born in maracaibo, venezuela, on january the 2nd, 1995, mara was the first and, as far as she knew, only child to [redacted] and [redacted]. for the first two years of her life, she was raised by her mother and father. mara exhibited some evident learning difficulties, specifically that, by the average age, she was nonverbal. her development wasn't progressing at the pace her mother had been expecting, and because of this she was often passed back and forth to her uncle, bernardo coloma - who was based in maiquetia.

by three years old, due to bernardo's patience with mara and her own determination, she began talking. however, in her mother's eyes she was too far gone and essentially she disowned mara, prompting her uncle to have her move in with him. although her father did his best to visit where he could, she would come to see bernardo as more of a father-figure, relying on him totally for care.

towards the end of 1999, bernardo attempted to enter mara into a public school. this wouldn't go to plan, as she'd end up being bullied by the other children, denied support for her difficulties and her uncle eventually resorted to home-schooling. mara never minded, enjoying the time spent with her uncle despite struggling with the dysfunctional family dynamic of her mother's rejection.

bernardo was a former u.s marine, having returned home to recover from a diagnosis of ptsd. this meant mara grew up around weapons and was able to develop an advanced knowledge of them as well as experience. growing up in maiquetia meant growing up alongside the beach, a location she would come to favour - spending much of her childhood there. home-schooling also meant mara could assist her uncle with his ptsd, learning a lot about the disorder in the process. unfortunately though, bernardo would come to learn that mara wasn't coping as well as she appeared to be, especially regarding having grown up with minimal exposure to other children - and having suffered negative experiences during the exposure she did have.

in 2006, she reacted violently towards another child at the beach who attempted to share one of her toys. she'd knocked out a few of their teeth and cut her right knuckle open in the process - her wounds would prompt bernardo to reach out to a therapist, concerned she'd missed vital development through the years but the therapist merely put it down to 'attention seeking'.

the following year, unbeknownst to mara, bernardo was approached by the cia who tasked him with keeping tabs on and to carry out surveillance on a terrorist group located within maiquetia - due to his placement and military background, they felt he was best for the job. aware of a local and highly dangerous presence, he would teach mara self defence shortly after she turned twelve.

communication helped mara through her emotional difficulties and struggles and as the years passed, she tremendously improved in both general skill and behaviour - capable of even speaking both spanish and english as well as reading and writing.

the progress was short-lived however, as due to bernardo's responsibilities he became less available for her which she found difficult. in 2009, when mara was fourteen, bernardo witnessed a break-in at his neighbour's home. mr donso, their neighbour, was shot dead at the scene - despite bernardo's best efforts to intervene, taking out one of the invaders in the process. the police suggested it was gang-related, that mr donso had seen something he wasn't supposed to, but bernardo grew extremely unsettled by the experience, becoming overprotective of mara and bossy, setting unusual boundaries and curfews for her.

feeling restrained, mara would act defiantly and routinely snuck out. as bernardo got more and more concerned for mara's safety, he reached out to his brother, mara's father, and recommended he take her for the time being as it wasn't safe. mara had overheard this and, feeling betrayed, fled to the beach - a place of safety for her.

there, she was ambushed and taken hostage by a group of unfamiliar men. bound, gagged and threatened, they accused her of being a spy - of helping her spy uncle. they called themselves al-qatala. over two days, mara remained calm and collected as she studied the men's routine, appeased them with expendable information and did as she was told when she was told to.

she managed to get an idea of the map of the location by taking in the details around her, noting the exits, locks and risks. finally, when the chance arose, mara escaped from her binds and navigated her way back to the beach where she stopped a passer-by and explained she'd been kidnapped. the police were called and she was reunited with bernardo.

surprisingly, bernardo never scolded mara for her impulsivity. he explained why he'd said what he said regarding her father, and that if she were to leave he couldn't go with her - though he refused to explain why. for the days following her abduction, he tried to give her space but she wasn't allowed to leave the house and bernardo began helping her pack a travel bag so she could stay with her birth father.

the night before she was due to leave, she was woken by an audible struggle within the house. three muffled bangs sounded out and her first instinct led her to snatch up the bat bernardo had given her for protection - to soothe her post-abduction. worried for her uncle, she started to quietly search the property only to find him deceased, with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. horrified, she froze - long enough for her to be ambushed by the lurking attackers.

overwrought by her loss however, mara managed to overpower them, killing the first with a photo frame that'd been knocked onto the floor. the second, she took hostage for questioning. mara tortured them, using anything she could get her hands on to make them suffer enough that they'd give her information - and they did. she learned of their base and objective, as well as that her house had been rigged to blow if the men didn't return from their mission - to kill her and bernardo.

