Disclaimer: For the first time in a while, I'm back to a disclaimer with every chapter. I own nothing, not Harry Potter, Star Wars, Knight Rider, Legacy of Kain, or anything else you might recognise from this chapter … I could list everything but that'd be a chapter all its own.
And so I'm back, from outer space … can't sing any more of that song or I'll have to disclaim it too.
Happy New Year to all my readers, loyal and otherwise. Loyal readers, I love you, not so loyal ... eh, you're reading anyway. My New Year's Resolution, to post another chapter every month on the first of the month.
Chapter 1 – A Free Man – Part One
On a glorious day, nearing the start of August, Sirius Black walked into the medical ward of the Jedi Temple in London. He had a broad smile on his face, one that had been stuck there for the last three weeks, as he walked up to the bed which Andrew was fast asleep on. After his mission into the past, he had stayed awake for another two weeks, passing out in the middle of a sparring match on the twenty-second.
"Good morning, Mr Black," a Padawan said as he passed.
"Is there any change?" Sirius asked.
"No," the boy said, quickly checking Andrew's vitals. "But if he's on time, and he never isn't, he should be waking up any minute."
Sirius took a seat as the boy walked off, he unfolded his copy of 'The Daily Prophet' and read the front page.
Friday, July 29th, 1994
SIRIUS BLACK CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES!
Due to evidence brought forward by new witnesses, Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges, including those of treason, murder and escaping Azkaban.
Details are sketchy at the moment, but we can confirm that Peter Pettigrew is in fact alive and well, and is actually the traitor who should have been locked up almost fourteen years ago.
When questioned on the new evidence, the Minister for Magic had this to say:
"Our new witnesses would like to remain anonymous for the time being, as it happens, Black, Pettigrew and one of our witnesses have spent a number of years as unregistered Animagi, Black has agreed to be registered as of today and I see no reason to take that matter further."
Black has been granted a full pardon for the crimes he was sentenced for, he has also been given a hefty compensation and the Minister has invited him to attend the Quidditch World Cup final as his personal guest.
A manhunt has now begun for Pettigrew, however on that note, a Ministry spokesperson had this to say:
"We have begun a search for Pettigrew, based on a current description of both his human and Animagus forms from Mr Black, sadly he does have quite a head start on us. We believe that he may at this very moment be attempting to reconnect with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, in order to assist the dark wizard in some fashion."
The Ministry has asked this paper to give the description of Pettigrew and ask readers to watch for him.
"If seen, Pettigrew should not be approached, contact the Ministry of Magic immediately!"
Pettigrew's description and this story in full can be found on pages 4 to 6.
Sirius' smile broadened a little more, he wanted this to be the first thing Andrew saw when he woke up.
On the bed, Andrew was just starting to come out of his coma, he felt some sleep in his right eye and went to rub it out, but there was a sudden, very loud, CLANG.
"OW! FUCK!" he bellowed, having just punched himself in the face with a metallic arm.
"Kindly mind your language, Andrew!" Zan Axfow said, sternly, there were younger Padawans present.
Andrew growled. "You try getting woken up by punching yourself in the face with a slab of metal! Ahhh!" he snapped back.
He rubbed the spot that was quickly bruising, with his left hand. "Man, that's gonna take some getting used to!"
Zan sighed as he walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his left shoulder. "Give it time, young one, believe me, you're not the first to have this sort of difficulty, you certainly won't be the last."
"Here, this might cheer you up," Sirius said, handing Andrew the paper. Andrew read through the whole story and smiled.
"So, you're free then?" Andrew asked.
"As a bird!" Sirius said happily.
"Oh, you're awake," the three of them turned to see Lily standing in the doorway, her smile faded into a frown when she saw Andrew's blackening eye. "What happened?"
"Punched myself awake," Andrew sighed, before downing a glass of water, Lily couldn't help feeling sorry and quickly strode over with her wand out, she gently tapped the bruise and healing it.
"I'll send my Padawan to find the rest of your friends." Zan said, walking away.
"Jax and Mel left this morning!" Sirius called after the Healing Master.
"Where to?" Andrew asked.
