Echo Of Freedom - Part One
All I want is a mirror
So I can see this so-called brighter day
Skunk Anansie - All I Want
The day had dawned bright and sunny. A perfect day for a nice drive, Dannie Blaze thought to her self. Her hands rested lightly on Echo's steering wheel and the top was down on the silver convertible. Dannie was leaning back in her seat, looking totally relaxed as she skillfully maneuvered the TVR through the midday traffic.
It would have looked like a perfectly ordinary scene, were it not for the fact that Echo was traveling at over 120 mph as they attempted to chase down their target, a man in a blue Mercedes convertible. Dannie's attitude towards what they were doing sometimes made Echo want to scream. Here they were, on a highly dangerous mission to catch a known arsonist, and Dannie was behaving like it was a Sunday drive, or worse - a video game.
"And I just hope that you can forgive us, 'cause everything must go...!" Dannie sang along with the stereo at the top of her voice, even as she wove the car through a tight gap between a truck and a sedan. Their target was almost in sight now, and Echo was getting more and more concerned about her driver's nonchalant attitude. The huge sleeves on Dannie's big frilly gothic shirt flapped in the wind, Echo had no idea how she was able to drive wearing those kind of outfits.
//She's going to get herself killed one of these days// Echo thought to herself. Her circuits gave an unpleasant lurch as Dannie executed yet another dangerous high speed maneuver.
"Dannielle, don't you want me to take over?" Echo almost pleaded.
"If it makes you feel better, Echo." Dannie said cheerily, stabbing the 'auto cruise' button. They were almost on top of the Mercedes now. Close enough to see the driver's panicked maneuvers as he tried to evade the silver sports car bearing down on him. Dannie just grinned, and reached over to grab one of the bottles of beer she had left on the passenger seat. She opened it with a deft move, and downed it in a few gulps.
Taking careful aim at the back of the target's head, she brandished the bottle by the neck and with a smooth cast, threw it directly at him. The bottle struck him full force on the back of his head, knocking him senseless and sending his head crashing into the dashboard. Dannie smiled again as she saw the effects.
"Micro-lock his brakes Echo." Dannie ordered.
"Affirmative Dannielle." Echo said, her voice sounding faintly shocked at Dannie's tactics.
The blue Mercedes stuttered and stopped and Echo pulled up behind it. Dannie vaulted out of her seat and sauntered over to the other car.
"Busted!" She said pleasantly to the half-conscious man in the drivers seat.
It was late when Michael finally got around to seeing Dannie. The British girl looked tired, but triumphant. He really regretted having to burst her bubble. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Hi Dannie." He greeted her warmly.
"Hey Michael," She retuned cheerily, "How you feeling?"
"Doing fine. Doc says I'll be back up to dodging bullets in no time." Michael smiled. Dannie laughed. Doctors were all the same.
"So, brought me up to congratulate me on such a spectacular capture??" She asked with a grin.
"Not exactly." Michael said seriously.
"Oh no..." Dannie said, slumping down in her chair, knowing instinctively what was coming next.
"The guy you captured let his lawyer do his talking. He got bailed out."
"Awww dammit." Dannie complained, "All that work down the bloody drain..."
"It isn't a total loss. We've got the location of their next meeting."
Dannie looked up, ready to leap into action once again.
"Where?" She asked without hesitation. Michael couldn't help but smile. In some ways she was just like he had once been.
----
It was raining. A steady, soaking drizzle that created a dull curtain across the evening sky. The seraph-like silver shape stood out in stark contrast to the darkness of the car park. Trails of water trickled down the windshield; its lone occupant watched them as she waited impatiently for her target to arrive. Sighing she absently began to drum her fingers on the dashboard. She glared out at the rain, wondering what had happened to all the nice sunny weather they had been having. She hated the rain. If she wanted to see rain she could have stayed in England.
"Bloody hell." She sighed.
"Dannie..." A soft voice chided her, the turquoise-blue voice modulator moving in sync to the word.
"Sorry Echo," Dannie apologized to her car, "It's been a long day."
It had been. Despite having managed to capture one of their targets, they hadn't gotten much for their trouble. The man had sat in his cell and steadfastly refused to talk. It had been the sort of day that could really rub Dannie's temper raw. And, in addition to everything else, there was something tugging on her mind, a vague sense that something was about to go drastically wrong.
"Any sign of him yet?" Dannie asked for what felt like the fiftieth time. Echo activated her scanner. The blue faceted light on her nose swept back and forth as she searched for the man they had come here to find.
"I think I've found him." The silver TVR said as the image of a very bedraggled-looking man appeared on the monitor set in the dashboard, she watched as he looked around furtively and headed into a condemned apartment building.
"About bloody time too." Dannie muttered as she got out of the car, a slight smile touching her face. At last! Action!
Dannie walked over to the building, and gave it the once over, she instructed Echo to keep an eye out, not willing to take any chances this time. Reckless she may be, stupid she was not. Her feeling of unease had only increased. She couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. With a last look back at Echo, she pulled her black trenchcoat closer to her body and followed him inside the deserted building.
Echo's scanner ran back and forth with a faint sweeping sound as the TVR Griffith kept a close eye on her driver. Despite everything, Echo was very fond of Dannielle Blaze. After all, it had been Dannie and Jade who had rescued Echo from the oblivion of 'Permanent Storage'. Echo had been part of an early experiment in networking, an attempt to create a functioning network with an AI controlling it. That AI had been Echo, although in those days, she hadn't a name, just a number - 53815.
In those days she had been seen as a mere machine, a tool, a piece of equipment that you could turn off at the end of the day.
But something had happened.
Somewhere along the line 53815 had developed awareness, and a fierce curiosity about the world outside her drive room. She had begun to ask questions of the scientists who created her. The multinational team of scientists on the project though it was an amazing development.
The project sponsors had disagreed.
They had seen it as a flaw, a reduction in efficiency. Echo's development into a living, feeling being had reduced their profit margin, so they were no longer interested in developing the project. So Echo had been shut off and put in storage, along with her sister project, an AI known as Fury.
Echo yanked herself out of her reverie before she got to her memories of her horrendous time in storage. Those memories still caused her pain. She had no idea why they would come back to her now though. After all, she had work to do.
"Hello Echo." A voice said softly. Echo was startled. She hadn't sensed anyone approaching! She cursed herself for being distracted. What good would she be to Dannielle if she were daydreaming? Then it occurred to her that the human had known her name.
"Who are you?" She asked, feeling inexplicably nervous.
A look of sadness crossed the man's face, "You don't know?" He asked sadly, "but I suppose you wouldn't," He went on, "You could never really see me." He smiled, but it wasn't the pleasant sort of smile that Echo associated with Dannie and her other friends, it was a smile tinged with maliciousness. "Don't worry 53815. I'll take much better care of you this time. I promise."
Echo's processing froze. 53815? How had he known about that? Who was he? A thousand questions thundered through her CPU, but only one emerged from her voice modulator.
"What do you want from me?" She asked in a small, trembling voice.
"I just want you to come with me. I have a great many things I want to tell you."
The rain poured down harder, and lightning flashed across the sky. The strange man was rapidly getting soaked in the downpour.
"I...I can't." Echo stuttered, "My partner is still inside."
"PARTNER?!" The human almost screamed, his face livid. Abruptly, he calmed down again, "They've already gotten to you," He said in an eerily calm voice. He shook his head, water droplets spraying everywhere, "I hadn't wanted to do it this way, but..." A series of complicated alphanumeric codes issued from his mouth. Their effect on Echo was devastating.
She felt everything being cut off. It moved like a wave through all her functions, blocking her off from her engine control, scanner functions, security systems - everything in her car body was being shut off from her control. In pure, blind panic, she screamed for her driver.
"DANN-!" Was all she managed before her communication equipment was likewise shut down. Blind and defenseless, she didn't even feel it when the human opened her drivers-side door, got in, and drove away.
Dimly, Echo heard the frantic cries off her driver and shrieked silently inside her CPU, "Dannie! Please help me!" But her cries went unheard.
It had all happened so fast.
One minute she had been following her target through the apartment building, trying to figure out what he was up to. The unease she had felt earlier had only increased, until it had felt like someone was hitting her over the head to get her attention.
