Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 9 – KITTnapped
Chapter 3
Kat sat in the kitchen. She had put on another pot of water for tea and was waiting for it to boil.
She was so tired, but she couldn't let herself sleep. She was going to wait. K.I.T.T was powerful. Destroying him would not be easy. He had to be functioning. Somehow, he would contact her.
How had this all happened in the first place? How had someone been able to take K.I.T.T?
The unknown man had been near K.I.T.T right before he had cut off. This man had already displayed knowledge of K.I.T.T's weaknesses in the past. Weaknesses that Kat didn't even know.
Who was giving him that information?
A harsh whistling startled her. It cut off seconds after it had started. She turned to the stove.
Kevin was giving her an apologetic look, his hand on the knob for the stove. “Sorry. It looked like you were nodding off.” His other hand was on a huge pallet piled with boxes and containers.
“I was just making some tea.” Kat said quietly. She stood up and walked over to the counter.
“Oh? What kind?” Kevin asked.
“Regular black tea.” Kat answered, pulling a mug out of a cabinet. “We're out of Irish Breakfast.”
“Hold on.” Kevin said. He dug through the boxes on his pallet. He cut open a box and reached inside. “Here you go.” He tossed her a small green box.
Kat caught the box of tea. “Thanks.” She said dully.
“You look tired.” Kevin commented as he rolled the pallet over to the walk-in pantry. “Maybe you should skip the caffeine.”
Kat ignored his statement. She dropped a tea bag into her mug and poured hot water over it. “I've never seen you stock the pantry in the afternoon.” She said. This was true, as she had never seen Kevin stock the pantry ever.
“That's because I have John do stock at night.” Kevin said as he began unloading the pallet. “Except for today.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Why'd you switch?” Kat asked, not paying much attention. Her mouth moved automatically. Her brain was slipping into auto-pilot mode.
Kevin frowned at her. “Surely you don't need Supercar to point everything out to you.” He muttered as he cut open a large box.
Kat was silent. Kevin looked back over at her. She was standing at the counter, her hands gripping the edge. Her body was tense.
Kevin rubbed his neck guiltily. “Hey, I didn't mean that...” He began.
Kat ignored him. There was a look of intense concentration on her face. "KITT, do you know where you are?" She asked anxiously.
"KARR said I was in one of his factories." K.I.T.T answered in her ear. "I can't confirm this. I can't access any of my external systems."
"What happened to you?" Kat asked.
"KARR shut me down, somehow. All of my clocks are reset, I can't access my short term memory, and I don't know how long I was offline. I can't access my cameras or my microphones."
“How are you contacting me? Are you nearby?” Kat asked urgently.
“No. There is a communications tower within a half-mile radius. I am using it to boost the signal to the dental implant.” He paused. “Something's taking me apart, Kat.”
“How do you know that? I thought you couldn't access your systems.” She asked.
“I can feel it.” K.I.T.T answered.
An icy feeling ran through her. “What do you mean? How can you feel it?”
“I don't know. I can only conclude that KARR found a program on one of my hard drives that allows me to detect sensation through the nano-skin. Or he installed it himself.”
Kat was shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly. “So... you can feel yourself being dismantled... Why? Why would he do that?”
“He's being malicious. I'm not the one he wants. He's angry. Kat, I don't want this to continue.” He fell silent.
“KITT?” Kat asked anxiously.
“He wants me to feel afraid.” He said it so calmly, just like he said everything. But K.I.T.T was all alone, experiencing any car's worst nightmare.
Kat pushed away from the counter, her tea forgotten. “I'm going to help you.” She said firmly. She hurried out of the room. “It's my turn to save you, KITT.”
Kevin watched her go, feeling deeply confused. He sighed heavily and went back to work.
Kat ran down the stairs to the Main Lab. “Pierce, KITT's in a factory.” She rushed past David's office, then Charles'. Charles saw her rush pass through the glass wall and got up from his desk quickly. His and David's doors opened at the same time.
Pierce didn't question her, and instead turned automatically to his computer. “That'll narrow things down for us. But, can you give me any specific information? Do you know how many factories are in this country?”
“It'll have to be a factory with equipment capable of dismantling a car.” Kat said as she hurried down the stairs.
“Okay.” Pierce began typing. “That'll narrow things down a bit more.” He said. Then he did a double take. “Wait, what?” He looked at Kat in alarm.
