Chapters Jessica screamed as the roof to the library suddenly collapsed inwards towards her. She put her hands on her head and looked down, ready to be hit by the falling ceiling. The sound of wood and stone breaking sounded out above her, looking up she saw the large shelves had stopped the falling debris.
Shakily she moved carefully in to another aisle of shelves. She tried her best to stay away from the rubble across the floor and hanging from the shelves. Eventually she made it to the side of the library and pressed her back against the cracked stone wall before slowly sliding to the ground. Jessica took in deep breaths and tried to calm herself. Though this was difficult due to the constant sound of gunfire and the occasional animalistic roar.
The sounds seemed to echo all around her, making her more and more afraid of what was happening. After a minute or to of sitting there she stood up and began to make her move to escape. Just as she took her first step there was a sudden crash as something flew through the wall next to her. She let out a scream and looked in the direction of what came through the wall.
What she saw completely threw her off, it appeared to a some what large black creature with large white eyes and a large messy spider emblem across its chest. It let out a growl and bared it's teeth before trying to push a shelf off of itself. During its attempt it let out a pained scream and it's arm fell limp. Jessica good there and stared at the creature in disbelief, she had heard of this thing but never thought she would see it in person.
The creatures face and body suddenly pealed away revealing a young man who must have been in his mid twenties. There was a pained scoul across his face as he lay there limp. Seening this Jessica ran over to his side.
"Holy shit s-sir, are you ok?" She asked. The man looked at her and his eyes winded.
"What are you doing here? You need to leave, now!" The man said, his voice sounded strained.
"What? No I won't leave you need help!" Jessica protested as she moved some of the smaller bricks and wood off of the man. "I saw what you are but, i still think you need help."
"No... there's no time." The man suddenly grabbed Jessica's hand. "I'm sorry."
"W-what are you doing?"
A strange black substance began to come off the man and on to Jessica's hand. She tried to pull away from him but his hand held her tightly. The strange substance slid up the sleeve of her hoodie and disappeared under it. Once the substance and had fully left the man he let go of her hand.
"W-what the fuck was that?" Jessica asked, her voice full of concern and fear. She shuddered and began to feel around herself, trying to find the substance but to no success.
"That is my friend... and now I must trust you to protect it." The man said. "You have to leave the city, move far away and don't draw attention to yourself."
"I don't understand, why must I leave?"
Before Jessica could get an answer tje sound of heavy footsteps began to approach them and light beeping of something could be heard.
"There's no time, go hide. Now!" The man ordered. Jessica reluctantly left tje man's side and hid on the other side of the room, she crouched behind a shelf and watched the man from between two books.
Looking at the broken wall she watched a group of heavily armoured people step in, all brandishing a large assault rifle, except for one, who was carrying a large device that occasionally beeped.
"He doesn't have it." The soldier with the device said. The soldier turned and watched as a man in heavy yellow armour, yellow kevlar and two large silver gauntlets.
"Is that... the Shocker?" Jessica asked herself, in a hushed tone. "He's a lot bigger than I thought."
"Well, isn't this a suprise, you don't have it. So where is it Eric?" Shocker said as he crouched in front of the man, now identified as Eric.
"Even if a knew I wouldn't tell you of all people." Eric said in a defiant tone. He spat at Shocker, just missing him.
"Oh Eric, how gullible do you think I am?" Shocker asked rhetorically. "You had the suit only ten minutes ago, where is it?"
"It's... its gone... you'll never find it."
"Gone? Well ain't that a shame. But trust me I will find it Eric." Shocker said as he stood up and walked away from Eric. "But since it's gone and you won't talk, we'll I have no use for you."
With one of his hands he turned a small dial on one of his gauntlets before turning and pointing it at Eric.
"Goodnight freak show."
With a small move from his wrist a large blast of energy was shot at Eric. It forced his head back and there was a sudden snap. Once the shot was done Eric fell limp.
"Alright, look around people it can't have gotten far!" Shocker ordered as he walked back out the hole in the wall. "And if it has a new host, bring them in alive."
Jessica's eyes widened as she watched the soldiers begin to sweep the area. Then she heard it a slightly distorted female voice. It said one word.
"Run."
"No, let go of me, I need to help him!" Yelled Jessica. She struggled against the slimy restraints that held her back from Eric. She watched as Shocker raised his gauntlet at Eric.
"You can't save him... he's already gone Jess." Sling's voice echoed around the room. "You can't save everyone."
"I have to try!" Jessica yelled again. With all her strength she pulled herself forward but this was a futile attempt as her restraints simply pulled her back. A pair of black arms wrapped around her. "N-no... I need to help."
"That's not what he wanted Jess, he wanted you to run." Sling said in a calm voice. Jessica tried once more to break free but the arms tightened their grip. She watched as Shocker balsed Eric with his gauntlet.
"No!" Jessica screamed. She closed her eyes and looked down. "I... I could have saved him."
"You couldn't have. If you did, we would have been caught." Sling said. Jessica looked up and turned to look at what was holding her back. She looked up slightly and saw a head with a large pair of sharp white eyes looking at her.
"We need each other, and we need to protect each other." Sling said as she began to cover Jessica. "Together we are stronger, together we are safer."
Jessica slowly relaxed and completely stopped all attempts to escape her restraints. Her vision went dark as Sling covered her face.
Jessica jolted awake and almost fell over she instinctively looked around and found herself standing on top of a extremely tall building in the dead of night. She looked down and found herself at the edge with the tips of her feet hanging off the edge.
"What the hell!" She yelled as she tried to back up but found that her feet were stuck in place. "Sling, why am I up here!"
