Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
July 9, 2017
Evening

A golden door knob slowly rotates. The wooden door it is connected to is gradually pulled open, creating an eerie, squeaky sound. A shadow pours from the doorway, sweeping over the room the door leads to.

The room is carpeted and empty with a dim light coming from the evening sun through a single window. Even though the light is weak, the contents of the room are noticeable:

Lying on the floor, still and silent, are Toews, Patrick, Nathan, Pekka, and Nolan. It seems as if they are in a deep sleep.

Looming over them from the doorway is Carter. He has narrowed eyes on them, scanning them from head to toe for any sign of movement.

"So that’s where he went," he mutters, eyeing Nolan. "Good to know pretty boy hasn’t escaped. Connor knows how to make hostages stay without complaining—"

BOOM! CRASH! CLA-AA-AANG!!!

Carter freezes at the sound with wide eyes. He instantly whirls around, gazing down the dusky hallway, where the sounds echoed from.

He shuts the door of the hostage room and rushes down the hallway. He halts in front of a door deeper to his right and throws it open. His eyes fly open at the sight.

The room is brightly lit with the ceiling lights. Spewed across the floor are fragments and shards of furniture and objects, which seem to collapse due to a harsh force upon them. Standing in the middle of the room with a grimace is Connor himself.

"What on earth…?" Carter squeaks out, darting his eyes at the disarrayed room.

Connor eyes his destroyed furniture with tentativeness. "Heh, heh…" He gazes at the goalie. "I was trying to master reality manipulation." He clasps his hands together, attempting to soothe his nerves.

Carter raises his eyebrows at the sight. "Yikes."

"No worries, though, this is a breeze to clean up." In a snap, Connor whirls around to face his room and sweeps his glowing hands across the room, unleashing a ribbon of yellow energy.

The ribbon stretches and bursts into a bright white light. Once the light recedes, what is now being displayed is a tidy bedroom with intact furniture.

Connor whirls around to face the goalie again with a proud smile. "See? It’s as good as new!"

Carter nods his head, approving of the fixture. "Okay, good…" He cocks his head at him. "Any luck though with the reality manipulation?"

The skater groans in his throat with a pursed smile. "No…," he ends up growling with a scowl. "I’ll get there soon."

Carter peers behind his shoulder, catching a quick glance at the closed door of the hostage room. "I’ll give kudos to you for creating the most tolerable hostages though." He faces him again. "I’ve never seen Nolan so quiet before. You did the impossible."

Connor nods his head with a satisfied smile. "It’s always been my pleasure to do the impossible."

Auston then slides into view next to the goalie. "Connor? Is it alright if we do it now?"

Carter peers up at him. "Do what—?"

"But I haven’t even mastered reality manipulation yet!" Connor exclaims madly, throwing his hands up in the air.

Carter turns to Connor with a perplexed expression. "Do what—?"

"You don’t need reality manipulation," Auston explains to the skater calmly. "Just you alone can take 'em all out."

Carter gazes at Auston again. "Take who out—?"

"So why couldn’t YOU take 'em all out?" Connor shouts, throwing his hands out at him.

Auston shoots him an unamused expression. "Because I’m not you, Connor. I’m not an NHL ruler with nigh-omnipotence. You got more than enough to take out a bunch of girls."

Realization then comes across the goalie’s face. "Ohhh…" He faces Auston. "You’re taking the hockey ladies, eh?"

Auston shoots him a glower. "Yes." He crosses his arms. "I wanna get rid of them now."

Carter turns to Connor. "I don’t mind another fight. Battling against metallic wheat was pretty lame. But getting Nolan did make up for it."

Auston reverts his gaze back at Connor with a smirk. "So what do you say?"

Connor gives the two a slight frown. "Fine." He holds his hands up high, building an illumines yellow energy. “We’re going there now."

Then he swiftly swipes them downward toward his sides, releasing the blinding energy into the atmosphere.

The white light engulfs the three power players’ sight with nothing but pure energy as a warm surge courses through each of their bodies.

---

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The brightness then streaks away, revealing to them the new environment they are in:

They are in a warmly-lit hallway with white tile floors and cream-coloured walls bearing cornflower-blue stripes below.

