Bucky Barnes is at loose ends, worrying about the fate of his partner and lover the Black Widow, who has been kidnapped by the rogue Soviet agent Leo Novokov. SHIELD Agent Jasper Sitwell tries to put himself in the mind of their enemy and he eventually deduces where Natasha might be….
She is starring in a ballet at Lincoln Center in a special performance attended by the First Lady. Bucky and a SHIELD contingent arrive and warn the Secret Service who quietly spirit the First Lady and her party out. Seeing her target vanishing leads the brainwashed Natasha to pursue but she is intercepted by Bucky. The former allies spar on stage and are pinned down by gunfire from Novokov from a catwalk. As Bucky climbs to the walkway to confront the Soviet villain, Jasper engages Natasha. Unfortunately, the Black Widow gets the drop on Jasper with his own gun, prompting Bucky to leap to his rescue, penetrating her conditioning so that she remembers who she is. As Jasper takes her away to be debriefed by Nick Fury, Bucky heads to the villain’s last known base; there he rescues Professor Rodchenko from Novokov’s goons and learns that there was more to the brainwashing than he suspected. He phones SHIELD HQ to warn them, but there is no answer, the room a scene of blood and carnage….