Ripjaws

Boom!

Like a thunderbolt spear hammered down by a god!

A dazzling beam blasted Animo out of the sky—

The air friction burned 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 raging wind tearing past nearly ripped them right off!

The flames had also charred them black!

Still, spreading his wings did slow Animo's descent, and he used them to adjust his direction, aiming himself at the Confluence of Three Rivers.

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

And once he entered the river, he might have another chance to escape.

But how could Ben let him get away with it?

He pressed his feet together and braced his arms behind him. Flames ignited beneath his feet and along both arms.

As flames blasted backward, an enormous force propelled him forward. The energy generated by the flames was enough to send a rocket into space!

Boom!

Ben shot after Animo like a flaming meteor.

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 membrane of Animo's bat wings.

Now, the pair of wings reduced to bare skeletal frames could no longer support Animo's glide.

He could restore them, but restoration took time.

And time was exactly what he lacked most.

A person falling from ten thousand meters only needed 190 seconds to hit the ground.

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

Now, he had no time to regrow his wings. Before him lay the pitch-black waters—

Splash!!!

Animo crashed straight into the lake. The water's surface tension made it feel no different from slamming into concrete.

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

Then it came pouring down like heavy rain, while massive waves rolled across the broad lake, nearly capsizing the cargo ships and pleasure boats nearby!

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

But he was not dead yet.

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 like it was about to fall apart, he still forced himself to move.

The only way out before him was to escape.

But he could not escape!

Splash!

Without hesitation, Ben dove straight into the river.

Sizzle—

The heat of his body instantly boiled the surrounding lake water, sending bubbles gurgling up.

The unlucky fish close to him were cooked immediately.

Fish: We're already 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 had a high specific heat capacity. Underwater, 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 escape, and pressed the Little Broken Watch's core on his chest.

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

First, fairness...

No.

First was Life Lock Mode. 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 on Ben's body faded, and his magma-like physique 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 on both 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.

Although Ripjaws's physical abilities were not especially powerful, they had something to be proud of.

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 already swum into deep water, and darkness had swallowed his vision.

He breathed a sigh 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 high!

Now, the icy lake water reassured him instead.

He hid in the lake. That guy can't catch up now, Animo thought.

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

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

A voice came from behind him.

Animo jolted and hurriedly turned around.

In the pitch-black lake water, a white wake cut rapidly through the darkness, shooting toward him like an arrow!

Ben seized Animo in one motion and opened his enormous jaws. His mouth split all the way to the back of his head, nearly swallowing Animo's entire skull.

Crunch!

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

"Argh—"

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

Unless Ben bit away every piece of flesh on Animo's body, this kind of injury was merely superficial to him.

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

He took out a bottle of serum and drove it hard into Animo's wound.

The Lizard Serum antidote spread through his entire body, completely crushing Animo's hopes of counterattacking once he recovered enough.

Without the Lizard Serum, his healing ability plummeted.

Ben grabbed the horn atop Animo's head, dragged him all the way to a sewer outlet, and then rushed inside.

After reaching land, Ben canceled his transformation.

On land, Ripjaws had only enough strength to lift objects equal to his own weight.

Animo now weighed several tons, so Ben had to cancel his transformation to drag him away.

At this moment, the Little Broken Watch's third function after being cracked also 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 symbol was no longer obvious.

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

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

"Do you think you've won?"

Though Animo had lost, he still refused to accept it. Or rather, he really had prepared a backup plan.

"Hehehe, guess where my Gene Variator went?"

Ben glanced at him. From the beginning of the battle until now, Animo indeed had not been wearing the Variable Device.

"I already merged the Variable Device with the Canary Device. Before long, it will activate and fire the Mutation Ray across all of New York!"

"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 sewer.

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

Peter had originally wanted to act with 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 that he knew a little about operating the Variable Device, so Ben sent him out to stop Animo's machine.

This time, Animo finally lost all heart.

Not long after, Dinosaur Connors returned carrying a massive machine.