"My pleasure, Romeo," Natasha responded to Scott's words of thanks. Thinking the fight was now in the hodgepodge squadron's favor, Natasha was about to go after one of the remaining Fulcrums when they suddenly broke from combat and left from whence they came. Something felt off about it, but Natasha couldn't tell what until Oracle's voice changed. It seemed someone else was in control now. As soon as the AWACS cut out, she saw unmarked black fighters closing on other members of the squadron, assumed that she had one on her tail as well, and mashed the stick downwards. A missile streaked right over her canopy and the unmarked fighter soon followed, climbing sharply. Natasha assumed the unidentified attacker would loop downward to give chase, and hit the afterburner. She had a plan that would hopefully at least make Border Boy's order to survive possible. Normal aerial maneuvers wouldn't work very long against these apparently hyper-maneuverable aircraft, so she would use abnormal aerial maneuvers.

Screaming down towards the ocean at almost full speed, Natasha depended on the attacker to not get a lock until after she had reached the ocean. Her gamble paid off and she pulled up hard at the last second, flying just above the ocean and kicking up a plume of water behind her. She was shaken by a missile exploding in the water behind her, but her aircraft was unharmed. She banked in a shallow right curve to avoid clipping the water and flew back towards the rest of the squadron. As she approached, she saw the swept-wing aircraft that had been pursuing her streak overhead, slowing down to match her speed just above her and then decreasing altitude. Natasha quickly changed direction to a left bank and cut airspeed, preventing the aggressor from pancaking her into the water. The craft pulled up and away, perhaps to make another pass. Natasha decided to stick close to the water directly underneath the rest of her squadron, as at least it would be harder for the enemy to hit her.