Project Blackhawk (or The Blackhawk Experiment)

Dave Bolland, of the Florida Panthers, and Brandon Bollig, of the Calgary Flames, were busy with their new teams. Though they weren’t as sharp as they once were and certainly weren’t as prominent as they were in Chicago, they still found ways to contribute to their new teams. Yes, Chicago was apart of them, but they knew hockey was a business and unfortunately they’d been victims of the cap and just not wanted in Chicago, like some other players.

Brandon (and Dave for that matter) were Andrew’s best friends while on the team, had been and still were. Brandon had been Andrew’s roommate and best friend and Dave had been his friend and linemate, before he was traded away in the offseason following Chicago’s second Cup win in the five year span. And the two ex-Blackhawks knew how annoying the “Kazer” was.

One day, the trio met up. Brandon was wearing his Calgary Flames jersey and Bolland has his Florida Panthers jersey on. Andrew wore his Chicago jersey. They often met up with one another, being great friends, but there was a difference. This time Dave had something to show the duo.

“What’s going on Bolly?” Andrew asked, as they were driven to an abandoned warehouse in Southeastern Florida.

“Shut up Shawzy, I’m going to show you.”

“Alright, no need to be so rude, man.”

“I’m not.”

“Guys, let’s not fight please,” Brandon stated.

The car pulled into the lot, parking in a spot and the three got out and walked inside. Dave flipped on the lights to the building and instantly an eerie translucent laboratory type glow lit up the place. In the center of the abandoned building was a hole, dug up by someone. And by the hole, a desk was set up. On top of the desk was a black suitcase.

“Aw, hell no, man, I’m not doing this!” Andrew exclaimed and started to turn around.

He was stopped. “Shawzy, don’t leave.”

Andrew halted in his place and spun around to look at Brandon and Dave. “Bolly, man, I love you, you know that, but you told me you had a solution for the Kazer problem.”

“I do. It’s in the suitcase,” Dave remarked, pointing back at it was a thumb.

“It’s not stolen money or anything illegally obtained is it?”

“Nah. Relax Shawzy, it’s a...you ready for this? It’s a time machine!”

“Time machine?” Brandon echoed with curiosity.

“Yup and I already tested it out. It’s how I just stopped you from leaving here, Andy.”

Andrew folded his arms. He was genuinely intrigued, but still not satisfied. “I don’t trust you, I want to test it out myself.”

“Be my guest man, I figured we all could test it out...together!” Dave said, walking over to the suitcase and opening it up, displaying the machine inside. It was nothing more than a platform one would stand on and a remote control with it.

“Alright. Let’s see what would happen if we were to go back in time and maybe see the truth about how this thing randomly showed up?”

“It was the boys and I, we were doing charity work and helping out with finding a place. Thorty, Eks and I made the discovery. We made sure to keep this place secret and off-limits and then I figured it might help a friend out.”

“Oh. Wow, that’s cool. Thanks Bolly. So you said you tested it out? You jumped to the future though I take it. So what about jumping to the past?” Andrew remarked, coming forward and surveying the device in the case.

“That’s what we can test out now. The one rule with time travel though is that you can’t touch anything and you can’t meet your own self...also you have to make sure that you put things back to the way they were after you are done with the experiment. Got it?” Dave remarked.

“I’ve seen the Butterfly Effect and read books on this sort of stuff, I got it, Bolly. Let’s go back in time and have some fun!”

Dave smirked. He pulled out the time machine and set it on the ground to the side of the hole. Then he grabbed the remote control and stepped onto the platform. Andrew and Brandon joined him. Dave typed in the coordinates for the time and year and suddenly they were surrounded and consumed by blue electricity or static and they were essentially sent back in time to ten minutes before they arrived in the building.

“This is ten minutes before we all arrived here.”

“How do we know it worked?” Brandon questioned.

“Come with me.” Dave led them out of the building and they hid in the bushes. Soon they saw the car pull into the lot and themselves get out and walk into the building.

“Sick!” Andrew exclaimed. “It works! Oh man is this going to be fun!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Brandon echoed, equally excited.

Andrew cocked his head to the side. “One question though, what about the chain of events thing? Like when us in their become us out here? Won’t there be like a dozen of us showing up at once.”

“Yeah, like in the Family Guy episode?!” Brandon further explained.

“It’s no matter, man. Actually everything kind of returns to it’s origin, like we will be doing, once you two find out. So like when we get onto the pad or platform and teleport to the past, ourselves now will be sent back to the origin and we can continue on with the knowledge we have gained.”

“Oh, so it just continues on a cycle?”

“Exactly. Watch!”

Andrew, Dave and Brandon flickered away and returned, reappearing in the dim light of the lab room, back on the platform.

“Cool, man.” Andrew and Brandon shared a look and high-fived each other.

“So, let’s get started with the fun, shall we. Let’s have some more practice runs and then we’ll start pranking!” Dave spoke.

“Time to fool with Kazer!” Andrew exclaimed, snickering evilly and rubbing his hands together greedily. “Mwahahahaha!” He then paused and turned to Brandon. “But once we complete the prank or mission, we have to go back and reset it. Right?”

“Just out of curiosity, what happens if we don’t?” Brandon questioned Dave, scratching his head.

“I’m not sure. It’s not clear, but it isn’t good. We shouldn’t try it.”

Andrew and Brandon nodded.

“So what should we do first with this thing?” Dave inquired, looking at them both.

“Let’s start small I guess,” Andrew said with a shrug. “Always start small and then we can get more comfortable, kind of like cradling a puck or learning hockey.”

“Right!” Brandon agreed.

“So what should we start with? Ooh! I know, how about me shouting I love you Bolly in the final! I didn’t mean that! I don’t love you! How about we go back and I can scream something else - maybe like, “Fuck yeah!” instead?”

Notes

Oh man is this going to get so good...I hope.

Next up: Experimenting