The lights in the bunker flickered on, shining down on the civilians who had been huddling in the dark for hours. They smiled, hugged one another and clapped their hands. Military personnel were happy to see that their communication systems and radar were once again online. Additionally, hospitals around the globe were now functioning normally.

Astra Machina stood on top of a U’ntari Fighter Ship inside the large satellite in space once known as Council. She had flown to its location using a stolen vessel and personally took control of the satellite, using her advanced AI systems and the ability to think like an organic being which Council was unprepared for. Cables and jacks emerged from the back of her head and inserted themselves inside the satellite’s inner-chamber walls. She worked to bring all super grids back online. Meanwhile, in the Retribution, Admiral Kull began pacing angrily back and forth while shouting orders at his communication officers onboard, “I want to know what happened to my damn satellite! Switch to secondary communication, send a Command Ship over there and someone tell me why Earth has power again!”

In a field in the UK, Dave Bronson called out to his IMD teammates and the Femme Phantom, “Oi, the power’s back on! Someone’s trying to contact us!” They all scrambled into the Cloudburst as a holographic message appeared, displaying Astra Machina.

“Hi Badges, it’s me again, Astra Machina,” she began awkwardly, “I took out the U’ntari’s satellite and restored power. I also read some files and I think I know where the U’ntari might strike next,” Astra cocked her head to the side, “… I’m sorry, I might have to hang up. I’m pretty sure they’re sending ships after me right now. If you could help, I’d appreciate it. This satellite has powerful weapons but there’s a whole lot of U’ntari out there.”

“I’m glad she’s on our side, curious as she is,” Pierce said to himself.

“Is there a way we can trace the signal and rescue her?,” Mansoor asked.

“Yeah, we can pinpoint her general location,” Bronson explained.

“It’s bloody good luck we were on our way, then,” he turned to the Elite Squad, “Suit up, lads. You’re going to space.”

In Washington DC, Alysa Saraki was released from her cell where the CIA interrogator met her. “We got our lights back, can I go now?,” she asked.

“We were hoping you might stick around and help,” the agent explained, “Since you obviously have powers, we’d like you to guard the Pentagon in case more aliens show up here. We need all the help we can get.”

“What about the Upstarts?”

“They’ve been sent to LA. As far as we know, something attacked their mansion and they’ve been sent to investigate. We lost communication with them due to the power going down.”

A worried expression crossed Alysa’s face, “Are they out there alone?”

In Ryan Benning’s living room, Ryan, the Cavalier and Farrell Creed had gathered what they could in preparation to leave and were shocked to see that the power had returned. Ryan took the time to try to locate the Upstarts to no avail but some time later, a hologram appeared, displaying a familiar face, “Sorry, I’m late, fellas,” Rex Robinson’s said cheerfully while sporting his trademark smile, “I had some U’ntari ships on my tail for a while back there and the power-outage didn’t help matters, but I’m here and I had an interesting finding on the way. Come on up.” Creed, Cavalier and Ryan left the front door and noticed Hyperion’s Light overhead; soon, a tractor beam pulled them into the ship and they found themselves onboard.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Rex,” Cavalier told him, “I’m not sure how much longer we could’ve lasted cooped up in there.”

“I’m sure you held the fort just fine. Cavaliers are like that,” he pat him on the back, then turned to Creed, “Hello, I’m Rex Robinson.”

“Farrell Creed. Nice to meet you, sir,” he shook Rex’s hand enthusiatically.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” Rex took another look at Ryan and Cavalier, “I think this is a team-up that’s been long overdue.”

“I wish the team-up was a bit larger,” Ryan admitted, “Once the power came back on, I made another attempt to find the Upstarts. I had to do some hacking but I found a channel that belonged to soldiers that were meant to be looking after them. No one answered.”

“We’ll find them and make sure they’re safe,” Rex placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “But for now, let’s take a walk.”

As they made their way through the hangar, Creed noticed motorcycle-like vehicles nearby that were without wheels, “Hey, those look like motorcycles.  Do they fly?” He broke away from them and took a closer look.

“You’ll have to excuse Sons of Anarchy here,” Ryan told Rex sarcastically, “It’s his first time on a spaceship.”

“And I’m ’bout to throw your ass off it,” Creed said under his breath.

“We need all the help we can get,” Rex explained to Ryan.

“That’s what I said,” Cavalier muttered in exasperation.

Rex joined Creed and they took a look at the three vehicles, “These are sky bikes. Do you ride?”

“Yes, I do.  I have a Harley back home.”

“It’s honestly not too different from riding a motorcycle,” he began pointing to the different parts, “There’s the ignition, throttle, brake… the only difference is pulling back and forth on the handle bars, which is closer to a jet than a motorcycle.”

“It’s nice that we’re learning how to ride a bike but let’s get to the game plan,” Ryan said as he joined them.

“Good idea,” Creed glared at Ryan, then drew Rex’s attention, “Y’know, I’ve been thinking about this situation and I really think there’s a weakness to exploit here; an Achilles’ Heel that can take down the aliens. We just need to find out what it is. I’ve faced my fair share of monsters and learned that’s usually the case.”

“We were all shocked to hear Bigfoot was real,” Ryan began, “But can we talk about something more concrete?”

“Mr. Creed’s not wrong, there is an Achilles’ Heel,” Rex led them through a hallway to another part of the ship, “As I said before, I made an interesting discovery. Follow me.”

