Disclaimer: The Crow is the creation of James O'Barr. Knight Rider is the creation of Glen A. Larson.
Notes: Written 6-26-2010. Revised 12-11-2011. Not beta'd.
Warnings: Dark! (Well, it's The Crow... what do you expect?) Death of a main character; death of supporting/minor characters.
Knight of the Crow
By Lucidscreamer
It's a moonless night in Nevada. The highway stretches long, dark, and deserted into the distance. A tiny section of blacktop is lit by the headlights of the black Trans-Am at Michael Long's back. The woman's hand is steady as she points her gun between his eyes. The only sound is the slough of the desert wind and the roar of his own pulse in Michael's ears.
And then the stillness is shredded when Tanya pulls the trigger and the world explodes in Michael's face.
The darkness that follows is absolute.
-o0o-
When Wilton Knight finds Michael, his chosen protégé, it's already too late.
-o0o-
Most of the faces at the funeral belong to brother cops. It's their second in as many days – first Muntzy, now his partner. Muntzy had an open casket viewing. For obvious reasons, Michael does not.
From the shadows, Wilton watches the men lower Michael Arthur Long's casket into the earth and mourns the loss of a dream. Beside him, Devon Miles mentally reviews his short list of potential candidates for "the project" and wearily adds "find a replacement" to his ever expanding to-do list. Already checked off is informing Bonnie of the need to reprogram the car's artificial intelligence to respond to whomever they find to take Michael's place as KITT's pilot.
He glances at his wristwatch and sighs. There just aren't enough hours in the day...
-o0o-
Wilton dies without ever seeing Michael's replacement. Devon assumes command of Knight Industries.
Life, and "the project," goes on without Wilton... or Michael.
-o0o-
Tanya sells Comtron's corporate secrets to a rival company in Korea. She's riding high on a wave of successes: Simultech, Consolidated Chemical Corporation, Comtron. The sting operation in Nevada came close to shutting her down, but a well-placed bullet solved that problem. Nothing stands in her way, now.
-o0o-
One year later, to the day, something pale and cold – and very, very angry – claws its way out of Michael's grave and looks at the huge black bird perched on his headstone.
The crow caws and takes flight.
The revenant wearing Michael's face follows.
-o0o-
Three days later, the police find Tanya Walker face down beside her car. It takes an autopsy to identify the corpse; difficult to match photo ID with a face that's been blown away at close range.
On the hood of her abandoned car, the crude sketch of a crow drips blood onto the highway.
Trivia:
Simultech is a fictional technologies company used in the original "Transformers" cartoon (G1) from the '80s. Since the setting here is 1982, that seemed fitting. :) Consolidated Chemical Corporation and Comtron are fictional companies used in the pilot episode of KR.
The title of this story is a riff on the title of the pilot episode of KR, "Knight of the Phoenix."