Fifteen seconds. A rough estimate for how long it had taken Clark to cross the dozens of miles back to Vale. His super-hearing was useless at such speeds. If it had worked, he would have had some warning of the city he arrived in.
Chaos. Droves of Grimm poured and flew into the city, most of the perimeter forces had given up ground and formed lines of defense in the streets. Civilians rushed to the safe zones, but not all of them succeeded.
Clark quickly flashed to the nearest group. Normally, it would have been somewhat difficult for him to find a blind spot, but the soldiers were so focused on the invading monsters that it was easy.
Clark set the phantom aside in a closet. The crystal had made him as weak as a kitten, and the pain it inflicted would prevent the phantom from getting out on his own. All the double did when Clark threw him in was groan.
Then, Clark carried Velvet in his arms and approached the nearest soldier.
"Excuse me!" Clark said. "My friend's injured, where are the doctors?"
The man gave her bandaged legs a brief glance and pointed to a Bullhead. "Take her over there, she and all other civilians who need medical attention will be transported somewhere safe."
Clark nodded. "Thank you." He said, but the soldier already left. Clark ran to the Bullhead. A normal run, super-speed wasn't an option with so many people nearby, and he rapped on the door.
"The . . . the Grimm, how can there be so many?" Velvet whispered. The shock in her voice was clear.
The Bullhead door opened, and a tired-looking woman in a white coat looked over Velvet without a word. She led them inside and, in a clipped voice, told Clark to set her down on a chair.
There was no room on the beds, the vehicle was so crowded that there were barely even any chairs available. Doctors and nurses worked in a frenzy of activity, but at the moment, they could only give their attention to the most life-threatening injuries. There were people applying pressure onto quickly bandaged wounds with no one attending them, and even children who held ice packs to bruises as they cried for their parents.
Velvet received a quick assurance that someone would be with her soon and to keep pressure on the bandages.
The smell of blood, the cries of pain and fear, the same sounds of the mayhem taking place outside force their way in his head. He shuddered, it was too much. "I have to go."
"Wait!" Velvet's hand shot out and grabbed him, the contact bringing his attention back to her. She held on tight, trembling in her seat, and she looked at him like he'd disappear any second.
"Velvet, let go, please." He gave her a pleading look. "The Grimm are slaughtering people out there."
"I . . . I know. I'm sorry, but-" Her grip tightened, and she met his eyes in a determined gaze. "Promise me, promise me that you'll be careful."
"I promise." He said, but she didn't look convinced. He could have pulled his wrist free with ease, but the look in her eyes had a greater hold on him.
He kneeled down and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't worry. After all this is over, everything'll be okay, and I'll explain anything you want. Okay?" He pulled back to look in her eyes, and somehow, he found the strength to smile.
She replied with one of her own. "Okay. Now go."
He nodded and ran out of the Bullhead. The moment he was certain nobody saw him, he practically vanished.
He didn't hesitate to demolish the robots and smashed through them with ease. The Paladins held him up a bit longer, but usually, all he needed to do was break through a leg to tip it over. While he ran through the streets, he made sure to transport anyone they'd injured to the nearest contingent of soldiers.
For the Grimm, he hesitated for a moment. With his speed, it was a moment that only lasted microseconds. When the monsters only threatened one or two people, it was faster to speed them away than kill a horde of Grimm, but when groups of people were in danger?
He had no other options. It was either kill the Grimm, or let innocents die. He flashed through the Grimm, cutting through them with heat vision or slamming his hands together in a thunderclap powerful enough that a fatal wave of pressure finished them.
Even with his newfound resolve, there were too many. He was working his way through the robots, but the Grimm were another story. They kept coming in from outside the city. Clark was hardly making a dent in the Nevermore and Griffons, and the dragon in the sky kept making more Grimm.
Even if he'd been able to fly, there were too many to deal with. He was just one person.
Clark flashed behind a soldier. "Excuse me."
"Whoa!" The soldier jumped and raised his gun. "Who are you, where'd you come from?"
Clark ignored it. "I'm here to help, I'm a huntsman. There isn't much time, I need to get in touch with General Ironwood."
"Well good luck, city-wide comms are shot." The moment he said it, an order came in through his helmet. It was from a group of soldiers nearby, Clark could see where the signal came from, the officer on the other end was requesting backup a few streets down. Without another word, the soldier left.
Clark closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. The general . . . where was he?
"Glynda, to your right!"
There.
