Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 1

Louis groped around in the almost darkness, his hand rubbing furiously against the shuddering pink insides of Will's stomach. He had been yelling for so long that sand grated his throat.

"William! Wake up! Will, can you hear me!" He pushed his hand against the stomach wall, trying to get a reaction. The younger agent's heartbeat was thick and fast in Louis's ears. He didn't know what a heart attack sounded like, but he feared he was hearing one now.

With one hand he re-tuned the sonic hearing on his SkySprecht. Through thudding flesh, he heard an authoritative female voice and the rattle of a gurney.

"Empty the ER now. I'll be there in thirty seconds. Cetz, you'd better get some gloves on."

"Rachel?" he whispered in hope.

The shuddering came to a stop as the gurney braked in the ER. Now he could hear Rachel and Cetz, working back and forth. He was going to be okay. There were back at the Watch Two base. But how the hell was he going to get out of here?

Rachel's voice seemed closer. "Louis, if you can hear me, grab on and hold tight."

"Grab what?" he muttered.

Suddenly, Will's breath hitched; a gurgling sound echoing from his throat.

"Cetz, hold him down," said Rachel.

"Can't you sedated him?" asked Cetz.

"Can't you guys hurry the hell up!" shouted Louis, not caring that neither of them could hear him.

A light burst forth from the esophageal opening, making his eyes ache. It was a tiny light on a slick black pipe, and a loop of wire attached. A gastro camera. The stomach walls glistened, looking like a dripping pink cave.

"The hell..." Then he realized what Rachel wanted him to do. He put his foot through the loop of wire like a stirrup and locked his arms best he could around the pipe. His left arm burned and pinched, numb in the fingers. But he held on tight.

The tube inched towards the stomach entrance, enclosing Louis's body in warm, tight flesh. Crushing, suffocating, slick. Louis was reminded again of his nightmare of being swallowed by wet bed sheets, except this time he couldn't wake up. He heard Will's breath hitch again, choking as the walls tightened and quivered. The young agent's body arched, as if protesting the removal of his partner from inside him.

Rachel cursed. "Hold him!"

"I'm trying!"

The enormity of the situation started to dawn on Louis. If something went wrong, if he got caught in Will's throat or slipped down the wrong tube, they could both die.

"God William, please stop moving!"

Despite having a death grip on the gastro tube, the pulsating walls of the esophagus were making him slip down and wrench his left arm.

"Rachel, hurry up!"

Will's body jerked up again, and all of Louis's strength couldn't keep him from loosing his grip.

***

Agent Louis Patriarch jerked awake covered in sweat, the memory making his shoulders shudder in the sunlight that slatted through his apartment blinds. His hand thrust out to the nightstand and grabbed his sunglasses. Rachel and Cetz, fearing one of them was in immediate danger of death, had physically taken him out of William's body via gastro tube. At the back of Will's throat, Louis's arms gave out; the only thing that kept him from slipping back down a pulsating throat was his foot looped through the wire at the end of the gastro tube. The moment he had made it out of the young agent's mouth, the light of the ER had blinded him and made his body ache. It had taken only ten seconds in the light to return to normal size, breaking the gastro camera in the process. Later, thanks to Rachel's examinations and tests, they found out that light triggered his shrinking, thus he had to prevent absorbing too much light.

Thus, he kept the shades on, camouflaging the dark circles under his eyes and preventing another episode of getting lost in the sea of his bed sheets. He had to go to work. And there would be more tests. Even a month after the whole Freewill affair, Rachel still had things to try out and questions about the new ability he had. He'd rather not have the ability to shrink at all.

"Fanboy better have a mug of coffee ready when I get there."