Falling Embers
Part 2 of 'Burn'
A CMAU fic
By Numnut
13 Jan 2007


Kitt screamed.

Both blocks in his mind shattered under his reaction to the flame burning down his link with Michael. For just a moment his clock froze, his processors jammed and he hung suspended in a well of agony.

"//MICHAEL!!!//"

And then Karr was there. A silky black presence blocking the pain, dulling the agony. Kitt cried out.

One cool, dark word.

<_ Where?

Kitt shuddered, desperately trying to pull himself together. <_ The barn.

<_ We're on our way.

Way?

And Kitt came to, the Ferrari's engine roaring, its wheels spinning a moment before catching the asphalt.

Karr hovered, his energies busy in the background. <_ What happened?

Kitt focussed, his only aim was to destroy the kilometres between him and his partner as fast as possible. He tried several times to reach out to Michael, but was blocked by Karr. <_ You separate us!

The black presence shuddered slightly. <_ Knight is in pain. He needs you physically more than mentally. Drive, you fool.

Kitt held back a whimper and did as he was told. Michael!

The Ferrari was a blur in the night, a dart tearing up road. Once the AI was in range, he reached for the Trans Am and its sensors.

The barn was on fire.

Terrified, he relayed the information to his brother who didn't respond, simply taking the knowledge and passing it on.

The Trans Am's engine roared to life as Kitt grabbed control, throwing the car out of the garage in reverse just as the Ferrari hit the curb leading up into the drive. The two black cars danced on the front lawn choreographed by the one AI leaping from the Ferrari before it had even come to a stop. "//Michael!//" And he was running, the Trans Am following.

His partner was in the bedroom at the back of the house. Upstairs. Or what used to be upstairs. The back of the barn had partially collapsed.

He didn't waste time cursing, his scanners locating Michael's exact location as the Trans Am rolled into position to best fight the fire, carbon dioxide spilling from its jets.

The AI broke through the remains of a side window, ducking under the burning sill. The visual spectrum was flooded with black, acrid smoke and the remains of burning furnishings. Fortunately he didn't need it. The crumbling skeleton of his and Michael's life was sketched out in the brilliant tones of the extended spectrum.

The structure creaked as the fire roared, climbing the remains of the stairwell. Kitt shifted floorboards, throwing broken furniture out of the way. Karr continued to hover, his presence comforting yet ominous. //Michael!//

<_ Hurry!

Kitt clung to his brother as he finally reached his partner. Michael was buried under the remains of part of the second floor, the metal frame of their bed obstructing his immediate rescue. A structural assessment and Kitt reached down with one hand and grabbed hold of the steel supports. It was hot. Syntheskin burned, but Kitt ignored it, shutting down as many systems as possible. He'd pay for it later.

The bed shifted, lifted, up and over, exposing his unconscious driver. //Michael!// The plea fell flat against the black mass of his brother. Karr was trembling.

The building creaked ominously and Kitt detected stress fractures forming all over the place. The building was coming down. //Michael!//

His partner's shirt was covered in spot burns, but it was the condition of his lungs that worried Kitt the most. He grabbed him, dragging the love of his life from the rubble. Another creak and the entire top of the building shifted to one side. Parts of the roof began to fall, a burning beam bouncing off across Kitt's shoulders. He stumbled, clinging to his burden. //Please, Michael!//

He kicked out the remains of a wall and gently carried his partner through to the welcome sound of a screech of familiar tyres, abruptly drowned out by the roar of collapsing building behind him.

-o-o-o-

Nick had been asleep when Karr's alarm had jolted him awake. He had been out the door half dressed before the AI had even had a chance to brief him. What followed was a frantic dash out to the barn. Karr had interceded with his brother, the other AI's location closer to that of his ailing driver, forcing him to action, protecting him from the stream of pain emanating from his partner. Nick didn't comment, he just drove, a single tendril of himself reaching out to the distracted AI. The silky blackness commented no more than his driver, a grateful strand wrapping around the offered support.

The news that the barn was burning came as shock. The security system was state of the art, any event such as a fire should have been reported immediately to the warehouse. There had been no such alarm and Karr had had to contact emergency services himself. Apart from the chill the whole scenario gave him, the breach of security nagged him. It was not supposed to be possible.

