Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

alive and his in a way the golden hand never had. He flexed his fingers, admiring the supple movements. And then he looked across at Hazel, kneeling opposite him with her mouth hanging open. He smiled easily at her.
    “You were right as always, Hazel. Not for the first time, I owe my life and freedom to you.”
    “I’ve seen you do some amazing things, Owen, but that is the best yet. I am really impressed.”
    “We can be impressed with each other later,” said Owen. “We still have to fight our way out of here.”
    Hazel grinned. “After what we’ve just been through, that should be the easy part.”
    They scrambled to their feet and faced Moon, side by side, gun and sword in hand. The Hadenman didn’t seem to know what to say or do for a moment. “Hazel was right,” he said finally. “That really was very impressive. Even the regeneration tanks take months to regrow a severed limb. But in the end, it’s just another ability of yours it’s imperative we obtain for ourselves. You must surrender. You cannot hope to win.”
    “Hell with that,” said Hazel. “We’ve fought armies before. We’re still here, and mostly they’re not. Bring them on, Moon. Bring them all on.” “Lack of confidence never was one of your problems, Hazel,” said Moon. “But I still have a card or two to play.” He gestured at Bonnie and Midnight, still held captive by Hadenmen. “You will surrender, or we’ll kill your friends.” “Sure,” said Midnight Blue.
    “Right,” said Bonnie Bedlam.
    And Midnight vanished, air rushing in to fill the space where she had been. She reappeared a moment later on the other side of the room, battle-ax in hand. She swung the ax double-handed and cut off the head of the Hadenman nearest her. Even while the head was still tumbling from the jerking shoulders, she’d vanished again. She teleported back and forth across the laboratory, blinking in and out of existence just long enough to behead another dozen Hadenmen before any of them could even react to her presence.
    And Bonnie was suddenly a blur of motion, slipping lithely out of the grasp of the Hadenmen holding her.
    Razor-sharp blades suddenly protruded from hidden sheaths in her hands and elbows, and Bonnie sliced through her Hadenman captors with vicious skill. They fell back, fingers, hands, and limbs dropping away from them as Bonnie smiled her sharp-toothed smile and drew her sword. Midnight teleported in to stand at her back, and the two of them took up their fighting stances, blades at the ready.
    “You caught me napping last time,” said Bonnie to Moon. “Just thought I’d return the favor.”
    “Say the word, Owen,” said Midnight, “and we’ll reduce these metal bastards to their component parts.”
    “Bunch of damn metalheads,” said Bonnie, grinning nastily. “I’m going to rip your rivets off.”
    “Sounds good to me,” said Owen. He looked at Moon. “We don’t care how many of you there are. Let them come. Let them all come.” “Right,” said Hazel. “This madness stops here. No more tests. No more pain. No more death.”
    “You mustn’t fight us,” said Moon, and for the first time his buzzing voice sounded uncertain. “This is not necessary.”
    “Yes, it is,” said Owen. “We’ll never surrender, and we’d rather die than be made over into you.”
    “That… is not logical.”
    “No. But it is very human. Dammit, Moon, think. Remember. Remember who you used to be. The Tobias Moon I knew would have fought with us to stop this horror.” “That was a long time ago,” said Moon.
    “No, it wasn’t,” said Owen. “That was yesterday.” And he reached out with his mind, trying to reestablish the old mental link that had bound together all those who had passed through the Madness Maze. He could feel Hazel standing beside him, strong and sure and true, and their minds fit perfectly together, like two pieces of a larger jigsaw. Bonnie Bedlam and Midnight Blue were there too, backing them up, like strange echoes of Hazel. Together they reached out to Moon, pushing aside the machine barrier the Hadenmen tech had constructed between them, and the combined power of their joined minds swept the barrier away and linked with Tobias Moon. And he woke up. The four humans dropped back into their own heads again and studied Moon cautiously. He was breathing heavily and shaking his head. The other augmented men backed away from him, looking at him as if he were infectious. Finally Moon turned