Dangerous New Enemies

Training. It seemed like that was all that Amanda was doing since she had become Water Witch. Training. And testing. Testing to find out why the serum had affected her differently than Andrew. Testing to find the limits of her power and training to push those limits further.
It was after a training session with some other agents. As she changed into normal clothes, she took off the cuffs that had dampened her powers. It had been a melee combat session, after all. Her powers would have given her an unfair advantage.
It was merely a coincidence, but as Amanda removed her cuffs, an earthquake hit. The alarms started blaring. And Amanda started getting a headache.
A bunch of agents ran down the hall, past the doorway. Amanda had to know what was going on. As soon as she finished changing, she ran out into the hall.
She followed the agents and ran into Nick Fury. Literally. After they recovered, Fury said, "Agent Fisher. Just the woman I wanted to see. We might need your help."
"What do you need my help with?" Amanda asked.
"Come with me." Fury took her to the room where they had held her and Andrew in just a couple of weeks ago. Andrew's cell was still broken, but the cell Amanda had been in was now occupied. "Her name is Bianca Evans. She was studying the serum that gave you your powers when that quake hit. She unintentionally drank some of it. Now, we expect that the serum shouldn't kick in for about an hour. That's how long it took for you and Andrew."
"But when she wakes up," Amanda concluded, "you need me on deck in case she loses control like Andrew did."
Fury nodded. "But, in the meantime, I think it might be best for you to talk to Agents Fitz and Simmons about the serum."

Amanda was in Fitzsimmons lab. They were explaining the serum to her.
"So, Agent Fisher," said Fitz, "we managed to recover serum samples from five different containers from your mission."
"Yes," said Simmons, "we got samples from both the pot and the bowl you had been holding when the team arrived, as well as samples from three other bowls. And the results were rather interesting."
"What do you mean?" Asked Amanda.
"Well, we found that the contents from two of the other bowls were almost the same as what was in the pot you were holding. We believe that that is the original serum."
"We found that the contents of the third bowl were different from the serum, but not by much. We guess it's one of the ingredients. But the bowl you were holding, that was the most interesting. Look at this." Simmons typed something into the computer and a graphic appeared on the screen. "This bar, right here, that is the serum we found in the pot."
"But this bar, that is the serum that was in the bowl. And as you can see, there is a noticeable difference between them."
"The second sample," said Amanda, "that's the one I drank."
"And we're thinking that that is why your powers are so different from Andrew's. You two took different serums."
"But the question remains, what is the difference?"
"I can think of one," said Amanda. "I touched the serum before I drank it."
"That might make the difference, depending on what was on your hand."
"Well, by that point, I was sweating, and I had gunpowder residue all over my fingers."
"That would certainly help. But there must be something else."
Just then, the alarms went off again. An agent burst into the room. "Agent Fisher, she's started turning."
"I'm coming," Amanda said, heading to the door. Just before she left the room, she said to Fitzsimmons, "Oh, also, Andrew had already drunk a bit before I did."

Amanda was standing outside Bianca's cell. Bianca was clearly in pain from the serum. That scream could only have come from someone in a primal amount of pain. And Amanda could feel it.
The headache she had gotten during the earthquake had returned. And every time Bianca screamed, Amanda's headache worsened. Somehow, Amanda and Bianca were connected. And somehow, she knew that Andrew was feeling the pain too.
And, just like during Amanda's transition, the pain suddenly stopped. Bianca sat down on the floor. Just like with Amanda, Bianca's muscles grew as they watched. And then it was all over.
"Bianca?" Amanda asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not a rage monster like Andrew if that's what you're asking."
"Do you think you are ready to come out?"
"Sure."
Amanda opened Bianca's cell. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I've just come out of the pool after a couple of hours."
"Yeah, you'll get over it quickly."
They walked into the hallway. When Amanda saw the twenty-some-odd SHIELD agents all pointing weapons in their direction, she said, "Stand down. She's not dangerous." The agents didn't move. "Stand down!"
Bianca looked at all the unmoving agents with fear. She panicked and stuck out her hand. Suddenly a black doorway opened in midair. Still panicking, Bianca rashly jumped through the doorway. The doorway closed behind her.
The agents all looked around, trying to figure out where she went. Amanda, her arm out as if she were still trying to support Bianca, said, "Well, that's a new one."

