Raina

"I was saddened to learn you weren't clairvoyant. I had a question I didn't get to ask, but now..." "Now the truth is written on the back of my eyes, so, go ahead Flowers, ask." "What will I become?"

- Raina and John Garrett

Raina is a scientist of ambiguous morality. She became devoted to the studying of human nature after meeting a mysterious doctor. Later, she joined the Centipede Project and became a recruiter for the group, aiming to create the Super Soldier. Unbeknownst to her, the Centipede was secretly financed by HYDRA, the terrorist organization bent on global domination.

Her actions attracted the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and she was arrested by Agent Phil Coulson and his team after the Ambush on Oakland Centipede Base and placed in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War she was freed from her prison by HYDRA on the orders of the leader of the Centipede Project, John Garrett, the Clairvoyant, the mastermind behind the Centipede. Now freed, she began to work on the Centipede Project once more, this time focusing on developing a new version of GH.325. She succeeded and injected Garrett with it. After Garrett attempted to take over production of Deathlok Soldiers, she left the Project with Ian Quinn.

After she deserted HYDRA, Raina was reunited with the Doctor. She informed him that she knew where his daughter was. After stealing the alien Obelisk from HYDRA, she was threatened by HYDRA member Daniel Whitehall, who gave her two days to return the Obelisk. Since the Doctor wasn't willing to cooperate, she attempted to blackmail Phil Coulson into surrendering his agent, Skye, the doctor's daughter, to her.

Early Life
"Don't beg. It reminds me of what you were when I found you: hungry, in the streets with just the fairy tales your grandmother told you."

- Skye's Father

Years ago, Skye's Father found Raina as a beggar in the streets, holding onto stories that her grandmother told her. He promised her that he could make them a reality.

Raina began working for the Centipede Project, the scientific branch of HYDRA behind the Centipede process, mainly as a recruiter due to her persuasion skills. She recruited Michael Peterson to be a test-subject for the Centipede process after he lost his job.

Hong Kong
"You need a simpler name. A more powerful name. A name like Scorch." "Scorch? Are you joking?" "Have you ever heard of Steve Rogers? No? But Captain America-- now he's on the news, on a lunch box, on a poster on the wall."

- Raina and Chan Ho Yin

Raina would later approach Miles Lydon and pay him a million dollars to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. for information about a super-powered pyrokinetic, a Hong Kong native named Chan Ho Yin.

Raina approached Chan after seeing one of his street performances in Hong Kong, and after talking her way into his apartment, abducted him for her mysterious employers. Working with the doctor known only as Debbie, who was attempting to stabilize the Extremis element of the Centipede Serum, Raina assisted in the harvesting of the fire-proof platelets in Chan's blood that kept his power from burning him alive. After getting what they needed from Chan, he was scheduled to have all of his blood drained from his body.

Before that happened, Chan escaped and confronted Raina and Debbie. Raina closed the elevator door that separated her and Debbie and escaped, saving herself, leaving Debbie to be incinerated by Chan.

Raina later visited a prisoner named Edison Po at the Havenworth Federal Penitentiary. She informed Po that with the stabilization of the Centipede Serum, "Stage One" of the project had been completed and that they were moving into "Stage Two". She then asked Po to contact someone known only as "The Clairvoyant" for their mutual employers for any insights he might have as to "Stage Three".

California
"Will you tell me what he's like?" "Never. The last person who tried to learn such things got a knife for it. I don't want to have to do that again, Raina. You have such pretty eyes." "I understand. You can't even whisper to me about him." "No, I can't."

- Raina and Edison Po, speaking about the Clairvoyant.

Soon after, the Centipede Project arranged for Edison Po's escape. Raina was in Oakland, California, assisting Po and bringing him up to date on the project's progress.

Raina inquired about the nature of the Clairvoyant to Po, who was adamant in not revealing any details about him.

Raina assisted Po in setting up an unsuccessful ambush on the S.H.I.E.L.D. unit under the command of Agent Phil Coulson, where Po realized that Coulson and his mysterious return from the dead was the key to Centipede's plans. Later, at Po's direction, Raina kidnapped the son of S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee and Centipede test-subject Michael Peterson in order to bring about another confrontation.

At the meeting, Peterson betrayed Coulson to Raina in exchange for the safe return of his son. Raina escaped by helicopter with Coulson to a location in the Mojave Desert.

