In Union Park, to the northeast of the United Center,

Nikita Zadorov and Valeri Nichushkin were both hiding behind trees, which lined the small park in Chicago’s Olympic Village. Val peered out from around his tree’s trunk and he blinked. An arrow shot in their direction and exploded right in-between them both in mid-air. They shared a look with one another.

“Никита, покрыть меня! Я собираюсь атаковать Дион! (Nikita, cover me! I’m going to attack Dion!)” Val shouted to his best friend and ‘hockey brother.’

Zady bit his lip and nodded. “Будьте осторожны, Вал. (Be careful, Val.)”

Val nodded back, reaching for an arrow of his own. He inserted it into his bow and darted out from the safety of the tree. David Clarkson, Dion’s partner-in-crime shot another arrow at him. Dion Phaneuf, himself, stood to the side of him.

Dion’s face was deformed, he had an audio sensor, which was far more sensitive than the human ear, where his left ear should have been. In his left eye, an infrared imaging device was, which afforded him a semblance of sight even in total darkness. He wore a Kevlar-made blue and white costume, which had special hidden compartments for containing various weaponry and devices, such as coils of rope, his guns, among other helpful items.

Clarkson had more of an armored outfit on, but it was blue and white like Dion’s outfit. A sword stuck out from his back, sheathed at the moment.

Val pulled a matrix-like move, dodging it. It zoomed past him and hit the tree he’d been hiding behind. The tree exploded into a fiery death trap, sending bark and limbs shooting in every direction. The powerful blast sent Zady flying from the shelter of his hiding spot. He landed on the ground, exposed. Val spotted him scramble to his feet, flick his long coat out of the way and draw an arrow, prepared for an attack. Val whipped back around and shot an arrow of his own at the villain.

“Вы не сойдет с рук больно мой друг! (You won't get away with hurting my friend!)” the young Russian archer snapped as he flipped over another assault arrow, aimed at him.

“Speak English, Russian!!” Clarkson growled.

“Yes, we’re in America, we speak English, not Russian!” Dion sneered, launching himself at Zady, who blocked a blow with his recurved bow, which was strong enough to resist breaking apart at the villain’s hard blow.

“You no get away with hurt Zady!” Val repeated, this time in choppy English.

“I got this, Nichy, you fight mean Maple Leaf partner!” Zady shouted, as he swung his leg around, clipping Dion’s legs and then bashed the big idiot over the head with his bow.

Val was busy sending off arrow after arrow at his enemy in Clarkson, who took time to spit on the ground. The Star flipped up over the Leaf defenseman and looped the bow and string around his head. He landed on the ground with impressive accuracy and skill and then bashed the hard part of the bow against Clarkson’s head.

Clarkson was momentarily stunned by the blow and he stumbled forward, but whipped out a sword from his belt and swung it around at Val, who barely dodged it. It narrowly breezed over his head, just slicing off a microscopic piece of his short spiky blond hair. Val blinked in shock and whacked Clarkson across the head with his bow.

“No, bad Clarky, no uh…what word?”

Clarkson kicked Val’s legs out in a slewfoot move and sent him crashing to the grass. He reached back for an arrow but Clarkson was on top of him. He grabbed Val’s hand and pinned it to his side. With his other, he stuck the sword to Val’s neck. The Dallas Star looked at him in shock.

“Decapitate, is the word you’re looking for Moskal!” Clarkson spat, pressing the sword blade deeper against Val’s neck.

Val grunted and struggled under the weight of the Leaf defenseman.

“Nah, he’s more of a Katsap...you know, look at that little goatee there!” Dion chuckled as he grabbed Zady’s wrist, knocking the bow from his hands.

“Stop being mean!” Val shouted out. “I no katsap nor moskal! You canuck, stupid mean Canadians!” He kicked out and rammed one of his black knee-high boots into the villain on top of him.

Clarkson flew backward off of him, losing his sword in the process. Val snatched his bow up from the grass and jumped to his feet. He rapidly grabbed an arrow and jammed it into Clarkson’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Zady managed to yank himself free from Dion’s hold. He snatched up his bow quickly and notched another arrow in the process. He pointed it at Dion, who laughed wickedly at him.

“Oh, Zady darling…” Dion dodged an arrow shot by Zady and punched the Russian in the face.

The Sabre stumbled backward, bleeding from his nose. Dion kept on him though, pummeling him endlessly with his fists. Zady attempted to go for his arrows but couldn’t get one, so instead he punched back. He fought on the ice, how was this any different? Well, for one, it wasn’t the ice and number two, he was squaring off with Dion Phaneuf, who was much bigger and stronger than him. However, he managed to land a few blows and gained confidence back. With the burst of confidence, he broke away and darted for a park bench and jumped onto it.

He was able to have enough time to get an arrow now, he inserted the chosen one, which was a special explosive one, into his bow. He aimed at Dion, who was charging for him and instantly let it fly. It hit the villain square in the middle of his forehead, blinking with a red light. He pulled it off, smirking dastardly and then it exploded in his face.

