In the library of Jefferson High School, Ben was waiting in the ideal location for an introduction to his team. The entrance was in the north, so he'd positioned himself at the southernmost point of a table that extends further than five feet. The kids would come in and Ben would begin introductions with the trick where he makes them pull cards, then he would have them move around and stress his ability. Once they knew what Ben was about, they would cover each of their powers and Ben would do some theory crafting and send them home with homework to practice their powers. They would get to know each other, maybe their powers would actually interest Ben, and then they could take the weekend to relax and reconvene on Monday.
As much as Ben wanted his coaching fantasies to match what he'd seen on TV, his secretly expanded dimensional sight caught someone at the edge of his vision. Even though this person existed in material space, the immediate area around him was dark, as if light refused to touch him. When the final bell of the day buzzed over the loudspeakers, he used the noise to open the door and close it silently, hinting that this person was at least familiar with sneaking around. Also, his power hid him from sight, but not sound.
Ben didn't immediately react as the invisible kid moved around the edge of the library looking for something.
Curious, Ben started loudly fiddling with the cards to draw attention to his spot. The invisible kid hadn't had line of sight to the councilman, but assuming that this group consisted of the only five meta-humans in the entire high school, this kid was absolutely one of them. He must have skipped class to come check out the coach, unaware that the coach had the only power in the world that countered his own.
Once the boy had eyes on Ben, he approached slowly and silently, rolling his feet to make as little sound as possible. As a test, the see-through high schooler slowly slid a book from the shelf until it was at the edge, then tilted it over the edge to make it fall over.
Ben played along, looking up suddenly when the sound of a thud reached his ears. He fiddled with the deck a second longer, then got up from the table and went into the library to investigate. He did a thorough scan of each hallway as the boy crept a short distance away from the book, testing the new coach. Ben saw the book on the ground and went to pick it up, only to visibly react when the invisible kid entered the five foot radius.
Rather than say anything, Ben just chuckled as he glanced at the kid's shoes and in his general direction a few times before carrying the book back to the table and stacking the card deck on top.
Another group of kids, these ones thankfully visible, reached the perimeter of his actual sense, and none of them sparked his interest like the invisible brat who was wary of Ben after he'd pulled his little trick. One girl who was definitely the hot-blooded senior that Ben had heard about, two junior guys who were following closely behind her like trained dogs, and a tiny little freshmen bringing up the rear. As much as Ben wanted his time as a coach to be a bonding session, the nature of the super powers involved necessitated several documents being passed to him prior to meeting his team.
The girl was Katherine Carmichael, a hothead in the most literal sense with the power to project fire from her mouth when she screamed. Her physiology hadn't changed, warranting that this was a magic or will-based power that could manifest out of her mouth. Nicknamed 'The Dragon of Jefferson High' for her power, her tendency to selfishly hoard things, and a fiery personality. Her raging ginger condition probably didn't help that at all.
The junior who two heads over his peer was definitely Gary Grainger, 'The Goliath'. Despite an impressive 6'7" height coupled with a frame that could tackle a charging rhinoceros, his power was the ability to materialize energy into physical objects. In short, a builder. The constructs only last for as long as Gary can focus on them, the biggest drawback for any teenager with a crush.
The other junior was 'Twin-Headed' Garrett Mathers, the only anthro-morph of the group, whose body had qualities of a snake, including some scales that he's very embarrassed about. This physique allowed him to squish his skin down and fit through openings as large as his bones, and transformed his spine from a human lumbar to the more agile snake variety. Whether his snake-like face was because of his emo style or a natural occurrence was hotly debated, but Ben could see that Garrett was clenching the muscles in his face to keep it shaped that way.
The freshman was Stanley Chevis, no nickname because he was afraid of using his power unless it was an emergency. His power, oddly enough, was to levitate objects, perhaps the most useful and straight-forward ability of the groups. He was pretty small with a bowl-cut and hardly a facial hair on him otherwise, but Ben could tell from his sight that the boy had a body like Bruce Lee. Whatever his workout regimen was, it was clearly intense.
Ben casually started fiddling with the deck as he heard the the door open and the kids enter.
"Over here," Ben called out, and Katherine led the group over to the open tables. When they got close enough, Ben shouted, "Stop!"
The kids all suddenly stopped in their tracks as they regarded Ben with suspicion. The invisible kid circled the library to get behind Ben and watch the scene unfold.
"Howdy, y'all! Before we get started, it's only right that I inform you all of my power," Ben announced, feeling his voice echo around the open library. "Did you guys ever play catch?"
"Sure," Katherine said cautiously.
"Alright, catch!" he said as he tossed the deck of cards.
Katherine dodged it instinctively and it flew between her suitors before hitting Stanley in the chest. All the kids scowled at the coach.
