Mariana refused to roll over.
She may have been scared – God, she was scared out of her mind – because almost a year of psychological and physical torture at the hands of one slightly unstable man will have that effect on you when faced with your tormenter. She was scared for the others as well because that sciency guy still seemed to be controlling the bots and Adaptoids which means the others were still fighting and was Bucky okay?
Were any of them?
But she wasn't going to back down. She wasn't going to play ball. She never had before, not with him, so why the hell should she start now?
. . .
Mariana spent all of five seconds cowering away from Markus' cold gaze before steeling herself and straightening her stance as much as possible, trying to muster up the defiant glare she had pinned the scientist with only moments before but the defiance seemed to have abandoned her the moment she laid eyes on her old tormenter.
So she wasn't quite sure that it worked.
Looks like she would have to summon up some of that reckless idiocy she was used to shielding herself with then.
Markus gave a dark chuckle and spoke slowly. "Ah, Mariana. Always so strong-willed. Tell me, do you ever stop fighting the inevitable? Come on, we both knew we would see each other again, you could only lie to yourself about that for so long. Could only deny the truth for so long. You're a reasonable girl; it's one of your lesser qualities." He was only a few feet in front of her.
"You did all of this for me? Oh Markus, you shouldn't have. Really. I do not appreciate it."
He laughed. "No, Darling, unfortunately this wasn't all for you. We do have goals in mind and you aren't that important in the grand scheme of things."
"Goals? I do hope this is the part where you get cocky and spill HYDRA's big bad plans for the world, that has always been my favourite part of the action movies. Usually comes right before the villain gets his ass kicked which is always highly entertaining."
Markus shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. I will, however, state what I assume you already know. You're a clever girl so I'm sure you're aware that we want The Avengers out of the way. Permanently. You see, they keep stopping us, getting in our way, sticking their noses in where they don't belong. Now, we've been trying for quite some time - as I'm sure you're beginning to realise – and we've found some very interesting results.
"The Avengers, like everyone else, are quite easily distracted. It was delightful to discover even this retched world's heroes aren't perfect. You see, we – and I would like to say I but credit where it's due – have found that when there are a large number of civilians in the area or The Avengers have to fight off more than one force at once are when they come the closest to defeat. You catching on?" He tilted his head and stepped closer. His tone was more than just condescending and he spat the word Avengers like a curse.
Mariana swallowed thickly. "You tried to recreate both conditions today. I was right, Rumlow was a plant. Wasn't he?" Markus grinned wide as her words became soaked in venom. "You knew I would recognise him and you knew I wouldn't just let him walk away! Whether I beat him or not, not only would I be injured afterwards but he dropped a pretty little golden nugget of information, right? Side effects. No fucking way Cap'd let me into the field if there was even a possibility that I couldn't rely on my abilities. Fucking hell did you even know there would be any side effects?" She was practically screaming by the end, struggling uselessly against the Adaptoid's grip on her.
Markus smirked and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It was a possibility."
"You son of a bitch!"
"Now what would the good Captain say, Mariana?"
"I like to think he'd say the exact fucking same!"
"You're always so easy to get riled up. I do so like that about you. Did I mention how much I have missed our conversations?" He was standing just in front of her, so close she could smell the peppermint toothpaste he used. Mariana shivered as he studied her face, his eyes darkening for just a fraction of a second before he smiled pleasantly. "Back to business. Scientist?"
There was a put-upon sigh from behind Markus but the dark haired man didn't turn away from Mariana for even a second.
"I will remind you again, Agent, that my name is Dr Philips."
"Well then, Dr Philips, tell me: how exactly are these Adaptoids of yours controlled again? For the benefit of our guest here of course."
"Of course." He sighed again, sounding like an exasperated parent, but stayed focused on his monitors. "In that case, I guess I will simplify the scientific explanation that will no doubt be too much for her little mind to comprehend. Essentially, you were right little girl, I do have some form of mental control over my creations stemming from this device." He turned his head to the side and she could just see a small black dot on the side of his neck.
"It looks like a melanoma." Mariana's brain-to-mouth filter failed her often but it was at times like this when she wondered if she even had one.
