BZZZZERT!

'How many morons today?', I wondered as the buzzer woke me up once more. 'Or maybe it's someone going to talk to Howard about the birthday party he'll have tomorrow.'. I put on my clothes and walked downstairs; it was an Enforcer instead, and Howard was at the screen already.

"A normal is approaching the island from the southeast, sending out uncoded messages on normal-band radio requesting permission to land." Two words: Permission denied. "Approaching normal has been identified as The Anarch." ...What the hell?! How would he know where Howard is? Howie's gonna blow this guy to-

"Do not terminate him.", Howard commanded the Enforcer instead, to my and Sarah's complete surprise. "Let him land." And Howard commanded us to get ready and follow him out the door and around to the southeast side of the island to meet the Anarch, with words, firearms, or probably both.

Maybe Howard just wants to find out what's wrong with the guy, probably just before the Anarch gets Dominated. There has to be something wrong with this normal for him to do this. Since he was able to gain access to information on Howard's location, he surely could have gotten access to information on Howard's servants, Howard's defenses, and Howard's physical abilities. Maybe he's doing a last-ditch suicide attack. Maybe he's got a balloon for an ego and thinks he can just take Howie out like he did the others. Maybe he's not thinking at all, and has simply decided that he must try to kill Howard, no matter the risk to his person. That would be about right; this guy seems to be amazingly willing to die, almost Enforcer-like in his devotion to his cause. Admirable in one sense, mind-bogglingly stupid in another. The last hope for humanity's freedom (Ha! But at least he thinks he is.) should not go and get his head blown off by the ass-kicking boy with the big gun..

Of course, had Howard simply wanted to kill him himself, he would have already been dead. One solid, narrow-beam shot from the Micro and it's byebye, Mr. Anarch. There would not be any blood until his head left the beam.. it would just fry a hole straight through his entire cerebrum and cerebellum, and he'd just fall down dead before he could even grasp the fact that he was being attacked. Or, I could bring out the atomic shotgun and turn him to nothing but gibs. Or the local Enforcers could open up on him with an undodgable stream of death. Or any other death or combination of deaths. He's really walked into the lion's den this time..

I saw his facial expression, without details since Howard was currently using the power binoculars he had brought. This Anarch was stalwart. Tough. Had this been a movie, someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone could have been used- only they'd need to grow mustaches. It added to his freakishness and his fearsomeness. The guy, after all, is a one-man army.

But he's not fighting an army, he's fighting people who can kill him at the drop of a hat, and that's what gets me the most.

"I guess sheeple are dumb till the end.", muttered Sarah. "Or maybe he thinks he can do something." Like.. what? Boat full of explosives? C4 concealed all over his body? Is this a real suicide mission or does he really think he's Rambo? Pride goeth before the meatgrinder...

"I don't get how he can be this stupid, especially now. He's been uncaught by the world controllers- and now he just decides to come over here?! That boat might be loaded with explosives, maybe even a nuke, Howie. Maybe he just plans to take himself out and us too.", I said, puzzled by almost everything about this. Why? What the hell's going on here?

"Well.. that's a risk I'm going to take. I have to ask him why, and I have to ask him how he knows...", Howard said determinedly, matching my curiosity. Is it sane? Probably not. This goes against caution- the cautious thing to do would be to keep Howard out of sight until the Anarch was completely devoid of weapons and such. Even if we hit him with the Micro, he might have booby-traps laced to his body.. if his toes stop curling, for instance, a lot of bullets could shoot from concealed, miniature guns on his chest. Hard to do.. but not impossible.. and in the three installations that he attacked, he could have found something that would do the job. But, we all know, if we don't let him see us, then he would probably get in a fight with the local Enforcers and we'd have to kill him.

We walked down to the beach, the sound of splashing waves mixing with the noise of the approaching speedboat. "Stop the boat or you die!", Howard called out, and the speedboat's motor quickly ceased. "Now swim to shore." He immediately obeyed, simply stepping out of the boat and swimming at a rapid pace to the shore.

"Master Howard!", he shouted, in a way that made me think of long-lost parents. "Master Howard.. I thought you were.."

...WHAT the FUCK?! Okay, this is not making sense. This guy's supposed to be the bane of the Illuminati, what the hell is this shit?!

Howard was equally surprised. "Okay, first off, how the fuck did you know who I am?!", he exploded, holding the Micro with one hand, trained on the Anarch's head. If this is a trick, Howard's got the reflexes to make it not work..

