Author's Note: Wow, so many ideas, too little time to get them all up on here. Arrrgh! I had to post this one two times before it actually put it up there! Thank heavens it is up now. I love all these great reviews! On w/ chapter 16…

'I think, therefore I Am.'- Renee Descartes

Chapter 16: Research

It was dark by the time Otto came back to the apartment that night. He landed on the balcony silently. With all of the constant practice, he had become as stealthy and as silent as the numerous shadows that entwined the city. He delicately cracked the window open. Before he went inside, he turned his face to the almost-full moon. He liked the moon. More than the sun for numerous reasons. He stood on the balcony transfixed by its soft, silver light. It was softer to his eyes and allowed him to wander outside without his sunglasses.

He tore his gaze away from the moon and slipped through the window and into the familiar, welcoming darkness of the house. As time had passed, the effects of the radiation blast had deepened, giving him the ability to see in the dark. He walked silently to the couch and found Rosie asleep. She must have stayed up waiting on him. Otto smiled lovingly at her before walking to his room. He changed quickly and silently crept back out to the living room. He sat down in on the floor in front of the couch where Rosie was sleeping and sighed.

A few hours later, Peter swung high over the streets, the lights dancing beneath him. He wasn't in any hurry. So he swung at a leisurely pace. The air was relatively and unusually pleasant for late February. Peter relished every second. The air was still damp from the morning dew. It certainly was a change from the skin-freezing temperatures of a normal Manhattan winter. To his left, the rising sun cast streaks of gold, pink, and blue across the indigo sky. As Peter cleared the roof of a large skyscraper, the top of the fiery, orange-red disk appeared over the gray horizon.

"Wow!" Peter breathed. Even he had seen a whole bunch of sunrises and sunsets, but this one was breathtaking. He landed on a roof of another skyscraper after completing a swing arc. Peter took from around his neck, his camera. Raising the viewfinder to his eye, he snapped a few pictures. He stood for a second on the roof, looking out over the thin barrier between earth and sky, before leaping off in a dive.

Wind roared in his ears as he fell, at the last second, he sent a webline to the nearest building. He had been thinking back to what Rosie said to him just a few nights before. He picked up his swing speed towards the apartment. He just had to see MJ.

Something disturbed him though. The feeling that something bad was soon to happen was coming back. Over the past few days, it had steadily waned. Now, however, it was biting at him full force.

"It must have something to do with Harry," he told himself. "It must be."

He eventually came to the apartment. The red brick was awash in the early morning light. He slipped in quietly and pulled off his mask. He looked to the loft to find Otto asleep with Rosie leaning up against him, her head on his chest.

Peter smiled warmly before walking silently to his room. He changed his clothes before looking to the sleeping feminine figure on his bed. MJ's strawberry-orange hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He lay down next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She stirred and woke, laughing quietly, "Pete! When did you get back?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Just now," He said, happily as he leaned in to kiss her. Their lips stayed together for a few seconds. They drew away, MJ waving her hand under her nose, laughing, "You need a shower." Peter couldn't help but laugh. Soon the room was filled with the couple's mirth and candor.

Otto soon woke up a few minutes later. He had just sat there on the floor next to Rosie's side until she moved down next to him. It was only then that he fell asleep. The first thing he noticed, though, was that she wasn't next to him anymore. He sighted her lighting something on the table next to the couch before sighing, "She really doesn't need to be moving around right now," He told the actuators.

She pretended not to hear him and smirked as she lit the tip of a stick of incense. Otto watched her curiously as she put her hand above the tiny flame, watched it grow a bit, and then blew it out. A thin stream of blue smoke wafted upwards, quickly filling the room with the thick scent of roses.

"What are you doing?" Otto asked.

"Well, I decided that if I'm going to get a second chance at life, I might as well get back into my old habits," she said, raising her eyebrow at him before turning and walking towards the staircase. How could he have forgotten? She used to light that stuff every day.

She still had somewhat of a limp in her stride, but it wasn't noticeable. Otto, however, noticed it. He stood up and came up behind her, "I know you were ignoring me just now, but you really shouldn't be up and about," he said sternly.

Rosie turned to him, smirking, "You know darn well, that no matter how much you harp on me about it, I'm not going to listen to you."

"Really," Otto said mockingly. She stared at him suspiciously before he suddenly swept her up into his arms.

"A-no…Put me down!" she laughed, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"You realize that I can be stubborn," She said, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing her face close to his.

"Well, I'm known to be a bit hardheaded myself," he smirked. She smiled at him.

"Awww, ain't that sweet?" Peter said tauntingly as he and MJ walked into the room.

