The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter XIII: "Theft"

On the outskirts of Smallville, in the Black Coats' compound, Clark Kent is briefed on his upcoming mission.

"Your target is here," Joshua Hammond says, pointing at a room on a LuthorCorp blueprint. "It's a secure vault where LuthorCorp keeps all its sensitive files."

"And how do you expect me to get into it?" Clark asks. Josh laughs and tosses the young man a folder, which Clark opens. "What's this?"

"The results of your DNA test," Josh explains.

"It's just a blank piece of paper," Clark tells him.

"Exactly." Josh walks up to Clark. "That's what we found. Nothing. At least, nothing we could recognize as DNA. Your external appearance may be human, but genetically you're a completely different creature." He smiles. "Clark, you've already demonstrated several... interesting powers. And I'm willing to be you have a few more up your sleeve." Clark is silent. "Either way, if you're not back here in exactly thirty-six hours with the documents I want, your parents will be killed immediately." Clark glares at Josh, barely controlling his anger. He throws the folder down on the table and storms out of the room.

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Metropolis. It is to Smallville what New York City is to the entire state of New Jersey. A massive, sprawling metropolitan area that is the heart of the surrounding rural and suburban communities. It is also the headquarters of LuthorCorp, one of the world's leading fertilizer corporations.

This particular night had Lex Luthor finishing up a review of his Metropolis plant. He gets into his expensive Mercedes and speeds off down the city streets. It doesn't take him long to reach the LuthorCorp building, where he plans to spend most of that night.

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Across the street from the LuthorCorp building in Metropolis, Clark Kent watches Lex's car pull into the garage. Clark stands there thinking for a moment, then takes off at super-speed.

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In the dark and empty hallways of the LuthorCorp headquarters, Clark Kent super-speeds towards his destination.

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In his office, Lex Luthor sits down behind his desk to go over the latest quarterly projections.

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Several floor down from Lex, Clark reaches the vault. Still moving at super-speed, he reaches out with gloved hands and starts to spin the combination dial, using his x-ray vision to see the tumblers fall into place. He unlocks the door, twists the handle, and pulls the thick, steel door open.

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In his office, Lex Luthor's work is interrupted by a beeping from his computer. He looks at the screen, where the message 'Vault Opened' is flashing on his screen. He pushes a few buttons. The image on the screen is replaced with security monitors from that area. Lex rewinds them a few seconds, then plays the recording. He sees a blur shoot towards the vault, stop for a moment, then the vault door is practically thrown open and the blur shoots inside it. Lex reaches over and presses a button on his desk.

"Security, I think we have a situation at the records vault," Lex says calmly.

"We'll get right on it, Mr. Luthor," a man's voice says from a speaker on the desk.

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In the LuthorCorp records vault, Clark Kent is surrounded by file cabinets. He opens them one draw at a time (still in super-speed), frantically searching for the files he's been sent for.

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LuthorCorp security personnel begin to make their way towards the vault.

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Finally, Clark finds a series of folders, all marked 'Smallville Meteor Studies'. He grabs them and starts to shove them in a bag he had slung over his shoulder.

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LuthorCorp security arrives at the open vault, guns drawn. Inside they see almost every draw in the file cabinets open, and several files are lying on the floor. There is no sign of Clark Kent.

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On the streets outside of LuthorCorp, Clark Kent super-speeds away.

End of Chapter XIII

Author's Note: Well, interesting, huh? So, will Lex figure out that Clark was behind the break-in? (Of course not) What is the I.T.C. going to do now? Will Clark get away from them? Stay tuned for some answers in "Secrets", Chapter XIV of The Black Coats.

Additional Note: As it stands, there are only four more chapters left. That could change, of course, but I thought I'd give you guys a heads-up.