Slowly, the world showed itself to Captain America once more.

It was all a blur to him, but he could make out that he was in what looked like a silver, advanced medical room. What was really on his mind, though, was the man in the room. He saw a strange combination of tan, brown, green, and black.

As his vision cleared, he could better make out the man. He was a brown-haired man, looking to be in his late twenties. He wore an outfit with a green torso that went black at the legs and the sleeves. His boots and wrists were also green, while his he wore black on his hands. Cap let out a very weak groan, one that the man seemingly did not hear. He had his back turned to Cap, and he held his hand up, with some strange device in his ear. But then Cap's eyes widened when he saw a green ring on the man's right hand, just like Alan Scott.

"You got stuff at the forensic lab?" The man said. The fact that he spoke English, and not towards Cap, ruled out the possibility of him being a Nazi, though Cap couldn't help but feel that something terrible had happened to Alan. "Well, no, it's alright. We won't be going there for a while anyway. As soon as I'm done with my little shift of watching the comatose relic, Danvers and I are gonna head to the Chinese place. And Barry, don't be too late."

Cap saw his shield hanging let on the wall, and he let out a louder groan. The man turned around, and Cap could see that he wore a domino mask on his face – and that he looked completely shocked.

"Holy shit!" The man yelled out. "Um..uh…" the man didn't look like he knew what to do, resulting in a few seconds of silence. "I am the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. And Captain America…boy, are you in for a shock."

The man then held up his hand towards the device in his ear again. "This is Hal Jordan, contacting the entire Vanguard. Captain America is awake. I repeat, Captain America is awake."

Hal Jordan, 'Green Lantern of Sector 2814'. Cap didn't like the sound of it at all. Alan Scott was the Green Lantern, and now Cap was absolutely sure that this man had killed his friend and taken his namesake for himself. And Hal was going to pay for that.

"Green Lantern?!" Cap screamed out, and Hal jumped in apparent surprise.

"Alright, Cap, calm down…"

Cap jumped out from his bed and decked Hal in the face before going and grabbing his shield from the wall, which he used to bash Hal twice.

"Hey, hey!" Hal shouted out as he blocked a punch from Cap. "I'm not your enemy, alright! The Vanguard wants to help you!"

"Don't give me your lies! Now tell me, what did you do to the real Green Lantern?! What have you done with Alan Scott?!"

He tried to punch Hal again, but the brown-haired man dodged him and created a rope with his ring, which he used to tie Cap up.

"Alright, Cap! Listen here!" Hal shouted with exasperation, and Cap just stood there trying to break free. "I am not your enemy. The Vanguard are not your enemies. And the world you've woken up to is very different from the one you were frozen in. We want to help you, alright? And I did nothing to Alan Scott. Alan Scott is still alive. He's a broadcast executive here in New York, and he's doing well. Trust me."

Cap looked at Hal for a moment before nodding, and the rope construct disappeared. Cap just couldn't bring himself to believe this man, however. It couldn't have been that long since the final battle with HYDRA, and he couldn't at all see Alan leaving his job as a railroad engineer. He narrowed his eyes at the new Lantern and punched him in the face.

"Oh, come on!" Hal yelled. Cap bashed him with his shield twice, then grabbed him and threw him towards the medical bed.

He prepared to leave the room when he saw another brown-haired man running through the hallaway. This man stood several inches shorter than him or Hal, and he wore glasses, a dark grey jacket with a white shirt underneath, grey pants, and black shoes.

"I came here as quickly as I could –"

Cap simply bashed the man with his shield, knocking him to the ground. He prepared to run, but then the man got up, and what got Cap's attention was his brown eyes turning green. The man began to groan and yell as if he were in a lot of pain, and Cap wasn't sure of what to do. He snapped out of it and prepared to run, only to stop in his tracks when he saw the man scream at the top of his lungs – and grow more than a few inches in height.

"What the hell?" Cap said as he simply watched in shock.

"You've made Dr. Banner very angry," Hal replied as he walked up to Cap and the man. "And you won't like him when he's angry."

Cap turned back to face 'Banner'…only to find a gigantic green man roaring as his glasses fell off, his pants turned purple and his shirts and shoes ripped up beyond repair. What the hell was with this guy? Now Cap's eyes widened as he had no idea what to do now. The man…no, the monster looked at him and let out another roar before charging towards him. Hal created a circular sphere that surrounded Cap, and ended up protecting him as Banner began pounding and punching the sphere.

