The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

After a while, they arrived at the corner of Main Street and Sixth Avenue.

This is a rather busy street, narrow and presumably existed before cars, now appearing quite cramped.

As Melanie mentioned, there's a small café with a terrace around the corner.

"Is this the place, boss?" Teddy asked, looking at the coffee shop.

"We should go behind it, I think, hmm, maybe this road?"

After some searching, she discovered a narrow alley leading to the back of the café.

This was the second time she had entered the alley in a week, and in fact, it might have been the only two times in the past few years.

The shadows cast by the buildings above made the already cold air even more biting.

The stench of stale leftovers mingled with the buzzing of flies, making the area quite unpleasant.

Sienna couldn't help but wonder what those who saw them walk into the alley would think.

Hey, kids.

Sienna gasped, while Teddy quickly turned around and stood between Sienna and the voice.

There is also a small alley nearby, forming a T-junction, with only a rusty old lamp hanging on the wall for lighting.

Standing at the edge of the light was a... rather short woman with familiar curly hair.

Sienna could recognize her just by her height, hair, and voice.

Because this woman was wearing a complicated outfit that clung tightly to her body.

The outfit is made of a material similar to red leather, and underneath the fabric, you can see raised pieces of armor plates.

Her knee-high boots were covered with metal plates, as were her gauntlets, but the gauntlets only protected the backs of her hands, leaving her palms and fingers bare.

Melanie's body was covered except for her mouth and chin.

But even those two exposed areas were only because her mask was undone and hanging down by a strap.

There must be a hole in her back too, because her black hair is draped over her back and shoulders.

“Melanie?!” Sienna asked in a shrill voice.

She sized up the woman, the heroine, and then took a small step back.

Teddy stepped forward, standing between her and the woman in red, but it was hard to say what she could do to Melanie.

Melanie had a pistol strapped to one thigh and a large knife stuck in the other.

The heroine crossed her arms and said, "I remember telling you to come dressed properly."

Sienna was stunned.

"Hmm..." She paused for a moment before saying, "You...didn't say that?"

She felt that Melanie seemed to be frowning, but since most of her face was covered by goggles, she couldn't be sure.

Melanie reached down, and Sienna tensed up immediately until she pulled a cell phone from a small pocket sewn under the holster.

The phone's light flashed, illuminating the alleyway and reflecting off Melanie's opaque glasses.

"Ha, I didn't say that, my mistake."

"..."

"Are you a big-name hero?" Teddy asked.

Melanie snorted. "I suppose so. My name is Melaton."

The name sounds a little familiar.

Sienna racked her brains trying to learn more about this heroine.

But all she could remember were advertisements for sportswear and the controversy that erupted when Meraton knocked down a group of reporters.

“Well,” Meraton sighed, “well, kid, I think you might be able to help.”

Handshaw said you're generally alright, and we're both after the same bastard.

“You mean tracking down Homi?” Sienna asked.

"More or less," Meraton asked. "Now tell me, are you going to participate or not?"

"I...I don't know what you're planning to do."

The hero muttered a few words under his breath, then nodded. "Alright, I might as well tell you, I have a plan."

There was a long silence that followed, until Teddy couldn't help but break it.

"Hmm, what's the plan?" Sienna asked.

"I'm going to find Homi and give him a taste of nightmares."

"This...is this your plan?" Sienna asked.

"Is there a problem?"

In her opinion, this was not a plan at all, but at most an outline!

She has to think more carefully before buying a box of cereal—she doesn't want the cashier to think that she's being childish by buying such delicious cereal.

Or buying those overly healthy cereals might seem too old-fashioned.

"No—no problem," Sienna lied.

"If you want to come along, I can help you out, especially with superpowers."

Sienna thought for a moment, "What if we find the hard drive?"

Meraton shrugged. "We can give the hard drive to Handshaw in exchange for some money."

“There are a lot of…bad things on it.”

"I'd love to hand it over to those fat pigs in official positions, but there's some information about me in there, you know?"

“I… yes,” Sienna said. “I was thinking, if you don’t mind, could we destroy it?”

The heroine's chin first turned to the left, and then to the right.

"Hmm...that seems like a good idea. We'll see what happens later. Are you guys coming?"

Will Meraton delete all information about herself from the hard drive before handing it over to her boss?

In that case, the fact that she's a villain won't be able to be kept secret anymore.

Sienna had little choice.

At least with Meraton, she might... well, not exactly make friends—that would be too much of an exaggeration—but at least become acquainted with a female hero.

"Let's."

“Very good. Do you have any clothes? Because if you're a nobody, dressing like an ordinary person won't make much of a difference, but it won't be very intimidating.”

“I do,” Sienna said, “but, well, I need a place to change.”

Meraton looked around. "There's no one here."

"The eldest sister doesn't like others seeing her without clothes on."

Sienna wondered if she could just turn around and run away to escape this awkward situation.

Especially when Meraton started laughing.

"Don't you mind, kid?" she asked Teddy.

“I often strip naked in front of other people,” Teddy said.

Sienna covered her face with her hands.

This... is indeed true from a technical point of view.

She wasn't wearing any clothes when she turned into a grizzly bear, just covered in fur, but that doesn't count!

Meraton laughed so hard he almost couldn't breathe. "What?"

"Is there a place here where we can change our clothes?" Sienna asked.

The heroine nodded and gestured behind her, "There's a small cubicle over there for changing clothes."

"Are there cubicles?" Sienna asked.

Meraton nodded. "Hmm. It's kind of an industry secret, isn't it?"

You don't want some die-hard fan camping outside your cubicle.

Those weirdos might set up a camera or something, then I'll have to find them and knock them out.

Sienna tilted her head slightly, expecting to see a small cubicle like a telephone booth.

Ideally, the walls were painted black, but apart from a few trash cans, there wasn't anything particularly interesting to see.

"Sigh," the heroine sighed, and turned to walk deeper into the alley.

“That was a disguise,” she said, stopping next to a trash can.

She grabbed a horizontal bar in front of her, lifted it up, and then pulled it to the side. The side of the trash can slid open, revealing a small white room.

There was a bench on one side of the room, and several windows on the wall, but they were not visible from the outside.

"Wow!" Sienna exclaimed.

"Go ahead and change. I'll wait for you over there." Meraton pointed to the end of the alley.

"Ok."

Sienna went into the cubicle first, while Teddy waited for her outside.

She hurriedly took off her clothes, stuffed everything into her bag, and then reluctantly put on the outfit.

The idea of ​​dressing up like a 1920s gangster in front of a hero sounds increasingly stupid, but she doesn't have much of a choice.

"I'm all changed," she said as she reopened the door.

The window in the door allowed her to see Teddy picking his nose, as if she were right in front of him.

Teddy quickly withdrew his finger and then hurriedly ran inside to change his clothes.

Meraton glanced back, then looked Sienna up and down as if he were inspecting her.

Sienna felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze, but did not move.

“This outfit is nice,” Meraton said. “Can you take a beating?”

“Hmm…no?” Sienna said.

“It looks like there’s absolutely no protection,” Meraton added.

“It…it definitely doesn’t,” Sienna confirmed.

Meraton sighed. "Then you'd better be good at dodging."

“He should be good at it,” Sienna agreed. “So, shall we set off after Teddy changes his clothes?”

The hero nodded. "Yes, is this the first time you've gone out in full costume?"

Seeing Sienna nod, she continued, "Oh? In that case, let me tell you about the precautions."