Coming late to the party, but... a snippet from my Tony Stark/KITT story, "Body Work". Tony (in full armour) and KITT have just finished running a desert test of KITT's battle android systems, and are sitting on a spire of rock conversing while JARVIS runs a diagnostic on the android. KITT has just expressed discomfort at a particular aspect of the test, then proceeded to brush off his own exclamation by claiming that as far as he knows he's never experienced pain...
*****************************
Which was a lie: even as a car, KITT had possessed negative feedback cognitive modules which, when activated by the right type of input, could send screaming signals into his central process flow — but if he didn't want to talk about it (and there had certainly been episodes in his history that nobody in their right mind would want to remember), Tony could respect that. "I was saying that my parents died less than two weeks after you lost your original driver, in the very same year."
KITT tilted his head inquiringly — and skeptically. "You're disturbed by a simple coincidence?"
It was Tony's turn to glance out over the desert. "Y'know, I used to shrug off coincidences. Now, not so much. Our worlds collapsed at almost the same instant, in the grand scheme of things. And now…"
"And now you've given me life and purpose again." Out of the corner of his eyes he caught the liquid black flow of KITT's nod. "I only hope that some day, somehow, I'll be able to give you a gift of equal value in return."
"That's one thing you don't have to worry about." He drew another slow deep breath, gathering up the threads of memory that his ever-active mind had been relentlessly weaving into a tapestry of intent, parsing it into words. "My father was a modern day ironmonger: he made his fortune selling death, and so did I — until Afghanistan opened my eyes to what was really going on. I had a choice: I could keep on getting people killed, or I could do everything in my power to start making up for what I'd done. Yinsen told me not to waste the life he'd given me, and I've lived very day since like it was my last, working like a demon to put the merchants of war out of business permanently.
"But it hasn't been enough. People look at me and say, He's living proof that might makes right. There are still organizations out there dedicated to making a better suit to kill more people faster than ever before — hell, that's what Obie bought into, in the end. I became what I had to be to get the job done, including killing the enemies of world peace, but it's not the whole message I want to send. It never was. That's where you come in."
He turned his head again to look KITT in the 'eyes', thinking of how hot the android's gleaming ebony surface looked in the sun's glare, like the touch of it could melt steel, but the molecular bonded shell was self-thermoregulating and he knew even in the heart of summer it would, if he leaned over and pressed his lips to it, be no more than blood-warm. "That's why I made you this body, and gave it so many defensive rather than offensive capabilities. You're going to show people that there are a lot more options for shutting things down than blowing them completely apart or killing your enemies — that preserving human life is not only attainable, but desirable. You already had the programming in place. All I've done is given you more options for carrying it out." He smiled, letting the tender gratified warmth of it fully reach his eyes. "You're going to make me proud, KITT. I don't have a shadow of a doubt about that."
KITT gazed back at him for a long moment; then, with a sound between a crackle of soft static and a sigh, he leaned in and laid his head on the armour's shoulder. "That's all I've ever wanted, Tony, from the day the imprinting protocols chose you: that you'd use me for my intended purpose, and…"
He had to swallow the surge of mostly unidentifiable emotion that threatened to choke the words in his throat. "And?"
An even quieter inflection. "And, that you'd see me — for who I really am."
"Oh, baby…" He let go of KITT's hand to put that arm fully around those slender black shoulders and hold him even closer, resting the metal jawline of his armour against the subtle inward curve of an artificial temple. "You know I can't take my eyes off you, right?"
One minute and thirty-seven seconds later JARVIS announced that the diagnostic was complete and that the Obsidian unit was functioning perfectly, but it was another two full minutes of contented silence before they disengaged and took to the skies again, heading for home — where a thoroughly unpleasant surprise was waiting.
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Date: Monday, January 21st, 2013 03:34 (UTC)*****************************
Which was a lie: even as a car, KITT had possessed negative feedback cognitive modules which, when activated by the right type of input, could send screaming signals into his central process flow — but if he didn't want to talk about it (and there had certainly been episodes in his history that nobody in their right mind would want to remember), Tony could respect that. "I was saying that my parents died less than two weeks after you lost your original driver, in the very same year."
KITT tilted his head inquiringly — and skeptically. "You're disturbed by a simple coincidence?"
It was Tony's turn to glance out over the desert. "Y'know, I used to shrug off coincidences. Now, not so much. Our worlds collapsed at almost the same instant, in the grand scheme of things. And now…"
"And now you've given me life and purpose again." Out of the corner of his eyes he caught the liquid black flow of KITT's nod. "I only hope that some day, somehow, I'll be able to give you a gift of equal value in return."
"That's one thing you don't have to worry about." He drew another slow deep breath, gathering up the threads of memory that his ever-active mind had been relentlessly weaving into a tapestry of intent, parsing it into words. "My father was a modern day ironmonger: he made his fortune selling death, and so did I — until Afghanistan opened my eyes to what was really going on. I had a choice: I could keep on getting people killed, or I could do everything in my power to start making up for what I'd done. Yinsen told me not to waste the life he'd given me, and I've lived very day since like it was my last, working like a demon to put the merchants of war out of business permanently.
"But it hasn't been enough. People look at me and say, He's living proof that might makes right. There are still organizations out there dedicated to making a better suit to kill more people faster than ever before — hell, that's what Obie bought into, in the end. I became what I had to be to get the job done, including killing the enemies of world peace, but it's not the whole message I want to send. It never was. That's where you come in."
He turned his head again to look KITT in the 'eyes', thinking of how hot the android's gleaming ebony surface looked in the sun's glare, like the touch of it could melt steel, but the molecular bonded shell was self-thermoregulating and he knew even in the heart of summer it would, if he leaned over and pressed his lips to it, be no more than blood-warm. "That's why I made you this body, and gave it so many defensive rather than offensive capabilities. You're going to show people that there are a lot more options for shutting things down than blowing them completely apart or killing your enemies — that preserving human life is not only attainable, but desirable. You already had the programming in place. All I've done is given you more options for carrying it out." He smiled, letting the tender gratified warmth of it fully reach his eyes. "You're going to make me proud, KITT. I don't have a shadow of a doubt about that."
KITT gazed back at him for a long moment; then, with a sound between a crackle of soft static and a sigh, he leaned in and laid his head on the armour's shoulder. "That's all I've ever wanted, Tony, from the day the imprinting protocols chose you: that you'd use me for my intended purpose, and…"
He had to swallow the surge of mostly unidentifiable emotion that threatened to choke the words in his throat. "And?"
An even quieter inflection. "And, that you'd see me — for who I really am."
"Oh, baby…" He let go of KITT's hand to put that arm fully around those slender black shoulders and hold him even closer, resting the metal jawline of his armour against the subtle inward curve of an artificial temple. "You know I can't take my eyes off you, right?"
One minute and thirty-seven seconds later JARVIS announced that the diagnostic was complete and that the Obsidian unit was functioning perfectly, but it was another two full minutes of contented silence before they disengaged and took to the skies again, heading for home — where a thoroughly unpleasant surprise was waiting.