Theta Protocol

Coulson is pretty sure he stopped breathing for a second. The shock of seeing Raina was bad enough. Sure, he had seen her on the security footage, he knew what she had become, but seeing her in person was totally different. She looked inhuman. But then to have those words come out of her mouth. To have her say that she knows where Skye is. His heart stopped beating for a moment. He quickly looked at May who looked back at him with equally stunned eyes. He let the tiniest hint of hope bleed through his eyes at her before he steeled himself once again and turned back to Raina. No one around him moved or spoke. They all seemed just as stunned as he was, whether by her appearance, her words, or a combo like him he couldn’t say.

“You know where Skye is? And what, you would just tell us? What do you want?” Coulson asked.

“I need help. I’m scared Coulson. I don’t want to keep doing this on my own. I can’t let Hydra find me and I can’t stay hidden alone. I will tell you where Skye is and everything I know about what has been done to her. Just please take me inside.” Raina didn’t bother trying to keep the pleading out of her voice. She was past trying to control the situation. She was tired and scared and Coulson is the only person she trusts to actually help her.

He appraised her, trying to determine if she was playing some kind of angle. He looked into Raina’s eyes and saw something that he had only seen once before, fear. The only time she had ever seemed afraid before this was when Dr. Whitehall was after her and she had come to him for help. That was the only time she had ever let her carefully crafted mask of nonchalance and calm slip. Until now.

Even with the thorns, the yellow eyes, the claws at the tips of her raised hands, Coulson could still see Raina beneath it all. He knew Raina, he understood her and the games that she played. Right now, he couldn’t see a trace of game playing, a hint of the person who was usually in control of the situation, the person who knows more than everyone around them. The person in front of him was scared and exhausted.

Slowly, Coulson lowered his gun and moved to stand beside the Captain, who still had his shield raised and a gun pointed at her. Coulson looked at Raina and made his decision.

“Bring her inside, put her in Vault D.” Coulson spoke, as he did he saw relief flood through Raina. He had never known her to show her emotions so openly before. He knew he made the right decision.

“Sir, are you sure we should let her inside the base? She shouldn’t have even been able to find this place. Getting inside might be her plan.” Bobbi spoke suddenly. She did not like this one bit.

“Just trust me Agent Morse.” Coulson responded, looking at Bobbi. When she saw the look in Coulson’s eyes Bobbi nodded back. She knew there was no arguing with him. She moved forward with her gun trained on Raina and she saw Hunter doing the same beside her.

Slowly, the two of them marched Raina down to Vault D, not lowering their guns until the electronic barrier was up and Raina was secured. To Bobbi’s surprise and relief Raina didn’t pull anything, she didn’t even speak the entire trip there. She just kept her hands raised and walked ahead of them, only stopping when she didn’t know which direction to go and Hunter or Bobbi would tell her to go left or right. As soon as Raina was secure Bobbi and Hunter turned and hurried to Coulson’s office where they assumed, correctly, that everyone else would be.

In Coulson’s office everyone was silently waiting for Bobbi and Hunter to join them before speaking, letting the surprise of Raina’s arrival and her revelation settle in. Once Bobbi and Hunter appeared everyone turned to Coulson who had taken up position behind his desk.

“I think she’s telling the truth.” Coulson spoke, raising his hand when Hunter, Bobbi, Simmons, and Tripp all opened their mouths to protest.

“I know what you are all thinking. In the past Raina has been quite possibly the most untrustworthy person we have ever come across, she has always had a hidden agenda or angle. But while I may not have ever been able to tell what she was after, I could always tell when she was playing games. Right now, she isn’t. In all of our interactions I have only ever seen past her facade once and it was when she was scared and desperate, when Whitehall was after her and she wanted my help. That is what I saw outside. The same fear and desperation that she had when Hydra was after her because they wanted something from her. I think we can trust her.” Coulson said, not stopping until everyone understood how certain he was.

“Are you sure you aren’t just seeing what she wants you to see? Playing on you desperation to find Skye to get what she wants?” Clint asked, being one of the only ones brave enough to ask the question.

“No, not entirely. But I’m as sure as I can be and for now that’s enough. Now I’m going in there to get some answers. I want all of you to stay here and watch the video feed. Fitzsimmons, Stark, any information she gives up about locations you start searching, tracking, anything you can do to confirm if she is telling the truth. Everyone else, watch her for tells, see if you think she is being honest or if she is hiding anything. Understood?” Coulson asked, there were several nods and “Yes sirs” as Fitzsimmons and Stark began pulling out laptops and other equipment to help in the search. Tony also started speaking to Jarvis, who he had wired into the base, telling him to be ready to do research into any locations Raina mentioned.

“Only thing, I’m going in with you.” May spoke. Everyone turned to stare at the two of them. Coulson just nodded.