with the necessary information acquired, she killed her hostage and dragged bernardo into the yard to bury him, then packed a bag and fled her home which was indeed destroyed shortly after. unaware of just how vast al-qatala's presence was across the globe, mara set out to hunt down the local group to avenger her uncle. this led into her turning fifteen years old.

it was during 2010 that mara, almost dying in the process, located and eliminated the small aq cell. it left behind a scene of damage and death, and she didn't resist when the police arrived and arrested her.

during the time that she was being held and questioned, a cia operative visited her, stating that her actions had garnered their attention. they knew a lot about her, her life, family - bernardo. they explained that her uncle was in fact acting on their behalf, as an informant, to spy on the aq cell.

impressed, the individual offered to wipe her soon-to-be criminal record clean and free her from an inevitably lengthy sentencing, if in return she worked for them. blackmailed, due to her not wanting to go to prison, mara agreed. from there, she was informed that she'd taken out only a small cell and that there were plenty more al-qatala seeking to harm many people. 'you could help us,' they'd added, essentially promising her justice and at only fifteen years old, she believed them.

once free from custody, she was transported to an undisclosed location and told that it'd be her new home. a guardian was provided, known to her as 'max', and in between training and missions that would be where she'd reside. it was relayed to her birth mother and father that she'd in fact died in the explosion of her home, alongside her uncle, officially making her a ghost.

through the cia, she also learned she was on the autism spectrum, enabling her to better understand her perception of the world and some of her difficulties. the alias mara was picked by her, from maracucha - meaning native of maracaibo, and at fifteen years old, she began training. at an early age, she developed a talent with accents and had to get good at being somewhat of a social chameleon, blending in with different identities and cover stories.

upon being recruited, mara was introduced to 'david belov', another cia operative and her very first handler. his job was to keep mara in line and oversee the intelligence she collected, tasking her to befriend and gather intelligence on specific individuals. mara came to highly trust david, and the two would grow close through his efforts to train and educate her.

for two years, she trained consistently and routinely until she was well versed in espionage and general social skills, languages, improvisation and self defence. throughout this time, mara also developed a close bond with her caretaker / guardian 'max', with him having a number of similarities to her uncle and thus filling the void that'd been left after bernardo's death. mara was raised to believe she had a purpose and that she was needed by those around her, naturally it was just the cia manipulating and exploiting her, and it helped keep her focused.

david had her deployed into locations of interest to provide intel for the u.s on al-qatala so they could launch in-country cover ops against their sleeper cells after two years of training and preparation.

in 2013, mara volunteered for u.s special forces training, putting herself through rigorous tests at only eighteen. this was where she met ghost, a british special air service lieutenant. this will be discussed later on in her backstory. however, she struck up a friendship with him in the time they were together, intrigued by him.

once training ended, they parted ways but not without him giving her some wise words first - that revenge is a dead end street and it wouldn't make her feel any better. for the following three years, due to her experience and rising age making her more responsible, mara was able to oversee and lead her own clandestine ops for the cia - garnering a reputation by that point which earned her respected as a skilled and impactful asset.

david belov, for four years of mara's life, was an integral cog in her ability to function. he oversaw everything she did, assigned her the missions that meant she could carry out her vengeance and was even a close friend to her. while their relationship always remained professional, david certainly manipulated and groomed mara into carrying out work for him and the cia. instilling ideals into her mind, raising her to hate and embrace her rage, he manufactured the perfect weapon out of her, a child.

mara would've given her life for david, for the cause, if it meant a failure on aq's part. naturally, she never expected him, of all people, to betray her. it was 2014 when mara was tasked with intercepting a specific al-qatala sleeper cell based in the u.s. this was different to her usual work, because it involved befriending one of women involved - amira walton.

they bonded over amira's daughter, lulu, who was seven months old, and mara even reached a point of trust where she was able to carry out the role of babysitter, lingering to overhear aq-related meetings. they trusted her, because she was the last person they expected america to send after them. during one of these meetings, mara heard them discussing that there was a 'dirty cia officer' helping them. a rat, in her own home - it wouldn't stand.

thus, mara made contact with david and informed him there was a leak in the system and she was going to find out who. little did she know she had been talking directly to the rat - david. the intel forced belov's hand and he advised the group that there was a cia mole among them. the group made little work of sniffing her out and due to having no warning of their suspicions, mara wasn't prepared.

