Zachs insisted the security wand remain on next to the machine during the test scan. Cetz hoped the damn thing would break. They had to get the BT up and running in the next five minutes. Of course, Zachs pointed out that they didn't have anything to scan.
"Are you offering?" said Cetz.
Rachel smirked. "When did you have your last medical scan?"
Zachs lifted an eyebrow and after a moment smiled, taking off his jacket. "I would be much obliged."
"Didn't think he'd go for that," muttered Cetz to Rachel as the Head of Security lay on the examination bed of the BT-9.
"Me neither. If I didn't have that Hippocratic Oath over my head I'd say we mess with the pulse emitters to give him a migraine."
"You can't mess with the pulse emitters from here," said Cetz.
"And that's why my Hippocratic Oath remains intact." Rachel turned to the microphone connected to the BT and the com between the lab and the Tech Room. "We'll be starting with a low level scan and then working our way up. Grant should keep us apprised of the pull on the electrical grid. Grant, you ready?"
"Ready when you are," said Grant over the com.
Cetz prayed everyone was in place. Rachel slowly brought up the power in the BT-9. The machine whirred to life, the blue coils glowing. There was no turning back now.
***
Will knew he could open his eyes if he tried hard enough. He was done with seeing nothing but dark and hearing the Med Techs outside turning off computers and unplugging machines; prepare for something he couldn't see coming.
He didn't even get to see Louis leave.
Ever so slightly, his eyebrow twitched.
***
Louis had his toes on the chalk line, his muscles tensed to run. He hated waiting. He glared over at Reese who was still kneeling next to him.
"Stop staring at me!"
"Sorry, I've just... never seen you like this before."
"Don't get used to it."
Reese checked his watch. "Any time now."
Louis checked the virus canister again. He would have to be fast enough to reach the other side of the gate. There was no other option. He had to be fast enough, or what good was all the pain Will had gone through.
***
"We're moving up to secondary scan," said Rachel, diligently looking over the scans like Zachs was any other patient.
Cetz kept a close eye on the power usage. He had to time the power overdraw right before the BT went over 66% capacity.
"Grant, how are things going on your end?" said Cetz.
"Good so far. We're ready for anything."
That's what I'm counting on, thought Cetz.
57%
59%
63%
As Rachel upped the intensity of the scan, Cetz redirected a pulse of electricity back down to Grant's board.
***
The lights in the garage dimmed. Louis dashed from the line before Reese could click his stopwatch. Inches of concrete blurred under the blonde's feet. Only his toes touched the ground as he made for the gap in the gate.
***
Drawing a deep breath and mustering all his will, Will opened his eyes just as Med Tech went dark.
***
The E.S.S. transmitters, compensating for their earlier weakness, overdrew on the electrical grid and diverted the extra power to the lights around the gate. The lights flared like miniature suns. Reese fell back on his rear, shielding his eyes.
Louis dived through the gate just as the casing on the lights shattered. The bulbs popped into a cascade of sparks. The E.S.S. transmitters came back on.
***
Reese sat coughing on the other side of the gate, waving the smell of burnt plastic and burst sodium lights away from his face. Already the garage lights on either side of the burnout glowed brighter. He brought up his stopwatch.
"Four point five eight."
***
Louis gasped, his lungs burning from the run and cheek freezing from the cold concrete he lay on. The virus canister dug into his hip. Lifting his torso up his hands hit his sunglasses on the ground. They had come of as he passed through the gate; right as the lights had flared. He looked behind and the gate didn't seem as intimidating any more. He was normal sized again.
A fraction of a second slower and his body would have been trapped under the gate, possibly killing him.
Louis had been fast enough.
The blonde sighed and let his head fall back to his arms in relief.
YOU ARE READING
Under My Skin
Science Fiction2 in the Getting In Deep series. LGBTQ, Thriller, Sci-Fi, vore. Agents Will and Louis of the Watch are sent after an experimental virus in the wrong hands, and end up exposing a weakness in the Watch organization. Fellow agents threaten the secrecy...
