From: coram@ed.ecn.purdue.edu (Chaosmage)
Subject: Angels in Paradise Chapter Twelve
Organization: Shadow Walker's Anonymous
Reply|to: coram@ecn.purdue.edu (Chaosmage)
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 17:42:39 GMT

                           Angels in Paradise
               Chapter Twelve: Look before you leap, girl!

     For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the
     horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost;
     being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of
     care about a horseshoe nail.
          -- Ben Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanac.

==================================================================
     The Lovely Angels cautiously moved down yet another deserted
hallway.  Only a few short minutes after they had left the large
room where they were reunited, they had heard the muted sound of
multiple explosions.  Kei's "surprises" had gone off with
spectacular results.  Seconds later, a loud alarm had sounded, with
an announcement for all available personnel to go to the main
hanger to fight the fire.  The Pair had barely enough time to duck
through a nearby doorway before the hall filled with near-panicked
men.  Since then, they had yet to see anyone at all.
     "Are we almost there yet?" Kei whispered.
     "Not far now," Yuri whispered back.
     "Good.  This sneaking around without seeing anyone is starting
to get to me."
     "You'd rather be back playing with your friends with the
guns?"
     "Better the enemy you can see than the one lurking around a
corner."
     "Thanks a lot!  I was trying hard not to think about that."
     The Pair rounded yet another corner.  "Let's see.  Through
that door, and we are almost there," Yuri said, checking her map. 
"I wish I still had my scanner; I'd like to know if there are any
surprises waiting in there."
     "Next time, think ahead.  I don't see anyone in the hall. 
Let's blow the door and catch whoever might be there flat footed."
     "After you."
     "Why me?"
     "'Cause you have the exploding shells, stupid."
     Kei looked indignant, but couldn't think of a response.  So,
she took aim and shot the door latch.  The explosion was loud in
the deserted hallway, but it worked.  The door flew open; Kei and
Yuri dove through.  The next thing they knew, they were disarmed
and held in an unbreakable grip.
     "So nice of you to drop in," a vaguely familiar voice sneered. 
"Let me introduce my friends, TX-256 and TX-295, two of Alcorp's
finest security robots.  After the main hanger blew, I suspected
that you might try to escape this way.  Bring them here."
     Kei and Yuri were forced forward.  Both struggled to no avail;
the robots had them too securely.  Yuri looked up at the tall man
standing behind an immense desk and gasped.  "You!" she shouted.
     "Indeed," Edward Sinclair replied with an uplifted eyebrow. 
"You two have caused me no end of trouble.  Do you have any idea
how much the equipment you managed to destroy costs?  Not to
mention the moral problem I'm faced with now that you've killed so
many of my men."
     "You bastard!  What about all the damage and deaths your men
have caused?"  Kei sputtered.
     "Oh, do be quiet."  Sinclair gave them the sort of look Yuri
gave bugs.  "Those pitiful rich people who had never suffered in
any way before?  They had it coming to them.  They can rebuild on
the insurance money, and not even loose any sleep.  Every thing
we've attained, we've *worked* for.  And *you two* have managed to
destroy thousands of hours of sweat and blood in a matter of
minutes."
     "You call armed robbery and extortion work?  What a crock."
Kei, getting angrier, yelled.
     "It's more honest work than they ever did!  Everyone who comes
here has exploited the workers to gain their wealth!  They never
did a days work in their lives.  We steal from them what is
rightfully ours."
     "Geez," Yuri muttered.  "The re-incarnation of Karl Marx. 
Exploited workers indeed."
     Sinclair's eyes looked into the distance.  He seemed to have
forgotten their presence.  "It was going so well.  Soon, the whole
planet would have been ours to rule.  And then, with the resources
of Xanadu behind us, we could have spread our holy vengeance across
the universe, freeing all our brother workers."  Kei snickered,
which brought Sinclair's attention back to the Angels.
     "But *you* have ruined it all!  Well, if I can't rule Xanadu,
I'll destroy it!  I'll let you live just long enough to watch. 
Then, your execution can revive the moral of my men."  Sinclair was
looking more demented by the minute.
     "Destroy it?  How do you think you are going to do that?  The
police know where we are, and you don't have any vehicles left to
evacuate!" Kei sneered.
     "I have all I need.  The planet is controlled from the central
city.  Destroy it, and the planet falls."  Sinclair looked suddenly
calm.  He pressed several controls on his desk.  "I have a dozen
graviton missiles ready to launch toward the city.  They are more
than enough to devastate it!"
     "You can't do that!  What about all the innocent people living
there!" Yuri, horrified, shouted.
     "There are no innocents!  Whoever thinks so is deluding
himself."  Sinclair pressed a final button.  "It is done.  The
missiles will launch in one minute."
     "Kei," Yuri whispered.  "We've got to get out of here!"
     "What?  We've got to stop him!" Kei whispered fiercely back.
     "We don't have time, and we don't have to."
     "Huh?"
     "Remember?  The doors for the missile tubes are jammed.  They
won't launch."
     "Oh, right.  So, what's the problem, other than the fact that
we've been caught by this nut case?"
     "The missiles will go off in the tubes!" Yuri replied, near
panic.
     "So?"
     "So?  You idiot!  We're in a base in a *volcano*, and one
probably powered by a geo-thermic tap!"
     Kei suddenly looked frightened herself.  "And when the
missiles go off?"
     "The explosion will back lash right to the planet's core!  The
volcano will erupt, and I really don't want to be in here when it
does."
     "Shit!"
     Sinclair looked up to see the Angels whispering.  "Be quiet! 
I won't have you whispering like that."  At that moment, there was
a massive explosion.  Sinclair looked at his displays.  "What have
you done!" he screamed.  "The missiles have detonated in the
tubes!"
     Sinclair put two and two together, and came up with the same
answer that Yuri had.  With a hateful glare at the Angels, he
turned and fled toward the mini-hanger.  Kei and Yuri struggled,
but still couldn't break free from the robots' grips.
     "Yuri, I think we've had it," Kei sobbed.


--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Kevin C. Coram | INTERNET: coram@ecn.purdue.edu | CompuServe: 72567,2201 |
| "Don't tell me I'm nuts.  I know.  It keeps me sane."                    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky rec.arts.anime:20772 rec.arts.manga:1179