Chapter 245: The Great Expedition Begins!
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
As word spread that the Cancer-Ridden Universe was about to collide with and invade their own, other powers across the universe reacted quickly once they got the news.
To keep the balance of their home universe from being torn apart, the three great empires of the Marvel universe reached an alliance almost simultaneously, moving fast enough that even Matthew found himself a little surprised.
The most technologically advanced of the three, the Shi'ar Empire, reached out to both the Skrull Empire and the Kree Empire, and together they pushed their combined forces toward the weak point in space where the Cancer-Ridden Universe and the real universe were about to meet.
That's how bad things had to be.
After all, the three empires had long-standing feuds with each other.
Border skirmishes and planet-seizing between them were a regular occurrence.
For the three of them to lay down arms against each other and unite against an outside threat said everything about just how dire the situation in the Cancer-Ridden Universe really was.
In the words of the Shi'ar Empire's own think tank: "Since it's a parallel universe, it stands to reason that Universe 10011 should have its own versions of all three of our empires as well."
"And if all of them are already on the verge of collapse, then us continuing to fight each other is basically asking to die."
And so.
[Cease all infighting. Unite against the outside threat!]
By the time this news reached Earth, Matthew was already in his office, mapping out the route for the Great Expedition.
Learning that the three empires had already moved first, he didn't hesitate for long.
After all, the Many-Angled Ones over in the Cancer-Ridden Universe weren't going to sit around waiting for him to finish getting everything ready. And with someone else already moving first, Earth had even less reason to hang back.
As a joint announcement from Holy Terra and its allied nations went out worldwide, the people of Earth, who'd already sensed something was coming, each thought some version of the same thing: there it is.
[To stop the invasion of the extradimensional dark gods, Umbrella Corporation, in partnership with the nations of Earth, is officially launching the Great Expedition.]
[All available forces will deploy in three days.]
[In three days, we draw the blade against the dark gods of the outer dimensions.]
As the announcement went out, every nation, already on standby, responded almost as one.
Just before the army moved out, Hank McCoy, "the Beast" of the Mutant Academy, came looking for Matthew, and handed over a few small "gadgets" he'd recently developed.
After a bit of questioning, it turned out these "gadgets" had an official name: Planet-Killer Bombs.
Every single one carried enough destructive force to wipe out an entire planet.
Matthew had no idea what McCoy had actually been researching these for, but now that they were in his hands, he was certainly going to put them to good use.
As the departure date named in the official announcement drew closer, the entire planet seemed to fall under some kind of mute button.
Citizens of Holy Terra and the people of every other nation alike kept their eyes quietly fixed on the sky, praying without a word.
Until the day finally came.
As the newly outfitted warships rose into the sky one after another, rapidly assembling in low Earth orbit.
Their engine trails lit up the night sky bright as day.
Looking up from the ground, the entire sky looked like it had been lit by countless newborn stars.
The fleet, vast enough to blot out the heavens, rolled forward above the cloud layer.
Watching the fleet gradually vanish into the sky, no one shouted. No one cheered.
Everyone simply stood with their heads tilted back, watching the departing ships grow smaller and smaller, silently wishing the expedition force well.
They knew all too well.
If even this fleet failed, Earth's fall wouldn't be far behind.
Out in the depths of space.
Three massive warships, each stamped with the Umbrella and Holy Terra insignia, cut through space at the very front of the formation.
Behind them, the medium and light ships followed close, clustered together like stars gathered around them.
Further back still came the ships built by Earth's various nations, replicated from the blueprints Matthew had provided, each hull bearing its own nation's insignia, flickering faintly in and out of view under the starlight.
The faster-than-light travel people liked to imagine, though, didn't actually exist out here.
The universe, after all, was simply too vast.
So vast that even traveling at the speed of light, crossing between galaxies to reach a destination would take an absurd amount of time.
Which was exactly why the truly advanced civilizations of the universe had joined together to build star gates at strategic points.
Massive spatial nodes that used warp drives to make instantaneous jumps across space.
Their existence folded star systems separated by countless light-years down into a single step.
Right now, the first star gate had already appeared ahead of the fleet.
"We've reached the designated coordinates."
"On my mark, engage warp drives in sequence."
