Senator Tom Jackson stood behind a podium, his neatly coiffed blonde hair and ironed suit conveyed a stoic conservatism that he was known for as a politician. Behind him, his wife, daughter and son stood silent, yet present. “I don’t know about anyone else here,” he smiled brightly as he addressed the reporters present, “But I think America is just about the best country on the planet and look, I can fully understand why some folks from other countries want to come here. I welcome that. I don’t, however, welcome criminals or terrorists. It makes sense, doesn’t it? And that’s why my family and I support the Protection Bill. Frankly, it disturbs me that there are some people who oppose a bill that will ensure our families and loved ones are safe from foreign threats.” The bill in question was controversial in that it targeted immigrants from certain nations to pass background checks before being allowed in the country. The Senator’s speech was made famous and inspired heated debates around the country. Kyle stood behind his father when the footage was shot, making it the most viral video he took part in, even though he didn’t say anything.

Years later, Tom Jackson paved the way for the Upstarts Program and while he didn’t care for Levison’s shows, he saw it as an important political tool for his son’s future aspirations as well as a means to protect the country with a government funded superhero team. As always, Kyle agreed with his father’s decisions.

The camera crew filmed the parents filing into the mansion, one by one. Dante’s parents marveled at the luxurious mansion, Alexis’ parents came in while filming their own reaction to everything, Kaley’s mom quickly rushed in while talking on the phone, and the Senator and his wife smiled warmly as they greeted Craig Levison. Then came an overweight, middle age couple holding super-sized cups of soda.

Upstairs, Da Mutt got a notification on his phone. He contemplated opening the message but did so anyway; an anonymous person sent a gif showing him rapping edited with footage of old people dancing (very tame compared to others). With his details leaked on the internet, he had been receiving harassing texts and messages. Watching TV wasn’t an option either as at least one late night talk show host showed the footage of Mutt kicking down Kyle’s door and had an entire bit centered around it.

Dante poked his head in the door, “Hey man, our parents are here.”

“Your parents are here,” he snarled, “Those people down there ain’t my folks.”

“What?”

“That’s my foster parents. Never knew my dad and my mom is in jail for her third DUI, not that I need her around. Anyway, I got foster parents.”

“Sorry, man,” Dante sat next to him, “I don’t really know what to say but like, at least you put yourself out there, y’know? Like I wouldn’t have the balls to do that. I don’t even like being in front of cameras.”

“Y’know I figure out someth’n,” Mutt said solemnly, “I got famous from my last show and people started paying attention to me, so I went along with it. All this time, they were just laughing at me. No one respected me.”

“But we respect you.”

“Not Kyle.”

“Yeah, he messed up but he’s trying to make it better,” Dante became more serious, “Sometimes I don’t think the people running this show got our back so, except for Ryan Bennings, all we got is each other. So maybe come downstairs and hang out with us.”

Da Mutt shrugged and followed him downstairs. The rest of the team were already meeting their parents.

“Have you been plugging the channel?,” Alexis’ mom asked.

“Our viewership is down a little and we think they might be watching you instead,” their father added.

“Yeah, I’ve mentioned the channel. I dunno…,” Alexis grumbled, “… Ask if Craig will let you have behind the scenes content or something. See if you get hits that way.”

“What has gotten into you lately?,” their mom asked, “Is it that thing about Costa Triste? You’re gonna have to let that go if you want to stay relevant.”

Kaley’s mom, meanwhile, was fixing her hair, “I hope the stylists on this show know how to manage your hair.”

“It’s fine, Mom,” she snapped as she swatted her mother’s hands away.

“So how is it?,” Dante’s mother asked him excitedly.

“It’s alright,” he said but mentioned nothing else.

“There he is,” Da Mutt’s foster mom raised her large cup at him as he came downstairs.

“Yeah, hey,” Mutt mumbled.

“Listen, we got people calling us up and talking to us about that little rap video you did or whatever,” his foster dad whispered, “Can you get your fans to knock it off?”

“Those ain’t fans,” he growled.

“Whatever it is, it’s embarrassing, make it stop.”

Kyle’s dad patted him on the shoulder, “So you’re not getting indoctrinated into all this Hollywood liberalism, are ya?” His mother smiled sweetly but remained mostly silent.

“I guess not,” Kyle shrugged.

His dad leaned in and whispered, “I heard the black girl keeps talking about conspiracy theories involving the CIA and Costa Triste.”

For a moment, Kyle was confused and couldn’t tell who he was referring to until he finally replied, “Alexis is Samoan.”

