"Oh ho!" Professor Port's voice boomed from the speakers. "Mr. Sellick's aura has been reduced to twenty-three percent! One more good hit, and the victory will go to Ms. Polendina of Atlas!"

The crowd both surged and jeered at Penny's success. Atlesian fans applauded happily, while Mistralian ones grumbled at their team's performance.

From what Clark could tell, the Mistralian wasn't bad. That would have been impossible after being picked to fight in the tournament. Penny was just that good. She'd eliminated one of her opponents already and had barely lost any aura while doing it.

"Wow, and her partner hasn't even done anything yet." Fox noted to Clark's left.

Yeah, just as before, Penny was the only one fighting. Ciel had just stood to the side, and all Clark had heard from her was when she read off her stopwatch to time Penny's attacks. She'd hardly even looked up from her wrist.

"Watch carefully Yats, you're going to need to beat her." Coco said. "Or hope someone else does."

Yatsuhashi swallowed. "Clark, you're her friend. You wouldn't happen to know any of her weaknesses, would you?"

All of team CFVY looked to him for an answer.

"Nope." He answered honestly. "Even if I did, I couldn't tell you guys. Would you want me to tell her about your moves if she asked?"

"That's fine Clark. We can do fine on our own anyway, right Yats?" Coco asked the big man.

Yatsuhashi sagged in his seat and nodded slowly. "Right."

The rest of the fight lasted a little more than a minute. The Mistralian didn't give up, but he didn't stand a match against Penny and her ring of swords. He blocked them a couple times until his shortsword was knocked out of his hands and she sliced into him. The strike threw him out of the ring, and even if it hadn't, his aura had been reduced to the point where he would have been eliminated anyway.

"And there you have it!" cried out the announcer. "Penny Polendina of Atlas is victorious! She'll be moving onto the final rounds!"

Penny's swords folded up and retracted into her 'backpack'. With a bow, she beamed at the crowd and left the arena.

"I'm gonna go down and congratulate her." Clark said. "You guys want to meet her?"

"Nah, we need to discuss strategy and compare notes." Coco answered.

"Alright, I'll be heading back down to Beacon after." He said. Coco and Yats had already won their doubles round, and the finals didn't begin until tomorrow.

"Tell Penny that the team will meet her some other time." Velvet said.

"Will do."

Clark walked down the stairs laong with other spectators. There was a break until the next fight, so this would be the best time for them to use the bathrooms or buy festival merchandise.

"Okay, there were three times when she had precise control over at least four blades. They were each doing separate things, not being pulled in a ring around her or launched all at once."

"Jeez, that many?"

"What's worse is that she looks like she can use them without even looking. It's almost instinctual for her."

Clark grinned as he overheard them making a game plan against Penny. He'd never realized how skilled she was with her swords.

He made his way around to the robot. At a certain point, he was able to hear her voice without even concentrating. Although it would have still been too faint for any human to hear.

She gasped. "Ruby!"

"Eep!"

Metal crashed into aura-protected flesh, the sound briefly rang out and Clark keyed in to the girl's breathing and heartbeat to make sure she was okay. It seemed like she was just flustered, which anyone would be from Penny's hugs. There was some shuffling as they both got to their feet.

"You did great out there!" Ruby offered her praise.

"Thanks."

Clark kept walking, consciously focusing elsewhere so he wouldn't continue eavesdropping. It was hard not to listen to something, but he could do it.

He realized that he hadn't met Qrow's niece before. He'd only heard the man talk about her.

No, that wasn't true. There had been that incident at the CCT when she'd tried to eavesdrop on them talking about Cinder. Another reminder for why he extended the conscious range of his hearing, it would have been bad if she'd heard-

"I don't really do public transportation. You know?"

Clark froze as the familiar voice cut through all the background noise. The casual, joking tone came from a voice that he would have recognized anywhere. One of the sounds that he'd trained himself to be on the lookout for.

His own voice. Or in this case, the phantom's identical voice.

Where was he?! It sounded close, but how was that possible? Clark would have heard his heartbeat at this distance.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there at three, sharp."The phantom spoke again. This time, Clark could hear a sort of metallic overtone. It was coming from a scroll, which explained how his breathing or heartbeat had gone undetected. He was calling someone in the stands.

