Obvious Stupidity

"I hope what I'm going to say here doesn't spread."

Penguin said as he stared at the three of them. His eyes held an unusual sense of solemness.

The sudden shift of tone caught Natasha and Noah off guard, but they gave him their word to assure him of his doubts.

"We won't. I can promise that." Natasha replied seriously. She looked at Noah, who quickly followed her lead.

"Believe her!" Noah nodded and gazed at Penguin with strong resolve. "I swear with my soul that what is told here will not be heard by others beside us."

Penguin fell silent. He sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry but... for me, words and promises are not enough. My ability is [Contractor]. I can make a contract right now and you guys can sign it. That way, I can believe with certainty that no one will spread it around."

Natasha furrowed her brows, thinking deeply. As long as the contract was fair, she had no problems with it. She nodded before asking in doubt.

"Do all of us need to sign?"

Penguin nodded with no room for objection.

"Yes."

Natasha looked at Noah, who doesn't seem to have any problem with the arrangement. But when she moved her eyes to Bruce, she was surprised to see the man's eyes were already wide awake.

"I refuse. Do you take us for a fool?"

Bruce sneered at Penguin in contempt. He stared at Penguin, seeing him be taken aback as if he didn't understand.

Alarmed, Natasha was caught off guard by his sudden burst of hostility. She looked at him with uncertainty. "What do you mean?"

Bruce looked at her, a stern frown taking over his expression. He continued. "Even if he's our teammate, don't go agreeing to every one of his demands. If you want to be a fool, go ahead, but don't include me in it. We don't know a single thing about his ability besides that he can hand out contracts."

"What if he can cheat us in the contract? What if he can manipulate us if we sign? What if the contract is a trap?"

Being called a fool, Natasha was taken aback. She opened her mouth but was unable to muster a sound response.

"I–I... I didn't..."

She lowered her head, feeling slightly hurt and downcast. She grabbed the hems of her skirt and fell silent.

Bruce looked at her expression and sighed softly, shaking his head.

"Forget about it. I'm not going to sign the contract and that's that. If you want to agree with him, go ahead, but don't include me in your business. I'm not in the mood for such obvious stupidity."

"And as for you," He paused, turning his gaze to Penguin. "If you want to discuss whatever secrets you have, it's either you trust others or don't tell them at all."

Penguin fell silent and didn't rebuke him. There was a certain truth to the man's words—his ability was more than meets the eye.

The atmosphere suddenly turned silent and tense.

After saying his piece, Bruce closed his eyes and continued his nap. He only interfered because they were going to ask him to sign.

Natasha was silent, grabbing the hems of her skirt as she fiddled with her hair quietly. She didn't expect herself to be that hurt by his words.

Given her upbringing, she was rarely told off by others or scolded by someone blunt as Bruce.

But that was not enough to hurt her.

What stung her most that it was Bruce saying that to her.

After a while, Penguin came to a decision. He let out a short sigh, breaking the silence.

"You're right. I'm sorry. As you already know, my ability is called [Contractor] with a simple effect: to hand out contracts to sign. I awakened my ability at the age of fifteen, in the middle of one of my father's meetings."

"At first, I thought it was a useless ability... but it was far more powerful than I thought. When handing out a contract, I can include details that people with weak senses can't detect."

Natasha gripped the helms of her skirt more tightly. He was right...

"But don't misunderstand," Penguin immediately waved his hands. "I wasn't planning to trick any of you. My concern was genuine... I– I can't trust people easily, so it's much easier to use my ability in matters like this."

Noah didn't seem to mind, waving his hands casually. "I don't mind if I was tricked. At least my existence has use to you, that's more than enough for me."

"N-no, really." Penguin bowed apologetically. He looked at Natasha. "Please believe in me."

Natasha sighed, raising her head with a difficult expression. She smiled softly. "It's fine. It was my mistake anyway. Let's move on, the 15 minute mark is about to arrive."

Hearing that, Penguin sighed in relief. He glanced at Bruce and was about to say something... but after some thought, he didn't continue with it.

To be honest, he was quite surprised that Bruce managed to sense something amiss.

He was sure that he didn't do anything wrong to make the man suspect him, but there were some people that had natural distrust to others.

Bruce just so happened to be one of them.

'Oh well... It doesn't matter anymore. My quota is filled for today.'

He smiled, shaking his head. Unknown to others, he had a secret habit—no, calling it simply a mere "habit" was highly inappropriate.

It was already the second nature for him.

He liked to mix lies and truths in his words, letting others decide which ones were real and fake. It was a simple exercise so he could get used to lying at first.

But he had become too immersed in it.

Particularly, he followed the mantra: 2 lies and 1 truth in a day. He had already fulfilled the quota for the day.

The first one, his ability [Contractor] was true.

As for the lies... Penguin smiled gently. He glanced at his teammates. Oh well, it didn't matter, did it? A trivial matter.

But it was surely within the words he spoke.