[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center][b]Triskelion, Washington DC[/b]

[color=#ffffff]Deep beneath the Triskelion the Silver Surfer stared impassively out of his clear cell. He had been stood, his hands bound by vibranium handcuffs that were of SHIELD super scientist Rachna Koul’s design, watching the same point impassively for the best part of two hours. It was almost as if he was expecting something. Of course, to the Surfer time was immaterial. He could cross the expanse of space in what felt like the blink of an eye. Next to that, waiting patiently for his unauthorised visitor to arrive was as nothing.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]For Sue Storm, making her way into the Surfer’s cell had proved more challenging than she had anticipated. Koul’s identification card alone wasn’t enough. The Surfer was being watched around the clock – as you’d expect given the showing he’d put on against Superman and the Flash. Tricking the guards watching the Surfer’s cell had proved easy enough. It was, as ever, the bio-sensors that were a challenge.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]But it didn’t take her long to devise a plan of sorts. She had, after all, lived and worked side-by-side with Reed Richards long enough to know that there [i]were [/i]no unsolvable problems. With the help of some inventive hard-light constructs, Sue bopped, weaved, ducked, and slid her way into the Surfer’s cell without setting off a single alarm.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]She would have afforded herself a small fist pump in congratulations if not for the sudden booming of the Surfer’s voice in her direction.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“They may not be able to see you, Susan Storm, but I can."[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Still cloaked in invisibility, Sue crept closer towards the translucent cell that SHIELD had encased the Surfer in. It was ingenious. Even at a glance, it was clear that the organisation had spared no expense bringing the herald in. They meant to keep him – for good. And with what Sue knew of the Surfer from her world, she couldn’t quite countenance letting that come to pass. Simply put, it was wrong.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]One of Sue’s hands lifted towards her chest and she neared the front of the Surfer’s cell. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“You know who I am?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Surfer nodded.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“The power cosmic grants me many gifts.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Suddenly Sue became aware that the Surfer’s cell was being watched from every angle, the world’s most expensive technology being to deployed to monitor the herald in the event of an escape attempt. It occurred to her that invisibility only went so far.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue glanced towards a camera in the corner of the room. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“Can they hear us?”[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“The restraints they have designed for me [i]only[/i] dampen my connection to the power cosmic, they do not sever it completely – even your world's greatest minds could not achieve such a feat.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]It was not braggadocio, but a statement of fact. Everything that left the Surfer’s mouth was cold, his voice completely stripped of emotion and empathy, but there was something beneath it. There [i]had [/i]to be something beneath it – otherwise they never would have been able to reach Norrin on their world.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue studied the Surfer for a few seconds as she took a few slow, gentle steps towards his cell.[/color]

[color=#a4c2f4]“If you know who I am, then you know where I [i]really [/i]come from.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Each step was cushioned by a hard-light construct. They ensured that pressure pads beneath the floor went undisturbed and any sound from the Invisible Woman’s steps were captured. She stopped just before the Surfer’s cell and stood with what appeared to be only inches of glass between them. In it she could see her own reflect laid over the Surfer’s face.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]“My world was destroyed. Everyone I know and loved murdered. If you’re here, Norrin, then Galactus isn’t far behind – and with him comes death for everyone and [i]everything [/i]on this world. I won’t let that happen. Not again.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue’s jaw tightened on that last word. Half in sadness at recalling the fate of her fallen word and half in anger at the prospect of another world razed with fire. For a moment there was a hint of recognition in the Surfer’s eyes – as if acknowledging a challenge. Though she was not a strong as Superman or fast as the Flash, Sue Storm was [i]every [/i]bit as powerful. In ways that perhaps she had yet come to appreciate, but the Surfer, with all the wisdom the power cosmic granted him, did.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“Have you come to threaten me?”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]The Invisible Woman shook her head as if disgusted by the very prospect of it. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“I’ve come to [i]reason [/i]with you.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]One of Sue’s hands pressed against the surface between them. It was clear from the touch that it wasn’t glass and clearer still, by the way the Surfer lifted his hands despite the restraints around them, neither it nor the restraints were enough to keep the Surfer there truly against his will.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Search my memories, Norrin. No, better yet, I want you to [i]feel [/i]them. You’ll see that what Superman said about your master is true. The bargain you struck, to save Zenn-La, Galactus broke it the moment you entered his service. You owe him [i]nothing [/i]– least of all your loyalty.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Invisible Woman willed the weight of her suffering along her hand and through the glass. Her memories, but more still, all the feelings of those Sue Storm had loved, had called friends, were sent coursing along her arm and through the divide into the Surfer without warning. His eyes opened as the information flooded his brain and through it all a smidgen of the Surfer’s past eked its way into Sue’s mind.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“ARGH.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Visibly in pain, the Surfer pried his hand away from the surface. There was a shockwave that knocked him off his feet and onto the ground of his cell.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue staggered backwards and tried to decode the memories that had leaked out into her mind. A baby taken from his father at birth and raised on a diet of unbearable torture. An escape attempt – tens, hundreds, thousands of them – all to nothing. Only to find himself, once finally free, forced into the service of an unspeakable evil.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“You’re not him,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Sue muttered as she began to regain her bearings.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]For the first time since Sue had locked eyes on the Surfer, he spoke in a voice that sounded somewhat human.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“The death, the despair, it's ... it's like nothing I've ever seen.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Suddenly Clark’s failure to reach “Norrin” during the Central City incident made sense. Of course the Surfer didn’t care about Zenn-La, he wasn’t from Zenn-La, he was from somewhere else. A place that Sue hoped to never have any reason to visit.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“I thought the reason Superman couldn’t reach you was because you were in too deep but you’re [i]not[/i] at all. I could feel your pain. Your anguish. You’re someone else beneath there, but you’re still someone [i]goo-[/i]”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]There was a sudden explosion from above them. Even eight feet beneath the ground in a state-of-the-art holding cell meant to hold the world’s most dangerous metahumans, Sue felt the tremors. Her first instinct was to look round at the Surfer.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Is it happening?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Still burdened by the weight of the memories that Sue had forced upon him, the Surfer shook his head matter-of-factly.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“When my master arrives, it will be your whole world that trembles.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]A deep, throbbing klaxon sounded and suddenly the Surfer’s cell became flooded by blood red lights. His silver skin looked as if it had been bathed in blood. The emotion in the Surfer’s eyes began to slip and the cold, hard persona began to creep its way back over his features.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“No, we’re not done here,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Sue said as she slammed a fist against his cell in frustration. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“There are still things we need to talk ab-”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Surfer slunk back into the darkness of his cell.[/color]

[b][color=#999999]“Go, Susan Storm.”[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Sue’s body hummed with the power cosmic. In the darkness of the Surfer’s cell, she saw the herald’s hands glowing with energy – and let out a shocked cry as the energy made its way towards her person. When she opened her eyes, she found herself stood outside the Triskelion. A trail of thick black smoke was escaping from a hole in the side of the building. SHIELD was under attack.[/color]