Chapter three

Taken

Katherine arrived back at base a few hours into the night, her and KIRA had been discussing how Sarah knew that they were being chased by KARR before they told them, KIRA said that when he asked KITT he said that he had told her but if that was the case then why didn't he tell her? Plus how did he even manage to detect his signal considering he had been impossible to track since after the incident.

The black and blue Mustang rolled to a stop inside the main chamber and an anxious Sarah immediately walked in, followed by Matt and Sydney.

Sarah went straight for Katherine and hugged her as she asked if she was okay while Matt and Sydney took a good look at KIRA to make sure she was fine too, Kate managed to free herself from her mother's grip and take a few steps back until she had her back against the AI's side

"Kate?"

"How did you and KITT get word of KARR in our area before we told you about it? Or even before I knew he was there since by the time we called KITT was already on his way with dad by then"

"Katherine I don't-"

"And don't lie about this, I know you have your secrets, you always have but this is bigger than just you"

there was a moment of silence before Sarah answered, she never meant for Kate or KIRA to know her and KITT had been tracking KARR for over a year now, not like this at least… "after the whole SSC incident two years aggo KITT and I managed to sample part of KARR's signal and we used borrowed internet satellites to keep constant surveillance on him"

"You were tracking him? You knew where he was all this time?!"

"We could only detect his signal whenever he was connected to the internet, we only got very quick pings over long periods of time…but yes, to an extent"

"And neither one of you though this information would be of use to the rest of us?"

"KITT and I thought it would be better if we kept it secret, only us two knew of this"

"So this was a 'need to know' kind of thing but you didn't think that just maybe KIRA and I needed to know of this, even after what he did to KIFT?!" She turned away from her mother and glanced at the Black and Blue Mustang behind her "What he did to US…"

"Kate I'm-"

"Don't...just don't" She knew that if she had stayed any longer most likely she would've said something she'd regret later, she had seen how her mother had turned away from her at the sheer mention of KIFT so she knew she had struck a nerve but she couldn't believe that they had kept this secret hidden so long. Even from her mother she could understand the secrecy but KITT? She had grown quite close to the older AI after their last near-death experience and there were no secrets between them and KIRA…or at least that's what she thought before all this happened…

about an hour later KITT drove into the main chamber, the fact that KIRA hadn't said a word to him since her arrival here caused him to believe that something had happened, because of the current circumstances then most likely she had found out that Sarah and him knew about KARR all along, and if she knew then that meant that Kate knew as well. As if to confirm his suspicion after greeting Mike Sarah headed straight for him.

Falling into the passenger's seat and shutting his door Sarah laid back with a sigh before turning to look at KITT's voice modulator

"They know KITT, they're both angry at the both of us for keeping this from them and…to be honest I think we made a mistake"

"At least that explains why the sudden silence from KIRA…"

"We should've told them about it, this concerns the two of them as much as it concerns us"

"You cannot blame yourself for this Sarah, you have to remember that at the time we made that decision the memories of what happened were still fresh…for the both of us"

"I know, and I know that at the time we saw it better to keep them from it for their own protection, knowing them if they knew where KARR was shortly after the fight they would've gone after him while he was still weak" she turned her head to look out of the currently tinted windows "maybe we should've done that ourselves, we could've avoided all of this if we had"

"Sarah" the tech turned to look back at the AI's voice modulator "What's done it's done, there is no use in thinking about what we could have done now, the best we can do is try to make things right"

"I…I guess you're right, it's not going to be easy though"

Leaning back on her seat once more Sarah turned her attention to the empty station to the right of the car, trying to picture a white and blue Mustang back in it's place. This did no go unnoticed by the AI "KITT do you…miss her?"

The midnight black Mustang stood quiet for a few seconds as he too looked at the empty space next to him "More than I ever thought I would…"

As the night wore on fewer and fewer people remained at the main chamber, eventually only the two AIs remained, KIRA had fallen into her recharge mode about an hour ago so that only left KITT. Making sure that no one was within hearing range KITT slowly reversed out of the chamber and through the entry tunnel keeping his engine on stealth mode, only turning around and flooring it once he was outside and the doors were closed once more.

