An end to all things
With a loud "Ooof", Diamond threw his bounty inside the royal tent, in front of Caesar.
A smile appeared on his face, and he raised himself slightly in his seat.
"You've been a great nuisance, haven't you… Richard?"
The almost omnipresent smile on the Bomber's face was replaced with a sneer.
"How do you know that name?"
"Oh, I'm an intelligent man. Over time, I pieced together what my spies had reported to me.
Explosions aren't a good way to erase a history. There's always some… residue."
Caesar raised himself, and walked up to the kneeling, wigged man.
"I could have you killed, right here. Executed. In fact, your head would have been enough to convince me.
But no, I wanted you here, alive. To make an offer."
The Bomber looked unimpressed. Almost unfazed. But he did speak.
"Let's hear it…"
Caesar continued.
"All the explosives you could want. All the carnage you desire. Wreak havoc all you like… but in my name.
In return, I'll make sure my spies keep all those pesky, yet crafty bounty hunters away.
You'll become a shadow. Appearing to encompass the land mass, and disappearing as the sunlight comes."
"A shadow…" The bomber spoke to himself.
A few moments spent in thought, he raised his head and asked one thing.
"I need guidance… all I have left is a picture of my long-dead family in my inside pocket… show it to me, maybe the sight of them can bring clarity…"
Caesar spread his hands, almost in a religious manner.
"I am nothing, if not merciful." he said, and bent over to grab the picture from the jacket's inside pocket.
With a wriggle and a tug, it finally came out.
Resting it in the palm of his hand, Caesar showed it to be the bomber.
A tear escaping his cheek, he would start giggling. Looking up again, he speaks.
"I guess it was meant to be." Words that seemingly pleased Caesar.
"Maybe I was destined to seek that one big bang…"
A puzzled face escaped the grand leader, but a wide smile appeared on the Bomber's face, as a faint whirring could be heard from the kneeling man.
Diamond rushed forward to grab Caesar, pushing him forward out of harm's way as what he rightly suspected was a trigger mechanism, ready to detonate something.
"Who knew this jacket would be the end of me!" the bomber cackled.
In the distance, a traveling trader spots an explosion in the distance, with an even bigger dust cloud rising up.
It would turn out that Caesar had been almost perfectly protected from the blast.
Not hard to imagine, when a full squad of Praetorians threw themselves on their glorious leader to protect him from the blast.
Stories in the Mojave would continue. Men in wigs, reported to be blowing up strategical locations with timed explosives.
None could tell whether it was the Mojave Bomber, until they caught the culprit.
It turned out to be a mere man donning a powdered wig.
But his capture did not end any future bombings.
This was not the work of one man. But multiple. All donning the same disguise.
The Mad Mojave Bomber's body was never recovered, but his legacy continued in the hearts of those desiring a special kind of chaos… seemingly random, but calculated behind the scenes.
They would set the stage for an even greater event to occur.
And maybe… the return of their Messiah.