Time Stands Still

Val and Reilly’s POV

Val, Reilly and Brad met up with Brad’s less crazier friends, who had caught the license plate on the vehicle speeding away. They quickly got the information and jumped into Brad’s car. Val sent the image of the number to the HDA, for them to track. Within minutes, they had a location on the car.

Brad launched off at once down the street.

“Quickly Brad, we aren’t sure how long Tyler has left!”

“He’s a strong man, he’ll make it!” Brad proclaimed, but inside he wasn’t so confident.

****

Tyler’s POV

Zenon returned to Tyler. He walked into the cell and smacked Tyler across the face, awaking him. The Dallas Star jerked upright, howling with agony. The Sabre yanked the towel down, so that it draped loosely and freely about Tyler’s bruised neck.

“What are you waiting for, Zenon? Kill me! That’s what you want to do, isn’t it?” Tyler snapped his head to the side and spat a little bit of blood onto the ground. He coughed violently, causing the chains to shake with his spastic movement.

“Are you going to agree to change your online behavior?”

“Yes, okay, yes. I will, I’ll change!”

“I don’t believe you, Seguin!”

He lashed out again, raking his nails across the captive’s cheek, like a feline. Tyler screamed. He jumped to his feet, with the last bit of strength that he had in him and lunged forward. The goon simply cackled and stepped backward. He watched with amusement as Tyler struggled mightily, trying to get at his attacker.

“You know, those distress grunts you have are pretty hot. Too bad none of your fangirls, what are they called, Seguinistas? Yeah! Too bad they won’t get to see or hear you anymore!”

Zenon smacked Tyler twice more on the face and then grabbed his face with both hands and held it still. Tyler shook, wanting to get free. He bit his bleeding lip and whimpered. The goon shoved him backward, back into the bench.

The Star wasn’t prepared and narrowly missed hitting his head on the stone and knocking himself out. Instead he landed on his arm, awkwardly. And he was pretty sure that something popped, but he was in so much pain, that it only felt numb and didn’t bother him.

Zenon snorted and walked back out.

“Come back and finish me off, you coward!!” Tyler howled.

Laughter faded away into the darkness, leaving Tyler alone once more. And that’s when he began to break down into tears. He sobbed hard.

“I’m sorry Boston. I’m so sorry. I’ll never diss you again, but please...help me! Help me Boston!”

****

Val and Reilly’s POV

The rescue trio pulled up to where the location was radiating, pinpointed by the HDA. Sure enough, the vehicle - the jeep - was seen. But this wasn’t an ordinary house or building. In fact, it looked like something out of a superhero comic. It looked like the bat cave or some kind of evil lair, mixed into one unique structure.

“Segs is in there?” Brad questioned, gazing at the building before him.

“Whoa!” Val gasped. His blue eyes were wide open with shock.

“This just went from weird to super weird!” Reilly remarked.

The top of the dome, for the main room in the lair was visible, sticking up less than halfway out of the ground. It looked like a black hill. A few feet away was an entrance ramp that came up to the road. As they looked down there was nothing but darkness. Agonized screams came from within and that was enough to kick start the group. They trotted into the entrance, bravely.

Val and Reilly nodded and withdrew their small HDA guns. Brad followed, cracking his knuckles.

“When I find those two Bostonians...I’m going to pummel them like Thorty did to Orps! No mercy for hurting Seggy!” Brad growled, now cracking his neck.

They ventured in deeper, making sure to keep the element of surprise on their side. They reached the end and peered around the corner. They saw the main lair area and a horrifying sight.

“Zenon Konopka!?” Brad hissed, whipping back out of sight.

“Who is that?” Reilly asked.

“A Buffalo Sabre goon and Tyler’s greatest fear. Segs never liked the man and I didn’t blame him.”

“What?”

“He answered a question about who he would least like to run into in a dark alley and answered with Zenon’s name. The couple must have smoked him out, told him and he came to beat Tyler up!”

“But I thought Segs had NO enemies!?”

