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across the land, into the center of a city before detonating. But the bomb standing in the
middle of Crab Town was one that never detonated. Somehow, when it got to its location,
it never went off. It just stood there. The citizens in the area cleared out, they thought it
would go off at any minute. But after a day, it was still standing. Then a week went by,
then years, still fully capable of taking out the city, but it never happened.
The city wanted to disarm the device, but every specialist they sent in to do the
job was too worried they would set off the bomb. They said even if it were moved the
thing would detonate. So they just left it where it was. At first, they had soldiers guarding
the bomb so that nobody would mess with it, but eventually the guards pulled out. The
city council decided to ignore it, forget about it. But the bomb still stands in the center of
Crab Town, ready to explode at any given moment.
Miss Doomsday s husband was the King of Spades. He was the last of the
specialists who was sent in to disarm the bomb. But unlike the previous specialists, he
wouldn t give up. Even after they cut his funding, even after he lost his job with the
military, he wouldn t give up on the bomb. He became a permanent citizen of Crab Town
and married his assistant, a young Italian girl with long raven-black hair. They became
known as Mr. and Mrs. Doomsday, because most people believed they would one day
blow up the entire city.
Being two of the few educated people in Crab Town, they were recruited into the
House of Cards. The King of Spades spent a lot of his time helping the Queen of Spades
with radiation treatments at the clinic. Her job was to help treat the radiation, whereas his
job was to help prevent it. He tested which areas of town were the most radioactive and
set up warning signs to keep people out. He taught the citizens how to protect themselves
from radiation poisoning and how to survive in case the Crab-Bomb was ever set off.
But in his free time, he worked on figuring out a way to disarm the bomb. All he
cared about was saving the city from another explosion. The government had abandoned
the project. It was all up to him. But he never succeeded. Before he could finish his work,
he was dead and gone. His wife changed her name to Miss Doomsday, and the House of
Cards lost their most brilliant member.
When Miss Doomsday and Little Sister lead the police through Crab Town to the
town square, Sailboat is waiting for them with a look of shock on his face.
 What the hell? he says.
 This was Jack s plan, she tells him, jumping from her sail-bike.  The point of
robbing the bank wasn t to get the money. It was to lead the cops here. To the bomb.
 Lead them to the bomb?
 We re going to take the entire city hostage, she says, removing the gas mask
from her face brushing her long black hair behind her shoulders.  This is how we are
going to get those assholes to finally listen to us.
 That s what Jack had in mind? Sailboat says.  Are you sure? The Four Aces
would never approve of this.
Miss Doomsday doesn t reply. In all honesty, she knows she could be wrong and
Jack could have had a completely different plan in mind. This plan sounds crazy, not at
all something Jack would want them to do. But it is the only thing she could think of that
would require Miss Doomsday, robbing a bank, and would be something that none of
them would want to have anything to do with. The only way Jack could have gotten them
to go with this plan would be to spring it on them when it was already too late to back
out.
Little Sister brings Johnny back to his feet as the police close in on them,
surrounding the area.
 Where s Nine? Doomsday asks.
 Inside, says Sailboat.
 Let s get in there, Doomsday says.  We need to fortify the place. It s going to be
a long day.
The King of Spades wasn t able to disarm the bomb, but he was able to protect it
from crazy people who might decide to blow it up. He built a structure around it, a
fortress that only members of the House of Cards could enter and leave. He also built a
steel cage around the bomb that only himself and Miss Doomsday had the key to. If
anybody outside of Miss Doomsday wanted to blow up the Crab-Bomb, they would have
a hell of a time of it.
When they enter the fort, Sailboat locks the gate behind them. The cops surround
the building.
 We need lookouts upstairs on all sides, Doomsday says.  I ll meet you up there
in a minute.
Sailboat, Little Sister, and Johnny Balloon agree and charge up the stairs. Miss
Doomsday goes into the back room to check on the Nine of Hearts.
 Are you okay? she asks the woman lying on the concrete floor with a bloody
pillow against her stomach.
 I m losing feeling in my legs, Nine says.
 We ll get you to the Queen of Spades as soon as we can, says Doomsday,
strapping the Thompson Gun to her back with an old cowboy belt.  Just hang in there.
Nine just blinks at the ceiling.
 Don t worry, Doomsday says.  I figured out what Jack wanted us to do. He s
not going to have died in vain.
 You know Jack s plan?
Doomsday nods.  I believe so. There will be no way they ll be able to ignore us
after this.
Nine smiles.  I knew Jack would do it. I knew someday he d have a plan that
would save us all.
Doomsday watches her head swaying back against the wall, then decides she
doesn t have the time to worry about her dying friend anymore. On the way out of the
storage room, Miss Doomsday steps on a black crab crawling out of the storm drain,
crushing it beneath her leather combat boot.
Then she goes into the central room, opens up the steel cage, and takes a look at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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