AN: Sorry it took so long to get this up. This one was hard to write and I got lazy.

Renegade

Chapter 9: Cassie

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing. I didn't recognize the number on the caller ID. I picked up. "Hello?"

"John Colman?" said a gruff voice on the other line.

"Yes. How can I help you?"

"John, it's Paul Johnson." Oh, joy. The police commissioner. I wonder what he could possibly be calling about. "You and your little friend need to come in, now!"

"But sir-"

"No buts about it. He's wanted for the murder of five people, John. We can't ignore that anymore. Not after what happened with my daughter."

"Your daughter?"

He laughed. "He hasn't told you yet, has he? Well, you guys can come in and we can all hear his story."

"Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to respectfully decline your invitation."

"Well, some of my men are already on their way to your house. I suggest you go with them. There's nowhere you can go, John. Where do you think you can hide a mutant fox? I'll be expecting you soon." With that he hung up.

I walked out of my room to talk to Miles. I found him sitting on the couch. "Miles, there's something we need to talk about."

"The police are coming to pick us up." I was shocked. How had he-"I have very sensitive hearing."

"Oh, well, where's Nick?"

"I sent him home. We both knew he couldn't help me anymore, and I didn't want him getting caught up in all this."

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. We went out and were met by two serious police officers. They drove us about fifteen minutes to the police station. As we entered, I noticed that there was an unusual amount of personnel in the building. We were taken to an interrogation room, where another five cops and Paul Johnson were waiting. We sat down. "Welcome, gentleman" said Johnson. "Why don't we get right to the point? What happened to my daughter?"

"I'll tell you on three conditions: No interruptions, no questions about my past, and no one but me, you and John." Johnson hesitated at Miles's requests, then sent everyone else out of the room. "Alright, let's begin. It started when I was eating breakfast at John's house two days ago:

Miles sat there, looking at his breakfast, too depressed to eat. Suddenly, his keen ears detected voices. "Stay away from me. Do you know who I am?" It was a young woman.

"Hell yeah, but that's just gonna make this a whole lot more fun. Now stay still." A man's voice. Miles knew what this meant.

"I'll be back later!" he yelled as he flew out the window. He could still hear the conversation, and he flew towards the voices.

Woman: Don't touch me. Back off.

Man: It would be my pleasure. Not.

The woman screamed, and the man followed suit. Miles smiled to himself. It was always nice when the girl had some pepper spray. He landed and walked into the alley, wondering why any girl would wander into an alley alone, especially one right next to a club.

When he got to the area where the struggle was taking place, he took stock of his surroundings. Why in the world were they attempting a rape in an open alleyway? There were three attackers. One was still feeling the effects of the pepper spray; one was grabbing the girl, who looked to be about nineteen, and the other was standing back with some rope. That was when Miles realized that these must be Snell's men. He spoke up. "I think she deserve's a little more respect than you're giving her, don't you?"

The guy holding the girl looked back at Miles. "Hey, Roscoe, take care of this guy. I'm a little busy right now." He smiled. The second guy, Roscoe, started to pull out his gun. Miles rushed him, broke his shooting arm, and gave him an elbow to the face that knocked him out cold.

Miles looked up at the first guy, who now had the girl pinned against the wall. "Do you have any idea how awkward that just sounded?" The guy sighed, pulled out his pistol, and was met by a fist to the face. He collapsed to the floor. The girl stared, breathing hard. "You might want to leave before they come to." With that, Miles turned to leave.

"Wait." He turned back. "I want you to meet my father."

Miles was stunned. "Umm…why is that?"

"Well, he's the police commissioner an-"

"Hell no! I can't do that." He turned to leave again.

"Stop. We know you murdered two people."

"Really? Why haven't I been taken in yet?"

"Because we also know that crime around here has dropped dramatically. We need you on the streets. My father would be more likely to give you the key to the city than arrest you."

"Wait, so you would just bend the rules because it's convenient for you?" He sighed. "Whatever. We can go see your dad if you want."

"Thank you." They began to walk out of the alley. Suddenly, the side door to the club opened up. Miles grabbed Cassie and shielded her with his body as a gunshot rang out. Miles yelled in pain as the bullet hit him in the right shoulder. Blood oozed from the wound as he fell to his knees. Cassie screamed as she was shot in the foot.

He heard a voice behind him. "You actually tried to come on to Snell's property and break up his business? I'm afraid it's not that easy." With that, the shooter walked over and picked Cassie up off the floor. He then crouched next to Miles. "The great Miles Prower, who has caused my boss so much trouble." He held his pistol to Miles's head. "Unfortunately, my boss wouldn't want me to kill you right now, so I guess I have to let you go."

"That's great news" said Miles. Suddenly, the shooter heard something clink to the floor. He looked down. Was that a bullet? Something smashed his temple, and he collapsed. "I'll just be taking my things." He knelt over Cassie. "Can you walk?"

"I-I don't think so" she got out in a painful whisper.

"Don't worry. You don't have to." He picked her up off the floor and carried her out of the alley. "We'd better get away from here. Snell's men should be on to us soon."

