Alva Marquez

Alva had always cultivated a toned and athletic figure during her time as a police officer, which was then enhanced further by the Mask of Vengeance increasing her muscle mass and strength while they were bonded.

Thanks to a blessing imparted to her during her youth by an Elvarian fey, Alva is magically immune to any effect that would distort or transmute her physical form beyond the norm, making her naturally resistant to the powers of the Abominator.

While working in the City, Alva could usually be found with a standard issue police handgun strapped to her belt. While firearm combat is far from her favourite way to deal with problems, she's always understood that certain matters require a firmer touch.

Much like her father before her, Alva Marquez is known to use a wide variety of magical artifacts to enhance her effectiveness as both a combatant and covert operative, most notably the Mask of Vengeance. The mask grants her greatly enhanced physicality and allows her to access the combat prowesse of all those who'd worn the mask before. It also makes her particularly resistant to injury, but at a cost of committing herself to seek out and destroy her target or die trying.   Other equipment includes The Lasagne of Evil that she created herself, void salt pouches that could nullify magic in an area, a silver channeler's blade that allowed her to wreath it in elemental magic and even the cursed Floppy Disk U5 that allowed her to channel demonic energy. Like her would-be mentor, Alva has adopted a pragmatic approach to magic, seeing it primarily as one of a set of tools in her arsenal.   While not as magical as her other equipment, her personal vehicle, a customised Corvette that once belonged to her husband, is more than able to keep up with whatever the criminals of Bathala City can get their hands on.

