The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

In most cases, the heroes' actions are predictable.

He wasn't always able to see this.

Before he gained superpowers, he couldn't see it when he watched TV and saw propaganda about how good it was to be a good person and movies where all the good guys always won.

No, he couldn't see the bigger picture back then. It wasn't until he gained superpowers and spent some time in various gangs that he began to notice certain things.

There was this guy in the first gang he joined who was absolutely insane. He was obsessed with conspiracy theories and the like.

Although Kevin was fairly certain that there was nothing in milk that could reduce the chances of a person gaining superpowers, he would sometimes listen to that guy talk about it, and sometimes what that guy said was actually quite right.

As time went on, he began to notice a pattern.

Heroes always follow the same predictable set of actions.

In the current situation, their actions are too predictable; they will likely just follow the script verbatim.

He looked at the television hanging on the wall and shook his head. He was staying at a motel on the outskirts of town. It was just a temporary place to stay.

He doesn't have much money to spend on nice places to live. At least, not yet.

However, this situation will soon change.

On television, the head of the local superhuman response force (HRF), a tall, gray-haired woman with a stern expression, is speaking the same old platitudes to a group of reporters.

The superpower response team is handling this matter.

The villain will be caught soon. There's nothing to worry about. And other such nonsense.

Even if he muted the TV, he would still understand what was going on.

The key point is that they are trying to appease the public, which means they are proceeding step by step.

He noticed the camera frequently panned to the right, where three heroes stood. He only recognized one of them, Silver Fox. The guy with the masked face that appeared on Kevin's shampoo bottle.

What a small world, he thought. Just a day or two ago, he had given this guy's apprentice a good beating at the city's superpower response headquarters.

Oh well. He got out of the motel bed, ate his lunch in a few bites—a meat pie that could be heated in the microwave, the edges of which were burnt, but the inside was somehow still cold—and then got dressed.

He planned to put his gear back on and head out, but would only don the mask when he was almost at his target. The television was still on when he left the room, and the news was giving the local story a full-blown report.

Charlotte was waiting for him outside; the bench was a little damp from the light rain that had just stopped in the evening. He sat down, set up the motorcycle kickstand, and set off.

Those heroes, if they played by the rules—and they certainly would—would all attend that press conference.

They were probably hoping he would take action while they were there, perhaps even attacking the gathering.

That would be incredibly stupid.

So he planned to attack other places.

Not far from the edge of his city was a small bank. It was the only branch of a large national bank chain in Eau Clare.

There are many other banks scattered around, but this particular bank is the only one in this unremarkable little town.

Kevin rode his bike past the bank, examining its facade. Clearly, this place hadn't always been a bank; it had once been a family residence, later renovated and modernized before becoming a bank.

It is built with locally sourced bricks and sits on the corner of a busy intersection, next to a street full of restaurants and small shops, looking quite ordinary and uninteresting.

He parked Sienna in a side alley a little further away, where no cameras could capture it. Then he put on his helmet, pulled his reliable baseball bat from the back of Sienna's seat, and patted it a few times in his palm.

Yeah, he needs a new one; this baseball bat is a bit bent in the middle. The vibrations aren't as good when you hit things with it.

"Hmm, it can still be used to deal with this operation," he thought, "that's the key point anyway."

After putting on the mask, Rattles walked toward the bank.

Obviously, they won't go through the front door.

He wouldn't mind fighting the police, the superhuman response force, or even the local heroes again, but not in such an open place. Since they know what's going on, it would be foolish to make a move here.

No, he went around to the back of the bank building and looked up at the undecorated back wall.

He glanced up at the camera, winked at it, and then swung the baseball bat with all his might, smashing it against the wall like a batter hitting a home run.

The vibrations made his jaw chatter; he clenched his teeth, struggling to resist the tremors. The baseball bat struck the wall, and he saw ripples spread across the bricks, as if they were water.

Of course, bricks don't ripple under normal circumstances.

Mortar splattered from between the bricks, and some brick fragments fell towards him, causing him to take a few steps back.

Now a large circular crater has been smashed into the wall, with the center being about the size of a coin. However, the crater continues to expand outwards, and as it extends to the edge of the wall, the cracks become fewer and fewer.

He thought he'd hit it pretty well. So he swung the bat again and smashed it against the wall, each strike accompanied by more cracking and snapping sounds, until the entire brick wall began to crumble.

The moment a few bricks completely shattered, the rest of the bricks collapsed all at once.

He stepped aside, letting the bricks pile up at his feet. Once the dust settled, he found himself staring at a plump woman, her eyes wide, holding a phone, squatting beside her desk.

"Hey," he greeted.

She whimpered and shrank back further. He shrugged. Most of the time people would run away, but who cares?

He stepped over the pile of bricks and went inside the bank, or at least into the back area.

He could already see the secretary, bank clerks, and... other office staff huddled there.

He was quite impressed that they all ran to hide so quickly; usually, he had to scare them a little.

Rattles swung his bat and walked toward the vault. All he had to do was keep the front door vibrating until the lock's mechanism failed; it should be pretty simple.

If that doesn't work, he might try smashing the metal of the vault door by breaking through the wall. However, the thick steel door is much harder to break than those old bricks.

"who are you?"

He stopped and turned to stare at a man standing at the bank counter.

The man was dressed in a theatrical costume. He was dressed like someone who had just come from a vintage market, wearing a puffy shirt and tight pants, and his face was covered with a cloth mask.

He was also holding a long, thin sword. Was it a rapier?

“You’re a hero?” Rattles asked. He gripped the handle of his baseball bat tighter.

"...I'm robbing people right here, so no, I dare say I'm not a hero at all."

Ruttles blinked. "Really?"

"The real heroes are busy on the other side of the city right now, so that's right."

“Oh yeah, that’s why I came too.” He said, waving his hand towards the hole in the wall behind him. “Well, this is a little awkward.”

“Nonsense,” the man said. “I am the great Fabian. An extraordinary swordsman and the most formidable bandit in Auclair.”

You must be Luttels. The evil villain who recently clashed with the heroes in their lair.

Rattles grinned and returned Fabian's greeting. He appreciated the guy's knack for creating a good atmosphere.

"Nice to meet you, Fabian. So, how do you intend to resolve this matter? Shall we fight it out over the stolen goods?"

Fabian stared at him for a long while. "No. Why don't we split the valuables equally? Do you have a way to open the vault?"

“I have a way,” Ruttles said.

"Yes, I have a way to open the cash register."

Luttles nodded. He didn't exactly trust the guy.

But his intuition told him that this Fabian was a newly emerged villain in the area, and he felt he had a chance of winning if a fight broke out.

Moreover, it would be nice to make some new friends in this new city.

“I like your idea, Fabian. Come on, money won’t just sit there and be taken away.”