Notes: A little longer than the last chapter. Originally, chapter one and two were one chapter. They were also an intimidating length, so I ended up divvying them up. I hope you enjoy and please review.

Ch. 2: TRUST

Much later, nerves and exhaustion had Rebecca passed out in his backseat. KARR was finally relaxing, sure KITT would want to discuss the new situation rather than take decisive action. In some ways, KITT's flawed processor aided KARR. He wouldn't come after them this night. KARR was safe from deactivation for now, but his challenge would not be ignored. His brother and the betrayer would eventually come.

KARR's engine changed its note subtly as she curled on her side, nuzzling against his leather seat. That tiny unconscious gesture struck him in a way he wouldn't have believed was possible. It was a tiny thing, but he craved it so much. She'd completely dropped her guard, leaving herself vulnerable and helpless to him. She was willing to trust him implicitly.

He was dangerous and flawed. He was used to hearing that and used to being watched carefully, his every action gauged and weighed for potential instability. No one trusted him.

No one until now.

A sense akin to wonder wormed its way through his processor followed by a sensation he couldn't even begin to quantify. It seemed, he decided uneasily, as if something had shifted and changed and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Danger, whispered his processor as he monitored the female. She was potentially dangerous to him and his plans. He needed her though, but he was no longer sure in what way anymore.

"We should link to ensure our prolonged safety and to utilize the abilities available in sync." The words left his vocalizers before his processor fully explored the ramifications.

She sat up in his seat with a soft yawn, her eyes confused and wary. "Link?" She echoed the word carefully as if it was something dangerous and potentially explosive.

His engine rumbled softy, changing its pitch as they pulled off road. The Mustang's sleek form traversing through the dirt with surprising ease as they bounced along. "I am an AI. I was created to become one with my driver. Two separate beings joined to become more than the simple sum of both," he said, feeling resentment at old wounds surfacing in his memory banks. Past betrayal, he found, was just as bitingly unpleasant as when it had happened.

Rebecca braced a hand against the dash, staring at the steering wheel as it lazy turned under the AI's direction. "Er, yeah," she muttered, suddenly feeling as though she were on treacherous ground and any wrong move would send her tumbling. "This link-thing… could you be more specific?"

"I can," he replied as he pulled over in the middle of the woods and his passenger side door popped open. "Showing is easier, though."

The sharp scent of pine made her wrinkle her nose as she slipped out of the car. Unease had her backing away. The Mustang lurched forward suddenly, a faint shudder wracking the vehicle that had her worried. Then with an unexpected grace like a complex metal jigsaw puzzle, KARR came undone.

Rebecca fell on her butt in the pine needles and dirt as armor panels spun up and rearranged themselves as the entire Mustang rose up and changed shape. Metal hummed and scraped as it slid in place, the soft revving of his powerful engine making her hair want to stand on end.

A moaning sort of sound escaped her, quickly climbing to a near-hysterical scream as she scrambled backwards. The large metal behemoth; a robot that had once been the Mustang, took a thundering step towards her that sent her clawing and scrabbling on all fours to flee.

Large metal claws closed unyieldingly around her waist as she lost contact with the ground, her head spinning mercilessly. "Nooo!"

He could tell she was afraid; his sensors picked it up in the tempo of her pulse, the widening of her eyes, and in the subtle chemical change in her scent. She was staring up at his cockpit as it yawned open expectantly, the cerebral linkup shifting and blossoming open into the receptive position. He felt her tense in his grip.

"This… it's going to hurt… isn't it?" Her voice shook even as she tried and failed at looking brave.

He considered her question. "It can hurt."

Her eyes closed, her jaw trembling. He almost hesitated as he pulled her into his cockpit, positioning her shaking form for the uplink harness. "We do this. We both live," she gasped out, her eyes opening wide at the feel of the harness behind her head. "Right?"

"Correct." His engine purred softly as the harness closed around her head and her eyes widened as the neural spikes that would tap her nervous system reared back like angry snakes about to strike. "Less struggling is desirable and is proven to make the process operate far smoother and with less stress recorded on the part of the organic component."

She clenched her eyes shut, her heart hammering as she struggled to decode his words, but before she could the spikes slammed home.

The pain was instant and overwhelming; her/his mouth opening to scream, but no sound forthcoming. He/she staggered forward, baffled by the conflicting images filling his/her mind. Human eyes, human senses fought for supremacy with AI senses drowning both consciousnesses as they struggled to separate.

There was a pulling sensation, then a shove and Rebecca and KARR separated into two distinct entities, still tied together but able to differentiate to an extent. Neither could tell where one began and the other ended, but they were both aware that they were separate.

Rebecca…

Rebecca tried to move instinctively away and felt his mind crush against hers resisting her. Panic welled up inside her at the horrifying sense of being stifled and paralyzed.

Stop fighting me… give in…

Instantly, his awareness flooded hers, merging them together again and once again drowning her human mind in data and images. Stop resisting, you are relatively unharmed, the words flowed into her mind along with broken fragmented images of her own body through his sensors. She looked too pale, she thought as she saw herself through his eyes. Her own body was unresponsive and seemed like a stranger's. She was only aware of his massive form.

