Mary Parker

### Occupation

S.H.I.E.L.D. field operativeFormer: CIA agent (data analyst/translator, transferred to espionage/field work)

## Personality

Mary Theresa Parker is one of the guys. Raised by a single father, she felt more comfortable engaging in activites with the guys than with hanging out with the ladies. Her living in a man's world only encouraged to reached the top and her father's support gave her the boost she needed to climb forward. Possessing a great confidence, she devoted herself to the job at hand and what she needed to do. She placed great value in intelligence and morality, which is what drew her to Richard when they met in the CIA. She, like her husband, was not afraid of having to put down certain people, but she did not let it taint her. However, the lack of a mother figure in her life left her anxious on motherhood and she became very appreciative of Ben and May for their support. She saw May like the older sister she never had and while she never embraced traditional feminity, she grew more comfortable in the softer aspects of life. The death of her own father further pushed her to take family into consideration, which is why she planned to leave the life and return to civilian life. While she did not live to see that dream, she remained to her moral codes on being her best and driven by her devotion to her loved ones.

## History

### Childhood and Adulthood

Mary Theresa Parker was born in 1953, the daughter of famous former OSS agent, William "Wild Will" Fitzpatrick. Her mother, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, would die when Mary was just five, leaving Will to raise his daughter by himself. Wanting to ensure his daughter would grow up capable to protect herself, Will encouraged Mary's tomboyish aspects and taught her many things that would be associated with young boys. Mary, driven by the teasings of children, would go to defy expectations and become her own woman over time. Her father's connections provided her the rare opportunity to overcome the stigma of being a girl over in the early 1960s and worked her butt off to excel in the various prestigious academies she would become enrolled in. While it was her way in, her own skill and hard work was what kept pushing her to be better and better. While she made herself some friends, she would not really connect with anyone of her peers up until she met Richard Parker back in college.

The first woman attending West Point, it was a trial run and one that would prove to be successful as the academy would admit female cadets years later down the line. Intelligent and witty, she was a quick thinker who analyzed situations for the best outcome and quite good at communicating with people, learning multiple languages down the line for her work. Proudly being the first woman to graduate from West Point, she would end up working for the CIA and rising through the ranks, being a data analyst and translator. However, she was not content for deskwork and before long, got the need to be a field agent. What really stirred this was reuniting with her old friend Richard. Using their past camarederie to be his assigned partner, it became little surprised that they would become romantically involved, with their various field work as CIA operatives being impromptu dates. However, while Mary had little illusions on the darker matters of her or her father's work, she did find it somewhat emotionally taxing some of what the CIA would be doing, especially since her old co-workers in data would share what they have been hearing. The discovery of the depths of MK ULTRA were one of the reasons she left the CIA and alongside Richard, would join S.H.I.E.L.D. through a family friend of her father's, Nicholas Fury.

### Becoming a Mother and Death

After marrying Richard and departing the CIA, Mary began reaquainting herself with civilian life, predominantly with her brother-in-law Ben Parker and his wife, May Parker. She got along well with Ben from the start. However, it took a bit of a while longer with May, namely because she didn't befriend many girls growing up. However, when Mary got pregnant, she asked May for help on the various matters and the two women grew quite close. Growing up as an only child and lacking a mother figure outside of a family friend of a nurse, Mary's quality time with May provided her with opportunities to forge a friendship and sisterly bond with a woman like herself. With the birth of Peter, she and Richard decreased their work hours with S.H.I.E.L.D. so they could spend time with their son. However, they would still often need to go on missions from time to time.

While her life was no longer as action-packed as it waas prior, Mary discovered a new sense of serenity in being able to adjust more to civilian life along with being a mother, even if balanced with her part-time work as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Under S.H.I.E.L.D., her and Richard achieved alot in the field. Despite that though, they did not entirely trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and did keep some secrets away from them. Despite this though, it was a fairly good life for her. However, her father's death from lung cancer, caused by his past of smoking and growing in a mining town, reminded her of her mortality and the fear of leaving her son behind without his parents. As such, she agreed with Richard that they would retire from S.H.I.E.L.D. and enter full civilian life to be with their family. Nick accepted their resignations, but on account of one final mission for them, which they agreed. Entrusting Peter to May and Ben, they hoped they would be able to finish quickly.

Their final mission would be investigating a terrorist cell over in Algeria. However, the mission would quickly become an extraordinary one with the discovery that the cell was led by none other than Albert Malik, a former Soviet agent who disguised himself as the Red Skull as part of a deep-cover operation under Stalin's direct orders. After Stalin's death, he would be among those purged like others from Stalin's inner circle, now forced to go underground. He would resurface arond 1982, eventually getting the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus sending in the Parker agents to go undercover and investigate along with sabotage. Unfortunately, they would be exposed in the last days of infiltration by Karl Fiers, a notorious spy from the Soviet Union who recently joined Malik. Fiers would be the ultimately responsible for the murder of Richard Parker with Mary sustaining heavy injuries.

Her body along with Richard's would be recovered months later though the events around it remained top-secret.

She is survived through her son Peter and her sister-in-law May.

## Trivia

* Richard and Mary both earned Bachelor's degrees, with Mary in computing.

* Both Richard and Mary enjoyed May's wheatcakes, with Mary attempting to make her own version, but never quite succeeding. Mary was better at meatloaf than May though and enjoyed barbeques.

* Mary planned to transition into the field of diplomacy upon retiring from espionage, including moving themselves along with Ben and May to a nicer neighborhood to repay everything the two have done for them.

* Mary is Jewish through her mother and William worked to ensure that Mary would always have some tie to that part of her mother. This included granting Mary a *bat mitzah* when she came of age.

* Despite their military backgrounds, Richard and Mary both empathizes with the hippie movement and the cultural rebellion that happened. Richard says this was because of his background growing up in less fortunate conditions while Mary notes this was because her father was also a rebel, and passed the spirit to her.

* Richard and Mary both decided since the day Peter was born to try and steer their son away from the military life out of the fear of losing him as well as the changing of the times that was going on.

* Richard and Mary lived in Manhatten with Peter along with Mary's father Will during his last years. According to Mary, Will took a shining to Peter, noting the "little guy" was tougher than he looks.

* Their death meant they could not assist much with Ben and May, at least until Peter came of age as they left a trust fund for him to help create a better future for him and his family. Other factors of Peter's inheritance includes a farm owned by Mary's father where Mary grew up and liked riding horses as a hobby.

* Richard and Mary Parker were granted Medals of Honor for their sacrifice, but it was post-mortem and not officially announced until the early 21st century when their son Peter was an adult.

* The events around Mary's death was particularly obscured, noting she outlived Richard, but died of her injuries weeks later. Additionally noteworthy is that she would be corresponded with not S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but CIA agents.