A Resurgence tie-in

“Dad? Where are you?”

“They got me in a bunker, Mike. I’m fine. Those robots Rex built for the city helped me out of the house.”

“Okay, so you’re safe?”

“Yeah,… I think I retired just in time. I’m not ready to fight an invasion. What about you?”

“I’m fine. I’m safe but listen… I’ll call you again when all this is over.”

“Be sure to do that. Those guys out there have it handled. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Michael hated lying to his father again and hated it even more that he kept using the “it’s not the right time” excuse but it was fitting in this situation. He was in the middle of an alien invasion, after all.

The U’ntari returned after their defeat in 1981 and did so with a vengeance. Multiple fleets showed up all over the world with one in particular attacking New York with the belief it was due to the high population of metahumans. Michael flew the Dragon over the buildings and in the distance, U’ntari Fighters chased US planes and drones. A stray energy blast shot out, nearly grazing his hovercraft, which made him briefly lose control as he jerked the wheel to the side. “Jesus!,” he shouted as multiple sirens went off in his cockpit and he struggled to maintain control. As he swooped down, he noticed U’ntari infantry setting up a camp so he dipped down and set off the Dragon’s Roar, emitting a high pitch sound that stunned them. He swooped back up as some Gliders flew past, narrowly avoiding blasts from their canons. For the most part, it seemed that the U’ntari were on the same level as humans in terms of strength and speed but he knew that the race used Neutronium to create super soldiers.

One such soldier appeared, flying alongside Michael while covered in flames. “And now we got a Fire Guy,” Michael thought to himself. The Dragon was fireproof so Fire Guy’s burst of flames did little to the hull. The returning Gliders, however, nearly shot him out of the sky. Alarms went off again as Michael whipped around a corner to lose them. A blast hit the side of a nearby building, which threw chunks of debris into the hovercraft that shook the cockpit and made it all the more difficult to control the craft. Michael noticed a mall parking lot below and tried to come in for a landing as he wasn’t confident he could win a dogfight. He slowed down, the bottom of the turbine guards scraping along the roof of an abandoned car as he tried to stop. When he hit the asphalt, it sent sparks along the ground and the back of his hovercraft bumped into a parked semi truck before finally coming to a stop.

In an abandoned subway station, the people of Agartha emerged and looked out at the distance. The leader, Raphael, turned to the group, “The Cavalier warned us about the aliens attacking. I know some of you have your reservations about going to the surface to assist them but this situations calls for everyone to do their part.”

“We’re taking orders from the Knight now?,” Tusk growled.

The humanoid salamander Hellbender spoke up, “If they lose the fight, do you think the aliens aren’t gonna come after us next? C’mon, big man!”

“Fine. I’m in,” he said reluctantly and the crowd of mutants rushed down the street to do battle.

In a poorer part of the city, the group of heroes known as the Metro Knights were helping inner city families get on a bus to be shuttled to a bunker. Their leader, Paul Kwon, held a little girl in his arms and ran away from a burning tenement building that had been hit by a stray projectile. He got the girl on the bus with the assistance of his teammate Emily Koboshi.

“I’m gonna go once more to make sure there aren’t any others,” Paul told her.

“No, we got everyone we can, Paul,” Emily told him cautiously, “It’s too dangerous to go back.”

“Just one more time!”

Paul raced back to the burning apartment building. Somewhere, the ground was struck by a crashing Fighter Ship, causing a tremor. The apartment shook and weakened mortar fell. “Paul!,” Emily called out as she watched a section on an outer wall drop. The old man looked up and then disappeared under falling rubble and flames. She let out a terrified and mournful scream as the bus quickly left the scene.

At the Broken Sword, the metahuman known as Ohm looked out the window at the sky lighting up. “I picked the wrong time to be sober,” he said with a crackling voice. “We gotta do something,” the metahuman bouncer Blockhead muttered. At the back of the bar, the cybernetic mercenary known as Rampart finished his pint of beer, “I would but I don’t work for free.” Ohm and Blockhead turned and gave him an incredulous look but said nothing. Finally, he rolled his eyes, “Fine. Just let me get my gun.”

Back at the abandoned department store lot, Fire Guy returned and landed in front of the Dragon, his hands ignited with flames. Thinking quickly, Michael turned on the Dragon’s water hose, hitting the super soldier with high-pressure water that sent him across the lot and into the shadows. The hatch opened a moment later, then Michael hopped out to check the damage to the Dragon. Unfortunately, the Gliders passed overhead and U’ntari soldiers leapt off the backs, landing nearby.

