Side Story – KI3T Vs. Camaro!KITT
Chapter 1 – Meeting
Kat sped down the desert highway. She was pushing a hundred and twenty. There wasn't another car for miles. K.I.T.T was keeping tabs on police radar as well. Not like any cop alive could catch him.
“Kat, something is coming up behind us quite fast.” K.I.T.T reported.
Kat looked up at her rear view mirror, a cloud of dust was slowly advancing on them. “Is it a cop?” She asked in disbelief.
“I don't believe so.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Then, what is it? Run a scan.”
A screen flared to life on the windshield. It showed a diagram of a car on it. “It appears to be a modified Mustang GT500KR.”
“Modified is right.” Kat said, her eyebrows shooting up. “What did they do to the poor thing?”
The car caught up to them a few seconds later, it's headlights flashing. “Why is he flashing at me?” Kat asked.
“I believe the driver is challenging you to a race.” K.I.T.T said. “Flashing headlights is the standard procedure.”
“Pfft.” Kat rolled her eyes. “I'm not racing some buffoon in a tweaked Mustang. Thankfully, I was born with ovaries.”
“The driver is being quite persistent.” K.I.T.T said as the Mustang edged close to their right side. The lights flashed again.
“KITT, let's lose this guy, he's bothering me.” Kat said. She stepped on the gas. The speedometer crept up to one thirty.
“The Mustang is staying with us.” K.I.T.T reported. “If we change to Pursuit Mode, we can easily outdistance it.”
Kat shook her head. “I'm not exposing you to some yahoo looking for kicks.”
“There is an obstruction ahead.” K.I.T.T said suddenly. His windshield zoomed in on a semi truck about one hundred yards ahead. It was going at a much slower speed than they were. They quickly caught up to it.
Kat swerved into the other lane, K.I.T.T correcting her steering so they stayed on the road. Kat looked around for the Mustang, which hadn't bothered swerving. “He's going to hit the truck!”
The Mustang shot into the air, soaring over the semi and landing in front of it, not losing it's speed.
Kat blinked in surprise. “Did that car just Turbo Boost?” She asked incredulously.
“I am quite certain that was a Turbo Boost.” K.I.T.T replied.
“Okay, I am ending this.” Kat said determinedly. The Mustang was ahead of her and inching further away. “Grappling Hook.”
“The Mustang has a kick plate protecting it's underside that is not unlike mine.” K.I.T.T said. “It'll be difficult for the Grappling Hook to latch on.”
“Just aim for the rear bumper and hope for the best.” Kat said.
K.I.T.T fired his Grappling Hook at the car ahead of them. It hooked under the rear bumper on the first attempt. Kat immediately hit the breaks. The cable went taut. The Mustang slowed some, but was dragging them forward. Kat hit reverse. The two cars struggled, tires squealing, till they were at a standstill.
Finally, the Mustang stopped. Kat hit the breaks. The cable went slack and KITT winched in his Grappling Hook slowly. The door of the Mustang opened by swinging upwards. The Driver stepped out. Kat opened her own door, stepping out onto the highway.
The sun beat down from directly overhead, heating up already hot tempers. The driver of the Mustang stalked over to her. “A woman? Oh, I should have known!” He cried, throwing his hands in the air. “I knew the driver of this tin can had to be insane to pull a stunt like that.”
“I'm pulling stunts?” Kat asked incredulously, pointing at her chest. “What was that deal back there with the semi? Do you want to get someone killed?”
“Hey, I had that perfectly under control.” The man countered.
The semi passed them just then. The driver flipped off the Mustang driver. “Totally under control.” Kat said sarcastically.
“Kat, I'm detecting very strange readings from the Mustang.” K.I.T.T said in her ear, but she ignored him, continuing to argue with the driver of the Mustang.
The Mustang', K.I.3.T's, sensors were going off scale. “Michael, that Camaro is not an ordinary vehicle.” He told Mike through the Earwig. Mike ignored him.
The two Drivers continued to argue. Soon they were both gesturing wildly, their voices raised. Their cars both tried several times to get their attentions without success.
