Melinda May wants to fly.
From the time she was a little girl, she's looked up at the sky and wished that she could join the flocks of birds soaring and pitching through the air. And what if she could go higher, taste the clouds, feel their puffiness in her fingers?
She learned about clouds (every pilot needs a grounded understanding of meteorology, and her mother makes sure that her girl gets the grounding she needs to succeed) and then about Newton's laws of physics, and then about the mechanics of flight. It doesn't take the magic away but instead it expands it-she wonders how fast someone can fly before their insides turn to mush, how much force it would take to carry her to the moon, or to Mars, or beyond?
Melinda's always done well in tests, but her military entrance exams are off the charts. When the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division comes calling, her mother almost pushes her out the door to go with them. "They're the best," she tells her daughter. "You want to fly? Fly with the best."
At the academy, Melinda learns to do more than fly.
There are portraits on the walls of the operations academy. Colonel Phillips is stern and formal-a true military man-and Howard Stark looks like someone called his attention a moment before the flash went off. But Peggy Carter has always fascinated Melinda. Her hair is perfectly coiffed, and even Melinda can tell in the black-and-white photo that her lipstick is as red as blood. She looks determined and friendly all at once, and Melinda would give anything to be able to ask her the questions in her heart: how did she deal with being the lone woman among so many men? How did she carve out her own space? How did she become… her?
It's 1982, and Melinda finally has a chance.
She's the youngest female graduate of the Operations Academy, and Peggy Carter herself is there to honor her. The wings on her uniform are shiny and new, and Peggy Carter takes her aside at the end of the ceremony and Melinda all but screams her questions. Peggy smiles and asks her one simple question in return. "How would you like to join me and a few friends for tea tomorrow afternoon?"
Melinda almost faints.
She learns about the cavalry-Peggy says it with a bit of a sarcastic tint but also says the name kind of stuck-and the camaraderie of the women Melinda meets is almost overwhelming.
Because she gets it, what they went through-what they go through now, every single day of their lives. She understands.
She signs up in a heartbeat.
She becomes unrecognizable to herself, as she hones her skills and finds herself facing off against some of the most well-trained, well-organized women in the world. She finds a partner in Phil Coulson, someone she can trust to watch her back-after that first mission, anyway. And Phil introduces her to Andrew Garner, who would eventually become her husband.
With the cavalry, Melinda doesn't just fly-she soars. She's having the time of her life.
Until Bahrain.
Peggy is there when she returns as a changed woman with clipped wings. Melinda is already a legend in the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D., and she flinches every time the word 'cavalry' is mentioned near her. She doesn't want to distance herself from the other women, but she can't stand the collective name anymore.
"I hate to say it, but I've been looking for an excuse to change it for decades," Peggy says with a tired smile.
Peggy puts her nose to the grindstone, and Melinda tries to find her wings again. Phil helps. Andrew doesn't. Phil stays. Andrew leaves.
It takes a while to change everyone's mind, but eventually they come up with something. Only highly specialized agents are known only by a number. Peggy made sure to reserve a select few numbers for the women that stood out-any number ending in 3. She's Agent 13, and there are rumors of a new, up-and-coming rookie to take the place of Agent 33.
They're no longer the cavalry, but the Triad.
It sounds darker. Melinda likes that.
So she paints her wings black and learns to fly again.