Chapter Text
For seven years Karr had kept up with the tradition to find some odd little trinket for his brother, on the date that he knew he had been activated. A birthday so to speak. It had never meant anything until six years ago, before Kitt had almost been killed.
And by now, with things having been returned to a different, but normal state, he had simply continued to do it.
This was the first time he had been invited, the first time there was actually some sort of celebration going on after all. In a restaurant of all places. One Kitt had picked. Of curse he had. If Michael had done it, they would be sitting in a burger joint.
This was also the first time Karr brought Summer along. The young woman had an arm around his back, chuckling. “Do you do this every year?” She nodded to the writing on the helium filled balloon.
‘Happy birthday from your superior sibling’
“Have for a while, yeah…” Karr muttered.
By now Summer knew everything there was to know about his origins, but he had not told her anything about Kitt’s. That was not his place.
She pulled the balloon closer as they entered the restaurant. Karr knew there had been tables reserved in the back. Kitt had even insisted on everyone dressing fancy.
Karr wasn’t even sure what the occasion was this time. Humans made a big deal out of round numbers or double digits but this was neither of those things.
Maybe Kitt had finally had enough of Karr being the only one to remember this date. Maybe that was why.
Kitt and Michael were obviously already there, Kitt standing up like the polite idiot he was to greet both of them, even pulled out the chair for Summer after she had hugged both Kitt and Michael. How he did this all so naturally was still beyond Karr after so may years.
His brother was dressed in all black, as usual, no tie. As usual.
Somehow he had even managed to get Michael into a suit. Impressive.
Karr had ended up dressing in all black as well.
“…if not for the hair I would not be able to tell you two apart.” Summer commented as she looked between the two brothers.
“I’m taller.” Karr insisted, making Kitt tip toe, which he promptly answered with the same motion.
Summer laughed. “Happy birthday.” She addressed Kitt, handing him the small present she had brought. It was the first time Karr had taken her along to this after all and she had insisted to bring a small gift too.
Kitt thanked her politely, putting the gift aside with the other two that were resting on an empty chair already.
Karr made little fanfare out of all of it, throwing the gift he was holding at his brother. Kitt caught it easily, eyeing the shape. “Another watch?”
Karr gave him a shit eating grin and handed him the paper bag he was holding too. It had colorful print all over it, spelling ‘happy birthday’ across the entirety of it.
Kitt peeked into it, noting the black shirt. Summer hoped he didn’t actually pull it out as she tied the balloon to the backrest to one of the empty chairs.
“It’s not just us, right?” Karr asked, frowning.
Kitt shook his head. “Cindy is almost here, Bonnie is stuck in a traffic jam, and you know Mike and being on time.”
Karr huffed settling down next to Summer. “So what’s the occasion to be this fancy? You never bothered before.”
“Cindy decided it was time for something fancy.” Michael shrugged. “Don’t really know why it had to be this fancy, but it is what it is.”
“She said I can choose wherever. This is still not as fancy as it could get, I didn’t want to make you have to watch your manners on top of having to wear a suit.” Kitt muttered into the glass he sipped from.
“Love you too, buddy.”
Kitt winked at him, setting the glass back down.
Summer chuckled, giving Karr an amused glance. “I never had to dress up for a restaurant before.”
“I enjoy getting to dress up every once in a while.” Kitt admitted. “As much as Michael hates it, I like it. It has class.”
“I’m with Michael on that one.” Karr muttered, pulling at his collar for emphasis.
Summer had helped him with the tie that had not lasted ten minutes and was now somewhere in the backseat of the car, forgotten. “I don’t like how constricting this clothing is.”
“You could have dressed in a t-shirt, Buttercup.” Cindy grinned behind him. She took note of the pony tail, giving it an approving nod. “Looking fine though.” She commented, then pulled Kitt into a hug as he went to greet her. She had a big bouquet of flowers with her, and another small gift to add to the pile. “Happy Birthday, red.”
“Thank you.” Kitt hugged her back, taking note that she had only brought Matthew with her.
