Natasha voluntarily joined the team exploring the forest. As usual, Natasha, Nick, and Steve headed into the nearby woods to look for timber and stones, while everyone else stayed behind to prepare the ingredients.
Nick, walking at the front, glanced back at the obviously preoccupied Natasha. He put a hand to his mouth, cleared his throat, and said, "Natasha, I absolutely don't mean to blame you or ruin the mood, but you remember you said you'd do me a favor, right?"
Natasha snapped back to herself, then let out a deep sigh. "I'm sure I did help you, but unfortunately, you can't actually accept this kind of help from me."
"You've completely confused me, ma'am." Steve, walking ahead, turned to look at Natasha as well. "Just say what you mean. What happened over the past few hours? You've been acting a little strange."
Natasha swallowed again. Now she understood why Schiller had shifted the trouble onto someone else. Whenever Schiller had a secret, people pestered him about it. But once he told that secret to someone else—someone even more likely to let something slip—then that person became the one everyone pestered.
Obviously, at this stage and under these circumstances, that person was Natasha.
"Exactly." Natasha snorted. "I've just been concentrating on thinking. Since I didn't think much in the past, you find my current state a little strange."
"A little strange?" Nick raised his voice. "It's so strange I don't even know how to describe it! Who's ever seen the famous Black Widow zone out this many times in a single hour? What happened to staying alert and never letting your guard down?"
"That's just..." Natasha let out another deep sigh. Nick and Steve exchanged a look, sensing that something was wrong, but they knew they could not press her.