In the Retribution, Kull watched footage of the crashed ship as his crew received the escape pods; as usual, Shujai stood beside him. Kull closed the screen in frustration, then called out to his AI satellite, “Council!,” he turned around as if expecting the satellite to somehow be standing behind him, “What the hell happened down there?”.

Council’s hologram showed up on the bridge, “According to our Silencer on the scene, a team of young heroes calling themselves the Upstarts sabotaged the Commander Ship along with an unknown ally. I have searched Earth’s databases and found the Upstarts’ residence in the city of Los Angeles.”

Kull folded his hands behind his back, “Taking out the metahuman population of Earth should have happened by now. I want them eradicated and I want to start with those little assholes who took down one of my ships.”

“Sir,” Shujai began nervously, “From what I’ve seen, the Upstarts are young people; children by both U’ntari and Earth standards. Perhaps we should consider-”

Kull ignored his second-in-command and addressed the satellite, “Council, what does the U’ntari Military Code say about young combatants?”

“If the combatants have visibly reached puberty,” Council began, “and are proven able and willing to be a threat then they are to be treated as enemies.”

“Fairly cut and dry, “ Kull turned his attention to the Grand Captain.

“I understand the Code, Supreme Admiral…,” Shujai began again.

“Then you should have no problem with my decision, Grand Captain Shujai,” he brought up a hologram of Director Q’werz, the leader of the Silencers, “Director, I need you to send your most dangerous and powerful Silencer to the Upstarts’ compound. Council will give you the coordinates. Draw them out and eliminate them,” he turned and maintained eye contact with Shujai, “… With extreme prejudice.”

“It will be done, Supreme Admiral,” Q’werz saluted and shut off her hologram. Shujai, meanwhile, stared at the floor of the bridge with barely contained horror. Kull leaned into his ear and whispered, “And that wasn’t even a difficult decision.”

In Washington DC, the sun rose as military personnel approached the fallen spaceship in the Potomac. The Iseda priestess in training known as Alysa Saraki led the Upstarts in downing the ship so that the President and other officials could escape to safety and while accolades were forthcoming, the team was far too tired to receive them. The Upstarts were napping in barracks at a makeshift encampment while Alysa was interrogated for “sneaking” into the Pentagon.

“Ms. Saraki, we’ve learned you’re from a town called Winghaven,” a CIA agent sat across from her with files in his hands, “Long way from home.”

“I told ya’ll that already,” Alysa sneered, “Look, I saved everyone and helped the Upstarts. That should count for something so let me go.”

“We will… maybe. You’ll have to roll with us on this.”

“Oh Lord,” she shook her head in disappointment.

Hyperion’s Light flew across the Arctic. It was the long way back to Boston but Rex was making sure no more U’ntari would attack him. In the hold of his ship, the Silencer Captain sat in a cell with reinforced handcuffs. After he led his team to Rex’s ship, he was defeated and woke up in a cell where he waited for hours for his captor to arrive. Eventually, the door slid open and Rex walked through, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I had to help out some friends and then some of yours showed up,… you understand.” The Captain was silent. “I didn’t think you would have much to say,” Rex placed his hands on his hips as he studied the U’ntari assassin, “It’s expected, so no hard feelings.” A peculiar hiss was heard in the cell, drawing the attention of both men. A green mist began to emerge, first along the floor and then along the walls as it rose. Rex eyed the gas cautiously as it wafted toward him but there didn’t seem to be any ill affects. As the gas reached the U’ntari warrior, however, he began to convulse. Rex moved toward him swiftly and witnessed the alien’s skin begin to pucker and rapidly produce open sores. It was then that the assassin began to make a sound as he screamed in pain. His healing abilities seemed to fight against the gas at first but it only bought him a few moments of life that resulted in little more than struggling against his restraints. After a few more seconds of that, he slumped back down in his seat, dead. Rex, still unaffected by the gas, quickly opened the cell door and let what was left of it into the ship. He checked himself over once more with the assurance he was unharmed, then began to examine the dead warrior.

In New York, the armored hero known as Dragonfly flew through the air… backwards. The punch sent him into a tree in Central Park where he struggled to catch his breath. He had met the U’ntari super soldier called Bone-Breaker the previous day when he was hit by a car. Despite the raw power of the armor and the repairs he received the night before, he had human level endurance which meant he was exhausted. The super soldier, meanwhile, did not appear to be fatigued at all. The U’ntari advanced but before he could get close, multiple energy blasts rained down from above. The super soldier grunted and staggered back just before Astra Machina dropped from the sky with a super strong punch that sent the alien out of the park.

“You’re the robot girl, aren’t you?,” Dragonfly picked himself off the ground, “Astro-something?”

“Astra Machina,” she smiled and gave a friendly salute.

“Thanks for saving my ass. These things have been bombarding us for 24 hours but most of us have survived. I think they’re taking the hint.”

“Earth forces have a home court advantage and they seem to be better at thinking on the fly compared the more uniformed U’ntari, I’ve noticed.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Unfortunately, they appear more technologically advanced than us and could likely destroy our planet in a number of ways if they felt inclined.”

“I’m a whole lot less confident now, just so ya know.”

“I think stopping them would either require us delivering Rex Robinson to them as requested or engaging them in space somehow.”

“Here’s a thought: don’t talk unless it’s related to the fight,” Dragonfly shook his head an began to move past her.