“Kat!” K.I.T.T said aloud sharply.
“Michael.” K.I.3.T said aloud.
“What?” Mike and Kat turned to their cars and asked at the same time, both very agitated. They paused, then turned back to each other. They each pointed to the other's car. “Your car can talk, too?” They both said at once.
Mike held up his hands, trying to control the situation. “Wait, wait, wait. What's going on here?” He demanded.
Kat crossed her arms over her chest. “I would love to know the answer to that question myself.”
Mike gave her an appraising look. “I'll show you mine if you show me yours.”
“We're talking about the cars, right?” Kat asked, arching a brow.
Mike shrugged. “Whatever, I'm easy.”
Kat shot K.I.T.T a somewhat desperate look. “What have we gotten into?” She muttered.
********
Both cars stood outside of a gas station about ten miles from where they stopped. The Mustang was looking more like a Mustang now. And it apparently ran on gas, because Mike was giving it a refill. K.I.T.T stood behind it, away from the other pumps so as not to block access to them.
Kat stepped out of the mini mart carrying two sodas in covered cups with straws. She handed Mike one. He took it and drank deeply from the straw. Then he made a face. “Ugh, diet.” He held it back out to her.
“Sorry, that one's mine.” Kat said as they switched. She leaned on K.I.T.T's hood. “Okay, so why would Knight Industries make two supercars?” She asked before taking a sip from her drink.
“How the hell should I know?” Mike asked. He finished gassing his car up and leaned against the rear bumper. “How did you guys make out with the SSC shutting down?”
“SSC?” Kat said, arching a brow. “I work for FLAG.”
Mike frowned. “Something very strange is going on here...”
“No kidding.”
Meanwhile, a screen flared up on K.I.3.T's windshield. It was a red equalizer display. “My apologies for the intrusion.” K.I.T.T said. “I've just never met an AI that wasn't bent on destroying me before.”
“There is no intrusion.” K.I.3.T replied. “If I did not wish to speak with you, you would not be able to contact me.”
“If you say so.” K.I.T.T said amiably. “So, who created you?”
“I was created by my father, Dr. Charles Graiman.” K.I.3.T replied.
“Charles created me, too.” K.I.T.T said. “He never mentioned you.”
“Dr. Graiman never mentioned you, either. Nor are you in any of my files.”
“Are we brothers?” K.I.T.T asked.
“I don't believe so. Perhaps different Charles Graimans created each of us.”
“That's highly unlikely.” K.I.T.T said. “But, I suppose it's possible that your Charles is an imposter of mine.”
“Your Dr. Graiman is more likely the imposter.” K.I.3.T said.
“Do you always call him Dr. Graiman?” K.I.T.T asked. “Doesn't he let you call him Charles?”
“It hasn't occurred to me to call him anything else. And I cannot ask to call him by a more familiar name, as he has passed on.”
“Your Charles is dead?” K.I.T.T asked.
“Yours is not?”
“No, he's alive and well, if a little overworked.”
“Then, you are lucky.”
K.I.T.T was silent for a long moment. “You should be careful. There is a mad AI running around, called KARR. He hacked into my CPU Core and tried to erase me. He might come after you, too, if he thinks that you're me.”
“The KARR that I battled with was an eighteen foot robot bent on destroying me and taking my Driver into himself so they could become 'one'.” K.I.3.T replied.
“Tough break.” K.I.T.T said.
“Okay, I'm out of here.” Kat said, she walked around to her driver's side door.
“What, that's it?” Mike asked, holding his arms out at his sides. “You're just cutting out?”
“Yep.” Kat said, opening her door. “This is all too weird for me, and I already have enough problems to sort through.”
“I feel like I know you, like from before this. Will we run into each other again?” He asked.
“Probably.” Kat said. “You look like the type who can't seem to stay out of trouble.”
Mike grimaced. “I hear that.”
The two Drivers headed back into their cars and drove off in different directions. What fates brought them together in the first place? And will they meet again?
