Chapter 1: Infinite possibilities

Another World: Another Time

"Before we begin just let me tell you what an honor it is that such interest had been taken in our work." An excited voice told his audience, none of who were in the mood for flattery.

"Dr. Thomas, I believe you called us here for a reason." A calm voice responded.

"And you didn't say why you needed us." A second younger, and more annoyed, voice put in.

"Please excuse Fullmetal's attitude." The first voice said. "He has a habit of talking before he thinks." Edward Elric glared at his commanding officer but Colonel Mustang ignored it. "He does bring up a valid point however. I was under the impression that your work didn't involve alchemy."

"At first it didn't." Dr. Thomas explained. "Not directly at least. Then several days ago we had a breakthrough that you, and young master Edward in particular, will be most interested in."

"I doubt all of us would have been sent here if it was thought otherwise." Mustang answered. They were all currently standing in front of a castle, an honest to goodness castle, about a two-hour train ride away from the boy's hometown of Reesembol. In addition to both the Elric brothers and Mustang the military had sent Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and Lt. Colonel Hughes to investigate their findings.

"Of course of course." Thomas said and motioned them to come inside. The outside of the castle had an ancient and worn look to it. On the inside it was worse. Stone walls that seemed to be ready to crumble, shadows that seemed to form by themselves and take a life all their own. Wooden doors that were rotted and splintered, and every piece of metal they saw seemed to be nothing but rust. They even caught a glimpse of something moving that was either a small dog or a very large rat.

"Boy this place almost makes Lab 5 look cheerful." Ed whispered to his brother.

"But why would they set up a laboratory here?" Al whispered back. To him it looked like the last place someone would want to put one.

"Because it's hidden in plain site." Dr. Thomas replied. Apparently the two hadn't been whispering quietly enough. "If you happen to walk by this place it's noticeable, but all you would see is a run down castle, not a top secret lab. Uninvited guests are also very unlikely. The military owns this place and all the land surrounding it, unofficially of course."

"So who did you have to steal it from?" Ed asked sarcastically.

"No one." Thomas answered confidently. "It was actually left to the State by its original owner. Another State scientist, Victor I believe his name was. His last name escapes me at the moment but that's not important now. What is important is this." They came to a large pair of metal doors that, unlike the rest of the castle, were brand new and looked like they could withstand anything. The two soldiers guarding the door saluted at the sight of so many officers. "How many times do I have to tell you there's no need for that." Thomas said as he began to work one of the many locks on the door. The guards glanced at each other nervously then at Mustang, being the highest rank in the group. The Colonel nodded and the guards dropped their salutes.

(Looks like military discipline is a bit lax here.) Mustang thought to himself. It wasn't that surprising, civilians ran most of the operations but so long as they got results things like this could be overlooked.

With the clicking of lock tumblers the door began to open and they got their first good look at the main lab. The room was originally a huge dinning hall that had been stripped of everything and now housed a multitude of generators and electric cables. Along with all of this numerous panels filled with switches and gauges, whose functions they couldn't even begin to guess, and scientists moving from post to post to monitor the equipment. At the center of the room all the cables lead to a metal platform raised several feet above the ground. The platform itself was nothing special but on opposite sides of it stood two ten foot tall metal towers, each lined with metal rings and topped with a large metal sphere. (A/N: Think Tesla coils)

"Now I could explain to you how this works in detail but I believe a demonstration would be much more beneficial." Thomas said as the group examined, or in Ed and Al's case stared wide-eyed, at the technology that surrounded them. "If the Major would be good enough to lend us one of his gauntlets..."

"Sir?" Armstrong asked.

"Go ahead." Mustang answered. Armstrong handed one of his spiked gauntlets to Thomas.

"Yes, this will work quite nicely. Now for you to really see the effects of this machine you should give your other gauntlet to someone else. It doesn't matter who just make sure that everyone can see it." Now he was getting quizzical looks from both Armstrong and Mustang.

"I'll hold it." Al volunteered. Thomas hadn't said it would be dangerous but Al didn't want to chance someone getting hurt. He was also a bit eager to participate in the experiment, even though nobody knew what would happen.

"That would be perfect." Thomas said as he walked up the stairs leading to the platform. "Just hold it in your hand but keep it open." Al did as he was told and had the gauntlet in the palm of his open hand. Thomas put the second gauntlet in the center of the platform and came back to the group.
"Power on!" He shouted. On his order generators began to hum to life. Slowly the hum became louder and louder until it turned into a mutated roar. The newcomers nervously glanced down at the floor, which was now vibrating so hard Al was starting to rattle. Without warning what looked like a bolt of lightning flew from one of the spheres on the right tower to the one on the left. Mustang was the only on who didn't flinch.

