Perils

I gathered the troops, who were all alive and well thankfully. We had been spared and luckily had survived another peril. We made sure that Gabriel was okay and that he was safe. He had called Ryan O’Reilly his teammate and had gotten a ride with him. He promised that the two of them would stay together and hang out.

We all filled Ryan in on what was going on and the man was more than willing to be open and allow Gabriel, his captain, to stay with him until everything blew over. It was nice. It was refreshing to see another team who cared. Ryan O’Reilly really was a great teammate and guy.

Before he left, the Colorado captain thanked us again for saving him in time and promised that he wouldn’t get into anymore trouble. He would remain low and keep out of the danger path. He also took Christina over to the side and told her something. The Avalanche captain looked gravely at her, almost with sorrow. I could only deduce that it had something to do with Sidney Crosby.

When he was done, they both left the four of us alone once more. I turned to my loyal trio of helpers. Before I could ask them for a suggestion as for what to do next, my best friend piped up with, “So, Nathan MacKinnon?” I looked at her and saw that she wasn’t exactly pleased with this. She was looking extremely nervous and she kept avoiding Patrick’s eye contact.

I could see that Patrick was confused over her sudden anxiety. But he didn’t press about it. He was concerned, but she caught him looking at her weirdly and swallowed her feelings. She turned away again and came over to me. Though both Blackhawks were stunned and bewildered about what was happening with us, they respected our privacy.

We stepped to the side, making sure we were out of earshot, but also had a close eye on the two men. Jonathan reached down and balled up a chunk of some snow and threw it at Patrick. It hit him square in the face, getting in his hair and all over him. He wasn’t amused, as the captain laughed at him. Patrick folded his arms briefly and frowned, before he picked up a ball of snow and hurled it at Jonathan. It missed.

“Oh come on Kaner, is that the best you got?” Jonathan taunted.

“Shut up, Jonny! My arm got caught in my jacket sleeve!”

“Sure. Try again Kanerboo!”

“I told you not to call me that!”

“Then make me shut up, Peeksy!”

I watched the blond man ball up a wad of fresh snow and stand up. He narrowed his eyes on Jonathan, before another snowball hit the winger square in the face again. The captain snorted with laughter.

“That’s it!!” Patrick roared and flung the frozen ball in the centre’s direction. This time, getting him on the left shoulder.

Jonathan brushed off the snow, but gave his friend a look. “Really? I hit you TWICE in the face!”

I shook my head and faced my friend, having enough of the juvenile behavior. She watched them now, as she whispered, “Gabe told me that Sidney had told him: ‘Love to stay and listen to your glorious muffled screams of distress, Gabe, but I need to go see your little teammate, Kinny. And when Evelyna and Christina find you, let Kaner’s precious sister know that Sid says she had best hurry and rescue her favorite Av of them all!’ How am I supposed to react to that? Patrick’s going to find out sooner or later about him. I should just tell him now, before Sidney tells him.”

“I agree, but you shouldn’t do it yet. We need to focus on saving Kinny first, then you can tell him as soon as we rescue him.”

“Alright, I think that is a good idea.”

“So, let’s go get the boys and figure out where Nathan is.” I started to walked back over to where Patrick and Jonathan were having their little snowball fight, but a hand on my arm halted me. I spun around to see Christina gazing at me. “What? Nathan’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not that. I know where Nathan is. Gabe also told me that I might want to try Vail.”

“Vail? Vail, Colorado?” I questioned. I hoped I wasn’t hearing her right.

“Yeah. Vail.”

“Vail is a prime spot for…avalanches!” I exclaimed, urgency and fear rising deep inside of me. I yanked my arm free and turned to face the boys. “We need to get to Vail ASAP!! Come on, Kaner, you suck at snowball fight. Jonathan, don’t be a dick to your friend. Now, let’s go!”

We darted to the car and got in. Jonathan was once again driving. I sat next to Patrick in the backseat. He was grinning largely. I rolled my eyes, as he lifted his hand and flicked a handful of snow he’d been holding into my face. He laughed like a child and I frowned, glaring at him.

“Don’t start something, you don’t want me to finish.”

“Okay.” He laughed.

“Trust me, Kaner, you don’t want to start a fight with my sister. I’ve raised her well!”

I smirked darkly at the blue-eyed forward beside me and I saw him look worried and he gulped with nerves.

“That’s right, Kanerboo…”

We launched off from Aspen and made it to Vail, as quickly as we could, which was exactly on the other side of the mountain. The storm had vanished, but the clouds still looked threatening and when we pulled into the lot of Vail, Colorado, it was lightly snowing like a misty rain colored dark blue on the radar.

We headed away from the lot and the car and made our way over to the mountain. We walked around, searching for Nathan, until Christina’s agonized gasp sounded a little ways away. She was pointing at one of the mountains. We all hurried over to her and I instinctively seized my brother’s hand, as I saw Christina pull Patrick close.

But what we saw wasn’t any better. Ahead, of us, bound to a tree by chains, was a horrified and struggling Nathan MacKinnon. Patrick made to scream out his name, but Christina saw the giant chunk of snow barely being held up in the mountain slope, behind him. She clamped her hand over his mouth, muffling his scream.

“Shhhh, you’re going to set off the avalanche!”

Patrick nodded and Christina let go of him. “Sorry.”