Expertly waving through the bends of the mountain road he reached the cliff where he knew KIRA and Kate usually went to every now and then to catch the sunset or sunrise. Shutting off his lights and engine he stood at the edge, the cool breeze from such early morning hours easily moving across his sleek finish as he watched the white stars on the dark royal blue background. The ruby red scanner tracked dimly back and forth slowly as the Mustang settled on his shocks and sank closer to the ground; the talk he had with Sarah earlier that night sprung back unwanted memories that he had managed to to push back not that long ago and yet again he found himself wondering what could've happened had the outcome of that battle been different…

The AI sunk closer to the ground at the feeling of a sudden rush of cold air as he continued deep in thought, trying now to think of a way to get KIRA to understand that Sarah and him had kept this secret for a good reason, to protect her and Katherine for the most part. he kept throwing the last part around his processor, maybe more than to protect them he had subconsciously done it to protect himself from yet another loss at the hands of his twin.

Time lost all meaning as he continued to look at the stars, deciding to drive back once he saw the hints of the approaching sunrise over the horizon, the drive back was slow and he was lucky enough so that by the time he entered the complex the main room was still void of anything other than KIRA. After much though he was about to set himself to rest for a little while until the sound of approaching footsteps called his attention.

Katherine came around the corner of one of the hallways still dressed on her loose pajama pants and a blue tank top, hair messily tied up in a bun. With crossed arms and a tired expression she approached the AI, sitting down on the floor in front of the ruby red scanner as it sluggishly tracked back and forth with a low glow.

"I didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour of the morning"

"Couldn't sleep, and by the looks of it you had the same problem" she placed a hand on his front bumper, the normally warm metal feeling cool to the touch "You were outside weren't you?" at this Kate saw the barely noticeable change in the scanner's pacing as well as the sudden shift on the car's weight

"I…yes, I went outside for a few hours. Katherine I understand if you are angry with me and Sarah for what we did and I have to apologize for it but you have to understand that at the time both of us saw it better to keep this information secret"

"I know KITT, I didn't have the best reaction towards it either and to be honest I let my emotions get the better of me earlier. I thought about this during the night and I see your point of view on the subject"

"You're not mad?"

"I couldn't be mad at you KITT, not for long anyways" she sat on her knees to be at eye level with the AI, placing a hand over the ruby scanner "You've been one of my best friends since I can remember KITT, nothing will change that if I can help it" with this said Kate felt the change in the car as it leaned forwards ever so slightly into her touch.

"Thank you Kate"

"There's nothing to thank, KIRA seemed to take this a little harder than I did, you might want to talk to her about it later, I can try and help out if she's too stubborn about it"

"I appreciate your offer, but I believe it would be better if I manage to do this on my own"

"well, still, if you need anything just tell me" she stood back up and started to walk away, stopping just after a few steps "KITT I…I do have to know though, why did you and my mom decide to keep this from us?"

There was silence from the AI for a few seconds before he was able to bring himself to answer "When we first found out that we could track KARR it had been just over a month after the…incident, and you know just how much it had impacted KIRA. I knew that if we were to give her this information she would've gone out after KARR hoping that maybe he wasn't fully healed which, in any other case, I would agree to doing but considering that KARR had been able to somehow leave the hangar after I shot that missile he surely had someone else to help him, an entire month is more than enough time for him to at the very least be repaired nearly back to optimal working standards. Knowing this I could not allow KIRA to go after him in blind anger and risk getting herself hurt" there was a pause "Sarah and I had this agreement in order to protect both of you, or at least we saw it like that back then…maybe all along I subconsciously did it to protect myself from yet another loss…"

Katherine had walked back to KITT and was now standing in front of him as he finished, she noticed how the scanner was now tracking back and forth slightly faster as emotions she knew the AI had been keeping to himself so far were brought out to the open "It's okay KITT" she placed a hand on his hood "I didn't know how you felt about all this and I understand why you did it"

"Maybe if I had convinced Sarah to give the two of you this information sooner we wouldn't be in this situation, maybe we could've gone after him sooner and none of this would be happening…"

"Don't take it upon yourself, it's not your fault and you could've never predicted that KARR was going to be working for the guys that KIRA and I faced on that last mission, if anything now we have a lead on him and we could figure out a way to take him out and get all of this over with"

"I hope you're right. I appreciate the time you took to listen and…for forgiving me"

"get some rest KITT, might do you well"

"You too Katherine"

after that the young driver turned away and walked back to her pod, being able to take such weight from himself helped ease the AI's troubled processor enough to allow him to slip into recharge for the next hour or so before people started to wake up, he hoped that by then KIRA was back online and he could talk to her about this; until then he might as well get some rest.

