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If Clutch had been human, he would have shrugged. Instead he did the car equivalent, which involved unlocking his already unlocked car doors: beep-beep.

"No idea. One moment I was following orders, and the next some sort of virus hit and my wiring was 'screwed up'--claimed a mechanic. He didn't know any better so a pint of oil later and much cursing, he stalked away and left me to a junk heap. I think it's the virus's fault--a computer virus that was either introduced to my system via another computer or maybe it was rigged by my creator. I don't know which. It doesn't really matter. Personally, I like it this way--you humans are far too interesting to let you just commute places."

He paused for a moment, thinking of the promise of a humanoid body. "If I had a body...and not a car's body..." he trailed off, the wonder unmistakeable in his tone. "I could see what you humans do all day!"

The cackle was a warning in and of itself.

"So you are set up like a normal AI?" she asked looking back at him as her brows furrowed together. She pursed her lips thinking about it and sighed. "I personally would be curious to find out what happened but I don't know enough about the actual building of computers and making them work on their own and I wouldn't trust someone else. They might tear you right apart to try and find it which ISN'T a good thing." she huffed as she grabbed another box.

((Do you care if I play the neighbor character? Seeing as she lives in a townhouse she's have a close neighbor who she shares the backyard and two car garage with.))

Clutch beeped the affirmative. "Yes, I'm a normal AI. The chip installed is, uh, small enough I gather for a kid about 17 to easily move it from one car to another." Of course he's never seen it. He's only heard the kid describe it. "And no, I want no uneducated person rummaging around my compartments. It's bad enough with a mechanic doing it." The Buick might have shuddered at the thought. Of course, if his engine were turned off, he wouldn't know or be able to stop such a thing from happening.

"I suppose we could ask around..." he admitted after a moment.

((Heh, go right ahead! The more the merrier!))

"Well I'm going to wait a bit and see what I can learn. If you want me to find someone to look at you I'm sure I could slip over into the development department and try and befriend someone and then drag them home with me." she mumbled. It wasn't a bad idea in her opinion. It would also get her an in with that department for when she tried to apply once more. She pursed her lips and looked back over to the car. "Can you see anything??" she asked suddenly just not thinking about it. She knew he had sensors but she didn't know if he could actually 'see' anything.

Suddenly the back door to the other side of the town house opened and out walked a man with driving gloves on and what looked to be a racing jacket. Tara blinked at the man and sighed as he turned and noticed her with the a smile. "Well hello there ms prim and proper. When did you get a car?? And a damn good looking one at that! This had to cost you a fortune." he said as he walked over and looked at Clutch. "Damn she's a beauty."

Tara rolled her eyes and huffed as she picked up a few of the boxes. "Eric this is Clutch. Clutch this is my neighbor Eric." she said introducing them as if Clutch was a real person.

Eric furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at the car. "Clutch?? What kinda name is that for a car. I figured she would have given it a super feminine name like Gloria or something stupid like Baby." he said not realizing Clutch was an AI.

Clutch might have preened under the attention, had not the neighbor suggested such ridiculous names--or talked to his driver that way. Not that gender mattered much to a car; still, he had his pride. Clutch revved his engine and black smoke billowed from his tailpipe.

"I came pre-named," the Buick said tartly. "And Tara has been considerate enough to let me stay here, while I make her commute to work easier, Eric." In a softer decibel, Clutch added "I never did trust the public...transportation." A pause and then an affronted: "Do I really look like a Gloria?"

Eric stood there for a second and then looked around. He stepped back from the car staring at it and then looked around again. "No, I was inferring that ms prim and proper would name a car something stupid...you personally look more like a racing car so I'd say something with a speed reference." he replied slowly. "Am I on Punked or something??" he asked looking around once again just as Tara walked out of her half of the house.

"No you idiot. Clutch is an AI." she said rolling her eyes. "Top of the line and one of a kind as far as I know."

She picked up a few more boxes as Eric looked back at Clutch. "AI? I thought all robots had prerecorded sayings and what not..." he mumbled as he walked over to clutch and started walking around. He peered inside the driver side window while he awaited some sort of response. Before either could answer though he suddenly shot up strait. "Could I take your car to a race?? Not the street races but to a small show?"

Clutch ran his windshield wipers once, twice, three times. "No, you're not being pranked. Yes, I'm an AI. And no, I don't stick to pre-recorded messages--it gets, well, repetitive. Yes, I want fuel. No I don't want my tires rotated...or whatever."

He did preen under Tara's response however. Even if it was a quick flash of his headlights.

It was the race part that drew Clutch's attention though; he liked being admired. "A race? What kind of show?" A pause then suspiciously, "Are you a race car driver?"

Tara sighed and mumbled, "Oh god..." She quickly picked up some boxes and disappeared inside of the house as Eric broke out into what sounded like a slightly crazed laugh.

"I go to all the shows and races I possibly can but I prefer street races. Every so often a large group of people from all across the city get together in a warehouse and show off their cars, all the cool enhancements that they put on them to make them faster and slicker looking. After the little show though, people sign up for street races and the winners get big big bucks. To enter though you have to throw in at least 5 grand. God it's so much fun. I'm a pretty big deal in the underground street races. E.M. is what everyone calls me when I show up and I always get a girl on each arm. I feel like the king of the world when I go there."

