Copycat: Cryptomnesia -(Marvel Fem!OC)

Breaking Point.

Cat had just gotten out of the shower when she heard the urgent knocking on her front door.

"Where were you?" He walked in without waiting for her permission.

"Is that a proper way to say hi?" She frowned, closing the door.

"Answer me."

The young woman hung her towel on the back of a chair, ignoring him. "I was about to order food, I don't know about you but—"

"Your shoulder's swollen," he pointed out.

"No it's—"

"Don't you dare," Matt approached her, she saw dry blood under his nose and grimaced. "For once in your life act like a grown-up and don't lie to me."

Cat's expression hardened. "For once in my life? You think I've been frolicking in the fields like it's fucking summer camp all these years?"

"Where were—" Before he could finish, her phone started ringing. Yelena was calling. Her heart jumped at the name and Matthew heard it. "Pick up."

"No."

Matt seized the phone. "Mouse, put it on speaker."

"On it."

"I gave you access for emergencies only!" She exclaimed in shock. He'd never been like this.

"Evening, Z! The mission went okay?" Cat stared at Matt without replying. Yelena continued. "Oh, don't be upset, I knew you would get angry once you found out."

The mutant stared at the phone. "You knew it was the tracksuit mafia?"

"I didn't know who exactly, but who else would transport stuff in the middle of the night if not criminals?" Yelena snorted.

"I did not agree to work for criminals," she retorted harshly.

"Zero," the agent didn't sound so amused now. "Do you think there is a difference between them and the ones in charge? You've killed many people pretending you're a hero, but I know you don't fool yourself."

Cat opened her mouth but she didn't say a thing. Matthew decided to do it for her.

"Cat will call you later."

Yelena gasped. "Matthew! How nice to hear you're there!"

"Hang up," Cat demanded.

"Sure, Z. See you later? Call me!"

"We're done."

"I don't think so," Yelena's voice was mocking. "Good night!"

Matthew placed the phone on the table. Cat moved to the window, supporting both hands on its frame and trying to control her breathing. What a dumb fucking idiot she'd been.

"Is it easy?" She inquired tiredly. "Being you?"

Cat opened the window and sat on the ledge, she was thinking of running out, but she also had many things to say and now was a perfect time.

"As Daredevil, you save everyone however you want. Is it easy?"

"You know it's not."

"But you do it anyway..."

"Cat."

"Do you feel a responsibility to protect the city because someone told you to? Or is it because you like it?"

"If you're in danger—"

"I'm not, Matt. I did this to myself and you can't fix it. Don't waste your time."

"You're hurting innocents—."

"I hurt bad people who had it coming," she hesitated. "I thought so, at least. I signed those accords, they would've locked me up again, just like when I was a kid. I didn't wanna go back to that."

"But you said you were going to quit," he recriminated.

"This was supposed to be my last mission, Matt. I tried to get out before it was too late. I'm no hero and you're not happy unless you're under constant stress, but I thought that maybe if I quit the one thing you were bound to hate the most about me, then maybe we'd have a chance, I tried—"

"You're not doing this for me," he said. "Don't talk to me about trying, you have no idea what that means. You've never had to sacrifice anything."

"I lost my family!" She moved away from the window.

"You lost your training wheels and a few bodyguards," the man corrected cruelly. "You decided to give up before even losing the fight."

She stared at him in shock, did he really know her that little? How could it be possible? Last year it felt like they'd finally reach a special place, what had changed? What went missing?

"All I did for years was lose! I'm sick of people calling me by the wrong name, of feeling like I'm worthless unless there's some kind of symbol on my chest— I'm sick of waiting for the next bad guy to show up only to beat him up and people to act like I'm the villain!"

"They wouldn't act like that if you did what you say you wanna do, instead of just following orders," Matthew retorted.

"I was all I ever wanted during the blip, and my brother died thanks to it," in her distress, Cat's decision to aim for a life with Matthew started to fall apart. "Maybe Yelena is right. Without my suits and my powers, I might as well be dead, but perhaps that's the right thing to do. This is a mistake."

Matthew lowered his voice, he realized he was losing her. "I know you can be better than what you were tonight, this doesn't have to happen every time you wear a suit—"

She laughed dryly. "Yeah, that's exactly why they poured acid into my brain— 'cause I'm a fucking angel."

Cat walked up to the door and hold onto the handle, she turned to look at Matt. The mutant was thankful he couldn't see her face, cause even if he knew she was agitated, he couldn't be entirely sure of how scared and hopeless she was.

"I'm sorry, I'm not who you want me to be and I'm tired. I don't want to be just another burden you have to drag around. I will get my shit together, before even thinking of doing anything else."

Matthew walked up to her and opened the door fully, his hand on top of hers. "I know what it feels like to think every bad thing in your life is your fault—"

"I know, but if you get me out of this, I won't learn. I don't know how to live without another hero watching my back. I deserve this," her voice remained shaky, but her eyes were dry. "I don't know who I am anymore."

"I think you should take a break," he agreed. "You've been risking your life doing things you didn't want to do, and hiding it from everyone, but I don't... I want to..."

She couldn't be with Matt, not as long as she acted like the people he despised. The tracksuit mafia worked for Kingpin, everyone knew it, they both did, and he was trying really hard to forget that, but she didn't want him to, that wasn't who he was.

"You never said you loved me back," she reminded him. "I think there's a part of you that knew I'm not right for you, and I don't want you to ignore it. I might hurt you, and that's the last thing I wanna do."

Matthew took a moment, he was shaking a little. "You wanted nothing more than to look after the city... I don't understand what went wrong," he breathed heavily, fighting back the tears. "If I go, Cat, I don't know if I'll come back."

"What can you do, anyway? Lock me up and put an inhibitor on me so I can't be Copycat? You've done enough for me, more than you can imagine," Cat moved out of his way, eyes fixed on her feet. "I know you care about me, but please, leave me alone. I'll deal with this."

Matthew looked like he wanted to do the opposite. If anything, this was his way of trying to hold on, if he didn't care he would've walked away the moment he figured things out. The man placed his hand on the other side of the door so she couldn't close it yet.

"The suit and your powers are not the things you should focus on to find yourself," he told her. "It's what you do with them."