Higher Further Faster (Universe 13,400,063)

Chapter 116

"For all you new people here, this is the infamous obstacle course. Us pilots have nicknamed it the death pit, even though it's not a pit." Valkyrie announced. 

"This reminds me of the murder house." Sam whispered. 

"This is so much worse." Thor smiled. 

"How much worse?" Steve looked at him. 

"Well, this obstacle course runs through Pinnacles National Park." Thor continued. 

"What's so bad about that?" Bucky asked. 

"Unless you like spiders, you're going to hate jumping spiders." Thor chuckled. 

"Creatures from hell?" Sam was slightly concerned. 

"Sure." Thor nodded. 

Sam didn't look very amused, along with Bucky and Steve. Rhodey seemed fine with it, along with the other pilots. Carol hated spiders, but refused to let anyone see that she did.

"Everyone ready to go?" Valkyrie wondered. 

"No." Sam muttered. 

"Deal with it. Jumping spiders are the least scary things in Pinnacle." Valkyrie stared at him. 

"What's the worst?" Sam wasn't very excited. 

"Should I tell them Thor?" Valkyrie looked at him. 

"Go for it. The ants are worse." Thor was really amused. 

"There are jumping ants?" Sam said real slowly. 

"Yeah. They're not the bad." Thor shrugged. 

"This training turned into a nightmare." Sam mumbled. 

"You'll be fine." Thor chuckled. 

The entire group was already to go. The entire time they traveled to the park, Sam was cursing under his breath. Steve and Bucky were mentally preparing themselves for what was to come. Carol was more focused on the obstacle course then the actually bugs.

"You scared of the spiders?" Thor looked at Carol. 

"No. I've seen worse." Carol shook her head. 

"Like what?"

"Camel spiders. Those things are nasty."

"Never seen one before."

"You're lucky then. You can hear them before you see them."

"Enough to give someone nightmares."

Carol nodded in agreement, watching her friends. Thor sat right next to her, talking to Valkyrie. They both seemed like pretty good friends, almost like actually siblings. Carol was waiting until they got to the course.

"This is Carol." Thor introduced Carol to Valkyrie. 

"How's it going?" Carol smiled. 

"Pretty well." Valkyrie nodded. 

"You two really didn't not want to lose that race." Thor stated. 

"She's a really good pilot." Valkyrie nodded. 

"You gave me a good competition." Carol said.

"At least you're better than Thor." Valkyrie noted. 

"Hey." Thor looked at her. 

"He's pretty good too." Carol smiled. 

Eventually the entire group made it to the obstacle course. Sam wasn't very happy to be there, but joined Bucky and Steve in their conversation. Carol and Thor were fairly excited, focused more on winning then everyone else.

"What's the record for this place?" Carol wondered. 

"Last time I checked, Thor still holds it with a time of fifty seconds." Valkyrie informed them. 

"I could beat that." Carol said without thinking. 

"It's a fairly long course." Thor looked at her. 

"It doesn't look that difficult." Carol continued. 

"Wait until you actually do it." Valkyrie said. 

"I'll do it right now." Carol challenged. 

Carol popped her knuckles, smirking at Thor. She was determined to break his record, because she wanted to.

"Is the great Captain Marvel ready?" Thor grinned. 

"Just wait until I beat your record." Carol smirked. 

"Have fun with it."

"I'll beat this course in twenty seconds now that I think of it."

Carol looked at the course in front of her. It didn't look nearly as bad as she had thought. Yes, it was in the middle of a forest with jumping spiders and ants, but there was worse things then that. She took off running, flying past the first few levels easily.

"She's totally going to do it." Valkyrie watched with amazement. 

"When Carol says she's going to do something, she's dead serious." Thor said. 

The entire group watched her clear most of the course in under five seconds. The last part of the course consisted of several walls to climb, ropes to swing from, and the hardest part of the entire thing, the rock wall of death. 

"Let's see if she can clear this too." Valkyrie looked at Thor. 

"She can." Thor nodded. 

"It was difficult for you to do."

"For me, not her."

Carol started climbing the wall faster then a normal person. It got more difficult as she got higher, and required the most upper body strength. Her speed didn't change even though she was only using her arms to climb it. She neared the end of it, with only a time of fifteen seconds. 

"Damn." Valkyrie shook her head.