Natasha Romanoff was face-to-face with the devil.

The Black Widow had come to Latveria in order to find any evidence of action against the neighboring nation of Symkaria, since the Symkarians had harbored Latverian rebels recently. While undercover, she learned that Doctor Doom planned on invading Symkaria after he tested a mysterious new weapon against them. She then infiltrated Castle Doom in order to search for this weapon. After a brief exploration of a residential wing of the palace, she came across a palatial room with a lone servant in it. She grabbed the servant in order to ascertain any information he might have, when the dread lord of Latveria, Doctor Victor Von Doom, intruded.

Now, the Black Widow stood within feet of Doctor Doom as she held her hostage between them. She hated using the servant as a hostage, but the Widow knew she was at a severe disadvantage. Meanwhile Doom strolled across the carpeted floor, to a small nightstand.

"Tell me, Miss Romanoff, why have you trespassed in my home and manhandled one of my staff?" he asked as he picked up an Oreo from a small stack that were on the nightstand. He dipped the sandwich cookie into a small cup of milk.

Black Widow had a prepared cover story in case of a situation like this. "I'm here as an advance scout for a task force to investigate reports of human rights violations." She knew this was a fairly flimsy story, but she was just looking for time to figure a way out of the castle.

Doom pulled the cookie out of the milk, slid it through the mouth slit on his iron mask, and took a bite. He held the rest of the cookie up and examined it. "The Americans may not have many positive points, but the production of this sandwich cookie is indeed one of them." He then lowered his hand and turned his steely gaze upon the Russian spy-for-hire. "But I digress. I know you are lying. I know you have sent by the Symkarians to spy upon me. This does not please me." He began to stride toward Black Widow.

She aimed her widow's bite at the servant's head. "Not another step, Doom. I don't want to have to kill him, but I will if I have to."

Doom paused in his approach a mere arms length from her and her hostage. "Oh, my," Doom said, "what a quandary. What am I to do? Oh, I think I know the answer." With that, he calmly grabbed the servant by the neck, and with a flick of an exoskeleton-enhanced wrist, snapped the servant's neck. The servant immediately became dead weight in Black Widow's grasp.

In a fluid motion, the Widow threw the lifeless body at Doom, and lunged for the still-open door to the corridor beyond. Doom, however, was faster. He swatted the body aside like it was a bothersome mosquito, and fired a blast from his gauntleted glove into the back of Black Widow, knocking her against the wall. She fell to the ground, the world swimming before her eyes. The last thing she saw before she passed out was the cold gray metallic boot of Doctor Doom, then all went black.

Natasha awoke with the feel of satin around her. She opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of an extremely large four-poster bed, in an even larger luxurious bedroom. For a moment, she thought perhaps she had dreamt the encounter with Doctor Doom. Then, as she sat up and pulled the elegant sheets off of her, she noticed two things. One was that she had a pair of mechanical bracelets about her wrists, and they weren't her widow's bite and line. The second was that there was a female humanoid robot standing about 10 feet away, watching her.

From the torso up, the robot appeared human, wearing standard servant attire. But it's lower half was one long shaft which ended in a set of tractor treads, like those on a tank. As Natasha stirred, the robot wheeled forward a bit. "Oh, you're awake!" the robot said, a slightly metallic ring to its voice. "The Master will be pleased. He wanted to speak with you as soon as you were conscious."

Natasha got out of the bed on the side farthest away from the robot, then quickly surveyed the room. There were several small windows on the walls, but they were too small for Natasha to fit through, and anyway, she didn't know where she was, and if she went blindly leaping out a window, she could find herself several hundred feet above the ground. Then she saw something she couldn't believe: the bedroom door was wide open! Without a second's hesitation, Natasha dashed for the open door. The robot merely stood still, watching her. However, as Natasha reached the doorway, she felt a shocking pain course through her body, and she was flung backward back into the room.

