who am i · avengers

1

It all started with a wallet. Sitting in a store, surrounded by others just like it, seemingly ordinary in every way, shape, and form. It became unique when a woman picked it up, admiring the feeling of the black leather in her hands. She'd been trying to find a gift for her daughter's birthday, somehow ending up here; standing in front of a wall of leather bags and accessories. 'Perfect,' she thought to herself, taking it towards the counter.

The wallet got packed in a box with and cream bow and placed into the lady's bag. It's strange to think that this all started with a wallet. The last gift from a mother to her daughter.

Marlo sat at the window, watching the droplets of rain race each other down the window. She hadn't seen her mom in over a week, and she was starting to get concerned; her mind racing with the possibilities of her mother lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Maybe she had given up on her, leaving her to sink further into insanity, forever surrounded by the stark white walls that had become her prison.

It was 6:05 am when she awoke from her frequent nightmares, her sleep medicine wearing off and her insomnia wrapping it's cold fingers around her mind, preventing her from falling back to sleep. So, she opted instead to sit by her barred window, watching the rain hit the window through the fogged glass.

7:00; Morning checks. The moment the nurse's fist connects to Marlo's door in a knock, she stands up and begins to get ready for breakfast. Her mind is focused on the unexplained break in her mother's visitation. Her body fell into autopilot mode, going through her daily movements of brushing her hair and teeth, making her bed and putting on a clean gray sweatshirt.

She almost didn't notice when her friend, Jack, took his place next to her in the cafeteria. "Did you see the news?" he asks quietly, gesturing up to the blank screen across the room. She shakes her head in a reply, looking up at him from her eggs and bacon that she had been pushing around her plate. His eyes are twinkling with excitement and the familiar crazed look, he gets when he sees things.

"That TV has been broken for the last 4 months, Jack," Marlo grumbled, too exhausted to play along with his fantasies. He quickly taps his head with his middle finger, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.

"It's all in here, dollface," He whispered to her, quickly sitting upright as one of the nurses walked past our table, sparing a single glance and a soft smile their way. Once he'd left, Jack hunched over closer to her with a smirk playing on his mouth, glancing around the room to make sure no one heard him. "They found the human flag."

"Who?"

"You know," Jack hissed at Marlo, glancing at her. "Star Spangled Man with a plan."

"You mean Captain America?" She stated her voice taking on a flat tone, he nodded enthusiastically. "That's ridiculous. Come on, he's been dead for like 70 years."

"Doll, listen," he said, adjusting himself in his spot on the bench so that he was fully facing me and held his hands out. "When have I ever been wrong about this sort of thing?"

He crossed his arms smugly waiting for a reply, she rolled her eyes at him. "Well, I can't really cross-check it, can I?" She grumbled, stabbing a piece of egg with her fork.

Before Jack could reply, a man in a suit approached our table. "Marlo Rockwell?" He asked, a blank look on his face. Marlo glanced at Jack, who nudged her, a mixture of concern and hope on his face. She looked back at the man in front of her, "Yes?"

"Come with me, please."

Marlo followed the man into a room, a metal table and chair set up in the middle of the empty room. She had been in this room once before when she had first arrived; it was an interrogation room of sorts. Her body when rigid with fear as she remembered what they did to her in this room; the feeling of her head splitting against the cold surface of the table, the endless array of questions.

She shook her head; an attempt to rebuild the wall that she had built around some of her most horrific memories. That's how it worked, if you break down a wall, you stack brick-by-brick to build it up again, and so the cycle continues.

"Please, take a seat," the suited man requested, gesturing to the singular chair in the room. She hesitantly shuffled towards it, her hands pulled into her chest, and sat down.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Agent Silver," he said smoothly, his body language taking on relaxed stance, but his eyes seemingly calculating my every movement. "I'm here to talk to you about your mother."

"My mother?" Marlo's eyes widened. "Did something happen? Is she okay?"

He cleared his throat, seemingly becoming uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Ms. Rockwell, that's what I'm here about." A lump formed in her throat, Marlo's chest became tight. "She fell off our radar eleven days about in Peru, did you know anything about your mother's activities?"

Marlo was home alone, bored out of her mind. Throwing down her pen onto her notebook, she stood up, her eyes flickering to her mother's office. She knew that she shouldn't go in there, her mother had told her multiple times. Important documents. Things that can't be moved, touched, or shifted.

Being the teenage girl she was, she obviously decided to go through her mom's study. She slowly pushed the door open, half-expecting alarms to sound and gunmen to fly through the windows. Letting out a breath, she slipped into the room and shut the door behind her. The last time she was in this room, she was only 6 years old and as soon as she went in, her mother had pulled her out again with her eyes wide. "Marlo, baby. You don't go into mommy's special room, okay?"

The words rang in her head as she moved towards the desk in the middle of the room. Everything was packed away neatly in cabinets and shelves that lined the walls, the room was immaculate. Her eyes could not spot a speck of dust on any surface or object, it was only when she reached the desk that there was any sign of negligence.

A single draw. The handle was coated with a thick layer of dust and there was no sign that it had been touched recently. Marlo paused and took in a slow breath, her hand extending towards the handle, careful not to disturb the blanket of fine particles.

The contents of that draw turned Marlo insane; she lost herself in the mystery of her mother's life and then she herself changed. Clearing her throat, she looked up at the man and nodded slightly, "Probably one of the reasons she locked me up in here in the first place."

"Or maybe it was because you killed a couple of people..." her mind hissed.

Agent Silver's face remained stoically blank, as he pulled out a cell and quickly called someone. "Got her."

A voice crackled quietly from the other side of the line, Marlo trying to decipher the words with no luck. Silver put away the phone as quickly as he'd got it out and replaced it with a pair of handcuffs, causing her eyes to widen in confusion. "Woah, hang on a second. I'm not into that sort of thing, agent. This is all moving a little too quick don't ya think." Marlo pushed herself out of the chair as the agent stalked towards her. She gasped as her back hit the wall and the cold cuffs where clamped on her wrists swiftly.

Trapped. Like an animal on a leash. Again.

Agent Silver led her out of the room and down the hallway towards the exit. Marlo's eyes caught Jack's as they passed the doors of the cafeteria. He had his face pressed up against the small glass window, the familiar glint of knowing in his eyes and the playful smirk dancing on his lips. She smiled back at him as they were about to lose sight of each other.

God, I am going to miss him.