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Ex Multus Familia: Part 3
Chapter 4
Christmas was a whole lot more stressful than Max had anticipated. It seemed like no matter what she tried to do, it always ended up creating more work for herself. She sighed and closed the door behind Logan as he came into the office; she wanted at least a few peaceful moments with him before someone decided that whatever they were doing was so urgent that they had to knock.
Logan wrapped his arms around her as soon as he saw her expression. "That bad?" he asked sympathetically, pulling back to look at her a little.
Max leaned her head into his shoulder. "I've got food taken care of," she said, lifting up her hands to tick off what she had done. "I'm pretty sure I've got a tree lined up and the cash to cover it. But I have no idea what to do about presents, and absolutely no one wants to be Santa."
Logan rested his head on her chin, took a deep breath, then sighed. "The things I do for you," he said, smiling slightly.
"What?" Max looked up at him, confused.
"I'll be your Santa." Logan grimaced. I'm not exactly great with children, but I think I can handle little genius ones. They're more like adults anyway. Plus, I'm probably the only one here who actually knows what Santa is supposed to be like."
Max laughed and kissed him. 'Really? You'll dress up as an old man?" That would make life so much simpler. She ran a couple of her fingers along the stubble on his chin. "Aw, you're going to look so adorable in a fake fluffy white beard."
"You're a sick, sick person." He said.
"Hey, at least you know when you're old I'll still think you're hot." Max winked at him; her mood was doing a complete and surprising turn-around with Logan's offer of help. The unexpectedness of it made her slightly giddy with relief. That only-left her with one more Christmas-related problem.
"Well, I'm glad you will. But as for myself…"
"Logan!" Max swatted at him and pushed away. "Go find a Santa costume," she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "Let me solve my numerous problems in peace." A grin softened her shooing words.
"Let me take care of the presents problem too," he said, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. "It'll be easier for me to go out get a bunch of…" he frowned. "Will they want toys?"
Max rolled her eyes. "They're very, very young transgenics still," she said. "They'll love toys." She crossed the room, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him once more, more deeply this time. "You're wonderful," she said, smiling at him.
He grinned at her. "I know." He laughed as Max finally pushed him out the door.
It was surprising sometimes how easy it was to invade someone's home, Seth thought as the simple lock clicked open. It was something he had noticed as a Manticore operative; he could enter a home, case the place, go through people's things, learn everything about them and leave without them being able to tell he had even been there. They went on with their lives without even guessing that an assassin had been in their home.
He let himself into the apartment and immediately closed the door behind him. The first thing he noticed was that the place was decorated for Christmas. Last night he had talked to Robin about how close it was to the holidays. It was embarrassing to admit that he, too, had forgotten what time of year it was, but looking back on his past and how closed off from the world they were in Terminal City right now, it wasn't surprising. No one but Max and Logan really knew enough about Christmas to get excited about it. Everyone else pretty much went along without any regard to the holidays.
Seth moved through the apartment quickly, solidifying the layout in his mind. It was a nicer apartment, three bedrooms and a couple bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, living room. He stopped next to one of the bedrooms and grimaced. Kids toys. Plastic dump trucks, a scattered set of building blocks, a pair of banged-up soldier action figures, all thrown about the floor with the haphazardness of a childhood mentality that he had never been allowed to have. A boy's room, probably aged anywhere from five to ten. Seth moved back out of the room and glanced into the next one.
A girl's room, a teenager judging from the posters, decorated laptop, and smell of perfume that lingered in the room. Seth sighed and leaned against the doorjamb. Everett had included in his information that this target, Kevin Rikers, had two children, and Seth had still agreed to go through it. Being here and seeing these kids' rooms made it harder though. Yes, he was taking out a threat to the transgenic nation, but he was also taking a father away from his children. There was the possibility that Rikers was an abusive father, but Seth doubted it. Pictures were set out around the teenager's room of her, many of them with a light brown-haired girl with slightly bucked teeth and pretty brown eyes and a man with the same hair color although his was shot with streaks of grey. Father and daughter.
