Knight Rider 2000

Chapter List:
[01] Metro: July 12, 2000
[02] MetroPol Returns?
[03] Hacking Fun
[04] The Meeting
[05] Pasts Collide
[06] The First Chase
[07] Artistic License Number
[08] Cassidy's Past
[09] Outfit Knight's
[10] The Boss Arrives
[11] Too Risky/Barricade
[12] The Big Guns
[13] Of Rolling Heads and Flying Hex Plates
[14] "It's all over the place!"
[15] Access Denied
[16] Million Dollar Mess
[17] Security Compromised
[18] Shawn's Plan
[19] Morning Cleanup
[20] Mission Impossible Time
[21] Mole Hunt
[22] Open Mic Night
[23] Questions, Questions
[24] Face to Face
[25] Shawn Finds KITT
[26] The Heist
[27] Reunited
[28] Burning the Midknight Oil
[29] Running Out of Time
[30] High Noon Minus an Hour
[31] The Big Chase
[32] Slice 'n Dice
[33] Career Dissipation Light
[34] The Big Goodbye
[35] 2001: A Cassidy Odyssey
 

July 12, 2000
2110 Hrs

There was no moon tonight.  The only light on the light water covered streets were from
the street lights above.  In the distance, multiple police sirens could be heard.  The streets
were bare, however, but that didn’t mean that the crime of the night sleeps.

A black Chrysler 300 sped down the street, with two police cars chasing it.
 

“MetroPol dispatch, this is Unit 16, in pursuit of Outfit suspect for robbing the Syntellect
building downtown.  Shots fired, in Code Three pursuit with Unit 7, over.”

“Unit 16, Code Three, shots fired acknowledged.  Backup is currently unavailable, we
estimate 20 minutes before additional units can arrive...”

Julian Wilkes turned down the police scanner, and got on the Microwave Transmitter.
“Doesn’t surprise me, a night like tonight after all,” Julian said, “you copy?”
 

The man on the other end sat in a red sports car parked in an alley, in complete darkness.
He had a clear view of the road in front of him.  He spoke into his mouthpiece.  “Don’t
worry Julian, I’m on it.” He reached over and flicked a switch.  A small display near the
steering wheel read Access Unlock, and then changed to 3759.

Outside, tiny hexagon shaped-pieces formed on the body of the car.  The front bottom
grill retracted and two teeth like mechanisms replaced it.  A roof lifted over the man’s
head to cover the passenger compartment.  The rear-view mirrors retracted, and the front,
and tail lights changed their configurations and positions.  When the ‘metamorphosis’ was
completed, the hexagons grew paler and changed to a grey color.  The newly ‘morphed’
car started and sped onto the road.

The inside was different too.  Instead of radio and air conditioning controls on the center
console, there were now TV screens, and computer monitors.  The man put the police
scanners on the internal speakers.

“Unit 7, and 16, continuing pursuit of suspected Outfit member, now at the corner of 7th
Street and Eckert.  These guys are lighting us up out here, get us that backup now!"
 

The men in the Chrysler leaned out the windows and fired an Electro-Magnetic-Pulse at
the police cars.

The police car's engines cut and everything else ceased.

“Oh shit.” the driver said, watching everything in the car go dead.

The partner got on his personal shoulder radio.  “Dispatch, we got a problem here.”
 

Inside the grey roadster, Joe Astor pressed the accelerator to the floor.  The Defender
roared on to the streets.
 

The two policemen in the dead car watched another car streak by in a blur of grey.

“There goes the Viper.” the driver said.

“It’s going to kick somebody’s ass.” added his partner.
 

Shawn McCormick and her partner KITT were driving back to Seattle after the
completion of their last mission.  Shawn was asleep and the Auto Cruise was activated.

Suddenly, a black Chrysler 300 zoomed by at a high rate of speed.  Following it was grey
car which looked out of place, even for the 21st Century.  The high performance scenario
woke Shawn up.

"What the..." she said, groggily, "KITT, what's happening?"

For a change, KITT was just as confused as Shawn was.  "I'm not sure, Shawn, but from
what I see, the front car, which is a Chrysler 300, is trying to escape from the chase car...
which I can't identify."

"Okay, KITT, scan both cars, let me know what they're made of, and what's in them?"
Shawn ordered.

"What is it I am looking for?" KITT asked.

"Any kind of weapons, or anything out of the ordinary."

A computer image of the Chrysler appeared on the central monitor.  "The Chrysler is
armed with any possible kind of weapon.  Laser handguns, regular handguns, fully and
semi automatic machine guns, as well as an Electro-Magnetic-Pulse gun.

The image changed to a view of the second car.  "I can't scan the contents inside the car
giving chase, but I can tell you that it is equipped with another type of
Electro-Magnetic-Pulse as well as grappling hook and tunneler missiles.

"Great." Shawn said.

"What's so great about it?" KITT asked.

"I'm trying to figure out who is the good guy."

"Wouldn't the logical assumption be that the 'good guy' would be the car giving chase?"

"Could be, KITT, but you can't be too sure about these kind of things.  The second car
wouldn't be armed like that for a reason, so it most likely is a law enforcement vehicle."
Shawn said, turning the wheel sharply to the right.  She sped down an alley, looking at the
central monitor for the perfect place to intercept the chase.

"What are you doing?" KITT asked.

"I'm heading for the less armored one, I figure we have a small chance to stop them before
they stop us..

Shawn turned left and shot out into the street, just ahead of the Chrysler and stopped just
short of the driver side door.
 

"What the hell!" Joe screamed.

“What is it?!” Julian asked, concerned.

“I think I got a problem here, Julian.  Stand by.”
 

Out of nowhere, three black Dodge Stealth’s and one Chrysler PT Cruiser arrived.  The
men in the Chrysler 300 scrambled out of the car and ran toward different cars.

"No!" Joe said, slamming the steering wheel.  He slammed on the breaks and got out of
the Defender.  He took out his handgun and aimed it at the mysterious red car which had
just ruined his capture.  "Out of the car!" he screamed.  "Out!"
 

"Doesn't look like this guy is too happy to see me, KITT." Shawn said.  "Don't take any
actions, let me handle this."

Shawn opened the door, slowly put her hands on her head and got out.  "This is a
misunderstanding, my name is-"

Joe cut her off.  "Who are you?!"

"I'm Shawn McCormick-"

He cut her off again.  "Who are you with?!"

"I'm an agent with the Foundation for Law and Government, a division of the Knight
Foundation." Shawn said, quickly so the gun man wouldn't cut her off.

Joe couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He looked at the mysterious red car and
wondered about the chasing red lights in the front.  "Well, Agent McCormick, I think
you're in the wrong town to mess around in, so I suggest you go back where you came
from." Joe said, getting into the Defender and speeding off.

"Do we follow?" KITT asked.

"No," Shawn said, getting back in, "but I think it's time for some backup."  She got back
inside.  “KITT, call the home office.”

2246 Hrs
Old Metro City Power Station

Joe pulled the Viper into the Power Station.  Julian rolled up to him on his wheelchair.

"You're awfully quiet tonight." Julian said.

"I lost the Outfit guys..." Joe said.

"That's nothing new, they've eluded us before."

"Tonight was different.  Someone showed up, and foiled the whole damn thing."

"Someone?” Julian asked.

"Yeah, someone, I don’t know who, though.  It was a red car.  It pulled in front of the
Outfit car, and screwed up my bust.”

"What did you do?" Julian asked.

"I screwed everything up, that's what.  I aimed my piece at the car and the driver.  The
driver was a woman.  She got out, and acted normal, like she wasn't afraid or anything.
She said that she was from the Knight Foundation.  Called herself Shawn McCormick."
Joe explained.

Julian was confused now.  "Knight Foundation..." he said.

"Know of them?" Joe asked.

"A little," Julian said, "I applied to Knight Industries ten years ago.  They were a part of
the Knight Foundation."

"They didn't take you?" Joe asked.

"They couldn't.  Knight Industries shut down before they could hire me.  The Knight
Foundation went bankrupt and shut almost everything down.  The last I heard about them
was a few years ago when they got a grant from the Washington State University." Julian
said.

"Looks like they're back, and out to get us.” Joe said.

“What?  How do you mean?”

“Why would they just stop me like that from pursuit?  I passed a few dead police cars on
my way.  How much money would you lay on the line to say that MetroPol dispatched
that red car?”

“Joe, I don’t think so.  I don’t think MetroPol would do such a thing.”

“Are you sure?” Joe asked.

Julian paused.  “No, I’m not.”

“Julian, it’s making me antsy.  Tonight was way to close for comfort.”

“I got a good idea how you can feel.  But Joe, how can you be so sure that the red car
was sent to stop us?”

“Julian, look at the Defender’s video feed and tell me that car can’t stop us.”

“I can’t tell from the video feed,” Julian said looking at the picture of the red car.  “I’m
gonna have to get into the Knight Foundation main frame to find out about the car.”

“How long’s that gonna take?” Joe asked.

Julian finished typing on the computer interface.  “Depends on how secure their mainframe
is.  What else happened tonight?”

Joe rubbed his head and sat down.  “I don’t know... it was the Outfit that was odd.”

“How do you mean?” Julian asked.

“Something was different tonight.  When that red car pulled in front of the Chrysler 300,
four other Outfit cars came out of nowhere, and I mean nowhere.  They pulled up and the
Outfit guys from the 300 ran to different cars and they all scrambled into different
directions.  You know, like normal Outfit procedure.”

Julian nodded, and laughed to himself.  “Sound’s like Lane Cassidy is getting smarter.
And wiser too, he must have known about that red car.”

“I don’t think so,” Joe said, “the look on the guy’s faces when that red car cut them off
was unexplainable.  It was more shocked than surprised... or maybe both.”

“Let’s face it, Joe, the Outfit is going under.  In the past month, 20 of his cronies have
been busted and are in jail.  The final terot card killing count was 10.  It looks like the
Outfit is a dying breed, man.”

“Don’t be to sure of yourself.” Joe said.  “They can always dig up more punks off the
streets.  What we need to do is nail Cassidy while he’s running scared.”  Joe looked at the
image of the red car.  “I dunno, but what is it about this car that makes me so nervous?”

“Beats me, it’s your mind,” Julian said, smiling.  “Have you seen the car before?”

“No,” Joe said, “and that’s the thing.  I haven’t seen that car before at all.  We’ve been on
the streets over a year, and never saw anything like that.”

“Do you think it’s MetroPol?” Julian asked.

Joe yawned and stretched.  “I thought that at the beginning, but then I realized, if it was
MetroPol, we would know about it.  I mean, since when can Frankie ever keep anything
classified?”

The two men laughed.  “I’m getting Frankie now, let’s see if he has anything for us.”
Julian said.

The very fatigued face of Franklin X. Waters came on the screen. “Julian, can I tell ya
somethin’ these late night calls are gettin’ very annoying.”

“Sorry Frankie, but we have something that we may need your help on.” Julian said.

“Okay, shoot, go, I’m ready, I’m all ears.”

“Have you ever seen this car?” Julian asked.

“Poke out my eyes!  Jules, can I tell ya, I never thought I’d see this red beauty again!”

“You know this car, Frankie?!”

“You better believe it, baby!  I was driving down I-10 awhile ago and this pristine beauty
passes me!  Hey listen, can I tell ya something, this is one of the few cars I’ll ever trade
my Cuda in for!”

“You mean you’ve seen it.” Joe added.

“Geez, Joe, you can suck the fun out of everything can’t ya?  I followed the car awhile
and waited for it to stop.  I snapped a few pics with my Funsaver.  I... uh I got to talkin
with the driver too... she’s a really nice lady.. if you know what I mean.”

“Frankie, quit bullshitting, I met the driver last night, I doubt she’ll ever go for you.” Joe
said.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, Joe.  Okay, ya got me.  I did talk to her however, and asked what
kind of car it was.”

“And?!” Joe and Julian both said in unison.

“She said it was classified.  And she took my Funsaver too.  Oh and can I tell ya
something, there were some valuable pics on there besides that car.”

“Back to business, Frankie.  Is that the only time you saw that car?” Julian asked.

“Yeah, I never saw it again, until you showed it to me.”

“You’re saying it’s not from MetroPol?” Joe asked.

“MetroPol!?  Pshh!  Pul-eeze, Julian, do you think the city will shell out dough for that,
after the failure of the Viper?”

“Failure?!” Joe and Julian yelled in unison again.

“Hey guys, relax, that’s just what the top brass is sayin’.  Anyway, that’s all I know about
the car.”

“Thanks Frankie.” Julian said as he hung up.

“Okay,” Joe said, “so that narrows it down, doesn’t it?  This car isn’t MetroPol.  Still
doesn’t make me feel better.”

2246 Hrs
Knight Ground Transport
Location: 10 miles outside of Metro

Shawn was sitting in a chair facing a computer, with Kevin Williams looking over her
shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Kevin asked.

“I’m trying to figure out our mystery guest.” she replied.  The image of the man and the
grey roadster popped up on the screen.

“What are you trying to find?” Kevin asked.

“Whoever this guy is.  You know more about this hacking stuff than I do.” Shawn said,
smiling.

The two traded places, and Kevin was typing madly on the keyboard.  “I’m running this
guy through a bunch of mainframes, open and underground.  We should find out who he is
in a few hours.”

The computer beeped and a page popped up on the screen.

“Or right now.” Shawn added.

Kevin shot her a dirty look and turned back to the computer.  “Here we go... Metro Police
Mainframe...” Kevin said, trailing off.

