Usually, when Clark came to Atlas Academy, a crowd of students surrounded him to catch a glimpse. This time was no different. Clark had gone directly to the training rooms and outside the spectator windows groups of people watched and recorded him even when he hadn't started yet.

Penny, who'd invited him to spar, stared back at the onlookers with wide eyes. "What a large crowd! Is this what the level of fame you've attained, Clark?"

"Apparently so," Clark crossed his arms. "I'm hoping that they'll get used to it soon and go off to do better things besides watch me."

"I very much doubt it. I've watched some of your spars, and they're very entertaining! I've also learned much from them."

"Is that right?" Clark rose up from the ground, and the hard-light cubes started to glow as their match was beginning. "I usually fight a group, you think you'll be alright?"

The jets in Penny's feet opened up and she hovered up in the air to the point that their eyelines were level. She was one of the few people who could actually do that. "I do hope to at least make this interesting for you," she smiled.

Penny's face didn't have muscles, so Clark couldn't read her as well as he could other people, but he was pretty sure there was a bit of nervousness in her expression.

The match began, and Penny immediately shot back. Her swords came out of her back, spinning around her in a defensive move. Clark started out by flying around, making her push her maneuverability. So far, the ease of movement of Clark's flight was unmatched on Remnant, and she was no exception. Penny's jets were on her feet, so she was literally designed to move upwards and forwards depending on how she tilted her body. Clark had some head-oriented bias even with his omnidirectional flight, but it was easy for him to make moves she couldn't match like swooping around behind her, flying in very tight and fast curves, or stopping and changing direction at a moment's notice.

Sometimes, in addition to evading him, Penny would send a few of her swords to swing at him. When that happened he would knock them away or just dodge. While they looked the same as he remembered, their movement had become smoother and more responsive. Her swords also shot off their familiar green energy blasts, but they weren't difficult to dodge. A skilled student like Pyrrha could have avoided them without too much trouble, so for Clark's casual sparring speed they were a piece of cake.

Of course, Clark had learned that even for close friends, a fighting style where he kept evading or blocking without issue tended to be frustrating. So, to spice up the match, he finally went on the offensive. With his fists in front of his face, he charged straight towards Penny.

She brought her arms up to block his attack, but at the last moment he reversed direction and swerved around. The next instant his feet were pointing at Penny and he landed a solid kick on her left side. While her reflexes had gotten better, she still fell for the same trick that Clark had used against Jaune. Even for people who'd seen how quickly he could reposition himself, it wasn't easy to always keep their guard up for attacks that could zip around at the last second. The strike sent her flying into the wall of the room, which she hit with a loud noise and a sizeable dip in her aura.

Unlike Clark's other opponents, she didn't express any pain, she didn't have the wind knocked out of her, and she didn't hesitate to get back into a combat position.

Actually, she beamed at him. "Good kick, Clark!"

He had no choice but to smile back. If anyone ever questioned what was so great about Penny, this was what he would think of in response.

The kick seemed to have spurred Penny to focus more on offense, because now she was trying a more elaborate strategy. She moved constantly rather than hovering and defending against him. Her swords rotated around her, and all at once they attacked in multiple ways. Flying forwards to stab Clark, swinging to slash at him, and aiming to fire at him.

Clark remembered Penny's physical strength being on another level from regular huntsmen, but he didn't know if that had changed and she wasn't really using her own strength to attack him. She relied on the longer reach of her swords and energy blasts to attack him.

At some point in the spar, it had become somewhat of a chase with Clark flying away from Penny while she tried to pin him down. He had fun trying to knock hard-light cubes into her. While they did shatter and disappear after being removed from their structures, they still maintained some solidity for a few moments.

Then, Penny did something he'd never seen from her before. From her arms, two canisters popped out and emitted an ear-piercing tone.

"Nngh!" Clark winced and gritted his teeth, covering his ears. He used super-breath to blast Penny and the canisters away. The discomfort threw off his aim, but the wind released from his lungs had a large enough area to catch Penny and the canisters.

Air rushed out at Penny at hundreds of miles per hour, and she went careening into the wall. Her swords got tangled up, a few fired energy blasts at Clark although Penny had no way to aim them. The sound grenades clattered against the wall and broke apart, ending their screech.

