Hello there! Welcome to a very special entry into the Kryptonverse series, featuring my favorite sci-fi property of all time :D it took me quite a while to get the Kryptonverse to a place in which I could finally write some Mass Effect content within it (which I foolishly decided against when I was planning out the series, thanks to burning out on a Mass Effect crossover I wrote back on FFN), but we're finally here. The retcon phenomenon in chapter 34 of The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk finally allowed me a canon explanation for its inclusion, and I couldn't be happier! Shoutout to Jahoan17 on Tumblr, who correctly deduced months ago that I'd be including this universe eventually!
There's gonna be lots of notes at the end of this chapter, so make sure to read those. It'll give you a bit more context as to how this came to pass both in and out of universe. And I guess, fair warning: though I wouldn't consider this crack by any means, I do realize that the concepts presented here can be a little outlandish to begin with. Rest assured, Shepard is still Shepard, and our beloved Mass Effect alien races are no different, even if they might belong to the Nova or Kree Empire instead of the Citadel Council.
Be warned: as part of the Kryptonverse series, this fic contains content from multiple fandoms beyond Ben 10 and Mass Effect, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Dragon Ball, just in this first chapter. Feel free to look up other fics in the series for further context, either through my profile or over on the "There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton" series page on Archive of Our Own.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
"Knowhere Traffic Control, this is the starship Kodiak. Requesting approach vector." –Shepard says, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Acknowledged, Kodiak. Approach vector sent. Hope the haul was good, Rojo."
Shepard smirks at the mention of her chosen alias – Vega would be proud. "It was good. I'll send you a tip once the bounty clears, but you better keep my preferred landing pad open, alright?"
The operator hums, pleased. "Roger that, Bounty Hunter. Welcome back to Knowhere."
The redhead toggles off the comm, and inputs the approach vector into the Hunter-Killer's navicomputer. She sighs, wistfully – Joker would love to try this baby on for size, she just knows it. She just can't appreciate the commandeered Ravager vessel as much as Jeff would.
Knowhere looms in the distance, ever the morbid picture no matter its odd beauty. The severed head of a god is a bizarre place to live – and live off of, for most in the station, mining the slowly regenerating fluids and flesh of the never-quite-dead Celestial – and yet it's somehow not the strangest part of living in this universe.
The Kodiak coasts through the enormous right eye socket, the airlock designated for inbound vessels, flying by defense turrets, surveyor drones, and mining pods chugging along on their way to offload their colorful-yet-grisly cargo. She has the ship lock onto the landing pad and sets the landing sequence on auto – fine-tuned by EDI, given her history of rocky landings and less than ideal piloting skills. Shepard then removes the harness, dons her helmet, and heads down the ladder to the cargo bay, popping the hatch and squeezing by the unconscious body of her quarry, secured to the M-Class vessel's aft section.
Three people approach her, all of them alien; the first, the Cascan dockworker named Delen, is a familiar sight. The other two – a furry, tiger-like Appoplexian, and a red-skinned, four-armed Tetramand – are strangers to her, though the insignia on their uniforms isn't; they're affiliated with the Hunter's Guild in some form or fashion, just like herself, even if they aren't bounty hunters themselves.
It's still wild to think of herself that way. Zaeed would have a field day if he knew.
"Stars alive, Rojo, is that a damn Cybertronian?" –Delen gasps, agitated, the water inside his robotic containment suit fizzing up like it's suddenly carbonated. "You trynna get on Lockdown's shit list?"
"Maybe a little bit." –she drawls. "Can't say I appreciate him hogging all the big and tall targets."
The Guild workers walk by her, glaring at her and giving her a disdainful huff – they don't think much of her, even if she did take down and bring in a member of one of the tougher alien species in the galaxy, because she's a human, and a Terran at that. Humans are prolific in this universe's Milky Way – perhaps the most numerous non-insectoid race, if one counts their many subspecies – but Terrans are exceedingly rare; the human homeworld is something of a backwater, and its people remain trapped within the Sol system, itself quarantined and blockaded by the Kree Empire.
Delen shakes his head. "Your funeral, I guess." –he says. "Any issues with the Kodiak?"
"Not that I could tell." –Shepard shrugs. "Maybe check the aft section for any problems the uh, haul might've caused. Otherwise, just fuel it up and send me the bill."
"You got it, Rojo." –the Cascan says. "It'll be ready by the time you set out again."
The redhead nods, bringing up her Omni-tool and tipping the dockworker for his loyal service. She looks back at the alien pair, who've just detached the disabled Cybertronian from her ship, struggling to hold him aloft long enough to lay him on a nearby hoverpad. She can relate there, at least – it took pushing her Cerberus-given biotics to their absolute limit just to drag him back to her ship. Satisfied, she heads out.
The Guild's headquarters are heavily fortified, deep inside of Knowhere, roughly centered on the base of the Celestial's brain cavity. It's not, however, the only place to turn in her bounties; the bar known as the Lacrimal Bone is a two minute walk away from her preferred landing pad, and its owner is notorious for keeping the place peaceful (or else), so most of the Guild's top Hunters prefer to offload their bounty pucks there.