Jonathan and I were scanning the area for a visual and a plan. There was a cave, just to the side of the cluster of trees, which bore into the mountain. If we were quick enough, we could dart inside for safety. But it was risky. This was the riskiest peril yet and we still had yet to reach Tyler Seguin and Val Nichushkin.

I wasn’t about to give up hope though. And I knew that Christina loved this man. We couldn’t let him get suffocated in the avalanche. Unfortunately, Patrick and her were already sneaking up to the tree. Patrick kept watch, while Christina started to work on the chains, but gasped, stepping backward. Jonathan and I bolted forward to join them, just in time to hear my friend stutter, “That-that Penguin...he-he gagged you?”

I spotted the ball contraption draped around his neck and rolled my eyes. The Pittsburgh Penguin was REALLY getting on my nerves.

Suddenly, I felt Jonathan grab my arm. I whipped around to see an arrow shoot out from somewhere across from us. It flew straight toward...Patrick.

The blond man was unaware and we couldn’t scream or reach him in time. In the next second the arrow punctured his body, sticking into his shoulder blade. I darted forward quickly and made a rapid move to cover his mouth, as he screamed out in agony. He staggered backward and we collapsed to the snow. Instantly the forward began to bleed out of his wound.

“Peeks, are you okay?” I asked, removing my hand briefly from his mouth.

“Do I look okay? I’ve got a fucking arrow sticking out of me!”

“Good. Just checking!” I cupped my hand back over his mouth, in case he wanted to scream some more. “Jonathan!” I hissed, whipping around.

The Blackhawk captain was aiding Christina, but they were getting absolutely nowhere in their progress. He sprinted over at once and dropped down. He was looking at his friend with concern and worry. “Is he--?”

“I don’t know. Take him into the cave and get him help. I’m going to find the arrow-shooter and give him or her a piece of my mind!”

“Thanks,” Patrick weakly muffled, as he convulsed again.

I passed Jonathan his teammate and friend. He put his hand in place over Patrick’s mouth now and dragged him over toward the cave, whispering, “Hang in there, Peeksy. You’re going to be okay buddy!” They vanished into the dark cave entrance and I hoped to God that Pronger was hiding out in there.

Luckily I heard no shouts or anything that would make me go off the deep end, so I turned and scanned the area. Apart from the clanging of the chains that told me Christina was still struggling to get Nathan unbound from the tree, it was relatively quiet. I narrowed my eyes and saw a shadow moving against a sheet of ice to the side of a conveniently placed boulder. (A spectacular place to crouch and hide and shoot someone from like a sniper.)

I crept forward and jumped behind a boulder. I attacked the “shadow”, which was actually a man. I knocked the cross-bow from him and sent him with a rather loud grunt into the rocky wall of the side mountain.

As I was thrown off with the momentum, I planted my feet in the snow and skidded to a halt, raising my fists up. When the person turned, he was smirking darkly.

“Sidney Crosby!” I snarled, spitting on the ice.

“Careful, Evelyna, lest you become too loud and bury poor Kinny!”

“Fuck you Sid!” I snapped. “I’m going to strangle you and then shoot you with your own fucking cross-bow you son of a bitch! I could have learned to deal with your on-ice shit, but this...you fucking kidnapped hockey players and tried to kill them! Oh and that includes kidnapping Nichy!” That last name made him smirk darker. It made me sick inside.

“Ah Nichy, yes, he’s a sweetheart, ain’t he. And he just sounds so pleasurably helpless when you tie a nice cloth around his head to muffle his cries of, “Help me!” Oh yes…”

I felt myself freezing in place. He was trying to taunt me and get under my skin like a pest. And he really was agitating, but I wasn’t about to let him win. He wasn’t going to get me to be the one who yelled.

“Where’s the precious lovers?”

“Huh?”

“Chicago’s favorite couple!”

“Jonny and Kanerboo aren’t a couple.” I probably shouldn’t have let the nickname slip out of my mouth. I could see Sidney’s lips curling upward, cleverly. He was enjoying himself.

“Kanerboo, huh?”

“Peekaboo!” I corrected.

“No, no, you called him Kanerboo, so now I’m going to use it to mock him!”

“I’ll fucking kill you like Milan Lucic threatened to do to Montreal.”

“And yet it was nothing more than a mere empty threat!”

“But I’m not Milan Lucic!”

“But you ARE a girl.”

“I can still kick your ass!”

“I’d love to see you try. All you are doing is verbally fighting with me!”

“You’re right.” I launched off and slammed the villain against the wall. Sidney laughed, purposefully raising the volume for Christina and Nathan to hear. I punched him in the face, but it was too late. He had made it his move and wasn’t playing anymore games. The thunderous shaking and roar drew my attention away.

“AVALANCHE!!”

Notes

OH NOOOOOOOSSSSS!!!!! WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO KINNY!!!!??????!!!!!!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA - Evil Sidney Crosby

Lol Kaner, sweetie, don't EVER pie me in the face with a snowball again...I can make you pay for it! ;)
Poor Kanerboo...I mean Peekaboo! Dammit, now Sid knows his little nickname....grrrr.....
Kanerboo + Jonny = AWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDD Kazer 4 Life! :)

In other news, good boy Tazer! You OT hero you! Was Kaner the first one off the bench to kiss and hug you?? Did he say "I love you, Jonny!" yet?

Next up: I'm jumping between three POVs! So we're going to have a tender moment with Kinny and Christina! :D