Hoppity activated anyway.
The command had already been sent.
He walked into The Nest carrying the same taser he had used on Dewdrop.
His rebuilt body moved with mechanical precision.
Marshal Orb stepped into the center of the room.
“Hipp.”
Hoppity stopped.
For a moment his eyes were blue.
Then red.
“You killed me.”
Orb did not reach for his gun.
“Yes.”
“You burned me.”
“Yes.”
“You dumped me.”
“Yes.”
Dewdrop whispered, “Damn, Marshal.”
Orb ignored him.
“I was afraid of you,” Orb said. “Then I became worse than you.”
Hoppity raised the taser.
Gilden’s command pulsed through his system.
Kill Ian.
Hoppity’s arm turned toward MC Ian.
His hand shook.
Orb recognized the tremor.
It was the same weakness Hoppity had mocked in him.
“Hipp,” he said. “You don’t have to belong to him.”
The taser moved back toward Orb.
Then toward Ian.
Then toward the floor.
Hoppity screamed.
His body sparked.
Ian moved to help.
Hoppity shoved him away.
“Don’t.”
The red light in his eyes flickered.
For one second, he looked like the deputy Hood County had known before cruelty became his entire identity.
“Tell Gilden,” Hoppity said, “he can kiss my resurrected ass.”
He drove the taser into his own control port.
The blast knocked out every light in The Nest.
When emergency lamps came on, Hoppity was still.
This time nobody carried him to the Slop Yards.