The following Friday, Benjamin sat in his office, typing happily on his computer when a knock at the door shocked him back into reality.

"The Holts and I are getting Indian," Hannah said. "Want some?"

"Sure, Ben said, turning around in his chair. "Monsoon Cuisine, right? I love their Tiki Masala, just get me a lunch special of that."

"Cool, anything else?"

"Nope," Ben said, watching Hannah as she eyed him expectantly. "Something wrong?"

"Can we talk some time... about what happened?"

"How about this weekend?" Ben suggested. "We can meet at my place, say noon?"

"That sounds good," Hannah said, wringing her shirt. "I just wanted to apologize if I made anything... awkward."

"I've been far too dissected to care about awkwardness. Let's talk about it then, shall we?"

"Of course," Hannah said, turning around stiffly to relay the order to the Holt couple.

Benjamin looked back at his screen where three simple formations were written and detailed for a four-man superhero team. They were a simple offense formation, a formidable defense formation, and a scatter formation. He had only been training the students for a week, but they were all making progress in such leaps and bounds that Ben wanted to reciprocate their effort. By their powers combined they would be a truly formidable team, but they needed to be aware of how to use their powers in a cooperative setting.

For this effort, Ben recalled what he knew about superhero protocol and the teams he used to fight. He broke down where their teamwork was lacking and where it would accel with combination attacks. He was having so much fun coordinating a team that was obligated to listen to him, he got lost in the creative process and wrote half a novel worth of power combinations and counters for potential dangers. He even filled in gaps in his hero tactics with his military training. There was something he enjoyed about writing out his experiences that trapped him until he got it all out. He had to regularly remind himself that these were kids, and would most likely disregard his advice, but it was fun nonetheless.

He printed it out at home, however. He didn't want the municipal employees to think he was taking his coaching position more seriously than his duties as a councilman.

When it was time for Ben to clock out as city councilman and meet with his team, he met Hannah on the way out the door. She had been watching for when he would leave and started toward him to make it seem more coincidental, even though his dimensional sight saw straight through her intentions.

"Hey, I was just curious," Hannah said through her scarf, "I did some research on the Gentleman, and came up with a video I think you'd want to see."

"Is it the Ymir interview where he insults me constantly?" Ben guessed. "I've seen it a hundred times, and I almost bombed the studio for giving him the platform."

"No, this one is with Constance," Hannah said, handing her phone to Ben where a video was queued to play.

Ben took the phone and watched the video as the duo crossed the parking lot. It was a standard interview setup where a professional journalist in a business suit hosted across from a member of the spandex brigade in bright yellow and blue.

The title of the video:

Why The Gentleman is the most DANGEROUS villain

"Now, we've had a few questions entered by the guests," the host mentioned, pulling a piece of paper from a folder. "And one of the most favorited questions is: Who do you think is the most dangerous villain you've ever fought?"

The freak in a costume considered the question with a modicum of hesitation, then asked very plainly, "Do you mean the one that put me in the most danger, or the one with the most potential danger?"

"Would those be different answers?" the host chuckled.

"Yes, but I can answer both," the hero offered amicably. "For the one who almost killed me was definitely SawBlade. My power is, as you know, suspend animation of anything I touch. But his power was in the same vein as mine, in that he could take anything solid he touched and warp it to his will. It was almost my direct counter, because he could warp anything I suspended. I was lucky that our powers overlapped at all, because he offered to work together and that was where he let his guard down.

"As for potential danger, I would have to guess The Gentleman."

There was a murmur from the crowd, before the host asked, "And who is this 'The Gentleman'?"

"He was a B-list supervillain from-"

Laughter erupted from crowd, but was quickly silenced by the host, who was interested in the story.

"Does The Gentleman also have a power that counters yours?"

"Nobody knows what his power is," Constance stated, "in fact, even the Hero Department doesn't know for certain. He's primarily used gadgets and cunning ploys, but with a level of advanced technology that has most people believing he can see into the future. However, he's shown no physical abilities greather than a professional athlete's, leaving some to believe he has no powers and is merely a genius."

"I can see a lot more than that," Ben grumbled, waiting next to his truck with his eyes stinging from the cold as he patiently watched to see where this was going.

"And how exactly does a B-lister strike fear into your heart?" the host asked.