“Aves and Mark are busy up in Colorado with a house, couldn’t make it in time.” Cindy apologized. “This is from the boys. The other is from Mark and I.”
Matthew handed him another gift, grinning as he gave Karr a tight hug.
It took a while until everyone had settled in, Mike still absent even when Bonnie arrived. They had started ordering food and drinks and eventually, in between the conversation of what wine went best with what food, Mike arrived with a tall, broad man in tow.
“Oh wow, KITT what got you to take the android out, huh?.” Cindy commented. “Curious about how these places look from the inside?”
Mike chuckled at the tall man who looked entirely like he felt out of place. “I did not want to miss the opportunity to see how my brothers behave under the influence of alcohol.”
“We can’t get drunk, idiot.” Karr rolled his eyes, turning to wards the dark haired man.
“You would be even more unbearable if you could.” Cindy laughed.
Karr picked up a salt shaker to throw at her, which she caught with ease, making some of it spill. “Come on, you know I’m right.” She grinned, putting the shaker back on the table, brushing the salt off her skirt.
They chatted for a while, catching up with everyone. Life had been somewhat hectic for a while for all of them. Karr had just returned from a quite annoying case, Summer would have her fifth anniversary within FLAG next week, Bonnie had finally retired, but would still be the first to be called if any of the cars needed repairs.
Michael and Sarah had gotten an incredibly well coordinated team, dispatching and organising cases all across the states. It had been a blast for a while. Even most members of the TKR had stayed.
Kitt usually helped with the organising, acquiring information, funds… everything Devon used to do back in the day. They had turned from a small little family into a well oiled machine. And after so many years of everything going wrong over and over again, this was peace.
The world was still dangerous and cruel, but they had safety with each other.
Karr jumped when Kitt elbowed him in the side. “You’re brooding.”
“I’m not-” He looked up, finding several sets of eyes staring at him. The only one not looking was Matthew who was busy keeping the pudding on his plate. “Fine.” He rolled his eyes. “I was thinking that it’s funny how we all ended up like this.”
“Like what?” Kitt looked at him again, smirking.
Karr gestured to their little group. “Just this. All of us.”
“You two finally having a moment to actually talk after all that work?” Michael suggested, chuckling.
“We talk all the time.” Karr shrugged.
“Yeah on the phone.” Mike interjected. “You’re worse than teen girls gossiping about their boyfriends.”
“How do you know that?” KITT asked. “You were never a teenage girl. Do you wish to be a girl?”
Mike shoved him playfully. “Shut up.”
Laughter echoed through the group.
It was late in the evening when they ended the comfortable celebration, Kitt and Michael being the last to leave. Kitt was carrying the bulk of the gifts he had been given to the car they had recently bought. Technically Kitt had bought it. The first car he had ever actually owned by himself, even when the ID and license that had gotten him that had been forged years ago.
It was black of course, used, but well maintained. Michael had insisted on getting it coated with the MBS, but they hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
“So what do we do with the rest of the night?” Michael winked at him when the trunk opened for him. He had complained about the small storage space. It only seated two people. Kitt had argued that it was a Ferrari, it didn’t need storage space, it was meant to be driven at break neck speeds.
Maybe it had been stupid to take this car here, but he really hadn’t expected to get this many things. He hadn’t even opened any yet. That was all for later.
“If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking right now, no.” Kitt fired back. “Cleaning that up is too much of a mess.”
Michael looked at him in mock disappointment, helping him put the items away. Even with all his skill in stacking things into tiny spaces, two boxes wouldn’t fit no matter how they were adjusted.
“I’m telling you, this car is impractical.” Michael half joked.
Kitt glanced at him, shutting the trunk, the two boxes in his other hand. “It’s faster than your chevy.”
“But if you need to make return trips to get everything home it takes just as long.” Michael grinned, out of habit moving over to the driver’s side.
Kitt cleared his throat loudly, holding the keys up wordlessly.
Michael huffed a small laugh at him, not missing the chance to place a hand on his butt as he passed him. Kitt caught his hand, keeping it there for a second, pulling Michael down to him to catch his lips. “Keep it in until we’re home.” he whispered.
