The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Sienna didn't know what to do.

A hand rested on her shoulder; it belonged to a true hero, and he was telling her to stop.

What if he finds out who I am?

She immediately dismissed the idea.

If Silver Fox knew she was a villain, he wouldn't have been so polite in asking her questions.

They would wait until they locked her in a detention cell or something before asking her anything.

No, Silver Fox and Lady Charm didn't know that as long as she stayed calm, she would be fine.

But she suddenly realized that she had never been calm in her life, and her mood immediately became heavy.

Sienna turned around.

Something must have crossed her face, because the hero stared at her for a moment before carefully pulling her arm back and sighing. “Excuse me, miss,” he said, “I just wanted to ask a few questions, nothing serious.”

“Oh—okay,” she replied immediately, which sounded like a response she should.

He nodded, and the fox mask he was wearing shifted slightly with the movement.

It was only a half-mask; through the transparent goggles, she could see his eyes. "Did you see the villain running past?"

Sienna hesitated for a moment. "Not...not very clear?" she said. "Well, I only saw a little bit."

The charming lady stretched behind the silver fox, then sighed. "Do we really need to ask her?" she asked.

"She may have noticed something,"

"Just give her a ticket for obstructing official business or something, and then let the police question her," the girl suggested.

“The ticket,” Sienna repeated, feeling another wave of dizziness.

The glamorous woman looked at Sienna, her eyes narrowing behind her shimmering domino mask. “Hey, I recognize you,” she said. “You were in college.”

Sienna swallowed. "Mmm."

"Oh?" Silver Fox asked.

This wasn't just a casual reply; it was a direct question.

Sienna thought to herself, "How wonderful it would be if I had a superpower that would make the ground swallow me up."

"Can you tell us what you're doing here?" he asked again when she didn't respond to his prompt.

“Dirty water…” Sienna said, she had more to say, but she was speechless and couldn’t think of what to say next.

"Could you tell me more about it?" Silver Fox asked.

Sienna nodded and pointed to the door behind her. "I...I work at this soup kitchen. I'm just out emptying the dirty water."

The hero's shoulders slumped slightly, and she sensed he was giving a wry smile. "I understand. And then?"

"Hmm. I heard a scream? A man, a thug? He ran over and bumped into me and the bucket of water."

Sienna pointed to the still wet, soapy ground. "And then you came and fell down."

The charming woman snorted, "If you weren't so clumsy..." she muttered under her breath.

“Glamorous lady,” Silver Fox said, his voice carrying a warning tone.

“She’s a commoner, and as time goes on you you’ll realize you can’t expect too much from them, and that’s not her fault. I suspect Aleia, Iakta has some kind of ability to manipulate luck.”

The heroine tilted her head to one side. "What? Just because he happened to show up here with soapy water?"

"And he was very lucky before. Also, when I was your age, Latin was taught in school, so I do know what his name means."

While it's a bit exaggerated, if this counts as a hint, then it's a very obvious one.

The charming woman burst out laughing. "You're really showing your age, old man."

“Revealing your age does not mean revealing your weaknesses.”

The charming woman snorted. If Sienna hadn't been so embarrassed and standing right next to her, she probably would have snorted too.

This is the tagline from his shampoo commercial; hearing it in person is even more cheesy.

Sienna shifted slightly in place. "Can...can I walk now?" she asked.

“Of course,” Silver Fox said, “we just need your name and phone number, in case we need to contact you.”

She can meet this requirement.

Sienna thought she had escaped safely, but then the door behind her opened and someone jumped out. "Hey, boss. Are you alright?"

Silver Fox and Charming Woman both turned around and stared at a teddy bear that looked bored.

Sienna noticed that the bear girl had pulled up the hood of her hoodie.

That put her ears at ease. It was a small consolation, because the girl glanced at the situation and her face scrunched up.

"Who are these people?" Teddy asked.

“Hello, young lady,” said Silver Fox, “we were just asking you… a few questions about this boss.”

“What’s the problem?” Teddy asked. Her eyes narrowed, and she took a step closer to Sienna.

