A/N: This is a new story for an old series (following "Time Flies" and "The Passage of Time"). I realize you readers might not want to read this because of the established OC's, and that's perfectly fine. In all honesty I only wrote it because I wanted to write something. Still, if anyone happens to read this and enjoy it and/or has constructive criticism, I would love to hear it!

CHAPTER ONE

Nothing. There was nothing.

But that was wrong, and he knew it was wrong. There should be something.

He explored a little and found something. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, or what he did. But instead of becoming clearer, things became much more confusing. There were other things out there with him. What were they? Would they hurt him?

It seemed as if they wouldn't. They were too busy going down the same pathway, and none of them appeared to even notice him. He waited there for a while-but he wasn't sure what it was he was waiting for. He waited for a long time, watching them.

Finally he decided that he needed to act. He needed to follow these things and find out where they were going. If they didn't notice him now, maybe they wouldn't mind if he joined their line. But he had to be very careful. Some of them were really giant, and he was sure they could hurt him if they wanted to. He had to be careful not to get in their way.

He stretched, and slowly moved forward. The ground dipped away in front of him as he reached the grey pathway, but then it leveled out again.

He hadn't noticed when he stopped. He shivered-he was at the edge of the pathway. None of the things had noticed him there, close as he was. They all just moved past him, very quickly. He would need to match their speed to keep up his place in the line.

As soon as a space opened up for him, he took it. The things shouted at him as he jumped in front of them, and he was afraid that they would knock him over. But they didn't. He sped up, and realized that as long as he kept up the pace of the line the things weren't going to hurt him. Once he was in the line, they didn't care whether he was there or not.

Something was up ahead. The grey pathway split into two, and some of the loud things chose to go one way, while others chose to stay on the original path. Which way should he choose?

There was something green over the second grey pathway, a sign of some kind. Instructions? Directions? He couldn't understand it, but knew that the white lines on it must be some form of communication. Perhaps it was a signal to the things on the pathway.

Wait.

Something about that set of white lines looked familiar.

Why should it look familiar?

He needed to find out what it meant. He moved into the new pathway, and followed the things in front of him as they slowed down to a stop. There was another sign, with the same set of familiar white lines. An arrow near the sign pointed him onto another grey path.

While he kept his concentration on the things around him, paying attention to the cues they used to start and stop, he followed the instructions on the signs. They were leading him somewhere, and he was curious.

Within half an hour, he found himself at the university.

"Come on, come on, somebody pick up the phone," Elizabeth Knight said, pacing the small dorm room with phone in hand. One hand brushed up against her bedpost, and two steps later the same hand brushed up against her roommate's bedpost before she circled round to her own bed again. "Why won't anybody answer?"

She hung up the phone and redialed. This time it went through.

"Lizzie."

"Kitt!" she exclaimed, shifting the phone to the other ear, "I've been worried sick! No one's been answering-"

"I know. We are very busy, Lizz. I'd appreciate it if you would call back later."

"But Kitt, it's important! It's about Karr!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Every day he calls to check up on me, and suddenly he just stopped. Out of the blue! Kitt, is he alright?"

"Karr is currently involved in an important mission. That is all that I'm authorized to tell you."

"But it's not like him, Kitt!" Lizzie flung herself onto her bed. "He always lets me know when he can't call me. I tried calling him, but he didn't answer. No one did. I tried you, mom, dad, Ashley, uncle Devon-Kitt, I've been trying to get in touch with FLAG for the past several days!"

"Like I said, we are very busy."

The tone in Kitt's voice was almost too monotone-too normal. There was something important that he wasn't telling her.

"What's going on?" Lizzie got up off the bed, "Is there an emergency?"

"There is nothing you need to worry about," Kitt said, "Your primary objective is to obtain good grades within your classes."

"Kitt," Lizzie continued, "I'm a Knight. If there is something going on, I should know about it."

"Duly noted. Now, if you will excuse me-"

"Wait Kitt!" Lizzie said, "What about-"

"I really must be going, Lizzie," Kitt interrupted, "I've spent too much time as it is. My processing power is sorely needed elsewhere. As I said, we are all very busy. Please do not call us again for a few weeks, unless we contact you first."

"What? But-but what if there's an emergency?"

"Call the proper authorities," Kitt responded, and without even a good-bye, he hung up the phone.

Lizzie frowned, and threw her cell phone onto the bed. Something was seriously wrong here.

"That's it," she said, "I don't care if they don't want me home. Something is going on over there, and I'm going to find out what it is."

She reached under her bed and pulled out her suitcase. Of course, that was the moment her roommate had chosen to walk in the door.

"Whoa," the other girl said, "What's up?"

"I'm leaving," Lizzie responded, "Something's going on at home, but no one will tell me what it is."

"So, you're just going to abandon all your classes to find out?"

"Come on, Brittany! This is clearly an emergency." Lizzie pulled open her drawer, but her roommate slammed it shut again.

"Hang on, girl. Are you sure you're not just imagining things? Maybe this is just homesickness."

