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Operation Galactic Storm part 10, Spatial Deliveries
Among the many unexplained phenomena of the universe are stargates, access points into a space beyond space where even intergalactic distances collapse into feasibility. Inside the orbit of Mercury, some 32 million miles from Earth’s sun, is one such stargate. An alien starship has just flown into it, seeking a quick passage back to the Shi’ar Empire. To prevent the stargate’s guardians - the cosmic Avenger Quasar and his powerful companion, Her - thwarting the jump, the Shi’ar have dispatched two superhuman champions of their own. ‘Whouggh! I felt that!’ Wendell “Quasar” Vaughn thinks to himself as a powerful punch from the Imperial Guardsman called Neutron knocks him backwards, although Quasar does manage to create a quantum-shield to deflect the blow, only Neutron is strong, and the shield begins to crack. Covering his face with the shield, Quasar fires a concussive blast at Neutron, but the powerful warrior just flies towards Quasar, and punches him threw space, over to where Her is hovering after knocking Starbolt back with a blast of energy.
Her manages to catch Quasar, just as Starbolt fires a blast of energy at Quasar. Her rescues Quasar from the energy, and Quasar thanks Her, ‘Another foot and the fiery guy would’ve toasted me!’ he exclaims. Quasar remarks that he isn’t having much luck stopping “Star-Muscles” and decides that “Hot-Stuff” is another matter, as he fires a quantum beam at Starbolt, trapping him in a quantum bubble. Quasar decides that the bubble looks like it will hold, and tells Her that they will need to tag-team the other enemy. “Tag-Team”? Her asks, confused. Quasar decides that their opponent’s body seems to absorb his quantum-energy both from the blasts and constructs, and convert them into strength. ‘What other tricks do I have up my sleeve?’ Quasar wonders.
Quasar thinks that he and Her should both bombard their enemy with a barrage of wavelengths simultaneously, so the alien won’t be able to synthesize them all. They engage this option, but it doesn’t work, and Quasar almost hits Her with his energies as well. Quasar tells himself that there is only one option left, assuming he can get in close enough without having his head handed to him. He flies towards Neutron and grabs onto him, before there is a flash of energy, and Her watches as they vanish. ‘Quasar must have quantum jumped!’ she thinks to herself.
Indeed, Quasar and Neutron re-materialize elsewhere. Neutron thrashes about, and Quasar tells him to stop squirming. ‘If I let go of you I may never find you’ he explains. ‘Where have you taken me?’ Neutron demands. ‘A relaxing little place I call the Quantum Zone. We’ll be out of it in a minute’ Quasar explains, and an instant later, they appear in space. ‘Back in real space!’ Quasar exclaims, pointing to a speck of light in the distance, he informs Neutron that Earth’s sun, and that they are about a light year away. Quasar starts to fly away from Neutron, and tells him to keep an eye on the speck. ‘While I’m jumping back, you’re going to have to get there on your own power. Assuming you can make near-light speed, see you in a little over a year!’ Quasar calls out as he quantum jumps once more, with Neutron unable to catch him.
And soon, ‘I’m back! We won’t have to worry about Chunky for a while!’ Quasar exclaims as he appears next to Her, who asks ‘What did you -?’, and Quasar tells Her that he sent their foe on a little trip. Looking at the quantum bubble, Quasar sees that Starbolt is still captured, and declares that he will finally be able to go after the escaping Shi’ar ship. ‘Take me with you’ Her asks, but Quasar points to Starbolt and replies that it is not that he couldn’t use her help, but it would be nice if he had someone here he could count on to guard the prisoner and the stargate. Quasar pulls out his Avengers communication card and contacts his teammates, via the eight-minute transmission delay, he reports that he is off to the Shi’ar galaxy in pursuit of the ship, and that Her will remain at the stargate. Her looks away from Quasar as he touches her face and thanks her, assuring her that he will be back as soon as he can. With that, Quasar speeds away through the stars.
Countless light years ahead, inside the Shi’ar star cruiser, Oracle, Scintilla and Electron stand over the Kree Warrior, Captain Atlas, as he is placed in a restraining device. ‘That’s it, Electron. This Kree’s been physically drained of all strategic information’ one of the Imperial Guard remarks. Oracle enquires as to what they do with him now, and Electron points out that he is a prisoner of war. Suddenly, a voice over a loud-speaker calls out to all Imperial Guardsmen, reporting that an unidentified object passed through the stargate ten light minutes behind them. ‘Quasar!’ Oracle exclaims. ‘If so, Neutron and Starbolt sacrificed themselves for nothing!’ another member of the Imperial Guard points out.
At that moment, Quasar streaks forward, and uses his Quantum Bands to contact Epoch. ‘You there, little goddaughter?’ he calls out. ‘Of course. I am in constant interface with your Quantum Bands’ Epoch replies. Quasar announces that he needs some information, and asks Epoch what she knows about the Shi’ar. ‘Would you prefer that I focus my energies on this rather than the previous exercise you posed me?’ Epoch enquires. ‘You don’t know anything off the top of your head?’ Quasar asks, to which Epoch replies that she doesn’t. Quasar tells Epoch to work on the Shi’ar thing as he is heading towards the heart of their empire. ‘Will do’ Epoch assures him, before Quasar begins another distance-crumbling quantum jump.
An instant later, ‘All right! How’s that for precision? Nearly zapped in up their tailpipe!’ Quasar thinks to himself as he appears within sight of the Shi’ar cruiser. He tells himself that there is no polite way to ask to be let in, as he doesn’t speak Shi’arese, and Epoch was less than a lot of help. ‘Guess I’ll just barge right in. What the heck - this is war’ Wendell decides, and he uses a wraparound quantum energy drill-bit, which pierces the side of the Shi’ar star cruiser. ‘Never thought I’d miss the screeching sound of a drill, but the experience seems oh - empty without it. Of course even if I surrounded it with an atmosphere filled bubble I probably wouldn’t heart much here inside the drill-bit’ he decides.
Shortly, Quasar is inside the star cruiser and dissolves the drill-bit, reforming the energy into a plug for the side of the cruiser. He supposes that his presence must be noted by now, and won’t know if a klaxon is going off in his honor until he reaches a section of the ship that he hasn’t blown the air out of. He makes his way down a corridor, and comes to a major air-seal. ‘I must be getting closer to the center of -’ Wendell thinks to himself, when suddenly, eight of the Imperial Guard appear before him - Oracle, Nightside, Electron, Manta, Warstar, Tempest, Scintlla and Hobgoblin. ‘Halt, terran!’ Electron orders. ‘“Terran”? You mean you aliens actually do call us that? Hmh!’ Quasar muses, while Oracle telepathically informs Tempest that Quasar’s mind is proof against psionic control. ‘We are the IMPERIAL GUARD!’ Electron booms.
Quasar smiles and tells the Imperial Guard that they look like they are trying to intimidate him. ‘You want me to take you all on? You got it!’ the plucky hero exclaims, but Oracle points out that to engage Quasar here would only serve to cause considerable damage to their star cruiser. ‘Gee, you’re right. Now why didn’t I think of that?’ Quasar remarks, to which Oracle tells him that his sarcasm is less than amusing, and suggests that they negotiate. ‘Fine by me. First I want you to release your prisoner to me’ Quasar declares. ‘Very well’ Oracle replies, ordering Warstar to fetch “the Kree man” as she calls him.
And, shortly, ‘Here’ Warstar calls out as he marches Captain Atlas towards Quasar, who requests that Captain Atlas’s binds be removed. Atlas is surprised to see Quasar, who explains that he has come to rescue him. Quasar asks Atlas what they did to him, and the Kree warrior explains that he was interrogated, informing Quasar that the woman is a telepath as he looks at Oracle. ‘What happened to the Nega-Bands you stole?’ Quasar asks. ‘What do you think?’ Atlas replies. ‘Lady -’ Quasar begins, ‘I am Oracle!’ Oracle interrupts him. ‘Oracle, next I want the bracelets you took from him’ Quasar announces, but Oracle explains that that is not possible, as they don’t have them. ‘Don’t try to bull me, lady’ Quasar warns her.
Oracle assures him that she is not, revealing that when they reached this galaxy they matter transmitted the Nega-Bands to their home star system. ‘Why? What are you going to use them for?’ Quasar enquires. Electron informs him that that information is classified, explaining that no one aboard this vessel, himself included, is privy to that bit of intelligence. Quasar tells the Imperial Guard that he has no reason to take their word, but informs them that he has energy-scanned their entire star cruiser while they were talking and he couldn’t detect the Nega-Bands, so decides he may as well trust them. Quasar asks the Imperial Guard what planet they transmitted the bands to, but Electron tells him that they will reveal no more. ‘Doesn’t matter. I hae my own way of finding out’ Quasar replies, before announcing that he is taking Atlas and leaving, unless they want to have the fight they mentioned. ‘Don’t tempt us, terran’ Electron replies.
Shortly, Atlas has been placed in a quantum tube and Quasar exit’s the star cruiser with him. Wendell contacts the Imperial Guard and suggests to them that they shut off their star drive as soon as possible. ‘Thanks to a little terran tinkering I have feeling it’s going to malfunction if you don’t!’ he warns them. Quasar turns to Atlas and asks him if he has any idea what they want with the Nega-Bands, before noticing five of the Imperial Guard follow him out of the star cruiser and into space. ‘Looks like they were just waiting for me to clear the ship before they pressed their attack’ Quasar decides, before he vanishes thanks to a quantum jump, ‘They can’t touch this!’ he boasts, leaving the Imperial Guard behind.
Meanwhile, on a planet in a star system in a galaxy far removed from where Quasar has quantum jumped, life goes on as usual, oblivious so far to the events taking Earth’s Mightiest Heroes from their native sphere. But here on the half of the world where it is now night, on Staten Island, a borough of New York City, a major metropolis on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, there is a house. Inside, it sleeps the five members of the Ballantine family. The youngest, whom is Kayla, who happens to work as Quasar’s secretary during the rare times he devotes to his security consultancy firm. For Kayla, life has not been going on as usual. For the past few days, her body seems to have become a stranger to her. Her muscles throb for no reason, her skin feels tingly all over, she sees and hears things that are not there, and there’s been a burning sensation in the back of her neck.
