Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Out of Character
Backtagging: Yes
Threadhopping: Yes
Fourthwalling: No, with some exceptions for Deadpool, She-Hulk, etc.
Not Interested In: Explicit no to Madame Hydra arcs (other than her using it as a disguise). I'll let you know if anything else crosses a line.

Interactions: Memes (find me on bakerstreet) or PSLs. Open to canon, cross canon, OCs, duplicates and variants, etc. Val is not very motherly, so she may not take to your character in that light. Anything else is fair game.

Brackets/Prose: I default to brackets, but I also match (and slightly prefer) prose.

In Character
Mindreading: Maybe, only if Val says yes.
Violence: Yes, please fight her, but beware of the martial arts training.
Romance: Yes, she flirts back. Dating her would be far less casual.
Sex: Fine with smut (for players who are 21+) or fade to black.

Assumed CR: Yes, especially for Thunderbolts* or SHIELD / CIA. Val probably knows you exist.

Content Warnings: Val's canon involves spycraft, politics, human experimentation, murder and attempted murder, power dynmamics, manipulation, imperialism, mental illness, negative views on life, etc.

Additional Stats
Aliases: Val, Contessa
Title(s): Director de Fontaine; La Contessa; Agent 14
Sexuality: Bisexual
Height: 5'3" / 160cm
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown with a white streak
Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Residence: New York, USA & Washington, DC
Spoken Languages: Italian, English, Russian, French, German
Blipped?: No
Canon Points: Thunderbolts* (MCU) / Doomstrike (comics)

Personality: Although an extremely manipulative and powerful person, Val presents herself with an overtly charming, sarcastic front. She's full of confidence, contradictions, and can make you forget who she really is until it comes out to bite: pointed insults, insincerity, ruthlessness, and being unfazed by her actions. Her view on the world is one where all people are complex, but they're bad or worse. Things change, and she wants to be the one on top when they do. Her knowledge of people and the US government is extensive. Money to her is a guarantee, not the goal, which is power and protection. She actually managed to wrangle the 'American Dream' and now clings to it. There's softer, genuine sides to her that can be teased out, but she'll do her best to keep them under lock and key. If she's bored, that's when the worst of her comes out to play.

Abilities: Leadership, espionage, hand-to-hand combat, tactician, strategist, skilled in firearms and other weapons
Strengths: Intelligent, adaptable, resourceful
Weaknesses: Overconfident, workaholic, dishonest
Fears: Losing power, thunderstorms

Appearance: Val is an elegant woman, dressed in custom designer pieces. Her clothing can be described as old money meets business. Solid colors, high heels, and jewelry that pops. Her hands are often gloved and a gold watch adorns her wrist. Makeup on the more natural side, other than the smokey eye. The white streak in her hair pops against dark brown. Her complexion is light, slightly tan.

Biography
As a young girl, Valentina instructed someone who she thought was a friend of her father's towards her childhood home in Italy. Upon seeing the man, Val's father told her to hide under the staircase in their wine cellar and went to speak with him at the door. The man, who she soon learned was named Nico, shot her father and took Valentina in as his own. Val inherited her father's wealth and title as a Countess. Nico taught her how to become a mafia princess an agent. He paid for it.

Val immigrated to the United States in her 20s where she worked for SHIELD, then for the CIA, and created her own company, O.X.E. Group, where she served as Chair. During her time at the CIA, Val married a fellow agent, Everett Ross, but they later divorced. She purchased the Avengers Tower, rebranding it as the Watchtower, and used O.X.E. to conduct experiments around the globe. Her goal was to create a super powered individual who was stronger than any others combined, labeling it as 'Project Sentry'. Val hired various assassins and former agents for cleanup and related black ops projects.

After being appointed as CIA Director, Val worked with her ex-husband to investigate Wakanda for an incident involving the sinking of a CIA ship with a vibranium detector. Val caught Ross feeding information to Wakanda and arrested him for treason.

Val moved to a board positon in O.X.E. when the company placed her in the crossfires of an impeachment trial. She attempted to destroy all evidence of her project, including the people she hired by locking them in a vault and setting it on fire. They escaped and banded together. Her super human project, Sentry, also turned out to be a success. Val tried to train him, until he realized her ulterior motives and turned against her as well.

In a last attempt to save her power and reputation, Val introduced the 'Thunderbolts' team as the 'New Avengers' and claimed she put them together. It's a mutual blackmail situation. She now spends her days continuing as CIA Director and learning how to work with the team.

