Yelena Fedorova

Yelena Fedorova (Cyrillic: Елена Фёдорова) is an antagonist in the book Deus Ex: Icarus Effect and the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. She is a senior member of the Tyrants.

Background

With an athletic build and statuesque, augmented height of 6'7", Yelena Fedorova was a trained assassin, part of an elite team of special operations mercenaries working for Belltower Associates, a private military corporation. A Russian woman of African descent with a cut of shoulder-length, spiky black hair, she was rarely seen out of her combat gear. Her only affectations were a silver cross on a black steel chain around her neck, a family heirloom of great personal value, and sometimes a nose ring as seen to the right. She had progressive mechanical augmentations; her legs had been extended with unguligrade prosthetics that enable her to move quietly and quickly. These augmentations also gave her at least a two foot height boost, giving her an intimidating figure.

According to Eliza Cassan, Fedorova witnessed the murder of her entire family as a child and suffers from consequential mental health issues. Yelena is a ruthless and resourceful combatant, never choosing frontal assault, when another approach will more easily destroy her enemies with less effort. When she moves, she does so with unexpected agility, speed, and grace - a cobra uncoiling rapidly as it strikes. Yelena has become adept at vigilance and is cautious of everything around her; she's not easy to sneak up on, and usually has a plan for every eventuality. Yelena had a one-night stand with Ben Saxon - possibly revealing that she has some need for human comfort.

Sometime before 2027, she is sent to kill Secret Service agent Anna Kelso, who knows too much about her superior's mysterious work and is considering joining the Juggernaut Collective. Later, she is involved in a confrontation between Anna, Ben Saxon, and the two other surviving Tyrant operatives. She is shot with an adhesive non-lethal shotgun round, but she is otherwise unharmed.

In 2027, Fedorova is part of the black ops team that attacks Sarif Industries research labs, where she kills many security guards and scientists. She prefers hit-and-run tactics: in one instance, she blitzed several guards with dual Hurricane SMGs before cloaking and retreating to a better position afterwards.

Later, she and Lawrence Barrett returned from a failed mission to retrieve a Neural Hub from a dead augmented Purity First member, meeting up with Jaron Namir in a Highland Park factory complex. Just as they were about to leave, Adam Jensen made his way to the lower levels, where he fought and killed Barrett while Namir and Fedorova escaped. When Jensen traveled to Montreal to confront Eliza Cassan, Fedorova was waiting for him in the facility that housed Eliza's AI. There, she ambushed him, but was defeated and seriously wounded, eventually succumbing to her wounds.

Augmentations

Fedorova is known for her trademark leg augmentations, which not only make her taller than the average human being, but also significantly faster. Fedorova also has a stealth module, which she uses frequently throughout her fight with Jensen. She is fitted with an implant known as Claymore, a Tai Yong Medical-made replica of the Typhoon Explosive System.

Fedorova's upper body is mostly covered, so it is uncertain if she has any arm or torso augmentations, but it is safe to assume that she likely has a dermal armor system, due to her health.

Fedorova has no noticable head augmentations, but due to the fact that she wields two SMGs with amazing accuracy, it is presumed that an augmentation helps her with this.

Trivia

Fedorova is a popular Russian surname meaning, literally, "of the line of Fedor". Fedor is a Russian equivalent of the male name Theodore (Greek for "gift of God"). Her surname is most likely a reference towards Nikolai Fyodorich Fyodorov, a nineteenth century Orthodox philosopher who advocated life extension, physical immortality, and resurrection of the dead through scientific means. Yelena is a common female name, English equivalent of which is Helen.
In Deus Ex: Icarus Effect ^[2] and the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Fedorova never speaks, even when a voice actor is credited as portraying her, implying that she is a mute. On page 270 of the book, a passage - "sometimes it seemed as if Jaron Namir had never known Fedorova to speak at all." suggests that she has spoken at some point in the past.
In the novel, her last name is written as "Federova", with an 'e', while in the game it's "Fedorova", with an 'o'. This minor discrepancy has not been explained as of yet. The proper transliteration of the Russian surname is "Fyodorova".
It appears that originally Fedorova was supposed to fight Jensen during the second visit to Detroit, in front of all the rioters, killing some with the aid of an 80-X Boxguard.