Jonne smirks as the four newcomers cheer him on, but this distraction allows Bettman to land a single blow on the Baby Bolt, causing him to be knocked off of him. Jonne grunts in frustration and yells out at him, "No fair! I still had more punches on you!"

Bettman smirks. "You're in my house now. I rule around here. Besides, how will you defeat me if your savior couldn't?" He then starts to laugh as he points to the smoldering ruins of what was a cage around Vladdy.

The whole team gasps at the sight of their poor teammate, who looks as pale as a ghost and quite like the murder victims.

TJ yells out, "Why? Why did you do this?"

Bettman starts to laugh again. "Clearly your team doesn't deserve a weapon that was like Yzerchuk, so I drained brave Vladdy of his powers and made some new weapons for my chosen teams. Minions, assemble!"

Auston Matthews, Jimmy Vesey and Marc Bergevin walk out holding Quennbow the hawk, Iceburgh, and Bergevin the torch. Bergevin shoves a bound and gagged Brett Howden forward to the ground.

Oh, nice going getting captured Brett, Jonne thinks to himself with a roll of his eyes as he watches his friend struggling to get free.

"Yeah...nice try with the Girl Scout idea...maybe next time give your first round draft pick a buddy?!" Bergevin snarls.

Auston then smiles evilly at the Bolts. "So, are we finally going to test these new powers out?"

Bergevin snickers, holding Bergevin, the torch for the Canadiens in his hand that is named after him. "Sure. I get to test out my team's weapon first...which one would you like to test out Auston?"

"Iceburgh because if the name means anything, it has powers that are as cold as me."

"And me," Vesey pipes in, slapping Auston on the arm.

Auston rolls his eyes and shrugs off the hit from Vesey. He then walks calmly over to Bettman and hands him Quennbow. "Here Master, we'll let you play around with this one, since they have been your chosen team for quite a few years."

Bettman smiles at his two henchmen. "You two are so clever? Ready to have some fun decimating our enemies?"

Both Auston and Bergevin yell out, "Aye sir!"

Then all three of Bettman's weapons start to glow gold and red, and sparks start to fly from the ends of each of those weapons. All three of them then charge at the group of Bolts players.

TJ yells out to them, "We're not going to give up that easily! C'mon, let's get em!"

The Bolts all let out a battle cry and start to run towards the three bad guys, while the hostages look on, terror filling their eyes.

Meanwhile, Jonne sneaks over to where Brett is and frees him. Brett nods at him and Jonne for once keeps his mouth shut, though it is obviously paining him not to chirp his damsel friend.

They sneak over towards Vladdy's body to see what exactly Bettman did to him. When the two see Vladdy burnt, mangled, and broken, they quickly look for Yzerchuk so it can heal the savior of the Lightning, but all they see are the obsolete, shattered pieces of the Nexus One hockey stick. All that remains really is the faded, dull royal blue "N" in the middle.

Jonne gasps. "Oh my gosh...the NHL commissioner killed Vladdy and destroyed Yzerchuk!"

Brett yells out as he shakes his fist towards where Bettman is fighting TJ and Brayden. "You monster!"

Jonne whispers to Brett, somberly, "Is...is...Vladdy dead?"

Brett sighs. "It's tough to say right now, but I think he's..."

****

Vladdy sits up with a jolt in a dark place. He hears his teammates talking about him, and how he could be dead, but he's alive and well...or so he thinks. He stands up, rubs his head, and mumbles to himself, "Where am I?"

A voice comes out of the darkness, "You're in your mind, Vladdy. Be glad that you weren't killed, because it took all the power I had in me just to make you slip into a coma. That would be a shame for Tampa to lose the protector of Yzerchuk."

"Coma? But Yzerchuk..is gone. Bettman drained the powers out of me and him and used him to create other weapons...I was too weak to fight back."

The voice laughs a bit. "Does Bettman really want to test my patience? Again? This guy won't win. He thinks that he can run the NHL and win, but he can't."

Suddenly, Vladdy hears footsteps coming out of the darkness behind him. He turns around and sees an older man, but one that he recognizes as his friend.

Vladdy smiles at him, filling with a new kindred hope. "I knew you would see who's right and who's wrong. Forgive me if I lost Yzerchuk."

The older man smiles at his young protector. "That's why I'm here. This isn't Bettman's league...it's not even mine or Tampa's. The league is the fans' and ALL of the team's, not just a few. But the current commissioner is too stubborn to realize this. He's so blinded by power and money."

"Then why not step in and stop him?"

"I tried Vladdy. I really did. Him and I, we share the same abilities to create magical gifts for teams. When Montreal cheated...you have to understand that that cheating stems from Bettman. He has his chosen teams that bring him money and he can rely on. While there are unfortunately some players - like Galchenyuk - who can see through this, many are corrupted and lost."

"I see."

"Yes, you're a spot of hope and light for the future of the league, one that will combat and fight this view and help return my beloved NHL into one of peace and fairness. I chose you well. Now, let's go help out your friends, shall we?"

Vladdy smiles as a warm light engulfs the two of them, and he feels all of the warmth and happiness come back to him. And then it hits him. He knows that Gary Bettman, Auston Matthews, Jimmy Vesey and Marc Bergevin are going to get what they deserve after all. Wayne Gretsky is pissed off!