“He’s a cop?” Shawn asked.

“Yeah, it looks that way.”  Kevin said as he looked through the page.  He found a picture
of the man in question.  “Here we go, Astor, Joseph Payne.  Transferred to MetroPol on
June 19, 1999 from Chicago Metro Police.  It into his bio and why he was transferred...
hired to be a test driver for the Viper Project.”

“Viper Project?” Shawn asked.

“Yeah, there’s a link.” Kevin said, clicking on the link.  He read the screen.  “Warning,
you are attempting to access a top secret main frame of the Metro Police Department,
level 16 authorization required.  Well kiss my ass.” Kevin said as he typed away at the
computer.  The words ACCESS GRANTED appeared on the screen, but they were
stopped by something else.

“What happened?” Shawn asked.

“The specified mainframe does not exist.” Kevin read.  “Anything about the Viper Project
has been erased.”

“Erased?” Shawn asked.

“Yeah, erased.  Like they wanted to disavow all knowledge of its existence.”

“Can you get it back?”

“No.  Files and drivers concerning the Viper Project were deleted on July 16, 1999 at 2:09
PM.”

“What about Astor’s profile?”

Kevin returned to the profile and typed something.  “This is weird.  The mainframe hasn’t
been updated since June 18, 1999.”

“What does that mean?”

“This isn’t a current mainframe.  It’s old and one that isn’t used anymore.  Here are the
logs for visits of all of MetroPol mainframes.  This page isn’t even on here.”

“In addition to all data about the Viper Project being destroyed.” Shawn added.

“Sorry.” Kevin said.

“No, don’t worry,” Shawn assured, “can you run that picture of the grey roadster through
your sources and hacker stuff?”

Kevin laughed.  “Hacker stuff.  I’ll get right on it.”
 

Julian and Joe were sitting at the massive computer terminal.  “Here we go!” Julian said.
“I’m in!”

“You got into the Knight Foundation?”

“Damn right,” Julian said, “we got everything on the Knight Foundation we could ever ask
for.”

“Well, Mr. Wizard, I’m impressed, but it did take you awhile to get in you know?”

“Bah, don’t ruin a happy moment, Joe.” Julian said.

“Do they have anything on us at all?” Joe asked.

“Nothing that I can see.” Julian replied.

“Okay, what about that car?”

“That’s the first thing I looked up.  I ran the Defender’s video feed through this
mainframe, this is what I got.” Julian said as a window came up.

“The Knight Industries Four Thousand.” Joe read.

“Yep.  It looks like Knight Industries created a new super car.”

“A new one?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, see, Knight Industries was the crowning leader in AI technology from 1978 to
1990.  They created an AI known as the Knight Industries Two Thousand, which got the
attention of some wealthy investors, myself included.” Julian explained, “See, back then,
they kept a high profile with their super car and its driver, going around the nation and
fighting crime, mainly because donations from rich people kept them going.  At least until
1990 when the Knight Foundation filed for Chapter 11, and the whole works shut down.  I
guess they got more money somehow, but have been keeping a lower profile.”

“You mean they operate like us?” Joe said.

“No, it looks like they openly interact with the public, and local law enforcement,
wherever they go.  They just don’t toot their own horn as often now.”  Julian clicked on
the picture of the Knight 4000 and a bunch of specs and diagrams came up.
 

“What did you find?” Shawn asked, walking to the computer.

“Everything,” Kevin said, “this is a massive underground mainframe.  No one knows
about it, except its creators, and us.”

“And it’s what you were looking for?” Shawn asked.

“Oh yes, this is it.” Kevin said, gloating.  “It’s called the Viper.” a small animated picture
of a spinning Dodge Viper RT/10 came up on the screen.

“That’s not the car I saw.” Shawn said.

Kevin clicked on spinning Viper, and the image became larger.  A bunch of specs showed
up, and small headings pointing to pieces of the car.  Another small heading came up.

“Defender configuration.” Shawn read.

Kevin clicked on the heading.  All the specs disappeared, leaving the red Viper all alone on
the screen.  What happened next amazed both of them.

“Oh my God.” Kevin said, staring wide eyed at the screen.

The exterior of the car divided up into small little hexagons.  The front bottom grill
retracted and two teeth like appendages replaced it.  The side exhaust retracted into the
car, and weapon tubes replaced them.  The rear grill retracted and two skinnier teeth like
appendages replaced it.  Between then, a new exhaust system took its place.  A roof came
out of the rear and closed the interior.  The side rear-view mirrors retracted into the door
frames, and the front, and tail lights changed into skinny ‘evil’ looking configurations.
The hexagons turned grey and disappeared once again.  When the ‘metamorphosis’ was
complete, the grey roadster Shawn encountered that night faced them, and a large header
appeared over the car.  It read: DEFENDER MODE.

Kevin finally blinked as new specs returned to the screen.  He clicked on a header marked
WEAPON SYSTEMS.

“What kind of weapons does the Defender have?” Shawn asked.

“Limited weapons,” Kevin said, reading the screen, “it only has 2 types of missiles and one
cannon.  Tunneler missile, it’s unguided, carries an explosive yield, no more.  Grappling
hook missile, guided, no explosive yield, carries a grappling hook.  Then there’s the
electro-static-pulse charge cannon.  It functions like an EMP, but more advanced.
 

“What about their weapons?” Joe asked.

“The 4000 has dual front and back .44 caliber machine guns, guided explosive missiles,
and dual front and back laser cannons.” Julian said, reading the specs.

“How is it armored?” Joe asked.
 

“It’s almost like a variant of our MBS, different compound, same cause.  Their armor is
much more weaker, I might add.” Kevin said, turning to Shawn.
 

Julian read the screen.  “It has something called a molecular bonded shell.  The virtually
indestructible finish is actually bonded at the molecular level onto the car.  It can withstand
everything, guns, missiles, the pulse of a nuclear blast.”

“How is ours different from theirs?” Joe asked.

“Well I hate to admit it, but ours is substantially weaker.” Julian said.  “We can’t take half
of what that car can.”

“Great, so if we get in a fight, they can kick our ass back to MetroPol.”

“Take it easy, I don’t think it will come to that.  Remember, we’re all on the same side
here.”

“Let’s hope they know that.”

Julian was about to protest when the computer interface sounded an alarm.  “Hey wait a
minute,” Julian said, “we’re being hacked.”

“What?!”
 

“I said we’re being hacked,” Kevin said, “someone is hacking into the Knight Foundation
mainframe.  They’re looking up information on the Knight 4000!”
 

“Whoever this person is, they’re looking up specs and data on the Viper!” Julian said,
madly typing on the keyboard.
 

“What can you do to kick them out?” Shawn asked.
 

“I’m sending a carrier wave through their connection to kick them out of our mainframe.”
Julian said.
 

The two men at the two different locations both hit the key to execute their commands at
the same exact time.
 

“Got him!” Kevin said.
 

“Got him!” Julian yelled.  “But it looks like they kicked us out too.”

“We still got all the info we needed, right?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, I saved it onto the drive.”
 

“What happened?” Shawn asked.

“They kicked us out of their mainframe too,” Kevin said, “but don’t worry, I downloaded
all the information we saw tonight.”
 

“Okay, so what next?” Joe asked.

“What do you mean what next?” Julian asked.

“What should we do now?  I mean we know everything about the Knight 4000 and the
Knight Foundation, but what do you think our next step should be?”

Julian figured that Joe might have something up his sleeve.  “I dunno, but I bet you do.”

“Yeah, I think we should meet them.” Joe said.
 

“Meet them?  Why?” Kevin asked.

“So maybe we can learn what they’re about without doing anything else that is illegal.”
Shawn said.  “How can we tell them we want to meet?”
 

“We find their InterLink protocol address and send them a message through it.” Julian
said.

“Wont they be able to kick you out of that?” Joe asked.
 

“No, InterLink and corporation slash underground mainframes are much different.  I think
I’ll be able to get a message to them.  All I gotta do is find their IL protocol address....
Got it!”
 

“Got it!” Julian exclaimed.  “Now, we compose a message.”
 

“Viper, meet at northwest Metro city limits, 13 July, 2000, 2pm.  Knight Foundation.”
Kevin said, typing the message.  “Okay, sent.”
 

Julian was about to send a message when one came up.  “What the...”

“Looks like they beat us to it.” Joe said.

July 13, 2000
1358 Hrs
Northwest Metro City Limits

Shawn, KITT, and Kevin were parked on the side of the road by the Metro City Limits
sign.

“Are you sure they’re going to show up?” KITT asked.

“Oh yeah, KITT,” Shawn replied, “last night we spent about 30 minutes looking into
them, and they spent about 30 minutes looking into us.

“What is it do you think they want?”

“The same thing we want, KITT.  To find out more about each other.”
 

Julian and Joe were in the Viper, driving towards the rendezvous point.  “Listen, Julian, I
think we should take them back to the Power Station.” Joe said.

“What?!” Julian said, “Joe, you know we can’t do that, it’s compromising our security!
Besides, you were the one last night who almost had a bird about the Knight Foundation
intercepting us.  What’s with the change?”

“I stayed up and read over the files you downloaded.  If they wanted us, they could have
easily catched us at the start.”

“I hope you’re right,” Julian said, “for all our sakes.”

“Look, Frankie knows where we are, he hasn’t narked yet!” Joe said.

Both of them laughed.  “I think Frankie’s in love with the Viper.” Julian said.

“Listen, I think that if we can convince them to stay and help fight against the Outfit,
maybe we have a chance of putting Lane Cassidy away for good.”

“And if they don’t wanna help?”

“Then we’ll move on.” Joe said, accelerating.

“Okay.  I talked to Frankie awhile ago.  He said that he might have some information on
the Outfit’s next hit.”

“Good,” Joe said, “then we’ll organize a stake out party.  Ah, looks like we here.” he said,
seeing two people and the red car parked at the side of the road.  Joe stopped the Viper
and got out.  “Knight Foundation?” he asked, addressing Shawn and Kevin.

“Yeah... Viper Project?” Shawn asked.

“Yep.” Joe said as he walked over to the passenger side to help Julian out of the car.

Julian rolled up to Kevin, Shawn and KITT.  “Hi, I’m Julian Wilkes, Viper technician.
This is Joe Astor, he’s our driver.”

The four humans introduced themselves.  Shawn got up off of KITT’s bumper.  “Well, I
guess I should introduce you to KITT.”

Julian rubbed his hands together.  “Ahhh, I’ve been dying to meet KITT.” he said.  “Hello
KITT.”

“Hello Mr. Wilkes.” KITT replied.

Joe was taken aback.  “The car talks.” he said.

“Yeah, but it does more than talk, Mr. Astor.” Kevin said.

“We’ll compare notes later, but right now, this isn’t a secure place to meet for very long.”
Joe said.

“Well where do you want to go?” Shawn asked.

Joe walked towards the Viper.  “Follow me.”
 

The Viper pulled into the Power Station, with KITT following.  The two cars stopped and
everyone got out.

“I was kinda hesitant to bring you here,” Julian said, “last night someone hacked into our
mainframe.”

“Yeah, that was me, sorry.” Kevin said.

“Oh, so you think that instead of asking nicely, you hack your way in!” Julian yelled.

“Hey, you should talk!” Kevin yelled back.

The two started to argue, loudly.

“Guys...” Shawn said.

“Hey, guys...” Joe said.

“Come on, knock it off.” Shawn said as the two technicians continued to argue.

“HEY!” Shawn and Joe both yelled in unison.

Julian and Kevin both stopped arguing.

“This is getting us nowhere!” Joe yelled.

“He’s right, we gotta focus on a plan to get the Outfit, not bite each other’s heads off.”

“I’m sorry Kevin, I guess I have no room to talk about hacking.” Julian said.

“Same here, sorry man.” Kevin said, shaking Julian’s hand.

Shawn looked around the Power Station.  “I guess I’m confused here,” she said, “all this
equipment must cost millions of dollars, how do you pay for all of this?”

“We have our money sources, but that’s really classified.” Joe said.

“You mean the city doesn’t pay for this?” Kevin asked.

“No,” Julian said, turning his wheelchair, “about a year ago, MetroPol hired me to build a
car which would be armed as well as armored to fight crime on the city streets.  More of
an experimental police car.  The car was completed and ready to roll, but it had one minor
defect... my car needed a driver.  We went through seven drivers, who couldn’t handle the
Viper.  Most of them could bitch better than they could drive,” he laughed,  “but then Joe
came along.  He got the car on the streets and proved to MetroPol that it was a successful
test...” he trailed off.

Joe picked the story up.  “MetroPol was pleased with our work, but the Outfit wasn’t.
They paid off the Councilman, who approved this project, to kill it.”

“And it worked,” Julian cut in, “but the police later found the Councilman at the bottom of
the river.  But it was too late, the Viper Project was dead, and my car was ordered to be
destroyed, but it didn’t stop there.”

“I stole the car, and brought it to this place, which basically doesn’t exist, it’s not even on
city maps anymore,” Joe laughed, “you should have seen the look on Julian’s face when he
found out I took it.  We’ve been operating from here ever since then.”

“You got quite a story there,” Kevin said, “our story is much more boring, because
everything we did was legal, no offense.”

Julian waved it off.   “None taken.  Let’s get back to work,” he said, “Frankie should be
here any minute with Outfit information-” he was cut off by the sound of a loud car
coming through the access tunnel.

