He was under his Drama Tree, where I'd found him drunk-moping the other night.

The trenchcoat was back. It was new and had silver epaulets: little fringey curtains on the shoulder. Captain Crunch, you may recall, had gold ones.

He limped. He had a cast on one ankle and a black eye to match that of Lux Interior. He looked exhausted, like he'd pulled an all-nighter.

But he was unbowed. Handsome, noble Preston Covenant stood tall and proud. As well as he could with the cast, anyway. His decision had been made. He'd shot his shot and it hadn't worked. So what next for Todd?

He stood outside an aircar, one he'd taken from his still-unnamed Winnie. "There you are," he said. "Finally."

Lir and I faced him. I felt my fists clenching. Felt Lir's teeth coming out. We both spoke in unison: "You little shit."

He hadn't hidden from us. He'd practically broadcast his location. In more ways than one; he was flanked by two drones, each greedily filling their lenses with his image. My image and Lir's as well.

"Lir, we have an audience."

"Hi there, racists! Remember to like and subscribe!"

"I owe you," Todd said. "For choking me out in the street like a damn thug. It's time you learned–"

I wound up my arm to throw Lir at him. The Cazador braced against my arm, ready and eager for it.

Todd raised his phone. "Temper temper."

I stopped. "Your life depends on being clear with us, Todd."

"I have incendiary charges all over the place. On each Winnie, or at least 18 of them."

I looked at Lir. I shrugged, Lir bobbed his ears. We kept going.

"I said temper temper, Walsh. I'll set off a charge. I will, just to show you. I will."

He'd been doing something. It was leaking out of him like water from a sieve. Eagerness. Cruelty. Anticipation.

But I couldn't keep my dumb mouth shut, of course. "She said no. And now you want to bomb the city you live in."

He flushed. "This is about the cause. We're willing to sacrifice this unclean city to remind Humanity of its true place."

Lir ran down my back to flank Todd. "Humanity's just a sex pest?"

"You–" he nodded at Lir. "You're a talking animal. Like a parrot. You, Owen, can stop it all. Come with me."

The drones rotated midair, both of them inspecting my face.

I shrugged. "Okay."

Todd looked confused. "You will?"

"I was going to ask for that. Think about it. You may or may not have firebombs planted all over the city of walking trees. The only way I can make sure they don't go off is to go with you."

"We could take his phone," Lir pointed out. "Then he can't set them off."

"True, but I don't know how to break into these things, do you? He could also have it set up so that he sends a signal so they won't go off. So if anything happens to him, kablooie."

"Good point," said Lir. "But remember we're also dealing with a Covenant of Man guy. Lowest of the low. There's a significant chance he set up some bombs and just has them on timers, right? That way they go off no matter what."

The drones rotated back and forth, watching the exchange between Lir and I.

I gestured at Todd. "If I go with him as a hostage, I can make sure that if any bombs do go off, I'll be on hand to kick the shit out out of him."

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"Oh, of course," said Lir. "By all means proceed. Why, I'll even join you!"

Todd looked confused and had traces of speculation on the empty slate of his face. I wondered if any of our ideas had actually occurred to him.

"So let's go," I said. "Start the car."

"I…" Todd said. "Wait. No, you can't go in the car. I don't want a hostage."

The drones spun again, both on Todd now.

"Smell that," Lir said. "He's nervous. What about? Lying about something? No timers? No bombs after all?""

I nodded. "My colleague is perceptive, isn't he? Lir, you're very perceptive."

"Also I can just tear him open, you know. I have claws where I can do that. Then I'll frolic in his guts."

"A valid point, sir. I'll wager we can both frolic today!"

"Stop," Todd said. He brandished his phone again. He looked me in the eye and didn't like what he found there. He looked quickly at his phone, did something with his eyes, double-blinked.

A sharp crack, echoing across the shallows. Windows shattered. The afternoon couldn't get brighter, but a distant ball of orange flame was slowly rising from out on the river. I felt a wave of heat.

The crowds on our Winnie roared in surprise and shock. I could hear similar sounds from other nearby Winnie villages, like a shout from a distant baseball game.

"Look at which one," Todd said eagerly.

It was the unnamed baby Winnie. Todd's Winnie.

It was burning. It ran as well as it could, and with a groan of timber fell and rolled slowly in the water. It still burned where the water didn't reach,. The Winnie was the source of tall flames. A high whistle sounded over Caravan. The Winnie was screaming.

A noise from the watching villagers, in three separate villages: shouts, roars of outrage.

"We found a way around the No Guns or Bombs magic," Todd said. "Want more?"

I shook my head. The city reeled around me, fury and horror pouring from it as the baby Winnie tried to quench its fire in the too-shallow water. "What do you want? I offered to be your hostage, right?"

"No thanks." He grinned. "You wanted that Winnie, didn't you, Walsh? You wanted it more than I wanted her, even."

"Screw THAT noise," Adaobi shouted. She skidded to a halt. Her face was streaked with tears.

"I have seventeen more charges planted. If they touch me, I'll burn seventeen Winnies."

"You'll do that anyway," I said. And I walked up to him, hands ready for stranglin'. "None of you Covenant types can do anything but ugly shit."

Apparently this wasn't part of his strategy; his eyes went wide and he leaked real fear. He spun on his good leg and scrambled to his aircar. He made it halfway in before Lir fell on him, clawing and biting. Lir's magic started blazing; Todd wouldn't make it. He began yelling threats. Then just yelling.

I snatched one of the drones from the air. Its propellers buzzed helplessly as I aimed its lens at Todd, who was losing a fight with a being one sixth his size. "This is who you are," I said to the watching audience. "Proud moment, I'll bet."

"Stop!" Adaobi said. "Let him go! We…no more fires."

I stepped away. Lir spat out one of Todd's silver epaulets and backed off.

"He'll just do it anyway, Ms. Adaobi," I said.

"Look at him," Lir snarled from the hood of the car. "He's drinking it in. All the pain he's causing the people here. He's loving it. This isn't how it's supposed to work, is it?"

"No," Said Todd. He grinned from a scratched and bleeding face. His teeth were white, but one was broken. "No, it's never really worked on Covenant people. Your manacles don't keep us chained, Walsh."

"My manacles? Wrong guy–"

"What guarantee do you give us that you'll disarm the charges?" Adaobi said desperately. "If we just let you go, will you do that?"

"You have my word as founder of the Covenant of Man." He was panting, holding wounds on his arm closed. The trenchcoat was in bad shape.

The three of us focused on him. He was being tricky, of course.

But he was also in front of the Covenant, and wanted to look like the hero of his story. That was coming through loud and clear.

"Let him leave," Adaobi said.

I stepped away from the aircar. Lir climbed on my shoulder. We watched in disgust as Todd couldn't start the engine, then when it ran, he backed it into his Drama Tree. The rear of the lightweight car crunched into a v-shape. I made sure the Drone in my hand saw it all.

Todd flew away. He laughed and shouted something to us, but I couldn't understand it. Thus shall it ever be for tyrants, possibly; it was more likely he was yelling nyaah nyaah can't catch me.

But I saw his face through the bubble window. Todd was out of character. He was grinning, wide and crazy and feral, the whites in his eyes on full display in his handsome face. He met my gaze. I felt a jolt from him: pure triumph, gloating satisfaction. His car disappeared into the mist.

"I think we should get fire crews ready," I said.

"He gave his word…" But Adaobi was already doing it, working with her phone, contacting anyone who would listen.

Seconds passed, and then the rest of the bombs went off. The Winnies began burning.

Todd…

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