Copycat - The Infinite cycle

by Fandomtrashfox

Many myths and legends tell of cats being tied to fire and death; The Bakeneko of Japan, The Egyptian belief of cats as keepers to the underworld, the Celtic Cat-sìth, among more. This foretells a beast of death and decay; The son of Mistress Death herself... who happens to be a man named Blake, who - after the New York attack - gains super-abilities and the identity of 'Copycat'.

The room was dark, the proud parents leaving the infant in the crib for the night. The young child rested under the blankets, surrounded by plush toys and stuffed animals - each made for a young baby to cling to - who guard against nightmares and monsters in the shadows.

However, it wasn't monsters that were watching the child. The sockets of a skull face - seeing despite a lack of eyes - stared at the child with a possessiveness, like a dingo at a midwife's window. In the near-silence of night, she approached the crib, staring into it with an expressionless face.

As if sensing her presence, the baby awoke. It blinked, but with newborn eyes, it could see very little; the darkness obscured what it would've seen, save for the stark white of the woman's skull.

The baby didn't know better, of course, only seeing the rough approximation of a face in the darkness.

The woman cloaked in purple fabric and shadow raised her hand - skeletal as everything else about her - and reached out for the child in the crib.

Whether she had been planning to steal the child or perhaps steal its soul, it mattered little, as before she could even touch the baby, it reached out and grabbed her finger in its little hand.

Caught off-guard, she - after a moment of hesitation - reached down with both hands and carefully picked it up in her arms. The baby giggled, wiggling in her arms as she held it close to her chest.

Then, in the darkness of the room, she finally spoke. Her words slithered from her mouth like venomous snakes, filling the room with danger that wouldn't register in the child's fragile mind. "You are my son." The words even surprised her, but she knew it to be true. She had been as instrumental in his creation as the pair who made this body, so how could she not be?

She contemplated for a moment, then produced her birthright - a gorgeous shimmering stone glowing with green light - and placed it on the child's chest. "I've waited twenty years to meet you. I can wait twenty more." The glimmering stone almost seemed to melt, sinking into the infant like dry soil would drink in a melting ice cube. The infant almost didn't feel it; the stone set within the newborn's chest like it were a vital organ in itself.

"You shall live among them, my son; until such a time that you are ready to meet me." She didn't flinch when she heard the infant's father open the door behind her. She set the newborn in the crib again and turned to see him.

The man stared at her, his expression hardening. "I won't let you take him." He spoke as if he could've stopped her if she tried. The cloaked figure chuckled under her breath at his audacity, the hubris he displayed in the face of an eldritch being seeming more amusing to her than insulting.

"Your pride matches your father's." She commented, then turned toward the shadows. "I've gotten what I came for, but don't expect to never see me again." She replied, stepping into the shadows and disappearing out of sight.

The man swiftly turned on the light to be sure she was gone, and as he hoped, she vanished into thin air. The man let out a breath he didn't know he was holding before rushing to the crib side to check on his child. Seeing nothing wrong, he brushed off the encounter, only to jump as his child began to cry.

"Fucking-... goddammit! Jenna, come handle this brat!" He turned to the door and called for the sleeping mother to handle their child, unaware of the immense burden that his baby was gifted.