"Prepare for the jump!"
Hunk, temporarily appointed as vanguard commander of the Great Expedition force, now wearing a symbiote combat suit custom-built for him by Tony, kept issuing orders to the fleet behind him.
His second-in-command, Leon S. Kennedy, stood beside him, also clad in a symbiote combat suit.
Standing further back were the corrupted version of Homelander, and a further-enhanced Wesker and Ultimate Nemesis.
The order came down.
Warp drives fired up one after another, and the jump began at once!
The next instant!
A burst of light suddenly flared across space, and several ships vanished from where they'd been in an instant.
Seconds after those ships vanished, the rest of the fleet flashed with the same light and disappeared entirely.
By the time they reappeared, they were already in an entirely different star system.
"Matthew... are you saying this is the actual Asgard from Norse mythology?" Tony asked, standing with a group of Avengers on the Bifrost, looking toward Matthew at the front.
But before Matthew could answer, a voice full of authority beat him to it.
"That's right. This is the Asgard of Earth's own mythology."
At the far end of the Bifrost, Odin, the Eternal Spear in hand, walked toward the group.
He wasn't wearing his signature ornate golden armor this time. Instead, he'd changed into a plain, unadorned suit, entirely silver-grey from head to toe.
At a glance, it almost looked like an unfinished piece straight out of the forge.
But the moment Matthew saw what Odin was wearing, his eyebrows shot up.
Figures. The old man had dug the Destroyer out of storage.
The Destroyer: the ultimate weapon Odin had forged specifically to fight off a Celestial invasion of the Nine Realms.
Its entire body was forged from Uru metal from the golden palace itself, nearly indestructible, and capable of destroying practically anything made of known matter.
Sure, people called it a robot, but at its core, it was really an extraordinarily powerful suit of armor.
Whenever a genuinely dangerous enemy showed up, Odin would put it on and power the armor with his own divine energy, a suit capable of killing gods outright.
The fact that Odin had gone as far as breaking out the Destroyer said everything about just how seriously the King of Gods was taking this war.
Behind Odin, Thor stood off to the side, gripping his "Meow-meow" hammer tight.
Further back stood the ranks of Asgard's Einherjar warriors and the Valkyrie legion.
The full host of Asgard's realm stood arrayed in formation across the Bifrost, golden armor and silver blades merging into a single unbroken sheet of light under the starlight.
Just looking at them was enough to bring on a wave of grim, martial menace.
What caught Matthew off guard, though.
Loki, who he'd expected to see, wasn't standing beside Thor.
Looked like Odin still hadn't let him out of prison.
Which, honestly, made sense.
Let the God of Mischief loose in a war at this scale, and who knew what kind of mess he'd cause behind everyone's back.
"Matthew Lawrence. Where's your own legion?"
Odin's gaze swept slowly across the gathered superheroes before finally settling on Matthew.
Matthew didn't bother hiding anything, and said plainly, "Earth's fleet already left ahead of me. I came here just to work out the details of this war with you."
"Details?" Odin raised an eyebrow.
"That's right." Matthew nodded.
"Honestly, I'm not planning to make our own universe the main battleground."
He paused, his eyes fixed straight on Odin. "The way I see it, I'll use Chaos Magic directly to tear open the already-weakening barrier between worlds first. Then, before the dark gods of the outer dimensions finish devouring Universe 10011 entirely, we strike in first."
"That way, even if we end up needing to unload some serious firepower, neither of us has to hold back."
"What do you think?"
Listening to him, Odin considered it for a moment, then nodded. "That's a reasonable approach."
"Beings at our level fighting on home turf tends to make far too much of a mess."
With that, Odin turned his hand over, and the Cosmic Cube materialized.
A deep blue light poured out from inside the Cube, casting half his face in an eerie blue glow.
He looked down at the Cube in his hand, something wistful flickering in his eyes.
Back when he was young, before the Bifrost had even been built, the Cosmic Cube had been the weapon of war he relied on most.
With it, his legions could campaign in every direction, appearing on any planet at any moment.
That was exactly why his name had spread across the universe, why he'd become someone even Thanos feared.
After all, the thought of someone who could show up at your back door and start swinging at any moment was terrifying enough on its own.
