Chapter 3

When Mariana was younger, her best friend lived in the house across the street from her own. She'd met Mateo the year before at school, when he had just moved to town and hadn't known anyone. They became fast friends, mostly due to the fact that he couldn't speak English and Mariana was the only person in the entire school who could have a conversation with him in their native tongue. They also had a lot in common, much more than Mariana did with any of the other kids. Mateo didn't make fun of her for the food she ate, because he ate it too, or the way that she sometimes got an accent when she switched from speaking Spanish to English. Even their parents got along! His mom and dad liked to come over for dinner, and sometimes, when her daddy and his went to the back to talk, it could take hours, and that meant that they could play together longer! In Mariana's mind, it was a win-win situation, and they would totally get married when they were older. It was destiny. He didn't even mind when she asked to play house with him as long as she promised to let him pick what they did the next day, which was usually trying to see who could climb the highest up the giant tree that was down the street and looked over the entire neighborhood. Her mom always got mad at her for coming home with scrapes on her knees and hands from where they had dug into the bark, trying to keep her from falling. In reality, the tree wasn't that tall, and Mateo knew that, but what he didn't know was that Mariana was afraid of heights for reasons she'd refused to tell her mother about.

A few months into their friendship, Mariana woke up to the sound of sirens wailing on their street. She was still half-asleep when it started, and as the sound grew closer and closer, she woke up even more. The sound of her heartbeat was loud in her ears, and she clutched her blanket and pulled it up over her head, like it would protect her from whatever might be happening. She waited a few minutes before the blanket was ripped from her body and thrown on the ground by her mother, who immediately clutched her to her chest, and her father, who ran through the hallway into her room.

"Ma, what's going on? Why are they bothering us?" Mariana talked into her mom's shoulder, felt the tears start to fall on her cheeks, and she wiped them off on her shirt. If she was going to face the police, she needed to make sure that she looked calm. Collected. Like she had nothing to worry about when they showed up at their door. Her mom was still clutching her when her dad spoke up.

"It's Mateo's family. They found them." Her breathing stopped. She had no idea what that meant, but it frightened her. Why had the police been looking for them? They were good people, Mariana knew this! They would never get involved with the police; the police were bad people and bad people weren't friends with her parents.

A sob came out of her mouth and she put her hands on her mother's chest to push her away, running out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her. The sound of her mother and father telling her to stay inside was drowned out by the sirens, and all Mariana could see was blue and red. She crossed the street, feeling the asphalt digging into her heels. In her haste, she had forgotten to grab her shoes.

As she got closer, three policemen came out of the house, Mateo's mom and dad handcuffed and being led to the vehicles by them. She steeled herself, and quickly jogged across the yard to them, and stood in front of the officers. She wouldn't let them do this, they couldn't do this to innocent people. The officer stopped and gave her a look of confusion, until she opened her mouth.

"You can't take them! They haven't done anything wrong!" He looked down at her. She was in her nightgown and had her arms spread out to block him from sidestepping her small frame.

"Mariana! Get back here right now!" Mariana's head turned and she saw her dad on the porch steps, her mom hiding behind him but still keeping her eyes on her daughter. She knew she was in trouble, her dad never yelled at her. She was about to respond, tell him to come over and help her make them understand that this was a mistake, when she heard shouting from another one of the policemen. Her head shot forward to face them once more, dismissing her father.

"Sir, it's protocol, I can't release him!"

"He's a little boy! What is he going to do?!"

Mateo was struggling behind the two, another officer trying to get his other hand into a handcuff. He cried out as the officer forced him down onto the ground, and she could see the policeman twist his arms behind his back, as Mateo cried out. His face turned to Mariana, and she saw grass in his mouth, dirt on his cheek and panic in his eyes. She couldn't move, it was like someone had glued her bare feet to the grass. Mateo had started to scream in pain when she was brought back from where her mind had taken her, and that was when the officer must have had enough with Mr. Gonzales, because he shoved him against the car door and put his hand to his throat. Mr. Gonzales grunted, and Mariana could see his eyes start to pop out like goldfish and his face turn purple as he struggled to get away with his hands behind his back, defenseless.