Frankie pulled up in his purple Plymouth Barracuda.  He stopped and got out and stared at
KITT.  “Poke out my eyes, the red beauty is back!” he said as he walked over to KITT
and kissed his hood.

“I beg your pardon!” KITT said.

Frankie almost jumped out of his skin.  He quickly stood up and jumped back.

“Frankie, meet Shawn McCormick, and KITT.” Joe said.

“KITT?” Frankie asked.

“The car you’ve just kissed.  I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, but you may call
me KITT for short.”

“Poke out my ears, the car’s talkin’ to me!  Hey, listen, can I tell ya somethin, this is just...
wow!  Can I take him out for a spin sometime?” Frankie said.

“Like hell!” Shawn, KITT, and Kevin all said in unison.

Joe decided to take Frankie’s attention off of KITT and introduce Shawn, forgetting that
Shawn and Frankie met before..  “Shawn, this is-”

Shawn cut him off.  “Yes, Waters, Franklin. X, we met before.” she said, slightly annoyed.

“Frankie’s our MetroPol connection,” Julian said, “and a car nut as well.”

“Car nut indeed, and I am nuts for this car!” Frankie said.  “Except I’m gonna have to get
used to the talking bit, but can I tell ya somethin’ KITT, you and me could have some
interestin’ conversations.”

“Sounds like a tempting offer Mr. Waters.” KITT said.

“You have info for us Frankie?” Julian asked, impatient.

“Oh yeah, and you’re gonna love me for this!  I got info about the Outfit’s next hit that
you’re gonna eat right up!  It’s the uh... find of the Century, if you will.” Frankie said.

“Spill it, Frankie!” Joe yelled.

“All right, all right.  My contacts, who I must say are basically my personal Moses, are
telling me that the Outfit are planning to knock over the CommTech building, tonight.”

“Tonight!?” Joe yelled.

“Yeah, that’s what they told me.” Frankie said.

Julian rolled up to his big computer interface and started working.  A picture of the
CommTech building came up.

“Wow, I wish I had a computer interface like that.” Kevin said.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Julian said as interior specs to the building came up.

“Frankie, do your connections know what the Outfit is planning to pillage tonight?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Frankie said, “they plan to steal a highly sensitive, and may I
say highly classified, fiber optic energy refractor.  That stuff is top, top secret, if you will.”

Julian was working on his computer while Frankie was rambling on and on.  Kevin walked
over.  “What is it?  You look concerned.”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on what the Outfit has been stealing, and it looks like they might
be putting something together.” Julian said.

“What?” Shawn asked.

Kevin looked as Julian put the stolen pieces together.  “When you put these pieces
together in this configuration-” Julian started.

Kevin interrupted him.  “They form a laser weapon.  More advanced than ours, and this is
their last piece they need.”

Julian double checked his work and turned around.  “If they get that piece tonight, they’ll
be unstoppable.  That laser will be even more advanced than the Probe’s.”

“The Probe?” Kevin asked.

“You haven’t shown them the Probe?” Frankie said, “God, Julian, what’s the matter with
you?”

Joe shot Frankie an angry look.  He took out a small remote control device and aimed it at
the Viper.

The Viper morphed into the Defender.  A small panel in the back opened up.

“The Probe,” Joe said as a small airplane-like machine raised out of the Defender and flew
around, “is our answer to when things get too dangerous or too small.  It’s self propelled,
loaded with a laser saw, infared, night vision, and other goodies.  We control it either from
the Defender or home base.”

“I think it’s time we showed them the other factory options.” Julian said.

Julian rolled over to the Defender.  “You already know about the weapon systems, so I’ll
tell you about the other remaining exciting part of the Defender, the holographic image
projections system-”

“I love this part!” Frankie interrupted.

Julian continued, “The holographic projection system is activated by a projector extended
from the roof.  It has a projection range of a mile, and project anything from a car to a
person.” Julian pressed a button on the control, and a small projector raised from the roof.
Across the room, a holographic projection off Shawn was standing there.”

“Wow!” Shawn said.

“We can control the hologram by control through the Defender or back here.” Joe said.

“Okay, you guyses turn,” Frankie said, “I mean I gotta see the factory options on you,
KITT.”

Kevin turned to KITT.  “KITT, do your little demonstration.”

“With pleasure,” KITT said, “while I may not have the ability to project a hologram or
produce a small airplane, I have tremendous scanning capability which allows me to scan
for a 3 mile radius.  I have a turbine engine which enables a top speed of 350
miles-per-hour.  Next is the hydrofoil, which enables me to ride on water, much like a
speedboat.  The weapons systems, you are already appraised of, and I have a few other
accessories which come in handy every now and then.”

“Great work, KITT,” Shawn said.  “Now it’s time to get serious.  What are we gonna do
to make sure the Outfit doesn’t get this last component.”

“We need a plan,” Joe said, “the Outfit is trained enough to expect the Viper breathing
down their necks, but they wont expect you guys there.”

“Which is good, we have the element of surprise.” Shawn said, “so what can we do to
make sure they don’t get away?”

Everyone gathered around Julian’s computer to figure out a way to stop the Outfit, it only
took a few minutes until a workable plan was figured out.

Julian turned to the group.  “Okay, Kevin, you and I will stay here at home base, we’ll
monitor our respective vehicles and make sure everything goes by smoothly.”

“Sounds good.” Kevin said.

“Right,” Shawn said, “since we want to make the Outfit feel comfortable and let them
think they got away with the fiber optic energy refractor, Joe and I will be stationed
outside of the building, waiting for them to go, then we hit.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Joe said, walking towards the Defender.

“So what is our signal to pursue, Joe?  I mean you know these guys better than we do.”
Shawn asked.

“Our signal is when they start running.” Joe said.  He took out the remote control and
pressed a button.  The Defender morphed back to the Viper, and he got in.

Shawn walked over to KITT, and playfully patted him on the hood.  “You ready for this,
partner?” Shawn asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” KITT said.

Shawn smiled and got in.

“Hey Joe, what if MetroPol shows up?” Kevin asked.

Joe started the viper and smiled.  “They’ll have to catch us first.”  He put the Viper into
gear and sped down the access tunnel, with KITT following.

2020 Hrs
CommTech Building
Location: Northwest corner of Gallery and 7th Streets

Shawn and KITT were parked on a dark alley, facing the 7th Street side of the
CommTech building.  All of his lights were off, including his red scanner light.  The inside
cockpit was pitch black, except the light glow of the central TV screen, and KITT’s voice
modulator.

“What is it exactly that we are looking for?” KITT asked, making sure he was at full
Surveillance Mode.

“Anything suspicious, really,” Shawn said, “the problem is, the Outfit changes their ways
off and on, well from what Joe tells me.  They always have different entrance and exit
plans, but their getaway plan is always the same.  A tight formation, but break away when
being pursued.”

“It sounds like a highly efficient getaway plan.” KITT said.

“Well most of the time it is, and MetroPol falls for it.” Joe said, over the Microwave
Transmitter.

Shawn leaned back in her seat.  “So Joe, what’s your story?”

“Come again?” he asked, confused.

“How is it that you know so much about the Outfit, and you were a cop?”

“There’s more to it than that.” Joe said, as he started to tell Shawn the story as to how he
became Joe Astor.  “I used to drive for the Outfit.  I was a hot shot top-of-the-line driver
named Michael Payton.  Payton was on the streets at 10, he started driving at 12, and
gained experience as time went by.  He spent half of his life in jail before finding a gang
called the Highwaymen, who were absorbed by the Outfit.  He drove for them and drove
lead for lots of different crimes, stealing expensive things, cars, drugs, satellites,
whatever, really.” Joe paused, “but he never hurt a single person, physically.  He
claimed he didn’t want murder added to his rap-sheet, but I don’t buy it.  I think Michael
Payton really did have a soul, and actually cared in one way or another.  Payton and the
Outfit stole a satellite from the VectorComm building, they were running from the cops,
and everyone was clear, everyone but Payton.  He fouled up somehow and managed to
jump the road and slam into a cement wall.  I wake up in the hospital as Joseph Payne
Astor, a Chicago Cop, and that’s really all she wrote.  Turns out the city had my memory
surgically altered.” Joe said.

“That’s just totally amazing.” Shawn said.
 

Joe tightened his gloves.  “Yeah.” was all he could say.

“How come you speak about Payton in the third person?” Shawn asked.

“I still hardly remember Michael Payton.  I’m Joe Astor now.  Payton is forever a part of
me, but for all purposes, he’s dead.” Joe yawned.  “So what about you?”

Joe heard Shawn yawn over the transmitter.  “Well, unlike you, I was a cop from the
start.  I was always interested in law enforcement, and that was my field of study at
Washington State.  I was a rookie and I stuck my nose in where it shouldn’t belong and
uncovered a department wide scam to sell banned handguns on the black market.”

“Banned handguns?!” Joe said, amazed.

“Yeah, they gave us ultrasound handguns, which stunned a suspect for easy capture.  I
was shot in the head by the ring leader and left for dead.  I was saved, however, and
given a memory chip to repair the brain damage.  But, I still lost my most recent memory,
a luxury to the creeps who shot me because all evidence and ability to ID them was lost.
Of course, that was until I stumbled upon the Knight Foundation.  At first, they declined
to hire me, but when they learned this memory chip came from KITT, I was hired.  It was
KITT here who helped me remember by connecting to his own chip in my head.”

“So then what happened?” Joe asked, determined to get the whole story.

“We got em.” Shawn said.

Joe laughed, “Good,” he said, “it’s always a pleasure to put away scum like that.”
 

“Shawn, Joe,” KITT said, “the silent alarm has been tripped!”

Shawn buckled her seatbelt and started KITT.  “Go to Silent Mode, KITT.”

KITT’s turbine engine noise softened to a slight whir, barely able to be heard.
 

“Silent Mode,” Joe said to himself, starting the loud engine on the Viper, “I guess I gotta
get Julian to install that one.”
 

Outside of the CommTech building, three men and two women, all dressed in black and
armed ran out of the building.  Four Plymouth Prowlers were parked outside of the
building, and each Outfit member got in their respective cars, with the two women in one
car.  One man carried a case, and put it in the trunk of his car.

“Shawn, I’ve scanned the box that man put into the trunk.  It is the fiber optic energy
refractor.” KITT said.
 

“Objective one completed.” Joe said as the Viper morphed into the Defender, he revved
the engine.
 

The Prowlers all took off at the same time, with the man with the case in front.  They
drove down the three-laned street in a awkward diamond formation, where the leader was
in the middle lane, two cars were on either side, and one car brought up the back.

The formation passed Shawn and KITT.  “They’ve passed us, Joe, it’s all yours.”
 

Joe gunned the accelerator in the Defender and sped out from his hiding spot.  He passed
Shawn and KITT in only a grey blur.  They soon followed.  The chase was on.

In the lead Outfit car, the leader, Martin Barry looked at his satellite monitor.  “Great, we
got a bug on our tail.”

“It’s the Viper.” said the tail car.

“Break formation.” Barry ordered.

The lead Prowler and the end Prowler teamed up and went straight.  The two other
Prowlers teamed up and turned right.
 

“I’m taking the lead cars,” Joe said, “you two take the others and help us out later.” Joe
said.

“You got it.” Shawn said, bringing KITT’s weapon system online.
 

Joe accelerated and activated the weapons systems.  He fired the static pulse cannon at the
car, and it hit dead center.  The car stalled and swerved to the side of the road.  Joe sped
by, leaving the Outfit thug in his dust.
 

Kevin and Julian were monitoring.  On the massive computer screen was a split image of
the satellite tracking of the Defender, and of KITT.  On the small computer screens were
images from both cars’ video feeds.

“Shawn, I suggest you take use the Thermal Expander to take out both cars.” Kevin said.

“I’m on it!” Shawn said.

“Thermal expander?” Julian asked.

“Yeah, watch.” Kevin said.
 

“Okay, KITT, switch to VR.” Shawn said.

On KITT’s windshield, a massive Virtual Reality display appeared.

“Time to greet them with some heat.” Shawn said.  “Activate the Thermal Expander, all
four tires.”

“Thermal Expander activated.” KITT said.

“Good, after you blow out the tires, lock their doors and MicroJam the engine and their
communications.” Shawn said.

The tires on the two Prowlers exploded and the car bottomed out on the road.  Shawn and
KITT whizzed by.
 

In the end Prowler, the two women struggled to keep control of the car.  “What the hell
was that?!” the driver said to her other passenger.

“I dunno,” the other woman responded, “but this isn’t good.”  She went to open the door,
but couldn’t.  “What the hell?!”

The two women struggled to open the doors, but found themselves to be locked in.  The
other Prowler had the same bad luck.
 

“Wow!” Julian said.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” Kevin asked.

“You got that right.”

Kevin drank out of his water bottle.  “Julian, I noticed that there were no guns on your
car, mainly no weapons that can hurt anyone.  How come?”

Julian turned his wheelchair around to face Kevin.  “The main reason is because I’m in this
chair.”

“I don’t follow you.” Kevin said.

“When I was a kid, I was walking home from school, and a couple gang-bangers in their
car came down the street I walked down every day.  I never heard the shot.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Kevin said.

“Because of that, I designed the Viper to take back the streets from thugs like that, but
not in a manner that will hurt or kill people.  I designed it for pursuit and capture only, and
that’s one aspect the city didn’t like either.” Julian said. “Of course, now that we’re on our
own, we can pretty much whatever we want.”