Michael returned the kiss, pushing him against the car just slightly. “That’s like asking me to stop looking at you.”
Kitt moved one leg between Michael’s, pulling him down just a bit more. “Oh, really?”
Michael chuckled, kissing his neck, about to pull the dress shirt out of his pants only to have his hand slapped at. Lightly. Not nearly enough to even sting. “We’re in a parking lot.”
“We have been so many times.” Michael whispered.
“Not with family watching.”
That made Michael take a step back and look around. Karr’s trans am was still there. He was arguing with Cindy over something or other, Summer leaning against the car, with an annoyed expression.
“Let me drive and I’ll behave until we’re home?” Michael tried.
Kitt raised his eyebrows at him. “Deal.”
Michael laughed. “You really don’t want to have to clean that up huh?”
“Do you?” Kitt whispered, handing him the keys.
“Okay, okay. Point taken.” Michael still grinned.
Kitt shook his head, moving around the car as Michael unlocked the door. Suddenly the android stopped, turned, wide eyes looking at him, his name on his lips.
And then the car shot up in a ball of fire. Neither of them had time to react as they were ripped off their feet and flung across the parking lot.
Kitt couldn’t move for several moments, having smashed into a concrete planter, systems struggling to stay online at the sudden damage warnings blaring at him.
But that wasn’t important. “Mich-” he croaked, struggling to sit up. He could see the ball of fire that used to be his car, a figure several feet away from it, lying on the floor motionlessly.
“Michael!” He screamed then, his legs giving out on him once he had finally gotten them under him.
Shit, his systems were struggling. Why?! Michael was hurt! He needed to get help!
People were running towards them, Cindy falling to her knees next to Michael, barking something at Matthew. The teenager ran away again and he could see Mike and Bonnie rushing up too, then Kitt’s field of view was blocked by Karr.
“How bad are you damaged?”
“Wh-what-” Kitt could only manage, too shocked that that was what his brother asked him. That wasn’t important right now! “Mi-Michael-”
“Is taken care of. Matt is calling an ambulance. I asked you a question.” Karr hissed at him, lifting him off the ground to sit him against the planter he had just been flung into. “You can’t do anything. Stay here.”
Kitt batted his hands away, shaking his head. “Michael…I..”
Karr snarled, turning back to look at Cindy, intentionally blocking Kitt’s line of sight. Cindy grimaced at him when their eyes met.
“Let me…” Kitt stood again, barely able to stay upright and Karr caught him, once more sitting him back down with a bit more force.
“No.” He growled. “You’re damaged. And you’re telling me how bad. Now.”
“I’m…?” Kitt finally looked down at himself, noting that half of his right arm was completely gone, red fluid dripping from it. He hadn’t even noticed. The warnings were everwhere. Reinforced or not, this skeleton couldn’t withstand the force of an explosion from this close.
Of course not.
But Michael was still more important!
Kitt struggled against his brother, finally shoving him away enough to stand yet again and limp over to where Cindy and Mike were hovering over Michael’s still form.
He was just unconscious… was he?
Cindy looked up at him, jumping to her feet when she noticed all color leaving his face. Karr was next to them in a flash, catching his brother as he sank to the ground.
Hands in Kitt’s face, Cindy tried to keep him from passing out. “He’s alive.” She said, although she made no comment on how injured he was.
“Get Kitt out of here.” Cindy snarled at Karr.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Of course it isn’t!” She growled back, “But when the ambulance arrives they’ll want to look at him too! And I really don’t want to explain that right now!”
Karr grimaced at her, nodding. He stood, tugging Kitt to his feet. “Come on.”
“Michael-”
It was like talking to a broken record. “Is taken care of.”
“No…” Kitt struggled against him, trying to free himself weakly.
Karr growled, jolting him. “You’re being irrational! You cannot help him right now.”
Kitt fell silent at that, letting himself be steered over to the dark blue trans am.
Summer had stayed where she was, eyes wide when Karr opened the passenger’s door and had Kitt sit down. His brother complied to his surprise but as soon as he was sitting he turned his head to look at where Cindy and Mike fussed over Michael. Where was the ambulance? He couldn’t check. His system too taxed.
