Natalya Sokolova

Natalya Alexeyevna Sokolova is the CEO, and owner of both Sokolov Concern, and the aforementioned titles and the founder of Black Tusk. She made her voice-only debut during the Bardon Schaeffer Manhunt when she discussed about failure in a radio message to the aforementioned. As the oldest child of the late affluent industrialist Alexey Sokolov and the older half-sister of disavowed Division agent, Felix "Kestrel" Sokolov, it is suggested that Natalya founded the Black Tusk PMC using her family's fortune for reasons unknown. Vague details about why Sokolova founded Black Tusk are known, except much of Black Tusk's early but unmasked doings at the beginning of the game suggest that Sokolova is the heavy liable for the events of Tom Clancy's The Division 2.
==Biography==
Natalya Sokolova's early life is shrouded in mystery. However, it is stated during the Kestrel Manhunt that she was raised in Russia while her younger brother Felix was sent to the United States at a young age by Alexey Sokolov, their industrialist father. After the defeat of the Recruiter, Sokolova stated in a propaganda broadcast that she spent most of her adolescence in a Swiss boarding school. She claims, while it granted her certain advantages it was a lonely and isolated time for the young heiress. After Alexey died, Natalya inherited her father's fortune and used it to put her brother through his education. It is possible that she had heard of the existence of the Strategic Homeland Division before the outbreak since her brother was recruited as an agent. Although she denied that in another broadcast, this information should be treated with care. 
After the outbreak, Sokolova kept in touch with her brother, and put him in a safe house to ensure his safety. She also pulled the strings from behind the curtain to ensure the Black Tusk assumes control over the United States government.
Before Schaeffer's operation with his rogue agents, he contacted Sokolova in regard to rogue Division agent Faye Lau. Sokolova reminded Schaeffer that he brought in Lau, so she was his responsibility. Sokolova also warned Schaeffer not to fail her.
After hearing Schaeffer's concerns about Lau and her Rogue Agents, Natalya contacted her secret partner, Calvin McManus, Secretary of Homeland Security and secret Commander of the Hunters, to ask for support, as Schaeffer couldn't be in two places at once and these Rogues didn't seem like a very worthwhile effort. McManus asked if she needed him to send his "cleanup crew" for the job, to which Natalya declined, saying that all she needed was one single operative to gain access and assess if it was worth continuing Faye's operation. McManus sent one of his Hunters, codename "Deceit", to stalk and observe Bardon's rogues, as well as to contact Schaeffer and send him encrypted reports on their situation.
One by one, Schaeffer's rogues would be stalked by a Hunter operative, who would try to assassinate them after, only for them to be killed by Division agents who were also after them instead. One of these rogues was Linette "Dusk" Edwards, who was also affiliated with the True Sons. During Dusk's time as Schaeffer's subordinate, Sokolova had made a deal with General Anderson of the True Sons to establish peace between their two organizations, which would be broken with Dusk's death, as Anderson saw his alliance with the Black Tusk as a liability due to their incompetence and the sheer number of Rogue Division agents in their ranks.
After Schaeffer's rogue Division agent cell was neutralized and his location exposed, a Division agent stormed Coney Island Amusement Park to neutralize him. McManus's Hunter was present on-site, either to protect Schaeffer or, as he suspected himself, possibly kill him. The Hunter was defeated (despite a tough fight), and Sokolova checked in with Schaeffer asking about the status of the Hunter on open comms, in which he told her that the Hunter was neutralized. She then told him to clean up B.T.S.U.'s mess with his B.T.S.U. guards on-hand, but he was defeated alongside the rest of the B.T.S.U. unit on site. An unconscious Schaeffer was apprehended by a team sent in by Agent Kelso, though he was in critical condition.
The very next day, despite the unfortunate events of Schaeffer's apprehension and the hunter's death, both at the hands of a Division Agent, Natalya contacted Cal to thank him for the backup he sent, seemingly happy that he didn't ask for anything in return. However, Cal does proceed to ask for something: due to one of his men getting killed by the Division the previous night, and the difficulty to find suitable candidates for his "unit", he asks Natalya to send him a few potential replacements for his lost Hunter. Natalya lists a couple of potential candidates, including her brother, Felix "Kestrel" Sokolov, Bridgette "Viper" Douglas, Dustin "Magnus" Xavier, Alicia "Circe" Coswald and, despite his young age, Jack Bonney, with the latter being the first one chosen by Calvin.