"I don't know how I know... I just had to find you, Master Howard. I know who you are... I thought you were dead as you were not where I was placed.." PLACED?! That means that this guy's an Enforcer- but he's sentient! But I should know by now to expect the weirdness..

"Who the hell are you?", Howard asked him evenly.

"I am a prototype sentient Enforcer, placement date May 25, 1997. My master is Inheritor Howard." So he is... he doesn't seem to be faking it, either.

"Dominator, now.", Howard replied. "But you are an Enforcer. No one outside would know that.." Unless he got some really sensitive information, which is almost impossible. Either belief- that he's really a sentient Enforcer or he's faking it- is near the edge of the realm of possibility.

"Why did you attack governmental and Illuminated institutions?" Good question, Howie. That's what I'd like to know.

"Because they were attempting to perform the forbidden act of governing me. Only you can do that." I almost laughed out loud. Sarah just shook her head. Of all the insanities in the world.. but he's an Enforcer, he can't piece things out properly like a human can, he wouldn't know.. and he'd see the structure of government from the outside, and attack it, rallying a few normals to suit his purposes.

"How old are you?", Howard asked, no longer quite so wary.

"Three years, six months."

"They managed to do the training in less than eight months on a sentient?!" Exactly what I was thinking. Enforcer education is simply mind-pounding information. Since they do not feel or think, they can absorb it all without any problems. But this guy's a sentient.. but how sentient is he (or is that it? Which pronoun is used for sentient Enforcers?), really?

"That is true, Master Howard."

"All right.. if you really are an Enforcer... pick up the first pebble you see.", Howard commanded him. He reached down and picked up one the size of his pinky finger.

"Now eat it." Gulp. The Enforcer popped it down like a pill, and Paul gasped in surprise.

"Now puke it back up." The Enforcer simply bent over and vomited, the pebble coming along with the contents of his stomach. There's no way a normal could do it like that. He didn't even flinch or exert effort- Enforcers can do things like that with their bodies.

"That settles it..", I said.

"So how did this happen?", I asked. "Where were you placed?"

"Your recording told me that when I woke up, I would be at you, and you would be the only person I would obey from then on. I was then drugged with sleep gas and sent to you." Obviously a fake-voice recording, then, certainly the same thing they use for the rest of the Enforcers on the island. "I woke up in the back of a crashed delivery truck at the bottom of a cliff. I was.. confused. Both people in the front of the truck were dead. I was unhurt due to the restraints. I sought you out but the communication equipment was broken. I heard people coming and secrecy demanded that I leave." And then he'd obtain normal clothing and begin his one-man war in the same sort of secrecy we use. Absolutely amazing.

"Our operatives or normals?", I asked, thinking that he could have run away if he wasn't sure.

"Almost certainly normals." So much for that. Someone didn't monitor a shipment properly. And Howard's expression told it to me plainly: heads are going to fucking roll...

"We just have to assume that was cleaned up..", Sarah said, shaking her head. Well, no one found out about us and lived to tell everyone about it, anyway. Three years is a long time- secrecy threats would have been noticed by now.

"Speaking of normals.. who knew about you?"

"No one, Howard. They all assumed I was superhuman in some ways. Some believed I was a government project. No one had knowledge." Like a politician, he'd tell them anything to misdirect them.

"Good. All right. Come on in. We've got business to discuss with someone." Howard turned around and didn't worry about being attacked from behind. I followed him.

"There is a thing I must bring to your attention, Howard.", the Anarch brought up, and I knew that this was going to be very, very interesting if nothing else.

"What?", Howard answered.

"You are implanted."

I was about to laugh- that's one of the most surprising jokes I've heard.

What the fuck am I thinking, Enforcers don't tell jokes... but Howard can't possibly be...

"WHAT?!", Howard turned around and shouted, bringing his fist-blades an inch or two from the Anarch's face. My voice stuck in my throat, and Sarah muttered "No way... no way." "YOU'RE LYING!!", my twin shouted, and I recognized the voice quite well.

"I cannot lie to you. I suppose you must do something in response. What is your course of action?"

"Better question. How did you find that out?", Howard asked. That would be logical- he gets misinformation specifically meant to delude him. Why would they do that? Well, shit, this is the Illuminati- there could be any number of reasons..

"I read it from fifth level Brutus Mando's computer, shortly before circumstances forced me to leave. That is also how I found out your location."

