Ben stepped out into the open air in front of the courthouse like a free man. He had just been through a sauna of tedious busywork courtesy of the world's largest bitch, burning through a very precious Friday morning. The entire court appearance had no standing and was uncomfortable for all involved, mostly because Ben made it an absolute nightmare by extending it beyond the lengths it was supposed to go. The court appearance was for a single hour slot during a very busy workday, but Ben managed to fill up that whole hour with tedious bullshit and side-arguments so that nothing was resolved by the end. Even worse, Ben had kept all of his receipts, including emails and texts, detailing every final decision that was made.

The investigation into his holdings was a pretense because he'd used shell companies to buy the land he was planning to massively increase in price. His name was only on his specific house deed.

But what should have been an open and shut case became a long-drawn out battle of litigations as Ben dragged the National Parks Service lawyers through a briar patch, and then through a lemon orchard. He made it absolutely clear that they had no evidence to support their claims, nor did they have enough for an investigation. The entire thing was faulty and should be thrown out, but Ben made absolutely clear that if this court case wasn't the final nail in the coffin for this avenue of attack, he was within his full legal rights to sue the city, state, and even federal offices of the Park service until their coffers were empty.

Once he was free, Ben allowed himself a quick breather and a snack before he had to deal with the biggest pinata of them all.

Sitting on a stone bench outside the courthouse with a smug look of self-satisfaction so infuriating, anyone passing by was within their human right to forcibly remove it; was Melissa Tannenburg. She wore the same high profile suit, partly because it was the only one she packed, and had her hair done up for the occasion of finally crushing Ben's hopes of escaping the Hero Department. She also had two personal security next to her, as she imagined that Ben could try to get physical during their altercation.

Ben stepped outside and inhaled deeply, then walked down the steps like a champion. Part of this was to grab attention so that Melissa wouldn't miss him, the other was genuine joy at what was about to happen.

The recruiter saw him on the steps and got up, alerting her bodyguards to follow. She walked with purpose, overextending her legs to intercept the city councilman as naturally as possible.

"Mister Hersh," she called out once they were close enough to hear. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Quite," Ben clapped back with a grin.

"Have you reconsidered my proposal working for the Hero Department?" she asked politely. "It grants certain immunities for legal action, so long as internal investigations come back clean."

That was an outright admittance that she was involved. She wouldn't have known about Ben being under investigation by the National Parks Service if she hadn't had a hand in orchestrating it.

"Quite the opposite," Ben smiled very plainly. "You see, I cross my 't's and dot my 'i's whenever I'm doing business, so these investigations are on grounds so flimsy that I'm now in a position to counter-sue."

"Hah, silly," the recruiter faked a laugh as her anti-perspirant activated. "You can't sue the federal government."

"I don't intend to sue the federal government," Ben said. "There was a very clear line of communication up the chain of command. Funny how bureaucracies work, always passing blame to the next person. It's disgusting behavior, really, but it paints a very clear picture when someone's chasing a vendetta. I can sue director of the National Parks Service here in the city, as well as his litigation team in Washington, and the National Archives who dug up information on me at the behest of an email which originated in the offices of- care to guess?"

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Melissa's mask of makeup and lies cracked when she sneered, "You're quite thorough."

"I have to be," Ben said. "I'm in small town politics, after all. And thanks to you, I can now sue for somewhere in the realm of thirty million dollars, although settling out of court usually cuts that number by a bit. So, I never have to work again, in the Hero Department, or anywhere else."

Melissa smirked, "That's quite a bluff. But I'm afraid you wouldn't have the time. There are more law offices in Washington who love to tear apart little upstarts like you than there are hours in the day. I hope you don't like sleep, because you're not going to be getting a lot of it for the next few years."

"Funny you mention those offices in Washington, because I just so happened to contact a few myself. See, this all made me wonder if I was just special, so I asked around. Apparently, your aggressive business practices have been hammering at people for decades, and I happened to get in touch with a few. Quite a lot of them actually. Maybe try not to blackmail your entire staff next time and they wouldn't put together a class action lawsuit against the Hero Department's Recruiting Offices. And the one thing those law offices in Washington love more than ganging up on the little guy is the payday that comes from a few hundred thousand people chipping in their life savings to get one over on the bastards who ruined their lives."

Melissa snarked, "You're bluffing."

As if ordained by the universe, Melissa's phone started to buzz.

"You may want to answer that," Ben offered.

Melissa picked up her phone and saw it was a call from her boss. She answered and listened quietly as she got the soft spoken jargon of 'restructuring' and 'downsizing' with a promise to meet in person to discuss details. She didn't say a word the entire phone call, but it ended and she put her phone back in her pocket.

"Sounded rough," Ben said. "It must feel so strange being on the other side of this, for once."

"This isn't over," Melissa declared, aggressively approaching Ben and jamming a finger into his chest. "Even if it's not me, someone else is going to try again. I was the nice one. Get ready for the big guns, because they'll be coming."

"If you're talking about big guns," Ben gently pushed the dagger-like finger away, "I have one, too."

"Oh?"

"I called your mother."

The recruiter snorted in Ben's face, until the city councilman cupped his hands around his mouth, turned to his left and yelled, "OLYMPIA! OVER HERE!"

Melissa's heart sank as she turned to see the top brass of the Hero Department's A-team dressed in full spandex armor walking towards her. She was like a titan, standing 7'9" and filling her suit out with tensed muscle.

"Did you forget why the Hero Department wanted me in the first place?" Ben snarked smartly. "We exchanged contact information during the fair, and I sent her a few messages about the whole situation. But don't worry, I made sure to mention you by name in every. single. one."

The heroine trudged up to the harlot who was getting too close to her man and stepped between them like a protective mother bear.

"So, you're the one causing all this trouble," the giantess spat, Ben leaning past her to see the expression on Melissa's face. "Turn around and walk away. This doesn't concern you."

In front the massive heroine, the bodyguards looked like toys. They couldn't even compare. The recruiter did as she was told, did an 'about-face' and left.

While she was walking away, she heard, "Bye-bye!"

Ben was leaning out from behind Olympia with a cruel, twisted smile that sent a shiver down Melissa's spine. The councilman watched her go as Olympia turned to him and apologized meekly.

'And now,' Ben thought with his twisted imagination, 'the final nail in the coffin.'

"I'll make sure that the Hero Department stops chasing you," the giantess offered with a gentle pat on Ben's head.

"Oh, it's nothing," Ben returned the pleasantries. "I was just concerned about how far they were really willing to go."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my power can see through clothes, you know? And the recruiter over there must have known that, so she was wearing some really sexy, revealing underwear. It was super uncomfortable talking with her in public."

Olympia zoned out for a moment as she remembered that 'seduction' was also a useful recruiting technique.

"I'll handle it," Olympia smile softly.

And there went the final nail in the coffin.