JOHNNY STORM BRACED HIMSELF AGAINST THE WILD winds raging over the crumbling city of Shanghai. Debris flew across the dark and angry sky. The world seemed to be giving up the last of its riches in the presence of the destroyer: forests ripped up from their soil and flew into the air; skyscrapers fell like houses made of playing cards, revealing their bare metal skeletons; lakes and rivers bubbled and dried up, the last of their waters steamed away. The river, which had just consumed Victor Von Doom, lay roiling just beneath Johnny’s flaming, hovering form, another scar on a devastated landscape. The sight of the apocalyptic skyline filled Johnny with trepidation and fear. He had never seen anything like it before. He looked up at the massive vortex of energy and power now clearly visible and taking up much of the air in his sight line. Gah Lak Tus was here, drawn to this place by the Surfer and his board. They didn’t have much time left. He had to get the board back to the group and hope the Surfer could stop this madness.

Johnny grabbed the shining silver board and felt his fingers tingle from its touch. Its power was extraordinary, even with both of its previous riders defeated and out of commission. It must be the Destroyer, Johnny thought. It didn’t matter who rode the board; its destructive connection to the massive, living vortex remained undiminished.

Johnny fought his way through the violent winds, pushing himself against the near-catastrophic sky. He burned his flames higher, hoping the surrounding fire would shield him from the worst of the flying debris. Half the city seemed to be in the air with him; he dodged various pieces of timber and metal, making his way through the carnage all around him. It wasn’t long until he spied the familiar market street and saw the others crouched in the doorway of a building, one of the few still left intact. He raced down to them, turning off his flames as soon as his feet touched the unstable ground. He ran over to the others, noticing that Ben and Reed were still hovering over his sister. “I got it,” Johnny said excitedly, holding up the shining board. The others barely seemed to notice his arrival. He dropped the board and grabbed their shoulders, the direct contact once again triggering the massive display of light and energy that signaled the switching of their special powers. Johnny felt the energy surging through him as it had before, but this time something felt different. The connection felt a bit off, as if something was missing.

As soon as the light faded he noticed the difference in the group. Ben, his rocky visage once again in place, still looked crestfallen, his massive shoulders hunched and low. Reed had barely noticed Johnny’s arrival and Johnny could now see him clutching Sue, weeping openly. His sister had yet to stir, and he saw the large wound covering her chest. No, he thought suddenly.

“Sue?!” he yelled. But she did not move. Johnny fell to his knees, tears forming in his eyes. It was then that he knew his sister was dead.

“I’m sorry, kid,” Ben said softly, but Johnny couldn’t hear him. He was already flooded with grief, and he couldn’t help the images that flew into his mind: happy times from their childhood together; her bright, soft face always patient, even when she was angry with his hotheaded personality; the image of her standing at the Baxter Building, looking radiant in her beautiful wedding dress, her head surrounded by delicate lace. All the things he never said to her crashed into him then and formed a lump in his throat. He would never have the chance to say them to her, or find a way to make up for any of it. She was gone.

The Surfer stayed silent, watching the vivid display of grief around him. His eyes remained deep pools of dull silver, but began to leak tears. He had never been so close to the destruction he was connected to, had never seen up close what havoc the presence of Gah Lak Tus caused. His thoughts had always been about his own home, the loved ones he left behind; he’d never lingered on the ones who suffered under his touch. But here it was, painfully displayed before him: the dead body of the woman who saved him, the grieving figures of her friends and loved ones who had also tried to protect him. The Surfer struggled with the realization that their futile gestures amounted to nothing beyond their own grief. Their actions had no effect on the arrival of Gah Lak Tus and the destruction of their planet.

The sky grew darker around them, shades of gray turning into swaths of deep purple and black. Large meteors crashed into the ground, shaking the street and filling the air with rock and dust. The Surfer could feel the energy in the Earth beneath him start to rumble and give way as the Destroyer prepared to feast on the planet’s core. Somewhere, he knew, bright spires of molten rock were emanating from the craters he’d made and feeding the great beast. It wouldn’t be long now before this planet, like so many others before it, would be consumed.

The Surfer stood, pulling his injured body up against the corner of the crumbling building. He looked up to watch the roof of the structure fly off and up into the dark, swirling air. The Earth boomed with sound as more meteors hit its surface, cracking it like an egg. The Surfer limped over and grabbed the glowing board that Johnny had so carelessly tossed aside. As soon as he made direct contact with it, light grew from its source and covered him entirely. The Surfer’s leg healed instantly and his body regained its bright, silver gleam. He appeared as he was before. Ben, Johnny, and Reed could feel the heat of the energy on their faces, a small burst of warmth in the thickening and cool air. With his power returned, the Surfer once again appeared radiant, glowing, otherworldly.

Reed looked up from Sue’s lifeless body to see the Surfer returned to his power. Part of him hated the silver figure, for it was his arrival here that had led to all of this. But the Surfer was the only one who could draw the Destroyer away from the planet. As much as Reed hated to admit it, they needed the Surfer. They needed him to leave.