"What else did you find out about Brutus Mando?"

"I found out what he does to be an Illuminatus. I found out where he was from. I found out the full extent of his place in this organization."

"Did you find anything about the group responsible for this?", Howard said, pointing at his forehead.

"No." That's odd. But I suppose one piece of information- assuming it's true- is better than nothing. Then again, if that piece of information happens to be true, we're all fucked... but finding a way is easy.

"Oh, we can find the truth of this real fast.", I said. "They're not magnetic but we can get something.." A revelation of the obvious hit me. "wait, don't.."

"'Wait, don't' is right, Billy.", Sarah said. "You know that if they are capable of that, they are capable of finding out about call-downs. Howard, do you have anything?" Howard, for what is probably the first time in his life, was too confused and terrified to speak clearly.

"I don't.. I don't know.", he said. "Check.. check the closet.. lots of shit in there. Check the basement too, if you don't find something.. By the way.. for the next 72 hours, all of you are forbidden to say anything about turnabout being fair play."

"Didn't cross my mind.", I replied. I was too worried about his masters (that doesn't even feel right to think..) showing up.

Howard started losing it as we reached the mansion. Not his usual temperamental fury- just the reverse. Fear beyond fear. A rogue thought hit me- 'now you know what it feels like, shithead'- but I realized that I'd have long after 72 hours to joke about this. Assuming that we're alive to joke about it, and assuming that we're in a position to crack jokes... Howard started doing research on something- probably Brutus Mando- as we searched his closet full of high tech goodies. I was able to identify most of it, but I still haven't learned- even after two years- what most of this shit is. Sarah was able to identify it, however.

I heard what sounded like a wounded tiger and I knew that was Howard's version of sobs. He's going to take whoever did this apart if he possibly can. That much, I am sure of. "FUCKING DAMN SHITTY HELL!!", he screamed, and I knew exactly where I had heard that before.

"Your command has prohibited me from making an observation plus wisecrack, Howard.", I said casually. The Anarch shook his head and started going downstairs.

"I believe this will do the job.", Sarah said, picking up a device that looked more like a weapon than anything else. The Anarch stopped and returned to look at it.

"What's that?", Howard asked.

"Sonar mapper. Goes from a few hundred meters to a few millimeters. This thing'll do it. First, let's try it on him.", she said, motioning to me. She lifted it up- it was rather bulky- and focused in on my skull. "This might be annoying.", she said, and it was- as she moved it from one side of my head to the other, I heard an extremely high pitched sound and grimaced.

"Definite. No question. The metal shows right up."

"Now.. try it on me." Moment of truth time. I can't wait to hear his expression of relief once he realizes this is all bullshit. But, as he stopped grimacing from the sound and Sarah looked at him in a way that I will never forget, I realized that it was not all bullshit after all.

"Howard.. you realize that no one's ever survived removal."

"I.. don't.. care.", Howard said, shaking angrily. "Take them out of m-"

"Waiiit, Howard.", I immediately interrupted him. "Dumb decision, remember? I gotta warn ya.." Of all the commands he's given me, that has to be the most sensible.

"Although you know why we can't stage organized testing procedures, we can at least find something.", Sarah said with a bit of a sigh. She appeared to be slightly scared- but her training is kicking in and she avoids feeling fear. "Murphy's everfucking law."

"No.. Sarah. Murphy's law is.. 'what can go wrong, will go wrong'. This is 'What shouldn't ever possibly go wrong is going wrong along with a whole lot of other things that must be going very, very wrong.'" Wow! I remember sounding just like that!

"I suppose, then, you should prepare to die.. because I know you're not going to sit on your hands now. It's all or nothing with you. Always has been." There was something final about the way she said "has been", and Howard noticed it and sneered.

"All right.. now to see just how the implants kill..", Howard said, reaching for the keyboard. "They're not going to monitor this.. at least not right now, because anyone could be looking that up.." I was about to say 'But the server is secure!', before I realized the fact that if he's not secure, nothing is.

"Don't bother, Howard.", I told him.

"Why not?"

"I already memorized it." And have had nightmares of dying from it.

"So, then.."

"Overload of the nervous system. All of it. Massive electrical flux, with the activity centered in the implants' area. Your brain goes into convulsions. Either the brain kills itself directly, or it tells your heart and lungs to move very, very quickly, burning them out. That might be mitigated by your engineered status.. but the Enforcers.."

"Didn't survive even with their improved bodies. I know."

