Peekaboo

While our heroes reached Lord Nemo’s land, Lauren rushed into the main room, where the orb of energy was and where Nemo was terrorizing Jonathan. He had the Blackhawk chained up once more and back on the slate of wood once more. Nemo was talking to him, finishing up his “verbal torture session.” She clutched the silver stick sword named Showtime in her hands.

“Think you have hope now, Toes?” Nemo was taunting the poor Chicago Blackhawk.

Jonathan just hung his head, not responding. And part of that was due to the fact that apparently the evil Shark’s goalie didn’t want the Blackhawk talking back to him or anything. There was a smoky cloud of energy that hovered in place, just over his mouth. It was keeping him silent. It had replaced the cloth that had been there earlier.

“Not very talkative today…”

No really? Jonathan thought to himself. You’re gagging me with some kind of gray cloud stuff.

Lauren burst into the room, holding Showtime in her hands. She was beaming with pride and success. She came over toward Nemo. “Lord Nemo, as promised, Patrick’s grand sword! Told you I wouldn’t come back empty handed.”

The evil man whipped around to face her. His eyes glittered with delight, as they landed on the special sword in her hands. Jonathan’s head snapped upward and instantly he looked worried. How exactly had she gotten Patrick Kane’s sword? He struggled against the chains and tried to toss his head and get the cloud stuff off of his mouth. He wasn’t entirely sure at the moment if being gagged with tape, a handkerchief or this smoke cloud was worse.

Nemo turned on his heels to look at him, glowering evilly. “Looky what I got, Jonny Boy.” He snatched Showtime from his partner’s hold and pointed it out at Jonathan, who gazed at it, worriedly. He whimpered, which came out much more pitiful and pathetic than he intended it to sound.

Nemo snapped his hands and instantly the smoke faded away. Jonathan gasped in air.

“Give it to me, Toes. Go on.”

“You’re despicable, Nemo. Where’s the man who played with the Blackhawks and won the Cup? Where’s that Nemo?”

“Gone. Got traded to Shark Territory.” He cackled sinisterly. “Don’t try to play dumb with me or weasel your way out. I’m going to destroy you and Kanerboo and all the Blackhawks.”

“Patrick will still stop you!”

“HA! He doesn’t have his precious sword with him. How can he? Moreover, how can you still have hope?” Lauren spat. She stepped forward and grabbed Jonathan roughly by his chin. He tried to jerk free, but was halted each time. It made him let off a loud grunt of distress. She just shook her head and dug her nails in deeper. “Silly Blackhawk.”

“He’s smart and I know he will. I know you are still scared. You know he can still win.” Jonathan pushed away the pain he was feeling inside and out, and mustered his bravery. He knew he might have to pay for it, but he had Patrick’s back and he trusted him with his life. Nemo wouldn’t kill him yet, so he could be cocky if he wanted to.

“Then I guess I’m gonna have to finally take care of him, eh?” Nemo sneered, looking over Showtime and smirking.

“You won’t kill him!” The Blackhawk jerked his head free from Lauren’s firm grip and glared at both villains.

“Maybe not. I might just banish him or take his memories…you know, something a little less messy.”

“No!! Leave him alone!”

“Do I have to gag you again?” Nemo threatened. “I don’t think you like it, given all the helpless looks you give me, but I don’t want to hear you continually going against me or screaming “No, Nemo, don’t hurt Peekaboo”...yuck.” He rolled his eyes with disgust and annoyance.

“Antti,” Lauren spoke, “I suggest we test out Patrick’s strength. If he is the new object of the prophecy--”

“Wait…? What?” The evil Shark turned to her, looking at her weirdly. “What do you mean, Patrick’s the one the prophecy is talking about? It’s Jonny Boy!”

“Well, think about it, everything always goes back to Patrick. He was the first one here, he has this stupid stick-sword, he’s on a mission! He’s the hero and he will win. We need to stop him or test him. It’s time to see about achieving our goal. We have everything we need, so now let’s take over the kingdom. Let’s end some Blackhawks - whatever those are - and win!!” Lauren explained.