"The campsite where the World Cup final is being held." Lily answered.
"So, aside from that, what's new?" Andrew asked as he sipped another glass of water.
"Well, aside from what's in the paper, Jax and Mel have been in touch with Ron, he and his family are picking Harry up from his aunt and uncle's house on the seventh, presuming his aunt and uncle say he can come to the world cup." Sirius explained.
"Well, if I got the right impression from Harry, you'll be a massive help there," Andrew chuckled. "He was more than happy to mention to the Dursleys that his godfather was an escaped convict and a convicted murderer."
"Why would he need to tell them that?" Lily asked, looking disapproving at the information.
"Not to speak ill of your sister, Lily," Andrew started, awkwardly. "But they've never treated Harry all too well, they never told him that he was a wizard, lied to him about how you and James died, and even tried to 'squash out' his powers by treating him like sh-"
"Alright, I think you've made your point," Lily sighed. "I told Pet that that man was going to be bad for her! I swear she only married him because I didn't like him!" she fumed.
"Anyway, the final is on the eighth, Harry, Hermione, Ron and his family will be going to the campsite on that morning, but we've had to book the spot next to them from today," Sirius finished explaining.
"Melanie and Jaxon have already flown ahead with the rest of your band so that they could set up, it was the only way they could get a spot." Lily continued for him, sitting on the bed. "It was that or the site owner was going to give it to someone else who wanted the space today. We booked space for two tents and the plan is for us to go on the eighth as well."
James walked in while she was talking and took over. "I showed Jax where to get some Wizarding camping gear so that the seven of them could fit in one tent and Tony modified one of the shuttle cars with that 'Watch Mode' thing. That way Jax doesn't have to worry about parking."
"Oh I do not envy Jax having to look after the guys, they hate to be cooped up and he's gotta keep them inside for a week and a half?" Andrew laughed. "Good luck to him and Mel. Has Tony worked on the rest of the fleet?" he asked as he moved to get himself out of bed.
"Oh no you don't!" Zan snapped, catching the attention of the last new arrivals. Jarod couldn't help but smile at his Padawan while Aurora giggled.
"Always on the move," Jarod said, shaking his head. "And, yes, Mr Stark has finished upgrading the Shuttle-car fleet for us, we're sending schematics and upgrade instructions out to all the other temples as well.
"I think I've been in bed long enough, Master." Andrew whined, having patiently listened to what his mentor had to say. Nonetheless, Zan insisted on Andrew going through the usual check-up before letting him go.
"I heard you were up, sleep well?" Tony Stark asked as Andrew, finally, left the medical ward.
"Har, har," Andrew answered dryly.
"I'm gonna have to head back to Avengers Tower soon, but I just wanted to let you know, I finished those modifications you asked for, you know, for Proxy, and Katt's been installed into her shell, she's ready to go." Tony explained.
Flashback – Saturday 9th July 1994
The morning after Andrew's arm had been amputated, Tony arrived with a new one, explaining what was new on it.
"Basically, it's the same as a bog-standard model, with a few upgrades," he explained while Zan attached it to the plate where Andrew's shoulder used to be. "First off, you've no doubt seen the Arc Reactor I use in my armour, there's an even smaller version in that arm, complete with a retractable repulsor pad in the palm. There's also a hidden compartment in the forearm, inside you'll find a holster for your wand."
"And the point of that is..?" Andrew asked, practising with the pad by making it slide in and out of his palm. The room was filled with intermittent whines as the repulsor charged up as it filled the Padawan's palm and powered down before retracting into the arm.
"In theory, you'll be able to cast spells through the repulsor, if your wand is in that holster." Tony grinned.
"Most impressive," Dumbledore said, having been curious about Etherium for quite some time, he had chosen to stay the night and observe what Stark was going to come up with.
"Go ahead, give it a try," Tony said eagerly. Dumbledore handed Andrew his wand. "Just think about placing your wand in your arm and the compartment will open up."
Andrew did as Tony said, causing his arm to let out a tiny hiss as 'doors' opened and a pair of grapples slid out. He placed his wand in the grapples and they slid back into his arm.
