Space Travel

In modern times, space travel for earth has become relatively possible. However, despite certain examples of humanity finding ways to travel into space and even beyond to other planets, in truth humanity as a whole is still limited to around earth itself. As the supplies needed for going beyond are absurd and only certain people with the necessary funds can create the ships and technology needed to even leave the planet itself.

As such, while the residents of earth can travel among the stars, the majority of humanity cannot.

"Now this is awesome!" To say the Ace-Ops were surprised when told they were in another dimension, naturally none of them believed that. Then when they were taken to see the earth and the rather obviously differently shaped continents was the real convincer. Though... Many were just amazed by the view. Such as dog faunas Marrow.

"Look at how far we are." The faunus chuckled as Marrow placed his face on the glass window. "So this is what a planet looks like from up here."

"It's not that impressive." Harriet says while crossing her arms. Then sneaks a peak and silently takes a photo before doing what she could to make it her background picture. Vine nearby chuckled as he saw this. Elm and Clover took pictures of the stars and planet while Winter, despite her cold exterior, had wonder in her eyes.

"Can't say I blame them for acting like this." A woman nearby said as she watched them. "I know what I was like when I first got on a ship."

"I guess so." An obviously not human with one glowing red eye and fangs say as he observes them. Having been ordered with the woman and a few others to keep an eye on their new guests just in case. Though it seems they wouldn't be having any problems for the time being. "Still, we should do our job and keep an eye on them."

"Yeah, yeah." The woman rolls her eyes. "Though where's the other one?" She then asks while watching Pietro and Penny, both doing intense study with glee, particularly the former while the latter took lots of pictures to show to her apparent friend back on whatever world they come from. "The one who leads them. Oh. And also Mermaid Man."

"Mermaid Man was just tossed back to sea." The alien told her while taking a sip that it is delicious for his species and would melt the stomachs of any organic coming from earth. "As for the leader for this group, he's speaking with him."

"So...It seems you aren't some loon like I thought." Ironwood speaks to the man he had met and initially thought of as an idiot who was wasting time. How wrong he was, considering the revelation he was just given. Looking at a tablet the man gave him images of numerous landmarks, people, and countries he didn't even recognize.

"I can't say I blame you." The man said while taking a sip of water from a water bottle before handing Ironwood another spare to be hydrated. "I'll admit, I didn't expect our worlds to be...alike to that degree."

"I wouldn't say we're alike. Our worlds." Ironwood scoffs as he looks at how many countries they're are here. "Seems to me you have it better here."

"Not really." The man counter-says. "I won't deny that here we have quite the number of Huntsmen and heroes, but we still have our own problems." Be it many villains, the Grimm, extraterrestrial threats, or politics that interfere with uniting countries as one. "Truthfully, I think we can do better."

"Is that so?" Ironwood looks up from the tablet. Having already gotten a gist of just how much there was out here in this world called...dirt (earth) for some reason. "Well, I would like to say the same for ours but it sure doesn't feel like it at times."

"I can agree on that." The man scoffed as he waved his hand. "Do you know, that despite the achievements we have on this planet, humanity can't even leave the damn moon as only those with the Technos or tech can do that." Heck, numerous other planets are part of the galactic community while earth is actually considered a primitive world due to the fact that they have yet to officially make proper contact in the greater galaxy. Kinda sad when the man thought about it.

"I think you've done well enough. At least you have the Grimm handled here." Ironwood said as he looked back at the tablet to see the Grimm. Most looked the same, but he saw variants he's never even seen before. Uncertain if it was just because he never saw them in his world, or they were unique here.

"Hm." The man hums. "Sounds like you have a Grimm problem."

"We only have four kingdoms and a bit over a dozen safe cities and countless small towns/villages that usually get picked off by a month." Okay, so the Grimm problem was a lot more serious than the man thought. Go figure.

All he could say however was one thing. "Sounds rough."

"It is." The two then remained silent for a bit, as any form of a ice breaker didn't come into their mind for a bit. Leaving an awkward silence as both didn't know what to say. Though eventually, Ironwood found one.

