A Storm of Fate

         As Alex finished writing the first story for his new character, "Accell", he found an old file. The origin story of a hero he had thought up a couple years prior, a hero named Overload. Alex remembered all his ideas for Overload. Perhaps it was time to bring Overload back. He'd make a great counterpart to Accell.
         But two characters wasn't enough for Alex. He wanted a third character. But what could he do for that? Then he thought of something. That weird dream he'd had, around the time he came up with Overload. He'd been planning on making a story about that, but never got around to that. Maybe now was the time.
         And as Alex began to write the story of Water Witch, across the multiverse, Amanda Fisher's new life began.

         Amanda was working with S.H.I.E.L.D. on one of the most important missions in her life. For months, she had heard rumors of a new evil organization, one which had the ability to create dangerous super humans. And for months she had waited for the chance to go out into the field.
         That day had finally arrived. The evil organization had allegedly started concocting a large amount of the super serum. Amanda was tasked with disrupting the operation, and destroying the serum.
         The quinjet dropped her and a small backup squad off in a remote field, far enough away from the operation that they wouldn't be able to see Amanda's team.
         Amanda went in first. Though Fury had advised her to go in with her team, she figured that she'd be able to take care of it on her own.
         At first, it seemed to be working. The person mixing up the serum had their back to Amanda, so she was able to flip over some of the serum pots easily. Eventually, however, he realized that he was not alone. He turned around and saw Amanda. Then he started mixing the serum in the bowl he was focusing on more rapidly. Amanda knew what he was trying to do. She couldn't let him take that serum.
         She started running towards him, kicking over serum pots as she did. She also shot some of the further pots with her gun. She would have shot at the man, but it looked like he was wearing armor.
         Just before she reached the man, he finished mixing the serum and started to drink it. No, Amanda thought. When she reached the man, she tried to pull the bowl away from him. The two began a sort of tug-of-war with the bowl.
         At some point, Amanda thought her fingers touched the serum mixture, as she yanked hard on the bowl. However, with that hard yank, the man's grip on the bowl loosened just enough that she accidentally pulled the bowl to her own mouth, and accidentally drank some of the serum herself.
         Amanda started panicking in her head. She hadn't intended on drinking the serum. What would happen to her now? Another pull on the bowl brought her back to reality. It didn't matter what would happen to her. Not at the moment, anyway. What did matter was stopping this operation.
         Amanda grabbed a nearby pot. From how heavy it felt, there must have been a fair amount of serum in there. She hit the man in the side of his head with the pot hard enough that he fell over.
         She couldn't tell if he was alive or not, but she had more pressing concerns. All the fumes from the serum was making her feel woozy. And the serum she had drank may have started taking effect.
         She radioed her team. "Carter, the package is secure."
         Carter replied back to her, but she was starting to lose consciousness, so she didn't know what he said. As the team arrived, Amanda collapsed, still holding the bowl and the pot.
         She regained consciousness momentarily aboard the quinjet. She was hooked up to an oxygen mask. She looked to her left and saw the man who had mixed the serum sitting in a chair across the aisle. Her last thought before blacking out again was that she hadn't killed him after all.