"Now I've no idea what you do to … shoot fire or something," Tony said, but he pointed to a target he'd hung on the wall.
Andrew looked to Dumbledore first, who nodded, and Andrew got off the bed, held his palm up at the target and concentrated. The repulsor pad came out of his hand with a click and started to whine at it charged up. "Incendio!" Andrew shouted, causing the repulsor to go off and send a wave of fire at the target, creating quite a bit of recoil.
"GREAT!" Tony shouted. "Now, there's also a turret that comes out of the other side of your forearm, it works the same way the repulsor did, only it sends out a stream, like if you cast the same spell, it'll act like a Normal flamethrower. Just be sure to tense up your arm before firing off the repulsor, you just noticed that it packs one hell of a kickback." the tech genius added. "You don't wanna smack yourself in the face when that thing fires off!"
"Well, with all that taken care of, there's just the matter of your time device." Dumbledore said to Andrew.
Andrew nodded and used the Force to lift the device into the air, his arm whined again as he took aim and blasted it to pieces. Dumbledore then erased all knowledge of how to build it from his memory, and left to return to Hogwarts.
"By the way, I found something while I was designing your arm," Stark said.
Andrew grimaced in pain as he tried rotating his shoulder, still adjusting to his new condition as he felt a phantom pain. "What's that?"
"Your car. Knight Automated Tactical Technology?"
"Yeah, she'll be a beaut when she's finished, but I can't get the AI to work." Andrew sighed.
"I noticed, need a hand?" Stark asked, mentally kicking himself.
Andrew glared a little, then he realised that Tony wasn't implying his missing arm. "Sure, let's go."
The two techno geniuses spent the rest of the day, at work, in Andrew's lab. Jarvis was also lending a hand, since they were using his core program for a template.
By the time they were about to call it a day, they were graced with a glorious sound.
"Hello, I am the Knight Automated Tactical Technology." the computer said, in a rather monotone voice.
"Hmm, it's a start, just need to give it a little personality." Stark said.
"Jarvis, could you modify the voice for me?" Andrew asked.
"Anything specific, Sir?" Jarvis asked.
"Well, she's going to be a car, car's tend to be referred to as 'she', so make her female." Stark reasoned.
"Very good, Sir," Jarvis said, sounding like he wasn't surprised to hear that.
"And make her a little younger, mid to late teens," Andrew added.
A few seconds later, the voice came back. "Hi, I'm the Knight Automated Tactical Technology, but please, call me Katt!"
Andrew and Tony looked at each other and shrugged. "Nice to meet you Katt, I'm Tony and this is..."
"Hey, Dad!" Katt nearly shouted.
Andrew went wide-eyed. "Dad?"
"Well, I was your idea, right?" Katt asked
"Well, I suppose so, yes..." Andrew said, a little unnerved.
"Then that makes me your baby!" she sounded like she was smiling. "Nice to meet you Dad!"
"Yeah, but Tony programmed you!" Andrew cried, trying to get that particular focus off himself.
"Then that makes him my Mom!" Katt answered, Tony looked scandalised but Andrew almost fell over laughing at the look on his face.
End Flashback
"So she's all ready to go on a test drive tomorrow?" Andrew asked.
"Yep," Tony answered. "Oh, and you asked about that game that's been going around here like wildfire."
Stark handed Andrew a plain unisex bracelet and a scanner-camera. "I've modified these to work in Wizarding areas, thanks to a little help from Dumbledore, you should be able to play while you're at school, and these are for Mel and Jax too." he handed over two more of each.
"Cool, how do they work again?" Andrew asked, putting the bracelet on his right wrist.
"The scanner detects them, you use the camera to look around, the image will be on the screen, then when a button appears on the screen," Tony explained, "press the button and your Pokémon gets generated by the hologram generator in the bracelet."
A/N Think Pokémon Go on steroids, except only the Jedi have access to it because nobody else has hologram tech ^^ which reminds me, some things in this story will seem a little out of place, given that it's 1994. This is mainly because in some cases, I can't remember when this song or that movie came out, and I can't be bothered to look them all up. But hey, it's an alternate universe, so I can get away with it.
