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leveys · 4 years

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alright kiddos, time to meet this mess of a woman — SPECIAL AGENT MATILDA “MATT” LEVEY, 39, fbi (enhanced swat). a protector, a warrior, an idealistic lover of fighting for the right cause (ex wife of another fbi agent, mother of a nine year old smartass who’s currently living in her arizona hometown with her father). she’s been undercover as a member of the blazing bandits for the past five years, and though she fucks up here & there, she’s devoted to the Cause™. quick info about her (TW for DEATH, WAR, MILITARY, DIVORCE):

BASIC FACTS:

• chain smoking like there’s no tomorrow. • smartass, always has the last word (and you won’t like it). • relentless, won’t take a half truth for an answer. will always push you to come clean abt something. there’s no getting away from it. • has italian blood which means family > anything. she’s super close with her brother (who’s actually in charming!), lost her eldest brother and still hurts about it. • the Mom™ — doesn’t matter how old you are, she will look after you, and call you out on your bs. (especially if your name is arlo or mona, smh). • kind of has a huge heart but?? u gotta earn it • might actually stick around after the event, maybe join the charming pd?? wE’LL SEE

BIOGRAPHY:

her mother always knew she was gonna make her prematurely grow white hair. she’d known since the day she was born, but she was sure of it the one time she took her to church & when the priest said ‘we shall pray’, hers was the only voice resonating in the silent halls — why ? why, why, always looking for answers. she’d be happy when given reasonable ones, but knew her way around the answers she didn’t like. her brothers called her a smartass, & momma yelled when they’d say that, but they laughed & she did too. she’d follow them everywhere, letting them teach her foul words as well as how to punch people who pissed her off. she asked why to everything, & they had answers no adult ever had. it drove her parents insane, sometimes. each time she got grounded they found a way to sneak you out, & her dad, the general, one day just gave up — do whatever the hell you want, he said, just don’t get in trouble. she still does, sometimes, but for right causes only. she never understood trouble for trouble’s sake.

she was a good kid, when not actively antagonizing her teachers. she loved science — other subjects not as much, but she got by. general levey would have to make his peace with that. and detention wasn’t that bad, anyway. in the school library she met a boy — one year older but he looked even further out from the school’s elite than she was. arthur had kind eyes and a warm smile. she liked wasting her time with him, and for the first time, she didn’t feel like asking why.

they talked — a lot. both outcasts from the core group of cool kids they’d never be a part of, but they signed an unspoken pact to survive high school together. she’d say she hated this place enough to say she’d want to go far, far away, to the end of the world — he’d just smile and say hey, i’d follow you there.

but she wasn’t joking, no. johnny, the eldest of the levey children, straight out of college decided he’d join the army. why, she asked, & he had an endless list of reasons. she ended up being convinced, too. the general was proud of this, her mother not so much. can’t you be like jeremy, go study biology instead ? she didn’t get it — johnny did. she had a fire burning inside, like she had to do something, had to stand up for what was right. at eighteen she thought that meant believing in patriotism & joining the army, so she followed johnny & enrolled.

she was never one for goodbyes, so she left quickly; no good with words, so there was no heartfelt letter for arthur, just a scribbled out note saying she’d be back soon.

but ‘soon’ turns to years, and it’s hard, rough years that take the spark from her eyes. she’d ask ‘why’ too many times — why are we bombing this village ? why are we shooting civillians ? most of the time, she found enough answers to outweigh the questions, but at night, staring wide-eyed at the top of her tent, she felt a part of herself dying.

but a part of her survived. january 2003, new cadets came in and there was a face she feared she was starting to forget — the same kind eyes, the same warm smile. didn’t i say i’d follow you to the end of the world ?, he says. the ‘why’ was on her lips but she didn’t ask — he had a superpower, that kid, the only one who could ever leave matty the smartass speechless. & she held on to him. in nights where this job made her stomach turn, she held on to that smile. when the part of her that was dying shrieked in agony, she hid in a tent with him & pretended they were back in that shithole of a town, pretended they were kids again, the bombs were just fireworks, the same old new year’s eve in the same old desperate neighborhood.

but new year’s eve came and took johnny away. a raid gone wrong, and the eldest of the levey children dies a war hero. she was desperate, she broke her hand punching walls, begging for answers ‘cause it made no fucking sense — but why was never met with a reason, what went wrong remained unanswered. the part of her that was dying, it almost gave up — so she had to go back. it felt like defeat, like there were a million questions that would never get an answer. but arthur came home too, & she held on to him — to his quiet strength that was nothing like her violent ways, to the reasons he’d find without demanding an answer with planted feet. over time, she healed. thanks to him, she healed. one year later they were married — nobody on the whole planet would ever have expected her to settle down, but she did, & god, she was happy. she got a new job that allowed her to do more good & less harm within the swat team of the fbi — arthur joined the fbi as well, and this new version of her life started fitting her much better.

