AN: This chapter's a bit of a filler… I'm just not feeling very creative lately. Strange.

Chapter Nine: Traitor

Karr watched the ground roll by the edge of his bumper, the gravel blurring into one solid shade of brown. He'd been giving KITT directions from where he hung for the past few miles, and was forced to explain before they'd comply. Once Mike understood, he followed Karr's orders, trying to skirt the invisible edge of Wren's device. Apparently they were succeeding, since the world had yet spontaneously turn black.

All too soon they were on the paved road leading to the back side of the Foundation. It was used more frequently when it lead to an airplane hangar, and since then it had lost the luxury of maintenance and was rattling everything from his dash to a few circuit boards.

He'd stopped berating himself about a mile back and now settled into a wary state of acceptance. He was wondering if his dominant program had simply overworked itself when they pulled onto the cement tarmac and around to the hangar doors. They stuck as close to the building as possible, not sure exactly where the signal ended, but knowing that they were at least 50 feet from where Karr had come online for the second time a few hours ago, where currently bits of broken chain and black marks dotted the pavement. Mike pulled him through the doors in a hurry, Karr's mirror nearly clipping the edge. Kitt followed much more gracefully, with Melody manning the controls.

Though he had a difficult time seeing around KITT he caught a glimpse of the tunnel, a dimly lit hole in the approaching wall. A split second later, when he realized they were going undergrounded, he checked his engine for a spontaneous mending of the radiator and, unsurprisingly, no such luck. He was beginning to think whatever would happen to him was better than this continuous onslaught of panic attacks.

As KITT pulled him down the long corridor, his mind was brought back to thoughts of the gimble, whatever it was. He supposed he'd find out soon enough, and the thought sent waves of what could be considered anxiety through his processors.

They stopped suddenly and waited for the metal doors to open, to reveal whatever fate awaited him. He forced the Trans Am to keep from visibly shaking as the doors parted behind him, but he couldn't alter the rapid pace of his scanner, feet from Kitt's own scarlet version. He noticed with some subtle satisfaction that Kitt's was in a similar, slightly slower state of excitement.

The doors parted with a hiss, and Karr tried starting the engine in a final rush of panic, which chugged once and refused to turn over. He was pulled into a large open room with tall ceilings and a catwalk high above the floor, leading to other parts of the 'building.' Kitt turned right and parked on Karr's left side as the other AI towed Karr through a large metal structure, stopping when Karr was directly under it. Below him glowed a blue light, and some steam hovered just above the metal mesh he was resting on. Several tables in the front of the room had been moved to make room for KITT when he came in, and the three humans, one male, two female and none he recognized, were making their way over.

As Karr was lowered to the ground he noticed two yellow robots on his right and left, the names Katie and Lisa on their sides. They turned toward him with interest and made multiple beeping sounds he couldn't understand. Mike and Melody came out to join the others when his rear wheels hit the ground and they all stood about, a brunette with a tablet making her way to his front. He watched her with caution as she tapped instructions into the device she was holding, something much more advanced than what he'd seen so far other than KITT. The only thing he recognized about it was the Apple logo on the back.

Out of all of them, the Asian girl was the first to speak, "So this is Karr," she said to no one in particular, nodding her head in approval, "Not bad. You should get a paint job like that, Kitt."

"I don't think so, Zoe," he replied a bit nervously, "I believe it would defeat Karr's intent."

Through his chaotic mess of thought processes, Karr had to agree. At least the production line model understood that much. He had the painting done to physically separate himself from Kitt and to prove a point, one of his final acts of defiance before he was blown to smithereens.

The man next to the girl, Zoe she was called, put his hands on his waist and studied both Karr and the metal contraption he was in. After searching his databanks for an appropriate word, Karr decided he appeared nerdy.

"Are you sure he'll fit, Sarah?" he asked the brunette in front of him, still messing with her device.

"I'm making adjustments right now…" she replied, still tapping away at the screen, "I don't see why not. He's smaller, but it should work. What do you think, Billy?" the nerdy one walked over and took a look at the screen, nodding in agreement.

Karr looked away from them and to the metal cage he was inside, which he decided must be the gimble. It didn't look too bad…

Melody and Zoe leaned on Kitt, who settled down on his shocks. In front of Karr KITT waited patiently for Sarah to finish, and when she did she plugged the object into one of a few short cords sticking out of the metal gimble. A few seconds later she unplugged it and stood back, telling Mike it was alright to unhook him.

Karr kept track of Mike's hands as he released the chains, and KITT transformed back into a Mustang and backed into a clear spot on Karr's right. Soft computer noises came from under the gimble and Karr felt a subtle pressure on the car's body. He tried rolling forward and felt resistance. He was silent as it spun to face the front of the room, not sure to say. Protest was useless, and he didn't feel like asking what they'd be doing. It jerked to a stop, and Mike clapped his hands together.