After Bonney was taken out by Division agents with the help of True Sons Captain Lewis at the Jefferson Trade Center, General Anderson attempted to re-establish his alliance with Sokolova and the Black Tusk. As they arranged their meeting and the specifics of their partnership, Natalya sends an advance team to carry out the logistics for Anderson, composed of B.T.S.U. operatives Mathias "Trig" Schneider, Shawn "Micro" Clarke, Sandra "Chirpy" Patterson and Mitchell "Lucky" Woods. Sokolova, due to Lewis's intervention with Bonney's Hunter recruitment test a few weeks prior, would start to get suspicious of him, telling Anderson to keep an eye on the Captain should he notice anything unusual. Later, she would share a drone recording that incriminated Lewis, as he was meeting up with Manny Ortega to help The Division. Concerned for his operation, Anderson tasks "Chirpy" with apprehending Lewis and trying to uncover more "rats" (traitors) amongst them. As their advance would be taken down one-by-one, Anderson and Sokolova set up a meeting at the Pentco Fairview Power Plant, where Natalya would give the General 2 B.T.S.U. operatives as a security detail, Nico "Brain" McPherson and Hank "Bough" Bibichev. Division agents, learning the location of the meeting, which was also where Lewis was being held captive, storm the Plant, looking to save the Captain and neutralize Anderson before the Black Tusk's fleet of hovercrafts could arrive.
The agents take down "Brain" and rescue Lewis, but instead of going with them, the Captain runs off to try and capture Anderson. Unfortunately for them, the True Sons' General was already boarding Natalya's hovercraft by the time he arrived at the docks, so Lewis and the agents face off and kill multiple True Sons and Black Tusk operatives, including "Bough" himself, while waiting for extraction.
After Anderson had been successfully rescued by her B.T.S.U., the alliance between True Sons and Black Tusk had been fully established, with Sokolova mobilizing a team comprised of five operatives coming from both organizations. This team, led by Zachary "Stovepipe" Beattie, was composed of Charles "Chunks" Crawford, Lieutenant Bantam, Mort "Cursed" Kellogg and Beatrice "Auntie" Kaplan, their goal was to gather information on the White House and it's surroundings, in an attempt to locate Schaeffer and find out his status. Meanwhile, Sokolova would ask Chunks and Stovepipe about radiation poisoning, which would raise a few red flags in the latter's eyes. She would then task Cursed with fully recruiting Auntie to the Black Tusk (which he was eventually successful at) as she had the right skillset to uncover more traitors amongst the True Sons' ranks. As rumors began spreading of a chemical attack involving Outcasts and Rogue Agents in St. Louis, Stovepipe raised suspicions of Sokolova's involvement in the creation of the dirty bombs used in the supposed attack, this would eventually lead to him confronting her on the subject and wanting to leave the Black Tusk. 
As his whole team had been hunted down and killed by the Division, Stovepipe went to finish his work at Coney Island for a supposed "carpet bombing" of New York, Wally quickly mobilized the Division agents to go after him and prevent the attack. Upon their arrival on the island, the agents would soon notice the lack of enemy presence on-site, quickly rushing through the structures, they would soon find Stovepipe's dead body, having been killed by Sokolova to prevent his imminent betrayal. As they fought their way through the island against multiple waves of Black Tusk drones and Warhounds, the agents would come face to face with one of Ortiz Robotics' deadliest creations: Sparkle, a unique Warhound model equipped with a powerful flamethrower. After a tough battle, the agents extracted back to Washington, as the White House was under attack by Sokolova's men, in the execution of their plans to rescue Schaeffer. Though they were unsuccessful at rescuing their asset, the Black Tusk had managed to not only kill Frederick Lewis via a Hunter operative present on-site, but also capture multiple people, including the likes of John Yazzie, Eva Garcia, Lauren Fong, Mitchell Billings, Mari Singh, Vikram Malik, Cindy McAllister, Vitaly Tchernenko, and Harlan Lloyd.