The robot wheeled up to her. "Tsk, tsk," it said. "Those manacles you wear confine you to this room. Any attempts to leave will result in more…painful…experiences like the one you just had. Also, if you attempt to remove the manacles, the resulting electrical feedback will kill you." Suddenly, the robot's voice changed from chastising to cheery. "But enough of that unpleasantness! I am here to see to your needs, and that is just what I'm going to do." The robot helped a shaky Natasha to her feet.

"Thank you," Natasha said. She looked at herself, and noticed herself in a long, satin nightgown. "Can you tell me where my clothes are?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, yes…we must get you presentable before the Master gets here!" She rolled over to a wardrobe closet and opened the doors. Inside, Natasha's Black Widow jumpsuit hung upon a clothes hanger. Natasha slipped out of her nightgown, and donned her Widow's costume. Unfortunately, her Widow's bite and line were nowhere to be seen.

The robot then took Natasha by the hand, and pulled her over to a small dining table on the other side of the room. On it were two platters with lids upon them. The robot lifted the lid off of the left platter, revealing a smorgasbord of fresh fruits. Strawberries, cantaloupe slices, oranges and more adorned the ornate plate.

"This seems a bit too much food for just me," Natasha said.

The robot laughed. "Oh, it's not all for you. It's for you and-"

"Me." In the doorway stood the imposing figure of Doctor Victor Von Doom. He strode forward with the stride of someone used to demanding respect and homage. Natasha stood firm as Doom closed in on her. She would not give him the satisfaction of cowing her. Doom loomed over her, the cold eyes behind his iron mask looking down at her. He then took a step back, bowed, and asked as if this were no more than a Sunday brunch, "Would you do me the pleasure of dining with me, Miss Romanoff?"

He snapped his fingers, and the robot pulled out a chair at the table for Natasha. She paused briefly, then sat down. Doom pulled out his chair, and also sat down. He picked up a strawberry, and offered it to Natasha.

"You must try these," he said. "Latverian strawberries are second to none, and this year's harvest was especially exquisite."

Natasha looked at the strawberry in Doom's hand, then reached out and picked up an orange slice off the platter instead. She took a bite of it, never taking her eyes off of Doom. She thought for a moment she saw something in Doom's eyes she had not noticed before. It was the look of someone who has perhaps been pushed to the edge of sanity, but it quickly faded, leaving only the traditional steely Doom glare. He merely shrugged slightly and slid the bright red fruit into his mouth.

"So," he began after swallowing the strawberry. "Have you enjoyed your accommodations here? I have tried to make your stay as comfortable as possible."

"A prison is still a prison, no matter how nice its trappings, Doom," Natasha said. "However, I must say I'm surprised to have awakened at all. Are you growing merciful in your declining years, Victor?"

"Merciful? I have always been extremely merciful. As a ruler, I must at all times weigh the good of the individual against the collective good of my people. If a few weeds must be plucked here and there to insure the well-being of the whole, then I will burden myself with the role of groundskeeper." Doctor Doom stood up, and leaned forward over the table toward Natasha, his tone changing from pleasant to stern. "But that has nothing to do with why I spared you. I have spared you so that you may watch as I punish Symkaria for daring to send a…a spy into my land. MY Land! I want you to watch as I punish them and I want you to know that you couldn't do a thing to stop it." Doom leaned even closer to Natasha, his voice growing more intense. "Not. A. Single. Thing."

Doom's face was mere inches above Natasha's, and they each glared at each other with such intensity that would cause lesser wills to weep.

Suddenly, Doom straightened up, and when he spoke, his voice was once again pleasant. "But time for fun and games later, eh? Oh! I almost forgot! I invited an old friend of yours for breakfast!" With that, he grabbed the lid off the second platter. Natasha looked and saw the head of Major Weil* sitting upon the platter. Doom replaced the lid, covering the severed head.

* (Major Weil was coerced by the Black Widow into revealing some of Doom's plans to her last issue. ~Jason)

Doctor Doom turned, and strode to the doorway, his green cape flowing majestically behind him. As he reached the door, he turned to Natasha, and held up two fingers. "That's two deaths you are responsible for so far, my dear. Soon you will be responsible for so many, many more." He walked out of the room, leaving Natasha to stare at the covered platter.

