Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the movie franchise, just Lily and Travis!

Chapter Seven: The Silver Surfer

He had finally found him. Although Greenland was a bit of ways away from Latveria, he had been willing to make the trek.

After all, he was going to need the strange silver man for his future plans.

A helicopter flew over snow and ice, and as it soared through the air, the pilot glanced down at the pit below. A vast darkness settled down deep within the crater as the helicopter veered to the right and safely landed a bit away from the edge of the crater.

A cloaked figure carefully walked across the snowy plain as a high pitched whistling sound echoed through the emptiness of the mountains. Stopping at the edge, the shadow waited patiently before a shining entity appeared, floating upon a silver board. Though a hood covered his face, a smirk was ever present across the person's lips.

"You've been busy, my friend." The Silver Surfer said nothing in return, merely staring intensely at the cloaked man. "Your talents are impressive." There was a strange darkness that lingered over the cloaked man. Though the Silver Surfer didn't say it aloud, he knew that this human was dangerous, for he was not like the others.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?" The only response the man received was a silent nod.

"Together…we could be unstoppable." That made the Surfer stiffen as he narrowed his eyes at the human. The sun reflected off of his shiny exterior as the clouds and the sky did as well. The two stood quietly as the cloaked man opened his arms in what was to be a welcoming manner.

"…All that you know, is at an end." The Silver Surfer watched as the man shook his head from under his hood.

"What do you mean by that?" Not answering, the foreign entity turned and began to float away, not before the hidden man lost his patience.

"Wait!" The man was ignored, which successfully awakened the anger inside of him. "I said WAIT!" Holding his hands out, a spark of electricity shot out and hit the back of the Surfer's back. The silver figure stopped before it swiftly turned around, a cold expression on his face. The cloaked man took a step back out of apprehension as he watched as a wave of energy ran up the Silver Surfer, staring from his board. A burst of energy hit the man as he flew back, the alien force merely watching before turning and flying away.

Groaning, the hidden man slowly sat up from the snow he had landed on as he winced. He blinked as he felt a sudden burst of power and energy course through him before he lifted his hand up from the snow and smirked to himself. He watched as the scarring on his hand began to heal before he laughed.

Yes, things were going exactly as he had planned.

"How's everything going?"

"Well, it could be better." Lily sighed as she held her cell phone to her ear, adjusting her jeans as she straightened out her off-the-shoulder shirt.

Having finished doing a bit of yoga and meditation, Lily had showered and changed out of her sweats, her nearly dried hair pulled up into a messy ponytail. After getting dressed, Travis had gave her a ring, checking up on her after the whole fiasco of the wedding. Since things had gotten so messy and hectic, the brunet had opted for leaving and contacting her later so she could have some time to figure out what was going on and to help Sue. He didn't bother asking about her near-fainting episode, because in the end, he knew he'd get nothing out of her.

"How's Susan holding up?" Travis asked from his line on the phone as Lily walked out of her room.

"She's doing well. There were a few…hiccups but I think she's fine now," Lily stated with a chuckle as she remembered the vivid image of Sue on fire, floating half-hazardously in the air.

"But before I forget, I'm probably not going to be able to see you for a few days." The black haired woman always hated canceling on Travis, but with everything that had been going on and with what was to probably come, Lily had a feeling that her schedule would be pretty jam-packed.

"That's alright. I understand," Travis replied back reassuringly as Lily smiled.

Turning the corner, Tide came to an abrupt halt as she blinked, Johnny stopping and looking back at her. Judging by the displeased look on his face, Lily knew there was something wrong with the young man. He didn't bother saying anything as he walked around her, confusing her even more.

"Johnny!" Lily frowned before she turned her attention back to Travis.

"Sorry, Travis. I have to go." At the sound of Johnny's name from Lily's end, the young man tried not to frown.

Travis remembered the tension between the two. He remembered the way Johnny looked at Lily, and he remembered the way Johnny looked at him, like he was nothing but a nuisance. He tried not to let it bother him at first, and at first, it really hadn't. But when the chaos had erupted at the ceremony, Travis had been bothered by the way Johnny held Lily. Although the superhero always said that Johnny was known to be a bit of a player and held no interest in a single woman for more than a few days, Travis had a feeling in the pit of his gut that Lily was wrong.

Because the way Johnny looked at her? It was as if no one else in the world had mattered to him in that moment.

"Travis?" The man snapped out of his thoughts as he cleared his throat and nodded his head.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later then." Smiling, Lily nodded, though she knew that he wouldn't be able to see it.

"Bye."

Not wasting time, Lily quickly ran after Johnny, catching up to him with ease. He glanced over at her, an extremely unhappy expression on his face. Frowning, the former teacher reached out to hold him by the shoulder, but her eyes widened when Johnny quickly ducked away from her touch. She blinked as he gave her an "are you an idiot" type of look before it clicked in her head. She nodded as she pulled her hand away.

