This far into the night, the city of Mistral slept. The loose vines on the cliffs swayed in response to a breeze from the east. The breeze blew the spray from the streams carrying water down to the city and fanned it out. Spreading the water into the empty market and against the rock walls, offering moisture to the plant life clinging to them.

Around the city, mostly on the lower levels, were several buildings. Old ones with faded paint, crumbling walls, and chipped sloping roofs. At first glance, they seemed beneath notice, as if they would only be of interest to vagrants searching for shelter. However, these buildings held dangerous stock.

Drugs, weapons, money: significant amounts of at least one of those three were kept inside these caches. Locked inside safes or hidden in the floor. Tonight, these safeguards were meaningless. Metal safes were forced open, wooden floorboards were pulled up, and concrete floors were shattered. No matter what kind of material they held, their contents were placed on the floor and burned.

There were many more caches like these all over the city that escaped such treatment. There were a few reasons why. First, these caches weren't guarded. Guards would have been useless anyway, but if they'd interfered, there would have been a chance of them getting hurt. Their absence at the caches currently burning proved these weren't very important, but that wasn't an issue tonight.

Second, the caches that had been attacked were in secluded regions with few other buildings nearby. Many were little more than sheds, the fire unable to spread from them. Some caches in the city didn't have guards, but their importance placed them closer to their owners. Many of which were on the upper levels of the city.

One by one, each building went up in flames a fraction of a second before the next. The ones made of wood or with paper sliding doors burned quickly. The more resilient ones, warehouses made of concrete and metal, better withstood the heat. In fact, by the time the fires went out, those remained standing.

However, in each building, everything of value had been burnt or melted down to uselessness.

\\\\\

The two policemen went into the evidence locker. The first to enter was a tall, overweight man in his thirties with dirty blond hair. The second was more than a head shorter than him and thin. He was bald, not by choice even though he was only a few years older than his partner. They held duffel bags and searched the room for anything they could use to make some cash on the side.

It wasn't a big deal for them. Everyone in the station knew that things could go 'missing' every once in a while. If there was anything important, it was locked up carefully, and you needed to be at least a captain to get at it.

Tonight, there were some good pickings. Four confiscated pistols and even an automatic rifle, with ammunition for both. All of it had come in yesterday, and they already had a plan to meet up with some buyers in the city. If they hadn't rushed in to get the guns, then someone else probably would have swooped in.

The two stuffed the guns in their bags and left out the back entrance. Even though everyone knew this kind of thing happened, they would have been stupid to just walk out the front with the bags. Cops looked after each other, but even another cop would have to be a really good buddy to turn a blind eye to this.

They changed their clothing to more casual styles. People knew that cops could be friendly, but showing up to sell in full uniform still made a lot of buyers uneasy. It might be different if the buyer and seller were familiar with each other, but these two had never done business with tonight's buyers before.

The pair took their personal motorcycles to the meeting point. A car would have been nice, but most of the roads here were too narrow for them, so there really wasn't any other choice but to travel out in the open. There wasn't much to complain about though. Their bikes weren't cheap, especially on a cop's official salary, but perks like these had worked out well for them.

They drove out to the bottom of the cliffs. An overhang covered the sky, and they were hidden from view by anyone in the streets by boulders on two sides. Very hush-hush. Good.

The policemen waited. They'd already arrived late, which was because these kinds of buyers usually were too. Annoying, but expecting better from them was stupid. The real powers in the city, at least the ones that were potential buyers, were punctual though. If the two had been selling to them, they'd have shown proper respect by getting here early.

Finally, the buyers arrived. A human and two faunus. Or maybe they were all faunus and only two of them had traits visible in the dark. Tusks coming out of a face and furry ears on top of a head were easily noticeable, but the third could pass for human right now.

The bald policeman frowned at the sight of the faunus, but didn't say a word. This was business, and besides, he'd consider it a good thing if the animals used these guns to kill each other.

"Can we see the guns?" The faunus with tusks asked.

"Sure." The policeman unzipped the bag, his partner doing the same, and they placed them on the ground.

The tusked faunus stayed standing while his two friends reached into the bags and checked everything. They made sounds of appreciation at the quality of the pistols and eyed the automatic eagerly. Once they were done, they looked up to the tusked faunus and confirmed that nothing was missing.

"Four thousand lien, right?" He reached behind him and pulled out the bills. Although he didn't move to offer them.

