New Life (Re-written)

by lllBluebirdlll

(Sequel to the re-written version of "New start") Years had passed since Mike, Sarah, Billy and Zoe took in the new AIs with them and Mike and Sarah's daughter is starting to take interest in becoming the younger of the three AI's driver against her parent's wishes, some recent events have the whole group on edge about an old skeleton that refuses to die (Full summary inside)

1. 1 New Start

Part two of the three part series (New Start - New Life - New Ride)

Chapter 1

New start

Many things have happened since KIRA started her official training with KITT, as time went on she was granted with new software and applications as well as with access to some information she hadn't been able to access to before, old cases and even a thing or two about the original foundation that started with the AI program, slowly she acquired most of the answers to her questions of how she managed to end up where she was at the time and after months of intense training she was granted access to start going on a few missions with KITT or KIFT from time to time to get some first-hand experience on what she could face in the future. Even though she had learned much about her human companions and the older AIs there was still much that she didn't know, KIFT had once talked to KITT about letting her access the files that contained all the cases and attacks related to KARR since it would be useful information for her to have if anything of the same nature ever happened; the two hoped that they were free from him after the last time but after all that they had witnessed it looked like the corrupted AI was one annoying bug that wouldn't die, and no matter what they tried it would always come back one way or another…on the other side KITT thought that it would be better to spare her of those worries if possible, yes there would be a time when she would need to know and he was going to be the one to tell her, but as long as the situation didn't call for it in his mind it was better to leave things the way they were.

On a different note things were also going well for the humans involved in more ways than one; for starters Mike had finally brought himself to asking Sarah out in a more serious manner for a few more months until he broke the question out to her one night, of course she had said yes and everything had worked out perfectly for the four humans and the three AIs, aside from that recent cases that they had solved with the help of one or two of the AIs with them were noticed by some of the more important government agencies and a few offered them a space to work with them when they needed in exchange for some funding to change locations as well as specialized personal to fill up some of the much needed positions left unattended by the current small team of workers, this had happened just over a year ago.

The relocation for the new SSC had started by now and it would be quite some time until it became habitable, even more so for it to be ready to receive the full team of new workers and support the three AIs that would take residence there; as for the techs and drivers things had gotten quite hectic when they received the news that Sarah was expecting a baby, of course the first ones to start worrying much more than needed be where Mike and KIFT, the later one taking into account the life of her driver as well as the new addition to their peculiar family; of course all the others had their worries, more on the three AI's side than anything and even though the lead tech managed to take it for a while it was only a matter of time until it reached a point where it became ridiculous…and as expected when the day finally came panic broke loose in the SSC all the way to the hospital, needless to say that the AIs decided to take turns with each other to keep watch over the couple while they stayed there for the few days that it was.

Two years later and the paperwork for the reinstitution FLAG as an official government organization was officially finished and the new location was already on its way to being built, after discussing possible locations and taking into consideration previous events as well as safety they ended up deciding to make the new base of operation hidden in a large spruce forest set in a mountain range further up north, the location alone would make them hard to find on any satellite, conventional or unconventional map as well as serve as a natural shield to conceal the AI's unique signature along with the actual complex's. was it going to be hard to make their original concept reality in the actual location? Very much so indeed, the three AIs had argued that the place would be hard to reach for the machines they would need to dig up in the mountain and the risk was too high in their eyes, the human's response? "have a little faith" of the three AIs KITT was the one to internally smile when the other two internally looked at each other and himself in confusion as he remembered the first time Sarah told him to have faith years ago in one of his first missions; of course one could imagine the human's satisfaction when not only did the complex was finally build, but it had been done a year earlier than they had predicted…

-One year later-

Somewhere in lost mountain roads two cars drove under the shade of the tall spruce trees at speeds way above what anyone would consider safe, despite that the two shapes waved through the bends effortlessly up until the road leveled out and changed into a single lane street that went through a dense part of the forest; the two slowed down as the trees and plants surrounding the road closed in even more until it left just enough space for the cars to drive through it. The road ended in a large metal door that seemed built into the rocky side of the large mountain, the two stopped for a few seconds until the doors opened and allowed them to drive through. On the inside there was a single dark hallway that started to get lit up until it reached a chamber with metal doors on both ends, through the glass walls on either side of the chamber it was easy to see a larger room that had people buzzing around with various assortments of papers and equipment, each focused on their own task, a green light turned on above the entrance to the room through the smaller glass chamber as its doors opened, letting a black and blue Mustang to drive through as the second car stopped inside it to go through the same decontamination process.

A young man came into the large main room through one of the multiple hallways that led in and out of the room, he walked straight to the front of the station that was designated for the black Mustang just as he came out of the decontamination chamber.

"So, found anything out there?"

"not really, the closest street with some real transit is some distance away and the road leading here is pretty well hidden from view and away from other side roads. I'd say you and Sarah picked a good place for the location of the new SSC"

"well we needed something to be well hidden and the dense forest and limited travel terrain really helped us conceal even the signatures given by the in and out of constant information and data to the base"

"it's a very good natural shield against outside signals. How is Sarah?"

"she's with Katie, finishing up a few things with the setup"

"I still do not understand why you and Sarah chose to stay away for such a long time after she was born"

"well since we were just finishing up the plans for this new base shortly before that we though that, considering the situation, it could be good to get some actual rest while taking care of her fully for the first few years; when we told Billy and Zoe about it they were happy to help set everything up here and until then we remained focusing completely on her. I mean it's cool, we still had you or KIFT around at all times just in case since you insisted so much with the whole protection thing"

"I was just being cautious, as they say: better be safe than sorry"

"guess you're right with that. So, what about you and KIRA? How's her training going?" the army ranger threw a glance at the black and blue Mustang that stood on the station next to him getting checked over by multiple techs.

