Most of the Vanguard's ranks bickered at the Vanguard Tower's roundtable, with only three members of their ranks missing; the Martian Manhunter was being tended to in the medical room, Bruce Banner was sitting there besides him, and no one had been able to get ahold of the Flash, the only Vanguardian to miss out on the action that had just taken place. On the monitor behind them, there were twenty to two dozen reports – CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX, all of them about what had just happened the day before.

Only Superman and Captain America sat silently. Cap had his head resting on his left hand, and he sighed as the other Vanguardians around him shouted and argued, with several of them standing up on their feet and pointing.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?!," Hank shouted. "There will be consequences for this, people! Moreso than Atlantis, moreso than the incident at that bar in Coast City, the government will address this!"

"ENOUGH, GODDAMNIT!" Superman shouted after a few seconds, and Cap believed that was the first time he had ever heard Superman say any word remotely bad like that.

Superman took several deep breaths, looking down at the ground, while the other Vanguardians were now silent. "How did this happen? Has anyone been able to get the truth out of Banner?"

"Blood on the scene identified a man named Brian Banner," Black Panther responded, raising his hand up as he did so. "And that man happened to be Bruce's father. And I think we all know the…history between the two."

The history of how Brian Banner thought his son a freak due to his intellect. The history of how Brian beat both him and his own wife, Rebecca Banner, in a drunken rage night after night. The history of how often Bruce would be forced to hide somewhere, in or out of the house, just to avoid his father's anger. And then there was the incident. The incident that ended up scarring Banner for life, even to this day….

"Well that explains it."

Superman just hung his head in shame. "Any minute from now, General Thunderbolt Ross of the US Military will be on our monitor, and rumors abound that Director Nick Fury and Doctor Harrison Wells would like to have a word with us as well. I'm not so sure what Wells wants, but it can't be anything good given what just happened…"

Hal let out a groan of exasperation.

"Yes, yes, Hal, I remember your disdain for Fury -"

"No, it's not just that," Hal said, sneering. "I just dread this. I don't even feel anything like this when out in space, solving crises on other worlds. And it...I just…I…" Hal then sighed. "Sorry. I forgot what I was going to say."

"Well, I would like to say something," Wasp piped in. "Do we have any idea where Brian Banner went? I still can't believe that he managed to get away in all that commotion….not even the police were able to apprehend him…."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence, but Superman and Cap knew that this silence could not go on for any longer. This was not the time for such moments. They needed to get this discussed, and pronto, and Superman and Cap was all too aware of this.

"Okay, time to get down to business," He said with an authority that been lacking from his tone just moments before, in addition to standing up and placing his right hand firmly on the roundtable. "Any minute now, the Military, SHIELD, and S.T.A.R. Labs are going to call us and get on our asses about what happened, and we need to know what to say, because none of them are going to be happy with the Hulk for what he did, or with us for not preventing his rampage."

Before anyone could think to reply, in zoomed Barry Allen, who had many tears in his suit. He sighed heavily, and looked up to see that everyone had turned their heads to look at him – some of them, like Hal and Carol, frowned; some, like Aquaman and Thor, raised their eyebrows. And some, like Hank and Batman, narrowed their eyes.

"Well, look who decided to show up. Jesus, Allen, where the hell have you been?" Hank said, pointing at Barry and gritting his teeth in annoyance. "This is late even for you, and you missed one hell of a party."

"Hank, back off," Batman replied to the Ant-Man, only turning his head and not moving a muscle otherwise. After speaking to Hank, Batman turned his attention to the speedster. "Although he does have a point, Barry. This situation called for the attention of the entire Vanguard, and only very special cases overtake Code Black. We await your explanation."

Barry rubbed his neck. "I, uh, I fought the man that killed my mother."

There was no immediate response. Everyone just tried to let that sink in. "Shit," Hank said as he sighed. "Now I feel like a dick."

