Sharon Carter has a meeting with a SHIELD staff psychiatrist for a psych evaluation in view of recent events. She tells the doctor that her troubles have been building for some time, ever since she was called on the carpet by SHIELD Director Maria Hill….
Hill showed her the film of Captain America escaping from the Helicarrier after his refusal to lead the Avengers in hunting down heroes who did not comply with the Super Hero Registration Act (CIVIL WAR #1). Hill explained that they wanted to stop Cap before he became a rallying point for the anti-registrations side and now that he has gone over, Sharon is going to use her relationship with Steve Rogers to bring him back to the "right" side. Or else….
Sharon explains to the doctor that she resented her relationship with Steve being used against her—even though that relationship was against SHIELD regulations. And she did not foresee herself and Steve falling into their old patterns. As she saw Cap fighting against his former friends, she should have done everything she could to help capture him, for his own sake. And it wasn’t a matter of betraying the man she loved; she was used to putting duty above personal considerations. As she saw firsthand when she talked to Dum Dum Dugan after he and his Cape-Killer team were defeated by Cap, witnessing Dugan’s frustration at having to fight his old friend. So she arranged a meeting with Cap….
After making love at a safe house, she tried her best to change his mind, but Steve was adamant: the Registration side is wrong to be hunting down heroes and endangering the innocent. She defended the Act by citing the training heroes would receive; Steve thought that making heroes’ identities public would put their loved ones’ lives in danger. Sharon said it’s the law; Steve countered that it was a step toward government control. If Captain America doesn’t follow the law, who does?/the issue isn’t black and white but those are the only colors the law sees. Steve insisted he would not back down; Sharon secretly signaled the Cape-Killer team. The armored agents blew a hole in the apartment wall and discovered that Sharon directed them to the wrong address…
…and she can’t explain why when the doctor asks her. She wonders if, for the first time, she is putting love ahead of duty. The doctor suggests they meet again in a few days.
That night, the doctor has a rendezvous with the Red Skull in a cemetery; dropping his disguise the doctor is revealed as the criminal psychotherapist Dr. Faustus. He reports that Sharon Carter does not realize she has fallen in love with Captain America because he manipulated her mind, and that when the time comes, she will play her part in their grand scheme….