Citadel Surprise

Ben could honestly say he did not expect his day to start off like this. He thought he was just going to take down another illegal weapons deal and take down a group of mercenaries.

You know, a typical Tuesday.

What he did not expect to happen today was he and two of his friends, and fellow Avengers, to be sucked into a vortex and find themselves in a completely different city. They might have mistaken it for a New York, but their home doesn't have flying cars up in the air. Also, none of the buildings were familiar to them.

And the strangest thing about their situation, were the people walking down below. While they did see humans among the crowd of pedestrians, they saw many different aliens among the populace. They saw a blue species that seemed to be comprised of nothing but women, another species that had an avian like face, and even something that looked like a floating jellyfish. Really, the diversity of aliens on this planet reminded them of all the different aliens the Guardians told them about.

Thing is, none of these aliens look like the ones the Guardians told them about. The blue ones looked a little like Kree, but they only saw females and Kree don't have crests on the back of their heads.

"So...what do you guys think? You think this is the future?" Ben asked as he and his friends his in an alley between two buildings.

"I don't think so." Erik said as he looked around. "I don't recognize any of these aliens, and these buildings don't appear to resemble anything Earth has ever built."

"If it weren't for the fact that I'm seeing humans walking about, I would suggest we were on another planet." Ben said.

"Either way, standing around here isn't going to help us." Vincent said as he waved his hands, which were glowing faintly, in front of both of them. Ben's costume soon changed into regular civilian clothes, along with Erik's armor, and Vincent's blue uniform. "We'll need to look inconspicuous, so we don't draw any attention to ourselves."

"I may be a man of science, but dang magic is so cool." Ben said as he inspected his clothes, which was just a normal red flannel shirt over a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Vincent's clothes was a black jacket over a white shirt, and Erik's clothes was a tan jacket over a white shirt.

"Why do you think I use it all the time?" Doctor Strange said with a smirk as they walked put the alley.

"I always thought it was because you're lazy." Erik said with a smirk.

"Watch it." Vincent said with a light glare.

So the three heroes in disguise walked along the path, keeping an eye on everything they passed by. The more they looked around, the more they realized just how big this place looked.

"Man, it's like we're in some kind of Star Wars reality." Ben said in awe, seeing a human woman speaking to one of those blue skinned aliens.

"Don't we technically live in that reality already, with all the aliens we've seen?" Erik asked. "Heck, I'm practically half alien."

"Yeah, but not to this degree." Ben retorted.

"If you have time to gawk at your surroundings, then you have time to finding us some information." Vincent said impatiently.

"What information are you looking for?"

"AH!" Ben jumped back at the sudden sound of that new voice. All Avengers turned around to see a holographic image of a woman with blue light streaks across her body. "Okay, maybe we're in Halo, cause I swear that's Cortana talking to us."

Error. This Program is not designated as Cortana. I am Avina, a virtual intelligence here to answer any and all questions you have." The hologram, Avina, said.

"So...we can ask you any question?" Erik asked as he and his friends calmed down.

"So long as it is within the range of knowledge of my data banks." Avina answered.

"Okay, then how about this? Where are we?" Vincent asked.

"Are we on another planet?" Ben asked.

"That is incorrect. You are in the galactic station known as the Citadel." Avina's image disappeared to replace it with the image of the Citadel station. "This station houses almost all of the known species throughout the entire galaxy. Asari, Turian, Salarian, Volus, Elcor, Hannar, and, most recently, Humans."

"Wait a minute, can you tell us what year it is?" Erik asked.

"The human galactic calendar would mark this year as the year 2183." Avina answered.

"So we're in the future?!" Ben asked incredulously.

"Only one way to find out." Vincent said as he stepped forward. "Are you able to tell us Earth's history?"

"Correct." Avina answered.

"What can you tell us about the Avengers?" Vincent asked.

Avina didn't say anything for a brief few seconds, which worried the heroes a bit, but they chalked it up to her just gathering data.

"Error. There is no knowledge pertaining to a group named the 'Avengers.'" Avina answered, which shocked the heroes to their core.

"What?!" Ben asked in shock.

