The Infinity Paradox
Description: progress can vary from one another. For most of the galaxy, it took centuries to reach where they are now. For SHIELD, it only took a few decades. With Asgard as ally, Humanity is ready to take the Galaxy by storm. A Mass Effect/Marvel fusion fic with SHIELD replacing the System Alliance.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect nor Marvel, they belong to Bioware and Marvel comics.
Author's notice: if you have any questions, please PM me instead of putting it in the review box. Thank you.
Important things to know before diving into this
1) mutants/mutates stay in their prime for twice as long than regular humans so certain characters might be younger than they appear.
2) Biotics are now 10x more powerful.
3) I will be including alien races from the Marvel universe as well, so except to see the Kree, Skrulls, Asgardians and maybe even Galactus in here.
4) only humans possess the X-gene meaning only they can develop superpowers unless you count Biotics.
5) also expect everyone to get a massive upgrade boost.
6) everyone is getting a massive upgrade boost up to planet busting scale.
Prologue: timeline
March 13th, 1945: Captain America alongside Bucky Barnes are sent to destroy a secret Hydra science base in Antarctica, stop them from opening a portal to Hell and to retrieve the Tesseract. The base is soon destroyed and the portal collapses in on itself. However, the two are thrown into the ocean along with the Tesseract.
May 8th, 1945: Nazi Germany surrenders to Allied forces ending WWII. Hydra technology and scientists soon fall into either American or Soviet hands.
May 17th, 1945: the US government recreates SSR as SHIELD to act as a form of National security.
August 6th, 1945: the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima occurs followed by Nagasaki three days later. The nuclear fallout as well as the slow rise of nuclear power results in a boom of mutant births that won't be noticed until nearly two decades later.
August 14th, 1945: Japan surrenders, finally and officially ending WWII.
November 31st, 1945: SHIELD retrieves the Tesseract from Antarctica and soon brings it back to American soil for study. Soon after, SHIELD scientists begin working on reactivating it.
October 1st, 1951: SHIELD finally manages to reactivate the Tesseract resulting in an entire science team and equipment being teleported. It is soon retrieved a few days later by SHIELD who soon put it in storage. During that time, Howard Stark and others suggest that it holds the key to teleportation as well as FTL travel.
March 9th, 1953: after keeping the Tesseract in storage for over two years, SHIELD finally allows the Tesseract to be studied and used after learning that the Soviets have not only reversed engineered Hydra technology, but also significantly improved it as well.
June 5th, 1954: Howard Stark builds the first ever Repulsor. However, it is considered inefficient due to its massive power consummation. He soon decides to scrap the inventions until he or someone invents a more efficient
June 21st, 1955: SHIELD scientists accidentally invent a miniature wormhole between Earth and space which lasts for around 4 seconds while performing tests on the Tesseract. Soon after, they work on figuring out how to create wormholes whenever and wherever believing they have finally discovered the key to FTL travel.
May 5th, 1956: Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier both meet while working in a hospital in Eastern Europe. Their mutant powers are soon revealed as well their widely different views, despite this they still remain friends and eventually move back to New York together.
1958: the mutant boom occurs. USA along with various others nation find themselves covering up the existence of superpowered beings fearing that it will cause panic if they are revealed to the public. Unfortunately rumors still get out about their existence.
October 5th, 1959: Charles Xavier alongside Erik Lehnsherr founds a private school called the School for Gifted Youngsters with the goal of the helping of young mutants as well as mutates control their powers. They soon build Cerebro to enhance Charles's powers and make it more easier to locate mutants, mutates and ordinary people willing to help. Within a few months, the school reaches 300 students, 20 teachers and 15 staff.
November 1st, 1959: Charles and Erik discover the Phoenix Force, a powerful psionic entity after discovering that Jean Grey, a young telepathic/telekinetic mutant could harness its power. Multiple soon psychic blocks are soon placed to prevent Jean from accessing it, but at the cost of greatly reducing its power.
1960: the first mutate bomb occurs resulting in dozens of individuals suddenly gaining super powers either by accident or on purpose also forcing the worlds nations to cover it up, but same as last time rumors spill.