"Okay, so how about I introduce you to your new car before I go?" Stark asked.
"Hell yeah!" Andrew exclaimed, running off. "By the way, has she stopped calling you 'Mom' yet?"
Tony chuckled and followed, they got to the lab and both smiled at the car sitting before them. In normal mode, Katt was based off a five-seat Aston Martin V12 Vantage, gleaming red and beautiful.
"I took the liberty of adding a few extra modes, Sir," Jarvis said as they walked in. "All identical to Katt's current forms, except in black, they're listed under 'stealth' modes."
"Thanks, Jarvis," Andrew answered, getting into the driver's seat. "Katt, watch mode!"
"Initiating transformation," Katt said as all of her panels started to shift and change shape. A few seconds later, she was just a watch on Andrew's left wrist. "Transformation complete."
"Great, now I just need to field test her over the next week and pack for my trip," Andrew said, he shook hands with Tony and thanked him for all his help.
"Not a problem, just give me a shout if you ever need help again," Tony said while they made their way to the main entrance. "I also fitted her with an Arc Reactor, between that and your original design, her horse power should have tripled." Tony shook hands with Andrew as Happy held the car door open for his boss. Tony stepped into the flashy sports car and they drove off to the airport.
Andrew went to his room and said hello to Snowfire, the owl had been wary of Andrew's new arm at first, but eventually he stopped shying away from it. He perched himself on Andrew's left shoulder while he packed his things, mainly his spare clothes.
Once he was happy that he was set and ready to go, he took a moment to smile, thinking of the look on Harry's face in ten days time, when he'd see his parents getting out of the car,
"Snowfire, you go ahead and keep Harry and Hedwig company at Privet Drive, I should be fine without you until then. I'll see you at The Burrow the day after the final, okay?" he said, Snowfire hooted and gave his master an affectionate nip on the ear, before taking off and flying out the open window.
"Well, Katt, how would you like a tour around the place?" Andrew asked, lifting his left wrist to talk. A hologram came out of the watch face of a white head with indistinguishable eyes and plain features.
"Sure thing, Dad, but is it a good idea to talk to your watch like this? Someone's gonna think you've gone a little nuts!" she commented.
"Only until you answer me, so I'm counting on you to protect the myth of my sanity." Andrew joked back, she let out a hearty laugh. Andrew then left his room and started back to the main entrance, holding his wrist up so that Katt's holographic head could watch where they were going.
As they got there, Andrew noticed a younger Padawan sitting on the top step, curled up and hugging her knees. Her name was Selena Hill, she had dark green eyes, so dark they looked like moss, and cropped shoulder-length raven black hair and she was twelve years old.
"Something bothering you, Selena?" Andrew asked, taking a casual seat next to her and trying to ignore the clank his arm made on the stone as he leant back on his palms.
She spared the older boy a miserable looking glare before she went back to staring at the bright sky. "It's been four hours already, and I'm not going to see him for another ten days!" she whined.
Andrew waited for the girl to elaborate, but when she didn't he pressed. "You mean … Jax?" he guessed.
"NO! EW!" She exclaimed, turning and glaring at the boy bothering her. "You think I'd fall for anyone who used the Dark Side!?"
"Hey! Don't knock him just for that, remember those guys are a necessary evil.." Andrew started.
"Yeah, yeah! 'Sometimes to save a thousand lives, you have to sacrifice one'!" Selena recited. "But they still creep me out!"
"So if not Jax, it's gotta be one of the others." Andrew reasoned, rubbing his chin with his left hand. "Is he furry or does he have pointy ears?"
Selena rolled her eyes as Andrew started to play 'twenty questions'. "Pointy ears," she snapped. "And the most gorgeous wings!" she gushed.
"Raziel!?" Andrew exploded, sitting upright so fast he nearly fell off the step.
"What's wrong with that?" she demanded.
"Well how about the fact that he's technically dead?" Andrew shot back. "Twice!"
"He's alive where it counts!" Selena whined, causing Andrew to frown.
"You mean he's..." Andrew started.
