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"Damn it Patrick! You could have gotten him killed charging in like that!"

"But that sadistic bastard was about to eat him Alex! There's no telling what he would have done if we just walked in and tried to talk him out of it! He might have bitten him in half or crushed him in his hand or dropped him and ran for the window to escape as we scrambled to catch the victim here!"

"You still sent him flying when you slammed into that lion! And I barely managed to make that catch!"

"But you did. You saved him, I knocked that psychotic lion unconscious, and no one suffered further injury."

"Sigh. Have they been able to link any of the other disappearances to this guy?"

"Actually, they have. The remains of a previous victim were found in his digestive tract, and Grace discovered a hidden folder on his computer containing files detailing his victims, and pictures. They weren't pretty. This one was extremely lucky compared to the state he left most of the others in before he finished them. And for now Grace has retreated to her Office of Solitude, if we need her."

"Of course. How many did he..."

"Kill? Twelve in total that the SMCU knows about. And they don't know where this guy got those vials of shrinking compound, but it's definitely advanced. According to Dr. S, the fluid in them contains nanoparticles with a very precise timing mechanism. All he had to do was sneak it into a victim's glass, and then lure them into a deserted area by exactly ten minutes after consumption. Then the shrinking was near-instantaneous."

"Grr. We only found him because he came home drunk and left his door ajar. It's lucky his neighbor came by and overheard what was going on. But we were almost too late."

"What's going on? I've never seen you this freaked out."

"What do you think? We found a serial killer who treated at least twelve people like toys and snacks! And came very close to finishing his thirteenth! This is SMCU crap damn it!"

"That sounds pretty awesome to me."

"Well good for you, but I can't get my mind off our friend here. I've never seen someone so traumatized. Worse, the preliminary tests don't show any indication of how he shrank to a couple of inches in height. The SMCU didn't find any devices capable of size manipulation, and all known shrinking drugs have clear chemical identifiers by law. But the blood sample the doctors obtained shows no clear trace of any known size manipulation compounds, and certainly not the one in those vials."

"He's not our friend, and so what? This hospital is equipped to serve micros."

"I think you're missing the point."

"Oh! That there may be someone besides you who can..."

"No! There's no telling how long he'll be stuck at his current size! He may never return to his original height for all anyone knows at this point!"

"Uh...Alex?"

"What!"

"He's awake."

They finally noticed that I was watching them from where I lay in a hospital bed that was much too large for me now. Patrick was clearly a German Shepard. He was of average height and athletic. Alex was a lion and slightly taller; wearing khaki cargo shorts, trainers, and a blue shirt. He appeared to be moderately fit, but his back was to me as he faced Patrick, who was leaning against the wall by the door; dressed in athletic shorts and a plain white shirt and trainers; as if he had stopped by on the way to a gym, or maybe on the way back from the smell. Both looked like fellow college students. It was clear from his tail's movement that Alex was as irritated by Patrick as he sounded.

Alex stiffened in surprise for a moment after Patrick's comment. "Damn it Patrick," he muttered, then the irritation seemed to vanish as he turned to face me and I recognized the concerned face of my rescuer. "You're awake finally. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, I think. How long have I been out?" I asked. Before either of my visitors could answer, a solid brown ferret in a classic white doctor's coat strolled in.

"Ah, you're up. Excellent. I'm Dr. Freeman."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Matt." I returned politely.

"The pleasure is all mine. To answer your question: you've been out two days. When you got here I expected to find serious internal injury as well as the broken ribs, forearm, and leg; but scans have shown nothing but severe bruising. And your vitals have been surprisingly stable as well, considering what you've been through. But you were still unconscious. Now that you're back with us, I'd like to do some more scans later today. I've also already had the nurses give you something for the pain, and it sounds like the dosage is about right." Then Dr. Freeman's pager went off, and he glanced down to check it. "It seems I'm need back in the ER. Do you have any questions before I go?"

"Yes. Will I make a full recovery? Will ever get back to normal size? And how long will I be here?" I asked, dreading the answer, but relieved that I had only been out two days and that the meds were making the pain manageable.

