Ben was readily preparing a report on the somewhat irresponsible behavior of the parks department when installing benches and paving walking paths when such things could be done cheaper by people looking for volunteer hours or boy scouts. He noticed Hannah approaching his office specifically, so he found a good stopping point to give her his full attention.

"So?" Ben preempted his assistant. "What did you think?"

"Tacky," she responded, throwing an Idet designed shirt for Ben's mayoral campaign onto his desk, "all of them."

Ben lifted the shirt and saw his name in radical font as if it was spray painted.

"I don't suppose you would want to design one?" Ben asked.

"I'll charge you," Hannah conditioned.

"I'll have to see your previous artwork, maybe get a few references."

"I made the banner for the Memorial Day parade."

Ben tried to recall such a tiny memory in the back of his mind.

"Very well," Ben said, "if you weren't lynched by the veterans who live in this town, you're skills should be employable. Just don't tell Idet. She'll be so disappointed that her designs didn't work."

"Anything interesting going on?" Hannah asked as though she wasn't the one in charge of his schedule.

"Just the hero game in a week and a half," Ben said, casting his mind back to practice.

"What's the game?"

"Capture-the-flag."

"Sounds fun," Hannah said, "I should invite myself along."

"Why don't you ask the Chevis kid in the fire department if he'll take you? His dad and brother are going."

"Ugh, that guy's a total narcissist. Every time we talk, it somehow comes down to working out and gym stuff."

"Working out's his hobby. I'm sure he's testing the water, seeing if he can set up a gym date."

"But I don't work out!" she hissed aggressively. "Look at me, I'm skin and bone!"

"You probably should. I mean, even I do morning jogs and occasional public gym visits. Exercise is good, in measure amounts."

"Ugh, the invasion of meatheads!"

Hannah turned as a large, fat man huffed his way down the municipal hall wearing a polo and khakis with food stains from his lunch. His receding hairline seemed to thin just from the minor wind resistance he got from his fast-walking pace that was popping beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Hey, Mrs. Sinclair," he greeted, "Councilman Hersh, I'm glad you're both here. I just wanted to warn you that a cold weather front is moving in from the north and the skies could get a bit choppy for a few days. Keeps your phones ready in case there's another snow-day!"

The fat blob waddled away to inform the other city council workers as Hannah sneered at him from behind in disgust.

"Don't be so condescending," Ben offered, "there's a reason he's that fat."

"Not enough exercise," Hannah chuckled.

"I'm afraid the reason is medical, so I can't divulge it."

"Not even later?"

"No, I'm pretty serious about my silence on other people's medical conditions. It's one of the highest forms of privacy."

"Hm. So, about this kiddy hero game. When and where is it?"

"Hyde Park down in the Southlands at noon o'clock. You really think you're gonna go?"

"Might as well," Hannah shrugged, "until they declare my dad officially missing, I'm not allowed to leave the country."

"Where would you go outside the country?"

"Japan, maybe Australia. Somewhere that I could really get away and hide in a back alley or something."

"No college?"

"Never had the grades for it. Besides, I hate sitting in class. I was hoping to get something more cushy with no real experience or learning requirements. Like what you do!"

Ben would have refuted her if that wasn't exactly why he became a city councilman in the first place.

"That reminds me," Hannah perked up, "why exactly do you want to become mayor?"

"It's as you said," Ben leaned back in his office chair, "the job's easy, the pay's nice, and people are friendly. What's not to love?"

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"I mean, couldn't you aim a little higher? Like, president, or king of the world?"

"Ah, that's what you mean," Ben said, looking at the computer with his report on local funds. "Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'Frog in the well'?"

Hannah shook her head, so Ben explained, "It's an eastern philosophical story about being narrow-minded. There's this frog in a deep well, and when the frog looks up, there's this tiny hole where he can see the sky. But frog has never been out of the well, so he confidently believes that the tiny section of sky is the only sky that exists. It is only by climbing out of the well that you'll see the whole sky and know how foolish you were."

"What does this have to do with being mayor?"

"When I was travelling around the world," Ben used the code word for being a supervillain, "I climbed out of the well. And do you know what I found?"

"The sky?"

"No," Ben said, "another well. Every time I reached the top of the well, I just saw wider walls and the same tiny sky far above my head. No matter how many wells I climbed, no matter how much closer I got to the sky, it never got any wider and the wells never got any more pleasant. So once I finished my business, I went to a well I liked and made it my home. The sky may be tiny and well may be damp, but I can do as I like, and that's fine with me."

"So, be happy with what you have?" Hannah guessed.

"No," Ben sat up, "don't be happy with what you've got, reach for the stars, by all means. Just, when you've gone as high as you can, don't just hang up there like a prisoner in the noose. Come back down and plant some roots. Take your riches and your experiences and let them rest."

"Like your absolute treasure trove?"

"Relics from a difficult time in my life," Ben chuckled.

"And, are you ever going to tell the kids about your travels?"

