Up above, the stars shone in the night sky. The tiny points reflected a sparse amount of light off the waiting figure hovering high above the ground. Up here, the air was thin and cold, although that didn't bother Him. It was good, in fact, since it muted the sharp hearing of both Him and His target.

Down below, a cloud rolled by and blocked His view. Although only for a moment, since His vision could penetrate nearly any obstacle. He could even see his allies waiting in a town miles away.

Slowly, He descended towards the school. Clark waited there, oblivious to the fact that He was almost directly above him.

As the phantom went down foot by foot, He kept His sharp eyes on Clark and the crystal in his pocket. Super-hearing also became more and more effective, and he was careful when crossing the threshold for detecting speech, but not heartrate or breathing. Normally, they could hear a voice from dozens of miles away, but it would require a person to be a good deal closer to hear something much quieter like a heartbeat. However, His and Clark's bodies were the most unique on this planet. Both had become adept at recognizing the sounds they produced.

He kept his guard up, and He was prepared when the expected reaction came.

Clark noticed Him, but not thanks to his super-hearing, He'd still been too high up for that. No, the crystal had warned him, and the familiar feeling from the active Kryptonian tech coursed through the phantom. A vague, powerful presence that demanded that he return to the zone, the terrible prison. However, now it was only an insistent whisper. Now He could ignore it more easily than ever, and He followed His instincts and raced away from Clark.

It took him mere moments to regroup with Cinder and the others back down on the ground. Like always, they were startled by His sudden appearance, but He didn't take the time to appreciate it.

"He sensed me," the phantom announced.

Cinder scowled. "Watts, you're certain that Kent is at Haven right now?"

"With his speed, he could be anywhere since Lionheart last reported. However, we can have Lionheart ask if Kent stayed in the dorm the whole night. Although obviously we should wait so they don't suspect anything."

The phantom nodded. He'd seen Clark there, but He had to go through the motions to hide X-ray vision and super-hearing. It wasted time, but there was no other option.

Clark detecting Him might have seemed like a disappointment, Cinder certainly thought so, but He reminded her that it had been expected. This hadn't been a waste, there was plenty of useful information.

The phantom could get around Clark's super-hearing easily, by racing down toward him faster than sound. This test had just shown that taking that option wouldn't work. The exact altitude data from the device Watts had given Him would be helpful, but the crystal would almost certainly warn Clark in a way that He couldn't outrace with super-speed.

So, Clark was safe for now. They'd wait a little longer before preparing the special surprise for him.

\\\\\

When it happened, Clark had been reading in his room, continuing with the research he'd begun about two weeks ago. He'd been looking into Mistral's corrupt officials and narrowing down the list of individuals he wanted to pay close attention to.

Then, the crystal had shook. The phantom had been nearby.

For a brief instant, he'd sat stunned. The crystal hadn't acted once since it had been cracked back in Vale.

Now, Clark whirled his head around to the phantom. He didn't know how, but he knew where to look. The phantom was up above, and Clark somehow also had a rough idea of his distance.

Clark triggered his X-ray vision immediately and struggled to simultaneously use super-speed perception to find the phantom. The walls and clouds faded away instantly, and he caught the phantom flying away at an incredible speed.

Clark flashed up to his feet and raced out of the building, but it didn't take long to realize that it was pointless. Even with his recent training, he didn't stand a chance at catching up. It only took running full speed a few hundred feet to realize the disparity between them. On foot, Clark hit a limit, his top speed, but the phantom continued to accelerate for far longer. In fact, he was still speeding up.

Already, the phantom crossed the horizon. Even if Clark could have concentrated on both running and using X-ray vision, he would end up crashing into everything in his way. He'd be seeing through them.

And it was nighttime.

Right now, Clark and the phantom were more or less evenly matched. Less if the phantom had absorbed some kryptonite first. Clark had reacted without thinking. What would he have done even if he could keep pace? Fight him? This close to the city, thousands of people would be placed in danger.

Clark reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the crystal. Just like before, the crest on its face was split by a large crack. Its alien presence seemed to have disappeared, and it looked just as broken and inanimate as it had the morning after the attack on Vale.

