"How is she?" Revi asked as soon as a woman stepped out of an operating room.
"She's stable, Empress," the doctor replied, causing everyone to sigh.
Upon her arrival at the hospital, Revi had handed Lorelie over to the staff before ordering them to do everything in their power to save her.
Luckily, the planet's best doctor worked at this hospital and happened to be on duty, allowing her to rush over in order to perform emergency surgery.
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Thank goodness she's ok.]
[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): I was so worried.]
[Beczontop (Imperial Down): Don't worry us so much.]
"Can we see her?" Adam asked in concern.
"Although she is stable, she is still recovering, so no one is to visit her for at least the next twelve hours," the doctor replied sternly.
[Justiceistruth (Earth): Damn doctors are the same all over the universe, it seems.]
"Shouldn't she be in a medical pod by now?" Revi asked with a frown before adding, "What's wrong with letting us see her?"
"Empress," The doctor replied in a stern tone before saying seriously, "You may rule the majority of our galaxy, but here, in this hospital, my word is law, and if you want to give Diva Lorelie the best possible chance of recovery, then you will do as I say."
"Yes, ma'am," Revi replied meekly, causing everyone except Elemence to show surprised looks.
"Good girl," the doctor said as she patted Revi's hair before heading back towards the
operating room while saying, "I need to head back and keep an eye on her. I'll let you know if there are any changes."
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Whoa, she's like a totally domesticated empress. Kekeke.]
"At least she's in a stable condition and no longer critical," Eri said in a relieved tone.
"That's true," Adam replied while not taking his eyes off the doors the doctor had just passed through.
"I will inform Stacey and the others; they have been messaging me for updates nonstop," Tephe said before she quickly began to play with her uniband.
"You were suspiciously obedient towards that doctor, Revi," Emma remarked as she tried to alleviate some of the tension by changing the subject.
"That's Doctor Aurora, she's been my family doctor ever since before I was born," Revi replied.
[LadyErkath (Alastor): Maybe she's the closest thing Empress Revi has to a mother now and that's why she's so obedient to her.]
"You mean she's the imperial physician?" Emma asked in surprise.
"I suppose you could say that, but since I'm the only member of the imperial family left, she now spends most of her time working in this hospital," Revi replied.
Suddenly, the stern voice of Elemence, who was a short distance away and was on a holocall, caught their attention and caused them to all look over.
"This should never have happened in the first place. Even if the assassin wasn't aiming for Revi, they should never have been allowed to get that close.
You all fucked up big time, don't even think you're getting paid this month. Also, once this situation is resolved, you're all going through hellish training."
"Yes, ma'am," several voices replied, indicating that Elemence was actually on a group call.
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): She's really laying into them. Kekeke.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Well, she's right, they fucked up.]
"Have you even managed to identify who the assassin is?" Elemence asked.
"We just identified the one responsible and are sending the data through now," One of the voices replied before a holographic screen showing an individual's photo and data appeared above Elemence's uniband.
[[Name:Beam Onyx]]
[[Age: 26 (1) (Universal Calendar)]]
[[YOB: 3220 (Universal Calendar)]]
[[Race: Phoenix (100%)]]
[[Species:Phoenix]]
[[Home Planet: Fenix Nest (Ashes Galaxy)]]
[[Birth Planet: Fenix Nest (Ashes Galaxy)]]
[[Registered Ship: N/A]]
[[Convictions: Petty Theft]]
[[Mercenary Hall Rank: None]]
[[Bounty Hunter Guild Rank: None]]
[[Additional Information: Employee at the Fenix Nest branch of the USNN. Reports suggested he is an avid Diva Lorelie fan.]]
"Why would one of her fans stab her?" Tephe asked in confusion as she read the report with the others.
"He could be an obsessive stalker fan," Eri suggested.
"Obsessive stalker fan? Tephe repeated in confusion.
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Ugh 😒. They're always a pain when I do some bodyguard work for celebrities.]
"They are one of the most dangerous kinds of fans a celebrity can get. They go out of their way to stalk their favourite celebrity and obsess over them, some even go so far as to kill the celebrity they obsess over," Eri explained.
