The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Sienna rushed to Teddy's side, her hand reaching out to her sister's furry body, but then she stopped. "You're hurt!" she said, her tone reproachful.

Somehow, she could see the pout in Teddy's expression. "It's just a little injury, boss, I can still fight."

“You’ve been shot! How can you keep fighting like this?” Sienna insisted. There was some blood on Teddy’s fur, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t from the masked men that Teddy and Trinity were throwing around.

"Where are you injured? How badly are you injured?"

Teddy mumbled that she was fine, but she didn't resist when Sienna examined her. Sienna frowned slightly as she pulled a bullet out of the wound.

The bullet was still warm to the touch. It hadn't penetrated deep into the flesh after passing through the teddy bear's thick fur, but it must have still hurt quite a bit.

“Okay, wait a minute,” Sienna said. “Maple Leaf, I need a first-aid kit.” She paused, realizing there were still some unfriendly ears listening in the room.

“I’m here,” Maple Leaf said, saving herself the trouble of explaining. Maple Leaf was indeed wearing a mask, but at the moment she was dressed in her usual clothes with a lab coat over them.

"Do you have tweezers or something?" Sienna asked.

“Hey, wait a minute, nobody said to use tweezers,” Teddy said.

Sienna ignored her. "Tell me where it hurts," she commanded instead. Teddy mumbled, trying his best to point to the injured areas.

But after all, she's still a bear, and pointing to specific parts of her body isn't as easy for a bear to do.

Sienna's biggest worry is what will happen if the wound heals but the bullet is still inside, or what will happen if Teddy doesn't remove the bullet when he transforms back into human form.

Fortunately, most of the wounds did not appear to be deep.

“I activated the Iron Skin skill,” Teddy explained.

“That’s a good idea,” Sienna said, proud of her sister’s wise decision. She threw the last bullet, then reached for Teddy’s head, but hesitated.

"Put six skill upgrade points into Healing Pat," she said.

She noticed that the Charm Girl raised her head slightly, but the young woman said nothing as Sienna put all her skill upgrade points into her only healing skill.

[The healing patting skill has reached level five!]

[Cooldown time reduced to 360 seconds!]

[The healing patting skill has reached level six!]

[Improved treatment effectiveness!]

[The healing patting skill has reached level seven!]

[Cooldown time reduced to 300 seconds!]

……

[The healing patting skill has reached level nine!]

[Cooldown time reduced to 180 seconds!]

[The healing patting skill has reached its maximum level!]

[The cooldown time for Healing Pat is now calculated independently for each of the sisters!]

Sienna stared at the system notification. She'd reached the highest level already? But then again, the cooldown time had been reduced to just three minutes, and the independent cooldown times were incredibly useful to her.

She will never have to hesitate to use this skill again.

She ruffled Teddy's hair, and the grizzly bear's previously tense shoulders immediately relaxed. Sienna hadn't realized how tense it had been until the tension disappeared. "Okay, okay," Sienna said, "all better, right? Does anything still hurt?"

“Much better,” Teddy said in a low voice, “but you can pat it a little more, yes, right there, hmm, behind the ear, that’s it.” Teddy stomped his hind legs hard on the ground, and Sienna could feel the vibration from his feet.

“Yeah, boss,” Charm Girl said. Sienna snapped out of her daze. “What do you want to do now?”

Sienna looked at their captives. There were six people dressed in what looked like some kind of henchman uniform; they all looked rather pitiful, and two Trinity were busy tending to them.

The raccoon girl found cable ties and, like a drunken expert playing a bondage game, tied their hands and feet together.

Her youthful and energetic giggles did little to soothe her.

“Owl Watcher, invade their minds. I need to know what’s going on. Ursa Minor, Charm Girl, watch for the exit.” Sienna reached out and patted Maple Leaf on the head.

“I need to know the tracker’s location relative to our position, and… do you think you can handle that?” she said, pointing to a fist-sized camera on the ceiling that was facing them.

“I’ll do my best, boss,” Maple said. “Well, I need a ladder.”

