Valerie McKenna, in her humble and modest opinion, was on her way to becoming the greatest agent in the history of the DPA.
As a member of one of the most famous sorcerer families in the country, along with a year of experience hunting down cryptids under her belt, it was only natural that she excel in anything that she put her mind to. And that was exactly what she did.
Valerie's near-flawless record as a "Solo Hunter" so far was no secret to anyone in their station. She was one of the few agents that her aunt trusted enough to put down those dangerous creatures that threatened the health and safety of the public without any help. Add that to the fact that everyone around acknowledged her skills, and it was no wonder that the young woman was so confident in her abilities.
Of course, she had a few minor slip-ups along the way that temporarily hindered her rise to the top. Such as not being able to join the Anti-Personnel Squad when she came to Station Nine. Or how she had to transfer over here from the San Francisco station after a particularly heated fight she had with one of her cousins. But even then, those minor setbacks were not going to stop her from achieving her ultimate goal. Which was to become the Commissioner of the DPA.
That's right, Valerie McKenna had her eyes set on the top. A position that only the best and most skilled of the country's sorcerer population could ever hope to obtain. And there was nothing that was going to stop her from achieving her goal.
The current Commissioner was the famed Eugene MacNamara, a man whose skills no one doubted. And there was a short list of qualified agents across the U.S. that would more than likely follow him after he retired. One among them was her own aunt, Zoe Chandler. However, the spot after them was still up for grabs as far as she was concerned. And Valerie was determined to grab hold of that position the moment she got the chance.
"Alright, ready to start the day!" The tall blonde said confidently as she looked herself over in the mirror. Her long, blonde hair was perfectly styled in her family's signature ponytail. Her skin was as clear and fresh as a cloudless sky. And her navy blue suit hugged her body just enough to show off the muscles that he had spent years crafting in order to become the best cryptid-killing weapon since Jean-Jacques Mubele himself.
Once she felt that she was all set and ready to go, the young woman swiftly left the house she shared with her aunt, uncle, and cousin en route to her place of work. Like usual, she arrived at the secretive building in less than twenty minutes, and she didn't waste any time before bursting through the door as if she owned the place.
Valerie much preferred this station over the one where she used to work at. For starters, the place was just more aesthetically pleasing to look at than the last. Second, there was a lot less drama among the staff, if any at all. And last, but certainly not least, there were actually a lot of good-looking guys here!
Now, don't get her wrong, Valerie was a professional. One that would never sully her good name by making a move on someone that she worked with. However, when you grew up like her, it was only natural to take a moment to appreciate the eye candy when it just so happened to come across her line of sight. Her family consisted of pretty much all women, as well as the last station she worked at. So no one could blame her for sneaking a few...appreciative glances whenever she could.
All of that aside, the young blonde was looking forward to adding to her record today. Which is exactly why she decided to make a beeline right for her aunt's office with the hope that she had something for her to do. Having a slow day was nice every once in a while, but someone with Valerie's aspirations couldn't afford to sit to on her ass while others were out there making a name for themselves.
Eventually, the woman found herself a few feet away from Chief Chandler's office. However, she stopped when she heard her aunt screaming out in frustration from the other side of the door.
"Motherfucker!"
Hoping to quickly find out what was wrong, Valerie rushed forward and pulled the door open. Only to be met with the sight of her boss standing over her desk with a face of pure and utter fury written across her scarred face.
"Uh...everything alright in here?" Valerie asked out of both concern and genuine curiosity.
"No, Valerie, everything's not alright!"
"What's wrong?"
"That prisoner that the Anti-Personnel Squad captured a few days ago is fucking dead!"
"Seriously?"
"Yes!" The woman responded. "The bitch died while she was being transported."
"How?" The younger agent then asked. She had heard about that little mess with the 'water magic' user right after it happened. Apparently, she was some former convict who decided to go on a murder spree before being taken down by Stillwater's brother and that new girl she saw in her office.
