Emily watched the big man walk off while picking away at her noodles. They’d found a little corner at the back of the kitchen where they could have a bite to the tune of the volunteer cooks packing up and a radio in the corner blasting 24/7 ads between the occasional intermission of pop music.

“Today was fun,” Teddy said as she scarfed down her potatoes. Emily didn’t need to worry about Teddy being picky, not if the way she devoured everything on her plate meant anything.

“I guess it was,” Emily said.

Teddy nodded along, spoon stuck between her teeth as she grinned up at her. “You check your notifications, Boss?”

Emily blinked. At first she thought Teddy was talking about her phone, but then it clicked. She hadn’t looked at her quest messages in a bit. Nor had they bothered her during the latter part of the day.

It seemed that however the powers system worked, it at least had some common decency at times. “I didn’t, no. Can you keep an eye on our surroundings?” she asked.

Teddy gave her a quick salute. “Of course, Comrade Boss.”

Emily snorted a laugh and shook her head. At least her “sister” was kind of . . . cute, when she wasn’t a car-size bear.

Quest Complete!

The Queen with the Silken Sword

Reward: +1 Skill Upgrade point. Scoundrel +1!

That was wonderful! Not the Skill Upgrade point. That was something she could do without. But the boost to Scoundrel—that meant she was a little bit closer to no longer being a Villain.

Scoundrel was still pretty bad, but, for Emily’s purposes, it was a step up from outright Villain. People reacted to moralities in different ways. A Scoundrel was kind of scary, but a Villain was terrifying.

She noticed that she had another notification. It wasn’t like she had a flashing thing in her sight, but more an . . . impression of something waiting for her attention.

Action Reward!

For turning another powered individual into a minion through threats, blackmail, and fearmongering, you have earned:

+1 Skill Slot!

Emily frowned even as the prompt faded away. “Teddy, what’s a Skill Slot?”

Teddy looked up, her tongue currently out to lick her plate clean. She slipped it back into her mouth before answering. “Didn’t I tell you that already, Boss?”

Emily felt herself flushing a little. Being told off by a girl who was a head shorter was a bit embarrassing, but it was Teddy, and . . . and Emily found herself surprisingly comfortable with the bear girl, more so than most people who weren’t her mom, at least. “You did, but now I have one.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Teddy said. “You can get a skill added to a power with one of those. Not a new power, though, just something tacked on. You get them for doing stuff.” Teddy nodded sagely.

“I see,” Emily said.