around him, still holding her ax, and crushed him to her impressive bosom with enough strength to drive the air from Owen's lungs. He'd just started to get his balance back when she suddenly pushed him away, sheathed her ax on her belt, hauled off, and slapped him a good one right across the face. The sound of the impact was deafening. Owen reeled backward from the force of the blow, and might have fallen if Midnight hadn't grabbed him in a hug again, tears starting in her eyes.
'Well,' said Hazel, 'you always did know how to make a strong impression on people, Deathstalker.' She looked at the pierced white apparition. 'Do you have any idea what's going on here?'
'None at all,' said her alternate in a chilling contralto. 'I'm Bonnie Bedlam, by the way. Are you sure you're me?'
'Apparently. I'm Hazel d'Ark. Look around and see if you can spot a crowbar we can use to pry these two apart.'
Midnight Blue held Owen out at arm's length and smiled at him tremulously. 'Owen, you bastard! How could you leave me? Oh, it's so good to see you again!'
'May I please point out,' said Owen in a slightly breathless voice, 'that I am not the Owen you knew.'
'Of course not. He's dead. But you'll do.'
Midnight didn't say for what, and Hazel didn't think she was going to ask. She looked at Bonnie Bedlam. 'Do you know Owen as well?'
'I should hope so,' said Bonnie in her cold voice. 'We're married where I come from.'
Hazel decided she wasn't ready to ask about that, and looked back at Midnight Blue, who had put Owen down and was pulling his clothing back into place with little tugs and pats, while Owen just stood there and took it, afraid to do anything that might set her off again. She finally finished and smiled at Owen almost shyly.
'Sorry about that. It was just… the shock of seeing you alive again.'
'Well, if you want him to stay that way, I should lay off the hugs,' said Hazel dryly.
'I think we could all use a little recent background history here,' said Owen tactfully. 'Obviously your lives have taken very different paths from the Hazel I know. Why don't you start, Midnight?'
'The rebellion's been over for some time,' said Midnight Blue. 'It's a mess everywhere. Billions dead, whole planets destroyed or thrown back into barbarism. You were killed, Owen, when Lionstone destroyed Golgotha with her hidden planet-buster bomb. Jack and Ruby died with you. I was the only Maze survivor left to try to start things running again. I should have been there with you, to confront Lionstone in her Court, but I walked out on you all when Jack made his deal with the Families. I couldn't stand for that. Ruby almost left with me, but in the end she chose to stand with her Jack. And die with him, as it turned out.
'After the rebellion I tried to hold things together, but too much had been destroyed. And I never was any good at politics. So eventually I said to hell with them all and took off on my own. I'm back as a pirate again, running my own ship, the
'That's very… sweet,' Owen said carefully. 'But I'm not necessarily the Owen you knew. After all, you're very different from my Hazel…'
'Yes,' said Midnight, looking at Hazel just a little disparagingly. 'You really do need to work out more, dear.'
'How about you?' said Owen, turning quickly to Bonnie Bedlam. 'Did I hear you right? We're…'
'Married, yes.' The tall, slender woman smiled at him, showing pointed front teeth. 'We've been together almost two years now. You look a lot like my Owen. Before the piercings. And the tattoos. Golgotha survived in our rebellion, but unfortunately, so did the politicians. We tried hard to make a difference, but in the end we just got tired of banging our heads against all the lies and the corruption, and we took off on our own. We run Mistworld now. Doing a pretty good job, if I say so myself. It's a smaller stage, and we can make more of a difference there. The Empire's going to hell in a handcart, but then, it always was. We were stupid to think we could ever change the system.
'Jack was killed in a bomb blast outside Parliament. Ruby killed a whole bunch of people she blamed for his death. She's on the run, with a price on her head. Last I heard, she was happy enough, running Blood on Madraguda. How about you?'
Owen told their story, with Hazel interrupting. When Owen was finally finished, Bonnie shrugged a few times, her piercings clattering attractively, and then fixed Owen with her gaze.
'So much for the potted histories. Let's get down to business. What are we doing here? Why did Hazel choose us?'
'I just put out a call,' said Hazel. 'And you were the two that answered.'
'I came because I wanted to see Owen again,' said Midnight.
'And I… was looking for a little action,' said Bonnie, smiling her disturbing smile. 'Mistworld's got too damned civilized of late.'
'Wonderful,' said Owen. 'So… what abilities did the Maze give you?'
'I'm a teleporter,' said Midnight. 'If I've been somewhere, I can go there again in a moment. Otherwise, I'm limited to line of sight.'
'Very useful,' said Hazel. 'What about you, Bonnie?'
'I regenerate,' said Bonnie. 'Any injury, big or small, in a matter of seconds. Nothing can stop me. I just keep coming.' She lifted her left index finger to her mouth, and calmly bit off the end, down to the first knuckle. The other three made sharp involuntary noises of distress. Bonnie just smiled, chewing unhurriedly. After a moment she swallowed and spat out the bone. Owen felt his last meal starting to come back up. Midnight and Hazel were both hanging onto his arms painfully tight. Bonnie held up the finger she'd bitten. It had already stopped bleeding. As the others watched, a new fingertip pushed its way out of the stump, complete with a new fingernail. In a moment the finger was good as new, with nothing to show it had ever been damaged. 'Ah, what a rush,' said Bonnie Bedlam. 'I love it.' She looked at Owen. 'And where I come from, so do you. Darling.'
'I have seen some truly disgusting things in my time,' said Hazel. 'And that was very definitely one of them. I don't know whether to puke or applaud.'
'I think she'd probably take puking as a form of applause,' said Midnight.
'We haven't time for either,' said Owen, in what he hoped was a firm, calm voice. 'Very impressive, Bonnie. Please don't do it again. Now, why don't we all move on to the matter at hand, namely opening this bloody seal so we can get into the city proper and start looking for the Hadenmen's captives?'
'You've got Hadenmen here?' said Midnight Blue, looking sharply at Owen. 'Where I come from, they vanished right after you freed them from their Tomb. Ungrateful bastards.'
'What the hell's a Hadenman?' said Bonnie Bedlam. 'I've never heard of them.'
'Cyborgs,' said Hazel shortly. 'Powerful, treacherous, and very nasty. And there's a whole city full of them right above us. They've got human hostages. Lots of them. If they're still alive…'
'That's what we're here to find out,' said Owen. 'And, hopefully, to work out a practical plan for rescuing them.'
'Assuming we don't get horribly killed in the process,' said Hazel.
'Sounds like fun,' said Bonnie. 'Is it okay if I kill a few of these Hadenmen?'
'Kill lots,' said Hazel. 'Feel free.'
'After we've got the information we need,' said Owen firmly. 'Spying first, killing later.'
'Don't worry, Owen,' said Midnight. 'A warrior always understands the need for subtlety. Am I not a thing of mists and shadows?'
'Don't you start that,' said Owen. 'I get enough of that stuff from my AI. If we do encounter any Hadenmen, I want all of us to make an effort not to start anything. There's always the chance this has all been a hideous misunderstanding. And even if it hasn't, maybe I can talk them into doing the right thing. They do claim to respect me as their Redeemer. And they did fight on our side during the rebellion.'
'Does your Owen make long, boring speeches as well?' asked Hazel, and both alternates nodded solemnly.
'The Hadenmen made our rebel victory possible,' said Owen loudly, ignoring Hazel. 'How did you two manage without them?'
Midnight shrugged. 'Slow and hard and bloody. Lots of people died. Lionstone always said if she went down, she'd take the Empire with her, and she came bloody close to succeeding.'
