Knight Rider: Funeral of a friend
(This story is rated M for Mature. Knight Rider is ©1982-1986;2008-2009 NBC Universal. Trinity Jean Knight is my character, but her powers are ©2001-2011 CW Network & DC Entertainment. Hannah Melvin and Andrea Baros Swanson are used by permission. Smallville characters are ©2001-2011 CW Network & DC Entertainment. All other characters are mine. Trinity Jean Knight is my character, but her powers are ©2001-2011 CW Network & DC Entertainment)
Chapter 7: Future Tense
5 years later: Michael stared at the debris. He had been a cop who had been shot by assassin Tonya Walker but his name had been changed to Michael Knight and he had been paired with the successor to The Knight Automated Roving Robot, which was titled The Knight Industries Two Thousand and they had just found and fought a resurrected KARR, and they had survived but had failed with a mandate to bring the car in for dismantling but the corrupted AI of KARR forced a battle in which ultimately he "died".
"Michael, the cleanup crews are on their way. Mr. Miles and Mr. Graiman are also enroute to our location," spoke the Boston twang of the Knight Industries Two Thousand, a modified 1992 Firebird Trans Am. Michael grumbled but was also surprised. Dr. Charles Graiman, CEO of Knight Industries was on his way. It was unusual for the 40-something CEO to visit a city after a mission. He was usually the ones giving the assignments to Devon Miles, Executive Director of The Foundation for Law And Government, or FLAG, a non-profit government branch which was started by Wilton Knight back in the 1960's. Graiman had taken over the reins of Knight Industries following the death of Wilton Knight.
"And I don't need you to remind me that we are not to be here when the cleanup crew shows up, right," Michael said climbing into the car, and pressed the "Pursuit Mode" button and they were off and gone before the clean up team showed up.
Charles Graiman climbed out of the limousine and surveyed the destroyed earlier prototype of KARR. He had just gotten married and his wife was expecting her first daughter. He frowned as Dr. Bonnie Barstow motioned to her team to begin cleanup of the parts of the car. He then saw the Central Processing Unit of the Roving Robot.
"Dr. Barstow kindly bring me the hard drive of that vehicle," he gestured to the hard drive. She put on some gloves and bent down and picked up the still-active hard drive. Charles smiled.
"Dr. Graiman, it's still turned on," Bonnie noted. Charles nodded. "I know it's still turned on, Dr. Barstow. I need it active to reformat it," Charles said. He frowned as Dr. Barstow put the still functioning AI into storage bag that self-sealed.
"I want Sky-1 and the recovery team here within the hour before the news media starts hounding us," Charles said. The team began to make a big circle around the debris of the car. He moved toward his limousine as Sky-One appeared above them. He then stared at the beeper on his belt. He then looked at the prototype Smartphone He had been given to test an Apple smartphone. He saw a name he thought he recognized, Lucius Fox, CEO of WayneTech, a branch of Wayne Enterprises.
"Charles, it's Lucius. Mr. Wayne needs one of your prototype turbine engines, preferably shipped ASAP. Mr. Wayne would also like to meet with your Operative, Mr. Knight," Lucius said. Charles nodded and then hung up. He then placed another call, but this one to Michael.
"Michael, it's Charles. I need you to drive to Houston, Texas to search for a missing child. Bonnie will be along after I get her help with a project. She'll help you & KITT when she's done," Charles said. He motioned for a technician to come toward him. After a few minutes He smiled at Bonnie and the technician.
"I need both of you to go to Gotham City and meet with Wayne Enterprises CEO Bruce Wayne to transfer a prototype Turbine that was originally supposed to be installed in KARR, but the engine was still being built. Bruce will have his own technicians meet you. This is vital and classified as Top Secret and you cannot discuss it with anyone," Charles said. Bonnie nodded and Robert Thomas, the other technician nodded.
Houston, Texas, Michael steered KITT into a friend's home. He stared at the woman, a friend of "Michael Long" that he became re-acquainted with years ago. The woman's name was Emily Williams, and She had liked Michael Arthur Long but Michael had gotten engaged to Stephanie Mason who later was killed by criminal masterminds sometime after he had become Michael Knight. He had reconnected with Emily sometime after the woman had been widowed, her husband being killed in a freak chemical accident. He walked up and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door. She had brown eyes, dark hair, was in excellent condition and was extremely attractive.