"So, what's wrong?"

"Now you're talking to me?" It seemed that Johnny's sour attitude had caused him to be annoyed about everything.

"Really? We're going to do this now?" Lily snapped back in return as the Human Torch sighed, stopping in his tracks as he shook his head. He motioned for Lily to follow after him as he walked into entertainment room (which consisted of a workout area and a pool table with couches).

"Johnny?" Alicia was seated on the couch as Ben sat up from the bench press, Johnny huffing as he took a seat on a chair.

"They want to break the team up." That had caught Lily and Ben off guard.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked with an incredulous stare as Johnny sighed with a defeated look on his face.

"Reed and Sue. I just overheard them," Johnny explained as Ben and Lily blinked, Alicia listening carefully from her spot on the couch. "They want a nice, normal, boring-ass life." Alicia and Lily both scoffed at that.

"No more Fantastic Five."

Ben frowned as he looked over at Johnny. He stood to his feet as he approached his two teammates. And although he couldn't actually make the motion, he wanted to raise an eyebrow. "What do they expect us to do? Keep the team going just the three of us?"

"And what? Call ourselves the Terrific Trio?"

"When were they going to tell us?"

"They'll tell you when they're ready to tell you," Alicia interjected as the three looked over at the woman. "It's they're decision, not yours," she said as Lily glanced at the two boys.

"You can't be mad at them for doing what makes them happy." Ben and Johnny shared a stare after Alicia's words as Lily sighed and rubbed her cheeks with her hands.

And although Lily was still a bit shocked and upset about the news, she wasn't taking it as badly as The Thing and the Human Torch were.

The moment was quickly interrupted as Reed walked into the room with an urgent look on his face. For that second, the bad news had been forgotten as the three looked over to their leader. "Guys, we've got a problem."

"I've cross-referenced the surface radiation through every astronomical database," Reed explained as the five stood in front of his huge computer monitor. Images of different planets appeared on the screen, each looking uninhabitable and dry.

"He's been to all of these planets?" Ben asked curiously as Reed nodded, a stern look on his face.

"And they're all lifeless now. Baren. Some of them have even shattered completely." A chill ran up Lily's back as she stared at the screen intently, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Everywhere the Surfer goes, eight days later, the planet dies…" Each of the team members shared a look of fear and hesitation.

"…How are we gonna stop him? We don't even know where he is," Ben pointed out as Sue frantically searched her brain for a solution.

"What about the craters?" she suggested as Reed sighed and typed in a few numbers into the computer. Hope began to sparkle in Mr. Fantastic's eyes as he stared up at the screen, everyone following his gaze.

"They're all appearing in numerical order," Reed said with a smile. "The last crater was in Greenland so…" Trailing off, the scientist began to type in more letters and numbers before he stopped and waited for the computer to process the information Reed had pulled up. His eyes widened as he read the coordinates out loud before he looked at his friends and family.

"Sue, I need you to get General Hagar on the phone now."

Everyone was suited up and ready to go. General Hagar and his few men were to arrive on the helipad in just a few minutes, which gave the team time to prep and plan. Although things seemed normal, there was a stiffness in the air, mostly coming from Johnny. He stared at Reed and Sue as he scoffed and crossed his arms, watching as the two walked away from the three, talking to themselves.

"You still upset?" Johnny looked to his left as Lily sat beside him with a curious look on her face. The dirty blond shrugged and turned away, pouting like a child. His friend rolled her eyes at his behavior as she sighed.

"Why do I feel like I'm the only who's extremely unhappy about this?" Johnny asked as Lily shrugged.

"You're not. But Alicia was right," Lily pointed out as Johnny finally looked over at her and met her hazel eyes. "If they're going to be happy then we should let them do what they need to do."

"And what about us?" Johnny inquired bitterly as Lily frowned. "What the hell are we supposed to do then?" Before Lily could answer, the wind began to pick up as a helicopter loomed over everyone's head. Johnny and Lily exchanged looks, and the young woman was sure to give him the kind of stare that told him they weren't finished talking.

The five quickly gathered into the copter, buckling up and heading off as quickly as possible. The general had been updated on everything that Reed had discovered, and as quickly as possible, everyone was carried to the Surfer's next location.

London.

"Alright, when he surfaces we have to make sure to keep the fight away from the people!" Reed called out as he looked down, the helicopter arriving at their destination.

"He's too fast for that. If I see Silver I'm going after him," Johnny called out as Reed frowned, Lily and Ben exchanging looks.

This wasn't going to go well.

"You can't do that, Johnny. You have to stick to the plan and work as a team."

"Oh, so now we're a team." Lily closed her eyes and sighed as Sue and Reed glanced at one another.

