Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the Kree Galaxy (the Large Magellanic Cloud) Quasar, Her and Makkari have just protected the foetus of a cosmic being from the Soul-Eater (last issue). But the foetus is damaged and they don't know if it will survive. Then Tath Ki the Elder Of The Universe called Contemplator pops up to witness the birth. He also can't do anything to help but he knows someone who can. He mentally calls in Rubanna Lagenris Quormo (an Elder new to us known as Caregiver) who heals and soothes the patient. Wendell Vaughn thanks Contemplator who in return asks Quasar to look out for someone who has been imitating him.
Now Quasar's mentor Epoch contacts him to relay a message from Captain America who's enquiring about Eternity who is apparently in trouble (see Infinity War #1). Wendell says he'll see what he can find out. Epoch says he doesn't know how to contact such higher beings, but Contemplator thinks he can use the power of Q's Quantum Bands to get to their dimension. However he can't take Her and Makkari as well so Wendell asks them to go tell the Mourners (see the last 2 issues) what happened to the souls of the Kree (killed in Operation: Galactic Storm).
As Contemplator prepares for the journey we nip to Earth where last issue (again) Quagmire sent Kayla Ballantine and Holly Steckley through a portal to somewhere because his boss wants Kayla in return for having freed him from prison. In the process he was attacked by a small negative energy being which he now can't locate. He stomps off free to do his own evil, but we see the little negative guy hitch a ride inside him.
Back in the Kree Galaxy Contemplator channels Quasar's power to isolate them from the rest of the universe and then opens a doorway in reality to a white space he calls the Dimension Of Manifestations where abstract entities go to get physical bodies (ie avatars). They find themselves dwarfed by equally-sized giant versions of Mistress Love and Sire Hate, Master Order and Lord Chaos, 2 Celestials (Ziran and One Above All), Kronos, Galactus and the Stranger along with a relatively much smaller Mephisto. Wendell is confused. He didn't think Galactus, Stranger and the Celestials were abstract beings, and they're not the same size as each other. And he seems to recall such a gathering in a dream he had. Contemplator tells him it wasn't a dream but an event that got unhappened (ie the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series). Then Q spots his previous mentor Eon (who died and gave birth to Epoch), but he like the others makes no response.
However they *are* contacted by a very abstract being called Anthropomorpho who styles himself the Prime Manifester of this dimension. He explains that he and his people are living fractals who can shape themselves into any form. They act as manifestation-bodies for abstract entities, a symbiotic relationship which is (in some way) beneficial to both sides. They also provide spare bodies for powerful physical beings like Galactus so they can be in more than 1 place at once. Young Manifesters do these spares before they progress to the abstract beings. Manifestations can vary and sometimes the M-body is drawn from the mind of the beholder. At that point we see that Mistress Love looks like Quasar's friend Kayla.
Which is a cue for us to see what's happened to her and Holly. They're on an alien planet which a being called the Chief Examiner tells them is the planet Scadam which he says is about to be attacked by the Black Fleet. The pacifist Scadamites need a champion to defend them and the Examiner has been sampling Earth heroes and replicating their powers into an artificial being. He says he's replicated Hulk, Spider-Man and Human Torch & Thing (in Questprobe #1-3) and others (we see Sub-Mariner and Wolverine). But to her surprise he says Kayla Ballantine is the most powerful being on Earth.
Back in the Dimension Of Manifestations Quasar explains they've come looking for Eternity. Anthropomorpho tells them that his every avatar is still around here, and he directs them to a recent 1. They see most of the beings they saw earlier plus Eternity and the Living Tribunal, and Eternity is complaining to the LT about Adam Warlock. (This is obviously a scene from the trial of Warlock in Warlock & The Infinity Watch #1.)
Quasar again tries to talk to Eternity but the Tribunal tells him to go away. An abstract entity called Anomaly offers to deal with the pest. It claims to be the embodiment of all things that are like no other thing (hence its weird body), the exception to all rules. Q dons his quantum armour and fires a quantum beam which inexplicably splits to go round the foe. Anomaly promises to let him go if he'll go away. Wendell agrees and he and Contemplator exit through 1 of those doors ...
... only to find themselves in another white sp[ace full of Deaths of various species. Moving quickly on they meet an M-body of Infinity who Quasar was once an avatar for (#23-25). But she too ignores him so he guesses it's not the M-body he met before.
After many more tries they finally find Eternity alone and comatose. Epoch confirms that this is the most recent M-body. But then Anomaly attacks Quasar again, this time complaining that Wendell claimed to be an anomaly without his permission (#25). Q correctly counters that at the time he didn't know Anomaly existed, but this makes no difference. All his quantum stuff seems useless and he asks Epoch and Contemplator what to do. His mentor is at a loss but the Elder suggests he give up. It goes against the grain but Wendell figures that such a paradoxical solution might work against Anomaly. He stops resisting and the foe just dissolves away.
The issue ends with Quasar reporting what he's found to Cap, and being asked to join the expeditionary force being mounted in IW#3.