The street was dark, quiet, and empty.

Perfect.

Speeding through the road, Clark arrived at the spot where the Grimm had emerged during the attack, which was already being called the Breach. Naming it probably made it easier to move on.

Bright yellow police tape blocked the area, and plenty of blinking red signs warned people away. Ms. Goodwitch's fix apparently didn't bring a lot confidence to city officials, but when there were Grimm only feet under them, it was understandable that they'd take precautions.

Clark had informed the headmaster and General Ironwood of what he'd planned, and neither had argued against it. Ozpin had even encouraged it and thanked him. Although it had felt wrong to accept it when he was only doing what he should to make up for his absence.

Even if it wouldn't bring back those who'd died.

Clark shook the thought from his head and focused. This late at night, there was hardly anybody around, and he doubted most people were eager to come here anyway. Clark did the usual check for nearby security cameras too and found none. He was in the clear.

He walked into the street to the nearest manhole and pulled the cover out of the ground. After climbing down a couple rungs, he reached up to cover it again. Then, he let go.

Thankfully, he didn't land in a sewer. Instead, he was surrounded by utility lines for electricity and communication. With X-ray vision, he eventually found a suitable spot without wiring in the wall.

Peering deeper, he could see the tunnel with train tracks surrounded by Grimm. It wasn't fully packed, as he'd expected. They formed groups mostly with others of the same type. They were idle for the moment, most were asleep. That was noteworthy, considering that a city of millions of people were above them. Then again, Grimm in the Emerald Forest were right next to a school full of people, yet they weren't constantly trying to reach it.

Clark reached into the metal wall and ripped it off to make a hole that he could fit through. On the other side was soil, and he deftly dug out a passage for himself. Then, he turned around and used heat vision to crudely weld the metal back onto wall.

Now he was in a hole, blocked on one side by the metal tunnel and packed dirt on the other. He resumed digging, his hands moving at super-speed into the earth. Making sure to move the dirt back behind him.

Minutes later, he hit the jackpot. The concrete wall of the underground railway. With a fist, he smashed through it and jumped through into the dark tunnel.

The Grimm reacted immediately. Slow, steady breathing was replaced with huffs and roars. Heartbeats which had been relaxed and calm pulsed wildly at his entrance. Those who'd been asleep got up from the ground, and the few who'd already been awake loped, slithered, or flew at Clark. Their glowing red eyes offered the only light down here, but even that was enough for Clark.

Besides, while it was dark in visible light, it was a completely different story in infrared.

He weaved his way between them. Although he slowed down to the point that he'd still be visible to them as a blur. He ran to the back of the horde and kept going. More Grimm were up ahead, and they reacted to him as well.

Briefly, he looked back. The swarm of monsters chased him with no stragglers. Good. A human, or what looked close enough, right in front of them was apparently more appealing than multitudes of people up above that they couldn't see. He'd easily lead them away from the city.

He'd decided on this plan of action after visiting team CFVY. They'd been glad to see him, and he'd been relieved to see that none of them had been hurt during the Breach. Coco had actually teased him for it, saying that he was crazy to think that those Grimm would have gotten the best of them. After seeing footage of her shredding Grimm with a mini-gun, Clark had admitted that she had a point.

It was what Velvet had said about the Grimm which had made Clark commit to the idea. "It just worries me, Ms. Goodwitch sealed the hole, but there are still a lot of them down there. Compared to the effort the White Fang put in to bring them there, it would be a lot easier for them to plant a bomb and unleash them all over again."

Clark had consulted with Qrow and Miss Goodwitch, and they'd told him that exterminating the Grimm in the tunnels wouldn't be an easy task. A group of huntsmen would make decent progress at first, but the deeper they went, the more Grimm they'd find. They'd have to go far into the tunnels, until they were no longer under the city. By the time they reached that point, explosives would be the fastest way to seal the route. The only practical one, really. And it would be a nightmare to make sure only Grimm were on one side and people on the other.

Although that might not stop the Council. They'd already abandoned Mountain Glenn to keep Vale safe, maybe it wouldn't matter to them if a few huntsmen got trapped on the wrong side of the rubble.