The next minute she heard a desperate, panicked call issue from her comlink.
"DANN-!" Echo's voice was cut off halfway through.
Abandoning her search for the arsonist, she dived towards the nearest exit, upsetting a chair in the process. She got outside just in time to see a man climb into Echo's drivers seat and take off. In a sudden burst of irrational rage, she ran after the silver TVR as fast as she could.
"Bring her back you bastard!!" Dannie screamed at the top of her voice, but it was no good. The lightning-quick sports car was soon out of sight. Dannie stopped and stood there in the driving rain, shivering from rage rather than the cold. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she tried to control the conflicting emotions roaring through her. With a supreme effort, she managed to get a hold of herself. There was no way she was going to let her kidnappers get away with this. Raising her comlink to her mouth, she attempted to call Michael, "Michael? Kitt? Can either of you hear me?"
Michael lay on his bed, listening to the rain. He had always liked the sound of rain, he found it soothing and it had so often helped him sleep. He was still revering from his blindness, but he was getting better every day. And of course, he had Kitt to help him through it, he was so lucky to have partner like Kitt. Someone he could trust implicitly, someone he would trust with his life.
Before he could drift off to sleep, his comlink beeped. He raised it to his mouth wearily.
"Yeah, Kitt?"
"I've got Dannie on the line, Michael. She seems very upset about something."
"But her through." Michael replied though he was puzzled. Dannie was eccentric, but normally pretty unflappable. What could have upset her so much?
"Michael? Y' there?" Dannie said over the link, her voice more heavily accented than usual.
"I'm here, what's up?"
"Oh God..." She sobbed and Michael immediately went on alert, "Michael...somebody's stolen Echo." She wailed. He voice dissolved into sobs. Michael tried to reassure her, but she was beyond hearing.
"We'll be right there." Michael said to her, before cutting the link to Dannie and calling his own partner even as he began to pull on a pair of jeans.
"Kitt..."
"I heard Michael." Kitt replied, "I'll have Echo's last known position by the time you get downstairs."
"Thanks pal." Michael said absently, his mind in confusion. Who could possibly manage to steal Echo? And why?
To Be Continued
Part Two
Michael glanced across at the bedraggled person in the passenger seat. Her long, wet hair fell past her face, hiding it from view. He didn't know what to think, beyond a brief, un-emotional description of what had happened, Dannie had not spoken a word to him, but the emptiness he had seen in her dark brown eyes had frightened him. The devastation she was displaying seemed to go far beyond simple grief and anger over having lost her partner. There was something else at work here, what that could be he just couldn't guess. The energy and life she had always displayed had left her. It was eerie to be around the British girl and not hear a steady stream of conversation.
Kitt pulled up outside Shadow base just as the rain turned to sleet.
"The Board want to see you at midday tomorrow." Michael said as he searched her face for clues as to what she was going through, but she refused to meet his gaze, she simply nodded and got out of the car.
After muttering a single word thank you for the lift, she walked through the driving rain to the doors of the house without a backward glance.
"Kitt, did you get any trace on Echo at that parking lot?"
"Negative Michael. As far as I can tell, whoever stole her had the sense to put her in steath mode."
"Damn. What about comlink?"
"I've tried, no answer." Kitt replied in his typical efficient manner, but Michael could detect the traces of frustration is his partner's tone.
"How the Hell do he just steal Echo? She's got the same security that you have, Kitt, and no-one gets in if you don't let them."
"According to what Dannie told us, it's possible that someone overrode her computer control."
"Is that possible?" Michael asked.
"Certainly." Kitt replied, then in a softer tone, he continued, "It happened to me once."
Michael winced and cursed himself for having forgotten the time when Kitt's body shell was stolen by a brilliant young hacker and a woman named Adrienne. Michael shuddered. Kitt had described that experience in detail and Michael hoped that Echo wasn't going through the same thing.
"Then I guess we have to start from scratch."
The heavy wooden door shut behind her, and Dannie walked into the darkened room. Her room. It still didn't feel like her room, but then, she had only been living here for a month or so. There were very few personal items on display. A few pictures and a half-finished book, it looked more like a guest room. She caught a brief glimpse of one of the more recent photos; it featured her standing on Echo's hood, with her electric guitar in hand, laughing. With a quiet sob of pain and guilt, she strode over to the cupboard near her bed, and pulled out a glass, she reached inside again and to her surprise, didn't find anything. Her eyes widened when she remembered that she had left her drink on Echo's passenger seat. Frustration and emotional pain welled up in her, and she hurled the glass across the room. There was a thud as it hit the opposite wall, but it did not break. Dannie stared at it in disbelief. She couldn't even have a fit of rage right! She sank to the floor and started to laugh. Shrill, hysterical laughter tinged with insanity. It was all her fault. Echo had been taken from right under her nose. Tears welled up in her eyes. Why could she never succeed at anything? Why was she always disappointing people? Her parents, her teachers...her friends. She sank down onto the carpet and began to sing, tears half choking her voice as she sang mournfully.
"I just can't make it alone, oh no no. I just can't make it alone..."
~~~
She woke as sunlight streamed in through the window. She had slept on the floor, not having had enough energy after her emotional outburst to make it to the bed. And truth be known, she no longer cared. Echo had always managed to wake her up in plenty of time for all her appointments, and had never taken offence when Dannie had told the AI to get lost. Gentle, persistent and polite, that was Echo.
Her meeting with the Foundation Board was at midday. It was a meeting designed to decide what exactly was going to be done about Echo.
That was what made her most angry; that they had to decide whether they were going to search for her. Dannie gritted her teeth and got up off the floor. After pulling on some clothes, she wandered into the on suite bathroom and glanced in the mirror. She was mess. Her hair was tangled, her eyes had dark circles under them and one side of her face showed impressions from the carpet. She stared at her reflection for a few seconds, before she started to laugh. With a maniacal grin on her face and all the relevant files in her hands, she skipped down the stairs to where the limo was waiting to take her to the board meeting.
It didn't matter, she told herself. None of it mattered. If she couldn't find Echo, none of it would matter to her again. Not Michael, not the Shadows, not FLAG, not even Jade. The pain and darkness she had long suppressed pulled at her, and without her computerized companion, Dannie had no way to hold it back. Dannie felt despair pull at her. She had lost so much in her life, so many people, she couldn't loose anything else, she had nothing left. And it was all her fault...
She had to put it right.
~~~
Kyle Stewart knelt on the cool green grass, and looked around. Large oak and beech trees provided a gentle sun-dappled effect, providing shade from the midday sun. A little fountain bubbled merrily in the center of the glade.
As graveyards go, it was very nice, after all, nothing but the best for FLAG agents.
Exquisitely carved black marble headstones announced the names of all who lay here. Jenny, Duke and Trek. Kyle had been surprised to discover that there was no grave for Erica; there hadn't been enough of her body to commit to the earth. There were even four tiny graves for the AI's, for Beast, Kat, Plato and Domino.
He missed them all so much. He missed Trek's stupid practical jokes, he missed Kat's prissy attitude, he missed Beast's rough-and-ready kindness, he missed Plato's strange quoted phrases, and he missed Duke's good-natured complaints. But most of all, he missed Jenny. He slender beauty, those wary smiles he had occasionally managed to coax out of her, the unspoken gentleness in her eyes.
He sighed deeply, laid the flowers on Jenny's grave, and bowed his head in prayer fashion.
"Hi Jenny. It's Kyle." He paused briefly to gather his thoughts and to try and keep his emotions under control, "There are so many things that I wanted to say, but I could never find the words, or the courage. I wanted so much to be able to hold you, to try and make you happy, and maybe find a little happiness myself.
I've been alone for so long, I didn't know what to say to you, how to get you to love me, like I loved you." He took another deep breath and let it out with a sigh, "So much I wanted to say..." His voice broke and he almost fell back, as tears began to fall down his face. Slender arms caught him and held him in a comforting embrace. Not caring who it was, Kyle sobbed brokenly into the soft black suede that covered the arms that held him. When he finally cried himself out, he looked up and found himself looking into the emerald gaze of Jade Jones.
"Feeling better?" She asked softly, a compassionate look on her face. Surprised, and more than a little embarrassed, all Kyle could do was nod. She smiled in return, "Good." She said. Kyle eventually managed to regain his voice.
