Severed Dreams
Part 3 of 'Burn'
A CMAU fic
By Numnut
14 Jan 2007



Kitt woke to an overwhelming blackness. Sensory information was muffled.

<_Kitt?

<_Karr?

And it was at that point that he realised that the blackness was the all-encompassing form of his brother. He clung for a moment, awareness slipping slowly back into place. His processors spun up to speed, information flowed, memories slotted into place...

"//Michael!//"

He sat up abruptly and found himself inside the Stealth.

Gently. <_Michael is in medical care. Nick is with him.

<_Where? He looked around them. It was still night. The Stealth was parked on the side of a road. <_I need to get to Michael. He reached for the link and found it once again blocked by Karr.

<_You need Swan.

Pain trickled down the link blocked by Karr and Kitt flinched. <_I need Michael.

The dark mass of his brother backed off slightly, weariness and anger welling in the space between them. <_Look at yourself. If you appear in society looking like that you'll be taken from Knight never to see him again!

The image of the android that followed that strained statement made it very clear that Karr knew what he was talking about. Fear flickered in and out, waltzing with the ever present pain that now appeared to be coming from everywhere. Michael's name came to his lips once more, but it was a wilted, fear-filled sound.

Karr shuddered. <_Block him.

<_I...

<_Damnit, Kitt, block him! I can't keep this up... And his brother shuddered again, falling back, slipping into his own CPU.

Fiery pain roared up the link he held with Michael. The flame licked at him and he whimpered, biting back a scream. He was vaguely aware of Karr yelling at him before he retreated out of necessity, throwing up blocks behind him.

He shut his driver out.

Sitting 'alone' in Karr's driver's seat he let out a sob, his head dropping to one hand. Damaged sensors screamed for attention, others were missing completely, all hurt. Karr reached out to him, apology and concern rippling across the dark AI. The Stealth's engine roared to life and took off.

<_I have alerted Swan.

<_Please hurry.

<_I plan to do nothing else.

-o-o-o-

Nick had a few moments while the paramedics treated Michael and as the police arrived, he made himself known as the agent in charge of the investigation. He could have pulled enough strings to make it appear as legit as he needed, but in this case, a phone call to Devon made more sense. Enough flashing of the appropriate ID and he had the local authorities eating out of his hands.

In the absence of Kitt, he accompanied Michael to the hospital, not willing to let the man out of his sight more than necessary. But once there, he made a number of calls to certain people who could start the investigation without him. Background work to ascertain who the hell was trying to kill members of his little family this time.

He kept tabs on his exhausted partner. After this was all over he would be asking the AI several pertinent questions, the least of which would include how he had managed to disable his brother. The thought chilled him somewhat.

"Mr Knight?"

Nicholas looked up. When he'd chosen the pseudonym to gain access, he had no idea just how it would affect him. A doctor stood in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Come with me, please."

Nick frowned, but shoved his cell in his pocket and followed the man.

"Your brother has sustained several severe burns. He will recover, however, there is some concern regarding the fumes he has inhaled." The man pushed open the door to an examination room. "There is considerable damage to his lungs."

"How bad?"

"He is having some difficulty breathing. The sensitive linings of both his trachea and several bronchi have been burnt. He's on oxygen, but speaking will be out of the question for a while. He has yet to awaken. We suspect a concussion, though there is no major head injury beyond bruising." The doctor paused as they approached Michael's bed. "There are a couple of injuries we are rather concerned about."

Nick frowned and the doctor lifted the sheet from Michael's exposed chest. He peeled back some dressings.

"We were hoping you might be able to provide some explanation for this."

Nick's eyes widened.

Across the side of Michael's ribcage was a burn in the perfect shape of a hand.

-o-o-o-

Karr was exhausted. He had blocked off Nick to stop the backlash to his partner out of necessity and longed for his driver's presence. Kitt was a trembling mass of shock, shivering in his CPU. Karr did his best to alleviate his brother's pain, but he lacked the resources to sustain any prolonged measures.

And Kitt was beginning to resist his interference.

<_We're here.

The android did not respond, huddled up in pain in the Stealth's driver's seat, his legs tucked under him as if he could make himself so much smaller to be less of a target.

<_Kitt!

The AI said nothing, but this time he moved, stumbling from the car without a word and hurrying up the steps to Swan's home. She was standing in the door before he could knock.

"Kitt!" Her shock at the sight of him spread across her face.

His brother didn't hesitate. "Make me presentable." And he pushed past her.

The cyberneticist looked out after Karr a moment before closing the door.

The dark AI shivered and curled up inside his own CPU. Soon he would again reach out and attempt to help his brother. Procedures involving the syntheskin were often painful and Knight was not here.

But for the moment he turned in on himself struggling with the pain and the grief of the last couple of hours. It wasn't his partner, it wasn't him, it was Kitt, it was Knight and if there were two souls on this planet that he cared about apart from his partner and Alex, it was them. And he had placed himself between them.

Kitt had been screaming for his lover.

Knight had been unconscious....but even unconscious there was an instinctive call, a cry for connection. He didn't know if Kitt heard it, but Karr had. Beneath the pain, beneath the heat, the suffocating drain on body and strength, it had been there.

The human had unconsciously reached out, desperate for contact...and Karr had stood in his way.

He shivered again.

It wasn't right, but he had had to do it.

He didn't understand their emotional link.

