Marco

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Storm Runner/Shadow Bruja continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Marco
Biographical information
Gender	Male
Age	13-14
Family	Nakon (father) Unnamed mother Unnamed grandfather
Residence	Waco, Texas
Status	Alive
Physical description
Eye	Dark
Hair	Dark (bleached blonde)
Species	Godborn
Behind the scenes
Appearances	The Fire Keeper The Shadow Crosser Lords of Night

“	Rotten? Dude, that's the worst strategy I've ever heard. Wait- you're serious? They'll freak, and you know what happens when a big group of people freak? They do stupid things. They feed off each other's worst fears and do anything to survive.	”
–Marco to Zane on telling the truth to godborns in The Shadow Crosser.

Marco is a Mayan Godborn, son of Nakon, the Mayan god of war.

History

Marco was born in Waco, Texas to Nakon, the Mayan war god, and an unknown human mother. He went on vacation to Las Vegas at one point with his abuelo to see magic shows and eat and all-you-can-eat buffets.

He eventually came across a memoir by Zane Obispo that triggered his godborn heritage.

Storm Runner Trilogy

The Fire Keeper

Marco is abducted by Gee, but not without putting up a fight, and conscripted in service of the hero twins.

Later after Zane is captured he demonstrates his abilities by transforming his face to look like Brooks before revealing his true face and and calling Zane a liar. After the demonstrations he and the other godborns are revealed to be in cages and he tries to pick the lock on his with a screw driver. Soon Ah-Puch, Rosie, and Ren Santiago arrives and Ren picks his lock and frees him along with the other godborns. However he throws a hammer at the crane Camazotz is sleeping on and wakes the bat god. Ah-Puch joins his friend and they explain to the godborns that they and Hurakan will be sacrificed to resurrect the Mexica Gods and create a world where the twins rule. Marco and the other freed godborns hide behind cars and throw whatever they can find at the bats. After Ah-Puch stabs Camazotz and opens a gateway, he and the others try to escape through it but fail when Camazotz kills Ah-Puch and the gateway closes. After Ah-Puch is revived, he and the others escape through a new gateway portal into an unknown jungle as he holds off the bat god. When Zane tells them to run, he and the others convince him to let them fight and the son of Hurakan allows them to be his auxiliary forces. He promises Zane he will try to not get himself and the others killed.

After the twins' escape and the gods catch Zane and Brooks, he and the others make themselves known by the gods, much to their shock. They go to Xib'alb'a and wait outside as Zane explains everything to the gods. He is somewhat untrusting of Zane, seeing him as the cause of his abduction, but agrees with the others in that he wants to be claimed. He is revealed to be a son of Nakon and given a golden jaguar tooth to contact his father before being sent home.

The Shadow Crosser

He is seen at the claiming ceremony looking nervous. Later that day he goes to his treehouse, which he shares with Zane and an unknown girl. That night he dreams he and his father are skydiving and the war god’s parachute doesn’t open. The following he defends Louie when another godborn mocks the son of Chaac’s dream. Soon a food fight breaks out and Hondo has everyone, except him and Louie, leave. They explain their dreams and Zane explains what he learned about K'iin and the danger SHIHOM is in. When he sarcastically mentions the son of Hurakan should ask the calendar, he agrees. After Zane tells the others about current events, Marco expresses anger over running away and wants to stay and fight. He is tasked with defending SHIHOM and the Ceiba World Tree from the bat god and Ixkik'. He joins the others in the library as they search for information on the Cave of the Crystals and doubts the plan would work. Soon Itzamna arrives and tells them to leave as the tree is under attack. He goes with Adrik, Hondo, Brooks, and the other godborns to a safe house in Montana.

When Zane, Ren, Alana, and Louie arrive in Montana, they explain how the gods are trapped in 1987 to him, Brooks, and Hondo. They question their next move until they realize they can use the threads from Ren's watch to travel back in time. He is concerned about the return trip and they are warned not to interact with others from the past and someone needs to act as an anchor so they can return, a Shadow Crosser. After Hondo volunteers for the job, he volunteers to help him. Later as the others eat dinner he disguises himself as Brooks and sneaks up on Zane in a wooded area of the ranch. He reveals himself and tells Zane to lie to the godborns to to keep them from freaking out. However Zane feels they should know. When the son of Hurakan tells them and they talk overpowering the remaining gods and becoming the new rulers of the universe, he gives him an 'I told you so' look. The following morning he joins Zane, Hondo, Brooks, Ren, Rosie, Adrik, and Alana in the barn to travel to the Old World. He is tasked with holding the Time Rope to ensure they get back, however they warned that if they do not find the gods in twenty-four hours, they will be trapped in the past. He is joined by Zane, Brooks, Ren, and Adrik.

When they arrive in 1987, the son of Nakon imitates a guy's face and the others berate him as the son of Ixtab wipes the guy's memory. He takes the Time Rope, worried that it will trick him somehow. When Brooks realizes the gods are at the hero twins' old address, he theorizes that they don’t know they are watching the gods as they are imprisoned in an object. When Brooks realizes they can get help from Jazz, who they can memory wipe later, they go to his house while the son of Nakon stays behind to watch the Time Rope. It starts to get to him and he buries himself in sand until Brooks comes to check on him and take him to an ally. He buries himself again while the others are saving the gods from the twins and they return to the present to find Hondo has aged drastically and Saqik'oxol arrives to tell them the World Tree is under attack and summons her army.