Karr became a trembling presence in his mind, caught in a mixture of Michael's pain and Kitt's distress. <Hang on, partner, we're nearly there.>

<Hurry, Knight does not have much time.>

Or Kitt...it was an unspoken addition. One death and their strange little family would unravel.

<We're here.>

He didn't bother to slow down, relying on the MBS to take any circumstantial damage, and spun the wheel, hitting the brake just enough to change direction, tearing up the drive and straight across the lawn to a sudden halt behind the Trans Am.

Nick was out and running...<Stand back! It's coming down!>

He stumbled to a stop as the roof, almost gracefully, collapsed inwards. A roar and snap of woodwork and the wall nearest to him followed. "<Kitt!>"

<Ahead of you. Hurry!>

He couldn't afford to watch the final collapse, skipping around the Trans Am and heading up the side of the fallen building.

A staggering figure stumbled out of the smoke. "Kitt!" Nick's heart stuttered. The android's hair was on fire, one side of his face melting with the heat. His usually crisp clean white shirt was smudged black and smouldering.

He was struggling to hold Michael in his arms.

"Kitt?" He approached with care, the AI in his mind warning him off.

"Nick? Michael!"

"I know, I know." Gentle. "Put him down." Nick was removing his jacket as he spoke. "Put him down, Kitt."

The building behind them shifted again, and Nick hurried the distressed AI away from it. "Put him down."

The AI complied, with a prod from Karr no doubt, and Nick was able to wrap his jacket around the android's head and douse the flickering remains of his hair.

He then turned his attention to Michael. The older man was grey under the soot, his breathing harsh and shallow. He did a cursory inspection for injuries, applying what little first aid he could. "He's alive, Kitt."

"I know." The AI knelt beside his partner, reaching out to touch him gently.

"An ambulance is on the way."

"I know."

Karr shuddered in the back of his mind. <Let it go, Karr.>

<I can't....he shouldn't have to feel...>

<Neither should you. He needs Michael.>

The AI shuddered again and Nick strengthened his contact with his partner, wrapping himself around the dark presence. <Come. You've done what was necessary.>

<He shouldn't...>

Nick relayed the sight of Kitt, burnt and hurting, reaching out to touch his unconscious partner, a pain-filled desperation on his face.

Karr whimpered.

And withdrew, stumbling into his driver's embrace.

Kitt's reaction was immediate. He gasped. A small cry passed his lips. "Michael!" Nick reached out to steady him as he wavered to one side.

The prone man didn't react at all.

Sirens could be heard in the distance. There was nothing more he could do for Michael, but he had to move Kitt before uncomfortable questions were asked. <Karr, take him.>

<Where?>

<Swan? Away from here. Keep him safe.>

"Kitt?" The AI slowly looked up at him. His gaze was unfocussed, one eye hampered by the syntheskin melting over the edge of his eye socket. "It's time to go."

"Michael?"

"Michael needs the ambulance."

"I will go with Michael."

"You can't." He felt Karr move to pressure his brother. Kitt reached up to touch the damage done to his face and Nick's eyes widened at the exposed MBS on the android's left hand. The skin had almost completely burned away leaving the skeletal metal structure beneath open to prying eyes.

"I'm not leaving Michael!"

And Nick had to face it. There was no way he would be able to separate the AI from his partner. And he shouldn't have to, but there was no choice. <Karr?>

The older AI was exhausted. <I will try.>

Nick turned to Michael, checking him over yet again. A moment later Kitt collapsed forward, caught at the last second by the startled former agent. <What?>

<It didn't take much to shut him down. He was on the verge of it anyway.>

Nick stared at his partner for a moment, but as the sirens finally reached the drive, he grabbed Kitt and dragged him over to the Stealth, rather unceremoniously dumping him in the driver's seat just as the fire truck and the ambulance came into sight. Karr ignited his engine and, spinning, took off, all windows as dark as the night. A moment and he was gone.

Nicholas waved the ambulance over.

The barn gave one final creak and groan before the last of it joined the pile of rubble and smouldering ash where the beautiful building had once stood.

-o-o-o-

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