Mountain Glenn, an attempt made by Vale decades ago to expand its territory. Clark had wanted to read up on it, but he hadn't been able to find much information or why it had failed. He recognized censorship, the Council had probably covered it up to prevent panic.

So instead of continuing with unhelpful online searches or books, he'd asked Dr. Oobleck yesterday and learned what had really happened there. Without the main kingdom's natural defenses, Grimm had invaded, and the citizens were forced to retreat underground into its tunnels. Eventually, the Grimm had even breached their subterranean defenses and been well on their way to getting inside the main kingdom.

Then, the Council of Vale had made a decision. They'd decided to seal off the tunnels. Abandoning the still surviving people to certain death.

It was horrible. Just horrible. Clark had been in this world for months, yet he hadn't truly realized how bad it could get until Dr. Oobleck had gravely informed him of the Mountain Glenn tragedy. Clark had felt like he'd understood the black monsters with bone armor, he'd watched recordings of them slaughtering towns. Yet a country's own government would abandon its people to the Grimm and covering it up? How could he have expected that?

It was disturbing. And later this morning, he'd be going to the site of the disaster to help Qrow and some students investigate a terrorist group.

Clark let out a sigh, and repeated his daily routine of searching through news articles at super-speed. At least this problem was somewhat familiar, and what did that say about him when looking for signs of an alien prison escapee was familiar?

Like always, there were plenty of stories he could flick through with a sub-millisecond glance at their headlines. Teenagers arrested for vandalism, local high school sports team victories, scandals with town officials taking drugs. Going through news stories from small towns always reminded him of Smallville's newspaper. Change the names, and the events might have taken place in his hometown.

He needed something out of the ordinary though, something that he could connect to the phantom.

And if it wasn't too much to hope for, something nonviolent. Baern had been draining power stations, hurting people only if they got in his way. This one might be equally uninterested in humans. Vale's Council wasn't suppressing the news anymore. Ozpin and Ironwood made sure of that and made sure Clark wasn't wasting his time.

Hundreds of articles later, he found something worth looking into. Hiker Finds Mutilated Body In Woods. He read through it. According to the police, the person had been dead for at least a few days. Their clothing indicated that they were part of a tribe that had little contact with Vale. These types of groups didn't seem too uncommon in this world, even though they couldn't easily survive against Grimm. Qrow apparently came from a bandit tribe himself.

Was that how the phantom had lain low for so long? By choosing a host that lived isolated from the rest of civilization? If so, that could mean it could have done whatever it wanted without anyone reporting it.

The article assumed that he had been killed by a Grimm, but Clark interpreted the man's injuries differently.

However, this individual had a strange, anomalous injury. No tooth or claw marks were found, nor any signs of blunt force damage. Instead, his skin was ruptured above his stomach. According to the coroner, that injury was the only one on the body.

The writer didn't know what to make of it, since that didn't sound like an injury from a Grimm, but Clark knew what it was. He'd seen those same injuries back in Colorado. It was a rupture from the phantom forcibly leaving its host.

He had to find it, quickly. He didn't know whether the phantom would also have super-speed, but it would be safe to assume he did. Baern had used it, and Clark needed to be on the lookout for any surprise abilities.

Clark typed out a quick message to both Ozpin and Qrow.

I'm sorry, but I need to stop the phantom. If there's time, I'll be back to help. He sent the text, along with a link to the article he'd read.

He sped out of his room and to the town where this hiker lived. Only miles away from where Clark had first arrived.

\\\\\

It had taken Clark about a dozen seconds to travel the forty miles to Norr's River. The small town closest to the site of the killings. At five in the morning, he found the house of the man who'd discovered the bodies.

Clark knocked on the wooden door. "Hello?" He called out. "Peter Ulmon?"

The man was inside, Clark could hear his breathing, heartbeat, and see him with X-ray vision. This early in the morning, most people were still asleep, but Clark needed answers.

"Mr. Ulmon!" He raised his voice, and started hammering on the door. It didn't take long for the man to groan and step down from his bedroom to the front door.

He opened the door with bleary eyes. "What do you want?"

"You're the one who found that body in the forest, right?"

"Yeah." Ulmon let out a heavy sigh. "Look kid. I don't want to think about that any more than I have to, and it's way too early for this. Ask the police."

"I plan to." Clark put a foot forward in case the man tried to close the door. "But I'd like to speak with you first. Please. Someone I know was there, but they haven't found the body."

It was a stretch to say he knew the phantom. A stretch so far it would have ripped a bungee cord, but Clark was the one who knew it best in this entire world.

Ulmon's irritation faded a bit and he cursed. "Someone else died too?"

