"-and it was the tail end of one sonofabitch of a year with halloween haunts and space kooks and nazi nasties back from the dead, we needed all the Sunshine we could get in The Village, because when even the high lord of the land Kennedy himself couldn't keep on truckin' down the street for our votes, that's a grim day indeed! But never fear America because the star-spangled man with a plan is back home from the hill, and he's brought his Avenging friends with him, and this is New York after all, where all the Made In USA Superheroes hang their hats so even when we were looking for our groove moods at the bottom of our empty coffee cups, we got a visit of the most fancy and unexpected variety when a Sunshine Man and his companion of the day the Spider-Dude (you know the one, the papers hate to love him) decided to drop by for a chat over coffee and truth and we all got to talking about the ins and outs about life and liberty and with great power comes great responsibility
Yes true believers, you read it here first, it was down here in the Village down Broadway Way at the Coffee A Go Go where hey the food might suck but atleast the portions are small that yours truly got to meet a real life Sunshine Superman!"
- Excerpt from "Who Were those Masked Men? - Of Mutation and Coffee Breaks" by Tom Wolfe, Esquire (February 1964)
.....
"Hey, I saw that episode of Ed Sullivan you were on! How come you quit TV, you were really good!"
The teenagers who were clustered over by the window when we walked in have finally decided to gather up their collective courage and wandered over to join their fellow coffee house patrons in gawking at their supehero visitors up close. One of the girls, a pretty blonde wearing a wool-coated jacket over her dress, is the first to say anything, and like every teenager I've ever known, myself included at that age, manages to dig into a nerve without even realizing it. Peter is understandably reluctant to even speak about his very brief time in entertainment, considering how much a minor lapse in judgement cost him. I can see him stiffen at the question, but he does his best to pretend nothing is wrong.
"I just... realized show business wasn't for me. I decided I'd rather put my powers to use helping people than showing off with them. The pays crap, but..." He shrugs, trying to sound glib, but there's a slight shakiness in his voice. The teens don't seem to notice though.
"That's so selfless of you!" the blonde girl gushes "My dad talks about you sometimes, he's a Captain with the NYPD, he thinks you do a lot of good out there, even if some of the other police don't think so. He told me taking Doctor Octopus into custody would have been a lot more difficult if you hadn't been there to help."
"Uh, thanks, I guess." Peter says, unused to civilian interaction that doesn't end with them trying to hit him "Like I said, just trying to use my powers to help rather than for my own benefit now."
"Man, having superpowers must be such a blast though!" One of the boys says, a somewhat nerdy, slightly built guy with short brown hair, dressed in expensive-looking silk shirt and tie under his overcoat "I mean, just look at the kind of things you guys can do! Can you fly?"
"I can't, but he can" Peter points his thumb at me, eager to get the attention off himself "Climbing walls and swinging webs is great for avoiding traffic, but it's not much use when there aren't a lot of buildings around."
"Wow..." the guy says "I'd do anything to be able to fly! Can you... I mean, could you show us?"
"What, flying? Well, I could, but it wouldn't look like anything other than a burst of light to you, I move too quickly to be seen with the naked eye."
"Aw, cmon!" I hear from the back of the group, a dark-skinned girl with short black hair, who's leaning against the bar. "I've never seen superpowers in person, I'd love to see it anyway!"
There's a general murmur of agreement, and I shrug "Alright, don't blink..." I focus on the stage on the other side of the room, and in a burst of speed and light, I disappear from my seat, reappearing instantly sitting on one of the chairs in the middle of the stage. The group by the bar look around in confusion for a moment before they realize what just happened, and begin to whisper amongst themselves. "And now, for the encore!" In another burst, I reappear in my seat by the bar, some of the kids jumping backwards in surprise as I pop back in front of them.
"Groovy..." I hear Bernard whisper next to me. I simply nod.
"I always thought so. It comes in handy"
"Can you... do other stuff like that?" The same teenaged boy asks.
"I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Light is surprisingly versatile." I hold up my hand, and with a bit of focus, it begins to fade out of view as invisibility envelops it. The blonde girl gasps, covering her mouth in surprise. Before they can ask anything else, my arm reappears, and I hold open my palm, with a glowing sphere of light appearing above it. I let it float for a moment before I release it, the sphere zipping over to a coffee cup left on the counter, where it transforms into a golden band around the cup, allowing me to lift it. I hover it over to Zelda, who just stares at the floating cup for a moment before hesitantly reaching up for it. Once she's got a grip on it, I release the band, which disippates into nothing. She still fumbles with the cup for a second, but manages to keep ahold of it.