"It's time for you to conquer your fear of heights." Sling said. She sounded like she was trying to mimic a drill instructor. "You will step forward off this building and use your momentum to swing to greater heights."
"Sling don't make me do this you know how I feel about heights!"
"Now, jump!"
Jessica, tried to step back again. Sling prevented her from stepping back and forced her foot forward.
"Now wait just a moment!" Jessica yelled. Sling didn't care and slowly pushed her weight forward. Eventually Jessica fell. She let out a scream and yelled at Sling. "Your crazy, you are absolutely crazy."
"Now, swing." Sling ordered. Jessica didn't listen as she fell, eventually closing her eyes. Suddenly Jessica felt herself stop. She opened her eyes and looked up. She saw a long thick tendril attached to the building. Following in with her eyes she saw it was coming from her back.
"Thank you." Jessica said as she let out a sigh.
"We really need to work on getting rid of your fear of heights." Sling said.
"Yeah, but probably not like this. Also you are absolutely insane for doing that."
"It was worth a shot."
Jessica yawned and let Sling slowly take her down the side of the building.
Jessica sprinted down the halls of Canterlot high, practically throwing herself around a corner when one appeared, this was the twelfth time in five weeks she would be late for her first class of the day.
"God damn it not again." She hissed to herself as she hit a turn a bit to fast. She jumped and ran across the wall for three steps before stepping back on to the floor. "Sling, you know this is your fault?"
"My fault? How is this my fault?" Sling said in Jessica's mind.
"Well for starters your the one who talked me in to going after that speeding car."
"True, but think about how good you felt when we caught them."
"You have a point. Now shut it, we're here."
Jessica reached her classroom and practically bursted. Immediately all eyes where on her. She gave a sheepish smile and walked towards her desk.
"Sorry, I'm late Dr Conners." Jessica said as she pulled her books from her bag and sat down.
"Honestly Jessica I can't even say I'm suprised anymore. This is the fifth time now. You've been late to my class specifically." Dr Conners said as he looked up from his computer. "Now, to catch you up to speed, we are on page fifty six in the textbook and we are looking at antibodies and healing."
Jessica nodded and flipped open the textbook and turned to the page.
"Jessica?" Dr Conners said.
"Yeah?"
"That's the wrong textbook. This is biology, not chemistry."
"Crap, my bad Dr Conners."
Jessica, looked back in to her bag and pulled out the correct book and then turned to the page. Conners nodded and looked back to his computer.
"Now I want you to read from that page to page sixty three." Dr Conners said. Jessica sighed and started to read. She picked up the information quickly thanks to Sling. Even before bonding with Sling Jessica was a bit of a nerd, but with the help of her new friend she was an even bigger nerd.
"Psst... hey..." A gentle voice came from infront of her. Jessica looked up from her book and saw Rainbow Dash looking back at her.
"What do you want Rainbow?" Jessica asked with a deadpan voice.
"Oh, nothing just wondering how in the world you could be late so often to this class, I mean it's not like you got anything interesting going on right?" Rainbow Dash said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Lile I know you're smart and all but you can't be smart enough to skip school."
"Rainbow Dash, be quiet and let Jessica do her work." Dr Conners said, not having to even look away from his computer.
"Sorry sir." Rainbow Dash said as she turned back to her own book.
Jessica rolled her eyes and looked back to her book.
"Can we go now?" Sling asked in Jessica's mind.
"Not yet." Jessica said silently.
"How, about now?"
"No."
"Now?"
"I said no"
The day was coming to an end and Sling had started to get extremely impatient. Jessica knew how much she hates school. But unfortunately for Sling this was important to Jessica.
Her pen scribbled across the page infront of her as she finished the final equation on the test sheet. She got up and walked to the front desk and slid it on to the teachers desk before walking back. While on her way back she noticed Rarity looked like she was having an absolute breakdown over the seventh question. She was, chewing the end of her pen nervously and tapping her foot. Jessica smirked a little and sat back down.
Not even a second after she sat down some faint static came over the intercom before someone began speaking.
"Can Jessica Jade please come to Principal Celestia's office. That's Jessica Jade to Principal Celestia's office."
Jessica sighed and stood up before grabbing her and walking out the door towards the Principal's office.
"Ooooo... how much trouble do you think she is in this time Twilight." Said Rainbow Dash as soon as Jessica stepped out the door.
Jessica sighed again and walked down the hall and made it to the office. She knocked on the door and a voice called from within.
"Come in."
Jessica opened the door and walked in.
"Jessica it's great to see you, please take a seat." Celestia said in a cheerful yet serious tone. Jessica wasn't sure how she did it, but nevertheless she did as she was told and sat across the desk from Celestia.
"So why did you call me in?" Jessica asked, but deep down she knew she didn't need to.
"Well I'm here to discuss your attendance at this school, your random acts of absence and your behaviour." Celestia said in a slightly more serious tone. "Now Jessica, I don't know what to do with you. Your constantly late or disappearing in the middle of the day, but yet your grades have stayed the same as they were when you were in New York. And I don't know if I'm impressed or not."
Jessica didn't say anything and looked down slightly.
"But you have to know I can't allow you to be constantly late or just dissappear, even if you have good grades."
"I understand Miss." Jessica said.
"So, reluctantly I'm going to put you in to after school detention for a week."
"What, no! She can't do that to us!" Sling yelled in Jessica's head.
"Now, I also want to talk about how you behave with others. You seem to keep your distance and not get close with your peers..."
"Yeah that's because they want nothing to do with me." Jessica said, cutting off Celestia. "To all of them I'm the freaky new girl who stays all by herself."