As the sun rose higher above the horizon more and more people started to pour in from the hallways and into the main chamber, KITT had talked to Sarah about his conversation with Katherine that morning to which she answered that Kate had already talked to her and both were back in good terms, when she asked him about KIRA though KITT had to admit that he hadn't been able to talk to her about it yet but that he was going to as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

KITT watched the AI sitting by his side stood calmly in her place, scanner tracking back and forth in a calmed manner though the low glow signaled that she was probably deep in though. Reaching through their internal link KITT tried calling her attention with a gentle pulse, the young AI immediately turned her attention to him.

"KIRA I'm-"

"No, don't…"

"please, let me explain-"

"There is nothing to be explained…I know it all"

"Did Katherine speak to you about it?"

"No, I heard the two of you speaking early in the morning…I couldn't bring myself to slow down my processor enough. I also know that you left in the middle of the night"

"You heard everything that I told her?"

"yes…I understand now why you and Sarah chose to keep this information from us since you were not wrong when you said that if I had known of his location I would have gone after him. Now that we know that he's working with someone we need to move fast"

"Agreed, I've talked to Sarah about this already and she plans on giving us some upgrades before we face him again"

"if that is the case then I suggest we start working on them as soon as possible"

Just under an hour later Sarah had gathered the group of techs that consisted of Kate's friends to give them the task of getting the new upgrades for the AIs ready, the two Mustangs would have to remain deactivated for the new programs and hardware to be installed, because their time was cut short they had to get to work fast so immediately Sydney and Matt got to work on the software modifications for the AIs, while they remained shut down Kate was given the task to drive to one of the nearby town and get a few supplies for some of the hardware that was going to be implemented. Taking the keys for her car she went to the rear entrance where most of the company vehicles were stored, walking to the very back she passed by her dad's white Volvo and Zoe's red Focus before reaching her metallic steel CRV, stopping to unlock the door she caught a glimpse of the car parked on the other side of her car, causing her to freeze on the spot.

Walking around the front of her car she came face to face with a white and blue GT500 that after a closer inspection she realized was what had once been KIFT's shell, after the incident she hadn't asked what had happened to the AI's shell and she supposed it had most likely been sent to storage somewhere, never had she though that her mom would have the shell repaired and brought here in case it was ever needed. She was amazed at how it looked, the only sign the car had of once holding a highly advanced AI was the long air intake on its hood where the scanner had once been.

After a few minutes Katherine forced herself to get back to her current task, the two was a few hours away and she couldn't be wasting time but she was going to ask Sarah about this when she came back, mainly why hadn't she told her about it.

Kate drove out of the complex and towards the nearest town two hours away, luckily she was going to be able to find everything she needed. She had always enjoyed driving through the highway, especially when there were no buildings or man-made structures, in this case it was only the passing trees and hills of the lower part of the mountain range they had settled on.

It was no secret that she would rather be out driving than cramped up at base, she only wished that KIRA was with her but the new software Sydney and Matt were going to do had the two AIs shut down, she had resigned herself that it was going to be quite a boring day when she heard about the upgrades but thankfully they had sent her over to pick up some more equipment.

The two hours passed and Kate entered the outskirts of the small town, she used her phone to find the store she needed and a few minutes later she was entering the parking lot. Surprisingly she was able to find everything she needed after stopping by about three different stores and before leaving the town she decided to stop at a fast food restaurant to get a quick snack before beginning her long drive back.

It took her close to fifteen minutes to get out of the small town and into the highway, she plugged in her phone and turned up the music as her playlist went on. She was the only car on the highway for miles and she was happy with that, there were no other cars to ruin the perfect landscape and that was probably the thing she liked the most about driving out here, the view.

She turned back to look at the road ahead and for a second she caught a glimpse of black on the rear view mirror, she looked back at it and even turned her head back to make sure she wasn't seeing things but there was nothing there, she looked back to the road and the next thing she knew her car was flying through the air; after flying some meters it landed with a loud thud giving several flips before finally stopping on its roof on the shoulder of the road as two more vehicles approached from the oncoming lane…

Back at base Sydney had just finished installing the new defense system in KIRA, who was now working at the track, and was already half way through KITT. Noah was working in one of the labs still having troubles with the Nano-skin so it was going to be some time until he finally was able to get a suitable combination to work properly but that was not going to happen unless Katie arrived with the materials he needed.

Deciding to check if she had arrived he went over to the main chamber where he found Matt still working on KITT

"Hey Matt" Noah said as he entered the large room

"what's up?"

"Is Kate back yet?"

"No, why?"

"I need some materials for my tests"

"Well she left quite some time ago, it shouldn't take long for her to arrive"

"Hopefully…"

Just then KIRA came back in through the tunnel "Wait, I know" he got up from his chair and walked towards the black and blue Mustang as it slowed to a stop on her platform "KIRA could you do me a favor and call Katherine?"