they knocked her out and tied her up, with amira leading the interrogation. it was like the abduction she'd faced as a child, except this time she was truly tortured - but mara had been trained to resist interrogation. for days, they beat her, left her tied up in a dark room - gagged and blindfolded, starved her and even broke two of her fingers.

five days in, mara managed to free herself and waited patiently for amira to arrive. when she did, mara tackled and subdued her, tying her up in the chair. when the rest of the group pursued her shouts, mara didn't hesitate in killing each and every one. returning to amira, it was her turn to interrogate. she asked how they knew she was a mole, but amira refused to tell her - so, mara went and collected the woman's wailing baby.

lulu twisted and sobbed in mara's arms as she swayed and hushed the child to comfort it. "i don't need to say anything more, do i?" mara had asked. amira broke and told her a corrupt cia officer had told them about her, that mara had learned he was a rat and couldn't risk her finding out who, but amira didn't know their name. although, that was all she needed to know - it all started to make sense. david was the only one who knew mara had learned there was a corrupt officer involved.

he was the only one that could've warned them. amira told her that whoever it was, they'd told them to kill her. mara shot amira point blank, before taking the baby to and leaving her outside the nearest police station.

prior to making contact with david, mara returned to her safe house in search of max, to tell him what'd happened and to get him somewhere safe. as she arrived at the door, it opened to reveal max with two gunshot wounds to his abdomen, his hands clutching at his blood-soaked shirt. behind him stood david, with a gun in his hand and arm at his side.

horrified, mara grabbed max and attempted to drag him out of david's line of sight and to safety, but max collapsed. unable to get him back on his feet, mara repositioned to evade david's further two shots. she crept around the back of the building and entered through the back door, unholstering the pistol she'd brought from amira's residence.

david was smart, and he knew mara well - knew her tricks and techniques, leading to a pursuit throughout the house. inevitably though, mara knew her home better than david and hid, so when he entered max's office she was able to fire a round into his leg and disarm him. unable to fight back, david was at mara's mercy. she had him sit in max's chair, her gun aimed as she addressed him.

"why?" she'd asked him. "why'd you do it?"

david had chuckled at her question. "because you're too good. you were getting too close."

"too close to what?"

"me," he'd spat. "my work."

"and what was your work?"

"you wouldn't understand, mara."

she'd scoffed at that. "try me."

he'd explained to her that the cia, some years ago - before she'd been recruited, were behind the death of his brother, who'd been talked into joining al-qatala when things got difficult for him and david and their country refused to help them. the cia led a raid on the cell his brother, mike, was a part of and he was killed.

for years, david had been on a revenge mission of his own, to screw over the cia and u.s government and destroy their reputation. he'd been corrupt and helping al-qatala since he'd first joined. mara was distraught, yet another man in her life had let her down, left her to fend for herself.

"you have so much potential, mara - and with your anger you could achieve so much. it wasn't al-qatala that took away your future, your family - it was the government and its failures."

with a single flick of the trigger, she shot david dead. mara raced outside to locate max who was still breathing, barely. she pleaded for him to stay with her, that she'd get help but max had told her to listen. he apologised, for not being able to keep her safe, and then he told her she had to run, to go into hiding. trust no one, were his dying words. mara remained with max until she heard sirens in the distance. then, she fled - and she didn't stop running.

suffering from her torture wounds and left to fend for herself post-david's death, mara was forced to go into hiding - conscious that the cia wouldn't take well to her killing one of their officers without an explanation. she was rogue, and would remain rogue for close to a month, surviving on what she could and moving from place to place, until she was woken by rustling one night.

she'd broken into a closed diner, and thus anticipated to find the owner looking down at her as she lay curled in a booth only to find a familiar face. a dark mass occupied the seat opposite her, a steaming mug in front of them on the table. a skull mask looked back at her, their encompassed gaze tired... "ghost?"

the lieutenant she'd met and befriended at the special forces training studied her. he explained he'd been looking for her - hunting her, truth be told. when mara assumed he'd been sent by the cia to kill her, he reassured her that she never would've woken up if that was his intention.

no, ghost explained that the cia had discovered max's phone within the house which he'd set to record when he found that david was up to no good and it'd just managed to record her conversation with david, where he confessed to his crimes.

somehow, from the grave, max had managed to prove her innocence. they wanted her back, to discuss her future with the cia, and ghost mentioned that they intended to keep her if she agreed. so, mara accompanied ghost back to hq where she'd go on to discuss what'd happened with the cia, why it'd happened and how. it gave her the chance to explain, to receive proper treatment and to eventually fully rest from the ordeal.

she also learned that the mess at amira's residence had been cleaned up and that lulu, the child, had been discovered and had been given to the necessary people required to care for her.