The bald officer scowled at the faunus' reluctance. "Hey, this is what we agreed on. Remember, those bullets are worth more than ever because of Atlas' dust embargo."

"Yeah, I get it." The faunus wasn't happy, but he handed the money over.

A bright light suddenly shone on all of them.

"What the hell?" said one of the faunus.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The rock behind them splintered and small booms filled the air.

"Shit! Shit! Come on, get behind the bikes!" The blond policeman pulled his partner away and somehow got them behind cover before any shots hit them.

The faunus ran too, one of them reached into the bag and pulled out a pistol, then screamed when a shot pinged off the gun and knocked it out of his hand. He didn't try again and followed his friends to hide behind the rocks.

"Who the fuck is shooting at us?! This some kind of set-up you faunus shitheads?!" The bald officer yelled out from behind his bike.

They were too frightened to answer. The rounds bounced off the boulder they hid behind and set off a shower of dust each time. Sparks lit up their terrified faces.

"I don't think it's them," The other policeman said. He peeked over his bike, seeing the shots cornering the faunus, but crouched back down when a few shots landed near him and kicked up dirt. Were the shooters using silencers? He could hear the bullets hit something and the sonic boom afterwards, but not any firing.

Screw it, that wasn't important. They had to get out of here. He turned to his partner glaring in the direction of the faunus. "We need to go! You have the money?"

The bald officer shook his head. "I think I dropped it."

"Fucking hell, are you serious?!"

"We're getting shot at! You think you'd do better?"

While they were distracted, the paths of the shots aiming at the faunus suddenly changed direction. The one farthest behind the boulder paled when a shot missed him by inches. The shooter would have needed to be inside the meeting place to manage that, but he didn't have time to think about how that was possible. When the next few shots came even closer, his friends noticed them and ran in the opposite direction towards the exit.

The police were still cornered. Shots scattered off the tops of their bikes, tearing through leather seats and metal, but leaving both vehicles intact enough to ride.

Then, the shots stopped. A few seconds later, the officers slowly poked their heads up and looked towards the direction of the guns and money. The duffel bags were missing. They stayed and looked around for the money, but it had disappeared too.

"Fucking animals, they set us up," the bald cop spat into the dirt.

"No. They were just as scared as us, and I saw, there's no way they could have carried off the guns and in the middle of that."

He grunted. "Well I'm still pissed. They can't have gotten far. If they don't have the guns, then what's stopping us from chasing them down and making sure we weren't crossed?" He held up his pistol. "I'm in the mood to let off some steam."

A shot at his feet convinced him otherwise, and the two scurried off. They returned to their homes, feeling cheated that someone had stolen their product but relieved that they hadn't even been grazed by any bullets.

The next morning, the duffel bags with the guns were found at the police station. Along with them was a clear photo of the two policemen accepting money from three faunus for the weapons. There was a typed note too, detailing the names of the police and the three who'd tried to buy them.

The tusked faunus had also received a note. It had the same font as the one at the police station, although he didn't know it. He'd found it attached to a stack of bills that had been put in his hands before he'd woken up, and the money added up to four thousand lien.

The note was simple.

If you stole this, return it. Otherwise, use it better.

\\\\\

The policeman yawned and smacked his lips. He was on patrol in one of the lower levels of Mistral, but there really wasn't much to do. At least, not anything useful. There was a lot of scum around, as usual. It wasn't his responsibility though, expecting the police to clean it all up was like asking for them to empty the ocean with a bucket.

Still, patrols here could be profitable. Like right now, two people were coming up to him with familiar looks on their faces. A faunus with fish fins on his arms and a human, they still looked like teenagers, but they might have some cash on them.

"What do you want?" he asked from his motorcycle.

They stopped and the human raised his hands. "Hey officer, we just wanted to know, you still gonna be around in an hour?"

"Yeah." He still had two hours left in his patrol.

"That sucks. Anyway, my friend and I want to have something planned in an hour, but we don't want to bother you. Would you mind looking the other way for a little while?" He held up a few hundred-lien bills.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The officer smiled. "Sure." He reached for the money.

But it was shredded in the teen's hand, several holes ripped through the bills at once. "Whoa!" He dropped the money like it was on fire.

They heard several snaps. The policeman recognized the sound of bullets whizzing by and quickly rode in the opposite direction. The two ran away, frightened as well.