         The next time she woke up, she was lying in a bed. She sat up and looked around. She recognized where she was. This was one of the cells that SHIELD kept dangerous super villains in, before moving them onto a facility like The Raft.
         She looked to her left. The man from earlier was in the cell next to hers, surrounded by doctors.
         Amanda carefully got out of bed. "You're awake," said a voice very familiar to her. Amanda turned and saw Nick Fury standing outside her cell. "I'm sure you understand why we're keeping you in that cell, Agent Fisher."
         "I drank a dangerous serum," said Amanda. "Just like he did."
         "Even though you are one of us, we can't take any chances."
         "Who is that guy, by the way?" Amanda asked.
         "Andrew Ross. Our intel says that he's only a grunt in the operation."
         Suddenly, a commotion came from Andrew's cell. As the doctors ran around, Amanda saw Andrew start convulsing. The serum was starting to kick in. At that moment, Amanda started feeling woozy again. The serum was starting to affect her too.
         What happened in the next few minutes was a blur to Amanda. But the surveillance footage gave her the rest of the story. Amanda fell to the floor, holding her head in pain as the serum took effect. Meanwhile Andrew's convulsions got worse, then suddenly stopped. Then Andrew sat up and destroyed the restraints on his arms. The doctors fled the cell quickly, barely closing the door before Andrew got there.
         Amanda remembered being scared while on the floor. She was scared of the monster the serum had turned Andrew into, she was scared of the serum in her own system, and she was scared of what it would turn her into.
         Suddenly, her headache got extreme. She let out a primal scream, and heard Andrew scream at the same time. She fell on the floor writhing in pain. Then, as quickly as the headache came, it was gone. Amanda could feel the power of the serum as it spread throughout her body. She felt each muscle get stronger from it, even muscles she didn't know she had. And then that sensation of power was gone.
         Amanda sat up. She looked at her body. Her muscles looked larger than they had earlier. The serum had changed her, just as it changed Andrew.
         She looked at Andrew's cell, and discovered that he was no longer in it. He had managed to break down the door.
         Amanda knew that she was the only one who could stop him. But she was still stuck in her cell.
         She began pounding on the door, shouting, "Someone let me out!" She pounded the door as hard as she could, but it wouldn't budge. Andrew must have been stronger than she was. She kept pounding anyway, hoping that either someone would come or she'd break the door down herself.
         Then a figure emerged from the hallway. It was Tony Stark, in his Iron Man suit. The suit was badly damaged, and Stark himself was limping. "Are you Amanda Fisher?" Tony asked her. Amanda nodded. "Good. Fury sent me here to let you out."
         "Why me?"
         "That thing, he took us by surprise. I didn't stand a chance. Neither did Thor. Hulk's trying to take care of him, but he won't be able to hold on for long. But the serum that gave him that power, you took it too. You might be able to stop him."
         "I'm not as strong as him," said Amanda, as Stark opened the door. "I couldn't break down this door."
         "Maybe you aren't as *strong* as him, but I bet that serum changed you in other ways. And hopefully, one of those ways will allow you to beat him."
         Iron Man sat down on the floor. Amanda walked out of her cell and down the hallway. She passed by several agents lying on the floor. Some were her friends. It hurt her to see them this way. She had to stop Andrew.
         She heard a commotion coming from the hangar. She ran towards it. She passed by Thor, who was lying on the ground. Anyone who could take down Thor on their own was dangerous. She had to try and stop Andrew.
         She reached the hangar, and a horrifying sight. The hangar was in ruins. Defeated agents were spread all over the floor. Andrew was grappling with The Hulk. And Andrew was winning. Andrew picked up Hulk and threw him into a jet. Hulk did not get back up to fight.
         Amanda knew that it was up to her. She walked into the hangar, trying to be as confident as she could. When Nick Fury saw her, he told the remaining agents to hold their fire.
         Amanda walked up to Andrew, ready to fight. Andrew looked at her, and smiled. "I have already beaten Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk," he told her. "What makes you think that you can beat me?"
         "I drank the same serum you did," Amanda replied.
         Andrew quickly backhanded Amanda into a wall. Amanda knew that that amount of force should have killed her, but the serum must have made her more capable of surviving such force.
         She landed in a puddle of water. At least, she hoped it was water. She got to her hands and knees and just waited for Andrew to come to her. The water was giving her a strange idea.
         When Andrew got close enough, Amanda let out a scream, and the puddle turned into a wall of water which slammed into Andrew, knocking him to the floor. Amanda stood up, surprised by her new power. *I'm just like Percy Jackson,* she thought. She walked towards Andrew, a ball of water forming above her hand. *Actually, not like Percy Jackson.*
         Andrew got to his feet. Amanda threw the ball of water at Andrew's face. It didn't do anything, but that didn't matter. Amanda used all the water to create a whirlpool around Andrew. Amanda watched as he spun around inside the vortex. Eventually, Andrew passed out, and Amanda released the water.
         Andrew fell to the floor, being carried by the water. He shrunk back to his normal size.
         A round of applause went up from the agents. They came over to Amanda congratulating her. Amanda suddenly felt a strange sensation come over her. It was as if, somewhere inside her, a pipe burst, relieving all the pressure that it had been keeping in.
         "Thanks for the appreciation," Amanda said, right before passing out.

         Amanda woke up in a SHIELD infirmary bed. Nick Fury was standing on the other side of the room.
         "Hello again, Ms. Fisher. We've got to stop meeting like this."
         Amanda smiled. "What happened? I feel like I've just been headbutted by the Hulk."
         "You won, that's what happened."
         "What happened to Andrew?"
         Fury hit a button. The TV in the room changed to security footage of Andrew sitting in a cell. "You defeated him. With your powers."
         "My powers?" Amanda asked. Then she remembered. She held out her left hand, and carefully summoned a small ball of water. She summoned another ball with her right hand. She laughed. "I have powers!" She said, incredulously. She carefully tried to use her powers to merge the two balls of water together, then tried forming a rod. It worked. Then, she tried to bend the rod of water. It failed, however, and the water splashed all over her.
         Amanda, now soaking wet, saw Fury chuckling to himself, and said, "okay, so I still have to work on my powers some."
         "Yeah, you do," said Fury. "And with SHIELD, you'll get that opportunity. Not only are you now one of our best agents, but I'm pretty sure I can now legally call you a superhero."
         "Yeah," said Amanda.
         "Of course, you'd need a superhero name."
         Amanda smiled. "How about: Water Witch."