At the Baxter Building, Natasha, who had narrowly escaped with her life, leaned against the sofa, wiping her wet hair with a rare look of confusion on her face.
In the underground server room in New Jersey, the truth Doctor Zola had revealed at the end shocked everyone. Even someone like her, a trusted aide who had followed Nick Fury for many years, could not help but begin to harbor doubts.
S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra's century-long secret struggle had actually been nothing more than a ridiculous farce. The enemy had always been lurking within them, even seated at the very top.
As she pieced together the sequence of events, the chain of evidence became overwhelmingly complete, nearly flawless. From Nick Fury being taken away by the Winter Soldier, to that flash drive and Doctor Zola in the server room, combined with the earlier hijacking of the Lemurian Star, every clue pointed to the same answer.
At first, Steve had believed Alexander Pierce was pulling strings in secret. But after they escaped, they quickly learned from the news that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new leader, the prime suspect, had been shot and killed several hours earlier.
The killer had been the Winter Soldier.
It was like a cruel joke. The two of them had been prepared to fight the world alone and uncover the truth behind the conspiracy, only to discover for no apparent reason that they had been living inside a massive lie. All their efforts had been a ridiculous performance, laughable in the end.
Natasha chose to part ways with Captain America for the time being. Steve wanted to expose the truth and stop Project Insight from being carried out, but she did not want to continue anymore.
The female agent known as the "Black Widow" had once been S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ace spy. She