Chapter 1: Depths of Knowledge

Time: 12:33 GMT

Date: 20/08/1924

Location: The coast of Ireland

Ireland was a relatively chilly place to visit, but the sights were something to truly appreciate, great rock faces, the ocean rolled across the coast in a ceaseless and riveting fashion, there were nice quiet villages and towns dotted along it. But there was more to this quiet and relatively peaceful island nation.

For those seeking out a place where you didn't want to be found particularly easy, Ireland did provide a number of places to go, plenty of small sea rocks and islands dotted Ireland. Like a certain island not too far from the coast near Cliffs of Moher, it wasn't much just a standalone rock which sat without much else there; it was large enough for a single building to be constructed.

To those who saw this small isolated structure sitting out at sea, you'd probably mistake it for some kind of obelisk, but to those who knew of its purpose, this island was housing an individual of considerable importance. For a certain pair of your blonde haired brothers, this is the place that they needed to be.

It had been years since Edward Elric and his younger brother Alphonse arrived in the world dictated by the principles of science rather than alchemy. And it was almost a year since he had fought against the murderous woman named Dietlinde Eckhart and her mad ambitions to control alchemy through the gate of truth. Ever since they closed the gate the two brothers had been seeking out scientific principles, some which they believed were based upon the understanding of alchemy and so forth.

Their investigation brought them into conflict with various groups and organisations, most notably the NSDAP, under the control of Adolf Hitler, a rather controversial figure. His policies surrounding Jews and Gypsies were somewhat concerning, but he made a rousing tirade about nationalism, something which had gripped the minds of people throughout Germany over a year ago.

His plan to use alchemy to further his agenda ultimately failed and he wound up in jail, but it hasn't stopped him from continuing to try and garner support. The Elric brothers ultimately determined he wasn't worth the trouble of dealing with him, mainly because he was just a man, not a crazed alchemist with the potential to create a weapon of mass destruction.

This brought the two brothers to their current predicament. After their run in with Eckhart and her crazed plans to bring alchemy to this world, they learnt of things regarding scientific achievements. On notable thing was a man who had been researching into something called atom power, or so forth.

They lost his trail after a while and had a rough time picking him up; he was apparently a scientist from their own world who was pulled into this world when he attempted a stupidly foolish transmutation. In any event, they had located him here, and now they had the honour of having to deal with him before he completed his plans to create a massive weapon of mass destruction.

The tower like castle which was located on this isolated rock, blended into the surface of the island, high walls of rock and stone with long overgrown walls. Moss covered most of it, and the conditions of the castle looked a great deal better at one point, there were holes in the outer walls and some had simply fallen to pieces.

"So, we're here at last." Edward said as he looked upon the great structure. "So, he's got himself cooped up here?"

"Brother, I'm not sure about this." Alphonse Elric said uneasily as he shivered from the cold biting winds.

"Look we don't have much of a choice; this idiot needs to be stopped before what he created is released. The world can't know of this weapon he's created, or it'll chaos, and the last thing this world need's is another war. Not to mention what I saw during my encounter." Edward said as he looked upon it all.

"The vision from Truth?" Alphonse inquired.

"Yes, there's no denying, there's something waiting on ahead for this world's future, if we can prevent it, then it's worth the risk." Ed said adamantly.

Alphonse had to agree on this one thing, stopping this madman was absolutely necessary, to protecting the world's future, though they faced an uncertain enemy, one who could easily lay a trap for them. Not to mention the resources this madman wielded was a great deal more than the two of them, though it never stopped the brothers from wreaking havoc when needed.

"I've got the pistol, but he's got a fortress, strange that there are no guards." Ed said while examining the exterior of the structure.

"He lives pretty much as a hermit, if I recall." Al suggested promptly.

"True, though I was expecting him to have a workforce with him." Ed replied while looking over the castle.

"The less people know, the better, at least that's what the foreman said back at the docks."

"Alright, there should be a hidden entrance to the place located along the south east side of the wall, we just need to find the hidden spot and we could get in without him noticing us." Edward said as he gestured to his brother.

They climbed down the side of the damp moss covered rocks of the island, the cold wet rocks made it that much more difficult to get down without accidently slipping. Ed made the effort to get his boots covered with rubber for additional grip, though Alphonse opted to keep his usual shoes, the two brothers managed to make it to the level below without further difficulty.

Ed took the lead, making sure to keep his head low while he searched the walls; they eventually came upon a small rocky outcropping next to the castle.
"It should be around here." Ed affirmed as he checked the wall.

In a moment Ed managed to locate the hidden trip switch, he pressed the stone downwards and pulled it backwards. The piece of masonry worked like a handle and unlatched the door's lock, allowing it to swing free; they were greeted by a darkened hallway. Edward pulled out a flashlight, the tubular 'r' shaped device clicked as Ed pressed upon a switch.

