The Black Coats
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter XV: "The Cortex"

In the early years of the twelfth century, a Christian monastery was hit by "fire from the heavens". When the smoke cleared, the monks found a metal container with four crystals inside. They called the crystals the "Holy Cortex", decided that they must be a gift from god, and kept them a secret for five-hundred years. After such time, this particular order migrated to the New World so that they could escape the politics of European civilization. They traveled west over the Appalachian Mountains and settled deep in the central plains of the Americas. When they arrived there, the monks buried the crystals around their land to keep them safe. The only record of their existence was a map, upon which they transcribed the holy symbols found on the crystals.

Less than fifty years later, the monastery was destroyed by a tornado. When American settlers arrived there nearly half-a-century later, they noted the ruins of the monastery. One of the settlers found the map, and had it sent to a collector in New York. For the next century the map passed from one private collector to the next. Finally, during the civil war, it ended up in the hands of Charles Grayson, a wealthy man living in Mississippi. As the war went on, Union General Sherman cut a bloody swath through that state, destroying Grayson's home and his possessions. It was only pure chance that during all this, Grayson had been at a friend's house, showing off his latest acquisition. As the town was destroyed by Union troops, he fled with the map. Eventually he reached Little Rock, Arkansas, where he lived for seven years in moderate comfort. After dying of liver disease, Grayson's possessions were auctioned off. The map, which was thought to be a child's drawing, was sold for two cents, which wasn't even a lot of money back in the 1800s. The man who bought it was John Harrison, a local farmer. He thought it'd look good in his kitchen, so he had it framed and hung up.

Several years later, a wealthy businessman came through town. He was trying to buy out some of the farmers land for a new factory. The businessman met with Harrison, and, to his surprise, saw the map there. Having been entertained at the Grayson estate on numerous occasions, the man knew that the map was a priceless artifact. He attempted to buy it, but John Harrison was a shrewd man. He knew that if this wealthy man wanted a child's drawing, then it was more than a child's drawing. Realizing that he wasn't going to get the map for less than it was worth, the businessman stormed out of town.

Several days later, the house and everyone in it burned to the ground in a fire. The businessman was the first person there after the tragedy. He oversaw the cleanup of the house.

But the map didn't end up in the businessman's private collection. After the fire, no one could find it. There were rumors, of course. Word got out that the businessman wanted what became known as the "Grayson Map". Supposedly it led to wealth beyond a man's wildest dreams, the treasure of Charles Grayson. Now, Grayson was wealthy, but the legends made him out to be a billionaire, who stashed all his money away in a secret location. This local folklore continued for over a century, and was still prevalent when the Internal Threat Control came to the town in 1999

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In the year 2004, the Internal Threat Control has set up shop in the small town of Smallville, Kansas. In their compound, on the outskirts of town, Joshua Hammond has just assembled the Holy Cortex found by the monks nine centuries ago. He is pinned against his wall right now, and energy is being pumped into his body.

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In the I.T.C.'s command center, one of the soldiers notices an unusual reading on his computer.

"Uh... sir?" the soldier says. "I'm detecting a massive spike on just about every EM frequency." The officer on duty walks over to him.

"Where is it coming from?" the officer asks. The soldier presses a few buttons on his computer.

"Colonel Hammond's quarters, sir," the soldier tells his superior.

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Outside of Colonel Hammond's quarters, a contingent of I.T.C. soldiers take up defensive positions. They're wearing black pants, red shirts, black hats, gloves, sunglasses, and the black coats that gave them their nickname. All around them klaxon alarms blare. As they get ready, Major Jeremy Woodward walks over to them.

"What the hell is going on here, Lieutenant?" the major asks.

"We have an unknown energy spike coming from the colonel's quarters, sir," the lieutenant replies.

"How unknown are we..." Jeremy starts to say. He's cut off by the sound of a door being thrown open. Everyone turns to face the door to Josh's quarters, and the soldiers take their weapons off safe mode. Josh Hammond takes a shaky step forward, leaning on the doorframe for support. He looks terribly pale, and his blonde hair has turned an eerie shade of gray.