"I'm not imagining it," Lizzie said, "They're not answering my calls. Something's up, and they need my help."

"Why don't you ask your uncle about it? You know, the one who calls you every day?"

"He's stopped calling me," Lizzie said, "That's what told me there was a problem."

"Okay, first off, calm down," her roommate said, "Your family runs their own business, right? That means they can handle it. The best thing you can do for them right now is keep on top of your studies."

"But Britt-"

"Don't 'but Britt' me!" Brittany said, "Your family sent you to school to learn. And you can't do that if you go running home to help them fix problems they can fix themselves. Come on, let me help you put away that suitcase."

Lizzie sighed, but let her roommate put away her suitcase.

"Besides," said Brittany, "Who's going to watch Mrs. Mahogany's house for her the next time she's away? Or take care of the Smith's dogs?"

Lizzie sighed.

"I know it's hard," Brittany said, "My own family is far away too. But think about it this way: the money you just saved traveling home, you can use for Christmas gifts or something."

"Right," Lizzie said. She didn't want to tell her roommate that that wasn't any help.

"Anyway, if you're done with classes, how about going on a walk to clear your head?" Brittany took a look around the room, "And get you out of here. I'll bet you've been in here almost all day, haven't you?"

"Right again," Lizzie said, "A walk would be good, I guess. Thanks, Britt."

"Don't mention it," Brittany said, flopping onto her bed, "Bring me back something to drink, will you? I'm going to need all the coffee I can lay my hands to start my paper tonight."

"You mean the one that's due tomorrow?" Lizzie asked, trying to hide the smile in her voice.

"Finished that, working on the next one. Get me a mocha?"

"Maybe," Lizzie said, "Or something better."

"What's better than a mocha?" Brittany asked.

Lizzie just smiled, put on her shoes and went out the door.

"Alright," she said to herself as she headed down the hall, "Think things through. Britt's right, they can handle things on their own...Can't they?"

The coffee shop she had in mind for her roommate was across campus, but even so Lizzie decided to take the long way to get there. The walk took her past several of the dormitories, the science building, a lake, and the major street. Car after car drove past her, some of them heading for the university town, some of them heading for other parts of the city.

That was where she saw a flash of black. As she always did, without thinking about it she scanned the car to note the make and model.

That was when she did a double-take.

"Kitt?" she asked in surprise, "Karr?"

The vehicle that had just driven past her could have been their double. But that was impossible. She had only had a glimpse...

"KARR!" She shouted, startling a couple other college kids on the sidewalk, "KITT!"

But unlike Kitt and Karr, who doubtless would have heard her even at that distance, the vehicle continued on.

Something was wrong. This couldn't be either Karr or Kitt. Kitt was at FLAG-nowhere near the campus, and Karr was on a mission somewhere. Besides, since when would they come to her college and completely ignore her? She must be imagining it. She was just seeing things. There had been a lot of black trans-ams built once upon a time, hadn't there?

The car came to a stop at a red light, and even though there were a few cars in line behind it, Lizzie was able to see half of the license plate. Only half, but it was enough. It was the same as Karr's.

This was too much of a coincidence. She began running towards the car as fast as she could; she had to get there before the light turned green.

"Hey!" Lizzie cried out, "Hey wait up! Karr!"

There was no sign that he had heard her. Maybe she wasn't supposed to know he was here? No, that was ridiculous. Karr always let her know when she needed to pretend she didn't know him. Presumably he always did that because sometimes she would shout out his name in public. Like right now.

"WAIT! Karr!" She shouted, ignoring the looks she knew she was getting from some of the other drivers, and from some of the people on the sidewalk.

The light turned green, and to Lizzie's dismay Karr didn't wait. She could see the whole license plate now, and it was definitely him.

"HEY!" She shouted, worried that he would drive off for parts unknown without even saying hello, "YOU THERE! BLACK CAR! WAIT UP!"

If he didn't stop in response to her 'insult', nothing would stop him now.

At first it looked like nothing had happened, but then she saw it. The black vehicle pulled over to an empty parking spot the side of the road and parallel parked. Panting, Lizzie raced up to the side of the car. The dark windows had cleared, and she could see that it was empty; there was no one in the driver's seat. And the license plate was the same as she thought it was. Good, so she wasn't crazy. This was most definitely Karr.

"Oh good," she said, panting, "Karr, it's you! I've been trying to contact you. Kitt said you were on a mission, but why haven't you called? You had me worried!"

Nothing. There was no response.

"Karr?" She asked, "Are you okay?"

Almost imperceptibly, the car began to shiver.

"Karr?" Lizzie asked, reaching forward, "Is everything all right?"

She expected that answer to evoke some sarcastic retort, but Karr remained silent. As soon as she touched the door handle, however, Karr violently moved and peeled away from her. Almost before she could breathe, he was gone.

Lizzie was left standing alone on the sidewalk, next to an empty parking space.

Her partner and best friend had run away from her.

What on earth had just happened?