chapter six

Michael and Devon raced for the garage. Michael was hardly aware the older man was following him; his focus was solely on reaching the only person who really mattered right now. There were many people Michael would kill for. There was only one he would die for. Right now that one person needed him, and he was so scared he wasn't going to get there in time. With everything that had been said in the past few months, Michael wouldn't be able to handle it if something happened to Kitt. It would be his fault. He was supposed to protect the AI.

The two men skidded to a halt just inside the garage door. Brocklien was standing by the computer banks, watching with interest as data flowed across the screens. Some apprentice or another was holding Bonnie at gunpoint. And Kitt was rocking back and forth on his wheels, the entire car frame trembling in what could only be pain.

Brocklien looked up with mild distain as Devon and Michael made their presence known. Michael took him out with one bullet between the eyes. Brocklien hadn't even hit the ground before Jared quickly dropped his gun and shoved Bonnie away from him, his hands held up in surrender. Michael ignored him. He handed the gun to Devon and started towards Kitt, concern and fear plain in his eyes. "Kitt? Buddy, what's wrong?"

"He can't respond to you." Jared said tightly. "I told the fool it was a stupid thing to do."

"What did Brocklien do to Kitt?" Devon demanded.

"He inserted some of Karr's old programming." Jared grumbled. "It did exactly what I told him it would do. Cascade data failure. Five more minutes and the 2000 will be nothing more than a hollow shell. There will be no hope of recovery."

Devon turned his focus to Bonnie. "Can you fix it?"

"Hopefully." Bonnie took her place in front of the computer banks, ignoring the body lying on the ground for the moment. "It would be easier if Kitt would stop fighting the programming. How did Brocklien get this into him?"

"He told Kitt he had Knight hostage." Jared said bluntly. "Told him that he'd have Rich kill the man if he didn't cooperate. Kitt couldn't let that happen. Brocklien used the very programming he hated against the machine."

"That wasn't programming." Michael snapped. His voice was harsh, and he never took his eyes away from his partner. "Kitt, it's me." He reached out and placed his hand on the hood, and Kitt jerked back away from him. Michael refused to be put off. "Come on. After all the hell we've been through, do you really think I'm going to back off that easily. You've always been there for me. Now it's my turn to return the favor."

"Michael?" Kitt's voice was trembling, and it broke Michael's heart. "Please – stay back. I don't know how much longer I can fight this."

"Don't fight it, pal." Michael said soothingly. "Bonnie's working on fixing you right up. She says it'll be easier if you don't fight her." He approached the car again, once again touching the hood, and this time Kitt didn't move. The car continued to shake, but Kitt's voice sounded much steadier when he responded to that.

"Michael, are you all right?" he asked. "I can't access my medical scanners."

"I'm fine." Michael smiled reassuringly at Kitt. "I'm a lot harder to kill than that."

"The comm. link died." Kitt said. "Brocklien cut us off from each other."

"I know." Darkness edged Michael's voice. "He won't hurt us again. I took care of it." He moved around the car to the driver's door. "Will you let me in?" He tried the door, but it was locked. "Come on, Kitt. I'm not going to hurt you."

"I know." came the tight response. "I have no control over the security systems. Perhaps it would be safer for you to stay back."

"I can't do that, Kitt." Michael leaned against the door, trying to comfort Kitt through contact. "Nowhere in the Code of Friendship does it say anything about self-preservation."

Kitt laughed, but it came out strained. "It's not nice to use my own words against me."

"No, but I'm not above a little plagiarism." Michael teased back. "I'll start throwing my own insults when I calm down enough to think straight."

"You're thinking – straighter – Mi!"

Michael turned to Bonnie, cringing at Kitt's pain. "Hurry up!" he snapped.

"I'm trying!" Bonnie snapped back. "I almost have it, but the last few lines are going to hurt him the worst." She glanced over at Kitt. The AI didn't seem aware of anyone else in the room at the moment. "Kitt? Do you want me to continue?"

"Just get it out." he gritted out. The last lines were the most dangerous, the ones Kitt couldn't allow to stay hidden in his programming – no matter how painful it was. Those lines were the ones that were demanding that he kill the man leaning against his door. The deep-seated mistrust of anyone related to Knight Industries that Karr had developed before being deactivated was all part of the programming code that Brocklien had decided to give him.

Did he want Kitt to kill Michael? Possibly. Who knew?

Suddenly Kitt screamed as the last lines of code were deleted. Devon's eyes widened in shock as Michael fell to his knees, struggling to hold on to Kitt's door. Bonnie pushed herself away from the computers.

"It's done! Kitt – it's done. The code is gone."

Kitt didn't respond. Devon moved to approach Michael, but Kitt revved his engine, and the older man wisely backed away . Bonnie didn't even bother trying. "Let Michael get up on his own." she said quietly. "Kitt isn't going to let us near them until he does."

"Interesting." Jared said quietly. Devon glanced back at him. The boy shrugged. "Brocklien wanted to see what would happen as an AI destroyed itself. I don't think he realized the significance of just how far the AI was willing to go to protect a human. It's almost touching."

"Almost?" Michael had pushed himself to his feet and was now glaring at Jared. "If you knew what was going to happen, why did you let him do it?"

"Because I was curious too." Jared admitted. "Except for Bonnie and maybe Ashley, no one here really thinks of Kitt as anything more than a car. We don't spend enough time with him to really see it. I'm sorry."

Michael studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Kitt." Kitt didn't need any more to be said. He opened the driver door and Michael collapsed in the seat. Kitt closed it and went into lockdown. Bonnie ran one last check on Kitt's programming, satisfied that the errant lines of code were gone. Guards came in to check Brocklien and remove the body, but no one dared approach the silent AI or his sleeping driver.

Devon made sure of that.