Clark could have stopped the Breach, and now he'd do what he could to fix it. The Grimm, the ones here at least, didn't have the forethought to wait and bide their time until they could burst through the ground and attack again.

As predicted, the further Clark went, the more Grimm joined the horde chasing him. Again and again, more of the sleeping or otherwise inactive monsters became aware of his presence and joined the hunt. Clark had to maintain a speed slow enough for them to follow, but not all Grimm ran at the same pace. The King Taijitu especially weren't very quick, so he had to leap and dodge as he waited for them to catch up.

The strange, bipedal Creeps were fast, but their spiked tails were easy to dodge. Ursai and Beowolves were a little harder to avoid, but still manageable. Even if they got a grip on him, he could free himself with ease. The Nevermore were the most annoying. They came in flocks, and only small Nevermore could fit in the tunnel. Some were the size of normal birds, and others had wingspans up to ten feet. They flew at Clark and launched feathers at him, and at the speeds he went in the tunnel, they caught up easily. He repeatedly used super-breath to knock the creatures away, but he had to be careful not to hurt them so badly that they couldn't follow.

The hours passed by as Clark constantly out-maneuvered and baited the Grimm. The throng had become so packed that there wasn't any space to squeeze between them. Even the air was full of the flapping and cawing Nevermore, with their feathers falling onto the Grimm below. There would have been quite the trail if the parts that fell off didn't evaporate.

Finally, they reached Mountain Glenn. The mindless creatures chased Clark for all those miles, and he had refused to let any of them rest. Those that had tried had found themselves slightly singed and prompted to continue.

Now that they were plenty far enough away, he blew a passage through the Grimm and sped several hundred feet back towards Vale. Then, he released a strong blast of heat vision into the ceiling and sides of the tunnel. Turning it to rubble that collapsed and blocked off the way for good.

As a final touch, Clark inscribed the El crest on the wall along with a message.

Satisfied, he took out his scroll and checked the time. Huh, he'd probably get two hours of sleep in. Would it be enough? Recently, he felt more than refreshed after four.

\\

"Yeah, they're not doing anything." Clark confirmed. He stood in the middle of the Emerald Forest as canisters surrounded him and released thick white gas.

"You sure? You don't feel even a little sleepy?" asked Qrow from a safe distance away. He reached into one of the containers with ludicrous amounts of weaponry and threw another canister out.

"I'm sure, and I only slept for a couple hours last night."

"Maybe it'll take a little while to kick in."

"If it does, then it's not really that useful as a possible weapon." Clark replied. After a little longer with no effect, he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply. He spun around, sucking up all the sleeping gas. Then, he pointed the opposite direction from Qrow and released it in a burst of breath.

Qrow blinked twice at the display. "Huh. Okay, let's try these next." He tossed out some new black canisters. "Tear gas, nasty stuff."

After a few minutes, Clark stood in the gas as dry-eyed as before. Even sucking up the gas and keeping it in his lungs didn't have an effect. He then repeated the action of expelling the pressurized vapor somewhere safe.

"I have a feeling chemical weapons aren't going to work on me." Clark decided.

"Really? What would make you think that?" asked Qrow, his sarcasm clear. "Guess we can skip trying out a lot of this stuff then. They're not really useful in most combat situations anyway."

Yet the general had provided them regardless, so that they could test whether these weapons would work on Clark. If any of them did, Clark was free to have some to use against the phantom. He realized that Ironwood would learn whether less conventional weaponry would work on him thanks to these tests, but Clark would also learn some new vulnerabilities. Along with getting some firepower against the phantom. It was worth it.

At least, it would be if any of the weapons tested so far had actually worked on him. He already knew that electrical shocks didn't bother him, but he'd allowed Qrow to use a taser on him anyway. He'd shrugged off pepper spray, and the general had provided incredibly potent ones that weren't available to the public. The smell wasn't pleasant, but it didn't cause any pain. Which Clark could also say about the tear gas.

"Okay, let's try this next." Qrow threw a grenade at him.

It detonated in a flash of white light and ringing sound. A flashbang.

"You alright?" asked Qrow. He turned back to face Clark and uncovered his ears.