“You’re not going to win! Patrick will--” Jonathan snapped.

Nemo flicked his hand with the staff in it and the Blackhawk Captain was gagged once more with the cloud stuff. The San Jose goalie was getting stronger and stronger by the minute and this “new form of magic” he had, being able to whip up cloud dust and have it entangle around a person like a snake was due to his power.

“I’ve got a better idea, Lauren, let’s see what all “Showtime” can do!” Nemo spoke. He passed his staff to the princess and walked away from Jonathan, who was struggling in place once more, emitting soft, muffled whimpers of distress.

The Shark goalie flicked his hand with the sword in it like a wand and waved it frantically around in the air, as though he were fending off an army of flies or bees. It glowed a deep blood red color and suddenly the whole palace began to shake and tremble. Soon thorns burst out of the floors all around.

Nemo stopped and walked out onto his balcony. He looked out with tremendous glee. His view of the lake and all the mountains and mist was shielded by a sharp thicket of thorns and out in front, leading up to his castle, was a vast, complex maze. It was like combining a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to a scene out of the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty. He began to snicker to himself.

Showtime glowed brightly in his hand and he punched it up into the air. Red sparks lit up the air and shot off toward the maze.

“Let’s see the heroes and the precious leader, Peekaboo deal with this little peril.”

The sparks landed in random parts of the maze and there was a glow that followed the “landing” of the red bursts of light. It made the Shark smirk larger. Finally he dropped the sword and slid it down into his holster. He stormed back into his castle, where Lauren had unchained Jonathan and rebound his wrists with the rope.

The poor Blackhawk was on the ground, with his head slumped. He was refusing to acknowledge his doubt. Suddenly all his hope that he had was vanishing. Lord Nemo had the upper hand and he was winning. It was only a matter of time before evil won and the Blackhawks and good guys would lose.

“Where’s your hope now, Jonny Boy?” Nemo sneered, as he snatched his staff back and put it under Jonathan’s chin.

And yet...he knew Patrick Kane wasn’t one to give up easily.

“Where’s the thief and Russian?” Lauren asked.

“They’re locked away,” Nemo replied.

“Would you like me to go and check on ‘em?”

“You wanna?”

“Sure. I’d love to play around a little bit with the Dallas Stars.” She twirled a strand of her hair in her finger.

“Well, you can go have your fun, I’m going to have a little fun with Peekaboo, I think.”

Jonathan finally looked up and shook his head. His eyes were wide open and he tried to say something, but only emitted it muffled. He tried to slip out of the rope entangled around his wrists.

Nemo just laughed at him. “You’re so adorable, Jonny Boy. Haven’t you seen Maleficent capture Prince Philip or maybe Mother Gothel chain up Flynn Rider? You should know that you can’t get free from a villain’s knotwork.”

“Ain’t that the truth!” Lauren tacked on, before reaching out and ruffling Jonathan’s hair, much to his displeasure. Then she walked out of the room and headed down the hallway, heading toward the dungeon area, where Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin were locked away.

“C’mon, Jonny, let’s go see Patrick. You want to, right?” Nemo grabbed Jonathan and yanked him to his feet.

The poor Blackhawk was “screaming.” He tried to squirm and jerk himself free of the tight grip on him, but it was difficult and he couldn’t move much. Nemo threw his head back and cackled wickedly. He snapped his fingers somehow, while still holding the staff. The cloud stuff dissolved over his mouth once more.

“What--What are you doing with me?” Jonathan gasped.

“We’re going to go see Patrick.”

“No, we’re not. You’ve got something dastardly up your sleeve! Where are you taking me?”

“To see Patrick Kane and all his little friends. But he may or may not save you. We shall see.”

“What do you mean?”

“Basically...let’s fulfill that wish of yours, okay?” The Shark waved his staff and vanished in smoke with the centerman.

The two reappeared outside. They were in a small square clearing and after some realization, Jonathan figured out that he was in the maze somewhere. All around them grassy brush surrounded them and directly ahead of them, there was an opening to a path that looked like it zigged and zagged around, like a maze setup.

