THE SOMA SAGA IV: TORPOR

The headache simultaneously woke me up and kept me locked in bed. Gradually coming to, my body registered Raph's foul morning breath on my shoulder, and the uncomfortable stickiness of being too careless to shower before falling asleep. After a time writhing there between the sheets, the behemoth behind me peeled himself off the bed and stomped out of the room, clutching his head and grumbling nonsense under his breath. Shutting my eyes and rolling onto my back, I stayed there until I heard him reenter the room, water bottles in one hand and a bottle of Advil in the other.

"'M fucking shot." He groveled, popping a handful of the medicine down his throat and tossing me the bottle, which I missed in my dazed frame of mind.

"Same." I struggled to form words. "Don's gotta wake up and make coffee soon." Grabbing the water bottle from his hands, I did my best to chug it down, spilling a good amount out of the corners of my mouth and down onto the sheets. Raph wriggled back in behind me, and the only communication between us was the matching tempo of our breaths and the occasional groans and curses of discomfort. We faded in and out of sleep, waiting for our headaches to subside, until I heard feet rushing down the hallway toward us. Like a wrecking ball, Don burst into the room, eyes wide with panic.

"It's Leo." He gasped. "Not waking up." That was all we needed to hear to spring out of bed, struggling to maintain balance as we followed him down the hall to Leo's room, where wrapped haphazardly in his sheets, he lay motionless on the floor. "He's still breathing, but barely."

"You tried, like, putting cold water on his face or something?" I offered. Don didn't look pleased.

"Obviously." He spat, flustered. "It's more serious than that. His heartbeat is dangerously slow."

The three of us lifted him out of the bed, somehow managed not to trip down the stairs, and laid him out on the table in Don's lab. Our resident genius stuck some wired pads to his chest, and from the calm pace of the beeps on his computer screen, we could tell Leo was barely even still with us. Don hooked him up to a makeshift IV bag, just to get fluids in him, but he stayed in the same state.

"Donnie, how long has he been out?" I asked.

"I don't know. I found him like this when I went to his room, and got you guys right after."

"You mean you didn't crash with him last night?"

"Apparently not." He huffed. "I don't really remember everything that well."

"Well, shit." Raph muttered. "But how would he end up like this? We polished off the second bottle ourselves at, like, nine o'clock."

"Yeah, and the rest of us are still standing." I noted. "What gives?"

Donnie looked at the floor in awkward silence for a second.

"Well, I think the alcohol interacted with the etizolam that's accumulated in his system from the past couple weeks. The two are synergistic, and…"

"The what?" Raph raised an eyebrow. Don still wouldn't meet his glare.

"Leo…he's been on medication for about two weeks now."

"For what?"

"Ever since he left, he'd been having panic attacks. Flashbacks, sometimes. You guys didn't notice how he'd suddenly go out of it, like his mind wasn't in his body?"

"Maybe a little." Raph admitted, skeptically. "Only time I started thinking he was really acting funny was around two weeks ago."

"Yeah, Don. You mean the stuff you've been giving Leo is what made him get all…loose? Like, more chill?" Like a cornered animal, Donnie looked up at us.

"Yeah, okay? I knew the side effects were too drastic…I told him not to drink…but what was I thinking?" he asked himself. "I should have known this would happen. I just…I wanted him to enjoy himself, maybe go back to like he was before. I wanted him to be here with me…with us, I mean."

"Chill, Don." Raph interrupted. "We ain't blaming you. But you're the one with the brains to get him outta this. How're we gonna do it?" Already rustling through the depths of his lab's corners, he produced what looked like a scuba tank and a gas mask.

"Well, putting him on the IV and getting this oxygen pump on him will keep him stable. I have some activated charcoal tablets to deal with the alcohol still in his system, and enough epinephrine to cut through the respiratory depression. But the etizolam makes it complicated."

"The fuck is 'etizolam', dude? Where'd you get this shit?"

"It's a research chemical, still unregulated, but close to Valium or Xanax. I found it on the darknet, so whoever sent it to me is completely untraceable. I tested its quality myself, though; it's not like it was laced with anything."

"Well, what's the antidote?"

"It's a very obscure compound…most of the literature about its toxicity is in Russian. Judging by its therapeutic effects, though, a benzodiazepine antagonist should do the trick. But where would I find flumazenil just lying around?"

"Uh…the same place a human would go if they got too pilled out and needed a detox." I answered. "The hospital."

"So, what, we're breaking into an emergency room in broad daylight?" Don scoffed. "I don't even know if the stuff will work!"

"You…" Raph nearly poked a hole in Don's chest. "…are not going anywhere, egghead. Mike and I are scoping out St. Luke's Hospital, and waiting 'til the night shift to break in and loot the place. What, you think Leo's gonna be fine here by himself?" Don steamed for a second, angrily baring down at Raph as if to protest, but after a moment Raph whipped around to find his weapons and armor. I followed.


*insert obligatory apology for short chapter here*

Told you there'd be a twist! Thanks for reading :)