After Blake had texted Clark, he flew over to Atlas Academy. Her team's room happened to be empty at the time, so she'd asked to meet him there for a few questions about his Accords.

He flew down, and she briefly opened the window to let him in.

"Sorry," she said. "I would have left it open, but it's way too chilly today to do that. Winter in Atlas doesn't agree with me."

"It's no big deal." He took a seat she offered at a desk. "So, let's get on to business. What do you want to ask about the Accords?"

"I want to discuss your approach to Menagerie in your Accords, and I'd also like to apologize." Blake lowered her head. "I'm sorry for accusing you of working with the SDC out of greed."

Clark smiled. "As long as you have the story straight, it's fine."

"I disagree. It was out of turn."

"Well, just a bit," Clark had to admit. "But I think it's best we move on. I've been basing my approach to Menagerie on Vacuo. Both are predominantly desert and have dangerous wildlife, but I haven't given much thought to cultural differences."

Blake nodded and sat at her desk. "Menagerie is a much younger nation than Vacuo, and while the population is smaller too, it's much more varied. Faunus from all over the world went to Menagerie and brought their heritages with them. I can recommend a book or two if you're interested."

"Sure, but I can't guarantee I'll read them soon unless they're relevant to the Accords."

"They're not, so if you're still interested then I suppose you'll read them later. Vacuo is different from us, most Menagerie natives will be grateful if you protect them from Grimm or dangerous animals rather than worrying about how we won't have the opportunity to get stronger. Culturally, there's nothing else that should worry you."

"Thanks. Any advice for nonlethal methods of dealing with native wildlife?"

"Do you need it? I expect you're fast enough to sweep away a pack of six-foot-long lizards in the blink of an eye."

"You have giant lizards in Menagerie?"

"Yes, and they burrow in the sand in wait for prey. Not just that, we have scaled venomous monkeys and giant crocodiles. Not to mention screeching rats which can make people's ears bleed."

Clark raised a hand. "Okay, I'm going to stop you before you make me question how anyone survives in Menagerie. I can speed them away, most of the time, but I don't know what their habitats are. I could drop them off somewhere they're not suited for, or into an ecosystem that can't handle them. Sometimes scaring them away will be better, so do you have any tips?"

Blake considered the question. "The reptiles avoid the cold or go dormant, so if you use your freeze breath you could probably make them go away or go to sleep. There are lots of plants which will deter animals when burned, and regular smoke will also work fine for a lot of insects and arachnids."

"Ah, so that's how the faunus have survived in Menagerie."

"It's not all like that," she was starting to get defensive. "Some parts of Menagerie are actually quite pleasant. A match for any tropical vacation destination in the world."

At that, the door to the room opened with a beep. Ruby walked in and paused at the two of them together.

"Blake? Clark? What are you two doing together?"

Clark explained. "We're just talking about how my Accords with her home country are being written."

"We've just gotten to the part about his approach to Menagerie's wildlife," Blake added.

"Okay, I was just coming to get some jackets for me and Yang, but it's really lucky that you turned out to be here, Clark. We get off from classes early tomorrow, wanna hang out with us then?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm going to be really busy soon. My next few weeks are going to be booked."

Ruby frowned. "I thought you were already really busy."

"I am, but I'm getting even busier."

"But you'll still be able to meet up with Blake and Weiss?"

"I am, although my visits with them are related to the work I'm doing."

"Oh." Ruby paused, deep in thought for a few moments before reverting to a casual expression. "Alright, I guess we'll wait until your schedule clears up. Bye, you guys."

"Bye," Clark waved, hiding that he'd how deep her disappointment actually was. He made a note to follow up on it later. Right now, Blake had more advice to give him, including books on Menagerie wildlife.

\\

Arthur Watts had carefully prepared for this call. He'd left hints in Jacques' computer, indications that someone was accessing one of the most secure corporate devices in Atlas. Once Jacques had noticed, Arthur had made offers of using his skills to Jacques' benefit, probing his agreeability.

