The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Rose led Sienna, Athena, and Sam to the back of the restaurant. The air was thick with the greasy, cheesy, and tomato sauce smells.

Sienna had expected to find several people in the kitchen, but it was empty. Were Rose and the girl behind the counter the only ones in the shop?

“We need to hurry,” Rose said. “I’ll be the only one working in the shop before noon. Business is usually slow in the morning, but I need to spend time preparing the ingredients for the rest of the day.”

“We’ll try not to take up too much of your time,” Sienna said. “It’s nothing particularly urgent.”

"Hmm," Rose simply replied.

She led them to a small office, which contained nothing more than a table piled high with documents and a computer that looked quite old, even back when Sienna had just started school.

The office was too small and there was nowhere to sit, so Sienna moved the only chair on their side of the desk to the side and stood with her hands behind her back. It was more comfortable than not knowing where to put her hands.

“Alright,” Rose said, plopping down in her office chair, which creaked in protest. “What on earth is going on?”

Sienna licked her lips. This was a golden opportunity.

But at that very moment, her mind suddenly went blank, and she couldn't think of anything. It was terrible.

An awkward silence lasted for several seconds before Sam interjected, "Do you know that villain 'Cement'?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "I don't know. No, I've never heard of it."

Sam nodded. "That's fine. It's normal for wise people not to know him. But it doesn't matter anymore. He was recently taken care of by a few heroes. His organization is empty now. Of course, someone as insignificant as him wouldn't really have any respectable organization anyway."

Rose nodded slowly. "I think so too, but it has nothing to do with me."

"Of course, right now, our boss is doing this out of good intentions, and she plans to visit all the places she thinks might... well, places where she knows that the collapse of 'Cement' has nothing to do with her, to make sure that no one is in any trouble."

Rose snorted. "How subtle," she said, pulling open a drawer in her desk. Sienna tensed instantly. Was she going to pull out a gun? Instead, an envelope was slammed onto the desk. "This month's."

“Uh,” Sienna said.

Sam stepped forward, picked up the envelope, opened it, and Sienna glimpsed green banknotes inside. Money?

“We’re very grateful,” Sam said. “Is there anything we can do to help? We’d love to receive donations from the community, but it’s only right to reciprocate, isn’t it?”

Rose nodded. "Of course. 'Cement' is a pretty easy person to talk to, and he's managed everything smoothly."

Of course, I don't know anything about these things. Now, if you're going to... collect community donations in his place, then you'll have to handle all the community affairs just like he did, right?

"That sounds fair."

“Great. My two delivery drivers were robbed near the industrial park. You know that place. A bunch of thugs who called themselves the ‘Chain Gang’ or something like that stole our goods and emptied the drivers’ pockets.”

"What kind of cargo was your driver transporting?" Sam asked.

Rose stared at her for a moment. "Pizza. We only do pizza business. Sometimes we have submarine sandwiches, and often we have fries. But pizza is our main product."

I won't do anything more complicated than this. The profit margin is thin, but I can manage. I can't stand seeing more drivers quit because of being robbed by thugs, and I can't just stop delivering in that area of ​​the city, since a quarter of my business comes from there.

If you want to receive next week's donation, you'll have to resolve this. Is that fair?

“You, well, you’re quite frank about this,” Sienna said.

The woman snorted, "Girl, I've been running this shop since I was younger than you. It used to be my father's shop, and before that, it was my grandfather's."

I know how this world works. 'Cement' has been quite good to us, but people like you won't be in power forever. You should treat us better too, then business can continue."

“I think it makes perfect sense.” Sam said, casually stuffing the envelope into his bag like he was handing out a flyer, then nodded quickly to Rose. “Then we won’t bother you any longer, you can continue with your work.”

"Sure, I'll bring you some fries when you leave."

The three of them were escorted out of the restaurant through the back door, which led to a narrow alleyway filled with the pungent smell of garbage.

Fortunately, Rose gave Sienna a big bag of nearly expired fries, which at least masked the smell of junk food.

“It’s going pretty smoothly,” Sam said. “Who would have thought extorting money from someone could be so easy?”

“Yes…it’s quite easy, that’s right,” Sienna said.

“Well, it’s pretty easy,” Sam said. “I estimate there’s about three hundred dollars in it. Not much, and to have to take on an entire gang for that amount of money isn’t the reward I’m looking for.”

“What?” Sienna asked.

“It’s that ‘Chain Gang’ she mentioned,” Sam said. “The ones who harassed her driver. You have to deal with them now. That’s how protection money works, right? You take the money, but you have to provide protection too, otherwise the businesses might find someone else to collect money from and get rid of you.”

“Oh, right,” Sienna said.

Sam pulled the envelope out and slapped it into Sienna's hand. "Here you go. You'd better put it away quickly. Don't let anyone know too obviously what you've done wrong."

“Uh,” Sienna said. She stared at the envelope for a moment, then folded it up and stuffed it into her pocket. The envelope was pressed against her side and felt almost hot, as if it were something she shouldn’t have.

Sam stretched. "Alright, next place? Or do you want to go somewhere and say something tough first?"

"Making threats?" Sienna asked.

"You know, before those heroes come after the 'Chain Gang,' beat them to a pulp first. That way, when you go to collect protection money from other people, they'll know you're serious."

“I think it makes a lot of sense,” Athena said.

Sienna switched the bag of fries to her other hand and rubbed her eyes. "There are a few places I'd like to visit. One of them might be close to the industrial area. I left my laptop in your car."

“Great! In that case, let’s take off the mask and go back,” Sam said.

On their way back, they ran into Teddy and Trinity, who were incredibly excited to hear Athena's exaggerated description of what had just happened—in her description, Rose was practically a terrifying she-devil—and even more excited to see the fries.

"So where are we going now?"

"Don't talk when you have something in your mouth," Sienna scolded.

Teddy gulped down a mouthful of fries with barely any chewing. "Where are we going now?" she asked.

Sienna didn't answer until they were all seated in Sam's car.

She took out her notebook, flipped through a few pages, and found the list of addresses she needed to go to. "I don't know if any of these places are close to the industrial area," she said. She didn't have a city map in her mind that included these street names.

“Let me see,” Sam said. She leaned closer to look at the addresses, then pointed to one and said, “This one’s pretty close, just one block away. Good heavens, these addresses are all over the city.”

“‘Cement’ must have spent a lot of time arranging these things.”

“And most of them are small, family-run shops,” Sam said.

“Huh?” Sienna asked.

“It’s one of those small, family-run shops,” Sam explained.

Sienna frowned, but after a moment's thought, she understood. Franchise owners are usually located far away and wouldn't care about protection fees; besides, their shops are just an investment, not their livelihood. This sense of detachment makes it difficult for them to truly commit.

“I think that makes sense,” Sienna said. “So, shall we go here next?”

“It’s a barbershop,” Sam said. “It’s been open for years. I went there once or twice with my dad. But not to cut my own hair, you know. There are lots of old men there who just sit there all day chatting and complaining about their generation. You know those kinds of places.”

Sienna nodded. She had accompanied her father to one or two such places before. The men there always made her feel socially pressured. "Alright, let's go take a look. Hopefully, we can get everything done before noon."

“Yeah, we want to get it done before lunch,” Teddy said from the back row.

"You can't be a villain on an empty stomach." At that moment, one of Trinity's clones was upside down, covering his head with a bag of fries and licking the greasy inside of the empty bag.

Sienna rolled her eyes. "I believe you're right," she said.