"Then after that, I only remember the mountain and the avalanche." Leah said. Plates of cleared of her breakfast were set aside.

Clark and Mary looked on with solemn faces.

Hoping that he might gain some crucial information, Clark had asked Leah whether she'd noticed any strange occurrences in the past few months. She had.

Two months ago, the Soren tribe had been traveling a few miles from Highwood. Which must have been soon after Clark had arrived, and it was then that the people in her tribe started dying. Almost daily, someone would suddenly succumb to an illness. That's what it had looked like, but only one person would die at a time. They'd had no idea what they'd had in their midst. At first, they'd refused to go into a town to find help, but eventually they'd relented. Even then, no doctor could tell them what was going on.

Weeks had passed, with tribe members either dying or leaving in fear. Leah's parents had stayed, they valued being with their family. Even when the tribe had dwindled to Leah and a few close relatives.

It was at that point when Leah's parents had started to change. First, her father. He stopped comforting his daughter with soothing words and warm hugs, he'd begun leading the others through a forest with unfeeling relentlessness. Her mother and uncle had followed along, and even as a child, Leah had noticed newfound fear from them.

Then, her father had died, and Leah hadn't even been given the chance to cry before her mother had changed as well and forced them onwards through the forest. Neither Leah nor her uncle had realized where they were headed or why.

She must have been the woman who'd visited Newpoint only days ago.

Her mother had succumbed as well, and then Leah was alone with her uncle. Who'd suddenly become just as cold as her parents. He'd ignored her cries to see her parents again, and pulled her through the forest with him. That was the last thing Leah remembered before the avalanche.

She hadn't even realized that her parents had been taken over by a monster, and Clark wasn't able to gain any new insight into the phantom from her story.

"Wait here for a little bit Leah. Clark and I are going to have a talk, okay?" Mary asked gently.

"Okay."

Mary gestured Clark to follow her into the back room. He did, and closed the door behind him so Leah wouldn't hear.

"I just . . . I can't believe what happened to that poor girl." Mary brought her hand to cup her mouth and shook her head. "I don't even understand, I assumed she'd gotten hurt from of a Grimm attack. What happened to her?"

Clark looked aside, his face twisted into a pained expression. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

"You can't? Why?"

"I . . . I can't."

Her eyes narrowed, then she sighed. "Okay, then can you tell me what's going on with you?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's terrible what's happened to her, but I how you reacted when she talked about her family members changing. You wear your heart on your sleeve." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Clark, whatever's going on, it wasn't your fault."

How wrong that was. "But it is, you don't understand, I expected something like this. I looked for it, and because I didn't look hard enough, Leah's tribe and family are dead." He should have searched the area harder, done more than just look through news articles expecting the phantom to immediately stand out.

"Clark. I don't know what's going on, but I've got a pretty good handle on you." Mary argued. "Did you wanther to lose her family? Did you know that she would, and not do anything to stop it?"

"No, but-

"But nothing." She interrupted. "You're a good person Clark, and it's not right for you to beat yourself up for failing to solve a problem you didn't even know about."

"It's more complicated than that." Those people were dead because of Clark's mistake. He'd rushed in without thinking ahead months ago in Colorado and brought the phantoms here. Rushing in this time to chase the last one had nearly gotten Leah killed.

"It probably is complicated, but that doesn't change the simple truth."

Clark's scroll vibrated. He ignored it, he had to fix this first.

Clark saw Mary's determined expression, and accepted that he wouldn't change her mind. "Maybe. Anyway, thanks for giving Leah breakfast." He reached into his pocket and offered Mary a hundred lien bill.

She raised an eyebrow. "Clark, she ate a lot, but not that much."

"Keep the change." He said, hand on the doorknob.

"Wait." She called out, and he paused. "What are you planning to do with her?"

That was an interesting question. "Hand her over to the authorities, and make sure that she's looked after as a ward of the state."

"I don't think that would be the best idea. To the government, orphans like Leah are just numbers. Most people in child protection and that sort of thing do care, they try their best to make sure the kids are looked after, but they don't have the influence to show that people care about them."

Clark tilted his head. "Have you had bad experiences with them?"

"I've . . . had experiences. Not bad ones, it's just how things are."

"Then where do you recommend Leah should go?"

"I could take care of her here at the inn, if she wants to stay." Mary suggested with a far-away look in her eyes. "I've missed taking care of children."

Clark considered it. "Okay, I don't see why not. Let's ask her."

He and Mary walked out the door, and were met with the sight of Leah shedding silent tears at the counter. So silent that Clark hadn't even noticed.

He could have noticed if he'd been paying attention. He should have.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He asked softly.

