Chapter 31: Rogers' Trouble

Compared to Gotham, New York doesn't rain often. The weather here is always quite sunny, but there are always a few exceptions throughout the year.

On this day, before dawn, a light drizzle began to fall over New York.

This wasn't good news for the people of Hell's Kitchen. As the largest slum in Manhattan, it didn't enjoy any municipal welfare. There were no diligent street sweepers. Rain only made the streets muddier. If you didn't want your sneakers to be scrapped, you could only wear heavy rain boots.

The smell of garbage and dust would be more obvious in such weather. Shiler closed the window on the first floor. There were always a few drunkards vomiting in his back alley, and the smell was unbearable.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang crisply. Shiler glanced at his watch. It was 6:30 in the morning. Even in fast-paced New York, this time was too early.

Shiler went downstairs and saw a tall, blond, blue-eyed man staring at the calendar on his bar counter.

Shiler said, "It seems Seeing Natasha really booked an extraordinary person for me. There aren't many people who get up before 7 o'clock these days."

The man said, "So I'm very glad to have found a kindred spirit here."

Schiller took out the file Seeing Natasha had sent over last night. He looked at the photo on the file, then looked the man up and down, and said, "Steve Rogers, S. H. I. E. L. D. has booked an unlimited number of therapy sessions for you. They are being so generous that it seems your problems must be quite severe."

Steve shrugged and said, "They think every problem is very serious, including the fact that I ran out without eating breakfast."

Shiler tapped the table to signal him to sit down and said, "Then your decision is very correct. Perhaps the people at S. H. I. E. L. D. didn't tell you that if you happen to come at mealtime, I don't mind treating you to a meal."

Steve smiled, his handsome face looking cool and refreshing.

Shiler made an American breakfast: toast, fried bacon, two sausages, two large hash browns, and two cups of coffee.

Steve wasn't actually hungry, but the smell of breakfast was really too fragrant. He picked up the bread and asked, "Is there any butter?"

Shiler looked at him quite unexpectedly and said, "Oh, there's only strawberry jam."

Then he looked Steve up and down and said, "It seems you are an old-fashioned person. There aren't many people who spread butter on bread these days."

Steve said, "It doesn't matter, I'm just not used to eating such sweet jam for breakfast."

"Then I'll give you some sauce, I made it myself."

Shiler took out a jar and handed it to Steve.

Steve glanced at the coffee cup that was only about the size of a bottle cap, and the concentrated coffee with a rich taste inside, and said, "I'm sorry, but can I have a cup of American coffee?"

"American coffee? Actually, you can just say you want my dishwater," Shiler said.

On the other side, Seeing Natasha, who was monitoring, said to the walkie-talkie, "The monitoring object calls American coffee dirty water, suspecting he might have Italian ancestry..."

Steve didn't get angry. He just waved his hand and said, "Hey, don't say that. I just think concentration is bad for the heart."

Before his voice fell, Shiler drank two cups of concentrated coffee in a row, then took a big bite of chocolate, and the symbiote hummed happily in his brain.

Shiler sat opposite Steve, and the two began to eat breakfast together.

"Initially, Nick told me to come to the slum myself to find a psychologist. I felt very incomprehensible. Isn't S. H. I. E. L. D.'s own doctor good enough?" Steve said.

"But now, I find that the atmosphere here is much better than those psychological consultation rooms in S. H. I. E. L. D. that are white enough to be dazzling."

"Compared to a psychological consultation room, that place is more like a courtroom."

"Who can judge you?" Shiler asked. "Judge Captain America?"

Steve smiled helplessly and said, "That's all old history, including myself."

"I think S. H. I. E. L. D. should also very much hope that you go to their own psychological consultation room, but I'm afraid they also know that it can't solve your problem."

Shiler put down his fork and said, "Did you walk here from the street outside? What do you think of this place? I mean, this slum."

Steve pursed his lips and said, "I don't know how to describe it. This place is terrible because there is no change here at all."

"In the era I lived in, slums were also like this, dirty and smelly drainage ditches, all drunkards' vomit, drunks who had drunk themselves to death leaning against the street corners of buildings, gangs couldn't find a penny from their pockets, and even children habitually went to touch people's pockets, never learning well."

"Many years have passed, and it's still like this here. There is no change at all."

"You think decades have passed, what kind of change should there be?" Shiler took a bite of bread and asked.

Steve spread his hands and said, "Even if we can't eradicate slums, we should at least make their scale smaller, or make life better."

Shiler shook his head and said, "You won the war, Captain America. You indeed defeated that group of Nazis. The just war ended many years ago."

"You think victory should bring many benefits, such as a more prosperous society and people living better. For those suffering, you are willing to fight to the last moment, and you did indeed do so."

