WEEK ONE

Craig Levison took a sip of coffee as he headed into the exec meeting with a certain bounce to his step in tune to Eye of the Tiger which was playing in his head.  As the music pumped harder in his mind and he got more excited, he briefly forgot he was holding coffee, which resulted in a spill across the back of his hand.  “Ah, Christ,” he grumbled to himself and brought his hand up to his mouth to suck up the escaping coffee.  Satisfied that no one in the hall saw it, he entered the conference room.  There, he addressed the studio heads in the final launch meeting in which the Upstarts Program would be realized.

Shortly after cutting ties with Ryan Bennings, Levison wanted to find a way to profit from young superheroes once again but no opportunities presented themselves, so he “simply” returned to producing television projects that ensured he would remain a millionaire all the same.  Upon the creation of the IMD, he hoped to capitalize on the situation by obtaining Neutronium and create actual metahuman operatives, preferably young ones to ensure better ratings.  It was many years later, but he managed to convince the US Senate to allow a provision for a partially state-sponsored superteam.  A year after that, the act was passed and it allowed Levison to use a little patriotism in the marketing when the Upstarts Program was announced.  While Levison was a TV producer, his goal was to have a multimedia venture.  The reality show would be shown on the PrimeWatch streaming service while also incorporating social media and video sharing sites.  The result is the creation of a teenage-centric superhero team that would be fully accessible to the public.  Additionally, they would eventually be on call to the US authorities for crime-fighting purposes (after proper training, of course).

“Good afternoon, everybody,” Levison rushed into the meeting room, being careful to set his coffee down on the long table in front of him where the PrimeWatch execs sat ready.  Behind him, a projector displayed the logo for Levison Life, his production company.  “I trust everyone got my memo and know that, after months of deliberation and interviewing hundreds of candidates, we’ve found our team.  Honestly, I’m excited and I hope you are as well, so let’s just get to it,” Levison raised his hand and a picture of a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes appeared.  He wore a suit and tie despite being a teenager.

“Our first candidate is Kyle Jackson, the son of Senator Tom Jackson.  Senator Jackson, as you know, spearheaded the Upstarts Program with the understanding that his son would get to be a top pick, so he’s essentially our first recruit.  The boys in the lab can very easily grant superspeed and that’s a power that has proven to be popular across the board.  Marketing has given him the name Hustle.”

Levison turned to the execs for approval but they continued to watch with stone faces.  Levison brought up a professional looking headshot of a slender, young Asian-American girl.  “This talented young lady needs no introduction.  It’s Kaley Chen, the star of One Smart Cookie, a show I was happy to produce for your streaming service.  While that show has sadly come to an end this season, Kaley’s career is just beginning and she was more than happy to volunteer as a founding member of the Upstarts and, best of all, she covers the Asian-American demographic and is a lesbian so we’ll be sure to receive some support from the LGBTQ+ community as well.  She thought the ability to open portals to go anywhere would be cool and the lab boys are pretty sure they can pull that off.  Marketing is giving her the name Sesame… like ‘Open sesame’.  I’m not entirely sure about all the names but we can always change them during production if needed.”

A feminine Samoan person appeared onscreen, wearing long black hair, a nose ring and dark make-up.  “Next up, we have Alexis Grey, who you may recognize.  They are a youtube influencer from the Grey Matter Family channel. It’s one of those big family channels that are always doing funny skits or raising awareness or what have you. Alexis is a Samoan adoptee who is also non-binary and polyamorous. Again, the amount of diversity we have for our program should be a great way to earn public support. As for powers, recently, there’s been some footage of a robot girl or something fighting IMD agents and that’s gone viral. The short of it is, the robot girl had stretching powers, so we’re gonna give Alexis stretching powers too. They’re calling them Extent.”

A young Caucasian boy with short brown hair and tattoos around his neck appeared, “Here’s another young person from a show I was a producer on.  Some of you may be familiar with the TLZ reality show Real Community Service about people who had been arrested and were… well, doing community service. He was our youngest cast member, but tested well with -”

“This kid got arrested?,” one of the execs finally showed some emotion.

“Yes, but only shoplifting.  Nothing the public can’t forgive.  He was the breakout figure of that show because of his antics and snarky attitude and the great thing about that is this young man can be our bad boy, which isn’t quite as problematic as you might think.  When it comes to superheroes or boy bands or whatever, the bad boy of the group always has a devoted following.  And best of all, he goes by his street name Da Mutt, which means marketing didn’t have to think of a codename.  The lab guys can probably give him some animalistic qualities to play up on the name: increased agility, super senses, augmented strength… that sort of thing.”