for the following years, it became like nothing ever happened. naturally, the cia didn't want anything about david being leaked to the public and with mara being highly valuable to them, they were prepared to do what was necessary to keep her around.

once she'd largely healed from her injuries and the trauma of the previous events, and she'd trained herself back up to peak form, mara was given a new handler - juliette clement, and was sent back to work. except this time, she took a more cautious, alert and distrustful approach. mara hadn't known previously that her country and the cia might betray her, but she knew now. she'd go on to serve as an asset for seven years in total, until in 2017 she was invited to join warcom, a multinational special military formation consisting of operators from around the world, with al-qatala being their primary objective.

this would lead her to overseeing and conducting a variety of missions in order to target aq, both up close and from afar, sometimes leading specialist marine teams and other times carrying out solo missions undercover.

juliette would follow her into this line of work, with mara unhappy to rely on someone new as her handler. in warcom, her responsibility was upped and she'd become a highly skilled leader by that point, leading teams into enemy territory upon her own intel and recon.

towards the end of 2017, she led the assassination of an al-qatala-related high value target in moscow, accompanied by fellow warcom operators - including a very familiar 'lieutenant ghost,' who was also part of the warcom team.

as aforementioned, mara originally met ghost in 2013 during the u.s special forces training. the only contact they'd had since then was when he'd located her after the incident with david. however, tensions were not high and mara couldn't have had a better team behind her. that being said, there was only so much one could train for and if something went wrong, it was more often than not a mission of improvisation - and things went wrong.

ghost had carried out the lethal shot, wiping out their target with a single bullet but the scene was discovered and they were compromised. the rules as an asset were strict - if you were compromised then the cia and your country would disown you, making you disavowed. mara was at risk of such an outcome when enemies started to close in on her position, prompting ghost to step up and help her to safely escape back to base.

prior to this, they were forced to hide out in the outskirts of moscow for three days as the enemy searched for them. during this time, their dynamic would strengthen and the two would learn a significant amount about each other - at least what they were prepared to tell. while mara always kept max's words close to her chest, trust no one, she came to find ghost as a trustworthy individual, even learning he too had been betrayed - more than once.

post-escape, between 2018 and 2020, mara and ghost were teamed up together various times for different missions, sometimes with it just being the two of them - and with each successful mission they became a formidable, effective and respected duo.

because of this, it was no surprise they were frequently paired together - especially since, while ghost wasn't one, he was essentially able to function and operate as a cia asset like mara, due to him being 'legally dead', which made him more exploitable than the average soldier.

as the two spent more time together and survived dire situations, a relationship started to blossom and build between them. it was during one of these missions in 2019 that they slept together, and the dynamic that followed was on and off, unstable but persistent, though it never lasted due to each other's own personal traumas and issues.

they would continue to remain good friends and are still paired up here and there, even crossing paths when verdansk came under attack. only they know of what they've shared together. mara and simon are both ghosts, legally deceased individuals who've suffered great trauma, loss and have had to move on from their past and families.

they share great resemblance but equally vast differences, replicating yin and yang, where simon's risen from his ashes as a phoenix and has had his justice, unlike mara who remains stuck in the ashes, unable to achieve justice or even begin the path towards it. their fate is a tragedy, due to their pasts, but simon often acts as an anchor for mara, keeping her grounded - or perhaps a better way to put it is he keeps her afloat and from drowning in the ashes.

between 2018 and early 2020, mara partook and / or lead various in-country and out of country operations to manage and eliminate aq presence / growth, sometimes going undercover to conduct reconnaissance and intel. during 2020, she was sent to kastovia in verdansk to secure a biochemical weapon (gas) that was shot out of the sky.

unexpectedly, an enemy team arrived to also try and secure it, prompting a fight to ensue in order to protect the gas. a significant threat to life, when the gas began to spread, forced teammates to start to fight one another, with mara barely escaping. having lost six of her team, she awaited exfil - bumping into lieutenant ghost in the process who'd been sent to discover what was going on and scout the situation out for further incoming teams.

after the events of verdansk, mara remained a clandestine asset, carrying out the necessary missions to keep the cia up to date with al-qatala's latest. juliette remained her handler, but their dynamic remained professional and respectfully distant - due to mara's distrust.

this took her into 2023, where she became well acquainted with task force 141, a multinational special operations unit, and began assisting in the covert recon and intel of makarov and konni group. mara is still heavily focused on justice against aq and this can drive her to make dangerous, impulsive and reckless decisions. she becomes one of the cia's most respected, dangerous and successful assets.