Kayla’s dreams have also become uncharacteristically vivid and violent. Soon, all of these ailments will seem minor. Kayla moans, and suddenly, she finds herself floating up to the ceiling of her bedroom. She thuds against the ceiling, before falling back down onto her bed. ‘My God! I thought - I felt I was - I was just dreaming about -’ she thinks to herself, before getting up and going into the bathroom attached to her bedroom, she tells herself that there is something terribly wrong with her lately, and doesn’t know whether she is going insane, or if she has come down with some sort of horrible disease. Kayla decides that she can’t put it off any longer, that she has to go and see a doctor.
Looking into a mirror, Kayla wishes that Wendell was here, for perhaps with his Quasar powers he could figure what has been happening to her all of a sudden. ‘Unless…wait, what if what if hanging around with him is the cause of what is wrong with her. ‘Maybe his energy - whatever it is - leaks out like radiation or something…and eventually makes other people sick’. As Kayla wonders whether this is happening to anyone else, she is unaware that outside the bathroom, clinging to the house, a strange, angled humanoid watches her, and utters something in an indecipherable language.
Meantime, at the imperial stargate on Chandilar, the throne world of the Shi’ar Empire. ‘We are the Avengers of Earth. We mean you no harm. We wish to speak to your leader. Do you understand me?’ Captain Marvel a.k.a. Monica Rambeau asks an elderly Shi’ar official, as she stands with her fellow Avengers of East and Coast branches - Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man and Miguel Santos a.k.a. Living Lightning of the Avengers West Coast, and the Vision and the new Thor a.k.a. Eric Masterton of the East Coast branch. Inside the sprawling star gate complex, Shi’ar guards go about their duties, while Thor tells himself that he is glad Captain Narvel is the spokesman of this little envoy and not him, as he would be sure to lose his cool trying to communicate with the feather-haired aliens.
‘You are…Queen Lilandra?’ Captain Marvel enquires. ‘No. I am the Empress’s Prime Minister, Araki. You will see me first’ Araki replies, adding that the Empress is extremely busy, he asks Captain Marvel what she wishes to speak with her about. Captain Marvel looks annoyed as she replies ‘Simply this’ and tells Araki that the Shi’ar are employing stargates near their world’s sun in order to transport ordnance to the Kree galaxy. Captain Marvel explains that this is disturbing their sun, creating abnormal solar flare and sunspot activity, and as a consequence, one of their manned solar satellites has been destroyed. She adds that they fear the Earth itself is in great jeopardy. ‘Bottom line: we want you to promise to cease and desist immediately. Any further use will be considered an act of aggression against the planet Earth and will be dealt with accordingly’.
‘Hmm! I will inform the Empress of your message, and if she wishes to speak with you further -’ Arakai begins, until Thor slams his hammer on the floor, lightning charges flicker about, and he booms ‘NO! We are the Avengers! We’ve already beaten Gladiator, the leader of your legion of super-lackeys! You will tell your queen she’d better listen to us now, or we’re going to bring this planet down around your ears! Right, guys?’ Thor calls out. ‘Uh…’ Living Lightning and Wonder Man both utter as they look at each other. ‘Yeah!’ Wonder Man exclaims as he moves forward, but Arakai turns and walks away, announcing that he will inform the queen of their brutish threats. The Avengers stand and watch Araki leave, while Captain Marvel asks Thor if he has ever thought about a career as a diplomat. Thor points out that it did the trick, as Araki is scurrying to fetch the queen. He then thanks Wonder Man and the Living Lightning for back him up.
Elsewhere in Chandilar’s solar system, Quasar flies amongst the large system of space stations and space ships, with Captain Atlas still in the quantum tube, Wendell contacts Epoch, asking if this is where the Nega-Bands were taken. Epoch confirms that it is, and Wendell decides that they this place looks like some sort of starship building yard, before thanking Epoch, and telling her that she really came through for him on this one. Wendell thinks to himself that finding unusual energy-emitting inanimate objects must be easier than the general information hunts he has asked Epoch to put her budding cosmic senses to work at in the past. ‘She actually got me an answer I could use in a useful span of time’ Wendell decides. He knows that from here though it will be up to him to pinpoint the Nega-Bands’ precise location. ‘Shouldn’t be too much of a -’ he starts to think, when suddenly, he detects a very small, heavy duty energy source rapidly approaching.
‘Wow! So bright, it’s blinding. What is it?’ Wendell wonders as the energy moves closer to him - until finally, he sees a woman, and wonders if she is another member of the Imperial Guard. Quasar asks Captain Atlas if he recognizes her, but the Kree warrior replies that he doesn’t. ‘well, she’s approaching with her sunbeams turned way up. Maybe it’s her way to say hi’ Wendell decides, before deciding to show her what he thinks of people with messy energy discharges, and he creates a quantum funnel, which he uses to vacuum the energy up and send it away from him. He realizes that the mysterious woman has taken the hint, as she dims her corona by a factor of 100.
Clad in a red and white costume, the woman tells Quasar to come no further or he will have to answer to her. ‘And who are you?’ Quasar enquires. ‘I am…Binary!’ Carol Danvers responds, only for Quasar to surround her in a quantum bubble. ‘Well, ma’am, as much as I liked the dramatic way you paused before saying your name, I’m afraid I’m going to have to consider you a threat to me and my mission’ Quasar declares. He adds that he may be an over-reactor, but that something in her energy barrage and the tone of her words made a little voice go off in his head saying “this lady might be trouble, she’d be safer in a bubble”.
Binary releases a powerful flare of energy inside the bubble, and Quasar decides that she didn’t like that very much. ‘Stop that so I can talk to you!’ Quasar calls out as he creates a funnel into the bubble which he speaks through. Binary stops releasing her energy, giving Quasar the chance to ask her what the big idea is attacking him. ‘I was simply trying to get your attention -’ Binary begins. ‘Yeah, right’ Quasar mutters, but Binary tells him that his interference may cost the Empire countless lives. ‘What interference? How do you know who I am or what I’m doing here? You one of the Imperial Guard?’ Quasar enquires, confused. Binary reveals that she is with the Starjammers, to which Quasar replies that he has never heard of them. He tells Binary that he would love to stay and chat, but that he has got some Nega-Bands to find.
‘I’ll see about letting you out of there when I get -’ Quasar calls out to Binary as he flies away, but he stops himself mid-sentence when he almost flies into a fist that is outstretched in front of him. The fist smacks into his face, and Quasar falls backwards through space. ‘Never saw it coming! But how could anyone have gotten so close to me without detection?’ Wendell wonders, knowing that if it wasn’t for his quantum aura, the punch would have taken his head off. ‘A masterful blow as usual, Onslaught. Now hover aside - it’s my turn!’ a man with a long flowing green cape calls out to the warrior in a brown costume called Onslaught. A portal is closing in space behind them, as three more figures emerge. ‘Excellent, Moondancer! You guided us right to him!’ a man carrying a staff calls out to the blue-skinned woman, while a round, pink alien with short arms and legs follows them, ‘Wait for Glom - Glom not through yet!’ he exclaims.
‘Feel the fury of the Solar Wind!’ the man with the long green cape snarls as he blasts Quasar with some energy, knocking him backwards. ‘More Imperial Guard? Or are they Starjammers? The Shi’ar seem to boast almost as many super-champions as Earth does’ Quasar thinks to himself. The strange alien, Glom, latches on to the quantum bubble where Binary is kept, and starts biting it. ‘Glom sees ball of energy - Glom hungry!’ the alien exclaims. ‘Glom eat your bubble, fire-top feminoid!’ the strange alien adds, while Onslaught kicks Quasar hard in the face. Solar Wind tells him to keep Quasar occupied, as Voyager is almost in place, as the man with the staff flies towards Quasar. Wendell coils backwards, and tells himself that he is being buffeted about so hard he hasn’t figured out what kind of defense to whip up.
Solar Wind fires another energy blast at Quasar, who tells himself that if they were hitting him with some kind of energy like Binary did, they would be easy to deal with. He suddenly senses something energetic behind him, as Voyager has created a portal, which Quasar falls into. ‘Good work, Solar Wind! Right through the portal!’ At that moment, Glom has broken through the quantum bubble holding Binary, freeing her, while Moondancer calls out to her teammates: ‘Follow me, Guardsmen!’ she exclaims as she flies into the portal. ‘Where…did they go?’ Binary calls out. ‘Glom not know. Someplace where enemy cannot find way back from’ he remarks, while Captain Atlas floats nearby, still trapped in the quantum capsule. Binary remarks that it looks like Lilandra will be about to launch the payload without interference, thanks to them. ‘Yes, um, you have any spare energy from Glom to snack on?’ the alien asks.
On the planet below, ‘Status report!’ a projection of Lilandra demands as she appears before two Shi’ar officers, who bow before her. ‘It works, Majestrix, just as our theoreticians have predicted’ one of the officers reports. He adds that they have split the Kree Nega-Bands open and created a sphere of anti-matter of sufficient power to propagate the death-light throughout the system. ‘Excellent! You and your staff are to be commended’ Lilandra exclaims. She orders him to assemble all the Nega-Bands’ components and prepare for launch, before announcing that she will come to Targon in person to watch. ‘Yes, Majestrix!’ the officer replies, while thinking to himself ‘And Sharra help me if the deaths of billions of Kree weight upon my conscience!’
Elsewhere, Quasar throws up a quantum shield just as Onslaught kicks him again. Wendell realizes he has been blown through a portal, but not sure where he is. Quasar sees the others flying towards him, and decides that he has had enough of Being Onslaught’s bop bag, so he armors up like he did earlier - and as Onslaught lands another punch, he recoils in pain from striking Quasar’s quantum armor. ‘Gotcha!’ Wendell thinks to himself. Solar Wind fires yet another blast of energy at Quasar, which knocks him into an asteroid. Solar Wind tells Onslaught to get back as they are moving out. Quasar falls through a series of small asteroids, knocked about as he hits them. ‘Just when I think I’ve got my job down pat, jokers like these guys come along!’ Wendell thinks to himself.
Quasar regains his traction through space and flies forward, ‘I’m mad now! No more funny business!’ he thinks to himself, but when he clears the asteroids, he finds that the Imperial Guard members are gone. He sees the residue of a teleport effect and realizes that they have left him here. Quasar drops his armor and recalls that this was the same trick he pulled on their teammate a few hours ago, but unlike the stargate, this was an artificial teleportal, and now that it is closed, there is no way for him to go through it or even trace energy signatures through it. He decides that he best figure out where he is and jump back, as he was supposed to recover the Nega-Bands.
