The window washer of the building was holding on with all his might, crying out for someone to help as the device was cut and dangling. But at the last second, he slipped and began to fall and cry in terror again when he was immediately caught by the spectacular Spider-Man. He came running up the side of the building and rammed into the window washer, trying his best to not hurt him.

"I got ya!" Peter promised as he quickly grabbed onto the windows for support to slow him down. "Just hold on!"

Sliding down the side of the building, Peter knew he had too much momentum to stop safely with the man in his arms. Deciding to do what he could, Peter just leaped off the building, holding onto the man. He took the impact of the ground as he slammed against the alley and groaned from the impact.

"Thanks...Spider-Man." The washer sighed in relief as he crawled up in pain.

"You sure you're okay?" Peter asked as he saw an ambulance arrive.

"I'm sure." He promised him.

"Spider-Man! There's someone still in there!" One of the officers cried, gesturing to the fire.

"I'm on it!" Peter promised as he quickly leaped into the air and made his way inside.

He swung around the side of the building before he reached the floor and made it inside the window and was looking for anyone. He took a quick look and saw there was the injured guard.

"Spider-Man!" The injured guard cried as Peter ran over to him. "My arm..."

"I've got ya," Peter said as he then picked him off the ground. "Let's get the hell out of here." He then ran through the fire and leaped out of the building before shooting a web to descend. "Here he is."

"Thank you, Spider-Man." The paramedics say as they help the man.

Peter looked up at the building and knew that this was a recent attack and the person should still be there. Quickly making his way upward to where the fire was, he started to look and see how people could get out. He caressed his hand over the handle of a door he saw was blown off. Looked to be some sort of small explosive device.

Then he looked and noticed that there was a stairway door that was opened at the end of the hall. That must have been where the person came and went from. Pushing open the doors himself, Peter looked and could hear the muffled sounds of footsteps retreating. Quickly having a thought, Peter leaped and used the middle of the spiral staircase to fall faster and shot out a web to stop himself.

When he reached the bottom of the stairway, it seemed he had just missed whoever was responsible and ran out the doors. When he did just that, he noticed there was someone running away from the scene. Feeling that's who he was after, he quickly raced and leaped into the air, using the buildings to skid against the wall and reach them faster.

That's when he noticed that the person he was chasing was actually a woman. And what surprised him most, she didn't even look like a criminal. She seemed like she was just going to go out with some friends rather than blow up a building. She didn't have any signs of explosives on her, making him question if this is her.

"Were you just in that building?" Peter asks her casually.

But it seems she didn't take that well as she quickly took off running in the opposite direction.

Peter rolled his eyes under his socket, only causing his eyes to look like they were pinching. "Okay. We'll do it this way." He quickly sent out a shot of webbing at her feet, trying to keep her still. "You're not going anywhere."

But when the piece of webbing grabbed onto her hand, he watched as it started to glow purple. She seemed to freak out because of this and saw it was going up back towards Peter.

"Drop it! Hurry!" She pleaded with him.

Peter quickly dropped the webbing and watched as the whole web went up in flames and exploded, creating a smokescreen for her to quickly escape. He looked up at her and realized what was happening, this girl was like the Weather Wizard, a person with powers. She seemed to have the power to turn whatever she touched into a bomb. And it also seemed that she was terrified of this power of hers.

"Okay..." Peter didn't surely know how to take this one. "This is a new one."

Natalia was still inside the chair after they had safely fried the chip that was implanted in her. But whatever she expected to happen next had nothing on what actually did happen. She opened her eyes and saw Ronnie, Cisco, and Caitlin there, Clint and Bucky outside waiting to see what would happen. Natalia reached behind her head and went towards the area that held the chip... and scratched it.

Cisco, Ronnie, and Caitlin were a little on edge as they didn't know what to expect, but this wasn't exactly it.

"Nothing," Natalia tells the two of them with a shrug. "I... I still don't have anything."