The Lacrimal Bone's doors slide open. It's early afternoon – or what passes for it on this station, the light of the relatively small star Sahrabarik barely filtering in through Knowhere's eye sockets and various cranial fissures – and a couple of hours before the current mining shift is done, so the place looks like a graveyard; the only people inside are the bar's owner, Launch, and her partner, the grumpy Saiyan warrior and fellow bounty hunter, Raditz.
"Afternoon, lovebirds." –she drawls, grabbing a seat at the bar.
Raditz huffs, crossing his ridiculously muscular arms. "Gods damn you, Rojo. How in the Hells did you manage to take down a Cybertronian?" –he grumbles.
Launch's blue-haired side shakes her head. "Oh, ignore him, darling." –she says, apologetic. Her blonde side sneers. "Lover boy here's just disappointed you beat him to it."
Shepard's not quite used to the Monoclonal [J1] woman yet; even after a couple of months, she's not quite sure which of the completely separate bodies she's supposed to talk to at any given time, even though they're physically identical save for their hair color, and ostensibly controlled by a single mind. It's the dual personalities that get her; Launch's blue-haired side is an innocent, sweet girl that reminds her of Liara when they first met, while her blonde self is rowdy and aggressive enough to get along with Jack.
"Maybe he should spend less time at the bar and more time tracking down bounties." –Jane says, teasingly. "Just a thought."
Raditz's eyes narrow. "Careful, Terran. You might be the Guild's favorite rookie, but you're still just a rookie. Punch too far above your weight class and we'll see how long that lasts."
Shepard rolls her eyes, unimpressed. "Really don't know what you see in this blockhead, Launch." –she says, turning to the bar's owner.
"Aw, he's sweet when he wants to be." –Blue Launch says, then Blonde Launch smirks. "Plus, you wouldn't believe the size of his- "
Jane puts the bounty puck on the table, interrupting Blonde Launch's TMI comment. "Nope. Not letting you finish that thought. Just cash this bad boy in for me, would you?"
Blonde Launch cackles, grabbing the puck. "Never would've pegged you for a prude, Rojo." –she drawls, passing the object under a scanner next to the Planchaküle beer tap.
"It's just not polite to discuss these things in public." –Blue Launch chastises her other half, blushing deeply. Raditz doesn't seem to care one way or another.
The scanner chimes positively. "Ah, whatever, you prissies. Bounty's cleared. A hundred thousand units for the Decepticon defector known as Flywheels, brought in alive." –Blonde Launch reads. "Damn, Rojo. Gotta say, I think I'm with Raditz on this one; how the frag did you manage to take down one of the big bots?"
"I don't approve of the language, but it is quite a feat. Especially for a Terran." –Blue Launch agrees. "Um, no offense."
In all honesty, apprehending the rogue Cybertronian wasn't too hard; next to taking on a Reaper on foot, or desperately charging Harbinger's stronghold, taking down a fifteen-foot tall shape-shifting robot was practically a cinch.
"None taken." –Shepard shrugs. "Just quick reflexes and liberal use of my grenade launcher, I guess."
Blonde Launch snorts. "Maybe you should lend it to this jackass." –she says, pointing her thumb at a certain surly-looking Saiyan. "Better yet, sell it to me. I could use a back-up for my trusty plasma shotgun when the patrons get rowdy."
"Sorry, hon. The grenade launcher stays with me." –Shepard retorts. "I guess Raditz will have to make do."
Raditz scoffs. "Bah! A Saiyan warrior needs no more weapon than his body and his ki."
"Plus, he's a terrible shot." –Blonde Launch snarks.
Shepard doesn't doubt it, but Raditz is right, it really doesn't matter; bravado or not, the Saiyan species comes with their own form of ranged weaponry in the form of ki blasts, harnessing their mysterious inner energy into highly explosive bolts they can shoot from their palms. Combined with their innate ability to fly, their superhuman strength, and their seemingly endless stamina, they make for formidable opponents indeed. She hasn't faced one in combat yet, but given how many of their number have become part of the many Ravager clans since the defeat of their previous employer, she's bound to get a bounty for one sooner rather than later.
Her Omni-tool pops up, letting her know that the transaction is complete. Part of her sighs in relief; a hundred thousand units should take quite a load off her shoulders, covering fuel and repairs for at least a few months, provided she paces herself and doesn't get into too much trouble. However, taking down a Cybertronian comes with a certain level of notoriety – one she isn't sure she wants yet, not with how recent their foothold in this universe is.
The holographic UI also pings her with a message from EDI that has her rising from the stool and preparing to head out of the bar. "Right, well. Pleasure doing business, as always." –she says.
"Aww, leaving so soon?" –Blue Launch asks.
"Not soon enough, if you ask me." –Raditz grumbles.
Shepard rolls her eyes behind the helmet's visor. "Charming as ever, huh? You take care, Raditz – and hey, better luck next time we both sign up for the same bounty."
