dragovianknight | My word count slows to a crawl when I write fic

And I'm sure I'm going to go back through this and wonder how I managed to fail completely at vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. (I mean, maybe I won't, but my brain felt like it was glitching badly this morning, so finally I just started using words even if I wasn't sure they were the right ones. Presumably later I will be able to figure out what I meant and fix.)

KITT waited just inside the massive double entry doors to the SSC while the Trans Am was unhooked, then returned to his default form and moved out of the way. The other car's dimensions were all wrong for the gimbal, but they rolled it into place anyway; Lisa and Katie had been re-equipped so that they could modify the gimbal to hold the smaller car in place. Zoe and Michael were occupied with the physical aspects of the car, while Billy monitored the computers.

KITT monitored their captive, as well. The Knight Two Thousand showed no signs of coming back online, and he analyzed the data he had on the other car, running lightning-fast simulations.

The continued lack of response was troubling, given what he knew.

Later, with the Trans Am fully restrained, and connected to the computers via an array of cables, the humans took a break.

KITT rolled closer to the gimbal, and continued monitoring.

***

"Man, now is one of those times I really wish we had KITT," Michael said, studying the fence surrounding the Knight Research building.

"If we had KITT, we wouldn't need to be here," Bonnie said dryly. She looked better after having slept for most of the drive, but still tired, the kind of tired Michael felt bone-deep in himself.

They had to get KITT back.

"Good point."

"It looks like it really is abandoned."

"It does. Only there aren't enough locks." Michael pointed to the main gate. "If they really wanted to keep people out, they'd have a padlock and chain on that, rather than relying on the opener's locking mechanism." He grinned at her. "I can't imagine it'd be too hard to override that."

"And what do we do when we trip the inevitable alarm?"

"We hope the place is as abandoned as it looks."

Bonnie shook her head. "Is this how you always operated? No wonder KITT always came back from missions in such awful shape."

"Now hold on a minute, KITT was the indestructible one. I was the one who kept jacking up the Foundation's insurance rates."

"Okay. Where do we start."

Michael could think of a dozen places to start - scanning the building's occupants, analyzing the alarms, checking for hidden weapons and cameras all at the top of the list - if he had KITT. Instead, he reached into the back seat for his toolbox. "I'll be right back."

***

"What if we power it up manually?" Billy asked, still munching on a muffin.

Zoe raised her eyebrows at him. "Without seeing what kind of damage the EMP caused?"

"We aren't doing anything until we figure out why the system hasn't rebooted on its own," Sarah said.

Mike settled on KITT's hood, watching the others argue. "What do you think?"

"I think the Knight Two Thousand should have resumed operation three point five seven hours ago. My scans indicate no damage which would have prevented him from doing so."

"You did say it was old when we were chasing it. Maybe we just broke it."

"If we had 'broken' him, I would be detecting damage. I am not."

"Okay, okay."

"Mike, get over here; we need an extra pair of hands."

With a rolling shrug, Mike returned to the group.

They were all so intent on the car sitting dormant that none of them noticed the blinking light on the base's security display. KITT left them to what they were doing, accessing the relevant cameras.

Two humans were attempting to enter the base. It did not appear to be a planned assault; they were unarmed, dressed in civilian clothing, and working with no more than common mechanic's tools. KITT zoomed in on them and ran his image analyzer to identify them.

A moment later, the gate slid open, and the blinking light on the security panel went dark.

One of these days, I'm going to make an icon with both KITTs in it, just for this story.

Edited for a little porn, via Wikipedia: Three generations of Firebird, baby. (The generation two car is a FINE example of how Baby Dragovian Imprinted On Pontiacs Forever. *makes little noises at it*)