Quasar contacts Epoch and informs her that he has been teleported some place and he isn’t sure where. He asks her if she could use her cosmic awareness to tell him where in the universe he is. Epoch asks Quasar if he knows what galaxy he is in, and Quasar replies that he thinks it is the Shi’ar. Epoch tells Quasar that she will try to identify his position from the configuration of stars in the sky. Quasar asks Epoch to do it as fast as she can, as he doesn’t think he has much time. ‘I’ve got an awful feeling the Shi’ar are planning to do something terrible with the Nega-Bands!’ Quasar exclaims.
Back in Shi’ar space, ‘Glom eat prisoner out of tube now?’ Glom asks as he latches on to the tube that Captain Atlas is trapped in. ‘No, Glom - he needs the air inside it to -’ Binary explains, before she notices an energy pulse, as Voyager, Moondancer, Solar Wind and Onslaught return. Voyager announces that Quasar has been taken care of, and now the launch may proceed without his interference. He suggests they take the Kree to the surface, as a prisoner of war may prove useful.
Soon, beneath the throne world, ‘Let me out of here, you stinking aliens!’ Captain Atlas declares as he thrashes about in the quantum tube which Onslaught and Voyager carry towards the holding cells. Glom lumbers after them, ‘Now can Glom eat quantum capsule?’ he asks. ‘In a moment, impatient one!’ Voayger declares.
Shortly, Captain Atlas is no longer in the quantum tube, but behind a stasis field in a cell. He thinks to himself that he has been a pawn in this war - a prisoner - for far too long, and decides that he must free himself so that he can learn what sinister purpose the Shi’ar are putting the Kree Nega-Bands to. He wishes that he could contact his beloved Dr Minerva through their empathic link. He knows they are galaxies apart, but supposes that her extrasensory abilities might be trans-spatial. Within minutes, ‘What’s happening - a figure! Minerva?’ Atlas thinks to himself as someone materializes before him. ‘Who are you?’ Atlas calls out to the figure in silver armor. ‘Your rescuer’ comes the enigmatic reply….


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Operation Galactic Storm part 17, The Scorched Sun
‘What -?’ the enigmatic cosmic being called Her wonders as a large vessel suddenly materializes through the stargate that is positioned near Earth’s sun. She sees the ship heading towards a second stargate, the one that Quasar said leads to the Kree galaxy. Quasar entrusted Her with the task of preventing any and all star craft from crossing over. Although it remains Her goal to convince Quasar that she is his ideal companion, she decides that this is not a task she shall shirk. She is unsure of how to break the craft’s momentum, so instead she focuses her energies at the stargate instead, which weave a chaotic latticework of highly energetic particles. If Her was the captain of the passing craft, she would avoid passing through an unknown energy barrier so close to an interstellar warp for fear of engine destruction.
Her turns to see how foolhardy the crew will be, but as she does, she is immediately attacked by a flaming being whom she assumes has emerged from the craft. The being projects fire towards Her, and she figures he must have wanted to strike while her back was turned. Her casually casts an energy beam at the flame, telling herself that it is foolhardy to think that any inferno short of the sun itself would pose a threat to one possessing her level of power. She wonders who the fire-maker is and assumes he to be another of the innumerable Shi’ar Imperial Guard. ‘Now, while she is still engulfed in a barrage of flame’ Her’s attacker thinks to himself as he flies forward, and his arm suddenly changes form, becoming rocky, he is of course Super Skrull, and he punches Her with his formidable strength, so hard that Her falls backwards into the stargate.
Super Skrull decides that he should follow her and make certain that the passage way is safe, when suddenly, he notices a blinding light approaching further in the cosmos. It is none other than Wendell “Quasar” Vaughn of the Avengers, who is relieved that he made it back to his solar system. He wonders if he beat the bomb here, and sees it, silhouetted against the sun. Wendell knows that he just has to figure out a way to dispose of it with accidentally detonating it. Super Skrull realizes that whomever approaches him has not noticed him against the blinding brilliance of the star behind him, so he attempts to deal with him as he did with Her, and casts forth bursts of flame but as Quasar approaches, he sees his attacker and traps Super Skrull in a quantum-bubble. ‘Not another fire-tosser! How many is it I’ve gone up against during this war already? Three?’ Wendell thinks to himself, before recognizing his latest foe as Super Skrull, and recalls that he has hassled the Fantastic Four a number of times, or this is someone just like him, at least.
‘Sorry to deal with you so repetitively, fella - but I’ve got bigger irons in the fire, so to speak’ Wendell calls out. ‘Like this ship of yours towing the bomb to end all bombs!’ Quasar exclaims as he turns from the Super Skrull and flies towards the Skrull vessel, that has been recently towing the Shi’ar nega-bomb. Quasar decides that it must have taken some fancy maneuvering to line up the bulky bomb so it will fit through the stargate portal without scraping, when suddenly, he sees the impulse engines firing, so he realizes the ship is about to take-off. He knows he has to disconnect its payload, and creates large quantum-scissors, which he then proceeds to use, snapping the bonds that attack the Shi’ar vessel to the nega-bomb.
Suddenly, a Skrull officer appears before Quasar and tells him to cease what he is doing at once. ‘You don’t fool me. You’re just a hologram with a radio-wave sound transmitter. Make me!’ Quasar replies, so the hologram of the Skrull officer announces ‘You will leave the bomb as is and let us pass through the star-warp undisturbed - or I will detonate it right here!’ ‘Right. I’m supposed to believe you’d sacrifice yourself and your whole crew if you don’t get your way’ Quasar replies, but the Skrull declares that his race are warriors, that they do not fear death. Quasar then asks the Skrull what it is he is doing with the bomb anyway, as it doesn’t belong to them. The Skrull claims that they are aiding the Shi’ar in their effort to neutralize the Kree, who are their ancient enemy. ‘The universe will be safer without them’ the Skrull adds.
Quasar tells the Skrull that he has a newsflash for him, and announces that the Empress of the Shi’ar has recalled the bomb, that she doesn’t want it dropped anymore. ‘The matter is our of her hands’ the Skrull replies. ‘And in yours, hmm?’ Quasar mutters, before remarking that he has the choice then, of letting the Skrull blow up his solar system, or some other one. ‘Is that it?’ Quasar asks. ‘Yes! Choose quickly, or -’ the Skrull officer begins, while Quasar suddenly realizes that it looks like the sun has grown dimmer. He sees sunspots on the sun, like he has never seen them before. They are bubbling up and multiplying like crazy. He wonders if the bomb could have had anything to do with this, as he thought it was just the stargates causing this increased solar activity.
According to Quasar’s Quantum Bands, the dark spots give off the same sort of reading as whatever is inside the bomb. He knows he has to get the bomb out of the vicinity of the sun as quickly as possible, but he can’t quantum-jump with anything that massive - which only leaves the stargate as an option. Quasar tells the Skrull that he will let him take the bomb away, but not to expect to be let back through the stargate. ‘You detonate that bomb and you’ve got nowhere to escape to. You’re gonna feel its lethal payload, same as the Kree’ Quasar warns the Skrull, whose hologram vanishes as he tells Quasar that his remarks will be taken under advisement.
Quasar watches as the massive ship starts to move through the stargate, and decides that as soon as he sees the sun’s activity settle down, he is going after it, as he is not about to let a bomb go off in the Kree Empire. ‘A whole crew of my fellow Avengers are there, if for no other reason’ Quasar reminds himself, before turning back to the sun, and sees that it is worse than ever. Wendell wonders if he messed up, whether letting the bomb go through the stargate did the sun more harm than letting it hang around here. There is no telling, what is done is done, so Quasar contemplates whether he should plug up the stargate and see if that would help - only it would leave the Avengers stranded. Flares rise up from the sun, and the sunspots increase. Wendell decides that it is getting worse, and wonders what will happen if the sun becomes one big sunspot. ‘Is this dark matter - whatever it is - going to engulf it - extinguish it - or make it go nova?’ Quasar asks himself, knowing that the sun’s light is vital to life on Earth. ‘Is Earth already being affected? Oh, mama - what am I gonna do?’
Meanwhile, on Quasar’s homeworld, Earth, the side currently facing away from the sun, where Quasar’s girlfriend, Kayla Ballantine, ponders the same question: ‘What ami gonna do?’ she asks herself as she is in the bathroom, and approaches the shower. She tells herself that she called in sick and stayed in bed for almost twenty-four hours. ‘I’m gonna go stir crazy if I don’t do something’ she knows, before wondering if perhaps she just imagined that she floated up to the ceiling in her sleep. ‘Maybe I’m just…I don’t know - coming down with something. The flu maybe’ Kayla thinks. She steps into the shower, and decides that the idea that Wendell contaminated her with his Quasar energies is too weird. ‘I mean - he’d know if he was leaking, wouldn’t he?’ she wonders, hoping to feel better after a long, hot shower.
Suddenly, a strange purple and green being enters Kayla’s bedroom by phasing through a wall. ‘Aha! At last she’s…’ he thinks to himself. In the shower, Kayla wonders if her friend Bonnie is busy tonight, while the strange intruder enters the bathroom, as Kayla decides that perhaps club-hopping all night is all she needs to feel like herself again. But, as the intruder tears back the shower curtain, Kayla turns to him and screams - and an instant later, the intruder is somehow knocked backwards through a wall. Kayla gets out of the shower and wrapping a towel around herself wonders what just happened. As she goes over to the motionless intruder Kayla realizes that she has seen him before, that he jumped her in Four Freedoms Plaza on the day Wendell offered her a job. Kayla recalls that his name is the Angler.
Kayla is curious as to what the Angler wants of her, not to mention what sent him flying when he was about to “Norman Bates” her. Pulling back his mask, Kayla sees that he is still alive, and learns that his face is partly angular, also. Suddenly, ‘Kalya!’ a voice calls out, and Kayla looks up, seeing her brother, Devon, standing over her. ‘What the %&%$ is going on here?’ Devon asks her. ‘Oh, thank God - you’ve got to help me!’ Kayla tells him. Devon tells her to answer his question first though, and asks ‘Who is this creep? What happened to him?’ to which Kayla points out that he is a super villain and that he attacked her while she was taking a shower. ‘With a bomb?’ Devon asks. ‘No, with his fork-hand’ Kayla points out. Devon asks his sister what she did to him, but Kayla tells him that she didn’t do anything, explaining that Angler just suddenly went flying back right through the wall. Devon remarks that Angler looks dead, and tells Kayla that she is going to have some explaining to do. Kayla gets up and collapses into her brother’s arms as she replies ‘I know! Help me, Dev!’
