Later on in the day, the NWHLers have arrived in the CWHL headquarters, who welcomes them with open arms. In the room they were just seeing through the video chat, the five ladies are gathered around the database computer along with all the CWHLers. Katie is in the middle, feverishly flying her hands across the extensive control panel.

The goalie hits a large rectangular button. “There!”

The massive screen flicks a bright light blue, signalling that it is turning on.

The five CWHLers gaze at the bright screen in awe. “Ooo!!”

Erica turns to Katie. “Can you write down the instructions of how to work it?”

Katie peers at her from behind her shoulder. “I’ll undertake that task soon. But foremost” --she turns back to the screen, noticing that the computer has completely loaded-- “we ought to pinpoint Matthews.” She begins typing on the large keyboard on the control panel; she then presses a final button.

A translucent white circle whirls around the centre of the screen. Then it disappears, being replaced by a large, holographic square displaying a map of mountains and a body of water; a red, flashing dot appears on one of the mountains. Below the square has red words displaying Matthews’s Location: LAKE ZÜRICH.

“Hah!” Katie presses another button; the map zooms out, minimizing the size of the body of water and revealing more mountains. “He is in the mountains encircling Lake Zürich.”

Natalie gawks at the screen, purely dumbfounded. “Where’s that at?”

Katie turns to her. “It’s by Zürich.”

“Where’s ‘Siri’?” Emily asks.

Katie dips her head, making eye contact with the small skater. “Zürich-- it’s a city in Switzerland.”

Erica’s eyes light up. “That’s with the Swedish meatballs!” She claps with glee.

Katie lets out a heavy sigh, turning to the other goalie. “No. That’s Sweden. Switzerland is a landlocked country in middle Europe by Germany.” She spots the blank looks she is receiving, therefore she adds in, “They’re chocolate and watches.”

Understanding sweeps through everyone’s expressions. “Ohhh!”

Hilary makes a puzzled expression at the map. “Why would Matthews be there though?”

“He plays there for the ZSC Lions,” Jessica answers firmly.

Nicole knits her eyebrows. “What team is that?”

“It’s a professional team in Switzerland based in Zürich,” Katie replies, moving the map around to observe its outskirts. “That’s why he’s there.”

“Ohhh!!!” everyone shouts in comprehension.

Hilary peers at all of the power players. “So we go to Lake Zürich?”

“That’s the only way to defeat Matthews, right?” Julie shrugs.

“Alright.” Hilary claps her hands thrice. “Let’s get prepped, everyone!”

---

A couple of hours later, all of the ten power players are on board a jet, courtesy of Katie. The inside is not the roomiest, yet it is not crowded either with two red seats on each side, side-by-side. The inside and outside are metallic, displaying only the bare necessities for the jet to function.

Natalie is sitting by a square-shaped window, tracing her delicate finger on the smooth surface of its edge. “Katie made this?” She whirls to her right, gazing at the person next to her. “I can’t believe she made this!”

Erica, who is sitting next to her, is gazing around the interior in awe. “It’s so cool.”

On the other side of the jet, closest to the cockpit, Julie is sitting next to Hilary.

Julie turns to her former power player partner. “I don’t think we would’ve found Matthews’s location this quickly alone.”

Hilary reverts her gaze at her. “Same here. Isn’t it great to work together?” She flashes her a grin.

“It is.” She nods her head with a relieved expression. “I’m so glad to be working with you again. And I must admit” --she places her hand on Hilary’s seat’s armrest-- “I’m proud to see you as the leader of the NWHL power players.”

Hilary shows the palms of her hands to her. “Hey, for now, we’re the leaders of this great team here!”

“With Jessica as our mentor.”

“Yes!” Hilary peers behind her, catching sight of the mentioned goalie who is sitting behind her. “How could we forget?”

Jessica appears above the two, folding her hands on the top of their seats. “I’m so glad I can help you guys out.”

Hilary adjusts herself to be able to see the two ladies. “Thank you for reaching out to us.”

“I had to.” She gives her a tender smile. “It was my duty.”

Then a crackle swipes through the room, followed by Katie’s staticky voice through the jet’s intercom: “We’re now commencing to land. Fasten your seatbelts.”

