Michael Zelazny

Michael Zelazny is a character who appears in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He is a former Belltower operative, and is involved in the Talion A.D. sidequest.

Background
Zelazny is a natural-born American citizen, but his father was a Polish Immigrant. A religious and patriotic man, he enlisted in the United States Army at 18, and excelled due to his exceptional mental and strategic skills. As the USA deferred many of its counter-insurgent operatives to Belltower at the height of conflicts in the middle east, Zelazny was naturally transferred to the PMC where he climbed the career ladder swiftly, both due to his natural talents and civilian augments.

During Jensen's second visit to Hengsha, he will find Dr. Wing in the LIMB clinic's lobby. After a brief conversation, Wing will ask Adam to locate Zelazny and his team, saying that they've gone rogue and pose danger to the citizens. Eventually, Jensen finds them near the Alice Garden Pods, below the sewer channel.

Zelazny explains that they were outfitted with experimental mechanical augmentations by Belltower, and had implanted a neural hub that could manipulate memory centers in the brain, effectively controlling what they could and could not remember. After a couple of operations, Zelazny started to experience memory shifts, remembering bits and fragments of past missions, slowly realizing that they couldn't have been logically orchestrated by the government.

Eventually he found out that he and his peers were used by the corrupt officials in the American and Chinese governments. He confronted the project director, and had him disconnect Zelazny's and his colleagues' hubs. Going through the director's contacts, Zelazny found the list of the corrupt people that used him and his men, then proceeded to hunt them down, seeing it as justice.

Jensen has the option of either letting him go, fighting him and his men, or using Social Enhancer on him. But despite the fact using the augmentation is an option there, it doesn't have any effect on Zelazny, much like on Faridah Malik. If he decides to let Zelazny go, he contacts Jensen soon after with the information that he got in touch with some of his former associates at Belltower and got them to lessen the patrols throughout Hengsha.

Behind the scenes

 * The word "Żelazny" literally means "Made of Iron" in Polish.
 * Roger Zelazny was a Hugo and Nebula award winning Sci-Fi and Fantasy author. He was alluded to in the original Deus Ex via a username/password combination found on a datacube in Paris - RZELAZNY/SHADOWJACK.