Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

Subject Facts

Full Name: Natasha Romanoff / Natalia Romanova
Codename: Black Widow
Age: Middle 80's, biologically | Appears early 30's
Gender: Female
Archetype: Super Hero
Aliases: Too many to count
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: Avengers, SHIELD, Secret Avengers

Subject Attributes

Superhuman Abilities:

• Red Room Experimentation: In 1956, under the supervision of Red Room scientists, Natasha Romanoff was injected with an experimental chemical reagent. Reacting with her cellular structure, the substance made Natasha more physically resilient - able to recover from wounds and sicknesses that individuals without it wouldn't be able to. The greatest and most noteworthy side-effect of this chemical is that it greatly slows her aging. Despite being over 80, she still has the physique and appearance of a woman in her prime.
• Peak Human Conditioning: As one of the Red Room recruits, Natasha Romanoff was trained ceaselessly to fight the forces that stood against Mother Russia. She was put through training and conditioning modules like no other, and as a result possesses peak-level physiology, making her as strong, agile, fast, and durable as a female human can possibly be without being classified as superhuman. She keeps herself physically fit through continued exercise and field work - allowing her to maintain said conditioning.

Standard Abilities:

• Stealth and espionage: Natasha is arguably one of the world's greatest spies. Trained ruthlessly by the KGB and operatives of the Red Room, she is well-tutored in the arts of espionage, stealth, disguise, infiltration and demolition. Were this not enough, Romanoff has decades of experience to draw from, having been a field agent for over sixty years.
• Close-quarters combat: Natasha is an expert in the field of martial arts. She has mastered karate, judo, aikido, savate, boxing, lucha-libre style wrestling and multiple styles of kung fu. Combined with her strength, speed and agility, she has proven herself to be an adversary incredibly difficult to overcome.
• Expert marksman: Natasha has mastered the use of a range of fire arms and thrown weapons, her enhanced perception aiding her accuracy.
• Acrobat: The Black Widow is an Olympic class athlete, gymnast, acrobat and aerialist capable of many difficult feats.
• Interrogator: Romanoff was tutored in a variety of interrogation techniques, most hailing from her time working with the KGB. While many are more brutal methods, Natasha has found a number that suit her new non-lethal path in life. She is also an expert in the field of seduction and is capable of using her body and wit to bend men to her will.
• Hacker: Natasha has shown herself a capable hacker, able to break into mid-level computer systems without tripping any firewalls or security.
• Tactician: Natasha is a very effective strategist and tactician, able to analyse combat situations quickly and effectively. She is also very good at creating and convincingly portraying ‘cover’ identities – an expert at hiding her own persona with a feigned one in times of need.
• Linguist: Romanoff is fluent in a range of languages; most notably Russian, English, Latin and Chinese. Natasha also possesses the ability to pick up languages unknown to her remarkably quickly.
• Perception and reaction: Natasha’s senses and perception have been heightened through years of sensory training (or indeed, what some would classify as abuse.) While she lacks superhuman classification, she is much quicker to notice and react to stimuli than most – be it visual, auditory or kinesthetic.

Paraphernalia:

• Widow's Bite: Black Widow’s primary weapon, the Widow’s Bite is designed to look like a bracelet, and she wears one about each wrist. Made of cylindrical tubes, each one carries varying items (such as her Widow Line) while most bear intricate wiring to produce a powerful electric charge. Her bites emit a potent electrical blast with a maximum power of around 30,000 volts, far greater than any taser, capable of shocking people to unconsciousness in seconds. The Bite needs to be charged before use, and Widow must be close to her opponent to deliver the charge - it is not a ranged weapon.
• SHIELD/CIA armoury: Working as an agent brings a great many benefits - not least the armoury. When working alongside SHIELD or the CIA, Natasha has access to a wealth of gadgets and weapons; anything from personal EMP devices to trackers and state-of-the-art communication systems.