Back at the sun, ‘Help me, Epoch! I’ve got to do something to save the sun! It’s being devoured by spots!’ Quasar calls out to the cosmic being called Epoch. He adds that those sports are erupting, when suddenly, Epoch materializes before Quasar, who is surprised, ‘I didn’t know you could do that!’ he exclaims, while the strange being replies ‘I’m omnipotent. I can do anything once I figure out how to do it’ as she releases beams of energy at the spots, Quasar tells her that he is going to need some omnipotence here, before asking her what she is doing. ‘Mmm. Anti-matter’ Epoch replies.
Quasar figured as much, and knows that his Quantum Bands have no control over anti-matter, so he asks Epoch what they can do. Epoch replies that she will ponder the situation, before informing him that there is someone at the stargate. ‘Huh? You’re right’ Quasar realizes, but decides he can’t worry about that now. However, Wendell decides that it might be more bad news hastening the sun’s demise, so he tells Epoch that he will be right back, and speeds away to the stargate. ‘I’ll be okay. I’m omnipotent’ Epoch calls out.
As he reaches the stargate, Quasar sees that Her is fighting with Binary. ‘I was wondering where Her went’ Quasar tells himself, while deciding that Her has a lot of power, so she might be able to save the sun. He then creates a quantum-block between the two of them so they can no longer fight. ‘Quasar!’ Her calls out. Quasar sends a radio-wave transmission towards them so they can hear him and asks Binary what is going on. ‘Tell me the truth or I’ll bubble you up again!’ Quasar warns her. Binary reports that she was going after the nega-bomb, as Empress Lilandra sent her to retrieve it. ‘Then this orange bimbo tackled me as I was about to enter the Shi’ar stargate’ Carol Danvers adds. ‘Who are you calling a “bimbo”?’ Her asks angrily, lunging for Binary, but Quasar tells her to chill out, before informing Binary that the bomb isn’t here anymore, as it went through the other stargate. ‘And you didn’t stop it?’ Carol asks him.
Quasar explains that he had something more important to worry about, and informs Carol that the Earth’s sun3is in its death throes. ‘What?’ Carol asks, shocked. He tells her to go on, to be his guest and prevent the Skrulls from detonating the nega-bomb. ‘If - I mean when - I solve the problem here, I’ll join you’ Wendell tells Carol, while telling Her to come along with him. Her follows Quasar and tells him that she is sorry she left her post. ‘There was this Skrull warrior who -’ she begins, but Wendell tells her that it doesn’t matter. ‘All that matters is that we save the sun!’ he exclaims, and tells Her to prepare for quantum-jump. There is a blinding flash as they vanish, while Binary hesitates, and thinks to herself that Quasar doesn’t realize this is her sun too, as she was born on Earth and still has family there. ‘What if the sun dies as Quasar fears while I’m running an errand for an alien empress?’ Carol asks herself.
Quasar and Her remateralize over the sun, and Quasar asks Epoch how she is doing. ‘If you mean the state of my well-being, I am fine. If you mean have I gleaned the answer to the solar problem, I have one so’ Epoch states matter-of-factly. ‘You have?’ Quasar exclaims, surprised. Epoch reports that what must be done is the anti-matter has to be contained and removed from the sphere of the sun before they can consume any more of the sun’s energy and grow larger. ‘I could figure out that much! I need to know how that can be done!’ Wendell decides that even assuming he could get up enough quantum-energy to bubble up all the anti-matter deposits, he wouldn’t be able to move them, and they would eat through his quantum-energy same as the sun’s.
Her tells Quasar that she has never tried to affect anti-matter with her cosmic energies and suggests that perhaps it would have some effect. Quasar puts his hand to his forehead and replies that he doesn’t want to sound negative, but points out that since Her’s cosmic energy isn’t part of the electromagnetic spectrum his bands can tap, he doesn’t think that her energy would fare any better than his. ‘Think! Think! There must be something to be done!’ Quasar tells himself, before remarking that if he could get in touch with Infinity, the personification of space, he might be able to convince her to intervene, but decides that this is just one tiny star out of the billions and billions that make up Infinity’s form, so why should she care?Quasar asks Epoch if she knows any supreme being who he might be able to cut a deal with, and Epoch states that she has met such entities, but that it was they who contacted her. ‘I am unsure at this juncture how to -’ Epoch begins, before Quasar exclaims ‘Wait a minute! Wait one doggone minute!’ and suggests that he could open up a hole into the Quantum Zone by quantum jumping, then leaving it open, he could fly around the sun, shunting the anti-matter through it. ‘What would happen?’ he asks Epoch. ‘To you, the Quantum Zone, or the anti-matter?’ Epoch enquires. ‘ALL THREE!’ Quasar replies. Epoch explains that the anti-matter would be harmless within an infinite expanse of the Quantum Zone, but she tells Quasar that even if he were able to create the largest aperture he can, it would take days if not weeks to finish the task. ‘This does not take into consideration how long you are capable of surviving within the sun’s interior’ Epoch points out.
Quasar points out that he plunged into a black hole once and survived the experience, to which Epoch reminds him that at the time, he was non-corporeal. Quasar states that he has no choice, that he has to try, as Earth depends on him. Quasar asks Her to fly to Earth and contact Doctor Strange, suggesting that there might be something he can do with magic, and asks Epoch to keep trying to contact any “big cosmic muck mucks”. Her reaches out for Quasar, ‘Please -’ she begins, but Quasar replies that he has no time for long goodbyes, and turns to fly towards the sun, ‘If I can save the sun, I’ll see you again’ he calls back, as Her and Epoch watch him vanish into the brilliance of the sun.
‘What is the likelihood he’ll -’ Her begins, hanging her head, but Epoch interrupts and states ‘Not good’. Her decides that she should go to Earth like Quasar wanted, and she turns to fly towards Earth, when suddenly, Binary appears in front of her, asking where Quasar is, however Her can’t hear Binary. ‘The sun’ Epoch calls out. Binary then flies down towards the sun. ‘Epoch? Where’s she -’ Her begins, to which Epoch once against states’ The sun’. Binary passes through space, telling herself that she cannot let the sun die, she can’t let the Earth die. ‘Lilandra…the Shi’ar…the billions of potential victims of the nega-bomb…nothing is as important to me as my home!’ Carol thinks to herself, knowing that she could never live with herself if the human race died while she was out trying to protect an alien race.
Carol sees a singular energy vortex up ahead and realizes that it is Quasar’s doing. She knows that what Quasar is doing, however admirable, is nowhere near enough. Energy starts to pulse around Carol, who tells herself that to save a star, someone with the power of a star is needed for that - and that someone is her. Carol reminds herself that since her transformation into Binary she has been able to tap into the power of a white hole. By temporarily causing a white hole in the heart of the sun, Carol can vacuum up all of the contaminating anti-matter and cause it to collapse into nothingness. Suddenly, something else happens, which Carol can’t account for. Another anti-matter gobbling vortex appears that is far more powerful than Carol’s own.
Carol is unable to spare any energy to examine it, but she is not one to look a gift vortex in the mouth. The strain is incredible - she has never tried a trick on such a grand scale before. She hopes that she doesn’t burn out before she finishes, and the pain starts to increase as she is under incredible strain - but Carol tells herself that she must endure. White energy continues to spill out and around the sun, while Quasar sees that the rampant proliferation of anti-matter has stopped - that it has been reversed. The dark matter feels as if it were receding at a phenomenal rate. ‘Whoever - whatever - my ally is, the power he’s channeling is staggering’ Quasar thinks to himself, and decides that Epoch must have found someone “omnipotent” to pitch in. Wendell decides that the anti-matter is gone, and although in his current state he cannot detect it directly, it leaves a wake though his quantum-aperture like a boat leaves a wake in the water, and he doesn’t feel that wake anymore.
‘The sun is saved!’ Wendell thinks to himself excitedly, as he flies outwards away from the sun, when suddenly, he wonders about the being who was helping him - who actually did most of the work, Quasar admits. He can detect his ally’s presence behind him, unmoving. As much as Wendell wants to get out of this inferno, he knows he should investigate, as there may still be some kind of trouble. He flies closer to his ally, and tries to send a message via radio waves. ‘Are you -’ is all that gets through, but Quasar finds Binary, who explains that there is too much white hole and she doesn’t have strength to close it. ‘Leave me - soon as I burn up - hole will close’ Binary explains. ‘No way, lady. Help you to close that -’ Quasar replies over the radio waves, while realizing that this is Binary, thanks to the energy signature.
Carol passes out, and starts to burn up, so Wendell covers her with a protective quantum-aura, and flies away from the sun, noting that the cortex Carol created, whatever it was, stopped once Binary lost consciousness. ‘You’re a hero, lady - and I’m gonna see to it you don’t become a martyr’ Wendell thinks to himself, and, and instant later they emerge from the sun. Quasar knows that they have got to get to Earth and get Binary medical treatment, as there is no way to determine the state of her health out here. He realizes that chasing after the nega-bomb is going to have to wait, while admitting that he never would have suspected Binary was capable of doing what she just did - after all, she couldn’t break out of one of his quantum-bubbles.
Quasar supposes that his quantum-energy prevented Binary from creating a vortex-hole like she just made in the sun. He hopes that his quantum-energy can sustain Binary until they get home. ‘Please hang in there, lady’ Wendell thinks to himself, before quantum-jumping from near the sun, and soon after re-appearing above Earth, where he speeds to Avengers Headquarters, and into a med-lab, where Drt Kincaid is waiting. Carol is laid out on a bed, the red parts of her costume gone, and now bald. ‘How is she, doctor?’ Quasar enquires. Dr Kincaid explains thast it is too soon to tell, and turns to Edwin Jarvis, asking him to pull up Binary’s medical file. Jarvis confirms that he has the data, but reveals that it pertains to when Carol was the Avenger known as Ms Marvel, not her current transformed state.
