What If Totally Spies Had Marvel Superpowers?

Secret Origins

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Many thanks to fellow writer jettmanas, who co-wrote this story and also kindly designed the cover-art and story illustrations.

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Time. Space. Reality. It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know.

I am the Watcher. I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me, and ponder the question... What if?

In various different realities, the planet Earth has had a wide selection of heroes to defend it, some with super abilities, some without. An example of the latter are the young humans, Samantha, Clover and Alex. As secret agents working for the crime-fighting organisation WOOHP (World Organisation Of Human Protection), they have fought off many threats to humanity and faced various strange events during their many adventures together.

One such occurrence took place when the girls were tasked with investigating a series of missing people reports, which eventually led them to the lair of a sinister Circus Ringmaster, who was using DNA-altering mirrors on his victims. In the course of this adventure, the girls were affected themselves by the mirrors, giving Sam a lobster hand, and fully mutating Alex and Clover into fish and elephant hybrids respectively. Fortunately, the Ringmaster's scheme was foiled by the spies, and WOOHP was able to reverse everyone's mutations.

But suppose the mirrors had affected each of the spies in a different way? In another universe, the girls' DNA was changed in a more subtle way, one that dramatically altered the whole course of their lives.

The first such change took place at the start of the mission, when the girls were investigating the beaches of Toronto, the last location that the mysterious Carnival Diablo had appeared and just as quickly left. There, Samantha discovered a broken piece of one of the Ringmaster's mirrors lying on the ground...

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"Hey, check this out," said Sam, before she reached down and touched the mirror fragment left on the grass.

"Yeouch!" she cried as she pulled her finger back abruptly, feeling as though a jolt of electricity had just coursed through her entire body. Acting on reflex, she jumped back a little, only to find herself flying through the air, landing right onto the side of a tree.

"Sammy! Are you okay?" asked a concerned Alex as she and Clover dashed over to their friend and teammate.

"I think so," breathed Sam. "But what the heck just happened? I've never been able to leap like that before!"

Clover suddenly realised that Sam was not grasping hold of the tree. She was sticking to it with her hands and feet!

"Hey, I didn't realise you brought along suction cup gloves and boots," remarked Clover.

Sam's eyes widened. "I didn't! I'm... I'm sticking to the tree all on my own!"

Her sense of alarm growing, Sam pushed herself off the tree, and as she started to drop to the ground, the two middle fingers of her left hand pressed against her palm. Without warning, some kind of sticky strand shot out of her left wrist, snagging a nearby branch. With a startled cry, Sam found herself swinging on the line, before landing on her butt at Alex and Clover's feet in an undignified heap.

"Okay, I am seriously freaked out now," gaped Sam, as Alex helped her back to her feet.

"Yeah, you were sticking to the tree and shooting webs like a spider!" said an astonished Alex. "That weird mirror's made you into some kind of Spider-Woman."

"Eww! See, this is why I hate carnivals, even the mirrors are freaky!' muttered Clover as Alex got out a pair of tongs to pick up the mirror piece, and then used her compowder to send the fragment to WOOHP for analysis.

"We better head back to school now, guys," said Alex as she realised the time. "Homeroom bell is in twenty minutes!"

"Okay, but as soon as our classes are done for the day, we better head to WOOHP to find out what the heck has happened to me," sighed Sam, still feeling somewhat shaken up by the whole experience.

"Well, look on the bright side, Sammy," said Clover, trying to cheer Sam up. "At least that mirror didn't leave you with something really freaky like a lobster hand or something!"

******

A few hours later at WOOHP, Sam was put through a full barrage of tests, first in the lab, then in the training room. The results were astounding to say the least. She had indeed gained the powers of a spider, including super-human strength and increased stamina, the ability to shoot spider-webs and stick to walls, and a psychological awareness of any present dangers, which the lab boys termed a 'spider-sense'. Having gotten over her initial shock, Sam quickly grew elated with her new powers, finding that she could handle the indoor WOOHP training course with considerable ease.

"Whoa, look at Sam go!" gasped Alex as she, Clover and Jerry watched in wide-eyed bewilderment as Sam scaled the climbing wall and reached the top in record time, without using any of the handholds. "She's a real super-spy now!"

"Cha! Any idea how this has happened, Jerr?" asked Clover.

"Well, according to the lab team, that mirror you found is a mercurial compound capable of altering a person's DNA," replied Jerry. "They're still examining the substance, but they're fairly confident that they can find a cure if necessary."

"That's great, Jerry, but something tells me that Sam's in no hurry to lose her new abilities," commented Alex as Sam fired another web-line and swung down to the ground, landing gracefully beside her friends.

"Wow, I feel like I've had a super powerful latte," grinned Sam. "Though I hope there won't be any dire side-effects to all this."

"I don't think you need worry about that, Sam," reassured Jerry. "The medical staff have examined your DNA and say that any further mutations are unlikely."

"Question is, what does anyone want with DNA-altering mirrors in the first place?" mused Clover. "I mean, we're lucky they didn't turn Sam into some kind of freak!"

"Totally!" agreed Sam, her tone turning more serious. "I'd sure like to have a word with whoever's behind all this."

"In that case, you girls better head to Brazil," said Jerry. "Apparently another Carnival Diablo has appeared there, so perhaps you may get some answers there."