"we've really been making some progress these past few days, the new installations really helped with some of the more specialized training and the change in location helped not only her but KIFT and myself as well to adapt to new terrain and conditions"

"have you three gotten used to the way up here already?"

"it wasn't that hard a task"

"well the roads are very different in every way to the ones you guys were used to traveling through constantly"

"they are, but it's nothing that we can't handle, really"

As the two kept talking Sarah entered the room through the same hallway Mike had come through, she was holding the small hand of her five-year-old kid, she had her long black hair hanging loose and her deep blue eyes sparkled at the sight of her father, letting go of Sarah's hand she started to trot towards Mike, tripping with the edge of the platform KITT was parked on but managing to catch herself in the black car's front bumper, with a soft smile Mike bent down and carried her up "watch out Katie, this is no place to be running around" he put her down standing on the ground and greeted Sarah as she walked around the two.

The two drivers' child stood next to them looking in awe at the large room she was in, the colorful lights that came from several of the monitors and screens around the room catching most of her attention; she loved seeing new places and exploring around but from everything she had seen since she arrived this was the one place that called to her the most. The moment the girl finally started to look at things more at her level she noticed the group of people going around the black and blue car next to her, as they started to leave she approached it in curiosity; the bright shine that the blue stripes had in contrast with the car's otherwise dark coloring appealed to her eyes, there was also this soft whooshing sound that she knew came from the car as well kept her interested enough to start looking more closely into it. Barely reaching the dark windows she cupped her hands around her eyes to try and see inside but at the time it looked like any other car's interior for her, determined to find the source of the sound she listened more closely and finally discovered that it came from a bright red light that was moving back and forth on top of the car, the movement it had was almost entrancing to her. Satisfied with her findings she sat down in front of the car, looking up to the bright red light with her head cocked to one side.

The unexpected interest that the small human had found in her took her by surprise, she gave a few rounds around her only occasionally tracing her taillights and the cobra emblem on her sides in honest curiosity, the AI herself had found curiosity in Mike and Sarah's daughter since this was the first time she actually interacted with someone as young as she was; peeking inside her interior once she turned to look at her scanner in one point, finding appeal in its motion, color or both. The young child sat down directly in front of her with her head leaning to one side as she followed the double red lights of the AI's scanner with bright blue eyes

"So, why don't you introduce yourself to her?" KITT's voice interrupted her musings as she too looked at the kid in curiosity

"I…I was thinking how she got such a sudden interest in me, it's not like she has never seen a car like us before"

"in a way she really hasn't, I must say that I am even slightly surprised that she took that much interest when she could've gone to KIFT or myself, even the times both KIFT and I saw her first at the other house she was never this interested in either of us other than staring for a few seconds before resuming whatever activity she would be doing" there was a small bit of silence as the young AI and kid looked at each other "so, are you not going to say hi?"

"How to even start? Wouldn't she get scared of a normally inanimate object to suddenly speak to her?"

"she's not like most other kids I've seen, but if you don't think speaking would be the best approach at the time you can try something else"

"like what?" this time there was silence from the other AI, KIRA could still feel that both older AIs were keeping an eye on her to see what her first interaction with her would be like.

Mike and Sarah watched as their daughter stared back at KIRA's scanner, this was the first time either of them had seen such interest in any of the AIs that they knew of, the second Mike headed to pick her up he immediately stopped when KITT told him what KIRA was doing though his earpiece, he communicated this to Sarah and the two stood now as expectant as the older AIs. After another minute another sound called Katie's attention behind her, she turned around while sitting down before turning to standing up rather quickly, this caused her to lose her balance enough to stumble back; at that point she was expecting to fall flat on her butt back down but to her surprise something had caught her mid-fall. She used her hands to grab onto whatever was behind her to straighten up and she was surprised to find that it had been the one car she had been staring at, the red lights were moving in the same calming manner as the car slowly retreated back to its place after moving forwards to catch her…taking another step towards it she stretched her hand out and placed it down on top of the car's front bumper, the surface was warm to the touch and she could feel the light vibrations caused by the now active engine "Try not to stand up as fast next time" a gentle voice said to her, being jus tall enough to see that there was no one inside the car her young mind immediately went to the next logical thing that a child's mind could come up with her next guess was that the voice had originated from the actual car and immediately she looked back down at the bright moving light

"Hello?"

"Hello Katherine, it is a pleasure to finally meet you"

Once again the child sat down in front of the car and asked with genuine interest now "Who are you?"

"My name is KIRA"

The first few days that followed were mostly used to get everyone fully used to working on their respective stations as well as to get the drivers and AIs set up properly, true the cars had no trouble navigating the route here after staying for less than a month but the actual setting of their new place was a whole other story; technology had advanced quite a bit now and the new stations they had working as their gimbals, even though they worked using the same electromagnetic principle to hold down the cars, had many more inner workings that needed to be tweaked to each AI's specifications. The new group of techs and other workers sent by the NSA had been relatively small per Sarah's petition, less people meant the risk of having a leak or infiltrated of some sort was reduced considerably, besides, the location they had limited their space so even though the main chamber was bigger than the one they had back in Nevada the overall size of the complex was actually smaller, but it still kept most if not all of the commodities they had back there as well so space was really not something that bothered them all that much. Katie had been finding her own way around the place with each passing day, since at least one of her parents was always in the main room she ended up spending most of her days there and eventually she properly met all three AIs rather well, this was mainly because all the time she spent doing nothing during the evenings she spent it talking to the Mustangs but even after she became basically friends with the three she would always turn to KIRA for the most part until it even got to the point that, when KIRA was allowed to, the two would go on short drives through the mountain roads around the complex. In a way the young AI enjoyed these roads more than the long stretches of road the nearby highway offered, true they gave her the perfect ground to practice controlling her speed and whatnot but the wavy ups and downs of the mountain paths had some charm to it that she loved…love…such an interesting concept that caused her so much trouble when she first crossed paths with it, so many different uses for different situations and the internal conflict brought on by her programing telling her that it was illogical for her to have feelings; the night she brought up that very topic with KIFT was still fresh in her processor even though it had taken place so long ago…