Flinching, Kitt turned to Karr when the other grabbed his damaged arm. No one said anything. Karr did his best to seal the open fluid lines, wrapping that in bandages from the human first aid kit just to keep up the ruse. They all knew there was no way they could keep Kitt from staying with Michael.
Matthew shifted closer, blonde curly hair a tangled mess from him running his hands through it constantly. Karr looked at him, taking in the trembling form of the teenager. Matt was a good kid, he didn’t get into half as much trouble as Avery did. This was the most violent thing he had ever seen outside of TV and video games.
Blue eyes looked up at Karr, lip trembling. Karr sighed, taking a step back to make space and reaching out to Cindy’s son. He had seen that boy grow up from when he was just a baby, he was like a brother to him.
Matthew grabbed his arm, letting himself be pulled into a tight hug. “H-how do you all know what to do in such a situation?” the boy mumbled into Karr’s shirt, voice shaking. “I’m scared…”
“We’re used to things going to shit.” Karr whispered, squeezing him. He hadn’t had time to check on Michael, and the way Cindy had looked at him had painted a gruesome picture.
Right now Kitt was only sitting still because his systems were taxed and he physically couldn’t do much against Karr. If he had the strength, he would have wrestled Karr away, there was no doubt about it.
Matthew squeezed him back, clinging to him for a moment before letting go. “What do we do?”
“Nothing. Your Bonnie and Mike have it covered.”
“But the car-”
“There’s no immediate threat to the fire going anywhere else. You told them the car exploded right?”
“I think so...” Matthew muttered, unsure.
“They’ll send fire fighters then.”
“Cars don’t just explode, right?” the boy continued to ask.
“No.” Kitt replied. “I... caught a signal… just before…” he struggled to speak, his remaining hand pressed to his forehead, grunting.
Karr leaned back into the car, one arm on the roof, glaring at his brother. “What’s wrong?”
Kitt half turned his head to look at him. “…What do you… think?”
“I am not in the mood to play guessing games right now Kitt.” Karr lowered his voice, tone cold and demanding. “Tell me what it is.”
“I... hit the ground… pretty hard…” He hissed.
Karr growled, slamming his fist onto the roof of the unforgiving shell of the trans am. “I’ll get Bonnie, and you will stay here.”
Kitt only nodded, making Karr sprint back towards the parking lot. He was glad he had parked on the other side, away from all the commotion. The ambulance had arrived by now, loading Michael into it. Karr didn’t dare to ask. The grim faces told him enough. Mike took the chance to hop into it after his father and that had to be good enough for now.
“W-Where’s Kitt?” Bonnie asked, face white as a sheet, stumbling slightly.
Karr and Cindy both steadied her. “In my car.”
Bonnie had to sit down after a few steps, shaking violently. “You got her? I’ll go take a look at Kitt.” Cindy said, face hard and impossible to read.
Karr managed a nod, knowing Cindy wouldn’t be able to do all that much if it was an issue with Kitt’s processor.
Still, Cindy took off running, ignoring all the random people that had accumulated to see the spectacle. There was nothing to see here.
She arrived to Kitt half sitting in the passenger’s seat of the blue car, legs on the asphalt, hunched over, fingers digging into his skull. Summer was rubbing circles into his back and Cindy could take a good guess what the AI was blaming himself for.
“That was not your fault, red.” Cindy sighed, crouching down next to the open door, putting a hand on his knee.
Kitt shifted slightly, lifting his head just enough so he could fire a glare at her. “…it… was a… bomb…”
Cindy didn’t like the way his speech sounded, how long it had taken him to respond to her.
“I…caught… the signal… but… i… was …too slow-” blood started dripping from his nose and Cindy grabbed after the white box currently on the ground next to the car.
“He’s alive.” Cindy sighed. “They don’t know his condition, it didn’t look good, but for now he’s alive. Mike went with the ambulance. And you need repairs.” she rifled through the repair kit, noting that some items were already missing. She then also noticed the missing part of his right arm, neatly hidden away under bandages as if Karr had planned for him to join the ambulance.