"Of course we are. What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Johnny shot back as realization came over the couple. Sue frowned at her brother as Reed gave him a sympathetic stare.

"Look, we were going to tell you guys-"

"When?" Johnny snapped from the front seat of the copter. "When you guys moved your stuff out of the Baxter building?"

"Johnny, this isn't really a good time," Sue pointed out as Ben shrugged, jumping into the argument.

"The kid's got a point," he said, surprising Sue and Reed. Never had Ben sided with Johnny before. "You should've told us." Hagar glanced from teammate to teammate as Lily sighed, her patience wearing thin.

"Johnny, stop trying to start a fight with everyone."

"Hey! Don't yell at me like I'm the only one who feels this way. Ben agrees with me too!" Lily rolled her eyes as Johnny looked back at her. "As much as you pretend to be their perfect little helper, you can't act like this doesn't bother you either!"

"Alright, enough!" Reed snapped, as he quickly put out the fight that was quickly forming between the two youngsters of the team. "We'll talk about all of this later."

Hagar shook his head as he shot an unimpressed stare at Reed. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Having nothing to say, Reed merely looked out the window as the copter slowly lowered towards the water.

"Alright, Lily. You're up."

"Right." Lily stood to her feet as she carefully made her way to the side entrance of the copter. She glanced back at Reed and Sue and smiled before she looked at Ben, the stone-like man giving her confident smirk. Her eyes finally landed on Johnny, who looked back at her with a cold stare before she glared back at him, not wasting another second. She pushed herself off from the helicopter and jumped out, everyone watching intently as she began to fall to the ground.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sue asked as Reed nodded his head.

"Lily's the only one who's going to be able to get close enough to the Surfer when he emerges from the crater. We need her to hold him off," he said as the blonde hesitantly looked out the window and watched as Lily continued to fall towards the water.

'Ok, Lily. You can do this,' Tide said to herself as she took a deep breath and began to concentrate. She could feel the inside of her body tingle as her fall began to slow, the air whipping past her relaxing.

Though she couldn't fly like Johnny, Lily had been teaching herself to be able to have more control over body in the air. After her first encounter with Doom, she wanted to make sure nothing like nearly falling to her death ever happened again.

Carefully, Lily began to slowly catch herself before her feet touched the water, a smirk spreading across her lips as she stayed afloat. She glanced over her shoulder as the people of London stared out at her with awe and confusion.

"Lily, you alright down there?" Lily smiled at Reed's voice as she pressed her finger to the ear piece she was wearing.

"I-" Before she could answer, the black haired woman's eyes widened as a shrill scream filled her ears. She gasped as she cringed, bending over and holding her head in pain. She choked as she fell to one knee, shuttering at the burning in her body. She cried out as a stab of pain shot through her temple, the screaming continuing.

"What's going on down there?" Sue called out as the helicopter began to land, Reed grimacing at the sound of Lily's scream from the other end.

"Reed, what's happening?" Ben asked as the copter safely landed, Johnny quickly jumping out. The rest of the team followed as Reed turned to the others.

"Something's wrong with Lily."

Said woman cringed in pain before she began to get a hold of her senses. Her eyes widened as the water beneath her feet began to move, small waves nearly knocking her off her feet. She blinked as she held her head but forced herself to stand to her feet. Her hazel eyes widened as she watched the water slowly began to sink, the crater forming. She yelled out as a surge of power and wind erupted from the crater, the ground cracking and the structures around the crater slowly crumbling.

"Reed!" Lily called out as she quickly began to run up towards the crater's edge. "You guys need to get here fast!"

The ground began to shift, the Ferris Wheel beside the bridge slowly destabilizing. The wheel broke from its hinges as the people inside the cars began to scream out. Lily's eyes widened as she stopped and looked back at the wheel slowly tipping over towards the water. Before the wheel fell any further, an invisible force held it in place, Tide's eyes falling on Susan. She smiled from the relief she felt as the blonde held her ground, pushing against the wheel. Ben quickly joined her as he used all of his strength to help Sue hold the wheel up.

"Don't worry, Lily. We've got this," Lily heard Reed say reassuringly as the woman nodded before turning her full attention to the crater. Her eyes widened as the water slowly began to sink, the scream growing louder in her head. She winced but ignored the pain as she quickly ran up to the crater's edge, doing her best to stay on her feet. Her eyes widened when a shiny figure flew out from the crater. It stopped for a moment as it hovered over Lily's head, and the woman narrowed her eyes as she watched intently.

'Alright Silver Surfer,' she said to herself as she held her aching head with her left hand, her right hand pulled back before she swung it in front of herself and to the left. A large sheet of water rose as it encircled the two of them, trapping the Surfer with Lily.

