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Ex Multus Familia

Chapter 2

Seth, an X5 assassin who specialized in tactical strategy and medical assistance, who had been in charge of his own unit of super-soldiers, who had been on seven successful solo missions for Manticore, stared dully at the myriad TV screens that lined Terminal City's command center. Many of them displayed feeds from the cameras set up around the city, and others showed news stations that had taken to reporting 24/7 on the "mutant crisis."

Bored with a passionate speech by some military analyst, Seth glanced over the desk at Max who was sitting at the table on the level below him. She had a number of genetics books spread out around her on the tabletop, and she was writing in a black-and-white composition book.

Perched on another metal stool beside Max was a scientifically-inclined X4 transgenic named Adenine, or just Nine for short. The two women were debating how Max's Logan-targeting virus could be decoded and destroyed; it was what they talked about almost every night when most of Terminal City had settled down or at least retreated to their apartments for the night.

Nearby, Mole was smoking a cigar and watching a tiny portable TV set, his feet resting on a nearby wooden stool. Every now and then he would let out a chuckle and a huff of smoke would drift into the air and hang around his head.

On the other side of the room, a couple of transhumans, a cocky X6, and Alec were arm-wrestling to pass the time. Seth rolled his eyes as the hard-skinned transhuman sent the X6 flying across the room, much to the amusement of Alec and the other, pointy-eared and buck-toothed transhuman. If he hadn't had monitor-duty, Seth would have been in bed, getting some sleep to prepare for the next full day of work and negotiations. Arm-wrestling seemed like a waste of energy these days.

Something flickered on one of the screens on his upper right, and he glanced up at it. Hmm, that was Camera Eight. It was in the eastern edge of T.C., pointed out toward the city. It was normally a peaceful area of the city (if there was such a thing), so a small patrol of three was set up there. Seth watched as the patrol moved closer to the camera by coming up to the fence.

Seth leaned in, and his eyes zeroed in on the extra person running with the patrol and the second unknown figure in the big transhuman, Samson's, arms. There was no sound, but he could see Dalton's mouth moving and Jaz shouting something as she turned around, her revolver in her hand. At the far corner of the screen, sector police were following the crew, the muzzles of their guns flashing with each shot.

"Trouble over on the east side," Seth announced.

"What kind of trouble?" Max asked as she slipped into combat-mode. Seth could see the change come over her as she changed from studying genetics to dealing with a dangerous, potentially deadly situation.

"Sector police are chasing Patrol Seven," Seth said as he watched the screen. "It looks like Dalton's group picked up a couple of new citizens, and the police aren't happy about it."

"Well, let's go welcome the new guys," Mole said. He grabbed his shotgun and pumped it before laying it over his shoulder.

"We won't get there in time," Max said, "Not if it's Dalton's group." She stood up, the metal stool squealing against the concrete as she pushed it back, and walked over to the observation station.

"They're almost through the fence now," Seth said. He glanced at the screen just as the small group of transgenics leaped over the chain link fence, bullets whizzing past their heads. The sector police stopped at the chain link fence as if it was electrified, but they kept firing at the retreating transgenics.

"Is anyone injured?" Max asked as she leaned over Seth's shoulder, narrowing her eyes at the screen.

"I don't know, but Samson's carrying someone. Looks like a girl." Seth glanced from the person in Samson's arms to the other unknown that was running with them. Long, curly light-colored hair, white skin…the way she moved…she looked familiar. Maybe she was someone one from Seth's unit…

"So, Max," Alec said as he joined them, "are you going to go play an unnecessary knight-in-shining armor or are you going to let them handle it?" He leaned against one of the tables and crossed his arms over his chest.

Max shot him a glare, and Seth wondered briefly how much goading it would take for Max to finally murder Alec.

"We're going to go make sure they make it to the command center," Max said.

"Who's we?" Alec asked as he pushed away from the table.

"You, me, Seth, and Mole," she said. Seth tried not to grimace as the transhuman's name was called. He was fine with transhumans and everything, but he hated Mole's cynical attitude toward humans and life in general.

"You heard the cat, let's get going," Mole said, stomping toward the entrance. Seth grabbed his semi-automatic and turned to follow the others.

Alec clapped Seth on the shoulder as they walked after Max. "Don't you love the late night excitement?"

"Oh, yeah, it's a joy," Seth said, rolling his eyes. Alec grinned and zipped up his jacket against the chilly May night air.

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It was pretty easy to find their new guests. There was a lot of shouting and gunfire to guide them toward the area where Samson, Dalton, and Jaz had been patrolling. "We haven't run into them yet," Max said anxiously.

