A/n: Once again, huge thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. The response was so good I decided to post this earlier than I anticipated.

By the way, congrats to everyone who just got their a- level results. I didn't get what I wanted, but lucky for me UCL are going to let me in anyway.

I did mean the last chapter to be called renaissance, because the word means revival. I was trying to emphasise the similarity to AJBAC. Maybe that didn't really come across the way I wanted it. Oh well.

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Chapter 15: A Familiar Face

Logan sat back and ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply. A week. They only had a week before the coming and he had no idea if it could be stopped. Plus he knew he couldn't prevaricate more than a few more hours before he had to make the fake broadcast. Of course, technically it's not fake, he mused. I'm just doing it from a different location. I just hope Max gets close enough to pull me out before White kills me.

Asfaloth entered the room, alone for once. Logan turned to face him.

"How are your preparations coming, Cale?"

"I'm almost done. A few more hours to perfect the voice cloning equipment and we should be good to go. If you'd like, I can make the broadcast at about eight tonight."

"Excellent work. I can see you're going to be a very valuable asset around here. The broadcast needs to be made at the earliest possible time. We can't risk the transgenics finding us."

"What is it you people have against them anyway? I mean, one of you created them."

"He used his own DNA as a template to create the transgenics. Familiar blood is sacred; he has polluted our race. That is the worst form of blasphemy among our people."

"I see. It's kind of hard to understand these things, me being new around here and all."

"You are not entirely unique in that. In fact, there is someone here you need to see. He only arrived last night; it took us some effort to bring him here. But he is well known to you, and you have a lot in common."

"Ok, sure. It'll be nice to see a familiar face. No pun intended."

"Indeed."

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Logan was brought to a suite similar to the one he'd been given when he first arrived. Asfaloth motioned to the guard to open the door and then ushered Logan inside.

"Logan?" Exclaimed the young man in the room, getting up from his chair.

"Bennett? What the hell are you doing here?" Logan turned to Asfaloth. "What is this, some kind of hostage situation? I do what you want or you kill my cousin?"

"Oh, no. You quite misunderstand me, Cale. Your cousin is in the same situation as you, or very similar. He was chosen as a breeding partner for one of us."

"Marianne's a familiar?"

"What the hell is a familiar? I demand to know what's going on! What have you people done with my wife?"

"She's quite safe, I assure you. Your cousin here can explain the situation to you. I'm sure he'll be able to put your mind at rest." Asfaloth withdrew and left them alone.

"Logan? What…"

"Shut up a minute, Bennett. These people are fond of bugs." Carefully, Logan checked the room for surveillance equipment. After disposing of two microphones and a mini camera, he went back to talk to his cousin.

"All right, Bennett, it's like this…"

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By the time Logan finished giving Bennett a much-simplified version of what was going on, his eyes were virtually popping out of his head.

"You really expect me to believe my wife's a member of this cult thing? You're crazy! Am I the only sane human being around here?"

"Does Marianne have a scar on her forearm? Maybe she told you it was a tattoo or something? Shaped like two snakes coiled around a staff?"

"How the hell do you know about her scar? She burned herself on a fireplace when she was six!"

"No. That's the mark carried by all familiars, proving they've passed the initiation. She was ordered to marry you by the Conclave, so your children could be the next generation of familiars. Just as I've been ordered to marry one of them."

"But what about you and…"

"Don't say her name!" Logan hissed urgently, keeping his voice as low as he could. "If the familiars find out about her we're all finished. Look, just play along for a few more hours. By around eight tonight, I'll have pissed off the conclave enough that they'll probably kill me anyway." Not daring to let even the slightest sound escape, Logan mouthed the next sentence to his cousin. "Max is coming, tonight. Be careful."

"What the hell am I going to do, Logan? I've just found out my marriage is a lie. My whole life is totally ruined."

"That's what I thought when I broke up with Valerie. But with a whole hell of a lot of luck, life'll go on. I hope. Look, I have to go. The Conclave have a job for me and I need to get it finished. Just try not to get yourself killed."

"I'll do my best. What have this 'Conclave' got you doing?"

"Hacking, what else? I really have to go." He got up to leave, his shell-shocked cousin staring after him. Just as he reached the door, Bennett called out.

"Logan? Make sure you don't get yourself killed either. I'm going to need a lot more detail about this whole thing later."

