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A/N: Hey, everyone, thanks for the awesome reviews!! I'd like to thank peculiarxemma, nattylovesu, Tina, Deanna, Sandra, Alexa, and TwilightEclps for reviewing the last chapter. You guy rock, and you all win awesome awards! ^_^

Ex Multus Familia: Part 2

Chapter 16

It had been Everett's personal decision to leave both Twizzler and Emma behind this time while he went alone to infiltrate the human rights group. Both of them had argued and tried to undermine his decisions with their own reasoning, but he had won out in the end by going to Max and asking her to order the younger two to stay behind. Besides, having three transgenics there only meant that there were more chances for them to slip up and reveal themselves.

So Everett went alone, taking nothing but his own person. No concealed weaponry, nothing that would make him suspicious to the humans. Even his barcode had been seared off, as it had been for the past few weeks.

Mona had not been happy when he left Robin and Seth's apartment after dinner and told her to stay there while he was gone. Dinner had been something of a tense affair, and Robin and Seth had carried a lot of the conversation, always leading it away from the potential fight brewing between Mona and Everett. Alec and Sidda had shown up with dessert, some chocolate thing that Mona should have relished, but instead she just picked at it and stared at him. He hoped that the others would figure out some way to distract her while he was gone; he couldn't stand thinking about her spending the entire night worrying about him.

As usual, he sat in the middle of the crowd while the speakers rallied the crowd with incendiary speeches. Tonight's crowd was bigger than the last, just like the other night's crowd was bigger than the one before that. It seemed that more than a small group of Seattle citizens were wary of the transgenics, and the hate group was finding many sympathetic ears.

"They'll take over!" the current speaker shouted, "They'll overrun Seattle, then take over the rest of the United States, and it'll be one country, torn apart in a civil war that we can't win!"

Instead of giving the incredulous snort he wanted to, Everett gave a shout of agreement. What the hell, like there were really enough transgenics to do all that. What did they think they had in Terminal City, a full-scale army? If they were anything, they were an estranged group of special forces that should have been allowed to have their own post, somewhere far away from Seattle and all this mess. He didn't want his son or daughter to grow up in this poverty-stricken city…

"We need to stomp out their existence before they stomp out ours," the speaker announced, "Cut their roots before they can spread like the ravenous weeds they are."

Everett would have scowled. Okay, they had animal DNA, not plant, these metaphors were ridiculous. But the fervor that the humans cheered with was anything but ridiculous. With raw energy like this, the humans could actually pull something off that could endanger Terminal City. But as far as he knew, no one was planning an attack yet; it was all in the planning stages, or so he thought. He was hoping to make a move tonight to get into the inner group, the ones who were the speakers and recruiters, the men and women who ran this place.

Everett and the rest of the transgenics needed to know what kind of fire power these guys had and if they were planning to strike against the transgenics any time soon. While the government mission was important, so was Everett's, and at the moment, it seemed like the human threat was greater than the Familiar threat. The humans were right outside Terminal City while the Familiars were elsewhere, at least for now.

While other speakers stood up and had their say, Everett waited for the finale. Jones took the stage, and the room fell quiet. Everett had marked him as the leader early on, and it didn't seem like there was anything to go against that assumption. Jones was a quiet man, but he had a commanding presence. Everett could tell that the humans felt like he was someone they could trust and follow to whatever victory he decided he wanted.

Jones began his usual speech about how the humans would never be able to tell the transgenics from among them, how the transgenics would creep into their lives and begin a slow takeover. Everett wanted to shout out against him and tell everyone that all the transgenics really wanted was to be left alone, but he kept a stoic expression, not letting anything slip past his Manticore-trained mask.

"Look for barcodes, but be wary. They may have found a way to conceal the marks, make it look like there is no difference between you and them." Jones shook his head. "But know this. There is a difference between humans and transgenics. We're people. They're monstrosities. We're real. They're hyped-up copies. Never let them fool you into thinking they even have a scrap of humanity." His dark, calm eyes scanned the crowd, seeming to connect with everyone. "If you do that, if you believe that lie, everything is lost."

Jones walked down the side stairs amid slow clapping that grew to thunderous applause. Everett joined in with fake enthusiasm, cheering and calling out death for transgenic slogans just like everyone else.

As people got up to leave, Everett stood up as well, exchanging small pleasantries with the people who had been sitting near him.

"Kill all the little mutant bastards, right, Mark?" the guy to his right said, a grim smile on his face. He clapped Everett on the back. "Snap 'em off young, maybe they won't grow back."

"Yeah, that's right," Everett said, managing to smile back and not break off the guy's hand.