Subject Weaknesses:

• Mortality: Despite her resilience, peak conditioning and resistance to the weakening effects of age, Natasha is still only human. Thus, she can be killed as any other mortal. Similarly, she is capable of making mistakes and errors in judgement, as even the most well-trained among mankind do.
• Bleak past: Natasha has a dark past, one that she has worked incredibly hard to hide and atone for. However, she knows there is still much to be done before she can even come close to making up for the atrocities committed in her time with the KGB. This can, at times, come back to haunt her through nightmares, making her question herself and her actions. Worse still, false memories implanted by the Red Room still plague her from time to time, and she carries with her a hidden worry that some recollections remain ficticious.
• Blurred lines: Her tutelage as a spy has left Natasha very hard to trust. A master at going under cover and creating different personas for herself, she's capable of portraying many faces and personalities without much thought, and it can be very difficult for others to know the 'real Natasha'. While the Avengers have come to put their faith in her, there's no denying that in the past, Romanoff hasn't always been truthful, which can make it difficult for those who don't know her as intimately as some to work alongside her. Her moral compass is also significantly more 'grey' than some heroes, furthering the divide between them.
• Hunted: During her time as a hero, Natasha has earned the ire of a number of villainous individuals - it comes with being an Avenger. However, she also has a number of more 'hidden' adversaries from her time working with the KGB and the Red Room - those who wish to punish her for her desertion. As such, Romanoff nearly always has a target painted on her back, and it can make it incredibly difficult for her to 'settle'.

Subject History

Natalia Alianova Romanova – who would later become known as Natasha Romanoff – was born in Russia, though the exact date of her birth remains unknown. As an infant, she was found by USSR General Secretary Ivan Petrikov in the flaming wreckage of a house used by 'White Loyalists' to hide from the Soviet Army. Ivan raised Natalia, and by the year 1938 – just before the outbreak of the Second World War – she was asked to join an unrefined version of the Red Room - an elite branch of the KGB - by Stalin, Russia's premier.

There, Natalia trained, a man named Taras Romanoff becoming something of a surrogate father. She was groomed for espionage and stealth, and she excelled. However, she chafed beneath the confinement of the Room and escaped at least once. She grew very close to and was taught by Komrade Logan Howlett, calling him "little uncle".

During her time in the Red Room, those that trained Natalia hoped to break her spirit. They tried to take memories from her old life with Ivan from her, though she often pretended that she'd forgotten her first 'father' figure. She no longer had to when Logan, revealing he had infiltred the Red Room with ulterior motives, killed Taras. Natalia allowed him to escape, deciding she far prefered him to the man he'd killed.

She fled the Red Room shortly after and made a home for herself in the wilderness by herself. Three months passed, until chance brought Ivan to her and they were reconciled. Natalia spent her late teens and early twenties during the Second World War on the run with Ivan, both offering their services to anyone they could – anyone that could help them evade the KGB. It was during this period that she found her first love, a soldier named Nikolai, and with him had a stillborn child.

Romanova managed to avoid those that hunted her until the mid-1950's, when, in Berlin, her and Ivan's paths crossed that of the Winter Soldier. Her 'father' was fatally wounded and The Winter Soldier offered the two traitors a chemical at the KGB's behest that would save Ivan. It would only be given should they renew their loyalties to the Russian agency. Romanoff agreed, and she was returned to the Red Room.

There, she quickly rose through the ranks and earned the title 'Black Widow.' She also engaged in a brief romance with the Winter Soldier. It was not a long lasting affair – the pair were separated and the Red Room used brainwashing to further cement her cover as a seventeen year-old ballerina within the Bolshoi, creating contradicting memories within Romanova. Natalia was married to Alexei Shostakov, a test pilot and hero for the Soviet Union who she was told died shortly after on the race against the Americans to the moon.

Angered by her husband's murder, Romanoff request the opportunity to take revenge on those that killed him – hoping to be dispatched to America and work against the nation from within. Her mind was once again rewritten and she was deployed. Natalia lived and worked through the Cold War, killing and stealing the work of numerous technology brokers throughout Europe. This led her on a collision course with one Tony Stark of Stark Industries. Despite initial failure to destroy the billionaire, she continued her efforts – in doing so, fighting Hawkeye on numerous occasions.

Eventually, Natasha saw the cruelty in her merciless handlers and made for herself a choice to take, denouncing Mother Russia and the remnants of the KGB.

Indeed, she joined SHIELD, hoping to atone for her past, offering them all she knew of the KGB, and came to answer to Nicholas Fury directly. She came to work alongside the Avengers and entered into a relationship with her former enemy – Clint Barton. However, it was short-lived, as her work for SHIELD caused her to lie to her team mates, razing her ties to them. When it was revealed she was operating under the orders of Fury, the Avengers hoped to add her to their ranks, but the Russian refused, instead becoming a socialite.

She soon reinvented her Black Widow persona, however, becoming an active vigilante – relating to the difficulties and suffering faced by 'everday' individuals.