It turned out that Jacques was intrigued, and Arthur hadn't even needed to mention the threat of how he could expose some of the SDC's illicit activities with ease.

Jacques Schnee appeared on the screen, and he blinked at the sight in surprise. "So it really is you, Arthur. Until you'd contacted me, I never would have thought you'd survived the Paladin incident."

"I've always been a resourceful individual."

"Yes, although I would have thought you would have been resourceful enough to arrange a meeting with me in person rather than through a computer."

Arthur bit back a reply to the veiled insult. "Unfortunately, privacy in Atlas is hard to come by these days. The alien's ridiculous senses have made it inconvenient for me to visit."

"Surely he can't be listening and watching everything in the city?" Jacques looked around with concern.

"No, but I have it from a reliable source that he can focus on certain individual's if he wants. You may not have noticed, but I have digitally altered my voice to throw him off. Otherwise I expect he could have recognized my voice from recordings that Ironwood could have provided for him."

Jacques scowled. "I don't like the risk you're taking, especially without informing me."

"I assure you that what I'm offering will more than make up for it."

"That remains to be seen. What exactly are you offering?"

"The elections for the newest Council member will be running not too long from now. I can make sure you win."

Jacques' expression of mild interest flared to one of barely controlled excitement. "Oh, can you really? Even for someone of your skill, I find that hard to believe."

"I won't pretend as if it'll be easy, but I promise you that I can rig the election in your favor. Of course, I will need some help from you to accomplish it."

"Hmm, your offer isn't bad, but are you sure I'll need your help? Perhaps I can win by campaigning on my own."

"The faunus, lowly as they're perceived to be, are still given the right to vote. They also make up a substantial portion of Atlas' population. Do you really want to risk it?"

Jacques was silent for a few moments, judging the value of Arthur's help with the risk of getting caught. "I don't. Fine, I'll agree to have you help make this a sure victory for me. What do you want in return?"

Arthur smiled. "Fortunately, our interests align somewhat. All I need from you is your cooperation, the preparations which will make you a Councilor will also be beneficial for my own plans."

"Will they? What a coincidence." Jacques tone made it clear he didn't really think it was a coincidence at all.

Arthur chuckled. Jacques wasn't a complete fool, but like so much of Atlas' elite he was too short-sighted. There was no vision in his mind, no curiosity. He didn't even ask what Arthur's plans were, he was only concerned with whether they would interfere with his own.

Saying that they wouldn't had been an easy lie.

\\

When the Grimm attacked another one of the slums on the outskirts of Mantle, the city below Atlas, it had seemed to be a complete coincidence that members of the Happy Huntresses were also present.

Robyn Hill, Fiona Thyme, and May Marigold had been walking around and talking to inhabitants of the slums. They'd been considering whether to hold an event here to attract new Happy Huntresses, a rally or speech, and it never hurt to have Robyn get face to face with potential voters.

The first sign of trouble was a scream in the distance. A woman cried out in wordless terror, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that someone else shouted "Grimm!" when panic began to flood through the streets. The people closest to the first attack ran, a few of them staying calm enough to shout warnings for the others they passed on their way to safety.

Running, though, was little help against the Grimm attacking the slums. Centinels burrowed under the feet of the faunus and the few poor humans living in the slums and burst up in front of them. The people who'd run first were now the first to feed the Grimm as they attacked. The pincers of the Centinels crushed the chests of the slum inhabitants, breaking through their ribs and spilling their blood on the snowy ground.

Along with the Grimm who traveled underground, Teraxes flew through the air and swooped down onto fleeing victims. They would pounce on multiple people at once with their sharp claws, often bursting their bodies through weight alone. The reptilian Grimm would then snatch up anyone of their choosing in the fleeing crowd.

The slaughter went unchallenged for perhaps a minute, then arrows flew into the Grimm. A single explosive bolt blew up the head of a Teraxes, leaving its neck in flames before it dissolved. Other arrows, with less showy effects, rained down on the Centinels.