"I can't find him." Clark let the man come to his own conclusions. He wasn't lying, but he might as well be.

After a moment, the man opened the door wider and signaled him to come in. "I'll answer any questions you have, but try not to keep it too long. I need my sleep."

"I will, thank you." Clark walked inside, and the man invited him to sit at the kitchen table. It was . . . a disorganized mess, dirty plates filled the sink, and snack wrappers were strewn across the counter.

Clark began, asking Ulmon exactly wherehe found the body. The man had returned with a map of the region and circled the spot. He answered every question Clark thought might be important that hadn't been answered in the article. Whether he'd noticed any signs of damage in the area, any markings on the body, signs of someone having left the scene. Where the body might have come from.

Ulmon didn't know much. He hadn't examined the body closely. The moment he'd seen it, he'd immediately contacted the authorities. Scared that Grimm were in the area. The trail was familiar to him, and he went there often since it was supposed to be safe.

He hadn't noticed any damage in the area that could have indicated the phantom's abilities, nor any signs of anyone leaving the area. Clark committed the man's map to memory and thanked him before leaving.

He made his next stop at the police station. Unfortunately, there were only a few people there, and just one officer. This was a small town after all, and it was still early in the morning. Clark had asked for information on the death, but the officers involved in the case weren't on duty yet.

So instead, he went outside the coroner's office and looked inside with X-ray vision. There were only a few bodies there, and it was easy to find the one that the phantom had left.

Baern had possessed Cedar Monroe for weeks, so what had urged the phantom to leave this body?

Maybe a look at the coroner's files would help. He scanned the building, and located the cabinet they were kept in. Clark opened a window, wrecking the lock, and went in.

This was breaking and entering, but he was chasing a murderous alien criminal. No one could blame him for that.

At super-speed, he found a pair of gloves and opened the cabinet with the coroner's files. He took the folder outside, and quickly read through them. Then, he returned them without the security cameras even detecting a blur.

According to the coroner, there had been signs of organ failure prior to death. Cedar Monroe hadn't had that, but it would be too much of a coincidence if this phantom had chosen a host with that kind of condition. Somehow, this phantomhad caused its host's organs to shut down.

There would probably be other bodies with the same signs. There might even be someone suffering like that right now.

Clark had to find the phantom, fast.

He left the town and went miles into the forest to the location of the killings. It wasn't even on a marked hiking path, since Ulmon liked to explore the forest on his own. Clark scanned the area with his complete range of vision, Baern had left radioactive footprints, maybe this phantom left behind something too.

After a few seconds of looking around at super-speed, Clark stopped. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. No radioactive footprints, no alien residue, no signs of any energy blasts, no trail.

That wouldn't stop him. He had to find the phantom.

\\\\\

With the wind rushing by in the open Bullhead, it wasn't exactly easy to hear, but Qrow heard someone voice a question.

"Is something wrong?"

Qrow looked up from the article Clark had sent to his scroll. He was greeted by the sight of Ruby staring at him with a bit of worry. Not just her, Yang too, and the rest of her team seemed bothered.

He grinned to give them some reassurance and put away the scroll. "Nah, just checking up on something. Any of you got questions on what you're gonna be doing at Mountain Glenn?"

"Searching for the White Fang?" asked Blake.

"Yep." And that would have been a lot easier if Clark just ran through the city looking for them. How long would it have taken him, a minute or two? "Although you'll be doing other stuff too, like learning how to set up camp, judge how safe an area is, and how to take orders from your superiors." He added proudly.

Yang groaned, and Ruby rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't joking." Well, maybe a little bit, but now he wasn't. He furrowed his brow. "I'm serious. Once we're there, you all are going to do exactly as I say. Got it?" Qrow looked to each one of them and received nods.

The Bullhead dropped them off, and they jumped out with their weapons at the ready. At least, the kids did. Qrow kept Harbinger on his hip.

Right, first thing was-

Ruby's bag wiggled, and a dog's head popped out and barked. Qrow and her teammates looked on in stunned silence.

Ruby froze, then slowly turned her head to whisper to him. "Zwei! You weren't supposed to come out yet. Go back."

Qrow, meanwhile, closed his eyes and facepalmed. "Ruby, you brought Zwei to our mission?"

"No?"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Qrow just gave her the look, stern, just like Tai would do if he were here. She returned with her puppy dog eyes, but he held firm.

"Okay okay, I brought him. But . . . I thought he could be helpful!" Ruby took him out of her bag and presented the blissfully ignorant creature. "You know, he could smell out clues and stuff. And you know he can take care of himself."