“Hear that?,” Creed whispered to Ryan, “Creed ain’t wrong.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

Outside Earth’s orbit, Astra Machina turned on the satellite’s forcefield just as a fleet of about 50 Fighter Class ships zipped around, firing blasts at the building-sized monolith. The forcefield held up well enough while Astra engaged the weapon systems. A series of compartments slid open along the surface and canons emerged. The smaller ships had forcefields of their own which took the plasmatic blasts well enough with minimal damage. Astra surmised the forcefields would eventually fail but her main concern was the large Commander Ship hovering nearby.

Not far away, there was a collapse in space as IMD agents Wang, Bakshi and Hernandez appeared, all decked out in space suits that allowed them the ability to float unaided for up to an hour (hopefully, more than enough time than was needed). “We are in position,” Hernandez radioed back to the Badges on Earth and took note of the space battle waging in the distance, “And it looks like the party’s already started.”

“I am ready when you are, gentlemen,” Wang told them calmly.

“I’m trying to think of where to start,” Hernandez admitted.

“Shadow Star, remember what I said on Earth,” Bakshi told him, “All you have to do is reach out and draw all the matter toward you… just like in your fight with the Surrealist.”

“I remember,” Hernandez raised his palm, “Hold on to your asses.”

He began to absorb the space around him. As there was little to absorb, he felt nothing at first but then noticed the area around him rippling as it was drawn to him. This was only the second time he absorbed matter and both times, he could sense that he was breaking down substances around him without actually taking anything. Nothing was being absorbed, it was as if objects ceased to exist once they entered into his being. “Initiating Phase Two,” Bakshi announced and began to generate a wide gravitational orbit around himself, counter to Hernandez’s absorption. The result: a small singularity the size of a pin tip appearing between the opposing polarities.

At the satellite, Astra finally managed to burst through the shield of a Fighter Ship and blast it to pieces, sending debris through space. As she fought, she took note of the human-shaped objects closer to Earth’s atmosphere and assumed they were allies while also hoping the U’ntari didn’t notice, but soon, the Fighters received a command to retreat behind the Commander Ship. The ships likely didn’t see her allies but she realized another one of her fears was coming true. The Commander Ship’s front compartments slide back, exposing a large canon. It began to light up and from Astra’s readings, she could tell that enough energy was being drawn to potentially level an entire city. She fired her weapons but they deflected off the Commander Ship’s forcefield which was far more powerful than the Fighter Ships’. Nearby, the Elite Squad used the microscopic lenses on their space suits to perceive the small spark of light. “Beginning Phase Three,” Wang said over the radio. At that point, the Commander Ship fired a massive pillar of energy that struck Astra’s forcefield and while there was no sound from the explosion, the flash of light and the crackling of a forcefield was dramatic enough. “We don’t have much time!,” Bakshi announced. Wang cupped his hands around the small ball of light and used his powers to increase its mass. Inside the satellite, the vessel shook and sparks flew out of the walls as Astra was rattled inside, parts of the ceiling falling around her as the structure began to falter. The forcefield was down and another blast would be all that was needed to finish her off. Just then, she detected an unusual reading… the sudden creation of a black hole.

The Commander Ship fired another blast but the beam curved strangely and flickered out. The Fighter Ships soon found themselves drifting in the same direction, slowly at first but soon, they picked up speed. A few tried to reverse or pull away from the black hole but it was inevitable. Some collided into one another as they were sucked up and as they broke apart, the debris swirled toward their destination: a singularity that was too small for them to even see. U’ntari pilots found themselves flung out of their ships, their mouths open in silent screams just before their bodies were stretched out and broken down to the very atom. The Elite Squad continued to watch as the small fleck began to devour the fleet, their eyes wide with silent awe. Body parts and ship parts alike broke down into a dust-like substance that was funnelled into such a fine point that by the time it reached the singularity, it was invisible to the naked eye. The Commander Ship was pulled in next and as it slowly turned to face them, it fired multiple blasts from the smaller canons which likewise curved in odd ways before disappearing. The surface panels of the ship flaked off and were sucked in before the inner parts started to be ripped out.

Unfortunately, this also meant that Astra’s satellite was likewise gradually pulled apart as panels and rods began to be torn off and fell into the pull of the blackhole. The Commander Ship split open like a clam, sending more U’ntari soldiers to their doom. Meanwhile, the satellite split in half and Astra found herself flushed out into the void. Hernandez, using his suit’s telescopic view, noticed Astra getting pulled toward him (she had absorbed a great deal of mass during her confrontation with Council, which helped). “There she is,” he shouted through the radio, “Cease fire!” They stopped using their powers which made the blackhole disappear and while the ship and satellite had been broken apart, they soon found themselves faced with the dilemma of space debris heading their way. Bakshi shot solar blasts to remove objects from their path, Wang punch a large pillar out of their way and Hernandez shifted space to remove obstacles but there were still building-sized chunks of metal heading toward them with infinite inertia.

Astra created thrusters and flew to their location quickly. Once she was close, she used her newly enlarged body mass to spread her limbs out wide to engulf her new allies. She wrapped them all up and began spinning and twirling through the mass of metal on her way back to Earth’s atmosphere.

It was dark in LA when the military helicopter approached Upstart Manor. Because of the blackout, all communication with the Upstarts and the team escorting them was lost. A reconnaissance team on a base near LA was deployed to report their status. As the helicopter arrived at the location, the pilot looked down at the mounds of rubble where the mansion once stood as well as a severely damaged helicopter. She flew in closer and muttered one phrase, “My God.”

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