Ben couldn't quite imagine how it could get worse. Kids were impossible to handle.

Katherine got it into her head that their winning streak was going to the moon, and started advertising the team with posters that she hung up around school. She was trying to get more kids to go to their games, which would be like inviting people out to a cancer ward to watch you make fun of the children. Garret and Stanley even started a debate in their speech class about the morality of powers for show, of which Stanley argued against.

About the only good news was that Jeff was pulling out, something he admitted with a black eye and a promise that there was no domestic abuse in his household. The kids were sad to see him go, but Ben had expected as much. Involvement of a Humanity First member with metahumans was always going to be short-lived. Still, he left behind an exercise plan that was almost as detailed as Ben's tactical procedures.

Now that the kids were largely self-involved with the team, Ben started taking some days off from the team to focus on council work. The city parks department were trying to muscle in on the care of the village parks, and Ben was spearheading the effort to fight them off. There were only three parks in the area anyway, but fighting the big bad metropolitan park association made him a hero in the municipality's eyes. And because Ben did an early morning jog through the park near his home, he was able to oversee its care personally. Unfortunately, nobody really took care of the other parks, until Ben got the super team to do practices there and get some community service hours in.

Things were looking up, and it was about time for the next game to commence, which Ben was going to host at the Tomahawk Trailhead where they've been cleaning up. It was another Hero Hunt, so all he had to do was get the flags for the four corners of the arena and go from there. He decided to play the game at the center of the field where a large tree was sitting all by its lonesome.

On the day of the big game, a surprising amount of people showed up. Katherine's advertisements must have worked better than he thought, because the onlookers were spilling over the edge of the peanut-gallery's side. Ben was despairing right up until the point that the other team showed up and brightened his weary, February-frozen heart.

The Peak Town High School team looked like actual contenders, set with team jerseys and even cleats for the cold ground.

"Alright, this isn't looking so easy," Ben said in a huddle before the game. "These guys seem like serious contenders. Keep an eye out for their powers, and try to use the terrain to your advantage. The snow melted and the ground is thawed, see if you can't make them slip up."

That was all it took for Gary to come up with a devious strategy, and the games began with their team on the hunting side. When the game started, everyone fanned out with Gary up the middle as the enemy team member used jets in his feet to get onto the tree as fast as possible. He started to climb, only for constructs to appear around his choice of branches. When he tried to grab one, it dissolved and he swiftly fell the inch necessary it took for him to lose his grip. He banged off a tree branch before thankfully being caught by a flimsy construct Gary set up to not cripple the guy.

The players returned to their sides and the timer started up again, only for the guy to activate the power in his legs and flip backwards as his feet slipped.

Gary had timed it right and created a construct under his foot that stopped the cleats from gripping anything, and the poor fool landed on his face with a foot touching the back of his head as his body folded on itself.

This elicited an 'ooh' and collective sucking of air through teeth as the audience watched the painful landing. Gary, however, burst out laughing, and he didn't stop laughing until the end of the designated minute when the next player came out.

This person was part bird, with feathers around his face fashioned into a beard, and judging from the way he eyed Garret, most likely a predator. The kid took his shoes off before the match to reveal a set of talons for vicious grip.

The game started and the bird charged towards the tree, where it leaped a dozen feet into the air and latched onto a branch. It hung there due to a twenty-foot rule and watched mockingly as the team had to struggle to climb the tree in order to reach the bird. It seemed the bird person was in its natural habitat, leaping gayly from perch to perch until a foul was called for going higher than twenty feet.

When the teams were set off again, the bird leaped into the tree once more, then the perch he was going for disintegrated as Gary cut off the construct. Garret was able to sprint-slither fast enough to catch the bird-person, triggering points on their end. Katherine, Stanley, and Michael felt a little left out as the super team for this game were the two Gs.

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The next gal had ice powers, something Katherine took particular note of, calling 'that bitch' her 'nemesis'. Rather than do any running, she froze the area around her and waited for the other team to approach while making the terrain as unfriendly as possible. Katherine made Gary construct a sled while she stood on front and melted the ice before it could form, securing a thirty-second tag. Next, Katherine took the boys around the side while Michael snuck in across an ice sheet and got the tag.

The fourth contender just had super strength, and immediately fouled twice for jumping over the twenty-foot barrier. He then stomped the ground and sent a plume of dirt into the air to distract him running around the side. He managed to slip away from the team for the next fifty seconds, securing an almost even point advantage for their side.

The fifth, however, lost the plot as her power to generate gusts of wind got her nowhere fast.

