The Night of the Nazgul Ring

[giant_among_men]

Miguelito Loveless had spent days studying the Nazgul ring that he had retained after Dumbledore had stolen the One Ring i_am_shiny away from him. Indignation over that incident still burned him, but Loveless was a patient man. He would have his revenge, even if it took weeks, months, or even years. In fact, through his decades' long study of alchemy,

Comments

How Do You Measure the Heart of a Man...or a Car?

[giant_among_men]

Loveless and KITT materialized inside of the new 'garage' laboratory that Loveless had constructed on the grounds of his cliff-side mansion. The interior of the garage could almost have been mistaken for the foyer of a lush, five-star hotel, were it not for the strange assortment of computers, tools, and strange mechanical implements that lined three of the four walls. The fourth wall was bare...except for a large, barred cage that contained the unconscious form of Mr. Artemus Gordon.

Loveless regarded his two unconscious guests with a bemused smile. He would have so much fun with them when they woke up. In the meantime, he instructed Voltaire to ready one of the car lifts for his next experiment. He was going to make a replica of KITT. A duplicate! Only his car would be enhanced with a few extra features that would make it truly unstoppable. He could hardly wait!

Re: How Do You Measure the Heart of a Man...or a Car?

[artemus_gordon]

Artie's head felt as if it had been used for a stampede by a 20 mule team. Pulling an 8 car train. Full of elephants.

As consciousness returned, various parts of his body began to chime in with complaints. The same complaint, really. From toes to hairline he felt as if a lightening bolt had used every nerve in his body as a conductor. He slowly opened his yes, letting them adjust to his surroundings. He was lying flat on his back on the floor, a ceiling of metal bars overhead. Metal bars?

Slowly, painfully, Artie managed to prop himself up on his elbows, giving himself a better angle and view of the room. Or rather, his cage. He was in what appeared to be a free-standing jail cell in the middle of a very large, well appointed laboratory. The collection of tools and apparatus here seemed far more advanced and lavish than that of the smaller lab Artie had infiltrated -- or tried to infiltrate. This was probably Loveless' primary working area, designed for large projects as well as small. It even appeared to house one of

Re: How Do You Measure the Heart of a Man...or a Car?

[giant_among_men]

Ah, Mr. Gordon!

*Loveless strolled over and stopped on the other side of the cage bars, just out of reach. He crossed his arms, raised his head up to a haughty angle, and regarded Gordon with open amusement.*

I hope you slept well! I trust your accommodations are to your liking?

Re: How Do You Measure the Heart of a Man...or a Car?

[artemus_gordon]

*is not in the least bit surprised to see Loveless gloating in on him, the familiar routine complete*

Oh, they're fine. Just fine. Very homey. Nice of you to think of me. Of course, I can't say I'm thrilled with the jewelry. *shakes a leg, rattling the chain* Not quite me.

*as he talks, looks closely at Loveless, and notices a flash of light on his finger*

Speaking of jewelry, that's a nice toy ring you've got there. Get it as a prize out of a popcorn bag did you?

[ki2k]

KITT awoke, slowly, fuzzily, his CPU clouded as much from the spiked gasoline that Draco had fed him as Loveless' manipulations. It took him several minutes to come fully into wakefulness, an experience that surprised and shocked him - but was somehow also warmly pleasant.

He scanned his surroundings... and realized after several long seconds that something was amiss... hadn't he been at Draco's party? In the woods? With Draco? Where was he now? Where was Draco?

He was in a lavishly appointed laboratory/garage... several feet off of the ground, he noted with some alarm... and off to one side, along the wall... was that a cage?!? And there was someone inside the cage, someone who was at that moment being taunted by none other than... Miguelito Loveless! But... something tickled the back of his CPU... Loveless... he was a friend, right? He wouldn't do that to anyone, would he? Something was definitely wrong here...

[giant_among_men]

Loveless glanced over his shoulder at KITT. He walked over and peered up at car and then yelled, "Voltaire!"

His giant assistant peered into the garage/laboratory from a doorway. Bright sunlight poured in through the open door, giving KITT proof that several hours at least had passed since Draco's party.

"Voltaire, we are ready to begin."

*to KITT* KITT, can you hear me? Wake up now.

[ki2k]

The sunlight and his own internal chronometer confirms KITT's suspicion that it's the day after Draco's party. He vaguely wonders again where he is, where Draco is, if he is all right, before his attention is distracted by a voice coming from below, and he soon focuses fully on it, all other thoughts forgotten.

*scanner comes on brightly, then begins to slowly track from side to side*

I can hear you. I'm awake.

[giant_among_men]

*chipper* Excellent!

*is using the Ring to lull KITT into a complacent mood* Ever since I first saw you, I've been consumed with curiousity about your makeup, KITT. I pride myself on being a great inventor, but I must admit that your construction and artificial intelligence unit surpassed anything that I created in the past.

However, since I created this new dimesion -- you do know that I created this entire new dimension, don't you KITT -- I've been exposed to scientific and mechanical advances from every point in the space time continuum! I have been studying it all very carefully...to catch up... you may say. I recently had quite an interesting chat with an extremely advanced mechanical man, during which I stole a tiny sample of his biomechanical outer skin when I shook hands with him! He has no idea, of course. I replicated that structure and expanded upon it. He was kind enough to tell me who made him, and using my teleportation technology and a bit of time-related research, I was able to locate the factory where he was made

[timeshadow]

From here.

The air trembles as Mike deposits himself, Rak and Arusha on the clifftop, near the area they managed to define back at the train. Rak has barely landed before she's alarmed and crouched, looking around huntedly. She shakes herself, as if feeling a chill.

We're close.

[etherreality]

Arusha's eyes are wide.

Oh. Ya think?

She moves to face away from Rak, the two of them instinctively covering each other's back, clearly on more levels than the physicality of the cliff and its surrounds.

Ohhh, what a mess.

[timeshadow]

Yeah ...

Without looking, Rak reaches into one of her pockets and takes out a black rectangle. Considering that even Mike could not locate or reach KITT, the cell phone had seemed pointless, but at this proximity - it was worth a try.

Not taking her eyes from the surrounding area, she dialled ...

[ki2k]

KITT is startled to hear his on-board phone chiming and pauses in his destruction. He is surprised to see Rak's cell phone number appear on his caller ID...

*cautiously*

Yes?

The Lab is SO Untidy

[giant_among_men]

Loveless waited until all of the sounds of destruction in the garage had ceased. Then, placing a small gas-mask over his nose and mouth to protect himself from the sleeping gas that Mr. Gordon had released inside the garage/lab, he opened the door to his escape tunnel and peered inside.

He scowled at what he saw. Between KITT and that infernal Mr. Gordon, much of the laboratory was in ruins. Most of the computer equipment was severely damaged. Voltaire was unconscious on the floor. And his duplicate car... What luck! The duplicate car appeared to be largely undamaged! Once Voltaire regained consciousness, Loveless would get him to clean up the lab and finish constructing the duplicate car.

So far as the damaged computer systems were concerned, it was an annoying lost, but not dire. Loveless had backups of everything. His plan had been set back, but not completely overturned.

Loveless laughed. Tomorrow was another day.