"Intruders, sir. Would you like us to eliminate them?" Little clicks and whirrs woke up Nallis, and he blinked at the tiny hologram that one of the 'bots displayed.
 
Of course there were intruders. It didn't matter if it was the middle of the day or night, someone wanted to infiltrate his particular house and obtain some of the priceless treasures inside. The home's owner held up his hand to stop the little 'bots from acting on their own initiative. "No. I'm feeling a bit hungry. Detain the leaders, if any, and bring them to me."
 
Nallis had long ago learned to deal with intruders in his own personal fashion. If the security 'bots (assuming their clockwork was in good order - usually not) didn't finish them off, the scientist had discovered a few rather interesting concoctions that would do the trick. One was marvelously simple - it shrunk down the person ingesting it to a few inches tall. The other would allow Nallis to stretch to an incredible degree without damaging anything internally. Between the two, Nallis had some very, very tasty meals.
 
The little 'bots had gathered enough information from past experience to know what their creator was planning, and went off with more clicking than usual. Nallis shook his head and muttered an obscene phrase about finding something more efficient and far less noisy than clockwork to make 'bots.
 
 
*****
 
 
When Deena and Kail saw some of the security 'bots activate, they made a quick hand motion to their teammates. As soon as they scattered, the two theives went to work. Taking out a few 'bots was as easy as jamming up their clockwork, and they knew just the stuff to do it with. One sticky-bomb later, and the 'bots were so gummed up with a thick, sticky liquid that their gears wouldn't turn properly. Best of all, the bombs hardly made any noise. Their entrance should be flawless.
 
Deena made the hand motion to go forward, and his half of the team started toward the ground floor, while Kail and his team went to the lab. There were some odd smells coming from the lab, which caused all sorts of speculation amongst the team, but Kail ignored it. In his own experience, mad scientists might spend a lot of time in their labs, but they had to eat and sleep, too. And while those scientists were mad, they weren't stupid. You wouldn't want to be in the lab to eat or sleep.
 
Of course, there was something to be said about just plain bad timing, as well. Kail opened up the door to the lab, only to see Nallis hovering over some of his work. "Oh. Well, I wasn't expecting that. Most intruders try to avoid my lab." The scientist smiled, pulling some safety goggles on as he leaned to inspect the reaction of some chemicals. "Do come in and stay a while, won't you?"
 
Several of the lackeys started to run, a few even managing to get out before the doors closed on them and little clockwork 'bots immobilized their legs. Kail was shouting every nasty word he'd ever learned at his team to get them back where he could deal with them himself. Meanwhile, Nallis was too busy noting the reactions for a few more minutes still. "Now... I've made a few adjustments to this serum. Do I have any volunteers to test it out?"
 
"Sick bastard. We're human beings, not lab rats, so you can just take that test tube and shove it up your ass," Kail spat, still attempting to kick away the little' bots, which had now moved up to immobilize his arms as well.
 
"Oh, so you'll test it then? How wonderful. 'Bots, keep his mouth open for me." Nallis waited until he had a ready audience and his test subject was prepared before pouring the brightly-colored liquid into Kail's mouth and forcing him to swallow. "There. Timer started."
 
The little 'bots fell away from Kail with a jumbled clatter, scuttling away to secure the intruders upstairs for their creator's next experiment. But now that he was free, the thief wasn't going to let any mad scientist make a fool of him.
 
"Ten seconds. Initial changes should start occurring right now." Kail stopped, wary of what "initial changes" could mean. And then he felt them, like a kick in the gut. His entire team watched as their leader doubled over in pain, rapidly shrinking right before their eyes. In just under a minute, he was only three inches tall.
 
"Ah, good. The process has sped up considerably." Nallis knelt down to pick up his subject and study him a bit more closely. "My security 'bots have informed me that there's another group upstairs. My little 'bots are numerous, but slow. They'll probably take their time getting your comrades down here. You'll do quite well as an appetizer, I think."
 
Kail was struggling to get out of Nallis' closed fist, but only being three inches tall made it exceedingly hard for him to do much of anything. And, of course, only trying to get away meant he wasn't hearing what the scientist was even saying. Until Nallis licked him.
 
"What the hell are you doing?" Kail yelled, the sound inaudible to his teammates but perfectly in range of the madman holding him. Nallis, of course, only responded by licking him again.
 
"Hmmm. Not entirely unappealing, although you could taste better with the right spices. Too bad I won't have time to prepare you properly. Perhaps some other time, with another subject. For now, though... bon apetit." Nallis pushed Kail entirely into his mouth, headfirst. He could feel the subject struggling, even as the saliva coated him to get nice and slick. The scientist tilted his head back a little as he started to swallow, feeling tiny hands pushing at the back of his throat in a feeble attempt to keep from entering his esophagus.
 
One swallow, and he felt the little hands and arms get caught. Another, and he got the head and shoulders. Still another, and it was just the little legs kicking the top of his soft palate and tickling rather badly. With the fourth swallow, Nallis felt his tiny subject completely enter his esophagus, struggling nicely on his way down to an empty stomach. The struggling really was the best part for these little appetizers, right down to when they were entirely and safely inside his stomach and ready to be digested.
 
