Higher Further Faster (Universe 13,400,063)

Chapter 89

The area around Thor changed, and the Russians disappeared. He was back in the darkness, slightly confusing him.

"You faced your fear. It wasn't that hard."

"Can I wake up from the coma now?"

"Not so fast. We still got more to go."

"I hate this."

"You faced your fear in Laos. What about in Yemen? Or even the Raft?"

"This is going to take forever."

His surroundings changed again, leaving him in Yemen. He was back on the building, along with everyone else. The Russians hadn't made it to the roof yet, relieving him a little bit.

"Carol?" 

"It's a memory. This isn't real life."

"I can't do this. She thought I was dead."

"Fight the pain."

"This is torture."

"Do you want to wake up from all of this?"

"Yes. I don't think I can do this though. This is worse than Laos."

He stared at her, feeling really bad about all of this. In just a few minutes, he would be shot in the head by a nearby sniper. Carol's reaction is what he hated the most. She was his strength and his weakness at the same time. 

"You can do it."

"No I can't."

"Ignore your thoughts. They're holding you back."

"That's not going to happen."

"You have to make a choice."

"I don't want to."

"Deal with it."

"Fine. I will try. This is more difficult than the last one."

"It only gets worse from here."

"Why did you have to say that?"

"You're the one thinking that."

Thor grumbled quietly, ignoring his thoughts. He stood face to face with Strucker, the one person he hated most. He knew exactly what was going to happen, but since it was a memory, he couldn't change it. 

"Fight the fear."

He felt the bullet dig through his head, and heard Carol scream. He stood there for a second, processing everything. The pain in his head burned badly, but there was nothing he could do about it. He fell backwards, right off the edge of the building. He saw Carol's face full of fear and sadness, and wanted to comfort her but he couldn't. Everything moved in slow motion from there. He free fell in the sky, trying to focus on concentrating. Fear and anger fought in his mind, trying to overwhelm him.

"You can do this."

He closed his eyes, letting go of his emotions. He allowed himself to be relaxed, despite everything that was happening. He felt Carol catch him, and then felt the ground on his back. He could hear everything she was saying, but couldn't get himself to respond. 

"....Thor...." Carol begged. 

He heard her say that and it immediately made him feel sad. She sobbed loudly, but he couldn't comfort her. This was the worse part of the memory. He couldn't handle hearing her in pain. Nothing that he had learned in his life prepared him for it. The feeling of being alone came to him, worse then ever. 

"...please...no..." She pleaded while tears fell from her face. 

Thor just wanted to wake up and hold her in his arms but he couldn't do that. Something was holding him back from doing that. The pain was awful, emotionally and physically. It was draining him of all his energy. 

"I can't do this..."

This was the most difficult thing he had ever done, and he didn't know if he could complete it. He tried extremely hard to fight the pain, but was getting close to giving in. 

"Fight the fear."

He listened to her voice, feeling the same pain she felt. It was agonizing and none of them could get rid of it. Somewhere in his mind, there was a small amount of hope. He thought about what would happen if he gave in. Then he thought about what would happen if he didn't. He decided to fight the pain despite it being too much for him. 

"You can do this."