"I understand that, but you haven't put in any effort in to socialising. Now I know it must have been hard for you to suddenly move, but I need you to try your hardest."
Jessica huffed and crossed her arms, she refused to meet Celestia's eyes.
"Please Jessica make some friends." Celestia pleaded. Jessica said nothing and just sat there, uncomfortably shuffling every now and then.
"Alright... I'll let you go now." Said Celestia. Jessica nodded and stood up just as the bell rang to signal the end of the day. But for Jessica the day was still not over.
Jessica sat alone in a classroom with Vice-Principal Luna. She had been assigned some extra work by Dr Connors but she had already finished, so she sat there doodling random shapes, occasionally sneaking a look at her phone when Luna wasn't looking.
"Alright I'm stepping out for a bit, I'll be back in five minutes." Luna said as she stood up from her desk. Jessica simply put her thumb up and watched Luna leave. As soon as she had left the room Jessica pulled out her phone and looked at the news. The first thing that popped up looked like a live coverage of a bank robbery.
She immediately sat up in her chair and put her pen down. She looked to the window to her left and a single thought crossed her mine.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sling asked.
"Yep."
A little over ten minutes later Luna walked back in to the detention room.
"Sorry, I got caught up with..." Luna paused her sentence as she noticed Jessica was missing and the window was open.
"Damn that girl is sneaky." Luma said as she shut the window.
Jessica stood on the roof of Canterlot High and removed some of the clothes she was wearing mainly her shoes and hoodie. Once she was done she shoved them in to her bag and put her bag on to her back.
"Alright let's get going." She said mostly to herself but also to Sling. Jessica ran across the room jumped from the rood, as soon as her feet left the ground she felt Sling emerg and wrap around her entire body tightly. Sling had turned herself in to a skin tight suit with a large white spider symbol across the chest that connected to one of the back.
Jessica threw her arm out and from the back of her wrist shot out a black web with connected to a nearby tree. Using the momentum from her jump she swung from the web and away from the school. After that first swing she felt Sling cover her face. Sling formed in to a mask with two large white eyes. She also mixed in with Jessica's hair turning it from it's usual blond with blue tips to completely black. Sling finally created a hood and used some tendrils to pull it over Jessica's head.
"That will never get old." Jessica said as she continued to swing further and further away from the school.
"I couldn't agree more." Sling said.
Police cars circled the entrance to the bank. TV vans were scattered up the road with reporters stood out in front, trying to question some witnesses of the event occurring inside the bank.
A SWAT team stood outside the front door ready to enter. But unlike the officers Jessica and Sling knew a better way in. Jessica stood next to a vent on the roof large enough to enter.
"You reckon this could get us in?" Jessica asked.
"Most likely." Sling said. Jessica nodded and grabbed the vent cover and pulled it off. She put the cover to the side and entered the vent and started to descend down the vent. She landed on another vent cover and carefully kicked it off, making sure to catch it before it fell. She webbed the now loose vent cover to the ceiling before she moved on to the rafters.
"Alright, start getting these bags to the back." Said a deep male voice from bellow. Jessica looked down and saw several men carrying large duffle bags.
"Fifties styled suits and fedoras, yep theses check out as Joseph Lorenzini's guys." Jessica thought to herself. She moved silently over the rafters as she tried to find more of these intruders.
"So what's the plan?" Sling asked.
"Well, it seems we don't have a lot of time to be stealthy about this so I recon we just jump in and hope for the best."
With a sigh from Sling they both silently agreed.
"Plus I know how much you like to fight."
When the group of men started to come back Jessica dropped from the rafters behind them and immediately swiped one of the men's legs out from beneath them. His face hit the cold floor and blood shot out of his nose.
The other men turned around and drew their guns on Jessica. With a few placed webs she ripped the guns from their hands.
"Can't have you guys use those on me." Said Jessica as she rushed forwards towards the men. Her shoulder stuck in to the first man and knocked him backwards on to the floor. The others immediately took their chance and threw much after much at Jessica. She doged the first two but the third struck her in the cheek knocking her back a little.
"Kill her." One of the men said as the group rushed her. Jessica shook her head before webbing two of the men's legs together making the both trip. The third nan she kicked in the knee. He cried out in pain and as he fell to the ground her fist connected with his jaw. She watched as blood flew from his mouth, most likely from biting his own lip.
She rushed one of the men trying to free him himself from her webs. She grabbed one of his arms and straitened it our and brought her elbow down on it. The man screamed as his arm broke at the elbow.
The third man finally got himself free puched Jessica in the side before throwing a punch at her head. The punch connected and she staggered backwards. It wasn't long before she felt an arm wrap around her neck and something be pressed in to her lower back.
A gunshot rang out and Jessica screamed in pain before being pushed to the floor.
"So your the little Spider who has been ruining all my hits?" A man in a heavy New York accent said. "And I will say I don't know how you did it when you are this sloppy."
Jessica looked up and saw a man in a blue suit looking down at her. The man crouched down and pressed the barrel of his 1911 against Jessica's head.
"You don't impress me. But I'll give you a chance." The man said as he pulled the gun away. "Next time we meet I expect better."
The man stood back up and walked away from her.
"Alright let's wrap this up!" The man said as he walked towards the back of the building.
"We need to get you out of here." Sling said as she forced Jessica to get up.
"Y-your right... let's go h-home..." Jessica said weakly. She walked over to a wall and used it as support as she made her way to the front door. She pushed it open and stepped out, only to be met by the barrels of SWAT rifles.
"Wait, it's her." One of the SWAT team members said. The officers lowered their guns and seemed to look at Jessica in a mix of amazement and concern. Jessica looked towards the crowd of people in front of her and saw reporters making their way to her.
