Valkyrie (City of Heroes)

"I've waited for my day in the spotlight!"

- Valkyrie

Valerie Kellum, now known as Valkyrie is a character from the M.M.O. City of Heroes. Valkyrie is a warrior that uses advanced technology in the style of old world-world weaponry and armor. She is the sidekick of Freedom Phalanx member, Positron.

Origin
Originally Valerie Kellum was an aspiring archeologist. Her earliest expedition was to Scandinavia. During her expedition, Valerie unearthed an ancient looking spear. The spear looked extremely old but closer examination of it revealed it was in-fact high quality, very high quality, if not for the carbon dating Valerie Kellum would have believed it was made with cutting edge technology. To uncover the mystery of the spear, Valerie trekked across Europe taking the spear to expert after expert in her efforts to make heads or tales of it's origin. Eventually Valerie took the spear to researchers at Crey Industries in one of their offices in Paragon City to correlate her data. Crey was most interested in the spear and tried take it from Valerie by force. The spear somehow reacted to Valerie's heightened level of anxiety, which activated a small security measure and that strung her. The sting gifted Valerie Kellum with superhuman strength, speed, durability and martial insight, and she was able to quickly overcome her assailants and escape with the spear.

For a time Valerie did not even remember her name and assumed the role of "Valkyrie". Eventually Valerie remembered her herself and went seeking help as the spear seemed to affect her mind as well as body. Hearing of the trouble at Crey labs, former Crey researcher doctor Raymond Keyes A.K.A. Positron went to see what sort of trouble his former employers were up to. Positron found-out about the incident shortly after arriving and went to track down Valerie. By the time Positron had tracked down Valkyrie she had come to her senses somewhat and was looking for help. Once Positron was able to convince Valerie he was not with Crey he took her back to his lab to examine her. Examination of Valerie revealed that she had in-fact been injected with nanites, microscopic machines that infused into her body's cellular structure. The spear seemed to be full of the nanites that not only made Valerie's body into an advanced piece of biotech, but also allowed Valerie to command the spear as if it were part of her. Valerie's brain was effected by the nanites as well. She had advanced knowledge of weapon techniques, battle-tactics and felt more aggressive, with a need for combat. Valerie was having trouble keeping herself together as the nanites were overriding parts of her personality due to the assimilation. Positron offered to take Valerie in as his apprentice, to give her an outlet for her new warrior mind-set, fighting crime and in-between her patrols continues to run tests on her to determine the advanced ancient weapon's origins. Valkyrie would eventually strike out independently of Positron and join Ms. Liberty's Vindicators as her own super-heroine.

Possible Origins
The actual origin of the spear has never been confirmed however there are two possibles in light of other lore surrounding City of Heroes/ The first possible origin is Incarnate. An Incarnate person or object has the essence of the Well of the Furies in it, a multi-verse spanning semi-sentience that is the source of power and said to be the repository for powers of the gods of old before they left the mortal plane. Even a small drop of the Well's waters or brush of stone can induce something to become Incarnate. An Incarnate is not bound by magic, science, technology, mutation or natural abilities and can make one person an advanced scientist just as easily as it would make someone else a powerful wizard, accelerating whatever origin works best with the host. Statesman claim that Zeus and the other gods of old were Incarnates and the heroes of mythology were touched by their powers. It is possible that the Norse Gods were similarly touched but of a technological inclination instead of a magical one. If so it is possible that the Valkyrie's of myth were in-fact normal humans who became super-advanced bio-weapons via the Incarnate touched arms.

The second possibility is that Valkyrie's spear came from an alternate reality called Warrior Earth. Little is known about Warrior Earth other than it has advanced technology and is populated by thrill-seeking, aggressive denizens. Valkyrie's has a version of herself in the alternate reality of Praetoria called War Maiden. In Praetoria the Freedom-Phalanx plied their powers as conquers of the Earth instead of defenders of it. War Maiden happened upon a nanite infused axe that gave her powers the same as Valkyrie's sword gave to her. War Maiden's axe was stated to be from the Warrior Earth. As War Maiden is Valkyrie's double it is possible the two weapons have an origin on the same plane of reality and each somehow fell out of their reality, the axe to Praetorian-Earth and the spear to Primal-Earth.

Skills & Abilities
Valkyrie is much stronger, tougher and faster than a normal human-being now. Of-course her above average abilities are nothing compared to her mastery of her weapon. Valkyrie's spear can carve through steel, like it was butter. The spear can not only be controlled remotely but also split into a swarm of identical spears Valkyrie can use for precession strikes with a mere hand gesture. Valkyrie's modified brain gives her complete mastery of her weapon and how to use it effortlessly. The nanites in Valerie's body make her regenerates almost instantly from most wounds and dull their pain. Even if the spear is separated from Valerie she can instantly teleport it into her hands from anywhere in the immediate area.

Personality
Valerie continues to have identity issues and frequently assumes the role of Valkyrie as her default persona. As Valkyrie has a completely different personality of a warrior over that of a timid archeologist, the two do not mesh and cause Valkyrie/Valerie something of a bi-polar disorder. Valkyrie is happy with her new warrior mindset but worried about losing her former-self completely, so she frequently pulls herself back after the adrenalin of a battle is completed, to keep from getting lost in the moment. Valkyrie stoic helps Positron patrol Paragon City, eager for a chance to scratch her warrior's itch on super-criminals. She stands guard in the Steel Canon section of the city and helps aspiring heroes train to maximize their full potential as crime-fighters.