"Emily, what's up?" He asked as the two embraced, surprised to see her. She motioned for him to follow her in. She motioned toward her back yard. He started to open the sliding door to the back door, but she stopped him.
"My step-son is missing. He found a device in the back yard when I bought the house and I glanced out to see him and then He was gone. I stepped out and saw a body outside. It was mine, but it was dead," Emily said. He then heard a beep come over his watch. "Michael, I'm detecting a small energy wave coming from the back yard," KITT said. They stepped outside in the back yard as an energy wave blasted against them. Emily stared as she had landed on top of Michael and she quickly got off him. They then saw a device that bore the logo of Wayne Enterprises but bore the name WayneTech. Michael stared at the device.
"Michael, that device is sending a tracking wave transmitting somewhere. It may allow us to find Miss Williams's step-son," KITT said. Emily stared at the watch with a look of wonder. "Who is that?" She asked. Michael and Emily walked out, and She saw the Firebird with the red scanner that tracked left to right and back again.
"I am The Knight Industries Two Thousand, but you may call me KITT. I am the vehicle of the future," KITT said in his prissy Boston twang. Emily stared at the car.
"Are you related to a Wilton Knight?" She asked KITT. Michael stared at her. "How do you know Wilton?" He asked her. "I took an Economics class at Stanford University and he came in and gave a lecture on how to both save money and make money. He offered my father a job with his company, Knight Industries shortly before he passed away. He had commented at the time on a project he had started with a college buddy of his named Lionel Luthor that was going to be sold to the government. The project was top secret. I understand some Generals were killed at that time," She said.
KITT spoke, "Michael, I never knew Lionel Luthor was involved in the KARR project. We just destroyed KARR before we were sent here to Houston. One of our upcoming assignments is to investigate a death at LuthorCorp,"
Michael frowned. "yeah KITT, but we need to focus more on finding her step-son,"
"Neither did I pal. Sounds like this was something we will need to talk with Charles about first. But we need to discover what this device is that was sent over, and is it related to Bruce Wayne," Michael continued. He then picked up his cell phone and dialed Charles.
"Charles, it's Michael. We found a device while talking with the girl who claimed her step-son went missing. A device appeared through a wave of temporal energy. It bears the Wayne Enterprises logo but the name on the device is WayneTech. Do you want us to bring it in?" Michael asked. He heard Charles give him a negative response.
Chicago, Illinois-Knight Enterprises: The young woman stared at the car her team had just built. She then heard a warning klaxon go off.
"Miss Knight, we have an intrusion from somewhere else," One of her scientists said. The young woman turned with a look of surprise. She stared at the prototype her team was building.
"Where did the incursion take place?" She asked, her tone cold and controlled. The young man stared at her and turned back to the monitor and finally said, "Houston Texas, Ma'am like the one the vigilante known as Batman encountered in Phoenix, Arizona in 1983. It's a piece of technology from the other reality that Batman uncovered, but this technology is not Knight Industries tech, its from Wayne Enterprises," the man said.
"When will KARR be finished," She asked. The lead scientist smiled. "The artificial intelligence chip will be done in two days and be installed as soon as the programming parameters are set," He said.
"Good. Do me a favor Sam and do not make the same mistakes my father did," the woman said. She then heard a voice over the intercom.
"Miss Knight, there is a miss Devon Miles from Ireland to see you. She is set to take over the Foundation for Law And Government next week," spoke the female security guard.
"Send her through," the woman said. In walked a blond woman dressed in a business casual suit with the Foundation logo on a jacket.
"Is William Knight out of the Foundation?" the woman asked Devon. Devon frowned and looked at her. "Who the hell are you?" Devon asked.
"Trinity Jean Knight, Wilton Knight's daughter, and part of the Knight Industries board of Directors, who will be appointing you as Executive Director for FLAG next week. Charles and Jennifer are also set to approve you as well. I want to also request that it's lone Agent, Michael Knight be there," Trinity said, a cool smile on her face….
