Copywrite 1999 - Robert Baer Jr. PROLOGUE > > >This is the story of a superhero, The Computer Renegade, as told through >the eyes of his faithful bionic German Shepard Otto. Disguised as >Accountant Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade and his friends fight a never >ending battle against crime, injustice and danger. This is yet another >entry from Otto's 'personal' log. > The Renegade Files - "The Challenge -- Part 2" As I lay motionless on the floor, the Leader came walking down the stairway, laughing as he stepped forward to our position. "So, this is the mighty Otto!" he shouted as he looked down on me,"you don't look so mighty now, do you? Your master is tied to a chair behind you, why am I even talking to you, you're just a worthless piece of scrap metal now!" Mr Timms shouted out,"awaiting further orders, sir!" The Leader slowly walked over to the other side of the room and said,"my dear followers, prepare yourselves! I have a feeling that that old cogger Buford is going to try a rescue. When his mechanical "toys" get here, they'll run out of juice, too!" Everyone laughed with the Leader, everyone except me and my master. I was beginning to lose hope that my last radio message had reached our friends, but all doubt was wiped away when I heard the sound of thumping paws and barking down the end of the corridor, getting louder and echoing throughtout the room! It was Maxx, Uncle Buford's robot dog, followed by five collies and two brownish colored canines. I recognized them! It was Ben Maddog and all of Samantha's sisters with Prairie Mason and Prairie Rose! I must admit I was very confused about what was going on. I didn't see Samantha with them, this was indeed strange. "Hold your fire, stay still everyone and watch!" the Leader beamed as he watched Maxx run out of power and fall to the floor. All of the other dogs mimicked Maxx's behavior, slowly falling to the floor and "playing dead." "See, gentlemen! What did I tell you?" the Leader shouted with a silly grin on his face,"we're unstopable!" Slowly entering the room was Uncle Buford, walking with his cane and acting very unhappy. "MAXX!" he shouted,"what's wrong with all of my dogs?" "They all seem to be low on energy!" the Leader shouted,"see that large machine on the upper level? It's created an energy absorbing field, none of your canine creations work now, and none of those black boxes will, either!" The Leader laughed as he motioned to all of his men and said,"relax, gentlemen. Put your rifles down and get a good look at all of these cast iron doggies!" "What about the old man?" Mr Timms asked. "What about him, without his little doggie army, he's harmless! Everyone come in closer!" the Leader said. All of the Leader's men in the room slowly crept up to the area where all the 'fallen dogs' were, it was at that moment when the Leader noticed something. "Hmmmm," he muttered,"some of these dogs look very familiar." Uncle Buford didn't wait another second, "NOW!" he shouted and everyone of the dogs (except Maxx) sprang up and attacked their would be captors! The four Maddog daughters (Abby, Molly, Linda and Vicki) fought with great viger, knocking down some of the Leader's men and biting them viciously! "This is impossible!" the Leader shouted as he ran and hid behind some packing crates. "Ben! Prairie!" Buford shouted and pointed to the upper level,"that's the machine that's doing all this, run up there and pull that large lever down, hurry my friends, GO!" The two dogs raced up the stairs. "I'll jump for it!" Ben Maddog yelled as he leaped up and with his body weight pulled down on the lever to shut the machine off. As Ben and Prairie turned away, two of the Leader's men jumped from behind and pointed their rifles at them! One of them yelled,"cute trick, but now you're all history!" All of a sudden, after two loud thudding noises, the men dropped their rifles and fell at Prairie Mason's paws! It was the Computer Gila Monster! "That'll learn you, scumbags!" he chortled as he shook his beloved 2 x 4 at them! "Thank you, my friend!" Prairie Mason shouted,"but wasn't you supposed to wait ...." "I know, Mr Mason!" the Gila Monster acknowledged,"but I just couldn't! So I snuck through an air vent, please excuse me, I'm gonna to go clobber some more goons!" The Gila Monster jumped from the upper level and landed on the floor, only to discover that all the Maddog sisters along with Prairie Rose had already subdued all the bad guys, except the Leader! "WOW! You girls sure work fast!" The Gila Monster quickly found the Leader, grabbed him by his shirt and growled,"just give me one good reason not to pound you into the ground, jerk! Buford, call in the reserves!" Uncle Buford pointed his cane upward and pushed a button on it's side, out flew a flaming red flare that crashed through the skylight and into the air. This was the signal for the other to come in, which they did with a loud BOOM!! There was Starlight, Samantha, the Masked Melitta and the Computer Counsellor, who was holding a large metallic box. Mellita ran over to free her husband, Samantha ran over to me and yelled,"Please hurry, ma'am, hook him up to that device before he dies!" The Counsellor opened the metal case (which was a portable charging unit) and wired me up to it! Slowly I could feel my energy being restored, and I whispered to my wife that I was alright. Meanwhile, Buford pointed his cane toward the machine of the upper level and shouted,"Starlight, that's it up there!" "I know what to do!" she shouted back and in the blink of an eye, the mighty horse had zapped herself in front of it and gave it a powerful 'mule kick' with her hind legs. The force of the blow was so fierce, it nearly cut the machine in half and sent it flying to the floor, a sputtering pile of electrical 'fireworks." As the Gila Monster turned to look at it, the Leader slipped his grasp and ran toward Uncle Buford! I called out for Samantha, but I couldn't see her anywhere! The Leader grabbed Uncle Buford and pointed a handgun to his head and screamed,"YOU MAY HAVE DESTROYED MY