On the glacier of Greenland, Sean raised the Infinity Gauntlet. The five gems bloomed with brilliant radiance as they threw up a stalwart barrier.
A cataclysmic eruption of energy crashed down like a hammer forged from a collapsing star. The colossal force radiated outward with Sean at its epicenter.
It was as though a meteor had struck the ice sheet. A thunderous roar split the air, and a shockwave of indescribable destructive power swept across the frozen world. The glacial cap, that had built up over tens of millions of years erupted upward like boiling magma.
An endless tidal wave of energy surged outward in a ravenous, all-consuming tempest. The eternal ice which was harder than bedrock vanished like snowflakes beneath a scorching sun.
Still reeling nearby, the Silver Surfer never had a chance to escape. The blast wave swatted him aside like a toy. His whole body felt as though a warship had rolled over it, raw agony lancing through every nerve.
Stripped of his indestructible silver skin, the Herald's power had plummeted. He couldn't even approach the churning epicenter of the energy tide.
The board he had ridden for eons, the very source of his power, held out for only a handful of seconds before the annihilating wave vaporized it into nothingness. It simply ceased to be.
The material that had composed it was among the hardest substances in the known universe. It still wasn't enough.
...
Iron Man and the Human Torch arrived over Greenland just as the world was ending and being reborn at once.
They had come hunting the center of the cosmic radiation surge. Before they could even begin searching for the Silver Surfer, a single point of golden light expanded into a blazing sun.
In that world of biting cold and endless ice, a radiant golden star blossomed into existence.
"Extreme energy fluctuation detected. Immediate evacuation advised." Friday's gentle voice cut through Tony's speakers.
Tony throttled back his thrusters, eyes fixed on the spectacle below. The star-bright orb of light pulsed once, contracting into a single, infinitely dense point, then detonated outward a second time.
"RUN." The HUD inside Tony's helmet screamed red. The alarm shrieked.
The energy readings had blown past every safety threshold Friday possessed. The shockwave expanded like a nuclear firestorm, like an avalanche with no summit.
Tony poured everything into his thrusters. Columns of flame screamed from his boots as he clawed for altitude, desperate to outrun the apocalypse unfurling beneath the ice.
Johnny felt the danger in his bones. He erupted into a white-hot inferno, flames roaring from every inch of his body. The scalding blast wave rolled outward, and massive icebergs that had drifted for centuries simply evaporated into steam in the span of a single breath.
The two heroes hung in the sky, staring down in stunned silence.
Below them was a maelstrom of raging air currents, boiling white vapor, and blinding golden light.
Absolute and total destruction filled the frozen world.
Space itself warped and collapsed around the epicenter, as though a black hole had been born. The vast, unyielding ice cap that was thick enough to hold mountains was simply gone. Some force beyond comprehension had wiped it from existence.
"God Almighty..." Johnny breathed.
The normally arrogant Human Torch felt a cold shudder ripple through him. A second slower, and he'd have been steam too.
"Was that... Sean?" Tony's voice carried something he rarely displayed: genuine uncertainty.
In the hollow space where the glacier had once been, a figure wrapped in gold light stood proudly...
...
"How are you still alive, shameless human?" For the first time, Galactus projected something beyond cold indifference. Something that might have been surprise.
His gaze, vast as an ocean abyss, heavy as a mountain range, bored into the tiny creature before him. This insignificant speck had actually blocked that blow.
The golden gauntlet shimmered on the human's hand. Galactus recognized the gems embedded on it. The Infinity Stones. The supreme treasures born alongside the universe itself.
'Remarkable, that such a creature had gathered five of the six. One more, and he would step into an entirely new realm of existence...' he thought.
"Heh..." Sean exhaled slowly.
He hadn't expected Galactus to strike with such absolute, unrestrained force. Not even showing consideration for Galacta (Gali), nor regard for a future grandchild either.
The thing was, Gali, the runaway daughter, the adorable glutton who had wandered to Earth, really was carrying Sean's child. Though not in any way that involved physical intimacy of the traditional sort...
'I'm pretty baffled by it too, I suddenly have a kid out of nowhere.' Sean thought sourly, acutely aware of the cosmic fury still radiating from the giant's gaze.
He hadn't done a damn thing, and yet here he was... a sudden father-to-be, enduring the silent judgment of every woman in his orbit, Mindy very much included.
As for how this happened? The explanation went back to Galacta's own birth...
After becoming the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus had naturally shed all instincts beyond feeding and bare survival. An immortal cosmic entity had no biological need for offspring. And Galactus, who considered himself a higher form of life, had long since abandoned the crude mating impulses of lesser species.
Galacta's origin was tied to the cosmic worm that dwelled within the Devourer.
The reason Galactus suffered from perpetual, insatiable hunger; the reason he consumed planet after planet was that very worm. It simply never stopped.
Galacta herself was a transformation of that worm. When it absorbed enough energy over the eons, a new life gestated within it. That life was the Daughter of Galactus.
This was why, from the very first moment they met, Galacta had declared Sean a suitable mate. A being who wielded the power of the Sentry was, in a very literal sense, capable of satisfying her feeding requirements.
"Great Galactus," Sean said, his tone as earnest as he could manage, "Your daughter, the lovely Miss Galacta, and I do indeed share an exceptionally... close relationship."
Every night she sneaked into his room demanding to be fed. How much closer could you get?
Ever since Gali had followed Mindy back to New York, Sean had felt like he'd adopted an impossibly cute, bottomless-pit mascot who required constant snacking. Her nose was preternaturally sharp. No matter where he hid, the moment hunger stirred, she found him.
And over time, the cosmic worm within Gali had done exactly what the worm within Galactus had done eons before.
It had produced new life.
So when Sean said Gali was carrying his child, the statement was, strictly speaking, not a lie...
"Human, you may possess the most miraculous artifacts this universe has ever forged. For that reason alone, I will spare your world... provided you serve me. Become a Herald of Galactus." The vast voice rolled like thunder, though this time it echoed only within Sean's skull.
Regardless of the context, he had earned the privilege of being spoken to rather than smote from existence.
"However! Do not presume to approach my daughter. She is the progeny of Galactus. She has no need of a mate–"
"Father." The stern, imperial pronouncement died in an instant.
Gali drifted down through the icy air. It was the first time she had revealed her true form in front of Sean.
A peculiar helmet, like some kind of energy conduction array, sat upon her head. She wore a fitted violet dress and boots, her flowing hair dancing in the wind like a sprite made of starlight.
"Galacta..." The moment he laid eyes upon his wayward daughter, Galactus could no longer maintain any pretense of cold authority.
The vast shadow-tide that had been poised to devour Earth recoiled. It drew back from the planet's surface, collapsing inward, condensing into solid form.
In the skies above Greenland, Galactus manifested.
He wore the same heavy armor as his daughter. His gaze, complex and conflicted, rested upon her for a long moment, then shifted, cold and hard, to the human standing nearby.
Galactus could sense it. A new life was quickening within Galacta. A true scion of the Devourer's lineage. The third member of their cosmic race.
Meeting that frigid stare, Sean felt a chill that pierced straight through to his bones. He was absolutely certain of one thing: if Gali weren't standing right here, Galactus wouldn't have hesitated trying to reduce him to a fine paste.
"Very well, human." The long silence finally broke. The ice in Galactus's gaze thawed, just a fraction. With an air of profound, weary resignation, the Devourer spoke, "Then let us discuss your wedding to Galacta."