Disclaimer:  Knight Rider was created by Glen A. Larson.

 

Author’s note:  Slightly AU.  This story takes place in the mid 90’s.  NB at end of story.

 

Summary:   Devon, Michael and KITT mourn the passing of a dear and close friend.

 

Rating PG  - Drama

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

KNIGHT RIDER

 

ELYSIAN KNIGHT

 

 

 

Cold.  Dark.  Silent.    His mind, numb, the air, stagnant.  He had heard nothing for three days.  He had eaten nothing.  He felt nothing but emptiness as he forced himself with tremendous effort, to get up and make a cup of tea.   He did not know how he managed it, nor how he managed to make it back behind his desk, but after the first sip, he could take the silence no longer.

 

The first thing Michael heard in three days was a smash, and panic overtook him as he ran into Devon’s office, to see the older man sobbing, slumped over his desk, a tea stain on the far side of the wall, his precious fine bone china cup lay in pieces on the floor.

 

Gently Michael took the older man’s hand.  “Devon...”  he whispered.

If he had spoken any louder the other would not have heard him.

 

The elder man looked up, slowly, revealing puffy, bloodshot eyes.

  “If I hadn’t-“

  “No, Devon... It’s not your fault...”

  “Ohh why, Michael ...”  He could say no more before tears drowned him again.

But Michael could not answer him.

 

*   *   *

 

Three days prior ...

 

Bonnie gently adjusted KITT’s internal systems.

  “There you are, all better.”

  “Thank you, Bonnie, you have the touch of an Angel.”

The FLAG Technician smiled and patted him softly. “Aww, Kitt ...”

 

  “Now, on a more serious note,” Devon said coming to them, “Sid Howard is on the move again controlling that mechanical monstrosity of his, that he designed specifically to kill Kitt.”

KITT emitted something that could be ascertained as a groan.

Bonnie turned to Michael.  “One *scratch* on him and I’ll have your guts for breakfast.”

  “You’re vegetarian,” Michael smiled.

  “My cat isn’t.”

  “Oh ...”

 “Don’t worry, Bonnie, he’ll take good care of me, won’t you, Michael?”

  “I promise, not a scratch on your baby ... Hey, why don't you come with?”

Bonnie turned to Devon.

  “Go on,” he said with a smile.

  “Thank you, Devon.”

She eagerly climbed inside KITT and waited for Michael.

  “Not a scratch on Bonnie either,” Devon warned.

  “What about me?” Michael said.  “Is it okay if I get a scratch?”

  “Yes!” all three chimed.

  “Well, thanks.”

 

*   *   *

 

After a long, arduous, chase, the trio had cornered Sid’s armoured car, or so they thought.

  “Michael,” Bonnie said, “if I can get close enough to Sid’s vehicle, I can reprogram it.”

“Bonnie, you gotta be outta your mind if I’m lettin' you close to that thing.  KITT, try your jammers again.”

  “Zilch, Michael.  He’s locked out to any outside interference.”

  “Well then, there’s only one thing left to do.”

Bonnie smiled.  “I knew you’d see it my way.”

  “Nice try.”

“Michael,” The Technician protested, “if Kitt can jam the steering, I may be able to-“

  “Forget it.  I have a plan.”

  “And when were you planning on telling us?” KITT demanded.

  “It’s dangerous.  You both would have freaked.” Michael pulled out a small black device.

  Bonnie stared.  “Where did you-“

  “Is that a neutronium bomb in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” KITT said dryly.  Then he exploded.  “You mean you were carrying a *bomb?!* – That thing could’ve blown and then where would we all be?”

  “Relax.  I have to charge it.  I knew you’d go off like that.”

  “Very funny, Michael ...  I wonder how he would react if he had a bomb inside him,”  KITT said to Bonnie.

She looked at Michael, crossly.  “I still don’t know where in the Universe you got-“

  “Wilton’s secret stash.  Emergencies only.  And *this* is an emergency.”

  “I still think that if I can get close enough” – Bonnie started.

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “And handling neutronium explosives isn’t?  Michael, that’s a very complex vehicle.”

  “Plant bomb.  Car go boom.  'Nuff said?”

  “As long as it’s not *me* that goes boom,” KITT said.  He reluctantly skidded to a halt as Michael climbed out.  “Be careful with that thing.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Knight said with a smile.

  “I don’t know why I put up with him,” KITT said.

Bonnie couldn’t help but smile.

  “But you, Miss, are staying right here.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “You’re getting as bad as Michael.”

Bonnie always knew when KITT was smiling.

 

Knight zig zagged his way to the remote controlled armoured vehicle, though it detected him and swerved.  Michael couldn’t risk throwing the bomb until he was sure it would hit its target.

 

  “No ...” Bonnie looked worried.  “He’s not going to get to it in time ... If he detonates it too close to you ... Kitt, see if you can jam its steering.”

  “I’m trying, though, it’s quite –  Bonnie!”

