Rider

by Dark Sadistic Angel

Old story. Loosely based on 80s drama Knight Rider. Duo, an AI car, falls in love with his Rider, Heero. Meanwhile, his comrade, Trowa gets rather illogical over Quatre.

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Disclaimers Apply.
Fanfiction by: Dark Sadistic Angel
C&C: darksadisticangel at
Mature Audiences.
Warnings/Description: 1x2/2x1, 3+4/4+3, AU, Humour, Lime, Slight Angst, Yaoi.
A romance that crosses the barrier between machine and flesh. Two high tech AI cars fall in love- and lust- with their Riders. And vice versa...
2002/03/09.

Title: Rider

Duo eyed Trowa with envy. Quatre was washing him. He watched the blond youth caress the frame of his comrade with the soapy sponge he held. Quatre then rinsed Trowa off.
'There, now you're all clean.'
Quatre looked with a satisfied smile at Trowa.
'You're so beautiful.'
Quatre lent over and kissed Trowa lightly.
'I would love to stay and keep you company longer, but I have to leave now.' Quatre caressed Trowa with a sad smile. 'But I'll be back tommorow.'
With that, Quatre dropped the sponge he held into a side bucket. He picked up the bucket up and moved over to a side stall. He tipped out the dirty water from the bucket and rinsed the metal container out. Then he placed the items to the side of the stall before leaving. It was when the door closed behind the boy that Duo decided to speak.
Duo blipped at the newly washed car.
'Why don't you ever speak to him Trowa? It wouldn't hurt.'
A flicker of emerald light flashed irritatedly across the sleek silver car's bumper. 'Because he's not in the know. We are strictly forbidden have contact with outsiders.'
Duo blipped again.
'It's not like he's a complete outsider. He's the son of our founder after all. All your fancy equipment came about because of him. Mine too, but yours took most of the cash. It's not everyday an AI car gets a load of mini missles you know. Besides...' Duo flashed all his lights on in a wide smirk. 'I think he likes you- a lot. He comes everyday after the trials, at the crack of dawn, just see you. And oooh, let's not forget he also washes you when you're dirty. He even cleans your interior. I bet that feels plenty good. You ought to at least say "thank you" to the cute guy. The doctors don't even have to know. I can keep a secret if you chose to develop your relationship with him.' He winked his dash lights at Trowa. 'Who knows, maybe you can get him as your next rider?'
'The doctors ought to put a data load limit on your speech Duo. You waste too much energy using it in idle moments.'
'Whatever.' Duo nudged forward, and glanced at the door Quatre had exited through with his sensors. 'You're just critical because you're sexually frustrated.'
'I don't believe we have it in our programs to be sexually frustrated, let alone aware.'
'Uh, uh. So you can tell yourself Trowa, but my gear stick tells me otherwise, and I bet yours does too when he sits in your seat and fondles you. He wants to ride you and you want to be ridden by him. At least I have a rider, unlike you.' He flicked one headlight onto Trowa. 'But you know, like I said, if you play your cards right...'
Trowa turned all his equipment off and ignored Duo. Duo laughed, and turned his attention again to the door. Heero should be coming soon. It was less than a minute to seven, and Heero, although Duo did not know how it was possible for a human to, always came through the door on the exact digital change of six fifty nine to seven. Three seconds remaining, two, one...
The door clicked open. A familiar brown hair rider came through. Duo felt an euphoric wave swept through him. His Heero. He tore out of his parking space and screeched up to the youth.
'Hiya. Hop in. I've been waiting for you.' He opened the left drivers door. 'How was your day?'
Heero frowned at the cheery greeting as he got in.
'You need a personality reprogram. You're getting too friendly.'
The callous reply cut Duo to the quick. A personality reprogram? Pardon? They had only been introduced two weeks ago. His temper flared. Hell, he liked his personality as it was.
'Hey, watch it.' Duo flickered on his image screen as Heero sat down. He glared out from it up at his rider. 'If I need one, then you need one too buddy, and I daresay, more than me. I was only trying to be nice. Would you prefer it if I greet you with this instead,' he constructed a finger sign on the graphical screen displaying his human image and pointed it up to Heero, 'every night?'
'If it is done in silence, that will be fine.'
Duo growled.
'Fine then. If you want silence, you'll get silence.'
He turned all his lights off. He also turned off his engine and locked access against the key Heero inserted in him. He ignored the softly uttered curse from Heero when the other realised that there would be no response from him.
'Duo... stop fooling around.'
Duo flicked on his image screen and made a close up shot of a one fingered sign. He added fuck you greetings in caption text below.
He felt Heero's head bang against his steering wheel and he silently smirked. Served him right. Heero remain there for a few minutes, without moving. Duo waited. So rider, 'cha gonna do if there won't be any riding tonight.
A hand reached out and stroked his dashboard unexpectedly. Duo almost forgot himself and nearly purr at the contact. Damnit, he should have switched his sensors off too.
'I'm sorry. I guess I was out of line with that remark. You don't need a reprogram.'
The husky voiced apology melted Duo's anger away. He couldn't stay upset at his rider for very long. Being upset was not a natural element in his program.
'You're forgiven.' He opened up his engines again, and roared into life. He also flicked back on his lights. 'So Heero, where to tonight?'
'A secret place.'
'That doesn't tell me much- they are all secret places. At least give me some clue as to where we're going.'
'When we get there.' Heero calmly replied. He touched Duo's gear stick and reversed out. They exited the parking lot, with Duo purring away.
'You sound exceptionally good tonight,' Heero noted as they drove. 'Did you get a tune up?'
Duo chuckled. His on screen eyes lit up with humour.
'Just the regular nightly one.'