"I-I miss th-th-them." She said, sniffling.

"Oh, honey." Mary wrapped her arms around Leah and let the girl cry into her shoulder. "There there, it'll be okay. What was I thinking, leaving you out here by yourself?"

She continued to comfort Leah while Clark stood by. Every sob tore at his heart, but he refused to turn away, or ignore how his hearing amplified every sniffle and hiccup.

After a few minutes, Mary was able to calm Leah down. While wiping her face with tissues, she gave the child a reassuring smile. "Leah, we have a question for you. Do you want to stay here? At my inn?"

"Stay?"

"Since your parents . . . can't take care of you anymore." Clark explained. "Mary's more than willing to let you live with her. Otherwise, Vale will try and help you find a home. Would you like that?"

"I . . . I don't know."

"Well, what about this? You can stay for a few days and make a final decision then, if you want." Mary recommended.

"Okay."

"Alright, I'll get it straightened out with the police." Clark said.

He left Leah with her and went to the police station.

It was easier than he'd thought to work things out with them. A small town handled matters more casually than a city, some of the officers had even known Mary by name. Clark hadn't even needed to sign anything since he wasn't Leah's guardian. Mary would need to sign some forms, but Clark wouldn't need to be involved.

He then informed Mary and Leah about what the police and doctor had said. Then, before he made his way back to Vale, Clark headed to the road near Newpoint.

Leah's father was still there. Clark had promised to bury the man, and he'd do it properly. No super-speed.

\\

Winter lowered her saber and took in the destruction wrought by the Grimm and the White Fang. The massive hole that the Grimm had crawled out of had been sealed by Beacon's Glynda Goodwitch, but debris was littered throughout the courtyard. Concrete and asphalt rubble, the broken machinery of Atlesian droids overwhelmed by the creatures. Even worse were the slaughtered bodies of the civilians. It would have been too much to hope for this to have ended without bloodshed.

She had hastened onto a ship the moment the order to subdue a Grimm incursion arrived. The fact that it was in Central Vale only made it worse. She'd expected a catastrophe, a major breach of defenses. Grimm hadn't reached that far into a kingdom's capital in centuries.

Once Winter had arrived, she'd quickly given out orders to her squadron, and Atlesian robots at the scene had already begun firing at the threat. Besides the Atlesian forces, students from Beacon had also fought. Despite their inexperience, they had been crucial in quelling the attack before it escalated further.

Among them was Weiss. Winter had been concerned for her younger sister's safety, but she was a huntress in training. She'd carried herself well and had no apparent injury.

"Hey Winter." A voice, which she unfortunately recognized, voice called out from behind her.

She turned to see Qrow, with his weapon out and pointed inches from back of Roman Torchwick.

"This bastard's responsible for the whole mess." Qrow said. "Do me a favor and lock him up somewhere deep and dark." He shoved the thief at her.

Normally, orders from Qrow would have gotten on her nerves, but this was an exception. She nodded and pointed her saber at the criminal's throat. "Men," she directed to the soldiers behind her. "Arrest him."

They placed the thick aura cuffs on him. She began informing him of what they would do. "These are-

"Yeah yeah, I know what they are." He held up his arms and gave the restraints a disapproving appraisal. "I gotta say, not very stylish."

Winter scowled. She wasn't particularly surprised by his attitude, considering how vexing Neo was. However, even when it was expected it was an annoyance.

"Put him on the ship." She ordered two soldiers. Winter watched carefully, but he made no move to resist.

"Winter!" Weiss' voice caught her attention. Winter's sister came over with her teammates trailed behind her.

"Weiss." Winter nodded and gave her sister a small smile. "I saw you fighting, are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine, but there's another important matter. There were two others on the train that breached Vale besides Torchwick and the White Fang. The two students who infiltrated Beacon, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black."

Winter narrowed her eyes. "Did you see where they went?"

Weiss' blond teammate answered. "No, we were fighting them, but the crash caught us off guard. They were prepared for it and ran out, but they're probably still in the area."

"I see, thank you." Winter nodded, and relayed orders to the soldiers to be on the lookout for the two fugitives. "Is that all?" She asked.

"Yes," replied Weiss.

"Then I have my duties to attend to, goodbye Weiss." Winter boarded the ship and they departed.

Torchwick was placed in the back, and he made a snide comment which Winter ignored. She headed up to the front, closed the door, and established communication with General Ironwood.

He accepted the call. "Yes?" He asked, but his flushed face and wide eyes were directed elsewhere. She could hear his fingers rapidly typing on a keyboard.

