A gentle rapping sounded from the other side of the wooden door.

"Come in." Oobleck said, putting aside the assignments he'd been grading. It was rather late in the evening for a visitor, was it a student who'd come to his office to request assistance? Or a colleague?

A young man stepped in. "Ah, Clark!" Oobleck greeted Beacon's newest, and somewhat odd, staff member. "Greetings, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Hello professor." Clark greeted the professor and sat down in front of his desk. " And yeah, I've been trying to research a couple topics, but I'm having some trouble. I thought you could help me since you're a history professor."

"Of course, I'd be glad to assist you." Oobleck nodded and took a drink from his thermos. "What are the subjects you're trying to research?"

"Two towns that fell to the Grimm. Rainem and Orved."

Oobleck's grip tightened. Almost to the point where he'd crushed the handle of his container. "I . . . I see."

"Is there a problem sir?" Clark asked.

Oobleck shook his head hurriedly. "No, no, not at all. If I may ask, do you have a particular interest in these two towns?"

"Not really." The young man still seemed confused by Oobleck's reaction, but he was at least convinced that it was nothing to make a fuss over. "I was just told that I should learn about them."

Told to learn about them? Why would anyone think that was necessary? Oobleck wasn't one to scorn knowledge, but most graduated huntsmen weren't even taught about the destruction of either of the two towns. It was . . . detrimental to morale.

But if one wished to learn, Oobleck wouldn't stand in his way. "I have some footage and documents that I can send you." He offered. "But before I do so, I should warn you, the records are rather disturbing. Rainem and Orved fell to ancient Grimm that had developed intelligence, but what makes them more unique is that they are the only cases which we have footage of. Strange and terrible behavior was noted."

"How bad is it?"

"I'd recommend you not share them with anyone who can't hold their stomach." Oobleck answered. "Nor any of the students. While I am averse to depriving them of knowledge, this is a different matter."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Okay."

"Very well, I'll send them to you later tonight after I've completed my work." The professor said. "Again, please remember, they're rather gruesome."

Clark nodded and stood up. "I will, thank you professor."

After the young man went out the door, Oobleck sighed.

\\

That had been weird.

The moment Clark had mentioned Rainem and Orved, Professor Oobleck had paled and tensed up. These were people that fought monsters on a regular basis. Were the events in those towns really bad enough to affect them like that? The professor had even thought that the students weren't ready for it.

Clark went to his room and sat at the dining room table, tapping the wood with his finger.

He'd read up on what the Grimm were capable of, but pretty much everyone else in this world knew better than he did on how terrible they could be. Had the attacks on these towns been awful enough for Sera to think they'd convince Clark?

His thoughts were interrupted by his scroll buzzing. He took it out of his pocket, expecting Qrow or Headmaster Ozpin. However, the call was from a number he didn't recognize.

"Hello?" he asked, accepting the call. He briefly wondered whether it was a telemarketer. He hadn't been bothered by them before, and he hadn't given this number out to anyone.

"H-hi Clark!" It was a girl's voice. "Wait a second, it is you right, I'm only getting sound on my end."

It didn't take him long to recognize the voice. "Velvet?"

"Y-yeah, it's me!" She answered in a cheerful tone.

"How did you get this number?"

There was a pause before she answered. "I . . . asked the headmaster how I could get a hold of staff members, and he gave me your number. Sorry, th-that was pretty creepy, huh?"

"Not really." He replied. It was strange, but he didn't find anything wrong with it. Although he would have preferred it if his number had been kept private.

"So . . . is something wrong with your scroll?" she asked. "I'm only getting audio from you."

He held the device away from his ear and looked down. He was receiving video of her. The faunus girl was sat at a desk and looked at the camera in confusion. The image was actually pretty high quality, way better than the webcams back home.

"Sorry, I prefer to use audio calls instead." Clark just wasn't used to having a device in his pocket that could let him talk with people face to face.

"Oh. So, anyway, I called because I wanted to ask . . ." She looked down and fidgeted with her hands. "There's an Achieve Men concert this Friday and I was wondering whether you wanted to come along with me?"

Clark tilted his head. "Are you . . . asking me out on a date?"

Velvet practically jumped out of her chair and her cheeks flushed. "Y-yeah, I guess I am. Do you want to?"

