p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emi knew this show would get me lmaobr /ememsmartass trans am? charming and irresponsible i mean irresistible male lead? sign me right the fuck up /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"* * * /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongemspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"OUTRUN: CHAPTER ONE/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongemspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"[kitt]/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"Two miles away from where I was to rendezvous with Michael, I picked up a tail. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My pursuer was a white Camaro, but while the same F-body platform underpinned both me and the Chevrolet, we were far from kin. I paid close mind to the speed limit for a few blocks, keeping a careful watch on my proximity sensors, noting that the Camaro maintained a six car-length gap behind me as I led it around three right-hand turns. At the crossroads of the fourth turn, I locked my rear wheels and hung a left. The highway spanned before me, and the Camaro closed behind me. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Michael,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I radioed my driver. em"I'm afraid I'm going to be delayed. I've attracted some unwanted attention and I would prefer not to lead them right to you."/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Lose 'em, KITT," Michael said back, his voice ragged. He'd been running. "Hurry!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""I will. See you soon,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I reassured him, and then I did what any self-respecting Trans Am would do: I spooled up my turbines, routed all torque to my driving wheels, and then I dropped my accelerator to the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"So did the Camaro. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I put nine car-lengths between us, then eleven, but evidently, I was not going to shake my pursuer that easily. Thankfully, I was quite a bit faster than they were as my speedometer ticked into the triple digits. Had I had a straight, clear strip of road, I would've lost them in no time. However, this road was not straight, nor was it clear, and I found my rear tires squealing over worn asphalt as I applied the brakes and navigated between two ambling sedans out for a Saturday night drive. The Camaro's driver was nowhere near as agile as I was, of course. They got held up behind the sedans while I opened my throttle once more, dodging slower traffic as I shot down the highway at a breakneck pace./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"The beauty of driving alone at night was that I did not need headlights to see where I was going. Whenever they were activated, it was for Michael's benefit, not mine; I killed my fog laps first, then neatly tucked my headlights back into my armor. Black as night, I blended perfectly with the asphalt and the ocean to my right, save the crimson glare of my scanner as I continued to pan the road in search of obstructions. That bothersome white Camaro receded in my rearview, its presence fading from my proximity sensors, but just to be sure, I hung an abrupt left turn and neatly leaped over a set of train tracks; upon landing, I immediately skidded to the right and ducked into an industrial district. There was no traffic this way, and I glided along in relative silence, scanner panning back and forth, on high alert. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My communicator beeped. "KITT! You gotta –" Static punctured the airwaves, butchering my driver's words. "I figur - they're aft – both – hear me, pal? Run!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Blasted connection's spotty. I'll be at the rendezvous in 10 minutes," /span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I told Michael. I received no response, and then an alert flared across my monitor: /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem ERROR! CONNECTION TERMINATED [!]/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" ATTEMPTING TO REESTABLISH […]/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I crept back toward the highway, scanning for that Camaro. It was patrolling just at the edge of my range. I waited until it faded just enough, and then I charged back onto the highway and burned rubber. u/u/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"* * * /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"Michael never made it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I idled up to the curb and silenced my engine. Unfortunately, I needed my scanner at full capacity, so I had to leave it running, a bright slash of red in the darkness. I swept far and wide, back and forth, searching for my driver, or, hell, even one of the men we'd been sent out after. I widened my search, trying to pick out anything I could, scanning for a heartbeat, heat signature – any sort of biometric I could latch onto. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My scanners turned up nothing. There were no signs of life in the building. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I pondered this for a moment. That could mean one of two things. Either they'd vacated the premises … or there were no survivors. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Oh, dear,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I muttered to myself. (It seemed I was picking up some of Michael's habits; he frequently spoke for his own ears only.) I broadened my search once again, this time scanning the interior for anything resembling spilled bodily fluids, such as blood. Relieved that I found no quantity large enough to rouse concern, I wrote off the dreadful emno survivors /emtheory and reasoned that Michael and the suspects must have left. That still left me to find out where they had gone, and whether or not Michael had gone willingly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"An alert empinged/em as my scanner flicked across something on the ground on the other side of the building. I immediately ignited my engine and rolled back a few feet to lock onto the signal. It was Michael's watch, our point of contact when we were not together. He was not wearing it. This was bad. This was very bad. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I rolled over the curb and skirted the building, fitting myself into the alley in which I detected the device. It wasn't well-suited for a vehicle, and I had to flick my sideview mirrors flush against my windows to avoid contact with the walls on either side, but something had laid twin strips of rubber on the cracked concrete. In its wake lay the silver watch, its clasp broken, discarded between the tire treads, and framed by a neat spattering of blood. I ran a quick analysis, though I already knew what it would turn up. This was Michael's blood, and it was still fresh. There was not enough to indicate a life-threatening injury, but the pattern and trajectory of the droplets told me he'd likely been struck in the face and developed a nosebleed as a result. