Resurgence - Chapter One

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: not mine, darn it.

Author's Note: This is the next Future-Verse story, and is a sequel to "Shadows of the Past".

I'm going to be changing the posting rate on this one, mainly because it's the last completed Dragon-Verse story I have. I'm working on the next one, plus I need to dedicate time to my Marvel Bang story, so I'll be posting this one on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my days off. Sorry, but I don't want to get this all the way posted and the next one not be done first.

This story is officially the longest thing I've ever written, at being a little over 115,000 words.

21 January 5193 (Standard Earth Date)

Stark's World

Cartel Space

Sabrina Jones-Swann was one of the best operatives Torchwood had.

It was why she'd been one of the several put on the trail of the resurrected HYDRA.

She'd been well briefed on HYDRA. No one had expected that organisation to ever be revived, not after SHIELD and the Avengers had destroyed their power base back in the 21st century. Her boss and brother-by-mating, Phillip Coulson, had been involved in that mess, and while his memories were understandably foggy on certain events, he certainly could recall the havoc HYDRA had caused back then. Melinda May, Phillip's Second, as well as several other reincarnated souls who'd been alive then, had filled in a lot of the blanks and it had painted a picture that Sabrina took great offence at.

And now, they were back.

They'd managed to stop their first major power play: an attempt to resurrect the Master, the mad Time Lord, using an evil, ancient magical book called the Darkhold. Merlin, Sabrina's nephew-by-mating, had hidden it on the abandoned Great Library, and it should have been safe there with the Vashta Nerada as guard over it.

But it hadn't been.

Two HYDRA operatives – both reincarnations and with their memories intact – had managed to kidnap Merlin and attempted to steal the Darkhold. They would have succeeded if not for Phillip, Merlin, and the Doctor, and then the three of them had almost lost their lives. Phillip, especially, had been affected, but at least he was back to himself now physically, thanks to the Doctor going back and getting the information needed to reset the formula in his blood that made him immortal.

No one had been able to figure out just how Lucy Saxon and Grant Ward had managed to regain the memories of their previous lives, but it was troubling to say the least. As far as anyone had known until then, the only ones who had ever done that had been members of Sabrina's family, or dear friends with strong connections to the Jones Clan. To have it happen to two people – and at least one more they were aware of and one they suspected – who had been their opponents was something that Merlin was still investigating.

HYDRA had made several moves since then, most notably the terrorist attack on the Festival of the Masks on the planet, Euros. Once again, it had involved members of Sabrina's own family, and her nephew, Skylar, had come very close to being at ground zero of one of the four bombs that had gone off during the Festival. Twenty people had been killed, forty-six injured, and the entire planet had been traumatised by the incident.

There had also been an abortive attack on Thoros, the canister of deadly gas discovered before it could be set off. A threat had been made against the government of Zygos Beta, which had caused a panic but had amounted to nothing, enforcement believing they'd somehow scared the terrorists off from doing whatever they'd planned by being prepared. An attempt to kidnap the Imperial Crown Prince had been thwarted by the Shieldsmen, and each of the perpetrators had committed suicide after proudly admitting they were with the new HYDRA.

Phillip was certain things would escalate. Her fathers agreed, as did Grand Master Rogers and her Imperial Majesty, along with her supporters.

Sabrina knew in her gut that they were all correct.

She'd managed to pick up a few rumours about HYDRA on one of her sister's, Cadi's, favourite haunts: the Smugglers' Moon. It was one of fifteen moons that orbited the gas giant, Killian Two, and was the place to go if a person needed anything that was even vaguely illegal. Sabrina had contacted Cadi immediately on hearing that HYDRA might have something planned for Stark's World, to see if she could get a quick ride. That piece of intel had come as a surprise, because so far HYDRA had contented itself on striking at Imperial targets, and Cartel Space was considered neutral territory.

The Cartel was a loose conglomeration of business interests that had decided to carve out their own area of space, and the Empire had more or less left them to it. The Cartel had its thumbs in so many different pies, and there were times with Imperial Intelligence would rely on contacts within their space. The leaders of the Cartel didn't care what the Empire did within its sector of space as long as they weren't caught at it, and they didn't attempt to annex any of their territory.

Although it was usually good form to ask permission beforehand, Sabrina hadn't done that in this case, believing she could get in and out quietly with whatever she could dig up. Then Phillip could approach the Central Computer, that ran Stark's World, on behalf of Torchwood in order to do a proper investigation.

Her Tad had once called Cartel Space the "Switzerland of the Twelve Galaxies". Sabrina had had to do a little research to find out just what that meant, and found it a perfect description for it.

Sabrina had immediately met with her sister, and managed to find someone who'd heard that HYDRA had, in fact, set up their own business holdings within Cartel Space; that it wasn't a terrorist strike at all. It wasn't much, but it was enough to have Sabrina investigating. Why they chose Stark's World as a base, Sabrina didn't know; it could have something to do with the types of tech that were coming out of the research suites located on the planet, or it might have even been a simple choice that HYDRA had made at the time, and the planet had just suited them for their purposes.

She supposed it didn't matter.

Stark's World was a technological mecca. What came out of the fabrication plants and development hubs was usually sold to the Empire or its allies at fantastic profit. The planet itself had been subsumed within the construction projects that had built the world up from a barren rock in space to its current state, which was really just one large, planetary, city.

