Steve looked around him for a moment. Bruce and Diana were both chained up next to him. Clark, Barry, Janet, and Hank were chained up on Steve's left, while Hal, Tony, Zatanna, T'Challa, and Carol were all on the other hand. All of them were helpless to do anything.

Krieger's eyes were wide, and he cackled. Steve merely groaned, and asked, "What…what is happening? How have you survived this long?"

"I had a sample of Ian Karkull's energies stored somewhere safe, shortly before our 'final battle' if you will. It helped to slow down my aging."

Krieger then cracked his knuckles. "And I've wanted to do this for a while," he said, before punching Steve in the gut.

Steve looked down at the ground, grunting.

Bruce grunted loudly, before he narrowed his eyes at Krieger. "How the hell did you hack our security system again? We upgraded it after you got in last time!"

Krieger raised his finger up, and smirked. "Oh, yes you did. I have to give you and Stark credit for that – your new security system is all but impossible to hack into. But you see, Mr. Wayne…we didn't need to."

Baron Zemo, who had stood about twenty feet behind Krieger, walked up until he was right by his commander's side. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flat, circular disk. "I had been working on a prototype for quite some time. It's a tad…complicated, I will admit, but Barry Allen put it to perfect use."

Steve looked over at Barry, who was over at the end of their row. Barry's jaw dropped. "What? How?! What did you do to me?!"

Zemo showed a small smile, before tapping onto the disk in his hand.

"This goes all the way back to Siberia," he said, and before him was a hologram of the Flash, battling Hydra soldiers in the wintery forest near the base. "We had been working on a tiny device that could use your connection to the Speed Force…against you. It was stored in that very base."

Then as the hologram Flash decked one of the soldiers in the face and blew whirlwinds towards three more to his right, one of the soldiers was seen tackling him.

"This soldier here….he took the device and placed it onto you. It could fit onto your fingertips, but when he placed it on you, it embedded itself into your skin without you realizing it."

In the hologram, the Flash grabbed the soldier by his hips and tossed him down to the ground, before speeding away.

Then Zemo tapped his thumb onto the device again, and the hologram changed. Now Barry was seen in the room where the Vanguard had Thanksgiving, and he was zooming all around his teammates. "I had thought the device needed more work, so I was deeply frustrated that it was used so soon. But it worked like a charm."

Zemo walked up to Barry and looked him in the eye. "It was extremely delayed, but the device frizzled you good. It made you knock out your teammates. It messed with your mind," he said, before the hologram Flash began zooming up. The hologram changed to show the Vanguard Tower, and Barry breaking open a hole on top of the Tower.

The Baron smirked. "We didn't need to hack your system again. You gave us a way in. Krieger himself personally flew there to retrieve you all, and well…here we are now."

Zemo pinched Barry's cheek and then grabbed him by his jaw, letting out a small, but deep chuckle through his clenched teeth, before he looked at Steve.

The second-in-command to Hydra clasped his hands behind his back, and he grinned.

Krieger cleared his throat. "And now, Vanguardians…your final fate awaits you."

Out of the end of the room, several Hydra soldiers marched into place. Zemo moved out of the way, and each of the thirteen soldiers stood before one of the Vanguardians, and aimed massive, sleek, black guns with green lines towards them. A soldier did not stand before Steve, however. Rather, Krieger stood opposite him, and he pulled out of the guns himself.

"I wasn't going to let some soldier kill you, the man who helped to almost topple Hydra in the war," he said. "No, I will do what neither Johann Schmidt nor that missile could do. I will be the one to finish off Captain America!"

Steve grimaced as he tried to squirm out of the cuffs that held him in place, as did the other Vanguardians. But none of them could break free – not even Diana or Thor.

Schmidt shook his head. "You cannot break free. Decades' work of development paid off with those cuffs. Goodbye."

Steve could see Krieger begin to pull the trigger, and he still squirmed around. But then, a green glow came out of one of Hal's cuffs.

Krieger turned his attention from Steve to Hal, narrowing his eyes and raising an eyebrow. "What the hell?"

The cuff began to shake as the green energy intensified.

Krieger turned over to face Schmidt. "Damnit, these were supposed to dampen their powers!"

Hal smirked. "My ring is super-advanced technology. Not really a superpower."

Krieger placed his hands in his hair for a moment, before he pointed towards Cap, and ordered the soldiers to shoot fire at the Vanguardians immediately, before Hal could free himself from the cuff.

But it was too late. The cuff broke, and a giant green fist emanated from Hal's hand. He smirked. "Beware my power, assholes," he said, before creating a hammer with his ring that smashed into the other cuff, destroying it. Tiny pieces of the cuff flew down onto the ground.

Hal took a moment and breathed heavily. He had the hammer in his hands, and he looked over at Orin and Hank, who he had been chained up next to.

Krieger growled. "You will be dealt with in a minute!" he shouted, spit flying out from his mouth, before he waved his hand. "Kill the rest, except Captain Rog –"

Before Krieger could finish, Hal blasted green fire towards him and all the Hydra soldiers, sending them down to the ground. One of the soldiers in front of the Green Lantern got up and shot at Hal, but Hal created a replica of Captain America's shield to deflect it, before tossing the shield towards the soldier's helmet, knocking him out.

