The past was haunting them now, Jessica couldn't help having a flashback to the night of the final showdown with Green Goblin.
"Osborn! Get back here!" Jessica shouted chasing after him after he failed to kill Gwen Stacy, with her thankfully getting caught by the intervention of Ben and taken away from the fight to safety.
"A shame! I'll have to bring Liz here and once I find where you hid her away, there are always others you love too! Like Mary Jane. How about your clone who's ruining our showdown? That aunt of yours? Oh! How abou-" Green Goblin was cut off with Jessica getting silent and grabbing ahold of him making them crash down into an alleyway. She was so angry Spider-Woman ignored as her spider sense went ballistic with the madman immediately setting off a pumpkin bomb in close proximity blowing both of them back, hurting Jessica bad making her start to bleed and ripping the suit.
After the bad hit, it only progressively got worse with Green Goblin slamming her against the wall and then into the ground. "Oh? Having trouble?" He then continued to smack her around, with Spider-Woman trying desperately to get up and webbed herself backwards away from the threat.
I won't lose this. For Liz. For MJ. For May. For everyone. Jessica got back up and started cracking Green Goblin across the face using all the strength in her body beating him back. "You're not going to hurt anyone else Osborn!" She shouted, pushing herself to the limits and then further.
Green Goblin's costume too was heavily damaged from the fight, finally getting them both at a stand still after a very long lasting fight. "You're a remarkable little enemy to face off against, Jessica Parker. It's a shame you have to die. Your mind is as impressive as your strength, imagine what you could've accomplished, had you been a smarter one. More ambitious!"
"Forgive me, for not being like you." She replied having difficulty speaking, barely even able to stand anymore.
"Maybe, you can still change for the better." The Green Goblin began saying with the glider coming up behind Spider-Woman. "Then again, life can be tragic."
Spider-Woman knew it was coming and used all the energy she had left leaping out of the way shooting webbing at Green Goblin keeping him in place as the gilder came speeding forward impaling him on accident. Jessica was so defeated it didn't even occur to her what happened immediately, forcing herself to roll over on the ground seeing The Green Goblin, dead. "Osborn?" She said faintly trying to stand up, there was nothing left at the moment. She felt mixed feelings about this outcome.
Ben came over a couple minutes later checking on Jessica. "Are you okay?"
"Check him." She said faintly moving herself a little to lean on the wall.
He listened, checking him and pulling off the mask confirming, The Green Goblin was dead. "It's over."
Jessica nodded, feeling very conflicted. Part of her felt relieved, her greatest enemy was dead now. On the other hand, a man was dead, one who had a major impact on the city and her personal life. Harry. She didn't know what to do, only wanting to rest now feeling like there was nothing else for her to do. Ben rushed over. "Good heavens. I gotta get you to the hospital. Come, I know how strong you are, hold on." He said and she listened thinking about Liz, as Jessica was rushed to get medical care leaving The Green Goblin left alone in the alleyway.
In the present. Jessica and Ben were thinking over their next move upon entering the mysterious bunker, finding Cindy Moon.
"What are we going to do here?" Jessica asked, thinking over the information they had.
Ben glanced over at Cindy, seeing her concerned. "We should be careful when talking to her, seems pretty shaken up. Who knows how long that poor woman has been locked down here or why."
"Yeah, do you want to try talking to her? I'll handle Harry." Jessica replied, trusting his judgment in talking to her, heading up stairs.
After another moment of looking over, Ben moved over to Cindy to speak to her, stepping forward carefully. "Have you heard of us before? Spider-Woman, Scarlet Spider? We're superheroes and we only want to help you. Obviously, you've been through a horrible situation, do you know why someone put you down here?"
She shook her head. "No, no. All the man ever told me was, keeping me down here was meant to keep me and others safe. I have powers, honestly. Think it's the same as you two have." Cindy revealed and stuck herself to the wall.
"That's impossible, the spider bite, it died immediately and nobody was ever able to recreate it. Far as I thought, this is impossible." Ben responded shocked by this thinking about it and looking back at her. "Your name is Cindy Moon right? I've heard the name before, why? Did you go to Midtown?"