“Alright, lets go.” And they left the room.

Line Break

As May and Coulson approached the door to the room they stopped, looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. He grabbed her hand, giving it a light squeeze. They both knew this might be their last chance. If Raina couldn’t help them, they might never find their girl. After another moment preparing themselves they both took a deep breath, plastered their firm, no nonsense agent masks on their faces, and entered the room.

At the bottom of the stairs they both took a pause, observing Raina. She was sitting on the bed, her face in her hands, the thorns coming out of her head like a crown. Both of them were expecting to face the same Raina as always, the one who wanted to speak in circles and give information in her own time. The Raina in front of them just seemed broken.

“Where’s Skye?” May asked. Raina didn’t look at her, instead she turned to look at Coulson.

“You know when I was a girl, my Grandmother told me stories. Stories about our ancestors, about our gifts, she told me about what I would become. She said I would be beautiful, an angel.” Raina gave a sad smile to Coulson while she spoke, a humorless laugh escaping her lips.

“She was wrong.” Raina finished, tears coming to her big, yellow eyes. Coulson sighed. As much as he wanted to just get Skye’s location out of Raina he realized that she needed to tell her story first. He could listen. He pulled up the chair and sat as close to her as the barrier would allow, giving her a kind smile to encourage her to continue.

“What did she tell you?” He asked, he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to know more about what Raina knew about this change, about what had happened to both her and Skye.

“’Centuries ago earth was visited by blue angels who fell from the sky, bestowing a gift on us, so that the worthy would inherit the earth.’ That was the story that had been passed down through generations, that she passed down to me. Of course, Cal helped me to understand better. The blue angels were aliens, the Kree, who came to perform experiments on humanity. I don’t know why, I don’t know if Cal knew, but they injected their blood into several human test subjects giving them and their descendants the ability to change. The change is activated when the person is exposed to the terrigen crystals which are housed inside the Diviner. The Diviner leads you to the temple where the transformation will occur. Like the one in San Juan.” Raina explained. Coulson nodded.

It was all beginning to make a sick sort of sense. Raina’s grandmother and Skye’s mother were descendants of humans who had been experimented on by aliens and the Obelisk was a relic the aliens left behind to trigger their work. Coulson was starting to wish Thor were here, maybe he could fill in some of the blanks about why the hell these aliens were here, experimenting on humans, in the first place.

“Getting into that temple, with that Diviner, that was the moment I had been working to get to my entire life. All of the dreams my Grandmother put in my head, the hopes that Cal confirmed were real, were all going to come true. But they didn’t. I didn’t come out beautiful. I’m not an angel. I’m a monster Coulson. A gnarled freak of nature with no one but herself to blame.” Raina was openly crying now. Coulson couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. He almost wanted to comfort her, but he just waited for her to calm down and continue, reminding himself that this was the same girl who had once held a young boy hostage, had once helped to kidnap and torture him.

“I did horrible, unforgivable things to get here. I know why I came through the mist looking like this and Skye came out as beautiful as before. She was a good person before, I wasn’t. I am paying for my sins now.” Raina said. Coulson looked up at May confused, wondering if she was thinking the same thing as him. She was.

“How do you know that Skye went through the mist? How do you know what she looks like?” May asked.

“When I realized that Whitehall and his men were trying to capture me and were going to hurt me, I ran. I have been hiding out ever since, sleeping when I can, trying not to be seen. At first, I was having horrible nightmares, remembering my change, the rock consuming me, the pain. Then I started to dream of Skye, I was seeing her being hurt. She was strapped to a table, being cut into. I saw you and Cal chained to the wall. You were screaming at Whitehall not to hurt her. Whitehall was cutting into her. Then she was changed too. Whitehall unleashed the mist on her. The Avengers came and saved you. Whitehall took Skye. I dreamed it all. I started to suspect they weren’t dreams, they were real.” As Raina spoke, the color drained from Coulson’s face, he turned to May with wide eyes and saw the concealed shock in her as well. Raina had visions of his captivity, of Skye’s torture. It was all true.

“I needed to know if it was real so I went to where you were being held in my visions. When I got there the government was all over, taking men away in cuffs. I didn’t see you or your agents. I realized not only were my visions real, but they were of the future.” Raina finished.

“Wait, what do you mean the future. How did you know what you saw wasn’t happening at the same time?” Coulson asked, it wasn’t that he wouldn’t believe it if she saw the future after everything else she had just revealed, he just needed to confirm it.

“When I finally made it to the facility it was three days after I’d had the dream of you being rescued. In the dream you and the Avengers left the compound rather quickly and the government agents were there taking the Hydra agents away that same day. Those same agents were the ones that I saw for myself three days later. I saw your rescue three days before it happened.” Raina concluded. Coulson looked her in the eyes, there was not an ounce of deception. He knew she was telling the truth.

