The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Sienna felt as if cold water was flowing through her veins.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

It's strange. I asked the girl next to me, who was a little unwell but obviously not seriously ill, if she was alright, but I knew very well that the same girl was in trouble somewhere else.

This contradictory situation is somewhat confusing, but Sienna doesn't have time to be confused right now.

“I’m fine,” Trinity said. “That self-important hero bastard grabbed my foot. I was kicking her in the face, but she was using some stupid superpowers to stop me.”

Sienna nodded.

She had to come up with a plan, and she had to come up with one now. There was no time to hesitate or procrastinate; she had to take action.

"What does that hero look like?"

"Hmm, I think it's a girl. She's wearing armor and has a rather large shield-like thing slung over her arm."

“Black Shield,” Sienna guessed. “Serment had warned me about her situation before.”

Trinity—the one who escaped capture—run a lap around this house and then tell me what's going on in front of it. We need to know if there are any other heroes out there.

“Understood!” Trinity said.

Through the slats of the fence, Sienna saw a blurry figure flash by; it was Trinity, who was still hiding behind the house, who turned and ran away.

"If it were just her alone... I think we might be able to fight her. Maybe."

“Okay,” Teddy said, pumping his fist. “I’ll take her down, no problem.”

“I will do my best to help,” Athena said. “I will make her taste what it’s like to be afraid of Sienna.”

Trinity nodded. "I'm in front of the house. There's only one car, and it's blue."

Knowing that the car that might be carrying the Black Shield was blue wasn't of much help to Sienna, but she didn't think it looked like an official vehicle.

“Okay, let’s get started,” she said. “Our goal isn’t to fight her, but to find the painting. It should be in the bedroom. Trinity, one of you stay with me, and the other go find the painting.”

"Is the third one going to fight?" Trinity asked.

“We’ll see,” Sienna said.

They had to get close to the hero first. The thought made Sienna uneasy.

She looked at both sides of the fence, then nodded to herself, and ran to the fence, reaching out to grab the edge.

Sienna tried to lift herself up and flip over, but she just bounced around in place and felt really silly.

“I’ll help you!” Teddy said.

“How can I help—oh,” Sienna said, turning halfway around and finding a large grizzly bear behind her.

Teddy extended his paw, carefully adjusting the angle so that it wasn't pointing at Sienna, and then wrapped his arms around her waist.

Sienna screamed as Teddy lifted her to the highest point, then pushed her toward the fence.

Sienna swung her leg over the fence and sat on it. "Okay, okay," she said, gripping the fence tightly for balance. "Athena, give me your hand."

She grabbed Athena's hand and pulled her up. The girl climbed over the fence with great difficulty and squatted on the lawn.

"Teddy, it's your turn, then Trinity. Trinity, can you hold off that hero?"

"Oh, sure, she kept asking me questions, so I kept kicking her. I kicked her really hard."

“Well done,” Sienna said, then, after Teddy transformed back into human form, she huffed and puffed as she pulled her up. “Keep it up, and don’t tell her anything. We’ll be there to rescue you soon.”

"Should we go and beat them up?" Teddy asked.

“No…we shouldn’t do that,” Sienna said. “They’re more experienced, probably better equipped, and might even be able to call in reinforcements. But I don’t want to just let them succeed like that.”

Athena nodded. Of all her sisters, Sienna felt that Athena understood this best. "Our victory condition is not defeating the enemy, but retrieving what is ours."

“Absolutely right,” Sienna said.

Athena's smug smile was absolutely radiant. Sienna landed with a thud, then pointed to the house and ran off. Her sisters followed, surprisingly quiet.

“Oh, she’s tying me up,” Trinity said.

"What were they tied up with?" Sienna asked as she led the others to the Semint family's house. She lowered her voice, hoping the whisper wouldn't be overheard.

Trinity wrinkled her nose. "It's one of those plastic things, the kind with bumps on it that makes a crackling sound."

“Cable ties,” Athena said, “were they already on her?”

