TURBO BOOSTED!

"Stunticons!" Megatron called out over the communications channel. Motormaster and the others ground to a halt to listen.

"Whaddaya want, Megatron?" Motormaster growled.

"I need you to do a job for me. There is a black Pontiac Trans Am hanging around the Autobots. I need you to capture it and bring it to me. UNDAMAGED. Do you understand?"

"Awww undamaged? Where's the fun in that?" Motormaster groaned.

"Let me put this in terms you can understand. If that car is NOT in one piece when you bring it to me, you will find yourselves in exactly the same condition when I'm through with you!" Megatron snapped.

"Alright, alright," Motormaster sighed.

"Excellent. Megatron out."

"I wonder what he wants with an Earth car," Deadend mused.

"Maybe he wants to make another one of us!" Wildrider exclaimed excitedly.

"Don't remind me that we're made of Earth scrap," Deadend retorted.

"Alright you two, break it up!" Motormaster ordered, "Stunticons, let's get moving!"

*****

Devon Miles and Optimus Prime had arranged for Michael and KITT to travel to Autobot Headquarters and hang out, just in case Megatron decided to go after the car. Raoul stayed behind in L.A. while Tracks escorted them up there. During the trip, KITT explained to Tracks all about KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot)--the Prototype Trans Am that KITT was modelled off of--and also told him about the sinister souped-up semi-truck Goliath, who had been created by Wilton Knight's black sheep son Garth.

They were on a long stretch of the highway through Bakersfield when a dark semi-truck appeared on the horizon, heading their way.

"Michael, that truck up ahead is worrying me. It has reinforced armor, a computer system, and it's headed straight for us," KITT piped up.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Michael asked.

"One word, Michael. GOLIATH."

"Goliath nothing, that's MOTORMASTER!" Tracks exclaimed.

"Motormaster?" KITT inquired.

"He's a Stunticon! A bad guy! And I betcha the rest of the Stunticons are right behind him!"

KITT accelerated rapidly.

"Are you mad?" Tracks asked earnestly.

"If that oversized hunk of scrap thinks he can run me off the road, he has another thing coming," KITT fumed.

Motormaster noticed the black car pulling ahead of the Autobot. "Oh so you wanna play chicken, huh?" he cackled.

"Oh, I can't look!" Tracks cringed, as Motormaster and KITT bore down on each other.

"Ready, KITT?" Michael asked, just as the Stunticon Leader closed to within 15 feet.

"As ready as I'll ever be," the car replied.

Seconds later, KITT turbo-boosted, leaping over the astonished Motormaster, who was so dumbstruck by this that he transformed so he could turn his head and watch KITT land. "Wha...?" he said, in complete amazement.

"If you think that's out of sight, check this out," Tracks snorted, not to be outdone. He transformed into jet-car mode and took off, passing KITT easily.

"I didn't know Autobots could do that!" KITT commented in surprise. But soon he had to quickly evade the four other Stunticons that had been bringing up Motormaster's rear. Fortunately they had been as shocked as he was when KITT leaped over him.

"Don't just sit there idling your engines! GET HIM!" Motormaster shouted, and transformed back to truck mode.

"Oh no you don't!" Tracks contradicted, and swung back towards them, still in flight mode. A few blasts of his ink-laser took care of the five of them.

"Let's get out of here, before they form Menasor!" Tracks urged.

"Menasor?" KITT wondered. But he didn't have to wonder long--in his rear view mirror, Michael spotted the gigantic robot, flying low and preparing to snatch KITT up.

"I take it that is Menasor," Michael said, "What can we do to stop it?"

"Not much!" Tracks told him.

KITT tried all sorts of evasive maneuvers and it seemed to work for awhile, but then suddenly two giant hands closed on KITT's sides.

"MICHAEL! You have to get out of here! I'm ejecting you! Tracks, get ready to catch him!" KITT ordered.

"Are you crazy?" Tracks protested.

"I can't let anything happen to Michael. Don't worry, I'll think of something later," KITT said. He quickly activated the driver's side ejector seat, propelling Michael clear of Menasor. Tracks quickly transformed and caught him.

"Oh great, now what do we do?" Michael fumed, as a cackling Menasor carried KITT away. But Tracks was already on his communicator.

"Tracks to Optimus Prime. They got KITT."

*****

"Excellent, Menasor, ehhhhhhhhhhxcellent!" Megatron crowed, as Menasor brought the black Trans-Am into the heart of the temporary land-base. Soundwave, Bombshell, the Cassetticons, plus Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream were all there, as were the Constructicons.

