Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 36

"Dare I ask what a Devil's Neckbrace does?" asked Will warily.

"Paralyze you."

"Oh." Will swallowed hard, feeling Louis pace inside. "And this is a good thing?"

"No it's not a good thing, you idiot!" roared Louis through the stethoscope. "That thing should have been destroyed the moment they found out what it was used for!"

"It's temporary," assured Rachel at the same time. She pointed to the larger end that folded out into tiny insect-like arms. "This clamps to the back of your head and the rest attaches to your back along the spine. Once it's in place and activated it cuts off communications between your brain and the rest of your body. You'll still be aware of what's happening. You'll still be able to feel. And after I take it off you'll regain full control of your body within an hour or two."

"Two hours? Two hours of me just laying here unable to move?"

Rachel sighed with the same patience a parent gives a child. "It's either that or suffer internal injuries. I don't like having to use this damn thing, but it's better than having you off field work for weeks rather than days. And we need to get Louis out now."

Weeks off Watch work? When they were still working on the mission involving the virus? That cinched it. He nodded. "Fine."

Rachel nodded and lowered the lights, setting up her bag of equipment in the dimness. Latex gloves, the endoscope, and a thermos.

Louis disagreed with a sad voice. "You idiot."

***

Reese double checked his watch, a special piece he had custom made with a digital readout on the top that flipped open to a spring driven stopwatch. Five minutes to go. He had been fiddling with the tumbler discs in one of the many combination locks in the bottom drawer of his desk. Resetting combinations via tweaking the tumblers ate away at the time. But not quick enough.

The minute hand hit the six and he went to the kitchen with the pretense of grabbing another energy drink. Instead he grabbed an empty thermos with a screw on sip lid Cetz had left in the cupboard and filled it.

In ten minutes he'd be in Med Tech.

***

The Devil's Neckbrace was like a pillar of ice under Will's back. He was laid flat on the bed, wearing only the pants to his scrubs. Rachel removed his pillow so his head could tilt back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the ambient red light from the device.

"This thing is freezing."

"I had to take it out of cold sterile storage," said Rachel as she put on a pair of latex gloves. "It won't be on you long enough to warm up."

Before Will took the stethoscope off, he heard Louis gave one piece of reassurance.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Fanboy. Just think geek thoughts."

Will shivered as Rachel secured the clamps around his head, maneuvering them through his long brown hair to attach to his temples.

"Remember, you're perfectly safe, and it will over before you know it," said Rachel.

"Okay."

"Close your eyes."

He closed them, anticipating a jolt of electricity or a sudden sickening feeling when Rachel turned on the device. Neither happened. Instead it was as if every cell in his body turned to lead, pressing him down into the bedding. His hand wouldn't budge when he tried to move it.

"Relax. You're safe," said Rachel.

Safe? He couldn't even move his eyelids, and this was safe?

Then he felt stroking from inside. With his movement deadened the fluttering sensation was intensified. It would have been soothing if he wasn't panicking.

Rachel opened his lax jaws and slipped the thin endoscope into his mouth. Trapped in his head, he imagined all the other things it could be; a snake, a stick, whatever it was face huggers used to push Xenomorph eggs down their victim. The instrument pushed deeper, the cold invasion making him want to tear it out, if he could but move a finger. It stilled once it reached his stomach. The rubbing stopped.

Rachel slowly withdrew the endoscope and Will felt a sickening pull inside, drawing out Louis' small body with ease. He had no resistance, no fight, not even a gasp, swallow, or whimper. Taking Louis out shouldn't be this easy.

Rachel tilted his head back more, causing his eyes to open, banishing the imagined monsters in his head. It wasn't any better.

***

Louis had checked, double check, and triple checked that the virus canister wasn't going to budge from his belt. Even as he was being drawn through the tight flesh of Will's throat he had one hand on the clasp. As much as Louis hated the passage, up or down, this time was worse. It was too easy. It felt wrong, as if the flesh on either side of him was dead.

The passage widened and he squeezed his eyes shut, expecting blinding light that would make his skin tingle and muscles ache to grow back to normal size. Instead he was pulled out into a dimply lit Med Room. The first thing he saw was Will laying on the bed, his eyes open and empty, and his face frozen. He looked like a corpse.

"God..."

Rachel set the end of the endoscope gently down on the bedside table for him to untangle himself from the loop that kept him in place. He stood at the edge of the table, staring at his partner.

"Rachel, what did you do to him?"

"He'll be fine," said Rachel as she put away the instruments.

"His eyes are open."

Alarmed, Rachel checked on the device attached to Will, fiddling with the locks and attachments. She checked the younger agent's pulse, flashed her penlight in his eyes, and sighed in relief.

"It's nothing, Louis. I jostled him when I took you out." She put herself in Will's line of sight, talking to him softly. "I'm closing your eyes again, Will. And then I'm going to take the brace off. You'll start to get control in your head first, eyes and mouth, and then it will move down your body. It will pass quicker if you sleep through it."

Rachel slid her hand over Will's eyelids and deactivated the Devil's Neckbrace, the red pins of light winking off like eyes. With both arms she lifted his upper body upright to lean against her and she removed the device. It snicked open like broken insect legs.

Louis got a good look at the red pressure marks left on Will's back. It didn't look right; Will's arms flopped like a doll, and if anyone should be holding Will...

"It should be me," whispered Louis to himself. He immediately berated the thought. Will wouldn't want his partner to see him like this.

Rachel laid the young agent back down, rearranging the heating pad and the sheets over him, being careful of the still dripping IV. "You'll be fine."

Louis looked long at Will, his gut clenching, until Rachel unscrewed the thermos and set the opening next to him. "We don't have a lot of time. Hop in."

The blonde glanced down at the emptiness in the thermos. "What? No coffee?"

Rachel glared. "Louis..."

Rolling his eyes, and checking for the hundredth time that the virus canister was still attached to his belt, he slid into the thermos.

I'll be back, he thought. And Zachs better stay the hell out of my way.