| Part 6 of 'Burn' A CMAU fic By Numnut 19 / 20 Jan 2007 The Stealth sat silent in the dark. "Scan?" "It appears to be what it says it is, a rest home for the elderly. Hospital facilities, accommodation and its occupants." Kitt rubbed a thumb across the steering wheel. "Nick was here?" "He was." "His biorhythm?" "Absent." "Data?" "Aggregation in progress." Kitt waited as Karr plied the networks for information. Idly, he reached out himself and sought linkage to the facility's computer system. He frowned. They possessed a wireless network. He had expected to have to hack a port. But no, he linked to the network, easily slipping through simple security. Assessment provided exactly what he expected. Patient records, stocklists and accounting facilities. He scanned the list of names and businesses. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Several wealthy benefactors... He flinched. <_Kitt? He ran several security processes of his own, rewriting data, shifting his firewalls to a higher defensive role. What was that? A single program was hovering over a gateway. A gateway that had no business being where it was. As Kitt approached, it struck out, stinging like a whip. The AI retreated. <_Kitt? He approached again warily. The program had an oily feel, vaguely familiar. Further tentative investigation proved it to be a rather complex sentinel. He hadn't recognised it on approach due to camouflage of its coding. And suddenly Karr was there beside him. <_Do you ignore your partner like this? It's no wonder he's going grey. Kitt glared at his brother. <_What do you make of this? It was Karr's turn to tentatively reach out and examine the program. <_Standard sentinel... A pause. <_No perhaps not. Modified. Then a dark wave of emotion swamped Kitt. <_AI specific. Kitt frowned. <_How do you know? <_I've encountered similar. Kitt stared at him. <_Where? Karr didn't answer him and the younger AI glared at his brother. <_You don't have to protect me! <_Who said I was? Karr's black presence flickered a moment before reaching out and tripping the sentinel. Kitt leapt back as the program reached out, apparently knowing exactly where to strike, but Karr rather offhandedly countered the attack, deftly flipping the construct and corrupting its code before it could signal its creators. <_Primitive. The gateway loomed in front of them. Kitt watched as his brother reached out and explored its structure, identifying its weak spots. <_Where have you seen this before? Karr was distracted. <_FlagNet. <_What?! <_Whoever constructed this, knew we would encounter it. The dark AI moved back from the aperture, apparently satisfied with his assessment. <_They knew we were coming. And they knew us. A flicker in Karr's darkness. <_They just didn't know enough. And with that Kitt sensed a change in Karr's presence. The older AI threw up blocks around himself, defensive barricades and shielding, leaving just a tiny channel open to speak with his brother. He reached out a tendril to touch Kitt. <_Go. According to county records, this building has a large bomb shelter beneath. However, I can not detect it. They are expecting us. Act in accordance. Kitt wrapped part of himself around the offered darkness. <_Be careful. The subject of Karr's missing partner hovered between them. <_If he's here, I'll find him. I will. <_I know. And Karr shut himself off from his brother, retreating into his armour in preparation to hack the gateway. Kitt smiled slightly and slipped away, climbing quietly out of the Stealth and easily scaling the wall it was hidden behind. -o-o-o- Nick woke with a head full of fuzz. Fuzz and that god-awful soul sucking darkness where his partner used to be. He didn't groan. Didn't move. This time he was sitting upright, slouched to one side, a chair his bonded companion. There were people in the room. He could hear them breathing. One....two....another coughed....three....the crackle of some kind of communication equipment...so perhaps more spectators? Someone entered the room. Down steps. Stairs. "Mr MacKenzie. I'm so glad you could finally join us." Nick didn't react. "You should know that we have you monitored. I knew the moment you awoke, so don't bother attempting to hide the fact." "Why not?" Nick moved little other than his lips. "Wouldn't want to make it any easier for you than necessary." He lifted his head, calmly opening his eyes and catching sight of the same black guy who had shot him earlier. He automatically reached for Karr to do a background check on the man, and encountered the great Gulf of Hell and Co. He didn't let the wince surface on his face. "No. I guess you wouldn't." The man walked further into the room. It was bare brick, stark and dark in the corners. Several guard types stood around the walls. They obviously weren't taking any chances. It was so nice to be so valued. "What do you want?" "You don't know? Perhaps I have over estimated you as an opponent." The guy rubbed at a non-existent beard. "And your reputation was so promising." "I haven't finished with you yet." An arched eyebrow. "Really? And here I was thinking that with your partner here and all, the game was pretty much over." A pair of black eyes stabbed at him and Nick was suddenly awash with a feeling of both triumph and dread. "I guess it is." "So would you prefer cremation or burial?" "Why do you care?" "All part of the service." Nick's eyes narrowed just slightly. "I'll let my partner choose." "Oh, I doubt he'll be doing much conscious choosing of anything since he has tried to hack the network we left enticingly open to him." Nick didn't react, staring up at him calmly. "Count