He probably would have, but Cindy decided Kitt was in no condition to go anywhere but her lab at the moment.
“I… failed… him…”
“Nonsense, red.” Cindy gently took his head into her hands, carefully feeling for damage. Kitt flinched when she brushed against the side of his head, and she noted a shift in the skull structure. Nothing visible, but the impact had rattled something loose. She hummed, taking a mental note of that, before moving her hands further. “Anything else damaged that I can’t see right now?”
Kitt stayed silent for long enough that she wanted to repeat her question. Instead, he mumbled something she didn’t understand.
“What’s that?” She frowned.
“Hips…” Kitt managed.
“Ah. That old story again, huh.” She huffed, trying to lighted the mood. “I don’t like the way your speech sounds, Kitt. “
He glanced at her. “…I hit… my head… what do you…. think?”
“Okay but did that rattle the auxiliary chip loose or did something else happen, hm?”
Kitt shrugged slightly, wincing again.
“Alright. I’ll go get Bonnie here, and then we’re going to my place for repairs.”
Just as Cindy moved to stand, she spotted Matthew walking over to them with something in his hand that looked suspiciously like a severed arm.
“Found it!” He announced.
Next to Cindy, Summer reeled. “Oh god…”
“Just a machine part, Sweetheart.” Cindy sighed.
“I know… just…” Summer shivered, stepping away as Matthew brought the part over to his mother.
Karr helped Bonnie walk over to them and within a few minutes Cindy and Bonnie had gotten Kitt into Cindy’s car and went off to Cindy’s house.
Karr crossed his arms across the roof of his car, staring at the smoking remains of what used to be a beautiful car.
“I’ll never get used to this chaos.” Summer whispered next to him, bumping into his side.
“You’ve been part of this chaos for four years.” He said, sounding distracted.
She sighed heavily. “What are you hacking?”
He huffed. She had learned to read him incredibly well. “Surveillance of the restaurant. I want to know who planted the bomb.”
“Me too…” Summer whispered. While she was officially employed with FLAG, she had a desk job. Check reports, file them into the system, make people rewrite them, or write them at all. It was an easy job and it paid well. And it had given her a much better understanding of what kind of work it was that Karr and the others were doing.
“What do we do if Michael dies?”
“Don’t get into that right now…” Karr whispered, then turned to her. “Got the files from the last 24 hours, I’m sending them to KITT, Billy and Zoe right now. And we’re going to Cindy’s place now.”
She nodded. Of course he would want to be with his brother.
It hadn’t taken long to fix the damage to Kitt’s skull and realign the auxiliary chip they had soldered into him so many years ago. That had improved his speech, but his system was still extremely taxed, for obvious reasons.
Now that Bonnie wasn’t needed anymore the technician had excused herself to get some tea and calm down.
Right now, Cindy was reattaching the arm to Kitt, who had been silent ever since they were done testing his processing speed.
“I’d like to keep you here for the night.” She eventually said.
“No.” He argued.
“Kitt you got banged up pretty badly, if any more issues show up that we didn’t notice-”
“No.” he repeated. “I need to be with Michael.”
Cindy sighed, shoving a stray strand of red curly hair out of her face with her arm. “There is nothing you can do.”
“I can still be present.” Kitt continued to Argue.
“Will they even let you in?”
“I don’t care.” he growled. “It is my job to protect Michael, and I have failed worse than i have ever failed before today. I should have detected the bomb. But I was too caught up playing happy family.”
“Hey.” Cindy pointed a finger at him, voice taking on a sharp edge. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I… should have scanned the car. I risked Michael's life for my own selfish desires.” Kitt’s voice broke. “What if he dies and it’s my fault…?”
“Don’t do that, Kitt.” She warned.
“I… I can’t compute this- I-I-”
“Kitt.” Cindy stood from her chair, tools put aside, hands on his shoulders. “Stop. Michael is still alive. You think you wouldn’t be the first person Mike calls if anything changed drastically?”
He stayed silent, tears shimmering in his eyes.
“Let me fix your arm properly, and then we’ll see how this continues, okay?”
