Ebony (Valeria Montra)
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Contents
Ebony
Abilities and Equipment
Equipment
Ebony doesn't have the luxury of superpowers, and thus compensates with skills and equipment. She comes prepared with hand-crafted trick shurikens, a stealth hawkwing she refers to as the Nevermore, a stealth field generator that makes her nearly invisible, as well as any other modifications she might have for a certain scenario. When not using the Nevermore, she gets around with a memory cloth cape that can be used to glide around, and an industrial-grade grappling gun with a titanium alloy 250 ft. rope.
Her base of operations is a subterranean cave located miles beneath her apartment in Millennium City's downtown, which she calls the House of Ushers, in honor of Edgar Allen Poe's story. The only entrances into the House of Ushers are from a DNA scan elevator located in a broom closet in Valeria's apartment complex, or the sewer system. The House of Ushers comes equipped with a high-tech computer connected to Montra Enterprises on a proxy ID and can utilize most functions of a general computer, as well as scan small objects and evidence. The House of Ushers also is surrounded by an electrified metal outer bubble, preventing people from infiltrating it or detecting its presence, but this comes at the cost of requiring a steady supply of oxygen being pumped through the sewer system. The Nevermore isn't kept in the House of Ushers itself, but rather is solar-powered and remains hovering miles above Millennium City, which she can call down using a remote signal on her utility belt.
Skills
Her time overseas has made Ebony into a formidable opponent against crime. She's a black belt in tae kwon do, has specialized training in stealth and aiming shurikens, her mind is trained to resist psionic interference (but not completely block it out, she can hold out against mental attacks for up to a half-hour), and has trained (lightly) in escape artistry.
Weaknesses
Ebony houses a lot of rage and regret within her, but usually keeps it inside, unless severely provoked. She is very sensitive on the subject of her father, and utterly hates her uncle turned stepfather, Ferris Montra, sometimes to the point of being emotionally unstable. She also has a crippling fear of insects, having stemmed from messing with a hornet nest at 6 years old, and will panic if she's in the same room with a wasp or other large winged insect.
Biography
Childhood and Early Life
Valeria Montra was born to a wealthy, prominent family in London in 1993. Her father, Draven Montra, was brother to a wealthy business tycoon over in the United States, Ferris Montra. While living in the lap of luxury in the UK, Valeria was very active and tomboyish from a young age, loving to mess with medieval armor and weaponry her father tended to collect in their manor. Her father was very affectionate, close, and loving with Valeria, one prominent example of which was Draven reading the works of Edgar Allen Poe to her at bedtime. Life seemed good for the young noble girl.
However, in the summer of 2003, Draven Montra died in a horrid plane crash, and the wreckage was lost somewhere over the East Indies. To add insult to injury, Ferris then married Valeria's mother, Lenore, and Valeria was given a decent sum of money and sent to a military school in Wales. Not taking this turn of events lightly, she bided her time with the training at the academy until the summer of 2006 when she had enough free time to investigate the wreckage case. Noting that the plane was made by Ferris' company, Montra Enterprises, and that Draven and the pilot were the only ones on board had fed Valeria's suspicions. Digging even deeper, she found that her father owned a significant share of Montra Enterprises that would go to Ferris by right of kin. Satisfied with her evidence, she attempted to take these pleas to the UK court, only to be struck down by Ferris' dream-team of lawyers.
Road to Shadow
Taking matters into her own hands, she decided to travel the world for 10 years using money from her father's life insurance. She trained in South Korea for 4 years as an assassin under a false alias, which she later fled and faked her death due to disagreements with her dojo master's "philosophy". Returning to Britain at the age of 19, she attended Oxford University under another false alias for a CSI course, and the week before graduation, she faked her death yet again to cover her tracks. Finally, at the age of 23, she bought a plane ticket to Millenium City, where Montra Enterprises was headquartered at. Taking inspiration from the heroes around her and the poems read to her as a child by her father, she used the last of her money to forge the identity of Ebony, while establishing her identity as a socialite and playgirl as Valeria.
Joining The Adventurers
While initially having her vendetta against Ferris Montra as her prime focus, she had got caught up with the responsibilities of being a hero. While staying out of the limelight, she tended to begin doing nightly patrols, hoping to find a lead on Ferris' shady business practices or stop some crime. Eventually, fate got her entangled with the super-team known as the Adventurers, when she took down an evil alternate version of one of their members, Dread Spider. Impressed with taking down Dread Spider, she was invited to the Adventurers as a full member. She accepted, but still kept to the shadows and her own business, remaining on call if the Adventurers needed her.
And so they did, sometime after Christmas. She answered a distress call in Millennium City's Chinatown District and helped her team members bring down a mutated Red Spider, utilizing a camera on her suit's emblem to weaken it with flashing light. The battle moved to the rooftop, and it took the combined efforts of Stormherald, Meltdown, and Lady Justice, (with a little help from the Nevermore's headlights) to bring down the beast. The danger now past, Ebony took her leave until she was needed again. Her future is uncertain with her new friends in the Adventurers, but only one thing is on Ebony's mind - Ferris will pay.
