Avengers Mansion, New York City, 12:30 PM, January 7th, 1964
"You know, to be honest, I was kinda hoping for more..."
In front of me, a blurry, humanoid figure made up of swirling lights stands silently, it's only response to my words is to mimic crossing it's arms the way I'm doing. It almost makes it look like it's petulantly copying me, which I guess it technically is, since it actually IS me in a way.
Things have been pretty calm ever since the holidays ended, though from what Peter has told me, street crime has slowly begun to tick upward again once New Yorks ever-present muggers and purse snatchers realized they weren't going to have the Avengers drop down on their heads every single time they stepped outside. The team has been able to refocus on their careers away from the masks and capes, Tony is back at Stark Industries, Bruce and Hank spend most of their time in their labs, Janet on her fashion work, Dr. Blake is at his medical practice, and Peter is back in school, leaving the mansion to me and Steve, the only people around who don't actually have any day jobs, and even that is looking to change.
"You know you don't actually HAVE to get a job if you don't want to, right? It's not like Stark is going to start charging rent."
"Nah, it's not about the money so much, I just need to get out there, make myself useful again" Steve says, flipping through an old issue of Weird Tales he dug up in a thrift store somewhere in Brooklyn. "I've been working since I was 13, I ever tell you that? Used to get up at 5 AM to sell papers on the corner. Before the war, I worked as a commercial artist, and I did pretty good money there, for the time anyway."
I nod "Yeah, I've seen some of the illustration work you did in old magazines. I wonder what the history books would say if anyone knew Captain America spent his 20's drawing pin-ups of sci-fi ladies dressed in miniskirts and tigh-high boots"
Steve smirks "Buddy, you haven't even scratched the surface with those. You know what a Tijuana bible is?"
"Yeah..? Wait, don't tell me YOU-"
He shrugs with a smile "Hey, it might not be the kind of work I prefered doing but the pay was damn good, even better than what the actual magazines were willing to shell out. I don't know where people got this idea that I was some blushing schoolboy who couldn't even look a woman in the eyes without saying two Hail Mary's afterwards. If it got the rent paid and stocked up the pantry, you better believe I drew my share of smut. Mind you, I still didn't sign my real name in those, I still had common sense."
"The unexpectedly sordid past of Captain America aside, that bring up another issue. It's not like you can use your real name if you start working illustration again, I know there's plenty of other Steve Rogers in America, but someone might put two and two together if one of them happens to draw exactly like the Steve Rogers from 20 years ago. You might need a pseudonym..."
"Way ahead of you" He reaches over and picks up a black, leather portfolio folder and flips it open, revealing a large, poster-sized paper attached to the first side. It's a pencil drawing, drawn in the style of the old War Bonds posters featuring Captain America himself, the ones that had been made when he still had his triangular shield, before he'd been deployed to actually fight in the war. It reminds me a bit of the original Jack Kirby and Joe Simon covers I'd seen in my own world, except this Steve is a good deal more muscular, and looks more like the man sitting next to me. "It's one of the pieces I'm putting in my portfolio, figured I might as well start with a subject I know well."
"Stealth self-portrait, nice"
"And I figure this should do well enough as a cover" he taps the bottom of the drawing, where the name "Steven Grant" has been scrawled as a signature.
.....
So, with Steve off to rejoin the art world, albeit the world of commercial illustration which in my experience consists mostly of getting yelled at by two different people who contradict eachothers instructions, I've been left to my own devices for the most part. So, I figured, why not take advantage of this free time and try to develop my abilities a bit? Ever since I first joined the team, and had Tony and Bruce test me, I know my powers can be used for far more than just speed and laser blasts, but I guess I've just kinda been drifting a bit in these past months. It feels like I've either been out with the team doing whatever Avenging needs doing that month, or I'm recovering from it. And yeah, admittedly a bit of it is probably me just coasting a bit on the parts of my powers that just came naturally with no effort.
So, I went back to basics, going through all the things Tony and Bruce told me about the possibilities of my powers when they first helped me out. Like Bobby Drake, there's no real reason for why my powers would be limited to just one thing, light manipulation covers a LOT of ground, at least some of which I'm probably not even considering. Invisibility I already sort of know how to do, it simply needs practice, but one thing that occured to me was using light projection to create a copy of myself. Not just an illusion, but a genuine, physical copy, like Multiple Man could. Though hopefully with slightly less autonomy than his had, I don't need copies of myself going off into the world on their own and starting families or turning evil or something. I get enough bad press without a bunch of paternity suits on my record.