"You're not going anywhere!" Tide shouted out as the Silver Surfer stared down at her. It stared at her for a moment before it began to rise further into the air, but before it could escape from her tornado of water, Lily lifted her hand up, a layer of water covering the top and entrapping the Surfer completely.

Reed watched intently from the side as he kept his arms stretched and around the Ferris Wheel. He glanced over at the civilians as they quickly climbed out of the cars. He then looked to Sue and Ben as they held their ground, Johnny standing and staring fervently at the cyclone of water.

'Lily…'

"Who are you!" Lily stared up at the Silver Surfer as he said nothing. He merely floated on his board as she narrowed her eyes, glancing down at the water continued to disappear. She grimaced as she quickly looked up, surprised to see the Surfer had suddenly appeared in front of her. She stiffened as her tornado of water began to wither away. The Silver entity stared deeply into her eyes, almost as if it was searching her soul. She said nothing as she hesitantly took a step towards him, the Silver Surfer unwavering at her approach.

The other Fantastic Five members continued to evacuate the area, Reed's eyes widened as the water all disappeared, Lily now standing in front of the Surfer on the dirt. Johnny's eyes widened as he jerked forward, but waited for Lily's next move.

"Lily!" Reed called out, though his voice was unnoticed by the young woman. She merely stared at the Surfer as he stared back at her before her eyes widened, his hand suddenly gently gripping her head.

"Lily!" Johnny shouted as he began to run towards his teammate.

"Johnny, wait!" Reed yelled out as he watched the young man run towards his friend.

Everything was happening quickly around Lily. Her head was spinning and there was a deep voice bellowing out in her mind. The ground beneath her began to shake as her knees grew weak, the dull ache in her head sharpening with each passing second. Colors flashed before her eyes as the voice continued to resound in her mind.

Another world awaits. Your herald summons you. It continued to repeat in Lily's mind until her eyes rolled to the back of her head, everything suddenly going black.

"LILY!" Johnny screamed as Ben looked over his shoulder and watched the young girl hit the ground. The Silver Surfer acted quickly as he stared for a moment longer at the young woman before soaring through the sky. The Human Torch grit his teeth before he leaped into the air, bursting into flames and flying after the Surfer.

"Johnny, no!" Reed warned as he watched helplessly, the younger Storm bumping into Sue's force field and knocking into Reed's arm. Without warning, Reed's arms began to withdraw and reel back to their normal length, the wheel losing its balance. Ben and Sue cringed as the load grew heavier, the blonde wincing as she pushed as hard as she could.

"Guys! What's going on!" she yelled out as Johnny's arms began to expand, his body hitting the ground but nothing getting damaged. He splattered on to the ground like silly putty as Reed hovered in the sky as he thought on his feet. He glanced over at Lily's motionless body on the ground, making sure to remember her before he looked down to The Thing.

"Ben! Lift it higher!" he yelled as said man took a deep breath. He pushed as much as his body would let him as he lifted the base of the wheel over his head, giving Reed just what he needed. The scientist glanced down at his flaming hands before he shrugged, shooting out fire from his finger tips and watching (slightly amazed) as he melded the wheel back to it's base. Sue and Ben both relaxed as the weight of the wheel rose from their shoulders.

With a sigh, Reed slowly and carefully dropped to the ground before he ran towards Johnny and pressed his hand against his shoulder. Running by, Reed did his best to ignore the slight jolt that washed through him, Johnny stiffening at the feeling before he carefully sat up and stood to his feet. He quickly followed after Reed, the older man quickly stretching his arm out to Lily's unconscious form. His hand expanded as he carefully grabbed the young woman and safely pulled her back to the sidewalk, lying her gently on the ground before he then helped a wavering Susan to her feet.

"You guys alright?" Ben called out as Reed nodded, Susan closing her eyes and leaning against the man's shoulder. Johnny quickly approached their side as he knelt down to a knee and went to reach out for Lily.

"Don't touch her!" Reed snapped, causing Johnny to quickly pull away as he looked up. Reed shot him a glare as he held tightly to Susan. "Just stay right there, before you cause anymore trouble." Johnny closed his eyes as he sighed, a guilt building up inside of him as he then looked down at Lily.

"Ben, could you?"

"Sure thing." The bulky man carefully scooped Lily up into his arms, Susan gaining a bit of her strength back as she stood on her own. Reed smiled at her as she smiled back at him before looking at Lily with a frown.

"Guys?" The three looked over at Ben as he stared out at the crater, his jaw hanging slightly ajar. "Look…" Everyone stared, having nothing else to say as they stared at the abyss in the ground. They quietly gazed for a few more seconds before Reed closed his eyes and looked off in the direction the Silver Surfer had escaped too.

It wouldn't be too long until he struck again.

Let me know what you thought! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!