Biographical information
Full Name: Victoria Holt
Alias(es): Nerium Nightshade
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Lesbian
Status: Deceased
Age: 60 (season 1)
Birth: 1953
Race: Human
Cause of Death: Electrocution
Nationality: Dutch
Origin: Holland, Netherlands
Residence:
* India (formerly)
* Holland, Netherlands (formerly)
Profession(s): Scientist
Affiliation(s):
* Switch Laboratories
* SOMBRA
Profile
Height: 5'4"
Age: 60 (season 1)
Weight: 137lbs
Eyes: blue
Blood: A+
Hailing from the Netherlands, Victoria Holt was the owner of Switch Laboratories. She had strawberry-blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. She wore a simple red dress, an orange lab coat, and a DNA pattern scarf.
Synopsis
Victoria was the victim of A Shock to the Team.
She used to own Switch Laboratories, a lab that, on the surface, was working to cure diseases. But behind the scenes, they were creating custom poisons to kill people. Victoria and Gustave were the only ones aware of SL's true intentions; the rest of the employees thought they were doing good work.
But unknown to Gustave, Victoria worked for SOMBRA, who also funded her operations. SOMBRA was using Victoria's poisons to "weed out the weak" but killing their enemies. Because Victoria's poisons were so unique, it would appear like people died of natural causes, such as a heart attack or stroke. She also sold her poisons privately on the black market, and no one traced these murders back to Victoria.
But Nathan eventually discovered Victoria's devious plans. He learned the truth while autopsying one of the volunteer test subjects. After realizing that Project Elysium was killing people on purpose instead of saving them, he contacted his grandfather, the Director of U.N.I.T at the time. With the agency's help, they destroyed the lab and research, arresting many of the employees.
But Victoria fled with SOMBRA's help and vowed revenge on Nathan for his betrayal. She couldn't believe after everything she did for him; he would stab her in the back. She gave him his sight, helped with his education, gave him a job at her lab, and that was how he repaid her?!
She stayed a free woman for many years as she evaded U.N.I.T. Victoria tried to recreate her work, but without the data, she couldn't do it. And then she realized that Nathan would be the key to helping her. He helped U.N.I.T. confiscate her work and was sure he would have remembered the formulas and know how to recreate them.
So, Victoria contacted Gustave, who was now out of prison, and the two tracked Nathan down to Grimsborough. They also found other old employees of SL, but no one wanted anything to do with them. But the two were persistent and tried to restart their work in a secret lab hidden underneath an abandoned iPear store Gustave owned.
Victoria even went as far as to threaten Nathan's son Avi. The coroner agreed to go with her to the lab so that she wouldn't hurt the boy, but once there, he attacked Victoria, knocking her out. He tried to destroy the work inside but found no files, so he fled before she woke up.
But Nathan knocking Victoria out would make it easier for Gustave to murder her. Gustave was angry when he saw that Victoria had failed to get Nathan back. He knew he could get the coroner to cooperate with the right incentives, and if she were going to be useless, he wouldn't risk her ruining his chances at a better life.
Gustave strapped Victoria to a chair and hooked up jumper cables to it and the shop's electric panel. With a flick of a switch, he turned on the shop's sign and electrocuted Victoria in the process. He left her burnt corpse inside and began formulating a plan to escape Grimsborough, taking Nathan with him.
Story Information
First appeared: A Shock to the Team
Trivia
* The name of the case she was a victim in, A Shock to the Team, is a reference to the pilot episode (A Shock to the System) from the cartoon Static Shock
* The SOMBRA connection was a change I made after I edited my first story, The Case of The Criminal, in 2021
* She sold her custom poisons on the black market under the disguise of Nerium Nightshade
* She wore a mask when making sales; the most common ones looked like skulls