I hadn't been to Northberg in a while, but I knew it like the back of my hand, easily finding Paul's room with a simple designation. Before I moved to my island, I grew up here; even if I can't remember most of what I was doing that young, I do remember how to get around in this place. Yup, they haven't made many modifications since I was last here, either. Paul's hospital door was guarded by an Enforcer, which took one look at me and walked inside.

"Billy, Sarah, no one is to come inside this door until I exit it. Not you, not anyone.", I said to them, making sure that I would not be interrupted. This is going to require the voice of a skilled manipulator, to make sure Paul doesn't lose precious sanity. Besides, I need the practice. I threaten too often and actually manipulate too seldom. As I entered, I noticed the Enforcer using a device to cut open his head in two places- ah yes, implant resetting. I watched carefully and made sure the Enforcer actually did it- it did, then expertly sealed Paul's head closed again, leaving without a word.

I then waited five minutes, until the powerful sedative they gave him wore off with the help of an even more powerful antidote. To put it bluntly, he was in a sad state. Hospital restraints held his arms and legs down in place. There were small marks on his head where they went to reset his implants. Various bandages covered his body, as assorted scarred wounds were being re-healed with fewer and less obvious permanent markings. Tubes went to his crotch, slowly feeding the apparatus regrowing his penis and balls, wires from that went to the monitors showing his progress. He was listless as the effect wore off- it took thirty seconds for the antidote to work enough for him to look up at me and mutter, "Billy?"

"No, Paul. I'm Howard.", I said, doubting that the implants would work on the first person he thought he saw. Nah.. he needs some recognition and surety of who it is for there to be the impression the implants use.

"Howard.. ahh...", he mumbled to himself, quickly regaining consciousness.

"First things first, Paul. Whatever Damien said no longer applies."

"Oh.. ugh.. you're my master now, aren't you.."

"Yes, Paul. I am." He sighed slowly.

"Oh man.. hey, what the fuck?!", he said, as his growing consciousness caused him to look up at the device regenerating his sexual organs.

"Paul, fortunately for you, I don't believe in non-intact servants."

"Is that thing doing what I think it's doing?"

"Well, that totally depends on what you think it's doing."

"It's regrowing my fucking.."

"Yep. It's regrowing your fucking. And don't fuck with it, you'd hurt yourself.", I said, undoing the soft, but obviously uncomfortable, hospital restraints. "You can't break Illuminated secrecy, you can't harm any of my property or me, you can't try to avoid my commands, you can't leave my island without my permission, and you can't try to delude me."

"Agh.. god. That was about the first thing he said. Howard.. if you can answer me this.. since I got RIPPED outta my house, I have been bitchwhipped, hogtied, maimed, and made to cut off my own dick.. just tell me why!"

"To fulfill the sadistic desires of a second level Illuminatus."

"So you people really are a bunch of torturers..."

"Hardly. We the Illuminati don't concern ourselves with hogtying, maiming, cutting off dicks, or any amount of bitchwhipping. However, certain members do enjoy such activities. By the way, Paul, if you remember, the one who used to do all that to you is now deceased." Might as well just tell him, in case he's forgotten any or didn't see it clearly (it happens, even when it's obvious as Damien's execution). He'll find out all on his own that we do as we damn well please, just because we feel like it.

"Yeah.. blew his fucking brains out after Billy said.. hey, where is Billy? Can.. can I talk to him?"

"Sure, Paul. He's right here." As I opened the door I noticed Billy and Sarah were dealing with a semi-irate Illuminatus who obviously thought some amount of logic or convincing could undermine my explicit commands.

"Howard! I need to talk to you, in private.", the blond haired young man said, his eyes beaming with hope. Just by looking at and listening to him, I could tell that dealing with him would sicken me to the core, and I don't have time to fuck with him right now anyway. "Is now a good time?"

I glared at him and began to curl my lip in a sneer.

"Well.. uhh.. I see. I'll.. I'll come back later." He hurried off, trying to imitate my speed in a walking stride.

"Billy, come in. Sarah, keep guarding the door." She stood right in front of it as I closed it, her folded arms visible through the shadowed glass.

"Billy!! That is you, right?", Paul exclaimed, his face slowly transforming from its semi-permanent mask of pain into something resembling a smile.

"Yeah, Paul, it's me.", said Billy, looking at his friend and shaking his head slowly, obviously struck by Paul's heavily bandaged body.

"Oh, Billy..", Paul said, holding his arms out to him. Billy reached down and they hugged, Paul crying a bit. "Billy.. tell me this isn't real.. tell me we're going home!", he said, in a voice that was almost begging, a plea to be rescued where no rescue was possible. Note to self: Manufacture of that emotion in anyone could be highly useful.

