Gods and Monsters ~ Mad Maggie x reader

18

Weeks had passed since I got my first taste of vengeance; and I was hooked on it. I had managed to kill 6 soldiers by the end of the first week and the number has been growing increasingly higher. Most of the people I murdered had no remorse or guilt in their eyes when they took their final breath. Most smiled, knowing their sacrifice would only fuel hatred for Salvonians. I knew this too. But occasionally, I would meet a solider that would beg. Beg for mercy, beg for their life. They would tell me anything, promise anything so I would let them go... I never caved.

One man stuck with me. He was in his late 50's, his hair was long, and his voice was deep and thick like molasses. I had him on his knees, a p2020 stuck to the back of his head. I had just killed 2 of his comrades in broad daylight. And he... thanked me. Told me he couldn't get himself away from the IMC and the syndicate, said his family was on the line. I was confused, it made me wonder if all soldiers held regret in their heart. If they had families that were being held against them. I was willing to let him go, hide from those who were threatening him. However, he foolishly tried to snatch the gun from me. He failed and died.

With my increasing violence, I was met with mixed reactions. Don in particular appraised me heavily. Asked me if there was anything I couldn't do. He would often pester me, almost beg me to join the Hawks, I would decline every time. I wasn't killing for the sake of Salvo; I was killing for my own sake. I was acting selfishly and when I was praised for my actions, I never revealed my true intentions. Only one person knew the true reason for my outburst. Maggie. She was the only one I felt I could talk to and yet... it felt as if she didn't understand my reasons.

Ever since that night, our conversations had been... limited. She was avoiding me. Every time I saw her, guilt washed over her face, and she would avert her eyes. I asked Walter about it, he refused to say anything. Said there was nothing to say. They were lying and it only fuelled me.

Another thing that pushed me was my son, Johnny. The last man standing. I barely saw him at home. I walked him to and from school but other than that, he was gone. Liz trailed him to see if he was doomed to meet the same fate as Carl. She found him hidden away under a small bridge, tinkering with something. I asked him about it but he too refused to say anything.

My frustration grew with everything. My feelings, my family, my friends. They were treating me like I was fragile. Like I would either break down or fly off the handle. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to get away from them until... Johnny got sick.

It started as a cough. I assumed it was a bug that was going around his school until the blood came. I was searching his room, something I found myself doing more after Carl died. When I opened the drawer by his bed, I saw crumpled up pieces of tissue and paper, all with red splotches on them. I asked him about it when he came home.

"I- I don't know." He pleaded with me "Mum its fine, I promise. I just... scraped my knee."

"Bullshit." I snapped, "Stop lying to me Johnny, please! Just tell me. Is it to do with this cough? I know it does." He had fear plastered across his face.

"Im fine! You can't afford a doctor mum, please just ignore it. It'll go away." My heart broke with each word he said. He pleaded with me, begged me to let it be. I couldn't. I had to ask Don for a favour, and I knew what he would ask of me.

"Your son needs a doctor?" He asked, he was sat on that leather chair again, he wore a smug grin and tauntingly twirled an apple in his hand. "Well, that's easy enough, free of charge I suppose? I know Benzo sure as hell isn't paying you enough to afford this."

"My wage is none of your business." I wanted to bite his head off.

"Well, what I'm saying has some honesty in it. Anyway, i can get your boy a doctor. You brought him with you? Yeah? Right well put him in that room, the one you woke up in and I'll call Doctor McCartney."

"What's the cost?"

"Oh no money, youll pay me in something else."

"My soul." I said sarcastically, he laughed.

"Dead on!" He leaned forward, rustled around for something in a drawer before pulling out a piece of paper. He laid it out before me and when I went to touch it, he slapped my hand away. "Don't touch it, I have to make sure the document is not tampered with." I nodded before leaning over to read it.

It was one page long with only 2 paragraphs on it, clearly handwritten. In summary, it told me that whatever success or victory I had, the credit would go to the Hawks. Not me. "So basically, if you wipe out a camp, ill get to brag about it."

"Seriously? That's it?" I asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. I don't want to sign you on a mercer yet, I wanna test run the machinery before I buy it." I cringed at his analogy. "If you don't have an issue with these terms then that's our business here done."

Johnny was seen by Doctor McCartney later that day who confirmed my suspicion. He had an issue with his lungs which we later learned was caused because he had been hanging around open pipes. Pipes that were spewing chemicals into lakes and rivers. Pipes which everyone knew they had to stay away from. I felt like an idiot. I was really a bad mother. One child was dead, and the other was dying, all within 3 months.

Doctor McCartney told me that they had a lot of the medical equipment to save him. However, they were missing one thing. Oxygen tanks. He told me that they were in very high demand everywhere and it'd cost an arm and a leg to afford one.

"But the solider camps would have some?" I asked, leaning against the wall.

"Probably. I mean, most of our equipment here we stole from them so I would bet money that they had a stash of oxygen." That's all he had to say before I was walking out of the Church. I didn't exactly know what camp I had to go to, but I just hoped it was the closest one.

"(y/n)!" Walter shouted, jumping down from the parked pickup truck "You're a woman on a mission, eh?" I nodded at him, but I didn't stop walking "You- eh- you off to kill more soldiers?"

"Yes."

"Maybe you should-" He grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. "Look, this isn't a healthy way to cope. I get that we have to kill them but... you're being a bit excessive."

"Oh, you're going to me I'm being excessive? You?" I laughed "Let me go Walter, I have somewhere to be."

"Mags!" He shouted, putting a tighter grip on my forearm. I looked over towards the black pick-up truck. She was sat in the back, staring at us. "C'mon back me up here?" She shrugged and looked back towards the ground; Walter rolled his eyes "Fucking drama queen."

"What's going on with her?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I told you, she tells me nothing about you." I grabbed Walter's hand and pried it off my arm, he didn't put up much of a fight this time. I stomped over towards the truck and Maggie finally looked at me.

"Come with me." I said, she looked confused.

"Seriously?" She almost laughed "Come with you where?"

"I need to find something; I need your help."

"Find what"

"Oxygen tanks. Johnny's lungs are messed up, he needs it." There was a moment of silence "Please Maggie." She groaned before jumping out of the back of the truck. She reluctantly started walking back towards the church

"We need a car, idiot." I quickly followed her.

"Thankyou."

"Shut up."