"I'm really flattered. The thing is . . . I got out of a relationship fairly recently, and I'm not really ready to get into another one." He said. Velvet was rather pretty, and she seemed to be a nice girl. Her bunny ears were strange, but he'd get accustomed to them after a little while. Normally, he would have given it more thought, but after what happened with Lana . . .

"Oh, okay." She answered, her head dropped and her ears drooped down.

Clark tried to think of something to comfort her. It was terrible being rejected by someone, and she had more courage than he had when admitting her feelings.

"What?" Velvet raised her head and looked to the side.

"Excuse me?" Clark asked, he could hear someone making pencil marks on paper from the scroll.

"Oh! Um, it's nothing!" Velvet looked back before glaring off to the side. She then paled, and turned back to the camera. "I forgot to ask. Coco's been curious about you too. When I told her about how you helped me she said that she wanted to meet you and thank you personally, along with the rest of my team. Is that okay?"

That teammate of hers was crafty. It was a good excuse to try and get him to spend more time with Velvet, since it wasn't like he could say no. "Sure. Maybe in a couple days though, because I'm a bit busy."

"Is Wednesday at four-thirty fine?"

"Yeah."

"G-great." Velvet seemed a lot more nervous than excited. "We'll meet you at the front of the school. See you then." She waved and ended their call.

\\

"How could you do that Coco?" Velvet looked to the side where her leader and best friend stood.

"Do what?" Coco smirked. "Get you some time with lover boy? I think you should be thanking me."

"B-but now he knows how I feel. It'll be so awkward!" said Velvet. "It's just a little crush, I would have gotten over it."

"Really?" Coco lowered her shades and looked Velvet in the eyes. Her little bun-bun had been gushing over Clark for over a week.

"Eventually . . ." she answered weakly.

"Uh-huh. Well thanks to me, you won't have to. Come on girl, have some confidence. You're pretty, smart, skilled, and you have a hell of a weapon. You can get this guy no problem."

Velvet blushed. "He already said no though."

"And you're gonna leave it at that?" asked Coco. "Now, obviously you shouldn't pester the guy, but we've learned something important. He didn't say no because he doesn't like you, he said no because he still has baggage from his last relationship. Which implies that otherwise he'd give you a shot."

"Or he could have just mentioned that to be nice. He still might just not want to date me."

Coco shook her head. "Oh cheer up. If that's true, then spending more time will still help us by confirming that. Besides, a lot of people start off as friends before they date. He might not want to date you now, but give it some time, and I'm sure you'll be able to bring him around."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Have I led you wrong before? Who was it that helped you work up the nerve to ask the headmaster for his number and make a call?"

"You." Velvet admitted, and then scowled. "But you also basically threatened me into a super awkward meet up with him and our team."

Coco held up the paper she'd written her message on teasingly. "Hey, I wouldn't have actually told the guy you wanted to have his babies. Not unless it was true." She added with a smirk.

Velvet blushed before turning around in her chair. "Hmph.'

Coco chuckled, her teammate was just too cute. She was so painfully shy that it had taken quite a bit of prepping and reassurance to make this call. No way was Coco just gonna let Clark go after all this work. He seemed like a nice guy too, and Velvet really liked him. She'd have to order Fox and Yats not to go too far as intimidating, overprotective teammates.

Hmm, maybe they could let a little bit out. Couldn't have let someone take advantage of Velvet after all, no matter how nice they seemed. And it'd be hilarious how her little bun-bun would be mortified by their behavior.

\\

"Sir, could I get an explanation as to why my scroll number was just given to one of your students?" asked Clark. He'd come to the headmaster's office soon after he'd gotten the call from Velvet. Luckily, the man had been in and he could get answers.

"Excuse me? Ah yes, if I recall, Miss Scarlatina had requested it. Was that an issue?" asked Ozpin.

Clark narrowed his eyes. Normally, listening to a person's heartbeat and watching for any little tells was a pretty good indicator of whether they were lying or not. But this man was different. He was always calm and collected. Clark couldn't get a good read on him, and even when he'd first admitted that he was an alien, the most he'd noticed from the headmaster had been some slight shock and the expected skepticism.

"I want to keep the extent of my abilities a secret." Clark reminded Ozpin. "So I want to keep my presence here discreet."

"I realize that, but have you not already used our library's facilities openly, and gone into the city on your own?" asked Ozpin. "Miss Scarlatina asked for you specifically, it would have been strange had I denied that you were under my employ."

