[center][quote=@Master Bruce][color=Gray][B]"YOU WOULD DARE? YOU WOULD SACRIFICE THE UNIVERSE FOR THE SAKE OF ONE LIFE? ONE PLANET?!"[/B][/color][/quote][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center]
[b]Central City, Missouri[/b]

[color=#ffffff]The distress signal had been sent out and the Man of Steel had answered its call. Between the Flash and Superman, the Silver Surfer’s advance had slowed somewhat – but it hadn’t been enough on Reed’s homeworld and it wouldn’t be enough here. Central City needed more help than that. They needed the Fantastic Four, he thought to himself, as he tried desperately to get through to Sue, Johnny, and Ben back at the Baxter Building. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]After the fifth time of trying, a creeping realisation dawned on Reed Richards. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“Damn it, Hill.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The four of them had faced down the Silver Surfer on their own world. They were the [i]only [/i]people on this Earth that could lay claim to having done so. But Hill wouldn’t risk SHIELD’s grubby little secret being exposed to the world. She would sooner risk it being destroyed than have to admit to what they had done – and to the fate of this world’s Reed Richards.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Either that or the deputy director had gone all-in on Clark being able to stop the Surfer through force alone. It wasn’t to be ruled out. Richards had learned several times over that betting against Clark Kent was almost always[i] [/i]a bad bet. He [i]was[/i] the man that had beaten Brainiac in a battle of wits where Reed had failed to, after all.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]But this wasn’t Reed’s Clark. Reed’s Clark was the thrall of Darkseid now – and he was probably still tearing their world to pieces. If they ever made it back, the four of them would have to face him down. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]If they ever made it back.[/color]

[color=#6ecff6]“What’s going on, Richards?”[/color][color=#ffffff] Harrison Wells said as he interrupted the super scientist’s train of thought.[/color][color=#6ecff6] “I thought you were calling for reinforcements.”[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“I tried,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Reed said with a heavy sigh. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“It seems like our friends at SHIELD had other ideas.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]On Harrison’s monitors, the struggle between the Silver Surfer and the Flash and Superman was escalating. A STAR Labs drone hung in the air high above them, transmitting the images directly from the Badlands to them. It was real-time.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Harrison Wells shook his head in frustration at their complete helplessness began to gnaw away at him. [/color][color=#6ecff6]“There must be something we can do.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed Richards racked his brain for a way out of all of this. Not only were the cavalry [i]not [/i]coming, they had been cut off at the knees by the world’s premier ‘peacekeeping’ force. This world, so like his own in so many ways, was different in almost as many regards. More than anything, they all seemed so [i]new [/i]to this life.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Clark that traded punches with the Surfer was little more than a boy in a man’s body, that much Reed could see from the way he threw his body around with a reckless abandon. [/color]

[center][quote=@Master Bruce][color=#ffffff][b][color=Silver]"...EXILED."[/color][/b][/color][/quote][/center]
[color=#ffffff]There was a sudden burst of energy and the Flash disappeared along with the Surfer’s board. Now Superman, young, reckless, and not nearly the man that Reed knew he might become one day, stood alone against the herald of Galactus – with the fate of the world on his shoulders.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]They were alike in so many ways, Reed thought. Norrin Radd had made the ultimate sacrifice to protect his planet and for all that had been helpless when Galactus had destroyed it. Clark – Kal-El – was the last of his kind, too.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]And then, as if struck by a lightning bolt, Richards knew what needed to be done. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“There is one thing.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Harrison watched on in bemusement as Reed tapped a few of the holographic buttons on the control panel in front of them. Richards had seen Wells use it for all of thirty seconds and yet he showed an understanding of it that far stripped Harrison’s own. It was amazing to watch – and even harder to understand.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Finally Wells began to piece together what Richards was doing. He had taken control of the drone that was circling Superman and the Surfer and overridden the audio controls. Rather than recording audio, they were now transmitting it. [/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“Superman, we don’t have much time, so I need you to listen to me. My name is Reed Richards. Like you, I come from another world. On my world, we encountered the Silver Surfer and his master Galactus and we stopped them – not with force, but with knowledge.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]It seemed so long ago now that they had first encountered the Silver Surfer and Galactus. Perhaps it was because it [i]had [/i]been such a long time ago. Perhaps it just felt like one. All Reed knew was that the knowledge he possessed was the only thing that stood between this world and destruction – and he meant to be true to the message this world’s Reed had left for him at the Baxter Building and save it.[/color]

[center][quote=@Master Bruce][color=#ffffff][b][color=Silver]"PASSING JUDGEMENT UPON YOU IS... FUTILE. YOU ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD, OR ANY WORLD THAT CURRENTLY STILL EXISTS. YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO BE APART OF THE TEST."[/color][/b] [/color][/quote][/center]
[color=#ffffff]The Surfer had turned his full attention to Clark now and through some manipulation seemed to be choking the Kryptonian. Reed watched nervously, hoping beyond hope that despite the Surfer’s efforts, Clark could hear him.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“The Surfer’s name – his [i]true [/i]name – is Norrin Radd,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Reed added anxiously. [/color][color=#3d85c6]"To save his homeworld, Zenn-La, he agreed to become the herald of Galactus. But the destroyer of worlds betrayed him, Superman, and if Norrin is here, he betrayed him on [i]this[/i] world too.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed felt himself grow fearful as he prepared the coup de grace. Armed with the information that Reed had laid at his feet, Superman had all he needed to turn the Surfer against Galactus, as Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben had done so on their world. There was, however, always the [i]slight [/i]chance that the Surfer might not take the revelation too well. In short, he might tear their world apart in mourning.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]It was a risk that Reed had to take.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Next to him, Harrison Wells placed a supportive hand on Reed’s shoulder as if to will him on to finish his message. Richards gritted his teeth, knowing nothing would be the same once he had uttered them, and pushed through the knot in his throat to deliver the message.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“You have to tell the Surfer the truth. Tell him that Galactus destroyed his world. Tell him that his so-called ‘master’ blinked the woman he loved out of existence like a speck of dust.”[/color]