Carter darts his eyes around the surroundings in peer confusion. "Where are we?" He begins wandering gradually down the corridor.

Connor crosses his arms with an arrogant smirk on his face. "The GWHP headquarters. Where else?"

Auston chuckles eagerly while rubbing his hands. "Oh, yes, time for payback. These girls can’t attack me with you on my side." He peers cooly at the next NHL ruler.

Connor places his hands on his hips cockily. "Nobody can’t beat me."

"So where are they?" Carter asks, peering behind his shoulder at them.

The three power players stand still, their senses peaked to notice a sign of any GWHP member nearby.

Carter takes in a deep breath, collecting all the scents in the air. "I know where."

Connor narrows his eyes at him. "You just asked though."

The goalie leers at him. "But you didn’t respond."

"So how do you know?" Connor has a look of antipathy on his face.

Carter smoothly raises his hand by his face, revealing his silver bear claws on his fingers. "Don’t forget I have powers too, Connor." He then whirls around, retracting his claws, and faces the corridor. "This way." He begins stepping deeper.

The two follow him closely, peering at their surroundings with scrutinizing eyes.

Carter then halts in front of a white door with a metal handle.

Connor stops on the other side of it with Auston. "So they’re in here," he mutters.

As a response, a roar of light-hearted laughter belonging to women is heard from the other side.

Auston swiftly holds his extended hands out behind him. "And they’re history." He then throws them outward, summoning thick vines from the crumbling ground and guiding them to plow through the door.

The door topples over, including the surrounding walls, creating dust to billow in the air, obscuring everyone’s view.

Once the dust settles down, the view of the other side of the room is easily seen due to the collapsed walls.

Facing the three men on the other side of the apparent, snapped meeting table are ten women:

A women with brown hair that is down, brown eyes, and light freckles across her nose is holding her yellow, glowing hands out in front of her. This is Hilary Knight, the power player of the Boston Pride.

Next to her is Emily Pfalzer, who is the power player of the Buffalo Beauts. She is a short, youthful-appearing woman with her blonde hair in a ponytail and big, blue eyes. In her hands is intensifying light-blue energy.

A taller woman with light brown hair pulled in a ponytail and round, brown eyes is beside her with water bubbling around her hands. This is Nicole Stock, the power player of the Connecticut Whale.

Adjacent to her is Katie Fitzgerald, the power player of the New York Riveters. She is an even taller woman who has wavy light brown hair and brown eyes. In her hands is a rifle aimed dead centre at the gap between the deteriorating walls.

Next to her is a woman with almond-shaped, brown eyes, and fine, black hair, staring at the intruders without a blink. This is Julie Chu, the power player of Les Canadiennes de Montréal.

Neighbouring her is Dru Burns, the power player of the Boston Blades. She is a tough-appearing woman with brown hair in bangs and a ponytail and blue eyes. In each of her hands is a razor-sharp blade.

Erica Howe, the power player of the Brampton Thunder, is by her side. She is taller with her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, which is being whipped through the harsh gales, and blue eyes with her innocent-appearing facial features. Lightning is jumping and zapping around each of her extended hands.

Beside her is a flawless-appearing woman with silky, nicely-done brown hair, carefully-placed makeup, and blue eyes. This is Natalie Spooner, the power player of the Toronto Furies.

Next to her is Claudia Téllez, the power player of the Calgary Inferno. She has shoulder-length brown hair bearing blonde highlights and brown eyes. In each of her palms is a roaring ball of menacing fire.

Lastly beside her, is a woman who has curly dark blond hair and blue eyes. She is conjuring water coated with foam between her palms. This is Jessica Vetter, the power player of the Minnesota Whitecaps.

Hilary’s face quickly morphs into a scowl. "Matthews," she spits out.

Auston responds by giving her a smug smile with raised eyebrows. “That is my name.”

Jessica gazes at him with subtle shock. "We had a deal," she states firmly.

"Yeah, we did, I didn’t forget." He crosses his arms in a cocky manner. "But then I found these guys." He nods to his right for Carter and then left of Connor. "I’d advise you not to fight against them."

"So what are you gonna do now?" Emily asks with a raised eyebrow, peering at him as if he’s talking nonsense. "Take two?"

"Yup." Auston cracks his knuckles. "And finally succeed."

