Being on television was a dream that every kid had. Everyone wanted to have fifteen minutes of fame. Of course, not everyone could get on television. They just weren't pretty enough for the spotlight. And, no one deserved to share Otrera's spotlight.
It really was hard for Otrera. Her back just ached from having to carry the entire weight of Venus' news station. The weather boy didn't know a cloud from the smoke he blew out of his own ass. The sports girl could hardly walk up the stairs without wheezing for breath. Not to mention, all of their weekly special guest were idiots. The entire station was an absolute wreck.
Really, the blame had to fall on Venus. The woman had been a master at juggling a television station, her own talk show, a marriage, and more kids than she had fingers. The kids thing was a rumor of course, and Otrera would never say anything like that about her boss, to her face at least. It didn't change the fact that in the past few months, Venus allowed her grip on the media to slip.
There could have been many of reasons for that. The first possibility was interference from Iris. The second possibility was that Venus was currently spending more time on her back than at her desk planning out her shows. While the second possibility was the most likely, it would mean that Otrera was calling her boss a whore, and Otrera could never do that. Calling Venus a name like that would just be an insult to whores everywhere.
Speaking of whores, Iris and her little hippie fingers were currently dipping into everything that Otrera was trying to sensationalize. Iris insisted that all news stories should be free of bias. She was nothing more than a fool. The general public was full of idiots who loved drama, and they used that drama to distract themselves from their own pathetic lives.
"We are live in ten minutes people!" Venus called. She clapped her hands together, to draw the attention of everyone in the room. There was no need for her to do that though. They were all sitting at a table and looking at the whiteboard in front of them. Venus was also standing near that whiteboard, so maybe if she used her brain, she would realize that everyone was already looking at her.
"We need ratings," Venus continued. She pointed to the writing on the whiteboard. Everyone was suppose to put ideas on the board to get those rating that Venus wanted so badly. If they really wanted ratings, they should have ran a story on the death of Nico Di Angelo.
The official statement from the mayor was that Mr. Di Angelo had been caught in a robbery. How stupid did the mayor think they were? Even the neanderthals knew that city hall was lying and just making more excuses. Otrera wanted nothing more than to dig into the case and bust it wide open, but Venus forbade it.
Everyone loved a good murder, especially the murder of the son of a businessman. Did Nico's sister want the fortune to herself and murder him? Was it the butler? The step mother? Did a rival family want to murder Nico? There was so many possibilities, but she was forced to file the story away and keep all of her wonderful theories to herself, which wasn't going to help them get any rating.
And, Venus was really focused on winning this ratings war with Iris, but news flash, there was no way for a television show to properly compete against an online broadcast. Did the Neilsen rating cover online broadcasts? No. Did Venus need to get her head out of her ass? Yes.
The only way to properly compete with Iris would be to have their own broadcast online. The only thing their website had was their show after it aired. There was no new content or anything to attract people who already watched the show on their television. They needed some kind of new content that was exclusive to their website.
"Ma'am, we could report on the breakout at Tartarus," an intern began. It was their second day there. That poor soul. Otrera smirked as Venus turned towards the intern. "It has been three days, and we haven't reported anything about it."
"Get out," Venus ordered. The intern tried to speak, but Venus opened the door. "Get out. Pack your things and get out."
The intern stared and slowly stood. They walked out of the room, and Venus slammed the door shut. Otrera almost laughed. She was the one who told that intern to suggest reporting the breakout. Otrera just didn't expect the intern would be stupid enough to do it. Weren't they paying attention the day before when Venus mentioned they weren't going to cover the break out, or was that when the intern was getting Otrera's coffee?
The breakout was concerning though. Someone had walked into Tartarus, freed all of the Titans, and then just walked them all out. There was no leads that were presented to the public, and truthfully, Otrera didn't think there was any leads. It was almost like the Titans had disappeared off of the face of the Earth. Oh, there was also the fact that the mass murderer Hades had escaped Tartarus as well.
If Otrera was in charge, she would be running a gossip column online and post a few videos speculating on the Titans and Hades working together to get revenge on the Olympians. It would get people talking and draw eyes away from Iris' website. Instead, they were told to create ratings but did not have any of the juicy stories to use.
The irony of the entire thing was that Iris had already ran a broadcast about the breakout at Tartarus. She stated that the Titans had inside help and had escaped. Iris was so focused on telling the truth, so she wouldn't state the Titans had inside help if she didn't believe it. And, there is only one way she could get that information. Iris received her information from the husband of Venus: the police chief Mars.
