THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GUNMAN - PART 4
8:38 P.M.

Langly sat at the computer, groaning in frustration.

“What is it?” Byers asked.

“It’s really hard to hack when your hands are small.” Langly 
grumbled. “This keyboard is as big as a freaking piano. And 
I can barely even reach anything on the desk.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Jimmy said sympathetically. Byers frowned.

“It shouldn’t be that bad. Not yet anyway.” He got up and 
walked over to the computer. Langly was sitting in a high-backed 
chair, so Byers couldn’t see him. “Langly are you having a 
hard time...” Byers jaw dropped. “You’re...Smaller!”

“Well duh.” Langly rolled his eyes.

“No, I mean, it’s getting worse!” Byers shrieked. Langly 
looked blank.

“Yeah, we know that.” He said slowly.

“No, I mean--Here!” Byers grabbed Langly’s shoulders and 
pulled him off the chair. 

“Byers what-AH!” Langly yelped when he got on the floor. 
“I’m even smaller!” He gasped. “B-but it’s only been an 
hour!” Byers gingerly picked Langly up and placed him on 
the couch. 

“Jimmy, get the-”

“Tape measurer I know.” Jimmy didn’t even stop to look at 
Langly. He was to busy worrying. When he finally found it, 
he handed it to Frohike.

Frohike couldn’t even find an insult to throw. He cautiously 
bent down, and took the measurement.

“Well? Give me the bad news.” Langly’s voice shook. “How 
small am I?”

“Th-this can’t be right.” A look of panic crossed Frohike’s face.

“It can’t be.” Byers echoed. Jimmy looked stunned.

“What?” Langly’s voice was trembling nearly as much as his body. “Tell me.”

“It’s not good.” Byers said quietly.

“I don’t care!” Langly’s voice rose to a shriek. 

“Frohike, call Scully.” Byers ordered.

“Guys...I think he’s going into shock.” Jimmy murmured. 

“What?” Byers’s head snapped up. Langly had fainted.

“Jimmy, you didn’t!” Frohike yelled.

“Well, someone had to tell him he was two feet tall!” 

Jimmy fumed. “And you weren’t going to.” 

Frohike hurriedly dialed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:34 p.m.

“Huh? What?” Langly‘s eyes opened slowly.

“Stay still.” Scully’s voice floated over him.

“Where am I?” Langly struggled to sit up.

“Lie down.” Mulder forced him back. “Your in the FBI medical lab.”

“Oh.” Langly glanced around, seeing Byers, Frohike and 
Jimmy, in various states of worry. Langly saw that he’d 
been placed on an exam table, and that there were several 
Band Aids on his arm. 

“Scully’s been running tests on your blood samples.” Frohike 
sensed Langly was about to ask. 

“But, she needs you awake for some tests.” Byers added a bit glumly.

“As long as I can get up.” Langly sat up, and began to step down.

“Whoa man. The first step’s a real lulu.” Mulder stopped him.

“What?” Langly looked down and gasped. The sheer drop to 
the floor was at least as tall as he was!

“Oh man.” Langly moaned.

“It’s okay.” Mulder reassured him. “These tables are pretty 
high off the ground.”

Mulder carefully picked Langly up, and placed him on the floor.

“Okay, I just need to run a few tests...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10:45 p.m.

“Those were a few?” Frohike demanded.

“I really needed to do more.” Scully said. “But he’s been 
through the ringer already.” 

“Yeah.” Langly said weakly. “Lay off man.”

“I was afraid he’d faint again.”

“I don’t faint.” Langly protested. “I pass out...” Suddenly 
he began to lean backwards. Jimmy darted forward just in time 
to catch the unconscious Langly.

“It’s making him sick too.” Scully said. "His immune system is weak."

“As if this wasn’t tough enough already.” Frohike muttered.

“I don’t think he’ll mind us carrying him out to the car.” 
Byers said. Jimmy looked a bit flustered, and cradled Langly 
in his arms like a small child. Frohike and Byers both had an 
extremely upset look. Langly just seemed so helpless, lying 
there in Jimmy’s arms. 

Byers sighed audibly. “Let’s get him home.”

“We’ll come with you to the lair.” Mulder said after a pause. 
“I think we should all be there when he wakes up.”

“Yeah, sure.” Frohike’s voice nearly cracked.

“Okay.” Byers said in a shaky tone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11:58

Langly was slow to wake up. 

“Oh, not again!” He moaned and sat up, a bit surprised at 
finding himself on the Gunmen‘s red leather couch. “What happened?”

“You fainted.” Byers said solemnly.

“Yeah.” Jimmy said. “I almost didn’t catch you.”

“We need to get you to a hospital as soon as possible.” 
Scully told him. “Your sick, aside from...The more obvious problem.”

“No!” Langly cried out. “Then the government will figure out 
we stole the ray! And they’ll perform more tests.” Langly 
shivered. If there was anything he hated, medical tests were it. 

“If we don’t, you could just...” Mulder couldn’t finish.

“If you won’t go to the hospital, you need to go to bed.” 
Scully ordered.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Langly said dejectedly. 

“Not really.”

“How much you wanna bet I’m going to vanish in the middle 
of the night?” He said, not really joking.

“We won‘t let that happen.” Byers said quietly.

“If I get much smaller, I won‘t even be able to type!” 
Langly’s voice quavered. The others had never seen him 
so terrified. 

“We’ll check on you while you’re sleeping.” Jimmy said quickly.

“You don’t need to-” Langly stopped short. “Fine.” He 
trudged toward his room.

“Can you get into your bed alrigh-”

“I can do it Byers.” Langly sighed, and disappeared into his room. 

“We need to get him real medical attention!” Scully hissed. 
Byers shook his head.

“Langly will NEVER let us take him to a hospital.”

“If he gets much smaller, we can carry him out.” Mulder said. 
“Hell, we could do it right now, if we caught him by surprise.” 

“Isn’t there ANYTHING we can do?!” Jimmy asked angrily. “He’s 
shrinking down to nothing, and we can’t even slow it!”

“The only thing that could help him is the ray. And he’s 
still to big to fit in the vent.” Frohike said bitterly. 
“It’s the one thing he’s still to big for.” 

“At the rate he’s shrinking, he should be able to fit by 
late day after tomorrow.” Mulder checked Byers new calculations. 

“That’s too long.” Byers moaned. “We can’t let this go on.”

“AH!”

A THUMP! Noise emanated from Langly’s room.

“Langly!” Frohike shrieked. The five ran to his room, 
expecting something horrible. Langly lay flat on his back, moaning.

“Langly what happened?!” Byers helped him up. 

“I uh, kinda fell when I tried to get in bed.” He groaned 
and rubbed the back of his head. “Damn, that’s a long drop.” 
Wincing, he managed to scramble into bed. “I’m okay.”

“No your not. You need medical attention.” Scully insisted.

“It’s not like they could help me.” Langly pointed out. “The 
only thing that’ll help me is to get that ray.”

“Mulder, help me out here!” Scully pleaded. Mulder shifted 
uncomfortably. 

“I think he’s right.” He said quietly.

“What?!” 

“It IS the only thing that’ll help him.” Mulder admitted. 

“Yeah. Now, if you would just let me sleep-”

“Fine. Yell if you need anything.” Jimmy said.

“Whatever.” Langly waved them out.

“Well, all we can do now is wait.” Byers sighed.

“Mulder and I will keep looking for an antidote.” Scully said. “Call if he gets worse.”

“Okay.” Byers said. “We’ll be in touch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~