Levison motioned toward the screen once more and a picture of a young African American man showed up.  Compared to the other members, he seemed almost boringly normal.  “I’m not sure if any of you remember this young man, Dante Greer from Baltimore.  There was an apartment fire in his building and he not only saved the lives of his parents and little sister but also made sure everyone else in the building got out.  He’s not famous like the others but it was one of those feel-good news stories that the public loves so we reached out to him and his family.  They agreed to join us.  Marketing said that superstrength is a popular power but they also fear that if we granted him superstrength, he’d bloat up and that could disturb some members of the public and we’re already getting some flak about child endangerment from certain groups.  The compromise is what they call kinetic energy absorption.”

“And that would be…?,” an older exec asked snidely.

“He would be able to absorb kinetic energy after getting hit and channel that into physical strength. The lab guys put it something like… the harder you hit, the stronger he gets. But he doesn’t get big or anything. So all the big, cool punches and smashing but no bloating.  Always camera ready.  They gave him the name Payback.”

“He fits the demographics as well,” an exec stated coldly.

“Indeed, he does.  So that’s our team.  We’ll fly them out to LA next week to undergo the Neutronium process.  What do you think?”

“I think we have a team,” the head exec smiled, “I think this is gonna go well for everybody.”

WEEK TWO

A car pulled up in front of the newly built Upstart Manor: a fortified villa with cameras mounted in nearly every room.  In the backseat of the BMW, Kaley and her mother sat and talked to one another while the driver sat patiently.  “Look, all I’m saying is, you’re almost 18,” her mother said as she checked her make-up in the small compact mirror in her palm, “You’ve already aged out of your cute, kid-centric sitcom phase.  How long will this last?”

“I dunno, Mom,” Kaley rolled her eyes, “I mean, getting powers is kinda permanent.  Even if the Upstarts doesn’t last, I’m kinda stuck with -”

“My point is that you can’t keep going for the teen shit.  Go for a cop drama or even a rom com.  If you keep going for shows aimed at kids, you won’t be taken seriously and you’ll end up like every other child celebrity.  And when you hit your 20s, don’t be afraid to have some roles that require nudity.  The tasteful nude roles, anyway.”

“Gross.  Thanks, Mom,” Kaley rolled her eyes once more and began to get out of the car but was nearly run over in the process.

A Bugatti purred to a stop in front of the mansion and the doors slid open to reveal Da Mutt, now decked out in flashy clothes and gold chains.  Kaley marched toward him, “Learn how to drive, dumbass!”

“Learn how to act, Smart Cookie.  Your show was cringe,” Mutt said as he raised a middle finger.

“Excuse me!,” Kaley’s mom stormed toward him, “My daughter is worth more than your flashy little car.  How about watching where you park!”

“How about you get your old ass back in your car?”

“Who even are you?,” Kaley asked.

“I’m Da Mutt.  Real Community Service?  We did two whole ass seasons.”

“Wait, I know you,” Kaley’s face scrunched up, “You’re in that meme.  ‘Catch ya slipp’n outside.’  That’s you?”

“Shit yeah, girl. And I said, ‘Catch ya slipp’n outside. How `bout dat?’ Get it right.”

“Yeah, weird flex but okay.”

“I don’t care what your lame ass says. I’m gonna be a superhero and then I’mma start my rap career and it’ll be dope.”

Kaley’s mom shook her head and walked back to her car, “Good luck with all that, Kaley dear.”

A limo pulled up along with a police officer on a motorcycle.  “That the president or someth’n?,” Mutt asked.  Inside, Senator Jackson spoke to his son Kyle, “I pulled a lot of strings and pressed a lot of flesh for this shot,” the Senator told his son, “Don’t dick around.  Make it count.  This is gonna look good for the family.”

“We win, Dad,” Kyle said proudly, “It’s what we do.”

“And who knows, in about 15 or 16 years, you can be the first superpowered senator.  We have to get that opportunity before the Democrats do.  Eyes on the prize.”

“Always.”

They bumped fists and Kyle got out to survey his new home as the limo pulled away.  “Yo, check out the rich white boy,” Mutt shouted.  Kaley glared at him, “You’re a rich white boy, too.”

“I’m Kyle Jackson,” Kyle told them proudly, “My dad’s Senator Jackson.  It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you,” he turned to Kaley, “One Smart Cookie is one of my favorite shows.”

“Really?,” Kaley said happily, “Thanks.”

“He’s just saying that to kiss ass,” Mutt waved them off and left them to play a game on his phone.

“If that kid lived in my dad’s state, he’d be in prison, not on a TV show,” Kyle told Kaley angrily.

