The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Sienna hadn't expected her new... subordinates to agree unanimously. Did they even realize they were now considered subordinates?

Although they agreed to the job, she hardly described the job to them.

Just then, her phone vibrated, and Sienna took it out of her jacket pocket. A text message was waiting for her.

Sam: You actually went and recruited newbies?

Sam: Are you trying to fire me?

Sienna rolled her eyes as she quickly typed a reply.

Isabella: No. It's all Teddy's fault. Now what am I supposed to do with all these new recruits?

Sam: I want to see them. Where are you?

Isabella: Train station.

Sam: Okay. The pizzeria two blocks away, they paid us protection money. I'll be there in five minutes.

Isabella: See you in a bit.

“Alright,” Sienna said, and any discussion that her newly recruited subordinates had just started almost immediately ceased. “We’re going to discuss this in a relatively…open place.”

"Which place?" Athena asked.

Sienna forced back a sigh. "Pizza place."

Upon hearing this, all her sisters cheered, and even several of her newly recruited subordinates joined in the cheering.

Sienna resisted the urge to reach for her wallet to check how much money she had. It was definitely enough to buy her sisters a few pizzas and some drinks.

She decided that her subordinates would have to buy their own drinks.

Sienna glanced at her sisters; apart from Teddy, the others were still in their costumes. She realized that this trip would definitely not be discreet.

She reached into her pocket, took out a small stack of domino masks, gave one to Teddy, and then handed the rest to her new subordinates.

She reminded herself that she must find time to memorize their names. It would be too embarrassing if she couldn't remember their names and called one of her subordinates "subordinate" to their faces.

“Take this, it’s to protect your, uh, identities,” she said.

"Thank you," said the only girl in the group, "but I'm not sure how useful this will be."

“It’s mainly a matter of form,” one of the boys said, the shorter, slightly chubby one.

"If you are trying to hide your civilian identity, it means that any attempt to dig deeper into your identity is without your consent."

"Is it that important?" the tall boy asked.

"Of course it's important. It's like the bikini-underwear principle."

Sienna stared at him. "What principles?" she asked.

The boy blushed and rubbed his nose. "Uh... okay, it's just..." He glanced at the group of people around him, who were looking up at him curiously, and blushed even more.

"So, if someone is wearing a bikini in public, it's okay to take a few glances, right?"

"That's a dangerous thing to say, Lucas," the girl muttered softly.

Lucas ignored her and continued, "But looking at a girl in her underwear is wrong. That's because there's a level of implicit agreement involved."

“I’m wearing my underwear right now,” Trinity said. She frowned. “I think at least one part of me is wearing something. Does that mean it’s wrong for me to look at you?”

“Uh,” Lucas said.

“Just pretend he didn’t say that,” Sienna suggested to Trinity. She understood what he meant, but his analogy really needed improvement, or rather, a lot of improvement.

Actually, perhaps this subordinate could be a quiet one. "So, shall we set off?"

After she finished speaking, she started walking forward, but suddenly stopped because she realized that she had just taken it for granted that everyone would follow her.

She turned around and found that everyone had actually started following her, but now they had stopped and were staring at her. She also turned around and stared at them, and then... Sienna turned around and continued walking toward the exit, trying to suppress the blush that rose in her eyes from embarrassment.

“Athena,” she called, and her sister ran to her side. Maple was also nearby, while Trinity and Teddy lingered near the group behind them.

"What's wrong, boss?" Athena asked.

Sienna lowered her voice so that her potential subordinates wouldn't hear. "Could you use your 'Council Eye' skill to see if they're trustworthy?"

Athena nodded. “I can. I’ve already been trying to observe them, and they don’t seem like bad people. But if I could sit face-to-face with them for a while, I could get to know them better. You know, I can tell when someone is lying.”

“That will be very useful,” Sienna said, patting Athena’s head, which made the girl feel smug for a moment. “But I still remember that you were the one who caused all this trouble.”

Athena stiffened, but followed Sienna, who led the large group up the stairs and into the dimly lit interior of the main subway station building. They then filed out through a side door.