"Let's get this started, shall we?" He was looking at Karr expectantly, waiting for a reaction. Karr gave him no form of acknowledgement, but he was beginning to calm down some. The gimble wasn't so bad; Melody really must've been trying to picture him in it, is all. Either way, the stupid girl had nearly given him a heart attack, so to speak.

Billy and Zoe pulled the tables back to where they were now that Karr was secured, and he took a moment to examine the technology on them. It was all so… different. He had no idea what many of them did, and he had an idea no one was going to tell him. He recognized the standard desktops and laptops immediately, though they had changed immensely since 1985. Once again he was stunned at how much time had gone by. Hopefully his own questions would get answered within the next few hours.

Billy looked longingly at a recliner tucked away in the corner before settling down on a less luxurious rolling chair, the others finding their own places among the electronics at the front of the room, right in front of the cars.

Karr decided to break his silent streak and asked in a less than friendly tone, "Why don't you get on with it?"

"Alright, let's try something easy," Mike started, seeming a bit distressed. His heart rate increased slightly, so little it was hardly noticeable, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Mike?" Sarah asked. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Could you narrow it down?" Karr asked.

He looked Karr up and down once, "How about who are you working for?"

"Wren," he answered quickly, having no problem with ratting her out. He was beginning to calm down again after his last episode, with the program apparently seeing little threat at the moment. He kept his guard up, of course, not trusting any one of the beings in this room, and that included the yellow robots, Katie and Lisa. You could never be too safe.

"Wren…?"

"No surname."

"And I don't suppose you'll describe her for us."

Karr searched his memory, and in a split second he had a full body still shot from Rory and Tracy's house, face included, "What makes you think that?"

"I just don't see why you'd turn on whoever reactivated you, considering how difficult you were with us."

"You're wrong." Karr 'asked' KITT for permission to send a photo, assuming he could display it. KITT opened a channel and a moment later Wren was on the big screen. The humans turned to see it before Mike mumbled, "Looks familiar…"

"Zoe, can you run a search on her?" Sarah asked.

"No problemo."

Sarah nodded and asked, "Why are you doing this, Karr?"

"Doing what?"

She sat on the edge of the table directly in front of him, "Like Mike said, I didn't think you'd be this cooperative."

"I hope you realize that I in turn want my own answers, correct?"

"Yeah," Mike turned back, "when we're done. Now, what is this Wren doing? Why did she take you from the warehouse?"

Karr hesitated, debating between the truth and an embellished version. Karr was typically honest, never having much to lose from whatever he said, but now, he did. He hated Wren for what she'd done to him, what she was still doing, and what she planned to do when she was finished. But what were the consequences if he stayed here? Would he be deactivated again, for good? He had no idea. So he asked, "What are you going to do with me?"

"We'll answer your questions later."

"You will answer me now," his voice rose, gaining a slightly more computer generated quality.

"You think so?"

"Mike," Melody spoke up from her place by Kitt, "Don't fight with the car."

"If you want your answers," Karr went on, "you have no choice."

Mike sighed. He looked to Sarah, who looked at Billy. Karr waited for someone to speak, but it never came.

"You have no plans?"

"We did," Mike pointedly made eye contact with his sister. She never blinked.

"What happened?"

"Now we don't."

"Be specific."

"Well, we were going to send the car back to the warehouse, all the weapons disarmed, every system deactivated. We wanted to keep it in case something happened to one of these two," he pointed lazily to the cars on his left and right, who were idly standing by, "and we need a quick body."

He didn't like the thought of one of the others in his body. It ticked him off more than anything, "And what about me?"

"Deactivated and put in the vault, with all the prototype weapons, computers, programs..."

Of course. Might as well stick the 'faulty' prototype with the rest, he thought, recalling the few hours after he was reactivated in '82, when he was speaking with Tony and Rev. He wondered what had happened to his drunken subordinates as he asked, "What made you change your mind?"

"Me," Melody announced.

"Why?" Maybe he never needed to hear Mike and Melody's disagreement after all.

She set her eyes to the floor, looking uncomfortable, "I don't think it's fair."

"Why do you care?"

"I guess I believe in the death penalty, for the most part," she started hesitantly, "But it's wrong -in several ways- to kill someone innocent of a crime."

Was she implying what he thought she was? "What am I innocent of?" he encouraged her.

"Everything."

Karr stopped. He stared at her, leaning so casually against Kitt's door, arms crossed and dead serious. She no longer looked like she felt awkward, but now almost defensive. The others looked at her questioningly, and she waited for their criticism.

"Melody, I can't believe you just said that," Kitt announced.

"Believe what you want, I guess," she shrugged.

"How can you say Karr's innocent? You know what happened as well as Michael and I do, and you weren't even born when it happened!"

"Yeah. I know."

"Then why-"

"Because I know the facts. Karr is a criminal, yes."