"Yeah, later," said Logan. Mentally he added; if we're both still alive and the world hasn't ended.

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Asfaloth and the priestess were sitting together in her office, discussing their intelligence reports on the transgenics with White.

"It appears that the San Francisco lead was unfounded, as we suspected," stated the priestess.

"Yes," replied Asfaloth. "I wonder if Cale was intending to mislead us."

"Of course he was." White's tone became more respectful when he remembered whom he was addressing. "Sir. He's been playing us from the start. We should try torture again."

"What makes you think it will work this time, when it had no effect before? No. I think the key to getting Cale to co-operate may be a threat to others than himself." The leader of the Conclave sounded very smug at having come up with the idea.

"Is that why you had his cousin brought here, my lord?"

"Correct. I think if we harm one he cares about Cale will tell us what he knows."

"The only question is, how much does he know?" the priestess broke in thoughtfully.

"More than he's told us, is the only certainty. Has Thula been able to get any information out of him?"

"Not as yet. Cale is her intellectual superior by far. And his experiences working for Eyes Only will have taught him how to extract information from people without giving anything away."

"But of course, his intelligence is what makes him useful to us. None of our own people would be able to make the Eyes Only bulletin for us at such short notice."

"True. We do need it done before the Coming. And speaking of the bulletin, it should be about ready to go out by now."

"Come, then. We need to observe it and make sure he follows our script to the letter."

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"Oh, great, you're just in time." Logan said when he saw the trio of familiars arriving at his workstation. "I've just about finished the sound effects. The only trouble is, the mike is very sensitive. There can't be any background noise at all or it could compromise the credibility of the message. I need everyone to stay outside while I make the hack."

"Stay outside?" Sneered White. "You could say anything you wanted if there was no one looking over your shoulder. Do you really expect us to trust you that much?"

"Yeah, right. I'm not dumb. You'd just burst in and kill me as soon as I started saying anything you didn't like. I'll stick to the script all right." Just not the one you gave me.

"Very well. If it is that important." The three techs assigned to guard him followed their leaders out and stood watching Logan through the glass window. He tapped a few significant keys on his computer and the door to his workroom locked itself down.

"What the hell…" said White, noticing the light above the door had changed from green to red.

Then Logan began his hack, using a pre-recorded image of his own eyes provided for him. The familiars were struck into silence. Hearing him use the voice cloning technology revealed the truth to them.

"Eyes Only…" whispered Asfaloth, stunned by his own stupidity.

"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this country. This cable hack is being beamed to you right across America. Over the past few months, the American people have been manipulated into hysteria over the existence of transgenics. This situation, however, has been manufactured by a far more dangerous group, one only the transgenics can overcome."

Logan continued his hack, trying his best to ignore the sounds of White and the guards shooting the bulletproof glass window and trying to smash their way in.

"This group, known as the familiars, can be identified by a scar shaped like two snakes entwined around a staff on their forearms. The familiars are a far older organisation than the transgenics; many of them are in very influential positions in the government of this country. It was the familiars who originally created Project Manticore and the transgenics, trying to create the perfect human."

All across America people were watching the broadcast with bated breath, hardly able to believe their ears. The image cut from the Eyes Only logo to a security camera just outside the room. It showed White kicking the glass with what was quite clearly superhuman strength.

"For example, Ames White, the 'brave' NSA agent who spoke out about the transgenic situation on national television is a familiar, the one charged with destroying all the innocent transgenics created by his own father, Dr Charles Sandeman. The doctor rebelled against the conclave by trying to protect his younger son from them. Familiars regularly kill their own children; they believe that only the best should be allowed to live."

"To this end, the so-called purification of the human race, they will be releasing a poison into the atmosphere in one week's time. This poison will wipe out anyone who has not been immunised against it. Only one person can prevent this. You may know her as 452; her name is Max. The leader of the transgenics is our only hope."

"This broadcast will probably be the last ever made. The familiars are right outside the door and it won't hold much longer. Eyes Only has been hounded because these broadcasts are the only way they can be exposed; all other forms of news are under their control. Please, don't let my death have been in vain."

"The next thing you will see on the screen is a list of names of all the familiars I have been able to discover. Their headquarters are in Washington dc, at Highview College. Stay strong with the struggle, everyone."

Then a massive explosion rocked the building, sending all its occupants diving for cover.

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Ok, maybe I do like being evil cliffhanger woman. Let me know what you thought, anyway.