Jamie and Gabriel’s POV

The video footage came in from Colorado and the Pepsi Center finally. With the footage of the AAC and the Pepsi Center, Jamie and Gabriel set to work on watching them in the room. Jamie got the room set up and ready. They felt like they were film artists and not hockey players.

“We should wait for Tyler,” Gabriel remarked.

“I don’t know. Tyler’s probably not gonna be back in time. Let’s start ‘em and if he comes in we can fill him in,” Jamie suggested.

“Alright. That’s fine.”

Jamie put in the Pepsi Center footage first. He hit play and they saw on the projector screen that the camera was pointed right toward the bench where the water bottles sat. A few minutes lapsed on the recording and soon a black figure appeared. Gabriel cocked his head and Jamie leaned forward. They watched as the figure poured some powdery substance into one of the bottles from a plastic ziploc bag.

Gabriel bit his lip and leaned forward. His face was full of curiousness. He studied the man for a second, before his eyes drifted to the bag in his hand. He thought back, trying to remember what had happened that day.

The Avalanche Captain gasped. “Oh my God!”

“What? What is it?” Jamie spun around to him, wondering what he was gasping about.

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions yet, but I think I know who the figure is!” The blond Colorado winger put his hands over his mouth and continued to watch. He saw the man deflate with frustration and then slip up to another water bottle - Nathan’s - and deposit more of the powder from the bag. Could it be--? Was it--?

He remembered back that day and how he discovered Jonathan Drouin in the locker room. But he still wasn’t sure. The man had the same bag of powder, but they still had no clear proof. No facial recognition. It could or couldn’t be the Tampa Bay Lightning rookie.

The footage ended with the man scampering off the ice and vanishing. He seemed pretty well disguised and seemed to know not to look at the camera. They had no visual on his face. And that didn’t help them.

Jamie swapped the tapes, sticking in the AAC video. He pressed play and after a few moments, Gabriel gasped again. Jamie jumped up to his feet. The Avalanche winger’s eyes were wide.

“Pause the tape!” Gabriel exclaimed.

Jamie hit a button and turned to his friend. “What did you see?”

“It’s--It’s--”

“Spit it out man, we don’t have all day or night!”

“It’s Jonathan Drouin!”

Jamie’s blood ran cold. He whipped around to look at the still image on the projector screen. Looking up and smirking in amongst a group of Dallas fans, was the Lightning forward. And he had the same black outfit on, but minus the hood, which was down, behind him. He looked to be on a purpose.

“He-he was in the AAC?!”

Gabriel nodded.

“But--Tyler’s out there!!” Jamie exclaimed, fear creeping into his voice.

“He’s in terrible danger! We have our answers! Let’s get him and then get to the Psychologist place at once!”

Jamie nodded. He didn’t need to be told twice. They had to find his linemate. But he was worried that something bad had happened to Tyler. Why hadn’t he come back by now? “Drouin has him! He’s probably captured Tyler!” the Dallas Star screamed, panicking.

“We’ll find him!”

They darted out of the room and rushed down the hallway, heading for the lobby, where Tyler had been sent to search for clues first. They yelled for the young Dallas Star forward, “TYLER!! TYLER SEGUIN!!”

Eventually they skidded into the near-empty lobby. There were still a few people scattered about. They looked up at them, when they entered.

“Has anyone seen Tyler Seguin?” Gabriel asked. And then he realized that a Colorado Avalanche player asking about a Dallas Star didn’t seem normal. People looked at him bizarrely, like he was an alien. “Uh…” He trailed off, as Jamie leapt to action and began to ask the people, earning a shake of the head and more of a dear-in-the-headlights look.

A man was pulling at a door across the way. He was irritated. “Dammit, why won’t this thing open?!”

“Jamie, over there!” Gabriel called, pointing toward the man struggling with the locked door.

The Dallas Captain scampered up to him, as they slipped up to help him out. Jamie tried the key, but it was no use. He spun to the man. “Is there a back door to this room?”

“Yes, but--”

“Where is it?!” Gabriel demanded.

“Go around the corner and turn right--”

“Thanks! Tyler hold on buddy, Benny’s coming!” Jamie screamed at the door.

They took off and followed the directions, hoping that this door wasn’t jammed as well. Sure enough, it seemed Jonathan Drouin hadn’t know much about the AAC and this door. It was unlocked and Jamie swung the door open. He flipped on the light and spotted a moving blanket. He heard muffled sounds coming from underneath and darted up. He instantly yanked the blanket away and Gabriel gave off a high-pitched gasp.

They saw Tyler, helplessly bound to a chair and gagged with some black duct tape. Jamie peeled back the tape over Tyler’s mouth at once.

“Jamie, it’s Jonathan Drouin! He did it!” Tyler gasped at once, gulping in air.

“We know. We watched the videos. The man poisoned Nathan and Val!”

“And lied to me about Iggy’s drug problem! He tricked me, man!” the Avalanche Captain tacked on.

Gabriel and Jamie worked to untie Tyler from the chair. He thanked them, respectfully and kindly and then jumped up.

“We have to get to Nathan and Val! Jo told me he plans to kill them!” Tyler exclaimed.

“Right! Let’s get out of here and get over there!” Jamie remarked. He led the way and unlocked the main door for the Center cleaning guy, who was shocked and bewildered, but shrugged it off.

They didn’t have time to stay and chat and explain that someone had locked Tyler in there and bound him to a chair. Instead the three hurried outside and over to Jamie’s car. They got in and instantly took off.


Nathan’s POV

“What I wouldn’t give for Landy to be here!” I sighed. It was pushing on an hour now, since we’d ended our session and hung out with the Blackhawk trio.

