Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
July 10, 2017
Night

The night has fallen over the GHP headquarters. With that, the members are now at the main table again, helping themselves to burritos as their dinner.

Brett tears a bite from his burrito before turning to Jake and peering down at his arm. “Hey, how’s your arm doing, Jake Dog?”

Jake swallows after sliding an entire burrito into his mouth. He holds up his wounded right arm, which is securely wrapped in gauze. “It’s good, I guess.”

“You’re a real trooper,” he hears Dru commenting from his other side.

He whirls to her direction, spotting her smirking up at him. He beams at her. “Aw…” He then holds his arm out at her. “It’s not that bad. Just a few cuts.” He then brings down his arm. “How’s your head?”

“It still hurts, but it’s getting better.” She then proceeds to take a bite from her burrito.

From the end of the table, Sidney pulls his burrito away from Bubby Jr., whom he is feeding. He then places it on his plate and peers out at his society. “Okay, peoples, it’s time to talk business.”

Everyone instantly turns to him.

“Awww, but it’s dinner!” Reid cries out to him.

“With burritos!” Emily chimes in, holding her half-eaten burrito into the air.

Sidney gazes up at him with a flat expression. “I know.” He nods his head. “I am aware we’re having dinner with burritos. But to have dinner without the fear of interruptions from Connor and his people, we must talk about how to defeat them!” He spins back to face the rest of the members.

“You’re discussing about the annihilation a nigh-omnipotence user,” Kailer points out with raised eyebrows. “That is a difficult task to overcome.”

Jonathan slowly turns to Sidney, wide-eyed. “We’ve never done anything like it before.”

“That’s right…” Sidney rubs his chin. “The only NHL ruler we’ve known is Jonathan and he was with us.” He perks up at the goalie. “Now we have to deal with an NHL ruler that’s AGAINST us.”

“We can ply a power-erasure gun on him,” John answers promptly. He cuts a piece of his burrito with a plastic knife before popping it into his mouth with a plastic fork.

Jonathan whirls to him with a look of displeasure. “What? No, don’t you remember how much trouble that thing caused on us—” He jabs a finger at him. “—you?”

John shakes his head before swallowing. “No, that’s distinct.” He places his utensils back down. “I originated a power-negating gun. Currently, I’m proceeding to ameliorate to a power-erasure gun. They’re divergent, but the power-erasure gun will be more puissant.”

Jonathan rolls his eyes while leaning back. “Even worse.”

“Erasing powers?” Katie mumbles in awe at her burrito. “Not once I’ve envisaged anything similar to that.”

Brett is gawking at the others. “What on earth is this ‘erasure powers’ thing?”

Kailer turns to him. “To erase powers is to eliminate them.”

“Ohhh…” Brett nods his head. “So JT can make a gun that eliminates our powers?”

John nods his head. “Not at any time I’ve essay, but I aspire to and will. Those smite with the gun will have their powers erased in perpetuity.”

Brett stares at him blankly.

“Power players who have their powers erased cannot use their powers ever again,” Kailer translates quickly.

Brett nods his head. “Oh okay…” He turns to everyone else. “You guys actually get what they’re saying?”

Jake peers down at him. “Yeah.” He then proceeds to pick another burrito from the serving dish and consume it.

“I don’t think a power-erasure gun would solve the problem,” Jonathan comments, clutching onto his burrito in deep thought. “Because is the gun powerful enough to erase a power as strong as nigh-omnipotence?” He turns to John with raised eyebrows.

John peers up from his burrito while chewing. He swallows. “It’s appreciably more puissant than a power-negating gun, that’s indubitable. But I am not utterly unwavering.”

“You made a power-erasure gun, correct?” Katie asks him.

He nods his head. “No, not once did I forge a unit.”

Sidney eyes him with concern, holding onto his burrito. “How long does it take to make one?”

“I would conjecture a twenty-four hour period by myself,” John answers. “But accompanied by Yamamoto and Fitzgerald—” He points to Kailer then Katie to his left. “—we can finalize it in a handful of hours.”

