Wide-Ranging Operations

Stephanie Malik was somewhat puzzled by Natasha Romanoff's sudden arrival.

In her eyes, the female spy had always maintained an ambiguous, on-again-off-again relationship with the Sovereign. Letting someone like that directly command the modified assassins sent a chill down her spine. Yet over the years they had spent together, Salomon had constantly and subtly influenced her in order to bring her into his cause, until Natasha Romanoff had now accepted Salomon's ideals as a matter of course.

Stephanie had guessed at several possibilities. At that moment, she eyed her new colleague up and down with jealousy, trying to discern Natasha's expression through the white Skull Mask and crimson lenses of her custom matte-black Power Armor. She immediately recognized what made this suit special. Not only was this Power Armor, built for special operations, extraordinarily complex in its construction—the design blueprints and data drives alone had filled more than one bookcase, and she had handled some of them herself—it was also incredibly expensive. Ordinary assassins could only be equipped with simplified versions.

Natasha Romanoff's Power Armor belonged to the finest class of materials. Salomon had spared no expense to ensure its combat capability and safety features reached their maximum potential. Unlike ordinary Power Armor, an assassin's suit had more armor plates and greater flexibility, while its more form-fitting design displayed her figure to perfection. The internal power source, controllable vents, and radar-reflecting coating ensured that its wearer would not easily be exposed during covert operations. At the same time, retractable data ports on the gauntlets allowed the user to steal information at top speed and interfere with enemy communications networks. Combined with weapons using Alien Technology mounted on the arm and leg guards, along with Olympus-class Servo Motors that operated silently while delivering immense power, it allowed its wearer to unleash