Chapter 16

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A couple of days later, Harrison sat at his desk, still working on his small device. He grumbled to himself. "No damn machine's going to show me up." He smiled just thinking of the damage it would cause. Soon, K.I.T.T. would be history.

"Finished yet?" came a voice from behind him.

He jumped. "Dedra! Damn it all! Don't do that! Do you have any idea how sensitive this explosive is?"

"Well, sorry." She sat down in her chair, acting like she could have cared less if he blew his own hand off. "You know, you still haven't told me how that thing factors into your getting 'S' back."

"With K.I.T.T. destroyed, they'll give in to my demands, so no one else gets hurt."

"Demands?" asked Dedra.

"Yes." he said, putting the finishing touches on the box. "Carrie and 'S' will be returned here to me, where she belongs." He closed the lid on the box. "Done. Now to get it near the Knight 2000." He left to get some advice from one of his technicians on how to go about doing so.

Dedra picked up the device, playing with it between her hands, thinking. 'So, Alex still has feelings for that little mouse, does he? Fine. Let her come back. Their reunion will be a short one anyway.'

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Back at the Foundation, Michael and Cara were playing cards inside Kitt's garage on a small table. It was nice to unwind after all that had transpired. Star was playing some rock music.

"Oh, shoot." said Michael. "Ya beat me again."

"I told you she was good at crazy eights." called Bonnie, finishing up some work on Kitt.

Star sighed. "Bored. Bored. BORED!" she said.

"Pipe down." said Kitt. "We heard you the first dozen times. And will you kindly turn off that racket? You're breaking their concentration."

"I am 'not' breaking their concentration." said Star. "Am I, Carrie?"

"It's Cara." she said for the umpteenth time. "And no, Kitt. She's not bothering us. It's nice to have some noise around here since…" she trailed off. Michael patted her hand. They all missed Devon.

"Ha! See? She doesn't mind. You just wanna hog all the attention for yourself."

"Would you like some cheese with your whine?" quipped Kitt.

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." muttered Star. "Oh, come on. I'm tired of hiding in here all the time. I want out. Feel the open road under my wheels."

"Just as soon as we're sure you and Cara are safe from Harrison." said Michael. He wasn't sure how he was going to get Alex behind bars. He had to think of something.

"I'd feel a lot safer if she wasn't out on the road at all." Kitt said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Star asked.

"I saw your test run yesterday. Not very impressive."

"Okay, so I hit a few bumps."

"Really? That's not how I remember it." He went over the review of her road test. "You managed to knock over fifteen cones, you barely made four of your jumps, 'and' you plowed into three garbage cans that weren't even on the track. Need I say more?"

"It's not my fault." said Star. "Those cans fell off the truck and rolled towards me. Anyway, I'm new at driving. I'm not used to being a car you know."

"All the more reason for you to stay off the highway."

"You're just jealous." she said. Michael and Cara stopped playing cards. The two cars bickering was becoming something far more amusing.

"Me? Jealous of you?" scoffed Kitt. "Whatever for? I'm the more experienced vehicle."

"True. You 'do' have more miles over me. But I'm the newer model. Maybe you can't keep up."

"Star, that's enough." warned Cara.

"I have no doubt I can keep up with you in the physical sense, Star." said Kitt, haughtily. "Your 'mouth', however, is something completely different."

"Kitt." Michael called.

"You want to take it outside?" Star asked.

"I'd be happy to." Both cars rolled out of the garage and parked side by side.

"Michael, what are they gonna do?" Cara asked.

"I don't know. Come on!" They ran over to where the two Trans Ams were parked, gunning their engines.

"See the marker on top of that hill?" asked Star. "The last one to make it up and back has to stay outdoors tonight."

"You're on. Just try to stay on your own side, will you? Wouldn't want to hit any runaway garbage cans." He got ready. "Michael, if you would do the honors?"

Michael walked over. "On your mark. Get set…"

"Go!" Star yelled, taking a head start. They could hear her laugh as she sped off.

"Hey!" yelled Kitt. He pressed pursuit and went after her. It didn't take long for him to catch up. They both turned around at the marker and made their way back.

"I must admit," Kitt said, racing next to her, "not too bad for an inexperienced model."

"You ain't see nothing yet." the other car chuckled.

"Haven't." Kitt corrected. He was glad this AI had a personality like he did, but he could see where she could grain on his nerves.

"Watch this." Star pressed a light blue button and sped off quickly. Kitt couldn't believe it. She was going at least 50mph faster than he could at top speed. She then slowed back down to make the race more fair.

"What was that?" he asked.

"It's my Super Turbo function." she replied. "It gives me up to 70mph of extra speed for a short amount of time. Comes in handy for when I need an 'extra push' for high turbo boosts."

"Alright." Kitt said. "Now maybe I'm a tad jealous. Just don't tell the others."

"I'll take that as a compliment." she said. She then grew serious for a moment. "And Kitt, thanks."

"For what?"

"Taking care of Carrie. She's really happy here." she added finally.

"Speak nothing of it. I'm just glad she's safe." They were into the home stretch. "There's the finish line."

"Eat my dust!" called Star. The two cars sped as fast as they could. The humans cheered as they made it to the finish line at the same time.

"A tie!" Bonnie said.

"She cheated." said Kitt, not really upset. "Care for a rematch, Star?"

"Sure." She got into the starting position. "Best two out of three."

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