“Okay. Speaking of which, that alien is coming back to fight us.”

Bone-Breaker made a massive leap back to their location with a blow that sent both of them through some nearby bushes. “I have an idea,” Astra said as she crawled along the grass to Dragonfly, “Sorry if this is weird.” Her nanotech body began to ripple and turn into a semi-liquid state as she placed a hand on Dragonfly’s chest. “What’re you-?,” Dragonfly protested as the liquid metal began to cover his armor. A few seconds later, the super soldier burst through the bushes to find his prey, only to discover Dragonfly was now covered in silver metal overlaid across his normally black and green armor with Astra’s head affixed over his own like a helmet. The right arm morphed into a large canon that began to light up as the super soldier made another leap. The multi-colored blast hit the super soldier in the chest and sent him hundreds of feet into the air with the power of both heroes. Once the enemy was out of range, Astra slid off Dragonfly like a snake shedding its skin and briefly turned into a metal puddle on the ground before popping back into place. Dragonfly, meanwhile, was disturbed but thankful, “So yeah,… that was weird. but since it got that guy out of here, apology accepted.”

“I’m not sure if we killed him or not,” Astra said as she gazed into the distance, “Wally and Kim don’t want me killing people.”

“I have no idea who Wally and Kim are supposed to be but I think they’d understand under the circumstances. We’re at war here.”

In a grassy field in the UK, Sean Pierce led the agents of the IMD and Femme Phantom to what appeared to be a century-old outhouse. “With the exception of the Femme Phantom, I’m the only one here to remember the Cold War, Vietnam and all of that. This particular bunker was built during the Space Race,” Sean Pierce began, “The West had to beat the Russians to the Moon. The CIA and MI6 were particularly interested in going to space as they were afraid of Russian spies building a base on the Moon. The Invasion of 1981 only strengthened their resolve because, even though the USSR collapsed shortly after the aliens came the first time, it was obvious there were more dire threats beyond our solar system. They took precautions.” Sean opened the outhouse, exposing cobblestone walls, a rotting wood floor, and a dark hole caked with what appeared to be fecal matter left for a century. “Not to worry, it’s all for show,” Sean reached into the hole and a slight CLICK could be heard as he turned on a switch. The entire floor rolled away, exposing a staircase with descending lights turning on in a crescendo, “Mind the steps,” Pierce told them.

The Badges had a variety of reactions from disgust to curiosity but they all made their way down the steps all the same. Sean led them into an underground bunker with radar equipment that was decades old as well as a locker with intricate spacesuits and a strange fighter jet that seemed to be an experimental spacecraft. “I would have told you lot about this earlier but, you understand MI6,” Sean explained calmly, “For your eyes only… that sort of thing. This bunker was meant to be the front lines of an international treaty to fight alien threats. Just in case those bastards returned, obviously. I’ve known about it for quite a while even if most of the big-wigs running England have forgotten.”

Dave Bronson took a look at the fighter jet, “Are we gonna take the fight to them?,” he turned to Pierce, “Up there in space?”

“Indeed, but not with that,” he motioned toward the fighter jet, “That plane is shite. The funding for this project was cut almost immediately and the governments moved on to other matters once the Invasion of 1981 became a distant memory,” he pointed to the spacesuits in the lockers along the wall, “But those spacesuits are in working order and a bit better than what they have in NASA. We only need a few brave souls to wear them.”

“But sir, the Cloudburst is not equipped for space travel,” Jill Frakes interjected.

“He means to have some of us go into space,” Kisi Yeboah explained, “Without a craft.”

“Being a telepath has its perks,” Pierce answered.

“But who’s gonna go up there unaided?,” Lewonnah Jones asked.

“The Elite Squad,” Dafne Mansoor answered, “It’s one of the reasons why he pushed for the program.”

Pierce gave an answering nod, “And being a quite astute Mossad agent also has its perks. Certainly, I wasn’t sure if the aliens would ever return but having some fairly powerful agents in our employ who could make it to space is always beneficial,” he turned to agents Wang, Hernandez and Bakshi, “So gentlemen, what do you make of this?”

“Hernandez’s blackhole powers should get us into space fairly easily,” Bakshi looked at the suits and then back at Pierce, “I might have a few ideas.”

Meanwhile, Kull sat in his chair in his ship’s Conference Room and addressed the various commanders in his fleet via hologram. Council was also present, his holographic face floating ominously above the rest. “I’ve sent a Silencer after the Upstarts to let the humans know what happens when you take down one of our ships,” Kull began, “But that doesn’t get us any closer to winning this war or taking down Rex Robinson. We need to begin our next phase of attack.”

“We should raze their cities and turn their surface into ash,” a commander with an eye-patch growled, “We have the firepower.”

“Believe me, we have that option and if you see Robinson on the surface you are authorized to blast everything in radius but first, I want to see the humans demoralized and humiliated. Killing those brats who took down our ship is a good start.”

“May I offer some advice, Supreme Admiral?,” Council requested politely, “This situation, I believe, falls under Negotiation Protocol 916.”

“Proceed.”

“I have access to most major power grids on the planet and can shut them down for some time. It could benefit us in a number of ways, up to and including, convincing the humans to surrender Rex Robinson to us.”

Kull considered the tactic for a moment and finally agreed, “Make it happen.”

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