10: Cassiopeia Syndicate

"Are you sure about this?" Alphonse asked warily. Christin shook her head 'no'.

"I don't like it in there; I can't sense hardly anything," she sighed.

"But it's our only lead. We have to go in there," Edward muttered. "On top of that, you're taking that job offer. From what you said of him, I don't like this Ulysses guy."

"Want me to hold your hand?" Alphonse teased. Christin glared at him and he shut up.

"This isn't funny guys. Something really wrong is going on here. If it's bad enough to affect another world, it's not something to be taken lightly," she snapped. She took a deep breath and strode up to the automatic sliding glass doors, Edward and Alphonse behind her. Like she had walked into a glass door without knowing it was there, emptiness slammed into her, almost knocking her backwards. Despite the dozen or so people mulling around, she could not sense anything from them save for a very faint, almost invisible, thrumming. Android, every single person in this room, and maybe the whole building, was an android. If Edward hadn't been standing right behind her, she might've hit the floor.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, alarmed. She nodded and steadied herself.

"I'm fine… I just never expected to find so much emptiness in one place. There are only ten humans in this entire building, excluding us," Christin muttered softly. "Everyone else is an android."

"These people… aren't real?" Alphonse asked in a similar tone. "All of them are androids?"

"Well, from what I read on the internet birth rate has declined immensely due to an airborne contraceptive that infiltrated the air-cleansing system after pollution reached critical points. On top of that a weird disease (whose name was too long for me to remember) that reminds me of this weird brain disease from Ghost in the Shell popped up because of the contraceptive and a cure was only found in the last decade or so. It wiped out a good portion of the world's population, which in a way was good because over-population was becoming a problem," Edward recited. "Androids are a cheap, efficient way to get work done, leaving more time for humans to repopulate…"

"I get it, now shut up," Christin said, placing her hand over his mouth. "Remind me… to never let you access the internet again."

"Is there something you need?" a person asked. Christin opened her mouth to speak but the android held a hand over her forehead. Electricity shot from his hand into her body. In a moment, he knew why they had come. "Mr. Ulysses' office is this way."

"Wrong…" she thought as they followed the android. "There's absolutely nothing inside him. Not even the circuitry emits wavelengths of a soul, which normally it does. Something about Cassiopeia Syndicate is wrong… so very wrong…"

"Ah, it's you!" the man smiled. Christin blinked a few times before she recognized him: the solitary white light was a difference from the flashing rainbow lights of the Lion's Den. "I almost didn't recognize you; you're dressed so… civilized."

"I've come about the job offer," she said, shaking herself so she could focus. Now was not the time to ponder the man's familiarity. And even he exuded only limited humanity.

"You'll take it?!" he asked far too eagerly. "My apologies… no one's ever accepted such an offer so quickly before."

"This is the girl?" a man no older then Edward asked, strolling into the room. Once more, Christin was inundated by her sensory abilities, only from this man she sensed a soul. The bland emptiness she had been receiving from the majority of the building was a bit too much for her, especially when a human waltzed right up to her. Edward steadied her again. "She okay?"

"Anemia…" she mumbled. "I got a major nosebleed earlier, so I'm suffering from blood loss." Was it her, or was she doing quite a bit of lying today? "I'm fine."

"Well, great! I assume you took the job?" the man grinned, pushing his glasses up his nose. He shook his brown hair out of his green eyes and waited.

"Y-yeah," she replied. "That's the only reason I came down here today."

"Well, great!" he repeated, grabbing her hand and shaking it enthusiastically. "I'm Soshi Valkana, Homun's associate and long time friend. We were roommates in college, though he was a fourth time senior and I was a freshman."

"Um… I'm Christin Fallbrook, and this is my boyfriend Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse," she said awkwardly.

"Hey, excellent cosplay dudes. You look like the real thing," Soshi said, snapping his fingers. "Real live Elric brothers. Oh, I never thought I'd see the day…"

"Translate…" Edward hissed.

"Your lives are just a story here, remember? People will think you're obsessed with it and because of that obsession you've dressed up like the characters, which is called 'cosplaying'," Christin whispered back.

"But that means what we've been through together is a story as well, remember? What Robin showed you?" Alphonse murmured.

"And you, you're as cute as the real Christin Fallbrook!" Soshi squealed. "I bet that's why Homun wanted you to be a dancer, isn't it? You can dance and sing, can't you?"

"Otaku…" she hissed. This guy was even more of an otaku than she used to be!

"I'm also the DJ for the Lion's Den. My dad owns the place and Homun gave us the money to open it," Soshi grinned at Homun. "You can start work tonight. Be at the club by four, okay?"

"Sure. We've really got to go. Ed has a doctor's appointment and we can't be late!" Christin chirped, all but shoving the brothers out the door.

"See you later!" Soshi called.

"What a weirdo…" Christin mused when they were safely outside.

"That's an understatement…" Alphonse nodded.

"God, he's just oozing humanity! What a freak!" she cried. "First I almost get knocked over by a tidal wave of emptiness, then I almost get knocked over by a hurricane of humanity!" she clamped her hands to her head and shook it back and forth. "I can't do this; I'm not twenty anymore! I can't bounce back like I used to…" in her ranting she had ambled out into the street.