But it possessed a beauty that stunned him.

He felt like he had stepped on sacred ground, broken a sacred trust. He knew his brother, but he had never experienced the intensity of his relationship with his partner.

Then he had stepped back and the bond had solidified, pain and all. He'd been unable to dull it for his brother, Nick catching him as he fell back from the two of them, but he'd seen them meet. Kitt's frantic white light catching the raging amber flame.

And then he'd been forced to separate them again.

It had almost broken him.

He'd blocked Nick and jumping from one CPU almost entirely into the other, he'd caught Kitt, wrapping him in himself. They'd argued. Kitt had pleaded. Time had been short and Karr had had to call it.

Reaching around into the CPU he tripped the necessary circuits that shut the android down, disconnecting his brother from his body.

Kitt had screamed at him. But it was subconscious scream from Knight as the link faltered and fell that cut Karr like a knife.

What had he done????

What was necessary.

He'd broken a trust.

And for the first time in a very long time he wanted nothing more than to weep for his sins. He curled up tighter.

But a shudder of pain from his link with Kitt drew him out once more. Surgery had begun. He calmed himself, reinforced his reserves, and pulling himself together, reached out once more.

It was necessary.

-o-o-o-

Time is a disturbing thing. One moment merges with the next randomly when references are removed.

Michael woke with Kitt's name on his lips. There was fear. He felt like he had been screaming his partner's name for hours.

His breath came out in a cloud, encapsulated in warm, wet plastic. A split second of panic before he realised it was an oxygen mask, sweaty and reeking of chemicals. There were tears in his eyes. //Kitt?//

//I'm here.// And his partner was, his warm white light emerging out of the darkness and gently embracing him. Holding him, reassuring him.

Someone touched his hand and he instinctively curled his fingers around the offered fingers. Gloves? He blearily opened his eyes, blinking them, forcing them to focus. Kitt was standing next to the bed. He frowned, blinking again.

"B-"

His throat spasmed and he coughed, immediately informed on the inadvisability of speaking. //Don't speak, love. You've been injured.//

No shit, Sherlock.

He struggled to control himself. His chest ached and breathing hurt. His heart was racing. When his body had finished reprimanding him, he fell back exhausted. He looked up at his partner. His eyes widened. //Beauty???!//

//Not so much now, I think.// An awkward, worried smile.

Kitt's face was bandaged all up one side, one eye barely peeking through the swath. A bandanna and a hat hid most of the rest of his head. //What happened?// Michael wrapped himself around his partner's presence and realised he was trembling, literally shaking, trying to be strong and failing. He wouldn't have known from the facade of the android. //Beauty?// He searched his memory...they had been arguing...his stomach clenched...Kit had left...and....nothing.... //What happened?!// He fought down the panic rising in his belly.

Then there were tears in Kitt's eyes. //There was a fire. The barn is gone.//

Michael stared at him. //Are you okay?// He longed to reach out and check out his partner's health for himself, but he was so weak, he could barely lift his arms off the coverlet. Bandages and clothing hid enough of the android to stimulate the imagination in horrific directions.

"I will survive." Kitt's voice cracked.

//Beauty?// Michael lifted his arms as much as he could, trailing wires and tubes. Kitt's response was immediate, falling into his partner's embrace like a man dying of thirst reaching for water.

//I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...sorry, sorry, sorry...// Kitt's apology degraded into a frantic mess of pain and guilt.

//It's okay. It's okay. As long as you're okay. Please tell me you're okay.//

Kitt let out a sob. //I am. I will be, I promise.//

Movement aggravated his injuries and Kitt picked up on it immediately, gasping and withdrawing. Michael made his reluctance clear, but the AI physically backed off, though mentally holding on with everything he had.

//So what now?//

//Now you get better.//

Michael's eyes narrowed. //Who did it?//

//Nick and Karr are investigating.//

//And?//

//You are to get better.// And Kitt did something.

Michael blinked, suddenly exhausted. //What?//

//Sleep.//

//Kitt-//

//Sleep, love.//

//I need-//

//I know. Sleep.//

And he did, drifting off in his partner's mental embrace, his name still on his lips.

-o-o-o-

"Knight's awake."

"Finally." Nick let a breath go. It wasn't a sigh, but it was a relief. They were at the barn, or what remained of it. The whole area had been cordoned off from curious spectators. Not that there were many, it was fortunately or unfortunately rather remote from other properties. Michael and Kitt valued their privacy and rightfully so.

<How's Kitt?>

<Stable.>

He guessed that was all they could ask for. Even Karr had been shook up this time. His partner was upset, but he wasn't talking. Nick was worried, about that and about many things, but he wasn't pushing the AI at the moment. He would work it through and speak to him soon enough. And if he didn't, then further measures would be required. Nick had his methods.

"So tell me. What started the fire?" It was a question that had been hanging over them since the night before.

"There is an impact crater at the rear of the building not far from where Knight was found."

"Impact crater?"

The AI was silent a moment. "Grenade. Most likely incendiary. Chemical analysis underway."

Nick's features grew as cold as his heart. "Someone threw a grenade at the barn." At Michael.

"Most likely fired, considering the security measures they would have to circumvent." The Stealth rumbled.

"Do we have a trajectory?"

"Working on it."

The morning was cool, but dry and the wind blew ash up in tiny funnels. Nick stood in front of Karr and waited as the sun rose.

-o-o-o-


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