The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient

Chapter IX: "Searching"

To The Die Hard: I appreciate your critical review of my story. There is a lot of stuff in it that requires the person reading it to suspend their disbelief. However, in defense of the Chloe-sleeps-with-Josh part, I do think that could happen. Remember how quickly Chloe fell for a guy like Ian in the second season. And in the fourth season, she said that she'd had sex with a guy she met during her Daily Planet internship between the second and third seasons. I'm not trying to call her a slut, I'm just saying that it's not so unbelievable that she might have had sex with Josh. As for General Lane telling Clark about the I.T.C., yeah, that's unrealistic, but I needed some way for Clark to get the facts about what was going on.

In Smallville, Kansas, the whole town is in shock after reading today's newspaper headline. 'Student Reporter Kidnapped', it said. The story then went on to say that Chloe Sullivan, a reporter for the Smallville High Torch, was kidnapped while working with a Daily Planet reporter, Joshua Hammond. Josh Hammond, the paper says, was knocked out, and when he came to, Chloe was gone.

At the Luthor Mansion, Clark Kent and Lex Luthor discuss this turn of events.

"Clark," Lex begins, "the fact that Chloe's been reported kidnapped means that the police will be all over this town, looking for leads on where she is. As her friends, that means we'll be interviewed."

"So?" Clark says. "You covered your tracks, right?" Lex nods. "Then we shouldn't be worried. If they can't find any evidence..."

"Clark," Lex interrupts, "it'll be I.T.C. soldiers impersonating cops doing the interviews. If they even think any of us are involved in what happened at their base, they'll lock us up."

"I don't think they can just round people up and lock them away," Clark says.

"They've done it before," Lex tells him. "Hell, they did it with half my research staff a few days ago."

"Wait, they did this and you didn't say anything?"

"What was I supposed to do, Clark?" Lex walks over to his desk and sits down. "If I made a big deal about it they'd come after me too."

"Lex," Clark tells him with conviction, "we need to stand up to these people. Otherwise they're going to keep doing what they're doing."

"Clark," Lex explains, "we're talking about an organization that was created during the Cold War to stop any Communist insurrections without any legal red tape. Now they're being used to stop potential terrorists, but with the same amount of latitude." He gets up again. "Clark, taking them on means your taking on the United States government. Do you really think that's a battle you can win?" Clark hangs his head.

"No," he admits.

"Then I suggest you take the advice I gave you last night." Clark looks up. "Get out of town, Clark. Do it now, while you still can." Clark sighs.

"Lex," he tries to explain, "I know I can't beat them, but I can't just let myself walk away from all this."

"Always trying to be the hero, huh, Clark?" Lex walks over to his friend and places his hands on Clark's shoulders. "Clark, unless you have some super-human powers up your sleeve, I suggest you leave these guys alone. You may have no problem putting yourself in danger, but what about your parents? Do you really want them to get hurt?"

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Clark super-speeds back to his house. When he gets there, he sees a black, unmarked car parked out in front. An expression of fear appears on his face for a moment, then he walks into the house.

"Mom!" he calls. "Dad!"

"In here, son!" Jonathan Kent calls from the kitchen. Clark walks in to see his parents seated at the table with the same two pseudo-F.B.I. agents who interviewed him the other day.

"Hello again, Clark," Agent Stiller greets. "Why don't you have a seat?" Clark reluctantly sits down.

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"I can't believe you did that, Clark," Jonathan Kent tells his son. The pseudo-F.B.I. agents had gone over an hour ago, and Clark was explaining what he had done last night.

"Dad, I had to do something," Clark protests. "Who knows what they were going to do to her."

"I understand that, Clark," Jonathan says, "but you have to understand that you may have done more harm than good. They're not just going to let this go."

"I know that, Dad." The look on Clark's face is one of fierce determination. "Which is why I'm going to stop them."

"How, Clark?" his mother asks. Clark hangs his head.

"I don't know yet." He looks up. "But I can't just sit back and do nothing."

"Clark, we can go to Metropolis tomorrow," Jonathan says. "I'm coming up to another doctor's appointment anyway. If you want to stay here, son, we can't stop you. But please, for the love of god be careful."

"I will, Dad," Clark tells him. "I will."

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At the Black Coats' compound, Major Jeremy Woodward and a team of technicians are hard at work analyzing surveillance camera footage from the previous night. On every computer in the room, shots of the mysterious intruder are being analyzed by face recognition software, trying to find a match.

"Uh, sir?" one of the soldiers says. Major Woodward walks over to his terminal.

"Did you find something?" the major asks.

"Yes, sir." The soldier points at the screen of his terminal. The major looks at what he's indicating and smiles.

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"You're sure that this is the man who snuck into our compound last night?" Colonel Joshua Hammond asks. He's in his quarters with Major Woodward, going over the file he had just been handed.

"Yes, sir," Jeremy replies. "The image that was analyzed is the most high-quality shot of him we have." Josh nods.

"All right, I want a level one retrieval operation started immediately," he orders.

"Level one, sir?" Woodward asks.

"This man snuck in, incapacitated three of my men, and got away with one of our prisoners without being seen," the colonel says. "I'm not taking any chances with him."

"Yes, sir." The major walks out of the colonel's room.

End of Chapter IX

Author's Note: So, who did they identify? Was it Clark? And if it is Clark, how are they going to capture him? Stay tuned for "Containment", Chapter X of The Black Coats.