It was during this time Romanoff met the Daredevil. Becoming partners and lovers, they moved from New York to San Francisco, where they continued their work. When Natasha and Matt returned briefly to New York to aid the Avengers in a battle against Magneto, she was finally awarded full membership – though she near-instantly questioned her place in the team, and quickly returned to San Francisco.

After several more adventures with the Daredevil, Natasha ended their romance – feeling Murdock didn't view her as an equal. Remaining in California, she found herself forming a team of superheroes of her own – The Champions. They disbanded after only a handful of missions though, whereupon Romanoff returned to work for SHIELD. This period of her life saw her targeted by The Hand, and she was struck by a fatal poison. Her death was not to last, as an ally of Daredevil's - Stone - resurrected her moments after her passing.

Natasha became a more steady member of the Avengers for a time after this, and worked with the Punisher and Logan to fight the Hand in Madripoor. When the Avengers reorganized under a United States charter, Natasha joined full-time as Captain America's deputy leader. She took the reigns of the team when Rogers left, forced out of his position by a schism caused by the Kree-Shi'ar War.

A battle with Onslaught saw many of her friends and allies felled, and suffering survivor's guilt, Natasha waged a crazed against old Avengers villains. However, she was eventually helped through her emotional distress by Daredevil. The Avengers returned, alive, soon thereafter but rather than rejoin their ranks, Natasha began a covert operation beneath Nick Fury in Latveria.

Around this time, Natasha encounted Yelena Belova for the first time – her successor, graduated from the Red Room, determined to take vengeance on the Black Widow and prove her superiority. Natasha was able to defeat her enemy, and hoped to show her how trecherous and unforgiving the KGB were.

M-Day led to the shattering of the Avengers once more, and Romanoff decided it was time to retire, moving to Arizona. There, she hoped to avoid espionage and superheroics – though it wasn't a retirement that lasted. Indeed, during the events of the Civil War, Natasha found herself supporting Iron Man in enforcing the Superhuman Registration Act. She also aided SHIELD in recovering from Nick Fury's loss – the intelligence agent believed dead.

After Captain America's death, shot following the battle over the SRA, Natasha unexpectedly encountered the Winter Soldier, James Barnes when she was put in charge of transporting Steve's shield to a secure location. Barnes was captured soon after, and Romanoff found herself working alongside Sam Wilson in order to rescue him. The pair brought James to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, where Tony convinced him to take up Steve's shield and become the new Captain America. Natasha worked with James for a very short time before she was called back into S.H.I.E.L.D., though was able to rejoin James and Sam for their final confrontation with the Red Skull.

Following the defeat of the German, she began a relationship with James.

Natasha, with the Avengers, faced the Skrull Invasion, and afterward she became a more steady partner, in costume and out, with The Winter Soldier. She infiltrated Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts team disguised as Yelena Belova at Nick Fury's alleged behest. However, her former friend and ally turned out to be a LMD controlled by Norman Osborn. Marked for execution, infighting between the Thunderbolts allowed Romanoff to escape. She was then recruited by a resurrected Steve Roger's covert operative team, the Secret Avengers. During the events of Fear Itself, James was apparently killed in action. Only Steve, Natasha and Nick Fury knew that he was, in fact, saved through injection with the Infinity Formula.

During the restoration of Stark Tower, Black Widow rejoined the Avengers and took up residency in the now famous structure. She played a vital role in helping Spider-Man foil the machinations of a reformed Sinister Six when she, Spider-Man and Silver Sable were the last heroes left standing after the Six defeated the rest of the Avengers. Shortly afterward, the Avengers entered into conflict with the X-Men and Natasha sided with her fellow teammates. Following the conclusion of the event, Romanoff was called upon to join the primary Avengers squad.

Several months later, when S.H.I.E.L.D. took over the Avengers to find the Illuminati and bring them into custody, Black Widow left the team. However, the separation was short lived, as the Illuminati and the Avengers set their differences aside in light of the imminent destruction of the universe. Black Widow was tasked with bringing selected people aboard the Future Foundation's Life Raft. When the final incursion was coming to a close, Widow's ship was damaged and Natasha was thought dead in the ensuing explosion.

