Paradoxical (Fantastic Four)

21.

Soon, the silver surfer's next destination was traced over to the Black Forest, in Germany. Still, I had a feeling that we were all making a huge mistake in capturing the surfer, though I would've liked to learn his reasons for wreaking havoc on the planet.

It turned out that Reed and Victor came up with four sensors that had to be set up and once online, strong enough to knock the board away from the surfer. Yet again, I had a suspicious feeling about Victor when he pointed out the board.

"General, give us a one-mile perimeter," Reed demanded as the five of us approached Hager and Captain Raye

"Forget it, Richards," Hager denied him, "You had your shot and you blew it. This is a military operation now. So jam the signal, get out of the way, and let us do our job." The General and Raye started walking away.

"You don't understand."

"No, you don't understand," Hager turned back to face all of us, "So let me make it clear for you and your pack of freaks here. I'm the quarterback. You're on my team. Got it? But I guess you never played football in high school, did you, Richards?" The General turned to leave.

"No, you're right. I didn't," Reed shook his head and faced Hager once again with confidence, "I stayed in and studied like a good little nerd. And 15 years later, I'm one of the greatest minds of the 21st century, I'm engaged to the hottest girl on the planet, and the big jock who played quarterback in high school, we'll he's standing right in front of me, asking me for my help. And I say he's not gonna get a thing... unless he does exactly what I tell him... and starts treating my friends and me with some respect."

"Give him what he wants," Hager told Raye.

I smiled at Reed, feeling proud of him for standing up for all of us and himself. All the years of living with Ben and me helped him boost his self-esteem sky-high.

"I'm so hot for you right now," Susan lustfully approached Reed.

"Me too!" Johnny grinned as he placed an arm around him, switching their powers once again.

"Careful, Johnny," Reed warned him and turned to the rest of us after power switching back again, "All right. Let's go to work."

The five of us got a headstart and arrived at the specific area where the surfer should be.

"This is it," Reed notified us, "You have your coordinates. Set up your posts and rendezvous back here."

Johnny and I ended up partnering up since there were only four sensors and five of us.

"I think we're going about this all wrong," I told him as we got to our location and started setting up the device.

"What do you mean, Ari?" Johnny wondered.

"What if we're making a mistake in splitting the board from the surfer?"

"He was about to destroy the world."

"Maybe, but what if the surfer's not the only one blowing up each planet in the galaxy? When were chasing after him, I only wanted to ask him a few questions in a peaceful manner, but no, you decided to face him head-on, which resulted in this crazy power switch."

"Once we capture him, you can ask the guy your questions."

I nodded begrudgingly and helped get the sensor online.

"What's your status?" Reed asked through the coms. 

"Yeah, I'm good to go," Ben replied.

"Same here," I answered.

"Almost there," Susan responded.

Johnny and I were about to continue our conversation when we heard Susan reply with panic in her tone, "Guys. We have a problem."

"What's wrong?" Reed asked her.

"He's here."

"Get outta there, Right now!"

Once we made sure the sensor was in operation, Johnny and I headed back to meet up with the others. I raced to Susan's section to find the surfer hovering above her. It seemed that she was asking him the same questions I had in mind. It surprised me when the surfer informed Susan that he wasn't the destroyer, confirming to me that there was something else that was demolishing planets.

Suddenly, a missile flew in our direction. The surfer moved in front of Susan as if protecting her and flew upward and absorbed the missile into the board and then flew through the Black Forest as more missiles were being fired upon him. Susan turned on the device and got it online and both of us rendezvoused back with the others after Reed had pressed the button to activate the sensors.

The five of us raced to where the surfer had fallen and Victor standing over him. Yet again, I had a feeling he had something in mind.

"Victor, stand back," Reed demanded as we arrived.

"You're the quarterback," Victor sneered at him.

The board hovered just a few feet away from us as the surfer lay on the ground unconscious. Susan knelt down with sympathy. The surfer had protected her for some reason, which gave me the assumption that he was a good guy, but was used by someone or something for some nefarious act.

The soldiers came around and trained their weapons on the surfer as if he were armed and already dangerous.