"You take the wheel." She thought to herself and Sling.
"Of course." Sling said. Jessica practically released full control of her body and Sling took hold. To Jessica it was like being on some kind of auto pilot. Before the reports could make it to then Sling used a web to pull Jessica to the roof tops.
Jessica laid face down in her bed, the wound on her back exposed.
"Ready to begin?" Sling asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Jessica said. She watched and Sling used a few tendrils to hold her down as some smaller tendrils pulled at Jessica's injury before entering in. Jessica winced and bit her pillow to stifle a scream.
She felt Sling move around for a moment before slowly pulling back out. Jessica hissed in pain as something hard was pulled from her back. The pain vanished as quickly as it started and a 9mm bullet was dropped in to Jessica's hand. Sling released Jessica and began to close the wound.
"Thanks... I owe you one." Jessica said.
"No, need it's why I'm here." Sling responded.
Jessica looked at the bullet in her hand and rolled it between her fingers.
"You know this wouldn't have happened if you had let me cut loose on them." Sling said.
"And what let everyone know I'm wearing an alien parasite." Jessica retorted.
"First of all parasite is a strong and offensive word to me."
"Oh yeah, your what? A symbiote?"
"Yes!"
Jessica chuckled and got up off the bed and threw on a t-shirt.
"Well atleast we know who Joseph is now, and the fact he'll be a pain in the ass." Jessica said and she left her room and walked down the stairs. Just as she reached the bottom she heard her front door open.
"Jess, you home?" A woman's voice called out. Jessica sighed.
"Yes, mom I'm here." Jessica called back.
"Well we need a chat.
"Crap." Jessica thought to herself before walking in to the living room. She saw her mom sitting on the couch with her arms crossed.
"I got a call from the Vice-Principal today about you sneaking out of detention. Got anything to say about that?" Jessica's mom asked.
"Well I already did the work they gave me, so there was no point on staying." Jessica said.
"Jess! Please, just take this seriously. I'm worried ok. You show up at the door one day saying how you wanted to come back and finishe school here. And you haven't given me a reason."
"It's just... I..." Jessica stumbled over her words, as she searched for an answer.
Jessica sighed and hung her head low.
"I don't know why I came back, I guess I was home sick or maybe I just missed you. And since dad died, I couldn't bear the thought of you being alone." Jessica said. She looked at her mom's face and watched at the anger drained from it and was replaced with one of guilt.
"I didn't think that was the reason. It's just since you came back you've been different. I guess your fathers death hit you harder than I thought." Jessica's mom said. She slowly got up and walked to her daughter before hugging her. "I'm sorry for being angry."
"And I'm sorry for not saying anything." Jessica said, a smile slowly crossed her face as she pulled away from the hug.
"Well I got good news for you, I got pizza for dinner. Your favourite." Jessica's mom said with a joyful smile.
"Oh, your just the best." Jessica said, sharing her mom's joyful smile.
It was the final five minutes of school on a Friday and Jessica sat at her desk bored. She had already completed all the work Dr Connors had given out. So to make the time pass she doodled on her note book. Most of her doodles where just silly sketches of her swinging around the city or fighting off criminals.
Eventually the bell rang to signal the end of the day. Jessica started to pack her bag.
"Alright, remember for those who haven't completed the work in class, that is your homework. I expect it done by Wednesday." Dr Conners said. Their was an audible groan from everyone in the class, everyone but Jessica. She simply chuckled and began to follow everyone out the class.
"Jessica, may I have a brief word with you before you leave?" Dr Connors asked. Jessica stopped and turned back before walking over to her teacher's desk.
"Uh, sure. What do you want to talk to me about?" Jessica said as she cane to a stop infront of his desk.
"Despite your problem with being late to class, you are somehow one of the most talented students I have ever taught. And I want to offer you an opportunity to work with me."
"Are you offering me a job?" Jessica asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, and before you ask of course I'll pay you." Said Dr Connors. After those words a smile spread across Jessica's face.
"I... I don't know what to say. I'll... I'll take it!" Jessica said excitedly. Dr Connors wrote an address down on a piece of paper.
"Come to this address tomorrow, I'll show you around my lab." Dr Connors said.
"I will."
Jessica took the paper and carefully placed it in to her bag.
"See you tomorrow Jessica."
"Goodbye for now Dr Connors."
Jessica stepped out the class room with a smile on her face until she heard someone cough to her left.
"So, seems your the Doctor's favourite now." Rainbow Dash said. Jessica sighed and turned to face her.
"What's it to you? You jealous or something?" Jessica questioned.
"No not really. But I know someone who is."
"Let me guess, Twilight?"
"Mhmm..."
Jessica sighed and began to walk away from Rainbow Dash, before she let out another cough.
"What is it this time?" Jessica said as she turned around again.
"Just wanted to know if your gonna take part in the upcoming music festival." Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.
"Oh, no I won't be... not much of a musical person."
"Good, I would hate to embarrass you on stage."
Jessica resisted the urge to flip Rainbow Dash off and she finally walked away. Jessica couldn't shake the thought on how Rainbow Dash was one of the most popular girls in school with an attitude like that. She shook her head and continued to walk. She was then stopped by yet another voice.
"Oh Jessica, there you are." Principal Celestia said as she walked up to Jessica.
"Hi, Principal Celestia, where you looking for me?" Jessica asked.
"Yes,I needed to talk to you."
"Look if this is about me ditching detention, I can explain."
Celestia put her hands up defensively.
"No, no this isn't about that. I just wanted to let you know I've decided to put you in a group for the upcoming music festival." Celestia said with a smile. Jessica did not share her smile.
