Chapter 5:- Cure Creation
A.N:- I only got one review for the last chapter and that was a pity review from my brother :( I'm not going to beg for reviews because that's irritating for everyone if i keep doing it but that said I'm not averse to some response good or bad. :) Oh and if your reading but not reviewing then I appreciate that too, just knowing that someone is reading and that I'm not wasting my time is very encouraging! Thanks. Also I'm very good at making up medical mumbo jumbo but no one in there right mind wants me performing medical procedures on them, this is all made up and probably entirely implausible! But imagination is the key! Lol. Might actually let you read the story now….
Jesse and Brennan rushed to meet the Lark; they quickly manoeuvred the unconscious Lexa upon the stretcher into the lab. Jamie rushed the D.N.A sample they'd collected from the trash straight to Baby who was still working on the possible cure at the computer terminals.
"How is she?" Baby whirled to face him her face brimming with concern.
Jamie didn't bother to sugar coat it; he knew Baby would easily sense his duplicity. "She's not looking good" he said honestly "she crashed on the way here and then we nearly crashed the Lark" Jamie noted Baby's astonishment "its O.K I brought her back and we obviously didn't crash. Anyway her vital signs are all over the place and her skin is splitting apart. I've no idea what we can do to stabilise her."
Baby looked grim "Well Jesse prepared a force field that he thinks should contain any power outbursts and hopefully help keep her stable at least for a little while."
"Good, she needs all the help she can get. How are you getting on?" he asked leaning over her chair to view the screen.
"Well Lexa's own D.N.A was really useful actually. I don't know when he had time but Adam did one hell of a lot of procedures on her" Baby focused again on the figures in front of her.
"Just not the right one though" said Jamie despondently
"Yeah, but we ruled out just over two hundred of our prospective curative procedures! We are narrowing it down, there only fifty three still plausible" Baby attempted to look on the bright side.
"We definitely don't have the time to do fifty three procedures though" Jamie said angrily.
"I know but getting mad isn't going to help!" Baby yelled back.
"Sorry" Jamie said calmly hugging her too him.
"Just go tell Jesse that in about" she pulled away from him to look at her watch "five minutes, I'll have the final tally on what the cures could be, fingers crossed this sample rules out a lot of those fifty three, anything he's not had can't possibly be the stabiliser."
Jamie left Baby at the computers and went to tell the others of their progress. He entered the lab and saw that they had placed Lexa lying on a med bed in the centre of the room. Surrounding her was a sickly looking floating green haze; he presumed this was the force field Baby had mentioned. Jesse was standing, hovering over various monitors checking her vital statistics. Shalimar and Brennan stood off in one corner, Shalimar and Brennan seemed to have made up without the need for words. Shalimar was firmly ensconced in Brennan's arms. All three turned as they saw Jamie enter.
He cut straight to the point "Baby says that in five minutes she'll have the final count on the possibilities for a cure. How is she?" he said approaching the unconscious Lexa.
"Well her tissue stability isn't decreasing now but with the amount of damage that's already occurred I don't think she has more than a couple of hours left" Jesse said in despair.
"What even with the force field you created?" asked Shalimar
"I'm not a doctor damn it! All I can do is prevent further tissue decay for a while, the real damage is already done. Without a cure she most definitely survive the night" Jesse moaned clearly itching to do something proactive but having no idea what to actually do.
Shalimar sensing Jesse's deep despair walked over and pulled him into a hug. She felt his head rest upon hers and noticed his quiet sobs. She knew they needed to stay strong as much for Jesse as for Lexa. He was losing faith in his own and ability to help and that faith could prove crucial. "Jess, we all know you're trying your best. It'll be fine, Baby will be here in a minute and she'd going to need your help. You don't need to be a doctor, just yourself. You have to believe that with all of us working on this we have the expertise needed to save her" Shalimar said soothingly.
Jesse pulled away from Shalimar and nodded briskly. He subtly wiped his eyes free of tears and turned back to Lexa. "I know you're right but Lexa would hate this, this vulnerability, she'd want to, I dunno, die in a blaze of glory destroying her enemies not fade away in a stupid med bay!"
Jamie understood this "so we save her now so she can at least choose her own destiny, even if it's to die for petty revenge!"
Brennan spoke quietly "I don't think she'd waste a second chance like that. I mean she'd always go after those who had done her wrong but I think she was beginning to value her life and the whole team thing"
Shalimar and Jesse looked at Brennan in surprise. He was the last person they thought would champion for Lexa.
"What?" Brennan asked in response to their stunned faces. "I know we rubbed each other the wrong way in the beginning but she was starting to fit, to gel with us, Oh forget it you know what I mean"
At that moment Baby came into the room brimming with obvious excitement. "It's done, there are only five possible procedures to perform, and good thing that dude had only had a few procedures done to him." Baby passed the computer printout to Jesse. His eyes flicked rapidly back and forth as he scanned through the information. Baby continued "two of the procedures are really easy to do, injection of certain combination of chemicals we have readily available." She said excitedly.
"Yeah but one of the procedures is impossible to do! We don't have the equipment or the time!" Jesse yelled in defeat.
"I know" Baby admitted. "But we have to focus on what we can do, if we do other four then Lexa has an eighty percent chance of survival"
"That still leaves twenty percent" said Shalimar dejectedly.
"Look! Will you people please snap out of it!" yelled Baby. "If we sit here whining then Lexa has zip, zilch, zero, nada chance of survival! We have to have faith and do what we can; the rest is out of our hands"
Jesse suddenly took charge "Brennan and Shalimar you need to watch over Lexa and tell us of even the slightest change in her condition" the pair nodded. "You two I'm going to need your help, you know where the stuff we need is. Get everything on this list together A.S.A.P. I need to read through this again more carefully."
Everyone did as they were told, and the lab was filled with the constant buzz of activity as everyone played their part.
Twenty minutes later
Jesse and Baby had begun work on the two more complicated procedures, focusing all their efforts on meeting the precise measurements described. Meanwhile Jamie performed the two easy procedures whilst Shalimar and Brennan watched for any adverse side effects.
Jamie pulled a syringe slowly out of Lexa's arm and quickly put the forcefeild back up "Well at least that's a forty percent chance" said Jamie returning to the workbench that Baby and Jesse were working at. He began passing them the implements they required.
"How is she?" Jesse asked without looking up from the intricate procedure he was performing under the microscope.
"She's not having any fits and powers appear under control, at least for now" Brennan responded.
"Good" said Baby concentrating intently upon her task.
"How long are you guys going to take?" inquired Shalimar.
"umm maybe another half hour or so" Jesse responded "You?" he asked Baby
"A little longer than that I'm afraid" she said apologetically.
"We should be O.K. Lexa's B.P is slowly dropping again but I think she'll be alright till then" Brennan said.
"That means her D.N.A is still trying to pull itself apart! I don't know if that means the two attempts we've made have failed or not, maybe it takes a while to work, I haven't got a clue" Jesse said before returning back to work.
They worked on diligently for a further half hour, almost in complete silence as everyone concentrated on their own tasks. Jesse was just putting the finishing touched to his concoction when he heard the sound of splintering glass. He turned to see that Baby had dropped her vial containing a possible cure. She stood before him visibly shaking from head to toe. She grabbed for her neck.
"No! Not again!" she cried in anguish as her eyes turned to a brilliant white and she knew no more.
A.N:- Sorry about any spelling errors but I lost my beta because for some strange reason they wont let you bring your younger brother to university! Dunno why not! lol