Mariya Romanoff-Barton

### Also known as

Mar (friends), M Pumpkin (public ASL name), M Punk (ASL name with family), others listed in "Russian name"

## Family information

### Relatives

Natasha Romanoff (mother)Clint Barton (father)

Cooper Romanoff-Barton (half-brother)

Lila Romanoff-Barton (half-sister)

Nathaniel Romanoff-Barton (half-brother)

Greyson Romanoff-Barton (brother)

Katya Romanoff-Barton (sister)

Lillian Rogers-Barnes (half-sister, "cousin")

## Status

### School

Avengers Academy (training)Romanoff's School of Dance (dance)

## Biography

### Early Years (2008-2016)

Mariya is the youngest Romanoff-Barton sibling, and was definitely a surprise to both children and parents, seeing as how the oldest child was already fifteen, and the youngest was six, when she was born. Other than that, her development and birth went fairly easily, though very early on, they found she was hearing impaired.

Mariya was always a bubbly little girl, who loved to play rough with her big brothers and make everyone laugh whenever she could. Because of her sweet personality and bright orange hair, her given sign name was "M Pumpkin." Much like her siblings and many other young children, she was signed up for a variety of activities, including dance and martial arts. Despite having the perfect genetics and environment to be amazing at dancing, Mariya often moved in a clunky and clumsy way, and had very flat feet. Her mother couldn't figure out what was wrong and spent extra time coaching Mariya with very little luck.

When Clint and Natasha actually took the time to sit down with Mariya and ask if she was enjoying dance, she stood up and did the routine she'd been "struggling with" flawlessly, then complained that while dance was pretty, it wasn't exciting enough. They talked it over and signed her up for a variety of sports, like softball and soccer. Mariya soon committed to her dance classes as a show of thanks, and burned off all her extra energy playing sports that she found far more interesting. After this show and rapid shift, Clint began calling her "M Punk" instead, much to Mariya's amusement.

### Disappearance (2017)

Less than a year after her cousin Lillie's return, the R-B family realized they were facing one of their biggest fears yet again, as the youngest member had disappeared.

Easter was always Mariya's favourite holiday, as the family celebrated with a mix of American and Russian traditions. Mariya was normally up around seven to tear through the house during an Easter egg hunt that most of her siblings (except for Katya, and occasionally Greyson and Lila) had given up on. This would be followed by a large breakfast at eight, meeting up with the other "half" of their family at nine to deliver painted eggs, and many other food related things which ended in making care packages and sending them to the local women's shelter.

When it was nearing ten and Mariya still hadn't left her room, Natasha hurried upstairs to see if she was ill and found her bed empty. Her heart dropped and she dialled the police and SHIELD immediately, knowing she would have heard her typically noisy child go anywhere in the house. An amber alert was sent out, and teams of people went searching for the young girl. About three days later, the police took a chance and explored a nearby forest, where they found shreds of her jacket in the woods. After bringing in dogs and venturing deeper, they found the majority of her jacket in a heap, torn and soaked in blood. Many tests were run on the jacket remains, but only Mariya's DNA could be found. Teams were still sent looking for a month, but by the end of those thirty days only her family hadn't given up hope - and only the adults ever went looking.

Six months later, Steve and Natasha found Mariya's favourite baseball cap while on a mission. Natasha had tests done, but there were so many traces of random people's DNA on it that it seemed to be a dead end. She urged SHIELD to run background checks on the people involved and to send out more teams, but was told to go home and that they could deal with it later. The next night, at around 1 AM, the Romanoff-Barton household received a phone call saying that they had located the youngest member, and that she was at their headquarters, ready to be picked up in a day or two (seeing as how they had to run tests).

### Return to Society (2017 - )

The little girl they brought home at the end of October was not the same little girl they had been waiting for on Easter morning. She was emotionless and never spoke, even when repeatedly spoken to. She never smiled, and it was as though she couldn't be bothered to move her limbs. The first two weeks at home, she lied in bed the entire time, having to be taken care of as if she were paralyzed, or a baby. On Halloween, she cowered under her bed until there were no more fireworks. After the two weeks, she took care of her most basic needs on her own, never joining the family for meals and staying quiet in her bedroom.

By December, they had weaselled a few words out of her, getting her to reply to basic prompts and simple "yes" or "no" questions. Her absence had caused her to lose many of her spots on teams, but Natasha offered her studio time whenever a room was unbooked, just to see if any of her former self would come out. One day, when Natasha was running a routine with Mariya in the room, the phone rang, causing her to leave the room for a few minutes. When she returned, her face lit up at the sight of her daughter attempting the same moves that she had just been doing. She stood in the doorway, silent, and let the girl finish what she was doing. When Mariya noticed, she ran over to Natasha and hugged her, burying her face in her mother. Natasha knew progress had been made that day, and comforted her daughter as she wept.

Soon after, Mariya went to SHIELD's medical team to be treated for depression, which has helped her slightly, but she's still not quite herself. Mariya sticks to one of her parents' sides whenever she can, sometimes accepting one of her siblings as a replacement if she has no other choice. While her siblings have encouraged her to re-enrol in Avengers Academy, she and her parents know she isn't ready for that yet. The only time Mariya isn't more or less limp is when she is dancing, typically done with her mother at the very least in the room. After about a month and a half of encouragement, she was finally talked into performing a group dance in competition with the elite team, and ran her solo every day with her mother. Thanks to her progress with this, there *is* talk of bringing her back to the academy.

## Physical Appearance

Mariya has long, fluffy, bright orange hair, unlike either of her parents. Though she keeps most of it in a ponytail and out of her face, she always has bangs and leaves enough hair out to frame her face. She has large blue eyes, giving her a very childlike appearance, and light skin.

## Russian Name

* Mariya
* Masha

## Etymology

* Mariya
* Clio
* Romanoff
* Barton