To Death and Back...

[Ch.5]: Teetering

~

Master Splinter blinked.

The atmosphere had become suspensefully quiet - somewhat like a hospital. He and his sons were all in the lair - one motionless lying on a makeshift medical bed, a mattress on the floor, one sitting in a chair fiddling his thumbs, one pacing back and forth across the floor and another sitting on the floor against the couch with his head in his arms. They'd already been back for almost two days, but they were still as worried and fidgety as when they came in, carrying their smallest brother.

He was shocked when he saw the state they were in - especially Mikey. He was covered in blood and battle injuries, his right arm and calve were pierced, his left arm was broken, multiple ribs were cracked, he had burns all over and - for some reason - down his throat, he'd lost far too much blood, his breathing was shallow and his heart was weak, relapsing into cardiac arrest four times after they arrived. The three of them had tried to hash out some sort of manic explanation, but they were all talking at once and their words stumbled over each other, so Master Splinter told them to save the talk for later. Receiving emergency treatment as fast as he did was the only thing that saved Mikey - Donnie did everything he could, as far as his knowledge of medicine went, until a couple others arrived to help. Leatherhead - their highly intelligent reptilian friend, who had a sufficient amount of medical expertise himself, who hurried to the lair when he got the call, and - Mr. Murakami, the blind noodle-shop owner they had befriended, who evidently worked as an emergency veterinarian before he lost his sight.

Though the medical expertise Mr. Murakami had to offer was somewhat limited to normal animals, he had indirect access to some essential tools and appliances they needed to treat Mikey, and with the turtles' help, they managed to bring them with him. The brothers donated some much-needed blood to be transfused to Mikey, which helped to pull him out of immediate danger - though they insisted to donate more than Mr. Murakami would let them. Having treated them for minor burns and smoke inhalation - Leo considerably more than he other two - Mr. Murakami and Leatherhead were monitoring Mikey, after performing multiple procedures to try to bring him back to stability. They insisted Donnie to rest, after the blood donation, and they were all impatiently waiting around to see what would happen. Master Splinter stayed in the main area with his sons, waiting with them.

Leatherhead approached them. Raph stopped pacing and Donnie quit fiddling his thumbs, and the three of them looked up. Master Splinter also turned, hearing him walk up. "We're still watching your brother to see how he fares," he reported. "'Mr. Murakami and I made a somewhat odd discovery, however."

"What is it?" The guys asked frantic.

Leatherhead ran his hand over the back of his head, disconcerted. "Donatello, you remember the burns going down Michelangelo's throat, yes?"

"Yeah," Donnie nodded.

"On investigation, those burns seemed to be linked to some internal damage we found - and we discovered trace amounts of acidic poison in his blood. The damage is extensive.....with you and your brother's donations, however, his blood's pH levels are much more balanced than they were."

"Acidic poison?!" Donnie asked, startled. Leo and Raph looked at each other, shocked.

"Indeed," Leatherhead confirmed. "We're not positive what kind, exactly. Just now, Mr. Murakami and I had to rush to treat it and remove what remained, though traces are still in his body - particularly his organs. The substance seemed to have been tampered with, so that it's corrosive properties most severely reacted with metals - it was particularly tricky to remove. It's hard to tell, but we believe Mikey may have swallowed a large dose of it, and injected some into his bloodstream, as well."