Author's Note: From this point onward, all dialogue and thoughts that are supposed to be in Japanese will be bracketed. [Like so.] This is to avoid potential confusion in the future. Thanks for understanding. Now, on with the chapter!

With nothing visible in-sight from the skyscraper, Spider-Man would swing to the Village Theater. The Osborn Industries once held stake in the theater, so it was once considered their property. He knew that one of the Green Goblin's many hideouts was here. After all, this was the place Norman relapsed into the Goblin's identity for a second time.

He was hoping that the place hadn't been picked clean just yet. If he was lucky, he'd run into the Goblin's successor here at the same time. He crawled in through the back and snuck into the secret lair. To his surprise and relief, everything was still there. It looked like nobody had been here.

The pumpkin bombs in glass cases, the spare costumes on mannequins, gliders hanging from the walls, the schematics in their cabinets, and everything else were completely untouched. A fine lair of dust coated everything, lending further credence that nobody had been here since Osborn died.

Yet, someone had been. Spider-Man heard breathing just above him, heavy breathing. Whatever it was, it wasn't setting off his Spider-Sense. That meant only one thing.

"Venom!" Spidey called out.

Venom dropped down from the ceiling with a big, toothy grin on his face, "Spider-Man! What a coincidence running into you here!"

"Yeah, a real coincidence. How long have you been following me?"

"Following you? You're mistaken, friend. We imagine we're here for the same reason you are."

"Aaaaalright," Spidey incredulously responded, "then what are you doing here?"

"Osborn Industries has hired us to investigate the break-ins," Venom proudly answered, his thumb pointed back at himself.

Spider-Man tilted his head as he did a double take, "Huh? They hired you?"

"How soon you forget. We're an investigative reporter, remember?" Venom reminded him while waggling his index finger. "With your memories and our investigative skills, this new Goblin doesn't stand a chance!"

Spider-Man averted his gaze, nervously looking down at the floor as he realized the implications of this. If Venom got his hands on this wannabe Goblin, the poor sap would probably be eaten alive. He couldn't allow this.

Without thinking, he quickly ran his hand through one of the glass cabinets that contained a cache of pumpkin bombs. Glass shards went flying everywhere as he reached for the nearest bomb. He tossed it at Venom, hoping that it might've been able to incapicitate him.

Venom grabbed the bomb, smashing it in his hands. Green smoke spewed out from the shattered bomb, revealing that it wasn't even an explosive.

Spider-Man gulped, "Well, sometimes you gamb-"

"Ahhhh, sometimes you gamble on a bomb and lose! Ahahah!" Venom interrupted mockingly. As the smoke overwhelmed the chamber, Venom disappeared in it.

Spider-Man held his breath as to not breathe in the fumes. He cautiously looked in every direction for his symbiotic opponent. Venom reappeared behind him, putting Peter in a chokehold. Peter gasped for air, breathing in the noxious gases in the process. He didn't know what was worse, the idea of this smoke being knockout gas or hallucinogens.

It was the former. Within seconds, Peter passed right out. Venom didn't realize this, though. When the smoke finally dissipated, he tossed Parker to the ground. He pointed down at him, "We see that there's still some tension between us, Parker! So, listen here! We're gonna be partners now, got it? Gonna be real buddy-buddy from here on out."

Spider-Man didn't reply. He didn't even move! He simply remained limp on the ground.

"Are you even paying attention to us?" Venom growled as he hunched in scarily close to Peter's face. It was at this moment that Venom realized Peter was knocked out.

"Ahhh, sleeping on the job? How irresponsible, Spider-Wuss!" he joked as he picked Spider-Man up. He slung the webslinger over his shoulder, "This is no place to rest, webhead. We'll get you back home so that you might properly relax. Then, we can talk."

Before leaving, Venom actually reached into Spider-Man's belt to pull out one of his patented Spider-Tracers. He reached through the hole in the cabinet and gingerly stuck it onto one of the Goblin's spare pumpkin bombs.

With that little parting gift, Venom then crawled out the back and swung away towards Peter's apartment.

