Billy kissed her hand before sitting on the fancy chair in front of her, she felt goosebumps at the action, there was something about him, even if she wasn't a fan of who he was, that she enjoyed.
"Are we about to have a business meeting?" The man asked with a hint of humor.
"Yes, so please behave, Mr. Russo."
"Very well, I'm all ears."
Cat's heart was pounding, she'd worked outside S.H.I.E.L.D and away from the Avengers' watchful eye, and she was still acting with good intentions, but in order to do the right thing, she'd have to do the opposite.
"I've been thinking about Spider-man's situation... I heard he's got no support, maybe we can help."
Billy frowned. "And why would we help an Avenger?"
"He's not an Avenger, Billy. He's a boy that messed up and he's desperate to fix it. A boy with no money, just him and his aunt, whether he killed that guy or not, I bet he's willing to do anything to get out of trouble."
The young man pondered her idea, he leaned back on his chair. "On paper is a great opportunity, but I doubt Spider-man will associate with us."
Cat raised a brow feigning innocence. "Rich people do charity all the time. Aren't we the pillars of the community?"
"People like him are taught not to trust us."
"You talk as if you were some kind of boogeyman," she chuckled.
Billy smiled, but it was far from friendly. "Don't play dumb, Kati. It doesn't look good on you."
Cat's expression hardened. "If you leave it to me, I'll make sure he accepts it."
"And you promise he'll do what we ask?"
"He'll have no choice."
Billy reached out to grab her hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it again.
"We have a deal."
"One more thing," she clasped his hand. "Do you know anything about that auction?"
"Ah yes, the auction..." Billy grabbed an agenda and pulled out a small piece of paper. He handed it to her. "That's the next event. But you shouldn't be wasting money right now..."
"Don't worry about it," she winked at him, standing up and blowing a kiss as a goodbye.
***
"Cat!"
"Sorry I was off the grid, I was—"
"Peter got arrested!"
She almost dropped her phone on the sidewalk. "What!" People looked at her, she smiled apologetically and positioned the phone back on her ear. "It's like 10 pm! Why the hell would they arrest him at this hour?!"
"The Department of Damage Control came and took him, he's there all alone and I got calls from Ned's parents and MJ's dad," May's voice quivered."Cat, what do we do?"
Cat entered an alley, she teleported back to her house and searched through her drawers, grabbing some old IDs and her leather jacket. She changed her hair from Katrina's red to her usual brown as well as her eyes, then seized the keys to Steve's old motorcycle.
"Mouse, call Nelson and Murdock."
***
Cat entered the office with a confident step, she had no time to lose. At the front desk was none other than Karen Page.
"Hi. I'm here to talk to one of your lawyers."
The blonde woman was up to her nose with paperwork, but she still managed to give her a kind smile even though Cat hadn't spoken in a polite tone.
"Of course. Miss..?"
"C.C." She shook hands with Karen. "Stark."
She noticed her astonishment, but whether the woman thought it was crazy for a Stark to be hiring lawyers so far away from the fancy, renowned firms, she didn't say.
"Okay, if you can wait here just a moment—"
"That won't be necessary," Matthew's shirt had the sleeves rolled up, it looked like he was about to call it a day when Cat had called him. She felt guilty for keeping him in the office. "Miss Stark, please come in..."
"Thank you," Cat told Karen briefly with a smile before following Matthew.
She took a seat in front of his desk, no hand-kissing for her this time. As soon as he sat down, though, she began talking sparing him from flirty jokes.
"Peter got arrested. They have him and his friends at the headquarters of Damage control, they're interrogating him about the missing tech."
"You know you can't hire me, it has to be Parker himself or his aunt."
"May called me before they took her as well, she asked me to get you."
"Me, specifically?" He raised a brow.
Cat smiled. "She asked me to get a lawyer 'cause she knows I worked at a law firm during the blip. Is your friend Foggy busy?"
"Not more than usual. Why?"
"D'you think he can work on MJ and Ned's cases? It shouldn't be complicated, they didn't do anything so all he needs to do is go there and help them go through the interrogation."
"Why couldn't I get the easy job, huh? Do you like stressing me out?"
Cat wasn't used to Matthew taking things lightly, especially in moments where good people were in danger. Her brain processed his tone way later than her ears, so for a moment, she thought he was genuinely upset.
"If you think it's too much I can look for another lawyer, I have enough money to hire anyone I want—"
"I was joking," Matthew frowned at the last part of her sentence. "Where did you get the money?"
"Just focus on helping Peter," she got up. "I gotta stop whatever's happening at Damage Control. Are you guys taking the case?"
"Yes," Matthew called her name one last time, quietly so Karen wouldn't hear. "Please, don't do anything that could put your identity at risk."
"Which one?" She replied sarcastically.
He'd run out of jokes. "The one that still has friends to lose."
***
"I'm sorry, could you repeat your name?"
Cat leaned forward on the desk and pushed her ID closer to the secretary. "C.C. Stark. I'm here to pick up the Parkers and the kids you abducted from their respective homes."
"Hey, excuse me, lady, we didn't—"
"Oh, you must be the man in charge, yes?" She walked up to the curly-haired guy. "My uncle financed this place, he'd be very disappointed if he knew you're mistreating his ward."
"Tony Stark had no nieces," the man crossed his arms.
She raised a brow. "Hold this." Cat handed him her helmet and pulled out her phone, looking for Pepper's number.
"Okay, okay, fine— hang up!" The man said grumpily. "What's your name again?"
"C.C.," she grabbed her helmet and looked at him expectantly. "Am I going to be standing here all night or can I see the kids?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Stark, but they are currently under investigation—"
"That's all good and dandy but that doesn't mean you have the right to keep them without adult supervision."
"We're the supervision."
She caught movement at the entrance: Foggy and Matthew had arrived. "Look at that, the lawyers are here! Can you please take them to their clients?" The man stuttered a reply, she frowned a little. "What? May Parker hired Mr. Murdock, I'm sure she mentioned it."
"Of course," he gave a harsh look to the men behind him. "Please, take him to the Parkers."
"Good evening, Miss Stark." Foggy Nelson stood next to her, he offered to shake hands with her and the damage control officer. "Mr..?"
"Cleary."
"Mr. Cleary," he smiled. "I'm here to represent Miss Jones and Mr. Leeds."
"I'm here for May and Peter Parker," Matthew stood next to Foggy.
Cleary glanced at Matthew's cane. "Sure. Come this way..."
"Miss Stark, thank you so much, we got it from here," Foggy smiled at her, he had a sweet face.
"Thank you."
"Stay here," Matthew insisted.
"Of course, we need to talk about your fees," she replied casually.
"Yeah, we do." He replied.