Ficathon Entry: Love and War

[knightshade]

Title: Love and War
Author: knightshade
Rating: PG
Summary: It’s the race to end all races. Written for the Knight Rider Online Ficathon.

Thank you to Gumnut for beta reading.

Disclaimer: Glen A Larson owns everything Knight Rider. I just take them out for a spin from time to time.



KITT- Take heart RC I am sure with a little work your motorbike will be on the road again.
Michael - Yep a little bit on this road and a little bit that road and maybe this little bit on a road far away!

Love and War


“You ready to do this, Michael?” RC asked, a note of excitement in his voice as he gestured down the endless stretch of straight road in front of them.

Michael looked skyward, trying not to actually roll his eyes or laugh out loud. He had gotten to the point where he felt bad for being too hard on RC. They had all been a bit tough on him when it came to his motorcycle -- even Devon had gotten in on the act. RC had taken the ribbing good-naturedly, but Michael wondered if it was getting to him.

Well, obviously it was getting to him, Michael amended, because wanting to race Kitt with that bike was ridiculous. He still wasn’t exactly sure how RC had talked them into this.

“If you’re sure you still want to do this . . .” Michael thought he should at least give RC one more opportunity to back out.

“Hey, I just want a shot. I mean, this bike is in top flight condition. She is modified, revved up, fine tuned, and ready to race. I just want a chance to show this baby off!”

“Yeah, but ‘fine tuned’ isn’t going to help against Kitt. We’re going to leave you in the dust.”

“I just want my chance, man.”

Michael gave up trying to prevent the inevitable. He had to admire RC’s pluck, even if it was going to make a fool out of him. “Okay. You got it.”

Michael squinted out into the distance again. The two vehicles were parked along a deserted stretch of road in the middle of a salt flat. There was nothing and no one around for miles, except for the large black hulk of the semi parked at the ‘finish line.’ In the distance, marred by the shimmering heat emanating off the road, Michael could see two figures against the black of the truck – Devon and Bonnie. He felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of how much teasing RC was going to endure after this little antic – but it was RC’s decision to do this in public. Maybe he just wanted everyone to see that he could put up a good showing against Kitt. Even that would be pretty impressive -- if he could pull it off.

RC was strapping on his helmet and pulling on leather gloves. Michael shrugged and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Why are we doing this again?” Kitt asked petulantly. “It’s entirely a matter of physics. The outcome is a foregone conclusion.”

“I know. I know, buddy. But what have we got to lose? It’s not like you have anything better to do at the moment.”

“You have a valid point, Michael.”

“So you want to do this in Super Pursuit Mode or just regular old Pursuit Mode?” Michael joked.

“Really, Michael, don’t you think SPM would be overdoing it just a touch?”

Michael just laughed. He would love to see the look on RC’s face when the fins popped out. He glanced over at the bike, which was lined up to their right. RC tipped his hand their direction and revved his engine to indicate he was ready to go.

“Okay, Kitt. You wanna give us a count?”

“If you insist.” He turned on his anharmonic synthesizer and said, “On your mark . . . get set . . . go!”

Both vehicles roared to life, the acceleration pushing Michael back in his seat and giving him the familiar adrenaline rush. Even in a race he knew he was going to win, his heart beat a little faster watching Kitt eat up the pavement. They easily sped passed the motorcycle and out into a commanding lead. Michael turned around to watch RC receding into the distance behind them. He turned back, smiling smugly when the normally quiet turbine engine suddenly went completely still. For a moment Michael thought Kitt had gone into Silent Mode, but he could feel them decelerating.

“Kitt, you okay? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, Michael. My engine just shut down. There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong, but I’m running diagnostics now.”

Michael squirmed in his seat. He hated feeling like there was nothing he could do other than wait, but in reality there wasn’t. After what seemed like too long, the turbine fired up again. He was about to ask Kitt what he did when it died for a second time.

“Oh dear. This is very embarrassing,” Kitt said as RC flew by them on the right.

“What? What’s going on?” Michael asked, although he was relieved that it didn’t sound too serious.

“According to my scans, there’s a small transmitter on RC’s motorcycle. It appears that he’s transmitting the remote override code to shut down my engine.”

Michael tipped his head back, grinning. “I should have known he had something up his sleeve.”