Natasha spent the next several hours trying to figure a way to escape her captivity. As she figured it, there were two immediate obstacles to her leaving: the manacles and the robot. While the robot may have looked very domestic, Natasha was sure Doom had built armaments into it…he was much too paranoid not to do so. Her first step was to gather information.

"Is there a name I may call you?" Natasha asked the robot, circling around it, looking for any weak points it may have. She noted the two thinnest parts were the neck and the rod that attached the torso to the wheel assembly.

"I am the Latverian Intellidroid Series Alpha, dedicated to a variety of services for the master, including security, housekeeping, and-" the robot began droning on and on.

"Yes, yes, I understand." Natasha broke in, cutting the robot off mid-sentence. "Hmm…would you mind if I called you L.I.S.A.?" She was trying to get an understanding as to how advanced the robot's artificial intelligence extended.

L.I.S.A.'s face lit up. "I think I'd like that very much! Oh, we're going to get along quite smashingly!"

One of the first rules of the spy game was to gain the trust of your target. Natasha hoped that it would help her in this situation, also. Natasha spent the next several hours talking like they were old friends. L.I.S.A. wouldn't divulge any of Doom's secrets to Natasha, but she had no problem talking current events, entertainment news, and the like. As the morning turned to afternoon, Natasha concocted a plan of escape.

Natasha stretched her arms above her and yawned deeply. "Well, L.I.S.A., this day has been quite interesting, but I think I would like to soak for awhile, to freshen up. Is there a lavatory I may use?"

L.I.S.A. pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "Yes, you'll find full facilities through that door. Just call if you need anything."

Natasha entered the lavish bathroom, and began filling the ornate bathtub with water. While the tub filled, she quickly looked around. She located a towel bar bolted to the wall. She pulled off the tasteful linens and gripped the iron bar tightly. She placed a foot against the stone wall for leverage and began pulling with all her might. After a few moments of nothing happening, a few small cracks began appearing in the ancient mortar. Then, with a loud 'CRUNCH', the moorings came out of the wall. Natasha hoped that the sound of the running water muffled the sound from the robot on the other side of the door. She quickly separated the iron bar from the moorings.

She then started scooping and splashing water out of the tub and onto the tile floor, creating an extremely slippery surface. The Widow then leapt against the wall, tiny miniature electro-static generators located in the fingertips and feet of her costume enabling her to stick to them. She quickly skittered up the wall and onto the ceiling, hanging upside down over the floor. Black Widow then called out to L.I.S.A. in the other room

"L.I.S.A.! Can you bring me some fresh towels, please?"

"Right away, dear!" The robot responded from the other room. A few moments later, the door opened, and the robot wheeled into the bathroom with an arm full of fluffy towels. L.I.S.A. was halfway to the bathtub before she realized there was no one in it. Before she could react, however, Black Widow dropped down from the ceiling behind her and, using her sticking ability to keep her footing on the slick floor, shoved L.I.S.A toward the bathtub. Her treads skidded on the wet surface, and when she hit the side of the tub, her top-heavy torso caused her to fall in.

L.I.S.A's torso and head turned around under the water to see The Widow standing over her. L.I.S.A.'s face turned to disapproval as she sat half-submerged in the tub. "I'm afraid you have made a grievous error, dear. My exterior is designed to be watertight. I'm afraid that I shall now have to discipline you." She placed her hands on the side of the tub to pull herself out when she noticed the iron bar The Widow was now twirling in her hands. "What are you-SQUARK!!"

The Black Widow shoved the end of the bar through L.I.S.A.'s neck, exposing her delicate electronics to the highly conductive water. The robot began spasming, as did the Widow, since the bar she was holding was acting like a lightning rod for the current surging through the water. Black Widow's every muscle was tensed to rock-hard rigidity for several interminable seconds. L.I.S.A. then exploded, shattering the bathtub and throwing the now-limp form of the Black Widow across the room. She lay still, her body slightly smoking as the water rushed around her.

