Space was vast, cold, and cruel—but not unfamiliar to him.
Garou floated through the void like a phantom, his body lit faintly by the glow of distant stars. He needed no ship, no suit. His body had long since transcended the limits of lesser beings.
But even in the silence of space, he could hear the whispers.
Whispers of fear.
Of panic.
Of the cosmos reacting like a wounded animal to his presence.
He smirked. "So the old gods still have eyes."
Behind him, the remains of a Shi'ar battle cruiser drifted aimlessly. Wrecked within minutes. Their empress hadn't even made an appearance. Cowards, all of them.
Then, he felt it—a ripple, a shift in the stellar winds.
He wasn't alone.
---
From beyond the edge of the system came light—silver, blinding, elegant.
The Silver Surfer streaked through the stars like a comet, his board cutting through the void with ethereal grace. Norrin Radd, former herald of Galactus, now protector of the innocent, had sensed the anomaly days ago.
But what he found was no anomaly.
It was a man. Standing upon the surface of an asteroid field, arms crossed, eyes glowing with disdain.
"You're not from this universe," the Surfer said, circling slowly above him. "But you've already left blood in your wake."
Garou raised an eyebrow.
"And you're a ghost. A broken man clinging to the legacy of a world eater. Tell me—did Galactus die whimpering, or did someone finally shut his mouth for good?"
The Surfer's eyes narrowed. "You don't belong here."
"Maybe not," Garou said with a shrug. "But I'm here. And I'm looking for the strong. The real strong."
"You won't find them by slaughtering the weak."
Garou cracked his knuckles.
"Don't care. They come to me eventually. One always does."
The Surfer hovered silently for a moment. "If it's power you're after… I'll give you your first test."
He summoned a wave of cosmic energy, wrapping it around his body like armor. The stars behind him dimmed as his power spiked, the remnants of his former master's might rekindling in his silver veins.
"I was once the right hand of a god," he said. "Let me remind you what that means."
Garou's grin widened.
"Perfect."
---
The asteroid belt ignited.
Silver light collided with crimson fury, a shockwave tearing across the nearby moons. Meteorites exploded into dust. Fragments of space debris rained like fire.
Garou ducked beneath a blast of cosmic force, spun, and launched himself into the Surfer's path like a meteor. His fist met the Surfer's chestplate with a clang that reverberated through dimensions.
Norrin Radd spun backward, correcting his balance mid-flight, then raised his hand and summoned a solar burst. Garou twisted his body, tanking the full impact as energy rippled through his mutated flesh.
He grunted, slightly amused.
"You've got more bite than the Kree."
"You haven't seen anything."
With a roar, the Surfer summoned a wave of antimatter energy, hurling it across the field. Garou leapt into it headfirst, gritting his teeth as his skin tore—only to reknit moments later, tougher, harder.
Adaptation.
The Surfer's mind reeled. "He's evolving… in real-time?"
---
Elsewhere, the energy readings reached Earth's outer satellites.
In the Baxter Building, Reed Richards' eyes went wide as he stared at the readings. "This… this isn't just a battle. This is a foundational shift. A living force is rewriting itself faster than any known mutation curve."
Beside him, Ben Grimm grunted. "Translation?"
Reed looked up, his face pale.
"If he reaches Earth… there won't be a fight. There'll be a reckoning."
---
Back in space, the battle intensified.
Silver Surfer flew like lightning incarnate, his board slicing through asteroids with precision. He called upon starlight, the echoes of black holes, even fragments of dying suns.
Garou weathered them all.
Every strike, every blast—it only made him stronger.
Eventually, the Surfer stopped, panting, drifting above the wreckage of their battlefield.
"You're a monster," he said. "You don't fight for justice. Or survival. Only for domination."
Garou floated toward him, breathing evenly.
"No," he said. "I fight to crush limits. To prove that the so-called divine are just another wall to break."
His hand glowed with pulsing red energy—power from within, fused with every technique he'd absorbed across realities.
He struck.
The Surfer raised a barrier, but it shattered on impact. The blow sent him careening through a floating rock formation, his silver sheen cracked and flickering.
Garou stood over him, golden eyes narrowed.
"You're strong. But you still pull your punches. You fear what you'll become."
The Surfer coughed, eyes burning with defiance. "And you don't?"
Garou turned away.
"I became that long ago."
---
Hours later, in the ruins of the asteroid field, the Surfer floated unconscious, drifting in silence.
Garou had spared him.
Not out of mercy, but judgment.
A fighter who held back couldn't challenge him—not yet.
---
On a distant world, a cloaked figure observed the aftermath through a magical scrying pool. Crimson eyes narrowed.
"Garou…" the being whispered.
Dormammu's flaming fingers curled into fists.
"A threat not born of this universe… and already capable of bending its champions. Curious."
Another voice echoed through the chamber.
"Shall we prepare the Earth for him?"
"No," Dormammu replied. "Let them try. Let the Avengers, the mutants, the sorcerers all rise to stop him. Let him paint the stars with their failure."
He smiled, his voice dripping with venom.
"And when they fall, I'll claim him."
---
And far below it all, on Earth…
In a quiet cabin on the outskirts of Mississippi, a woman stood on her porch, staring at the night sky.
Her name was Anna Marie.
To the world, she had been many things: a hero, a mutant, a rogue.
Now she was just a memory, hiding from the pain of touch and time.
But something… something shifted in her bones tonight. A chill. A pulse. As if the stars themselves had whispered a name into her heart.
She closed her eyes, sighing.
"Please… don't bring your war here."