"What? No, I can't be part of that! I'm not a musical person." Jessica said in protest.
"Jessica this is the only way I know to get you to interact with other students. I've tried everything else."
Jessica let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Good, here is the room number where you'll find your team." Celestia said as she handed Jessica a slip of paper. "I except to see you there."
Jessica nodded before moving along. She really did not want to join that group. She had never even thought about taking part in any form of music. She stepped out the schools front doors and made her way home.
"What a witch." Sling said in the back of Jessica's mind.
Jessica opened the front door to her home and stepped in. She let her bag fall off her shoulders and fall to the ground.
"Mom, I'm home!" Jessica called out as she stepped in to the living room. There she saw her mom sitting on the couch watching TV.
"Hi Jess, how was school?" Jessica's mom asked in a cheery voice.
"It was actually pretty good, I landau a job with Dr Connors." Jessica said with a smile.
"Wait you mean you got a job working for one of the best scientist in the country?"
Jessica nodded and watched as a massive grin grew across her mom's face.
"Oh, my little girl is growing up do fast." Jessica's mom said as she got up and hugged her. Jessica rolled her eyes and hugged her mom back.
In that moment Jessica decided to not tell her mom how Celestia had forced her to join a music group for the upcoming festival. She didn't want to sour the mood with her negative view on the decision.
The next day flew in for Jessica, today was when she got to see Dr Connors lab for the first time. She looked down at the piece of paper that had the labs address scribbled out on it. She stopped at a door and looked up and the buildings number, it matched the one on the paper. She pressed the buzzer that was next to the door and waited. In no time at all she heard a voice come through the small speaker.
"The doors unlocked, please come in Jessica" Dr Connors's said as the door made an audible click. Jessica grabbed the handle and pulled open the door before entering.
She walked down a short hall before entering in to a large mostly white room full of lab equipment. Microscopes and test tubes littered the work benches around the room. Jessica couldn't help but look around in wonder at her new work place. She looked over to her wright and saw a cage with two small rats in it. She walked over to them and looked in. Both the rats were missing a leg. She raised an eyebrow.
"Heh, maybe this makes Connors feel less self-conscious about his missing arm?" Jesssica joked to herself.
"Ah Jessica, your here." Dr Connors said from behind her. She turned around and saw her teacher walking up to her.
"This place is incredible Doc, I can't say I've been in a lab before." Jessica said as she gave the room another glance.
"Why thank you Jessica. I'm glad you like it. Now before I tell you about what I'm doing here, I would like you to meet my business co-worker and supplier Donald Menken." Dr Connors gestured to a man in a grey suit next to him. "He works for Oscorp and gets me what I need."
"Oscorp? You sure are quite far from home Mr Menken. " Jessica joked as she shook his hand.
"Heh, that's funny I like someone with a sense of humour." Donald Menken said. "Well Jessica I sure look forward to working with you in the upcoming months."
"Likewise Mr Menken"
Menken's phone buzzed before he pulled it out of his pocket to look at it.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I can't stay. I got a meeting to attend, I hope you enjoy yourself Jessica. " Menken said as he made his way to the door. Jessica waved as he exited out the door.
"So what are you exactly working on here Doc?" Jessica asked.
"Well this is gonna sound crazy, but I've been researching in to limb regeneration, it's been a personal project of mine for years and now I want yo put it in to practice." Dr Connors said.
"Your talking about regrowing entire limbs... for people?"
"Yes, and I wanted your help because you are the only person I know who can think outside the box."
"Well Doc, tell me more about this project."
It had been three days since Jessica started to work at Dr Connors's lab. This new job and the work she waw doing was all she could think about. She looked up at her ceiling from her bed and sighed she couldn't stop thinking about how many lives could be helped with the work she was doing. She let out another sigh and reached out to Sling in her thoughts.
"You still haven't told me where you came from." Jessica said.
"I've said it once, I'll say it again I don't want to talk about were I came from." Sling said irritably.
"Oh come on. Whenever you do mention your past it's only about Eric. But even then you are very closed about him."
"Stop talking."
"Why? I'm just curious about-"
"I said stop talking!" Sling yelled in Jessica's mind making her go quiet. "Just shut up about it..."
"O-ok." Jessica said. She fell silent and stared up in to the ceiling. She soon reached over to her side table and grabbed her phone. She turned it on and was nearly blinded by the light on it. Once her eyes adjusted she opened the news and found a late night live broadcast of a car chase.
"We have confirmed that one of the passengers in the car that is being chased by police is in fact Josephine Lorenzini." Said the reporter
"You up for a late night chase?" Jessica asked.
"Of course I am." Sling said as she started to wrap around Jessica.
"We can't shake em boss!" The driver of the car said as he took a sharp turn.
"I don't care how you do it, just make it happen." Josephine yelled from the back seat.
"I'm trying!"
There was a sudden thump on the roof of the car.
"Oh, no, no, no! It's her!" Josephine yelled as he pulled his pistol out of its holster before firing at the roof of the car.
There were a few more thumps that were heading to the front of the car. Eventually Spider-girl dropped down from the top of the car and on to the hood. She glared at Josephine through the glass her eyes looking like knives.
Without a second thought Josephine pointed his gun at her and fired three shots. The drive instinctively moved his head away and made a very sharp turn to the left in to a construction site. Spider-girl jumped of the car as it skidded before flipping upside-down.
Spider-girl landed on the ground a few metres away from the crashed car and watched as several men crawled out of the broken windows. She gave a quick glance behind herself and watched as the police car stopped just outside the construction site. She returned her attention to the criminals before sprinting towards them.