One of the green energy blasts splashed against Clark's shoulder. It was the first time since he'd arrived in Atlas that someone had hit him during a spar when he hadn't meant them to.

Clark took his hands off his ears and briefly scanned the parts of Penny's arms where the grenades had come out, not wanting to be caught by surprise again. However, he couldn't see inside her, her body was covered in a layer of lead. He did hear the loading mechanism for the sound grenades replace the ones that she'd used, but he didn't know how many she had.

Clark flew down to Penny and offered her a hand. "My ears aren't happy about your new weapons, but good job. You got a hit on me."

"I did?" Penny asked as she got to her feet with his help. She gave him a concerned look. "I didn't damage your hearing, did I?"

"I'm fine," he said. "You can tell Ironwood that those things worked pretty well to bother me."

She looked away. "You knew that he asked me to test them on you?"

"I didn't know, actually. But it wasn't too hard to guess."

"I'm sorry."

Clark shook his head. "Don't be. Just tell Ironwood that if he tries to use these on me, I'll crush them faster than he can blink." In a bout of super-speed, Clark untangled Penny's swords so that she could store them back inside herself. "Anyway, is there anything you wanted to do besides spar?"

Penny brightened up fast. "Yes! I've found some very cool spots in Atlas which can only be accessed by flying there, want to see?"

"Sure."

They had the training room reset for the next users and then made a hasty exit before they were bombarded by starstruck students, which was especially easy for two fliers. Clark followed behind Penny as she led him to one of her exclusive spots.

\\

As Clark flew down to Shade Academy in the morning, he noted the unique structure of the school. It was a tiered building in the middle of a desert, a design with history which contrasted strongly with the modern Atlas Academy building. If anything, it looked like a ziggurat from Earth.

There were low walls outside, which honestly didn't look like they would offer much protection, although they were likely better than nothing. A large sandpit was also beside the building, which Clark had read was used by the students as a fighting arena.

The first place Clark visited was Headmaster Theodore's office, which was at the very top of the building. He floated outside the window and was greeted by the sight of a man on the thinner side-but still well-muscled-waiting for him. The headmaster wore a vest that displayed his physique proudly.

"Hello there." Clark waved with a hand. "May I come in?"

"Just a second." The headmaster seemed to study him. "You really are flying out there, aren't you?"

"I am."

"Hm, just wanted to see it for myself. Come in! Come in!" Theodore gestured for him to enter and Clark did. The man's office was filled with portraits. The other headmasters were there except Lionheart. There was one of Qrow, and some of people that Clark didn't recognize, including a little girl who resembled the man.

"My name's Theodore, and that's what you should call me. Not titles like 'Headmaster' or 'Professor' or nicknames like 'Theo', got it?"

"Got it. I go by a few names. Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman, depending on the situation you should probably use the first or the last." Clark shook the headmaster's hand.

"Superman, then. I got the message from Oz to get into the habit of calling you that. Nice, strong grip you got there!" The headmaster then sat behind his desk and grinned, eager to begin. "So, you're the Superman that Oz found so we can fight the big one, eh?"

"The big one?"

"Salem."

"Oh, then yes."

"Good. So, how has Oz been since his death anyway?"

The level of familiarity the headmaster was treating Clark with was strange, but he didn't mind. He just needed some time to get used to it. "Well, his new host is learning to use his powers, and it's going about as well as you can expect from a fourteen-year-old. He was pretty upset about Lionheart's betrayal and . . . recently, things are tense between him, Ironwood, and Qrow after he revealed Salem's immortality."

The excitement left the headmaster there, and he shook his head. "That wasn't exactly wonderful news for me either. Neither of them are following Lionheart's footsteps, are they?"

"I don't think so."

"Alright, then let's hope it stays that way! Now, as far as the public knows, you're just here to finish up your Superman Accords with us. I don't have much to add to that. Stick to what we agreed, smile and wave at the cameras, and it'll all go swimmingly - not that there's much swimming here - any questions?"

"Nope."

"Great! Then follow me and we'll have all that boring stuff dealt with. Xanthe!" He yelled out and a tanned woman entered the office. Clark recognized her as one of the teachers in the video call for Vacuo's Accord negotiations.