In many ways, it bothered Sabrina's sensibilities. Maybe it was the lack of any open spaces. Stark's World had an atmospheric shell, keeping in the breathable air and making the place habitable. It was all metal, plastic, glass, and other materials; there was nothing natural about the place at all. Oh, there were some trees spaced out along the sidewalk she was on, and she was aware of the immense hydroponic sections deep within the heart of the planet, but this place was pretty much sterile.

It was also very clean. Even the alley she was currently making her way down was gleaming with cleanliness. Sabrina had a contact waiting for her behind the buildings that lined the street, and even though the alleys were under surveillance – there was a joke about Stark's World being the Security Camera Capitol of the Universe, and it wasn't because they were making breakthroughs in personal security all the time – it was still quite private and the perfect place to meet with someone who didn't want to draw attention to themselves by meeting with a Torchwood operative.

Not that Sabrina looked like one at the moment.

She was wearing the red and gold uniform of Stark's World Services. Some might have found it tacky but Sabrina quite liked it; the colours reminded her of her great-nephew, Rory's, scales. It was a little form-fitting, but that wasn't the first time that she'd worn something that showed off a little more than she might have been comfortable with. She pulled it off with the aplomb she'd inherited from her father, Jack Harkness, and knew just how to 'own' the look.

Weapons were banned on Stark's World, unless one was in Security or had special dispensation. Sabrina hadn't bothered much with a cover, only appropriating the uniform she was wearing in order to blend in. Therefore, she wasn't armed, but she was far from defenceless. As well as her dragon strength, she was well-versed in a couple of different forms of hand-to-hand combat, and of course, she was nigh-on indestructible. So, she wasn't afraid as she made her way down the wide alleyway, the walls of the buildings that faced the street boxing her in a little bit.

Still, she was a Star Dragon, and would have been able to defend herself quite handily in case of trouble. She really didn't want to tip off HYDRA that she was there, so she'd stay in human form as much as possible. It wouldn't do to show her hand too soon.

Besides, Cadi wasn't that far away. Her elder sister had been more than happy to give her a ride to Stark's World, and luckily for them it wasn't one of the many planets Cadi was wanted on, so she didn't have to hide from the security forces. Sabrina knew she could always call on her sister to come and get her out of any situation that Sabrina thought she wouldn't be able to handle.

Still, if her contact had only news for her, it wouldn't be necessary for any of that.

The alley was empty, but then Sabrina was early. It made sense for her to get there before her contact; it was one of the things she'd inherited from her Tad: her need to get anywhere earlier than scheduled. It also allowed her to check out her surroundings, and make certain there were no traps set…or to set her own, if she needed to.

This trip, though, she wouldn't need to. All she had to do was wait.

It wasn't too long before footsteps sounded from the other end of the alley. Sabrina turned to look in that direction, setting herself in a ready position in case she needed to run or fight.

The man who approached her was also wearing the Stark's World uniform. He was short, and stout, and if Sabrina had to guess she would have put him as some sort of office worker. He was completely and utterly normal looking, and would have given Phillip a run for his money in the blandness department. He had mousy blond hair, pale eyes, and he was, on the whole, completely unremarkable.

Sabrina didn't relax, though. Because she knew Phillip, and knew the power of seeming unassuming. It wouldn't do to let her guard down until she was certain things weren't going to go to hell.

The man came right up to her, stopping just a couple of feet away. He looked nervous, his eyes darting around the alley as if he was waiting for someone to come and catch them at something. Sabrina wanted to shake her head at it, but as this wasn't the first time she'd ever met with a frightened contact so she knew she just had to look relaxed, and it would relax him as well.

"You Torchwood?" he asked, sounding almost belligerent despite his nerves.

Sabrina's eyes narrowed. "And you have information for me?" she countered. Already, she wasn't liking how this was going.

The man's head bobbed. "Yeah. Something's going on at Persephone Corporation."

She'd heard of Persephone Corporation. They specialised in terraforming systems, and Sabrina couldn't figure out just why HYDRA would have anything to do with that sort of tech. Still, it was her first real lead, and she was willing to check it out.

The man reached into a pocket of his uniform jacket, and Sabrina tensed slightly until it brought out a small data crystal. "This is what I've been able to find. It's not much, and you might want to confirm it yourself…" he shrugged, stepping forward to hand her the crystal.

Sabrina held her hand out for it. Yes, it might be nothing, but at this point she was willing to check out any sort of rumour. So far, HYDRA had been hitting individual targets, and it was only a matter of time before they escalated.

Her contact went to hand her the data crystal, but it slipped out of his fingers. "Shit, sorry," he mumbled, going to pick it up.

Sabrina wasn't expecting him to attack.

In fact, she was already dying before she even realised she'd been stabbed.

Dragons were well-nigh indestructible, but they still had weak points that could be exploited.

The man had lunged forward with a knife and had stabbed up under Sabrina's armpit. He had to have known, she thought as she felt the sting of the blade slide through her skin and down into her chest, aiming for that one tiny gap that would give the blade a direct route to her heart.

It really didn't hurt all that much.

Sabrina wasn't even aware of hitting the ground, only that the man was now standing over her, holding the blade that had killed her, her blood dripping from the knife in slow motion. His face was grinning, the unholy smile turning that pleasant blandness into something truly evil.

"I am the Dragon Slayer," she heard him speak, but it was like the words were coming from under deep water, muffled and cold, "and you are the first in my crusade to kill all of your kind."

Sabrina couldn't speak. She couldn't even breathe. The knife had struck true, and her heart was stopped.

Darkness wiped away the visage of her murderer.

And then there was bright music, calling her to her final home, and Sabrina followed.