Later, a video emerged detailing his interaction with the two young men. The camera had been too far away to pick up sound, but the recorder had zoomed in enough for the image to clearly show him about to accept a bribe.

\\\\\

"A Dart fan club?" Clark asked. He followed Ruby and Jaune through the campus to the central building. He hadn't expected that when he'd agreed to their request to keep an open mind and come with them.

Ruby nodded. "Yep. I happened to hear about it, and we actually met them at their first meeting last week. You'll love it!"

Clark narrowed his eyes. "You think I'd enjoy going to a fan club for the Dart?" There were other people around, so he couldn't freely say it, but why in the world would she think he was the type of person who wanted to stroke his own ego?

Thankfully, Ruby seemed to catch his meaning. "Not like that. I just really think it's important that you hear what they think about the Dart."

"You do realize it's too late to change my mind about my methods?" He'd already started going out into the city. Right now, he'd only affected those in the lower ranks of the crime families and police, but that would change soon.

"Not really," Jaune said. "Sure, some people have noticed something happening, but you could still claim responsibility as you-know-who."

True. If Clark wanted to, he could leave his crest behind marking the Dart as responsible. However, he'd already decided that the Dart's reputation wouldn't help in Mistral's situation.

Despite that, Ruby and Jaune had still been helpful these past few days: looking up information online and offering their scrolls to record corrupt police from other angles. Although the entire time, they'd strongly hinted that he continue his efforts more openly as the Dart.

Now it seemed like they were going for a direct approach again. A Dart fan club.

Great.

Ruby and Jaune led him through the unfamiliar building, and Clark noted with interest how the classrooms differed from Beacon's. They weren't structured too differently, the lecture halls and combat classrooms were generally the same, but this academy's interiors were painted with a lot of bright blue, like much of Mistral.

Eventually, they came to a stop at a smaller room. It was closer in design to a high school classroom, with a chalkboard up front and wooden desks meant to be arranged in rows. Currently, the desks had been set up in a circle, seating eight other people. All were wearing their Haven uniforms, including Ruby and Jaune, leaving Clark the only one out of place.

"Hey, you guys showed up! And brought someone new! Great!" A pretty girl with long purple hair smiled and waved to them. "Welcome. Feel free to sit and introduce yourself."

Clark pulled up a desk and sat with Ruby and Jaune on either side, they'd be good shields. Normally, Clark wouldn't have minded meeting new people, but these people were Dart fans. He'd heard how some of Pyrrha's fans talked, and while he doubted that he'd get the same level of admiration, he'd still rather avoid it.

Unfortunately, he'd already agreed to this, so he didn't have a choice. "I'm Clark Kent. I'm not a student here, I'm a huntsman who's a friend of these two." He gestured to the only familiar faces here. "I'm actually not a fan of the Dart, although I'm not against him. Either way, it's probably confusing why I'm here, but Ruby and Jaune convinced me to come. They're hoping I can learn to appreciate the Dart more."

"I get it and I approve. I'm sure we'll make a fan out of you." The purple-haired student said. "I'm Iris, president of the club. This is our second time meeting, so like you, most of us aren't familiar with each other yet. The activity I have planned today should do a good job at fixing that though, so let's start."

Iris cleared her throat and turned her gaze to the group. "Last time, we didn't get to share much since we spent a lot of the meeting discussing stuff like the best times and locations to meet. We weren't even sure whether we'd continue meeting in this classroom. Now that we can really talk, I think it would be best if we told our stories about how we came to be Dart fans. Anyone want to go first?"

Nobody made a sound. Not even Ruby or Jaune seemed eager to volunteer, and everyone else just looked at each other. Probably wondering if one of them would go and save them the embarrassment.

Iris took it in stride and smiled. "Alright, then as president, I'll go first. Then we'll go around in a circle going counter-clockwise." She hummed as she thought back. "Honestly, it's not as interesting as some other stories I've heard. When I came to Vale for the Vytal Festival, I saw reporters talk about the Dart on the news and got curious. After reading up some more on my own, I really got into learning about him. Some guy running lightning-fast through the city in secret, fighting crime and leaving his signature. I liked the story of someone doing good, and not trying to get rich or famous while he does it."

Around the circle, people offered a variety of stories. One person had been in the stands during the Festival when a mystery weapon had shot some kind of artillery into the crowd. Which Clark recognized as the incident when the phantom had hurled a manhole cover into the arena.