A smirk grows on Kailer’s face. “Teamwork!”

“So we wait for them to do the gun?” Kale asks, flicking his eyes to the group of scientists with his half-eaten burrito by his mouth.

Sidney has hesitant eyes at the scientists. “I don’t know. I feel like we have to do something more.”

John raises his eyebrows at him. “My brainchild is not adequate?”

“What if we ask Tommy for his opinion?” Reid pipes up with his mouth full.

Sidney whirls to him with a bright expression. “That’s right! Tommy!” He spins to Jonathan. “Jonny, call Tommy!”

Without saying a word, Jonathan places his burrito down and proceeds to call the NHL founder.

“Ah, hello, ladies and gentlemen!” Tommy greets once again, a smaller version of himself standing on Jonathan’s intercom. “What seems to be the problem?”

“We’re talking about how to defeat Connor,” Sidney explains from Tommy’s left.

Tommy turns to him with his hands clasped behind his back. “Oh, good topic! Anything you guys have figured out?”

“Just one,” Jonathan replies, grabbing his attention, “but we’re not too sold on it yet.”

From behind Tommy, John narrows his eyes at the goalie.

“We’re wondering if you have any ideas, knowing you being the NHL founder,” Reid adds in, leaning over to see him.

Tommy nods his head in understanding. “Well, I’ll be more than happy to help you all!”

“Awesome!” Sidney gives him a big grin. “So how do we defeat Connor? He has crazy powers!”

“Hm.” Tommy taps his foot as he folds his arms in deep thought. “I have one idea that is guaranteed to work...”

Everyone leans toward him with awe and hope in their eyes.

“...but it has a grave downside.”

Everyone leans back into their chairs with depressed and flattened expression. “Awww…”

“What is that downside?” Jonathan asks him with a slight frown.

Tommy clasps his hands in front of him. “The idea I have in mind is to shut down his powers, since I do have the controls of all NHL power players’ powers. But if I shut down his powers…” He takes in a deep breath. “...I’d have to shut down the rest of the NHL power players’ powers.”

Sidney’s eyes widen along with Jonathan’s and John’s. He drops his burrito in shock. “Wait, so we’ll have powers never again?! Can’t you like change the next NHL ruler or something?”

Tommy shakes his head. “No, no, no. You guys will have your powers once I lift the shutdown. But I cannot switch the NHL ruler’s powers so easily like team powers: they’re special and more powerful.”

“So if Connor’s powers are shut down,” Jonathan starts off, “then our powers will be shut down, too, right?”

Tommy nods slowly. “Yes, for the time being.”

“But that’s not fair!” Sidney cries out, pressing his hands flat against the table. “We can’t go down with Connor! The league can’t go down with Connor! If he doesn’t have powers, that should not mean WE shouldn’t have powers either! And if we want our powers back, then he’d get his powers back!”

“That’s correct,” Tommy tells him solemnly. “It isn’t fair, but that’s how the system works. I do want you guys to have your powers, but unfortunately, Connor’s in the same boat as you.”

Reid slides his eyes over to the NHL founder with his burrito in his hands. “What if McDavid goes to another world?”

Tommy whirls to him with an inquiring expression, just like everyone else at the table. “What was that?”

Reid straightens up, gazing ahead without a blink. “What if Connor gets cast out into another dimension where he can’t touch us and then the NHLers would get their powers back?” He breaks his stare and peers down at the hologram. “Connor would get his powers back too, but he can’t reach us to use ‘em on us.”

“He possesses nigh-omnipotence, he can teleport dimensions smartly,” Kailer spits out with a flat expression.

Reid settles his burrito and leans over the table to make good eye contact with the small skater. “We can create a dimension that erases powers.”

Kale turns to him with knitted eyebrows in shock.

“‘We’?” Kailer repeats. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Kale and I.” Reid leans back against his chair with a smirk and crossed arms. “We found out we can merge to get portal powers.”

From across the table, Matt gazes at them with surprise. “You guys can merge?!”