Clark raced down several blocks to the troops firing into Grimm. He overtook their bullets with ease and dispatched the monsters in moments. There was no technique to it, he just ran straight through and carved man-sized holes in them.
He didn't stick around long enough for the Grimm to dissipate, or the soldiers to react with shock at the sudden annihilation of the creatures attacking them. Clark returned to where he'd left the phantom and brought the double with him.
The general was closer to the center of the city, and Clark made it there in a fraction of a second. Fortunately, when he arrived, the only three in the area were the general, Qrow, and Ms. Goodwitch.
He stopped behind and his eyes blazed with heat. He swung his head to cut through a swathe of incoming Grimm and robots. He quickly shut it off to let it cool down for a second, and flicked his heat vision upwards for a few Griffons and Nevermore that had started to dive in.
"Clark!" Qrow ran up to him, accompanied by the others, all of their eyes wide. "Holy crap, you alright?"
Clark knew what he looked like. Dirty, his clothes in tatters, with small streaks of dried blood on his face, but he felt fine. The crystal in his pocket had stopped glowing a while back, it had done its work to heal him.
"Is that your double?" Ironwood's eyes narrowed and his finger approached his gun's trigger as he noticed the phantom. Qrow and Ms. Goodwitch were also at the ready. "Where's Penny?"
Clark froze at the name, but the inaction only lasted a second as more Grimm approached. He placed the phantom down and swatted them away with a thunderclap, which gave him a brief respite to explain. "I . . . I'm sorry sir. She died saving me, thanks to her I weakened the phantom with my crystal. I'll need somewhere to keep him while I help you guys."
For a couple seconds, the general didn't move. Then, he shot into the air to take down several Griffon. "I understand." He said in an even voice. "Defending the city is our priority, I'll need your help reclaiming my ship. You can put your double in a cell while I reset the droids to protect the people again."
"Wait, Clark, can you get me and Ms. Goodwitch to Beacon first?"
"Sure, right now?"
"Yeah."
Clark raced by and first picked up Qrow, then Ms. Goodwitch, and carried them with an arm under their shoulders. Moments later, he set them down in Beacon's courtyards and returned to the general.
His fist rammed through the skull of a Creep. "Sir, which one is your ship? I can jump us up onto it."
"You can? Never mind, of course you can. That one." The general pointed. Clark followed his gaze to the ship which looked to be in the best condition. The others had been fired upon or were covered in aerial Grimm.
"Okay then, prepare yourself, sir. This might be a bit of a shock."
The general punched through a robot and nodded. "I'm ready."
Clark retrieved the phantom and raced behind Ironwood. With a firm arm under the general's shoulders, Clark flexed his legs. Briefly, the air shimmered, and he leapt into the air.
The buildings below shrank in the distance as the wind rushed by. Clark noticed that the general's heart hammering in his chest, a sound that had a distinct, semi-metallic echo throughout the man's body. It was understandable that there'd be some panic. Even Clark had been afraid when he'd first jumped distances like this.
They landed with a loud clang! It wasn't Clark's imagination when he rocked the ship, and the metal beneath them almost gave way completely. The general made a brief sound of protest when he ripped into it, but groaned almost immediately and motioned for Clark to continue.
"The control room is at the front and center of the ship." Ironwood said after they jumped in.
Clark nodded, and X-ray vision revealed that while a few spots had lead shielding, he could still see straight into the control room. He clenched his jaw once he saw the lifeless bodies inside. "Roman Torchwick and Neo are there, I'll take care of them."
"Understood."
Clark sped to the front of the ship. He'd only caught a few snatches of the words passed between the criminals, but the laughter had been most striking. These people were enjoying what they were doing.
Clark broke into the room, and without a hint of mercy, he grabbed the orange-haired man and the diminutive woman. Milliseconds later, he rammed them against the steel walls of the ship. Just hard enough for the metal to dent and their aura to flicker out, the precision only possible thanks to Ms. Goodwitch and Qrow's training.
For a moment, a flash of recognition and fear crossed Neo's face, and Clark knocked them unconscious by slamming their heads against the wall.
The general ran in moments later, he paused once he saw the blood and fallen soldiers. It would have saved him a few seconds if Clark had run out and brought him inside, but it didn't take a genius to see how the man disliked it.
Instead, Clark raced out and dropped the phantom into the two criminals. The double made a pained noise from the ungraceful drop.