"Whew." Cisco sighed as he let out a breath. "I thought that this would be like some sort of Total Recall moment where you go crazy." Both of the girls didn't seem to enjoy the statement and looked at him with annoyed looks on their faces. "Oh, come on, this is literally that scenario! Just a gender reversal."

"You calling me a female Arnold Schwarzenegger?" Natalia asked, not sure if she was supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"You're just as scary as him," Cisco stated.

Natalia hummed and shrugged as she pushed the gear out of the way. "How come it didn't work?"

"Actually, it did," Caitlin said and even showed Natalia that the chip was deactivated. "The chip is now fried, but it seems that whatever it was keeping you from accessing, it has basically become a mental block for you now. But maybe familiar surroundings to whatever the memories are blocking could help you remember them better."

"Great." Natalia sighed as she got up, stretching her legs. "So, even with it out of the way, still no answers to where they took my son."

"Just give it some time. If you don't get anything in the next few hours, then we can see about trying something else." Ronnie assured her that not all hope was lost. "We'll find out who took him and where."

Natalia wished she could believe her, but she just wasn't so sure. "I'm gonna run to the kitchen." She then started to stroll out of the room. "Call me when Peter gets back."

"I don't get it," Cisco said as she left the room and saw one of the other guys follow her. "Why doesn't she remember anything?"

"It's sort of similar to someone with amnesia." Caitlin tried to explain it to her friend. "She does have the memories, they just have to be obtained or unlocked."

"How does she unlock them?" Bucky asked as he walked in.

"There's no real answer." Caitlin didn't really know how to tell them that answer.

"It could be trigger words, scents, time. There are a dozen ways that people have managed to come back from memory loss," Ronnie shrugged, giving his opinion.

Natalia let out a weary sigh as she navigated her way through the labyrinthine corridors of STAR Labs, familiarity guiding her steps. The fluorescent lights above hummed softly, casting a sterile glow over the sleek equipment and high-tech monitors lining the walls. As she approached the large stainless steel refrigerator, a sense of anticipation tinged her curiosity. With a firm tug, she pulled open the door, only to be engulfed by the harsh, blinding radiance within.

As Natalia's vision struggled to adjust, she felt as though she were being drawn into a brilliant vortex. The dazzling light faded, and she found herself in a completely different environment. A harsh lamp beamed down on her, illuminating her features while casting stark shadows on the walls around her. Disoriented, she strained to peer beyond the brilliant glare, searching for some clue to her whereabouts.

"To think she is perfect," spoke a smooth, confident female voice, echoing through the dimly lit room. "And she volunteered."

"Does she comprehend the implications of this?" countered a deeper, gruff male voice, tinged with skepticism.

"She understands what's required of her," the woman assured confidently, her words laced with authority. "She will complete the mission."

"And with her, we will acquire our weapon," the man declared, a chilling finality in his tone.

Suddenly, the blinding light crashed over Natalia once more, overwhelming her senses. With a jolt, she snapped back to reality, finding herself once again staring into the hum of the fridge. The bright glow of the food items felt mundane compared to the intensity she had just experienced.

"Natalia?" Peter's voice broke through her foggy confusion, laced with genuine concern. He stood there, his eyes wide and searching, taken aback to see her transfixed in place. "You okay?"

Natalia shook her head as if trying to dislodge the remnants of her disorienting vision. "I'm not sure," she murmured, the weight of uncertainty clinging to her like a shadow.

"What happened?" Peter asked as he approached her.

"Uh, they fried the chip, but nothing happened, or so I thought," Natalia said, looking back at the fridge. "But... well, how did things go for you?"

"Well, I found another one of these Metas." Peter sighed. "Some sort of Meta who is capable of blowing things up on impact of touching something."

"That... is dangerous," Natalia commented. "So, what do we do?"