"Well, maybe they were just a little bit delayed," Alec said sarcastically. Max tossed him an annoyed look, but there was probably some truth behind what he was saying. They could see the fence now, and there was practically a riot going on there. Zooming their vision in, they could see people beating at the fence and throwing rocks at it, a few climbing it. There were several sector police trying to control the crowd, but most of the police were focused on firing their guns through the fence. It was a ridiculous mess.

"At least we know where they are now," Mole said, watching the direction of the gunfire. Apparently the group hadn't managed to make it far enough for the police to lose track of where they were.

"Damn you all!" Seth chuckled as they heard Jaz's familiar, angry voice. A couple sector police went down, and Max shook her head.

"Come on, let's take care of this before anyone else gets hurt," she said, quickening her pace.

Mole glanced at her as he jogged on her right. "They're just humans, none of us has gotten hurt," he said.

"I said anyone," Max snapped, "I mean Ordinaries too. It doesn't help us if we start killing them."

"At least there're a few less Ordinaries in the world."

"Mole…"

"Max, over here!" Dalton's voice sounded fairly calm. Good. That meant the group had at least gotten over the fence with minimal damage.

"We're coming!" Max yelled back. Max glanced at Mole, "You and I will go help Jaz with cover," she said, "Alec, Seth, if you could take care of the others…"

"Got it," Seth said, nodding as he veered slightly to the right. Alec started to protest; he'd much rather get in some good fighting action than babysit a bunch of newbies.

Seth cuffed his shoulder. "Come on," he said, "Mole and Max have got it covered." Mole would take care of the fighting part of it, like always. And like always, Max would try to negotiate. Lately, that hadn't been working out so well.

Seth and Alec ducked into one of the alleys behind a row of buildings then followed it for a few hundred feet. "Ugh, I hate this place sometimes," Alec said, tracking a rat as it scurried across their path. He shared a common hatred with the other X-5s for the little monsters. One of their first goals was to eradicate Terminal City of rats, never mind if there were supposedly "more important" things to do. Oak Street was pretty much clean of them already, although rats from other areas kept trying to invade.

Seth rolled his eyes and hoisted his weapon higher as they turned off the alley toward where the group was supposed to be waiting. He stopped as he caught sight of them.

"Man, what's up?" Alec asked, stopping to look back at Seth. He peered at the group. "Come on, we need to go get them." Seth nodded and followed Alec, choosing not to say what had startled him. Though his outward demeanor was calm, inside he was rapidly shifting through old memories.

It was definitely her. He would recognize her face anywhere. They had been breeding partners back in Manticore. And a little more... to him at least. He had never been sure if she had reciprocated his feelings or not. He stopped behind Alec when they got to the group and let the other guy do the talking. He kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to look at him. He wanted to see if she recognized him too. Because unless she was a twin, he knew it had to be her. What had she called herself? Robin. Yes, that was it. Like the bird.

"Ok, guys, we're here to get you settled in Terminal City," Alec said. "We'll take you back to the command center to check you in, then designate you some quarters." He nodded at Samson and Dalton, "You two can go see if Max and Mole need any help."

"This one's hurt," Samson said, pointing to one of the X5s who was determinedly trying to stand upright with the support of the wall. She glared at Samson for calling her weakness out.

"And there's a baby," Dalton added. Alec and Seth both looked at the small bundle in Robin's arms for the first time. The baby was being awfully well-behaved; it hadn't made a sound since they had arrived.

"Is the baby yours?" Seth asked Robin. An unnecessary question, but he had to know. It was strange to think that Robin had been able to move on from her Manticore life so fast, find someone she could love enough to conceive a child with. It never even entered his head to consider rape or anything else. X5s just didn't get raped.

Robin finally looked at him, and her eyes widened just a fraction before she nodded. That small moment let Seth know one thing for sure—she had recognized him too. Dalton and Samson headed off toward where the commotion was still going on, and Alec started ushering the others, herding them toward the command center.

"Do you want me to carry the baby?" Seth asked as an excuse to talk to Robin.

Robin gave him a strange look. "I had the baby, I think I can handle her," she said.

"I know, I was just offering," he said, smiling at her defensiveness. Trust an X5 to be insulted by an offer of help.

"So this is Terminal City," Sidda said in a non-committal way as she looked around, "the land of opportunity."

Alec snorted. "Is that what they're calling it now?"

