Spiderman looked straight at Jessica and then she watched as he tapped on the window pane and waved at her. She stared at him for a second and then signed at him.

"Pervert. Go stare in someone else's window. Just because you rescued me doesn't mean you can come in." She turned on her heel, keeping her back to him. She finished cleaning the silverware and turned back around as she wiped her hands. He was still there, watching her idly. She pulled out a new pad of paper and scribbled on it with a thick marker. She walked up to the window and pressed the paper against it for him to read.

"I appreciate what you did for me, but please, leave me alone." He shook his head side to side and tapped on the window, motioning for her to open it.

"No. She signed sharply at him and pulled her shade closed, throwing the room into darkness. Thankfully it was a clear shot to her light switch, but she forgot she had left her chair out, and half way to the switch she dove right over the chair, falling to the floor in a heap. Suddenly light spilled into the room and someone was tugging on her arm, trying to pull her up. Slightly blind by the quick transitions, she winced up at the hand that had grabbed onto her arm and realized it was covered in a red fabric. Frowning, she permitted Spiderman to help her up, but picked up the chair on her own and pushed it to the side. He looked around for a second and then shot out a web, snapping up the pad and marker in one try, and pulling it back to him.

"Are you okay?" He had scribbled onto the pad, in a script that almost matched hers in its messiness.

"Fine." She signed and then took the pad from him and wrote quickly. "Why were you outside my window?" He turned to look at it, and the destroyed window sill, and Jess stared at it before tossing the pad at him. "You tore open my window!" She signed and pantomimed with large sweeps of her arms as she glared at him. He tilted his head to the side and merely shrugged before handing the paper back to her.

"Word on the street is that Ock isn't too happy about losing you. I followed you here after the press conference, but I didn't see him. You should sit tight and wait out his tantrum."

"Tantrum?" Jess signed, looking worriedly at the window that now let in a rather chill breeze. Looking back down at the pad of paper in her hand, she flipped to the next page.

"I'm sure you know by now he left his experiment stuck to me. He probably wants it back, to finish it." She handed him the pad sullenly as she walked up to the window, wondering how she was going to be safe now. If Spiderman could rip it apart that easily, Octavius certainly could too, and now even that obstacle was gone. Sighing, she poked her head out of the window and looked both ways down the elevated tracks. She felt a small rush of air that she figured was the precursor to an incoming train and tucked her head back inside. She waved at Spiderman until he looked at her and she motioned for him to cover his ears. He tilted his head at her, and suddenly his hands flew to his ears as the pressure in the room changed with the close proximity of the speeding train.

"Told you." She signed as she smiled, sitting down on the couch and wrapping a blanket around her. After the train had passed he uncovered his ears and looked over at her. "I told you, but hearing people usually don't believe me when I tell them something's loud." She laughed as she stood back up, her blanket wrapped tightly around her. Walking to the window, she looked back out, watching the train move down the tracks. Spiderman tapped her shoulder and she turned around, looking at the notepad again.

"Just stay low and Ock shouldn't find you before he gets tired of looking for you." He pushed past her and looked quickly at the window sill before jotting 'sorry' on the pad and then crawling outside and up the face of the building. Jessica stuck her head out and watched him move until he was high enough to shoot a web and swing off. She looked down at the pad in her hand and then tossed it behind her before she started to work at lowering the window. She managed to close it far enough so that there was only an inch of space between the bottom of the window and the sill, but it wouldn't budge any more.

She walked around her apartment briefly before opening one of her closets and rummaging through some bags and clothes before pulling out a mini-TV and setting it on the table. Plugging it into the wall, she twisted its antenna until a fuzzy signal made its way through. Small captions filled the bottom of the screen as she flopped onto the couch with a heavy sigh, kicking her feet up and watching the TV.

Might as well relax. I can't go to Oscorp until tomorrow anyways.

Monday morning and Jess was on the subway again, headed back to Oscorp. This time it seemed hardly anyone had a problem standing next to her on the crowded subway as she was jostled and shoved between people until her own stop. Once she got off, she walked briskly in the chill air to the front doors of Oscorp. She walked in and only a few feet inside a vice grip clasped around her arm. She jumped, and apparently she'd also voiced loudly judging by the sudden stares that followed as the security guard herded her back outside. He pulled a letter out of an inside coat pocket and handed it to her before walking back inside. Jessica frowned and puffed out her cheeks as she tore open the envelope and read the enclosed letter.

Dear Miss Roarn,

We regret to inform you that as a result of recent events, your position here at Oscorp has been temporarily suspended, pending investigation. Our reasons are as follow:

Access to your account from unregistered locations

Activity on your personal computer that contains property of Oscorp

Possible unintentional release of sensitive information

Physical and Mental harm that may have affected performance and ability to work in our demanding atmosphere

In the meantime you have been released from your duties as an Oscorp employee, but not our confidentiality agreement. We will notify you by mail on the outcome of the investigation and further decisions following it.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Harry Osborn

Jessica folded up the letter calmly and stuffed it back into its envelope. She unzipped her purse and shoved the envelope into it before going back down the stairs to the subway.

