The Things I Do For Family
Chapter 6
"Dr. Stromwell?" said Courage. "But you look so different."
"Indeed I do, Courage." said Dr. Stromwell. "When I was kidnapped by the goragons, which are these aliens here," Dr. Stromwell pointed to the aliens beside him to emphasize who the goragons were, "they took me to their laboratories and for a while, I was their lab rat, hypothetically speaking. They tortured me and performed experiments on my DNA. Using the DNA from their species, they tried to mutate me into a hybrid of their species but the DNA had a more greater affect than they thought. I became a powerful mutant, fused with the DNA of a human and the DNA of a goragon. The mutation gave me extraordinary powers, such as the ability to understand foreign languages, including the language of dogs and the goragons. When I showed them how powerful I was and how intelligent I was, the goragons accepted me as their leader and they have been working for me ever since."
"You killed my parents, you monster." blurted out Courage in rage.
"I probably have." said Dr. Stromwell with a casual voice that made Courage's blood boil in rage. "For you see, I've been experimenting with genetics myself. I've been working on ways of building my own army by mutating living creatures using the same science that mutated me but I needed test subjects for the experiments in order to see if my theories would work. I kidnapped your parents and the other dogs and I experimented on them. Unfortunately, neither one of the dogs survived the experiments but since then, I've been perfecting the procedure and once it works, I will then find a way to go back to Earth and mutate every human on Earth into a mutation that is programed to obey my every command. Everyone in the world will be my slaves and no one will stop me." Dr. Stromwell laughed evilly.
"You're sick." said Courage.
"Sick, am I?" said Dr. Stromwell. "Perhaps when you experience my brilliance first hand, you will see it my way."
"What do you mean?" asked Courage.
"I'm going to put you and that female dog into my lab and I will test my mutation experiments on the two of you." said Dr. Stromwell. "You two will either died a slow and painful death or become my slaves forever."
"You will not harm me or my sister." said Courage.
"This is your sister?" asked Dr. Stromwell. "Excellent, you get to die with family at your side. Too bad that your parents wont join you."
The remark that Dr. Stromwell had made was the final breaking point for Courage. With a scream of rage, Courage ran towards Stromwell, holding his bat high in the air. Dr. Stromwell didn't even react as Courage charged him with the bat. With a nasty looking grin, Dr. Stromwell flung his mutated arm and struck Courage hard in the chest. The blow knocked Courage onto his back and he skidded across the floor.
"Don't even think about it, Courage." said Dr. Stromwell. "I'm much more tougher than you." Courage gritted his teeth in anger. He quickly got onto his feet and charged Dr. Stromwell, baseball bat raised high. Dr. Stromwell saw Courage heading in his direction and he was preparing to strike Courage again but Courage dropped to the ground and slid under the swing. Using the force of the momentum, Courage kicked Dr. Stromwell in the legs, causing Stromwell to topple forwards but instead of landing face down on the ground, Stromwell spread out his arms and landed on his open palms. With great agility, he flipped himself into the air in a summersault and landed on the ground. Courage also got onto his feet, ready for another strike. The other goragons who had accompanied Dr. Stromwell were cheering at the sight of Dr. Stromwell's agility as if they were watching a show.
"Enough games." said Dr. Stromwell. "Time for some real action." Dr. Stromwell took in a deep breath and unleashed a ball of fire from his mouth. Courage tried to strike the fire with his bat like a baseball but when the fire struck the bat, it immediately caught on fire. Courage dropped the bat in surprise. Dr. Stromwell then took this opportunity to bull rush Courage, knocking him onto the ground. Before Courage could get back onto his feet, Stromwell grabbed Courage by the neck and lifted him off the ground by his neck. Misty gasped in horror as Stromwell ran up to a nearby wall and smashed Courage against the wall. Courage tried to struggle free but Stromwell held Courage against the wall by his neck. Courage gasped for breath as he tried to struggle free from Stromwell. Despite Courage's strength, he couldn't break free from Stromwell's grasp. Courage was beginning to feel light headed from the lack of air.
"Let him go, please." pleaded Misty from her cage.
"As you wish." said Dr. Stromwell mockingly. He threw Courage across the room and Courage struck hard against the bars of Misty's cage. The blow and the lack of air rendered Courage too weak to move. Dr. Stromwell calmly pulled out a set of keys as he walked over to Courage. While Courage remained barely conscious, Dr. Stromwell picked him up upside-down by one leg. Stromwell placed the key into a key slot on the cage door, opened up the door, and threw Courage inside. Dr. Stromwell locked the cage door and said to Misty, "I'm going to prepare my equipment. Once it is ready, you and Courage will be used as the test subjects to see if this new invention of mine will work. Don't worry, your suffering will be brief." Dr. Stromwell laughed maniacally and he and the other goragons left the room leaving Misty inside the cage with Courage
Once Stromwell was gone, Misty frantically shook Courage in an attempt to wake him up.
