In
Siberia, the assassin Mikhail has crashed to Earth and he is confronted by the
Black Widow, but she’s not alone: she has bonded with a symbiote called Sliver.
She uses her symbiote spiders to force Mikhail to reveal what happened to his
target, Hawkeye. The hitman says that Clint Barton is dead so the spiders kill
him and give her his memories. She sees Mikhail dueling with Clint in Madripoor
and an explosion but no proof that Clint is dead….
Madripoor,
24 hours earlier: Hawkeye and Mikhail are fighting across the rooftops and
Hawkeye gets away, crashing through a high window. That’s when he notices his
enemy has planted an explosive on him and it detonates….
New
York City, 36 hours earlier: At a nightclub, Natasha was met by Bobbi
“Mockingbird” Morse, who told her Hawkeye was being sought by both the CIA and
the Russians. The Agency will not let her join the mission as she is Clint’s
ex-wife so she has come to Natasha to help Clint, who is being stalked by a
Russian hitman named Mikhail. She thinks she can follow the bad guy to find
Clint but Nat has to ask Bobbi if she thinks Clint is guilty….
Washington, D.C., 48 hours earlier: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Larionov was introduced
as an honored guest at the White House, hailing a new partnership between the
two nations when an arrow pierced his heart….
Now:
Hawkeye, having escaped the worst of the explosion, comes to in an ambulance as
it is attacked by yet another assassin. This one has a mechanical claw at the
end of a cord and hurls it at Clint but the villain is stopped by Symbiote
Black Widow, scolding Clint for not coming to her or Bobbi first. And then she
hugs him for being alive. As Natasha searches for a way to get Clint out of
Madripoor alive, he announces he is not going. He rejects their cycle of not
speaking until one of them is in danger and then they risk everything for the
other. But this time it’s different: Clint confesses to shooting the Russian
Minister through the heart with an arrow….
Excelsioring your collection
Story #2(No title given)
Writer:
Stephanie Phillips.
Penciler/Inker:
Paolo Villanelli.
Colorist:
Mattia Iacono.
Letterer:
Joe Sabino.
Synopsis
Years
ago: Black Widow was given a new uniform by the Soviets and ordered to finish
the mission against Tony Stark. But she and Clint (Hawkeye) Barton went on the
run instead. Natasha reminded him that it was not just the Russians they had to
fear but the Americans too as she is a communist agent and he is committing
treason by helping her. Then Snapdragon comes crashing through a window, out to
capture Natasha for her boss (to be revealed next issue). Hawkeye fights the
villainess off while Natasha escapes….
CharactersAntagonists
Snapdragon (Sheoke Sanada).