Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

Peter was lost in thought. In front of him were half-finished sketches and open textbooks. Once he had finished his first-year books, he knew he could do better. A few thousand dollars later, he had a complete collection, covering both subjects.

He had sketched out an inorganic but wholly functional limb. One without the need for invasive and painful surgery. It was rough, but it looked like it should work. The interface was the tricky part as he had no neurological experience other than books. Once his two courses were finished, he pondered about going to med school. Or just ask Gwen, which would be easier, and cheaper.

They had already discussed getting samples of his fluid and recreating it synthetically. Gwen was also huffy that Poison refused to create it properly. She was either too inexperienced or just plain lazy.

Once they had it cracked, it would open up a whole new field for them both. The limitless applications of the webbing would make Parker Inc. shine.

He needed to stay focused, of course. A dream was good but one step at a time. Manufacture the limb. Make the skin and ligaments. Create a working adaptive neural link. All large steps in themselves, broken down further into smaller and smaller steps. Each one easily accomplished to make the larger goal.

He had his designs for prosthetics. It was a simple workable hand, like many others already on the market. It was Gwen's help that it was slowly turning into a complete biological replacement.

The idea was simple enough in theory. A cap could be fitted over the end of the missing limb. The cap would connect to an implant in the spine of the patient. From there it could connect and transmit actual sensations to the person.

Peter was slightly miffed that Oscorps harness had the basic idea. At least it was a mind-operated extra limb, rather than an actual feeling replacement.

It had been christened the C.L.S, Cybernetic Limb System. For now, it was a few stretches, a constructive talk with Gwen, and a diploma away. Even then, it was a start.

It kept him busy but that night at the diner still sat on his mind. Even after all this time, the fight played over and over again.

He had been overconfident. He had been cocky and in being too hotheaded and full of himself he had gotten himself and Gwen hurt, but they would pay. Peter knew would get his revenge, it would take time and patience

In doing so he began to formulate revenge against those who had wronged him.

He had researched Oscorp and found archive footage. Norman standing proudly in front of the Goblin Mark One.

The huge man had been fitted into the harness and shown off its multi limbs. The control chip in the back of the neck allowed the worker to remote pilot the limbs as if they were his own.

He spotted the small mousy woman off to one side, and he wondered if back then she knew was destined to wear the harness.

It was marketed as a tool to help workers with heavy construction. After some searching, he found the cost drove it to be scrapped. In principle at least.

There was nothing more on Olivia. She was still an employee of Oscorp, but there we no sightings of Doc Ock until recently. The only article he found was about an accident where she was named a ‘hero’ for saving Harry. It was just before they started school, but he had never mentioned it.

The Goblin Mark Two was being touted as combat armour. giving the soldier an extra pair of AI-enhanced arms during combat. It was sleeker and armoured. A trial run for what would eventually be the Mark Three.

The Mark Two was eventually scrapped as well. It had only been a prototype. The only reference he could find was the pilot had difficulty controlling the limbs. It seemed that overriding the onboard AI caused seizures in some testers. With health and safety in mind, it was scrapped.

The Mark Three had been named ‘Goblin’ and was marked as being classified until it was released. Peter could only find grainy shots of test flights and nothing concrete. It was a military project and as such had a tighter level of security. It was probably nothing he couldn't handle either as himself if he hacked their site or as Venom if he invaded a base. However, right now drawing the ire of the FBI or CIA upon himself was not the best of ideas.

The Mark Two and Three were of no concern to Peter. They were funded by the military and they were probably stored on an army base somewhere. The Mark One was civilian in design and he wondered if Oscorp had it on site. He knew large companies hated waste, and he doubted they had thrown it away. Even if Doc Ock was wearing one, there had to be others.

The arms were worthless. His own system needed to be more human in design but seeing an actual working interface would help his own. He might just have to pay a visit to Oscorp’s storage warehouses to see if there was another he could steal. Of course, ripping it from Doc Ock's beaten body would be much more satisfying.

Peter leaned back in his chair at that thought. Sure, at the diner she had slammed him into cars and the ground, but she never went for the kill. Was she completely under Osborn's control? Or was there still that quiet scientist behind it? Trapped and unable to free herself from Norman's grasp.

He rubbed a hand over his face. That would be for another day. She had proven to be a puzzle, and he would figure it out when the time came.

Right now, he was focused on his coursework. The exams for his SATs were a breeze. Even with everything else Peter had walked out after an hour and still got the highest mark. When he got his results his grade point average was well above everyone else.

Gwen had smugly noted her own was equal to his. MJ had done as well as she expected, and so the trio had a small pizza party and then moved it to the bedroom.

⁂

Peter was sitting swivelling on his chair with two things on his mind.

How to create better armour or improve his own powers.

How to find and deal with Doc Ock and her crew.