-Flashback, two years ago-

It was late at night at the SSC, not a sound could be heard and everyone had gone to have some rest…well, almost everyone...The young AI remained awake as a rather strange thought kept going through her processor, she started thinking about how she managed to fit in with all these people, being a complete outsider to them…then there was also these strange sensations she kept getting every now and then during the conversation the three of them had with the techs and drivers…she had a faint idea of what it could be but something in the back of her processor told her that it was an illogical thought to have…what was this?

"Still awake?"

the blue and black Mustang found herself slightly jumping at the unexpected voice coming from the white car besides her "KIFT, I'm sorry did I wake you up?"

"not at all. So, what's troubling you?"

"troubling me? Nothing, I was just…thinking about a few things"

"If anything is keeping you awake after coming back from a mission then I'd say it's pretty troubling"

the young AI remained quiet for a few seconds before speaking again "I've had this feeling for the past few days, I do not know what it is and it's starting to bother me quite a bit for…"

"feeling you say…as in what context?"

"my first idea was that this was something of an emotion, an internal sensation triggered by some sort of external situation; I left it at that for a while but something in the back of my processor keeps telling me that's not it, simply because as AIs we are not capable of feeling emotions"

"is that what you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"You say that you think it's some sort of feeling, but yet your own internal computer argues against it so, I want to know, what is it that you think it is?"

the very same question she had been asking herself for a bit now, could it be possible that as AIs they could have real emotions? How was that something that could be developed if most things learned by an AI are usually through experience or new programs and algorithms directly installed on the computer? "I don't know…I really can't find a way to express what this really is…and that is what has been bothering me…"

"it's easier than you think, KIRA, you will hear many things about us AIs, about what we can and can't do, but you have to always remember that we, you, are not just any regular computer or set of algorithms, your programs are constantly changing on a day to day basis based on your experiences, you have to stop questioning yourself and trust in what your programing is telling you. remember how it took you a while to trust your systems for driving at the beginning?"

"I do, but I don't see how the two topics are related"

"just as you had to learn to trust your systems in driving you have to learn to trust your instincts"

"instinct is a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response without involving reason, in theory as AIs we do not have any 'instincts' simply because everything we do is calculated and thoroughly analyzed as well as supported by reasoning or hypothesis"

"right there, KIRA…somewhere in that sentence you answered you own question"

She stood silent for a few seconds "What?"

"you said that in theory AIs don't have any instincts"

"I did, why is that important?"

"In theory, according you, AI's do not have instincts…in theory you said, and a theory, in reality, is an abstract thought or speculation and therefor can be proven incorrect. My point here is that there are many things that because of your very own initial programing will be hard to understand and accept, but in time you will learn that as you grow and develop some new programing will start to get in conflict with the old one and cause this sort of trouble, what you need to do is go with the new one, since it has been developed after your own experiences and is adapting to your core's growth."

"so then…this feeling that I have is the development of a new core program?"

"Something like that, now that you have some more knowledge about this type of situations I'll leave it to you to find out whatever thou think might be happening. Good night KIRA"

"Good night KIFT…and thank you…for helping me"

-Present time-

The two black Mustangs remained on their stations at their base, Sarah had gone out to finish off the remaining paperwork to leave the property to FLAG's name and she would be getting back in a few hours, KITT was checking that all the backed up information from the SSC had been downloaded and stored properly in the new mainframe while KIRA was being checked over by the new techs under Billy's supervision so that in the future they would be able to perform the basic system diagnostics and other simple tasks, the two leading techs would still be in charge of the more serious repair and work for confidentiality purposes, only if they were under time constrains or there was a more complex and time consuming repair to be done they would be requiring of the others' help; the three AIs preferred it to be that way since they allowed only their closest friends to get access to their deeper and more complex programing and components simply because they trusted only their drivers in that regard for the most part with Billy and Zoe as a few exceptions. Since this was the first time KIRA had been around this many people going over her programing she couldn't help but feel the slightest hint of apprehension to the point that she even mentioned to KITT, he simply told her that she would eventually get used to it as well as to the people but that the more complicated and in depth repairs would still be done by Billy, Zoe or Sarah, this gave the young AI some peace of mind and in the span of a few months she had gotten used to the amount of people checking over her and monitoring her systems.

Five months after Sarah had finished arranging the papers that left the property to FLAG the group started to take missions on a regular basis in the way they used to back in the early days in the SSC, Mike and KITT were the ones to take them on for the most part, only occasionally taking KIRA with them in case they could need her as well as to help her grow and develop more as an AI with experience from data recollected after each of the missions she went to; only on few locations where their job implied a more challenging or dangerous mission did the two older AIs left together with their respective drivers, leaving KIRA as another help for Billy and Zoe when it came to research and problem solving when things got complicated.

