Copyright 1999 --  Robert Baer Jr.   Revised - 2000.

The Renegade Files - "Mission of Mercy"

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 -- "Mission of Mercy" 

It was early on a weekend morning, Samantha and I came to visit our old
friend the Computer Dinosaur over at his cave.  He was so excited, today
Dree-'el was coming home for the weekend and was coming to visit him.  The
big guy quickly trying to 'tidy up' the cave, did the dishes (broke a few
in the process) and was nervously pacing back and forth awaiting her
arrival.

"Where is she?" the Dinosaur wondered outloud,"I hope she was able to
finish all of her homework so she can come here...."

"Please relax, Mr Dinosaur, sir," Samantha urged,"I'm sure she'll be here
shortly."

"Yeah," I added,"Wanna and Nathan went over to bring her here, I'm sure
there's nothing to worry about."

As soon as I finished speaking, with a loud BOOM!!!!!  Nathan (in his
Renegade outfit) appeared before us, and he looked very worried.

"HEY!!" the Dinosaur shouted,"where's Dree-'el?"

"Everyone," the Renegade explained,"I have something to tell you. 
Dree-'el is very ill, Melitta and I zapped her over to Uncle Buford's, we
don't know what's wrong yet.  I came here to bring all of you over to see
her."

"Oh NO!"  Samantha said very sadly,"poor Dree-'el, I know she wasn't
looking well in class yesterday, but I had no idea..."

"PLEASE TAKE ME TO HER!" the Computer Dinosaur cried,"I GOTTA BE WITH
HER!!"

The Renegade produced his black box and with a loud BOOM!!! all of them
were in Uncle Buford's barn.  Dree-'el was lying quietly on the floor of
the barn, while Uncle Buford was examining her.  Wanna (in her Masked
Melitta outfit) and her horse Starlight were standing beside of another
lady who was wearing a white labcoat.  My quick data study on her revealed
her name was Dr Emily Kirkpatrick, a veternarian and good friend of Uncle
Buford.  She was looking sadly at Dree-'el, holding a set of blood samples
in her hand.  Our sudden appearance startled her, but Melitta quickly
explained who we were and why we were here.

"I don't have good news, I'm afraid," Dr Kirkpatrick said sadly,"I'm no
expert on Dinosaur biology, but from what I've learned from Buford's
computer analysis and from my own knowledge of caring for reptiles, it
looks like Dree-'el is suffering from a rare blood disease of unknown
origin.  Her blood has lost the ability to combat this disease, unless we
can produce some antibodies for her soon, she could go comatose or even
die!"

"I'LL GIVE HER MY BLOOD!" the Dinosaur roared,"SHE CAN HAVE EVERY DROP OF
IT, PLEASE MAKE HER WELL!"

"I'm sorry, big guy," Uncle Buford said sadly,"I've already ran a
cross-match analysis of your blood with hers, yours is so different from
hers that it wouldn't work."

"Oh NO!!!"  Samantha barked loudly,"what can we do to help her?"

"There is one chance, but you'll have to act fast!" Uncle Buford
explained,"there is one Dinosaur's blood that is a perfect match with
Dree-'el's, and all we would need is a gallon of it to save her life."

"WHO IS IT?" the Dinosaur roared,"WE HAVE TO GET THAT SAMPLE NOW!!!"

"Not so fast, big guy," Uncle Buford said sadly,"the one Dinosaur we'd
need the sample from is your pterodactyle friend Romulas!"

"HIM???" the Dinosaur roared,"well,  maybe I can talk to him and...."

"And you better hurry!" Dr Kirkpatrick shouted,"she's stable, not that
won't last if we can't get that blood sample soon.  We'll need time to
manufacture good anti-bodies from it."

"It's decided then," I barked,"Samantha, Starlight, Dr Kirkpatric and I
will teleport to their nest."

"I want to go too!" the Dinosaur insisted,"after all, Romulas is a fellow 
dinosaur, I can appeal to his sense of honor and fair play."

"I don't think he has one, sir!" Samantha said sarcasticly.

"Samantha!" I said tersely,"you really shouldn't say things like that to
the big guy."

"Even if it's true?" Starlight asked with a smirk on her face.

"They're right, y'all!" the Dinosaur admitted,"but we have to try, for
Dree-'el's sake, we have to make him give us her blood!"

"Alright, CD, we'll take you with us!" I said with a smile,"Starlight,
activate your defense systems, mine are on standby, you never know about
those two pterodactyles!"

"Pterodactyles?" Dr Kirkpatrick asked in sudden shock,"this just gets
weirder and weirder!"

With a loud BOOM!!!  all five of us were standing in the 'nest' of the
twin pterodactyle brothers, Romulas was sitting in as easy chair watching TV, 
Remus was sitting on the couch munching on a bag of live snakes.

