Ripjaws

Boom!

Like a thunderbolt spear cast down by a god's hammer!

A dazzling beam blasted Animo out of the sky—

The air, rubbed at high speed, ignited around his body.

Falling from tens of thousands of meters up, even Animo's current body could not withstand it.

He desperately spread his wings, but the howling wind rushing past nearly tore them off!

The flames scorched them black as charcoal!

But no matter what, spreading his wings did slow Animo's fall. He also used them to adjust his direction, aiming himself toward the Confluence of Three Rivers.

The lake there was extremely deep and could help cushion some of the impact.

And once he got into the river, he would have a chance to escape again.

But how could Ben possibly let him get his way?

He brought his feet together and braced his arms behind him. Flames erupted from the soles of his feet and both arms.

As the flames blasted backward, an enormous force propelled him forward. The thrust was so powerful that the energy produced by the flames could even send a rocket into space!

Boom!

Ben shot after Animo like a flaming meteor, diving in the direction of his fall.

Though he started later, he caught up to Animo in the blink of an eye.

He raised an arm and fired another laser!

Whoosh!

The laser instantly pierced the fleshy membranes of Animo's bat wings.

Now, with only empty skeletal wings remaining, Animo could no longer glide.

He could restore them, but that would take time.

And time was exactly what he lacked.

A person falling from ten thousand meters up would only need 190 seconds to hit the ground.

That was under free-fall conditions. Don't forget, Animo had been blasted down by Ben!

Now, he had no time to regrow his wings. The dark waters lay right before him—

Splash!!!

Animo slammed straight into the lake. The surface tension made it feel no different from crashing into concrete.

In an instant, a column of water shot into the sky!

Then it came crashing down like torrential rain. Massive waves surged across the broad lake, nearly capsizing nearby freighters and cruise boats!

The tremendous impact nearly pulverized every bone in his body and burst his internal organs in an instant!

But he was not dead.

His physique was several times stronger than Connors's, and the Lizard Serum's healing ability was even more pronounced because of it.

Animo regained consciousness almost immediately. Though his body felt as if it were about to shatter apart, he still forced himself to move.

The only path before him now was escape.

But he could not escape!

Splash!

Without hesitation, Ben dived straight into the river.

Sizzle—

The heat from his body instantly boiled the surrounding lake water, sending bubbles gurgling to the surface.

The fish unlucky enough to be near him were cooked on the spot.

Fish: We're well done together!

Contrary to what many people thought, Heatblast was not actually afraid of water.

Water would not take his life. He could even breathe and speak underwater.

Still, water did have a high specific heat capacity. In the water, his heat was constantly being absorbed, which truly limited his abilities.

Fortunately...

"Life Lock Mode, disengage."

Ben stared coldly at Animo, who was trying to flee, and pressed the Little Broken Watch core on his chest.

With Peter's help, Ben had gained partial central control over the Little Broken Watch. In fact, he had only changed three things.

First, fair...

No.

The first was Life Lock Mode. The second was transformation switching.

This allowed him to use the Little Broken Watch more flexibly in battle.

For underwater combat, naturally—

"Ripjaws!"

In an instant, the flames around Ben faded away, and his lava-like body vanished. In its place was cold gray-green skin.

His head now resembled that of an Earth fish, with a glowing lure protruding from the top.

Webbing stretched between the claws of his hands.

His lower body was a fish tail like that of a mermaid.

He looked like a mermaid, except the sewer version after drinking too much nuclear wastewater.

Ripjaws were Piscciss Volann.

And Piscciss was a planet made of water. Underwater combat was their specialty.

Though Ripjaws's physical strength was not especially formidable, they had something they took pride in.

That was their powerful bite force and sturdy teeth.

Ordinary steel was more brittle than tofu before their teeth.

Even Tony's titanium alloy armor would not be enough.

Watching Animo gradually pull away, Ben flicked his tail and charged after him.

In the water, he was faster than a torpedo!

By now, Animo had swum into the deep waters, and darkness had swallowed his vision.

He let out a breath of relief.

The darker it was, the less likely that Heatblast would appear again.

And the temperature here had dropped as well.

He had become more like a cold-blooded animal and preferred warmer environments. But Heatblast's temperature had been a little too extreme!

The icy lake water actually put him at ease.

"He won't be able to catch up once I'm hiding in the lake," Animo thought.

"That damned bastard... next time, I'll definitely kill him!"

"You won't have a next time, Animo!"

A voice rang out.

Startled, Animo hurriedly turned around.

In the pitch-black lake water, a white trail of foam streaked rapidly toward him like an arrow!

Ben seized Animo in one motion. He opened his enormous jaws, the mouth splitting nearly to the back of his head, almost swallowing Animo's entire head.

Crunch!

Sharp teeth pierced Animo's skin and viciously tore off a chunk of flesh!

"Ah—"

Animo howled in pain as lake water flooded into his nostrils.

Actually, unless Ben bit away every scrap of flesh on Animo's body, this injury was merely superficial to him.

But Ben's goal was not to kill him immediately.

He took out a vial of serum and forcefully stabbed it into Animo's wound.

The Lizard Serum antidote spread through his whole body, completely crushing Animo's hopes of recovering enough to counterattack.

Without the effects of the Lizard Serum, his healing ability dropped drastically.

Ben grabbed the horn atop Animo's head and dragged him all the way to the sewer outlet before charging inside.

After reaching land, Ben canceled his transformation.

On land, Ripjaws was only strong enough to lift objects about equal to his own weight.

Animo now weighed several tons, so Ben had to cancel the transformation before he could drag him away.

At that moment, the third function unlocked after the Little Broken Watch had been cracked revealed itself—it entered Calibration Mode, and its appearance changed as well.

The Little Broken Watch had now become an ordinary wristwatch. From the outside, the hourglass emblem was no longer obvious.

Ben actually preferred the watch's original appearance, but its emblem was too conspicuous. After this incident, S.H.I.E.L.D. would definitely investigate the Alien Hero, and Ben did not want to invite trouble for himself.

Unfortunately, although Calibration Mode had changed the watch's appearance, he had not obtained any new heroes for the time being.

"Do you think you've won?"

Though Animo had lost, he was still unwilling to accept it. Or rather, he truly had prepared a backup plan.

"Hehehe, guess where my Gene Variator went?"

Ben glanced at him. From the start of the battle until now, Animo indeed had not been wearing the Variator.

"I've merged the Variator with the Canary Device. Before long, it'll activate and fire the Mutation Ray across all of New York!"

"By then, everyone will become mutants!"

"I haven't lost yet!" he said excitedly.

He even longed to see a defeated expression appear on Ben's face.

But Ben was far calmer than he expected.

"Is that so? Then guess where Connors went?"

Ben asked in return.

Animo froze.

Not long ago, in the sewers as well.

Before taking action, Ben had already divided the tasks between Peter and Connors.

Peter had wanted to act alongside Ben, but Ben had ordered him back to Queens to protect Uncle Ben and Aunt May in case anything happened to them.

Connors had previously said he knew a little about operating the Variator, so Ben sent him out to stop Animo's device.

This time, Animo finally lost all spirit.

Not long afterward, Dinosaur Connors returned carrying an enormous machine.