History

Early Life — San José, Costa Rica

Valeria Solís Araya was born in 1988 in San José, Costa Rica, into a family that placed considerable importance on personal responsibility, loyalty, and the protection of others.

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Her father, Rafael Solís Vargas, was a civil engineer whose work emphasized discipline, planning, and practical problem-solving.

Her mother, Lucía Araya Morales, possessed a far more complicated personal history.

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During the armed political conflicts that affected Central America in the 1980s, Lucía had served with a militia associated with a regional military junta.

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An exceptionally skilled marksman, she became known for using defensive fire to protect fellow fighters, hold advancing enemies at a distance, and provide opportunities for wounded personnel and civilians to escape.

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Although capable of using lethal force when absolutely necessary, Lucía grew increasingly disturbed by the executions, political reprisals, and widespread suffering she witnessed.

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Eventually, she abandoned the conflict and returned to civilian life. Her subsequent marriage to Rafael offered an opportunity to build the peaceful existence she had come to value. However, Lucía never entirely escaped the fear that former enemies, political rivals, or foreign intelligence organizations investigating her past might someday discover her whereabouts. She was particularly concerned that old conflicts could unexpectedly place her family in danger.

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A Mother's Lessons

Lucía believed that her children should possess the knowledge and discipline necessary to defend themselves. Valeria demonstrated an early aptitude for observation, physical coordination, and maintaining composure under pressure. Recognizing these qualities, Lucía began teaching her daughter firearm safety, responsible weapons handling, situational awareness, and disciplined marksmanship.

These lessons were never intended to encourage aggression.

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Lucía repeatedly emphasized that a firearm was a responsibility rather than a symbol of authority, and that the purpose of defensive training was to preserve life. Valeria learned to appreciate the difference between being capable of using force and choosing when force was necessary. She became a remarkably proficient marksman, eventually demonstrating talents that would form the foundation of her professional career.

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Yet mother and daughter gradually developed different interpretations of the same lessons. Lucía believed that violence should be avoided whenever possible because she had experienced its consequences firsthand. Valeria increasingly believed that decisive intervention was sometimes the only reliable means of preventing violence from occurring.

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Professional Security Career

As a young adult, Valeria pursued specialized training in private security and protective services. Costa Rica's absence of a standing army led her toward civilian and international security organizations rather than a conventional military career. Between 2006 and 2012, she developed practical experience in protective assignments, firearms proficiency, surveillance, and tactical response.

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Her natural aptitude and disciplined work ethic attracted attention from international security contractors. Over the following years, Valeria accepted increasingly demanding assignments throughout Central America and beyond. She became particularly effective in defensive operations requiring careful observation, controlled movement, threat assessment, and coordination between protective personnel. Her marksmanship was exceptional, but she earned equal respect for her willingness to place herself in danger to protect clients, fellow operatives, and innocent bystanders.

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As her experience grew, Valeria developed extensive contacts within international private-security and mercenary circles.

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Although she understood the realities of armed conflict, she remained uncomfortable with contractors who treated unnecessary violence as an acceptable cost of doing business.

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Operation Safe Passage — 2019

In 2019, Valeria participated in a contracted evacuation operation involving civilian personnel and families at an industrial facility in Central America. The assignment, known as Operation Safe Passage, was intended to provide security and orderly transportation away from a developing regional threat. As armed groups approached the surrounding area, Valeria recognized that established evacuation routes were becoming increasingly vulnerable.

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She recommended immediate withdrawal.

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Corporate representatives and security leadership delayed authorization because of financial concerns, liability disputes, and uncertainty over the political consequences of abandoning the facility. Valeria repeatedly warned that the delay placed civilians at unacceptable risk.

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Her warnings were ignored.

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When the situation deteriorated further, she disobeyed orders, organized a defensive perimeter, and directed personnel to begin evacuating vulnerable civilians. Using her expertise in precision shooting and protective tactics, she helped hold hostile forces away long enough for numerous people to escape.

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Despite her intervention, several individuals were seriously injured, and others were killed. Valeria believed that these casualties could have been prevented had the evacuation begun when she first recommended it. Rather than being recognized for her actions, she was dismissed for exceeding her authority and violating established contractual procedures. The experience profoundly changed her understanding of leadership and responsibility.

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From Protection to Control

Operation Safe Passage reinforced Valeria's belief that institutional hesitation could be as dangerous as deliberate aggression. She began to question whether the people responsible for public safety were genuinely capable of making necessary decisions. Her mother's teachings remained central to her worldview, but Valeria increasingly interpreted them through a more uncompromising philosophy.

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Lucía had taught her daughter that force should be employed only when necessary. Valeria concluded that necessity often emerged long before an enemy actually attacked. To her, preventing violence required identifying threats, limiting their ability to act, and establishing firm control before a crisis developed. She continued working independently within international security networks between 2020 and 2024. Her reputation grew as a highly effective but demanding professional who placed protective objectives above administrative restrictions.

