Three months later…


The goal horns blow.

The sirens go off.

The fans cheer.

Steven raises the golden stick in the air with pure triumph. Behind him is Jake, who is slumped against the boards with closed eyes and a frown.

The scene is dragged to aside, revealing Steven’s box for the matchup standings on the screen. His white-coloured standing on the top right corner against the pure blue background is pulsing 29-0-0.

Tommy pulls away from that half of the screen and turns to his right.

The other half of the screen is taken up by a group video chat with the other founders and league rulers.

“Do you know why he is undefeated while the others have reasonable records?” Tommy asks the sophisticated people.

“He must be a great fighter!” Ed remarks.

Tommy does not seem amused. “No, it’s because he cheats his way to win.” He reaches back to the keyboard and swings his cursor to the video of Steven and Jake’s matchup. He drags the playhead back to the beginning of the countdown and clicks on the play button.

BZZT! BZZT! BZZT—!

Tommy hits the pause button. “See?”

Now the frozen video is displaying a still of Steven directing bolts toward the base of the power-negating field as the field itself is lowered to his knees. Behind the power player’s body, the wraparound screen between the first and second level of the audience is red.

Tommy swings his cursor on the lightning-coated base. “Right THERE.” He then drags it to the red screen in the background. “Right there...the light is still red and…” He brings the cursor back to the barrier. “...he strikes the barrier.”

Maddie gasps with her eyes ahead. “That’s not cool!”

“Okay, that’s rude!” Dylan remarks with a scoff.

“What are you planning on doing concerning this, Mr. Gorman?” Dani asks. “We see it’s extremely unfair.”

Tommy sighs wearily as he leans against his chair. “I’ve tried everything: I put up the power-negating barriers, I even tried to contact him but he fried my computer through the waves. That was a massive delay.”

Hannah sports a haughty look. “Why don’t we as Rulers teach him a lesson?”

“No, not even you guys are safe.” Tommy shakes head. “He has electrokinesis and powers are activated through the cups and trophies by electricity. Therefore, he has the potential to damage your powers. Most of the team powers have already been severely damaged by him.” He straightens up. “The last thing I want to happen is any of your powers becoming damaged. We need to keep you guys safe from him since your powers are so critical and precious.”

Stuart gives him a suspicious expression. “Are you sure there’s no way for us to help? I don’t want to watch this and not be able to do anything.”

“I know,” Toews speaks up with an annoyed tone, “it makes us sound useless, but there really is nothing we can do about it.”

Hannah shoots a dirty look ahead. “Don’t you have reality manipulation?”

“I do, but if I use that power—which takes a long time to conjure—he can warp it in some weird way.” He gives a slight frown. “I can’t take the risk.”

“Stamkos is going to ruin all of our powers!” Maddie cries out, throwing her head back with her arms from her sides.

“No,” Tommy remarks firmly. “I have the ultimate way to stop him…”

The rulers and founders stay silent with hopeful looks.

“...but it has a grave downside,” he finished off softly.

Their faces slightly fall.

“I am going to need to terminate the power player system of the NHL.”

All tones of gasps sweep across the screen.

“Gorman!” Toews shouts.

Maurice makes a skeptical look. “Is that necessary?”

“This is too much for me.” Tommy shakes his head with a frightened look. “These team powers being damage can hurt the power players physically on the long run. To avoid further damage and shut down Stamkos and his unethical behaviour, I must shut down the system.”

“So that means there would be no more powers in the NHL?” Stuart slowly points out.

Tommy nods his head with closed eyes. “That’s right.” He peers up at them and halts his movements. “No team powers, no power players. It will be just like how the public perceived it like before Clague and his mishap.”

Silence takes over the room.

Dani then breaks the silence: “Whatever is best for your league, Mr. Gorman, do it. The league and its players are your number one priority.”

Tommy gives her a small smile. “Thank you, Ms. Rylan.”

“Well, it was good working with you in the supernatural universe as it lasted,” Maurice tells him with a reverent bow of his head.

Tommy returns to him the bow. “Same here, Mr. Podoloff.”

“Exactly what Maurice said I say to you!” Ed chirps in.

He nods at him. “Yes indeed, Mr. Chynoweth.”

“When are you planning to initiation the extermination of your power player system?” President Roosevelt asks the founder with graveness.

He gazes at him, dropping his happy look. “I was planning tomorrow afternoon to disconnect the Cup before the next set of games.”

“Very well. Good night, Mr. Gorman.” With that, President Roosevelt’s window turns back.

Tommy peers at everyone else. “Good night, everyone!”

Then with a chorus of “good night”s and “bye”s, each window flicks to black.

Except for Toews’s.

“Jonathan, you can hang up now,” Tommy tells him gently. “The meeting has been dismissed.”

“Are you really going to shut down the system?” Toews asks with subtle trepidation. “You’re going to take the powers away from us?”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I have to. It’s for the wellbeing of the league and its players.”

“But Stamkos hasn’t played against all thirty teams—”

“I know,” Tommy cuts in, “but he is going to fight against the same people again. He can’t be damaging their powers even more.”

Dismay takes over his face. “So there’s no other way?”

Tommy shares his expression. “This is the last resort.”

“Okay…” Toews casts his eyes down. “Good night, Gorman.”

“Good night, Jonathan.”

Then Toews’s window snaps to black.

Notes