"Yes, yes I do." He'd seen that dog do things that no dog should be capable of. "How'd you even get him here in the first place? Far as I know, you haven't visited home yet."

"Errr, dad sort of . . . sent him in the mail earlier." Yang explained.

"Of course he did." Qrow shook his head. "Probably thought it was funny, I'm so sorry that that's where you get your sense of humor from."

"Hey!"

He ignored the outburst. "Okay, the dog's here. We can't change that. Ruby, you're taking care of him. Now, onto the mission. Besides the White Fang, we're investigating weird Grimm activity that may or may not be related. Oh hey, there's one over there." He pointed.

The team of students turned their weapons to it.

"Whoa whoa, calm down. We're not going to kill it, we're gonna track it and-

A pack of a couple dozen arrived, crushing Qrow's plan to follow oneof them to a pack. Which they'd then follow to the White Fang.

Oh great, the Grimm also saw them. His Semblance was the most goddamn amazing thing on the planet.

"Okay, kill them. I'll watch." He ordered as the pack descended on them.

Without a word, team RWBY attacked. Qrow stood back and spectated. He would have liked to take a sip from his flask, but he was on duty. At least he had something to do. Evaluate their combat skills.

They weren't bad. It would have been embarrassing if Ruby and Yang were, considering both Qrow and Tai were teachers. Blake and Weiss had some skill too. Better than the average Beacon student. They still focused too much on flourish though, all of them. The acrobatics were pretty, but it was better to conserve energy.

They'd learn. Especially on a mission like this.

The five of them moved on, clearing sections of the city while they searched for anything out of the ordinary. He had them split up, so he could talk to each of them alone and report on them for the school. Ruby and Yang were family, but he'd still need to check up on them. He'd save them for last.

He started with Weiss, or as he liked to think of her, mini-Winter. "So, why do you want to be a huntress?"

She sliced through a few Beowolves. "Excuse me?"

"Why be a huntress? You could have an easy job in Atlas, right?" he asked. "You want to follow in your sister's footsteps?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No. I admire Winter, but I chose this on my own. I'm a Schnee, I have a legacy to uphold."

"Huh."

"Is there a reason why you asked?" She said with a little bit of irritation.

He snorted, this girl really didn't like him. Just like her sister. Except little Weiss here had to show him respect, since he was her superior on this mission.

To be honest, Qrow didn't really care all that much for why they wanted to be huntresses. Ruby and Yang's motivations he already had a handle on, although they might have gotten some new ideas in their months at Beacon. The reason he was asking was that this was a pretty standard method of getting students to consider their motivations for attending the academy, and it was an easy way to evaluate them.

Next was Blake Belladonna. Daughter of Menagerie's chieftain and ex-White Fang. That last bit hadn't raised Qrow's confidence in Yang's partner, but Ozpin had vouched for her, so Qrow hadn't raised any alarm bells. Besides, she'd be the most useful for this mission, she knew how the White Fang worked.

Blake's answer to his question had been immediate.

"There's too much injustice in the world. Corruption, discrimination, someone needs to stop it." She said proudly.

"Uh-huh." He nodded, half-bored. "And how would they do that?"

At that, she looked away. "Um . . .

He didn't say anything. Leaving her to think so he could go on to the next student. Which was Yang.

He watched as Tai's firecracker killed Grimm.

"Hey old man!" She called out. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, doing something? You've already been lazing around at Beacon for the past couple months, you're just gonna sit back and watch us do all the dirty work?"

"You're the students. The best way to learn how to fight Grimm is by fighting Grimm, and as the teacher, I get to pick out all the mistakes you made and drill you not to make them again."

"Really, mistakes like what?"

"Like how you don't need to charge every Grimm head-on, even if you can," answered Qrow. "Strategy beats out brute force, and you can save energy. Look around, there's plenty of rubble. Grimm aren't smart, they'll follow you right on them. Balance won't be easy to maintain, and there's plenty of cover for you to use to surprise them."

"Alright, I'll try that next time." She said, finishing off the last one. "Any reason why you're giving me a one-on-one lesson? Isn't that favoritism?"

"Who's to say I didn't just give your teammates their own lessons?" He pointed out. "Anyway, I'm curious to see if anything's changed. What do you like about being a huntress?"

"Fighting monsters is fun I guess, and I get to go on a lot of cool adventures as a huntress. They're never sure what to expect, and I like that. Plus, I get to help people, that's a cool bonus."

"So basically, your answer's the same as when you started Beacon."

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Nope." Qrow walked off, but only after he was certain their little talk would stick in Yang's mind.

