The expression on Tony's face turned serious upon hearing Fury's words.
"Thor! Go check Black Widow's situation right now! Maybe something happened to her. Fury tried to contact her just now but she didn't respond."
Hearing that, Thor nodded. He then swirled his hammer before launching himself toward the top of Stark Tower.
Watching Thor launch himself upward, Tony turned to the others—Banner, who had just returned to normal, Captain America, and Hawkeye.
"I'm gonna say, I've never worked my body this hard before! Everything hurts. After all this, I'm just gonna throw myself in a jacuzzi!" Tony said, trying to lighten the mood.
"But before that, let's go up, catch that bastard Loki, and see what happened to Black Widow. Maybe her comms device broke in the fight and Fury couldn't contact her."
Everyone next to him nodded in agreement before starting to move, walking toward the building that had once been the center of all the chaos.
"Wait!"
They heard Tony shout.
"Uhn… can somebody give me a hand? I can't move. My armor's out of energy..."
Seeing him like that, Cap let out a laugh before helping him up. Then they all moved together toward the building.
—
On top of the building, just a few seconds later, Thor landed on the balcony where the portal mechanism had been.
He looked around, trying to find traces of a fight or struggle—anything that could've involved Black Widow.
But after a few seconds, he saw nothing. Not a single sign of a fight. All he found was a strange human-sized cocoon stuck to a wall.
"She's not here… Did she go down to capture Loki?" Thor muttered to himself.
"What strange taste Stark has... Who uses a human-sized cocoon as decoration? I thought only Loki had tastes this weird."
He approached it, curious about Stark's supposed decor, when something caught his eye.
"Wait… is that red hair coming out of it?"
Indeed, a strand of red hair was poking out of the cocoon. As he got closer, he saw eyes staring back at him.
"Lady Romanoff!" Thor shouted.
The cocoon he had thought was some odd decoration was, in fact, Black Widow.
Almost her entire body was wrapped in webs. Her mouth was sealed shut, only her nose, eyes, and some hair left exposed.
"Hmmm! Hmmm!" she tried to speak, but only muffled sounds came through the webbing.
Seeing her struggle, Thor tried to remove the web from her mouth.
"Hnng!"
Natasha protested in pain. As he tried to peel off the web, it tugged at her lips.
Seeing this, he stopped. He couldn't remove it without hurting her. Well, he could, but her lips might come off with it.
He scratched his head, thinking of another way to free her.
After a moment, he decided it would be better to remove the web cocoon first and deal with the gag later.
He placed both hands on her chest area and grabbed the web that covered her. He pulled—one hand to the left, the other to the right.
But no matter how much strength he used, the web didn't tear; it only stretched.
Minutes passed as he kept trying, putting in all his strength, but it was in vain. Not even a single thread of web was damaged.
"Hah... hah..."
"By Odin! What is this thing made of?!" he shouted, stunned that mere webbing could resist his strength.
Frustrated, he tried a different method. Instead of pulling the web sideways, he grabbed it and pulled it toward himself with all his might.
Crack!
Instead of the web tearing, the wall Black Widow was stuck to couldn't bear the force and broke.
The cocoon and a part of the wall were now in Thor's hand.
Natasha glared at him.
Sensing her glare, Thor turned his face away, unsure where to look.
"Sorry, I didn't think it would be that strong."
"Hmmhm humhm humm!" she tried to speak through the gag.
"What? I can't understand you..."
Black Widow rolled her eyes.
"I'll take you to the others. Maybe they can help."
"Mmhm! Mmhm!" she mumbled, seemingly agreeing as if that's what she had been trying to say all along.
"Hold on tight. I'll need to break a few walls to get us down."
He smiled, but all he got in return was another cold glare.
Feeling her dissatisfaction, Thor began moving toward the inside of the building.
Using Mjölnir in his right hand as a demolition hammer while holding Natasha in his left, he created an entrance large enough for them both.
Bam!
With one powerful swing, a hole big enough for him to pass through while holding her was created.