But it wasn't. It had warned him of the phantom. Like other Kryptonian tech, it had even put knowledge directly in his mind. Information that might have just saved his life.

Clark would have to tell Qrow about what had just happened. How close the phantom had been, and the crystal's warning. Although a question occupied his mind, something he considered cautiously.

At the sight of the broken crystal, he'd given up hope, but . . . could he actually return home?

\\\\\

So far, their time at Haven hadn't been incredibly eventful. This past month, in addition to looking for whatever they could on Cinder, the students had gone on two missions to hunt Grimm. They'd gone as teams of six for both, the first one had been for a group of Beringels in the north and the second for several large Nevermore.

Clark had also gone on a number of his own. He'd applied for two official ones, but most of the time he'd taken care of Grimm anonymously after reading the reports in the capital about towns or villages that huntsmen likely wouldn't reach in time.

They'd been smaller-scale repeats of what he'd done at the attack on Vale. Ramming through Grimm at incredibly high speeds, and now he was fast enough that no one had even caught a glimpse of him. In Vale, Clark had been seen only as a blur after the body of a Grimm slowed him down. In Mistral, the few who'd witnessed his actions had merely seen Grimm mysteriously explode and die.

That had gotten a bit more common when Clark and Qrow had decided that he should only go out into the Kingdom during the day. The crystal could warn Clark of the phantom quickly enough to warn him of a super-speed ambush, but it didn't give him the ability to outrun the phantom.

Going on anonymous hunts was faster and simpler, but he still needed a source of income. Not that he had much use for money, but he refused to sponge off Haven's facilities. He wouldn't have felt guilty of taking advantage of Lionheart, but a lot of money and effort from numerous people went into running the academy.

But God had the official missions been slow. Clark had taken a Bullhead for one of them and had needed to wait several hours to arrive, while the other he'd just said he had his own transportation and ran there. They hadn't been towns on the verge of collapse, so with the second mission he'd been forced to wait so he wouldn't be recorded as arriving seconds after being assigned a mission. For both, he'd needed to introduce himself to the mayor of each town, take care of the Grimm at a rate that wasn't too suspicious, and then return hours later and report the mission completed.

'I used to have patience for that sort of thing.' Clark shook his head and chuckled. He'd gotten too accustomed to using super-speed on Remnant. Why wouldn't he when he usually spent time with only seven people in this world, who knew about his speed anyway?

"Is something funny?" Ruby looked in curiously from outside his room. He could hear if someone approached, so usually kept his door open unless he wanted some privacy. He'd heard Ruby and expected her when she'd slowed down just before reaching his door, but what surprised him was what she was wearing. Instead of her usual outfit, she had on a black jacket and checkered black and gray skirt.

Haven's school uniform. Although Ruby had kept a personal touch with her red hood draped around her shoulders.

"Just that you guys spoil me," he said, finally answering her question.

She tilted her head. "Huh?"

Clark chuckled again. Everybody else who lived in this dorm knew about his powers. How often did he think about how liberating that was? That he wouldn't have to lie to those close to him anymore? "It just means that you guys are good friends."

She lit up at the compliment. A wide smile opening up on her face.

"Anyway, what's with the Haven uniform?" he asked. "Doesn't the school year officially start tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but we thought it'd be a good idea to try them out now." Ruby raised her elbows and looked down. "I think the Beacon one was better."

Clark recalled the suits. "Yeah, I agree." The Beacon ones had more color on them and were more appealing. Although his opinion might be a bit biased.

Back at Beacon, he'd thought that Velvet had looked especially pretty in the red skirt.

He pushed the thought aside and forced a smile. "By the way, do you know about what's going on downstairs? There are some new people in here." Three by his count, he'd heard them come in a couple minutes ago.

Ruby looked up and blinked twice. "Oh yeah, that's why I came up here in the first place. They're Haven students, friends that we met back when they visited Beacon for the Vytal Festival. I was going to ask if you want to come down and meet them."

"Sure." Meeting new people could be a nice change of pace.