"You certainly should make a full recovery, by all indications so far. But I'm afraid I won't know for certain, or how long it will take, until the scans performed later today are examined. A rough estimate would be a couple months to fully recover. For how much of that you'll have to stay here is more difficult to guess. And I'm sorry, but we don't know enough about how your size was even reduced yet. I and some of the other staff are making inquiries with peers, but even if we find answers I'm afraid it may take a while to piece together exactly how it happened and how to reverse it. It's very peculiar. I must apologize for not having more answers, but is that all?"

"Yes. Thank you." I replied, but my concern and frustration over the mounting tide of unanswered questions must have shown.

"We'll make sure to let you know as soon as we make any progress in figuring this out. For now, try to relax and get plenty of rest. The sooner you recover, the sooner we can put our full attention on how to get you back to normal size." The pager beeped again; this time more insistently. "Now I'm afraid I must go. I'll check back in on you later." Dr. Freeman hurried out the door; leaving me alone again with my two visitors.

"Well," Patrick said, "I have a paper to finish for my 4:30, so I'll leave the kitties alone to chat."

Irritation flickered in Alex's eyes as he looked back at Patrick and made a mildly threatening noise in his throat. "We aren't like your crazy girlfriend. And aren't you forgetting some-."

"There you are!" What looked like a very energetic brown tabby darted in and hugged Patrick. "I thought you'd be back at the apartment by now. I forgot you mentioned checking in on Alex. Has he really been here for most of the last two days?"

Alex cringed slightly and started examining the floor for a moment before realizing he was only confirming for me what the tabby lady said; switching instead to giving her a warning glare.

"Aww. Don't be so flustered about it. I think it's very sweet. Oh!" She turned to face me "I'm Molly by the way."

"I'm Matt," I replied. "Nice to meet you."

Now that she was standing still, it was clear that Molly was probably another college student. She was athletic, and shapely. I imagined some of the other guys were jealous of Patrick, but I could see why Alex seemed less than impressed. She seemed very friendly, but also in possession of a loose tongue, and filled with unpredictable energy; as though she were a kitten instead of a grown, if clearly young, woman.

"You look so cute and small I could cuddle you!" Molly's eyes were bright with the urge to do so, and I wondered just how impulsive she could get. "But I guess that would be a bad idea with the casts and all," Molly said as she frowned a little in disappointment.

Still, I blushed badly at the thought of what she almost did, but fortunately it was hard for anyone to see it at my current size. Especially Patrick, as his expression seemed to go from surprise to jealousy to settling briefly on threatening as he stared at me from behind Molly; but it quickly reverted to friendly as she whirled around to look at Alex and Patrick. "Have you two even introduced yourselves?"

"We keep getting interrupted," Alex replied. "And on that note, I'm Alex"

"And I'm Patrick."

"I'm Matt. Glad to meet my rescuers."

"Happy to lend a hand," Patrick said. "But right now I really need to get going. Besides, I'm not the one who caught you, carried you so carefully down the single flight of stairs to the ground level that the ambulance almost beat you to the door from five minutes away. And then rode"

"Shut up and go!" Alex snarled.

But Patrick kept going as he moved to door, albeit talking so fast I almost couldn't understand it: "to the hospital and insisted on staying as close as possible as you were rushed to be cleaned up, scanned, have your broken bones set, partially mummified in bandages, and placed in that bed. And finally sat in that chair and refused to leave unless a friend volunteered to sit in for a while and call if anything happened." With that Patrick was through the doorway, a smirk clearly visible on his face as he sprinted off.

"Damn it Patrick!"

"That's so sweet!" cried Molly before she darted out the door after Patrick. "Why didn't you do that when I broke my leg at practice?" she called as she raced to catch up with her boyfriend, and left me with a lion whose face was so flushed it shone dark red right through his facial fur.

My own face was still a little red as my thoughts lingered on how close I came to what would have probably been a slightly painful, but interesting experience if Molly hadn't stopped to think. I sighed inwardly. "There go the largest breasts I've ever seen." Alex stopped trying to hide his face and stared at me in surprise. "Gah!" Now it was my turn to be seriously embarrassed.

"Wait until you see Grace." Alex replied with a mild chuckle, the brief awkward silence left in the wake of his two friends now broken. "But you won't get an opportunity like that from her."

