The Fallen

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC Ray. M.A.O.S is not mine, but thanks for not suing me for playing with the characters! I'm making no money from this, I do it for fun!

Chapter One

Just another day on the BUS, nothing new was happening in the world at large and everyone seemed to be back to normal now after the abduction of the senior agent. So much had happened to the crew in the short time they had been together, but Agent Phil Coulson had hoped it would serve to draw the team closer together. So far it was working. They all had their differences, something special that each individual had brought to the team, but when needed, each individual part made up the whole.

The only thing that wasn't quite whole yet was himself, and he kept telling himself that that too would come with time. Coulson sat at his desk in his private quarters pouring over the procedures that had been performed on him in order to bring him back from the dead. He still could not believe that it had all happened; they couldn't possibly have brought him back from the dead after he had been gone for so long. It wasn't only the fact that he had been brought back that he was unable to wrap his mind around… it was the WHY.

The earpiece that he seemed to always be wearing vibrated once then twice before Agent Coulson pushed the tiny button to answer. "Coulson." He said not really needing to identify himself, but old habits die hard.

"Coulson, I have a level 8 that I'm going to need your help with." The voice belonged to Director Fury; he didn't feel the same need to identify himself that Coulson had. "This is sensitive, involving a newly identified super that we're adding to the index. We need you and your team in on this yesterday; you understand what I'm telling you?"

"You're upgrading the team to level 8?" Coulson replied, sounding slightly disinterested. Since he had learned of Fury's role in his own resurrection, he had been more than distant with the Director. The question he had desperately wanted answered; Fury still had not seen fit to answer… why.

"No, of course not!" Fury replied, noting the sarcasm in Coulson's voice. "It will be on a need to know basis for your team, the level 8 part is where you come in."

"Go," Coulson replied, ready now for the Intel.

"Get the damn BUS to the Nevada desert. I'm sending the coordinates to your cell. We've found something there that I need you to take for us. You have the only mobile command unit that would be safe enough for this Super."

"You want us to take a Super on board the BUS?" Coulson stood up from his desk and began to pace the room. He didn't like the sound of this at all; not just the part about keeping his team in the dark, but having a super on the BUS was probably not the best idea.

"This is a delicate situation Coulson," Fury's voice was low and sounded slightly desperate. "You're the only one I can trust with this. This Super… is, well different. Something has happened and the Super is in danger or at least was. Your team will only know that you're taking the subject into protective custody."

Coulson listened as he made his way to the cockpit of the BUS to inform Agent Melinda May of their detour. "How soon can we reach these coordinates?" he asked, handing her his cell.

"I can have you there in two hours, sir." Agent May replied, glancing just barely at the cell phone he offered her.

"Did you get that sir?" Coulson said, directing his comment to Fury.

"We'll be waiting." Fury replied simply.

"Subjects name, Sir." Coulson did not want him to disconnect the call until he had a little more information about the subject he was brining on board his BUS, with HIS crew.

"Ray." The line went dead and Coulson swore under his breath, knowing that further explanations would have to wait to the rendezvous point.

_/_

Coulson stood with a few members of his team in the cargo hold of the plane, waiting for the landing and the large doors to open. Skye stood on his right, Agent Ward on his left. Skye's arms were folded across her chest; no one seemed to like this new development. They had all been briefed on what little he could tell them and the entire team was not happy about having to harbor some kind of fugitive for SHIELD, at the Directors orders or not.

When the door to the cargo hold was opened, Coulson descended the ramp, motioning for his team to stay put. He needed more answers from Fury before he allowed the man named Ray aboard his BUS.

The SHIELD team was there, men in black suits standing in front of an SUV, Fury opened one of the doors and got out of the passenger's seat. "Coulson." He said by way of greeting.

"Director, I'm afraid I'm going to need a little more information before I let this guy on our BUS." The agent replied, watching his superior through his darkly tinted sunglasses. "I don't think this is safe until I have more info."

Fury nodded, standing closer to the man he had brought back from the dead. "I can't say as there is much to tell you, other than the Super isn't male."

"You said Ray, when we spoke earlier Sir, I assumed it was a male."

"All, we've been able to get out of her, I'm guessing is her name. It was the only question she'll respond to." Fury motioned Coulson forward toward the rear of the SUV. "The only other thing she will say is death, whenever we ask her where she was… where she came from, or what she is… she just says death. I know it's a long shot, but I came to you. You have a way with people Coulson. And right now, this girl could really use a friend."

