From Avengers To Rebels

Darkness inside us all

Back in their home universe, Nebula and Tony had long left Titan and were inside the Guardians ship playing paper football. Nebula, frustrated, put her hands in a fighting stance while looking at Tony as he tried to shoot a score.

"You don't need to do that." Tony did his best to explain how this works. "Because uh... you're just holding position. Nebula flicks a paper football toward Tony. "Oh yeah, that was close." Nebula once again flicks a paper football toward Tony. "That's a goal. We're now one apiece." Tony tries his best to explain how it works to her.

"I would like to try again." Nebula flicks a paper football toward Tony and gets a goal.

"We're tied up." Tony was happy to tell her. "Feel the tension? It's fun."

Tony purposefully poorly flicks a paper football toward Nebula on purpose to allow her to have this game.

"That was terrible," Tony admitted to her. "Now you have a chance to win."

Nebula flicks the paper football toward Tony and managed to make the goal.

"And... you've won," Tony said as he then reaches his hand out to shake Nebula's hand. "Congratulations."

Nebula wasn't used to winning and wasn't sure what to make of what happens next. Over the years, she would constantly lose to her sister, and her father would constantly try and correct it.

"Fair game. Good sport." Tony explains as Nebula shakes Tony's hand. "Have fun?"

"It was fun." Nebula decided to go with it as a response.

Then later on Tony goes to the front of the ship to see his Iron Man busted helmet. Tony's hand reaches forward to turn on the helmet. We pan out to see that he's sitting on the floor of a gloomy Benatar. The weight of the recent events of what happened on Titan is evident in Tony's posture. He taps the helmet with a sigh.

"This thing on?" Tony asks as the helmet scans Tony. Tony leans against the wall while taking deep breaths. He looks skinnier and weak with malnutrition. "Hey, Miss Potts... Pep. If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. I don't know if you're ever going to see these. I don't even know if you're... if you're still... Oh god, I hope so. Today is day 21, uh 22."

Tony standing at a window staring out into space, waiting for his impending doom to arrive.

"You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into a void of space, I'd say I'm feeling better today. The infection's run its course, Thanks to the blue meanie back there."

Nebula is sitting in the back of the Benatar.

"You'd love her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. Some fuel cells were cracked during battle, but we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about 48 hours of time."

Tony and Nebula working on the fuel cells of the Benatar.

"But it's now dead in the water. We're 1000 light years from the nearest 7-11. Oxygen will run out tomorrow. And that'll be it. And Pep, I ... I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But it looks like... well you know what it looks like. Don't feel bad about this. I mean, if you grovel for a couple of weeks, and then move on with enormous guilt. I should probably lie down. Please know that... when I drift off, I will think about you. Because it's always you."

With that, Tony turns the helmet off. He rubs his thumb over his left eye, then leans down to what would be his last sleep. Nebula walks over to him, carries him to Drax's seat, and laid him there. She walks away dejected.

A vast bluish nebula illuminates the space surrounding them. Tony's face, for the first time, shows age and weakness. There is a light on his face, which grows brighter and brighter until he's forced to open his eyes. The light source begins to calm down and is slowly revealed to be Carol Danvers.