Aqueduct

Aqueduct

Peter van Zante was a soldier in the Afghanistan conflict until he was wounded by an explosion of enemy rocket shells. Airlifted to a hospital ship in the midst of a storm, van Zante was placed under life support in a S.H.I.E.L.D.-built experimental device until the ship stopped rocking enough so surgeons could operate on him. The ship was struck by lightning, however, and this created a power surge in the experimental device, irradiating him. He recovered rapidily without surgery, and was honorably discharged from the army. It wasn't until some time later did van Zante realize that the irradiation had in fact activated his latent Gifted abilities, allowing him the mutant power to mentally control all forms of aquatic material, such as water. Practicing his abilities for a while, van Zante was eventually found out by S.H.I.E.L.D. when his aquakinetic abilities started to gain too much attention, and he was placed on constant supervision to ensure that he wouldn't be able to mentally control water while in private or in public. During the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, van Zante was rescued from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody by Baron Zemo, who found out about the Gifted soldier through stolen Index files, and convinced him to join HYDRA's Masters of Evil project as revenge against the organization that took him under before.

Powers and Abilities

Hydrokinesis: Aqueduct possesses the ability to psionically manipulate any liquids within about 500 feet of himself. The maximum volume of water he can manipulate at the same time is unknown, although it appears to be many gallons. By psionically increasing the available energy in an ordinary water molecules' force of attraction, he can assemble large volumes of water by subliminally stacking the molecules, making the volume take on certain shapes. He has been observed to direct firehose-like jets of water with sufficient force to stun a man at 25 feet.

Aqueduct can use his psionic powers for about one half hour before mental fatigue impairs his control over the phenomena. He apparently has more difficulty controlling small quantities of liquids than large ones. He has not yet been observed to be able to stop the six pints of blood in a human body from circulating, for example. He also cannot change the temperature of a volume of liquid, and thus convert it to ice or steam.