He followed her down the stairs to where Yang and team JNPR waited with the guests. Everyone was wearing the Haven school uniform, and Clark actually recognized the newcomers. They'd been part of a team in the Vytal Festival tournament that Coco had mentioned. Team SSSN.

A tall blue-haired student with yellow goggles above his eyes was currently talking with Yang. He was an active speaker, telling a story with lots of gestures and hand movements. Behind him was a dark-skinned man with green hair, with tattoos of the number six repeated around his neck. Or maybe they were actually the number four, they were written like Roman numerals. Even if Rome had never existed on Remnant, maybe they worked the same way. Next to him was a man with red hair covering half his face and tattoos surrounding his left eye.

Even if someone had only caught a glimpse of them, they would have stood out as memorable individuals. Although that also seemed to apply to most huntsmen that Clark had seen.

"Hey guys!" Ruby said, and waved down to them. "I brought Clark over!"

"Great!" Jaune matched her excitement. "Clark, these three guys are part of team SSSN."

"Yeah, hi new person!" The blue-haired one lifted a hand. Clark recalled that his name was Neptune, although he wasn't sure whether he'd ever heard his last name.

"Hello," Clark said politely. "I'm Clark Kent."

They introduced themselves, and Clark learned their full names. Neptune Vasilias, the green-haired one was Sage Ayana, and the last was Scarlett David. They told him how they'd become friends with team RWBY and JNPR back at Beacon thanks to their leader Sun. A blond monkey faunus who wasn't present at the moment.

After they finished, Yang nudged her sister. "Yeah, and the reason Sun's not here is that he went chasing after Blake. Once a stalker, always a stalker, right Ruby?"

"Hold on," Neptune raised a hand to stop her. "As his best friend, I have to clarify. Sun may be a fool clumsy in the matters of love, but he is not a stalker."

"Dude, the first time Sun met them, he chased after Blake before he even talked to her. And now he's ditching school to for the same reason. It's not gonna be that easy to change their mind," Scarlett said.

Clark noted his accent with interest. It sounded British, although Britain didn't exist on Remnant. Then again, Vale's accent and language had been close to Clark's, so he didn't spend any more time wondering about it.

"Dude! What side are you on?" Neptune asked his teammate.

"The side of the truth," Scarlett replied in an excessively noble tone.

"Come on, Sun's our bro! You don't have to be so blunt about his faults."

"Shouldn't hide them either."

"Do you think Blake's okay?" Ruby asked her sister in a low, worried voice.

Yang stilled, but then gave a strong smile and nodded. "Yeah, Blake's independent, good at taking care of herself. Remember?"

That cut Neptune and Scarlett's argument short, and Neptune turned to face Ruby. "Yeah! I'm sure she's be fine. No way Sun would let something bad happen to her."

"Yeah, you can trust Sun," Sage said. "He's a good guy, he just doesn't think through everything he does."

Ruby giggled. "He really seemed that way when we met him."

Sun Wukong. The first time Clark had seen him had been about half a year ago. Which had also been the first time he'd seen team RWBY, when they'd chased a Paladin down a highway. Other than that and a little bit in the tournament, Clark hadn't seen him enough to form an impression.

"By the way, are you going to be a student here, Clark?" Neptune asked.

He shook his head. "No, my circumstances are sort of unique. I'm basically an assistant for Qrow Branwen, a pro huntsman who's staying here for a mission."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"What sort of mission?"

"Sorry, can't say, but it's not that interesting anyway. I'd much rather hear what you guys have to say about Haven."

Clark mostly listened as the students discussed Haven. The entire academy bustled with activity now, students had come in and unpacked before classes began. The first years would be arriving tomorrow for initiation, which was apparently very similar to Beacon's but with some significant differences. Students were able to able to choose partners and teams, although the academy might end up assigning them different ones for the rest of their time here.

The curriculum was apparently basically the same as Beacon's too. Classes became less combat-focused for higher-years, they had more huntsman laws and protocols drilled into their heads. Since a single pro huntsman could wipe out a town of civilians with relative ease, they were held to a much higher standard. Students learned about what they were and weren't allowed to do, but still received real world experience thanks to more missions. By their fourth year, it wasn't uncommon for a mission to entail dealing with criminals with aura such as rogue huntsmen.

