In a room filled with 90s-style decor, a man with blonde hair and a muscular physique opened his eyes on a stainless steel hospital bed with a white mattress.
His experience as a soldier made him observe his surroundings immediately after opening his eyes to assess his current situation.
"Pitch, strike!"
"He bent down, pitched, swung, a curveball."
"Rizzo scores! Laser runs to third base…"
An old fan hung from the ceiling, its slow rotation making one wonder if it would fall at any moment.
The bedside lamp emitted a warm orange glow, and a baseball game commentary played from a wooden radio nearby.
A ray of sunlight streamed through the window, complementing the warm-toned curtains, which helped soothe the man's initial post-awakening confusion.
He then sat up from the bed and looked towards the wooden door beside him.
Under the man's gaze, the door opened, and in walked a woman wearing a white shirt and a long brown skirt.
Her hair was slightly curly, and her makeup was familiar to the man—it was the style of his era.
"Good morning, or rather, good afternoon."
After the woman entered, she greeted the man sitting on the bed, then corrected herself after checking her watch.
"Oh my god, where am I?"
The man sitting on the bed was Captain America, Steve Rogers.
The surrounding environment made him feel disoriented; for some reason, it gave him a sense of unreality.
He had bravely fought the Nazis in World War II, and finally contended with Red Skull for the Tesseract on an airplane.
After the crash, he was buried with the plane under the ice, leading to him being frozen for 70 years until S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered and rescued him five days ago.
Of course, Steve did not know any of this yet.
He had just woken up, and his last memory was falling during his fight with Red Skull, then waking up here.
"You are currently in a post-operative recovery room in New York."
The woman heard Rogers' question and smiled as she told him his current location.
"The Dodgers lead eight to four! Oh! The Dodgers! What a fantastic game, everyone."
The radio continued to broadcast the game.
Rogers paused slightly upon hearing the woman's words.
He turned his head to look out the window at the 90s architectural style.
Although the scene outside the window was familiar to him, he felt something was off.
"Where exactly am I?"
Rogers questioned again, looking at the woman.
He suspected she was deceiving him.
"I don't understand what you mean?"
The woman asked, puzzled, her smile showing a hint of panic.
"This game, I was there.
It was in May 1941.
So, tell me! Where exactly is this?!"
Rogers stood up and advanced on the woman.
The woman subtly took a step back.
Out of Rogers' sight, she held a device that glowed red in her hand behind her back.
The woman pressed the button, speaking words to soothe Rogers.
"Captain Rogers."
The device seemed to be for calling external reinforcements.
In a short while, two fully armed soldiers pushed open the door and entered.
Rogers did not recognize their uniforms and equipment.
The next moment, the two soldiers were sent flying by Rogers, crashing through the wall.
Rogers seized the opportunity and ran out.
Stepping through the broken opening, Rogers discovered that the room he had just been in was a temporary container house made of foam and wood panels, and the scenery outside the window was merely a backdrop.
He was now in a dark, spacious room.
After looking around, he chose to run towards the only exit ahead.
"All Agents, emergency alert."
The woman picked up her walkie-talkie and began to issue a warning.
After Rogers went downstairs, he found that the surroundings were full of people in black suits, and in front of him was a floor-to-ceiling glass wall he had never seen before.
The voice of the woman from earlier came over the loudspeaker above, and then the black-suited individuals began to look at him.
Rogers quickly ran towards the exit.
Steve Rogers ran down the street.
Initially, he paid no attention to his surroundings, but upon noticing the differences, he stopped.
Gazing at the bizarre and unfamiliar sights around him, he became confused.
Countless skyscrapers, dazzling billboards, and people dressed differently from what he remembered—all these things made Rogers somewhat disbelieve his own eyes.
Several black vehicles stopped in front of Rogers, and then many Agents exited the cars.
At this moment, a voice came from behind Rogers.
"Hey, easy there, soldier."
Rogers turned and saw that the speaker was a one-eyed Black man dressed entirely in black—it was Nick Fury.
"Listen, I apologize for that little show back there, but we thought it best you eased into things."
Nick Fury said to Captain America.
"Ease into what?"
Rogers asked.
Then the Black man in front of him said something that shocked him: he had been asleep for 70 years.
Instantly, a myriad of thoughts churned in Rogers' mind.
70 years, which meant all his former relatives and friends had either grown old or passed away.
Moreover, Rogers remembered the date he had with a lady.
"Are you alright?"
Nick Fury asked, looking at the expression on Rogers' face.
Nick Fury wondered if he could handle such pressure.
"I'm fine, it's just… I missed a date."
Rogers' expression was somewhat sad.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
Nick Fury, of course, knew who Rogers' date was with—Peggy Carter, one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. back then.
She was still alive, but had Alzheimer's disease, which is senile dementia.
However, Nick Fury felt it was not the right time to let Rogers know; he feared that too much shock at once would be unbearable for him.
It was better to let this World War II veteran adapt to this World first.
Afterward, Nick Fury brought the somewhat confused Captain America back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and began to tell him about the changes that had occurred during his years of slumber.
------ (Little Gwen running) ------
"Oh? Lissandra, are you saying Nick Fury and them have already rescued Captain America?"
Noah's seaside manor, with its surrounding giant trees, remained unchanged.
Waves crashed against the cliff, and occasionally, many large fish leaped out of the Water.
To prevent these mutated creatures, which arose from the immense vitality of the Resolve Rune, from escaping and affecting the surrounding ecosystem, Noah had Lissandra set up protective nets in the sea and forest as quickly as possible.
As for the creatures that had already escaped before then, Noah could not control them.
"Yes, five days ago, they located where Captain America was frozen, and just now, Captain America has awakened."
Lissandra said.
"It seems Captain America is also in place.
This means that basically every character for the Avengers has come online, but Loki has already been imprisoned.
Will the Battle of New York still happen?"
Noah wondered.
The Battle of New York is the plot of Avengers 1.
Avengers 1 immediately follows Thor 1, where Loki falls into a wormhole at the end of Thor 1 and is subsequently captured by Thanos.
However, Thanos did not kill Loki; instead, he gave him a Chitauri army and a scepter embedded with the Mind Stone, instructing him to go to Earth and retrieve the Tesseract.
However, Loki could not do that now, but Noah knew that Thanos would not give up.
His goal was to find the whereabouts of all the Stones, but Thanos would not act personally until he found the whereabouts of all the Stones.
Otherwise, if his intention to collect all the Universe Stones were discovered, many powerful forces and his enemies in the Universe would come to stop him, so he would at least wait until the whereabouts of all the Stones were clear before acting personally.
This time, Noah was unsure what methods Thanos would use to come to Earth and take the Tesseract, but he was not worried.
In fact, Noah secretly hoped the other party would cause trouble, as that would give him a task to do.
"Whether Thanos comes or not will be revealed soon.
Anyway, I should be able to handle it easily, no need to worry too much."