Hal, Carol, Barry, and Steve had all gone to a Village Inn for breakfast. Hal and Carol were on one side of the table, and Barry and Steve were on the other. They were watching the press conference from Barry's iPad.

Black Panther: Alright, wait a minute, everybody! Come, settle down!

Hal let out a half-smile and shook his head. "Man, I am so glad I passed on that conference."

Cap had his chin cupped, and he couldn't help but stare at the iPad. "…That Lois Lane seems pretty disrespectful."

Carol extended her arm and looked at her fingers. "Oh, that Lane girl is quite the person. Bold and outspoken."

"But talking like that to a king….so you guys said that Clark works with her at The Daily Planet? I just gotta wonder how he feels about this."

"Knowing him, he probably feels awkward about the whole thing. It's not like Lois is entirely wrong, though. The idea of having elders dictate an entire country just doesn't work anymore. T'Challa and Orin are gonna have to realize that."

"Right, right…" Steve leaned back, and began looking at the iPad again. "This 'iPad'…it's pretty amazing."

Barry grinned ear-to-ear. "That's not even the best thing we have to offer. Steve, just wait until you see how far we've come since the 40s."

Steve shook his head again. "Still trying to grasp it all, Barry."

Then a waitress with thick purple eyeliner, braided black hair with green dye at the tips, and a piercing on her nose with one on her right ear and two on her left ear walked up to the table and took their orders. Steve ordered biscuits with sunny side-up eggs; Carol ordered regular pancakes with two strips of bacon, Hal ordered bacon, sausage, and eggs; and Barry ordered double blueberry pancakes with sausage, sunny side-up eggs, three strips of bacon, and hash browns.

The waitress just paused and gazed at Barry with a stunned look, before walking away.

"Jesus, Barry," Steve blurted out immediately after the waitress left. "You gonna eat everything here?"

Barry bopped his head. "A…consequence of my abilities is that I have an increased metabolism. A really increased metabolism."

"You should see him when we have Chinese." Hal added on with a laugh.

Steve let out a half-hearted chuckle, before turning around to look at their waitress, who was taking some random guy's order. "So…was with that girl and those things on her ears and nose?"

Carol rubbed her nose. "Steve, those are piercings. They've become quite popular among a good chunk of the current generation."

"Riiiiight." Steve then swerved his head and saw a tall, muscular African-American in a dark jacket and navy blue jeans holding hands with a blonde-haired woman in red lipstick and a white dress. The man kissed the woman on the cheek, and Steve's eyes widened.

"Interracial couples are allowed now, too," Carol piped in, having evidently seen Steve watching the couple. Carol then furrowed his eyebrow. "…What do you think of that."

"Oh, um…" Steve began to make awkward motions with his hands. "…I'm actually alright with that. I always supported racial equality, and never liked segregation. And yes, I did feel alone in my time for it."

"Ah, good."

"But it's weird as all hell that people aren't trying to throw them out of the restaurant. Good weird, but weird nonetheless."

Barry then began to feel around himself, fretting and panicking. Then he felt his hoodie pocket and let out a sigh of relief.

"Here's another thing, Steve." Barry said as he pulled out a Samsung Galaxy phone. "When you can't feel this in your pocket, you're gonna have a mini heart attack."

Steve shook his head. "I don't see what was so wrong with rotary phones…"

"A rotary phone? What's a rotary phone?" Hal asked.

"Damn you, Hal!"

"I kid, I kid," Hal began to crack up while Steve narrowed his eyes towards him.

Then Steve heard kids talking, and he turned around to see two 8-10 year old boys at a table not too far, with their mother on the other side. The two kids giggled about, and what got Steve's attention was them saying 'Captain America'.

"Man, imagine if a group of terrorists just circled Cap, preparing to gun him down!"

"He would totally fight back! He's not Captain France. He would be all 'You think this A stands for France?!'"

No he wouldn't, Steve thought to himself, having a decent amount of respect for the French; but they were kids, so he decided to just brush it off.

It was then that their waitress came back, with a cart that had all of their plates on it. Hal, Carol, and Steve were handed their plates, one each, while Barry had a total of three plates for all of his food. Hal shook his head while Barry grinned at his food and didn't waste a second before digging in right away.

"Now, Barry, at least slow down and enjoy your food this time." Carol said with a small smile on her face. "We don't want everyone's heads turning again."

"Yeah, alright." Barry replied before chowing down on one of his bacon strips.

Hal chuckled before digging into his own food. Steve said nothing, either. He just relaxed at the thought of being able to sit down and actually enjoy a meal for the first time since before he joined the Liberty Brigade back in the 40s. He looked around and took note of everyone's attire. T-shirts and jeans as casual attire were unheard of in his time, but now everyone wore them.

As he took a bite of his pancakes, something else popped into his mind, something he found out shortly after learning how to use the Internet. "So…people seem a lot more mistrusting of the government…"

Hal sighed. "Yeah. That distrust kicked off in the 60s with this thing called the Vietnam War, and it's only been escalating from there."

Steve looked at his food. "That, um…that's unfortunate to hear." Steve pondered the thought – given his codename of Captain America. He hoped that people would remember that his association is with the Vanguard and not the actual US Government.

He saw Barry staring at his plate, looking at it and letting out a sigh of exasperation. Steve smiled, as he could see that Barry was struggling not to rush through his breakfast. He was quickly plowing through his biscuits himself, so Steve wasn't really one to judge Barry at the moment.

"Hey, how's the press conference doing?" Carol asked after swallowing a bite of her pancakes.

"Um, let me check the livestream." Hal said, before pulling out his iPad. Everyone stopped eating and took a moment to look at the conference.