"Best to exterminate them now," said a woman in the row of fold-up chairs in front of him as she picked up her coat. "Better now than later, when the young have grown up."

"I heard they're breeding," her friend said, lifting her nose in the air and sniffing indignantly, "It's truly monstrous, really."

They were just spouting off stuff they had heard the speakers say; they couldn't come up with anything original. He supposed that was why these people were grunts instead of in charge. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the important people starting to gather near the stage. He was hoping for an invitation from one of them tonight. He had been showing his loyalty by feeding them small bits of information, claiming that he was a sector policeman. Logan had given him the credentials he needed, and now Sector Eight had one more cop than they thought.

"I can't believe they think they can get away with living in our city like this," Everett said, shaking his head as if disgusted, "They're really just parasites and thieves." Thieves, sometimes yes, but they had started leaving money now and fixing things whenever they stole from people who weren't the richest.

"They need to be crushed," the man to his right said, "And I'll gladly take up a gun if it means protecting my family."

Protecting his family? That's what Everett wanted too, but these guys were just making his life hard for him.

He noticed when someone near the stage pealed off of the smaller group and started toward them. It was a tall, dark-haired woman who looked like she might have been a soldier once, just because of the way she carried herself. She approached them and looked straight at Everett.

"Would you please come with me?" She gave him a sort-of smile. Everett noticed that it didn't reach her eyes, and it made him suspicious. "Jones would like to see you."

Everett blinked. "Huh? Really?" The people around him turned to stare at him, as if he had suddenly been elevated in their respect.

"Yes, he asked for you specifically," the woman said, "Mark Hammerman, isn't it?"

"That's me," he said, giving an easy-going, enthusiastic smile.

"Good," she said. She walked away, obviously expecting him to follow.

Everett made a show of scrambling to get out of the fold-up chairs and trot after her until they reached the stage. Jones beckoned to him with a jerk of his head and turned, heading to the side door that led to the back of the warehouse, a place Everett had never been before.

"Come with us, Mark," Jones said in that quiet voice. Everett's nerves were on end now, his senses alert. He had never seen Jones invite someone to go with him back there before and didn't see a reason why the man should start now. Unless he had some reason…

Not seeing another option, Everett followed Jones while other people filed in behind him. Everything his senses were telling him let him know that this was most likely a trap, but perhaps by showing that he trusted them, he would gain their trust in return.

He was led down a series of hallways, possibly in an attempt to confuse him, but it was impossible to confuse an X5 just with twists and turns. Their eidetic memory gave them instant recall when it came to directions; Everett would have no problems getting out of here if it came to a standoff between him and these humans. The only problem was that as they walked deeper into the warehouse, it seemed that more people appeared from makeshift rooms and areas and walked behind them and hurried off ahead. What they were all preparing for, Everett didn't want to know.

Eventually, Jones led them into a room at the back of the warehouse. Only he and Jones entered, but the others stood outside, like a guard. It was bare room, with just a chair in the middle, but that seemed to make it more ominous. From his time back at Manticore, Everett knew that rooms with single chairs never boded well for those who had to sit in the damn chair. And that seemed to be what was intended of him as Jones nodded to the chair.

"Have a seat, Mark."

Everett stared at the chair for a moment. He really, really didn't want to sit there. Well, now was about the time where he could show some nervousness. He gulped and chuckled. "Hey, what is this, frat initiation?" A joke. He was pretty sure Mark would make a joke at a time like this.

Jones lifted an eyebrow and put his hands in his pockets; the same movement opened his unbuttoned jacket slightly, revealing two pistols. Everett resisted the urge to snort at the show-off, and instead made a show of becoming very nervous as he sat down.

"So, um… can I ask what's going on?" he asked, shifting around in the chair.

Jones came to stand in front of him, still and quiet as a dark pool of undisturbed water. Like always. "I think you know very well what's going on," Jones said quietly, "Now, I'm going to ask a very simple question." He took a step forward. "What are you?"

"Erm, a man? A human?" Everett tried to look indignant. "Dude, what are you accusing me of? What kind of question is that?"

"Shut up," Jones said, a snarl an undertone to his voice. "You claimed the purity of the human race?" he demanded.

"Look, I don't have to stand for this," Everett said, starting to get up. Jones pushed him back in his seat as two of them from outside, who had been watching, started into the room. It took all of Everett's self-control not to resist being pushed into the chair or to attack. Maybe, just maybe, his cover could still be kept intact.

"Wait," Jones ordered the men. They moved back to the wall but stayed inside the room. Jones turned and faced Everett. "When I ask a question of you, I don't really mean it as a question," he said.

