Chapter 2: No More Surprises

Jason

Jason didn't think that the lack of oxygen would kill him. No. Or the depleted food and water supply. Nope. What would actually kill him was how boring it was in that stupid ship.

Twenty-one days.

Twenty-one days of doing absolutely nothing.

Jason wouldn't be able to stand it much longer. He was doing nothing, and Piper was… Piper was dead.

Or maybe what would actually kill him was the gut-wrenching, heart-stopping guilt and pain that he was experiencing. He couldn't believe that Piper was dead. It seemed impossible. Jason was the one who was supposed to die, or disintegrated, or whatever you wanted to call it.

But it had happened to Piper. She'd been chosen out of the universal dust game show, which no one had enjoyed very much.

Those past couple of weeks, Jason had felt useless. He was no good with tools and mechanics, and neither was Frank. The best that the two of them could do was watch and try not to get in the way.

Tony was definitely not in the mood for giving a lesson right now, and Jason couldn't say that he blamed him. As for that Nebula girl, well, Jason had just discovered that she had feelings other than rage. He had to say, it made a nice change.

Her cold attitude kind of diminished the whole "teamwork" vibe. So far, Tony was the only one who was making progress with her. Jason had always felt that you should establish a relationship with the people you were working with, but Nebula was almost as hard as Nico di Angelo to hang out with.

Jason knew that if—and probably when, but he didn't like to think that way, being a naturally optimistic person—oxygen ran out, he and Frank would probably last longer than the rest, being actually superhuman rather than just building a suit. Jason really didn't want to watch a friend die in front of him again.

Nebula would last longer than all of them combined, being basically a cyborg. Jason sort of wondered the physics of replacing part of a sentient being's brain while keeping the being in question conscious. How would they not die? But that was a question for another time.

Jason had scoured his brain for all possible versions of escaping, anything that would guarantee them even a slim chance of living longer than the end of the line that was looming nearer and nearer every minute that passed.

But he had come up with nothing. Nada, zip, zero. Frank had said the same, and even with Tony's genius status had reluctantly admitted that he had nothing.

So they had to make the best of their forty-eight hours of life left to them, despite having half their friends dead and floating in the dark vacuum hole of space.

Frank was turning into random animals to amuse himself, while Jason was creating small bolts of electricity and zapping the engine, though Tony had long since told him that that wouldn't do any good.

He also was experimenting with how far he could go with solidifying air and creating pockets. He'd never really tried that before. He'd have to show Piper how he could make a rope ladder now…

There it was again. That sickening feeling that came with realizing yet again that your girlfriend was dead and you were doomed to die in less than three days. Actually, that sickening feeling was just if you remembered that anyone you knew was dead.

He sometimes also circulated the air inside the ship to help it not get stale, but honestly, that wouldn't do much now. He could literally feel the air slowly running out, turning into carbon dioxide. That wasn't the most comfortable feeling.

It was sort of a surreal experience, knowing that you were going to die and not being able to do anything about it. It wasn't suicide, exactly. It was somehow worse than suicide, if that was possible.

That was a dark thought. He decided to go and see what Tony was doing. The last he heard was that Tony was teaching Nebula how to play paper football.

He walked into the main room where eighties music was playing (Dear Mr. Fantasy, in case you were wondering) and Tony was flicking a paper towards Nebula's finger goal.

Nebula reflexively caught it, growling.

"You don't need to do that." Tony replied patiently, tired eyes brightening slightly at Nebula's unnecessary violence. "Because you're just holding position. Oh, hey Jason. Want to join?"

"I'll play the victor." Jason commented, preferring to watch the show. Nebula furrowed her eyebrows. "It will be me."

"Maybe." Tony replied casually. Nebula glared at him and flicked it towards him. It missed his finger goal entirely.

"That was close." Tony said. Nebula stared at him, trying to tell if he was being serious or not.

Tony flicked his towards her and it made a goal. "That's a goal. We're now one-a-piece."

"I would like to try again." Nebula said.

"We're tied up. Feel the tension? It's fun." Tony flicked it towards her, also totally missing the goal. "That was terrible. And now you have a chance to win."

