Author's Note: Not only do I have exams I also have writer's block so updates may take a while. Thanks for all the reviews and follows.

Warning: There are some bloody descriptions in this chapter, be warned if you don't like blood don't read the last 250 words or so

Chapter 8 – When the Rain Falls

Tracking Raina had proved harder than Ward thought it would be. His first thought was to track down Ian Quinn, hoping to find Raina with him. Ward tracked down Quinn quickly, only he was alone. He would have considered it a wasted trip if he hadn't got to punch the man, very hard, in the gut, twice before he delivered Quinn to Fury's little jail. He briefly wondered if he should break his no killing policy for Quinn but decided against it, if he broke it once it would be easier to break next time and the time after than until he was nothing but the serial killer Skye thought he was.

Ward followed every lead he could, every rumour about Raina. He even went to superhuman sightings in the hope that her quest for evolution would lead her to the same place. For almost a month all Ward got was dead ends. He went from country to country, following lead after lead. He went from the deserts of Africa to the snow of Siberia within a week. When he wasn't running half way around the world on a fool's errand Ward was in Fury's bunker. It reminded Ward of prison, only slightly brighter and he wasn't in a cage all the time, only when operatives who didn't know of his deal with Fury were on base and even then Ward had to admit it was a gilded cage. It was during one of these times of solitude that Ward finally found what he was looking for. There were no sighting, no rumours, it was almost if there was a hole in the sightings and security net that Fury had created. Ward had no doubt that he would find Raina at the very centre of the hole. Now all he needed to do was wait for someone who called himself Falcon to leaver and Ward could begin his hunt anew.

The town that Ward eventually found himself in wasn't exactly the centre of the universe. In fact the entire adult male population managed to fit in the local bar come five o'clock. By five minutes past five Ward had already heard about the attractive, single woman who had taken up residence just outside of town. A woman in the habit of wearing flower dresses whenever she made the trip into town. Rumour was she was a scientist who wanted to conduct her research away from the big cities. Ward left quickly after learning of the farm's location, before he too could become the subject of the town's rumour mill.

It took Ward twenty minutes to find the farm. The only building on the property was the house, little more than a shack. After having met Raina, Ward doubted the woman had planned to stay in a place like this for long. He watched the house from a distance for almost three hours, by then Ward was confident that no one was home. The plan was to wait inside for Raina to return, that way he could surprise her and hopefully have her detained quickly.

However the second he opened the door Ward knew something was wrong. The house smelled of blood, a lot of blood, there was a trail of it leading to and from the door. Whoever had been bleeding had done so both when they had entered and exited the house. But the smell was stronger than it should have been if it had only been the trail of blood. Ward stepped carefully, following the trail of blood, gun ready, just in case.

Ward had seen a lot of dead people, he'd even been responsible for the death of some of those people but nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met him in the living room. By the flower dress, he had to assume the body on the floor had once been Raina, there wasn't much of left of her now. Whoever, whatever, had gotten to her hadn't been quick. From what was left of the woman Ward had to guess she had been flayed alive, Ward grimaced, no-one deserved to die that way, not even Raina.

Checking the rest of the house, Ward found it was empty whoever, whatever had done this was long gone, by the stench he guessed Raina had been dead for about two or three hours before he'd even got into town.

However it wasn't the body that chilled Ward to the bone, it was the collage of pictures on the wall. Someone whose hands had been covered in blood had fingered nearly every single one of them, as if they were looking for something. Every single photo was of the same person and whoever killed Raina now had their eyes set on that person.

Every single picture was of Skye.

Pulling out his phone Ward sent a message to Fury:

We have a problem.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Halfway around the world Leo Fitz woke up screaming.

Author's Note: There is a reason, please don't hate me.