Man on the Inside

Man on the Inside - Part 11

"Am I okay?" murmured Louis. "The guy whose been shot, drugged, gone through a burning building, is hooked up to a heart monitor, and spent the last sixteen hours with a live human being inside his stomach is asking me if I'm okay for the thousandth time? I haven't even had coffee yet and you're asking me this. How much of an idiot are you?"

"Well... your arm's in a sling."

"Oh." Louis plucked at his scrubs, seeming embarrassed. "My shoulder was dislocated. Rachel figured it happened when you swallowed me, but I think it was Retten's cronies did it."

William nodded. "You changed your clothes."

"They're getting cleaned. And I had to take a shower; didn't want to going around smelling like stomach acids."

"I see."

"And what the hell are you doing sitting up?" growled Louis as he came to the bed and gently pushed the rookie's shoulder back onto the bedding. "Hospital beds have buttons for that, fanboy."

He took the control to the bed and soon had William's upper body elevated.

"Have you been here the entire time?" asked William.

"No. I came in here to get some rest from Rachel's tests. She wanted me to get scanned by the BT-10, but I managed to sneak out of the Medical Lab before she noticed. She won't even let me touch a drop of coffee until her tests are done."

William nodded slowly. "Louis, what happened? I thought I was dead."

The blonde hesitated, his eyes turning away and he plucked again at his shirt. Then Rachel was at the door.

"Look who's up!" she chirped before glaring at Louis. "And look who's hiding."

Rachel came in the door, glaring at Louis until he sat back down on the lounge, and then she checked the equipment and William's temperature. "You feel nauseous at all?"

"A little. Mostly my gut hurts."

"That's to be expected. The nausea will get worse as Retten's drugs wear off, but I'll make sure you're given something for it. Meanwhile, you're dehydrated and have a fever." She patted his arm. "You look like crap and its good to have you back, Will."

"Good to be back. But I'm confused."

"Aren't you always?" said Louis before another glare from Rachel silenced him.

"Cetz will be here soon," assured Rachel. "Then we can all have some answers."

---

Five minutes after Rachel called Cetz, he was in the med room, his mood chipper and accomplished. Once all extra staff was out of earshot, William proceeded with his questions.

"How's Doctor Massaru?"

"He's been in and out of consciousness," said Rachel. "Baring infection he'll get better, but it will take time."

"Cetz, what happened to me and Louis? I thought the sixteen hours was up, how did Louis not grow or die?"

The head of Watch Two tilted his head sheepishly. "After going through the more recent of Retten's files, it turns out the process he used for Louis was a third method. Unfortunately we don't have the full documentation if it."

"So the third process just causes near death and utter crappiness of health in the person who swallowed the one shrunk?"

"Actually it did nothing to you at all," interjected Rachel. "What you are suffering from is food poisoning."