Ben chuckled again, but his smile faded, "Not even if their life was on the line."

========================================================

"I should probably ask before we go any further," assistant-coach Jeff mentioned tersely, "what game are we playing, exactly?"

"Capture the flag, coach," Katherine said. "It's like in video games, two teams have flags they have to defend while trying to steal the other team's flag."

"Is the flag planted somewhere, or is it carried by a team member?"

"Usually planted," Ben said, "though there is a 'capture' game where everyone has tails on their person and a team wins by grabbing all the tails. It's less popular because some powers can dominate the field."

"Okay, is there a game-plan here? Or are we playing it by ear?"

"I forget what I said after the last game," Ben lied. "Are you guys supposed to take care of it, or me?"

"You didn't mention it," Michael said.

Ben looked at Jeff, "Do you want to make a plan of action? They've got formations to work with, but a plan of action can still be formed."

"Oh," Jeff smiled deviously, "I've got a better idea!"

===============================================

"I don't think this is a good idea," Ben mumbled to himself, playing the part of a meek councilman while voicing his true opinions.

In the field, wading through a foot of snow, were the three combat members of the high school hero team charging at their coaches. Behind the heroes were Stanley and Gary, with a flag between them. Behind the two coaches was an identical flag stuck through a snowman they had piled up.

"Listen, scrimmage games are necessary to keep a team in tip-top shape," Jeff mentioned, keeping his freezing hands in his pockets. "And since we don't have enough players to play against each other, it's coaches versus players!"

Ben eyed Jeff suspiciously. He may be getting a bit too into playing coach, and that would drive the students further than Ben could reasonably get away with for a city councilman. He was secretly hoping that making a member of the anti-hero movement the assistant coach to a hero team wasn't backfiring on him.

"You be the defense, I'll go for the flag," Jeff ordered, then he started wading through the snow towards his son.

"There still kids!" Ben half-heartedly called, "Go easy on them!"

"Don't lose our flag so easily!" Jeff called back.

'Oh,' Ben realized, 'he's enjoying this.'

The large man waded through the snow, specifically going around the team heading for his flag. This was less of a tactical strategy than a recognition that he would lose in a straight fight with three meta-humans.

"Why the hell do I have to face three of them?" Ben grumbled to himself.

"Get ready, coach!" Garrett shouted, slithering a little before doing a coiled jump from the snow. Unfortunately, the snow packed under his feet slipped at the sudden force and the scaley boy faceplanted in the snow.

Michael was trying to sneak to the flag by going behind Ben, which would have worked if the flag was outside of his supposed five-foot range. When Michael reached for the flag, a harsh chop to the wrist caught the boy by surprise.

"You're out!" Ben shouted, keeping to the one-hit policy agreed on before the game.

"My turn!" Katherine shouted, then she screamed fire onto the snow-laden field, instantly vaporizing the crystal rain into steam.

"Not a good idea to blind someone who has dimensional sight," Ben said, but with his extended vision, he could already see the plan.

Garrett's face plant earlier had been a diversion make Ben think he was taken out of the fight. The snake man was now crawling as quietly as possible to Ben's right with Katherine ahead of him. They must be trying to get Ben away from the flag so that they could nick it without him noticing. It was a good idea, and Ben needed to play along to not let on that his sight was actually much further than he told everyone it is.

Sure enough, Katherine's fire erupted right in front of Ben, getting a little too close for comfort. He stepped back, keeping the flag within range and trying to see where Katherine was coming from.

"Did I get you?" she called through the warm steam.

"Almost," Ben called, recognizing that her training must have been going well to accurately judge distance and manage her power accordingly.

"Good!" she cheered, then another jet of flame licked his face all over.

Ben complied with the plan of action and stepped out of range of the flag shouting, "Hey! Just because you didn't hit me doesn't mean my Carhart can take this kind of heat! You almost melted the plastic coating!"

"Sorry!" Katherine shouted as she rushed closer to judge if Ben was far enough away. "Garrett, now!"

The snake-man slithered through the snow and grabbed the flag, but when he tried to pull it out, the snow man came toppling on top of him. Ben recognized what was going on, but the snow slowed his movements too much before he could reach the flag. Garrett pulled, but Katherine quickly joined him and managed to pull the flag out together. Since Garrett was stuck, Katherine had to return the flag by herself. She blazed a trail through the snow to make her escape faster, but Ben also had the same path to take. Still, Katherine was fast enough to make it to the other side where Stanley and Gary were sitting down due to being 'out'.

The dragoness looked around for where Coach Jeff was, only to smile that he was only half-way back. But, he didn't have the flag...?

Right as she noticed the tentpole in the air, Katherine's jaw dropped in shock as Ben caught the flag and buried it into the snowman with a single, fluid movement.

"This round goes to... the COACHES!" cheered an ecstatic Jeff, who hopped up in victory.

"Jeff," Ben rolled his eyes, "this is supposed to be training. Not dunking on teenagers."