Diviner

"Not everything we dug out of the ground was an antique, my friend. Some of it was quite advanced." "Is this the reason these men...? Hmm?" "Ja. The Red Skull said it may hold the answer... the answer to death itself."

- Werner Reinhardt and HYDRA Officer

The Diviners are items constructed by the Kree thousands of years ago as a containment device for the Terrigen Crystals. At least one of them was procured by HYDRA during World War II and dubbed the Obelisk. In 1945 the Obelisk was confiscated by the Strategic Scientific Reserve where it was the first 0-8-4. In 2014, it was stolen by Raina, who gave it to Calvin Zabo, who in turn gave it to HYDRA in exchange for their help in killing Phil Coulson. Raina then stole it from HYDRA, and brought it to the temple inside the Kree City under San Juan, and began the Terrigenesis process for her and Skye.

Origin
Diviners are constructs of the Kree that were built with the purpose of carrying Terrigen Crystals. The Kree built it so that only Humans with certain genetic patterns could be able to hold it, and then bring it to a large city buried beneath the Earth; those with incompatible genetic structures suffered horrible deaths. Once joined with a temple structure within the city, the Diviners would open up to reveal the crystals, which would subsequently exhale Terrigen Mists, triggering the transformation of their holders into Inhumans.

World War II
"And that, you must never touch."

- Peggy Carter

The residents of a Chinese village in Hunan Province were searching for the Diviner during World War II. They found it in Chaves, Portugal in 1945. Unfortunately for them, that location was also a dig site of a HYDRA General Werner Reinhardt, whose team captured the villagers and the Diviner, which they named the Obelisk. Reinhardt's superior officer, the Red Skull, believed it to be a unique artifact that held the answer to death itself. Once the Diviner was securely in HYDRA's posession, it was transported to Reinhardt's fortress in Austria, where Reinhardt studied its effects on his prisoners. Among Reinhardt's prisoners was Jiaying, a resident of the village who carried the Inhuman genetics and thus survived direct contact with the Diviner. Before they had a chance to investigate this strange circumstance, they were forced to relocate following the death of the Red Skull by Captain America. Eventually, the Diviner, along with the rest of the objects in the cache, was recovered by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and kept in storage by S.H.I.E.L.D. for the following decades. The Diviner came to be known as the first 0-8-4.

Retrieving the Artifact
"I can't let go!"

- Isabelle Hartley

After the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Diviner was stored by the United States Government in a facility supervised by Glenn Talbot. Daniel Whitehall, the HYDRA agent who originally discovered the Diviner in 1945, hired Carl Creel to retrieve it for him. However, a small group of former S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives discovered it first, resulting in a scuffle with Creel. During the altercation, Agent Isabelle Hartley grabbed the Diviner and succumbed to its effects, forcing Agent Lance Hunter to amputate her hand to keep it from killing her. She died anyway, though, when Creel attacked their SUV and then made off with the Diviner.

In an attempt to protect himself from the Diviner's power, Creel turned his skin into rubber, but this did not deter the Diviner's effects, and a piece of it became melded into his body. The Diviner was soon stolen from Creel by Raina, who delivered it to Calvin Zabo, Jiaying's vengeful and unstable husband who had some knowledge of the Diviner and the Kree. The man ordered Raina to hold the Diviner, and she was able to grasp it without triggering its potent effects. Instead, the Diviner glowed a bright orange, confirming Raina's Inhuman potential.

Raina was attempting to go to Miami when she was captured by Whitehall, who gave her forty-eight hours to bring him the Diviner or he would personally torture her.

Fearing for her life, Raina begged Zabo to let her borrow the Diviner, but he refused. Eventually, Zabo brought the Diviner to Daniel Whitehall at the HYDRA Laboratories. After revealing its true name in its native language, he told Whitehall that not only would he teach him how to use its power, but how to survive it. The doctor then offered Whitehall an alliance against their common enemy, Phil Coulson.

