| Knowing what to expect and seeing the reality
were two completely
different things. Nick could see the shock written all over
Bonnie and
Justin's faces as their strange little convoy pulled into
the
warehouse. The weather had turned during the time they'd
been on the
road and it was pouring with rain now, the air sticky with
heat. Nick
had taken the lead, Karr bringing up the rear with some kind
of
protective notion that his brother needed to be sandwiched
between
them. It didn't seem to matter than his brother was
currently over
twenty times his size, a significant number of times his
weight or that
he'd apparently destroyed an entire research and development
facility -
garages, labs and living quarters. Karr was oddly quiet during the journey, not blocking any more than usual but not offering any contact by way of feelings or words either. It wasn't until they were within a mile of the warehouse when he offered the beginnings of a conversation they didn't have time to finish. <You think Kitt killed Garth Knight> It wasn't a question. And Nick didn't know how to answer. <I think it was an accident> <Liar> Yeah. If Garth had been crushed by a falling wall, or buried or a mountain of rubble from an upstairs room� but the injuries had been defined by the marks from the grille welded to the front of the semi. He'd been hit by it, front on, and the impact had been hard and fast. <Do you think he's capable?> Karr didn't respond. Maybe he didn't know or didn't want to consider it. Possibly he didn't care but Nick doubted it; Karr had battled to prevent his brother becoming like him and despite all the odds, despite everything he'd been subjected to over the years, he'd remained the gentle, altruistic soul he'd started out as. Even Michael, who lived it seemed to help people in trouble, could be a dark a person Nick could ever wish to meet when provoked. But if there was one thing guaranteed to push Kitt over the edge it was breaking the link, forcing him to consider the possible death of a man who was far more than his driver, more than his partner, more than a friend. Michael was the other half of him, his whole life. If Garth had made him believe Michael was gone forever, nothing would stop Kitt's rage for revenge; Geiger had almost found that out first hand - only Karr and Nick had prevented it. This time, no one had been there to talk him down. It quickly became obvious that they weren't going to get the grille off without some major work, and so Bonnie and Justin decided to go through the cabin into the engine, cutting away panels, tearing away pieces of the dashboard until they could see into the engine compartment. Nick watched with Michael, helped where he could, disposed of the unwanted bits until they had the access they needed. Then Michael took Justin's place and lying on their backs in the squashed space on the floor of the cabin they peered up into the engine compartment, looking for something familiar - preferably a black box containing Kitt's CPU - using the bright beam of light coming from the torch Nick held in place for them. There was nothing black by their reports, but there was a metallic box, silver, about ten inches by eight by three, with wires coming out of it going to various engine parts, screwed in just behind the steering column. Michael reached up to touch it gingerly and asked, "Is that Kitt?" But Bonnie shook her head. "I don't know. It's not how his CPU looks but it might be holding it." Holding steady, Nick watched as she reached in carefully, removing each screw one at a time, letting the box drop into Michael's waiting hands, the wires still attaching it. It was brushed silver, with tiny screws looking to be holding the lid in place, flush with the rest of the box. <Scan it> Karr acknowledged, but a second later his response came back. <I can't penetrate it> <Why not?> There were screws in the top of the box too, and with Michael holding it, Bonnie took them out, one from each corner. <It's�. NICK!> He didn't catch any more. He heard Michael's cry of pain and understood it as his own head exploded with only a shadow of the white-hot agony that had hit the other man. Shards of it pierced his own mind through his connection to Karr, Karr's connection to Kitt�. He was vaguely aware of Bonnie shouting something before his knees gave way and Karr caught him with an open door, letting him grab at the window and drop to his ass in the passenger seat. Only when the dancing lights melted from his vision did he see that Michael hadn't been so lucky. He'd toppled from his precarious kneeling position on the edge of the cabin's door, hitting the hard floor headfirst, adding to the mounting headache, at the same time dropping the box he'd been holding so reverently. It pulled a couple of the wires from the engine as it fell, caught from hitting the floor of the cab by the few connections that remained. Nick could feel Karr's distraction as he forced himself to his feet and staggered over to Michael's side, dropping to sit on the floor next to him, back against the couch. He had his head in his hands, his knees pulled up. Pressed shoulder to shoulder, Nick asked quietly, "You okay?" He didn't get a verbal answer, but he thought he saw a vague nod. Glancing up, he pointed to the box in Bonnie's hands. "That would be Kitt then." She nodded. "Can I take a look at the top?" She handed it down to him and he knew immediately what the intricate circuitry soldered to the inside of the metal lid was. It resembled a computer motherboard but he recognised the patterns, recognised the components, and knew what Garth had done. "It's a jamming device, similar to the wrist cuff Geiger used." Looking up at Karr he added, "More wide-ranging potentially, cutting Kitt off not just from Michael but from Karr too." Speaking of whom� his partner's presence suddenly became stronger in his mind. <Are you all right?> <No> <Did he hurt you?> <Never> Bloody hurt me. But he kept the thought carefully to himself. <What about Kitt?