Melanie Asher

Melanie ‘Mel’ Asher is an English human female, who became the leader of Red Squadron in the third generation of the Agents of A.C.E after 2034. Before ascending to leader, Asher assisted as a field agent, particularly helping in the invasion of the Hydro Retarius. She later became leader of the entire agency, starting the fourth generation. 
Asher was born in 2004, and lost her parents in the Electronaught crisis of 2020. This caused her to spend two years under child support measures. In this time, Asher became committed to becoming as strong as possible, and became involved in bringing down multiple small scale criminal threats. This ultimately caused her to become on the radar of the Agents of A.C.E, particularly Miku Katana, who later recommended her to Oscar Bjorn when he was founding the Red Squadron.
Asher met Daniel Liu and trained under him, before meeting the rest of her squadron in 2032. They worked on multiple missions in this year, however they most notably focused on defeating the faux-Purple Matter, created by Aarna Malik. 
Shortly after this, during the Ordine raid on the Submersible, Asher received Ella Hawk’s cry for help, gaining visions of her throughout the back half of 2032. She ultimately was able to rescue her, and was key to the defeat of Shallik and his Hydro Retarius invasion. In this time she also befriended the son of Ella, Kieron Hawk.
During Christmas 2032, at Wall’s End, Asher and one of her childhood friends were due to meet. However, this was hijacked by the intervention of a criminal gang. After teaming up with Dan, however, the area was liberated and she was able to save her friend. 
In the 2033 Black Star takeover, Asher lead the Red Squadron in New Chinatown when Dan was forced into hiding. During the last stand against the Black Star, Asher was able to summon the Hydro Retarius, who were key to the defeat of Laing and the rest of the Black Star. 
During the factional split of New Chinatown during the Ordine Invasion, Asher was key to defending Mayor Magnus, particularly from Ordine cultists. She also began to develop feelings for colleague Johnathan Roylance. These were cut short, however, after Daniel Liu’s assassination of Mayor-elect Giles Strode. This led to her becoming at odds with Roylance, yet it also allowed her to ascend to leader of Red Squadron. 
During her time as leader, she was able to assist in the reconstruction of New Chinatown. She faced her first major challenge, however, when Lucia Manster and her Anarchists arrived to cause issues. To help support her, Bjorn sent in Richmond Clay to help tackle the vorpal threat. Clay and Asher then investigated the past of Lucia Manster, finding out about her origins to know her better. 
The pair returned and Asher hatched a scheme to stop Lucia. Despite a few setbacks, this did work, however it costed Johnathan Roylance’s life, devastating Asher who still loved him. 
Asher later covered up Liu’s staged death, as she felt he would be better off free then trapped and incarcerated in a cell.  After helping fight the ChainMaster, she later worked with him again to defeat the Chain Servant. When Liu sacrificed himself, she mourned him before ascending to the leader of the Agents of ACE. 
In her first year as leader, she recruited Lucas Thorpe, Hope Williams and Fenkor, who became Agents Orange, Black and White respectively. Initially, they took on minor threats such as the WolfGang and the Feathered Wing, however these were later revealed to be agents of The Shadow, a doppelgänger of Clive Clayton. In addition to this, she discovered the presence of the MASK, in league with the Shadow and ready to strike.
Upon taking on the MASK, she had to manage the near-collapse of her team, due to the assassination of Eliza Warren. Asher was able to lead the agents through this, however, and lead them to victory. It was also at this time in which she recruited Keira Hawk.
Her team were met with crisis when Keira was compromised by the Shadow, forcing Lucas to go undercover as an amnesiac. Eventually, his plans were discovered - to release Ascended Beings trapped outside of reality. They were able to liberate Keira and also Richmond Clay, who had also been compromised. Ultimately, thanks to the efforts of Miku Katana, the Clive Clayton persona of the Shadow was released, who sacrificed his life to take down the Ascended.
== Physical Appearance ==
Mel has light brown skin, with short brown hair. Her height is 5'7, and she often wore the current A.C.E uniform. 
== Personality ==
Not without a sense of humour, Melanie is often strong willed and determined. She is willing to see nuance in many situations, however, after the circumstances in which the Red Squadron fell apart, she developed a hardened outlook on running the agency. 
== Appearances ==
=== Agents of A.C.E: Red Squadron ===
==== Season One: Revival ====
101 - New Begginings (Part One) (first appearance)
102 - Hostage Crisis (Part Two) 
103 - The Experiment  
104 - To Kill a Minister  
105 - A Day in the Life of a Cyborg (Part One)
106 - Powers of the Machine (Part Two)
107 - Rivalry 
109 - Power of the Creature (Part One)
110 - All Out War (Part Two)
==== Season Two: Submerged ====
All
==== Christmas at Walls End (special) ====
==== Season Three: Order of the Black Star ====
301 - Big Trouble in New Chinatown 
302 - The New Order 
303 - Star-Crossed 
304 - Say His Name 
306 - Starstruck  
307 - Fallen Son 
308 - Star Burns Out 
309 - Once And For All 
310 - Blame it on the Falling Sky 
==== Season Four: Fallen City ====
All
==== Season Five: The Anarchy ====
501 - Long to Reign Over Us, Part One
502 - Long to Reign Over Us, Part Two
504 - Inmate #210501 (flashbacks)
505 - The Woman With The Red Eyes 
506 - Cult of the Manster
507 - Divine Right 
509 - The Assassination of Clifford Warren by the Bewitched Nathan Maxwell   
510 - Her Manster Plan 
511 - Power of the Manster, Part One
512 - Power of the Manster, Part Two
==== Season Six: Coda ====
All
=== Agents of A.C.E: Conclusion ===
104 - A Vorpal War
105 - Resolution 
=== Agents of A.C.E: International ===
==== Season One ====
All
==== Season Two ====
All
==== Season Three ====
All
==== Sins of the Grandfather (special) ====
==== Season Four ====
All
== Trivia ==
* Mel is the first female character to lead the Agents of A.C.E.
* Mel and Dan were the characters to both appear in the most amount of episodes of Agents of A.C.E: Red Squadron, with 52 appearances each.
* Mel was always designed to succeed Daniel Liu as the focal character of Agents of A.C.E: Red Squadron. 
* So far, Mel is the first Agents of A.C.E main character to never channel Vorpal Energy. 
* Initial plans for Red Squadron poised Mel as the focus, however the role was changed to Dan when the idea of his fall from grace was conceived.
* The decision to have Mel sympathise with Dan after the shooting was the easiest to make for the writers, due to the friendship the two had developed throughout the series.