Calliope Haydn-Speight, AKA Pandora, appears out of thin air on a battered ship. her Quantum helmet and suit disappear into the bracelet she has on her hand.
Calliope is surprised to be there having expected to land with the others on Moira and see’s a past version of Thanos alive and well with the infinity Gauntlet and standing over the scattered dead Asgardians and a past Thor, its then she realizes she’s on the Asgardian refugee ship called the Statesman in 2018.
She can see herself, or a younger version standing next to her lover Loki, who is in his protective arms, both being flanked by the Children of Thanos whome Callie had dubbed "the Four F-uglies."
Having not seen Loki in 5 years, and the shock of seeing Thanos alive again Calliope almost forgets herself, but manages use her power of indivisibility just before being spotted by Obsidian and watches on not sure why she’s there…
The Hulk, pre-merging with Banner to make Professor Hulk, appears out the shadows right at Calliopes side and stares at her invisible — He has always been able to see through this power - and looks at her in mild confusion.
Calliope just smiles at her old friend and signs to him through the bubble, a trick Ophelia had taught him before: Hey big guy, good to see you, just act like I’m not here ok? wait for your cue.
The Hulk grins and does as he says,
Watching on, the past Loki produces the Tesseract out of thin air using his magik, and past Callie who in shock at his betrayal, slaps him hard across the face in utter disgust,
Thor, who is being held up at the collar by Thanos declares, “you really are the worst brother,”
“I assure you brother; the sun will shine on us again,”
And that’s when Calliope remembers what Moira had said to her just before they set off in 2023, what she and the others have done and realize why she is there, to save Loki..
Thanos chuckles at Loki’s words, “your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian,”
Loki smirks, “well for one thing, I’m not Asgardian. And for another. We have a Hulk...”
And that’s when the Hulk takes his cue and runs out roaring at Thanos and the pair starts fighting.
Past Callie manages to catch Thor as Loki drops the Tessaract in the fray and dives into the shadows to catch his breath.
Calliope manages to grab Loki and pulls him into are invisible bubble so that no one can hear them talking.
Loki looks at Calliope in shock,
“but?” he turns to see his Callie watching on as it looks like Hulk is winning the fight but is then over powered by Thanos, and loses, thinking he could die at Thanos hands and not wanting him to be alone, we see Ophelia branching off from her OC undetected and goes invisible. Calliope can she her as she runs toward her lover and Shields him from the inevitable blow, all while Callie can see this in shock.
Just then past Thor attempts to fight Thanos to prevent him from killing his large Green friend but he is thwarted by Maw who using his telekinesis, binds him and Callie together using pieces of scrap metal.
The distraction gives an injured and dying Heimdall just enough time to us the last bit of magik he weilds and sends both Hulk and Ophelia away (back to earth) but in doing so this signs his own death warrant and is then killed moments later by Thanos. Both past Thor and Callie cry out for their friend in grief.
“You’re going to die for that,” promises Thor to Thanos, Maw silences both of them and petulantly issues for silence,
Knowing the next is inevitable, Callie distracts her man, who is in shock over seeing Heimdall killed,
“I’m Sorry Loki, that wasn’t any easier to watch the second time round I assure you,” a tear trickles down her cheek,
Loki looks at her, and she looks at him,
“Gods how I’ve missed you,” she takes his hand and gentle places it on her cheek, to feel him cool touch on her skin, Loki wipes away the tear falling down her face and asks a silent question, Calliope laughs in spite of herself, “heh, would you believe me if I say I’m from the future?”
Loki raises his eyebrow in question,
“Prove it,”
Calliope pulls Loki down by his collar into a searing kiss, putting all her heartache in the fact she hasn’t been able to do that in 5 years, Loki returns the kiss giving just the same amount of passion, the kiss goes on for a bit until Callie breaks the kiss, with a reluctant Loki looking like he had just been kissed for the first time, he then snaps out of it and looks to and from the two women, and notices the obvious difference, the hair, the clothes and realizes his Callie is now Shackled and that Maw now wields the Tessaract which he goes to pass to Thanos, Loki goes to assist but Callie stops him,
“No, this has to happen...”