“What have you seen since then? Do you know where they took Skye?” May asked hurriedly.

“Yes, she is at a Hydra base in the Arctic. 50 miles West of Mount Acton. It is run by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker and his number two Dr. List. Whitehall took her to him after she was changed because he knew he needed his resources and support. Strucker has two other powered people at his base but I don’t know much about them, I have just seen glimpses of them.” Raina said.

Coulson looked at May and saw his relief reflected at him all over her face. They had a location. They were going to save her. She was coming home. Suddenly May’s face took on a much more grave expression and she turned back to Raina.

“Is she ok? What are they doing to her?” May voiced the question that Coulson was trying not to think about.

“You need to understand that I don’t see everything. It’s not like I am getting a detailed movie of exactly what is happening. It comes in flashes, glimpses. And it’s not every time I sleep so it’s not like I have seen every moment that she has been with them so I don’t-” Raina started to ramble, Coulson cut her off.

“Raina… please.” Coulson begged. He needed to know, they all did. Raina gulped before continuing, not looking either of them in the eye.

“From what I have seen, the experimentation has only gotten worse. Whitehall performed more surgery on her, I don’t know the details of what he did but it didn’t look good. Two days ago was my last vision. I was working my way across country to try and get here ever since I saw the location of this place in one of my visions and it has been slow going trying not to be seen. Not a lot of chances for sleep. In the vision, Strucker was trying to make her use her powers and she couldn’t do it. He had his men attack her. When her powers came out of her and she couldn’t stop them Strucker knocked her out. That’s the last thing I saw.” Raina finished, finally looking at Coulson and May. She saw the sadness on their faces. She understands how much Skye means to them. She has seen how much all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have been affected by her absence, none more so than the two in front of her.

“Thank you.” May said, giving Raina a small nod as a gesture of gratitude. As May turned to leave the room she looked back at Coulson. He had stood from the chair but he was just standing there staring at Raina.

“Raina, why are you telling us all of this? You have never given up information when there wasn’t anything in it for you before? Why now?” Coulson asked. Raina looked at the floor.

“I have been on the run, hiding, for a month. Hiding from Hydra is one thing, hiding from the truth about yourself is something else. I told you, this form is my punishment. The things that I’ve done, the people I’ve hurt, I haven’t recognized myself for a long time, a lot longer than I have looked like this. When I started seeing Skye being hurt, I realized that this was a chance to start to make amends for the things I’ve done. No one should have to suffer like she has and given the chance Hydra would be doing the same things to me right alongside her. I can’t let it continue when I can do something about it.” Raina finally looked up at Coulson and he held nothing but understanding in his eyes. He simply nodded at her before turning away and both he and May climbed the stairs and left the room.

For the first time in a very long time, Raina felt like herself again.

Line Break

Skye’s brain swam as she struggled her way to consciousness. The only thing she could think was pain. He whole body was in agony. She felt like on giant bruise. Slowly she tried to roll over on the bed to get more comfortable, but even the slightest movement sent stars blooming in her vision as her head pulsed in pain.

As she slowly got her breathing under control the memories of how she got here returned to her. She remembered trying to use her powers on command, the fear of knowing she couldn’t do it. The pain and the panic when the guards began to attack her. The acceptance of realizing this was how it ended. The hatred that surged within her when she realized that even her death wasn’t in her control anymore.

As the waves of pain subsided and she got her breathing under control, Skye realized there were tears rolling off her cheeks. She hadn’t even noticed she was crying. She felt like she had done too much of that lately. She was surprised that she even had tears left to cry.

Skye moved to bring a hand up to wipe the tears from her face and pain surged through her arm. She looked down and saw that the bruises which were finally beginning to heal from before were back to being angry shades of blue and purple across both arms. She glanced down at her stomach and saw a bulge from the bandages that were no doubt under her shirt. She remembered the feeling of her stitches ripping open when she lost control of her powers before being knocked out. Clearly, they had stitched them back up while she slept.

Skye closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to calm down. She couldn’t lose control of her emotions again and let out more of the tremors. She wasn’t sure if her body could take it. She wasn’t sure what they would do to her.

Skye laid on her bed and stared at ceiling for what felt like hours. She counted her breaths, focusing on a single point and letting everything else become noise disappearing in the background, just like May had taught her. Not that she would ever see May again.

The door to her cell slammed open but Skye didn’t flinch or look over. She just kept staring at the ceiling. A guard spoke from beside her. She didn’t acknowledge him.

“Get up.” The guard commanded. When she didn’t move or even seem to hear him the guard advanced on the bed, raising his gun and pointing it at her head.