Cap was sure Hal was only protecting him because they needed him for later testing, but he still felt a tad grateful. As Banner continued to try and break the sphere, Cap thought about how there was no way to fight this monster. The closest thing he ever saw to anything like this was Ultra-Humanite. But Cap didn't have a gun, and he couldn't be certain that guns would put Banner down so easily.

Hulk began banging his hands onto the sphere as Hal gritted his teeth, and Cap used the opportunity to run. He saw a very tall and bald green man clad in blue armor and a cape, with a red 'X' on his chest, flying towards Banner and Hal. Cap didn't care to learn his story. He just wanted to get out.

He saw a clear elevator and a staircase, and headed down the latter. He went down several flights of chrome stairs until he was finally at the lowest floor…but there was no door. There wasn't any way out.

Cap began to breathe heavily, wondering how this place worked, when Hal levitated down towards him.

"Like I said, Cap. We're here to help you. Let me show you something." Hal said, before encasing Cap in a green bubble and flying towards a circular orange area with black stripes around it. They went to the center, and Hal pressed a button on the device in his other ear that activated a blue beam and sent them outside.

Cap now saw the outside world. It looked like Manhattan, but he couldn't begin to describe the differences to himself.

All he could let sink in was that Manhattan looked significantly more advanced. Everything just had a more sleek look to it. He looked around more, and now he could see that everyone was wearing very different clothes than anything he had seen before. Men and women look sported blue pants, and the shirts and the coats they wore threw Cap off a great deal. What confused him most of all, however, was the rectangular devices that nearly everyone had in their hands – and they all pointed towards Cap, with some flashes coming from the phone.

Hal looked around with Cap. "Before any of you ask, yes. This is the real Captain America, unthawed from ice and welcomed to the 21st Century!"

There were a few 'oos' as the flashes of light continued. Then Cap noticed three figures levitating up in the sky. One was a bulky, also very tall man with long blonde hair and a beard, who had a red cape and a sleeveless blue outfit with yellow boots and light blue circles on his chest. Cap tried to figure out the deal with the second man…if it even was a man. It was a being clad in what looked like highly advanced red armor, with a glowing white center, a yellow faceplate and other yellow parts here and there.

And finally, there was a muscular black-haired man, wearing a blue outfit with a red cape and boots. And on his chest was a red upside down triangle shaded yellow on the inside, sans a red 'S' in the center. And that man smiled at Captain America, while the soldier just looked on, evermore baffled.

Cap walked back into the 'Vanguard Tower' as it was called, located on 890 Fifth Avenue. Cap remembered coming by that address before, and he didn't remember exactly what was here, but it certainly wasn't this. Not this gigantic chrome base.

The interior, he had to admit, was nice, even if it was mostly just the same silver color. He looked at the men who had been levitating outside, who had all introduced themselves. The green-skinned man was J'onn J'onzz, or the 'Martian Manhunter', and he had claimed to be the last of the 'Green' Martians. The blonde man was Thor, the genuine Norse God of Thunder. The robot-looking dude turned out to be a man after all, namely Tony Stark, billionaire owner of Stark Enterprises and the 'Iron Man'. And finally, the black-haired man was Clark Kent, or 'Superman', and he claimed to be the Last Son of Krypton.

He walked around the base with the four and Hal, completely taken aback by what was going on, and to be in the presence of a god and two aliens.

"So you said the 21st Century…" Cap said, desperate for answers as to his predicament.

"It's the year 2015, Captain." Superman replied. 70 years exact since the day he took down HYDRA.

"2015….oh boy…" Was all Cap could sputter in response. He just tried to let that sink in. He felt he would be lucky to be alive by this point, much less the young blonde man he was back in World War II.

"It's alright, Mr. Rogers. We'll help you accustom to this new time period." Manhunter reassured, placing his hand on Cap's shoulder – and Cap felt daunted by just how tall he and Thor were.

"Ay, Captain Rogers! 'Tis a time to be alive!" Thor boasted, holding up his hammer, Mjolnir, up with a grin on his face.

Cap just grimaced. "…Right…" He began to wonder about all of his friends and comrades from the war. He already knew Alan was still alive, but he wondered about everyone else. Jay, Namor, Wildcat, Torch….and Peggy.

Then he saw Banner, clothed in nothing but his pants, running up towards them – he had been told by Hal moments before that what happened was that Bruce Banner turns into a creature called 'the Hulk' when angered. When he stopped running, he took a moment to breathe, and he looked very regretful.