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" Fury asked Amanda.
"Bianca opened a portal and stepped through," Amanda answered. "Beyond that, I have no clue. I certainly can't do that."
"You two drank the same serum."
"And mutants all have the same gene," Amanda countered. She could tell that Fury was about to try and argue, but realized her point. "Look, I don't know anything about the serum. If you want to know why Bianca could do that, ask either Fitzsimmons or Andrew."
"Fitzsimmons are still working on the serum. And I don't think Andrew will cooperate."
"We might as well try."

Andrew was sitting alone in his cell. He was no longer a monster and was back to being a regular person. Fury was pressuring him.
"What do you know about the serum? How does it work?"
Andrew chuckled. "I don't know how it works. I was just given mixing instructions. And if you're wondering about the difference between Water Witch and that Black Ghost, you're asking the wrong guy."
"What do you mean?" asked Amanda.
"The serum that CHARTER had me mix, that was designed to make people like me. To be able to turn us into strong brutes. Everyone who took that serum underwent the same transformation. Water Witch and Black Ghost should not have happened."
Fury walked off. Amanda followed after him. "Something to remember, agent," Fury said while they were walking, "sometimes interrogations still give you some information, even if it's not the info you wanted."
"How so?"
"He gave us the name CHARTER, for one. He also confirmed that you and Bianca taking slightly different serums is what caused you two to have such different powers. And he also revealed a much more terrifying bit of info."
"He was not the only one to have taken that serum," Amanda filled in.

A few hours later, they were talking to Fitzsimmons.
"What's the damage?" Fury asked.
"Well, we have some interesting news," said Fitz. "With the info, you gathered from Andrew, we've run some simulations over the different serums."
"According to the simulations," said Simmons, "the original CHARTER serum should have the same effect on whoever takes it. However, with the new serum, the effects are rather interesting."
"We ran simulations to show what would happen if various SHIELD agents took it," said Fitz. "And based on the genetic changes that Amanda and Bianca underwent, we've calculated that the effect of the new serum should change from person to person. For example, our simulations are suggesting that maybe if Agent West took it, he'd get fire powers."
"Or perhaps if Agent Vaughan took it, he'd have powers like Magneto."
"Okay, but have you two been able to track down Agent Evans?" asked Fury.
"Unfortunately, sir, we have not," said Simmons. "We did detect an interesting energy signature when she opened that portal, but we have not detected that since."
Just then the lights went red and the alarms blared.
Fury got on the radio. "What's going on?"
"We're under attack. Four CHARTER berserkers have broken in."

It took very little time for the berserkers to reach the lab.
Water Witch tried her best to hold them off. She had taken care of Andrew the day before, but she was up against four of them.
She did manage to hold them off for five minutes, long enough for Fury and Fitzsimmons to get out of the lab. But then one of the berserkers reached her. The berserker grabbed her arms and threw her down the hallway. She hit a wall and everything went black.

She had no idea how long it had been when she woke up. But she had not expected to see what she saw once she woke up. At the end of the hall, two of the berserkers were fighting. And she recognized one. It was Andrew. But what was he doing?
Amanda carefully got to her feet. She had to intervene. She took a step forward and felt pain throughout her body.
Andrew saw her and stuck out his hand in a symbol of "Don't. I've got this." Andrew and the other berserker kept fighting. Amanda took another step forward and collapsed from all the pain. She saw Andrew fight the other berserker towards the door. Then they moved outside.
Outside, Andrew kept moving the other berserker backward. Then the other berserker lunged at Andrew. Andrew grabbed the other berserker's wrists and threw him like a hammer, over a cliff. Andrew saw no sign of him when he looked over.
He went back inside and saw about twenty SHIELD agents pointing their guns at him. Until Fury ordered them to stand down.

As Amanda was recovering in a cot she learned what had happened. The berserkers had broken into Fitzsimmons' lab and taken most of the serum samples, including the new serum. But before that, they had gone past Andrew's cell. Andrew had been asked to be let out, but the other berserkers said that they weren't there for him.
After Fury had left the lab, he had let Andrew out, figuring he might have been able to help.
When the berserkers had broken into the lab and took the serum, they took every bit of the new serum. But SHIELD still had some left.
Simmons had stashed a small vial of it in the wall, and the Berserkers didn't know to look there. And, when Andrew had been fighting the last berserker, he'd lifted another small amount of the new serum off of him.
Fury told Fitzsimmons to keep studying the serum, and possibly make more. CHARTER had a dangerous new weapon. And SHIELD would need some to deal with it. But Fury's opinion would soon change.