November 1st, 1961: SHIELD successfully creates a miniature wormhole between New York and Seattle with the use of the Tesseract. Both portals last seven and five minutes with the one in Seattle opening just two minutes after the one in New York and both close at the same time. Soon they begin working on improving the size and duration of the wormholes, faster communications and a way to artificially produce wormholes without the use of the Tesseract.
December 2st, 1961: Nick Fury is born.
March 1st, 1962: USA along with various other nations decide to pass the Superhuman registration act. The act requires that anyone with super powers to register with the government and go into hiding as regular citizens. The School for Gifted Youngsters is allowed to stay open so long as they remain hidden from the public. Erik Lehnsherr soon quits being a teacher a few days later.
March 5th, 1963: Anton Vanko, a Soviet scientist deflects to the USA. Soon after he partners with Howard Stark to create a new form of clean, renewable energy called Arc energy. The development of the first of the Arc Reactor begins.
May 9th, 1963: Hank Pym discovers a type of subatomic particles called Pym particles capable of temporally shrinking or enlarging objects, but still retaining their original mass. Soon after he begins working on a device capable of artificially producing these new particles.
September 10th, 1963: Erik Lehnsherr, now calling himself Magneto attempts to take over a SHIELD military base and nearly succeeds in hijacking several nuclear missiles, but is stopped at the last second by the X-men and is forced to retreat. Soon after USA decides to form the X-Force, a SHIELD military group of superhumans meant to fight other superhumans and other threats. Hundreds of mutants/mutates soon join X-Force. Erik Lehnsherr is soon declared a terrorist right after.
November 3rd, 1963: Soviet Russia learns of the existence of X-force. Fearing that the US is building an army of superhumans, the Soviet Union soon begins on finding and capturing all mutants/mutates in an effort to build their own army.
December 1st, 1963: while hiding in Romania, Erik meets a Gypsy woman named Magda who he will eventually go unto marry.
March 5th, 1964: Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff are born.
October 9th, 1964: Hank Pym successfully creates the Pym cannon, a device capable of projecting Pym particles. He soon attempts to sell his invention to multiple companies claiming that you can store a fighter jet in your pocket. Unfortunately, he is rejected by all of them due to two fatal flaws, it only lasts temporally and a shrunken fighter jet still weighs the same as a normal fighter jet. Eventually, he is found and hired by SHIELD who give him the resources he needs to continue his work.
April 23rd, 1965: SHIELD scientists discover Quantum tunneling, a form of instant wireless communication. They soon work on building devices utilizing quantum communications.
July 28th, 1965: USA enters the Vietnam war. Dozens of X-force soldiers are soon sent off to fight in the war. A few weeks later, Soviet Russia begins to send its own superhuman troops and superweapons to assist North Vietnam. The first ever superhuman war begins.
November 4th, 1965: superhumans are finally revealed to the public when the X-men stop Fin Fang Foom from destroying New York. The Superhuman registration law is quickly abolished and replaced by the superhero license act requiring all mutants/mutates to have a license and at least 3 years of training if they are use their power in public. Because of this law, Charles's School for Gifted Youngsters soon finds itself expanding in both size and scope.
January 5th, 1966: Hank Pym creates the Ant-man suit. A suit capable of temporally shrinking the wearer down to nearly any size and designed for espionage and infiltration. Later on he would create the Ant-man helmet based off of Cerebro and capable of communicating and controlling all forms of insects. Eventually, Hank became a SHIELD agent meant for espionage, infiltration and thievery.
February 2nd, 1967: Anton Vanko is deported back to Soviet Russia due to the actions of Howard Stark. An Arc Reactor is soon built in Stark headquarters in Los Angeles followed by Howard Stark revealing the blueprints and physics to the entire world. Soon multiple countries begin to slowly build their own arc reactors. The US government along with SHIELD confronts Howard Stark threatening to shut his company down and arrest him if he reveals anymore secrets or new toys to the public. Howard agrees to keep his mouth shut and continue making weapons.
