“So how did you know there was a fire?” the reporter asked.

“I just woke up `cause I smelled smoke,” Dante told her, “Then I woke up my mom and dad and my sis and I was like, ‘we gotta get our asses outta here’. Then we started knocking on all the doors and left the apartment building, then we called the fire department. They said it was bad wires or something like that.”

“Were you scared?”

“Not really.”

“You’re a brave kid, Dante.”

“I don’t think so. There was a fire, so I just got everybody out.”

Dante’s story was a heartwarming tale that was shared across social media, mostly from middle aged users but Dante’s interview was autotuned and turned into a rap with his image being used for a few memes. He was “internet famous” for about a month until it all died down. His classmates and friends at school mentioned it every now and then but no one played the auto-tune anymore which was fine by Dante. He didn’t want the attention as it made him uncomfortable. When Craig Levison contacted him, he only agreed because he thought it was a way for him and his sister to go to college. He was fine letting the other kids hog the spotlight but it would be nice if he had more in common with them so he’d have someone to talk to.

WEEK SEVEN

Dante came into the meeting room and sat down alongside the other Upstarts while wearing his superhero uniform as requested. He noticed that Alexis seemed agitated, but Kaley had her arm around them for comfort, which clued Dante in that they were likely an item. He knew Levison wanted him and Alexis to spend more time together and wondered if there was some strange connection but decided on ignoring it. As if summoned, Craig came into the room, seemingly as agitated as Alexis and as expected, the camera crew stood ready.

“Thanks for coming,” he said to the room, “We have a challenge for today but before we get to it, I gotta get something off my chest,” he seemingly glanced at Alexis for a moment before continuing, “There’s no clear evidence anyone in Costa Triste has anything to do with the situation in Columbia and we have potential viewers who could be very offended if you talk about it. Meanwhile, there are even more people who don’t like hearing about the American government being involved, which obviously includes the people providing half our funding and the source of our Neutronium, so let’s not talk about the CIA anymore. Finally, while most Columbians are concerned about this situation, some of them don’t want the involvement of American superheroes and that could once again affect our viewership. So basically, let’s just stop talking about it all together!”

Alexis rolled their eyes.

“There are a lot of other things we can talk about, though,” Craig added with a fake smile, “This is a great platform for all kinds of causes… just not that one.”

“So what’s our challenge today?,” Da Mutt asked impatiently.

“Okay,” Craig motioned for the camera crew to start filming and his fake smile seemed a bit more sincere, “So are you ready for our next mission, Upstarts?,” they nodded and pumped their fists enthusiastically except for Alexis, “A good superhero should have some detective skills and that’s what we’re gonna do. You’ll split into teams and be given a series of clues which will send you to different locations around the city and maybe… meet a few heroes and villains along the way. The team who follows all the clues and makes it back here first is the winner,” Craig quickly mumbled to the director, “Make sure the graphics look good in post.”

“What are the prizes?,” Kaley asked enthusiatiscly.

“You’ll get to choose the venue where we’ll have our Spring Break,” Craig’s act dropped as he addressed the group for real, “So you guys know, that’ll be our season finale,” the act returned, “Now, we’ll split into pairs to create these teams but if you notice, there are five of you. That means one of you will be on your own.”

“I can do this shit on my own,” Da Mutt scoffed.

“I vote Mutt gets to go alone,” Kyle spoke up.

“Shut up! I got more hits and subscribers on my testimonials than you.”

“You don’t understand the concept of hate-watching?”

“So if I can have your attention again,” Craig said with an air of annoyance, “We’re gonna draw straws.”

A prop manager brought a cup full of straws of varying sizes, put them at the center of the table. Craig gathered them in his hands, turned his back to make all straws even in length, then turned back around for the teens to take. They each took turns taking a straw and once everyone had them, they began to compare. “Oh, don’t bother,” Craig said as he waved a hand at them, “We’ve already selected who will go with whom. Better TV that way. The camera guys will do some pick-ups showing the corresponding straws being placed together and what have you.”

“So why did we do this?,” Dante asked.

“Suspense for the audience,” Craig began motioning to everyone, “Kaley, we kinda need you to go solo this round… Dante and Alexis, you’re Blue Team. Kyle and Da Mutt are together on the Red Team. Kaley, is Gold. Now, before you guys react, let’s get some testimonials. Save that energy for the cameras.”

Da Mutt’s Testimonial: “This sucks.”