"Looks like I'll be putting you to work again today, old friend." Odin murmured softly.
His reason for not using the Bifrost was simple enough.
Beyond its transport function, the Bifrost could also unleash the enormous energy it stored in a sustained blast, powerful enough to obliterate an entire planet.
It was, without question, a strategic-grade weapon in its own right.
With a major war looming, burning through the Bifrost's energy reserves just for transport, only to have it fail him when he actually needed that final strike, would be a genuinely poor trade.
"Now that the plan's settled, no reason to wait any longer." Odin looked up, tightening his grip on the Cube.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's go." Matthew nodded.
Right as everyone was about to set off, a call suddenly cut in.
On Tony's raised arm, a notification suddenly popped up on the built-in comm module of his symbiote suit.
He stopped mid-step, lowering his raised foot back down, and turned to call out to Matthew and the others.
"Uh. Everyone, hold up a second."
"I've got a video call here from someone listed as 'Thanos'... you want me to answer it?"
"Tha... nos?" Matthew's brow creased. "How'd his call end up going to you?"
"No idea." Tony shook his head. "Honestly, I'd love to know where he found the nerve to dump garbage into my encrypted channel."
"But anyway, you want to see it or not?"
At that, Matthew and Odin exchanged a glance.
"Let's see it." Matthew said.
At his word, Tony raised his palm.
A pale blue holographic projection sprang up from his hand, beams of light weaving together in midair.
The next instant, Thanos's big, unmistakably purple face came into view.
In the projection, Thanos sat upright on a stone throne, a dark red nebula stretching out behind him.
He wore heavy armor, his eyes carrying that same steady, oppressive weight they always did.
"Matthew Lawrence."
"I'd like to think you and I have earned the title of old friends by now, wouldn't you say?" Thanos said slowly, his voice low.
Hearing that, Matthew raised an eyebrow, said nothing, and simply watched him in silence.
Seeing Matthew ignore him, Thanos went on. "You've spoiled my plans time and time again, but we still have an opportunity to work together, here and now."
"I hear the concept of 'death' itself has been killed in that universe. That's something I cannot accept."
"Honestly, I don't care for your methods, and I don't care for that whole 'protecting the people' line of yours either."
"But on the matter of destroying them, we're in complete agreement."
"So bring the Cosmic Cube, bring your army, and come to Titan."
"Gather every force in one place, and that's how we wipe them out most efficiently."
"Of course, if the one standing next to you would also like to come, I'm happy to receive him as well." Thanos looked through the projection at Odin, then, without another word, cut the call.
On the Bifrost, everyone exchanged glances, staring at the suddenly dead projection.
About half a minute later, Matthew turned to Odin. "King of Gods. What do you think?"
Odin said, even and unbothered, "On the matter of massing our forces, he has a point."
"But that one's ambition isn't going to disappear just because of one war."
"Once this war's over, he'll still be one of our biggest problems."
"I know." A trace of coldness surfaced in Matthew's eyes. "Which is why, the second this is over, I'm putting him down first thing."
The old saying about how today's allies make tomorrow's casualties just kept getting more true by the day.
On Thanos's proposal, Matthew and Odin came to an understanding: work with him for now.
Once the crisis was over, the two of them would join forces immediately, giving Thanos no chance to catch his breath, and finish him then and there.
Of course, if Thanos dared to try anything during the alliance itself, Matthew would cut it off immediately, set the whole Cancer-Ridden Universe crisis aside entirely, and kill Thanos first without a second thought.
With the plan settled between them, neither of them hesitated any further.
Odin closed one hand around the Cosmic Cube, and a surge of divine power poured into it.
As the divine power flowed in, a cloud of crackling, lightning-streaked mist spread outward from the Cube, swallowing everyone whole.
By the time the mist cleared, Matthew and the others, who'd been standing on the Bifrost only moments before, had vanished right along with it, leaving Heimdall alone to keep watch over the bridge.
On Titan.
A mist crackling with lightning suddenly appeared over Titan's dead, silent surface.
As the mist churned, footsteps began to sound from within, growing louder and clearer as they approached.
By the time the mist had fully dispersed, Matthew and the others were already standing on the wasteland below.
And amid the ruins, Thanos's army had already been waiting for quite some time.
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