The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter XIV: "Secrets"

"So," Lex Luthor begins to say, "You arrived at the vault, only to find no one there?"

"That's correct, Mr. Luthor," the head of security tells his boss.

"And there's no possible way he could have gotten out without passing your men?" Lex asks.

"No, sir." The security director has a look of discomfort on his face.

"Then how do you explain the theft of classified documents from the vault?" Lex asks him.

"I can't, sir," the other man admits.

"In that case I think you should go figure it out," Lex tells him.

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On the outskirts of Smallville, Clark Kent super-speeds to the Black Coats' compound. Slung over his back is a bag filled with the files he just stole from LuthorCorp.

As Clark approaches the compound, he slows down to a normal jog. As he does this, he's spotted by two I.T.C. soldiers, who proceed to escort him into the base.

In the command center of the I.T.C. base, a smile forms on Colonel Joshua Hammond's face as he sees Clark walk in.

"Ah, Clark," the colonel greets. "I assume you have what I asked for?" Clark tosses the bag down on a nearby table. Josh motions for another soldier to check it out.

"Good work, Clark," Josh tells him. "And in just seven hours. Not bad, Kent." He turns to the soldier looking over the contents of Clark's bag. "Take those to the lab," he instructs.

"Yes, sir," the soldier replies. He picks up the bag and walks out of the room.

"What about my parents?" Clark asks.

"What about them?" Josh's tone is unconcerned.

"I did what you wanted," Clark tells him, "now let them go."

"Clark, I never said anything to make you believe I was going to do that." The colonel chuckles. "You've proven to be too valuable an asset to let go, Kent." He pats Clark on the back before motioning to the two soldiers who brought Clark into the base. "Take Mr. Kent back to his cell." The soldiers grab Clark, and the young man lets them drag him away.

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Out in the cornfields of Smallville, Joshua Hammond is hard at work. He has already dug a hole deeper than he is, and he's still at it. He looks up and sees the sun beginning to rise. Newly motivated, his digging becomes more frantic. Finally his shovel hits something hard. A few moments later, he has completely uncovered a stone slab buried deep beneath the earth. He uses his shovel to pry off a piece of the slab, revealing a hidden compartment. In that compartment is yet another stone with Kryptonian symbols on it. Josh reaches down and picks it up.

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Back at the base, Josh Hammond, his cloths covered in dirt, walks towards the building that his quarters are in. As he rounds the corner he walks straight into Major Woodward.

"Whoa, man," the major exclaims. "What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Josh tells his friend.

"Well, I was supervising the analysis of our young Mr. Kent's 'DNA' sample," Jeremy says. "You know how I'm into that kind of stuff."

"Yeah," Josh says sarcastically. "Believe me, I know." Jeremy gives the other man a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"So, what're you doing up?" the major asks.

"Just going for a walk," Josh tells him.

"In a mud puddle?" Jeremy asks, indicating the state of the colonel's cloths.

"I slipped down a hill," Josh explains.

"Clutz." Josh punches Jeremy's arm. "Ow! That actually hurt, man!"

"I know." Josh breaks out laughing, and Jeremy shakes his head.

"See you first shift," Jeremy tells him.

"See you then." The two men go their separate ways. As he walks through the compound, Josh breathes a sigh of relief.

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In his cell, Clark Kent ponders the hopelessness of his situation. As long as his parents are locked away somewhere by the I.T.C., there is nothing he can do. Of course, if he hangs around there long enough, Clark could learn the location of his parents. Then he can go off, rescue them, and lie low somewhere.

But even if he did do that, they'd spend the rest of their lives running from the I.T.C. Their lives would truly be over.

Clark sighs with frustration. His situation was starting to drive him crazy.

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In Josh Hammond's quarters, the colonel reaches under his bed for the first three crystals. He lays them out on his bed, and puts the crystal he just found down with them. He stares at them for a moment. Then he picks up two crystals and connects them. Apparently the oddly-shaped edges were designed to connect the crystals together.

With the first two crystals combined, Josh Hammond proceeds to connect the third and fourth crystals. Now what was four irregularly-shaped crystals is now one big crystal. The crystal itself looks like four small cubes connected with one another.

As Josh holds it in his hand, the crystal starts to glow. It floats out of his hands and hovers in the air before him. The colonel smiles as the glow of the crystal becomes brighter. Suddenly a beam of energy shoots out from the crystal and hits Josh in the stomach. He's thrown across his room and pinned to the wall as more and more energy flows from the crystal into his body.

End of Chapter XIV

Author's Note: Well, another Kryptonian crystal. There seems to be a lot of those on Earth. So, what will the crystal do to Josh? Will Clark escape from the I.T.C.? And will Lex's security chief figure out what happened at the vault? Find out in "The Cortex", Chapter XV of The Black Coats.

Additional Note: I just finished "Epilogue", the last chapter of this story. It'll be posted in a few days. Just thought you might like to know.