"Josh?" Jeremy says, astonished at his friend's appearance. "What happened to you?"

Josh tries to say something, but all he manages to do is grunt. The colonel falls to his knees.

"Josh!" Jeremy exclaims as he runs to his friend's side.

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In his cell, Clark's self-pitying reminiscences are interrupted by the klaxons. He stands up, the expression on his face showing his concern. Clark walks over to the door to his cell and tears it off the hinges. With the door out of the way, he super-speeds off.

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Clark arrives at Josh's quarters several moments later. He peers around a corner and sees Jeremy kneeling next to a sick-looking Josh. Clark stops peeking around the corner and uses his x-ray vision to see through the building in front of him, and his super-hearing to listen in on their conversation.

"Josh?" Jeremy asks, obviously concerned for his friend. "Josh, what's going on?"

"I-I found it!" Josh tells him. "I assembled it!"

Clark's eyes widen. Through his x-ray vision, he sees electrical currents course through Josh's body. The currents become brighter and brighter, and they start to focus in Josh's right hand. The same hand he had just placed on Jeremy's shoulder. Realizing what was about to happen, Clark super-speeds past the crowd of soldiers, grabs Jeremy, and pulls him away. Clark stops running, and Jeremy glares at him.

"What the hell do you think you're...!" he starts to say, but is cut off by a loud crackling sound from Josh. Jeremy looks over and sees a massive bolt of blue lightning shoot out from Josh's right hand and strike a nearby building.

Clark uses his x-ray vision again. Josh's body is ten times more electrified than it was before, and the energy is coalescing in a dozen different places this time. Clark returns to normal vision and turns to Jeremy.

"You need to get everyone out of here right now!" Clark tells him.

"Why the hell should I listen to you?" Jeremy demands. Before Clark can answer, a dozen bolts of lightning shoot out from Josh's body, striking half the soldiers gathered before him. In a matter of moments they're burnt to a crisp.

"That's why!" Clark tells him. "Now get them out of here!" Knowing that Clark is right, Jeremy runs over to his men.

"Everyone, get out of here!" he orders.

As Jeremy takes care of the soldiers, Clark uses his x-ray vision on Jeremy again. He sees that Jeremy is rapidly building up to another lightning strike, and the energy is coalescing in twice as many places as last time. As Clark stares at the colonel, his attention is captured by a glowing he can see through the wall of Josh's quarters. It's the Cortex. Clark super-speeds into Josh's quarters. With his x-ray vision he can see how the crystals were combined, so it doesn't take him long to disconnect the fourth crystal. When he does, the crystals stop glowing. Clark turns to leave the room, but spots the map on Josh's desk. He recognizes the Kryptonian symbols on it, and decides to take it with him.

Clark steps out of Josh's quarters and is knocked to the ground by a bolt of lightning. As Clark hits the ground he looks over at Josh, who is releasing a lightning bolt every few seconds. It's happening so much that the air around him is becoming electrified. In the midst of all this, Jeremy walks towards his friend.

"Oh my god!" he exclaims. Clark uses his x-ray vision to check out the colonel. He sees that the energy is far more erratic than it was before, but it is still there. After a few seconds it all starts to coalesce in the center of his chest. Clark looks over at Jeremy, who's walking towards his friend.

Seeing Jeremy's imminent danger, Clark super-speeds to him and pushes him out of the way. One final lightning bolt, more powerful than any of the others, shoots out of Josh. The bolt barely misses Jeremy and Clark, destroying a nearby building instead. Josh collapses to the ground. Jeremy picks himself off the ground and runs over to his friend.

"Josh!" he exclaims as he reaches the fallen colonel. Josh looks up at Jeremy, a look of madness in his eyes.

"Nice day," he says. "Oh, yes, very nice day. With birds, and trees, and sun, and sky, and..." Josh keeps on babbling as Jeremy stares down at him in despair.

End of Chapter XV

Author's Note: So, what exactly just happened? Is this the end of the I.T.C.? What's going to happen to Josh and Clark? Stay tuned, because its almost over. "Endings", Chapter XVI of The Black Coats and the next-to-last chapter, is coming soon.