"Damnit, Alan…pick up…" Steve said as he paced back and forth across the halls of the Vanguard Tower, having taken his helmet off after the Hydra agents were freed of their brainwashing.

Barry, Carol, Batman, and Banner had all arrived at the Vanguard Tower in light of the break-in. Hal, Thor, Hank, Black Panther, Aquaman, and Zatanna had yet to arrive at the moment; Cap only knew of what the two kings were up to – namely, a meeting at the UN. The rest of the Vanguard was in the conference room, discussing with the agents, but Steve had given himself the task of trying to reach out to Alan about his children.

Steve Rogers had only ever heard of Alan's two children get brought up a couple of times, and one of those times was when they were on their way to strike Atlantis and usurp Attuma as its king. He didn't seem to like talking about them much, and Steve couldn't blame him.

Then, after a few minutes of trying to contact Alan, the Golden Age Green Lantern finally picked up.

*Hello?*, He said from the other line.

"Hey, Alan, it's Steve," the Captain replied with right away.

"Oh hey, Rogers. What are you calling about? I'm in the middle of a shareholders meeting with my company."

Steve just stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out the best way to put this. He couldn't just be like 'Oh hey, Alan, I'm doing good, and hey real quick, before I forget, I met your children.' From what he understood, Alan hadn't seen either his son or his daughter in the flesh since the nineties.

"…Steve?"

"Well, um…."

"Steve, I'm sorry, but time is not on my side right now –"

"We found your children, Alan…..Jennnifer Lynn-Hayden and Todd Rice…." Steve began to look at the two, who were conversing with Wonder Woman and Carol about matters he could not hear at the moment. "….I'm looking at them right now. They're here in the Vanguard Tower."

Now Alan was the one eliciting a long pause, and Steve wondered what must have been running through his wartime friend's head.

"I'll be right there."

And with that, Alan abruptly hung up. He would have no problem getting into the Tower. He was one of only half a dozen non-Vanguardians who had access to the Tower, along with Namor, Jay, Batman and Iron Man's butlers – Alfred Pennyworth and Edwin Jarvis -, and Iron Man's personal assistant, 'Pepper Potts'. The real question was how Alan was going to be like when he entered the Tower. Was he going to be happy? Angry? Confused? Relieved? Steve hadn't heard enough about the story behind why they were sent away, apart from a psychotic mother, to know how Alan would feel when he saw his kids again.

It was only a few moments later that Alan teleported into the Vanguard Tower, with Steve just seeing the teleporter activate in the corner of his left eye.

He looked down to the lower level of the Vanguard Tower, and saw Alan all dressed up in a gray suit with a blue shirt underneath his jacket and a white tie to go along with it. He quickly looked around and then proceeded to make eye contact with Steve.

It was only then that Steve realized he had forgotten to tell everyone one that he had called Alan about his children, and quickly sprinted into the conference room to correct his mistake.

"Erm, everyone," he said. He did not yell, but his voice was loud enough for everyone to turn their heads over to him. "My apologies for forgetting to mention this to you all, but I called up Alan…." He added on, before the Captain paused for a moment and looked at Jade and Obsidian. "Your father is here."

Just moments later, Alan walked into the room, having used his power ring to fly up to the top level of the Vanguard Tower, though he was still in his business suit and not his superhero suit. He looked at Jade and Obsidian, who were just confused at the whole thing….and he froze right in his tracks.

"Well, good God….it really is you…." Was all Alan muttered out for a good minute as he just walked up to the two.

Everyone just stood there, just as unsure of what to say about the whole situation as good ol' Captain America was. Barry just rubbed his neck a little sheepishly, and Steve wanted to do the same because the silence between the father and his two children was beginning to get a little awkward.

It was Obsidian who finally broke the silence. "I guess….I'm sorry, it's just that I almost forgot what you looked like. You never came to visit."

Alan sighed. "I know I didn't, Todd. I'm sorry about that. I just felt you two should have gotten as far away from your old life as possible."

Jade stood there silent for a moment, as everyone else watched, before she ran up to Alan and hugged him. He couldn't help but hug her back. Obsidian just watched the two embrace, and he crossed his arms with a smile on his face.

"It would've been nice if you popped in at least one or twice, Dad…but at least you're here now, I guess."

…"Alright, is this reunion over with?!" Batman said in a rather harsh and bitter tone, which seemed to take everyone aback.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Bru – Batman," Wasp said, standing in front of him with her hands up. "Why don't you try lightening up a little, huh?"

Batman fumed. "That security system was top of the line. Give the government all the time in the world and they still wouldn't be able to hack into this system…" He said, taking a few moments to pause before staring into space. "…well, that was the intent, anyway. I would like to think that the government, or even S.H.I.E.L.D, still can't hack into our systems, but Hydra has presented a complication."

He turned his attention away from Wasp and towards the Scarlet Witch. "You. You and Obsidian were the ones that broke into the Tower…." He said, gritting his teeth. "You are going to tell me how you did that, and you are going to do it NOW."