"So…" Atlas's general then begins. "Was it your world that made the...portal?"

"Portal?"

"The one in my world." Ah, right, that.

"Nope. That wasn't us." The man says as he then shows an image of some mystery man with long black hair, pale skin, and just screamed mad scientist like Merlot. "While we don't have evidence, we believe this man is the cause of creating the portal that leads to your world and ours."

"Van...Kleiss…" Ironwood reads the name. "Is he dangerous?"

"Very so." The man nods as he then rubs his forehead. "Truthfully speaking, he has become an annoyance that has started messing with things he shouldn't be doing. Our greatest fear is that he may cause destruction by tampering with space-time."

"That...sounds very bad." Granted, Ironwood couldn't entirely grasp how someone can mess with space-time since nobody on Remnant can even do that except maybe the Gods who were long gone. The closest reference he had on such a thing was those sci-fi films he's seen some of his men watch or when Marrow brings up such movies and their plots.

"Oh it is, and that's not even mentioning the alternative. Like say, he opens a portal to a world where dangerous beings might live in and invade us." The Center and those in the know how were very worried about such a scenario. So far Van Kleiss has accessed worlds where he's been gathering many people and kidnapping them. From reports and shared information, they know some of the worlds these interdimensionals come from range from handable to tough.

However, what if Van Kleiss accessed a world that he shouldn't be allowed to. The galactic community, in truth, knew full well about the multiverse including the Center. In fact, the man himself was told that every dimension had their own danger and that some universes held such horrors that it's best if they stay in their dimension unless they wanted a horrific villain or monster devastating their world. Which is why the man is glad that the battle to defeat Van Kleiss will soon happen so that he doesn't risk unleashing some evil into this world.

"Alright. I suppose I can understand that a bit." Ironwood still felt a headache coming on. To think, that the portal in Atlas led to another world and not some section of Remnant. While a part of him wanted to scream how he didn't notice, truthfully it made sense he and the others wouldn't realize since there wasn't some big sign that said, 'welcome to another dimension' and the like.

His hand rubbed his nose a bit. 'Still, it seems this world isn't as kind as I thought.'

Super villains? Dangerous aliens? Walking catastrophes!? It was like all things that were fiction in his world were real here, and it was driving Ironwood insane that a massive portal connected to Remnant is now connected to such a dangerous world! If even some of these threats came to Remnant then…

"Can you close the portal?" Ironwood then asked the man. "I mean, your world seems to have quite the bit of tech here, doesn't it." While it felt slightly embarrassing, Ironwood saw some of the tech this world had thanks to the man's tablet, and he could feel a hit in his pride that this world already has achieved so much. More than just space travel-even if limited-but much, much more! Making Remnant look like it was lagging behind greatly. So much for most advanced kingdom.

Unfortunately the answer the man gave him wasn't what he expected. "Yeah...uh, no."

"Come again?"

"Look, Ironwood." The man explained himself, to give James an answer. "Listen, our planet does have some advanced stuff. Heck, we even outdo some technology in certain areas in space, but it's not like we know everything. Which includes shutting down portals to lead to another world."

Hell, the man didn't even see that one coming. While everyone knew about Van Kleiss making portals to other worlds, nobody expected a portal to appear in the middle of the sea and completely stabilized with no source to keep it open. Frankly speaking, the Center had no idea how that even happened and their top geniuses were sadly uncertain how to even close it.

"Our scientists are doing their best to study that portal that connects to your world, but...it seems progress is rather slow." Or as one scientist put it to him, 'A snail is faster than the research we're making!'.

"Still, no need to worry." The man then told Ironwood. "Only a few know about that portal. So no need to worry about any dangerous villains entering your world." Ironwood sighed in relief. "Though...what about your world?"

"Hm?" Ironwood looked at him.

"I told you about our world, but you haven't said much about your world. The most you gave me was that it has similar things to earth like Dust and aura, but nothing more." Aside from also the many Grimm there.