> <I have� blocked him. Knight is either unable or unwilling to do the same. Kitt is flooding him> <Do something> <What would you suggest? If I break into their link I could severely hurt them> <Calm him down> <Calm him down?! He was torn from the car, torn from his driver, implanted in a machine that had tried to kill him on many occasions. He is in a great deal of pain. I will not interfere> Nick could feel Karr's radiating anger, and that was the end of the conversation, apparently. He refocused on Bonnie. "Can you get Kitt back in the car?" "Yes� it shouldn't be a problem." "Then do it." He saw her hesitation. "What?" "What if� whatever's happening makes him� edgy?" She glanced at the Knight Two-Thousand and Nick knew immediately what she was referring to. Intensely strong activity in the link could mean a translation of energy through to the vehicle. When Kitt was scared, he tended to take out walls. "Okay." He hated to do it, and Karr wasn't amused, but at least he understood that it was for his brother's own good. Kitt had long ago altered his security protocols to allow Nick to access and drive the car, and moving the truck back twenty feet, they parked the highly modified TransAm with its rear bumper against the base of the monster's iron grille. Karr manoeuvred the Stealth to be directly across its prow, effectively boxing it in. Kitt could give it everything he had and, fingers crossed, neither the block behind him nor the obstacle in front would move. At the very least he wouldn't have the power to take out Karr and a wall at the same time, even if he did manage to budge the Stealth. By all accounts it wasn't easy working with Karr in the way, but Bonnie and Justin had worked around him in the past and once they'd pried the CPU out of the metal casing and detached the wires from the engine, it was a simple process to return it to the MBS-coated box still sitting within the Knight-Two Thousand's engine compartment and re-attach everything. At first Kitt didn't even attempt to move. There was no reaction whatsoever, not a flash of the scanner or a single light on the dash. But a second later, a long groan from Michael still lying on the floor was accompanied by the firing of Kitt's turbines and the screaming of his engine at full-tilt as the brake was released and the car tried to shoot first forward and then back. The Stealth held its ground, tyres grabbing at the special flooring. Kitt screamed in frustration, a terrible metallic sound that bounced around the walls of the warehouse and the skulls of those who heard it. The silence that followed still rang with the echo of it. //Kitt!// Opening himself completely, dropping every tiny, basic barrier he'd ever erected to protect his very self and his individuality, Michael reached for his partner. He grabbed him and held on through the struggle, through the panic and desperate fight for freedom. //Stop!// He let go of every doubt, every suspicion, every thought of death and suicide. He surrounded Kitt in his amber hued presence, wrapping himself around the bright white pulse, everything he was laid bare. Closing his eyes he concentrated on what was going on in his head, in that virtual place between his physical body and Kitt's CPU. He deepened the contact and slowly joined with his partner on a level only they would ever know, becoming a part of him, seeing what no one else had ever seen, feeling alien touches, the brushes of unfathomable thoughts, words that could never be translated. He added three of his own. The car stilled and fell silent at the heart of the sudden void of sound. Nick glanced at the man sitting on the floor against the couch, curled in on himself. He saw tears hitting the ground and resisted the urge to put a hand on Michael's arm, to touch and comfort. Disturbing them right now - and he knew instinctively it was 'them' and not 'him' - would be a very bad thing. "No one touch him," he told Bonnie and Justin in no uncertain terms. "Just� leave everything� just for a few minutes." He looked from Karr, over the top of the Knight Two-Thousand to the now dead bulk of the truck and wondered what the hell they were going to do with it. He knew Michael, probably Bonnie too, would want it disassembled and reduced to scrap. But there were other, more practical options and he couldn't help but think that a virtually indestructible truck just might come in handy sometimes. There were places he could stash it where no one would ever find it unless he wanted them to. <They won't be happy> He smiled to himself. <Spying on me? Could you keep it quiet from Kitt?> <If I needed to> <Good. You never know when something like that might come in useful> <Prison breaks. Breaking into particularly difficult vaults. Destroying buildings> Murdering the bad guys. But Nick barely thought it. <What about Garth?> <Let the authorities find his body. He was killed, so what? He was a criminal, he was insane. No one's going to mourn him> <Let us hope that Kitt agrees with you> //Michael?// Kitt backed off just slightly, pulling back some of himself from Michael's presence, and Michael made sure he held on, unable and unwilling to let go completely. //I'm here. all that I am�// He felt his partner's caress and shivered slightly, returning the touch. //I was so scared I'd lost you. I thought you were dead// //I should be// //No. don't say that. don't ever say that// //when they moved me� I couldn't control it// Pulling Kitt close once more, Michael held him, felt himself held in return. //their own fault. they got everything they deserved// //no// He felt his partner untangling and allowed him to, reached one tendril of himself towards Kitt when he backed off entirely, making sure they never completely lost that strangely physical feeling of connection. //Kitt�// //you have to let me go// The words sent a chill down Michael's spine. //never// //you must// //I won't. I would rather die// //you don't understand// //you killed Garth// No accusation, just a statement of a fact he now knew to be the truth. Kitt didn't even hesitate. //yes// //I don't care// |