"Yes, Theodore?" she asked.

"Superman, Professor Xanthe. Xanthe, Superman. We're ready to have him sign his Accords with us."

"Okay then, follow me."

Professor Xanthe brought them to an artificial oasis in the school. Its greenery and life were a far cry from the desert surrounding the school, and there were dozens of people waiting already. Some were teachers and politicians Clark recognized, but many others were students in their uniforms or casually dressed citizens of Vacuo.

Clark froze when he saw Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi in the crowd. Like all the other students, they smiled and waved, giving him encouragement.

"Is something wrong?" Xanthe asked.

Clark cleared his throat. "No." He kept walking towards the table where the documents had been prepared and kept stealing glances at the first friends he'd made in this world. Meanwhile, he smiled for the cameras and waved.

Coco began speaking at normal volume. "Hey Clark, I heard you have super-hearing, right? If you can hear me, nod."

Clark nodded.

"Wow. Didn't really think that would work. Anyway, you're busy right now, but we'd like to talk after you're done. Nod again if that's cool?"

Clark nodded again.

"Cool," she said. "By the way, you look nice in that new costume."

He suppressed a chuckle and continued with the ceremony that had been prepared for the signing of the Accords. Theodore began with a speech about how Vacuo was honored to form an agreement with a powerful warrior such as Superman and that the people of Vacuo could look to a brighter future with his protection. A few other officials came up and said much the same thing in their own speeches.

It was about half an hour after Clark's entrance that they finally started signing the documents before them. They were a copy of the finalized Accords that had been completed the day before in negotiations. It stated that Vacuo would give Clark full access to their national Grimm alert system. He would be able to choose missions to take for himself and at times they would offer him missions that were too dangerous or time-sensitive for regular huntsmen. Unlike other nations, Vacuo didn't seem to really mind him entering their territory unannounced, and hadn't put in any provisions for him to alert them of his arrivals into their country. Since he could easily enter their nation, and the fact that he'd been given leeway to deal with crimes or help with disasters in a similar fashion to huntsmen, Clark could help the citizens of Vacuo easily.

After Clark, Theodore, and a few other delegates signed the Accords, Clark spoke to the crowd. "I have heard about the difficulties of life in Vacuo. Besides the Grimm, its people must deal with the heat, the hostile wildlife, and perhaps worst of all, the local spice." Clark's use of their expression for the sand which often got into their food earned a few chuckles from the audience. "I have heard that these conditions have created a strong people, and I am honored to have my strength respected by such a nation. I hope that with my help, more people may have a chance to prove their strength rather than encountering challenges too early for them to overcome."

Clark had seen some sentiment from anonymous Vacuans online that accepting his help would make Vacuo weak and complacent. While that might have been true if Clark constantly raced across the country at super-speed for Grimm, that wasn't what Clark's agreement with Vacuo would entail.

However, life in Vacuo was harsh, and when people had to prove their strength to survive, that meant the weak fell to the wayside. Clark wasn't planning to just sit by as that happened, but he wasn't planning to force extreme changes on the Kingdom either. He had plans to allow for easier emigration, not just through using his powers to clear Grimm in sea and air routes, but also as one of the uses of the Kryptonian technology he was thinking of offering to the people of Remnant.

Finally, when Clark finished, he was greeted with applause from the audience. Then, with a flourish of his cape, he flew off into the sky.

Of course, when the crowd dispersed and team CFY returned to their room, Clark raced down to it faster than any native of Remnant could see. Coco opened the window and he stopped just inside of it.

"Whoa!" Coco jumped back. "How . . . I was just about to call for you and hope you would hear it with your super ears. How'd you know where our room was?"

"I watched you guys in the halls from outside the school. X-ray vision."

"X-ray vision, of course, I should have realized." Coco shook her head. "I'm starting to realize that the powers you put on your list are real."

"They are. By the way, it's nice to see you again, Yatsuhashi, Fox."

Yatsuhashi nodded. "I feel the same."

Fox waved. "Yep, me too. Although I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when we didn't expect it to be like this. You're really an alien?"