"Heh, nice light show." Hughes commented. More lightning began jumping back and forth between the towers. "Is it supposed to be doing that?" He asked nervously.

"We haven't even gotten to the best part yet." Thomas replied with a grin. "Capacitor charge?" He asked another scientist.

"All full." Came the reply.

"Open them!" Thomas shouted. The towers started to glow blue and began to throw off erratic, and very large, sparks. Just when it looked like they were about to explode both spheres shot even larger bolts of lightning right at Armstrong's gauntlet. This time Mustang flinched along with the others, fully expecting an explosion and flying shrapnel. Neither happened and only the sound of energy being discharged filled the air. As the group looked over at the platform they saw something. Something one person immediately recognized.

"It…It…can't be." Ed stammered.

"What's wrong?" Al asked, seeing the recognition in his brother's eyes. "What is it?"

"The Gate." Thomas answered. He held his hand up as all of them looked at him, Ed with murder in his eyes. "Before you say anything take a closer look." He said, pointing at the Gate. Instead of the endless darkness there was a swirling mass of gray that started to take shape. Soon they began to see something made of gray metal, with an alchemy symbol on the top, being held by a gray metal hand…

Al gave a slight shriek and dropped the gauntlet. The image in the gate became blurry again but quickly reformed to show the gauntlet lying on the floor. All turned to Thomas, who had a triumphant smile on his face.

"How…?" Mustang began to ask but again Thomas held up his hand.

"Cut it!" He ordered. Power was shut off and the Gate disappeared. Once the noise was gone he waited for Mustang to continue. Ed beat him to the punch.

"Are you crazy?!?!" He shouted at Thomas. "Don't you know how dangerous the Gate is?!?!"

"Of course." Thomas answered calmly. "But what you saw wasn't the Gate everyone is familiar with." Ed was about to go off again but stopped himself after what Thomas said had sunk in. It left him with his mouth wide open and an expression that said 'Huh?' Seeing the boy's confusion Thomas continued. "This Gate wasn't formed by alchemy, so it had few properties of the one that took your brother." He nodded toward Al.

"How did you know about that?" Ed growled.

"This project has the full support of the Fuehrer. As such we have access to information that otherwise would not be known." Thomas answered. "Outside the three of them," He gestured towards the other scientists. "And myself no one knows the full story about you and your brother. I can assure you that we are all quite good at keeping secrets." Ed still looked angry but he had to take Thomas' word. "Getting back to business. After some experimentation we found that this new Gate has the ability to home in on certain objects with similar properties. In the case of alchemy.." He said as he walked up to the platform and retrieved Armstrong's gauntlet. "If the two items are similar in the way they perform alchemy it will focus in on the second." He pointed at Armstrong's second gauntlet.

"So you managed to create a new Gate that can find items that have the same alchemy abilities." Mustang said. "What does this have to do with us?"

"In actuality it has to do with them mostly." Thomas answered, pointing to Ed and Al. "As I said I've read up on you and I know what you two are searching for." He reached into his pocket and brought something out. "I'm sure everyone knows what this is." He said, opening his hand. In his palm was a small red stone.

"It's a fake philosophers stone. So what?" Ed asked. This conversation seemed to be going nowhere and he didn't like it.

"This is half of the reason we called you here." Thomas answered. "After we discovered the properties of this new Gate we decided to use this fake to try and find the true philosophers stone. With the fake and real stones so similar we hoped the Gate would find the real one for us." He explained as he walked back up to the platform and put the stone in the center of it.

"Wouldn't it look for another fake stone instead?" Al asked. "Two fakes are going to be more alike then a fake and a real stone."

"Very perceptive Al." Thomas commended as he stepped off the platform and back to the group. "We knew the possibility of that happening was rather high but we got an unsuspected surprise when we actually tried it." He nodded to the other scientists, who restarted the machine. Once it was up to power the new Gate was again opened and a new vision began to take focus. Only this time it was something that seemed to have nothing in common with the item on the platform.

"I thought you said this machine would seek out something similar to what you placed on it." Mustang commented. "That looks nothing like a philosophers stone." Indeed it didn't. It looked to be a little bigger then the fake stone, about the size of a large person's knuckle. What really showed that this wasn't the stone they were looking for was its color. Instead of red this stone was yellow, and seemed to glow with power.

"Why can't we see where it is?" Ed asked. Unlike Armstrong's gauntlet there was nothing to show where this new stone was located. Instead there seemed to be just a bunch of swirling fog surrounding it.