The scientist, Dr Philips, finally turned to glare at her before putting his back to them all again. "Well, it's not."
She raised an eyebrow and peered over Markus' shoulder at the older man. "Are you sure? Like...have you had yourself checked? I would."
"It is a scientific device not a skin abnormality and this is irrelevant. The secondary controls are right here." He gestured to the console he stood beside.
"Huh, and here I thought you were checking your e-mails."
Markus smirked.
The doctor sighed. "She is quite a mouthy brat, isn't she?"
"That she is," Markus replied as he turned to watch the doctor's back as he worked. "Daniels." One of the other two goons that had entered with Markus approached the console and watched over Dr Philips' shoulder for a moment before nodding and taking a single step back.
Markus shot the doctor in the back of the head.
Mariana shouted in surprise and jumped at the bang of the shot being fired. Recent training with a certain dark-haired assassin however allowed her to recover quickly.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" She ignored the fact that 'Daniels' immediately took control of the station.
Markus whirled to face her, shoving the pistol back into the holster at his hip and wrapping the same hand into the hair at the back of Mariana's head as he got far too close to her. "Because," he snarled, "no one is allowed to lay a hand on you without my say so, clear?"
Mariana tried not to wince as he tugged at her hair and instead glared at him with all of the heat she could muster. He only laughed at her.
She realised too late that she had lost focus on her surroundings.
But by that point Mariana was crying out in pain as already she could feel the electricity rolling through her in waves as Markus released her and took a step back. Behind her, the Adaptoid did the same and she collapsed to a heap on the floor.
"Still hurts like a bitch?"
The smug tone of Markus' voice was all the motivation she needed to shakily get to her feet, left hand holding her side where the blast of energy had been fired at her. She was really getting sick of those weapons.
"You could say that," she seethed.
They locked eyes for several moments: his sparkling with false confidence and challenge and hers cycling through feelings of surprise and uncertainty with undertones of fury and determination.
Markus had taken a hell of a chance.
They both knew it.
Those blasts didn't have as much of an effect on her as they had. It may have hurt like hell but she could feel her abilities buzzing under her skin. She could go. She could just leave. The Adaptoid had let her go and it couldn't possibly move fast enough to grab her before she left. She could get away.
But they both knew she wouldn't.
And it infuriated her that Markus could read her so well.
First: she now knew that that control panel was potentially her only chance of disabling all of the Adaptoids and the robot dogs as The Avengers obviously hadn't done so yet if Daniels' frantic tapping was anything to go by.
Second: this was personal. This thing between the two of them. Markus had tormented her, tortured her, abused her – for fun. So, yeah. Personal. He didn't use any special powers to tear her to pieces, didn't have some impressive ability to help him break her every single day, didn't have some fancy powers to help him haunt her every second of every day since.
Mariana wanted to repay the favour.
She had to fight not to smirk the second that her plan occurred to her. Her stupidly reckless, will-probably-get-her-killed plan.
From the flicker of uncertainty in the Psychopath's own eye she assumed she must have shown some outward change in attitude.
Then her opportunity presented itself.
May as well have been tied with a bow it was such perfect timing.
"Sir," Markus spun to face Daniels. The terrified look in his eyes looked extremely out of place on a man of his stature, so much so that it was almost laughable. "The, uh, The Avengers have won, Sir. The three Adaptoids have been...detained."
Mariana beat Markus to the gun by a fraction of a second.
Her hand shot out before Daniels had even finished speaking as she snatched the gun from the holster on Markus' hip.
The first shot was fired down at Markus' left leg. He cried out in pain and crumbled to the floor at her feet.
The second shot was fired similarly at the remaining HYDRA goon stood in the corner by the door as she began running forward.
The third shot met its mark in Daniels' arm as he advanced towards her, intercepting her path to the computer banks. He hissed in pain but still swung for her. Ducked under the swing she fired a single shot down into his right foot before continuing forward to the screens. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that the scientist had a big red button on a holographic screen like one of Tony's that just said 'disable'.