Alva, or Alie as was once known, is the only child of the magic user and adventurer Francis Glick, who would eventually come to be known as Havock. From a young age, she had a fascination with her father's collection of magical implements and artifacts, especially the children's book "The Adventures of Princess Isadora" which happened to contain an entire world of adventure for them to explore. The two found themselves exploring the fantasy realm of Elvaria with the eponymous princess, the two girls becoming firm friends over the course of their escapades, culminating in the three defeating and imprisoning the dark wizard Nocturnis in a totem that Francis stored away for safety.   Over the course of her adolescence, Francis began exhibiting symptoms of fairly severe mental illness, including paranoic delusions and wild mood swings, meaning Alie's mother took the two of them out of the house for Alie's protection. Though it meant a sudden end to their fantasy adventures and a door closed on a beloved part of her life, Alie eventually felt that it was time to grow up and she began to throw herself into her ambitions.   Instilled with a strong desire to help those who can't defend themselves as inspired by her father and Isadora, Alva quickly decided to devote herself to a career in law enforcement, a path that was aided by her experience with the wierd and extranormal making her nearly unflappable in the increasingly bizarre world of Bathala City criminality. She quickly made a name for herself and would eventually start to cross off other life goals as she got married to a doctor by the name of Alonso Marquez and the pair moved into a house in the Suburbs district, ready to begin their lives together in earnest.   Even into her adulthood and beyond, Alva never managed to look into her father's whereabouts, unwilling or unable to subject herself to the heartache of what he might have become on his own and feeling guilty for what she saw as an abandonment on her part. She was shocked then, when she came to realise that a recently arrested supervillain calling himself Havock and charged with malicious distribution of cursed artifacts was in fact the father that she'd lost over twenty years prior. Alva was naturally devastated to see what had become of her father, but was pleased that he might finally get the help he needs while in custody.   Life was otherwise going well for Alva until tragedy struck her burgeoning family and Alonso was struck down by a heart attack owing to an undiagnosed congenital condition. This began a string of unfortunate circumstances that soon saw Alva leaving their house and downgrading to an apartment in the Administrative District to save money and having to give away their family dog. It was at this point that certain ticks in her own mental state began to worry her.   It suddenly started to feel like eyes were watching her from all directions, waiting for her to slip so that they can userp everything she's come to know and love, and it started to bleed into her work. Reprimands began to come down from above and it made her want to isolate even more, perfecting her unflappable guise on the outside while secretly seething below the surface. And that's when her father was killed.   Hearing about the execution of Havock while in Century Group custody caused something to snap in Alva's psyche and she finally resolved not to allow herself to be preyed upon any longer. She begun digging out some of her father's old caches and reading his notes, gaining a wealth of knoledge on magical arms and armaments between the pages of Havock's paranoid scribblings. It was among his possessions that Alva stumbled upon the Mask of Vengeance, a tremendously powerful magical artifact that promised to empower her to hand out retribution to the person she blamed for her father's death. With his actual killer still unidentified, Alva's bond with the mask focussed her ire on the next best target, the person who captured him in the first place; Pagan.   Having taken on this contract with the Mask, Alva knew that it would only be satisfied once either she or her target were dead and she started making plans to ensure that would happen, taking on the mantle of The Stranger to keep her identity hidden. It's during this time that, at another of Havock's caches, she comes face-to-face with the enigmatic supervillain Combat, who claims to see merit in her quest and offers his assistance, allowing her the use of one of his old safe houses and instructing her in his methods for fighting against superhumans as a non-powered being.   Her first direct attack on the hero came when she and her would-be tutor lured Emma and Rue into an explosive trap at the warehouse bunker, but didn't anticipate that her old friend Isadora would be with them and would help the trio escape with merely mild injuries. This was only the first of many meetings between Alva and the team however in both her guises. She later witnessed them dealing with the local zoo animals becoming hyper intelligent, protecting The One-Life Centre from a terror attack, and even had them help her investigate a series of unusual robberies, all while her attacks in the Stranger's persona became more overt, including a clash of blades in a falling wizard's tower.      She soon came to realise that the Mask was exerting an undue influence over her thoughts and that she didn't really want to slay someone who'd proven time and time again to be a powerful ally in the fight for good. She explained to Combat while sparring her reluctance to follow through on the Mask's mandate and he reminded her that she entered into the bargain willingly and that the artifact won't be sated until either she or Emma are dead, pushing Alva into utter despair.   With her will practically a slave to the Mask at this point, Alva was soon sought out by the Abominator who was looking for new ways to test her latest modifications to the living biological weapon that was Charlie the Freelance Henchman. The new Charlie, calling himself the Knight Immortus had quickly risen up the ranks of The White Knights and was seeking to spread his influence across the city, but they needed to retrieve certain members of the previous leadership.   Since White Knight had been imprisoned in Elvaria by Princess Isadora, the team needed someone who could get them into the book and the dungeon within, a task Alva was uniquely capable of given her familiarity with both magic and the castle itself. The three took a contingent of Knights to Emma's apartment during a suitable distraction and, using void salts gathered from the wreckage of Matthews Tower, Alva was able to help them bypass the magical defences and make their way into the inner sanctum, taking Jackie the Succubus as a hostage on the way.   With the Knight Immortus and his contingent remaining in the book, Alva made her escape from the Castle, waylaid by a tense reunion with Isadora, now Princess Regnant of the Kingdom since her own father had been killed in the Knights' attack. Her old friend wasn't quite able to convince her to stop though and she soon escaped, sealing the portal behind her. She then waited in disguise as Jackie and guided the returning members of the B-Team towards the book, sealing it behind them as they went. With little else on her mind except the act of revenge, Alva intended to use the book and the totem of Nocturnis, killing the wizard and, in doing so, bringing about the end of the storybook world, with the heroes inside. It's only thanks to a secondary book kept by the Kingdom of Dragons and the Century agent Dr Mantis that the heroes are able to escape and find her battling with Nocturnis at the local water treatment plant while Abominator attempts to taint the water supply with Charlie biomass.   As the heroes arrive, Alva quickly finds herself locked into another duel against Pagan, blades clashing against one another as every other member of the team is otherwise engaged. Alva is able to get the upper hand, knocking Emma back and preparing to deal the killing blow, but stops herself at the last moment, finally able to wrench herself free of the Mask's control as she begins to pull it off of her. With the help of Emma, they're able to tear her face free of the artifact and it clatters to the ground, leaving her back in charge of her mind and able to see that Abominator's plan needs to be stopped. She joins the heroes in taking down the villain and then finally collapsed, her weary and haggard face finally reminding Emma of her departed father.

