Chapter Text
Theo Arinsen swallowed heavily. He was so nervous, but he’d never let it show. Not in front of his squadmates. He sat in the medical chair, surrounded by doctors in lab coats, masks over their faces, heavy gloves up to their elbows.
It was an honor – a way to set himself apart from his other squadmates on Infiltration Team Gamma. He was going to be an asset. A secret weapon.
A hero.
One of the few volunteers for Project Swift.
He glanced around at the mirrored glass around the room. They’d all promised to come and watch, but the idea that they would all see him go through this made him nervous. His throat was dry.
“Can I… have some water?” He choked out, and one of the doctors paused setting things just so on his tray to look down at Theo. He shook his head.
“Protocol states no food or water eight hours before the procedure.” His eyes crinkled sympathetically, but he didn’t budge. “Sorry, kid.”
Theo sighed, running his hand through his short, sandy-brown hair. He wished he’d have gotten it cut earlier in the week. He hadn’t thought about that. Where was he going to get his hair cut now? Would he even be able to?
God, how was he supposed to cut his nails? Brush his teeth? Where was he going to sleep?
His heart began to race. He probably should have thought of all those things before he volunteered to undergo this procedure. Before he put himself in this position. It wasn’t like he could back out now.
He grit his teeth. They’d obviously already thought of all that. He wasn’t even the first one who’d gone through Project Swift before. He shivered as he thought of how it would feel to be the first one.
Was the guy lonely? Had he been this afraid?
The liquid already glowed green in the syringe, pulsing ominously.
He blinked away his nervousness as he glanced around the mirrors again. Finn and Justin were on the other side, he was sure. The thought gave him comfort, and also made him nervous. Would they think of him differently? Would they still treat him the same?
Another thing he probably should have thought of before he agreed to this. He hadn’t been very smart, had he?
Still, his parents had been so proud. His squadmates were excited. This was a chance for them to really set themselves apart, a chance for them to make themselves known.
Twenty-two years old and already making history. It had a nice ring to it, but it still wasn’t enough to cut through the anxiety.
A woman stepped in the room, black gloves all the way up to her elbows, white lab coat starched and pristine. She wore a mask to cover her mouth, and goggles over her eyes. Theo felt so unprotected compared to everyone else in the room. It was like he had some kind of contagious, deadly disease.
But he didn’t. They didn’t want to go through what Theo had volunteered for. They were terrified of becoming what he was about to become.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Arinsen.” The woman said, muffled through her mask. “I’m sorry about all the extra layers. We don’t mean to scare you.”
Theo laughed, but it was emptier than he’d meant it to be.
“All good, Dr. Meeks. I, uh… I feel a little underdressed.” He joked nervously. Dr. Meeks’ eyes crinkled behind her goggles, and she held up her clipboard to glance at the information.
“No need to be nervous, Theo. This is extensively tested, with almost no negative side effects. Our expert team will be here to support you through every step of your… transition.”
Theo felt his chest get tight at her words. It was really happening. It was… it was really coming. Dr. Meeks glanced at the heart rate monitor and laid a vinyl-gloved hand on his wrist.
“I know you’re nervous, but Project Swift has done some incredible things. You’re going to really be something special.” She comforted.
Something special was right. A twelve-inch minisoldier, specifically engineered for infiltration and espionage. Someone who could slip into guarded buildings undetected. Someone who could perform maintenance and engineering on components too small for human hands. An asset who could scout in hostile environments without being detected.
It was a great career move – at least, that’s how they’d sold it. For someone like Theo, it was probably the only career move he’d ever get to make. He wasn’t really that exceptional in any other way.
But Theo wasn’t sure how comforted he really felt. He couldn’t even think about his friends and squadmates on the other side of the glass. All he could think about was the first time he’d seen Mitch Hanson on TV, the first successful product of Project Swift. The first twelve-inch man. The terror. The excitement. The pull to volunteer himself.
But now he didn’t feel any of the excitement. Just the nervousness.
What if he got sick… or injured?
“What… what does it feel like?” He whispered. Dr. Meeks looked at him, her head cocked slightly.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been through it, myself. We do give you some pretty good painkillers. You’ll be awake, of course, but you shouldn’t feel much more than pressure. The other subjects all reported some dizziness, some nausea, some disorientation, but some of that is to be expected.”
Theo nodded. He’d gone through the lists already. But knowing the words and anticipating the feeling were totally different.
He was going to do something only ten other people had done.
One of the scientists dimmed the lights, and Theo’s eyes widened. He glanced around the room, taking it all in. It would never look like this again. He should have spent more time with Finn and Justin before this – he hadn’t thought about the fact that they would be different too. He cursed himself, but it was too late for second guessing.
Something coursed through his veins. Adrenaline. Excitement. Fear. Anticipation.
Dr. Meeks picked up a syringe. A normal one.
“This is just a few nutrients, some saline, some biodefenses. Nothing more than a liquid multivitamin.” She said, smiling smoothly. She pressed the needle into his bare arm. He wasn’t wearing anything but thin cotton shorts. No shoes. No jacket. No dog tags. No shirt, even. Something about previous test subjects getting lost.
She flicked another syringe. Theo glanced at it, trying to get himself to stay still. He couldn’t help a few awkward fidgets as she pressed the next injection into his arm.
“A few painkillers, a few muscle relaxants. Nothing to worry about yet.” She soothed,
He winced at the sting of the needle, but his anxiety filtered away quickly as his body was forced into a state of relaxation.
She picked up another needle, this one a little bigger.
“This isn’t anesthesia, but it will ease the mental transition. An anti-anxiety medication.” Theo could only blink at her as she poked him with this needle as well. His muscles twitched, but he could barely feel his extremities anymore.