At first the few times that KIRA was left behind while the older AIs left she always tried to convince either of them to let her go, of course the two always replied with a no due to the possible dangers that they could encounter in the mission; at first the black and blue Mustang didn't quite understand what more dangers one of these jobs could be…until during one of said missions Mike and Sarah got ambushed by the pseudo military group they were trying to take down, when that happened not only did they lost contact with both drivers and AIs for almost 24 hours, but by the time they got back in contact they were asking for assistance on fixing some of KIFT's systems after the two got chased out the camp and shot down with high powered missiles and explosively charged bullets, one of those missiles had hit KIFT on her side and even though the impact did not manage to fully break through her Nano skin the blow had been strong enough to send her off the road and damage some internal systems located in the general area where the missile had hit; right after the initial hit KITT had tried stopping the cars following them using an EMP, seeing this fail while KIFT was still trying to get out from the ditch she had fallen in both him and Mike turned to blowing the cars' tires, when the men inside them realized what had happened they all got down and instantly knocked out by either a well-placed hit from Mike or one of KITT's sleeping darts. The complications that particular mission caused for one or both AIs at times was enough to let KIRA see why they wouldn't let her go with them during cases of similar nature.

The times when both older Mustangs left with their drivers Katie ended up being taken care of by Billy and Zoe, or at least that was the general idea for it, in reality the child would rather stay around KIRA rather than sit on the large desk and watch whatever boring things the techs were doing. As time went on Katie and the young AI started to get along more with each other, the more the child grew and learned through the homeschooling program they were giving her at the base the more she was able to share and communicate with the AI; eventually most of her evenings when KIRA was at base consisted of them talking endlessly inside her cabin and watching movies on her HUD, on multiple occasions KIRA ended up being the one to teach Katie a thing or two based off of questions she would as her on a certain topic; it wasn't long until the AI realized that this kid had greater mental capabilities than most of her age, this thought only grew even further with the years as she ended up learning topics that most teens her age wouldn't even see until they reached university; alongside that Mike and Sarah had insisted on her taking the same military combat training that most of the field workers on the foundation had once she had reached an appropriate age, when she had asked them about it they only told her that it was for her own protection and In case any emergencies happened since by now she already knew everything about the foundation her parents worked on as well as what risks it could entitle for her being the daughter of not only both founders but also the drivers of the two older AIs.

Through the years Katie had formed a very strong bond with the black and blue Mustang that was not much unlike the one Mike and Sarah had with the older AIs, secretly she was half expecting that her parents would eventually tell her that she would start training with KIRA to eventually go out on missions on her own with her, you could imagine not only her but the AI's surprise when they told them that the NSA had told them to get a driver for the remaining AI so that they could use her more frequently and be more efficient in solving more than one case at a time; the thing behind said news was that on that very day a group of trained operatives had shown up precisely to try out for the position of the new driver, that day had been a nightmare for the two of them…

-Flashback, two months ago-

It was an early morning in the mountains, the fog was still way below the trees and the sky was just starting to change to lighter pinks and yellows, over on a small opening that overlooked a large valley remained the silhouette of a black car whose deep black surface was beginning to reflect the same colors as the sky; both front windows were rolled down and allowing the fresh smell of the forest to reach inside the cabin to its only passenger. Going out to see the first light of the day had become a routine for the daughter of Sarah and Michael Knight and the younger of the three AIs, every time after the black and blue Mustang returned from a mission the two made sure to be out in this very spot the following morning, this was the time when KIRA could unofficially tell Katie how the mission had gone in aspects she wouldn't normally know due to her low clearance, this of course troubled KIRA at first until she realized that this was one of the people she trusted most and it certainly wouldn't hurt to tell her about her missions.

"So, did you and KITT managed to get away from that?"

"It wasn't easy, especially with Mike infiltrated their group and we had to relay accurate information to avoid suspicion"

"Why did those guys wanted you two so badly though? You could've been any other Mustang for all they know"

"not exactly"

"what do you mean?"

"I mean that over the past few years as technology keeps advancing and we keep getting involved with larger terrorist groups the idea of a vehicle being controlled by an advanced artificial intelligence is no longer something people would only expect from a science fiction movie, but something slightly more believable"

"what does that have to do with anything?"

"look at it from this angle: of the amount of people that have heard of this organization and their special 'assets' a very small percentage would actually believe it to be true, with technology as it is today the percentage of people believing in our existence based off of rumors has increased"

"so then those guys knew about you and because of that they kept chasing and trying to stop you and KITT?"

"exactly"

"man is this getting rough, don't even want to see where we could end up in a few months with cases like this and the information spreading"

"that is why your parents decided on the tech rotation system they started eight years ago"

"I though they did that to get new and younger people with greater knowledge about modern technology"

"that too, although there is not much anyone can do to get over Billy and Zoe's levels"

"you're telling me. So when's the next rotation going to be? The guys we have in the main room have been there for quite a while now"

"if the previous pattern remains undisturbed then the next wave of techs should come in a few months' time"

"still quite a while eh"

"depends on your point of view"

"guess so" the young woman laid back in the car's seat with her hand resting on the window ledge as she looked over the valley to the far mountain range where the sun was just starting to peek from "When do you think it'll happen?"

"what will happen?"

"you know, the whole, mom and dad giving me a try to become your driver?"

"that's something I would like to know myself, I still remember way back when I was just getting settled in this new body thinking about finally getting a driver after I was finally able to witness what that bond could be like with KITT and your father, though I never really thought it could happen with both his and KIFT's driver's daughter"

"hey about that, you told me a while back that you were basically raised by KITT and KIFT right?"

