Isa Reichert
Isa Reichert
comux-isa.png
Portrayed by Sarai Givaty
Statistics
Full Name Raisa Ivanovna Yakovleva
Age 38 (04-03-1979)
Height 5'7"
Build Athletic & Solid
Eyes Blue
Hair Red
Skin Caucasian
Factions SHIELD, Stark Industries

Quoted!

Among SHIELD, Isa is known to have crashed a fighter jet some years ago. She didn't just survive, but rehabilitated herself to pilot again with only one eye, proving her skill once she joined them.

Reputation

Isa is not a well-known woman, preferring to keep her head down and a low profile. Her skill is known among the upper echelons of SHIELD as a masterful pilot and an incredibly stubborn woman.

Raisa Ivanovna Yakovleva was a famous test pilot in the Russian Air Force, whose analytical and engineering skill was matched only by her skill in navigating both the press and the everyman; a strict taskmistress with her flight crew, but fair.

Digging deeper would reveal that after years of a sterling service record, Raisa turned traitor. After her husband was killed and she suffered a disfiguring accident, she stole a great deal of intelligence and fled the country to parts unknown. Publicly, she was killed in an accident, but among certain circles there is a price on the return of her corpse.

Biography

The daughter of a Russian Air Force pilot and a secretary, Raisa Ivanovna Yakovleva was a precocious child with a love of learning and a bright future. She enrolled into the armed forces, where the sky was her limit, working her way towards a career as an Air Force pilot like her father. Her rise through the ranks was nothing short of meteoric. In time she came to pilot experimental and prototype military aircraft; the kind often buried under dangerous amounts of red tape and obfuscation.

She became the darling of the publicity department, present for every photo shoot, and soon came to be the face of the Air Force's technological advances. At thirty-three, she was married to a fellow pilot in the service, one Mikhail Nikolayevich Makarov, a good-hearted man with an odd combination of recklessness and meticulousness.

A week after her thirty-third birthday, both of her parents were killed in an automobile accident. The blow was a terrible one, having been close to them both; but she resolved to be strong, with Mikhail and her Air Force comrades to comfort her.

Four days later, the engine of Mikhail's aircraft failed, and when his ejection seat failed to deploy, his death in the line of duty was recorded. No wreckage was recovered and no body was returned to Raisa.

Devastated, Raisa fell into deep depression, turning to drink to cope with the pain. Although hungover more often than not, she threw herself into her work. The sky was the last place left to her where she could still feel alive.

Three weeks after that, two hours from midnight, Raisa's newest prototype aircraft plunged from the sky when the port engine exploded. In a nightmarish repeat of Mikhail's accident, the ejection seat failed, and Raisa rode her aircraft to the earth, expecting to die.

She would not be so lucky.

An electrical fire broke out in the cockpit due to a short in faulty avionics wiring; the subsequent blaze disfigured most of the right side of her body when she tried to shield herself from the flames while guiding her aircraft to earth. It would be hours until emergency crews could locate her on the trackless Siberian wastes.

Raisa was little more than human wreckage when she was pulled from the aircraft. The plunge had cost her most of the skin on her right side, and her right eye was gone. It took months to leave her hospital bed, and years to recover after that. Her superiors told her she would never fly again.

For three years, she proceeded to rehabilitate herself to do exactly that, pulling strings and cashing out every favour she could. She visited her husband's grave every week, bringing fresh flowers, and she promised him that no matter how bleak her life became, she would live on; it was what he would have wanted.

When her skill and tenacity didn't wint hem over, Raisa proceeded to crawl into a vodka bottle, and she didn't come out for two years.

The only thing that stopped her from self-destructing was the promise she'd made over a gravestone. Desperate for options, she finally opted to sell her skills to SHIELD, and to do that, she needed collateral. Betrayed by the system that had used her and cast her aside, Raisa elected to close the door on her homeland. She stole a great deal of intelligence from what databases she could still access, thanks to an oversight in security, and she fled to New York City.