Cindy nodded her head skeptical. "How did you know? That was my school. In my last year there, I was bitten by a spider, maybe the same like you said and then months later, I was abducted by that man. That's all I remember, I haven't thought about the past in so long, my family. I never thought I'd get out of here."
"That'd be, years ago, when you were taken." Ben replied with sympathy to her, understanding the situation she was experiencing, not exactly, but close enough. He went through it himself, after waking up being a clone. Memories were all fuzzy and his environment, it was all wrong, a horrible feeling to be experiencing. He approached carefully, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm very sorry. I understand what it's like, losing time, out of your control."
"You do? Have you been abducted before? Had someone hurt you?" Cindy asked genuinely wanting to know.
Ben sighed. "Well, it might sound crazy, but I'm a clone. One of Spider-Woman, the one with us right now, not an exact copy obviously, still I have a lot of her memories. My life is a mess to say the least. I only existed a year and half ago. So, can't say I exactly have friends really or much going on. So, I understand what it's like, in a way."
"You're a clone? Okay." She responded surprised by this fact trying to understand. "You seem like a real person. I'm sorry someone put you through that, at least you're alive now I guess? Not an expert on crazy science stuff. Maybe I'm not so good at this, I haven't had a conversation in years." Cindy replied with a long frown.
"Well, I certainly hope I'm real." He responded with sarcasm. "Sorry, yeah don't worry, you haven't said anything wrong at all, you're doing just fine Cindy. I'm glad to have met and found you here. It's been way too long, since you've been locked down here. By a dead man no less. Do you know who's been delivering you food? If you've got any description that could help, must've been someone Osborn trusted."
Cindy looked shocked. "The man is dead? For how long?" She sat down. "I never saw him delivering me food drops, I'm sure it was intentional. Just, I can't believe that disgusting man is dead. After what he put me through. God. My family though."
"Yeah, he's been dead for a while. Thank god." Ben's spider sense then start to tingle making him rush up stairs.
Jessica looked over at him. "Felt it too? We should get out of here. Grab that woman downstairs, Cindy."
"On it." Ben replied, rushing back down.
Harry Osborn looked bewildered. "There is a woman down there? Who?" Before his question could be answered, some bombs started going off outside. Pumpkin bombs, the sound was clear. Even Harry knew it. "That's impossible! Who's out there? That's Green Goblin, but my father is dead. You know he is, so who the hell is that!?"
"Unsure Mr. Osborn, but we need to get you to safety. This was a trap and I got a feeling whoever is out there knows everything." Spider-Woman responded looking around the house seeing cameras. "We're in major trouble."
This was proven further correct, as The Green Goblin imposter threw a bomb from upstairs making some of the second floor collapse. Spider-Woman pulled Harry outside looking in the sky seeing the maniac laughing.
Ben came outside right behind her with Cindy.
"Probably not how you wanted to see the outside again huh?" Ben remarked, pulling her to cover from the Goblin's sight.
"Who is that guy?" Cindy asked in a panic, but also in relief breathing in the fresh air. Quite frankly she wasn't exactly sure how to feel at the moment.
Jessica leaped up at Goblin shooting webs at him again trying to knock them off the gilder again. "Stay down Mr. Osborn!" She continued to struggle with their enemy creaking him across the face repeatedly. "Come on, wise guy, say something!"
He didn't. Instead Goblin kicked her off, sending her to the ground. Then started to fly away, continuing to laugh.
"That hurt." Jessica remarked, scratching her head and looking over at Ben. "He left in quite a hurry, why? Didn't he have the advantage over us? I mean, he was obviously keeping an eye on us."
"You're right, something wasn't right." Ben replied in agreement. "For now, we need to get Cindy to safety. Shield?"
Jessica nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Might be able to learn more from them. They've helped us before clearing you up."
"Sounds like a plan then." Ben went over to see Cindy. "Hey, so. We're going to take you to some friends of ours, help clear everything up. Would that be alright?"
Cindy Moon sighed looking around her surroundings. "Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice right now. Don't even know if I have anywhere to go. If my family is still alive after all this time." Her voice broke.
"Hey." Ben said softly. "We'll figure it all out, I'm sure you have some family alive and well, they must've missed you a lot."