Illuminating the hallway, they were greeted by nothing more than simple pipes hanging from the top with a few gauges located nearby.
"Wow, impressive and totally not over engineered." Ed said with the roll of his eyes.

Edward went in first, his eyes ever vigilant to the potential risks involved with sneaking into the base of a known madman. Alphonse trailed behind; he pulled shut the door as he stepped past the frame. As the door shut with a resounding click which bounded off the walls, and seemed to dissipate into the darkened corridor.

"How many hidden passages and dark crawl ways have we gone through now, ten or twelve?"

"I think it's more like twenty." Alphonse replied as he stepped in behind.

"Ah, thanks for reminding me, I keep losing track."

As they found their exit by a moss ridden hallway, they noticed a lot of the architecture of the spiral hallway was made from brick and mortar like their own cities, but the faded moss covered walls made it clear that it wasn't exactly the same. A sense of familiarity pegged their attentions, like years before, this feeling emanated throughout the stairwell.

Alphonse was the first to notice something unnatural about the corridor they were walking down.
"Brother, the air, have you noticed how cold it's gotten?"

Edward paused for a moment before taking tentative steps while looking around, his light shone over the walls and surfaces.
"It's freezing over…" He said before adding. "It must be a form of heat exchange."

"But for what?" Al asked concern in his tone.

"That's what we're going to have to find out when we find the bastard." Ed said before gesturing to his brother. "Come on, we're nearly there.

Everything about this place echoed of the past, but things were different, their presence in the stairwell they were walking in emanated a chilling sensation, unnatural and very much persistent. This place was reminiscent to a few places, but the cold, it was something new, an experience which they'll probably end up having to deal with for the rest of their lives.

As they reached the seventh level, Edward noticed the large metal door standing in place with a glowing red light; this was most likely their entry point. The elder brother checked the lock, tapping his chin, he grabbed his mechanical arm, opening it up, and he got the compartment open and removed a few small tools.

His time with thieves and getting into all sorts of situations without the need of alchemy was now paying off; he worked on the metal door's lock. Careful to avoid making a great deal of noise, his efforts were rewarded with the sound of a metallic click. The door came ajar as the lock was opened up.

"There we go." Ed said with a smirk.

The two brothers entered into the interior of the massive underground complex, they were immediately greeted by a very dark chamber. All around them the area was devoid of activity, besides the soft hiss of steam somewhere and the dripping of water, the stale air and eerie silence seemed to get to them.

Edward was careful about where he flashed his light, but he was vigilant, keeping on the lookout for whatever was around them. His eyes turned to the centre of this place. The eldest brother stepped over to the middle of the large floor, where much to his surprise; he felt the gentle breeze of wind moving around. The centre of this level going from almost the top to bottom of this entire place was an empty chamber.

Edward's mind wandered for a bit, leading him to wander around he turned his attention to the edge of the massive chamber. "My, oh my, looks like this fellow's been hard at work." Edward whistled as he looked down into the depths of the black abyss.

"Was this always here?" The younger brother inquired as they stood upon the ledge.

"Hard to say, from the looks of it, some of this looks like it was excavated recently." Ed said while he examined their surroundings.

It was then a dull grinding sound could be heard, at first it wasn't noticeable, but Edward then felt something, the ground was rumbling, enough so that the metal pipes which ran through the chamber rattled and hissed. Like a nightmarish orchestra of metal and steam, the whole chamber echoed loudly.

"I'm guessing he noticed us." Edward said loudly as his voice was nearly drowned out by the ecstatic noise.

Alphonse nodded in response, as his voice couldn't carry particularly far in the chamber, not with the deafening sounds. Edward's flashlight flicked left and right as the sounds of gears began to rise, the sound which he identified as the source of trouble, this noise was atop of the cacophony was deep, and defined amidst the pitched racket.

A booming voice echoed throughout the great chamber.
"So you've come at last!"

The two brother looked about as the chamber began to illuminate, their portion of the railings were brilliantly illuminated by lights on either side. Ed had his hand on the pistol holster. He heard the madman as the central tower began to shudder. When it was apparent that there was nothing below, he turned his attention above.

"Yeah, and it's been a real bitch to track you down." Edward said with a smirk as he stood at the edge of the metal staircase.

"I'm impressed, I've worked so hard to keep my work secret only to the few within the inner circle, how did you track me down?"

"Paper trail." Edward said nonchalantly as he eyed the madman, the moving pneumatic controlled crane system rolled downwards. "And a cargo manifest from a shipyard out near Thames, peculiar for a regular transport to be carrying a few hundred gallons of chemicals intended for industrial use to a barren rock in the middle of nowhere." He said as he stopped, facing the man.