"Only now do you feel like a dick?" Hal said in response, his hands clasped together. "But sorry to hear that, Barry."

Just then, a few of the news reports, such as ABC and CBS, turned their attention to what happened in Central City, and it was there that the rest of the Vanguard found about what all happened. How the so-called 'Reverse-Flash' killed 34 people, most of them middle-schoolers, in moments, while the 'Flash' was unable to save any of them, and then how the Reverse-Flash beat the Flash to a bloody pulp, to the point where Jay Garrick was forced to step in and intervene. At the moment, there was no progress on who the Reverse-Flash was or what his endgame was. Even Jay Garrick, who was doing an interview with Central City's local news station, had nothing; he couldn't find this evil speedster, and he had no idea who he was.

Just then, the Vanguard monitor notified the team that someone was calling them; everyone figured that it was either General Ross or Directors Fury or Wells. As Superman walked to the computer to pick up the call, however, another call was notified of, and then after that, another. It was evident now that the US Army, S.H.I.E.L.D, and S.T.A.R. Labs would all be chewing out the Vanguard at once. None of them likely intended on it, but this was the end result. Superman turned to glance over at the Vanguard, clearly not in his proudest mood, before answering all three calls at once.

Thunderbolt Ross was a five-star general who was all dressed up in Class A uniform, and he bore grayish-white hair and a firm mustache above his upper lip; his eyes were a cold and icy blue, and his mouth looked like it was about to form in a snarl. Nick Fury was a shiny bald African-American man who had a goatee and bore an eyepatch for his left eye, one that could not hide the scar behind it, and he had a big nose and a face that didn't look outright angry like Ross', but still looked unhappy. And finally, there was Harrison Wells. He was a tan-skinned and dark-haired man looking to be in his late forties, and sporting a pair of wide plastic glasses, and looking to be more upset than outright irritated like Ross or annoyed like Fury. But whatever expressions they bore on their faces, it was clear that all three of them were going to be here for more than just a minute.

"Do you have any idea how much property damage the Hulk caused in his little episode?!" Thunderbolt Ross shouted.

"Or how many lives were almost lost when Iron Man and Green Lantern's blasts went into the One57 building?!" Harrison Wells said right after Ross got done.

"I'd like to know what happened to 'We will keep the Hulk in check at all times,'. Those were your exact words, Superman."

Superman sighed. "Okay, gentlemen. Let's just go one at a time to avoid talking over each other."

"Alright, fine", Thunderbolt Ross sent, complying. "But I will speak first, before you vigilantes try to use whatever defense you've prepared for the incident," There was a brief moment of silence as the general took a deep and angry breath, before he spoke again. "Your invasion of Atlantis, a foreign country, was only forgiven because the Atlanteans had attacked first, by order of King Attuma and Prince Orm. The Joker gaining the powers of a god was mostly the doing of 'Loki', and those lost at that Central City bar had their lives taken by the 'Kree Empire', and Green Lantern did save some lives. I only said all of that to remind you how this incident has no such defense, Vanguardians. This mess here, it is entirely your doing, and I can assure you that the people down in Washington are very well aware of that fact."

"Yes, I imagine they are, General -"

"I am not finished. What I was going to say is that I will have the US Government shut you down…unless you do one thing for me: Give me the Hulk."

Superman tried his best to show his upmost contempt towards that idea. General Thunderbolt Ross was infamous for his disdain of the Hulk, considering him a menace that needed to be detained and imprisoned, never to see the Sun shining again. And the only reason he had not done just that was that the Vanguard had offered to take the Hulk under their wing, to help him better himself.

"No, no, no, no," Harrison Wells piped in before Ross could try to say anything else about that idea. "You shall give the Hulk over to me, at S.T.A.R. Labs HQ. I promise you, Vanguard, that Doctor Banner will be better taken care of in our hands."

Thunderbolt Ross sported a death glare. "Dr. Wells, are you truly so arrogant as to try and challenge the US Army?"

