Chapter 103: Invasion of the Silver Surfer
As the folded dimension slowly unwound and Gene returned to the material plane, a faint rumble echoed across the skies of Earth. Above the atmosphere, space itself shimmered unnaturally—like ripples on the surface of a dark pond.
S.W.O.R.D.'s orbital satellites caught it first.
"Unidentified cosmic object approaching at high velocity—impact projected within ten minutes!" a technician shouted from the command center. "Trajectory indicates direct descent over the East Coast!"
Director Fury was already moving. "I want all eyes on that object. Scramble response teams. Call the Avengers. This could be another similar to Kree stunt—or worse."
Gene stood on the rooftop of a tall skyscraper in New York, eyes locked on the sky. A piercing beam of silver light had broken through the cloud cover, descending like a spear of divinity—or doom.
Galactus's herald had arrived.
The Silver Surfer tore through the atmosphere without resistance, his sleek chrome body gliding on an otherworldly board that obeyed no law of physics. He hovered over the skyline in silence, casting a long shadow that stretched across the streets below.
People stared in awe. Some recorded him on their phones. Others fled.
Gene narrowed his eyes. The last time he felt this kind of pressure was in the Hell Dimension. But this was something colder. Calmer. Older. Not rage, but inevitability.
The feeling of a planet being marked.