The Dart had saved his life, since he wouldn't have been able to react in time to bring up his aura. In fact, even aura might not have saved him, and the people in the crowd without them definitely wouldn't have survived. After the loud clang, he'd been close enough to touch the smoke cover that the Dart had used to escape.

Another member shared the story of learning about the Dart's actions after the Breach. She'd initially been impressed by the Dart going down into the tunnels and making the effort to lead an underground horde of Grimm away from the city, and her admiration had only grown as she'd learned more about what the Dart had done in Vale.

Ruby squirmed a bit with so many eyes on her, but managed to tell everyone about how her team had chased down a Paladin hijacked by Roman Torchwick. In addition to fighting an infamous criminal, the members were impressed that she'd witnessed the Dart shooting the Paladin's leg off with his 'laser gun'. It had been one of the earliest actions in Vale attributed to the Dart.

Jaune's story wasn't as eventful. He hadn't personally witnessed the Dart until the attack on Vale, but his enthusiasm had been just as genuine as Ruby's.

Several members had been strongly influenced during the attack on Vale. A couple of them felt embarrassed for becoming fans so late, but Iris didn't find it an issue. Nobody else did either. After all, the Dart had accomplished many incredible feats that night. It would only make sense that it would help bring attention to him.

"Man, I remember how chaotic it was that night," A member said. "Grimm and terrorists crawling all over the place, Atlas robots going crazy. I was in the city with my partner, and we'd been fighting for a while. Our aura was still in the yellow, so we weren't exhausted yet but we were starting to feel it coming in. All of sudden, we hear these people running and screaming in the streets, but there's like ten Beowolves right behind them. I have an axe, so all I could do was run toward them as fast as I could. My buddy with the gun tried to shoot at the Grimm, but he couldn't put them down fast enough."

He let out a relieved breath. "Then, I saw the Dart flash by. Not like I could see where he came from or where he went after, but when he tore through each Grimm, there'd be a little blur that I'd barely catch. If it weren't for him, we couldn't have led them to safety afterwards."

While everyone shared their stories, Ruby and Jaune aimed proud looks at Clark. He would have told them to tone it down, but that would have only brought more attention to them. Thankfully, while they stared at him, almost everyone's focus would be on the person sharing their experience rather than those two.

It took about half an hour to go through them all. Most didn't offer many details. The reluctance had faded away, but they just didn't consider their own stories that interesting. The longest one had only been a few minutes long.

"Great," Iris said once they finished. "We all know a bit more about each other now, and we still have twenty minutes left in the meeting. Jaune, Ruby, you said you had a topic you wanted to share with the club. Think you'll have enough time?"

"Yep," Ruby said. "We wanted to ask everyone, what would you guys think if the Dart came to Mistral?"

If Clark could have groaned aloud without anyone noticing, he would have leapt at the chance. Unfortunately, all he could do was try to signal with his eyes for Ruby to change the topic.

She didn't.

"Hm, the Dart in Mistral?" Iris pursed her lips. "Seems like an interesting idea, and definitely could be possible since no one's heard anything on him the past two months. I'd love it if he were in our city. I never actually got the chance to see him in person back in Vale."

"I think Mistral needs the Dart more than Vale ever did," One of the students with his hair in a ponytail spoke up. "Things might seem nice up here in Haven, but they're not as good deeper in the city. The Dart would clean the place up in a few weeks."

"Yeah, I'm sure any thug would think twice after they saw his 'S'. It'd be awesome."

The subject seemed especially popular with the native Mistralians. They were familiar with the state of the capital and seemed to think that the Dart could swoop in and fix it all. Iris was a Mistralian, but she at least seemed to be more realistic. She looked on at the others with an indulgent smile, like an older sister listening to her siblings excited fantasies and nodding along.

She'd noticed when he'd carelessly let his unease slip through too, and hiding it immediately had only changed her smile from indulgent to curious.

The club's conversation became more open. Those who'd lived in the city told the others about rumors they'd hear when they were younger or what it was like growing up in certain areas. Loud noises in the streets, yelling or gunshots during the night. The police. They were personal testimonies of what Clark had researched and had recently seen for himself.