‘Binary was Ms Marvel? I didn’t know that. No wonder she opted to save the Earth. This is home to her! And I’m not about to let her hard work go to waste!’ Quasar declares, before turning to leave the med-lab. Jarvis asks Quasar where he is going, and Wendell explains that he has to get to the Kree galaxy to prevent a bomb from exploding - assuming he isn’t already too late. Jarvis informs Quasar that he has prepared a lunch box for him, and that it is by the back door. ‘Thanks!’ Wendell replies.
And soon, Quasar is in orbit once again, sandwich in hand, he contacts Epoch, announcing that he has emerged from Earth’s atmosphere and is about to quantum-jump to the Kree galaxy. He asks Epoch if she will be okay until he gets back, and Epoch confirms that she will. Quasar asks Epoch to see what she can do about plugging up those stargates, adding that he would do it himself - but he has a bomb to catch!


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Empire of Dust
Operation Galactic Storm has ended, and the Cosmic Crusader has just said goodbye to his friend and mentor, Captain America. Cap waves as Wendell “Quasar” Vaughn takes flight, while thinking to himself that being an Avenger has been his dream since before he even became Quasar, but not even five minutes ago he resigned from active membership. He tells himself that he had to, for ever since he joined, he has had problems reconciling his responsibilities to Earth as an Avenger, and his responsibilities to the rest of the universe, as the appointed “Protector”. Quasar flies through the city, realizing that the Kree-Shi’ar war really drove home the issue of his divided loyalties. ‘Who knows – maybe if I’d figured out a way to be a better protector, I might have been able to nip the hostilities in the bud – before they threatened everyone on Earth and in the Kree Empire’ Wendell thinks to himself.
As the young hero flies towards Four Freedoms Plaza, he notices a traffic jam below, with an ambulance caught in the gridlock. He flies down and asks the ambulance officers where they are heading for. ‘Uh – St Vincent’s!’ one of them replies. Quasar offers to help them, and using his quantum bands, creates a quantum-magnet to pick the ambulance up out of the traffic jam, and shortly, sets it down at St Vincent’s. ‘Wow, man! Thanks! You probably saved that guy’s life!’ one of the ambulance officers calls out, referring to the patient in the back of the ambulance. Quasar takes flight, and thinks to himself ‘Yeah, one life, but as a Protector of the whole darn universe, I should be doing a whole lot more than that’. He knows that is why he is going away, for he may not have been able to prevent billions of Kree from dying, but he is not going to let anything like that happen again.
Soon, at Wendell’s Midtown office, Wendell has changed into work attire, including a long trenchcoat, and enters the office. ‘Wendell, E Vaughn! Howzit going, stranger?’ Ken Tanaka exclaims as he looks up from his workstation where he is drawing on some blueprints. ‘It’s going’ Wendell replies, before asking where everyone is. Ken explains that Kayla has called in sick for the last couple of days and HD went to check on her. ‘She did? That doesn’t sound like her’ Wendell remarks, before realizing that he is thinking of the old HD. Ken asks Wendell where he has been the past two weeks, to which Wendell replies ‘Chasing between a couple of galaxies trying to avert a war’. Ken asks if that he anything to do with the strange sunspot activity that was all over the news, to which Wendell replies that actually, it did, but that the sun is going to be fine, though. Wendell informs Ken that he is going to have to be leaving again, and that he is not sure when he will be back, as he has got a lot of business to take care of out in space. He enters his office, and asks tells Ken that it is going to be up to him to keep Vaughn Security Systems afloat – if he is up to it.
Ken rushes into Wendell’s office, ‘You’re kidding. Really?’ he asks, adding that since he won’t be using it all that much anymore, this office is now Ken’s. ‘Uh, say, boss...’ Ken begins. ‘I wish you wouldn’t call me that, Kenjiro’ Wendell replies, addressing Ken by his full name. Ken nervously asks Wendell if he still has that weird dimensional portal behind the bookcase. Wendell pulls the bookcase aside and taps his hand against the wall, telling Ken that it is all sealed shut. ‘Okay, I’ll take it!’ Ken declares, before telling Wendell that he is going to miss him, and calls him “boss”. ‘Not “boss” – partner’ Wendell smiles, adding that he will check in whenever he is in the solar system. As Wendell starts to leave, Ken tells him to be sure to call Kayla before he skips off, as he thinks she is really bummed out about that golden Amazon who has been hanging around Wendell. ‘Not that I think she’s faking being sick or anything’ Ken adds, while Wendell assures Ken that he will check in on Kayla as soon as he picks up a few things from his apartment.
Meantime, on Staten Island, New York, Police officers and Guardsmen have gathered around the Ballantine home, where a frightened Kayla, her brother Devon and her parents are standing on the driveway as one officer asks Kayla if she is sure that she has absolutely no idea why this “Angler” fellow attacked her. Kayla’s brother puts a jacket over his sister’s shoulders as she is only wearing underwear, and Kayla declares that she is telling the truth. Guardsmen have placed Angler on a stretcher with restraints and carry him away, as the officer asks Kayla if she has any idea what caused him to blow through the wall like he did. Kayla hangs her head and replies that she doesn’t, that his weird power must have backfired. The police officer assures Kayla that the Angler won’t be bothering her anymore, as the government armor-boys have him under wraps. ‘Yeah’ Kayla mutters. The officer announces that if they have any more questions, they will call.
The Ballantine family head back to their front door, as Kayla’s father asks her to tell him the truth – what did that freak want from her, and whether she knew him. ‘I told the police the truth, Daddy’ Kayla replies, adding that she saw him once in the building where she works, and she thinks that he has been following her, that’s all. Mr Ballantine frowns, ‘That blasted Fantastic Four building! I told you no good would come of you working there!’ he declares, before ordering Kayla to quit her job, as it isn’t safe there.‘You understand me? Quit! Or you can just pack your –’ Mr Ballantine declares, but Kayla starts crying and rushes to the remains of her bedroom, ‘DADDEEEE!’ she screams and starts to pack a suitcase, deciding that she can’t live here anymore, and realizing that she should have moved out when she turned eighteen. Suddenly, the prim HD Steckley appears. ‘May I come in?’ HD asks. ‘HD!?’ Kayala gasps, surprised.
Kayla asks HD how she got past the police barricade, to which HD explains that she told the police that she was a friend, and they just let her through. ‘Really?’ Kayla asks, before HD notices that Kayla is packing, and asks her where she is going. Kayla replies that she doesn’t know yet, and HD informs her that she has a spare bedroom at her apartment. ‘You...wouldn’t mind?’ Kayla asks. HD assures her that she won’t, and adds that it will be fun to have a roommate.
Meanwhile, West End Avenue, Manhattan, Wendell climbs the stairs to his apartment and recalls how Ken said Mike has been making a mint with his messenger business. ‘Small wonder, considering he’s the fastest man on Earth’ Wendell thinks to himself, while hoping that his friend is home. He enters and finds Mike – a.k.a. Makkari reading a copy of the Daily Bugle with the headline, “Canadian Hero Reveals He’s Gay”. Wendell calls out to Makkari, who tells him ‘Long time no see. Out saving the universe without me again?’ the Eternal asks. ‘Trying, at any rate’ Wendell replies. They shake hands and Makkari tells Wendell that he missed him. ‘Same here’ Wendell replies, before telling Makkari that they are going to be missing each other some more, as he has to go back up to the High Frontier, and he just stopped by for a few things.
Wendell goes to his closet and starts to pack a bag, and an instant later, Makkari, in costume, speeds into Wendell’s room, asking ‘If I hadn’t happened to be here...you’d have skipped planet without saying “see ya”?’ he asks. ‘Well...’ Wendell begins. ‘Take me with you, Q-Man! I’m getting bored here on terra firma’ Makkari declares. Wendell explains that he is going to be gone for an indefinite period of time, to which Makkari replies ‘I’m an Eternal. What do I care about time?’ Quasar informs his friend that where he is going will not be pretty, as he is going to be surveying the aftermath of a devastating war. ‘Hey, I’ve been around. You think the battlefields of Troy were pretty?’ Makkari asks. ‘The reign of Vlad the Impaler? The Alamo?’ so Wendell gives in, ‘All right already’ he tells his friend. Switching to his costume, Wendell takes flight, with Makkari running alongside him on a quantum-treadmill, they take to the skies, and Quasar announces that he has to make one more stop – he has to say goodbye to Kayla.
Staten Island, Wendell has switched back to civilian clothing, and rings the door of the Ballantine home. ‘Who the %$&* are you?’ Mr Ballantine asks as he answers the door. ‘I’m a friend of your daughter, Sir. Her employer, actually – Wendell Vaughn’ Wendell explains. ‘She ain’t here. She moved’ Mr Ballantine replies, before slamming the door in Wendell’s face. ‘So that’s her Dad’ Wendell thinks to himself, before flying up to where the quantum-treadmill hovers, with Makkari sitting on it. ‘Well?’ Makkari asks. Wendell tells his friend that Kayla isn’t home, and that he thinks he made a bad first impression on her father. He adds that he can’t really delay too much longer, and he will have to go without seeing her. Suddenly, the enigmatic Her appears beside Quasar and Makkari. ‘you weren’t thinking of going anywhere without me?’ she smiles. ‘You, Her-ly Burly!’ Makkari calls out. ‘Who me?’ Wendell asks, adding that he knew she would track him down if he flew around long enough. ‘Is she going to buy it?’ Wendell asks himself.
The trio move swiftly towards space, while Quasar asks Her if she sin’t even curious as to where they are going. ‘As long as I’m with the finest individual the human species has produced, it doesn’t matter’ Her replies. ‘Let’s not forget Mr Finest’s fleet-footed friend!’ Makkari calls out. ‘Uh, yeah. Ahem. Anyway, our destination’s the Kree galaxy. I want to do some reconnaissance there’ Quasar announces, deciding that it is phase one in his attempt to figure out how to be a better Protector of the Universe, before telling his friends to prepare to quantum-jump.
A few minutes later, Quasar, Makkari and Her re-materialize in Kree space. Quasar remarks that he hopes Kayla’s okay, as he wishes he had the chance to talk to her. ‘But you do! I’m right here!’ Her exclaims. ‘No, Her – not you, I mean Kayla’ Quasar explains. ‘But you just said “A chance to talk to her”!’ Her reminds him. ‘Her. We’ve got to do something about your name’ Quasar announces, before adding that they have to shelve that discussion, as they are at the Kree homeworld – Hala. Her points out that the planetary ring appears to be composed of satellites, and Quasar explains that it is Hala’s “Star Wars” defense system. The satellites start to fire some weaponry at the trio, so Quasar places a quantum-shield around them all, and remarks that he could have sworn that the satellites were half destroyed less than a week ago, and now the ring appears to have repaired itself. ‘Won’t penetrate my quantum-bubble’ he assures his friends.
