#4 Written by J Hammond Edited by Bob Gansler

Cast of Characters

Previously

Captain America ('Steve Rogers')  A man who grew up idolizng the original super-patriot. Due to a mistake on his part when he took the Super-Soldier seru, his mind has become affected, making him a racist madman. Bucky (Jack Monroe)  A young boy who idolized the first Captain America. He took the impure Super-Soldier serum and became a new Bucky. His mind has become affected by the serum, making him a racist.

Cap, Bucky and the African American battled the Klansmen at a burned out church. The African took a bullet meant for Cap and then disappeared in the confusion…

Steve Rogers locked the door of his apartment. He checked the door, making sure it indeed locked, then walked down the hall. He was wearing a black business suit, a white dress shirt underneath and a navy blue tie to top it off. In his right hand, he carried a brown briefcase. In his left, he spun his key ring on his index finger. Steve descended the stairs, humming ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ to himself. He reached the lobby area of the apartment building and was about to exit when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He sighed and turned around.

"Steve? Steve, can I talk to you for a moment?" Marie Whitford, the owner of the apartment building in which Steve lived, and thus, his landlord, sauntered over. Steve scratched his head nervously. Why did this woman make him feel so damn uncomfortable?

"Um…I really have to be getting off to work, Marie…" Steve stammered. Marie smiled at him.

"That’s such a noble profession. Education is so important, after all. Anyway, this isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. How would you like to accompany me for dinner tomorrow night, Steve?"

Steve’s eyes grew wide. Jack had been right; Marie WAS sweet on him. What was he to do?

"Um…sure."

Steve set his briefcase on the table next to the podium and opened it up. He took out a stack of papers and held them out for the class to see.

"I have here in my hand your first tests. Remember, these do not affect your grade at all. This test was simply meant to see where you are at… and let me say, ladies and gentlemen…I expected better."

He began to hand out the tests when he heard the classroom door open and shut. Steve turned to see Jackson Adams entering the classroom.

"Mr. Adams, you are late. You are aware of the fact that this class begins promptly at 8:00AM, are you not?"

Jackson mumbled a brief ‘yes’, embarrassed by the unnecessary attention his professor had called to him. He set his book bag on the floor and slid into his seat, not noticing that Professor Rogers was eyeing him as he handed out the rest of the tests. Rogers looked over the young black man seated in the back row. That's where all of his black students sat. ‘Keeps them away from the real students’ he thought. Rogers was about to move on when he noticed Jackson’s black eye. Was that a bandage underneath his shirt? Slowly, it began to become apparent to Steve Rogers…

Captain America and Bucky leapt from roof to roof. After roughly five blocks, they stopped. Cap motioned for Bucky to wait where he was as he walked over to the side of the roof. Cap climbed down the fire escape till he found the window he wanted. He stopped, opened the window and climbed inside. Jackson Adams rolled over on his bed.

"What? What the hell? How’d you get in here?"

Cap turned on the light and stood at the end of the bed, his arms crossed.

"We have to talk, Adams. I know who you are. I know about your…extracurricular activities. And I know you’re going to stop…if you know what’s good for you."

Jackson knew he was in trouble. He desperately tried to think of a way out of this situation he’d fallen into. Ignorance…that was it! He’d feign ignorance!

"I…I don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain. I…"

Cap kicked Jackson’s bed over, sending him toppling to the floor. Cap picked up the box that had been hidden under the bed. He emptied its contents onto the floor: the African America uniform and shield.

"I told you at the church, boy. I won’t tolerate some impure excuse for an American…a NIGGER, to imitate me. There’s only one Captain America. One. Me."

Cap lifted Jackson up off the floor and slammed him into the wall. Cap held him against the wall, a few feet off the ground. Cap got in Jackson’s face, nose to nose.

"You go out in this costume again, Jackson Adams, and I WILL kill you."

Cap dropped the terrified boy and, wordlessly, crossed the room and dove out the window. Jackson, rubbing his neck, looked at his costume and shield and began to cry.

Steve combed his hair for the fifth time in fifteen minutes. He set his comb down and began to fiddle with his tie.

"Damn it, Steve. You look fine. Why are you so worried anyhow? It’s just Marie!"

Jack hopped up on the counter and took another bite out of his apple.

"She’s so sweet on you, Stevie boy, I bet she wouldn’t even care if you showed up wearing a garbage bag!" Jack laughed.