Last, but certainly not least, except for height and age, was Ruby. Ozpin had made her leader of her team. She'd need to learn the most. It was getting dark, so he had the other three set up camp while he led Ruby around to check their perimeter.

"Whoa, what are they?!" She pointed excitedly in the distance.

Qrow followed her finger and spotted the enormous Grimm in the distance. "Goliaths. Big ones."

"Yeah they are, wow. Just look at how big they are compared to the trees!" Ruby deployed her scythe. "We should kill them."

"No."

"No? But what if they attack?"

"They won't, you see how big they are? Grimm don't get that big without getting old, and when Grimm get that old when they're this close to our borders, they pick up a few things. Not all Grimm stay mindless, the ones over there know that if they come here and attack, they'll probably end up dead. Our weapons probably won't do more than bother them, but when the kingdom notices them they're toast."

"Hmm, they seem really close though." She commented.

"They are, they haven't given up on attacking humans. They're just waiting for the right moment." Grimm like that were the most dangerous ones. "Anyway, looks like it's all clear. Let's see if your team's set up camp yet. Then we can start up the search again in the morning."

This probably would have been so much easier if Qrow had just asked Clark to speed through the city. Well, good luck to him on the alien he was chasing.

\\\\\

Later that night, Qrow rested up against the wall while Ruby kept first watch. He would have liked to sleep, but it wasn't exactly easy when three teenage girls apparently didn't realize they could whisper.

Eh, this conversation was pretty important. He would have listened in anyway. They were thoughtful kids, it hadn't taken much prodding to get them to think a little deeper on what it meant to be a huntress. And from the sounds of it, they seemed like they were on the right track.

Blake was concerned about her non-plans to make the world a place where faunus and humans would kiss and make up. She also mentioned her tendency to duck out of difficult situations. Qrow recognized the self-disappointment. Yeesh, he was glad she was talking about that with her teammates rather than him.

Weiss was proud of her family name and wanted to do it justice, but she was also aware of what her dad had done by running the company. She seemed like she had her head on straight though, and wanted make things better. Although, like Blake, she didn't mention specifically how she planned to do it. Qrow cut her a little slack though. It was easy to see her potential influence as the Schnee heiress.

Yang, meanwhile, got introspective on how she liked to go with the flow. It wasn't a big problem from Qrow's perspective, as long as she knew that was what she wanted. But it seemed like it wasn't. Or at least, it wouldn't always be.

Heh, they were smart kids. They got the lesson entirely. Their personal reasons for being huntresses were secondary, what really mattered was that they helped people. Sure, Qrow could have told them that from the start, but it was better when they figured it out for themselves.

\\\\\

A few days ago, a woman from the Soren tribe had come to Newpoint, a town fifteen miles north of Norr's river. She'd visited a store, bought some supplies, food, and water for the road. According to the storeowner, she'd seemed scared, she'd come in and left as quickly as she could. The few townspeople who remembered her also mentioned that she'd headed south.

That was the best lead Clark had found after hours of searching through the forests and checking nearby towns as quickly as he could. Someone else from the tribe was probably the phantom's host. It would have had dozens of people to easily take over, isolated from the rest of the world. With Clark completely unaware of what it was doing. How many people had it taken over and killed?

Focus. He couldn't dwell on that right now. He had to concentrate, use all of his senses to examine his surroundings for anything that might hint that the phantom had passed by here. He followed the road out of Newpoint to the south, jogging instead of going full speed so he could listen and watch carefully for anything out of the ordinary.

Several miles down the road, he found something that fit the criteria. A dead body.

It seemed like nobody else had found it, since it was on the side of the road that looked over a sheer cliff. He'd only seen it because he'd been checking with X-ray vision.

Clark jumped down about fifty feet, and landed close to the body. Not a very recent death, there was a small cloud of flies buzzing over, and the body had started to bloat. The skin was stretched and discolored, and the familiar wound of the phantom's exit was present in the corpse's lower chest. He wrinkled his nose at the rancid smell.

Clark remembered that his neighbor's horse had gone missing once, and he'd found it in the woods after it had starved to death. The rotting smell of its corpse had always stuck with him. This was somehow worse.

This body was a man's. The person who'd left Newpoint had been a woman. Even so, the corpse's red clothing and the symbol of the Soren tribe on its bandana made it pretty clear Clark was on the right track.

What had happened? The phantom had clearly left its host, and . . . moved onto the next one? It could have been threatening the woman, keeping her close so that it could use her as another host when its current one failed.

Clark sighed. He made a promise, he'd be back to bury the body. If it weren't for Clark's mistake, no one in this world would have gotten hurt by alien criminals. He'd come too late to stop this, but at least he'd give this man the proper respect he deserved.

