She later headed to Harlem, New York, to continue S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempts to prevent Banner from being taken by the military, but arrived too late. Fury sent her to meet Dr. Samuel Sterns and make sure Banner left nothing he could work with. After an encounter with the Abomination (Blonsky's new monstrous form), she headed to Sterns' lab where she found him trapped. His head had become grotesquely deformed and he began raving, going on to ask Natasha to join him, but she rejected his offer by shooting his kneecap.