The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

In fact, everything is progressing... quite smoothly.

Sienna tidied her things up from her desk, putting the heaviest binder at the bottom and stuffing her laptop and other school supplies into her backpack.

Amid the students' commotion as they packed up, the teaching assistant called out, "Don't forget! The assignment is due next Friday! No extensions allowed unless someone dies or a villain politely begs for it."

A few laughs rang out in the classroom.

Sienna wasn't in the mood to smile, but she forced a smile nonetheless. She was in a pretty good mood.

Her sisters adapted to the course fairly well. Although they still often pouted and sulked, they seemed to genuinely enjoy learning, and once Ms. Hydeson figured out their temperaments, they were generally well-behaved.

Fortunately, these three little ones are all quite smart, each with their own unique strengths. The teacher just needs to cleverly utilize these strengths.

Most of the problems and assignments the girls encountered involved things like defeating heroes or counting stolen money. This allowed them to focus their attention firmly on their studies.

Sienna couldn't imagine receiving this kind of personalized attention in a public school.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder. Time to go home. She had come up with a brilliant idea: to teleport one of her sisters home each night. However, there was a long cooldown period between each teleportation.

Sienna considered putting all her upgrade points into the "Sister Teleport" skill. This would make the skill react faster, allowing her to send her sisters back to the dormitory more quickly.

After leaving the classroom, she looked around. Many students liked to linger around after class, mostly in small groups. There was laughter and chatter, some playfully pushing and shoving, and a few people huddled around a mobile phone sharing something.

Sienna squeezed through the crowd. Before she tried to transform from a villain into a hero, she often wondered what it would be like if she were more sociable and had more friends.

Right now, well, strictly speaking, she doesn't have any friends yet, but she feels that her subordinates and sisters are quite close to her.

This isn't too bad.

Just as she was walking towards the exit, a group of girls stood between her and the exit. She tried to walk around them, but they moved along with her, blocking her way.

The intention is by no means hidden.

Sienna felt a little nervous. Maybe it was just a coincidence? She glanced back. Only one person was walking towards her. Even though it was just one person, this person could bring her big trouble.

The woman had short brown hair and bright, large eyes, which were made even larger by clever makeup. She smiled and walked towards Sienna, saying casually, "Hey, we need to talk."

Sienna swallowed hard. It was Jessbel Winthrop. At least, she wasn't wearing her combat suit right now. "What is it?" Sienna asked.

Jessbel nudged her elbow. "Come on, let's find a quieter place, okay?"

For the first few steps, Sienna didn't resist. But then she stopped, rooted to the spot, and Jessbel stopped as well. "Where are you going?" Sienna asked. This was the only question she could manage to ask; if she hadn't been holding back, her voice would probably have trembled.

Jessbel smiled. Sienna couldn't help but wonder if she had practiced that smile for the camera. When she was in her combat suit, the upper half of her face was covered, and all people could see was her mouth. "Nothing to worry about. I just don't want everyone to know, you know?"

Sienna looked back again. The exit was still blocked by a group of young girls.

"Don't worry about them. They're just friends. They won't interfere. Besides, I haven't told them why we need to talk yet. I can make up a story and say that I helped you with something the other day and just wanted to check on you."

Sienna managed to suppress a frown. The reason was certainly condescending and utterly unconvincing. But she didn't know what else to do. Summon Teddy to beat up Jessbel? Frankly, the idea was quite tempting.

However, this might not be a good idea, since she's still trying to portray herself as a hero. Knocking out a well-known female hero in public wouldn't do her the image she's trying to cultivate.

She hesitated for a long time. Jessbel gave her a charming smile, then pulled Sienna along with her.

As they turned a corner, for a fleeting moment Sienna imagined she would run into Quantum Mothman and several other iconic (and powerful) heroes she had heard of over the years, but the corridor was mostly empty.

Next, Jessbel walked to a restroom entrance, which was blocked by tape and a sign that read "Out of Service." She moved the sign aside to let the two of them in. "Come on, we don't really need to use the restroom," she said.

Sienna checked the restroom; it was empty. Two stalls were sealed off with tape, and there were some plumbing supplies on the sink, as if someone had been working there just a few minutes ago.

“The school has its own plumber,” Jessbel explained, “but he leaves at four. It’s a union requirement, you know? So nobody’s going to bother us. I just want to chat.”

