Falling Under The Stars

The room was filled with silence.

Lance looked around, surprised at the green landscape.

This wasn't what he had expected to see…

Wasn't it supposed to be panicking terrorists wildly waving their weapons around? Why was everyone and everything in sight covered by five to six inches of green slime-like substance? And no one was struggling?

It was just plain stillness?

What was this sorcery?

Okay, no. What was this green slime? Shouldn't everyone be struggling even if they were covered with something? How were they able to breathe?

It wasn't just that though, just before the EMP blast took out all electronics (and lights) of the mansion, the last visual from the surveillance drone showed that everyone was able to move and talk (albeit staying silent under the threats of the terrorists,). However, now they all were as quiet and still as if they were all corpses.

Did the EMP set off some sort of bomb that turned the people in the room to statues?

Was everyone dead?

This could not do, though. Most of the people in this room were the elites of the Empire, and he could not have them dead or dying due to his order to set off that EMP.

Just to be safe, he had the drone scan the entire mansion, identifying where each and every person was located, and the amount of slime that was covering everyone.

Evidence, paperwork, and the level of slime that was covering everyone was significant! They could possibly find out the location of where the greenish liquid originated from.

Making his way through the liquid that had pooled on the ground, he reached the body located the closest to him.

Taking a sample of the slime on the body, he placed it on his handheld scanner, letting it analyse the properties of the slime while he checked the person next to him.

"Sir Lance! Everyone here is alive! All scans indicate that everyone in this room has a heartbeat!"

Nodding, he removed his gloves and took the pulse of the guy lying on the ground. It was faint, but still there.

Relaying orders to his men to start the extraction of the hostages, he had them pay attention more attention to anyone with a weapon. Those that had any were to be secured until their identity was confirmed.

Everyone would be conveyed to the same hospital for treatment.

Feeling a slight tingle in his fingers, Lance looked at his hand. The green liquid which used to be coating his hand was now just a thin film. Was it being absorbed into his skin? And he was feeling numbness at his fingertips? Did this slime have paralytic properties?

Quickly informing everyone to make sure to don their protective gear during the extraction and that the slime may have harmful properties, he collected more to be analysed further at the lab.

Hearing a notification, he looked at his comms.

The slime was reported to be a liquid produced by a healing/defensive type hybrid power that had both healing and paralytic properties.

That was good. There wouldn't be any lasting effects, would there?

Activating his fusion and absorption abilities, Lance wriggled his fingers as feeling returned to his fingertips.

This was weird. There was no way for any of the hostages to utilise their abilities as the terrorists had drugged everyone who attended the party.

Initial tests of the food and reports that had been sent out had led to the conclusion that the food was laced with one of the few abilities neutralising substances. There should not be anyone who could have done this from the guest list.

And no terrorists would be stupid enough to release this sort of power on their own cohorts, would they? They should not do anything as silly as sealing their own people in such a situation where they would be trying to negotiate their way out or cause more destruction.

Well, the Tomorrow Project might be stupid enough…

Hopefully, that is.

Regardless, this had to be investigated. If this power came from their own, it would be good for the Empire, but if it was a product of the Projects, this could be disastrous for the Empire.

A little more inspection couldn't hurt, Lance relayed his orders for a stricter watch on all of the suspected terrorists.

He couldn't have any of them slipping away due to a mistaken identity. They all had to be captured and interrogated.

He remembered that kid who used to play pranks on him with her brothers. That smile, that sense of humour… The pranks he had to help clean up after, the trouble he had to right…

He missed all of it…

She was a little ray of sunshine, and all that was left after that blast was a troubled pair of twins and unsmiling neighbours. And all that disappeared the day that blast happened.

He had watched as the twins grew up to be upstanding young men, who had "parties" in the hospital every year.

He had watched as the Ngs kept to themselves more, and stopped going to parties or hanging out with his parents. Their influence was seemingly waning as time passed by.

Then she woke up and they seemed to be doing better. Then he was contacted about training for unusual abilities…

But this though, was she the target of this attack?

Or was it the many guests of the Ngs?

Were they the officials present at the party?

The future leaders of the Empire present and mingling around?

He had to find out who and what they wanted from this attack. The Tomorrow Project was always irritatingly focused on their targets and went after them over and over again, until they captured their targets or killed them.

Lance looked around at the mess and sighed.

All that red tape would be a bitch to deal with. And they still needed to figure out where that green slime came from.

More work to complete. How fun.