Timeline
1967 - Birth in Rome, Italy
1970s - Her father is murdered, Val is taken in by Nico
Late 1980s - Val immigrates to the United States and joins SHIELD
1990s - She moves up through the ranks of SHIELD
Early 2000s - Leaves SHIELD and joins the CIA, gets married
2016 - Gets divorced, buys Avengers Tower, which she renames as the Watchtower
Late 2010s - Expands her company, OXE Group
Early 2020s - Takes advantage of the Blip's power gap, works on Project Sentry, recruits agents (likely Antoinia and Ava)
2023 - Relevant events from Black Widow, recruits Yelena
2024 - Relevant events from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, recruits Walker
2025 - Appointed as Director of the CIA, events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2027 - Events of Thunderbolts*, Val claims she put together the New Avengers
2028 - Future events of Avengers: Doomsday

Headcanons
• Val's net worth is in billionaire range. Nothing she does is for the "extra" money. It's all for power and her own enjoyment.
• Project Sentry was influenced by research pertaining to the super soldier serum and ideas behind The Harvest.
• Val's other successful lab project was stealing and recreating the Infinity Formula, a very well kept secret from all but Fury.

In-Universe Politics
• Sokovia Accords: Val was Pro-Sokovia Accords in public, but Anti-Accords in private and actively working against them for her benefit.
• CIA Director / Impeachment: President Riston appointed Val as CIA Director, and President Ross kept her around in a historical decision. The impeachment trial is an embarrassment she'll do anything to bury.
• NYC Martial Law: Val is against Mayor Fisk's policies, on the basis of them impacting her operations with the New Avengers. However, she will play both sides in an attempt to reduce his power.
• Future Politics: She's aware that even with this miracle, CIA Director doesn't last forever. In fact, she's almost up on her term by the events of Doomsday. What's next but to make a beeline for the Director of National Intelligence nomination?

Relationship Archetypes
• Romance/Lovers - Val enjoys someone who can keep up with her intellectually and can challenge her. If she does her worst and you're still standing after the storm, congrats. She falls more for the morally unsure and 'good but an asshole' types, despite her bleak outook on life and anti-villain personal alignment. They tend to be loyal, another must have quality.
• Friends - She makes friends most easily with the 'underdog' types, or people like her. People who weren't thought to be capable, but she sees their potential. They also tend to be more persistant or trusting of her over time, which makes it easier to open up to them.
• Enemies - Most people mark her down as their enemy first, considering her antagonist nature. If she gets her choice, it's anyone who falls too idealistic for her tastes, good or evil. Ironic, sure, but she can't stand an overdose of either side.

AUs
• Acting Director of SHIELD - What if Val had never joined the CIA and instead climbed the ranks of SHIELD? She'd meet a similar fate to the characters in Agents of SHIELD, trying to save factions of the organization. Her comics history here is extensive and I'd love to combine it with the MCU.
• Marvel Historical - 1980s all the Cold War AUs where Val is secretly working for Leviathan. 1960s, what if she got sent back in time, rather than the F4 ship entering her 2027 timeline? NASA AU? 1602, Val lives in English court and works under Queen Elizabeth I as one of her spymasters. She is an Italian countess in her own right, and trying to avoid political marriage. TVA stuff?
• Other Historical - Most historical time periods can be adapted as Val in the role of an ambitious noble from Italy.

Shipping
Preferences: 35+ F/M, F/F
OTPs: Everett Ross (MCU, ex-husband), Nick Fury (on & off lover, comics, slides you a $20 for an MCU adapted version of them, both SLJ and JLD have hinted at them connecting)
Other Ships: Alphonso Makenzie (ex-partner in the comics) & surprise her with your older characters and crosscanons
NOTPs: Romantic relationship wise, I don't ship her with Mel, Holt, or a majority of the Thunderbolts.

Wishlist
• New Avengers: Make Val deal with the consequences of integrating herself in with the Thunderbolts team and rebranding them. It could end in disaster, or her as a valuable ally. Dealer's choice in those 14 months.
• Watchtower: You are informally invited to come hang out at the flashiest building in New York City. Let's do some mashups of 2010s Avengers Tower, or modern Baxter Building era where the Fantastic Four or other Avengers live here with the Thunderbolts crew.
• Fast Friends, Rivals, or Crack Ships: They might not have interacted in MCU canon (yet?), but the vision is brewing. Bring her all the friends or rivals! Incomplete, additional list of present or past ships I've loved writing: Justin Hammer, Agatha Harkness, Reed Richards, Amanda Waller (DC). She will also flirt with all the parents of the Thunderbolts (Alexei, Melina, Bill), sorry kids.

PLAYLIST

CALL ME ⟫ BLONDIE

BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP ⟫ THE FOUNDATIONS

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN' ⟫ NANCY SINATRA

code by 👾

—CODING—

Ava Starr immaterialgirl Best agent, she is currently pissed at me for trying to kill her. Understandable.	Yelena Belova white-widow The favorite, and I'm currently her least favorite. Somehow got me to share things, but I am also oversharing to throw her off.	Bucky Barnes endof_theline Always calls me out, and I'm not impressed about it. Trying to trust him.	Mel Gold themiddleverse Great assistant, keeps me on track. Asks for a lot of raises.
Justin Hammer jhammer New tech guy, kind of cute.	Joaquin Torres babyfalcon Some blocked numbers, but if I don't text him he won't steal my team members.