Lisa Lavender, the greatest reporter in Vale--according to street polls at least, settled into her chair, straightened the lapels of her jacket, and glanced at one of the screens set off to one side to make sure that her appearance wasn’t too bad.

Her make-up was barely noticeable, which was a good sign, and her cheeks were still as pudgy as ever. Some said it made her endearing, but she always saw it as a failure to spend enough time at the gym.

“Coffee?” Cyril asked. He set a steaming paper cup onto the glass top of the table before her. No coaster or anything. She would have berated him for that (the last thing they needed was to goof up on that day of all days) but the smell from the cup was enough to still her irritation.

“Thank Cyril,” she said as she carefully took a sip then rolled her lips to keep her lipstick even. “That hits the stop.”

“I figured you’d need it,” he said. “Big day!”

“Yeah,” she said. A glance off to the side and she could see the live broadcast screens. They were set up already, giving them a gorgeous view over the side of a colourful forest, and of three massive airships that hung in the air like Leviathans out of water.

That was rather apt as there was a fourth thing floating next to the ships, a black and white monstrosity of tentacles, like a cross between a squid, a while, and a child’s night terror.

“Big day,” she agreed. And it was at that.

Akelarre, Princess of the Grimm, was going to be unveiling... something. It was important enough that they had scheduled a press conference of sorts to announce it.

Lisa was of half a mind that the entire thing was a marriage announcement. It wasn’t a secret that the Princess had a few consorts. Some were assumed to merely being close friends... very close friends, but Lisa had done enough stories about the world’s most popular socially awkward leader that she had gotten the impression that there was a lot more to the story than the Princess of the Grimm having a good time with a couple of girls.

A group wedding announcement? That might explain the ships. They’d make nice wedding gifts.

All she got from her last divorce was a run-down old beater, but her choice in companions had never been as intriguing as to be literal royalty.

“God, they still squick me out,” Cyril said before taking a sip from his mug. His eyes were locked on the live feed where flights of grimm were darting across the sky in tight formations. Some of them were carrying... something between them. There were large tarps covering the stuff that made it impossible to make out.

“Think that’s why they didn’t want any reporters on the scene?” Lisa asked.

Their camera crews had set things up that very morning, along with the crews from a few other channels that had volunteered some additional equipment in exchange for the right to air everything at the same time.

As far as Lisa was aware, the only people on-site were whoever was in control of those airships and a lot of grimm. And she was still on the fence about calling the grimm people.

Sure, there had been some... interesting developments in the last few years about the grimm, but that didn’t replace literally generations of stigma.

“Lisa!” One of the techs called out. “You’re on air in two!”

Cyril saluted with his mug. “Good luck,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied absently before chugging the last of her coffee and flinging the cup over to a trashcan off set. She wiped her palm across the coffee ring on the desk, resettled in her seat, adjusted the stack of pages with nonsense printed on them before her and then stared off into the camera to wait.

Things were also moving on the screen overlooking all of the ships and grimm. A group of young-seeming women had stepped onto the temporary stage, with one of them, a cute woman with a red cape on of all things, adjusting a wireless microphone clipped onto the Princess of the Grimm’s lapel.

They ran a few sound checks, and Lisa could see the director nodding along off to one side.

Lisa watched as the Princess gave the girl with the cape a quick hug, then offered one to an equally familiar bunny faunus, and finally had to coax a hug out of a woman so short she could have passed for a child.

“Lisa, you’re on in three.... Two...” the director’s arm cut down, signalling the start of the broadcast.

She turned towards the camera and smiled knowingly into it. “Good evening, Vale, and indeed, all of Remnant. Today we have a special report and interview with none other than Akelarre, Crown Princess of the Grimlands and one of the rulers of the Grimm.”

That was nice and neutral. Those who hated the grimm still couldn’t be angry at her for any of that, and the die-hard fans of Akelarre wouldn’t be angered either.

It was always interesting keeping some journalistic integrity when dealing with shareholders and people who could wipe humanity off the face of Remnant.

“We are on-scene with the princess herself right now. Princess Akelarre, can you hear me?”

The princess on screen smiled, looking for all the world like an ordinary woman, that was, if the world could look past the black veins and red eyes. “Hello Lisa,” she said. “Please, you can just call me Akelarre. I’m not too strong on formalities.”

“Thank you, Akelarre,” Lisa said to keep up the pretense of informality. “I’m certain that the whole world is interested in what you cooked up for us today. Would it be possible for you to enlighten us about your project?”