March 5th, 1967: Hank Pym invents the Giant Man suit capable of temporally enlarging a person to nearly any size. Unfortunately, it is considered a failure due to the fact that it can't enhance the wearer's strength or durability and just paints them as a free kill.
March 9th, 1967: the Vietcong gains control of all Nam. Despite this, US and other countries allied with South Vietnam still remain in the fight.
April 1st, 1967: feeling confident, the Vietcong invades Thailand with an army of superhumans. Multiple democratic nations soon send troops over to Thailand for support. USA later confronts the Soviet Union claiming they are the cause of the Vietcong's attack on Thailand. They claim they have nothing to do with it, but still redraw their troops due to pressure from multiple countries. Despite this, they still leave behind multiple Soviet super weapons for the Vietcong to use.
July 15th, 1967: the first device utilizing Quantum communications is built.
March 5th, 1967: Hank Pym invents the Giant Man suit capable of temporally enlarging a person to nearly any size. Unfortunately, it is considered a failure due to the fact that it can't enhance the wearer's strength or durability and just paints them as a free kill.
January 1st, 1968: SHIELD successfully builds the first Tesseract drive, a massive device capable of artificially generating wormholes and requiring two Arc reactors to power. Additionally, they also manage to greatly improve the size and duration of the wormhole to drive several jeeps through it for just under an hour. More are soon built.
September 9th, 1968: SHIELD-Net, a precursor to the internet is formed acting as a way for SHIELD to communicate instantly and secretly with one another.
August 18th, 1968: Hank Pym and Howard Stark partner up to create a miniature version of the Arc reactor. However, things go wrong when Hank exposes an Arc reactor to Pym particles causing massive and resulting in 7 killed and 12 injured including Howard and Hank. The two spend several months in the hospital before being released. Soon after Hank is arrested and sent to an insane asylum after learning that his constant exposure to Pym particles has driven him insane. Howard continues to work on finding a way to miniaturize the Arc reactor, but refuses to work with Pym particles claiming them too dangerous.
March 9th, 1969: Howard Stark discovers a way to significantly reduce the power consummation of repulsor tech making it much more effective. Unfortunately, it is still only viable on large aircraft and ships.
May 5th, 1969: NASA is absorbed into SHIELD.
December 18th, 1969: Bruce Banner is born.
July 20, 1969: the moon landing occurs. A few minutes after arriving, the Apollo 11 crew sets up a small Quantum communications satellite and successfully performs an instant teleportation between Earth and the moon. The Apollo 11 crew are then kept hidden from the public for several months as to not reveal the existence of wormholes to the Soviet Union. Additionally, the moon landing also helped in greatly convincing the US to put more money into space travel and colonization. SHIELD begins work on its first FTL ship.
July 29th, 1969: Howard Stark learns about the development of an FTL ship and asks if they could use Repulsors instead of a traditional rocket claiming them more effective. They agree after he demonstrates their effectiveness using science.
August 19th, 1969: work on the colony scanner, a satellite used to located habitable worlds begins development.
November 18th, 1969: the Vietcong successfully conquers Thailand using superhumans, Soviet super weapons and guerrilla tactics. Soon after, they begin their invasion of both Cambodia and Laos.
October 5th, 1971: the colony scanner is built. It is soon used to locate a garden world just 239 light years away.
November 1972: the Vietcong conquers Cambodia.
January 23rd, 1973: the US government begins redrawing troops from the war.
July 28th, 1973: Victor Von Doom is born in a small Gypsy camp in Latveria. There he will spend his time studying magic for 13 years before moving to USA.
May 29th, 1974: Tony Stark is born.
June 29th, 1974: the Vietcong conquers Laos. Fearing that Vietnam may eventually become a rival superpower in the future, USA, the Soviet Union and other nations threaten to use extreme action should they do anything that might be considered an act of aggression.
July 17th, 1975: the Vietnam war officially ends with Vietnam and by extension the Soviet Union in control of not only all of Vietnam, but Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
August 8th, 1975: the Magracrata, the first ever FTL ship is built successfully traveling from the Sol system to the Eden system in just under 15 minutes. There they discover the Garden world, Terra Nova and it soon becomes humanity's first ever space colony. Multiple Tesseract drives are soon set up around the planet as well as various SHIELD facilities. Other nations attempt to follow suit, but are unsuccessful for various reasons.