Back at that apartment, Tomoko was chatting on the phone with Yuri while sitting on the floor Peter's living room. She had her phone in one hand and a pencil in the other. She was sitting in front of the coffeetable. On the table was a notebook she was writing in as she talked.

"[-anyway, after I made a great impression with his best friend, he patted me on the head for a job well done,]" Tomoko bragged.

Yuri replied, "[That's not true; you're making that up.]"

"[Wh- no! Well, okay, maybe I was stretching the truth. But, he did pat me on the head!]"

"[You made an awful impression, didn't you?]"

Tomoko frustratedly huffed, "[Maybe I did, but that isn't what's important.]"

Yuri didn't reply with any words, she only quietly hummed.

After a few seconds, she asked a different question, "[How are your studies going, Tomoko?]"

"[Oh, they're going fine. I'm actually doing some writing for an assignment as we speak. How are yours, Yuri-Chan?]"

"[I'm studying for an exam right now. Kinda boring.]"

"[Mmm, yeah. I feel that. I still need to do some studying after I finish writing this. Watch anything interesting lately?]"

"[Not really.]"

Tomoko sighed, "[Me neither. I have been doing some reading, but that's about it.]"

"[What have you been reading?]"

"[Boyfriend's got these American comic books I've been looking at sometimes. Most of them are hokey crap, but some of them are actually pretty interesting.]"

"[Ahh, right. Thanks for calling, Tomoko, even if it was just so you could boast.]"

"[I didn't call you just so I could boast!]" Tomoko defended in an offended tone. "[Alright, maybe that was a major reason. I do miss seeing you, though, Yuri-Chan. So it is nice to talk on the phone with you like this.]"

"[Really?]"

Tomoko nodded, not realizing that Yuri wouldn't be able to pick up on that.

After some seconds of awkward silence Yuri said, "[Umm, Tomoko, are you still there?]"

"[What? Oh, uhhh, yeah. I'm still here.]"

"[I also miss seeing you,]" Yuri admitted with a slight smile on her face. ["This is really distracting from my studying, so I should be going. Be sure to call me more. Bye.]"

After that, Yuri hung up. Tomoko didn't even get to say bye back. Normally, she might be offended, but this was expected of Yuri at this point. So, she just shrugged it off and put her phone away. She resumed her writing in solitude. But then, she paused.

"[Damn, I'm out of ideas,]" she thought, tightly gripping her pencil in frustration. "[I'm never going to get this finished at this rate.]"

Thankfully, she had a distraction from her writer's block when she heard something rumbling around in Peter's room. Looks like he was home.

A devious smirk formed on Tomoko's face as she got an idea. She shut her notebook, quietly pushed the table forward, got up, and slunk towards the door to his room. Exercising an extreme amount of caution, she slowly turned the doorknob.

She barged into the room, shouting, "SURPRISE!"

However, she'd be the one who got a rather nasty surprise when she saw Venom standing over Peter's bed with Spidey in his arms. His head shot over to her direction.

Tomoko fell on her back in horror. She screamed and crawled backwards towards the exit.

Venom carelessly dropped Spidey on the bed in shock. His symbiote peeled back and formed into a leather jacket with his symbol on it. He approached her with his arms out in an attempt to be calming.

"Relax!" Eddie reassured, "I'm not an enemy this time."

Tomoko didn't hear it, she instead continued scrambling for the door while still screaming, "Y-y-you k-ki-killed him!"

Eddie shook his head, "What? No no no no no! He's just knocked out! I didn't kill him; please calm down!"

There was a loud pounding at the door. From the other side was Ms. Muggins, shouting, "Whatever's goin' on in there, keep it down!"

Eddie rushed over to the door. When he got over there, he said back, "My apologies, miss. Mr. Parker, his roommate, and I were just watching a scary movie. It got a little intense is all. It won't happen again."

"It had better not," Muggins said back, stomping away.

By this point, Tomoko stopped screaming. Eddie stood over her and she just looked up at him in complete fear.

"I'm sorry for what I did. It was very wrong, and I see that now. You must be so frightened."

Tomoko angrily thought, "[Stupid jerk, I already know I'm frightened! Don't need to state it for me!]"