They arrive in Hurakan's treehouse to see the jungle burning and the records being destroyed. Soon the Sparkstriker leaves to fight, Ren and Brooks leave to search for a pair of gods the Devorer regurgitated, and Rosie goes to look for Ixtab. The Devourer says she can heal Hondo if he, Adrik, and Zane heal her. They agree, but after they do so she regurgitates a teenaged Camazotz, who says something about Ixkik' before passing out. Zane stops him from killing the bat god as they need to interrogate him. They see the Devourer, now a woman, heal Hondo before vanishing. Hondo explains blood moon betrayed the bat god so that Jordan can become king of the Sobrenaturals. However Zane thinks there is more to it and they head out. Before they leave Ren and Rosie return with teenage versions of Pacific and Ah-Puch. Soon Ixkik' says she is hunting down the gods and has Zane come to the Ceiba World Tree. They discuss their next move as Zane surrenders and the agree to find as many gods as they can. They form a plan and call for back up from Montana. He masquerades as a second Zane to confuse the enemy and fights them when Louie unleashes a storm.

Two weeks later during the victory celebration, he dances with Alana.

Between the Series

After the hero twins are defeated, Marco returns home and joins his school's football team, gaining the position of quarterback and becoming close with his teammates.

Shadow Bruja Duology

Lords of Night

After football practice, he calls Ren after football practice to ask if she can help him with a paper. As he talks about his frustration at having to hide his powers, Ren sees a comment from someone in Kansas about seeing a creature with five children, one of whom transformed into a snake. Ren believes them to be the Cinco, a renegade group of five godborns who desire to overthrow the gods as he questions why they would be there as Ren thinks their might be a portal present. He does not think so and tells Ren everyone is busy with something when Sir Switchblade send a picture. Ren convinces Marco to join her in Kansas, who is reluctant to miss a game the following night, after agreeing to write his essays for two years. She even agrees to go to his location, Waco, to pick him up after his Gateway Map is supposedly broken. His mother calls him to dinner and he says he can meet Ren in half an hour. He meets Ren outside the Dr Pepper Museum and she explains that Zane and Brooks left her a message about a box they found with a painting of eyes like the one on her blog and something that was not Mayan, but he brushes it aside. They call Sir Switchblade, who is revealed to be around their age, and tells them no one believe him. Ren convinces him to give them his address and they find a gateway by the suspension bridge. He guides Ren the bridge and the gateway appears ten feet in the air. Ren gives them a boost, much to Marco's unease. Marco goes in first.

The emerge in a barn as he is entranced by pictures of Len Dawson, a quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, when Sir Switchblade enters with a paintball gun. Ren and Marco convince him to lower his weapon as they lie that they took a ride share to his property. Sir Switchblade takes them to a cornfield where a seven point star with multiple circles around it was carved into a ground by lightning. Sir Switchblade said he saw the kids and creatures before the lightning strike as he walks away. As Ren and Marco debate over whether the Cinco knew lighting was going to strike or if they caused it, Ren touches the scorched earth and gets a jolt of heat before a shadow emerges from it and goes after her. He fails to fight it off as it enters Ren's mouth. Ren shrinks and he manganese to get to her just as stocky gray skinned creatures appear and chase them. Ren leads them to the nearest gateway.

The two appear in an empty gym as Marco explains his side of the encounter and Ren tells Marco that she was trapped in a tunnel with a voice calling her queen and mentions a lord. Marco decides to go home but Ren convinces him to stay and he agrees to stay until kickoff. After suggesting they find somewhere to eat, Ren's grandfather calls and Marco realizes they are in Las Vegas. They go to an all night diner where Ren shows him Zane’s pictures and they are surprised that it has the same symbol as the cornfield. After Ren convinces him, Marco theorizes the Cinco knew the symbol would appear and that she is somehow linked to it. Just then, Ren calls Ah-Puch, who tells her he is at the Hotel del Coranado in San Diego, and explains her experience to him. Before Ah-Puch can answer, Marco takes Ren's phone and tells her to not be so trusting. Unknown to him, time freezes and Ren gets up and speaks with a ghost she saw back in Waco. Marco looks around for Ren in confusion when time starts up again. Soon Ah-Puch arrives and orders Marco and Ren to come with him, with him doing so reluctantly. Ah-Puch ushers them into a car driven by a demon as they drive into the desert to reach a gateway leading to SHIHOM that will not track their moment. As they drive Ren mentions lords and Ah-Puch speaks in an unknown language. Ren demands answers and Marco demands they take him home. As they reach their destination, three large panthers made of shadows appear as Ren struggles to use her shadow magic. The three manage to fight them off, with Ah-Puch burning his hands on the time rope to aid Ren. As Marco and the demon who drove them take out the last panther, they celebrate. However something arrives and they flee through the gateway.