"No, he won't let me do anything and he's been a perfect gentleman!" she said defensively. "Sometimes I don't even think he's noticed I'm a woman."
Andrew bit back the retort that she was only twelve. "Maybe he knows you're just crushing on him." he suggested, deciding that he was going to have a word with his band-mate.
Before the girl could respond, her Master, Zak Poole arrived and ordered her to return to her training. Andrew got up, dusted himself off and continued Katt's tour.
By the end of the day, Katt knew her way around the Temple as well as Andrew did. The next morning, Andrew and his Master, Jarod Cooper, had cancelled all of their appointments and training for the day.
"So, Master Lee..." Jarod started.
"Which one?" Andrew asked with a grin, always going with the same joke as Masters of both sides of the order carried the same title, 'Master'.
"Drexia," Jarod growled, having long become tired of that joke, much to Drexia and Quint's glee. "She is going to pilot the chopper for me while I handle a camera and track your progress and in the air." he explained.
"Have the police been notified?" Andrew asked.
"Yes, and they've cleared a route, Katt should be aware of it," Jarod answered. "They also have a few trained drivers on the route so that you can test out her manoeuvrability."
"Good, I'll be ready when you are, Master." Andrew said with a nod as he jogged off to the entrance. As he got to the curb, he looked up at the building behind him, specifically at the gap in the side near the top. It was the landing bay and occasionally a shuttle or fighter would drift or speed in or out, depending on the craft and its direction.
Soon enough an old-fashioned helicopter with a domed cockpit drifted out of the landing bay and quickly descended closer to the ground. "Katt, normal mode." Andrew commanded his watch.
"Initiating transformation." came Katt's programmed response, Andrew stepped into the road as she started to transform from the watch on his wrist into the form of a five-seater Aston Martin. "Transformation complete." she stated as her engine purred to life.
"Now, remember Andrew," Jarod voice came out of the dashboard. "I want you to keep radio contact at all times! If even the slightest thing seems wrong, I want you to declare an abort and pull over!"
"Yes, Master," Andrew responded. "I know we've never tried anything like Katt before, and I'm hoping she's a success too."
The young Padawan set off at a gentle pace, gradually increasing his speed to the limit of thirty miles per hour, merging gracefully into traffic and heading straight to where the police had cordoned off the road. "She's handling nicely so far Master, and I can see the barrier up ahead." Andrew said to nobody in particular.
"Understood, Andrew. You'll have to slow to a stop for the barrier." Jarod responded.
"I thought I could test out pod mode and go between the parked squad cars." Andrew suggested, there was silence on the line as Jarod spoke to the officer in charge of the cordon.
"Agreed, proceed Andrew." the Padawan was instructed, and as soon as he was clear of traffic, Andrew increased his speed.
"Katt, pod mode!" she answered with her usual as her bodywork shifted and warped into that of a souped-up motorcycle, Andrew was leaning forward in a seated position with a bullet resistant dome of glass over him, protecting him from the wind. He shifted up a gear and blasted between the front and rear bumpers of two parked police cars and skilfully weaved between the civilian cars that were being driven by plain-clothes officers.
"Nicely done, Andrew!" came Jarod's praise. "Remind me, how many can that mode hold?"
"Just two Master, and no luggage," Andrew answered, concentrating on the road.
"Was the transformation clean?" he heard Drexia ask, referring to how comfortable his Padawan was during the process.
"Mostly, Master." Andrew answered. "I'd guess that it's a little unnerving being forced into a more forward position, going from ground to air mode normally doesn't move the seat at all."
"Understood, why not join us in the air?" Jarod suggested.
"I don't recommend it for now, let's call it a day and analyse the data we've collected already, no need to rush it." Andrew answered, indicating to make a right turn as he slowed down. "Katt, take us home?" he requested, letting go of the controls.
"Do you think she can drive herself?" Drexia asked.
"Jarvis manages it with Tony's armours," Andrew answered proudly as Katt proceeded to switch back to normal mode and drive herself back to the Temple cleanly and safely.
Having spent an hour on the road, the three of them took a break for lunch. "You think Katt will be an asset to the Order then, Andrew?" Drexia asked.
