Chapter 1 – Just the start

Aqua sat in the bottom of her pool, listening to the sounds of the compound. What would have been muted sounds for others came through clearly for her. Steve was upset, Tony was yelling, Nat and Bruce sat by trying to calm the former two, Vis intermittently tried getting a phrase in and usually failed, Pepper was pacing, and Wanda was about to enter Aqua's pool room. As the door opened, Aqua floated to the top.

"Got tired of the yelling?" Aqua asked, pulling the water out of her hair, drying it. Aqua, as her name suggested, had a talent with water. She could do just about anything with it: move it, freeze it, expand it, create it, and vaporize it, just to name a few. In some ways, her ability tended to look a lot like Wanda's, it shown blue when she controlled it, but she didn't have any of the telepathic tendencies. This led the two to become a bit closer in the last year. Her blue-ombre hair fell in soft ways passed her shoulders.

"Yes," she pressed her fingers onto her temple, "don't get me wrong, it's a serious matter. If Barnes is on the loose after killing all those people, then he needs to be stopped. And I understand Steve wanting to protect his friend, but Mr. Stark is trying to do the same for Steve. It's a never-ending loop of an argument."

"Why do you think I've stayed down here? Though it doesn't help that the yelling only gets louder when I'm in the water. I just feel more calm. I always have," Aqua finally stepped out of the pool, drying herself completely. "Want to grab some food?"

"You know they're in the main room, right? We'll only be putting ourselves in the line of fire up there."

"Yeah, I know." Aqua heard a jeep start outside, "well, looks like the argument is over. I'm pretty sure Steve just took off."

Aqua and Wanda meandered upstairs to the kitchen. Upon entering the room, Aqua tried to take a peek at Tony. He was sitting on a stool with his elbow on his thigh and his head in his hand with Pepper stroking his back, trying to console him. In the five years Aqua has lived with Tony and Pepper, she's only seen this side of them a handful of times. She decided to leave them for now and talk with Tony later, and continued to find some food with Wanda.

"I've been meaning to ask, but never really found the right way. . . Do you know how you got your powers?" Aqua looked up at the question Wanda had just asked her. Did she really not know? Aqua thought everyone knew.

"Oh, um –" she looked down at her food for a moment, trying to find the right way to tell her new friend her origin story. "Well, I've always had them. Since before I can remember." She just kind of shrugged and focused on her food, knowing she should continue. "Everyone who ever took me in never wanted me for long because of them." Wanda could tell there was more; against her better judgement, she chose to ask.

"I thought before you were taken in by Mr. Stark that you would go around helping people? Helping communities through drought seasons and such? Why didn't they want you?" Aqua looked up, straight into Wanda's eyes with a sad half-smile.

"Because I killed my parents."

Wanda flinched, a bit startled, and just stared at Aqua. She could tell from Aqua's sad smile that she hadn't wanted to kill her parents and that even after 15 years she felt the guilt. Aqua looked back down.

"At least, that's what I've been told. That I was maybe a year old and my powers lashed out, killing my parents, and scaring anyone in the area away from me. I was shifted from home to home, not usually staying longer than a year or two. Tony has been the only one to take me in indefinitely." A small tear fell from Aqua's eye and streamed down her face. She quickly waved her hand, pulling the tear off her face and evaporating it into non-existence.

"And I've never regretted that decision." Tony appeared behind Wanda and travelled around the counter to give Aqua a quick side hug. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what everyone is so afraid of. Bunch of wusses, if you ask me."

"I've never lost control while around you. - Are you going somewhere?" She noticed Tony had spiffed himself up a bit from his usual t-shirt and jeans.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll be back a little bit later." And Tony took off. Wanda sent a questioning look towards Aqua, but she just shrugged and continued eating her meal.

Thank you for reading! I hope to update this somewhat regularly. Let me know what you think :)