Between them lay the silent grey Ironclad 'Thunder Child'. Slowly it moved towards shore then with a deafening roar and whoosh of spray, it swung about and drove at full speed towards the waiting Martians.
THE DIOGENES CLUB BUNKER
If Mycroft was surprised by Sherlock's knowledge of such a Top Secret matter, he gave no indication, simply responding. "I can, and I will."
His tone sent a shiver of fear down the spines of everyone present.
Mycroft, in the blink of an eye had gone from hero to villain, with Sherlock the only one to fully appreciate why.
For Sherlock to be worried, let alone scared meant that they were dealing with something extremely serious, and deadly.
With her gaze firmly fixed on Sherlock's horrified expression, Molly tentatively asked. "And what exactly is Thunder Child?"
"It is a weapon, Doctor Hooper," Mycroft replied.
"The most terrible of weapons," Sherlock added.
"What type of weapon?" Molly asked, her voice tremulous.
Sherlock walked over to her, surprising everyone when he wrapped his arms securely around her, before turning back to his brother.
"Tell them Mycroft," he urged, his body tense. "You are one of the architects of this weapon after all."
Mycroft didn't respond.
"If you don't," Sherlock bit out angrily, his impatience growing. "I will."
The atmosphere was thick with tension as it became clear that neither brother was prepared to back down.
"Come on Mycroft," John said as he took a protective stance beside his wife and infant daughter. "Just what exactly are we talking about here."
"And what type of impact will it have?" Lestrade added.
"Tell them Mycroft," Sherlock ordered. "They have the right to know."
Quite unexpectedly Mycroft gave in to Sherlock's demands. "Very well," he said as he walked over to a concealed safe. Keying in the pass code he opened the safe, and removed a device that could easily be mistaken for a TV remote.
"What's that?" Mary asked suspiciously as she handed her baby daughter to Mrs Hudson.
"This Mary is the answer to all our troubles."
"But not the answer to our questions," John noted.
Sherlock smirked at his brother, pleased that his friends weren't willing to put up with Mycroft's games anymore than he was.
"This device," Mycroft finally explained, "will detonate a weapon that is the equivalent of a hundred nuclear bombs."
"Try a thousand," Sherlock interjected.
Molly, John, Mary, Lestrade, Mrs Hudson and Wiggins exchanged worried looks.
"Only a handful of people know of the existence of Thunder Child. If the general population were to learn that such a weapon existed, it would cause widespread panic."
"For a very good reason," Sherlock agreed, his comment earning him a glare from his elder brother that he completely ignored.
"Okay, so whatever this weapon is the consequences of using it will be serious, yeah?" Lestrade noted in exasperation as he looked from one Holmes brother to the other. "How serious?"
Sherlock waved his hand to indicate he was leaving the grand reveal to the one who literally had his finger on the button.
Seeing there was no way of escaping his current predicament, Mycroft plunged right in to his explanation.
"Thunder Child is a number of weapons that have been placed at strategic positions all around the globe. It cannot be detected because the technology developed for these weapons were designed with the specific intention that they remain hidden from prying eyes, with only a handful of people who know there exact locations. In addition due to the sensitivity of the weapons themselves and the continual need to shield there whereabouts it became necessary that technology be developed so that they were powered under its own quite unique and independently secure power source."
"So when the Martians took out all power installations, Thunder Child wasn't affected," Mary clarified.
"Correct," Mycroft confirmed.
"So we have an extremely powerful and sophisticated weapon that's been placed all around the earth that can be detonated by one small device," John noted.
"It was thought best that the detonator be simple to operate in case the situation was so catastrophic that trying to remember a code or a specific sequence to initiate it may prove prohibitive."
"What happens?" Molly asked quietly. "What happens when you press that button?"
"The Martians will be destroyed."
"And?" Sherlock pressed.
For once Mycroft's usually stoic expression was briefly replaced by something like regret as he informed those present. "And so will every living thing on the planet."
When Mycroft finished his explanation there was a stunned silence as everyone internally digested the full implications of what, and how far he was prepared to go destroy the Martian invaders.
"Have you lost your bloody mind?" Lestrade demanded.
"Yes," came Sherlock's immediate response.
"You're telling me," John cried angrily as he indicated his sleeping baby daughter and the others in the room. "Your solution for winning this war against the Martians is to kill everything, and everyone."
"There's no other option," came the fatalistic response.
"The hell there isn't," Sherlock snarled as he lunged at Mycroft.
After a brief struggle he managed to disarm his brother. With the remote safely in his possession he placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket.
"Just because you've decided to give up Mycroft," Sherlock snapped as he grabbed his Belstaff and put it on. "That doesn't mean that I have."
He walked over to Mrs Hudson, who was cradling Isabelle Watson in her arms. "Mrs Hudson, keep a close eye on Mycroft. It wouldn't surprise me if he had a backup device hidden away somewhere."
"Yes dear," she replied.
He bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to the infant's forehead, before turning to Wiggins. "Should there be another device and he attempt to retrieve it, you have my permission to use whatever means and force necessary to ensure that he cannot use it. Do I make myself clear?"
Wiggins nodded, silently withdrawing a flick knife from his pocket.
Sherlock looked over at Mycroft to make sure he fully comprehended and understood the situation.
Satisfied, he turned to the others. "All right everyone, lets get to work." Walking over to Molly, he took her by the hand and led her back over to the hatch that led to the underground tunnels.
"Where are we going exactly?" Lestrade asked, as he, John and Mary made their way to over to join Sherlock and Molly.
Sherlock opened the hatch and began to descend, pausing to indicate for Molly to join him as he nonchalantly responded. "To save the Earth, obviously."
