The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Melaton wasn't particularly striking at first glance. She was slightly shorter than Sienna, and her clothing wasn't the typical bright spandex and neon colors common to heroes.

She wore too much leather, and her outfit didn't seem to follow any particular theme or style. The only thing she used to conceal her identity was a mask that covered most of her face, including her eyes and the upper half of her face.

However, what made everyone suddenly become cautious was not her appearance, but her attitude.

Melaton was like a small shell filled with a belly full of anger, like ten wet cats in a paper bag, and at this moment there were so many "cats" that everyone was overwhelmed.

Basically, she possessed a level of confidence that Sienna lacked, and she wielded that confidence like she was swinging a baseball bat. "Okay, who's in charge here?" she asked.

Sienna, her sisters, and the heroes present exchanged bewildered glances.

“I won’t ask a second time,” Melaton said sternly.

“Hmm…” Sienna responded.

Now, Melaton focused all her attention on her, which was not what Sienna wanted.

“I’m in charge,” said Charming Superwoman. “At least, some of us are under my jurisdiction.”

“Okay,” Melaton said, “then what about these two on the ground?” She pointed to Tailbreaker and Black Shield.

“They’re the bad guys!” Trinity cheered. “We’re the heroes!”

“We were just arguing about this,” said Charm Girl. “The real villain got away, that amazing Fabian. We came here to catch him, but he… he’s gone now.”

Melaton turned halfway around and gestured to the fully armed agents pouring out of vans and SUVs. They immediately began to cordon off the area, but several of them, upon seeing Melaton's signal, immediately stood at attention. "Keep an eye on those two. Only use non-lethal weapons. There might be issues with their identities, or someone might be using mind control abilities."

The soldiers rushed forward and knelt down beside Black Shield and the Finisher. Each of them had three men with them: one kneeling next to the hero, another standing behind him ready to act at any moment, and the third taking a step or two back with a pistol at his waist.

“Boss, Glamour Girl, you two come with me.” Melaton said, turning her heel and walking towards one of the vans, fully expecting the two men to follow her.

Sienna found her sister Athena, who was closest to her, and quickly gave her a few words of advice. "Be good," she said, "remember, we are heroes now, and many eyes are watching us."

"Don't worry, boss, I'll keep an eye on them and make sure no one else does anything stupid."

“Okay, thank you,” Sienna said. She mustered her courage, filling the void left by her panic, and jogged after Charm Girl toward the van that Melaton was waiting for.

Melaton crossed his arms, glancing only at the slowly passing traffic in the distance. At least the van would keep them away from oncoming vehicles. "Alright, let's clean up this mess quickly. Who got here first?"

“We got here first,” said Charm Girl. “Me, Hindsight, Cheapskate, Tailbreaker, and Black Shield.”

Sienna pondered the list. Was she putting the last two at the end to distance herself from them? Given Glamour Woman's style, she was perfectly capable of doing something like that.

“Okay, then why did you come here?” Melaton asked.

"In hindsight, we knew Fabian would make a move today. We narrowed down the possible locations where he might appear, and then I asked some friends, all ordinary citizens, to keep an eye out for him. As soon as he showed up, we were already on our way."

This... is actually quite frightening. Quickly deploying a group of heroes is indeed impressive, even if one of them has the ability to foresee the future.

"And what about you?" Melaton asked Sienna.

“We’ll arrive a little later,” Sienna said.

“How did you know we were coming here?” Melaton asked.

“Hmm…” Sienna said, “We had someone tell us that another member of our team doesn’t participate in public events.”

Strictly speaking, these are all true statements.

“So you guys came too,” Melaton said. “Usually, stealing someone other heroes are trying to gank is really bad behavior, you know that?”

“I doubt she understands any of this,” Charm Girl muttered to herself.

“Anyway, let’s continue with what happened next,” Melaton said.

Charm Girl recounted the events from her perspective. Her account wasn't too bad, but Sienna noticed a few points that were clearly biased towards her own side. When Sienna asked her sisters to explain why they did the same thing when they fought, each of them presented their own version of events as if they were in the right.