she missed johnny all the fucking time, but she learned how to handle the grief in healthy ways and avoid punching walls. she found comfort in the family she’d once disregarded, she learned how to allow herself the softness of love & the warmth of affection. her parents, her other brother — they had been grieving too, and they warmed up each other with memories of the leveys’ golden boy.

and then cassie came along. unexpected, unscripted, but a blessing either way — she had her father’s eyes and her mother’s frown, the same curious look when asking for answers, but thank god none of matt’s aggression. it felt like a movie, this new life; the happy ending after a long, tiring journey. a pill of happiness that made her dizzy. but this wasn’t a movie, this was real life, and real life meant a job that put her on the front line every day. she could retire, she could be a stay-at-home mom — as if she could settle for that. she loved, she would’ve given her life for her, but she knew giving up her job would mean die a little, and do her wrong, too. there were things she wanted to teach her child, how to have faith in yourself & stand up for what you believe in — but that was where she and her husband began arguing. two different views clashing, two opinions, however correct they may have been — incompatible, despite theri best intentions. she started doubting him and his reasons. once upon a time she’d used to hang from every word he’d say, a blind faith in all he was — but now was the time to ask, why ? why should she give up a job that saves people, that protects human beings like cassie or him ? why should putting a child in the world be a curse, & not a blessing ? why, why, why ? why is her marriage falling apart this quickly ?

they divorced after cassie’s sixth birthday. she was a smart kid, she figured it out — in a way she seemed to understand, but matt knew she was gonna have some apologies to make, when she’d be older. meanwhile she’d fight. she began working harder. she tried to prove to anyone that she wasn’t an asshole— that she was still a good mother, that this wasn’t her fault, that she could be a mother & an agent & save people & still make it home in time for dinner.

she could feel arthur’s blame on her every time they crossed their gazes at work.she didn’t hate him, and she didn’t think he did, either — but something was broken there and she couldn’t help but wonder, was she really that good at her job, if she could save everyone but couldn’t save herself from this ?

cassie needed him ( matt did, too ), so they settle around a new routine. joined custody, a truce of sorts. a compromise — & she didn’t ask why anymore. growing up, she learned, meant accepting that sometimes things just happen without a reason.

people die, children are born, marriages fall apart, & divorced parents can still stay together. either way, the world goes on. thinking about it, that might be the best reason of them all.

then a chance appeared — a task force revolving around gang activities in utah. not the gig she’d been dreaming of, but a chance to do some real good, put an end to a spiral of traffics that couldn’t seem to be stopped. she looked at her life in shambles — her depression settling in, the strained relationship with her ex husband, the fear, the constant fear for a daughter they brought into a world that’s made of ravenous beasts. the choice was easy. one day she got to work, called arthur into a separate room and let him know she was leaving. how long?, he asked. she didn’t know. that part, that was the one that hurt the most.

for a while, her job was the same as before — kicking doors, rescuing people recovering drugs. the need for family, a crippled vein that ached in her heart every passing day, found some sort of relief in the company of the rookie they assigned her, whose name was arlo but she soon found pleasure in calling kid. though she’d cut herself out of the only place she could ever really call home, matt just had to keep moving.

the chance to go undercover presented itself as a temptation. it would be a dangerous job, her daughter might remain an orphan — yet she took it, for she wasn’t happy unless she was on the front lines, really putting her life on the line. joining the bandits as dylan harker, thirty-eight, was somewhat easy— pretending to be a good-for-nothin’ mother who’d left a child behind to pursue a life chasing bullets, well, that came easy. far too fucking easy.

three years later, she’s been doing her job so well she’s getting results in. they might actually get a chance at taking these guys down — except one day there’s a reckoning with the other guys, their rival gang, the unfazed, and there’s a familiar face among their ranks, the kid now grown enough to be put into her same position, just on the other side of it. it’s enough to drive her mad, call her superiors and ask what the fuck are you doing?

after arlo came mona, and though she would've loved to say she was smarter than growing attached, she began finding a sense of family again, the kind she so sorely missed. mona, rookie cop on her same task force, became a sort of daughter — and arlo, god. if he was a son, he was being the kind that would break her heart.

little by little, she has to begin coping with danger. that danger is not just what she puts herself in every day. danger is the chance to lose the people she loves. danger is when she can’t protect them anymore. danger is her daughter being on the other side of the states, not knowing whether she even has a mother anymore. danger is her protegée exposed, exactly as she is, to the ugliest face of the world. danger is a feeling that keeps her up at night: perhaps this time she won’t make it out alive.

MORE INFO

hit me up if you’d like to plot or interact in some way! i’d love for matt to develop any sort of relationship within the bandits even though she’s undercover, so that ♥

#charming.temporary #intro #HENLO

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