Author's Note/Disclaimer: My name is Dark Dhampir, and I do not own either the Mass Effect franchise, nor ANY of the live-action D.C. series that either exist now or may possible exist in the future. I am writing this with only one goal: to bring to life a funny and entertaining idea I had that grew out of control and needed to be written. But, to do that, I can't be the serious writer I usually am. To honor my original vision, I must become someone else.

I must become something else . . .

The Mass Effect and the Speed Force: Volume 1

The Brave and the Bold

Chapter 1

"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the Fastest Man Alive. When I was a child, I saw my mother killed by Something Impossible. My father went to prison for her murder. Then, an accident made me The Impossible. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me, and one day, I'll find who killed my mother and get justice for my father. I am The Flash!"

"Level out, Joker!" Shepard barked. Immediately afterwards, she gripped the rail.

"I'm trying," Jeff "Joker" Moreau replied. "But, we're surfing a hurricane here! Give a guy a little slack, won't you!"

"I'll give you a medal when this is over!" the woman screamed. "Just make sure we live to see it!"

Shepard did not need this. She had fought the Collectors, rescued colonists, and put away or killed every variety of thug on this trip. Along the way, though, she'd had to say goodbye to too many friends.

Grunt.

Jacob.

Zaeed.

Kelly.

Mornith

(O.K. that last one wasn't actually a "friend:" she was an over-powered psychopath, and if the Suicide Squad still existed, Shepard would recommend her in a heartbeat, if not faster. Still, she fought iwth them, and that was worth some fake sorrow and a toast in her name in bar, at least.)

All in all, Shepard had EARNED a nice, long vacation. Preferably, on a tropical beach somewhere with Liara, or maybe touring the deserts of Southern Utah with Thane and his son. Heck, she'd take a weekend watching Krogan pro-wrestling with Wrex and Garrus at this point.

Obviously, she hadn't gotten any of those things. Not even watching sweaty Krogans grapple.

Instead, some . . . Jerks? Assholes? Morons? Yes, Morons had decided to do a little pirating. Right. Under. Her. Freaking. Nose. So, before she could take the team back to the Citadel, she had to spend a week chasing after them because they stole a classified something from some Salarian government ship en route to the Citadel. No, Shepard hadn't been told what it was, except that whatever it was was so important that only a Spectre could retrieve it. And who was the only Spectre in the area: her. Of. Freaking. COURSE!

At the moment she was mentally cursing the Council for giving her this assignment, and for NOT telling her what the something did. Apparently, it fouled up Mass Relays, which was why the Normandy-2 was flaying around like . . . well, like a surfboard in a hurricane. Jane spared a moment to pray that the pirates also survived this trip-if only so she could give them the ass-kicking they all deserved.

"Shepard! The scanners are picking something up!" Miranda Lawson cried. Normally, she wouldn't be involved in the actual piloting, but they were running low on qualified crew members, and, of course, the woman literally designed to be perfect had been trained in spaceflight. "I think we're nearing the end of the corridor!"

"Hang on, everyone!" Shepard shouted into the intercom. "This is the end!" Up ahead, she could indeed see a bright light at the end of their tunnel. And, they flew strait into it . . .

"Is this . . . Earth?" Miranda asked. After exiting the Mass Relay's gravity corridor, the ship had continued to toss and spin until Joker had gotten her under control again. Now, they were drifting across the night sky, like a gull flying over the sea.

"I am unable to verify at this time, Agent Lawson," EDI, the AI, responded. "My Extranet link was damaged in the corridor." She had spent the whole of the trip in the ship's computer system, monitoring and correcting a thousand things the others couldn't. Which was why she hadn't been able to offer verbal input while they were in the corridor.

Or, maybe she just had a sense of compassion and had decided not to tell everyone how doomed they all were.

Still, it looked like they were back on Earth, or more accurately above it. Below the Normandy-2 was a sprawling city lit up by the glow of a thousand lights. It bordered a wide lake or bay on one side. Cars raced the streets below . . . wait.

"Why are the cars on the ground?" Joker asked. "It's been a while since I've never been to Earth, but last I checked, we still used sky-cars, right?"

The pilot was right; looking down Miranda could see that all the vehicles were land-bound. "Could there be some low-flying warning?" she asked. It happened occasionally, not often, mind you, more like once in every dozen or so blue moons, but it did happened. Shepard meanwhile . . .

"I think . . . I think that's Central City," she said.

"That was your hometown, right?" Miranda

"Yeah . . ." Shepard continued staring, wishing. Was it possible? Did they?"

"What was that?" Joker yelled.