Carter leans over to Auston and whispers, "We’re actually gonna fight and not just talk, right?"

He waves his hand at him aimlessly, causing him to pull away. "Yes, just hold up."

Connor darts his eyes to Auston. "I can just blow them out of this building right now, if you’d like—"

"¡CÁLLATE!"

The three whirl to the owner of the booming voice with massive eyes.

Claudia is standing innocently with a small smile. "Gracias."

Julie gracefully rises from the line with the aid of a wispy purple energy around her feet. She floats over the broken table and lands in front of the three men.

She peers at Carter. "You’re a junior power player…recently joined these two…" She then reverts her gaze at Connor. "And you’re the next ruler of the NHL with the ability of nigh-omnipotence. You want to take over it, annihilate our leagues and…" She faces the goalie again. "…take over the the CHL and NCAA."

Emily gasps with wide eyes, cupping her cheeks with her hands. "Not Boston College!" she cries out. "My Eagles!"

"Nooo…," Erica wails, tears forming in her eyes with a quivering mouth. "Don’t take over the Clarkson Knights…!"

Connor narrows his eyes at Julie. "You have telepathy," he growls.

Julie gives him a playful smile. "You’re not the only gifted one here, McDavid."

With a rising breath, Connor pulls his fists toward his jaw, building up popping yellow energy in them. "AAAHHH!!" He instantly thrusts his hands out in front of them, unleashing a torrent of thick, yellow energy.

Julie twirls out of the way, watching as the stream shoots across the room, straight toward Nicole and Katie.

"WHOA!" Nicole sprays a sheet of water in front of her, diffusing the energy right on contact to avoid getting stuck.

Connor pushes further, concentrating all of his strength on his outage of energy.

A shake ripples through Nicole’s body as she becomes tense, attempting to endure the building strength against her wall of water.

"Utilize my strength!" Katie quickly places her hands on her shoulders.

Nicole takes in a deep breath, sensing a new-found strength building up in her. She pushes against the energy, thickening her protection and driving the stream of energy away from her.

Connor scrunches his face in fury as he presses against the force building up on him from Nicole, attempting not to buckle under it.

With irritation at Connor’s situation, Carter whirls to the other women in the room. He whips his hands out to his sides, revealing his sharp, silver bear claws. He then rushes into the room, steps onto the splintered table, and launches off of it, flying into the air with his right hand out behind him.

With a fast descent, he brings his hand down, aiming to claw a victim. Instead, he feels an abrupt stop of his hand’s motion as his claws hit a similar texture of themselves.

He lands on his two feet, coming eye-to-eye with his opponent.

Staring back at him with a smug smile is Dru, who has her blade against his claws.

Carter instantly pulls his hand away from her blade, only to drive his other clawed hand straight at her.

"Hah!" Dru quickly deflected his clever move with her other blade, clanking the metals against each other.

With a rising growl and lowered eyebrows, Carter pushes his left hand against her as he thrusts his other hand at her.

Dru crosses her blades over her craned face as the claws fly at her, protecting herself from harm.

The claws clash against her protection to Carter’s dismay.

Rage builds up in Carter as he pulls away from her, tensing his facial expressions.
"HUR-HUR-HURRRRAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!" He throws himself back while emitting the cry of an enraged grizzly bear. He then plunges his claws straight against and through the gaps of the blades with all of his strength.

With a gasp caught in her throat, Dru presses herself against the wall, eyeing the nearing claws with her head craned away, revealing her neck. A hint of fear is shown on her face as she shakily presses her blades against the claws to fight them off before they pierce her.

Suddenly, a wave of white electric bolts zooms across Dru, hurling Carter out of her sight.

Her eyes widen at the sight, then dart down to her blades. She spots that the claws are no longer protruding out at her, giving her a wave of relief.

She then catches something on the left corner of her eye. She peers down at it, her eyes flying wide open at the sight.

Lying on the floor by her feet face-up is Carter. Smoke is rising from him singed clothes and hair.

"Whoa-hoh, sweet…," Dru mutters with a smirk.

She hears a nervous giggle from behind her. "Heh heh, I had to."

She whirls around, noticing Erica behind her with an embarrassed expression on her face while fiddling her fingers.

