Black Widow dreams she is trudging through the snow in
WW2-era Russia…then she awakens in the hospital. She drags herself out of bed
and punches a code into the phone. Wolverine walks in and tries to persuade her
to rest; the Avengers were all called away, including Captain America (Bucky
Barnes at this time), so he was assigned to be her bodyguard. He presents her
with the black rose and ribbon, recovered from the site where she was attacked.
But there’s something else he wants to know, revealing he knows what was taken
from her. She leaves the room and is attacked by a phony nurse with a hypo;
Natasha knocks her out and heads for the stairs where she encounters three
armed guards. She pretends to be weak and ill to throw them off guard then
takes them all down, stealing a uniform to leave in….
The Avengers, Bucky Cap, Tony Stark, and Hawkeye, have been
assembled by a government functionary who informs them that Black Widow has
been spying on them all for years, carrying a small data storage device in her
body, and selling the intel to the highest bidder. They call him a liar and he
asks if there is anyone of them she did not seduce. Tony has a call from Pepper Potts
who is in a park; she is then shot down by Lady Bullseye, using a sonic
weapon. As Tony dashes out, the functionary reveals that Natasha’s data lists
Pepper as the best way to get to him….
The wounded Natasha takes herself to a safe room over a
corner bar where she binds her wounds and ponders the situation. The black rose
and the data chip were two of her deepest secrets and now someone has uncovered
them in what has to be a personal vendetta. As she prepares, she watches the TV
news bulletin that the FBI wants her….
Bucky Barnes comes home to find Wolverine in his apartment.
Logan tells him Natasha is innocent of spying on her friends so someone is
gunning for her….
Natasha is walking along the waterfront and detects someone
following her from the rooftops. Nat tells her to come out and it’s Elektra,
who needs to talk….