A DREAM OF FREEDOM LOST
Chapter 7: Meltdown
"Calling M.T.C this is the SWAT Kats with an emergency." Razor radio the Trauma Center.
"Roger SWAT Kats! What is the nature of your emergency, over?!" Came the efficient voice of the on duty medic.
"We have a Sabren in severe emotional distress. His mate is with him. Patient is Commander Feral, over!" Razor responded.
"Roger, Trauma 1 acknowledges! What's your ETA, over?" The medic said briskly.
"Two minutes, clear." Razor said as he landed the Turbokat onto the hospital chopper pad.
As soon as he shut engines, a medical team with a gurney rushed to the rear of the jet and waited as Razor lowered the ramp. T-Bone nodded at the team as they rolled the gurney up the ramp and moved to his side.
"He's suffered a major emotional meltdown and is suicidal." T-Bone said grimly. "He's not communicating at all."
"Alright! We'll look him over inside. Fortunately, we have a Sabren physician on duty right now and he's been called." The trauma doctor said calmly. He quietly directed the action to lift Feral onto the gurney and led them back through the ER doors with T-Bone and Razor trailing behind.
As they entered the trauma bay, they were met by a powerful looking tabby Sabren.
"I'm Dr. Kenton, the Sabren physician on call. We need to take Commander Feral to the secure room where we treat Sabrens. Please follow me." He said as he led the way down a corridor to a pair of heavy reinforced doors. When the SWAT Kats went into the room, they saw it was fully equipped and much the same as an ordinary trauma bay except for having reinforced walls.
Razor stayed near the door and out of the way as Dr. Kenton began his examination of Feral. Other medical personnel gently stripped the Commander of his clothes and put on hospital p.j.s. While he checked Feral over, the doctor quietly asked T-Bone what had happened.
T-Bone briefed him on their mating, Feral's emotional upset during it, the meltdown at home, then repeat meltdown with an energy build up and dump during the press conference.
"What are you feeling from him now, T-Bone?" Dr. Kenton asked gently.
T-Bone rolled his shoulders uncomfortably and sighed, "Numbness and despair. Nothing I do even makes a dent in it. I gotta say it's really hurting me too."
"I imagine it is. You were right to be concerned. Commander Feral is extremely depressed and obviously hasn't accepted his bonded status well. I'm going to give him an antipsychotic drug that will pull him out of this state he's in now so that we can address his problems with therapy. I must warn you, the drug is not well tolerated by Sabren biology and causes a short bout of intense nausea and vomiting. Unfortunately, there is no other drug that can do what we need done. You will have to comfort him through it. I'm sorry." Dr. Denton said sympathically while he ordered the drug.
"I understand, doc. Just do what you have to." T-Bone said unhappily.
A nurse brought the meds and Dr. Denton injected it. He grabbed a basin and handed it to T-Bone. "It works fairly quickly!" He warned.
T-Bone moved to stand next to Ulysses and watched as his mate's eyes widened then the big tom lurched up and began heaving. T-Bone held the basin in front of him in time and grimly held his mate while he threw up repeatedly. It seemed to go on a long time but was only a few minutes. A nurse brought a cup of water and took the basin when Feral seemed to have stopped finally.
Feral was panting and looked miserable, "God's just shoot me why don't you!" He moaned hoarsely.
"I'm sorry Uly but it was the only way to snap you out of that deep funk you fell into." T-Bone commiserated with his sick mate.
Feral leaned his head into T-Bone's shoulder and muttered, "I'm sorry to be so much trouble for you."
"It's not your fault."
"Seems weird!"
"What does?"
"I've never apologized to you for anything over the years and now I've said I'm sorry several times over the last forty-eight hours." He sighed.
"So you have, but this is for an entirely different reason and I'm your mate so think nothing of it." T-Bone said soothingly as he caressed Uly's back.
Dr. Kenton watched and listened to the interplay between the pair and was pleased to see that a firm bonding was in place. It would make treating the Commander that much easier.
"Hello, Commander. I'm Dr. Kenton. Glad to see you are with us again. I want to admit you to our psych ward for little while and have a Sabren therapist have a chat with you. I understand that you've succeeded in keeping your freedom a very long time so mating now had to be very difficult for you. It's really not that bad being bonded and you have been very fortunate to have an extremely caring mate even though you were antagonists before that happened. Let's see if we can help you adjust to your new status and ease your grief a bit. Will that be okay with you?" He asked warmly.
Feral looked at the doctor warily but nodded agreement. T-Bone held Feral tightly and eyed the doctor questioningly.
"You are, of course, needed to stay by your mate, T-Bone. He's not safe alone without you since he will become upset during the therapy sessions. I know this will be inconvenient for you and I sincerely hope your services for the city won't be needed during this time." The doctor answered the unasked question.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a problem but Razor will do the best he can and, yeah, I hope the omegas stay quiet for a little while too, with both of us gone." T-Bone said heavily looking at his partner with apologies.
"Its alright T-Bone. I'll hold down the fort till you get back. I'll leave now. Anything you want me to bring you two?" Razor assured his partner.
"No not right now, Razor, thanks. I'll contact you if I do." T-Bone said gratefully bidding his partner goodbye.
Razor slipped out and the doctor gave orders for Feral's transfer to the psych ward. T-Bone stepped out of the way as they prepared his mate for the move. He took a moment to call Ms. Briggs to bring her up to date then followed the gurney on its journey upstairs.
