Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 69

"I agree!" yelled Louis, giving the wall he leaned on a kick, and almost loosing his hold on the half awake Massaru in the process. The slop of stomach acids and partially digested food had subsided to knee height, but it was still tough to get solid footing. "Get us out!"

His SkySprecht buzzed with voices.

"We'll get them out once we get a scan done back at base," said Rachel. "Meanwhile, just sit still. Will, lay down here. I'll be back in a bit and we'll be on our way."

"Will?" He hadn't been able to talk to his partner since Cetz changed the SkySprecht frequencies. After hearing a fight and not being able to do anything about it he wanted to yell at someone. It might as well be Fanboy. "Where is he? Will, talk to me dammit!"

***

Reese groaned. "He wants to talk to you."

"You mean he wants to yell at me," groaned Will as he fiddled with his com again, trying to get the setting back to normal. He lay on the gurney in the back of the ambulance, taking shallow breaths so his stomach wouldn't burn so bad. Then he noticed Beni staring at him.

Beni turned away and got out of the ambulance. "I'll leave you guys to do... whatever," she said quietly before she closed the doors, cutting off the disgruntled chaos of Luvor guests, and stalked away.

Will pressed his lips in a grimace. "I guess she knows."

"Yes. She's not taking it well. She's too quiet." Reese pulled out a seat next to the gurney and held out the earpieces to the stethoscope.

"Which part?" said Will. "About Louis's ability, or that there was a leak in the Watch and she wasn't trusted enough to be told about it."

Reese shook his head. "I think the trust issue is going to take longer to accept than what happened with Louis."

Will huffed and tossed the SkySprecht onto his lap and took the stethoscope. "I wish Cetz would fix these things. Bad guys get super plagues and shrink rays, we get faulty communicators. It ain't right."

***

"Damn straight it ain't right," growled Louis as he adjusted his grip on Massaru again. The Indian doctor patted his hand.

"Go easy on him, Louis," advised Massaru in gasping whispers. "He's had a tough night just like you, if not more so. And so have I."

Louis gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream. Something moved on the outside of Reese's body, causing a rustling sound in Louis' Sprecht.

"I'm here, Louis," said Will, sounding spent and tired. "What is it?"

"I...! You're...!" The pent up frustration in Louis wouldn't go away, but what good would it do either of them to speak of it. "Tell Rachel it's hard for Massaru to breathe in here," he snapped. "I let go of him once and he nearly suffocated. He needs to get out first when we get back to base."

Will was silent for a beat. "Okay."

"And Reese shouldn't be eating on the job; there are bits of caviar and crackers floating around in here. He's worse than you when it comes to chewing."

"Gotcha."

"And tell him to stop moving so much."

Will took a pained breath. "Fine."

"And... go to sleep. I'll yell at you later."

***

Rachel kept an eye on Will and Reese's conditions on their way back to base. Once they were checked in she left Will in the care of her nurses while she prepped the BT lab. Reese stood to the side of the hospital room while Will was changed from his stained tux into a gown and scanned under a BT-7 specialized for medical use. Along with damage to the pyloric sphincter, his lower left ribs were bruised. The nurses immediately put him on an IV, but not drugs yet.

Reese stood at Will's bedside until the nurses left, still in his tux, and glowering. He hadn't put the stethoscope back to his stomach since the ambulance. There didn't to seem a need since Louis wasn't making a fuss anymore.

"You know, your little harem was looking for you out in the parking lot," said Reese. "Lucky bastard."

"Wonderful," drawled Will. "I bet Violet thinks she danced with some sort of international spy and is gossiping it to all her friends."

"Living the Bond dream that much of a drag?"

Will gestured to Reese's stomach. "What do you think?"

"Ha ha," drawled Reese with a grimace. "Will taking them out hurt?"

Will nodded. "Yeah, a bit. Mostly your throat, gagging and trying to swallow something going the wrong way. You might throw up if you've got a lot in your stomach."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"You should be fine once it's over."

"Great." Reese crossed his arms over his middle again, as if bracing himself for the event. "I think I saw Zachs being put into another room in Med Tech."

"I hope he got a lot of stitches," muttered Will.

"Stitches?"

"I slashed him pretty good on his leg."

"Good j—oh." Reese tightened his arms around himself.

"You okay?" asked Will.

"Yes. I think Louis approved. I just..." Reese gestured to his stomach. "How do you deal with it? The hitting and feeling something like... this? It's damned eerie."

"It's strange at first, but if they're moving that means they're still alive." Will shrugged and then winced, a hand over his stomach. "And I'd rather be feeling that then what I'm feeling right now."

Rachel knocked on the room door and walked in. "Reese, we're ready."

The safecracker looked back from the doorway. "Any last words of encouragement?"

"Lie back and think of England," said Will.

That managed to elicit a small chuckle from the safecracker before he left.