The princess’ smile turned into a grin. “Certainly. As you can probably see behind me, we have gathered a small but powerful force here today. The location is confidential, I’m afraid, but it is quite a ways away from any truly civilised location.”

“Interesting,” Lisa said. “And what was this force gathered for?”

“You’ll see in a moment,” the princess said. “Before that though, I’d really like to thank all of my... friends. Ruby and Velvet and Neo especially.”

The girls behind her reacted in unique ways. The Ruby girl waved to the camera, arm moving so fast it blurred. The Neo woman grinned at them, but while her teeth flashed her eyes warned of madness and danger.

And the Velvet woman blushed, tilting her head forward so that her ears covered parts of her face and her hands met down over her stomach. A rather swollen stomach.

Lisa was looking forward to seeing how far the gossip columns would go with that.

“We’ll certainly take note of their accomplishments,” Lisa said. “What can you tell us about the force you’ve gathered? It seems to be a mix of Grimm and more traditional mechanical forces.”

The princess nodded along, smiling happily as if the question had been expected. “Indeed. It’s a bit of a mix, with a greater number of the smaller units being made up of grimmsects under my control, and a few large, more specialized Grimm that my mom made.”

Lisa nodded along. She wouldn’t comment on the lack of formality in the princess calling the so-called Queen of the Grimm ‘mom’ on a public broadcast.

“For a long time, Remnant has been divided and broken up, without a stable footing and... and with constant fighting between Faunus and Grimm and Humans. We’re hoping that now that things have calmed down, we can begin to establish this world as a bastion of peace and prosperity. That will take time, of course. Generations, even.”

“It’s a laudable goal,” Lisa said.

“I think so too,’ Akelarre replied.

The princess glanced over her shoulder, then smiled wider as something happened behind her. The large, covered things being moved by some of the Grimm were coming together, and the coverings were being removed to reveal a large stone circle, covered in intricate and arcane runes.

Some parts floated and hovered, others had obvious mechanical and technological components tied to them.

It was... something, Lisa had to admit. It looked like an art piece she might have found in the lobby of a Schnee corporate headquarter as opposed to any sort of weapon.

Was that all it was? A large commemorative art piece?

“This world isn’t the only one that has gone through a lot of hardships,” the princess went on to say.

“The only world?” Lisa asked.

Akelarre blinked, then her smile turned a little sheepish. “I suppose Remnant has never had a neighbor like Earth Aleph to meet with. What I mean is that there are other worlds out there, some in desperate need of assistance and help. Help that we can provide.”

The art piece started to shift a little, then stop with a dull thud that had the trees and grass of the landscape around it shift.

“And we’re going to provide that help,” Akelarre said. “Remnant will become a bastion. A cradle of possibility for those who need all the help they can get.”

The stones formed a circle large enough that one of the airships could easily fly through, and Lisa judged that that was exactly what they aimed to do.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Ah, I guess that’s a bit vague. Really, what we’re doing here boils down to visiting our dimensional neighbours and helping them out. That’s it, really.”

Lisa parsed through that as quickly as she could without dropping her reporter’s smile. “Could you elaborate on the meaning of dimensional neighbours?” That sounded like something out of a science fiction cartoon, the sort she could never openly admit to reading.

“Other Earth, or other Remnants. Places with people, just like here, who may or may not need our help. If we find a peaceful world, then we’ll do our best to interfere as little as possible, but in the wake of Scion’s destruction, I think it’s safe to say that there’s no lack of worlds that needs every bit of help they can get.” The Princess was standing taller now, her speech growing more impassioned. “We’re going to be that help that they so desperately need. And in doing so, we’ll provide the help they need.”

The large stone device behind the Princess and her retinue snapped together like magnets coming too close to one another.

The space within the circle warped and twisted, the air within gaining a haze as if it was too hot, and the carvings along the stones began to glow a bright colour that Lisa couldn’t put a name to.

A heavy gust of wind shot out of the portal. She could see it travelling out from the device and rocking the airships where they stood suspended in the air.

The wave hit the Princess and her friends from behind, sending capes and jackets and hair fluttering.

“This is a momentous day, Lisa,” Aklarre said. “Today is the day that Remnant becomes an interdimensional force for peace and prosperity. We’re going to be the heroes!”

Grimm, millions of insectile grim, from the size of locusts to gigantic monsters that rivalled bullheads, leapt to the air from the forest floor. Their wings thundered and buzzed as they swarmed into the hole in the universe.

“We’re going to bring peace and prosperity to entire worlds!” The Princess said. “Because that’s what heroes do.”