"Our initial ambush was quite successful. Fabian was trapped between the store entrance and our group. Black Shield and Leopard were responsible for protecting the citizens, while Tailbreaker and I went to capture him. Hindsight stayed on the sidelines in case anything unexpected happened, such as this boss and her men. They appeared from behind us, and after we discussed it for a while, she started blaming Tailbreaker and Black Shield."

“We’ll talk about that later,” Melaton said. “What happened next?”

Charm Girl hesitated for a moment. "Fabian launched the attack. Then... in the chaos, some of Black Shield's and Tailbroke's actions might have made them appear hostile."

“Hmm,” Melaton said, “Hmph, there are cameras everywhere around here. By the end of the day, there will be a dozen or so videos from different angles on YouTube. The analysts are going to be busy. I think they love researching this kind of thing, though of course they can never agree on anything.” He spoke the last sentence very softly, but Sienna still heard him.

"What do we do now?" Sienna asked.

“Now, boss,” Melaton said, his tone lacking in respect as he called Sienna’s name, causing Sienna to shrink back involuntarily, “tell me why you attacked two heroes.”

“Well, I don’t really think they can be considered heroes,” Sienna said.

“They have identification tags, don’t they?” Charm Girl seized the opportunity to embarrass Sienna.

Melaton waved his hand, ignoring the statement. "That stuff is worthless to me. After a while in this business, you'll understand what the title of 'hero' really means—it's not that significant. I… admit that most guys with 'super' in their titles do deserve it, but that's beside the point. What proof do you have, boss?"

“The Finisher used to be called, uh, Chains,” Sienna said. “He used to be a villain. My sisters… uh, my friends and I even captured him.”

Charming Superwoman winked. "Sisters?"

“It was definitely a slip of the tongue,” Melaton said. “If you can avoid it, don’t pry into other people’s identities. Hmm… I have heard about the chains.”

“He has reformed,” said the charismatic Supergirl.

"Reformed in just one or two weeks? That's impressive." Melaton said expressionlessly, "I know what you're trying to say, boss, but to be honest, many good heroes have gone astray, which doesn't mean they're villains."

Sienna shifted her feet slightly. "Oh."

"What about the Black Shield?"

Sienna glanced around. This was a difficult question for her to answer, but she wasn't entirely speechless. "The Black Shield is a member of the Cabal (Note: the original text may be the name of an organization)."

“What?” Charm Girl asked.

Melaton frowned. "You shouldn't have gotten involved with them," she said.

“They started it,” Sienna said. She forced a smile, but her face still burned; she sounded exactly like one of those kids. “She attacked me a few days ago when I was investigating something. She’s no good.”

“But he can’t really be considered a villain,” Melaton said.

"Hmm... not really, but it could be worse?"

Charming Superwoman looked at the two of them. "Can you tell me?"

“If you don’t know, then you’d better not ask,” Melaton said. “Simply put, some organizations are very troublesome, and provoking them will only cause more trouble. You should understand that.” The last sentence was clearly directed at Sienna.

“She’s the reason we didn’t catch Fabian,” said Charm Girl.

Melaton shook his head. "He's just a nobody. Of course, robbing banks is annoying, but he hasn't harmed any ordinary citizens, and banks are insured. Just arrest him next time. Besides, dealing with him a few more times will increase your visibility. Isn't that what you're doing all this for?"

"What?" the glamorous Supergirl said angrily. "No, I'm here to help everyone."

"Of course, it's sparkly."

Charm Girl clenched her fists, but did not continue her protest.

“I… I’m so sorry I didn’t catch Fabian,” Sienna said. “Next time, maybe I can help you. But this time, I have to do the right thing.”

Melaton muttered a few words about idealistic heroes. "I'm not even sure if doing the right thing in this situation would be useful. It might expose some things that are best kept hidden."

"What is it?" Charismatic Superwoman asked.

"Go ask this boss, maybe she can tell you. Hehe, but you don't need light, right, sparkly?"

The glare of Supergirl fell on her. "You really don't have any heroic spirit."

“I’m not exactly a role model, but I’m good at my job,” Melaton said. “Boss, get back before your little devils cause any trouble. Charm Girl, go smile for the cameras and sign autographs for the babies. I have to clean up the mess you guys left behind. Oh, and for the sake of all this, try not to say anything so no one can hear you.”