Gerhard opened his eyes to the sound of a deep, warm, buzz. It was the kind of buzz one doesn't really hear, but rather feels underneath the skin as one walks beneath an active power line. The buzz slowly wobbled, growing here stronger, then there weaker, until finally it faded, slowly, into nothingness. Then there was quiet.<br/><br/>He still lay on the operating table, albeit neither the doctor, nor his surgical assistants, were present within the confines of the room. He sat up and looked around his environment. Near the operating table was the terminal where the third, younger surgical assistant had been stationed. Next to the keyboard was a small plastic ashtray. The remains of a cigar stood upright within it, half buried in ash.<br/><br/>With a faint waft of smoke drifting upwards, and into the air.<br/><br/>To his right, at the base of the table, were his clothes, folded neatly in a pile. A letter was left on top of the pile, with the words "To: Mr. Surov From: Nurse Nanasawa". Gerhard gave a soft hum himself. His mind went over the previous events, but he found that he couldn't quite remember just when he had blacked out. Reaching up behind his neck, he felt a tender spot and quickly with drew his hand.<br/><br/>"Ouch." He was faintly sore. His bones felt heavy. But otherwise, Gerhard perhaps felt as one does after a long, refreshing night's sleep. Swinging his legs over the side of the table, a large grin burst out over his face. "I'm alive." he said, softly and with great relish. He redressed, and opened up the letter.<br/><br/>"To: Mr. Surov, From: Nurse Nanasawa, I'll just leave these here. Good luck on your mission (^_^)/" Were the letters written in a fresh cursive script. The ink was from one of those old fashioned gel pens from before the inundation. A small little cartoon character was drawn at the bottom edge of the paper. Gerhard let out his last chuckle, mingled with a great sigh of relief, and left the operating room to seek out the others.<br/><br/>He didn't have to go far. Dan was sleeping softly in the room next to his own, which meant that the other operating rooms were simply across the hall. Gerhard thus ducked into the first room on his right, only to find an empty operating table and some bloodied implements and bandages in the corner near the terminal. "Hm."<br/><br/>Gerhard then tried the second door to his right. He ducked swiftly underneath the thick carpet entrance, only to find Dr. Lucas Amato and Theadora, curled up together like two balls of yarn on the cold room floor. "Jesus Christ!" The expletive leapt from Gerhard's mouth without the slightest semblance of discretion, as so sudden was the image that he had no time to think about the word's effect.<br/><br/>"And I thought Mr. Zuine was bad. Is this a group of adventurers bent on retaking the great city? Or a quartet of horny hares? I mean, I guess I should have known, but I had no idea..." Gerhard continued, leaning his back up against the corner pvc tent pole within which they were situated. He had his arms crossed, and one boot up against the corner of the Terminal table desk.<br/><br/>Thea seemed almost immediately to react to Gerhard's words... but there was something hyper confused about her expression. The look on her face changed from confusion to... interesting--within a matter of seconds. The expression on the good docto'rs face, on the other hand...<br/><br/>was priceless.