"He looked human, male, but his body was covered in a silver fluid. He rode a... flying device that looked like a surfboard."
Johnny returned to the Baxter Building in low spirits. The usually proud and arrogant Human Torch had been utterly powerless before that intruder.
If Iron Man had not arrived in time and saved Johnny from falling out of space, he would probably still have been wandering through the Nevada desert.
In the spacious, brightly lit penthouse living room, everyone looked grim. Susan, in particular, watched Reed with worry written across her face. It seemed their wedding would have to be postponed.
"Whether he's an alien or some kind of interstellar surfer, one thing is certain: he can convert matter and energy. It looks like he uses cosmic radiation to alter matter."
Tony offered his deduction.
Other than Johnny, he was the only one who had seen the intruder firsthand. The other man had seemed like an intangible mass of air, passing straight through the thick reinforced glass.
It was as though he had instantly changed the material composition of the window. That was the only explanation for how he had entered the Baxter Building so easily.
"And this... Silver Surfer apparently didn't want to be found, so he destroyed the sensor."
"He knew he was being monitored, then tracked us here?"
Reed frowned. What exactly was the other man trying to hide?
An intelligent life-form that had come to Earth with such unusual abilities clearly did not have any interest in friendly communication.
During his years at Knowhere, Reed had long witnessed the cold brutality of the greater universe.
Between civilizations, there was no such thing as tender sentiment—only naked jungle laws and bonds of interest.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
Susan did not care about