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I did not have to be a supercomputer to piece together what had happened. The story was written plainly in the blood and spent tire rubber. Michael Knight had been kidnapped./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"* * * /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongemspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"OUTRUN: CHAPTER ONE/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strongemspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"[kitt]/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"Two miles away from where I was to rendezvous with Michael, I picked up a tail. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My pursuer was a white Camaro, but while the same F-body platform underpinned both me and the Chevrolet, we were far from kin. I paid close mind to the speed limit for a few blocks, keeping a careful watch on my proximity sensors, noting that the Camaro maintained a six car-length gap behind me as I led it around three right-hand turns. At the crossroads of the fourth turn, I locked my rear wheels and hung a left. The highway spanned before me, and the Camaro closed behind me. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Michael,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I radioed my driver. em"I'm afraid I'm going to be delayed. I've attracted some unwanted attention and I would prefer not to lead them right to you."/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Lose 'em, KITT," Michael said back, his voice ragged. He'd been running. "Hurry!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""I will. See you soon,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I reassured him, and then I did what any self-respecting Trans Am would do: I spooled up my turbines, routed all torque to my driving wheels, and then I dropped my accelerator to the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"So did the Camaro. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I put nine car-lengths between us, then eleven, but evidently, I was not going to shake my pursuer that easily. Thankfully, I was quite a bit faster than they were as my speedometer ticked into the triple digits. Had I had a straight, clear strip of road, I would've lost them in no time. However, this road was not straight, nor was it clear, and I found my rear tires squealing over worn asphalt as I applied the brakes and navigated between two ambling sedans out for a Saturday night drive. The Camaro's driver was nowhere near as agile as I was, of course. They got held up behind the sedans while I opened my throttle once more, dodging slower traffic as I shot down the highway at a breakneck pace./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"The beauty of driving alone at night was that I did not need headlights to see where I was going. Whenever they were activated, it was for Michael's benefit, not mine; I killed my fog laps first, then neatly tucked my headlights back into my armor. Black as night, I blended perfectly with the asphalt and the ocean to my right, save the crimson glare of my scanner as I continued to pan the road in search of obstructions. That bothersome white Camaro receded in my rearview, its presence fading from my proximity sensors, but just to be sure, I hung an abrupt left turn and neatly leaped over a set of train tracks; upon landing, I immediately skidded to the right and ducked into an industrial district. There was no traffic this way, and I glided along in relative silence, scanner panning back and forth, on high alert. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My communicator beeped. "KITT! You gotta –" Static punctured the airwaves, butchering my driver's words. "I figur - they're aft – both – hear me, pal? Run!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Blasted connection's spotty. I'll be at the rendezvous in 10 minutes," /span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I told Michael. I received no response, and then an alert flared across my monitor: /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem ERROR! CONNECTION TERMINATED [!]/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" ATTEMPTING TO REESTABLISH […]/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I crept back toward the highway, scanning for that Camaro. It was patrolling just at the edge of my range. I waited until it faded just enough, and then I charged back onto the highway and burned rubber. u/u/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"* * * /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"Michael never made it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I idled up to the curb and silenced my engine. Unfortunately, I needed my scanner at full capacity, so I had to leave it running, a bright slash of red in the darkness. I swept far and wide, back and forth, searching for my driver, or, hell, even one of the men we'd been sent out after. I widened my search, trying to pick out anything I could, scanning for a heartbeat, heat signature – any sort of biometric I could latch onto. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"My scanners turned up nothing. There were no signs of life in the building. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I pondered this for a moment. That could mean one of two things. Either they'd vacated the premises … or there were no survivors. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;""Oh, dear,"/span/emspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;" I muttered to myself. (It seemed I was picking up some of Michael's habits; he frequently spoke for his own ears only.) I broadened my search once again, this time scanning the interior for anything resembling spilled bodily fluids, such as blood. Relieved that I found no quantity large enough to rouse concern, I wrote off the dreadful emno survivors /emtheory and reasoned that Michael and the suspects must have left. That still left me to find out where they had gone, and whether or not Michael had gone willingly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"An alert empinged/em as my scanner flicked across something on the ground on the other side of the building. I immediately ignited my engine and rolled back a few feet to lock onto the signal. It was Michael's watch, our point of contact when we were not together. He was not wearing it. This was bad. This was very bad. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I rolled over the curb and skirted the building, fitting myself into the alley in which I detected the device. It wasn't well-suited for a vehicle, and I had to flick my sideview mirrors flush against my windows to avoid contact with the walls on either side, but something had laid twin strips of rubber on the cracked concrete. In its wake lay the silver watch, its clasp broken, discarded between the tire treads, and framed by a neat spattering of blood. I ran a quick analysis, though I already knew what it would turn up. This was Michael's blood, and it was still fresh. There was not enough to indicate a life-threatening injury, but the pattern and trajectory of the droplets told me he'd likely been struck in the face and developed a nosebleed as a result. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Agency FB',sans-serif;"I did not have to be a supercomputer to piece together what had happened. The story was written plainly in the blood and spent tire rubber. Michael Knight had been kidnapped./span/p