A few minutes before the end of their meeting, Iris clapped to get everyone's attention. "Okay, congrats everyone, this has been a great meeting. I have some ideas for activities we can do, trivia nights, making and watching fan-made videos about the Dart, and tons of other stuff. You can all vote on or against them or offer suggestions to the group chat with your scroll. We'll be meeting same time next week. Until then, bye!" She waved

Everyone set their desks facing towards the front of the classroom again before leaving. However, when Clark left the room, he heard Iris come up behind him.

"Clark, could I talk to you for a bit?" she asked.

He turned around to face her. "Sure, what for?" Ruby and Jaune went further down the hall and waited.

"I just wanted to ask how you felt about your first visit to the club. You didn't say much, but you seemed like you had some interesting opinions to share."

"Really?" He turned on the oblivious smile, which had admittedly gotten rusty the past few months. "I'm not sure why you'd think that. I don't have much to say."

"Are you sure?" Her eyes held genuine concern. "You looked uncomfortable back there, and I want to make sure nobody in the club feels that way. I'd really like for the club to succeed, which is hard since there's been no news about the Dart in months. Every member is valuable."

He sighed. Well, it wouldn't hurt to give her some of the truth. "Honestly, I don't think this club is for me. I don't have anything against the Dart, but the way some of the members talk about him is a bit overboard."

"Is it? It doesn't seem that way to me, but then again, you might think I'm one of them. I'd be a bit of a mess if I actually met the Dart."

Clark wondered how she'd react if she knew that she'd just spent the past hour with him. "Actually, you seem to be one of the most reasonable fans there. My problem isn't the admiration or awe exactly, but more their thoughts on how the Dart would be a simple solution for Mistral's problems. I've been reading about the situation here, and it's a lot more complicated. It's not their fault, and I'm not exactly an expert, but their ignorance is hard to listen to."

"Okay then, I don't really know a lot about it either, so I won't embarrass myself by trying to argue otherwise. I guess you won't be coming next week?"

He shook his head. "Sorry."

She took his admission with surprisingly good cheer. "It's okay, the club's not for everyone. Thanks for talking to me, this will help me get new members. Anyway, if you ever change your mind, you're always welcome."

When she left, the pair who'd been waiting by the sidelines walked up. Jaune was the first to speak. "So, did anyone in there say anything that might change your mind?"

Going straight to the point, huh? Then again, he and Ruby weren't exactly ones for subtlety.

Clark walked back towards the dorm. "No, I think what I'm doing now is still best."

The disappointment on their faces was clear. This seemed to have been their last-ditch effort. If he was fortunate, maybe from now on they'd stop mentioning how the Dart's notoriety would help his efforts.

"Did you really not like it?" Ruby asked, her voice low and uncertain.

"I didn't hate it," he said to reassure them. "It was nice to hear how I've helped. Like the attack on Vale, racing around the city that night at super-speed made the entire world seem frozen. When I was running through the Grimm and robots all over the city, I couldn't know whether the people they'd chased had survived or whether they were attacked later by Grimm that I'd missed."

"So it was a good thing we brought you," Ruby concluded.

Clark chuckled and patted her head. "Definitely."

She beamed. Huh, so Yang's advice for cheering Ruby up had been true. Although she'd also said Ruby would usually pull away and complain about being treated like a kid when someone did it to her, so he should probably use it sparingly.

"By the way, you don't mind if we keep going to the club's meetings, right?" Jaune asked.

"No, although it does seem a bit weird that you two would call yourselves my fans. We've known each other for a while now." Clark had checked their surroundings, and they'd gotten far enough from other people for that statement to be safe.

"We still think you're cool. Except it's a friend cool instead of an oh-my-god-it's-actually-you cool. Besides, Dart trivia night sounds fun."

"Just so you know, I can't condone consulting me for that. It's be an unfair advantage."

"Don't worry Clark, we don't need it," Ruby said, confidence shining in her eyes. "I wonder what sort of prizes they'll have? They'd definitely have prizes, right?"

When they reached the dorm, Qrow was waiting in the main room.

"Hey. You guys have fun at the Clark suck-up club?" he asked.

"Dart fan club," Ruby corrected. "But yeah, Clark turned out to like it, just like you said."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you suggested to Ruby and Jaune to bring me there? Why?" Qrow was probably the one person on Remnant who best knew just how uncomfortable Clark had been in there.

"Thought you should get a taste of your own medicine. You know, having to discuss a topic you'd really rather avoid," Qrow's grin grew wider.

"My own medicine? What's that supposed to mean?"

But Qrow kept the answer to himself.