Previously in Cross Border Heroes…
Lois, Chloe and Peter were given an assignment to cover a new exhibit at the Metropolis Museum of Natural History, but that was only half of the assignment. They would also cover the same exhibit when it goes to Toronto. The story continues…
Chapter 2 - Enter the Sandman
When Lois and Chloe finished up at the Planet, they took Peter to find a tuxedo for the charity gala that was to take place that evening. They dragged poor Peter from one formal wear shop to another. Had he known what he was in store for him, he would have asked Clark to help him. He hoped that his spider-sense would alert him to trouble and give him the excuse he needed to get out of this, but there was nary a tingle. Doesn't look like Metropolis needs any help from your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he thought. Luckily, his torture would be short-lived.
The three interns made plans to meet at the museum shortly after 7:30 to set up their coverage of the event. Peter grabbed a quick bite at Sbarro's, showered, and was on his way to the museum via the Spider-Man express, still the quickest route. He carried his rented tuxedo on its plastic-covered hanger, hoping that it would not get wrinkled during the trip.
In no time, Peter had arrived at the museum. A quick change in a nearby alley, his press pass in hand, and he was at his appointed destination. Lois and Chloe arrived shortly thereafter, and together, they made the rounds, intermingling with the crowds. Peter took several shots of the guests while Lois and Chloe gathered quotes.
"Good evening, Madame Senator," Peter greeted Martha Kent. "May I take your picture?"
Martha returned Peter's greeting with one of her own, "Of course you can, Peter. And please, call me Martha. You don't have to be so formal around me."
"I'll try, but my aunt and uncle raised me to respect my elders so don't be surprised to hear a few, 'Mrs. Kents' along the way."
"How is your aunt?"
"Aunt May is fine, I stay in touch with her as much as I can. She really enjoyed meeting you while you were in New York. If you are ever in the neighborhood again, she'd really like to see you."
"I would like that. Who else is covering this event?"
"Lois and Chloe are covering the story while I'm tackling the pictures. Would you mind if I take another picture for the… Clark?" a bewildered Peter said as he saw Clark approach with a drink for his mother.
"Glad to see you, Pete," Clark said as he shook Peter's hand. "I was wondering what sharp-shooting shutterbug the Planet would assign this job to. Who's working with you?"
"I was just telling your mother that Lois and Chloe are covering it for the Planet. Lois will be happy to see you here."
Before Clark could respond, a young woman approached the podium and signaled for attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she began. "My name is Barbara Thomas, and I'm the assistant curator of the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. In a few moments, you will see the most amazing exhibit to have ever graced this humble museum. But first, I would like to introduce our curator, Patricia Reuber."
There was a polite round of applause for Ms. Reuber as she stepped to the rostrum and prepared to address the attendees.
"Thank you, Barbara. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming this evening. The money we raise tonight will aid not only the Cleopatra exhibit, but our entire collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts. What you will see tonight, ladies and gentlemen, took decades to find. So, without any further adieu, I give you… the jewels worn by Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile!" On cue, Ms. Thomas promptly removed the bright-colored cloth coverings from the two display cases in front of the podium.
The guests oooed and ahhed as they craned their necks to get a good view of the priceless collection of gems, rings and earrings worn by the most beautiful monarch in all antiquity.
The journalists in the crowd swarmed around the displays while Peter and other photographers began taking pictures.
"Excuse me, Ms. Reuber but is there a piece missing?" Chloe asked after noticing an empty spot in one of the cases.
"As a matter of fact, yes." replied the curator.
"So, what happened to it?" Lois inquired, tape recorder ready in her outstretched hand.
"It's right here, ladies and gentlemen," Ms. Reuber replied extending her hand to the left as a model that was dressed as Cleopatra appeared from behind a curtain, wearing an exquisitely crafted emerald necklace. The model really looked the part, right down to the braided dark hair, the Pharonic headdress, and the dark rouge around her eyes.
Amid sustained applause, flashes filled the room as every photographer took snapshots of the lovely Cleopatra and her necklace. Peter was able to get some very close shots of the model, and to his surprise, he got a wink and a blown kiss from her. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he did a double-take and realized who the model was.
Chloe, Lois, Clark, and Senator Kent made their way over to where Peter standing, still transfixed on the one-time consort to both Caesar and Antony.
"Hello? Earth to Peter, are you there?" Chloe asked, as she waved her hand in front of Peter's face.
"Huh? What?" Peter responded after recovering from his shocked stupor.
"You spaced out there for a bit. What happened?"
"I just found out who 'Cleopatra' is." He turned back toward the Queen of the Nile, greeting her with a smile. "Hey there, pretty lady. I didn't expect to see you here."
"I was hoping to surprise you, Tiger and it looks like I did," the faux Queen replied.
Peter motioned for the others to join him. "Lois, Chloe, Clark, Mrs. Ke- , excuse me, Martha, may I present, live from the tomb, Mary Jane Watson."
"It's nice to see you again, Mary Jane," Clark said as he shook her hand.
"I'm delighted to see you too, Clark, all of you," answered MJ, happily.
"How did you end up with this gig, especially out here in Metropolis?" Chloe asked.
"To make a long story short," Mary Jane explained. "The museum got in touch with my agent to see if I was available to do this showing and the one in Toronto next month."
"That sounds wonderful, Mary Jane." Martha said. "I hope you have a nice time in Toronto,"
All of a sudden, Peter's spider sense began to tingle.
"Excuse me," Peter said, his eyes registering grave concern. He quickly headed off to find out what triggered his alarm.