"How can that be?!" Erik said, feeling very alarmed.

Vincent tried to keep a calm demeanor, but he too was freaking out on the inside. He didn't show it because he needed to keep a level head. Freaking out wasn't going to help their situation.

"Tell us everything. The recent history of Earth, humanity, this facility...don't leave anything out." Vincent said strongly. They needed this information if they're going to think of a plan.

So they just stood there and listened as Avina answered all of their questions.

Apparently humanity discovered some ruins belonging to a race of aliens called the Protheans on Mars, and used their technology to further upgrade their own. They started traveling across space and colonized worlds while also discovering these machines called Mass Relays, which cause ship to travel faster than light. They were told about a war with the Turians called the First Contact War, which ended in a truce by the Citadel Council.

Apparently humanity is still a little knew in galactic politics as they have only recently established and embassy here on the Citadel with an ambassador. They learned the names of all the other races that preside over the Citadel and it's size and length.

Needless to say, the heroes were in complete shock by all that they th no more questions needed to be asked, Avina disappeared, stating for them to 'have a nice day.' But honestly, how could they with what they just heard.

"Okay, so we're not just in the future...we're in a whole new reality." Ben said in slight fear, but also awe at the same time.

"A completely different universe where, apparently, we don't exist." Vincent said in frustration.

"Not to mention we've landed on a city-like space station the size of a small planet." Ben added.

"So how do we get back, Vincent?" Erik asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Vincent asked incredulously.

"Well, can't you just wave your hands and get us back home?" Ben asked.

"I've been trying." Vincent said as he waved his hands in a circular motion, but a portal wouldn't appear. "For some reason my connection to our universe is weakened. I can't make a portal there."

"How about we use the Quantum Realm?" Erik asked.

"We can't without Pym Particles, which just so happen to be in our universe." Ben said in exasperation.

The three remained in silent as they decided to just keep walking, not really having any destination on mind.

"You think our friends might be able to find us?" Erik asked.

"I hope so, cause I'm practically stumped on what we could do." Ben said.

"Well we can't just give up. We have to find a way to get back home." Vincent said as he turned to look at Ben. "And we're going to be looking at you for guidance, Ben."

"Wait, what?!" Ben said in shock.

"He's right." Erik said. "Morgan did place you as second-in-command of the Avengers in case something happened. I'd say this qualifies as something happening."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it'd be like this!" Ben said with a troubled look on his face. "I mean, I wasn't prepared for something this insane to happen."

"Well then, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Erik asked.

All of a sudden, an explosion was heard from the distance and many people ran away screaming in fright. The three heroes also managed to hear the sound of gunfire in that direction.

Ben's eyes widened in surprise before a look of determination came upon his face. "Well, Erik, ask and you shall receive." Ben was about to launch a webline and swing over there, but Vincent stopped him.

"Did you forget? We don't exist in this universe, so we can't just go off and expose ourselves. We need to be smart about this." Vincent reminded.

"We chose to do this job so we could honor our parents legacy. That includes helping everyone we can no matter what, even if they're from another universe, or if they're aliens." Ben said in a gentle yet firm tone. "I don't know how we're going to get home, but in the meantime, if these people need help then we've got to help them."

"Is that an order then?" Erik asked specifically.

Ben thought about those words asked of him. He remembered how humbled he felt when Morgan gave him of all people the responsibility of being the second-in-command of the Avengers, but also how terrified he was. He was never one to take charge, but for some reason Morgan wanted to place that responsibility on to him.

Responsibility.

That word always stuck close to his family, and he did his best to uphold his dad's words about power and responsibility. He might not want to be put in charge, but if he was responsible for his team now, then he'll work hard to make sure Morgan's faith in him wasn't for nothing.

"Yes...yes, it is." Ben said strongly as he looked at his teammates in the eyes.

Vincent looked and saw the determination in his friends eyes and smiled. He waved his hands and had their fake casual clothes disappear to bring back their hero outfits. "Then just say the words." Vincent said with a smirk.

Ben smiled as he brought out his mask and put it on. "Avengers assemble!" Ben declared as he web swung in the direction of the explosion with Erik and Vincent flying behind him.

