Fun in Central Park

"Careful!"

Catherine Hepburn, who was painting in Central Park, was stunned when a soccer ball flew towards her. Her reaction was not as sharp as it had been in her youth.

However, Henry, who was teasing Kitty with catnip he'd somehow gotten his hands on, was right there, so this little thing was no big deal. He flicked the catnip towards the ball, and Kitty jumped up and headed the ball down with her head.

Whether it was just a coincidence, or Kitty had gotten the hang of playing with BB's round body, she headed the ball right to Henry's feet. It was just like how she usually did when she broke BB and had to ask some Krypton two-legged creature to fix it.

However, the elasticity of the ball cannot be compared to BB's metal body. Although the direction of the ball was correct, the speed and power increased significantly.

Without a second thought, Henry lured Kitty to jump, and as he stood up, he kicked the ball back to the feet of the young men playing nearby.

This isn't a football field, just a large grassy area, so they play a relay game using a sprinting motion. The place where Catherine Hepburn painted is undisturbed because of a large Tiger.

This ball was kicked by one of the young Black men who wanted to show off, but it went wide and flew towards the elderly woman who was painting. Another young South America man shouted a warning, which led to Kitty and Henry taking turns kicking it back.

If he had really kicked it hard, the ball would have exploded right under Henry's feet, but that would have been too unskilled.

So Henry used a clever trick to add spin, causing the ball that had been kicked back by the South America lad to land in front of him, but instead of bouncing much, the spinning ball was pulled by the grass and simply rolled past him.

The young man lifted his foot and stepped on it, stopping the ball.

The boys playing football exclaimed in surprise at the back pass. The South America lad flicked the ball with his heel, then waved to Henry, inviting him, "Want to play together?"

Pointing to Kitty, who was circling around his feet, Henry asked with a smile, "Are you sure?"

All I can say is that a bunch of big boys getting together are willing to do anything, no matter how absurd. Everyone joined in, extending invitations to the man and the tiger.

Kitty, this big Tiger, has been staying in this meadow for quite some time, prompting concerned citizens to "call the police" to deal with her. Henry received several phone calls, all from the NYPD's duty center to confirm.

Just as George Stacy, the patrol superintendent, had agreed, if anyone reported a crime, they would contact him to confirm.

What If...? Kitty were with him, they wouldn't call the police. The condition was that Kitty couldn't hurt anyone, not even leave a record of assault.

If Kitty has a history of injuring people, they can ban the Tiger from public places.

Don't talk about issues that aren't prohibited by law. Sometimes, police officers have administrative discretion on the front lines. As long as they don't violate the law and the law doesn't explicitly prohibit something, they can decide on different ways to handle the situation.

Henry was happy to avoid dealing with some unreliable people, so having a Tiger around was like an invisible wall of energy, keeping many people out. Henry enjoyed the peace and quiet, as did Catherine Hepburn.

Now that a group of young men had invited her, and they didn't mind Kitty joining in, Henry figured it wouldn't hurt to have some fun. He greeted the old lady, "Catherine, I'll take Kitty to play for a bit."

"Go ahead, child." Her painting depicted the meadow where many people were active. The sky was the main subject, set against the backdrop of high-rise buildings on the distant horizon, and people playing on the grass. Henry wanted to join in, Catherine Hepburn certainly had no objection.

Henry then led Kitty and the group of boys into a circle and started playing a game of passing and catching football again.

At first, whenever the ball reached Kitty's direction, whether she headed it or rolled in the air and headed it with her hind foot, the ball would always fall towards Henry. This was a habit she had developed through training at home.

Henry would usually make a quick touch, then tap the ball to another player. He wouldn't pass it again after that, until everyone had taken their turn.

Later, Kitty seemed to get used to the game and started sending the ball towards other players. However, her ball control wasn't quite there yet. Getting the direction right was already quite an achievement, but the power and ease with which she controlled the ball couldn't compare to a human player.

However, these young men were no pushovers either. As long as they didn't shoot too high, they could stop the ball and pass it to someone else.

In short, watching Kitty pass the ball back in all sorts of fancy ways, each time eliciting gasps of amazement, she was practically becoming the star of the show. Gradually, people gathered around to watch this performance, which might be even more magical than a circus.

After playing for a while, Henry saw that it was almost time, so he chested the ball down and let it roll to the feet of another player.

"Hey buddy, it's almost time. I need to take the old folks home; we can't play any longer."

"Oh, what a disappointment," a few small-time thugs complained, shrugging their shoulders. Some of the onlookers also started to jeer and commotion.

But the other guys weren't so disappointed. They came over and praised, "Hey bro, you're pretty good at football." "Kitty too. Good kitty, good kitty."

The guy who tried to grope Kitty was scared off by a tiger's roar. Henry stepped in just in time, saying, "Let it head the ball back, but don't even think about touching it. This big guy has a temper."

"Roar~" Kitty even reached out her paw and scratched Henry's butt, almost making him go home naked.

Don't speak ill of me to my face!

Henry, of course, paid no attention to the Tabby Cat's complaints and cheerfully said goodbye to the others.

One of the South America guys then extended an invitation, saying, "Henry, a few of us are on an amateur team, and we have a match in a few days. Would you be interested in playing together? There will be scouts at the stadium."

Henry shook his head and said, "It's a shame, I'm the kind of unfair player, you can understand, right?"

At first, he didn't understand. After thinking for a while, the young man suddenly realized and said, "Ah, you are—" Although he didn't say the word, he still mouthed the word "Mutants."

Although his expression didn't show any disdain, the young man, clearly disappointed, looked Henry up and down. "You don't look like it."

"The problem is that you can't see it. You don't want to work so hard to finish a game only to be disqualified and forfeited because of me, do you?"

Competitive sports emphasize the ultimate performance that humans can achieve through training, under the principle of fairness. Given this premise, can Mutants and humans with superhuman strength participate in sporting events?

In fact, professional competitions have long had regulations prohibiting Mutants from participating, citing fairness concerns. Even in amateur competitions, as long as they are recognized by national sports management associations and calculate points for amateur athletes, Mutants are not particularly welcome.

Initially, however, eligibility for competition was determined by whether the ability enhanced athletic performance. Mutants whose abilities were unrelated to the competition were still allowed to participate.

In recent years, discriminatory attitudes have become increasingly blatant, even resorting to blanket bans on Mutants from participating in competitions, regardless of whether their abilities can be used in the games. In team sports like soccer, the team with Mutants player is often automatically disqualified.

Moreover, the fact that the young man only dared to mouth the words and not speak them aloud shows the severity of this discriminatory trend. Those who overheard the conversation and guessed the underlying meaning of the dialogue had mixed reactions, and not all of them readily accepted it.

The young man who had extended the invitation said with a helpless expression, "What a pity, you play football very well."

Henry, who had long since moved beyond seeking approval or chasing after small groups, laughed and replied, "Haha, I'm just doing it for fun. I have to take care of the elderly too." He pointed to the old lady in the distance, who was packing up her art supplies.

"Okay, if we run into each other again, we can hang out together."

"No problem, Adius, Amigo," Henry said goodbye.