Yay! Chapter Twelve is here! Here you go :D
CHAPTER TWELVE
"Lizzie. Lizzie, wake up."
Her father was shaking her shoulder.
"Just a few more minutes," Lizzie mumbled, shifting into a more comfortable position in her seat. It was dark outside, and she had been in the middle of a very good dream.
"Lizzie, you need to wake up." It was Kitt speaking this time.
Lizzie groaned, and shifted again. "Alright, just give me a minute."
"You don't have one," Michael said, shaking her shoulder again, "Come on, Lizzie. Kitt says you need to wake up."
With a yawn, Lizzie stretched and looked at her father wearily.
"What's up?" She asked. She was vaguely aware that they had stopped moving, "Are we in hiding?"
"No. Karr just wants to see you." Kitt said.
"He remembers me?" Lizzie said, finally waking up.
"Not exactly," Kitt said, and Lizzie felt a small tinge of disappointment, "But he refuses to get back onto the freeway."
"Huh?" Lizzie asked.
"Just step out of the car for a second," Michael said, patting her shoulder affectionately.
"Alright," Lizzie said, unbuckling her seatbelt. Kitt opened the passenger door for her, and with slight reluctance she stepped out into the slightly colder air.
They were in the parking lot of a common roadside rest stop.
"Karr?" She asked, looking around.
Suddenly a big bundle of black bounded into her vision, and Karr practically leaped on his shocks as he smashed into her.
"Ooh! Karr, careful!" Lizzie said, but she noticed that she was still standing even as he tried to hug her with his hood.
She frowned. That hood was shaking.
"Oh Karr, Karr, it's alright," Lizzie said, trying to comfort him as much as possible, "It's alright, I'm here, and we lost the hackers or whatever they are. We're going to be at FLAG soon, and my mom will fix you up-"
Karr started flashing his headlights at her.
"What's he saying?" Lizzie asked, turning to Kitt.
"He's saying 'no'," Kitt translated.
"No? Why 'no'?"
"He doesn't want you to leave him." Kitt answered.
Lizzie frowned again, then decided to focus on the problem at hand.
"Karr, it's okay," Lizzie said, gently rubbing his hood, "Now I'm going to have to go back with Kitt for a little while, and we'll be driving again, but the sooner we get back to the Foundation the sooner we can fix this."
She tentatively took a step away from Karr and back towards Kitt, but Karr apparently didn't like that. He burst up to her again, this time knocking her to the ground, and as soon as she was underneath him he powered down.
"Karr!" Lizzie sighed, trying to wriggle her way out from under.
It didn't help that she knew her father was laughing at her from inside Kitt.
"Kitt, I thought he just wanted to see me, not recharge for the night!" Lizzie said, "Oh drats, I'm stuck. A little help here?"
"Come on Karr," Kitt sounded like he was laughing, and he was clicking his car door locks as he spoke aloud, "It's time for us to go."
Gently, Kitt pushed against Karr with his hood until he made an opening for Lizzie to get up. As soon as Karr wasn't in contact with Lizzie anymore he 'woke up', but to Lizzie's surprise he didn't seem to be angry that she left. He didn't even "say" anything with his headlights.
"Alright," Kitt said, not pausing his doorclicks for even a second, "Get back in, Lizzie. I'll tell Karr to keep following us through the night. We'll recharge once we get back to the Foundation."
"Okay," Lizzie said-and she smiled at Karr before she climbed back into Kitt's passenger seat.
The inside of Kitt was suddenly a whole lot toastier.
"How was your nap in the parking lot?" Her father joked, but even as he said that he handed her a blanket.
"I think I'm going back to sleep," Lizzie said, feeling Kitt start moving again, "Wake me up again if you need anything."
Michael just ruffled her head with his hand, and continued whatever he was doing with the computer in his steering wheel.
Huh. Had he been messing around with that the entire night? Lizzie couldn't remember. He was probably playing another first-person shoot-'em-up game against Kitt...Wow. This blanket around her was really, really soft...
She fell asleep against the window again. But only after she turned her head and spied Karr in the sideview mirror following them.
It was the morning light which woke her up the next day. Or maybe it was the sounds of the road and the soft bumps as Kitt drove on it. It could have been how she was asleep curled up in the seat, even with the seat moved back for her.
Or maybe she woke up because her dad wouldn't stop talking about stuff that didn't seem to make any sense.
"I'm telling you, it was the yellow guy."
"Are you sure, Michael?"
"Well, yeah. Anyway, what about you?"
"You neglected to state a room and a weapon."
"What are you doing?" Lizzie groaned, trying to sit up but failing since she forgot she was still strapped into her seatbelt.
"Anything to pass the time," Michael answered as Kitt raised the back of her seat for her, "String and the food room."
"Michael, why do I even bother playing with you if you won't say the names right?" Kitt sighed, "I know you do it on purpose."