KITT was unable to lock his door fast enough as the Technician bolted.  Michael looked shocked, but there was nothing he could do as he madly tried to distract the vehicle's attention from Bonnie.

Desperately KITT hauled cylinder and managed with all his power to slow the other vehicle.  Bonnie was able to jump onto it.

KITT and Michael started in horror.  Though Bonnie seemed engrossed in her perilous task.   She cracked the computerised lock on the door and flipped herself inside, much to Michael’s surprise and he planned to ask her how she learned ... Probably all those episodes of Buffy and what was that other woman called?  ... Oh that’s right.  Zena.  Or was that Xena?  Something like that.  But his mind only thought of that for a split second before he worried about Bonnie again, although the FLAG Technician seemed to be doing very well.  She had already accessed the car’s computer and was madly going at the controls, despite the vehicle’s controller trying to shake her.

 

  “There ...” Bonnie said, at last, as the vehicle came to a complete standstill. 

The FLAG Technician checked her work.  “Harmless as a puppy.”  And she climbed out.

  “You get back here this instant!” KITT called, relieved Bonnie emerged unharmed.  Michael began to approach her with similar thoughts of rousing.

As she walked back toward KITT, feeling guilty about making him worry, though there would be more to worry about if that thing had been allowed to run roughshod.

Behind her, Bonnie heard a noise, a slight creak of metal.  She shivered and slowly turned.  Surely the car wasn’t operating again, she’d shut it down real good.  To her horror, a gun turret poked out.

  “I can’t shut it down!” KITT yelled.  “Get out of the way, Bonnie!!”

Her face a mixture of turmoil, Bonnie turned to the vehicle, its cannon levelled at KITT.

  “No.”

  “Bonnie!”  Michael yelled.

  “Bonnie Barstow, do as I say!”

She turned to KITT and smiled.  “I thought I was *your* mother.”

Michael ran as fast as his long legs would carry him, perhaps there was away he could save both Bonnie and KITT.  His heart sank when he saw Bonnie was too close to the machine to survive the blast if he blew it up.  And now, only now he realised how much KITT meant to her.  Just as much as KITT meant to him, if not more.  Michael knew that either he or KITT would have to get Bonnie out of the way and KITT wouldn’t be able to act in time before the gun went off and he wasn’t sure if he could get to Bonnie in time.  Knight realised with a shock, no matter what he did, one of his friends was going to die.

  “Bonnie, please...” KITT begged.

  “Kitt, I can’t ... I can’t let you die ... I ... I love you ...”

Bonnie turned back to the machine, which seemed to be hesitating and she realised that Sid, controlling the thing would not fire while she stood in front of KITT.  Not from anything that could remotely be described as compassion, Sid

knew he would only get one shot before Michael blew the thing to kingdom come and he was saving the blast for KITT.

Bonnie turned to him.  “Kitt ... Kitt ... I’m so sorry ...”

  “Bonnie, I understand... I ... I love you too.”

Tears streaked the Technician’s eyes as she began to move away.  The turret moved slightly, and prepared to fire.

  “BONNIE, NO!!!!”  KITT screamed, barely hearing his own voice as Bonnie dashed back into the line of fire, the blast ripping through her chest as though it were tin foil.  The last things she saw, as she twisted and fell were Michael and then KITT and it pained her to leave her baby, knowing his agony would last a lifetime, hers only seconds, as her life left her before she hit the cold, hard road.

KITT stared in shock, barely hearing Michael scream her name.   KITT heard nothing but silence.  No wind, no birds, no footsteps as he stared at the lifeless body of one he held so dear.  He could not bear to recall her final moments, the blood saturating her white suit, the shocked pain on her face she tried to hide, her hair scattering to the winds, seeming as though it had happened in slow motion, though his chronometer showed 1.32 seconds.

 

Michael ran, and threw the bomb before the thing could get off another shot and when the debris had cleared, he ran to Bonnie and fell beside her, held her and cried.   KITT watched in pained silence, hoping if a place for the dead existed that Bonnie would be at peace there.

 

*   *   *

 

Michael held Devon’s shivering hand.

  “These things happen,” the older man forced himself to say, standing, withdrawing his hand and placing it hard on the desk.  “I fought in wars.  I have buried friends before.”  His face was as a stone.

  “Devon,” Michael said.  “You don’t need to act tough for me.  We all loved her.  She was ... special... And the death of a friend doesn’t get any easier.”  His mind flashed back to his partner Muntzy ... and his wife Stevie and he fought back tears of his own.

  “That she was.  Very special ... She was the daughter I always wanted.”  A tear escaped.  Devon let it.

  “Where’s Kitt?” Michael asked.

Devon blinked.  “Outside, I think ... Michael, be gentle with him ...”

Knight managed a small, pained smile.  “You sound like Bonnie.”

  “He’s never lost anyone he cared for so much.”

