Nora Valkyrie

## Personality

Whether she’s diving into an enormous meal, leaping into danger or booping her favorite people on the nose, Nora exists in an almost constant state of abundant energy and enthusiasm. At any given moment she could burst into a little song, challenge someone to an arm wrestling contest or freefall into a pit of anxiety. It can be difficult to keep her focused on a topic or anticipate the direction her thoughts and imagination will take.

Most of the time her mood is playful and bubbly, filled with bright optimism even in the most dire of situations. She rarely sits still, often bouncing in and out of places unexpectedly, and loves socializing with others. While all this can sometimes make her a bit of a nuisance she is more insightful, respectful and considerate of others than one might expect. She recognizes someone’s need for personal space and will accept a decision, even if she doesn’t agree. In situations where an authority figure is in charge she follows orders cheerfully and without question and she’s even capable of being serious from time to time.

## Powers

“I can bench five of me.”

Nora’s natural strength is immense for her size. With some effort she can deadlift up to two thousand pounds and she is capable of jumps that clear the length of a small building. She can also move in sudden bursts of speed, sometimes seeming to vanish from sight only to pop up somewhere else.

“Nora smash!”

When Nora is exposed to electricity she absorbs it directly into her muscles, giving her strength, speed and endurance an additional boost. She is also able to produce limited amounts of electricity on her own for a quick charge.

“I still think a grenade launcher would’ve really brought the look together.”

Nora owns a special war hammer she calls “Magnhild.” It was engineered specifically for her in the facility where she was kept. This weapon fires explosive bursts at the press of a button, adding force to her strikes. She can also use it to launch herself short distances through the air by standing on the hammer and riding it as it flies from the recoil. The hammer can fold into itself, becoming a hand-held grenade launcher.

## Talents

Nora is naturally athletic, though untrained in any particular activity. She can speak Russian, English and Asgardian. She has received extensive training in melee combat, particularly with her hammer. She is a decent dancer and frequently makes up little songs on the spot.

## Interests

Food (especially pancakes), music, games, making friends and spending time with them, explosions, storms, wild animals, competitive activities, athletics, pink things.

## History

Nora’s memories of her childhood are distant and muddled. She remembers very little of her time in the country of Asgard apart from fleeting moments and emotions connected to her family and the home they lived in.

When she was eight, her parents decided to bring Nora and her sister with them on a vacation to Russia. There, while taking a scenic drive through the Caucasus Mountains, their car was swept up by falling rocks and went off a ravine. Nora was the only survivor, and the remote area meant the accident would go unnoticed for weeks or more. When it became clear that rescue wasn’t coming, Nora’s focus went from grief to survival.

She scavenged as much as she could from the wilderness. Most nights she cried herself to sleep. When she finally found her way to the nearest town she had grown afraid of nearly everything, including people. In some cases, especially people. She took to thieving bits of food to survive and sneaking rides on trains and trailers to get from place to place. Staying on the move always seemed the best way to avoid getting caught.

After about four years her luck ran out at a collective farm she’d found herself in. A group of local bullies, about her age, caught her sneaking off with a loaf of bread and chased her. When she lost her footing on a ridge she tumbled into the path of a runaway tractor. She expected to die right then, but as she recoiled from the expected impact, a boy made of solid metal leapt in front of her, crushing the tractor and saving her life.

The boy, named Peter Rasputin, was quickly joined by his parents. After making sure Nora was unhurt, they persuaded her to come to their home for a warm meal and whatever help they could think of. That endeavor was short lived, however. A phone call was the only warning they got before helicopters arrived, bringing the military with it to capture Peter, whom they had been observing for a year.

During the ensuing chaos, Nora was hit with a tazer, which triggered her own mutant abilities. She and Peter both fought desperately, but their power and determination wasn’t enough to defeat a squad of well-trained and prepared agents.

They were taken to a hidden facility deep in Siberia. There they were tortured and experimented on to test the limits of their powers. Soon the efforts moved to training and conditioning as well, but Peter and Nora fought and resisted. With the friendship they formed, they never broke, but it also gave their handlers something to exploit. Nora was often selected for additional punishments when Peter refused to cooperate.

There was no relief from this regiment. Whenever they were done for the day, Peter and Nora were put in stasis pods until the next round was ready to begin. Sometimes they were kept in stasis for months to ensure they would never have an opportunity to escape. Four years passed, during which Peter and Nora only aged two.

While the FSS continued wearing away at Peter and Nora’s willpower, they were able to send them on three different operations with the help of a drug designed to induce a berserker rage. These missions were intended solely to destroy the target areas, but Peter and Nora were shown footage of the rampages afterward to weaken their resolve. By then they had been given the codenames “Hammer and Sickle,” a reference to Nora’s weapon and Peter’s life on the farm.

Then one day she and Peter were released from stasis early. They awoke to the face of a man who was not part of the facility, but rather an old friend of Peter’s long-dead brother. This man, Alexander, had managed to locate them and sneak into the facility to break them out. Alarms went off almost as soon as the pods were deactivated, and they were forced to fight their way out of the facility. During the escape Alexander suffered a fatal wound, but he was able to fly them to a safe location before dying. With his final words he told them about the one place he knew the FSS would not be able to reach them and urged them to go there as soon as possible. That place, of course, was a certain school located in New York.