Subduing Curt Connors

"Back already? Nobody spotted you, right?"

When Ben saw Connors returning with something slung over his shoulder, he hurriedly asked.

"No."

Connors set the equipment down on the ground.

"When I went to retrieve the device, Iron Man was looking for you. He was scanning the river, and some people were cleaning up the battlefield."

Connors recalled seeing a man pulling a large-assed woman out of a ventilation duct as he passed through Stark Tower.

After thinking it over, he still asked, "They don't look like police. Who exactly are they?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D.," Ben said. "They more or less specialize in handling things like this."

He tossed Animo aside, transformed into Grey Matter, and began studying Animo's Variable Device.

Seeing this, Connors added, "I stopped its program, but I don't know how to reverse it."

"Don't worry. I can handle it."

"What about him? Should we hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Connors asked.

Before Ben could speak, Animo sneered, "No matter where you imprison me, I, the genius Doctor Animo, will definitely return!"

"Return?" Ben sneered.

"What makes you think I'd spare your life?"

Hand Animo over to S.H.I.E.L.D.?

As if!

Ben shook his head without a second thought.

How could he not know what kind of people S.H.I.E.L.D. were?

Even setting aside the part infiltrated by Hydra, Nick Fury's faction alone was no good either.

This so-called king of spies was suspicious and distrustful of everything. He was like someone suffering from persecution mania; everything was a threat in his eyes, and he wanted every bit of power under his control.

Not to mention those people spent every day obsessing over that damned Super Soldier Serum. If Animo fell into their hands, he would probably be released the moment he was locked up.

Unlike Connors, Animo was a mad scientist to his core. Even decades of imprisonment would never change his desire to destroy the world.

Even with the Null Void Projector, Ben had no intention of imprisoning him.

That place was no different from a breeding ground for poisonous insects, and it might even turn Animo into a powerful Null Void King.

He had no interest in tangling with this old bastard forever.

Besides, that old hag Ancient One had only told him to resolve these Multiverse Crises. She had not explained how he was supposed to do it.

So Ben would resolve them his own way.

Since Animo craved becoming a Mutant Creature so badly, then he could die as a monster!

Only dead enemies were good enemies!

Not long after.

Ben had learned how to operate the Variable Device.

He reversed the program and turned Connors back into a human.

Compared to Animo, Ben valued Connors more.

He was intelligent, and he was not evil.

"I know the secret of your watch now. I suppose it's hard for you to freely choose, isn't it?" Connors said.

Ben was somewhat surprised by that.

"I'm planning to start a company. I hope you'll work for me," he said.

"Why not?"

Connors was smart and open-minded. He was not particularly depressed over the possibility that Ben might control his future life.

"If you hadn't created the serum, I probably would have caused an irreparable disaster by now," he said remorsefully.

"I'm grateful to you, so I have no reason to refuse."

"All my inventions can belong to you. I only have one request," Connors said. "Just make sure you use them for the benefit of humanity."

"Of course."

Ben nodded.

"This incident is inseparable from you. Lizard Man first appeared at Osborn Tower, and everyone knows it. To stop the company's stock from continuing to plummet, several members of Osborn's Board of Directors have already pinned all responsibility on you. The moment you show yourself, the police will probably arrest you immediately."

"Those bastards! They were the ones who wanted to conduct human experiments before the technology was mature!"

Connors clenched his fists in anger, yet he also felt deeply helpless.

"Don't worry. Once this blows over, I'll get you a new identity. For now, you'll have to stay here for a couple of days. Once my laboratory is ready, you can move in."

Connors had no objection to that. There was something else worrying him.

"My wife and son..."

"They're being watched by the police right now, but they're safe."

Connors nodded.

Then Ben transformed into Four Arms and completely destroyed the Canary Device.

As for the Gene Variator, it was not very large, so he simply took it with him.

Then Ben left the sewers with Animo.

He planned to cremate Animo, but the methane concentration in the sewers was too high. Lighting a fire would trigger a violent explosion.

On the way, he also contacted Felicia and Mary Jane to confirm that both of them were fine. At the same time, he told Felicia that their date tomorrow was still on.

Meanwhile.

At Stark Industries, which had already become ruins.

Iron Man descended from the sky, and his armor opened.

"Found nothing. They vanished!" Tony's expression was grim.

Never mind the other monster. That Heatblast who claimed to be some kind of security guard had a body temperature reaching several thousand degrees Celsius, yet he had vanished into thin air?

"You've really disappointed me, Tony Stark!"

Nick Fury had arrived at some point. Upon seeing Tony, he strode over with a dark face and immediately started tearing into him.

"Two monsters fought like mad at Stark Tower, destroying the entire building and two surrounding streets, causing tens of billions in damages!

"And our Super Hero, Iron Man, not only got beaten senseless, but can't even find a trace of them!"

Tony's face was even darker than his.

"Shut up. What have you done better than me?"

"Did you and your agents accomplish anything? You only showed up to clean up after they left! I'm not interested in listening to you throw your weight around in front of me!"

Tony was furious.

Nearly all of tonight's losses were Stark Industries' losses. Naturally, young master Tony had to foot the bill for those tens of billions of dollars.

His own building had been blown up for no reason, and this Egghead Fury still had the nerve to come point at his nose and curse him. What a nerve!

And besides...

"Who knows whether you made this monster yourselves!"

Hearing that, Nick Fury actually felt a little uncertain.

He knew perfectly well that S.H.I.E.L.D. had never created such a monster, but the military had indeed created a green monster, one even more terrifying than the one that had appeared tonight.

However, military matters had nothing to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, the two sides were somewhat at odds.

Since force did not work, Fury tried a softer approach.

"No matter what, you saw it yourself. Some strange creatures have already become a threat to us. And your abilities are not enough to deal with them," Fury said.

"We need a dedicated team—"

"Your team of superpowered boys again?" Tony scoffed.

"It's the Avengers, and you might not even qualify to join!" Nick said. "We need to evaluate you."

Doctor Animo's arc was over, and Animo's ending had been revised.

At first, I had wanted to turn Tony into Lizard Man too, but as I kept writing, I decided to cut it. Heh.