Kevin nodded.  “It’s a good plan, Julian.”

“Why do you have weapons on the Knight 4000?  I don’t remember extensive weapons on
the Knight 2000.” Julian asked.

“Our founder once believed that the way to solve violent problems was with intelligent
solutions, but that was in the 80’s.  Times were much different then.  We still uphold his
dream, but when the criminals started to out gun us, we decided that we needed to get a
little more rough.  Now there are alternatives to weapons on the Knight 4000, and we use
them often, the weapons are always a last resort.” Kevin explained.

Julian nodded.  “Sometimes, everything is a last resort in this city.”

“We’ll get it back Julian.  You’ll get it back.”
 

Joe was still chasing the lead car, but for some reason he was having a lot of trouble.
Somehow this driver was one better than him on every move.  “Oh God, I hope this isn’t
another Outfit thug that knows my moves.” he said.

“What?”  Julian said over the transmitter.

“Uh... nothing,” Joe said, “this guy’s getting on my nerves, though.  I can’t get a lock for
the static pulse.  He looked at the targeting display on the windshield and struggled to get
a lock.  He finally did, and fired the static pulse, but at the last minute, the driver swerved
and the pulse hit a concrete wall.
 

“Come on, Payton, you’re better than this!” Barry said, looking in his rear-view mirror.
He looked at his satellite monitor and saw that the other two cars weren’t moving.  Astor
already took out his wing man, how in the world did he take out the other two without
leaving?  Then it hit Barry, another car!  Barry slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the
Prowler accelerated to 150.

Joe easily matched his speed and was out of static pulses for the next ten minutes.  He got
on the transmitter.  “Uh, Shawn, I sure could use some backup right about now.”

“Backup’s on its way, Joe.” Shawn said.

At that exact second Joe heard a loud boom and looked out his windshield to see KITT
airborne!

KITT flew over the Viper and the Prowler and landed 100 feet in front of the Prowler.
“I gotta admit, that car’s something else!” Joe said.

Barry yelled and slammed hard on the breaks.  “Jesus!” he screamed, at the site of a car
landing 100 feet from him.

Shawn got out of KITT with her ultrasound handgun drawn.  “Out of the car!” she
screamed.  “Throw down your weapons and get out of the car now!”

The door to the Prowler opened and Barry threw his gun out.  He slowly got out, with his
hands up.

“Hands on the hood!” Shawn said.

Barry stood still.

Joe pulled up behind them, got out and aimed his gun at Barry.  “You heard the lady, now
get your hands on the hood!”

Barry looked at both of them and complied.

Shawn walked over to frisk him, while Joe popped the trunk and took out the case.

“Well, well, well,” Joe said, “what do we have here?”  He slammed the case on the hood
and opened it up.  “Look at that, Shawn, its a fiber optic energy refractor from
CommTech.”

Shawn smiled, and turned to Barry, “Gee, I wonder what that’s for?” she said as she set
Barry, handcuffed, back in his car.  She raised her watch to her mouth.  “KITT, lock his
doors.”

“My thoughts exactly.” KITT said as he locked the doors to the Prowler.

Joe’s head turned to the direction of where sirens were coming from.  He closed the case
and left it on the hood, with the refractor still inside.  “That’s our exit cue.” he said to
Shawn, walking back to the Defender.

Shawn smiled and walked back towards KITT.  “They’ll have to catch us first.”

July 14, 2000
1002 Hrs

Lane Cassidy was sitting on a stool, outside his estate, painting a picture.  Martin Barry
walked up to him.

“Out on bail, I see, Martin.” Cassidy said.  He stopped painting and set his brush down.

“Yeah, I’m out.  Glad I had enough cash to get free.”

“Now tell me what the hell happened with the CommTech job.”

Barry was unsure what to say.  “Mr. Cassidy, I... uh... everything was going fine until...”

“Until what?” Cassidy asked, “what happened?”

“The Viper showed up, as expected, but there was another car there last night!”

That got Cassidy’s attention.  “What?”

“Yes, there was a red car there that night.  It was sleek, fast, had chasing red lights in the
front.  It flew!” Barry said.

“Flew?” Cassidy said, thinking Barry was making it up.

“Yes.  I heard this loud boom, and I look up and the car launches over the Viper, over me,
and lands on the road, cutting me off.”

This started to sound familiar, Cassidy thought.

Cassidy waited for Barry to finish rambling.  He hated this driver, and might have to get
rid of him soon, one way or another.  “What did the license plate read on this red car?”

“That’s the thing, there was no license plate.” Barry said.

“Thanks for coming to me about this, Martin.  I’ll get to the bottom of this.” Cassidy said,
getting up and walking off.

1219 Hrs
Old Metro City Power Station

Joe popped the cork in the champagne bottle and cheered with everyone else as it sprayed
everywhere.

“I propose a toast,” Julian said, “to the Knight Foundation, and the Viper Team, for
accidentally stumbling upon each other, for Joe almost shooting Shawn, and to Kevin and
I for hacking into each other’s mainframes.  Here’s to the start of a wonderful
relationship.”

“Here, here!” cheered everyone as they all toasted their glasses.

“Shawn, Maddock’s calling.” KITT said.

Shawn set her glass down and walked over to KITT.  “Hey there, Russ, what’s up?”

“I gave you your 24 hours, now I’d like to be appraised of what is going on please.”
Maddock said.

“Ah, yes of course, Russ.” Shawn said.  “First off, I would like to introduce you to some...
very interesting people...”

1231 Hrs
Jade Office Towers
Location: Downtown Metro

Cassidy sat down in his massive office and picked up the phone.  He dialed a number and
waited for the other person on the end to pick up.

“Hello?” said Noah Pershing.

“Noah?  This is Lane Cassidy, I think we got a problem.”

“A problem?  Lane, I thought that Outfit was impervious to problems.”

“Listen you little prick, there’s a new car in Metro that’s teamed up with the Viper.  The
problem is that I have little to no proof of this car, but I heard what it did, and this sounds
damn familiar.  This car can blow out tires, lock engines and doors, scramble
communications, and appears to fly for short distances.  It sounds like something that
would come out of the Knight Foundation.”

“The Knight Foundation?  Never heard of them.”

Cassidy flipped through his books.  “Well, Noah, yes you have, because your friend, Jack
Wallzurg is teaching at the same university that supported the Knight Foundation for years
before it regained its independent status.”

“What does this car have to do with the Knight Foundation?”

“The Knight Foundation has two divisions.  It’s crime prevention unit called the
Foundation for Law and Government, and its technology unit, Knight Industries.  In 1982,
I’ve seen a car like that perform before.”

“Where?”

“I worked with a man named Cameron Zachary, who basically stole from every big
corporation imaginable.  He wormed into Knight Industries and toppled them, but not
before they could approve specs and construction for a car, which would be basically the
car of the future.  It was called the Knight 2000.  We found out everything about this car,
how it would be armored, what kind of weapons it would have, and everything else,”
Cassidy said, “but we never got to see it perform, at least until it was on the streets.”

“Go on.”

“Zachary has one of his broads, Tanya Walker, find her way into ComTron, and steal the
secrets for a new bubble microchip.  She failed because the Knight 2000 and its driver, a
guy by the name of Michael Knight intercepted her.”

“How did you play into the situation?”

“Zachary wanted me to keep tabs on his girl, so I was undercover in ComTron.”

“Okay, Lane, what is it you want me to do?”

“If it’s one thing I’ve learned, it is always keep your eyes everywhere.  The Outfit has
contacts in the Knight Foundation, I want you to contact them, and tell them everything I
have told you about that car.  Get every piece of information on that car, and get back to
me.” Cassidy hung up the phone.
 

Noah made sure the door was locked and picked up the phone.  He dialed a number.

“Hello?” a voice answered.

“Jack?” Noah asked.

“Yes, this is Jack Wallzurg.”

“Jack, it’s Noah-”

“Oh, hi Noah!  Long time no hear.”

“Oh yeah, you betcha.  Listen Jack, I am gonna need a favor.  You ever hear of the Knight
Foundation?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jack replied.

“Do we have Outfit contacts in there?”

“Yeah, we got two in Knight Industries, why?”

“There is a car in town which botched a heist.  Cassidy says it might be something which
looks like it came out of the Knight Foundation.  We need to know everything about it.”

“You got a picture of this car?”

“Yeah, I am faxing it now.” Noah said, pausing for Jack to receive the fax.
 

Jack watched the fax come through on his machine.  “Noah?”

“Yeah?”

“Hang on a sec while I get in touch with one of our contacts.” Jack said, putting Noah on
hold.  He dialed a number on another line and waited for the person to pick up.

“Good afternoon, Knight Industries.” the voice answered.

“It’s Wallzurg, go secure?”

There were a few beeps.  “Yeah, go ahead.  What is it Mr. Wallzurg?”

“Check your computer now, I just sent you a picture on the secure line.” Jack said.

“Why are you sending me a picture of the Knight 4000?”

“Confirm, the car is one of the Knight Foundation’s?”

“You’re damn right it is.  What’s going on here?”

“The Knight 4000 has showed up in Metro, and botched a heist.  We need to know
everything about this car.  Its strengths, its weaknesses, everything.”

“Stand by, I am transferring the files to your computer now.”

Jack looked as the files popped up on the screen.  “Nice work.  You’re looking at a
bonus.”

“Thank you Mr. Wallzurg.” the voice said, hanging up.

Jack hung up the phone line and picked up the other one where Noah was on hold.  “Hey
Noah, I got the information you need.  Stand by to receive them.”

“Good work, Jack, let’s hope this gives us the home court advantage.”

Jack smiled.  “Noah, from what I saw in these files, you’ll be able to destroy them easily.”
 

“Nice job,” Noah said, “we’ll probably need to contact the insider again, so I’ll be in
touch.”  Noah got off the phone and walked all the way down the hall to Cassidy’s office.
He knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Cassidy said.

“I just got off the phone with Jack Wallzurg.  He got in touch with our contacts in the
Knight Foundation and said that this new car matches the specs and diagrams for a car
called the Knight 4000.”

“The Knight 4000, huh?” Cassidy said, “What kind of armaments does it have?  Weapons,
accessories, anything that can be used against us?”

Noah handed him a 20 page thick stack of papers.  “Everything about the Knight 4000 is
in there, sir.”

Cassidy looked through the packet.  He was totally amazed as to what this car could
actually do, but of course he couldn’t show that in front of his subordinates.  “Noah, I
want the Knight 4000 off the streets.” Cassidy said.

“But, sir, what about the Viper?” Noah asked.

“Take a good look Noah!  The Viper has been keeping us at bay for a year, but we’ve
been able to fight back off and on.  Now with the Knight 4000 on their side, they actually
have a chance of beating us!  We are not going to lose!” Cassidy yelled.  He got up and
walked around.  “We have a major opportunity to create this laser weapon, and I will not
let the Viper, or the Knight 4000 foul that up!  In any way possible, I want that laser
weapon done, and I want the Knight 4000 out of the equation.”

Noah hated it when Cassidy lost his temper, and he didn’t want to see it.  “Mr. Cassidy,
what do you want me to do, sir?  How is it possible to destroy an indestructible car?”

“Don’t talk back!  There is never such a case as indestructible, Noah, you just gotta find
the right way to get around the obstacle.”  Cassidy smiled when he read over a page.  “Get
in touch with our contact in the Knight Foundation.  Tell him to look up the formula for
the molecular bonded shell, and get back to me.”

“Yes, Mr. Cassidy.” Noah said, leaving the room.

Cassidy got up and poured himself some brandy.  “Oh yes,” he said, “the Knight 4000 and
its driver are as good as dead.”

July 15, 2000
0918 Hrs
Metro City Airport

Maddock flew down to Metro to meet everybody that Shawn had talked about the other
night.  He was supposed to meet someone named Joe Astor and take him to where
Shawn, Kevin, and KITT were located.

He walked of the plane and saw the same man who he talked to on the Satellite Phone the
night before, standing on the tarmac.  He walked over to him.

“Russell Maddock?” Joe asked.

“Yes.”

“Hello, I’m Joe Astor, it’s nice to meet you in person.” Joe said, extending his hand.

Maddock shook it and walked over to the Viper with Joe.  “Sounds like all of you had
quite an adventure last night.”

Joe smiled.  “Oh, yes we did.  I’ll fill you in on what happened on the way to the Power
Station.”

“The Power Station?” Maddock asked, getting into the Viper.

Joe got in the Viper and started it up.  “It’s our headquarters.  Since the city kinda has it
out for us, we decided to situate ourselves in a place where they will never look.” Joe
pulled out of the Airport and onto the road.

“You sure got a hot car, Joe.  I’ve always dreamed of owning a car like this.” Maddock
said.

“It looks to me that you have a car 10 times better than this one.” Joe said.

“The 4000?  Yeah, it’s a nice car, but this one is pure American.  I suggested that the
Knight Foundation use this car for the Knight 4000, but they decided to build their own.”

“Trust me, Russell,” Joe said, “there’s much more to this car than you know.”

While on the streets, Joe told them what happened since Shawn and him first met, and
everything else, he was careful not to reveal too much information about what the Viper
can do, and decided to let Julian tell him the rest.

“Sounds like Shawn and KITT were busy working with you two.” Maddock said.

“Pretty much,” Joe said, shifting gears, “but I must tell you, that car of yours is something
else.  I’ve never seen a car do, and take so much like yours.”

