Leonardo called Splinter when they were almost home, so his Master was waiting near the door when they arrived.

April took control at once, leading the man to realize she knew he was nowhere near as calm as he looked. "Luke, this is Master Splinter."

The young man released a deep breath and forced a brave smile. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Luke Barrows."
"Thank you for coming, Doctor - I know that putting yourselves into our hands was not an easy thing to do," Splinter told him.

Luke's was surprised by what was obviously a Japanese accent. "It's not much easier for you to open your safe place to a complete stranger either."

"Leonardo, will you please speak with April about Jenna?" Splinter requested.
"Jenna?" she repeated.

Leo took her by the elbow. "I'll explain everything," he said under his breath.

When Splinter motioned to Luke, the young man followed him, some nervousness still clinging. The rat led him through a hall connecting to the living area first, stopping by an open doorway. Inside it sounded like someone was meting out a frightening beating.

Splinter winced openly and cleared his throat. "That is Raphael. You can meet him later."
Luke didn't argue with the sight of the red-masked turtle furiously beating a punching bag, stressing every muscle in his body.

Instead, Splinter took him to another door off the living area with a window cut out beside it. The room was more brightly lit than the rest of the den, clean and fairly organized, despite the abundance of stacks within.
As they walked inside, Luke couldn't contain his surprise. Three computers were networked against a wall, with a larger screen positioned above them. The room was gleaming with machinery and inventions, the likes of which he'd never seen before. He looked at Splinter, unable to hide his fascination.
"I am not responsible for any of this," he warned. "It is all the work of my son, Donatello. Unfortunately, he is also the one who is now stricken." Splinter pointed to where he lay motionless across the room, with yet another figure hunched over beside him.
The other turtle glanced up as they came near, jumping to his feet. "Thank you for coming." His smile was warm, and more open than either of his brothers been. The mutant even shook his hand. "I'm Mike."
"Luke Barrows," he replied. "Mind if I take a look?"
"I can't do anything except be in the way. Please, if you can help..." He hesitated when his voice cracked, and then quietly stood aside.
Luke bent down to Donatello's level, examining the alien creature in front of him slowly. For a few minutes he tested his vitals, making notations on a writing pad while he worked. As he wrote, Luke finally asked some questions. "Do you know anything about your blood types?"
"Um...I know that we have some extra pulled," Mike replied. "The four of us only have two different types, so he wanted some of each on hand."
"Does that mean you have an IV?" Luke said suddenly, looking at him with hope.
"We do," Splinter acknowledged. "I confess to being more concerned about the drug which was used on him than possible blood loss."

"The gunshot may not be the real reason for his current condition, but replacing lost blood won't hurt his case," Luke explained.

"There's a bunch of stuff that Don refurbished, or completely rebuilt. We don't know how to use most of it, but I can show it to you..." the orange-masked turtle offered.

Mike led him to an adjacent closet, fidgeting anxiously from one foot to the other.

Luke walked into the inset closet, looking over the equipment with the first hint of his own smile. "I could use some help."
Mike nodded, and he and Splinter assisted in moving out a few chosen pieces. Without much trouble, Luke began setting things up properly. Some of the equipment looked anything but standard, but the important things seemed to be in place.
Mike brought him the first unit of blood as he finished setting up the IV tubing, inserting the needle in his vein. The turtle's eyes looked much brighter than they'd been just minutes before.
"This is good. Thanks. You stay close, okay?" Luke told him.

The man proceeded to set up a heart monitor to gauge the vitals that he still wasn't sure he understood. He took a few moments then to study the wound in his shoulder. "We need to get the bullet out, soon. And I need to run a couple of tests on you or your brothers, Mike, so I can start trying to make sense of his temperature, pulse, blood pressure..."
"I think I can do you one better," he volunteered. "Donnie has a journal - he started it about six years ago. It's full of his theories, experiments, records. I can get it up for you."
"Do that," Luke agreed eagerly. Further astonishment caused him to shake his head at Splinter. "The bullet didn't penetrate a long way. This is going to be a bit rudimentary, but I should be able to remove it. Will you help me?"
Luke was nervous, but the sooner it came out, the sooner he could focus on other issues. Splinter was a strong rock of assurance beside him the whole way as he proceeded, holding more blood on standby in case it was needed. Under a magnified light he probed for several minutes, until he carefully drew the offending missile out of his shoulder. He let out a shaky breath to keep from trembling openly as he dropped it on the tray. It was far from his first emergency, but the young man was used to doing this type of thing in a hospital environment.
"Nicely done doctor," Splinter encouraged.
Luke took a few moments to gather his wits about him, and then glanced over at Mike. The turtle was sitting behind one of the computers, and had launched something on the big screen.

The doctor joined him curiously, sitting down with the mouse to scroll through the index. He clicked on a chapter and began promptly skimming over information.
After about ten minutes, he turned around completely to locate the rat again. "How old is he?"
"He is sixteen.."
Luke let out a sharp breath and continued scrolling. "This doesn't read like a sixteen-year old."
"Donnie's a genius," Mike explained quietly. "If this had happened to anybody else, we would have been fine."
"You know...I have to be honest." Luke said slowly. "Coming down here, I didn't have much hope. But with the technology he salvaged, his records, we might have a real shot. Pardon the expression."

April turned up in the background a couple minutes later as Luke continued to read, making more notes as he went along. He had skipped to a chapter about sedatives, hoping to shed some light on the theories his charge had.

While he continued absorbing information, Splinter kindly sent April and Mike out of the room for the time being, remaining behind to keep a vigil for Donatello himself. The quickening of the rate's breathing nearby was what drew Luke to look over his shoulder before Splinter even spoke.
"Doctor...something is happening."
Luke came over with a print-out in hand, and stared at the paper for a moment. "If his theory is correct, your bodies react to even small amounts of sedatives with the same indicators of a massive overdose. It's obviously causing the coma...now it's effecting his oxygenation. The sedative has already spread through his system, which is giving indication of going into shock...and the possibility of organs shutting down."
"I recall him alluding to the danger. Do we have options?"
"I know what to do for a human, but this is entirely different. My head is spinning, I feel like I need to learn so much in a short amount of time. His body needs to be purged somehow. If he were in the hospital we might try dyalsis to cleanse the blood, but I don't know how to interpret that into a method that will work for him. I noticed he has a respirator. I'd like to get him hooked up to help with the breathing, because it's only going to get worse. Then I need to dive back into his findings, and see if there's anything in there that can help us save him."
"I am going to stay with him," Splinter insisted.
"I think that's best for right now - his brothers shouldn't be here if he's going down hill. You sure you're okay?"
Splinter's hand landed on the turtle's head. "I have to be."