'That is one dangerous woman,' said Owen, staring at Midnight's armored back.
'You should try talking to Bonnie for a while,' said Hazel. 'She scares the crap out of me.'
'I can't believe the sheer amount of metal she's got stuck through her skin,' said Owen. 'I mean, some of those had to really hurt. There are probably augmented men with less steel in their bodies. And she says her Owen did it too!'
'She also says she's married to you.'
Owen shivered. 'I'd be better off with a Grendel. And I don't know what you're smiling at. She is just another version of you, after all.'
Hazel shrugged. 'No doubt there's also some other me happily married with six kids, and never wields anything more dangerous than a butter knife. Now, that's scary. But it doesn't bother me. I know who I am.'
'But they're both pretty… extreme,' said Owen. 'Can we trust them? Can we rely on them?'
'You got me,' said Hazel. 'But if push comes to shove here, we're going to need them. Besides, they know we know this universe better than they do. I think they'll take their lead from us. If we do have to go head to head with the Hadenmen, I'd back both of them against pretty high odds.' She grinned slyly at Owen. 'I think that Midnight fancies you.'
'No,' said Owen. 'The man she loved was nothing like me. Nothing.'
There was a new coldness in his voice that persuaded Hazel not to continue that line of conversation, and they walked on for a while in silence. The streets remained empty, with no sign anywhere of man or Hadenman. Their footsteps echoed flatly back from the surrounding buildings, eerily loud in the quiet. Hazel got bored walking with Owen, who was too busy brooding to do more than grunt in response to her conversational sallies, and in the end she moved up to walk with her two alternates. The three of them were soon chatting busily away, ignoring Owen completely as they disagreed over practically everything. Owen wasn't surprised. That was Hazel for you. He knew he should warn the three women to keep their voices down, but he also knew they'd just tell him to go to hell, so he saved his breath. They'd been walking for some time now, and his feet were beginning to take notice and protest.
He carefully avoided getting drawn into the arguments himself. He was quite happy being ignored. He didn't like the possessive way the two alternates looked at him, or the way Hazel grinned when she noticed it. In their different ways, both Bonnie and Midnight fascinated him, much in the same way traffic accidents fascinate onlookers. And just as he was thinking that, Bonnie casually drew a spray hypo from her belt, stuck it against the side of her neck, and injected herself with the contents, all without slowing her pace in the slightest. She gave a low moan of pleasure, and her back straightened with an audible snap. Owen hurried up to walk alongside her. She was grinning that disturbing smile again, all narrow black lips and pointed teeth.
'What was that?' Owen said sharply.
'Just a little something to take the edge off, and put the bounce back in my step. Care for a taste?'
'No,' said Owen. 'Look, we are in a very dangerous situation—'
'Oh, loosen up, stud. I'm so sharp you could use me to cut corners. If I was any more alert, I'd be seeing tomorrow.'
'Drugs are the bane of the warrior,' said Midnight stiffly. 'True strength comes from the spirit.'
'Whatever gets you through the dark, darling.'
'Was that… Blood?' said Hazel.
'Hell, no. I've moved way beyond that. Owen showed me the way. My Owen. He was never afraid to try anything new. Anything that might give him an edge. Between us we've tried practically every battle drug going, and every chemical that might help us expand our Maze-boosted minds. There's nothing like expanding your personal universe and clearing out the cluttered parts of your brain. I've illuminated parts of my mind that most people don't even know they've got. If you listen carefully, some days you can hear my synapses frying. It was the Maze that started it. The biggest rush of all. Never found anything to equal it. But I keep looking. Drugs, battle, a little private sex and suffering; it's all a rush.'
'You sound just like Valentine Wolfe,' said Hazel.
'The Emperor?' said Bonnie. 'My hero.'
Hazel looked sharply at Owen, but he didn't respond.