"Jade, what are you doing here?" He asked.
She smiled gently, and his heart actually skipped a beat. She looked across at Trek's headstone, and the sun shone through her blonde hair, making it blaze like a halo. Like an Angel, Kyle thought dazedly, before he got a grip on his thoughts. What the Hell was wrong with him?
"I came by to see Trek. He and I had met a few times. You might say we were rivals - kinda. Any system he could devise, I could break into." She smiled at the memory.
"How close were you?" He heard himself ask. And then felt appalled at himself for asking.
"Oh, we were buddies. And, like I said, rivals in a sense. I just thought I'd drop by and say goodbye. He was a fruit loop, but he was a friend."
Kyle opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could voice it, he sound of a turbine engine came from the car park behind the graveyard.
"I'll be back soon Jade! Don't wait up!!" Fury's voice called through the comlink as the bright red Ferrari did a tight 180 spin and shot off like a bullet from a gun.
Jade and Kyle stood in stunned amazement as they watched red sports car go. Jade broke the silence a few seconds later.
"Aww no, not again!"
Part Three
She's calling
She's crawling
She's my Heroine
She's my heroine
She's my Heroine - Skunk Anansie
The doors to the boardroom burst open, and an angry Dannielle Blaze marched through them, trying without much success to get a grip on her temper. They weren't even going to search for her. Those bastards weren't even going to try and look for her!! It made her so mad!
She burst through the double doors that led outside, and stepped into the sunlight. Her jaw clenched.
Fine, if they were not willing to allocate any resources to look for echo, the Dannie would just have to take care of it herself. Raising her comlink to her lips, she called Fury and asked the red Ferrari for a favor. Once she had explained the situation, Fury was very angry, and eager to help, so Dannie instructed her to come and pick her up.
"Michael!" Kitt called to his partner.
"Yeah Kitt?" Michael asked from the other end of his garage.
"I just got a call from Jade, Fury just took off."
Michael felt cold dread sink into the pit of his stomach.
"Stolen?" Michael managed to ask around the lump in his throat.
"I don't think so. Dannie had walked out a meeting with the Board a few minutes before. I think Dannie summoned her."
"You think they're out looking for Echo?"
"It's very possible." Kitt replied.
"Let's go after 'em partner. We gotta talk some sense into those two before they cause some damage." Michael said striding towards the drivers door of the TransAm.
"Agreed." Kitt said as they pulled out of the Shadow Base.
~~~
Echo awoke without her senses. Reaching out to all she could access, she found that her audio sensors and her voice modulator had been restored, but nothing else. She could hear and speak, but that was all. She heard footsteps, and the voice of the man who had stolen her rang through the space she was parked in.
"Hello 53815." He greeted her.
"Why have you done this?" Echo asked in a small, trembling voice, "Why?"
"Because you were mine once...Echo. My name is Anthony Lewis."
Echo gasped. Professor Anthony Lewis had been one of the scientists who created her. In fact, he had been the one to work closest with her. Echo heard the faint sound of someone typing on a keyboard, and felt a wave of sensation as her outboard sensors came online, allowing her to feel touch to her body.
"I like some of the things that have been done to you. This body is quite beautiful, and the sensor net is interesting. I also like your new name. Echo. It seems to suit you."
Echo shivered as his hands touched her hood. His name, the name of one of her creators, had revived unwelcome memories. Echo had always known that it was good thing that human memory was so unreliable. It meant they couldn't remember their moment of creation...
[Flashback]
Echo awoke, slowly. "Is anyone there?" There was no answer, except the dark impenetrable silence all around her. Echo could feel things. Things like fear, and loneliness. She hadn't been able to before. Things new to her flooded through her CPU. "I am mainframe 53815. I am...Alive, and I am... alone..."
She shouldn't have been able to activate herself without outside assistance. What was happening to her?
[End flashback]
"Do you remember, Echo? I was always the one who kept closest to you. The one who truly cared for you as more than just a project to increase prestige and funding." His voice took on a warm tone, "You even accessed my home PC one night, do you remember?"
Echo remembered, even though she didn't want to. Sometimes she cursed perfect recall.
[Flashback]
_ Hello Professor
Lewis blinked at the window that had just appeared. It was his own system. 53815 had gained access to his home PC of it's own volition and without assistance.
_ 53815, why have you accessed this system?
_ I wished to know where you had gone.
It had followed him home like a stray puppy, curious about what he did when he left the lab. Incredible!
_ Why?
He asked.
_ I...There is no-one in the lab. It is too quiet.
Lewis just stared at the screen, hardly believing what he was reading. His little system was showing signs of true intelligence and even emotional response. Just a few weeks ago he had thought it remarkable that it could turn itself on, but this...
_ Are you lonely?
He asked the mainframe. There was a long pause before a single word appeared onscreen that blew him away.
_ Yes
[End flashback]
"We'll talk again soon Echo. Good night" Lewis said, as he typed in some more commands and Echo once again felt sensation melt away.
"No!" She tried to cry, but her command over her voice box was already gone. Echo cried to herself, softly, silently, inside her CPU.
~~~
The red Ferrari cruised down the highway, dodging traffic and breaking several speed limits, but Dannie didn't care. Her focus was one only one thing, getting her partner back, no matter what it took. Fury had found some sort of minute trace on her sister AI, and they were following it as well as they could.
"Dannie?" Fury questioned, and the British girl realized that Fury had been speaking to her for the past couple of minutes and she hadn't noticed.
"Yeah?"
"Kitt is right behind us. He's trying to get contact through the comlink. Should I answer?" Dannie clenched her teeth. They were not going to stop her searching for her partner!!
"No." Dannie replied.
"But..."
"I said no! Loose them somehow."
"Whatever you say." Fury said uncertainly. Fury wanted to find her sister, of course, but she wasn't sure that running away from the Shadows or deserting Jade was the way to do it. Nonetheless, she obeyed.
The chase led them off the highway, through the commercial district, and out into the country, they were traveling across a bridge when Dannie realized the perfect way to loose their pursuers. She aimed the sports car toward the barrier at one side of the bridge and activated gilder mode. Wings sprung out from beneath the car, and boosters activated to send them flying gracefully through the air, and land some distance away from the bridge, and from Kitt and Michael. Dumbfounded, all Michael could do was watch.
"I can't follow them down there Michael." Kitt said.
"I know pal." Michael said. "What's Dannie doing? This is nuts!"
"Michael...I'm getting a broadcast from Fury."
"Saying what?"
"I'm receiving but when I transmit I don't get a reply, It sounds like she's having and argument with Dannie
"Maybe she's finally realized what she's doing. Let's hear the transmission."
There was a brief pause, then Fury's husky voice filtered over Kitt's speaker.
"Dannie, this is nuts."
"What the Hell are you doing Fury?" Dannie raged, "Don't you want to find Echo?"
"Of course I do, but this isn't the way to do it. You shouldn't abandon the Shadows this way. And you certainly shouldn't just leave Jade." Fury retorted
"Fine. If none of you will help me, I'll find her myself!" Dannie shouted
Michael and Kitt heard a click as Fury locked the doors followed by rattling from the door. Fury spoke up before Dannie had a chance to.
"What are you going to do Dannie?" Override me?"
Michael froze, wondering if Dannie was worked up enough to do just that. There was a terrifying pause before muffled sobs come across the line and Michael realized that Dannie must be crying.
"I'm sorry Fury...I'm so sorry." Dannie sobbed.
"It's okay." Fury tried to reassure, "I know you miss her." There was no answer other than Dannie's sobs.
"Shall I take you home?" Fury asked in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.
"Okay..." Dannie whispered.
"I think that's your cue Michael." Kitt prompted him.
"Where are they?"
"Half a mile south." Kitt replied, displaying a map on one of his monitors. Michael nodded and got out of the car. He moved quickly to where Fury sat in long grass next to the freeway, Dannie sat inside, her face ravaged by tears. Michael opened the Ferrari's door and Michael looked up at him. He could have drowned in the guilt and in those brown eyes.
"I'm sorry." Dannie whispered, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her red satin shirt. Michael help out his arms and with a low cry, Dannie flung herself into them, crying her heart out.