“Oh, I didn’t know she was Samoan.”

Kyle gulped nervously, “And Alexis goes by they.”

His dad shook his head and pursed his lips, “Oh, she’s one of those.”

“The kids here are nice,” Kyle tried his best to disagree with his dad without seeming to disagree with him.

“I suppose so,” he motioned toward Da Mutt, “And apparently you got in a fight with that one? Craig said you did some damage to the house.”

“I tried to do a stream about his rap video and then people started cyberbullying him and stuff. It got out of hand.”

“Eh, boys will be boys,” his father brushed it off, “If that kid doesn’t like what people are saying online, he can just stop using the computer. Little snowflake.”

After a few moments and some establishing shots, they were ushered into the meeting room by Levison where he explained the episode’s challenges would be completed by the parents; the activities included a potato sack race and a faux-Jeopardy trivia game hosted by a former game show host that only the parents recognized. For the most part, it was uneventful and the Upstarts all tried their best to have as little drama as possible. At the end of the day, there was a dinner. The group sat around a long table outside which was littered with gourmet food.

“I kinda wish there was a karaoke competition today,” Kaley’s mom said boastfully, “I was almost a professional singer.”

“Don’t let this one anywhere near a microphone,” Mutt’s foster mother said between large bites of a chicken leg, “We all know he can’t sing for shit.”

Da Mutt seethed with anger but remained quiet.

“He tried his best,” Kaley offered, only to have her mom tap the back of her hand and subtly shake her head.

“I still don’t know why he’s here,” his foster dad began while his wife finished chewing, “We got TV stars, a kid who saved his family from a fire and a senator’s son. He ain’t no hero. Got arrested stealing beer in a Wal-Mart.”

Da Mutt clenched his fist angrily, nearly exploding in a rage that would surely be far worse than what he had exhibited thus far.

“We got training from Rex Robinson,” Kyle quickly spoke, gaining everyone’s attention, “Rex had us fighting these giant robots and he wanted to see who could destroy the most. Mutt won the challenge but there just weren’t any cameras.”

His dad furrowed his brow, “I thought you won?”

“I guess I was just jealous,” he stated plainly, looking down the table at Da Mutt who wasn’t making eye contact but seemed to be calming down.

His dad gave a dismissive look, “You don’t need to worry so much about a stupid competition. It was unimportant.”

“Are you sure Andy won?,” the foster mom asked incredulously.

“That’s what I saw,” Alexis spoke up.

“And we call him Da Mutt,” Dante added.

“Huh,” the foster mom went back to her chicken. Kyle took another look at Da Mutt who met his glance and nodded, then gave a slight smile that was returned by Kyle. Everyone continued eating and while the brief conversation wasn’t given much thought by the rest of the group, the two boys achieved a mutual respect.

That night, Alexis sat on Kaley’s bed after the parents had been taken to their hotel rooms. “Having our parents here wasn’t as much of a disaster as I thought it would be,” Kaley said as Alexis rested their head in her lap, “I mean, I think most of them pissed us off at some point but at least Mutt and Kyle stopped fighting.”

“Yeah, maybe we’re finally turning into a team… or something,” Alexis showed Kaley their phone, “Anyway, check this out.”

The president of Costa Triste had given a statement that afternoon to members of the press around the world. President Javier De Guzman was a large man with a thin mustache and seemed to be consistently nervous when talking in public. “The people of Costa Triste have suffered and struggled since the founding of our nation and today, I address the cruel accusations that have been hurled at us. While our hearts go out to the people of Columbia as they fight against the current threat, my country has had nothing to do with it,” he thumped the podium, “I’m in charge of this country, not some criminal faction. If arms dealers were present in my country, if they were doing business with neighboring cartels, they would have been found and dealt with already. Because of these rumors, my people have been targeted abroad and this situation has been the latest in a long history of hardships. I’ll say this once and only once, these accusations must not be permitted to continue.”

“The president of Costa Triste has been quiet until now,” Alexis explained, “I can’t believe he would just stand up in front of the world and not just lie but play the victim too.”

“What if the government ended up sending us to Columbia to take out the cartels?”

“They wouldn’t because it might expose them.”

“Yeah, but what if?”

“Well, we’re supposed to be superheroes so why not help people?,” Alexis laid back on Kaley’s lap, “I don’t mind fighting when it’s right.”

Kaley smiled and brushed her hands through Alexis’ hair. “Yeah,” she said softly, “Sometimes fighting is the right thing to do.”