In the dim, stuffy cave somewhere in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, the chaos had unfolded in a horrifying blur.
One of the guys who had been slacking off came last.
He came running behind the others, boots pounding against the rocky ground, probably cursing his bad luck for being the slowest.
But the moment he burst through the shattered doorway, an unbelievable sight greeted him.
He could guarantee that he would not forget this scene for the few seconds he had left—because there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to die.
He saw a shadowy figure standing very close to the human boy, but at least two meters tall.
This creature stood just like a human, yet everything about it screamed wrong.
It had extremely long arms ending in razor-sharp claws that had just torn apart his teammates.
An ant-like head sat atop its frame, cold and emotionless, while its body was covered in a sleek, dark exoskeleton that gleamed faintly under the cave’s weak lights.
If his heart had not already been at its limit from the initial rush, it kicked into overdrive now.
He didn’t know the human heart could beat this fast.
It felt like it might explode out of his chest.
The ant creature turned its gaze directly at him.
His brain simply stopped working.
Pure terror locked every muscle.
He instantly raised his weapon, finger fumbling for the trigger.
Before he could pull it, the world spun violently.
In his final moment, he caught a glimpse of his own headless body collapsing to the ground before his eyes closed forever.
Berru quickly left toward the outside after finishing the last man, vanishing like a ghost into the tunnels beyond.
“You guys can come out,” Eric’s voice rang out, still calm as ever, like he’d just finished a casual chore.
Yinsen, who had been sitting in a daze behind the furnace, felt his mind reeling.
When he had first seen this guy crash through the roof, it was unbelievable but somehow explainable—maybe some advanced version of a super soldier serum or experimental tech gone wild.
But this ant-like creature?
He couldn’t wrap his head around it.
No matter how he thought about it, it felt like straight-up magic.
Something beyond science, beyond reason.
“Yinsen, wake up.” Tony’s voice cut through the fog as he nudged his friend with a grimy elbow.
Yinsen blinked rapidly, snapping out of it.
Tony looked around the cave, his bloodshot eyes scanning the scene.
“What happened?” He only saw Eric standing there casually, hands tucked into his jacket pockets like nothing had gone down.
But then his gaze dropped lower, and the sight hit him like a truck.
Dead bodies—or what was left of them—littered the entrance.
Before he could fully process it, an almost overwhelming wave of nausea surged up.
He saw the scattered remains, like missed chunks of meat tossed across the floor in a butcher’s nightmare.
It didn’t take long to figure out what those things were.
“What happened here?” Tony asked Yinsen, his voice rough even though he already had a pretty good idea.
Yinsen’s voice came out filled with uncertainty, shaking slightly.
“I think… the ant killed those terrorists.
He moved too fast.
I didn’t see anything.” His words trailed off as the reality sank in deeper, his hands trembling at his sides.
From the back, Tony had overheard bits and pieces earlier—this guy had commanded someone named Berru to handle the threats—but he couldn’t figure out where the hell that thing had even come from.
Seeing Yinsen’s shaken state, he decided not to push for more details right then.
The poor guy looked like he might pass out if pressed too hard.
“Berru,” Eric’s voice suddenly called out from behind them, casual as always.
The sound nearly gave both men a heart attack.
Tony jumped, slapping a hand over his chest.
“What?” he asked, breathing hard.
“That thing’s name is Berru,” Eric said to Yinsen, clarifying without much fanfare.
“Okay…” Yinsen’s brain was still spinning, overloaded with everything he’d witnessed, but he accepted the fact staring him in the face.
Guys like Yinsen—smart enough to keep up but not quite on Tony Stark’s genius level—had a harder time swallowing the impossible.
New realities beyond their understanding hit them like a brick wall.
Still, he didn’t dwell on it.
Survival mode had kicked in.
While opening a portal with a simple gesture, Eric added, “Berru will clean this place up.
You guys can go.”
Tony watched the unbelievable scene unfold—a swirling gateway of energy ripping open in the middle of the dusty cave—but he didn’t react much this time.
Maybe he’d already seen too many insane things today.
A portal?
At this point, it barely registered as a big deal compared to a sky-falling kid and a murderous ant shadow monster.
Yinsen, still sitting on the ground looking dazed, was gently pulled to his feet by Tony’s firm grip.
“Thank you,” Tony said sincerely, guiding Yinsen toward the glowing portal.
Maybe in the old days, before all this, Tony would have hesitated to step through an unknown doorway like this.
Questions, calculations, risks—he’d have run a full analysis.
But right now?
He didn’t care.
He just wanted to go home.
Back to New York, back to his life, back to that damn burger.
As they approached the threshold, Tony glanced back at Eric one last time.
“If you need something, you know where to find me.”
After a quick goodbye, he stepped through with Yinsen right behind him.
Inside the portal, everything flashed in a dizzying swirl of colors and energy.
Before the gateway even fully closed, Tony heard Eric’s voice carry after them: “I’m sending you to your favorite place, so enjoy.”
Before Tony could fully make sense of the sentence, the portal sucked them in completely.
The world twisted and shifted around them in a rush of motion that left no room for reaction.
A flash of light.
A sudden shift in sensation.
And then—
They were somewhere else.
The sudden change in surroundings was jarring.
One second, they were in a terrorist hideout; the next, they were standing in the middle of a bustling crowded.
People stared at them—some in confusion, others in mild annoyance.
It didn’t take long for Tony to realize why.
They had appeared out of nowhere.
Dozens of people were around them, staring at them in shock.
Tony quickly scanned his surroundings.
Most of them were white.
For a second, he just stood there.
Then, the realization hit.
Pulling Yinsen up from the ground, he took a deep breath and exhaled.
He was back.
“…I really came back.”
Finally.
The nightmare was over.
He was back in his world.