/

Garrus was not having a good day. Today, it seemed C-Sec was having a bit of a slow day. No major crimes were happening, so he spent most of the time at his desk just filing reports. He was about to head out to lunch, but that was when Executor Pallin gave him the news.

Apparently there was a robbery in progress at a bank and he and over a dozen C-Sec officers were sent to apprehend the perpetrators. What they did not expect, when they got there, was just how heavily armed the robbers were.

"We need back up here, ASAP!" Garry's exclaimed as he and another C-Sec officer took cover behind one of their cruisers.

"They should be here in ten minutes!" Another C-Sec officer, a human this time, exclaimed as he let go of his comm link.

"Why must they always cut these things close." Garry's mumbled as they both rose up and the human fired a rifle, while Garrus took a shot from his sniper.

The robbers were of a mix batch, with a few humans, Salarians, and a couple Turians, but the ringleader appeared to be Krogan in black armor. The Krogan walked back inside the bank while most of his men continued their firefight with C-Sec. He walked behind a Salarian who was using his Omni-tool to hack into it.

"Are you finished yet?" The Krogan asked impatiently.

"Almost, Korbec. Half of the funds of this facility have been transferred into our accounts." The Salarian said as he continued hacking.

"The sooner the better." The Krogan, Korbec, grunted as he walked back to the entrance, where his gang continued to fire up C-Sec. "Looks like these C-Sec pyjaks are getting tired." Korbec brought out a couple of rocket launchers and passed me to a human. "Let's put them put of their misery."

"Right, boss." The human said with an eager grin.

Garrus and the other officers continued to fire upon the bank robbers, but they weren't getting anywhere. Every time Garrus shot one of them, another would just pop out and take their place. Garrus looked through the scope on his sniper, and his eyes widened when he saw a Krogan and human coming out with rocket launchers.

"Everyone, move back!" Garrus exclaimed as he and a few officers ran back to get out of the way, but some were pinned down by gun fire.

The ones that were unable to move out of the way, those were the ones that Korbec and the human aimed their rocket launchers at.

"NO!" Garrus exclaimed.

The rockets were fired, and made their way closer and closer to the C-Sec officers, until...

BOOOOOM!

Two large explosions shook the area as smoke covered everything. Garrus ducked for cover, along with the rest of C-Sec, waiting for the dust to spread out towards them...

...but it never did.

Garrus and the rest of C-Sec looked up and were shocked to see that not only were the pinned down C-Sec officers were okay, but they were protected by some kind of barrier. It wasn't any Biotic barrier either, but some kind of orange barrier with strange markings on it.

The bank robbers were shocked by this as well. "What the hell is that?!" Korbec exclaimed in disbelief.

Things got even more stranger when a red and black blur swung right past Garrus and made its way towards the bank entrance. The Krogan didn't have time to react as Spider-Man came swinging in and delivered a powerful swing kick, sending Korbec flying.

The human with the other rocket launcher snapped put of his stunned state as he was about to fire at Spider-Man, but an energy whip wrapped around his weapon and yanked it out of his hands. The guy looked up and, much to his immense surprise, saw Doctor Strange floating in the air. Strange still held the energy whip and snapped it forward, hitting the human criminal in the face, sending him flying and crashing into a pillar.

A few other criminals came rushing out and were about to fire upon the two heroes with their own weapons, but Erik came crashing down, sword drawn, and kicked one of the down cruisers with enough force to send it flying towards them. The criminals screamed in terror as they leapt out of the way, less they wanted to be crushed.

"Woo, now that's what I call an entrance!" Spider-Man cheered.

"Cutting it a little close there." Strange said as he summoned his Tao Mandalas.

"Well, didn't expect this place to be so far from where we were." Spider-Man argued.

Korbec got back up a glared at the three humans that were interfering with his heist. "Who in the hell are you pyjaks?!" Korbec exclaimed angrily.

"Just your ragtag bank security." Spider-Man joked. "Heard that some idiots were causing quite a mess, and on such a beautiful day such as this? What were you thinking?" Spider-Man said with a mocked shocking tone.