“Knight Industries is filled with tons of brilliant scientists who spend most of their free
time working.” Maddock said.  “The Outfit sounds like a gang I wouldn’t want to mess
with.”

“Trust me,” Joe said, “they aren’t.”

Joe drove past the semi, parked on the bridge, connecting to the Power Station.  At first
his gut instinct was to morph into the Defender, but he kept reminding himself that these
people are their allies.

He pulled the Viper inside and parked next to KITT.  Maddock was amazed at their
compound, but was glad that they had iron-clad funds coming into the Knight Foundation.
He got out and greeted Shawn and Kevin.

“Well Shawn, it sounds like you made some new friends, huh?” Maddock said.

“You could say that again, but I don’t think the Outfit will be around to mess with Metro
for awhile.” Shawn said.

“Here, here!” Julian spoke up.  He rolled over to Maddock.  “I’m Julian Wilkes.  I
maintain all of the crucial systems of the Viper.  It was a pleasure working with your team
here.”

“Glad you approve, Julian.”  Maddock looked at the Viper.  “Don’t take offense to this,
but this car is great, but tell me how does this car fight crime?”

“Not this car.” Joe said smiling and looking at Julian.

“He’s right,” Julian said, “it’s this car.”

Maddock looked at the Viper as he heard strange mechanical noises.  He saw the body of
the Viper divide into small, weird looking hexagons.  The headlights changed positions
and reconfigured into evil looking lights.  The front grill divided and retracted and two
‘teeth’ replaced them.  A roof extended over the passenger compartment.  The two side
mirrors retracted into the doors and the exhaust system under the doors retracted and two
tubes replaced them.  Within only a few seconds, the Viper was changed.

“Oh my God.” Maddock said.

“Russell, you are looking at the Defender,” Joe said, “the city’s last line of defense.”

“Wow.” Maddock said, looking at the Defender.  He reached out and touched the hood.
He was amazed at how tight and close the hexagon plates fit together.

“That’s the reaction we usually get.” Julian said.

“This car is amazing.” Maddock said.

“Wait until you see it on the streets,” Shawn said, “it’s more amazing then.”

“What does it...  What does it have?” Maddock asked.

Julian smiled.  “I was hoping you would ask that.  Shawn, Kevin, do you guys mind if you
see this again?”

The two shook their heads and smiled.

“I guess I will start with the weapon systems,” Julian said, pressing a button.  The tube
under the driver’s side door opened.  He began to point at the three holes in the tube.
“This port houses the Static Pulse Cannon.  This EM Pulse can stop all electrical activity
in a mechanical device.. a vehicle or a crane.  In this port is the tunneler missile.  It is
unguided and is just used for clearing debris or an object blocking the Defender.  The last
port is the grappling missile.  This missile fires a grappling hook which we can use to tow
in virtually anything.  Weight is a very small factor.”

“Looks good,” Russell said, “has the Static Pulse ever been fired at a living thing?”

Everything stopped in the Power Station.  It was so quiet, the water running under the
bridge outside could be heard.

“What?” Julian asked.

“I asked if this pulse was ever fired at a living thing.” Maddock repeated.

Joe spoke up.  “A few months ago, I was chasing this one computer hacker who had
stolen the Defender.  I was stuck using my bike to chase him and Julian was here working
hard to disable the Defender.  The hacker took the Defender down an alley, and since I
knew my way around the area, I jumped off my bike and ran to head him off.  It was
something I regretted.  Somehow, he knew I was coming and when I rounded the corner,
the Defender was stopped and the weapons tube was out.  By the time I saw the flash, it
hit me.  He fired the Static Pulse.  Imagine... imagine everything stopping, right at that
instant.  You don’t know what hit you, or what happened, or what is going on.  The pulse
hit me and everything stopped.  When I woke up, it felt instantaneous, like I was knocked
out and woke up again.  But I learned that I was out for six hours, which is the time it
takes for the Pulse to wear off.  Julian says I was actually dead.  All electrical body
functions were stopped.  We don’t know how I stayed alive during that time, but in the
long run, we’re glad I was.”

“Joe,” Maddock said, “I didn’t know.  I’m sorry I asked.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Joe said, “I made a full recovery and I am back on the beat.”

“Which is a real good thing.” Shawn said.

“So what do you think will become of the Outfit gang who stole the fiber optic energy
refractor?” Kevin asked.
“Well I checked MetroPol files.  They were all released on bail, which is nothing new, but
for the first time, there is a trial date scheduled.” Julian said.

“Like they’re gonna show up.” Joe said.

“What is it that you need us to do?” KITT asked.

Everyone looked at KITT.

“What did you say?” Maddock asked.

“What do you need us to do, Mr. Wilkes? KITT repeated.  “The Outfit needs to be
apprehended and jailed and we are all ready to help you.”

“He’s right,” Shawn said, “there is no way The Outfit gang who stole the refractor is
going to show up at the trial.  We need to go out and bring them in.”

“Mr. Wilkes, we cannot sit around here while The Outfit is still on the loose.” KITT said.

Maddock was amazed at KITT’s concern to capture The Outfit.  Never before has he seen
KITT so.... human.  He knew from this point on he would give KITT more credit.  “I
agree with KITT,” he said, “you guys can use all the help you can get with The Outfit.”

“We have to figure a way to maybe topple them from the inside.” Kevin said.

Julian shook his head.  “No, no.  It is way too risky.  The Outfit is dangerous and smart,
two deadly combinations, and there is no way it would be possible for one of you to
infiltrate them.”

“Julian’s right.” Joe said.  “Look we gave Cassidy a run for his money and now he is
scared.  You know how much we appreciate your help, but when it comes to The Outfit,
there is nothing that can be done.  They are basically the most lethal and ruthless
organizations around.”

“It’s a game,” Julian began, “we stop Cassidy, he then retools his resources and finds a
new target and we play a new game.  It’s a nowhere game we play almost all the time, and
sooner or later one of the sides will slip up.  We can’t allow you to endanger yourselves to
help us.”

1102 Hrs

The semi was driving down the highway, which led out of Metro.  This discussion never
did get heated, no one raised their voice, but the Viper Team won and the Knight
Foundation was leaving town.  Joe followed in the Viper, to make sure that they safely
made it out of town.
 

Hidden behind bushes, Outfit members waited to ambush the Viper and the Knight 4000.
They had all exits out of town covered, and the leader of each group specified orders for
complete destruction.

Martin Barry looked in his binoculars and saw a black semi truck coming their way.  He
looked at the front bar-code license plate.  He quick scanned it and saw it was registered
from the Knight Foundation.  He got on the radio.  “Okay, this is it!  We got em!  Ready
weapons... ready barricade.”

Two Outfit members got into their black Chrysler Thunderbolts and got ready to pull in
front of the semi.

The rest of the Outfit members armed themselves with fully automatic machine guns.
 

“They’re wrong, you know.” Kevin said to Shawn, Maddock and KITT.

“I know,” Shawn said, “I know, but it seems we didn’t win our ticket to stay in town.”

“KITT, what did you make of Julian and Joe’s persistence to get us out of town and
refusal for our offer to help?” Maddock asked.

“My voice analyzer showed that both men were not lying and actually were trying to
protect us.” KITT replied.

“That’s a relief.” Kevin said.

“We still should have stayed and helped.” KITT said.  “There was so much we could help
them with.”

“You’re right KITT,” Shawn said, “but there are just some times where you have to give
up.”

“Michael never gave up.” KITT said.

It grew real silent in the semi.  Everyone looked at each other.

Suddenly, everyone but KITT, launched forward and fell onto the floor as the semi
slammed on its brakes.

No one had a time to get up because in a split second, bullets started ripping through the
sides of the semi.  They all ducked for cover.

Kevin and Shawn looked at each other as the bullets flew.  They both had fear in their eyes
and were holding each other’s hands.

Computers and electronic equipment sparked.
 

“Jesus Christ!!” Joe yelled as the Viper quickly morphed into the Defender.  “Julian, we’re
caught in a flipping ambush cross-fire here.

“I want you and them to come back to the Power Station, Joe!” Julian yelled.

“Hold your pants on Mr. Wizard, I gotta see if they’re all right first.  They’re lighting up
the semi good.”

All of a sudden, Joe looked up and saw KITT back out of the closed doors of the semi.
He shredded through the doors like they were tin-foil.  KITT crashed to the ground and
sparks flew.  He backed all the way up to where he was next to the Defender.
 

Shawn looked out the window towards Joe.  She instinctively ducked as bullets struck
KITT and the Defender.

“We've run into a crossfire!!” Joe yelled over the radio.

“You think?!” Shawn said. She got on the radio with the semi. “Kevin, get the semi out of
here, go go go!!!!!!!”
 

The semi started again and crashed through the two cars blocking the road and sped down
the highway.

“KITT, what's going on?!” Shawn asked.

“Nothing good, Shawn, weapons systems are off-line, and my scanners indicate that those
bullets are coated with the MBS!  The shell will be compromised in seconds!”

“Get us the hell out of here!” Shawn yelled, ducking down to avoid the bullets which were
possibly irreparably damaging KITT.

“I can't the engine has been almost destroyed, Shawn, we're dead in the water! Get out
now!”

“I wont leave you, KITT!” Shawn protested

“There's no alternative, Shawn, you must get out before you are killed!”
 

Joe was unable to fire back at the Outfit because he didn’t have any guns.  Bullets were
compromising the armor plating.  On the outside of the Defender, hex plates were shot off
the car, and the Defender was close to being full of bullet holes.

“Joe, we need a miracle, man they’re lighting us up out here!” Shawn frantically
screamed over the radio.

“Hold on, Shawn, I’ll do what I can!”

Joe put the Defender in gear and started to circle KITT and Shawn, trying to draw the
Outfit’s fire, but it was no use, they just fired at both of them.  And for once, they were
winning...
 

Shawn screamed as the windshield shattered and ducked as bullets entered the interior of
the car. Sparks flew everywhere as bullets hit key system components.
 

The Defender, which looked in bad shape, sped up to KITT and Joe stopped at the driver's
side.   Joe looked over at Shawn.  From what he saw, there was not one window left
intact in KITT.  KITT was filled with bullet holes and Shawn was close to catching one of
them.  “Shawn!” he screamed over the radio. “Get out!  Get out now!”

“I can’t leave him!” Shawn screamed.

“You don’t have a choice, Shawn!  You stay in that car you’re going to die!  The
Defender can get us both out of here.”

“Joe we have to fight back!”
 

Joe was losing his patience.  “Shawn get the fuck out of the car!” he screamed.  Not
caring for his own life, Joe opened the door to the Defender and ran towards KITT.  He
opened KITT's door and grabbed Shawn.

“No!” she screamed, kicking.

Running at full speed, Joe dragged her back to the Defender and basically threw her
inside.  He slammed the accelerator to the floor and sped off.

Shawn looked in the rear video display to see the Outfit members still firing at a mangled
and maimed car which used to be her partner...

1125 Hrs

Joe pulled the Defender into the Power Station.  Because of the extensive damage, the car
was unable to morph.  “Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah.” Joe said, helping Shawn out of the car.  He stretched and kicked the damaged
door of the Defender, which sent hundreds hex plates flying everywhere.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Julian yelled.

Joe spun around to face Julian.  “Well, Mr. Science, because of you and your God damn
vendetta against bullets, the Viper got in this...” Joe stopped to kick the door again,
sending more hex plates flying.

“Stop it!” Julian said.

“Stop what?!” Joe yelled.  “If the Viper had guns, we would have had a chance!”

“If the Viper had guns, The Outfit would have killed us all by now!”

Joe rolled his eyes.

“If the Viper had guns, you wouldn’t have been hit with the Static Pulse!  You would have
been shot!”

“Quit giving me this paradox shit Julian!”

“Knock it off you guys!” Shawn yelled.

They both stopped and looked at her.

“Listen, this shit pisses me off too, but we can’t sit here and fight about it!  What is
important is that the Viper is severely damaged and KITT is destroyed and in the hands of
The Outfit!  Fighting isn’t going to solve shit!”

Joe exhaled.  “I’m... I’m sorry Julian.  I lost my head.”

“It’s okay,” Julian said, “I lost mine too.”  Julian looked at the hex plates on the floor and
picked one up.  “I can’t believe this.  The Viper was made to withstand bullets.  What
happened?”

“The Outfit’s bullets were coated with KITT’s MBS,” Shawn said, “neither cars had a
chance.”

“But you’re saying that they were coated with KITT’s MBS.  That makes it sound like the
Outfit was after KITT, instead of the Viper.” Joe said.

“I think they were.” Shawn said.

“What?” Joe asked.

“Think about it.  Julian said this before we left.  The Viper has been on the streets for
about a year now, and then we show up.” Shawn explained.

“Cassidy really was running scared.” Joe said.

“Tell me more about Lane Cassidy.” Shawn requested.

“He is basically the front-runner for all the scum of Metro and the biggest asshole of them
all.” Joe said.

“Then why don’t you nail him?” Shawn asked.

“Shawn, remember how I told you that The Outfit paid off the city to kill the Viper?”
Julian asked.

Shawn nodded.

“This city is corrupt.  Cassidy basically runs it because of all his public service work,
donations to the city, and everything else which can basically hand the city over to him.”
Julian said.

“And of course, we can’t nab him because all the evidence linking him to Outfit crimes is
circumstantial.” Joe said.

“What I’m thinking is that Cassidy knows about the Knight Foundation’s arrival and their
help in the bust last night.  Now he’s pissed and decided to take it out on you guys.” Julian
said.

