I'm sorry, I know I'm a day late. You guys probably don't want to hear excuses (even if they are valid) so I'm just going to tell you the main factor that prevented this upload. Internet problems. (Not to mention that I got sick, traveled, and have been really busy,all of which have made this chapter almost impossible to write.) I'm warning you guys right now, this chapter was very odd for me to write, and I think it is strongly OOC. I do not like it, so any criticism is gladly accepted. I also haven't proofread it, so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes I am once again sorry.
Reviews:
Winterlover6: Haha, thanks so much! I tried ;)
ThatOneWeirdGuy: ... ;)
FictionFantasy VI: Thanks so much! I'm trying to create an intricate plot that seems plausible... so it's not to easy. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Your review made my day!
AsDarknessSpreads: Lol, I honestly didn't like him much at first in Thor, but he grew on me in the Avengers. (AKA the story of almost every fangirl)
KarinaMoreno2000: Here's my update :P, even if it's a day late. Don't worry there is a reason, and if I don't re-review my chapter layout before the next chapter, than yes I think some information will be there.
PizzaCanBePoetsToo: Thanks!

Chapter Three: Connections

November 19th, 2012
7:12am
Earth

Natasha Romanoff was in a particularly sour mood.

In wasn't anything unusual that she had to work undercover in order to defeat, solve, restrain or murder certain "scenarios". This part didn't bother her. It was her job, it was what she signed up for ever since Barton convinced her to defect sides, and in the end, it had been a step up on the ladder of morals. Don't get her wrong, she knows she's committed far too many immoral things to ever wish to be entirely redeemed. It didn't bother her. All Natasha cared about was living for the moment and the path that made her life worth living. The thing that did bother her enough to lower her mood, however, was the fact that Nick Fury suddenly told her to investigate the murder of a teenager like it was nothing usual.

She was a spy – a master of espionage. Natasha supposed it justified Fury's reasoning's' to make her into a detective when it was called for. But, she was also a master assassin, and even if this particular request was in her skill range, it just didn't sit well with her. It wasn't even practical. She knew Fury made this decision for reasons only he knew, for plots he was only dreaming of and for connections she might only be able to identify. It wasn't that Natasha didn't respect Fury or his judgement. She most certainly did, no questions asked. Although, when it came to questions, she wasn't too sure whether she wanted to know the answers to the ones she got, or if she was even asking the right ones anymore. The Director had as much blood on his hands as she did and he ran a world-wide organization to protect people while she was left harming the ones who didn't believe in his philosophies.

Natasha may be ruthless, cunning, and many more flattering and very un-flattering things to all whom knew her, but if one thing was certain it was that she was not an emotional person. She didn't have any religious ideals to follow, no family with hope to impress, and nobody she cared enough about to have it plastered in the stars. Therefore, just the aspect that she was disagreeing with Fury was odd. She knew he always did what he thought was best and she supported him. He told her what to do, that was obvious, but he never told her how to do it. Respectively, she's never told him how to do his job either. Their relationship worked out of mutual understandings and objectives, things they both sympathized to.

That's why Natasha just couldn't understand the need he'd had for her specifically, to investigate the murder of a teenager instead of someone completely capable but less well-known, someone that wasn't going to attract attention or seem incredibly out of place. Someone like Agent Hill.

Of course, she had suggested this theory as politely as she could to the Director, but all she received were a few more words with no more meaning than gibberish and an assignment she was still unpleased to work on.

That's why at this particular moment in time, Natasha stood facing a demolished energy plant as the sun attempted to bleed its rays throughout the fog of the morning haze. It was on the outskirts of the district, allowing her a clear view of the murky depths that surrounded Manhattan. Adjusting her autumn over-coat, she strode purposefully towards the unrecorded site of death for the victim.

Natasha just didn't know why it involved her.

She was never given details unless she specifically asked for them, and this time even Fury hadn't told her. It was surprising to say the least, considering he had her personally investigate the Avengers initiative when she had been a part of it. Due to that, Natasha found it very hard to come up with a plausible reason as to keep her misinformed.

The only connection Natasha had possibly come up with for this rather random and untimely investigation was that the night Gwen Stacy died was also on the same day of Loki's invasion. But even this didn't make sense, because regrettably plenty of people had died during that ordeal so it didn't seem like such a crazy thing that this recently graduated female would have died in that incident. The only other possibility Natasha could come up with as to this peculiar scenario would be the fact that it had happened hours after they had defeated Loki and his alien army, meaning her death had been a possible result of an unknown aftermath.

As she perused through the oddly designed power plant, she noticed the even more oddly placed clock tower that was the even stranger place of Miss Stacy's death. It was obvious that the clock tower was broken. The hands read the time being around 1:21 when it was clearly a quarter past seven as Natasha quickly checked her accurate watch.

Using her somewhat existent detective skills, she attempted to skillfully evaluate the situation. Assuming the clock was working when Miss Stacy was here and had malfunctioned, 1:21 – which Natasha assumed was the following morning – could possibly be the exact time of the girl's unfortunate death. If not, it was simply another useless factor in an investigation of nothing, considering there were no leads, no body to investigate or any witnesses to contact. All Natasha knew was the location and even that didn't seem any helpful.

However, she also knew Fury wouldn't give her something to work on if there wasn't a way in order to do so. There had to be something there, some sort of clue as to what happened to Miss Stacy on that particular night, and it was Natasha's job to figure it out. Finally understanding the difficulty of this particular case, Natasha assumed that could be one of the factors as to why she was the sole person assigned to solve it. Perhaps the Director believed in her intellect as much as her prowess in espionage, or he just really, really felt like pissing her off, especially when he didn't give her any details as to why she needed to solve this in the first place.

