The Calm before the Storm
"I thought everyone was told not to be wandering the ship," Shocker's man threatened, still pointing his gun. "You should know better than that… uh… Sergeant?"
Thinking quickly so that the gunman wouldn't notice a certain someone from above, Crenshaw explained, "I just heard about that and I was heading to my quarters since I'm off duty now. By the way, that's Commander and not Sergeant."
"Well pardon me all to hell, Commander. Now keep your yap shut or you're dead because I ain't in the mood to deal with the likes of you."
"How about dealing with me, chrome dome?" Spider-Man asked, still clinging to the ceiling above.
"What the…" the man started to say as he looked up to see who asked him the question.
Spider-Man just waved at the man before webbing his mouth shut and then yanked the gun from his opponent's hands with the assistance of more webbing. The Commander wasn't to be outdone so he decked the guy with a punch to the head.
"Damn, that guy has a hard chin" Crenshaw painfully shook his left hand.
With the bad guy knocked out, Spider-Man webbed him up he then asked, "How far is you security office from here?"
"Just a couple of decks up, why do you ask?"
"Well, we got another prisoner to add to our collection in our makeshift brig and I would like to get this little party favor off my hands just in case we run into any more trouble. Plus, I don't think it's very wise for us to split up especially after what just happened."
"I agree. Do we continue using the stairs with our buddy over there?" Crenshaw asked while pointing to the unconscious henchman.
"Might as well. You can take our package while I pick up the extra baggage."
Spider-Man handed over the bomb to the Commander while he went over to pick up the still knocked man. Crenshaw picked up their adversary's weapon in the meantime. With the proportionate strength of a spider, the wallcrawler picked up Shocker's fallen man and placed him over his shoulder.
It wasn't long after they had everything together that the pair made their way towards the security office by way of the stairs. They were very careful to not be seen and since there had been no warning from his spider-sense, Spider-Man knew that they would make it without a fuss.
"I'll show you where you can put the prisoner," Crenshaw informed the webslinger as they entered the security office.
"Good, that'll give me a chance to see how the others are faring in their new environment," Spider-Man told him.
The Commander led the way to where the cell was at the back of the office.
"Hey Commander, what are you doing…" one of the guards began when he noticed who had accompanied his boss. "Is that who I think it is, boss?"
Spider-Man immediately jumped in with an answer. "You betcha, I'm your friendly cruise-taking, Spider-Man. And I come bearing gifts, well, gift, actually."
The webslinger removed the captured henchman from his shoulder and placed him in a nearby chair.
"I see you brought me another one," stated the guard, now over the surprise of seeing the webhead.
"How are the prisoners doing, Kelly?" Crenshaw asked his subordinate.
"The one from the infirmary is still out like a light, sir. The other two haven't done a thing since they are still wrapped in webbing."
"Good because the wallcrawler has another one for you."
Kelly had wondered a little bit about the guy Spider-Man had brought with him. So he unlocked the cell and aided in putting the new occupant inside. It was at that time that the pair who was caught on the bridge began to struggle in their webbing.
"Uh oh, it looks like the webbed twins are trying to hurt themselves and we can't have that, can we?" Spider-Man told the duo as he webbed them up some more. "That takes care of that problem."
He then left the cell along with Kelly, who locked it up immediately.
"How many more can you hold in there?" Spider-Man queried to Kelly.
Kelly was quickly responded, "Not many more, why?"
"With Shocker and his men still able to roam free about the ship, there needs to be a place to hold them once we can secure the ship once more."
"I thought we had control of the ship?"
Crenshaw answered his shipmate, "We do, but that Shocker character and his goons don't know that. Keeping those guys in the dark will further help us round them all up."
"That'll be another thing that we'll have to talk to the Captain about," Spider-Man mentioned to the Commander.
"Right, so we better get back up there. Do you need more help to watch these guys, Kelly?"
"A couple of extra hands wouldn't hurt, boss."
"I'll send a couple guys down here to help."
With that being settled, Crenshaw and Spider-Man left the security office and headed back up to the bridge. As they passed the elevator to use the stairs again, the wallcrawler's spider-sense began to tingle.
What in the… Spider-Man thought as came to a stop and looked towards the elevator.
Commander Crenshaw noticed this and asked, "What's the matter, webhead?"
"Trouble's coming our way," Spider-Man answered as he prepared himself for the oncoming danger.
"What do you…?" was all Crenshaw got out when a couple of dark clad men exited the elevator.
The two stepped out of the elevator with their guns at the ready.
"Come on, O'Hirn, let's get this over with quick," Martin, O'Hirn's partner mentioned as they stepped out into the hallway.
O'Hirn, irritated at his friend's remarks replied, "Yeah, yeah, quit your damn belly aching."
When they looked around, they immediately spotted both Crenshaw and Spider-Man.
"Now, Marty, don't do anything…" O'Hirn began to warn his partner until he fired a couple of shots.
Luckily, Spider-Man's uncanny sense warning him of danger screamed loudly at him and he was able to shove the Commander out of harm's way as well as himself.
"You alright, Crenshaw?" Spider-Man asked his comrade.
"Yeah, thanks to you," was Crenshaw's reply as he fired back with his own weapon.
"Why in the hell did you have to start shooting?" a dumbfounded O'Hirn asked Marty, and added quietly, "Idiot."
"Sorrr-eee," Martin replied sarcastically. "I got a little excited seeing those two rubes."
"You know the boss ain't going to like this."
"Whatever he don't know won't hurt him."
O'Hirn just shrugged at his partner's last comment because he didn't really know if this incident would get back to Shocker. Plus, he didn't want to suffer any kind of repercussions if their boss did find out. So, he also fired at his adversaries as well.
"We need a plan and we need one fast because I'm running out of ammo," Crenshaw yelled out to the wallcrawler from his doorway position.
"Ask and ye shall receive," responded Spider-Man as he leapt into action.
Using his agility, Spider-Man sprang from wall to wall as he neared the duo that was shooting his way. He quickly fired a couple of web balls at and knocked their guns away. The wallcrawler disoriented them with a couple more web balls to the head. A couple of punches later, the bad guys were taken care of.
When the gunfire ended, Kelly came out of the security office to see what was going on. He was greeted by his commander and the webslinger looking over two men who were currently on the floor, knocked out.
"Here are a couple more prisoners for you, Kelly," the commander told the man once he noticed that he was out of the office.
"What the heck happened out here?" Kelly asked, surprised.
Spider-Man provided the answer, "Just a couple more of Shocker's men up to no good but we put a stop to it."
Crenshaw and Spider-Man brought the new prisoners in as well as helped Kelly put them in what was almost a full cell. Because of this, they really needed to figure out where to put more of these men when they finally caught them.
With the men they just caught now taken care of, Spider-Man and Crenshaw headed back up to the bridge to give the Captain an update on what had just transpired. Also, they would have to come up with a way to take care of not only Shocker's men, but the Shocker himself.
AN: I really would like to hear what you think about this story so please feel free to leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames are not.
