Teen fans at Tash Turnt's concert in Megalo Mesembria
Tash Turnt's rise to fame had been meteoric. Before he had been discovered, he had mostly been uploading videos to his moderately popular Flide account, the Hayabusan social media and photography sharing site. Scouted in early 2015, he had skyrocketed to fame with his boy-next-door looks and socially-palatable amounts of 'edge', both domestically and abroad. This was his first international tour, and he had already stopped at a half-dozen countries before arriving in Flardania. Now, in front of a packed audience of Kirishinans and international fans, he was performing his latest 'hit', "Bae why you play me like that".
Baby, all I wanna do is hold ya
Didn't mean ta hurt ya
She didn't mean nothing to me
This aint how I do, but it be
I like the way yo body move
Missin you miss my groove
Light me up I'm on fire
Don't cut our special wire
Didn't mean ta hurt ya
She didn't mean nothing to me
This aint how I do, but it be
I like the way yo body move
Missin you miss my groove
Light me up I'm on fire
Don't cut our special wire
As the random assortment of words that had been labelled 'lyrics' echoed through the giant arena, accompanied by the sound of teenage screams and heavily distorted backing tracks, Charles Afolayan leaned back and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. His crimson SpearCorp uniform stuck out like a sore thumb - he was officially there to supervise the rest of the 'security' team, who in reality consisted of a gaggle of thugs, roughs, and industry-thrusters looking for a quick buck, their next fix, or a chance at a musical career of their own.
Charles, however, was secretly a member of the Brytisc police force, a Detective Inspector working undercover on Tash Turnt's retinue. Rumour had it that Turnt had become involved in some shady stuff - not just the run-of-the-mill drugs and partying, but rather serious financial investment and involvement with certain criminal organisations. Specifically, a Brytisc arms manufacturing corporation believed that Turnts large and sprawling retinue was acting as cover for industrial espionage, and so for the past six weeks Charles had been following the idiotic singer and his brash retinue from country to country, engaging in dull security matters and dealing with the occasional incident with fanatical fans. Turnt had made no secret of the fact that he resented having the SpearCorp man around, feeling the officious, military manner with which Charles approached security 'cramped his style', but pressure had been applied to Turnt's publicist to ensure Charles remained on the payroll, just as pressure had been applied to SpearCorp to make them go along with this scheme.
"Bae why you play me like that" came to a close, with rapturous applause, and Charles sighed. There were at least four more songs in this set, and Turnt would probably come back for an encore or two before the night was over...
Somewhere in Contwaraburg
"Of course, my friend" said the caller, his tone smug "A walk in the park. We really should look into improving their security. No, everyone at the facility is quite alive and healthy, but I hear their security system might need some repairs...yes, our young friend has his duty-free. I believe he's due to visit our mutual acquaintances any day now. Of course. Yes. Ah, how kind of you to remember - yes, I'll certainly put it to good use. Well if our business is concluded, I will leave you to reap the benefits. If our friends do produce that product they were so eager for, put me on the mailing list - I wouldn't mind one of my own!"
With that, the caller hung up. His part in the affair was already over, but he had a feeling it was not the last he'd hear of this. Regardless, the money was inbound to one of his offshore accounts and he was happy. Pouring himself a glass of cognac, he leaned back and reached for the remote, planning to relax with some Netflix for the rest of the evening.
He should have known, but he didn't even spot the man perched above the skylight across the block from him. He had even left the window open, and when the police found his body in the morning, surrounded by pills and dead from respiratory failure, they chalked it up as just another fatcat who couldn't handle his narcotics.
Megalo Mesembria, Kirishima
Halfway through 'Snap me back bitch', there was shouting from the foot of the stage as a gushing fan climbed over the barricade, her brightly-painted fingernails clawing for Tash's ankle. The girl couldn't've been more than 15, but two of Turnt's 'crew' shoved her back roughly, sending her flying over the steel railings to land with a sickening thud on the other side.
Charles stood up, immediately alert, and leapt to the foot of the stage to cross over to the incident. As he approached, he could hear angry shouts from the crowd. Someone cried out that the girl's wrist was broken, and his coppers' instincts told Charles the crowd's mood was turning quickly. A bottle was hurled at the security staff, accompanied by shouts and jeers, and suddenly the audience was a writhing mass as a group of people near the injured fan began hurling abuse and solid objects at the staff, whilst others joined in or else streamed the images, yet more struggling to get away from the unrest.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charles saw 'Tiny Terry', a six-foot-six behemoth loaded up on gym memberships and yankees merchandise, reaching into the waistband of his shorts. Charles had never liked Terry, primarily because Charles was a real Yankees fan, but he was too far away to do anything as Terry drew a pistol and fired a shot into the air.
"Jesus Harold Christ," Charles swore to himself, veering towards Terry. The big man saw him coming, but Charles cracked a palm into the man's elbow at the same time as grabbing his wrist, twisting the pistol out of Terry's hand before shoving him towards the wings. He shouted towards Turnt's producer, calling for him to get Turnt offstage and start clearing out the audience, but he knew that within minutes the Flardanian police would arrive - Flardania had solid gun control laws, and he was almost certain Terry's firearm was illegal. Certainly breaking a minor's wrist and firing a gun in the air was against the law...