The Destroyer loomed larger than before, taking up the entire sky with its dark power. It was almost close enough now, close enough to feed on the planet’s core.

“You’ve got to go now,” Reed said, yelling over the sound of the wind.

“Not yet,” the Surfer said. He walked out into the street clutching the board. He surveyed the broken landscape and watched the sky carry pieces of the planet away. Death was all around him, just like it always was. But this time the price was too high. The Surfer could not, would not, expose this place to any more loss. The Surfer turned back to Reed. “You will not suffer my fate. Step away,” he said, motioning Reed and the others away from Sue’s lifeless body. Reed laid her gently on the ground, pulling the grieving Johnny and Ben away from her.

The Surfer raised his hands into the air. He closed his eyes, suddenly lost in concentration. Even with the world falling to pieces around him, the Surfer radiated a sense of pure serenity, like a safe haven in the overwhelming storm. Reed watched him wordlessly, once again transfixed by the ethereal calm of the silver being. The Surfer’s hands began to pulse and glow, a shining beacon against the dark sky. The light grew brighter and brighter, increasing to a radiance none of them had ever seen before. It almost hurt to look at it, but no one in the group could turn away.

The Surfer opened his eyes quickly, locking them on the lifeless figure of Susan Storm. From his deeply pooled eyes came rays of silver light that lashed out across the air, alive like snakes, enveloping her in their glow. It looked as if the Surfer had turned himself inside out and was unleashing the radiant power that lived inside of him, transferring his very essence onto her lifeless form. Reed watched the incredible display of power, his eyes growing wide as Sue’s physical body broke apart on a molecular level, the atoms reduced to small, glowing motes of dust. The motes danced and pulsed before coming back together in a round ball of pure, glowing energy. The energy stretched out into the form of a woman as the molecules reverted to the shape of Susan Storm. Reed watched her materialize in front of him, her body once again resting on the trembling street. Her wound was gone. Her eyes fluttered and remained closed but her chest moved with breath, her skin once again pink and warm and filled with life.

The Surfer collapsed to the street, his radiant skin simmering down to a dull glow. His body showed signs of the strain and Ben ran to his side to hold the silver figure up. Ben could feel the Surfer lean on him, exhausted.

Reed rushed to Sue’s side, taking her in his arms, making sure her breathing was regular and even. He wiped a long stand of hair from her face and caressed her warm cheek. He heard the Surfer’s deep and wavering voice say, “Life and death are but different forms of energy.”

Reed let grateful tears stream down his cheeks. “Thank you,” he said to the Surfer, once again holding the woman he loved.

The Surfer regained his composure quickly, drawing up his strength and leaving Ben’s side. His silver skin was radiant and glowing with power, his face stoic and resolute. He stood on his board and hovered over the Four. He took a final look at those below him. “Savor each moment with her,” he told Reed before taking to the air.

The Surfer sped up into the sky, the violent winds swirling all around him. He struggled to rise higher, the board no longer able to protect him from the catastrophe occurring around him. The Surfer summoned all of his might to whisk himself higher and higher into the maelstrom above the surface of the planet.

But he couldn’t do it. The presence of the Destroyer was too intense, the atmosphere too unstable, the end too near. He fought against the gale-force winds and small hurricanes that cracked through the sky. The Surfer flipped and struggled against them all, caught in the heavy riptides of air all around him. He focused his mind, trying to rise higher. He had to break though the chaos if he was ever to punch through the atmosphere and draw Gah Lak Tus away from the planet.

Suddenly he shot up through the air, bursting through the maddening winds swirling around him. He broke free of the riptides and sped into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. He looked back and saw the Human Torch, covered in living flame, gripping the back of his board and propelling them both toward the heavens. The powerful flame acted like a booster rocket, taking them through the rough winds and debris. The dark sky fell away, lightening a bit before the beginnings of outer space again became visible.

A strong sense of déjà vu overcame Johnny as he propelled them away from the planet’s surface. He had been here with the Surfer before, not that long ago. Their previous fight had taken them to the highest reaches of Earth’s atmosphere as Johnny had struggled with the feelings of isolation that came with a bird’s eye-view of the planet. It looked different to him now. The planet, now under siege, looked vulnerable and precious, something to protect and defend. His hands, still connected to the powerful board, felt these feelings surge within him just as the flames on his fingers began to extinguish. The lack of oxygen at such a high altitude began to diminish the flames all over his body. “Okay,” Johnny said to the Surfer. “That’s it for me. From here on out, you’re golden! I mean…silver. Whatever.” Johnny saw the Surfer’s eyes meet his just as his hand that touched the board began to tingle. Johnny gave the Surfer a final push and watched him rocket out of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Johnny reversed his course and sped back down toward the surface of the planet, his flames returning to strength in the oxygen-rich atmosphere. Upon reentry, he was battered about by the storm of meteors and debris, though his flames burned up and shielded him from the largest bits of detritus. He ricocheted off them, caroming down to the surface of the planet. Just then, a barrage of large boulders and wreckage caught in a twister headed straight for him. At this speed, Johnny didn’t have time to maneuver or turn. He burned brighter and closed his eyes, bracing for the painful impact.