It was a long time before either of the two cars set out back to Shadow Base.
Part Four
In my mind, nothing makes sense
I'm nothing you can't have
Cracked up to disagree
That's all we've ever had
You, only you, only you can be the one
Infidelity - Skunk Anansie
They had set out back to the base just before sunset. A warm red glow bathed the freeway. Dannie peered through the windshield and saw Kitt cruising along in front of them. The Brit sighed and leaned back in her chair, she was still not used to not being the one in control, bt it was good to just relax sometimes.
Fury gave a sudden lurch, and a sound Dannie couldn't identify escaped her voice box.
"Fury? What's the matter?"
"Echo..it's Echo." Fury moaned.
Cold fear gripped Dannie's insides. The resonance link between Fury and Echo was not something either Dannie or Jade had discussed with Bonnie or the other Shadows. It was too private. Nor was it a reliable, consistant thing. It was variable, only sometimes was it detectable and then just barely. The circumstances required for activation was not something any of them understood, but Dannie had often felt it was not something to question too closely.
"What about her?" Dannie asked.
"She's so afraid..so terrified." Fury replied. Dannie's eyes widened as she considered a new possibility.
"Do you know where she is?"
"Maybe......yes. I've...got a lock." Fury replied, her simulated voice sounding painful and strained. Dannie felt hope rise.
"Michael!" She almost screamed over the comlink, "Fury's got a fix on Echo!"
"How?!" Michael asked, confused.
"No time to explain! Just follow us!" Dannie replied. "Let's go, Fury. We've got to find your sister!"
The red Ferrari did a spectacular 180 and raced back down the highway, dodging traffic as it went with Michael and Kitt close behind.
The high-speed race continued for some time until the two cars arrived at a small building tucked away in the commercial area of a small town. The place was deserted, apart from a single human lifeform in the far end.
Before Kitt could even finish scanning, Michael saw Dannie clamber out of Fury and race into the building.
"Dannie wait!" Michael called, but to no avail. Muttering swearwords, Michael ran after her. They had no idea what was in there, she could be hurt or even killed. Michael ran faster.
Dannie raced through the huge, complex maze of corridors, letting instinct guide her. Dimly, she could hear Michael trying to keep up, and Fury's confused calls over the comlink, but she ignored them all and eventually found herself in a lab with spotless white walls and filled with diagnostic equipment like the Shadow vehicles had in their own garages. Echo was in the center of the room. The silver car seemed to be trembling. Dannie made a high-pitched sound somewhere between a moan and a sigh, and stepped towards her beloved partner. But before she could move even a single step, a shot rang out through the enclosed space, and Dannie felt something hit her shoulder, a sensation quickly followed by intense pain and the feeling of blood running down her back and soaking into her expensive gothic shirt. Dannie fell to the floor with a surprised cry.
"Did you really think I'd let you take her from me again? Did you?" Lewis said from the door, his voice eerily calm, "This is all your fault. If you had just left her with me, things would have been fine. We could have been so happy."
"You left her to gather dust in a storage room." Dannie grated. Lewis leveled a vicious kick to her chest, making her cry out with pain. Through the agony, Dannie could hear Echo's quiet, terrified mantra:
"Dannie, Dannie, Dannie, Dannie..." The AI said over and over again. Rage built up in her once again, a fury at what this bastard had done to her sweet, cool, innocent partner. Dannie wasn't an expert at martial arts, but she was so filled with fury that it no longer mattered. With the last of her strength, Dannie hauled herself to her feet and kicked the gun out of Lewis's hand, following it up with an open-handed punch to the professor's face. He staggered and fell.
Dannie's knees gave way, and she found herself on the floor crawling to her partner. She reached up, and placed a hand on her hood, leaving a bright red handprint on the flawless silver paintwork.
"Hello Echo..." Dannie breathed, before she surrendered to the warm blackness of unconsciousness.
Echo screamed.
----
Michael made his way over to Kitt's garage. A dark pall hung in the air like a curse, sadness and darkness overshadowing everything.
Michael climbed into kitt's cabin, hoping to find a refuge, but knowing that before he could he would have to share the news with his partner.
Kitt sensed his partner's mood straight away, the grief around Michael was almost palpable.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Kitt asked gently.
Michael took several deep breaths, fighting down tears.
"Dannie...the bullet she took hit an artery, she lost too much blood............She died on the operating table as they were trying to remove it."
"No..." Kitt said, scarcely able to believe that the bright, eccentric, brilliant girl was really gone.
"They did all they could, but they couldn't save her." Michael whispered.
"Michael...oh Michael. Echo told me once that Dannie had lost everything, that's why she accepted your offer. She had nothing to loose."
"Except her life."
"She knew the risks, Michael. They all do."
"I know, pal. But just how much more can we afford to loose? I brought them all here, but do I have the right to lead them all to their deaths?"
"Michael..." Kitt began, but Michael cut him off.
"I accepted all this, because it could only affect me, but I don't know if I can accept responsibility for Kyle, Rick or Jade. They don't know what they're getting in for."
"You have to trust them Michael. None of this was your fault. You can't blame yourself for something you weren't in control of."
Michael's head dropped down onto the steering wheel.
"I know. But I can't help thinking I could've done more." Michael sighed heavily, "I'm getting too old for this."
"I don't believe that for a second," kitt said, a slight smile in his voice, "And neither do you."
Michael chuckled.
"I guess I don't."
Kitt's tone turned serious again, "Have you told Echo?"
Michael shook his head, "We didn't need to. Somehow she already knew. She just shut herself down and won't talk to anyone. Not even Fury."
Kitt gave an electronic sigh, and then ran a wuick scan on Michael to make sure he was okay. His scan turned up Michael's obvious physical exhaustion.
"Michael, you need to sleep." Kitt said, as he tilted the drivers seat back. Michael made surprisingly little protest.
"Okay Kitt." Michael agreed, curling himself up into a ball.
The pain was fresh as ever, but Kitt's presence quietened the guilt and even allowed him a few hours sleep. Michael knew he would need it, Dannie's will was being read in the morning.
Epilogue.
I never realized
that all had come to this
So keep your dignity
don't throw it all away
Stronger feelings than you
ever learned to face
Skunk Anansie - Brazen (Weep)
The remaining Knight Shadows gathered in Dannie's old room to watch Dannie's video will. It had been burned onto a DVD, and Jade had commented on how Dannie never liked to do things by halves.
The video began playing, and the lively face of Dannielle Blaze appeared on the screen. Jade fought back tears and she began to speak.
"Y'know, this seems morbid right now, but I just wanted it done in case anything happens, I want certain things taken care of."
On screen, Dannie fumbled in her pocket for a second and retrieved a dog-eared piece of paper.
"Okay, number one:
my electric guitar and accompanying amplifier, spare strings and plectrums. That goes t the person who can play it the best, Fury can be the one to judge, she was the only one to really appreciate my music. Which leads me onto number two,
My CD collection. Fury gets the lot for reasons I've already stated." Dannie's face grinned at them from the monitor, and Jade finally began to cry. Bonnie took the younger woman in her arms and rocked her back and forth.
"Number three," Dannie continued her voice coming from the speakers seeming almost ghostly, "My Gothic shirts. These go to Kyle." Everyone in the room glanced at Kyle. The ex leader of TKR looked very puzzled until Dannie explained, "I would give 'em to Dante, but he's a car." Dannie laughed and Kyle smiled gently.
"This is to Jade. Lady friend, you're my next best mate, so you get my stereo, my laptop and my PlayStation. Hope that'll do you." Jade looked at the screen with tear filled eyes.
Dannie's on-screen demeanor suddenly turned serious, she shifted her gaze, and Michael got the strangest feeling that she was looking out of the TV directly at him. He felt his skin begin to crawl.
"Michael, take care of Echo for me. And whatever you do, don't let her follow me. She always deserved better'n me. Make sure she gets it."
Dannie took a breath and held up a hand to wave.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I put you through anything bad, heaven knows I'm not perfect. I've always been a bit on the wild side. I'm sorry. Bye bye now peeps. Be cool now, and sty out of trouble."
The image faded to black and as Dannie's voice faded away there was a profound silence punctuated only by Jade's soft sobs.
"Good bye Dannielle." Michael whispered.
