At the library's computer, Clark went through article after article on events in the Highwood area. It was about nine in the morning, with few students in the library since most were in their classes. Although the ones here had given him some strange looks. After all, he was their age, but didn't wear a student uniform. Luckily, the Beacon staff name tag that Ozpin had given him was enough of an explanation.

After going through what felt like the hundredth news piece that morning, Clark had to wonder whether he was being too narrow in his search. Going through news stories for the past couple weeks had turned out nothing, and he'd already started looking at articles from towns in a fifty mile radius from Highwood.

He scrolled through his feed. To anyone else it might have looked like he was only catching glimpses of their titles, but he actually skimmed the articles more deeply than that thanks to his speed.

A car crash, a corrupt mayor being outed, faunus protests of inhumane working conditions. Nothing that he could connect to the phantoms, but he kept on reading anyway.

A few more stories later, he found one that caught his interest. Power Plant Attacked, Workers Killed and Dust Rendered Inert, 3rd Attack In Recent String of Terrorism.

He read through the article. This time, at a normal pace. There'd been an attack in Bridge county yesterday on what was apparently called a dual plant. A power station that directly converted lightning Dust into electricity and used fire Dust to boil incoming river water to steam to spin generators. The article said it produced more power than conventional plants, but it was more complicated and hard to maintain. That was why it looked like a suitable target for terrorists. Until it was back up and running, homes in the southern part of the county would have to cut back on electricity consumption and rely on the few remaining plants in the region to take up the load.

The second half of the article offered more information on the attack. Workers had been killed, violently, but without any sign of the weapons used. Security footage had been wiped, circuits had gone on the fritz that evening without explanation.

Even stranger was that the Dust left behind had been drained, and nobody had any idea how. The police blamed terrorists, likely the White Fang, since this could be considered a statement against the treatment of faunus in Dust mines. The article also mentioned that the organization had attacked factories when it had first turned violent, and speculated that this was an resurgence in their former activity. This was the third attack so far, and if they kept going, the shortages would cripple the county.

It didn't take Clark long to find the articles on the previous attacks. The first had been over a week ago, but the next had only been three days ago. He'd missed them since he hadn't widened his search to include those towns until a couple days ago. The power plants were on the western edge of the areas he collected articles from.

The attacks were tens of miles apart, and they roughly followed a straight line. Which headed directly for Vale, even ignoring closer power plants to go in the direction of the city. Why? The city of Vale's power plants didn't necessarily produce more power. There were more in a smaller area, but was that the only reason why?

Clark bit his lip, this was the phantom. He was sure of it, who else could have been powerful enough to kill so many people without weapons? But why was it going to Vale?

Could it be heading towards him? How? Could the phantom sense him somehow? Or the crystal which could imprison it?

He'd have to keep that in mind when he found the other phantom, and that it might not be safe if he stayed in the city for long.

Clark searched for the closest power plants to the one that had been attacked, and found the one closest to the phantom's beeline for Vale. It was in Kings county, the same county as the city, but near the border.

Leaving the terminal, he started to dial Mr. Branwen's scroll.

"Clark?" A voice interrupted him.

He looked up. It was the faunus girl from a few days ago, along with another girl wearing sunglasses and a dark brown beret. "Hi, you're Velvet right?"

She nodded. "You remember me?" She asked with a wide smile. She seemed oddly happy about that. Her ears practically pointed straight at the ceiling.

"You two know each other?" the other girl asked.

"Yeah, Clark and I met a few days ago in the city. He really helped me out." Velvet glanced at his nametag. "So you really do work here, I was worried since I hadn't seen you around. This is my friend Coco by the way."

"Yep." Coco lowered her sunglasses and looked him up and down. "And damn girl, I gotta say, you have good taste."

Clark's eyes widened.

"Coco!" The faunus' cheeks turned a deep red as her friend laughed. "Ignore her, please ignore her."

"O . . . kay. Look, I'm sorry, but I'm a bit busy right now. Maybe we can talk later."

"Oh, right, you're working right now," realized Velvet with a bit of disappointment. "Bye then."

"Goodbye." He waved at her with a smile. Normally, he wouldn't have minded talking to her, but the phantom was more important right now.

He raised the scroll up to his ear. When he contacted Mr. Branwen, he quickly explained about the phantom and the power plants. Along with where he'd be and that he might be gone for a few days.

"Alright kid, I'll tell the others." said once he understood the situation. "Try to come back as soon as you can, Ozpin's planning to send you on a mission soon. He and Ironwood want to see you in action."