Soon, on the surface of Hala, ‘Yecch!’ Makkari utters as he, Wendell and Her examine the destruction of Hala and see the bodies lying scattered about. Quasar remarks that it is worse than he remembered, adding that this world is but one of thousands struck dead by the radiation of the Shi’ar Nega-Bomb. ‘What is our purpose in surveying this sordid spectacle?’ Her enquires. ‘See if there are any survivors...help them’ Quasar explains. ‘You mean we’re going to fly around the entire planet, looking for individuals to rescue from beneath rubble?’ Her asks as she flies alongside Quasar, while Makkari speeds across the ground beneath them. Quasar announces that he is hoping they will figure out something to do to help survivors on a worldwide scale, and suggests they check out the central government building first. ‘Why?’ Her asks. Quasar explains that he wants to take a look at the corpse of the ruler of the thousand world Kree Empire – the Supreme Intelligence.
They make their way to the Hall of Judgment in the destroyed Citadel, and find that the Supreme Intelligence’s corpse is not floating in his tank. Quasar supposes that someone must have removed him, which means they are survivors here. ‘Or...maybe he’s not really dead and he removed himself!’ Makkari suggests. Quasar explains that the Supreme Intelligence is not supposed to be able to exist outside of the tank. Her enquires as to what killed the Supreme Intelligence, and Quasar announces that a contingent of Avengers pulled the plug on his life support system, as they learned he was actually responsible for instigating the bomb that kill his own people. ‘That’s horrible!’ Her utters. ‘Yeah. Come on. Let’s go’ Quasar tells his friends, before realizing that his Quantum Bands are picking up something.
Indeed, as four beings descend upon Quasar, Makkari and Her – ‘Halt in the name of the Shi’ar Star Force!’ a muscular blue-skinned man booms. ‘The presence of aliens – as my sensors indicated!’ an armoured being exclaims, while Her utters ‘Who?’ as Quasar recognizes the female amongst the group as Deathbird. He quickly places a quantum-field around himself, Makkari and Her, while telling them that Deathbird is Shi’ar and the others are Kree – Korath, Shatterax and Ultimus. He tells the Star Force that he and his friends come in peace, and explains that he is Quasar. ‘One of the Avengers of Earth!’ Deathbird points out, while announcing that this area is under martial law. She instructs Quasar to drop his shield and surrender at once. Quasar informs Deathbird that he is not with the Avengers anymore, and that he is here on a mission of mercy.
‘You are trespassing in Shi’ar airspace in a restricted zone – a violation of Imperium law!’ Deathbird declares as she hovers over the quantum-field. ‘Now look, lady, I answer to a higher authority than you could imagine’ Quasar declares, while adding that he and his friends are here to find and assist the surviving Kree in any way they possibly can. ‘We do not need or want help from your kind, arrogant earthman!’ Deathbird declares, revealing that they have already gathered a handful or survivors themselves. Quasar tells her that he just wants to see them, while Deathbird warns him that he has until the count of three to drop his shield and surrender, or face the fury of the strongest beings in the galaxy. Deathbird begins to count down, and when Quasar doesn’t lower the quantum-bubble, she orders Korath, Ultimus and Shatterax to fire, which they do, aiming their energies at the quantum-bubble. ‘They imploded!’ one of the Star Force members exclaims. ‘Sucked into the vacuum’ another declares.
However, an instant later, still inside the quantum-bubble, Quasar, Makkari and Her appear back in space. ‘Smooth move, Q-Man! Quantum-jumping right out from under their noses’ Makkari declares. ‘Yeah’ Quasar replies, adding that he doesn’t usually do it in atmospheres because it rips a big hole in the air, but he wasn’t in the mood to tussle with those bozos, as he has had enough intergalactic sparring to last him for quite some time. Makkari asks Quasar what they will do next, as Quasar replies that there is about nine hundred and ninety nine other worlds to survey, so perhaps he can get his cosmic goddaughter to give him directions to the nearest one. He contacts Epoch over the Quantum Bands and tells her that he needs to know the location of the closes inhabited planet to Hala. Epoch immediately replies that it is Turanal, the fourth planet in the Pama System, before stating that even closer than that is a starship of planetoid size, and it is inhabited.
Shortly, Quasar and his friends quantum-jump to the location of the enormous starship. ‘Wow. Is that a Baroque-looking starship or what? It reminds me of a gothic cathedral’ Makkari remarks, while Quasar tells his friends that there is something vaguely familiar about it, that he thinks he has seen one before, as he starts to look for an airlock. And, soon, Quasar, Makkari and Her enter the sprawling starship, and stand before a tall, thin alien, who announces that it is an unexpected honor to have the Protector of the Universe here aboard the Mourning Star. Quasar addresses the alien as Fath and tells him that it is good to see him again. He adds that he can guess why Fath is here in the Kree Galaxy, and Fath states that it is a tragedy of unparalleled proportions. Quasar introduces Her and Makkari to Fath and explains that he is one of the heads of this sect called the Mourners, and that they met a few months ago when a funeral was held for his mentor, Eon.
Fath tells Quasar and the others that they would be honored to have them participate in their memorial service for the fallen Kree, that it is just about to commence. ‘Uh...sure. It’s the least we can do for the Kree’ Quasar replies, while thinking to himself ‘Not that I’m a big fan of the religious rigamarole’. Looking around the chamber they enter, Makkari turns to Quasar and asks him quietly ‘What’s with all these statutes of bug-eyed monsters?’ to which Quasar guesses they are shrines to extinct alien races. ‘Tres Necropolitan’ Makkari remarks, as they reach an arena, where members of the Mourners sit in the seats that spiral upwards, while one Mourner hovers in a beam of light at the center of the stadium, arms raised high. ‘You’re not officiating here, Fath?’ Quasar asks. Fath explains that this portion of the service is conducted by Wayopex the Interdite, as he is their empath. ‘Mr portion comes later’ Fath adds, while Quasar quietly asks ‘What is he doing?’ as Fath reveals that Wayopex communes with the souls of the dead, lets them know that they are honoring them.
Suddenly, ‘NOOOOO! They’re not dead – none of them!’ Wayopex shouts. ‘NOT DEAD!’ he booms, startling the rest of the cult, ‘A sacrilege!’ one of them exclaims as they look around. ‘Too many for him to assimilate’ another suggests. ‘Can this be true?’ someone asks, while another suggests that they get a new empath. ‘Wayopex has never failed us before’ another remarks. Quasar asks Fath what is going on, and what Wayopex meant by the Kree not being dead. ‘I saw tons of bodies’ he reveals. ‘It is the immortal soul he communes with, not its fragile envelope of flesh’ Fath explains. ‘I still don’t get it!’ Quasar declares, while Fath approaches Wayopex to question him, to see if there was not some channeling irregularity. Quasar realizes that this is way beyond his understanding – all this talk of souls and such. The young hero has seen a lot of cosmic stuff in his short time as Protector of the Universe, but he still hasn’t seen anything that makes him believe in any kind of true afterlife. ‘This whole thing is a well-meaninged mumbo-jumbo to me’.
Meantime, back on Earth, at Colorado’s federal penitentiary for superhuman criminals known as the Vault, two Guardsmen lead Angler down a corridor lined with cells, as one of them tells he villain that he doesn’t know how he “angled” his way out of here, but to not think that they are going to let it happen again. Angler utters something at the Guardsmen in an indecipherable language, but adds “yourself” on the end. ‘Ooh, I love being sworn at in alienese’ the other Guardsman jokes. ‘Heh-heeya-hee! Look who’s back!’ someone calls out from their cell. ‘Shut the face, Lansky!’ one of the Guardsmen orders, while they tell Angler that he is going to like his cell, as they made all sorts of improvements.
A punk-looking man leans against the wall in his cell, ‘Frass! Heard someone was coming and thought it was time for evening grub’ he thinks to himself, while a figure in the shadows approaches him from behind, ‘Jerome Meyers, alias Quagmire?’ the shadowy figure calls out. ‘Huh?’ Quagmire calls out, turning around,g he looks shocked as the figure in the shadows reveals ‘I am the one who liberated the Angler from his place of confinement. I could liberate you as well, if you would be willing to perform a simple task for me…’, so Quagmire tells the mysterious figure to keep speaking, as he is all ears.
Back aboard the Mourning Star, Quasar contacts Epoch and tells her that the word is that none of the Kree are really dead, or at least a couple hundred billions souls have been misplaced. He asks her if there is any way she can check on this sort of thing. Epoch’s infant-like face can be seen in the Quantum Band and she tells Quasar that she will try, before informing Quasar that she has something to tell him about his colleague, HD Steckely, and reveals that she is not Moondragon as Quasar suspected. ‘Moondragon is currently aboard a ship in -’ Epoch begins, but Quasar interrupts, ‘That’s fine, Eppy. Now check into this Kree thing, please’ Quasar declares.
Fath returns to Quasar and the others and reports that through meditation, Wayopex communicates with the zama - souls in terran terminology - of the recently deceased, and he was unable to make such contact this time, even though they are well within the time-frame in which such a communion is possible. Fath explains that this means the zama have not passed onto the Weavern, or realm of the after death, that something has waylaid them. Quasar asks if this happens often, to which Fath reports that in all the shulan of their existence it has never happened before. ‘As the universe’s protector could you help us?’ Fath asks. ‘Uh, well, it’s kind of our of my area of expertise’ Quasar replies, before his Quantum Bands light up - Epoch has news.
Epoch informs Quasar that there is an exceedingly powerful disturbance of an unidentifiable power fifty parsecs from his present location. Epoch offers to give quasar the celestial coordinates if he wishes. Quasar quickly tells Fath that he has to check something out, and asks him ot keep gathering information about the lost souls and he will see what he can do when he gets back. ‘Let’s roll, people’ Wendell calls out to Her and Makkari.