Really, she should seriously consider this religion stuff at this point. Some deity was obviously on her side lately.
She tapped the image of the button once just as the Adaptoid behind her was finally reacting to her movements and had teleported beside her. It powered down almost instantly but she had no more time for 'thank you' prayers as she was grabbed from behind again in an imitation of the Adaptoid's previous hold on her.
Natasha's voice in her head talked her through manoeuvring out of the hold instantly and she just followed the directions as she always did.
Most men will be taller than you, that's just a fact of your life. Use it against them.
Judging by the goon's height, she was in the perfect position to smash his nose by throwing her head backwards. So that's what she did. The grip loosened just enough for Mariana to pry the fingers of his right hand away from her left arm. At the same time, she recognised that this was the goon who stood by the door previously from the tattoo on his arm so she kicked down on his right leg where she knew she'd shot him.
He let her go immediately and she turned on him. She let the gun drop to the ground before linking her fingers behind his head and slamming his head down onto her knee before shoving his deadweight aside, snatching up the gun again and focussing on Daniels who was back on his own feet.
Daniels was pissed. He was also smart as his first move was to disarm her. She saw it coming just in time to release the magazine and render the gun useless as Bucky had taught her to.
If you can't use it, don't let them.
The gun clattered to the floor and she wasn't able to dodge the punch to her gut that knocked the air out of her.
The one aiming for her face right after however, she was able to duck under.
As she did, she stamped down on his wounded foot and aimed a jab at his throat, cutting off his shout of pain. She didn't put enough force behind it to kill him, just stun him enough so that she could hook her right arm under his left armpit and her left arm over his right to create a pummel clinch that Steve – surprisingly - had insisted she know.
Most opponents might be bigger than you but that doesn't mean you can't take them down.
Once she was in position she was able to stamp down on his right foot with her left again before he could react. He reacted instinctively, the way she had hoped, and stepped back with his right foot to avoid another stamp. In response she brought her left knee up to slam into his stomach. Again, his response was instinctive when he stepped back in with his right foot while leaning his midsection away from her as best he could to prevent another knee attack like that. But while he corrected his footing, Mariana was cracking her elbow into the side of his head before releasing her hold on him and letting him drop.
She was glad to have had the opportunity to practice most of the fighting techniques she had been taught by Steve to know what it was like to fight a larger opponent. They were hella effective.
There was an audible click of a gun being cocked and she looked up into the barrel of a gun that Markus was pointing at her head.
Raising her hands in a submissive gesture, Mariana tried to sound confident when she spoke.
"You won't shoot me."
"After all of the trouble you've caused? What makes you think that?"
Mariana swallowed. "Because for some sick reason you like watching me suffer and shooting me in the head doesn't satisfy that desire."
The gun lowered and he shot at her leg. She'd recognised the intent in his eyes and had moved to dodge the bullet but it still grazed her right calf causing a burst of pain to spike through the leg and she dropped onto one knee, clutching at the wound.
Okay, she thought, you just won't shoot to kill.
But he did drop the gun, allowing it to clatter to the concrete floor as he took a few menacing steps towards her, intent on inflicting any damage from here on out up close and personal. He may have been a weapons expert but she knew he could more than handle himself well in close quarters too.
Mariana struggled to her feet just in time for him to grab her by the shoulders to steady himself and bring up his left knee twice in quick succession. Both connected with her stomach and had her gasping for breath. Markus seemed to be studiously ignoring the pain of the gunshot wound in his thigh.
Mariana brought both arms up in a wide circle to break his surprisingly weak hold on her shoulders and stumbled back to give herself room to take up a fighting stance. If he wanted to fight, then she would damn well fight because this time at least she wasn't strapped to a table and was able to defend herself.
Her calf was on fire though.
He grinned and took a similar stance.
Mariana found herself playing defensive for what seemed like a very long time. She was parrying jabs and crosses almost constantly. Only a few times did she have to block a kick or two but still. So she played the defensive role until he slowed in his attacks and she took the opportunity.
