A Resurgence tie-in

The U’ntari had returned for the first time since 1981. The Upstarts were involved in basic training in Washington DC when they returned and were soon thrust into the war against the second invasion (or The Resurgence as it would be called). With the help of Alysa Saraki, they took down the Commander Ship hovering over the DC which prompted the U’ntari Supreme Admiral to send an assassin, preferably one that was both powerful and willing to kill a group of teenagers.

The Silencers were the premiere assassins of the U’ntari under the leadership of Director Q’werz. When the order was given to have them killed, Q’werz chose her most dangerous Silencer: K’lgotha. K’lgotha was not powered by Neutronium, unlike other Silencers and super soldiers, nor was he initially a part of the U’ntari military. He was a serial killer on their home planet of U’ntrall who had been sentenced to death after being caught by authorities. The method of execution used was the Vibrational Chamber: a machine designed to vibrate a subject’s molecular structure with targeted shockwaves until they were liquified. There was a highly unlikely chance that the molecular structure of a subject would vibrate to the point where they would expand and experience an increase of mass but that is what happened to K’lgotha. After receiving increased strength and durability, he escaped but was defeated by the U’ntari hero, Shujai. The U’ntari military then forced the killer to work for them as an assassin and he was soon brought along for the invasion of Earth.

Shujai was already horrified by his inclusion and when Kull ordered the Upstarts to be killed “with extreme prejudice”, he put two and two together and ventured to the Silencer’s sector of their ship (with the ship being the size of a small continent, it was a long trip). “Grand Captain Shujai,” Director Q’werz greeted him once he arrived, “I didn’t expect to see you in this sector. It’s a very long way from the bridge.”

“I was curious to know who you chose for the Upstart mission,” Shujai knew better than to question the Supreme Admiral’s order anymore than he already had but the situation weighed heavily on him and the sight of his former enemy being led down a corridor did nothing to alleviate his concerns.

“Here he comes now,” Director Q’werz motioned toward K’lgotha who was being chaperoned by guards with rifles, “He has a mission to carry out so I ask that he not be kept long,” she immediately took her leave.

“My old friend, Shujai,” K’lgotha said with a fake smile. He was several times larger than most U’ntari, standing over eight feet with a wide frame that nearly took up the entire corridor and seemed to regard his guards with a great deal of humor. He looked Shujai in the eyes, “Did you come to wish me good luck on my mission?”

“I am your superior and you will address me as Grand Captain,” Shujai drew closer, “And just so you know, if I had my way, you would still be in a cell. Or better yet… dead.”

“Oh, but your superiors insist that I be here,” K’lgotha’s smile widened, “And we all know not to question our superiors… Grand Captain.”

Despite Shujai’s tall stature, K’lgotha still towered over him but that did not stop him from looking him directly in the eyes with an icy stare, “I defeated you once and I can defeat you again.”

“You defeated me using the vibrations of a Dyson Sphere,” K’lgotha was led away by the guards, “Unless we agree to go all the way down to the engine sectors, I’m not sure what else you could do, Grand Captain.”

K’lgotha was placed on a shuttle with pre-programmed coordinates. When it reached Earth’s atmosphere, it was picked up by the military who tried their best to shoot it down. The large Commander Ship hovering over LA provided intercepting lasers which blasted the missiles out of the sky, allowing the shuttle to pass unmolested. Soon, K’lgotha reached his destination, Upstart Manor, where he began smashing through walls and collapsing the large mansion around him. Naturally, this entire display was by design as the U’ntari wanted to draw as much attention as possible. As expected, the Upstarts were soon dispatched to the area. In the meantime, the U’ntari satellite caused a global power outage, removing all communication channels which did not deter them from their mission.

The Upstarts flew in the back of a military helicopter along with a few Army personnel. “We lost contact with everyone,” a sergeant told them as the copter made its way to LA, “The target might not be there anymore but we won’t take any chances. We need to know what it’s after and stop him.”