She flicked it towards him and it made the goal. "And you won."

She sat up, looking very surprised. "Congratulations." Tony said, grinning at the look of excitement on Nebula's face.

He held out his hand to shake. "Fair game. Good sport." She shook it suspiciously. "You had fun?" He asked brightly.

She sat back down in her chair. "It was fun." She said grudgingly after a pause.

Tony got up and gestured towards his chair. "All yours, Jason."

"All right." Jason sat down and Nebula sat forward eagerly. Tony walked towards the pilot's cockpit, suddenly looking like an old man. He let his eyes linger at Tony for a second, before turning back to Nebula who was holding the paper impatiently.

"Right, sorry."

"It is alright." Nebula said stiffly. "He is failing." She said in an undertone.

Jason was surprised that she had noticed. "We all are." She looked at him. "I would like you to know," She began, looking like she was trying to find the words. "I will be, ah, sorry for your death." Jason was so surprised that he couldn't find words. "Um…"

"I am not the monster Thanos made me to be." Nebula said, looking like she was convincing herself as well as Jason. "Neither was Gamora." She added softly. "I always wanted to be more like Gamora. I suppose this is one way to start."

"Um… thanks. When you, uh, you know, I'll be sorry too."

"Thank you." She looked like she was unused to saying those words.

"Do you want me to teach you the demigod version of this game?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Jason tried to remember the rules that Leo had taught him when he'd played with him. "Okay. Do you want to be the basilisk or the hydra?"

She considered it. "Basilisk."

"I'll be the hydra. Now, you can poison the paper, so if you make a goal I can only use one finger to flick it. I'm the hydra, so I can add another finger if I make a goal…"

After an extremely momentous game of paper football, with Nebula ending up as the victor, they both made their way to the cockpit to check on Tony. He had started having nightmares lately.

When they reached him, he looked like he was sleeping peacefully, the worry lines on his forehead gone.

Jason left for a minute to grab the key that he would use to pilot the ship while Tony was asleep (being pilot actually meant keeping watch and activating the guns in case an enemy ship arrived, though they all knew that they had three shots and then there was nothing left).

Jason glanced through the cockpit window and saw Nebula laying a blanket almost tenderly on Tony and then leaving out the opposite door.

Jason almost fell asleep himself until a bright light jerked him out of his stupor. It was so bright that he had to shield his eyes. Tony sat up and squinted his.

When the light faded he saw the strangest sight he had ever seen: a woman with blond hair wearing a red, yellow, and blue suit. She looked human, but Jason had never heard of someone on Earth who could fly in space.

She smiled at them and showed them a paper with a hastily scrawled picture: An "A" with an arrow as well as a trident under it. The Avengers' logo and Percy's signature.

Jason felt the tension leave his body and gestured towards the hatch that he was about to open. She nodded and flew around the ship.

She walked in and Nebula charged towards her, swords raised, along with Frank, who Jason could tell was about to shapeshift. "Nebula, Frank, it's okay, she's a friend!" Jason rushed to stop them, and Tony walked in his wake, a touch more suspicious.

"How can you be sure?" Nebula asked, lowering her swords slightly but not sheathing them. Frank looked at Jason questionably.

The woman raised her paper again. "This was given to me from Steve Rogers and Percy Jackson as a token for your trust." She handed it to Tony who eyed it.

"That's Percy's signature." Jason said. "I wouldn't have let her in if I wasn't sure that it was his."

"He's right." Frank said, also taking it and examining it. "It's Percy's."

"I've been told to take you four back to Earth. I'm Carol Danvers."

"Well, Carol Danvers," Tony said, trying for a smile. "Why are you waiting?"

Nebula still looked suspicious but sheathed her swords, trying not to look relieved. Tony looked like a thousand pounds of weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Jason exhaled through his nose. They were saved.

A/N Yay! As you can see, a lot of this was original writing, so not very many spoilers. Just to tell you what the update schedule is: between every other day and two weeks. Today it was in five days, and that'll probably be the average.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO REVIEW I GOT SO MANY THEY WERE AMAZING KEEP GOING! Thanks to those who did:

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