The Mojave Desert
"You didn't just give your life, you gave up your chance at a normal one, at love. And she did love you, Agent Coulson." "How could you know that?" "Do you miss her? Dinners at the Richmond. Do you miss hearing her play? You didn't even have a chance to say goodbye." "I couldn't... I can't..." "She cried for days after S.H.I.E.L.D. told her you died. They shattered her heart with a lie, and now they're lying to you." "No. No they're not." "I know you don't want to believe it, but you can't tell me nothing makes you doubt, makes you wonder what happened in Tahiti."

- Raina and Phil Coulson, the former attempting to win the latter's trust.

At the Centipede Project site in the Mojave Desert, Edison Po worked on interrogating Phil Coulson, using a Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine designed to unlock hidden memories, while Raina saw to the recovery of Michael Peterson, who survived an explosion set by Centipede back in Long Beach. This lasted until the Clairvoyant grew impatient with Po's progress and killed him, giving Raina the job of finding out Coulson's secrets.

Through persuasion and emotional manipulation regarding Coulson's former lover, Raina convinced Coulson to not resist and let the machine do its work. While Coulson was under the machine's influence, his team arrived to affect his rescue. Raina was incapacitated by Skye, and taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

That S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to take Raina into custody alive would indicate that she was not outfitted with a Backscatter X-Ray Eye Implant.

The Hunt for the Clairvoyant
Agent Skye asked Phil Coulson if, during his time in the Mojave Desert, Raina mentioned the death of his father. Skye had found that information in Coulson's psychological profile; it was called "a defining moment" in Coulson's life. Correlating the two caused Coulson to realize that the Clairvoyant is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Arguing with Agent Coulson about why Victoria Hand should be killed instead of sedated if she was the Clairvoyant, Agent John Garrett said that Coulson and Raina were both subjects of the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine, a fact that Coulson revealed to no one. This knowledge led Coulson to realize that Garrett was the Clairvoyant.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War
"What are you doing here?" "A gift from the Clairvoyant."

- Raina and Grant Ward

During the conflict between the S.H.I.E.L.D. remnants and HYDRA, John Garrett organized Raina's release by sending Grant Ward to retrieve her; he even included a new flower-print dress for her. Upon meeting with Garrett, and learning he was the one known as the Clairvoyant at the Barbershop Headquarters in Havana, Cuba, Raina was very disappointed to learn that Garrett was not actually clairvoyant. Garrett won Raina over by presenting her with G.H. drugs recovered from the Guest House, and asked her to move the Centipede Project into "Phase Three".

Raina was unable to make much headway, however, as Skye had encrypted the hard drive containing the files on the drugs so that only she could access them. In response, Garrett sent Ward to capture her. Raina also presented Ian Quinn to Garrett, and seemed to delight in Quinn's discomfort at the situation.

Further Disillusionment
"I thought Agent Garrett shared my interest in special people, in transformation, but now I realize he's just afraid to die."

- Raina to Grant Ward

Raina's scientists recreated GH.325, but they could only make one vial, which she presented to John Garrett. When Deathlok asked her about her motives, she explained that she wanted to help special people achieve their potential. Then she witnessed as Garrett's body began to fail and Grant Ward ordered her to leave as he helped Garrett's cybernetics take control. When Raina found information from Coulson's Team Hard Drive pertaining to Skye's past, she called Ward, because she was disappointed that Garrett only wanted the drug for his own survival. She told him about rumors she heard about monsters destroying a village in China and her belief that those monsters were Skye's parents. When Garrett's cybernetics failed because of Leo Fitz's use of the EMP Joy Buzzer, he asked Raina to inject the drug into him so he wouldn't die and she watched as he was strengthened.

No Allegiance
"I found your daughter."

- Raina

After Raina let him know that she was not allied with HYDRA, the Centipede Project or him, the enhanced John Garrett convinced her that he could answer the question that she wondered since hearing of the "Clairvoyant"; so she asked him, "What will I become?" As Raina and Quinn were leaving with the Gravitonium, Ward stopped her, but she told him that chasing Skye was more important. Eventually, Raina went to a guarded room where she showed a picture of Skye to a mysterious man and told him that she knew where his daughter was.

The Obelisk
"Let me be clear: Mr. Creel is working for HYDRA; I am not!" "Why the break-up? Bad dental plan?" "HYDRA only has one thing on their minds: world domination, which is so 1945."