He was brought from his thoughts when Gwen quietly knocked on the door of his workspace upstairs.

She looked guilty. Peter knew for a fact it had been two months since MJ had asked her to deal with Felicia. So either she hadn't or Felicia had brushed her off.

Peter swivelled in his chair, “Hey.”  he said as she slid into the room, and sat on his lap, He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her, “better not let MJ catch you.”

Gwen giggled and rested her head on his shoulder. MJ's threat wasn’t so much of a threat anymore. She had given Gwen permission, and Gwen had taken great delight in it. Peter hadn't told her why MJ let her, but the atmosphere in the warehouse was a lot better.

“I talked to Felicia.” she said as Peter stroked her hair. “she said she’ll try.”

Peter sighed. “Great. Go talk to MJ then.” but she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“Don't wanna,” she huffed, muffled by the fact she had buried her face in Peter's shoulder. “She’ll yell and we’ll go back to fighting.”

Peter lifted Gwen's head and kissed her gently on the lips, “and if you don’t, she’ll do more than yell. I'm not cleaning up that mess.”

Gwen pouted and fluttered her eyelashes. ”But maybe if a big strong Venom maybe wears her out first, then she won't be as mad?”

Peter laughed and stood up, lifting Gwen and sitting her in his chair. “I’ll talk to her, but you owe me.”

Gwen grinned and swivelled the chair back and forth. As she tilted her head, eyeing the designs Peter had been sketching out, she frowned,

“Uh, Pete? what are these?” She lifted one of the sketches. It was the basis of his cyberlimb system. While not finished, it was enough that the sketch was easily recognisable.

“Oh, you know,” he said with a small smirk on his face, “just, doodles.”

Gwen frowned, looking at and lifting the textbooks, “fourth-year books?” Putting it down carefully she swung the chair around. “How far into your course are you?”

Peter pursed his lips and let out a breath, puffing them up. “They only let me sit my first-year exams,” he admitted,

Gwen glowered at him, “They only let you sit your exams. That's not what I asked though.”

Peter laughed, “fine, fine. I've done most of the work for first and second year, and skipped some of the boring bits. That's the books for my final year.”

Gwen growled and threw up her hands, “if you say anything about porridge I am going to smack you.”

Peter laughed, “kinky. MJ says you’re not allowed.”

Gwen stood and grinning slid her arms around Peter's waist. “MJ isn't as subtle as she thinks, and I'm not as dumb either. I know why I've been getting privileges, and I know where you go right after.”

Peter shrugged. That was not his fetish to share. If MJ liked tasting Gwen but didn't want to admit it, that was her choice. Gwen wasn’t exactly subtle about it either. During their evenings together MJ had moved Gwen's hands on more than one occasion.

Gwen cuddled up closer, “I still hate you.” She gave him a small peck. When she realised what Peter was doing, she like many others scoffed. Now she realised he was blazing through coursework as fast as he was allowed. Sitting exams the day they were posted and still had time to work a job and on his own projects. “Can’t you underachieve just once?”

She was jealous. They might have different fields but Gwen knew he was just as smart as her. If she’d been prepared, she could be doing the same. A little jealousy never hurt anyone, and her own green-eyed monster was huffing. Once more he proved he was smart and capable.

It wasn’t just him though. She had tried to talk to Felicia but there was still a barrier between them. She wondered if it was the love triangle they had, but Felicia never complained about Peter. No matter how it was approached Felicia was just, Felicia.

Gwen sighed, “I tried talking to Felicia. Please dont take this the wrong way, but with her, it's like trying to get you to talk about Flash when it was happening.” Peter raised an eyebrow but said nothing, “Dont give me that look, Mister. You’d clam up and just say I'm fine, I'm fine, dont worry, and pushing only made you mad.”

Peter looked guilty about that. He knew talking about it only made Flash mad, so he stopped.

“Yeah, that's how she looks as well. Give me time.” Gwen extracted herself from his arms. She leaned forwards and kissed Peter on the end of his nose, “And I won't say a word about MJ’s little preference.”

Peter smirked and shook his head, “And I won't push it. I’ll talk to MJ.”

Gwen grinned, “thank you.” and kissing Peter properly, seemed to skip out of his office.

Peter sat back down and laid out his books once more. At least Gwen hadn't lost his page.

Leaning back he crossed his fingers on top of his head and swung back and forth.

It was maybe time to talk to Felicia about her other identity and bring her into the warehouse properly. He didn't care she was Black Cat. They had worked together with no issue and she wasn't to know Ock and Sandman were waiting for him. If it was causing problems then it was time to rip that bandaid off.

The only issue he could see was Gwen and MJ might be mad at him. At least though, if they were he could always use that Felicia wasn't forthcoming either. It also wasn't like they didn't keep things from each other. He nodded to himself. It was definitely time.