And finally it's here, the last part of the three part series (1. New Start - 2. New Life - 3. New Ride ) took me longer than expected but I actually have this whole story finished already. will be posting chapters weekly either on Monday or Tuesday with the only exception being today of course.
before this starts I will add a shameless plug for my DA (Deviant art) account in which I have several KR related works that are extracts from scenes on the two previous stories to this one from selected chapters. if you go to the Deviant art page you can simply search for lllbluebirdlll on the search bar and it should take you directly to my work 3 (can't post a link here since FanFiction does not allow it so RIP that)
Without further distractions here is the first chapter of the third and last part of the re-written version for this trilogy, enjoy!
Chapter one
Back on track
The digital speedometer on the Mustang's HUD climbed past the 250 Km/h mark, the long straight of the training track was quickly coming to an end and just as the bend started the car did a clean drift to the right around it before once again drifting to the left to go around a second corner; up ahead there would be a barrier she would have to jump over followed by another bend and another straight section through which she would have to zigzag around some cones before finally reaching the finish line.
Expertly going through the rest of the course with ease the car came to a hard stop at the finish line just inches from the man standing there, as the high powered engine's sound lowered down to an idle growl after the rush from going around the track the driver's door opened and a tall, dark haired woman climbed out.
Katherine walked over to her dad, closing her jacket and tucking her hands on the pockets "so, how did we do?"
"well you are improving"
"It's not just me, I mean sure I have been getting better at driving like this but it's mostly KIRA" at the mention of her name the AI rolled forwards until she bumped against the back of Kate's leg, in response her driver placed down a hand over the warm metal "she's the one who's been training constantly, who knows, maybe she'll even manage to beat KITT's time"
"that is the idea…" letting out a sigh he looked around the small clearing they had leveled out for such training sessions before looking back down to his daughter "you two go back inside, done enough training for one day"
"we have to, the test is in just a few days and you know how 'He' got after…you know…"
"I know, I've talked to him about it but he's very stubborn"
"at least he got that from you"
slightly amused at her joke he gave out a small smile as Katherine got back inside the Mustang, taking off a minute later and heading for the tunnel that would be leading her back to the main base.
KIRA had been constantly improving as time went on, training with Katherine as much as she had really had more advantages than anyone could tell. KITT himself had witnessed that change, he saw how the bond she shared with her driver shared became stronger with each passing month. Lately he had been more observant of their training sessions and even through a simple video feed he could tell when they were training that now they could reach a certain point in which they were capable of acting like one; one knew that the other wanted to do and vice versa, it was amazing and KITT was immensely proud of the black and blue Mustang's massive improvements.
After the chaos that had happened just over two years ago KIRA could say that things had changed all around the base for the better, losing KIFT had been hard to digest for many of her closest friends but even though it had taken her a while to finally be able to wrap her processor around the concept she had to say that despite what it was it had really pushed forward some new advancements around the place; just over a month after that the main group of research and development had set themselves to work on new tech to fight against any possible threats on the same level as KARR after seeing what he had been able to do to the three of them, hell, at one point it really had been the three of them against him and they were so close to losing…
Speaking of changes…the AI had also noticed some subtle changes on some of her friends, the two most prominent though came from Sarah and KITT, it was only logical since they were the two closest to KIFT besides her. It was still surprising to her how humans could mask their true emotions so well, she had seen it from her driver's mother on multiple occasions the few times the two had gone on missions on their own after the incident, she was completely professional when speaking to the two of them but by now she could tell that was just her own training kicking in, she knew Kate had seen it too but both knew better than to press on the matter with her; KITT…well his change had been more apparent, to everyone really, he had grown quieter and on occasions overly paranoid whenever she happened to get injured in some way no matter how small and he was still reluctant whenever they wanted to send her on a mission that was further away from base…that was actually the main reason why her and Kate had to go through this 'test' thing to see if they could beat KITT's time on the course set on the day of the test, if they did then that would be just enough proof for everyone that they could handle themselves just fine.
Three days later Kate found herself getting some breakfast in the main cafeteria in the early morning hours, her test would be taking place in just a few hours and for some reason she woke up now unable to go back to sleep, knowing this she just got changed into a dark blue top and jeans before heading out to grab a bite. Sitting down alone browsing her phone while drinking a fruit smoothie she absentmindedly flipped through the pages of the digital manual she had before coming back to reality with the sound of footsteps close behind her.