 

*   *   *

 

Michael walked outside, to be almost blinded by the bright sunlight - and fresh air, he’d almost forgotten what that tasted like, but the freshness was no consolation for his loss as he looked around for KITT.  Puzzled at first, as his automotive friend was nowhere in sight, he surmised perhaps KITT had gone for a drive, to take time for himself, but when he looked ahead, he saw his friend, on the edge of a nearby precipice.

  “*KITT!!*”  he screamed.  “Don’t you fucking dare!!!”

The Trans-Am almost lost his balance as he reversed to his panicked friend.

  “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it, Michael, but I could not to that to Bonnie ... She ... she gave her life for me.”

  “She did...”

KITT pulled up beside Michael.

A long pause followed.

  “Michael ...” KITT began, somewhat nervously.  “Do you blame me for-“

Knight sighed a painful sigh as he touched KITT’s hood.  “No, Kitt, I don’t blame you.”

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you did, Michael.”

  “KITT, she loved you more than anything...”  A tear made its way down Knight’s cheek, despite his pain, Bonnie’s love for KITT touched him deeply.

  “I feel terrible,” KITT said.  “I-“

  “It was her choice, Kitt.”

  “I know and I would have done the same for her.”

  “I know you would, Buddy.  I know ...”  Knight stroked KITT’s hood.  “I would have too.”

Another paused followed.   “I ... I have to get my systems checked,” KITT said.  “Ohh Michael ... Bonnie ... Ohh Gods...”

Never to be touched by her warm, delicate hands, never to see her smile, never again to have her long hair slightly caress him as she fiddled deep within her circuits.  Never to have her fuss over him again ... KITT wished he could cry.

Knight climbed inside him.  The Firebird felt a little comforted.

  “I know...” he said, ever so gently as if he sensed the car’s innermost feelings.

  “It was just a mission like any other ...” KITT said.  “But it wasn’t, was it?”

  “No, Buddy, it wasn’t...”

  “I ... I don’t know how good I’ll be to you, Michael...I ...”

  “Kitt, you’ve just lost one of the most important people in your life.  Someone you loved.  We all have.”

  “I know ... But I ... my circuits .... manifolds ... My fuel pumps .... I don’t know why... Maybe that thing did something ... I need a complete overhaul ... they feel like they’re splitting apart ...”

  “It’s called grief, Kitt,” Michael said softly, “and the only overhaul that can fix it is time.”

  “How much time, Michael?”

  “I don’t know ... And Kitt, you’ll always miss her ... like Stevie .. I-“

Michael stopped.  He felt the inside of KITT get a little warmer, akin to KITT holding his hand.  “Thanks, Buddy.”

  “My pleasure, Michael.  I am glad you’re here.”

Knight gave a sad smile.  “We’ll both need each other.”

KITT didn’t want to think about who was going to be his new technician.  He was sure FLAG would appoint someone with just as much expertise as Bonnie, but would they have the same delicate hands?  Would they see him as more than a machine?

  “She was more to you than your Technician, wasn’t she...”

  “Yes, Michael.  She was the first friend I’d had, the first one to treat me like a person ... She was as some have said, like a mother.”

  “I know that, Kitt, but she was more than that, wasn’t she?”

KITT paused before he spoke, his voice soft.  “Yes ... yes she was...”

Michael gently stroked KITT’s wheel, again deeply touched by his friend’s love.

  “Michael,” where do you suppose Bonnie has gone?”  KITT asked after a while.  “Most humans believe in an afterlife of some sort.”

  “I don’t know, Kitt, Heaven maybe, if it exists.”

  “I was reading Greek Mythology, earlier in the week,” KITT said.  “The Ancient Greeks believed in a place called the Underworld, where the God Hades ruled over the dead.  The myths say that he was a fair and just God who punished the evil and rewarded the good, whom he sent to the Elysian Fields, a place of eternal bliss and serenity.”

Knight paused for a moment.  “Sounds like a nice place, Kitt.  Perhaps she has gone there.”

 

*   *   *

 

A gentle breeze caressed her face as she opened her eyes.  She lay in the middle of a soft, luscious grassy field, and sat up slowly.  Small, pristine white flowers surrounded her.  Briefly she remembered her quick, though painful death and winced, not from the external pain, but for those she left behind.  Here she felt no physical pain, her wound non existent, and she wore a white flowing dress, unstained with mortal blood, though she pained for her loved ones.

 

A gentle voice seemed to emanate from the luscious trees.  “Fear not, Little One, though your friends grieve for you in the mortal world, your spirit will always be with them, and there will come a day when they will join you.”

 

She hadn’t known much about the ancient myths, though she knew the voice to belong to Hades and she smiled at his warmth and waited in blissful serenity for the day when she would be reunited with the ones she loved.

 

 

*

 

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NB:  This was written for a “Challenge Fic” due to a rumour that the were going to kill off Bonnie if season 5 of Knight Rider Eventuated.  I ‘m glad they didn’t as I love Bonnie!  I wrote the fic to give her a respectful and honourable death.

 

 

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