Back in America

William Peak was sleeping soundly in his apartment in Manhattan, when an incessant knocking at his door woke him up. A seeming lifetime as part of the British intelligence division, MI-5, enabled him to awake fully in a matter of moments. He glanced at his bedside clock, and saw that it was barely 5 a.m.

"Christ," he exclaimed to himself as he got to his feet, "This had better be important or there'll be hell to pay."

On natural instinct, he reached into his bedside nightstand and pulled out a 9mm handgun and went to the front door, where someone was still knocking. As Peak got to the door, he made a mental note to install a peephole in the door so he could see who was in the hall in the future. "It'd serve the git knocking on my door if I installed a peephole right now with a bullet," he thought grumpily.

"Who is it?" Peak called through the door as he scratched at his chest.

Is…is this the home of William Peak?" a voice with a British accent called back from the other side.

At the sound of a very familiar accent, Peak perked up. "Yes…may I help you with something?"

"Ah, yes," the voice on the other door started. Peak could have sworn he knew that voice from somewhere. "I was out for a jog a few blocks from here when I came across a discarded wallet on the sidewalk. It had your name and this address on it, so I thought I'd do the right thing and return it."

"My wallet!" Peak thought. "The one that mugger lifted from me the other week! What are the chances?" he mused as he opened the door. Imagine his surprise when he saw standing on the other side of the door no one other than…himself? Before he could mutter a startled "Wha-?", he was shot by a tranquilizer dart from the gun the other William Peak was holding. A very familiar looking gun.

Peak almost immediately fell to the ground, drugged unconscious. The other Peak stepped inside the apartment, dragged the unconscious form inside, and closed the door behind him.

The Black Widow slowly stirred among the rubble of robot and bathtub. She got to her knees and took personal assessment of her body. Her Red Room* training had included electrocution torture tolerance, so her body was able to resist a higher degree of electrical current than the average person. Still, she had been quite shaken up. She checked the manacles on her wrists, but they quickly fell off and clattered to the floor, their electronic locks overloaded and burnt out. Underneath, her wrists were quite badly burned.

* (The Red Room was the KGB program that trained Natasha. ~Jason)

She stood up and looked around, finding a nearby towel. She ripped it into strips and soaked up some of the water that remained on the bathroom floor. She wrapped the strips around her wrists in an attempt to help deaden the pain.

She walked out back into the bedroom just in time for the first guard to enter from outside, investigating the sounds of the explosion. As the guard snapped his rifle to his shoulder, he was dropped by a lightning-fast drop kick to the face from the Widow. He dropped his rifle as he fell to the floor, and the Russian ex-spy quickly picked it up. She pointed it at the hapless guard and asked in a no-nonsense tone, "Doom's new weapon…where is he testing it. Tell me NOW!"

The guard was going to tell the Widow to go perform an anatomical impossibility on herself, but before he could even open his mouth, she lasered a hole through the man's left bicep. He yelped in pain.

"That was to show you I mean business. If you tell me anything other than what I want to know…" She then pressed the barrel of the rifle against the man's crotch.

"The east tower!! THE EAST TOWER!!" the terrified guard yelled. He knew giving the information would cost him his life when Doctor Doom found out, but a quick death was preferable to the torturous pain that the Widow would have inflicted on him. He was rewarded for his information with a blow to the side of the head with the butt of the rifle, knocking him unconscious.

As the Black Widow exited the bedroom into the corridor beyond, a group of guards rounded a nearby corner, and were immediately met by a hail of laser fire from her rifle. They quickly scattered back around the safety of the corner and began firing back. She quickly retreated the opposite way, picking her shots whenever somebody was foolish enough to poke their heads around the corner to shoot at her.

When she reached a turn in the corridor, she took several shots at the ceiling at the other end of the hall, causing a section of the castle above to collapse. It didn't block the corridor completely, but she knew it would slow down the guards. She turned to proceed down the hallway when she found herself confronted by another contingent of six of Doom's men.