"Okay, that's true, but did you have to give her my number?"

The headmaster set down his mug. Idly, Clark noted that both he and Oobleck still drank coffee even at night. Were they that busy?

"Strictly speaking, I suppose I could have denied her your contact information. However, are you satisfied living in our world all by yourself?" asked Ozpin. "In the weeks you've spent here, despite your alien nature and abilities, you seem very human to me. And part of being human is forming relationships with others. You've not done much of that. Qrow tells me that you've been busy becoming accustomed to our world while simultaneously searching for these phantoms and helping the people of the city. That is a rather lonely lifestyle, and you do not strike me as someone who'd be happy alone."

Clark snorted. "So you're playing matchmaker?"

The headmaster didn't react to the joke. "I wasn't aware that was what she intended, but her teammate, Miss Adel, seemed to have an interest in you as well. They are good students, it would not hurt to form friendships with them."

"I . . . well, thank you. I'll consider it." Clark had to admit that the headmaster was right. He felt cooped up after looking for the phantoms for so long, and while crime-fighting helped, it didn't satisfy him either. He'd have felt a lot better if Chloe, or even Oliver were here with him. He didn't really have anyone to talk to.

Ozpin nodded. It would be helpful if Clark formed attachments to people here. He was certainly altruistic, but people fought harder when those they personally cared for were at stake. Qrow had reported that Clark had refused to kill the Grimm during their mission to Ashbury, which made this even more necessary.

"By the way, do you have the magic knowledge on portals I asked for?" asked Clark.

"Yes." Ozpin opened a drawer and brought out some papers that he'd compiled information of magic on. He handed the bundle to Clark.

"This is it?" The young man tried and failed to hide his disappointment. He flipped through them, as if that would reveal more than the dozen or so pages.

"I did inform you that much knowledge of magic has been lost." Ozpin reminded him. "It is even possible that there may not have been any on traveling to other dimensions in the first place."

"Thank you, then. I guess." It was something at least. "What about the Council? Did they agree to leave Cedar Monroe alone?"

"Unfortunately, I was not completely successful with that matter. There are a few who still believe that action is necessary. Even confirming the police captain's encounter with you did little to dissuade them." Ozpin sipped from his cup and gave him a small smile. "Perhaps they will require a personal visit from the Dart."

Clark sighed. More intimidation. He didn't like it, but he couldn't let an innocent man's life be ruined because of a phantom. "Alright, I'll take care of it later. By the way, Qrow mentioned a possible reason for why I'm having so little luck with finding the last phantom. He thinks the Council could be suppressing news of it. Do you think it's true?"

Ozpin paused. "Perhaps, but if they were, I would certainly be aware of it. Although it would be wise for you to ask the Councilors directly; in addition to confronting them on the matter of Mr. Monroe."

Clark nodded. "Okay then, thank you for your help." He said as he walked out of the office.

\\

It was nearly midnight when Clark returned to his room. Recently, if the weather allowed it, he just kept the window open and leapt up to it from the ground. He'd usually be more careful, since there was a good chance he might just crash into the wall, but he'd gotten some good practice at Ashbury with his jumps. The cliffs surrounding Beacon were also helpful with that.

He'd been out for about four or so hours listening to the city and catching criminals. There'd been a noticeable increase in crime tonight, more than there would usually be on a Monday night. He'd caught several teenagers who'd been trying to break into a car, scaring them off rather than knock them unconscious like the rest. Five people committing assault, seventeen robbers trying to break into stores or in the process of stealing from them, and two or three dozen vandals.

Vale was a large city, and he couldn't do everything, but no way should there have been this much for him to deal with at his usual pace. Especially when he hadn't really gone out of his way to find them.

Could it be because of the brief break he'd taken from the Dart when he'd gone on his mission? Maybe, those who thought he actually existed just knew him as someone who flashed by and put crooks in dreamland. For all they knew, the break might have been a sign of him leaving for good.

Maybe he could start to use his reputation? Leave some sort of mark for the times he took action?

He took out the Kyrptonian crystal and traced the symbol with a finger. That could work.

Clark removed his black jacket and hung it up in the closet. Changing his black pants and shirt for nightclothes as well. He chuckled. If Chloe had seen how much black he wore, she'd have said he looked like a badly disguised vampire. Really though, his usual red and blue stood out too much during the night.