The general burst into action, he ran to the consoles and pressed buttons. "There are aura cuffs in that cabinet." He pointed to Clark's right. "I don't have the key, just rip it open. The code to activate them is 28527."
Clark tore into the metal and placed the cuffs on all three criminals. The aura feature wouldn't be helpful against the phantom, but they were heftier than normal cuffs. Which was comforting even with the double's weakened state.
The general kept his eyes fixed on the screens and his mouth twisted in frustration. He handed Clark a plastic card. "Use this as a key for the cells. Don't put them next to each other."
Clark nodded and flashed over to the cells, spacing the placement of the two criminals and the phantom. When he returned, the general cursed and slammed a desk with his fist.
The general took a deep breath. "Cinder's work is extensive. My authorizations, access codes, none of it's working." Still, he persisted in regaining control. "Kent, can you see the state of operations at Beacon?"
Clark turned to face the academy and focused his vision through the windows. "Ms. Goodwitch is protecting the area with other huntsmen and students. Qrow's yelling for people to get onto Bullheads and evacuate."
"And the tower?"
Clark squinted. "Ozpin's office has lead in its walls, I can't see inside, but I can hear him and Cinder. They're fighting."
"Ruby, I don't know what the headmaster meant, but you can do this!" A girl's voice urged.
"I-I'm trying but it's not working! They're right outside, and we're waiting here! This is wrong, we have to help!"
"We are helping, this is the headmaster's plan, remember?" Doubt plagued the voice, but the girl continued. "We can't let Cinder find us, we have to make sure the headmaster's distraction works!"
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"There are two other girls inside." Clark said. "I think one of them is Qrow's niece, and they're hiding from Cinder. Ozpin told them to wait for some plan of his."
"Qrow's niece? Ruby Rose?"
Clark nodded.
Ironwood hesitated at the keys for a moment, then resumed his rapid typing. "Then we'll have to trust him to take care of himself. For now, the dragon is our priority. I can't get weapons or communications back online; this virus was set up so only someone knowing the proper codes could use them once it went into effect."
Clark winced. "Then I shouldn't have knocked out Torchwick?"
"That wasn't the wrong choice. I doubt he would have offered them, and he's proven to be a difficult individual to interrogate." Ironwood took out his gun and aimed at the console.
"Wait! What are you-
"I can't regain control of central commands, and right now, the droids are killing the people they were meant to protect. Stand back."
Soon after the general shot into the screens, certain sounds dominated outside. The rampaging Paladins and rogue droids fell to the ground and were followed by multitudes of people giving out sighs of relief.
The general moved to another set of controls. "I'll do what I can to keep this craft afloat and maintain limited communications. With my heavy artillery out, you need to get up on top of the tower and take down the dragon. Can you do that?"
"I . . . yes, I can."
"Then go."
Clark didn't need any more encouragement, and he raced up to the top of the ship. He vaulted out of the hole he'd made. He turned to face the dragon, black tar oozed out from its skin and dropped below to create more Grimm.
X-ray vision revealed the inside of the creature and he focused on a joint in its wing. It would be easy enough to use heat vision to pierce through it, and Clark's eyes began to glow.
He stopped. No, that thing was big. Even if he aimed for its brain, he didn't know how quickly it would dissolve. There were still people down below as well, Clark had to find another way to stop it.
His eyes tracked the monster's flight path, and he bent his legs. Just before he leapt, the air vibrated, and he shot out like a missile above the city. The impact rocked the ship, and if Clark had focused, he could have heard the general curse at the sudden movement.
Instead, Clark's attention fell onto the monster that dominated the skies. For a moment, he feared that he'd misjudged the angle and strength in his jump, that he'd miss the monster and crash in the city. He'd survive, but the same wouldn't be true of anyone he happened to land on.
Clark didn't realize it, but more than gravity and air resistance acted to alter his trajectory. Thanks to its guidance, his feet smashed right where he wanted: onto the dragon's back. The creature roared in pain as its bone armor cracked, and he quickly reached out to hold onto one of its bone spikes so he wouldn't be shaken off.
It had a tough hide, Clark had heard his impact reverberate through its body. In a flash, he climbed up to its right wing and put his plan into action. With his immense strength, he pulled on the bone just beyond the joint and wrestled against the creature's frantic attempts to free itself from his grip.
It gave a few agitated flaps of its wings, but Clark held on. As he'd expected, it began to lean to the right. The left wing tried to provide lift while the right was disabled, and the imbalance tipped the creature out of the city.
