April 8th, 2016

After more disappointing games, with ups and downs - but mostly downs - the Tampa Bay Lightning travel to Montreal, where the last game of the regular season is to be played. The Montreal Canadiens, though they tried so hard to cheat their way into the playoffs, are not in the playoffs, while the Lightning are.

The team piles into the hotel at once, a familiar place where Steven Stamkos had once made a plan to save Vladdy and TJ from the Canadiens and now is considering the same thing again. Nikita is restless and Ondrej is near tears from having to comfort his teammate all the time and the stress is getting to him.

Steven feels for him and though TJ has helped Ondrej out, Nikita's consistent baby-like behavior is driving his two linemates bonkers. And they really are babysitting the Russian winger now.

The team has lost Victor Hedman and Ryan Callahan (though both are with the team still) who are banged up from the Devils game from Thursday and Steven, himself, is day-to-day with an upper body injury. (Not a blood clot in his arm though...as that won't work for this story.) His arm is in a sling, but it is only because a skate blade from Elias had caught him on the arm and slice it open pretty badly.

It is Matt Carle, who comes up to his captain and whispers, "Stammer, you've gotta go save Vladdy. Chucky can't do it alone, it's up to you. It's time for you to take charge and lead a rescue mission."

Steven whirls around to the newly-turned-good defenseman and nods. "But where is he? We haven't a place to start."

"Stammer, relax. I know you'll find him, you did once, you can again. Start with the Bell Centre and maybe you can get a Hab or two to talk!" Carle growls, pounding a fist into his hand. "Trust me on this."

Steven watches him as he walks off and vanishes from sight.

****

Meanwhile,

"GALLAGHER, PLEASE NO!" Vladdy screams as he is finally dragged from the interior of Silo #5 back to the car. He is bleeding from a nasty cut on his lip and his eyes are bloodshot red and stained from his tears. He'd been forced to injure three of his teammates, from Ryan Callahan to Victor Hedman to his captain, Steven Stamkos.

"Come on, you're precious battered team is coming to the Bell Centre today and I wanna have you take out the Triplets!! I was saving them for this instance!" Gallagher excitedly remarks. "I'm gonna stick you in the JumboTron, where no one will find you and then during the game, you'll most likely spark and then you'll wreak chaos on your own team and you'll strike the Triplets!!" The Montreal forward's eyes light up.

"Are you happy with all of this? Are you getting some kind of sick thrill from making me hurt my own friends?" Vladdy asks, bravely.

"Are you still fighting with me?" Gallagher snarls. "Remember what I can do to you! Maybe I'll just let you hurt your entire team. Try explaining that to Yzerman!"

"But--" Vladdy drops his head.

"I didn't think so," Gallagher snarls and picks Vladdy up and heaves him with an effort into the trunk of the car, throwing in the broken stick after him. "Look at what you've done, Vladislav!" With that he slams the lid shut, trapping Vladdy inside.

The car starts and Vladdy whimpers, sniffling. He wants to know why there is electricity shooting from his hands. It only happens whenever his team would score, why? Has he really hurt his own team with his own powers?

He stares blankly at the interior of the trunk of Gallagher's car and attempts to shift into a more comfortable position. Unfortunately he finds it hard with the small cramped space and the bumpy road. And the tape and ropes around him don't help either. There is no feeling of the powers inside of him as Gallagher transfers him to the next location. He realizes that they only seem to come on game days when his team plays, which makes him question the powers all the more!

Luckily and unluckily for him, soon the vehicle jerks to a halt and the trunk opens up, where the faces of Emelin, Pacioretty and Gallagher all greet him. Vladdy blinks and then attempts to scream, but Emelin slaps his hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Damn, Gally," Emelin remarks as he keeps his hand in place much to Vladdy's disgust. "You did a number on the kid!"

"I know, I know, you can thank me later when Tampa's alive with injuries!" Gallagher sneers, putting a hand to his heart nobly. "For now help me get him inside."