"Well, for one, I am going to run a facial match with her from my cameras," Peter stated. "You, you are going back to Caitlin. If you are starting to see something, then you better go talk to her." That was when his phone went off, causing him to sigh. "Okay, and this can't be good." He took a few steps back to take the call. "Yuri. What's up?"

"You were there at the bombing, right?" Yuri asks.

"Sure, there was a Metahuamn there," Peter confirmed. "Why? What's going on?"

"Well, the government came by looking for her," Yuri stated.

"You didn't happen to get her name, did you?" Peter asks.

"Our CSI did get that. Bette Sans Souci. EOD specialist," Yuri told him all she knew.

"Bombs expert?" Peter scofs. "That particle accelerator is some cruel, ironic mistress."

"Sending you her in case of emergency contact, might find something there. Hurry." Yuri warned him.

Peter did exactly that as he swung his way over to try and find this woman. He made it to the location and saw nothing to indicate she was there. He quickly uses his mask to scan the area.

"Ronnie, you got anything for me?" Peter asks.

"Uh, not much. None of the cameras in the area saw anything." Ronnie reported with a sigh. "Cisco and Caitlin are still keeping Tall, Dark, and Scary and his archer buddy preoccupied, so I am all you've got. Try your new mask functions?"

Peter sighed. "Let's try." He then scanned the area, trying to figure out where she could have gone. He got a few chemacles on the railing and a few warm footprint tracks on the ground. "Looks like we've got a trail."

Bette made her way to the doctor who had performed surgeries on her ever since the particle accelerator explosion. She marched her way inside, where she saw him.

"Sgt. Sans Souci."

"You remember me. Good." Bette snarled as she walked inside. "Because I remember you, Doctor. I remember waking up from a coma. You started cutting me open."

"I was only trying to help ease your condition. You couldn't control it." He defended, standing up.

"You did this to me. You and Eiling." Bette stated, believing it was their fault.

That was when she prepared to throw small projectiles to explode at him, but her hand was webbed up instantly. Then she looked behind her and saw it came from Spider-Man.

"Spider-Man?" Bette was surprised to see him again.

Peter was about to speak to Bette when his senses went off. Then he looked out and noticed that there were lights outside the window. He quickly reacted by trying to get her out of the way, but she was shot in the shoulder. He quickly tackled her to stop any more projectiles from hitting her as the army showed up.

"Go bring me my asset." General Eiling tells his men.

"You okay?" Peter asks, missing the man making his way out. "Look, I can get you out of here. I can help you understand what happened to you."

"How?" Bette asks.

"Because I know what happened to you," Peter promises.

That was when a flash granade got flung into the room, making him react fast, shooting a web at it, flinging it back outside. The flash caused a blinding light, giving Peter the chance to swing away unnoticed by anyone.

"Target is gone."

Peter made his way back to STAR Labs, where Natalia was still getting a light shun in her eyes by Caitlin. She was trying to see if repeating the process that went down would cause another memory to flicker back to the surface.

"Nothing." Natalia sighed. "I think it was a one-time thing."

"That's disappointing." Caitlin sighed.

"So, you were on some sort of table?" Ronnie asks. "Why?"

"The Red Room," Bucky took a guess. "They did all kinds of things to their assets down there. Including me and her."

"They said something about a mission and a weapon." Natalia sighed as she tried to remember. "I don't know what I did. What... what if I was in that alley for a reason? What if it has to do with that weapon? What if... what if I am really a spy?"

"Nat, you worked with me for two years before you went missing," Clint told her. "No explanation. No reason. I don't think it was because of some weapon."

"And we haven't seen each other for a while," Bucky admitted. "But you helped me adjust after the Red Room. I lost a lot of things. You're something I never thought I'd lose."

Natalia wished she could help them, but she didn't remember anything about this woman that they thought she was. She is not Natasha Romanoff.

"Guys?" Peter walked in, with Bette with him, her shoulder grazed. "I need you to help her."

"So..." Clint and Bucky were watching as Caitlin patched Bette up. "You're Spider-Man."