"I'll try," answered Clark.

He hung up, and sped off to the northeastern edge of Kings county.

\\

"How could you not invite me?" Nora whined at the lunch table. "There was a giant robot! A giant robot!"

"Do you really want to be in detention with them?" asked Ren.

"Of course. Fighting a giant robot is totally worth it."

"Well, we didn't really fight it. We chasedafter it." Yang pointed out. "And can you believe how unfair that we all get detentions? It was only a couple of us who led it to a freaking highway."

"Hey!" Sun argued indignantly. "I'd like to see you think clearly when there's a ten-ton metal monster coming after you."

"Quiet monkey boy, you're lucky Weiss and Ruby are between us." Yang's eyes flashed red.

Sun gulped. "Sorry, shutting up now."

"Admittedly, it is rather irresponsible to go after dangerous criminals by yourselves." Pyrrha said.

"Thank you." Weiss said. "My team is too full of thrill seekers and justice enforcers to realize that."

"Weiss, they had a Paladin," argued Blake. "If we hadn't been there, who knows what they could have done with it?"

"That doesn't mean our involvement was necessary. I'm sure forces from Atlas were already investigating it."

"Yeah, because they've been so effective at dealing with the White Fang."

"I do not appreciate your sarcasm." Weiss answered coldly. "And I doubt that you're privy to General Ironwood's operations. Who actually has the resources to combat the White Fang. I, for one, would like to avoid any further detentions."

"Unbelievable, you think detention is worse than letting the White Fang roam free? Am I the only sane one here?"

"Hey! I'm completely sane!" Nora said as she scarfed down several bites of cakes and patted her stomach. "There there Mr. Tummy, I know you wanted them."

"Riiight." Yang said with a giggle, before turning to her partner with a more serious expression. "Anyway, Blake, you need to calm down. Everyone's worried about the White Fang, but you and Weiss are the only ones with personal agendas against them. And I agree with her, this isn't our fight."

Blake clenched her fist, before looking to her leader. "What about you Ruby? Don't you think we should be doing something about the White Fang?"

Ruby jumped in her seat as everyone's attention was brought to her, and she shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know . . . they're bad guys, but maybe we should leave it to the teachers or Atlas. A lot of people got hurt last night because of what we did."

Blake looked away, Weiss frowned, and Yang stabbed her chicken with a fork. Sun and Neptune just lowered their heads.

"Besides, it's not like the White Fang are doing whatever they want." Ruby added with some cheer to try and lift the mood. "The police raided a few of their bases recently, right?"

"That's true." Blake conceded. "They were only low-level members though, they probably wouldn't know anything important."

"What about the warehouse last night?" asked Ren. "If Torchwick and the Paladin were there, wouldn't at least a few White Fang officers, or the equivalent in their hierarchy, be present as well?"

Blake shook her head. "They know to move quickly, by the time the police got there, there would have probably only been the new recruits."

"Okay, enough White Fang talk." Nora declared. "I wanna know, how did you guys beat the Paladin? Was it a long fight? Was it strong? Was it as awesome as it must have been?"

Team RWBY, Sun, and Neptune all looked to the sides.

"Um . . . we didn't beat it," explained Yang.

Nora narrowed her eyes. "Ohhh, I see. Keeping the juicy details to yourselves huh? Does Nora need to break a few legs and loosen some tongues?"

"Whoa whoa, hold on Nora." Jaune put a hand on her shoulder as she started cracking her knuckles. It was probably a joke, but you could never be too careful with her. "Guys, you should probably explain quick."

"Well, Neptune and I were on the highway with Bumblebee," said Yang. "We were the last ones on the way to give Blake and Sun backup, since I could see everyone else ahead.

"And suddenly, a laser beam just shoots out behind us and hits the Paladin right in the leg. Then, it just tipped off the highway, and we all went down after it to fight Torchwick. He had some woman with him who could use glass illusions or something, which is how he got away."

"Hold on a sec, did I hear you right? You said a laser beam?" asked Jaune.

"Yep, pretty sure we all saw it." Yang said. "Neptune and I definitely did at least."

The rest of her team nodded, as did Sun and Neptune.

"Do you have any idea where it might have come from?" asked Pyrrha.

"Nope, we spent the whole night talking about it." Ruby said. "I thought it might have been Penny, since she fired energy blasts at the Bullheads at the docks, but the one that hit the Paladin was red. Hers are green."

Yang rolled her eyes. "And I told you last night, the color doesn't really rule her out."