MACHINE, BUT NOW I'LL KILL THIS OLD MAN!" The Leader was stunned as he watched his handgun instantly vanish before his eyes! As he reached for his buck knife, something grabbed his hand and knocked him to the floor! This was an odd sight, it appeared as if the Leader was being attacked by an invisible force. That's when I realized what was happening, Samantha had turned herself invisible and was now attacking the Leader with all of her might! The Leader just lied there on the floor, screaming in pain as his unseen attacker continued, growling loudly and biting him! "SAMANTHA, THAT'S ENOUGH!" I shouted but to no avail, "STARLIGHT, STOP HER!" Starlight fired a blue ray from her eyes that hit the Leader and made him float slowly into the air. Samantha became visible again, but was still panting and growling loudly as she watched the Leader slowly rise above her. Suddenly feeling very embarrassed, she slowly walked over to Uncle Buford and said in a calm voice,"Are you alright, Mr Buford, sir?" "I'm fine, thanks to your quick thinking, my dear collie!" Buford shouted with glee. Samantha's sisters ran over to her, astonished at what they had all just witnessed. "I didn't think you had it in you!" Linda barked. "You sure got him good!" Abby added. "You never fought like that at home!" Molly said. "I'll never argue with you again, little sister!" Vicki barked. Samantha ran over to me, lowered her head, and said,"are you alright, my love?" "Yes, some of my systems are coming back online already," I said coldly,"you lost control, didn't you?" "YES!" she sadly admitted,"I'm so sorry, but when I saw what he did to you and when he was going to kill that sweet old man....." "Sweet old man?" Buford said as he walked over to my wife,"my dear collie friend, that's the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said about me in years! Thank you." "And I thank you, Uncle Buford, sir!" Samantha barked happily,"it was your master plan that saved my husband's life!" "I'll have you put to sleep for this, you wretched mutt!" the Leader shouted as he floated over the group. "I'm afraid you can't do that," Ben Maddog barked,"as wards of the court, Mr Mason and I would have to testify to the truth, that we didn't 'see' anyone attack you!" "That's right!" the Renegade said as he smiled at the Leader,"none of us, not even your men can say that they SAW Samantha attack you!" All of us laughed. I'm glad that one of us contacted the local authorities. As the sound of sirens could be heard, Starlight made a lightning fast run around the room, coming to a stop in front of me. Many uniformed Austrailian Police entered the complex. "G'day!" one of them said to the Renegade,"I see you and your chums here have the entire situation well in hand! Our country owes you all a debt of gratitude." "It was a team effort, sir," the Renegade admitted,"all of us played a part in it!" As the Leader slowly returned to the ground, he shouted,"I'll ruin you now, Renegade! I'll tell everyone who you really are!" "Alright, you crazy Yank!" one of the officers asked,"just who is the Renegade?" "His real name is ........ is ............. er ...... wait, Mr Timms, you know who he is, right?" "Well...... I knew it a minute ago....... any of the rest of you guys know?" None of the Leader's followers could remember my master's true identity! Starlight gave out a loud horse laugh. "Starlight," I said with a chuckle,"what did you do?" "Well Otto," Starlight explained,"you're not the only one that Buford equipped with a cerebral neutralizer! I zapped all the Leader's men with it, and even got the big cheese himself!" "That's great, honey!" Melitta said as she hugged the Renegade,"now your secret identity is safe!" As the police escorted the bad guys away, the Leader turned and shouted,"I'll get every one of you for this someday! You'll see! You haven't heard the last of me!" "Shut up or I'll ram this 2x4 right down your throat!" the Gila Monster growled,"and with a mouth as big as yours, I'd probably never see it again!" Everyone laughed. The Gila Monster walked over to Samantha's sisters and said excitedly,"Wow! You ladies really know how to fight, that was beautiful!" "Thank you, Mr Gila Monster!" Abby replied. "If you think this was good, you should see us in the courtroom!" Linda giggled. The Gila Monster smiled and said,"all of you are single, right? Can I take one of you out on a date? We could have a lovely dinner by my swamp, wrestle some alligators, go beat you some bad guys, share an anthill ..... hey, what did I say? Why are all of you walking away? So I'm a reptile, big deal! After seeing you collies thrash them big goomers, I think I'm in LOVE!" "DAD!" Molly barked loudly,"aren't we due in court in a few minutes?" "You DO remember that important case, right dad?" Vicki added. "Er... oh yes!" Ben Maddog answered,"glad y'all reminded me! Starlight, would you please send us back to the Municipal Courthouse in Atlanta?" Starlight nodded her head and in an instant, the five collie attorneys were gone. "Awwwww!" the Gila Monster grumbled as he slammed his 2 x 4 down in disgust,"I was this close to having a date for tonight! Oh well, that'll leave more ants for me to eat!" Buford walked up to Starlight and said sadly "I kinda wished you haven't destroyed that machine so well. If I knew how it worked, I could've figured out a way to shield you and Otto from it's energy draining effects." "Well," Starlight said with a grin,"I did scan it before I kicked the living daylights out of it! I have a complete diagram of it in my memory banks!" "Brilliant, my dear young filly!" Uncle Buford shouted with glee,"I can't wait to study it in my lab!" "Our work here is done, everyone!" Melitta said,"now it's time to leave!" "G'bye, all of you delightful chaps!" one of the policemen shouted,"and do visit our fair country again sometime!" With a loud BOOM! we all returned to my master's home. We had accepted the evil challenge of the Leader, and had triumphed, thanks to our many dear friends! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ End of entry