"...we...don't have much in terms of villainy I suppose." Ironwood then says slowly. "I mean, we have terrorists, low life thugs, corrupt Huntsmen, but nothing outlandish like the things you have shown me."

"I see." So nothing unusual that the man could expect. "But is that all."

"No. Nothing more." Ironwood said.

'Alright then." The man then went and shaked Ironwood's hand. "Listen, how about we talk more later. A bit more details on both our worlds, but for now, why don't you rest up and take a break. Heck, even watch the stars. I'm sure you'll like the breathtaking view."

"I think I will." Ironwood smiled, as he did like astrology. With a nod from both, Ironwood then left, leaving behind just the man who waved him off. Glad things had gone rather well. He then took out his phone and said, 'So, guess he was lying, huh."

"His vitals spiked a bit when you asked about what threats he had. So maybe not so much as lying but hiding the truth."

The man, while he was genuine in his words, had also wanted to see if this world, Remnant, had any threats that could hurt earth. Sure he shared information with Ironwood, but obviously not everything like the truly dangerous villains here, the galactic community as a whole, legendary Grimm, and so on. And it seems Ironwood did the same. As interestingly enough, Ironwood never spoke up about the picture the man showed him of Sammael, as if he either forgot about it...or knew something the man didn't.

"You think there's a Fallen in his world?" The man asked the other person on the other end of the line who gruffed in agreement.

"Likely. Very likely considering how he reacted to that photo of Sammael." The person says. "This Remnant world seems to have quite a bit of similarities to our world. Grimm. Aura. Dust. A broken moon. Semblances. Granted it seems less advanced in some aspects, and yet also dangerous."

"The Grimm I assume?" The man asks.

"If what he said is true, about only a few safe havens, then this Remnant world has more Grimm than our own. And if Sammael finds this out, well, I think you know what'll happen." Oh the man did know, and it wasn't pretty. If Ironwood was really telling the truth about the number of Grimm on Remnant, then that would mean Sammael would have a planetary army of Grimm at his side. Quality was good, but a high-endless amount of quantity had its own quality in that regard.

"Then it's a good thing Sammael doesn't know about the portal." The king of the Fallen is dangerous and has immense knowledge and spies everywhere. But that didn't equate to all-knowing. Undoubtedly Sammael had no idea of that portal, otherwise he'd already be using it as a resource for himself. Helped that he was too busy with his current goals to notice. 'Still," The man continued speaking. "Just in case, send some stealth drones to check Remnant out. I want to see exactly how that world is."

"Understood." The line was then cut and the man sighed. Now they can check out whatever potential dangers Remnant may have. Also...to see if their truly is a Fallen in that world, with the man certainly believing it. Though he also had another question for himself. 'Should I tell Sebben?'

Surely Sebben should be told that they have made contact with another world that had similarities like there's. Not to mention the danger of Sammael getting countless Grimm as well, but isn't he also busy at the same time? While maybe a bit secretive, the man decided that for the time being he shouldn't bother telling Sebben about this until after the battle with Van Kleiss is done and over with. Though he might tell Ross and his team though just in case while also informing M.O.M of what he learned.

As for his guests, maybe he can convince them to take him with back to their world so he can get a first-hand look at this. Though before he could continue this line of thought, he then heard a call from one of his friends.

"Yes?" He then asked.

"Sir!" Something was wrong. His friend, she sounded worried. Very worried. Eyes narrowed down.

"What happened? Is something wrong?"

"N-no sir, but-well...we have a problem. A real one!" That couldn't be good.

"What is it then?" He wanted to see what got her so worried.

"Look at the news." Quickly he did so, and went to see some top articles. It seems they are recent though. However, one caught his eye and made the man gasp slightly as eyes widened. As he read the cover of the article.

Identity of Hound discovered! Are Grimm in fact faunus?!

Where it then showed a video link with an image of a faunus...with one silver eye and in the body of the Hound!

This...this wasn't good.

Time to go back in time and see what the hell just happened here.