Valerie is a high-ranking member of the Authorities and the aunt of Arlo. She is also secretly a field operative of the EMBER division of the Authorities, under the alias of Volcan, an assassin who sells Ability Amplifiers to power-hungry criminals. Alongside Brims, she is responsible for killing Rei.
Appearance
Valerie is a very tall woman. She has long blonde hair that she ties into a ponytail. She has a slender build and sharp facial features. Her yellow eyes have a weary look about them. She usually wears eye-shadow.
In the past, she was shown wearing a business suit consisting of a white dress shirt, a black jacket and skirt combo, black high heels, and large dangle earrings. During her reunion with Arlo, she dressed in business casual. She wore a black long sleeve shirt, grey pants with a belt, black platform high heels, and large pearl earrings.
As Volcan she wears a buckled black trench coat, a wide-brimmed black hat over her top-bunned hair, knee-high black heeled boots, a mask up to her nose and diamond earrings.
Personality
Valerie goes about life trying to ensure that the Authorities are held in high regard. To children she gives the impression that being a member of the Authorities makes her a champion of justice who catches the bad guys. To older civilians, she describes herself and her colleagues in a more mature manner, while still maintaining that they are the best line of defense against criminals.
Valerie is warm and affectionate to close relatives. When family members introduce their friends, she makes their acquaintance in a courteous, professional manner. When discussing sensitive or controversial subjects, Valerie is mindful of how others may feel, though she only takes the stances that she's expected to as a member of the Authorities. Valerie maintains an eerily calm composure even if the people she's speaking to disagree with her statements or get angry with her. She maintains this calm even when she's deadly serious. This increases the impact of the warnings she gives to those who question the authorities.
Valerie's true colors reveal her to be a vicious, apathetic murderer. When she works as Volcan her demeanor is very curt and final. She has no hesitation of outright attacking and removing people she no longer has a need for. Her true attitude towards Vigilantes and their ideals are in full display. She is a brutally straightforward and focused person, uninterested in toying around and gets to the point. She appears also to be a brutal and merciless murderer, perhaps manipulative as well, as she only puts up with people "of use" to her.[2] She maintains her calm and collected demeanor until she has lost the upper hand in a battle.
History
A...good influence?
Valerie was sweet to her young nephew Arlo. She told him that her job was to stop all the bad guys, and that he could always come to her if he ever ran into trouble. She instilled within him absolute trust in her, and the Authorities by extension.[3]
In truth, she was a corrupt authority figure. In the wake of the publication of Unordinary and the vigilantes that arose, the Authorities formed an organization known as EMBER, in part to counter the rebellious altruists. To the public, EMBER was a terrorist organization with no affiliation to the Authorities. Valerie was deeply involved with this branch of the organization and its Ability Amplifier program. She was also chosen to undergo a process made possible by Conversion Technology, and successfully acquired additional abilities, including Flame Claw. As a part of their drug's trial phase, she would sell them in person to mid-tier criminals. When working in this black market, she donned a disguise and went under the pseudonym "Volcan". In public, she continued to falsely claim that the Authorities were working hard to stop EMBER.
One night, in the wake of a drug war, her colleague Brims got into an altercation with the vigilante team of X-Static and "Ponytail". He was unable to kill the duo on his own, so Volcan stepped in as soon as the vigilantes' guards were down. She learned that Brims was still getting accustomed to his newly acquired abilities. SO she worked together with him in order to kill the superheroes. When their opponents realized they were outmatched, the one called X-Static attempted a suicidal final attack. It failed, but it allowed his partner to escape with his life.[4]
Powers & Abilities
Valerie is an extremely powerful god-tier who is additionally able to use multiple other abilities thanks to the "conversion technology" used by NXGen Research Facility.
Barrier: A more powerful variant of Arlo's which can form into nigh-destructible walls and form a jagged crystal-like barrier to use as a surrounding for protection or to squeeze her opponents. She can also create individual cages made of her Barrier which are just as strong as her wall and can slam into enemies and do incredible damage
Converted Abilities
Flame Claw: As Volcan, she is capable of engulfing a claw-shaped fire from her hand that is capable of both slashing and burning opponents.
Physical Abilities
Valerie is extremely strong and insanely durable, withstanding a running punch from Seraphina with light bruising and later take another running punch from Leilah with zero damage.[5] As Volcan, she is extremely fast, has incredible reflexes but unfortunately loses that durability she normally has. It is unknown if this is due to enhancement (along with Flame Claws, NXGEN has been able to replicate Speed and Regeneration using Conversion Technology) but she was able to outpace and overpower Remi, a high-tier, and could withstand electric shocks and several direct hits from powerful physical and energy attacks before needing to retreat.
She also possesses amazing reflexes, able to dodge Remi's lightning-quick strikes and counter just as fast. Blyke's shots were also easy for Valerie to evade, at least when her focus wasn't too divided.
Quotes
- (to Arlo, on many occasions) "Don't overthink it, Arlo"
- (to Remi, about Rei) "Such a waste. A strong, young man like him could've been so much more, yet he decided to do that kind of thing."[6]
- (about the vigilantes) "I see... Those pesky Wellston kids again"[7]
Relationships
- Arlo: Valerie is Arlo's aunt from his father's side. She presents herself as a caring and loving individual to him. She also indoctrinates him with the "might makes right" mentality, ensuring everything were done for the "greater good". Arlo, on the other hand, slowly put things together and reluctantly acknowledges his aunt is not what she seems.
- Byron: As fellow EMBER operatives, they work in tandem eradicating any and all threat towards the hierarchy.
- Remi: Valerie puts up a professional and respectful façade to Remi. When the latter realizes she and Volcan were the similar person, the Queen questions her on how Authorities done their job. Valerie secretly disappointed that the teen followed in her late brother's footsteps.
- Kassandra: Valerie serves as Kassandra's immediate superior. While the investigator's works were deemed satisfactory, she criticized her underling in taking her sweet time on Vaughn's investigation.[8]
- Seraphina: Valerie agrees to meet her with Arlo, under the pretension of offering her a deal in exchange of her freedom. In truth, Valerie intended to capture her all along, going as far as crediting Arlo for the operation and stationing members of Authorities at their rendezvous spot.[9]
Gallery
References
- ↑ I'm uru-chan, creator of unOrdinary! AMA! : unOrdinary (reddit.com)
- ↑ Chapter 116
- ↑ Chapter 178
- ↑ Chapter 280
- ↑ Chapter 324
- ↑ Chapter 203
- ↑ Chapter 306
- ↑ Chapter 308
- ↑ Chapter 323