Inner Workings

Inner Workings - Part 63

"Are you still with us, or do you need a moment?" asked Rachel.

Milton took another shaky sip of coffee. "I'm good, just a little overwhelmed."

And probably a little over-caffeinated for this late in the day, but Milton figured if there was going to be a night to miss sleep, this would be the one. Rachel had fetched a coffee carafe for the three of them once the Luvor mission had been explained.

Rachel and Cetz had given Milton an exhaustive summary of what had happened to Agents Rowe and Patriarch, from the incident during the Freewill raid up to and including the recent fisticuffs in California. To aid their explanation of the Agent's situation, they included BT scans and they final report they had sent to Watch Mission Control concerning Louis' new ability.

As much as Milton wished they were pulling his wool sweater over his eyes, he could tell they weren't lying simply by their body language.

Suddenly Agent Rowe's stomach problems were far more serious than a possible ulcer.

"So," prodded Cetz. "What's your view on this?"

Milton shrugged, at a loss. "Endosomatophilia?"

Cetz blinked. "In-da-stomach-of-filly-what?"

"Endo-somato-philia. Love of being inside a person's body," said Milton, eyebrows scrunched as his mind went to blank shock to analysis mode. "Although this is less love and more... real world application of bodily merging if your BT scans are correct. Endosomatophobia might be more applicable."

"There's a name for that?" asked Rachel.

"It's a rather new term used in hypothetical situations with symbolic dream analysis or fetish discussion, but this is far from hypothetical. That or voraraphilia."

"Ha!" crowed Cetz, pointing at Rachel. "I told you it was a real word."

"If what you told me was accurate," Milton held out his hands at Rachel's protest. "I believe you, I'm not questioning this... phenomenon. The antagonistic rift between Rowe and Patriarch was in development long before the incident at Freewill. I would start with that first."

"You don't think Louis being shrunk down to three inches and Will having his own partner inside his stomach messed with their minds?" asked Rachel.

"The Freewill incident and the further tests they've gone through has made an impact, I won't deny that," said Milton, gaining steam and confidence from the coffee dregs. "But I'm a psychologist. I work with the human problems. The science I'll leave to you."

Milton put his coffee mug down on the table next to the thick report and looked Cetz in the eyes. Cetz still sat hunched over with his elbows on his knees, as if the problems of Agents Rowe and Patriarch were his own to bear on his shoulders. Rachel sat back, arms splayed over the back of the couch, putting on a relaxed stance when she was wound up tighter than a watch spring.

Milton took a breath. "When do you want me to start?"

***

Will stood back and basked in the glow of his newly hung poster with recessed lighting. He would get blue and orange tinted gels for the lights to match the poster later. For now the cast of Star Wars took the spot of glory over his light sabers and his reorganized and dusted display case.

It felt good to get his hands a little dirty with housework. Even if work at the Watch was slowly descending into stress and chaos he could still come home to his favorite stories.

Being bound to a desk for the next couple of weeks had its upside. Being grounded meant he wouldn't be sent on missions during the weekends, which meant he could catch up with Matt and the rest of his fellow geeks. Catch up on movie nights, talk shop about costuming, maybe even attend a convention if it was close enough.