"I am," Clark said. "I used to go around Vale secretly too as the Dart."

"You know, I'm kind of offended that you didn't tell us," Coco said, crossing her arms. Although her smile indicated that she wasn't really that upset.

"Sorry. I had some issues with secrecy back then, but I've been meaning to fix that. That's why I've shown myself to the world and all my powers as Superman." Clark gestured down to his costume. Then, he lowered his arms and formed a serious expression. "I also want to tell you guys what really happened during the Vytal Festival and the attack on Vale. I don't blame myself for Velvet's death anymore, but the truth is I was involved with her getting hurt during it, and if I'd acted differently then maybe I could have saved her."

Clark explained the phantom to them as another alien from his world who had copied his appearance and abilities. He also explained how the phantom had allied with Cinder Fall, the one they knew was responsible for the attack, although he kept the information about Salem secret.

They were silent as Clark told them how the phantom had kidnapped Velvet and used her as a hostage to capture Clark, and that her aura had been reduced to zero because of it. To a normal person team CFY would have seemed calm and expressionless, but he could read the traces of sadness, shock, and anger from them easily. Especially when he told them how he could have protected Velvet by keeping a closer watch on her as he wiped out the Grimm in Vale. He saw them look away and contemplate the true circumstances of Velvet's death.

Clark didn't blame himself anymore, but he would understand if they thought him responsible.

After he'd finished, Coco spoke up first. "It's not your fault, Clark."

"Really? Just like that? I don't hold myself responsible, but I was involved. Velvet was kidnapped because of me, and if I'd guarded her more carefully then she could have lived."

"The results of your actions were part of the circumstances of her death," Yatsuhashi said. "That cannot be denied, but we all bear the burden for that. Perhaps if we, her team, hadn't urged her to pursue a relationship with you, then the phantom wouldn't have considered her as a hostage to use against you. Perhaps if Velvet's mother had tried harder to persuade Velvet away from a dangerous career as a huntress, then she wouldn't have even been at Beacon to meet you. If any single one person in Velvet's life had acted differently, then she might have lived instead of dying, yet placing the blame on any of them is absurd."

"Yeah," Fox added. "The people who are really to blame are the ones who put Velvet in danger on purpose. Cinder Fall and that phantom, it's their fault Velvet died."

Clark stared at them for a few seconds, and then he chuckled. "Thank you. I'm kind of impressed, it took me months to fully accept that, but you guys did it in minutes."

Coco shrugged. "Feeling guilty about things that aren't their fault is pretty much in a hero's job description. Makes you more authentic."

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. I'm the great hero Superman now." Clark posed with his hands at his hips, feeling a bit ridiculous.

"Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about great?" Coco asked. "Don't let the fame get to your head, speedy."

"You're right, sorry." Clark leaned back against the wall casually. "Anyway, I'm free for the next while. How's Shade been?"

For the next half-hour, team CFY informed him about how they'd continued their education as a three-person team at Shade Academy. The school didn't have many other former Beacon students, so it was sort of a fresh start for them. It was really different from Vale. The food, the culture, even their huntsmen missions. They did a lot more than fight Grimm, they had to deal with dangerous wildlife too. Sand crabs, desert lizards, swarming scorpions, it was a lot to handle.

\\

When Clark flew down to the Schnee manor, he had to admit that he was impressed. It was enormous, easily dwarfing Lex's mansion back in Smallville, and situated on top of one of the city's tallest hills. From here, you could look down on both the floating skyscrapers of Atlas and the grounded buildings of Mantle.

Clark dropped down to the gated entrance to the manor. Before he even spoke, a female voice greeted him politely from an intercom.

"Mr. Superman, we have been expecting you. Please, come in."

The gate opened, and Clark walked into the driveway and around the pillars carrying the Schnee snowflake at their peaks. When he reached the door, a man in a suit who looked to be in his fifties opened it and inclined his head.

"Good evening, Mr. Superman. If you will follow me, I will bring you to Mr. Schnee's study for your appointment."

"Sure, what's your name?"

"I am Friedrich, sir."

They walked in and Clark saw that the interior of the manor was just as ostentatious as he'd expected. The entrance hall had a big curved staircase up to some balconies, and there were inhumanly large suits of armor on either side of it as decoration.

