Written 17/04/03

Author's Disclaimer: Knight Rider belongs to Glen A. Larson. Nick, Karr, and neural link are Gryph's. Don't sue.

Summary: Fun in the sun as Michael, Nick, Kitt, and Karr unwind in their own special way. Naturally, combat is involved... :P

It was quiet… It was peaceful… It was completely and utterly boring.

"How did I let you talk me into this?" he grumbled, and light carefree laughter was his response. Turning his head, he opened one eye to glare through the sunglasses at the man mimicking his pose on the matching black sports car parked beside his own.

"Come on, Nick," Michael laughed, "you needed to get out and get some sun. You've been spending too much time locked behind walls playing on your laptop. Time to get out and breathe some fresh air."

"I've been busy."

"So have I, but at least I didn't forget there was a real world besides the virtual one. Heck, even Karr's been outside more often than you have in the past three weeks."

Nick frowned, lowering his gaze to the soft outer shell of his partner's vehicular form. Karr had indeed been more physically active than he had. He'd been busy, working a simple but time-consuming case through his laptop, one that had held his attention for a while. It hadn't been an especially difficult job; nothing that required an in-person touch, as it were. But the necessary computer work had been interesting and he'd taken his time to do it thoroughly, enjoying the mental exercise.

Karr had left him to it, for the most part. There hadn't been much the AI was needed for, and he'd been glad enough for the opportunity to spend time with his brother. Nick hadn't neglected his partner, still spoke with him frequently, but he hadn't done much with him otherwise. And he hadn't taken the Stealth out for a drive even once. The only times in the last few weeks Karr had left the warehouse had been when he went out with Kitt.

But the case had been completed earlier this morning, and Nick had finally emerged from his self-imposed to exile to find his friend standing over him, grinning. Nick had been immediately suspicious, his cool blue eyes studying the older man intently even as he accepted the fresh coffee.

"What?" he had asked, well… demanded.

"Nothing," Michael said ingenuously, still grinning like a fool. "Was just wondering if you wanted to go for a ride? Now that you're done with your case?"

"Where?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about the beach? Sand, sun, nobody around for miles? Or not. Let's just get out and drive, see where the wind takes us."

And try as he might, Nick hadn't been able to figure out the ulterior motive he knew must be buried under those innocent-sounding words. He'd hesitated, taking a long moment to answer, and Michael, sensing his vacillation between agreement and refusal, had pushed. Hard. The FLAG operative had resorted to the tried and true method of cajoling him into cooperation by annoying the shit out of him. Kitt, of course, had participated in full, gleefully adding his own difficult-to-refuse pleas into the bargain. The kicker however, had been Karr's quiet and wordless transmission of want across the link. In the end, Nick had had no choice but to sigh in resignation and go along with the other three.

They'd driven around for a few hours, two sleek black cars playing tag as they raced down the highway, dodging in and out of lanes, narrowly missing the other vehicles on the road. They'd swooped down side roads where traffic was minimal, the AIs taking the opportunity to accelerate their speeds as they jostled for position. Kitt had even, during one long clear stretch when Karr had held the lead, launched himself into the air to soar over his brother's dark form. Karr's reaction had been immediate, and even Nick had had to laugh at the dour AI's indignant exclamation of "Not fair!" as he tried to swerve around the Trans Am that landed in front of him.

Eventually, the AIs had called the race a draw and handed control back over to their drivers. The men had continued to wander aimlessly over the countryside, following winding seaside roads and passing through scenic little tourist traps, windows rolled down to feel the air rush pass their faces. They'd stopped only once, to pick up some food, though both AIs had loudly and vehemently protested the indignity of being taken to a McDonald's Drive-Thru.

"See? Isn't this much better?" Michael now asked, gesturing vaguely at the shoreline view without bothering to open his eyes.

"It's the ocean, Michael. Nothing I haven't seen a thousand times before."

"It's not 'just the ocean'! It's nature! It's life!" he said with feeling. "Can't you feel it?"

Nick sighed and returned to his original position. Truth was… yes, he could feel it. He wasn't so isolated from the world around him as he appeared, and since he'd begun to rediscover his humanity his appreciation for the vitality of life had grown. The ocean, as he looked out over that vast expanse, seemed so huge and forbidding that one might look upon it and assume it to be an empty wasteland of water. But in actuality, that ocean and all the others like it, even the freezing Arctic Ocean, were teeming with life. Endless species, endless designs, endless possibilities.

Jut looking out over the writhing form of the sea filled Nick with a sense of hope, a sense of renewal. It was one of the reasons why he'd chosen to make his home the warehouse on the waterfront.

They lay companionably in silence, soaking up the sun and breathing in the source of life.

Eventually, Michael slid down the hood of the Trans Am, dropping his feet gracelessly to the warm sand in front of Kitt's prow. Nick watched curiously as the older man pulled off his shoes and socks, rolled his pants up to his knees, and drove his toes deep under the glittering surface. Michael perched on the edge of the Trans Am, and wiggled his feet beneath the sand.

