When humanity is threatened only the super-powered might of the Toronto Maple Leafs can be counted on to save the day. All over the continent small seeds of chaotic force have been seeking to control the powers of the National Heroes League. The battle to save the planet has begun.

Eric Staal ducks under the blast of magic that should never have gotten so close. The Minnesota Wild hero can remember when he didn’t need to work so hard to get out of the way of danger. He remembers when it would have been no problem to get behind his mind controlled teammate to take him out. That was then. Now Devan Dubnyk has nearly taken Eric’s head off, twice. Cursing as he slides behind some shrubs, the Wild knows his options are limited. He doesn’t notice his breath start to show as the air around him gets colder.

Devan, the Wild mage, can’t focus on anything except the itch in the back of his head. His vision is red tinged and hazy, and enemies are swirling around him, none of that matters. At least he still has his magic. Whatever it is that just ducked behind that bush made a bad mistake. Reaching into the earth, Devan sets off a chain reaction of exploding air pockets. The ground begins to rumble but before it detonates a thin sheet of ice proceeds a blast of cold air that shocks the mage to his knees. Devan shakes off the cold and casts a spell of insulation on himself before getting to his feet, looking up just in time to be knocked back to the ground by the meteoric landing of John Tavares: The Captain.

The Maple Leaf holds back his super chill powers, not letting the temperature drop below -30. The chaotic mind control powers that have hold of the mage can only be stopped by destroying the source. Until then it’s The Captain’s job to stall.

“Staal, you still here?” John asks. Shivering the Wild gives a thumbs up, not caring if The Captain sees. Of course, The Captain sees him and immediately dismisses the Wild hero and shifts his focus back to the mage, who is once again getting back to his feet. Magic sweeps the Leaf up and then drops him as the mage struggles to keep his concentration  on defending himself through his chattering teeth.

“Fight back, Dubbie!” Eric yells from behind his new support bush.

The words sneak past the dreadful itch and Devan almost recognizes the face of his freezing foe. But the red haze tightens its grip and Devan decides to fight ice with fire. He calls forth the heat of the Eternal Flames of Asmadden and unleashes it in a storm of fire.

John watches the Wild mage start to glow orange and feels the assault on his zone of chill and the Leaf smiles in sympathy. With an earth shattering crash another Leaf joins the fight and knocks Devan back off his feet.

“Hi John.” Auston Matthews smiles at his captain. “Mo wanted me to tell you we found the seed.”

Morgan Rielly is a technopath which means he could have sent the message over the Maple Leafs comm link as easily as thinking. If that wasn’t enough to tell John something was up, Auston’s grin would have given it away.

“What’s going on?” John asks.

Auston knocks Devan out with a hard punch without even sparing the mage a second glance, his smile grows.

“We gotta fly.” Auston says. “Something happened in Washington.”

The Leafs take off as the red haze drifts away from Devan, though only Eric sees it. With a groan the tired hero gets up and begins the task of gathering his fallen teammate.