Chapter 54: Shocking Antidote

Kyle's POV

"It's no use." Cas stated, "The toxin's already made its way into his blood stream, and there's not enough time to formulate an antidote."

"Well there's gotta be something we can do." I pointed out

"The only possible advantage to this situation is that even though he inhaled a lethal quantity, there's barely enough to kill him at the same rate as that child we saw earlier."

"Yeah but he's still dying. Lethal is lethal. Now we need to stop it from affecting him."

"Well if we have a bit of time then can't you make the antidote for him?" Shante questioned

"Look, I wouldn't expect a kid to understand the amount of time it would take to extract a sample of the toxin, synthesize an antidote, and test if it actually works, in contrast to the actual time that we have. Even so, the small quantity that he ingested's been circulated around his body, so I wouldn't even have enough to synthesize" Cas stung

"Oh, sorry.."

"We can surely ask the lad out in field to retrieve a sample of the toxin." The Prince suggested

"Yes but that still wouldn't eliminate the time necessary for the synthesization phase, even if I were to skip the testing phase." Cas responded

"Well it's not as if we have any better options on the table lass."

"Or maybe there's another way." I opened

"You have an idea?" questioned the Prince

"It's more of just a hunch, but they've never been wrong."

"Well get on with it then. What is it?"

"Shante." I stated

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shante questioned

"It's the same reason I gave you the name Radical."

"Surely you jest." The Prince said, "What relevance is such an unsuitable name?"

"Just hold on." I told him, "While we were in your mind, Shante, when you made that final clash, there emanated bright blue energy from the point of impact."

"And?"

"Upon closer inspection of her lightning, the sparks given off by her streak reminded me of a concept I learned in class a year ago."

"Radicals." Cas stated

"Mhm. Now I'm not a science freak like you guys, but I believe the sparks created by her streak to be her energy radicalizing the particles in the air around her."

"You could be onto something Kyle, though there's no way to prove it at the moment."

"Well it's a do or die. The risk has to be taken. So Shante, will you do it?"

"I didn't even understand any of that sciencey stuff you guys said." She answered

"Damnit." I mumbled, "A radical atom is the name of an atom with an unpaired electron. It's as simple as that. Though certain charged radicals can have interesting reactions."

"And if she were to infuse the radicalized energy into his body," the Prince continued, "then by right it should spread throughout his cells bonding with the charges in them. And the additional electrons would function as antibodies against the toxin."

"Now I'm just even more confused than before." She mumbled, scratching her head

"You guys are wasting time." Cassandra pointed out, "The toxin's shutting down his organs."

"Well it's now or never. Shante?" I prompted

"I'll do whatever it takes." She affirmed

"Well then get over here." Cas hasted, "The optimal area to apply the energy would be his chest."

After detaching his emblem, Cassandra used one of her incision tools to tear the center of the suit, then ripped it open.

"What a waste of a good suit.." She mumbled

"What do I do now?" Shante questioned

"Vibrate your arm and channel the energy into your palm, then place it onto his chest." Cas instructed, "And please try to be moderate; we're not trying to kill him ourselves."

"I'll try.."

After seeing her fearful hesitation, I gently placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," I said softly, "I know you can do it."

She looked me in the eyes, then firmly nodded.

She followed as instructed, vibrating her hand and channeling the generated energy. Putting full faith in our plan, she raised her hand in the air, then slammed her palm onto his chest. Seeing Romaine's body fidget while he was being shocked with the light blue energy all over him looked a bit painful to be honest. Then in the end he desperately exhaled, as if his lungs had forcefully emptied themselves.

"Is he.. ok?" Shante questioned

Looking at her tablet, Cas gave us the diagnosis.

"His body's free of the toxin, but he'll need to recover from the sustained damage."

"Great job everyone." I relieved, "We did it."

"And I should commend you Kyle," said Cas "for being able to identify her energy's property."

"Oh that was nothing." I responded, "All I did was pay attention in chemistry class."

"I have the strong feeling that we're forgetting about something." commented the Prince

After a couple seconds of pondering, Cas finally realized the answer.

"Dondre!" She blurted, running out of the room

The rest of us paraded behind her into the monitor room.

"Dondre." Cas called over the comms, "What's your current status with those two?"

-"And here I was thinking that you guys had forgotten about me."- He answered

"We had more important things to deal with. Now can you handle those two or not?"

-"Yeah yeah. I can take 'em on my own. Focus on something else will ya."-

"You're all annoying.." She mumbled to herself