"Well yeah," Michael said, "Because I said 'rope' and 'kitchen' last time. I needed to switch it up a little."
"How's Karr?" Lizzie asked, deciding to ignore what was going on until after she had gotten rid of her morning headache.
"Still behind us," Kitt said, even as Lizzie turned to look in the side mirror out her window, "Asking plenty of questions. We're not going to stop until we get to FLAG today."
Lizzie looked at the dashboard. The light for changing the license plate was flashing again.
"So you're talking to him right now?" She asked.
"Yes." Kitt said.
"What about?"
"Just about everything." Kitt responded cryptically.
Lizzie's stomach growled.
"Kitt," Michael laughed, "It sounds like the stomach has spoken!"
"Fine," Kitt huffed, and Lizzie wondered briefly if he had lost some sort of argument or bet with her father, "We'll get you both food. But after that, we need to hurry back to FLAG."
"Are those guys still after us?" Lizzie asked.
"They're still behind us somewhere." Michael said, "Kitt says they're getting closer. And your mother says that the virus back at FLAG is getting worse."
"Which is why we must move fast." Kitt said, "You two are eating breakfast here."
They were still on the freeway, so there was only one place that Kitt could be talking about.
"What?" Lizzie asked, surprised, "You mean here, inside?"
"Yes!" Michael said, a little too enthusiastically.
"This is an emergency," Kitt explained, "But that doesn't mean you can get crumbs all over my seat, Michael."
"Hey, that is never on purpose," Michael said, "Most of the time, anyway."
"Michael."
"Jeez, Kitt, lighten up! I'm just joking." Michael said.
"So, can I pick the drive-through?" Lizzie asked, purposefully redirecting the conversation.
"Sorry, but no." Kitt said, "I've got to pick one and then figure out how to get back on the freeway quickly without attracting any unwanted attention."
"Aw." Lizzie crossed her arms, "So Kitt, we're running away from those guys who were chasing us, right?"
"Right." Kitt said, sounding slightly confused.
"Why?" Lizzie asked.
"What do you mean, hon?" Michael asked.
"Why are we running?" Lizzie asked, "I mean, can't we just have those guys arrested or something for what they did to Karr?"
"Sure we can," Michael said, "In fact, I talked to Devon after you fell asleep last night, and he put an APB out for them. Every cop on this side of the coast is out looking for them and their car."
"We'll know when they've been arrested. I've been keeping an eye on the police scanners." Kitt added.
"So," Lizzie said, confused, "Are we rushing home because they're still behind us?"
"Not quite." Michael said, "It just so happens that FLAG is in the middle of it's worst crisis in history. Those guys who are after us gave FLAG a really nasty virus. And I mean nasty."
"I managed to keep it contained for the last few days, but it's spreading." Kitt said, "I need to get home as quickly as possible to avoid any further damage to FLAG's systems."
"Karr was on the case to uncover the guys responsible, until he went missing." Michael added.
Lizzie was silent for a moment, but she turned to look at Karr through Kitt's rear window.
"So," she said, turning back around to sit properly in her chair, "Have you talked to Mom about fixing Karr?"
"I'm sorry Lizzie, but we're going to have to take care of the emergency at FLAG first." Michael said.
"He'll be fine. He can wait until Bonnie takes a look at him, Lizzie." Kitt said.
"I hope so," Lizzie said, rubbing her arm. The same arm with the cut she had received from Kitt's hood. "But what if he gets scared? You've been telling him what to expect when we get there, right?"
"Liz," Michael said, "We're not hooking him up to anything electronic when we get back to FLAG. Everything's compromised because of the virus, remember?"
"It's not that," Lizzie said, "It's people. And places. And things. Karr freaked out when he first saw me, Dad."
"I've been explaining things to him, I told you that." Kitt said, "He still doesn't know or understand all his systems, but I assure you that I've been teaching him. He knows now that he is near indestructible, and that water is harmless."
"He told you about the water thing?" Lizzie asked, smiling slightly.
"Not in those exact words, but yes." Kitt said, "Now Lizzie, just sit back and relax."
"That's right," her father said, taking both hands off the wheel to give her a hug, "We're going to get you something to eat, and we'll be back at FLAG before noon."
"And Karr," Kitt said, "Will be behind us every step of the way."
"Good," Lizzie said, relaxing back into her seat. That is, until she sat up to look out the rear window again. Right behind them, Karr flashed his headlights at her.
"Karr is saying 'hello' to you, Lizzie." Kitt stated.
"Tell him I said 'hello' right back," Lizzie asked.
Karr complied immediately, this time using the car door locks to speak with Karr. And as she heard her message translated into door-click binary, Lizzie realized that even though Karr still had amnesia, the situation probably wasn't as bad as she originally thought. After all, they could communicate now.