He nodded slightly, jumping when the door to the lab opened and Karr flew in like a bat out of hell.
“Jesus Christ Buttercup, what the fuck!” Cindy cursed at him, her surprise wearing off quickly when she saw his face. “What happened?”
“We got a visual on who planted the bomb. No ID yet, KITT is working on that.” Karr glanced at his brother, taking in the state he was in. All things considered, he looked more or less okay.
“That is great, but I don’t think that’s a reason to barge in here like that.”
Karr grimaced, hopping onto the workbench next to his brother to wrap an arm around him. Kitt tensed immediately, knowing there would only be one reason Karr got this close.
“Mike called me.” Karr muttered eventually, leaving the silence hang for a few seconds.
Kitt tensed even more, holding his breath, anticipating what Karr was going to tell him.
“Michael is in critical condition, they don’t know if he’ll make it.”
Kitt was off the workbench in a flash, ignoring Cindy’s protests. Karr followed, giving her an apologetic smile.
“You could have waited until I was done!” Cindy complained.
“He’d never forgive me.” Karr shot back.
Kitt was silent during the drive. Cindy had reattached the missing part of his arms, but the damage was still clearly visible.
“That bomb was meant for you.” Karr muttered at a red light.
“Good.”
“Kitt.” Karr warned.
“I will go after them for doing this to him.” Kitt hissed, voice so full of anger, Karr had rarely heard from him.
“It was meant for you.” Karr repeated. “They didn’t know Michael would open the door. KITT identified the signal was hooked up to the door mechanism. It would have exploded for anyone trying to open the door.”
“I know how car-bombs work!” Kitt snapped at him, half turning in the seat to glare at him.
Karr heaved a heavy sigh. “I wish i could do something, I’m sorry.”
“Find who planted it.”
“We’re working on that.”
“Work faster!”
Karr clenched his hands around the steering wheel. Kitt was unbearable when he was angry. He had a good reason, and still. He sped up the car, just to get there just a bit faster, to keep his brother from saying something he would regret.
Kitt moved to opened the door before Karr had even found a parking spot. “Don’t. At least cover the damage to your arm.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not. Do you want people asking you stupid questions?” Karr fired back, unbuttoning his dress shirt to reveal a black t-shirt underneath. He handed the shirt to his brother, who shrugged out of his own ruined shirt and put the oversized one on. Maybe it would have looked funny to see Kitt wearing his clothes, but Karr couldn’t find any humor in this situation.
The fact that Kitt wasn’t even noticing he didn’t look pristine spoke volumes about how upset he was.
They both walked into the hospital, Kitt beelining for the reception to find out where they kept his partner. Karr followed behind, barely managing to keep Kitt from jumping across the counter to strangle the poor woman only doing her job.
“Calm down.” He hissed at his brother, then directed his gaze back at the woman. “We’re looking for Michael Knight.”
“Still in surgery.” The woman sighed.
“Where can we wait?”
The woman muttered something about the third floor and Kitt was off before she had fully finished. Karr gave her an apologetic look and followed his brother to the elevator. Kitt had had the decency to keep the doors open until Karr joined him, but all in all the expression on his brothers face was murderous.
It was almost funny to see their roles reversed. Usually it was Kitt who did the talking and Karr who did the angry impulse action other people had to clean up later.
Kitt threw himself into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs so hard it made the whole bench it was attached to scrape across the ground. He was a nervous wreck. Understandable in the situation, but Karr couldn’t relate. Not really. He couldn’t imagine being in such a situation. There was one person he loved above anyone else, and still. While they had been together for more than half a decade, he had never been coded to serve anyone but himself. He would go out of his way to save her, but for purely selfish reasons.
This was different with Kitt.
And while he was mulling over his own thoughts, Kitt hunched over, elbows on his knees, Hands covering his face, emotions finally taking hold of him.
Karr noted the shaking shoulders, his entire frame trembling violently.
“There is nothing you can do.” Karr softened his voice, sitting down next to him.
Kitt shook his head, holding his breath for a long moment, suppressing a sob. “What do I do if…”
“We’ll get through that.”
