Copyright 1999 --- Robert Baer Jr. The Renegade Files - "The Runaway" 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 Runaway" It was Friday Night and we all decided to go 'out of the town' for some fun. Starlight went to the college on a date with her Clydesdale boyfriend, so Nathan, Wanna, Samantha and I took in a movie. It's not easy finding a theater that will admit dogs, but fortunately, Nathan does the books for the Brickson Cinema, so they let all of us in. After the movie, as we were walking around trying to find a quiet 'area' so we could 'zap' ourselves home unseen, my sensitive ears picked up a very distant cry for help. "I hear a female voice screaming out!" I told the others,"approxiamately 13 city blocks from our present position." "Oh NO!" Samantha barked,"we have to go see if we can help her!" "Right!" Nathan said,"Otto, you and Samantha get to the scene while Wanna and I zap ourselves home to change into our costumes. We'll use your beckon signal to find you and join you when we can, OK!" Samantha and I nodded our heads as we immediately teleported to the area of the scream. There was a teenage girl with a suitcase in her hand, in the 'wrong' part of town, surrounded by a dozen hoodlums. "Ok, princess!" one of them yelled,"Stop that screaming! You're ours now!" "Yeah!" another one of them shouted,"and when we take all of her money, we'll have ourselves a little PARTY afterwards!" The young lady screamed again as the hoodlums laughed wickedly. We were about to leap in front of her to defend her when we all heard a very familiar voice at the other end of the alley. This figure was in the shadows at first, but Samantha and I recognized him as he walked slowly into the light. "HEY, YOU BUNCH OF TWERPS!" the Computer Gila Monster growled as he waved his 2 x 4 over his head,"THIS AIN'T A FAIR FIGHT! YOU IDGITS BETTER GO GET SOME MORE THUGS!" "STAY OUT OF THIS, LIZARD MAN!" one of the hoodlums roared,"OR WE'LL MAKE LUGGAGE OUT OF YOU!" "THAT'S IT, NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY!" the Gila Monster shouted,"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!" The Gila Monster runs towards the mob, swinging his 2 x 4 and whacking four of them as he runs by, smiling as he watches them fall to the pavement. Two of the men grab the Gila by the arms, which causes him to spin his body around at a high rate of speed. The two hoodlums release their grip, and land on top of some of their fellow thugs. Two of the men remain standing, and immediately they grab the young lady. "HEY HERO MAN!" the one yells out to the Gila,"take one more step, and she's dead meat!" "LADY, DUCK!" the Gila Monster roars as he throws his 2 x 4 at them with all of his might. The young lady ducks her head down as the flying 2 x 4 smashes into her captor's heads, kncoking them down into a pile of trash cans. The young lady is crying, scared, and trembling. Instintively, the Gila Monster walks over and asks her if she's alright. The young lady drops her suitcase and hugs him tighty, bursting into tears in his embrace. Samantha and I ran over to them, Samantha took the lady's suitcase handle in her mouth. OTTO (shouting): Gila, it's not safe here, we'll zap ourselves to a safer place! With a loud BOOM!!! the four of us were standing in the city park, within walking distance of the police station. The young lady fainted in the Gila's arms. "Something's wrong with her!" the Gila said to me,"is she sick? She ain't dyin', is she?" "Scanning," I said as I ran various physical scans on the young lady,"she only fainted, but I see signs of malnutrition in her system, and she's also carrying a child, I would estimate her to be two months pregnant." It was at that moment when the Computer Renegade and Masked Melitta 'zapped' to our position. "Status report, Otto!" the Renegade saked calmly. "Yes, sir!" I explained,"we found this young lady surrounded by a gang of hostile humans, the Gila Monster ran in and took care of them, then we zapped ourselves here. The young lady has passed out, she's starving, and is two months pregnant." "What do I do with her?" the Gila Monster asked, still holding the young lady in an embrace. "First, I'll zap us to the hospital!" the Renegade said excitedly,"next, Otto, get a positive ID on the young lady so we can find her parents and tell them what happened, OK? Let's go!" The Renegade reset his black box and with a loud BOOM!!! all of us were in the hospital's emergency room area. Two startled nurses spotted us and put the young lady on a