"Sir, the attack has been contained. We also have Roman Torchwick in custody, he and the White Fang conspired to lure Grimm into the city. The fugitives Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black were spotted as well, and our forces are currently searching for them." She announced.

Even that only garnered his attention for a moment. He glanced at Winter and paused, then turned back to his other task. "Understood. Put Torchwick in cell B-3."

"Very well." She bit her lip and instead of ending the connection, her finger lingered over the button. "Sir . . . is there something wrong?"

"No, I- His response had been quick, but he cut himself off. It was obvious that he was agitated, and he knew it. "There is." He admitted. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with though. Is there anything else?"

"No, sir."

"Then I really must address this. It requires my full attention." At that, he terminated the connection.

Winter's lips pinched together. She understood that there were matters that she didn't have the clearance to be informed of, that was part and parcel of working as a Specialist. Even now, she didn't know the threat that had prompted the general to order her to enhance her time dilation. She didn't raise questions she wouldn't be given the answers to, she accepted the orders given to her. She trusted her superiors.

She trusted the general.

That hadn't changed. Yet ever since Winter had first arrived at Beacon, she'd noticed his added distress. Being general of the Atlesian military was stressful, but in all her years she had never seen him this troubled. For the past few months, his wary eyes had never seemed to rest.

\\

In Ozpin's office, the headmaster, General Ironwood, Ms. Goodwitch, and Qrow stood silently as Clark reeled back in shock at what he'd just learned.

Earlier that day, Roman Torchwick and the White Fang had attacked Vale. They'd used an underground train to lure Grimm from Mountain Glenn and let them loose in the middle of the city.

They'd shown Clark the recordings of the attack as a train breached above the ground and Grimm poured out from the hole. He'd seen glimpses of Qrow and those girls fighting them. Others had soon arrived to defend the city, Clark had even noticed team CFVY among them.

"I-I'm so sorry, I promised that I would be there." He said, his head hung low. "I . . . I just left because I was so wrapped up with my own problems."

"Hey, nobody expected this." Qrow said. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Believe me, you don't want that."

Clark clenched his fist, and looked up. "How many people got hurt?"

"Thankfully, not many." The headmaster said. "The quick response by both Beacon and Atlas stopped the attack in less than a half-hour."

"That's . . . that's good." Clark said. "But I need to know, how many?"

"Clark, stop." Qrow said. "It won't-

"Twenty-two people were killed, and fifteen were injured." Ironwood said matter-of-factly.

Twenty-two. That many people had died because Clark had run off to deal with the phantom instead of honoring his agreement. He could have stopped this. If necessary, he could have thrown the train off its tracks before it could have reached Vale. He could have even found them before they got it moving. He could have done so much to prevent it.

"Clark, it's not your fault." Qrow said with a glare at Ironwood. "You've been looking for your phantom for months, and you finally managed to track him down. I'm sure you had your hands full."

Clark didn't reply, only averting his gaze.

"There's more bad news. At the same time of the attack, there was another incident." Ironwood informed them. "Cinder Fall escaped with the assistance of an unknown agent, and he exhibited particular abilities."

The general laid his scroll on Ozpin's desk, and it interfaced to show them a scene of the Emerald Forest. "This is the footage from one of the robotic guards." He explained. Suddenly, a dark streak filled its view, and the video paused. "It was caught only in a single frame, but something moving at high speed destroyed this unit. Its recording equipment survived and managed to capture this."

The general tapped his scroll so that it continued. The view tumbled, the camera had been probably been placed on the soldier's head and fallen to the ground. Although it still gave them a good line of sight to the ship. Most of the other guards were already destroyed, and the dark blur finished reducing the last ones to scrap. It then slowed down, and Clark saw that the streak was man-shaped. It was covered in crude, misshapen metal.

That speed, and the metal covering it. The phantom? Why had it been there?

It paused only for a moment, then disappeared. Not teleportation, it was just too fast for the camera to catch it. It blinked in again at near the ship and ripped apart a wall with its hands and entered. Then it emerged from the ship and threw several objects far out into the forest. The video paused again.

"Not only did he demonstrate astonishing strength and speed." General Ironwood looked to Clark as he made the comment. Then, his eyes shifted back to the footage. "He somehow knew that bombs had been placed on the ship as countermeasures for Cinder Fall and tore into the ship at their specific locations to remove them. Lastly, this is the most surprising. After breaking into Cinder's reinforced cell, this was how they escaped."

The general made a few motions on his scroll again to reveal a third perspective. It looked like it was from the side of the ship and pointed out to the forest. The phantom entered the frame. No, he didn't just enter it, he flew into it and continued flying into the distance while carrying Cinder in his arms.