Since he was twenty years old, Clark corresponded to a fourth-year student. The fact that he already had a license was noted by the three guests, but not extremely noteworthy for them. Ruby herself would be a year or so younger when she got her own.

The three members of the team seemed to be nice enough. Sage was on the quieter side, but his dry wit was formidable. Scarlett seemed to have a sort of roguish personality and seemed to love poking fun at Neptune.

Neptune had certainly left an impression as well. Before leaving, he shook Clark's hand and lowered his voice a bit. "By the way dude, if you ever need any help with the ladies here. I'm your guy."

Clark was no lady-killer, but he was satisfied with his own abilities. He responded with an amused smile. "Sure, I'll keep that in mind."

Soon after the trio had left, Qrow came in. Walking through the door rather than flying in, probably because there were more people that would spot a bird flying into the building. He caught them in the middle of putting away the drinks and snacks they'd left out for everyone.

"What's with the uniforms?" He asked.

"We wanted to get a feel for them," Yang said, and also explained the visit from a team from Haven. Once she was finished, she walked up to him and looked up with what looked like an attempt at an innocent expression. The mischief in her eyes barely hidden. "Hey, uncle Qrow, do we really have to go to school? I mean, we're fighting to protect the entire world against a lady who can control the Grimm. That's a good reason for missing school, right?"

"No."

Her hopeful expression dropped. "Why not?"

"The fight against Salem isn't something that your entire life revolves around. You can still go on and do other things. I've known about her for decades, and I still had time to be a teacher at Signal."

"But you're not there now."

"This just happens to be one of the times where I'm actively investigating her," Qrow said. "I'm not having any luck tracking down Cinder or the Spring Maiden, and if I'm not, then you guys certainly won't either. You still have time for school."

Yang clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Where'd this even come from anyway? You didn't have a problem with going to classes at Haven before."

"It's likely because we just learned about the differences between second-year and first-year curriculums," Ren said. "The increased focus on studies has made some of us . . . not happy."

"Not happy! Ren, this is an outrage!" Nora announced and thrust her hands up in the air. "We're huntsmen, we should be learning how to fight! Not sitting around studying!"

"Hey, those classes might be boring, but they're actually important." Qrow pointed out.

Ruby and Yang turned to face him, jaws dropped.

"Okay, that's an overreaction. I'm a teacher, remember?"

"Yeah, but you taught us awesome stuff. Like how to punch and slice." Yang pointed to herself and her sister respectively.

"Mmhm, and I'm going to leave the boring, but still important stuff to the other teachers. Seriously, if you mess something up when you're older because you don't know it, you could get your huntsman license suspended or taken away."

"Wow. Speaking from experience old man?" Yang asked, a grin on her face.

"Smartass." Qrow smirked back and shook his head. "Actually, no, but there were close calls. Trust me though, Tai will raise hell if you get in trouble. And I wonder what he'll think when I tell him that his two daughters want to get out of a proper education?"

Both girls turned white, with Ruby the first to recover. "Hey, I never said that! It was all Yang!"

"Traitor!" Her sister yelled back.

"It's every girl for herself if dad gets mad!"

"You little-!" Yang chased her sister around the room, although she didn't stand a chance of catching Ruby when she zipped away with her Semblance. It was a funny sight for the others though, and they paused to watch. At least, until they looked at the accumulating rose petals and had her stop.

"You four have any other objections to going to class?" Qrow eyed team JNPR.

Ren was quick to put a hand over Nora's mouth. "No sir, we understand the importance of these classes."

"Good," Qrow nodded and apparently decided that he'd had enough of dealing with teenagers for the day. He headed upstairs.

Ren suddenly pulled his hand away from Nora's face, wiped it off his shirt, and spoke in a deadpan tone. "Nora, did you just lick my hand?"

She looked aside. "Maybe."

\\\\\

Even in Haven's library, the bustling activity of the incoming students was notable.