She walks away before the Saiyan can get aggressive, though it's not because she fears him in any way; it's because of the people currently coming into the bar.
A young Sotoraggian, an Asari commando, and a grizzled old Krogan mercenary step inside – all of them fellow bounty hunters, a veritable 'who's who' of the Guild's top ranked members, really only missing a couple of big wigs who're most likely off-world right now. The Sotoraggian is named EightEight, a former rookie and sister to one of the Guild's best hunters, SixSix; the Asari is a frighteningly powerful biotic, a middle-aged commando named Aleena that reminds her a lot of Tela Vasir...and the Krogan is none other than Urdnot Wrex.
As always, she gazes into his reptilian eyes from behind the visor, but finds no recognition staring back at her. She nods at them and exits the bar, trying her best not to break down on the way to EDI's office.
Ah, this is honestly so satisfying. I've had this fic in the works for over a year, and the idea has haunted me pretty much since I started posting here on AO3, and I've finally made it to a point in the series where I can justify (to myself, at least) writing Mass Effect content in the Kryptonverse. As I said at the top, when I started planning out this series, I was burning out on my most popular fic, Whispers of Darkness, a StarCraft x Mass Effect x Halo crossover here on FFNet. I loved those universes, and I loved the fic I was writing (outdated now, of course), but I very quickly found out that the fandoms for those properties can be...less than civil. I wrote that fic for a long time, but eventually, I gave up. That story sits unfinished to this day, and I doubt that'll change for the foreseeable future.
Unsurprisingly, I was rather hesitant to include ME in the Kryptonverse after that, but once I got into the swing of things, I genuinely regretted it. The Cosmic side of Marvel can be very cool, but it's rarely detailed enough to warrant exploring, and though I compensated by bringing in the Ben 10 mythos and all its species to give some texture to the Milky Way, I've always felt like I needed races like the Asari and Turians to give it structure. So, since I had the option of using the retcon phenomenon (which I planned to use at the earliest at the end of the first "season" of the Supergirl fic), I decided to introduce the (admittedly complex and confusing) concept earlier, and piggyback the Mass Effect mythos into the Kryptonverse through it.
So yes, Shepard's here. EDI's here. Anyone who was alive in 2012 in the Mass Effect universe, like Matriarch Benezia, is here. There's a few small changes, as you'll see later, but they're very surface level - just to fit into the established Kryptonverse better. Anyway, some trivia for you!
-Rojo is the word for the color red in Spanish. It's also the name of a Ben 10 recurring antagonist, also voiced by Jennifer Hale, so I thought it'd be fitting if she took an alias upon arriving on the Kryptonverse, just in case she ran into someone who might've known her and wanted her dead.
-The Lacrimal Bone appears in the story "Close Encounters of the Gem Kind". Launch, the proprietor, and a character from the Dragon Ball series, is now part of an OC alien race called the Monoclonal - they have a single mind split into two identical bodies, which usually develop separate personalities. I'll add an entry to the codex on AO3 with more info soon!
-Raditz finally makes an appearance after getting mentioned in "You and Me, and the Woman We Could Be"; he's one of the top hunters in the Guild - still kind of a dick, but much less murderous than in canon.
-Much like Supergirl, Shepard wasn't brought into the Kryptonverse properly - which you can actually see in chapter 34 of "The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk". She's aware that she isn't from this universe, and she can see all the changes with regards to her original home dimension. She also knows EDI wasn't anywhere near her when she was ripped out of her universe, so she knows the circumstances of her interdimensional travel were not natural.
-Lest you jump to conclusions on me, the Reapers don't exist in the Kryptonverse, and they never have. Perhaps the Leviathans died out before they could create the AI that spawned them all, or their home planet was wiped out in the turmoil of the early universe, in which Celestials would fight and destroy entire solar systems as collateral damage. There are...so many bad guys in this universe already. I can't justify adding the eldritch mecha-squids to the equation. Sorry if that's a bit disappointing.
-In that same vein, there is no Citadel, and there are no Mass Relays. As you've seen elsewhere throughout the Kryptonverse, the galaxy uses a Warp network created by the Galvan, and the seats of government in the galaxy are Xandar and Hala. Most of the ME races' homeworlds fall within the territory of the Nova Empire, and they have representatives in the Nova Senate. Others, like Batarians, have been subjugated by the Kree and become vassal worlds/species.
-This does mean that the Mass Effect series is no longer a fictional property on Earth; it will have been replaced by one of those soundalikes you use when you don't have the trademark. However, a few people were protected from the retcon's mind-altering event: the people at the battle in the Labyrinth, of course, but also Ben and Julie, who happened to be in close proximity to each other, and thus protected by the Omnitrix itself. You'll note that they're both fans of the series in "Changing of the Guard"... ;)
There's more, but I'll let you go, for now. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you're excited for more ME content! If you have any questions or comments, reach out here or over on Tumblr (darthkvznblogs). Until next time!