- Raina and Phil Coulson

Several months later, Raina was given the task of recovering the Obelisk, a mysterious alien artifact recovered by HYDRA in World War II. She approached Carl Creel, a superpowered man who had been infected by the Obelisk's potent effects, and offered him a carbyne ring to help him fight the effects in exchange for the artifact. Not taking Raina seriously, Creel stole the ring from her, warning her to avoid HYDRA. Unknown to Creel, the ring had a tracking device.

The next morning, Raina contacted to Coulson and alerted him that Creel could be tracked. She assured Coulson that she had no loyalty to HYDRA. During the commotion that Lance Hunter caused trying to assassinate Creel, Raina stole the briefcase containing the obelisk before Sunil Bakshi could get it and presented it to Skye's Father. He insisted that she touch it, and she hesitantly did so. When she was unaffected by its power, the man told her that it allowed her to live and all will be explained upon delivery of Skye.

Raina booked a flight to Florida to find a painting with the Words of Creation inscribed on its back. She was captured by Daniel Whitehall. He told Raina that she had forty-eight hours to return the Obelisk to him as he relayed a story of how he kept a woman alive and conscious for a week as he performed painful invasive surgery on her.

File Transfer
"If you ask me, Coulson let you off easy." "I didn't ask."

- Lance Hunter and Raina

Raina ran to Skye's Father and begged him for the Obelisk, scared of what Daniel Whitehall would do to her. He grabbed her by the throat and asked her if she feared Whitehall more than him. Loosening his grip, he told Raina to plead to Whitehall for her life.

Raina went to the HYDRA Laboratories. Upon entering, she saw Jemma Simmons and followed her as she sent a message to S.H.I.E.L.D. Raina then called Phil Coulson to set up a meeting.

Lance Hunter, Skye, and Melinda May took positions in a restaurant as Coulson met with Raina. She told him that she would transfer a picture file showing Simmons betraying HYDRA to HYDRA Laboratories unless he released Skye to her custody in two minutes. Coulson refused and allowed the picture to be sent. Raina was shocked by his actions and pleaded with him to let her take Skye. She revealed the  true purpose of her meeting. Coulson then had Hunter tag Raina so he could if Whitehall ever found her, he could also find her, allowing him to rescue her and take down Whitehall. She revealed where Skye's father stayed and was allowed to leave.

When Skye asked Grant Ward how he could find her father without Raina, Ward assured her that he could.

Abilities

 * Persuasion: Raina has the ability to talk a person into doing what she wants by telling them what he wants to hear and allowing him to bring down his defenses. This ability was key in the plans of the Clairvoyant, who made her the Centipede Project's recruiter. However, this ability seems only to work on males. Unlike Lorelei, whose enchantment is magical in nature, Raina's persuasive skills come from sounding sympathetic and caring about what her mark desires until it ultimately becomes what she desires. An example of this was her persuasion of Phil Coulson into using the Theta Brain-Wave Frequency Machine. Those who have studied her methods, such as Daniel Whitehall, do not allow her to talk in order to stay ahead of her.
 * Chemist: Raina was one of the creators of the Centipede Serum and was instrumental in creating an army of Centipede Soldiers.

Relationships

 * HYDRA - Former Allies
 * Daniel Whitehall - Torturer
 * Centipede Project
 * John Garrett †
 * Grant Ward
 * Debbie †
 * Edison Po †
 * Ian Quinn
 * Chan Ho Yin/Scorch † - Former Test Subject, turned Enemy
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. - Enemies
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson
 * Melinda May
 * Leo Fitz
 * Jemma Simmons
 * Skye
 * Lance Hunter
 * Skye's Father - Ally
 * Deathlok - Ally (under HYDRA coercion), now Enemy

Trivia

 * A character called Raina appears in the comic books. She is a member of the Hauk'ka from the Savage Lands. This is referenced in Beginning of the End when John Garrett tells Raina that they are "prehistoric creatures".
 * Over the course of the series Raina has had fourteen different outfits and all of the them, except her prison uniform, have been dresses with flowers on them.
 * During production, Girl in the Flower Dress was going to be titled Scorch, but by the time it was shot, Ruth Negga's performance as Raina impressed so much the producers that they renamed the episode to reference her character.