The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Spending a weekend at Steffie's was pretty cool. At least, Teddy had a lot of fun.

Steffi is really bad at soccer, but it's kind of funny to watch her stumble around. And throughout, Steffi has a bright smile on her face; her enthusiasm is like that of a bear.

However, playtime was over.

Teddy was hungry, Steffi's legs were aching, and the older women, like the eldest sister, decided to escape the sun and go have a chat.

Teddy and the others were ushered into the living room with snacks and juice boxes, while the older people stayed near the kitchen to chat.

Teddy was a little distracted, chatting with his friends while watching vulgar capitalist propaganda ads on TV.

The commercials that aired in the middle of the cartoons were noisy and flashy, and looked amazing, but Teddy knew it was all a terrible illusion designed to trick her brain into wanting to buy the cool stuff in the ads.

This doesn't mean the ads aren't working. She still wants those things.

She just didn't want to buy things like a happy little capitalist. Maybe she could convince the boss to rob a toy store?

Steffie staggered to the sofa, squinting. Then she spun around in a bikini, letting the backs of her legs touch the edge of the sofa, before sitting down.

The posture was obviously a bit awkward, with her legs stretched out at a right angle, but it was passable, although Teddy wasn't sure if she could stand up smoothly.

"Do you think I can go to school?" Steffi asked.

"Go to school?" Athena repeated, "With these legs?"

Steffi nodded vigorously.

Athena stared at the prosthetic limbs for a while, then shook her head. "No, these legs won't do."

“Why not?” Steffi asked.

"These legs are obviously made of maple leaves. People will know they're special, and then they'll make a big fuss about it."

You know what adults are like. 'Is this safe?' 'What if it breaks?' 'Can she kick people all the way to tomorrow with those legs?' and a whole bunch of other stupid questions.

Steffi pouted, but the answer seemed to have largely won her over.

However, the problem itself is troubling Teddy.

Why do you want to go to school?

Steffi seemed surprised by the question. "Why don't you want to go? Don't you want to go?"

Teddy shrugged. She had never really thought about it, and when she did, she always found school boring.

She's already taking Ms. Hedson's classes, which are difficult enough.

Sometimes the eldest brother would teach her some things.

Since you can learn on the job, especially since this job is as cool as robbing and fighting heroes, who would want to sit in a boring classroom?

“That sounds boring,” Teddy said.

“No, that’s not true!” Steffi said. “My mom is a teacher, and she loves school.”

You can make a lot of friends at school. We study together, take exams, and have breaks together. If you behave well, you might even get to go to the movies.

“You can watch movies at home,” Athena pointed out.

“Yeah, we can do anything at home,” Teddy said. “And we don’t have to listen to some boss who’s not really the boss telling us to follow the rules.”

Steffi shook her head. "You just don't understand," she said.

Teddy agreed, admitting she didn't understand. But at the same time, certain aspects of the whole thing worried her.

Why do you want to go to school so much?

“I… I don’t know, I just want to go,” Steffie replied with a shrug.

Not long after, the boss, his henchman Sam, and Ms. Hydeson returned after finishing their chat.

Unfortunately, Steffi had to temporarily remove his new prosthetic leg.

She was disappointed, but became happy when she learned that Maple Leaf was going to use her old prosthesis to make a newer and better one.

Soon, she was back in her wheelchair, looking much happier than usual, even though she's never been one to not smile.

"Alright, girls, it's time to go home." The eldest sister said, placing one hand on Maple Leaf's head and the other on Trinity's head.

Teddy seemed a little distracted as they said goodbye. After hugging Steffi and Ms. Hedson, they set off back to base.

Back in the van, Teddy squeezed into the back seat, with Sam driving in front of her. She found herself still struggling with the concept of going to school.

Will going to school be fun?

She didn't think so, but perhaps it was something worth exploring?

She leaned back in her seat, watching the world rush by outside the window. Once again, she noticed how many advertisements she saw all the time.

The pictures of the food looked too delicious to be real, the women in beautiful dresses that Teddy could never wear, and the smiling, nauseating heroes in their heroic poses.