"Fiona, May, stay on the ground and help whoever you can," Robyn ordered. Her crossbow wasn't as suited to close-combat as theirs were, so she would go high and shoot down whatever she could. Plus, she would be able to see where to order her girls to go.

Even so, she knew they had no hope of quelling this Grimm incursion with just the three of them. From her vantage point, she could see just how large the swarm of Teraxes were, and a worrying number of Centinels had already emerged from their holes. There was no telling how many were still digging around below.

Why were there so many? The slums were less protected, and this was a more populous area, but even that couldn't explain a Grimm attack of this magnitude.

If they weren't careful, even Robyn and her girls could be overwhelmed. However, they couldn't abandon these people, so they would just have to hope that help from Atlas came soon.

Robyn spent the next few minutes firing so many arrows that she nearly ran out. When she went down to two Dust bolts and two regular arrows, she dropped down and fought the Grimm in close quarters. Her crossbow transformed into a shield, and while she didn't specialize in hand-to-hand combat, she was no slouch.

Her girls were in no better shape, switching to pure close combat now that they were down to their last arrows. Bit by bit, they gave up ground and defended the slower survivors. Elders with no family to help them, young children whose parents were who-the-hell-knew-where. They couldn't protect everyone, Robyn caught glimpses of people being torn apart by Grimm, but she didn't allow her gaze to linger on their bodies.

There would be time for that later.

When the Atlas Bullheads dropped down, it was one of the few times Robyn watched them with relief. When she saw the Ace Ops jump out, she was surprised, but counted herself lucky.

They were a good team, admittedly better than Robyn's girls. She'd gathered some of the top students from Atlas Academy, but the Ace Ops were the best of the best in Atlas anywhere. Maybe after graduation they would have been roughly equal, but they'd spent their time in regular combat while the Happy Huntresses had focused more on politics and civil rights.

Although, as good as they were, even they and their soldiers couldn't be expected to clear out all the Grimm here. Robyn had even spotted a few mammoth-like Megoliaths approaching from the distance, and those were a pain to handle. These slums were lost, but with Atlas' help they had a good chance of holding on long enough for the people to get to safety.

One of the Ace Ops fought with Robyn, a tall, slender man with tattoos on his face. She didn't remember his name but recognized his Semblance which allowed him to extend his aura in his limbs to create large fists and feet to punch and stomp on the Grimm. Which, she had to admit, made for satisfying sights.

Hope rose within Robyn's chest. For the past five minutes or so the Grimm's advance had been halted. In fact, the defenders had begun beating them back a little. She'd expected to hold on for some more time, so it was a shock when the Teraxes she'd been fighting suddenly dissolved. She looked around to see that all the other Grimm had also vanished.

Then, there was a rumbling sound underground.

"What's going on?" Robyn asked.

"I'm not sure," the Ace Operative said, he seemed to have recovered from the shock faster than her. He held a hand to his earpiece. "Anyone know what's happening?"

The rumbling continued for a little longer, and then something burst out of a hole in the ground beside them. They were on guard for a brief moment before realizing that it was the wrong color for a Grimm, and Robyn's eyes widened in recognition.

Superman, the interdimensional alien who had revealed himself to the world only a few weeks ago, hovered above the ground. "To answer your question, I've taken care of all the Grimm in the area. I didn't get news of this attack until a minute ago, otherwise I would have gotten here sooner." He gave a grave look around the slums, and Robyn remembered that he could probably see the bodies even with the buildings in the way.

"Well, thank you." The soldier dipped his head towards Superman. "This whole district would have been considered lost without you."

He nodded. "There are still some wounded, so if you can call in anyone with medical supplies and expertise, that would help. I'll move them to safety." At that, he flew off.

Robyn now had to find her girls. She thanked the Ace Op, finding out his name was Vine, and went off to search for the huntresses and help civilians along the way.