Kyle’s Testimonial: “Da Mutt is everything wrong with my generation… and liberals.”

Alexis’ Testimonial: “At least I’m paired up with the least annoying boy here.”

Dante’s Testimonial: “I don’t even know if Alexis likes me. I don’t know if anyone likes me.”

Kaley’s Testimonial: “Why am I by myself? I literally have no clue how to do anything by myself.”

The teams were all given a card with the first clue, the camera crew making sure to get the shots. Mutt and Kyle almost immediately began arguing over who could hold the card, only for Kyle to snatch it at high speed and dart across the room with Mutt following and complaining. While Craig had already left the room to take care of other matters, the director ushered everyone to the cars waiting outside. “I’ll see you later,” Kaley called after them, which elicited a smile and nod from Alexis.

“So are you two, like together?,” Dante asked as they walked down the hallway.

“Why? Is that a problem?,” Alexis snapped.

“No, damn. Why you always gotta be so mean?”

“This is all bullshit, that’s why.”

“Whatever. Let’s just do this.”

They climbed into the backseat of the three SUVs outside with camera crews following in vans. As the SUV pulled away, Alexis and Dante were filmed in the backseat.

Dante took a close look at the card in his hand, “So the first clue is ‘H is for Hero… among other things’. Huh,” he dropped the card and turned to Alexis, “Any ideas?”

“I don’t care. Let one of the other teams win.”

“Hey, I know you’re mad because you wanna help folks in Columbia. Lots of people do but you don’t gotta bring that shit over here. You act like you don’t even wanna be here.”

“I don’t. My parents made me,” Alexis said snidely.

“That sucks and everything but like, I got nothing to do with that, feel me?”

They rolled their eyes, “So why are you here anyway?”

“My parents might not be able to afford college for em and my sister and we don’t make the grades for scholarships,” he shrugged, “This will do it.”

Alexis reluctantly gave an approving nod, “Yeah, that’s… actually a good reason. I guess you made the right choice.”

“And think about it: you’re used to having cameras all over the place,” he peered into the camera fixed to the window, “This is all new to me.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Alexis sighed, “I can be kinda bougie sometimes,” she took the card into their hands, “So we need to go find a big H, huh?”

In another car, Kyle and Da Mutt argue while their car idled at a red light.

“Dude, we need to find a big H in LA,” Kyle yelled, “It’s the Hollywood sign.”

“Nah, bruh,” Mutt shook his head, “I don’t know what it is, but I know it ain’t that.”

Kyle looked out his window, noticing the Hollywood sign on the hill in the distance, “Y’know what…?” With the car still stopped at the red light, he casually stepped out, closed the door and darted off in the direction of the sign in a blur.

“Yo, can he do that?,” Da Mutt asked the driver.

In the crew van behind them, a cameraman radioed Craig, “So Kyle just got out of the car and is heading on foot to the sign.”

“It’s fine,” Craig said over the radio, “The audience will be entertained if we go off-script a little and it’s not like we don’t already have cameras set up there.”

At the Hollywood sign, a crew camped out, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. A cloud of dust was suddenly kicked up and when it settled, Kyle stood up with a long trail in the dirt behind him, indicating eh had trouble stopping. The crew scrambled to get the camera and boom mic set up as he looked around curiously. The second unit director dusted off his pants, “There’s supposed to be two if you. Where’s the other one?”

“Who, Da Mutt? He’s probably back in the car, writing another one of his shitty raps.”

Meanwhile, in the backseat of the car…

“Who dat at the door?… Oops, it’s Kyle… Shot `im in the face!”

Back at the sign, Kyle took a look behind the large “H” in front of him and noticed three brown envelopes taped to the back while the camera crew filmed everything. He took an envelope off just as he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A sparkling portal unfurled in front of him with Kaley stepping through, the background behind her displaying a sidewalk somewhere in the city and once she stepped through, the portal shrank and disappeared.

“You figured it out too, huh?,” Kyle asked.

“Yeah and guess what?,” Kaley said excitedly, “I’m getting really good with my powers. My car is stuck in traffic like over there somewhere,” she pointed to the cityscape down below, “I just opened up one portal after another until I got here.”

“I guess you really are a Smart Cookie,” Kyle chuckled.

“Oh my God, right?,” she gave him an approving high five.