“Buckle up, buttercup!” Emily announces, connecting her seatbelt together across her waist.

Everyone else begins settling back into their seats and snapping on their seatbelts.

---

A few minutes later, the jet has landed on a hill topped with fluffy, green grass, white flowers, and spurts of tall trees. Behind the rolling hills is a range of ominous, towering mountains with snow-capped gray rocks jutting out at all angles.

The ten ladies are wandering through the grass, admiring the Swiss nature.

“Wow,” Emily states, peering up at the snow-dusted mountain tops. “This is way too pretty for a villain’s lair.”

“The flowers!” Erica picks a white flower from the ground. “They’re so pretty!”

“Ugh, I wanna take pictures of them,” Natalie squeals, gazing at the scenery in awe.

Behind them, Hilary turns to Katie. “Where to, Fitz?”

Katie is next to her Master, peering down at a tablet in her hand. The tablet is displaying the same map as the one in the database computer. “This way.” She begins strolling toward the largest mountain right in front of them.


A few moments later, they arrive at the foot of the mountain, under its chilly shadow.

After taking a good look at the neck-breaking height of the mountain, Katie peers at the others. “Who can fly?”

“Oh, there’s no need to fly,” Auston’s sneering voice is heard echoing from the mountain peak. “I’ll just go down to your girls’ level.”

The ladies catch sight of Auston as he begins descending toward them, standing on two, thick green vines as they extend themselves from the mountain to the ground.

The tops of the vines land on the grass, allowing their owner to step off to ground level. Auston dusts his blazer and shirt with a smirk. He then peers at the ladies, noticing that both leagues are present with a new member.

“I see you guys came here at the same time!” he announces as his vines retract into the mountains behind him. “Coincidence!”

Hilary steps up to him with a grave mien. “No. It was planned. It’s us” --she backs up, lining up with the others-- “against you.” She crosses her arms with fierceness.

Auston stares at them, unamused. “Wow,” he states emotionlessly. “That’s so frightening.” He makes a fake, whiny tone, shrugging. “What am I ever going to do?”

Instantly, he throws his hands up in the air, having vines shoot up from the grass, snagging the nine ladies and twisting themselves around them, high in the air.

“ACK!”

“HELP!”

“NO!”

“HELP ME!”

A translucent, brown, sticky substance begins pouring from each twined vine and on its hostage, sticking them together: maple syrup.

“GET ME OUT!”

“LET ME GO!!!”

“I CAN’T USE MY POWERS!!!”

“¡DÉJAME IR!”

“AHHH!!!”

The only lady standing untouched is Hilary. She stares in horror at her sidekicks as they are thrashing against the sticky vine’s restraints and shouting for help.

“And you get special treatment,” she hears Auston snarling, causing her to face him, “the face of lousy hockey.”

In anger, Hilary blasts a thick streak of yellow energy straight at him.

Auston immediately drops to the ground, rolling underneath the stream. He then jumps to his feet and shoots out a gush of maple syrup. The syrup wraps itself around Hilary’s hands, tying them together in front of her.

“ACK!” Hilary yelps as she hastily attempts to conjure her powers.

Yet Auston is too swift: He thrusts a thick vine at her, wrapping the plant around her. He then conjures vines to sprout from underneath him and grow high into the sky, ascending himself and his dangling captive toward the mountain peak.

All the other ladies swathed in the vines stare at their sidekick being taken away into a high point of the mountain in disquietness. “NOOO!!!”

Auston then disappears into a small opening on the mountain’s rocky side, quickly followed by Hilary. The vines lower themselves back into the grass and disappear underneath it.

Now it is just the nine ladies covered in maple syrup, tied against the large stalks, all alone in the rolling hills of Zürich.

“Sooo…,” Emily starts, flicking her eyes around the towering vines in front of her, “how’s everyone doing?”

From in front of her, Natalie is panicking furiously, breathing hard: “My hair’s getting all messed up, the syrup is going to ruin my nail polish, my makeup’s gonna get smeared-- I’m going to BLOW!!!”

Instantly, streaks of fire burst from all angles of Natalie, engulfing her and the vine in roaring flames and smoke. All the others lean away from the explosion, squeezing their eyes closed to protect themselves from the stinging smoke and debris.