"I don't think 'raised' is the appropriate word for that"

"oh come on the two of them took you in from that one place somewhere up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere and helped you settle in the SSC and in your new body, KITT personally trained you afterwards and up until this day so I'm pretty sure 'raised' as you put it, would be the appropriate word"

"…well if you say so"

"dude I'm serious, that wasn't even my point, what I wanted to get with that was that, if what I said before is true" she pointed a finger to the AI's voice modulator then "and it is, then wouldn't that make KITT and KIFT sort of your, like, parents?"

"no, in the strict sense of the word, it wouldn't"

"ok then don't take it literally, figuratively speaking"

"…in that case I suppose it would…I never really got around that though before, it never came to mind like that"

"and I can't believe I didn't either, after all these years since we really started talking…how long ago was that even? Wasn't I like five?"

"six, to be precise, we did meet when you were around five but it wasn't until months later that we really started talking for the first time"

"feels like if it had happened in the span of just a few years for me…"

"it has been twelve years since then"

"wow, don't make me feel old or anything…geez"

"Katie you are not 'old' by any definition of the term" after that there were a few minutes of silence as the two turned to continue looking at the rising sun until it became too bright to see, only then did the two turned around and decided to get back inside the base; only few people actually knew that despite being surrounded by three AIs Katie wasn't allowed to learn to drive with either of them, and up until that day she still hadn't driven any of the AIs simply because she wasn't allowed to, she wanted to, badly, but there was no way she would disobey orders, not after that one time…oh boy

the two arrived at the tunnel entrance and patiently waited a few seconds until it opened, driving through the dark corridor and stopping on the decontamination chamber KIRA went straight to her station. "KIRA?...does anything seem strange to you?"

"I don't know want you are referring to"

"look around, it's way too early for this many people to be up and working, are the other techs at mission-ready status?"

"no, KIFT would've told me if they were"

"maybe you're not going out today"

"even if that was the case she would've told me, she always does"

Katie was about to ask something else when both Mike and Sarah walked by in a slightly more formal attire than usual "Okay there is definitely something going on"

"why do you say so?"

"because my parents would never dress up like that for nothing"

"are you sure about that?"

"well even If that wasn't the case dad wouldn't wake up this early unless there was a mission of some sort, you already said that there is no current mission so, by process of elimination-"

"-our NSA representative is coming"

"what? Well I was going for something different but-"

"no Katie, he is coming, security cameras just detected a group of three cars, two of which are armored and one in between both"

"why would he come back? He never drives by, everything is usually done through private video chat with mom" she finished as she reached for her shoes across the seat

"where are you going?"

"to find out what's going on, keep an eye out and see what you can find, tell me if anything happens" Katie quickly climbed out of the Mustang and waving through people she stopped where her mother was talking to one of the guards "Mom, what's going on why is everyone up so early?"

"good morning Kate, glad you made it back, I was worried you and KIRA wouldn't return in time"

"in time for what?"

"go get changed before they get in and meet us back here"

"wait, you haven't even answered my first question, where's dad even?"

"He went out through the back exit to greet our NSA rep." she then turned to push Katie through one of the hallways leading to her room "Now go on, meet us back down here"

Before Katie could turn around to argue Sarah had already turned around and was quickly going towards the group of people she had been talking to before.

Katie ran back to her room and quickly started to look for something moderately presentable, just as she was trying to fix her hair KIFT appeared on the screen in her room "Katie, we have a problem"

"what is it?"

the AI then projected the live feed from one of the exterior cameras that showed her dad greeting the NSA representative:

"Michael Knight, pleasure to see you again"

"the feeling is mutual sir"

"I assume you already know why I am here"

"I believe so, the problem is that a task such as that one is not easy to achieve, there are many protocols and procedures to make it work as well as lots of time in between"

"I know that, but it has been two months since I first contacted Sarah about it and with no results the people back at HQ are breathing down my neck"

"we are doing all that we can to get this going, I can assure you that"

"well then your best isn't quite enough. We need a driver asap and since I haven't seen any more progress on this topic from your part I needed to take matters into my own hands"

"sir?"

"let's go in, I'd rather explain this only once when the rest of your team is present"

"shall we go in then?"

"lead the way"

the video was cut once the small group had left frame, Katie found herself frozen in her place for a few seconds before the reality of what she had heard finally sunk in "they are going to assign you a driver!?"

"it appears they are"

"but what, like when even is this happening? And why did my parents never told me about this if the NSA had told them that long ago?!"

"you know as much as I do, and I do have to remind you that you have approximately three minutes to meet your parents back at the main room"

"aw crap!" in between profanities and mid-falls Katie managed to run out of her room and into the main area where most of the higher class personal had been reunited; Knowing that it was best to keep quiet Katie ran up to be next to her parents. For meeting with high government operatives there was a protocol where the main tech and guard leaders had to stand in certain places where they could easily be identified by their position and job; Billy and Zoe had taken place on each side of the room in front of two of the larger computers with their tech team behind them, the guard commanding officer stood in front of the large entry door and Mike and Sarah stood next to their AIs respectively. With the conversation she had heard earlier Katie found it hard to stand with her mother and not next to KIRA where she should be, in all honesty it bothered her that their parent would even think of enlisting anyone but her as the AIs driver considering she had spent basically all her life this far with the AI…she knew her better than anyone and because of that she knew for a fact that having a driver just assigned to her like that would require quite some time for the computer to assimilate and trust as her driver.

The moment the NSA rep. stepped out of a hallway and into the room Katie shot a worried glance KIRA's way, one she AI mirrored with a barely visible split second increase od her scanner's intensity; it wasn't until a few seconds later that Katie noticed the subtle difference in the speed KIRA's scanner was moving in comparison to that of KITT and KIFT's, there was no doubt in her mind that the AI was worried about what would happen in the next few minutes, to be honest she couldn't blame her for it.