Trinity nodded. "She has a little bag."

Sienna thought for a moment, then closed her eyes. "Okay, here's the plan. Trinity, I want one of you to sneak in quietly while the hero is busy."

Athena, I need you to keep an eye on her. Make her suspicious—I want her to focus her attention elsewhere and not notice us. Teddy, you stay with me.

“Okay, I’ll protect you,” Teddy said.

“Trinity, you need to find a painting, one that I think is in one of the bedrooms. There should be a ship in the painting, a big ship.”

Trinity nodded. "I understand," she said. "Do I need to go in two at a time?"

“Uh, no need. One of you will stay here,” Sienna said. “Everyone knows what they need to do, right? Okay, let’s move!”

Sienna grabbed Athena under her armpits and lifted her up so she could reach the railing around the balcony.

Athena quickly climbed up, vaulted over the edge of the railing, and landed with a soft thud, but the sound was still too loud for Sienna.

“I went around to the other side,” Trinity said. “That hero is still asking me questions.”

Sienna nodded, then stopped. She heard a noise above her.

She looked up and noticed that the window through which Trinity had secretly slipped was still wide open.

Without much hesitation, she grabbed a railing and pulled herself up to get closer to the window.

"—Aren't you going to tell me who you are?" a strange voice asked. The voice was somewhat muffled and came through the mask.

“I’m not going to tell you anything!” Trinity replied.

"If you won't tell me, then maybe you'll report it to the authorities. You should know that trespassing is a crime, right?"

"I wish being ugly was a crime. That way, you'd get arrested or something."

“…You are one of the reasons I hate children,” the hero said.

Athena peeked out the window, then withdrew and whispered, "I see her. May I begin?"

Sienna gave her a thumbs up, “Draw her attention away from Trinity.”

The owl girl nodded, then frowned and peered out again.

Her superpowers weren't anything fancy, so it wasn't surprising that there wasn't much of a commotion. The hero did pause for a moment and stopped asking Trinity questions.

Athena slowly withdrew, her movements so subtle as to go unnoticed. Without turning around, she gave Sienna a thumbs-up.

Footsteps could be heard inside the house; the hero moved about slowly and cautiously.

Sienna racked her brains trying to figure out a way to lure the hero out of the house, but she just couldn't come up with any ideas.

“I’m almost there!” Trinity said. “Should I try to save my other self?”

Sienna shook her head. It would be terrible if the hero turned around and found Trinity missing.

In fact, their actions at this moment were not exactly discreet.

She was even worried that the hero would hear her heart pounding like a war drum.

“I came in,” Trinity whispered. “She didn’t see me.”

“Well done,” Sienna whispered in response. “Athena, you’re great too.”

A loud crash came from inside the house, followed by the sound of shattering glass and the clatter of falling glass. "Oh dear," Trinity said, "I have some good news and some bad news."

"What is it?" Sienna asked.

“I found the safe. And, uh, I took down the painting in front of the safe,” Trinity said.

"Wait, why are you coming over here!" A loud shout came from inside the house.

“Alright, activate Plan B. Athena, continue to distract her. Teddy, go in and corner her.”

Trinity, one of you should avoid trouble, but try to break free, and then… I don’t know, attack her from a tricky angle.”

“Understood!” Trinity cheered.

More noises came from inside the house: the sound of things being overturned, objects falling, and the sound of drywall cracking.

And the so-called heroine's swearing and cursing were things that Sienna's sisters really shouldn't hear.

Sienna jumped over the balcony railing and reached for the back door. It wasn't locked.

"Teddy, come in."

“No problem, boss!” Teddy said and rushed past her into the room.

Sienna only had time to glance at the kitchen and the living room beyond it before quickly retreating to her hiding place.

She felt that everything was about to go terribly wrong.

"Who are you? Why are there so many unruly children in this dilapidated house?!"

"Go to hell, you scum of capitalism!"

That's terrible, absolutely terrible.