Jones crossed his arms and stared at Everett for a moment before speaking. "Just how is it, Mark, that you're a sector police without any of our other guys near that filthy sector knowing you? And just how do you get so much information? You're strangely observant, Mark."

Ok, this confrontation was getting a bit uncomfortable now, especially considering just how many armed people he'd spotted outside the room as he'd been led there.

"I dunno," Everett said, shrugging. "Maybe I'm just at the right place at the right time. Maybe I'm just the type of guy that nobody ever notices, so they let slip things around me."

"Hmm, well, you've certainly caught our attention, Mark." That seemed to be some sort of cue. All of the sudden a group of five filed into the room. They all had cold faces, like Jones. All work dark suits, like Jones. Three men and two women. They all lined up behind Jones, like observers. This was getting weirder and weirder.

Jones turned around and grabbed something from a table that Everett couldn't quite make out. And then lighting fast for a human, Jones spun around and jabbed a long, thick, needle into Everett's side. "Do you swear you're human?" Jones said, his voice becoming rough and loud.

Everett yelled, grabbing at his side. That pain certainly wasn't hard to fake; though transgenics could heal faster, that definitely didn't stop them from feeling pain.

"I swear," Everett gasped out, grabbing at his side. Jones removed the needle and then jabbed again, this time into the other side. At least Everett had expected this.

"Do you swear you hate the transgenics?"

"Swear," Everett gasped out. Maybe leaving the "I" out would forfeit that swear….

Jones moved away and picked up a wicked looking knife from the table. Everett winced as the guy approached with it. He was sadistic.

Jones leaned in and drew a slow, slightly deep mark across Everett's chest. "Everything you've told us is true?" he asked. "Everything about the transgenics, about yourself?"

If this guy was trying to torture him, he was going about it all the wrong way. It was easy to just swear and swear, say yes. Those were the answers Jones wanted. If he was really interrogating, Jones would ask questions meant to trip up a transgenic posing as a human. This guy really could learn a few lessons on the whole matter. Not that Everett was about to teach him any.

Jones turned away, and when he turned back he was holding a lighter. He moved around behind Everett, and Everett grimaced, hoping that he was giving more credit to Jones than he really deserved with his imaginings as to what came next.

But no, he'd read the man well. After holding the lighter there a moment to make a close inspecting of Everett's skin and make sure there was no barcode, Jones still wasn't satisfied. He thrust the lighter forward and Everett yelled out as it burned his neck. It was a good thing he'd already tortured that poor area of his neck a bit; it had built up some resistance.

"Do you swear to uphold the values of mankind, against those of the viral breed of mutants?" Jones asked, his voice returned to that deadly calm.

Wait, they weren't going to kill him? Suddenly Everett got it. It was just as he had hoped—he was being initiated tonight. Only, he hadn't quite expected the initiation to come with so much pain. "Swear," he said through clenched teeth. Well, that swear didn't count anyways. He didn't know of any viral mutant breeds, unless you counted the nasty virus that had been in Max's body. And that had been taken care of already. Let Jones call transgenics that all he wanted. In the end, his opinion wouldn't matter. Everett would make sure of that as soon as he could.

Everett sagged forward as Jones moved away from him. Were they done yet, or were there more sadistic rituals to go through? He just didn't really want to have to come home to Mona looking like too much of a mess.

As Jones paused in front of the table again, Everett couldn't help but sigh. Max owed him big time for this.

Jones picked up an evil-looking pair of pliers, stuff that could probably pull his teeth out or snap his fingers, depending on the guy's mood. Well, what he lacked in expertise when it came to torturing, Jones certainly made up for in enthusiasm.

"Do you swear," Jones said, stalking slowly toward him, "to uphold…" he placed the pliers over Everett's right middle finger and snapped. Yep, the fingers. Everett yelled again and grabbed for his hand, but Jones grabbed his left hand away from him. "The human values, the human cause, before any other moral cause?" Jones finished. He broke Everett's left middle finger.

"Swear," Everett said, pulling in deep gulps of air. Well, transgenics were still mostly human, so why not? He hunched over his hands protectively. If there was worse to come… well, Everett was beginning to wonder whether his cover really was worth it or not. So much easier to just wipe this guy out now…

Everett looked up, and to his relief saw that Jones had replaced the pliers on the table without picking up another set of tools. Maybe they were finally done with that part of the initiation, if that was what it was.

Jones turned his back towards him and faced the five people in suits. "Do you swear your allegiance to your people, your country, your way of life?"

Well, now that was an easy one. "I swear my allegiance on my life."

Jones nodded. Suddenly, all five people sprang forward, rushing past Jones to get to Everett. The transgenic had to force himself to not dodge the first man's attack as he was knocked out of his chair and onto the floor. He curled up into a protective fetal position, trying to shield himself in the human way as all five people kicked at him, their shiny shoes digging into his sides. At least no one was trying to punt his head.