Surprise surprise, the NSA was going to send in a group of their specially trained operatives first hour tomorrow to start trying out for the driver's position; at the very least Sarah had argued against it for a while up until she realized that without the NSA's support they would return to work under the radar and without support, never before had Katie seen her mother so frustrated with any situation before this, the thing with her was that when anything involver either of the AIs' well-being she was the first one to jump up to defend them. About an hour after the NSA guys left and Katie had spoken to KIRA about what had happened they both agreed to try and talk to their respective parents to try and see if somehow they could convince them of letting Katie partner up with her…of course things had gone just as expected for Katherine.

"No"

"But mom you know that there's no other way if you don't want strange people with her"

"we'll just have to find another way, you are not becoming KIRA's driver, I've had enough experience with Michael and myself to know that I don't want you exposed to the same kind of risks"

"I've had the training you guys put me through for the past five years, I was even able to take down dad during a sparring match!"

"that doesn't mean anything, I said no, and that is my last word"

"would you rather let some strange guy who none of us know take control of her? For real? I am the best choice you could take to avoid any possible security breaches or similar issues and you know that"

"no security breach is big enough to put your life in danger, that is the las thing I am saying, Katherine Knight…go back with KIRA try and help her out for the rest of the day"

"how did you even know she was-"

"I've worked with KITT for years, the other two AIs are no different than him in the way the express themselves visually, I knew she wasn't comfortable with this whole situation since the moment they said they were sending a group of soldiers to try for the spot"

"Mom please, let me give it a try, it will be better for the three of us, KIRA won't have to worry about some random guy driving her and you won't have to worry about any security breaches"

"I said no, you'll stay here and work with Billy and Zoe on whatever needs to be done"

"I've already done that for the past missions, the two have agreed that I have more than enough skills in that field for anything that could possible happen out there"

"…not happening Kate, you are not going through what your father has gone through if I can stop it. If you really want to help that much go back to KIRA and talk to her, if anything good is going to come from tomorrow we need her to cooperate as well"

frustrated Kate walked out of the room and started to make her way over to the three AIs, hopefully KIRA had more luck then she did…

"You know very well that this is not how it works when it comes to getting a driver, you've told me countless times about the bond you shared with Mike, how it started and how it evolved into what is has become to this day"

"I know I have, but this is a different situation KIRA, I don't want you out there with someone we don't know anything about either but that is how thing will have to be"

"you can do a background check on him anyway, that wasn't my point"

"some things can remain hidden from files KIRA, we've seen it multiple times in the past"

"I know, and that is precisely why I am having this conversation with you. Look, maybe you didn't have much of a choice when it came to your driver since it was in your programing from the beginning but from what you've told me Michael was well known by Dr. Graiman and Sarah, KIFT accidentally bonded with Sarah to the point that the two became partners almost without speaking and yet I have to adjust my programing to someone that none of us know, maybe even by tomorrow night, don't you think that can get to be just slightly unfair?"

"KIRA, believe me when I tell you that if we had a say in the matter both KIFT and I would strongly object to it, but as the situation stands neither of us have a real say in what could happen tomorrow; the only thing you can do wait" KIRA was about to respond to this until the two AIs saw Kate enter the room and head straight for the black and blue Mustang "we'll continue this talk later tonight if you still want to. Talk with Katherine, see what the two of you can come up with"

after Katie climbed back inside KIRA the two spoke about the matter at hand as well as their positions and possible scenarios and ideas to make it work in their favor, but all to no avail, by nightfall the two were still back at where they had started their discussion and there was not much they could do but get some rest and be out there for each other the following morning during the tests.

To say that Katie had trouble falling asleep the previous night would've been a understatement, she literally tossed and turned for about two hours before she could manage to get the slightest hint of sleep and it still took another hour after that until she finally managed to properly fall asleep; when she finally opened her eyes the following morning she could see that the lights on the hallway were still slightly deemed down, meaning that it was still too early for anyone to be going around regularly, she remained staring at her roof for a while longer until she found the strength to sit up and take her phone from the nightstand next to her 'god why do I have to wake up so early…'

Wiping her eyes out of they sleep as she she waited for her phone to turn on she though once more about all that had happened yesterday, who would've thought that things could have such a drastic turn of events so fast…

After being blinded by the bright screen for a few seconds she started to scroll down through whatever notifications she got during the night up until the point where she reached the top ones, her heart skipped a beat when she saw three missed calls from KIRA as well as two messages she had sent ten minutes ago, the last one telling her that the NSA's military group had arrived, she glanced to the top of the screen and she nearly regretted getting up in the first place 'why would they come this early in the day!?' with one jump she climbed out of her bed and quickly headed to grab some sweatpants and a shirt to put on, running out of her room as she tied up her hair she got to the set of stairs that would take her to the underground training area for the AIs, this place consisted of a large open area under the main base that had the equipment to simulate different weather patterns for training purposes, at the time Katie was able to see that all the lights were on and the AI was on the opposite side of the room with Sarah by her side, she was explaining something to the group of eight military soldiers standing in front of her.

Sarah continued to explain what the trials would be about, it was very straight forward, go through a short obstacle course that had been marked in the room within a certain time limit, easy enough right? Just as Sarah had finished explaining Katie stopped next to her in time to see all but one of the soldiers step back, the one remaining stood next to the AI's driver's side door

Kate walked up next to Sarah and spoke in just whispers "Why didn't you tell me they had arrived?"

