Title: Conversation
AU: Fire & Ice
Author: Gumnut
Fandom: Knight Rider
Challenge: Elfin is still challenging me
Rating: PG
Summary: They needed to have a conversation
Word count: 2,067
Spoilers & warnings: Fire & Ice
Disclaimer: Mine? You gotta be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother. The characters of Nicholas MacKenzie, Alex Christopher, this interpretation of KARR, and the entire Fire & Ice concept belong to Macx (Gryph). I thank her for letting me play with her toys.
Author's notes: This one jumped out of a F&I fic and chewed on my brain. I felt they needed to have a conversation, so I wrote one. I just don't know whether it does it justice. Oh, and I'm not sure of the timeline on this, I was thinking earlier, but it is written in a later style. I dunno. Except perhaps before 'Switch'.
Conversation
An attempt at Fire & Ice
By Gumnut
8 Jan 2007
It was a familiar spot. He came out here often, either with Nick or not, occasionally with Bonnie. Kitt often joined him here as well, usually at sunset at the end of a case. They'd discuss anything and everything, business and not, often just shooting the breeze. It was a nice spot, leaning over the harbour watching the ships sail by. Quiet, yet not. The perfect place to sit and organise one's thoughts.
This morning he was up watching the sun catch up to him. The sky was clear of cloud and though it was a little chilly at the moment, it was going to be a glorious day and Michael was looking forward to hitting some highway.
They had vacation owing and, after their last case, he was planning on using it to its fullest. To disappear off the planet so fast, Devon's radio transmitter had no hope of catching up...especially when his favourite AI intended to block the signal.
The director had overstepped his grounds yet again, calling on the pair above and beyond the call of duty. Michael had thought he had seen the last of the Englishman's careless abandon regarding his and Kitt's use and abuse, but apparently not. But this time Michael hadn't needed to say anything. He had simply sat in the driver's seat, arm bandaged from shoulder to fingertip, and listened while Kitt gave Devon a piece of his mind. The AI was rather strident in tone when defending his driver. Michael, on the other hand, could see Devon's point. The people involved needed help desperately, but at the barest hint of conceding to Devon's wishes, Kitt had turned his ire on his driver, the AI stubbornly refusing to let his partner go anywhere but home.
It was different now. Years ago, he would have been faced with an angry flashing LED telling him to behave. Nowadays, the LED still flashed, but the white, warm presence in his mind got spiky and pressured him, coercing him in ways he would never have thought possible. Michael knew it all came from Kitt's desperate need to keep him safe, he understood it fully, but it often took him by surprise. When working he focussed solidly on a case, pushing himself, but then it would end and he would find himself coasting on adrenalin, looking for a way to expend it. Devon took advantage of that as much as possible and Michael always regretted it.
This time he had been suffering some burns from an explosion, one Kitt had narrowly saved him from, when Devon called, and apparently it was the last straw for his partner. Angry Kitt was stubborn Kitt. It was something they shared in common.
So here he was, home, relaxed. His arm was still bandaged, but he was winding down and Kitt couldn't be happier. Michael smiled to himself as he felt the AI's satisfaction with whatever he had found to amuse himself with.
Since the activation of the implant, Michael had received an education on what exactly his partner did when left in parking lots all over the country. Boredom was not his favourite pastime and he had some suspicions that various computer networks were subjected to the harassment of said bored AI on a regular basis.
He heard the sound of specialised tyre rubber on asphalt and the soft purr of an equally specialised engine in silent mode, but didn't turn around. He had expected Kitt to follow him out at some point, the AI rarely let him out of his sight for long, scanning range or no. "Good morning, sunshine."
"Good morning, Mr Knight."
Michael started at the voice, so unlike his partner's, and spun to find himself kneecap to bumper with the Stealth. He automatically reached for Kitt, but found the AI still happily amusing himself. Michael hesitated.
But his eyes continued to widen as Karr rolled a little closer, the prow of the custom car effectively pinning him against the railing, if not physically. "Karr?"
"Yes?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No."
"Where's Nick?"
"Morning exercise."
Jogging. Nick was out jogging, of course. Michael knew that, but Karr was here...talking to him. Karr never talked to him. Karr talked to Nick, he talked to Kitt, but never to Michael unless absolutely necessary. He eyed the jet-black finish of the custom car a little warily. He trusted Karr. The AI had proved the point many a time, but there was still something that made him nervous, something dark. Perhaps it was the contrast between him and his brother, perhaps it was history, perhaps it was the black prow positioned rather precisely in front of his knees.
"What can I do for you?"
"We need to have a conversation."
Michael blinked. "We do?"
"I believe so."
Okay, he'd bite. "About what?"
"Your conduct."
"My conduct?" What?
"And your complete disregard for Kitt's safety." His voice was cold.
"What?!"
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
"No!" Michael shoved a block between himself and his partner. "An explanation would be useful. You know I would never intentionally hurt Kitt." He shifted from one foot to the other.
"I am aware of your feelings in the matter, Mr Knight."
Michael was flabbergasted. "Then what-?"
"You fail to demonstrate due care."
Totally confused at the apparent verbal attack, Michael stared at the AI, attempting to work out exactly what had brought this on. But then he eyed Karr with suspicion. "Did Nick put you up to this?"
"No. Nicholas is unaware of my concerns."
"Your concerns?"
"Are you usually this slow to absorb information?"