"What are you going to talk about?" Sienna asked.

“Listen, I know who you are, and you know who I am,” Jessbel said.

"What do you mean?" Sienna asked too quickly.

The woman rolled her eyes. "While I'm out there looking glamorous, you're pointing fingers at others. Especially that little bear girl." She crossed her arms. "I'm really curious if she's related to you, but I'm not here to pry into your private life, I just want to chat."

Sienna took a deep breath. This situation might be bad. But if the "charming warrior" Jessbel didn't want to fight, perhaps things weren't so bad?

She wasn't sure, and she couldn't figure it out in the short term. She could still run away, but maybe Jessbel's friends were waiting outside the bathroom. "What do you want?" Sienna asked, her voice tinged with helplessness.

“It’s no big deal,” Jessbel said. “You’re starting to gain some fame. That’s fine. I’m trying to do the same thing, and… we’ve had a bit of a clash, haven’t we? We’re fighting over the same thing.”

“What?” Sienna asked.

Jessbel pursed her lips, then turned to the mirror, reached into her bag, pulled out a tube of lipstick, and began touching up her makeup. "We're all heroes, right? I think, maybe you're a little... more inclined towards the villains, maybe."

But a hero is a hero. The problem is, there aren't many like us around in Auclere.

“And then?” Sienna asked.

"Do you know how many heroes appeared here last Energy Day? Just one. Only one! And that person later went to a bigger city. The year before that, there was one. The year before that, there were none. The year before that, there were two. This is a pretty big city, but when it comes to heroic deeds, it's basically a desolate place."

“Really?” Sienna asked.

“Yes,” Jessbel said. “We have Quantum Mothmans who stayed because of the university. And Silver Fox, who came here purely because it’s quiet. And Meraton, who stayed mainly because the danger response team didn’t want her near trouble.”

She's always being sent to where problems arise. Besides her, there are only three other people who occasionally stay here. We also have three guest heroes, but they don't stay long either.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Sienna asked.

"When it comes to heroic deeds, this city is basically one of the most remote and underdeveloped places in Anada, until this year when things started to change. During the last Energy Day, the number of new heroes appearing here increased significantly."

“Is this normal?” Sienna asked. She was a little curious; it sounded rather strange.

Jessbel shrugged. "It's not normal. But it's not unheard of. There are random places where a large number of new masked heroes suddenly appear, usually from both sides. O'Clair was just lucky, or maybe unlucky. Maybe the next Endgame will take place here. Before that, usually more people will be chosen to gain superpowers."

Sienna suppressed a chill that ran down her spine. The Endgame? Here? No, she decided to stop thinking about it. "So it's quite lively here now."

“It’s getting a bit lively,” Jessbel said. She turned around, her freshly applied lipstick highlighting her vibrant color, and looked directly at Sienna. “What is your goal?”

"what?"

"What is your goal? Do you want to become a famous hero? Do you want to become a celebrity?"

“No, I don’t want any of that,” Sienna said.

"So you're looking for villains everywhere because... what, do you believe in that kind of love and justice stuff?"

Sienna shook her head. "I'm not looking for trouble."

“But you’re clearly just asking for trouble,” Jessbel retorted immediately. “Listen, I have goals and dreams that are far more important than this tiny place that’s hardly a city.”

However, I want to start here, to build my reputation, so that when I leave, influential people will know my name. O'Clair might be a good place to start. If you're looking for something else, then… perhaps you shouldn't stand in my way.”

"I can't do it anymore."

“You know, I’m not the only one who thinks this way; there’s also ‘Hindsight’ and ‘The Killer.’ We all have bigger ambitions. Tonight, we’re going to wipe out the rest of the villains in this city, that’s settled. Unless we can find that lucky guy, but… humph, I don’t think we’ll find him.” She walked past Sienna and then paused beside her.

"I don't want you getting in my way anymore, understand? If you want to be friends, we can help each other. I'm not the kind of person who's so competitive as to refuse help. But what I want are allies, not rivals. Understand?"

“I understand,” Sienna said.

Jessabelle tossed her hair like a character in one of those poorly plotted movies from the turn of the century, and then walked out of the bathroom.

Sienna stared wide-eyed at her reflection in the mirror for a moment. She looked...like a lost and confused person.

Then, Jessbel's words rang out softly from her lips: "Tonight we're going to wipe out the rest of the villains in this city... oh, no."