Project Blackhawk (or The Blackhawk Experiment)

Chris Pronger zoomed through time with Patrick Kane. He was still cackling and gripping tightly to the forward. The blond Blackhawk was still bound with the smoke restraints, but he was still fighting the wicked Flyer defenseman.

Soon they landed at their destination, which was back in the Wells Fargo Center. Pronger snatched his time pad up and pocketed it. As soon as he did, Patrick was shoved to the ground. The smoke disintegrated off of him and he gulped in air, hanging his head low. Pronger whistled loudly as a command and soon two men: Zac Rinaldo and another Flyer raced into the room. They grabbed Patrick’s arms and yanked him up to his feet.

“How the fuck can I kill you, you son of a bitch!” Pronger growled and brought the back of his hand across Patrick’s pale face.

“Jonathan will find me and beat you! You can’t win, Pronger!”

“Oh, is that so? I think my time pad and remote suggest otherwise. What if we fool around with time a little, maybe some timeline will be constructed where you die a slow and painful death...just like Tavares!”

Patrick held his tense gaze. He mustered every last ounce of strength and fight in him and tore free from the grips on him. He elbowed Rinaldo and the other Flyer in the head and then raced out of the room. Pronger just stood cackling and unmoving. His laughter was so creepy that it freaked Patrick out and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest and goosebumps covering his skin. But he ran on, heading away from Pronger.

He burst from the arena and skidded to a halt. Now he knew why Pronger was laughing and hadn’t given chase. He stood frozen in place, as he looked at Michal Therrien standing with Phil Kessel and Adam Burish, who were leading some kind of evil Philadelphia Flyer army. Lying dead on the ground a few feet ahead of him and in-between the trio and army was John Tavares. He was beaten, bloodied and dead. In chains to the side was Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands grab his arms once more and wrench them behind his back. He could feel them being tied tightly together. Was this real? What was going on? Where was he? He was shoved forward and now he saw that it was all for show and play. It was all a huge hologram and he was forcibly lead forward into a building across from the arena and through the hologram. He was roughly shoved inside a white walled room, where there was already a prisoner inside.

This person had their head hung low over his chest. His hands were tied behind them and a chair and a chain was wrapped around his stomach and the chair. Another chain wrapped around the ankles, pasting his legs together. It wasn’t Sharpie or Saader or even Gabriel...but it was someone very familiar to Patrick.

“Yo Tyler, you got company!”

Tyler Seguin!?

What was Tyler Seguin doing tied up?

The person looked up at the sound of the voice. There was fire in his eyes, as he glared forward. He was bleeding for a multitude of cuts and Patrick wasn’t sure what happened or why he was there. Tyler spat to the side, spitting out blood.

Patrick was shoved down into a chair that sat back to back with Tyler’s. He was bound to the chair and rendered helpless just like Tyler, who coughed violently. One of the men walked around and backhanded him across the face.

“Shut up!”

“What I can’t cough thanks to the punishment you assholes gave me? Why the hell do you still need me, if you finally found and have him?”

“Maybe you can ask Pronger when he arrives here?”

Another slap. Patrick cringed and looked down, avoiding eye-contact.

“Maybe you two can talk some and Seggy, you can tell Kaner about what you did...heh-heh!” Rinaldo sneered, as he ruffled both of their heads and snapped to his partner who’d assaulted Tyler.

They left the room or whatever it was with a thunderous slam of the door. Instantly Patrick worked at his bonds and yanked at them. He attempted to look around at Tyler, but eventually gave up and faced forward. “What the hell does Pronger want with you Tyler?”

“Tavares...he told me what was going to happen. Before he was captured and killed by Pronger and Kessel and all those jackasses!”

“Wait, John’s your friend?”

“Yeah, you could say we are buds. He trusts me and I trust him. But he traveled back in time and left this note for me. So I found it and was willing to help out. I was given directions to stall Pronger’s plan anyway I could...but I failed...I’m sorry, Patrick, Jonathan’s walking into a trap and so are your friends. I couldn’t get to warn them fast enough…”

“But how could Pronger do all of this? He was terrorizing Jonny and I!”

“Pronger’s henchmen...that coach from hell and his evil captain!”

“Therrien and Kessel?”

“And Burish!”

“I honestly never saw Burish as the type to betray his team...but he did and he’ll pay for it!”

Tyler snorted. “You’re mighty brave Peekaboo...but also ignorant. This is all my fault you know. I helped Tavy find that time machine and I was the one who showed it off. Tavy’s death is my doing...if I’d only kept it hidden or never found it, Pronger wouldn’t have found it and neither would Therrien.”

“Wait, you--?”

“Yeah. And when they captured me, I was reunited with Tavy for a little bit, before that Kessel kid was sent to kill him. I watched my friend die before my eyes...it was awful and I haven’t been able to escape this place. If you think being trapped in time was bad...being trapped in this helltown known as Prongerville is worse!”

“I forgive you Tyler and I’m sure Tavy does too...you’re a brave man Tyler Seguin, I learned that in some timeline.”

“Yeah, you’re brave too Patrick...Jonathan’s a lucky man. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you both…”

Patrick was startled at that. He heard Tyler break down into tears, but did that mean that Pronger was actually going to succeed in killing them? How did Tyler know? He decided to give it a go and ask.

“How do you know...Pronger’s going to succeed in killing us?”

“Yes. Pronger told me.”

“But he was shocked and he--?”

“He knows, Patrick. He was acting...it’s what he does. He knows exactly how to kill you and when and where! And he’s going to kill me too, but I don’t care, that bastard can kill me!”