So, good news is, I can, in fact, produce at least one copy of myself.
Bad news is, it's probably going to take a bit of practice to get right, because right now, all I can get is this glowy guy who only copies my movements. I lift my arms over my head, and the humanoid lightshow mimics me exactly. I wave them around a bit, and he follows. I step forward, and he does the same. I jump back, and so does he.
It's a rather odd feeling, the copy isn't exactly independent, but it's not just a mirror image either. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it's like there's some tiny part at the back of my mind controlling it, but because I don't know how to separate it from myself, the best it can do is copy whatever action I'm taking. Man, this is going to take a lot of work...
Oh, this gives me an idea!
"You know, I feel we should take advantage of this very rare opportunity..."
I turn sideways, with my copy lining up next to me, and begin walking forward...
.....
"What the hell did I just walk in on?"
Me and my glowing clone freeze in the middle of the little dancing jig we were doing, turning our heads towards the door to the gym where Tony Stark is standing, eyes wide as if he can't quite process what he's looking at. Behind him Spider-Man is peering over his shoulder, and I could swear the lenses of his mask look like they're widened in shock, even though I'm pretty sure that's impossible.
"Oh, hey guys! Have you met my light copy? Avengers, light copy! Light copy, Avengers!" I say, giving a presentation wave towards my clone, who does the same move, even though no one is standing on the side of him he's pointing at.
"Okay, two questions; what the hell is a light copy, and why were you DANCING with it?" Stark says, with a tone like the words have a weird taste in his mouth as he's speaking them.
"First question - it's what it sounds like, it's a copy of me, but made of light. I'm still working on getting it to work right, right now all he can do is copy everything I do. Second - we were doing that Groucho Marx bit from "Duck Soup". You know, that bit with the doorway where they act like it's a mirror and match eachother? I love that bit."
"I like that part too..." I hear Peter say quietly from behind Tony, who just shakes his head in resignation.
"Well, if you're done re-enacting old silent movie comedies..."
"I kinda wanted to do the part with the hats too, but it can wait!"
"...we got an appointment to keep, remember?"
I groan and straighten back up. My copy pops out of existance as I release my focus, letting the light dissipate away into nothing. "Right, right, the tailor. Time to go get fitted for clothes that'll let us fit in with decent society. Ugh, shirts with sleeves are so square!"
"Suck it up, Sunshine! We gotta set a good example for Spider-Pup here!" Tony says, draping an arm around Peters shoulders. Peter just crosses his arms in response, muttering.
"I'm only going along with this because Sunshine said he'd come looking for me if I tried to skip out on the awards ceremony..."
"Hey kid, if I have to wear one of those damn neck prisons they call ties, then so do you."
....
Tony's personal tailor turns out to be a tiny, Polish man with hair so grey it's nearly white, who normally runs a small shop in Manhattan, but as a personal favor, and because it seemed unwise to cram two superpowered people into a very breakable storefront, the man has agreed to do the job at the mansion as a personal favor to Tony. As a result, I'm currently standing in front of an antique mirror that Jarvis brought in from somewhere in the mansion and put into the largest room of the house, the living room, which comfortably fits the whole team. Behind me, the tailor is standing on a stool to get the right measurement of my shoulders while I hold my arms out.
"Hey, how come it's only us here anyway?" Peter says from where he's looking over some fabric samples he's been asked to choose a material for his jacket from "Won't the rest of the team need to dress up for this ceremony too?"
"Yeah, but we're the only ones who need help dressing like adults" I say, as the tailor finishes the measurements on my upper body, and kneels down to check the inseem. "Captain America is going in his army uniform, Thor will be wearing his armor, and Wasp said she prefers picking out clothes for herself and Giant-Man rather than have someone do it for her. And I doubt there's enough fabric in New York to stitch together a suit for the Hulk, so Iron Man is putting together something for him so he won't have to meet the president barefoot and wearing ruined slacks."
"What about Iron Man?"
"You think he needs more suits? I'd be surprised if he doesn't already have one for every day of the week, and three for Sundays."
