They were flying over the Atlantic, searching for the last place where Johnny had seen Amera. They were nearing the edge of the Mediterranean when Herbie's voice suddenly filled the car, sounding rather enthusiastic.
"Doctor Richards! Amera's communicator just came online. I'll send you the coordinates immediately." Herbie said, and the coordinates appeared on one of the control screens as he'd finished speaking. Ben followed the flight instructions from there to where Amera was supposed to be. They hovered over where the coordinates said she was; they saw a large crater in the ground. The crater was much bigger than Johnny had imagined, it was about a hundred feet in diameter and twenty feet deep with one small figure in the middle. Amera was still out cold, lying in the middle of the crater in her metal form.
"Johnny, you said the silver…surfer touched both you and Amera?" Reed asked. Johnny turned his head away from the crater and to Reed.
"Yeah. He was choking the life out of her…"
"Ok, Johnny, under no circumstances are you allowed to touch Amera. If something happened between you and her like what happened between you and Susan, it could be disastrous. Understood?" Reed instructed him, and he nodded helplessly. Johnny swallowed hard at the thought of not being able to touch Amera, not even once; his heart felt like it froze for one second. Ben landed the Fantasticar near the crater. They all got out and looked at Amera lying face down at the bottom of the crater.
"Susan, check if she's alright. Touch her with force fields and whatever else, but do not touch her physically. We don't know what could be happening with her. It could be even worse than Johnny." Reed instructed her, and she nodded without looking at him. Susan floated down into the centre of the crater on a force field and landed near Amera. She could see Amera was breathing, which made her sigh in relief. Susan generated a force field in the shape of her hand, and touched Amera gently with it, trying to shake her awake.
"Amera? Can you hear me? Are you alright?" Susan said to her, hoping she could hear her. Amera stirred a little and then opened her eyes. She saw Susan standing next to her, and she sat up and looked up at her.
"Where am I?" Amera shook her head, looking at the desert around her.
"You landed in Egypt, in the middle of nowhere; thank God we found you with the tracker in your communicator. But are you feeling alright? You don't feel…sick or anything?" Susan answered, and lifted Amera to her feet on a force field. Amera looked down and her body, and phased back into human form.
"I guess…I feel disorientated, but that's about it. Damn that silver…thing, I almost had him." Amera shook her head and started walking toward Susan. Amera came dangerously close to Susan before she caught her in a force field and held her still for one moment.
"Wait Amera…I have to explain something to you. We discovered something that the silver…surfer has done to Johnny; we think he might've done the same to you. So for the time being, you can't touch anyone else, especially Johnny, ok?"
Amera nodded obediently, but she couldn't wrap her head around the words that Susan had just said to her. All that she heard was the Johnny was off limits for an indefinite amount of time; her heart felt like it was still metal. Susan generated another force field and took Amera and herself out of the crater, and put them both inside the Fantasticar. They all got back into to the Fantasticar and took off, heading back to New York. Amera, Susan and Johnny sat in the middle section of the Fantasticar; Susan put force fields up between the three of them so they couldn't touch each other. Amera leant forward to look past Susan and to Johnny, who looked as upset as she felt.