Seth couldn't keep his thoughts from leaping to Taylor. He could imagine pictures just like this in her room someday. A blond, curly-haired little girl with bright blue eyes hanging on his shoulder, kissing his cheek, hugging him, laughing. She was…everything to him. Her and her mother, his girls, they were his whole world. He couldn't imagine life without them, and he definitely couldn't imagine Taylor growing up without him or Robin in her life.
He left the teenager's room, face set in a frown. That was exactly why he had to go through with this. Everett had said that Rikers had been on the forefront of many plans to exterminate everyone in Terminal City. Some of those plans had been horrific enough to compare them to a wholescale genocide of the transgenic population. Everett had found out that he was the one who seconded the motion to bomb Terminal City, leading to the destruction of the Cultural Center and almost causing Robin's death. Seth clenched his first and walked on toward Rikers' bedroom.
As long as Rikers was alive, he was going to be a danger to transgenics' almost on par with White and the Familiars. He was also a coward since he had supported bombing instead of all-out warfare. Of course you can kill people when you can't see their faces, can't see how human they are when you think they're as bad as cockroaches. A bombing was a coward's attack, one that was occasionally necessary in Manticore, but only used because the higher-ups approved of it and it was a useful, time-tested tactic in assassinations. All transgenics preferred to fight face-on, where both opponents could see each other and know who they were fighting.
Anyone who wanted to kill an entire species of people without looking at them face-on was a coward and needed to be taken out before his fear led him to another massacre. Seth couldn't afford the price leaving him alive might be.
"Get it off me!" Sidda exclaimed, tugging and pulling at the silver, red and green tinsel that was clinging to her. Krit laughed and dumped another leftover box of tinsel from last year on top of her head.
"You're like a little living Christmas tree," he said as she struggled to free herself.
She shot him a ferocious glare. "Krit, you suck."
The two of them, along with Robin, Dalton and Anica, had made the mistake of stopping and having a conversation in headquarters. Robin and Krit had been debating something that was on the news on one of the TVs when Dalton and Anica came by and jumped in on the argument. Sidda had wandered through a few minutes later and had been dragged into the conversation. The unfortunate occurrence of talking about the gross engorgement of TV Santas just at the moment when Max had come storming past them had gotten all five of them enlisted on a spontaneous holiday decorating crew.
Hence Sidda being covered in tinsel by an unenthusiastic Krit looking for a way to make the chore interesting.
Robin looked over from the window ledge she had been draping with tinsel, and laughed at Sidda. "That's the best idea for this tinsel that I've seen yet," she said. Krit grinned at having the decorator's approval.
"See? Robin likes it. So you should keep it on."
"Oh, yeah, 'cause Robin approves I'll just wear it until Christmas. Sounds like a great plan," Sidda said sarcastically. She grimaced as she ran her hands through her hair, trying to rake some of the tinsel out. She officially hated the stuff.
"No, actually, I don't think we should use tinsel at all," Robin said with a sigh. "I think it's tacky and gets everywhere and if we put it up now most of it will have fallen off wherever we put it by Christmas." She cast a dark glance at the window ledge she'd been putting tinsel on. She could just see someone at HQ getting the bright idea to open the window…
"Then why are we using it?" Dalton asked. He was holding a box for Anica so that she could decorate; but she'd ended up spending most of the last twenty minutes braiding it into her hair. Her hair looked very pretty and shiny now, but her corner of the room remained largely tinsel-free.
"Because this was most of what Max had, and she desperately wants TC to be in the holiday spirit right now," Sidda said. She dumped the load of tinsel she'd gotten out of her hair onto Krit's own head.
"Hey!" Krit protested, surprised to find his own entertainment turned on him. Sidda smirked as the shiny stuff got caught in his jacket and hair. Served him right.
"You know, maybe we should just put ourselves in charge of the decorations-stealing committee if we're going to be forced to decorate anyway," Robin said. "At least then we can tell them what sort of stuff to get."
