What Has Come Before: After going to Tony Stark for business advice, Natasha Romanov was hired by the multi-billionaire to spy on Cross Technological Enterprises, a sometimes shady business rival, who had been sending odd e-mails to Stark asking for his help in reviving the Artificial Intelligence known as Jocasta. Unknown to CTE, Stark already had Jocasta inside his own computer system. After going undercover as a member of the secretarial pool of CTE, Natasha witnessed a mysterious exchange in a top-secret lab between her boss, Frank McCleary, and members of the research staff. She had then returned to the stockroom that she had used to sneak into the space above the ceiling. She had just put on her wig and glasses she wore as part of her disguise when the door to the stockroom was unlocked!

Natasha Romanov was a sitting duck.

As the door to the small stockroom opened, she only had time to dive behind a nearby filing cabinet at the opposite end of the room. Her work clothes were folded neatly on a shelf in plain sight of whoever would enter the room. She was wearing her traditional black leather outfit she wore as the Black Widow. "Stupid woman," she thought, "I couldn't be much more identifiable if I had just tattooed my name on my forehead."

Natasha's only hope was that the stranger entering the room was just unlocking the door, and they didn't suspect she was in there. Unfortunately, as she dived behind the cabinet, her foot hit a small pile of papers, causing her to slip and make a loud thump as she bumped into the shelves. The door opened, and what appeared to be a custodian flipped on the light.

"Who's there?" he called out. "You, behind the cabinet, come out now or I'm callin' security!"

Natasha thought fast, putting to use many years of espionage training as a member of the KGB and SHIELD. Luckily, she was wearing her wig and glasses. She poked just her head out from behind the cabinet, and smiled embarrassingly. "No, no…please don't call security. I…I was supposed to wait for someone here. We…were going to…you know…" With that, she glanced at her clothes on the shelf. The man followed her gaze and blushed, catching on.

"Oh…er…um…Well, you know, Miss…that's kind of against company policy. You know…employees…um…fraternizing with each other on company grounds. Are you really naked behind there?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, um…yes. Now if you would kindly step out, I'd like to get dressed, please." She responded.

The man stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Here, um, let me get you your clothes." Natasha knew that she could very easily have gotten her own clothes if he had merely stepped out and closed the door behind him, but obviously he thought he was going to get a free glimpse of her. He grabbed her clothes and approached the filing cabinet she was hiding behind "Who…who were you supposed to meet here, anyway?"

"John…John, from accounting." Natasha hated giving out blind information, but she didn't really know anyone well enough in this company to know if they would actually do this kind of thing, so she had just used the most common name available.

The man reached the cabinet, and held out her clothes. "John? Accounting? But we don't have a John in acc-urk!!" Natasha's hand shot out from behind the cabinet, grabbed the man by the neck, and pulled his face into the shelves behind her. He immediately fell into a heap on the floor, unconscious.

"You could have avoided this, my friend," she said as she looked around for something to tie the custodian up. She found some scotch tape and promptly used several rolls to tie up his hands and feet, as well as wrap it around his mouth. She then pulled him back behind the filing cabinet, out of view. She then dressed herself, gathered the information she had obtained*, and opened the door of the stockroom slightly. She peeked out to make sure no one was nearby, and slipped back out.

* (From last issue ~Jason)

Natasha cursed herself for the incident in the stockroom. It meant she had to decide whether to abandon her undercover duties and take what information she had to Stark, even if nothing came of it, or finish her work day and risk the custodian being discovered and herself being caught. She thought the best thing to do was try to get out by using the system. She would go back to work and then fake an illness. This would give her an excuse to leave as quickly as possible, and hopefully avoid any red flags like if she just up and left without explanation.

Natasha rounded a corner and promptly ran into her boss, Frank McCleary, headed the other way from the AI labs.

"Ah, Ms. Jones. My apologies for not watching where I was going. Have you finished the-" and Natasha promptly threw up on his shoes.

"Ah, spontaneous regurgitation." Natasha thought as she forced her breakfast out onto the Armani suit of her supervisor. "One of the lesser-used tricks the KGB taught me." She then straightened up and looked at McCleary, trying to convey a look of sickliness and embarrassment at the same time. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said as she wiped at her mouth. "I'm afraid I'm not feeling well at all and oh, Mr. McCleary, I'm so sorry!" She dropped to her feet, pulling a tissue out of her purse, and began wiping at the mess on his shoes, and only succeeding in smearing the mess even more.

