The fate v. free will argument is a tired one, and will not be decided here. You can fly up your own ass for a thousand years running that one back and forth, and get no where. Just check out the Physics Forums. They've been duking it out for years.
However, one thing does stand out to me in favor of free will. And that is, without free will, there would be no need for conscious awareness, yet conscious awareness not only exists, it is an integral part of existence itself (per quantum mechanics). I mean, why be aware if it doesn't matter? It would be like giving a clock self-awareness. It would not improve the function of the clock, just create a captive and passive audience to events already decided.
The Rev