As he was about to enter, he saw some familiar figures.
Tony, Cap, Banner, and Hawkeye stood in the center of the room. Lying unconscious on the ground between them was Loki.
They all turned to look at the sudden new hole in the wall.
And then their eyes locked onto Natasha.
"What made you want to start working as a construction worker right now? I know you've got a hammer for it and all... but does it have to be my building?" Tony said with a raised eyebrow.
"And why does Natasha look like a rice cake in your arms? What happened to her?"
He gestured toward Natasha, which caused her to roll her eyes at him.
"I don't know, when I landed on the balcony she was already like that. I tried to set her free but I couldn't. The material this thing is made of is too strong. No matter how much force I used, it only stretched."
Thor said, putting Black Widow down on the ground while pointing at the material that was surrounding her.
Hearing that, they all got closer to Black Widow, who was now lying on the ground. Tony, who had already removed his armor, touched the material.
He frowned, almost certain he'd seen this material somewhere else.
"Jarvis! Scan the material that's surrounding Black Widow. See if it's in our database."
"Right away, sir."
Jarvis, his AI, responded. A mechanical arm extended from a wall, emitting a blue light that scanned the material.
A few seconds passed before the process stopped.
"Sir, the properties of this material are similar to spider silk and match those used in the Leviathan you saw trapped between buildings a few blocks from here."
"It also matches the same material that black and red figure used to swing through the city after killing that first Leviathan."
Hearing that, the image of the imposing figure returned to their minds—the moment he took down the first Leviathan with a powerful and precise strike.
They all couldn't help but feel a chill.
"...Why would that person immobilize Agent Romanoff? Wasn't he on our side?" Banner asked, confused.
"Looking at her state right now, I wouldn't say he was on our side. Maybe we just shared a common enemy," Cap said.
"I'd say his objective was to kill the aliens and collect their tech. While I was handling some Chitauri fliers, I saw him doing just that," he added.
"If all he wanted was alien tech, why do that to Natasha?" Hawkeye asked.
Tony's expression shifted. He looked troubled—as if a realization had just dawned on him.
To confirm it, he turned to Thor.
"Thor, my friend, did you see the scepter? Or the Tesseract, when you got to Natasha?"
"Tony, you're saying that..." Banner said, already suspecting the answer.
Thor opened his mouth to respond, but before he could—
"Hmmhm humhm humm!"
Black Widow began mumbling urgently, trying to answer Tony's question.
"Well, I didn't understand a thing, but judging by your reaction, I already know what happened..."
Tony said, then looked at the rest of the team.
"I know why Natasha's like that. That black and red figure didn't just come for the alien tech. He came for the Tesseract and the scepter."
Everyone's expression turned grim. They had just survived an alien invasion.
And now, the moment they thought it was over, the one who had helped them had stolen two of the most dangerous artifacts in existence.
"Well—fuck. That means we're doing overtime," Hawkeye sighed.
"We need to contact Fury. He has to know what happened. Maybe he can track that figure," Cap said.
"Urgh—fine. I just wanted to relax in my jacuzzi. But now we've got to jump back into work," Tony groaned.
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about another portal opening anytime soon. The lunatic who did it is right there," Hawkeye muttered, nudging Loki with his bow.
"Let's contact Fury after we free Natasha. She was the one who got robbed, so maybe she saw the figure up close. The more details we have, the better."
"Jarvis, any idea how we can free Natasha?" Tony asked.
"Certainly, sir. According to a survey by the British Arachnological Society, commercially-available chlorine bleach can dissolve spider silk."
"But since we're dealing with something far stronger, I recommend concentrated bleach. However, caution is advised as it could harm Lady Romanoff."
"Apply it gently with a brush to the silk surface and slowly peel it off."
Hearing that, Tony nodded.
"Alright, let's do that. I don't think she wants to stay looking like a rice cake. Or worse, end up disfigured by bleach. Though she'd make a pretty decent Freddy Krueger."
Tony joked, but received only a cold glare from Black Widow in response.