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Clients valued her capabilities, although some considered her judgment inflexible and her willingness to challenge authority troublesome. Her protective instincts gradually became possessive. Once Valeria accepted responsibility for someone's safety, she became increasingly unwilling to permit that individual to make decisions she considered dangerous. What began as a genuine desire to preserve life was developing into an authoritarian belief that security justified restricting personal freedom.

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Recruitment into the Order of the Zodiac

Valeria's professional reputation and increasingly uncompromising philosophy eventually attracted the attention of the Order of the Zodiac. In 2025, Aries, Cassandra Elise Whitmore, arranged an introduction. Aries recognized Valeria's exceptional combat training, marksmanship, defensive planning, and experience operating within complicated international security environments. She also understood the frustration Valeria felt toward institutions that delayed necessary action.

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Cassandra presented the Order as an organization prepared to confront dangerous problems directly rather than becoming trapped by political indecision or institutional self-interest. Valeria initially questioned its secrecy and extreme methods. However, Aries demonstrated a willingness to provide the resources, operational authority, and specialized technology necessary for Valeria to perform her work without the restrictions that had undermined previous assignments. Valeria eventually accepted membership and adopted the codename Cancer. Her decision was motivated by the belief that the Order could provide a powerful means of protecting people from threats that conventional institutions repeatedly failed to address.

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She did not consider herself a conventional criminal.

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Instead, she believed that extraordinary measures could be justified when the alternative was allowing preventable suffering.

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The XIII LTD Equipment Upgrade

Following her recruitment, Cancer received access to the resources necessary to substantially improve her personal combat and surveillance equipment. Through a confidential bespoke manufacturing contract with XIII LTD, her previous professional equipment capabilities were developed into a coordinated advanced tactical system.

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The resulting equipment included protective body armor, an integrated tactical helmet, precision firearms, specialized grenades, surveillance drones, and an anti-gravity cycle. Each component was designed around Valeria's preference for battlefield awareness, controlled defensive engagements, rapid repositioning, and protective operations. Her equipment did not grant her innate superhuman powers. Instead, it substantially expanded the operational effectiveness of a highly trained human combatant.

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Cancer's advanced weapons and support systems allowed her to identify developing threats, protect strategic positions, and respond rapidly to changing battlefield conditions. The contract was a specialized commercial arrangement. It did not automatically establish XIII LTD as an ally of the Order of the Zodiac.

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The Twelve-City Correction

During planning for the Twelve-City Correction, Cancer received responsibility for defensive operations associated with Tokyo, Japan.

Her assignment emphasized surveillance, perimeter control, protective security, and the defense of strategically important locations.

Cancer employed her advanced helmet, coordinated surveillance drones, precision weapons, specialized grenades, and anti-gravity cycle to establish layered defensive capabilities.

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Unlike members assigned primarily to direct assault or covert manipulation, Cancer specialized in recognizing and containing threats before they could penetrate protected areas. She approached these responsibilities with extraordinary discipline. However, her willingness to impose restrictions upon others occasionally created tension with individuals who questioned the Order's authority.

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Family Relationships

Despite her increasingly dangerous professional activities, Valeria remains closely connected to her family. Her parents and siblings know that she works in international security, but they do not know the full extent of her activities within the Order of the Zodiac.

She maintains particular respect for her mother's marksmanship and personal sacrifices.

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However, their philosophies have gradually diverged.

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Lucía believes that a lifetime of violence taught her the importance of restraint, while Valeria believes that restraint without decisive intervention can invite catastrophe. If Lucía were to discover her daughter's involvement with the Order, she might be deeply troubled by the manner in which Valeria has interpreted her teachings.

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Valeria's greatest fear remains the possibility that someone she loves could suffer because she failed to recognize or prevent a threat.

Ironically, her secret association with the Zodiac may expose her family to dangers greater than those she has spent her career trying to prevent.

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Current Activities — 2026

By 2026, Cancer is an active member of the Order of the Zodiac and one of its most capable defensive specialists. She combines exceptional marksmanship, strong combat proficiency, surveillance expertise, and advanced tactical equipment with a disciplined and highly protective personality. Valeria is patient when observing potential threats, decisive when responding to danger, and fiercely loyal to those who have earned her trust.

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She can also be guarded, suspicious, controlling, and difficult to persuade once she believes a particular action is necessary. Her relationship with Aries is based upon mutual professional respect, although Cancer occasionally questions decisions that she believes may place civilians or protected personnel in unnecessary danger.

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Among the Zodiac, she is regarded as dependable, methodical, and exceptionally difficult to distract from a defensive objective.

Her most significant weakness is the conviction that she is uniquely qualified to determine what others require for their own safety.

Valeria remains convinced that she acts to preserve life. Whether the individuals she protects agree with her methods is becoming increasingly irrelevant to her. For Cancer, protection is not merely a responsibility. It is an obligation she believes must be fulfilled—even when others refuse it.

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