Steel Raven is a super-agent type, with superior combat and security skills. She was able to credibly engage Daredevil in hand-to-hand combat. Secondary sources indicate she is a competent computer scientist and very wealthy, though neither was quite demonstrated in the stories.

Into the arsenal

The Fortress (sometimes called the Project) is an enormous base hidden in upstate New York, conducting advanced research into weaponry and super-agents. It seems likely that it is one of the main centres for the Weapon Plus project, best-known for its Weapon One (Captain America) and Weapon Ten (Wolverine) sub-projects.

One of their main source of income seems to be the production and sale of weapons, from guns to combat robots. They apparently have been making money that way for decades, since a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent thought that they had been providing gear for the likes of HYDRA for at least forty years. If the Fortress is indeed a Weapon Plus research centre, it is possible that they turned to this to continue developing despite budget cuts.

The Fortress’ researchers have been working for decades on ’psychic surgery‘ techniques designed to turn normal people into proficient - though psychotic - killers, or to turn superhumans into docile agents. There are hints that Typhoid, Agent Hazzard and Agent Croc were the result of Fortress experiments and conditioning (all have entries on writeups.org). Several such techniques have reminded Wolverine of his Weapon X experiences, and it is possible that Aldo Ferro (aka Vole, aka Psi-Borg) was involved with the Fortress at some point.

The hints about the project that created Hazzard and Croc (Project: REPTILE) are indirect and almost certainly involuntary (Lightle created the Fortress about eight years after Nocenti created REPTILE). This hypothetical link hinges on one remark Typhoid makes about her conditioning, which is strikingly similar to how Hazzard and Croc describe their own memory and identity manipulations. Assuming that the two are related and may have a link to Weapon Plus sounds credible - but it all remains assumptions.

The Fortress also runs a team of young superhumans called New Genix. This nascent team is surrounded by a sophisticated deception. They think that they live in the year 3065 AD and that the Earth has been devastated by the apocalyptic conflict between mutants and humans called the Horizon Wars. Steel Raven is occasionally involved with the New Genix project, at one point running a harsh training session pitting the New Genix kids against a Blood Soldier robot, supposedly a relic of the Horizon War of the type that “killed the Inhumans and dozens of Avengers”.

For a while the Fortress also held Jessie, a young mutant empath and telepath with gender identity issues. Since Jessie vanished from Mary Walker’s life at a later date, it is possible that they succeeded in recapturing her/him.

The Fortress seems to be run by two men - Dr. Zachary Hoffner and Dr. Sidney Joern. Joern was decapitated by Wolverine but was kept alive and aware by his teams, perhaps whilst they grew a clone body for him to be grafted on. Both doctors seem highly intelligent, quite ruthless, gifted with nerves of steel and with little care for ethics.

The Fortress is likely the largest lab in the US, with something like 18 APs ; its security systems are also incredible, ranking at about 11 APs and including psychotronics and the most advanced superhuman detection scanners. Much of the security is run by conventional paramilitary forces, though far more dangerous weapons can likely be brought to bear if intruders tarry. Steel Raven was apparently recruited to head security, and if Project: REPTILE was indeed a Fortress sub-project, they once employed the Black Widow as an agent.

History

Secondary sources have stated that Steel Raven is a wealthy socialite who became a mercenary under unrevealed circumstances. She worked for the Fortress as a high-ranking security specialist and special agent. In the Fortress, she was almost always accompanied by a young boy suffering from an obvious psychological trauma and a severe anxiety disorder. This taciturn kid may have been her son.

It has been implied that some sort of trauma, likely related to her low-key hostility toward males, might be at the root of her mercenary career as Steel Raven. Other elements of her behaviour and the Fortress’ attitude toward Steel Raven lead to the impression that she was a very successful and very expensive mercenary with enough of a reputation to extensively negotiate terms.

In 1994 Professor Xavier detected the presence of Jessie, a young mutant empath, within the Fortress. He had Wolverine launch a rescue mission. Given the security in the Fortress, Wolverine recruited Mary and Typhoid — Mary did not register as a superhuman even on the Fortress’ scanner and was a brilliant actress, allowing her to infiltrate the place then turn into Typhoid. The plan worked, but Typhoid got overconfident on her way out and she and Jessie were captured.

Within Typhoid’s mindscape, Mary let out a psychic cry for help that was telepathically relayed by Jessie and hit two former lovers - Daredevil and Wolverine. Vengeance was also contacted as he was more or less the Ghost Rider, with whom Typhoid and Mary had previously flirted. The three men came to investigate the Fortress at about the same time, triggering a major security alert. Steel Raven responded.

As Vengeance attacked Wolverine due to a misunderstanding, Raven directed her attention toward Daredevil. Meanwhile, Jessie and Typhoid escaped and Steel Raven was ordered to disengage and find them. She somehow tracked Jessie down, and discovered that Typhoid was now being Bloody - a brutal misandrist waging a litteral war of the sexes. By this point Steel Raven was fed up with the Fortress, and in particular its mistreatment of children and teenagers. This stance of her was considered a security risk by Dr. Joern but his co-director Dr. Hoffner wanted to keep Steel Raven on the staff, possibly because of an unrequited romantic interest in her.

Calling Bloody her sister, Charboneau offered an alliance to kill Dr. Hoffner, which Bloody agreed to. During this murder attempt Steel Raven had to engage Vengeance and then Wolverine in combat to cover Bloody - but Bloody unexpectedly became Mary and fled.

Joener continued to suspect that she might be a security risk, but the attempt against Hoffner went undetected. Steel Raven continued to work for the Fortress, quite probably with her own agenda. She captured and killed a S.H.I.E.L.D. contractor who had broken into the Fortress to acquire intelligence, and later took over a New Genix training exercise, making a combat robot more violent and threatening than scheduled in order to toughen up the New Genix youths and better prepare them.

Description

See illustrations.

Personality

Cold, quiet, professional. Acts with authority, confidence and discipline. She seems to be highly driven toward success, and determined to achieve her objectives at any cost. This also includes an independent streak and some unclear but strong personal beliefs - she will dutifully work for employers, but she will never be loyal to anything but herself and her apparent son.

Charboneau has issues of undetermined nature with males - she’s very wary of them and can easily become antagonistic, but at the same time she nearly always dresses in a very sexualised fashion. Her costume is basically a bondage suit, an dhen she was seen out of costume she was wearing a designer, very form-fitting red dress with a bare back, and 1940s-starlet-style long red gloves.

She also seems quite protective toward children - not just the boy who accompanies her.

DC Universe History

Steel Raven would be a Lexcorp security specialist - and possibly an Amazon, much like Hope and Mercy. In timelines were the Great Disaster occurs, the Command D bunker might be what remains of the Fortress.

Another possibility that comes to mind is the Secret Six series. Mockingbird had some means of controlling all of the Six, whether blackmail, unique medicines, etc. Perhaps Aranda was recruited in a similar fashion ?