I hope this chapter is okay. I've got this vague feeling like I'm not satisfied with it, but I can't come up with anything specific I don't like. If something bothers you, please leave it in a review and if I can make an improvement I can always reload the chapter (you can do this for any chapter if you'd like).

Chapter Fourteen

It was definitely an unusual sight to see Dr Bill Hummel climbing up into the cab of an eighteen wheeler. But Karr's associate had said that Karr needed them to talk, and the computer had apparently abandoned his new avatar for the time being. "What happened to the body we acquired for you?"

"We?" Karr sneered.

Bill sighed. Karr always had to be so difficult. "Can I assume from your deflection that things aren't going well?"

"On the contrary," Karr replied, suddenly all sunny again. "I've just had the most wonderful idea, that should solve both our problems."

"My only problem is what your avatar looks like," Bill countered. "What you do to its insides is none of my concern."

"It should be," Karr told him. "Mr Newman tells me you're trying to keep your grandson's corpse alive."

A flare of anger shot through Bill. He didn't know how Mr Newman found that out, but it was none of Karr's business. "My grandson is NOT dead," he declared.

Karr couldn't shrug, but the sound he made got the point across clearly. "Brainless, then. But as I've said, I have an idea."

Bill's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How could you possibly help me with Kurt?"

"I haven't found any way to erase the K.U.R.T. program," Karr admitted. "Even a complete power loss in his computer core wouldn't destroy it. Which is actually a bit of an improvement over my own systems; I'll have to upgrade at some point."

Bill wasn't interested in Karr's updates, he was interested in overhauling the avatar. "So what are you going to do?"

"You," Karr corrected, "are going to transfer the K.U.R.T. program to your own computers."

"I don't have the appropriate systems to house an artificial intelligence," Bill reminded him. "And it could take weeks to install something like that."

"No need," Karr told him. "The additional systems are only so the program can operate; it can be stored in you computer as is, indefinitely."

"And how does this help me?" Bill asked. "I hope you aren't suggesting-"

"Whatever else the K.U.R.T. program is, it is information," Karr insisted. "That is something your grandson's brain doesn't have at the moment. All you need to do is do the opposite of the transfer they did FROM his brain TO his brain."

Bill frowned, unconvinced. He'd already heard Elizabeth's concerns that Kurt was 'gone', for lack of a better term. But he didn't think that this avatar was the solution.

Still, it didn't hurt to check things out. "How long do you expect this to take?"

Karr definitely sounded like it was grinning now. "An hour or so to make certain Kurt's transfer doesn't end up with him somewhere else. Why don't you go tell your assistant the good news?"

Elizabeth's eyes were wide, like she'd seen a ghost. Kurt could understand the reaction, as he was having the same one.

Without warning though, her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "No. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Kurt ached in ways he shouldn't be able to, on hearing her distrust. "I think you know who I am."

"You're that thing," she stated, her voice shaky but cold. "That thing they made with my son's memories."

"I'm not-" Kurt huffed, frustrated. He didn't have the time, or the philosophy, to explain. "Please. I know you don't believe me, and I don't have time to convince you. I just need you to keep quiet and let me get out of here."

"Why?"

Well, that was a damn good question. Kurt wasn't quite sure what to tell her so he turned the question back on her. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm me?"

Elizabeth smirked at him the way he sometimes did. He'd forgotten he'd gotten it from her. "I don't suppose you have documentation confirming you have my son's soul."

"I didn't have time to grab it before Karr highjacked my body," Kurt quipped back.

Kurt's kidnapping was clearly news to her, and her eyes narrowed again. "Karr. I'm guessing that's our new guest. He brought you here against your will?"

"With Grandfather's collusion," Kurt grumbled. "I don't think the Christmas card I send him this year is going to be very nice."

Elizabeth was very troubled, and it seemed as though her initial doubts were waning. "I don't know-"

"I don't need you to believe me this minute," Kurt reminded her. "I just need to get away. Please. If you think there's even a possibility-"

"Elizabeth? Are you in here?"

Elizabeth turned to the door, suddenly concerned. "Behind the curtain, quickly," she whispered.

Kurt did as advised, and heard footsteps approaching. Hoping that his mother was indeed trying to hide him, he held still as he listened in on her conversation with his grandfather.

"I'm over here, Bill. What is it?"

Bill Hummel sounded incredibly pleased with himself. "I have good news, my dear. Once our guest finishes with his preliminary prep work, I'll have a template of the K.U.R.T. program to use to help restore Kurt's mind."

"I thought you said that that avatar wasn't Kurt." Doubt and suspicion in her voice, and Kurt hoped that his grandfather wasn't about to undo all the progress he'd made here.

"It's not," Bill assured her. "But it has data we can use. So that perhaps one day, it WILL be Kurt again."

"There's no other way?"

"I given it a lot of thought, and I think this one is best," he insisted. "I have some reading up of my own to do; I'll be in my study if you need me."

More footsteps, this time away. Kurt waited until he heard a door close before coming out.

The change in his mother was extraordinary. Far from being suspicious, she now looked as though Christmas and the Fourth of July were coming up at the same time. "Did you hear?"