"Because what you are seeing is the effect of the new stone itself. Our best guess is that it is literally bending and warping reality, but with no one apparently controlling it." He turned towards the group. "If this is only an inert state then we can assume that the philosophers stone's power would be dwarfed by this new one." Al's 'eyes' seemed to double in size, almost blocking out the rest of his face, and Ed's jaw was practically hitting the floor. The others were also visibly surprised, all except Mustang. Taking a closer look at the new stone he then turned back to face Thomas.

"How can you be certain of your claim?" He asked. He was approaching this with a healthy amount of skepticism; his rank wasn't Colonel for nothing. "It also seems odd that a fake stone would find a different, not to mention more powerful, type of stone."

"Certainty is never guaranteed in situations like this." Thomas admitted with a nervous cough. "As for why it found this new stone we can't say, but we shouldn't turn down an opportunity like this. Think of the possibilities Colonel, with power like this they're literally infinite."

"That's what worries me." Mustang responded. True this new stone had great potential, but power like this was always a double-edged sword. If this stone were to fall into the hands of people like the ones running Lab 5, well the results would be far from good. On the other hand if he refused to help the doctor could just go to people like that and get them to help him. If the stone was in the possession of his own people at least then they'd have an opportunity to defend it. Making his decision he turned back towards Thomas "In the letter we received you asked for Full Metal specifically. Why?" Now seeing that they were going to help Thomas' expression brightened.

"That is the other half." He simply stated as he picked up a nearby book. He threw it at the gate with all his strength but the book just bounced off and landed on the floor. "We've tried everything we could think of. More power, different variations and settings, we even became desperate enough to try brute force. Guns, dynamite, nothing worked. We could look but we could never pass through. Then the other day something very fortunate happened. One of our mechanics was using alchemy to repair part of the floor while one of our tests was in progress. There was a disturbance in the Gate and it actually seemed to become weaker, like glass when it begins to melt. It was barely noticeable but it was there. We found the doorway but alchemy was the key to opening it. What we needed was a strong alchemist to break the door down and who better to do so then the legendary Fullmetal?"

"Wait a minute!" Ed interrupted. "You want me to open that thing?" He asked pointing at the Gate. "No way! Do you have any idea what might happen if your guess is wrong?!"

"Yes, something like what happened to you and your brother." Thomas answered. "But we are also a bit more well informed then you were when you tried to manipulate the Gate." Ed would have lunged at the scientist if Al hadn't grabbed his shoulder.

"Brother please." Al pleaded, trying to keep Ed's temper in check.

"NO!!" Ed shouted, shaking off Al's grip. "If this guy wants to kill himself fine, but we're not going to help him!! Come on Al, this was nothing but a big waste of time." He started to storm out of the room and Al looked like he was debating whether or not to follow him.

"And what will you do Ed?" Thomas asked. "Continue searching for something that might not even exist anymore? All that effort to restore yourself and your brother only to end up with nothing." Ed spun around and glared at the scientist. "We've discovered something that can do exactly the same, and it's right there." He pointed back to the yellow stone. "Are you just going to abandon an opportunity like this?"

"Messing with the Gate…" Ed began through clenched teeth. Thomas waved it off with a wave of his hand.

"What will we be violating Ed?" He asked the boy. "This isn't human transmutation, it's not a resurrection. We are simply trying to create a pathway from one place to another. It's no different then if you used your alchemy to create a door in a solid wall." Ed's demeanor began to change. He could see what Thomas was talking about but there was still one thing.

"What about equivalent exchange?" Al asked, mirroring his brother's concern.

"We're giving all this power, and if necessary the fake philosophers stone, in exchange for a creating a road to where this new stone is. I'd call that a fair trade wouldn't you?" Thomas asked.

"And what about whoever has to go through to get the stone?" Ed asked.

"I'm going through." Thomas said. "It's my project and I'm going to take the risk." Ed looked at his automail arm, then over to his brother. Bringing his metal hand into a fist he looked over at the Gate.

"What do you want me to do?"

Antarctica: Another world, that same time

Another in a series of explosions rocked the already battered facility. Inside the heavily fortified main chamber a group of five turned to look at the entrance. Their leader kept his eyes forward, ignoring the tremors the explosions were causing.

"How long?" He asked calmly. Several feet away at a computer terminal a meek looking scientist looked at the digital countdown.

"Three minutes sir." The man turned his head towards the scientist. Even though his eyes were obscured by the helmet he was wearing the scientist could feel the glare the man was giving him.