"These things tickle on the way down!" Remus squawked just as we appeared in
front of him, he got so scared he quickly hid behind the couch.   Romulas 
jumped out of his easy chair and ran towards us, he looked like he was ready to 
'peck' us to pieces.

"GET OUT OF HERE!!" Romulas screamed,"YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS COMING HERE!!!"

"Please," the Dinosaur said calmly,"we need your help, it's a matter of
life and death!"

"Oh sure!" Romulas squawked,"like I can believe a loser like you and
all of your mangy mutts, and who's the human?  No humans allowed in OUR
nest!"

"Have I ever lied to you before?" the Dinosaur said as he looked into his
eyes.

"Well, I guess not," Romulas said as he turned towards his brother,"Hey, you 
can come out of hiding now, these clowns ain't going to attack us!"

"Are you sure?" Remus said as his body trembled in fear,"are you sure they 
ain't mad about the lwasuit thingy a few weeks ago?" 

"Yeah, come on out!" Romulas answered,"now, you long-necked loser, you have
thirty seconds to tell me what you want, and then we're throwing all of
you OUT!"

"We need a small sample of your blood," the Dinosaur told her,"there's
another dinosaur who is very ill, and she'll die without a sample of your
blood, we only need a gallon and ..."

"Sure, I'll do it!" Romulas exclaimed,"just give me ten thousand dollars cash 
and I'll gladly let you draw some blood!"

"Ten Thousand dollars?" the Dinosaur screamed,"I don't have that kind of
money!"

"YES YOU DO!!!" Romulas yelled,"you're a big TV star!  Ask Colonel
Krispy for an advance on your salary, and come back when you have it in
CASH!"

"There isn't time!" the Dinosaur roared,"Dree-'el will die soon without
that ...."

"It's for HER?"  Romulas asked,"you've got to be kidding!  That
long-necked fluzzie!  I don't care WHAT you pay me, the answer is NO!!!"

"SHE'LL DIE IF YOU DON'T!" the Dinosaur cried,"SHE'S A DINOSAUR, JUST LIKE
YOU AND I ARE!  I'M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE HELP US!!"

"The answer is NO!" Romuals laughed,"let her DIE for all I care, right, Remus?"

"That's right, brother!" Remus squawked,"now, all of you leave before I throw 
you all out!"

"PLEASE????????????" the Dinosaur said with tears falling from his eyes.

"What part of NO don't you understand, you overstuffed lizard!" Romulas 
shouted,"now, just zap yourselves out of here before I get MAD!!!"

"It's no use!" the Dinosaur said sadly,"my Dree-'el is going to die!"

Before any of us could stop him, the Computer Dinosaur ran out the side
door of the nest into the woods, roaring like he had been struck in the
heart with a huge spear.

"Sam, go after him," I said to my wife,"make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"Alright," Samantha barked as she ran after him.

"I've just about had enough of these two, haven't you?" Starlight asked me.

"I concur!" I said with a smile,"let's DO IT NOW!!!"

Starlight focused on Romulas,  I concentrated on Remus, we instantly fired a 
pink ray out of our eyes, which rendered each of them helpless.

"HEY!" Romulas squawked,"I can't move my wings or legs!  What have
you stupid mammals done to us?"

"Yeah," Remus agreed,"I can't move either!  Let us go, or you'll be sorry!"

"Quickly, Doctor!" I said to Emliy,"get your blood sample now!"

"Is it safe?" Dr Kirkpatrick asked,"those two really look angry!"

"We have them immobilized," Starlight answered,"hurry, get the sample!"

Romulas screamed loudly when Dr Kirkpatrick inserted the huge needle into 
his left leg.  Within a minute, we had the gallon of blood we needed, the 
Doctor quickly wrapped a huge bandage around the wound as we prepared to leave.

"You can't keep us like this forever!" Romulas screamed,"the minute we're 
loose we're going to hunt all of you down, especially that good for nothing 
Computer Dinosaur!"

"I have a feeling both of you are going to forget all of this ever
happened!" I said with a grin on my face,"let's do it, Starlight!"

Starlight and I activated our cerebral neutralizers and used them on both
pterodactyles as we zapped ourselves back to Uncle Buford's barn.  
Samantha finally caught up with our large reptile friend, he was so grief
stricken that he didn't want to go back and watch his beloved Dree-'el die
in front of him.  I quickly radioed Samantha and told her to bring him to
the barn immediately.

"Mr Dinosaur, sir!" Samantha shouted at the sobbing Dinosaur,"please come
with me..."

"What's the use!" the Dinosaur moaned,"she's going to die because of that
selfish Romulas!   He's ruining my life yet again!  I wish I was a
carnivore, I'd eat BOTH of them for this!"