"Hey, get outta the way!" someone yelled. Christin looked up to see a large black truck-like vehicle speed towards her. Before she could think about the consequences, she had phased through the truck.

"Oops…" she grinned wryly. So much for not using her powers in public. "Please tell me no one saw that," she giggled nervously, sidling up to Edward.

"I think they did," Alphonse pointed out, gesturing at a small cluster of people across the street.

"That was totally wicked!!" someone screeched nearby. A boy in a school uniform practically skipped over to them. "Are you one of Cassiopeia's Valor Project creations?"

"Say what?" Christin asked. What was a Valor Project?

"Oh, you know!" he grinned. "Cassiopeia Syndicate has been working on designing special kinds of humans with super powers to help fix up the planet! It's called the Valor Project because they want to help restore the planet because it's dying cuz people in the past didn't take care of it and the resulted people are supposed to be like heroes. I bet you're the first one that worked, right?"

"Sure…" she said. She had no idea what the kid was talking about, but if it enabled her and the brothers to use their powers openly, she was more than willing to go with it.

"I think we need to learn more about Cassiopeia Syndicate," Alphonse murmured to Edward.

"I think you're right," the blond replied, glancing back at the building that towered over them. The same image from the business card Christin received, the black blob with tendrils, adorned the awning over the glass doors. He didn't like the thing's smile; it seemed way too evil for a philanthropic company.

"You need to know about Cassiopeia Syndicate?" a rather dorky girl with thick black braids and green-rimmed glasses asked. "What for? You can't be older then fifteen," she said to Christin.

"It's for school," she said through gritted teeth. Oh, she hated it when people thought she was younger then she really was. Of course, it was a bit of an understatement now, since she was actually twenty-nine, not seventeen like her physical appearance suggested… or fifteen, as the librarian noted. "We're supposed to write a report on the biggest humanitarian corporations in history and describe what they've done and how it affects the world today!"

"Okay," the girl mused, scribbling something down on a scrap of paper then handing it to Christin. "There's the list of reference books and what section they're in, and some websites and links. Anything else?"

"No, thanks!" she chirped, darting off in a random direction.

"I'll get her…" Alphonse sighed.

"It's over near the back of the building on the third floor," the librarian replied to Edward's quizzical look.

"Hey, thanks," he said, wandering off to find his family. "It's on the third floor, numbskulls," he called to Alphonse and Christin. "Put the comic book down…" he said through gritted teeth. Christin grinned sheepishly, sighed dramatically, put the manga back on the shelf and followed.

"Wow… apparently things have changed quite a bit since I was last here…" she mumbled on the escalator ride to the third floor.

"What now?" Edward asked, trying his best not to sound annoyed.

"Everything, really. When I lived here, technology was not this advanced. The most robotic things available were little midget vacuum cleaners. Now there are androids and auto-pilot cars and amazingly real virtual reality games. And very speedy escalators," she said, looking down at the first and second floors. It had only taken them a matter of seconds to reach the third floor, when back in her time it would've taken about a half a minute to forty-five seconds, if they were lucky.

She chuckled dryly and dragged a hand through her purple-streaked brown hair, "I feel like I've been left behind by the rest of the world."

"Ah!" Alphonse exclaimed. "Look at all these books!! There must be a million of them!"

"Oh look, a section dedicated to alchemy!" Christin cried, pointing in a direction like she had just discovered a diamond that weighed five hundred tons.

"Where?!" the boys asked eagerly, spinning around wildly.

"That's just sad guys. I really expected better," she muttered. "Well, let's get to it."

"I'm hungry," Edward whined an hour later.

"There's a Starbucks on the second floor," Christin said absently. "I'm surprised they're still in business after three hundred years. Unlike Wal-Mart…"

"Starbucks?" Alphonse asked.

"It's a coffee joint," Edward explained. "You want anything?"

"I'm fine…" Christin replied, gazing intently at the computer screen.

Something about Cassiopeia seemed wrong to her. Everything on the website and in the books said that it was a great benefit to mankind and the reconstruction of the once dying planet. After helping clean up the fifth world war in 2269, Cassiopeia began building androids to help with the reconstruction of the demolished cities of Russia, Australia and South America. Because they functioned so well, they became available for mass use. Because the weapons used in WWV had mass amounts of toxic chemicals and radioactive atoms, the air quality plummeted to fatal levels. Countless people died of poisoning from the aftermath of the weapons and the population declined. Cassiopeia created a special air-filtration device that neutralized the harmful contents of the spoiled air with kweston, a synthetically fabricated element made by fusing uranium with krypton and arsenic. Air quality improved and a small side effect of kweston was that is was also a contraceptive. It was beneficial as well, because overpopulation was part of the reason so many world wars erupted. Cassiopeia also replanted forests and helped rebuild habitats for animals, thus saving some species from extinction, and that also helped the air. They found a way to help preserve the atmosphere and control pollution levels, especially in the ocean. This stopped the icecaps from melting. They had even discovered a way to maintain the earth's magnetic field, though it was currently under production.