wheeled stretcher and took her to the back room. "I have her ID!" I barked,"her name is Jessica R McCandles and her parents Phillip and Marcy live at 324 Durwood Drive." "Ok, Melitta, you and Samantha go there and bring her folks here," the Renegade said,"Gila, we can zap you back home if ..." "I AIN'T LEAVING!" the Gila Monster shouted,"not till I know that she's alright!" A nurse came out into the waiting room area, and walked over to where we were standing. "Jessica is conscience now, and she was begging me to come over here and bring her the ... er green man that saved her life," the nurse said as she nervously looked at the Gila Monster,"is that YOU....... sir?" "YEP!" the Gila Monster answered,"can my friends come back there with me? They're ....." "THE COMPUTER RENEGADE AND OTTO!!!" the nurse shouted in sheer delight,"YES, OF COURSE THEY CAN COME WITH YOU!!! FOLLOW ME, PLEASE!" The Renegade, the Gila and I followed the nurse to the place where Jessica was. She was hooked up to an I.V. and resting comfortably in a hospital bed. "It's YOU!" Jessica softly spoke as she saw the Gila enter the room,"you're the one who saved me from that gang! Who's the man in the Zorro suit and the German Shepard? "They're good friends of mine, Jessica!" the Gila Monster said as he walked over to her bedside,"are yor feeling alright ...." "How did you know my name?" Jessica asked. "This is the Computer Renegade and his dog Otto," the Gila said,"Otto scanned you and got your name from some data bank somewheres....." "Young lady," the Renegade asked,"why were you out on the street in that part of town at this time of night?" Jessica became very nervous when she heard the Renegade's question, she reached out and took the Gila Monster's hand and began to sob quietly. "Jessica," I asked,"if I am reading all of your actions correctly, my guess would be that you have run away from home and that your parents do not know that you are pregnant, is that correct?" Jessica looked at me with a very surprised look on her face,"How did you know that?" she asked me. "By scanning to contents of your suitcase and then deducing the possible reasons why you were out this late and night along with ....." "Otto, please stop that!" the Gila grunted,"my brain's aching just listening to you explaining all that stuff!" "Is Otto right, Jessica?" the Renegade asked softly. "Yes!" Jessica sobbed,"I know my parents would KILL me if they knew what I had done, so I ran away, hoping I could thumb a ride to my brother's house." "Lady, you orta know that that there is dangerous," the Gila Monster said sternly,"if I hadn't have come along ....." "I'd been in a lot of trouble!!" Jessica cried as she squeezed the Gila's hand tightly,"thank you for saving my life!" "You're welcome," the Gila smiled as he looked into Jessica's eyes,"and you're one of few humans I've ever met that ain't scared of the way I look!" "Why would I be, sir!" Jessica said with a smile,"you seem like a nice guy, I don't mind being rescued by a reptile!" "Jessica," I said as I walked over to her bedside,"you do realize that you must tell your parents." "But they'll disown me!" Jessica said in tears,"they're very strict with me, I know I made a mistake, they're going to be furious with me!" "Don't underestimate the power of a parent's love," the Renegade said,"they will be surprised, and at first, they will be upset, but I'm sure that they love you very much and will help you all they can." "You don't know my folks," Jessica muttered sadly,"they've always lectured me, and I didn't listen to them and now I'm in trouble....." "Relax, Jessica," the Gila Monster said softly,"you're gitten yourself all worked up again! You're safe now, and all of us are here to help you, if you want us to." "Thank you," Jessica said as she smiled at the Gila Monster,"by the way, what IS your name?" "I'm called the Computer Gila Monster, ma'am! But you can just call me Gila, if you want to." Moments later, the Masked Melitta and Samantha entered Jessica's room followed closely by Phillip and Marcy McCandles. "MONSTER!!!" Phillip McCandles yelled as he saw the Gila Monster holding Jessica's hand,"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" "STOP DADDY!" Jessica shouted,"his name is Gila and he saved my life!" "That thing saved your life?" Marcy McCandles questioned. "He did, ma'am!" Samantha barked,"he's a member of our team!" "OH!" Marcy said with sorrow in her voice,"Mr Gila, I am sorry for my remarks...:" "No sweat, lady!" the Gila said with a big smile on his