"Captain America, I am so sorry. I didn't think I could hate myself more than I already do, but just…damnit! I swear, I'll make it up to you!"

Cap sighed. "It's alright, Doctor Banner. I don't know what got into me. I think I was just a bit off due to 70 years in the ice."

Banner let out a nervous chuckle. "Usually, I just wish the Grey Hulk would win more often."

Hal, Thor, Iron Man, and Superman all looked just as confused as Cap when Banner said that.

"Since when the hell is there a Grey Hulk?" Iron Man asked, his faceplate off so that Cap was able to see that he was a dark-brown haired man with a goatee.

Banner rubbed his neck. "It's a long story. J'onn and I might tell you one day."

There was a moment of silence before Superman placed his hand on Cap's shoulder. "The rest of the Vanguard will be on their way shortly. Trust me, we've all been looking forward to this moment."

Right as Superman said that, Cap took notice of the blue beam that randomly spouted out from the teleporter. After the blue beam disappeared, there stood a man in a dark, dark grey armored outfit, with a yellow belt, black gloves and boots, and a cowl with pointed tips on the top of his head. And finally, there was a bat-shaped logo on his chest. He approached Cap and the rest with a glare on his face.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Cap asked.

The man looked at Cap for a moment before replying, "I'm Batman."

Superman shook his head. "Batman, we already talked about how we would reveal our identities to Captain America when we got him out of the ice. He needs a social circle, after all."

"Yeah, Batsy!" Iron Man added on, sounding more frustrated than Superman did. "If I had to do it, so do you!"

Batman looked at them for a moment before looking back at Cap. "Bruce Wayne."

"He's a multibillionaire, just like Tony." Superman said to Cap, who looked a little confused.

"Well, now I wanna know…how long ago did you find me?"

"Three weeks ago. You were in a coma for a while, Mr. Rogers." Superman replied, and Cap took note of his polite tone.

Then three more beams shined towards Cap's eyes, and there was a man and two women. The man was clad in a red outfit with a black logo, gloves, and boots, and a silver helmet with red lenses. The taller of the women had long black hair and was dressed like a magician, complete with a top hat, while the smaller one had a black outfit, with yellow boots, gloves, chest markings, and a golden helmet.

They all walked up to Cap, with the armored man and woman taking off their helmets. The man had light-brown hair and five o'clock shadow, while the woman looked to be Asian, with very dark brown hair.

"It…it is an honor to meet you, Cap." The smaller woman said somewhat sheepishly. "I'm Janet van Dyne, or, the Wasp, as I go by when I'm punching bad guys." Then wings popped up from her outfit and she suddenly shrunk til she was about six inches tall, and began flying around, to Cap' surprise.

"And I'm Dr. Hank Pym, but you may call me the Ant-Man." The man said, rubbing his helmet briefly before looking back up. "I can also shrink in size. Can't fly, which is why I won't right now. But I can communicate with ants."

Wasp flew around for a moment before sitting on the magician's shoulder, and the woman smiled at Cap. "Zatanna Zatara at your service." She said, and out of nowhere, poker cards appeared in her gloved hand, and she held them up while still smiling.

Hank held out his hand, and Cap shook it. "Very nice to meet you three."

Then another woman came from the teleporter. She had long blonde hair and looked to be very tall, only barely shorter than Cap. She wore a navy blue outfit with a red mask and more red by her shoulders. She also wore red gloves, boots, and some kind of robe belt on her waist, she had a yellow logo on her chest with strips coming out of it, underneath the red area.

"It's a huge honor, Captain Rogers!" She said as she walked up towards the Captain. "I'm Carol Danvers. I fight crime as Captain Marvel. And I apologize if Highball over there gave you a bad impression of us." She added on with a smirk, nodding her head towards Hal.

"Come on, Danvers…" Hal said with a chuckle.

Then another person came from the teleporter. It was another, black-haired woman, even taller than Carol – hell, she looked to stand taller than everyone sans Thor and Manhunter. She had red armor on her chest, with gold on the top and bottom. She wore a yellow tiara, golden bracelets, a blue battle skirt, and red boots, and she carried a sword and shield, with a lasso on her side.

"So you're the great Captain America." She said in a curious voice. "I am Diana of Themyscira. Man has dubbed me 'Wonder Woman'."

Cap chuckled – there were 12 of them standing before him now, just as big as the Liberty Brigade. He looked towards Superman. "So is this everyone?"

"No." Superman replied, his arms crossed. "We got three more coming."

