Cracking the Little Broken Watch

Doctor Animo stood atop Stark Tower. Above New York's tallest building, he raised both arms as the gale whipped up his white hair!

He felt like a god!

Everything small about the human world seemed so pitiful and laughable to him!

"New York is still a little too urbanized," he sneered. "But soon, this place will return to the prehistoric age and become a paradise for my adorable Mutant Creatures!"

Just as he was reveling in his triumph alone, a light, flippant voice sounded behind him.

"Interesting. I knew Dinosaur Baby had to have a keeper."

Animo turned around and saw a red suit of armor slowly descending.

"Tony Stark, are you trying to stop me?"

"Correction: you're the one putting all kinds of crap on my roof." Tony unhappily raised the armor's Repulsor Ray.

This uninvited guest reminded him of XLR8 from not long ago.

"What, didn't bring your little pet today?"

At that, Animo laughed coldly. "Why don't you look up?"

Tony instinctively looked up and saw a massive shadow circling in the sky. It was a huge bird four or five meters long, with terrifying claws that looked capable of impaling a person alive!

Tony was not the only one who noticed the giant bird of prey. Black Widow, who was currently monitoring Tony at Stark Industries, noticed it too.

But as a top-tier agent, what kind of scene had Natasha not seen before?

"I really haven't seen anything like this before."

After seeing the Monster Bird, Natasha's first thought was, It's way too big. Her second thought was to contact Nick Fury and let him deal with the headache himself!

Nick Fury was currently at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, pondering which people he could trick into forming the Avengers. The moment he received Natasha's call, he realized something was wrong.

"What did you say? Some mad scientist wants to turn New York back into a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs?"

Nick Fury nearly thought he had misheard.

"That's right. He's on the roof of Stark Tower right now, and he has special equipment developed by Osborn," Natasha said, pressing her earpiece. "It can already be confirmed that he was likely the one who attacked Osborn Tower before."

"Motherfucker!"

Nick had wanted to form a Super Hero team for a long time. He just had not expected a crisis to emerge before his team even had its members decided.

"But this is good too."

After giving it some thought, he figured that after this incident, the people on the Security Council would surely have no further objections to his Avengers plan.

Thinking about the people on the Security Council gave him a headache.

That was what it was like being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Security Council only needed to allocate funding to him, but as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director, he had much more to consider. When to swindle funds and when to cook the books both required careful thought.

"What should we do now?"

Seeing that Fury had not responded for a long time, Natasha hurriedly asked.

After all, Animo had not merely brought a Mutant Parrot. Accompanying that mutated parrot was also a bullfrog monster as enormous as a small mountain!

"Agent Romanoff, keep them occupied. Backup will arrive shortly."

"Me?"

"Keep them occupied?"

Natasha lowered her head and looked at the self-defense pistol in her hand, which was not even as big as her palm. She seriously suspected that Nick Fury had been drinking too much.

How was this any different from asking her to fight Sukuna?

She cursed inwardly, but as an agent, she still had to go.

The sewers.

Connors, having finally realized that Animo had deceived him, looked utterly devastated.

Ben had already transformed back and was currently waiting for the Little Broken Watch to cool down.

"Animo took the Canary Device to Stark Tower. I think we still have some time." Ben pulled open Connors's eyelid and injected the serum antidote into his body.

Earlier, he had nearly shattered every bone in Connors's body. If Connors had lost his Superpowers at that point, he probably would not have survived.

Now that Connors was out of danger, there was no need to worry.

With the serum's effects gone, Connors felt a wave of weakness sweep through his body. He had not completely returned to being human, because the mutated genes were still taking effect, but his body had shrunk considerably.

However, he could clearly feel his strength beginning to fade.

Connors felt hollow, anxious, and somewhat lost. It was a withdrawal reaction. Losing power did not feel good.

But his mind was exceptionally clear.

"What stupid thing did I do..."

He covered his face, wearing the ill-fitting clothes Ben had given him.

"Now isn't the time to blame yourself, Doctor Connors," Peter comforted him. "You originally wanted to do good. You were just affected by the serum."

Connors shook his head.

He knew those were merely excuses.

The real reason was his arrogance.

"At least there's still a chance to make things right." Ben sat on the crude workbench Connors had built.

There were still plenty of materials here, enough for him to make more serum.

As for the Mutant Creatures, they should be reversible through Animo's Variable Device.

"Doctor Connors, how much do you know about Animo's Variable Device?" Ben asked.

He did not believe Connors would have let Animo experiment on him without knowing anything.

"I don't understand its principles, but I know how to operate it."

"That's enough."

Ben quickly adjusted the serum antidote. Since he had already made it once, it was not difficult for him.

Before long, the serum was ready.

Then he looked at Peter and Connors. Peter felt uneasy under his gaze and asked, "What is it?"

"Animo is a dangerous lunatic. To be safe, I think we should make a few more preparations."

If they were unlucky, they would likely have to face countless Mutant Dinosaur Men next.

"What do you have in mind?"

Ben raised the watch on his left wrist. "Crack it!"

Ben had always wanted to completely crack the Little Broken Watch, but two problems had been troubling him.

One was that his knowledge was not sufficient. Forcing it open might cause problems with the Little Broken Watch. The other was that when he transformed into Grey Matter, he could not see his own back, making it difficult to operate.

But now, he had abandoned the idea of using mechanical arms and planned to have Peter operate it for him instead.

He turned on the camera Connors used to record his experimental data, then looked at Peter.

"When I transform into Grey Matter, the camera will record the footage for me to see. You'll follow the steps I tell you."

"No problem."

Peter did not really understand, but he felt he could handle simply following instructions.

Connors watched them from a distance without approaching.

"Then, let's begin!"

Ben pressed the watch core!