"Okay, Little Ursa, help her out if she needs it. Charm Girl, could you keep an eye on things over by the door yourself?"

“I will do my best,” said Charm Girl.

Sienna entrusted the matter to her with confidence, then turned away. There was too much to do, and being caught in this mess herself wouldn't help her figure things out.

She walked over to Athena and began gently patting the girl's head. She did this not to comfort Athena, but to calm herself down.

Sienna hadn't suffered from anxiety for a long time, but barging into a base that was clearly the villain's without any backup or a well-thought-out plan really increased her stress.

“Ah, yes, that,” Athena said. She kicked one of the guards in the shin. The man hissed and glared at them, but didn’t say a word.

"They won't speak. They've been ordered not to. But that doesn't mean they're not thinking. Boss, what do you want to know?"

“Who are they? Why did they kidnap my sisters? Who is in charge? How many of them are there? How long have they been here?” Sienna asked. She paused, then nodded. She felt that these questions were enough for now.

“Alright,” said Athena. She crouched down and smiled at the guards. “It’s time to tell me all your secrets!”

Sienna watched Athena manipulate the shadows, but her attention was diverted when she saw Trinity holding a gun, the muzzle pointed at her other self. "Don't do this!"

“Oh dear, but sister, this gun is broken, it’s just junk, so it’s ours,” Trinity said.

“No, it’s just jammed. Put all the guns in that corner over there,” Sienna ordered.

She silently added "gun safety" to that long, frightening to-do list in her mind, thinking she would have to find some time to talk to her sisters about it later.

Just thinking about the contents of that list was enough to make one shudder; some of the items sent chills down her spine just to think about them.

“Hey, boss,” Athena said, grabbing one of the guards by the chin. “I know quite a bit.” The men at her feet were trembling, their eyes darting nervously to the corner of the room. Sienna felt a pang of sympathy for them, even though they were henchmen involved in kidnapping.

“What do you know?” she asked.

“These guys are definitely from the Cabal,” Athena confirmed. “They’re paid by the hour. Thirty-five dollars an hour, that’s not bad, is it?”

“Well… actually, it’s not too bad,” Sienna said. She was quite glad Sam had been left behind to guard their hatchback. Sienna definitely couldn’t afford to pay him that much.

“They even have dental benefits,” Athena continued. “Anyway, they don’t know why they kidnapped Bandit and Aleya Iakta, but they don’t ask. Also, there’s this guy here called ‘Spinning Winner,’ who sometimes turns into a man and sometimes into a woman. I have no idea how that works.”

Sienna cursed under her breath. This confirmed that this was indeed a Cabal operation. The Cabal had clearly sent three members with superpowers to Auclair.

Black Shield, Spinning Winner, and another person whose name she couldn't recall without looking at her notes.

“We might have to fight them. Do you know where Bandit and Aleya are being held?”

Athena nodded. "I know! This place is a bit complicated, but I think with my super strong owl senses, I can guide you."

Sienna nodded. "Ursa Minor, you lead the way. Bandit, Seides, Charm Girl, and I will bring up the rear, along with you."

As she walked toward the door leading deeper into the base, she patted Maple's head. "Let's go straight to rescue Aleya Iakta and Bandit's other body. If we can avoid fighting Spinning Winner, that would be ideal."

"Wait, who is it?" Charm Girl asked.

“He’s a masked guy. I think his ability is to acquire new abilities at will, but not to choose them,” Sienna said.

She could barely remember any of the relevant material she had read. Come to think of it, every time she sat down to take an exam, she always forgot half of what she had learned, and this situation felt similar to taking an exam now.

“Great!” said Charming Woman. “Should we notify the authorities?”

“The camera’s fixed!” Maple shouted from Teddy’s back. She jumped off, slid down his furry body, and landed with a thud next to Sienna. “I think I might have messed up the whole security system, maybe.”

“Well done,” Sienna said. “Alright, let’s go.” But before rushing off to cause trouble, Sienna quickly whispered, “Family Zoo, Teddy.” Then she tried to make the weight transfer caused by the change in her form less noticeable when she was directing her sisters.

She felt that being careful was never a bad thing.