Clark squinted at the wall, applying his X-ray vision and found the source of the scroll. A woman in the crowd held it by her ear.

"Good. That's all for now."She said. Clark recognized her voice too. Emerald Sustrai. She wore a black wig and a different outfit, but it was definitely her.

"Hold on, there's a crowd in the background. Where are you calling from?"The phantom asked.

Clark took out his scroll. General Ironwood was one of the contacts that Qrow had put in. He'd never used it before now, but he needed the general's help.

Emerald frowned. "Why do you need to kn-

"Are you at the Coliseum? Damn it, is Clark there?!"

"I'm here, I don't know if he- Hey!"A high-pitched tone signaled that the phantom had hung up, and Emerald looked down at her scroll. She pressed the buttons immediately to dial him again.

At the same time, Ironwood answered Clark's call. "Kent, wh-

Clark hung up immediately, which was rude, but necessary. Now that he was certain the general was looking at his scroll, he sent a message.

Emerald Sustrai is in the Coliseum seats. Southeast side, seventh row from the bottom, and on the right. She's wearing a black wig with curly hair, jeans, and a plain green T-shirt.

Can't talk. Phantom might be nearby. Not sure if he's close enough to hear us, but being cautious.

Clark couldn't hear the phantom's heart, but a voice was obviously louder than a heartbeat. Depending on where the phantom was, it might be possible for the creature to still be close enough to hone in on Clark's voice. His and the phantom's bodies sounded so unique that they could identify each other even when other noises would drown out the heartbeats and breaths of humans. Their voices, on the other hand, weren't as distinctive. Clark could focus on a voice in a crowd, but if the phantom was a good distance away, he'd have to sift through a city of millions.

Still, Clark didn't know whether either of them could manage it. For now, he'd communicate by scroll.

The general's reply came. Understood.

Clark took a quick look around to make sure nobody would see him. Then, he sped to an entrance to the spectator area and kept his back to the wall.

He wouldn't have to maintain his X-ray vision through walls this way. Now he had a direct line of sight to her, and it looked like she had a few messages of her own from the phantom. Clark looked through her hand and at the screen of the scroll. With the letters backwards, he read only snatches of the messages before she locked the screen and put her scroll back in her pocket.

How much had the phantom told her? Her heartrate was slightly elevated, and some sweat had formed on her neck. She wasn't moving from her seat. Hopefully, that meant the phantom wasn't certain of whether Clark had found her.

"Damn it, what was he talking about?" She muttered to herself. "Cinder needs me here, but . . ."

She examined her surroundings, and Clark hid back behind the corner. She continued muttering, so she didn't seem to know about super-hearing. Would it be too much to hope the phantom hadn't told them about X-ray vision? If he'd kept it from them, it would make it a lot easier to spy on possibly untrustworthy allies.

For the next few minutes, Emerald stayed glued to her seat. Eventually, a couple Atlas soldiers filed up the stairs and approached her. Her pulse raced, and there was some muttering in the crowd as the soldiers approached.

"Excuse me. Miss?" One soldier asked. His eyes were hidden behind his helmet, but there was no doubt as to who he was looking at.

"Me?"Emerald's voice was casual, and even Clark barely heard a tint of fear in it.

"Yes. Would you mind coming with us?"

"Can I ask what for?"

"Nothing serious. There seems to be a discrepancy with your ticket and ID. If you'd just come with us, I'm sure that it'll be resolved in a few minutes."

Her fist clenched, and she nodded. "Okay."

She followed them down the stairs, and they headed into a hall closed off to civilians. Clark didn't enter but kept watch with X-ray vision.

"Um, excuse me, where are we headed?" asked Emerald.

"The ticketing offices."

"But . . . aren't they the other way?"

The second soldier paused for a moment. "Hey, isn't she right? I thought they were like halfway around the coliseum?"

The first soldier shrugged. "Orders are orders. This is where we were told to go."

They continued walking, and just before they reached a turn, both soldiers jolted.

"Hey! Stop!" One of them yelled at a blank hallway. Both aimed their guns at an empty corridor.

Clark's eyes widened, what was happening?

