Here is the next installment! Sorry if it sounds confusing, internet went down for three days, so I scrambled to get this done...apologies! Next week, everything will make sense!
"August Castillo?" Jessica couldn't believe it, but there he was; crouched down, hunching over in the adjacent prison cell was the missing blogger. His glasses, dirty and scratched, balanced on the edge of his crooked nose, his yellow eyes like daggers, pointed at the young girl.
"Nosey mouse," he muttered, laughing. Soon, the laughing stopped and a frown formed on his face. "N-nosey...nosey mouse…" he whimpered.
"August," Jessica went to the bars, holding his hands as they still grasped the iron. "What happened? Can you remember anything?" August's eyes darted around the cell, his body suddenly trembling. "August? August!" Jessica tried getting his attention, but to no avail. August suddenly placed a finger to his mouth, shushing the girl.
"Listen," August whispered. "Listen, mouse…"
"Why does he keep calling me mouse?" she thought to herself, her brows furrowing. She looked up at the small light coming from somewhere above them. She closed her eyes, and heard-no, felt…"Water," she gasped. "We're...we're on a boat...why?" She coughed, suddenly feeling light headed...and dizzy….
Spider-Man was swinging through the city, trying to find where Goblin took Jessica.
He took her. It had to be him. He remembered what Debbie had explained what she saw:
"I was watching Jessica leave for the store-not that I cared, I just...wanted to make sure she wasn't distracted, that's all...and then...this car pulled up-"
"Can you describe the car? Anything?"
"Well, it was...it was a towncar. A black one. Two men got out of the car, and...and…"
"They took her." Peter's hand clenched at his sides.
"It was so strange, though…"
"Oh?"
"One of them...I could be imagining things, said something about a doc? Were they taking her to a-wait, where are you going?! The hospital is that way!"
Spider-Man knew they weren't going to a hospital. It was the harbor. The boat dock. He swung to the dock, and snuck onto a boat still loading carts. Spider-Man landed ontop of one of the crates and just watched the crew members, who were oblivious to his arrival, continue loading.
Spider-Man decided now was the perfect time to loudly clear his throat. "You know, I'm pretty sure the harbor is closed right now. Yeah, I think you gotta wait till the morning to head out, so I'm just gonna-" he used his webbing and grabbed a crate from one of the men's arms, "I'm just gonna take this off your hands here…" He placed the crate next to him and did a flip onto the main deck. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the not-so-easy way, and I'm pretty tired, so-" he tensed up, sensing danger behind him. He leaped in the air and kicked a charging crew mate in the back, sending him sprawling to the floor. "Where's the girl!?"
A tall, muscular crew mate carrying a crowbar shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know what you're talking about. Wrong boat, maybe, freak."
"Oh no, see...I think you were the one that carried her off, big guy. Yeah, you look like someone who would pick on-" he used his webbing to grab the crowbar, "-a defenseless girl-" he swung the webbing, with the crowbar still stuck to it, around his own head. "-on the sidewalk!" With a yell, Spider-Man lunged the crowbar at the large brute, who met the metal weapon with his jaw. The thug fell to the ground instantly. "Oh, and one more thing you should know about her."
"Yeah?" a thug spat, "and what's that?!"
As if timing was on the masked vigilante's side, below the deck there was a familiar sound ti the hero's ears.
"Heh...Hahh...HEH-CHOO!"
The thugs looked around a bit nervously, then to Spider-Man, who was glaring under his mask.
"She has a bit of a cold."
Spider-Man lunged forward and began to flip, kick, and punch his way through the main deck, sending thugs either overboard or unconscious on the floor.
Spider-Man hurried below deck and saw Jessica lying on the floor, unconscious. He used his heel to kick just above the wooden prison door, and it splintered open. He ran in the cell and grabbed Jessica, carrying her in his arms. He turned to leave when he heard soft muttering in the shadows.
"Nosey mouse...nosey mouse...sneaky spider...nosey mouse…."
Spider-Man didn't stay to see who it was. His main concern was to get Jessica to a hospital. She had a high fever, he could feel it radiating off her. She muttered something, but it was incoherent.
"I got you, Jess…" Spider-Man whispered to her as he went quickly to the hospital, "I got you...Always."
Blinding light. That's all Jessica saw when she slowly opened her eyes.
She groaned softly, rubbing her head softly. Jessica turned to her right, where she heard a rhythmic beeping. Her eyes started to slowly focus on a monitor.
"You're awake," a voice said. Jessica, slowly, turned her head and saw Peter Parker sitting in a chair by the foot of her bed. A nurse with bleach blonde hair tied in a bun.
"Welcome back, Miss Acer. You've got a good boyfriend here," she gestures to the blushing Peter.
"Oh, I'm not...She's not-" Peter was sputtering, but the nurse wasn't hearing it.
"He sat here the whole five hours while you were out of it. Holding your hand and everything. We got your fever down, but you have to take it easy the next couple of days, got it?!"
Jessica nodded silently as the nurse walked away. "So," she cleared her throat, her voice scruffy, "you were holding my hand?" Jessica teased.
Peter smirked, trying to hide his blush. "I'm glad you're okay, Jess."
Jessica motioned Peter to come closer, holding out her hand. Silently, Peter obeyed. She took his hand in hers, and squeezed it tight. "I'm glad you're here, Parker."
His eyes met hers, and he swore there was a sparkle in her green eyes. He leaned close to her, and kissed her forehead. "Me too. What happened?"
Jessica's brow furrowed. "I was walking to the store, and the next thing I know...these guys take me. I...I tried fighting them off, but one of them hit me and...and then, the next thing I know, I'm in a cell. And Castillo-"
Peter's eyes widened. "Castillo?! He's alive?!"
Jessica nodded silently, but her eyes went wide. "He's alive...and green."
"Green? But...wha-?"
"Peter," Jessica's tone was more insistent. "He's GREEN. Goblin did something to him...and I think it has something to do with the skin you found in that jar. I think," Jessica hesitated, still holding onto Peter's hand. "I think Goblin's trying to change him. He even called me a 'nosey mouse'."
Peter's mind clicked. That was it! That was the plan. "Jess, I think I know why he called you a mouse...why Green Goblin did…" He looked outside, his brow furrowing. He had to be sure. "I'll be right back. I promise." He kissed her on the forehead once more before running off. He ran into an alley and changed into his suit, swinging away.
"I should have seen this coming," Peter grumbled under the mask. "Harry can't cure himself...so he's making everyone the same. He's making everyone like him…" He continued swinging through the city, until he got to a building high enough to stare down at OsCorp. "But how did he conceal himself when he met Jessica...unless...that's what the lab is really for! He's trying to make a temporary antidote...some kind of camouflage technique, maybe? And because everyone will be goblin-esque...he's gonna sell it for the highest amount of money."