Steve's mind was swimming with images. A Nazi base, one of the last ones. A missile, with coordinates set for Brooklyn, New York. His partner, his best friend, climbing onto the missile and detonating it in the sky. And then that ugly pink hood came off, and Steve looked into a face that wasn't human…

Hello darkness, my old friend.

Then new images swam forth. He wasn't sure what he was seeing. Shapes; vaguely like people, something that sounded like English as people exclaimed as to what they'd found. Is this Heaven? Steve wondered. He wasn't a religious man, but he'd always sort of thought he might see his mother again in the afterlife. No...it's too cold to be Heaven… he realized.

Suddenly, everything was solid and real again. Steve's eyes shot open. He was on his back, looking up at a ceiling. He began to take in the room he was in. It was a comfortable size, with a door on his left with a potted plant next to it. To his right, a man in a business suit was tending to an IV with dark red liquid. A blood transfusion? Steve thought. However, he didn't have time to think about that, because the man turned to face him, and Steve recoiled at his face.

The man was almost bald, with only a few wisps of hair protruding from his head. He had sunken eyes, with irises that looked all black, and his skin was deathly pale. He had pointy ears, and a mess of sharp teeth spilled out of his mouth. Steve leapt out of the bed-more spry than he would have expected, considering he had just been hospitalized-and grabbed the nearest thing he could, which turned out to be a tray for carrying medical utensils, and held it up between himself and the monster like a shield.

"Whoa, hey!" the monster said, in a surprisingly normal voice. "Calm down, Colonel Rogers!"

"What are you?" Steve asked.

"I'm a friend."

The earnestness in the creature's voice made Steve want to believe him, but he held his ground. "I don't think so. I never forget a face."

The creature's strange, misshapen mouth seemed to form a smile. "Glad to see your sense of humor's intact. Let me go get the Prince and he can-"

That caught Steve's attention. Where was he that would have an active monarchy? "Where am I?"

"Don't you recognize it? You grew up here."

Steve frowned. "...Brooklyn?"

"Well, actually we're in Manhattan, but it's a fifteen minute drive-"

"How do you know where I grew up?" Steve asked, confused.

"Wasn't hard to find out. Your name's in every other textbook, saying how you won the war-"

Steve saw his opportunity. He flung the tray at the strange creature, and, thanks to years of practice, hit him squarely in the forehead. While the creature was disoriented, Steve bolted for the door, pushing past a pair of nurses as he headed in the direction indicated by the bright red "EXIT" sign. Behind him, he could hear the creature shouting.

"Code Three! I repeat, Code Three!" Then, under his breath, "(Damn it, is he going outside?)"

Steve reached the hospital's lobby and barrelled straight into the double-doors. Behind him, another nurse urged him to stop, but he didn't listen. He had to get free.

As soon as the doors were open, Steve was hit with a blinding light. He collapsed on the steps to the hospital as he felt his skin burning up. He let out a howl of confused pain.

Before he knew what was happening, he felt hand grab him and pull him back into the hospital. He heard the doors shut, and he crumpled on the floor, blisters all over his skin, panting. His rescuers, two men in suits, both with blankets draped over their heads, towered over him, looking implacable. Then, from out of the shadows, Steve heard a voice.

"You about done?"

Steve looked around to see a bald black man in a trenchcoat, with a goatee and an eyepatch, stepping out of the shadows. "We were hoping to break it to you slowly. It's a lot to take in."

"Break...what...?" Steve gasped.

The man's face was stern, but not unsympathetic. "You've been asleep, Captain. For over sixty years."

Steve stared at him. There was no trace of humor or malice on the man's face. This isn't a trick, Steve thought. "...How?" he asked. Then he looked down at himself. The blisters were almost all gone. He looked back at the man with the eyepatch. "...What am I?" he asked.

"You're a vampire."