"That's the thing, no one has a damn clue!" Chief Chandler said as she attempted to calm herself down. "It happened completely out of nowhere. When they opened up the truck to check on her, Davidson was already dead. And apparently, she had enough poison in her body to take down a full-grown elephant."
"Shit..."
"That woman was very possibly a member of some sort of criminal group, but she refused to talk when we interrogated her. I was hoping that Ethan and the guys in the Raleigh station would be able to make her talk. But it looks like any hopes we had of that just went down the drain."
"Well, that's not good." Valerie replied. Of course, sorcerer crime groups weren't necessarily a rarity. But they were way more common in places like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, where the sorcerer population was much higher than they were here. So losing someone tied to a group like that was not a good sign.
Hoping to take her mind off this fiasco, Chief Chandler gave her niece her full attention. "So, what do you need?"
"I was hoping that you had something for me to do today."
After fully calming herself down, the Chief rattled her brain for a moment before the light bulb went off in her head. "I think that Price pinned down the location of a C-rank cryptid not too far from here. Since you're here early, you can go ahead and take care of it. Just head down to the records room and he'll tell you what you need to know."
'Sweet!' Valerie smiled. This was exactly what she wanted to hear. C-ranks were something that she could more than handle on her own. And it's close by, which means that she could track the thing down, deal with it, and probably be back before lunch. "I'll get it taken care of!"
"Good. I'll see you when you get back."
"Catch you later!"
And just like that, Valerie quickly made her way down to the records room. More than ready to begin her latest hunt and add to her glory.
-(o)-
[DPA Records Room]
Within a few minutes, Valerie was casually making her way down the steps to the records room. Once she was close enough to the door, the woman could hear the sound of talking coming from the other side. Normally, that wouldn't be anything of note. However, considering that not a lot of people came to the office this early, she couldn't help but wonder who else was inside.
The tall blonde quickly got her answer when she opened the door. There, she was met with the sight of the DPA's resident gopher sitting on top of his desk while chatting it up with another agent. One that she sort of recognized.
'Isn't he that Watanabe chick's partner?' She asked herself once she laid eyes on a certain young man with light caramel skin, green eyes, and freckles scattered across his face.
"McKenna, what's up?" Freddy looked at the new arrival. "You need something?"
"Yeah." The woman replied without missing a beat. "Chief said that you had a C-rank close by that needs to be taken down."
"I sure do! Just give me a second." The 'dark magic' user gave her a smile before leaping back over his desk and rummaging around for what he needed.
Valerie cut a glance at Cyrus while she waited for Freddy to finish getting her information ready. If her memory served her correctly, this guy was one of the new rookies that her aunt had managed to pick up a few months ago. Apparently, he had some weird type of 'plant magic' that had the Chief super interested in him. But she had no clue as to why. On first glance, he didn't seem like all that much to her. And based on what she could sense, he only had enough magic power to barely be considered B-rank at best.
Not that she was hating on the guy for that, of course. The amount of magical power that you had certainly wasn't the be-all-end-all for a sorcerer. She herself was painfully aware of that, especially with her...problem. But there was nothing about him that made him seem all that special.
'He is kind of cute, though.' She couldn't help but think as she gave him a quick once-over. 'Kinda plain in the face, but it looks like he has a nice body under that suit. And the freckles really do it for me. Sucks that we work in the same office though!'
Well, even if she couldn't ask him out, the least she could do was be friendly. They were coworkers after all, and it was important that make sure that those around you had a good impression whenever possible. Plus, this awkward silence was starting to kill her.
"Hey!"
"Hello." Cyrus replied in a calm tone as he looked away from his laptop.
"I don't think we've officially met. My name is Valerie McKenna! And you?"
"Cyrus Moore."
"You're Watanabe's partner, right? I heard about you a few times from the Chief. Apparently, you and your partner do good work."
