The cameras cut back to Freddy who was red with rage, debating with his assistant.
‘–I don’t fucking care what it takes! Just–oh!’
He chuckled unconvincingly, restoring normality and held the camera’s gaze.
‘Right, well,’ he began, just as Rambozo, Emelda, Marcus and Daisy entered the fray.
‘McWarickson,’ bellowed Rambozo pointing. ‘I want a word with you!’
The studio audience were stunned and silent. This was quite literally the truth; the training mechanisms, which had been used to educate them on correct and incorrect responses to Freddy’s direction, had malfunctioned as a result of the initial stages of the assault and the punish setting had remained on for slightly longer than was recommended by the manufacturers.
As the first of the audience began to stir from the electrically-induced slumber, they witnessed Pope Perilous the fourth being spun around by one leg by The Great Rambozo.
* * *
‘This is what you get,’ said Rambozo, surprisingly lucid on the seventeenth spin, and above the doppler-effect of Freddy’s screams, ‘for taking advantage of people, you arrogant little creep!’
Freddy became airborne and spun in mid-air, crashing headlong into his tacky-gold and jewel encased plywood throne.
He stood, fell over a couple of times, then steadied himself against his assistant, while slowly unwinding on his feet.
‘Guards!’ he yelled, then fell over, evacuating the contents of his stomach on the red velvet carpet that led up to the now smashed throne.
Colonel Panix, who everyone seemed to have forgotten, stepped up, and kicked Freddy where it hurt. It took a while to achieve the pain-levels he was after. Then he leaned down and removed Freddy’s ring from his finger and placed it over one of his own.
The Assistant rushed up, looked at Panix, then at the figure of Freddy McWarickson, beginning to stir from his pain, then back to Panix. He knelt and averted his eyes.
‘My Lord,’ he said in a respectful tone.
* * *
‘Pull-back’s an idea,’ said the leader of the Elvis Air Services team with a quite fine imitation of the Elvis drawl. His eyes were obscured by large jeweled sunglasses. ‘We can take them but it’s not worth it.’
‘Uh-huh,’ said Elvis.
Elvis and the others left the building…
* * *