“I said get up bitch!” The guard yelled at Skye. Again, she did nothing. Skye knew he wouldn’t kill her, apparently she wasn’t allowed to die. She wasn’t going to do anything for them.

“Stupid freak, can’t even follow simple fucking orders.” The guard grunted at her, lowering his gun and gesturing to another guard standing outside the door. The other guard entered, and they each grabbed one of Skye’s arms, dragging her off the bed and out of the room. As they wove through the halls Skye let her legs drag behind her and her head hang limply in front of her. She was in too much pain to try to get her legs under her and making them carry her was the only act of defiance she could muster up.

Suddenly Skye was roughly dropped, more like thrown, onto a padded floor that she recognized as the floor of the gym she had been in when she had lost control. She rolled to her side and glanced around herself, seeing the two guards who had brough her in take up post by the doors. The three of them waited in the room for a good ten minutes. No one said or did anything, Skye laying on the floor, a combination of unwilling and unable to move.

As they had dragged her through the halls Skye had realized just how badly she was injured. It wasn’t just her torso and arms that had taken the beating before. Her legs were aching all over, her back was stiff and sore, her ribs were badly bruised some possibly even broken if the hitch in her breathing was anything to go off of, her left eye was swollen mostly shut so she could barely see out of it, and her head hadn’t stopped pounding. She wished they would just take her back to her cell and let her sleep, but instead she was laying on a barely padded concrete floor waiting for whatever the hell fresh torment they would inflict on her. She stared at the door waiting to see which one of the monsters from her nightmares would come through it. The answer was all of them.

The door opened and Dr. List walked in carrying a long metal case in hands, followed closely by Whitehall and Strucker, both of whom had massive smiles on their faces.

“So good to see you again Skye! Von Strucker has been keeping me apprised of your progress and I am so happy to hear that your powers have exceeded even my expectations!” Whitehall beamed at Skye, he and Strucker had stopped a few feet in front of Skye while List had gone to the corner to set the case on a table. Skye couldn’t see what he was doing which filled her with fear.

“Indeed, your powers are even stronger zen we had hoped my dear. Ze problem is you. If you cannot use your powers when we need you to, if you cannot follow orders, zen you are of no use to us.” Strucker continued. Skye closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was it, they were going to kill her. She was ok with that, she just hoped it was quick. She opened her eyes again, ready to face the end with as much dignity as she could muster.

“So we have had a meeting to discuss your future, and the answer has become apparent. In order to control your powers, we need to control you.” Whitehall said. Oh no. No, this couldn’t be happening. They were going to brainwash her. Like they did to Agent 33. Like they did to Donny Gill. Skye felt her pace quicken, her fear growing.

“Ordinarily I would use the Faustus method, I’m sure you are familiar with its usefulness.” Whitehall smiled at the panic he saw in Skye’s eyes, he knew she was aware of the people he had swayed to his side with that technique.

“But ze doctor’s method takes time, time I did not want to waste. We have come up with a much better solution for you. You will be ze greatest weapon in our arsenal and therefore you deserve ze best.” At Strucker’s words Dr. List walked over and placed Loki’s scepter in his hands.

Skye’s eyes widened, her heart seemed to jump into her throat. She heard a gasp escape her lips without her consent. She knew what the scepter could do. It had controlled people’s minds. Clint Barton and Dr. Selvig, they had been forced to do Loki’s bidding during the battle of New York with no choice but to comply. It was the weapon that killed Coulson. Sliced through his back and came out his chest, cleaving his heart in two. Coulson’s blood had been on that blade. Skye couldn’t stand to look at it, but she couldn’t look away.

“Please, please no. Don’t do this. Please.” Skye was pleading. She was willing her body to move away from the three men, any energy that she had she put into getting as far from them as she could. She didn’t get far.

“You haven’t left us much choice Skye. We gave you a chance to use your powers for us. We have been so patient with you. You have given us nothing but defiance in return. Your compliance is required and this seems to be the only way to get it from you.” As Whitehall spoke the guards from before grabbed Skye by the arms and dragged her in front of Strucker. She tried to free herself from their grasp, kicking and flailing about with the little strength she had left, but it was no use.

“No! Please no! I can do it! Just let me try again! I will comply! Don’t do this!” Skye screamed at them, begged them, but it fell on deaf ears. The three men simply smiled at her while Strucker began to lower the scepter to Skye’s chest.

The last thing she felt was the pain in her bones and the tremors begging to be let out. The last thought in her mind was that this truly was the end. They were killing her, just not physically. They were killing her mind, taking it from her and making it theirs. It wouldn’t matter now if her family was still looking for her. If they did find her someday. Skye would be gone.

With her family in her mind, Strucker touched the scepter to Skye’s heart. A blinding blue light filled her eyes and flooded her mind. Skye stopped struggling.