She curled her lip at Neil in scorn, took two exaggerated steps back, then spun on her heel and stormed off to her starting spot. The Jackals served as soon as everyone was ready. Neil couldn't go far before he caught up with Leverett again. She shoved him with her shoulder as she forced him back toward half-court. Across the court Kevin gained possession of the ball, but he lost it a second later as Gorilla knocked his stick away. Neil didn't know if Gorilla really was hitting his racquet that hard every time or if Kevin was just afraid to hold on when the reverberations would go all the way up his hands to his elbows. He wasn't sure which answer he hoped it was. He didn't want Kevin injured, but the Foxes couldn't afford for Kevin to bring his psychological damage onto the court for a game.

Matt stole the ball from his striker and passed it to Aaron. Aaron's only clear shot was to Andrew. It bought him a couple seconds to get ahead of his striker mark, and Andrew hit the ball to rebound off the wall in front of Aaron. Aaron caught it and threw it with everything he had.

"Neil!"

Neil was already moving, following the arc of Aaron's racquet and realizing the pass was meant for him. Leverett swiped at his racquet, trying to ruin his catch, and Neil grit his teeth at the twinge in his wrists. He brought his stick around to beat hers out of the way. It cost him the precious second he needed to snag the ball, and he almost overextended his arm to catch it. Leverett rammed into him, trying to knock him over, but Neil hugged his racquet close, protecting the ball between his body and his net. Leverett snapped his racquet again to pop the ball free. Neil took another step back to brace himself, gave her a chance to catch the ball, and shoulder-slammed her hard enough to knock her to her ass. He snagged the fallen ball and bolted with it.

"Fucking whore!" she yelled after him.

Neil carried the ball ten steps and threw it to Kevin. Kevin caught it, only to get his racquet smashed away again. Gorilla pounded past him after the ball. Kevin pressed his left hand to his gut and twisted in search of Matt.

"Get him off of me!"