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[center][i]As long as one man stands against you, you'll never be able to claim victory.[/i]
-Steve Rogers, the Silver Surfer[/center]

[b]Antartica, Earth[/b]

A star was falling to Earth, a silver comet rushing down towards the approaching cold wastes of the Arctic. Many would dismiss it as a natural, if beautiful, phenomenon; no more worth notice than any freak weather condition. But this was no falling comet, no meteor shower. The silver haze that surrounded the plummeting object was just that, haze, used to obscure its source from prying eyes. For if you were there on that day standing on the snow and just happened to be looking up to the heavens then you would see that the object falling towards you was a very recognisable shape.

But no one was there, not a single naked eye saw its approach and not a single creature stirred. For that was the plan, the entry point was deliberate in its obscurity. No one would see because no one was meant to see.

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So no one saw the silver haze fade and the figure behind it come into the fore. He was a man without noticeable features and smooth to the touch. There was a reflective sheen around him that was only noticeable due to its cracked and worn appearance. He was perched atop a board and appeared to be trying to maintain his balance against the whirlwind of air and gale force winds that were buffeting his descent even as he plummeted. He barely had time to grab on tight to the his conveyance before-

[b]WHAM!!![/b]

The impact of the figure hitting the Arctic floor would be registered on seismic measuring systems from the world's leading scientists right down to the experiments done in classrooms around the planet, so powerful it was. Snow and ice were struck with such force that if the kinetic energy didn't cause it to melt, the remnants of the landscape were sent momentarily into the air.

The figure lay motionless, the shock of the impact had caused him to lose consciousness and he knew nothing more. His board lay beside him, abandoned for the moment and feeling the effects of the collision every bit as much as its master. Both lay in the crater of their impact until slowly, tentatively as though afraid to wake the slumbering figure, the snow began to fall once more.