A Super-Soldier for the Modern World

.Chapter 3.

"Please sit down, Mr…I mean, Captain Rogers," he said, as Steve shrugged uncomfortably into the office. Steve looked around. Books lined all of the walls and the remaining small space was filled with dark wood furniture and a dark leather couch.

"Please call me Steve," he said. "You must be Doctor Faustus?" he asked as he took a seat on the couch opposite the desk that the man sat at.

"I am," the doctor replied. "Forgive me for not standing," he said as he came around his desk in his wheelchair. "My knees are giving me troubles again today."

"No problem, sir," Steve said.

"So, Steve, I've been reading up on you. Do you feel like you are adjusting to the world now?" Doctor Faustus asked.

Steve was silent for a minute. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. And he also didn't know if he trusted this doctor.

As soon as he'd told Amanda which of the SHIELD psychiatrists that he would be working with, she'd flipped her lid. Steve had thought she'd lost her mind the way she carried on.

"Steve, I don't think you should go to that appointment," she said.

"Director Fury told me that I'm supposed to meet with Doctor Faustus," Steve said. "And I have to follow…"

"I know, you have to follow orders," Amanda sighed. "I can talk to Fury…"

Steve held up his hand. "I'll just go talk to him for a few minutes and be done."

"I can't tell you why, but I don't trust Doctor Faustus," Amanda said as calmly as possible. "I know Fury trusts him, but I can't trust this man myself."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"It has to do with when I was gone. But it started a long time ago," Amanda said. "I know you feel like you have to listen to Fury, because…"

"Because I do. Without him I wouldn't be here today," Steve said.

Steve saw the hurt look on Amanda's face and he tried to back-track.

"I just have to talk to him for a few minutes. They want to make sure I'm adjusting to the modern world okay," Steve said. "And I wouldn't be where I am without you either," he said, attempting to put his hand on her arm to comfort her.

"You should cancel your appointment, or reschedule it. Until I have a chance to figure Faustus out a little better," Amanda said. "I can talk to Fury…"

Steve held up his hand. "Its fine, Amanda. Besides, Fury doesn't want you near SHIELD until your vacation is over."

"I don't care."

"Please be rational about this," Steve said.

The look on Amanda's face said it all. She was very upset.

"Fine, Captain Rogers, do whatever you want; whatever you think you need to do. But when this all goes south…" she trailed off before slamming the door to their bedroom behind her.

"That didn't go well," Steve muttered to himself.

Steve forced himself to be present in the conversation he was having with Doctor Faustus.

"How do you feel about the recent events in New York City?" the doctor asked.

Steve thought for a moment.

"I think there is always room for improvement, but considering the circumstances, I think we all made a good team," Steve answered. "Although, getting the crash course on everything has been a little overwhelming."

"Would you say overwhelming as good or bad?" the doctor asked.

"I'm not sure if the word overwhelming can mean something good," Steve replied. "Even though it's overwhelming, I feel like I've been doing okay. I function pretty well in stressful situations. After all, that's what I'm here for."

"Is that how you feel? That you were simply created for this one purpose?" Doctor Faustus asked.

"Well, if you know something that I don't about the Super-Soldier program, I'd be very interested in hearing it, Doctor Faustus. But as far as I know, it was an option for me because I was a skinny, sickly kid from Brooklyn who just wanted to serve his country. I was determined to do it and Doctor Erskine offered me that chance. But the Super-Soldier program was created because first HYDRA wanted a race of guys built just to fight. When the Red Skull went crazy after a failed attempt at it, Erskine came to America," Steve said. "You probably know most of this anyway."

"I'm interested how you feel about being the only person that it worked for," the doctor asked.

"It's changed over time. The American public loved me; saw me as a symbol of hope during the war, despite the fact that I hadn't done anything for the war except push war bonds. The soldiers doing the actual work and fighting for an end to the war hated me. I was dressed up and useless."

The doctor nodded. "But then something changed."

"Yes. I went out and did some real work, earned my title. And then it all ended. Well, they told me it all ended when I woke up, but the world doesn't really seem to be in any better shape than it was," Steve explained.

"Do you really feel that way?"

"Just because the Red Skull isn't behind it, doesn't mean the world is in bad shape," Steve said. "But I'm always going to do what I can to help fix it."

"That's very admirable," Doctor Faustus replied.

"I suppose," Steve said. "It's just always how I've felt."

"And I understand you're in a relationship with one of the SHIELD agents now. How would you say that's going?"

Steve blew out a breath and smiled. For some reason, his first thought wasn't that Amanda Carter was angry as hell at him. Steve remembered the night they'd shared when she got home from her undercover mission. He found himself blushing in response.

"That well, eh?" the doctor asked.

"I'd prefer not to talk about Amanda," Steve said in response. He knew he'd be in even more trouble with her if he talked about her to a psychiatrist.

"Captain Rogers, everything you say is always going to be between the two of us. It's Doctor-Patient Confidentiality. You can trust me."

Steve was still unsure. Amanda didn't trust him at all and therefore he wasn't sure if he should trust this man either.

"What's keeping you from opening up, Captain?" he asked, looking right into Steve's eyes. Steve tried to look away, but he was transfixed.

"Amanda doesn't trust you," Steve blurted out. He was never a good liar to begin with, but something was making him answer this man.

"So because Agent Carter doesn't trust me, you are unsure of whether or not to trust me. I understand the dilemma. Why should you trust me? You don't know me, or anything about me. However, you can and should trust me, Captain Rogers," he said slowly.

Steve nodded his head.

"Do you trust me now?"

"Yes, I do trust you, Doctor Faustus," he repeated back.

Doctor Faustus smiled. "Now that we've got that out of the way, why don't you tell me about your girlfriend?"

…

Amanda Carter was pacing anxiously while she waited for Steve to come back to their apartment. She didn't like the way that they'd left things, but there wasn't much she could do about it now other than apologize once he got home.

It had been too long, though. Where was he?

…

Once Steve had finished his session with Doctor Faustus, he had gone for a long walk. He felt weird. He knew that he'd kept talking to the doctor for a long time, but he wasn't sure what he'd said. Steve wasn't sure what had happened and he really didn't like that. And what was he going to tell Amanda when he got home?

He found himself standing outside of their apartment building debating on whether he was going to go in or if he should just continue his walk.

Steve's cell phone began to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket. Checking the display he immediately answered it.

"Hi, sweetheart," he said.

"Where are you? Is everything okay?" Amanda asked.

"I'm just outside. Give me a minute and I'll be in."

Amanda disconnected the call.

It was now or never. He was going to have to go answer the questions; the problem was, he didn't have any of the answers.

…

"No, even though he's super strong, his mind is just as pliable as anyone else's," Doctor Faustus said, sitting back in his desk chair. He was on the phone in his office.

"Are we going to be able to use him?" the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Of course we'll be able to use him," the doctor said.

"Did you insist that he should come back for more sessions?" the voice said.

"Yes, Herr Skull," Doctor Faustus said. "He's got a standing appointment three days a week."

"Good," the Skull replied. "The plan needs to move forward quickly. I know you can do this."

"Of course, Herr Skull," he replied before they both disconnected the call.

… … …

Author's Note: My sincere apologies that I haven't been updating much on this story. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to work on 4 stories at once. Anyway, let me know what you think!

And a great big ol' thank you to those people that have stuck with me. I truly appreciate it!