“You will. I won’t.” Kitt muttered.
“Kitt…”
Kitt shook his head. “I was created to serve him… there is no other purpose for me out there. And this… it… it always somehow worked out… and now it didn’t. We lasted so long and I knew i would lose him someday but we held on for so long…” The words tumbled out of him, making Karr grimace.
Finally Kitt looked up again, tears spilling down his cheeks. “If he… If…-” he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Karr pulled him into a hug, noting a tall figure approach them with a cup of coffee. Mike.
“…Hi.” the man greeted both of them, looking about as upset as Kitt.
Karr gave him a nod as greeting, Kitt going limp in his arms. Panic surged through him for just a second as he connected to his brother’s system to find out what had just happened. Kitt’s system had forced him into standby as an emergency precaution due to how overtaxed it had been. A normal occurrence. Cindy had set the threshold for him much lower than for any of the other androids, simply for the fact that his processor was so damaged. It would be too much of a risk to allow this type of stress for too long. Karr pulled him closer, settling him into a more comfortable situation and let him stay in that state. If anything, this would give him a few hours of rest, and maybe they even had some news when he woke up again.
“Anything new yet?” Mike asked, sitting down on the opposite bench.
“No.”
Mike sighed, clenching his hands around the paper cup. “KITT is convinced the bomb was meant for Kitt.”
“So am I.” Karr grunted.
“Good. We found a match on who planted the bomb, by the way. Emilio Castelli. Somehow that rings a bell but I can’t put my finger on it. I think it was a case a few weeks ago.”
Karr’s eyes widened. Yeah, that name sounded vaguely familiar. He pulled out his phone, speed dialing Summer.
The woman picked up immediately. “Hey. The Castelli case. Who was on that?”
“Uh… give me a moment.” Summer muttered. Karr could hear the chime of her laptop as she started it up. “Kro and Martin.” she said after a moment of silence. “Drug trafficking, family drama. One dead brother. Nothing unusual.”
“How was it resolved?”
“The family paid the bail for one Emilio Castelli and we haven’t heard anything from them since.”
Karr grunted. “How does a Kitt fit into this?”
Summer was silent for a moment, then sighed. “I don’t know. Give me an hour, I’ll find out.”
Karr nodded slightly. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, love.” She smiled, hanging up.
Karr pocketed his phone, shaking his head.
Mike had looked at him, following what he could from the phone conversation. “So, where do we start?”
“Summer is looking into it.” Karr muttered, noting his own shaking hands.
He had grown to like Michael over the years, and he would be upset too if he died, but the bigger issue was Kitt. He knew, had known, for many years that the day Michael was gone he would lose his brother too. And that thought was unbearable to entertain, even as a theory.
Almost an hour later Summer called Karr back while he was pacing the corridors. He had switched positions with Mike and was grateful for the distraction. Scanning his brother’s system one more time he excused himself and found the nearest exit.
“Hey.” She muttered, sounding calmer now than she had earlier. She had to be home by now.
“Hey. Found anything?”
“Not really.” Summer sighed. “I’ve emailed Martin, but it’s really late.”
“Why not Kro?”
“He never answers my emails.”
Karr chuckled, breathing in the cool night air. Standing in a hospital parking lot, in the dark. That reminded him of darker times. “Where are you right now?”
“Still at Cindy’s place.” Summer sighed. “I called Milly to feed Lady and go for a walk with her though.”
Milly. The teenager that lived across the street, who had offered time and again to dog sit whenever possible. So far they had only had to ask once, but this was convenient. “Thank you.”
The small smile was audible in Summer’s words when she spoke again, “My mom called too, asking if we want to come over tomorrow for dinner.”
Karr sighed. “That depends on how the situation with Michael develops. I can’t leave Kitt alone like this.”
Summer hummed. “Do i need to pick you up?”
He chuckled. “With what?”
“Oh, i can walk there and then we have a long chill evening in the waiting room of a hospital.”
“I’m… not in the mood for this tonight…” Karr admitted.
“Understandable. Sorry. I’m worried too.”
