Nuklear Age Read Online Free Page B

ten years ago. On a most fateful day...”
    “Do tell.”
    “I am! Ahem. I was a beat cop back in those days. Fred Sentinel, that was the name. I haven’t been called that in so many years…” his voice trailed off as his gaze wandered to the clouds above.
    “Come back to us, Cap’n Shiny.”
    “Er, right. I’d just sat down outside my favorite sandwich shop, The Metro. It had been a long morning. It was the day of Dragon's Strike, so we were all pretty strung out by lunchtime. The unusually high humidity only added to my hunger: a hunger about to be quenched by the succulent turkey sub before me. I held it admiringly. Oh, the crisp lettuce. The fresh cut turkey, so thin and folded just right. The spicy mustard, onions, peppers, tomato, it was a beautiful monument to sandwiches, I tell ya. But, as custom demanded, I flipped through the headlines of The Metroville Sun before partaking of my lunch.
    “‘City Held in Grip of Fear’ the headline announced. The front page featured a rather lengthy article about the world's most infamous and feared crime boss known only as…The Dragon. Between his stupendous black market wealth and the team of powerful overvillains at his command, he knew no rival. And that morning, that fateful morning, was to be his crowning achievement as a worldwide Archfiend. At sunrise, he had demanded three billion dollars within the next 24 hours, or he would cause the new Metroville Nuclear Power Plant to meltdown, thereby leveling half of Metroville in seconds while simultaneously rendering the other half uninhabitable for centuries. ‘Three billion, a small price to pay,’ according to the paper’s article.
    “Us local police had been handling the situation all morning until the National Guard and other feds took over and brought the Squad of Diplomatic Immunity with them.” The Civil Defender seemed to wipe at the corner of his eye with an armored finger. “It was quite a moment, let me tell you. The Dragon’s plan for world conquest would take a giant leap forward after this event. After all, if one man can destroy a city described as the pinnacle of all civilization, what could stop him from destroying any city, or for that matter, a nation?
    “It seemed that The Dragon would make history even if he didn't throw the proverbial switch. The Squad of Diplomatic Immunity had been called in to investigate the power plant, but even after hours of searching they hadn't found a single trace of the explosives. But The Dragon wasn’t one for bluffing. We learned that with those artificially activated volcanoes of his years back. Anyway, since the risk of a nuclear meltdown was so great, all signs pointed to the U.S. caving in to terrorist action. I remember in the paper there was a picture of the Squad: Captain Liberty, the seasoned superhero who had led the team for decades; Old Glorya, an elderly woman cybernetically melded to her Assault Wheel Chair of Justice; The Bold Eagle, an eagle-man genetic experiment meant to build the ultimate soldier; Dim-Mak-Racy, a patriotic ninja master of the clandestine arts; and finally, The Constitutional Kid, Captain Liberty's faithful sidekick.”
    “I know all about the Squad of Diplomatic Immunity. I’ve got all the comic books at home. How else do you think I learned to be a Hero? Sheesh.”
    “And then it happened.” Civil Defender’s exposition took on a sinister tone. “From around the corner, a brash youth ran like lightning on wheels. He took one look at my uniform as I perused the newspaper and he charged on. He reached into his tattered leather jacket. It was black. Yeah, street gang motorcycle punk kid black. He passed me, the world seemed to slow to a crawl. He took his hand from his jacket. He was practically on top of me before it happened.”
    “He shot you?!”
    “No,” Civil Defender’s eyes clamped shut. “Though not a day goes by I wish he had. It was much worse. Much worse.”
    “What? What!”
    “In a flash…the