"Courage, please wake up." said Misty. Courage groaned in pain. He opened his eyes and as his vision came to, he saw Misty looking over him.
"Courage, are you all right?" asked Misty out of concern.
"Yeah, but my head hurts." said Courage. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head in pain. Upon realizing that he was now locked in the cage, he sat down and leaned against the cage bars.
"I guess this is it." said Courage. "We're going to die." Misty let out a shaky sigh as she too realized the hopelessness of the situation. She sat down next to Courage and asked him, "Why did you come to rescue me?"
"Well, I couldn't just sit there and let you die." said Courage.
"Is that really the only reason why you came to save me?" asked Misty.
"Well..." said Courage nervously.
"It's because you cared, that is why you came and tried to rescue me." said Misty. Courage was rather surprised by the statement.
"What? No way." said Courage. "I don't even know you."
"Even so, you do know that I am your little sisters and that is the most important thing." said Misty.
"But I never wanted a sister." protested Courage. "I wanted my parents back. I missed them so much since the day they were launched into outer space. You wouldn't even know the pain I went through because you got to know them much longer than I did and I barely got to know them at all. I came here to search for my family..."
"...and you found her." interrupted Misty. "I may not be your parents but I'm the next best thing. I'm your little sister and a sister who loves her brother very much." Courage sat in silence, thinking about what Misty had said. Inside, he knew that Misty was right. She was family and that's all that matters. When Courage gave no response to what she said, Misty could tell that she had gotten through to him. She then reached over, grabbed Courage's paw, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I do love you, Courage...as a sister, of-course." said Misty. "Don't I have your love as well?" Courage grinned shyly and gave Misty a squeeze of her paw.
"Of-course, sis." said Courage. "You're right. We're family and that's all that matters." Misty let go of Courage's paw and hugged Courage around the shoulder. Courage was rather surprised by the gesture but smiled and returned the hug.
When they let go of each other, Misty asked, "So how are we going to get out of here?"
"That part I'm still trying to work out." said Courage grimly.
"Well, don't worry, Courage." reassured Misty. "I know that we will find a way out of here." There was a moment of silence as a thought came to Misty. "Hey Courage, after we escape, what do you want to do about getting back home?"
"Well, I can't fly back to Earth because the ship is damaged so my only ticket back home is to wait for someone to answer my distress call that is being sent by the S.O.S beacon." said Courage.
"Well, if you do get rescued, can I come to Earth with you?" asked Misty.
"Sure, why not." said Courage. "Hey, why don't you move in with me. I'm sure my humans wont mind."
"Really, that would be great." said Misty.
"Or at least Muriel wont mind." thought Courage to himself.
Suddenly, the doors to the room swung open and seven goragons came in. One was pushing a large wooden board with wheels underneath and metal handle bars for control the board's path of movement. The other six goragons were lined along side the rolling cart. The cart was moved in front of the cage allowing the six goragons to pick up the cage that Courage and Misty were still in and place it on top of the cart. The cart was then wheeled around and then pushed out the door. Misty and Courage held each other's paws in comfort, even though that both of them were afraid of what might happen to them.
The cage was wheeled into a laboratory where Dr. Stromwell and four other goragons were waiting. In the center of the room was a table that had four clamps on it, obviously used to hold a person's arms and legs in place. The table was connected by a crane and chains that were used to lift the table off the podium it sat on, victim and all. Next to the table was an artificial pond of some kind that was filled with a green colored fluid that bubbled like boiling water. As Mist and Courage stared at the bubbling acidic substance in the pond, Dr. Stromwell walked over to the cage with a sinister grin on his face. Using his keys, Dr. Stromwell unlocked the cage and grabbed Misty by her chest. He pulled her out of the cage, closed the door, and locked it before Courage could do anything to stop Stromwell. Misty tried to struggle out of Dr. Stromwell's grasp but Dr. Stromwell was too strong. He carried Misty to the table and with help from the goragons, they strapped Misty's arms and legs against the table. There was a podium nearby were the controls operating the table were. The goragon at the controls pushed a button and the chains that were attached to the table were reeled in by a large crane on the ceiling, lifting the table off the podium. The crane moved along a track on the ceiling thus moving Mist and the table across the room and over the pit of boiling green acid. Courage stared in horror as he realized that Dr. Stromwell was going to dip Misty into that acid like substance and the same conclusion came to Misty's mind because she was so afraid for her life that should could barely keep her breathing steady. Courage's heart bounded in his as his mind raced. He had to find some way out of this cage and fast if he was going to save Misty.