The selection trials were to begin during the afternoon. He would have received his chosen rider. But before the trials begun, he was refitted. Trowa realised he had a problem when they outfitted him with his new sensors. They were too sensitive. He had gotten used to the dull contact indications by the black leather covering he had over his internal frame. Now that the doctors had removed the temporary covering and replaced it with his new skin sensors, he could feel the most subtle rise in temperature inside him or a drifting breeze. That in itself was not bad. What was bad was direct contact. He couldn't stand it.
After they had replaced the covering, Trowa had bluntly, and not in his normally polite manner, told the group of old researchers to get out of him and had forcibly ejected them from his interior. Then he barricaded his doors. Unfortunately he could not shut down his sensors until his new covering established itself properly with his system and he could adjust it's levels. He hoped the connection would finish soon.
'Sir, the car does not need another washing today. It has not been out for trial runs today and so it is in excellent condition. You needn't worry about it today.'
'That is fine. I was simply planning on waxing her.'
Trowa's hearing picked up Quatre's voice from the doorway.
The blond boy. Waxing.
'Now if you excuse me...'
Footsteps sounded. They were making their way towards him.
He had a major problem.
Trowa restrained a sudden urge to swear. Perhaps he had been around Maxwell too long. He was starting to pick up the lower AI's habits.
'Hello. It's me again.'
There was a hand on his hood. An streak of electricity shot through him. Nngh! Trowa's engines roared into life.
'They left your engines on? That's not good.' Trowa saw the young boy frowned. He reached down and tried to open Trowa's locked door. Trowa shuddered.
Quatre's frowned deepened.
'I have to get inside you somehow and turn you off.'
Quatre reached down into his pocket. Trowa nearly beeped aloud as the youth fished out a black device. How had he gotten the manual override key? The boy inserted half of it inside him. Helpless, Trowa gave way to him, unable to control himself.
No...
Quatre sat inside him. Trowa shuddered again.
'There's something wrong with you today.' Quatre looked worried. 'Maybe I ought to alert the mechanics. But first, how do I turn you off? I never did this before...'
He touched Trowa's gear stick absently as he looked at the complex dashboard before him in thought. The contact was too much for Trowa. He had to protest before he went crazy with sensory overload. He violated his orders.
Trowa flickered on his screen and looked up at the surprised youth.
'I am sorry, but I must request you to stop fondling me like that. Despite not being programmed to execute one, I do believe I am on the verge of an orgasm because of it.'
Quatre jaw dropped.
'You speak.'
'Yes I do. I also feel. Currently at the moment, due to an recent update, my sensors are on high alert. Which means frankly, your hands on my gear stick is driving me crazy. Please remove them.'
Trowa's screen image was a little pale.
Quatre snatched his hands away.
'Um, sorry. I had no idea you were a male.'
'Very much so, apparently. Although I wasn't aware of that sexual side of me too until recently.'
'I had no idea that your gear stick was... that sensitive. I'm sorry. I've fondled you a lot before without realising.'
'You needn't be. There is normally the usual option available to switch off that sensor.'
'Oh. That's good.'
'Although I don't.'
Quatre blinked.
'The contact was simply pleasant with the previously thick layer but I had no idea before how sensational it can feel with the sheath off. It knocks all sense from me, and sends me into an illogical mode.'
'Is that bad?'
Trowa was silent.
'I don't know.'
'Do you like it?' Quatre asked hesitantly.
'Yes.' Trowa replied.
'Then it's not bad, is it?'
Trowa was confused.
'Machines should not feel.'
'But you are special,' cried out Quatre. 'You're not just a mindless machine. You're as human as I am. It can't be bad if you like it.'
'It's only with you I do not mind it. I do not want others accessing me intimately like this.'
Quatre blinked. 'Me? What's so special about me? I am not even a test driver.'
Trowa was silent for a moment.
'But I think...' he said slowly, 'you're my intended Rider.'