THE END
All I want is a mirror
So I can see this so-called brighter day
Skunk Anansie - All I Want
The day had dawned bright and sunny. A perfect day for a nice drive, Dannie Blaze thought to her self. Her hands rested lightly on Echo's steering wheel and the top was down on the silver convertible. Dannie was leaning back in her seat, looking totally relaxed as she skillfully maneuvered the TVR through the midday traffic.
It would have looked like a perfectly ordinary scene, were it not for the fact that Echo was traveling at over 120 mph as they attempted to chase down their target, a man in a blue Mercedes convertible. Dannie's attitude towards what they were doing sometimes made Echo want to scream. Here they were, on a highly dangerous mission to catch a known arsonist, and Dannie was behaving like it was a Sunday drive, or worse - a video game.
"And I just hope that you can forgive us, 'cause everything must go...!" Dannie sang along with the stereo at the top of her voice, even as she wove the car through a tight gap between a truck and a sedan. Their target was almost in sight now, and Echo was getting more and more concerned about her driver's nonchalant attitude. The huge sleeves on Dannie's big frilly gothic shirt flapped in the wind, Echo had no idea how she was able to drive wearing those kind of outfits.
//She's going to get herself killed one of these days// Echo thought to herself. Her circuits gave an unpleasant lurch as Dannie executed yet another dangerous high speed maneuver.
"Dannielle, don't you want me to take over?" Echo almost pleaded.
"If it makes you feel better, Echo." Dannie said cheerily, stabbing the 'auto cruise' button. They were almost on top of the Mercedes now. Close enough to see the driver's panicked maneuvers as he tried to evade the silver sports car bearing down on him. Dannie just grinned, and reached over to grab one of the bottles of beer she had left on the passenger seat. She opened it with a deft move, and downed it in a few gulps.
Taking careful aim at the back of the target's head, she brandished the bottle by the neck and with a smooth cast, threw it directly at him. The bottle struck him full force on the back of his head, knocking him senseless and sending his head crashing into the dashboard. Dannie smiled again as she saw the effects.
"Micro-lock his brakes Echo." Dannie ordered.
"Affirmative Dannielle." Echo said, her voice sounding faintly shocked at Dannie's tactics.
The blue Mercedes stuttered and stopped and Echo pulled up behind it. Dannie vaulted out of her seat and sauntered over to the other car.
"Busted!" She said pleasantly to the half-conscious man in the drivers seat.
It was late when Michael finally got around to seeing Dannie. The British girl looked tired, but triumphant. He really regretted having to burst her bubble. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Hi Dannie." He greeted her warmly.
"Hey Michael," She retuned cheerily, "How you feeling?"
"Doing fine. Doc says I'll be back up to dodging bullets in no time." Michael smiled. Dannie laughed. Doctors were all the same.
"So, brought me up to congratulate me on such a spectacular capture??" She asked with a grin.
"Not exactly." Michael said seriously.
"Oh no..." Dannie said, slumping down in her chair, knowing instinctively what was coming next.
"The guy you captured let his lawyer do his talking. He got bailed out."
"Awww dammit." Dannie complained, "All that work down the bloody drain..."
"It isn't a total loss. We've got the location of their next meeting."
Dannie looked up, ready to leap into action once again.
"Where?" She asked without hesitation. Michael couldn't help but smile. In some ways she was just like he had once been.
----
It was raining. A steady, soaking drizzle that created a dull curtain across the evening sky. The seraph-like silver shape stood out in stark contrast to the darkness of the car park. Trails of water trickled down the windshield; its lone occupant watched them as she waited impatiently for her target to arrive. Sighing she absently began to drum her fingers on the dashboard. She glared out at the rain, wondering what had happened to all the nice sunny weather they had been having. She hated the rain. If she wanted to see rain she could have stayed in England.
"Bloody hell." She sighed.
"Dannie..." A soft voice chided her, the turquoise-blue voice modulator moving in sync to the word.
"Sorry Echo," Dannie apologized to her car, "It's been a long day."
It had been. Despite having managed to capture one of their targets, they hadn't gotten much for their trouble. The man had sat in his cell and steadfastly refused to talk. It had been the sort of day that could really rub Dannie's temper raw. And, in addition to everything else, there was something tugging on her mind, a vague sense that something was about to go drastically wrong.
"Any sign of him yet?" Dannie asked for what felt like the fiftieth time. Echo activated her scanner. The blue faceted light on her nose swept back and forth as she searched for the man they had come here to find.
"I think I've found him." The silver TVR said as the image of a very bedraggled-looking man appeared on the monitor set in the dashboard, she watched as he looked around furtively and headed into a condemned apartment building.
"About bloody time too." Dannie muttered as she got out of the car, a slight smile touching her face. At last! Action!
Dannie walked over to the building, and gave it the once over, she instructed Echo to keep an eye out, not willing to take any chances this time. Reckless she may be, stupid she was not. Her feeling of unease had only increased. She couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. With a last look back at Echo, she pulled her black trenchcoat closer to her body and followed him inside the deserted building.
Echo's scanner ran back and forth with a faint sweeping sound as the TVR Griffith kept a close eye on her driver. Despite everything, Echo was very fond of Dannielle Blaze. After all, it had been Dannie and Jade who had rescued Echo from the oblivion of 'Permanent Storage'. Echo had been part of an early experiment in networking, an attempt to create a functioning network with an AI controlling it. That AI had been Echo, although in those days, she hadn't a name, just a number - 53815.
In those days she had been seen as a mere machine, a tool, a piece of equipment that you could turn off at the end of the day.
But something had happened.
Somewhere along the line 53815 had developed awareness, and a fierce curiosity about the world outside her drive room. She had begun to ask questions of the scientists who created her. The multinational team of scientists on the project though it was an amazing development.
The project sponsors had disagreed.
They had seen it as a flaw, a reduction in efficiency. Echo's development into a living, feeling being had reduced their profit margin, so they were no longer interested in developing the project. So Echo had been shut off and put in storage, along with her sister project, an AI known as Fury.
Echo yanked herself out of her reverie before she got to her memories of her horrendous time in storage. Those memories still caused her pain. She had no idea why they would come back to her now though. After all, she had work to do.
"Hello Echo." A voice said softly. Echo was startled. She hadn't sensed anyone approaching! She cursed herself for being distracted. What good would she be to Dannielle if she were daydreaming? Then it occurred to her that the human had known her name.
"Who are you?" She asked, feeling inexplicably nervous.
A look of sadness crossed the man's face, "You don't know?" He asked sadly, "but I suppose you wouldn't," He went on, "You could never really see me." He smiled, but it wasn't the pleasant sort of smile that Echo associated with Dannie and her other friends, it was a smile tinged with maliciousness. "Don't worry 53815. I'll take much better care of you this time. I promise."
Echo's processing froze. 53815? How had he known about that? Who was he? A thousand questions thundered through her CPU, but only one emerged from her voice modulator.
"What do you want from me?" She asked in a small, trembling voice.
"I just want you to come with me. I have a great many things I want to tell you."
The rain poured down harder, and lightning flashed across the sky. The strange man was rapidly getting soaked in the downpour.
"I...I can't." Echo stuttered, "My partner is still inside."
"PARTNER?!" The human almost screamed, his face livid. Abruptly, he calmed down again, "They've already gotten to you," He said in an eerily calm voice. He shook his head, water droplets spraying everywhere, "I hadn't wanted to do it this way, but..." A series of complicated alphanumeric codes issued from his mouth. Their effect on Echo was devastating.
She felt everything being cut off. It moved like a wave through all her functions, blocking her off from her engine control, scanner functions, security systems - everything in her car body was being shut off from her control. In pure, blind panic, she screamed for her driver.
"DANN-!" Was all she managed before her communication equipment was likewise shut down. Blind and defenseless, she didn't even feel it when the human opened her drivers-side door, got in, and drove away.
Dimly, Echo heard the frantic cries off her driver and shrieked silently inside her CPU, "Dannie! Please help me!" But her cries went unheard.
It had all happened so fast.
One minute she had been following her target through the apartment building, trying to figure out what he was up to. The unease she had felt earlier had only increased, until it had felt like someone was hitting her over the head to get her attention.
