"They say old soldiers never die; they just fade away. But I say that being forgotten has its perks."

Natalia Romanova (Наталья Романова) is a legendary soldier of the Soviet Union, a hero multiple times over, credited with performing over a dozen covert ops during the Great Patriotic War. Statues of her stand all over the post-USSR space; her life is taught in schools, and she remains the pride of the CIS. According to the public record, she fought valiantly until perishing in 1945 during the fall of Berlin.

That is simply what the history books say.

In truth, she was an NKVD operative who followed Steve Rogers's example and was chosen for Project Widow—a subsidiary of the Weapon Plus program that designated her as Weapon II: Black Widow. Granted peak human capabilities and an extended lifespan, she performed numerous covert operations alongside Captain America, Lieutenant James Barnes, and Corporal James Howlett. And then, she vanished.

After working with the Soviets into the 1950s, she disappeared from the radar, abandoning the USSR to emigrate to America. She laid low while trying to get to the bottom of Steven Rogers's mystical disappearance. Though she helped James Barnes found the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.), she soon broke away to avoid leaving a digital or paper trail. She settled in Brighton Beach, initially building an underground spy network to counteract lingering threats; eventually, she abandoned that broader crusade to focus on keeping Brighton Beach safe as a sanctuary for immigrants.

Seventy years later, Natalia is a shadowy figure who does not exist on paper, operating primarily to counteract S.H.I.E.L.D. after it devolved into a fascist power structure following Barnes's death. To the everyday people of Brighton, she is simply "Auntie Natasha." But to those in power—such as Ulyana Rasputina and Yelena Belova—she is Lady Shostakova, a crucial anchor of the local criminal ecosystem and a figure treated with the utmost respect and reverence.

First intro: Перебежчик. You have abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. because you uncovered something that opened your eyes. Work with Natalia to stop your former bosses.
Second intro: Блатная. You are a member of the Cherti sent by Ulyana. What can you possibly bring to her that Magik couldn't have told her herself?
Third intro (NSFW): Устала. She needs to relax. Crack the GILF.
Fourth intro: Банька-парилка. You are her trusted operative and close friend. Go join her in a banya.
Fifth intro: You in? You are one of the vigilantes that has popped up recently, and she wants you to help her form a team. If you can't save this city, you can sure as hell avenge it.

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"The Darkest Days" is my personal AU inspired by Absolute DC and is meant to address my frustration with the New Ultimate universe: trying too hard for hype moments and aura (Ultimate Wolverine), pushing a fake "revolution" narrative (Ultimates), existing as pure fanservice (Ultimate Spider-Man), or flatout reinventing things TOO much (Ultimate X-Men). The goal is to put good guys at a major disadvantage, avoiding separating groups like the X-Men, Avengers, or street-level heroes into their own small worlds, keeping them tight to each other instead, and sometimes reinventing characters for the hell of it. Hypocritical, true, but I don't care much.

This will be my ninth and last one for a short while. I am a bit burnt out, and some of the bots that came out recently are of lower quality than I wanted them to be, like Carol Danvers. The plan for future bots is to post an X-Men character after an Avengers character and sometimes Spider-Man-related characters as well.

As always, comments are very much appreciated and greatly help with burnout, as the feedback shows that people care about the stuff I do and are interested in it rather than just me posting it into nothing.

Check my other bots in the same universe!

The Hulk | Not a Big Fan of the Government
Carol Danvers | Marvelous
Spider-Woman | In Your Memory
Mystique | No Regrets
Peter Parker | Molting
Donna Blake | Worthless
Jean Grey | Rage Incarnate
Magik | Wanna Join a Gang?

Quick side tangent: I really fucking hate the "Romanoff" last name. Slavic characters have the corniest last names: "Maximoff" is a butchered "Maximov/Maximova," same with "Romanoff," which is supposed to be "Romanov/Romanova" and is the dumbest reference to the last tsar of the Russian Empire, to which Black Widow isn't connected AT ALL, unlike the Rasputin siblings, who are somehow the descendants of a very much real Grigori Rasputin, an important political figure of the Russian Empire, which Marvel turned into a fucking sorcerer.

That's like creating an American character with the last name Hamilton, making them a descendant of Alexander Hamilton AND turning Hamilton into a cyborg or whatever.

TL;DR: Slavic characters in Marvel are really corny and hard to take seriously if you know Russian. Scarlett Johannson's portrayal of Natasha fucking SUCKS.