His thoughts started to slip away, and he could only sit there, still and quiet, his mind finally settling down into something like calm. His eyes tracked her as she opened an alcohol pad and sterilized a patch on his arm.
She picked up the biggest needle, the one containing the pulsing green liquid. He watched with silent fascination, unable to move his body, or even conjure up fear.
“This is it, Theo. Any last words?” She said, her eyes crinkling good-naturedly. Theo could only blink at her, still and helpless. “I know, I know. I’m hilarious.” She murmured, and pressed the needle into his skin.
The first thing he felt was incredible heat in his veins. It felt like she’d injected fire straight into him. He wanted to gasp in pain, grab the site, writhe in agony, but his body was completely paralyzed. It seared through his heart, setting his entire body alight.
Still, he was nothing more than a passenger in his own body. He couldn’t move. He could hardly even engage with the pain other than to note it.
Then the pressure.
Pressure.
They’d described it as pressure. It had been typed in the list of side effects as pressure. But this was like being crushed in a hydraulic press. Every bone in his body was pushed in from both sides. Every organ was gripped in a massive fist, his muscles forced to contract. It felt like gravity had ramped up by a factor of a hundred.
A low whine escaped his mouth, and Dr. Meeks stepped forward, brandishing another syringe.
“Subject Eleven seems to be experiencing some pain. 50 ccs of Andrazepam. Mark that down, please.” She injected Theo with something he couldn’t see. The pain melted away, but the pressure remained.
He tried to focus on the lights in the ceiling. The pattern of the tiles. But every thought he grasped onto slipped out of his mind in moments. All he could do was experience what was happening in the moment.
He was sliding down the slippery medical chair somehow, he could feel the cool vinyl dragging against his bare skin.
“Recline the chair. We’re getting started.” Dr. Meeks said. Theo felt the chair recline behind him, but he didn’t stop feeling the sliding against his back.
The ceiling was warping above him, and he could only vaguely note the change before even that slipped away. He could feel his fingers trembling as he fixed his eyes on Dr. Meeks, watching her grow larger over him, her body stretching and stretching even as she stood over him like a sentinel.
“You’re doing great, Theo.” Dr. Meeks said, and her voice was so much louder, now. He would have been afraid if his body would conjure emotion.
Instead, he only kept his green eyes fixed on hers. Another wave of that nightmarish, crushing pressure, and he squeezed his eyes closed.
“More pain. Give me a smaller needle, 20 gauge, and 10 ccs of Andrazepam.” Dr. Meeks ordered, and Theo’s eyes flew open. He watched as her hand approached, stretching and growing right in front of his eyes. The syringe was smaller than the last, but the needle was almost as long as his arm.
He could still feel his body sliding on the vinyl chair, but he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t going anywhere. He looked up at the ceiling, watching as it grew farther and farther away from him.
“Approaching target mass.” Dr. Meeks said, her voice echoing like thunder, now. Theo watched her set a ruler next to him, noting idly that it was as long as he was. Her fingers were as long as his arms. “Arresting in ten seconds.”
Theo wished he could see what was happening. But everything was swimming in front of his eyes. Everything around him seemed to breathe, stretching and growing while Theo could do nothing but watch.
“1 cc of Arrestin, butterfly needle.” Dr. Meeks said, holding out her hand. It appeared in her hand, placed there by a massive lab tech. “Arresting at 12 inches.” Theo felt something pierce his arm.
“Initial response to dosage is within tolerance.” She noted. “Mark it down.”
Ice flooded through him, goosebumps broke out on every inch of his body. He whimpered, but she didn’t offer more painkillers this time. He watched her eyes widen in shock.
“Dr. Meeks, it’s not stopping.” The lab tech at her elbow announced. Dr. Meeks blinked, snapping back into movement.
“I can see that. Two more ccs of Arrestin, stat.” She held out her hand, a fresh needle in her hand. Theo felt the needle slide in, more ice. His brain felt foggy.
“He’s… still shrinking.” The tech murmured. “Six inches.”
“Two more ccs, now. I want arrest on record at no less than three inches.” Dr. Meeks snapped, her voice cold.
“Doctor, more than three mils can cause undesirable side ef—”
“I’m not losing another prototype! We’ll reassess protocol later, I’m not letting this one disappear.” Dr. Meeks said firmly, her hand out. “Two more ccs, now, or you’ll be Subject Twelve. Anna, mark down full compliance.”
Theo closed his eyes. Another poke. Another wave of ice. His heart felt like it would stop. He didn’t even open his eyes when he heard Dr. Meeks huff out a sigh of relief.
“Arrested under four inches. Dammit.” She murmured under her breath. “Less than half of our planned target. Well, we might still have a few kinks to work out. Marketing’s not going to be happy.”
Theo shivered. The room was freezing, and he'd couldn't feel his shorts anymore. A tech laid a scrap of gauze across his groin.
“Give him the sleeping gas. We’ll need to recalibrate, reassess, and prepare his team.” Dr. Meeks barked.
Her voice was breathy, but she continued, getting stronger.
“This stays in the room, okay? We’ll scrub the docs, no leak paths, no briefings. I’ll write the new deck myself for the quarterly meeting, no press until I say so. This is… we’ll reclassify as a breakthrough. Congratulations everyone, we’re ahead of schedule.”
Dr. Meeks snapped her fingers.
“Come on, people, he’s still awake. Gas, now.”
Theo opened his eyes, glancing at the giant shapes moving around the room, his vision foggy and blurry. Their footsteps were like thunder. They shook the chair he was laying on with every step.
A shadow fell over him as an oxygen mask was placed over top of his entire body. The air became sweet, scented with something like bubblegum. Theo only managed two breaths before everything went dark.