After a few minutes, they all stopped kicking him at the same time. A couple of them reached down and hauled him to his feet; that wasn't really necessary, Everett could have got up on his own, but he guessed that a real human wouldn't be able to do that. Besides, he wasn't exactly feeling his best now anyways, so he sagged between the two humans as if he was too weak to support himself.

Jones stepped forward and smiled. Oh, sadistic… Everett managed hold still as Jones reached forward and patted his cheek.

"Well done, Mark Hammerman. Welcome to Telic."

"Mona, staring out the window really isn't going to help, no matter what Logan seems to think."

Mona turned around and managed to smile at Robin. The blond-haired transgenic was sitting on the love seat, a worn paperback in her hand. In front of her, his back resting against the love seat, was Seth. He was busy trying to corral Taylor in; the eight-month-old was now quite an adept crawler. He gave her a sympathetic smile as Taylor crawled over his thigh and headed toward the kitchen. He caught her by her little ankles and gentle tugged her back before she got very far.

"Sorry," Mona said, shaking her head, "I'm just…"

"Glaring intensely at the rain," Sidda mumbled. She and Alec were playing some kind of card game on the floor near Seth and Taylor. The point seemed to be to slap each other's hands mercilessly over a small stack of cards until someone relented and let go of the cards that were underneath the hands. Of course, they had to stop every now and then to reshuffle the cards since they would both accidentally memorize the order of the cards.

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Mona said as she stepped away from the window.

"He's good at this sort of thing, Mona," Alec said, giving her the most comfort he could think of. Everett had been under his command back at Manticore, and he knew what the other transgenic was capable of. "Infiltration is what he was trained for, and he's done it loads of times."

"I know…" But that didn't make the wait much easier to bear. She sighed. Why wasn't Everett back yet? He had never been gone this long before for a meeting, but then again, before this he had always had Twizzler and Emma along with him. This time he had forbidden them to go, which only made her worry more. Three were much better in a fight than one, he knew that, but he had decided to go alone anyways…stubborn man.

Huffing angrily, Mona sat down on the big couch and pulled her legs up onto the couch with her. "Seth, Alec?"

"Yeah?" Alec asked, lifting his hand from where he had been trying to crush Sidda's.

Seth turned his head to look at her, giving her part of his divided attention.

"Why are men so stubborn sometimes?" Mona held up her hand before they could reverse the question and toss it right back at her. "And I'm talking about going alone into battle, not stubbornness as a whole. Is it some kind of need to prove yourself? Or just manly pride?"

"Manly pride," Sidda said, deepening her voice and throwing out her chest while jutting out her chin. "Hoo-ah!" It was an army shout, and it sounded funny coming out of Sidda.

"It's not about pride or proving yourself in this case," Seth said while Alec punished Sidda by stealing the cards she had won. "Everett just thinks that it'll be easier to gain the humans' trust if Twizzler and Emma aren't following him like an honor guard."

Mona sighed and leaned her head back against the couch pillows. "Still, I would feel better if he would've taken someone. Just Twizzler would have been fine."

"Everett's smart," Robin said, pushing herself off of the love seat, "He'll come back, Mona. Now, who's hungry?"

"Geez, Robin, it's as if we didn't just eat," Alec said teasingly. He tossed a forced exasperated look over at Seth while keeping Sidda away from his pile of cards at the same time. "Your woman's trying to make us all fat."

"I am not," Robin protested, frowning at Alec, "It's not my fault that you always eat the most."

"You better watch it, or it's going to start working with you, Alec," Sidda said as she swiped up some of his cards.

Alec grinned at her. "And here I thought we could get fat together."

"I hate you sometimes!" Sidda snapped, reaching over to pop Alec's head with her open hand. He caught her wrist and pulled her forward into his arms, using her own momentum against her.

"At least it's only sometimes," he said, trying to kiss her while she attempted to shove him away.

Mona cracked a smile at the two X5s' antics while Robin came over and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from her, offering a comforting presence. Sometimes it was just nice to be surrounded by friends, especially when your stupid mate decided to go put himself in dangerous situations. And something just didn't feel right…

A knock on the door made all five of the transgenics look up from whatever they were doing. Seth was up in the same instant as Mona, and he was already at the door while she was still on the move. If she hadn't been seven months pregnant, she would have beat him, but the baby bulge impeded her movements.

Seth opened the door, and Mona put a hand to her mouth. Everett leaned against the doorway, smiling ruefully with his bruised and battered face.

"Hey, babe," he said, right before stumbling into the apartment.