Right after Batman finished, Iron Man walked up towards the Scarlet Witch as well. "Yeah, I'm with Batman here. That security system set us back more than a few million dollars, and all of that money has just gone down the drain thanks to you, you bitch!"

Now Wasp was walking up to Tony, trying to console him as well. "I understand your guys' anger, but they're been freed from their brainwashing now."

"And besides," Scarlet Witch added on, finally breaking her silence. "I can't exactly remember how we got in in the first place."

Iron Man and Batman looked at each other and scoffed. "Oh, what a load of bullshit!" The former retorted.

"Hey, don't talk to my sister that way!" Quicksilver angrily said, pointing towards the two multi-billionaires.

Then Batman spoke. "You, stay out of this. Wanda, I believe you must have some memory of how you cheated the most advanced security the world has ever seen. Think, damnit! Think!"

Scarlet Witch gritted her teeth and, with her telekinetic powers, lifted Batman up. His look of anger turned to one of confusion and bafflement, and then she thrust him right into Iron Man.

There was much chattering as everyone else tried to calm down the situation between the rich men and the siblings.

Quicksilver began to speed his way towards Iron Man, but the Flash stopped him right in his tracks before he could do so, and grunted and groaned as he tried to restrain the fellow speedster.

"Alright, alright!" Superman yelled out, levitating five feet above the ground and looking down at everyone with an irritated look on his face. "This in-fighting will get us nowhere! Now everybody calm down so we can figure out what to do."

Superman floated back down to the ground, and made eye contact with the Scarlet Witch. "So you really can't remember how Hydra cheated the Tower's security?"

Scarlet Witch let out an 'erm'. "Well, give me a few moments. Lemme see if anything will come up."

Then Alan looked towards his two children. "Can either of you remember a thing?" He asked them, placing each of his hands on their shoulders.

Jade sighed. "No, father. I can't remember a thing about how we got in here."

"Neither can I."

Elongated Man raised his finger up to bring attention over to him. "I just wanna say…I can't remember a thing about that, either."

"Same." Spider-Woman finally muttered out, her arms crossed, as they had been the entire time.

Iron Man scoffed. "Well, that's just great…" He muttered to himself.

A small grunt came out of Scarlet Witch, indicating that maybe she was finding something while doing some mental digging. She had her fingers on her forehead, and her eyes were closed tight as she tried to concentrate.

And then she spoke. "Alright….I don't think we ever found out. I've remember that right after our brainwashing, Baron Helmut Zemo came to us and told us that the hardest part of the job had already been done – cracking the code to the Vanguard Tower's security. He stated that it took them several months to figure it out, and could not have been happier once they finally got it to work."

Batman narrowed his white eyes. "Hmmm alright then. So they didn't tell you?"

"No, Batman. They did not."

'Well that's just great…' Cap thought to himself. He was standing next to Carol, the Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, who like him had not said or done anything aside from the commotion that broke out when Scarlet Witch attacked Batman and Iron Man.

Wonder Woman, however, broke her long silence with a question. "Do any of you at least remember the base where they briefed you on your mission and the like? Attacking and taking out a Hydra base would almost certainly deal a major blow to the organization."

Spider-Woman, at least, seemed to ponder the thought. She walked up to the goliath of a woman that was Diana of Themyscira, and then it almost looked like a light bulb had appeared over her head.

"I do remember….a general location. Somewhere in the landscape of Siberia. South-Southern Siberia, to be exact."

"She is telling the truth," Martian Manhunter added on, walking away from Cap and Carol and towards Spider-Woman. "I apologize for reading into your mind, Jessica Drew, but there are certain people who would have reason to mistrust your words."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem," She replied.

Superman stood tall and straight. "Alright then. We head off to Siberia in 30 minutes to look for this Hydra base."

Steve, Alan, Jade, and Obsidian had moved away from the rest of the superheroes and were now by the teleporter. Alan looked at his two children, and all he did was sigh.

"….Your mother…is she still a member of Hydra?"

Jade silently nodded. "It was surreal, and horrible. My adoptive parents and brother, we were just having a nice family dinner in Lima when Hydra soldiers came into our house and slaughtered them all…" She said, beginning to tear up. "I don't even know how long it's been since Hydra abducted me. Six months? A year? There was no way for us to tell time in their base."

As far as Steve could recall, he remembered hearing about the disappearance of Alan's children in Hydra back on the way to Atlantis, which was three months ago. He also did recall hearing later that Jennifer had been sent to Lima and Todd to Cairo, where Alan hoped that his ex-lover would never think or hope to find them. He had been wrong, and Steve understood how she could've lost track of time.

"Well then…" Alan replied back in a quiet tone, holding up his left hand with a glowing ring. "Looks like I'll be in for a rather awkward reunion," He said, and then turned his head to face Steve. "I haven't seen Rose since I fled from her with our infant twins here."

Steve sighed. "I'm sorry for what your family has had to go through, Alan. I really am. But today, you can remove your children of the greatest threat to their lives."

To that, Alan himself breathed heavily. "Yes…it's ultimately for the best."

Then Alan's ring let out a burst of energy that equipped him into his suit as the other Vanguardians and Hydra captives walked towards the teleporter.

"Beware my power."