Friedrich didn't need to guide Clark far to reach Jacques' study. For someone as busy as him, it made a lot of sense to put your office close to your front door.

When they reached the door, Friedrich knocked on it.

"What is it?" Jacques voice called out from inside.

"Your seven o'clock appointment, sir."

"Just a moment." After a few seconds, Jacques opened the door with a smile. Polite enough for most people, probably, but obviously false to Clark's eyes. "You're early, Superman. Punctual. A quality I admire in a person. Please, come and sit."

He waved Clark over to a pair of luxury armchairs and sat down first. Friedrich followed them in and stood off to the side.

"Would you like any refreshments?" Jacques asked. "Water, tea, coffee? I can have some food brought over as well."

"No thank you, I'm fine."

"Hmm, that is a choice you may regret. Friedrich, bring over a pot of Imperial Black Tea and a cup for myself. Although perhaps you should bring a second in case our guest changes his mind."

"Yes, sir." Friedrich nodded and left the room.

"I must say, Superman. It's hardly been a week since you revealed yourself to the world and you've caused quite a stir. An alien from another dimension, and so powerful too. I have many ideas for how a partnership between us could be fruitful."

The greed in Jacques' eyes belied the calm businessman façade. Already the richest man in the world, yet he wanted more. Clark didn't think he'd ever understand that kind of mindset.

"I should warn you," Clark began. "I have an agreement with the Kingdoms that limits the kinds of profit-making activities I can engage in. I'm prohibited from eliminating Grimm in uninhabited territory for the natives of Kingdoms to settle, so you shouldn't expect me to clear them for any new Schnee mines. I also won't be able to dig new mines for profit or transport Dust."

Jacques briefly stared at Clark as if he had just said he'd shot himself in the foot for fun before he schooled his features again. "May I ask why you agreed to such terms?"

"I'm aiming to have a global impact on Remnant, and giving advantages to certain nations by providing particular services for them works against that. Even if I were to try to spread out the advantages evenly, there's no guarantee that the kingdoms would consider the allotment of my abilities fair, and I would like to avoid distrust and malcontent between nations over how I work for them as a resource."

"I see. I'm sure you're already aware, but I would like to point out that the Schnee Dust Company spans the globe and provides Dust to all the Kingdoms."

"Yes, you do, but much of your business is still based in Atlas. A Kingdom which is already a formidable military power on Remnant."

Jacques sighed. "Yes, I could see where that would lead. The men in power are all too often eager to correct some minor perceived slight or injustice with violence."

It was then that Friedrich returned with a tray of the tea that Jacques had asked for. It smelled interesting, something Clark might try if he were offered but not anything he would seek out on his own. After Friedrich poured some into Jacques cup, the CEO took a small sip before continuing.

"If I may ask, what services do you expect your Accords to allow you to offer?"

"I can still make public statements. It's clear that when a person has enough attention on them, even small comments can have large effects."

Jacques nodded. "Yes, as your reputation grows, I'm sure advertisements with you would surely increase profits."

Clark didn't plan to star in any ads, but he kept quiet on that. "There is another way that I could help you. While I won't build any new mines or clear out land for you to build them, I can clearly help you maintain the ones you already have against Grimm or any terrorist group like the White Fang. Your more remote mines might not have been able to benefit from a better alert system, since huntsmen usually can't reach them in time, but now that I can an improved alert system would be worthwhile."

"I must admit that I am a bit confused. Your Accords won't let you clear Grimm for new mines, but clearing the Grimm in an abandoned Schnee mine wasn't an issue?"

"I was told that those Grimm were too close for comfort to residential areas, especially the Centinels, which mainly travel by digging underground."

"Yes, I suppose that would fit the requirements of your Accords. Killing Grimm and saving lives is an uncontroversial good." Jacques had a thoughtful expression that Clark didn't like.

"My point is that I don't want to mislead you by giving you the impression that I will give the SDC precedence in protecting your facilities from Grimm."

Jacques brow furrowed in disappointment. "Oh? Then it is difficult for me to see why we're discussing it if any agreement between us will not result in better protection for my workers."