Steve began to comb his hair again. He eyed the boy in the mirror.

"Don’t you have any homework you should be doing?"

Jack looked at his ‘uncle’ for a moment, and, seeing that Steve was in no mood for his jokes, left the room. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Steve heard Jack rush to answer it. Steve pocketed his comb and walked out of the bathroom.

"Ready, handsome?"

Marie took Steve’s hand. She wore a long red dress. This combined with her makeup and hair styling…well…

"You’re…you’re beautiful." Was all Steve could manage to stammer out. Marie smiled.

"I know."

Jack eyed her for a moment, trying to figure out where the real Marie was.

"What? You think I’d always look like I do when I’m working around here?" Marie laughed. "The last few times you boys saw me, I was in my work clothes. THIS is how I normally look."

"Jack, do your homework and be in bed by ten." Steve ordered. Steve and Marie began to exit the apartment. Jack quickly hustled them out the door.

"Yeah, whatever you say."

Jack flopped on the couch and turned on the horror movie he’d been dying all day to see.

The patient’s eyes flickered open. It took him a few moments to adjust to the bright light illuminating the room from the window. He sat up and disconnected himself from the machines that were being used to monitor him. He got up off the hospital bed and kicked it over, hard. He looked into the mirror on the wall. A cold, metallic face stared back at him. The face contorted into a mechanical smile.

Steve took a small sip from his wineglass and looked around the restaurant.

"What’s the matter, Steve?"

Steve’s attention snapped back to the woman seated in front of him.

"I’m sorry Marie. I usually don’t go out to restaurants much. To be honest, I don’t go out at all, really."

Marie took Steve’s hand in hers and smiled at him.

"It’s ok, Steve. This is the first I’ve been out in about two years."

Steve smiled for a moment. He was normally so confident. Why did this woman make him so nervous? They just sat there in silence for a few minutes before the waiter finally came to their table and broke their silence. The pair ordered their meals and then returned to their uneasy silence as the waiter headed back to the kitchen area.

"So…um, what do you teach, exactly, Steve?" Marie said, hoping to break the ice a bit.

"I’m an American history professor at Roosevelt."

Steve just couldn’t shake off his feelings of nervousness. When he was out as Captain America fighting against super powered world menaces with Bucky and the other Avengers, he was the epitome of confidence. So why the hell was he so afraid of this mere woman? Steve took a roll from the table’s bread basket and split it in half. He buttered it and then offered half to Marie. She smiled and took it. ‘She seems as nervous as I am,’ Steve thought. They sat in silence, eating their rolls, staring at one another. For twenty minutes, they alternated between silence and short quick bursts of small talk. Their food arrived and they ate, in silence. They were just beginning their dessert when the restaurant house band took the stage and began to play a slow waltz.

"Oh, Steve…I love this song! Dance with me!"

Marie took Steve’s hand and led him to the dance floor. She obviously would not take no for an answer. She pulled Steve to the center of the floor and nestled herself close to his chest. If she looked up, she would have seen the sweat pouring down his face. After a few songs, he began to relax and found himself getting into the music.

The African American leapt from a fire escape and tucked into a ball as he bounced off the hood of a car and flipped into a crowd of men. Regardless of Captain America’s threats, he’d decided he couldn’t give up being the African American. His neighborhood needed him. The people here were poor and uneducated. Violence was like a second language to them, one they understood quite fluently. He’d very nearly threw the costume and shield into the dumpster outside his tenement building, but he knew he couldn’t. The responsibility he felt to his neighbor hood overrode his fear of Captain America. He took out the crowd of men, attempting to rob and rape a young woman, with great, and surprising to him, ease. He bounced off without waiting for any words of thanks from the girl he’d saved. If Captain America wouldn’t represent his people, well, then the African American was sure going to try!

Steve walked Marie to her apartment. He wasn’t sure how, but somehow they’d ended up hand in hand as they’d walked home from the restaurant, and had remained that way all the way home and into the building, up the stairs and to Marie’s door. She stopped at her doorway and stood facing Steve.

"I’ve had a really great time tonight, Steve, though I must admit…I was as nervous as all hell!"

Steve blushed and tried to avert his gaze, but he found he couldn’t remove his eyes from Marie’s face.

"Well," said Marie. "I guess this is goodnight…unless…"

Marie took Steve’s hand and led him into her apartment.