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October
Year 1 |
It is a bright spring morning in New York City. All over this great metro- polis people go about their daily routines. Men and women report to work in offices, shops, construction sites... every place imaginable. Including a stately manor near Central Park.
This manor is no ordinary place of work, and the people that work here are not ordinary people. They are something more. Take, for example, this gentleman cleaning the kitchen after the morning meal. He is a butler by trade, and the perfect gentleman. He takes great pride in his work, and treats his position of responsibility with utmost seriousness. His name is Edwin Jarvis. As he finishes his task, he walks out of the kitchen and into the hall, on his way to the study, which is in dire need of a good dusting. As he walks down the hall, he encounters another man ready to go about his work today.
This man is also slightly more than the average person. Although he possesses the same great strength of character as Jarvis, he is also the pinnacle of human physical achievement. His name is Steve Rogers. Perhaps you know him better as Captain America.
"Good morning, Jarvis. Busy day today?" Steve asks. He is wearing is legendary red, white and blue costume, sans mask (which he holds in his left hand), with his legendary indestructable shield strapped onto his back.
"Yes, Master Steve," the ever-faithful butler replies. "I was just about to do some dusting. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No thanks, Jarvis," Steve smiles. "I was just on my way out. I thought I'd get some exercise outdoors today - take a jaunt around the city, enjoy the scenery."
"Have a good time, then."
"Thanks, Jarvis." With that, Captain America puts on his mask and exits the mansion. Minutes later, he is leaping across rooftops, testing his own agility and reflexes.
"It's nice to just get out of the mansion and see the city without having to rush off to face a super-villain," Cap thinks. "It seems that I haven't had much time to enjoy myself lately - I've been so busy fighting one super- criminal after another. Hmm. What have we here?"
Cap quickly scales down the fire escape of the building he was on and reaches the street. He approaches two middle-aged men exchanging very heated words. "You lousy bum! I'll murder ya for that!" one man shouts.
"Oh yeah!" the other shouts back. "I'd like to see you try! I'll punch you inta the middle a next week before you c'n even blink!"
Captain America seperates the two men. "All right you two, break it up. Now what seems to be the problem?" Cap asks in a stern voice.
"Dis jerk says the Mets is gonna come in last this year!" one of the men replies. "I wuz about to teach him not to talk about my boys like dat!"
"Your boys couldn't win 70 games if they wuz playin' tee ball!" the other man retorts. "Tell 'im, Cap!"
"That shows what you know! Cap's a Mets fan, right, Cap?"
Captain America can't help but laugh. "With the type of battles I have to wage every day its nice to know that people can still argue over something as simple as baseball. To answer your question, I was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers when I was a kid. I still like baseball, but it's just not the same since the team moved out west."
"Now that's something we c'n agree on!" one man states. "Those lousy hippy Californians, stealin' our team! The bums!"
Cap makes his way back to the rooftops and continues his morning jaunt with a smile on his face as the two middle aged men begin to discuss the reason for the decline of western civilization: sports teams that move to new cities. "Sometimes I forget how simple life is for most people," Cap thinks. "To be able to argue sports all day, and not have to worry whether HYDRA is about to destroy a major city, or Ultron is going to wipe out the human race. But I don't regret the path my life has taken. I'm proud to serve..."
Cap's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sound of gunfire. Before the sound has finished its echo Captain America has already turned and begun sprinting in the direction the shot came from. He hears three more shots ring out before he reaches the location, only a few blocks away. It is a public school.
"Good lord!" he thinks. "Some maniac must be attacking children! I've got to put a stop to this!" However, as he leaps down into the school's play- ground he sees just how wrong he is. It is not "some maniac" who is shooting at innocent school children. It is two fourteen year old boys shooting at their classmates.
"My God! What are you doing?!" Cap exclaims.
"Get back, man!" one of the the kids shouts nervously as he fires wildly in Cap's direction. Captain America's indestructible shield easily blocks the shots, and Cap is on the boy, disarming him in an instant. The other boy looks on increduously, and drops his gun.
"Why did you do this?" Cap asks angrily.
"They deserved it, man, they deserved it!" the first boy shouts.
