Chapter 5

Garth had intended to call Brainiac 5 for advice from the twelfth-level intellect on the medical situation, but he never got the chance, because just as he was withdrawing the Legion ring from his pocket, the machines monitoring Imra's condition suddenly all began to beep rapidly.

Hurriedly keeping the ring, Garth was at Imra's side in a heartbeat. The Titanian telepath was gasping for breath, her hand at her throat. Then, as the doctors came rushing in, her head suddenly fell back onto her pillow as she went limp.

"Respiratory arrest; get the crash cart!" Kutner shouted.

"We need to intubate", Foreman declared, pushing Garth away as he came to the gurney.

"I'm sorry, sir, you have to get out of here", Taub was saying to the anxious Legionnaires.

"What's going on?" Chuck demanded.

"She's crashing", Thirteen informed them as she grabbed the intubation bag from the crash cart a nurse had wheeled in. "We need you to get out so we can do our job."

Taub began ushering the four friends out, with the help of Chase and two nurses.

"I hate this", Tinya declared when the door had been shut and the curtains drawn back. "It's been one scare after another, and they still don't know what's wrong with her."

"All we can do is pray and hope for the best", Chuck reasoned, trying to ignore the knot of fear in his stomach.

Back in the hospital room, the doctors and nurses rushed around in a flurry of activity as they tried to stabilize the patient.

"O2 stats are dropping", Taub informed his colleagues.

"BP's 100 over 70", Thirteen reported.

"How can that be?" asked Cameron. "Her heart rate's through the roof – 110 per minute."

Foreman took one quick look at the monitors, then at Imra, and reached the horrifying conclusion.

"She's throwing clots all over the place; it's restricting the blood flow. Remy, take over." Foreman handed her the tube he'd been trying to force down Imra's windpipe, and Thirteen picked up where he left off.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked.

"I need to drain the blood." Foreman disappeared into a crowd of nurses and came back with a syringe needle seconds later. "She's gonna rupture a blood vessel if we don't lessen the flow."

"You don't even know where the clot is", Thirteen objected, finally managing to ram the breathing tube into Imra's throat. "Bag", she called. Kutner immediately fixed the balloon-like bag onto the tube and started pumping air into it.

Foreman quickly scanned Imra's body for signs of blockage. "There." He pointed at Imra's stomach, which was starting to turn purplish while the area above it seemed to be getting redder and swelling. Without further hesitation he plunged the needle into the swollen area and drained the blood. He called for a bigger collecting container and Taub complied, deftly removing the small syringe cylinder and replacing it with a bigger one.

Gradually the beeping of the machines slowed as Imra's body stabilized.

"O2 levels are back to normal", Kutner stated.

"BP's rising", Cameron said.

"What happened to the clot?" inquired Thirteen.

"I think I managed to dislodge it", Foreman replied. "Start her on two units of hydroxyurea", he instructed a nearby nurse.

"We got lucky this time", said Chase. "It could have been a lot worse."

"What's wrong with her brain activity?" Kutner asked suddenly.

His colleagues looked up at the screen which recorded Imra's brainwaves and stared.

"They're spiking", said Thirteen. "I've never seen that much activity in a single person before."

Taub looked down and saw a faint pink light shining underneath Imra's eyelids. "Are her eyes…glowing?"

Foreman glanced downward and pulled open an eyelid. Imra's entire eye was glowing a bright pink, and then all six of them felt a sharp, stabbing pain in their heads. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it disappeared, and Imra's brain waves slowed as her eyes stopped glowing.

"More clots means the thrombocytosis is getting worse", said Thirteen. They were all back in House's office, doing yet another differential. "We've started her on hydroxyurea, but if she throws a clot in her brain or heart, she's dead."

"Her brain activity spiked and then plummeted within a single minute", said Foreman. "To all intents and purposes, she's in a coma."

"But her brain waves aren't that low", Chase objected.

"I know", Foreman admitted. "That's the strange thing. But everything else shows that she's comatose. It isn't normal."

"Nothing about this case is normal anymore", Taub pointed out.

"The coma supports infection", said Cameron. "Something that severe is rare, but…"

"Her white cell count's dropped back to normal", Chase countered.

"Her eyes were glowing."

Everyone fell silent. It was Kutner who had spoken. The other five doctors had been reluctant to mention the glowing eyes and the brief stab of their minds. House spun around to look at Kutner.

"What?"

"Her eyes were glowing", Kutner repeated. "Bright pink."

"To match the colour", House commented to no one in particular.

"You believe him?" Cameron asked in surprise.

"Is he lying?"

"No, but we didn't think you'd believe us."

"Twelve hours ago, I wouldn't have", House admitted. "Things have changed."

Chase looked at his former boss shrewdly, a quizzical expression on his face. "What did you find?"

"What do you mean what did I find?" questioned House not-so-innocently.

"You believing us about the patient's glowing eyes means you discovered something equally unbelievable, yet true", said Chase. "What was it?"

House smiled sardonically. "Sometimes I wonder why I fired you." House walked around the whiteboard, heading for the coffee counter. "Do you remember the extra chromosomes Taub and Kutner found in her blood?"

"Yeah", said Thirteen.

"Well", said House, shuffling back to the whiteboard with a cup of coffee, "turns out it's not just an extra pair of chromosomes; it's a whole new, additional genetic trait."

"That's impossible", Taub protested.

"So are glowing eyes", House pointed out.

There was a short pause as all the doctors tried to find a rational explanation for everything. Nothing presented itself, but House did finish his coffee.

"Well", he said, breaking the silence, "there's only one thing to do." He hobbled to the door. "We've got to go drag the truth out of the patient."

"She's in a coma", said Kutner.

"So we drag it out of her friends instead. I'm sure they know something – they're probably in on the whole thing." House pulled open the door and looked around. "You coming?"

A/N: Oh oh! Are they going to find out the truth? Stay tuned! Chapter 6 is a revelation for everyone, House's team and readers alike. Thanks to guardyanangel, The Violet Rose, Devilbunyyxox, and leath for reviewing! Oh, by the way, guardy, I think this chapter answers the first two questions in your last review, doesn't it? As for the holographic rings, no they're not going to break down anytime soon (don't insult Brainy), and questions 4 and 5 will be answered in future chapters. Kay?

Disclaimer: I own nothing of this story except the plot which is the first crossover of its type.