"Having fun?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

Michael grinned at him. "Yes. You should try it -- does wonders for the sole," he punned.

Nick glowered, sitting up with his still-shod feet dangling over the Stealth's bumper. "No thanks. I don't like getting sand all over me."

There was no warning at all for what happened next. No sign or signal, no thought or word spoken. The sudden action took him completely by surprise, as few things could. Because never in a million years would he have expected his cool and reserved partner to suddenly back out from underneath him. He hit the ground with an "oomph!"

Michael stared at him, stunned for an instant into silence, before he fell back on Kitt's hood and roared his laughter to the sky. He wrapped his arms about his middle, his lungs heaving with the effort of producing his howling cries of amusement. "Oh, my God!" he gasped, and went right on laughing like a demented hyena.

Nick, too shocked to move, sat in the sand where he'd fallen. He shot an incredulous glance at the softly rumbling Stealth, unable to believe what had just happened… had actually happened. The incredulity morphed quickly into outrage.

"Karr!" he yelled fiercely. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

The AI said nothing -- not verbally, at least. But Nick was enraged all over again, as with a deep rumbling purr of satisfaction, Karr bathed his driver in a wave of dark amusement through the link. < Karr! > he growled, answering that wave with a blast of anger he couldn't gather himself enough to put into words.

"Guess you don't," Michael wheezed, fighting for the breath to speak, "have to worry about getting sand over you anymore. It's already everywhere!" And he collapsed chuckling once more.

Nick was too angry to speak, but he leveled an icy blue glare on the other man that should have frozen him where he lay.

Michael was laughing too hard to notice.

Then Michael's chortling died a sharp death, and it was Nick's turn to smile. Kitt, powerful engine running as silently as Karr's, had pulled the exact same stunt on his own driver. The two black vehicles now sat five feet away, having left their partners sprawled in the sand where they'd been so unceremoniously dumped, and laughed at them both.

Nick looked at Michael; Michael looked at Nick. Both listened to the laughter the two AIs were broadcasting vocally and mentally, and came to a silent mutual decision. They stared at one another, faces and minds completely impassive, then abruptly exploded into action. Before either car had a chance to react, two handfuls of crystalline golden sand were launched into the air to whip with a clattering impact on two spotless windshields.

"You know, of course, what this means," Kitt said sweetly into the silence that followed.

Michael snorted, choking on his own laughter. Nick grinned viciously, baring his teeth. The tableau held for an agonizing moment. Then…

"This means WAR!" Karr cried, and threw the Stealth into a reversing 180 that sent up a wave of sand like a wall.

Nick rolled out of the way, grabbing a handful of sand as he passed, and responded with a backhanded toss that just barely missed the AI's retreating taillights.

Michael, diving to his left, launched a shot at the spinning Kitt that sailed over the roof with only millimeters to spare. Kitt let out a 'whoop!' of glee and changed course so he could charge his driver.

Battles cries filled the air as the four combatants faced off for the challenge. Kitt and Karr torpedoed toward the men from opposite directions, tires digging deep furrows into the dry sand as they kicked up clouds of glittering dust behind them. Nick and Michael, standing back to back in the center of that attack, waited patiently.

At the last possible second, vectors and timing calculated to the nth degree, the two AIs slammed on the brakes and swerved into synchronous fishtails. Their flailing backends swathed through the loose sand like bulldozers, a tsunami of finely-ground rock being pushed forward in front of them.

Neither Michael nor Nick hesitated. Simultaneously, no thought behind their actions at all, both drivers leapt into the air over the threatening blast and landed adroitly on their car's hoods.

"Aha!" Nick crowed, his usually emotionless voice dripping with delight. His cry was echoed by Michael's jubilant "Gotcha!" as both men exalted in their victory.

"We were disadvantaged," Karr protested snidely from under Nick's feet, but even someone who didn't know him could have picked up on the contented undertone to his cool voice.

"How do you figure that?" Nick asked, smiling widely.

"You had more maneuverability than we did."

"Ha!" Michael exclaimed, plopping down to sit cross-legged on Kitt's hood. "Don't give us that, Karr! You two had us beat when it came to the attacks. Whatever advantage we had in maneuverability was cancelled by the advantage you guys had with sheer volume of sand!"

"Sorry, Karr," Nick grinned unrepentantly, "he's got you there."

Karr grumbled, engine falling silent as it cooled. < Traitor, > he hissed.

Nick's smile grew. < Sorry, partner, > he said, not sorry at all. < You lost. > "And we won!"

Both Michael and Nick barked into laughter, smiling and congratulating each other on a job well done. They were so distracted with high-fiving one another that it took a moment for Kitt's words to sink in.

"Actually," the younger AI said jauntily, "now that you've gone and dirtied us up with sand, you're going to have to clean us up too. So, technically, Karr and I have won. After all, we'll get the last laugh."

And the serenity of the beach was shattered once more as two talking cars let loose loud bellows of amusement as the joy on the faces of two men dropped instantly into displeasure.