Krieger levitated above the ground and lunged towards Hal, grabbing him by the shoulder and slamming him towards the wall. Hal gritted his teeth and tried to lean forward, but Krieger slammed him back into the wall.

The Hydra leader's hand clutched Hal's throat tightly. Hal tried placed his hands on Krieger's, while kicking his legs. After a few moments, Hal began to choke.

Steve looked over to Carol, who had turned pale. "Hal! NO!"

Barry had his teeth clenched, and he was trying to vibrate out of the cuffs, to the point where Steve thought he could see sweat dripping down from the speedster, but then he gasped and breathed heavily.

"Hal…" Barry uttered.

Carol went from pale to red as she also tried to break free of the cuffs. "HAL!" she yelled out.

As the others tried to break free, Krieger threw Hal down onto the ground. As Hal tried to get up, Krieger slammed onto his face, and blood flew out from the Green Lantern's mouth. Krieger stomped on Hal's face again, while grinning.

"I have to say, Jordan, I never thought about you that much," Krieger said as he leaned down and grabbed Hal by his hair. "I'm surprised you had the brains to figure out how to break free. But with that said, I can shake the Vanguardians to their core with your death…"

Krieger grinned. "It's been too long since I killed someone in a truly memorable fashion."

Hal tried to create a giant arm with which to deck Krieger in the face, but Krieger was able to punch the construct and shatter it into pieces, with green energies flying all around the room. Krieger smirked and chuckled, and then he pressed his thumbs onto Hal's eye sockets.

"N-n-no," was all Hal could say as he tried to squirm his way out.

But before Krieger could place any more pressure onto Hal's eyes, electricity emanated from T'Challa's cuffs, before they shattered into pieces.

He collapsed onto the ground, lighting swarming around him.

Krieger stood up and yelled out, "Goddamnit, how?!"

But then Hal, still laying down on the floor, created a rocket launcher with his power ring and fired a rocket towards Krieger, sending him towards the ceiling.

"Wakandan tech," was what T'Challa replied with, as he headed towards Zatanna. Green electricity shot out from the cuffs as T'Challa struck it.

"Don't crush my hands!" Zatanna uttered in response.

T'Challa smirked. "Worry not, dear. I know what I'm doing."

Krieger charged towards the Wakandan king, but Hal swung his fist towards Krieger and sent him down to the ground.

T'Challa struck the cuff once more, and green electricity emanated with greater intensity. Zatanna looked at the cuffs around her, and grinned. "This should do just fine," she said, before blue energy glowed from the cuffs, and they shattered into a million pieces.

Zemo pulled out his gun and tried to shoot Zatanna, but a blue circular shield formed over her and the bullet was deflected.

Zatanna looked down at her hands and cracked her knuckles. "Alright, let's get to work."

Steve watched as the cuffs that held him in place glowed blue. The same went for everyone else's cuffs.

Zemo tried to fire at Zatanna again, but this time, the gun jammed. "Son of a bitch!" Zemo yelled out as he pulled the gun closer, trying to see what was wrong.

The blue glow of the energy intensified on all the cuffs for just a few more moments, before they had all shattered into pieces.

Steve fell onto the ground, breaking his fall with his hands. He immediately got back onto his feet. He had no shield to defend himself with, but he still looked at Krieger at narrowed his eye.

"Let's all get suited up," Zatanna said, before she waved her hand. Red circles of light formed around all of the Vanguardians' feet, and they moved upwards. As they did so, Steve found that his superhero outfit was forming right before his eyes. The red circles went above his head before disappearing, and he was all suited up as Captain America, complete with his shield in hand. He looked around, and saw that the other Vanguardians had been suited as well. Thor, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman had their respective hammer, lasso & sword, and trident.

Zemo looked over at Krieger. "Time for Plan B!" he shouted, before he ran out of the room. Krieger was able to zoom away, but Barry caught Zemo before he could get too far.

"Whatever Hydra has been planning all this time, it ends now," Barry said, clenching his teeth. "Tonight, Hydra falls!"

Zemo smirked. "You appear to be quite confident, Flash."

Cap raised his hands up. "We are all free and presumably in your top base."

"Yes…" Zemo said, looking down at the ground. "Yes, you are."

Barry and Cap looked at each other, and at the other Vanguardians, before Barry threw Zemo to the ground. The Flash ran off to find Krieger at super speed. Carol, Hal, Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Zatanna, and a shrunken Wasp all followed the Scarlet Speedster, levitating above the ground. Cap, Batman, Aquaman, Black Panther, and Hank followed along.

"Wait for us, damnit!" Hank shouted as he was the last one to leave the room. Cap looked back at him for a brief moment before facing forward. The hallways were also metallic, with many lines everywhere, and they were painted an olive green.

Cap tapped the button on his earbud, asking *Where did all of you go?*

*We went left!*, Superman answered.