Without many other choices, Tomoko kicked him in the shin. Eddie just stood there, not even flinching. It didn't seem to hurt him in the slightest.

Tomoko, on the other hand, rolled onto her side and clutched her own foot in agony. It actually didn't hurt that much, but it still stung.

Eddie knelt down to her and offered his hand.

"C'mon, if I wanted to hurt ya, I'd have done it right now."

Tomoko looked up at him with less with fear and more with scorn. Then, her glower shifted to yet another devious little grin. She sat up and then lunged at his legs in an attempt to knock him over.

Her head instead crashed against his shin. Tomoko yelped as she gripped her head, as she was now developing one heck of a headache. Eddie just frowned concerningly at her.

"Are you done yet?"

Tomoko sorrowfully nodded, her eyes watering up.

"Awww jeez, don't cry. Y'tried, that's what matters. Someone like Spider-Man struggles with knockin' me over."

"D-don't pity me," Tomoko said. It almost sounded like she wanted to state that in a stoic tone, yet it just came across as scared and incredibly upset.

Eddie wrapped his hand around his forehead, his eyebrows raised and his teeth clenched. He struggled as to what to say. Nothing really could be said without making this situation worse. So, he just silently gave her a wide, toothy beam. Unfortunately, considering the stress of this situation, the smile just came across as forced and freaky.

Tomoko gulped upon seeing his grin, pursing her lips in an intensely uncomfortable manner.

Eddie exhaled through his nose, frustrated. Now he would just picked her up, carry her over to the sofa, and drop her down onto it. He plopped down into the seat across from the sofa, hunched down with his hands folded up.

"Alright, I'll try explainin' this. I did NOT kill Parker. He just got hit with a bad case of knockout gas," Eddie said in a calm tone, slowly stating his words to emphasize them.

Tomoko looked at him in disbelief, absolutely not buying that story.

That was, until Peter staggered out from his room. He was hanging onto the side of the doorframe, his hand clutched around his head. Tomoko wanted to run up and hug him, but her foot pain and headaches prevented that.

Peter sluggishly approached her with a zombie-like lurch. With each step, it felt like he was going to tumble over and collapse.

"Y-you didn't kill h-him! Y-y-you t-t-t-turned him into o-one of your z-zombies!" she yelled, pointing her finger at Peter while her lips quivered and her eyes bugged out.

"You damned crazy broad! I can't turn people to zombies!"

She sat up and huddled together with her knees against her chest. She squinted and furrowed her brows, "Quite a suspicious denial..."

"Are you hearin' yourself?! This is absurd!"

"I've seen giant lizards, rock monsters, and whatever the hell you are! Nothing is past the point of absurdity now."

Spidey interrupted their conversation by sinking down next to Tomoko. He wearily leaned completely against her. Beads of sweat dropped down her face as he did.

Eddie curiously gazed at him, "He must still be delirious."

Spider-Man's sloppily reached his arm across her chest and onto her shoulder. Tomoko looked down at him, both with confusion and slight excitement.

"Tomoko, you're a..." he trailed off into incomprehensible slurring after that.

Tomoko's breathing picked up, her face turning red. Her eyes nervously darted across the room all while she giggled uncontrollably.

This entire situation was very familiar. Indeed, Tomoko then remembered the last time something like this happened. A half-conscious Peter Parker leaning on her. Last time, she instinctively shoved him off. Now was her chance to do things right this time.

Still, even as she nuzzled up against him, she couldn't stop thinking about just one thing, "[What did he mean when he said, 'Tomoko you're a?' I'm a what? What am I? Was he coming on to me?!]"

Eddie, meanwhile, was stiffly sitting in his seat. He was quite uncomfortable. It seemed like Tomoko had forgotten he was even there. He tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair as he grumbled, "Feel like I should leave."

"You know you can't do that, Eddie," the Symbiote itself responded, albeit only mentally. "We must be here to convince him of our good intentions."

Eddie nodded, "Yeah, you're right. But, this is so awkward."

"Earthly signs of affection are truly abnormal."

"And, like, he can do better, right? I've seen the women he dates. We both have. He went from dating well over his standards to like, a little bit below."