Otto gently set Rosie back on her feet, "Wha-He-uh-um…Piss Off!!" He stuttered, a smile spreading across his face. He looked at Peter for a moment, "Get a shower."

"You can smell me from way over there?" Peter asked quizzically. Otto nodded with a 'Duh!' look on his face. Peter scoffed as he walked off towards the bathroom.

Rosie put her hand on her forehead for a few seconds and smoothed it over her hair.

"Are you okay?" Otto asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, I just need to… lie down for a while," she said walking back towards the couch. "Honestly Otto, I'm fine… I'm just tired." She gave him a sweet smile. He nodded sincerely, a small smile crossing his face. She had lost a lot of blood, but not enough to kill her. Otto expected her to have these kinds of side effects; sudden exhaustion and drowsiness. He sighed before turning to the steps and walked into his lab.

About an hour later, Peter came out in a new change of clothes, and with wet hair. He walked down the steps to the lab and opened the door. Otto was seated at the keyboard, rapidly typing away.

Otto couldn't understand it, why was his chest aching so often. 'It wasn't a medical problem," he thought to himself, "maybe it's a psychological problem…" He had given it much thought already while he was once again testing the symbiote for its weakness. Using the small pincers on an actuator, he pulled another glob of the black goo out of its tube. No piece of it had died yet, so… now what? He had tried with chemical compounds, fire, etc. He knew that electricity could hurt it…but… electricity hurt every living thing. And it wasn't exactly a weakness. What use was that? He placed the goo in a small, flat container. He stared at it, chin resting on his fist. Peter came down quietly and sat down in a large, leather chair.

"I'm out of ideas Peter… What's left to try?" Otto said wearily, "I'm at wit's end."

This is tough

Man, this thing is durable!

It's stupid

Methinks we've hit a brick wall…

Peter sighed, "Have you tried fire?"

"Yep."

"Chemicals?"

"Yep.

"…uh… different amounts of electricity?"

"Yes, yes…" He paused for a moment before picking up a wrench from the workbench next to him. He looked at it a moment before continuing, "Maybe, I just need to smack it real hard, see what happens."

Peter grinned as Otto put the wrench back down. His smile dropped a bit before he realized just how serious the situation was. Peter knew that if they couldn't find the weakness to the symbiote, then stopping Venom would be near impossible.

"I've found out a new property of this thing," Otto broke the silence.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, it can heal wounds inflicted to its host in order to keep its life force at full power," he read right off of the screen.

Peter thought about this for a while. "That means it's living off Eddie, isn't it?"

Otto paused, pondering this. "…Yes… I'm afraid so."

They sat in silence for a while. "Does that mean that if this thing bonds with Eddie enough, that separating the two could kill him?" Peter asked horrified.

"Yes…" Otto replied, returning to his vigorous typing.

Peter sighed. They sat there for what felt like forever, with nothing but the sound of typing being the only thing heard besides their breathing.

After a long while, Otto stood up and stretched. "I think that's enough for one day," he said as the actuators put the symbiote back in its contained and secured the lid.

Peter pulled out his mask as Otto unfolded the armor. Peter watched as it unfolded and locked into place before removing his shirt, exposing the red and blue, webbed spandex of Spiderman's outer covering. He pulled the mask over his head as they both ran up the stairs and slipped out the window into the late afternoon air.

It was surprisingly warm, even for New York…well, actually, one shouldn't say warm, but pleasant. The fading red light from the setting sun cast long shadows from the tall buildings across the ground. They lengthened with each second.

"Come on!" Peter called back to his friend.

"Where are we going?" Otto asked back.

"To wait for Cat," Peter said, landing on the face of a building suddenly, catching Otto off guard. As he tried to make up for the lost move, he attached an actuator to the building that he was flying past and pulled himself to a stop, slamming into the wall with a dull thud. "Ahhh," he groaned, pulling himself up to eyelevel with Peter. "I… just wasn't paying attention," he said as Peter looked at him curiously from behind his mask. They both climbed to the roof and sat; Peter on the edge on the corner, Otto, a few feet below. He situated himself on a thin stone strip that ended with a low-crouching gargoyle. Otto put his feet up on its head, leaned back against the wall and sighed. The sunlight glinted off of the metal chest-plate, gauntlets and shin-guards.

Peter looked around. The sun was now three-quarters down on the Horizon.

Otto sat, oblivious to everything else in the world, thinking. Though his chest ached, it wasn't really bothersome, just kind of… enough to garner notice. Maybe it had something to do with Rosie. He just couldn't tell.

A small noise came to their attention. The tiny 'Chink' of a metal knife to stone. There was the sound of air being displaced, followed by someone landing on the roof.

"Hey guys!" Cat chirped, walking towards Peter. She noticed that the two were relatively quiet. "Wait a minute… where's Otto?"