Alva Marquez is one of the Bathala City Police Department's most exceptional detectives, renowned for her tenacity, intelligence, and unorthodox methods. In a world where superheroes and villains regularly engage in epic battles, Alva has proven time and again that she can handle even the strangest and most unusual cases.   Alva's approach to detective work is often unconventional, but it's precisely what makes her so successful. She has an incredible ability to think outside the box, and she's not afraid to take risks to get the job done. Alva is a keen observer of human behaviour and can read people like a book, a skill that has helped her solve many difficult cases.   Despite the often chaotic and unpredictable nature of her work, Alva always manages to conduct herself with grace and composure. She's a consummate professional, and her colleagues respect her for her dedication and her ability to get results.

Alva's psychology has been marred over the years by repeated losses, first of her friend Isadora and their adventures together, then her father and then again later in life with the loss of her husband and her father's murder in quick succession. These factors drove her to the Mask of Vengeance which used this trauma as a foothold to slowly take over her mind and turn her into the rage-fuelled instrument of its will.

Alva has a deep passion for justice and takes her role as a detective very seriously. She's a firm believer in the rule of law and is dedicated to ensuring that all criminals are brought to justice, regardless of their abilities or powers. As such, she offered no resistance after her defeat at the hands of the B-Team and has submitted herself willingly to the criminal justice system.

In her career as a detective, Alva was motivated by a strong sense of justice invested in her from a young age thanks to her adventures in Elvaria. Her motives became skewed however as the Mask of Vengeance took greater control of her emotions, perverting justice into retribution and making her a lot less forgiving until she was able to overcome its influence and free herself of it with the help of Pagan.

Alva is an avid snacker and rarely enjoys full meals. She can usually be relied upon to have a stash of trail mix or some fruit nearby on any given day, lest she get hangry.

The B-Team: Before her defection, Alva was the most common liaison between the The Bathala City Police Department and the newest team of heroes, working with them on multiple occasions where matters fell outside her jurisdiction.   Combat: Alva met the enigmatic supervillain while collecting one of her father's caches and, after an initial confrontation, he offered to help her enact her revenge. In supplying her with resources and supplemental training, she came to see him as something of a mentor, never realising that it was he who dealt the final blow to her father.   Abominator: With her innate magical protections, Alva was able to resist the Abominator's powers during her attack on the BCPD. This intrigued the villainess and, following her escape with Charlie in tow, she sought out the Detective to learn more about her, the two eventually teaming up when Alva's mentality had frayed sufficiently and their purposes aligned.

Her Father: While Alva never managed to reconnect with her father during her adulthood, she always cherished the memories they shared together and deeply regrets not finding him when she had the chance.   Her Mother: Sophia Glick raised Alva from her early teens and endured countless sacrifices to ensure her daughter got every possible advantage she could afford. The two have remained close into Alva's adulthood and, while she's disappointed to see her daughter taking a step in her father's footsteps, Sophia is committed to her daughter's rehabilitation and is staying by her side.   Alonso Marquez: Alva's late husband was in many ways the missing piece in Alva's life, able to make her laugh even when she became dour and the two had many plans for the future before an undiagnosed heart condition took his life and left her spiralling.

Outside of work, Alva is an avid reader and enjoyed spending time with her family and her great dane, Alvin. Despite her tough exterior, she has a soft spot for those in need and would regularly volunteer to help the local community. As her misfortunes mounted, most of these interests were waylaid in favour of researching her father's magical artifacts and preparing her revenge.