"He's crazy."

She smiled, "Well that was rude."

"Melody, please be serious!"

"I am."

Karr sat in silence, watching the reactions around the room range from confusion to interest.

"Well, I thought it was pretty obvious, but… Karr never did anything wrong until the Foundation sent Michael and Kitt after him," she started slowly, "Tony and Rev reactivated him, and he did what they told him. He was a little too aggressive about it, but if I'm right, he didn't know any better. I mean, before he was ever shut down, he'd only been online a total of about a week, according to Devon."

"I suppose," Kitt thought aloud, "but I don't believe it was our fault, either," he defended.

"Well, no. You and Dad were following orders. But I think all Karr wanted was to stay away from the Foundation after what happened, but he went the wrong way about it. Think about it. If someone you trusted put any of you in a pitch black cell for almost a year with no one to talk to, no way to move, all for something you had no control over, you'd be a little pissed too. And if they tried to take you back there when you were finally free, wouldn't you want to get away? And now that I think about it, what if on top of all that, they replace you with someone whose supposed to be better? What if they gave him everything you were supposed to have?" she stopped and turned to face Kitt, "No offence, Kitt. I didn't mean-"

"It's alright, I know what you meant. And… I have to admit, I agree. I never thought about it like that," Karr wondered what it was in Kitt's voice when he spoke the last sentence. He was quiet, reserved, and almost… apologetic? Why?

She looked to the humans, "Does it sort of make sense now?"

"Yeah…" Zoe said, "Poor Karr."

"I don't need your pity," he growled. He didn't like how accurate Melody happened to be. He'd never thought about how naïve he had been, how much he still was, but he found out on his own he'd been foolish in selecting Tony and Rev. The pair were never sober enough to think straight, let alone keep up with something as intelligent and high-maintenance as Karr.

The room was silent now, aside from the soft whirring of the computers' fans on the table. Wren was still on the big screen, lighting up the room in a bright glow, silently demanding everyone's attention. Billy rotated in his rolling chair, head back, arms on the arm rests. Sarah bit her lip as she thought, about what Karr didn't know, though he had an idea. Mike messed with the edge of his jacket as he stared at the ground in front of the gimble. Zoe was observing her nails, having skipped out on a comeback for Karr's irritable retort. Melody was once again leaning on Kitt, arms crossed, one hand absentmindedly picking at her short nails, which were suffering from a decade of nail biting. He had no idea what the other AIs were doing, but he had a feeling they were in similar states of contemplation.

Suddenly, Mike asked, "So… now what?"

"You agree with me, right?" Melody raised an eyebrow, looking hopeful.

He sighed, "It makes sense."

"So…?"

"So it's up to Sarah what we do with him."

She looked to Sarah, smiling.

"You're being fair," she said, "which isn't surprising. And you're right."

Karr couldn't help but ask a bit impatiently, "What are you going to do?"

"You don't have to worry, I'll tell you that much. I'll let you know the rest when this is over and… when I think of it."

Wonderful.

"Michael," KITT announced, "I still have those files and the note you found at the cabin." Karr had almost forgotten he was there, he'd been so quiet.

"Files?" Sarah asked as Mike got them from KITT's seat. He handed them to her, the sticky note on the top. She flipped through them, confusion clearly written on her face, "I don't understand… these are classified documents. How'd they get these?" she looked to Karr, as if he knew the answer.

"How should I know?"

"Come on."

"Excuse me?" What did she mean, 'come on'? He couldn't go anywhere.

"I meant I know you know about these."

Oh. "What are they?"

"Files on FLAG, on us, on KITT's software…"

Karr was content to keep quiet, to let them figure it out on their own, but looking up at Wren's image made him think differently, "It most likely has something to do with Wren's informant working within the SSC."

Everyone looked at each other, appearing a bit disturbed.

"Who?" Mike asked

"I am unaware."

Billy straightened in his seat, "Well, everyone who worked here is gone now but us, so she must've gotten them a while ago. Unless one of us did it," he added the last part a bit dramatically.

Zoe never looked up, but said: "I blame Billy."

Billy snorted.

"It doesn't matter who did it," Mike sighed, "the point is she's got them. She knows about all of us, including KITT. The only ones she doesn't know absolutely everything about are the other Kitt and Melody."

"She knows about Kitt, too," Karr said.

"Of course," Kitt complained, "bring me into this…"

"I didn't tell her anything she didn't ask for," he growled.

"Michael," KITT interrupted, "may I remind you of the note you found at the cabin?"

"Got a hit?"

"It isn't an address, but GPS coordinates. The location is 26.6 miles from here."

"Great," he clapped his hands together, "let's roll."

Melody started pulling Kitt's door open, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, "Mike...?"

Her brother rolled his eyes, "Sure."

She laughed, "You know dad's going to kill you, right?"

"Yep."