He checked his scroll, he'd received the documents and papers from Professor Oobleck a few hours ago. Now was as good a time as any to read up on them.

Walking over to the desk and sitting down, he first opened a video named The Fall of Orved, With Commentary.

"Greetings," A deep voice sounded out from the screen as the scene panned to a street-view from the camera on the side of a building. It looked like it had been shot from a security camera.

"This is a presentation on the collapse of the town, Orved. Which fell just this past May at the eastern boundary of the kingdom of Vale. As this content is meant to be shown for military, academic, or the purposes of informing the general public, technical jargon such as that on Grimm behavior will be omitted."

Clark was grateful for that. Trying to figure out what they meant would have been a bother, and he wouldn't have wanted to go and bother the professor any more about this.

"The first signs of Grimm were seen at seven-fourteen a.m. Eastern Standard Time as alarms were set off due to the approach of a sizeable pack of Beowolves. Local huntsmen were dispatched, and they dealt with the Grimm summarily."

"However, just as they had concluded their extermination, another alarm was announced for a herd of Boarbatusks stampeding from the opposite side of the town. The Grimm barreled through the defenses in place, knocking over the wooden walls and causing chaos. Luckily, by this point, most citizens had taken shelter indoors and the town suffered little more than property damage. The huntsmen were redirected to deal with this new threat."

Clark saw the scene of several of the large Grimm rushing through the streets and causing mayhem. Colliding with stores, knocking over mailboxes and fences. Clark's eyes fell when he was shown the occasional, unfortunate person stranded outside.

"At nine-oh-three, the huntsmen had begun exterminating these new Grimm. At first, this considered an unfortunate occurrence, but seemingly still routine mission. However, that was before the approach of another Grimm. An ancient Grimm."

The video cut to a scorpion-like Death-stalker, and Clark had to blink before he realized the scale of it. It was the size of a two story house! The stinger at the end of its enormous tail was as big as a person, and its legs were easily the thickness of telephone poles. The top of its head had to be at least fifteen feet off the ground.

"This Deathstalker was also accompanied by smaller, more juvenile ones. Based on its size and obvious age, intelligence was suspected, but it was later confirmed based on the behavior observed."

The video turned more grainy as it showed a huntsman chasing after one of them. This one was the size of a pickup truck, but it was somewhat fast and crawled into an alley.

Where several more were lying in wait and ambushed the huntsman, stinging him, chipping away at his aura and keeping their distance.

The commentator just droned on in an even voice. "The intelligence of the juvenile Deathstalkers is still debated. As while they are clearly able to carry out a plan, it is contested whether they thought of it themselves or whether it was ordered and organized by the ancient Grimm. Regardless, their tactics were very effective, and left the town bereft of defenders. By this point, more Grimm had arrived. Ursai, Nevermore, and additional Beowolves."

"They rampaged through the town, but the behavior of the Deathstalker is still most striking. The following footage is what was recovered from a resident of Orved who had placed security cameras throughout their home."

The next scene showed the Deathstalkers, those who'd survived against the huntsmen, surround the house. Closing in on any exits before they broke in. The analyst gave some details about their movement patterns, but what was most interesting was that they didn't kill the elderly couple living inside. Instead, they dragged them out to the ancient Grimm.

And the big one tore into them while they were still alive. Clark looked away, the video didn't have sound thankfully. He didn't get queasy around blood, but that didn't mean he wanted to see this.

When he looked back, the two people were dead, and the Deathstalkers had moved onto another house. Other homes had already been broken into by other Grimm. There were a few that were on fire, perhaps some had set their houses on fire to take the monsters with them.

The Deathstalkers repeated their gruesome process, and Clark watched from other points of view each time they surrounded a house. Their formation proved effective when two men tried to run. They were caught and brought to the big one.

This time, the creature was able to prolong its killing of the two. Using the very tip of its claws and stinger to mangle the ends of their hands and feet. It and the other Deathstalkers pushed away the other Grimm if they got too close.

"It is without doubt that what we are witnessing is a Grimm torturing humans." Somehow, the man commentating was able to keep calm and composed as he described it. "Considering their seeming hatred for humans, and the intelligence this Deathstalker developed, it is perhaps not too surprising. It is unknown whether it derived any pleasure from the act, or whether this is adequate evidence for the theory that Grimm consume negative emotions to survive. It tortured nearly half a hundred victims, gaining more experience with each human. There are even apparent examples of it trying to teach its younger brethren how to do so as well."