They all drag Vladdy from the trunk and Gallagher closes the lid. Emelin keeps his hand cupped over Vladdy's mouth as Pacioretty and him work together to force him toward the arena and then inside, following the leader in Gallagher. They make it to the ice, where the JumboTron has been lowered to the ice.

Vladdy begins to struggle and manages to get his head away from Emelin's hand. "Gallagher, please!"

"Whining and begging don't work for me, little blondie!" Gallagher snickers. "Now, Emelin hold him still...I gotta do something with that mouth of his!"

"No!!" Vladdy screams and kicks back at Emelin. "STAMMER!! SOMEONE!! ANYONE!! HELP ME PLEASE!!"

****

Back in the hotel,

Steven calls an emergency team meeting with everyone. The Triplets all sit together with Killorn eyeing them. Victor heaves a sigh and Marchessault looks across at Matt Carle, who looks down at his feet.

"As much as I hate or rather feel awkward saying this, and I know everyone does too, Carle is apart of the team and has matured. He's told me that he's changed and I'm sure you all have seen it. I know Victor and Cally are both banged up, as am I, but our spirits aren't shaken and for Vladdy we will fight tooth and nail until we can't."

"Well, I mean," Callahan begins, folding his arms. "Coach told me to take it easy."

"Same, but for Vladdy and for Stralsy and for this team, I'll do whatever is necessary!" Victor exclaims.

"I will too, I'm just not gonna go against my coach! He told us to take it easy! Meaning that we cannot go looking for trouble and fighting with Montreal Canadiens. Stammer, I'd love to help and I love Vladdy, but I'm gonna ask you not to make me fight anyone."

Steven looks at him. "Of course."

"Heh-heh you love Vladdy, Cally?" Killorn questions with a smirk. He pulls a recording device out from below the table and pushes a red button on the front with his thumb, playing back Callahan saying, 'I love Vladdy.'

"Killer, not the time for pranks," Callahan growls.

Steven chokes back a chuckle and scolds Killorn with a look. "Come on, we gotta focus. I say that a group of us goes to the arena first, that's gonna be TJ, Kuch, Pally and me of course and we'll take two others and the rest of you can follow."

"I'll go! Vladdy's my buddy!" Marchessault announces. "I kinda miss messing with him in practice! I owe him one anyway!"

"And I'll go too!" Victor declares. "Unlike Cally, I can handle a little fighting. And I wanna wring Emelin's neck for his borderline hits or punch him the face."

"Okay, Marchy and Heddy can come!" Steven remarks. "The rest of you will follow up. I'm gonna contact Yzerman and Andreychuk now! And we're bringing Cooper! We'll need everyone! The rest of you, get suited up, literally. We're gonna take Montreal down. Project: Save Vladdy begins now!"

Everyone, except the Triplets, Marchessault, Victor and Steven exit the room. Killorn continues to bug Callahan with the recording as they walk out. As soon as they vanish, Steven looks at the group. "Alright, I can't fight, but I'm going to lead this group to battle! Okay, I'm relying on you all to instigate and hold your own. Now, let's get ready to go out there."

They get up and exit the room now.

Steven instantly calls up Cooper and tell him to notify Andreychuk and Yzerman and come to the Bell Centre. Then he contacts Dani and finds out her and Evelyna are with Andreychuk with Yzerchuk.

Before too much longer, everyone is gathered together and they all head to the Bell Centre, knowing the plan of action. As soon as they arrive, Steven takes his small crew and they lead the attack, heading through the player lot. They enter the back ice entrance and sneak toward the rink. TJ gazes around and his heart begins to pound in his chest, while Nikita hugs Ondrej's arm, looking around with fright.

Steven leads them toward the Zamboni entrance, where they can hear voices and someone shout out, "You shoulda brought your mom!" They race forward and skid to a halt, gasping in shock at the sight on the ice before them.