After parrying yet another jab with her right hand, she threw an uppercut of her own back at him. He was just barely able to block in time but it gave Mariana the chance to press the offensive. And so it was her turn to throw a few blows. He caught her by the forearm and applied the pressure needed to force her to twist so that her back was to him. He pretty much instantly went for a chokehold.
A chokehold she had been shown by Natasha as a demonstration of what not to do.
Markus had his right arm around her neck with his left hand on the back of her head and his right hand on the inside of his left elbow for leverage.
She reached back and grabbed his left hand, pulling it away from her head and out in front of them before then pulling it up and over her head to the other side, making it impossible for him to hold the choke as she easily twisted out from under his right arm.
His lips twisted into a snarl of anger as he threw haphazard but powerful blows at her, some of which she was able to avoid, others which met their mark. She considered taking out her switchblade from where it was attached to her belt but hidden by her jacket for all of two seconds. If Markus managed to get a hold of it then she would be screwed. She was intimately aware of how good the man was with knives.
But she was starting to feel like it might be her only choice.
"Give up, Mari," he taunted when he had her on the floor.
She was pinned on her stomach with Markus holding her right arm in an iron-clad grip where it was twisted behind her back, hand almost between her shoulder blades. Her left hand was free and had previously been scrabbling behind her, trying to find a way out of the hold. But something about what he said just pissed her off.
"You don't get to fucking call me that," she growled right as she flicked the blade out and slashed in his general direction.
It was haphazard at best but she must have got him as he hissed in pain and immediately sprung off of her, allowing her to clamber to her feet, holding the knife out in front of her defensively.
But he was already charging at her, making a grab for the knife as they both stumbled but managed to stay on their feet. It became kind of a blur as Mariana moved mechanically, her only thought being do not let him get the knife, but a series of elbow jabs and knees later and it was her blood on the knife as well.
Markus shoved her backwards as he yanked the blade out of her midsection painfully.
Her hands immediately covered the wound as tears of pain sprung to her eyes and she fought off the agonised groan trying to claw its way out of her.
Instead, she grit her teeth and glared at the smug bastard.
"Now, now," he tutted, "I believed you were smarter than this. I'm disappointed in you."
Mariana felt her lips pull up into a snarl. "Sorry, I think Steve pulls that look off better than you."
Have to get the knife back.
Have to get the knife back.
Have to get the-
Markus lunged at her and slashed at her arm. She tried to twist out of the way but in doing so lost her footing and went down. At the last second she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and dragged him with her, twisting so that she was on top of him when they landed. She wasted no time and getting a hold on the knife he still held tight and twisted it towards him, putting all of her weight on it.
The blade's tip edged closer and closer to his chest, right above the space where a heart would be if he had one. Just as the tip met it's mark his struggles for control of the weapon doubled and the ensuing grapple for control resulted in the knife being slashed to the right, opening up a long gash in his skin.
He made a pained noise but continued to fight, punching her in the gut – almost directly on top of her knife wound – and snatching back the weapon while she was bent double. He reversed their positions and it was Mariana struggling to angle the edge of the blade away from her throat.
He was slightly stronger than her so she knew it was a risk but it was the only way she saw herself getting out with her throat intact.
She took one hand off the knife.
It instantly came dangerously close to slicing open her jugular, merely nicking the skin as she dodged her head to the side in an attempt to escape the threat. At the same time, she reached up with her free hand and slammed the palm of her hand upwards into his nose.
The crack of his nose breaking that rang in her ears was quite possibly the most satisfying sound she could ever wish to hear.
She felt a few drops of blood land on her face as he eased up on the knife and focussed on his face, allowing her to twist out from under him, shoving him to the side as she sprang to her feet – studiously ignoring the pain in both her abdomen and leg - taking the knife they had fought over with her and throwing it to the other side of the room as hard as she could.
"Bitch!" he shouted as he clutched at his broken nose. Mariana said nothing and instead advanced towards him and slammed her foot down on his face. Or would have. If he hadn't caught her ankle and dragged her back down to the concrete floor.