"Paul... this is real. But we are going home, as soon as you're healed up." Paul's eyes moved a bit as he realized where home now is.

"He really fucked me up, didn't he.."

"Nothing a couple gallons of Neosporin won't cure." Billy's instantaneous wit knows only one bound. Second note to self: I should probably have him do that in the presence of inflated-head egotists. A master doing that is acceptable. A servant doing that- interrupting a master's speaking, to boot- really flings guys off their high horses..

"Aww.. heh heh.." he chuckled, breaking off the hug. "Howard.. I suppose I have to thank you.. if you're not going to do any of.. that.."

"I'm not, Paul. And I never will."

"At least that's a fucking relief.. can I go back to sleep?"

"Yes, Paul, you're going to be doing a lot of that." The healing agents coursing through his body would definitely deplete his stamina, using his body's energy to repair its wounds. "And if you do wake up, don't fuck with the bandages even if they start to itch. Paul, you're going to be okay now." A very subjective usage of the term, but accurate. Man. How the hell could Damien fuck up his own servant like that? Scars up and down his body, gashes, damaged organs.. Damien must have been even more messed up in the head than Paul was in body- not technically insane (not by our standards, at any rate), but close. But now he's a corpse and people are going to blame me. Technically, it is my fault. Even more technically, it's not my fault. Stupidity and a minor mistake combined can produce deadly results. All I have to do is basically demonstrate that I made the minor mistake and Damien was bone-crunchingly stupid.

The grating voice that held its own residence in my head (but hasn't really talked much in more than a month- maybe because I've had actual people to talk to?) started to growl at me. 'Yanno, Howard, these servants of yours are taking up too much of your time and resources.'

'Fuck you.', I spat back at it, growling with mental triple echo. 'That's because they're mine. And Damien was a little bitch anyway. Besides, Paul's a real normal, and I need more company around. And also, he's the only thing I'm getting out of Damien. I'm not going to take a share of the resources from people I happen to kill.'

'Yeah.. but you are the fucking Dominator now, keep watching your back.'

Paul laid back to sleep, his immediate discomfort of bandaged, unsightly, rapidly-healing sores mitigated by both the enervating healing agents and his own personal relief. Actual relief. Billy, Sarah, and Paul all have the unanimous belief that they are in a bad situation- but going from 'worse' to 'bad' is still an improvement. And I'm used to leaving a trail of suffering in my wake, too. The idea of improving someone's condition by moving around a positively nightmarish form of control amused me.

Now to deal with that idiot... but as we quietly left the room, someone more important, the Night Operator, was standing in front of me, much too close. I moved as if to rush him (THAT would have been quick) and he instinctively took a step back. "What do you want?", I growled at him, and he stepped back even more.

"My.. cousin's son is dead, and I've spent hours working on your servant's dick. You.. you'll pay, Howard, you'll pay.. your servants and your 'Daddy' will pay too." I could have- probably should have- killed him right there in a flurry of blades, but I didn't. I let him stew, let him walk off. I could tell he'd never try to make good on those threats, especially the one about attacking the retired Dominator- in addition to warranting instant death from EVERYONE in the organization, it would serve him no purpose whatsoever. Besides, he doesn't have the balls. He knows every technical detail of what I can do to him. Sarah made a sound of mild disgust, and Billy just shook his head.

I had something left to say, though. "Operator." He turned around quickly, visibly pissed. "You will have my servant returned to my home when he is fully healed.", I told him. His anger almost led him to say or do something stupid and get himself eviscerated, but instead he simply turned around and continued on his way. He'll obey me.

"That guy needs a replacement.", Sarah observed, her arms folded.

"Really. C'mon, kill him.", Billy suggested. "Just one hit."

"Not yet. Naaaaut yet.", I said. "He's just pissed. I'll give him some time to get over it and get the hint." Sarah and Billy both gave me looks that told me I was making a mistake. Bah. I can always kill him later.

The idiot that I had dealt with earlier came up to us as we started walking out. "H-How-Howard.. there was something I wanted to talk to you about.", he said in a self-debasing voice. (He doesn't need to do it himself.) Patience Meter: 90%

"Spit it out."

"Well, I think it's kindofa touchy issue.." Patience Meter: 50%, and dropping quickly...

"Get. To. The. Point."

"Well, it's about you and your servants and I think there's something going on.." Patience Meter: 20%

"What the FUCK do you think is going on?!", I shouted at him, wondering if he had the ability to think.

"Well, it has to deal with Damien.." Patience Meter: 0%

"Oh! You want to talk to me about Damien!", I said, in an incredibly sarcastic and patronizing voice. "Clue time! Everyone wants to talk to me about Damien. To ask me why, or to get more details, or just to whine at me about general predictable crap. If you want the information, I've put it into the open records. You can get it from the Real News or from the database. But no, you can't have a moment of my time to ask me stuff that I've chosen not to tell everyone else. If you keep pissing me off, I'll kill you, and if your mind allows, have a nice day." I left him standing there with his mouth open. He should feel lucky. My Patience Meter ran out, after all. I was about to cleave him into gibs. I could almost hear Sarah grinning at him as we got in the tram to the jet.