"Oh, is that right? I didn't know that I had a reputation already."
"Well, it's better to have a positive one than a negative one, right?"
"Good point."
And just like that, the awkward silence had returned. This guy obviously wasn't interested in talking to her, which didn't exactly do any favors for Valerie's confidence at the moment. After all, this wasn't the first time that a cute guy gave her the semi-cold shoulder. But at least he had enough manners to actually engage in a conversation. Unlike the last guy she tried to go out with....
On the other side of the equation, Cyrus didn't know what to think about the woman standing in front of him. He had definitely heard of this lady before from Freddy and Ayako. And she appeared to be exactly the way that they described her. Tall, buff, and full of energy. However, there was something about her that seemed off. And that something was her mana.
The best way that Cyrus could describe it was that the mana emanating from the woman felt...unstable. Yeah, that was probably the best way to put it. Unstable like a bottle of water constantly being shaken and stirred around, but still being held together inside its container. He hadn't encountered anyone like this so far during his time with DPA, and he couldn't help but wonder what that was all about.
Before the young man could think of something to continue their conversation, Freddy popped back up from behind his desk while holding a tablet and a book that was tabbed open to a specific page.
"Alright, so here's what we got." The 'dark magic' user began, gaining Valerie's full attention with those words. "The owner of a horse stable an hour outside of the city has reported that several of his animals have been killed over the last few days. The cops haven't turned up a clue, and the only things they have to go on are that the dead horses all have chunks bitten out of their flesh."
"Gross." Valerie couldn't help but say after being shown a picture of the aftermath.
"Our radar has picked up cryptid activity in the area, so it's safe to say that we know what the source of the problem is."
"Seems pretty simple enough. So...what's the catch?"
"The catch is that all of the attacks happen at night. Probably somewhere between ten and one in the morning. Now, the owner of the stables has already hired security to keep watch over the stables for the next time your target shows up. So your job is to either kill the thing before it takes down another horse, or directly after. Either one is fine, it's not like we actually care about whether or not the things are alive. But just make sure that the thing is dead before it starts moving on to more sentient prey."
"Do we have any clue as to what the cryptid is?" The blonde then asked. She didn't like going into a situation completely blind if she could help it.
"My best guess is that it's a howler. You know, the ones that look like a mix between a bat and a wolf, the kind that can secrete poison from their fangs once they get to a certain age."
"Good to know."
Freddy then handed Valerie the tablet with the location of the stables and a map of the surrounding area. "I know you're not a fan of late-night missions, but unless you want to spend the entire day going on a wild goose chase, I suggest you hurry up and get some sleep before getting to work."
"It is what it is. Can't really complain about it now."
"That's pretty much it. Any questions?"
"Nope, I think I got everything!"
"Good. I'll let the Chief know that you're going to be punching out early today."
"Thanks for the help, man. I probably won't be seeing you tomorrow, so I guess I'll catch you the day after that."
"Fine with me."
With her new assignment all set and ready to go, Valerie quickly exited the records room and made a quick stop by her equipment locker before leaving the building. She had a long night ahead of her, so she was definitely planning on catching some sleep before what was sure to be one hell of a stakeout.
Although the woman did indeed hate overnight jobs like this, her sleep schedule was a small price to pay when it came to doing her job. And a minor annoyance like this certainly wasn't going to stop her from adding to her solo record. So, without a care in the world, Valerie spent a couple of hours getting prepared before crashing into her bed. Ready to show the world exactly what she was made of.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Valerie
Name: Valerie Bernice McKenna
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Birthday: May 4th
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Height: 72in
Weight: 192lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Magic: Fire
Occupation: DPA Agent
Stat Chart: B
-Physical Strength - 4
-Intelligence - 2
-Magic Amount - 5+
-Magical Control - 1.5
-Magic Sensing - 3.5
-Special - N/A
Fun Fact:
-Favorite sport is MMA.