Brett eyes them with shock. “Whaaat? That sounds really weird.” He then mumbles, “What is merging exactly…?”

Tommy beams at the two new users of companion allegiance. “Yes, I just revealed to them that they can merge!”

“Congrats,” Ryan tells the two with his headphones on. “We’ll teach you some tips if you need any.” He nudges his merging buddy.

Matt titters timidly in response.

Kale gives them a toothy grin. “Thanks!” He then takes a bite from his burrito.

From the other side of the table, John does not seem amused at all. “We can solely utilize my power-erasure gun.”

Reid turns to him with a slight smirk. “But is it made yet?”

“Had you created a dimension with power erasure?” Kailer snaps back for John’s defence.

“GUYS!” Sidney cries out from his small body.

The two groups halt their rising arguing.

“We can work something out!” the temporal Master explains sternly. He whirls to Tommy. “What do you suggest?”

Tommy turns to Reid. “It’d be challenging to use your merging powers because you’re part of the NHL power system. So your powers would be shut down as well.”

Kailer raises his eyebrows at him with pursed lips in a mocking way. “Ooo, sorry about that.”

“He said ‘challenging,’ not ‘impossible,’” Reid shoots back at him with a raised eyebrow.

Tommy gazes at Kailer. “That’s because it isn’t impossible.” He then peers up at Reid. “Your sword can charge you with extra power in the shutdown to merge with Kale and bring Connor into the dimension.” He crosses his arms in front of him. “That’s all.”

Kale swallows. “And Connor will be gone for sure with that?”

Tommy nods his head. “If you guys seal him up well, submerged with power erasure, then yes.”

“Yes!” Reid pumps his fists in the air. “Right on, Claguer!” He holds his palms out at Kale.

“Wooo!” Kale high-fives him back.

Kailer frowns at the NHL founder. “So what will occur upon McDavid’s assistants?” He takes in a piece of his burrito from his plastic fork.

“That is when your power-erasure gun comes in!” Tommy beams at them.

Kailer’s eyes light up at him. He turns to John. “We can still create the gun!” He whirls to Katie. “Oh, this is magnificent!”

Reid holds a thumbs-up at the small skater. “Teamwork!”

Kailer turns to him and smiles at him sheepishly. “Yes, teamwork. Even with you.”

“Okay, let’s get this straight,” Sidney starts off, waving his hands everywhere in front of him: “Next time Connor and his group attacks, Tommy will shut down the NHL powers, leaving me, Jonny, John, and Reid without powers. But also Connor and…” His voice fades off as a realization comes in. “Wait, Auston won’t have any powers either?”

Tommy nods his head. “That’s right!”

Sidney returns to his clarifying: “Okay, so Reid can get an extra boost of powers from his sword, in which he merged with Kale and send and lock Connor in a dimension with power erasure.

“Then John can make a power-erasure gun, which he will use to defeat Auston and Carter, since we gotta not let Auston have powers once the shutdown is lifted. And that’d be it!” He peers back at the NHL founder. “Right?”

“That’s right!” Tommy gives him a big, closed smile. “You must notify me when to shut down the powers, though— A press of the warning button on one of your intercoms will be sufficient.”

Jonathan nods his head. “I’ll definitely do that!”

The NHL founder then peers at each member. “So glad all of you guys are working together to save not only the NHL, but all the other leagues!”

“I don’t regret any of it!” Emily explains with a big grin. “It’s so much fun working with everyone like this!”

John turns to the hologram. “We commence on the power-erasure gun at this moment?”

Tommy whirls to him. “I do highly recommend that. And—” He reverts his attention to Kale and Reid. “—you boys must continue practicing your merging and creating that dimension.”

Reid gives him a thumbs-up. “Right on it.”

“We’ll work hard on it!” Kale tells him with a toothy grin.

Ryan raises a hand in the air. “We’ll help out with them.”

Kale whirls to him. “Thanks, that’d be great!”

“And the others,” Tommy continues on, “keep up the great work and training. I shall now resume watching my horse races. So long for now!” With that, he vanishes in a glitch.

Notes