The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter VIII: "Rescue"

In his office at the Luthor Mansion, Lex Luthor studies the screen of his computer. He's doing a Google search for 'Major Jeremy Woodward'.

He sighs and gives up his search just before the door to his study opens, and Lana Lang walks in.

"Lana," Lex greets. "What an unexpected pleasure."

"Chloe's in trouble," Lana tells him urgently. "I need your help."

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On the outskirts of town, at the Black Coats' compound, Clark Kent watches the base intently. His eyes follow the guards patrolling the perimeter, watching for his chance. Two guards walk past one another, and when the gap between them becomes wide enough, Clark super-speeds past them.

Once past the perimeter, Clark crouches behind some crates. Staying down, he uses his x-ray vision to look around. He sees other guards patrolling the interior of the base. Focusing on the buildings themselves, Clark sees the daily operations of the base. As he searches the compound, his sights rest on a room with a girl in it. He focuses a little more, and he sees that girl is Chloe.

Clark super-speeds over to the side of the building that Chloe's in. He peeks over at the entrance, but it's guarded by two soldiers. The only way to get in is to take them out. Suddenly, Clark's super-hearing picks up a woman's scream. He finds cover again and uses his x-ray vision to see inside the base. There are two men holding Chloe down as a third injects her with something. As soon as the third guy is finished injecting Chloe, she stops struggling. The three of them strap her to a gurney and start to wheel her out of there. Clark watches as they take her out of the building.

Seeing his chance, Clark super-speeds over to Chloe, knocks the three guards out of the way, grabs the gurney, and runs off with it. The guards get up and start shouting, and alarms go off all through the compound. But it's too late.

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Deep in the forest, Clark stops running and sets the gurney down. He starts to tear off the straps holding Chloe to it. As he does, she groans.

"Cl-Clark?" she mumbles. "Wh-What am I..." She passes out again. Clark, having finished breaking the restraints, picks her up and super-speeds away.

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At the Luthor Mansion, Lana paces anxiously in Lex's study, while the young Luthor sits behind his desk calmly.

"You know," Lex begins, "wearing out my floor isn't going to get Chloe here any faster." Lana lets out a nervous laugh.

"I know," she says. "I'm just worried, that's all." Lex stands up and walks toward her.

"Don't be," he tells her. "Clark's out making another one of his miraculous rescues right now, and in no time at all he and Chloe will be walking through that door. Ok?" Lana nods, and Lex walks back over to his desk. He doesn't sit down.

"You ever wonder how he does it?" Lex asks. Lana looks confused. "Clark," Lex explains. "He's always able to save the day just in the nick of time, and without a scratch on him. You have to wonder how he manages to pull that off." Lana nods.

"I do," she admits. "But that's Clark's secret, and when he's ready to tell me, I'll listen."

"You're a much better person than I am, Lana," Lex tells her. "A better friend."

"Why, because I didn't investigate Clark for three years?" Lex looks down. "Lex, there are things you just have to accept." Lana walks toward him. "Not every question has an answer. You can't waste away your whole life looking for answers you'll never find. Some things you just have to take on faith." Lex chuckles.

"Since when did you get so wise?" he asks with a smile. Before Lana can answer, the door swings open and Clark walks in. Chloe is in his arms. Lana sees Chloe's unconscious form and gasps.

"Oh my god," she says as she races over to Clark. "What did they do to her?"

"As far as I can tell, she's been drugged," Clark explains. "They were transporting her to another building. I intercepted them and got away with her."

"Put her down over here," Lex motions to the couch. "We don't have a lot of time."

"What do you mean?" Clark asks.

"My father kept very meticulous records of anything that might threaten his company," Lex explains. "The Internal Threat Control was one of them. According to his records they will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being compromised. The only chance Chloe has is to get out of town tonight."

"I assume you have a ride all ready for her?" Clark asks.

"An unmarked Dodge Dakota that should be here in under five minutes," Lex replies. "As long as you weren't followed here, we should have no trouble getting Chloe out of town."

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While all the activity at the Luthor Mansion is going on, there's quite a lot going on back at the I.T.C. compound. Black Coats are running all over the place. Most of them are searching the nearby area for Chloe. The rest are on high alert in case this was the precursor for a bigger incursion.

In the command center of the base, Colonel Joshua Hammond talks to one of the soldiers who was escorting Chloe when she was rescued.

"So, let me get this straight," Josh begins. "You sedated the prisoner and strapped her to a fifteen-pound gurney. You took her outside, and the wind knocked you on your asses and swept the gurney away?"

"It wasn't the wind, sir," the soldier protests. "Something hit me."

"Something you couldn't see," the colonel says. "Which to me sounds like an excuse. Nothing more."

Over at one of the computer terminals, Major Woodward's face lights up.

"Um... sir?" the major asks. Hammond turns around to look at him. "I think the corporal may be telling the truth." Josh walks over to him.

"What have you got?" the colonel asks.

"I've been going over the footage from the surveillance cameras," Woodward explains. "Take a look at this." He plays a recording of the base perimeter. The recording plays for a moment, then Jeremy freezes it. He points to a shadowy area on the screen.

"Take a look at this," he says, magnifying the image. A person is now visible standing there. Jeremy rewinds the recording for a moment, then plays it frame-by-frame. For the first seven frames no one's there. Suddenly, in the eighth, a man just appears in the shot.

"Okay, Jer, what the hell is this?" Josh asks.

"I don't know, sir," Jeremy says. Josh looks at the image closely.

"If only his face was more visible," the colonel mutters. "Major, I want you to gather a team of video engineers and scan every frame of the archive footage from the time of Miss Sullivan's escape. Find me something I can use."

"Yes, sir," Woodward replies. Josh turns and walks away.

End of Chapter VIII

Author's Note: Well, this certainly doesn't look good for Clark. So, will the Black Coats find out that Clark was the guy in the video? Stay tuned for "Searching", Chapter IX of The Black Coats.