The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter V: "Suspicions"

Smallville, Kansas. A small town that has recently become the target of forces more dark and threatening than anyone realizes. The Black Coats are in town.

At Smallville High School, Clark Kent runs to catch up with Chloe Sullivan.

"Hey," Clark greets. "I heard you had a big night yesterday."

"You have no idea, Clark," Chloe tells him with a laugh. "I was interviewed for an article in the Daily Planet."

"Wow." Clark is impressed. "Congratulations, Chloe. This is, like, a dream come true for you."

"I know." Chloe beams with pride. "Look, I have to get to class. See you later, Clark."

"See you." Clark and Chloe go their separate ways. Clark rounds the corner and is stopped by a man in a black suit. Another man in an identical outfit stands nearby.

"Clark Kent?" the first man asks.

"Yeah, that's me," Clark replies. The man pulls out an FBI badge.

"Agent Stiller, FBI," the man tells him. "This is my partner, Agent Black. We need you to come with us."

"What's this all about?"

"We just want to ask you a few questions," Agent Black explains. "It won't take more than an hour or two."

"Ok," Clark says warily as the FBI agents lead him away.

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Later that day, in the office of the Torch, Chloe Sullivan is hard at work on an article when Lana Lang walks in. Chloe looks up from her computer as her friend walks toward her.

"Lana," Chloe greets, "what brings you to this corner of the world?"

"Coach Teague wants to talk to Clark," Lana explains, "and I said I'd find him."

"Well, our new assistant football coach will have to wait," Chloe says, "'cause Clark Kent has left the building."

"What are you talking about?" Lana asks.

"This morning the FBI was swarming over the school," the blonde reporter explains. "They pulled over a dozen students out of school for questioning. Clark was one of them."

"Wow." Lana is surprised by this turn of events. She looks over at Chloe's computer, where she's working on the cover page of the next issue of the Torch. The headline says 'FBI Interrogates Students'.

"I see you're hard at work making people aware of what's happening," Lana says with a smirk. Chloe shrugs.

"The people have a right to know," she says.

"And you just love telling them." Both girls break out laughing.

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The FBI lied. They didn't spend two hours interrogating Clark. They spent five hours interrogating him. They asked him about every strange event that had happened in Smallville over the past three years, and how he was involved in it.

As Clark steps out of the sheriff's office, he lets out a sigh of relief. The interrogation was too long, and as it wore on it became harder and harder to come up with adequate excuses. As he walks away from the office he notices the two FBI guys walking towards a black, unmarked car. His super hearing comes active and he picks up what they're saying.

"...too easy," says Agent Black.

"Of course it was," his partner agrees. "I mean, these small-town people have no idea how FBI agents act."

"Which is why it was so easy to impersonate them." Both agents burst out laughing.

A look of concern comes over Clark's face. The pseudo-agents get into their car and drive off. Before they can get far away Clark super-speeds after them. He's careful to keep to the side of the road, out of sight.

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The F.B.I. car pulls up in front of the Black Coats' compound on the outskirts of town. On the fringes of a nearby forest, Clark Kent watches carefully. He sees a man walk out to great them. His appearance is concealed by the black ski hat and sunglasses he's wearing. Clark focuses his x-ray vision to see the man's full face. He's a blonde, fair-skinned man, and the agents follow him into the compound. Clark, deciding he's seen enough, super-speeds away.

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General Sam Lane chose the Smallville Inn to stay at because of its central location in the town. From here he could reach any point in town in under thirty minutes. He expected to be the one going to people, not the other way around. So when there ws a knock on his door, he was a little surprised.

General Lane opens his door cautiously, then relaxes when he sees who's there.

"Mr. Kent," Sam says to Clark. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"I'm sorry to intrude, sir," Clark tells him, "but I think we need to talk."

"About what, Mr. Kent?"

"About the military camp set up outside of town." The two men stare at each other for a moment. Then the general sighs.

"Look, Kent, if you care about your life and the lives of your parents," General Lane says coldly, "you'll stay away from that camp." Clark glares at the general.

"Are you threatening me?" he asks.

"No," Lane replies. "I'm simply telling you what they'll do to you if you keep snooping around." He sighs again. "The people running that camp are a dangerous element. That's all you need to know." Clark nods.

"So, why are you here, anyway?" the young man asks. "If you're not working with these guys, then why are you in Smallville?"

"I'm here to make sure that my family isn't hurt," the general explains coldly. "Good day, Mr. Kent." General Lane closes the door to his room, leaving Clark standing out in the hallway.

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Clark runs down the streets of Smallville at super-sonic speeds, heading for the school. More specifically, he's heading for the Torch office. He gets there, and the lights are out. He turns them on and gasps. Chloe is seated in a guy's lap, and they're making out. This isn't a light make-out session either. What they're doing is serious. Clark clears his throat, and Chloe spins around to look at him.

"Oh, uh, hi Clark," she says, getting off of the guy's lap. "We were just, uh..."

"Making out?" It was more of a statement than a question. Chloe nods. "In the future," Clark advises, "you should probably choose a place slightly more private than the Torch to do that."

"I'll, uh, keep that in mind." Chloe's still a little nervous. The guy she was making out with stands up. Clark gets one look at him and his eyes widen. It's the same guy he saw at the military compound.

"Clark, I'd like you to meet Josh Hammond," Chloe tells him. "He's a reporter for the Daily Planet."

"I see," Clark says, trying to stay cheerful. He shakes Josh's hand. "Clark Kent. Assistant to the journalistic genius over here." He points Chloe as he says this. "So, what brings you to Smallville?"

"I'm here to do a story on the weird events that have been happening here for the past fifteen years," Josh explains. "Chloe's been a, uh, big help with that."

"Yeah, I can see." Clark stares Josh in the eye for a moment. "Look, I need to get home and do my chores. I'll see you tomorrow Chloe."

"See you tomorrow, Clark," Chloe tells him. Clark turns and walks out the door.

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On the outskirts of Smallville, in the Research and Development division of the Black Coats' base, a group of military scientists are studying the Kryptonite. They take readings with all sorts of high-tech devices and write down their findings on their clipboards.

Elsewhere in the base, LuthorCorp scientists who have worked with Kryptonite in the past are locked up. Soldiers are in their cells, beating information out of them.

Joshua Hammond walks into the base and enters his quarters. When the door is closed behind him, he pulls out the ornate box with the map in it. Opening the box, he pulls out the old map and brings it back over to the big topographical map of Smallville. On the map are four very ornate symbols that stand out. On the topographical map there are four circles in more or less the same places as the old map. Josh pulls out a sharpie and puts a big X on one of the circles. Then he puts the map back in the box and slides it back under his bed. As he does so, his hand brushes up against the crystal he found the night before, which is taped to the underside of the bed.

End of Chapter V

Author's Note: This story just gets darker and darker. So, what's up with these crystals? What's Clark going to do now that he knows that the guy Chloe is unofficially dating is a Black Coat? Will General Lane actually do anything about the Black Coats, or will he just yell at everyone the whole time? And what do the scientists hope to discover by studying the Kryptonite? Stay tuned for some answers (I think) in "Investigation", Chapter VI of The Black Coats.