The Clubhouse

Padgen walks in to find Amadu, Tamara, Amina, Sujay, and another guy sitting around.

Amadu
Sup, new kid! I'm Amadu, pleased to meet you.

Padgen
(Bowing his head.) Nice to meet you too, Amadu.

Chad
Hey, I'm Chad.

Padgen
(Waving hello.) Hey, Chad.

Chad
(Grinning.) She likes me.

Amina
Shut up, Chad! Thinks he's a total ladies man. Just ignore him.

Chad seems strong, like Amadu, if not a bit geeky, and a lot smaller. He almost looks like Padgen himself, if not for some different features. If anything, Chad's natural boyishness makes Padgen question his own in a way he was hoping not to have to do today – but all he does to show it is hang his head a little, and let his shoulders fall. Chad's alone on an armchair, while Amina holds Sujay on one couch, and Amadu chills with Tamara on the other.

Chad
(Half-joking.) You can sit on my lap.

Padgen
(Calling his bluff.) You can sit on mine.

Chad
(Put off.) Uhh... wait, so are you a...?

Padgen
Boy.

Chad
...never mind.

Tamara
Ska-doosh! New kid one, Chad zero. Get a chair, bud.

Chad
What?!

Amina
He's new, you're ancient. Release your throne.

Padgen
I'll take the bean-bag. I don't want the chair when he's already warmed it.

Amina
Oof...

Tamara
Rejected.

Chad
Whatever! Tamara likes me, right?

Tamara
No.

Chad
Aw, man.

Amadu
Hey, be nice to Chad Ransom. He's my bro from another mo'.

Chad
(Crossing his arms.) Yeah.

Padgen squashes himself into the beanbag, and Adelaide walks in with a cigarette.

Amadu
Mom, no smoking in here-

Adelaide
I'm just checking up on y'all. Don't mind me, start the show.

After some silence, Amadu starts the projector and cable box. He picks a recording of Core Force Five, and plays it. It starts at the very end of the theme song, with a fraction of a second of brass fanfare leading straight into an ambient electronic symphony.

[Core City, United States of Action

Ace
We have to find the Masked Man... or it's curtains for Burst.

Shift
That's way trucked up, yo!

Wave
We'll find her... if it's the last thing we do.

Claw
But where do we look?]

Adelaide laughs in a quiet huff to herself, and blows a puff outside. It drifts back in, and hits Amadu. Padgen tries to watch the show, but the smell draws his focus away from the screen and back to the room. He notices Amadu's body start to react in subtle ways: increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and more obviously, his obnoxious yelling at the screen. Nobody wants to say anything to Amadu in front of his mom, nor to the Mayor of the city herself. Amina and Sujay cover their mouths with their sleeves, but Chad and Tamara seem unaware.

[Ace
We got one of his goons, but did the Masked Man want him to get away... or did he want us to stop him?

Claw
There's only one way to find out... I'll eviscerate him!

Wave
I'll pound his teeth in.

Ace
Save it for the races, buckaroos. We've got a job to do.]

Suddenly, nobody can watch the show as some sort of atmospheric disturbance shakes the room ever-so-slightly. All of the teens are now paying more attention to one another, and getting self-conscious. Padgen notices, and remembers living with Emiliano. In a thought-bubble, Padgen pictures his shadow, coughing and gagging on a cigar. He looks around, and sees his new friends coughing, too.

Padgen
(Speaking up.) Did you guys know that cigarettes increase adrenaline and dopamine levels, stimulating both your fight-or-flight and pleasure responses at the same time?

Tamara
So you get, like, excited and happy?

Padgen
Or afraid, it depends. Maybe comfortable, but nervous.

[Claw
Sometimes, fear can slip in from under you, right when you think you're safe. RAWR!]

Amina raises her 'claws' to Sujay.

Amina
"Rawr."

Sujay
(Flatly.) I'm so terrified. Won't anyone help me.

Adelaide
(Shaking her head.) I get it, I can take a hint. Y'all think my habit is nasty. Don't get old, whatever you do... you'll start to need shit like this. You kids enjoy yourselves, and no funny stuff.

Amadu
Thanks, mom-

Adelaide
Except you two, Amadu and Tamara. Keep it in your rooms, though. Hahaha!

Adelaide leaves, closing the door behind him. Tamara frowns.

Amadu
Why'd you say something, new kid? She's gonna think you don't like her.

Padgen is silent. Nobody speaks up for him, either. Amadu's attention quickly finds its way back to the screen.

[Wave
There's only one way to stop this terrible threat... to save everyone...]