She nodded hoping so and looked over at Osborn. "He looks exactly like the man who took me."
"Don't worry about him, we won't let him anywhere near you. He's the son of the man who took you." Ben explained taking her away.
Jessica went over to check on Harry, who was preparing to leave. "I apologize for that, whoever they are we'll get to the bottom of it."
"Sure you will, excuse me for being skeptical. I'm going to alert the police of this, all of this and that you two are most likely involved somehow." Harry expressed furious.
She rolled her eyes watching him leave, then headed off with Ben to depart with Cindy to bring her to safety.
The heroes had made certain of contacting Shield beforehand to ensure there wouldn't be any troubles, fortunately they had a contact to speak to who was also named Jessica, Drew. It was a popular name it seemed. Understandable for Jessica Parker, she really did like the name.
With everything ready, a pick up was on the way and Jessica took some time away to call Liz quickly to check up.
"How are you doing Jess? Find anything?" Liz questioned.
"Actually yeah, we found a kidnapped woman locked inside of a basement for goodness knows how long. We aren't exactly sure on all the details. It seems like Osborn might be responsible for this. Reaching out beyond the grave. I think we went to high school with her, Cindy Moon?"
Liz thought about it "Yeah, I remember she went missing just after graduation. What does Osborn have to do with it?"
"From the sounds of it, assuming she's telling the truth she got bitten by the exact same spider as me. Somehow, I guess she was there the day of the experiment, with all the people around I didn't realize." Jessica replied with disappointment in herself, which Liz Allan was able to catch onto.
"Hey, you better not be blaming yourself for not knowing about Cindy, or I'm going to reach through this phone and bonk you over the head! This isn't your fault Jess, you couldn't have known Norman Osborn was doing this. You weren't even aware he was The Green Goblin until two years ago! Let alone what illegal crimes he was committing for years and years." Liz pointed out not happy with her love being hard on herself.
"Sorry, yeah, I shouldn't be thinking like that. You are always thinking the best for me and know exactly what to say Liz." Jessica said with a smile. She then looked up in the air, seeing agent Drew coming down. "Gotta go for now, I promise sweetheart, we're still on for tonight."
Agent Jessica Drew came down on a flying shield vehicle. "You requested a pick up? Is this the woman you mentioned?" She asked, looking at Cindy.
"Her name is Cindy Moon and yes. Be nice to her she's been through a ton, including living in a bunker for years." Ben responded, crossing his arms.
"I will be. Was with you wasn't I?" Agent Drew responded and approached her. "I'm an agent of Shield and here to help. You sound like you've had a hard time. Don't worry about it, we're going to help you with figuring out everything. We're kinda experts at dealing with unusual circumstances. I've been in some myself." Drew said, trying to reassure Cindy seeing she was frightened.
Ben stepped over. "I'm coming with her."
"Fine, hop on board. Is your partner coming with you too?" Agent Drew asked, glancing over at Spider-Woman.
"Sibling and no, it'll be fine. I've got other things to attend to." Jessica responded looking up at the sky seeing the night was approaching and the date with Liz. "It's sorta a matter of life and death."
"She isn't kidding." Ben remarked, knowing what she meant.
Spider-Woman watched as they departed and headed home, wanting to be early just in case of more troubling arising. As it usually did.
Cindy was blown away by the size of the Shield Helicarrier and that it was relatively close to NYC. "I never knew this existed."
"Exactly the point of the place." Drew responded simply.
They shortly then arrived in for landing, with Ben helping Cindy down to the walking platform, she was disorientated being in such a different place. However her natural senses helped bring it all into focus faster.
The bunch of them headed inside, walking towards a laboratory. "What types of tests are you going to give her?" Ben asked.
"All standard procedures, we'll take it slow and carefully. Don't worry about the following tests, it'll be fine. We just need to make sure she's safe and is actually Cindy Moon." Agent Drew responded silently.
"I want to be there, every step of the way. This is Osborn related and she seems pretty shaken up." Ben replied, looking at her seriously.
Drew nodded in agreement. "I get it, Osborn is personal for you both. After everything you went though, I can understand it. Just, keep your head on straight during all this, if she ends up being a clone."