"Robyn!" Fiona ran up to her and May followed at a calmer pace. "That was crazy, I don't think I've ever seen so many Grimm this close to Atlas before."

"Me neither," Robyn said.

"Should we leave now?" May asked.

"What? No!" Fiona argued. "There are lots of people here that I met who I want to make sure are still okay."

"It's not what we scheduled, but it wouldn't hurt to stay around for a while longer," Robyn said.

The three of them made their way to the landed aircraft where soldiers waited with aid and defense for the civilians. The three of them separated to talk to more people. Robyn had also met some residents who she wanted to check up on and it wouldn't hurt politically if people saw her walking around and talking to the victims of a Grimm attack.

Superman flew back and forth with injured people every few seconds. Even for Robyn, a huntress who could hold her own against most Grimm, he was a comforting sight. She couldn't imagine how much safer the civilians felt with him around.

Certainly safer than they did with the soldiers and their guns. Anyone with half a brain could see the tension between some of the faunus and the soldiers. Robyn's guess was that there weren't just a few racists among the helmeted soldiers, and a number of the faunus looked ready to respond to the hate in kind. One member of the Ace Ops, a faunus with a gray-furred dog tail, was being put to work walking back and forth keeping the peace.

"Race traitor!"

However, it looked like his effort wasn't going to be enough. That one shout was somehow enough to ignite an entire crowd. They hurled insults and accusations at the soldiers.

"Fucking human assholes, where were you when our homes were torn down!"

"You forced us to live out here and die!"

The mob grew faster than Robyn could have predicted. She did agree with some of their sentiment, but this could get ugly fast. The soldiers didn't do anything, their superiors holding them back, but she saw clenched jaws and bared lips from a few of the helmeted faces.

Even a few of the injured pushed themselves up from their stretchers to scream with the crowd. There was a faunus woman, with tears in her eyes, and Robyn heard her tirade against the soldiers about the son she'd seen eaten alive. A few unruly teenagers had serious looking arm wounds, but were still able to get to their feet.

The Ace Ops held their weapons ready, but at least they were talking rather than using them. Robyn wasn't sure that could last long. She tried to speak to a few faunus as well.

"Stop!" Robyn grabbed the arm of a teenage faunus boy she'd spoken too before the Grimm attack. His name was Eric Wholm. "This isn't the time to berate the soldiers."

When they'd first talked, Eric had greeted her enthusiastically. Now he looked at her with unrestrained anger, yelling over the crowd. "Shut up! You're just trying to keep us quiet too! No more, we're not going to accept this treatment for one more second!"

Somewhere nearby, someone started chanting. "Humans for faunus! Fair Treatment! Humans for faunus! Human lives for faunus! Fair Treatment!"

Only a few people were shouting it at first, but before Robyn's eyes the number of people joining the chant rose.

In a flash of red, Superman dropped down between the soldiers and faunus with a crack of thunder. Robyn was confused by how he'd done that until she realized that it had just been the sound of him clapping his hands together.

The members of the crowd right by him fell back, and the cries of the crowd died down. Only the whirring of the Bullheads and the work of some of the medics and soldiers could be heard.

"People," Superman's voice was loud enough to reach everyone, even though his tone didn't at all sound like he was yelling. "I understand that you're upset, but I won't allow this to escalate into violence. Please wait calmly until shelter and safety can be arranged for you."

One foolish voice argued back. "No! You're just another one of them, Schnee-lover! Down with Atlas! Down with the humans!"

More people joined the shouting. It wasn't as much of the crowd as before, but it was still a sizeable minority. Then, to Robyn's surprise, a few people threw bottles. Most weren't well-aimed, but a few were on a trajectory for the soldiers and one or two looked like they might even hit Superman.

They vanished mid-flight, and Robyn saw the bottles were now held in Superman's hands, their necks between his fingers.

"Down with the oppressors!" One of the faunus rallied the others and he ran at the soldiers. Robyn had no idea what he was planning. Did he think that this mob would beat all of them with his bare fists? Even if they'd been armed, there was no way they would have stood a chance against any decent contingent of soldiers, not to mention Superman.

