[The Benatar. Deep Space. Day 22.]
The silence was the loudest thing Tony had ever heard.
He sat on the floor across from Nebula. Between them was a crumpled piece of foil folded into a triangle.
"It's called paper football," Tony said, his voice raspy. "You flick it. If it hangs off the edge... touchdown."
Nebula flicked it. It skittered off the table.
"It is a game of chance," Nebula stated.
"It's a game of skill," Tony corrected weakly. "And you're winning. Which is... terrible."
In the corner of the cockpit, sitting in the pilot's chair with his eyes closed, was Sebastian.
He had not moved in three days.
His pristine tailcoat was dusty. His skin, usually pale, was now translucent, grey veins pulsing beneath the surface. Shadows leaked from his cuffs like dry ice smoke, dissipating into the recycled air. He was starving. Not for food—Tony and Nebula had eaten the last rations two days ago—but for energy. The void of space offered no souls to feed on. He was running on fumes.
"Seb," Tony called out. "You okay over there? You look like... well, worse than me. And I look like a raisin."
Sebastian opened one eye. It didn't glow fuchsia anymore. It was dull red.
"I am merely... conserving calories, Sir," Sebastian's voice was a dry whisper. "How is the oxygen?"
"Running on hopes and dreams," Tony checked the gauge. "And we're fresh out of dreams."
[The Last Night]
Tony dragged himself to the cockpit floor. He engaged the helmet recorder of the Mark 50.
"This thing on?"
He tapped the helmet. A blue light flickered.
"Hey, Miss Potts. Pep. If you find this recording... don't feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end."
He coughed, his chest heaving.
"Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. And that'll be it."
He looked at Sebastian, who was watching him from the shadows.
"I promised I'd come home. I promised no more surprises. I guess I lied. But... I tried, Pep. I really tried."
He clicked the helmet off.
Tony leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes. His breathing grew shallow.
"It's cold," Tony whispered.
Nebula walked over. She picked up Tony and carried him to the pilot's chair. She laid him down.
"He is dying," Nebula said to Sebastian.
Sebastian stood up. He swayed, catching himself on the console.
"Not yet," Sebastian hissed.
He looked out the viewport. Nothing but endless, uncaring stars. Billions of lightyears of emptiness.
"Physics," Sebastian muttered. "Distance. Time. It is all so... inconvenient."
He walked to the airlock.
"Where are you going?" Nebula asked, her black eyes narrowing. "If you open that, we lose the remaining air."
"I will cycle the lock," Sebastian said, his hand on the lever. "I am going outside."
"Why? To die?"
"No," Sebastian turned. His face contorted, momentarily revealing the demonic skull beneath the skin. "To scream."
[The Void]
Sebastian stepped out of the airlock.
The cold was absolute. Negative 270 degrees Celsius. It bit into his skin, instantly freezing the moisture in his eyes. The vacuum tried to tear the air from his lungs, but he didn't need air.
He magnetized his boots to the hull of the Benatar.
He stood alone in the dark. A tiny speck of black on a silver ship, drifting in the infinite.
"I am Sebastian Michaelis," he thought, the words echoing in his own mind. "I do not beg. I do not pray."
He closed his eyes. He reached deep into his core, finding the spark of his demonic essence—the raw, abyssal power that kept him bound to this plane.
"But today... I command."
He opened his eyes. They erupted with blinding violet fire.
ROAAAAR.
He didn't scream with his voice. He screamed with his soul.
He released his hold on his human form. Shadows exploded from his body, not as smoke, but as a massive, expanding sphere of pure darkness.
It grew larger than the ship. Larger than a skyscraper. A massive, swirling black sun of negative energy. An Anti-Star.
It blotted out the constellations. It was a beacon of pure void, a signal fire that whispered to every sensitive being within a lightyear: HERE. LOOK HERE.
Inside the ship, Nebula watched the sensors go wild. The external cameras showed only darkness.
"What are you?" she whispered.
Outside, Sebastian fell to his knees. His skin was cracking. He was burning his own life force to maintain the beacon.
Come on, he thought. Someone. Anyone. See me.
His vision blurred. The violet fire faded. The darkness began to retract. He had nothing left.
He collapsed onto the hull, his cheek pressing against the freezing metal.
I failed, Sebastian thought as the darkness cleared. Young Master... forgive me.
Then.
A light.
Not a star. It was moving. Fast.
A golden streak cut through the cosmos. It was brighter than a sun. It curved, slowing down as it approached the drifting ship.
A woman. Glowing with binary energy.
Captain Marvel.
She hovered in front of the ship. She looked at the man lying on the hull—a man in a tattered tailcoat, frozen and lifeless.
She floated down. She touched Sebastian's shoulder. She sensed the faint, fading pulse of something ancient.
She tapped her comms. "I found them."
[Earth. Avengers Compound.]
It was night.
Steve Rogers shaved in the mirror. The compound shook.
He ran outside. Natasha, Rhodey, and Bruce joined him.
A massive ship—the Benatar—was being lowered gently onto the grass by a glowing woman.
The ramp lowered.
Tony Stark stumbled down, supported by Nebula. He looked like a skeleton.
Steve ran to him. "Tony."
"Couldn't stop him," Tony whispered, clutching Steve's arm. "I couldn't stop him."
"Neither could I," Steve said. "We lost."
"Where is he?" Natasha asked, looking into the ship. "Where's the butler?"
Tony pointed back at the ship. "He... he went outside. To signal. I don't know if he made it."
Captain Marvel walked down the ramp. In her arms, she carried a body.
Sebastian.
He was pale as marble. His coat was frozen stiff. He wasn't moving.
"He's alive," Carol Danvers said, laying him on the grass. "Barely. But his energy signature... it's unlike anything I've ever seen. He feels like a black hole."
Tony fell to his knees beside his servant.
"Seb?" Tony shook him weakly. "Wake up. That's an order. Wake up."
Sebastian didn't move.
Tony looked at Pepper, who came running out of the building. He hugged her, sobbing into her shoulder.
"I lost the kid, Pep," Tony cried. "I lost the kid. And I think I broke the butler."
[End of Chapter 44]
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