"What do you mean you can't block the satellite signal?"
"Tony didn't give me access to his drones, I only see the data that he gathered throughout the years."
"So he gave me an A.I. but he didn't trust me enough to give me a spare key."
"He thought it was too risky to have two omnipotent A.I. in the world."
"I hope he's seeing this from above so he realizes I'm not the protege that messed up."
"I can track down the devices on earth. It'll be slower, though."
Cat gazed at her reflection, she was wearing her brand new suit: Sky blue covered the majority of the fabric, she also had white on one stripe around her hips and one circling the neck, stripes on each side of her legs, and her brand new boots were of the same color. The old paw button was officially gone, her new symbol was a "0" with six claw marks crossing over each other in the middle of her chest.
A redesign had removed her old helmet: she was now wearing a cape to which she'd added, just to keep the joke alive, two small cat ears on the hood. The sleeves were long and fingerless gloves protected her hands. Dark blue steampunk goggles were keeping the hair away from her face, but they would also help in case she needed to protect her eyes from the wind.
All of it, plus the greyish-white mask covering the lower half of her face, the silvery-white hair, and her purple eyes, made an amazing picture. It looked nothing like her old self, which she found comforting.
"Fury's got the coded message. Your friends are at the Tower Bridge!" Happy announced.
Cat sighed. "Alright Mouse, let's use your idea."
***
She walked out of the stall the moment Peter was handing out a necklace to Happy.
"If something happens to me, could you please give this to MJ?"
"You're gonna make it back. You'll give it to her yourself, okay? You got this."
Peter noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and found her standing there, his mouth fell open and he pointed at her with excitement. "Oh my God! Where did you get that?!"
"Wakanda," Cat said. "I met T'challa's sister during Tony's funeral and we sorta turned into acquaintances. I paid her so she'd make me a brand new suit. S.H.I.E.L.D has really poor taste."
"It looks like Pietro's suit!"
"Yeah," she was glad they couldn't see her whole face, or they would've noticed her blush. "I designed it like this on purpose. Shuri built around my idea, she did an amazing job."
"What's with the cape, though?"
"Shuri told me they wear something similar in her country."
"So it's meant to protect you, or is it cultural appropriation?"
"You'll see," she responded shortly.
"Okay, you're both ready, now walk me through it," Happy requested.
"I know it's illusion tech, right?" Peter began. "All I have to do is get on the inside of the illusion, then I can take it down, find him, and he's just a guy, so I can take Edith right back."
"Right, but last time, you got hit by a train."
"True, but this time... How do I explain this? Uh, I have a sixth sense."
"The Peter-tingle!" Happy said right away. "That's what you're talking about, right? It's not working, though. I heard it wasn't working right now. Is it?"
"You mean his spidey sense?" Cat frowned. "Is a thing your subconscious does, it's not supposed to malfunction?"
"Well, I don't— I don't know if it's working."
"If you overthink, then it won't," Cat said logically. "Mine is always shitty when I mimic you cause I can't distinguish between the extra sense and my stress. I end up reacting too late."
"I... yeah, maybe you're right," Peter tilted his head deep in thought.
"Good. Okay, so you got Peter-tingle," Happy continued. "That's the plan. I'm gonna go get your friends. You get that Peter-tingle back online. C, what's your move?"
"Mouse will track Beck's signal, I'll sneak inside his hideout and take down whatever I find there. I'm talking of the people Beck has been working with in order to trick us."
"Don't kill anybody," Peter said without thinking.
"I only kill murderers!" She snapped. "I would argue Quentin and their team are basically it—"
"Cat."
"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "Just because Fury warned me he would kick me out if I committed any violent acts... murder counts as insubordination, unfortunately."
***
"All right, comms check. Can you hear me, kids?"
"I'm twenty-two years old, Happy, call me kid one more time and I'll stab you."
"You'll always be my kid whether you like it or not, have some respect." The man scoffed. "I like the new suit, Peter!"
"Thanks!"
The illusion showed itself in front of them.
"Whoa, hey, you sure that's not real?"
"I'm not the best person to ask that," Cat gulped. "My brain lies to me out of habit."
"I promise it's not real, it's just 100 times bigger than we expected." Peter tried to calm them down.
"Still the play?"
"Uh-huh. We need to get high enough so Beck doesn't see us coming."
"Copy. Stay sticky."
"You know, when you guys are on a mission with me, you need a different word to say 'I hear you'." She pointed out.
"How about 'Beep-beep'?"
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
"Like the sound a phone would make when it gets a text?"
"I thought you were imitating the roadrunner, you know... from the cartoons?"
"Okay!" Cat stopped the conversation. "Beep-beep's good enough— let's go!"
"Hey, Happy?"
