Marvel: As Security Guard

Shane had been staying at Kamar-Taj for over two months when, one day, the Ancient One came to him.

"I've taught you most of what I can. From here on out, it's up to you to understand magic and to practice diligently," Ancient One said as she poured tea for Shane.

"But I have a feeling you're hiding something from me. You still have more to teach, don't you?" Shane raised an eyebrow, looking at her.

The Ancient One had taught him normal magic, but Shane knew the reason she could remain in this world was because she had been continuously drawing power from the Dark Dimension.

"You've already seen it in the library, haven't you?" Ancient One shot back without hesitation.

"Peeping on others isn't a good habit. Don't tell me! You didn't sneak a peek at me while I was bathing, did you?!" Shane teased with a mischievous grin.

"I'm not that free, and besides, I'm afraid of getting eye infections. As for the previous topic, Wang told me so," Ancient One replied nonchalantly, holding her teacup.

"That damn fatso actually tattled on me," Shane said, his face full of disbelief. He never imagined that Wang, with his thick brows and small eyes, was actually a spy.

The Ancient One placed her teacup down on the table with a crisp sound. "Wang is just doing his job. Those magical texts aren't forbidden, but they're dangerous. He thought it was necessary to report it to me."

The Ancient One's tone then turned serious. "I also have to remind you: don't get lost in power. You must control your power, not let it control you."

After speaking seriously, the Ancient One glanced at Shane, who had already returned to his usual posture. She took a ring from her belt and handed it to him.

"This is for you. It's time for you to leave."

Shane nodded and took the ring with both hands before bowing to her.

"I'll go say goodbye to Wang."

The Ancient One gave a soft nod and closed her eyes, beginning her meditation.

Seeing this, Shane stood up and walked out of the room. He looked down at the ring in his hand. She had taught him so much and even gave him this; it was starting to feel like he was receiving everything.

"Is the Sorcerer Supreme in?"

Mordo's sudden voice interrupted Shane's thoughts.

Shane shot him a displeased look. Well, since he couldn't kill him, at least a few curses should be fine.

"Are you a broken record? Is that all you can say? Does your insecurities come from having a small dick?" Shane said with a smirk, ignoring Mordo's reaction. "The Ancient One is meditating inside, and she's not available to deal with you."

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Mordo fuming behind him. The anger in Mordo's eyes was so intense it seemed about to spill over, but thinking of the power of the Sorcerer Supreme and his own aspirations for magic, he suppressed his emotions and stormed off, frustrated.

---

"What did you just say?" Wang asked, somewhat incredulously, as he looked at Shane.

Shane had just rushed into his room and blurted out that he was leaving. Wang was sure he had misheard, so he quickly shut off his music and turned his attention to Shane.

"I said I'm leaving. I came to say goodbye," Shane replied, sitting down and pouring himself some water.

"Oh." Wang raised his right hand to cover his mouth.

"Are you laughing? Why are you so happy that I'm leaving?" Shane noticed the corners of Wang's mouth twitching upwards.

"No, I'm just thinking of something happy."

"What's so happy?"

"My buddy's wife just gave birth."

Shane stared at Wang for a moment, then gave him an exasperated warning, telling him not to cover for the librarian again. With that, he opened a portal to the Mirror Dimension.

Once inside the Mirror Dimension, Shane headed straight toward the cave where Tony had been kidnapped. In the Mirror Dimension, he could do whatever he wanted without worrying about being seen, unlike in the real world.

When Shane arrived at the cave where Tony was being held, he saw armed terrorists surrounding the area. However, none of them could detect him in the Mirror Dimension.

Shane confidently walked right into the cave, breezing past the armed guards and entering through the iron door. Inside, he found Tony, the top-tier blacksmith, hammering away with his trademark iron hammer.

Hmm, still alive, looking good.

Shane quickly assessed Tony's condition and then noticed Ho Yinsen, the level 10 welder, working on some welding nearby. Yinsen seemed to have met a rather premature end—maybe he should step in and help him out.

