Natasha's skills as an interrogator made her a prime choice for extracting information from Loki once S.H.I.E.L.D. had him in custody. She adeptly tricked the trickster into revealing valuable information, although his manipulative responses had also hit their mark, and Romanoff became increasingly obsessive about finding restitution for her past. Foremost in these thoughts was her need to wrest Agent Barton from Loki's control, but she found that she didn't have to search. Instead, he found her. Barton, leading a commando team against the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, caused an explosion that collapsed part of the ceiling on Romanoff and Banner. This triggered Banner's transformation into the Hulk and rapidly escalated the problem of enemy infiltration to a chaotic two-front war, with Romanoff barely escaping the Hulk's ferocity with her life. During the chaos she also encountered Agent Barton, and engaged him in a lengthy brawling duel that only ended when blows to his head knocked him unconscious.