"Matt? What are you doing awake so early?"
"Good morning, and I was about to ask you the same question"
"woke up, couldn't go back to sleep, you?"
"I need to check over the two AIs to make sure they're working under optimal standards for the tests"
"right, forgot you'd been made lead tech in charge of the AIs, how is that going along?"
"really good so far, I mean that's what I was hoping to get to from the moment I got here so…yeah" he sat down next to Kate "what are you doing?"
"Going over KIRA's commands and codes for the test"
"haven't you used those same commands before? Several times?"
"I have but…" she took a deep breath turning off her phone "I just don't want to mess this up, I shouldn't be this nervous about it KIRA and I have gone through way worse"
"you're overthinking things too much, relax, I know you two will do just fine' I've see you two train before and this test will go no differently than any other session you've had with her"
She lightly glanced over to Matt with a light smile before putting her phone away and standing up "have you gone over to them?"
"yeah, KITT's just keeping himself busy while the diagnostics program is running, KIRA's still on her recharge mode and considering the situation I thought it was better to leave her"
"got a few extra minutes"
"pretty much"
"let's go, if you want to get that diagnostics run done in time we better get started"
The two left the cafeteria and headed over to the large main chamber with the two AIs, KITT greeted the two and as Matt went over to him and check on the diagnostic's results Kate walked over to the black and blue Mustang, lightly knocking on her hood above the scanner
"Knock knock, anyone home?"
a faint hum came from the car as the computer booted back up, bringing the scarlet scanner to life, after a second came the reply from the AI "Good morning Kate"
"morning KIRA, would you mind opening your hood so Matt can plug you in for a diagnostics check?"
"not at all" the car's hood got unlocked with an audible click and Matt walked over to plug in the diagnostics computer on the AI, standing by as the results started to go through and making sure everything was working at optimum standards; it only took a few minutes and the results were just as expected, nothing seemed to be wrong and the two AIs were as ready as they could be for the test.
Just as Kate went over to close KIRA's hood Mike and Sarah walked in the room
"you're up early"
Katherine turned around to see her mother walking towards her "wanted to get ready in time"
"I see, everything's in working order I hope"
"Matt just finished checking over her and KITT, they're both ready"
"good to hear" she turned to look at the AI besides her "KIRA I'm going to need you to go around the back to the training grounds, there's a few things that need to get tweaked before we start" she looked over to the Mustang across the room "You too KITT, Sydney's already waiting for you two with a group of techs, Kate and I will meet you two out there in a few minutes"
Both AIs obeyed and Kate gave the blue striped Mustang a pat on her hood before walking off after Sarah, the platforms the cars stood on turned around and both went through the tunnel that leaded out of the complex.
As Kate and her mother walked through the complex to get to the exit that would take them to the training grounds Sarah explained to her what her and KIRA would be doing before KIRA went through another test, when the driver questioned her about what the other test was she simply answered saying that she would see it soon enough. Minutes later the two went out into the training grounds where some of the techs directly in charge of the AIs, amongst them were Matt and Sydney, making sure that the few things that had been fitted to both Mustangs were properly installed and would cause no issues; Mike was standing by Billy and Zoe as they both held tablets with a direct uplink to the AIs' systems to see how they performed during the course that had been set.
As the last few things were set on KIRA KITT moved over to the starting line of the course, waiting for the go signal so he could set the time to beat, as soon as the tech next to him gave him the all clear he took off into the track with squealing tires.
Expertly maneuvering through the bends and obstacles the experienced AI went through it with speed and ease, just barely grazing the cones on the tighter bends and crossing the finish line in just over a minute. Katherine stood leaning against KIRA just next to the starting line looking worriedly at the midnight black Mustang as it went over to park behind them and next to her parents, with a sigh she dropped down inside the car and took a hold of the wheel.
"You are worried?"
she looked down at the AI's voice modulator "Little bit…should I not be?"
"you have driven with me through worse"
"yeah but I didn't have a time limit over my head before, plus this will probably decide whether or not we're able to go out in missions again"
"I'm sure you will do just fine"
the driver couldn't help but smile at the car's confidence in her before turning on the engine and lining up at the start.
