The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

“What’s going on?” Sienna asked. She felt a chill creep down her spine from the back of her neck, as if someone had pressed an icicle against her bare skin.

Handshaw's smile remained unchanged. "Do you think I'm some kind of reckless idiot pretending to have superpowers?" he asked.

She rubbed her biceps back and forth to warm them, while her mind raced.

Handshaw had mentioned that his superpowers allowed him to make deals with people, but other than that, she couldn't recall any other details.

Isabella strode up to Handshaw, narrowed her eyes, and clenched her fists. "What did you do to me and the boss?" she asked.

“Hey, he messed with me too,” Athena said.

“And her,” Isabella added.

Handshaw raised his hands in surrender. "It's nothing, nothing serious. I'm just carrying out the agreement we reached. As long as everyone abides by the terms, we will all get what we deserve in the end."

"What does that mean?" Isabella asked. "Put it in simple terms."

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Hendershaw said. “As long as you protect me, and your boss tells me what she knows about the target we’re currently curious about, my superpowers will compel me to fulfill my part of the commitment. Similarly, you will want to fulfill your part of the obligation.”

“What?” Sienna asked.

"It's not a bad thing. My superpower will help you fulfill the agreement. It will give you a little push and hints. And it will prevent you from deliberately failing to fulfill your obligations."

"How do we stop it?"

He shrugged. "A bad feeling here, a muscle twitch there, it's not too much of a problem."

“If you want, I can give you a whole host of ominous premonitions,” Athena said. She glared at the man, and for a moment, Sienna felt as if the lights in the small conference room had dimmed and the shadows in the corners had lengthened.

“Hey, hey,” Handshaw said. His smile remained unchanged, but his voice trembled slightly. “You’re supposed to protect me, not attack me.”

Athena snorted, and the room instantly returned to normal, so quickly that Sienna wasn't even sure if she had really sensed anything unusual.

Handshaw glanced at his wrist and hummed a little tune. "We should go. There's only one minute left before the meeting starts, and I don't want to be known for being late."

He straightened his coat, loosened his tie slightly, patted his trousers, and then walked towards the door.

Sienna felt her fists clenching tighter and tighter at her sides. For a moment, she didn't know what to do, or even how she was feeling.

How could he suddenly pull such a stunt, expecting others to accept it so easily? Was she... was she angry? Not in a fit of rage, though.

Sienna is not the type of person who throws a tantrum.

When Sienna loses her temper, she draws too much attention to the person causing the trouble, and Sienna has never been good at dealing with attention.

In the past, when she was angry, at least when she was young, she would hold her anger in and let it dissipate slowly.

That's the most peaceful way to handle it.

But this time was different; she had never been angry before because someone threatened her and her summons.

“Come on, girls,” she said. If there was no other choice, then so be it. But the whole thing still left her feeling uneasy, and her stomach churned with displeasure.

Sienna didn't know what to do. Even saying a few harsh words felt like going too far, but she... she just didn't like being taken advantage of.

She followed behind Handshaw, and although she didn't glare at his back, her eyes were definitely stern.

They stepped out of their room into the hallway and saw three men walking by, their attire completely out of place in the hotel. The place was clean and upscale, while the three men's clothes were either tattered or too tight or too loose.

Sienna reached down, her fingers twitched, and soon each of her hands was held by a summoned creature.

"Are they the people we're supposed to meet?" Isabella asked in a low voice, the three of them seemingly oblivious to the commotion.

They walked toward a door further inside, then slipped into a brightly lit room, leaving the door open.

“I think so,” Sienna said.

Handshaw stopped at the door, moved his chin from side to side a few times, shrugged his shoulders a few times, and then put on that smiling face again.

"Girls, are you ready?" he asked.

“You didn’t say it would be the three of them,” Athena said.

"I reckon only one of them has superpowers. 'Cement' is the only remaining member of their gang with superpowers. At least that's what I know. And we're a floor or two above where Cement is, so we should be pretty safe."

“I don’t know whether I should believe you or not,” Isabella said.

Han Dexiao smiled at her, didn't reply, and walked straight into the conference room.

Sienna released the summoned creature's hand. Isabella went in first, followed by Athena, who smoothed her hair and gritted her teeth as she followed.

Sienna was the last to go in. She paused for a moment, then closed the door behind her.

The three men, who all looked to be no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, were gathered at one end of the conference table.

One of them sat on the floor, fiddling with the cables connected to a laptop on the table.

Another person had their feet propped up on the table and was cleaning their nails with the tip of a knife.

The last one leaned back in his chair, his head bobbing back and forth to the rhythm of the bass-heavy song coming from his headphones.

He had a mohawk hairstyle, but the middle part was pressed down by his headphones.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Handshaw said, pulling out a chair opposite the three men and sitting down. “I guess you’re the representatives sent by ‘Cement’?”

The man with his feet propped up on the table snorted. "Yeah, it's us," he said.

The contrast between the serious and polite Handshaw and the other three couldn't be more obvious.

Sienna stood at the back of the room, almost out of everyone else's sight.

Isabella stood between her and Handshaw, while Athena pulled out a chair and sat down, then put her feet up on the table, almost falling off the chair in trying to reach it.

"Hey buddy, what are you doing bringing a bunch of kids with you?" Sienna asked the man who seemed to be the leader.

“If we all behave civilly and properly, there’s nothing wrong with it, right?” Handshaw asked.

“I wouldn’t beat up a kid,” the leader said, “but I still feel it’s not quite right, you know? What if I weren’t such a gentleman?”

He drew a circle in the air with his knife, saying, "Whether they have superpowers or not, I can still do something bad to them."

“Perhaps,” Handshaw said. “I guess none of you are ‘Cement’ himself?”

“No,” the leader said. “The boss thought it unwise to show himself. That’s what he’s here for.” He pointed his knife at the man still sitting on the ground.

“Okay, almost done,” the man said. He stood up, holding a cable, and plugged it into the side of the laptop. “Just let me log in.”

An awkward silence lasted for a minute, broken only by the occasional shifting of the person listening to music and the clattering of the laptop keyboard.

Then, the computer was turned around so that the screen was facing them.

There's a large "S" on the screen, a white letter against a black background. An indicator light next to the camera is on, flashing red rhythmically.

“Hello everyone,” a deep baritone voice came from the computer, “Handshaw… Boss, if I’m not mistaken, there’s also Ursa Minor. I’m not very familiar with your other companion.”

“You can continue to be unfamiliar with it,” Athena said.

“Pretty feisty,” the man said. “Well, I think we’re all here for business, so perhaps we should get down to business?”

“Indeed,” Handshaw agreed. “Are your companions reliable enough to discuss these things?”

“You can speak freely,” “Cement” said.

“Excellent. Well then, as we agreed beforehand, I will personally come here to meet with you and your representatives. Are you ready to begin?”

The computer was silent for a moment. "Yes, I think I'm ready. Let's try to see if we can dig up some information about the 'cause of war' together, and maybe even get 'my buddy' out of jail."