“Do you think the power’s really out all over the world?,” Dante asked.

“We don’t know that for sure but I can tell you that we’ll find a way to get the power back,” he said with a sure smile.

The co-pilot emerged through the cockpit door, “We’re approaching the sight now. Get ready.”

“I still don’t like taking orders from the Army,” Alexis said quietly.

“Me neither but it’s not like we’re getting drafted to Vietnam,” Kaley informed them as she held their hand, “This whole thing is pretty serious. I know we gotta fight these things or we might not have a planet left.”

Alexis smiled at her, “If there’s one thing worth fighting for, it’s you,” they stroked her cheek and leaned in for a kiss.

“I’m still a little nervous,” Dante admitted, “These things are taking on the whole world. What are we gonna do by ourselves? I mean, Ryan Bennings doesn’t think we’re ready for this and he’s super smart so -”

“Bruh, don’t worry `bout it,” Da Mutt told him, “We kicked their asses back in DC and we’ll do it again in LA.”

“Yeah, but I mean, we had Alysa Saraki’s help and they didn’t let her come with us,” Kyle chimed in, “Just saying.”

“Yeah,” Mutt considered Alysa for a moment, “Hey, you guys think she was cute?”

“She was alright,” Kyle answered.

“I thought she was cute,” Dante agreed.

“Yeah, so we’re gonna ignore that she took down like a whole ass spaceship?,” Alexis snapped, “Just gonna reduce her to being cute?”

“We didn’t say that,” Kyle raised his hands defensively.

“It’s about what you didn’t say,” Kaley reminded him.

“We just said she was cute,” Mutt added, “Besides, we all know she liked me anyway.”

“Nah, man,” Kyle turned to him with a humored expression, “I really don’t think she did.”

“Is she even still in high school?,” Kaley asked, “Think she might be a little older than us.”

“By what, a year? Who cares?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter,” said Alexis, “Because Alysa isn’t in to him any way.”

“Ya’ll play too much,” Dante laughed loudly, momentarily forgetting about the battle that lie ahead. That is, until an alarm sounded off and the sergeant shouted, “Incoming!” A piece of mortar was thrown through the air and struck the tip of a spinning rotor. A different alarm began to blare through the copter as it spun out of control. The pilot could be heard through the intercom, “We’ve been hit. Brace for impact!”

Alexis unstrapped themselves from the bucket seat and spread their arms and legs out like a blanket, stretching past their sleeves and pant legs “Come on! I can protect you!” They all began to take off their seat straps, Upstarts and military alike, and move in close as Alexis wrapped their limbs around everyone, forming what appeared to be a giant ball of yarn. Dante, meanwhile, held on to the outside of the rubbery mass, “I’ll try to absorb as much as I can!” As the helicopter dove-tailed, he absorbed the kinetic energy in an attempt to lesson the blows but it was not enough to keep it from breaking apart. The front half of the copter snapped off and dropped to the ground. The second half flew in the opposite direction with Alexis and the others holding tight to one another. A few soldiers slipped through her elongated fingers, however, and were sent flailing through the sky. The others tumbled against high velocity winds and were sent spinning. Once the team hit the ground, they bounced and rolled along the ground. Dante was thrown off but had absorbed enough kinetic energy that he was unharmed. Alexis rolled along the ground, dropping their team behind them as their limbs shrank back into place.

Once the teens stood to their feet, they realized only the sergeant and one soldier made it while the copter’s front half was now laying nearby with the other half in an unknown location. Next, they noticed a giant mound of rubble and twisted beams a few yards away. “Is that the mansion?,” Kyle asked in amazement. Dante rejoined the group and noticed an overturned SUV nearby which sported the Upstarts logo, indicating one of the many cars that transported them around the city, “It was the mansion.”

