Arrow Hawk: Gronk Smash! (Book 5)

Epilogue - Now Backes Is Evil? Poor Vladimir Tarasenko...

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Missouri, Guzzler reappears in the middle of the street in his cloud of orange smoke. He bangs his scepter on the gravel and lets out a grunt of frustration. "Hockey Avengers!"

Then Guzzler spins around and flings his scepter out and takes aim at bench. The energy blasts it and sends the bench into oblivion. "I need another pawn to help me out...!" He looks around the street and finally spots a group of five guys exiting a restaurant. They are laughing and chirping one another and obviously drunk. "Bingo!"

Guzzler flips his scepter around in his hand and storms down the street toward them. As he gets closer, he recognizes the group members as: David Backes, Colton Parayko, Kevin Shattenkirk, Steve Ott and Scott Gomez. "Perfect, even better...St. Louis Blues players."

Scott Gomez hears the villain and spins around. "Hey, what do you want?"

"Merely a moment of your time," Guzzler says.

"What are you supposed to be? Loki? Wasn't Halloween three months ago? Get out of here you crazy lunatic!" Steve Ott sneers.

Guzzler smirks. "I commend the chirping and bold attitude, but you see, I need your help with a certain something."

"What? Getting back to Asgard?" Backes jokes.

"Funny, my name is Guzzler and I'm after your little teammate...Vladimir Tarasenko. The 'Russian sensation'!" Guzzler sarcastically remarks. "You see, I need him and I was hoping you'd love to help me out."

"Vladimir?" Kevin questions, suddenly looking rather sober. "You hate Vladimir?"

"Not so much hate...more so loathe!" Guzzler snarls. "I want to destroy him!"

"Why?" Kevin questions.

"Because he's friends with the Hockey Avengers!"

Kevin's eyes shoot wide and he takes a step back. "Who are you?" His voice shakes.

"Guzzler the Mighty. The world will be mine, I'm simply asking if you'd like to be apart of my grand world or not. If you join me, I promise you riches. If not...well then you are against me and you really don't wanna be there!"

Kevin continues stepping back, shaking his head. He can't go against Vladimir! Vladimir is his best friend and his roommate and he just can't agree to go against him. "I'm not joining you!" Kevin says.

Guzzler snickers wickedly. "Then you are against me and therefore..." He lifts his hand up with the scepter in his hold. "You must die." He makes the tip touch Kevin's chest, where his heart is beating rapidly inside. "The heart...such an mortal thing...easy to manipulate, you know..."

Kevin freezes in place and he gulps. He manages to choke out, "You can't do this! You'll never kill Vladimir Tarasenko!"

"Oh really? It was easy enough to capture him. I've just got to finish the job and I doubt he'll be saved twice..."

"The Hockey Avengers...Kelly, his girlfriend, will stop you!" Kevin persists.

"Oh yes...Kelly...you mean, Psychica? She'll be no problem." Guzzler then makes his scepter glow orange and he blasts Kevin with energy, causing him to explode in a sickening scream of agony. The villain looks at the other three Blues players and smirks. "Anyone else opposed?"

"Well..."

"What if I told you, Jonathan Toews was apart of these Avengers?" Guzzler states, winking at Backes.

Backes smirks, perking up. "Really? It'd be an honor to help you out then. I'd love to see that Blackhawk scum go down!"

"Excellent. Ott, Gomez, Parayko?"

"I don't think I can...I mean Vladimir's my friend too and I don't think you should go after him and destroy him, but I just wanna focus on playing, I'm neither with or against you," Parayko remarks. "Please don't kill me, I just wanna get back and--"

Guzzler breaks out in distorted laughter. "Uh....I don't think so, Para...it's funny how close your name is to "Tara"...no wonder you have his back!" He points his scepter at the younger Blues' player and makes him freeze in place.

Colton Parayko gulps nervously and makes to say something, but he is cut off by the surge of energy before he is blasted into oblivion to join Kevin Shattenkirk.

Guzzler spins his scepter and then bangs the end against the graveled street. "Now, anyone else want to join them, they can let me know. But it seems like you three will do fine. Backes, because you agreed to help me out first, how'd you like to be the leader of the next part of my plan?"

Backes dips his head. "I except."

"Good, good, you'll need some powers, so...how about telepathy, telekinesis and something called the "Phoenix Force"?"

"Phoenix Force?" Backes questions.

"Yeah, your powers will escalate to a considerably higher level, allowing you to rearrange or disintegrate matter at a subatomic level, fly unaided through space, survive in any atmosphere, and manipulate electromagnetic and cosmic energies for various effects and atmospheric disturbances."

"Sick!" Backes exclaims.

"And as for you two, you'll be his henchmen or helpers, with milder telepathy and telekinesis." Guzzler zaps each smirking and eager Blues player and they glow orange and then fall to the ground. "When you awaken, you will posses super powers. Find Vladimir Tarasenko and bring him to me alive! Kill anyone who gets in your way!"

Then he whisks himself up in the smoke and vanishes once more.

****

In Denver, Colorado,

Sidney Crosby follows Nathan Mackinnon back to the Pepsi Center. Though Nathan knows Sidney is following him, he just ignores him. A few times he attempts to shake the Penguin but Sidney remains stubborn and unwilling to let him out of his sight.

The Penguin decides to retire to his hotel room for a quick nap. Not like he can sleep well anyway though. But he figures that even a little wink of sleep is good, if anything. He settles down in his bed and pulls the covers over him. He rapidly drifts off to sleep and watches as the blackness slowly dissolves into the city of Moscow, Russia.

Suddenly a clutter of voices and noises come into his head. He can hear a horse whinny, a dog barking, a growl and someone shrieking in pain. His vision is blurry as he finds himself looking at fuzzy images of half-human, half-animals. One of the animals is a golden retriever with a San Jose Sharks jersey on it. Another looks like a human with a unicorn horn.

His vision, still blurry, leads him around the room and he finds the source of the person who was screaming. Two buck teeth and a beaver tail greet his eyes? Then the image is gone in a flash and he hears people laughing. The scene suddenly clarifies and he sees Nathan Mackinnon, dressed in jeans and white shirt with a black jacket, trapped in a cell, behind metal bars.

"HEY! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" the Avalanche forward screams, shaking the bars with a fury. "SIDNEY, HELP ME! THEY'RE GONNA--!!"

Sidney watches as he is poked and prodded with an electrified stick, which makes him stagger backward in pain. Gonna what? Gonna what? Sidney anxiously thinks. But his vision blurs over as Nathan appears to look at him with wide terrified blue eyes.

"Sidney, please, help me!" Nathan's heart-wrenching plea rings in Sidney's ears.

No! Give me an answer! Nathan!

Sidney fidgets in his bed, kicking the sheets off of him. His eyes finally snap open and he sits up, sweating profusely. "Oh God...I won't let anyone take you Nathan! I promise! Whatever your future is, I won't let it happen! I'll protect you, my Moosehead brother, whatever it takes!" He gets out of his bed and returns to the Pepsi Center once more, tracking down Nathan. He must, somehow, get through to Nathan and warn him. He must!