August 29th, 1975: thousands of select individuals are chosen to live and help build Terra Nova as a colony.
January 9th, 1976: David Anderson is born in London, England.
March 11th, 1976: Magda divorces Erik Lehnsherr after discovering he's a fugitive and taking custody of both Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Soon Erik would go on to form the pro-superhuman terrorist group called the Brotherhood becoming a frequent enemy of both X-force and the X-men.
September 9th, 1976: Reed Richards is born in in Seattle, US.
September 23rd, 1976: Prince T'challa is born in Wakanda.
August 13th, 1977: while in an insane asylum, Hank Pym comes up with the idea of molecule stabilization using Pym particles. Curious about his idea, SHIELD rehires him, but keeps him under constant surveillance.
May 4th, 1978: Earth experiences it's first alien invasion when Blastarr opens portals between the Negative Zone and Earth and send waves of soldiers down in an attempt to retrieve the Tesseract. The invasion lasts for 3 days and is only stopped by the combined might of SHIELD, all of the superhumans and the entire world's united force.
May 7th, 1978: after the invasion, humanity decides to end all hostilities between one another and unite against potential alien threats. SHIELD becomes a UN sponsored group in charge of the security and protection of the entire human race.
May 10th, 1978: humanity decides to build up its space fleet in case of another alien invasion. Multiple asteroids are soon mined and hundreds of ships are soon built over the following decades. SHIELD soon begins its rapid colonization into space.
July 5th, 1978: humanity's acquires its second colony, Eden Prime before become open to public colonization four years later. A law is soon made where all colonies must remain closed to the public until 4-5 years later. Soon SHIELD begins colonizing planets every year.
October 9th, 1978: the internet is created.
Feburary 9th, 1979: due to his actions in helping stop the alien invasion, Magneto is given control of Genosha, a small island off the coast of Madagascar where it quickly becomes a haven for mutants and mutates.
March 15th, 1979: Terra Nova becomes open to public colonization. Thousands upon thousands soon flock to the colony for a new life.
January 9th, 1980: SHIELD begins work on setting up multiple planetary defense cannons on Earth and other planets as well the development of the Arcterus Station.
March 12th, 1980: Howard Stark invents the Arc engine, a miniaturized version of the Arc reactor meant to power cars, planes and other vehicles. The Arc engine operates at 11% the power of a full scale Arc reactor and can only last approximately 24 hours on average before needing to recharge. Like last time, he reveals the blueprints and physics behind the Arc engine to the world, but this time doesn't get shit on for it. SHIELD and other nations soon begin using Arc reactors and repulsors in their vehicles. Stark automobiles are formed creating Arc-only powered automobiles.
August 1st, 1980: Carol Danvers is born in Boston, Massachusetts.
September 9th, 1980: the Weapon X project, a SHIELD science group meant to find a way to enhance and unlock mutant powers.
December 9th, 1981: Hank Pym creates the first ever molecular stabilizer allowing for the development of larger and faster spaceships.
March 5th, 1982: on their 21st birthdays, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff move to Genosha to live with their father.
April 17th, 1983: Logan along with Elizabeth Braddock, Wade Wilson, Victor Creed and Raven Darkholme become part of Team X and have their powers enhanced to various degrees.
September 9th, 1983: Jane Parker Shepard is born on Pandora to Hannah and Bob Shepard.
April 9th, 1986: Victor Von Doom moves to New York City to study various sciences and math.
July 5th, 1987: after SHIELD discovers their multiple human rights violations, Weapon X goes rogue becoming Terrorist group dedicated to human perfection and survival.
September 1987: Peter Jason Quill is born
August 21st, 1991: Victor Von Doom attends Empire State University where he'll eventually gain a degree in both Nuclear physics and engineering alongside meeting Sue Storm and Reed Richards.
September 5th 1991: SHIELD finally finishes setting up their planetary defenses on not only Earth, but all of her colonies. The defence system consists of around 400 Repulsor cannons on every single planet each one dealing aproximextly 200 megatons of force per shot and a force field capable for destroying most energy blasts and reflecting kinetic weapons.