"I'm fine."

"Really? I thought that one would actually work on you with your super-senses."

"I'm actually fine with bright lights and loud sounds." Clark replied. "Although a few years ago, the ringing would have bothered me. My hearing wasn't always this good, and it took a while to really get it under control. But now the sound of a bomb exploding in my face doesn't even hurt."

"You've held bombs to your face?" Qrow quirked an eyebrow.

"Not to my face exactly, but I've been near more explosions than I'd like."

"Okay . . . but I still want to try out this one. Ironwood said that he had it specially prepared for you after your talent show in Ozpin's office."

Talent show. For a moment, Clark imagined exhibiting his powers at one back home. It was funnier than it should have been. "What is it?" He asked.

Qrow took out a box and walked over to set it down by Clark. "The last weapon we're going to try out. A sound grenade. Ironwood got the idea since faunus can hear higher-pitched sounds that they really don't like, and Atlas used that fact to their advantage for White Fang protests. Humans wouldn't hear a thing, while all the faunus left holding their ears shut. This one's modified for you."

"Modified how?"

"Humans can only hear up . . . 20,000 cycles per second, I think? Faunus can go up to 25,000. This one can go up to 50,000 and I'm going to reach that in steps starting from 30,000 with this little remote." Qrow waved the device in his hand. "There's also volume control."

Clark looked down at the box, and back up at Qrow's hand. "Can I just say that this will probably work, and not go through it? It's not going to be that useful for me if it hurts me too."

"Hey, you said controlling your hearing helps. Maybe you can get the upper hand if you surprise him with it."

Clark sighed. "Yeah, I guess. I was only joking anyway." Well, half-joking.

"Alright, let's start out at frequency 30,000 and volume 5." Qrow pressed the remote.

A piercing tone emitted from the box. It was worse than Coco's whistle. Really annoying, but not painful.

"Is it working?" asked Qrow. Clark needed to focus to hear through the noise.

"Yeah!" He called out. Qrow seemed taken aback by the yelling, and Clark remembered that he could talk normally since the huntsman wouldn't hear anything.

"Alright, I'm gonna try upping the volume." As Qrow had promised, the grating sound got louder.

"I'm still okay."

"Okay, let's go to frequency 35,000."

Clark made an unpleasant face, but the sound was still bearable. He nodded to Qrow to indicate he was fine.

"40,000."

It . . . was getting harder to focus now. The pitch was even higher, but the volume was still just as loud.

"45,000."

Clark winced, and the noise stopped.

"You okay?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah, yeah." He shook his head to recover. Was he imagining it, or was it quieter than before? He focused his hearing to the surrounding area and realized that there were missing sounds. He chuckled.

"Something funny?"

"You scared off some squirrels with that."

Qrow looked around at the forest. "You can hear squirrels?"

"Sure, they make pretty unique chewing and running sounds."

"And . . . you're always listening to things around you like that?"

"Recently, yeah. I'm always hearing a lot, but it needs focus to pick out and recognize the sounds nearby." Clark's smile fell a bit. "I used to try to only pay attention to sounds a human would hear, but ever since I've arrived, I've found myself in a lot of situations where I need to concentrate on a wider area. Like listening for people following me."

"Yeah . . . sorry about that."

"You didn't send people to follow me." Clark smiled to let Qrow know he didn't have any leftover resentment. "Unless you did, and I happened to not be paying attention?"

"No, I didn't. Just apologizing for Ironwood doing it, and Ozpin tracking you with the scroll. I only knew about the second one though."

"Hey, I hid things from you guys too. All's forgiven."

"Really?"

Clark would be lying if he said he wasn't upset, but he was willing to let it become water under the bridge. "Sure, but I'd really prefer it not to happen again."

"I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't." Qrow promised. "You know, after we saw your movement patterns in the city, Ozpin had a theory that you could somehow sense people in danger."

"He did?"

"Yeah, the scroll showed you speeding all over the city. You didn't run randomly, you went straight to where people needed you."

"He wasn't completely wrong, I do 'sense' people in trouble." Clark reasoned.