"I'll be holding my breath until we confirm what's going on." Ben sighed and moved over to Cindy. "How are you doing, with all this?"
She shrugged. "Not sure, I haven't been out of the bunker for years and haven't talked to anyone or had anything out of my boring repetitive routine for so long. This is honestly insane, breaking free, but all I can think about is how my brother is doing. I was always looking out for him, I wonder how he's done without me."
"I'm sure he's okay, maybe that's not the best way of phrasing that." Ben realized immediately after speaking.
"It's fine, I know what you're trying to say. All I want to know is if he's okay, believe me knowing that he's succeeding in life would make me happier than anything. Whatever happens now, I just need to know he's fine." Cindy said, looking genuine.
He nodded feeling trusting towards her, it seemed she wasn't telling any lies and truly was feeling a lot of emotions right now.
Agent Drew escorted Cindy to a massive machine, with a door to enter inside of it. There was a concern about it but Ben looked at her with reassurance. "I've used this before, don't worry. You won't feel a thing. Might take a while, so take deep breaths and remain calm. It'll be done soon."
She nodded, heading inside taking a deep breath.
Elsewhere, Jessica Parker was returning back to her apartment where she was living with her hopefully soon to be fiance Liz. The two lived in the city, but fortunately not too far away from Aunt May about only 30 minutes or so from the bus, running on time anyways which wasn't so often.
Their apartment wasn't big but it felt cozy like a real home where they both belonged and were extremely happy living there. Having alone time was certainly a major benefit of living alone, along with getting to have framed photos of each other. Only downside was keeping everything clean, neither of them were cleaning experts, but did the best they could with their busy schedules.
Jessica walked inside flopping on their bed feeling a bit exhausted wanting a moment of peace, then Liz walked into the doorway giving a second before talking, knowing exactly how Jessica was feeling. She rolled over and smiled at Liz. "Hmm, always feel much better when I'm seeing you. Wanna, come here?"
She smiled back and came over snuggling closely next to her. "It's been a hard day hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it has. Being away from you on our special day. That's been the hardest thing, not even the insane goblin or finding that girl Cindy locked away." Jessica replied, getting a tight arm around her.
"You're here now and I'm glad for that. Even more so, considering I got you a gift I know you are going to adore. Got it figured out with Mary Jane, as a hint."
Jessica sat up looking excited. "Figuring out my gift with the queen of looking fashionable, I wonder what it could be."
With almost an excited leap, Liz got up and headed towards the closest, with Jessica following close behind actually leaping up. "I bet you are very excited right about now aren't you Jess?" She said with a sly tone.
"Going to make me wait to find out?" Jessica suggested crossing her arms.
"I'm not that mean, it's right here. Thought you might even want to wear it for our dinner tonight, assuming you like it." Liz replied and revealed a beautiful dress.
Jessica was super ecstatic seeing it. "Oh my god, it's gorgeous! That shade of pink, it's just perfect. Not too bright to knock someone's eyes out or dark enough to not be pink, just a perfect middle ground, it feels wonderful to the fabric, how did you two manage to get this? I'm going to feel like a princess wearing this with you tonight. Oh Liz, I love it!" She hugged her very tightly.
"Happy to hear that Jessica, we got it fitted just for you too so it should fit you completely right. Mary Jane said the place was really great at that. Also we made sure it's a spinny dress too, like you say."
Jessica kept hugging Liz. "I love it and I know it's going to be wonderful! Spinny too oh yes, I love it! Something this beautiful couldn't go wrong, no hecking way! Only thing is, I hope my gift will match up to this one, well actually I don't technically have a gift."
"That's fine, it's not mandatory to get a gift, being with you for this date is a gift enough, seeing you happy as can be wearing that dress. Already seeing you smiling so bright is amazing enough for me." Liz gave her a light kiss on the lips.
In return Jessica gave a major kiss right back. "You are always the sweetest, do you want to do each other's nails? I want us both looking our very best, for no particular reason at all and our hair. And makeup."
"Of course Jess, good thing Mary Jane's been teaching you so much beauty care routine stuff, can't say I'm as good with all that. You definitely know more than me, my beautiful girlfriend." Liz said with a smile then looked over at the bathroom. "Though, you should probably take a shower first. You smell a little funny whenever you come back from being Spider-Woman."