As far as she knew, this could be up to the NYPD and had nothing to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. whatsoever.

Despite what she believed, she didn't have a choice in matter. She had to figure out something, and if she didn't, well she would have to face Fury empty handed. Even to someone like Natasha, that wasn't an option.

Her only clue at this point was the very obvious Oscorp Power sign plastered across the energy plant. They had formerly run the electrical grid throughout New York City until it went haywire with what Natasha assumed was Loki's wormhole. The city had blackened, and along with all the chaos occurring there had to be some major electrical interference. Somehow Stark tech managed to take over but not without a fight. In Natasha's opinion, Norman Osborn's death had also killed his company. His son was managing it well enough, but after the grid collapse and Stark initiating his control – it was only a matter of time until the company either died or became a smaller branch of Stark Industries.

Even so as she walked inside the power building, she was surprised to see most of the electrical properties functioning normally. It wasn't until she tried to reach the upper levels she began to see bloodstains and the obvious neglect to the machines. As she looked out from the illuminated windows, from the neglected control panel, she noticed another peculiar thing.

Some sort of nylon cord, presumably a conductor, was attaching four of the power mainframes – whom were most definitely torn apart – back together and somehow keeping the grid functioning. Curious, Natasha left the building once again to see the strange structure. As she approached, she recognized it not only as nylon cord but the webbing of the almost non-existent vigilante – Spider-Man.

She hadn't heard of him for months, but she supposed that could have been because she was so preoccupied with S.H.I.E.L.D. matters she never noticed. He was just another one of those named superheroes in the world and she couldn't care less. Suddenly, as abrupt as a switch turning on, she once again surveyed the wreckage that she assumed was from power grid combustion. Now she truly saw it for what it was. With this she was already half way through her investigation to figure out what happened here.

It was a battlefield.

It was obvious Spider-Man had been involved due to the abundance of whatever he used as "webbing", but the questions were these: who was he fighting in a power plant and what did Gwen Stacy have to do with any of this?

Natasha glanced around once more, hoping to uncover more secrets now that she was asking the right questions. Gwen was a worker at Oscorp, therefore she might have been here to help with the repair… but an electrical major would have to be here, Gwen was just out of high school. What Natasha needed to know what who designed this power grid, because they were ones most likely here to help with the repair at the time.

But, why was Spider-Man here? That means there must have been some sort of threat to civilians. Loki was here with his chitauri army, but that was hours before. Just what sort of threat was here after all that? Did Loki leave something behind? Was it something completely new? If so, why that night of all nights?

Calmly, Natasha slipped into her state of mind that allowed her to think like a criminal. She didn't know how much it would help in this case, but she supposed it was worth a shot.

The city would have been recuperating from the earlier invasion. Police force would be spread thin and small crimes would go unnoticed in all the wreckage. Power was off and one due to certain damages, no one really noticed amongst the chaos. Hours later if the grid were to be shut off, it would be seen as an after effect taking its toll on the straining power supply. The power shutting off would disable any camera footage in places, allowing for easy break-ins and stealing. Perfect crime time.

Natasha assumed that someone came here to disable the grid to shop-lift or commit any other crimes. It must have been more than a no-name criminal if Spider-Man came here to confront them. It had to be someone important, along with someone who knew the grid.

Gwen Stacy? No, she wasn't skilled enough to do any of those things, along with the fact that she was killed. Spider-Man never killed, of that Natasha was sure. Perhaps, taken as a hostage? Why? What leverage would this person need if they only intended to disable the power-plant completely and conspicuously?

Unless, Gwen Stacy arrived with Spider-Man. That would make sense. Although, that would mean she knew the identity of Spider-Man, possibly even an important person to him. That just raises the question: why would Spider-Man bring her?

Natasha was rarely puzzled, but all the possibilities she came up with seemed illogical.

This villain must have had another purpose, or perhaps there was more than one. Whomever it was had to know about the Oscorp Power system, as well as be able to battle Spider-Man on par. Was it another mutant? Was it Loki? No that's preposterous, he was sent back to Asgard while Natasha watched, and even if he had somehow escaped back to Earth what was the motive? There were no people here to kill and destroying the power system would be no more than an inconvenience. More so, Loki always wanted a show – he would have never attempted any of this with stealth on his mind.

Natasha considered the idea of it being a new foe. It was possible but unlikely, especially if there were more than one. She searched her memory. Was there anything that could give her hints – that's when she remembered the small phenomenon in Times Square that occurred while God of Mischief first appeared on Earth and stole the Tesseract. There had been a being (perhaps a mutant) whom seemed able to control electricity. Spider-Man had fought him and saved countless lives, disabling the being with water before Ravencroft took him in.

Ravencroft. The name was fowl on Natasha's tongue. She knew how they tortured those who were there.

If this electrical being escaped Ravencroft, they would most likely head for electrical power, which at the time the biggest source in the city had been where she was standing. That was it, that was who Spider-Man was fighting.

But still the question lingered. Why was Gwen Stacy involved in all of this?

Her Oscorp employment seemed the most likely factor, although unless Natasha found a way to recreate the events that happened she would never figure it out. The only verified people she had as witnesses were dead or a certain vigilante, and it didn't make her life any easier. However, slowly a thought crept up to the back of her head like the spider she was looking for.

Fury had sent her to figure this out for one ultimate goal – Spider-Man. Natasha didn't know whether it involved threat containment to something as extreme as Avengers recruitment, but that much seemed obvious. The only next step she could take, the only plausible way to get answers, the very reason that she was here was so stupidly obvious it was genius.

Natasha had to track down Spider-Man's real identity.