From there the two grappled for the upper hand, neither wanting to allow the other to get their feet under them first. It could have been hours they fought for or mere moments. Punches were thrown. Elbows were used a lot, a few knees. Eventually, Markus had Mariana pinned on her stomach again and she was getting goddamn sick of this guy having the upper hand.
"Come on, Mari," he leaned right in and spoke in her ear, spitting her nickname like a curse. "Everybody breaks, face it, it's your turn."
The strain on her wounds was immensely painful and she needed to get out so instead of answering she threw her head back with a grunt and at the same time put everything she had into pushing her upper body off the ground enough to roll out from under him once more. She learnt her lesson from the last time though and didn't go far, coming back behind him quickly were he sat, hunched over and fuming, on the ground.
She slid in behind him and, before he could react, wrapped her legs around his hips so that her feet met between his legs for leverage. While he was preoccupied with what her legs were doing, Mariana snaked her right arm around his neck and placed that hand behind his shoulder. He brought his left hand up to try to pull her hand away but she used her own left to shove his hand away before slipping her left arm over her right wrist to touch her own right shoulder with her left hand, holding the choke as she tucked her chin in over her arm and squeezed.
Immediately, Markus began to struggle for air but she held the chokehold to the best of her ability until he finally started to lose consciousness.
She considered holding it for a while longer.
If she held it long enough, she could kill him.
She could be free of him.
She'd also be just like him.
So She let him go.
When she was sure he was out, she released the hold and moved out from behind him, ignoring the large patch of blood on his uniform transferred from her own wound. She waited a few minutes - breathing hard and applying constant pressure to her abdomen - until he started to come to and aimed a punch at his temple to knock him out again. She quickly checked all three men to ensure they were still alive and found a pair of cuffs on Daniels which she quickly decided to use on Markus as she stashed the key in her pocket after ensuring he was secured to a sturdy pipe.
With that, she felt for the buzz of her abilities to find it was relatively strong and was about to teleport herself back to Midtown where the others had been fighting when the door Markus, Daniels and the other guy had entered through however-long-ago was thrown right off its hinges.
Mariana felt hazy enough with the blood loss, probable concussion and waring off of adrenaline that it took her a moment to recognise the Norse God sprinting across the room towards her.
When she did she smiled as best as she could and collapsed into his arms without hesitation the second he was close enough.
He was saying something, telling her things as he carried her out of the facility, not bothering to even acknowledge the bodies of unconscious HYDRA agents littering the hallways.
It didn't even come to mind until later that none of them had responded to the struggles in the control room. None of them had come to Markus' aid.
None of it really registered.
She just kept her hands on her wound and closed her eyes, listening to the rumble of his voice as Thor cradled her as close to his chest as he could without hurting her.
One word she caught and she clung to it like a lifeline.
Home.
The fog in her brain cleared as the cool air hit her when they stepped outside – or he stepped – and Mariana came back to herself a little. She knew passing out at this point was inevitable but she might be able to same Thor some effort.
"You have no idea how very glad I am to see you Thundercat."
He smiled indulgently down at her, ignoring the reference he didn't understand. "And I, my lady. Let us get you home, hmm?"
"I can take us, just...just give me a minute to focus." The God of Thunder waited patiently as she closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. It took a few moments of concentration on her part before he felt the familiar tingling of her abilities taking effect and found himself stood in her apartment's living room.
JARVIS automatically brought up the lights so that he could see better and the sight of how injured his little sister really was had Thor practically sprinting towards the elevator that was already opening up for them.
"Home?" Mariana mumbled against his armour.
"Yes, home. You fought bravely Mariana, now just stay awake. I believe it would be unwise to sleep now."
"'Kay." But even as she said it her head was lolling to the side and her eyelids were fluttering closed.
The elevator opened and Thor was already moving, asking quite loudly where he should bring Mariana and no he will not just be handing her over he will bring her to her room himself thank you very much.
His himself spent very little time in Medical for injuries but he recognised the urgency with which the medical personnel spoke over each other while they attacked various wires and machines to his little sister's prone form caused the dire nature of the situation to hit home for him.
Which is probably why The God of Thunder didn't fight back as he was pushed into a room with the rest of his team and the Lady Pepper.