Medical Center.
Operating Room 2.
Everyone fell silent, overwhelmed by the sheer dominance of Adam's money-powered gear.
"Alright, as long as the suit works, let's get our focus back on the surgery," Chief of Surgery Richard cut in, clearly not a fan of the awkward vibe. "We're doctors, not astronauts, after all!"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
But deep down, they couldn't help but think, "Even astronauts probably couldn't afford a custom piece like that." 😅
Richard could tell what was on their minds—he was itching to say it himself. But they all shifted their attention back to the surgery, not daring (or wanting) to bring up the topic dripping with Versailles-level flexing again.
"Dr. Burke, you've been in here for 28 minutes. Time to head out," Adam said during a critical moment in the surgery, pausing to remind Burke, who'd lost track of time in the zone.
"Already?" Burke blinked, surprised.
"Yup," Adam nodded. "I've been keeping track."
"Preston, come on out," Richard directed, snapping into action. "Derek, get ready to step in."
"Got it!" Dr. Shepherd, already half-suited up in the bulky ortho hazmat gear, nodded to the nurse helping him. "Let's finish suiting up."
These ortho suits only had 30 minutes of oxygen once fully sealed. Go over that, and you'd suffocate and pass out. So they couldn't fully suit up until the last second before going in.
Burke didn't argue. As soon as he stepped out of work mode, he noticed his breathing getting labored—a telltale sign of low oxygen.
"Let's keep going," Adam said with a smile as Burke exited and Shepherd took his place as first assistant. "The patient's intestines are completely swollen. We've gotta squeeze out the excess fluid, or we won't be able to reposition them properly."
"Got it," Shepherd replied.
As the head of neurosurgery, he was no stranger to cardiothoracic procedures. In a pinch, he could even take the lead on a surgery like this. But unlike Adam—who seemed hell-bent on mastering every specialty—Shepherd usually stuck to his lane outside of neurosurgery.
Of course, if the situation called for it, he wasn't above showing off his skills a bit. 😎
In less than 30 minutes, Adam reminded Shepherd to step out, and Burke—now with a fresh battery in his suit—came back in to assist.
And so it went: Adam leading the surgery, with Burke and Shepherd rotating as first assistants. Eight grueling hours later, they finally wrapped it up.
"Great job!" Richard clapped, beaming with approval.
The other doctors chimed in with their praise.
---
After the Surgery
As soon as it was over, Cristina and the others swarmed Adam.
"Holy crap, Adam, when did you even get this thing made?!" They gathered around the freshly sanitized hazmat suit, poking and prodding at it, their mouths dropping with every new detail.
"Had it custom-made on my first day as an intern," Adam said with a grin. "Back then, I didn't think about renting an office here at the hospital, so I kept it at my apartment. Now that I've got an office, I just store it here. Way more convenient."
"How much did this even cost?" Cristina pressed, clearly intrigued.
She could see the perks of a suit like this. But she didn't need anything as over-the-top as Adam's 72-hour model—just something with the standard 8 hours like a typical spacesuit would do. She wouldn't last much longer than that anyway.
Adam casually tossed out a number.
"…"
Even Cristina, who came from a pretty well-off family, immediately gave up on the idea.
Medicine was her passion and all, but there was still a cost-benefit ratio to think about. Sure, she didn't care how much she made as a doctor, but she wasn't about to spend her entire career's earnings on a single hazmat suit—especially one she'd probably only use for a handful of surgeries.
"Damn, this thing's heavy!" Cristina grunted, trying to lift the suit. After a lot of effort, she barely managed to budge it an inch.
"Well, that's one way to make sure no one steals it," Meredith quipped.
Adam just smiled, keeping quiet.
Even if someone wanted to steal it, they'd have a tough time. But he wasn't taking any chances—the suit was stored in a specialized safe, locked up tight. Because while stealing it might be tough, damaging it wasn't.
If something got broken, the suit would be half-useless until it was repaired. The repair costs? Not a big deal. What worried him was the timing.
He'd had this suit custom-made for moments exactly like this. If it broke down at a critical time, it'd be as good as trash—and that'd be 20 million bucks down the drain. Even for someone with money to burn, that wasn't how you played the game.
So, no opportunities for theft or sabotage. Period.
Thankfully, it all boiled down to the same simple truth: as long as you had cash, these kinds of problems sorted themselves out. And if money couldn't fix it? Just throw more at it! 💸
After seeing Cristina and the others off, Adam locked the suit back in its safe and left his office to check on the patient in the ICU.
The patient was undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy—basically dialysis—to flush out the unknown neurotoxin from her blood.
George O'Malley had only drawn the patient's blood, and Olivia had just handled the sample, yet both of them had gone down hard. Richard and his entire surgical team had been taken out during the surgery when they opened the patient's chest, exposing large amounts of blood and spiking the concentration of the neurovirus in the OR to insane levels.
As the saying goes: talking about toxicity without mentioning dosage is just nonsense! Same deal here.
Once the dialysis was done, the patient would be relatively safe for others to be around. After all, her boyfriend—who'd brought her in—had been fine since there hadn't been any major bleeding exposure at the time.
Figuring out what this unknown neurovirus actually was? That'd be a job for the researchers and their lab rats.
---
Later That Night
Adam got a call from Lily, telling him to meet at the Old Friends Bar—said she had some big news to share.
"What kinda big news?" Adam asked as he arrived, chatting with Matthew and the gang. But before they could spill the beans, a waitress brought over the beers they'd ordered, then handed Ted a bottle of water with a playful, teasing grin.
"Free water for you, Ted Mosby~ Don't wanna risk you getting dehydrated," she said with a wink.
"Hahaha!" Matthew and Lily burst out laughing.
Even Anna cracked a small smile.
Ted shot an embarrassed glance at his wife, then sighed and turned to the waitress. "Real funny, Wendy, but the clown's actually you—'cause now we all know you've been watching action flicks!"
"Huh?" Adam raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"
"Oh, you don't know yet," Lily said, barely holding back her giggles. "There's a breakout star in the action movie scene right now. Only been in the biz for three months, but already starred in 125 films—rave reviews too! Guess who it is?"
"Ted Mosby," Adam said with a knowing grin.
"Exactly!" Matthew roared with laughter. "Straight outta Shaker Heights, Ohio, it's Ted Mosby—an action movie legend who hit the ground running!"
"I'm gonna find this guy!" Ted groaned, clearly losing it. "Not only did he steal my name, but he also jacked my hometown. It's honestly kinda creepy."
In the States, having someone know your full real name, address, and other personal info could spell all kinds of trouble.
"Need a hand?" Adam offered with a chuckle.
"Nah," Ted shook his head. "There's an action movie expo in Manhattan tomorrow night—he's doing a signing there. I'm gonna go see who this joker is myself!"
"I can't believe there's actually an expo for that…" Lily's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"It's New York," Adam shrugged, unfazed. "Anything's possible."
"Matthew, why don't we go with Ted?" Lily suggested, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Sure, why not?" Matthew nodded.
"So, what's the deal?" Adam asked, grinning at Ted.
With a pained look on his face—and a lot of filling in from Matthew and Lily—Ted reluctantly shared the most embarrassing story ever.
---
(End of Chapter)