He walked off, away from the road and deeper into the forest. The trees were practically transparent to him, and he concentrated only on any other clues the phantom might have left.

Clark found one, a protein bar wrapper several hundred feet away. He might have written it off as litter, but it was too far from the road. No way it would have landed there if it was thrown away, and it was also doubtful that anyone would want to walk through the dense trees off-road.

But was it the phantom? Baern had probably provided his host with all the energy he needed by sucking those power plants dry. Then again, this phantom could be different. Clark honestly had no idea.

In a split second, he reached the spot with the wrapper. Then, he swiveled his head around to repeat his search.

From that point on, the trail was a lot easier to track. There were more than just empty wrappers and water bottles, Plants and bushes with torn red clothing on them hinted pretty well that Clark was at least following someone from the right tribe. The path also indicated that whoever had made it wasn't a normal person, it was like they didn't care about any bushes or thorns in the way and just walked right through them.

At some point, the trail split up. One headed almost directly south to Norr's River, but the other headed east. Why? The phantom had clearly gone south, but from the look of it, the one who'd gone east had also advanced through the underbrush without a care. Had it gone one way, then changed directions?

There was too much Clark didn't know about this phantom, and that was dangerous. He reached inside his pocket, and traced the El symbol on the Kryptonian crystal for comfort.

He followed the trail heading east, it went on for several miles and since it was pretty easy to see, Clark ran through the forest at a decent speed. Seconds later, he stopped, realizing where he was.

Several mountains interrupted the surrounding landscape of green forest, signifying the start of the mountain ranges that formed part of Vale's natural defenses. Dark gray stone reached up to the clear blue sky in steep peaks, with the tallest topped by white snow even though it was currently late spring. The Sun sank low in the west, and its rays cast the mountains' long, looming shadows.

This was where Clark had first arrived on Remnant.

With a surprised blink, he looked down into his pocket. The Kryptonian crystal was vibrating, emitting an incredibly deep, near-silent hum. He held it out in his right hand with a curious look. It stopped vibrating, and for a brief moment, shone with blue light. Then, it faded, and the crystal returned to its previous inert state.

"Jor-El?" Clark asked hopefully. He turned the device over in case that might do something, but the crystal remained silent. Checking with X-ray vision showed that it looked pretty much the same as before.

This just raised so many questions. Had it reacted to the nearby phantom? Or his proximity to where it had malfunctioned and brought him to this world? Was this a clue to help him get back home?

Clark set the crystal aside for now and checked his surroundings. He focused on his hearing, ignoring any sounds he estimated were more than a mile or so away. He recognized sounds that he could attribute to animals or natural causes and moved on, eventually narrowing them down to the suspicious ones. The breathing and heartbeat of someone nearby. Above, somewhere on the shadowed side of the mountain.

Telescopic vision showed a little girl stood on an overhang about a thousand feet up. She looked around six or seven years old, and was turning over rocks. Like she was trying to find something. The way she moved was unnatural, she walked with sudden, jerky motions, and when her arms reached out to turn over a rock they spasmed slightly.

The phantom had possessed a little girl.

Clark clenched his fist and scaled the mountain immediately, reaching out with the crystal to free her.

Somehow, even when Clark was certain he was moving faster than sound, the phantom detected him. When he got close, it retreated with a burst of speed and turned to stare at him with pitch black eyes.

Clark stopped and lowered his stance. The phantom was fast, like Baern. Clark couldn't just rush in and hope to use his speed to free her before the phantom realized.

He might have to fight a little girl.

"Kryptonian." The raspy voice was incredibly eerie. Even worse when coming from a round young face encircled by locks of blonde hair.

Without another word, thick black smoke erupted from her mouth. Then, it coalesced and formed the phantom. With sudden speed, it flew straight at him.

Clark rushed to bring the crystal up in time, and the phantom slammed into it.

A bright flash of light.

The world turned blue, then green, then gray. Then blue again, and the colors repeated.

Clark tumbled through the air, and fell down into the shadowed forest. He went so fast that he rammed straight through a tree, before skidding to a stop.

"Ugh." With a groan, he got up.

Then, without a second to relax. He leapt back and dodged something. No, someone.Someone else was here, and they'd followed him down, landing right in front of him with a resounding impact.

Clark's breath hitched when he realized what he was seeing.

Standing right in front of him was a mirror image of himself. X-ray vision confirmed the body looked just like his, and an inhumanly slow, steady heartbeat echoed off incredibly dense and tough bones and muscles just like his own.

With Clark's face, the creature in front of him smirked.