Both soldiers sprinted forward and around the corner. One cursed, and the other yelled. "Fleeing from law enforcement is a criminal offense! Stop!"

Emerald stayed back, and kept staring intently at the corner they'd fled. A few seconds later, she fell to her knees and rubbed her head. With a groan, she pulled out her scroll. She went to a contact named Traveler.

Lionel Luthor had called Clark that a few times before. It had to be the phantom, Clark couldn't let her call him.

He raced into the hall and snatched the scroll out of her hand before she pressed call.

She blinked in surprise, but held her head in pain. "You're here. Good. Come on, get us out of here."

Clark narrowed his eyes. She thought he was the phantom. If he played along, she might come with him without fighting back. "I will, but tell me what you did to those soldiers first. And what's wrong with you?"

She cursed. "That doesn't matter right now. Ask Cinder later, we need to leave."

Clark nodded. He could leap up onto Ironwood's ship and hand her over, since she didn't look like she was in any condition to fight. He reached down to pick her up, but froze as the crystal in his pocket vibrated.

BABUMP . . . BABUMP

Clark swiveled his head to the source of the sound. A steady, inhumanly slow heartbeat echoed off bones and muscles harder than steel. The phantom was here, a few levels above him. He must have arrived at least a good fraction of the speed of sound, otherwise Clark would have heard him approach.

"What are you looking at? You're fast, but the soldiers will come back any second. Let's go!"

Clark ignored Emerald and peered through the wall with X-ray vision. The phantom was wearing a lead suit that covered his body like armor. Blocking the sunlight that would weaken him.

And blocking off any kryptonite that would weaken Clark. He had to be smart if they were going to fight, there were too many people around, and he couldn't risk damaging the floating stadium.

The phantom spoke. "Just leave her to me Clark. You're about to be a bit preoccupied."

"What do you mean?" asked Clark.

The phantom pulled out a large circular disk from behind him. Clark recognized it as a manhole cover before the phantom pointed to the spectator areas. Then, he flew into the air and rocketed off to the arena.

Clark rushed there, deactivating his X-ray vision as he focused on his speed. By the time he raced out of the doors, the phantom was barely ahead of him.

With Clark's currently heightened senses, bullets would have seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace, and anything slower seemingly frozen. It was frightening how easily visible the phantom's speed was. Now that Clark was out in the open, the phantom went even faster.

He let me catch up, Clark realized. In a fraction of a millisecond, the phantom flew over the currently empty arena. Clark's legs pumped even harder, and he could only watch as the phantom unknowingly imitated what Clark had done days ago.

An armored arm flexed, and the phantom hurled the disk into the crowd. A supersonic projectile, launched in the opposite direction from Clark.

The disk was too fast and large to accurately vaporize with heat vision. Clark could have managed it, but he couldn't control the beams well enough to ensure that the ships and people in his line of sight would be safe.

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He might have been able to hit the phantom with narrower beams and incinerate parts of his lead suit. Exposing him to sunlight.

But at the speed the phantom was flying, any drops of molten lead would rain down on the crowd like bullets. Heat vision couldn't help Clark now, and it was the only ability he had that was quick and powerful enough to do anything about the situation from this distance.

He ran and pumped his legs as fast as he could. Faster than all those times he'd had to intercept bullets to protect his loved ones. The disk was heading straight for the crowd, but Clark had to go around the stadium to stop it. He was catching up with it, but at a dismally slow pace.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the phantom enter the corridor where Emerald was. He could fly them out of range of Clark's hearing in seconds.

Clark grit his teeth, and set his eyes on the spot the disk hurtled towards. He had to concentrate. Speed up and catch it before it hurt anyone.

With frighteningly little time to spare, Clark outraced the disk and braced himself to catch it.

CLANG!

The collision rang out into the crowd. The metal in his hands deformed, his fingers outlining the regions where they'd crushed it. He quickly brought the material up to cover his face.

BOOM!

It had taken a little more than a second, but the sonic boom finally reached the crowd. The disk had easily broken the sound barrier when the phantom had thrown it.

Clark's head hung low to hide his face, and he got an eyeful of his clothes.

His clothes. There were dozens of cameras around. If team CFVY saw that he and the Dart had worn the same clothing, they'd obviously put two and two together.