"Yeah Yang, it kind of does." Ruby said. "Green totally fits with Penny's color scheme. No way she'd change it to red."

"Whatever," replied Yang. "You're friends with her right? Just ask her the next time you see her."

"Fine, I already know what the answer's going to be though."

"What about you Sun?" Blake asked. "You and I were up in the front, did you see anything behind us that could have fired that beam?"

The monkey faunus shook his head. "Nope, but . . . now that I think back, there was something weird with the cars."

"How so?" asked Weiss.

"Well, Roman had knocked a bunch out of the way and up in the air, and I was more focused on him. But some of the cars almost looked like they stopped in mid-air for a second."

"Stopped? Could it have been Ms. Goodwitch?" wondered Pyrrha.

"With how furious she was, I doubt she would have waited until we arrived at Beacon to scold us," reasoned Weiss. "If it had been her, she would have shown herself and helped apprehend Torchwick and his accomplice."

"Wow, floating cars and laser beams, this is a real mystery!" Nora practically bounced with excitement. "Renny loves them!"

"I'll admit that this is intriguing," said Ren. "Maybe we can look up some articles and see if the drivers present noticed anything."

"You mean you guys can." Ruby said sullenly. "The rest of us are gonna be in detention."

\\

The South Bridge Power Plant was located by a winding river. Clark could see the pipes circled throughout the building that deposited the water in several chambers. When operating, it would be turned to steam, which would spin the turbines above and generate electricity.

There were also pipes that just ran through the building before circling back to the steam chambers. Used to distribute water as coolant for the equipment that converted lightning Dust directly into electricity.

Clark ducked under the bright yellow police tape crisscrossing the doors. He entered, there were cameras, but they weren't active, since the building wasn't receiving any power.

Up ahead, the sight of dried blood greeted him. There were numbered markers and colored flags all over, and he'd been to enough crime scenes to know that those were locations of interest to forensic experts.

In other words, each collection of flags probably indicated a dead body. Where someone had lost their life.

He went over to the lightning Dust chamber. The Dust inside was finely grained, more so than at the Dust shop in Vale. There was still plenty in the chamber, as there probably hadn't been enough time to remove it yet.

Clark collected some in his hands and examined it. Usually, there was some low-level current always flowing in lightning Dust, but this didn't have it. At first glance, it might have seemed like sand.

The fire Dust was the same too. Stripped of its beautiful infrared glow.

This was bad. Why had the phantom done this? What did it need the power for? Clark looked around, checking the spectrum for clues. A few moments later, he found something. Footprints, unnoticeable in visible light, but they were faintly . . . radioactive? He saw how they weaved from flag to flag.

As he'd suspected, the phantom was powerful enough to kill them with its bare hands. He'd have to be careful.

The radioactivity explained why the cameras had failed, and it left an obvious trail of footprints for Clark to follow. The radiation levels were low, too low to cause health problems for people, but still visible to him.

At least, until they faded out completely barely a dozen feet out the door.

Could the phantom fly, even in a human body? Zod had been able to.

Without a trail to follow, Clark would have to defend the plant in Kings county and wait for the phantom. It would probably take it a while, but there weren't any towns in between them, so it wouldn't hurt anyone on its way there.

The cameras might have caught what its host looked like just before they failed. That could be helpful, since even Clark wouldn't be able to tell the difference by looking at it.

Unfortunately, the records were probably in the police's possession.

\\

It had been a really long night yesterday, Dan just wanted to go home and relax. It wasn't long until his shift was over, he just had to tough it out in his office for about half an hour.

Someone knocked on the door. "Excuse me, Captain Wesley?"

"Yeah, come in." He said.

A tall young man walked in. He wore thick glasses and had messy black hair. With his bulky jacket and button-upped shirt, he looked like he was trying to look older than he was, but failed. He kept looking around like a nervous wreck. Dan's eye came naturally to the press badge around his neck.

"H-hi, I'm Blanc Devourne. I heard you were one of the first responders at the South Bridge Power Plant attack. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" He took out a notepad and a pen.

"Go right ahead." It was better than filling out forms at least.

"You believe the White Fang were responsible for the attack?"

"Well, maybe not them. Since they usually try to get more attention than this, but it probably was faunus, protesting their conditions in the mines." Dan scratched his cheek. "Can't really blame them for feeling that way, if half of what they say is true, but this was way out of line."

"If you don't mind me asking, exactly how many people were killed?"

"Over a hundred, and it was already over when I got there. A damn bloody mess."

