Black Widow #2

Somebody wants the super-spy codenamed the Black Widow dead…and they came damn close! Now Natasha Romanoff, recovering and angry, chases the trail with fatal skill!

Issue

Beginning while the Widow is still in her drugged state in the hospital, she has a dream of the past which she seems to narrate, explaining that she had to do it, but sometimes she wish she hadn't.

Waking up, eyes wide, she clutches her stomach before lifting the shirt to see the bandages and cringes in pain. Leaning over the bed, she picks up the phone before whispering a code into it so it can begin a trace. Wolverine enters, asking if he's interrupting something, and she says her escape. He tells her that she's suppose to rest in bed for three days, but she ignores him, claiming it's a scratch as the two make some allusions to the Black Night in Monty Python.

Natasha questions him about his present, and he tells her the Barnes and Stark have been called away and tries to get her to rest so she doesn't split her stitches. She implies that he should, and she says that he should find her clothes, but he tells her he's not that polite before handing her the black rose from where she was attacked. She asks if he found anything else before he says he has to ask her something. Back to inner monologuing, Natasha claims he knows what was taken while leaving the room.

Monologuing that Wolverine had just warned her and that she doesn't have much time if he knows while walking down the corridor, a nurse attempts to stand her with a needle, but Natasha blocks this and replies with a punch to the face. An unknown narrator then begin talking about accusations brought forth that are solid and need investigation and that they've approved a strike on Natasha, while a "doctor" looks at Natasha leaving the corridor while kneeling over the nurse, while speaking into his watch, telling the other side that an agent is down and Natasha is moving.

In a stair case, Natasha is approached by three guards who say she's supposed to be drugged, and warn her that she must stay still or the will shoot to kill. Natasha claims that she is too weak to stand and asks them not to shoot her as they throw her handcuffs to retrain herself in. She retaliates by throwing them at one of the guards head before knocking out the other two and stealing one of the men's uniform. While this happens, the voice continues to narrate, claiming that they were taking advantage of and that if they hadn't found damning evidence, they wouldn't be sat there, and what they've found is unfortunate: that the "Black Widow is engaging in acts of... Espionage."

We cut to Iron Man, Captain America (Barnes) and Hawkeye, with Clint replying by telling the man that he'd be more worried if she wasn't doing this. The man then accuses her of spying against them and other superpeople: they'd found a data pill in her body that could contain "vast amounts of information", and that the information is very detailed, down to what they wear for underwear. Tony replies in disbelief, and the man tells him that he (Tony) doesn't wear any. Tony goes on to say he's abusing this power, with Clint backing him up by telling the man that Natasha is loyal, but the man claims that she's selling this information to the highest bidder, and Barnes calls him a liar. Rhetorically, the man asks if the Widow hasn't seduced any of them, claiming that this disorientates their judgement, to which Tony tells him he's "full of crap" and Barnes brings up the subject that the man used to work with Osborn; the man telling them that was a mistake, and claims that they don't have all the facts about the Widow. Stark's phone begins to ring.

Pepper Potts is walking down a pavement, asking Tony if he wants to get lunch when she is shot by Lady Bullseye. While this happens, the man narrates, telling the heroes that Natasha was once an enemy of the state and a former Russian spy, one of the deadliest women in the world and that she lead the Avengers; with no superpowers.

Barnes says that these are positive things, and Clint tells him that he trusts Natasha. Tony, on his phone, raises his voice, asking who's on Pepper's phone, to find out that she's been attacked, knocked out with a sound rifle. As they leave, the man tells Tony that Pepper was listed as his weakness.

Back to Natasha as she walks into a bar, though to the back and into a room that she put aside as a safe house for herself, while saying that any spy should know that, and this it the first rule. She narrates that the people of the building, Russian and old, owe their lives to the Widow and are paying their debt, as she boils the kettle and removes her bandages before applying new ones. She pours herself a cup of tea and looks at the rose in the evidence bag, saying that she new this would happen, and forgot that secrets don't keep. As she drinks her tea on the sofa, it zooms out to reveal a wall with numerous guns hanging on it. She narrates that if the government knows about the chip, she must go to plan B, and that she'll assume that that is the only bad thing they know about. Pulling out some clothes and a passport from many, the Widow acknowledges that they did not find out about this on their own, and questions who told them and what is their reason, before coming to the conclusion it's a personal vendetta, while cutting open her hand slightly. She claims that the rose and the chip were two of her best kept secrets and everyone who knew about them are dead.

On the TV, a newscaster issue a report from the F.B.I. stating the there's a $1 million dollar reward for information on Natasha, and she claims that this was a predictable move but they are not her concern and she wants to know who's pulling their strings, while claiming that it's going to be a pleasurable hunt while preparing her weapons and passport.

Wolverine is say in Bucky Barnes' appartment and Wolvie asks him how the meeting went. Barnes knows Wolverine knows with Wolverine then asking how Pepper is. Barnes says she'll live, before asking why Logan let the Widow leave the hospital, to which he replies that at the time he knew nothing but he's researched and got told the Natasha is a spy too, but acknowledges that she wouldn't hire someone to shoot Pepper and comes to the conclusion that someone's after her.

He continues to narrate, saying that there'll be others and that the Widow needs to face them as the legend she is while Natasha is walking through a dock, claiming that she's close. She then turns, telling someone to reveal themselves. With this, Elektra does, telling the Widow that they need to talk, while Wolverine narrates, saying that legends always die hard.