“So, you have something for us?” asked the man as he adjusted his tie. The whole room was staring a hole into Key. They could feel the hate and disgust radiating off every single member of the board.
“That I do!” smiled Key as they forced a smile and pressed a button on their projector. “So, I know you’ve all been following the news, but let me catch everyone up just in case.”
A series of newspaper clippings appeared on the screen, each showing pictures of recent crimes. “They call themselves The Kudos. They’re an Internet-based vigilante group. They take their name from the reward system that the site they were founded on used. From there, they did the usual troll stuff, breaking into social media accounts, defacing sites, spreading fake tweets. The usual.”
“Right, but no one cares about nerds,” interrupted one of the men around the table. Key felt a sarcastic urge rise inside them, but they pressed it down. They needed to keep these people onside.
“Of course,” chuckled Key. “But we know what they’ve become. From a simple website, they’ve spread out. They’ve formed a little vigilante collective that is currently on a rather unique crimewave.”
“Yeah, assholes tanked my stock,” grumped another voice from the table as Key rolled their eyes and clicked through some more slides, all of them showing more news clippings about the gang.
“So, they’re using methods no one saw coming. From messing with markets to canny buy-offs and some old fashioned physical chaos, they’re running rampant and no one is sure how to stop them. Especially as they can’t track them down.” continued Key.
“Right, right.” The man at the head of the table nodded along. “So, where do we come into this?”
“Well, you know true crime is in right now. Across most demographics, it’s doing boffo business. We know that things based on viral trends hit well, so why not combine them?” Key looked to the man with a grin.
The man only raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” Asked the man.
“A docu-drama based on The Kudos and their crimewave,” proposed Key as they leaned up against the wall of the room and looked around the table. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds as everyone pondered. The man at the head of the table pressed his fingers together into a pyramid, mumbling softly to himself as he did.
After a few minutes of silence, he looked at Key and nodded. “I see. It is an interesting premise. Though, I see some holes in it.”
“Oh?” asked Key, trying to play coy. “Well, I would be happy to answer questions.”
“How can we write about them if we don’t know who they are?” interjected one man, barely hiding his annoyance.
“To quote a member of your team: No one cares about nerds. We’ll have to make fictional characters, but at least that lets us make them interesting. And, I think this story would be best told through the eyes of an average internet dweeb getting sucked into The Kudos.”
“Right,” nodded another man.
“But,” interjected the man at the head of the table. “By the time we get this written and filmed, the fad will be over. You think a lot of nerds will hold the public’s attention when they’re in federal jail?”
“Wait?” Key chuckled, “Who said we had to wait?” They reached under the table and pulled out several scripts before throwing them to different sides of the table. “It’s already written.”
“But, isn’t the event still ongoing?” mumbled several voices from around the table.
“So?” giggled Key. “Look, we all know how this ends, don’t we? They’re not going to go on the run forever. They’ll likely try a big job and fail horribly.”
“Right,” nodded the man at the top of the table.
“And hey, we need to sex it up anyway, so why not make a hot ending? Not like the audience wants to sit through several hours of realistic court processes. Am I right?” Key’s voice became louder and more enthusiastic with every word.
“Right!” nodded several of the executives, obviously getting swept up in Key’s enthusiasm.
“And, hey! If you pick it up, I’ll be able to rewrite it to fit any major changes,” offered Key as they watched the executive flip through the script.
“So, a big job you think?” he asked firmly. “How sure are you?”
“Pretty sure. Look at previous versions of this kind of thing. Small group, get some fame, goes to their heads. And getting cocky, they go full Hollywood and pull off the job of a lifetime. Of course, they lack the skill and get arrested. Then it’s just a case of who will squeal first.” As Key spoke, more of the men around the table started to nod.
“Right,” sighed the man as he put the script down on the table. “I think you make a compelling argument.” He looked around the room. “I think we might be able to come to a deal.”
“Fantastic,” replied Key as they walked around the table and firmly grasped the man by the hand with a smile. “We’re going to create something great together.”
After several hours of contract signings and handshaking, Key skipped back to their apartment, their whole body overflowing with joy. As they pushed the key into the lock, they heard movement on the other side of the door.
“It’s fine. It’s me.” They giggled as they opened the door and saw several heads poking out from a hiding place behind a bookcase.
“How did it go?” asked one voice as Key walked in and flopped onto the couch.
“They bought it. Hook, line, and sinker!” Key cackled as the group came out of the hiding place and started to cheer.
“Nice one!” laughed one as they hugged Key tightly. “Are they paying?”
“Handsomely!” replied Key. “Enough upfront to fund the job. And, of course, the extra we’ll get for the rewrite when we pull the job off!”
“Great,” giggled another one of the members as they hung a board up on the wall.
“You think we can do it?” asked a few of the others as Key walked up to the board and tapped on a red circle.
Key grinned. “Knocking over the exchange? Oh yeah. It’s ours. But we need to make it flashy, give them some drama.”
“Because more drama means more money!” cheered the group as they started to gather their things and pull on some masks, all while Key chuckled softly to themselves.
Jonathon Greenall is a freelance writer, artist, and tabletop roleplaying game designer who has written for CBR, Polygon, Nintendo Life, Gayley Dreadful, Enbylife, and many other publications. They have also published several popular and highly-praised tabletop roleplaying games including “You Have One Ability….The Ability To Fuck This Up,” “Macarons, Milkshakes, And Magic,” and “Wander Wizards.”
Jonathon has always been fascinated by media, from the big hitters to the small, obscure, and often overlooked titles that linger on the sidelines, capturing both the on and off-camera stories that make these shows so fascinating.
Jonathon is also a major anime fan, having been exposed to the medium through shows like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Since then, Jonathon has maintained a passion for anime, watching most new shows each season and hunting down overlooked gems from previous ones.