From alt.pub.dragons-inn Sun Apr 9 13:19:21 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8277 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!utulsa.utulsa.edu!seebass From: seebass@hpserv.keh.utulsa.edu (marc s seebass) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Interlude [Fire/Lupin] Date: 8 Apr 1995 02:00:10 GMT Organization: The University of Tulsa Lines: 104 Message-ID: <3m4qna$mr7@utulsa.utulsa.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: hpc3.keh.utulsa.edu Part 12: Heist "It's tight in here," Fire whispered. "Are you sure this will work?" Lupin whispered back "Trust me, were already in the museum." "You mean they actually took this ugly piece of twisted metal and glass as art?" Lupin grinned ear to ear in the dark "I guess we have ourselves an art critic. Well modern art doesn't do much for me either." "Shhh, here comes a guard." A large man passed by, he was about 6'5" but he was stocky and hunched over, so he looked two inches shorter "Damn this job is boring, but the pay's good. Too bad it's only for a few more months before I head back to Ritchmond." "Your from Virginia, Harold?" A voice behind him spokes as his flashlight crossed the area. "Nah, Richmond, Indiana." "Well looks clear to me, lets go." Footsteps trailed off in the distance. "They gone yet Fire?" Lupin asked. "Hai," She answered quietly, "Now can we get out of here?" "Sure thing." The both crawled out of a mesh of wire, twisted bits of metal, and shards of glass and mirror. Lupin begin remove a section of the sculpture and held it up. "This should get us passed the lasers. These mirrors will reflect the laser light so that the beams are never actually broken, when you leap through the hole they make." "What about those, noise hearing devices they talked about, I can move pretty silently, but..." there was a hit of trepidation in Fire's voice. "That's what this is for." Lupin pulled another object out of the modern art and strapped it on to Fire. "What is it?" She asked. "It's a white noise generator. It will create enough background noise to mask your presence from the passive sonar." "You still need to be quiet though, so be careful." Lupin switched the device on, and a noise much like that of static came out of it. Fire covered her ears for a bit as she adjusted to the sound. They carefully moved the mirrors into place, creating a two foot square for Fire to leap through. 'This is just like leaping through the hole in the knives.' Fire though 'I've got to time it right and come out in a roll so I don't make to much noise.' Time seem to stand still for Lupin as he watched Fire's leap. She moved with a fluid grace that he found incredibly attractive. Like a gymnast, the movements came naturally, as if she had practiced them for years. She tucked her legs under just as her hands reached the floor, and almost with out a sound, she rolled up onto her feet. Lupin fought down the urge to clap as he passed Fire a canister to roll the five paintings in. Fire cut the painting out with her katanas quickly and accurately, leaving the art work in tact. It wasn't bad work, but something about it unnerved Fire. Perhaps the coloring was a bit strange, she just couldn't place a finger on it. Well anyway, this was no time for a critique. She carefully placed the paintings into the container and passed them back to Lupin. Fire heard something. "We have company." She told Lupin. "I knew something was wrong with the picture on when I saw our shadows pass it." It was Harold, apparently not all the security guards were a stupid as the curator, Lupin thought. One of them bothered to pay attention to the view of the camera, which he and Fujiko had set up to play back a recording earlier Fire leaped quickly thought the square, and she grabbed Lupin pulling him into the shadows. Fire checked the ceiling, and noted that they were past the panel that would shut down on them. She covered Lupin's mouth and signaled that she had an idea. The guards approached the mirror. "Hey this looks like a part of that ugly statue." The other guard nodded. "This is rich. Thousands of dollars spent on security, and it's defeated by a cheap mirror trick." As the spoke Fire threw one of her shurkin out of the dark. It whizzed passed the pair and went through one of the beams. "Look out." Harold called as he rushed up out only to be cut off by the Transparent wall slamming down in front of him. His smaller partner close behind. Fire grabbed Lupin and ran for an exit. "Stop!" the smaller guard called and raised his gun. Harold grabbed it from his hand. As Lupin waved at them with a large grin on his face. "You eeediot," Harold shouted "That's bullet proof glass, B the ricochet could have killed us!" Meanwhile Lupin managed to catch his breath "Nice thinking Fire, I have to admit I like your style." "Well the door is looked from the inside," he spoke as the ran to the door "I guess I'll have to use plastique explosives, not time to pick the lock." He ran hunched forward, trying to keep up with Fire, who had a strong grip on his arm. As they reached the door Fire let go of him and leaped up in a flying kick that smashed the door open. "Hey that was made of... how'd you? Never mind, just remind me never to make you mad." "I wouldn't advise it." Fire grinned as the Yellow VW drove up. ----- As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Even criticism, if it's constructive and not just 'I hate it'. -----Marc (Kitsune) Seebass