The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Sienna knew the fundraising event might attract some unwanted guests, so she wasn't too surprised when Trinity tugged at her jacket and looked down.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

“That female superhero who can explode is coming this way,” Trinity said, “her name is something like Glamour Woman.”

“Ah,” Sienna replied. It was certainly one of those frustrating moments. The arrival of Charm Girl would complicate things.

It was entirely possible that she sensed what Sienna was up to. Though the possibility was slim. She might just be worrying unnecessarily, and she knew that, but a tightness still gripped her heart.

Actually, the rest of the day wasn't very pleasant, but she had talked to Sam earlier, and he had given her a long lecture on the psychological theories of different types of fun.

The fun you experience in the moment is not the same as the fun you feel when you look back on it, and the whole experience might feel like the kind of moment that you only find fun in retrospect.

She couldn't wait for it all to be over, because the process had been so agonizing. "Okay, thank you," she said, rubbing Trinity's ears. She noticed that many people did this today, and Athena had even decided to capitalize on it, charging five dollars to have the feathers on her head ruffled.

People actually started spending money, and Sienna was a little worried about the huge wad of cash Athena had stuffed in her jacket pocket.

But that's something to worry about later.

She noticed Charm Girl walking through the crowd, but immediately pretended not to see her. The fact that the superheroine was surrounded by the already enthusiastic crowd asking for autographs actually helped her.

To be precise, it wasn't a true "sea of ​​people" yet. So far, throughout the entire morning and afternoon, only about three or four hundred people had arrived. Right now, their group had the most people, around a hundred.

The crowd was still quite large and intimidating, but compared to the massive throngs she'd seen gathering just to catch a glimpse of a top celebrity, it was nothing. This time, the scale was much more moderate, which was exactly what she wanted.

“Owl Watch,” Sienna called out, drawing her sister’s attention. The girl trotted over, laughing. “Hey, I’m going to talk to Charm Girl, can you keep an eye on her?”

The question wasn't particularly clever, but Athena immediately understood and nodded. "No problem! I'd also like to see what she thinks about all this."

Sienna laughed. "Yeah, I bet you do."

Charm Girl dismissed some fans, then walked up to Sienna, stood with her hands on her hips, and stood tall. "It's great to see you again, boss. And all you little rascals."

She said her last sentence with a charming smile, which might have seemed to an onlooker as if she meant no harm.

Sienna felt she was definitely up to no good, and that smile was completely faked. "Hi, Glamour Woman. Uh, it's good to see you again. Are you feeling better?"

“Much better,” said Charm Girl. She leaned closer. “I’ll tell you more when we have a little more privacy.”

"But I have to get out here and do something, and I think this activity should be relatively safe." She looked around at their homemade stall and the now-empty food stalls.

"Well, to be honest, I thought it would be... a bit grander?"

"Well, I guess you're used to those, uh, officially recognized events. This one's more... low-key."

“Pretty cute,” Charm Girl said with a shrug.

Sometimes… many times, Sienna wished she had the courage to confront someone's obvious lie. But she was already trying hard to restrain herself from staring at the ground between their feet.

“I’m so grateful you came,” Sienna said. “We’re almost done. Now… well, it’s not that late yet, but the girls haven’t eaten, and I don’t want them to go hungry because of this.”

Could you please distract the crowd while we start packing up?

“Uh,” Charm Girl was about to speak.

Sienna didn't give her a chance to refuse and immediately turned and walked towards their pavilion. She quickly ordered her followers (mainly Sam) to start packing.

Of course, the first thing to be taken was the large jar filled with donations. The jar was moved to Sam's van, which was parked out of sight, and the money was poured into a convenient large sandwich bag.

“Well,” Sienna said to Athena as they walked back. The money was now safely hidden under the truck's carpet. “Did you get anything from Charm Girl?”

“She really dislikes you bossing her around,” Athena said. “But she likes you too.”

Sienna stumbled and nearly fell. "What about her?" she asked after regaining her balance.

Athena nodded. "She thinks you're friends because you're both heroes, and you've been very good to her." Athena smiled smugly. "Well done, big sister, you've completely fooled this hero!"

"Uh, yes. She likes me as a friend, right? I just want to be sure."

Athena blinked. "Ah? Oh, right, her feelings for you aren't the kind of feelings between sisters."

“Yes,” Sienna said.

She didn't want to delve any further into the topic. In fact, she planned to forget about it entirely, because another option was to bring it up with someone like Sam, who would certainly delve into the psychological reasons behind her sister's understanding of friendship and family.

When they got back, they found their followers busy packing up, and even with Charm Girl distracting the crowd, the event felt like it was over.

She saw Trinity come down from the tree (so her third clone had been in the tree all along?), while Teddy was helping his henchmen carry a huge stack of boxes.

She kept saying, "I can move more, and put them higher," but no one could hear her, and because the boxes were piled so high, she didn't realize no one was responding.

Sienna checked on her followers' progress and had Athena take a few boxes off top of the ones Teddy was carrying so they could move them. Then she quietly returned to Charm Girl, who was waving goodbye to the last few onlookers.

“Thank you,” Sienna said. “I guess I’m not very good at ending these kinds of events.”

"Oh? Really? It looks like things are going well. Have you run into any trouble?" Charm Girl asked.

Sienna shook her head. "No. Actually, everything... went very smoothly."

“That’s great to hear! It’s wonderful that you can raise the funds to make up for the damage that bastard caused,” said Charm Girl. “Consider it a peaceful form of revenge.”

“Mmm,” Sienna replied, making no mention of her plan to keep almost all of the donations for herself. “Uh, anyway, thank you for coming?”

Charm Girl shrugged. "Like I said, I need to get some fresh air. And the Hero Response Team (HRF) is nearby."

Sienna felt her blood freeze. "What?"

"Oh, right. An event like this? It's easy for villains who want to be famous to become prime targets. That's why the Hero Response Team is always on high alert in case he shows up."

It goes without saying who "he" is. Rattlesnake must have made a deep impression on Charming Woman. "I'm glad he didn't come," Sienna said. "Although we made some preparations, it's always a good thing he didn't come."

“Yes…” Charm Girl said, her voice trailing off. “So, uh… do you train?”

“Training?” Sienna asked.

"Yes, yes. For example, training to enhance your superpowers, simulated combat, martial arts, and the like."

“Not often,” Sienna said. It sounds expensive and possibly a little painful.

The glamorous Superwoman nodded, seemingly expecting this answer. Then she reached into a very narrow pocket sewn into her bodysuit and pulled out a card.

The pocket was right next to a slit, almost invisible. Of course, she couldn't have ordinary pockets, because her bodysuit was the kind that tried every means to make her look a little revealing, but still covered everything below her neck.

"Here you go. This is where I'm going. It's a small, quiet place. I don't want to be stared at or photographed by weirdos while I'm exercising, you know? Anyway, there's a big room in the back with padded walls, perfect for practicing martial arts."

Sienna stared at the business card that Charm Girl handed her for a moment, then took it. It had the address of a gym on it.

"Thanks?"

“If you want to come, come tomorrow,” the glamorous Supergirl said with a bright smile.

“Okay, but why?” Sienna asked.

"Because if I can't handle that bastard, then you're the next best candidate. But if standing for a few hours and signing names can exhaust you like this, then you can't do anything."

Sienna... couldn't think of a rebuttal for a moment.