"Yeah, kid? What is it?"
"We need to have a serious conversation about you and my A—AUNT!" Peter leaped off the jet as he finished his sentence.
Cat laughed. "I'm telling ya, he's unbelievable!"
She jumped off the jet.
"Hey Copy, you got any kind of parachute in that thing?"
"Nah."
"Does it have a jetpack?"
"Nah."
"Is this your way of telling me us just jumped to your death?"
"Calm down, Webs. Watch this!" Cat extended her cape, the speed at which the air hit it turned it into a stiff material, helping her glide across the sky.
"Look at this!" He replied in the same tone.
The boy touched something on his chest and the parachute loosened. He spread his arms and under them, a thin fabric stretched giving him a flying-squirrel look.
"Nice!" It was the moment to part ways. "Mouse, call Fury. Er... the one that's on earth."
"Where are you?" The man's voice answered almost instantly.
"I don't wanna say I told you so, but—"
"Agent, this is serious—"
"It's always serious, and yet I'm the one who gets things done," she scoffed. "Listen carefully..."
***
Beck's helpers were running around like headless chickens trying to make things work. Peter entered the illusion and Cat had a narrow window of opportunity. She pressed the logo on her chest, and her suit camouflaged.
"Stealth, my baby..." she whispered lovingly to her suit. Cat grabbed her spear from where it was hanging on her new harness. "Webs, I'm in position."
Panic spread in the room at the same time the boy responded to her."Illusion's down."
"It's playtime," she smirked.
Her spear flew across the room and impaled the mannequin with Quentin's suit, scaring the woman ironing its cape. The man that was controlling the drones hadn't run yet, which meant he was still doing something.
"Hands up, nerd!"
Cat grabbed the blaster hidden under her cape and shot, careful not to get him but exploding the control panel. The other lady pulled a gun from a table next to her and tried to shoot at Cat, she stayed in place and watched her in amusement.
"Let me help you..."
The young hero teleported and grabbed the woman's wrist, she cried out in fear as the agent placed the gun on her own chest and pulled the trigger. A drowned explosion pushed her back slightly and her suit started to glow on the spot where the bullet hit.
Cat pressed the logo on her chest again and the energy from the bullet's impact threw the woman back and caused her to crash against a wall. Copycat walked up to Mysterio's damaged suit and pulled her spear out of the mess, then she went back to the lady and stole her earpiece.
"Hey, buddy!" She spoke to Quentin. "Your Loki cosplay sucks."
"Copycat," he growled. "Such a pain in the ass."
She grinned. "That's about right." Cat heard scrambling behind her and realized the man with glasses was still there.
"Got the kids!" Happy announced. "But we're being chased by drones and Quentin blew up the jet!"
"Give me five minutes," she answered calmly.
Cat lifted her spear once more, and just when the man was about to leave the room, she threw it. The weapon went right threw his laptop, he froze and Cat pressed the watch on her wrist— not the one Tony had given her, this one came with the new suit. She noticed that she hadn't turned off the stealth mode, and now she understood why the lady hadn't been able to shoot her.
"Oh God, my bad," she muttered to herself, turning off the disguise. "Sorry, lady! I thought you were stupid!"
She pressed her watch again, a small tranquilizer rose up from its wrist band and she aimed at the man's neck. Peter had this idea that she'd turned into a killing machine, but he was wrong. Most of her gadgets did minimal damage and only her spear and blaster were deathly weapons.
However, that didn't mean she wasn't violent. Yes, she didn't carry around weapons of every kind, but at the same time, she didn't need them since she was the deathliest tool in her catalog.
She retrieved her spear a second time, as she opened the door, fake Hill and Fury ran into her with a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ready to raid the scene.
"I leave these losers in your capable hands," she walked past them without stopping. "I have to save some lives."
***
Cat took a deep breath and pulled the hood to cover her head better, heartbeats announced the presence of young, agitated humans.
"Found ya..."
She rushed through the halls until she came face to face with a Stark drone. Cat grabbed her blaster and pointed at it, but before she could do anything, MJ came out of nowhere with something that looked like an ancient sledgehammer.
"What the— Get out of the way!" Copycat demanded.
MJ jumped and looked at her with wide eyes. At the same time she shouted "C.C!", Cat shot at the drone.
"God, I hate rich people," she grumbled.
"Dude, that suit's crazy!" Ned approached her excitedly.
She pointed the blaster at him, not to use it, just to stop him before he could hug her. "All of you get behind me!"
"Who the hell are you?" Flash gave her an eery look.
MJ spoke over her. "Can you be any ruder, you ass? She just saved us!"
"Are you Spider-man's sidekick—" Cat shot at the ground near his feet, and Flash squealed in horror.