With the butterflies of anticipation boiling up and white knuckles gripping the steering wheel Katherine had a clean take off as soon as the signal was given, not even struggling to put the car's power down to the rear tires, practically dancing around the corners smoothly and dodging every obstacle almost perfectly she accidentally slid further to a side on the last turn before pressing down on the accelerator harder on the final straight line to the finish where she finally threw the car on a sideways drift to stop if after crossing the line. Taking a deep breath as she let go of the wheel she asked the AI to display their time on the screen, closing her eyes and expecting the worse she released a breath she didn't know had been held in her lungs after realizing that the time had only been over a second slower than KITT's.
Getting out of the car and walking over to Billy, Zoe and her parents where they informed her that her breaking, acceleration and maneuverability had been quite good with the exception of the last little slip she had. All in all she had passed the test with flying colors but there was still the second test that her mom had told her about of which she still knew nothing about.
Walking over to her she missed the couple techs that walked over to the AIs, opening their ammo compartments they loaded it with some small sphere-shaped rounds.
"Okay, now, mind telling me what the second test we're going to be doing is?"
Sarah didn't remove her gaze from the tablet she was holding "you are done, KIRA isn't"
"What do you mean?"
"There are things that she must be able to do without you since there will be times you two will be separated, because of…recent events she is required to pass this test before you two can go out on your own"
"And what is this 'test' then?"
"KIRA will basically have to beat KITT in a…sparring match, so to speak"
"What?, how is that even going to be a thing?"
"We've loaded their guns with specialized ammo that they will be using, the match will be divided in three parts that will stop as soon as one of them manages to land a physical hit on the other"
"And you didn't think of telling me about it ahead of time?"
"Not like I could"
"KIRA doesn't know?"
"Not before just now"
The two AIs moved over to opposite sides of the training grounds, facing each other for the few seconds before the go signal was given. With squealing tires the cars drove towards each other with guns at the ready, KIRA dove to a side as soon as KITT opened fire and stained the pavement where she had just been with red paint; sliding next to him she shot her own weapon and left a few splotches of blue paint on the deep black surface of the other Mustang before he turned around and drove straight for her while shooting as she moved away, this time leaving part of the black and blue Mustang's side stained with red. A few runs like these went between the two before finally KITT managed to push on KIRA's right rear end, sending her spinning and ending the first round.
KIRA went over to stand across the area from KITT where she thought of more ways to try and get a hit on him, she couldn't do the same she had just done since he would easily avoid her like before…she needed to find a way to trick him somehow.
The two were giver the green light and once again they drove towards each other, after some maneuvers KIRA aimed her gun towards KITT slightly at an angle at which she knew it would make him turn towards her and if she was lucky enough it would distract him enough for her to make a move; KITT veered to the left as KIRA shot over to his right while driving to the left to where she hoped the midnight black Mustang would turn towards, as she had hoped the small distraction was enough to allow her to get close enough to hit him square on his side and getting the second round to an end.
One last time the two Mustangs lined up across from each other and took off when the signal was given, KIRA tried her same technique again but this time KITT predicted her movements and sent a torrent of bullets her way, staining part of her front end in bright red paint. From a side Katherine stood with her arms crossed looking nervously at the ongoing match, both cars had a good amount of paint staining their normally deep black finish that combined with the current score meant that they were pretty much even.
As the two Mustangs circled each other in search of an opening KIRA boosted herself towards KITT using her turbo boost to gain speed at an increased rate in hopes of getting a chance at hitting him.
KITT saw her maneuver coming and used his own turbo boost to jump just high enough to barely graze her roof. Distracted, the black and blue Mustang took a second too late to start breaking and ended up accidentally drifting, by the time she had stopped with a wall against her rear bumper KITT was already standing just mere inches in front of her with the gun spinning and aiming straight at her, with a light flash of his scanner KITT folded back his gun and the match was ended there. Katherine walked past the midnight black Mustang as he backed off to go over to Sarah and the other techs, making her way over to KIRA.
The bright scarlet red scanner tracked back and forth slowly and the driver could tell how the AI was ever so slightly slinking down as she too put away her gun; taking a rag from one of her pockets she wiped off some of the red paint that had stained part of her scanner before climbing inside the car.
"I'm sorry Katherine…"
she toyed with the rag on her hands "There's nothing to be sorry about, you did what you could"
"I failed the test, apparently 'my best' is still not enough"
"KITT has years of experience over you plus numerous fights against…'Him' so don't you dare think that because you couldn't beat him now that you're not good enough yet"
"You're not upset?"
"Why would I be?"
"We will probably not be allowed to leave on missions because of me failing this test"
"Maybe, maybe not"
"What do you mean?"