On our way back I noticed Billy was happy, a bit giddy, even. Why shouldn't he be? For him and his friend, this was the best possible resolution to this. He'd managed to slay the asshole who hurt his friend and rescue him from torment, I'd given him exactly what he wanted without any hesitation, and he got to see his friend being healed as if Damien had simply never done anything. My happiness can subtly rub off on him; this is the first time his has rubbed off on me. Hey, it's not like I'm not getting anything out of this. Billy obviously saw something in the boy- I'll ask when he's not thinking about it. I wasn't going to make any resource recommendations at all for Damien's stuff, obviously; all I'd done was take the servant for myself.

The moment we got home, Billy looked around for something, his eyes going to various rooms. "Wait a minute. I don't see any rooms added.. did those guys you have even know he was coming?" I simply smirked at him. He's sometimes endearing when he's ignorant. He opened the door to his room and noticed the two computers etched into the wall as well as the Paul-fitted clothing on the hangers. Even if it means I'm perpetually spied on by my own agents (how else would they know?) I love having mundane details worried about for me. Billy was amazed at their speed and efficiency, as everything looked as if it's always been this way. I chuckled, watching him look around his room for signs of construction that no longer existed.

"Billy, I stopped doubting their abilities when I was seven. Can you imagine if all my problems were solved this way?", I asked him, and he nodded. Sarah can make annoying people go away, but I have to command her. Nobody can read my thoughts, and although that would be so useful for commanding servants, I wouldn't accept what they'd have to do to monitor them. "I could command them to do things one way or the other, but that would spoil the point. Sometimes they know more than I do." And now that I'm talking about something else, I hit him with the surprise question. "You two really care about each other, don't you?"

"Yeah.. yeah, we do. Howard, I know you have no respect for almost all normals. Paul falls outside the almost all." Note to self: Put Paul in for consideration to add to DNA database. "Wasn't that how the Illuminati got started, with some people realizing they were better than everyone else? Compared to the manipulators, engineereds, and ultra-rare supergeniuses he'd be compared to now, he'd never get in. Not even close. But if this was the year 1776, he'd be invited in a heartbeat." Thinking of Paul as one of the founding Illuminati made me smile. This is a perennial problem for us. There are always the ones who are almost invited, the ones who are dropped from consideration for one small reason or another, and the ones who are simply overlooked. I don't know how honest Billy's being with himself (how honest he is with himself is how honest he is with me) about Paul, but it's obvious the boy's a few cuts over the average normal. "You seem to care about him a lot, too. Why?", Billy asked.

"Because I trust your taste in friends. I know what you're thinking- that I'm favoring him over the various Illuminati who hate me, the Night Operator, the Gladstone family, those guys. Illuminati only get respect from me if they're on my side, Billy. You three have to be on my side. I will always favor people on my side over those who aren't, no matter what title they hold, because I can remove their title from them right along with their lives."

"You're not the first Dominator to say something like that.", Billy said, and I smiled. I wasn't, not even close.

"You're beginning to understand how Dominators keep loyalty.", I told him. It's a matter of who stands for what. I symbolize the Illuminati as a whole; thus, anyone who works and fights for me is working and fighting for the Illuminati as a whole.

The intercom buzzed. Damn. I got out of bed immediately, walking down to the viewscreen and turning it on, expecting an asshole Illuminatus to deal with, someone stupid enough to disturb my sleep. "A helicopter is giving off coded signals from Northberg Medical Facility.", an Enforcer said on it instead.

"Let it land.", I told it, smiling, and turned off the screen. "Paul's here.", I called over the intercom, and Billy reacted immediately, rushing downstairs to meet his friend. In a few minutes, Paul walked across the lawn in view of the big window, looking at us and thinking as he opened the door.

"Paul, who do you think I am?", I asked him. He didn't understand at first, but got it- Billy and I were naked.

"You're Howard.", he said.

"Good, you're able to tell us apart. There might be a time when you won't be. Obey him as you do me." Paul was startled, but he understood why. This might make things a little weird between Billy and Paul, but it's necessary. "I'm surprised you were back so soon. I'm going back to bed." As I closed the door to my room I heard Paul following Billy up the stairs, and I realized that I was going to have to get used to actually hearing his footsteps. For a moment I pondered using the intercom to listen in on Billy and Paul, but then Sarah would hear, too. Hmm.. nah. I just went to sleep instead, and dreamed of Paul, Sarah, Billy, and dogs.