Sienna turned to Teddy. "Did you take the key to this place?" she asked. The padlock on the outside door was already open.

"No, should I take it?" Teddy asked.

“Oh,” Aleja Iqta said, “it wasn’t locked properly when I tried it.”

Sienna frowned. This entrance should have been more secure. After all, it led to the underground area where she and her sisters essentially lived.

But then again, how safe can they really make this place, given Aleia Ikta's luck-based superpowers?

Azip's pizzeria was only a few blocks away, but with a group of girls following behind, not to mention four new subordinates, and Aleya Iqta at the very back of the line, the journey was... a bit complicated.

The new recruits insisted on chatting, which made things even more complicated. "Uh, um, boss," one of them said, the tall guy.

"Boss is your name, right?"

“That’s my… uh, the name of my mask,” Sienna agreed. “What are your names?” she asked. It felt like the perfect time to ask, and she couldn’t think of any other way to naturally bring up the topic.

“I am Liam,” said the tall, muscular boy.

“Ethan,” the person next to him answered. He was quite handsome, but not the type who looked like he worked out regularly.

"Chloe," the girl said, waving gently.

“I’m Lucas,” Lucas said. “If we work for you, will we use our real names?”

“Uh,” Sienna said, “no, I don’t think you need to. We can think of other names.”

Lucas nodded. "We need to be careful. We can't choose a name that makes people think we're masked people."

"Subordinate's name?" Chloe asked. "Or... wait, the word 'subordinate' sounds too villainous. How about 'assistant'?"

“I don’t really consider us assistants,” Liam said. “Hired helpers?”

“That doesn’t quite fit either,” Lucas said. “Anyway, we can use a themed name, like… fruit or something.”

Chloe laughed. "Then I'll probably call myself Miss Pear, huh?"

“I’m going to call it dibs on eggplant,” Liam said.

Ethan snorted. "Then I'll be called Cucumber."

“Perhaps fruits and vegetables aren’t a good idea,” Lucas admitted.

“Guys, don’t say these things in front of the kids,” Sienna said. The new recruits exchanged awkward glances.

Teddy looked up and asked, "What does this mean? Does it mean we can't eat vegetables anymore? I'd love to!"

“What?” Trinity complained. “The vegetables are great! They have a wonderful flavor when they’re cooked through, so they’re easy to find!”

Sienna decided not to delve any deeper into what Trinity meant. They were almost at Azip's Pizza when she saw Sam's van parked in the alley next to the store.

Their walk through the city attracted a few strange glances, but not too many. It was midday, and most people weren't out and about yet, so the streets were relatively quiet, which she appreciated.

Sam was waiting for them behind the pizzeria, wearing a bright red half-face mask, leaning against an old brick wall. “Boss,” she said, “and the new members. It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Red’s henchman.”

“Oh, a color theme,” Lucas said.

"Can we choose ourselves?" Chloe asked, "because I'm really into pink."

"You want to choose pink?" Sam asked.

"This color is so girly," Chloe agreed.

Sienna decided not to participate in any fashion-related discussions, whether they were about masks or anything else.

Her considerations regarding clothing mainly revolve around how to blend into the crowd, avoid being noticed, or which type of pajamas is most comfortable to wear.

“Mountain… Red subordinate, I hope you can take charge of, uh, the explanation,” Sienna said, “as for, uh, onboarding? Athena will help you.”

“Sure, no problem,” Sam said. “I ordered two extra-large pizzas. Rose has a small lounge in the back. It’ll be a bit cramped, but we can talk there. Or in the alley, but that’s a bit… cramped.”

“Great,” Sienna said. “Why don’t you, uh, go and handle this, and I’ll stay here and look after my sisters. That way it won’t be too crowded.”

Sam glanced at her, and Sienna knew she understood that Sienna was just trying to avoid social interaction.

“I’m sure we can all squeeze in, don’t worry,” Sam grinned.

Sometimes, Sienna even wondered who the real villain was in their little organization.