The streets of Brahmin City slowly began to change, as Hadenman additions finally began to appear. Human buildings had been removed from the city streets like rotten teeth yanked from the socket, and replaced by sharp new edifices of steel and tech. None of them felt like talking anymore, and they all carried their weapons in their hands. There was still no one to be seen, and the only sounds in the ominous quiet were their own footsteps.
The city became increasingly disturbing. The new elements had not been designed with human logic or comforts in mind. There were strange angles and unnerving shapes. Gleaming and brilliant, they glowed silver from within, setting up echoes in the mind, pushing thoughts in directions the human mind wasn't meant to go. There were still no Hadenmen anywhere. It was like walking through a city of alien dead, or alien dreaming. The light from the shining artifacts was subtly cold on their skin, like the caresses of passing ghosts.
Owen kept glaring about him. He had no doubt they were being watched. He could feel the pressure of coldly observing eyes. His head hurt. His fingers tingled uncomfortably. Somewhere far away he could hear a low, continuous thudding, like a single working machine, or perhaps the great artificial heart of this inhuman city. The air seemed to be gusting steadily back and forth, as though the streets were breathing. Owen began to wonder if perhaps they were walking through a single living organism, a city awoken into an artificial life and sentience. The Hadenmen were quite capable of such a thing. But then, where were all the people who used to live here when it was just a city?
Bonnie Bedlam turned suddenly and fired her disrupter, the energy beam blowing apart a glazed silver node halfway up a building on their left. Gleaming fragments fell like metal snowflakes, and the sound of the explosion seemed to echo on forever. Owen and the others looked quickly about them, weapons at the ready, but nothing was moving anywhere. Owen glared at Bonnie.
'What the hell was
'I didn't like the way that building was looking at me,' said Bonnie calmly.
Owen struggled to hold on to his temper. 'Well, if the Hadenmen didn't know we were here before, they sure as hell do now!'
'You're welcome,' said Bonnie.
'Uh, Owen,' said Hazel quietly. 'I think we can definitely assume they know exactly where we are.'
Owen looked around to discover a small army of Hadenmen had appeared out of nowhere, in utter silence, and now surrounded them on all sides. Owen decided he was going to stand very still and hoped the others had the sense to do the same. There had to be a least a hundred of the augmented men, tall and perfect and standing utterly still with poised, inhuman grace. None of them were carrying obvious weapons. They didn't need any. They were weapons. Their faces were completely expressionless, though their eyes burned with a golden glare, as though small nuclear fires burned in each eyeball. Owen looked at Hazel, and they both pointed their guns at the ground, just so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding. Bonnie was looking a bit restless, so Midnight gripped her right arm firmly with one hand, just in case. For a long moment the humans and the Hadenmen just stood and looked at each other, the Hadenmen augmented by human tech, the others enlarged by the alien tech of the Madness Maze. None of them strictly human anymore.
Owen thought furiously. This was exactly the kind of confrontation he'd hoped to avoid by sneaking into the city by the sewers. But Owen still had hopes of negotiating some kind of deal. Even after all he'd seen of the Hadenmen's past atrocities, he still believed in talking rather than fighting whenever possible. He had to. It was either that, or give in to the way of the warrior, to blood and fury and the beast. And Owen had seen enough death and destruction in his life. He looked cautiously for someone who looked like a leader or spokesperson, and then tensed as one of the augmented men suddenly stepped forward.
'Hello, Owen,' said the Hadenman in a harsh, buzzing voice. 'Remember me?'
'My God,' said Owen slowly. 'Moon? Is that you?'
'Yes,' said Tobias Moon. 'Your old companion. They rebuilt me after I was destroyed by the Grendel on lost Haden. Hello, Hazel.'
'It's been a while, Moon,' said Hazel. She holstered her gun and held out a hand for him to shake. After a moment Moon took her hand in his and shook it carefully, mindful of his greater strength. The Hadenman's hand was cold as a corpse, and Hazel let go as soon as she diplomatically could. Owen studied Moon carefully, and he