At first sight, it was a normal afternoon. The bright sun shone through the library's windows and lit up the brilliant blue walls. The building was as silent and empty as it usually was too, since few students would want to use it on the first day of classes.

However, Clark's surroundings couldn't hide the rich, varied sounds of the hundreds of students who now occupied the school. At least, not to his ears. Excitement and anticipation filled most of their voices, many of them active in conversation. People walked, jogged, ran, and even skipped all around campus. Further out in the distance, a number of teens were fighting Grimm as they tried to pass Haven's initiation.

All of it reminded him of Beacon. Like Vale, this school was a far cry from the peaceful quiet of Kansas countryside, but the noise was something Clark found a strange comfort in. Like the life and vitality of the multitudes of people nearby surrounded and supported him.

He appreciated the feeling even now, as he read more into the state of Mistral's government on the computer screen and jotted some notes down. The research had taken up a lot of his time these past few weeks. At first, he'd been spurred by the shock of Calum Demos, but the more Clark had seen, the more he'd needed to learn.

He'd witnessed terrible crimes in the city, often done more openly than should be possible, and sometimes committed even by the police themselves.

He didn't have the authority to hand out justice for those crimes. Which was fine, he didn't deserve or want it, but he should at least be able to help the ones with that authority and protect people from injustice. Here, based on what he'd learned, that didn't seem to be fully possible.

But there was hope of narrowing down the exact reasons why.

Two sets of footsteps approached while he worked. Clark didn't consciously realize they were nearby until they entered the building, and listened to the familiar rhythm of their steps until they stopped a few feet behind him.

"Hi Clark," Ruby approached with a wide smile. Jaune followed close behind and said hello too.

Clark waved. "Hey guys. You're done with classes?"

"Yeah, it's the first day so our schedules aren't too busy," Jaune said.

"Uncle Qrow said you were at the library. What are you reading about?" Ruby leaned closer to the screen and glanced at his notes.

"Nothing interesting. Right now I'm looking into a rich family in Mistral. From what I've found, they seem to be connected to some gangs in the city."

Ruby gave him a curious look. Then, she gasped, and her eyes lit up. "Is this-she made an embarrassed face and lowered her voice-Dart stuff?!"

"Wait! Is it really?" Jaune asked, just as excited as Ruby.

Clark frowned. "Yes it is, but can you guys not say it out loud? There aren't a lot of people here right now, but I don't want to risk someone overhearing."

"Oh, right!" Ruby covered her mouth. "Sorry."

Jaune apologized too, then gestured at Clark's notebook. "Should we not talk about this either?"

"We can. Just not here, why don't we talk about something else?"

"Okay."

Clark watched them for a few seconds, both barely holding in their curiosity. "Alright, I can tell you about it in the dorm. Let's go."

Clark closed his notebook and packed all the papers back in his folder. As they left the library, Ruby walked by his left and Jaune on his right. Other students still milled about, which kept the two from mentioning the d-word.

Apparently, the alternative was them keeping quiet. So it was Clark who brought up another topic. "How were your classes today? As boring as you thought they'd be?"

"Actually, they weren't too bad," Ruby said. "The professors all started out giving us a summary of the topics that they'll teach for the year and we didn't have too many notes to take today. Plus they're a lot easier to listen to than the professors at Beacon."

"Yeah, now I can actually hear the individual words our history professor says," Jaune added. "And I actually stayed awake in Grimm studies too."

"You prefer them over Professor Oobleck and Port, huh?" Clark asked. His short experience with both professors proved that, while what Jaune said was rude, it was also accurate.

"Definitely," Ruby answered. "Neptune was right too, there's way less combat in our classes now. I heard about what kind of missions we'll go on though, so it doesn't seem too bad. But Yang and I can't go on those with just the two of us, and we'll probably have to go with another team."

"You take missions more often than the freshmen, right?"

"Yep, about every eight weeks or so," Jaune said as they entered the dormitory.

Fortunately, they could talk freely here. Lionheart had arranged for no other students to live with them because Qrow had said they'd need to discuss sensitive topics like the Maidens and Relics here. He hadn't added any bugs or other surveillance either, although that might be more because there was often at least one person in the dorm.

