Valerie Inkhart

Valerie Inkhart is one of the main protagonists of the BZRK series by Michael Grant. She is the 16-year-old fashion-wise killing machine of BZRK with the the nom de guerre of Cassandra. Her main love interest is Mace Thornston.

Appearance
Valerie has long, slightly wavy dark brown hair and big, almond brown eyes. She is tall, slightly tanned, toned and has a perfect model body. Mace Thornston (Macbeth) has noted that Valerie - "has Miranda Kerr's body, but hotter and the prettiest face on the earth. And I'm not exagerrating."

Brands
Growing up in a billionaire household, she has a high taste for fashion (unlike another billionaire's daughter, Sadie Mclure/Plath). Her usual outfits and accessories are from:
 * Tiffany and Co. (Jewelry)
 * Louis Vuitton, Coach, Guess, Burberry (Accessories)
 * Juicy Couture, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Michael Kors, TNA, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Guess (Bags)
 * Guess, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, Lululemon, TNA, Garage, 7 For All Of Mankind, Pink, Lucky Brand (Pants)
 * Guess, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Softmoc, Aldo, Ugg (Shoes)
 * Garage, Wetseal, TNA, A & F, Hollister, Guess, American Eagle, Pink, Urban Outfitters (Top)
 * Victoria's Secret, La Senza (Intimates)

AFGC
When she was code-named Vainity working with the AFGC, she wore a Danier mid-length dark purple trench coat with a Juicy Couture short, dark purple romper with gold button-up, with a pair of Guess lace-up suede edged high-heels.

BZRK
Now, as a BZRKer, her outfits are more chic themed rather than a grown-up preppy style. She traded her Danier trench for a Burberry turquoise short trench coat. The short trench is a symbol and a memory for her, and also a symbol representing her. Her representing color has changed from purple to turquoise.

Her main outerwear in spring and fall are her Burberry trench, her turquoise and white with a customized 'V' varsity jacket from Mace and a few dozen other TNA, Guess, Hollister, A & F and American Eagle hoodies.

Her usual footwear in the winter are her pairs of UGGs and Sorels; in the fall and spring, she wears her different pairs of moccasins (though she likes her tan-coloured Papoose-style, beaded moccasins the most), her pairs of bootie-heels and her pairs of Supra skytops; in the summer, she likes wearing her pairs of wedges (mostly her floral ones), her gladiator sandals and heels and her birkenstocks.

Personality
Originally Valerie is thought to be a cold-hearted, blood-thirsty killer before she became a BZRKer due to the rumours circling the Seven Sins. She does become very cold-blooded when she fights, but other than that, she is a very playful, flirtious and calm girl who gets impatient easily, but is very laid-back and easy-going.

Very rarely does she get mad. When she does get mad, she goes into killer-mode. Her voice becomes mocking, icy cold and her insults are so harsh that other BZRKers have described as "having a frozen knife stabbing at your back".

Usually, Valerie and Sadie would get on each other's back due to the fact that they are such opposites (excluding angry mode). But later on, despite the difference, they become the closest of friends, looking out for each other. Sadie even took up her fashion advice and tried some designer brands on.

History
Valerie is the daughter of Grant Inkhart (deceased) and an unnamed mother and the younger sister of Fabian Inkhart. When Valerie was 7, her father died from a car accident, thous making her brother Fabian the boss of the Inkhart company (stuffed toys and greeting cards). Fabian also took over as the Chairman of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation.

At the age of 8, Valerie was sent away to an assassin-training school for the FBI (but the AFGC was able to get some for themselves) - Myrton Hall Academy of the Exceptionally Talented. 2 years later, she came out as the world's youngest and one of the most talented and dangerous assassins. She was immediately put into the ranks of the Seven Sins in the AFGC secret divisions, under the code-name: Vanity.

Valerie was trained to be a cold-blooded killer, and as such, she cannot turn her personality back when she is killing. There was an accident, that when one member of the Seven Sins - Sloth, made her so mad that one night, she came into Sloth's home during a evening party and slaughtered everyone. When she realized what she had done, she was branded cold-blooded and blood-thirsty, which ended with her friendless and lonely. Even the 6 other Sins (plus a new 'Sloth') wouldn't even dare come close to her. It later turned out to be the work of nanobots in her mind, placed and worked by her own prodigy brother - Fabian.

A few years later, when Valerie was 13, she was introduced to the inner lab of the AFGC, as they discover that she just as prodigious as Fabian, Burnofsky and the Bug Man. She then became one of their main twitchers and assassins.