your chickens before they're hatched and all you'll end up with is broken eggs." And preferably a couple of broken legs as well. "Don't expect him to come charging through a wall, MacKenzie. Cars can't climb down stairs." His partner's cool voice suddenly echoed off the walls. "Perhaps not, but then they don't need to." And the lights went out. -o-o-o- Kitt skipped silently across the grounds, slipping beneath some surveillance cameras and distracting others with a little microjam. He periodically checked in on his still unconscious driver. His condition hadn't changed and the AI was beginning to get a little anxious for him to wake. Nevertheless, he erected a block to protect his partner from his current activities. Just in case. He entered the building through a window, quietly climbing over the sill and stepping between the two beds in the room. Neither sleeping woman woke and he made his way out into the hallway without being discovered. The building wasn't dark. It appeared to function like a hospital, low lighting, night staff doing their rounds. Kitt scanned repeatedly, looping the function to avoid detection. However, despite his proximity to the building, his scans failed to identify the location of any bomb shelter anymore than Karr's scanners had. The beginnings of angry frustration were boiling in his CPU when he received a short communique from his brother. <_The rear of the building. Karr was shaking and Kitt automatically reached out, only to have Karr flinch away, his self-defences still flexing. <_They have Nick. Kitt went cold. <_Co-ordinates? A flicker of data. <_I will assist as I can. Their network is breached. His brother continued to shake and Kitt had the distinct impression that Karr had had more trouble with what had been beyond the gateway than he had with the sentinel before it. <_Are you okay? <_No. But the answer echoed with his brother's need for Nick more than anything else. Kitt didn't have any reassurances that could help beyond saying them, so instead he reached out and brushed a piece of himself gently across Karr's armour. <_Go. I will come. And Karr shut him out again. Kitt ran the length of the corridor, the soft soles of his shoes hardly making a sound. He ducked through the door Karr had indicated and into an apparent closet. The moment he moved to the back of the small space, his sensors breached the interference that had been hiding it all from him. For a split second his scanners fed back erroneous information, contradictory and confusing. He put a hand to his head, pausing while his processors sorted out the mess. Whatever the field was, it wasn't something he had encountered before and it was a concern. Eventually, his sensors settled down and he realised he was standing in front of another door. He reached out with his scanners and this time they gave him the information he was looking for. The bomb shelter was a large one. Two tiered with several rooms, the lowest of which held Nicholas's biorhythm. To reach out and touch that spark of familiarity was a great relief to Kitt. He seemed well, though aggravated and hurting. He assessed the targets for weaponry. A tazer sat in a holster under the arm of the large man standing in front of the former agent. Kitt's eyes narrowed and he sent off a squirt of information to his brother. The use of that weapon might explain a great deal. There were five other men in the room, all heavily armed with more conventional weaponry. The large man also possessed a berretta. Kitt's lips thinned. The rest of complex consisted of a room full of computer equipment and another room that seemed to be little more than a copy of one of the rooms above ground - hospital bed and monitoring equipment. It was currently unoccupied. Michael shifted in the back of his mind and Kitt realised his driver was finally reaching towards waking. He resisted the urge to go to him. Calculating the required speed of descent and the amount of time he would likely have, he reached down and turned the knob. The lights went out. -o-o-o- Nick attempted to move the moment the lights cut out, but he was too securely bound. He wriggled, but the chair did little but fall over, whacking the side of his face into the concrete. Head spinning, he wriggled out of the head honcho's immediate blind reach, the chair scraping across the floor. The men in the room reacted with surprise, he heard their mutters and exclamations, but it wasn't until he heard the crash and splinter of wood as the door was kicked in that he realised exactly what was going on. He didn't know who had crashed the little party, but whoever it was, they were efficient. <Karr?> He couldn't see anything, but he heard at least three men go down gasping, a fourth man let out a yell that was abruptly cut off by a gurgle. Nick was attempting to locate the presence of the other two inhabitants of the room when he was grabbed around the neck and lifted, picked up chair and all. He choked and immediately saw spots. A cold circle of metal was pressed to his temple. Fuck. "Whoever you are, you've failed." There was a snap of bone and a sudden silence. A body hit the floor. Nick's heart thudded in his ears. "You hear me? You've failed." There was no answer from the dark. Nick couldn't even hear breathing. The arm throttling him tightened and he was forced to gasp. "Let him go." Nick's eyes widened. Kitt??? "No." The metal at his temple ground skin between it and his skull, before shifting in the direction of Kitt's voice. You bastard! Leave him alone! Nick attempted to struggle, but he had no purchase. "I would advise that you do as he says." Karr's