Failure To Launch

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

by elfin

"I'm getting too old for this shit." Nick shifted to ease the pressure on his ribs, adjusting the binoculars from his prone position on the ground. The steeply raised ground gave him the perfect vantage point, but it meant Karr had to stay back or risk being seen.

Within eavesdropping distance it seemed, then.

"It's the human prerogative."

There was no comeback to that. Nick grinned to himself and curled his toes in his boots as he once again scanned the amassed crowd down in front of the Knight Industries owned aerodrome. It was an eclectic mix of journalists and scientists, businessmen and Washington-types. Not for the life of him could he work out why they were assembled, but something big was going down - at least according to his source.

It took him a moment to work out that his partner was actually joking, took him another moment to be surprised.

<Seriously. They're covering the exits>

He waited, entertained himself by rating the journalists by the cost of their camera equipment, for a few minutes before Karr told him,

<There's movement>

He was right; the huge double doors of the hanger were opening, sliding apart, and at the forefront of the darkness inside he caught a red light shine, brighten, that part ways as the doors had, scrolling left and right and back again to meet in the centre. Nick's breath caught in his throat as a powerful engine roared to life and the black car sprang from its dark hiding place out into the warm afternoon sunshine. There it sat, growling, basking in the applause and the flashes from the digital cameras.

When the allotted time of anticipation had run out, the car doors opened and two men rose simultaneously into the light - Devon Miles, and another, younger man. So stunned was he, so focused on the meaning behind what he was seeing, that he hadn't asked the obvious question, one that Karr still answered.

<There's an AI in that car. And there's an implant in that man's brain connecting him to it>

"You would have thought they'd learnt their lesson, wouldn't you? I mean, seriously, the first one malfunctioned, the second one didn't activate�."

"But it did, didn't it?" Michael steered the highly modified Trans Am around the Stealth and backed it up out of sight. "And they know that - Devon knows it. And this guy, Graiman, you can bet he knows it too." In the passenger seat, Kitt was tapping his titanium-boned, synthetic-skinned foot against the floor of the footwell. It still amused Michael that ninety percent of the time he chose not to wear shoes. Amused him, and more often than not distracted him.

"They know what it did, the trauma it caused, the consequences�." Michael glanced at him at the exact same moment as he turned his head, guilt clear in his expressive face. "Sorry, I didn't mean�. That came out wrong."

Michael had a mock-hurt response all lined up, but Kitt's instant apology meant that he couldn't in all good faith use it against him. He smiled. "I know what you meant. And I agree. I wouldn't give you up for anything in this world or any other, and I know Nick feels the same way, but at the same time I wouldn't wish this on someone else. I was so lucky� Nick wasn't, at the beginning, and someone else might not be either."

He left the engine idling, and they waited. Nick's source had once again been correct; a few minutes later they heard the roar of that powerful engine they'd heard two days ago and a black blur soared into view in the heat haze a mile down the road. Karr stood his ground, parked diagonally across the centre of the road, no way passed now. The Mustang closed in on them at a frightening - exhilarating (depending on your point of view) - speed, and just as Michael was thinking that it wasn't going to stop, that they were going to have to give chase and how pissed off Karr was going to be when they caught it, it braked heavily, stopping half an inch from Karr's passenger door.

Immediately, Michael pulled the Trans Am onto the road behind the Mustang, mirroring Karr's position, getting out at the same time as Nick climbed from the Stealth.

"Mike Tracer," Nick called as they both approached the third car. Behind him, Michael heard Kitt get out of the Trans Am but stay with the car. "Get out of the car. We just want to talk to you."

Whatever conversation or thought process was going on inside the darkened cabin, it ended quickly, because the driver's door opened and a young man with brown hair in blue jeans and a red T-shirt stepped out, hands on the top of the door, eyes wide. Not looking at Nick, but across the roof of the car at Michael. Michael hesitated; something in the young man's eyes was staring back at him in the same way his own reflection did each time he looked in the mirror.

"Hey," Nick got his attention, head turning. "My name's Nick, this is Michael."

Mike nodded slowly. "I know. I recognise him, recognise you and that car." He nodded over at Karr's idling, malevolent form. "Devon told me about you." He turned again, tilted his head to look around Michael to where Kitt was standing. "Who's�?"

"Hey!" His head snapped back to look at Nick. "I'm the one doing the talking. I'm Nick, that's Michael, that's Karr, and you're Devon's new toy. Sorry, operative."

"He said to watch out for you."

"Good. Take his advice. But first how about listening to what we have to say." He nodded. "There's a chip in your head. It's connected to this." Nick tapped the hood of the black Mustang.

"KITT. His name's KITT." Michael's eyes widened, a smirk touching his lips, and he didn't have to look back at his partner to feel the surprise.

"Kitt?" Nick had managed to keep his voice level.

"Yeah, Knight Industries Three Thousand. K. I. T. T. You should know�."

"I know. We have a Kitt. Think of another acronym before he sues."

A smile - their smiles - spread over Michael's face.

"As I was saying. There's a chip - an implant - in your head. It's connected to the AI inside this car. It hasn't activated, but it will. Eventually someone or something will activate it and if you don't learn to control it very quickly, it'll drive you insane."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Michael closed in on the other side of the Mustang. "He's talking about a connection between you and your AI via an implant in your head. When it activates, you'll be able to feel� KITT in your head, feel� thoughts, feelings. And he'll be able to feel you. It'll drive you both mad if you don't learn how to deal with it, how to control it. Trust me on this."

Mike at least looked worried. "Why wouldn't Devon have told me about it?"

"Because for some reason he's chosen to use this technology again and he knows how you'll react when you realise what it means."

He watched Mike glance into the car, at the dash. "Listen, I like KITT, you know? He's prissy and it's like having your Mom around the place sometimes but he's okay. Having said that, man, I don't want him in my head!"

"You got no choice. It can't be removed without killing you. And once it activates, it's for life. Once it's switched it you won't want it switched off, trust us on this one too."

"But� what am I gonna do about it?"

"Nothing." Nick handed him a black rectangle of card with silver writing on it. "When you need us, call this number. When it activates." Mike took the card, and turning, Nick walked away. Michael did the same.

"You know, they told me you were dead." Both men stopped, turned.

"What?" It was Nick who asked, but they realised immediately that the question had been aimed at Michael.

"They told me, when I was four years old, that you were dead." There was no sadness in his tone, nothing really, just stating a fact. "Devon found me�."

Michael couldn't be sure if the confusion in his head was his own or Kitt's, but he'd gotten used to not separating their emotions in times like this, just accepting the feelings of them both, just like Kitt did. "What are you talking about? Why would your parents tell you about�."

"Not my parents." Still steady, still just telling that story. "My foster parents. They told me my real parents are dead."

Kitt worked it out first, worked out what he was saying.

//You're�.//

Michael shook his head, filtering denial back through to Kitt. "I'm not your father."

"According to Devon, you are." Mike glanced down at the card in his hands and looked up again at Michael. "I wanted this. But the implant - I didn't ask for it. I don't want it."

Michael didn't get the chance to answer as Mike dropped back into the Mustang and gunned the engine. Helpfully, Karr moved out of the way to let him pass, presumably a command from Nick. And they listened to the black car vanish into the distance. Nick never took his eyes from Michael, asking one question without saying a word.

"I don't know. That's the truth. I don't know."

"Then we find out."

Back inside the Trans Am, Kitt drove, half his mind on the road, half settled with his partner, offering strength and balance where there was suddenly so much uncertainty.