Sarah easily tossed off the manhole cover, and we climbed out.. into the basement of some normal building. A large metal object in the corner grunted and groaned noisily as if it was having a bowel movement. Shelves full of junk were everywhere, and the room was completely dark except for Sarah's light globe. What a place for the controller of the world to be.

"Are we going to rest here?", the Anarch (we have nothing else to call him) asked, as I helped Fido out of the hole.

"Definitely.", Sarah replied. Go out or stay here, there's a chance of dying either way.

"I have a nightmare to complete, from which I may not wake up.", the Anarch said, no concern in his voice. "My survival is not critical to your survival. If required, I advise that you leave me here.", he said, lying down on the cold brick floor.

"Yes, but you're still damn useful anyway.", I replied. Although I don't care about him- he's an Enforcer, after all- he represents an additional element of fighting force I don't want to lose. He put on the Walkman and turned up the music. His brain is obviously quite weird if he thinks that'll do anything for him.

"We shouldn't leave at all.", Sarah said. "Right now the people trying to kill you have the initiative, the element of surprise. If my secrecy squads" Her secrecy squads? Maybe.. "can get here and overpower the ones trying to kill us, we can get out. The problem will be determining who's who, and who's still loyal. We should definitely stay here a while, though, unless someone starts blowing shit up. If they had a big missile or a nuke they would have definitely used it by now." Or the orbital lasers. They'd paste this building off the map if they had access to that power and knew we were here.

"I'm inclined to agree with that.", I replied. "But.. your secrecy squads?"

"Aren't they, Howard?", she asked, smiling at me. "I don't know who's in charge of them now, but I severely doubt he's as qualified as I am. He's probably loyal- otherwise this is going to get ugly in a hurry- but you know I'm meant for it. And with this shit going on, if he's not already, this is a job for a first level." Yes.. yes, it is. But for me to just replace.. I should do it. This is, after all, Sarah.

"Is that all you want, Sarah?", I asked.

"It's what I was promised.", she replied. And, after two years, she's going to get it. Nobody in the Illuminati would dare oppose her on this, especially not the ones that promised it to her in the first place. She is, after all, the world's greatest assassin.

"We'll do the formalities when we can. And I think you'll look wonderful in white." We both smiled at each other.

"Howard, you said I'd get anything I want if I was unimplanted, right?", Billy asked, and I knew immediately how this conversation was going to go.

"Name it.", I replied. That was the only answer.

"I want you to take that metaphorical Dominator Throne of yours.. and I want you to make it wider.. and I want you to move over.", he said with a growing smile. He'll still be at my side, only as a fellow master, not a servant. It's where he should have been in the first place, really.

"Dominator William.", I said, and the words were like a lightning rod. Fido barked as if he understood what they really meant. No longer just Billy, but Dominator William. For the first time the position will be held by two people, not just one. The Levels would accept it, of course. They'd have to, especially since we're at war with an entity we know nothing about right now- they need all the Domination force they can get. I didn't feel like my power was being halved. I felt like it was being increased, in the same way it was when I realized how incredibly effectively we fight together.

"Wow. That does sound weird.", he said.

"Oh, you'll get used to the title."

"No, I don't mean that. I mean being called 'William'." I chuckled. Nobody's called him anything but 'Billy' for at least two years. "I've been called Dominator pretending to be you. And.. Howard.. I forgive you for everything." Everything he could be mad at me for, gone just like that. "Using me like a toy or a pet whenever you wanted, making me your shadow following you around.. all of it. Because you're my brother, Howard. You're my twin. And in the end.. you decided to let us go."

"And if I hadn't.. we'd be dead. Billy.. if you never said that I was your friend.. if I thought I couldn't unimplant you because you wanted to kill me or I couldn't trust you.. I would have died to it. That thing, that implant monster, would have eaten me alive. The only reason we're still here is because I could unimplant you.. and because there are two of us."

"And there were never supposed to be two of us.", we said simultaneously. That cell was absolutely not supposed to divide. There was only supposed to be one Dominator, after all, one guy for whoever did it to implant. If the Operator hadn't made the decision he had, killing the other cell instead, Billy wouldn't be here. I didn't even want to think about that. I'd still be implanted or, assuming the Anarch had done the same things, dead. They probably had a plan to replace me as well.. meaning that Billy and I, and everyone loyal to us, are the only ones standing between control of the world and a group of people devious and powerful enough to influence the creation of the Dominator, people who want desperately to kill us before we kill them, because the impossible has happened.

Good. You idiots want some of me? Here you go, and it's a double helping.

"Tomorrow's our birthday...", Billy and I said simultaneously again, and smiled at it. We'll have to get used to that.

"I wish we could bring the engineered kids here for it.", Billy said. "I think this would be a great place for a party. Nobody getting in our ear or asking for anything, because we'd all be too busy killing traitor assholes." Oh, what a party that would be!

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?", I replied with a smile. "Some of those kids aren't good enough at fighting, though."

Which reminded him. "Paul..", he started.

"I'll do anything for you.", Paul said, his voice one of stalwart conviction.

"I'm not going to let you get killed.", Billy said, equally stalwart. "And when we get back, in the interests of showing fairness, I'm going to have to give you the test like everyone else. Of course, since you were there when we redesigned it, I don't think that'll be a problem." The expression on Paul's face was one of absolute joy and triumph. He completely deserves it, though.

We heard a gibbering from the Anarch and moved towards him- the implants were winning. We dodged the spittle flying out of his mouth, as his head loudly cracked against the brick surface again and again as his body jerked in the throes of seizure. He choked out unintelligible nonsense in Enforcer-latin as he twisted wildly about, his skin the color of a beet. And his jerking stopped, he sat up, each of his eyes fixated on our faces, and he said in a calm, deliberate voice, "We're coming for you. Each and every last one of you. And we're going to kill. You. All." Then he slumped backwards and his last breath came out as a sigh. Damn. Oh well. Just another dead Enforcer, really.

"That could have been us..", Paul said, shocked.

Sarah nodded and thought. "Yes. It could have. All right, guys. Here's what I think will end up happening..", she started, but it didn't really matter how she finished. This was the end of my rule as sole Dominator of Earth. We would fight against insane odds and overwhelming force, keeping secrecy and fighting betrayals, but it wouldn't matter.

Because we were together.

And when we're together, nothing can stand in our way.

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