Michael had been frowning, but now his brow nearly cut his face in half. "What do you want, Karr?"
"We have a mutual interest. It is my aim to protect that interest."
Michael straightened, his face going cold. "And you feel I am not taking enough care of Kitt."
"Correct."
His eyes narrowed. "And what do you plan to do about it?"
Karr did not answer immediately, and Michael thought for one crazy moment that the AI might make some foolish decision right there and then. Involuntarily, he backed up half an inch or more closer to the railing behind him.
"You fear me."
"No."
"Now you lie."
"What the hell do you want with me, Karr? For god's sake, stop beating around the bush and say or do what you wanted and get it over and done with."
The Stealth's engine increased its revolutions. "I will not harm you."
But there was more to that statement. "Unless?"
"We have a mutual interest, Mr Knight."
"What?! I would never harm Kitt, you know that!" The AI knew, he had to know, there was no way they could have gone through everything they had without the darker intelligence knowing what existed between Michael and Kitt. He may not fully understand it, but he had to know of its existence.
"Yet you endanger yourself."
"It's my job! Nick does the same."
"Nick does what is necessary. You go beyond the necessary."
"We're different, Karr, you know that."
"I will not let you endanger my brother!"
Michael stared at the car, stunned speechless. The Stealth's engine roared and the AI backed up, putting some distance between him and Kitt's driver as if afraid of what he might do.
Michael stepped away from the railing, still staring at the Stealth. Automatically, he reached for Kitt, but encountered the block he had put up earlier.
His eyes never left the AI. "What do you want me to do, Karr?" He walked out into the Stealth's path. Perhaps this is what they needed, perhaps they did need a conversation. "Should we retire? Should I take Kitt away and hide him, wrap him up in cottonwool and stand guard over him so he will never be hurt?"
The Stealth's engine snarled.
But...
"This isn't about me, is it? This is about you." Michael stood in the middle of the road, legs slightly apart, incongruously reminded of his first encounter with Kitt. "I do what I must. Kitt does the same. There are no heroics involved, but there is always the chance of injury and death. You know that. Nick knows that. Kitt knows that." The Stealth's engine continued to idle, but Karr said nothing.
Michael set his jaw. "Perhaps...it is you who fears me."
"Your humour has no place here, Knight."
"I'm not a fool, Karr. I am Kitt's driver. Your brother's driver."
"I know who you are."
"Do you? We have never spoken. Until now. You speak to Kitt, yet you never speak to me. Why?"
"You are afraid of me."
"I am not afraid of you!"
"You flinch. You shy away. History speaks for itself."
"There is history! There is a history of trust. Do you think I would let you anywhere near Kitt if I thought you would harm him?!"
"You can not keep me away."
"You want to try me, Karr? Really? Because if I thought you would hurt Kitt intentionally nothing would stop me from doing what is necessary. Or beyond necessary, for that matter." He forced his emotion into his expression attempting to dent the AI's MBS with its intensity.
"I would not harm you or Kitt."
Michael relaxed just slightly. "I know." But Michael refrained from confirming the reverse. "We trust you. I trust you." He tilted his head. "But you don't trust me. You're afraid of what I can do to you."
The AI didn't comment, but his engine idled to a stop. The non-silence of the morning quay resumed.
Michael reached out for Kitt once more, tentatively edging around the block he had built, checking on his partner, but found him still happily amused with something. He frowned, wondering what could possibly distract Kitt from what was happening.
Michael didn't expect the dark AI to agree with him or admit anything. The fact Karr had even started this conversation in the first place was enough of an indicator as to how disturbed the AI was. Concerned that Michael, the one person in this bizarre family that he had no direct influence over, held Kitt's life in one hand and consequently part of Karr's in the other.
Michael wondered if Nick knew what was going on. He knew the partners were in the habit of blocking far more than Kitt and Michael and he would not be surprised if Karr had walled his driver off with some pithy excuse.
"Look, I understand your concerns, but Kitt has my everything, Karr. He is my life, I don't have anything else left to give." He sighed. "You're just going to have to trust me."
"You are foolhardy."
"And you're a cynic. Live with it." The Stealth rumbled. "And stop with the special effects. If you were going to run me over, you would have done it by now."
"There is always tomorrow." But Karr's voice had a lilt that took the edge off the threat.
Michael arched an eyebrow. "Do I get to see Kitt kick your ass?"
"You could see him try."
The eyebrow climbed higher.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a wave of glee from the other side of the link, the emotion seeping around the edges of the block Michael had put in place.
The driver frowned. "Do you know what Kitt is doing?"
"He is distracted."
"Obviously. But with what?" Michael turned to look at the dark AI. His eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"
"What makes you think I did anything?"
"You approached me. You planned this. You knew he would need to be distracted because you knew we don't block as well as you and Nick."
"Apparently I know a great deal."
"What did you do?"
"Very little."
"What did you do?"
"I gave him a puzzle."
Michael's eyes widened yet again, his nudge in Kitt's direction answered with a glee-filled glow of white light bouncing with number and letters and strings of syllables. "Oh no, not one of those."
"Is there a problem?" But the knowledge was in the AI's voice.
"Do you realise what I'm going to have to put up with for the next week?" English would be a lost language.
"Yes."
"You have no problem with Kitt damaging me, do you?"
"The damage will be minimal."
Michael sighed. "You're far too much like your brother."
The AI didn't answer, but the compliment was taken nonetheless.
-o-o-o-
FIN.