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“It’s your job to set up these clues for the viewers.”
And that was the last thing his manager said to him before exiting the room. A new power was bestowed upon him. He was in charge of guiding the viewers to the prize. If he messed up and revealed it too soon, it could cost him his job; although, the people would be happy.
Extremely happy.
Tanner leaped into the adventure of writing hints for the audience. The hints were going to be based on a topic he really enjoyed. It was one where it involved critical thinking, which he loved as well.
He jotted down notes on the smooth, white, whiteboard behind him.
Podcast.
Movie.
Squadcast/Podcast.
Marvel (MCU).
He then flipped to a new page of his notebook, writing down any lines that came to his mind. His childhood desire of being a lyricist or writer came in handy for this.
At least he thought it would.
Crap.
His motivation and ideas swiftly left his mind. They were gone. He quickly scurried left and right, biting his nails while looking at the whiteboard for the notes he wrote down. Despite that, he had no idea what to write for a clue.
He took a deep breath. If I put down at least five words, I’ll come up with something, right?
“Look at your past, what can be seen…”
Scratch.
“There was an idea created just for you…”
Scratch.
“Find October. The month of wonders…”
Scribble.
Tanner tugged on the roots of his hair. All the lines he tried writing were crappy. It had to be related to Marvel and the squadcast. Why couldn’t he figure this out?
The sound of tearing of paper emitted in the room.
He looked up at his computer monitors. One of them showed an orange and black countdown timer days before the event was supposed to happen. He made sure that was set up correctly and still running. The other screen was dark, with text messages from a various amount of users.
v…: why tanner making ts so ominous
v…: @Tanner where this clue at king
f…: What if the shorts they’re releasing are clues
Tanner felt someone walk in front of his desk. The clicking of shoes on the ground made it obvious it wasn’t some regular staff member. It had to be a member that was exalted. It was the manager.
“Have you come up with a hint to send out?” The manager crossed his arms tightly. He tapped his foot on the ground lightly, creating a clacksound.
He looked the manager directly in the eyes, knowing he wasn’t ready for the response he was about to give. “No. It’s only been thirty minutes…”
“It’s been five hours,” the manager talked back at Tanner.
Tanner’s eye’s bulged in surprise. It had really been that long?
The boss continued, relaxing his arms and transferring the stiffness of the arms to his facial expression. “C’mon Mr. Voss, it’s five minutes till 5 p.m. The clue is supposed to come out basically now.”
Tanner and the boss sat there in uncomfortable silence, at least for Tanner. The manager was clearly frustrated, but he masked it well because he was generally a friendly dude who encouraged and supported his employees.
“I’m sorry sir. I couldn’t come up with anything on time.” Those words smoothly jumbled out of Tanner’s throat. He could believe that he had failed to meet a deadline. Crap, crap, crap! He’d lost track of time so easily. How has five hours slipped away so fast?
“I’ll come up with something tomorrow. Sorry again, sir.”
The manager smiled in a mix of glee and worry that Tanner would break the promise, then he left. Tanner eyes went back to the Discord server.
f…: TANNER is testing my patience.
He clicked one key on his keyboard three times and pressed enter.
Tanner: …
l…: TANNER
v…: TANNER BRO PLEASE
His fingers trembled as he struggled to type formally.
Tanner: No clue today, it’ll be up tomorrow at 5pm.
v…: oh my god
p…: THROW TOMATOES AT HIM
Tanner sighed at the hate replies he was getting. The team and the viewers did not deserve this. He has to at least send a little sneak peak.
He scrambled for his phone to take a picture of the script on his table that said “FULL SQUAD … Written by The Office Boys” then uploaded it to the server.
Tanner: Sent a picture.
Tanner: This is all I’m allowed to give. See you tomorrow.
l…: stop being nonchalant
v…: it’s in his job description
p…: THEY MADE A SHOW TOGETHER YAY
Tanner slumped back into his chair as he laughed at the server member freaking out about the small hint he gave. He finally felt forgiven and validated, at least from the viewers.
.
.
.
He was proud of the lines he managed to cook up today after getting to the office early. That way, he avoided losing track of time and disappointing everyone again. He held the notebook out in front of him.
“Start with the title, it’s not random. The answer isn’t at the beginning or the end. Look again in October… it shows up when you’re paying attention.”
He wasn’t proud of the lines he cooked up at first, but he remember his boss’ words.
“Wow, Tanner. This is genius! The fans will be in there seats rolling and searching for what the surprise will be.”
He faintly smiled while thinking about the manager’s remarks. He those the lines were crappy, but he kinda felt satisfied with himself.
“Make sure you keep the surprise as ominous as it can be. We don’t want to be spoiling the surprise on accident… you know what happened last time with Deny.”
Tanner relaxed his muscled and looked at the ideas people were thinking of in the server.
Tanner: I wanna see some answers to this riddle…
t…: Is full squad ending 🥀
m…: I think it’s like a new member!
t…: Imagine if they react to fanfics
p…: lasting you posted the photo that looked like a script. i saw the short form video on October 1st and they mentioned “movie” Coincidence or nah?
t…: a full squad movie would be amazing
He saw all the replies people sent. Some people were kinda on the right track, some were VERY off, which made him chuckle a bit. He cracked his finger knuckles and began typing.
Tanner: I love watching you all lose your minds. Very entertaining.
j…: oh man don’t do this “mysterious” shi on us again
Tanner: i’m working on tomorrows riddle right now *wink*
Tanner started searching up facts on his computer just to make sure his thoughts were correct. He wrote down notes on his notebook and started to concoct a poem/riddle for the fans to figure out.
.
.
.
“I’m not a scene you watch on screen, I live where music can be streamed. No theater light, no ticket line, just press play and you’ll be fine. A final fight, a broken sky, where hope returns and heroes rise. In Endgame’s score, I hide in view, but only for those who follow clues. Take the second hint, don't fall behind, then the 8th will help you find.”
This one was even better than the one he made up yesterday. It revealed more, but it was still tricky.
k…: full squad showdown???
d…: Would be so funny if they made us wait 7 days just to say full squad ended.
v…: LMAOOO
But there was one text that caught his eye…
v…: ENDGAME. 28TH TRACK. PORTALS.
Tanner smirked.
Tanner: Correct.
A fan had actually figured it out. It took them about two hours of researching, but they did it. They weren’t that close, but they were definitely on the right track. Tanner looked up at the surprise in the darkness everyone had been waiting for. Right in front of him.
“They will be so excited.”