After arriving at SHIHOM, he spends the night before going back to Waco for his game.

After winning his game, he texts Ren and he becomes concerned when she does not answer. He finds his gateway map, which was lost, and hops a gateway to Los Angeles where he helps Edison fend off the Cinco until Ah-Puch arrives to take them to a safe house near Lake Tahoe. He greets Ren when she wakes up after eight hours. He leaves to change into fresh clothes as Ren and Ah-Puch argue about withholding information. When he returns, Ren tells him Ah-Puch was about to talk about the symbol as Ah-Puch says Ren is going to talk about what happened to her while she was unconscious. The two stare each other down as Ah-Puch gives in and tells them about the Time War, but not before giving them a final warning to back off or live a life of even more danger. Ah-Puch summons Saás, the all knowing orb from SHIHOM, to explain it for him. She is reluctant at first, but Ren convinces her to tell it after explaining they are facing the Lords of Night and they could replace her with another model. Saás agrees to do so after scanning one of Monty’s arrows. She says the war involved the Mayan gods fighting an enemy older then them. Saás explains that the god defeated the enemy, who they called the unknowns, and kept a handfuls alive in prison while killing the others. Eventually the gods released them for help in creating humanity. Soon they were allied, but the alliance came to an end after learning that the unknowns were interbreeding with demons, with the resulting offspring being able to overthrow the gods. Ren asks how they are linked to the lords and Saás says the unknowns put the lords to sleep, but cannot answer why Serena knows how to wake them. After the unknowns fled but returned to check on their descendants. Monty reveals her parents told her about the lords and gives vague information on them. Ren asks about their queen, but Saás says the lord have none. Saás says the only way to put the lords back to sleep is with the obsidian blade. Ah-Puch claims to does not exist as Edison reveals it does and he knows where it is, The Dark Mercado. Edison explains that The Dark Mercado is a shady marketplace where, to get out alive, one must give up something valued in return. He also says that to get there, one must pass through the Maze of Nightmares, a maze designed to trap those in it for eternity. As Edison explains everything, Ah-Puch becomes fearful. he is skeptical of the idea while Ren and Monty think it is worth a shot. Ah-Puch is against it and says the maze shifts every new moon before revealing he created the maze and the market. Ah-Puch explains he created the market place to gain power, but it grew out of hand and he created the maze to contain it. After Ah-Puch says he cannot destroy the maze in his current state, he reveals their only option is to fight the Cinco and the lords, something only he agrees with. As Ren protests that they can find an alternative, Ah-Puch demands she tell them what happened when she was out cold. They go outside and Ren reveals she made a deal with the Prince Lord to become the lord's queen if he saves Monty. Ah-Puch scolds Ren for giving the lords what they want and, in a state of panic, Ren unleashes her shadows and is unable to recall them. As Monty’s arrives glow, Edison uses his magic to calm Ren's. Ah-Puch asks Ren to speak with him alone and he and the other go back inside. Ren and Ah-Puch return to the safe house and explain everything to the others and how Ren agreed to be the Lord's queen and the only way to stop them is to find the Obsidian Blade. Edison and Monty agree to join her, but he does not and returns home.

Unknown to the others, he actually went to wrestle his father to get the war god to help them, not telling the others in case he failed. After location them in Lake Zirahuén in Southern Mexico, the father and son join the others at the Cinco's hideout search for their hideout. The war god scans the area and says there are demons on the property along with bees, enemy godborns, and the Lords. Marco agrees to take out the demons as Ren creates shadow butterflies to handle the bees. They fan out as Marco silently tells Ren to be carful as Ren splits from the others and scouts out the nearby forest. As he and the others take on the enemy, Marco questions why he went on the quest. After defeating his opponent, Marco finds Ren by the lakeshore. Marco approaches Ren and, realizing she is in a trance, tries to get her to regain control. However, he is pushes away by Ren and pinned to the ground by shadows as she walks into the lake. After the battle, he is captured along with the Cinco.

Appearance

Marco has a dark complexion and bleached hair and a scar on his chin. A few months after stopping the hero twins, he dies his hair blond with blue streaks along with the rest of his football team.

Personality

Marco is shown to be impulsive and acts without thinking. However, he is also very strategic, and is good at predicting others' reactions. He is suspicious and skeptical of other people when he doesn't see a clear motive for them to be helping out.

He is protective of his friends, as he started a fight when someone was mocking Louie's dream. However he is willing to leave if he feels the risk is to great, as he left Ren rather then join her in finding the Obsidian Blade.

Abilities

• Battle Prowess: Marco is pretty good at throwing things, including punches.
• Duplicate: Marco can alter his appearance to resemble anyone.
• Superhuman Strength: Marco is stronger than average humans and godborns.
• Superhuman Speed: Marco can run at high speeds.

Etymology

• Marco is a masculine given name of Italian origin derived from Marcus.

Trivia

• Marco is fourth character, first known in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, known to die his hair after Kayla Knowles, Billie Ng, Alex Fierro, and Lavinia Asimov. He is also the first male character known to die his hair.