Black Widow recalls how, during the War, she and Nikolai
were retreating before the Nazis and she was weak because she was pregnant and
he, the father, was caring for her….
On a train across Europe, Lady Bullseye sits down opposite
Natasha and they spar verbally with LB not telling Nat who hired her to shoot
Pepper Potts. Natasha then reveals that she has poisoned LB and the paralysis
is starting to set in. LB tells her that it was Sumi so Nat informs her that
she will be mistaken for dead and buried alive. “Killing people is easy. Making
them suffer is an art.” As she leaves, Nat is stopped by James “Bucky” Barnes
who pulls her into a rest room and asks how he can help her. As they walk
through the station, avoiding the medical team dealing with Lady Bullseye, he
promises to do what she asked….
Natasha drives to a forest in Slovakia, where she uncovers a
hidden motorcycle, continuing her journey to a remote cabin where she is
reunited with an old lady whose mother once cared for her. Black Rose is also
there and the old lady allows Nat to hold her baby granddaughter, Rose. Nat
asks the old lady who could have known her secret: that when she was a teenager
during the War, she had borne a child who died. The only person Nat told was
Ivan Petrovich, the man who raised her and who is now dead. The child was named
Rose and Nikolai tied a black ribbon around her finger in lieu of a wedding
ring, though he did not survive the War either. She departs, having made sure
they are safe and asking Black Rose to watch out for them….
Natasha is sitting at a café in Munich when another Sumi
android sits with her. She knows he is Imus Champion, once an enemy of the
Avengers. He mentions that he had no particular grudge against her…until he
harvested the memories from the dead Ivan Petrovich’s brain and learned of the
data storage device in her body and the baby, that he decided to destroy her as
the heart of the Avengers. The other customers are all armed, pointing guns at
her. She draws a knife and plunges it into the android’s throat—and then she is
arrested for treason by Captain America (Bucky) and tased by the government
functionary…
…and she awakens in a huge meat locker, naked and shackled
to a chair, left to wait for Imus Champion….