"Drop your weapon NOW!" the leader of the squad demanded, as the rest of the men aimed their weapons at her.

The Widow, rather than dropping her gun, threw it over the guards' heads. On instinct, they all looked up at the arcing rifle, and in that moment, the quick-thinking spy rushed the startled men. She slid feet first between the men's feet, and skidded to a stop as she used her momentum to regain a standing position. The confused guards who were a moment ago looking up, found themselves watching a black blur sliding under their feet. Before they could comprehend what was happening, Natasha had caught the gun she had thrown and, with several well-placed shots, laid low the entire squad.

This was a side that most of the super-hero community never saw of Natasha Romanoff. She tried to abide by the ethics of the 'good guys' whenever possible, but she was pragmatic enough to realize when tough choices needed to be made, and she was resolute enough to make them. She knew she was fighting for the fate of an entire country, and she had to do whatever it took to win.

On the outskirts of the Symkarian village of Feasalburg, near the Symkaria/Latveria border

Silver Sable stood outside a nondescript transport truck as another such vehicle drove toward her from the East. It skidded to a stop on the gravel road just a few yards from Silver, kicking up a cloud of dust. One of Silver's Wild Pack hopped out of the truck, and walked up to her.

"Ms. Sable! I bring possibly dire news!" The agent seemed quite nervous as he addressed the platinum-haired head of Symkaria's national security.

"Yes? What is it?" she asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

"Latveria…Latveria has closed its borders."

Silver Sable scowled. "Blast! Fine. We'll head back to the capital and inform King Stefan and the Prime Minister immediately." She opened the door to her vehicle and, before getting in, looked toward the mountain separating Symkaria from Latveria. "Damn it, Natasha. What's going on in there?"

Back in Doom's castle

The Black Widow had faced no more resistance as she wound her way toward the East tower. She knew Doom's castle was filled with defenses; from human guards to robots to automatic weaponry. The lack of resistance since her initial encounter with the guards worried her immensely. She had been trying to avoid any hidden scanners she came across, but she knew, with the hurry she was in, that she could not have possibly avoided them all. She felt disturbingly like a mouse being led through a maze. But what would she find at the end?

She quickly came upon the entrance to the tower. A large wooden door stood before her. She grasped the handle to open it, and she didn't know whether to be happy or worried that it was unlocked. It opened outward with a moan that bespoke of terrible things within. A large set of stone steps spiraled its way up above her. She knew she was at a huge disadvantage, for she would be virtually unprotected if anyone fired at her from above. Not for a moment did her resolve weaken, however, and she quickly and quietly bounded up the steps toward the room at the top of the tower.

Doctor Doom stood at the controls of an elaborate machine and was staring out a window toward the west. Dark thoughts were nearly tangibly floating around him as he punched buttons and pulled levers. In the center of the room, a large column of machinery protruded up and through a portal in the tower's ceiling. It was beginning to crackle and glow with power.

Since his return to power, Doom had been determined to never again have his plans thwarted. The games he had played with Richards and his family* and the world's powers had been amusing, but now it was time for him to claim his destiny…the world. Strangely enough, he had received some of the materials for his plan from the most unlikely of sources. But that mattered little, for whether they sought to curry favor in Doom's new world or not, he would still grind them all under his boot heel.

(*Richards and his family are, obviously, Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four. ~Jason, the Fantastic One)

Now, to show the world his power, and to teach a lesson to the land that had dared harbor insurgents against his reign, Doom would use his weapon on the neighboring land of Symkaria.

The sensors in Doom's armor suddenly alerted him to the presence of the Black Widow behind him. It was a testament to her abilities that Doom hadn't sensed her the moment she began up the tower stairs.

"Welcome, Miss Romanoff. Come to watch the show?" Doom asked without even turning around. "I made sure you were undisturbed after your initial melee so you could reach here easier."