Instead of cutting right to the chase about Clark's research, Jaune's eyes turned to the couch.

"Pyrrha?" he asked.

She was still wearing her uniform and reading a book on a couch in the main room. She smiled when she turned to face them. "Hello. Are you three getting something before heading out?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, we're staying for a bit. Didn't you say you were going to hang out with Ren and Nora?"

"I did, but I underestimated how the students would react to me. It's more . . . intense than at Beacon."

"Oh. Then, do you want to hang out with us?" Jaune faced Clark. "Is it okay if she joins in?"

"Sure, if she wants to."

"Then I do." She placed her book down on the coffee table. "It's likely more interesting than what I'm doing now."

"It totally is!" Ruby looked so excited that she might explode. "Clark's about to tell us about his next move as the Dart."

"Is he?" Pyrrha said, her eyes shining with amusement.

"Not exactly." Clark walked up and had Ruby and Jaune sit down beside Pyrrha so he could show them all what he'd learned.

In his notebook and folder were pieces of information that would have been mostly meaningless without the context he shared with them. They were only used to record trivial facts that he might forget or contained photos of people and places that were of interest to him.

Clark started with what he'd witnessed about a month ago. Calum Demos the drug addict, and how the police officer had accepted a bribe from the dealer Clark had reported. How that had prompted his personal investigation of Mistral's corruption.

The police in the city were unreliable. On the upper levels, they handled crime in the same way as proper police did at first glance. Upholding the law, patrolling the streets, and arresting criminals properly. Except that they still accepted bribes, which were often a good deal larger than what they got on the lower levels.

There, the police were more like bullies. They often harassed stall owners, demanding free food or pushing others around when they felt they weren't shown the proper 'respect'. They caught criminals too, sometimes the crime was too visible for bribes to be accepted or the criminal didn't have enough money. They tended to abuse their power then as well, beating them even after arrest and using excessive force during interrogations.

In a few cases, the police could be even worse. Clark suspected that a number of officers were friendly with gangs in the city. Property confiscated by the police sometimes vanished, the drugs and weapons likely sold back on the streets.

Clark had reported the wrongdoings he'd seen. It would have been suspicious if he'd reported so many himself, so at times he'd secretly intervened at super-speed and convinced another witness to report the police's actions. Making sure to stay behind to protect them from any possible police retaliation.

For the cases of the police bullying and abusing their power in the lower levels, the operator made empty promises that the department would deal with them. Those who Clark had caught with crimes too strong for the police to ignore, which should have been any crime, were usually ones that had at least several witnesses.

The department had finally taken action then, those officers had been punished.

They'd been slapped on the wrist.

Black marks on records. Suspended for a few days, pay not even docked. At worst, police were transferred outside the city.

The police prized their friendships with each other and largely overlooked any 'fun' that other officers had. Clark had seen suspended police officers still socialize with their other buddies in the force and heard jokes made at their expense for being caught.

The police force was only one part of the trouble with Mistral, but was related to everything else. The current chief allowed the department to run like this, there were hints that he'd actively kept things this way. The government that had appointed him was full of the same corruption too. Accepting bribes, maintaining relations and working with criminal organizations. The upper level officials could be influenced by certain wealthy families, including the Council.

Based on Clark's research, this system seemed to have been around for decades. He'd even found academic papers attributing it to economic factors from the Great War. It was a horrifying stability that both sides of the law worked to maintain and profited from.

Once he'd finished, the three of them wore stunned expressions.

"I-is it really that bad?" Ruby asked.

"I know it might be hard to believe, but that's what I've seen."

"It's so different from Vale." Jaune turned to his partner with a worried look. "Pyrrha, you okay?"

She nodded, a small movement that barely tipped her head. Her eyes had a faraway look. "I've heard about things like this since I was young. Mostly warnings to stay out of the bad areas of the city when I visited or rumors of those in the government. I wouldn't call myself a patriot, but I do have some pride in my kingdom. It's difficult to hear its problems laid out so clearly."