Waste of fare. She thought grumpily as she hopped onto a train and rode it to a part of the city she rarely visited. She got off again and walked into a corner store, moving around silently and getting the items she needed. The cashier took her money without a second glance and she was out of the door and back on the train shortly. The ride home was hard, trying to keep her groceries from being crushed and dropped, but she managed. At the apartment building, she struggled to get the door open but was soon inside and jogged up the stairs to her apartment. Unlocking her door, she set her bags on the table and started to unload them. As she restocked her fridge, she felt eyes on the back of her neck and then realized there was the feeling of someone speaking, a familiar vibration. She finished setting her jars down and then closed the door carefully before turning around.

"Doctor." She signed, her hands shaking. He spoke more, his voice making her apartment tremble as she backed up along her counter. He took a few steps towards her, his actuators spreading around him. "Stay away from me." She signed as she groped around the counters for anything to throw at him. Only papers covered the counter, so she slowly worked her way to the silverware drawer as he continued to get closer.

In the blink of an eye, an actuator had its claws around her neck as she threw the drawer open and grabbed out the first thing she could and stabbed at the links. Unfortunately, she'd grabbed a fork and it merely left small divots in the thick cables between the links. She took a deep breath and saw Octavius glaring darkly at her, and she clamped her mouth shut, letting the intended scream make it out of her lungs only as a breath. Looking back at the fork in her hand, she realized the prongs had been bent and dropped it back into the drawer. The actuator let go of her neck, but hovered just in front of her face as Octavius walked up to her, his eyes narrowed as he spoke again. He reached around to her back, and Jessica jumped, dashing away across the room.

"No, you're not turning it back on." She signed at him angrily and he found her pad of paper, and also the page that Spiderman had written on. Her face paled as he read it, but he seemed amused and then uncapped a marker and wrote on it. He handed it to her with an actuator.

"I see you had a visitor. No matter, I will be taking you back with me; I need to see about…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Jess had moved so she could see what he was writing and had hit the pad in his hand and then slapped his chest and began to sign at him, narrowing her eyes.

"No, no way. I'm not going back. You've already made enough trouble. People won't let me in their stores, and Oscorp won't let me back to work. You've messed up everything enough. What more do you want!" She curled her lip at him and he rolled his eyes before dropping the notepad to the floor.

"Fine." She saw him say, or at least it looked like the word. He stood staring at her, not yelling but reprimanding her about something. When he finished she signed back at him.

"It's your fault you made it permanent! I don't care what you say; I'm not going back with you!" She crossed her arms and stood as tall as she could, glaring at Octavius. He rolled his eyes again and glared at her before an actuator wrapped around her and he moved towards the window, and opened it back up. Jessica voiced as forcefully as she could when the actuators coiled tightly around her and he pulled something out of his coat. He spoke again, but Jessica didn't need to know what he said as she stared at the syringe in his hand. She clamped her mouth shut, feeling her teeth knock against each other. A sly grin crossed the doctor's face as he pocketed the needle and he let three of his actuators carry him out of the window.

He waited patiently until a train came by and he jumped on top of it, staying low to the metal roof. Jessica shivered as the air whipped around her, with only a light sweater on the wind felt like ice. She looked back at Octavius wearing his long coat and bit her lip as she focused on the roof until she felt him lift her up and jump to another building. The jolt snapped her body around painfully but he didn't seem to notice or mind as he climbed up the building and raced across the rooftops. Jessica struggled in the actuator's grip, earning a number of dark glares from Octavius as he moved towards a dark building, boards covering the doors and windows. Having traveled across the buildings, and now in an alleyway, Jessica wasn't quite sure where she was, but she had a general idea of the area, however, if she tried to name the street, she couldn't even start guessing.

She noticed Octavius had paused near a metal door, and was pulling out a set of keys. Jess watched closely as he finally unlocked the door and she quickly came to herself and let out a hopefully loud sound as he yanked her inside. He closed the door quickly, making the room shake.

"Like I'm going without a fight." She glared at him and put up her hands as if to box with him, even though he still held her in his actuator. He raised an eyebrow at her and he visibly sighed, causing Jessica to pause as a claw handed him a notebook.

"I heard what happened, I've read the papers. I was monitoring you to see how people reacted to you after you had been through your ordeal." He showed it to her, the actuator setting her on the floor, but not taking its attention off of her. She crossed her arms as he wrote again. "I'm rather surprised and displeased they reacted so negatively to your return, I consider this experiment over. I'm going to remove the unit." Jessica looked at it and then at him, incredulous.

