Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Requiem revealed herself to be Gamora and gained the Infinity Stones from Doctor Strange's Infinity Watch. With the Time Stone she froze the Watch and the Avengers. She used the Soul Gem to free her trapped soul fragment from Soul World. But before she could do anything else Loki turned up with his companion Flowa.
Gamora's instinct is to kill to Trickster God with her Asgardian sword enhanced by the Power Stone. Loki stops her by claiming to have seen multiple versions of these events, and the heroes always get the Stones back. Gamora uses the Mind Gem to check he's telling the truth and discovers he's been to the God Quarry, and that there's something called the Quarry Of Creation below that. (In Infinity Wars Prime she killed Thanos but he still speaks to her in her head. She tries to ignore him but this time he recommends listening to the Asgardian God.)
At Loki's urging Gamora uses the Stones to look into a nearby reality. There she sees a creature (which Marvel Wiki suggests is the Dragon Of The Moon, an old foe of Moondragon) being fought by herself and *another* Requiem, alongside Thanos, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell. She dismisses this but is intrigued by the Quarry Of Creation which even the Stones won't let her see into, so she decides to go there.
But 1st Gamora has to make sure Loki and the others can't interfere. She releases the Time Stone's hold on them and says she's going to send them into the Soul World to face judgement. Moon Knight is with them but he wasn't around in the previous issues. And he doesn't know what's going on. (Editorially they need him here to join with Spider-Man for the Arachknight 2-issues, but will his mysterious arrival be explained in-comic?) With a wave of her hands Captain America begins to merge with Dr Strange, and Spidey with Moon Knight. And as Gamora folds the universe in half, the voice of Thanos comments that she's chosen a different way to halve the population of the universe (than he did in Infinity Gauntlet).
Gamora has created Warp World (within the Soul World). We see an event in that world back in WWII. A female Prof Erskine created a super-soldier for the US military before she was shot by a Nazi spy. But she only pretended to have developed a super-soldier serum - instead she used magic. A general is introduced to the confused result - Stephen Rogers, the Soldier Supreme with his magic shield. This is *not* what Gamora had in mind.
Loki continues to try to ingratiate himself with the new universe-creating 'god'. He still hopes she'll let him accompany her to the Quarry. But instead Gamora intends to add a merged Loki/Flowa to her universe. We glimpse some more of her creations:- Iron Hammer, Arachknight, Weapon Hex and Ghost Panther plus the not-named Diamond Patch.
Desperate Loki keeps babbling, including suggesting that someone has been manipulating things. Why was the Reality Stone in another reality and the Time Stone in another time? He's seen other versions of himself, and as mentioned in Prime he seems to have different versions of himself in his own past. He wants to know who's behind it all.
Flowa says she'd rather be erased completely than merged with Loki. Gamora notices she's been keeping a journal of the events, and decides to take Flowa with her as her scribe. So Loki is hurled into Warp World alone, continuing to beg not be thrown into the briar patch ...
... but when he gets there he starts laughing ... and scheming. He asks passers-by for directions to the X-Men. They ignore this strangely-dressed exuberant fellow as a druggie. In passing we see a man getting his hand tangled in some dark webbing - and a cloud of energy bubbles seem to transform him into Peter Parker.
Gamora and Flowa reach the God Quarry. Again in passing, Flowa asks her what will happen the the characters in Warp/Soul World. Gamora replies that they will be eaten by Devondra who lies at the heart of Soul World. When that is over Gamora will create a new universe - but 1st she'll investigate the Quarry. And she starts to use the Stones to excavate down into it, unearthing dead gods and discarding them.
In Warp World Loki has reached the X-Mansion. He's greeted by Doopool (Doop/Deadpool) who's not wearing any pants. And at the door he meets a man who he deduces is a combo of Wolverine and Emma Frost. Loki guesses at Diamond Patch or Crazy Claws. Whatever the name, he extrudes a single diamond claw and stabs the god. Loki says he needs X-help, and Logan's telepathy confirms he's not lying. But he still slams the door in Loki's face. Loki bangs on it and says they need to fine Adam Warlock or they're all doomed.