"Miles, how did-what just-are you alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me." He was doing enough of that himself. He had just expended the last of his energy healing himself. He just had to hope that they would be able to get out of the area unnoticed. As they walked out onto the street, however, three big goons armed with automatic weapons. Miles acted fast, lifting up the manhole cover in the middle of the street and crouching behind it. The thugs opened fire as Miles carefully maneuvered himself into the sewer, making sure to keep hold of Cassie. He was sure that they would be safe here. Why would Snell have patrols in the sewers? He heard footsteps approaching around the corner. Oh, goody, Snell was paranoid. Miles ran with Cassie in his arms away from the pursuers. When he guessed that they had rounded the corner, he jumped off the concrete walkway into the water. Bullets whizzed above his head, and then the shooting stopped. Miles kept running for a few more seconds, letting the gunners run forward and take aim. He then jumped into the air and began flying, again barely avoiding the shots.

But this time, as Miles was about to drop to the ground, a pistol shot rang out. Miles was hit on his left tail, sending him crashing to the ground. He twisted his body around in order to cushion Cassie from the fall. He painfully picked himself up off the ground and was subsequently shot in the right tail, then the right shoulder. He fell to his knees, breathing hard. But he picked himself up again, moving to pick up Cassie. He trudged along, wondering why nobody was following them. He rounded the corner and looked back. Nobody. That was strange. He looked down at Cassie, who was whimpering softly.

"Don't worry, Cassie. I won't let them take you."

"Why are you doing this? Why don't you just .eave me here and save yourself? You could help a lot more people that way."

"No. I would never leave you. I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me, either. I'm going to save you, or die trying."

"Bu-"

"Please don't give me the "what about everyone else" speech! I've heard it all before. Don't worry, I'd give my life for you, but I won't have to. You're safe with me. Now, do you think you can walk?"

"Yeah, I think so." The pain in her foot had subsided significantly. She took a few tentative steps. She would be fine as long as she didn't put too much weight on it.

"Good, because we need to split up. I don't think I can carry you anymore, and we need to move fast. Head down this passage" he gestured to a passage on the left. "When you reach the end, wait for me there. But first, we need a way to communicate." As he said this, he produced a small beige gadget and walked towards her. It was flat, except for a very thin, short needle extending from one of the sides. "I'm gonna put this behind your ear, and it should blend in with your skin. It's a two-way radio." He stopped as he was about to put it in. "Sorry, but this will probably hurt…a lot." With that, he stuck the needle into her head, penetrating the inner ear. Cassie screamed in pain. When it had dulled down to a kind of soreness, they went their separate ways. Miles pulled out a com-link a few minutes later. "Cassie, can you hear me?"

"Who's there?"

"What do you mean who's there? Who could it be?"

"Are-are you my conscience?"

Quoting movies when they were running for their lives? Well, if it helped her. "Yes, I'm your conscience. Tell me Cassie, do you see anything?"

"I see-I see a ligh-"

Miles waited for Cassie to finish her line. She didn't. "Cassie?" Silence. "Cassie?" Suddenly, Miles felt a stabbing pain in his back. In his weakened state, it was enough to bring him to the floor.

The shooter from the alley crouched beside him again. "Don't worry. We'll take real good care of Cassie." Miles brought himself up to his hands and knees, coughing up blood. "If I were you, I'd stay down." With that, he kicked Miles viciously in the ribs and sent him rolling. Miles was somewhere between consciousness and a state of comatose. He lay there on the floor as the shooter walked away. When he finally got himself up out of the river of waste, it was too late to do anything. He had failed.

"And that's when I called John" Miles finished.

"And the security cameras caught the rest" added Paul. "Well, Miles, I hate to say it, but now that you're here, you must be placed un-"

"Stop. You can't arrest me."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because there's a reason Snell's operation is still running. You can't get to him, but I can. If you arrest me, you condemn your daughter. You'll never speak to her again."

"On the contrary, we have Snell in custody. His little outfit should fall apart soon."

"No. It's not a little outfit, and it is as well organized as it was with him at the helm."

"Whatever. But can you guarantee that if you go free, I'll speak to Cassie again? I don't think so."

"Just give me your word that I'm walking out of here."

I watched as Johnson gave this some thought. "Fine, but you better be able to deliver."

"You mean like this?" Miles said as he pulled out his com-link. "Cassie?"

"Yeah?" Cassie sounded defeated, tired. Miles and Johnson both winced.

"I have someone here who wants to speak to you." He handed the communicator to Johnson.

"Cassie?"

"Dad? What are you doing with-" she sighed. "Dad, don't tell me you did what I think you did!"

"Umm…nooo" he said sheepishly. I could tell he had a good relationship with his daughter. He didn't want to ruin it.

Another sigh. "Dad, you have to let Miles go. He's my only hope for getting out of here, and he's the only one that can clean up our streets. Don't let your bitterness blind you."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart." He looked to be on the verge of crying. "Cassie, have they…have they done anything to you?"

"Pshh, do you even have to ask?" Another mutual wince from Miles and Johnson.

"Well don't worry, we're coming to get you out soon. I promise."

"Okay. Oh, someone's coming! Gotta go!" With that, the conversation ended.

Johnson looked up at Miles. "We're gonna need a plan."

Not my best, but certainly not my worst. If you have something to say about the rape scene, about how I don't know anything about rape, you are absolutely right, and I don't really want to know, either. Please, no inappropriate reviews.