Underlings (Not being updated at this time)

Underlings - 18. Talkshow

Karl was sitting in the departure lounge at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4, eating pistachios and drinking a pint of The Dog's Bollocks pale ale. 

Bainbridge, who'd been about to sack him without company benefits, had performed a major U-turn just hours after he submitted his report on a drug he called Dust.

Bainbridge had provided no further information and seemed annoyed that Karl had her escaped punishment, for now.

Nothing could change the fact that Huxley lay dead and it plagued Karl, for once. How many people had he killed since the age of seventeen? He took a swig of his ale and pictured the well-earned toilet stink of retribution that awaited him still, somewhere to stage left. There was always an under-study in this business. It would simply be a case of him serving his purpose before a button was pressed somewhere to signal the end for Karl, finally.

Karl's passport rested on the bar with his ticket. Bainbridge had handed him both. A Chinese visa that Karl had never applied for was stuck to one of the pages. He could only imagine how she'd managed that in an hour. Something about his report had struck a massive chord with someone and they wanted him to go to Shanghai.

Karl was intrigued. He checked his watch and remembered who bought it for him on his birthday, five years previous.

The man next to Karl was reading a tabloid paper with a version of the same headline Karl had seen all day. "Masked Man Threatens World - Spoof or Truth?" The News channels had streamed it constantly since it was first aired. There were already hundreds of comedy versions of the video being uploaded virally and circulated throughout the worldwide web. In a week of zero celebrity births, deaths, or marriages, there was little else to report and sensationalise. The timing had been perfect from a marketing perspective. Karl would've pinned this on an advertising firm for sure, had he not fought with a man just hours previous wearing a mask identical to the one on the front of the newspaper.

Karl didn't just keep an open mind. He was starting to worry, but to anyone sitting the bar looking at him, they would've just seen a man eating pistachios, drinking The Dog's Bollocks.

One of the televisions in the bar displayed the opening credits of Zander Marshall's talk show; retired shock jock, Zander was back in public favour following a successful year as a judge on a TV talent show.

Zander spoke to the audience about the news headlines and showed a clip of someone dressed as Darth Vader, impersonating Kree, threatening to take over the world. The audience loved it and cheered as he started asking members of the audience if any of them were secretly Kree, The audience had props under their chairs and when the camera panned back to them, they were all wearing Kree masks.

The bar man shook his head and the man with the tabloid laughed louder than he needed to.

A lady ran over to the barman, waving her hands wildly at one of the other screens.

"Turn up the news! Quick!" A silent news report streamed continuously at the airport. The newsreader's face was deeply solemn and her lips moved without sound until the barman found the correct remote control.

"...trying to understand exactly what happened today and who is behind it. The authorities are looking for this man, who is aged around fifty five years old and spoke to the President and Prime Minister before they...excuse me...before..." 

A grainy image filled the screen, with a circle around  a man dressed like a Hell's Angel. Text ran below the image "World Stunned by Niagara Deaths...Kree Threat Real?" before a clip was shown, taken from a bystander's smart phone.

Everyone in the bar fell silent and stared at the screen as it showed the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the USA, walking together beside Niagara Falls, shaking hands with bystanders before making a joint speech. A man in the crowd, the biker from the grainy image shown previously, was seen approaching the leaders and speaking to them.

The leaders listened, their expressions seemed to fade on the screen; they no longer beamed their media grins. They looked serious. The crowd in the bar watched intently as the Newsreader warned that the next clip was shocking... the video continued and the leaders looked at each other, peered into the cameras with blank expressions, then leapt over the barriers into the waterfall to their deaths.

The crowd on the television screen screamed and several in the bar watching the footage joined them.

"...not clear exactly what was said. There are varying accounts from the bystanders that have been questioned, but what several sources are all saying is that the exchange between the Prime Minister, the President and the man that the authorities are looking for, included references to Kree - the man who broadcast a threat to the world yesterday. Terms like mind-control and brainwashing have been banded about already on social networking sites. We simply do not know any more at this time, but the person that calls himself Kree is being sought globally as a matter of urgency..."

The lady who had asked for the sound to be turned up was wiping tears from her eyes and the man with the tabloid had left the bar. Others stood dumbstruck at what they'd just seen.

Karl's phone rang. It was Landry's number and it hadn't rung his phone in a long time.

"You're going to ask if I'm watching it. I'm watching it."

"I got your report on the drugs in London. It was my team who asked for you to come to China."

"There was me thinking my luck was in... Bainbridge kept the details out of it. I've fucked up."

"I heard. It's what you do Karl, you fuck things up. Listen, there is a change of plan. I don't want you to get on the plane. I want you in the UK, but away from the city. Something's not right. Head to our old place at the Lakes. There's a comms set up there and I'll contact you on that. I'm relocating my team here."

"Still living by your gut feeling?"

"It serves me well. It was right about you."

"Ouch."

"I'm over it. I get laid by better and younger now Karl and they don't treat me like a moron. You'll be met outside the terminal. Take the car. Keep away from Bainbridge. She wants your cock and balls and not in the way you'd like. You're finished as far as she's concerned. If you're not on the plane and you're within her reach, you might go AWOL."

"I was going to make myself go AWOL in truth. She's not very subtle."

"Stop talking Karl. Get out of London."

Landry hung up on her husband. Karl smiled, finished his ale and left the bar. Part of him wanted to see China, the rest of him, as usual, didn't give a fuck.