Overhead, Nemo’s pet dragon circled in the air. The starting San Jose Sharks goalie whirled his staff into the air and the animal gave a shriek and then zoomed off back to the castle.

Jonathan looked up at the sky where the dragon was once at. "Oh, so you're still controlling that dragon?" he asked with annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, that's Stalock--he always does what I want him to do...he fears me." Nemo smirked a bit and winked. “He knows not to go against me.”

"Stalock? Who’s that?”

"Alex Stalock."

"Who's that?"

"You don't know who he is‽ He's our second string!”

“You mean...the back-up goalie of the Sharks? He's a dragon--your dragon?"

"Certainly, I made him one. He wanted to help me out so that he can get...on my good side. But my, he just has such a big mouth; he can't keep anything to himself--!"

"Stalock has a big--"

"Shhh--!" Nemo held his staff out at the Blackhawk player, threatening him to continue talking. He’d done it once before and he wasn’t afraid to use the weapon on the Chicago Captain again.

Jonathan flinched at the threat and softly whimpered. He didn’t entirely want to be hit with the hard stone-like scepter again. It hurt. But he couldn’t help but speak his mind and question. He was the Captain of a hockey team and that was his role. He had to speak. However, he bit his lip, as the evil man continued talking to him and telling him about the dragon.

“He had to tell everything to everyone and cannot keep secrets, which was not good at all.”

“Like Tyler...uh...?” Jonathan began to say again, but trailed off, as Nemo’s eyes flashed with fury and he brought his staff into the side of Jonathan’s head. The Blackhawk yelped with agony, but couldn’t do much about it with his hands tied behind him. He shook his head lightly back and forth instead.

“Don’t speak again or I will gag you and you will not like it. Do I make myself clear?”

Jonathan nodded, unable to speak now, with the pain in his head. He chose to glare at the villain through slitted eyes.

Nemo ignored his “dark” look and continued on with his story. “Anyway, he used to be a talking dragon, but I got so sick of his talking, I had to shut him up by replacing that voice of his with dragon sounds, thanks to a spell I was able to perform on him. Now, he's much better this way."

The villain then slammed his staff down into the ground, so that it stayed put, but didn’t break. He gripped Jonathan tighter.

Yikes... The captain of the Blackhawks thought to himself. I'd hate to be turned into a dragon-- His thoughts were cut off by the Sharks' goalie dragging the Blackhawk over to the center of the square then setting him down roughly.

Sticking up out of the ground was some metal flag pole, only without a flag on it. Nemo reached over and dragged Jonathan toward it. The wicked Shark player unbound the Blackhawk’s wrists in front of him and moved him against the pole. There he took Jonathan’s arms and pulled them back behind him and tied them around the pole, behind his back.

Sure the Blackhawk centerman put up a fight and tried to slip free, but Nemo got a firm grip on his red wrists and then used magic to freeze him momentarily in place, while he got an easier grip on him.

“Why didn’t I just think of freezing him in place earlier...I could have avoided wasting all this time?” Nemo hissed with annoyance and self-inflicted frustration at himself. “Oh well…I’ve got him now!”

And before long, Jonathan was helplessly bound to the pole. He was unfrozen and began to lurch forward, attempting to pull free. The struggling for the lead Chicago player carried on with his efforts, but found it difficult to do.

Nemo rounded him. He stopped before his hostage and seized him by the chin, halting his struggles momentarily. “You may be a Canadian dream, but this Finn doesn’t think of you as a dream.”

Notes

Oh no!!!! So the dragon is Stalock!! :P
If you've stuck with me through a lot of my stories and/or have read one called "No Place" or seen my story called "Wolverine Saves Elsa" you shall know that this scene with the pole and Jonny behind tied to it, reminded me at the time of that little humor tale.
If you are squeamish though, I separated Wolverine Saves Elsa from No Place and it is on Wattpad, check it out. Kaner's dressed as Elsa! Haha!


Next up: The Maze Peril