"Jeesh, talk about overachieving…" she muttered. "Get a load of this: new lunar habitats available to the public. Mars colonies still questionable." She turned to Edward and Alphonse, who were standing behind her and reading over her shoulder.

"We can live on the moon?" Edward asked.

"You got ten grand to shell out?" she scoffed. "I'll take a vacation, but I wouldn't want to live there. So expensive…"

"What's this?" Alphonse inquired, tapping a link displayed on the screen. "That's what that kid was talking about… 'Valor Project'."

"Let's find out," she replied, clicking on it.

"In the course of recent events, it is clear that humankind has a lesson to learn. After wrapping up the Fifth World War, the toxic content of the weaponry used has resulted in the mutation of certain species of animals. Though special precautions have been taken to ensure the public's survival against these vicious beasts, the number of attacks has not decreased." The article read.

"Mutant animals? Reminds me of chimeras…" Alphonse muttered.

"Cassiopeia Syndicate has proposed a solution to the problem, using the latest development in genetic mutations and cybernetics. Company vice president Homun C. Ulysses comments: 'It is clear that humans as a species are still developing and evolving. Only recently do we realize the error of our ways and are paying for our actions. We here at Cassiopeia present you with an idea to help curb, if not eliminate, the issue of the animal mutations brought on by the last world war. Since as long as I can remember, there have been tales of ordinary people who are gifted with superhuman abilities and go about saving the world from danger. That is our goal: to create the ability in humans to gain supernatural powers and stop the impending crisis. We are calling it the Valor Project.'

"Though the Valor Project has been running for a few years now, Cassiopeia Syndicate has yet to create a successful 'hero'. The closest researchers have come is a personage who lived for a ten minutes. Though the Valor Project is completely voluntary, families of volunteers who have died as a result of the experiments are outraged, claiming it 'derives humans of their humanity'."

"Huh," Christin scoffed. "Well, hello Sci-Fi channel."

"This sounds an awful lot like something out of a book," Alphonse mused.

"'All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players'. I quote," Edward added.

"I don't need you quoting people who've been dead for zillions of years. Who said that, Shakespeare?" Christin said, pressing her fingertips to the screen. White streams of numbers, consisting of only 1 and 0, shot out of the screen and encircled her. In a moment they vanished. "I downloaded the article, like the entire thing, not just what I read aloud, so we can study it further later."

"I really don't like where this is heading," Edward mumbled as they wandered outside.

"Anyone in our position wouldn't," Alphonse muttered.

"Saving the world all over again," Christin sighed. As if the whole Envy Ordeal wasn't enough. That had nearly killed her oh… about four or five times. Not that she was keeping track or anything. "I'm retiring after this blows over. I swear, if I make it out of this one alive, which I kinda doubt considering how often I almost died last time, I'm just going to stay at home and grow old and not care what happens to the world."

"Car," Edward announced, grabbing her arm and preventing her from walking out into the street.

"See!?" she cried, waving her arms. "I can't even walk without something trying to kill me! Christin's Syndrome sucks majorly…"

"I'll never understand why you have your own disease," Alphonse commented.

"Because cars and stuff keep trying to run me over. That's why I got a motorcycle, remember? It's the only thing that hasn't tried running me over besides a skateboard. I mean… I've almost gotten run over by a shopping cart," she hissed. "Well, I'm this way."

"What?" the boys asked.

"It's almost four. Soshi wanted me to be at the club at four," she clarified. "Don't worry, I'll walk as far away from the road as possible…" she waved, turning and walking away. Edward grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"That's not what I'm worried about. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about that Soshi guy that I just don't like. I almost lost you so many times already… I don't want to think I might lose you again," he said gently.

"No matter what happens, my soul will always return to you," she replied softly, brushing her lips against his lightly.

"Not your heart?" he asked a tad stupidly.

"'Lots of people say that emotions come from your heart, but they're wrong. They come from your soul.' Remember that?" she quoted. "The one who said that… was you."

"Yeah," he grinned. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will!" Christin called as she skipped down the sidewalk. He watched her for a moment until a sharp screeching broke the dull hubbub, followed by a feminine shriek for someone to "Stop!"

When Edward turned around, he felt his heartbeat slow down so much he thought for a moment it had stopped. He ran out into the street to take hold of the body strewn across the road, pushing away the other people gathered around it. Why? Why did that have to happen? In the back of his mind he registered the ambulance sirens wailing ceaselessly, but consciously he wasn't fully aware of what was going on. Up until just now things had been going rather well…

Why did Alphonse get hit by that car?

A/N: cliffy!!! Can any of you guess what happens next? I bet you can't. Things are going to go in a slightly different direction than what I had planned originally, but hell, these characters just won't let me write the story! Curse you Alphonse!!!! Kidding…

Anyway, some ideas for scenarios would be appreciated. I have to make up everything from street names to what kind of big franchises are up and running like the future version of Wal-Mart (which has gone out of business in this story) or… I dunno… McDonalds, circa 2310. Starbucks is still alive, note that. So yeah, store ideas or locations… if you want me to nuke a country, I'll have to consider it. Well, there were three more world wars so maybe the number of countries has changed.

Until chapter 11…