"No!" her father called out. He ran to them and tried to get the officer off of his friend and they fell, the both of them struggling on the ground. Everyone was screaming, and she heard Mateo yell out for his mother, who was being forcefully put into the back of the cruiser. Next was Mateo, and the officer left the door open for the other to shove him in. Mariana tried to stop the officer that was about to force Mateo in next by grabbing him by the jacket and pulling, but her grip wasn't tight enough. He easily got out of her hold, grabbed her by her braid and yanked her closer to him. She cried out as he gripped the side of her head and pushed, making her fall onto the floor. Her head hit the road, and she could feel it start to bleed.

In the midst of all the chaos, her mother hadn't moved from her position until the cruiser drove off, even as her husband and daughter lay in the street bleeding.

Her back hit the brick wall next to the dumpster and she let out an audible grunt. The smell was awful and Mariana was sure she had stepped in some trash that had fallen out when the trucks came out to collect it. She would have to wash her clothes as soon as she got home.

She was still feeling the effects of her head wound and the fact that she had been gripped by the throat and pushed into a hard surface, so she only caught the end of what Mike said.

"-find out?"

She blinked and tried to focus on him, taking longer than it normally would have. His face was close enough for her to feel his breath over her face, making the wisps of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail move. She was sure her eyes were crossed at this point, not that he could have noticed.

"Sorry, I didn't catch what you said." Her throat was already killing her. Did he really need to be so overdramatic?

He let out a sharp laugh, but she was sure he didn't actually find this funny. Mariana certainly didn't.

She wouldn't let him know that though.

As she tried to push against his chest to get him off of her, his body stayed completely still. Whatever strength Mariana had did virtually nothing to help her in this situation, she wasn't getting away from him if he didn't want her to.

"I said, how did you find out?" When she didn't answer him quickly enough, his hand tightened around her windpipe once more. Her hands came up to try and yank his off of her to no avail. Her fingernails were digging into his fingers, and she was almost positive she had made him bleed a bit. When she was sure she was blue in the face, he loosened up once more. Mariana inhaled before exclaiming, "I can't answer you when you choke me, idiot!" A small head tilt. What a bastard.

Mike was quiet, and it was a moment before his hand moved away from her. She immediately made a run for it, or tried to, but her damn ponytail was long enough for him to yank it and pull her back to him. She grunted in pain and flailed her arms around when she felt her palm connect with his face. He grunted but continued to pull her by her hair. When he had her in front of him once more, she huffed when he let go, and stumbled back into the wall.

"Hey, that's playing dirty! Only sneaky bitches do that!" She felt around her scalp where the hair had been in his grip while he let out a surprised laugh. "Did you just call me a sneaky bitch?" She paid him no mind while she felt around for blood, and gasped when she felt something sticky on her fingers.

"You made me bleed! What kind of hero are you?!" She was incredulous. He moved closer and grabbed her chin, gently this time. He tilted her head down and looked at where she was holding her hand to the back of her head. He chuckled. "That's not blood, pretty sure it's garbage juice." He stepped back from her and Mariana groaned. That was absolutely disgusting.

"Can you answer my question now?" He was starting to sound impatient. She didn't want to cause him any more anger, so he could take it out on her, so she tried to get her answer past her lips as soon as she could, which made them come out a garbled mess and completely unintelligible.

"…huh?" She groaned and put her head in her hands, fingertips rough from her hands rubbing against the brick behind her, before breathing in through her nose, and then flicking her gaze back up to his face. "I said it was pretty obvious. I think I would remember the man who saved me from death only yesterday." He was quiet, and she assumed he was looking for a more elaborate answer. She gulped and ran her hand over the top of her head then slapped it against her thigh on the way down.

"I don't know, man. There's some things I noticed last night that I guess I noticed today, too? Like your smile, oh my god. I thought it was only the dark that made it super white, like, what do you use? Bleach? And your voice is a little different but-", he brought his hand up in front to stop her. Mortification suddenly spread itself through her body, but he seemed curious.