BZRK
At the start of the series, Valerie had just came back from a bloody mission, taken a bath and walked out the bathroom door in a towel when she saw Mace lying on her bed, changing her 75-inch-flat-screen TV channel. She immediately try to take him out, but sensing that he is no threat, decides to "play-fight", as she underestimates his skills. When she takes out her twin daggers from nowhere, Mace kissed her on the lips as a surprise tactic to sedate her, only to have it take 10 minutes for her to be sedated. During that time, Mace explains his mission and asks for her to join. Valerie sees this as a chance to get away from her pained life, so she agrees, but not before leaving a voicemail to Bugman (her good friend and the only one that she'll miss) saying "Berserk. Buggie. I'll miss you and our laughs. Berserk. Berserk."

After Mace takes her back, she undergoes the standard test to see if she is really good enough. Mace gives her 30 second to test it out. The second Mace started the game, he left to brew a cup of coffee. When he came back, he saw, not only the screen flashing "NEW HIGHSCORE - 8 sec.", but that Valerie had also broken the chainsaw into two.

The second day, Mace takes her into another building and a room where Noah and Sadie are with Renfield, Nijinsky and Ophelia. After some talk, Valerie decides her new code-name to be Cassandra of Troy (in Greek Mythology) after Sadie and Noah decided their new code-names to be Plath (Sylvia Plath) and Keats (John Keats). Ophelia frowns at Valerie's code-name, saying that she hoped for a poet trio, but Nijinsky stops her, saying that Cassandra is the perfect code-name for her, stating "Cassandra had the power and the beauty, but she was driven insane by everyone. How? Because no one believed her, they branded her as a liar. Just like a certain little girl branded of being the world's youngest and most dangerous assassin. You know, that name means a lot of loneliness..." Nijinsky then looks at Valerie, who quickly looks away.

After the talk and the meeting, Renfield took Valerie (now known as Cassandra), Plath and Keats to their room. Both Plath and Keats's rooms were small and bare, but compared to their room, Valerie's was fit for a queen. It was all purple, with a crystal chandelier hanging from the top.



But Valerie hates her bedroom because it reminds her of her time with the AFGC, where purple represented her, but she doesn't complain and goes with it anyways. When she opens the closet, she realizes that there are a bunch of her clothes there. Ophelia walks in and tells her that Fabian heard of her deflection and has handed her a inclosed note that he ordered only Valerie can see and had sent over some of her usual brand-named clothes.

Valerie reads the note, which indicates Fabian apologizing and saying that he's okay, that he respects her wish and had wished that he was able to understand her more, therefore help her before she had made the decision to join BZRK. Fabian tells her that he wants to meet Valerie in The House 1 week from now, to talk privately before they become sworn enemies. He then said that their father would have been pride of Valerie for standing up for what she believes in. She falls asleep soon afterwards.

The next morning, Valerie is woken up by Mace (Schumann) standing beside her bed. Mace tells her that Gluttony of the Seven Sins have sent a letter this morning telling Valerie to get to Madison Square Gardens at 5 in the morning or else the innocent passerbys would die. She agrees to the fight and goes, only to find Gluttony with Lust and Sloth there (nicknamed: Fatty, Slut and Lazy). She engages in a fight, injures Gluttony after she shots her in the leg by throwing her across the park, snapping dozens of trees in her way; snaps Sloth's legs, and Lust gets a stab at Valerie's shoulder before running away. Mace looks at her in horror and amazement, as he wonders how she can walk and talk normally like nothing had happened with a bullet in her thigh and a deep stab in her shoulder.

Later, Valerie and Mace arrives at the lab where Vincent, Plath and Keats have already started. Because Valerie already has experience with nanotechnology, she is given 4 Biots instead of 2. When Dr.Violet took the flesh sample, Plath and Keats were starting to puke. After a few more minutes of feeling nothing, Valerie asks confusingly why isn't she puking. Vincent just replies that she is special because she has gone through so much that this little thing isn't even considered pain for her. Plath and Keats look at her pity and horror, Valerie just smiles at them. Then the Poets (Plath and Keats) started to scream after seeing their biots. Valerie just sighs while looking through her biots and says "Let me guess, I'm not screaming because I am experienced with blood and gorey things. Right Vincent?" He just nods.

When the dozens of AFGC gunmen comes in, she lures most of them to the back where she was and kills them all. When Caligula arrives, they have a short, frenemies conversation before one soldier who survived gets up to stab her from behind; without looking, Valerie (now known as Cassandra), takes out her hidden revolver and shots twice behind her - one for each eye, she hits it dead-on, which gets Caligula's praise, then she raises the revolver towards Caligula and shoots four times, followed by the screams of everyone else. Caligula thanked her for killing the soldiers behind him but tells her that he could've handelled it better than she did. They escape afterwards.

