In London, a rich society couple are killed in the explosion
of their Rolls-Royce….
In Alabama, a women’s rights activist is gunned down at an
abortion protest….
In cities all over the world, young women are being
murdered….
In Arizona, Natasha Romanova, the retired Black Widow, is on
her way to do some rock climbing when she stops to help a motorist with car trouble.
The man attacks her with a knife, she manages to disarm him and stab him with
his own weapon. He refuses help and doesn’t say a word in the hour it takes him
to die. Natasha calls private investigator (and former SHIELD Agent) Phil
Dexter for help….
Aboard a yacht in the Caribbean, millionaire CEO Ian
McMasters who is paying to have former Black Widows killed, rebukes his hired
gun Vassily Ilyich Ulyanov because his former KGB
killer failed to assassinate Natasha. McMasters wants to bring in the North
Institute….
Natasha tells Phil about the hitman, showing a distinctive
ring the man was wearing (still attached to his finger). Phil tells her the
activist killed in Alabama, Stacy Matheson, was really a retired KGB deep-cover
operative named Stefanya Melnikova. Nat has Phill drive her across country to
Alabama to attend the woman’s funeral. On the way they see a young woman
hitchhiking picked up by a truck. At the next gas station, they see the woman,
Sally Anne Carter, trying to escape the two rape-minded truckers. Phil doesn’t
want to get involved so Natasha steps forward and promises the men that if they
don’t let her go, they will never walk again. One guy attacks her, she takes
him down, grabs his knife and hurls it into the throat of the other guy who has
a gun. They take Sally along, Natasha pausing to break the spine of the
surviving trucker, keeping her promise. Natasha and Phil leave Sally in a safe
house, ditch Phil’s car, and take a train to Alabama. Phil criticizes Nat’s
actions and she defends her decision to assist a woman in trouble….
Shock troops have discovered Phil’s car out in the desert.
North Institute operatives Max Hunter (male) and Kestrel (female) arrive on the
scene. Though they know Natasha is long gone they give the order to open the
car…which explodes, killing several soldiers and making Hunter and Kestrel very
angry….