Frank, with a bit of a queasy look on his own face, took hold of Natasha's elbow and raised her to her feet. "It's ah, okay, Ms. Jones. Uhh…why don't you take the rest of the day off? I insist."

Natasha looked at him weakly. "Thank you, sir. I'll-I'll pay to have those clothes dry-cleaned, too. Just send me the bill."

He looked down at his vomit-stained clothes, and then back at Natasha. "Uh, that's okay. I was about to throw this old thing out anyway. Now if you'll-urp-excuse me…I think I'm going to go wash up." With that, he quickly turned and headed in the direction of the executive washroom. Natasha inwardly smirked.

Back in Manhattan, William Peak headed back to the office he shared with the Black Widow as Widow's Peak Enterprises. He was finishing his second street vended hot dog, and was starting to feel the effects of the first one in his stomach. He quickly popped a couple of antacids and belched slightly.

"You'd think someone used to eating English food all his life would have a stronger stomach," he thought. "Of course, it could be the fact that I have eaten English food all my life that's causing me indigestion. Ah, well…back to the office with me."

As he passed between two buildings, he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the alleyway. A bedraggled Hispanic man pointed a gun at him. "Gimme yo' money, man," he said. William noted that the man had the shakes, probably looking for drug money. He figured he could take this guy easy.

"Sure thing," William said. "No need for anyone to get hurt now, is there?" He slowly reached into his jacket while the mugger's eyes shifted about nervously.

Suddenly a passing taxi backfired, and the mugger's turned toward the street, startled. In that moment, Peak released his wallet, grabbed his gun from his shoulder holster, and pointed it at the mugger's head. The mugger looked back at Peak.

William smiled. "Seems what we have here is what you Americans call 'a Mexican standoff'. Now it's much too nice a day for bloodshed, so what say we put away our weapons, go our separate ways, and forget this whole thing happened?"

Before another word could be spoken, the mugger kicked the gun out of Peak's hand almost faster than he could register it even happening. "Oh, shi-" William started, and the mugger shot his weapon at him. Peak immediately felt consciousness leaving him and he slumped to the ground. The last thought that went through his head before he blacked out was "Stupid…stupid way to die, you old wanker…" and then all went blank.

The mugger paused for a minute, then nudged Peak's body with his shoe. There was no movement. He then stopped shaking, and stooped down next to William. A sly smile spread across his face.

"Perfect."

Natasha passed through the final security checkpoint, the specially lined hidden pocket in her bag baffling the x-ray machine as always. She thought that she was free to deliver the information she had gathered to Tony Stark. Together they could figure out who the man in the lab who was hooked up to the machines was for, and perhaps what the machines themselves were for.

Suddenly a voice rang out from behind her. "Ms. Jones?"

Natasha turned around to see a trio of CTE security facing her. Their faceless masks reflected her as she approached them. "Yes?" she asked.

One of the trio stepped forward. "We were informed that you are leaving work because you are ill. Is this correct?"

"Yes...yes it is." Natasha replied.

"Well, due to some…biological experiments we are performing here, it is required that anyone exhibiting any flu-like symptoms to report to the on-site physician for an immediate exam. If you'll just come with us, ma'am?"

She contemplated briefly. She couldn't afford to go back inside, for when the janitor in the storage room was discovered, security would close down the entire complex, not letting anyone out until they could find her. She could only think of two options. Hopefully the first one would work…

"Really guys," she began, "I'm sure it's just something I ate. I think those biological experiments you mentioned must be the food in the commissary. But I promise, if I don't feel better by the morning, I'll be right in for that exam. No sense wasting the company's money on a bout of food poisoning, is there?"

The security officer shook his head. "Sorry, ma'am…there's no exceptions to this, I'm afraid. He can have you checked and on your way within a half-hour."

"Blast", she thought. "I guess this leaves option two." In a fluid motion, she reached into her bag's hidden pocket, and pulled out a revolver. She aimed it at the three men. "I am sorry, my friends, but I must insist that I be allowed to leave."

The three men backed away a step. The first man then put his hands up in a calming gesture. "Now, Ms. Jones, there's no need for violence. Just put the gun down and no one has to get hurt."