Clark's eyes burned red and his lips pursed as he used steam breath. In a fraction of a second, he had enough to cover for his body. He had to hope he'd been fast enough to keep his identity secret.

He raced out of the steam, and barely disturbed the cloud as he left it. Clark headed to an isolated spot on the opposite side of the stadium.

He scanned the sky for a sign of the retreating form of the phantom. Nothing. Not even when he tried using X-ray vision to look for any lead. Unfortunately, there were several sources in the distance he could have gone to, and he was definitely too far away to detect a heartbeat or breath.

The metal between Clark's fingers warped under his tightening grip. Damn it. The phantom had been so close.

He messaged Qrow and the three others if they could meet in Ozpin's office, and that the phantom had been involved by what had happened in the staidum. They'd all been there, they'd know what he meant.

Finally, he leapt off the coliseum and hit the ground running. It was good that the coliseum floated pretty close to Beacon, falling through the air would be a lot more noticeable in the city.

After tossing the crushed manhole cover into the Emerald Forest, he dashed to his room to change his clothes. He couldn't be sure how much the cameras had caught before he'd made a steam cover. Thank God Ms. Goodwitch had suggested that combination of his powers.

\\\\\

While waiting for everyone else to arrive, Clark had called CFVY to ask if they were okay. It would be suspicious if he automatically assumed they were safe after a mysterious boom in the stadium. Already, it was sketchy that he'd left a couple minutes before the Dart had shown up. Good thing he'd planned to leave anyway.

After calling them and feigning ignorance of what had happened, he'd repeatedly scanned the area and pushed his hearing to the limit in case the phantom returned. He'd kept his eyes glued to the windows until the headmaster had arrived.

"Is the general coming?" asked Clark.

Ozpin, who'd arrived last, answered his question. "No. He has to oversee the evacuation of Amity Coliseum."

The evacuation. Velvet had told Clark that the Atlas soldiers had arranged for everyone to leave. She and the others hadn't been happy about it.

"It sounded like a bomb going off in there." Qrow said. "Mind explaining what happened?"

Clark nodded, and summarized everything. How he'd detected the phantom's voice and traced it to a call from Emerald who'd been disguised. What had happened with the two soldiers Ironwood had sent to escort her. And finally, the phantom coming in to carry her out, and throwing a supersonic disk into the crowd to divert Clark.

"I see. You're certain that the phantom is no longer nearby?" asked Ozpin.

"As certain as I can be. I can't hear him, and he might have ditched the lead suit and gone somewhere underground."

Ozpin considered Clark's words. "It's too much of a risk. We'll have to use the desks in the corner and type our words to each other."

Qrow groaned.

It took a minute or two to get the desks set up.

Glynda: Now, this girl, Emerald. What was she trying to do?

Clark: I don't know, she was just sitting in the crowd until the phantom called. Though she did say that Cinder needed her in the stadium.

Qrow: Ironwood'll probably find something. Right now, I'm more interested in what she did to those soldiers. The first time I met her and Cinder, their faces were blurred out.

Clark: You've met them before?

Qrow: Yeah, but like I said, I couldn't see their faces. And now a couple Atlas soldiers hallucinate her running away at the same time. Her semblance affects the senses somehow.

Clark: Looks like it. She was also dizzy and nursing a headache when I got to her, maybe it takes a lot out of her to use it.

Ozpin: Semblances which can affect the senses are dangerous. Anyone who fights her would constantly doubt themselves. It's fortunate that you uncovered a possible weakness, Mr. Kent. If we encounter her, she'll need to be apprehended in a group, and carefully at that.

Clark: Okay, but I want to address Cinder. She's clearly not waiting until after the Vytal Festival to make her move. I want to be more involved with your search for her. She's working with the phantom, and I can't let something like today happen again. Hundreds of people almost got hurt. You and the general must have some leads by now, right? I could check out any suspicious locations and cross them off the list.

Ozpin: Yes, that's certainly a possibility. Although not without its problems. Firstly, if the phantom and Cinder are at the same location, wouldn't he hear you approach?

Clark: Not if I speed around the area, sound becomes distorted at high speeds.

