Countess Annika Malikova, aka Codename Babouska, is an agent with EON.
She really is a countess, a member of the long deposed Russian aristocracy, the last of a noble line. As she puts it in the second recorded adventure, she is the "last heir of the noble House of Malikov, which was first known to the Grand Princes of Kiev," a lineage which has existed for many hundreds of years.
She is also the head of a Russian crime syndicate, or at least was until a collection of rival gangs formed their own cabal to take her organization down. She was known then to the underworld only as Baboushka, or 'Grandmother', so when she was forced to flee to America to stay alive, she was able to hide in plain sight under her real identity of Malikova.
At least until three years passed and she was approached by the somber, no-nonsense man known as Mr. Clay, the head of EON, or Extrajudicial Operations Network. EON is an ultra-secret organization which, among other things," conducts assignments that would otherwise embarrass [the] government", as Malikova puts it when she reluctantly meets with Mr. Clay. Clay is definitely not above using less than ethical means to achieve his agency's goals including the very real threat of throwing Malikova back on a plane to Moscow and certain elimination unless she helps him.
Malikova is a stunningly beautiful woman in her likely early 30s with long white hair, an hereditary trait for which she was given the nickname of Babouska. She is in superb physical shape and well versed in hand-to-hand combat, including knowledge of Fighting Hopak, a Ukraine combat style. She is also very adept in the use of a wide range of weapons, short and long. In addition, she has a nice collection of gadgets she is not adverse to using, such as explosive earrings and small Matryoska doll grenades, stun and more deadly..
Babouska has as her right hand man and best friend the much older 'Gyorgy' Gyorgyov, a man whose age and crippled leg prevents him for accompanying her on her missions but who is expert enough with computers and other technical aspects to keep in contact with her on those assignments and to assist in a variety of ways, including frequent suggestions to "get out" of lots of dangerous situations - she never listens!
Good line:
- Said by Malikova at the end of her first recorded assignment, "You might think I'm a hero. That would be a mistake."