Natasha backed toward the door to the parking lot. "In that you are correct, no one needs to get hurt." With that she aimed her gun at the floor just in front of the security officers and pulled the trigger. A small projectile exited the barrel with a muffled 'poomf' and hit the ground in front of the startled men. Immediately billowing smoke issued forth from the capsule and spread rapidly, obscuring all vision. Natasha made a break for the door, hoping the surprise and smoke would cover her exit.

Just as she reached the door, however, her arm was grabbed from behind. Out of the smoke, the security officer seemed to appear as if out of nowhere. "Gotcha!" he managed to get out before Natasha put the butt of her smoke-gun through the man's facemask and knocked him to the floor, blood gushing out of his now broken nose. Natasha ran out the door just as the smoke reached the sprinkler system. Water began spraying from the ceiling as the fire alarm sounded all around her.

She sprinted to the nearby employee parking lot, and crouched behind a row of cars. She fished in her bag for something Tony had given her. She pulled out a small device and pressed the button on the top. Immediately, the light waves in the vicinity began warping around her, making her nearly invisible. Tony used this cloaking technology in his armor, and thought a portable version of it might be 'useful to someone in the cloak and dagger business', as he had put it. "He was right," Natasha mused. "But, then again, he usually is."

In the distance, employees began streaming forth from the entrances of the building in response to the fire alarm. The security forces were having difficulty keeping order and looking for her at the same time. She figured one more distraction would make it safe for her to head back to Tony's office. She once again fished in her bag, and pulled out her car keys. She looked over to where her late model Ford Escort, the car she had been using in her Rebecca Jones cover, was parked a couple hundred yards away. She pointed the alarm remote at it and pressed the 'panic' button. It set off the explosives she had set up in her car in an impressive fireball. The people milling about, already nervous about the fire alarm, began screaming and spreading about in a panic. The security forces converged on the burning wrecked, guns drawn.

Across the parking lot, the Black Widow began silently and steadily heading for the highway and New York City.

Back in Manhattan, a phone rings several times. An answering machine picks up.

"Hello, you have reached the offices of Widow's Peak Enterprises. No one is in at the moment to take your call, but leave a name and a number you can be reached at, and we'll get back to you shortly. >BEEEEP<"

"William? This is Natasha. I am calling to tell you my cover's been blown, but not before I think I got some good information. I'm heading over to Stark's now. Contact me when you get in."

"Tony? Natasha Romanov has arrived."

"Thank you, Jocasta. Let her in."

The electronic entity that lived in the mainframe of Tony Stark's computer network automatically opened the front door of Stark Enterprises Queens branch office. Natasha stepped in, now shed of her disguise and in her Black Widow attire. She was wondering why William wasn't at the office, when Tony Stark's voice boomed from hidden speakers.

"Come on down to the lab, 'Tasha, I'm working on the armor down here." Tony's voice piped up over the p.a. system.

Natasha made her way to the hidden elevator behind Tony's lavish desk, the door hissing open as she approached. She stepped inside and the door closed and the elevator began its descent. "Thank you, Jocasta." Natasha said.

A hollow female voice emerged from the elevator's p.a. speaker. "My, pleasure, Natasha."

"Jocasta?"

"Yes, Natasha?"

"What is it like? Being inside Tony's computer system, I mean."

"It's like…being everywhere at once. Though I tend to keep the focus of my attention on Tony, I am also keeping tabs on his Seattle home, having a conversation with you, and helping Pepper with the day's e-mails."

"But…do you miss having a body?"* Natasha asked.

* (Jocasta's original robot body was destroyed back in Marvel Two-In-One #93. ~Jason)

"I still do have a body. This office is my body. Tony's home is my body. Even the Iron Man armor is my body. True, it's not a body like yours, with two arms, legs, etc. But it's like I have a million arms and legs, and can travel with the speed of thought across the country. I interact with people via sensors like you would with your eyes and ears." There was a brief pause. "Plus, from my point of view, I do have a body like any other person."

Natasha looked quizzical. "From your point of view?"

"Yes, from inside the computer. Here, let me show you."

Suddenly an opaque, three-dimensional image of an Asian woman was standing next to Natasha on the elevator.

Natasha reached out to touch the image. Her hand sunk into the holographic flesh. "This is a new look, Jocasta."

Jocasta smiled. "The image and the hologram are something Tony and I have been working on. Now, how you perceive this elevator, with me as translucent and everything else as solid?"

"Yes?" Natasha asked, becoming intrigue.

