Story #2Underneath the Skin—Conclusion
Writer:
Sean McKeever. Penciler/Inker:
Filipe Andrade. Colorist:
Chris Sotomayor.
Synopsis
With Nomad having been injected with a formula that makes her into a living bomb, SHIELD Agent Erica Fowler rushes the young hero to a freezer. As Fowler lowers Nomad’s body temperature to counteract the poison, Black Widow beats the Second Shadow operative Hunt to learn the whereabouts of the other bioweapon samples. Hunt doesn’t know and is willing to die for the cause. Fowler sits with Nomad as she slowly sinks into a coma, with the Widow coming in to say something to her, and the girl hero wonders what will happen to her now….
Some time later she is back in school, with casts on her broken thumbs, pondering what to do about the Second Shadow which is still on the loose. She receives a midnight visit from Erica Fowler, who gives her a new, upgraded Nomad costume, with better nonlethal weaponry. Erica reveals to Rikki that Black Widow was behind her Nomad identity from the start. It was the Widow who sat in the freezer with Rikki to monitor her life signs. Rikki then recalls what Natasha said to her as she lost consciousness: "I was a dancer once too." And she finds her new world offering her hope.