"Yeah," Kurt sighed. "It sounds like I don't have much time to make myself disappear."

Elizabeth was shocked, a reaction Kurt didn't really understand. "What are you talking about? Don't you see what this means?"

"Yeah, it means Karr is going to find out any minute that I'm escaping," Kurt told her.

"You don't have to go," Elizabeth insisted. "Once your grandfather removes the program from this shell you're wearing, he can put you back in your real body. Everything will be fine again, and we can be a family."

Kurt was stunned. When he was trapped in the KI computer storage all he wanted was to be back in his old body again. And when he only had his vehicle mode there were times he wished he were human again, as well. But now that he had his avatar, he never thought about it any more. He liked how things were. And now that it was no longer an obstacle to being with Blaine, he was starting to grow accustomed to his vehicle mode, too. He didn't want to lose it.

And Blaine? God, what would Blaine think of this?

In the end though, there was only one answer. "Mom, my life is different now. But I'm really happy. And even if I wasn't, Karr is a dangerous nutcase. I'd rather not live at all if it means he gets his hands on this avatar."

Elizabeth's face fell. "Kurt..."

"Mom, do you remember when I was three?" Kurt persisted. "I asked for a pair of sensible heels for my birthday."

His mother's eyes widened at the confirmation of that memory. "Yes. I remember."

"I don't," Kurt said bluntly. "I only know from Dad telling me about it. What I remember is being six and going on a family outing to Dayton. I met a boy there, and I asked you if you'd be angry if I married him instead of a girl. Do you remember that?" Kurt hadn't thought about that in years, and didn't even remember the name of that boy with the wild, curly brown hair. But he remembered what his mother had told him.

Tears started falling from Elizabeth's face, and she nodded. Unable to speak.

"You said you'd love me no matter what," Kurt told her. "I need you to do that for me now. I met another boy. He loves me, even like this. Sometimes I think especially like this. This is who I am now." Kurt took a step towards her, and she flinched backwards. "Please," he begged. "Let me go. I'll bring help for you and them. Even Grandfather. But I have to go now, before Karr knows I'm gone."

Elizabeth turned away and was silent for a moment. Then she gestured to a door that was neither the one he (and his grandfather) had come through, or the one Dr Hummel had left through. "That will take you out onto a path," she explained. "There's a shed with a bike in it. Once you get to the road, turn right and it will lead you into town."

Kurt wanted to hug her, but knew that now wasn't the time. "Thank you. I'll be back soon."

Kurt made it to the bike without incident. He made it to the road without incident. But he was all too aware that he didn't have a lot of time. At any moment Karr could discover that Kurt wasn't in the room he'd been left in. In fact, it might already have happened.

He had to hurry. There wasn't a lot of time.

And then it seemed there was none at all.

There was a dull roar ahead of him. Kurt didn't know that Karr had gone on some kind of errand, but he must have. This road was too small to be a transit route.

And the semi bearing down on him was headed AWAY from town.

Kurt stopped his bike, deliberating his options. There was clearly no way he was outrunning a truck on this bike. He had a bit more strength in his legs than he would have if he were human, but even he had limits.

Was it possible to go off-road? It was early winter, and a thin layer of snow was covering the ruts and crevasses in the fields beside them. Riding a bike would be treacherous, but maybe walking? No, as the semi got closer, Kurt could see there was someone in the driver's seat. Mr Newman, no doubt.

Of course, there was also the possibility of going back. Could he do that? Sacrifice his principles for a second chance at seeing Blaine again?

The semi had clearly seen him now; it was slowing down.

Kurt tensed up, feeling the computer system nestled inside his jacket. There was no way he was handing Kitt over to Karr. No way he was rewarding Karr for attacking Artie, and killing Sebastian.

Kurt got off his bike as the semi came to a stop. He couldn't see Newman in the cab on account of the glare on the windshield, but Kurt assumed he'd be out in a moment.

There had to be a way out. Newman was just human, and if he could find some way to disable Karr-

To Kurt's surprise though, the second the semi stopped it backed up. Turning so that the back of the trailer was facing Kurt. Had he been mistaken? The truck in front of him didn't LOOK like the one he and Blaine had followed that one time.

And the back of the trailer was lowering to form a ramp, which was definitely different from what Kurt remembered.

Kurt gasped as the ramp came all the way down. Inside the trailer was his vehicle mode and, "Blaine!"

Adding to Kurt's surprise was the semi doors opening, to reveal Artie and April. "Kurt," Artie called out. "It's so great to see you, man."

"You scared me," Kurt scolded, though he was far too relieved to be angry. "I thought at first you were Karr."

"Sorry about that," April told him. "This is the old remote lab we used when I worked for the company."

"We were on our way to rescue you," Blaine stated, unable to keep the smile off his face. "We thought if we ran into Karr, this would at least give us a weight advantage."

Kurt couldn't wait any more; he ran up the ramp and jumped into Blaine's waiting arms. "I missed you."

Blaine hugged Kurt tightly, letting go only because he felt the metal block in between the two of them. "What's this?"