"What I'm thinking now is filling you with holes!" Korbec exclaimed as the rest of his gang came pouring out with their weapons raised. "Kill them!"

All the criminals raised their weapons and fired at the heroes, but Strange created a shield to protect them from the bullets. Spider-Man and Erik jumped over the shield, with the spider-themed hero launching multiple weblines and snatching their weapons out of their hands.

Spider-Man landed between a Salarian and human and performed spin kick knocking them back. He launched another webline and attached it to a Turian's chest and yanked him towards him, where he proceeded knee him right in the face.

Erik grabbed a human criminal and, with his enhanced strength, easily tossed him aside which sent him crashing into the wall. A Turian came to his side and punched him right in the face, but Erik barely even flinched. He grabbed the Turian by his armor and slammed him into ground so hard the ground cracked a bit. Another human reached behind him and brought out a shotgun, but Erik swung his sword and sliced the shotgun in half, then proceeded to kick the human criminal in the chest and sent him crashing into the wall.

Vincent clapped his hands together and spread them out, creating a staff made out of magical energy. He twirled it around and smacked a Salarian in the head, and then kicked him in the chest. His staff then bent until it changed into a whip and lashed it at a Turian, wrapping it around his neck and yanked him right into a human criminal. He summoned two Tao Mandalas and threw them like discs, hitting three criminals in the heads.

As the battle was going on, the C-Sec officers watched everything that was going on in immense surprise. They were having difficulty dealing with these criminals, and yet, out of nowhere, these three humans came in and were easily dispatching them.

None were more surprised then Garrus. He's been a C-Sec officer for a long time, so he's seen a lot of things in his life, some he tries to forget. However, he can say without a doubt, that he's never seen anything like this before. He continued to watch this battle play out with his eyes wide as saucers.

"Sir..." The human C-Sec officer said slowly in surprise. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"I'm seeing...still having a hard time believing." Garrus answered, his eyes solely focused on the three humans fighting.

When all of the criminals were taken down, all that was left was the Krogan gang leader, Korbec. Korbec glared hatefully at the humans that were interfering in his heist. His eyes focused on the human with the sword as he charged right at him head first.

Spider-Man saw him coming and tried to wars his friend. "Hey Erik, heads up!"

Erik saw the Krogan charging at him and got ready. The moment Korbec got in range, Erik ducked down and used the momentum to lift Korbec over his shoulders and toss him to the side, sending him crashing to the wall.

"By the Spirits..." Garrus whispered. No human should be able to lift up a fully-grown Krogan like that.

Korbec slowly got back up, but not before Spider-Man came in and started delivering a few blows himself. "Isn't this awesome, guys?" Spider-Man asked as he delivered a spin kick to the head of Korbec. "I mean, how often do you get to say you took down a man-sized dinosaur?"

"Not the weirdest thing we've done." Strange commented as he created a magic hammer and hid Korbec on the side of his head, sending a few teeth flying.

"But it is up there." Erik said as he came running in, strapping his sword to the strap on his back. He ran fast and delivered a nasty right hook at the Krogan, sending him flying and crashing right through the wall at the bank.

Korbec groaned as he tried to get back up, but he soon fell unconcious. Seeing that they were all taken down, the three heroes gathered all of the unconscious criminals together and piled them up, which Spider-Man then webbed them together.

"How awesome are we?" Spider-Man cheered as he and Erik did a fist bump.

"Let's not celebrate just yet." Strange said as he looked forward.

The other two heroes looked to where he was looking at and noticed the C-Sec officers all coming out of hiding and staring wide-eyed at them. A few civilians even came out of hiding as they too witnessed the spectacle of their actions, with a few of them even recording them with their Omni-tools.

It started slowly, but the crowd of people and aliens started to clap. Not only were the civilians starting to call for them, but even a few C-Sec officers.

While happy that they were able to help, Spider-Man took a few steps and came face-to-face with a Turian that had a scope on his left eye. "Are you the guy in charge here?" Spider-Man asked.

Garrus finally shook off the surprise from seeing these individuals before speaking. "In a way. My name is Garrus Vakarian." Garrus introduced.

"Is everyone okay?" Spider-Man asked.