"I wouldn't know. Back on my planet, there are no need for relationships such as this."

Eddie rubbed his chin, "Really? Then how do you like, reproduce? One night stands?"

"No. We reproduce asexually."

Brock's eyes shot open. He lunged forward in shock, loudly gulping. Tomoko had been looking at him for the past few seconds as she mumbled, "What kind of freak talks to himself like that...?"

Not that she had too long to dwell on that thought. Peter's hand accidentally slipped from her shoulder and onto her chest. Once again, Tomoko instinctively shoved him off of her, down onto the carpet. He landed on the floor with his knees, his head and upper body crashing onto the coffee table in front of the couch.

Eddie looked down at Peter in stunned silence with his mouth hanging open, then up to Tomoko. Tomoko stood up from the sofa in a panic, her hands erratically waving around as she thought of what to do.

"I-I didn't m-mean to! He just, well, he t-touched me and then I- oh shit!"

Unlike last time, Peter actually completely regained consciousness after being thrown onto the ground. He rose back up from the table, holding his head with one hand. He groaned, "My head...what happened?"

He saw Tomoko standing over him, "Oh, hi. What's all the hubbub?"

Tomoko didn't coherently respond, she just messily and hastily blurted out a scramble of words in an attempt to explain herself.

Eddie leaned forward, over to him. He whispered an explanation.

"I did WHAT?!" Peter asked. He turned back to Tomoko, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

It was after that, he realized that Eddie Brock was in his apartment...again. He stood up completely, gesturing at Eddie with both of his arms, "Waaaait, what's HE doing here?!"

"That's a great way to thank us for bringing you here, Parker!"

Peter clenched his teeth as he accusingly pointed at Brock, "Yeah? You're the one who knocked me out in the first place!"

"You threw that bomb at us after we tried to extend the olive branch," Eddie reminded Peter as he stood up from his seat with his fists clenched. He grabbed Spidey's wrist as the Symbiote enveloped him. "Perhaps that was our mistake."

"The real mistake was that I didn't apprehend you when I had the chance."

Venom growled, "No, the real mistake is that we didn't kill you when we had the chance!" However, he let go of Spider-Man's wrist after that, "No! We won't give in to the anger. We're putting up the white flag, Parker. What do you say?"

He offered out his hand.

Spider-Man sighed. He realized that, if Venom did truly want him dead, he could have easily finished him off after he was knocked out. Instead, Eddie brought him home and put him in his bed. Brock had every chance to kill, yet he didn't. If nothing else, it was clear that he genuinely wanted to put their feud behind.

So, Peter begrudgingly accepted Venom's offer and shook his hand, "Fine. But we're gonna do this my way, so that means you aren't going to do any killing. Got it?"

"You're such a spoil sport. Ohhh, I suppose we'll accept that." Venom agreed, firmly giving Spidey's hand a good shake.

They both plopped back down into their seats, as Venom's Symbiote retracted once more. Tomoko was still standing. She was no longer shaking nervously, instead she had just seized up completely with her hair frayed up more than usual. Her face was completely blank, it was hard to get a read on what she was thinking at all. Peter reached over to her and pulled her back down onto the sofa.

"You okay?" he asked, quite concerned.

Tomoko's head turned over to him as she said, "Y-you know...you al-always c-could touch m-more if y-you'd l-like."

Peter folded his hands, taking a deep breath with pursed lips. His head sank into his shoulders, slowly turning away from her.

"S-sorry. Hehhehe you uhhh, y-you probably wouldn't want to touch m-more anyway, r-right?" she said while scratching the back of her head.

"Now, I-I uhh, I wouldn't, uhhh, you know, I-I never said that, d-didn't even mean to i-imply that I just, this is a...this is a really bad time, y'know?"

Eddie shook his head, blinking twice in astonishment, "This is embarrassing."

"Incredibly," the Symbiote added.

"Frankly, I'm embarrassed for both of them."

Tomoko snapped at him, "Yeah? At least I don't talk to myself like some kind of weirdo!" Which was awfully hypocritical on her part, all things considered. Not to mention her boyfriend did enough monologues to himself that it was practically second nature.