Kurt excitedly pulled Kitt's system out from under his jacket, turning back to Artie and April who were following him up the ramp. "You guys all have to see this. It's Kitt; I found him in the room they were holding me in."

April practically sprinted up to him when she heard that. "Kitt? He's alive?"

"Yeah, he's the reason we got away," Kurt explained. "Karr had the power relays to my legs and locators taken out. Kitt volunteered his own relays so we could escape."

Kurt was puzzled by the fact that Artie and April both seemed more alarmed than excited by his story. He guessed it had something to do with when April took Kitt, and Artie lifted up Kurt's shirt exposing the hack job done to his stomach. "I'm going to kill that thing," he grumbled. "I've got some extra relays in here. I'll take those ones out and we'll see if we can bring Kitt back."

Kurt didn't like how tentative Artie sounded about that, but he was distracted again with the work being done on him. It was chilling to feel his legs go dead again, so he was glad that Artie made quick work of replacing the relays. It was such a relief when he could feel them again he almost missed the distinctive feeling of his locator chips powering up. "Oh, that's a lot better."

Artie still seemed grim, though. "I need to help April with this," he stated. "Blaine, can you help Kurt seal this cut. You just brush the sealant on the edges and fit them together."

"No problem." At least Blaine seemed just as puzzled as Kurt was.

As he and Blaine went to work, Kurt filled him in on the other momentous discovery he'd made. "I found out what my grandfather is working on. It's my dad. He's alive."

Blaine almost dropped the sealant. "Seriously? How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. "My grandfather's an ass, but he's pretty brilliant. My dad's in a coma, but he's going to recover. Blaine... my mom was there, too."

Blaine did drop the sealant this time, in his rush to give Kurt another hug. "Kurt, that's amazing. She must have been so happy to see you."

Kurt made a face. "Not exactly," he replied. "She doesn't like the avatar any more than my grandfather does." Kurt picked up the sealant and set to work applying it to the edges of the cuts Newman had made.

Blaine gently fitted the pieces of skin together and held them while they dried. "I'm so sorry, Kurt."

Kurt shook his head, lowering his shirt when it became clear the sealant was holding. "She's alive. Anything else can wait." Kurt turned away to look at the other workspace. "Artie, don't you have Kitt's relays in yet?" It was odd that Kitt would still be silent.

But then he saw April's face. And the concern on Artie's. And he knew something had gone wrong.

So had Blaine. "Artie, what happened?"

"It's- I suspected this as soon as Kurt told us what happened," Artie told him. "Our AI systems work the opposite of the way normal computers do. Without power-"

No. Artie was not saying what Kurt thought he was saying. Kitt couldn't be- "No. My system-"

"-Is new," Artie interrupted.

"Your vehicle mode was the first one that could survive a power loss. With Kitt and Karr, the program – the personality – it just gets dumped." April was barely holding it together. It was like someone had died.

Died.

No.

Oh, no. "You're saying that Kitt is... gone?"

Kurt could hear Blaine inhale in horror, but his eyes were on Artie. Who paused, and then gave the slightest of nods. "I'm sorry. We tried everything we could think of to reboot K.I.T.T.'s system. The data just isn't there anymore."

Kurt sagged in shock. "It's my fault."

Blaine made a sound next to him, like he was in pain. "Kurt..."

Kurt turned to see that his boyfriend was crying in sympathetic agony. "I should never have taken his power relays. I as good as killed him myself. And told him everything would be alright while I was doing it."

As sad as April was, she shook her head determinedly at that. "Kurt, Kitt knew his systems as well as you know yours. He knew that he was sacrificing himself when he made that offer."

"But he said-" Kitt said that he was glad to have met Kurt. He was saying goodbye, in a way that Kurt would misinterpret. Because Kurt wanted everything to be okay so bad, he didn't listen.

"Kurt." Blaine offered his arms again, and Kurt fell into them. Screaming in frustration, guilt, and grief.

"Why?" he asked. "Why would Kitt do that?"

"You told him who you were." Blaine couldn't possibly know that, but it wasn't a question.

Kurt nodded. "He said-" And then Kurt got it. "He said I was like family to him."

April nodded, a small smile appearing on her teary face. "Of course, he'd feel that way."

"He knew what he was doing, Kurt," Blaine insisted. "He sacrificed himself to save you. And he didn't tell you, because he knew you wouldn't let him."

God, Kurt had never felt so badly, or so grateful, in any of his existences.

But now wasn't the time for that. Kurt had been given a second chance (or more properly, fourth), and he wasn't going to waste it. "I have to go back."

"Of course," Blaine agreed. "Your parents-"

Kurt looked up at him. Blaine no doubt expected Kurt to look shattered. And part of him was.

The rest was pure fury. "No- Well, I mean yes. But not just for them. I've had enough of this, Blaine.

"Karr isn't living 24 hours past Kitt," Kurt declared. "I swear it."

(to be continued)

And if anyone is curious, yeah the boy Kurt remembers meeting was in fact Blaine. I'm just a sucker for kid!Klaine.