The New Karmi

A few minutes later, the Quinjet, accompanied by Star Knight's fighter, arrived back at the Helicarrier. As everyone disembarked, the Talia and Tyserian were led to the meeting room to speak with Director Fury. The new team walked behind them.

"Well, aside from getting my rear end smacked into next week, I'd say that mission went pretty well." Artillery said.

"More or less," Nightlock said, "I would have made more strikes, but you guys kept getting in the way."

"We're supposed to be a team, Nightlock," Liz said.

"Look, we understand going solo is more your thing, Nightlock," Assimilate said, "But she's got a point. If we REALLY want to pull this thing off, we have to work together."

"Whatever," Nightlock scoffed.

Just then, Agent Coulson ran out to meet them.

"Connors!" he said, "There's something we need you to see."

"What happened?" Jake asked, in human form, "Is it Karmi?"

"It is." Coulson replied.

"Is she okay?" Jake asked, fear beginning to creep into his voice.

"She's alive," Coulson replied, "But something's happened. We're not sure how to explain it."

"I'll come too," Artillery said, "If it's something science-y, I might be able to help."

Coulson nodded, then turned to lead them down to the containment area.

"This isn't the medbay," Jake said.

"No, it isn't," Coulson said, "This is our meta containment area."

"Meta?"

"People with super powers," Artillery explained.

Jake then froze: "Coulson," he asked, "What happened to her?"

…

A few minutes later, what Jake saw shocked him to his very core. Karmi was alive, but she had changed greatly. As Jake looked, he say that the entire left half of her body was bristling with electricity, giving it a light blue color, while the right half of her body was completely normal.

"How did this happen?" Artillery asked.

"We don't know," Coulson replied, "She woke up a few minutes after you had left. When one of our medics tried to take her blood pressure, he got electrocuted the second he touched her arm."

"Well, things like this don't just HAPPEN," Artillery said, "There has to be some reason she's now like this."

Jake quickly realized what may have happened: "I think I know what happened."

"What?" Coulson asked.

"When we battled Di's security bots, Karmi got slammed into a shelf full of vials with the mutation serum we were stealing. It must have been that part of her that got soaked in the serum."

"That doesn't make sense," Coulson said, "We analyzed that serum from the vials you gave us. It couldn't mutate anything. It still needed an extra ingredient to determine the course of mutation."

"You said she was stunned by an electric prod of some kind, right?" Artillery asked Jake.

"Yeah." Jake replied.

Artillery nodded: "I think that was what caused the serum to activate. It acted as that extra ingredient, and, judging from how she looks, I'd say it only affected everywhere the serum touched her."

"She's gotta be scared half to death right now," Jake said, "I need to talk to her."

"Not so sure if you can," Coulson said, "She doesn't exactly have control of her powers and…"

"You think I care!?" Jake said, his voice rising in anger, "She's my friend. I got her into this mess when I trained her to be a hero, and now I gotta be there for her the rest of the way. I'm going in there, one way or another."

Coulson sighed; it was no use changing Jake's mind. He pressed a button on the wall, opening the door into Karmi's cell.

"We'll pull you out if things get bad." He told Jake. Jake nodded to Coulson and then walked in, approaching Karmi.

"Karmi?" he said softly, "Are you okay?"

Karmi turned her head to see Jake, then quicky backed away, her eyes wide in fear.

"Please," she said, her voice sounding a bit different, as if she was talking through a running fan, "Stay away, Jake. I don't want to hurt you."

Jake put his hands up: "That's okay. I don't want to touch you or anything. I just want to talk; I want to try and help."

"How can you help THIS?!" Karmi said, pointing to her electrified half, "I'm some kind of freak of nature now!"

"No you're not. I've seen some real freaks of nature, and I can say you're not one of them. You're still you; you're still the same girl whom I made a friend in and trained to be a superhero. Speaking of, you could consider this a new superpower."

Karmi began to calm down a bit after a few moments: "You think so?"

"Absolutely." Jake replied, smiling warmly, "The only problem is that I might have to make some adjustments to your outfit to help conduct and insulate the electricity, otherwise someone's gonna get zapped."

Karmi laughed a bit. As Jake watched, the electricity in her body began to die down, turning her skin normal.

"Interesting," Artillery said, watching from outside, "Her powers are connected to her emotions."

"Yeah, that is interesting." Coulson said, "You think it might be safe to let her out."

"I think so."

Coulson nodded, then got Jake's attention: "Connors!"

Jake turned around: "What?"

"I think it's safe for us to let her out now. She seems to have some control of her new powers after all."

Jake turned back to Karmi: "You hear that? They're letting you out now."

Karmi lit up: "About time!" she said, her voice sounding normal now.

"I heard what you said about the outfit, by the way," Artillery said, "I'll see what I can do, though I might need some help."

"Thank you!" Karmi said, "That would be best."

"Guys, I just got a call from Director Fury," Coulson said, "You're all needed in the conference room."

"Alright, we're coming." Jake said. Then, turning to Karmi, "You ready?" he asked, holding out his hand. Cautiously, Karmi took it, and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't end up electrocuting Jake. Once that happened, Jake led her out of the cell, and, joining Coulson and Artillery, they went up to the conference room to meet with the rest of the team.