When they'd finally gone beyond city limits, Clark slammed a palm into the wing and the bone broke with a resounding crack! He leapt off the creature, and watched it spiral out of control into the ground below. If he'd tried this in the city, buildings would have been devastated by the beast's drop.
The beast slammed into a cliff outside the city, the head taking the brunt of the impact. It had a tough skull, but not tough enough to survive the force of its entire weight behind it. Chips of skull fragments penetrated its brain and killed it immediately. Even for its enormous size, it took only seconds for the corpse to vanish.
Clark landed hundreds of feet away. That had solved the problem of Grimm materializing from tar falling from the sky, but there were still many inside the city. White Fang too, Clark could hear some soldiers who were fighting terrorists instead of Grimm.
Terrorists. People, not mindless monsters like the Grimm. There had to be a better, faster way of getting them out of the city than killing them.
He sped towards the city, and leapt.
\\\\\
"Blake! Blake!" Yang sprinted through the school as she tried to find her partner. Damn it, Weiss had said she'd gone after some White Fang here. Where the hell was she?!
"Blake!" Yang yelled out again. She'd be okay, she had to be.
"Aghhh!"
The scream made Yang's blood run cold, the recognition of her partner's voice like a knife in her chest, and her feet pounded on the ground to the cafeteria.
When she arrived, Blake was impaled on the ground by a White Fang with a red sword.
Then, her partner vanished. Yang could breathe again, she hadn't even realized that she'd stopped. A clone, of course. Blake was safe, she'd used her semblance to escape.
The blonde's eyes flashed red, activating her semblance by instinct. "You bastard!"
"Yang, no!"
She leapt forward, but before she could reach the man, the air between them turned red. A red sword came out of the shimmering hole and struck the White Fang's own. The woman holding the weapon wore a Grimm mask, another terrorist? But why would she attack her own ally?
The terrorist snarled. "You?! Get out of my way!" He lunged with a furious swipe of his sword, but the woman parried it with ease.
It was then that Yang finally took in the woman's clothing. Red and black armor, a black skirt and gauntlets.
"Mom?" Yang whispered.
"Leave, he is too strong for you." The woman replied. Her voice was calm, indifferent.
Yang's fists shook. Leave? How could she? She had so many questions, questions that Uncle Qrow had always refused to answer.
"Yang . . ."
The blonde finally turned to her partner, and her eyes widened at the blood seeping from Blake's fingers. The faunus held her side, she hadn't escaped completely with her semblance. Yang immediately went into motion and lifted her partner. Blake needed help, Yang could deal with her mo- Raven later.
"No!" The man cried out.
As Yang ran to the Bullheads, her mind was split between the aircraft and the fight taking place behind her. Why had Raven come after so many years, when she'd left without a word? How had she known that Yang was in danger?
Yang spotted Uncle Qrow leading people to the Bullheads. Now wasn't the time to ask him, but after all this was over, she was going to have some answers.
\\\\\
The accomplishment gave her an exquisite pleasure, the greatest she'd ever felt. Not even gaining the full extent of the fall maiden's power had been this satisfying. This, she'd achieved on her own.
Cinder had killed Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, the eternal nuisance in Salem's side. He would return in time, but by then he would be lost, weak. Her remaining task was to find where he'd stored the Relic. It shouldn't be too difficult, considering how their battle had destroyed much of his office. Walls and portions of the ceiling had collapsed, they let in the cool wind and a view of the night sky.
Cinder walked to his desk. It would be unlikely that he kept the Relic there, but it had almost certainly been in view from where he'd sat.
"S-stop!" A girl in a red hood appeared in a flurry of rose petals.
"Wait, Ruby!" Pyrrha Nikos ran out, but resigned herself to her friend's course of action. She scowled at Cinder and raised her weapon.
Cinder sneered. "Well, where have you two been hiding? Don't tell me you did nothing but watch during my bout with your headmaster?"
Ruby clutched her scythe. Such a naïve child, so easy to fool and control. Cinder might have found her tearful glare more threatening if she'd actually known how to use those eyes. As she was now, the girl was little more than another task for her to complete. Salem would likely have an interest in her, it would be best to keep her alive and deliver her to her mistress' feet.
Cinder's gaze shifted over to the cautious girl beside Ruby. Pyrrha Nikos, she might have had some limited use during Cinder's original plans for the festival. Now, she was nothing, just another obstacle to dispatch.
"Do you two truly think you can stop me?" Cinder asked. Flames flickered down her arms and form twin swords.