"How do you know she's a super?" Coulson asked, not ready to open the door to the back seat just yet.

"She quite literally fell from space and lived. The marks she bears… well let's just say no human would be able to survive whatever this girl has been through." Fury looked at his fellow agent for a second, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "You need to prepare yourself before you open that door," The director said in a low whisper. "She's a mess and won't let anyone near her to clean her up and it looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. She's been hurt, it looks like torture, but she won't tell us anything about it. I can tell you this, she is scared. More scared than I have ever seen any one in a long time. Again, this is all why I came to you with this."

Agent Coulson nodded at his superior and reached for the door to the SUV.

"Just so you know," Fury said standing back away from the door. "It took ten of my best men to get her into the vehicle. You better watch yourself."

Again, the agent nodded and opened the door the vehicle. What he saw made him sick to his stomach and he had to swallow a few times to prevent actually vomiting. He had never been this close to this kind of degradation and torture and he had seen some pretty serious shit in his days as a SHIELD agent. The girl in the backseat appeared to be covered in several layers of blood that had dried and peeled away, along with dirt from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, he couldn't see much of what was in the middle, she covered herself with a thin tattered garment that looked to him like a sheet that had been made from some seriously fine material… it was black and it shone with a glossy sheen.

Her eyes were wide with fright and she was shaking uncontrollably. Initially when he opened the door , she flinched away from him, but now she looked up at him expectantly as if there were a hint of recognition in those eyes.

"My name is Agent Phil Coulson," he said softly, squatting down to be more at eye level with her. "I'm going to take you onto that big plane over there, to keep you safe. Is your name Ray?"

The girl before him nodded once.

"Ray, would you like to come with me? I don't want to scare you, but if you're in danger, you'll be safe on the plane with us." He held out his hand at a distance, not wanting to get his ass kicked just trying to get the girl to cooperate.

To his and Fury's surprise the girl met him half way, taking his hand and allowing him to help her out of the vehicle. The more he saw of her as she stepped out of the vehicle made his heart break, whatever this girl had been through, it had been rough.

The sheet she held around her body stopped at the knee and he could tell that she was covered in stab wounds, some of which were still leaking blood as she walked, leaving a trail in the sand as she moved slowly behind Coulson.

"You're men do that to her?" Coulson asked Fury, noting the trail of blood she was leaving behind them.

Fury shook his head, turning around to see what the other agent was referring too. "No, she came with all the wounds you see now. She broke some bones and caused some damage to my men getting her in the vehicle, but not one mark to herself. She seems to like you."

Coulson looked at the girl behind him, she still hadn't let go of his hand and the grip she had on him was tight. He watched his team as he led her up the ramp of the cargo hold; they were as shocked as he had been, at the girl's appearance.

"Ray," he said, trying to pull her out from behind him. "This is some of my team that is going to help me protect you. This is Skye and that over there is Agent Ward." Coulson attempted to once again get her to come out from behind him, but she stayed put, her face, turned away from the others in the cargo hold and she was standing so close to Coulson that he could feel the heat of her presence behind him and she had her other hand balled up into the material of his suit jacket. She continued to shake and her terror was almost a palpable presence.

"Later," he said to the others, dismissing them. Skye and Ward continued to look at the girl for a few more seconds before they looked at each other and turned to go, leaving Coulson and the girl with Director Fury.

"I'll check in." Fury said, turning to go. "Let me know if there are any problems." And with that he was gone, climbing back in to the SUV and with the rest of his men, departing into the vast desert.

Coulson led the scared girl to his office, trying desperately to decide what he was going to do with her. She needed to be cleaned and she needed to have her wounds looked at before she ended up with some sort of strange infection, but she wouldn't allow anyone to touch her. This was going to turn into another headache that he didn't need right now.

Once inside his office the girl named Ray finally let go of his hand; she moved so quickly that he almost didn't see where she had gone. It was dark and quiet in his office and he didn't bother to turn on the larger overhead light, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her even more or break the one bond she had been able to form since … well whatever it was that had happened to her.

He sat at the chair he had been sitting in just a few hours before when the call had come in about the Super, but he made sure to stay well back away from his desk. She was hiding in the small place underneath.

"Ray," he began softly. "No one on this BUS is going to hurt you. I don't know what happened to you, but you're safe now." He paused, listening to her breathing. "I think you should get cleaned up and let our medical team take a look at your wounds. We can help you Ray, but you have to let us."