It wasn’t by any means an explosion intended to kill, as Dion survived it, but he was covered in ash. This only infuriated the villain more. Zady jumped off the bench and darted across the grass.

Val was locked with Clarkson, who had yanked out the arrow and flung it to the side. They are battling in hand-to-hand combat. Clarkson punched at Val, who swung his bow at him. At one point, the Leaf villain managed to tear the bow away and he pulled back on the string and used the weapon against the archer, bashing him in the face and bloodying his nose.

Val kicked out but Clarkson was bigger and badder. Val was soon pinned to a tree and his head was slammed against the trunk. Val screamed in pain but the Maple Leaf kneed him in the stomach and then was slammed against the tree trunk again. The Star could feel a warm, tingling sensation on the side of his face, near his temple. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted dark crimson trickling down his cheek. He pushed against Clarkson, who cackled and kept overpowering the winger.

Zady spotted his friend in trouble and made a beeline for them, slamming into Clarkson and sending him skidding to the side.

Both Russian hockey players exchanged looks before they faced their opponents once more.

“Spasibo, Zady. Мы не можем выиграть эту один-на-один, мы должны работать вместе. Бой вместе. (We can't win this one-on-one, we have to work together. Fight together.)” Val shouted.

“Right!” Zady replied.

They moved back-to-back, syncing their movements up. They both withdrew a chosen arrow from their quivers and inserted them into their bows. Then they readied the bows in position as the two villains stalked closer to them. They narrowed their eyes, nodding to one another: Zady, in his long Hawkeye-like coat over his black pants and knee-length black boots and Val, in his sleeveless black vest and black pants and black boots.

“FOR RUSSIA!!” Zady shouted.

“RUSSIA!!” Val joined. “And Hockey Heroes!”

They sent off a round of arrows, which pelted the villains, halting them in their forward progress. Neither archer ran out of arrows, because their quivers refilled endless, toggled to “autopilot”.

The villains were momentarily pushed back and halted, but Clarkson retrieved his sword and was able to bat the arrows away. They braved the arrow storm and reached the archer duo. Dion threw his arm out and grabbed Val’s head. His gloved hand glowed red and so did Val’s eyes. Eventually the light faded away and Dion snickered evilly. Val’s eyes remained a beady red color. Dion nodded to him, smirking and Val whipped around, training his bow and arrow on his partner.

Zady blinked in shock, kicking Clarkson away from him. “Nichy, what you doing?” Val pulled back on his string, aiming right at Zady’s face. “Валерий, это Никита, что случилось с вашими глазами? Ты в порядке? Что ты...делаешь? Вал? (Valeri, it's Nikita, what happened to your eyes? Are you okay? What are you--doing? Val?)”

Val kept his weapon trained on his partner, who was in shock. Zady stepped back, unsure what to do. Clarkson swatted Zady’s bow from him and then grabbed him by the wrist. Dion patted Val’s shoulder.

“You did good, my new recruit!” The Maple Leaf captain sneered.

Val nodded. “You taught me well, Dion.” His Russian accent was completely faded. He nodded his head to the villain. “Should I shoot him with my arrow?”

“No…”

Clarkson wrapped Zady up, gripping him by both wrists now. He pinned his arms across his stomach. Zady kicked backward, shocked at Val’s sudden transformation.

“Валерий, остановить этот бред! (Valeri, stop this nonsense!)” Zady shouted. “You no evil. You good!”

Dion walked up to the struggling archer. He grabbed Zady’s chin and forced his head up. Zady narrowed his eyes at him.

“You no get away with brainwashing Val!”

“My dear archer, we just did. Clarkson, tie him up to a tree and leave him be...maybe that’ll send a message to his beloved ‘Hockey Heroes’...and we’ll leave with the other archer...I mean, he can pass as a villain right? Avery could use a sniper like him.”

“NO!” Zady screamed, jerking fiercer. “VAL!!”

Clarkson pulled him over to the nearest tree and tied him to it. He wrapped a rope around Zady’s wrists, which were yanked behind him, binding them together and then looped the other end around the tree, anchoring him to it.

Val lowered his bow finally and walked up to Dion. “What should I do, Dion?” the once-Russian archer asked.

“Wait here.”

Clarkson pulled the knot tightly securing Zady to the tree. The Sabre pulled at the bonds, kicking back at the tree, trying to get free. He glanced at Val, who was looking at him in disgust. Zady tried to beg him, hoping that some part of Valeri Nichushkin was still in there and good fight Dion’s brainwashing. But there seemed to be none.

Suddenly an earsplitting roar and deafening screech sounded from behind Dion. Then a massive bear paw swiped down at the Leaf defenseman and Dion was pinned under a ferocious-looking Bruin. Val spun around, pointing his weapon at the bear, who snapped his jaws at Dion.

“Shoot him, Val!” Dion ordered.

Val pulled back on the bow but he was blasted by a stream of water. He staggered away, drenched in the liquid. He raised his bow back up, pointing it at the newcomer, who’d blasted him with the water. But before he could, the person raised his trident into the air and send a bolt of lightning at him.