Valerie carries the wounded Mace as she follows Caligula, Plath, Keats and Vincent out and down the elevator. While Caligula shoots the first car of AFGC members, Valerie leans Mace against the wall, but he insists on lying on her as "she feels much better than a cold wall". She glares at him, but blushes as she takes out a baseball from Caligula's pocket, smashes it against the window of the second car, takes out her revolver and shoots. Then they all escape along with Wilkes.

That night, Nijinsky and Wilkes convinces Valerie to let Mace stay in her room, saying that "Mace needs a hot girl to look after him while his wounds leave him immobile". When she finally agrees, Mace is seen secretly handing Nijinsky and Wilkes wads of cash.

After Mace moves into her fancy room, they talk about their lives. Mace tells her his orphaned and abused history. Then Mace pesters Valerie about her reason for naming herself Cassandra, and after he starts hitting the spots, she finally spills the truth. She's had no friends and no one with her at all. Her father hated her after her mother's death. When she gave him a home-made cake and a card for his birthday, he threw them in the garbage saying that, that's where they belong and her too. Fabian was the only one caring for her, the maids all hated her. When her father died and Fabian inherited everything. The maids provoked her so much that one night, she murdered them all except for one. Fabian was disgusted and sent her to Myrton Hall Academy. She was horrified and upset over what she's done. She tried to change, but the same thing happened after she graduated when she slaughtered Sloth and everyone at her home-coming party and Sloth was her closest friend. Fabian become even more distant with her, the times that they do talk on the phone, Fabian shows that he truly does care for her, but there was that distant, disappointed and disgusted part in his voice. After that, the only people that talked to her all backed away, no one believed her, they were all too fearful. It was like Cassandra, when Apollo cursed her. When Valerie finished, tears were streaming down her face and she apologizes to Mace for being a weakling and he's probably disgusted with her now. Instead he takes her hand and cuddles with her (Mace in the back with Valerie in front of him). After talking a bit more, they both lie down and Valerie falls asleep on his chest.

They wake up in the morning to Wilkes, Nijinsky and Vincent standing in front of the open door. They tease for a few moments, Vincent showing the slighest hint of enjoyment. Then Nijinsky passes them two cups of French Vanilla coffee and two sets of danish pastries. They eat and joke around a bit. Valerie blushes a lot. Then she gets up, gets dressed and showers and washes. When she gets out of the washroom, Mace is sitting there, all washed, cleaned and wearing a clean new shirt. When she asks him how he did everything so fast, he tells her that she basically spent one and a half hour in the washroom. They laugh and joke around more on the bed, then Mace leans in and kisses her; she kiss back. Keats and Nijinsky finds them kissing and they part quickly, embarrassed.

For the rest of the day, Vincent, Nijinsky and Mace trains Valerie into operating 4 biots. She proves to be prodigy as she easily spins and fights off their biots. She soons becomes good friends with everyone, especially Plath.

One night after Mace had fully healed and back to his original state, Caligula wakes them up and tells them that the other bases have been attacked by the AFGC and they might too. So they move on without Nijinsky and has contacted Ophelia as she drives to their destination separately. Valerie and Wilkes put out a fight, Caligula puts out Wilkes, then tells Valerie that she has changed and becoming too soft, and asking where the cold, merciless her went. She goes completely cold and killer-mode and the vase that she has been gripping on explodes in tiny, tiny glass pieces as she squeezes it too hard. Caligula smiles and says to the cold Valerie "That's more like it" and tells everyone that Valerie is now the second-in-command and they also have to listen to her as a leader. When Wilkes tries to talk Valerie into rescuing Nijinsky, Valerie answers with "You say that one more time. I'll cut you up and leave you behind." Mace gets angry at Caligula in front of everyone and yells at him, saying why did he turn Valerie into this, stating that inside Valerie is crying because she cannot control herself like this, warning everyone that Valerie might just lash out and kill everyone here. Plath asks why, Mace tells her, for no reason, because this Valerie is the one who kills for the pleasure of blood, for fun. Caligula tells Mace to be quiet and that Valerie is in perfect control of herself.

When they arrive at Plath's beach house, Plath directs her to the guest room. Valerie returns back to normal and Mace and Valerie sleeps together while Mace comforts Valerie that he'll be there for her, making sure that she doesn't go back to her old ways.

