BIOGRAPHY - Page 7
Black Widow was not left alone for long. Nelson was shot by the dissident group Black Spectre due to his office’s investigations, with which Daredevil quickly became involved. Black Widow was attacked back in San Francisco by Nekra, Priestess of Darkness and second-in-command of Black Spectre. Her mutant, hate-fueled strength and invulnerability overcame Natasha’s skills, 
and the Black Widow was brought before Mandrill. Another mutant, the leader of Black Spectre could control women through his potent bio-chemical pheromones, and Black Widow was soon enslaved to his commands. She revealed Matt Murdock’s secret identity and counseled Black Spectre on their plans to ultimately overthrow the United States.
Daredevil and Shanna the She-Devil teamed up against Black Spectre in New York, but they were both captured during the endgame and brought aboard the terrorists’ dirigible as it advanced on Washington. Mandrill left Black Widow to guard his prisoners and Daredevil tried to snap Natasha out of her spell. Shanna had fought Mandrill before and reported only a strong shock could break his control. Daredevil reminded Black Widow of the purse snatching they witnessed right before he left, how angry she became at the criminals and at him. Righteous fury arose in Natasha’s mind, and she broke through Mandrill’s chemical control. Black Widow showed Shanna how to 
bring down the dirigible, and together they defeated Nekra while Daredevil fought Mandrill and reclaimed the occupied White House. Matt and Natasha parted on better terms this time but, while they loved each other, they had yet to learn how to be together. He was staying in New York, and she still needed time to sort through her feelings, so she returned to California. [Daredevil (1st series) #109-112, Marvel Two-In-One #3]
Life in San Francisco wasn’t easy for the Black Widow. Her efforts to break into fashion design had been unsuccessful. In fact, she found herself virtually unemployable as a former foreign spy with no other marketable skills. Without Matt paying rent, she couldn’t afford to continue the lease on the North Shore mansion, and so she and Ivan became homeless. Daredevil came out west for a visit and they teamed up to defeat the Owl and his gang. Still, Natasha was a proud woman and didn’t want to rely upon Matthew or charity. She promised she would come to him in New York once her debts were clear and she could support herself. [Daredevil (1st series) #113-117]
Black Widow eventually returned to New York and reunited with Daredevil. They still loved each other, but understood they had serious problems to work through. Despite this, Matthew foolishly decided to surprise Natasha with a New Year’s Eve party hosted by Foggy Nelson, hoping the two of them could mend fences. Tasha was furious at being blindsided, but Nelson was genuinely 
contrite over being manipulated by Mr. Kline and tried to win her over. The party was interrupted by agents of Hydra attempting to kidnap Foggy Nelson. They were driven off by Daredevil and Black Widow with the help of Nick Fury’s agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. was being transferred from Presidential control to being answerable to a board of directors, and D.A. Franklin Nelson was one of the prospective directors. [Daredevil (1st series) #120]
Matt was worried about Foggy, and so Natasha and Ivan agreed to help provide surveillance for the District Attorney’s Office. Matt thanked Tasha for her help, and she accepted that Nelson was important to him, despite her history with the man. The time came when Hydra launched a full-fledged assault on the D.A.’s office to capture the prospective S.H.I.E.L.D. director. Fury’s agents were distracted by Hydra mobile tanks and soldiers laying siege to the office. The Dreadnought, a powerful Hydra android assassin, was sent in to retrieve Nelson personally. Daredevil and the Black Widow fought the Dreadnought, but its dizzying combination of gamma rays, flame blasts, freeze blasts, ballistics and other attacks overwhelmed them. Daredevil was frozen and the Dreadnought was prepared to execute the Black Widow as a potential threat. Foggy Nelson was 
trapped in this war zone but hidden nearby behind a pile of debris. Instead of letting Natasha be killed, Foggy emerged from hiding and surrendered himself to the Dreadnought in exchange for her life. The groggy Black Widow saw the D.A. being carried off by Hydra, and fully recognized what Nelson had sacrificed for her. All past grudges were forgotten and, at this point, nothing on Earth was going to stop Natasha Romanoff from rescuing Nelson and settling their ledger. [Daredevil (1st series) #121]
Black Widow was a whirlwind the next few days, fighting various Hydra cells as she, Daredevil and S.H.I.E.L.D. hunted for any sign of Foggy Nelson’s location. Natasha finally got a lead, beating a Hydra goon until he divulged the location of a Hydra section chief named Blackwing. Daredevil was familiar with Blackwing and was worried he was too dangerous for Black Widow. Daredevil tried to restrain Natasha from following up on the lead… and nearly lost the hand he used to grab her. Matt met up with Natasha on the roof after she stormed out. They made amends, temporarily, but it was clear his loner tendencies and over-protective nature were a poor fit for any relationship with the Black Widow. Their love wasn’t going to be enough.
Black Widow and Daredevil agreed Blackwing’s warehouse was probably a trap, but they decided to spring it together. A combination of Hydra section chiefs including Blackwing, Man-Killer and el Jaguar overpowered the two costumed heroes and took them hostage under Shea Stadium, along with Nelson. The warehouse was indeed a trap, one intended to detonate once Nick Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D. detachment followed after DD and the Widow’s initial assault. As Matt and Natasha struggled to get free, they seemingly saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents killed in an explosion… just 
before Fury radioed the Supreme Hydra, knocking at their door at the stadium. The “dead” S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been Life Model Decoys, while Fury and the real squadron had followed the signal Daredevil was secretly transmitting from his costume horns. When she asked him about it, Daredevil merely told the Widow that “there wasn’t time” to fill her in on the plan. Hydra was defeated, and Foggy Nelson turned down the offer to join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s board of directors. [Daredevil (1st series) #122-123]
Matthew’s dismissive attitude towards their partnership had reached the last straw. Natasha realized the man simply wasn’t going to change. While debriefing with S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Hydra fiasco, Black Widow was called into action against a nihilist group known as the Sword of Judgment, run by an old lover turned anarchist named Agamemnon. She and Ben Grimm were captured by the Sword, who intended to detonate a nuclear bomb on the fault lines in the Atlantic Ocean, triggering radioactive tidal waves in North America and Europe. The bomb was dropped three miles below the ocean’s surface, and only the Thing could pull up those three miles of cable to retrieve the device. In the meantime, the Black Widow ran a one-woman counter-terrorist strike inside their facility, single-handedly defending Grimm and hunting down a hundred terrorists until he was finished. [Marvel Two-In-One #10] Working alone, outside of Daredevil’s shadow, showed Natasha just what she had been missing. She and Matthew simply weren’t good together and, while she loved him, she said good-bye for the final time. [Daredevil (1st series) #124]