"Whether or not we go out doesn't fully depend on if you beat KITT or not. From what mom told me the test was to beat yourself, not KITT; if they had been comparing you to KITT it would've been unfair since he has an advantage of years of experience over you"
"So we do still have the possibility of being allowed to go out again?"
"Yeah, now let's go get you cleaned up while they discuss this issue"
Kate and KIRA drove back into the building and down to the maintenance bay where Katherine would be able to clean the paint off of the Mustang, Sarah watched them until they disappeared inside the tunnel before turning to Billy and Zoe to her right.
"Okay, how's the data you gathered?"
Billy was the first to speak "Her core processing speed was quite impressive and there was no overload or unnecessary systems running either"
Zoe moved over to be closer to Sarah, turning her tablet so she could see it "There was also no sudden spikes on her systems other than the one near the end of the test when she spun off but that's just understandable since she would need to bring more processing power to correct an unexpected move" she spoke as she sowed the scientist the several graphs displaying the AI's stats.
"Sounds good, you two go back down and store this data, give it a once-over just in case" both nodded and started to walk off, Sarah turned to her left to Matt and Sydney "Matt do you think you can go and take whatever was left of the paint ammo from KIRA? I'll send KITT your way in a bit to do the same"
"Of course"
"Great" she looked at Sydney as Matt walked off "could you call a team up here to get the place cleaned up?"
"Already called them, should be here in just a few more minutes"
"Perfect, you're free to go then"
As the few remaining techs walked away Sarah looked at the Mustang that remained just sitting quietly next to her, scanner tracking calmly, making a light motion with her head she signaled for him to followed her as she walked off towards the center of the area with the Mustang slowly driving besides her, blue paint staining part of his sides and rear end.
"So…"
"So?"
"Your thoughts KITT"
"Well…she did manage to come up with a mostly successful strategy and she did not overwork her systems despite the situation, it was a very good display of what her training so far has managed to do"
"But we already knew that" she stopped, turning to look directly at the bright ruby red scanner "Billy and Zoe have the raw data; the results from the test are there and they are quite good but I want to know what you think, not you as the super advanced, calculating AI that you are but as the sentient being you've become. What are your thoughts on today's test?"
the scanner tracked back and forth twice before there was an answer from the Mustang. "She displayed exceptional abilities and ability to react accordingly under pressure, that is a very good advantage and even though I was the one who won the match she managed to avoid most of my shots while…as you can see-" he slightly turned to show the good amount of blue paint on his side "-she managed to land most of hers on me"
Sarah kneeled down, looking directly at the AI "But?"
A sigh escaped through his vents in a light cloud of warm air due to the low temperature, there was a second of silence before he spoke "Even though the fact that she has very good accuracy when using her guns I'm afraid that it would be of no use if she doesn't get better at dodging physical hits, those tend to be stronger than just bullets and...if the circumstances present themselves, we know how bad that could end" Sarah looked down, fully aware of what the car meant. KITT opened his passenger's door then, an invitation for the tech to climb inside and get out of the cold.
Sarah walked around the car and dropped inside the seat, the car's interior quickly heating up to a more comfortable temperature. The red dot on the AI's voice modulator looked in her direction expectantly, she sighed "If it was up to me I would've said that they needed more time, they're a good team and the bond they have formed throughout the years is impressive, it would even seem like that ordeal that we had a little over two years ago actually made their bond stronger" she looked down "and that's what scares me the most...KITT if anything were to happen to KIRA…I don't want Kate to go through that, or even you, not again"
"As much as I hate to say this Sarah we both know that we cannot shield them from certain situations forever and believe me when I say that if it were possible even I would like to keep KIRA from these dangers but as much as we want it to be like that this is not something we can intervene with. Sooner or later it will be time to let them go back to work on their own and if the information we've been gathering for the past months is true then-"
"I know KITT…I know." Looking out the window at the cloudy sky and the forest below she took a deep breath "If that is the case then I guess we don't really have a choice, at least we know that they both are as ready as they could be"
"Sarah…" the tech looked back at the AI's voice modulator "Should it come to that I want you to know that I will do anything to keep them safe…You have my word"
shortly after that the two drove back inside the complex, KITT dropped Sarah at the main chamber before backing out and heading to the maintenance bay to get the blue paint cleaned off of his surface. By the time he arrived Kate was already drying off the Black and blue Mustang as traces of the red paint colored some of the water that remained on the floor, Matthew was sitting off to a side talking with her and as KITT parked next to the three of them in the second cleaning platform they greeted him.
