This might very well have been the worst day Mara ever had since coming to the Playground.
Not the worst day of her SHIELD career, and definitely not the worst day of her life in general, but this still sucked. Here Mara had been complaining about boredom. Then who should waltz in but her former partner - the one who had apparently up and joined Hydra - only to reveal that he was working on his own orders as a mole the whole time. Apparently. And now she had to be the one to chaperone him.
At least Aiden seemed to be having a good time. He waved to every SHIELD agent or scientist he passed, reveling in all the shocked his expressions thrown his way.
"Someone's having fun," Mara muttered over the sound of Aiden's laughter when one man did a particularly impressive double-take. "That makes one of us."
"Hmm?" Aiden hummed. He glanced at Mara before resuming activities. "What? Out of everyone on this base, I was hoping you'd be smiling the most about my return. No love for your former partner?"
"No love for the man who tried killing me," Mara shot back quickly, adding after a pause, "Several times."
Aiden breathed out a sigh. "That question was rhetorical, but...I promise you, I've never tried to kill you."
"Oh, really?" Mara stopped in her tracks, forcing Aiden to do the same. She sent him a glare that could melt steel. "We can do this chronologically, if you want. Remember that time you had a knife to the back of my neck in Bruges?"
"Yeah, and I said that someone called for all Hydra agents to leave the premises," Aiden picked up where she left off. He paused and it was clear that he was waiting for Mara to pick something up. When she only continued to glower at him, Aiden went on. "There was never a retreat order. I said that to maintain cover and give myself an out."
As good an excuse as that was, Mara knew that it was just as likely he was lying. "Then what about Canada?" She asked, knowing that nothing would come from questioning him about the truth of that claim. "When you threw a grenade at me?"
"Come on," Aiden actually had the nerve to grin. "That was nowhere near you, or the agent you were with."
"Well, there was always that time you locked me in a room with an explosive!" Mara shouted, then sighed. And here she was, trying not to lose her temper.
Just like the last time she'd brought it up, Aiden's composure slipped. It was only for a moment, but it was there. "Listen, that was an accident, like I mentioned earlier," He explained - or tried to under Mara's burning stare. "Besides, I knew you could survive it anywa-"
Before he could finish that sentence, Mara was clapping a hand over his mouth. "No, don't you dare," She whispered dangerously.
"Keeping that a secret?" Aiden asked, once he could speak again. Mara did note that his voice had dropped several decibels though. "I thought SHIELD was done with all that confidentiality stuff now."
"I made it confidential myself," Mara said in a low voice. "I'm done with Crossfire and anything that had to deal with that project." Her emphasis making the implication even more clear. There was a brief pause, where Mara almost turned back to their route, but then she was rounding on Aiden once more. "And then you had to go and bring it back!"
Aiden held up his hands in a show of innocence, staring down at the accusatory finger Mara had pointed under his chin. "In my defense, I was kind of out of the loop on that whole thing."
"Yeah," Mara growled. "Because you went and joined Hydra!"
"Not before you up and left the damn program without a trace!" Aiden fired back.
That got Mara quiet. Aiden rarely, if ever, raised his voice, much less got angry. And right now, he looked close to it. That alone would've been enough to stop Mara in her tracks, but it was what he'd said too.
However, before she could say anything more, a sound rang through the hall. It sounded like distant pops, but Mara would know that sound anywhere. Gunfire.
They weren't close enough to the firing ranges to hear anything, and ballistics tests were only ever done in sets. This pattern was too sporadic to be anything but a fight.
Mara's eyes were instantly back on Aiden, his hands flying upwards once more. "Seriously, I'm right here," He tried.
"If this is one of your Hydra friends, I swear," Mara ground out, already heading in the direction of the sounds. Several more went off before Mara's communicator buzzed to life. "Agent Arany," She spoke into it, only vaguely aware of Aiden at her side.
"It's Bobbi," May's voice came through between heavy breaths. Mara nearly froze on the spot. Bobbi? Her oldest friend on this base? There was no way- "Mack too. They've got some intel we need back, and their soldiers are already storming the base. I could really use your help. The director's office."
Mara threw a glance at Aiden, then grit her teeth. "I'm on my way."
~x~
Mara and Aiden never made it to Coulson's office.
They managed to get about two hallways away before they were neck deep in enemy agents. There had been plenty of other agents before, but this was approaching critical mass. In this cramped space, Mara couldn't swing her arm without hitting one of them. But that was kind of the point.
Mara used a high kick to take out one agent that was facing in the wrong direction before punching another hard enough to send him flying. The third guy, one who was looking at Mara like he might try to take her on, seemed to be suddenly having second thoughts. She just kicked him in the stomach so that he doubled over before rolling over his back and using the momentum to kick another agent on the other side of him. Before she was even standing, Mara had an arm around the first guy's neck, throwing him over her shoulder and into one agent that had their back turned. Having enhanced strength certainly came in handy sometimes.
