Thanksgiving evening. The sky was emanating a deep pink-orange as the sun began to set, and Steve Rogers looked out the window with his hands in his pockets. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and khakis, and he waited for the other Vanguardians to show up.

He heard the teleporter activate, and he turned around. He saw Diana, and he smirked. He thought Diana would have dressed up in Ancient Greek garment, but no. As she walked towards Steve, she wore a red-and-black plaid shirt, with jeans and knee-high dark brown boots.

"You would not believe how hard it is to find shirts in my size. And pants. And shoes…" Diana said.

Steve crossed his arms. "Oh, I imagine it can't be easy, Diana."

"Thankfully, Carol's also really tall. Not as tall as me, but she was still able to find some clothes for me."

"Good, good. Have you celebrated Thanskgiving before?"

Diana placed one of her hands on her hips. "Not until now, I haven't."

The teleporter activated again, and Bruce, Tony, Clark, and Thor all stepped down from the teleporter.

"Ay verily!" Thor said. "May this Thanksgiving be a most merry and joyous one!"

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Just don't destroy the Tower with your drunken antics."

Thor raised his head up and laughed. Then he, Clark, and Diana all moved at super speed, up to on of the higher levels of the Tower. Over the next few minutes, the rest of the Vanguard made their way to the Tower. Hal and Carol were the next to arrive, followed by Hank, Janet, and Zatanna. Orin and T'Challa were the next ones to show up.

Orin and T'Challa chatted about Wakanda's recovery efforts, with Orin placing his hand on T'Challa's shoulder for a moment. Hal and Carol laughed to themselves, and Zatanna had to place her hands between Janet and Hank when the two began to bicker about something.

Clark floated down onto the ground and walked up to Steve. "For all the things that have changed since you were thawed from the ice, Thanksgiving isn't really one of them."

Steve chuckled. "And good thing, to. I always loved Thanksgiving."

"It certainly has some controversy to it nowadays, but most people are still keen on spending Thanksgiving with their families and having a wonderful time."

"Not everyone, though," Tony added on, clearing his throat. "My father preferred working into the night to spending just one day of the year with us. I don't really care for the holiday."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "So why are you here now?"

"Bruce made me."

"Ah."

Bruce took a side glance at Tony and pulled him aside to discuss something related to their businesses. Steve thought about Jay, Alan, and Namor. They had all been invited to come, but Alan had an emergency meeting with his company, Namor had to do something in Atlantis, and Jay had a charity event.

He looked at the teleporter. Only one Vanguardian was missing, and then it activated. Barry had finally arrived.

Barry rubbed his neck. "Heh, heh, sorry I'm late."

Carol smiled and shook her head. "You're only a few minutes late this time. Definitely some of the best time you've ever made."

"At least now we can finally begin," Hal said, his hands in the pockets of his Air Force jacket.

And to that, a smile crept onto Steve's face.

But before they joined everyone else at the festivities, Steve and Clark were in the medical room. The walls were completely white, and there were rows of two dozen hospital beds in the room, but only one bed was occupied: the Martian Manhunter. Steve and Clark stared down at their unconscious teammate.

Steve sighed. "Has he shown any signs of getting better?" he asked.

Blue beams seeped out of Clark's eyes as he used his X-Ray vision to scan the Martian's body. "His vitals are improving significantly, but I would still give it a few days before he finally wakes up."

Steve pursed his lip. "It's a shame he and Banner can't be at the Thanksgiving feast tonight."

"I just hope that Banner isn't being treated too harshly. I plan to check on him soon and see if I can make any appeal for him to come back to the Vanguard."

Steve turned to face Clark. "You really think General Ross would give you a second chance."

Now it was Clark who was pursing his lips. "If I can be honest, I'm not completely sure. But I want to help Banner out in any way that I can."

Steve and Clark stared at the Martian Manhunter for a few more moments before they walked away from his bed and out of the medical room, the white walls turning into the steel chrome that Steve had gotten so used to.

Clark chuckled. "You know, Rogers…it really is an honor to sit down with you at Thanksgiving. Not many people get to celebrate a holiday with their childhood idols."