She had seen these things before, but had never been bothered by them. Now, however, she had... a certain feeling.

"Are you OK?"

Teddy looked up and saw Athena looking at her. They were near the overpass; Sam parked the car in a parking lot not far from the base.

Everyone else was ready to get off the bus, but Teddy was lost in thought. "Uh, it's okay, it's okay, I'm coming."

Surprisingly, Athena stayed by her side and didn't leave. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much," Teddy said.

“Your face looks like something’s wrong,” Athena replied.

“Your face is the problem,” Teddy retorted immediately.

Athena rolled her eyes, then moved to the side and nudged Teddy with her shoulder.

“You’re definitely thinking about something. I can tell. It’s bothering you. If you tell me, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Teddy muttered, but she knew that Athena could be incredibly stubborn once she got going. There was no point in arguing with her.

"I've been thinking a lot. Like, about things like school. I don't know."

"So you still want to go to school?" Athena asked.

"What? No. That sounds terrible."

"Okay. Then tell me what you're thinking, and then you can relax."

"Why does that make me feel relaxed?" Teddy asked.

“Because that way I can think of things for you. I’m much better at it than you are,” Athena said without a doubt.

“It just feels weird.”

"Because of school?" Athena asked.

"A little," Teddy said, reaching up to pick his nose.

"Yeah, I don't want to go. School's stupid and boring. But Steffi wants to go. I just don't understand why."

Athena was silent for a moment, pondering. "Perhaps she just wants to live a normal life?"

Teddy looked at her sister. "Normal? Is this the kind of life we ​​lead?"

“I think our lives are abnormal,” Athena said. “But we have a leader, we do cool things, we’re villains, so we obviously understand more.”

But I still feel this is abnormal. Normal is what most people do, but we don't.

“I think so too.” Teddy said, then fell silent. She had never thought of it that way before.

She felt that her life was quite normal.

Sleep, get up, go to the toilet, eat, sometimes beat up heroes or other villains, or steal something, do as the boss says, and then go back to sleep.

“What we mean by normal is not what others consider normal,” Athena continued. “Steffe… is a nice person, but she’s the kind of very ordinary, normal person, you know?”

Besides the fact that she's in a wheelchair, she probably also wants to be more normal.

"Hmm." Teddy pondered the idea.

"Are you feeling better?" Athena asked after a while.

"Maybe. I mean, I'm feeling better. It's just that it feels kind of strange."

Athena grinned. "At least you're thinking. Don't overthink it, or your head will hurt." She dodged Teddy's shove and laughed. "How about we do something fun to stop torturing your brain?"

"Something fun?" Teddy asked.

Athena's eyes gleamed. It was a dangerous look. "Shouldn't we go to school?"

"what why?"

"No, no, not the normal way to school. We can sneak into the school and show them that we're the best! I bet there's a lot of stuff in the school worth stealing."

“I’ll participate,” Trinity suddenly said, appearing between the two of them.

"How long have you been listening?" Teddy asked.

Trinity blinked. "You've been listening the whole time? But I've forgotten most of it. I only remember the part about stealing things from school. That sounded really interesting!"

Teddy thought for a moment. "We can't tell the eldest," she finally said. This had to be a secret between the sisters; the eldest sister couldn't know.

They arrived at the overpass, and then the leader stopped at the entrance.

"Alright, girls, I'm going out with Sam and Maple. We need some supplies again, and I think it's better to go buy them now than wait. Will you all behave while we're gone?"

“Of course, boss!” Teddy said.

Athena and Trinity nodded in agreement, and then they slipped into the bunker's entrance passage.

The door closed, and the three people looked at each other in bewilderment.

The timing was absolutely perfect.

“We have to wait until she’s gone a little further,” Athena said.

“I can leave a clone here,” Trinity said. “That way I can mess things up and make it look like we’ve always been here. I bet I can stuff a few pillows into Teddy’s bed and say she’s sleeping.”

Teddy grinned, his earlier worries dissipating considerably. This was definitely going to be fun!