At the break in the hallway, the five Vanguadians took a left.

Just then, a distant roar could be heard. The five stopped in their tracks. The roar was deep, and it echoed through the hallway.

"What was that?" Aquaman asked.

Black Panther looked straight ahead, where the roar emanated from. "We're about to find out."

They resumed running ahead, with Cap asking to the earpiece, *What on Earth was that roar?!"

There was no answer. He waited for a few moments, but there was still no answer.

Then the five entered massive room, where the other Vanguardians had been located. All of them were standing on the ground, and Iron Man took a look at the five as they ran in. The room was the same olive green as the hallway, but there were many blue and red monitors across the screen; some of the monitors displayed various cities and countries across the world. Most of them were civilians doing such activities as driving in heavy traffic, shopping at various malls, or drinking in several kinds of bars. One monitor showed a US Senate meeting, while others showed similar kinds of meetings, with the UK, Canadian, and Australian flags present, among others.

There were dozens upon dozens of Hydra soldiers in the room, all aiming their weapons at the Vanguardians. Krieger looked back at his men and waved. "Not yet, soldiers. You all know that most of them can't just be shot down. No…" he said, before looking back at the Vanguardians with a smirk. "…Let them take care of it."

Wasp, standing on Wonder Woman's shoulder, raised a tiny eyebrow and asked, "Who is 'them'?"

Then there was another roar. This one was much closer, and bounced off the walls of the room. The Vanguardians all looked around, and tilted their heads back at the ceiling. The roaring almost sounded as if it had came from this very room.

Then there was banging and shaking, that seemed to be coming from the very back of the room. Zemo stood by Krieger's side and looked behind him.

Superman used his X-Ray vision to scan the room, and then Cap saw his eyes widen.

A giant, brown-furred creature jumped up high in the air, and stopped just a few inches short of the ceiling, before landing down on the ground, directly behind Krieger and Zemo. Its landing was followed by an enormous thud that shook the very earth itself. Its eyes glowed a dark, burning red, and it snarled sharp teeth the size of steak knifes, before beating its chest and roaring. Its nose was the size of a football, and it stood about ten feet tall, with darker shades of brown fur extending from the top of its head and around his chin.

Everyone's mouth went agape.

"…Sasquatch?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Bigfoot?!" Iron Man said a second later.

Krieger shook his head. "No. This is something we finished up creating just days ago. We call him Shaggy Man. And he's not alone."

Another figure jumped up in the air, in the exact same motion as Shaggy Man had done. When he landed right next to Shaggy Man, his features were visible. He stood only half a foot shorter than Shaggy Man, and he was extremely muscular – each arm looked to be twice the size of Thor's and Superman's. He wore a muted red outfit, with bands around his arms, but he also wore a round helmet that completely wrapped around his head, leaving only his face visible.

"Well, well, well," this man said, cracking his knuckles. "If it isn't the Vanguard of Justice."

Krieger grinned ear-to-ear. "This is Cain Marko. The Unstoppable Juggernaut."

Cap's eyes narrowed. "We'll be the judge of that."

Then Shaggy Man screeched before lunging towards Iron Man, grabbing him by his leg, smashing him down onto the ground, and throwing him towards Hal and Carol right as those two flew towards the Sasquatch-like creature. Superman used his heat vision against Shaggy Man, but it had no effect on the creature. Shaggy Man decked Superman in the face and sent him down on the ground.

Juggernaut, meanwhile, used his elbow to block lighting from Thor. He charged towards Thor, and Thor tried to kick him in the chest, but the Juggernaut continued charging right through him, and the God of Thunder crashed into the King of Atlantis. Aquaman and Thor both landed on the ground, and Cap tried to bash Juggernaut with his shield, but the latter grabbed him by his head and threw him towards the wall.

As Cap got up, he saw Aquaman try to stab Juggernaut with his trident, only for the latter to yank the trident from Aquaman's hand and break it into two with his knee. He threw it onto the ground. Hank grew to 12 feet tall and tried to kick Shaggy Man in the chest, but the creature got out of the way and gave Hank an uppercut to the face.

"Good God!" Hank said as he fell to the ground.

Cap looked around. Zemo was battling Batman, with Batman knee'ing Zemo in the chest and then decking him the face, only for Juggernaut to hit Batman in the back. The other Vanguardians all tried to fight Juggernaut and Shaggy Man, but as many were slammed into the wall or smashed into the ground, none had managed to hurt them.

Cap looked at Shaggy Man, who grabbed Superman by his face and threw him towards one of the monitors, and charged towards the creature.

However, he felt someone yank him from behind and throw him down onto the ground. It was Krieger. Cap spit on the ground before he looked up at Krieger and got back up.

Krieger breathed heavily as he tried to deck Cap in the face, only for Cap to block it with his shield.

"I've been given a second chance to bring you down myself, Captain America," Krieger said as he grabbed Cap by his throat. "And believe me, I'm going to take it."

As carnage overtook the rest of the room, Krieger locked eyes with Cap, pure hatred coming out from them, and he grinned.

"And I'm going to enjoy it."