"Speak of the goddess and she shall appear!" Exclaimed a short, but rather wide classic red and white vixen as she entered the room with a regal air; leaving Alex speechless with embarrassment. "I told you I'd catch you talking about me sooner or later," she said as she gave Alex an amused look. "And who are you to say he won't?" She turned and moved toward my bed, giving me a full view of the twin planets on her chest, clearly defined under the comparatively thin shared atmosphere of her shirt and bra.

She was well aware of my gaze. "Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of, my darling. No one resists a look at me. So you're Matt. I'm Grace." She said as she leaned over the bed at angle that would easily allow her to lower her breasts onto the bed on either side of me, and almost did just that as she examined me.

"A pleasure to meet you," I replied.

"You know it is. Molly was right for once, you two would make an adorable couple." At this she stood up and turned to watch Alex, whose face couldn't get any redder and so turned deep purple instead. My own felt like it was caught out of the shade on blazing hot summer day as I considered the thought.

"I could make you two pass out from embarrassment, but I'm feeling merciful today. After all, thanks to you I have something interesting to work my magic on. It might even be a challenge!"

"I thought you were entrenched in your throne room." Alex said, recovering the use of his mouth.

"I was, but Cody was willing to skip a class to rush over and comfort me after he heard the news. Your queen was exposed to pure, senseless evil. By the way, none of the victims seem connected save for not knowing who their biological parents are, just like you two."

"Another strange piece...," Alex pondered, and then he noticed my questioning look. "Grace is a genius when it comes to computers, and she has access to quite a lot of information being a part of our group."

"What group?" I asked, recalling that, when I woke up to find him and Patrick in the middle of a discussion, they were exchanging information that I didn't think the average college student had access to.

"A branch of SMCU's Safe Shrinking Initiative. There are groups of people like us all over the country that have volunteered to help manage the rising problem of shrinking device and substance abuse, though we mostly deal with cases involving fellow students at the university here. It's staggering how many people think they can involuntarily change another person's size for petty revenge, among other things. We've had plenty of cases of people intentionally shrinking themselves to cause mischief too. Everything from hiding in the women's locker room with a camera to crawling into university desktops and disconnecting everything. Local law enforcement doesn't have a department to deal with this stuff very effectively yet, and the Size Manipulation Crime Unit, or SMCU is too busy just handling the cases involving serious injury and/or death. So we try to help pick up the slack. Part of the aid the SMCU and local law enforcement offers to each group is access to selected databases, including a few from Social Services."

"Mmhmm, thanks to this volunteer work I don't have to crack as many databases to keep track of my subjects."

"That sounds kind of paranoid," I responded without thinking as I took in Grace's last statement.

"Oh, but you see my subjects are well aware of it. Hell. I give my subjects free identity theft protection and security check-ups, and no one sees what I see without my knowledge. And what I see is a brown-eyed lion who is excited that a certain little grey tiger likes paw and tongue play, and a little grey tiger that has spent a far from negligible amount of time online looking that kind of stuff online, among other primarily male and male micro interactions."

That came as a shock to me and Alex whom I looked to and asked "How did you see what happened before you got there?"

Since his face couldn't show any more embarrassment, his tail appeared to be next as it turned slightly red. "The neighbor who alerted us to what was going on was actually there to retrieve a camera set up in his apartment as a prank since he came back to his building shouting drunken nonsense at 3 in the morning. No one outside the SMCU besides Grace and I have seen it, and no one will unless the prosecutor wants to use it in court and gets your permission. Sorry."

Grace then continued shamelessly on to say: "And I know what you've been looking at because I got permission to go through your computer to see if you knew Mr. Psychopuss before he charmed you right out the door of that night club. Besides, I consider you one my subjects already. And you share Alex's mild paranoia about safety online, so your first security check-up was a breeze. No need to thank me."

Focusing on the mention of the night club I looked at Alex again and said: "Speaking of that night, you want to know what happened from my point of view, right?"

Alex seemed surprised that I would volunteer this. "Are you sure? I didn't want to push it with you in this condition, and you've dealt with a lot just in the past hour."

"I want to get it over with so I can get some mental distance from it while I'm stuck here anyways. Besides, there isn't much to tell. I wouldn't have even gone out if Doug hadn't insisted I need more interaction."