Duo drove in as a familiar blond exited his comrade's interior. The young boy was smiling at the screen inside and laughing as he did so.
'So, I take it you've finally decided to make friends.' He called out on his speakers. The boy in front jumped at the voice. 'Is he your Rider?'
'Shut up Maxwell. Speaking to outsiders is against regulations.' Heero hissed inside him. Duo looked out from one eye on screen and poked out a pink tongue.
'Bleah. I bet Trowa's already blown that one. The question is, whether he got blown for it?' he murmured with interest.
Duo suddenly winched as Trowa sent him a silent, but threatening message through his radar communication channels.
I heard that.
Damn, the guy must have had his sensors on high alert. No way he could have heard otherwise. But high alert? That was unusual for Trowa. Duo blinked at Trowa in question.
Sensory outfitting.
Duo began to laugh as he released the implications. He switched to vocals.
'Hey there, pleased to meet you. I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell, Trowa's old friend. Literally old- I haven't had a new fitting like Trowa here for ages.' Then Duo broke up.
Heero thumped him.
'Control yourself Duo.'
'I wish,' a mutter came from the car under ribald.
'I had no idea there were others like you.'
'No, just us two. Me, I'm the original AI, and he's the updated AI, but there's really not of an age gap between us. Our hardware's about the same rating.'
'There's just an intelligence gap,' Heero muttered as he stood out of Duo.
'Hey! That's rude.'
'But true,' stated Trowa. He looked towards Quatre. 'This is Heero Yuy, the first Rider.'
Quatre smiled.
'Please to meet you and your car.'
Heero nodded.
'Ah.'
Then he turned and looked at Duo.
'You're sensory outfitting is scheduled for now.'
'Huh?'
'The doctors will be here soon.' Heero looked at Quatre and Trowa. 'You can make you announcement then.'
Heero turned away and walked a few paces forward. He then stopped before Duo's front and slide a finger down Duo's surface. He lifted his finger up to his eye and noted the thin layer dust on it. 'I will wash you afterwards.'
'Thanks.' Duo beeped at Heero in gratitude as the Rider made his way towards the exit door.
'Uh- maybe that's not a good-' Quatre called out as the door behind Heero closed. 'Idea...' he finished. 'Oh no.'
'What?' Duo flickered a curious light on. 'What's not a good idea?'
'Washing you after installation of the new fittings. Apparently the new sensors are ultra sensitive, over tripled the last sensitivity rate.' Quatre said in concern.
'Oh. I know that. That's why I've been looking forward to this new outfitting for ages.'
Duo winked at the two with his headlights.