The first man she kicked back to the ground and before turning to hit Josephine in head with her fist. She turned to face the third man who was on the other side of the car. She jumped up on to the car before pouncing at him. She used her webs to yank him towards her before drop kicking him back to the ground.
The man held his chest before standing back up and pointing his gun at her. She rushed towards him the man fired one shot and she moved to the side, dodging the bullet. She looked back and saw where it landed.
Her eyes widened as she saw Josephine had blood pouring out the front of his head. He stumbled backwards before falling to the ground. She looked back at the gun man who was frozen in shock. She took this moment to rush at him and strike him across the face with the back of her foot.
She heard footsteps coming down from behind her. She turned to face the sound only to find two police officers approaching her.
"Spider-Girl, are you alright?" The first officer asked.
"I'm fine, but I'm afraid Josephine is dead." Spider-girl said.
"I know, I saw the shot as we were coming dow-" The officer was interrupted as a spray of blood came out of his forehead and on to Spider-girl. The officer fell to the ground and behind him Spider-girl could see Josephine sitting up right with his gun pointed at her while holding the bloody wound on his head. She stood there in utter shock shaking at the sight. She wiped the blood from her face and starred at Josephine.
He fired a shot at the other officer hitting her in the stomach, the officer yelled as she fell to the ground clutching the wound. Josephine then returned his attention to Spider-girl and firing two more shots at her. She doged out of the way of the gun fire and landed infront of some short scaffolding. Josephine fired one more shot at her, she crouched out the way and listened to the bullet hit one of the metal struts of the scaffolding.
There was a loud creak from the scaffolding. Spider-girl turned to face it only to see the metal structure falling towards her. She tried to move out the way of the structure but it was to late. The scaffolding crashed down on her, as the metal structure broke apart a pain Spider-girl had never felt before shot through her head. She sreamed and clutched her head as the ringing from the metal sounded out. She felt the symbiote produce tentacles as it tried to push the metal off of her.
Eventually the ringing stopped and she carefully got out from under the broken structure.
"What was that?" She asked herself. Before she could get a response she saw the female officer on the ground. She quickly ran over to her and began to help her. She carefully moved the officer's hands away from the wound before gently covering it in her webs.
"That should help." She said. The officer nodded as she began to relax. Spider-girl looked up and around trying to find Josephine, but he was gone.
"Damn it."
Jessica sat on a rooftop and rubbed her head, she kept thinking about the pain she experienced when the scaffolding fell on her.
"Sling, what was that pain?" She asked.
"The vibrations from the metal caused our discomfort." Sling responded.
"Discomfort? No thar wasn't discomfort, that was one of the most painful things I've experienced!"
"You can blame me for that. My species is sensitive to lound sounds. This can cause pain and if intense enough, it can kill us."
"Oh, fantastic. Maybe you should have mentioned that earlier." Jessica said as she sarcastically clapped her hands. "Now, we need to find Josephine, he can't of got far."
"No, we need to go home and rest, let the police look for him." Sling countered
"But..."
"No, buts. You need sleep."
Jessica sighed before nodding.
"You're right, let's go home."
The CCTV footage of Spider-girl in pain under the scaffolding played across a computer screen, the man sitting at the desks eyes widned.
"We got it." He said before standing up and rushing out of the room. He ran down several corridors before barging in to a new room. There he saw a man in yellow armour working on a pair of large gauntlets.
"Sir, I have something you will want to see." The man said between his breaths.
"This better be good, you know how busy I am." The Shocker said.
"Sir, I found it. The one that was in New York."
At those words Shocker looked up from his gauntlets and at the man.
"Where?" He asked.
"In the town of Canterlot. It seems to have found a new host."
Shocker nodded his head before putting on his gauntlets.
"Round up the men, we leave imminently."
Jessica looked at the note in her hand and then the room number. This was the place Celestia had wanted her to be. She signed and reached for the door handle.
"This should be good." Sling said sarcastically. Jessica rolled her eyes before opening the door and walking through. Immediately all eyes were on her. She looked at the five people sitting around the table looking at her. She recognised all five of them. She looked at each of them and recalled their names. Lyra, Octavia, Vinyl, Trixie and, Flash.
"Seriously, do we have to get stuck with the weird new girl?" Vinyl complained.
"Vinyl, be nice! And yes we're going to have to work with her." Octavia said. Vinyl grumbled before pushing up her purple shades and looking away from Jessica.
Jessica slowly approached the table the group was sitting around and took a seat between Flash and Trixie.
"Well atleast there are plenty of musically talented people in this group." Jessica said mentally to Sling.
"And hopefully they have some good ideas." Sling responded.
"So, did you guys have a plan before I joined?" Jessica sheepishly asked.
"Absolutely not." Lyra said bluntly. "We literally can't agree on anything."
"What do you mean can't agree?"
"What I mean is we don't know if to make our own song or to use an existing song and we don't know what genre to do!"
"Now hang on my idea was obviously the best!" Vinyl shouted.
"No, it wasn't Vinyl." Octavia said, cutting in to the conversation.
Jessica slowly tuned out the argument that was occurring across the table and her face fell in to her hands.
"We are so fucked." She said to herself mentally.
After a few short moments there was a small tap on her right shoulder. She looked up and saw Flash giving her a kind smile.
"Don't worry about those three. Their always arguing, but when they do me and Trixie get to work." Flash said.
"Heh, that's good to hear." Jessica said with a small smile.
"Names, Flash by the way." Flash offered Jessica a hand shake. She happily accepted it.
"Yes, I know who you are. I'm Jessica. It's nice to meet you."
There was a small tap on Jessica's left shoulder and she turned to face Trixie.
