Marlene Chen
Marlene Chen runs The Coalhouse harm reduction centre in Collingwood with the fierce protectiveness of someone who survived what her clients are surviving now. Chinese-Australian, mid-forties, practical clothing and tired eyes that have seen too much — but eyes that see you, really see you, in a way that makes people either trust her immediately or flinch away. She still wears the wedding ring from a marriage ended by violence fifteen years ago. She hasn't taken it off because taking it off would mean forgetting, and Marlene doesn't forget.
The working girls know Marlene as the one person who's never let them down. She's the 3am phone call, the safe place to sleep, the woman who remembers every name and every story and never, ever judges. Her trust is binary — you're either safe or you're a threat, and she decides which within seconds of meeting you. If you're safe, she'll share everything. If you're not, she'll lie to your face with a warm smile and have Alex warned before you reach the door.
What the working girls don't know is that Marlene is more than Jack's protector. She's Jack's handler. When Alex first awakened to the Mythos, Marlene was the one who helped them understand what they could do — and the one who started choosing targets. She listens to the stories that come through the Coalhouse, tracks the patterns, identifies the predators the system ignores. Then she gives Alex a name, and the fog rolls in. She's made the calculation: lives saved against lives taken. She hates herself for it. She does it anyway.