"Okay," Ben tried to keep some momentum, "go ahead and shuffle the cards, then pull one out and don't show it to me! Then face the card away from me and reach it forward."
The table was about six feet long, just long enough to reach the edges of what Ben said his power was at. Katherine took the deck and just withdrew a single card so that Ben couldn't see what it was. She put her arm forward and presented the card so that Ben couldn't see it.
"Queen of Hearts," Ben said simply. "That was too easy, take out three cards."
"Can you just tell us what your power is?" Katherine demanded.
"Dimensional sight," Ben stated, a little peeved that his demonstration was ruined. "I can see all sides of an object within a certain distance from myself. That includes the insides of these objects as well, so if there's anything that you might not want me to see, that's perfectly fine. Just stay five feet away from me and I'll stay five feet away from you."
Katherine smirked, then approached Ben with the confidence of a teenager who thought they were untouchable.
"Nice tattoo," he smiled, and the girl's freckled face suddenly blushed like a wildfire.
"You have a tattoo?" asked Garrett curiously.
"Shut up!" Katherine threatened, the air warmer than was natural.
"That's why I was trying to warn you," Ben stated to the four kids who were outside of his fake range. "I can see what you ate for lunch and how full you bladder is. That's some seriously personal information. I would never go blabbing about it to anyone, but I will still know. If you want to keep me in the dark, make sure not to get too close to me."
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"Yeah, well, I bet your power isn't perfect!" the redhead argued, backing up to a safe distance. "I bet Michael could get past you!"
"You mean the invisible kid who's standing right behind me?" Ben asked with a smug grin.
The coach turned around in his chair and stared directly into the eyes of the final member of his team, even as light bent around his shaggy, unkempt face.
Michael Baumgardener, the invisible troublemaker.
"Like I said," Ben said to the invisible kid, "dimensional sight. If you exist along any dimension, I can see everything."
"Bullshit," Michael said, then he leaned back and cocked his arm to punch Michael in the face.
Michael leaned the chair back and got out from under it while the punch was thrown. Years of military hand-to-hand combat training kicked in and Ben blocked the blow by striking the wrist. He then unleashed his own punch, one that carried the hidden threat of death as it very nearly cracked Michael's forehead open.
The grisly fist stopped less than an inch from his target's head, then it turned and flicked the kid's forehead.
Michael de-cloaked, becoming visible as a skinny hispanic kid wearing baggy clothes and a baseball cap turned backwards.
"What the hell, man?!" the invisible kid shouted.
"Quiet in the library," Ben chastised, "and next time you come to school, don't bring any knives."
"I don't have-"
"One in your back pocket and one in your sock, don't bullshit me, kid. Three inch and two inch, respectively. And they're illegal to bring into the building. Get rid of them by tomorrow."
Michael scowled, then cackled like a pretentious joker, "You think I'm afraid of you?! You don't know shit, you pussy-bastard-bitch!"
"Yes I do," Ben stated, "because I see what else you're trying to cover up."
Despite being invisible, Michael still wore a sweatshirt with no visible shirt, more for the sleeves than anything else. Along his arms were cigarette burns, tiny patches of melted-over skin from a very personal encounter.
"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" Michael shouted, pulling out one of the knives and flicking it open.
"Michael!" Katherine screamed.
"Bro!" Garrett shouted, rushing forward before Michael could do anything crazy.
In the madness, all Michael saw was Ben, flexing his index and middle finger in the universal sign of 'bring it on'. The invisible kid charged, the knife going invisible as it was aimed sloppily at Ben's side.
Ben could have caught Michael's wrist, twisted it, and kicked the knife aside. He could have caught the knife itself, perhaps cutting his finger a little if he wasn't as fast as he used to be. He could have kicked Michael in the chest before the knife was anywhere close to its intended target. He could have activated the Kepler Defense Protocol he kept in his wallet for emergencies which summoned a spectral soldier for seventy yugret(galactic currency(non-Milky Way)) per second.
But instead, Ben decided to establish dominance by angling his hand so that the blade went clean through his palm.
When Michael felt the resistance as his tiny weapon pierced skin, he quickly let go of the blade in fear. He stumbled backwards, scared that he had just crossed a line that he couldn't come back from.
But when the boy looked up into his coach's eyes to judge his face, he saw nothing.
Ben was making no facial expression. He was almost... relaxed. His eyes followed Michael as the boy stumbled backwards to the ground; no tears shed, no twitch to his eyelids, no sense at all that knife dug into his hand was even bothering him. The cool dispassion of it all burrowed an unnatural feeling into the invisible brat's gut that he would carry with him whenever Ben was around.
While maintaining unblinking, unflinching eye contact, Ben slowly slid the knife from his palm and closed it ever so deliberately.
"I'm confiscating this," Ben stated, putting it into his own back pocket.