Nallis felt Kail plop softly in his stomach, punching and kicking at the acid-lined walls. When would they ever learn that giving him indigestion was just as useless as trying to escape the lab in the first place? The scientist belched softly, now ignoring the audience he'd wanted in the first place. Those poor sods were from the local village. Nothing more than decoys and fodder for ammunition. A few of them could go home when this was all done, the rest would stick around as research subjects.
 
 
*****
 
 
Deena groaned and rubbed at his aching head. Or at least, he would have, had he been able to move his hands at all. "Ah, good. The subject is awake." The thief turned his head, still groggy from whatever gas had been used to knock him out.
 
Nallis was standing over a table with Deena strapped to it. He smiled and rubbed anxiously at his stomach, which gave a rather loud gurgle to protest the rapidly dwindling supply of someone to occupy it. It would only take another few minutes for his special serum to fully take effect. Of course, he'd written down his own physical reactions of before, during and after this special meal any number of times. Perhaps he should start writing down the psychological effects. He simply could not wait to eat this young man.
 
Oh, sure, the full effects wouldn't kick in for another few minutes, but that didn't mean that he couldn't get more satisfaction out of this one than the last. Nallis hurried to get a syringe and fill it with a clear liquid. "Now, this will only sting a little. You won't be able to move afterwards, but that's only to make sure you don't get away," he said while injecting it into Deena's arm.
 
Direct injection of a paralyzing agent only took about a minute to work. It still was too long for Nallis, so he would have to satisfy himself with licking the subject's fingers. He felt the fingers in his mouth twitch a little, trying to ball up into a fist. Deena was nearly half there when the paralyzing agent took full effect, freezing his hand in that position.
 
Nallis smiled and unlocked the restraints holding his thief down. That particular chemical was short lived, so he'd have enough time to play with his meal. Full-sized subjects put up a large, very satisfying struggle as he swallowed them whole, and Nallis simply would not miss that. But for now, the chemical he'd ingested hadn't made his body stretchy enough for that just yet.
 
For taking in a whole arm, however, it ought to be quite adequate. Nallis opened his mouth as wide as he could, taking in Deena's half-clenched fist for starters. Oh, he tasted wonderful. The scientist moved his tongue to get into the crevices of his subject's hand, fully tasting him and coating as much skin as he could with saliva before starting to swallow.
 
It wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest to get the first part into his esophagus, which he supposed was a good thing. Nallis then continued swallowing, a little at a time so that he could feel every inch of the arm moving down his throat and dipping into his stomach. Of course, he wouldn't keep Deena's hand in his stomach for too long.
 
Once he supposed enough time had passed in amusing himself with swallowing the subject's arm bit by tiny bit, Nallis pulled back. The only thing that kept him from continuing to swallow the other man whole from there was that he preferred to start at the feet and watch his subject's face until they went completely into his stomach.
 
Unwilling to taste whatever dirt had accumulated on Deena's shoes and pants, Nallis had removed them before his subject regained consciousness. And now, he licked at the feet before him, satisfied when one jerked away slightly. It meant that the paralyzing agent was wearing off. The scientist then sucked lightly on his subject's toes, holding the feet together as he started to take them both into his mouth at once.
 
By the time Nallis had reached the ankles, Deena tried yanking one of his feet away from the mad scientist, only to have them slurped further into a throat that bulged and stretched to accomodate the scientist's meal. Nallis would have smiled or groaned - possibly both - if he were able. Instead, he kept swallowing up to Deena's knees.
 
Now that Deena could move most of his body more easily, he was beating at the mad scientist's head with his fists. Unable to do any damage even as he felt a tongue caressing the back of his thigh and moving its way on up to his hips, he tried moving his legs inside of Nallis, and nearly fainted in horror as he saw the older man just stretching to allow it to happen without any ill effect.
 
When Nallis had worked his way up to devouring his intruder's abdomen, Deena could feel a burning tingle on his feet. The scientist was busy rubbing at his grossly bulging stomach, trying to get his subject to fold his legs and curl into a nice fetal position. Once it finally happened, Nallis could more easily swallow up to Deena's chest.
 
Deena was in a blind panic now. He was reaching for anything that might help him pull out of the madman that was swallowing him whole, his entire body squirming in an attempt to escape, even as the scientist's mouth engulfed his head. With only his arms left out and being quickly slurped up, he kicked, screamed, twisted around as much as he could inside of Nallis.
 
Meanwhile, the scientist rubbed at his enormous abdomen, leaning back to rest against the table as he waited for his stomach acids to go to work. He would still feel the struggling for maybe another hour, if he swallowed some air to keep his subject from suffocating. In fact, he'd do just that. The pushing and kicking inside of his stomach would keep him entertained until he could fall asleep and let his body digest the large, unweildy meal.
 
Maybe next time, he'd try taking in two. The stretched and full feeling of having another person inside his stomach, both of them trying to get out at once was a temptation. Well, he DID have plenty of other test subjects. Perhaps he'd try it tomorrow.