AN: Yep. Procrastination. It's a killer.

Chapter Eleven: Different

The surveillance team arrived not long after they were allowed to leave, and after Melody finished parking her car in the hangar, she hitched a ride with them back to the KITT Cave. She chose to ride with Michael and Kitt, even though Mike had offered first. She felt bad for leaving her dad like she did and, frankly, she was a bit embarrassed with how she reacted. After all, she was seventeen, not seven.

"Thanks." She'd said quietly after getting in the car.

"Mmhmm."

"…you're still mad."

Michael rolled his eyes dramatically, in a "No, really?" sort of way. Melody sighed loudly.

"Bonnie's here, right?" he asked after a bit of silence.

"Yeah, she's been here a while. And don't worry, she gave me the whole 'How could you be so irresponsible?' speech for you, too." She explained what had happened and frowned as she recalled the memory of her mom taking her into one of the pods, trying to act like she wasn't about to disown her daughter as she cast side glances at Karr. When she'd first walked through the tunnel Melody thought Bonnie was going to start a scene then and there, but she must have forgotten when she found that it wasn't Kitt in the gimble.

"Bonnie Barstow." Karr had said in what could've almost been surprise. Almost. He was so nonchalant whenever he spoke it was hard to tell. "I should've known I'd see you again, too."

Bonnie had stood there, speechless, as she stared from Karr to everyone else and back. After a moment she seemed to find her voice, and the first thing she did with it was order Melody into a room where they could "speak in private". Too bad Melody was sure everyone in the room below had heard every word they said.

That was an hour ago. Since then Bonnie had calmed and even taken notice of some shred of rational thinking in Melody's actions. She still refused, though, to come within ten feet of Karr, not to mention speak to him. When Melody told Michael about this, he explained to her that Bonnie had good reason to be afraid of the AI.

"Don't expect me to hold any extensive conversations with him either." he added as they pulled up behind KITT, who was making his way through the doors and around the left side of the gimble. Melody noticed her father visibly tense as they parked on the other side. She tried imagining how he felt, meeting one of his and Kitt's greatest enemies again when they'd thought for a second time he was finally dead and gone. Since there wasn't much she could compare it to in her own life, so she didn't think her interpretation quite cut it.

Karr was surprisingly silent as Michael tentatively picked his way around him toward the front of the room, where everyone stood in a loose group. Melody found a metal table in front of Kitt, void of anything but a few more computers. Everyone began discussing the day's events as she sat on its surface and listened. Michael and Bonnie had been filled in earlier in the day, each demanding every detail of their daughter's involvement and exactly how Karr managed to… well, survive. Again. Luckily for Melody, Bonnie was a bit more accepting of her actions than Michael had been from the start, and no one else found it of much importance in comparison to the case at hand. Speaking of which…

"What do we do now?" she asked from her perch. "Wait her out?"

"Who is this 'we'?" Michael asked, though he too seemed to have gotten over her little escapade and was at least joking with her. Melody smiled in triumph. Did that mean she was on board, too? She didn't know.

Mike shook his head at her question, "Not an option."

"But weren't you just-"

"That was surveillance."

She frowned, somewhat confused. She swore they'd just waited outside this Wren's supposed hideout for several hours, doing nothing but wait. In her book, that meant exactly what she'd said: waiting them out. She went along with Mike's logic. "Okay… so? What now?"

"Well, we know a bit about her hideout," Sarah said as she crossed her arms. She was standing directly in front of Karr, leaning against a table. She asked KITT to display an image he had of the doors to the building, and what at first glance seemed to be a simple rocky hillside appeared on the screen in front of them. Upon closer inspection, Melody could see a perfect square outline in its tan surface. "There's not supposed to be anything like it in the area, but it doesn't look new; there's no trace of excavation anywhere. They're made out of… what did you say, Kitt? Concrete?"

"Yes; three and a half feet of reinforced concrete to be exact. It and the rest of the building also contain significant amounts of lead. I couldn't pick up anything on my infrared scanner either, which would lead me to believe it's buried deep underground, not just inside that hill."

"This lead issue is driving me crazy." Michael complained. "Reminds me of-"

"Red Bluff?" Kitt interrupted.

"Yeah, you, too?"

"Yes. Hopefully this Wren doesn't own an eighteen-wheeler." Kitt muttered.

Billy scrunched his eyebrows together, "What?"

"Never mind," Michael waved him off, "Doesn't matter."

"Well, anyway," Sarah continued, sounding just as confused as Billy, "Like Kitt said, we know nothing about the layout, what's in it, and who is in it. Basically all we know for sure is that it has one exit, which eliminates sneaking in."

Mike shrugged, "Can't we just blow the doors open and move in?"

"If we knew what was down there I'd be all for it."

"Ehem." Bonnie fake-coughed to get their attention. She was the furthest from where Melody sat, and had been listening intently to the conversation. Every now and then she'd cast a wary glance at Karr, but she didn't seem afraid; more like worried. Now everyone was focused on her, including the two-toned Trans Am, "Shouldn't we discuss this somewhere else?"

Sarah looked at Karr, "He's alright, Bonnie. KITT will let us know if he's transmitting anything."