“And it looks like he won.” Shawn finished.

“Now I didn’t say that-”

“How could he know about KITT’s MBS?” Shawn asked.

“The same way we found out,” Joe said, “through hacking.”

“No, he couldn’t have found out that way,” Shawn said, “see, you guys found out about
the existence of the formula, but not the formula itself.”

“How do you mean?” Julian asked.

“Knight Industries entrusts the formula to four men.  The formula was split into two parts,
and each man carries one part.  One man could get together with another man and
combine the pieces to make the formula.  It’s for security reasons.” Shawn explained.

“So that means, all Cassidy needed to get to was-”

“Two guys who had the formula.” Joe said, interrupting Julian.

The garage door started to open and everyone looked to see if it was Kevin and everyone
else, but it turned out to be Frankie.  He parked his car and got out.  “Whoa, guys, can I
tell ya somethin, it’s all over the place.”

“What’s all over the place, Frankie?” Shawn asked.

“The Outfit ambush!  Somehow, word got out that the Knight Foundation was involved.”
Frankie said.

“What is MetroPol’s official position?” Julian asked.

“They’re just about as confused as the press, if not moreso, if you will.”  Frankie looked
over to the Viper.  “Ohhh, poke out my eyes would you look at this?!  Can I tell ya
somethin, I watched the Viper’s video feed, it was murder!  Murder!  I couldn’t bear to
watch to see the two beauties shot to hell!  How did this happen anyway, I thought both
of the cars were indestructible.”

“It’s a very long story, Frankie,” Julian said, “but keep your ears open for any information
you can get.  The Outfit has KITT in their possession.”

“Whoa, whoa, you’re telling me the Outfit has KITT?!” Frankie yelled.

“Yes they have KITT,” Shawn said, “so you listen here, you little troll.  If you want to see
him again, you get your ass back in that Cuda and you drive down Interstate 10 until you
find a black semi truck which is shot to hell.  You bring everyone there back to here.
Go!” Shawn yelled.

“Yeah, I’m goin’!” Frankie said, getting into the car and backing out.

As Frankie backed out of the Power Station, Julian and Joe picked up the hex plates and
started to work on repairing the Defender.  Shawn watched them work as she walked over
to a dark corner, rubbed her eyes and hoped for the safety of Kevin.

“How long is it gonna take to fix the Defender, Julian?” Joe asked.

“A week at least.  I might be able to cut it down to two days if I work on this 24/7.” Julian
said.

“I don’t think Mara would like that.” Joe said, referring to Julian’s wife.

“No, she wouldn’t.  But she’d be used to it by now.”

The two of them looked up as they heard a slam.

“What was that?” Julian asked.

Joe walked towards the sound.  “Shawn?  Shawn is that you?”

1145 Hrs

In an undisclosed garage, members of The Outfit were sitting in front of computers, trying
to gain access into KITT’s systems and his CPU.

“I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand.  My serial number is alpha-delta 227529.  I
am unauthorized to allow access to my Central Processing Unit.” KITT said.

“What’s going on?” Lane Cassidy asked the technicians.

“He’s said that about twelve times already.  Every time we try to get into his CPU, he
erects another wall preventing us access.  It’s impossible, Mr. Cassidy.” replied a
technician.

“Dammit, Rob, nothing is impossible when you have the right resources.  Keep trying.
Let me know when you gain access.” Lane said, looking at the mangled Knight 4000.  He
walked over to KITT.  “Hello KITT.”

KITT was silent.

Lane sat down in the driver’s seat.  “Look, KITT.  From one man to another.  Resisting is
not getting you anywhere.”

“You mean it’s not getting The Outfit anywhere.” KITT said.

Lane smiled.  “So you do say something other than that generic statement when my tech’s
try to get into that mind of yours.”

“I am not authorized to give access to my Central Processing Unit, Mr. Cassidy.” KITT
said.  “Is that more custom to suit your needs?”

Lane laughed to himself.  “So you’re a smartass too.”

“Nothing compared to yourself.”

“Why wont you just give in?” Lane asked.

“My CPU contains highly classified data which is not for the eyes of anyone except high
ranking officials of the Knight Foundation and its two divisions.” KITT said.

“Hmm.  I can see this isn’t going anywhere,” Lane said, “KITT, are you in the mood for a
story?”

“No.” KITT replied.

“Good.” Lane said. “I assume you have heard of Cameron Zachary.”

“Yes, Zachary was an arms dealer and a man behind hundreds of cases involving industrial
espionage.” KITT replied.

“Yes, he was a genius.” Cassidy said.  “If you do a very concentrated search for me, you
will find that I once worked for Cameron Zachary.  I worshipped the man.  He taught me
all I know today, and he would be proud of the city that I run.”

“You run?” KITT asked.  “You don’t hold any city office.  You are just a multimillionaire
who donates money to the city.”

“And puts my popularity rating at twelve percent higher than the mayor’s.” Cassidy added.
He took out a Cuban cigar and lit it.  “Zachary toppled Knight Industries, the company
who built you just days after you were approved to be constructed.  You were the one
piece of technology we couldn’t steal.  But, we learned everything about you, and the only
time we got to see you perform was on the streets.” he said before taking a puff of the
cigar.

“I should have known that a man like you once worked for a man like Cameron Zachary.
You are basically the epitome of him.” KITT said.

“He was my protoge`, yes.” Lane said.

“Except one thing.” KITT said.

“What’s that?”

“Zachary never stabbed his men in the back.”

Lane laughed.  “KITT, I must say, you are very observant of everything.  Well, you see,
sometimes there are just people you can’t trust.  Those kind of people are everywhere.  In
city governments, national governments, and in, oh I don’t know... Knight Industries.”

“What?!” KITT said, appalled.

“Yeah.  In fact, our Outfit contacts there hold the formula to the Molecular Bonded Shell.
That’s how we messed you up good out there on the road.”

“You’ll never get into my CPU,” KITT said, “you will never win.”

“Well, KITT, you see, that’s where you’re wrong.” Cassidy said, taking out a gun.
“These 12 bullets in this gun are coated with the MBS, just like the bullets which you’re
filled with now.”  He armed the gun and aimed at KITT’s dashboard.  He fired the gun.
Sparks flew everywhere.

“We have ways to get you to talk, KITT.” Lane said, firing two more times into the dash.

KITT’s voice was a little slurred.  “You will have to destroy me before you get into my
CPU.”

“There are nine bullets left, KITT.” Lane said.  “We’ll see which one comes first.”  Lane
got up and walked away.

KITT checked to see if he was being monitored and he saw that he wasn’t.  Now was his
time to send out a signal to Kevin.  But then he stopped.  Was he sure he could trust
Kevin?  Could Kevin be an Outfit plant?  For the first time, KITT was unsure who he can
trust.  He didn’t bother to send the signal.
 

The semi truck was parked at an abandoned truck stop 40 miles outside of Metro.  Sitting
next to it was a white van which had Knight Industries written on the side.  Technicians
were walking around the semi, and removing equipment.

Maddock was walking along the outside of it with his sunglasses on.  He stopped counting
the bullet holes at 487, but he knew that there was much more due to the fact that the
trailer was nothing more than a mass of shredded metal.  He was amazed that such
damage could be done.

Kevin walked out of the back and jumped down.  He looked at the hinges where the doors
used to be attached.  He walked over to Maddock.

“How bad is it inside?” Maddock asked.

“It’s bad.” was Kevin’s reply.

“Damage estimates?”

“About 5 million...” Kevin replied.

Maddock took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“...to the inside.” Kevin added.

“What?”

“Russ, basically everything was destroyed in there.  That’s about a five million dollar
problem.  Now for the cost of repairing the semi....”

“Let’s hear it.”

“The cost of repairing the semi will be five times more the cost of buying a brand new
one.” Kevin said.

“Just great.” Maddock said.  “Can we drive it back to Seattle?” Maddock asked.

“Good luck,” Kevin said, “Matt says we are lucky enough to get it this far.”

“Tell me this isn’t a dream.” Maddock said signing a piece of paper a Knight Industries
technician gave him.

The two of them looked up as they heard a car approaching.  It was a purple Plymouth
Barracuda, and whoever was driving it started honking.

The car stopped and a man got out.  “Poke out my eyes!” he yelled, “Shawn said this was
bad, but whoa!”

“Who the hell are you?” Maddock said.

“Relax, Shawn sent me to find you guys.”  The man extended his hand and Maddock
shook it.  “Waters, Franklin X.  I work with Joe and Julian.  Shawn told me to come and
get you guys.”

“You’ve talked to Shawn?” Kevin asked.  “How is she?  Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, she’s fine, don’t worry,” Frankie said, “now if you two gentlemen will get in
the car, I will take you back to the Power Station.”

“We’re all done here, Mr. Williams.” said the lead technician.

“Good,” Kevin said, “take everything this back to the Seattle facility and place it in cold
storage.”

“Understood.” the technician said, walking to the van and getting in with three other
Knight Industries technicians and the semi’s driver.  The van started and drove off down
the road.

“You guys got all you need?” Frankie asked.

“Yeah,” Kevin said, getting into the backseat behind Maddock.

Frankie looked at the semi again.  “Yeesh.” he said getting into the car and starting it.

Maddock nodded.  “You might want to start driving now.”

Frankie put the car in gear and drove down the road.  “Why now?”

All of a sudden, the semi truck exploded in a violent wall of flames.

“Poke out my ears!” Frankie yelled, struggling to maintain control of the car.

“That’s why.” Maddock said.

The Barracuda drove down the highway with the burning semi still sitting at the truck
stop.

1206 Hrs

Frankie turned onto the bridge that connected to the Power Station.  He was shocked to
see three black cars speed by.  He floored his car and sped to the Power Station.  He knew
in his gut that it had just been broken into.

He stopped in front of the entrance and the three men got out.  The large garage-type
door was broken in two.  The inner garage door was intact.  Frankie walked over and
entered the code, which opened the door.  They cautiously walked down the dark tunnel
and into the Power Station.

They looked around.  The Power Station looked like a disaster area.  Wires and pieces of
computers were all over the place.  The Defender was still in its bad shape.  Julian’s
massive computer terminal was dark and full of bullet holes.  Windows were broken and
there was glass everywhere.

“Freeze!” someone screamed.

They stopped in their tracks.

“Turn around.”

The three men turned around and saw Joe standing there with a gun aimed at them.
Seeing who it was, Joe put the gun down.

“Shit.” he said, angry that he almost shot his friends.

“Joe, what the hell happened?” Frankie asked.

“The Outfit happened, Frankie.  They busted in here and trashed us.”

Kevin walked by them.  “Shawn?  Shawn, where are you?”

Shawn came from around the corner, and ran towards Kevin.  The two hugged each other
tight and kissed.

Joe decided to give them some privacy and he walked off and took Maddock and Frankie
with him.

1917 Hrs

Julian and Joe were upstairs in what used to be the Foreman’s office for the old Power
Station.

“Face it, Joe,” Julian said, “we’re getting totally railroaded by The Outfit.”

Joe looked around the trashed room.  He could not believe that The Outfit found out
where they were.  “Yeah I know.” he said, picking up a broken frame which used to have
a picture of Elizabeth Huston in it.  He looked around for the picture.  “It’s like... I don’t
know.  It’s like things were better before they came.  The Outfit plays their hand, we play
ours.  Over and over again.  Then the Foundation comes, and now we’re fighting for our
lives.”

“I can’t believe what you’re saying!” Shawn screamed.

The two of them were obviously startled and were surprised to see her.  “How long have
you been standing there?” Julian asked.

“Long enough.” Shawn said, starting to walk off.

“Shawn, wait!” Joe said, going after her.

“No, Joe, forget it!  We come in to help you out, risk our lives and end up losing a ten
million dollar car and you have the balls to say that you want us gone?!”

“No, I didn’t say that!” Joe yelled.

“It’s what you implied!  Don’t bullshit me here!”

“What?!” Joe yelled.  “What the hell do you want?!”

“I want the truth!” Shawn said.

“The truth?! You want the truth?!”

“Yeah, I want the truth!”

“Okay fine.  I got the God damn truth for you!  Things were just fine here before you guys
intervened!”

“Oh bullshit!” Shawn yelled.  “You guys had a pissing match going on with The Outfit,
and I’ll be damned if it was going anywhere.”

“What are you trying to say?” Joe asked.

“What I am trying to say is that the shit that was going on with The Outfit was getting you
guys nowhere!  Neither side was winning, Joe!  So how could you stand there and say that
things were better before we came when you were not making a crack on The Outfit?!”

“How can you say that?!  How can you say that?!  You don’t know what we’ve been
going through!” Joe protested.

“Julian said it himself that it was just a game between you and The Outfit!  Joe, with our
help, we can win this!”

“She’s right, Joe.” Julian said, from behind Joe.

Joe turned around.  “Julian, they infiltrated the Power Station.  They know where we are!”

“Right, Joe.  Which means we have no choice but to take them down.” Julian said.  “If we
sit here and fight any longer, that gives them time to organize a second attack.”

“Fine, Julian.  How can we take them down?” Joe asked.

“The plan I told you guys about earlier.  I go undercover inside The Outfit.”

“No!” Julian said.

“Julian, listen-”

“No, Shawn.  They’ll kill you.” Julian said.

“Listen, Julian.  I’m not going in to topple them.  I am going in to get KITT out.  Once we
have KITT back up and running, we can get them good!” Shawn said.