There was a bit of a dig at Clark there, but he calmly explained, "While I won't give SDC outposts special treatment, we can still work together to make safer conditions for your employees. If Grimm alert systems all over the world are improved, then even if the SDC is treated equally, its facilities will receive better protection than before."

"Or a better system could return more alerts and distract you from Grimm attacks on the SDC. While I do have a number of charitable ventures, I am running a business. I have to think of the livelihoods of my employees."

It was strange that Jacques could sit in a sprawling mansion this and talk as if he didn't have money to spare to invest in better Grimm detection.

"Mr. Schnee, have you seen the footage of me in Argus? I eliminated a Grimm threat on that scale after only a few moments. With my speed, I can handle multiple Grimm attacks around the planet in seconds."

"Yes, I suppose you can. It's certainly not the kind of offer I'd expected, but I'll certainly give the matter some thought. Regarding other possible sources of profit, have you acquired trademark or copyright protection for your name and symbol?"

"No, I haven't."

"Then I advise you do so quickly. While I doubt that any company would be foolish enough to try to take ownership of either, it's safer not to rely on the common sense of other people. Did you leave that method of wealth available in your Accords?"

"No one suggested a prohibition stated against it."

"Wonderful." Jacques smiled. "I'm sure you'll find the SDC and its subsidiaries extremely helpful in manufacturing and selling any products with your name or symbol on them. Children's toys, mugs, clothing, there are many possibilities."

They discussed it for a while. Jacques gave Clark some tentative figures for how the revenue would be distributed between the two of them. While Clark didn't want money, there were plenty of problems that didn't go away by punching them, after all, and in some of those cash was a decent solution.

Later on, Clark managed to bring up the topic of Weiss. "If you don't mind, can I ask what led you to pick your son over Weiss to inherit your position? I'm friends with her, and she certainly seems serious enough for the job."

Jacques eyes widened, clearly not expecting Clark to mention his daughter. He soon recovered and explained. "Yes, I'm sure she's studious and dedicated in her role as a huntress-in-training, but she's been far less attentive to her duties as an heiress. If she wanted to follow in her sister's footsteps, I wouldn't have minded, but she insists on doing that and inheriting the SDC. It's ridiculous.

"On the other hand, my son Whitley is younger, but already he has far more experience in business matters than Weiss. He's followed along with me to meetings, I've had him intern at one of my offices and he made real improvements in workflow there. And I'm not referring to the words of sycophants who would praise Whitley regardless of his competence. I checked the files to see that he was the source of quite a few sensible and intelligent changes to his work environment. If Weiss had stayed in Atlas and showed the same business acumen, then I would have had no issue keeping her as heiress."

"Ah, that makes sense." Honestly, Jacques' reasons were good. Running a company wasn't easy, and Clark did agree that Weiss should have made a choice between being a huntress and inheriting the SDC rather than going for both. Her sister Winter had done made the sensible choice of focusing on the military.

Clark didn't know how sharp Weiss' business skills were though. She might be as good or better than Whitley, even if it was unlikely given how Whitley had stayed here to learn about running the SDC while Weiss had gone to Beacon.

"I'll be honest, Mr. Schnee," Clark said. "I would prefer that Weiss inherit the SDC. Not because she's a friend, but because she seems the most sympathetic to improving faunus rights, a task that I see taking decades at the very least."

"How . . . forthright of you to say so. Faunus rights is a familiar topic to the SDC, but I hope you realize that choosing its next CEO is based on other criteria."

"I understand that. Maybe Weiss will turn out to be better suited than Whitley. Or maybe Whitley will be more willing to promote faunus rights then I expect. Either way, for us to have a mutually beneficial relationship, I think I should be honest with what I want out of it. Money for me is only a means to an end, and that end is helping people."

"Then you'd certainly be unique among the SDC's many business partners. Even more so than you already were with your alien origin and abilities." Jacques glanced at the clock on the wall. "I apologize, but I have another meeting scheduled. Thank you for coming, this was a very informative conversation."

They shook hands. Friedrich guided Clark out of the manor, at which point he flew back north to his Fortress at a pace which would get him there in a few minutes. He wanted some time to think and reconsider backing Weiss to inherit the SDC.