Kate dropped the rag she was using and stood in front of the midnight black Mustang "I take It you've already spoken with my mother"
"I have"
"And?"
"I am not allowed to reveal anything at the moment but I will tell you that whatever the result may be you will be informed about it later this day"
"hmm…fine I guess" she walked back to KIRA then, continuing to dry off the water from her side. There was silence in the room before Matt and Kate broke off in another conversation and KITT turned to his internal link with KRIA
"You did really good during your test"
"Did I? I still didn't manage to beat you on it even though I heard you talking to Sarah saying that you were going to 'go easy'"
"I did speak to her about that, but whether or not I actually went easy on my maneuvers is different"
there was a light flash of the scarlet red scanner in realization "You weren't actually going easy?"
"I was not, what I did back there would've been the same if I were to be facing any possible threat…or at least very close to it. My point is that you really did very good today and after the talk I had with Sarah, despite arguing against my better judgement, the chances of you and Katherine being allowed back in the field are very high"
"Why do you say that you argued against your better judgement?"
there was a moment of silence "KIRA I-"
"earth to KITT…hello?" both AIs turned their attention to the people around them, Kate was standing next to KITT, knocking on his hood
"I'm sorry Katherine, do you need anything?"
"Could you open your ammo compartment for a bit? Matt needs to get the remaining paint ammo out"
"of course" A panel slid up in front of his rear left wheel arch and a compartment appeared, it held the few remaining paint rounds from the test. Matt took them out before doing the same with KIRA and leaving Katherine with the AI, she went over to KITT and started to clean off the paint like she had with KIRA until he too was back to just being his usual deep midnight black.
After that Katherine stayed down there simply spending some time talking with the AIs since it had been a while since she had time to just sit down and chat with them, especially KITT since he had grown rather quiet. After about an hour the three went back out to get to the main chamber where Kate's friends were hanging around their respective stations, the AIs parked on their platforms and settled on doing whatever they did when there was nothing to do as the black and blue Mustang's driver headed for her room where she planned on spending a few hours playing something on her computer or just browsing around the internet in hopes that the time would go faster until Sarah told her and KIRA if they were going to be allowed to go on missions or not.
Fortunately for her it did and before she knew it KIRA called to tell her that Sarah wanted to meet them outside, shutting everything down the AI's driver walked out of her room and headed for the main chamber where she found her parents talking with KITT, both turned to look at her as she entered the room and immediately stopped talking.
She stopped in front of KIRA next to her parents, leaning against the black and blue Mustang with crossed arms "So…?"
Mike glanced as Sarah then, she took a deep breath and looked up from her tablet "After discussing this topic extensively and looking at the pros and cons of it as well as our situation and…after some disagreements, we've decided that you and KIRA will be allowed to go on missions starting next week after we've downloaded a few new programs and protocols into KIRA, you are to remain in contact with base at all times at least for your first few missions and depending on how you do on your assigned mission we will see about assigning you some that are slightly more difficult."
She remained serious and expressionless as she listened to her mother attentively, perfectly concealing the excitement on the inside, she was finally going on proper missions with KIRA; true they had gone out once ages ago but after what happened shortly after that had caused quite the hiatus around base.
For the few following few minutes Mike and Sarah explained to their daughter all that going out on missions would entitle, especially at first; Kate thought that some of the things were just unnecessary precautions but since she was at least going to be able to go out she didn't complain about it and just nodded. Thanking both her parents and KITT she walked off towards her pod to get ready for tomorrow.
KITT explained to KIRA what the new programs that were going to be installed tomorrow morning were and what they did, most of them were simply things that would be liking her stats to be live broadcasted to base, when KIRA asked KITT about it and tried to know the reasons behind it the older AI remained silent, only finally speaking with a dry tone simply saying 'for safety purposes'
The tone he had spoken to her in was enough to keep her from pressing the matter further and instead only turned to settling the programs properly, she knew that ever since that last incident bac at the old SSC he had grown slightly overprotective of her and this reaction only confirmed her suspicions that he was still not entirely into the idea of her and Katherine leaving on their own again. She spoke to Katherine about this that same night and she too agreed that KITT was just trying to keep her safe, unknown to the AI Kate had been in a very long and arduous talk with her mother regarding all the new safety and emergency protocols that were going to be installed on the young AI, during the talk the same thought the black and blue mustang had crossed her mind, thinking that all of these things might be a bit too much but she did not complain to the lead tech about it.