"Well, I perceive it as just the opposite. From my perspective, I am solid and you, as well as the elevator, are transparent. Like a ghost image. I am able to manipulate any of the devices hooked up to the computer system. Like-" and she reached up tp the light at the top of the elevator car. The light began to flicker. "When I opened the door for you, in my view I walked to the front door from Tony's lab, and opened it. Only in real time, it only took about a pico-second.

The elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, and opened. "That is amazing, Jocasta. I never realized how wonderful you had it."

Jocasta glanced briefly at Tony Stark, who was sitting at his workbench, soldering some circuitry, with a bit of sorrow in her eyes. "Yes…wonderful," then her image faded away.

Tony looked up as Natasha approached him. "What were you and 'Casta talking about?"

Natasha put her bag on the workbench. "Oh, nothing, Anthony. Merely girl talk."

Tony put down his soldering iron. "I'm assuming you came here for more than a talk with my computer. I saw the brouhaha that happened at CTE on the news. Your doing, I'm guessing?"

She reached into her bag and pulled out the digital camera. "You guess correct. Let's see what you can tell from this."

Pepper Potts sat at her computer terminal, chewing on a pencil. She hated going through the company's e-mails. She much preferred the old days with her steno pad and filing cabinets.

Jocasta's voiced piped up over the computer's speakers. "I've finished scanning the e-mails, Pepper. There are 63 new mails, with six of them containing viruses. They have, of course, been backtracked to their origin, and the authorities alerted. Would you care to see the remaining 57?"

Pepper sighed. "Not really, but it is part of my job. Anything look interesting?"

There was a brief pause. "We have the standard monthly request from SHIELD asking if Mister Stark will consider once again make armaments for them."

"Give the standard 'thanks, but no thanks' rejection letter to them." Pepper replied. "Next?"

"Bill Gates is having trouble with his new software, and wonders if Tony would look at it and figure out what's wrong?" Jocasta continued.

"Hmmm, hold onto that one. Tony might be interested in having Gates actually put out a program that works the first time it's released for once. Next?" Pepper asked.

Jocasta began again. "We have yet another request from CTE asking to hire Tony to help them with their A.I. experiments…who are yo--?" and the power abruptly shut off.

Tony hooked up the digital camera to his main computer console. "Jocasta," he began, "Would you download and display the pictures on this camera, please?"

"Certainly, Tony." Quickly, a series of pictures began appearing on the large computer screen.

Tony peered at the pictures, rubbing his chin. He pointed to one of the pictures. "Enlarge this one, please," he asked. The picture enlarged, showing a wide shot of the CTE lab, with most of the machines available.

"What is it?" Natasha asked. "Do you know what those machines are?"

"They just look like computer servers. Like the kind used to upload massive amounts of information at high speeds. But why would they hook someone up to those?" He squinted at the figure hooked up to the machines. After a moment, recognition appeared upon his face. "Jocasta, enlarge 3 times, now!"

The picture enlarged, the bald man in the yellow jumpsuit and red tufts of hair protruding from either side of his chin filling the screen. "You know this man, Tony?"

Tony turned to her. "That's no man…that's-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the voice of Jocasta. "Who are yo--?" and all went dark as the power went out--

--And promptly came back on again.

The lights came back on, the air conditioning kicked back in, and the large computer monitor flared back to life, showing the face of Jocasta in the middle of it.

"What the heck was that all about?" Tony asked rhetorically. "We run on our own generators down here. Jocasta, give me a full diagnostics, will you?"

Jocasta merely muttered. "Tony…I'm sorry. I didn't know…" before her image faded off the screen. The one from the photograph replaced it.

Tony scowled. "I knew it…Machinesmith!!"

The image of Machinesmith laughed. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes, Tony, it is I! I am once again in complete control of your entire computer system!* I am in control of all your top secret plans, your financial records, your smart homes! I am even in control of…" and with that, the Iron Man armor that had been hanging on the wall, hooked up to the mainframe, began to lift its gauntlets at them. The sound of its deadly repulsor blasts began its high-pitched whine.

* (Machinesmith was networked with Tony's computer system back during 'The Crossing' Crossover back in the mid-90's. ~Jason the Jaywalker)

To Be Continued…

Next issue: The Black Widow and Tony Stark face the wrath of technology gone amok!!! Plus, is Mister Peak really dead? Find out next issue!!