A van pulled up with Alexis Grey in the back along with their young adopted brother and their little adopted sister in a car seat. Their parents sat in front.  “This is such a good platform,” their mom told them, “Remember, when you’re on camera, try to talk about important issues like climate change or trans rights or something. But don’t over do it. y’know? Just enough to sound like it’s important to you.”

“Don’t forget to plug our channel” their dad added.

“Oh yeah, we still have our channel, remember,” their mom continued, “Anyway, we gotta get going. Love ya.”

Alexis got out of the car without saying anything and watched it drive off.  Then they moved toward the other three teens with a bored expression on their face, “So I’m Alexis,” they began even though they hadn’t quite turned their attention to them yet, “I go by they/them.”

“Hey, Alexis,” Kaley waved happily, “I love your channel!” 

Alex gave a brief smile. 

“You know who that is?,” Da Mutt asked Kyle who shrugged and shook his head.

Finally, a taxi drove up.  “Man, someone’s broke ass came in a taxi?,” Mutt shouted despite everyone ignoring him at that point. Dante’s parents helped get his luggage out of the trunk while his little sister sat in the back.  “Anytime you need to walk away from this, you can,” his father told him. 

Dante took a suitcase, “This could put me and Nikki through college.  It’s a good opportunity.”

“You seriously gonna let them put alien stuff in you?,” Nikki poked her head out the window.

“Yeah.  It’s safe.”

“Are they gonna fix that big ass head of yours too?”

Dante playfully thumped her on top of the head.  “Bye, baby,” his mom gave him a hug, “Call us if you need anything.”  The taxi soon pulled away and Dante turned to see the other four teens milling about.  “Hey,” he waved awkwardly.  Kaley waved back while the rest of them gave varying non-verbal greetings.

“Are we all here?,” the teens turned their attention to Levison and a film crew exiting the house along with some prop handlers carrying empty suitcases, “Sorry I’m a little late.  I had to take some calls,” he looked out at the gathered teenagers, “I’ve met Kaley and Da Mutt a couple of times.  And I know Kyle’s father personally but I believe this is the first time we’ve met.  Anyway, I’m Craig Levison and I’m proud to announce the first day of filming.  We’ve received all your contracts and waivers so we have the paperwork out of the way.  What I’d like to do now is get some footage of you arriving at the Upstart Manor for the first time and get some good reaction shots.  We have some prop suitcases for you to carry and a car will be pulling around to look like it’s dropping you off.”

“But we’re already here,” Dante said curiously.

“That’s how shows are done, bruh,” Mutt said as he pushed past him to get a fake suitcase.

The teens were given a tour of their house and a brief orientation that night.  The following day, they were all taken individually to perform a series of tests with the team of doctors and scientists on hand to see if the Neutronium process would be safe, which meant they had little time to get to know one another.

WEEK THREE

The teens were allowed to relax on the weekend where they mostly remained in their own rooms and settled in.  On the following Monday, they were brought into the house’s meeting room where Levison stood in front of a large screen that, once again, had his production company logo on it.  Once the teens sat around the large table, he began.

“Today’s the big day,” he told them, “The doctors said you should all have an empty stomach so I hope no one got sneaky and had a snack.  Also, I trust you guys all took your protein pills. Levison motioned toward the screen behind him which displayed a thin vial roughly the size of a pencil that emitted a blue glow, “So this is Neutronium. Believe it or not, this little guy is all it takes to give you all powers.  It was really hard for us to get and basically involved turning this show partially into a government program.  And even then, we’ll be giving it back after this.”  The next slide showed the inside of the filtration chamber, “So this little room is a filtration chamber.  You’ll go in, the scientists will play some music and then they’ll release a pre-programmed amount of Neutronium in the room.  That means, they have a system that regulates and alters the Neutronium in such a way that it gives you powers that have already been decided upon.  It’s a bit fancier than that but that’s how I understand it.  Feel free to ask them any further questions.”  An animation showed a vague human-shaped blob laying down in a chamber along with the Neutronium being filtered through a system and into a room where it glowed brightly over the human-blob, “The guys in the lab said you’ll see a bright light for a few seconds and that’s basically it.” The screen behind Levison shut off, “You’ll be recuperating in our medical facility for a week to make sure everyone’s okay and to maybe play around with your powers a little.  Should be fun… Oh, and the lab equipment was from Nantox, which is a huge tech-company if you haven’t heard about it and the lab guys have been chosen by the government so everything’s safe.”

Kaley raised her hand, “Craig?”

“Yes, Kaley?”

“Is this gonna hurt?”

“It shouldn’t.”

As it turned out, it hurt.