"Tsk, shame, I figured those idiots did their homework and kept this to the utmost secrecy, guess I'll have to kill them for this when I get the chance." The man commented nonchalantly while he shook his head in disappointment.

Ed didn't bat an eye before he asked sarcastically.
"So, how do we do this?"

"I didn't think that far ahead." The madman said promptly before he shrugged. "I'll settle on killing you." He finalised as his steam powered machine roared to life.

"Here we go again." Edward mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

The predictability of the madman could be pretty obvious; then again, it wasn't like he had really changed all that much since their first encounter. The man smiled in a deranged fashion as he pulled the levers and controls to his crane, bringing it about, he manipulated the controls for the drill, sending it whirring with murderous intent.
"Be gone!" He yelled as he threw the large metallic at Edward.

The older brother dodged promptly, flinging himself out of the way of the attack, he landing in a crouch and prepared himself. The crane moved back, while another arm was going after Ed's brother, Al was handling the situation well enough, weaving between parts of the great stone chamber as the steam powered crane tried to crush him.

"Al, get around him." He yelled as he circled about.

"Got it." Al replied as he flew down a flight of stairs which ran along the interior of the chamber.

Edward examined the way the crane moved, he could see that the controls were being pulled about by some kind of pneumatic pump connected to the crane, the trouble was that it was protected by insulation, rubber or something similar. The setup was a little problematic, but there was a way to deal with it.

'Pipes, all of them intended to regulate heat and pressure, now, where is the, regulator valve?' He thought as he examined the surrounding walls.

He could see a distinct sign indicating a hazard warning, and he determined the location of the regulator valve, he rummaged through his pocket and called to Alphonse.
"Brother, I'm going for it!"

"Alright!" Al replied as he continued to weave down the stairs.

Ed removed a small cylinder from his pocket, it has a short fuse sticking out of the back, yanking the fuse out, and he heard the cylindrical canister start to hiss, the bottom sent out sparks of light. He tossed the sparkling canister out at the madman who only saw it for a moment until it exploded.

"AGH!" The man yelped as his retinas were momentarily stung by the brightness.

Edward knew not to look into the flare he had just threw, heading for the nearest regulator valve, he located one of the junctions which helped pump steam through the facility. He grasped the largest one with his augmented arm and quickly shut the entire section down, and moved as fast as he could to do the same to others on the floor.

As he moved across from the floor he could spot Al who was busy trying to avoid getting hit by the madman's crane, for some odd reason he felt a lingering sensation of déjà vu, it might have been to the similarities of their first encounter or it just might be his imagination. In any case their battle was moving at an almost comical pace.

The difference here was that Alphonse wasn't restricted to his suit, and Ed could freely utilise his automail without having to deal with the bubble helmet he wore then. The crane turned about to strike out against him, and he timed his movements correctly, ducking down through a flight of stairs leading to the lower floor, the madman had to lower his crane down another level.

As the crane came down, Edward stuck his tongue out at the madman.
"Try again!" He taunted with a smug look.

This certainly ticked the madman off as his eye seemed to twitch, he yelled out.
"I'm gonna get you, you little…"

The crane came down hard, just as Ed predicted, he rolled away just as the crane arm extended and slammed through the floor's pillars. A great rendering sound was heard as the crane arm punctured the pipes located on the floor; a primary steam control junction was ruptured by the arm of the crane sent out a blast of white steam covering the arm completely.

Ed didn't waste time as he drew his C96 and aimed right at the cranes joint, the steam produced caused a difference in pressure and the steam's rapid expansion resulted in it freezing over the arm. He fired a single round and punctured a section of the iced over cover of the crane's arm, causing it to shatter.

The crane's arm stopped, groaning aloud as the pressure was lost. The embedded arm went limp, unable to remove itself from the wall. Much to the chagrin of the madman who yanked at the controls attempting to regain control, Ed made his move and circled around, firing a shot over his head.

"That's enough; I got you where I want you." He said with his pistol pointed at the man.

"I don't think so!" The madman said before he dropped down and pulled a latch.

The arm detached in an explosion of steam, ejected all around him and obscured Ed's shot, not like that he would risk killing him right now, but the madman seemed determined to keep out of reach. As the crane slowly descended, Al made his move, thanks to Ed distracting the madman, he was able to circle about and get into position.

"Brother, I'm going down!" Al yelled as he jumped.

From the level he jumped he had hooked a cable around the crane controls, bringing it to an abrupt halt. Al dropped down just as the crane's gears locked into place, causing a loud grinding noise that would have caused most to grit their teeth, cringing from the awful sound. The madman was furious, cussing futility as he tried to regain control.