November 4th, 1991: Howard and Maria Stark die in a car crash leaving their only son Tony Stark owner of Stark Industries at only 17.
July 19th, 1993: SHIELD finally completes the Arcterus Station, a massive 16 kilometer space station designed to protect Earth from Alien invasions, capable of destroying planets and made out of adamantium and other highly durable material.
August 15th, 1995: Peter Parker is born.
July 2nd, 1996: humanity experiences its second alien invasion when Dormammu, Lord of Chaos invades all of humanity's colonies. The war lasts for just over six months and ending with humanity victorious via their exploitation of the Tesseract.
November 3rd, 1996: Peter Quill is assumed killed in a fatal wormhole accident.
October 1st, 1996: after accidentally opening a portal to hell in an attempt to cure cancer, Victor Von Doom is exported back to Latveria where he discovers the country has been engulfed in a Civil War between the Government and the people. Victor soon sides with the people becoming their leader and becomes reborn as Dr. Doom.
January 9th 1997: after the war, humanity enters a seven year period were all colonization stops and instead focusing on rebuilding back up to their original strength.
March 11th, 1997: Valeria Von Doom is born to Dr. Doom and an unknown mother.
August 12th, 1997: T'Challa becomes king of Wakanda.
August 15th, 2003: while experimenting with gamma bombs, Dr. Bruce banner is accidentally caught in a gamma explosion after saving a teenager from the blast. His body soon absorbs the radiation and gains the power to transform into the Hulk.
November 9th, 2003: after five years of brutal civil war, Doom and his army gain control of Latveria with Doom ruler of the country. Within only a few months, Doom manages to complete rebuild the nation back to its former glory and soon works to slowly build it up to a global superpower.
March 14th, 2004: after seven years, humanity finally begins colonizing planets again starting with New Earth, humanity's 20th colony.
April 9th, 2006: after an exposure to massive amounts of cosmic radiation while in space, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm gain superpowers and become the Superhero team known as the Fantastic Four.
May 2nd 2008: Tony Stark becomes Iron Man after seeing that his weapons are being used by various terrorist groups on Earth and other planets. Stark Industries' weapons division soon closes.
March 12th, 2010: at age 15, Peter Parker becomes Spider-man.
April 17th, 2011: (the events of Thor 1) takes place. Humanity soon discovers the existence of Asgard and their influence over the centuries. The Asgardians soon become allies with humanity. The two groups agree that the Tesseract should remain in humanity's hands the Aether/reality gem with the Asgardians.
July 19th, 2011: Steve Rogers is awakened after being frozen for 66 years.
May 4th, 2012: the Avengers, SHIELD's elite superhero team is formed to retrieve the Tesseract back from Loki. The group is composed of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Beast, the hulk and lead by Nick Fury.
March 19th, 2013: Oscorp goes bankrupt with the majority of its stock going into small and minor companies.
Present day
On board the Council explorer ship, Discover, Captain Sarina L'Sello paced back and forth between CIC of the ship as she read the mission file. Activate the dormant 314 relay, find habitable worlds, make first contact if needed and report back to the council once done. It was a fairly simple mission and one she remembered the first having read it, but it didn't hurt to check it every once in a while.
"How much longer until we reaches the system," she asked.
"3 minutes," quickly replied Bar-Vell, the ship's Kree navigational officer.
"Good. Once we reach the system, perform a full scan of the system."
"Understood."
The 314 relay was once a topic of heated and controversial debate. Originally, it was believed that we was a prime relay, one that connects to multiple relays like that of a web. Now, thanks to a Volus science team, it was known it was just an ordinary relay that connects with other relays point by point like that of a very big piece of string. Nevertheless, it didn't hurt to came to prepared as the small little Explorer ship was packing serious firepower.
Two massive guns, each capable of 300 firing 6 meter long rounds of Tungsten at 12% the speed of light per minute were positioned at the face of the ship. Two missile barrages were attached to the side of the ship with each missile able to cause 50 megaton explosion. Finally, a single Mac gun was at the nose of the ship, a weapon which fires a 24 meter long adamantium round at 4 times the speed of light where upon just reaching its target increase its mass tremendously.