"Call me that clown's sidekick one more time, and there'll be casualties," she warned him. "Let's go!"
"Wait! Then how should we call you?" Betty asked politely.
"Copycat." Ned, MJ, and Cat replied all at once.
She looked at her old friends, once more her expression was completely covered by her mask and goggles, and she was thankful for it. "C'mon, you're not the only people I gotta—" A wave of sound hit her back and pushed her, she rolled over and saw two drones. "I hate the sonic cannons!"
She seized her spear from the place where it'd landed and threw it at one of the machines, the second one began to shoot at her like crazy and the people around her screamed. Cat pressed her chest, the energy blasted out of her with such force that it incrusted the remaining drone on the opposite wall.
She walked up to it and looked at the lens from which she knew Quentin was watching. "Are you done?"
"Happy, say something, please, to let me know you're alive!"
"We're here! Cat just took down the drones that were after us but she says there could be more—"
"And she's right. Copy, how did your part of the plan go?"
"I'm alive, aren't I?" She responded, turning to face her old classmates. "I'll finish here and I'll catch up with you, but don't wait for me."
"Good luck!"
"I'm not the one that needs it."
She guided the students and her old caretaker back to the streets, two more drones were outside waiting for them but she took them down by impaling both in one movement, then she blasted out of existence another four. She promised to give Rocket a call once this was all over.
"Er... Copy? I ran out of webs so if you could hurry—!"
"Figure it out, I'm busy!"
Cat took them to a near alley and ordered them to stay put. She handed Happy her blaster and nodded approvingly at MJ's weapon. She knew they would run out of their hiding spot, but at least now they could protect themselves.
***
It took her about ten minutes, but she managed to get to the bridge.
"Okay, I'm here, where are you?"
A massive explosion went out and she saw Spider-man flying, going through the glass up to the spot where Beck was standing.
"Atta boy!" Cat cheered. "I'm on my way!"
She had to hurry though, and since she couldn't teleport closer cause she didn't want to risk getting cornered into a bad place, she tried to mimic Pietro's abilities and realized she could no longer do it.
She had avoided using said powers, but the fight had distracted her long enough for her brain to make the decisions on itself. It was exactly as she'd told Peter: Overthinking was the real problem. Now, however, mimicking Pietro was not an option. She wondered why, but the only answer that came to her was that she could not copy a dead person.
Cat felt like crying, but instead, she teleported and almost fell off the stairs leading up to Peter's position. The mutant ran the last few flights of stairs until she found the blue doors leading to the fight. She slammed the door open and saw Quentin standing on the other side of the hall.
"Hope I'm not too late."
"We're just getting started," Beck eyed her up. "Nice suit."
"You wanna know the best part? Mine actually works! Not like your overdone Halloween costume. By the way, that thing got ruined. I stabbed it."
"Just give us the glasses, Beck," Peter said tiredly.
"You want these?" He grabbed the A.I. from the neck of his silly suit, and a small army of drones flowed around him. "Come and get them."
The illusions encircled them. Cat swore under her breath, she'd thought those were no longer working but Beck had some kind of manual control. Peter and her adopted the same fighting stance.
"Just like the old days..."
"I'm pretty sure you weren't blue in the old days," he noted. "Most of the time couldn't even see you."
She gave a start. "That's it! The drones won't know where to point if I'm invisible! Mouse! Cover up my signal and go stealth..."
"What if you get the blast of something that was originally pointed at me?"
"You're forgetting one thing, Webs."
He glanced at her, the white lenses squinting a little. "Right," he looked ahead. "C'mon, Peter tingle..."
Both heroes jumped to different sides but moved in synch, taking down drones without getting in the way of each other.
"Spidey sense!" She kicked one machine out of the way. "Peter tingle sounds awful!"
"Why don't you call yours that and I'll call mine whatever I want!" He snapped, moving through the beams swiftly.
Cat laughed. "Look at your barking at me!"
"You're weird," He panted, stabbing another drone and finally breaking apart the illusion. "You used to like praising and now you get happy when people insult you— argh!"
"Praises are condescending!" She slid across the floor and cut through the last drone with one end of her spear. "When people insult you during battle, you're doing something right!"
"FIRE! ALL! THE DRONES! NOOOOW!"
"See? He's lost it," Cat pointed out at Beck's burst.
Spider-man and Copycat moved closer and she grasped her cape, pulling it in front of her and the boy's body. Its fabric absorbed the energy of the projectiles, and when she'd gathered enough, she swung the cape forward.
The blast, with bullets included, landed on the drones.
"You know what? Tony wasn't wrong..." she walked up to the man. "These really are just a bunch of barf."
Peter took off his mask and rushed over to them. Quentin was lying on the floor. "You lied to me. I trusted you..."
