BIOGRAPHY - Page 14
With the Helicarrier downed during Onslaught, S.H.I.E.L.D. took up residence in Avengers Mansion as their local base of operations. [Punisher (3rd series) #17] Natasha accepted a mission from Dum Dum Dugan setting herself up to infiltrate the Russian mob, who had become increasingly active on the east coast. To position herself, Black Widow initiated a pattern of public behavior designed to make it look like she was losing her grip, taking extreme actions more 
becoming of a covert agent than a super-hero. As “the last Avenger” and the team’s grieving widow, Natasha’s cover story was that she intended to track down the team’s old villains and eliminate them by any means necessary. She tested out her extremist tactics against the Grey Gargoyle, and Daredevil “barely restrained” the Black Widow from killing him to get the job done. [Daredevil (1st series) #361]
The Black Widow’s crusade brought her into conflict with the Thunderbolts, the new team of heroes who arose in the aftermath of Onslaught and received commendations by the city. Natasha wanted no assistance in her mission against the Arms Merchant and the new Masters of Evil, but the Thunderbolts stayed involved in defiance of her wishes. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #3] The Widow’s suspicions were aroused, as the Thunderbolts appeared far too capable and comfortable with their abilities to be the mere amateurs they presented themselves as. Looking into their background, the Black Widow was perhaps the first to truly suspect the truth: the 
Thunderbolts were actually the old Masters of Evil, led by Baron Zemo. Natasha privately approached M.A.C.H.-1 and Songbird about her suspicions. She correctly deduced that some of the Thunderbolts truly enjoyed being heroes and might be willing to turn on Zemo if the opportunity presented itself. Black Widow was quite magnanimous with the pair, encouraging them to redeem themselves before it was too late and they went down with Zemo. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #9]
Natasha’s crusade to portray herself as heading down a dark path led her to consider a man 
named William Gatz. Gatz had run afoul of the Russian mafia, and they hired Omega Red to loudly eliminate the man. Black Widow renegotiated with Omega Red, convincing him to take a dive while she looked like a hard-boiled vigilante, “killing” a super-villain and bringing herself to the Russians’ attention. However, Gatz had been at the law firm of Sharpe, Nelson & Murdock when Omega Red attacked, bringing Daredevil into the mix. Unable to warn Matthew while being watched so publicly, Natasha held to her cover story and “tried to kill” Omega Red while Daredevil stopped her. Forced to improvise, Black Widow shot Daredevil in the chest, a non-fatal and low-caliber round, deliberately fired to miss vital organs. [Daredevil (1st series) #368]
Black Widow made off with Daredevil’s body after the media caught their confrontation on film, getting Matthew to Karen Page for immediate treatment. It was a hard choice to make, and Natasha fought to remain focused on her mission after leaving them. Her efforts paid off, though, and Black Widow was sought out by Davidoff, valet to General Tskarov, the Snow Wolf. In Brighton Beach, Tskarov tested Natasha’s resolve to see if she had truly broken from her old ways after “killing” her former partner and lover. Natasha learned Tskarov had already acquired the services of the former Super-Soldiers, Vanguard and Ursa Major, and she tried her best to appeal to him as a potential partner. Her act became less convincing after Daredevil stumbled into Little Odessa, still wounded but determined to find Natasha.
Locked up together for security purposes, Natasha defended her fall from grace to Daredevil while lightly tapping her fingers in Morse code, trusting Matthew’s hyper-hearing to read her hidden message. Although he understood, Daredevil still worried Natasha was going too far. He made a 
mistake mentioning the Avengers, as Natasha’s pain over losing her team was not part of the act but very, very real. They managed to free themselves and discovered Tskarov was keeping Vanguard’s sister Darkstar captive, when he and Ursa Major were only serving the general because he promised to find her. The Snow Wolf’s operation began to fall apart, and Black Widow pursued Tskarov personally while the others were occupied with his men. The Black Widow cornered the man responsible for so much pain, and genuinely considered whether eliminating her enemies as a spy would was better than holding to law & order like a super-hero. Fortunately, Daredevil followed to remind her of the better path, and Natasha took Tskarov into custody for S.H.I.E.L.D. rather than murdering him in cold blood. [Daredevil (1st series) #369-370]
It was fortunate indeed that Black Widow kept to the Avengers’ values, for soon after the Avengers were revealed to be alive and well. All the comrades Natasha thought she lost to Onslaught had actually been displaced into another reality and had found their way home. The weight off of Natasha’s soul was immense as she opened up to Daredevil about her feelings. She apologized to Matthew for shooting him, thanking him for watching over her and even engaged in some harmless flirting. [Daredevil (1st series) #371] Among the Avengers she remained more guarded, however. Madame Natasha still saw herself as a failure for allowing the team to crumble under her watch. Her decision to return to espionage rather than remain in super-heroics remained firm, and 
she only reluctantly engaged with the team as they reformed. When the founding members took responsibility for rebuilding the active roster, Natasha quickly left before anybody could even ask her to remain. [Avengers (3rd series) #1-4] Her only major contribution during this restructuring was, as chairwoman at the time, she participated in a court-martial called by Iron Man to judge his own actions during the Crossing affair. Dead, resurrected and seemingly free of outside influence, Stark was declared not responsible by the inquest. [Avengers Annual ‘01]
On behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow investigated Freedomslight, a grass-roots organization of urban terrorists organized through the dark web. Their leader, Ebon Flame, was a mysterious woman who the Freedomslight recruits had never met in person, only online. Black Widow was 
on-scene to stop a bank robbery by Freedomslight in Portland, Maine, and her interrogations of the four gunmen afterwards led her to believe there was an “inside man.” Since the terrorists tried to escape with the senior citizen Lottie Hederman as hostage, Natasha thought Lottie was an unlikely but viable possibility. At her home later, Lottie admitted to Black Widow her son Herve was part of Freedomslight. Lottie described Herve as angry at the government, constantly complaining online with other folk. Using Herve’s computer, Black Widow broke into Freedomslight’s private server and learned a great deal about the organization’s inner workings.