Relatively unharmed? She thought, noting duly the uplink spikes penetrating her body and tapping into her nervous system. You keep overriding me. Why can't I move?

This body is mine. I make the decisions, he retorted, the growled words coming with a sense of hostility and a barrage of memory files that flashed through her mind too quickly for her to grasp. She had a sense of despair and helplessness from the memories and wondered if they were hers or his.

Too late she realized that if she could see his memories, he could see hers. The thought of him callously perusing her most intimate moments peaked her anger at him again. Keep out of my memories, she thought warningly, trying to pull back from his consciousness, balking as he engulfed her again, pulling her in as inexorably as the tide.

She wanted to scream as she felt him push at her mind, pulling and tipping through her mind with a clinical detachment. Freed memories welled up around them both, taking them.

She glanced up surreptitiously taking in his appearance. He was so different from her in her pressed blue shirt and black skirt. His face was too babyish for her tastes, broad and friendly and his skin was a warm russet color that was set off by the long spill of black hair that he'd tied back. When he smiled, his warm honey eyes crinkled at the edges, his teeth flashing in that dark face. He wore only a gray tank top that was unnervingly tight on his strong chest. On the side of his thick neck was a Chinese symbol, the black tattoo nearly unnoticeable on his coppery skin. Her eyes moved lower, taking in his thick arms, corded with muscle. Down to his jeans that were also too tight and ripped at the knees. He leaned forward, those honey eyes sparkling.

"Dakota Rainier. Coda to friends," he said without preamble as her lips pressed into a thin line. His English was perfect when she had thought it would be accented. "I'd like to think we'll be friends."

She didn't respond, only burying herself deeper into the text book. She didn't have the time for socializing.

He didn't seem even remotely fazed by that, though. He leaned over, close enough to make her want to cringe back; his warm, musky scent tickling her nose.

"Med-school? Damn. That's some tough shit." He sounded impressed.

She only turned the page and kept taking notes.

"Why so serious, Lady-Medic," he growled out suddenly, his voice a harsh rasp that made her tense, head raising in surprise at the impression.

She felt her lips twitch slightly as he grinned at her.

He preened. "Ahhh, so you can smile after all." He chuckled, the sound deep in his throat. "You should smile more often, Lady-Medic. Makes that pretty little face of yours even better."

She could feel her face heating up with a flush as she abruptly stood up with her book, leaving in an embarrassed hurry. Deep down, though she had been flattered at his attention.

Rebecca howled in her mind, startling KARR as she suddenly threw her consciousness against his in an explosive and unexpected attack of wordless fury. He reeled back, before pouncing on her and enclosing her in the vice-like grip of his awareness. His own fury loomed over her threateningly like a tidal wave, before abruptly vanishing to be replaced with a sense of curiosity and an unspoken question.

She deflated, sinking into him hopelessly. Her thoughts in turmoil and begging him silently. He washed over her then, the sensation startling them both. Every little hurt slowly began to surface, every pain leaking to the surface to be soothed away by the solid presence of the AI. Like tiny bubbles in an ocean, he washed them away one by one letting her rage and grieve until there was nothing left.

He washed over her then, his consciousness enveloping her and lending her his strength. And though it shocked her, she instinctively sank into the safety he offered, pushing away at her memories and blocking them from her.

For the first time in so long she felt whole and she didn't want it to end.

He almost broke the uplink when she fled into him, fully embracing the meld and giving him complete control. A trust born of- desperation, he supposed- was still trust and he secretly craved it. It was one-sided though and he knew it. He was in control.

Fragile and new, the thought occurred to him that maybe, just maybe he could give in to her too. He knew what the uplink was supposed to be. Ideally, the link would be between two partners that could completely trust each other and completely immerse themselves in the meld, acting as one entity in perfect balance.

Mike had turned away from him. The human had shunned him, fleeing to his accursed brother, KITT, because perfect KITT wasn't flawed. KARR knew he couldn't, shouldn't trust a human again.

And yet…

The thought was there.

Her wonder and fascination was exhilarating to him. Like a small child loosed in a candy store, she drank in everything, darting her awareness from sensor to sensor. Marveling at seeing the world through his optical sensors and wordlessly trilling her glee at him as he pulled back to monitor her.

It was infectious. Human thought and emotion enthralled him as he tried to follow the patterns of her thoughts and ideas; catching bits and pieces, sensations and images. Her mind was too excited too form anything even remotely coherent, but he oddly didn't mind.

He felt whole again as his driver's actions praised him and when she reached her consciousness to him in a silent question, he pulled her to him showing her how to guide the body they could jointly control for the moment. Even the tiniest movement from his physical form at her request elated her and pleased him.

They were wrong, he thought. I am not flawed. I am whole and functioning as meant to be.

And he would need to be, he knew. If KITT and his treacherous driver were going to come to deactivate him permanently, he needed his driver's cooperation. He needed her.