"I know," he panted. "That's the most... disappointing part. You're a good person, Peter. Such a weakness..." Beck grabbed the glasses and offered them to the boy. "Stark was right. You do deserve them—"
Peter moved abruptly, he grabbed the air and Cat saw a bullet missing his head by just an inch. The Beck on the ground disintegrated only to appear next to the young Avenger. He was holding a gun. Peter squeezed his wrist and the man dropped it.
"You can't trick me anymore."
Cat reached to her side and grabbed a gun from her belt. Alright, maybe she did have one last deathly weapon, but this one was for emergencies only. She shot Beck, but she made sure to aim at his stomach.
Peter's eyes widened as he looked at her. "We had a deal!"
Her eyes were fixed on Quentin as he fell to his knees, she hadn't lowered the gun yet. Cat pushed up her goggles, her gaze was hungry. "I'm not taking chances." Cat shot a second time, this time a little higher. "Not again."
Peter looked at her horror-struck. This was enough to confirm his deepest, most dreadful fear: C.C. would never come back. Cat got closer to Beck and without an ounce of mercy, she took E.D.I.T.H. She offered the item to Peter.
"Fix your mess."
The boy took the glasses, still in shock, he put them on.
"Edith... turn off the drones."
"Biometric scan complete. Welcome back, Peter. Execute all cancellation protocols?"
"Do it. Execute them all."
"Confirmed."
The drones went up, up, up, until they couldn't see them anymore.
"Thank you," Spider-man sighed.
Quentin groaned at their feet, Peter took off the glasses and looked at him.
"How could you do all of this?"
"You'll see, Peter... people... they do believe... and nowadays... they'll believe anything."
He stopped breathing, the young hero put on the glasses again and he spoke to E.D.I.T.H. with a teary voice. "Is he... Is this real?"
"All illusions are down, Peter."
Cat placed her gun back in her belt and turned around, the adrenaline was leaving her body after her vicious act. She gave a step forward, then another...
"Don't." Cat froze. "If you leave, who knows when I'll see you again," Peter continued. "And I have to tell you something."
"You're gonna tell me you're worried, that I'll lose myself if I keep doing this, right?" She turned, and her mask retreated so now he could see her whole face.
"If C.C. could see you now, she'd beg you to stop."
"You don't get it, do you?" She frowned, but she wasn't angry. "I am C.C. Pretending I'm a different person... that's all bullshit. I've always known that who I am is not defined by an alias."
Peter just stared at her, so she continued.
"It was easier. No one holds me accountable like this. It wasn't me who killed the Chameleon, it was Mimic. Cat didn't mess up this mission, it was Zero. I... I didn't kill y-you— it was Ce—" she felt her jaw clenching, her words wanted to stumble one after the other.
Her claws sprung out of stress and hurt her palms, she pushed away from her eyes some curls, smearing her blood on them. The smell grossed her out.
"I'll always mess up, and so I'll always jump from one life to another. Zero was supposed to save me from being Cat, but Zero killed out of spite again, so I'll be fired... I don't wanna go back to being Cat... 'cause she... she killed her brother..."
In a way she hadn't done in ages, Cat burst into tears. Peter was the only one that had ever been allowed to see her cry apart from Pietro, Ned, and MJ. He took off the glasses again and wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey, hey— don't think that, C! It's not true..."
"If I'd been faster Pietro wouldn't have sacrificed himself—"
"You didn't know that was going to happen!"
"That's exactly my point!" She sobbed. "When you died— when all of my friends did— missing the ones you love hurts and I want to avoid it if I can!"
"You can't just quit on us, Cat..."
"Yes!" She sniffed. "Yes, I can! I'm done! I'm tired— I want to die..."
Peter's embrace tightened around her, and he mumbled against her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Cat, but I can't let that happen."
Her sobs were taking all of the air available, and Peter took this opportunity to say all he'd been dying to.
"You think you can erase our life together? I loved C.C!" She cried harder, but Peter kept going. "What I feel for you fractured, and if I try to chase after you I'll get hurt, so I'm giving it up... MJ's different, I can't explain it, it's... it's not easy... that being said, I care about you too much to just turn my back on you. Please, don't ask me to do it."
"I'm a bad person! I'm not a good friend!"
"I died in your arms once. You cared. That has to mean something, and I'll try to save the good in you if it's the last thing I do."
Cat pushed him away, being taller it was easier than it used to. She covered her face in embarrassment, her voice came out shaky. "You'll regret it."
Peter's eyes softened. "Did Pietro ever regret helping you?"
"...no."
Instead of replying, he smiled. A smile that even after all the disappointment, still managed to be full of hope. Cat desperately wanted to look like that too. Insults were good during battle, but kindness had always carried her through everything else.