Qrow: Yeah, but that would mean you couldn't hear inside either.

Glynda: In addition, doesn't your X-ray vision require too much focus to use while running at high speeds?

Clark: Yeah, but I'll work on that. There are still other ways I could check areas. I can flash inside and look around without anyone noticing.

Qrow: Yeah, that could work. Unless the phantom's there and sees you.

Clark: Then I'll be careful. I'll go in during the day, make sure to vaporize any protective suit he has, and get him outside. If I manage that, he won't be able to get away from me. While I'm busy with him, you guys could go after Cinder and the others.

Qrow: You're eager, but we have to think this through.

Ozpin: Yes, if you're busy elsewhere, you may not be able to warn us in time if your double attacks.

Clark: I might not be able to, regardless. I'm not as good of a warning system as you think. He can get around my hearing if he moves fast enough. That stops him from spying on us with X-ray vision or super-hearing, but he could cause a lot of damage without even me knowing it's him. My crystal doesn't help much either. At best, it might glow or shake for a few seconds when he's close. He can do a lot of damage in that time.

Clark waited a few moments for a response. Eventually, the headmaster's fingers rapped his keyboard.

Ozpin: If what you say is true, then perhaps you should actively search for them. We can no longer assume that they'll lay low until the Festival ends. I'll discuss the matter with Ironwood. If he agrees, we may have you investigate certain regions. Qrow hasn't had much luck with the criminal underground, but we may begin there.

Clark: Thank you.

\\\\\

"Ooh, ooh, we have it!" Ruby jumped up and down excitedly at the TV in her dorm room. "Zoom in! Zoom in!"

"Uh, how do I do that?" asked Jaune. Flipping the remote over to look for a function that might or might not be available.

"I don't know. We'll just have to get closer." Ruby leaned closer to the screen to carefully examine the image.

The best picture of the Dart ever taken. Caught in the background of one of the high-definition cameras that had been aimed at the arena.

His face was covered by his hands and the weird mangled metal he was holding. Everything below his waist was shrouded by smoke. Oh! Did he have smoke bombs in his arsenal?

"Ahem." Weiss politely interrupted them. "Now that you two have finally paused on the exact moment you wanted, can we continue with the news?"

"Not now. Later!" Ruby eyes were glued to the screen. She could see that he had a red shirt on, a fantastic choice of color, but not much else. She knew he was mysterious, but it couldn't be too much to show a little more! His outfit, weapons, what kind of mask he wore. Pleease?

People from both her and Jaune's teams chuckled. How could they be so casual about this? Weren't they curious about the Dart? He'd actually been in the stadium! Had he been watching the fight? Did he support team RWBY?

"You guys, I think we'd learn more if we let the news channel play," Pyrrha suggested. "Maybe they found something out about the Dart?"

"In a little bit." Ruby insisted and focused on the screen as if she could somehow eke out the pixels' secrets.

"Ruby, I took some pictures and wrote down the timestamp, we can go back to it later." Jaune said. "I think we should let everyone else watch the news like they want."

Okay, Weiss did look a little annoyed. Ruby nodded, and Jaune to press play. Lisa Lavender continued reporting what had happened hours ago at Amity.

Everything had been so crazy when that had happened. It was like thunder had gone off in the middle of the stadium, and the crowd had been so panicked. There'd been no sign of any criminals though, no White Fang or Cinder.

Before this news report, the only reason she and Jaune had found out that the Dart had been there was because of the awesome people who'd shared the information online. A few had actually been in the audience and witnessed the Dart saving them the split second before he vanished a cloud of smoke.

Obviously, Ruby didn't believe everything she read online, but Vale News had confirmed it. The Dart had been there. According to the reporter, there'd been some kind of big projectile fired into the crowd. Like a cannon ball, but way faster and deadlier. It had broken the sound barrier over the arena, so it had caused a sonic boom, but what kind of weapon had done it? Definitely ballistic, since there'd been no sign of propellant in the footage like there would be for a missile. How had it kept accelerating from whatever had fired it?

Was it some kind of top-secret weapon? But where had it come from, and why fire only a single shot? Where had that shot even come from without anyone in the Atlas ships noticing?