The next day, when both Ophelia and Nijinsky are there, Vincent gives out Lear's orders. Mace is supposed to with Valerie until she reaches the mansion that the Seven (now Six) Sins and Fabian Inkhart will be having a meeting and also twitching. Then Mace is supposed to be sabotaging the next group of twitchers. Valerie is ordered to murder her brother (Fabian) and the rest of the sins. Nijinsky lashes out saying that both the orders for Plath and Keats and Valerie are death sentences. While Vincent remains cold, Valerie agrees with a sorrow face and leaves the dinner table. Vincent follows suit.

The first part of the mission goes successful, and as Mace goes to leave to complete the rest of his mission, he hugs and kisses her for good luck. She blushes and pushes him away saying that she doesn't need luck. Mace winks at her and runs off. Valerie realizes that she's fallen straight into a trap the moment she set floor into the basement. She pretends to forfeit the match as her brother and the sins drag her into a torture chamber. As they go to lock her up, she starts to fight and kills Sloth before she gets chained up X-style to the wall. No one knows that the torture chamber is bombed with cameras that are recording their every move. She then had her bones broken and whipped. They then take turns stabbing her with knives and leaving them in as Fabian watched. They first stabbed her below her left breast and ribs, they then took out the knife and stabbed it in her left shoulder. They took another knife and stabbed it in her right shoulder. They then stuck a blade in each arm, one in the right middle thigh and one in the left lower calf. Valerie didn't make a noise and her pain tolerance is so high that she barely felt that much excruciating pain. Fabian decides to bring up the level of pain, so he orders the Sins to burn a hole through where the wound beneath her ribs were. At this, she gritted her teeth and tears fell down, but she didn't make a sound. Fabian then decides to take things in his own hands. He verbally abuses and physically abuses her for a while, then telling her that it was actually him that made her kill the original Sloth, then he takes out a needle and as the Sins hold her eyelid open, he stabs the needle into her left eye. At this, she shrieks, while Fabian continues to verbally abuse her while killing her biots one by one. He takes out the needle and stabs it in again, this time he leaves it in. Then he continues to torture her until there are 5 needles in her eye. At this, he gouges her left eye completely. When this happened, she completely freaks out, rips herself off the wall and attacks everyone. She brutally slaughters both Envy and Wrath before Fabian escapes with Lust and Avarice, leaving the wounded Gluttony behind. Gluttony chains Valerie back up to the wall, but suffers a brutal and slow death in the scuffle. Valerie returns to normal but starts to slowly go mad following the death of 3 of her 4 biots.

In the end, Mace along with Plath, Keats, the half-dead Ophelia, the deeply depressed Vincent (following the death of 1 biot), Wilkes and Nijinsky finally arrive at the dungeon, ony to be horrified. Both Wilkes and Plath start screaming, while Keats comforts Plath. When Valerie hears the screaming and realizes that they are there, she lifts her head, delusional and croakes out her brother's name in a scared, childish voice. Everyone winces as they truly see the number of knives and the two holes. Valerie then depressingly starts to ramble on, saying stuff like "You promised... Fabbi", "Fabbi... is that you?" and "It hurts... brother, why?". Mace then takes her down from the wall as the girls begin to cry. He gently hosts her back to where everyone else is standing. Caligula comes in scowling, as he starts to lecture them on the guards outside waiting to sabotage them until he examines the scene - from the completely blood-splattered wall with the horribly clean-white human silhouette-looking patch on the wall to the more-dead-than-alive tortured Valerie. As he realizes what happens, his face shows pure horror and grief as he runs over to help host Valerie to her friends.

When Valerie is finally settled down on the ground, laying in Mace's lap, her fingers entwined in his, her head finally clears up a bit and she answers there questions, vaguely telling them that 3 of her 4 biots are dead and stating that she will overcome her madness, before starting to say "Fabian... where are you? Where did you go? Why did you leave me? It's dark here... and cold..." At this Mace holds her tighter and tells her its okay. She starts to cry. She then continues: "Don't you love me? Will you ever come back for me? ...Fabian? Fabbi, it's getting darker... I'm scared Fabbi... it's, it's getting quieter... I can't breathe... What's happening? Fabbi... Will you come back for me? You're coming back right? You promise... you... Fabian..." Then as Mace thought that she had died, started to scream and had to have Keats and Caligula take him back. Wilkes checks her pulse and states that she had slipped into a coma, though no one knows that Fabian is secretly wiring her brain, making her forget everything.

Nijinsky's Letter to Lear:
To: Lear

From: Nijinsky

Wilkes is alive and back with us.


 * Ophelia is alive despite the loss of both legs below the knee.


