Towering triumphant over the Manitoba skyline, Canwest Place rises a lofty thirty-three stories above the prairies. While this is remarkable in Winnipeg, the three Toronto Maple Leafs standing on the roof of the building are not impressed. This has little to do with any sort of comparison between Toronto and Winnipeg, and all to do with the circumstance the three Leafs are in.

Morgan Reilly, Leo Komarov, and Jake Gardner have spent all of Tuesday night and now most of Wednesday morning waiting on this roof. They picked it because it offers a nearly flawless view of the whole breadth of the prairie jewel that is Winnipeg. They never expected to remain in place all night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not only a historic hockey franchise, they are they greatest team of superheroes the world has ever known. As such they cannot allow road trips to disrupt the delivery of vigilante justice to the creepy minions of evil that infest our world. Except that infestation seems to have missed Winnipeg.

“This sucks.” Jake says.

“I told you it would.” The Leafs are not alone in the roof.

Jacob Trouba shouldn’t even be in Winnipeg, but he can’t help himself. The young defender has refused to report to camp, causing a minor scandal and a major headache.

“How the hell am I supposed to develop my skills when nothing ever happens here?” Jacob whines.

“Just relax.” Morgan tells him. “There is no way it’s like this every night. There’s gotta be crime somewhere.”

“Over there, look!” Leo shouts, pointing across the river.

A fire has started at a construction site.

“Go Leafs Go!” Leo shouts as he uses his powers to blast himself into the air, rocketing toward the danger.

“Don’t bother.” Jacob says to Morgan and Jake.

The Leafs are about to ignore their colleague when a shocking sight stops them in their tracks.

Materializing from nothing, an enormous pail of water appears in the sky, tipping its contents onto the blaze. The fire is doused instantly and the bucket disappears as mysteriously as it arrived. Even the water is gone, leaving only sopping embers.

“What the hell was that?” Morgan asks.

“That,” Jacob answers. “Is my problem, Big Buff.”

Before the Leafs can answer Leo lands on the roof wetly. He is grinning from ear to ear.

“Did you guys see that?” Leo laughs. “The power, he didn’t even break a sweat!”

“Who?” Jake asks.

“Him.” Leo answers, pointing.

“Oh no.” Says Jacob. The wayward Winnipeg Jet slinks into the shadows.

All two hundred and fifty pounds, standing six and a half feet tall, of Dustin “Big Buff” Byfuglien float toward Canwest Place on a magic carpet larger than a hot tub. The human behemoth lands and scoops up Leo in a bear hug. Leo’s force field protects him from any serious harm.

“Hey there, Leafs!” Dustin speaks with the voice of a brachiasaur booming out across the night sky. “Having a good night? Nice and quiet in my city right?”

“Yeah.” Morgan answers. “It’s awesome. How do you manage it all?”

Dustin grins as a hot mug of coffee appears in his hand. The mug is red with black lettering which reads ‘The Older I Get The Better I FUCK.’

“You guys want some coffee? Maybe a beer?”

“I’ll take a beer.” Jake says.

“Me too.” Leo adds.

Two beers materialize directly in the Leafs hands from nothing and out of nowhere.

“But how?” Morgan asks again.

“It’s simple really.” Dustin explains between sips of his coffee. “I can create anything I can imagine.”

Morgan is stunned into silence. The devastating potential of such powers could realistically threaten all life on the planet. If Big Buff got into a bad enough mood there would be no stopping him.

“Well not anything.” Dustin continues. “It has to be something that I understand really good. Food is easy, so are hockey sticks, or hockey pucks, or hockey pads. And that bucket I made was pretty sweet too right. I can’t make like, people, or cars, or stuff. But I can do this.” With a wink Dustin manifests a table with four chairs. A pipping hot, thirty-six inch, thin crust pepperoni pizza rests on the table waiting to be devoured.

Without any sort of formality Dustin sets to his work. The Leafs take their seats and dig in. Suddenly a strange voice interrupts the meal.

“Mister Buff sir.” It is Patrick Laine, the first round pick of the Winnipeg Jets. Or at least, it is the head of Patrick Liane, the rest of him is stretched out near to his full length. Patrick can just get his chin over the side of the roof with is feet on the ground.

With a full mouth Dustin berates his rookie teammate. “Damn it Pat! I told you to wait for me down stairs. No rookies.”

“I’m sorry mister Buff sir, my beer senses were tingling. I was wondering if I could have some too.”

“No!” Buff yells. He looks across the table to the Leafs. “Stupid rookies right. They are all just so stupid. You guys know all about that right, your little wonder kids, your little super saviour starchild Auston Matt…”

Jake is the closest to Dustin. He places his pointer finger on the big mans lips and shakes his head. Leo and Morgan are shaking their heads too.

“What the fuck?” Dustin asks.

“We don’t say his name.” Morgan says. Dustin begins to protest. “Just don’t.”

Something in the Leafs tone gives Dustin pause. Of course his only response to being challenged has always been to destroy the challenger. Things are about to get very heated when the forgotten rookie begins to shout.

“It’s him, Buff, he’s here!” Patrick is flailing wildly with his head, using his nose as a pointer.

As the young Finn’s face swings towards the building Jacob steps out and connects with a right hook square in Patrick’s jaw. “Damn it rookie.” He says.

Dustin leaps from the table, which disappears back into the nothing from which it came, along with the pizza and beers.

“Trouba!” Big Buff roars as he tears across the roof toward his erstwhile teammate. He flings a barrage of hockey puck at Jacob, pummeling him to the roof. The young Jet is defenseless against the fury that Dustin unleashes. To his credit, Jacob does not lay down, but the outcome is never in doubt. Dustin keeps bashing Jacobs unconcious body after it stops moving.

“He’s going to kill him.” Leo observes.

“Crap.” Morgan says as he rushes toward the enraged Jet.

Leo and Jake look at each other for a second then move in to help. Jake turns himself into a giant serpent and races past Morgan to wrap himself around Dustin’s arms. The snake still has Jake’s face and he smiles at Big Buff as they struggle.

“Calm down big guy.” Jake says.

Morgan grabs Jacobs shoulders and pulls him to the edge of the roof. He takes a last glance at the action before he leans back and falls. The Toronto Maple Leaf unmanned aerial attack drone catches the pair and Morgan flies away without a second look. His teammates will be fine without him.

On the roof, Jake is beginning to lose his hold.

“Leo!” Jake yells.

“Now!” Leo answers.

Jake splits into several hundred tiny snakes which scatter every which way, slithering off the roof. At the same time Leo rockets himself straight at Big Buff, toppling the big man. Leo blasts clear of the roof then uses his commlink to reach Morgan.

“He’s down, but I doubt he will be for long.”

“No problem.” Morgan says. Morgan is a techno-path. This means that he can use any digital technology around him, using only his mind. It is a simple thing to read Dustin’s contact list off his phone. That way Morgan knows Buff will answer when it rings.

Dustin wakes to the sound of his phone. The ringtone is the lullaby ‘hush little baby.’ Dustin pulls out his phone and answers.

“Mom?”

“Nope.” Morgan says. “Just relax now. We have Jacob, you messed him up really good, that will just have to be enough for you.”

“It’s not.” Dustin growls into the phone. “He is abandoning his team. He is a traitor. I hope they trade him into our division.”

“Well that won’t happen any time soon. Why don’t you collect your rookie, shave off his awful moustache, then go rub one out real quick before bed. We’ll see you at the game, maybe grab some wings after.”

“Sounds good.” Dustin answers. “Oh, and you guys are assholes, you know that right.”

“Go Leafs Go.” Morgan says, ending the call.