"Well, it's important to remember that the ordered rank of supervillains is based on monetary damaged they've caused, with the highest of the A-tier being almost incalculable. That being said, the person directly behind The Gentleman in the rankings is Maximorpheus, the Dream Eater who leveled Chicago. Which means that, through pure cunning and surgical precision, he's more dangerous than a city-destroying monster. And I personally don't think we've seen the extent of his capabilities."

"Have you ever fought The Gentleman personally, or is this just something you've come to realize through the news."

"I fought him once, and it was the first big failure as a hero," Constance coughed as he remembered. "It was early in my career and I was with the New Orleans Mad Dogs trying to prove myself. The Gentleman had robbed an art museum showcasing Van Gogh's most famous painting, Starry Night. We had called reinforcements and were just trying to stall for time, but the Gentleman came prepared. My teammates were Elephantine, Crystaline, Junior Quasar, and Madam Might, and they were taken apart like they were nothing. For Elephantine, he shot him with a tranquilizer dart that interacted with his elephant DNA and caused him to enter a mad frenzy that I was told later is called musth. Crystaline stayed behind to try and calm her down because even an elephant's strength couldn't break Crystal's crystal form.

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"The rest of us chased The Gentleman into a part of the museum that was under repairs, and we should have just held the line and waited for backup, because he'd been planning for us to follow and set up traps. Madam Might went first because she had a higher defense than us and had a much faster reaction time, so we thought she could catch whatever The Gentleman could throw at us. As we entered the maintenance section, we had to cross a simple red tape line that warned about ongoing maintenance. When Madam Might grabbed it to go under, she suddenly jumped straight into the cieling. The Gentleman had placed an electric wire inside of the tape and it had electrocuted our team lead. She wasn't dead, thank god, but she was out cold.

"Now it was just me and Junior Quasar, so we continued because we wanted to be heroes and heroes stop the bad guys. Well, we were scared shitless (uhp, sorry, can't swear on TV), but we were going through this dark industrial section when a bright light erupted behind us. I turned around ready to fight, but I heard this crash as Junior Quasar collapsed onto the floor beside me. It's since been revealed that Quasar's power is disrupted by microwaves, but nobody knew that at the time, not even Quasar."

"How did the Gentleman know?" the interviewer asked in concern.

"We don't know," Constance said, "but I'll touch on that in a moment. There I was, face-to-face with a guy wearing a top hat, tuxedo, and spooky mask that was smiling at me when I'm shaking in my boots. (My outfit had boots at the time.) I remember this next part very clearly, because he spoke to me. He told me that my power was tricky, but he was going to try a few things. Well, I did what I always do and put my body into suspended animation, making it quantumly unchanging. I couldn't move, I hadn't quite mastered my power at the time, but the Gentleman just pointed a gun at me and fired it.

"That gun turned everything around me and everything behind me into a gas, including the concrete walls and rebar supports inside of them. I was unphased, heat can't effect me when I'm suspended, but then my heart started racing when he said, 'Time for Plan B.' I was a little braver after seeing his plan fail, but he pulls out what looks like a polished sphere of aluminum and just tosses it at me. I can't look down, but the next thing I know, my view of everything is like shattered glass. Cracks were everywhere, then they started to repair themselves, going away gradually as the Gentleman just watches.

"Then he says, 'Plan C it is.' I won't go through everything, but he got to Plan G before he pulled out something that could get past my suspension. It was a sword that glowed along the edge with a purple-blue tint. He swung the sword at me, but was interrupted by a crash from the ceiling as the Hero Department's ace squad arrived. The Gentleman had to run, but he dropped the sword and I was finally able to release my suspension and see if Quasar was okay. I managed to wake him up and he just frowns and reaches up to touch my neck. I wanna ask what he's doing, until I saw the blood on his fingers."

"Nooo," the interviewer denied, but Constance nodded his head 'yes'.

"That sword was capable of reality warping, making uncuttable things cuttable once more. It's like it was specifically designed to kill me. The Gentleman was eventually captured, and the entire New Orleans Mad Dogs had to go through judicial review for our incompetence in the case, as the destruction of the museum had collapsed a basement warehouse with valuable materials inside of it. We were put on unpaid leave for three months while an investigation was done, and it put me right in my place when we were released. Because the Gentleman had designed every single trap specifically to take down the Mad Dogs.