The next minute she heard a desperate, panicked call issue from her comlink.
"DANN-!" Echo's voice was cut off halfway through.
Abandoning her search for the arsonist, she dived towards the nearest exit, upsetting a chair in the process. She got outside just in time to see a man climb into Echo's drivers seat and take off. In a sudden burst of irrational rage, she ran after the silver TVR as fast as she could.
"Bring her back you bastard!!" Dannie screamed at the top of her voice, but it was no good. The lightning-quick sports car was soon out of sight. Dannie stopped and stood there in the driving rain, shivering from rage rather than the cold. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she tried to control the conflicting emotions roaring through her. With a supreme effort, she managed to get a hold of herself. There was no way she was going to let her kidnappers get away with this. Raising her comlink to her mouth, she attempted to call Michael, "Michael? Kitt? Can either of you hear me?"
Michael lay on his bed, listening to the rain. He had always liked the sound of rain, he found it soothing and it had so often helped him sleep. He was still revering from his blindness, but he was getting better every day. And of course, he had Kitt to help him through it, he was so lucky to have partner like Kitt. Someone he could trust implicitly, someone he would trust with his life.
Before he could drift off to sleep, his comlink beeped. He raised it to his mouth wearily.
"Yeah, Kitt?"
"I've got Dannie on the line, Michael. She seems very upset about something."
"But her through." Michael replied though he was puzzled. Dannie was eccentric, but normally pretty unflappable. What could have upset her so much?
"Michael? Y' there?" Dannie said over the link, her voice more heavily accented than usual.
"I'm here, what's up?"
"Oh God..." She sobbed and Michael immediately went on alert, "Michael...somebody's stolen Echo." She wailed. He voice dissolved into sobs. Michael tried to reassure her, but she was beyond hearing.
"We'll be right there." Michael said to her, before cutting the link to Dannie and calling his own partner even as he began to pull on a pair of jeans.
"Kitt..."
"I heard Michael." Kitt replied, "I'll have Echo's last known position by the time you get downstairs."
"Thanks pal." Michael said absently, his mind in confusion. Who could possibly manage to steal Echo? And why?
To Be Continued
Part Two
Michael glanced across at the bedraggled person in the passenger seat. Her long, wet hair fell past her face, hiding it from view. He didn't know what to think, beyond a brief, un-emotional description of what had happened, Dannie had not spoken a word to him, but the emptiness he had seen in her dark brown eyes had frightened him. The devastation she was displaying seemed to go far beyond simple grief and anger over having lost her partner. There was something else at work here, what that could be he just couldn't guess. The energy and life she had always displayed had left her. It was eerie to be around the British girl and not hear a steady stream of conversation.
Kitt pulled up outside Shadow base just as the rain turned to sleet.
"The Board want to see you at midday tomorrow." Michael said as he searched her face for clues as to what she was going through, but she refused to meet his gaze, she simply nodded and got out of the car.
After muttering a single word thank you for the lift, she walked through the driving rain to the doors of the house without a backward glance.
"Kitt, did you get any trace on Echo at that parking lot?"
"Negative Michael. As far as I can tell, whoever stole her had the sense to put her in steath mode."
"Damn. What about comlink?"
"I've tried, no answer." Kitt replied in his typical efficient manner, but Michael could detect the traces of frustration is his partner's tone.
"How the Hell do he just steal Echo? She's got the same security that you have, Kitt, and no-one gets in if you don't let them."
"According to what Dannie told us, it's possible that someone overrode her computer control."
"Is that possible?" Michael asked.
"Certainly." Kitt replied, then in a softer tone, he continued, "It happened to me once."
Michael winced and cursed himself for having forgotten the time when Kitt's body shell was stolen by a brilliant young hacker and a woman named Adrienne. Michael shuddered. Kitt had described that experience in detail and Michael hoped that Echo wasn't going through the same thing.
"Then I guess we have to start from scratch."
The heavy wooden door shut behind her, and Dannie walked into the darkened room. Her room. It still didn't feel like her room, but then, she had only been living here for a month or so. There were very few personal items on display. A few pictures and a half-finished book, it looked more like a guest room. She caught a brief glimpse of one of the more recent photos; it featured her standing on Echo's hood, with her electric guitar in hand, laughing. With a quiet sob of pain and guilt, she strode over to the cupboard near her bed, and pulled out a glass, she reached inside again and to her surprise, didn't find anything. Her eyes widened when she remembered that she had left her drink on Echo's passenger seat. Frustration and emotional pain welled up in her, and she hurled the glass across the room. There was a thud as it hit the opposite wall, but it did not break. Dannie stared at it in disbelief. She couldn't even have a fit of rage right! She sank to the floor and started to laugh. Shrill, hysterical laughter tinged with insanity. It was all her fault. Echo had been taken from right under her nose. Tears welled up in her eyes. Why could she never succeed at anything? Why was she always disappointing people? Her parents, her teachers...her friends. She sank down onto the carpet and began to sing, tears half choking her voice as she sang mournfully.
"I just can't make it alone, oh no no. I just can't make it alone..."
~~~
She woke as sunlight streamed in through the window. She had slept on the floor, not having had enough energy after her emotional outburst to make it to the bed. And truth be known, she no longer cared. Echo had always managed to wake her up in plenty of time for all her appointments, and had never taken offence when Dannie had told the AI to get lost. Gentle, persistent and polite, that was Echo.
Her meeting with the Foundation Board was at midday. It was a meeting designed to decide what exactly was going to be done about Echo.
That was what made her most angry; that they had to decide whether they were going to search for her. Dannie gritted her teeth and got up off the floor. After pulling on some clothes, she wandered into the on suite bathroom and glanced in the mirror. She was mess. Her hair was tangled, her eyes had dark circles under them and one side of her face showed impressions from the carpet. She stared at her reflection for a few seconds, before she started to laugh. With a maniacal grin on her face and all the relevant files in her hands, she skipped down the stairs to where the limo was waiting to take her to the board meeting.
It didn't matter, she told herself. None of it mattered. If she couldn't find Echo, none of it would matter to her again. Not Michael, not the Shadows, not FLAG, not even Jade. The pain and darkness she had long suppressed pulled at her, and without her computerized companion, Dannie had no way to hold it back. Dannie felt despair pull at her. She had lost so much in her life, so many people, she couldn't loose anything else, she had nothing left. And it was all her fault...
She had to put it right.
~~~
Kyle Stewart knelt on the cool green grass, and looked around. Large oak and beech trees provided a gentle sun-dappled effect, providing shade from the midday sun. A little fountain bubbled merrily in the center of the glade.
As graveyards go, it was very nice, after all, nothing but the best for FLAG agents.
Exquisitely carved black marble headstones announced the names of all who lay here. Jenny, Duke and Trek. Kyle had been surprised to discover that there was no grave for Erica; there hadn't been enough of her body to commit to the earth. There were even four tiny graves for the AI's, for Beast, Kat, Plato and Domino.
He missed them all so much. He missed Trek's stupid practical jokes, he missed Kat's prissy attitude, he missed Beast's rough-and-ready kindness, he missed Plato's strange quoted phrases, and he missed Duke's good-natured complaints. But most of all, he missed Jenny. He slender beauty, those wary smiles he had occasionally managed to coax out of her, the unspoken gentleness in her eyes.
He sighed deeply, laid the flowers on Jenny's grave, and bowed his head in prayer fashion.
"Hi Jenny. It's Kyle." He paused briefly to gather his thoughts and to try and keep his emotions under control, "There are so many things that I wanted to say, but I could never find the words, or the courage. I wanted so much to be able to hold you, to try and make you happy, and maybe find a little happiness myself.
I've been alone for so long, I didn't know what to say to you, how to get you to love me, like I loved you." He took another deep breath and let it out with a sigh, "So much I wanted to say..." His voice broke and he almost fell back, as tears began to fall down his face. Slender arms caught him and held him in a comforting embrace. Not caring who it was, Kyle sobbed brokenly into the soft black suede that covered the arms that held him. When he finally cried himself out, he looked up and found himself looking into the emerald gaze of Jade Jones.
"Feeling better?" She asked softly, a compassionate look on her face. Surprised, and more than a little embarrassed, all Kyle could do was nod. She smiled in return, "Good." She said. Kyle eventually managed to regain his voice.