The archer was zapped by the lightning and dropped his weapon. Antti Niemi stopped the lightning at once, threw his trident to the side and rushed forward. Val jumped back to his feet, abandoning his bow and met Antti in hand-to-hand contact.

“Knock off the villain nonsense, Valeri!” Antti snarled.

“Dion Phaneuf is my friend, I must protect him, Fish Scum!” Val spat at Antti.

Antti furiously slammed him down into the ground, sending his head into the grassy ground as hard as he could. He managed to knock Val out cold. He got up and fetched his trident. He pointed it at the fallen archer and sent a stream of water at his face.

Val blinked awake, gasping for air. He sat up, his eyes back to blue. He looked up at Antti and smiled. “Thanks Nemo.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky we arrived when we did and that you didn’t kill Patrice.”

“I almost kill Bergy…” Val whimpered, his lip quivering. “I sorry.” He dropped his head and looked at the grass. Antti set his trident on the ground and squatted down to the archer’s level. He reached out and gently lifted Val’s head up.

“It’s okay, Val, Dion brainwashed you with his stupid machine glove.”

“Where Zady?”

“We’ll get him, come on.” Antti helped Val to his feet, snatching his trident back into his hand in the process.

Patrice, the bear, was slashing Dion’s face with his claws and scolding him. Clarkson was fighting with a black crow. Corey Crawford. Corey was pecking furiously at the Leaf, who swatted at him, like he was a bee or a pesky mosquito.

“You don’t fuck with the Hockey Heroes!” Corey snapped, before went into a long string of curses aimed at David Clarkson.

Antti and Val darted to Zady, who was working at the ropes around him, desperately. He spotted Val and relaxed when he saw his eyes back to the normal baby blue color.

“Sorry, Zady…”

“It okay, just help out...get these things off of him.”

Val and Antti both worked diligently to get the ropes off of Zady and soon he was freed from his bondage. Both archers grabbed up their bows and helped Patrice and Corey out. Antti zapped both villains with his lightning and blasted them with water from his trident. While Val and Zady shot explosive arrows at the Maple Leaf defensemen.

Eventually Dion and Clarkson staggered off, retreating for the scene. They vanished from side, heading eastward, toward Downtown. Patrice and Corey high-fived (high-pawed? high-winged?) with a paw and wing.

Corey cussed in victory again and then looked at Val. “Stay out of trouble you Moskal!”

“Crow!” Patrice scolded with an angry bear look. “Easy on the insults there.”

“The only thing Russian, was us…”russian” to your rescue!” Corey laughed.

Val raised his bow up and aimed it at the crow, maintaining a stern face. “No one know...I tell Heroes, Crow no survive battle.” He instantly deflated and laughed though. “No, no, I no killer. Thanks Nemo, Bergy and Crow.”

“Yeah, nice timing!” Zady added on.

“We should get to the United Center and see if everyone else is alive and there,” Antti suggested.

Patrice nodded. “Right. Crow and I can’t stay animals forever. We have to find our clothes and figure out what Jonny wants us to do next.”

“If there is a next,” Corey added on, hovering over the bear’s shoulder.

Val and Zady shared a look and nodded. Then the five remaining heroes headed toward the Madhouse on Madison. They entered the arena and found everyone else on the ice. All the heroes were present and account for and alive.

Instantly, Jonathan Toews seemed to relax at their arrival. He came forward with Patrick at his side.

“Thank God everyone made it through the battles okay.”

“For the most part, we almost lost an archer thanks to Dion’s brainwashing,” Antti reported. “But he’s okay.” He flicked his head in Val’s direction.

Val blinked, looking ashamed. “Almost hurt Zady and Bergy…”

“It’s okay Val, you didn’t though and you did good in your fight,” Jonathan stated, winking at him. “We almost lost Saader and a few others too, but I’m glad everyone survived.”

Val brightened up and smiled. “Spasibo.”

Patrick beamed at Jonathan’s side, still gripping onto his captain’s arm. “After all, we needed everyone to survive their battles. It’s the only way we could get out of this...this alternate universe.”

Notes

Oh God what did I do????!!!! That was SO new for me..."Evil Val" never again will I do it, he's too precious. He's not Hawkeye, he's Valeri Nichushkin!!
Anyway...sorry Zady. Love you!
I still can't believe I did that to my precious baby...
Dion Phaneuf.... *cracks knuckles and neck* do that shit again, I'll go to Toronto and kick your clumsy ass. :( Leave my archer alone! Haha, just kidding...but seriously, in real life if you do touch my baby I'll kick your ass. :P
Corey Crawford XP
Nemo, Bergy and Crow to the rescue! Yay! THANKS NEMO!!!!!!!!!! YOU SAVED VAL!!!! :)
Spasibo = Thank You
Moskal = Derogatory word for Russians...it's not nice and Val's not a moskal
Katsap = Derogatory word for Russian men. (I take it that "katsap" is "goatee" in Russian or something.)
Oh, so there a perplexing yet interesting epilogue to this. I still think it is okay to read on its own, but this story will be a part of a larger series. ;) So...


Next up: Epilogue