"No one deserves to be shot at school!" Cap responds. He hears the sirens coming, and sees several teachers coming onto the playground. "Watch these two while I make sure the others are okay," Cap orders the teachers.
Cap sprints to the three victims laying on the ground. He quickly checks the vital signs of all three. "These two are hurt, but I think they'll make it. This other boy looks like some of his internal organs are hit - he needs medical attention right away."
Cap attempts to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, the sirens he heard were not only the police, but an ambulance as well. The paramedics quickly arrive and begin treating the boys.
"Are they going to be alright?" Cap asks one of the paramedics.
"The two with minor injuries should pull through fine, but I'm worried about this other one. We've got to get him to the hospital right away. Let's get these boys on the ambulance!" The paramedics place the three boys on the ambulance and speed off to the nearest hospital.
Cap stands and watches as the ambulances drive off, stunned that such a thing can happen. After a moment, he walks over to the police officers who are questioning the two boys.
"They're names are Rob Parker and Joe Johnson. Fourteen years old, and already facing an attempted murder rap," one of the officers says as he shakes his head.
"Have they told you why they did it?" Cap asks one of the officers.
"They're not saying much," the officer replies, "but near as we can tell, the boys had some sort of petty argument - the kind we used to get into little shoving matches over when I was a kid. The only thing is these two decided shoving wasn't enough."
"Unbelievable," Cap shakes his head. "And where did they get the guns?"
"We don't know. We're going to try to trace the serial numbers, but that may not get us anywhere."
"Understood. I'll see what I can find out - can you keep me informed of your investigation? You can get in touch with me either through my hotline or Avengers mansion."
"Sure thing Cap. As soon as we learn anything, we'll let you know."
"Thanks."
Cap leaves the scene, deeply troubled. "Kids killing kids - I can't believe this is what our society has come to. How could this children have gotten these weapons? Could it be from the same type of scum that sells them drugs?"
Cap spends the rest of the day tracking drug pushers and weapons dealers, but to no avail. Finally he returns to Avengers mansion, exhausted.
"Master Cap, are you alright?" Jarvis asks, noting the unusually sad countenance on the face of the living legend.
"No, Jarvis, I'm not. I saw two children shooting some of their classmates today."
"Yes, I heard about that on the news."
"It's incredible. This morning, I saw two men arguing baseball and I thought how nice it is to be able to hold a heated discussion about something so trivial with your friends. Apparently, these children had been arguing about something just as trivial, but they felt it was important enough to kill each other over. I've tried to find out if the guns might have been given to those kids by some street punks, but no luck so far. I thought I'd just stop by for a quick sandwich before I head over to the hospital to see if those boys who were shot are okay."
"Yes sir. I'll get you something right away."
"Thank you, Jarvis."
After some quick nourishment, Cap heads for the hospital the boys were taken to earlier. The receptionist directs him to the appropriate doctor.
"Doctor LeMasters, how are those boys doing?"
"Well, John Fisher and Joe Mixon, the two with the minor injuries, are recovering nicely. Unfortunately, the other boy, Tommy Walker, had lots of internal bleeding as well as a punctured lung and a damaged kidney. He's been in surgery, but he lost a lot of blood. I think he'll pull through, but he's still in critical condition."
"Can I see him?"
"Sure Cap."
Captain America enters Tommy Walker's room. "He's sleeping now," Dr. LeMasters says. "His vital signs look encouraging, though."
"I still can't believe this," Cap states. "I'm going to find out who gave those boys their guns, and make sure they pay. I swear it."
Next issue: Cap tries to track down the source of the guns, but the answer he finds is not what he would have hoped. Plus, it looks like AIM is at war with... itself? And hey, is that Nick Fury in the middle of it?
Message from Matt
Hi! I hope you enjoyed what was originally intended to be my first issue of Captain America. This issue was actually completed around May 16 or so, and I didn't know then I'd be writing 463 as well, so this is the issue that was intended to be your introduction to my take on Cap. I'll be taking Cap in a bit of a different direction, and I hope it'll interest you. Let me know what you think!
Special thanks to Mark Bousquet - if it wasn't for his suggestion, I probably would never have taken a shot at writing this book.
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