“On the ice, he does have one. Zenon Konopka.”

They all shared a look.

“Brad, go find Tyler, we’ll distract Zenon!” Reilly stated, after a few moments.

The pest dipped his head and raced around the slick black car in the lead of the trio of vehicles. He ducked down on the other side and slowly crept forward. Reilly looked to Val.

“Ready Nichy, be brave.”

Val nodded, innocently and they both took a deep breath and stepped out of hiding.

“Well this isn’t the Dunkin Donuts, you moron!” Reilly snapped at Val. “We must have made a wrong turn. Maybe there is someone here who can help us out?”

“I’m sorry Smitty….” Val apologized, looking downward.

“Hey, you, sir, we’re looking for the Dunkin Donuts, is there one around here, that you know of. We have to do an interview there.”

Zenon stormed forward, growling in anger. “What are you doing in here?”

“We got lost. Can you help us out?”

“You shouldn’t trespass here?”

“Why is there something illegal going on?”

“No. Just-- fine, I’ll help you out.”

In the background, Brad crept out and darted across to a hallway, where he heard sobbing sounds coming from. He quickly slipped into the dark hall and paused to catch his breath. He saw Zenon talking to Val and Reilly. He turned around and wandered down the hallway. “Segs? Buddy, you in here? It’s Marchy!”

The sobbing grew louder, until Brad finally found his poor ex-linemate. He looked horrible. Brad gasped, stepping backward. He was in awe that a human would be capable of doing this, even if Tyler had pissed the city of Boston off with his tweets. He was a famous hockey player and had a right to voice his opinion. It came with the job.

The Bruin pest found the door unlocked and opened it up. He walked in. Tyler lifted his head up and he managed a weak smile.

“Marchy! Thank God. I thought--”

“Sshh, it’s okay Segs, good old Brad is here to save you!”

“Like you did on the ice. You had my back?”

“Yeah, buddy. I got your back.”

Brad surveyed the restraints on Tyler.

“They aren’t locked. You should be able to pull them off.”

The Boston player squatted down and first he removed the bloody cloth from around his buddy’s neck. “They gagged you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it!”

“I understand. I’m sorry about this Tyler, I helped them to capture you! It was my fault that they were even able to track you down and kidnap you!”

“I don’t blame you Marchy. You didn’t know.”

“They took my phone and violated my privacy!”

“That wasn’t your fault!”

“But they….they stifled you.”

“Not all the time. And the tape was worse.”

“They put tape over your mouth?”

“Yes. And they electrocuted me….the list goes on and on of all the illegal acts they did, but I remained brave and faithful that you or someone would come to my rescue!”

“Oh Tyler!” Brad flung his arms around his friend, shedding tears of joy. “I knew you still cared for me! The fans thought our friendship was over when you left….but its never been better!” (You’re the Kaner to my Tazer XD)

“Hey, Marchy, can you get these chains off of me now, man?”

“Huh?” Brad pulled backward, and then shook his head. “Right, right. Sorry.” He proceeded to pull off the leg clamps one-by-one, finding that they were rather easy to remove. After Tyler’s legs were free, he moves released his arms. The Dallas forward instantly cradled his damaged arm and with Brad’s help he was lifted to his feet.

“Thank you so much Marchy! I knew I could count on you! You’re my hero!”

“Well, it’s not just me, Segs. The HDA helped too. Val and Reilly found me and we went through a lot trying to find and get to you.”

“I guess I’ll have to apologize to those two. I made a huge mistake and I regret it!”

Brad helped Tyler out of the cell and into the hallway. But before they could make the next step, Tyler was yanked from Brad’s grip.

Someone clamped a hand over his mouth, pulling him away from his Bruin mate. He screamed for Brad, thrashing about.

“TYLER!!” the pest howled, frantically looking about for his friend. He darted back down the hall and burst into the main room. There he skidded to a halt at once, his eyes wide open, like Simba when he saw the stampede of wildebeests coming down into the gorge.