Crossover Earth '98

Blake crouched, unmoving, behind the sarcophagus. It was midnight at the Minneapolis Museum of History. Blake was hunting, squatting behind a 6000-year-old-blind.

Blake was hunting a paranormal, of course, this time in the costume of Justice Hunter, a bounty hunter known and respected by the police and public. His prey was the super-thief who called himself Ghost.

Blake’s research had yielded nothing about Ghost’s origin or identity. However, he did uncover ample information about his powers. Ghost was completely undetectable. No light of any wavelength would bounce off him. Motion detectors, temperature detectors or weight detectors were similarly useless. It was as if he wasn’t there. But he was there. Ghost was not intangible. The taser rifle Blake had would bring him down as easily as an ordinary person. And the net would hold him just as firmly. The tricky part was locating him.

Finding Ghost would be easy. Blake knew that Don Pietro, the godfather of the Minneapolis Mafia had arranged for Ghost’s escape from prison. Given the Don’s special interest in diamonds, it was no coincidence that the escape happened just days before the Eye of Baat, a rare diamond from Egypt, arrived in Minneapolis. That diamond was now just 30 feet away from Blake’s hiding place.

Even at that distance, it would be impossible to hit an invisible target. Fortunately, Ghost would be visible to Blake. The person the Don hired to break Ghost out of prison was Blake’s criminal alter ego, The Specialist. As the Specialist, Blake earned 50,000 for the job. Now, as Justice Hunter, Blake would collect the hefty bounty offered by the authorities for Ghost’s recapture. After breaking Ghost out, he took the precaution of planting a tiny transmitter in Ghost’s drink. Blake built a small detector and incorporated it into the rifle’s scope. The rifle was mounted on a tripod, with the barrel hidden in the deep shadow between the sarcophagus and the wall. The scope was centered on the diamond that was being displayed in the display case in the center of the room.

It had been a long night. Blake sat back, rubbed his eyes, and peered into the scope once again. Bingo! In the corner of the scope, Blake saw a red dot. Blake’s finger curled around the trigger as the dot moved closer to the crosshairs. In just a few seconds…

There was a soft sighing sound from overhead. The dot stopped moving. Blake looked up and saw a rope dangling from the ceiling. Climbing down the rope was man clad entirely in black.

"Oh great, it’s amateur night", Blake cursed silently. He checked the scope again. Ghost had not moved. He was obviously watching the newcomer. Blake looked up. The newcomer descended to about 5 feet above the diamonds, attached himself to the rope and spun around. Hanging upside down, he pulled a rod out from his backpack. It was long, multi jointed with a grasping claw at the end. The thief slowly lowered the rod. As it crept down, it twisted and turned on it’s various joints neatly avoiding the laser beams that the intruder saw via the goggles he wore. The claw reached the case. The sharp tips of the claw began to quietly cut the glass.

Blake couldn’t believe his own stupidity. The taser was only good for one shot and he had not brought a back up weapon. He was not able to take out both of them. He waited in quiet frustration, hoping for a break.

The intruder neatly cut the glass and lowered the claw into the display case. The claws closed over the diamonds. Blake was impressed by the dexterity of the thief, but unless he put a counter weight down before lifting the diamond, all hell would break loose.

All hell broke loose.

Several things happened at once. Alarms went off. Lights went on. Guards came rushing around the corner. The thief dropped the rod and pulled out an Uzi, aiming it at the incoming guards. The dot entered the crosshairs. Blake hesitated for a split second, switched targets and shot the thief.

Blake saw the diamond disappear, as Ghost grabbed it. Blake jumped on top of the sarcophagus and then flung himself towards that spot he estimated Ghost was at. Blake guessed right, for he felt himself crash into Ghost. Ghost cried out in pain and surprise and dropped the diamond. Out of his hand it was once again visible, spinning on the floor.

Blake’s shot had just barely missed the thief. But it was close enough to startle him and spoil his shot. The guards dove for cover as the bullets sprayed over their heads. The thief spotted the diamond, detached himself from the rope and dropped to the floor. He reached for it, Blake reached for it, only to see it become invisible again as Ghost grabbed it. Blake grabbed blindly and managed to find Ghost’s wrist. The thief grabbed Blake’s arm. All three of them went down into a pile.

Guns drawn, the guards ran over to the pile. Fear of hitting Justice Hunter prevented them from firing, so they moved closer and stationed themselves on either side of the melee.

"Hunter, get clear! We’ve got them covered", the senior guard yelled.

Though tangled up with his opponents, Blake managed to work one of his hands down to the belt on his costume. He hit a hidden switch and activated his shock field. Instantly both Ghost and the thief cried in pain and jumped away. The thief immediately rolled past the guard and then swept the guard’s feet, knocking him down. The other guard fell flat on his back as Ghost ran over him. Scrambling to his feet, the thief tossed a smoke grenade and was quickly lost in the billowing smoke. The guards grabbed their guns and stood. One guard took aim at the smoke, the other at the door he thought Ghost would be running through.

Blake, still on the ground shouted, "Don’t Shoot!"

Those two words saved the museum from irreparable damage. Those ancient clay pots, figurines and other priceless Egyptian artifacts would not have survived random gunfire.

Both intruders escaped. The tracking device on Blake’s scope only had a range of 30 yards, so it was not possible to sweep the museum quickly enough to track him. The guards had no luck with the thief for he had disappeared like a movie ninja.

The theft was in the morning edition. Blake was sitting back, feet crossed on the workbench, reading the paper. Blake had been worried that Ghost’s escape would damage Justice Hunter’s reputation, but he found no evidence of it in the newspaper articles. The reporters praised his choice of saving the guards, even if it meant losing the diamond. They even printed his quote about prisons ‘having revolving doors for paranormals’. He hoped that the quote would start people thinking about a more permanent solution for paranormal criminals.

But most importantly, the papers debated the question, Which one stole the diamond? There was no way of knowing whether, in the midst of the melee, if Ghost managed to keep a hold of it or if the thief managed to take it away before vanishing. The interviews with the guards and himself and yielded no definite answer.

Blake smiled. This was perfect. Blake put down the paper and looked at the object on the workbench.

The eye of Baat looked back.

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