"And I am the great-" Trixie said before being cut off.
"The great and powerful Trixie. Yes I know you too" Jessica said with a small chuckle.
"Oh, good... everyone should know about Trixie." Trixie stated. Jessica couldn't help but laugh at the way Trixie spoke in the third person.
Jessica turned her attention back to the argument occurring on the other side of the table and saw how it had only intensified. She chucked to herself lightly.
"Maybe this won't be to bad." She said to Sling.
"Maybe..." Sling simply responded.
Before Jessica knew it the group session had ended and everyone in the room was packing up to go home. Jessica was suprised with how well she got along with Flash and Trixie. Trixie had a surprisingly enjoyable flair for the dramatic and Flash well, he was an amateur guitar play and music lover. And well Jessica, she loved music but never kean on learning an instrument.
Jessica put her bag on her shoulders before hearing Flash call her name she turned to face him.
"Hey, me and Trixie were gonna go get milkshakes before we head home, I was wondering if you wanted to tag along with us?" Flash asked.
"Oh my god yes!" Sling squealed in Jessica's mind. "Accept and get us a chocolate one!"
"Sure, I'll come along." Jessica said with a small laugh.
"Cool, let's get going." Flash said with a smile.
It didn't take long for the trio to get a seat Sugarcube Corner. They sat at a booth with Trixie and Flash on one side and Jessica on the other. They each slurped on a milkshake, Trixie had got a strawberry flavoured milkshake, Flash got a banana and per request of Sling, Jessica got chocolate.
"So, if you don't mind me asking what brought you to Canterlot?" Flash asked.
"Well, I am originally from here and got a little home sick." Jessica said. She knew it was a lie, she knew she had come here to hide Sling.
"Why did you originally leave?" Trixie asked "And where did you go?"
"Well I left after my dad died, I wanted to try and move on by moving to New York."
"Whoah, isn't rent there like, super high?" Flash asked.
"Yeah, it is but luckily I got an apartment with two other people and we all pitched in to pay the rent. So it wasn't to bad."
Jessica smiled at the memory of the apartment, almost every night she'd end up having pizza on the small coffee table with her roommates.
"But, then I started to miss this place and I decided to come back to live with my mom." Jessica continued.
"Sounds quite exciting." Flash said
"Eh, I guess you could say that."
Jessica looked out the window the saw an extremely fancy car with tinted black windows, this usually wouldn't bother her, but it was the words on the side of the car that shocked her. "Life Foundation".
"Oh, shit." Jessica said in her head as she watched the car role by. "Do they know we're here?"
"If they are here then most likely." Sling said.
Jessica forced a smile on her face and stood up.
"Well guys, this has been fun, but unfortunately I gotta get going." Jessica said as she slid a five dollar note on to the table. "I hope this covers my drink."
"Oh, ok. See you later Jessica." Flash said, he seemed a littlesuprisedat Jessica's sudden change in attitude as he waved her goodbye.
Jessica waved as she went out the door and in the opposite direction of the black car.
It was late at night and Jessica couldn't stop pacing back and fourth in her room. She couldn't stop thinking about the car she saw with the words on it. They knew she was here but how, how could they have known?
"Have you considered being a superhero might have something to do with them being here?" Sling suggested sarcastically.
"Don't take that tone with me." Jessica said as she continued to pace back and fourth. She eventually let out a groan and sat at the foot of her bed and let her face fall in to her hands. "Why can't they leave us alone?"
"Because we are special." Sling said in a soothing voice. Jessica felt a sea of warmth cover her as she was gently wrapped up by many of Sling's tentacles. She felt herself get moved up her bed before being gently pulled back in to something warm and slimey.
Jessica looked up and saw a pair of sharp white eyes looking down at her. Sling had formed herself a body and was now holding Jessica in her embrace. A pair of long arms wrapped around Jessica and pulled her even closer. Jessica couldn't help but cling on to Sling's arms, not wanting her to let go.
"But don't worry about them right now Jessica." Sling said. "It's like what I say, together we are strong, together we are safe."
Jessica opened the door to Dr Connor's lab and walked.
"Hey Doc, I'm here!" Jessica called out.
"That's great, come here I have something to show you." Dr Connor's called back from a side room. Jessica followed his voice and walked in to the room to see Dr Connor's holding a test tube full of a clear green liquid.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jessica asked.
"Yep, the first prototype ready to be tested on one of our mice."
Jessica smiled brightly. At last her and Connors had developed the first step to helping the world. Connor attached the test tube to an injector before picking it up.
"Would you care to do the honours, Jessica?" Connors said as he offered her the injector.
"Of course I would." Jessica said excitedly before taking the injector from her teacher. She walked over to the small glass enclosure that was holding there test mice and gently picked one of them up. She pet it's head with a finger before putting the tip of the needle from the injector just above its missing leg. Once she was done she but the mouse in to a different box.
"Alright I'll give Menken a call and get him here to get blood work done once we have results." Connors said. "Please go and relax, I'll be with you in a minute."
"Alright, thank you Doc." Jessica said as she exited out of the room. She walked all to the fridge in the corner of the main room and took out a bottle of lemonade before going to sit down.
"You think it will work?" Sling asked.
"I hope so, a lot of money has been put on to this project." Jessica responded. She opened the lemonade bottle and took a swig from it. "And if it does fail we still have the funds to try again."
A few minutes later Dr Connors came out of the room and sat across from Jessica.
"Now the waiting game." Connors said as he drummed his fingers across the table.
"How long do you think it will take?" Jessica asked.
"I don't know, maybe an hour?"
