One More Knight Please

Chapter 3: California Knight.

As we stepped off the plane, I felt the warm California breeze hit my face. It was nice, it smelled like nature, as weird as it may sound. It wasn't humid either, which, to a girl like me who has lived in Illinois most of my life, was unusual.
Micheal showed me the way to the rental car, and just like that, we were off on the road again.
Micheal drove to a nearby hotel that he had already paid for.
"So where is the storage unit?" I asked him as he drove.
"It's about 15 minutes away from the hotel... I was going to have you drive the rental there, then I would drive Kitt back." He said.
We pulled into the hotel parking lot. It was nothing grand, really, just a Hilton Inn in a convenient location. Micheal and I got out of the car at the same time. It was a Toyota RAV4, nothing out of the ordinary, just a hybrid. Micheal opened the hotel door for me. We walked in together, then Micheal went to talk to the receptionist. The lobby was nothing I haven't seen before, it had a little water feature behind the front desk, and a small table with some brochures of things to do. It was dimly lit, but nothing else.
Micheal returned to me and walked up to our room. I followed him gratefully. When we got into the room I was glad it was two separate twin beds, if I had to sleep in the same bed as Micheal I may have thrown myself out of the window. The room was nothing short of a basic hotel room.
"But what if Kitt isn't in one piece?" I said, sitting down on one of the beds.
"Then we'll put what we can in the rental and take another trip." He said.
"But we can't just rebuild him, not without my grandmother," I said.
"We can call her." He said.
"But we don't have any tools or anything," I said.
"Can you just let me win?" Micheal joked.
"No, because we need to have a plan B," I said.
He looked out the window.
"How are we even going to get into the storage unit?" I said. 
"That one is an easy one." Micheal started and walked over to me. He pulled out a card from his wallet. "This is my Foundation ID, as long as I have it on me, I can get into any Foundation-owned building."
I scanned it for a second.
"What if they changed it in 1986," I said, looking at the date on the ID.
"What if? Why are you so doubtful of me?" He said.
"As I said, we should have a plan B just in case we get into trouble," I said.
"You work for the foundation, your grandmother is Bonnie Barstow, you should know that I like to dive into things without a plan."He said.
I rolled my eyes at him.
"This is your best friend we are trying to save, maybe don't be so reckless," I said.
"He knows my style," He said.
"That's why he is powered off," I said.
The room fell silent. Like I had stabbed him straight through the heart with those words.
He turned away from me.
"Something tells me they didn't tell you why they shut him down," Micheal said.
"They said he was outdated, and with the technology of the 3000 being developed-"
"That's not what happened." Micheal cut me off.
"What happened then?" I said. I was suspicious, even my grandmother had told me that it was because he was outdated.
"The police had found two bodies near Kitt one day, then decided that Kitt had killed them both. They didn't have any evidence of it, there were no tire tracks on the bodies, but they wanted Kitt gone, and the foundation had no choice but to deliver." Micheal said.
"So you lied to everyone?" I said.
"Yes, we even lied to Kitt, we didn't want him to know what had happened." He said, his voice getting quiet like he didn't want to discuss this anymore.
"But we are going to get him back," I said.
"After all these years, I fear that he will not be the same if he is even in one piece. If he isn't, there may be pieces missing." He said.
"Then let's go find him.' I said.
Micheal turned around.
"What about plan B?" He said.
"Screw plan B"
He looked surprised by my sudden change of heart.
He picked up the keys to the rental car. We walked out of the room together. He seemed as if he tried his hardest to be a gentleman. We got in the car and took off. Something told me that this whole trip would be Micheal and me on the road.
The whole road was like a never-ending line. It looked the same the whole way there. Nothing but sand, rocks, and a small amount of brush now and then. It wasn't until now that I realized how dry it was. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and most of the surroundings looked dehydrated. I don't remember the climate looking like this in pictures. It always looked so cheery and bright, but now it looks... dead. Everything looked dead, even the brush had turned yellow with only traces of green.
"This place looks dead," I said, breaking the silence in the car.
"It used to look a lot better in the 80s, trust me." He said.
I could only imagine what it used to look like, too bad global warming had to kill another beauty of nature.
When we pulled up to the storage unit, it looked abandoned.
I'm not joking when I say, there wasn't a car in sight or another being. Then I wondered, why were there those two men who answered my fake Kitt impression on the com-link, have they misled us? Micheal turned off the car and stayed silent for a minute.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked.
"There isn't another." He said.
Dirt covered the building, some of the walls had collapsed, the roof was caving in, and just about every window in the building was boarded. If Kitt is in there, he is rotting away.
Micheal got out of the car and signaled for me to follow him, and I did, but I made sure I let him go first because I wasn't about to rush into this cockroach city of a building. He pushed on the door to get in, and it fell. It smelled strongly of mold. I swear I saw roaches climb into the rotten door as we walked in. I shivered. This was disgusting. I wanted to go home. I didn't care about Kitt anymore. I was scared for my life. If I stayed here any longer, how many diseases would I end up with? It was dark with only the light of one window. I was praying that Kitt was just in front of us so we could leave.  Micheal pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. There was a giant tarp over something in front of us. He handed me his phone and pulled off the covering. Dust flew everywhere, I coughed violently. I shined the flashlight at what he had uncovered, and there it sat. The Knight Industries 2000.
"There he is..." Micheal said in amazement
"Just turn him on or something so we can go!" I exclaimed.
(this is random but THATS WHAT SHE-)
"What's wrong, scared?" He said.
"No, I just feel like I'm going to get covid-40 or some crap if I stand here any longer,"  I exclaimed.
Micheal took his phone out of my hand. He got under Kitt, which I could never imagine myself getting on the floor with the roaches, ew. He flipped something, and the red scanner at the front, powered on. Micheal quickly got out from under him. The light went back and forth a few times before the car finally spoke.
"Where am I?" Kitt said.
"You're in a Foundation storage unit," Micheal said
"No, I can't be, the Foundation always keeps their buildings in pristine condition," Kitt argued.
"In 1986," I said.
"Isn't it 1986?" Kitt responded
"Not even close," Micheal said.
"If you don't mind me asking... who are you two?" Kitt said. He sounded like he was genuinely confused, and that freaked me out a little. I had worked with the 3000 a little, but even he didn't sound as lifelike as Kitt did, well they both are Kitt, but one is just, the original, for say.
"You know who I am," Micheal said.
"I'm Susan Barstow," I added.
"Barstow?" Kitt said.
"Yeah, she is Bonnie's granddaughter," Micheal answered.
"Granddaughter? How long has it been?" He said, I sensed a sort of panic in his tone.
"It's 2023 Kitt," I said.
"It's been 37 years... And you now just returned to me?"He said.
"Look, if it wasn't for Susan, I would have never found you," Micheal said.
"Can we get out of here now?" I said.
"Yes please," Kitt said.
Micheal turned the other way and headed towards the way we entered.
Kitt started his engine, the turbine whined with age, and he smashed through one of the walls and went out into the abandoned parking lot.
"Well, that's one way to do it," Micheal called.
I went out of the hole he made, and Micheal followed me.
"Susan, don't move," Micheal said as I approached Kitt, who had parked next to our rental.
I felt him pluck something off my shirt so I turned around to face him. In his hand was the fattest, juiciest, roach I had ever seen. I just about passed out. Micheal threw the thing onto the ground and Kitt ran over it. Its guts spilled out of it the way paint would a paintball. I felt like I was going to throw up.
"I don't think I've ever been this glad to see the sun again," Kitt said.