"Yeah, we do!"
Cinder snorted.
Thud! Whoosh! Something crashed into the tower. Cinder raised her arms at the rush of wind from the impact, and the two students did the same.
The dragon? She hadn't summoned it, and even if she had, she should have heard it approach. But what else could have so much force behind it? Cinder lowered her arms, and her eyes widened in shock. A man?
Once the dust cleared, she saw his face. No, not a man.
\\\\\
If Ozpin's office had been in a better state, Clark would have put more care into his landing. Wrecked and demolished as it was, his entrance barely made a difference.
His eyes flit over the two Beacon students with her. Qrow's niece seemed confused at first, but her eyes widened in recognition. They'd met briefly once before, and it was possible she'd seen him once or twice around Beacon after then. Beside her was Pyrrha Nikos, one of the tournament contestants.
The one Penny had been scheduled to fight.
Clark's gaze finally settled on the woman, Cinder Fall, the one responsible for this attack. She watched him with wary eyes, her swords at the ready.
Swords that he'd seen her make out of fire, he'd have to be careful of those. He'd faced magic users a couple times back on Earth, when he'd been ignorant of magic's effect on him. There had even been one incident when he'd been stabbed by an enchanted sword.
He wasn't going to make the same mistake here.
"Where's the headmaster." He said. It was a demand, not a question. The two students tensed as a result, while Cinder's lips curled in an arrogant smile. Although there was still caution in her eyes.
"I'm sure you can find him somewhere. Ah, that pile of ashes perhaps." With the tip of her sword, she pointed in the corner, where the headmaster's cane lay.
Clark tightened his fist. The headmaster too, how many people had been killed in this attack? How could someone do this?
"Surrender. Tell your people to retreat." Clark said.
Her eyes narrowed. "No, I don't think I shall." Fire spouted from a wave of her arm-
Clark pursed his lips and blew her away before the attack even left her arm. He was careful not to hurt the two students, so the blast of super-breath wasn't anywhere near full strength.
But it didn't need to be, not when he'd once sneezed and sent a barn door flying across town by accident.
Cinder crashed against a wall and her swords clattered on the ground. Her hair was disheveled, and when she lifted her head back up, her eyes were glowing.
"You two should evacuate with everyone else, I'll take care of her." Clark said to the two students. His eyes never left Cinder. The witches back on Earth had chanted incantations for some of their spells, but he hadn't heard anything from Cinder. She might not need to say anything to use her magic.
"No, we're staying!" The younger girl insisted, and she rammed her scythe into the ground and aimed at Cinder.
Her friend held up a bronze shield and a strangely shaped sword. "With all due respect, she just killed the headmaster. We'll fight with you."
How long would it take him to speed them down? A tenth of a second? A quarter? Clark could have done it before they reacted, but he chose not to. Cinder was a magic user. He had no idea what she was capable of, so even if he might not need help, it was still appreciated.
Besides, he'd promised that he'd be careful.
"Fine." He said, the students had flanked to either side of him against Cinder. "You won't get another chance. Tell the White Fang to leave, now."
"I will not." She floated a few feet above the ground, and fire swirled in her hands.
Another blast of fire shot out, this time Clark ducked under it. Qrow's niece reacted by shooting at the woman. It took a second to recall that Qrow had mentioned that her scythe was also a sniper rifle.
Cinder dodged the shot, and the redhead leapt forward, choosing to get in close. Their blades rang each time they slashed at each other.
Enough.
Every moment Clark wasted here resulted in more innocent people dying. He could hear them, even after years of tuning out his super-hearing to maintain his sanity. She was a magic user as well, he might not have the luxury of going easy on her.
His sense of time slowed, far beyond the point where he no longer recognized the cries in the streets. A bullet hung in the air, its movement barely perceptible to him.
He ran over to one of the broken gears and wrenched a lever free. Then, he raced between Pyrrha and Cinder. The two were motionless compared to him.
The way he swung the lever was almost lazy. He only used one arm, but the strength behind it threw Cinder into the distance. He'd never have tried it if he'd been facing a normal human, but her aura flared to protect her.
The strike flung Cinder into one of the few gears left intact and dislodged it. Then, she slammed into the wall, and that final impact took the last of her aura. It flickered out.
Clark didn't waste any more time. He flashed in front of her and froze everything below her neck. The lever-turned-staff he'd used was now bent at a sharp angle, but he held it up. Careful not to touch her in case of her magic flames.
