//------------------------------// // 16) The Obstacle Course // Story: The Death of Lab 14 // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// {Experiment Ada} I'm starting to get worried about Head Cora. I've seen her talking to herself in the mirror. I wonder if she's getting too restless waiting for God Henry and God Derek to arrive. It makes me even angrier because I know Head Cora just wants to bring God Henry more harm and trauma. I think she's put him through enough hell already. That's why it's my goal to keep him and God Derek away from Head Cora even if it means killing them.  I've perfected a new attack that I like to call the 'flying bullet' attack. All I have to do is put a piece of material and it doesn't matter what it is into my index finger. Then I kiss my index finger and make a motion with my hand as if I were firing a gun. Once the attack hits my victims, it kills them instantly. I'd rather do it this way than puppeteering my victims to death. I'm starting to wonder why I haven't caused any earthquakes yet because of my anger towards Head Cora. I'm assuming it's probably because I'm scared silly of Head Cora at the same time. As I was sitting down at a table playing with a kidney from an experiment that I had just killed when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I rolled my eyes when I saw it was Experiment Charles. "What is it this time, Experiment Charles?" I said with an annoyed tone of voice. "I was wondering," said Experiment Charles, "if you would let me be Experiment Henry's boyfriend after the wedding?" I groaned. "Fine, but after the wedding got it? Now would you stop asking me and go bother some other experiment?" "Sure I can go be with another experiment," Experiment Charles said. "I'll wait until after the wedding and then Experiment Henry will be mine too." That's another thing that pisses me off. Head Cora just loves to have other experiments have their way with God Henry.  I hate this because I remember the last time Head Cora made me have sex with God Henry. He was in tears by the time it was over with. I was forced to get on top of him and the experience wasn't pleasant for either of us. God Henry was begging for it to stop but it fell on deaf ears. By the time it was over with, he had cried his eyes out. When I went to get myself cleaned up, that was when I caused an earthquake. It was a pretty bad one but not bad enough to level the building. I wish I had done that.  * * * {Henry} After we destroyed another location of Lab 14, Derek and I decided to pay a visit to The Resistance HQ. Once we landed on the railing or what The Resistance calls it, our 'god launchpad' we were greeted by Leader Felix, Spike, Aunt Apple Bloom, and Derek's parents Earnest and Liza. Earnest and Liza gave me and Derek both a big bear hug.  Spike came over and gave me a hug so hard I could barely breathe. "Henry! I'm so happy you're here!" "That's nice Spike," I croaked, "now please let me go." "Oh, yeah," Spike said and then he let go of me. I sat down on the ground and caught my breath, everyone laughed as I got to my feet.  "Yeah, yeah," I said, "very funny." Aunt Apple Bloom had a mischievous smile on her face. "What's that look for Aunt Apple Bloom?" I asked.  "So," said Aunt Apple Bloom, "how was the honeymoon?" "Ah…" I felt my face turn red and I looked away. "Oh Henry," laughed Aunt Apple Bloom, "you're just way too much fun to mess with!" Derek chuckled, "Yeah he's still freaked out by girls batting their eyelashes at him." Liza laughed and teased, "You mean like this?" Liza batted her eyelashes at me and giggled. "Yeah," I said, "please don't do that." Everyone found that reaction to Liza's teasing me funny because they burst into laughter.  "Ha, Ha," I said, "well, you should know that Mr. Derek over here is afraid of his own anger." Earnest gasped, "What? Why?" "Apparently," said Derek, "I can cause earthquakes and summon boulders out of thin air when I get angry." "Wow," Earnest said. "Of course, I'm not surprised coming from you." "Why?" Derek asked, tilting his head. "Because you always surprised us right when we started teaching you about magic and stuff like that. I mean for crying out loud Derek," said Earnest, "you have a glass eye and transfer your magic to it." "Oh," Derek said. "Is being afraid of your anger why you were so scared about that vision happening?" Liza asked. Derek nodded. "Yes, that would be it." "May I ask why you, God Henry, enjoyed the vision?" Leader Felix asked. I smiled. "I fed the mutants to Tiger Stripes. He definitely enjoyed the meal." Leader Felix raised an eyebrow. "Tiger Stripes?" "Oh, uh Tiger Stripes?" I said. "Yes, Master God Henry?" Tiger Stripes responded. "Can you come out here for a minute?" I said. "Sure." Tiger Stripes came out and there he was in all his glory. "How did you get him?" Leader Felix asked, looking at Tiger Stripes in awe. "I was created by Master God Henry's subconscious," Tiger Stripes explained. "His god powers also helped with that." "Whoa!" Leader Felix said. Tiger Stripes laughed his signature laugh, "Yeah, I've been getting the same reaction when people see me. Even when I'm getting ready to eat them. Although the Tracker Experiments were pretty terrified of Master God Henry when he broke out of his restraints, laughing like a psycho when he did it." "Well that's a good way to enjoy something," Aunt Apple Bloom chuckled. "Yeah, let's hope I can do that when I face Cora again," I said. "I don't blame you for being terrified of her," Spike said. "I can breathe fire and I've heard enough stories about her even to scare me!" "But since I'm a god now," I said, "I'm not going on anymore 'play dates' with who that witch has in mind for me to be with." Spike paused and raised an eyebrow. "Play Dates?" Derek shook his head. "You don't want to know. I know what they are and trust me, you don't want to know." "Oh, I see," Spike replied.  "So are you going to stick around or head right out to destroy Lab 14?" Liza questioned. "Hmm, I say we stick around," I said. I turned to Derek. "What do you say, Derek?" Derek smiled and nodded. "I think we can stay, we only have a handful of locations to destroy. So yeah let's stay."  * * * After we decided to stay at the Resistance HQ Leader Felix took us to a building that had a roof dome. Inside the building there were two mini forests along with a fake city in between them. In the forest, there were buildings that looked like locations for a lab. There were also a couple of mini-mountains too. "What is this place?" I asked while looking around. Leader Felix chuckled, "This is the training grounds for the Agents of The Resistance. There were a lot of different realistic scenarios in it. There are experienced Agents throughout the area too. I thought it would be fun for you guys to take a crack at it." Derek grinned. "Of course, I wouldn't mind taking a crack at it again." "The rules do say that only agents can do it and no unauthorized personnel can be in here," Leader Felix said. "But I figured since you're not agents and gods now, it should be okay." I rolled my eyes at that comment. "Oh, God Derek told me about your fear of facing Cora again. So we've added a little something extra in there just for you God Henry," Leader Felix said. "Seriously Derek?" I growled. "What? I have no idea what Leader Felix has in mind." Derek said, shifting his gaze. I could tell by the look on his face that he was lying. "You know I know what you look like when you're lying Derek," I said, "but okay." "I have one request," Leader Felix said. "What?" I asked. "Just try not to destroy this place," Leader Felix said.  Derek and I nodded. Before I got started, I thought about what attacks not to use. Derek and I went to separate areas of the building. Before the lights in front of me gave me the go-ahead to go, I thought about which direction to go in. When I got the light that told me to go, I zoomed past the cave that was in front of me. I wasn't about to get tied up to the ceiling by a psycho agent. Yeah, I didn't feel like 'playing' today. * * * I felt like I was doing fine on the obstacle course when I came across her... She stepped out of the shadows and I knew it wasn't Cora based on the sound of her voice and I didn't know how Leader Felix was able to do it but the mask the fake Cora had looked exactly like the real Cora. "Well now Experiment Henry," the fake Cora said, "it's time for you to come home. We have a wedding to get to! I can't wait for you to give us children by the woman we've picked for you." I gulped and thought, It's not Cora! It's not Cora! The fake Cora came towards me, I backed away from her. Even though I kept telling myself it wasn't Cora, the fear of her was still there. As I backed away from the fake Cora, I tripped and fell over. At that moment, every bad memory of Lab 14 flashed before my eyes. I don't know why, but after a while, the world went dark.  * * * {Derek} When I got halfway through the obstacle course, an alert sounded throughout the area. I know what happens when that alert sounds, I knew it meant something serious was happening. I had a feeling that it had something to do with Henry. At that moment, I could sense something was wrong with Henry and because my magic is connected with Henry's I felt it too. I ran in the direction of where I sensed Henry's powers were. I stopped short when I saw Henry on the ground passed out.  I looked over at the fake Cora that Leader Felix had set up, standing there staring at Henry in shock, not knowing what to do. I knew exactly why Henry passed out. The fake Cora must've triggered flashbacks or the fear that Henry has towards the real Cora when he faces her again. I gave the fake Cora a reassuring glance. "It's okay. Henry just passed out because of fear." The fake Cora took off her mask and was surprised by my reaction. "But I thought gods don't get afraid of anything." I shook my head. "That's just a myth. Just because you're a God doesn't mean you don't have feelings." Leader Felix and the others came running up to us. "What happened?" Leader Felix said. I sighed, "Henry passed out because of fear." Leader Felix's jaw dropped. "Wow, I know he was afraid of Cora, but I didn't think it was that bad!" "Oh yeah, I guess it's not time for him to overcome it yet. But I also wonder if this brought back bad memories?" I said. "I guess I just have to ask him when he wakes up." I looked at Henry when he started screaming in his sleep. I took him into my arms and held him. I transferred some of my magic to him and that seemed to help stop the screaming. I looked around at everyone to see they had tears in their eyes. I was surprised to see Leader Felix crying because he hardly shows any emotion.   "It's okay," I said, trying my best to console everyone. "I know it's sad right now but I'm pretty sure Henry doesn't want sympathy. He just needs to rest and he'll be good as new." "Okay, everyone give them some space," Leader Felix said. Everyone made a path for me to go through, I picked Henry up in my arms and carried him to our room. * * * {Henry} I woke up to see that I was back in the room that I shared with Derek. Derek was sitting at the edge of the bed with a worried look on his face. "What happened?" Derek asked. I shook my head, "I don't know. Flashbacks started happening when I saw that Cora stand-in. I guess fear got the better of me when I passed out." "That's just what I suspected," Derek said. "Um, I don't think I can kill her when I see her again," I said. "I have an idea that can help." Tiger Stripes said. I tilted my head. "Huh?" "The Shadows of the Downward taught this to me," said Tiger Stripes, "it's something they found in their research were a whole bunch of different gods volunteered to do it. They told me to only do this when Master God Henry's fear of Cora got out of control." "What is it?" Derek said with a curious look. "Apparently, fear can be replaced with anger," Tiger Stripes explained. "It takes a while to do it. All I have to do is use Master God Henry's god powers and attach it to the thing (or this case person) that he's afraid of and bring the emotion of anger up to the surface. The Shadows of the Downward found that in doing so anger helps a god overcome their fears. They also found that if a god has a memory attached with anger and not fear, helps the process out a lot. Tell me, Master God Henry, what angry memory do you have? If you have a lot of them, anyone will do." "Oh, I have plenty of them!" I growled. "But I guess anger turned into despair and despair turned into fear when I couldn't figure out a way to kill Cora. The first memory I have of anger towards her was the first time she had another experiment rape me. I begged for it to stop but my pleas fell on deaf ears. It was shortly after that, Cora found out that I had a relationship with another male experiment. She killed him right in front of me. After that, I tried to figure out a way to kill her but when I couldn't figure it out, my anger turned to fear." Derek balled his hands into fists when he heard this. Tiger Stripes sighed, "How long did it go on?" I looked away. "Two hours straight..." Derek started shaking with anger at this point. "When I get my hands on Cora, I'm going to find a way to keep her alive as much as possible when I torture her! I have half a mind to bring a camera with me so I can watch her screaming over and over again." "Hmm," said Tiger Stripes, "you could use your god powers to kill her over and over again." "But won't she become a demigod if I do that?" I questioned. Tiger Stripes hissed and shook his head. "Nope, if a god resurrects someone for the purpose of punishment that won't happen. And punishment is the only reason you can do that for. It can't be done for any other reason. If a god tries to resurrect someone for any other reason then that person that comes is just a zombie. The Grand God Council put that rule in place. So, what do you say, Master God Henry? Do you want to replace your fear with anger?" I didn't have to think twice about my answer, "Yes I want to! Cora needs to die!"  "Alrighty then, let's begin," Tiger Stripes said. * * * The process took half a day to do. After this was done, my anger towards Cora was renewed. However, this time I had a way to kill her.   I decided to go through the obstacle course again and this time when I came across the fake Cora, I was angry enough to summon a lightning bolt. Instead of killing the agent, I just shot it at a nearby tree. The Agent fell over and sat on the ground staring at me in awe. "Ooops!" I laughed. "I guess I got a little carried away." I helped the Agent get to her feet. She took her mask off and looked at me in awe and surprise. Leader Felix and the others came running up to me. Leader Felix's jaw dropped. "Okay, how did you get over your fear of Cora so quickly? I mean, you passed out because of it the other day!" Derek grinned. "Looks like what Tiger Stripes did worked!" "Can I explain to them, Master God Henry?" Tiger Stripes asked. I nodded. "Sure." Tiger Stripes explained to everyone what he did to me and everyone seemed impressed by it. Earnest chuckled, "I bet you can't wait to kill her now, huh Henry?" I smiled wickedly. "Yup, I'm going to kill her if it's the last thing I do! Don't worry Derek, I'll let you torture her first!" As I laughed along with everyone about this, it made me happy to think that Cora was going to die once I got my hands on her.