Shine Again (An Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame Story)

Chapter 56: No Trust

 Tony wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed since they had left Titan. The days had started to blur together as the weeks passed. It had been close to three weeks now, if he remembered right, and he knew things were starting to look grim for him, Nebula, and Spencer. The women knew it too, but their oxygen supply was running low, and without divine intervention, they would likely not make it back to Earth before they ran out. But Tony was doing his best to keep morale up, and keep their minds off of their inevitable demise.

He and Nebula sat across from each other at a small table, engrossed in a game of paper football. Tony had already played Spencer before this- and their game intrigued Nebula to the point Tony decided to teach her how to play it too once his game with Spencer concluded and the young woman had gone to bed. She held her hands in a goal formation like he taught her as Tony flicked the football towards her. It soared through the goal, immediately irritating Nebula.

"Wrra!" she yelled in frustration, standing up from her chair slightly, hands in a fighting stance as she looked at Tony.

"You don't need to do that," Tony replied calmly as he pointed at her. "Because uh... you're just holding the position." He placed his hands in the goal shape, waiting for her to sit back down. Once she did, Nebula flicked the paper football towards him, but it came up short. "Oh yeah, that was close." Nebula tried again, and this time it went between his fingers. "That's a goal. We're now one apiece."

"I would like to try again," Nebula replied, and flicked the football at him once more.

The two of them went back and forth for several minutes, both of them scoring more goals and missing several times as well. As much fun as he was having, Tony was getting tired though, and he had one last order of business to attend to before he drifted off to sleep tonight- likely for the last time- so he decided it was time to wrap this up.

"We're tied up," he announced. "Feel the tension? It's fun." Tony purposely poorly flicked the football towards Nebula, missing entirely. "That was terrible. Now you have a chance to win." Nebula didn't hesitate and flicked it back towards him, sending it flying between his finger goalposts. "And... you've won. Congratulations." He reached his hand out to shake her hand. "Fair game. Good sport."

Nebula hesitated for a moment, but eventually shook his hand. Tony wasn't sure if the woman had ever won anything before- especially from the little he knew of her history with Thanos and Gamora. It felt good to give her a small victory before they all met their end in a few hours.

"Have fun?" he asked.

"It was fun," Nebula responded quietly.

"There's something I need to tend to," he continued. "You keep Spencer company while I'm gone- even though she might be sleeping by now."

He didn't wait for Nebula to reply before he stood and left the table, heading towards a more private area of the ship. He walked into the room, the floor to ceiling window showing the vast emptiness of space surrounding them. Sitting on the floor beside the window was his busted helmet. Tony sat down across from it, reaching forward to turn it on with a sigh.

"This thing on?" he questioned no one in particular. The helmet whirred to life, only barely, and scanned him. Tony leaned against the wall behind him, taking deep breaths. It was getting harder to breath, harder to function. He had lost an immense amount of weight since leaving Earth, but at this point there was nothing more he could do about it. Once he knew the helmet was listening to him, he started to speak once more. He had one final message to record.

"Hey, Miss Potts... Pep. If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's going to be a real tear-jerker," he started. "I don't know if you're ever going to see these. I don't even know if you're still... Oh god, I hope so." He paused for a moment, glancing out the window. "Today is day 21, uh... 22. You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into the literal void of space, I'd say I'm feeling a little better today. The infection's run its course, thanks to the Blue Meanie back there. You'd love her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. Spencer and I are in safe- yet terrifying- hands with her around."