“Hey kid, that’s enough, adults are talking. Do you want to see the light show?” the glamorous woman asked. Her hands shimmered with light, and tiny points of light twinkled around her fingers.

Teddy stared at her for a second, then ignored her and looked up at Sienna. "Who are these weirdos?"

“They are heroes,” Sienna said. “They just… asked me a few questions. It’s nothing.”

“I know, I can read,” Teddy said, pointing to the sky above them. “Are they looking for you?”

“No—no, it’s alright,” Sienna said, gesturing slightly to signal Teddy to stop interfering, but the result was the opposite; Teddy instead reached out and grabbed her hand.

She gripped Sienna's hand tightly, trying to meet Silver Fox's gaze through her goggles. "This is Teddy, she's a bit... uh."

“It’s alright,” Silver Fox said, “we were just about to leave anyway… Here!” He reached into a pocket on the back of his silver outfit, pulled out a small card and handed it to Sienna, then took out another and handed it to a bewildered Teddy.

"Have a great day, both of you. Keep up the good work!"

Sienna waved goodbye to them, hoping they didn't notice the angry glare Teddy gave them as they left.

As soon as the heroes turned the corner, Sienna felt like she was about to faint.

All the pressure and anxiety... or at least a large part of it, dissipated from her like a deflated balloon.

She walked to the side, not caring how dirty it was, and leaned against the nearest trash can.

She looked at the small card she had received. One side of the card had the Silver Fox logo, and the other side had a torn-off coupon for men's shampoo.

Teddy glared at her coupon. "Wait, are they capitalists?"

Sienna didn't even bother to answer.

She needs a while, she needs several while.

Or perhaps she needs to spend some time lying in bed, burying her face in the pillow, and screaming loudly, but not too loudly, or the people in the next room will hear.

"That was really stressful!"

Sienna jumped up and turned around quickly, only to see the upper half of an uninvited guest's face peeking out from behind the trash can.

The words above his head were gone, but the mask and clothing of Aleya, Iakta, were unmistakable.

"Who is this?" Teddy asked.

“Just a friendly neighborhood thug,” the man said. “So, those guys in the tights are gone?”

“You…you…” Sienna said.

“Me!” he replied immediately. “By the way, thank you for helping to distract them, because I discovered…”

He pointed to the end of the alley where the heroes had left.

Sienna followed his finger and stared at the brick wall opposite them.

The alleyway clearly forked between two buildings. She could hear cars and such on the street, but couldn't see any.

“I can get here from this side, but I can’t leave from that side.” He pointed behind him with his thumb. “That’s kind of a dead end. Luckily you’re here!”

Sienna's heart skipped a beat, "Teddy."

"Hmm, boss?"

Do you remember what you did to that person in the bar?

"You remember?"

“Do the same to him.” She said, pointing to Aleia, Iakta.

The villain stared at the two of them. "What?! This little girl's going to kick my butt... Holy crap!"

Sienna carefully observed the process of Teddy turning into a grizzly bear.

After all, it was deep inside a dimly lit bar, and Sienna was so nervous that she didn't have the energy to care about anything else, so it was quite memorable.

Just like now, a moment ago she was Teddy, an ordinary girl, a little chubby.

She's quite endearing when she doesn't ask those uncomfortable questions about communist values.

The next moment, Teddy was taller than Sienna when he landed on all fours, his body covered with a layer of erect dark brown fur.

Aleya, Iakta took a few steps back, but he couldn't keep up with the speed of a bear the size of a car charging forward, and soon he found that he had no space to hide.

Sienna had never intimidated anyone in her life, but she thought that with Teddy's help, she might be able to intimidate a little.

The thug's eyes darted around, searching for an escape route. Then, Teddy's paw slammed down on the wall next to him, embedding itself in the brick.

His only other escape route was through Sienna.

Teddy glared angrily.

He didn't seem to be intimidated much.

Do you wish to reveal your identity?

“Yes,” Sienna replied.

Aleya, Iakta's eyes slowly rose from her face to the words hanging above her head.

The small portion of his face that he could see turned deathly pale, then a little green.

She also glanced up, just in case.

[Boss]

[Villain, Level 1]

"I...have a question to ask..."