Once outside the reception area, Peter noticed a shadowy figure beating a hasty retreat down a corridor. Making sure no one was around, Peter slipped out of his shoes and crawled up to the ceiling to give chase. Unfortunately, he ran into a dead end. He quickly let go of the ceiling and dropped to the floor, confident that no one had seen him, but confused by the intruder's apparent disappearance.
He returned to the celebration, unaware that a small stream of sand was making its way through a nearby vent.
Later that evening…
"Thanks for coming with me tonight, Clark," Peter said, wearing his Spider-Man costume as they stood atop the museum's roof. "I usually work alone but I have the feeling I could use an extra pair of eyes,"
"No problem. Webhead," Clark replied with a chuckle. "Anything I can do to help."
As Spider-Man prepared to remove a vent cover, he heard a sharp, "ahem," followed by an even sharper feminine voice. "What are you two doing up here?" Lois demanded.
Clark and Spider-Man looked at each other as though they had been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.
"Okay, Lois, you got us." Spider-Man began. "Earlier this evening, something set off my spider sense and I went to check it out. I saw what I thought was some guy running, but when I followed him, he'd just vanished. So, I thought I would check the place out tonight to see if what I saw was real or not."
"I'm here because he asked me to help him," Clark added.
"What about you Lois? Why are you here?" Spider-Man asked.
"I thought there was something going on the way you left us earlier tonight," Lois replied with a sly grin. When Clark disappeared and the ever amazing Spider-Man showed up, I knew I had a story. So, I followed Clark up here."
Spider-Man was about to say something when his spider sense went off again, this time even louder. "There's something going on inside," he explained hastily. Lois, please stay up here and out of sight because I have no idea what it is."
"No way, wallcrawler. I can handle myself just fine, I am an army brat after all."
Spider-Man extended his hand toward her and pressed his palm. "I'm really sorry Lois. Come on, Clark. Let's go."
"Oh no you don't. You two aren't leaving me behind." Lois tried to take a step toward the vent Spider-Man and Clark had crawled into but she couldn't move. She took one look at her feet and was shocked to see what had happened to her. Her entire right leg, shoe and all, was stuck to the roof by some sort of goo. "Why that lowdown, dirty, wallcrawling weasel. I'll get him back for this."
Once the made it out of the vent shaft and onto the museum floor, Clark told Spider-Man, "You do know she's going to get you."
"I hope she'll thank me. In the meantime get back, there is someone here and it's not a security guard."
One of the guards assigned to the Cleopatra exhibit was down. As Spider-Man hurried over to check on the man, Clark suddenly cocked his head. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah, I do," Spider-Man replied. "It's coming from… oh, no." He ran back toward the exhibit.
"Tend to the guard while I find out who our mystery guest is."
Once inside the exhibit room, Spider-Man crawled up to the ceiling and flashed his spider signal over the would-be thief. Getting a good view of the intruder, it didn't take long to know who it was. The man that he saw was Flint Marko, but he is most commonly known as Sandman.
"Hey there, Sandy-boy," he taunted. "You don't call, you don't write, and I thought we were buddies."
"You're out of your jurisdiction, sheriff," the Sandman thundered as he threw an oversized fist at Spider-Man that barely missed but left a sizeable hole in the wall.
"Nyah, nyah. You missed me."
An enraged Sandman then started throwing punches as hard as a wrecking ball at the web-slinger. Luckily, Spider-Man was able to avoid most of the villain's assault even though he got clipped by a couple of wild shots. One of those had missed its intended target and had accidentally set off the alarm.
"Give it up, Marko. The cops are on their way."
"No way, wallcrawler. I'll find another way to get what I want. But here's a nice parting gift for ya."
Before Spider-Man had a chance to react, Sandman delivered two rock-hard blows that sent him flying into Clark, who had happened to enter the hall at that moment.
"Catch you later, Spidey. Next time you may not be so lucky," Sandman mocked him as he morphed into a whirlwind of sand and disappeared through the ventilation system.
Spider-Man did not get up.
Clark hurried over to where Spider-Man lay. "Come on, Peter, snap out of it!" Clark said, desperately trying to rouse his friend.
"What the hell happened in here?" Lois asked. God only knew how she had gotten free of the webbing.
"Some type of sand creature was here and he went a couple of rounds with Peter here."
"How is he?"
"I'll be alright," Spider-Man said, finally coming around. "We need to get out of here and fast."
"Can you make it, Pete?" Clark asked.
"I'll be fine."
Spider-Man took a couple of steps and then stumbled. Clark and Lois each grabbed an arm as he pitched forward, preventing him from falling on his face, recovering his wits, Spider-Man spun a web and all three of them were able to make their way out. He was then able to lower everyone down to street level in an adjacent alley. Knowing full well that Peter was still too disoriented to get around they took him to her car and they drove him back to the apartment where he was staying for the duration of his internship with the Daily Planet. On the way, Clark called Mary Jane and told her what had happened. She told him that she would be there as soon as possible.
True to her word, Mary Jane was there as they arrived. She assisted in getting Peter inside and upstairs without anyone seeing him in his Spider-Man costume. With Lois's help, she managed to bandage him up and put him to bed.
"Can I give you a lift home, Mary Jane?" Lois asked.
Mary Jane shook her head. "I'll need to stay here and look after him."
"Okay, then," Clark interjected. "If Pete feels up to it in the morning, we should probably talk about what to do about the museum."
To Be Concluded...
AN: Well, that does it for Chapter 2. So, stay tuned to the spine tingling conclusion to this crossover tale. I really like to hear what you think so please leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome but no flames.