"You assured me the connection wouldn't take this long." The man stated just as calmly. That scared the scientist more then if he had shouted.

"The equipment wasn't designed to be used in combat conditions." Another scientist who was monitoring power fluctuations said. "If you had chosen a world closer to our own…"

"There were reasons I did not do that. Reasons you are more then aware of." The man responded.

"I agreed to work for you because you were willing to take steps they wouldn't. I'm just suggesting…"

"Your services are limited to providing me the means to achieve my goals, not telling me how to accomplish them." The man warned.

"It would be a stretch I suppose. Magneto taking the advice of a human." The scientist said, making the second one turn white. Magneto's eyes were still hidden by his helmet but there was no question his glare hardened. If he didn't need this piece of human trash so badly he would have killed him on the spot. Another tremor shook the room, closer this time. Now Magneto turned and looked at the door, shaking his head. What he was attempting to do should be considered a blessing for Xavier and the X-men, yet they refused to see it that way.

It had begun several months ago, and was sill almost impossible to believe. The discovery of an alternate Earth, wholly different from this one. Alternate Earths were not an unknown concept but all known alternates were a result of deviations in this world's time line, be it past or future. But this world, it had nothing in common with the one Magneto knew. Its superpowered beings were embraced, almost worshiped, by the human population. That Earth's main superhero team, the so-called Justice League, had needed to team with the Avengers to defeat a cosmic entity that threatened to destroy both universes. That threat was now gone but the fact that a new, and potentially limitless, number of alternate worlds existed was enough to convince the powerful and wealthy to put an incredible amount of money and effort to find out just what sort of worlds existed. The U.S. government, Stark Enterprises, even Reed Richards was rumored to be part of this new project. The breakthrough had come several weeks prior but so far a policy of watch but not interfere had been initiated. Good intentions or bad there was to be no manipulation of the local population. Magneto, however, had no such moral conflict.

He had many spies and contacts in high places, even within the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. It was through them that he had learned about the first alternate Earth and the project to find other ones. Using those connections he had procured the equipment and manpower to build his own machine. He had spent many long hours searching through alternates, looking for a world where mutants would not suffer as they had on this one. He briefly considered going to the first alternate, but even there he would be considered a criminal. Eventually he had found a world that would suit his needs. The humans of that world were constantly at war, and their technology was laughable even by the human standards of this world. There was nothing resembling X-men or Avengers so they would be helpless against the powers the Brotherhood wielded. In the cosmic scale the humans of this world would not be missed if exterminated. In fact, it would only be a quickening of what they were doing to themselves. To accomplish this he had gathered five of his best, the most powerful and loyal he commanded. They would go and establish a beachhead in this new world, then send for reinforcements when they were properly dug in.

A third tremor reminded Magneto why this plan was no longer feasible. The X-men had somehow discovered his plans and set out to stop him. Short sighted fools. They wanted to stay and protect humans that were beyond all hope, instead of allowing mutants to take their rightful place on the top of the evolutionary ladder. The door to the chamber began to glow red, then white, and finally exploded inward. Six of the X-men entered, led by Xavier's prize pupil, Cyclops.

"I would think even Xavier would see the wisdom in allowing me to leave this world peacefully." Magneto told the X-men.

"Not when you're planing to destroy another one." Cyclops answered.

"A world that would be far better without humans, much like this one." Magneto replied. "You have never been able to see the logic in that, and I doubt you ever will." Both sides tensed up, preparing for the fight they knew was coming.

Gate Laboratory

"You're sure about this?" Ed asked as he tightened the harness he was now wearing.

"As sure as I can be." Thomas answered, checking his own harness. Both harnesses were attached to ropes that were being held by Major Armstrong. The original plan was to have them attached to pulleys but the Major said he would be able to pull them out of danger faster. Since Ed and Thomas had to stand right next to the new Gate a quick exit was something they would need if anything went wrong. "Remember, don't think of anything specific. Just put as much energy as you can directly into the Gate."

"You got it." Ed replied. Thomas just nodded and put both hands on the Gate, pushing slightly. He wanted to go through at the first opportunity, and that might only be a brief window of time. Exhaling a deep breath to calm himself Ed clapped his hands together, concentrated, and slapped both of them to the Gate.

The result of the alchemy energy influx was not what Thomas and the others had predicted but thankfully it wasn't what Ed had feared either. The Gate flashed and discharged a pulse of energy that knocked Ed and Thomas off the platform and onto the floor. Before either of them could register what happened both were being unceremoniously dragged across the floor and back towards the others.