“Shawn, I just think it’s-”

“Listen to her, Julian.  She’s our only hope.” Joe said.

July 16, 2000

“Good morning, KITT.” Lane said, holding a newspaper.  He sat down in KITT’s driver
seat again.  “How are you doing?”

“I’m sitting here on this floor, shot to hell and looking worse.  Not to mention some of my
internal systems were damaged when you decided to unload three bullets into me
yesterday.  How do you think I feel?” KITT said, sharply.

“Like shit.” Lane said.

“Exactly.” KITT replied.  “Why are you here?  Nothing has changed since yesterday.  I
wont give you access to my Central Processing Unit.”

“Oh, I’m not here for that.  I am here for... this.” Lane opened the paper up and showed
KITT the front page which read: Knight Foundation Under Investigation.

“What’s this?!” KITT asked, reading over the article.

“Oh, well, let me read.” Lane turned the paper around and started to read.  “‘Today,
MetroPol revealed that the Knight Foundation is under investigation after a shootout on
the I-10 freeway.  A semi truck belonging to the Knight Foundation was...’”
 

“‘...found along the freeway, 40 miles from the scene of the shootout.’” Shawn finished
reading.  “Shit!” she yelled, throwing the paper across the room.

“This is wonderful,” Maddock said, “MetroPol is gonna be breathing down our necks.”

“Bah, don’t be too sure,” Julian said, “according to the papers, ‘the mysterious grey car’ is
under investigation too.  Don’t worry about it.”

“How’s the Viper coming?” Shawn asked.

“Not too bad,” Julian said, “I think if I work through today and all night she should be
ready to prowl tomorrow night.”

“Good.  How about you, Kevin?  How’s it going over there?”

“No, Joe, the eye lashes have to be the same color as the hair.” Kevin said, preoccupied to
hear Shawn.  “What did you say, Shawn?”

“How are you two doing over there?” Shawn repeated.

“I hate to tell you, Shawn, but we ain’t artists over here.” Kevin said.

Shawn laughed.  “Just something that wont get me killed okay?”

Kevin smiled and nodded.  “You heard her Joe, something that wont get her killed.” he
said, joking around.
 

“Gee whiz KITT, the people in charge of you are in deep shit themselves.” Lane said.

“No, they’re just under investigation.” KITT protested.

“Whatever you want to believe, KITT.  Either way, you’re ditched here, and you know
it.”

Silence.  KITT knew Lane was lying about the Foundation forgetting him, because some
of the circuits which were intact were able to be rerouted to his Voice Analysis System.

Lane rolled his eyes.  “All right, I’m sure you figured out I was lying.  You’re smarter than
I give you credit for.  Points to you.”

“I don’t want your points, Mr. Cassidy.” KITT said.

“You know what, KITT?  I will promise you one thing-”

“And I doubt you will keep it.” KITT interrupted.

“I will promise you one thing, KITT.  We will get into that CPU of yours.  Even if it
means terminating you.”  Lane got up and aimed his gun at the dashboard.  He fired two
more bullets.  “Four, five.  Still alive?” he said, smiling and walking away.  “Seven bullets
left, KITT, you think about it.”

KITT was left alone, once again, thinking about the people back at the Foundation, who
he now trusted more than ever.

1320 Hrs

She walked down the stairs, dressed in a skin tight lycra body suit which took about
fifteen minutes to zip up.  She was donning a jet black wig, which went all the way down
to the small of her back.  Her cleavage was very revealing.  But it was her face which was
more different, for she was no longer Shawn McCormick.  She was Heather St. Armund.

The four men in the Power Station, Kevin, Joe, Julian, and Frankie whistled and clapped
as Shawn in disguise came down the stairs.

She smiled and waved them off.  “Oh stop it.” she said.

“Shawn, are you sure you’re up for this?” Julian asked.

“Yes, we gotta get KITT back some how.” she said.

Julian rolled up to her.  “All right, I got some surveillance items for you which you
probably should use.”

“Okay, let’s see them.” Shawn said.  Julian handed her a box.  She opened it.  “What’s
this?” she asked.

“A project I was working on awhile ago.  They’re contact lenses, they’ll will change your
eye color, but they have microscopic transmitters inside of them.  Whatever you see, they
see.” Julian said.

“Like Mission: Impossible?” Kevin asked.

“Right, just like that, except without the glasses.”

“Will they impair my vision at all?” Shawn asked.

“Nope,” Julian said, “you put them on, they act like normal eye color contact lenses.
Except these are better because no one can tell if you have them on at all.  Just don’t
forget to take them out if you go to sleep.”

“Right.” Shawn said.  “What else?”

“Your hairclips that you put on up there are special microphones that have their own
transmitter.  You have three on now, but only one is active.  If you lose one, we can
activate the other one from right here.”

“Damn, you sure you guys aren’t out of Mission: Impossible?” Kevin asked.

Julian laughed.  “No, just a scientist who gets bored often.”  He handed her a small plastic
bag.  Inside of it was a small device.  “This earpiece will allow you to hear us from here.
We’ll be able to advise you on whatever you need.”

“This is great,” Shawn said, after she put the contact lenses and earpiece in, “how will I
get to wherever I am going?”

“We’re gonna use Frankie’s Cuda.” Joe said.

“What?!” Frankie yelled.

“Relax, Frankie, I won’t dent it.” Shawn said.

“I’m gonna hold you to that, Shawn.” Frankie said.

“We’ve changed the plates on the Cuda, and hacked into the MVD and entered Heather
St. Armund as the owner.” Julian said.

“We’ve also hacked into various companies and agencies and basically created Heather St.
Armund everywhere you could think of.  FBI records, police records, everything.” Kevin
said, handing her a sheet of paper.  “Read it over, and learn about yourself.”

Shawn nodded and started to walk towards the car.  Kevin walked with her.  “Be careful,
Shawn.” he said.

Shawn turned around and kissed him.  “You know I will.” she said.

“Get him back for us, Shawn.” Kevin said.

“Yes,” Shawn said, “I’ll bring him back.  That’s a promise.” she said, and kissed him
again.  She dot in the Cuda, and started it up.  She waved to everyone and the garage
doors closed behind her as she pulled out.

They all walked over to Julian’s computer interface, which was repaired.  Two windows
on the massive monitor showed the transmissions from Shawn’s right contact lens and her
left.

“Okay, Shawn,” Maddock said, “how are you hearing us?”

“Loud and clear, Russ.”

“All right,” Julian said, “in the front seat, you’ll find directions which will take you right to
Cassidy’s office.  You’ll infiltrate tomorrow.”

“Wow, Julian, did you write a script for me too?”

Everyone laughed.  “No, Shawn, just don’t get yourself killed okay?” Julian said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back, with KITT.”

“You guys got it covered here?” Maddock asked.

“Yeah, why?” Joe asked.

Maddock put on his coat.  “We’re going to find some moles.”

2240 Hrs
Residence of Daniel Palmer
Location: Seattle, Washington

Daniel Palmer was holding a scotch in one hand, and a Tom Clancy book in the other.  He
sat down in his recliner and started to read.  His head cocked slightly when he heard a
sound.

“Laura, is that you?” he called out, assuming that it was his wife.

There was no answer.

Daniel got up and walked towards where the noise came from.  “Is anyone there?”

“I don’t know, is there?” a voice said from behind Daniel.

Daniel froze.  He turned around and faced the intruder.  “Kevin?” he asked.

Kevin Williams was looking at Daniel and holding a gun.  “You’re coming with me.”
 

“Up late tonight, Mr. Cassidy?” KITT asked.

“Just thinking.” Cassidy said.

“About?”

“About how easy it was to pay off Daniel Palmer and Nathan Sagel.”

“Two of the four men who can pair off and combine the formula for the MBS.” KITT
said.

“Very good, KITT.” Cassidy said.

“How much did it cost you?” KITT asked.

“A hundred thousand... each.  Chump change, really.” Cassidy said, sitting down in
KITT’s driver seat again, and holding the gun.  “But it proves my point that everything
has a price tag on it.”

“But sometimes the price tag is hidden.” KITT finished.

Cassidy smiled.  “You’ve heard that before.”

“Yes, I have.” KITT said.

Cassidy sat there, quiet.

KITT pondered what would happen if he would be able to retract the roof and activate the
Eject Left option with too much PSI.  However, two things stopped him.  One, most of
his systems were damaged, and two, his main programming reigned over all, the
programming which prevented him from harming a human life.

“They’re close, aren’t they?” Cassidy asked.

“Close to what?”

“Breaking into your CPU.” Cassidy said.

“They’re far from close, Mr. Cassidy.” KITT lied.

Cassidy slammed the steering wheel.  “Don’t bullshit me anymore KITT!  It belittles us
both!”

KITT sat there, silent.

Cassidy got up, and armed the gun.  He fired four more shots into KITT’s dashboard.
More sparks flew than ever before.  He stepped back.  “KITT, you will be dead by the
time we crack that CPU.” Cassidy said, tossing the gun into the seat and walking off.
 

The lights came on with a buzz and a slam.  Daniel Palmer, Frederick Campbell, Nathan
Sagel, and Simon Joss squinted at the bright halogen lights shining over them.  They
looked at each other, they were connected to individual lie detectors.

“What the hell are you doing Russell?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, why are you holding us like this?” Simon said.

“I’m gonna level with all four of you,” Maddock said, “there is a leak in Knight Industries.
At least two of you, two opposite holders of the MBS, have leaked inside information to
another organization, and we have to determine which two of you are involved.”

“What happens when you guys figure it out who it is?” Nathan asked.

“Oh, well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.” Maddock said.  “Kevin, are the
detectors ready?”

“Ready.” Kevin said.

Maddock clapped his hands together.  “All right, let’s begin.”
 

“What’s she up to, Julian?” Joe asked, handing Julian a cup of coffee.”

“Thanks,” Julian said to the much needed coffee, “she’s arrived at the suite we had
booked for her.  She took out the contacts and is going to bed.”

“You think she can pull this off?” Joe said.

“Of course I can, Joe,” Shawn said, “have a little faith okay?”

Joe cursed to himself about the open mic.  “I’m sorry Shawn,” he said.  “Good luck to
you.”

“Thank’s Joe.  Goodnight you guys.” Shawn said.

“Goodnight, Shawn” Joe and Julian said.

“Okay, now the mic is closed, Joe.” Julian said.

“Thanks for the heads up.” Joe said, sarcastically.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you didn’t notice.” Julian said, laughing.  He rolled over to the
Viper, which was covered up.  “Well, I figured with Shawn going in tomorrow, she might
need an extra hand so...” Julian said, uncovering the Viper, which was back in its pristine
condition.

“Looking good, Julian.  Wonderful work as always.”

2320 Hrs

Maddock and Kevin were interrogating for about 30 minutes before they hit the hard
questions.

“All right, we’ve played around enough,” Maddock said looking at all their positive
answers.  “Have any of you heard of a crime syndicate is this city known as The Outfit?”

“Yes.” was all four responses.  The detectors didn’t beep.

“Has anyone associated with you collaborated with The Outfit.”

Frederick and Simon’s answers came instantly.  “No.”

Nathan and Daniel sat there, quietly.

“Nathan?  Daniel?  Answer the question please.” Maddock said.

“No.” both men said, which was followed by two loud buzzes.

Maddock smiled.  “Looks like we found our moles.” he said.  At that same instant, ten
FBI agents busted in the room, guns armed and aimed at Nathan and Daniel.

“Nathan Sagel and Daniel Palmer, you two are under arrest for violating Knight Industries
Code 40, Section 1, Clause M, Sub-clause H, Section Z, which states ‘those members
who hold classified and sensitive Knight Industries secrets are confined to a 200 million
dollar gag order.  Violation of this gag order results in federal incarceration and
prosecution, as well as job termination.’” Maddock said.

The two men were cuffed and led out of the room.

Maddock looked at Simon and Frederick.  “I apologize to both of you for submitting you
to this.  We had to find the leak in Knight Industries.”

“I understand,” Simon said, “it’s because of those two that KITT got destroyed.”

“Yeah, Russ, it’s perfectly acceptable.  You had to do what you had to do.  Now, let’s get
KITT back.”
 

July 17, 2000

Shawn looked up at the 58 story building standing in front of her.  She looked down at the
paper, and double checked the address.  “Here goes.” she said, walking into the building,
in her revealing outfit and new face.  She noticed, that as she walked, she basically
stopped everything going on around her.

The high speed elevator took her to the top floor, where Julian said Lane Cassidy’s office
was.

On walking out of the elevator, she noticed the secretary standup, wide eyed.  “May I help
you ma’am?”

“Yes,” Shawn said, “I am here to see Mr. Cassidy.”

“Yes, and who do I say is calling?” the secretary asked.

“Heather St. Armund.”

The secretary was about to pick up the phone, when it rang.  “Yes, Mr. Cassidy?”

Shawn looked around and gave a ‘come and get me’ smile to the men who were staring at
her.

“Miss St. Armund?” asked the secretary.

“Yes?”

“You may go in now.”

Shawn smiled and walked through the double oak doors.

“Heather St. Armund?” Lane Cassidy asked, standing up.

“You got that right.” Shawn said, walking to him.  “You must be Lane Cassidy.” she said
extending her hand.

Lane took her hand and kissed it.  He looked up at her and smiled.  “It’s a pleasure to
meet you.” he said.

“Thank you.” Shawn said.

Cassidy sat down, and Shawn did the same.  “So, Miss St. Armund, tell me, why are you
here?”