From his position, Ed dropped down and landed on the level as the crane, the level had metallic struts which allowed him to reach the crane controls where the madman was. He was able to close distance, which drew the attention of the madman, he searched around him to find something to use as a weapon to thwart the alchemist.

"Damn it all!" The pasty faced man yelled as he grabbed a wrench from a compartment and threw it.

Edward deflected the incoming wrench and fired his Mauser, the shot placed close enough that he couldn't miss, the bullet bounced at a low angle and into the crane where the madman was seated, he saw the shot coming and ducked out of the way, though he didn't anticipate that Ed wasn't aiming for him.

A rebound from the projectile ended up rupturing the nearby pressure valve flooding the control section with steam. The man yelped in pain as he was engulfed with hot steam, Ed and Al quickly took the time to close distance before the man could escape, though Al had to go around the obstruction created by the madman's crane.

"It's over!" Edward said as he pointed the end of his pistol at the man's head.

"Tsk…" The man gritted his teeth in a snarl; he eyed Ed and the smiled. "No, it's not."

The crane jerked to the side and almost threw Ed off his feet; the madman pulled his arm about and threw a wired hook. Ed saw the attack and rolled forwards almost dropping off the side of the crane as the madman made his escape.

"I'll never stop, you midget-."

"CRACK" The man never got to finish his sentence, as Edward fired his Mauser.

The shot rang out as it hit the place where the hook had been attached, much to the horror of the man as he was just a few meters away from getting out of reach. He screamed as he plummeted down to the ground, Ed looked upon him with a dark look.

"Don't call me midget!" He shouted with a glower.

Despite being drowned in a jet of steam, the man didn't seem to go down, instead he yelled in anger. "Damn you."

The whole tower began to shudder, Ed was almost knocked off from his position, and he could feel the tower moving. The whole thing was going down! "Crazy bastard!" Ed yelled.

The crane dropped fast and Ed wasn't able to jump off, and neither was the madman, the whole structure moved within second and came to a crashing halt. Alphonse was still tailing from above, unable to keep up. Ed was almost thrown off as the crane stopped; it wasn't as high as he initially thought as he didn't break anything.

When the crane stopped, some of the pipes controlling the steam pressure ruptured and caused a flood of steam to flood the area, Ed was momentarily blinded. A great deal of steam coalesced on the floor below, Ed couldn't see as the steam covered everything, and keeping his balance on the ramshackle crane wasn't easy, the bastard apparently loved making precariously designed contraptions like it. The madman made his exit and jumped out into the steam filled floor.

"Hey!" He yelled as he the man disappeared. He cursed his luck that the bastard would do something like that.

"Brother, what happened?" Al asked as he landed on the ground.

"No idea, but be careful the bastard's here." He replied angrily as he looked for the man.

Lights suddenly flooded the entire floor; they could see that the man now shrouded in darkness thanks to the floodlights, though that wasn't their initial concern, their attention was drawn to the strangely marked floor which they were now on.

"You leave me no choice, if I'm to go down, I'm taking you with me." The man sputtered as he stood before a massive switch.

"What is this?" Alphonse said as he looked at the markings.

"A written piece of alchemy, supposedly made by a madman, its promise of destruction prompted me to follow with the creation of this bomb." He said with a maddened expression.

"That's a transmutation circle!" Edward exclaimed in shock.

"With this, I can turn change the world, no boundary is able to stop me."

The two brothers didn't waste time, breaking off they got around the man from both sides, and they had to stop him before he-.

"Impudent children!" He yelled in a deranged fashion as he slammed the switch downwards.

In an instant the man was electrocuted, his body had been wired to the circuit breaker which controlled the power to the circle below. His body was engulfed in fire as it caught alight from all the energy charging through it. But the effect on the transmutation circle is what got both of them, the ground began to shudder and shift.

"Brother, how do we?"

"I don't know this isn't like any transmutation I've seen." He managed as the ground began to illuminate.

There was no way to get clear in time, Ed yelled something to Al, but the younger brother was unable to hear him. The two were blinded as the light from the circle erupted, and Ed leaped out and grabbed a hold of his brother, just as the two were almost engulfed, Ed mouthed.
"Hang on!"

The two were swallowed whole by the pool of light.

XXXXX

In that single instance in another reality something peculiar occurred, on the Citadel a brilliant flash of light formed in a single location ripping open the fabric of space and time. It was an interesting anomaly for certain, but it sent people running for cover as arcs of energy discharged sporadically across the station.