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): They must be describing Celebrityhunter69. Kekeke.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Fuck you. 🖕]
"That doesn't make any sense," Tephe replied as her confusion increased.
"Agreed, perhaps only they understand why they do what they do," Eri replied while shrugging.
"Why does his age have a one in brackets?" Adam asked.
"It's to show that this is his first life; if it were me, for example, it would show a twelve," Revi explained.
"Is that everything you found?" Elemence asked with a frown.
"Unfortunately," the voice replied before continuing. "What we did find points to the individual being a Diva Lorelie fan as he has made several comments on Xer-verse posts about her; however, we can hardly find any photos of Diva Lorelie on any of his public profiles."
"That's odd, a fan would normally go out of their way to collect photos, videos and memorabilia of their favourite celebrity, especially if they're a fanatic about them," Elemence remarked with a frown before ordering, "Send a team to his home address and conduct a full search."
"Ma'am," the voice replied.
"Spector, search the Universal Subspace Network for this Beam Onyx and his connection with Lorelie," Adam instructed in a cold voice as he burned the image of this man into his mind.
[Affirmative.] Spector replied.
"Adam, Stacey wants you to call her. She says she has information on the people behind this," Tephe suddenly interjected.
Adam nodded before using his uniband to call Stacey.
"Babe, how's Lorelie?" Stacey immediately asked as the call connected and a holographic screen showing her, Rowena and Aphrodite appeared above Adam's uniband.
"She's stable and recovering," Adam replied.
"That's good," Stacey said in relief.
Tephe nodded in understanding as Adam asked, "Tephe mentioned you have information about who is behind Lorelie's attack?"
"That bitch Drotas ordered the hit, likely out of spite at Lorelie's success after leaving her entertainment company," Stacey replied.
[OfficialKasumi (Aqua Primus): Why am I not surprised that it's her who's behind this? 😮💨]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): So she still hasn't given up on getting rid of Diva Lroelie.]
"Damn it," Adam cursed before adding, "I should have known she wouldn't let Lorelie off so easily after she tried to eliminate her before. I messed up."
"Drotas isn't the main concern, we can deal with her later, so don't beat yourself up over this, babe," Rowena said with a small smile before her face turned into a frown and she said, "It's the organisation she hired to do the hit that's the problem, they're the same organisation that just attacked the Imperial Down."
"Seriously?" Adam asked in surprise.
[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): What? 😲]
[Beczontop (Imperial Down): 😲]
[Emojisonly (Earth): 😲]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): What on Aaru is this organisation and how haven't we heard of them before?]
"You mean the same people and organisation that have been behind the recent incidents in the Sandanar Galaxy have somehow also managed to infiltrate my Galaxy?" Revi asked angrily.
"That's surprising and disturbing," Elemence remarked with a frown before adding, "If this is true, then it's likely they have managed to infiltrate every galaxy between Sectors Eight and Sixteen."
"How did you come by this information?" Revi asked.
"Astarte gave it to us," Aphrodite replied.
"The Avaricious?" Revi and Elemence asked in concern before Elemence added, "Why would she give this information away? That's not her style."
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): They actually got something for free from the Avaricious?]
"It is when she wants to build closer ties with someone," Aphrodite replied before looking at Adam and saying, "Astarte wants a face-to-face meeting with you."
[LadyErkath (Alastor): That's concerning.]
"Yeah, like that's going to happen," Revi scoffed.
[Beczontop (Imperial Down): You tell her, Phoenix Empress.]
"Unfortunately, we don't have a choice but to let it happen," Rowena said with a sigh.
"Why?" Revi asked.
Instead of answering, Rowena asked, "Is there anyone who can overhear our conversation?"
"Spector, mute audio," Adam instructed as Revi looked at Elemence, who nodded before muting the group call she was still on, after which Revi said, "It's safe."
[Affirmative.]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): For fuck's sake, this again?]
"She knows about Adam time-travelling," Rowena said with another sigh.
"WHAT!" They all said in shock before Tephe asked, "How?"
"Aparently one of the Universal Senators who recently visited Universal Pleasure has loose lips," Aphrodite said in exasperation.
"Fuck, Vu better not have done anything stupid," Revi cursed.