She would never understand this to its full extent. He wasn’t sure he ever would either.
He walked back in after they had ended the call. Mike was standing in the corridor still, Kitt had disappeared.
“They let him see him for a few minutes… I’ve never seen Kitt like this before.”
“Like what?”
“So… devastated. Desperate.”
Karr sighed, sitting down. “What’s the news?”
“Still critical…They still don’t know if he’ll make it but he’s out of surgery.” Mike muttered. “Said they put him in a coma for now. Kitt threatened to strangle the nurse if she didn’t let him see him.”
Karr ran a hand across his face, noting the chill in the hallways now. “He wouldn’t.”
“I’m not sure about this anymore.” Mike admitted. “I understand he’s upset, I am too, but..”
“You’re seeing his prime directive in action, Mike. This is what its all about.” Karr explained.
Mike grimaced at him.
The doors at the end of the corridor opened, two nurses escorting Kitt out. At first Karr had thought he had angered them, then he realized one of them was holding him upright.
Karr cursed under his breath, rushing up to his brother to take him from the two women. Kitt was exhausted, overtaxed, overwhelmed. He had never been meant to endure this for so long. Especially not with a damaged system.
Kitt’s legs gave in and Karr lifted him off the ground to sit him down at one of the chairs again. He crouched down next to his brother, unsure what to even say. What was there to say? He had never been in such a situation.
Kitt had, once before, but not like this.
Leaning forward Kitt rested his forehead on Karr’s shoulder, arms wrapped around himself. “I…need to be here.” he whispered. “If anything changes.. I have to be here, I have to-”
“Kitt you need rest.” Karr softened his voice. “You’ve been hurt too.”
“No. Michael. I need to be there for Michael.”
Karr whispered now, “You wont be any help to him if you’re not 100%.”
“They won’t let him wake up until he’s out of critical condition… They wouldn’t even let me in the room… I- I could only-” As Kitt’s voice faltered, Karr pulled him into a hug.
How many times had Kitt listened to him spiraling about one thing or another, talked to him for hours about some trivial bullshit… Karr couldn’t remember a time where Kitt had ever broken down in his arms before.
But now he was. And the reason was devastating.
Mike had taken off his jacket, placed it around Kitt’s trembling shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. Mike was upset too, his father was in there. He was holding together better than Karr would have imagined. But he didn’t really know how one would react to their father being in critical condition.
Karr hated the man that had created him. And if he counted Devon as a father figure, he had never had a chance to be in this situation.
“Take him home. I’ll stay here.” Mike offered.
“No!” Kitt protested, surging forward, nearly falling off the chair. “I need to- I have to!”
“Right now you’re a mess. You need repairs.” Karr tried. “Mike will call if anything changes.”
“He’s right.” Mike agreed.
“Michael wouldn’t leave me! I can’t!”
“Listen to reason.” Karr hissed now, putting his hands on Kitt’s shoulders. “The more you tax your system the more unstable it becomes, do you want to blow yourself to pieces by worrying about him? He’d never forgive you.”
Mike had to admit he had no idea how Karr always knew what to say to make anyone comply with whatever he wanted. He’d been on the receiving end of this multiple times too. It was impressive.
And much needed right now.
“If he recovers enough to be mad at me…”
Karr smiled at his brother. “And then he needs someone to take care of him. You wanted to repay the favor anyway.”
Kitt nodded slightly, knowing he was being manipulated, but too exhausted to care. He needed rest, he knew that too. And still.
Kitt could barely walk, staggering stiffly and unbalanced to Karr’s trans am, wincing every so often. “I’ll pick up Summer from Cindy’s place and then we’re going to ours. It’s closer to here anyway.”
Kitt had powered down again the second he was sitting in the passenger seat, too exhausted to keep going. He stayed unconscious all the way through Karr picking up Summer and the drive to the small house Summer and Karr had moved into last year.
It was only a few blocks away from the hospital. If Mike called, they could be there within a few minutes.
Summer threw a concerned glance at Kitt when Karr gathered him into his arms. “Will he be okay?”
“For now.” was all Karr could say.