Laura Smirnoff

### Appearances

PROJECT-G/NEX Chronicles (Minor role, Serving as an intel gatherer and infiltrator)

**Laura Smirnoff** is one of the Black Velvet's elite assassins in history. When she is not operating as an assassin or a covert agent, she works as a personal assistant for Nexima Robotics Corporation, replacing Michael's lesser known wife, Catherine. She is one of the most infamous assassins in nevian history, and has been switching sides between Evalka and the Panamoan Republic for quite some time.

She is best known as an infiltration agent of the G/NEX resistance group until she perished at the hands of LILIAN-395.

## Biography

### Background

Originating from Evalka, Laura Smirnoff was selected to become a spy at the age of five. Trained in the Red Baron program, she learned various skills in espionage and combat. During her time in training, she learned not to make friends or trust anyone, including her comrades. Laura was also taught ballet by Special Services agent Ivan Vasiliev who treated her kindly compared to her other trainers. In her later life, Laura regarded him as her best teacher. As she grew up, she developed her own form of combat, mixing the skills Vasiliev had taught her with various hand-to-hand combat styles.

Laura was authorised to work for their government once she reached adulthood. Smirnoff was given the codename "Red Widow" and travelled the planet on various missions while posing as a ballet dancer. She eventually discovered that Vasiliev had been apprehended by the organisation Black Velvet for acting as a mule in a diamond smuggling operation. This, combined with her dissatisfaction with the Evalkan government, drove her to defect to the organisation. Though she was sincere in her support, Laura secretly planned to assist him in escaping and settling far from the reach of any governments. Despite her background, she was permitted to join and train as an officer. Laura agreed with the government's ideals but refused to blindly follow them.

### A Black Velvet agent

Laura was trained as an officer after joining under the direction of Magdalene Velveteen. Unlike the other recruits, she retained her previous codename, which raised suspicions among the others. Velveteen assigned her to further training under the direction of officer Sigeberht Cockse after a session in which she defeated six out of nine of the agency's best agents (Beating Yassi, Amanda, Megan, Jade, Saki, and Lauren but losing to Yvonne, Catherine, and Nadine). He matched her abilities in hand-to-hand combat within days, thanks to his photographic memory and ability to mimic fighting styles.

When S.O.L.A.C.E agents were transferred to the Sigmacarrier, Laura prepared to break out, stealing security codes for the cells. However, the night she was planning, a riot ensued, forcing her to deal with it. Laura was able to defeat the group just before Velveteen and the other Black Velvet agents arrive to help. As Velveteen attempted to make the agents stand down, Cockse refused, blaming her for the riot.

Laura realised he had mimicked her ballet abilities to slip past the security lasers, intending to blame her for the riot as he presented evidence against her. Knowing there would be a height difference, she deduced that he burned his shoulder and removed his pad with a hidden blade. Laura revealed the deductions and his injury to Velveteen as Cockse called for her arrest. She fought and outmatched him as he fled, but she was unable to stop him.

After observing him leave, Velveteen revealed that he knew Laura had stolen the codes and confronted her about it. After Yvonne kicked her in the stomach, she reluctantly revealed her plans to release only Vasiliev and her connection to him. Velveteen released him in exchange for her honesty and allowed her to set him up under a false identity.

### A Call to Arms: D-Day

   In D-Day, Laura was present alongside The Defenders in an attempt to repel S.O.L.A.C.E forces from the city and the Red Gate bridge. However, their efforts are futile as Mimeographer, her nemesis, proceeds to make things worse by exploiting the Sigmacarrier's unstable reactor and causing a hugely expanding radiation that affects innocent people. As a result, she fights him, outmatched him and knocks him out in anger.

   She has stopped the ship's volatile gasses through Mimeographer's remote, but the ship crashes down to the city, never seeing the Black Velvet again, even The Defenders aren't able to save them. As a result, she was outlawed by PROJECT corporation through the process of S.O.L.A.C.E organisation's evidence. Michael Nexima aka the Iron Man was furious about that, but he was forced to entrench himself in the NRC tower due to the chaotic state of the planet, while learning that a growing resistance group known as the G/NEX has started to combat the oppressive PROJECT corporation. Michael suggest she should join that certain group.

Despite her lack of cybernetics and her minimalistic nature, she became valued as member. As a result ASHE-159 even considered her to the best infiltrator, aside from SCYLLA-028 due to her natural ability of staying inconspicuous.

### PROJECT-G/NEX War

   Disgusted by S.O.L.A.C.E's support of PROJECT and their dangerous ambition, Laura Smirnoff actively works as the resistance's prime infiltration agent. Due to her loadout consisting only her suit and light gear, she is often accompanied in infiltrations and espionage operations to ensure her protection.