Kat's face was grim. “Do the search, we don't have much time.”
Pierce's eyes went wide behind his glasses. “Holy...” He turned back to the computer and typed almost frantically.
Carmen stared at Kat from her station. “KARR's taking KITT apart?” She asked.
Kat looked over at her and nodded. Carmen's eyes narrowed in anger. “KITT says he's being careful not to damage the parts. He's doing it maliciously, to torture him.” Kat smiled grimly. She listened for a moment. “The way you built KITT is hindering KARR. He says they're having trouble with the kickplate.”
“They're going to be at that for hours.” Carmen said. “I designed KITT like no other car in the world. Only me and my mechanics know how to dismantle him.”
“That'll buy us some time.” Charles said hopefully.
The big screen flared to life, showing a map of the United States. “We're still looking at a few hundred places that he could be.” Pierce said as the map filled with red dots.
“Search for factories owned by ROOC.” David said. He stared at the big screen intently.
Charles was confused. He turned to David. “Why ROOC?”
“The laptop KARR communicated to me with was a ROOC model.” David said.
Pierce snorted. “Did you expect him to use something made by Knight Industries?”
“One of his men was wearing a work uniform from one of their factories.” David continued. “I saw half of the logo.”
Pierce continued his typing. “Okay, it's a lead. But ROOC is a huge company. Unlike Knight Industries, they produce commercially. We're looking at twenty factories in the U.S alone. Each of them has the kind of equipment that could dismantle a car.”
“An ordinary car.” Charles pointed out. “KARR will need specialized equipment for KITT.”
“He'll be near a cell phone tower, too.” Kat said. “That's how KITT's able to reach me.”
Charles smiled. “Very resourceful.” There was pride in his voice.
“Okay, that leaves us with four factories.” Pierce said. “New York, Arizona, Kentucky, and Florida.”
“You don't think KITT's still in Phoenix, do you?” Kat asked.
“It's unlikely.” David said. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and began dialing. “New York and Florida are the farthest from here. KARR would pick a location away from where Three Thousand was taken. If they loaded it into a jet, they could transfer it in a matter of hours.” He put the phone to his ear.
“I have contacts with the local authorities over in Miami.” Charles said. “I can have them check the factory near there.”
“Call them now.” David said. Charles hurried into his office. “Make sure to warn them to take extreme caution.”
After a moment, David hung up his phone. “Karen will investigate the New York location.” He said. “Knight Industries has a base in Kentucky, I'll head a team there.”
Pierce's eyebrows shot up. “I think Dustin's going to have a fit if you try to leave now.”
“I'll take Phoenix.” Kat said before anyone else could speak.
David looked down at her. “We won't have any support in that area, with Karen in New York.” He said. “You'll have to go in alone.”
“That's just fine with me.” Kat said. She was looking up at David determinedly.
David gave Kat a long look, then glanced over at Carmen. “Carmen, build her a car.” He said. He walked back into his office.
Kat turned to Carmen. Carmen smiled darkly. “Give me ten minutes.”
********
Ten minutes later...
Kat walked around the black Corvette C6 ZR1 that now sat on K.I.T.T's circle. “It'll do.” She said finally.
“The original engine is nothing to scoff at, either.” Carmen said. “I pulled out the limiter, you should be able to hit 250 no problem.”
“That's it?” Kat asked teasingly.
“I put this together from one of KITT's bodies.” Carmen said as she patted the hood, “Other than the engine, this has everything KITT has.”
“Except for KITT.” Kat said. She walked over to Carmen. Carmen stepped aside and let her slide into the Driver's seat.
“I think he's in Phoenix, too.” Carmen told her quietly. “KARR spent four days with David. I'm sure he has a good grasp on how he thinks. It's something David wouldn't expect, KARR keeping KITT so close to where he was abducted.”
“Yeah, you're right. I know he's there.” Kat said. Her dark eyes were set into a determined glare.
“Good luck.” Carmen said. “Ten cuidado.”
“Gracias.” Kat replied. She shut the door and Carmen stepped back. The circle lowered into the floor. The blue Tunnel lights lit up in front of her. “KITT?”
“Yes, Kat?” K.I.T.T said in her ear.
“I'm coming to get you.” Kat said as she started the engine.
