Gold to Airy Thinness Beat

Chapter Nine

They hired a new Captain America a week later.

It wasn't particularly hard to find someone. The show didn't call for much acting, just one fake punch and reading a script. His entire body and head was covered by the costume so looks didn't matter either. The producers sent out a casting call, through a proxy company, looking for a man with a general height and weight requirement. Then, once they'd found him, he was told he was going to be Captain America and forced to sign a disclosure swearing he would never breathe a word about not being the original one.

Stephanie was told the basics by the producers and shown a photograph. His name was Tony and he was an athletic, strapping young man a few years older than her. He had hair even more blond than hers and striking eyes and was big enough that the costume designers were excited about not having to add padding to his costume the way they'd needed to do for Arthur to give the illusion he was muscled.

Aside from that, Stephanie knew nothing about him and was perfectly fine with that. The high she'd gotten after showing up Arthur had faded upon the realization she was still as trapped as she'd ever been. She'd soon settled into resignation and stopped even trying to pretend she cared. No more fake smiles, no sticking around after rehearsal so people could ignore her until she gave up and left. She started to behave as if she were as invisible as she felt. She'd get up in whatever hotel room they had her in that week, eat breakfast in her room, and go to rehearsal. She'd walk in with her eyes fixed straight ahead and her head and back straight. She'd preform her parts without making eye contact with anyone, and walk out the second she was done. She'd then spend the rest of her day on her own, usually in her hotel room as she could hardly set foot outside without being recognized and mobbed, mainly by men. She'd retire to bed early, her sleep usually poor and haunted by nightmares of Bucky in danger or worse; and repeat the whole thing the next day. The only break in the monotony were the occasional visits by the various scientists after pints of her blood as they tried to recreate the serum.

On the day Tony was due she actually managed to forget about it until, upon arriving, she was startled to hear a male voice coming from backstage. She slowed her walk down the narrow hall leading from outside as she heard one of the girls say, "I already told you. Her name is Lady Liberty. Sheesh, everyone knows that."

"I know her character's name," a deep, booming voice replied. "I wanted to know her real name. Her parents didn't put Lady Liberty on her birth certificate."

"Maybe they put down Ice Queen," another girl sniggered. "She always struts around like she's so much better than we are. Everyone knows she got Arthur fired because she didn't like him. She's a diva."

"No one liked Arthur," a third voice broke in. Stephanie thought she recognized it as one of the younger girls, Polly. She was one of the few who'd smile at Stephanie when she came in and Stephanie had greeted her a time or two. "He was a total creep. I heard rumors about the way he treated her and it was way worse than anything he ever did to us. She did us all a favor getting rid of him."

A few others murmured assent but Stephanie didn't wait around to hear what else they would say and headed toward her dressing room. She hadn't asked for a private one but the producers insisted on giving her one anyway no matter where she went. Once there she changed into the costume they forced her to wear, grimacing as she always did at how short the skirt. The bodice was just as bad, and cut in a way that shoved her breasts up until they were nearly bursting out the top. It was the outfit they made her wear in the pin up posters and though she'd refused to do any of the truly provocative poses they'd wanted it was bad enough for the posters to exist at all. The thought of them being sent overseas, and Bucky seeing one of them...