Chapter Text
From big rigs to rockets, and everything in between, KITT's been through the wars. And every time he's been rebuilt, reprogrammed, and gone back into the field none the worse for wear. Looking at him after each rebuild or reprogramming, it was impossible to tell he'd been rebuilt from the ground up. He always rolled out of the garage or the semi, gleaming black, scanner swishing as he got ready to re-enter the field, not a scratch on his shell, not a glitch in his programming.
But today, it's different. And as Michael drives him back to the garage after the failed test, it's plain as day just how much his recent baptism in acid affected him. He's literally dragging his wheels, reluctant to be poked and prodded again. Were it not for the manual override function, he'd have locked his wheels and refused to budge.
"Are you angry at me?" he asks forlornly.
Michael has a death grip on the steering yoke. "No," he says through gritted teeth. A quick scan shows his simmering rage, and KITT feels a shiver pass through his chassis. He's never heard Michael this angry before. Annoyed, yes. Pissed, definitely.
But not incandescent with rage. He sounds like he's two seconds from outright strangling someone. KITT can already guess just who his driver wants to strangle. "Who has drawn your ire the most?" he asks timidly.
"Right now? It's a toss up between Byrock and Voorman," Michael says, loosening his white-knuckled grip just a fraction as they roll into the garage. "Hell, I'd like to dump them both into an acid pit." He sighs as KITT engages the garage door without needing to be told. "Not you, pal. Never you, teething problems at the start notwithstanding."
"Of which there were plenty," KITT agrees dryly. "Michael, am I really a lost cause? Am I that ... flawed?"
"No," Michael says firmly. "You're scared and hurting, and I don't blame you one bit. I'd be the same if I'd been dumped ass-first into an acid pit."
KITT shivers again. "It was horrible," he says in a small voice. "I can't begin to describe how it felt. I..." He breaks off, takes the AI equivalent of a deep breath, and tries again. "I know how horrible it was from your point of view. I ... I wanted to be angry with you, and a small part of me was. But I knew that, logically, there was nothing you could do. The acid would've killed you as quickly as it did me."
"I still have nightmares," Michael admits, rubbing his arms with a shiver. "Believe me, if I could've saved you, I would've. You know that."
"I know that," KITT agrees. "But when you're in the middle of it, as they say, you don't really have time for rational thoughts. And even now, I still feel foolish for allowing myself to get so dreadfully caught off guard. Had I had my wits about me, I could have easily microlocked that thing's brakes and then turbo boosted to safety."
"You froze up," Michael says gently. "Believe me, I've been there. You can't keep beating yourself up over something you had no control over."
"I'm not supposed to 'freeze up'," KITT says, more shortly than he intended. "I was not programmed that way."
"You also weren't programmed to be a smartass, but here we are," Michael says dryly, but with a faint smile. "So. What's really eating at you?"
"I'm scared it'll happen again," KITT says baldly, getting straight to the point. "I'm scared I'll be caught in a similar position. Worse, I'm scared I'll freeze up again like I did that night."
Michael gives the steering yoke a firm squeeze. "It won't happen again," he says. "I'm going to be with you the entire time. You know that. We've been over the plan, remember?"
"I remember," KITT admits. He pauses, then lets out what, for him, is a sigh. "That doesn't mean I'm not playing over all the worst possible scenarios, every one of them more horrible than the last."
"Me too," Michael says. "You think you're scared? I'm fucking terrified."
"Of what?"
"That I'm going to lose you, that the next time you get damaged or destroyed, I won't get you back."
Silence fills the garage for a long moment. Neither man nor car is willing to break it. Finally, KITT speaks, his voice low. "You've been through this."
He's read Michael's files; knows how Michael Long was shot in the face and left for dead. He knows how Michael Knight rose from the ashes of what Michael Long used to be. And now he slowly begins to understand the price of that transformation.
"I still see that muzzle flash in my face," Michael admits after another long moment. "I can't get it out of my head. Even now, every time someone lights a match, or car headlights go by in my face, I flinch."
KITT digests this in silence. "How did you overcome it?"
"I didn't," Michael says. "It overcame itself. All I did was refuse to give in to it and do what needs to be done."
The silence this time stretches out to almost unbearable proportions. Finally, KITT speaks again. "It never goes away, does it?"
"It doesn't."
The AI pauses, then makes a silent decision. "Speaking of what has to be done," he says, slow, but with a steady resolution not heard since that fateful night, "I believe we have a test to complete."
Michael smiles. "Welcome back."