Chapter Text
“D’ya ever think that once, just once, we could have a simple, straightforward mission? One where everything actually goes according to the damn plan?”
KITT did not, in fact, think so. Actually, he was of the opinion that his partner was borderline delusional to hope for such a phenomenon. Michael knew as well as KITT did that their work existed for one reason alone, and that was to handle cases that were too complex for local law enforcement. Needless to say, the word ‘simple’ was nowhere to be found in their nonexistent job descriptions.
“Our track record suggests that it is unlikely,” he replied aloud, kicking into fifth gear at a light-footed suggestion from his pilot. “However, I certainly wouldn’t complain if our targets had chosen a more reasonable hour to carry out their wrongdoings.”
In the driver's seat, Michael made an effort to stifle a yawn. Though valiant, the effort was a spectacular failure. “Say that again. You’re not even the one who had to wake up in the middle of the night for this.” For emphasis, he tucked the collar of his favorite jacket more snugly around his neck and hunched his shoulders. Clearly, he was still mourning the loss of the scratchy knitted blankets he’d been complaining about mere hours ago.
The cabin was already plenty warm, but KITT took his cue and notched the seat heaters higher. The damp air around them likely wasn’t helping, despite KITT’s humidity controlled cabin. The rain was little more than a light drizzle turning to pinpoints of light in his low beams, but a thick, chilling fog had rolled in with the morning. If one could truly call this hour ‘morning’, yet - his chronometer had only just hit 3am.
In actuality, it was just as well their targets had chosen to strike at this hour. For the past week, Michael and KITT had been following a string of well-organized heists that had hit nearly every major tech manufacturer on the west coast. As such, Michael and KITT had been staking out a prominent startup in a nearby city for the night, where they’d predicted the thieves would strike next.
Well, KITT had been staking it out. Michael had been attempting to get a few minutes of rest by the time they’d gotten the call that the thieves had hit much closer to home. The Knight Industries warehouse, to be exact. That news had seen them on the road post-haste.
Riverside was typically an hour’s drive away, but due to the ungodly hour, they were making good time with the interstate as empty as it was. KITT’s speedometer had climbed well past anything within the realm of the speed limit, setting a breakneck pace that would have been catastrophically reckless for the average automobile.
Luckily, there was nothing about KITT that fell into a category that might be considered ‘average’.
“It’s not my fault that I don’t share your human reliance on sleep,” KITT pointed out, watching as Michael sank glumly into the added warmth of the seats. “Besides, I have reason to believe that this turn of events will be good for you.”
Michael shot a look at KITT’s vocoder that wasn’t quite sure whether to be offended or just confused. “Walking right into the line of fire is good for me?”
“Well, only if that jacket of yours were to suddenly become bulletproof. Which, granted, would make my job a good deal easier,” KITT said, drawing out a dry note in his tone. “No, Michael, I was referring to the mental challenge that this will provide. This case has been rather slow thus far, after all.”
Michael’s suspicious expression relented slightly as he canted his head. Tailing the thieves had been becoming tiresome, even for KITT. They’d burned through KITT’s onboard game library nearly two days ago. KITT suspected that if he beat Michael in one more round of poker, his driver may never speak to him again.
“A Border Collie would become agitated and depressed without suitably challenging tasks to perform,” KITT continued. “You, I fear, would share the same predicament if routinely handed simple, straightforward cases such as this. Therefore, the change of pace is good for you.”
Tellingly, Michael didn’t deny the accusation. Instead, he just smirked. “Thought you hated dogs. What’d I do to suddenly deserve being compared to one?”
“I only dislike ill-behaved, poorly trained dogs, Michael.” A coy note crept into his voice. “Your training may still be a work in progress, but I’ll get you there eventually. Never fear.”
“Gee, thanks. Really feelin’ the love, here.” Michael grinned as he leaned deeper into the accelerator, and KITT readily took up the slack. “How much farther to the warehouse, smartass?”
Within an instant, an overview of their course flashed onto his dual monitors. “Three minutes and sixteen seconds, Michael.”
“Good. Maybe we can finally nail these guys tonight and take Devon up on that vacation time he’s been promising. There’s a beach somewhere out there with our names on it.”
Another unlikely delusion, given the skill of the group they were trying to apprehend and how far behind Michael and KITT were running. But this time, KITT let it slide. Letting the man have a little more delusion was, at least in this instance, probably healthy.
As if on cue, KITT’s comms lit up with an oft-used frequency, sending a familiar chime through his cabin. “Devon is calling,” he half-warned before patching the call through, lest Michael continue complaining about his lack of time off.