 * Keats and Plath are both well and performed magnificently.


 * Vincent is suffering from a deep depression following the loss of one biot. The second biot was badly injured but is recovering. Vincent is being cared for, outcome very uncertain.


 * Cassandra is in the worst condition. She has been tortured by Fabian Inkhart and the remaining Sins, though she half-finished her mission: Fabian Inkhart, Lust and Avarice escaped. Everyone else is more than dead. During the torture, she suffered 7 stab wounds, 76 broken bones a hole burned through her left upper quadrant. Before fainting, she has stated that she will overcome the madness. Currently in coma.


 * We failed in our main objective.


 * We await instructions.

After BZRK
Valerie finally wakes up after a month of staying in a coma, only to not remember anything or anyone. Therefore Fabian takes her back and enrolls her into the top private school - Heartsease Prep Academy where she soon becomes the reigning Queen Bee. Her personality is similar, yet very different. She is not vain at all, but very revengeful and intolerant for people who had wasted their first-chance to being her friend.

One month later, Lear orders the group to infilitrate Heartsease and unwire her brain. They gladly accept. Vincent and Nijinsky become Plath's butlers in Plath's Upper East Side mansion. Wilkes, Schumann (Mace), Plath and Keats become the new students at the Upper East Side private school with Wilkes being Plath's adoptive sister, Schumann being the hot, new, Prince of the United Kingdom (after he wired the Queen's brain) and Keats as Schumann's cousin. Soon, thanks to Schumann's hot looks and player ways, the four rises to the top of the social ladder. Valerie then becomes close friends with Plath, Keats, Schumann and Wilkes, but tries to turn away from Schumann's attractions as she already has a boyfriend - Holden Chamberlain. Therefore, because of their new-found relationship, they get accepted into Valerie's high-social party - Paradise Kiss, where everyone is supposed to be dressed up in an exotic and sexy outfit.

The party starts and Valerie's outfit - like usual, is the main attraction. After a few hours of drinking and partying, Valerie and Holden excuses themselves to Valerie's bedroom upstairs. They start to make out and etc. when Holden backs off suddenly. Valerie tries to kiss him again, but he holds her chin firmly as he tells her how guilty he felt and he just can't keep it up any longer. Valerie is confused and she asks why. Holden tells her that he's been cheating on her with Tiffany, her best friend. Valerie is clearly upset and pissed off, but she doesn't show as she walks over to her sofa set. He follows, then tells her that he broke up with her just before the party, which was why she wasn't here. Valerie continues to nod, looking the other way and biting her lower lips. Then she asks him how long they've been dating. He answers with '...just around a month... after I asked you out". She then starts to tear up, her eyes getting very red as she starts to ask him: "What's so good about her?", "What do you see in her that you don't see in me?", "So you saying a girl who would sleep with her best friend's boyfriend is your dream girlfriend?" while cutting off Holden whenever he starts to speak. Unknown to them both, Plath had implanted 4 biots on her - P1, O1, V2 and W1 as the biots listen to their argument. Finally, Valerie kicks Holden out of her room and sulks for the rest of her party.

A week after her party, Plath and Wilkes are planning a party too, hoping to put their wiring to action. News has gone out about the party incident and Valerie is planning to get her revenge on Tiffany. Now after Valerie and Holden has broken up, Schumann (Mace) is in a hyper-happy mode, only to realize that Conn is now hitting on her. Hard. Valerie agrees to go to Plath's Midsummer Night's Dream Party, hoping that it would cheer her up. Plath and Wilkes successfully implants the 8 biots into her brain to begin the unwiring, but as usual, they are listening in onto her everyday life hoping to protect her from Fabian if he decides to rewire her brain. Fabian makes no attempts and steers away and keeps her at her normal life as promised, but the team of BZRKers instead find themselves listening into an almost successful attempted rape by Conn - the popular badass best friend of Holden.

After the attempted rape and the to-be-successful unwiring, Valerie starts to remember things. A few days afterwards, she realizes who she is, and devises a plan to get away from her "normal" life. She tells her personal maid and fellow close friend - Bianca, the truth as she takes her away with her. She rewires the principal's brain as he tells the whole school that Valerie had gone on a field trip to see her dead parents, but the plane broke down in the middle and she had died and the body is nowhere to be found.

She tracks down Plath and Wilkes and after some misunderstanding, they invite her back into the group. Schumann tries to get back on track with her, but as his flirting ways is so similar to Conn's that she completely steers away out of fear and the fact that Fabian's wiring was so deep that she had forgotten completely about her relationship with Schumann.