"Mr... somebody!" Katherine shouted to get the councilman's attention. "You're hand's bleeding!"
"Worry not," Ben said, reaching under the table where he was sitting and pulling up a first aid kit. "Powers can be naturally dangerous things, so I loaned out a first aid kit from the nurse's office! Today wasn't supposed to be about medical emergencies, but this seems as prompt a lesson as any!"
For the next twenty minutes, Ben discussed the ins and outs of injuries, grievous wounds, and broken bones. He even included Michael in the lesson, without even demanding anything of him. He discussed who to call if on-hand medical equipment couldn't fix anything, how to identify a wound to first responders, and how to stem the flow of blood in extreme emergencies. Most of it was basic battlefield first aid that could be done with a torn shirt and a stick, but he followed up with questions on specific wounds from the kids, who asked about crushed fingers(Gary), falling injuries(Stanley), and getting stuck in things(Garrett). Katherine asked how to treat burns, and Ben got the impression the information wasn't because she could breathe fire.
Michael stood around listening until he was sucked in as well, watching as Ben demonstrated the correct way to tie a tourniquet.
When their hour for after school activities was over, Ben packed up the first aid kit and bid the kids farewell. He watched them go, but when Michael and Katherine thought they were a safe distance away, she punched Michael right in the stomach.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" she shouted in as quiet a voice as she could manage. "This is my last year to get into a good college, and you're fucking up my only chance!"
"You were the one who should have studied!" Michael shouted back.
"I... know!" Katherine couldn't rebuke. "But I didn't! And now this is my last chance! The scholarships from Hero Hunt can get me into the Ivy Leagues! If you guys fuck this up, I'm never going to forgive you!"
"Hey, we're doing this as a favor," Gary said, crossing his arms but standing up to the fiery girl. "You're the one in trouble here."
"Well, I kinda would like a scholarship, too," Garrett nervously defended Katherine.
Stanley just left as an argument erupted, but Michael remained until nobody's eyes were on him, then he turned invisible and crept away. When the group noticed his disappearance, he was already turning a corner and out of the way. He was out of Ben's sight a moment later, disappearing somewhere in the school to do whatever. The other kids just walked to the front of the building, next to the library. Positioned just far enough away that Ben could see their parents vehicles when they drove up.
Katherine's mother picked her up, a grey-haired woman amazingly still in her fifties, if her eggs were anything to go by. She drove a two-year old porsche cayenne minivan, but didn't wear nearly enough jewelry to seem like a bitch. She had a gentle conversation with her daughter who didn't want to talk about it. Garret and Gary were picked up by what could only be Gary's dad, who looked like a lumberjack who ate another lumberjack. They drove away in a truck decked out with enough toolboxes to stock a home improvement store, and once they were far enough away, Stanley just walked down the street.
Ben packed up the first aid kit and left the library, intending to return it to the nurse's office. The entire administrative wing of the school was on the north side, while the library was south. As he made his way through the single-story school, he noticed Michael, sitting outside the principal's office. His eyes were red and foggy from tears, but he was obviously in Ben's path.
'He must be planning something,' Ben thought, noticing that the other knife wasn't in his sock. 'I'll bite.'
Ben entered the admin side of the school where the principal, vice-principal, nurse and councilor's offices were. He made a point to look directly at Ben, who sniffled at his entrance, but neither of them said anything. He crossed the room into the nurse's office and packed away the first aid kit, waiting to see what Michael would do. The boy just silently shed a few tears, not wanting to initiate even though he had something to say. Ben stepped out of the nurses office, locking it behind him as he locked eyes with an invisible kid. The councilman waited for the boy to say anything, but nothing was said, so he left.
On the way out, he heard the sobs continue, and it he clenched his eyes.
"Of course I have to be the adult in this scenario," Ben swore before heading back inside.
Michael quickly stopped his crying as Ben marched right over to the invisible child and grabbed him roughly by the burn marks on his shoulders.
"Who did this to you?" Ben asked with the same stare he used when he was stabbed.
Michael didn't answer, he just quivered his lip.
"Do you want this to stop?" Ben asked.
Michael didn't say, but he nodded.
"Alright," Ben let go, "but are you willing to get the cops involved?"
"S-s-s-she'ssss been arr-r-rested three times," Michael finally choked some words out.
Ben hoped it didn't show how shocked he was that the abuser was a woman, "Then it has to be you."
"W-w-w-w-"
"But this," Ben hissed, taking the knife out and putting it in Michael's face, "can't be how you do it. This is what she does. This will not be how you do it."
Ben placed the weapon in Michael's hands saying, "We'll be training personal defense and offense with your abilities. You'll learn how to take people down in a way that only you can. And when you do, that's how you fight back."
Ben got to his feet and said before leaving finally, "Don't bring knives to school."