face. "Mom, dad, I have something to tell you," Jessica said nervously as she squeezed the Gila's hand even harder. "Maybe we better leave the room," Melitta said as she motioned to the others. "No, please stay!" Jessica shouted as she held the Gila's hand even tighter,"I want you all to be here for me." "Dear, what's the matter?" Marcy asked. "Now darling, you always know you can talk to us about anything!" Phillip said as he walked over to her bedside,"because we love you!" "Ok, here goes..." Jessica muttered nervously,"Mom, Dad, I'm....... pregnant...." "WHAT???" Marcy screamed in horror. "This CAN'T be!" Phillip yelled,"how could you do this to us?" "This ain't happening to YOU, Mister!" the Gila Monstor growled,"it's happening to your daughter!" "Daddy, I made a mistake," Jessica said sadly,"I know what I did was wrong, I don't know what to do next.." "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU!!!" Phillip roared. As Jessica burst into tears, the Gila Monster released her hand and stomped over to where Phillip was standing. "LOOK, SHE DON'T NEED TO HEAR THAT NOW!" The Gila Monster bellowed,"poor Jessica was going to run away from home because she thought you two would condemn her or even disown her! It's true, what she did was wrong, she even admitted it! She needs both you and her mother to love her and help her through this. I ain't got no kids or even a family, but if I did, I would NEVER turn my back on them, no matter what mistakes they have made! I know y'all's shocked and scared right now, so is she! You said that you loved her, well, PROVE IT!! SHOW HER THAT LOVE NOW!" Phillip looked at Marcy and then looked at their daughter and smiled. "Of course we love you!" Marcy said as she ran to Jessica's bedside and gently reached out to hold her hand. "Yes, Jessica, you're our daughter!" Phillip said as he reached for her other hand,"we'll find a way to work this out, together!" "I LOVE YOU!" Jessica shouted as tears continue to fall from her eyes. "Looks like our job here is done," the Renegade whispered to the rest of us,"time to leave." As we all turned to walk out of the room, Jessica stood up in bed and said,"Mr Gila Monster, please don't go yet." "We'll wait for you in the lobby," Melitta said as the rest of us left the room. "How can we ever thank you enough for saving our daughter's life?" Phillip asked the Gila. "Y'all can thank me by helping your daughter to get through this," the Gila said with a smile,"Jessica, is there anything else I can do for you?" "Yes!" Jessica said,"please come over here so I can give you another hug before you go!" The Gila complied, walking slowly towards her bedside and stooping over so she could hug his neck tightly, she whispered into his ear,"thank you, for everything." "Will I ever see you again?" Jessica asked him. "Well," the Gila Monster said with a smile,"I'll be around, to keep an eye on y'all. What are friends for?" "After Jessica is out of the hospital, will you please come over to our house for dinner?" Marcy said excitedly. "It'd be my pleasure, ma'am!" the Gila Monster said,"well, the rest of the guys are waiting for me, I gotta go now." Jessica, Phillip and Marcy waved as the Gila left the room, and met us in the waiting room. "Gila!" I said with a grin,"you have tears in your eyes! I never you that you had those kind of emotions before!" "HEY!" the Gila growled,"it's the ...... lighting, in here .... yeah, these lights is hurtin my eyes, can we leave now?" "Sure," Samantha said with a grin,"those ..... lights must be really hard on those eyes of yours." With a loud BOOM!! We were standing in front of the Gila's house. As the Gila Monster slowly walked toward it, the Renegade ran up to him and handed him a black box. "You'll need this, my friend" the Renegade explained,"so that you can quickly visit the McCandles anytime you want to." The Gila didn't say a word, he merely smiled, shook the Renegade's hand, and entered the front door of his house. "You're welcome," the Renegade said as he smiled. He rejoined us and with a loud BOOM!!! we all returned home. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's note: This story is dedicated to the loving memory of a young lady who two years ago committed suicide rather than confront her parents when she discovered that she was pregnant. Maybe this episode is not exactly what some of you were expecting from me, but if you ask me, loving parents (or parent), grandparents or guardians are the real SUPERHEROES in life's ongoing 'story' --- Robert Baer Jr..