From Madripoor, notification goes out for the next No
Restraints Play special at midnight. Tech Ed informs his boss Tyger Tiger and
she tells him to log in to a dummy account to discover what’s going on while
she attends the Prince’s party….
At the palace, Madame Masque has just shot Black Widow but
discovers Nat has blocked the shot with her gauntlet and a battle breaks out.
Nat lures Masque into a large storage area where she can entangle her foe in
fishing line, knock her out, and don her outfit. She contacts Tech Ed and
learns of the new NRP show at midnight….
The disguised Nat hits her first obstacle: the doorman is
Taskmaster who can recognize anyone by their movements. TM warns her not to
start trouble with her ex-boyfriend Baron Zemo but she assures him there is no
problem between them, otherwise pulling off the impersonation flawlessly. He
then spots Masque’s bloodstain on her tunic and asks about it; Tyger Tiger
covers for her then flirts with TM. Tech Ed has also identified the man with
the NRP tattoo: he is Vlad Dorchik, the Prince’s right-hand man. The Prince
halts the festivities to address the assembled criminal types, announcing a new
era for Madripoor and transferring a sizable amount of money into the attendees’
bank accounts; he follows it up by tossing stacks of cash into the crowd. Baron
Zemo accosts “Masque” wanting her to come back to Bagalia or at least to kill
the Punisher for him. She refuses and when Zemo gets nasty, Sabretooth intercedes
and chases him off—because he knows “Madame Masque” is really Black Widow by
her smell. The two speak to the Prince
and Sabretooth declines to participate as his money smells of blood. The Prince
has Vlad escort him outside while he turns his attention to “Madame Masque;”
Nat flirts with him, hoping to get him to reveal something about NRP but she rebuffs
his advances and the Prince orders Vlad to take her outside. In the hallway,
she flirts with Vlad and kisses him—and finds she has fallen for a drugged
kiss, as they were expecting her….
Natasha awakens in a room full of lights, cameras, and
surgical equipment with Vlad in his painted child mask: Nat is the star of this
episode of No Restraints Play….