"So then.. what's the solution?"

"A power drain.", Paul suggested. "Take some of the electricity out of your head. Use drugs or something to slow the convulsions down, or maybe if you let the electricity out of your head somehow.."

"Wouldn't work.", the Anarch told him. "He may survive with that plan. However, the parts of his brain that were attached to that may, depending on his brain's chemicals, and depending on how fast and how much, be destroyed. He'd regenerate it, but.." We all knew the 'but'- the fact that Howard would have to re-learn far too much. "And I would not use chemical inhibitors on him." Drugs and bioengineered metabolisms simply do not mix. Our version of an allergic reaction to any kind of depressant drug is redoubled rage- you'd have to kill us with the stuff for it to work. I've had a sip of cold medicine containing sleep aid before- it made me wide awake instead, and my agent parents threw it away shortly afterwards. I can't believe that this is the first time I realized what had happened then..

"A little at a time, then.", Paul suggested. "I've seen the videos of guys dying. It takes them a few seconds.." Not possible. It would take a medical facility to remove them 'a little at a time'. Paul's expression showed that he realized that, and he shut up.

"You guys realize that we're not going to get this done anyway, if Murphy's Law holds out.", Sarah said.

"Why not, Sarah?", Howard asked immediately in a commanding voice.

"Because they've already had this discussion. They're capable of putting two and two together, guys. You did not keep the fact that you let the Anarch on your island a secret, Howard. They probably already know that by now, although I doubt they've been listening to our conversation- if they did, we wouldn't be here talking about it. But they've already gone over this. They know what you'll have to order. They know that the Anarch attacked one of their men and gleaned important information. They're probably considering right now whether to strike or not."

"Fuck.....", Howard said, the word becoming a sigh. "So.."

"I have an idea.", the Anarch said. Good thing about sentient Enforcers, that.

"Spill it.", I told him.

"They probably have a catalog of devices needed for such an endeavor as your master plans to do. If they are monitoring- which we must assume- then their catalog probably only has such devices as were created when your master was implanted, which would probably be at birth. If they have not updated.."

"Forget it.", Sarah said. "One, they probably do update any automatic system, and two, I ASSURE YOU that they're monitoring your communications LIVE right now. They wouldn't even have to crack your system- just the places where things are ordered from. Because I'd be using the encryption keys for those places, which these people would know."

"Okay.. so we can't order anything.. guess we'll just have to do it bare, then..", Howard said, ready to die.

"No, we won't.", Paul said. I'm impressed- he's the one giving ideas for once.

"Eh?", Howard asked.

"You see, Howard, you're forgetting your own manipulation teachings. You forget how cowardly people are. The people on you are probably very afraid to do whatever they have in store. After all, if you've got your ears plugged and your eyes closed in the basement," I totally forgot about that whole idea a long time ago. "they still have to fight Billy and Sarah. If you give them a reason to question your motives.."

I got it quickly. "You're going to say you're unimplanting the Anarch, aren't you?"

"Bingo! We have a winner.", Paul said, grinning.

Sarah just sighed. "I can't even think of the comparative risks. There's no way to compare the unknown with the unknown. So if we're going to use something, what?"

"Yes, I admit it, I did my homework here, too.", I said. "We don't know how the fluctuations will work with you, but if we have some device balancing them out over a period of time... let's see.. damn, I don't remember it all." I decided to look things up- we could fit that in with our 'unimplanting the Anarch' lie.

"Any device balancing out the impulses from the brain would have to react to the previously unknown data.", the Anarch said, his neutral tone unwavering in the slightest. "Furthermore, as it says here, the impulses are random inside the afflicted's head, centering on the implants but occurring at all points. Attaching anything to the front of his brain would do little, and we would separate very many neurons if we inserted any probing devices." This thing wouldn't do that, however- it would sit on the surface, as little as that would accomplish. "It is also unable to predict the fluctuations very well. And this is.. the only such device." Howard rolled his eyes and shook his head. And that's really the only one in existence, built as a prototype because there was no demand for more.. but it can have multiple connections..

"It's this or nothing.. by the way, aren't these transmitting?", Howard asked, gesturing to his forehead and the hated implants.

"No.", Sarah said. "Almost certainly not.", the Anarch said at the same time. "They would destroy their secrecy.", he continued.

"So how many connections are you going to order?", I asked him.

"How many do you expect me to order?", he asked me calmly. "Four? Five?"

He knew the answer to that.