Truly, it was a weapon of mass destruction capable of leaving holes through moons. Originally, it could destroy entire them in one shot. Why the turians needed such a weapon was anyone's guess. And just like any other weapon on the ship was hastily installed by the Turian Hierarchy and quote, "in case they encounter some species who were 100% dicks."
"Entering the system in 2 minutes," informed Dellus, the ship's salarian communications officer.
She had never truly believed that a species could be 100% all dicks. All species had some redeeming factors. Quarians were thieves, but made excellent engineers. Batarians were slavers, but were highly spiritual people. Every species had their flaws and their strengths except the skrulls.
Fuck those shapeshifting bastards.
"Entering the system in 1 minute."
Everyone in the galaxy hated the skrulls especially the Kree. A common joke was that if you lock a turian, a krogan and Skrull in a room together, the turian and krogan would instantly gang up on the skrull.
Getting back on track, no, she didn't believe that the new species will be a problem and that was even if they encounter a new species at all.
"Entering the system in 5, 4, 3, 2..."
Like lightning, the Discovery entered the system at six times the speed of light. A wave of dark energy dispersed from the ship and out into the cold void of space. A quick scan of the entire system quickly began. Soon information of the entire systems were soon brought up to screen. 1 red star, four planets, two being gas giants, an asteroid belt in the inner rim and the relay just north of them.
"Adrius, pilot the ship towards the relay. It should open as soon we get near," Sarina ordered.
"Aye, aye captain," the turian pilot replied as he flew the ship towards the relay. It reached it in less than a second and the relay began to slowly power up and its two rings slowly spun faster and faster. Within minutes the relay came online.
"Relay is fully powered, should I proceed?"
"Proceed." Adrius activated the ship's eezo core flying it along the relay. Within seconds, the Discovery disappeared from the 314 relay like lightning and reached the uncharted system within seconds.
Sarina let out a smile, she and her crew were the first to enter an unknown system in over 2000 years. Not only that, but they had discovered a garden world immediately upon reaching the new star system. However, before they could celebrate, Marimus, the ship's turian weapons officer spoke up.
"Captain, I'm detecting 47 energy signatures originating from the planet."
"How high?" she asked nervous, not wanting to be killed by some species' automatic defenses.
"Enough to destroy this ship in a single shot." Sarina gritted her teeth. "I'm also picking up a radio signal from the planet. I think they may be trying to contact us." The Captain's "ears" soon perked up at the turian's words.
"Play it for me," she ordered.
The weapons officers quickly followed through allowing this new species access to their radio system.
"Greetings from Humanity and Asgard, go fuck yourselves you alien scumbags."
Codex: the SHIELD fleet.
-Space fighters: 16,476
-cruisers: 837
-Frigates: 432
-Destroyers: 247
-Dreadnoughts: 139
-Space-carriers: 57
Total: 18, 188 ships
-Weapons
-Repulsors: a beam weapon which can be adjusted to fire continuously, powerful single shots, a massively wide ray or a laser. Damage ranges between 1 megaton-500 megatons of force.
-Magnetic cannons: a magnet based weapon capable of pulling and pushing ships as well as deactivating shields.
-gamma bombs: a type of nuclear bomb that releases intense rays of gamma radiation and heat upon detonation
-Pym cannon: a weapon capable of shrinking and enlarging starships
Arcturus cannon: a 4 km sized repulsor within the Arcturus station that can release anywhere between 1 to 500 quintillion megatons of force. Requires a 24 hour charging period where its shields and other defenses deactivate leaving it vulnerable.
-Anti-metal guns: a shotgun-like weapon that fires massive pellets of Wakandian vibranium attaching unto the hulls of starships and slowly deteriorating them.
-Kinetic rounds: Tungsten rounds fired from guns at 300 shots per second and capable of traveling at up to 0.5% the speed of light.
Author's notice: I hope you enjoy it and please review, fav and follow if you want to see more. Thank you.