Amongst those near the scene was a red haired Commander of the Alliance Navy's newest stealth frigate the 'Normandy SR-1', though her situation was a little out of the ordinary. She couldn't help but wonder what was occurring, she and her teammates had been debriefed after their arrival, with Saren dismissing their notion of him being a renegade.

Following the meeting with the Citadel Councillors, things had gotten tense; Saren made his appearance and stated that the human race was little more than trying to smear his name. The whole thing was patronising, but they didn't have enough evidence to keep going and with Nihlus now dead, they were in a tough situation.

The Councillors ruled in his favour, but the situation wasn't entirely lost, Shepard and the others had been told that there was still a way to turn things around. If only they could get proof about Saren's involvement with the Geth and the alleged attack, then they could use it to prove his guilt and bring this whole matter to the Council.

Shepard was given the task of trying to locate a source that might have information on Saren, of course this wasn't the best source, but it was still reliable. Hence she and her team were on the Presidium, they were heading over to find this Barla Von, and get some information which might prove useful.

'Though there's always the chance that our information broker might decide to cash in on that information, it'll be a problem.' She figured. "Nothing is ever free.'

"Umm Commander?"

"Yeah?"

"What's with all the light over there?" Ashley pointed out to the monument which had light glowing in front of it.

Shepard looked upon what Ashley was pointing towards and she could only mutter.
"What the…"

As the light died away a pair of figures emerged in the aftermath of the light, these two figures were suspended ten feet off the ground, to which gravity came crashing down on them. The hit the ground of the Citadel in a mess of limbs, scatterings of paper, bits and pieces of machinery, bags and cases and what looked like a grandfather clock came in after them.

"That's not what you'd normally see every day…" Ashley muttered as they observed the scene.

"No that certainly isn't." Shepard said as she gestured to her team.

They hurried over to where the pair of young men had landed; as they approached they noticed how out of place the young men looked. Both men were blonde haired and gold eyed, something of an oddity, since such traits were more recessive thanks to racial interbreeding within humanity, though people tend to forget that such things didn't stick with all of humanity.

One young man had short hair in a plain cut, he seemed rather cute in her opinion, the other young man had messy blonde hair, the noticeable differences was that both were dressed in very old fashioned looking clothes. The messy haired one of the pair had a duster coat without any sleeves, one arm was covered in what looked like a leather bracer which covered his entire left arm, and the other arm was a prosthetic with what looked like a weapon attachment on it.

The other had a jacket on him, gloves, and a pair of leather trousers, what looked like hiking boots and he carried a pair of old metal framed sunglasses. The two brothers looked around rather confused at where they were, at first they seemed dazed, and then they began to contemplate where they were wasn't where they had been.

She heard one talking in what sounded distinctly like English, he had an accent which she identified as German, the other replied.
"I'm not sure, we didn't end up back in the Gate with Truth, it's like we were just shifted out of nowhere." The older of the two said as he attempted to regain his balance.

"Umm hello?" Shepard said to grab the attention of the young men.

The two men turned their attention to Shepard who stood there waiting patiently; the two men looked at one another before the one with spikey hair replied uneasily.
"Hello?"

"Are you alright?" She asked, seeing as she had figured these two were probably very confused.

"Umm, yeah, we're alright. But I'm a little lost, where is this place? This doesn't look like the coast of Ireland." The young man said as he looked around.

'Alright that's probably not a good sign.' She thought inwardly before she asked. "Well this is the Citadel; it's a station, located in the Serpent Nebula."

"Citadel?" The younger man said with a perplexed expression as he looked around.

"I'm sorry, did you say Serpent Nebula?" The messy haired man inquired.

"Do you boys have any idea what happened?" Kaiden asked them.

"No, we were fighting some madman when he decided to blow up his workshop with us in it…" The short haired man replied before adding. "After that were pulled in by some strange light and the next thing we knew, we were here."

"Now I'm lost, how does that work?" Ash asked no one in particular.

"Look I'm just as confused, but you appeared in a sphere of light on the presidium, not something that happens out of nowhere." Shepard said before adding. "Also being armed with a bladed weapon is a sure way to end up in a jail cell."

The commander indicated to his prosthetic arm which still had its blade extended, the man looked at his hands for a moment and then clapped them together, this action which confused the Commander until the man then put his left hand on his prosthetic arm. In what seemed like an impossible act, the arm sparked and began to change shape.

As the sparks dissipated the young man checked his arm by moving his mechanical fingers, he smiled proudly and expectantly. "I've got it again." He said as he clasped his hands together.

"Brother…" The other blonde haired young man said in earnest.

The trio of Alliance persons were baffled at the whole scene, Shepard having been close enough to see the changes affected upon the prosthetic in moments, it certainly wasn't what she expected when she saw these two. As for Ash and Kaiden, their expressions were varied, Kaiden continued looking on in confusion and Ash was trying to wrap her mind around what she just witnessed.