"Possibly," Andrew said, feeling a little unsure. "I think we'll have to change the programming for any other vehicles, I've grown a little attached to the original, and vice-versa." he said.
"For a computer, she does seem incredibly unique." Jarod commented thoughtfully. "It should be a simple matter for Mr Stark to modify the programming for future models."
"Dad?" Katt asked. "Should I be worried?"
Andrew chuckled a little. "No, Katt, don't worry, we'll do everything we can to keep you as special as you are."
Jarod and Drexia chuckled a little. They finished their meal and went to a terminal station to look over Katt's onboard recording and Jarod's camera.
"Well, I think tomorrow I should run the same route with a crash dummy in the passenger seat." Andrew said after they agreed it was a good test run. "Make sure that it's safe for additional people."
"From there we can work on transferring to airborne modes," Jarod agreed, looking at the clock. "In the meantime, we should all get some rest, it's getting late.
The next morning, after breakfast, Quint was waiting at the roadside with a test dummy. Andrew asked Katt to change into her normal mode and helped the Master mechanic to position the dummy in the passenger seat. Once the seatbelt was in place, Andrew got back into the driver's seat.
As soon as the helicopter was hovering overhead, Andrew set off, joining easily into traffic and driving towards their testing area, as he got into visual range of the roadblock he ordered Katt to switch to pod mode again. As she finished her transformation, Andrew cried out in slight pain. "That one hurt!"
"What happened!" Jarod demanded, concerned.
"I put it down to the dummy being totally inanimate, but it just headbutted me in the spine!" Andrew complained.
"Are you hurt badly?" Drexia asked.
"No, I'm okay, I'm gonna abort this run and head back to the Temple, it's time to kill two birds with one stone." Andrew announced.
"How do you mean?" Jarod asked.
"Proxy, he'll have more control over his motor functions." Andrew answered, asking Katt to turn around and head back.
After a slight fiasco at the Temple roadside, the dummy landing on the floor in a heap as Katt changed to watch mode, Andrew rushed inside to fetch Proxy. In the meantime, Quint put the dummy back in storage and Drexia landed to refuel.
Proxy was thought up by Jax as an upgrade of sorts for the Temple's training droids, it was designed to be more intelligent and to serve as both a travelling companion and a sparring partner. In its shoulder and hip joints, it was fitted with hologram generators so that with a collection of data disks, it could take on the form, personality and fighting style of any potential sparring partner.
Though by design, Proxy was meant to be a replacement for the current travelling training droid, Proxy himself was the only one in existence, as a prototype. Andrew switched him on and his eyes lit up brightly. They dimmed a few times as he 'blinked' and took in his surroundings.
"Hello, Master Andrew," he said, a mouth of sorts lighting up as he spoke. "Is Mr Stark not working on me again today?"
"No, Proxy, he's returned to New York, today you're helping me with some field testing." Andrew answered, Proxy nodded and stood up, the hologram generators in his shoulders and hips glowing blue as he took on Mel's appearance.
"Alright, what're we doing exactly?" Proxy asked, Andrew marvelled at how perfectly he took on Mel's voice.
"I'm testing out the Knight Automated Tactical Technology," Andrew explained. "I just injured myself with a crash dummy, so I figured I'd try someone who could control what their body was doing." unlike some, Andrew chose never to refer to anything that could think as a thing, to him, Proxy was a 'male' and Katt a 'female'.
"Okay then, let's not waste any time," Proxy said, sounding exactly like Mel when she was being all business.
The two of them walked back out to the roadside and Andrew looked up at the hanger, pulling out his Holo-com, he called his Master. "Are you and Master Lee ready to take off again?" he asked.
"Yes," Jarod answered, a moment later the helicopter could be heard overhead and Andrew switched Katt to normal mode and asked Proxy to take the passenger seat.
"Don't forget your seatbelt," Andrew instructed. Proxy was programmed to learn to do things for himself, but he would still need to be told the first time, in future he would remember to fasten his seatbelt every time he got into a car.
They set off and returned to their cordoned test roads, switching into pod mode with no difficulties this time. "As I suspected, Master," Andrew said into the radio. "No issues when the occupant is animate."