"There's more where that came from, but I can't really show off the rest without risking wrecking the place, and I doubt the regulars would appreciate that particular light show."
"Bet that would be a hell of a trip though" Bernard says dreamily, while Zelda just gives a long-suffering sigh.
"Please don't listen to him, I'd be the one who'd have to clean it up" She says as she places the cup back on the shelf behind her.
"Man, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen!" The boy says, excited "You actually turned invisble! And those lights! I mean, I don't even know how any of that was physically possible!"
I shrug "Neither do I, figuring out how to use my powers required a LOT of trial and error, and I still don't really know how most of it actually works, just how to make it happen."
The blonde bites her lip, looking curious "But, I mean... how does that even happen? I mean, did you get a serum like Captain America? Ohh, are you a norse god, like Thor"
"Oh come on, he's not REALLY a norse god" the boy protests "That's just a gimmick he came up with, I'm betting it's that armor he has that gives him his powers, just like Iron Man. Is that the same for you? Is...this..." he gives a wave towards my rather bright and clashing clothes with a look of vague distaste "some weird kind of invention? Is that why you have to dress like that?"
Yeah, screw you too, rich boy. "No, I'm not a Norse god, nor did I shoot up to get my powers, and especially nor are my pants the source of my powers." I glance at Peter, who's desperatly trying to make himself part of the background, this is probably top 3 of the things he really does not like talking about in public "And while I can't speak for any of the other Avengers, nor the vis-a-vi of their powers, I was born with mine. I'm a mutant."
And brace for reaction...
"What's a mutant?"
Okay, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting.
It was the dark-skinned girl who said that, but most of the teens look equally clueless. The adults around the bar vary from hesistant, to apprehensive, which is more what I was expecting. The boy looks apprehensive "I... my dad's talked about mutants, when he thought I wasn't around to hear him. He's friends with this guy named Trask, and he says all kinds of creepy stuff about them. Like, mutants are the next evolutionary step and are going to be the new dominant species, because they're stronger than normal humans. That they're going to enslave or wipe us out because that's what humans did to their own ancestors."
That does get a few scared looks. Even Zelda looks briefly uncertain. Well, this is going to be a lot more common in the future, time to see if I can nip some of it in the bud.
"Yeah, I've heard this argument before, so let me just clear some things up. First of all, even if evolution worked like that, which it doesn't, being a mutant does not make you automatically superior to other people, because it would require your mutation to give you an advantage in reproduction. People with mutations can be given just about any sort of abilities, and it's not even guaranteed that they'll survive the process! Sure, MY powers are impressive, but I'm just one guy. For every mutant like me, there's a hundred others with blue skin or pointy ears or just an extra finger. Not exactly an evolutionary advantage."
"Second, I know about Bolivar Trask, and he is an ANTHROPOLOGIST, not a geneticist, or even a biologist, all he did was study too many old cultures and worked himself into a frenzy over the idea of ending up irrelevant and forgotten. That's a testament to his paranoia and self-loathing, not reality. The idea that mutants are a threat to humanity is based on the assumptions that they aren't human too, which simply isn't true. Some of us can do some groovy stuff, but that's it. We're still people, no better, no worse..."
"Amen, Sunshine dude!" Bernard grins and flashes me the V-sign. I glance quickly around the room, and while a few people still look a bit worried, most seem to be relieved, or atleast thoughtful. I know mutant hysteria hasn't happened yet, but the unknown is still scary. A guy in armor, or a vial of superpowers, that people can understand. But someone just born with their powers, for seemingly no reason? It's a lot to take in. All I can do is try to alleviate it.
"And with that thought, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you, dear poets, writers and various other artistic drifters. The city calls!"
I finish my coffee, before pulling mask back down. Spider-Man, seeing me begin to move, finishes his own, and slides off the bar stool. Seeing that we're preparing to leave, Zelda calls to us.
"Hey, um, if it's not too much to ask? We never really had... well, celebrities in here before. You mind if we take a photo before you go?" She pulls a worn old camera from a hook behind the bar, and holds it up with an uncertain smile.
.....
COFFEE-A-GO-GO WALL OF PHOTOS
PICTURE: [An old black and white photo in a glass frame, showing superheroes Mr. Sunshine and Spider-Man, with the coffee house stage as the background. Sunshine is holding Spider-Man in a loose headlock, giving him a playful noogie, while Spider-Man struggles against the grip, his flailing arms a blur. Their names have been scribbled on the bottom corner of the photo in white marker.]
Mr. Sunshine, Spider-Man, Coffee-A-Go-Go, December, 1963