"Didn't want to wake you up"

"I told KIRA that I was going to be with her during the tests"

"well you're here now right?" looking to the soldier the tech nodded for him to climb inside the car, the door opened easily and closed back up with the characteristic pressurized hiss

"You can't do this"

"I can and I will, we have no choice Kate, now step back and help me out and start the time as soon as you're ready"

Reluctantly Kate took out her phone and brought up the stopwatch as the Mustang's engine came to life with a loud growl; KIRA knew she had orders not to interfere in the guy's driving, she had to leave it completely to him and only make observations that would help her and Sarah analyze who had the best driving patterns and ability, supposedly they all had a certain degree of skill in driving but the AI knew for a fact that it was way different to drive any other normal car than driving one specially designed like she was so there was no way that every single one of them wouldn't find at least some trouble when trying to go through the course with the fastest time.

Katie tried several times not to sigh in despair as she saw each of the first five guys that were trying out for the driver position fail miserably to control the car, all of them ended up drifting off to a side in the same bend and at least half of them had remained with the car's tires spinning in place at takeoff; even Sarah couldn't help but shake her head at some of the sights that were happening in front of her. Most of the soldiers slammed on the car's breaks right after crossing the line and more than once they almost ended hitting the wall right behind them, the following two went on slightly better with their way of driving and so far they had received the best look from Sarah and scored the fastest times, evidently they had some driving skills but it was still not enough on Katie's eyes, she knew that KIRA didn't approve of it either but just as her she didn't have a say in the matter.

The last guy to try out for the position called Katie's attention, he was tall and well-built with light brown hair and eyes, she didn't know what it was about him that didn't seem to fit but there was definitely something sketchy about him, she would make sure to see if KIRA felt it as well once this whole ordeal was over.

KIRA was really not liking this idea Sarah used for the soldiers to try out for drivers, most of them had failed miserably when meeting the standards for reaction time and precision and she had to apply her own force to slow down the car in the end for two of the drivers. With a low sigh that managed to escape through her vents she resigned herself to receive the last driver; the man opened her door and fell inside, settling in her seat and getting ready to start, KIRA found it interesting that while the other seven guys had looked around her interior and her HUD display this one didn't even take a glance at her voice modulator, he just took hold of the wheel and stared out the window, seconds after KIRA turned on her engine Sarah gave him the go and just like that he took off without the slightest hint of wheel spin, the first bent was performed with precision that surpassed the previous seven drivers, the zig zagging motion was just as precise and when the end of the track appeared he threw the AI into a sideways drift that stopped right past the finish line. Now it had been the AI's turn to be surprised, the other candidates, Sarah and Kate had the same expression on their faces after seeing how well this man had managed to control the AI with such skill; this was the first time that they knew of that he had been behind the wheel of such a car and seeing how well he kept his line Katie was sure that Sarah was going to choose him over the rest to be KIRA's driver, the only candidate that she had felt something weird about happened to be the same one that could control the AI with near perfect precision, coincidence? Not a chance in the world…

-End flashback-

ever since that day Katie's time with KIRA had been cut down by a considerable amount, she had to start training with the guy so that the AI could integrate the new driver into its core neural network and work their way up from there, this had started about two weeks ago and by now the guy had even set up his room; it wasn't until a few days after he settled in that Katie noticed that the three AIs had a feeling about him that was not right, KIFT herself had made sure to go over this man's files thoroughly and there was nothing she could find on him to make a proper argument against Sarah or the NSA, Kate found some peace knowing that she wasn't crazy, KIRA herself felt it too but of the four of them she was the one that couldn't say a word about it.

About a week later KIRA had her first alone mission scheduled, it was simple enough so that her and the new driver could get accustomed to each other, something the AI thought would take more than just a few missions, considering that the guy barely spoke to her unless it was absolutely needed and to give out commands and other orders; KIFT had spoken to KITT about that before and how she though it could've been a little unfair that both of them were able to 'choose' their drivers, in a way, while KIRA had been given a driver without her getting a choice in the matter. KITT brought this up to Mike in one of their routine rounds around the mountain and to his surprise Mike had agreed with him, he even told him that Sarah herself didn't want it to be done that way since it was basically forcing the AI's programming to mold to the driver subconsciously, something the tech hated to do but that in reality it was their only choice for the time constrains they had.

When the day finally came that KIRA was going to leave on her first mission even the two older AIs were a little worried about what could happen since it was a three-hour drive from the base to where they needed to go even with KIRA's speed so if anything did happen help would be quite a ways off. Sarah had started to notice that both KIRA and her daughter's demeanor had subtly changed over the past few weeks, she knew that Kate didn't approve of this and that KIRA was uncomfortable with the situation but there really was not much for her to do if the NSA wanted results in the short amount of time they had set for them…felling the slightest hint of regret when Katie didn't assist to the mission's launch sequence she uploaded the complete files into KIRA before letting them go, the loud sound from the engine echoing through the tunnel until the double doors closed behind them.

Unbeknown to the three AIs both Billy and Zoe had mixed feelings towards the new guy as well, he barely spoke to anyone around and kept to himself almost all the time, when Billy got word of how well he had done on the driving test with KIRA his suspicions only grew bigger and for once Zoe was actually agreeing with him.

The AI decided to take the wheel for the first half of the journey and since her new driver didn't object to it (or spoke to her at all) she continued to drive. Everything seemed relatively normal to her situations up until "KIRA shut down all connection to FLAG"

So he does talk…wait what? "May I ask why do you-"

"shut down all communication lines to base right now"

"I am sorry but I cannot do that, I have orders that-"

"I am your driver, because of that I can override all and any other commands from higher ranks so do as I say and shut down all communications"

reluctantly and feeling that something was definitely wrong the AI had no choice but to obey and cut off all contact, sending a direct message to Katherine as she did so, whoever this man was she was sure now that there was more to him than what was on the files…on the up side she could now go back to Sarah with solid evidence that he was not who they thought he was and hopefully they would remove him from his position. "what is the purpose of cutting our communication lines?"