Blanc's fists tightened, and it almost looked like he was going to crush the notepad in his hand. Had he lost a friend or something at the plant?

The reporter calmed down before continuing his line of questioning. "Were there any signs of them using unconventional weaponry?"

"What? You think they have someone on a huntsman level? No, this all seemed to be done with blunt trauma. Probably a bunch of them with clubs or something."

"I see. I was told that the plant had security cameras in place, does the footage have any clues about the identities of the attackers?"

Dan glanced to the left, to the room where the evidence was kept. "Nope. In fact, it looks like the terrorists did something to the cameras. They didn't catch anything."

"Hm, that's unfortunate."

Blanc asked a few more questions, jotting down Dan's answers in his notepad. He thanked the policeman for the interview, and left.

\\

Clark left the Maston police station. After he made sure he was alone, he took off his glasses and the press pass. He'd have to return that to the actual Blanc Devourne, who was a reporter for a newspaper in a different county. Far enough away that the police captain probably wouldn't encounter the actual Blanc and start wondering who'd interviewed him.

Clark didn't often go in disguise, but he'd picked up a few tricks from Chloe. She had a scary amount of experience going undercover for a story, and that internship at the Daily Planet had only made her better. Good enough that she'd even made Clark an okay liar when he needed to be.

It took Clark a few seconds to return the press badge and store the clothes he'd bought somewhere safe in case he needed a disguise again. Then, Clark returned to the police station. Jumping up to a nearby rooftop.

The police captain had been lying. His heartbeat had quickened, and Clark had followed his glance at the all. X-ray vision had revealed several computers on the other side, and that was where the footage had to be.

Why did they lie? All the police Clark had interviewed had hidden the truth about what had happened at the power plants. What could they have to gain from it? One station might have been a case of corruption, but three police stations across the county indicated something else. He'd have to investigate that later.

He kept his eyes on the evidence room until someone came in and started using the computers. Giving Clark the chance to see him type in the password.

Now he just needed to cause a distraction so he could sneak in and take a look at the footage.

He was uneasy at the thought of breaking into a police station, but he had no other choice if he wanted to stop the phantom.

Clark walked a few hundred feet away to an alley between some buildings. He brought his fist up, and smashed it into the ground.

BAM! The sound of the blast thundered through the town.

BAM! Clark could hear the people reacting to the rumbling. The police were already mobilizing.

BAM! That should be enough.

He sped back to the police station. Everyone was either taking shelter under their desks, or trying to pick up fallen objects from his mini-earthquake. They were too busy to notice the rush of air as he passed by for fractions of a millisecond.

The first thing he did when entering the room was to crush the security camera with his gloved hand. He'd picked up a couple blue nylon ones when he'd entered the station, and he couldn't leave fingerprints. Next, he locked the door.

He could almost imagine Chloe laughing at the lengths he'd gone to for the footage. He didn't have her hacking skills, so this crude method was what he had to rely on.

The videos were in a folder named South Bridge Power Plant, and they even had helpful time stamps. He clicked on the first one.

It showed a tanned, red-haired man in his twenties walking up to the workers. The cameras didn't have sound, but the people were clearly panicked and tried to run away.

Suddenly, the phantom disappeared, and reappeared as he grabbed the workers one by one. Then, the footage cut out.

Clark clicked the next file, and had to keep clicking because each camera would give out if the phantom was near it for a few seconds.

Still, that footage had shown Clark enough. The phantom had thrown the workers into walls, their skulls cracking on impact. It had squeezed their necks until they spat up blood and went still. Security guards had even fired their guns at him, but they ended up the same as everyone else.

If Clark had just caught the phantom the first time, this wouldn't have happened. These people would have been safe.

The last piece of footage he found was the longest. The phantom had finished off the workers and found the container of lightning Dust. It ripped it open, shoving its hands inside. Again, the screen went blank.

Before Clark could watch another, he heard footsteps approach, and someone tried to turn the doorknob.

A woman outside spoke. "Huh? Hey Mark, where do we keep the keys for this room?"

Clark opened the window and jumped out.

\\

"Is it really wise to allow him to roam freely?" asked Ironwood.

"Considering that there is little we can do to stop Mr. Kent, I think the point is moot," replied Ozpin.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Couldn't you have delayed him?" Ironwood directed the question at Qrow.

"Hey, you read the articles," answered Qrow. "Something's been slaughtering people and messing with Dust. I'm not going to hold the kid back from stopping it."