But it was five people who came out of the teleporter. One was a man clad in all-black, with a cat-like mask and some small areas of silver here and there. The other was a dark blonde-haired man, with stubble and an orange scaly torso with green legs and yellow belt. But it was the other three who truly got Cap's attention – Jay, Namor, and Alan.

He smiled – they had aged very well, each looking to be in their late fifties. Jay and Namor sported the same outfits that they did back in the war, while Alan had a more armored look to him now. Alan and Namor both sported beards, and Namor and Jay's hair were graying. They looked at Cap, and they all stood there in complete shock for a few moments. Jay sped up to Cap while the other four walked up to him. They all stared at Cap, before Jay grinned.

"It is him…it really is him. Steve, you're alive!" Jay said excitedly, and he went and hugged Cap while laughing loudly. Cap hugged him back while smiling. Alan began chuckling while Namor smiled and shook his head.

Namor then looked at Alan. "See, Scott. Did I not tell you we should've looked harder?"

"Shut up, Namor." Alan murmured, and Steve laughed. Their relationship hadn't changed in 70 years.

"To see you again, Cap…!" Jay said as he pulled away, while Alan and Namor approached Cap and placed their hands on their comrade's shoulders. "It's just…it's amazing…"

Everyone else just watched as the four had their reunion.

"Trust me, Cap. This is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time." Alan said, sighing and looking down at the ground.

"And to me, too. The past few decades, they haven't all been sunshine and rainbows…." Namor said, looking depressed for a moment before perking up. "But something great happened to me a while back." Namor pointed towards the dark blonde man and the black-clad one. "The orange guy is my son, Orin. Or 'Aquaman' as he likes to go by now. And that's his friend, King T'Challa of Wakanda – and the Black Panther."

Panther took off his mask to reveal a black man with a goatee, while Aquaman nodded. "It is an honor, Captain." Aquaman said.

"I enjoyed studying about you in school." Panther added on.

Cap smiled at them, before looking back towards his three comrades. "So you three have aged pretty darn well."

"Yeah, we baffled at first, too." Alan clarified as he and Namor took their hands off Cap's shoulders. "But we eventually learned that the exposure to Karkull's energies from when he died slowed down our physical aging."

"That'll do it." Cap replied. Then his smile disappeared, and he stood silent for a few moments before asking, "Are any of the other Brigadiers alive? What about Rock and Peggy? And Bucky…" He knew Bucky's chances of survival were very low, but he wanted to hear the final confirmation.

Alan sighed. "Rock and the rest of the Brigade, they've all passed, and we never found Bucky. But Peggy's still alive, in London."

Cap was sad to hear everyone else pass on, but he was happy he could see Peggy again. He wondered about what the last 70 years had been like for her….

"A lot has changed, Cap." Alan added on.

"Indeed it has, if I may pipe in." Superman said as he approached the four, and Cap in particular. "And I have an offer for you, Captain. You can stay here, and join the Vanguard of Justice. Trust me, it won't be easy for a 40s man such as yourself to adjust to the modern world. The Vanguard can, and wants to, help you, Captain America. If you so choose, of course."

Superman held out his hand, and Cap thought about it for a moment, before deciding that he probably would benefit from some aid in adjusting to the modern world. He shook Superman's hand, and Superman chuckled. "I'm shaking hands with Captain America…" Superman whispered, which Cap could barely hear.

"Pardon?"

Superman cleared his throat in response to the soldier. "My bad, Captain. It's just that I've greatly admired you ever since I was a kid."

Cap let go of Superman's hand and smiled. "It's alright. And you can call me Steve."

Superman smiled, but before either of them could say anything more, the teleporter came on and one more man showed his face. He was a man who wore red with yellow boots. He had lightning on his wrists and belt, and he had a yellow logo with white in the inside and a yellow lightning bolt at the center. And finally, he had wingtips at his mask.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone!" The man said, and Cap saw Hank shaking his head and Batman sighing. The man looked to be capable of super speed as he zoomed towards Cap right away, and he took off his mask to reveal a blonde face. "My name is Barry Allen, and I'm The Flash. Well, the second Flash."

The two shook hands, and Cap chuckled once more. "Two Green Lanterns and two Flashes…"

"Yeah, it's amusing…." Jay said, but then he frowned and looked at Cap solemnly. "But Steve, if you want to see Peggy, I gotta get you to London right away. She doesn't have much time left."

Cap's eyes widened as he now worried for his dear love.