"Of course" she said already dialing the number, a minute went by and there was still no answer "She's not responding..."

"Maybe she left her phone on silent?" Noah asked, walking up to the Mustang

"That's unlike her...try again KIRA"

"I just did, she's still not answering"

"what's the problem here guys?" Mike asked as he walked into the room

"Katherine's not answering her phone and we haven't heard anything about her since she left"

"KIRA can't you use her phone signal to locate her?"

"with the configuration it has we can't track her unless she's using her phone"

"Right…"

"Guys!" the group turned to look at Sarah as she entered the room, phone in hand "We just got a call from the police of a nearby town, there was a crash almost an hour ago and they want us to go and check it out"

"A crash? Why would they call us just for a crash?" Matt asked

"yes, and I don't know. KITT can you give us a satellite view of the area?"

There was silence from the AI as the large screen on the wall switched to a map as it zoomed in on the location of the crash; all they could see was some police cruisers as well as an ambulance next to a flipped over car in the shoulder of the road.

Mike approached the screen and told KITT to focus on the flipped over car, it had taken him a second but he had no problem identifying the car "Sarah does that car seem familiar to you at all?"

The woman walked over next to Mike, it took her a second before she noticed the metallic shine on the steel gray paint that was visible from one of the sides and the Honda logo on the rims "It's Kate!"

Matt was the first one to look over at the screen then "what?!"

"KIRA was under repairs so she took her car to pick up the stuff we needed"

"This can't be good..."

Mike turned to the tech currently working on KITT "Sydney is KITT ready?"

"I just finished"

"Good, Sarah in KITT we have to go" KITT opened both his doors and waited until the two were inside hi before accessing his platform and turning around, shooting out of the room leaving double streaks on the floor

KIRA's own station started turning before Matt went over to her "Wait!" Matt said running towards her "I'm going with you"

The AI opened her passenger's door then, Matt got in just as KIRA started to accelerate; in under a minute both were out of the complex and driving down the small road that would take them to the base of the mountain. both AIs where moving at an amazing rate of speed, maneuvering around the occasional car they came across and taking corners like never before, they needed to get to the crash site as fast as possible…

She had no idea how long it had been since she had lost consciousness, the movement of the vehicle she was in had helped her regain herself and as soon as she did her mind instinctively kicked into overdrive as it slipped into her training. Not even making a move in case someone was watching she tried to gather as much information as she could; by the sound of it the vehicle she was traveling in was moving through either a dirt path or a poorly paved road, her hands were tied behind her back and she was blindfolded lying on her side on what she could only guess was the back of some sort of van.

It wasn't until her mind had slowed down that she started to feel the throbbing in her head and the constant waves of pain that came from her leg, before she could start thinking of a possible way out considering her injuries the van stopped and the driver and passenger's side door opened. Footsteps went towards the back and the double doors were opened, letting a cool breeze into the otherwise hot car 'Was it night already? How long have I been out?!'

The two people carried her out of the car then, the thought of attempting an escape now crossed her mind but the pain in her leg told her that her initial crash had left her with more than just a hit to the head and sprained leg which meant that she wasn't running away anytime soon. She guessed she was carried inside a building of some sort, after a few minutes the two people carrying her set her down somewhere and started to untie her hands, guiding herself purely by sound she used her good leg to kick one of the men square in the chest, knocking him down gasping for air just as she took her blindfold off and stood up only to fall to the ground clenching her leg 'yup, definitely broken'

The commotion called the attention of the second man that had carried her here who she now noticed had stayed out of the room, two more men came in behind him and he instructed them to take the knocked out guard away, seeing her on the ground unable to move he simply closed the door once everyone was out and locked it…

The two AIs had made it to the crash site in record time and the two drivers and tech climbed down immediately to investigate the scene in front of them: Katherine's metallic steel CRV was upside down on the side of the road and a trail of broken glass and pieces lay scattered for some distance behind them which meant that the car had at least done a few flips before landing

Matt walked around the car before going to Mike, taking note of the large dent and overall destruction of the car's left front end. After he had talked to one of the police officers that were around he walked over to where Mike and KIRA were standing"Do they know what happened?"

"No, they said that there was no one in the car when they arrived, no other cars either. Someone reported the crash but no one was here by the time they arrived"

"And they didn't see anything?"

"Apparently not"

"Could Kate possibly try to go back to the town after the crash?"