Grace then interjected: "Do you mean your roommate?" I nodded. "I know that Doug. He's fun. Quite the sweet-talkin' wolf, too. I'm not surprised he managed to draw you out for the night."

"Anyways, he convinced me join him at a bar within walking distance. I'm not big into alcohol so..."

"Something else you have in common with Alex here."

"Will you let him finish?" Alex gave her warning glare to stop interrupting.

"Thank you, anyways I trusted him to pick the drinks like the few other times he's gotten me to join him, and he decided it was time to push it a bit more, so when we left the bar I having just a little trouble walking. And before I knew it, he had led me into that night club. I still had some coherent thought, but apparently the little extra alcohol made me less averse to dancing than I would have been if I was sober."

Grace looked ready to interrupt again at this point, but after Alex gave her another glare. So she pointed at him, then me and nodded instead.

"I don't remember what I did, but the next thing I knew I was caught a large cluster of ladies and way out of my depth on how to deal with them as the closest ones grinded up against me. Then I got out of it somehow and he surprised me by sneaking up behind me. He seemed like such a friendly and playful lion with those light green eyes. I followed his lead on what to do for a while; never breaking eye contact. And the next thing I knew I felt exhausted and exhilarated at the same time and we were getting looks ranging from seriously impressed to approval. He said something about coming to his place, then grabbed my tail and somehow pulled me to a door and out into an alleyway full of people; again without breaking eye contact. A growing part of me was getting uncomfortable with how little I was aware of while I was with this guy, but before I could do anything I realized we had already turned several times and come to a more private alley without a single living thing in sight, but a lamp next to the street I could see just past him provided a surprising amount of light."

"I'm sorry, but the way this going if I hear much more of this I'm going to have nightmares for weeks," Grace interrupted, looking considerably less confident and playful. "See you two later." With that she attempted to exit as she came in, but she was shaking a little.

After she was well gone, I continued. "He turned away finally, and coherent thought came rushing back. I tried to say something about forgetting to let a friend know I was leaving with someone else, but then he turned back. His eyes weren't friendly anymore. They practically shone with malice and a terrible smile broke across his muzzle. I stood still, too shocked by the sudden change. I finally managed to turn to flee as his eyes really did start glowing, but I stumbled almost immediately as my perspective changed instantaneously. It was dizzying for a moment, but when that passed the alley suddenly seemed much larger, and then a massive shadow fell over me from behind. I started to run and glanced back at the same time, to see that the lion was no longer just slightly taller than me. He looked massive from my new height, and it was all I could do to try and run instead of cowering in fear. He laughed, then said: 'you're mine now, little toy.' I started screaming for help and kept running, but he merely stomped forward a few steps, then reached out and swiped me up in his left hand."

"His horrible grin only grew as rolled me into his palm and brought me up to his face. I continued to scream, and he lifted his right hand into view, then left the index finger of that had pointing straight out as he curled the rest into his palm. He raised the index finger over me, and then brought it down on my chest, forcing all the air from my lungs. He watched with fascination as I tried desperately to breathe for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally lifted the finger off me. As I lay exhausted and gasping he said: 'a run sounds perfect right now. But where to put you little toy?' He studied his right shoe, and then laughed. 'Why don't you keep my right paw company for the rest of the night?' After that he rolled me from his left hand into his right, went over to a wall, and leaned against it as he removed his shoe, then his sock, which already reeked of sweat. The whole time he kept a firm grip on me in his right hand. He lifted the sock up, sniffed it, and grinned even wider. Then he dropped me into it and peered in with excited eyes."

"It was very warm and moist, and the humid air inside was thick with the scent of paw sweat. 'Time to meet my paw little toy.' With that, I felt the sock lower and looked up in growing panic and started trying to climb as his face got farther away, those cruel eyes watching me constantly. Amusement at my attempt to escape the sock was now in his cruel smile. Then the paw finally came into view and started sliding into the sock. I kept climbing, hoping I might be able to crawl past it to the tubing at the top, but he bent his toes to catch me as the foot continued to slide slowly in. The toes finally reached me, and one slammed right into face, and continued to push down. I tried to resist, but the toe managed to get under my chest and finally pry me off. I cried out as fell all the way to toe area of the socks again, and then went hysterical with panic as the toes began to descend more rapidly. I climbed faster than I thought possible in one last desperate attempt to escape, and this time the toes slid right over me, and I felt the paw pad on the ball of his foot slide by before the foot stopped moving in. The fur on the middle of his sole was warm a moist against my back as he pulled the sock tight."