With those last three agents down, accidentally tripping over a person was starting to become a potential issue. It was chaos, honestly. There wasn't anywhere for them to go and new enemies kept filing in. Where the hell were they even coming from?
While Mara was trying to navigate around the fallen agents, one of their still-conscious comrades had snuck up behind her and tried punching her in the face. It might've actually worked, had she not been given the Extremis virus. But seeing as she had, it hardly even moved her. When Mara turned back around, murder in her glare, the man actually managed to flinch before Mara returned the favor. And she would've been lying if she said she hadn't aimed the man so he would hit Aiden on the way down.
It wasn't a direct blow, but it still made Aiden flinch and jump around. Mara just leveled him with a deadpan stare and a face that said 'oops, but I'm not gonna apologize'. Instead, she told him, "My hand slipped."
"Alright," Aiden sighed, elbowing his current opponent. He almost seemed bored by how long this fight was lasting. "I probably deserved that one. But can we talk about this later?"
"When would that be?" Mara shouted over the sounds of the fight. "When this base is overtaken by enemy agents?"
"I'd prefer if that didn't happen," Aiden managed to huff out in between punches. However, it was a kick that brought down the agent before him.
"Sure you don't work with them?" Mara spat. The woman in front of her was giving quite the fight. Of course, that comment was completely out of left field. There was no evidence linking Aiden to these guys.
A second sigh from Aiden. "I said it before," He spoke carefully. "I work for SHIELD."
"Really?" Mara cried, hoisting her current opponent up in a one-arm deadlift. She pointed at the emblem on the agent's uniform. "Because so do they!"
Aiden looked like he was just about to respond when Coulson walked past, clearly on a mission. However, he spotted the commotion in the hallway and called out, "Arany, Park!" They both shouted back 'sir!' in chorus. Coulson was halfway to issuing an order when he caught sight of the man Mara was holding up. "Never mind. Keep doing what you're doing!" He ran out the hallway to another call of 'yes, sir!'
Feeling a little uninspired, Mara simply threw the man she was holding before leaping back into the fray. She dodged a blow meant for her head before countering with a roundhouse.
"Hey, Mara?" Aiden shouted and Mara shot him a glare. That look faded the second she spotted what was in his hands. A gas mask. "Any idea why they all have these in their uniforms?"
The answer came a second later. A hissing sound from one of the vents overhead. But that wasn't the sound of the air conditioning.
Oh, crap.
~x~
Okay, so this still wasn't the worst day Mara had since joining SHIELD, but she was now certain that it had been her worst since coming to the Playground. Her former partner - and supposed traitor - showing up out of the blue had nothing on this.
An invasion of her home, perpetrated by people she once thought were her teammates? Bobbi was even more than that to her - a close friend from before her days as Crossfire. Looked like she was losing friends from back then left and right these days. And it really put Mack's earlier distrust of her in a different light.
"The Real SHIELD." What a load. If they were part of SHIELD, why did they feel it necessary to fill the base with a dendrotoxin? At least Mara was immune. Meant she could get away while the place was in chaos.
It did mean she was left without access to her powers, though. That made dragging Aiden's unconscious body to a secure hiding spot a little more tricky. She had to keep an eye on him somehow. And now they were alone together in a crawlspace filled with electrical wiring, Aiden slowly making his way back to consciousness somewhere behind her.
Once it looked like everyone was beginning to wake up, Mara was already wiring her communicator to the lines surrounding them. The second she found the one that led to Coulson's personal communicator, she called it. The dial tone syncopated with Aiden's semi-conscious groans.
"Shh," Mara warned Aiden, hoping none of the patrols would catch onto their location. Of course, the Director picked up the call at the same exact moment.
"Mara, is that you?" He asked. His voice was low, which meant he was probably in hiding somewhere else. "How are you...?"
"The dendrotoxin they used is the same stuff in my medication. It didn't really do much," Mara said quickly. "Are you safe, sir?"
"As much as I can be," Coulson sighed. "Agent Park with you?"
"Yeah," Mara threw a look in Aiden's direction. He was currently attempting to stand, but the gas was clearly still affecting him. "Want me- us to come to your aid?"
"No, no," Coulson replied and Mara could imagine him shaking his head. "Get out of here if you can. I know their objective now, and I'm not about to let them have their way. Take Aiden with you. We'll need someone on the outside if this goes down the way I think it might."
"But sir, Aiden is-" Mara started, but was quickly cut off by Coulson.
"That was an order, Agent Arany," Coulson said and there was no disagreeing with that tone.
"Yes, sir," Mara grit her teeth. "When we're clear, we'll find a way to reach you."
There was a pause, heavy in the air, then Coulson said, "Then over and out. And, Mara...Good luck out there."
"You too, sir," Mara gulped. She caught the gaze of the man who had just become her partner once again. "You too."