Through her actions, Sokolova realized having a powerful military force wasn't enough, she needed the support from the people, so she found ways to treat the hostages as nicely as possible, giving each of them tasks that fit their backgrounds, in an attempt to demonstrate a good facade for the Black Tusk by rebuilding society. Later, after the agents had successfully rescued Mari Singh, Sokolova received a call from one of her subordinates, saying the asset was in place and awaiting orders. 
Not long after that, Division agents went to a rescue Birdie in Camp White Oak after recovering four more hostages under Black Tusk's custody. During the conflict, she was listening to the agents fighting off the Black Tusk, True Sons, and the Recruiter. After the Recruiter was killed thanks to Birdie, she promptly started broadcasting propaganda in order to sway civilians to her side. 
A while later, Sokolova sent Black Tusk and True Sons forces to the Stranded Tanker in Lower Manhattan with explicit orders to capture "Cassandra". However, Division agents would get a headstart and eliminate their enemies, including a Hunter who was sent to avenge his comrade. As such, Sokolova's attempt to capture Cassandra has failed, leaving her very frustrated.
While Sokolova is not heard nor seen in First Rogue, it is revealed via Aaron Keener that she is a member of The Cabal, a shadow organization of powerful people. This would further explain the recording file that she left on a Hunter done in the aftermath of Reign of Fire, in which she made it clear that D.C, the United States, and the entire world belongs to them. And that they're entitled to take what's rightfully theirs.
== Personality ==
Natalya could be best described as multi-layered. She presents herself as affable and considerate, but her true colors are shown to be vindictive, spiteful, and condescending. As the leader of Black Tusk, she expects complete obedience from her subordinates and does not tolerate having them disobey her orders. Despite benefitting from the Hunters at Calvin McManus' disposal, she has a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the Secretary of Homeland Security.
While her full motives for wanting to take over control of the United States are yet to be known, it is clear that she wants to win over the hearts and minds of the civilians caught in the crossfire of the conflict between her Black Tusk and the Division. Knowing how desperate they are for the country to get back on track, she spreads her propaganda (which were added after the end of Y5S2: Puppeters) on Black Tusk's broadcast in hopes to sway them on her side. However, her true desire is to have absolute control over the country, perhaps the entire world.
She has somewhat of a negative relationship to her father, Alexey, due to running off to America and marrying another woman, leaving her mother and forcing herself to handle the family business in Russia. This also includes her relationship with her brother, Felix "Kestrel" Sokolov. Even though she speaks fondly of him in her propaganda broadcasts, it is anything but positive. In fact, in one of the comms from Paradise Lost Incursion, her casual attitude over his death led to Mackenzie Meret suspecting that she purposely led him to his death.
==Other Media==
=== Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall===
*Natalya Sokolova is mentioned in Chapter Thirteen of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall, where she is listed as an associate of Brody Teague, CEO of the Teague Technical Group (T-Tec), who refers to Black Tusk as her "pet project".
== Gallery ==
File:Natalya Sokolova.png|Sokolova in the Season 10 ending cutscene
File:General Anderson and Sokolova.jpg|Sokolova seen alongside General Anderson, Charles "Chunks" Crawford, Mort "Cursed" Kellogg and Lieutenant Bantam in the Season 11 trailer
File:DIVISION 2 YEAR 5 SEASON 1 - BROKEN WINGS promo art.png|Sokolova looming over Mari Singh, John Yazzie, Eva Garcia, Lauren Fong and Mitchell Billings in the Broken Wings artwork
File:"Executive" KARD 45.jpg|"Executive" skin for the KARD pistol, inspired by Sokolova's outfit
== Trivia ==
* The "Executive" weapon skin for the KARD (seen in the "Gallery" section above), which is obtainable through the premium rewards track for Broken Wings, is seemingly inspired by Sokolova's character design, featuring elements from the Russian CEO's outfit, including the white color-scheme of her suit, her B.T.S.U. bracelet on the grip, the Sokolov Concern pin near the trigger and the Black Tusk logo on the front-end of the weapon.
== Missions ==
* Coney Island Manhunt: Schaeffer (voice only)
* Pentco Fairview Power Plant: General Anderson (voice/cutscene only)
* Stranded Tanker (Manhunt: Alani Kelso) (voice only)
==Appearances==
*Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York
*Tom Clancy's The Division: Hunted
*Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall
Category:The Division 2
Category:People
Category:Enemies
Category:Black Tusk