That raised Ms. Goodwitch and Qrow's eyebrows, although Ozpin and Ironwood didn't seem as surprised.

"It's also noteworthy that he began his attempt almost exactly the moment I became preoccupied with the attack on Vale." Ironwood added. "Mr. Kent, considering this individual's abilities, I expect you have an explanation."

"I do." Clark admitted. "He's the final phantom I was chasing. He got away when I had to attend to an innocent person who got hurt."

Clark explained what had happened. How his attempt to capture the phantom had somehow resulted in it making a new body itself, a body that looked just like his and had his memories and abilities. Although with certain differences. How a substance called kryptonite that weakened Clark strengthened the phantom, and how the sunlight that powered Clark reduced the phantom's power.

It was hard story to swallow, even by Clark's standards. He'd encountered witches, aliens, and dozens of people given varied abilities from kryptonite, but the phantom had managed to basically make a clone of Clark in a split-second.

Although the looks on their faces seemed more surprised than doubtful. Clark was an alien with interdimensional technology, his standards were probably ridiculous to them in the first place.

Ozpin was the first to recover. "When the general first showed me this footage, I'd expected it to be one of the phantoms you described. The similarities to the footage of the one that had attacked the power plants was obvious, but . . . I'm finding this hard to take in."

"You're not the only one," Qrow said. "I don't even know how to describe it."

"I understand that, I was surprised too when it happened," said Clark. "But I'm telling the truth. Even I don't know exactly what happened, all I can tell you is what I think."

"I suppose we'll have to accept that." The headmaster said. "If what you're saying is true, why did this phantom free Cinder Fall?"

Clark had been wondering about that. "I think he did it because I'm vulnerable to magic." He answered. "It's likely that not a lot of kryptonite came over with me, and he probably needs it to power himself if he can't use sunlight. Even if he's just as strong as I am, he has a better chance to beat me with allies. He already knew about Cinder since he has my memories, what I'm surprised by is that he got her so quickly."

"It was the best opportunity he could have had, since you were elsewhere and my attention was focused on the attack." Ironwood reasoned. "It can't be a coincidence that he freed Fall immediately after the attack began, how could he have known?"

The question hung in the air for a moment, and Clark let out a breath. Honestly, in a way, it was a relief to finally to do this. He wasn't built to weave webs of lies. "After the phantom copied my body, I was planning to tell you so I could warn you. He has the same abilities as I do. I wasn't able to see him use all of them, but it's probably safe to assume he can. I have other abilities . . . ones I haven't told you about."

They reacted as he'd thought they would. Eyes narrowed, muscles tightened. Ms. Goodwitch and Ironwood openly looked at him with suspicion.

Ozpin cleared his throat. "And what would they be?"

"It'll be easier to show you, I don't think you'll believe me otherwise." Clark said. "First, do you have something safe that'll burn? A piece of paper is fine."

"I do." Ozpin reached into his desk and handed him a blank sheet. "Do you have the ability to summon fire?"

Clark accepted it. "Not exactly." He crumpled the paper into a ball, and his eyes emitted a pair of red beams as thin as pencils. Lighting the ball on fire.

"What-" Qrow's eyes bulged at the sight. He wasn't alone, the others also wore expressions of shock.

Setting paper on fire would have still been possible if he'd kept his heat vision in the infrared, but to show them he'd made it hot enough to be visible. It actually seared through the paper and into his hand. Before the ball was fully burnt up, he blew it out. Using freeze breath, and the burning paper was covered in a layer of ice.

"I can shoot beams of heat from my eyes." Clark said, and walked forward to set the paper snowball on Ozpin's desk. "And freeze things when I blow on them."

"Hold on a moment." Ironwood pointed at him. "Your eyes, that's what you used on the Paladin's leg, isn't it?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, and . . . there's more."

"More?" asked Qrow. "What else can you do?"

For the next hour, Clark demonstrated his other abilities. First were his enhanced senses. Spectrum vision, X-ray vision, telescopic vision, and super-hearing. Only super-breath remained, and it wasn't safe to use indoors. Although after what they'd seen, they took his word for it.

"That's a rather extensive list of abilities." The headmaster added. "Alone, I'd have considered them incredibly useful semblances. Why hide these other abilities of yours from us?"

"It's how I've lived my whole life, hiding what I can do so I don't draw attention to myself." Clark explained. "You'd already uncovered my most obvious ones before we met. If I wanted your help, I couldn't claim that I didn't have those powers."

"But you didn't tell you about your other ones, because you didn't trust us." Qrow said pointedly, arms crossed.

"That's . . . ultimately what it boils down to, I won't argue otherwise."

"Then I'm sure you understand why we can't trust you," said Ironwood.