"Yeah, fair enough. I'll take a shower, if you want to join me, feel free." Jessica suggested with a smirk.
"Hmm, very tempting, but I want to get ready first, so I'll have to give you a raincheck on that, I promise we will, asap." She smiled back.
Jessica felt very happy and confident with her decision, she was going to ask Liz Allan to marry her tonight.
Back over on The Shield Helicarrier, the tests had concluded on Cindy Moon coming up with results.
"She's not a clone, she's the original." Agent Drew revealed to Ben.
"Are you positive? That's good at least, I didn't want to have to question Warren, that'd be a nightmare speaking to him again."
Drew cleared her throat. "There are still signs of tampering with her DNA, I'd suspect it wasn't working, the same reason your powers haven't been able to be recreated which means she'd told the truth about being bitten. Besides that, there are no irregularities being picked up. We're going to want to have her speak to someone, make sure her mind hasn't been affected and that she's coping fine. Isn't a danger. Not an exact science though, so keep an eye on her just in case."
Ben sighed in disappointment. "Still sounds like Warren was involved. Working with Osborn to recreate the powers of us would be a guess. Great. With them, it really could've been anything."
"You're going to speak to him, I assume from your cheerful tone." Drew remarked with sarcasm and looked over more data.
"Yeah, I gotta know how he's involved with this. Could be connected to what happened today, with the Goblin fake. He likes his yapping." Ben looked back at Cindy coming out of the machine. "Could I talk to her for a minute? I feel bad about heading out, I feel like I have a duty to help her out here."
Drew nodded. "Go. We'll discuss it tomorrow if we're going to allow her to leave or keep her in custody for longer. Need to make sure she's not a threat."
"She'd never hurt a soul, I got a very good feeling about that. You'll be releasing her tomorrow and that'll be that. Shield's making you too skeptical." Ben replied heading inside to see her immediately getting a hug. "Aww shucks, thanks."
"You're the only person I know here and have shown me a lot of kindness, so I appreciate it, a ton." Cindy responded.
"Least I could do, considering what you went through and I have a personal vendetta against the guy who trapped you. Along with his ally. Was there anyone else there with you at all? A doctor?"
Cindy shook her head. "No, no. Nobody. I was knocked out occasionally, so I never caught a glimpse of anyone. You think you know one of them?"
"Yeah, the man who created me." Ben responded, gritting his teeth feeling a sharp pain at the thought of the man who put him through so much pain and suffering before Jessica had rescued him destroying his laboratory in the process, along with giving The Jackal one helluva beat down before shipping him off to Ravencroft to spend the rest of his miserable life.
"Will your sister be joining you? I can tell even wearing that mask, you're feeling pretty pissed right about now. I get it, he must've harmed you badly. I'm sorry." Cindy replied, looking at him seriously.
"He did and honestly, can't decide whatever I want to bring her with me. She, well she's quite angry at that man, Warren. Maybe even more than me, I mean the maniac violated her, using her DNA to create me. Tried to create other clones too, figured out our identities and even tried hurting a close friend of ours. The guy he's thankfully dead now, who took you. Tried to finish the job, nearly killing her. So yeah, there is quite a lot of bad blood."
"You should bring her, if that was me, I'd want my brother there with me. We were always around for each other, no matter what." Cindy took a deep breath feeling anxiety coming over her.
"Thank you and hey, I promise you'll find him. Everything is going to be okay." Ben reassured her. "My sister and I guess, I myself have or had social anxiety. So, I understand this is a lot."
Cindy nodded, taking deep breaths, with Ben staying with her until she calmed down, making his leave hesitantly.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Liz had arrived at a wonderful restaurant where they were quite familiar with, it being owned by Liz's family, a place of pride for them all with how much care and love had been put into it over the years. Liz herself still worked there regularly, it meant a lot to her.
They headed inside sitting down in their favorite booth. Jessica smiled brightly at her date, feeling wonderful in the dress and looking in her pocket at the wedding ring, costly, but more importantly, beautiful.
"What are you smiling at?" Liz asked curiously.