"I highly doubt it, plus there remains the question: what did she crash with? She's a very good driver so crashing like this on her own is very unlikely…something else happened here"

The midnight black Mustang stood a few meters away from them on the dirt on the side of the road, scanner tracking slowly as he too analyzed all the information he was gathering, he contacted his driver through his earpiece "Michael, we have a problem"

"What did you find KITT?" as KITT spoke to him Sarah approached the two, just in time to see Mike's face pale considerably. Both asked him what had KITT found and the answer had them both frozen in place

"KITT just found KARR's tracks…"

Going over their initial shock the three set themselves to work, they arranged to have the CRV picked up and transported back to base while they spend a few more minutes asking questions to the people around, that being done the two drivers climbed back on KITT as Matt got in KIRA's passenger's side

"Let's go KIRA, we have much to do"

The AI turned on her engine and took off after KITT, heading back home, Matt noticed how the Mustang was unnaturally quiet, curious, he decided to ask her about it.

"KIRA? You doing okay?"

there was a moment of silence "I should have gone with her..."

"you were receiving an upgrade, you couldn't go. It's not your fault if that's what you're thinking..."

once again there was silence from the AI

"We are going to find her and bring her back safely, don't worry"

She really needed to focus on some way to get out of there or at least to send a message back to base, that was her priority right now. With some effort she started to look around the room for anything she could use to open the door yet as she managed to stand up using the wall for support the door swung open and three men entered, two looked like the ones that had brought her to the room, behind them stood the same guy from her encounter back south on her last mission but the one that entered the room she couldn't recognize. The guy turned to the guards and instructed them to close the door behind him, he looked at the young woman who was struggling to stand up straight due to her injuries.

"Katherine Knight, it is a pleasure to finally meet you"

"I'm sorry do I know you?"

"No, and you won't either. How are you feeling?"

She took a sarcastic tone "like I was hit by a train, you should know."

"Funny enough some would say that's not too far from the truth"

"What do you want"

"Oh don't worry about that, I don't want much, from you anyways"

"Then why did you brought me here?"

"Well I could tell you...but that would ruin the surprise"

"Surprise?"

"It would be better for your friend KITT to be here don't you think?"

He knew about KITT? "How do you know about him…?"

"Let's just say I'm not working alone" he took notice of how she kept little to no weight on one of her legs "Looks like you could use some help"

She looked away from him "I don't need any help from you…"

He shrugged "Suit yourself then" turning around he knocked on the door, his men outside opened it to let him through before locking it and leaving with him.

She was completely at a loss of words, that guy knew her name and about KITT, he probably knew much more too that she didn't know. he also said he was not working along, what was that supposed to mean?! who was he working with and why exactly did he needed her?

She limped towards the bed and laid down, exhausted, but didn't really want to go to sleep with that freak around the building...she really needed to find a way to contact base, and fast.

KITT and KIRA arrived back at base to find even more activity than when they left, people still working on the upgrades for the AIs and some others working to find out where had Katie been taken. Instantly Matt told the rest of his group what they had found back at the crash site and everyone then scrambled to get to work.

The following couple of days melded together in constant work on both the AIs and to try and find where had Katherine been take to, they had no clue to start working with and only knowing that KARR had been around the area at the time of the accident only rose not only the driver's parents' uneasiness but the AIs' as well. Then there was also the thing that the corrupted AI wasn't working alone, they knew now that he had been involved with the group that Kate had tried to infiltrate before, the ones trying to get information on the two AIs, so they started working from there; if they hadn't been the once behind them then at least they had to be related in some way.

After a more detailed analysis of the crash the group was able to reconstruct what had happened with the AIs' help, along with that the team that had been sent to pick up the car and bring it back to base had seen what could possibly be blood on the side window which leaded them to believe that Katherine was most likely heavily injured.

Knowing this did nothing to help the black and blue Mustang's fears but it did push them and the rest of the people in the complex to search faster from the few clues that they had managed to get since the day of the accident. By using the signal KITT had managed to get from KARR back when he and KIRA had their run in with him not long ago he had managed to trace some of it and isolated a general direction in which him and the other cars that had been with him at the time of the crash had driven off in, hopefully shortening their search time even more.

As most of the complex was focusing on searching for the AI's driver a few select people had been selected to keep working on the missing upgrades for the AIs so that when they got a location the two could go there fast and waste no time, rather absentmindedly the cars took the upgrades and updates as they worked on the search, only ever so slightly going through what was being uploaded into them simply to store it in its proper place for when it was needed; at this pace the possible location was getting smaller and smaller every few hours which, with some luck, would give them Katherine's location before the end of the week. The real game had just begun…