"Yeah, but we were expecting a sort of telepathy thing. It wasn't hard to believe, since there are a few people with semblances that can sense friends or teammates in danger. None of us thought you had super-hearing."

"And hopefully no one else will."

"So . . ." Qrow began. "Is your hearing really that good?"

"Depends, how good is that good?"

"You can hear stuff happening from miles away? A person crying for help?"

Clark nodded. "Although what's cooler is what I can hear nearby. There are so many sounds that you wouldn't think to listen for. I can hear heartbeats and breathing, but-"

"Hold on." Qrow gave him a strange look. "Are you listening to mine right now?"

"Yeah, but only because I've kind of gotten into the habit of focusing on sounds nearby. Does it bother you?"

Qrow shrugged. "Nah, just weird to think about."

Clark grinned at the blasé attitude. "Anyway, the really amazing sounds are the ones you wouldn't even think about. Heartbeats and breaths echo throughout a person's body off their bones and muscles. I actually think everyone has an echo even more unique than their voice, and I can even get a rough picture of what they look like."

Qrow shook his head. "And I thought it was impressive when you heard me whispering to Goodwitch from across the room." He gave Clark a curious look. "Enough about your ears, what about your eyes? Are you always seeing through things? Are you looking at my bones right now?"

"No, doing that takes conscious effort."

"How far into something can you see? You showed us that you can see into a desk and read off papers. What's the limit?"

Clark considered it. "If it's not lead . . . I'm not really sure, it's like I can look as deep as I want."

"Can you give me an example?"

"I guess." Clark turned around and looked through the trees to the towers of Beacon Academy. He squinted to focus his vision to where he heard a familiar voice. "Ms. Goodwitch is teaching a combat class." He reported. "A clock on the wall says it's two-fourteen. Your niece, the blonde one, is sparring against a girl with red hair using a bronze spear and shield." He spun back to Qrow with a smile.

The huntsman narrowed his eyes, looked to Beacon, and then looked back at Clark. He took out his scroll. "I can check right now that you got the time right. I'm gonna confirm the rest of that later."

After a few moments, Qrow added under his breath. "And I should probably get Ozpin to get lead shielding for the bathrooms and locker rooms."

Clark wasn't sure whether he should respond or not. His parents had taken some time getting used to a teenager with super-hearing, Qrow might not have meant for him to hear that.

"You heard that, right?" asked Qrow calmly.

Well, that answered that.

Clark nodded. "I heard. By the way, I don't look in places like that. It's creepy."

"Come on. A teenager who can see through walls? You're telling me you never once looked into a girls' locker room?" Qrow's eyes widened as he remembered. "Or wait, do human women not attract you since you're an alien?" He asked with a grin.

"Human women look . . . close enough to-" Clark sighed and turned away. "Okay, no, I'm not going to talk about this."

"Fine, but you still didn't answer my first question. You've never looked?"

Clark was silent before he admitted the truth. "I have . . . once. But it was by accident."

"By accident." Qrow's dry tone made it clear what he thought of that.

"It's true!" Clark insisted. "I wasn't always able to see through walls, when it first started, I couldn't control it and happened to be looking in that direction. After I got control of it, I haven't looked since."

Qrow put his hands up and chuckled. "Okay okay. I just thought that there might be something more to that innocent smile, but luckily for womenkind there isn't."

"Yeah yeah, real funny."

"It's always hard to appreciate the humor from the other side."

Clark rolled his eyes. "By the way, I was meaning to ask you. I'm going to need more combat classes. Real ones this time, instead of just going through the motions to fool other people."

"For your evil twin?"

"My-?" Clark groaned. "Please don't call him that."

"What else am I supposed to call him? You never mentioned a name."

"I didn't catch him say it."

"Then I think evil twin's good enough," said Qrow. "Besides, if anyone sees him or he does anything, you can claim that he's a twin."

A twin. Even Clark thought that was a weak excuse, and he'd made plenty of them to his friends whenever he had to run off to deal with trouble.

Yet just like those excuses, this one was a lot more believable than the truth.

"Fine," said Clark. "Now back to those combat classes. Is there a schedule I can work out with you and the headmaster?"

Qrow nodded. "Sure, Goodwitch can help too since classes take a break for the Vytal Festival."