"Remove it! And leave me paralyzed too?" He handed the notebook to her and she translated her remark. He read it and looked confused. He underlined 'paralyzed' and wrote a question mark beside it. "The doctors said they couldn't remove it, that it was permanent." He read it again, and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. Jessica barely caught the movement of his lips, but couldn't even chance a guess at what he had said as he motioned for her to walk further into the building. He stayed behind her, an actuator pointing out which way to go. They reached what had apparently been the living room area, but the TV and couch were gone. As they made their way into the lab, Jessica paused in the doorway, seeing the nearly vacant room. Only a single table filled with books, tools and a computer hastily tossed onto a nearby desk that had been pushed next to the counter. The metal table was still there, but the room was otherwise barren.

So that's why he didn't care if I saw where we were going … She looked around again before continuing inside. Octavius came from behind her and walked up next to the table and patted it with his hand a couple times. Hesitantly, Jessica walked over, but did not sit up on it. He turned to the table and then took the syringe out from under his coat, checking it and also picking up a small cotton swab. He put some rubbing alcohol on it and looked over at Jessica. He set them back down and walked over to her. He grabbed her shoulders and an actuator carefully turned her unit on.

"It's a shame people can't see the value in what I do." Jessica listened to his deep voice as it rattled the nerves in her head. Octavius continued speaking, though he knew she didn't understand the sounds he made. "Osborn has no vision, no idea." Picking up the syringe and cotton ball again, he walked over, rubbing it on Jessica's arm. "This city has no ability to see the worth of what I have done to you. I've made you hear, I've done what no one ever thought possible, and now..." He looked up at Jessica's face, her eyes wide as he pressed the needle to her arm and then injected the sedative. Her arm twitched from the pinprick as her breathing quickened slightly. Setting the needle down, he helped her sit up on the cold table.

It's a shame really. Such a promising project that people could actually benefit from. Octavius had Jessica lay face down on the cold table as her eyelids slowly drooped, and then snapped open as she fought the sedative.

It was a promising project. A lack of sight by the people in this city caused the premature ending. Why don't we leave it on?

Because… Octavius checked Jessica's pulse as her lids fluttered and finally, she let out a sigh and her entire frame seemed to sink into the table. An actuator came up next to him, handing off a small set of pliers as he moved her hair out of the way, exposing the unit attached to her spine, and began his work.

Jessica's eyelids fluttered as she turned over onto her side. Her back was a little sore as she vocalized her protest to its aching. She propped her head up on one hand and carefully cracked an eye open. The first thing she noticed was that the whole room was pitch black, and the second, that she was on an actual bed.

Where did he bring me? She quickly sat up, but her head started to spin and she caught herself from flopping back down onto the bed. Four red points lit up in front of her, and came closer until she could see Octavius's face, slightly illuminated. The red lights have him a tired look as he looked down at her and handed her a glass.

"Lights?" Jessica signed before tentatively taking the glass and sipping what she found was water. The red heart lights of the actuators pointed away and suddenly the room was flooded in a yellowish light. Jess closed her eyes, as she vocalized again and then slowly she adjusted, and saw, the back of her couch, and the rest of her apartment.

Home? He brought me home? She looked over at him, setting her glass down on the floor and swinging her feet off the side of the bed. She stood up unsteadily, but the spinning of her head had stopped. Octavius looked over at Jessica from next to her light switch, seeming to study her with his eyes. Tottering around the room, she sat down at the table, and then her hand flew to her back, and she felt along it. Before she could even look back at him, Octavius had dropped her notepad onto the table.

"I removed the unit. You will make a full recovery as long as you keep the entry points clean." Jessica felt her own skin along her spinal column, and smiled up at Octavius.

"Thank you." She signed and he nodded. He also pointed over to the coffee table next to the couch, her duffle bag and laptop sitting on top of it. Jessica nodded and then watched as he picked up a hat from the couch, and his coat from under a blanket. He shrugged the coat on with a little difficulty, and an actuator put on his hat. He took a pair of sunglasses out, checked them, and then put them back inside an inner pocket. Octavius walked over to the broken window and pushed aside the curtain, showing it to be well into the night. He waved goodbye, and then, caught Jessica by surprise, as his hands started to make jerky, uncertain motions.

"You will be okay?" Jessica could barely make out what he was saying, but managed to understand him as she watched him standing next to the window. "Oscorp," he fingerspelled painfully slow, "should not be a problem. If they are, I will know. The experiment is not over yet. But people should leave you alone now." Jessica sat still in her chair, as Octavius lifted up her cracked window with a heave and slid out, an actuator pushing it closed. Jessica walked up to the glass, which had cracked into a spider web pattern as the actuator had closed it, and traced it carefully with her fingers, smiling.