Changing Tides

Before entering the doctor's office, Peter changed his costume from his classic version to the Iron Spider one, to make sure that no one could connect him with being Spider-Man. It was a simple solution he hoped would work.

He knocked on the office door in his own unique way, hanging upside down from the ceiling with the webbed up bad guy in hand.

The nurse's eyes were wide. "What in the…?"

"I was wondering if there was any place on this ship to stow this," Spider-Man said as he flipped down with the bad guy still in hand.

"Who… What?"

"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I was enjoying a nice little vacation away from the craziness that is my life and I just happened to find this character holding a gun to a couple of fellow passengers. So, I stepped in to help. They told me that this ship was being hijacked…"

She was too shocked to really understand what he was telling her. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen a real superhero before."

"That's all right, I've never seen a ship's nurse before either."

That got a laugh from the nurse, exactly what the wallcrawler wanted. With the current situation on board, the more at ease people were, the easier it would be for him to get his job done.

"As I was saying before, I need a place to stow this guy so he doesn't get word to Shocker that I'm on board to thwart his evilness."

"You can leave him here, Spider-Man," the doctor told him, overhearing the conversation between him and his nurse. "I can sedate and secure him to one of the beds here."

"Thanks, Doc. Lead the way."

The doctor led Spider-Man further into his office and to an empty bed. As gently as he could, the webhead placed his adversary on the bed. Using the straps on the bed, as well as some webbing, the unconscious man was thoroughly secured. The doctor then gave him a shot to keep him sedated.

"How long will that shot last?" Spider-Man asked.

"A few hours," replied the doctor, discarding the needle he had used.

"If you need to, can you keep him out longer?"

"I believe so but I wouldn't want to keep medicating him indefinitely."

Being a scientist, Spider-Man knew what the doctor meant. Even though the guy was working on the wrong side of the law, there was no reason to put his life in jeopardy.

"I fully understand that, Doc. I'm going to head to the bridge and see if Shocker has a partner up there to make sure the ship goes wherever he wants it to. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to the captain to see if there's a more secure location to put this guy."

Spider-Man took a look over where Harold, the man that he and Mary Jane helped bring down there, was with his wife.

"I hope I didn't cause you any trouble with your patient, Doc."

"Not really. My patient just had a very mild heart attack. Luckily, I was able to treat him immediately. This could have been much worse than it was."

MJ will be glad to hear that, Peter mused. That was a relief. Peter had been wondering how Harold was.

"Since you have everything under control here, I'd best be going. I'll be back to take that guy off your hands when I can. I'll even see if I can get someone from ship's security to either take him or watch over him while he's here," Spider-Man said as he gestured toward the guy he had brought in.

"Take care, Spider-Man," the doctor and nurse told the wallcrawler as he left the office.

Once out the door, he ran into Mary Jane, who was now dressed in regular clothing and carrying his Avengers ID card in hand.

"How are things going down here?" MJ asked as she accepted a brief hug from her husband and handed him the card.

After explaining what had just happened, Mary Jane felt very relieved.

"That's good news. Now, are we still heading to the ship's bridge?"

"Yes, but we'll have to be careful. I don't know if Shocker has sent any men up there to secure the place or not but it wouldn't surprise me if did. You know I don't like you coming with me but I'd rather know where you are and that you're safe."

"To tell you the truth, I agree with you, man o' mine. But I'll do what I can to help."

"Thanks, MJ."

Peter was unsure if he should use the elevator, especially with Mary Jane with him, but his spider-sense would warn him if danger was near. When the elevator car arrived, with no tingling from his spider-sense, Peter and Mary Jane boarded it and took it topside.

When they reached the top, Peter made sure that he went first since he could react to any danger quickly and to make sure that he was the target instead of Mary Jane.

"There's no one around here or at least not yet, anyway."

"Pete, take a look at this," Mary Jane said as she pointed to what looked like one of the ship's maps.

Taking a bit to study it, Peter knew exactly where they were and how to get to the bridge from there.

Peter considered his next course of action. "It looks like we have to hoof it from here, sweetheart, unless…"

"Unless, what?"

"I could get us there, spider-style. That would get us there quicker and keep us from being seen."

Mary Jane nodded in agreement. Peter told her to get on his back and secured her with some webbing.

"Hold on tight, MJ."

And held on she did. Mary Jane knew what to expect from Peter when he used his spider-abilities especially when they went webswinging together, but it still startled her sometimes.

With the ease of years of experience, Peter leaped up to the ceiling and started crawling along towards the bridge. When it came to a stairwell, Peter crawled down low enough for Mary Jane to open the door after he used his spider-sense to make sure there was no danger around. Giving the all clear, MJ opened the door and they continued on their way.

Without a tingle from his spider-sense, Peter and Mary Jane exited the stairwell and continued to the bridge on foot. Once they got within a couple of feet of the bridge's door, Peter stopped immediately and grabbed his wife by the arm to halt her forward progress.

"What's the…" began Mary Jane but Peter prevented her from saying more by gesturing to be quiet.

His spider-sense had begun to tingle and rather strongly at that. Wallcrawling up above the door, he quickly took a peek inside, and then moved them back out of sight.

"I take it there's trouble up ahead."

"It's just like I thought, Shocker had a couple of men sent up here. That means he's slowly taking over the ship. In order to put a crimp in his plans we have take back control of the ship," Peter stated.

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have a plan, webhead?"

"I believe I do, Red, I believe I do."

Activity in the bridge continued as normal despite the fact that there were two armed men watching their every move.

"Remember, do exactly as you are told or you'll be sleeping with the fishes," one of the gunmen informed the bridge crewmen.

"Yeah, that's tellin' 'em, Morry," his compatriot added with a laugh.

"What makes you think that you'll get away with this?" the captain defiantly asked.

"In a few moments, the boss will be making a ship-wide announcement about what he has planned and the consequences for anyone disobeying his orders. So, if I were you, I'd join your first officer over there and keep your pie-hole shut," Morry informed the captain as he took a seat next to his first officer.

"I guess that's it, then. There's nothing anyone can do to help us," the captain told his first officer sadly.

"You know, captain, I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet. Take a look to our immediate left," she told her superior.

As he did, he caught a glimpse of Spider-Man open one of the bridge's windows.

"What in the devil…?" muttered the captain.

Spider-Man immediately held up a finger to his face to silence the captain and anyone else who saw him enter.

It was then that a knock on the door was heard.

"See who it is, Carl," Morry ordered his pal.

As quickly and silently as he could, Spider-Man crawled above Morry and snared him in a couple of strands of webbing. Hauling him up, the wallcrawler webbed his mouth shut and webbed him to the ceiling.

With gun in hand, Carl went to the door. Opening the door, he noticed a beautiful redhead there.

Putting his gun away, he asked, "Hey there, toots, what can I do you for?"

"Nothing much," Mary Jane began, "But I think someone behind you has a question."

Carl turns around and is met with punch to the face from Spider-Man. Just like his partner, he was webbed up with no way of getting out of it.

"Is the captain here?" asked Spider-Man to the astonished bridge crew.

"That would be me," said the captain as he approached his rescuer.

"Well, captain, how would you like to take back your ship?"

AN: Feel free to let me know what you think of this story by leaving a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames are not, thank you.