With the eventual restoration of the Multiverse, Natasha was resturned to life, and left the Avengers in order to return to a life of espionage. Re-joining S.H.I.E.L.D, it was a partnership short lived, as she was forced to 'defect' in order to confront a new adversary nicknamed the 'Weeping Lion'. In an ensuing mission, Natasha discovered the existence of a Dark Room Academy founded by the Red Room's former Headmistress. Able to best the Lion, she forced the assassin to work alongside her, and with their help, managed to stop an assassination attempt in the White House. Natasha was then able to topple the Dark Room's academy and clear her name in the process, leaving her to return to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Black Widow became a member of 'The Underground' resitance movemnt following Steve Rogers apparent joining of HYDRA and their subsequent take over of a large portion of Earth. However, quickly tired of The Underground's focus and willingness (or lack thereof) to take drastic measure, Natasha split from the group in order to kill Rogers herself. She was followed by the Champions, who hoped to stop her. They failed - and Natasha took it upon herself to train the teenage group while hunting Rogers. When they finally crossed paths, Romanoff was seemingly 'killed' by Cap's shield - but the Champions and Spider-Man were able to avenge her and stop both HYDRA and Rogers from achieving world domination.

Natasha was next seen as a member of the 'Red Room' - where she appeared to be one of a number of clones born during the 'Black Widow Operation' - created following her downfall at the hands of HYDRA. However, this was a ruse adopted by Romanoff, allowing her to operate without being tracked by former allies and enemies. During this time, the 'Romanoff clone' rose through the ranks of the Red Room, all the while turning its members against their handlers from within. Soon enough, a full scale uprising engulfed the Red Room's usual operations, and it found itself toppled. At this point, Natasha vanished once again, returning to a former life of subterfuge.

*Slight change of canon found in the final paragraph of Natasha's history section approved by administration

Subject Interview

She crept across a raised gantry that encircled the warehouse, her footfalls silent though they fell upon metallic grating. Clinging to the shadows, her body suit dark enough to be one with them, she avoided the eyes of the armed thugs that were dotted about the floor below: both she and they were looking inward toward the storage building's heart. There, a larger number of Hell's Kitchen's 'finest' huddled around two dark sedans – men in masks and suits on one side, scruffy looking street thugs on the other.

Their duality made the observed situation an obvious one – a deal was being struck between two different organisations. It was one that Natasha Romanoff hoped to prevent.

The Russian had tracked the smuggling of the synthetic poison half-way around the globe. Originiating in Siberia, the nerve agent known as 'Vedma' was lethal – a concoction born of scientific tampering. Hallucinatory, it caused those that ingested it to witness horrific visions, accompanying the agony inflicted as it shut down the nervous system – death was inevitable no more than fifteen minutes after exposure.

As of yet, no cure existed.

Thanks to the Black Widow's efforts, a great deal of the substance had been seized. But not enough, and through her persistant tracking, she had found a large shipment had made its way to the USA – Hell's Kitchen was the first of many sites the poison had supposedly reached.

Once she'd located where it was being held, Natasha's insertion into the building had been easy enough. Despite its upgraded security, bypassing its electronic locks and motion sensors had been almost routine – though it was 'impressive' in Hell's Kitchen, it had posed little challenge to the experienced Avenger. Then, she worked to disable any immediate threats, before confirming the giant barrels actually contained the substance she hunted.

She'd quickly discovered her intelligence correct – and thus moved further into the warehouse, where'd she stumbled across the meeting between two factions.

A deal that was close to being done.

Picking up her pace, Natasha stealthed a little closer as a tall, broad suit shook a weasly-looking hoodie's hand, before turning and gesturing to his corporate clones. Stepping forward, they brought stacked cannisters on trolleys into view. Marked with a 'V', it wasn't too difficult to work out what each contained. A buzz of activity from the street gang side saw thugs come to retrieve the cannisters, and the Widow prepared herself to act. An electronic tracker would allow her to trace the sold Vedma, and once the less-well dressed criminals had departed, she'd deal with the more well-funded outfit.

However, best laid plans were always liable to change.

Romanoff wasn't sure what caused the hostility – as far as she was aware, nothing had been said to trigger the violence that broke out. All she could tell is that midway through the exchange, when money was transferred for cannisters, one twitchy, tattooed woman had pulled a firearm and taken a pot shot at a random suit –an action totally unprovoked. A moment of shocked stillness, both sides surprised, was followed with barked orders, more gunfire and an explosion as a gas pipe was hit in the crossfire, blowing out the building's mechanised door.

“Well that's less than ideal,” muttered the spy drolly.

She had little option but to intervene: Vedma was a volatile and flamable, and its noxious fumes were just as lethal as its usual liquid state. A leak wouldn't just be fatal to all those in the warehouse: the slightest of breezes could spread it through-out Hell's Kitchen. The death toll would be catastrophic.

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Star / Black Widow

Other Characters:

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