“So you ARE from the future?” confirms Loki,
“Yes, from this time line, Thanos is successful in gaining all 6 infinity stones, he manages to wipe out 50% of the universe. And we, the ones who survived have waited 5 years to get an opportunity like the one we got and are trying to get everyone back by going to retrieve the stones from different points in time and bring them to our present and snap everyone back like they had never even been gone.” Loki looks astounded, “But Loki you can’t go out there or you will die, and we will not be able to bring you back too,”
“Cal...” smiles Loki knowingly, Calliope gets annoyed with his candid attitude,
“Thanos WILL kill you Loki, for what you just did, for what you intend to do,” she pulls out the knife he’s hiding, he gives her a coy grin as in to say ‘surprise’
“This is not a joking matter Loki! I have seen that bastard choke the life out of you! and I beg of you, do not go out there, not now I have you back, I don’t think I could cope loosing you all over again, please!”
Seeing Calliope lose her composure and break down, Loki holds her, and looks on as Thanos shatters the Tessaract and places the Space stone into his gauntlet,
“Okay,”
Shocked Calliope looks up at Loki, “What?”
“You know I could never take you crying, but I have one question, from what I understand of Time Travel if I died isn’t that a fixed point? Won’t time unravel if you save me?”
Calliope goes to answer that knowing she he’s right but then she notices the bracelet she is wearing, the one which Natty had given her to wear for luck, which Loki has the matching one and is wearing right now and that along with his helm which is attached to his belt, she realises something and detects else in her pocket… it cant be…
“Not if you didn’t actually die...” Loki looks confused, “Svartenheim?”
“You want me to fake it? Again? Calliope, Thanos will know,”
“Not if you draw strength from me, make your illusion solid, I know you can do it Loki, I have seen your mother do it countless times,”
“Callie...” Loki warns, knowing it wont work,
Calliope looks at Loki sternly, her composure returned,
“Did you mean what you said to me not two hours earlier about wanting to be with me and our children over ever wanting a Throne?”
“Of course I did, I do. I pledged to you my undying fidelity Calliope Haydn-Speight and I meant every word of it, to you and only you,”
On that pledge, Calliope pulls out what is in her pocket, a spare Quantum bracelet, one from which Moira had obviously planted when she wasn’t looking,
“Then put this on, you’re coming home with me,”
“What?” asks Loki in astonishment.
“Just do as your told Loki Odinson, do you want to see your children?”
Loki doesn’t have to think about it and takes the bracelet without argument and puts it on — he knows not to argue with his Queen,
“Now we have to make past me and Thor believe Thanos kills you so we have the right fuel to our fire to carry on with our quest...”
Loki takes Calliopes hand and draws from her strength and creates an illusion of him that smiles at his lover and gently strokes her face, indicating he was indeed solid.
The IllusionLoki walks through the bubble effortlessly and enters the game,
“if I might interject...” acclaims IllusionLoki as he declares his assistance to his masters former tormentor.
Calliope maintains the invisibly for her and Loki whilst her concentrates on maintaining the IllusionLoki who talks to the group and to Thor and Callie and then attempt to kill Thanos, just like how Calliope remembered.
The duo watch on as Thanos grabs illusionLoki around his neck and proceeds to choke him until he snaps the life out of him.
Even though it’s just an illusion, Calliope can’t help but cry on seeing an image of her Loki being killed, and she remembers how she felt witnessing it the first time round, and knowing what her younger self is going through right now.
Loki squeezes Calliope hand to reassure her he was really there and with his other hand, he wipes the tears from her face, Calliope smiles at his kindness,
“you need to keep that going for a little while longer...”
Loki smiles, “Okay my love,” and he kisses her on the forehead as Thanos drops the IllusionLoki’s lifeless body on the ground and then uses the Infinity Gauntlet to activate the power stone and destroy the remnants of the Statesmen, he then uses the space stone to create a portal which teleport himself and his ‘children’ away, obviously back onto his ship, and the moment they are gone the hold Maw had on past Thor and Callie drops and the pair run towards the illusionLoki’s body,
“LOKI! No! please!” shrieks Callie as she cradles her believed-to-be-dead-Husband body in her arms for a second time as she and Thor both cry for their lost loved one as the statesman around them explodes.
Calliope creates another bubble around the grieving pair to protect them from harsh elements of Space and Loki gently knocks them both out using his Magik and Callie merges the two bubbles together, Loki makes the illusion Loki disappear and cradles past Callie in his arms as Calliope grabs hold of Thor.