Natasha stood several yards behind him, her purloined rifle aimed at the megalomaniac's armored head.

"Get away from the machine, Victor," Natasha stated coldly. "I have no problems with shooting you from behind, if need be."

Doom turned around, and she could feel the bemused grin under his iron mask. "My, you are a product of your Russian masters, aren't you? So, what will you do if I say, activate the superconductive magnetic infindibulator?" Doom made a motion toward a button on the console next to him.

"I warned you, Doom."

Natasha pulled the trigger on the rifle…and nothing happened. She pulled it several more times, and Doom's laughter echoed throughout the castle. He quickly descended on her, his speed belying his armored bulk.

"Fool! Fool of a fool!" he bellowed, his laughter turning to rage. "Do you honestly think any of the weapons I designed could be used against me?"

Black Widow went to take a swing at Doom with the rifle, but the armored dictator merely swatted the weapon out of her hand and across the room. The impact of Doom's metal hand against hers broke her left wrist, sending a shock of new pain through her system.

She barely had time to register that pain when Doom grabbed her by her right wrist and lifted her off the ground. The pain from her burn almost caused her to pass out, but she fought off the darkness.

Doom pulled her face close to his. "I have defeated the likes of Galactus, and you think YOU can stop Me?!" and he threw her clear across the laboratory, where she collided with the stone wall. She landed awkwardly on her right ankle, bending it in a direction even her limber form couldn't handle.

She crawled to her feet, but found that she couldn't breathe properly. She had obviously broken several ribs in the collision with the wall…perhaps even punctured a lung.

Doctor Doom went back to his machine, and began punching in a sequence of numbers. On a large monitor, coordinates popped up on the screen, and the words "TARGET: FEASULBURG, SYMKARIA SELECTED" flashed upon the screen. Below, in smaller letters, the words "Do you wish to activate?" blinked on and off.

Natasha realized Doom was getting ready to test his weapon! She gripped a nearby stone window sill, determined to stop Doom from using his weapon, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sight that chilled her to the bone.

Outside the window, rising from a series of underground silos surrounding the castle, robots that could only have been Sentinels were emerging. The Sentinels, along with the entity known as Onslaught, had been responsible for Natasha Romanoff's greatest failure as a hero. While leader of the Avengers, the entire team had all supposedly died stopping Onslaught's invasion of New York with a Sentinel army. Even though the heroes had later turned up alive*, she still had a great deal of unresolved guilt at not being at the final battle with them.

* *(From the Onslaught crossover to the Heroes Return storyline. ~Jason)

"Sentinels?!" she gasped. "Your secret weapon is a Sentinel army? But how did you…?"

"Hmm?" Doom asked, as if he had forgotten about Natasha already. "Oh, the Sentinels? No, no…they are not my weapon. They are merely my shock troops. As for how I got them…why, I bought them!"

"But, but…" Natasha stammered. "But the only country who has Sentinels is…"

"That's right," Doom stated. "The United States of America sold me those Sentinels. Isn't capitalism grand?"

The realization of Doom's statement sunk in for a moment, then Natasha, ignoring her agonizing injuries, leaped at Doom, determined to find a weak spot in his armor. She was much too slow as a result of her injuries, and Doom backhanded her away from him. She once again went flying across the room due to the musculature enhancing armor Doom wore. She again impacted a wall, this time hitting headfirst. She crumpled to the ground, barely conscious.

"I have played nice with you so far, Miss Romanoff. Do not disturb me again and I may let you live to see the world under my rule." Doom began to punch a final series of commands into his console. In the center of the room, the column of machinery grew brighter and brighter.

The world swam before Black Widow. She knew she had to stop Doom, but for some reason her body wasn't responding very well to her thoughts. She thought she should feel more pain, but everything seemed to be going so far away from her, leaving her extremely sleepy. Her head felt wet and sticky, like someone had poured honey on it. She wondered if she were late for her dance recital. Her mother and father love to watch her dance…

"No!" Natasha said through gritted teeth, and came back to reality with a snap. She saw Doom at the console, and the column fairly humming with power now. She had to stop him, even if only for a few moments. A few moments might be all she needed to find his weakness…to find a way to stop him.