Minutes later, the trio have once again quantum-jumped, and re-appear in space, away from the Mourning Star, as Quasar tells his friends that this is the place. A large, bright light shines ahead of them as Makkari declares that must be the energy phenomenon. Quasar remarks that he wonders why Epoch said it was unidentifiable, as it looks like three stars in close proximity. ‘Dangerously unstable proximity, Quasar’ Her remarks, adding that a trinary system composed of three stellar masses of those apparent sizes, she has never seen one before. Wide-eyed, Quasar tells Her that she is right, but adds that on the other hand, his preliminary energy scan reveals no wavelengths of stellar energy emanating from it. He suggests they go in for a closer look.
Quasar flies forward, while Her follows him, and Makkari runs alongside them on the quantum-treadmill. ‘Challenging the unknown with the most gifted human being the species has produced…this is truly my calling…my destiny…my kismet’ Her thinks to herself, while Makkari tells thinks ‘Running head-on into hazardous space, dig it!’ However, as the trio reach the energy, Quasar gulps and tells his friends that he doesn’t think this is a trinary system, as a large cosmic being reveals itself - and it does not look happy….


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Whose War is this Anyway?
The Dimension of Manifestations, a realm beyond reality where fractal beings fashion temporary bodies for bodiless entities. Quasar a.k.a. Wendell Vaughn hovers in a quantum armor, while a manifestation of Eternity floats beneath him and the being called the Contemplator. ‘So that’s the scoop, Contemplator - since there’s nothing to be done for this zoned-out manifestation of Eternity, I’m going to high-tail it back to Earth’. He explains that is where his former teammates in the Avengers are about to launch an assault on the cosmic muck-amuck they figure did this to the temporal spirit of the universe. ‘So…how about showing me the exit?’ Quasar asks. Wendell drops his quantum armor, but as he sees the Contemplator looking thoughtful, he asks ‘Contemplator - the exit? Time’s wasting’. The Contemplator then announces that he has decided to remain here. ‘You what?’ Wendell asks.
The Contemplator explains that it has ever been his philosophy to take advantage of whatever unexpected opportunities unfold before him, so exploring this hitherto unplumbed dimension more fully is the opportunity of his immortal lifetime. ‘But it took me all my power to get us here…how will you get out when you’re ready?’ Quasar asks. Contemplator replies that he will worry about that when the time comes, and as a small glowing bubble appears between Quasar’s fingers, Contemplator asks him what it is. Quasar gives it to Contemplator and tells him that it is a quantum-bubble, and so long as he has it in his possession, Quasar will be able to track him. Contemplator thanks Quasar and places the quantum-bubble in his naval. Wendell asks Contemplator if he can show him the way out without going with him, and Contemplator confirms that he can. They shake hands and Quasar bids Contemplator farewell. ‘You are a worthy individual, Quasar’ Contemplator replies.
An instant later, there is a blinding flash of energy, and Quasar vanishes. Contemplator tells himself that as he and Quasar clasped hands, he could feel his life-line, and wishes he had time to warn the young hero that he has the feel of a man about to experience great tragedy. Contemplator starts to fly away from the floating Eternity, towards a doorway that hovers nearby. Contemplator tells Eternity that he is sorry he cannot help him, but decides that there is no sense bemoaning the inevitable, after all, he has a strange new dimension to contemplate. ‘Truly, there is none as fortunate as me’ Contemplator decides, while wondering what lies on the other side of the door.
‘Hmmm. Another tableau of abstract and near-omnipotent beings’ Contemplator tells himself as he steps through the door, into a seemingly white nothingness, where several phenomenal beings are gathered before the Beyonder, who stands next to an apparent human. ‘Beyonder, we ask of you an audience. Please hear us’ a Watcher calls out. Contemplator examines the beings, and sees another manifestation of Eternity, a Watcher, a Celestial, the In-Betweener, Lord Chaos and Master Order. He then notices his fellow Elder, the Gardener, and wonders how he fits into such an assemblage - not to mention why all these manifestations are so homogenous. The Living Tribunal and Death are also present, while Contemplator wonders who the human with the Beyonder is. Contemplator knows that there are mysteries upon mysteries to contemplate here, and wonders whether he will be able to locate the head manifester again, so it can enlighten him. Contemplator then passes through another door.
Elsewhere, ‘Earth?’ Quasar wonders as he materializes, and decides that it is Earth, as he would recognize that distinctive Van Allen Radiation Belt anywhere, so he is grateful that the Contemplator came through for him. Wendell feels weird to be back so soon, as he figured he would be gone several months at lease, and wonders how long he has been gone. Checking his Quantum Bands, they display that he has been gone 6 days, 7 hours, 14 minutes and thirty seconds. ‘Oh’ Quasar remarks, before realizing that he should check in with HQ. Shortly, he flies towards a slightly damaged building, grateful that he did check in, otherwise he would have gone uptown to Avengers Mansion, rather than to where everyone is assembled at Four Freedom’s Plaza. As he gets closer to the building, he sees that the “4”s atop the building are completely gone, and although he was made aware of the explosion, he didn’t think it would be this bad.
Wendell would love to stop off at his twelfth floor office and see how Kayla is, but knows there is no time now. ‘Maybe after we manage to save the universe’ he decides. ‘Listen to me, being so matter-of-fact about the universe - as if I did it all the time’. As he reaches a window, it suddenly opens for him, and Quasar supposes that it scanned his energy signature. ‘Hey, Cap!’ Quasar exclaims as he enters the building and is greeted by Captain America. Cap tells Quasar that he made it just in time and asks him if he has anything new to report. ‘Nothing that’s going to help us!’ Quasar replies. Cap tells him that they can’t worry about that now, as they are about to take off. Wendell notices that Cap seems tense, and suspects he doesn’t care much for these off-world forays - a few weeks ago there was the “Galactic Storm”, and now this.
As they pass the four mystics - Scarlet Witch, Shaman, Dr Druid and Agatha Harkness - Quasar asks Cap who is in the expeditionary force. ‘The most seasoned and powerful’ Cap responds, as they join up with a large gathering of heroes, including members of the X-Men and X-Factor, Alpha Flight, both Avengers teams, the Fantastic Four and some solo heroes. ‘They ought to be able to take care of any business that needs attending to’ Quasar declares as he sees his companions. ‘Let’s hope’ Cap responds, adding that they are the maximum the mystics could transport in one trip. ‘Hey, Junior! Long time no see. Come to join our intergalactic volleyball team, have ya?’ the Thing asks, smiling as he and Quasar shake hands. ‘You bet’ Quasar replies, remarking that he will set them up so the Thing can spike them over.
Captain America tells everyone that this is it, and that they should prepare themselves, for not only do they have no idea what their destination will be like, he can’t even tell them what to expect during the journey. The Scarlet Witch glances at Captain America, before she and the other mystics chant, and energies surround both them and the larger group of heroes. Quasar is an old hand at space jumps, but since magic is one of the things his Quantum-Bands have no effect over, the idea of occult teleportation creeps him out. There is a blinding flash, and an instant later, everyone, including the mystics, has vanished.
At approximately the same time on the distant planet Scadam, Quasar’s closest female friend, Kayla Ballantine is experiencing a similar feeling. ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean I’m the most powerful being you’ve ever met? I’m just an ordinary Earth-girl - a secretary!’ she gasps, as she and HD Steckley stand before the cosmic being called the Chief Examiner. The landscape around them is very peculiar indeed, as the Chief Examiner asks ‘You are incognizant of the vast, unfathomable energies you possess?, to which Kayla replies that all she knows is that weird things have been happening to her lately - the weirdest being kidnapped to this place. The Chief Examiner claims to be able to stop those “weird things” from happening and transport Kayla back to her home sphere, if she surrenders her power over.
Kayla asks the Chief Examiner what he wants her power for, and the Chief Examiner explains that he is in the process of synthesizing super-human energy in order to fashion a champion to protect his people from the impending attack of a savage black fleet. Kayla turns to HD and calling her “Holly” asks what she should do. HD tells Kayla not to cooperate, and adds ‘The guy’s a creep. He may use your power for evil’. But, Kayla explains to HD that she doesn’t have any power, and adds that this guy is nuts, so they should just let him take something from her, if it will get them home. Kayla then turns to the being and exclaims ‘Look, Chief Examiner, or whatever you called yourself, what you want to do to me - will it hurt?’, and the Chief Examiner replies that he doesn’t believe so.
Leaning over before the Chief Examiner, Kayla asks if he promises to send she and Holly back to Earth as soon as he is done. ‘My word is my bond’ the Chie Examiner replies, while explaining that the focal point of the energy is at the base of Kayla’s skull, so he runs a hand through her hair, and holds a strange device towards her head, when HD suddenly shouts ‘Kayla - wait!’ but HD realizes that she can’t move towards Kayla, that she is being held motionless and speechless, in her tracks. She wonders if this is Kayla’s doing, while Kayla tells the Chief Examiner to hurry up, as whatever he is doing itches.
But, as the Chief Examiner begins to receive the energies from Kayla Ballantine, his head suddenly explodes, and he crumbles to dust. Kayla looks up, and rubbing her head asks ‘What happened? Where’d he - is this?’ and enquires as to whether Holly saw what happened. ‘Hmph’ Holly mutters, when suddenly, Kayla screams as the ground around them begins to explode, and black space ships start to descend over them, their weapons fire causing the explosions. ‘Space ships! The black fleet?’ one of the women wonders, while the other shouts ‘Never mind! Just run for cover!’ and they both run for their lives.
Elsewhere in the cosmos, a portal opens and the mass of heroes arrives on a planet, where, waiting for them are the Infinity Watch - Warlock, Gamora, Drax, Moondragon, Pip the Troll and the diabolical Thanos. Quasar sees Thanos and Moondragon and recalls that they are the ones whom incapacitated Eternity. He wonders where they got such power from, while Cap tells everyone to fan out, to surround them, and not to attack unless provoked. ‘There’s only six of ‘em. No contest!’ Wolverine exclaims. ‘Can we talk?’ Pip the Troll calls out as the heroes move forward and form a circle around the Infinity Watch.
Warlock addresses the heroes, declaring that they are not their enemies. ‘We are the Infinity Watch. Guardians of -’ he begins, before Thanos interrupts him, telling him not to waste his breath. ‘With me, a known champion of death at your side, these insipid Earth beings will never believe we seek the same goal as they. Let them attack and pay the price for their presumption!’ Thanos suggests. Quasar tells himself that they are trembling on the brink of a war, and that they don’t even know what is going on. He decides that he better move fast, and throws up a quantum-shield that is heavy enough to withstand some heavy hitters on both teams. The Infinity Watch find themselves encased in the quantum-shield, and Pip asks ‘Hey, who’s the wise guy?’, while Drax asks why the sky has turned yellow. Moondragon declares that this is Quasar’s doing, and Thanos calls him an insolent pup and boasts that he will see him suffer for this impertinence.