Finally, it was time to switch sides, and the first up to escape was Katherine. She started on the side where all the action was happening and managed to burn the leftover ice into steam to cover her tracks and narrowly escape for a full thirty seconds at a time. Next was Gary, who was as toxic as always. He would trip up the other team, use his constructs as brief footholds on mud, and even construct barriers right before someone was about to touch him so it didn't count.

"At least his activation speed is improving," Ben chewed his nails angrily as his player started laughing at the ice queen he'd just slipped into mud.

Stanley was next and was the loose end, as always. The kid with jets on his feet scored point after point on the regular human, slipping only once and giving the boy a foul for his side.

Garret was much better, using his natural snake-like movements to make the kids whiff on a few close-calls. The bird person seemed desperate to get his talons on Garret, but the boy was able to slither on the branches much faster than the bird could jump through.

Michael just turned invisible, and none of the kids had a way of locating him outside of random chance, so he secured the win.

The final point total was 36 to 32, a close game but Jefferson High School took home the victory. Ben was able to approach Gary and start coaching him before the testosterone receptacle could grunt and howl in victory. But Ben found that his efforts were in vain, as the Jefferson High peanut gallery went absolutely banana-milk crazy and whooped their way onto Ben's nerves. The sheer force with which they bellowed into the sky made Ben embarrassed to be from the same town as these hooting rednecks.

Because it was a hometown game, everyone got to just go home afterwards. Ben basically followed Hannah to the local bar, where he was bought drinks by some patrons who also hit the bar immediately after.

"God, that was exhausting," Ben admitted while sipping a whiskey neat. "Now I know why so many people scream at football games."

Some folks came over and congratulated Ben on a good game, then Jeff walked in and some murmuring started.

"How'd you like the game from the other side?" Ben asked pointedly.

"It was calmer," said the dad, looking around nervously. "Congrats on the win."

"Ah, those kids deserve the credit," Ben replied with another sip, "I just don't know what to get'em. I'm not exactly a kid myself."

"Yeah..., how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-six," Ben stated. "God, I feel old just saying that."

"You brat!" Jeff grumbled, giving Ben a light smack on the back of the head. "Don't come talking to me about age until you're thirty!"

"Where's Stanley, I thought you were taking him home?"

"I live right around the corner here," Jeff pointed east. "You didn't know? I thought you could see the address on my wallet?"

"Doesn't mean I know where the address is," Ben complained. In reality, he had a full list of every Humanity First member and their address on a village map he kept in his computer. "Besides, I'd need to pay attention to stuff specifically to get the details on it, like printed words."

"I thought you saw everything?"

"You were at the park, right? How many words were on the sign that welcomes you in?"

"I dunno. Didn't really pay attention."

"Same thing. You know how there's this filter in our brains that stops us from remembering everything our senses register? Mine's still there, and it filters out a bunch of that stuff."

"So you didn't know I had this?" Jeff said, reaching down to his waist. Ben didn't see anything, and Jeff didn't grab anything, but he still acted like he did and then presented to Ben a long middle finger.

The two laughed and drank a little, softening up the bar to their antics as they joined together in alcoholism.

Ben only drank enough to lose focus every once in a while, while Jeff drank non-stop into the night. By the time Ben stumbled out into his car, Jeff had passed out in one of the booths.

After fumbling with his keys for five minutes, he called Hannah to come pick him up. The dour assistant drove by and saw her boss almost stumble into the street to join her. He got into the car he'd bought her and giggled to himself.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I-I'm sorry," he apologized between chuckles, "but I was just thinking that now would be the perfect time to pretend like I'm super wasted and see if you'll actually sleep with me."

"I'll sleep with you anytime," Hannah offered, pulling over to the side of the road as if they were gonna do it right there.

"No, it would hurt you," Ben hiccuped.

"I know you would never hurt me," Hannah leaned in for a kiss.

Ben put up a finger to her lips while hiccupping, "I *hic* didn't mean phys*hic*ally. You've been unde*hic*r your dad for so long, you need to grow indipen-*hic*-dence. Dance? Any*hic*way, I'm desperate for love *hic* and affe*hic*tion, and I would take you in an instant, but that *hic* would just put you under someone else. If *hic* we want to be *hic* more than fuckbuddies, you need to *hic* be able to reject me, without risking yoursel*hic*f. I can't be your c*hic*rutch, we have to *hic* be equals."

Ben slouched over, his face burning from alcohol-fueled embarrassment as Hannah looked at him closely.

"Have you really been thinking of me, or is this just another ploy?"

"Both," Ben hiccupped. "What makes you think all ploys *hic* are bad?"