"Please stop talking like that, sir!" Samantha begged,"Dree-'el is going
to be alright!   Otto just called me and ...."

"That's impossible!" the Dinosaur said as he shook his heavy head,"we
needed that blood sample!"

"And they GOT IT, SIR!" Samantha shouted with joy,"so let's go!"

Samantha closed her eyes and concentrated on activating her collar, and
with a loud BOOM!!!! she and the Dinosaur were back at the barn.  Dree-'el
had opened her eyes, and was looking around for her huge boyfriend.

"Dinosaur!" Dree-'el said weakly,"you're here!"

"Yes, I'm here, darling!" the Dinosaur said softly as he walked slowly
over to her.

"You and your friends saved my life!" Dree-'el said weakly,"Uncle Buford
and Dr Kirkpatrick gave me some sort of shot with some antibodies in it,
and I'm beginning to feel better already!"

"Well," Uncle Buford said to all of us,"the antibodies will take some time
to fully circulate, but they're fighting her disease, with no signs of
rejection!"

"That's right!" Dr Kirkpatrick added,"this Baerasaurus will need to rest a
few days, but she will make a full recovery, thanks to Otto and Starlight!"

"I can't believe it!" the Dinosaur said as he cried with tears of joy,"how
did you two persuade Romulas to give her the blood sample?"

"Let's just say we got it," Starlight said with a horse laugh,"and neither
of those flying lizards will rememeber a thing about it!"

"Oh, I see..." the Dinosaur said sadly, but then smiled,"it doesn't matter
how we got it, the important thing is my Dree-'el is going to LIVE!!! 
Thank you both for not giving up!"

"You're welcome, big guy!" I said,"Starlight and I knew you would never
force Romulas to give his blood, so we did it instead!  After all, we
superheroes have an oath to preserve life, right Renegade?"

"That's right, Otto!" the Renegade answered,"your quick thinking saved
Dree-'el!"

"Dree-'el!" the Dinosaur said happily,"I'm so happy that you're alive, I
couldn't stand to live without you!   I LOVE YOU!"

"And I love you too, CD!" Dree-'el said weakly with a huge grin on her
face.

"Dree-'el," the Dinosaur asked nervously,"I know this may not be the right
time to ask you, but after all this has happened, I just have to ask you
now, but maybe I shouldn't, after all, you're sick right now and ..."

"CD!" Dree-'el said excitedly,"you're trying to ask me to marry you,
aren't you?"

"Well ......" the Dinosaur stuttered,"er.......
well.........eh.........YES!   That's what I'm asking you..."

"You silly old Dinosaur!" Dree-'el laughed,"of course I'll marry you!  I
want to spend the rest of my life with you!"

"REALLY???" the Dinosaur said excitedly,"HOORAY!!!!!!"

The Dinosaur was so happy, he began to jump up and down for joy, causing
the entire farm to shake, causing  all of us to fall to the ground and
bays of hay to fall to the floor all around us.

"Oops," the Dinosaur said rather embarrassedly,"sorry about that, y'all!"

"It's alright!" I said with a chuckle,"I felt the same way when I proposed
to Samantha!"

"And I really felt like that when I finally got the Renegade here to
propose to ME!" the Masked Melitta said as she grabbed the Renegade and
gave him a big kiss.

"Well, I'll say this much for you, Buford!" Dr Kirkpatrick said as she
stood up and brushed hay off of her labcoat,"you do have a lot of
interesting friends!"

"You haven't seen all of them yet!" Uncle Buford said as he used his cane
to stand up,"wait till you meet the Computer Gila Monster!  He's a little
rough around the edges, but if you overlook his terrible table manners,
he's a good guy."

"I think I've had enough excitement for one day, Buford!" Dr Kirkpatrick
said with a laugh,"and don't worry, I won't tell a soul what happened here
today, who would believe me if I did?"

"Thanks, Emily!" Uncle Buford said with a smile on his face,"I'll drive
you home now, if you like."

"Well, I want to stay a little longer with our patient," Dr Kirkpatrick
explained,"I never thought I'd ever get to treat a sick dinosaur before!"

"Thank you, Doctor, for all your help!" the Dinosaur said,"if I wasn't so
huge, I'd give you a hug!"

"Well, I can hug you, big guy!" Dr Kirkpatrick said as she hugged his big
neck.

"Well, time to make wedding plans!" I said.

"I LOVE making wedding plans!" Samantha said with a smile,"we can have it
at dad's estate, like we did our wedding!  And we'll have a band, with
lots of flowers, and..."

"Looks like the big guy isn't the only one getting carried away," I said
with a smile to my wife.

"Well, we can talk about it later then," Samantha giggled,"they'll be
plenty of time for that!"

"Yes, there will be plenty of time," I said,"thanks to our 'Mission of
Mercy'"

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