'So they're brothers?' Shepard broke from her stupor and realised as she observed them, they were far too similar in appearance to have been cousins and they had very similar traits so, they had to be brothers.

"How in the hell did you do that?" Ashley asked as she leaned over to take a closer look.

"Alchemy." The messy blonde haired man replied while examining his reshaped arm.

"Alchemy?" Ash repeated perplexed.

"Alright, stop…" Shepard interjected into the discussion. "Okay, look we're causing a bit of a scene if you haven't noticed, I think I should take you to the embassy for a bit, seeing as you're both humans and you've caused a bit of a mess. It's important we square this away as quickly as possible, because C-sec."

"Ma'am, the security forces are already here." Kaiden pointed out as a police lander arrived, depositing a squad of officers onto the ground right across from them.

'Oh you've got to be kidding.' She thought as she spotted a squad approach armed with pistols and batons.

Much to her chagrin the officers seemed quite agitated, and they didn't like the look of the situation right now.
"Hey you, what are you doing here?" The officer asked as he approached.

"What's that?" The younger man asked confused.

"Uh oh…" She gestured to the officer. "Officer, I'd like for you to just hold on for a moment."

"Why, this is no business of yours, these men have disturbed the peace, I can't ignore this."

"Officer, I'll make this rather curt, these men don't have any translators, and they don't know what you're trying to say, on top of that, they arrived here by means unknown. And I think they're lost, as a member of the Systems Alliance and a representative, I'd like to place these young men under my custody." Shepard told the officer straight up.

"What?" Ash said in surprise.

"Umm Commander-." Kaiden was a little concerned about her using the Systems Alliance to deal with this was a very serious matter.

"And who are you?" The C-sec officer inquired promptly.

"I'm Commander Jane Shepard, and I have been designated by Ambassador Udina to represent the interest of the Systems Alliance on the Citadel." She said bluffing to the officer. "I'd like for you to allow us to take these men under out custody."

"You want us to release these two into your care?" The officer inquired.

"Yes." She told him confidently.

"Very well, but be warned, we will be filling a formal complaint with the Embassy for overstepping jurisdiction and protocol." The Turian officer said as he signalled to his men. "Let them go, they're under Alliance custody."

XXXXX

The two young men were taken by Shepard and her team to their embassy, as for the materials which got dumped along with the two young men, C-Sec let the clean-up crew deal with the mess, right now the materials were being sent to storage. As they got to the embassy, a rather perplexed looking Anderson greeted her while a rather perturbed Udina fumed at the turn of events.

In any event, the two boys were placed in secure room until something could be done for them. But right now the Commander has other issues to deal with at the moment, one being a rather pissed looking Udina who was had to deal with the complaint from C-sec and the fallout of Shepard overstepping her jurisdiction in this case.

"What the hell was this about an incident on the Citadel Commander?" The Ambassador said as he looked through the report given by Shepard.

"It's complicated, I saw two young men in trouble, they didn't seem harmful, and so I thought to check with them. Much to my surprise I learnt that they weren't familiar with where they were, and it seemed as though they had something I thought would be helpful." Shepard tried to explain.

"Yes, this strange ability you said you and your teammates witnessed, something I'm still having a hard time grasping." Udina went about musing as he flipped through the data pad.

"I'm telling you what I saw was real, it wasn't like some magic trick or illusion, that boy reshaped his metallic arm with the clap of his hands." Shepard said defensively.

"In any event we've now been given the dubious warning about due process and jurisdiction by C-sec and the Council's interior would no doubt be inquiring about this later." Udina added with an agitated emphasis on the Council.

"So what do we know about our guests here?" Captain Anderson repeated.

"Besides that they're German in descent, interestingly they have no translator implants, no Omni-tool, no identification besides some old papers in their wallets, old currency which hadn't been seen since the 1920s, a Mauser C96 pistol..." Shepard listed off bit by bit.

"A Mauser C96?" Ashley said in surprise.

"Yeah, an ancient antique by today's standards of firearms." The commander replied.

"Is it chambered to the 7.63 cartridge?" The sergeant inquired.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Shepard said a little confused.

"I used to go to antique show back on my home colony, they had things like historic artefacts from the 20th Century, I've only seen replicas made by enthusiasts, but they never seemed to get the Mauser C96 quite right." Ash said in an impressed tone.

"Well you can be rest assured, that pistol that man was carrying is the real deal. It's even got the production stamp; we're running it by specialists to check the date of manufacture. But if it's anything like what those boys were carrying, they have all authentic items." Shepard told her before she finished looking through the list.

"Anything else?" Anderson inquired.