Patrick gasped. Jonathan was heading for a trap. Pronger was evil!! He knew all along and it was all a petty facade. He knew exactly what he was doing and as soon as Jonathan arrived...it would be time!

****

“Where’s Patrick, we have to find him?!” Jonathan finally demanded, spinning around. His eyes were blazing with fire.

“Look, Jonny, I know we need to but we’re kind of ignorant...we have no clue where Pronger took Patrick!”

“But I can find him! If Kaner and I are tied together...doesn’t that mean that I can track him down and find him. If my memory was so strong that you could break Pronger’s trance and power over me...couldn’t I also be able to find Patrick?”

Andrew shared a look with Brandon and then looked at Dave. “He has a point, Bolly. Jonny always did - well, does - have Patrick Kane radar...surely he could track down Pronger and Patrick.”

“And if he can’t? We have zero time boys and I’m seriously not sure how we can pull this off...the Blackhawks are done for.”

“NO!” Jonathan snapped, stomping his foot on the floor of the blackness. “I refuse to believe that there isn’t any hope! There is ALWAYS hope! I can find Patrick and I will save him from Pronger no matter what! We will always find each other and know each other...Kaner’s my brother and I won’t let anything happen to him. Now get out the time pad and let’s save my best friend!”

Dave shook his head. “We only have 12 hours - well, God, I actually don’t know how long now...we’ll never find him in time.”

“We will. Dave Bolland, get out the time pad now!”

“Jonathan Bryan Toews don’t you dare talk to me like that!! Look, I know you are upset and frustrated but this isn’t a movie, you don’t have superpowers or the ability to track down Kaner with some radar. You may have a strong memory, but that’s not worth shit for tracking a person down.”

Jonathan clenched his fist and then punched Dave in the face. Dave stumbled backward, but caught himself. He lifted his hand up to his face and touched his lip. He was bleeding from a cut there.

“What the hell man?”

“Don’t you EVER say there is no hope for me finding Kaner. There is always hope. I promise you I will find him and we will be okay...even before this 12 hour deadline. It may be close, but Kaner is my best friend and hell, he’s my brother.”

Dave shoved Jonathan, who shoved him back. Before long they had a hold on each other and were swinging fists at one another. Brandon and Andrew darted forward and tore them apart.

“Fighting won’t help Kaner out, right now we need you both to cooperate. I say we let Jonny give it a chance, finding Kaner. I mean what do we have to lose? I’d rather go down trying, then remaining trapped here doing nothing. We have to try, Kaner’s our friend too and we have to try something. Please Dave, think about it.”

“No, you all go ahead, I’m staying here though!” Dave snapped. “I think you all are ridiculous. Get back to the Wells Center and take that pad!”

“No, Dave, we are in this together,” Andrew stated, holding his hand out. “We started this together and we’re going to end it together!”

Dave stared at him. He was silent for some time, before he glanced at Jonathan and then back at his two time traveller friends. He finally sighed and smiled. “Alright, let’s go find Kaner and use Jonny like a hound dog.”

Jonathan smiled once more and put a hand on Dave’s shoulder. “Thank you, I promise we can fix this, find Patrick and defeat Pronger!”

“I hope you are right. Now let’s go, enough wasting time!” He threw down his time pad and they all hopped on and teleported back through time.

As they flew through the time warp, they were surrounded by horrible images and projections. A pre-recorded voice narrated to them, “Much controversy came throughout the first four games between the Blackhawks and Flyer defenseman Chris Pronger. Chicago complained that Pronger had gotten away with rough play that they felt was beyond the rules. The Blackhawks argued that even when they responded with the same actions that Pronger was being allowed to get away with, that they would instead be given a penalty. The Blackhawks set up a meeting with the NHL to make a complaint about Pronger's play. The Blackhawks felt that Chris Pronger had been allowed to get away with what they perceive to be "obstruction or interference" with Chicago coach Joel Quenneville saying, ‘Whether it's stick use or obstruction, I think we'll keep an eye on it.’ Pronger was also the target of a Chicago Tribune poster displaying him in a figure skating outfit after he had a +/- rating of -5 in game five and a -4 in the three games combined that the Blackhawks won against the Flyers. Pronger had been noticed by the media and the NHL at the end of games one and two of the series as he picked up and left with the game puck at the conclusion of the games. When asked, Pronger replied that he had thrown the pucks in the garbage.”

“He didn’t throw the pucks in the garbage, I saw him!” Jonathan snapped.

“I know. Pronger’s in way over his head with this,” Dave agreed.

Andrew added on with, “I knew he was always a loony case...but trapping Patrick and messing with time and the Blackhawks and building his own “empire” basically...he’s like a second Hitler and the Blackhawks are his ‘Jews’!”

The projections and narrations continued on, morphing into darker things with more of a bias and skewed toward showing Pronger as the victim, until they finally faded away. It was sickening and a little disturbing...but finally....

They ended up back in “Prongerville” in the Wells Fargo Center. They figured that this wouldn’t be where Pronger was...but...they were so wrong!

Notes

Look who came in...it's Seggy!!
Tavy and Segs are friends!! :)
I love how the original plan with this was to involve only Blackhawks and Shawzy was the antagonist but not a villain. And then Pronger became the big bad and then I just started adding more to this and giving the scheme more depth. Granted it extended the idea and this story more. Oh and it's much, much, much darker.
How is this running to Project Almanac now? It's not. XP
Alright, let's see....oh there is something really weird coming up next. So everyone hang on to your seats, because on Friday you're gonna be unable to sit down or keep your mouth shut, cause your jaw will drop.


Next up: It's amazing what playing dead will accomplish... (this will make sense on Friday I swear)