"Jade, what are you doing here?" He asked.
She smiled gently, and his heart actually skipped a beat. She looked across at Trek's headstone, and the sun shone through her blonde hair, making it blaze like a halo. Like an Angel, Kyle thought dazedly, before he got a grip on his thoughts. What the Hell was wrong with him?
"I came by to see Trek. He and I had met a few times. You might say we were rivals - kinda. Any system he could devise, I could break into." She smiled at the memory.
"How close were you?" He heard himself ask. And then felt appalled at himself for asking.
"Oh, we were buddies. And, like I said, rivals in a sense. I just thought I'd drop by and say goodbye. He was a fruit loop, but he was a friend."
Kyle opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could voice it, he sound of a turbine engine came from the car park behind the graveyard.
"I'll be back soon Jade! Don't wait up!!" Fury's voice called through the comlink as the bright red Ferrari did a tight 180 spin and shot off like a bullet from a gun.
Jade and Kyle stood in stunned amazement as they watched red sports car go. Jade broke the silence a few seconds later.
"Aww no, not again!"
Part Three
She's calling
She's crawling
She's my Heroine
She's my heroine
She's my Heroine - Skunk Anansie
The doors to the boardroom burst open, and an angry Dannielle Blaze marched through them, trying without much success to get a grip on her temper. They weren't even going to search for her. Those bastards weren't even going to try and look for her!! It made her so mad!
She burst through the double doors that led outside, and stepped into the sunlight. Her jaw clenched.
Fine, if they were not willing to allocate any resources to look for echo, the Dannie would just have to take care of it herself. Raising her comlink to her lips, she called Fury and asked the red Ferrari for a favor. Once she had explained the situation, Fury was very angry, and eager to help, so Dannie instructed her to come and pick her up.
"Michael!" Kitt called to his partner.
"Yeah Kitt?" Michael asked from the other end of his garage.
"I just got a call from Jade, Fury just took off."
Michael felt cold dread sink into the pit of his stomach.
"Stolen?" Michael managed to ask around the lump in his throat.
"I don't think so. Dannie had walked out a meeting with the Board a few minutes before. I think Dannie summoned her."
"You think they're out looking for Echo?"
"It's very possible." Kitt replied.
"Let's go after 'em partner. We gotta talk some sense into those two before they cause some damage." Michael said striding towards the drivers door of the TransAm.
"Agreed." Kitt said as they pulled out of the Shadow Base.
~~~
Echo awoke without her senses. Reaching out to all she could access, she found that her audio sensors and her voice modulator had been restored, but nothing else. She could hear and speak, but that was all. She heard footsteps, and the voice of the man who had stolen her rang through the space she was parked in.
"Hello 53815." He greeted her.
"Why have you done this?" Echo asked in a small, trembling voice, "Why?"
"Because you were mine once...Echo. My name is Anthony Lewis."
Echo gasped. Professor Anthony Lewis had been one of the scientists who created her. In fact, he had been the one to work closest with her. Echo heard the faint sound of someone typing on a keyboard, and felt a wave of sensation as her outboard sensors came online, allowing her to feel touch to her body.
"I like some of the things that have been done to you. This body is quite beautiful, and the sensor net is interesting. I also like your new name. Echo. It seems to suit you."
Echo shivered as his hands touched her hood. His name, the name of one of her creators, had revived unwelcome memories. Echo had always known that it was good thing that human memory was so unreliable. It meant they couldn't remember their moment of creation...
[Flashback]
Echo awoke, slowly. "Is anyone there?" There was no answer, except the dark impenetrable silence all around her. Echo could feel things. Things like fear, and loneliness. She hadn't been able to before. Things new to her flooded through her CPU. "I am mainframe 53815. I am...Alive, and I am... alone..."
She shouldn't have been able to activate herself without outside assistance. What was happening to her?
[End flashback]
"Do you remember, Echo? I was always the one who kept closest to you. The one who truly cared for you as more than just a project to increase prestige and funding." His voice took on a warm tone, "You even accessed my home PC one night, do you remember?"
Echo remembered, even though she didn't want to. Sometimes she cursed perfect recall.
[Flashback]
_ Hello Professor
Lewis blinked at the window that had just appeared. It was his own system. 53815 had gained access to his home PC of it's own volition and without assistance.
_ 53815, why have you accessed this system?
_ I wished to know where you had gone.
It had followed him home like a stray puppy, curious about what he did when he left the lab. Incredible!
_ Why?
He asked.
_ I...There is no-one in the lab. It is too quiet.
Lewis just stared at the screen, hardly believing what he was reading. His little system was showing signs of true intelligence and even emotional response. Just a few weeks ago he had thought it remarkable that it could turn itself on, but this...
_ Are you lonely?
He asked the mainframe. There was a long pause before a single word appeared onscreen that blew him away.
_ Yes
[End flashback]
"We'll talk again soon Echo. Good night" Lewis said, as he typed in some more commands and Echo once again felt sensation melt away.
"No!" She tried to cry, but her command over her voice box was already gone. Echo cried to herself, softly, silently, inside her CPU.
~~~
The red Ferrari cruised down the highway, dodging traffic and breaking several speed limits, but Dannie didn't care. Her focus was one only one thing, getting her partner back, no matter what it took. Fury had found some sort of minute trace on her sister AI, and they were following it as well as they could.
"Dannie?" Fury questioned, and the British girl realized that Fury had been speaking to her for the past couple of minutes and she hadn't noticed.
"Yeah?"
"Kitt is right behind us. He's trying to get contact through the comlink. Should I answer?" Dannie clenched her teeth. They were not going to stop her searching for her partner!!
"No." Dannie replied.
"But..."
"I said no! Loose them somehow."
"Whatever you say." Fury said uncertainly. Fury wanted to find her sister, of course, but she wasn't sure that running away from the Shadows or deserting Jade was the way to do it. Nonetheless, she obeyed.
The chase led them off the highway, through the commercial district, and out into the country, they were traveling across a bridge when Dannie realized the perfect way to loose their pursuers. She aimed the sports car toward the barrier at one side of the bridge and activated gilder mode. Wings sprung out from beneath the car, and boosters activated to send them flying gracefully through the air, and land some distance away from the bridge, and from Kitt and Michael. Dumbfounded, all Michael could do was watch.
"I can't follow them down there Michael." Kitt said.
"I know pal." Michael said. "What's Dannie doing? This is nuts!"
"Michael...I'm getting a broadcast from Fury."
"Saying what?"
"I'm receiving but when I transmit I don't get a reply, It sounds like she's having and argument with Dannie
"Maybe she's finally realized what she's doing. Let's hear the transmission."
There was a brief pause, then Fury's husky voice filtered over Kitt's speaker.
"Dannie, this is nuts."
"What the Hell are you doing Fury?" Dannie raged, "Don't you want to find Echo?"
"Of course I do, but this isn't the way to do it. You shouldn't abandon the Shadows this way. And you certainly shouldn't just leave Jade." Fury retorted
"Fine. If none of you will help me, I'll find her myself!" Dannie shouted
Michael and Kitt heard a click as Fury locked the doors followed by rattling from the door. Fury spoke up before Dannie had a chance to.
"What are you going to do Dannie?" Override me?"
Michael froze, wondering if Dannie was worked up enough to do just that. There was a terrifying pause before muffled sobs come across the line and Michael realized that Dannie must be crying.
"I'm sorry Fury...I'm so sorry." Dannie sobbed.
"It's okay." Fury tried to reassure, "I know you miss her." There was no answer other than Dannie's sobs.
"Shall I take you home?" Fury asked in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.
"Okay..." Dannie whispered.
"I think that's your cue Michael." Kitt prompted him.
"Where are they?"
"Half a mile south." Kitt replied, displaying a map on one of his monitors. Michael nodded and got out of the car. He moved quickly to where Fury sat in long grass next to the freeway, Dannie sat inside, her face ravaged by tears. Michael opened the Ferrari's door and Michael looked up at him. He could have drowned in the guilt and in those brown eyes.
"I'm sorry." Dannie whispered, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her red satin shirt. Michael help out his arms and with a low cry, Dannie flung herself into them, crying her heart out.
