Disgrace

Everyone had once again gathered in the garage. Bonnie didn't quite understand why – it wasn't like the mansion didn't have rooms big enough to hold all of them. Once again, the two cars were present, as well as Kitson, Carson, the girls, Borden and Drake, the mechanic Chris, a military woman named Lake, and Banachek himself. Bonnie liked Banachek – he reminded her of Devon, in a strange way. She wasn't sure how she felt about the girls. They were violent and unpredictable. They shared Michael's last name, but they weren't a thing like him.

She had her suspicions about the Trans-Am. She was beginning to have suspicions about the Cuda, but it would be a while before she made any accusations about that. She wanted to make sure.

Banachek grabbed a rolling chair and passed it over to Bonnie, who sat down. The girls were over against the wall, along with Kitson and Carson. Borden, Drake, and Chris were working on the cars. Banachek cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him. She almost smiled. Definitely like Devon.

"I want to know why you were with FLAG when one of my agents was about to raid the place." he said calmly. "We could have killed you, you know."

"Would that really have been a bad thing?" Jess muttered under her breath. Heather snickered, but Raven shook her head.

"Prints came in this morning." she murmured. "The woman really is Bonnie Barstow."

Jess choked and looked over at Kitson. He didn't say anything, simply stared at the woman currently facing down Banachek. Bonnie Barstow had been extremely close to KITT, although probably not as close as Michael Knight had been. She wondered, briefly, if KITT would want Bonnie to stick around.

She wondered if KITT would go with Bonnie if she chose to leave.

"I still say she's no big loss." Heather grumbled. "She's too attached to FLAG – or rather, what FLAG used to be. She may just betray us."

"You , maybe." Kitson said quietly. "But she won't betray me."

"Meaning she'll act in your best interest and put the rest of us in danger." Raven said.

"Exactly."

Bonnie sighed. "FLAG wanted me to build them a new AI. They think you guys have AIs, so they want one to counteract yours." She shrugged. "I told them no one has the technology to develop anything like what Wilton Knight envisioned."

"What did he dream of?" Banachek asked quietly.

"The Knight Industries Two Thousand." Bonnie responded. "He's programmed to never endanger a human life and to protect the life of his driver above all others."

Kitson snorted. "Yes. And then I got into trouble when I injured a man who was going to kill Michael." he muttered. "They didn't realize that while I couldn't kill, I could accidentally injure someone if it meant protecting my driver. They fixed that pretty quick." His voice was bitter. Carson glanced over at him.

"That doesn't matter anymore." he said.

"No, it doesn't."

"Did they have the technology needed?" Banachek continued with his questioning, although the girls knew he was listening in. As much as he annoyed them at times, and as many times as they had gone out of their way to annoy him, they were still friends. They still wanted to protect each other.

Bonnie shook her head. "They wanted to use KITT's prototype – KARR. The Knight Automated Roving Robot. I told them I wouldn't do anything with KARR's old programming. It was defective."

"How so?" Now she had Banachek's attention. It wasn't that he knew KARR was Knight Industries – he knew that long ago, although he hadn't told the girls that he knew. But no one had said anything about KARR being defective.

"He didn't have the same programming KITT had." Bonnie explained tiredly. "He was designed to defend himself, not others. He – "

"Oh, and that makes him defective?" Raven demanded, taking a step forward. Carson reached forward to grab her arm, but she brushed him away. "Does it?"

"Raven-blowout on an epic scale in 3 – 2 – 1!" Jess cackled.

Bonnie stared at her for a moment. "You don't understand. KARR killed a man for no reason only two weeks after his activation."

"I know that. Does that make him defective?" Raven was practically steaming now. Heather had her arms crossed over her chest, a slight smirk on her face. She was going to enjoy this. Carson kept glancing between Raven and Bonnie, as if debating if it was worth trying to stop her from attacking the defenseless woman.

"You don't think murder is a defect?" Bonnie was practically shouting now. Kitson calmly took a step out of the line of fire.

"Bonnie, it may not be for the best to antagonize Raven." he warned. "She's violent."

"I know that." Bonnie snapped. "She'd be KARR's other half."

Suddenly Raven's anger vanished and she laughed. "That I am." she said. She glanced at the others. "I guess we should go ahead and tell her, huh?"

Heather sighed. Jess merely shrugged. "Might as well." Jess said. "She'll find out sooner or later." Kitson and Carson exchanged looks, shrugged, and vanished at the same time. KITT brought his voice modulator online a split second after KARR did.

"I think we scared her, KARR." KITT said with a chuckle.

KARR's laugh was downright vicious. "That's an understatement. She's going to attract bugs like that."

Bonnie shut her mouth abruptly. "KITT?" she asked hesitantly, standing and taking a step towards the Trans-Am. "You're still alive?"

"If that's what you want to call it." KITT quipped.

She trailed her fingers across the hood, and KITT jerked back. Borden yelped. "I would appreciate it if you didn't do that while I'm under here!" he protested.

"Sorry." KITT said sheepishly. Borden grunted acknowledgement and resumed his work. Bonnie hesitated, a hurt look crossing her face. For once, KITT didn't say anything about it. He wasn't sure what to say anyway. Heather walked over and leaned against the Trans-Am's hood, a slightly sardonic smirk on her face. Jess joined her, while Raven assumed the same position on KARR's hood. KARR's engine thrummed in contentment.

Bonnie stared at them. "KITT?" Her voice was so hesitant, so unsure. It tore at him, to hear that tone directed to him.

But he didn't know what to say. How could he explain this to someone like Bonnie?

"I promised Michael I would keep living." he said quietly. "This is my reason to do it. My brother – and my girls."

Bonnie's eyes flickered from KITT to the girls and then to KARR. Her lip curled. "That disgrace?"

And KITT felt his heart break.