"Well?", Billy asked me.

An objective observer could not have said anything about this, because both answers are completely subjective, so it's time to ditch that traditional Illuminated idea for now, and time to think- about myself, about the world around me, and about my own doom and potential doom.

If I don't, then something can possibly happen to their implants, or someone could already be controlling, say, Sarah- hell, even Billy- and commanded her or him never to clue me in about it. Someone obviously has serious power- more than me, as much as it galls me to admit it. There really is a trans-Illuminati. And a trans-Illuminatus would treat us as an Illuminatus does sheeple: like cannon fodder. But I've proved to them that I'm not fodder, and so they will do what they can to annihilate me, which should be considered to be just about anything. Including implant takeovers.. who says there's not a subroutine in there to project another controller image on their minds, given the right signal?

If I do, then they've got a chance of dying, too, although I figure Billy's outcome- life or death (or brain damage, which is an unsettling thought)- will be the same as mine. And even if we survive withdrawal, I run the risk of instant death, despite what they said. They believe what they said, but their love for me might quickly fly out the window as they comprehend it- they will get revenge. Fast revenge. I might not even know what hit me... I started contemplating my own death and then shook it off.

I added more variables into it by considering all the times the implants seemed completely superfluous as well as the few times the right command saved my ass.

But what do I want to do? I closed off logic for a bit and started listening to my right hemisphere, which was steadily sending me one signal.

There was no choice to be made.

"Oh, hell yes."

"YES!", Billy exploded, the first time I've seen him with that kind of joy. The Anarch began ordering the parts and looking over the procedures. Billy, Sarah, and Paul rushed forward and we shared an intense group hug.

"I have a suggestion, Howard.", the Anarch said.

"What?"

"Include me in the unimplantation. I.. cannot explain why properly." Fuck.. should I really trust.. I have to. He is an Enforcer, even though sentient. All evidence points to his belief that he was telling the truth about the reasons for his attacks. I must assume he knows what he's doing.

"All right. There is one other I'd like to bring. Fido. And guys.. especially you, Paul.."

"What- you think I'll croak? So what if I do?", Paul replied with total nonchalance.

"Dammit, this isn't one of our usual fights.", Billy said sharply, as we broke off our hug. "No one's survived this. No one. Even with the precautions.. fuck, I wish we could test this!" No shit, but we've already been over that.

I smiled. "Pfft. You're telling me. For me.. there isn't a choice, it's either this or the painfully inevitable. But if you guys.." I smiled wider. If I'm going to croak, I might as well have one last joke.

The reactions were as predictable as they were simultaneous. "Like hell!", Billy blurted out. "Fuck you!", Sarah sharply shouted. "Kiss my ass!", Paul yelled.

I nodded. "...That's what I thought."

"So, this is it, Howard. No more commands, no more doing what I don't tell my body to do. It's going to be all gone, like a bad dream.", Billy said, and I realized something I should do.

"Yes, Billy. No more commands. All of them are gone, right now." They looked at me as if I couldn't possibly mean it, that I was just kidding, and they'd be my obedient servants forever. "You heard me. I don't know if set commands can affect implant withdrawal or not." My next sentence was in the list of things you just don't say, no matter what reasons you have for saying it. Just by saying it, I completely defied years of advice and Illuminated common sense. This is, after all, what killed Damien and other masters. "All of you can do whatever you want." As I said it, I visualized chains falling from their bodies, clankety-clank, and for a moment I had no idea why I had them wearing them to begin with. There, it's done.

"Thank you... Master.", Billy said, smiling as if he couldn't ever be hurt by anything. It was one of the first commands I ever gave him, never to call me that.

"Yes, Howard.. thank you. Thank you so much. You're the best friend anyone could ever want, both of you are.", Paul said, smiling widely, and I appreciated it. "I guess I'll just deal with the pain. He didn't order any an\'e6sthesia for me.."

"It's not safe.", the Anarch said, simply. "Although the symptoms are similar, this is not a traditional epileptic attack. Further brain modification is not recommended."

"It's going to hurt like crazy, but we all need to be conscious for this.", Billy said. "There's the knockout gas for us, too, but we're not getting any of that either."

"There exists a sedative for bioengineered humans?", the Anarch asked, the instant after Billy finished speaking, as if he felt there shouldn't be one.

"Huh? You didn't know?", Billy asked. "I wasn't brought here kicking and screaming. I know it's a complicated chemical, any good filter will catch it, and it doesn't do jack to normals."

"Why would such an item exist?", the Anarch asked. "Your bleeding is too rapidly regenerated for that to be effective. Similarly, any an\'e6sthetic will impede your regeneration." Which is what the Operator told me when I had my arm blown off. "Other than the circumstance of engineered servants, there appears to be no use for such a chemical."

"The.. previous Dominator told me it was in case of incredible pain.", I said, a bit uncertainly. "They didn't give any of it to me with that arm, though. Shit, that is weird. It's almost impossible to use as a weapon, though." The Anarch simply nodded. But as a trap... okay, save this for later, I've got one Dominator-overthrowing device to worry about right now.

"So we're going through this with nothing but what amounts to a crude dampener.", Sarah said, smiling. "Nothing to stop the pain. Good. For once in my life, I can't wait." But we did wait. We waited a full hour, the nervousness only buffered by the relief of my soon to be ex-servants. Billy changed clothes, putting on the white suit, making himself truly identical to me. I didn't want to say much of anything; I was scared, and still shocked. They didn't want to say anything either, probably because they so perfectly liked the way things were going that they didn't want to do anything at all to disturb it.

Sometime during the wait, my dark, cynical voice, the one I haven't heard from in a while, came to me. 'Do you have any idea what you're doing, and what you just did?', it asked. 'Have you gone completely insane? They're your best assets. You can make them do anything. Why throw away something like that?' I didn't answer it. I didn't need to. I knew exactly what I was doing, and I was doing it because I wanted to.

The implant removers were helicoptered in on the lawn, and Sarah picked them up nonchalantly as if there was nothing to worry about, and then brought them back. We walked up to my room, and laid down on my bed, all of us in roughly a circle, our heads near each other. Here we go. Nobody's ever survived this before, and we're not well equipped to survive it now. I have no idea whatsoever what it'll feel like, nor even how to possibly hope to survive it, and I pondered the possibility that my adrenalized power might hasten my own death. I don't care. I'm ready. Let's see how powerful we really are.

"Enough connections for everyone...", Sarah said. "All right. I'll do it, guys. Everyone at once. Anarch, can you do yourself?"

"Yes."

"Then do me and then you after I do them." And with that, she started with Paul, putting the connector expertly on his head, activating it, and it cut through his skull like nothing, not damaging the brain beneath. She pressed something else on it and I heard a very sharp pop, and I saw the implants get drawn out of Paul's skull carefully by the automatic doctor. Paul's face immediately went blank, the connector snapped onto his head, and Sarah immediately darted over to Billy and I, putting the connectors on each of us with one hand. I forced myself to be still as the extremely sharp blade cut into my head carefully (it did hurt, but not much- it was a truly thin cut), and the automatic arms pulled off the parts of my skull, leaving me feeling strangely exposed. It popped out both implants at once, and my whole world became--