#### Rampancy

During the ongoing incident, Laura Smirnoff was actually lucky enough to safely rescue her old mentor, Vasiliev in Technovolk. He was aware of the megacorporation and their evil nature, which allowed them to reunite quickly, but not before seeing the massive OBELISK right in front of them. As a result, the two have contemplated about their fate, as he halted all of their attempts to escape. However, they were saved as OBELISK was easily distracted by the entirety of the Evalkan Ground Forces, which they unleash their firepower to the massive mecha.

Laura took advantage of the chance to transport her adopted father out of town. Vasiliev, on the other hand, had an idea: infiltrate the megacorporation. As a result, the two fortunately created phoney identities and donned full-body uniforms, masks that concealed their identities, which succeeded. They successfully entered SUPREME headquarters over the period of six weeks. ASHE-159 inquires about OBELISK's whereabouts after learning of her conflict with TAGGART. She sent a private message instead, not wanting to be revealed. The message passed undetected in the servers, but LILIAN-395 was able to intercept it while on patrol.

As a result, She orders him to stay put, while she goes out to escape, discreetly. However, Vasiliev was quickly abducted in a warehouse, with LILIAN-395 demanding her to come out.

#### Death

    Following the threat, she quickly disguised herself as a Command Line soldier to avoid being exposed. It was extremely effective, roughly on par with SCYLLA-028 and the NIGHTSTALKER's infiltration abilities. To make matters more difficult, Mimeographer is a Command Line officer, making her infiltration as a soldier far more difficult, as the latter knows her very well due to their past rivalry. As a result, in order to avoid suspicion from her rival, she participates in patrols and security at the SUPREME headquarters. This enabled her to save Vasiliev and transport him to safety via subway train.

    However, Mimeographer was able to ensure that her actions were not overlooked, so he sent a tracking drone to latch onto Laura's body armour while she was unaware. Mimeographer quickly found her after GRIMM confirmed her duplicitous behaviour after he verified his reports to him. Laura was able to hack into their servers for intel and deploy a massive EMP device in order to disable the entire building and its electricity. This gives her enough time to flee because the skyscraper will take a few minutes to restart. LILIAN-395 becomes aware of the commotion in the SUPREME headquarters, allowing her patrols to be exploited in her favour.

Laura contacts ASHE-159 for extraction while quietly sneaking around the headquarters. However, communications are down as a result of the ongoing incident, as the megacorporation appears to have disabled telecommunications to avoid defectors. Accepting that she will not be evacuated on time, she moves slowly on Brimstone, Freya to escape the city. She jumps around skyscrapers with a sniper rifle because PROJECT does not bother with anything that walks on top of their buildings, unless their Drones catch the perpetrators, explaining why she kills people from far away.

However, someone has impaled an advanced tactical grappling hook on her leg, and pulls her back to the ground. It was LILIAN-395. As she is curious to find out who's the traitorous infiltrator, she went on to unmask her captured subjects while on patrol. She takes off Laura's cloak and immediately recognised her, confirming that GRIMM was right. Laura responses by using a powerful taser to disable her, but it is useless and LILIAN-395 simply stabbed her in the ribs, killing her while her corpse drops to the floor.

Her corpse was quickly discovered by the resistance while in Technovolk, effectively ruining their efforts on exploiting the megacorporation. As a result, Laura's legacy appeared to be ruined or carried out by SCYLLA-028, who primarily serves as their infiltration agent following her untimely death.

## Abilities

Laura Smirnoff has no innate powers. She relies on her skills and speed to dominate her opponents.

* **Master Combatant**: Laura is an exceptionally skilled combatant, whether as a Hand-to-hand combatant, melee fighter, or a marksman fighter. She is adept on using Hand-to-hand combat, melee weapons and ranged weapons to the full potential.

* **Master Marksman**: The Red Widow has exceptional marksmanship.

* **Expert Tactician**: She is an expert tactician, has a tactic for every situation, and tricks up in her sleeve.

* **Master Seductress**: As a result of her looks, she can easily seduce men and women alike for strategical purposes.

## Trivia

### General

* Infamous for her deadly skills as the Red Widow, she is one of the best assassins in Evalkan history.
* She is a redhead, due to being Evalkan nationality with some Nordic descent. Medarda is said to her cousin, but this needs confirmation yet.
* Has collides with Scylla at some point. She easily admits that she was outmatched, relatively quick.
* Michael Nexima is one of her most trusted allies.
* Has good relationship with pretty much every G/NEX member.

### Developmental Notes

* Laura Smirnoff is designed a one-off character, as with Katherine Amaranth.
* She is sterilised at a young age, making her incapable of bearing children.
* She does not like strawberries or bad pseudonyms for disguises.
* Has minor feelings with Hawk at some point.
* Laura managed to have feelings with Michael Nexima for a while.
* Sable is her digital clone, confirmed.