"You're far too lenient with him, both of you. Can we still track him at least?" Ironwood asked Ozpin.

"Somewhat. He's far out of the range of the CCT, but if he goes nearby a town, his scroll will have a signal we can track."

Ozpin typed into his computer and reported the results. "As of now, he's not in any town. The last signal is from a few hours ago in a town called Maston, roughly fifty miles from here. Apparently, he arrived there less than a minute after his call with Qrow."

Qrow whistled. "How fast is that exactly?"

"I can't give exact numbers, but it's easily several thousand miles per hour," answered Ozpin. "That may not even be his top speed, and it's notable that he didn't create any sonic booms on his way out of the city. Perhaps another ability of his?"

"Another thing that he kept secret from us." Ironwood stated.

Qrow sighed. "Alright, he has secrets, and we still don't know how he automatically goes where he's needed, but at least he helps. The kid's right not to trust us, we're trying to track him right now."

"He's an alien, Qrow, not a child." Ironwood's forehead creased. "Treating him like one is a mistake."

"Like you'd know how to treat him, how much have you even talked with him?" asked Qrow.

"What point would talking to him serve?"

"Gee, I dunno, maybe it would be a good idea to be on the good side of a guy who could rip you in half?" Qrow swiveled his flask around before taking a drink. "Or maybe try to get a read on him or any 'psychological weaknesses' he might have? Isn't that the sort of thing you're interested in?"

"Perhaps, but Ozpin is more adept at that than I am. I thought to entrust it to him."

Ozpin interjected. "James, it's true that I've become very skilled at reading individuals in my time, but it was never for the express purpose of using my knowledge against them. I use it to judge trustworthy individuals, not to threaten or harm them."

"To be truthful, I appreciate your paranoia. At times, you have caught mistakes that I myself have missed. Mistakes that could have turned into disasters. This case is no different, Mr. Kent is a very powerful individual, and we should have contingencies for if he should ever use his abilities for more sinister purposes. I expect you already have one or two?"

Ironwood didn't answer, but Ozpin knew him. He must have measures in place.

"Very well. Whether you have them or not, think of the consequences of using weapons on him. If you have any that are effective on him, I expect that they would result in many casualties. So I propose an alternative. As far as I can tell, Clark Kent acts like a normal human being. He smiles, laughs, gets angry, upset, he seems to feel the full range of human emotions. His altruism also appears genuine. He cares for people, without exception. That in itself could be used as a weakness."

"Oz." Qrow looked at him with wide eyes. "You can't be serious, are you saying we should use hostages against him?"

"It is unsavory, I admit, but it seems to be the only effective measure against him. Keep in mind, I only suggest it for dire situations. Such as if he ever comes to endanger the lives of hundreds or more. I do not approve of it as a method to control him." He turned his gaze to Ironwood at that last sentence.

The general crossed his arms. "Don't glare at me Ozpin. I wouldn't go that far."

\\

Clark arrived a few miles northeast of the Graystone Power Station, in the direct path of the phantom. The hilly landscape was covered in trees that were regaining their leaves after winter. The sky was clear, and it was the early evening.

Clark stood at the top of a hill, the Kryptonian crystal in his hand as he listened for the sound of footsteps in the area.

He heard the sounds of the active Dust station behind him. People talking, rushing water, boiling steam. He ignored those, and focused on the rest. Closing his eyes.

This is going to be fun. Clark thought miserably. Standing there and listening for someone might take hours. It might have been faster to check at super-speed, but he didn't want to discount the possibility that the phantom had super-hearing as well. Zod had, and he didn't want to take any chances.

If the phantom's speed was somewhat close to his own, Clark would need the element of surprise to catch him.

Less than an hour later, Clark caught slow and steady footsteps coming in miles away. X-ray and telescopic vision confirmed that it was him. The human host was tanned, red-haired, and his clothes were in tatters. The phantom hadn't cared to replace them.

Clark raced forwards, he needed to bring the crystal to the man's skin to free him. He didn't know how durable the phantom had made its host, so he'd have to be careful not to accidentally punch a shield-shaped hole through him.

In seconds, he was behind the phantom. It would only take milliseconds to free the man.

With speed rivaling Clark's own, the phantom turned. Then, it brought its arms up.

Clark held up the crystal. It would take a few seconds for it to work, but it would immobilize the phantom the second it touched.

Before he got in close enough, the phantom's arms came together. The next thing Clark saw was a bright flash of light that launched him backwards. Blasting him through trees and even higher into the sky.