"That might not be a bad idea," Krit said, dropping the box with its remains of tinsel so that he could pull off the clingy stuff off of himself. "But what sort of stuff would we get for decorations anyway?"
Robin left her pile of tinsel alone and came over to help both Sidda and Krit remove their tinsel. "Well…" she said slowly, obviously thinking out loud. "Christmas trees for starters. Ornaments, of course. But lights most especially. You can make anywhere look beautiful with classy, traditional golden-colored lights."
"Lights." Krit nodded. "You know, I might even know a place where we can get some of those. They might need some repairing, but I could do that."
Sidda finished brushing off the last of the tinsel Krit had dumped on her and looked up. "Well, what are we waiting for then?" she asked "Let's go get some lights."
It was taking all of Alec's control and concern for the safety of his family to stay put and be patient. He wanted to get this target eliminated as quickly as possible, and get home. But she was relatively unimportant compared to some of the other targets, and so Everett wanted Alec to wait.
Some of the most important Telic leaders were proving to be a little more difficult to track and predict, so the people on those missions weren't ready yet. And there was no doubt that the higher-up targets would scatter if they got word that several lesser Telic members had been killed.
Alec crosses his arms and leaned his head back against the wall. He possibly had the most boring target in the world, and he allowed himself to rant at her about that because one, he didn't have anything else to do, and two, it would make the final part of his mission easier if he was annoyed at her.
He frowned and stuck his hand in his left pocket as his mission phone vibrated. Everett had given these to everyone before they had split up. Only Everett knew the numbers to them, and he would only call them in an emergency. They had limited minutes , and when those were used up, they were to be thrown away.
"What's up?" he asked, flipping his phone open.
"Has your target done anything unusual in the last few hours?" Everett asked.
Alec squinted up at the balcony that marked his target's apartment. "Well, Bekers is making dinner tonight instead of heating it up in the microwave. Does that count?" he asked.
"It just might," Everett said. Alec could hear sounds changing and passing by Everett; it sounded like Everett was moving.
"Is your target on the move?" Alec asked standing up straighter.
"Yes," Everett replied. "And he is heading towards your sector. Your target is the only higher-up Telic member in that sector, which is why I called. It may be a false alarm; Jones may be meeting someone outside Telic. But just be prepared."
"Got it," Alec said. He closed the phone. Well, that was an interesting turn of events. He moved away from the wall. Maybe it was time to get a closer look at what his target was up to before Everett got there.
He took the stairs two at a time and then paused outside the door next to Bekers' apartment. After several days of watching, he'd quickly gotten the pattern of this inhabitant. They worked a night shift somewhere and slept during the day. The old man who lived here was already gone, so Alec would be fine in there until about 4 a.m.
The lock was easy to pick, like always. These poor people really had no idea how vulnerable they were. Alec softly closed the door behind him and then moved over to the wall adjoining Bekers' apartment. Oh, the joys of transgenic hearing.
After about a half hour of listening to Wendel whisper to herself about cooking temperatures and tell her dog Horatio to get away from the stove about half-a-dozen times, Alec was rewarded by the sounded of heavy boots coming down the hallway. Only a few people lived on this floor of the mostly abandoned apartment building, and Alec knew for certain that anyone wearing boots like that wouldn't be walking down this hall at the moment. They were all predictable people, and as far as he could tell, no one here could really afford boots anyways, so he was guessing it was Jones.
Sure enough, the person knocked on Wendel's door, and a moment later Alec heard Wendel welcome someone with a distinctively male voice into the room.
"Hello, sir," she said, probably ducking her head in that nervous habit of hers, "I'm glad you came."
"I'm glad you called," Jones replied, "I've missed you from the meetings lately."
"I know, but after Randy's death last week, I just couldn't bring myself to come," Wendel said, "I've never done well with losing people."
While Alec pondered the irony of that statement and wondered when Everett was going to show up, he heard the pair move further into the apartment.
"I know Randy was a close friend of yours," Jones said, "I'm sorry, Tina."