Duo felt like he could fly over the moon. The afternoon had been great. He couldn't stop purring. And to top it all off, his partner had not left his side since washing him. The dark brown hair youth was sitting half in, half out of him on the driver's seat, using his energy source to fuel the laptop on his knees.
Click. Tap, tap, tap. Click. Click.
Heero typed away on his laptop. Duo focused his sensors on the youth's intent face, and purred more. He liked the sensation of Heero on his seat. He felt his emotions boil up and he blipped happily.
'Hn? What is it Maxwell?'
'Well... nothing really. Just happy.'
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
'You're strange.'
'You're stranger.'
'Hmp.'
Duo flickered on his monitor. His onscreen face looked up at Heero and smiled.
'I love you Heero,' he said suddenly. 'I know we just met, but I do.'
Click.
Heero stopped typing.
'Do you love me?'
Silence.
'In what manner?'
'You know... that.' He gave a little electronic beep.
'Oh.'
More silence.
Duo frowned inside. Why wasn't he answering?
'You're a vehicle Maxwell. I think you are the state of the art.'
Heero was avoiding his question.
'So?'
'I have nothing further to say.'
Duo stopped purring.
'Really? Is that all you have to say?'
'Yes.'
Duo booted Heero out of his interior. Not expecting the violent action, Heero tumbled ungracefully out. His laptop clattered off his knees and smashed against the hard concrete.
'Damn! Maxwell, why the hell-'
'Why? Why?! Well it's because you deserve it you asshole!'
Duo turned on his engine fully and screech out. Heero swore and jerked back before he was ran over, however Duo smashed the black laptop with his wheels.
'Maxwell! You idiot!'
'Fuck you Heero! I don't want to see you again, so just fuck off! Come next week, I'm gonna be with another Rider pal. So screw you bastard, I don't need you. Just get the fuck up and leave!'
'Look-'
'Fine- I'll leave!'
Duo screeched out of the underground parking lot with his horn blaring furiously. He speed through the streets and highways until the rage burnt out of him. Ah, screw this. Tired, Duo turned right at a junction and headed towards the beachside. He did not want to go back. He did not want to face Heero for some time. Duo turned off his engines. The red and orange shade of the fading sunset against the stunning pink and purple sky did nothing to lift his mood.
Duo sulked quietly. He couldn't understand it. He could have sworn Heero felt the same. Like, he was his Rider. Maybe not his first Rider, but the only Rider that felt right for him. Hell, Heero was the only Rider that could ride him right. He threw the others out the first time they tried riding him.
A man in uniform approached him from his left. Duo ignored him as the policeman looked inside his interior. Duo was too busy thinking to care about the man. He had his engines off, all his power supply devoted to his central mind. Duo was thinking about his rider. Heero. He had thought the other had felt something for him. The fact that the other obviously did not puzzled him. The bastard had ridden him. Was there no other closer connection than that?
'Black sedan. Modified model of some sort. Registration number...'
The uniform man's voice broke into Duo's thoughts. The guy was booking him.
Shit. There really wasn't a place where one could sit and mope without getting a parking ticket these days. Jeez, it wasn't like he was blocking traffic or anything.
'Look, I wasn't doing anything mister, so you can put that book away. I'm going, okay?'
Duo backed out and turned. He drove away squealing in anger, leaving a shocked patrol man behind him, his pen frozen midair above a booklet.
Everywhere there was discrimination against cars. Hell, he couldn't even vote. Duo fumed as he speed down the highway. Fuck that, life was really crap. He was trying to live it up but- he wasn't alive. Artificial Life. Life was something he really didn't have. The thought slapped him hard. Duo suddenly stopped. He was not alive. Pain filled him as he just realised the truth. Heero couldn't love him. He wasn't human-
Suddenly everything went black as something hard slammed in the back of him.