Steve looked down at the ground and flushed a little. "Growing up, I never thought I'd ever be anyone's childhood idol. But then again, I never thought I'd be frozen in ice for seven decades."

"Is there still anything about the modern world catching you off-guard."

Steve looked Clark in the eye. "I don't know if there'll ever be anything that won't catch me off-guard. Every time I think I finally have everything figured out, something new pops up. Just today I learned about digital cameras. And no one uses them anymore!"

Steve reached out of his pocket and pulled out a silver, small digital camera. "I already paid like a hundred bucks for this thing, though, so I'm keeping it. It's amazing how fast technology can come and go in today's world."

"That it is, Rogers. That it is."

They walked into the dining room of the Vanguard Tower, where the rest of the team already was. The Vanguard Tower dining room's walls were colored a crimson red, and they were decorated with various Renaissance portraits, with a fireplace on the opposite side of the room.

There was a long mahogany table in the center of the room, decorated with candles, corn, ham, leaves, mashed potatoes, glasses of white and red wine, and the classic turkey at the very middle of the table.

"You know, Jan, I very well could've cooked the turkey," Clark said as he and Steve approached Janet, who was chatting with Orin. "Once I learned to control my heat vision, I would do it all the time at Ma and Pa's farm."

Janet looked up at Clark and smiled. "That's sweet of you, Clark, but my mother taught me a really awesome way to cook turkey."

Hank walked up to Janet and pecked her cheek. "She really does make the best turkey. And she refuses to tell me the secret ingredient."

Janet shrugged. "Family recipe, hon. That may be a cliché, but I don't care."

With Clark and Steve in the room, everyone proceeded to walk towards the table grab plates of food. Once they got all their food, they took their seats. Bruce sat on one end of the table, and Tony sat across from him. Clark, Steve, Hank, Janet, Zatanna, and Orin sat on one side of the table, while Carol, Hal, Barry, Thor, Diana, and T'Challa sat on the opposite side.

Thor took a look at the turkey and his mouth went agape. "That's the great turkey?" he asked.

Diana elbowed him. "Thor, be polite…"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just the average Asgardian could down two of those at once."

Steve took a sip of his wine. "Interesting…" he said. He took a few bites of his mashed potatoes, before he began, "So….I can't believe how much politics have changed since I was in the ice…"

That was all he could get out, because everyone shook their heads, waved their arms around, and said 'no' many times.

Bruce crossed his arms. "That is not a can of worms you want to open."

"Rule number one of Thanskgiving: Never discuss politics!" Zatanna added on.

"Politics in general are a very sensitive topic. Best to keep them out of here," T'Challa said.

Steve raised his hands up and motioned them out. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, everyone. Lesson learned."

Then Steve's phone rang. It played 'Gangnam Style', to which everyone groaned.

"Are you serious?" Zatanna asked, resting her hand on her heads.

Steve pulled his phone out and shrugged. "What? Gangnam Style's a big hit, isn't it?"

"Was a big hit," Carol clarified, moving around the fork in her hand. "In 2012. That was years ago. It was a fad, Steve, and fads come and go quickly."

Tony stood up and pointed at Steve with a grin. "That's strike two, Captain!"

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed. Clark placed a hand on his shoulder and said "It's alright, Steve. Just enjoy the food."

"I think I'll just keep my mouth shut for a little while," Steve replied.

And Steve did keep his mouth shut for a few minutes. He ate his mashed potatoes and ham while listening to everyone else chat about their recent adventures. He saw Janet light up with joy as she discussed how she brought down a supervillain by the name of Doctor Destiny, while Hal was talking about how the Green Lantern Corps had to do a teamup with this group known as the 'Nova Corps'. Some conversations were about the personal lives of the Vanguardians, while others were about the battles they had endured since the debacle in Wakanda.

"This wine….it really gets mortals drunk?" Thor said, holding up his glass.

Barry clasped his hands. "If we drink enough of it."

"Hah!" Thor replied, jerking his head up. "I just so happened to bring some of my very own Asgardian elixir!"

Hal raised an eyebrow. "Did you now?"

"I actually have it right besides me. Give me one moment."