With no sign of Ebon Flame, Black Widow decided on a risky plan to smoke out the leader of Freedomslight. Since no one had apparently ever met Ebon Flame, Natasha chose to pose as Ebon Flame herself, using a disguise and what she learned from Herve’s computer to sell the act. Either she would dismantle Freedomslight from the inside or force the real Ebon Flame to step forward. As Ebon Flame, she freed the bank robbers and brought them to Freedomslight’s training compound. She also recruited Lottie, bringing her into the mix and stirring the pot by claiming Ebon Flame fell in love with Herve through his writing, and wanted Lottie nearby for their final success.
Freedomslight’s plan was to steal a trigger device from S.H.I.E.L.D., designed to set off subcutaneous suicide implants which had once been distributed among agents before being discontinued. While operating as Ebon Flame, Natasha rigged up sabotage at the compound to 
make it seem like Black Widow was invading, and later orchestrated a fight in the shadows at the S.H.I.E.L.D. storage depot, all the while keeping Black Widow and Ebon Flame from being seen together. Finally, Natasha fully discredited Ebon Flame by having her “admit” she didn’t care about Freedomslight, their sheep-like members, or their cause. As Ebon Flame, she claimed she had been an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who infiltrated the urban terrorism scene, got addicted to the sense of power and planned to use the trigger to extort money from S.H.I.E.L.D. for her own personal gain.
Black Widow’s counter-intelligence mission proved even more successful than she first thought. Lottie Hederman was revealed as an ex-Nazi who fled to America after World War II. She started Freedomslight online, using the two fake personas of Ebon Flame and her non-existent son Herve to stoke the fires of urban terrorism on the internet. When Natasha began posing as Ebon Flame and interacting with her, Lottie was completely confused by the imposter. Still, she was willing to bide her time while posing as a wide-eyed senior citizen. When Black Widow utterly discredited Ebon Flame, it was too much for Lottie’s weak heart and she died seeing all her plans go up in flames. For added measure, Natasha posed as Lottie Hederman when an overly-interested FBI Agent Carter Tenko came around asking about the bank robbery. “Lottie” gave Agent Tenko an edited account of Natasha’s mission, presenting Black Widow and Ebon Flame as genuine rivals until the end. It turned out Tenko was Ebon Flame’s man inside the government who fed Freedomslight the information on the trigger, and S.H.I.E.L.D. soon arrested him as well. [Journey into Mystery #517-519]
One cold winter, Black Widow received word from a Russian black marketer. The man claimed he had uncovered the diary of her birth mother from Stalingrad and was willing to sell it to her. Natasha suspected a trap but met with the gangster in Russia anyway. Sure enough, she was ambushed by an armored sniper named Vindiktor and his men. Vindiktor claimed to be Natasha’s brother, burned in the fire Ivan helped her escape and gaining none of the fortune and privilege she found in life. Black Widow fought the cyborg and sent him plummeting to his death off a building. With Vindiktor dead and the diary proven to be blank, Natasha was once again at a dead end over finding out anything about her true family history. [Shadows & Light #1]
Despite herself, Black Widow soon reconnected with Iron Man. A series of scientists and 
engineers specializing in micro-electronics had been kidnapped in or near Australia recently. Natasha hoped Tony would be willing to serve as bait and lead S.H.I.E.L.D. to the kidnappers. Stark was willing, but he also wanted Natasha to open up about the Avengers disbanding. As a founding member, Iron Man was uncomfortable that the Avengers proved unable to recover after he was gone. It was still a sore subject for Natasha. She was committed to leaving behind the life of a public super-heroine she attempted to fit into for the last few years. As a hero, she was only a very athletic human. As a spy and covert agent, she felt more at home and able to use all her skills to their fullest.
Tony was kidnapped and, though his tracking device was destroyed, he managed to jury-rig another and called Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D. to his rescue at a hidden bunker in the Outback. The engineers had been working on a massive project, but compartmentalized, so even Stark couldn’t see the whole picture. [Iron Man (3rd series) #5-6] In time, Stark discovered the truth –
the Mandarin had commissioned an enormous flying ship shaped like a dragon. However, he was compromised and severely beaten by Spymaster and his Executive Elite during his investigations. Only the timely arrival of the Black Widow saved his life. Despite her better judgment, Black Widow helped the seriously injured Stark retrieve his armor to engage the Mandarin. Natasha joined forces with the Avengers and Russia’s Winter Guard to fight the Mandarin’s mercenary army on the Russian border, until Iron Man defeated his nemesis in the skies above. [Iron Man (3rd series) #8-11]