“Hmph. I don’t appreciate the humor in this,” Kitt muttered and started the engine again. This time they went a little ways before it shut down. They continued to limp toward the finish line that way as RC barreled past the semi and continued on down the road.

Michael and Kitt finally rolled to an unpowered stop in front of the semi and Michael leapt out, a chagrined smile on his face.

“Are you all right?” Bonnie asked, hurrying toward Kitt with a worried furrow in her brow.

“He’s fine.” Michael answered for his partner. He learned against the door and saw that RC was on his way back toward them. “We just got outsmarted by a clever mechanic.”

Bonnie looked confused, but before she could ask, RC blew by them again, his fist pumping the air. “Yeah!!!” he yelled on his way by. Then he did a tight turn, spraying gravel and dirt in his wake. He slowed down and cut a path between the semi and Kitt. Pulling off his helmet, he started riding slow circles around them.

“No more jokes about bits of my bike ending up all over the road,” he said gleefully, looking at Michael. “No more cracks like ‘garbage in / garbage out,’” he said to Bonnie. “And definitely no more comments about my bike looking like World War II road kill!” he demanded of Devon as he made another circuit around the group.

“Okay, okay,” Michael laughed. He held up his right hand and, barely pretending to be serious said, “I do hereby solemnly swear never to mock RC’s bike again.”

“Thank you,” he said, heaving a big sigh. He stopped the bike, and balanced it against one leg. “Whew. Good race, huh?” he gloated.

“How’d you do that?” Bonnie asked, her voice part incredulous, part awe, and part suspicion.

RC laughed and tapped a small silver box on his bike. “I hang out in the lab. I’ve gotten to know a few of the guys. I do some customizing on their rides, you know. And technicians are interesting dudes, Bonnie. You ask them a question, give them a problem, and they won’t quit ‘til it’s solved. I don’t know the details – something about override codes. But I do know that when I press this button,” he said, pointing to the box, “Kitt’s engine goes kaput.”

“I think we need to find more tasks to keep the technicians busy,” Devon said, glancing sidelong at Bonnie.

“Clearly,” she said. “And I think we need to keep a tighter lid on those codes!”

Devon steeped his hands in front of him and donned a serious expression. “RC, that was very resourceful. You’ve made your point. Now when we get back, please have that box dismantled. That’s not the sort of devise we want to have lying about.”

“You got it, boss.” RC put his helmet back on. “But for now, I think I’m going to take a victory lap.”

“Hmph. I would hardly call that a victory,” Kitt groused. “You had an unfair advantage.”

“And you didn’t? Hey, like the man said, I was being resourceful.”

“All’s fair in love and war, Kitt,” Bonnie said, patting his hood sympathetically, as RC gunned his bike and roared down the road again.

“Oh, really? And which would this be?”

“I think it’s a little bit of both, pal,” Michael said, climbing back into the car to follow the ‘winner’ home. “A little bit of both.”

[neps]

Ha! About time RC3 was able to level the playing field a little bit. I don't object to his cheating in the slightest, probably knocked KITT down a peg.

Very nice Knightshade! Perhaps the box can fall into the wrong hands in a future fic. It could be KITTs kryptonyte.

[gumnut]

You're right, Shady, Michael and Kitt did deserve a little cutting off at the knees Pride cometh before the fall me thinks

You can so see it coming at the beginning of this fic, you had me giggling way before it happened. A great little fic, m'dear

And remember.....keep 'em comin' I need my Shadyfic fix

Nutty
(but you knew that anyway)

[Michael Pajaro]

Can't you TOTALLY see the Michael Knight freeze frams at the end of the episode? "it's a little bit both pal, a little bit of both." Ha!

[knightshade]

Can't you TOTALLY see the Michael Knight freeze frams at the end of the episode? "it's a little bit both pal, a little bit of both." Ha!

Oh God yes. I can see the freeze frame with the cheesy laughter. I can hear the closing music and see the image recede into the background of Kitt driving in the desert.

I usually try to avoid writing 'formula' KR, but sometimes you've just gotta embrace the cheese.

And thanks Neil. I think that Kitt's going to run that box over when they get back to the Foundation.

[Fantine]

I don't envy those technicians. The wrath of Bonnie and Devon.
They'll be writing programs in Binary for weeks.