"I do, but I have more to confess." Clark pulled out his scroll. "I know this scroll monitors me, especially when I go super-speed."

"Why would you think that?" asked Ozpin. The man was unnaturally calm, but Clark detected a hitch in his breath.

"I can see radio waves, remember? I never had a reason to look until recently, and I found it by accident." Clark took in a breath. "I've also . . . overheard a conversation between you and the general. You called Cinder Fall's magic maiden powers and spoke about someone named Salem."

The reaction was immediate. Ironwood reached for his gun and Ms. Goodwitch brought up her baton. Ozpin was the calmest, but the grip on his cane tightened. Clark was prepared for an attack, especially from Ms. Goodwitch since her telekinesis would be the most difficult to dodge, but none came.

"You spied on us?" Ironwood demanded with his gun at the ready. His heart was pounding.

"I did," Clark admitted honestly, trying to calm the general down.

"How often? For what reasons?"

"Only that one time, before you brought me in to ask Cinder my questions. Since I normally respect people's privacy." Clark kept a close watch on them, since their weapons were still pointing at him. Even Qrow had a hand on his sword. "I'm not going to claim that I had the right, but I felt that you were keeping secrets from me that could hinder me getting back home."

After a tense moment, Ozpin gave out an order. "Everyone, withdraw your weapons."

"Sir-

"Ozpin-

Miss Goodwitch and Ironwood interrupted each other. Qrow had already taken his hand off his weapon, but the other two didn't lower their own by an inch.

"Mr. Kent has just confessed to us. If he were a spy or an enemy, exposing his additional abilities and admitting to spying on us would in no way help him." Ozpin nodded to Clark. "He's even shown that he's aware of us tracking him. He wasn't wrong to suspect us."

After a few hesitant seconds, Miss Goodwitch and Ironwood lowered their weapons.

"Thank you." Clark said. "Now, if this Salem person" – all of them had muscles tighten at the name – "or maiden powers are classified somehow, then fine. I won't ask. But I want you to stop tracking me, and I don't want you to send any more spies after me like you did when I first got here." He directed his eyes at the general for that last bit. "I'll notice them."

"You did that?" Qrow eyed Ironwood.

"I did." The general admitted with narrowed eyes. Clark didn't appreciate his obvious distrust, but he could at least respect how he didn't shirk responsibility for his actions.

"And I understand why you did sir, even if I don't like it." Clark said. "But I don't want it happening to me again. You should probably focus your attention on the person who has my abilities and seems to have allied himself with one of your enemies. He can see through walls and hear conversations from a distance, but neither of us can see through lead. It would probably be best to communicate sensitive information through writing to circumvent his hearing."

"What if he's listening to us right now?" asked Ozpin.

"I already considered that, he's not nearby. He and I have very distinct heartbeats, and I can tell if he's close."

Ozpin blinked a few times at that. ". . . I see."

"Also, since he looks just like me, you'll need to set up a system to identify whether it's him or me. Maybe send my scroll a message everyday for me to show you, and if it's during the daytime, sunlight will make his skin turn gray. I think my crystal rejects him, so he won't be able to hold it like I can."

Ozpin nodded. "I'll start sending you messages by tonight. It should update every few hours."

"That's even better." Clark said. He let out a breath. The phantom's unknown whereabouts were troubling, but he felt comforted now that the truth was now in the open. "By the way, if you don't mind, I'd like to visit a few friends right now."

"Hold on a sec," said Qrow. "Do you know if this phantom guy has other abilities besides yours? We just saw him fly out of there."

Clark paused. "About that . . . I'm not sure whether that's another ability, or one he copied from me."

"You can fly?"

"It's . . . complicated. The short answer is no. At least, not right now. The long answer is that I've managed it a few times, and that I eventually might be able to control it at will." Clark explained. "The phantom can do it already, so that's another thing to watch out for."

Qrow snorted. "Yeah, be on the lookout for a super-strong, super-fast guy who can shoot lasers from his eyes, see through walls, hear a pin drop from a mile away, freeze or blast things away by blowing on them, and can fly. I feel so safe knowing that there's someone out there like that."

That brought a small grin to Clark's face. "At least you have someone willing to help who can also do all that. Minus the flying."

"Then we better make sure not to go into any aerial battles." Qrow remarked. "Anyway, the four of us are just itching to plot schemes together. Promise not to listen in?"

The humor from Qrow was absent in everyone else, but it still helped ease the tension. It was probably the best Clark could have hoped for after revealing the full range of his abilities.

"I promise." Clark said. "Although you should probably wait till I get a few floors down." Then, he left the office through the elevator.