After Menasor set KITT down, he separated back into the individual Stunticons.

KITT scanned the multitude surrounding him, uncertain of what action to take just yet.

"All this trouble for a worthless Earth vehicle," Starscream snickered. He was unaware of what KITT had done to Laserbeak earlier on.

"Not just any Earth car, you fool," Megatron scolded, "This is a top-secret vehicle with special abilities that may rival that of the Autobots."

"Hmph. As if the Humans could come up with anything superior to us," Starscream sniffed.

"Soundwave. Scan this car and tell me what it can do." Megatron ordered.

"As you command, Megatron." A beam emanated from Soundwave's forehead and probed the car. "Subject has unique molecular-bonded exostructure and sophisticated scanning equipment. Armaments include laser emitter, oil slick generator, smokescreen emitter. Retrorockets also detected."

Meanwhile KITT was feverishly scanning for a way out of there. He was hoping none of the Decepticons had discovered that he was sentient. He could use that to his advantage. Finally his scanners discovered that the hallway directly behind him led to the outside, and it was wide open sailing.

"All we need is someone to drive it," Megatron mused.

KITT breathed a proverbial sigh of relief. Megatron obviously didn't suspect. Now the fun could begin...

*****

"This is terrible," Devon fretted, from the viewscreen of Teletraan 1.

"We should assemble a strike team at once," Optimus Prime decided.

"Well, KITT has a few tricks up his sleeve," Michael assured everyone, "I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to get away on his own."

"But the Decepticons' headquarters is underwater!" Prowl exclaimed.

"Oh." Michael deadpanned.

"Well, do what you can," Devon told them, "Above all, we must not allow KITT to be reprogrammed." His image then disappeared from the viewscreen.

Immediately the viewscreen activated again, this time with Powerglide's image on it.

"Hey hey hey, it's your eye in the sky," Powerglide annouced, "I just saw tall dark and gruesome take a black car into a secret Decepticon base a few miles from here."

"Then he's not underwater?" Michael asked hopefully.

"Nope."

"Let's get moving, then! Autobots, TRANSFORM!" Optimus Prime ordered. He, Tracks, Prowl, Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Jazz, Ironhide, and Smokescreen all headed out, with Michael riding with Optimus. "ROLL OUT!"

*****

"Rumble, get in that car," Megatron ordered.

The cassetticon punk proceeded to use everything but the kitchen sink to pick the lock on KITT's door. It was all to no avail. "It's no use, I can't get in."

"Then BREAK in," Megatron growled.

Rumble stepped back and prepared to punch out the driver's side window. Not only did it not even crack a little bit, the reverberation shook up Rumble's arm. "OW!" he wailed, "Hey, what gives? I should be able to break through that!"

Megatron sighed in frustration and reached for the door handle. KITT promply unlocked it, and Megatron easily opened it. "You idiot, it was unlocked the whole time!" Megatron snarled, "Now get in!"

Rumble entered the car and sat in the driver's seat, closing the door behind him. He proceeded to start the engine. KITT saw his opportunity and immediately took over. Streaking like a shot of greased lightning, KITT headed full-barrel for the exit.

"Rumble, you don't have to overdo it," Megatron said.

"I'm not doing anything! This crazy car is DRIVING ITSELF!" Rumble cried out, as KITT was halfway to the exit.

"Take control then!" Megatron shouted over his communicator.

Rumble grabbed the steering wheel.

"Kindly take your hands off that," KITT snapped.

"You can TALK?" Rumble asked.

KITT made no further comment until he was outside the base. "Here is where you get out," the car told Rumble, and suddenly the seat ejector activated. A screaming Rumble was catapulted into the air--landing him right on his skidplate. "That car just threw me out!" he yelled to Megatron over his radio.

"THEN AFTER IT, YOU FOOL, AFTER IT!!!" Megatron shouted back. He turned to the other Decepticons. "Don't just stand there with your cockpits open! GO GET THAT CAR! AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T DAMAGE IT!"

"All right, that's it!" Rumble stated. He pulled out his laser gun and leaped into the air to pursue the black car.

KITT knew he'd never outrun any of the Jets, but he was hoping he could evade them or at least slow them down. Now the first order of business was contacting Michael...

*****

"Michael! Michael, are you there?" KITT's voice came over Michael's wristwatch-communicator.

"Right here, pal," Michael answered, "KITT, where are you?"

"My scanners indicate that I am approximately 5 miles due East from your position," KITT stated, "I have escaped from the Decepticons, but they're hot on my trail. I'll home in on you."