Melody noticed the amber flash of Karr's scanner increase, then fall back into its normal rhythm. She hadn't lied to Karr earlier, when she said she wanted to know more about him, and these sudden moments of whatever it was that made him uneasy were only making her wonder more. What did Wren do to him that he thought was so terrible?

"I wouldn't speak to that woman if my existence depended on it." He said.

Melody doubted the truth in that statement.

Bonnie looked confused. She hesitated, shifting on her feet before asking, "Why?"

Karr, on the other hand, was quick to respond. He didn't speak normally; there was no calm, ever-present hint of arrogance in his voice. Now he actually seemed pretty ticked. "She had no use for me when she was finished, and was planning on destroying me after she made her clones." He growled. Melody actually winced. "Because I know this she believes I would be unwilling to assist her, that I would be useless and it could only cause her harm to keep me functioning. Which, for the most part, is true."

"But you wanted to help her, didn't you? In the beginning?" Kitt asked quietly.

"I was grateful. After you destroyed me under that damned bridge, I didn't think I was going to survive. Of course I had no idea what had even happened. She brought me back online after I was put in storage, and I was more than willing to repay her until…" he stopped.

"Until…?" Mike picked up.

Karr was silent. Melody checked his scanner out of curiosity, but it was fine.

"Why don't you want to help her?" Sarah asked. Karr was still quiet, and Melody briefly wondered if something was wrong with him.

After a bit of silent awkwardness, everyone dropped the subject; it was obvious he'd say no more. Melody found it really weird though that he just stopped talking. He was pretty angry before, and now he's… what? Sulking? Talk about bi-polar.

"So… what were we doing about this hideout thing again?" Zoe asked.

Sarah bit her lip in thought and turned back to the screen with KITT's picture of the door. Since Melody saw her this afternoon through Kitt's monitor, Sarah seemed stuck in this constant state of thought. She had to admit that she couldn't seem to find anything they could do about it, either. They couldn't blow the doors open; for all they knew there could be nuclear weapons down there. They didn't know the layout of the thing, so even if they could get in they'd be at a disadvantage. She also assumed that since Wren could care less if they had Karr or not, she was confident, even with them knowing where she was. That or she was just cocky. How irritating.

"I don't know." Sarah sighed, "Any ideas?"

Everyone looked at everyone else expectantly, but they were all at a loss.

"Well, we might as well get some rest then. We can figure something out in the morning."

Melody checked the time on one of the computers and felt suddenly tired. It was 11:30. Maybe she'd been sitting on that couch longer than she thought…

/-/

Melody woke with a start. She sat up in the bed she was in and gave herself a head rush, but she didn't care. Did that really happen yesterday? She didn't believe it; it wasn't something that could ever happen. Everyone always told her they destroyed Karr twenty something years ago, that he was officially dead and gone. Kitt even had video records to prove it. If it weren't for her surroundings, she'd chalk it up to a dream. But, unless her room looked more like one of FLAG's pods than she thought, it was more than that. Granted she hadn't actually thought about the resemblance between these rooms before.

She stepped out of bed and stumbled toward the door in a blind rush and opened it slowly, welcomed by a cool rush of air. She looked down the hall before peering over the edge just enough to see Karr below in the gimble, with KITT at his side. She couldn't see Kitt but knew he'd be there too. Before someone saw her she ducked back in to the room and closed the door, sealing in the darkness. She leaned against it, her back to its cool metal surface, and smiled.

/-/

The previous night, Karr watched everyone leave the room but one person, who he came to recognize as Billy. He was cleaning up an area on the long desk, mumbling about someone making a mess of his stuff. He organized a bit of the area before heading toward the stairs with an armful of papers, and was digging through them as he went.

"Billy Morgan," Karr said.

Billy jumped and several envelopes fluttered to the ground. "Uh…" He looked around before deciding that no one else saw him and faced Karr, eyebrows raised in surprise and quite possibly apprehension. "Yeah?"

Karr watched with slight amusement. "What am I expected to do?"

He frowned, "Like… like right now?"

"Yes, right now." It was a genuine question. Karr really had no idea what he should do, pinned down in the gimble and unable to do anything extending outside his own computer. Everything in the building was tamper proof, at least for him, and going into recharge was not his first option, though he knew he had to sometime. He wanted to know what everyone was doing at any given moment, whether it was sleeping, eating, recharging, or coming at him with a welding torch. Maybe this awkward research technician could give him an idea, or at the very least serve as entertainment.

"I don't know, um… KITT?"

"Yes, Billy?"

"What do you do when no one's around?"

KITT paused, apparently trying to think of something helpful, "I enjoy watching movies, or browsing the internet. Sometimes I read novels." He offered.

Karr stared at KITT with some interest. He would never catch himself doing such human activities.

Billy looked back at Karr and said "Well… there you go." He then hurried to the stairs, turned back and picked up the fallen papers, and continued to his room. Karr thought he was strange, but left it at that.

