Coulson had already left, so Steve could only take a taxi to Arkham Sanatorium. Familiar with the way, he journeyed up to the third floor, but to his surprise, he couldn't open the door to the usual psychotherapy room.
Steve sighed in front of the door, looked up at the door sign for a moment, and glanced around in confusion. At this moment, a nurse walked over and asked him, "Hello, Mr. Rogers, what are you doing here?"
"Doctor Schiller called me for a follow-up, but I can't seem to get in. Where did he go?"
"Oh, he is in a room on the second floor. You can find him there." The nurse smiled and told him.
Steve stood there, looking bewildered. He couldn't understand why Doctor Schiller would change rooms within such a short span of time?
Maybe the previous room needed to be cleaned and disinfected? Steve thought this way while he walked to the second floor. To his surprise, not only the room had been changed, even Doctor Schiller's attire was different.
When he saw Doctor Schiller in the morning, he was wearing a typical white coat. The Doctor Schiller now was donning a suit.
"Good afternoon, Doctor, do you have any events to attend this evening?" Steve joked as he took a seat across the desk.
Unexpectedly, Doctor Schiller didn't respond to the jest. Instead, he scrutinized the medical report, adjusted his glasses and asked, "Tension headache, have you been dealing with Stark again? Did he discuss Bucky with you?"
Steve was dazed in his seat while Doctor Schiller continued with a straight face: "How long do you two intend to go on like this? If everyone in the world was caught up in such a love triangle, then those so-called psychologists who make a living out of fooling, duping and tricking people will strike it rich."
After saying this, he tossed the medical report onto the table and looked into Steve's eyes, "I would advise you to be admitted for a while, but not for treatment. The purpose is to keep you away from meaningless social activities, including meeting Tony Stark and having pointless ethical disputes with him."
"I..." Steve was choked up. He indeed had a quarrel with Stark recently and was quite upset about it, but he didn't realize that his headaches were related to it.
"I think... I will pass. Um... Doctor, I need to go. I'm not finished moving into my house, so I'll head out first." Steve chuckled nervously as he stood up, then turned around and left.
After leaving the room, he took a deep breath. He doesn't know why, but the Doctor Schiller just now felt quite intimidating. Is it because he didn't get a good rest during lunch break? Why has Doctor Schiller's mood dropped so low?
After leaving the hospital, Steve hailed a taxi to return to his apartment. He just plopped down on the couch and hadn't warmed his seat when his phone rang again.
"Hello? Oh, Doctor Schiller, for a check-up? But I just had two a moment ago?? Really? Alright then, I'll come over one more time."
After hanging up, Steve scratched his head as he studied the sky outside the window.
It was already dusk. The warm light flooded into the new apartment, creating a cozy atmosphere. Yet, Steve had barely spent ten minutes in here the entire day. The rest of the time was spent commuting back and forth.
He sighed but chose to leave again, hailed another taxi to Arkham Sanatorium. But to his surprise, he ran into Stark at the entrance.
The two were still at odds, neither acknowledged the other. Stark snorted and quickly stepped into the elevator. He then extended his finger and slammed the door close button.
Left outside the elevator, Steve shook his head and shrugged, gaping at Stark with a smirk as if indicating how childish he was.
After Stark left, Steve climbed the stairs to the second floor, only to find that the second-floor office was also closed.
He asked a passing nurse and found out that Doctor Schiller had returned to the third-floor room. With no other choice, he climbed one more floor and indeed found Doctor Schiller in the third-floor room.
Doctor Schiller had changed his attire yet again. This time he was wearing a more casual tracksuit, looking like he was about to clock out. And, Steve wasn't sure if this was his imagination, but he thought Doctor Schiller looked a bit younger.
Before Steve could even open his mouth, Doctor Schiller, holding the medical report, asked, "Mr. Rogers, what's going on with your brainwaves? Why didn't you get that test done?"
"Well... It seems that machine couldn't read my brainwaves... The medical examiner left that place blank on the form…"
"No worries, you can try the machine here. Oh, it's a bit late now, the nurse in charge of the test has left. Please come back tomorrow morning." Doctor Schiller suggested.
"Aside from that, there are no other issues. For tension headaches, you can take common analgesics on the market. But considering that your physique is different from normal people, the dosage might need to be recalculated."
"Let me see..." Doctor Schiller looked at the data on the medical report, writing as he spoke, "Take this prescription to the pharmacy downstairs and use the medicine according to the dosage I've written. If the pain worsens, come back to me. If you feel dizzy or nauseous, you can reduce the dosage accordingly..."
Steve opened his mouth in surprise, he found that Doctor Schiller's tone had softened considerably. Did he had a good nap in the afternoon and his mood improved?
Steve knew that Doctor Schiller normally wouldn't recommend medication to his patients. He preferred purely psychological therapy, unless the physical symptoms had reached a severe stage. For instance, when Steve's anxiety disorder was at its worst, Doctor Schiller only prescribed him just one course of medication.
Are the treatment styles of all distinguished psychologists as unpredictable as this? Steve scratched his head again, grabbed the prescription, and left the consultation room.
Arriving at the pharmacy on the first floor, Steve found Stark standing there. He walked up, bumped into Stark and asked, "What's up with you? Getting medication too?"
"What's it to you?" Stark answered before grabbing his prescription and leaving.
The next morning, Steve came in for an examination and ran into Stark again. The two tersely traded barbs before parting ways.
At noon, just as Steve finished lunch, he received a call to review the examination results. On his way to the hospital, he ran into Stark, who was leaving.
By the time he left, he once again ran into Stark coming in.
In one day, Steve had made six or seven trips back and forth to Arkham Sanatorium. According to his observation, Stark had made at least the same number of trips, if not more.
Just what on earth was going on? Were their illnesses that serious?