For the remainder of that week the preparations continued, a small bit of extra training was needed for both driver and AI but the two went through them with ease, only proving that they were already as prepared as they could be for whatever could come their way. Near the end of that same week while waiting on approval from their exterior government support group on all the paperwork Katherine sat in the semi-empty main room inside KIRA, her father and KITT had left just over two days ago to handle some last minute issues with the paperwork that had been sent a few days ago, car and driver sat in silence as they watched a movie on the car's HUD since it would most likely be the last time they would be able to do this for a while.
Eventually the silence between the two was broken into a friendly conversation about pretty much anything that crossed their minds until something in the background called the AI's attention.
She paused the movie "Katherine"
"Yeah?"
"I just detected that a copy of one of the complex's core files has been made and downloaded into a portable drive"
"What…where?"
the AI brought up a blueprint of the complex and zoomed in on the lower sections, focusing in a particular room with the infra-red image of a man on a computer, blocking whatever progress he had made the AI displayed on her screen the files that she had detected copies being made of and to her driver's horror they were four tiny files that contained their classified location, communication keys, core specs for the two AIs and intel on their technological advancements.
"KIRA I need a gun, non-lethal"
from the car's glove compartment a tray slid out with a small handgun and a clip of hard rubber bullets "I will be able to give you directions so you reach the room as fast as possible, since I have blocked the computer he will most likely try and exit the complex but just in case you don't manage to catch him I might be able to herd him out one of the exits that leads to the outside where I can intercept him."
"Good, I'm taking the elevator to the lower levels and continue from there" she opened the door and climbed out
"Please be careful Katherine"
Kate ran out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened following the directions the AI was giving her being careful to remain quiet since she did not want to alert whoever had stolen the files of her presence since pressure from getting the computer blocked was most likely causing him to hurry up naturally but if she had the chance she wanted to catch him and get a few answers herself, he was taking very important information about the AIs and she wanted to know why, no one would cause any more harm to those Mustangs if she could help it.
Waving between dark hallways and dimly lit rooms she finally caught a glimpse of the man running around the corner, hurrying after him she finally cornered him as KIRA locked an automatic door at the end of a hallway
"Stop right there!" Kate rose her gun up at the man, who stopped his struggling against the door as he heard her voice "Hand over the drive" Katherine started cautiously walking towards him in the semi-lit hallway as he turned around; he appeared young but he didn't have a face that she had seen before around the complex.
Rising his hands, the guy brought one down behind him, causing the AI's driver to tense up, relaxing only when she saw he was pulling out the drive and not some sort of weapon.
Taking the drive from him she inspected it quickly, gun still aimed at the man "What were you planning to do with these files?"
A small, mocking smile grew on his face as he spoke next, a slight dark hint on his eyes glistening under the low lighting "Just wanted to give them a look on my own"
Able to see through that lie from a mile away Kate gave the man a kick on his side with enough strength to knock him to the ground, still pointing the gun at him on the ground as she took another step closer "There are highly classified files and very sensible information here, who were you planning on giving this drive to?"
Clutching his side he managed to half laugh half cough with a dark smile spreading across his face as he looked up at her "you can't stop this…"
Kate remained in silence for a few seconds, taking a few steps back she told KIRA to call security to their location, to which she answered simply saying that she had already called them and they would reach her location in less than a minute.
Approaching footsteps finally allowed Katherine to relax and lower her gun as a group of armed security men rounded the corner and saw her standing in the hallway, they immediately took the drive from her as two others picked up the man from the floor in front of her and started checking him for any other things he could've taken, the AI's driver leaned against a far wall watching everything unfold before security finally finished and stared to take the man away. As he walked past her he had the same dark glint in his eyes, looking directly at her and stopping he spoke "You're wasting your time with me…you don't even realize"
A wave of dread washed over the woman just as another one of the security guards stopped at her side, leaning in to whisper something in her ear and instantly made her eyes grow wide, causing the man in front of her to smile even more.
Katherine took off towards the stairs to get back to the main chamber, contacting the AI as she did so.
"KIRA!"
"Katherine I just detected one of our company vehicles leave the complex at a high speed"
"KIRA get ready to leave, go attack mode we have to catch up to them, the drive with the files is in that vehicle the man downstairs didn't have it"
"I detected no other heat signatures on the lower levels, are you sure about this?"