The Symbiote itself extended out from Brock's leather jacket. The goop-like extension formed a head at the tip, with Venom-like facial features forming on it. "He isn't talking to himself, he is talking to me," it clarified. It wriggled rhythmically around like a snake as it got up in her face.

Tomoko reeled back and huddled up to Spider-Man for comfort. Peter wrapped an arm around her as he said, "I didn't think that thing could talk. It never talked to me."

"I am not some kind of 'thing!' That exactly is why I didn't talk to you."

"That and you were really shy," Eddie added.

"No! I was not shy! I was just uncertain."

"Actually hearing you talk makes me uhh, want to apologize. I'm sorry for the way things went."

The symbiote shifted over to him with a smile on it's face, "It is in the past now. We both could have handled it better, but I have found a host I am happy with so it all worked out in the end." After that, it retracted back into Brock's jacket.

Tomoko was still shaking as she asked, "You WORE that thing?"

"It's a long story..."

Just after, Peter got a phonecall. He reached into his belt, lifted his mask above his mouth, and pulled out his cellphone. He answered, "Hey, Robbie! No, you're not interrupting anything, whaddaya need? Yeah? No kidding! I'll get there as soon as I can. Talk to ya later, Robbie."

Peter stood up, motioning to Eddie, "Got a call from Robbie Robertson. Reports are coming in that there was a prison break at Ryker's Island."

"So?"

"The witnesses say that the perpetrator was riding around on a glider and throwing pumpkin bombs."

Eddie shot up, the Symbiote enveloping him. Without hesitating, he dived through the open window and swung away. Spidey lowered his mask again, redirecting himself to Tomoko, "Gotta get going again! See ya later."

Tomoko waved him off as he too went out the window. She went down from the sofa and back onto the carpet. To her delight, she found that her writer's block was gone. So, she resumed writing in her notebook.

As Spider-Man and Venom headed to where the Hobgoblin's last sighted appearance was, the man himself and his new accomplice arrived at the shore of a remote part of Long Island.

They docked the boat and stepped out. It took a few minutes, but they two of them finally arrived at their destination. Hidden from sight in a heavily forested part of the island was a lavish mansion.

Quentin looked at it all in astonishment, "How did you afford this? You must be rich!"

"Don't ask questions that'll get you killed," Hobgoblin snidely answered back while chuckling.

Quentin nervously laughed at his nonanswer.

"You needn't be so frightened, Quentin, I was only joking."

Hobgoblin opened the door and the inside was just as extravagent as the outside. He guided Quentin up the stairs and down the hall. Hobby showed him his personal room. It had a huge, padded bed with velvet sheets in one corner. The carpeting was a material that Quentin wasn't even familiar with. It definitely looked expensive, though. Opposite of the bed was a TV that took up most of the wallspace. Next to the TV in the corner was an aged wooden stand with some kind of plant sitting atop it. To the side of the room just next to the doorway was a desk with all kinds of compartments. Best of all just may've been the minifridge next to the bed.

Hobgoblin gestured to the desk, "You'll find the schematics to all of Osborn's weaponry and tools in there."

"Osborn...?" Quentin inquired.

"Ohhh, right, right, you don't know. Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin."

Quentin's mouth slightly drooped, "Are you for real?! I had no idea. Didn't he die?"

"Haven't you ever wondered why you don't see the Green Goblin anymore?"

"I hadn't, actually. I honestly never one thought about it. Just one of those things, I guess."

He sat down at the desk and pulled out one of Osborn's schematics from one of the cabinets on the desk's side. It was for the Green Goblin's glider.

"These blueprints are incredible! They're so well formatted and easy to follow. You don't even need me for this; a kindergartener could make this with these instructions!"

Hobgoblin leaned over him, "Well, see, I'm not just looking for straight recreations. Just as with my costume, I do not want to be a mere imitation of the Green Goblin. For example: I think the flatfaced bat head on Osborn's gliders are droll. Boring, even. I want something with pizzazz! I'm thinking a screaming devil head. Not overly detailed, a simple mouth and eyes will do. Think Edvard Munch's 'The Scream!' With curved horns too. Think you could do that?"

