there's red in my ledger

kinetic

protects

immuno

On account of spending years learning to control every aspect of her body and use herself as a weapon, Natasha is a paragon of focus. She sets herself about a task and doesn't allow distractions to creep in at the corners of her mind. Years of full-cover missions have allowed this to become an effortless endeavor for her, something that comes naturally. Being as focused as she is allows Natasha to channel that attention into being alert and reading others, which puts her on a hair trigger for reacting reflexively in moments of danger. She's quick on the uptake, but is learning how to temper her instinct to pull that trigger.

Because she's spent the better part of her life considering herself a weapon, SHIELD has been a transition for Natasha. It's made obvious that she was an assassin right up until the moment Clint made the choice not to kill her (more on that later), but SHIELD wants spies - not killers. It took some rewiring to learn not to pull for the headshot immediately, or waste anyone who was useless, and this becomes apparent in scenes like her meeting with Banner in Calcutta. Once that switch is flipped and she's in her zone, it takes time for her to break back out of what's instinctual and lower her weapon. This becomes a level that she relates to Bruce on, and what brings them closer to bond as friends.

In all situations, she achieves a certain degree of level-headed control that allows her to keep calm in her decision-making and reserve her emotions. This placid projection can cause her to come across as unapproachable, though she isn't naturally unfriendly or intentionally intimidating.

In the right situations, surrounded by allies, Natasha's attitude borders on the sarcastic and teasing. She ribs Steve and Clint most notably, though there's a certain degree of sarcastic banter between herself and Tony, Thor, and Bruce as well. She prioritizes her mission when there is one, but that doesn't prevent her from taking a breather to appreciate a level of comfortable teamwork with those she best identifies with. On the other hand, she'll also be the one to reiterate the importance of the mission and yank them back on track.

A lot of Natasha's pride/confidence comes out of a place of being so entirely in control of herself. She premises a great deal of her self-efficacy on the ability to set her emotional response aside and get the job done. She's by no means infallibly stone-faced in dangerous situations: she loses her cool when the Hulk comes out and very nearly beats her to death, but she gets a moment to herself, swallows the fear, and rises to the occasion in order to go rescue Barton.

Similarly, in her interrogation of Loki, Natasha demonstrates an important element of how she operates with regards to interrogations and espionage. There's a level of genuine engagement there when she interrogates Loki; she expresses facts and opens up about her own feelings in an attempt to prompt her target, using even her selective decisions to divulge information about herself personally as a tool in her arsenal. She creates a buffer between her genuine reaction to the conversation and the frank and matter-of-fact way she presents herself, however, and where Loki is concerned she puts on a show to play into what she observes he'll respond to.

When she genuinely opens up, like with Barton, it's more clipped and indirect. She acknowledges what he knows about her, makes concessions, and moves forward to the task at hand. While she develops a relationship with each of the Avengers in varying levels of cooperation, she is closest to Clint Barton, Hawkeye, who she has worked in tandem with since she came to join SHIELD after he spared her life. Natasha perceives herself as owing him a debt, one that she's trying to make up by washing the blood off her hands and helping SHIELD to save lives instead of allowing the Russian government to use her to take them. He offered her freedom from a situation she hadn't even been able to identify, at the time, as a cage; that's what she owes him for, not just her life.

While Natasha makes jokes about the fragile state of her loyalty ("regimes fall every day. i tend not to weep over that; i'm russian, or i used to be."), her attitude towards Barton and SHIELD refute that. She has considerable loyalty to those that she owes a debt, or to those whom she feels deserve respect. Her loyalty is fragile only in its application to blind service to an organization or power structure/institution. SHIELD and Barton allowed her to have her own choices, to turn away from the blind faith in the Russian government and step outside of that. They broke her of her indoctrination; now, she follows what she believes is the right thing to do.

See: Batman.

Natasha doesn't have any superhuman abilities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but she has been training for most of her life to be a super-spy and a master assassin. She's top of her class in both areas. Skills acquired over the course of her training include:

firearms training - natasha is seen using anything from handguns to sniper and assault rifles, to alien tech. she appears to be a natural with firearms and is a quick learner on anything unfamiliar courtesy of her breadth of knowledge.

martial arts mastery - throughout the marvel universe, she demonstrates capabilities in a range of martial arts: judo, aikido, boxing, and more. the conclusion can be drawn that she has achieved mastery in all standard martial arts forms. these skills make her a formidable unarmed combatant, which she demonstrates when going a few rounds with happy, tony, and an army of chitauri soldiers.

computer systems - in addition to the standard ability to disarm security systems that any good spy must know, natasha is able to, on separate occasions, hack into stark industries' files and help rhodey regain control of the war machine suit.

interrogation - using the interrogation skills learned through her spy training, natasha actually outmaneuvers loki and coaxes him into a confession. she's educated in a variety of interrogation techniques.

espionage - natasha spends the better part of iron man 2 as 'natalie rushman,' tricking tony into allowing her a position in his company so that she can remain close to him and pepper and gather information for SHIELD. she uses a variety of techniques to gain information, from stealthy hacking and wire-tapping to inserting herself as an asset to sweet-talk and gain trust. she employs a similar technique when trying to sit bruce down to get him talking in avengers.

gadgetry - her widow's bite bracelets contain a crippling shocking pulse, a laser, and a grappling hook; electromagnetic pulse discs; smoke grenades; garrote; handguns; etc.

1 pair dark wash jeans

1 red t-shirt

1 black leather jacket

2 thigh holsters

widow's bite - bracelet containing a crippling shock pulse, a fine-beam laser, and a grappling hook

two glock 26 handguns

musebox link &

[ while she's certain someone must have pointed it out before, natasha hasn't been able to dig anything up on the network to indicate that there's something to be found on the subject - and yet, she sees a great deal of communications flagged with the same passworded filter.

sharing it by word of mouth and continuing to change the password is clever, granted, but even if she weren't interested in the likelihood that compass could easily get someone to play turncoat with the right coaxing and hand the passwords over, it seems ... ineffective. ]

I'm curious about the perceived effectiveness of a 'resistance filter' over a city-wide communication service that's been provided to us by the very people you're attempting to block out. What's the rationale in believing that COMPASS isn't being granted access to everything you broadcast?

already in game.