The faunus Ace Op leapt in front of the crowd, his finger pointing at them, and shouted. "Stay!"

The entire crowd froze, even the people who hadn't even shown a hint of violence. Robyn saw Superman pause in the air just for a moment and then slowly lower himself back to the ground, a few seconds before she was able to free herself. A moment later, the crowd was able to move again, but they were wary now. Those few seconds of pause had seemed to clear their head at least a little bit.

The Ace Ops going into formation was likely another reason for the crowd's silence. They faced the mob, weapons at the ready. Their leader, a man named Clover, addressed them.

"People, please return to your homes and do not delay our medical and defense personnel. If your home is too damaged to return to, then we will offer shelter and food in our aircraft for the next few hours and try to arrange for something more permanent."

Under the supervision of the soldiers and Superman, the crowd dispersed. Many were able to return to their homes, because while Grimm did attack artificial structures, they preferred attacking people when they had the opportunity.

Once it seemed like there wouldn't be any more trouble, Superman flew off with his red cape fluttering behind him. Robyn had stuck around to talk to more faunus, and she noticed the gaze of many Atlesians, soldier and civilian, human and faunus, follow him up into the sky.

\\

Clark dropped down into the Fortress, mulling over the mob that had nearly rushed the Atlesian soldiers. How could something like that happen so easily? Was faunus resentment in Atlas that severe, and could it be like that on Remnant in general?

He made a note to look into this deeper, not just read through books and articles at super-speed. It would be best to see the communities for himself, maybe even interact with the people face-to-face if he managed a convincing disguise.

As important as that was, Clark had a more pressing reason to fly to the Fortress earlier than he'd planned. That dog faunus soldier, Clark had overheard his name as Marrow, had used a Semblance which had momentarily made him stop moving.

Semblances weren't same as magic, so they wouldn't affect his durability, but Semblances could do more than just physically damage someone. Emerald herself could make illusions, and Clark could counter her only because his senses were good enough to pick out the flaws in her generated images. Until now, there hadn't seemed to be a reason for Clark to pay attention to fighting Semblances, his strength, speed, and durability were likely enough to handle most of them.

If Emerald improved her illusions, or if someone had illusions which operated differently, like using Clark's own memory to generate images completely convincing even to him, then it would be a huge problem. What if they made someone invisible to him, and then he accidentally flew right through them?

Someone like Marrow was even worse. There had been a few people back on Earth with mind control and telepathy, and he'd been able to ignore or resist the majority of them, but even an instant of stillness could mean a fatal bullet wound for someone he couldn't save or perhaps even a vulnerability that Salem could use and capitulate on with her magic.

Clark needed a better defense against people who might be able to read or control his mind with the only requirement being something like proximity or line-of-sight. He ran a search through the Fortress' database for the equivalent of 'mental/psychic defensive measures' in Kryptonian and repeated the statement aloud in the same language for practice.

The first results were two related ancient disciplines: Torquasm Rao and Torquasm Vo. Torquasm Rao was the recommended method for mental defense, basically a meditative state in which one could protect against psychic attacks, and it even allowed for a sort of astral projection. It allowed Kryptonians to perceive regions of the universe even light-years away from their physical body.

Torquasm Vo offered both defense and offense. It was also a form of projection, but it was a projection with heavy focus on psychic weaponry and armor. In its most advanced stages, normally acquired after years of practice, it even allowed for mild alteration of reality and protection against more exotic attacks such as those which worked on the soul.

It was far from ideal to learn these techniques from records rather than a personal mentor, not to mention the effect of trying to study them in an uncharted region of the multiverse, but if Clark wanted to protect himself, he would have to learn at least one of them.

The Fortress projected the text from an introductory text that had been written for Torquasm Rao acolytes millennia ago in Krypton's history, translating the ancient Kryptonian into the modern dialect that Clark had learned.

He sat down, and prepared to learn.