For the first time since he arrived here he was alone, or as close as he would get to it. He was still very much aware of Kitt and this upgraded version next to him, and they were too close for comfort. They were as silent as he was, each intently monitoring his systems. This was very annoying, but he couldn't do much about it; the gimble seemed to do more than hold him still. He was vulnerable here, and that worried him. Whatever Karr did to keep them out they easily bypassed, and if they could so could the humans, and who knows what they'd do.

Would Sarah keep her promise, or would Michael Knight get to him first? He never got to hear his daughter's speech, and even if he did, would he be convinced? What about Bonnie? She could take him apart in minutes without blinking an eye. He supposed Michael could as well, but while Bonnie would most likely use a screwdriver, Knight would probably use a large hammer and have at it. Could they open his hood while he was in the gimble? Pass through all his defensive systems and open it with a simple command into a computer? If they did, he was screwed.

He pushed the thought away; no need to get himself worked up again. He'd rather Kitt didn't see that.

He let his processor wander aimlessly, wondering what it was like today in 2010 compared to 1985, what had happened in the time he was gone -things like that- until he came back to his current situation. There was no avoiding it.

After an hour of this random thinking while avoiding the topic of his destruction, Kitt sighed beside him. It caught Karr's attention because an AI doesn't typically sigh unless it's completely intentional. He assumed Kitt was annoyed with having to wait for him to go into recharge and was letting him know it. The other KITT was already doing so; it seemed they were going to take shifts. Either that or Kitt didn't have much planned for tomorrow. What would happen tomorrow, anyway? He didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore, and it was beginning to drive him crazy. Could a computer become crazy?

He received a warning from his power packs. It was the third one he'd gotten tonight, which meant he was down to seven percent, and he still hadn't decided what to do. He let out his own mechanical sigh within the quite space of his cabin. It was inevitable anyway… maybe partial recharge would be enough for tomorrow. He pondered the events of tomorrow again as he began shutting down select systems. He'd leave his surveillance mode on, a couple of monitors and some short range scanners… that should be enough. It was all that could pass through the confines of the gimble anyway. His dominant program, the one that ordered him to protect himself at all costs, chimed in the back of his mind when he shut down his systems, but it wasn't as if he had any options.

The last thing he heard, much to his amusement, was Kitt mutter, "It's about time."

/-/

The next morning Karr found himself roused by one of the humans in the pods. He heard the door click open as his systems started up, and Melody Knight stepped onto the balcony. She looked fairly self-conscious, and made sure no one else was around before peering over the railing. Karr expected her to come down the stairs, but instead she crept back into her room. What was she doing? He flicked his scanner on and it gave its customary 'swooshing' sound, but it was useless here. He left it on anyway.

He couldn't hear anyone else in their pods, and he had no way of knowing if anyone else was awake. KITT was online beside him, busying himself with who knows what. Eventually Sarah Graiman entered the room in her pajamas and Kitt came online as well. They greeted each other and Sarah disappeared into another room, reappearing a few minutes later with a mug of coffee in hand. She sat Indian-style in a chair in front of the cars, not hiding the fact that she was staring at Karr while sipping her coffee. Karr felt like a cornered cat under her gaze. This went on for some time before she sat back and asked, "Karr, I don't suppose you'll let me look under the hood?"

He was taken aback. What could that have anything to do with catching Wren? He didn't know much more than what he'd already told them, so there was nothing to gain there. There was no weapon of his they could dispose of, and if she was thinking about taking a peek at his software to gain some insight on Wren's Chevys, why wouldn't she just find Kitt's blueprints? Or have Kitt tell her? After all, Kitt was a basic photocopy of himself. Only a few major differences separated them from being identical. Whatever she was thinking, the answer would always be the same.

"Don't count on it."

She finished her coffee and stood up, "Suit yourself."

"Sarah," KITT asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'll have to fill you in later KITT." She motioned to Karr with a slight head nod. Karr caught it, but he really didn't care. He had other things on his mind.

Ah, there you are. He thought when that annoyance of a program made itself known once again. He searched for his defensive programs, assuming he'd need them more than ever, and found them disarmed. What the hell? When did this happen? He felt a bit unnerved as he tried restarting them and they remained useless. He should've been informed of their deactivation…. He tried again and again, and they turned on, they said they were active, but they weren't working properly. Without them, anyone could gain access into his computer. Why the hell are they off? He didn't authorize this! He never even knew they weren't working.

"What did you do?" he growled as Sarah stretched. She jumped. Karr continued looking for an answer within his own systems while she thought about the question.

"What do you mean?" KITT asked.

"Several of my systems are malfunctioning, and I know this… thing is causing it!"

Another pod door opened, and this time Mike Knight was the one looking down over the railing. He squinted into the light and asked "What's with all the noise?" he looked around, "What time is it, anyway?"

Melody came back out onto the balcony, followed by Zoe. Sarah checked her watch, "It's 7:30, and Karr isn't happy with the accommodations."

"Accommodations?" Karr scoffed. "This is a prison. I don't even have control over my own systems."

"What do you expect? You are a criminal."

Karr was quiet. He had nothing more to say to her, or any of them for that matter. Forget his questions. He'd find a way out of this place and he'd get to Wren himself. Then he'd come after FLAG. He didn't know how, or when, but one thing was for sure; if he was going to do it at all, this time it would be different.