Shiler shook his head gently and said, "Decades later, when you wake up again, you find that the world is not like this. It hasn't become what you envisioned before you died. The black world hasn't become white, but has become gray, a color you don't understand."

Steve pursed his lips and looked a bit silent. Shiler said, "I know your problem is not at all what S. H. I. E. L. D. thinks. Sleeping too long and being out of touch with society are not small problems like not knowing how to use mobile phones, liking to listen to the radio, and having too regular work and rest."

"For Captain America, as long as he wants to learn, there is no modern social tool he can't learn."

"If he can't learn it, it can only be because he doesn't want to learn."

"You are resisting this era, unwilling to accept it, unwilling to accept the fact that the results of your hard fighting haven't become as beautiful as you expected."

Steve said bitterly, "I have tried my best. Even if the result isn't good enough, I am trying to accept it. But what makes me saddest is that during the war, if people lived badly, I would strike my enemies hard. No matter what the price, I would defeat them. But now, people live badly, and I don't even know who the opponent is."

"Perhaps you haven't thought about it, your era has passed, then the era for you to be responsible for people has also passed. You don't need to be a war machine anymore."

"Then what should I do? I should always do something, right?"

Shiler said, "Captain America, you are so full of sympathy, so even if I suggest you pursue your own hobbies, such as drawing some comics, doing some sports, you won't put down the suffering of these people and just enjoy yourself. You are not such a person, so I won't give you such useless suggestions."

"I believe S. H. I. E. L. D.'s psychologist has also told you this, right? Is there anyone in this world who doesn't know how to enjoy life? They think from the bottom of their hearts, they feel that if they were like you, they would have flown to Hawaii for vacation, anyway, S. H. I. E. L. D. pays the bill."

"Ordinary people can't understand your excessive sympathy and sense of responsibility. You naturally don't have to worry about their misunderstanding."

Steve felt deeply that finally someone could understand him. He complained not without complaint, "They feel I have many things to do, such as fitness, watching movies, playing video games, but what I want to do is not these. I show resistance, they feel I am too outdated, don't know how to play these things."

"But perhaps you can change a way of thinking, don't pursue understanding from ordinary people. The world is so big, you are not a good person in this era, but there are good people in every era. You can go find them. These people who have saved the world like you, or are saving the world, will understand you."

Shiler said, "And, good people in this era are not without trouble. They don't live as long as you, and they don't have your rich experience. They may have power but don't know how to use it, may have a heart of blood but lack skills, and may also be scattered and not united enough."

"You can go find these people. Your era has passed, but the earth still has to turn, and there are still people struggling to save this world, right?"

Steve sighed and said, "I am an old soldier who is outdated but unwilling to leave the front line. You are right, doctor. Now is the time for those new recruits to go to the battlefield."

"But I have some doubts, whether I can really help. After all, it seems that the rules of this world's operation are completely different from those during the war."

"I have someone I must recommend to you here. He is a lucky kid, and his experience is very similar to yours. He was originally just a nerd who was bullied at school. Suddenly one day, he gained huge power. He started jumping around in the city, not doing any serious business."

"You know, this kind of suddenly gaining huge power can be very dangerous. Without exaggeration, his power is still growing. Dozens of well-trained special forces soldiers might not be his opponents."

Steve couldn't sit still immediately and said, "Indeed, I also couldn't control my power just after I finished the transformation, and accidentally injured two medical personnel. Where is he now? In which hospital?"

"He is still in school now. He is about to have his final exam and is reviewing."

"My God, how can he still be in school?"

He patted the table angrily and said to the monitoring equipment on the table, "Hey, Nick, how did you do it? How can you let a transformed warrior stay in school? What if he can't control his power? How many people will be injured?"

Steve stood up. Shiler waved his hand to signal him and said, "I said, he is a lucky kid. He is different from you. He is not a drug-transformed person, but a special mutation. His power will grow gradually, not uncontrollably in one breath."

"I mean, this kind of adolescent guy, you know, arrogant and sensitive, impulsive and timid, needs someone to teach him well, preferably let him see the dangers of society."

Steve squeezed his fist and said, "Indeed, I have seen many such new recruits. They want to rush to the battlefield with a heart of blood, and when they see bombing and grenades, they are scared and screaming. They are still far away."

Shiler said, "It is estimated that he will finish the exam tomorrow night and will definitely come out to wander. You can stop him and then beat him up. Don't worry, his mutation ability is very strong, and being beaten up is nothing."

Steve was even a bit eager to try. This reminded him of the days on the battlefield, those young new recruits, one by one being disciplined by the captain and screaming, watching the new recruits eat shriveled was one of the few moments in his military career that made him feel relaxed and happy. ===== CHAPTER 32 =====