THE IRON SHIELD

Chapter XII

XII

The team made their way back to the tower. It took just as long as it did before, but at any rate they made it. The Knights got out of their vehicles and reloaded their weapons. They had more ammunition in the Suburban's, but could not get to it with the cyborgs firing at them. The Knights prepared themselves for what could happen next as they entered the tower. Eckhart was the only one who had been in the tower before, but he knew it no better than anyone else he was with. The inside of the tower at first glance was barren. It did not appear that anyone else was inside. It was quiet; too quiet. The team prepared for the worst. There was no other passage that they could see that lead to the basement. The Knights proceeded to the elevator to take them to the basement.

The elevator had only one button for the basement. There must have been only one basement floor. It was unusual for a building such as this to have an underground parking garage along with a basement floor. Only half of the team could fit in the elevator. The other half took the elevator next to it. They were not quite split in half. With Crost's weight, it was more or less a third to two-thirds. Crost being in the third. The team worried that the ding of the elevator door opening would alert Franklin and whoever else was down there.

The elevators reached the basement. The door swung open and the team stepped out in tight formation. Their weapons aimed and ready to fire at anyone or anything that was moving. Franklin was wanted dead or alive, but the emphasis was more on dead. The basement was vast. It was all one room. It spanned the entire building floor. It was several hundred feet square. The concrete supports were as oak tree trunks. The basement was twenty to thirty feet below the surface. Franklin was nowhere to be seen. No cyborgs were to be seen either. There were no guards, no equipment, and there were no vehicles. The entire basement was empty except for one thing in the center of the basement. The team raced over to it. Immediately, they all knew what it was. The clock on the device was counting down. The current time was 37:23. The clock was timer. The item in the center of the basement was a bomb. According to Grant who was an expert in demolitions it was not just any bomb. It was a nuclear bomb. If detonated it would destroy the whole city.

What better way to start the invasion of the world than to destroy the largest city in the world. It would have worked for Nightfall better if their had been people in the city, but for whatever reason the city was evacuated. Fortunately for Phoenix no collateral damage would exist if the bomb were to go off. Grant began to disassemble the bomb. He had time, but if he could not disarm it then there would not be enough time for them to get out. It only took a minute for Grant to realize the grim truth. He could not disarm the bomb. The bomb was too complicated and would take hours to disarm. He did not have hours; he had minutes. "There is no time to disarm it. We need to go, now!" said Grant. The team agreed except for Crost.

"You guys go. I'll stay and try to disarm it."

"You don't know how," said Grant.

"I have some knowledge of bomb disarming in my chip brain. I will stay and try. I am not human. I am a machine. I am technically already dead. If I die today, it is no big deal. I have no family. No one to leave behind except you guys. Continue with the mission."

"This is crazy," said Grant, "why are you so willing to do this?"

"Because I am machine, not human. Remember? Besides you would probably do the same for me. Now go. You have only thirty-four minutes left. There is still a chance you can make it." Each of the Knights shook Crost's hand before hurrying to the elevator to the Suburban's topside. Crost crouched on the floor to work on the bomb. He was not sure if he could disarm it, but he would try.

The Knights raced to the top to the Suburban's. The Knights got inside them and drove as fast as the vehicles would take them. Eckhart drove the X9. Ackerman radioed the George W. Bush to surface and lower the ramp and be ready to submerge incase the bomb does indeed detonate. It took the Knights just twenty minutes to get to the carrier or better known as submarine. The Suburban's raced up the ramp and parked in their appropriate places aboard the submarine. The Knights made their way inside as the submarine was preparing to submerge. Holmes noted that they were one man short. Grant explained to the four Phoenix men that Crost was a cyborg and that he volunteered to stay behind in one last effort to save the city. The Knights and the four Phoenix men sat in the bridge in silence. There was only a few minutes left to detonation. The submarine was making its way away from the city. The farther the better, even though they were underwater. It still would play a small role in the detonation.

The team watched the clock as it neared closer and closer to the detonation time. Each man hoped that Crost could pull it off. He had proved to be a valuable asset in the team. Now that they knew his secret, he was even more valuable. If he did not succeed in this matter he would be remembered for his bravery, sacrifice and heroism. He was the kind of man and soldier that every army wished they could have. A loyal and obedient soldier who obeyed orders and carried them out. He was a man of valor. Although he was not completely human, he at one point was human and still is in part, human. The time had come. The clock ended and the bomb exploded. Crost had not succeeded in disarming it. It would not matter for him however; he would still be remembered and honored. The city of Independence had been completely destroyed. The massive shockwave and power of the bomb annihilated the entire city. All that remained was ash and rubble. Bits buildings still remained, but still the city itself was gone as an enormous mushroom cloud hovered over the ruins of the city. The team sat in silence in realization that Crost was gone. They would never see him again.

Frazier had prepared a speech of some sort to broadcast all over the earth. Every TV network would be displaying it and every single computer, tablet, and any other kind of electronic device would be displaying. It would be basically a massive media hack to display a broadcast that Frazier had prepared to give live.

Frazier stood before the main screen in the bridge. He stared at the screen as the words he had written our earlier were being displayed and scrolling as he spoke them. His broadcast began. "Ladies and gentlemen, I address you not as a government official or any authority over you, but as a noble citizen of the United States. None of you know me and I most likely don't know you. My name is Joe Frazier and I am speaking to you because there is the gravest of threats that this nation and the world has never faced. The President of the United States has made an alliance with the dictator of North Korea,a rogue general from Russia who has command of pretty much the nation itself, and a dictator from Iran. They have declared war on the world. Their first act was to decimate Independence and in this did they succeed. We lost a good man trying to disarm the bomb that destroyed the city. We are but a small army and cannot take the man by ourselves. They are apart of an organization known as Nightfall. Their plan is to take the world for their own personal use. They wish to live in the days of the great empires such as the Greek and Roman. The world will no longer be the same when they are finished with it. You have been mislead and dissuaded. You are all confused by this I'm sure. I don't expect you to believe me, but on the news you will soon see the destruction they have brought upon this world. I only ask that those of you who believe in freedom, to stand up and help us fight this terrible evil that has been wrought upon us. Let us together stop this evil from spreading. We will do what we can,but we rely upon you as well. The thing that happens next is only going to be worse than what we have experienced. This will be the greatest war that we have ever seen. This war will be known as the apocalypse."