"What'd I tell you? I knew he could do it," Michael told Optimus Prime.

"Fortunately," Optimus Prime commented, "There's no telling what the Decepticons could do to him if he hadn't got away."

Pretty soon, Starscream and the two other Jets were within range. Suddenly KITT slammed on the brakes, causing them to pass by--starting up again once they had done so. The jets turned around, and headed for KITT again. Once again, KITT evaded them by slamming on the brakes and letting them pass overhead. This continued until Starscream grew impatient. "I'm tired of these games! OPEN FIRE!!!" Starscream shouted.

"B-but Megatron said-" Thundercracker stammered.

"Then don't shoot the car itself! Just shoot a hole for it to fall into! Must I think of EVERYTHING myself?!" Starscream ordered.

The other two complied, and a hail of laser fire erupted just ahead of KITT. Quickly he activated his turbo-boosters and leaped over the yawning hole that had appeared.

At that moment, Starscream had an idea. "Skywarp! Transform, halt, and TELEPORT!"

"Where do you want me to go?"

"RIGHT IN FRONT OF THAT CAR!" Starscream yelled in frustration.

Suddenly, KITT saw two legs appear in front of him out of nowhere. He jammed on his brakes. Starscream transformed and landed behind KITT, with Skywarp ahead of him.

"My null-ray should take care of you," Starscream gloated.

"Oh no it won't!" came Powerglide's voice. He fired a stun-blast that knocked Starscream out cold--causing him to fall right into a shocked Skywarp. KITT peeled rubber in order to avoid getting pinned under them.

By then, Megatron and the others had caught up. "Bombshell! Use one of your cerebro shells to take control of that car!"

The Insecticon complied, but the shell just bounced off the hood of the car.

"Impossible!" Bombshell exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that supposed to do something?" KITT taunted. An enraged Megatron headed for KITT--totally focused on recapturing the car. Too bad he wasn't paying attention to anything else, because suddenly his lower jaw connected to Optimus Prime's fist.

"AAAAGH!" Megatron hollered on impact. He was thrown backwards by the blow.

The other Autobots started firing at the oncoming Decepticons. KITT drove up to Michael and let him back in.

"We still have the advantage! Constructicons, MERGE!!!" Megatron shouted.

"Constructicons, transform--phase one!" Scrapper ordered, "Now transform--phase two!"

The Autobots watched as Devastator assembled.

"KITT, are you scanning that thing?" Michael asked.

"Affirmative, Michael. It has one weakness. If I can fire my laser at a single spot, it will cause them to separate again."

"Then let's do it!" Michael said enthusiastically.

Most everyone else was preoccupied with one-on-one battle. Devastator was attempting to crush any Autobots he could get within reach of. Smokescreen used his ability to blind most of the Decepticons temporarily. The bonus aspect of this was KITT could maneuver through the smoke using his scanners and go undetected.

"That gives me an idea, KITT," Michael said, "Let's use our own smokescreen." KITT drove around the battlefield, taking care to go around Devastator's legs to provide cover. Then he stopped.

"HEY, DOWN HERE!" KITT said over his loudspeaker. That got Devastator's attention. He could not see KITT through all the smoke, so he started feeling around for him. The car peeled away every time the hands got too close.

"Have you got a shot yet?" Michael asked.

"Not yet," KITT told him. He moved in closer--so he directly below Devastator's face. "Now I do!" The laser fired, hitting Devastator in a junction circuit that held him together in his current form. Almost immediately, six separated Constructicons dropped to the ground around him.

Megatron was locked in hand-to-hand combat with Optimus Prime when he saw Devastator separate. He couldn't believe it when he saw that the one who had caused Devastator to separate was none other than that pesky black car. The brief moment of inattention was all Prime needed to land a good uppercut to Megatron's face--knocking the Decepticon Leader backwards.

"DECEPTICONS, RETREAT!" Megatron ordered, rubbing his jaw. He and the others made a swift departure.

"You know, for an Earth car, you're not half bad," Tracks admitted.

"Thank you. For an Autobot, you're not half bad either," KITT said.

"KITT, I am Optimus Prime, the Autobot Leader," Prime stated, introducing himself, "For your courage, and ability to handle the Decepticons, I would like to make you an honorary Autobot."

"Thank you Optimus Prime, I'm honored," KITT replied.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're good enough to BE an Autobot," Wheeljack told KITT, "You know, my friend Ratchet and I can give you a robot mode..."

"Thanks but no thanks," KITT said politely, "I like myself just the way I am."

"Me too, buddy. Me too." Michael agreed.


The End!