The last rays of sunlight were fading below the horizon by the time Robin Plunder made it to the tombs several miles away from where The Night of the Mummy was filming. This was the place where the majority of the mummy sightings had taken place, and it had scared most people away from the area.
So far he had not noticed anything unusual. As he peered across the ruins of ancient tombs through binoculars he noticed something moving in the distance. It had a strange gait. As he adjusted the focus of the binoculars the shape came into focus. It was a mummy! Or at least it looked like a mummy. He had worked in Hollywood long of to see some pretty realistic fake monsters. He wasn't going to go running off until he investigated this further.
He crept closer to the "mummy," ducking behind rocks and keeping in the shadows. As he got closer he could hear voices in the distance, though they were too faint for him to make out what they were saying.
As he looked at the mummy again he noticed that it had turned around and started heading in the direction of the voices. Something told him that following the mummy would lead him to the source of all the rumors.
A few moments later Robin found himself on a hill overlooking the entrance to a tomb. He could see the shadowy forms of men placing artifacts into crates and loading them into trucks. So that's what was going on. Tomb raiders.
He peered through his binoculars again, zooming in as much as possible on the activity. He saw several people gathered near the entrance of the tomb. "It can't be…" he muttered.
There was only one man in the world who would wear a green suit trimmed with leopard fur. And it was not hard to guess who the blonde haired woman in a skin tight pink jumpsuit with him was. "You're not going to like this, Bambi," he said to himself. "Not at all."
"Careful with those artifacts, you morons! They're priceless," Looten Plunder screamed at his bumbling lackeys, Oakey and Dokey.
"Gee, if they're priceless, what does it matter if we break them?" Dokey said stupidly.
"There's a difference between priceless and…" Plunder stopped and took a deep breath, realizing the pointlessness of trying to explain anything to the two Pinehead brothers. "Just don't break anything or you're fired!"
Dr. Blight watched the scene with a bemused smirk. "Where exactly did you dig up these sideshow rejects, Looten?"
"I hired them when I was clear cutting that forest in the Pacific Northwest. You know, that one that the Planet brats tried to stop me…"
"But you cut it all down anyway," Dr. Blight interrupted. "Please tell me that story again; I haven't heard it enough yet."
Plunder looked hurt, almost pouting. He folded his arms across his chest. "I can't help it if I enjoy remembering that day…"
Dr. Blight rolled her eyes. She had to admit, she had been pretty impressed when Plunder first told her about that incident. The story was getting pretty old now though.
"Look!" Dr. Blight said, happy for an excuse to change the subject. "Our mummy is back from terrorizing the countryside."
They both watched as the robotic monster ambled its way back toward the tomb. Plunder looked at it warily. "You're sure this thing isn't going to go Robo-wolf and try to kill me?" he asked nervously.
"You really don't let things die, do you?" Dr. Blight snapped.
"Not if they're trying to make me die," Plunder retorted.
"Relax, Looten," Dr. Blight said smoothly. "Trust me, you'll be fine. Besides, thanks to our mummy here chasing away anyone who gets near the tombs, we're free to take all of the priceless treasures that we want."
Dr. Blight and Looten Plunder shared one of their maniacal laughs. "Your plans are as brilliant as always, Babs" Looten said suavely. He looked like he was about to say something else when he was interrupted.
"You two are crazy!"
"Who said that?" Looten turned around to come face to face with his nephew, Robin. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm out here investigating these so called mummy sightings," Robin replied.
"Why would you do that?" Looten asked, sounding somewhat confused.
"Because they're happening at the same time my newest movie is filming. Everyone is blaming it on me."
"Oh, like that bat attack thing," Looten said. "Well, now I'm getting rich, and you're getting publicity for your movie. Sounds like a win-win situation to me."
Robin's face grew red. "No! No it is not! You are breaking all sorts of international laws here. You are going to go to jail forever in a country where I think they might still cut off people's hands for stealing!"
Plunder was rather stunned at his nephew's outburst and didn't really know what to say.
"Are all of you Plunder men this high strung?" Dr. Blight asked, interrupting the silence.
"Not at all," Plunder answered. "I'm not sure what's gotten into Robin. He's never been opposed to making money before."
"I'm not opposed to making money. I'm just opposed to… to this!" Robin waved his hand at the crates of Egyptian treasures. "Why can't you just invest in the stock market or something?"
"Well, that would be no fun. Besides, you don't have to pay taxes on illegal money." Plunder replied.
"I think I know what's going on," Dr. Blight said, sauntering over to Robin and putting her arm around his shoulders. "This is because you're dating my goody-goody sister. She's cleaning you up. Pretty soon you'll be recycling, driving a hybrid car, eating vegetarian…"
Plunder shuddered and looked disgusted. Robin rolled his eyes. "You guys are crazy," Robin said. "You belong together."
"What's that mean?" Plunder demanded.
"Nothing. Look, I'm headed back to the set now. I have no idea what to think or what to do about this."
"You mean you're not going to hand us over to the authorities?" Plunder asked, somewhat sarcastically.
"You know I couldn't do that to you Uncle Looten," Robin said with a sigh. "Just try not to get caught."
Bambi and the Planeteers borrowed a jeep from the film crew. It was almost dark by the time they set out for the source of the mummy sightings. Bambi drove the Jeep, handling it quite well considering how bumpy and curvy the trail was.
"Isn't this cool, Babe?" Wheeler asked Linka. He was sitting in the backseat with his arm around Linka's shoulders. "It's like something from a movie."
"Yeah, a horror movie," Linka said.
"I know! It's great!" Wheeler exclaimed. He was enjoying the ride through the desert. It was surprisingly cooler than he had expected. The moon was full and bright and cast the rocky landscape in an eerie glow. Wheeler felt like Indiana Jones, out looking for some treasure.
It was just after dark when they made it to the area where the tombs were located. They got out of the Jeep and climbed up onto a rock where they had a good view of the valley.
"So this is where everything is happening?" Kwame asked.
"It is," Bambi said. "A lot of people have said they've seen mummies around here. Some have even said that they have been attacked."
"Well there is obviously something going on. Look over there," Gi said as she pointed to a dim light near one of the tombs. They could make out the forms of several people in the light.
"I'll check it out," Wheeler said, peering through a pair of binoculars. "Man, it's worse than we thought. You guys aren't going to like this."
"What's going on?" Linka asked.
"Looten Plunder and Dr. Blight. And Robin is with them," Wheeler answered.
Bambi looked shocked. "Let me see those," she said, grabbing the binoculars from Wheeler. She saw the three of them talking, her sister's arm wrapped around Robin's shoulders. A moment later Robin turned and left.
"There has to be some kind of explanation," Bambi said. She sounded upset.
"Yeah, he's a Plunder," Wheeler said bitterly.
"And I'm a Blight," Bambi added, glaring at Wheeler.
Wheeler and the other Planeteers were stunned. They all felt rather bad making assumptions about someone based on family considering Bambi's situation.
"I'm sorry, Bambi," Wheeler said. "I know I shouldn't judge. But you have to admit this looks suspicious."
"Well why don't we give Robin a chance to explain himself. He's headed back to the set now."
The Planeteers agreed. They got back into their Jeep and head back toward the set. Bambi found herself hoping that Robin would have a good explanation.