"Brother!" Al shouted, rushing over to Ed. Ed groaned and sat up. He was in one piece and still awake, which was more then he had expected if something went wrong with this thing.

"I'm all right." He assured his brother. "What happened?" He asked as he turned to face Thomas and discovered the scientist was already up and looking at the equipment.

"I don't understand. The power levels are higher but nothing else has changed."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Doctor." Mustang remarked as he glanced back at the Gate. Instead of the new stone and the fog surrounding it the Gate was now solid black.

Marvel Earth

It happened quickly. There was a flash of light and a slight shockwave but that was enough to make both the X-Men and Brotherhood forget about each other and concentrate on the portal Magneto had created. Before it had been a glowing mass of red energy resembling a whirlpool. Now it had turned into a black energy sphere.

"What's happening?!" Magneto shouted to the brash scientist.

"I don't know!" The scientist shouted back, furiously typing at his computer. "It looks like we've encountered some sort of energy anomaly but we don't…"

He didn't get to finish as two black lightning bolts shot from the anomaly, one striking the gathered X-men, one striking the Brotherhood before either had a chance to defend themselves. As quickly as the bolts came forward they retreated back into the anomaly, taking both groups of mutants with them. As the two scientists watched the anomaly flashed several times before disappearing, like it had never been there.

"Shouldn't you be shutting this thing down?!?" Ed shouted as the black Gate continued to crackle with energy.

"We're trying!!" Thomas shouted back. "All the generators are off but the Gate has somehow become self-sustaining!! If we can somehow divert…."

His idea was lost and two bolts of black lightning burst from the Gate, throwing everyone off their feet and to the ground. The bolts went straight up and smashed through the ceiling, leaving two gaping holes. With the energy sustaining it gone the Gate slowly faded away, its damage already done.

"Is everyone all right?" Mustang asked as he got to his feet.

"Yes sir!" Armstrong and Hawkeye answered at once.

"If you call feeling like you got hit over the head with a pipe all right I guess I am to." Hughes replied.

"We're okay to sir." Al responded, helping Ed up.

"We're lucky, that's what we are." Ed grumbled. Seeing that his group was all right Mustang turned toward the scientists.

"Dr. Thomas?"

"Except for some bumps and bruises we're fine." Thomas replied. "Damn." He said as he looked at his laboratory. There were small fires all over the place and several of the generators had exploded. Pieces of the roof were also falling from the two holes in the ceiling.

"Explanation Doctor?" Mustang prompted. After taking another look around the lab he turned to answer.

"If I had to guess I'd say the power input was too great. We put so much in it caused a backlash that resulted in this." He waved towards the demolished generators.

"So you still believe it's possible to get this new stone?" Mustang asked. Thomas nodded. "How long would it take to try again?"

"Fixing the damage would be easy enough but to check and recalibrate the equipment would take at least three days, possibly a week. Then we need to test to see if Fullmetal can…"

"Forget it!!!" Ed interrupted. "You almost blew us up once already!"

"And we know why." Thomas replied. "Now that we know the problem we can fix it and try again." Ed crossed his arms and just glared at the scientist.

"Well you can try again without me." He stated. Thomas looked over at Mustang for help. Seeing Ed was being thickheaded again he knew trying to convince him now would be useless. Instead of talking to Ed he turned to Armstrong.

"Major." Armstrong came to attention when he was addressed. "Please escort the boys back to Reesembol. We'll discuss this again in a few days."

"No we won't." Ed sneered.

"Yes we will, Fullmetal." Mustang replied, putting emphasis on Ed's title. Ed sneered again and left the room, Al following close behind. Mustang nodded to Armstrong and the Major followed Al. After they were gone Mustang turned towards Thomas. "You're sure you'll be able to avoid repeating what happened here today?"

"Quite sure." Thomas answered. "We've encountered overloads before but I'll admit they were nothing like this." He said, looking around at the damage again.

"What about those two black bolts?" Mustang asked.

"Based on what I saw I'd say they were the result of the new Gate rejecting the alchemy energy. When you think about what kind of damage they might have caused we should consider ourselves lucky that this is the worst of it." To prove his point a larger chunk of the ceiling fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"Very lucky." Mustang agreed.

Neither man would have considered it lucky if either of them knew just what those two bolts had contained. As damage was being assessed to the lab two groups of disoriented mutants were picking themselves up off the ground after their interdimensional trip. The bolts had dropped them in very different places, as their leaders could plainly see. Where Cyclops saw what looked like a small town in the distance Magneto saw a large castle, one with smoke coming from inside of it somewhere.