Clark was grateful that they'd decided not to include most of it. The narrator mentioned the possibility of whether the strange coiling of the Grimm's tail indicated pleasure, and how its method of torture changed. Stepping on individuals with a single leg at a time, and even using tools by slowly pushing cars onto people to crush them.

The town had been considered lost, and a bombing run had been ordered to eradicate the Grimm. Hours later, aircraft had flown over, and nearly all the cameras ended their footage with the blasts from the explosives rained down from above.

Clark took a deep breath. That had been . . . terrible, disturbing. Words didn't describe it fully. He was glad for the lack of video quality in many cases, and how there hadn't been any sound of the event, but it had still been awful.

He opened the next one on Rainem. It was a similar situation, an intelligent, ancient Grimm using planning and foresight to overrun a town with Grimm. This video made references to Orved, Rainem had fallen several years after that town. This time, a colossal Nevermore was responsible. It was about twice the size of the one Clark had defeated at Ashbury.

Was this what it could have grown into? He wondered.

It and its flock had massacred the huntsmen called to the town's defense. Although not as well as the Deathstalkers at Orved. The narrator was different this time, a woman. Her voice was clipped and to the point, but still just as emotionless as the man before. Describing with complete composure as the Nevermore learned to peck people's arms and legs first to keep them alive longer. Leaving bloody stumps.

This one had a few clips of sound. Clark couldn't ignore the screams, and this time he forced himself to watch. These had been their last moments, and he wouldn't cringe away from them.

After he'd finished the video, he set the scroll down without a sound.

So this is why Sera had wanted him to see this. The extremes of the terrors that the Grimm could be for these people. The terrors that they'd become unless huntsmen killed and fought them.

They kept growing larger and smarter. Torturous behavior might not be common, but the people of Remnant apparently had so little information on ancient Grimm that they couldn't even say whether or not all ancient Grimm were like that. Their intelligence alone was frighteningly dangerous. Considering how they'd massacred even huntsmen, who'd been trained to fight them.

If Clark had succeeded in letting that Nevermore go, would it have become a thinking monster like the one in Rainem? If so, then Clark would have been responsible if Ashbury's defenses later failed against it. Clark would have been responsible for all the people that would have died if the Grimm came for them.

All because he hadn't stopped a single Nevermore. And how many Ursai would he have spared if Qrow or the others hadn't killed them? How many Boarbatusks or Beowolves? How many more would have been given the chance to grow and become more dangerous?

No matter what Clark did, there would be death. Death for the Grimm if he decided to kill them, death for people if he decided to spare them. Since that would give the creatures the chance to return stronger and smarter.

Another way. He always believed that there was another way. But right now, even with all of his vision, he couldn't see it.

\\

Ironwood narrowed his eyes as he looked at Penny. She'd been strangely quiet this morning.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

"I . . . I suppose so." She replied. "It is all just very strange to me. My mission is to make a friend, but I must also report on this friend to the Atlas military."

"Does it bother you? If you're not willing, you don't have to."

The girl, which Ironwood considered her as such, shook her head. "No, I am willing. I understand the importance of this mission."

"Thank you Penny. If it helps, you can still be actual friends with him. This mission will only work if you're open and honest with him. That's the basis for any true friendship. Covertness is less of a consideration for this, you'll even be allowed to tell him that you talk about him to me. After all, it's normal for you to talk about the friends you've made."

Penny nodded, it seemed to lighten her mood. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Exactly," said Ironwood. "Besides, you probably won't be doing much talking with him right now. Remember, you'll be gathering combat data at first."

"Yes."

Ironwood smiled. "Good, now let's go meet your new friend. He's down in the Emerald forest."

Together, he and Penny walked down the path to the forest. Ironwood had asked the alien to spar with someone from his forces, and he'd specifically asked that he not hold back with his abilities.

It wasn't subtle by any means, but they were sorely lacking on the limits of Kent's capabilities. It was worth the risk and suspicion. Besides, he seemed rather well-adjusted to living in human society as an alien. Penny would benefit in other ways from interacting with him.

"Greetings." Ironwood said when they saw Kent.

"Salutations!" Penny called out with her usual cheer.