Alec lifted his eyebrows at the sob that came from the other side of the wall. "It was so sudden," Wendel exclaimed, "He was doing fine, then that heart attack. I didn't even know he had heart problems." Hate suddenly overpowered her voice. "It was the trannies. I know those bastards did it, those things hate us, Jones, they hate all of us, and if they're low enough to kill people like Randy…" She trailed off into heartfelt sobs while Jones shushed her.
"I know, Tina, I know," Jones said soothingly, "I'm having our best people look into it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the mutants were behind it. It's their way, killing. You couldn't expect anything else from them, and we both know that."
"But how could anyone knowingly create something so heartless?" Wendel demanded.
"Some people just don't know when to stop," Jones replied, "They wanted to push the limits, and we have to deal with the consequences."
"I just wish they were gone," Wendel said, "I can't stand them."
Alec clenched his fists and tried not to lose control. Things? Oh, yeah, Aiden, his perfect boy, was just a thing, not even worth the designation of human. Inherent killers? Mhmm, Seth and Robin, those two were completely bloodthirsty, always trying to save people without even thinking about themselves. Heartless? Yes, of course that's what Sidda was when she kissed him gently and whispered that she loved him before they went to sleep. Yeah, they were definitely monsters, all of them. Alec pulled his gun out of its holster and started checking it, making sure it was in perfect working order. All his previous misgivings were taking a backseat to the fury that was taking over him.
Who the hell did they think they were? They didn't know anything about transgenics. The only one they had ever talked to like a normal person was Everett, and he had been pretending to be another transgenic-hater, just like them. If he could just shove their faces into his life, to see it from his point-of-view…but he wouldn't want to taint his life like that. He didn't want them anywhere near his family or his friends. How had Everett lasted as long as he did in Telic?
At the same time Alec was doing a good job of controlling his anger at this incredibly bogus conversation, the door to the apartment he had sitting in opened to let Everett in. With a dark ski jacket, navy toboggan and jeans, Everett could have easily passed for someone just walking in off the street. Since he hadn't been given any prior warning, Alec was dressed in a similar way; there really wasn't need for a sneaksuit when you weren't doing any real sneaking. Alec supposed that guessing which room he had been in hadn't been hard for Everett, who knew every detail of everyone's missions, and knew Alec well-enough to know which possible location he would have picked. Alec was used to being point on missions, but Everett was handling the responsibility as if he had always been a team leader. Alec was content to let Everett run things; the other transgenic needed this more than he did.
Everett walked over and crouched down next to Alec. A quick series of hand motions between them got a rough plan laid out. They were going to take out both Wendel and Jones here, as soon as both of the Telic members were completely off guard. Breaking in during dinner was their best option since no one ever expected assassins to come during dinner; that time in Paris with the Malaysian ambassador had taught them that. Everett would take out Jones while Alec did the same thing to Wendel.
They sat there for a few minutes, listening as Jones murmured comforting words to Wendel as the two of them set food out on the dinner table. Perhaps Alec was biased, but to his ears, Jones sounded impatient, as if he was going through the motions of supporting Wendel so that he could get something else. Alec looked over at Everett and noticed that Everett was putting his weaponry together. Alec put a hand on Everett's arm, and when Everett looked up. Alec shook his head 'no.' Alec nodded to the wall, indicating they should wait and listen.
Everett frowned, but there was no reason for them to jump in immediately. Dinner would take a little time; the two hadn't even started eating yet. And it might be worth their while to see if Jones had any interesting information before Everett killed him.
"Tina, we need you back." Well, Jones wasn't the type to beat around the bush then.
"And Ran—what?"
"We've got some major plans being laid with the help of a group that hates the transgenics almost as much as we do." Now Jones' voice was smooth, persuasive. He was using Wendel's pain to pull her in. "This can be your chance to get back at them, Tina. You can be in on the planning process. You know you're good at this kind of thing."
Alec straightened up. Another offensive? How much time did they have?
"Will it work?" Wendel's voice was business-like as well now, devoid of any emotion. She was trying to match up to her boss. How pathetic. Alec would have kicked the man out on his ass if he wanted to talk business a week after a close friend had died.
