(My apologies if this chapter is confusing to anyone.)

Chapter 13

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Michael dragged Jonathan into Devon's office, throwing him into a chair. "Sit!" said Michael. The others came in afterwards. "You better start talking, man, cause I've had just about all I can take."

At that point, Jonathan felt the same way. He was tired of the charade. "What would you like to know?"

"What's Harrison up to?"

"He sent me here to get the necklace so we could get 'Project S' back to CompuTech Headquarters."

"Why?"

"When he had her fitted with the shell, he was going to reprogram her to destroy the Knight 2000. With you and your car out of the way, Harrison is planning a hostile takeover of the Foundation."

"But why hasn't Star tried to destroy Kitt already if that's what she was built for?" asked Bonnie.

"Star's dominate program is to take orders only from her pilot for now, not Harrison. I doubt Carrie would order her to do that." Jonathan answered.

"What I would like to know," said Devon, "is what all this has to do with Cara." Jonathan looked over at her. He didn't know how much he could reveal without hurting Cara.

Michael shook him. "You better start at the beginning, pal!"

"Alright!" said Jonathan. "Alright. I was waiting until I had more evidence to go to the police, but I can't take it anymore."

He took a deep breath and began. "My name is not Joel Adams, it's Jonathan Brusner. 'Cara' as you call her is my sister." Cara gave him a quizzical look. "You're my adopted sister, Carrie. I was an orphan myself and we were raised by my aunt, Jane, back in Pennsylvania. After I graduated high school, I came out here to California to find work. I was good with computers and eventually sighed up with CompuTech."

"How did she end up there?" Devon asked.

"When she was sixteen, 'Mama Jane' died. Since I was twenty-one at the time and her only relative, I was made guardian. She came to live at CompuTech with me. I was appointed as a technician and Alex gave us food and a place to stay. When he was designing 'S', he liked what he saw in Carrie and began to train her as a pilot for the vehicle. She even helped me with some of Star's basic programming when the CPU was back in the main computer."

"That huge computer I remember seeing from before." said Cara. "But why all this trouble to destroy Kitt when his father helped create him?"

"I don't think it started out that way." said Devon. "Andrew Harrison was basically the co-founder of Knight Industries. There is barely a function inside the Knight 2000 that he didn't come up with, other than what Bonnie and April added later on."

"Like?" Michael asked.

"Kitt's CPU and turbo boost." Bonnie said. "And his voice modulator. Andrew felt man and machine should be able to communicate."

"So what happened?"

Devon sighed. "The night before you found Kitt in the warehouse, I'm afraid Wilton and Andrew had a rather terrible argument. Wilton was quite upset and it hadn't helped his condition any."

"Any idea what it was about?" asked Michael.

"All I was able to learn, was that Andrew had gained access to some very important information that Wilton did not want anyone else to know about. He even refused to give 'me' any details on the matter. After that, Andrew stormed out, going on about how he'd start his own company and rival FLAG in the world of technology."

"But Andrew Harrison died before 'Project S' even got off the ground." said Jonathan. "Alex took over and that's when things really began to change."

"How so?" Devon asked him.

"Alex became obsessed with completing 'S". He also began cruel experiments on animals. He's nothing like his father. He's a nutcase."

"Star said I had to be punished." said Cara. "Why?"

Jonathan paused. "Something…happened one night. It was really bad, Carrie."

"What?" she asked, frustrated. "Why won't you or Star tell me?"

"I asked her not to when I finished programming her. Please, Carrie, trust me. You don't 'want' to remember what happened that night." From the look on his face, she could tell that he wasn't going to tell her, that whatever had happened had been that bad.

"But how did she end up here the way she did?" asked Michael.

"After the events of that evening, Alex thought it was best to lock her away in solitary confinement. Carrie was held prisoner there for ten months. She was left in the care of his assistant. Boy, if you think Harrison's crazy…" He almost laughed and noticed the others looking at him. "Anyway, his assistant did everything she could to torture her. She even stopped her meals from being sent. Then, she took things too far."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked.

"She's always been jealous you, Carrie. One night, I guess she just snapped. She threw you in the operating room, and used quite a lot of electroshock therapy. I was able to get in there just as she pulled the switch, but it was too late."

Cara's mind was swimming at that point.

"I was able to sneak you onto the grounds of the Foundation because I was going undercover for CompuTech. But I thought once I had enough evidence of 'their' illegal experiments, I could come to FLAG and they would help us. This was the only place I thought you'd be safe." He turned to her. "Carrie, I am so sorry about all this. If had known, I never would have taken you there in the first place. You deserved better." He hung his head in shame.

"Can you answer just a few more things for me?" Cara asked.

"Like what?"

"My real parents?"

"What about them?" Jonathan asked her.

"Well, what were their names?"

"Your mother's name was Diane Anderson."

Michael felt all the color drain from his face. 'No. It couldn't be.' But now that he thought about it, Cara looked so much like her. "What about her father?" he asked.

"What?" asked Jonathan. Michael walked over to where he was sitting and lifted him out the chair.

"Michael! Please! Calm down!" yelled Devon.

"What about her father!" screamed Michael.

"The only name she gave my aunt was a guy named Michael Long. He was a detective who died on a case out in the middle of the desert!" There was a sudden hush in the room.

Cara didn't know Michael's former identity. She wondered why everyone looked so shocked. Michael let go of Jonathan. He leaned back against Devon's desk, his hands rubbing his face. 'Oh god.' he thought.

Kitt had been listening to everything from over the comlink. Jonathan's story had been a shocking one, but nothing could have prepared any of them for what he had just said. Kitt then realized why Cara seemed so familiar to him.

Cara…was Michael's daughter.

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