Sidda chuckled. "Well, not exactly. But that's what all the transgenics are acting like it is." She looked around again, taking note of the grimy streets and run-down buildings. There weren't many people this close to the outer edge of the city, and it looked like the inhabitants hadn't bothered to fix it up much because of that. "Just what I was picturing," she said with a small smile.

Alec shrugged. "Well, at least you're relatively safe here."

"Yeah, until the government realizes that all the transgenics are gathering into a nice, big target for them."

Alec laughed. "True. Hey, I'm Alec, by the way," he said, sticking out his hand.

Sidda raised an eyebrow as she shook his hand. "Sidda." She was surprised by his friendliness. After months of hiding her identity, it seemed strange. But maybe most of the transgenics in Terminal City were like that. It would be nice, to live in the open like that, to not have to worry about her barcode or seeming unusually strong.

Alec glanced down at Sidda's leg as she fell into her limping walk again. "We noticed Samson carrying you on the vids, do you want me…"

"No," Sidda cut him off. "That was because we had to make a quick run into the city. As long as we can go slowly, I'm good."

"We can take as long as you want," Alec said, slowing his pace a bit. Sidda narrowed her eyes at him and deliberately kept up the same pace. "Fine," Alec said, laughing as he matched his pace to hers again, "Stubborn, aren't you?"

"Typically, yes," Sidda said, smiling slightly.

--------------------------

They took the long way back to the command center, avoiding any path that would line them up with a clear view of the gate. Alec kept his hand on his gun and looked over at Seth. The guy was still staring at the other girl, the one with the kid. It sort of looked like how Krit ogled at Syl or Everett watched Mona: the whole undeniable, unavoidable mate thing. Alec smirked; he would leave Seth to figure that one out.

"So, what brought you guys to the land of milk and honey?" asked Alec.

"Sweet tooths," Sidda replied without missing a beat.

"Shouldn't that be sweet teeth?" Alec said. If she was going to be clever, then he'd match her.

Sidda smirked back at him. "Doesn't that sound awkward?"

"At least it's grammatically correct," Alec said.

"Like you care about that," Seth said. Alec tossed him a mock hurt look, but Seth ignored him.

"We sort of thought it'd be nice to be with our own kind," Robin said. She hugged the baby tighter and smiled down at her. "Besides, people were starting to get suspicious what with all the transgenic hype going on around here."

"What's her name?" Seth asked, nodding toward the bundle of blankets.

Robin stared back at him, and he could see the conflicting emotions in her clear blue eyes before she grudgingly answered him. "Taylor."

"Tailor like a guy that fixes clothes?" Alec asked, amusement in his voice, "Did you guys live over a tailor's shop or something?"

"Taylor can be a girl's name," Robin said defensively.

"It's a good name," Seth said. He still hadn't gotten a proper look at the baby, but his natural curiosity was getting to him. He wanted to know how old she was... He wanted to know who the father was. But by the way Robin sending scowls at him, he was unsure if she would ever let him see the baby.

"It is a good name," Robin said as if reassuring herself.

"I was just saying that some of the X5 girls chose the weirdest names for their kids," Alec said, "I mean, we've got kids named everything from FashionChic to Pepperjack to Bartholomew." He rolled his eyes. "Nothing's more creative than an X5 female."

"Yeah, you know, Robin almost named Taylor CoCo Chanel," Sidda said.

"Sidda, I didn't!" exclaimed Robin, "I never…you're awful."

Alec shrugged. "At least it's a name."

"I wasn't'!" Robin exclaimed, indignant.

Sidda grinned. "She wasn't. Some of us know better than to name a kid Motorcade; we were trained for interaction with the rest of humanity."

"Not that we get to use those skills a lot nowadays," Robin sighed. Seth could see the sadness in her face, and he could guess what she was thinking; it was what they were all thinking. They lived in a world where no one wanted them, where almost everyone who wasn't one of them was out to kill them or wanted someone else to kill them. The government who had funded their creation didn't even want to acknowledge their existence. His dark blue eyes flicked toward the bundle of blankets that was Taylor. It was a hard world to be born into if you were different.

"Have you guys had any breakthroughs at all with the humans?" Sidda asked. "Any sort of compromise come up yet?"

"Ones that don't involve us being blown to kingdom-come or becoming science projects? No, not really," Alec said, a wry expression on his face.

"Well, at least we have options," Sidda said, making Alec give a snort of laughter.

"Were you in Seattle, or did you travel from somewhere else?" Seth asked abruptly. Robin didn't look like she was going to answer him, so he looked over at Sidda.

"When Manticore bit the dust, we went to Hoquiam, over on the seashore," Sidda said. Robin shot her a glare, but Sidda acted like nothing was wrong.