"Are you still not going to order your people to retreat?" He asked, his eyes hard and his voice even.
She glared at him, her expression full of contempt. "You have such power, and this is how you use it? Your companion was right about you."
Tendrils of metal climbed up and wrapped around her arms and legs. Clark knocked her out with the lever, but the metal still moved. He was about to break them when he realized that rather than freeing her, the wires actually restricted her.
The two students behind him ran forward. They'd been still for the past few moments, presumably from shock.
"Did one of you do this?" He lifted the lever to point at the metal holding back Cinder's arms.
The redhead answered, her eyes still wide. "Y-yes, that was me. I thought it would be best. Since she seemed to wield fire Dust extremely well."
"Thanks." He answered. It had been magic, not Dust, but the reasoning still applied. He hadn't known whether she'd be able to escape from his freeze breath and had watched her carefully.
Qrow's niece hadn't recovered nearly as well as her friend. Her mouth still hung slightly open, but she soon went into motion.
"Ohmigod, you're the Dart!" She jumped up and down, her voice full of such conviction and awe that Clark found it hard to deny it. What would even be the point with what she'd just seen him do?
What was the point of the secrecy and lies?
Clark sighed. No, he couldn't start thinking like that. It had been best to deal with Cinder quickly, before she'd had the chance to pull out a troublesome ability, but Ruby's reaction showed him exactly why he preferred to lay low.
"I am." He admitted, and slammed a fist into the ice holding Cinder. The two jumped at the sudden move, but relaxed at his explanation. "I'm going to put Cinder in a cell." He hefted her onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry and turned his eyes to Beacon's courtyards. "You two should probably evacuate, there are still Bullheads ferrying people out."
Ruby shook her head. "We're not leaving, um Mr. Dart, sir."
"My name's Clark Kent." He'd briefly debated telling them his name, but she'd already met him before. She'd have been able to find it out on her own anyway. "Although I hope you two will keep it a secret for now."
Ruby nodded her head so rapidly that it was a wonder it didn't fly off. "Yeah, totally! We get it, secret identity. Right Pyrrha?"
"Err, yes. Anyway, Ruby's right. This is our school, we're going to protect it."
Qrow's niece gave him a proud look, one that turned to confusion at his sad expression. Clark had hoped to convince them to leave with the civilians, they were too young to fight for their lives. Ruby especially.
Clark took another look outside. "Your uncle's in the courtyard, if you have any questions about me being the Dart, you can ask him. Now, I'll be going."
He bent his legs, and leapt towards Ironwood's ship.
His hearing briefly caught Ruby's surprised cry. "Wait, what?! Uncle Qrow knows?!"
Seconds later, he landed on the ship as carefully as he could. He didn't dent the metal nearly as much this time, and he raced to the hole he'd already made and down to the general seated in the control room.
"Sir, I-."
The general's feet hit the ground and he whirled up his seat, his gun raised.
Clark raised a questioning eyebrow at the sudden reaction.
"I . . . apologize. This is a rather tense situation." Ironwood holstered his weapon. "Is that the Fall maiden?"
"Yeah, I assume you have special cuffs for her?"
"I do." The general handed him a key. "Go to my office, the bottom drawer of the cabinet in the corner has what I need."
Clark flashed to the room. A quick X-ray vision scan showed that much of it was sealed off with lead. He opened the cabinet to take out the cuffs.
No, not cuffs. A collar, the same kind as the one Cinder had worn during her previous imprisonment.
She's dangerous. Clark reminded himself why it was necessary and returned to the control room in a split-second. The general had more conventional aura cuffs on her.
"I'll take her to a cell." Ironwood said, and he carried her on his back. "The ship's in no condition to land, but the autopilot can handle keeping it in the air for now. You've killed Grimm, has your distaste for the act finally vanished?"
"I still stand by what I said when we first met. I'll only kill Grimm when I have to. Although . . . I'll admit that I didn't realize how necessary it would be until now. I'll fight the Grimm for you."
Ironwood met his eyes for a few silent moments, considering his words. Then, he nodded. "Very well, focus on the ground. I'll do what I can from the air."
"I will." At that, Clark sped out of the ship and dropped down to the city below. He deliberately smashed through a sizable Nevermore. The Griffon that he killed next was unplanned, but fortunate, every little bit counted.
Somehow, his rapid descent ended with him landing on the ground as light as a feather. Then, in an instant, he accelerated and rammed through the Grimm at such speeds that they might as well have been mush.