"You are not Peter Parker."
Katya sighed, her head hanging upside down over Peter's bottom bunk, history book in her lap. "No, I"m not."
"Does Peter Parker know you are wearing his mask?"
Katya peeled it off and tossed it to the boy, who was sitting on the floor beside her. "Tell Karen to calm down and that I'm allowed to use your interface."
Peter chuckled and put it on- they'd taken out their comms so she couldn't hear what Karen was saying to him, but he informed her, "Katya Myshkova is authorized by Peter Parker to use the Spiderman mask." After a moment, in which Katya assumed he was receiving a response, he took it off and handed it back to her. "She should be okay now."
Katya bit back a scowl - it's not like Karen didn't know who she was- and slipped it back on.
Welcome, Katya Myshkova, " Karen's voice was much more pleasant this time.
"Hi, Karen," Katya drolled in a bit of a sing-song voice. "Zoom in on the drone's feed."
Of course, Katya Myshkova.
Katya grimaced, though the interface did what she asked. "Could you just call me Katya? I know my own name."
Of course, Katya.
In her apartment, Aneszka seemed to be busying herself with making tea, with something else heating up in the microwave. So far, nothing she'd done was out of the ordinary- just a regular person coming home from work.
"I"m thinking the best time to strike might be right when she gets home from work- She'll be tired, and distracted, and it looks like she lives alone." Katya told Peter, her head still hanging off the bed. Aneszka had now removed whatever was in the microwave and moving towards her couch to eat it, turning the television on.
A pang of…was it pity? Hit Katya in the chest. Everything about her apartment was sparse- very little decoration, utilitarian countertops and appliances and no fresh flowers- Katya vowed, if she ever had an apartment of her own, it would be full of plants- or anything that resembled a lived in house other than the fact that Aneszka herself was actually sitting there, eating. It all seemed so…lonely. As she guessed, the work of a Widow was lonely- and she was still Under, so she didn't even know. Katya sighed. "The sooner we free her the better." She said, technically to Peter, but mostly to herself.
After a few more hours of recon punctuated by homework- and a bowl of surprisingly good stir fry Aunt May had made- Katya figured it'd be best to go home- or more, back to the Avenger's compound. The place was still new, and she honestly spent so much time over at Peter's it felt more like home to her there anyway.
She somersaulted off the bed, slipping the hood off, careful not to step on her empty bowl she'dplaced on the floor. "I should probably get going" Katya mumbled, reluctance dripping from her voice. Peter'd taken the hood and was now moving to plug it into his computer. "So soon?"
Katya raised an eyebrow. It was eleven o'clock on a school night, which, though it didn't matter to her, Happy had made it extremely clear mattered to him. "Yeah, Happy's going to spend the rest of the ride complaining to me if I don't."
Suddenly Peter's laptop screen flickered to the surveillance video fed from the drone's feed through the suit. Aneszka had long since finished eating, had showered, and was now doing something on her own computer, clad in bedclothes. "Sucks you live so far away," he grumbled, giving her a hug. Katya let herself melt into it for a moment before shrugging. "I know. I wish I could just stay here-"
Peter pulled back and hit face lit up. "You know, you probably could…like, occasionally anyway." he turned pink as he continued. "I have a feeling Aunt May wouldn't really mind."
Katya smiled at the thought- she definitely wanted to take him up on that- but she had to talk to Tony again tonight, too. "That sounds great." She said, squeezing his hand, "But I've actually got some stuff to do at the compound tonight." Mainly procure weaponry.
Peter shrugged, understanding, but a smiled played on his lips.
—-—
Even though it was earlier than last time Katya still received an earful on the ride up to the compound. "I don't know when Tony expects me to sleep, I'm on call all hours of the night-"
"Then this can't be new to you." Katya was slumped in the backseat, eyes glued to the tracker she kept concealed by keeping her wrist in her lap, her feet propped up against the back of the passenger's seat.
"I know, kid, just-" Happy cut himself off, shaking his head. They pulled up to the compound not too long after, the entire thing dark, asleep- in theory.
"Thanks Happy," she told him as they got out, "I'm sorry I keep calling so late."
Happy reached out to ruffle her hair- both he and Tony did this, so Katya had gotten used to it as a sign of affection, but didn't understand quite how it was supposed to translate- "I know kid, I'm just busting your balls."
Katya did not have the brain space to pick apart that phrase - nor was she sure she wanted to, given the mental image it gave her- before beelining it to Tony's lab-
-where he sat, exactly as she expected, the same way she'd found him last night. He didn't look up when she came in, and she didn't get a chance to announce herself before he touched something on the holographic screen in front of him and the back wall opened up again, showing very much the same suit she'd seen the day before. Katy opened her mouth to protest, but Tony cut her off.
"-Before you complain, it's not the same suit. Go ahead-" he waved towards it, "put it on."
A/N Hey guys, sorry for the interruption in the story. Just wanted to mention that somehow whilst uploading chapter 4 got all jumbled, so it might not have made much sense, but I've fixed it now, so be sure to check it out! I'll keep scanning for upload errors, has been exceedingly uncooperative it seems but hey, we all do our best. Next update will be part of the story, I promise!