“Oh hey, right on time.” Michael flashed a winning smile towards the monitors, where the video feed of their boss was already flaring into view. “Yo, Devon!”
“Michael,” Devon greeted, looking remarkably put-together considering the dreadful hour. At least, more put-together than Michael, whose sleep-disheveled curls were still partially flattened to one side of his head.
“Any word on our guys yet?” Michael asked, ankle flexing to ease KITT off the pace as they approached their exit. KITT obliged, drawing himself back to a more reasonable cruising speed as Michael spun the yoke right, sending them careening onto the familiar side roads that would lead towards home. His tires skipped briefly across pavement before biting back into the turn, letting KITT settle and dig in for the straightaway.
“They appear to still be inside,” Devon confirmed. “Security is standing by to assist when you arrive. Considering what we know the thieves are capable of, we have advised our team not to engage until you arrive.”
Michael grimaced. KITT assumed that he must be recalling the three deaths that had helped to land these particular tech thieves on FLAG’s radar. Every single one of the men they’d killed had been security guards who had attempted to stop their heists. “Yeah, good call. With any luck, though, this ends tonight.”
Devon gave them a serious look. “Be careful, Michael. Bonnie has informed me that there are several experimental projects meant for KITT still inside. If they end up on the black market… Well. I don’t need to tell you what might happen.”
“Yeah, I gotcha, Dev.” Michael shot a glance at the video feed, solemn enough to show that he did, indeed, grasp the levity of the situation. For a moment, KITT was sure he saw the same fire in his eyes that Wilton Knight must have seen when he chose Michael for his driver. KITT couldn’t help the flush of pride that lit up his circuitry, to be paired with such an exemplary human. “We’ll be there in two minutes and counting. Wish us luck.”
Devon’s face softened, revealing the tiredness in his expression for the first time. “Good luck, Michael. Keep in touch.” And with that, the feed was cut.
Just in time. KITT’s tires grabbed for purchase as they spun into the familiar drive that would lead them to the warehouse. KITT’s own place of origin loomed above them, black and imposing in the gloomy night, an industrial front to the goldmine of technology hidden within. Michael reached to the overhead console, punching in the code that would activate surveillance mode. “Alright, pal,” Michael murmured. “Let’s see what we’re working with.”
KITT was queuing up surveillance mode before Michael even input the code, sensors coming alive as he expanded his scanning range. He reached into the darkness around them, letting his sensors feel out the night. “There is, indeed, someone inside the building, Michael,” he reported, allowing the location of the heat signature to flash on his monitors. “But I’m only picking up one person. This is highly inconsistent with the previous heists we’ve seen from this group.”
Michael narrowed his eyes at the monitors. “Try again. Anything that could be blocking your scanners?”
“No, Michael. Either they’ve scaled down their operation, or-”
Ping.
KITT paused. An unidentifiable signal had echoed faintly off his long-range scanners, and whatever it was had vanished as quickly as it appeared. It hadn’t even been active long enough to be a proper communication signal - it had been a mere ghost of an echo, there and then gone.
But the signal’s odd timing wasn’t the part that made his circuits crawl with unease.
“I picked up an odd reading just now,” he reported slowly. “But I’m afraid I couldn’t triangulate the source.”
Michael shot a look at his vocoder. “Odd, how?”
“The signal burst was too short to have any discernible purpose, for one thing. It wasn’t even long enough for the smallest data transmission.”
“Could it have been a scanner ping? Monitoring the location on the guy inside?”
“The computer transmitting it would need to be extremely powerful to get any information from such a brief signal.” He paused, before diving ahead. “In addition, the signal was transmitted using an encryption that seemed specifically designed to evade me. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“I dunno, KITT. With the technology they’ve got their hands on, anything’s possible.” He frowned. “Maybe they’re mirroring our signal to try and sneak past us.”
KITT slashed his scanner against the night. “Even computers as advanced as myself have limits, Michael.”
Michael inhaled, letting his brows knit over his forehead. “Right. Well, that’s not much to go on… but we’ve operated on less before.” He reached for the door handle, letting the damp night air spill into KITT’s cabin. “Keep those scanners hot, yeah? Tell me if anything changes.”
KITT hesitated as the unidentifiable signal pinged off his scanners again. Too quick to grab a reading on. “Michael?”
“Yeah, KITT?”
“Please be careful.”
“Hey, you know me, partner.” Michael flashed an easy smile at the vocoder as he swung his long legs free of the cockpit. “Careful’s my middle name.”
For some reason, that didn’t make KITT feel much better.