"I felt the whole foot lowering, likely toward his shoe. I decided that it would be safer to face the sole of his foot as he slid it in, and managed to twist around before I felt the toes hit something and start sliding, then what must have been the top heel scraped across my back, and finally I felt my heels hit the sole. The rest of my back soon followed as I was pinned underneath the lion's foot. I could barely breathe before he stood up on the foot, and when he inevitably did I had to gasp for breath. And with each gasp some of his sweat also made it into my mouth. I had to drink it to keep it out of my lungs. Finally, he started running, and the pressure from his foot alternated from crushing to barely there. I was forced to inhale deeply and quickly the moment his right foot lifted, and then exhale just as quickly before his right shoe made contact and forced it out of me. The humidity quickly became almost suffocating, and I started feeling drowsy from the building heat. The sweat didn't taste as bad as I thought it would, and the rhythmically alternating pressure was almost like a bizarre massage. I don't know if I passed out or fell asleep, but the next thing I knew I was shocked to awareness by a freezing cold surface making contact with the sock beneath me. You already know most of the rest from the video."

I had started shivering and my heart accelerated as I talked. I must have done a poor job of hiding how I felt during my recount of events too, because Alex had looked more and more concerned as it continued. Once I finished, he collapsed in a chair by the bed; looking shaken.

"And you didn't feel any bruises or other injuries when you woke up?"

"Not that I remember. Certainly nothing as painful as the injuries I had when you and Patrick arrived."

"Thank you," he said, then paused as continued to watch me with concern. "I'm sorry I made you relive that."

"It's ok," I reassured him, "I feel better having told someone, especially someone whose already done so much to help me."

If his behavior was any indication, Alex blushed for what must have been the tenth time in a couple of hours. I imagined he would have said something like 'it was nothing' if it wasn't obviously more than that to me. "I wish I could just this is what I volunteered to do, but I never expected to be involved in something like this."

"I'm glad you were. If it wasn't a lion that saved me, then I might have become paranoid about them for the rest of my life." We shared chuckle at this stab at humor. "I think I'll sleep for a while before Dr. Freeman returns to bring me to imaging."

"Would you like me to leave?"

"No, I'd actually prefer it you'd stay right there, at least until I fall asleep, if that's okay with you."

"I'm fine with that. I have my laptop, so I can study here."

"Thank you," I said; relieved that Alex agreed to stay. And with one more exchanged look I laid back on the bed; now fully relaxed, and slept.

But my dreams were not as comforting. I woke cold and lying on the hard cement in an all too familiar alley, and felt the ground shake as someone approached. It looked to be lion, and at first I hoped it was Alex, but the street lamp was out this time, so I didn't know who it was until they were almost on top of me.

"No," I said recognizing a smile that I had hoped never to see again. "No no no no no..."

"No!" The eyes glowed green. The smile got even wickeder.

"NO!!" The lion was reaching out a hand for me.

"You won't escape next time! You belong to me!"

"NOOOOO!!!" The hand reached me and...started shaking me gently?

But the eyes turned a dark purple and lion laughed, turning my blood into ice. I screamed incoherently.

Then all but the hand and the head disappeared. The lion's head opened its maw wide and flew down to take me. I continued to scream, but before it could reach me the hand shocked me with a pulse of energy, and...I was back in the hospital bed. Alex stared down at me, clearly very worried; his hand on me. "Much like the hand in the dream, I thought."

"Are you okay? I called for the nurse when you started shouting in your sleep, and then I tried to wake you when you started struggling"

"I'm fine now, it was...just a nightmare," I said. But this did as little to reassure Alex as it did me.

He realized his hand was still on me, and made to remove it. "Actually, could you leave your hand where it is? I feel a little cold." I was sort of cold, but that wasn't the real reason.

"Sure," he replied.

"Thank you," I almost whispered as sleep came rushing back; this time as a blissful void.