And with that, Thor pulled out a massive glass, filled with what looked like dark beer. "Would anyone care for a glass. Barry and Steve, I hear you two can't get drunk. Let's see that Speed Force and serum work against the nectar of the Gods!"

Steve and Barry looked at each other, making eye contact, and smiled before standing up and going over to Thor. Hal, Tony, and Carol all laughed as they all wanted to try the beer.

Bruce just stared. "This will certainly end well."

Steve was the first to down some of the elixir, followed by Barry. Thor let out a grin.

Steve rubbed his head. "Well, I do feel a teeny buzz…"

"So do I…" Barry added on.

Tony placed his hand by his head and laughed. "Well, now we have to try this!"

Steve looked on. Hal and Carol had already seen their families for Thanksgiving – as had Clark, Hank, and Janet – so he looked down, assuming there was no harm in them getting drunk now. Hal was the first to down a sip of the elixir, followed by Carol, and then Tony.

And all of them let out loud 'ohs' almost immediately after tapping sips of the alcohol.

"Oh, God," Carol said to herself, taking a few steps back.

"Good thing we took Black Friday off, Carol," Hal replied, moving his head in random directions. "And thank God that crisis I helped the Nova Corps deal with is done, because goddamn..."

Clark stood up. "Now, now, everyone. Let's remember that this is Thanksgiving. Let's not get too wild here."

Hal let out a 'wooooo', and Clark sighed.

Hank shook his head and crossed his arms.

Hal slapped Steve on the back. "Man, remember when we first met, and you thought I had killed Alan, so you tried to beat the shit outta me?"

Steve felt another slap to the back, and Hal leaned down, letting out high-pitched cackles.

Carol placed her hand on his shoulder and gave a massive grin while Tony looked around at everyone.

"Alright, elephant in the room, who gets the turkey legs? I personally don't want one, but y'all are gonna have to fight over them, and I would love to see that!"

But then Barry vibrated at an extreme pace, going around the room in just a quick few seconds. He then gasped for air, and everyone stopped to look at him.

"You alright, Bar?" Janet asked. "Is that elixir hitting you?"

"No, it can't be….I don't know what…"

Then an excessive amount of blood began to run down from Barry's nose. It was flowing all the way down to his chin, and when he covered his mouth, the blood began to color his hand.

Hal and Carol rushed over to him. Carol was a bit loopy, and Hal tripped for a moment, but both frowned. Carol placed her hand on Barry's shoulder.

Steve simply blinked. "What…what is happening?"

Carol and Hal by Barry's side, but were forced to take a step back when he began vibrating to the point where he was simply a blur to the other Vanguardians. He had his hands in his hair, and he groaned and grunted, but he would not stop vibrating. Then he sped over to the wall, and he slammed into it. He grimaced.

As everyone got up from their seats and looked at Barry, he sped over to the table, and slammed into one of the chairs. Blood was dripping onto his white collar shirt, and he coughed hoarsely.

He let out a shriek, and then he got down on to his knees.

The others began to cry out his name, but he waved his hand at them, motioning for his teammates to get back.

"Oh my God…what the hell is happening to me?!" he yelled out.

Then lighting creeped out from his body. It began flashing out. And then he began phasing into all the Vanguardians, and then in a heartbeat. Steve took a step back as the others fell to the ground, unconscious, before Barry vibrated into him.

And just like that, everything went black.

Slowly, the world showed itself to Steve Rogers once more.

As he groaned and a green light was all he could see, he flashed back to when he first woke up in the Vanguard's medical room, with Hal watching over his unconscious body.

There were Hydra soldiers standing opposite him. Steve grimaced. He tried to move, but he couldn't. He saw that his legs and arms were cuffed up in….he didn't know what to call them. They were dark green, with spots of lime green emanating out of them, and they were circular in shape.

He could move his head around though, and he saw all the other Vanguardians by his side. All of them were also cuffed up, even the obscenely powerful ones. Whether or not they would be held down once they were in place was another matter, but Steve still raised an eyebrow.

"Captain America….I have been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time," Krieger said.

As Steve's vision cleared, he saw a blonde and sharp-jawed figure dressed entirely in black. His eyes widened.

"…K…K-Krieger?"

Krieger smirked. "Bingo, Cap."