"That'll be great. When can we begin?"

"I can give you some pointers right now if you want. You up for it?"

"Yes."

"Give me a few seconds first." Qrow leaned back against a tree and scrutinized Clark. After some time, he spoke. "It's not exactly easy, thinking up a fighting style for you against someone just like you . . . who can also fly. I've met some strong people, but you two could probably punch each other miles away. Even then, you could still get back to the fight in seconds. And that's for hand-to-hand alone. With your arsenal, there are plenty of other options." He pushed off the tree and walked forward. "Hand-to-hand's the most familiar to me that'll be useful to you. So let's start with that."

As time went on, the two of them discovered factors of Clark's abilities that made hand-to-hand for him different from what went on between humans. Clark doubted he could get the phantom off-balance except maybe by surprise, considering the phantom could fly. That ability presented a lot of challenges. A flying opponent could attack in ways that an earth-bound person just couldn't. He could control his momentum, ignore footing, and few huntsmen were trained to defend against someone like that.

Clark's practice punches also had unexpected side effects. The first few had been fine, completely normal except for the strength and speed behind them.

The effects had appeared when Qrow had insisted that Clark put his weight and serious force behind them. To stop holding back. It had been difficult to undo a lifetime of controlling his strength, but he managed a form that satisfied the huntsman.

And when he punched, the air cracked. Tree branches shook and the grass flattened. It was a good thing Qrow had stayed a good distance away.

Shockwaves. There were shockwaves. With Clark's full strength, his fists easily went supersonic. He hardly ever had the chance to really let loose, and he'd been concentrating on the form and theory behind throwing his weight behind the attack that shockwaves appeared when they never had before. Not even when he ran at full speed.

Fortunately, he managed to minimize and even eliminate the booms completely. Even when his strikes were at full strength.

Negating supersonic booms, a new ability? Or was he learning more about an ability that he'd always had?

\\

Owen Asenich sat in his office and nodded politely at the screen even as brimmed with satisfaction. Finally, they had their opportunity.

Maria Floren expressed little joy. Although Asenich knew that she was secretly far more excited than she appeared.

"It'll be more than easy enough to distribute our sentiments online." She said. "There are already a few websites that express hatred and distrust of the Dart. Barely any work will be involved with those, but neutral ones should be involved too. I have a few connections with them."

"Websites? Why are we wasting our time with those?" He could understand if she wanted to influence prominent sites like Vale News Network website, but the others? Anyone could make those.

"They're the best way to reach young people. Who, I might add, are the ones most passionate about the Dart."

Young people. Asenich scoffed, of course they'd get excited over some new mystery man fighting crime in the streets. They probably couldn't get their heads straight on what was fantasy or the real world. Someone like the Dart didn't belong in the latter.

"Of course, traditional media has an important role." Floren said. "I trust you have suitable ties there?"

He let a small smile pass from his lips. "The Trumpet will run a story on unreliable vigilantes, and so will a few other outlets. It would be a waste of effort if we used favors from the same papers. I think we should discuss which ones you can call in, and which I can."

"No, I'm sure you want to keep your methods to yourself."

She wasn't wrong, but Asenich could have easily given up a few individuals whose strings he held. It would have been worth it to learn what Floren had, since he was certain her influence couldn't compare to his.

Although she was too smart to give up her connections. Oh well, that wasn't unexpected.

"I trust you'll be discreet?" she asked. What went unsaid was how they both knew Asenich was the one keener on tearing down the Dart.

"I will." He was no idiot. He'd make sure that the stories written would have no trace of his involvement. He wouldn't even need to tell the newspapers what to write, only give them the facts and let them connect the dots on their own.

There were already some who berated the Dart on their own. Asenich had been delighted when he'd discovered them weeks ago and had secretly given them his backing.

The Breach was perfect. A Grimm incursion swiftly contained with minimal loss of life. Thanks to it, Asenich could turn the public against the Dart for doing nothing, and the Council could take responsibility for security from that inept Ozpin and offer it to Ironwood.

The Atlesian general had even offered a few survey drones to inspect the tunnels and the activity of the Grimm inside.