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "Sorry, slipped my mind."

"Seriously?" Natalia asked him.

"Look, I don't know you guys, and I don't know if I can trust you," Peter told them. "I just want my son back."

"Uh, guys?" Caitlin got their attention. She pulled something out of Bette's shoulder, revealing it to be a tracker. "We've got a problem."

"Uh-oh," All of them said in terror.

They heard a bleeping from their systems, showing that Eiling was coming in with a few dozen soldiers.

"That just got worse," Clint whispered. "We've gotta go."

"There isn't that many escape routes," Ronnie informed him. "This place wasn't built to be a secret base."

"Should have thought about that when you turned it into a secret base!" Bucky cried as he ran over to grab his jacket. "What's the plan, Clint?"

"Well, we're outgunned, and Eiling isn't a fan of us." Clint sighed. "I say we let them capture us, take us to whatever base, and then work out a plan from there."

"Okay, and when he decides he doesn't want to deal with SHIELD and takes us out?" Bucky asks.

"Good point," Clint nodded. "Okay, new plan-"

"Too late," They heard Eiling say, causing them to turn and see him and his armed soldiers enter the room, aiming their weapons at everyone. They made it into the medical lab, where they aimed guns at Caitlin and Bette, who raised their hands.

"STAR Labs. This place once stood for something. Now, all it is is a monument to one man's failures." Eiling mocked as he looked around. "We could have changed the world, you know?"

"With your evil monkey experiments?" Peter asked sarcastically. "Yeah, trust me, that ape hated me."

"Gorilla," Ronnie corrected.

"I don't necessarily care, dude," Peter replied.

"Barton. Barnes." Eiling seemed to recognize the two of them. "Is this a S.H.I.E.L.D. organization now? Is STAR Labs working for you?"

"Silent partner, you could say," Bucky stated.

Eiling then got a look at Natalia and stared at her. "Don't I know you?"

"I've been getting that a lot recently," Natalia sighed.

"Wait," Eiling exclaimed, his gaze darting between Barton, Barnes, and then piercing into Natalia with accusatory intensity. "It's you! The Black Widow. A traitor!"

"What?" Natalia's voice was a mixture of confusion and disbelief as she looked around at the hostile faces.

"What?" Clint echoed, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Huh?" Cisco chimed in, his confusion palpable amid the tension.

"Arrest her!" Eiling bellowed, and an ominous wave of armed men surged forward, closing in on her. "Natasha Romanoff..."

"For the love of God, I am not Natasha—" Natalia barely managed to protest before she was forcefully slammed against the table, the impact jarring her senses as they tried to restrain her with handcuffs.

"You are under arrest for..." Eiling's words were lost in the chaos as the world around her began to blur.

"Leave her alone!" someone shouted.

"Hey, get off of her!" another voice joined the fray, cutting through the tumult.

As Natalia struggled, an overwhelming fatigue swept over her, pulling her into a heavy fog. She felt a strange weight pressing down, her eyelids growing heavy like lead. The noise around her transformed into a cacophony of screams and shouts, a symphony of chaos before everything descended into darkness.

When she finally regained consciousness, an eerie silence enveloped her as she realized she was currently near the elevator, three stories away from where she was a second ago. Natalia found herself standing amidst a surreal tableau of chaos: dozens of armed soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, unconscious or injured. Their bones were broken, some even piercing out of the uniforms. Others had knives driven into their shoulders or legs, a few whimpering in agony. Looking back, she saw she left an entire trail of bodies the entire way over. She seemed to be in some sort of fighting stance, adrenaline surging through her veins, but her body was surprisingly calm.

"What happened?" Natalia whispered, her voice trembling with confusion as she took in the chaotic scene around her.

The remnants of destruction lay scattered, a stark contrast to the stark, sterile environment of STAR Labs. Flickering overhead lights cast eerie shadows that danced across the blood-splattered walls and the twisted metal of toppled equipment.