"…"

Of course he's back to his silent self…

The two spent a few minutes like that as they kept driving up until the point when without any warning whatsoever the guy took a hold of the wheel as he took a small device from his pocket and pressed a large blue button on it that immediately sent the car in a sideways drift off into the dirt terrain on the side of the road when the systems shut down; the normally light blue globe on the dash had turned black and the HUD on the windshield flickered off.

The tall man climbed out of the car and brought up his phone as he walked a small distance away from it; as he did this the car's trunk slowly opened and without him knowing Katherine climbed out as carefully as possible, she closed the trunk without making any more noise and climbed back into the driver's seat, closing the door and locking herself in the car just as the man turned around to see her inside 'oh crap' as fast as she could she settled herself in her seat while mumbling to herself about not trusting the man before and how wrong had everyone else been, turning the key over and over as the car kept stalling "come on KIRA, don't go dying on me yet we knew something was going to go down so wake up!" as she screamed the last bit she placed her hand into the side window where a light blue touchpad appeared as the remote scanner registered her fingerprints and brought the car back online as the man brought out a gun from one of his pockets "Come on KIRA we don't have much time here!" she kept mumbling to herself while waiting for the system to boot back up, as soon as the man started shooting she ducked down and looked at the blue bar on the windshield that read that the reboot was just getting over 50% "okay screw this I'm getting us out of here no matter how bad a nagging I get from my parents when we're back " starting the engine herself and throwing the car In reverse she started to immediately accelerate back the way they had come from, shaking the back end of the car at the beginning due to the sudden burst of speed she managed to get it under control after a few more meters.

Relief washed over Katherine her as she saw out of the corner of her eye the blue light from the orb in the dashboard light up, bringing the HUD back online as well "KIRA please tell me you're okay?"

"I'm fine, and I must say that I am quite glad that I agreed to doing this"

"I told you something was off about the guy, now we can go back and report this to the base so that they can get a word from the NSA about all this crap"

"Once I am done rebooting my system fully I'll be able to contact FLAG, but you'll have to keep driving"

"and why is that?"

"I believe one of the circuit groups that allow me to take control of the car has been fried and needs to be replaced"

"are you serious? My parents are going to kill me if they see me driving you, hell, they'll kill me just because of the fact that I'm here with you! Do they even know about this fiasco that just happened?"

"I cannot be certain about it but taking into account the sudden communications silence as well as my disappearing signal they should already be working on something"

"can't they detect your signal now that you're back?"

"It'll take a few minutes until that Is reestablished, but my communications program is back"

"great…open a chat line with the base…and prepare for hell raining on us for this one"

As soon as the chat line opened on the screen Katie saw both Billy and Zoe's expressions immediately change when they saw her face "Kate?!"

"yeah, hi guys"

"what are you doing with KIRA?"

"I'll explain later Zoe I promise but for now I need to speak with my mom"

not even two seconds after she finished that sentence an angry Sarah popped into frame with a stare that could melt steel "Katherine?! What the hell are you doing with KIRA out there? And what just happened a minute ago when her signal disappeared?!...are you driving the car?!"

"yeah glad to see you too, look, first of all: I told you so and second: I'll tell you everything as soon as we get back

"where are you?"

"I'm sure KIRA's signal will be reestablished in a few seconds, that little blast was just bad news all around"

Sarah immediately looked back from the tablet she was holding "blast?!"

"Katie?" The AI interrupted just then

"Give me a second here KIRA"

"But Kate there-"

"Please KIRA just wait I need to-"

"Katherine we have two armored vehicles in pursuit, they will intercept with us in under a minute and I still can't access most of my defensive and offensive systems" Kate turned to look up from the dashboard to her mother's face on the screen as the reality of her situation sunk in

"Mom?..."

"Don't worry Katie, hang in there I'm sending Mike and KITT out for you two"

"But the base is still an hour away!"

"We can cut that time in half if you keep moving in our direction. KITT will contact you when he's close, please be careful, this is precisely the type of things I wanted to spare you from..."

"I'm sorry, but you left me no choice..."

Kathrine then cut the line and turned to look at the rearview mirror to the two red cars following her before tightening her grip on the wheel

"What are you planning on doing?"

"well…you know, just put my driving skills to the test and try and hang on until KITT arrives?"

"Katie you have never been behind my wheel actually driving before"

"I know…but how hard could it be?" famous last words

"harder than you'd expect, especially if you happen to only drive once every blue moon"

"oh come on now you're just exaggerating"

"I do not believe this is nor the appropriate place or time to be discussing this"

"well you're right about that…okay if this is going to work I'm going need you to trust me KIRA, I do kind of know some of your mechanical abilities and limitations so I'll try to stay in between those boundaries"

"Try?..."

As soon as the line was terminated Sarah spun around to face Mike as he entered the main chamber "You know what's going on don't you?"

"Yeah, and I don't like it one bit"

"Neither do I, go with KITT, he already had KIRA's coordinates and the sooner you get to them the less they'll have to deal with those two cars"

"Don't worry Sarah, I'll bring her back" he turned to look at the black Mustang besides him "we'll bring them back" as soon as Mike jumped in the car the loud sound of the AI's engine filled the room, the platform he was standing in turned around to face the exit and with one last growl the car vanished into the tunnel's darkness...