"That dart that sent Elephantine into a frenzy had his own blood cells in it, so that it would be accepted by the bloodstream more easily. Since Crystaline was dating Elephantine and was the most capable to save him, she was the obvious choice to stay behind. The electrical charge that floored Madam Might? It contained enough electricity to fry four fully grown men, but it was the exact maximum amount of volts and amps to incapacitate her specifically. I already told you about the microwave grenade, and it seemed like he was just using me as an experiment for weapons development."

"So, he planned the whole thing?"

"From start to finish," Constance confirmed, "and it went exactly how he wanted it. Now, there's an anecdote that I'd like to add, because it's important to understand what the Gentleman is capable of. I was speaking with a friend of mine, Bogus, who has a five-second rewind power and can erect time acceleration barriers. He was also met with the Gentleman, who similarly used him like a little experiment. But with Bogus, The Gentleman went all the way down to Plan T, which was a black hole device."

There was an eerie silence as the room contemplated the meaning of his words.

"Bogus had to surrender to not risk destroying the entire world, but he managed to ask how many plans the villain actually had. Apparently, Plan T was only a third of them."

After a long moment of silence, the interviewer fixed his posture and said, "Let me see if I've got this straight: The Gentleman, a background villain that nobody has ever heard of, has access to world-ending technology, and the Hero Department isn't concerned with him at all?"

"He got what he wanted," Constance stated.

"Who? The Gentleman? What exactly did he get?"

"Ymir. Ymir was the only hero that The Gentleman ever seemed interested in. And when Ymir went missing three years ago, I assume The Gentleman finally got what he was after."

"It's true," Ben chuckled, handing the phone back to his intern. "I got what I wanted and left. Few people are ever so level-headed to recognize when they have a good thing going."

"But, what he said, about you being the most d-d-dangerous," Hannah stammered. "Is that... true?"

"No," Ben denied immediately. "Well, I suppose I could be. Big Man is far more dangerous."

"The number one hero, Big Man? Why? What's he got that's so dangerous?"

"He's able to defy the laws of physics."

"So? You've got black hole machines and space technology."

"Yes, but those things rely on physics to operate. They wouldn't do a thing to Big Man. Let's talk later, I need to hurry over to the school."

"I never asked," Hannah said as Ben climbed into his truck, "how is it teaching those kids?"

"Exhausting," Ben stated, slamming the door, "but fun."

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

"You want to give us homework?!" Michael demanded angrily, shaking the effort of Ben's week in his face.

"It's standard hero affair to work as a team," Ben reasoned, glancing around the library at the other members of the team. "This is a few team formations that I think you guys would get a lot of mileage out of. The first ten pages will be homework, the rest will be for anyone who wants to win the hero sports."

Katherine was already rifling through the fifty page book, getting an idea of what sort of homework this would be. Garrett and Gary were just reading the first ten pages, already doing the assignment. Stanley just let the book rest on the side and was getting his regular homework done.

"This is amazing!" Katherine exclaimed. "We need to try these out!"

"We'll be doing team practices next week," Ben said, offering a slight incentive to read the book. "We'll also be doing spars between members to see where each of you lack and to get a sense of violence against real people."

This caused Stanley to glance up, but quickly bow his head again. This wasn't the first time he seemed to take notice of hero activities, but he always just kept it to himself. Ben didn't know what exactly was going on inside his mind, but he didn't really care. Still, there was a small hint.

Inside of Stanley's locker that Ben happened to notice with his sight, was a notebook held down by a dozen textbooks. Inside of the notebook was a journal with the most sickening, viscous, fanboy hero worship Ben had ever seen. There were even crude stencils of heroes in erotic poses with their spandex tighter than usual. The first time Ben noticed it, he got a shiver down his spine from how creepy and sickening it was, but then he noticed some old assignments in the locker with Stanley's name on them, things started to click.

"How are any of these going to help us in the Hero Hunt?" Michael demanded, noting the formations. "Isn't it only one person at a time?"

"It's groups versus one at a time," Katherine corrected, "but Michael's right, none of these formations help us in the hero hunt."

"On page forty-eight, it says that not every situation can be accounted for, which is why planning is best done immediately before the game. Which is why, the day before every competition, we'll be having a strategy meeting to discuss what sort of tactics would be best for winning. It's also important for all of you to be in the correct mindset."

"What mindset is that?" Gary asked.

"The mindset that someone is trying to stop you, and you are going to do everything in your power to do it anyway."