Wherever the shot had come from, the Dart had caught it and saved everyone. That would have required some serious aura, and Ruby winced at the thought of the nasty bruises he must be suffering from.

The news delved a little bit deeper into the Dart. Showing a single frame where the Dart had been an extended blur on the screen. That had been exciting too. If someone could find out how long each frame was, they could calculate the Dart's speed!

Somehow, Jaune was the only other person in the room with some enthusiasm for the Dart. Come on, could nobody else see how awesome he was?

How could Blake look so bored?!

After the portion with the Dart, the reporter moved on to news that everyone was invested in.

"General Ironwood informed the public that a thorough search of the coliseum had determined that the Coliseum and surrounding fairgrounds were safe. The tournament can resume tomorrow, although security will be increased. All individuals will now need to bring two forms of accepted ID to be allowed entry. This includes tournament participants and government officials."

"Ugh, that's annoying." Yang said and turned to Ruby. "Looks like we're gonna have to ask dad to send a digital copy of our passports. What about you guys?"

Pyrrha and Weiss already had them, since they were international students, and the transfer students from probably would too. Jaune had made up with his family, so he could ask them for it.

Blake, Ren, and Nora couldn't do the same. Blake had her past with the White Fang, and apparently her family situation was 'complicated'. Ren and Nora were orphans. All they had were their student IDs.

"What?! I didn't know that about you guys!" Ruby's eyes widened at their admission.

"It happened a long time ago." Ren said. "I'm currently more concerned about whether our viewing privileges will be rescinded."

Pyrrha gave them a worried look. "It's a good thing we already had our doubles round. Do you really think they'll stop you from coming to watch?"

"Ha! If they try, I'll break their legs!" Nora grinned in anticipation.

"No Nora, you can't." Ren said flatly.

"Why?"

"Why? I really do hope you're only joking and aren't as insane as you appear." Weiss said.

Nora shrugged in response.

"It'll be fine. At worst, we'll have to watch it live from TV."

Nora gasped. "That's terrible! You can't replace sitting in front row seats with TV."

"It may be that we won't have a choice."

Meanwhile, Blake considered her options with the rest of her team. "It's not a big deal. If I have to, I'll cheer for you guys from the other side of the screen."

Ruby sighed. "I don't get it. Why do they have to ask for two separate IDs?"

"I'm sure the general made the decision in consideration of everyone's safety." Weiss answered.

\\\\\

Ironwood sighed and massaged his temple. The incident earlier that day had required his direct oversight, and he hadn't been able to return to his office until moments ago.

The general had been the only one with any notion of what had happened who'd stayed in the arena. The knowledge had made it easy to give commands and prepare an appropriate statement on what the attack appeared to be. A terrorist bombing.

There had also been other matters to attend to, such as arranging for the two soldiers who'd escorted Emerald Sustrai to be brought to him. Besides the fact that the doppelganger had been involved, Ironwood had been in the dark of what had happened until Ozpin's message.

The double had arrived too quickly and too low to set off a blip on radar. Ironwood had confirmed it with the records of all the ships in the vicinity, proving just how utterly blind and helpless his army was against something like that. The double had already demonstrated the capability to tear through Atlesian ships with ease. If he wished to try it now, would even Kent be able to defend the vessels from him?

It was a bleak thought, but having Kent in their arsenal was still be their best hope. That was what mattered, Ironwood couldn't afford to antagonize him.

That was why he'd allowed Kent to assist his soldiers when they'd scoured Amity Coliseum for explosives. It was doubtful that there would be any, but they needed to be thorough. There was no telling what Sustrai had done or planned to do after infiltrating.

She'd done something to the soldiers who'd been ordered to escort her. They'd claimed that she'd run away and seemingly disappeared after a couple turns through the halls. Ozpin's message had included that Kent had seen things differently, and the Coliseum's cameras agreed with his account. However, their theories on her Semblance hadn't been included in that message.

That was because Ironwood could freely read a summary of previous events on his scroll without risk, since the phantom would only learn that Kent had told them what had occurred. It was reasonable that their enemies would have assumed that regardless.

However, Ozpin and the others' thoughts on how to proceed were sensitive information. They could only be read in a lead-lined room, such as Ironwood's office.

