Crippled [INFIDGET]

Chapter Twelve: An Eventful Mission (Part 2)

A/N : Warning for: very scienc-y

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POV: Zero

I don't know what came over me - maybe that was a fight or flight response but whatever it was, it did exhaust me terribly.

"You okay, Zero?" I heard Gadget asking me as I kneeled to the cracked concrete ground, catching my breath. My ruby pulsed violently still.

"I-I..." I stammered. "...feel tired"

As I was about to collapse I felt Gadgets arms wrap around me and pull me close to his chest before I passed out.

...

POV: Gadget

"OHOHOHOHOHO!" Eggman's irritating laughter rang through the once silent street.

I growled at the overly fat man, pulling Zero closer to me; that attack must have made him pass out, but his ruby was not slowing down. I pressed my hand over his heart area and counted the beats:

One, two, three, four, five, six-

That's far too fast!!

Fearing he may be on his way to a cardiac arrest, I shot at Eggman with my wispon before darting off in the direction of the Resistance base. Clutching Zero in one arm I called through to the Resistance by my earpiece button.

"I need the medical room opened now!" I shouted while frantically sprinting towards the looming metal doors.

"What's happened?" Came Knuckles reply.

"No time to explain!!" I growled before kicking open the doors and rushing to the opened medical room. Sonic and Tails were present already; looking very concerned at me carrying Zero's body.

I placed Zero onto the bed, "I think he's going into cardiac arrest! His heart rate won't slow down!" I explained.

Tails' eyes widened as he rushed to the chemicals section of the room, flicking through various bottles of chemicals before picking out one and grabbing a needle. He injected the needle into the bottle, pulling out some strange burnt orange coloured chemical and injecting it into Zero's arm. He then grabbed a heart rate monitor and strapped the finger clip that recorded the beats onto Zero's index finger.

I watched the monitor as Tails worked.

'156 BPM'

'203 BPM'

"Uhm, Tails?" Sonic asked, worried about the rising beats.

"Give me a bag of ice!" Tails shouted while frantically grabbing the chemical bottle and getting more fluid into a needle.

Sonic nodded; though suspiciously, and sped off to grab a bag of ice.

What does he need a bag of ice for?...

Sonic came back in a second with the bag and passed it to Tails. "What do you need that for?" he asked.

Tails injected more of the chemical into Zero and watched the monitor, before placing the bag of ice onto Zero's neck.

"Ice, or any cold surfaces, can slow down the heart due to the sudden temperature change in the body" Tails explained. "By placing it on Zero's neck, it has the best chance of slowing his heart back to a normal rhythm"

'230 BPM'

'212 BPM'

'190 BPM'

As Zero's heart rate began to dip to it's regular rate, Tails breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "He'll be okay" he smiled.

I exhaled shakily, wiping away the forming tears, "Thank Chaos..."

"What was that about? What happened out there?" Tails asked. "Something like that doesn't just happen, something must have triggered it"

"Zero produced what I think was an EMP blast, it must have shocked his body and made his heart go nuts, I don't think his body was prepared for such an attack" I explained as best I could, watching as his ruby died down to a gentle pulse.

Tails hummed, "There's still so much we don't know about that ruby..."

"Care to explain what you done there, buddy?" Sonic asked. "That was very quick thinking"

"Well, it looked like Zero got a small taste of what's called an 'Arrhythmia', it's a small heart defect that makes the heart go haywire and can sometimes triple the heart rate" Tails explained. "Unfortunately not everyone survives it; as common as it is, some people are more affected by it than others, which can lead to long-lasting effects on the heart. If untreated, the Arrhythmia can completely terrorise the heart and the heart itself can collapse into a serious heart attack; killing the person outright" he sighed. "You got lucky, his heart shouldn't be permanently damaged"

"Oh my..." I gasped. "When do you think he'll regain consciousness?"

"Maybe an hour? I'm not too sure, but stay with him until he comes back" Tails replied. "He may be a bit dazed or complain of dizzy spells when he's awake but don't worry about it; that's the side effects of the chemical I pumped into his system, they're harmless"

"What chemical did you use?" I asked curiously, I wondered about it because of the unique colour and how much he injected into Zero.

"It's called 'Adenosine'" (Spoken as: A-deno-zene) "It's a drug that is used specifically for reducing excessive heart rate and for treating episodes of Arrhythmia" he explained. "It's completely harmless to those unconscious already. Though, I have heard of people who aren't unconscious and get the drug injected into their system complain of a tightness in their chest and their muscles all cramping up tightly"

"I see..." I hummed softly, my ears dipped low as I looked at Zero's unconscious body.

"Well, I'll leave you here, if you need anything don't be afraid to shout" Tails flashed a comforting smile and walked out of the room with Sonic behind him. As the door was closed I exhaled heavily and sat by Zero's side, I held his limp hand gently.

"I'm here, Zero...come back to me"

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A/N : Uhm, yeah. I used my own knowledge and experience of having a serious complication of Arrhythmia to influence this chapter. I do like throwing this couple into all sorts of loop holes and dangerous experiences XD

No, Zero will not have any further complications with Arrhythmia. This was just a side effect of the EMP blast from the previous chapter.

Any questions feel free to ask!