"Hi, cat," he said with a sigh, looking at her from over the roof with one actuator.

"You'd better have a good explanation for why you made us come here, then show up half an hour late," Peter said stiffly and getting to his feet.

"Peter, come on! I am never on time," Cat said in 'As-a-matter-of-fact' tone. Otto had climbed to the roof and stood, arms crossed, staring at the two young beings. Cat's hair was certainly longer, down to just below her shoulders. "What's up with you guys? You both look a little blue." The men just stared at her for a second.

"You guys work too hard," she said noting their tired expressions, especially Otto's.

"Well… I do know the thing to cheer you guys up," she said turning her back and walking to the edge of the roof.

"What?" Spiderman asked her.

She turned to look at them, the moonlight casting a silver-blue glow over her snow white hair and her skin tight black leather body suit.

"I certainly hope that the two of you are in for a little action," Felicia winked as she disappeared over the side. Otto's and Peter's eyes widened before they followed her.

Harry still lay on the floor a few hours laterwhen Eddie went back to check on him that night. He gently shook him awake. Harry looked drowsily at Eddie, a little bit of drool running down his mouth.

"Hey, you okay?" Eddie asked, helping Harry to his feet.

Harry wiped his mouth and looked around. "Wha? Where-?"

"You've been asleep for over 24 hours," Eddie informed him. He had dismissed Harry's spiky behavior as an effect of the gas. He had those anger spikes frequently. The sooner the 21st came, the better…

Harry walked out to his office. He walked over to a window, opened it and sighed. The cool, night air blew in his face. He felt so sick; like just about any minute, he could throw up. 'Just two more days,' He told himself. The gas quickly switched into effect. His feelings disappeared and were replaced by insanity.

Otto, Felicia, and Peter sat in the grass in central park. Just a relaxing moment after opening a major can of whoop-ass on some gangsters. There wasn't anything but silence where they were. Otto got to his feet, "I'll be right back."

"Where are you goin'?" Peter asked.

"Just to get something," and with that, he disappeared.

Peter flopped back, his mask lying in the long grass beside him. Felicia did the same and sighed, looking up at the sky and the stars. In about five minutes, Otto returned carrying a laptop. He sat down in his original spot in the grass, opened the laptop and began typing.

"What's that?" Cat asked.

"This? Oh, nothing much, just some research on the symbiote that we found on that tree a while ago. Remember?"

"Yeah," She said, flopping back down.

Otto sighed heavily in frustration.

"Is that what's been giving you guys such trouble?" Cat asked, propping herself back up on her elbow.

"Yeah… we've tried everything, but we can't seem to find its weakness," Peter said glancing over at Otto, knowing what he was going to say next.

Otto turned to look at the young man. "What do you mean, 'We?'" he asked. A smile was beginning to form on his lips.

"Aw, come on. You know I'm not smart enough to work all of that computer stuff," Peter said mockingly.

"You mean you're too lazy," Otto mumbled to himself, grinning. The actuators snickered to themselves.

"What was that?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, nothing," Otto said quickly, bursting into laughter. Cat grinned. "Oh, I give up… for tonight anyway," Otto said shutting the laptop, setting it on the ground, and laying back in the grass. He folded his hands behind his head and sighed. Three friends, all with different abilities that set them apart from normal people.

"Hey, what's that star right there?" Cat asked curiously, pointing to a bright blue dot in the inky-black sky.

Peter stared at it. "I dunno," he shrugged.

Otto gave him a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, you're helpful… It's Vega."

"Why does it appear bluer than the others?" She asked curiously.

Peter closed his eyes, but listened fully to what Otto had to say.

"Well, it looks that way because of the rate of Hydrogen fusion in the core."

Cat nodded.

"To make a long story short, it just burns faster and brighter than other stars. It's also hotter by an exponential amount. Take our sun for example; it's yellowish and dimmer than Vega, because of the rate of the fusion. Our sun's just going to burn longer than a white or a blue star."

"Wow… I've never thought that was the reason. I just thought that was because of the different compounds-" She was stopped by a yawn. Peter smiled. 'Science Nerds,' he laughed to himself.

Otto checked the time on his watch and stood up. "I'm heading in."

"Yeah, I'd better be going, too," Cat said standing to her feet and brushing herself off. "It was fun. I'll see you guys at the event in a few days," She called back as she ran through the trees, disappearing.

"I'm just worried that we won't be able to defeat Venom when the time comes," Peter said, rubbing his forehead.

"Don't worry, we'll think of something," Otto replied, picking up his laptop and leaping into the air, using his actuators to carry him through the trees to the apartment. Peter followed close behind. A good night's sleep was beginning to seem like paradise to him.