At the same time, Cyclops unleashes an optic blast, ‘They’re protecting themselves with some sort of force field’ he exclaims, while telling Iceman and Wolverine to hit it with all they have got. Iceman fires some ice-beams towards the Infinity Watch, while Wolverine rushes forward, claws ready. ‘Hey, guys? Didn’t’ Cap say to -’ the new Thor calls out as he hovers overhead, spinning his hammer, but Hercules, the Hulk and Thing rush towards the Infinity Watch: ‘Thanos, thou basest of villains -’ Hercules begins. ‘Words, smurds! Let’s clobber the bums!’ the Thing interrupts, as Hercules finishes his sentence: ‘- the Prince of Power would have words with thee!’ The Hulk, Hercules, the Thing and Wolverine all slam into the quantum-field at the same time Cyclops’s optic blast and Iceman’s ice-beam strike it, while Pip tells his teammates that at the moment, being trapped isn’t the worst thing that could be happening to them.
‘Quasar, you’re doing, I take?’ Cap asks. Quasar confirms that it is, and explains that he didn’t think everyone was listening when Cap told them to cool it, so he pulled his patented containment maneuver, giving them a few moments to plan. ‘Good man. Wish I had a team of guys like you’ Cap tells Quasar, who thanks him, and remarks that he recognizes Moondragon and Thanos, before asking Cap if he knows who the rest are. Professor Xavier moves towards Cap and Quasar in his hover-chair, and reports that he can answer that, as he has just finished psi-scanning them, and announces that they are Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Pip the Troll and Adam Warlock. As She-Hulk, Human Torch, Wonder Man, Invisible Woman, Sasquatch, Colossus, Rogue, Jean Grey and the Vision all join in on the attack against the quantum-field, Cap remarks that the last he heard, Warlock was dead. Cap then introduces Quasar to Professor X, explaining that he is the founder of the X-Men. ‘Pleased to meet you, Sir’ Quasar remarks.
Cap asks Xavier whether he has been able to determine the Infinity Watch’s motivations here, but Xavier replies that he hasn’t, as the telepath, Moondragon, detected his psi-scans and immediately put a mind-screen around each of them. Cap decides that any group containing the mad titan Thanos must be presumed dangerous, before asking Quasar to make him a megaphone. Quasar does so, and Cap holds the quantum-megaphone up, calling out to the expeditionary force, he tells them to listen to him, and explains that it was their side who put up the dome, not the Infinity Watch, and they are to desist in their attempts to demolish it. He tells the heroes to select one of the Infinity Watch to cover, and as soon as everyone is in place, they will let down the dome. ‘You tell ‘em, Cap!’ Wendell thinks to himself.
But, Adam Warlock calls the heroes fools who are bound and determined to do battle with them. He then asks Moondragon why she hasn’t used her mind gem to convince the Earthers that they are not the enemy. Moondragon explains that she tried, but that Charles Xavier is shielding everyone’s minds from outside influence, just as she is doing the same to the Infinity Watch. ‘Ya mean ol baldy’s the one keeping us from walking away from this without a scrap? Lemme at him!’ Pip exclaims, before using his space gem to teleport out of the quantum-dome, and he re-materliazes just above Professor X. Quasar sees this, and as Pip is about to strike Xavier in the head, Quasar puts up a quantum-plate, causing Pip’s hands to strike it, and he subsequently hurts himself. ‘You okay, Sir?’ Quasar asks Xavier.
Suddenly, there is a powerful explosion, and the heroes are all knocked backwards, as Thanos smiles, power radiating from his fist, he exclaims ‘That felt…good. Now…a fight they want, a fight they’ll get!’ ‘They blew the dome!’ Quasar points out, as he dons some quantum armor - large spiked shoulder pads - and creates a quantum staff, he tells Captain America to see if any of the others are hurt, as he is going after Thanos. At that moment, Jean Grey confronts Moondragon, while Strong Guy and Sasquatch both jump on Drax the Destroyer. The new Thor and Hercules both stand ready to confront Thanos, who has grabbed both the Thing and the Hulk and is about to bash their heads together. ‘You call yourselves strong? I am strength personified!’ he boasts.
Quasar sees the heroes in danger, and knows that if he tried to get involved, he would only trip up over them all. He hates these free-for-alls, and decides to find a different sparring partner while the behemoths continue their battle. Before he continues on, though, he creates a quantum cushion between the Hulk and the Thing’s heads, preventing them from crashing their skulls together. Quasar sees Moondragon and recalls that a few months ago, she was begging to be his consort. ‘Now she’s thrown in with Thanos! What a guy to dump me for’ As Moondragon kicks Jean Grey in the face, Psylocke tries to attack Moondragon from behind, and Quasar decides to pass on a reunion, so he flies overhead without Moondragon noticing.
‘Drop that weapon and surrender!’ Cyclops shouts. ‘Or we’re gonna aim for your head!’ Havok adds as the brothers both attack Adam Warlock with their energies. But Warlock just laughs, and re-directs the energies upwards into the air, where they strike the Human Torch and Living Lightning. Before Warlock can do anything else, though, a Quantum fishhook drops down behind him, and yanks him into the air. ‘Hi, I’m Quasar!’ Wendell calls out as he pulls Warlock towards him and suggests that they talk. ‘You think this is amusing?’ Warlock asks, as he lashes out and tries to hit Quasar in the head with his staff, but misses. ‘It has it’s moments’ Quasar relies, while deciding that Warlock could be Her’s brother, and thinks he should ask him about it, but first latches onto his staff and pulls is away, as he believes Warlock directs his power through it.
The staff drops downwards, and Quasar shouts ‘Okay, now I mean it. I need to know a few things’, but Warlock tells him that all he needs to know is that he fights for the sake of the Universe, and that the foolish superhuman beings would be well advised to defer to the Infinity Watch. As Warlock goes in for a punch, Wendell quickly puts up a quantum helmet to protect himself. ‘I’m supposed to defer to a guy with a pompous attitude and a friend who tried to destroy the universe a couple of times. Right. Tell me another’ Quasar replies as he smacks Warlock with the end of the hook, and as Warlock is still connected to the hook itself, Quasar reels him in closer, then taking Warlock’s wrists, Quasar uses his Quantum-Bands to gobble up bucketfuls of Warlock’s power.
‘Arrrh! What are you doing to me?’ Warlock calls out in agony. ‘It’s all in the wrists!’ Wendell replies, before telling Warlock that he wants some explanations and he wants them now. ‘Just who do you think you are?’ Warlock demands, struggling to break free. Quasar replies that, according to an eight-billion year old being, he is the Protector of the Universe, and explains that he is also a reserve member of the Avengers, and an all-around nice guy. ‘Who do you think you are?’ he enquires. ‘I’m the guardian of the Infinity Gems p and former Supreme Being of the Universe!’ Warlock declares. ‘Right. Okay, so you win in the pretentiousness department, now tell me what Thanos is up to’ Quasar declares. As cosmic energy spills around them, Warlock reveals that Thanos contacted him about a threat to the cosmos, not caused by Thanos, though.
Quasar tells Warlock to go on, and Warlock begins ‘It’s an evil counterpart of me - from an alternate timeline -’, to which Quasar asks ‘You’re the menace, you’re saying?’, but Warlock looks annoyed and shouts ‘Not me - my counterpart, the Magus!’, and he warns Quasar to stop what he is doing to him, otherwise he won’t have the strength to contain his soul-gem. Wendell sees that the jewel on Warlock’s head looks like it’s about to go off, so he extends a grapple from his Quantum-Bands to grab it, but green energy pours forward from the gem and slams Quasar backwards.
Meantime, back in the Dimension of Manifestations, ‘What is this?’ the Contemplator wonders as he steps into a whiteness where a purple being with white hair stands as several black beings, resembling Earth heroes, begin to rise from rifts. ‘I need more manifestation bodies, Anthromorpho! I need a dark doppelganger for every superhuman on the planet Earth!’ he declares. The Anthromorpho replies that he will provide as many as he can spare, but tells Magus that he must be patient, as he needs to meet the needs of his other clients, whose power levels are superior to that of Magus’s. Magus boasts that that will soon change, and tells Anthromorpho that when it does, he had best pray he is not feeling vindictive. Contemplator decides that this is another tableau of an even that has occurred in the recent path and the mention of Earth is curious. He wonders if this has anything to do with the crisis Quasar left to investigate, and whether he would appreciate knowing about this. Contemplator hopes to transmit a telepathic message through the quantum-bubble that Quasar gave him.
At that moment, ‘That gem packed some wallop - and whatever it shot was outside my Q-Bands power’ Wendell tells himself, as both he and Warlock are down on the surface of the planet, Archangel hovers nearby, while Wendell decides that he has heard enough from Warlock and that it is time to take him down. However, ‘Quasar…this is the Contemplator? Can you perceive me?’ the Contemplator calls out. Quasar is startled, and as Warlock knocks his hand backward, slamming into Archangel, who fires a beam from his gem, which strikes Quasar and sends him flying towards Guardian and Professor X. ‘Now we see which of us is truly superior, eh, Quasar?’ Warlock frowns, while the Contemplator sees the fallen Quasar and decides that he called at a bad time.
Back on the planet Scadam, Kayla and Holly huddle in a shallow cavern, while the black space ships continue to fire down towards the planet. Kayla tells Holly that she is scared, ‘It’s only a matter of time before…I don’t want to die so far from my home…’ she exclaims. HD tells Kayla that they are not going to die, provided she uses her power. ‘But I don’t -’ Kayla begins, until Holly tells her that she does, and points out that it was her power that destroyed the Chief Examiner, that his puny synthesizing device couldn’t handle all the power that she has. HD tells Kayla to go out there, to think about knocking the space ships from the sky, and it will happen. Tears fall from Kayla’s eyes and she replies ‘Oh…okay, I’ll try…’ but as she steps outside, a flash of energy seemingly destroys her, leaving only a smouldering flame on the planet’s surface. ‘Kayla?’ HD calls out as she looks at Kayla’s apparent remains….