"Everyone is okay, thanks to the three of you." Garrus answered honestly as the other two heroes stood by their friend. "There's just one question...who are you three?"

Spider-Man smiled underneath his mask before answering. "We're the Avengers."

Not waiting for a response, Strange opened a portal right behind them, much to Garrus' surprise. All three of them stepped through the portal, but before it could close Vincent waved his hand while it glowed at Garrus, and then had a small smile on his face. With that done, the portal closed.

Garrus continued to look stunned, not really sure on what to do.

/

"The...Avengers?"

Garrus stood in front of his superior, Executor Pallin, and was giving his final report on the bank he is a few hours ago.

"That is what the one in the mask called themselves." Garrus said.

"And you have nothing else on them?" Pallin asked further.

"No, sir. All I know is that they posses strange abilities I've never seen before in humans." Garrus said as he read his report out loud from a datapad. "The one in the mask had agility and strength that seemed unnatural and was able to shoot a web-like substance from his wrist; the one in the cloak was able fly and seemed to be able to use these orange-like constructs that seemed to be more versatile than Biotics; and the one with the sword appeared to possess immense straight, probably stronger than the one in the mask."

"And you have no idea where they went?" Pallin inquired.

"No, the one in the cloak just waved his fingers and what looked like some kind of portal appeared. They went through it, and they just vanished." Garrus said.

Pallin sighed at that. "Well that's just great. And we have no means of tracking where they are." Pallin brought out his own data pad and read through it. "We've reviewed the footage and the one in the mask is obvious, but the others we can't tell who they are because facial recognition can't match them. It's almost like they don't even exist."

"How can that be?" Garrus asked in surprise.

"I don't know, but we need to figure this out." Executor Pallin said as he stood up and looked out his window. "I don't know who these 'Avengers' are, but we need to bring them in for questioning."

"Is that really a good idea, sir?" Garrus asked. "After all, they did save not only my life, but also the lives of quite a few fellow officers of C-Sec."

"I'm not questioning that, but the media's going nuts over this and we don't have all the answers, and that greatly troubles me." Executor Pallin said before he sighed an placed a hone on Garrus' shoulder. "Go home, Garrus. Take a few days off and get some rest."

"I'm alright, sir." Garrus said.

"Maybe, but these things can take a toll, no matter how good the officer is." Pallin said firmly, but also gently at the same time. "Go home, Garrus. You've earned it."

Garrus couldn't really argue with his boss as he just nodded his head. "Very well, sir."

Garrus exited C-Sec academy and made his way to his skycar so he can head on home. Today had been some day, and he could only guess that this was just the beginning. He had no idea who those three individuals were, but he can only guess that he'll be seeing them again real soon.

As he was about to enter his vehicle, he noticed a swirl of orange sparks appearing beneath him.

"What the..." Garrus whispered.

That was all he said before he felt the ground beneath his feet disappear and he felt himself falling down. Garrus yelled in surprise before he felt his back hit hrs on something and he groaned in slight pain.

"You alright?"

Garrus opened his eyes and gave a yelp in surprise when he saw that he was no longer outside of C-Sec, but on top of a random building. He looked up to see the three individuals from before, the Avengers as they called themselves, standing in front of him. The one in the mask removed his mask and offered him a hand up.

"Garrus Vakarian, maybe you can help us out." Ben said with a smile as the other Avengers stood beside him.

/

AN: There you go, another chapter for this story.

I should mention that in my last chapter I made the mistake of not updating the chapter from my files, cause I've had it saved before the Disney+ shows premiered. Now that they've been out for awhile, I can definitely say that some aspects of the Marvel Disney+ shows will make it into my story.

Now, just a reminder, this is starting a couple months before the start of Mass Effect 1, so there's going to be a few filler chapters in the beginning before we get to the main story. When we do get to the main story, things are really going to get intense.

Garrus is an awesome character and I felt he'd be the perfect guy for the job of aiding our three heroes into integrating with their new environment. They've got their work cut out for them, seeing as how something like this has ever happened to them before.

That's all I have to say, but if you have any questions, please let me know.

Until then, I'll see you next time. Stay healthy, and stay safe, my friends.