“Now what?”
“Now we wait… help will come,”
They float in comfortable silence, Loki looking at his Wife’s body in his arms, her face screwed up in grief, track marks from her tears stain her grimy face and he turns to look at the future version and notices Subtle difference other than the hair style, her face is hardened and she looks older in a way like she’s had to grow up a lot in the time between loosing everyone and now, knowing they had time Loki decides to ask all his unanswered questions,
“So you said there were others who were getting the infinity stones, who?”
“Well in the Time Heist as Wade dutifully calls it, theirs 14 of us “Avengers”; the original 7 you helped set up in 2012; me, Tony, Steve, Clint, Nat, Thor and Bruce. Oh, wait till you see Bruce now. Wow, are you in for a treat! and Ophelia too, she and I along with most of the duplicates split up and remained as such when the first Snap occurred and she and Bruce are an official couple now, she found Bruce’s cousin Jen and they’ve both joined us on the Heist along with the remaining two Guardians; Rocket and Nebula,”
Loki is shocked, “Thanos Daughter?”
“She’s good now,” she smiles at him, “she’s been honorary adopted by Stark and visits him often, and then their our Vice President Rhodey, who has had to step down from his official post to assist us in this crusade, President Harris was reluctant to see him go but has faith in us to get the job done and then theirs Wade, a mutant like me and the MVP Scott,”
“Scott?”
“Yes, I think you’d like him, it’s because of him we managed to do this, we thought he was a victim of the snap but he had been in the Quantum realm for the last 5 years and didn’t age a day! he must have planted a seed in Stark’s head because he managed to find a way to manoeuvre through it so we could go to certain points in time and take the stones, so we could use them to bring everyone back, we’ve all teamed off to get a stone each, I was supposed to go to Vormir …”
On the mention of Vormir, Loki’s face looses all color a fete which doesn’t go unnoticed by Calliope,
“Vormir? For the soul stone?”
“Yes," Callie confirms, "I wont ask how you know where it was being kept, considering Nebula told me you were the one who told her. Yes I was meant to go with Clint and Nat but my Bracelet must have got hijacked, and I can guess by who, and it obviously sent me here instead,
“well as I’m glad you’re not with them, but Calliope… you do know the price that needs paying for the stone, yes? To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice."
"Of what?" asks Calliope,
"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul."
That’s when she realizes, Gamora went with Thanos in 2018 and never came back, and that’s when it hits her, Nat and Clint… one of them won’t be coming back.
Calliope doesn’t even realizes she’s crying again until Loki leans over her past self to kiss her but this time it’s a gentle kiss of love and reassurance.
Just then Ship appears, having obviously followed the hail from the Statesmen and Loki breaks the kiss with a reluctant Calliope this time and points it out to her,
“Is that the ship we’re waiting for?”
“Yes, the Banatar,” and with that she explains what needs to happen next.
Calliope and Loki swap bodies, and Loki shoves past Thor out the bubble but not before resting his forehead against his and making a silent prayer, Thor heads straight towards the Ship where he then smack lands face on their front windscreen shocking the members of the crew.
Whilst still holding fast the invisible bubble around them Calliope takes her younger self and goes over to the Banatar but not before Loki makes sure to kiss his Callie on the lips and then un-clips his Helm and places it in her hands, securing it with her grip, he whispers to her, “until we meet again my queen” and then smiles at Calliope knowingly, “I expect that back when we get home,”Yeah good luck with that, knowing that it has pride of place in above the living room mantle.
And so still maintaining a bubble with Loki inside, Calliope merges a now visible Callie through the ship’s walls where she then drops her gently on the table, the helm falling from her hands spooking the Guardians again when it lands loudly on the floor.
“Callie!?” Quill goes to his cousin to assist as she slowly starts to wake up, whilst Gamora and Rocket both place an Aero-Rig on each to retrieve Thor.
Calliope, who is still invisible and watching on inside the ship, merges back out of the Banatar and re-joins her Loki, knowing her past self and Thor are on the right path, for this time line, and with one last look at each other, the pair take each other’s hand and activate their Quantum teleport, which grants them each a Quantum suit and helmet and the duo travel to 2023…