Kyle opened his envelope and looked at the card inside, “The ancient knights fought gallantly in the Middles Ages. Do you have the courage to challenge them in a joust?,” he looked the card over, “Are we supposed to like… fight some knights? Do they have knights in LA?”

“Oh,” Kaley clapped her hands, “Middle Ages restaurant. I used to go there like every weekend after shooting ended.” Kaley drew her finger in a circle, revealing a sparkling portal. Kyle then noticed another portal emerging at the bottom of the hill. “Hey, wait,” he called out but Kaley leapt into the portal on the ground and remerged at the foot of the hill. From there, she opened another portal in the distance. “Shit,” Kyle took off in a shot, leaving another cloud of dust in his wake.

Outside the Middles Ages restaurant, a portal opened. From a block away, Kaley stepped through, after making sure the restaurant was in her sights. The restaurant looked like a cartoonish castle on the outside and on the inside, the seats were arranged around an arena which often hosted fake jousting tournaments, sword duels and other forms of medievalesque entertainment. When she entered the building, she found a camera crew filming her immediately, clueing her in that she was in the right place. A man in cheap black knight armor stood in the middle of the arena with a foam sword.

“I am the Cavalier. Who are you to challenge me?,” the knight roared. It was obviously not the Cavalier and Kaley silently wondered if this was some payback for the time the 90s Cavalier punched Craig Levison in the face. “You’re supposed to fight `im,” a cameraman whispered, “Just get in there and try not to do too much damage. They’ll take care of everything else in post.” Kaley shrugged and approached, “If that’s what it takes,” she said to the camera happily, making sure to milk the situation. “Have at thee!,” he knight galloped toward her with the foam sword and Kaley giggled and shrank away, only for the knight to do an about face and retreat to the other side of the arena. “Psst, you’re supposed to win,” the cameraman whispered again. The knight galloped toward her again but slower, which gave her the opportunity to open a portal underneath him and then open another one on the floor a few feet away. The knight stopped and allowed the portal to open under him, then fell inside. A second later, he “fell up” out of the second portal, flying into the air until gravity took hold, then dropped onto the dirt-filled floor. “No, I have been defeated. Honor bounds me to deliver a final message,” he shouted as he writhed on the floor, then held up an envelope he pulled from under his plastic chest plate. “A true hero can traverse the stars,” she read, “Can you make the journey?,” she tossed the card aside and looked into the camera, “Hollywood Walk of Fame. Can they make it any easier?” She left the restaurant and opened a portal where she quickly disappeared.

A second later, Kyle flew into the restaurant, skidding along the floor before coming to a stop in front of the arena wall where he raised his hands to stop himself. “I had to ask for directions but I’m here,” he announced. The camera crew began setting up as the knight got in place. “Just give us a second to set up,” the cameraman told him, “… Also, could we see you coming back through the doors?”

Back at the Hollywood sign, a car pulled up to the foot of the hill with Dante and Alexis pouring out. “Are you sure it’s here?,” Alexis asked. Dante nodded, “Yeah, it has to be here.” Alexis shrugged and elongated their limbs, stretching arms and legs to several feet before climbing. With their stretch-out limbs, they were able to cover a long distance in a short amount of time. Following suit, Dante slapped the ground a few times, building enough kinetic energy to perform a massive leap. His super strength carried him up the hill and when he landed on his feet, the kinetic energy gave him enough of an amp to leap even farther. They came to the top of the hill at roughly the same time and gazed up at the large Hollywood sign while also acknowledging the camera crew. “I guess you were right,” Alexis told him. “It just seemed like the most likely place,” he explained and moved toward the large ‘H’ looming over him. Before he could retrieve the envelope attached to the back, there was a low hum and a gust of wind which got everyone’s attention; when they turned, they witnessed an object descending from the sky . “Hey, is this part of the show?,” Alexis asked. “No, it isn’t,” the cameraman said. The two Upstarts noticed that, despite flying through the air and having no wheels, it was an average sports car; the camera crew made sure to get as much footage as possible as it lowered in front of them. Once it landed, the window rolled down, revealing the face of Ryan Bennings. “Come with me if you want to live,” he said ominously.

“How did you know we were out here?,” Alexis asked.

“I just know things,” Ryan Bennings told them as he motioned for them to enter his vehicle, “Come on. Get in.”

Dante and Alexis shrugged at one another and hopped in the backseat. The camera crew remained silent as they filmed Ryan’s car lifting off into the air.