Amadu
YO, THAT'S MY BOY WAVE! AWW YEAH!

[Wave
It's time... to make a wave.]

On the screen, Wave punches the ground, sending a magnetic shock-wave through it that ripples even concrete.

Amadu
"It's time to make a wave." Ha! That's so classic.

Amina
So this is the reboot?

Sujay
The original show ended four years ago. This is a new version, just aired yesterday.

Amina
Is that why the aliens are British now? They used to sound Middle-Eastern.

[Alien
Care for a spot of tea, perhaps? Or your DOOM?!]

Sujay
Maybe? I guess it was kind of bad before, like anti-Oasian or something. I'd never thought about it.

[Wave
This is revenge, for my dead father!]

Amadu
YOOO, our dad's gone too! Divorced, but still.

Amina
(Looking at him with eerie.) Yeah, and...?

[Claw
I have a confession, Wave... our father's not really dead.

Wave
(Shook.) He's... not?!

Claw
No, he's... it was only a divorce! But he moved upstate. I meant to tell you, but-

Wave
(Resolute.) Not now, Claw. I feel betrayed, but the city needs our help.

Claw
(Pleading.) Can you ever forgive me?

Wave
Just help me kick these alien butts, and we'll call it square.]

Amadu
(In absolute awe.) No frickin' way... did you see that?!

Amina
(Creeped out.) Yeah... I did, actually. Hey, is this vid-slop? Are we sure we picked the right box to play this on?

Amadu
We don't have a vidprompt in here, remember? That's inside.

Amina
Ugh, right. I hate that thing. But this is gettin' real weird! It's like this show knows who we are.

[Wave
My motha might be the Mayor of the city, but I'm all the power I need to kick your ass!]

Amadu
(Freaking out.) WHAT THE HELL!! WE'RE THE SAME, BRO!!

Tamara
Since when do they swear?

Chad
I guess this is the edgy version.

[Wave proceeds to beat the alien to death. There's orange blood everywhere, dripping like acid where it lands, melting the ground. It melts Wave's gloves and uniform, until he's half-naked, his sweaty abs gleaming in the night. Wave roars, and his guttural noise parts the clouds, making all the cars float a foot off the road, and fall back down when he's done. The Five meets him there, and put their hands on his back collectively.

Ace
It's done.

Wave
It's never done, not till we fend off this invasion for good.]

Amadu
(Copying, grimly.) "It's never done... not till we fend them off for good."

Tamara
(Yawn.) Well, at least you're enjoying this.

Tamara starts to fall asleep, which Chad and Amina already are. The sun's long-since set, and Padgen finds herself drifting off, too.

[Burst
C'mere, handsome.

Burst, a muscular blond American woman who looks like an adult version of Tamara with the hair of a swimsuit model, stumbles up from her underground cage in a sexy slave outfit. Remaining aliens drop barricades all around them.

Burst
Stand back... this is gonna hurt. Them, I mean.

She explodes the concrete barricades in front of her with glowing bursts from her hands on the street, which cascade and chain-react into exploding every single car on the bridge.

Burst
Woops... guess I'm a little rusty. Hope you'll forgive me.

Wave
(Deep and sensually.) There ain't nothin to forgive, baby.

Groovy beats score the spicy moment. Burst walks up to Wave, and pulls him in for a hug. Wave, who looks like a seven-foot version of Amadu with an afro, kisses Burst passionately.

Wave
(Crying a single manly tear.) I'm never letting you go again.]

Tamara
(Sleepily.) Wow. How romantic.

Padgen
(Confused.) Wasn't he supposed to forgive Claw, though? Seems like a last-minute rewrite.

Tamara's arm falls off the back of the couch, as she drifts off completely. Amadu, hazily uncertain if he's in the real world or the one inside the show, takes it for a hug, and kisses Tamara right on the lips. She wakes up startled, wide-eyed.

Amadu
(Groovy.) I'll never let you go.

Tamara
(Alarmed.) I don't even like you!!

Everyone wakes up as Tamara jumps off the couch, and spits into her drink.

Amadu
But I thought – we're like Burst and Wave, baby! We've known each other for years! It's you and me to the top, forever! You're my Mrs. Prime Minister!

Tamara
Burst and Wave aren't real, you idiot! And neither are the made-up versions your mom keeps pushing on us!

Tamara leaves, and makes a call on her way out. Padgen watches her go inside, probably to pack her stuff. On the screen, one name in the credits sticks out like a sore thumb to everyone. Sujay pauses, just before it climbs away...

[Head Writer: Sham Khalid]

Sujay
...so that's what my dad was working on.