Looks of concern were exchanged all throughout the helicopter. "People have been poisoned before; surely there's a way to get past it."
"Depends on the poison," Vance said.
"And I can't recognize this one," Eliot said, trying to ignore the panic pounding it his head.
"Vomit bag," Raelyn pleaded.
"What?" Quinn asked.
"VOMIT BAG!" Vance snatched one up and handed it to her, just in time for her to hurl into it. "Ugh," she wretched, "that's worse than tequila."
When the spray-factor no longer seemed to be an issue, Quinn took her arm and dipped his finger in the blood. "Do you mind?" he asked, looking at both Eliot and Raelyn. They gave him the go ahead and he licked his finger. Hardison screamed again. "Tart...Derivative of Datura," he observed. Eliot shook his head, not understanding. "It's a hallucinogenic flower. It can be used as a painkiller, but in higher doses it's toxically fatal. It can cause a range of symptoms before it finally kills you. It isn't common, but it's gaining popularity."
Eliot could see Raelyn struggling to stay conscious. "Is there...a kit in here?" she slurred.
Eliot looked towards Vance who nodded. "Yeah, why? What are you thinking?"
"System...flusher." She vomited into the bag again.
Eliot looked at Quinn. "Could it work?"
"If it's treated fast enough. But enough of the poison is in her system, she won't get away scot-free."
"Good enough to try," Vance said, snatching a case out from under the pilot's seat. He and Eliot fumbled through the syringes until the one with clear liquid was located. Quickly but carefully, Eliot slid the needle into the crook of Raelyn's limp arm.
As he pulled the needle out, she tumbled to the floor. Quinn reached out, but he wasn't quick enough to catch her. He lifted her back onto the seat and supported her head. Eliot put his arms around her and brought her face to his. "Hey, stay with me." Her eyes fluttered. "Stay with me, you little shit. You're not going out like this."
Vance dug a stethoscope out from the kit and listened for her heartbeat. "Hard and erratic."
"Let me listen," Quinn directed, taking the ear pieces. He felt her forehead and neck as he listened. "She has a fever. Her body's fighting it. I'd say she has a 50/50 shot."
Vance activated an ice pack and curled it on the back of her neck. Her eyes snapped open. "You!" she growled. "I killed you!" She clawed her hands up Eliot's chest and wrapped her hands around his neck, slowly starting to squeeze.
"What the hell," Elit said, starting to pull her away from him.
"It's hallucinogenic," Quinn reiterated. Vance grabbed Eliot, and Quinn grabbed Raelyn, and they pried them apart. She fought, flailed, and fumed until her knees buckled, and she started seizing. "Dammit, is there anything this shit doesn't cause?" Eliot fumed as Quinn tried to gently lay her down.
"Pregnancy, stroke, STDs, watery ey-"
"SHUT UP!" Eliot snapped. He knelt down next to her. He brushed her hair away from her twitching face. "I need you to hang on, honey," he said quietly as she started to become lucid.
"She's your daughter," Sterling said with dumbstruck realization.
Panic hit Eliot like a meteor. In her brief moment of lucidity, Raelyn grabbed a hold of Quinn's pant leg and slurred, "I'll give you seven times your premium fee to kill him."
Quinn shrugged and started reaching towards Sterling. "QUINN!" Eliot roared. "White. Hat," he growled. Quinn rolled his eyes and turned his focus back to Raelyn.
"She's supposed to be dead," Sterling said, still in shock.
And that's when Eliot snapped. He dove forward and yanked Sterling up by his shirt. "YOU KNEW?!"
"I didn't know anything until Moreau's death," Sterling gasped. "By the time I looked into it, I got her death certificate. Something about Jamie was always familiar. At first, I thought you were just sleeping together. But the way you looked at her. And the way she looked at me."
Eliot shook him. "What do you mean the way she looked at you?!"
"The look you have on your face right now, the one where you look like you're trying to kill someone with your eyes. She has the same one."
"Told you," Tara piped up.
"SHUT UP!" Eliot yelled at her. He crammed Sterling against the wall of the helicopter. "You don't breathe a word to anyone. If anything happens to her, and I even think you had anything to do with it, they won't even find your fingernails."
"That's a new one," Sterling breathed. Eliot raised an eyebrow in warning. "You have my word," Sterling promised.
As Eliot set Sterling back on his feet, Vance pulled him aside. "Hey, we're going to drop everybody else off at Leverage Headquarters, and I sent a van to get you two home."
"Home?" Eliot questioned. "She needs to go to the emergency center."
Vance put supportive hands on Eliot's shoulders. "She's unstable and hallucinating. The emergency center is going to set her off." He paused. "Eliot, there is a good chance Raelyn isn't going to make it. She won't want to go out there. She needs some place comfortable."
Eliot's eyes burned. "She begged me not to do this job. She didn't want to work together anymore because this kept happening. I might as well-"
"Stop." The source of the command was surprising: Hardison. He took hold of Eliot. "She's going to be fine. And if, IF she doesn't make it, you know this is exactly how she'd want to go out: taking the shot to protect someone. If she were lucid right now, listening to you throw your little pity party, she'd punch you in the face." That got a grin. "Ah, made you smile."
Attention was redirected when Raelyn seized briefly before hurling again. Quinn and Vance had her taken care of, while Eliot felt increasingly useless. He sat down next to her half-conscious form and pulled her upper half into his lap, brushing his fingers through her hair. She was sweating profusely, and her breathing was uneven. She clutched weakly at his arm. Her wound oozed on him, but he didn't even acknowledge it. In his mind, all he saw were trinkets floating down a river and sooty dog tags in a pile of rubble.
The helicopter landed on the roof of Leverage Headquarters. Tara was the first one off followed by Sterling. Nate, Sophie, Parker, and Hardison looked at him expectantly. "Go," he said. "I just...She could hurt somebody like this."
Everyone looked at Quinn. "I'm staying with her," Quinn stated. Eliot opened his mouth to argue. "That wasn't a request!" Quinn said sharply. The other five glanced at each other.
"Guys, please go," Eliot asked. "You can come by when we know something."
So Nate, Sophie, Hardison, and Parker filed out of the helicopter. As it went back in the air, Vance told Eliot, "I got some minor equipment on its way to your place. Mainly some makeshift blood monitor equipment to see if her body is fighting it off."
Eliot nodded mutely and pulled her closer to him.
