The Cold War had been on the way out by the time Maria joined up with the Marines, but it took a long time for all the tactics to filter their way out; the old Soviet gear had been made to last, and it hung on in the oddest locations. Some of it made sense, like the AK-47, the gun that would not misfire. Others were just...strange.
Gotham was the home for the strange; it was not a matter of national security when posters extolling the Soviet Union and calling death down on America started showing up. The burns, however, had agencies perking up and taking a real interest in how: SHIELD insisted on being copied on the reports, and when SHIELD agents were the ones to decipher the old code - though with several neat new twists - well, that meant it was SHIELD agents deployed to see just what was going on at November 17th, 3 AM, in Gotham...besides the usual round of Gotham crime.
She had rank; she had thorough knowledge of the area; she had a need to get her mind off the election and what it might mean for SHIELD. Maria drew her gear and weapons and settled in on a rooftop overlooking the coordinates listed.
It was, of course, raining, the cold drizzle that preceded sleet. She tried to put it out of her mind as she protected the rifle from the wet and peered through the binocs at the display below, pausing on suspicious looking shadows.