Zatanna: Well, you see, Ms. Vale, I don't think Captain America would automatically side with the government against us, just because of the patriotic elements behind his creation.

Steve chuckled. Speak of the devil.

"I'm worried about that, honestly. Just because I have 'America' in my name doesn't grant my blind loyalty to the country."

"I'll drink to that." Hal replied after eating a piece of bacon. "I mean, it's too early to drink, but in a few hours I will."

"I can't get drunk…" Barry lamented after chowing on a bit of his pancakes.

Steve shook his head. "It's alright, Barry. Neither can I."

"Barry, your inability to get drunk is a blessing." Carol added on as she ran her hand through her hair. "Makes it much easier on me and Hal when we all go out for drinks."

Barry grumbled and continued to eat his food, while Steve just sat there and chuckled once more.

It wasn't long before they all finished their meals, and they decided to head back to the Vanguard Tower just to hang out for a little while longer. The blue beams roared into the Tower, and the four were all standing on the teleporter.

Barry let out a sigh. "Man, it's good to not be seeing a murder victim today."

Steve raised his eyebrow, and Barry saw this. "Oh, um…I work as a CSI over in Central City. I like it overall, but sometimes I end up wishing I hadn't just had breakfast, you know?"

"Huh. Interesting…" Steve cupped his chin before looking at Hal and Carol. "So while we're at it, what do you guys do for a living?"

Carol rubbed her neck. "Oh, we're test pilots at Ferris Air, all the way in Coast City."

"Coast City? You mean all the way in California? Wow, getting to the Vanguard Tower must be a hassle."

To that, Hal screamed with laughter, to the point where a tear could be seen coming out of his eye, and Steve just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Sorry, sorry." Hal said, putting his hands up. "But Steve, remember when I said I was the Green Lantern of Sector 2814? Well, that covers quite a bit of space. See, there are these little blue aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. They live in the center of the universe, and they've decided up the galaxy into 3600 sectors, with two Green Lanterns per sector. I've traveled across whole galaxies, my friend."

"Huuuuuh…." Was all that Steve could reply with for a moment. "So Green Lantern is a title for you. …But if you have to travel across galaxies as part of your whole shtick…why do you spend so much time on Earth?"

"Well, um…my sector is pretty damn quiet. And as I said, there's two Green Lanterns per sector. The other dude is this guy named Kilowog. He's brutish but awesome…and ugly as hell. I mean this guy –"

Suddenly, the alarm went off. *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT* *UNIDENFITED PERSONNEL ON VANGUARD PROPERTY* *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT*

Hal groaned. "Oh, goddamnit." He grumbled, before a green glow came from his ring and his outfit appeared over him. "Barry, check out the situation."

Barry's suit appeared out a small ring he had on his index finger, and he got into gear almost right away. Steve's eyes widened – he hadn't even noticed the ring, let alone have any idea how Barry stored it. But he decided to inquire the speedster about it later as Barry zoomed towards their meeting room.

*Alright, I'm checking the cams now* Barry said through the ear comm.

Carol had zoomed away, too, before showing back up next to Hal in uniform, while Steve ran to his room to get his own outfit on.

*Okay, guys…it's Cyclops, from the M-Force. He just crashed into our tower.* Barry added on, and as Steve got his outfit out, he had just about enough of being left confused and unsure for one day.

"Who's Cyclops, and who are the M-Force?" Steve asked.

*The M-Force is a team of mutants, and Cyclops is their field leader.* Hal replied. This answered Steve's two questions, but raised a third one.

"What are mutants?"

*You haven't learned what mutants are?* Hal asked back, seemingly confused.

"70 years is a lot to catch up on." Steve retorted as he took off his hoodie.

*We'll meet your outside, Cap!* Carol said.

"Wait, where are J'onn and Bruce?!"

*They went on a trip to the Serengeti.* Carol answered, *And we can handle this ourselves.*

"Alright. I'll be out as soon as I can, but keep in mind that I don't have super speed!"

Scott Summers, the hero known as Cyclops, groaned loudly and placed his hand on his head as he got up, having just crashed into the Vanguard Tower. He was a brown-haired teen of 16, and he wore a golden visor over his eyes. He had on a blue outfit with a yellow belt, boots, and gloves. He also had on a golden yellow strap, held together but a round red object that had an 'M' at its center.

He looked around, and then glanced up at the Vanguard Tower, tilting his head as he did so. It was just then that Hal, Barry, and Carol all teleported out of the Tower and faced him directly.

"Sorry for damaging your ivory tower." Cyclops said, removing his hand from his head.

Hal glared at the younger superhero. "Kid, lose the attitude and tell us why you just crashed into our HQ."

"We're fighting the Brotherhood, Lantern. And we can take care of them just fine on our own."

Carol furrowed her eyebrow. "So…you seriously expect us to just stand aside, Cyclops?"

"Captain Marvel, trust us. We've already fought and taken down the Brotherhood a couple times by ourselves. We'll be fine." Cyclops smirked after saying that.

"Alright, let me rephrase that. You seriously expect us to stay out of this conflict when said conflict just caused damage to our tower."

Cyclops' smirk disappeared. "Well, um, when you put it like that…"

"Listen here, kid." Hal said, pointing his finger towards Cyclops. "We're in this little conflict now, no matter how well you think you can handle the Brotherhood. Now, where is the rest of the M-Force."

It was just then that Cap teleported out of the Tower and met up with the four, and Cyclops paused for a moment before he finally spoke. "…They're only a couple blocks from here."

"Well, who sent you crashing into the Tower?" Barry asked.

Then a gigantic, morbidly obese man with red hair, and enormous double chin, and a black suit reminiscent of a bathing suit jumped into the scene, and he laughed wildly as the Cyclops and the Vanguardians began to prepare themselves.