Copycat: Genesis -(Marvel Fem!OC)

Treason

"So, what happened?"

"He wants to go to war with the surface world... and asked me to help him. I need to think."

Riri fell back on her seat in distress. "We ain't never gettin' out of here."

"Shuri..." Cat said, not sure how to express herself. "Namor's offer... it could benefit me."

The girl looked at her in disbelief. "You're not considering it?"

"He's offering us protection, and that's exactly what I'm looking for! Forget about the suit, he can help me kill Kraven before he kills me! Namor is a mutant, he shares my worries—"

"What about the part where he's planning to go to war with the rest of the world?"

Cat frowned, her expression was bitter. "What have they done for me? They experimented on my people, they enslaved yours. The rest ignored us. Why would I fight for them?"

"Cat, it's not about who you would fight for. Is who you're willing to lose," Shuri said. "Your brother got killed in a war—"

"That's—"

"More people than you're mindful of would follow you into battle, and they would all be walking to their deaths. You're an excellent fighter, but the people who love you... think it through..."

Cat wavered, Pietro was always a sensitive subject, and her friends were always the right way to get to her. Shuri was right, many people would follow her into battle, and most of them... their chances of surviving were very low. A noise distracted them, Cat looked over her shoulder and found a Wakandan soldier pointing a gun at the guard that was keeping an eye on them.

"Drop your spear!" She demanded.

"Kill the Princess!" The guard ordered.

The woman shot at the Talokan woman, and Cat's insides twisted in terror. The younger girl grabbed Shuri and pressed a knife against their throat.

"Drop your knife." The woman aimed her weapon at her.

"You... You killed her!" The girl said shakily.

"Let her go and you don't have to die."

"Shuri, tell her to drop the gun," Cat warned her.

"Shuri..." the woman said, "move your left arm."

The princess froze in shock, it appeared that she had no idea what was happening, and she didn't understand how one of her warriors had made it this far without being seen. The woman shot without warning.

"NO!"

The girl fell. Shuri and Cat knelt next to her.

"Are you okay?" The princess inquired with urgency.

"Are you okay?" The warrior asked, getting to them.

"Give me your Beads!" Shuri demanded.

"Let's go!"

"Give me your Beads! I can save her!" Shuri pressed desperately.

"We have to go!"

"Girls, I don't know who this lady is, but we need to listen to her!" Riri said anxiously.

"Listen, I hit her with a sonic round, it is lethal from this distance," the woman explained hurriedly. "There is no chance."

"How could you?" Cat said in outrage. If there was one thing she'd always kept as a constant, was that she never hurt children. This surpassed her one and only limit.

"You don't understand," Shuri insisted. "This will mean war!"

"We have to go," the woman replied without listening to her.

"Wait!" Shuri was dragged up.

"Copy, get moving!" Riri urged her.

Cat lifted the girl's knife and held it tightly. "No."

The woman tried to talk some sense into her. "Kid, they'll kill you—"

She looked at them, pointing at the woman with the knife. "If she stays here a second longer, Shuri, I will kill her."

"Cat..." Shuri said, unsure of what was going on.

"I'll stay." 

Copycat stabbed her own leg, crying out and falling to her knees.

"Cat!"

"Get out!" The mutant threw the knife and it pierced the woman's gun. "I... I'll stay... one of us needs to stay and stop them from causing a massacre..."

"Fine! You want to die here, it's your choice," the woman told her, forcing Shuri to abandon the cave.

"Cat!" Shuri yelled as she was dragged away.

"Trust me," Cat winced, the smell of blood was grossing her out. "I'm a good liar."

The group ran out, and Cat turned her attention to the young girl. M.O.U.S.E. was out of line, but she had enough experience patching up wounds on her own. With a quick inspection of the injury she determined the woman hadn't lied, the girl was beyond saving.

"Look at me," she told the girl. "You will be okay in a minute. Close your eyes... go on..."

Cat took off the girl's mask slowly, her hands were shaking, she'd never killed a child before, it was the one thing she swore she'd never do. The girl began to choke on the air, then she stopped moving. Copycat put the mask back on.

"C'mon C.C..." Cat lifted a hand and scratched her own face with two claws. Cat cried out loud, then she got up and made a bigger mess in the cave so it looked like a huge fight had taken place.

A few guards heard the commotion and found her over the girl, at first they thought she was attacking her, and they almost killed her, but Cat managed to make herself heard. She was injured and unarmed. Now she was back with Namor and Namora, and they were interrogating her.

"Who did this?"

"A Wakandan," Cat replied, eyes fixed on the table. "Shuri didn't know the woman was there, so it must've been the Queen who sent her."

"Why did you stay?" Namora asked, she didn't trust her. "To finish the job?"

Her heart skipped a beat, now was the moment to win their trust.

"My place is not with them," Cat said with anger seeping through her voice. "I'm a lot of things, but I've never laid a finger on a child. Never. Shuri dreams of a world where we all live in peace... but if you want something done, you make it happen. Dreaming it isn't enough."

"Has your loyalty shifted?" Namor asked with an unreadable expression.

"I'm only loyal to mutants. Humans are selfish. You were right." She looked straight into his eyes, the cloak around her shoulders felt heavier under Namor's gaze. "Your war is my war."

Namor pushed forward the knife she'd had in her possession when they'd taken her to Talokan. "You have made the right choice, Co'kat."

"It's an honor, K'uk'ulkan."