Jessica smiled back innocently. "Nothing, just my dress and my date, how couldn't I be smiling like crazy? This is all perfect. You are perfect."
"Such a sweet talker aren't you?" Liz replied with a warm smile grabbing Jessica's hands, the best feeling.
"I suppose I am." She took a deep breath. Good grief I gotta keep it together, going to ruin the surprise if I'm not careful about all of this. She thought to herself.
Liz's father came over to their table. "Will you two lovely ladies be having the usual? We're going to give you the best for your anniversary." He gave a kiss on the cheek to Liz and a little wink to Jessica, she had spoken to her parents about the proposal, getting their blessing. It wouldn't have mattered, she'd have done it regardless, but it felt right asking as they were supportive of their love.
"Thank you dad, we will be." Liz replied with a smile back, he walked off back to the kitchen, but Jessica stopped him for a moment walking over.
"Uh, not sure if I can wait any longer. I might pop the question now. The stress is going to make me faint." Jessica whispered.
The father nodded in understanding. "Okay, I'll get my wife. And the camera. Be right back and good luck!" He rushed off.
Jessica went back sitting down trying not to have the biggest most obvious smile on her face about what she was going to do.
"What were you talking to my dad about? Wanting to make it extra special or something Jess?" She looked beautiful and Jessica was so excited.
She stood back up fidgeting, glancing over seeing Liz's parents coming over. "Did I mention how much I love the dress?"
"It might've come up a couple of times." Liz replied sarcastically.
"How about the love I feel for you? Have I ever mentioned how special and amazing and gorgeous you are Liz? Before you respond, I've got something else to say that I've been meaning to ask you for so long." She pulled out the ring. "Would you make me the happiest woman alive and ever to be alive? Will you marry me Liz Allan?"
Without any hesitation Liz stood up and hugged Jessica kissing her too. "Oh my god, yes, yes! I'd marry you in a heartbeat Jess. I want to be your wife." They held each other closely happily, as Liz's parents took photos. The two felt on top of the world.
Hope you all enjoyed the second chapter, I wanted to slow down after so much happening in the first. Give more time for the characters and the world. Along with just showing Jessica be happy, it meant a lot to me showing that. Maybe I might've gotten a little wish fulfillment. The beginning arc will be over next time setting up the series going forward so hope you stick around to see what comes next.
Also, I couldn't help myself having og Jessica Drew around, not as Spider-Woman. Not yet anyhow, there can always be more spider related people, I love both Jessica Drews a lot so it was a must including og Jessica Drew.
Response Section
Nothingspecial43
First of all, thank you for the review. That's a good point you made, someone will always not like the idea, nothing I can do about that. I think for the story hopefully will be the right choice, didn't want to make Liz like MJ so brings so different potential along.
Happy to hear you liked their dynamic. I wanted to give her a better support system than the comic Peter Parker, maybe it's personal preference but I wish he had at least some tiny support system. Like his sister they are hellbent on ignoring. Yeah, I wanted to give Jessica it all and have all her struggles be paying off at the start of the story, happy you enjoy that aspect was really important to me making that difference with Jessica. With Parker luck, she has good reason to be fearful of losing what she has.
Not sure if I want to spoil anything, but I think it would be safe to say Ben is safe, happy you like the sibling dynamic that was probably the second thing I thought of. I am really unhappy to with how Ben has been treated in the comic space, that was part of the inspiration to start this story. Yeah poor Ben can never quite catch a break, maybe he'll be lucker here. Or maybe not. I will be sure to sell that good if such a thing does happen!
I feel the sameway, never was a fan of that. Going in a different direction here. I'm sorry you gave up on that, sure you did well anyways trying to fix all of that. Cindy deserves better. I hope to give a good different take on her here, also yes she's going to have more agency here. When writing I thought of Cindy as the third main character of the series. Really hoping to do her justice.
Thank you for thinking it's played out well. All good questions, hopefully the answers given will be worth the wait.
Will try to address all of that, I did plan a lot of chapters. Want to give some drama and some surprises in her life. You are right about that, can't have the spider without the woman and it wouldn't be true to these characters without having some poor luck in both lives.
Thank you very much for that, hope that was all satisfactory. Apologize for wait times with chapters, hope you stick around!