Weaponized
Daniel Whitehall sought to turn the Diviner into a weapon prior to the arrival of Calvin Zabo; he had one of his top scientists, Doctor Lingenfelter, work on the project, but she could not duplicate its power using only the skin cell samples of a waitress who was petrified. Sunil Bakshi was the contact person for a group of HYDRA agents who acted as the wait staff at a wedding where they put a chemical in the champagne hoping to duplicate the power. Only a few died from the incident.

Whitehall had a meeting with his scientists, including Jemma Simmons (working undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Kenneth Turgeon. Simmons told Whitehall that the Diviner could be weaponized, but only with a sample, since extraterrestrial metals react differently than expected on a cellular level.

The Splinter Bombs were created and used by HYDRA after the alliance with Zabo was made. Using designs from Vincent Beckers, Toshiro Mori modernized a weapon that could deliver a chemical that petrified, then disintegrated its victim on contact.

"It's All Connected"
"Whitehall didn't even know about the city until I turned him onto it. He thinks the Diviner is just a weapon, he has no idea of its true power. Of what's inside. Oh, there's something inside." "What are we talking about? Tesseract-level power?" "Sure... I don't know what that is."

- Calvin Zabo and Phil Coulson

Unable to sleep, Skye confided in Phil Coulson that she was upset because everything that is happening seems to be connected. She mentioned the Diviner's connection to her father, HYDRA, the carved symbols, GH.325, and Grant Ward.

Daniel Whitehall was angered when his top scientists told him things he knew about the Diviner since 1945. Calvin Zabo was brought in and told him that he could edit whatever Whitehall thought he knew about the artifact. The doctor chided Whitehall for assuming the Diviner was simply a weapon and revealed that the Diviner was a key to an ancient city and that he wanted a team to find it.

In Laura Creek, Australia, Zabo had an encounter with Phil Coulson and told him that the Diviner was specifically the key to something within the city's temple. Coulson wondered if this secret was similar to the Tesseract, but the doctor was unable to confirm or deny this, having never heard of the Tesseract.

Transformation
Daniel Whitehall and Calvin Zabo eventually found the city in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Skye, the daughter of Zabo and Jiaying had been captured by HYDRA and brought to San Juan on Zabo's orders, something that Whitehall did not authorize. He held Skye at gunpoint, ordering her to touch the Diviner to determine if she could survive its effects, as her mother did years ago. When she grabbed it, it glowed with symbols, confirming her potential. Skye used the artifact to kill a HYDRA operative, but his fellow guards quickly surrounded and detained her.

When Phil Coulson led a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to rescue Skye, Raina used the distraction to steal the Diviner and enter the Kree City. Inside, she encountered Alphonso Mackenzie, under the control of the city; when he saw her carrying the artifact, he led her to the temple. Skye pursued Raina into the temple. As Raina was telling Skye that it was their destiny to be together at that moment in that place, the Diviner left Raina's hand and floated to a nearby pedestal in the center of the room. Antoine Triplett entered the temple in hopes of rescuing Skye, but the temple doors closed shut. Suddenly, the Diviner opened to reveal the Terrigen Crystals, which filled the room with Terrigen Mist. Skye and Raina began to undergo Terrigenesis, and Triplett, believing that the Diviner was killing the women, kicked the pedestal, causing the Diviner to shatter. A fragment of the Diviner then impaled itself into Triplett's abdomen, petrifying him, while Skye and Raina completed their transformations.

The transformation of Skye and Raina triggered a response in the other Diviners scattered across the world. One of them was in the care of an Inhuman named Gordon, who set out to deal with the newcomers.

The Remaining Five
Vin-Tak, a Kree, arrived on Earth seeking the Diviners when he learned that one had been activated. In a grotto in Chaves, Portugal, he uncovered the box in which the ancient Kree hid the artifacts; before he could open it, he was apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. When the box was opened, it was empty. A quest was started as to the location of the remaining five.