"Understood, Andrew." Jarod answered. "Now switch to shuttle mode and let's call it a day, we've got just about enough time to go over today's data."
Andrew agreed and asked Katt to change to the required vehicle, going airborne and leading the way home. Andrew went to bed that night, smiling at how well the testing was going so far.
Getting ready to set off on the morning of the first of August was a lot harder than before, Andrew, Quint and Proxy each brought a test dummy this time, because today's test was going to be from normal mode to shuttle mode and back with a full car.
This time Andrew got up to speed in the middle of slow moving traffic and switched to shuttle mode to go airborne and avoid the inevitable Monday rush hour gridlock. There were no complications with the transformation and once the Padawan had gotten over the testing grounds, he swooped in for a landing, gracefully changing back into the Aston Martin and driving around the block and back to the Temple.
Next Andrew went out alone to try out the fighter mode. Again with no complications and this time landing in the hanger. "I was thinking about trying something a little risky." he told his Master as he stepped out of the helicopter.
"Like?" Jarod asked, wary of his pupil's next words.
"Driving out of here in pod mode and switching to fighter in free-fall." Andrew answered, straight-faced.
"ARE YOU NUTS!?" Drexia exploded.
"Maybe, but you never know, it might happen for real. Sometimes people do accidentally drive off a cliff and being able to switch to a flying vehicle would be a real lifesaver!" Andrew answered defensively.
"You make a fair point, but I want it to be the last thing we try, once we've made sure everything else works and we can arrange a 'safety net' of sorts." Jarod agreed. Stating for the moment they would go over the day's data again.
The following day they retested everything they had done so far, transferring from normal mode, to pod and back, from both vehicles to shuttle and back, then to fighter mode and back. Then Andrew picked up Proxy and went through it all again, sans fighter mode as it left no room for passengers. Then back to the Temple again to pick up test dummies for the back seat and finishing up switching to the shuttle and back, then back to shuttle and landing in the hanger.
On Wednesday, they spent the whole time in the air, trying something a little dangerous. Switching from shuttle to fighter while in mid-air. The dangerous part was that there could have been a failure mid transformation and Andrew could have fallen to his death. But that never happened and with that done, Jarod decided that it was time to try Andrew's idea.
"Are you sure you're happy to try this?" Quint asked on the Thursday morning.
"No?" Andrew said, letting out a nervous chuckle. "What the hell was I thinking?" he asked.
"I used to try and figure that out," the mechanic answered with a grin. "But then, I decided I'd had enough of the migraines!"
"Fun-nee!" Andrew drawled. "Katt, pod mode." she changed from a watch to a motorcycle, gracefully sliding the canopy closed over Andrew's head. "We ready on your end, Master?" he asked as he revved the engine.
"Ready when you are, my young Padawan," Jarod answered, the chopper blades whirring to life. Andrew nodded to himself with determination as he revved his engine nervously.
"Let's go, Dad! I know we can do this!" Katt cheered, Andrew nodded again and as soon as the helicopter was hovering off the ground, he pulled hard on the throttle and shot off towards the ledge.
The duo flew off the edge of the hanger bay and started to fall. "Katt! Fighter mode!" Andrew cried, trying not to panic too much.
"Initiating transformation!" Katt answered, changing her shape and allowing Andrew's braid to fly behind his head in the wind as she quickly changed into a small, agile Jedi fighter, the jets propelling the craft down the street at around ninety miles an hour. "Transformation complete!"
Andrew yelled and whooped in relief and elation as buildings flew by him, he realised he was gripping the control gauntlets a little tight and forced himself to relax. "Master? I think it worked!"
"I know, I caught the whole thing on film!" Jarod cheered. "How did it feel on your end?"
"Scary, but smooth. I think that concludes Katt's testing!" Andrew answered.
Jarod agreed and after examining the data one last time, Katt was declared fit for service officially on Friday the fifth of August nineteen ninety-four. Lucky, considering she had a long drive with a nearly full car in three days.
That's all for this month, see you next month for A Free Man – Part 2. Feel free to review this chapter and show some love.