The enemy's vision was inconvenient to work around, but Kent's vision during the bomb search had been helpful, albeit unnecessary. He'd only been used to confirm the findings of the soldiers. However, he did deserve the credit for alerting Ironwood to the presence of Cinder's underling. Uncovering that her plans looked to be set in motion during the Festival.

Ironwood activated his computer, and browsed through the options Ozpin and the others had considered while he'd been on duty. Putting Kent on missions to root out Cinder and his double? That could show promise. Ozpin's normally passive approach was too dangerous to condone any further. They'd already discussed how effective Kent could be as a scout. Only his double would be able to detect or detain him.

Ozpin had listed a few regions with hints of White Fang activity that Kent could begin with. The group had been strangely silent in Vale recently. More than could be accounted for by the quick containment of the Breach.

Ironwood would agree to give Kent the information, but only if he met certain conditions. Such as to only go at night or early in the morning. During the day, Kent would be needed at the Coliseum to look for any suspicious figures. He could see through any disguise, eavesdrop on any conversation, or recognize a voice out of thousands of roaring fans. That's where he'd be needed.

The doppelganger would be most powerful at night, but that shouldn't matter to Kent if all he truly intended was to scout. In fact, it might even encourage him to take caution and refrain from immediately attacking.

Ironwood typed up his requirements but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Specialist Schnee, sir." Came the steady response. "May I come in?"

"Yes Winter." He called her by her name, as he often did when she was off duty. "The door's unlocked."

"Thank you, sir." She entered and sat in front of his desk. She was more relaxed than usual, her eyes were still sharp and alert, but her shoulders less rigid.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Winter nodded. "Yes, sir. I have several questions . . . they all pertain to the attack in the coliseum earlier today."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "You realize, of course, that I may not be able to answer all of them?"

"Yes sir."

"Then you may ask them."

"Very well. Firstly, my training at stopping those missiles. Was that in preparation of attacks such as today's?"

"It was." Not exactly, but close enough. Kent's immense strength allowed him to propel objects faster than any missile or cannon. However, Ironwood had hoped that Winter's glyphs might slow him down significantly rather than those projectiles.

Winter had achieved some success with missiles, but supersonic projectiles the same size as today's were too much. Judging by her expression, she knew it as well.

She straightened her back and met his eyes with a resolute gaze. "Will I be expected to apply that preparation in the field in the immediate future?"

"I can't be certain." Was his honest reply. He'd first intended to use her time dilation against Kent. Now, what mattered more was giving Kent a possible edge in combat against the double. It was a daunting scenario, being in the crossfire of a fight between those two. But if Ironwood ordered her to assist, then she would do so honorably. She was one of the most dependable soldiers he had. "I very much hope you won't have to."

That seemed to relax her. "I see, that's all I needed to know." She stood and graced him with a small smile. "You seem rather busy, sir, and it's rather late. Would you like me to get some coffee for you?"

"No, I'm fine."

She frowned and Ironwood could tell that she was debating whether to insist he rest. It was an expression she inadvertently showed from time to time.

Winter lowered her head slightly. "Understood sir. Please be mindful of your health, there is such a thing as too much work."

He chuckled. "I realize, and I'd like to finish it as soon as possible. I'll take care of myself. Good night, Winter."

"Good night, sir." She replied before leaving.

Ironwood turned his attention back to his screen. A new schedule would need to be worked out for the increased security, his soldiers would have to work longer and work with new responsibilities. That would deplete their budget, and Ironwood would have to justify the expenses to Atlas' Council. Along with discussing with Vale's Council on the matter of his new policy of requiring two forms of identification before being allowed entry into the stadium.

Under the proper scrutiny, the ID Sustrai had used to get in had been revealed as a forgery. Ironwood couldn't depend on Kent alone to catch Cinder's people, since she might be able to send in an individual that none of them would recognize.

However, if Ironwood made the right preparations, his system would. There'd be more detailed checks of ID, even for him and the Councilors who wanted the view the tournament in person.

Along with his other concerns, Ironwood notified Ozpin about the need to supply Kent with identification that would pass the inspection. If he was allowed in without such, when even the Atlesian general wouldn't be, it would be noticed.