Melinda May (Earth-1993)

"My days of following blindly are over. If there's any truth to what you're saying, you'll have to show, not tell."

- - Melinda May to Phil Coulson

Melinda Qiaolian May is a Level Red S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and field medical surgeon, better known by her codename, The Cavalry, who became the partner of veteran operative Phil Coulson.

Early Life
Melinda Qiaolian May was born on November 20th, 1963 to William and Lian May, the latter of which was an officer of the FBI. Melinda was raised a Catholic, although her family was not practicing. Her religious beliefs didn't stop her from enjoying movies such as The Shining, The Exorcist and Poltergeist, which many of her friends deemed "Satanic".

When she was 8, Melinda discovered her passion for ballet, being attracted to the work of Mikhail Baryshnikov. However, after an accident in stage when she was dancing, her parents opted to move her away from ballet, and she started to move into martial arts. Following one of her fighting classes, while William parked the family at a gas station, Lian approached Melinda and told her about the death of one of her friends at the hands of a rapist in order to warn Melinda not to talk with strangers. This led Melinda to consider for the first time in her life about the possibility of the existence of evil.

One day, when May was 10, she sneaked out of her room at night and stole one of her mother's cigarettes, smoking it secretly. While she felt excited for it, William discovered it and berated at her mother, as he though she quited her acts of smoking, leading to a huge discussion. Continuous discussions ultimately led to their divorce, something which May blamed herself for, although her parents stated wasn't.

Because of William's job, the May family moved continuously from city to city, which led Melinda to be a girl with few lasting friendships or expectations. On a particular day, William noticed May's sadness, and started to bond with her by reading numerous books. The most notable would be Moby Dick by Herman Melville, giving both her and himself names from the books; William was "Ahab" and Melinda was "Starbuck".

After two more reallocation, the Mays were finally able to stabilize in Macon, Georgia, where May started high school stably. She was able to find more friendships with boys rather than girls, with other female students calling her a "tomboy".