When humanity is threatened only the super powered might of the Toronto Maple Leafs can be counted on to save the day. The Leafs have undergone a major overhaul this year. Of all the changes, none has been more impactful than the addition of a squadron based tactical deployment that head coach Mike Babcock and GM Kyle Dubas designed to keep the peace on the mean Toronto streets. Today we follow Gecko squad:

Jake Gardiner can only dodge so many bullets, eventually he gets clipped. His Toronto Maple Leaf body armour takes the impact but he is still knocked off his feet.

“Be the snake, Jake.” Jake tells himself. His super power of transforming into a giant serpent or thousands of smaller snakes is not as destructive as some of his teammates but is still pretty useful and awesome. Veering into one thousand, seven hundred, and twenty three Gardiner snakes would be very handy in his current situation of being shot at by half a dozen hired goons. Bad news for Jake, his powers don’t seem to be working. It’s not that he doesn’t want to change into snakes or can’t remember how, it’s almost like the snakes would rather be Jake.

As a child Jake used to turn into snakes to scare his mom and dad. As he got older he learned to hide his gifts and only became snakes when he was alone. It was only after he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs that Jake finally felt as if his snakes were valued. The Leafs encouraged Jake to expand his powers, to turn into more snakes and bigger snakes. Now Jakes future with his beloved Leafs is murky and the snakes are rattled. He can try to ignore it but it’s still there, coiled in his psyche, slithering through his every thought.

Jake pulls out his gun to fire back at the goons, which buys him a few more seconds. He tries so hard to use his power that he bites through his lip. The blood taste makes him want to spit but he swallows it down behind gritted teeth. He knows what to do, it just won’t happen. Desperate, he yells and empties his clip, then the room is rocked by an impact.

Jake takes a peek and sees Carl Soderberg, hero of the Colorado Avalanche, stepping on the neck of one of the goons. He holds another over his head and rips the struggling man in half. A third and fourth goon are scattered about in tiny pieces, killed by Carl’s arrival. The last two goons seem to have run off. Jake stands up and brushes drywall dust off his armour.

“No one from my team was nearby?” Jake asks, knowing most of the Leafs and Avalanche heroes were fighting an army of mutant killers on the bright side of the moon.

“Leafs?” Carl looks over at Jake and shrugs. “Haven’t seen them all night.”