"Natalia!" a voice suddenly pierced through the air, urgent and filled with desperation.

Startled, Natalia spun around, her heart racing as she frantically searched for the source of the disembodied cry.

"You need to run!"

"Who's there?" she called out, her voice echoing in the stillness, anxiety creeping into her chest.

"Look to your left."

Turning her gaze, Natalia's eyes landed on the large star-shaped monitor that dominated the room; its screen was marred by a jagged crack, crimson streaks of what looked like blood trickling down like a grotesque reminder of violence. Slumped against the wall, a soldier lay motionless, a haunting tableau of defeat. But it was the figure beside him that captured her attention—a reflection that seemed eerily familiar. It was her, but twisted; her doppelgänger's expression radiated fury and frustration, her eyes blazing with a fierce urgency.

"You need to run. Now!" the doppelgänger insisted, her voice laced with an unyielding command.

A sudden volley of gunfire erupted from somewhere unseen, reverberating off the walls and sending a fresh wave of terror coursing through Natalia. Without hesitating, she turned on her heel, sprinting toward the stairway, her thoughts racing as she desperately sought an escape from the chaos that enveloped her like a suffocating shroud.

Natalia stood at the perimeter of STAR Labs, her heart racing as her gaze swept over the armed soldiers stationed outside. They moved with tense vigilance, circling their vehicles like wolves guarding their prey, their radios crackling with intermittent updates from inside. The sense of danger hung heavily in the air, a palpable tension that made her muscles tighten.

"Don't go that way," her reflection cautioned, breaking through the fog of her thoughts. "Back away. Stay against the wall."

Nodding instinctively, Natalia pressed her back against the cold concrete, her breath shallow and uneven. The city noises faded as she concentrated on her surroundings.

"Stay clear of any cameras. You know where they are. Cisco bragged about them all the time," the voice continued, sharp and urgent.

With each step, Natalia felt the thrill of being a shadow, a phantom slipping through the city's veins. She felt like a character out of a spy film, her heart pounding as she snuck towards the street. As she navigated the dimly lit sidewalk, a narrow alley caught her eye, beckoning from the corner of her vision.

"Down that alley," the reflection instructed, cutting through her inner turmoil.

Obeying the command, Natalia ducked into the darkness of the alley, the ambient noise of the street fading. Her eyes darted across the gloom until they landed on something partially hidden in the refuse — a worn, grimy hoodie.

"That hoodie," the voice urged, sensing her hesitation. "Put it on. Hide your face. Wear the hood."

With a grimace, Natalia retrieved the hoodie, its musty odor making her gag momentarily, but she pulled it over her head, hunching her shoulders in an attempt to conceal her identity. "What about Peter? Cisco? Ronnie? They're still there?" she asked, anxiety clawing at her throat.

"Gone," the reflection replied flatly. "Eiling got them out during the chaos."

"What chaos?" Natalia questioned, confused and desperate.

"You," the reflection answered simply.

Natalia's world tilted on its axis as the words echoed in her mind, a sudden clarity mingled with dread. "Who are you? Are you me?" The question felt like a lifeline thrown into the tempest of her thoughts.

"No," the reflection denied firmly. "You are me."

"What does that mean?" Natalia pressed, her heart pounding wildly. "Who... who are you?"

The reflection sighed, an air of resignation wrapping around her words. "You wanna do this now?"

"Yes," Natalia insisted, urgency building within her. "Tell me. Who are you? Who am I?"

With a resigned nod, the reflection divulged, "Fine. My name... our name is Natasha Romanoff."

The revelation hit Natalia like a bolt from the blue, freezing her in place. Natasha — the name she'd heard whispered by others, the woman whose shadow loomed large in the mystery of her son's fate. Was this the missing piece she'd been searching for? If she was Natasha Romanoff, then who was Natalia Rushman? All at once, the haunting questions swirled in her mind, leaving her grappling with a profound sense of loss and a renewed sense of purpose.