"They carried miscellaneous materials, just personal affects; the boy's prosthetics did bring something interesting though." Shepard told the Captain.

"What is that?" Anderson said intrigued.

"His prosthetics are made from a lightweight steel and carbon alloy; incredibly durable, internal components are made from a variety of materials, amazing that it doesn't even need to be powered to function. The prosthetic can function through the use of nerves and muscular integration, like bioelectric generation, something unheard of in prosthetics." Shepard mused as she read the report.

"I'm amazed, there's no external power source or integrated batteries?" Anderson said as he pondered over the report.

"None." Shepard confirmed.

"Rather advanced for someone who claims to be from 1920s Germany." Udina said incredulously.

"Agreed, but regardless, their clothes, the way they act, it's very different, and the fact that they haven't a clue what Mass Effect, Element Zero, the last two hundred years of history is, well it's hard to say that they aren't from another period in history." Shepard said with some level of certainty.

"Con artists?" Udina suggested.

"I put them through a full psychiatric screen, no indication that either are lying." Shepard defended, before adding. "The shrinks say that they're mentally sound, but very confused."

"And what about their ability to alter materials?" Anderson asked the Commander.

"They call it Alchemy or transmutation, the ability to alter the state of matter through manipulating the atomic structure, though they'd have to understand what it is. It's considered a fusion of science and mystical arts; I can't even begin to comprehend what they went on after that." She told him promptly, though she wasn't sure how she was going to explain in detail.

"So, what does that mean?" Udina said as he looked the Commander.

"They're alchemists, from what they claim." She replied promptly, though she herself was a little uncertain about their claim.

"Isn't the term alchemist used to describe chemists back in ancient times?" Anderson asked.

"Yeah since no one knew what chemistry really was or understood science back then." She recalled her history lessons on the early modern period in human history, so much superstition.

"How could they alter the atomic properties of materials?" Anderson inquired clearly unsure how such a power could work.

"That's what I'm lost on, they say they can harness the natural energies which exist throughout the world, and utilise it in changing the formation of matter." Shepard tried to explain.

"Wow that sounds like the violation of a number of different laws regarding physics." Kaiden said promptly.

"These young men would demonstrate, but they say that their energies are a bit limited for some reason."

"Likely story." Udina said doubtful about the statement. "We've wasted enough time. Commander, you still have your assignment to track down evidence to support our accusations to Saren, you must find out what you can and soon, we don't have much time."

"I understand ambassador." She replied as she set her report aside.

"As for the two men, I'm going to release them under your custody temporarily, if they prove an asset, we'll see what we can do to help them." Anderson said thoughtfully "Hopefully this can be resolved quickly."

"I'll do what I can, hopefully we can figure out what the next best course of action would be."

XXXXX

The two brothers were deposited into a waiting room in the embassy, apparently for security reasons, they were expected to stay until the matter regarding something was resolved by the woman named Shepard, though they weren't entirely sure about what this all revolved around.

Edward and Alphonse sat in the waiting room of the embassy, everything seemed so clean and white, it was strange how things looked, it wasn't like offices with waiting rooms they were used to. There was no familiar smell of polished wood or musty rooms; the cool sterile air that permeated the room was all that seemed to keep them company amidst silence.

Al and Ed were examining their surroundings carefully, the two brothers were encapsulated by their new environment, the softness of the chairs they sat upon, and the strange material that the table was constructed fascinated them. Well that and the fact that they were busy trying to figure out what had happened.

Their arrival was abrupt and things seemed to move quickly, their meeting with the strange woman and her companions in armour, they spoke in English, and they also seemed to know the language of another species, considering how they talked to the strange being with mandibles and hardened looking body.

Al thought it was some kind of Chimera before they dismissed the thought, the being was far too alien to be Chimera, which is why Ed had drawn the conclusion that it wasn't anything they knew of but a real alien. Their departure to this embassy had caught them a little off guard, something strange was going on.

Shepard handed them off to an attendant of sorts who left them in this private room, they said something about custody. Ed thought about getting them out of this place and escaping, but Al decided to be the voice of reason and stop him, saying that it wasn't the best idea considering they had no idea where they were.

There was also the fact that running away might cause the two of them more trouble than it was worth. So here they were, sitting at the table and theorising what the materials were made of, interestingly enough, Ed had determined it was some kind of chitin, but made from plastic or a form of it, the structure was very hard, stronger than plastic they had seen back in Germany.

"Brother, what do you suppose they're planning to do with us?" Al inquired promptly as he rubbed his hand on the table.

"I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest this is something I'm not sure what to do, I thought it might have been an elaborate trick or something, but all of this is way too real for a trick. I think we're not on Earth anymore, but maybe another place, it's hard to say." Ed said with a tired shrug. "This all too strange."