Shawn smiled.  “Well, why does anyone seek you out, Lane?  Because you’re the power
of this city.  And, I’ve always liked a man with power.”

Lane smiled.  He knew exactly what this woman was talking about.  “So you’re interesting
in joining us?”

“Oh yeah.” Shawn said.

“Tell me why.”

“Because you have something so many have sought out.”

“Oh, and what is that?” Cassidy asked, taking a sip of his brandy.

“The Knight 4000.”

Cassidy stopped and looked up.  “How do you....”

Shawn got up and sat down on his desk.  “Come on, Lane, you gotta give me more credit,
than that.  In fact, I bet a background check on me should be up on that computer screen
by now.”

Cassidy laughed.  “You’re a smart lady.  The Outfit needs more people like you.”

“I know,” Shawn said, “I’ve been watching your guys.”

Cassidy smiled again.  “Brandy?” he asked, motioning to the bar.

“No thanks, I save the alcohol for night time.  So, when do I get to see it?”

“You’re a persistant lady, arent you?” Cassidy asked.

Shawn leaned closer.  “More than you know.  Once I set my eyes on something,” she said,
playfully wrapping her finger around Lane’s tie, “I make sure to get it.  And I always get
what I want.”

“And what is it that you want, Miss St. Armund?”

“Oh, Lane, you will be able to know what I want.  So, how about we take a look?”

Cassidy smiled.  From what he read on this Heather St. Armund, she was an expert
hacker, as well as experienced with covert operations.  She was the ideal criminal they
were looking for.  “All right, let’s go.” he said, walking towards a set of doors in rear
corner of the room.

The two of them got into the elevator, and the doors closed.  Shawn felt the elevator start
its rapid decent, looked at the panel on the wall.  She watched the numbers fly by at high
speed.

The elevator finally slowed down and stopped, and the doors opened.  “We’re five floors
underground, just below this buildings basement.  No one know’s we’re here, and no one
will ever know.” Cassidy said, as they walked around.  “This is the real nerve center of
The Outfit.”

Shawn looked around at graphical displays of the city, and real-time satellite pictures of
the city.  “Just as I expected.  Lane, you are a genius.”

Cassidy smiled.  “Well, I guess we’ll have time for a more extensive tour later.  Right
now, the key to our future is right through here...”
 

KITT was sitting alone in the lab, his circuits mostly destroyed, the CPU, close to being
hacked, the body in terrible condition.  KITT wished that the last bullet that Cassidy fired
into his dashboard was just an eighth of an inch to the left, so the CPU would be
destroyed.  He felt he would never see Shawn or anyone else again.

He heard the door opening and knew it must be Cassidy coming to finish him off.  He was
right about it being Cassidy, but this time, he wasn’t alone.

KITT looked at the woman with Cassidy.  There was something about her, something that
KITT knew he could trust.

The woman walked around him.  “Ohh, yes, this was an excellent job indeed.  I assume the
bullets were coated with the same shell which one protected it?”

Upon hearing that voice, KITT knew it was Shawn.  He saw that she had altered her
appearance.  He knew enough to keep quiet.

“Yes,” Cassidy said, “we found valuable contacts within Knight Industries.”

“How much did you pay them, Mr. Cassidy?” KITT asked in his severely distorted voice.

Shawn looked up.  “The CPU is still active?”

“Yeah,” Cassidy said, “however, it wont allow us access.”

She touched the hood which was full of bullet holes.  “Oh, that’s something that can be
fixed.”

“Really?” Cassidy asked.

“Yep.  You let me take it back to my labs, I will get that CPU broken.”

“Why can’t you just do it here?” Cassidy demanded.

“Lane, you underestimate me again.  I got computers and equipment which would have
got this CPU cracked in a split second.” Shawn said.

Cassidy smiled.  “All right, you’ve earned that much.  But I want to come with you.”

Shawn nodded.  “Sure thing...”
 

“...you got a flatbed ready?” Shawn said, as Joe listened in.  He was sitting in the Viper,
a block away from Shawn’s location.

“Miss St. Armund, we have everything ready.  I’ll have it brought to you.” Cassidy said.

Joe activated the morphing sequence and was ready in the Defender.  He looked at the
monitor, which showed a schematic of the building and Shawn’s location.

Kevin looked at the monitor.  “Okay, they’re hooking KITT up to the flatbed, so we
should get to the rendezvous point.”

Joe looked over at him.  “All right, let’s hope we can pull this off.” he said, morphing the
car back into the Viper and driving off.
 

Shawn watched as KITT was hooked up and hoisted on to the flatbed, and covered up.
She gave a quick smile to KITT.

When everything was completed, Shawn hopped into the cab.  She watched Cassidy sit
down next to her in the passenger seat.  “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going with you.” he said.

“Lane, it’s not secure here,” Shawn said, “and we can’t afford to have you hurt at all.  Just
follow me in your limo or whatever.  And then... you can have your limo drop you off...”
she said, smiling.

Lane smiled and closed the door.  Shawn’s stomach was turning.  “Pig.” she said, to
herself.  She started the truck and drove out.  She looked to the right and saw Cassidy’s
limo waiting for her to pass.  They pulled out behind her as she exited the garage and
drove down the street.
 

“All right, Russell, we’re ready if you guys are.” Joe said.

“We’re ready.  The driver will give you the signal to go.” Maddock said.
 

Shawn was so tempted to speak into her comm-link to talk to KITT, and tell him
everything was going to be okay, but she wasn’t sure if The Outfit was monitoring.  She
drove down the road, which led out of town, towards the Power Station.  She stopped at
a four way stop sign intersection.  To her right, there was a semi truck waiting for her go.
Shawn smiled.  The plan was working out just fine.  She pulled out and continued down
the road.

Cassidy’s limo stopped at the sign, and the semi truck started to slowly move across the
road.

As the semi truck moved across the road, an identical flatbed trailer moved along side it,
and turned onto the same road Shawn was traveling down with exact precision.

From the limo’s point of view, no one could see this was happening.

Meanwhile, Shawn made a sharp left and turned onto the road which led to the Power
Station.

The semi truck finally passed, and the limo continued down the road, behind the new
flatbed, which they still thought was the same one that they were following earlier.

The new flatbed continued down the road at a high rate of speed.  The limo sped up to
catch it.

When the road widened, the flatbed stopped suddenly and fishtailed, so it was facing the
limo.  When it came to a rest, the entire flatbed flickered and disintegrated, leaving the
form of a grey car sitting on the road... the Defender.

“Oh shit.” the limo driver said, slamming on the brakes.

Cassidy looked out the front window.  He was speechless.

The driver but the limo in reverse and slammed on the accelerator.  The limo sped down
the road backwards and fishtailed.

“Get out of here!” Cassidy yelled.

The limo driver obeyed and put the car in gear and sped down the road.

Cassidy looked behind him to see the Defender in pursuit.
 

“Yes!” Kevin yelled.  “It worked!”

“That was a hell of a move.” Joe said.  He got on the communication lines.  “Hey Julian...”

“Yeah?”

“Does Cassidy’s limo still have that negative ion field around it?”

“Yep, it looks like it does.”

“Negative ion field?  That makes the Static Pulse bounce off, right?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah.  Let’s just say Cassidy had the thing Viper-proofed.” Joe said.  “Julian, they’re
running scared,” he said, “how about we get back to the Power Station to get KITT up
and running?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Julian said.

“Same here,” Maddock said, “we got them where we want them.”
 

Shawn drove down the road to the Power Station.  She spoke into her comm-link.
“KITT?!” she yelled.

“Shawn!  It is you!” KITT’s excited, but slurred voice came through the comm-link.

Shawn laughed.  “You got that right, KITT.”

“Shawn, I thought I was finished.  I thought... I thought you guys moved on without me.”

“Like hell, KITT,” she said, “there is no way we would ever leave you.  There is no way I
would ever leave you.”

“Thanks for coming back for me, Shawn.  It was just dreadful being in the hands of that
awful man.”

“Well don’t you worry about that, KITT.  We’re going to have you as good as gold
soon!”  She looked out the windshield and saw the Viper pull in front of her.  Joe stuck
his arm out the window and gave her a ‘thumbs up.’
 

The flatbed pulled into the Power Station.  Shawn got out and met Maddock and Kevin,
who both ran up to see KITT.

“KITT?” Maddock said.  “Are you okay?  How are you?”

“Talk to me, KITT, how are you doing?” Kevin said, anxiously.

The two men looked at each other in amazement as they heard KITT’s distorted voice.

“It was horrible.” he said, as he was disconnected from the flatbed.  “I thought I would
never see any of you again.”

“You’re here now, KITT,” Maddock said, “that’s what counts.”

“All right, I think we should get to work.” Julian said, rolling over to KITT, with a
toolbox in his lap.

“Right,” Maddock said, “lets give him and Kevin some room.” he said, walking out of the
room.

Shawn put her hand on KITT’s hood.  “Welcome back, buddy.” she said, walking away.
Joe followed.

Kevin knelt down beside KITT and looked into the passenger compartment.  “Oh man.”

Julian looked at the exterior.  “This does look bad.”

“Imagine how it feels.” KITT said.

“Oh, KITT, I’m sorry,” Kevin said, “this is.... just amazing.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Kevin,” KITT said, “it looks much worse than it feels.” he joked.

July 18, 2000
0010 Hrs

Shawn was sitting on the leather couch, listening to some music, and drinking a cup of
coffee.  She looked up as Kevin came up the stairs.

“Good morning.” he said.

“It’s morning?” Shawn asked.

Kevin nodded.  “It’s around midnight.”

“How’s it going?” she asked.

“Well, Julian is working on the body, and I am working on the electronics and everything
else.”

“How long will it take to get KITT back to 100 percent performance?”

“Well, Julian can get the body work done by tomorrow afternoon.  But since I am
working without Knight Industries Technicians, it will probably take me 12 more hours to
get him to full system capacity.”

Shawn nodded and took a sip of her coffee.

“Why are you still up?” Kevin asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t sleep.” Shawn said.

“I know how you feel.” Kevin said.

“How so?”

Kevin sat down next to her.  “I was in high school, and this one girl I was dating... one of
the few girls who paid attention to me, got in a car accident.  She was in pretty bad shape,
and was hanging on.  When her parents called me, I rushed to the hospital, and waited,
and waited, and waited some more.  I was there for nine hours, along with her parents.
The doctors came out and told us that she had died of her injuries.  But you know,
keeping that nine hour vigil gave me hope, even though the end result was her death.  So,
I do know how you feel.”

“I guess it’s just that I feel connected to KITT as if he was my bigger brother.” Shawn
said, looking to Kevin with tears in her eyes.  “I don’t want to lose him.”

Kevin nodded.  “Why do you think I’m working so hard?” he said, walking out of the
room.

0129 Hrs

Joe made his third pass in the perimeter of the Power Station.  He knew that they would
probably be under attack since Cassidy knows the Viper and the Knight Foundation were
behind KITT’s theft.

But something was strange.  The Defender’s scanners showed no cars approaching for
miles.  This made Joe suspicious and nervous.  The blank scanners meant two things... The
Outfit had figured out how to slip by past the scanners, or they were all converging to
launch a massive attack later.

Joe yawned and took a sip of coffee out of the Thermos he took with him.  He turned
right, and began his fourth pass...
 

“How you feeling, KITT?” Kevin asked, looking up from under the dashboard.

“A little better, Kevin.” KITT replied, his voice back to normal.

Kevin smiled.  “How about you, Julian?”

Julian rolled over to the driver side door.  “Not too bad,” he said, checking his watch, and
noticing it read 9:40am.  “I think maybe about two more hours will do it.”

“That sounds just fine, Mr. Wilkes.” KITT said.  “I must thank you for doing the excellent
job on repairing my body.”

“KITT, it was my pleasure.” Julian said.  “Kevin, when is the MBS arriving?”

Something sparked under the dashboard.

“Shit.” Kevin said.  “KITT, are you okay?”

Kevin went wide eyed as he heard KITT speak.  KITT was speaking in German!

“What’s going on?” Julian asked.

“I think I accidentally tripped KITT’s translation matrix.” Kevin explained, listening to
KITT speak in German.

“Can you fix it?” Julian asked.

“Yeah, if I just connect...  There we go.  How’s that KITT?”

“Much better, Kevin,” KITT said, “I don’t like being limited to just one language.”

Kevin laughed.  “KITT, I don’t think any humans like to be limited to just one thing.”

The two of them looked up as Joe pulled in, with Maddock in the passenger seat.

“All right,” Maddock said, getting out and taking a crate out of the trunk, “we don’t have
much time.  The scanners showed that we’ve got a heavily armed Outfit convoy coming
this way.”

“How much time we got?” Julian asked.

“Probably a hour, maybe an hour and a half.” Joe said.

“Russ, it is going to take us at least four more hours to get KITT up and running at full
capacity.” Kevin said.

“Then you guys better figure out a way to get him up at optimal capacity, quickly.”
Maddock said.  He pushed the crate over to Kevin and Julian.  “This is the newly
calibrated MBS.  It will be able to withstand The Outfit’s MBS coated weapons.”

Julian opened the crate and took out the jars containing the formula and the devices used
to apply it.

Kevin got back inside KITT and started to go to work.

“Are you going to make it, Kevin?” KITT asked.

“You’re damn right.  We don’t have a choice.”

The Outfit convoy was in a diamond formation, speeding down the street.  In the middle
was Cassidy’s limo, three black Chrysler Thunderbol