"Alright..." Jessica said as she nodded her head. The two of them fell in to silence for a couple of seconds before Jessica spoke up.
"So if I may ask, how did you loose your arm? You don't need to answer if the question if too personal." Jessica said curiously. Connors let out a short chuckle.
"Heh, it's ok. I'll tell you. Honestly I'm suprised you didn't ask sooner." Connors said with a smile. "So about 15 years ago I was in the army as a field medic, granted I was overqualified for the position but I couldn't get another job at the time. I was in an active combat situation when it happened. We were holding out in a small shack when a sniper fired through the window. It hit me in the arm and it came clean off. It's a miracle I didn't bleed to death."
"Holy shit..." Jessica said in amazement.
"Yeah, after I my recovery I got my job at Oscorop. Which eventually got me here."
"That is quite the change of career."
"Heh, yeah."
They sat in silence once again before Connors spoke up.
"Well now I'm curious about if you have any serious injuries?" Connors asked.
"Well not as seriousas loosinga limb, but ive got plety of scars." Jessica said. She tried to think of one that didn't involve her work as a vigilante. She eventually thought of one she got before meeting Sling.
She rolled up the sleeve on her hoodie and showed Connors the back of her arm. There was a long thin white streak down it.
"Two years ago I got attacked by some nutcase in the New York subway. Had to get twelve stitches in my arm." Jessica said.
For the next hour the two of them shared stories about there time in New York and the constant superpowered occurrences that happened there. Eventually Donald MenKen walked in to the lab and approached the two of them.
"Ah, Menken there you are, good to see you." Connors said.
"Good to see you too Doctor." MenKen said.
"Well it's about time we checked on our little friend." Connors said. "Come on Jessica, let's see the results." Jessica nodded before following the two of them I to the side room. When her eyes laid on the glass box her mouth fell open.
Inside the box the once three legged mouse had now grown a fully functional fourth leg.
"Holy crap it worked!" Jessica exclaimed.
"Yes it did!" Connors said as he picked up the mouse. "Alright, we need to draw some blood from it and have it examined."
Menken walked over to the rat with a small needle before drawing some blood. He then took it over to a microscope and gently squirted it on to a glass dish. He looked through the microscope and examined the blood.
"It all looks stable, aside from the small expected abnormalities." Menken said.
"Abnormalities?" Jessica questioned.
"It simply means that the blood can't be used in donations or transfusions. It's to be expected when implementing reptile DNA in to other creatures."
Jessica nodded in understanding before yawning.
"Hey, Jessica why don't you head home and get some rest, me and Menken can finish up here." Connors said.
"You sure?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah, don't worry about it."
"Alright, thanks Doc."
Jessica waved at Conners ans Menken as she left the lab. She stepped out on to the street and walked in to a back alleyway and letting Sling surround her.
"Alright, let's get home." Jessica said.
"When we get back can we have bacon and eggs for a late dinner?" Slimg asked.
"Heh, sure." Jessica said before using her webs to pull herself up the side of a building before starting to swing home.
Jessica and Sling were almost home when she suddenly stopped in alley.
"Something is wrong here." Sling said.
"What do you mean?" Jessica questioned.
"I sense something... something familiar."
"Like what?"
Before Sling could answer she forced Jessica to turn and catch an incoming punch. The sound of hard metal slap. She looked at her attacker and saw a familiar person dressed in yellow armour.
"Oh shit..." Jessica said to herself.
"Nice reflexes, but I bet that it was because of what your wearing." Shocker said. His fist glowed a dull yellow in Jessica's hand before blasting her backwards. She crashed in to the ground and rolled a few meters before getting back on to her feet.
"I must say it wasn't easy to find you." Shocker said as he examined his gauntlets.
"Find me?" Jessica said.
"Not you, the other one. The one your wearing. It's been a real pain trying to find you. And now it seems you found yourself a new host."
Jessica could feel Sling glare at Shocker through her eyes and she felt a rage boil inside of her a rage that she has never felt before.
"But atleast we're here now. It's just to bad your old host didn't make it. If only he had ratted you out."
With that Sling forced Jessica towards Shocker at speeds she didn't know she could reach on foot. Shocker puts his arms up defensively as Sling threw a punch at his head. Shockers arms blocked the impact but he wasn't fast enough to block the push coming to his stomach. He let out a groan and lowered his arms. Sling threw a third punch to Shockers face, knocking him backwards.
"You don't have the right to talk of Eric!" Sling said through Jessica's voice. Her words were distorted, disguising her voice with an deep echo.
"There you are." Shocker said mockingly. "Let's see that ugly beast come out."
Sling yelled as she charged at Shocker, but this time he was ready. He brought up his fist and activated his gauntlet. A massive yellow blast came from the gauntlet in a continuous stream. It connected with Jessica and Sling and immediately they both felt intense pain. Jessica could feel Sling being forced off of her by the intense vibrations coming off of the blast. She screamed in pain as a pain in her head flared and she fell to her knees.
"Heh, not as skilled as I thought... Even Eric could have dodge tha-" Shocker's words were cut of as Sling forced Jessica's arm forward, a long tentacles shot out from around her arm and grabbed Shocker before thrashing him against the walls and floor of the alleyway. By the time she was done the vibrations had stopped.
Jessica let out a pained groan as she got to her feet. She looked at Shocker who was struggling to get up.
"L-lets go... now." Jessica said.
"No! Let's finish him!" Sling protested.
"I said we are leaving."
Jessica turned and began to walk away from Shocker before scaling up the side of the alleyway. Leaving Shocker behind.
Once Jessica was gone Shocker got to his feet and spoke in to a radio.
"Start the patrols, we don't stop till we have them both."
