76 The Spider Caught in the Web

"Guess it depends on whether you're capable of that."

Natasha said, pulling two small black metal devices, the size of cigarette boxes, from the strap on her leg.

"Heh!" The voice on the intercom mocked her harshly.

"Who do you think you are? Captain America? We have eighteen highly trained, well-equipped agents here, and even if you were Captain America, you wouldn't make it out alive!"

"Oh, so there are eighteen enemies. Thanks for the tip," Natasha replied, continuing to gather useful intel from his words.

"You—!"

The man's voice grew increasingly frantic.

"Grab her! I'm going to 'treat' this famous beauty agent and find out how many secrets she's hiding!"

As soon as the order to attack was given, the HYDRA agents moved in, maintaining professional battle formation as they slowly approached Natasha, who was hiding behind a metal table in the lab's entrance.

Natasha pressed the button on one of the metal devices.

With a subtle charging sound, blue capacitors lit up on the metal devices.

Then, she threw the two devices onto the ground, one to the left, one to the right.

The metal boxes immediately expanded, sprouting mechanical legs like little spiders.

These mechanical spiders were new gadgets developed by Rhodes Island Industries for advanced SHIELD agents like Natasha.

Inside each spider was a highly integrated biometric sensor and a small electric pulse sentry cannon.

Normally, this cannon wasn't fatal, but a shot to the eye would temporarily blind the target.

Shots to other body parts could cause unbearable pain and temporarily disable a target.

Each little mechanical spider was powered by a high-performance micro-capacitor, capable of delivering about ten electric pulses.

The approaching HYDRA agents, unaware of the trouble ahead, were about to walk right into it.

The spiders skillfully crawled onto the lab's tables, aiming their pulse cannons at the lead agent.

With a sharp crackle, a bolt of electricity flashed, hitting the HYDRA agent square in the eyes.

"Ah! My eyes!"

The agent screamed in agony, collapsing and rolling on the ground in pain.

Before the other agents could react, another pulse shot out.

'Zzz—! Zzz—! Zzz—!'

One by one, the agents fell, convulsing in strange positions on the floor, writhing in pain.

"Something's happening! Attack! Attack!"

'Ra—ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!'

The remaining agents opened fire.

The fierce gunfire swept toward the direction of the electric pulses.

The mechanical spiders nimbly dodged back and forth, but it was only a matter of time before they were destroyed.

Natasha wasn't idle either.

She drew her pistol, occasionally peeking out and taking down a few HYDRA agents with precise shots amidst the chaos.

However, even with the high-tech gadgets from Rhodes Island Industries, Natasha was still outnumbered.

The downside of non-lethal attacks was that once the pain from the electric pulses wore off, the fallen enemies would rise again and join the fight.

Natasha planned to escape amid the confusion, but the HYDRA agents seemed more professional than she'd expected.

They kept up a constant barrage of fire on her position.

The temporary cover she was relying on, which wasn't particularly sturdy, was starting to break down under the continuous gunfire.

As time passed, the situation for Natasha worsened.

"Prepare the grenade launcher," one of the agents said.

The HYDRA agents had realized they couldn't close in on her position due to the mechanical spiders and Natasha's skills, so they decided to go for a more brute-force approach.

"Oh, crap!"

Hearing their conversation and the sound of the grenade launcher loading, Natasha realized her situation had become dire.

"Boom!"

The grenade launcher fired with a thud. Natasha immediately braced herself to roll out of the way.

A regular attack wouldn't be much, but a grenade from that launcher could easily send both the cover and her flying.

At that moment, the lab door behind Natasha suddenly exploded.

In the blink of an eye, a sturdy man rushed into the lab, grabbed Natasha as she was about to dodge, and pulled her behind him.

His left arm, completely made of metal, lit up with an orange ring.

Then, the entire metal arm shifted and expanded, forming a massive shield.

'Voom—!'

The surface of the alloy shield crackled with energy.

This was a unique Rhodes Island Industries technology, called the electromagnetic kinetic energy deflection system, first used in their "Rainbow" series of gear.

'Boom—!'

The grenade hit his arm shield with a massive explosion, but the shockwave and blast were redirected outward, blowing away the cover and other debris.

"You're… Winter Soldier?"

Natasha blinked in surprise, looking at the man.

"This doesn't make sense!"

"No, I'm not him. Don't misinterpret."

The man replied, "I'm Bucky Barnes."

"But Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier!"

Natasha argued.

"Wait… how are you still alive? Didn't Kagura kill you?"

"This is a long story, Romanoff."

Bucky answered, "First of all, I don't go by Winter Soldier anymore. My new codename is 'White Wolf.'"

"Alright then." Natasha nodded.

"So, I guess you're no longer working for the Soviet Union or HYDRA?"

"Correct."

Bucky turned his arm slightly to reveal a new symbol on his mechanical left arm.

The old Soviet red star was gone, replaced by an emblem of a composite shield adorned with a griffin. In the center of the shield were the initials "G & K."

"What organization is this?" Natasha asked.

"We'll talk about that later. Let's get out of here first. Can I trust you?"

Bucky asked.

"If I didn't trust you, one of us would definitely be dead by now." Natasha smiled.

"But do you have a plan for getting out of this mess?"

The HYDRA agents didn't stop their attack just because someone new had entered the fray.

They reloaded grenade launchers, preparing to take out both the Winter Soldier and Natasha in one go.

"Plan?" Bucky grinned slightly.

"Hold on to me."

"What?"

Natasha was confused, but she did as he asked and wrapped her arms around him.

"Good, I'm honored that you're holding on to me."

Bucky smiled and swung his left arm, retracting the shield, then pointed it upward.

A mechanism on his wrist opened, launching a strong, thin rope with a metal claw at the end.

With a thunk, the claw pierced through the lab ceiling, anchoring itself to a beam.

'Whoosh—!'

In the next moment, the rope rapidly recoiled, pulling Natasha and Bucky into the air, flying out of the lab in a graceful arc, as gunfire and explosions erupted around them.