"I'm heard of it," Seth said, "They pride themselves on being the "Friendliest City in Washington," don't they?"

"Yes," Robin said shortly.

"The liars," Sidda added, bitterness in her voice.

"I'm guessing the friendliest part only applies to Ordinaries?" Alec asked.

Robin nodded. "The only transgenic in town besides us was an X3 with a little too much cat in his DNA. His name was Ty. He had cat's eyes and moved too gracefully, like a dancer, but he was normal besides that. He was a trained medic, a night field-ops. He was always inviting us over for dinner and checking in on us. He made the best hot wings from scratch…" She stepped over a stack of piping, and Taylor whimpered. Seth lifted his head at the little noise; it was the first noise the baby had made all night. Robin shushed her. "Sorry, she's hungry."

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Seth said, his eyes on Robin's face. Whenever she looked at the baby, the stress and anxiety melted away, and she looked peaceful, nothing like a Manticore soldier.

"That's good," Robin cooed at Taylor and then looked up as if just remembering the rest of them were there. "But Ty…A couple weeks ago, when news about Terminal City was starting to reach us from Seattle, he saved a kid from getting hit by a car. The parents were really grateful, but then people started asking questions, wondering how he had moved so fast." Robin gave a sad smile and rocked Taylor. "I mean, he grabbed the kid and got to the sidewalk before the car could even put on its brakes. They could guess what he was."

"They lynch-mobbed his house that night," Sidda said. Her fists were clenched, and her hazel eyes were hard. "Friendliest Town in Washington my ass. They broke into his house, dragged him into the street and then doused him with gasoline. I got there just when they set him on fire. He didn't even put up a fight, he just screamed…"

Alec could see Biggs in his mind, fun-loving, lively Biggs, strung up like a puppet, post-mortem bruises turning into a purple and blue mosaic across his skin. "Trust me. I know how much that sucks." Sidda looked over at him, evaluating, and then nodded. They had all lost friends in this war.

"We left town a few days after that and made our way here," Robin said, "Anything was better than Hoquiam, even Seattle."

"I'm not exactly sure of that that was a good idea," Seth said, "You should have kept going on to Canada. It's safer there."

Robin frowned at him. "We'd rather be here. It's better to make a stand as one then scatter ourselves across the country."

"Max is going to like you," Alec said. He locked his thumbs into his pockets. "A lot. You seem to think the same way."

"The whole mindset of get everyone together so they only have to shoot a couple missiles instead of a lot must be catching," Sidda said. She held up her hands as Robin gasped her name in anger. "Sorry, sorry, kidding. But we should do something so they won't…do something…bad back…"

"Sidda?" Robin asked, quickening her pace to get to her friend's side.

Sidda stumbled forward, tripping over nothing, her eyelids blinking rapidly. Alec reached out and snatched her before she could hit the ground, his hands tightening around her upper arms. "Hey, you okay?" He looked down at the bandage around her right calf. Dark red blood had soaked through the makeshift bandage and was starting to run down her leg. "How much blood have you lost?"

"Mmm, what, no, 'm fine," she said, trying to pull away from him. She fell again, like her legs couldn't hold her up anymore, but Alec had her. He slipped one arms under her knees and one under her shoulders and pulled her into his arms.

"Somehow, I'm thinking that's not entirely true," he said. He looked over at Seth who was trained specifically for this sort of thing. "Seth…"

Seth walked over to them and looked over Sidda. She was breathing rapidly and losing color; her pulse sped beneath his fingers. He peeled the bandage back from her leg and saw that there was no exit wound. The bullet was still in her leg. "She needs to go the infirmary ASAP. She'll need a blood transfusion, and Gray needs to get the bullet out."

"It's still in there?" Robin asked, surprise in her eyes. "She said it had gone through."

"You didn't…need to worry about it," Sidda said, unapologetic as she looked over at Robin with heavily-lidded eyes.

"You're so annoying!" Robin exclaimed. "You can't just keep stuff like that to yourself!"

"I did, though."

"That's because you thrive off being infuriating."

"Isn't it fun?"

"How about you two fight later, and we go to the infirmary now?" Alec suggested.

"I'll be fine, I don't need to go," Sidda said, "I've gone through worse."

"I can bet, but right now, the medic says you need the infirmary, so that's where we're going." He looked over at Robin. "Can you blur with the kid?"

"Yeah, that's no problem," Robin said, clutching at Taylor. "Let's go."

The three of them took off, racing through Terminal City at a breakneck speed.