It was starting to get dark but when the sergeant looked out, he noticed lights in the distance coming on. “The good news is that the power is back,” he told the team, “We’ll find our target, then radio back to-”. Just then, a large figure leapt out from the rubble and when it landed, it kicked up a cloud of dirt where the remaining soldier once stood. The sergeant turned in time to be hit by a wide arm that sent his body flying over the destroyed helicopter where it disappeared. Thinking quickly, Kaley opened a portal which the team scrambled through to get away from the large, shadowy figure and remerged amidst the rubble a few yards away. Once they were at a safe distance, they could more clearly see the massive U’ntari assassin.

“Run or fight, your fates are still the same,” his voice was deep with a sadistic tone, “My name is K’lgotha and I am your death.”

“What do you want with this place?,” Dante called out, “We don’t have Neutronium and any tech inside the mansion is probably busted now!”

“Isn’t it obvious?,” he laughed a bit, “We have plenty of Neutronium on our ships and our technology is far more advanced than yours. There’s nothing in this place that we want. Nothing… except your lives.”

“Shit,” Da Mutt grew nervous.

“I got an idea,” Kaley told everyone and raised both hands.

As K’lgotha stomped toward them, a portal opened underneath. When he slipped through, he reemerged from a portal hanging overhead and fell back toward the original portal. As the two portals were stacked, it created an unending loop with K’lgotha falling through, gathering more and more momentum as he went.

“Yo, that’s badass!,” Da Mutt shouted.

“I’m not sure how long I can keep them open,” Kaley said as she kept her hands outstretched.

“You can probably close them and let the asshole hit the ground,” Alexis told her, “That shit’s gonna be a hard impact.”

Kaley spread her arms out, closing both portals at once and as she did so, another huge cloud of dirt and pavement erupted. The ground shook once the assassin hut the ground and the Upstarts saw nothing but dust and debris. “You did it, baby!,” Alexis said happily and gave Kaley a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Let me check,” Kaley took a few steps to the side to get a clear view of the dust cloud, then turned back to her teammates with a smile. She began to speak but never had the chance to say anything. The piece of pavement flew from the dark cloud before them, sailing past Mutt and Kyle who made an attempt to catch it but it was too late. Alexis was unaware as she was staring into Kaley’s eyes and in the next moment, she was out of view. The chunk of granite sent Kaley’s limp body flying over a steel beam and disappeared. “Kaley!,” Alexis used their elongated legs to leap over the beam to her location while the rest followed. “No,” Alexis screamed again while squatting next to her motionless body and while they couldn’t clearly see Kaley’s face, it was apparent what had happened. Alexis’ hands were shaking and a loud, mournful shriek erupted.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Kyle said to himself softly as tears ran down his cheeks. Likewise, Dante and Mutt’s eyes welled up but they said nothing as they raced back toward K’lgotha. The alien raised his arms as an invitation for the two rage-filled teenage boys to attack. Dante used up all his stored energy in a punch that turned K’lgotha’s head to the side but did little else. “Not bad,” K’lgotha threw a punch that sent Dante hurtling through a pillar; and while he absorbed the impact and stores it up as strength, it was still jarring.

Da Mutt was next and leapt toward his opponent with both fists raised, “Come on you mother-,” and was cut off when K’lgotha wrapped a single hand around his face and brought him back down into the pavement.

Kyle raced onto the scene in time to see Mutt’s lifeless body embedded in the ground, his head almost entirely crushed. “Mutt!,” he shouted in fury and began hammering the giant with a flurry of punches at superspeed which didn’t even move him. “You’re a fast one,” K’lgotha said cheerfully as he began to take missed swings at him. Alexis stretched over to the behemoth and began wrapping their arms around his throat in an attempt to strangle him. They placed both feet on the assassins shoulders and leaned back with all their might as Kyle continued to assault him. Meanwhile, Dante came back, carrying a portion of the pillar and smashed it into dust against K’lgotha’s forehead which at least managed to stagger him. The alien clenched his sharp teeth angrily, raised his foot and smashed it through the ground. While Alexis managed to hang on, both Dante and Kyle were bounced into the air from the shockwave.

