Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 12:58:25 EDT Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Aubrey Summerlin Subject: The Unruly Child part 1 This is my first try. Please be nice :-) THE UNRULY CHILD He had to escape. Whatever it took, he would do it. Noone would catch him. Johnny Rodriguez never gets caught. The other members of his gang called him Spider-Man, because he always seemed to know when there was someone else around; he could always get away when he sensed trouble. Johhny sensed big trouble now. He looked around the rooftop he was on for a way out. There was none. He was trapped on top of the warehouse he had just robbed. Johnny began to panic when he heard the sirens approaching. Johhny had killed men before. He had robbed convenience stores, gas stations, even a bank. People had died each time, and Johhny found he got an adrenaline rush from killing. Ten minutes ago he had killed a security guard. He just didn't kill the guard fast enough, Johnny thought. He cursed himself for letting the guard throw the alarm switch to lockthe doors and call the police. The sirens gradually got louder and soon Johhny could see the strobe lights approaching from four different streets. "They're going all out for me this time," he mumbled to himself. The police cars screeched to a halt in front of the warehouse's main entrance and heavily armed officers poured from the vehicles. Focusing their spotlights on the building, the night lit up around Johnny, casting shadows all over the rooftop. Johny looked down from the roof. "Sir," an officer exclaimed, "up on the roof!" "Up on the roof! You! Come down with your hands up!" "Uh-oh," gulped Johnny, then he grinned. Opening up the box he had stolen from the warehouse, he moved levers and pushed buttons until it looked like what he thought it should. Then he rested the rocket launcher over the side of the building and fired. The police cruiser exploded in a brilliant ball of flame. Officers scattered to avoid the debris and shrapnel. Most made it; a few didn't. "Now he's a cop-killer," one of the officers stated flatly. While the officers watched the car burn, Johny took off for the edge of the building. He reached the edge and stopped short, almost falling off. "Six stories! Damn!" Johnny looked up and around when the whirring reached his ears. "What is this? D-Day?" The Los Angeles police helicopter arrived and shone itsa spotlight all over the rooftop. Johnny hid behind an air conditioning unit to avoid the beam. Over the helicopter's loudspeaker came, "You have nowhere to run. Give yourself up or we will open fire!" Johnny took the box the rocket launcher had been in and threw it up at the helicopter. The rotor blades shredded the wooden box to splinters, then wavered in mid-air for a moment. When Johnny peeked around the corner to look at his work, he was met by gunfire, striking the air conditioning unit between him and the helicopter. Then the helicopter began to circle around to get to him. Johnny knew it was only a matter of time now. He heard footsteps coming up the access ladder. The helicopter almost had him. The footsteps were getting closer. He panicked. "Nobody takes Johnny Rodriguez! Nobody!" And with that he ran to the edge of the roof and took a swan dive to the pavement below. Half a world away, in the Highlands of Scotland, Connor MacLeod returned home from a long business trip. "Connor!" Brenda exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "Yes, love, I'm home. And for another two months," Connor replied to her unanasked question. "I hate when you do that," Brenda said, smiling. She stood in the hallway of her new house, built on land owned by MacLeods for generations.(One MacLeod, actually) She was holdin a baby, hers and Connor's first. "How's Heather doing?" asked Connor. "She's fine, Connor. She's not as fragile as you think." Connor laughed." I'm sorry. I've never had a baby before." "How about a drink?" "Sure, replied Connor," and Brenda handed him Heather and headed for the kitchen. Connor followed to the kitchen and sat down at the table. Brenda walked over with two drinks. "How was the trip?" "We made some headway. I think they'll hold off hostilities for a while." "You know, I never saw you as a diplomat, Connor." "Me either," Connor replied,"but the prize needs to be used to help mankind." He grinned miscievously, "Plus, I can tell what you're thinking all the time." "What am I thinking right now?" "You're thinking...umm...you..you're...unghh" Connor doubled over in pain, then raised his head to look at Brenda, who was staring at him, fear in her eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked. "It..its *gasp* another immortal." Connor began to recover. "But..but the Kurgan was the last. You won the prize. There are no more immortals." "There _were_ no more immortals. The prize..it's gone. A new immortal just died for the first time." "Here we go headhunting again. Is that it? I almost lost you once to this stupid game! Can't you just leave this one alone?" "Whoever it is, they'll need my help in understanding what they are. There is no more game. Not yet. The cycle has just begun again. I don't hasve to kill them." "Then why go?" Brenda pleaded. "They need to know the rules. The game must start again eventually. Everyone must know the rules." "But you don't know where to look." "Yes, I do. It's easy when there are only two." "Where?" "Los Angeles." END PART ONE Ideas, comments, critiques, flames? Aubrey Summerlin 'Elp! 'Elp! I'm bein' repressed! =========================================================================