"That was great!" She retracts the blade on her right hand and holds it up at her. "You practically save me."

"Thanks…!" She then lightly gives her a high-five.

Suddenly, an array of thick vines shoot out at each woman, slamming them against the walls. The vines wrap around their chests, shoulders, arms, and legs, locking them in place high up.

A smirk is on Auston’s face as he holds his hands out in front of him, guiding the vines from the ground to hold all ten women up.

"There," he remarks smoothly.

Connor retracts his energy and whirls to him with a frown. "See, I knew you had this."

"Do I really have to explode again?" Natalie asks loudly with a gawk.

Auston shakes his head. "No, no, that won’t be necessary. Like how you fried Carter."

From the other side of the room, Carter lifts his head and lets out a pathetic groan. He drops his head back against the floor in agony.

Emily turns to Hilary and whispers, "Should we?"

Hilary gives her an inquiring expression. "Should we what?"

"We have an NHL ruler against us and Matthews. We are all stuck and they don’t know about our merging abilities…!" she explains quietly.

Hilary takes a glance at the two men before turning back to the defenceman. "There’s no other way out…?"

"So you do have companion allegiance," they hear Connor stating from down below.

The two turn back to face the standing men.

"In fact, we do," Hilary states. She then turns to Emily. "Pfalzy, it’s showtime."

"Oh yes!" In a snap, Emily reaches out her hand below for Hilary’s interlacing them with each other.

Suddenly, a magnificent orb of pure white light illuminates from their hands, shining out between them.

Everyone else narrows their eyes and turn their heads away from the blinding light for protection.

Instantly, Hilary’s and Emily’s arms fly up, ripping themselves free from the plant restraint. Their hands are now merged in the form of a sphere of white, crackling energy.

"Get a load of this!" Emily proclaims.

Their arms swiftly fling down straight at the two men emits two beams of thick energy for each target.

One beam strikes one target with scene-blurring speed, thrusting the two men across the hallway behind them and against the wall.

With groans, the two simultaneously collapse onto the floor, motionless.

Hilary and Emily gracefully land on the ground with their hands still connected in the glowing energy. They then pull their hands apart, ceasing the energy and bringing the room back into its regular light.

They then turn around to face their restrained members.

"I got you guys!" Emily wields a blue-coloured ergokinetic blade and swings it out from above her shoulder.

The blade whizzes by all eight of them, cutting the vines across their torsos and travelling its energy through the other restraints, wilting the plant.

One by one, the women drop back on the floor on their two feet in liberty.

"That was amazing!" Nicole exclaims to Hilary. "I didn’t know you guys could merge!"

Hilary shrugs coolly. "It’s only for emergencies. Such as battling against the NHL ruler."

"I have to admit, that’s cooler than explosions!" Natalie points out with a fascinated expression.

Dru crosses her arms, gazing at Hilary, Julie, and Jessica. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well," Jessica starts off solemnly, "we have to inform Dani and Sami about the attack we just had."

Julie is standing by Carter, gazing down at him with her two fingers against her temples. She then straightens up and turns to her members. "I’m temporarily putting them in an unconscious state, which is the best I can do with these three men. That should buy us more time to figure out what to do with them."

Hilary nods her head at the idea. "Sounds good."

Julie proceeds to walk across the rubble-littered room and exit it, becoming slightly obscured behind the torn walls.

Hilary turns back to Jessica. "Do you wanna call them?"

The goalie nods her head. "Yes." She then holds up her wrist, revealing her intercom. She presses a button.

Instantly, two cyan-coloured hologram figures of women appear. The one to the left has her straight hair up in a bun and is wearing a track jacket with sweatpants. This is Sami Jo Small, the founder of the CWHL. To the right is a small woman with long hair brushed back and a dress shirt with a blazer, along with makeup. This is Dani Rylan, the founder of the NWHL.

"What seems to be the problem, girls?" Sami asks with crossed arms.

"We were just attacked by men power players," Jessica explains placidly. "Two from the NHL, one was unrecognizable."

"He’s from the CHL," Julie exclaims from the other side of the tattered wall.

Jessica nods her head at the hologram. "Yeah."

Dani has her eyes fixed on the dried vine clinging onto the wall behind the power players. "Oh, one of them is Auston, if I’m not mistaken."