"Ahhh, how theatric. You have an eye for these kinds of things, just like me."

Hobgoblin rubbed his hands together in anticipation, "I can't wait to see what kind of things we can cook up. By the way, I know you're an engineer, but are you also a chemist?"

"I dabble around in it here or there. Why do you ask?"

"Norman Osborn had to have had a secret that made him such a potent fighter. I'm thinking it was some kind of chemical concoction. Maybe you could help me with it?"

"Hah! As if!" Beck scoffed. "If I could make that kind of super formula, I'd have used it on myself by now."

Hobgoblin sneered disdainfully as he dramatically turned away, "Quite the setback, then. Not that it matters! I'll find Osborn's formula soon enough. Then I'll finally be able to take on Spider-Man himself."

"If the Green Goblin couldn't kill Spider-Man, what makes you think you can?"

"I'm not seeking to kill him," Hobgoblin admitted while stepping out the door, "not willingly, anyway. If it were up to me, I'd never run into that freak. However, I know that we shall encounter each other eventually. When we do, I must be ready."

Before departing, Hobby had one last thing to say, "I'll be elsewhere in the house." He turned back to Quentin as he sternly warned, "Don't go looking for me."

"What if need to contact you?"

Hobgoblin gestured to a small red button ingrained on the side of the desk, "Press that." After that, the malevolent hooded man slammed the door and stormed back down the stairs.

Quentin leaned back, put his feet up on the desk, and loudly sighed, "What have I gotten myself into? I thought this was gonna be an easy get out of jail free card."

This was a rather precarious situation. This Hobgoblin seemed awfully secretive. Whoever he was, his secret identity was definitely important to him. He must have been someone of a higher status, that much was certain. Going off of how paranoid he was over potential exposure and how he was able to afford such a decadent mansion.

Beck was tempted to go snooping around for any potential clues to the Hobgoblin's identity. If only for the blackmail potential. At the same time, the entire mansion was probably bugged with cameras. Hobgoblin seemed like he wasn't the type to take too many risks. No doubt, Beck was being watched at this very moment.

He lowered his legs and placed his arms on the desk. He innocuously tapped his fingers on the wood, shooting his gaze across the room to see if he could spot any cameras. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. All except that potted plant sitting on a stand in the corner.

Beck smirked as he inwardly thought, "The old camera is in the potted plant trick. Hah! It'll take more than that to fool me."

Beck stood up, took one of the pillowcases from the many pillows on the bed, quietly approached the plant, and wrapped the plant in the case. Further confirming his suspicions is that the plant felt entirely artificial.

Now that he had some peace of mind, he returned to the desk to further study Osborn's schematics.

However, he was still being watched. In a secret bunker beneath the mansion was the Hobgoblin. Sitting in a very wide, metallic chair with his legs spread in a relaxed fashion. He had his eyes on a set of monitors on the wall. Each monitor showed the different rooms of the house, including Quentin's very own.

"I knew he might get suspicious. It's a good thing I put that fake plant there to act as a smokescreen."

He swiveled his seat over to a set of books on a steely table. He picked one up and started thumbing through it.

"Let's find that formula..."

Thus ends chapter 11. Decided to go for a fairly light tone for this chapter. Some dramatic moments, but nothing to drag the levity down like in some previous chapters. This also marks the return of Venom! Felt like 4 chapters was a good gap between appearances. I've previously said that Venom is a character with both great horrific and comedic potential. We've explored the horror, now we're getting into the comedy.

It was also nice to finally write an extended interaction between Tomoko and one of her friends that isn't Yuu. Hope to do more in the future.

I don't have much more to say, so let's get into the reviews.

Cool Doggo - Such a tactic is only to be used in the most pressing situations.

Guest - Thanks! I agree, Kingsley is the original and will forever remain the best.

Mr. NoName - Despite it all, Tomoko is still very much the same pervert she's always been.

Before I end this, I'd like to thank everyone who's favorited and followed the story so far. 19 on both sides at the time of writing this, that's very good.

That'll do it. As always, thanks for reading and I hope I'll see you in the next chapter.