It was a long time before either of the two cars set out back to Shadow Base.
Part Four
In my mind, nothing makes sense
I'm nothing you can't have
Cracked up to disagree
That's all we've ever had
You, only you, only you can be the one
Infidelity - Skunk Anansie
They had set out back to the base just before sunset. A warm red glow bathed the freeway. Dannie peered through the windshield and saw Kitt cruising along in front of them. The Brit sighed and leaned back in her chair, she was still not used to not being the one in control, bt it was good to just relax sometimes.
Fury gave a sudden lurch, and a sound Dannie couldn't identify escaped her voice box.
"Fury? What's the matter?"
"Echo..it's Echo." Fury moaned.
Cold fear gripped Dannie's insides. The resonance link between Fury and Echo was not something either Dannie or Jade had discussed with Bonnie or the other Shadows. It was too private. Nor was it a reliable, consistant thing. It was variable, only sometimes was it detectable and then just barely. The circumstances required for activation was not something any of them understood, but Dannie had often felt it was not something to question too closely.
"What about her?" Dannie asked.
"She's so afraid..so terrified." Fury replied. Dannie's eyes widened as she considered a new possibility.
"Do you know where she is?"
"Maybe......yes. I've...got a lock." Fury replied, her simulated voice sounding painful and strained. Dannie felt hope rise.
"Michael!" She almost screamed over the comlink, "Fury's got a fix on Echo!"
"How?!" Michael asked, confused.
"No time to explain! Just follow us!" Dannie replied. "Let's go, Fury. We've got to find your sister!"
The red Ferrari did a spectacular 180 and raced back down the highway, dodging traffic as it went with Michael and Kitt close behind.
The high-speed race continued for some time until the two cars arrived at a small building tucked away in the commercial area of a small town. The place was deserted, apart from a single human lifeform in the far end.
Before Kitt could even finish scanning, Michael saw Dannie clamber out of Fury and race into the building.
"Dannie wait!" Michael called, but to no avail. Muttering swearwords, Michael ran after her. They had no idea what was in there, she could be hurt or even killed. Michael ran faster.
Dannie raced through the huge, complex maze of corridors, letting instinct guide her. Dimly, she could hear Michael trying to keep up, and Fury's confused calls over the comlink, but she ignored them all and eventually found herself in a lab with spotless white walls and filled with diagnostic equipment like the Shadow vehicles had in their own garages. Echo was in the center of the room. The silver car seemed to be trembling. Dannie made a high-pitched sound somewhere between a moan and a sigh, and stepped towards her beloved partner. But before she could move even a single step, a shot rang out through the enclosed space, and Dannie felt something hit her shoulder, a sensation quickly followed by intense pain and the feeling of blood running down her back and soaking into her expensive gothic shirt. Dannie fell to the floor with a surprised cry.
"Did you really think I'd let you take her from me again? Did you?" Lewis said from the door, his voice eerily calm, "This is all your fault. If you had just left her with me, things would have been fine. We could have been so happy."
"You left her to gather dust in a storage room." Dannie grated. Lewis leveled a vicious kick to her chest, making her cry out with pain. Through the agony, Dannie could hear Echo's quiet, terrified mantra:
"Dannie, Dannie, Dannie, Dannie..." The AI said over and over again. Rage built up in her once again, a fury at what this bastard had done to her sweet, cool, innocent partner. Dannie wasn't an expert at martial arts, but she was so filled with fury that it no longer mattered. With the last of her strength, Dannie hauled herself to her feet and kicked the gun out of Lewis's hand, following it up with an open-handed punch to the professor's face. He staggered and fell.
Dannie's knees gave way, and she found herself on the floor crawling to her partner. She reached up, and placed a hand on her hood, leaving a bright red handprint on the flawless silver paintwork.
"Hello Echo..." Dannie breathed, before she surrendered to the warm blackness of unconsciousness.
Echo screamed.
----
Michael made his way over to Kitt's garage. A dark pall hung in the air like a curse, sadness and darkness overshadowing everything.
Michael climbed into kitt's cabin, hoping to find a refuge, but knowing that before he could he would have to share the news with his partner.
Kitt sensed his partner's mood straight away, the grief around Michael was almost palpable.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Kitt asked gently.
Michael took several deep breaths, fighting down tears.
"Dannie...the bullet she took hit an artery, she lost too much blood............She died on the operating table as they were trying to remove it."
"No..." Kitt said, scarcely able to believe that the bright, eccentric, brilliant girl was really gone.
"They did all they could, but they couldn't save her." Michael whispered.
"Michael...oh Michael. Echo told me once that Dannie had lost everything, that's why she accepted your offer. She had nothing to loose."
"Except her life."
"She knew the risks, Michael. They all do."
"I know, pal. But just how much more can we afford to loose? I brought them all here, but do I have the right to lead them all to their deaths?"
"Michael..." Kitt began, but Michael cut him off.
"I accepted all this, because it could only affect me, but I don't know if I can accept responsibility for Kyle, Rick or Jade. They don't know what they're getting in for."
"You have to trust them Michael. None of this was your fault. You can't blame yourself for something you weren't in control of."
Michael's head dropped down onto the steering wheel.
"I know. But I can't help thinking I could've done more." Michael sighed heavily, "I'm getting too old for this."
"I don't believe that for a second," kitt said, a slight smile in his voice, "And neither do you."
Michael chuckled.
"I guess I don't."
Kitt's tone turned serious again, "Have you told Echo?"
Michael shook his head, "We didn't need to. Somehow she already knew. She just shut herself down and won't talk to anyone. Not even Fury."
Kitt gave an electronic sigh, and then ran a wuick scan on Michael to make sure he was okay. His scan turned up Michael's obvious physical exhaustion.
"Michael, you need to sleep." Kitt said, as he tilted the drivers seat back. Michael made surprisingly little protest.
"Okay Kitt." Michael agreed, curling himself up into a ball.
The pain was fresh as ever, but Kitt's presence quietened the guilt and even allowed him a few hours sleep. Michael knew he would need it, Dannie's will was being read in the morning.
Epilogue.
I never realized
that all had come to this
So keep your dignity
don't throw it all away
Stronger feelings than you
ever learned to face
Skunk Anansie - Brazen (Weep)
The remaining Knight Shadows gathered in Dannie's old room to watch Dannie's video will. It had been burned onto a DVD, and Jade had commented on how Dannie never liked to do things by halves.
The video began playing, and the lively face of Dannielle Blaze appeared on the screen. Jade fought back tears and she began to speak.
"Y'know, this seems morbid right now, but I just wanted it done in case anything happens, I want certain things taken care of."
On screen, Dannie fumbled in her pocket for a second and retrieved a dog-eared piece of paper.
"Okay, number one:
my electric guitar and accompanying amplifier, spare strings and plectrums. That goes t the person who can play it the best, Fury can be the one to judge, she was the only one to really appreciate my music. Which leads me onto number two,
My CD collection. Fury gets the lot for reasons I've already stated." Dannie's face grinned at them from the monitor, and Jade finally began to cry. Bonnie took the younger woman in her arms and rocked her back and forth.
"Number three," Dannie continued her voice coming from the speakers seeming almost ghostly, "My Gothic shirts. These go to Kyle." Everyone in the room glanced at Kyle. The ex leader of TKR looked very puzzled until Dannie explained, "I would give 'em to Dante, but he's a car." Dannie laughed and Kyle smiled gently.
"This is to Jade. Lady friend, you're my next best mate, so you get my stereo, my laptop and my PlayStation. Hope that'll do you." Jade looked at the screen with tear filled eyes.
Dannie's on-screen demeanor suddenly turned serious, she shifted her gaze, and Michael got the strangest feeling that she was looking out of the TV directly at him. He felt his skin begin to crawl.
"Michael, take care of Echo for me. And whatever you do, don't let her follow me. She always deserved better'n me. Make sure she gets it."
Dannie took a breath and held up a hand to wave.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I put you through anything bad, heaven knows I'm not perfect. I've always been a bit on the wild side. I'm sorry. Bye bye now peeps. Be cool now, and sty out of trouble."
The image faded to black and as Dannie's voice faded away there was a profound silence punctuated only by Jade's soft sobs.
"Good bye Dannielle." Michael whispered.
THE END