Kyle was sent rolling along the ground at high speed and finally came to a stop with his back against a concrete slab, his body broken and bruised as K’lgotha stormed toward him. Alexis, still on his back, began striking him with enlarged fists in a vain attempt to stop him from killing another teammate. Kyle looked up with blood dripping down his face, his legs twisted and shattered far too much to even think about running. K’lgotha slowly raised a boot. “Sorry, Dad,” he said quietly just before K’lgotha’s bloody boot smashed through the slab and into the ground where Kyle once laid. Dante came in from the side with a punch to his face while Alexis continued to try everything they could. Both of them were roaring with furry by that point and once again, Dante was thrown into the air with a punch.

“I’ll kill you!,” Alexis elongated their fingernails to a point, creating sharpened claws which were then shoved into K’lgotha’s eyes. He snarled and finally managed to reach Alexis and pull them away.

Behind a pile of rubble, Dante sat on his knees, his body shaking from adrenaline. He was meant to be the most powerful. “The team powerhouse” as Levison said. But he wasn’t powerful enough. His friends have died and he let them down. He was going to die with them. Why didn’t the Army realize it was a trap? Why didn’t someone stop Levison before all this even started? Everyone kept saying the program had been a bad idea but egos and greed prevailed. Why did it have to happen? Why didn’t Dante refuse to be on this goddamn show? His body shook and he could feel traces of kinetic energy coursing through his body, which reminded him of what Ryan Bennings once told him. It was a trick he never had the chance to utilize and now was as good a time as any. He clenched every muscle in his body tightly, forcing slight tremors.

Elsewhere, K’lgotha grabbed Alexis by the midsection and pulled, stretching them out as they thrashed and rained down blows, “You are a tough one,” K’lgotha told them just before they finally ripped apart like stretched taffy that had reached its limit. Blood sprayed out and K’lgotha dropped the two halves at his feet and went in search for his final victim.

Dante’s body shook violently. The pebbles below him trembled. Energy surged through his veins in a perpetual loop, making him stronger and soon, his entire atomic structure was vibrating with raw kinetic power. K’lgotha rounded the corner with a sadistic grin, “And then there was one,” he approached him slowly, savoring the kill as he noticed his body shivering, “Scared? It’s understandable. Lucky for you, I prefer a quick kill.” As he reached for Dante, he felt a strange vibration and then came a quick spray of green blood as if he stuck his hand in a blender. He pulled back in alarm, then gazed at his bloody hand which was now missing most fingers.

K’lgotha got his great size and strength from his molecules vibrating at an extremely high rate but it also made him vulnerable to strong vibrational frequencies. Dante was not aware of this and didn’t bother to understand it either. He saw K’lgotha’s bloody hand as well as the look of fear and pain on his face and took the opportunity. He shot to his feet, his fists still clenched and vibrating now in an atomic blur. Before K’lgotha could do anything, Dante shoved both fists into his chest and let out a scream, “Fucking DIE!” K’lgotha seemingly phased into two separate beings as an echoed scream could be heard. Then came an explosion of green blood and gore that washed over Dante. It was over.

Dante stood silent, covered in green blood with very little left of the enemy underneath him. From that vantage point, he could spot Kaley’s body across the way as well as Alexis crawling by their hands to Kaley despite missing their lower half. Once there, Alexis laid their head on Kaley’s chest. They closed their eyes silently then they were gone. The kinetic energy left Dante’s body and as the rush of adrenaline escaped, he dropped back to his knees and stared at the ground. From the radio of the crashed helicopter nearby, he could hear a familiar voice:

“This is Ryan Bennings. Is anyone there? Come in…

Please, if anyone is alive, answer…

Anyone…?

Upstarts…?”

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