He waited for a long time, but there was no answer from under the desk. He shook his head trying to imagine what kind of hell the girl had been through. He got up from his seat and went to the small fridge in the room, grabbing a bottle of water and taking it back to his desk. "Ray, are you thirsty? I have water."

Her small hand came out from under the desk, but that was all. It was clear that she wanted the water, but she wasn't willing to come out just yet. He smiled at the hand, putting the bottle in it and sitting back again. "We have all kinds of food here too. Are you hungry?" There was no answer, he wasn't surprised.

"I'd really like to help you Ray, but you have to trust me and my team." There was still no answer and he decided to let her have some time. If he didn't push, she would come to see that they could all be trusted. "I'm going to fix you something to eat, you feel free to stay here. I'll be back soon."

He left his office, careful to shut the door behind him as he left the room. No one else would dare go in there without a direct order, but he wanted the girl to feel safe. Just as he had left the office, agent May approached him.

"We're back in the air sir," she said eyeing the door he'd just closed. "Any idea where you'd like to go next?"

"Not really," he signed and she relaxed slightly next to him.

"Skye told me it was awful."

"She was not lying," Coulson replied, rubbing his index and forefinger on either side of the bridge of his nose. "I'm not sure what the hell was done to her, but whatever it was… it was bad. She's currently hiding under my desk."

"She must have been held in a small dark place. It's the only thing that makes her feel safe at this point." May said, the tone in her voice was more sympathetic than he had heard in years.

"It looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. She's filthy and bloody… I don't know how she survived it."

"How'd you get her out of the SUV?" May asked following him to the kitchen and helping him prepare a small meal for the girl.

"No idea." Coulson replied, trying to focus on the task at hand and not the girl that was hiding under his desk. "I opened the door and it looked almost like… "he paused not sure exactly what he was going to say.

"Like…" May pressed, pausing in her task to watch the other Agent's face.

"Like she recognized me… I swear it was recognition in her eyes. But I've never seen her in my life. She took my hand and that was it. Fury said it took ten of his best to get her in the vehicle."

"What aren't you telling me Phil?" She asked, putting the sandwich she had made onto the plate. "Is she on the index?"

"Not yet, but I'd be willing to bet she will be before much longer." He paused, eating a chip before putting some onto the plate for Ray. "Thing is no one knows what she can do, where she came from or what she is. She won't talk… the only things she's said is her name, Ray… and death. That's it."

"Not one for conversation huh?" May chuckled, softly. "Sounds like my kind of girl."

_/_

Ray remained under the desk in Coulson's office for the remainder of the day. He decided to let her be, She would come out when she was ready and until that time came, there was no point in pushing her, not to mention he didn't want her to not trust him. Right now he was the only one that the girl had decided was worthy of his trust and he wasn't going to be the one to break it.

After staying up as long as he could possibly manage, he decided to just let her sleep under the damn desk if she wanted. He laid a blanket and pillow near the desk before pulling out his own bed. He used his personal bathroom to change and clean up before falling into the bed, almost asleep before his head hit the pillow. This whole day had been exhausting for everyone involved. Tomorrow he would try again to get her to come out and get cleaned up.

_/_

Ray watched the man named Coulson as he lay on the bed on the other side of the room. She knew he was asleep, she could hear his deep even breathing. She came out from under the desk, knowing that no one would be entering the room now, it must have been late. She crawled carefully along the floor, careful not to damage the tattered sheet she held around her body. The garment had seen enough damage already and it was going to take so very long to repair all the damage that had been done. She approached the side of the bed where the agent was sleeping and watched him carefully for a few minutes. He was a good man, she could tell by his soul and she trusted him immediately. The others were still too hard to read. Not being face to face with them was harder to read their souls than if she was able to touch them, but she didn't want to touch them yet.

Rayvenne needed time. She had been through so much at the hands of the titan, she had nearly lost the battle, become what he wanted her to be. But she had been able to escape, after the years of torture she had endured and despite his attempts to band her, she managed to use one last trick to get away from him. Even though the fall had nearly killed her…

She leaned closer to the bed where Coulson slept, his hand hanging over the side of the mattress slightly. Ray took the hand and held it, pressing it to her cheek and hearing the man's story from start to finish. She had missed this race of people while she had been held captive. Yes, she decided, she could trust him, and as she listened to his story again still holding his hand, she drifted into a light but restful sleep. Her first in many years.

A/N:

I know some of this may be confusing now, but I promise it will make sense soon! The little box to the right is empty and lonely! Fill it up and tell me what you thought of this chapter and if you're intrigued enough for me to continue

Thanks
J~