"one of the guards examined the drive and it was empty, he said before I took off that I was wasting my time and now I see why"
"If that is the case we must get those files back at all cost before they are transferred to someone else or looked into by anyone with possibly dangerous intents."
"I know, be ready to go I'll be there in a minute"
As the platform the AI stood on started to spin to face the exit for the first time since that fatidic night the black and blue Mustang switched to her attack mode, it had changed since then, a few modifications from the techs had made a few things better for aerodynamics but most of it was still the same one she had made herself back at her last encounter with KARR.
Her electric blue double racing stripes morphed into a single line that ran through her middle starting at her scanner, that had now stretched to become longer and made more pronounced lines on her hood as her normal spoiler rose up and stretched to cover a larger surface area; on her sides another intake folded in place to take in enough air to cool the specialized breaks discs that were sure to be red hot if the situation was dire enough and to top it all off a red glow that matched her scanner emanated from underneath her, completing the menacing look intended for this particular transformation. More people started to pour into the room after the emergency status had been set, Katherine ran in and headed for the AI who immediately opened her door upon seeing her, leaving nothing but dual stripes on the pavement as she took off with a loud growl from her engine that made the glass panels of the entry tunnel and the catwalk above resonate with the same vibrating force.
Driving down the single lane hidden road that they had to take out of the complex car and driver followed the signal from the speeding car that was escaping with the valuable hard drive all the way until they exited the heavily forested area and the signal was lost.
On the map displayed in one of the corners of the car's HUD the blinking red dot that signaled the escaping car suddenly vanished, near a four-way crossroad causing Katherine to instinctively slow down.
"KIRA I need that signal back if we're to find this guy"
"I am currently working on getting it back but it would appear that whoever was driving that car was able to activate a very sophisticated shield that is perfectly concealing his signature"
"Well contact HQ and tell them about it, they must be able to do something"
"I already have, they are having the same problem I do and are not able to locate the vehicle, at least for now"
"great…"
Katherine kept driving until they reached the crossroad at which they had lost the signal, there were no lights other than those of the AI and the calmness of the night only made it look like nothing had happened, stopping and trying to think in which direction the car could've gone Kate let go of the wheel and leaned back on her seat.
"KIRA are you able to track the tire threads?"
"Our company vehicles have one of the most popular tire brands in the country, it would be impossible to track one specific set from all the others that overlap on it"
"How about monitoring the street cameras on each road?, we have to be able to see the car through them"
"I have been watching surveillance cameras on all three streets but I have not detected the company vehicle in any of them"
"that's impossible, it couldn't have just diapered"
"I have an incoming chat line from HQ, it's Sarah, shall I put it on screen?"
"Put it up"
A second later the angry face of Sarah appeared on the screen, she was in the main control room and Katherine could see some of her friends working on their stations behind her.
"Katherine Knight what do you think you're doing?"
"I was trying to prevent a very important hard drive from getting stolen but the signal of the car we were following disappeared"
"You know you were not supposed to go out on missions just yet, you got approved but you still need certain permissions before you can take off like that"
"I know, if I had waited for you or anyone else with high enough clearance to give me permission to go then we wouldn't even be here right now and the guy would've gotten away"
"But they got away anyway didn't they" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Where are you right now?"
"At the crossroads directly down from the road that leads to the complex, here's where we lost the signal"
"Have you tried tracking it some other way?"
"We have, nothing we can do will give us a certain path to take after it and the car hasn't shown up in any of the cameras on any of the three roads"
"If whoever did it was smart enough to steal the files directly from under our noses without getting caught they he probably had this planed, most likely switched cars somewhere with no cameras"
"If that's the case then they could be anywhere right now…"
"Come back, we can figure something out from here"
"Have you told Dad about this?"
"him and KITT are on their way back as we speak, they should arrive by tomorrow morning considering the time"
"Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes"
The chat line was closed and KIRA drove the two of them back to base, getting back into her normal mode as she did so. One back Kate explained to her mother and friends what had happened since KIRA detected the files being copied, Sarah told her that the guy was already under interrogation but so far they hadn't been able to get anything out from him whoever he worked for and however he managed to infiltrate the complex would look like they would remain a mystery, at least for the time being. Since the guy wasn't being of any help Sarah and the other techs had to take on a different approach, there was no time to be wasted, they needed to get that drive back at all costs…