Melanie Callista Pershing, also known as Agent West Virginia, was a UNSC Marine Force Recon sharpshooter, and later a member of the UNSC elite supersoldier program Project FREELANCER, and cousin to fellow FREELANCER, Jerrold Pershing.
Born on September 8, 2513, on the planet of Actium to Rachel Pershing and Thomas Pershing, the latter of which was the brother of Jerrold Pershing Senior, whom would later be the father of Jerrold Pershing Junior. Growing up in a very militarized neighborhood, and her father being a retired Marine Corps officer, Melanie, like many young people at the time, had an aspiration to join the military at a very young age, and strived to do anything she could to help further that goal.
At school she joined ROTC, and took up archery, where she realized she had a knack for accuracy, and track, becoming an extremely fast runner. She was also intelligent, with consistently high grades, this however all combined to give her a form of superiority complex, which she usually demonstrated to her cousin, Jerrold, which annoyed him to no end.
Suddenly however, Jerrold and his family moved to Reach in 2534, leaving her without anyone to be superior too. This caused her to be more absorbed in her studies and activities, and she'd often head to the firing range to improve her aim. This all culminated in her joining the UNSC Marine Corps in 2535, after graduating from college.