'... Maxwell... can you hear me Maxwell? Answer me.'
Gradually, Duo drifted into consciously. Electronic pulses flickered though him in sharp jagged bursts as he became slowly aware.
'Heero...'
He couldn't switch on his visuals. Something was blocking his access. He wanted to...
'Duo-'
Darkness claimed him again.
'... permanent damage is uncertain. Installing the ID of a flawed and out of date AI into a new model is foolish. It won't function, I am telling you.'
'I don't care.'
Only words. But it was Heero who had spoken in the end. A spark of happiness rose in him at the defence. He was not flawed... was he? Pain. Electronic discord ripped through him. Raw noise surged around him.
'...not go. Don't leave me Duo. Don't die.'
How could he? He wasn't alive in the first place...
'Please Duo.'
A throaty plea.
'Stay with me.'
He surged into awareness. And a new, strange body. The new sensations distorted his sensors. Everything was too sharp and too clear. He could see Heero looking into his screen perfectly. The youth was visibly under strain from exhaustion. Duo was taken aback by the closeness. His eyes were red and bloodshot from lack of rest, and he look pale.
'Are you okay?' he blurted out. 'You look like shit.'
The dark brown hair youth smiled then. Duo was shocked by it. He had never seen Heero smile before. He was so beautiful. Duo memorised the expression in wonder.
'I am fine, now that you're back. Welcome home.'
Duo flickered his screen at Heero, trying out his new sensors. 'Where have I been? Why am I in this new body?'
'You don't remember?'
'No. I think I was on a highway before though...'
'Yes, you were. You stopped in the middle of a lane.'
'I what?' Duo's sensors sharpened. 'That's... stupid. That would get people killed.' Horror suddenly struck him. 'Shit I-'
'No. You didn't luckily. Since it wasn't rush hour, the few people driving on the highway managed to avoided you, except for the large truck behind you. The truck driver wasn't harmed, but your body was smashed- and your AI box too. I wasn't sure if reconstruction would work. Damnit Duo, what were you thinking? You scared the hell out of me.'
Heero, scared?
The thought boggled him.
'I...'
What had he been thinking? He ran a system check. There were major patches in his memories leading up to-
'Artificial Life,' he suddenly whispered as he recollected his last thoughts. 'I'm not alive.' He fell silent. Suddenly, the memories came sweeping in, along with the torture the memories brought. He felt like dying before the torrent of pain.
'Does it matter?' Heero's voice asked quietly.
'Yes. Because what I really want can never truly be. I love you Heero. I wished you could have loved me back.'
'Duo-'
'I said "wished"." He switched his screen off to hid his face. Duo gathered himself up. 'It's alright with me if you don't love me that way. I realise now that I am not and never will be, a human, just a machine.' Duo spoke without bitterness in his voice, only resignation. 'I'll just settle for being good partners.'
Heero reached out a hesitant hand. Slowly, he lowered it onto Duo's dashboard. He stroked him.
'Actually Duo... I don't know how, but for some reason, you've become more than human to me.' He softly admitted. 'Despite the fact I know it's unnatural, perhaps sick even... I've fallen for you too.' He carressed Duo's frame.
Duo's image screen flicked on. His human image looked up at Heero in shock and bewilderment.
'You have?'
'Yes.'
Heero bent down and kissed Duo on the screen.
'Mmn...'
When Heero finished, there was a trace of saliva on the digital screen and a deep blush on the visual Duo's expression.
'Your first kiss I do believe.' Heero said, with a hint of satisfaction in his tone.
Duo blushed harder, and he flicked the screen off to cover his embarrassment.
'So what if it was?'
'That's gotten me curious to find out what other things you've never experienced before.'
Duo turned on the screen again. He looked puzzled at Heero.
'Like what?'
Heero smiled briefly.
'I think your most sensitive spot is this, isn't it?'
He clutched his hand lightly over Duo's gear stick, trailing his other fingers down the side.
Duo beeped out aloud unintentionally. His lights flared.
'Christ,' Duo moaned, 'how did you find that out? I never told.'
'I knew it for some time. You dropped little hints, here and there occasionally, and they all added up to this-' he rubbed Duo's tip, 'being the part of you you're most sensitive about.'
'And you rode me anyway?'
'I'm your rider after all.'
Heero dipped his head. He smiled at Duo's now flickering screen. 'Now Duo, tell me how much you like this.' He opened his mouth and took Duo inside it, sucking hard on him. Duo blanked out as his sensors overloaded. He began to shudder, unable to control his suspensions. He was half away of his vocals crying out loudly as he climbed high on a rising pulse of electricity zigzagging through him.
'Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero!'
His rider smiled, and continued on exploring his partner to the fullest.

Fin.