"Like the sky above right?" Al suggested.

"Yeah, it was bent, like a ring shape, the view wasn't like the skies over Earth, it only supports that we're no longer where we should be." Edward replied as he stared at the ceiling trying to determine what they should do next.

"Do you think that transmutation circle had something to do with it?" Al asked as he stopped touching the table.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how it could have affected us like this, I mean how did we get here?" Ed muttered as he pondered over the whole series of events from their battle with the crazed madman.

Silence soon followed as the two brothers thought about what they were going to do, this was a rather inconvenient situation for both to have wound up in. The silence was abruptly broken as the door slid open, the trio from before stepped into the room, with the dark haired woman waving to them.

"Hey, how're you both coping?" The woman asked promptly with a warm smile.

"Fine, are we going to be let out of here yet?" Ed asked in response.

The red haired woman stopped on the other side of the table and crossed her arms before asking. "Well it depends, can you help in something?"

"What exactly do we need to help with?" Ed inquired promptly.

"We've been dealing with a series of problems, regarding a recent incident, a world which was colonised by humans was attacked by an unknown force, and we suspect that the individual responsible is trying to cover their tracks. And we need some help." The woman replied.

"You want us to aid you in this investigation?" Alphonse said a little perplexed.

"Yes, look there's a lot going on, but it involves the lives of many people, and bringing justice to a wanton mass murderer." The woman told them.

"What about our situation?" Ed asked, as he wasn't going to budge unless he was certain.

"We're working on it right now, and we've got an office which is currently working on making you citizens of our race, so that's being dealt with. If you can help us, it'll make a lot of things easier for both of us, or harder, depending on if you like challenges." She explained.

"Can we have out things back?" Ed asked.

"Sure, as for your weapon, that's another matter." She began whilst looking through a data pad. "It's pretty much an antique around here. And the other reason is that you don't have a license for carrying such a firearm."

"So you can't give it back to me?" Ed suspected.

"I can actually, though it'll have to remain unloaded, don't worry about that for the moment though. The pistol would hardly do much in comparison to current modern day weapons." She said as she looked at the details on the weapon.

"We'll have those returned to you, but the pistol will have to remain unloaded, for security reasons. But it's all there, as for the miscellaneous stuff…"

"We'll deal with that later, if it's related to our world, we'll handle it." Edward answered.

"Very well." She conceded.

"So, where do we start?" Edward asked the trio.

Ash looked at Shepard.
"I guess we split up?"

"We'll have to, there's no way we can drag these two into the mess we're about to walk into without equipping them properly." Kaiden analysed. "They'd get killed."

"Agreed." She said. "Alright, looks like you're tagging along with Kaiden and Ashley, we can't take you along for the ride just yet, as you need proper gear and clothing, and tools to help you out, seeing as you don't have translators either."

"Wait, me and Kaiden?" Ash said in objection.

"You two know the Citadel a little more than these two; you can help them get around. Besides the first part of our investigation was to an information broker, and fulfilling a couple of smaller things, I sincerely doubt I'd need for both of you to tag along." Shepard stated.

"Oh, alright." Ash said a little disheartened.

"So, what's going to happen?"

"You're going with Kaiden and Ashley, they'll show you around and help to familiarise you with the rest of the Citadel, and hopefully the galaxy in a couple of hours." The red haired woman told them. "In any event, you should be able to handle this very quickly, as for me; I'm heading off to meet with someone who can give us a few important leads."

"Umm, can I ask one more thing?" Alphonse asked.

"Sure?"

"What's your name again?" Ed asked the woman.

"Oh, I didn't give it to you before?" The woman asked the two brothers whose only response was to shake their heads.

"Well, I only caught the beginning of your name briefly." Edward inquired with a nonchalant shrug.

"My name's Shepard, Jane Shepard, but most people just refer to me as Commander." She said with a jovial look. "Nice to make your acquaintance."

XXXXX

Author's Note (UPDATE): I'm back…

Hey! I'm back from the dead in almost four years, I've finally stepped back out of the shadows and back to getting things out, here's a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to get done. And to be honest, I've been dealing with a lot of problems, personal in nature, so don't expect massive strings of updates for this story.

Good news is I've already planned a few chapters ahead so there won't be a sudden stop of updates, don't worry about that, I've figured out where I'm taking this one now, and hopefully I can deliver well.

Another matter is that if you're wondering about new stories, I've got a few ideas which I've been working on, on my profile page. And I'll announce others in the Author's Notes.

One such example is the new Gundam Seed/Gundam Build Fighters story I've done, which is pretty long, but it'll keep you interested for a while. It's not my best work, but it'll certainly do.