A Super-Soldier for the Modern World

Chapter Four

"You have your orders, captain," Doctor Faustus said.

Steve nodded. "Yes, Doctor Faustus," he said.

"You may go now," Doctor Faustus said in his low tone. "I shall see you next week, Steve," he finished in a much lighter, less monotone, voice.

Steve smiled and shook the doctor's hand before exiting the office.

He'd been seeing Doctor Faustus' for three weeks now. Since Amanda had returned to her SHIELD duties a couple weeks prior, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

After his appointment, he was supposed to go meet with Director Fury. He hadn't talked to him in a while and Steve hoped this was good news for him. He was bored.

Steve walked his way to Fury's office and before he could knock, the door slid open.

"Hi, Cap," Fury said from his desk.

"Director Fury," Steve nodded.

"Please, take a seat," Fury told him and Steve did as he was told. "So, how have you been? Good things coming from meeting with Doctor Faustus?"

Steve smiled and relaxed a bit into his chair.

"I mean, I'm no professional, but I think so," he smiled.

Fury nodded. "I'm glad to hear that, Cap. So I know you have to be bored, sitting there on your hands," he said.

Steve wasn't sure how to answer the director, so he said nothing.

"Well, I want you to be in charge of another team, Cap," Fury said.

"Another team?" he asked. "What about the Avengers?"

"You'll always be in charge of the Avengers, but with Stark and Banner on the west coast…"

"And Thor went back to wherever he came from," Steve interjected.

"Right. Since you're here and they aren't right now, you're New York's symbol of protection."

"I'm not going to have to perform in anymore musical numbers, am I?" Steve asked.

Fury laughed audibly. "No, no, Cap. No dance numbers this time. I just want the world to get to know that you're here. And we have reason to believe that the Red Skull is back."

Steve jumped out of his chair. "What?! I killed him."

"Well, you should have been dead, too, Cap," Fury said.

Steve began pacing. "What makes you think he's back?"

"Some of the intel gathered by your pal Barnes," Fury said.

Fury turned to his computer and a protection appeared across the wall. It showed a map of the western border of Germany and then there was close up of one of the old HYDRA bunkers.

"Germany didn't notice that they old HYRDA buildings had people in them?" Steve asked sarcastically. "I feel like they should be keeping an eye on that sort of thing."

"I agree with you, there, Cap. However, since they were kind of falling behind, we sent Barnes and Romanoff," Fury told him.

"They believe that they have had a Red Skull sighting," Fury continued.

Steve fought the urge to put his fist through the wall.

"I have to go then," Steve said. "I need to put an end to the Red Skull for once and for all. Although, I'm pretty sure I did it 70 years ago."

"We don't think he's completely human. He might be partially android now."

"Android?" Steve repeated, letting the word wash around. "Do you mean robot? They just pulled him out of the water somehow and turned him into a robot?"

"Well, for all intensive purposes, yes, but that's not quite how it worked," Fury said. "They're working with AIM."

"Advanced Idea Mechanics," Steve said.

"Yes," Fury replied. "AIM has been doing some weird experimentation and we believe they're working on androids which could rival our LMDs."

"What?" Steve asked.

"LMDs are Life Model Decoys. We've kept that fact under wraps form you Steve because we thought it might be too much, too soon," Fury said.

"Does Amanda know about them?" Steve asked. He wasn't sure why he asked that, but he did. And he asked it with a lot more anger in his voice than he could understand.

"Yes, Amanda knows about LMDs. But she was sworn to not tell you until I gave her the okay. She was only following orders. You have to know that, right, Steve?"

Steve's anger dissipated and he nodded.

"Of course," Steve said. "So, what are the next steps? Who am I going to have on my team?"

Fury nodded and smiled and he opened his office door by pushing a button on his desk.

"I'm hoping you'll pick this man," he said as he rose from his seat.

Steve turned around and found himself smiling.

"Agent Coulson?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"In the flesh," Coulson replied. "Good to see you, Captain Rogers."

"It's good to see you, too, Agent Coulson," Steve replied. "Weren't you…"

"I was, but thanks to our technology, I was able to be brought back."

"He's not one of those LMDs, is he?" Steve asked.

"No, Cap. He's all Coulson, right?" Fury asked.

"Yes, all Coulson," Agent Coulson replied.

"Well, it's good to have you back. And I would be honored to have you on my team," Steve said as he extended his hand.

Coulson shook his hand excitedly and smiled. "And I've got a couple ideas for you, too, Cap."

"What exactly do you want our team to do? What is our task?" Steve asked.

"Task number one is to figure out what AIM is up to," Fury said.

"Figure out what AIM is up to," Steve repeated. "What about the Red Skull?"

"Trust me, Cap, figuring out AIM is going to be a lot more difficult than it sounds," Fury said. "But we know you're the man for the job."

"From what I already know about AIM, I would say Stark is a better choice," Steve said.

"Stark is busy. And he decided to take a leave of absence from SHIELD. He told us that he didn't want anything to do with us for a bit and we are honoring his wishes," Fury said. "So, he is temporarily out of commission."

"Oh," Steve replied.

He wondered if Amanda knew about Tony, too. She hadn't mentioned anything, but that obviously didn't mean anything.

"Steve?" Director Fury said. "Are you all right?"

Steve nodded. "Is it all right if I head out?"

"Of course," Director Fury nodded. "I will be in contact in the next couple of days. Feel free to talk this over with Agent Carter."

Steve nodded once more at Fury, shook Coulson's hand once more and then exited the office.

His mind was conflicted. He could feel it and he was very unsure. Every time he thought of Amanda, or she was mentioned, anger built up inside of him. Steve hadn't felt like that this morning, why was it happening now?

He couldn't go back to the apartment feeling like this. Where could he go, though? He realized there was only one place.

He made a detour in the SHIELD headquarters and then made his way to the gymnasium. Steve was going to pummel the hell out of a punching bag and hopefully the feelings he was experiencing would go away.

He changed and began working out to try to clear his mind. Three hours into his workout, he could hear his cell phone ringing across the room. He continued to hit the bag and it swung wildly on its chains. He let the phone ring and ring. He couldn't answer it. Not while he still felt like she was behind all of his anger.

…

Back at Steve's apartment, Amanda stared confusedly at her phone. Steve always called her back immediately. It had been hours since she'd first called him and now she was still trying to get a hold of him. Something was wrong. And Amanda had a sick feeling that it was because of Doctor Faustus.

…

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