Chapter 1
I stared in awe at the New York skyline as we flew over the city to land in JFK. I turned to my mom to see her smiling at me rather than looking at the enormous buildings and shimmering water. The plane landed with a jolt and finally slowed down to stop at our gate. We finally got off the plane and enter the airport. After retrieving our bags my family made our way down to the lower floors of the airport to find a taxi to take us into the heart of the Big Apple.
My mom and dad stood at the desk trying to book a car big enough for the four of our baggage and us. My brother sat on one of the grimy benches playing some video game on his laptop. I walked around the concrete garage like space taking everything in. I was in New York City, the city of my dreams.
My family was originally from St. Louis, what I think of now as a knock off big city. Like it's trying to be a big glamorous city but failing because of its overwhelming boringness of being in the Midwest. When I was young we moved to Fayetteville Arkansas, a smaller, funky town in Northwest Arkansas. Almost my entire life I had lived in a small town and visited a bigger city to see my grandparents, just getting a small taste of city life every once in a while. But now, this was the real deal, this was New York.
I paced around listening to my parents speak to the woman at the desk about getting a cab to get us into the city. I stopped to look at a stand of coupons and ads for things to see and do in the city when it caught my eye, a tall dark slip of paper with the unmistakable suit of Iron Man on it. At the top it said the "Avengers Station". I had no clue what the "Avengers" were but it had something to do with Iron Man so I was in. I picked up the slip and read through it. It described an interactive exhibit off of Times Square detailing the two Super Heroes we knew and loved, Iron Man and Captain America.
I pocketed the paper as my parents rejoined my brother and me to grab our luggage and head out.
The cab driver scared the daylights out of me. I had heard stories of New York traffic but I never expected it to be as bad as it was. After 45 minutes and narrowly avoiding 3 major collisions we were at our hotel. Mom and Dad once again left Stew and me to ourselves in the lobby while they checked us in.
I pulled the "Avengers Station" ad out of my pocket and looked at it again. For some reason I couldn't explain it filled me with a strange sort of…hope.
"What's that?" I jumped, startled by Stewart's voice jolting me out of my reverie.
"Uh, I'm not really sure actually. I found this ad on the rack back at the airport"
"What's the "Avengers"?" He asked me.
"Beats me, but it says this is an interactive exhibit about Iron Man and Captain America." I replied not taking my eyes off the paper
"Cool. Are we gonna go?" At this I looked up at my younger brother.
"I want to. I'll talk Dad into it. No way am I missing anything about those two" I told him.