“Landy?” Jonathan and Patrick questioned.

“Gabriel Landeskog.”

They sighed and “oh”ed.

“So, how can we escape this place?” I asked the trio of Blackhawks.

“I don’t know. We’ve all tried. But we’ve been stuck in here for almost a week though.” Patrick shrugged. “I mean, it’s not all bad, cause I’m stuck with Jonny!”

“And I’m stuck with Kaner!”

They chuckled and brushed noses. I saw Jaydrien turn away and roll his eyes. He was not a fan of their “super bromance”.

“Can you two stop with the lovey-dovey-ness? You weren’t this bad when you came here to begin with. You weren’t so flamboyant! Now you’re off the charts!” Jaydrien grumbled.

“It’s probably the psychologist!” I remarked. “Or Jo!”

Jaydrien frowned. “Just call her Dolphi.” He brushed his little rat tail again with his hand and blinked.

“I’m not that comfortable with calling her by her name when she raped me, Jaydrien! You may be okay with it, but I am not!” I snapped.

“Okay, man, easy.” The rookie raised his hands up in surrender.

“Easy, MacKinnon,” Jonathan scolded, as Patrick swiped his index finger at his friend’s nose and tapped it.

“No!” the blond winger for Chicago stated justly. “No Angry Jonny, only Happy-Fun Jonny!”

I shook my head. We had to figure out a way to escape and get out of there. By now there was no one but us five in the lobby area, just standing to the side, chatting. I thought hard, racking my mind for an idea, and right as one popped into my brain, the Dallas Star spoke up.

“Jo!” Val exclaimed, pointing at the door. His eyes shimmered with fright and he hid behind Jaydrien, who actually looked at him and then patted him in comfort.

I whirled around and saw a hooded figure walking into the place, toward us. In his hand, at his side, he gripped a knife. I stood up, blocking his path to anyone else. If he was going to kill them, he’d have to go through me and this was between us two anyway.

“Nathan MacKinnon, long time no see.”

Yup, that voice was so familiar. It was him. Jo reached up, still holding the knife and removed his hood. He stood glowering and I swear he looked like a Hollywood villain! He was evil. And he was here to end things.

So was I.

“Time to settle this Jo, me and you and no one else!”

“My thoughts exactly, Nathan.” The evil Lightning forward flicked his arm, holding the knife in it to the side. It was a signal.

Behind him, I saw Tyler Seguin, Gabriel Landeskog and Jamie Benn skid in. The doors closed behind them.

“Good, everyone is here! Now, let’s begin, shall we.”

Jo snapped his fingers and personnel from the hospital rushed out. Two people grabbed Tyler, two people grabbed Gabriel, two grabbed Jamie and two grabbed Val. I heard the poor Russian scream in fright, as he was restrained by the two people. I would help him and save him. Jo would not get away with this! They were all pulled to the sides and held still in place. I watched my friends struggling in the holds, but unable to slip free or put up much of a fight. Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks, all united to stop the Lightning’s rookie!

Jo then stalked forward and came up to the shaking Blackhawk veteran duo, as they grabbed each other. “It’s a shame...the Blackhawks were led by two of the best forwards...but now, they quiver in fear at the sight of the Mighty Jonathan Drouin!”

This wasn’t a hallucination! I knew that. I watched Jo force Patrick to one side and Jonathan to the other. Both slammed hard into the walls and collapsed on the grounds. They were immediately swarmed by more of Jo’s henchmen, who grabbed them and forced them up to their feet.

“JONNY!!” the blond man screamed, launching forward against the holds.

“PATRICK!!” the brunette man cried and jerked forward as well.

“Shut up!” Jo snarled and stomped his foot on the ground. “Just shut up! I’m sick of the bromance!”

He whipped around and faced the last man standing, behind me. Jaydrien Spooner. The rookie began to back away, but he backed into a pair of hands, which wrapped around him and pulled him out of sight. He yowled in shock. Poor guy. Jo shrugged and turned to me now.

“Now, Nathan MacKinnon, where were we?”

“You’re an asshole, Jo!” I hissed, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Right.”

Jo swung out with his hand, the one that held the knife in it and narrowly missed slicing my ear off. I ducked to the side, dodging his strike. I spun around and faced him, as he recovered.

“It’s not fair that you have a weapon and I don’t!”

“It’s not fair that you got to play in the NHL and I had to sit and nurse my injured hand! Life’s a bitch, ain’t it, MacKinnon?” Jo snarled, as he prepared to strike again.

I watched his movements carefully and escaped him again. But in the process, I tripped over my feet and crashed to the ground.

“NATHAN!!” I heard my Captain yowl.

Jo spun around and glared at Gabriel. One of the men covered his mouth with their hand. The golden blond man didn’t much approve of this or like it. He muffled his displeasure and helplessly struggled. I felt for him.

“Jo, let them go! This is between you and me, not them!” I snapped at my ex-friend.

“No, Nathan. I’m not going to release them. Landeskog shouldn’t have opened his mouth to begin with.”

I crawled backward on my hands and elbows, gaping at him in shock and horror. The evil Lightning player dove forward and I instinctively raised my hands up to shield his attack and managed to grab his wrist and halt him. He pushed downward, grunting with the effort. I could feel him winning the battle and I let off a yelp of distress and attempted to muster some strength...anything, to get him off course.

He continued pressed down, the knife blade getting closer to my throat. “Say goodbye Nathan MacKinnon!”

Notes

AHHHHHH!!!!! NATHAN!!!!! Oh noooooosss!!!!
Will Jo kill him?? Can Tyler recover from his trauma? Where's the Psychologist??


Next up: Resolution Stuff! :D