As Tony, the blacksmith, was hammering away, he suddenly stopped.

"Something feels off. Do you sense it, Yinsen?" Tony's fore head tensed up as he looked around.

"What's wrong?" Yinsen remained focused on his work. Having lost his family and everything else, he now only hoped that his welding skills could help Tony escape this place.

"It feels like we're being watched," Tony said, raising his hammer and swinging it in front of him, but he hit nothing but air.

"Are you talking about the surveillance cameras above? Well, forget it. Anyway, your faceplate needs to be quenched," Yinsen responded, unaware of anything unusual.

"Oh, shit!" Tony quickly dunked the faceplate into the water to quench it, nearly ruining his blacksmith's signature.

The two of them then began preparing to escape. With Yinsen's help, Tony slowly donned his suit of armor.

Meanwhile, Shane, in the Mirror Dimension, sensed that the terrorists outside the cave had noticed their strange behavior and were heading toward them with guns raised.

Because the terrorists outside were speaking a foreign language, Yinsen couldn't communicate with them to buy time for Tony to finish his suit.

Seeing that the terrorists outside were confused by what Tony and Yinsen were doing, they tried to open the door, but were met with the explosive trap hanging on it, sending them to their doom.

After the explosion, Yinsen, following Tony's instructions, activated the computer to load the escape program.

Watching the painfully slow progress bar on the screen, Yinsen gave Tony a long look. As Tony continued to shout at him, Yinsen picked up one of the terrorists' guns from the ground and ran toward the passage.

Yinsen shot at the cave walls as he sprinted, forcing the advancing terrorists to retreat in fear.

However, when he reached a junction in the passage, he found himself face-to-face with a line of terrorists, all pointing their guns at him.

Frozen in place and surrounded by a dozen terrorists aiming their weapons, Yinsen braced himself for what was coming. Just as the terrorists began to fire, he felt that he was finally ready to face whatever awaited him.

"Dear... Kids... I'm coming for you..." Yinsen muttered in his final moments.

As he closed his eyes and awaited his fate, he didn't feel the bullets hit his body. Instead, he felt an unexpected warmth enveloping him and a gentle breeze brushing his face. He thought to himself that perhaps this was heaven.

When Yinsen opened his eyes, he was stunned to find himself outside the cave, lying in the middle of a vast desert.

As confusion washed over him, a wave of intense dizziness hit, and he immediately dropped to his knees, vomiting heavily onto the sand.

Back inside the cave, the bald-headed leader, seeing Yinsen disappear inexplicably, couldn't help but think that perhaps his god had intervened. He was on the verge of kneeling down to offer a prayer when Tony, fully armored, stepped out.

"Uh, has anyone seen Yinsen? The bald guy who usually works with me?" Tony asked, looking around.

"Fire!" The bald leader, feeling insulted, roared at his still-confused subordinates.

A barrage of bullets rained down on Tony's Mark I armor as he held up his arms to protect his faceplate, bracing himself against the onslaught. Despite the bullets, he advanced toward the enemy, charging into the group of terrorists.

Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, the bald leader quickly took cover, watching from the sidelines.

Tony, now inside the crowd of terrorists, swung his fists wildly. One punch landed with such force that his left arm got stuck in a wall.

One of the smaller terrorists, seeing the opportunity, pulled out a handgun and aimed at Tony, intending to land a fatal shot but…

Bounce!

The terrorist's eyes went wide in disbelief as the bullet ricocheted off Tony's armor, and to his horror, it hit him right in the head, blowing it off.

After taking down a few of the terrorists and sending some running in fear, Tony realized that the bald leader had noticed that his armor was impervious to the bullets. He saw the leader step out with a grenade launcher, loading it up with a fresh round and walking toward Tony with the intention of giving him a taste of an explosion.

Boom!

The explosion echoed through the cave as debris flew everywhere. After the dust cleared, both Tony and the bald leader stood, staring at the wall where a massive hole had been blown through.

It turned out that the grenade, which was originally aimed directly at Tony, had somehow curved mid-flight and exploded against the wall instead.