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

The pilot was leaning as far forward as he dared in his seat, straining to see . . . whatever. "I don't know. I think it was a . . ."

"A what, Joker?" Shepard asked. Her mouth went dry.

"A glowing streak," he answered. "Or . . . a flash."

For a moment, all was silent.

"EDI . . ." Shepard whispered. "Did your monitors see what she saw?"

"Negative, Commander," the AI replied. "The Normandy-2 has sustained too much damage."

"Check the net!" the Spectre ordered, frantically typing on her Omnitool, hacking into the local newsfeed. Her mind was on auto-pilot. "Find out what date it is!"

"Shepard," Miranda said. "You can't believe . . . I mean . . . To think that . . ." For once, the "perfect woman" was at a loss for words.

At any other time, Shepard would have relished this moment (as it was, she'd still keep it in the back of her mind for later reference. Possibly ask EDI for footage if the internal cameras still worked). Right now, she was just staring at the date on her glowing, orange, holographic gauntlet. "Just do it," she said.

They did.

"EDI, turn on the intercom," Shepard requested.

"At once, Commander," EDI replied, sounding uncharacteristically subdued.

"Hello, everyone," the Spectre said. "Good news, is we're alive and still flying. Weird news is, we've somehow arrived back on Earth . . . Central City, in fact; my old stopping grounds. So, the other good news is that we've landed in the one place I know my way around." She paused to take a breath. "And, the last news . . . I guess this is technically bad news . . . ah, yeah . . . and other weird news . . . um . . . We've-ah-somehow gone back in time. Cut the feed, EDI!"

EDI, bless her, did this before Shepard could hear the response of her crew (She could still hear an echo of their shock through the doors, but that might have been her imagination). "Joker," she said, tight-faced. "Could you land us in the Bad Lands? Out that way," she pointed, "there's some wide-open, deserted areas. Should be good enough for us."

"Sure, ma'am," the brittle-boned pilot said, too weird-out over the whole ordeal to live up to his nickname.

For about a minute.

"Hey, Shepard?" he asked.

"Yeah, Joker?" she answered.

"If we're in the early twenty-first century," he said, "and that's Central City . . . Then that, that flash I saw must've been . . ."

"Oh, no!" Miranda groaned. "Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. It can't be. It can't be-"

"It was the Flash," Shepard said. At that point, her brain caught up with situation, and the Spectre responded to it with her usual discipline and professionalism; she let out a noise that could have been described as either a "whoop" or a baboon's war cry, and elaborated on what she'd just said. "THAT WAS THE FLASH! YOU JUST SAW THE FLASH!" Then, she paused. Her eyes widened, and her lip quivered ever so slightly."AND I MISSED IT!"

Author's Notes (Again): EXPLANATION TIME! DO NOT SKIP! THIS IS IMPORTANT!

This is where I explain some of the more possibly confusing bits of this fic: This story takes place an undetermined amount of time in The Flash's future, and I am writing this story under certain conditions and with certain ideas still floating in my own and the greater internet's minds. If any of this is later contradicted, I am sorry, but please try to roll with it. I am also going to be making a few tweaks to the story of The Flash, thus far:

1) Let's get the tweaks out of the way. Everything up until the episode "Rogue Time" is cannon, and so is 90% of that episode; the only thing (for now) that changes is that Barry has not yet started to suspect that Joe was right about Wells (Whom I will continue to refer to by that name, because that's the name everyone in the show's world knows him as and because I don't want to confuse him with Eddie Thawne). Personally, I thought that part was too early in the proceedings and MUCH to abrupt considering how staunchly Barry was defending Wells before. Mason's still dead, but Barry didn't immediately jump to the conclusion that Wells was responsible for it. For one thing, he still thinks the man is a paraplegic.

2) This fic is written under the assumption, drawn from statements made by the creators of Arrow and The Flash and from my fellow internet geeks, that at some point both heroes, their allies, and the other heroes who, for want of a better term, "guest star" in the main two's shows will unite to form the Arrowverse's Justice League (I call trademark on that name, by the way). By "guest-stars" I mean The Atom, Firestorm, Canary, Katana, Vixen (who is getting her own online, animated series that will take place in the Arrowverse), etc.

3) This Fic is being written under the assumption the show creators will get their wish and the now in-the-future Titans and Supergirl series will also take place in the Arrowverse despite one being owned by TNT, and the other belonging to Warner Brothers. Not promising all of them will show up, just saying don't count them out.

4) Other assumptions will be revealed as follows.

P.S.

I know that openning was a little dark. All I can say is, well . . . when was the last time you saw a comedy that didn't include any level of seriousness. Besides, this an adventure story, too. There have to be some stakes, or else we're not gonna care.