The Avengers: Featuring Salem Ridge

Fury

Salem emerged from the jet's cabin with a warm mug in her hand.

Whoever thought to install a coffee maker on the jet deserved a raise, she thought to herself. She took a long sip of coffee as she looked out the front windows, where the horizon was now displaying the most beautiful sunrise. She had just spent the last half hour reading through the Tesseract file. Most of it was review to her, seeing as she was one of the people who actually got it away from Hydra - or the Nazis, as it were at the time.

What was new to her was the involvement of Asgard.

Salem had spent time on Asgard following Loki's last attack on Earth, and she was more than familiar with the people by now. In the six months she was there, she had learned their customs, their battle strategy, and the Allfather had even gone so far as to appoint her King's Consort for her efforts in fighting the Destroyer. Knowing Odin and his history with his sons, she wasn't certain that was a good thing.

Salem gazed out of the windows, her mind lost in a memory of the last time she saw Loki, hanging from the edge of the Bifrost, begging for his father's forgiveness. His emerald eyes, desperate for any sign that his father loved him, his expression full of remorse for what he had done. Not too dissimilar to a little boy realizing his mistakes after being punished by his parents. Then just like that he was gone, falling into the void that is space. She shivered at the thought, recalling the sadness she felt radiating off him. Sadness, which has now clearly turned to madness.

Salem shook her head, attempting to rid her thought of Loki's defeated expression as he fell from the Bifrost. She drank from her mug.

"So, what's the plan exactly?" She asked Coulson, who was seated just behind the pilot, reading his own copy of the Avengers file. The pages were wrinkled and earmarked from excessive use.

Coulson responded, not bothering to look up from his file. "Well, Director Fury wants you running point, seeing as you're most familiar with these guys," he sighed, speaking of the Asgardians. "My job is to get you all together."

Salem raised an eyebrow. "All of us?" She sat beside Coulson, resting her elbows on her knees as she spoke. "Who else is Fury calling in besides Nat and I?"

Salem thought again of the Avengers Initiative. At some point in time she had looked through the files Fury was collecting on potential Avengers, and she remembered seeing Nat's file. Salem was actually the one who had brought her on, some 5 years ago now.

Natasha Romanoff, a.ka. Natalia Romonova. She'd come a long way from being a Russian spy, Salem thought. She remembered there being a few other interesting candidates. Tony Stark, the billionaire playboy who'd gotten himself into some trouble in the Middle East a few years back. There was a Doctor Banner, who caused quite a scene last year when some experiment went wrong causing him to turn into a massive green rage beast, as Coulson described it. His record in particular was quite impressive.

Coulson held out his file.

Salem crooked an eyebrow up but took the file from him, flipping through it. Her gaze rested on a page titled Commander Salem Ridge. In all her time with SHIELD, she had never actually read her own file. Curiosity got the better of her as she scanned the page.

Name: Ridge, Salem                             DOB: Unknown. First encountered June 2nd, 1943

Alias: "Salem Ridge"                               Status: Active                             Clearance level: Alpha 10

Place of Birth: Unknown 

 Height: 5'6''