Twenty-four hours later, T-Bone was beginning to wish he'd just let Feral die. As it was Feral's downward spiral into madness was dragging T-Bone into that frightening world with him. Therapy had started it and it had kept gaining momentum. Uly was no longer trying to talk to the therapist and the constant melt downs were exhausting. The doctors were beginning to suspect something more was going on than just his failure to accept the bond.
Matters were coming to a head when Dr. Viper dropped in. Apparently, the Psychiatric Wing was home to an experimental test program for helping schizophrenia and Dr. Viper wanted the information and drugs for a project of his own.
His mutations caused a riot with screaming patients and medical staff running everywhere. Under cover of the chaos, Viper slipped in. T-Bone had heard the screams outside the secured room Feral was kept in and went out to investigate. He was immediately set upon by two of Viper's horrors. He fought hard but was eventually thrown against a wall knocking him unconscious.
Despite his condition, Feral sensed his mate's fear and sudden blankness through their bond. In terror, he slammed his way out of his room and out into the bedlam in the corridor. Spotting his mate on the floor, he roared in anguish and fury. Viper made the mistake of coming out of a far room at that moment attracting the attention of a Sabren on a rampage. Feral had drawn energy quickly and was using it very effectively, incinerating Viper's creatures. Most Sabren's do not use their energy for anything but defense when necessary but Feral was plainly out of his mind. Spotting Viper, Feral charged down the corridor firing energy bolts doing almost as much damage as the mutations.
Shocked at the mad look in Feral's eyes and realizing what was bearing down on him, he tried to escape. Running down another corridor he discovered too late it was a dead end.
Back down the corridor they had come from T-Bone was groggily gaining consciousness. He sat up and rubbed his aching head which was also ringing from an overload of emotions from his mate. He quickly looked toward Feral's room and saw the door blown out. He heard a shriek down the corridor and staggered to his feet and ran in that direction.
When he arrived, he saw Feral firing energy bursts at Viper who was barely ducking the blasts. As much as he hated that lizard, he couldn't let Uly kill him. He raced up to his mate and wrapped himself around him. Feral snarled and started to turn his attention to this new attacker but some part of him still recognized his mate. He dropped his arms and whimpered, putting his face against T-Bone's to be comforted.
"It's alright love. I'm okay. Take it easy now." T-Bone soothed as he kept an eye on Viper.
Viper stood still and watched curiously at the interplay between Feral and T-Bone. He couldn't escape because the only way out was blocked by the pair.
"Don't like it here! Take home?" Feral pleaded in a childlike voice.
Horrified, T-Bone stared at his mate. Feral's eyes were filled with tears. He'd deteriorated to the point of regressing to a kitten. T-Bone choked his own eyes filling with tears of grief.
"Oh God! Uly please come back to me. I can't bear this anymore." T-Bone cried in anguish.
Viper spoke up cautiously. "I would venture to guesssss, SSSWAT Kat, that your SSSabren mate'ss power has turned on him warping hissss mind."
T-Bone jerked his attention to Viper in shock. "What are you saying? You know what's wrong with him?"
"I can guesssss." Viper assured him. "I might be able to help him."
"Why would you want to do that? You obviously want something for yourself." Snarled T-Bone hope flaring though disturbed it was from a criminal that help was being offered.
"Of coursse I want ssssomething. My freedom, naturally. I help the pitiful doctorsss heal Feral and you let me go." Viper smirked evilly.
"How can I trust you not to kill my mate?" T-Bone growled.
"You can't! You either let me help or your mate continuesss to deteriorate into mindlessness and will have to be desstroyed due to hisss inability to control hisss energy anymore." Viper said flatly.
"You vicious...alright I don't have any choice. Just wait there while I call for help. Uly may be out of it but he's still fast."
"I'm not sssstupid, SSSWAT Kat. Jusst never knew the fool enforcer was a SSSabren." Viper growled.
Grumbling, T-Bone tapped his helmet and called Razor. His partner responded quickly and after a brief conversation said he would be there right away. While he waited, the hospital staff had regained control and peace reined once more on the floor. Dr. Kenton strode down the corridor toward them. He eyed Viper warily as he came abreast of the couple still blocking the hall.
"How is he, T-Bone?" He asked as he examined Feral the best he could with the Sabren wrapped around his mate.
"It's bad doc. Uly is like a child now. Viper there says he thinks Ulysses' energy has warped his mind and he says he can help you find a cure for him." T-Bone explained.
"Oh! We were beginning to suspect something like that but had reached no conclusion on how to address the problem." Dr. Kenton said slowly.
"But I've ssssseen sssomething sssimilar and have an idea how to cure it but will need the use of the Bio Tech Labsss and Dr. Konway to come up with it." Dr. Viper said.
"Can we trust him?" Dr. Kenton asked T-Bone uneasily.
"No, but for the price of his freedom, we will have to hope he honors the deal. What choice to we have?" T-Bone said grimly.
"You are right. His condition is deteriorating fast. Something must be done soon. How do you plan on keeping him a prisoner and getting to the labs?" Dr. Kenton asked resignedly.
"I've called Razor. He's on the way. Viper will have to submit to being restrained and we will go to the labs in the Turbokat. Maybe you should contact Dr. Konway to forewarn him about this and what will be needed?" T-Bone suggested.
"You're right. I'll need a few things myself and a couple of my own assistants. I'll be right back." He said as he turned and quickly left back down the hall.