"Not arrogant, General. But you know the, um…top-secret projects that I cannot disclose here in front of the Vanguard. You know how much I hate those projects, so consider this the way that the military will repay S.T.A.R. Labs."

Ross tried to say something in retaliation to that, but he couldn't. Instead, he merely sighed.

It was then that Captain America got up from his seat and walked up the monitor. "If I may say something, myself," He started off as he stood a foot or two away from Superman. "But it wasn't like the Hulk completely went out of his way to cause all this destruction. It was partly the doing of a foe called the Absorbing Man. We're not at all excusing the Hulk's actions, but I think we need to consider the full story."

Ross found the chance to speak again. "That solves…nothing, Captain. What happened still happened. Wow. And to think I used to look up to a man like you."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"You're a simple-minded fool, Rogers."

Cap narrowed his eyes.

Fury was then the one to say something after that. "Oh, and I would like to speak with a Mr. Flash, if I may, about the 'Reverse-Flash' as the press is calling him."

Flash sped up towards the monitor, standing to the right of Superman while Cap stood to his left. "Look, I get it. I failed. I'm sorry."

"Bad stuff sometimes just happens, I'm afraid, Flash," Fury replied, his arms crossed. "But just know that we will personally be taking in this Reverse-Flash once he has been successfully apprehended. One of our SHIELD agents was among his casualties, and we will be responding accordingly, I assure you. And…I sincerely hope you can fix your tattered reputation."

Barry honestly looked confused by this, as if he was so caught up in his own failure that he hadn't stopped to think about how people would think less of him since he had failed to save so many lives from the Reverse-Flash.

"The Flash showing himself to be a failure of a hero has nothing on the Hulk's rampage," Thunderbolt Ross barked over at Fury, to which both the latter and Wells showed disapproval to.

"Well, those are still innocent people who didn't deserve to die." Fury replied, placing his arms behind his back.

"Be that as it may, the events that took place in New York City are worthier of our attention than the events of Central City. As I said, Central City….that was merely the Flash presenting himself as a failure. The Big Apple, however, saw the entire rest of Vanguard showing a gross and disgraceful failure in keeping the Hulk's rampage contained."

At this point, Zatanna stood up and slammed her palm onto the table. "Okay, I'm sorry, but no. I have no disrespect for the US Military. I honor you guys for fighting the battles most are too afraid to fight. But General Ross, do you truly think you could have contained the Hulk's rage any better than we could have?" she said.

Zatanna paused for a moment to sigh before continuing on. "We have the Norse God of Thunder in our ranks. We have an Amazonian demigoddess a few feet away from me. One of the most powerful aliens in the universe is standing right before our monitor, and the other is sadly in our medical bay. We have a space cop, a human empowered by alien DNA, a speedster, the King of Atlantis, a man whose created a suit of armor more powerful than an M1 Abrams, and I myself am a magician! Everyone else here is far from a pushover themselves!"

Then the magician clenched her fists. "So tell me, General Ross. If the Vanguard of Justice could not keep the Hulk's rampage contained, with all of our powers and strengths, what in the name of God makes you think you could've done such a thing."

Everyone was a tad stunned, as Zatanna, being one of the less prominent Vanguardians, never spoke as much as the likes of Superman or Captain America during these meetings, so to hear something like…it perhaps stunned Cap most of all, as he had not really gotten the chance to bond with Zatanna like he had with Hal, Carol, and Barry. Even Thunderbolt Ross seemed to be at a loss of words for a moment, as he was blatantly biting his lip.

But after a few moments of awkwardness from the general, his death glare returned. "Well, you can be assured I would've never allowed such a situation to happen. I would've had the Hulk detained from the very day he was created. Since you disgusting anomalies can no longer be trusted with that slobbering brute, you will be handing the Hulk over to the military and S.T.A.R. Labs, or we will shut the Vanguard of Justice down for good, even if our relations with Atlantis and Wakanda may take a beating in the short run. Do I make myself clear?"

