,” Hilary starts, “what powers does Auston Matthews have?”

“Is he in the NHL?”

“Potential first draftee,” Katie pipes in.

Dani holds an index finger in the air. “I’ll be back with the answer-- I have to consult Mr. Gorman for that.” She then disappears in a glitch.

Emily knits her eyebrows in confusion at the others. “‘Gorman’?”

“Founder of the NHL,” Hilary tells her.

Nicole’s eyes light up. “Oh, so he’s like the Dani of the NHL?”

Hilary nods her head. “Yeah!”

“Do you know how to combat plant manipulation and syrup manipulation?” Katie asks, peering at each of them.

“Yeah!” A massive grin appears on Emily’s face. “Don’t give water to the plants and bring pancakes!”

Katie shakes her head slowly with pursed lips and a scrunched nose. “No...”

Hilary turns to her with an inquired expression. “What can you do with plant powers?”

“Lots of damage, depending on the type of plant,” Katie starts sophisticatedly. “You can hold one hostage by entangling them in a vine, squeeze or pierce through a target, lift trees from beneath constructs, release toxins from poisonous plants…” She nods her head. “Quite a lot of damage, if you inquire me.”

The other three respond by gawking at her in shock.

“Plants are powerful,” Emily whispers, her eyes glued at the goalie.

The hologram then returns with a zap, bringing Dani back into view. “I’m back. Gorman told me that Matthews is the future power player of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the replacement for the current power player, Jonathan Bernier.”

Hilary’s eyebrows shoot up at her. “Ah! Okay, thank you, Dani!” She then presses the side button of the gadget, ending the call.

“Wait…,” Nicole starts, her fist against her cheek to hold up her face, “does Dani know what’s going on with Auston?”

Hilary shakes her head. “Not that I know of. I don’t know if she’d be on board with this idea since it’s all or nothing here. Instead of spending our time finding a new career like what she expects us to do, we’re salvaging our sinking ship here.”

“Would she know Matthews’s whereabouts?” Katie asks the Master.

“She didn’t even know his powers,” Emily points out with a snicker.

Nicole points at her. “Oh yeah!”

“Hm.” Katie promptly opens up her laptop again and puts back her glasses. She types for a few moments on it before.

She then pulls away from the electronic device. “Well, I’m at a dead end.” She swiftly closes it. “I do not know where to turn.” She removes her glasses and places them on the table.

Hilary lets out a sigh. “If only we have our database. We wouldn’t have to consult Dani AND we could track where each power player is.”

“We should just forfeit.” Emily holds her hands up in surrender. “ The CWHLers have all that information now--”

“Didn’t you just say they still couldn’t find Auston?” Nicole cuts in, eyeing her.

Emily’s eyes light up at the realization. “Oh yeah!” She brings down her hands. “That’s because they don’t know how to work it.”

The Master groans. “At least something’s going for us!”

Katie then rises from her chair. “I’m going to have a meal. All of this is making me tense.” She then strolls around the table, pulling a bag of chips from her jacket’s pocket. She opens the bag and begins consuming it as she exits the room.

Nicole turns to the two skaters while swishing her wide eyes to both of them. “Sooo...now what?”

“We eat,” Hilary states.

Emily gives her a thumbs up. “Sounds good!”

Notes