Then the billows of fire begin rotating, becoming sucked into a concentrated ball of fire before being absorbed into its manipulator: Natalie, who is standing on the spot the vine once was on without a hair out of place.

Everyone behind her gazes at her awe. “Wow!”

“Ooo, ooo!” Erica shouts to her sidekick.

“My turn, my turn!” Emily hollers, wiggling in her tight, sticky restraints.

Dru dips her head, staring at her dangling feet. “This is so embarrassing.”

One vine explosion after another, Natalie sets the ladies free. Finally, all nine of them are back on their feet and rid of the secured restraints, even if there is some maple syrup left splattered on their jackets, pants, and boots.

“¡Gracias!” Claudia tells the rescuer with a cool smile.

“De nada!” Natalie responds bubbly, flicking a manicured hand at her. “See, I’m brushing up on my Spanish: tacos!”

Emily’s eyes light up at the name of the Mexican food. “Tacos are good!”

“Girls, come hither,” Katie is heard commanding.

Everyone reverts their attention at the goalie, spotting her standing a few yards away with her tablet cradling in her arms. They come up to her and crowd around, their eyes on the screen.

Above the maple syrup-spotted screen is a topographical version same map with the lake and the mountains popping out through the screen as holograms. Yet this time, the flashing red dot is in the air, above the mountain peak.

“The dot atop the mountain is Auston,” Katie tells them, eyeing the ascending dot. “The map scale is an inch represents 6,336,000 inches, or a hundred miles.”

The dot disappears as it slips through the tablet’s projection.

“Allow me modify the map.” The goalie pinches at the translucent mountains.

The mountains and lake reduce in size, bringing in new features into view: stars, comets, and planets.

Emily narrows her eyes at the new features. “Is that outer space?”

“I’m afraid so,” Katie mutters with pursed lips.

“Are you sure…?” Nicole squeaks out, eyeing her sidekick.

Katie turns to her with a grave mien. “My devices are never incorrect.”

“I think she’s dead already,” Emily squeaks out, tilting her head at the projected map. “Since there’s no oxygen in outer space, right?”

Erica has a sad frown at the ascending dot. “When are they gonna land?”

Right on cue, the dot slides into a small, translucent circle. It halts inside, continuing its pulse.

“Which planet is that?” Natalie asks, gawking at it. “All I know is ‘My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.’”

Julie narrows her eyes at the circle the dot is in. “That’s not a plant. It’s a manmade construct.”

Katie turns to her. “Satellite?”

“Headquarters,” Jessica states.

Julie nods her head. “That’s right.”

Erica gazes at everyone else in slight terror. “So that means we have to go to outer space now?”

“Does anyone have a rocket ship we can borrow?” Emily asks, swishing her head from side to side to look at everyone.

“My jet can convert into a spaceship,” Katie informs. “We can all travel up there.”

Jessica nods her head. “Great!”

“I believe once we’re up there, we shouldn’t ALL go physically save Hilary,” Julie advises. “We should split up: five to save her, four to guard the ship and try to keep track of Matthews.”

Katie’s eyes light up at her. “That’s a terrific proposal!”

“So who’ll guard and who’ll save?” Dru asks with a shrug.

Julie peers at Jessica. “I’ll let Jessica decide that.”

Jessica raises her eyebrows at her. “Really?”

“Yes.” Julie nods her head.

“Okay.” The goalie turns to the others. “We need a balance of attackers and defenders:” She places a hand on her chest. “I am an attacker, and you…” Her voice fades away as she turns to Katie.

“I’m a defender, not taking my gunmanship into account,” Katie fills in with reverence.

“And Hilary would be considered?” Jessica asks.

“Attacker.” Katie begins pointing to each lady with her free hand, utilizing her sense of strength: “Julie, Emily, Natalie, and Erica are attackers. Nicole, Dru, and Claudia can be defenders.”

Jessica nods her head, mentally processing and organizing the information she has been given. “Therefore, me, you, Emily, Nicole, and Dru can save Hilary. And the rest can stay by the ship.” She faces the others. “Is that okay?”

Julia nods her head. “Certainly.”

“Very well.” A heroic expression crosses Jessica’s face as she places her hands on her hips. “Let’s save the face of women’s hockey, ladies.”

Notes