Superman was only silent at this, to which Thunderbolt Ross smirked. He then let out a deep and regretful sigh. "…Yes. Yes you do, General."

"Good boy."

"Uncalled for," Harrison Wells barked back, his arms crossed. "But yes, even taking my genius intellect into account, we will need about a week to get a cell ready for a beast of the Hulk's power, and then he should be delivered to us at our HQ in Central City, and then we will handle it from there, hopefully finding a cure for the Incredible Hulk. I still respect you all, by the way. It's a shame it has to be this way, but that's life. Good day to you."

And with that, Harrison Wells hung up on his call. Thunderbolt Ross gave one last glare to the team before doing the same, leaving only Fury.

"Sooooo, Director Fury," Thor stated in an manner that was uncharacteristic of him to speak of, as noted by some of the other Vanguardians, "I guess you didn't really have a reason to call us…"

Fury shook his head. "Oh no, I did. S.H.I.E.L.D won't currently getting involved right now. I wanted to tell you one bit of information."

Iron Man snickered. "Nick Fury? Sharing a secret with someone? Call the press, everyone."

Fury sighed. "It is information concerning the Reverse-Flash. Would you like it or not?"

"What kind of information could you have gotten on the Reverse-Flash?" Batman asked.

"I will tell you this one thing, and only this one thing: This new speedster hails from the future."

Batman bit his lip. "How could you possibly know?"

Fury chuckled. "S.H.I.E.L.D has dealt with time travelers since the 1970s. We've found ways of identifying them by their blood samples, and we were able to get a trace of the Reverse-Flash's blood from the scene where he battled both of the Flashes."

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D paused for a moment and looked down at the ground with and shaking his head, before continuing with, "Which means that his man has screwed around with the laws of time and space just to wreak havoc upon the Flash's world. I just thought you should be aware of this tidbit, Vanguardians. That is all I wanted to share."

"Wait, before you go!" Hal shouted, as it was clear that Fury was seconds away from hanging up. "John Stewart, Sam Wilson, and the other survivors of the bar incident. How are they doing?"

"They should be released in a day or two, Hal. Don't worry, your identity will stay a secret. For now. Oh, and we already knew who you were before that incident. Now I bid thee good day, and best of luck with this shitstorm."

And with that he hung up.

And immediately, people began to raise their voices.

"Who in the hell does General Ross think he is?!" Aquaman shouted.

"And I thought you said Fury was a piece of work, Hal," Wasp then yelled out.

"The nerve of some mortals," Thor then said following Wasp.

"Some men really can be cruel," Wonder Woman lamented.

"As if this situation couldn't get any worse," Iron Man said with a sigh.

"The damn nerve of some mortals indeed, Thor," Zatanna said, replying to what Thor had just said.

"Yes, yes, Ross sucked, but I wonder...do you think Fury knows the Joker's identity?" Hank asked as he cupped his chin.

But then Hal was about to stay something, and simply didn't. There was a sudden awkwardness as everyone turned to the door to the Vanguard conference room, and realized that Bruce Banner was standing there for an indeterminate amount of time.

Superman was the first to say something. "I take it you heard everything, Doctor Banner?"

All Banner did was nod, looking to be on the verge of tears. And he didn't say anything. Instead, he just awkwardly walked away from the conference room.

Before anyone could respond to that, everyone noticed that Barry was beginning to tear up. "I failed to save them….so many lives…so many lives that I failed to save. All because of him."

Carol got up and placed her left hand on Barry's left shoulder, and began rubbing his right shoiulder with her right hand. "Barry, don't…don't cry. It'll all be…" Carol struggled to say, as Cap could tell that she didn't know exactly what to say.

Barry didn't brush her off or anything. He simply zoomed away and out of the tower in a second, and everyone was just standing or sitting there in this gloomy hour.