Chapter 21

After receiving a letter back from Max, Perenna had been feeling on cloud nine, even though Aunt May had seen the note and innocently asked if she herself was going to this dance with this person. Perenna had blushed and barely got out of the house with a flimsy excuse at best.

At the moment though, she watched Ben walk over the table where she, Gwen and Harry were. "So, am I still allowed sit with you's…and Harry."

The redhead glared at Ben before waving it off and proceeded to ignore the 'blond' boy. "Whatever."

Ben sat down just as the speaker came on. "Morning students, Coach Smith here with a quick announcement. After the injury of our starting tied-in, and the academic suspension of our backup, ahem, the Midtown Mustangs will be holding three days of tryouts, starting this afternoon." He said before shutting the speaker off.

"Heh, perfect, I am so there." Harry said.

"Uh, Harry. You know I'm all about being one of the encouraging gal pals, but the words 'catastrophic bone-breakage' do come to mind here." Gwen explained.

"Yeah Har,' have you seen the size of those guys?" Perenna questioned.

"Come on, if you're worried, how about a little moral support? Go out, uh, try out with me then." Harry said hastily.

Perenna grimaced. "Uh, you do realize that they'd snap me in half like a twig right? I mean, just look at how tiny I am."

"It's true, she's so short." Ben said lightly.

Perenna glared at her son before smirking. "Why don't you try out then?"

Ben choked on his food before spitting it out. "No way, not in a million years. You will never convince me to do this…"

"…I can't believe she talked me into this." Ben muttered to himself as he stood with the other football hopefuls. He started to channel his frustration into energy before Toxin could take his motivation away.

And that was his hatred of all sports. He was a 'brain,' and his loathing of sports was ingrained in his blood.

And nothing was gonna change that.

"Oh, Toxin could get used to this." 'Toxin' said tossing a football into the air, the sardonic glee in his voice apparent to his mother.

"So much for 'never gonna do this,' huh?" Spider-Woman questioned smirking.

'Toxin' smirked back under his 'mask.' "The fact 'Toxin' got to show up everyone was just the icing on the cake." He paused. "Speaking of cake, Toxin could go for some chocolate cake after."

An alarm cut through the night air and Spider-Woman looked off into its direction. "Cake's gonna have to wait." She said and the two made their way and Spider-Woman lowered herself down from the bank and sighed when she saw who was doing the thieving. "Ah Marko, this is so getting old." She griped. "Where's your partner?"

"Heh, don't think I need a partner anyway." Marko replied as he enlarged his fist and was about to punch her when her shout caused him to become distracted.

"Holy hell! Toxin was right!" Spider-Woman shouted.

'Toxin' took the moment to jump down and tried to knock the man back, but got grabbed by the foot and slammed into the ground.

Spider-Woman stared. "What just-"

"Happened? I just happened. Sandman happened." Marko said cutting her off and punched the girl in the stomach before looking back down at 'Toxin.' "You, you knew this was gonna happen!"

"Hey, Toxin did warn you. Not Toxin's fault if you didn't listen." 'Toxin' shot back and rolled out of the way when Sandman tried to flatten him with a giant sand hammer. "Why'd you do it, get tired out being a teeny, tiny, lady's punching bag? Haven't you heard it's not nice to hit a lady?" he questioned taking a quick glance at the girl shaking her head as she stood back up.

"Well lucky for me then you're no lady." Sandman shot back and the punch gave 'Toxin' sent the hero flying back.

"He's got you on that." Spider-Woman said grimacing as she held her stomach.

"Oh do shut up." 'Toxin' muttered before he was caught off guard and sent flying into a lamppost by a sand sledgehammer but he quickly swung around it and tried to kick the man's head, only to get stopped by an enlarged sand fist and thrown at Spider-Woman and while she managed to flip up onto the wall, 'Toxin' hit it and rubbed his head. "Tag." He whispered low enough for his mother to hear.

Spider-Woman dodged the sand hand that was about to smack her. "Uh oh." She muttered to herself as her web shooters failed to work. "No, no, no, no. Not a good time to run out of web-" Her sentence got cut off as Sandman decked her into the stomach again with a sand sledgehammer and she quickly punched him in the face, only or it to dissolve and she kicked his legs literally out from underneath him before getting hit with another hammer and she hit a truck that was sent onto its side with a crash.

"Let me guess, you were on a reality show. Changing faces, or completely ridiculous makeovers?" Spider-Woman mocked.

"Nice huh? The Big Man did this to me." Sandman replied. "To get to you."

"The Big Man?" Spider-Woman questioned. "Who's the Big Man?"

"Uh, he, ah, that's need to know only." Sandman replied. "Cleaning your clocks been fun, but I've got banks to rob." He added as sirens filled the air. The man dissolved and slid through the sewer grates and heard him yell, "Aaawww man! My money!"

Spider-Woman chuckled before she retrieved 'Toxin' and he provided her with a ride home.

"Any more villains gonna show up?" Perenna questioned as she began writing her reply letter to Max.

Ben looked rather reluctant to answer. "Yes."

"Any more of them going to be created by this Big Man?" Perenna questioned.

"One."

"The rest?"

Ben looked very nonplussed to continue. "Uh, maybe I should be going now." he said trying to move discreetly to the window, but Perenna quickly grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Oh no you don't." she said staring at him darkly. "What about the rest?"

Ben was quiet for a while before he sighed. "I'm not exactly sure, but I've at least suspected most of the following were created by the Gob-uh, someone else, or at least played some part of it. Except for one I know that wasn't created by anyone else, and to me, that one is the worst."

Perenna turned her full attention to him now. "Who creates the one you're worried about?" she asked worriedly.

Ben stared at her with the most earnest expression she's ever seen on his face, but his words fill her with horror. "You do."