"I'm sure the people aren't to blame," Clark said. "They couldn't want to live like this. It's the minority who's responsible, the ones in power."

"I suppose so." Pyrrha smiled, but it wasn't all there.

"So, what's your plan?" Ruby asked.

"I've been working on one, but it's still in its early stages. The problem is that even though I could catch a bunch of thugs or corrupt policemen, it won't solve the root of the problem. The criminals that do the most damage, the ones in charge of the others, could still buy their way out. The ones that couldn't would probably be mistreated while in custody. The police aren't easy to deal with either, I can't get all the corrupt policemen by showing their true colors, assuming they'd be properly punished. They cover for each other, and they'll catch on to what I'm doing."

"That's a lot of problems, but you can still fix things, right?" Jaune asked.

Clark shook his head. "I'm flattered that you believe in me, but it's not that simple. This runs deep, and the best I can do is go after the ones at the top. And it won't be as the Dart."

"What?!" Ruby jumped up from the seat.

Jaune did the same. "Wait, are you not going to be the Dart anymore?"

Ruby's alarmed expression shot up to an eleven. "Are you?"

"Okay, alright, calm down. I just meant that I'll operate differently now than I did as the Dart. I'm not speeding around leaving criminals for the police to arrest, and I won't be leaving my symbol around anymore either. I'll still be helping people, that's the important part, but it'll be in a way that I think does the most good."

"B-but couldn't it be a good idea to scare the corrupt politicians and police by letting them know the Dart is after them?" Ruby asked. "Or make people feel better that there's someone watching after them?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that there'd be a huge sensation if people knew the Dart was in Mistral now," Jaune said. "It would make those criminals and police think twice before they did anything bad."

Clark shook his head. "No, that wouldn't work. They'd just get sneakier with what they do. Besides, reassuring people isn't something I should do. I'm not someone to look up to."

"How could you say that? Of course you are!" Ruby zipped forward with her Semblance and looked up at him with desperate eyes. As if she couldn't bear him saying that he wasn't some great, perfect person.

Clark sighed. Hadn't she outgrown her hero worship by now? Jaune might have some more left in him, but Clark had felt that they'd all gotten to be more casual friends. Recently, besides this sudden excitement for the Dart, the only time she'd gushed because of him was when she'd looked over his gauntlets and talked about how to improve them.

"The point is, I've made my decision," Clark said. "The Dart was just a name people decided to call me back in Vale, I never chose it. When the police, Council, and gangs catch on to someone ruining their plans here, I don't want anyone to know it's the same person."

"How come? Do you not like being the Dart?" Ruby asked.

He paused for a moment, then answered. "I don't dislike it, but I'm not fond of it either. That doesn't matter anyway. I'm just Clark, I'll still try to help. This time, I just won't be as public about it."

"I'd be happy to offer any help," Pyrrha suggested. "And despite their shock, I'm sure Jaune and Ruby would too."

Jaune agreed eagerly. "Yeah, we totally will! Are you sure, though? About not going out as the Dart anymore?"

"I'm sure."

Ruby looked like she wanted to say more, but lost heart at a look from Clark's adamant expression. Her scroll buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket.

"Yang says she, Ren, and Nora are at the cafeteria with team SSN," she said. "And that we should head over for dinner if we want to eat with them."

Clark glanced at the clock. "Huh, it's already six. Guess I must have talked longer than I thought. See you later, then."

"You're not coming?" Ruby asked.

"I want to get some more research done first. I'll get something to eat later, and can you ask who'd be up for a spar later tonight?"

"Okay." Ruby pressed her lips together, then spoke. "And um, I'm sorry if I upset you."

He smiled. "It's okay, you didn't. Neither did you Jaune." He added at the blond's worried expression.

The two relaxed and they all left. For a little while longer, Clark overheard Jaune ask Pyrrha about their private lessons. Then, their voices and footsteps faded to the point where he'd need to concentrate to pick them out.

Clark headed back up to his room and worked from his scroll. Nothing else occupying his attention until his daily training session hours later. He sparred with Yang and Nora tonight.

This month alone, he'd sparred against every student in the dorm and Qrow at least five times each.