Raisa traded SHIELD the latest intelligence on Russian military hardware and innovations for the opportunity to fly for them, desperate to be back in the one place she felt she could belong. The sky was the one place left to her where she could feel like anything more than a lifeless husk.

Given the dubious nature of her exit from her home country, Raisa frequently operates under the false name "Isa Reichert," and few are given her real name. On occasion she is also known to use the pseudonym "Anfisa Sergeyevna." She now pilots quinjets for SHIELD, and serves as a personal pilot for Agent Coulson.

Character Details

Raisa Ivanovna Yakovleva was once happy and well-adjusted, balancing a caring nature with serving her country. She was generally happy and pleasant in her interactions with others, with an optimism whose tenacity bordered on "religious faith."

That all went out the window after the accident. She lost vast swaths of her personal life to tragedy. Isa withdrew, embittered and heartbroken. Gone was the bright, optimistic woman of before. She became angry and bitter; a shadow of her former self.

Time has dulled her anger, and she's simmered down into the cold resignation of the apathetic. She copes shockingly well with adversity and loss, inured and benumbed to the pain, resigned to suffering it again and again. There aren't many things she's actively afraid of, but she is terrified of loss, reluctant to befriend or trust others.

Abrasion and cynicism have become her armour, wielded like a bludgeon to keep people from getting too close. She's become emotionally crippled, and after five years, she's only just begun to tear herself out of her miasma of grief and anger. Agent Phillip Coulson's relentless efforts to coax her out of her shell has slowly convinced her to try trusting again. Putting aside her personal loyalty to Coulson, she's gradually been putting that effort into her interactions with SHIELD as a whole, and would risk herself for any of their number.

Keeping her skills sharp is a coping method for Isa. She's proud of what she's accomplished in the wake of her disfigurement. As a result, she's sensitive about her professional pride and skills, and will respond to any slights against them real or imagined.

There is still a guttering spark of charitable streak left in Isa's heart. She can often be appealed to when it comes to ethics or morals, and she has a surprising maternal streak when it comes to the vulnerable. She makes a point of looking out for some of SHIELD's younger agents, at least from a distance.

Relationships

comux-mik2.png Mikhail Nikolayevich Makarov Другая половина Raisa's easygoing husband and partner of thirteen years, a former combat pilot of Russia and unwilling asset of Icarus Dynamics. They still have some issues to work out, but Raisa is confident they can put the pieces back together and get back to the business of living their lives.
Phil2.jpg Phil Coulson товарищ Although there are some aspects of him that make her uncomfortable, Phil has done all the right things to gain Isa's trust. She considers him an ally, and would fly through the fire for his sake.
cd4HoCD.jpg The Winter Soldier загадка As a living nightmare from her homeland, Isa is confliced about James. She's grateful he spared her life, and yet he's both more and less than what urban legends claim.
32evvqX.jpg Tony Stark досада The head of Stark Industries is a man-child, but Isa is convinced there's something worth the hassle. New technology is a powerful motivator, and she's convinced that he's a good man under the relentless immaturity.
rusalka-mini.png Rusalka Stojespal родня Seeing her younger self in Sloane's thrill-seeking best friend, Isa has somewhat taken the girl under her wing. That she comes of Russian-complicated politics means nothing to Isa in this case; Sally Petrovna is as good as younger family to the one-eyed pilot.
wiki-sloane.jpg Sloane Albright родня Isa's neighbour in the Triskelion's residental wing, Sloane has endeared herself to Isa with her courage and determination in the face of the unknown. Like Rusalka, Isa's resolved to take Sloane under her wing, informally "adopting" the girl.
May2.jpg Melinda May союзник A kindred spirit and fellow aviator, Melinda May has proven herself as an uncannily skilled pilot and earned Isa's immediate respect in the air. May's no-nonsense, practical-minded personality is also something she appreciates.

NPC: Mikhail Nikolayevich Makarov

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