Cold Fire Rising

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

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April shivered as a new memory assailed her, this one a little more...more what? Pleasant? Easy? But it had at least showed them what they were dealing with, right?

She, Donnie, and Honeycutt had finished wrapping, suturing, dabbing, cleaning. The breathing tube was removed temporarily so they could check the patient's internal organs, replaced with nasal cannulas to keep his oxygen flow steady. Hours passed.

Michelangelo lay very still, breathing hesitantly. And then... chaos.

Mikey started screaming. He bolted upright, gasping, stuttering, sobbing. His baby blue eyes were wide, dilated, sweat shining on his face. For a few seconds, no one moved, the shock was intense. And then Don's instinct's as brother kicked in and he started to wrap his arms around his shaking brother. "Mikey! Mikey, bro, it's okay. It's okay. Easy. You're safe. You're on the Ulixes. It's-"

"No..." Mikey rasped, his chin dropping on Don's shoulder. "No, no, no, it's too bright... my eyes, stop it, stop stabbing my eyes!"

Honeycutt dimmed the lights, but the shivers increased. "S-something's wro- Donnie, my skin wants to fall off, Donnie, help me... it's all itchy... my skin's too loud, make it quiet!" And at that point, Leonardo and Raphael were there, making soothing sounds, touching Mikey's arms, and Mikey just kept shivering, stuttering about his senses being assaulted.

"Why's the room crawling?" he demanded. "Something's weird about this bed, make it stop moving!" He jerked, went still as stone, and stared directly at Raphael, who was gaping in confused fear.

"Raph, why's your face all weird? Stop doing that. Your face is all twisty. That's not my brother! I want my brother back!"

"Raph's eyes slid to Don's. "Um. Is he... going crazy?" he whispered.

Donatello was gazing at Michelangelo in horrified fascination. "He's hallucinating, badly. I think-"

"He has been poisoned with a combination of lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, and multiple compounds such as fillers and binders, plus several unknown compounds I have never encountered."

That was the Fugitoid. Everyone, including Michelangelo, turned to stare at him. "S-silly drugs," Mikey chattered, twitching.

"Wait. LSD? Magic mushrooms?" Leonardo gasped.

"What do you mean, unknown compounds?" Donatello demanded.

"What - LSD? Are you fucking kidding?" Raphael yelled.

"Oh, shit..." Casey groaned from somewhere near the door. "This is gonna be a really, really long night, guys."

Everyone looked at him. "Case?" Raph stepped forward, eyes narrow.

Casey held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. I... obviously I've never told you that story."

"WHAT story?" April said, and Casey flinched.

"Stop it," Michelangelo moaned. "Your yelling is too bright..."

"Okay, okay." Casey grabbed yet another chair and sat with a resigned look. "Before I met any of you, I had this friend. He... I wouldn't call him an addict. He did LSD and shrooms every weekend. I would babysit him - that's when a sober person looks after tripping people, makes sure they don't hurt themselves or get sick or wander off. He always had good trips, and he talked about what they did, how he felt. They would last around twelve hours, and then he'd sleep for a really long time."

"Twelve hours?" Raphael growled.

"There are snakes on the ceiling," Michelangelo informed them.