Back down on the surface of the planet, things continued to tremble and shake. The winds blew up large amounts of dust that clouded the horizon. There was no sun, and no light. Reed tried to shelter Sue, who was still weak but breathing. Ben covered them both, his thick, rocky hide their only protection from the violence around them. Nothing had changed since the Surfer’s departure. The air remained dark, heavy, and thick. The devastation around them was covered by the dust storms, but they could hear the cacophony of loud crashes and collisions around them. “Why isn’t it working?” Ben yelled against the onslaught, bracing himself as more debris slammed into his back.

Reed tried to close himself off from the destruction around them. “We were too late,” he said sadly, drawing Sue closer to him.

“Then this is it,” Ben replied, suddenly thinking of Alicia. “This is the end.” Ben huddled closer to Reed and Sue, prepared to protect them as long as he could, until the very end. A loud boom made them all start, and a large crack opened in the Earth near them. Ben could feel the steam escaping from the large hole and scalding his thick leg, the planet preparing to bleed out its core into the open air. He hoped that the end would be swift and that his rocky form might shield his friends from some of the pain. He shut his eyes tightly, whispering a prayer. The Earth shuddered and shook beneath them, tossing Reed against Ben in a final violent display. Reed shut his eyes, gripping Sue to his chest.

And then suddenly, the shaking stopped.

High above the Earth’s atmosphere, the Silver Surfer burst through the swirling, powerful essence of Gah Lak Tus.

No more of this, thought the Surfer. Not this world. Not her.

For this first time in the Surfer’s memory, Gah Lak Tus was taken off guard. He could feel it penetrating his thoughts, attempting to mine some semblance of reason for its herald’s transgression, this unexpected interruption of its feeding.

What then would be the price of Norrin Radd’s insubordination?

The Silver Surfer raced away from the lonely blue planet, his merciless cosmic overlord eager to pursue.

The chaos around the Fantastic Four grew quiet. The wind died down, and the massive amounts of dust in the air fell in thick clusters to the ground. The dark atmosphere around them lifted, letting little cracks of light break through the cloud cover. The cracks of light grew wider, brighter, forming a glow on the horizon. Ben looked up to see a flaming spot in the sky, glowing brightly, coming directly toward them. Johnny broke through just as the darkness dissipated and the sun became apparent in the sky behind him. As the smoke and dust cleared away, they all could see the Destroyer pulling away from the Earth, moving at an incredible speed, allowing the gray and charred sky to return to their view.

Johnny landed on the ground near them, his arrival kicking up a cloud of dust. He turned off his flames and ran to the others. “He did it,” he said, a large grin breaking over his face.

Sue sat up, brushing dirt and dust from her uniform. She looked over at her brother, and then at Reed. “What did I miss?” she asked. Reed smiled and kissed her, pulling her close to him.

Ben stood up, pushing a half-torn rooftop off his back and kicking away some of the debris around them. He walked over to Johnny and patted him on the back. “Nice work, kid,” he said.

“Thanks,” Johnny said, his shoulder caving under Ben’s heavy touch. Johnny suddenly flinched, remembering his ability to switch powers with the others. But the direct contact had no effect. “Hey,” he said. “I’m not changing! I’m cured.”

Ben smiled. “It must have been your quality time with Norbert…” he said.

Johnny remembered the strange tingling in his hands just before he’d pushed the Surfer off toward space. He kept touching Ben all over, making sure the ability to switch powers had finally left him. “Norrin,” Johnny replied.

“Okay,” Ben said, pushing Johnny back. “Now you’re making me uncomfortable.”

Reed was oblivious to Johnny and Ben’s interaction, focusing his attention solely on Sue. She looked tired but still beautiful. He couldn’t believe he had almost lost her. He vowed to himself that he would never let that happen again. He grasped her hand and held it tightly.

“So I guess it’s all over, huh?” said Ben from behind him. “Now you can go start your new life.”

“No,” replied Reed.

“No?”

“No,” Sue parroted.

“Yes!” Johnny shouted, ecstatic.

“If it wasn’t for us,” explained Reed, “the whole world would be gone now. What are we going to do during the next crisis?”

“We can’t run and hide from the people we need to protect,” said Sue, looking at Reed with love. “It’s who we are.”

It’s who we are.

“Exactly!” said Johnny. “I was going to say that!”

Ben still looked befuddled. “But what about having a normal life — a family?”

Reed smiled at his words. “Who says you have to be normal to have a family?”

Besides…” said Sue. “We already are a family.”

She reached her hand out to her brother, who quickly walked to her side. They placed their joined hands out, one over the other, Ben joined in, his huge fist enveloping them both. They all looked at Reed, their leader, who soon followed suit, placing his hand over Ben’s. Reed knew that the team had been stretched to the breaking point. But they’d recovered, just like they always did. They had saved the planet, and nothing in this world or any other would ever tear them apart again.

“You up for another media circus wedding?” asked Sue, a small smile on her face. “Sixth time’s the charm.”

Reed couldn’t help grinning. “No. I’ve got a better idea.”