“Michael, what the hell are you doing?,” he said to himself and rolled over the hood of a car just as the soldiers began firing energy rifles. He landed in a crouched position, then laid on his side to fire shield-discs. One U’ntari went down while the others ducked to either side. It was then that Michael noticed the large figure on top of the nearby semi-truck which the U’ntari were unaware of. The figure seemed to be waiting for the right time to strike before he leapt down, tackling two soldiers to the pavement, then snatched a third. The figure hefted the struggled soldier above his head and body-slammed him into a car windshield hard enough to shatter it.

The U’ntari soldiers across the way took aim at the large man but Michael leapt into battle, using his sword to swat a rifle out of the hands of one soldier, then used his gauntlet’s taser to stun him. The next U’ntari hit Michael with the butt of his rifle. In retaliation, Michael gave him a mild slice above the knee to drop him, then slammed his heel into his forehead. Nearby, the large figure tackled the final U’ntari soldier and began pummeling him with devastating punches. Whoever this new player was, he was strong and vicious.

It was then that Michael noticed Fire Guy returning to the field by flying overhead. “Take cover!,” Michael shouted to his new ally and the large man tucked and rolled out of the way as a fireball hit a parked car. The vehicle went up in a massive explosion and Michael briefly lost sight of his new friend. Fire Guy landed in front of Michael once more and charged up another ball of flame between his palms, “Surrender now and this all can be over soon.” Michael shot another shield-disc that struck Fire Guy’s shoulder, briefly stunning him and as he prepared for a follow-up attack, a gunshot rang out across the lot and a spurt of green blood exploded out of Fire Guy’s head before he dropped dead on the ground. The large figure remerged from the shadows, silhouetted against the flames of the destroyed car.

“Guess those assholes ain’t bulletproof,” the large man holstered his gun and stepped into the light, “Name’s Farrell Creed,” he reached out to shake his hand.

Dumbfounded, Michael looked at the dead soldier on the ground and back at Creed.

“Someth’n wrong?,” Creed asked.

Michael shook his head, “Are you… military? Law enforcement?”

“PI, actually,” he scratched his beard, “From Winghaven.”

“Winghaven? Where’s that?”

“Really far away from New York,” Creed seemed to be hiding the exact circumstances of how he got there but Michael chose not to pry. Creed continued, “You’re the Cavalier, right? I saw your ship or whatever taking some flak so I came over to help.”

Michael looked over the hovercraft, “It doesn’t look too bad. Just some scratches and dust,” he turned back to Creed, “Can I give you a ride to… maybe the bunkers or…?”

“Nah, no bunkers,” Creed shook his head and hoped there would be few follow-up questions as he had been sent to New York through a portal opened by an angel to complete an unknown mission and wanted to avoid an awkward conversation, “I’m here to help, let’s leave it at that.”

Michael suddenly got an alert on his HUD as someone contacted him through the Dragon’s channel. “Wait a sec,. I’m getting a call,” he said to Creed as he took the call, “Who is this?”

The face of someone he recognized but never met appeared onscreen, “It’s Ryan Bennings. I’ve been trying to reach you about you car’s extended warranty… Seriously though, Rex Robinson gave me your number. We’re trying to put some semblance of a team together to mount an offense against these things. If you have any allies there, it’d be a good idea to bring them along.”

“Bring them where?”

“My place in Boston.”

Michael was unsure of joining Ryan Bennings as he had little experience teaming-up and was worried about leaving the city, but he also had no real plan of his own. Additionally, with Rex Robinson’s involvement, he was a little more confident going to Boston. In the moment, he decided to join Bennings, “Yeah, okay. I’m in. We probably need to regroup.”

“I sent my coordinates to you. I understand Rex helped build your hovercraft so I’m sure it can make it to Boston within the next two hours or so. See you then.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Michael disconnected.

“Any good news?,” Creed asked.

“Hopefully. That was Ryan Bennings. I guess he and Rex Robsinson are getting as many people as they can for the fight,” Michael paused, considering whether or not to ask Creed to join.

“I’m in if you’ll have me,” Creed offered. Like Michael, he was unsure what a team-up might entail but also saw no other option as he was in an unfamiliar area with almost no resources.

“We need all the help we can get. Let’s go see what happens,” Michael motioned toward the Dragon and they began walking back to the vehicle. As they passed unconscious U’ntari soldiers, he noted that Creed was fairly nonplused despite being in the midst of an alien invasion, “If you don’t mind me saying so, you seem really calm about… all this.”

Creed shrugged, “I seen some shit.”

Again, Michael decided not to pry

The Resurgence Reading List

The Resurgence Prologue

The Resurgence #1

The Resurgence #2

Formerly Known as Brain Boy #8

Winghaven #20

The Cavalier #21

The Badges #12

The Resurgence #3

The Resurgence #4

The Resurgence #5

The Resurgence #6

Astra Machina #10

The Resurgence #7

The Upstarts #11

The Resurgence #8

The Resurgence #9

The Resurgence #10

The Resurgence #11

The Resurgence #12

The Resurgence Epilogue