She looked around through blurring eyes, and saw the rifle Doom had swatted away from her a few yards away. She crawled on her elbows, every movement sending spasms of pain from many and varied parts of her ravaged body. Doom totally ignored her, engrossed with his diabolical scheme of revenge.

She reached the rifle, and got to her knees. She took the rifle and called to Doom.

"Victor," she said, her voice starting to sound distant again, "I've got something for you."

Doom turned toward her, and she threw the rifle barrel first toward Doom's left eye socket…

Doctor Doom turned to see a bloodied and broken Black Widow throwing a rifle at him.

It was a pathetic throw. He didn't even have to step out of the way. It passed to his left and landed on his computer console. In fact, it landed on…

Doctor Doom's laughter shook the castle as Natasha saw the rifle she had thrown completely miss Doom and hit the computer console. As it did so, the column in the center of the room seemed to collect all the energy that was discharging around it, and it flowed out through the roof. A blinding light seemed to shine through the windows and quickly vanished to the west.

Doom was still laughing. It was a dark laugh of victory. "The activator!! You hit the activation device. YOU fired the weapon!!"

The Widow slumped back down. What had she done--?

"This," Doom pointed to the column, "this is my new weapon. It takes ambient solar energy in the air, and converts it into an energy beam of unbelievable magnitude, which I can use to destroy cities. It even uses the Earth's own atmosphere to bounce the beam, so it can reach anywhere in the world. And this…this is just the prototype."

"Destroy…cities?" Natasha muttered, as her mind slowly made the connection between the statement and the target city still on the monitor screen.

Doom strolled back over to his console. "Would you like to see your handiwork, my dear?" he asked as he pushed a series of buttons. A satellite image popped up on the monitor, and closed in on the ground. Natasha wanted to avert her eyes, but found she just couldn't.

On the screen, a scene of utter devastation was coming into view. A miles large circle of land was now a charred and smoking ruin. Trees, buildings…people…all gone in an flash of deadly light.

Natasha's mind reeled, the world closed in around her, and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Doom looked at her briefly, an aura of arrogance and satisfaction virtually palpable around him, and activated a built-in communicator in his armor. Within a few moments, several guards and staff members arrived in the laboratory.

One of the guards looked at the Black Widow on the ground, and asked, "Do you want us to dispose of her, Master?"

Doom shook his head. "No. Stabilize her injuries and have her transported to her Russian homeland."

The guard was about to inquire as to why Russia, but decided quickly against it. He knew to question Doctor Doom was to risk the wrath of Doom. He merely pointed at the staff members, and they began emergency first-aid on Natasha.

Doom had his reasons for keeping Natasha alive, and returning her to Russia. He knew the knowledge that it was her actions that caused the death of thousands of innocents would haunt her, and she would never forget the power of Doom. Second, he knew that Russia's Red Room program had finally matched their greatest success, and he figured Natasha Romanoff would be quite interested in the results.

With that, he stepped over Natasha, and left the lab.

Epilogue

Silver Sable had just been a mile outside of Feasalburg, when the world grew blindingly bright momentarily. After her eyes regained focus, she stopped her truck and looked around her. Merely a few hundred yards behind her, the once lush and scenic Baltic scenery was now one of devastation. Where once the town of Feasalburg lay, now was nothing but a charred hole in the ground.

She stepped out of her truck, almost in shock, and walked to the edge of the destruction. For a moment, her eyes appeared to water, but just as quickly it disappeared. She turned on her heel, stormed back to her truck, and resumed her truck back to the capital. She only muttered one word the whole time…

"Doom."

Next issue: The ramifications of this issue begin as Natasha's life begins to fall apart! Recovering in Russia, she is faced with the fact that a loved one she thought long dead may in fact be still alive! Also, making her debut in the M2K-verse…Yelena Bolova, the second Black Widow!