"We're never sure," Jones said. "But every bit we can do counts."
The room was silent for a moment, then Wendel moved and sat down in a chair at her kitchen table. "I don't know, Jones," she said. "I know you can't tell me any more details until I fully commit. But I'm going to have to think about this one. You understand? I don't want to go into it without being utterly focused."
"Of course I understand," Jones said, but the impatience was back in his tone. How was Wendel not picking up on it? Either she was choosing to ignore it, or Manticore training really did make a difference in stuff like this.
Apparently Everett's patience was also gone though. All they'd learned was that there was another offensive in the works; that gave both Everett and Alec more than enough reason to kill the Telic leaders now, especially when it was obvious they wouldn't be hearing anymore valuable information.
Well, knowing that this Wendel woman could be vital to that future operation's success certainly helped Alec. He wouldn't have any qualms about killing her now.
They moved around to the back of the apartment where the balcony was; it was only a short hop over to Wendel's balcony, and it would provide the best vantage for killing them. Alec had memorized the apartment carefully several times; Wendel liked to place her dining chairs with their backs to the window. She probably had thought she was safer to face her door.
She always left her balcony door open as well; a second indication that she assumed no one would be entering her apartment that way.
That was another thing Alec had learned at Manticore. Never make assumptions.
The two Telic leaders had only just put their first forkful of food to their mouths when the sliding door to Wendel's balcony was pushed open, and Alec set two bullets into her head and one into her heart. He could hear Everett firing beside him, and assumed Everett had done his job as well.
Alec strode forward to check Wendel's body and make sure she was dead. You could never be too careful. Only a second too late though, he heard a click from his left. He spun around, raising his gun and crouching at the same time.
"Everett, damnit!" he yelled, firing his weapon. His bullet caught Jones in the shoulder; Jones had moved, and Alec had missed his target by inches. Apparently Jones had been aiming for a similar area because Alec gasped as he felt a bullet go through the right side of his chest. Probably inches away from his heart as well.
"Don't kill him!" Everett yelled out sharply. Everett blurred across the room and kicked the gun out of Jones' hands. Alec could now see that Jones had been wounded in all his limbs, and now his shoulder. But no where that would kill him.
Alec took a moment to check that his target was dead so that there would be no more surprise attacks, and then he slumped against the wall, pressing his jacket to his chest in order to try and stop the bleeding. Hopefully the bullet hadn't gone through anything vital.
"Are you crazy?" Alec asked, his voice tight from pain. He hissed at how much it hurt to use his chest muscles.
"I'll kill him, don't worry," Everett said, looking down at Jones coldly. "But first I want to talk to him, explain things a little. I want him to know what's going on before he dies." Alec leaned forward and rested his head on his knees. Everett really had lost it.
"Can't you…kill him…and…talk to his…dead body…later?" Alec panted out. He was losing blood fast. He shrugged out of his jacket, then pulled his t-shirt off. He was going to need to use the material for a bandage if he wanted to survive this quick-bleeding wound. Even a transgenic wouldn't live if they lost blood too quickly. And he had to live. For Sidda and Aiden, he had to.
Everett seemed not to care about the gaping hole in Alec's chest as he matched stares with the Telic leader. The man looked at him and smiled, a laugh hanging on the corner of his mouth.
"Mark Hammerman," he snorted, "I knew you. I knew you were wrong for our organization." He grinned as if this was all a terribly funny joke.
"I'm going to kill you," Everett said, "My designation is 332572519390, X series, Classification 5. My mate's name was Mona. You murdered her."
"What?" Jones coughed as he pulled himself up against the wall. "What do you want me to do? Cry about it? Feel some remorse?"
"No," Everett said coldly, "I want you to know she had a name."
"That didn't make her a person," Jones replied. He chuckled darkly and swiped a bloody-hand over his mouth. "All of you are animals, all of you, and you'll realize that when you're hunted like the creatures you are."
