Dr. Dong Wu stood atop Stark Tower, the highest building in New York. On the roof, battered by raging winds, he raised both arms high as his white hair whipped wildly behind him!
At this moment, he felt like a god!
Everything in the human world seemed so small, so pitiful and laughable in his eyes!
"New York is still a little too… urbanized," he sneered. "But very soon, this place will return to a prehistoric world—becoming a paradise for my lovely mutant creatures!"
Just as he was reveling in his own ecstasy, a light, mocking voice sounded from behind him.
"Interesting. I knew dinosaur babies had to have a zookeeper."
Dong Wu turned around to see a red suit of armor descending slowly from the sky.
"Tony Stark," he said coldly. "You intend to stop me?"
"Let me correct you," Tony replied, raising the repulsor in his palm with clear annoyance. "You're the one putting random junk on my rooftop."
The uninvited guest before him reminded Tony of that flashy newcomer from not long ago.
"What, didn't bring your little pet with you today?"
Hearing this, Dong Wu let out a low, chilling laugh. "Why don't you look up?"
Tony instinctively raised his head—and his pupils shrank.
High in the sky, a massive shadow circled overhead. It was a gigantic bird, four to five meters long, its terrifying talons looking capable of skewering a person alive!
Tony wasn't the only one who noticed the monstrous raptor.
At that very moment, Black Widow—who had been monitoring Tony from within Stark Industries—saw it too.
But as a top-tier agent, Natasha had seen plenty of extreme situations in her life.
"Actually… this one's new," she muttered.
When Natasha spotted the grotesque bird, her first thought was that thing is way too big. Her second thought was to contact Nick Fury and dump the headache straight onto him.
Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury was pondering who he could con into joining his still-theoretical Avengers initiative. The moment he received Natasha's call, he knew something was very wrong.
"You're telling me there's a mad scientist trying to turn New York into a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs?" Fury nearly thought he'd misheard.
"That's right," Natasha said into her earpiece. "He's on the roof of Stark Tower right now, and he's using special equipment developed by Oscorp. We can basically confirm now—the one who attacked Oscorp earlier was likely him."
"Motherf—!"
Fury had wanted to form a superhero team for a long time. He just hadn't expected that before he'd even finalized the roster, a world-ending crisis would already be knocking on his door.
"…But maybe this is a good thing."
After thinking it over, he realized that once this incident was over, the World Security Council probably wouldn't have any objections left to his Avengers plan.
Thinking about the council gave him a headache.
That was the curse of being S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director. The council only needed to approve funding and wire the money. He, on the other hand, had to worry about everything—when to swindle budgets, when to cook the books—each step requiring careful calculation.
"So what's the plan?" Natasha asked when Fury stayed silent for too long.
After all, Dong Wu hadn't brought just one mutant parrot with him.
Alongside that flying monstrosity was a giant bullfrog mutant—so massive it looked like a small hill!
"Agent Romanoff," Fury said gravely, "stall them. Reinforcements are on the way."
"…Me?"
"Stall them?"
Natasha glanced down at the compact pistol in her hand—smaller than her palm—and seriously wondered if Nick Fury had been drinking.
How was this any different from asking her to fight Sukuna barehanded?
She cursed under her breath—but as an agent, she still moved.
The Sewers
Connors, having finally realized he'd been deceived by Dong Wu, looked utterly hollow and broken.
Bent had already reverted from his transformation and was waiting for the Omnitrix's cooldown.
"Dong Wu has taken the Canary Device to Stark Tower," Bent said as he pried open Connors' eyelids and injected the serum antidote into his body. "I think we still have some time."
Earlier, he'd shattered nearly every bone in Connors' body. If Connors had lost his powers back then, he would've died on the spot.
Now that Connors had passed the danger point, it was safe.
As the serum's effects faded, a wave of weakness washed over Connors. He didn't fully revert to human form—the mutant genes were still active—but his body had noticeably shrunk.
Even so, he could clearly feel his strength rapidly draining away.
The sensation left him empty, anxious, and faintly lost—withdrawal from power. Losing strength never felt good.
But his mind had never been clearer.
"What kind of stupid thing… did I do…" Connors muttered, covering his face, draped in ill-fitting clothes Bent had given him.
"Now's not the time for self-blame, Dr. Connors," Peter said gently. "You wanted to do good. The serum affected your judgment."
Connors shook his head.
He knew those were just excuses.
The real cause had always been his arrogance.
"At least we still have a chance to fix this," Bent said, sitting atop Connors' crude makeshift workbench.
There were still plenty of materials here—enough to make more serum.
As for the mutants, Dong Wu's Gene Variator should be reversible.
"Dr. Connors," Bent asked, "how much do you know about Dong Wu's Variator?"
He didn't believe Connors had let Dong Wu experiment on him without understanding anything at all.
"I don't understand how it works," Connors admitted. "But I know how to operate it."
"That's enough."
Bent worked quickly, adjusting the serum antidote. Having done it once already, the process wasn't difficult.
Before long, the new serum was complete.
Then he looked at Peter and Connors.
Peter felt a chill from Bent's gaze. "What?"
"Dong Wu is a dangerous lunatic. To be safe," Bent said seriously, "I think we need more preparation."
If luck turned against them, they might soon be facing countless mutant dinosaur-humans.
"What are you thinking?" Peter asked.
Bent raised his left wrist.
"Crack it."
He had long wanted to fully crack the Omnitrix—but two major problems had always stopped him.
First, his knowledge base wasn't sufficient. Forcing it could damage the Omnitrix. Second, when he transformed into the smartest alien—Grey Matter—he couldn't see his own back, making precise operation impossible.
But now, he'd abandoned the idea of using mechanical arms.
Instead, he planned to let Peter do the work.
Bent turned on the camera Connors had used to record his experiments, then looked at Peter.
"When I transform into Grey Matter, the camera will record everything so I can see it. You'll operate it exactly according to my instructions."
"No problem," Peter agreed.
He didn't fully understand, but following instructions was something he could handle.
Connors watched from a distance, not approaching.
"Then… let's begin."
Bent pressed down on the Omnitrix core.
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