It was all a juicy story to Otrera. Venus and Mars were just an absolutely toxic relationship, and it was hilarious. The two got into arguments every month, whether it be over something petty like Venus eyeing a man for a more than two seconds or something serious like Mars losing some of his muscle. Both of them were idiots, and Otrera loved to be invited out to eat with them, as it always ended in an argument.
Even if Venus would never admit it out loud, Otrera was her protege. That much was obvious when Otrera first arrived to Olympian Plains and was sought out by Venus. Otrera was just trying to get a fresh start after she had a little bit of a run in with the law, but she was rich enough to get one of the best lawyers in the country to help her out.
"I have a story that will get ratings," Otrera said. She glanced up from her phone and looked at Venus. The weather boy gave her a side eye, like he had been in the middle of talking. What ideas would he have though? He was just a stupid weather boy. "I guarantee that it will get everyone talking."
"Then run it," Venus said. Otrera nodded and looked back at her phone. She stood and walked out of the room. Her broadcast would be starting in a few minutes, and she couldn't be late for this bombshell. If Venus wanted ratings, she was going to get ratings.
Otrera dropped her phone at her desk and then walked across the large room towards the green screen. She stepped in front of the camera and studied herself, fixing her make up. A small smile came to her face. It was all coming together.
Otrera continued to fix her makeup. She ran through her mental script in her head. Venus walked up behind the cameraman and examined his camera. She then walked towards her own desk and leaned on it. Otrera smiled and saw the cameraman raise his hand.
"We are live in three, two, and one," the camera man said. Otrera smiled and watched the small light on the camera turn green. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Venus watching her closely.
"Good evening," Otrera said, and she smiled at the camera. "I am Otrera welcoming you to the nightly news on Venus' network. Tonight, we have breaking news for you. It is something that you do not want to miss. Before that, we have a few updates on other news stories."
"We can now confirm that one of the thieves from the break in at Vulcan Industries was killed in a mugging gone wrong," Otrera continued. That story was old news, but Venus held onto it. She really needed to get with the times. "The other thief is in the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery. He will be handed over to the authorities. The AI was also recovered a few days ago."
"Jupiter and Juno are reportedly having issues," Otrera said. She went through the rest of her news reports with a small smile on her face. She had memorized the script by heart and was trying to get through it as fast as possible. Otrera didn't want to lose any viewers before her big announcement.
It took Otrera ten minutes to get through the boring, useless stories. No one cared if Jupiter and Juno had a fight. No one cared if an orphanage had almost burned down, and certainly, no one cared if someone found a baby in a dumpster. A smile came to Otrera's face, as she reached the end of her mental script.
"Now, it is time for the breaking news," Otrera said. She smiled wider and closed her eyes. Oh, this was going to be so much fun. Otrera opened her eyes and met Venus' gaze. Venus gave her a small nod. "I have received information from an anonymous source. This is the same source that broke the news on the attempted murder of our beloved mayor and the Cyclops break in."
"My anonymous source tells me that Praetor is alive," Otrera said. She met Venus' eyes. Venus was staring at her in shock. "May I remind you that this is the same praetor that was shot in the head by Kronos. We must all ask ourselves an important question. Was it all a scheme by the Olympians to have an excuse to give Kronos the death penalty?"
"We all know that one of the great heroes, Athena, can read minds, but can she also control them?" Otrera asked. She stared right at the camera. "Is it not odd that Amazon disappeared after Praetor's supposed death? We all know the things that Amazon has done. She would not have stayed silent, and I know that she was not arrested for assaulting me."
"What is the truth folks? Was Praetor's death faked? Was it real? Did Praetor somehow come back from death to haunt us all? Is there more at stake? I will go into more details tomorrow night exclusively on my first newscast exclusive to Venus' website. Don't miss it," Otrera said. The cameraman cut the broadcast.
"What was that?" Venus yelled. Otrera blinked a few times and slowly looked at Venus. Two hands grabbed her face a moment later, but Otrera knew that the hands were itching to be around her throat. "You did not run that story through me first! What are you thinking?"
"You wanted ratings," Otrera answered. "That will get you ratings."
Venus looked like she wanted to say something else, but her phone rang. She swore up and down and let go of Otrera's face. Venus grabbed her phone and stormed away. Otrera just smiled and walked towards her desk. Everyone else was staring at her, but she didn't care In the end, Venus got what she wanted. Everyone in Olympian Plains would be talking about that little clip.
Most importantly, it would draw Amazon out of hiding. Otrera still needed to have a talk with the villain, especially since Amazon punched her in the face. By her calculations, Amazon would probably be paying her a visit later that night, and Otrera would be waiting for her.