Hilary nods her head with pursed lips. "Yup. He did it again."

"You girls are alright though, right?" Sami asks with concern.

Emily peers at them with excited eyes. "Yup! Hilary and I saved the day!" She throws her hands in the air.

"It was so cool!" Erica squeals with her fists by her chin. "They merged!"

Dani’s eyebrows rise up. "Wow. That bad?"

Hilary nods her head slowly. "Yeah. They had us cornered. Luckily, we got out."

"What do you advise us to do about this?" Jessica asks the two founders. "These are men from different leagues. We have no idea why men from the NHL want to attack and annihilate us. We are on good terms with the GHP."

Dani and Sami turn to each other with looks of disquiet. They then turn back to the ladies.

"I’ll call Gorman regarding this," Dani answers firmly. "I, unfortunately, do not know the founder of the CHL, but Gorman should know." She then steps out from the screen, disappearing from sight.

"What happened to the men?" Sami asks.

Julie returns back with the group, halting next to Jessica. "I made them unconscious so that we can figure out what to do with them. Buy us more time."

She nods her head. "And where are they?"

"In the same place they were struck out," Hilary forces out uneasily.

"They should be removed from the base’s premises," Sami advises gravely.

Katie raises her hand in the air slightly. "I will undertake that responsibility." She then strolls rounds in front then away from them to approach Carter.

"We can’t hold them hostage here?" Emily asks with a frown and knitted eyebrows.

Jessica peers down at her. "If we do, they are prone to attacking us again more than us escorting them out. One of them is an NHL ruler."

Emily gazes ahead of her with narrowed eyes. "Right."

Katie then returns to the group, halting in between Nicole and Dru. "They’re outside, ready to wake up any day."

Sami nods her head with her hands clasped in front of her. "Great."

Dani then slips back into view of the hologram, halting back in her place by Sami. "I just spoke to Gorman. He said that the attacks are becoming uncommon, happening to different leagues. He wants you girls to go to the GHP headquarters in Ottawa for a further discussion."

Everyone’s eyes light up with happy surprise.

"It’d be best if some of you stay behind to guard the headquarters if these men attack again," Sami points out. "More should stay than go; we need lots of protection here now that they know our location and strategies."

Hilary glares at Emily as Emily gives her a nervous grin.

"How about if one from the CWHL and one from the NWHL goes to the GHP headquarters?" Dani suggests, holding her hands out from her sides.

Sami nods her head in agreement. "I like that idea." She turns to the others. "Girls?"

Katie raises her hand in the air. "I’ll go—"

"OOO! OOO!" Emily flails her hands in the air. "I wanna go, I wanna go!"

Dani eyes the two of them tentatively. "Uhhh…"

Dru cooly lifts her hand. "I’ll go to represent the CWHL."

With a small smile, Sami turns to Dani. "You can have Pfalzer and Fitzgerald go."

Dani raises her eyebrows at her. "Are you sure?"

Emily shakes her closed fists with squinted eyes. "Pleeeaaase?"

"Certainly." Sami nods her head.

Dani then turns to the power players. "Alright then, with that—" She turns to each named woman. "—Dru Burns, Katie Fitzgerald, and Emily Pfalzer, you girls may start your way to Ottawa for the GHP headquarters."

A rare excited smile grows on Katie’s face. "Thank you so much, Ms. Rylan and Ms. Jo Small." She raises her wrist, showing her intercom. "I’ll procure the course by dint of the intercom."

She then faces Emily and Dru. "Let’s go, girls." She turns around and begins trudging through the cluttered room.

Emily and Dru follow behind her.

"Bye! Bye!" She waves giddy at them. "Bye, everyone, bye! Keep this base safe!"

Erica has watering eyes as she waves at the departing members. "Bye, Katie! Bye, Dru! Bye, Emily! I’m gonna miss you all…!" She then pulls out a handkerchief from her pants’ pocket and blows into it.

Then the three women disappear around the corner of the crumbling wall and out of sight.

The remaining members refocus their attention on Dani and Sami.

"We will keep you girls posted about the events happening in the GHP," Dani informs them. "For now, keep an eye out for the three men and continue protecting this base and our leagues."

Notes