Alec pressed his compressed t-shirt against his chest, trying to stop himself from bleeding out by applying pressure. He shot Jones a glare and then glanced up at Everett, wondering how much longer he was going to let the guy run his mouth off. Everett stood there with the gun pointed at Jones, his face emotionless. "Everett, I don't want…to rush you or anything…"
Jones looked over at Alec and then looked up at Everett, shaking his heads. "Animals."
Everett blurred forward and pressed the gun against Jones' forehead. "Mona wasn't an animal. I am."
Jones started to say something, but Everett unloaded five shots into his head, one after the other in rapid succession. The leader of Telic slumped to the side, his mouth still open. Everett stood over him, the gun pointed at him as blood dripped down Jones' forehead and started to stain the carpet.
Alec looked at the door to the apartment. Okay, one of the people on this hall had to have heard some of that, and they were going to be here any moment. He got to his feet, his eyes widening at the searing pain in his shoulder. He had never truly appreciated gunshot wounds, he realized, now that he taken one to the chest. This was different than the limb shots he was used to. Grimacing, he leaned against the wall.
"Let's go," he barked out, "Everett!" Even talking hurt. Why hadn't he moved just a split second faster? Then it would've been his shoulder. Shoulder would've been much better.
Everett moved a moment later and hurried toward Alec. He stared at the bloody t-shirt pressed to Alec's chest. "God, Alec, you're injured," he said, slipping underneath the other transgenic's good arm. Alec held back an agonized groan as his chest stretched, and he shot Everett a disbelieving stare.
"No shit," he said. They started walking toward the balcony door, Alec trying not to sag too much against Everett. Obviously the other transgenic was less mentally stable than he had thought, or he had just been blocking everything else out in his need for revenge. A man like that was dangerous to be with on a mission, though Alec guessed that since Jones was dead now, Everett wouldn't have too much more to obsess over.
"When did it happen?" Everett asked as they went out onto the balcony.
"Damn it, Everett, did you…black out on me…in there?" Alec let out a frustrated, pained noise as he pulled himself up onto the balcony wall. This was going to be hell. They needed to cross all of the balconies as quickly as possible until they got to the empty apartment's balcony on the end. Then it would be a quick climb down the fire escape and running until they were far enough away to be safe. Normally this would've been as easy as crossing the street for him, but now the task loomed in front of him. He turned back toward Everett. "Shit…come on."
Seth was starting to hate this job. That was a lie. He had hated this job from the beginning, but now it was just depressing. The Rikers seemed like a good family, but Everett was right, Riker himself was dangerous. He was a part of the Sector Police, and he happened to be in charge of the Sector Police armory in this sector. The sector police usually supplemented their own armory with whatever they had picked off of criminals they had arrested, so the armory was always growing. With ease, Riker could arm the entire Telic group and have them march on Terminal City with more weaponry than the transgenics had.
Riker had to be eliminated, Seth agreed with that, but he couldn't help but feel bad about his family. His wife and kids were good people besides their transgenic-hating tendencies, and the girl, Ann, would even occasionally argue with her dad about whether or not transgenics were people. She still didn't like transgenics, but at least she was thinking about it… They didn't deserve to have their father taken away from them, but their father shouldn't have gotten involved with Telic.
Riker's date of expiration was tomorrow. He was supposed to be staying behind to watch some sort of game on TV while his family went to a Christmas party a few apartment buildings away. Right now, he was coming home from work, and like usual, Seth had a sniper gun ready to train on his head the moment he was in sight. Riker liked to walk home, and Seth always thought that killing him this way would be easier than going into his house and killing him if there was an emergency, a possibility that Seth always anticipated with so many operatives on the field and him being the main medic. Seth chose the option of sniper gun because if Riker ever came home with another member of Telic, Seth was supposed to take them both out, and the sniper gun let him accomplish that task fastest.
A few minutes later than usual, Riker walked around the side of the building, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his coat and his head bent forward. Seth lifted the gun and placed the butt of it against his shoulder but before he could take aim, the cellphone in his pocket began to buzz.