"My voice? What about it?" She ran her hands against her jeans to get rid of the sweat that hand collected on them. Mariana shrugged until her shoulders were up to her ears.

"I mean…the whole raspy thing? You don't actually talk like that during the day. At least I don't think you do, from what I just heard."

"Raspy? What do you mean raspy?

Her eyebrows lifted as she stared at him incredulously. He had no idea, did he?

"Well if you need an example I'm sure I sound like you do, considering I just got choked." Unimpressed, she was unimpressed. And done with this conversation. She was ready to go home already, but she couldn't just leave her job, even if it was her family that owned the place.

"Listen, BDSM really isn't my thing, although I can tell you enjoy a little crime and punishment roleplay every now and then, so I'd really like to leave and get back to what I was doing. So, if you'll excuse me…" He caught her forearm before she could slip away.

"I can't let you go. Not until I have your word that you won't tell anyone what you know." She crossed her arms and scoffed. He was really starting to piss her off.

"What I know? You mean about you? Please! It's you I should be worried about." He took a step back and laughed.

"You gave that information freely, and now you're concerned about it?"

"I did it to thank you! I figured I owed you an explanation, but looking at you now, I can tell you're some type of narc, with your-" she grabbed his jacket in one fist "-fancy jacket and fancy shoes. Let me guess, lawyer?" His smile dropped. He seemed uncomfortable that she could guess so easily and be right. He roughly pushed her hand away.

"So, we both have things we want the other to keep secret. I think we can come to agreement."

"Don't play with me asshole. I'm not willing to put my family in danger to help you with your little vigilante shit."

"What help would you give? You managed to get kidnapped yesterday!"

"That was an accident!" Her voice was shrill. She coughed immediately after and he stepped forward, looking to help her, but she held up her hand and glared. Once she was done, she straightened up and fixed her ponytail. As she tried combing through her hair with her fingers, she thought about his proposition, and decided to hear him out.

"Alright. So, what's this great plan you have?" He opened his mouth for a second like he wanted to say something, and then closed it. When he seemed ready to talk he breathed in deeply through his nose before starting.

"Listen, I know your family is a target. Last night proved it. That means there's a possibility that this could happen again. If I promise you that I'll try and protect your family from now on, I want something in return." Mariana snorted.

"Aren't you supposed to do things out of the goodness of your heart? Don't all heroes do that?" His head tilted once more.

"Who said I was a hero?" She sighed. Right. Heroes didn't go around choking random citizens during the day. She was going to have to get rid of the idea that he was a good person. Mariana decided to let it go and see what he wanted in return.

"Information. You guys work the streets a lot right?"

"What exactly do you think my family does?"

"Fine. You guys handle a lot of street matters. Better?"

"Marginally. But, continue."

"If any of your people hear anything that seems fishy and might be connected to Fisk, tell me." Mariana thought it over. She could care less what happened to her at the end of the day, but her family? The others? They deserved to keep living. And not just hiding in fear, but to actually live. This deal could help with that.

She was willing to risk it.

"Fine. We can go over any details later, because I'm pretty sure taking out the trash doesn't take this long." He nodded. Awkward silence. Maybe he didn't know how to talk to women after he choked the shit out of them. Mariana decided to take the lead.

"My shift finishes at eleven. Walk me home and we can discuss this some more." She was definitely not going to invite him up and try to have her way with him. Definitely not.

"How bossy. I'll be waiting outside, then."

As he started walking away before he turned back to her.

"Sorry about the whole neck thing."

She put her hand on the door handle and angled her head back around despite the pain.

"I'm just saying, if you were really sorry you would pay for the foundation I need to cover it up."

When she walked back into the restaurant, she made sure to lower her hair so it covered her neck, and confidently strode back to his table, where he was already sitting and enjoying his drink. She must have looked like shit, because his friends stopped talking immediately and looked shocked. She gave them her biggest smile.

"Are we ready to order yet or do you need more time?"