"You'd actually be off by about twice that. Mr. Stark has been very generous when it comes to providing me with extra clothes" Stark's voice says through the familiar filter of the Iron Man helmet, as he comes walking in from the hallway, dressed up in a black suit and tie. But rather than what I expected, he's not simply wearing his helmet to hide his face, he's actually wearing the suit ON TOP of the entire armor. And considering that it fits the armor just fine, he must've had it made just for this! He stops, tugging at the edges of the jacket. "Well, how do I look?"
"Like it's the night of the big Robot Prom dance and you're going stag. Where did you get a suit that fits over the armor?!"
"What can I say, Zelinsky does good work!"
Zelinsky, that was his name! Man, I'm so bad at names. At least names I haven't been reading in comic books for 30 years.
Behind me, Zelinsky stands up, jotting down a few numbers in a notebook that he quickly slips into the pocket of his apron. "You're too kind, Iron Man. I'm always happy to do extra work for Mr. Stark. I should be have these clothes done for you this weekend, I'll have them delivered on Friday."
Stark nods, shaking Zelinsky's hand before helping him gather up his materials and packing it in a leather bag "Excellent, sorry for the last minute rush, Mr. Stark assured me you'll be seeing a substantial bonus in your check as an apology."
Giving a final wave of goodbye, Zelinsky walks into the hallway, where he's met by Jarvis who shows him out, as Iron Man turns back towards us "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? How did you two enjoy your first fitting?"
"Well, it beats looking for off-the-rack clothes that actually fits me" I say as I pull my vest back on "But before you get too excited, I'm not planning on dropping my usual thrift store look anytime soon. I'll reserve looking classy for special occasions."
"Fair enough. And hey, Spider-Pup, look on the bright side, at least now you don't have to get a second hand suit when it's time for your actual prom! I'll even lend you a limo if you want, just give me a heads up when you manage to get yourself a date for the dance."
Spider-Man gives a weary sigh "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Stark, but for now, I'd rather focus on the terrifying event we already have to deal with. I gotta be honest, I... I'm pretty nervous..." His voice softens as he says the last few words, and suddenly, he sounds as young as I know he really is. Hell, I'm old enough to be his father, and my heart starts beating like a jackhammer when I think about the ceremony facing us, it's gotta be even worse for him.
"Yeah, not gonna lie" I say, trying to sound supportive "it's pretty nerve wracking for me too, I haven't won anything in my life other than a swim badge when I was 6, so this is one hell of a step up. But I try to look at it this way, this is a good thing. I mean, a REALLY good thing. I know we don't do the things we do for rewards or recognition, but you have to admit, actually getting any of those things does feel pretty good. From now on, when people see you, they can't call you Spider-Man, Public Menace. They'll think of you... well, okay, some of them probably still will, but they'll also think of your as Spider-Man, recipient of the Medal Of Freedom! Maybe it'll even get Jameson off your back" I pause "Though... though probably not that."
Spider-Man gives a small laugh "Not unless the medal grants wishes"
...
...and in other news, this Saturday will see the Medal of Freedom ceremony in Washington D.C. Despite some initial controversy, President Kennedy will be awarding the Medal of Freedom to all eight members of the crimefighting team The Avengers, the first time the medal has been awarded to recipients not using their real names. This decision has been highly criticized by several senators and military officials, especially the award being given to The Incredible Hulk, who has been cited as a public danger, as well as controversial members Spider-Man and Mr. Sunshine. However, it has been firmly defended by the president and his administration as well as his supporters in Congress and the Senate.
However, in a decision that has been nearly universally met with approval, the ceremony will also be honoring Captain America, who in addition to the Medal Of Freedom, will also be awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition of his wartime service, an action that has been "20 years overdue", as quoted by Nick Fury, U.S Army colonel and current director of international peacekeeping organization SHIELD, who was also quoted as saying the following -
"Cap did more ta win the damn war than he's even been given credit fer! I can promise ya, all the stories you heard from yer dads, all the little ancedotes in the history books, it barely even scratches the surface for what this man did for his country! And I ain't blowin' smoke, I was there, I saw it with my own damn eyes, back when I still had both of 'em! The guy should have a friggin' statue if I had my say, but knowing him, it was an uphill battle just to get him to accept a shiny bauble to wear around his neck."
For logistic reasons, the ceremony will be held on the White House lawn rather than the Oval Office itself..."441