voice crackled from above. The guy holding him took a step back. "Who the hell are you?" "Who do you think we are?" Kitt's voice was chillingly calm. "You can't be....she said you were in the cars!" And the dark came up and ripped the arm from his throat. He fell hard, stars dancing across his eyes. The gun went off, filling the room with retina blinding light for a split second. The sounds of a struggle and suddenly the lights flicked back on. Kitt had the ringleader hard up against the wall, his hand around the man's throat. The man's dark skin was turning a pallid grey. "Why?" The AI's voice was cold. The man gurgled. "Why?!" "Kitt?" The AI glanced at him and Nick was chilled at his expression. "Did he do it?" "I-I don't know." Nick's voice sounded almost as bad as Michael's had. Kitt turned back to the struggling man. "Was it you?" "Wh-a-t?" "Kitt, leave him to me." "He hurt us." "I know. Let me and Karr handle it." Nick struggled with his bonds with as much success as before. "Mind giving me a hand?" Kitt seemed to hesitate for a minute, his expression flickering in response to something Nick couldn't hear. Hurt welled up his throat as he realised it was Karr speaking to his brother. He shoved it aside. Suddenly Kitt's hand flexed tighter a moment and the man's eyes rolled back in his head. The AI dropped him carelessly, turning to help the former agent. And Nick saw the red stain spreading across the android's waist. -o-o-o- "Kitt!" "I know." The AI half smiled, his expression flickering between pain and amusement. "Michael's going to kill me." "Nicholas?" Karr's voice was almost tentative. "Where are you?" Nick flinched as Kitt snapped the bonds off his ankles and wrists. The moment he could move, he demanded Kitt sit back so he could see how badly he'd been hit. "I am outside." His tone clearly asked where Nick could possibly have thought he would be otherwise. "I'm fine, Nick." But even Nicholas could hear the pain in the AI's voice. It appeared to only be 'flesh' wound, the MBS below having done the job it was designed for, but nonetheless it had to hurt. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around Kitt's waist, hopefully stemming the flow of fluid. Already the android was looking pale. "I'll let Swan be the judge of that. Let's get you out of here." Nick struggled to his feet, cramped limbs complaining loudly. Grabbing the nearest weapon, a berretta, and shoving it into the back of his jeans, yet again he found himself instinctively reaching for Karr and clubbed over the head by emptiness. He hated this. Stepping over what he hoped were just unconscious bodies, he led the injured AI out of the room and up the stairs. "Karr, can you still hear me?" "Yes, Nicholas." Was it just him, or was Karr's voice shaking? "Contact FLAG and get a containment team in here. I want to know exactly who and what we're dealing with." Somehow his partner managed to communicate that familiar rumbling disapproval over the intercom system. Nick gave the hospital room and its accompanying computer room a cursory glance. Several unconscious bodies lay about the place, no doubt Kitt's work. As for the computers, a word to Karr and he confirmed what he had suspected. The AI had hacked the system and secured it for later inspection. "There is little here. I suspect they knew I would attempt this. They had several challenging viral programs lying in wait." Nick started. "You're okay?" "I'm fully functional, Nicholas. You, however, are not. Nor is Kitt. Please hurry up." Nick smiled slightly. He had no doubt the AI had demanded Kitt's medscan. He turned to give Kitt a hand up the stairs. The AI was as pale as a sheet now and Nick's black shirt glistened wetly in the overhead lighting. He ushered him up and into the closet. Kitt stumbled as he moved to open the opposite door, but when Nick inquired the AI waved him off. "The corridor is clear." The former agent hurried them down the hall to the nearest room Kitt identified as having a window. No-one interrupted them and slipping in, they made a quick and quiet exit. Outside false dawn was just beginning, the sky lightening just a little in the east. Kitt stopped suddenly. "There is a helicopter approaching. Karr is suspicious." Cursing the absence of the link or any way to speak to his partner, Nick was reduced to relaying through Kitt. "Can he locate its point of origin?" Kitt frowned. "No. It has no registry. It is approaching from the south-east." And sure enough, he could now hear it coming. "It's coming here. Approaching to land." "Where?" "Here. On the front lawn. There is no other place large enough." Nick looked up at the sky and sure enough, lights flickered in the sky. And suddenly there were lights on the ground. Kitt hissed and dragged Nick into cover behind a corner of the building. Several figures ran out onto the grass and began waving more lights, directing the aircraft in to land. Damn. Where the hell had they come from? "Hello." Nick started, spinning on the spot, gun in hand and aiming. An elderly woman in an electric wheelchair peered up at them, squinting in the weak light. "Please, are you my grandson?" Her voice trembled. The gun didn't waver. Neither did Nicholas. Where the hell had she come from? And why hadn't Kitt or Karr warned him? "I'm sorry, madam, but no." The AI's voice was cool and calm. The woman's attention was distracted by Kitt. "You don't look very well, young man." A sideways glance at the AI and Nick found a puzzled expression on the AI's face. "I'm f..." A gasp of recognition. "But you're d-" And suddenly Karr was there, the night was white, and he was falling. |