He suddenly was interrupted as Tara walked back out though, "That was until you completely crashed your totally jacked up and awesome car."

As she said that his bloated ego deflated and he dramatically threw himself against Clutch before he started to pretend bawl onto the car. "MY POOR RED HOT!" he wailed, "THAT ASS HAD ENHANCEMENTS ON IT THAT CUT MY TIRES!!"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Either way you no longer have a car, you're out 5 grand and, I'm not telling you what to do Clutch but, I personally disapprove of the idea of this idiot taking you to a race and putting you in that sort of danger even if it doesn't happen that often."

"THE PRESS OF A BUTTON AND MY SEXY BABY WAS GONE! FLIPPED OVER, IN PIECES, ON FIRE!"

There were several reasons Clutch hated race car drivers--and Eric was living up to each and every one of them. He shifted into reverse and slowly pulled away from the manic driver. "Stop crying on me--you'll rust my paint!" And then, because he was morbidly fascinated: "What were you doing that caused such a crash? A driver should be more aware of his surroundings and dangers on the road! Besides that, a car doesn't usually catch on fire OR flip when the tires are slashed."

If it was a battle royale that Eric was seeking, Clutch would be no match for tricked out cars. He was fast, sure; and he could react faster than a human driver behind the wheel; but if it came down to so-called enhancements that could apparently make a car lose its tires, catch on fire, AND flip over, he was lacking.

"I like racing, but I don't like getting dents in my fenders, or holes in my tires, or axles twisted, or an overheated engine--and I hate fire." Fire meant explosions. Fire also meant a melted AI core that would probably finish off whatever remained of his AI after the virus had already altered him to this state. Mostly, he just didn't want a lunatic behind the wheel--passenger seat was fine; behind the wheel, not so much.

Eric whimpered as Clutch pulled away from him. "I had a girl in the passenger seat and I was trying to impress her..." he pouted, "and when they slashed my tires I freaked out and jerked the steering wheel too hard and I sorta jumped the car off of a hill...which caused it to roll, flip and then some how catch fire..." He turned over to Tara. "CAN I PLEASE TAKE HIM!! Just one race! I'll keep it at the legal racing site! Please please please! I just wanna feel the adrenaline rush again."

Tara rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You're an adrenaline junkie. Why don't you just go jump out of an air plane?" she asked as she started sweeping the garage. "Besides, it's up to Clutch if he wants a crazed lunatic in his passenger's seat. And aren't the cops looking for you? I'm sure you ditched the scene of the crime leaving your poor baby there."

Eric pouted more. "No, I had a fake plate on it. I switch on fake plates whenever I street race encase the cops get involved. I also had all of the interior ripped out of her and no personal information. I only used my baby for racing. I ride my motor cycle everywhere else."

"You hear that Clutch? He ripped all the interior out of his beloved car and then left her to burn on the side of the road. Do you really want that behind your wheel?" she asked as she looked over to Clutch. Eric scoffed and crossed his arms like a child.

"I didn't have a choice to leave her and I ripped out the insides to make her lighter and so there wouldn't be any finger prints!" he said as if that verified what he had done to his car.

"You STRIPPED your car?!" Clutch's speakers squawked in outrage. "And DROVE her over a CLIFF? You shouldn't even have a license, let alone be permitted behind the wheel of anything with wheels and an engine! Not to mention street racing is illegal."

Clutch honked his horn to gather their attentions again. "If. And I say IF. I let you in my interior, you are to touch nothing. Do not meddle with any of my compartments, do not even think of messing with my seats or their coverings. Cup holders are to be looked at, not used. And I will not allow myself to be driven over a cliff." The car blinked its flashers, thinking. "I only want to check out the scene--I don't want to race." Although saying that was the equivalent of an alcoholic checking out a pub with a varied selection of brews...

"Tara, you should come along--you could occupy the driver's seat?" Clutch suggested. It wasn't that he was worried about Eric driving him--Clutch could seize control at any time--but he'd rather not let the man near his ignition. It always took him a few minutes to warm up after his engine cooled and it seemed there was no limit to the damage the racer could do. But that didn't satiate his hopeless curiosity about the races.

Tara scoffed and shook her head at Clutch. "I can't believe you'd actually even think about letting him IN Clutch. If we go to the tracks it would have to be on a weekend. I work during the day Monday through Friday." she said rather stunned that Clutch would put down Eric and then WANT to go to the tracks to see what it was like along with letting Eric inside. "You both are addicts." she mumbled rolling her eyes as she looked over her half of the garage. "There we go. Fairly clean just for you clutch." she said as she put the broom away.

Eric looked over to Tara and smiled, "So does this mean you'll go too~??"

Tara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Only if Clutch wants me to go." she said as she crossed her arms looking at the crazed racing addict and then the car.

Clutch almost cackled--though he would have blamed the static on his speakers. "It would mean the automobile world, Tara, if you went with us. But...if you're really set against it, I guess I could try to refrain."

He settled heavily onto his tires and rolled carefully into the garage after his earlier reversal. "Thanks for the garage," he said. He knew he was asking a lot of her, and she had been kind to treat him so much already. If she said no, he'd accept it and quit complaining.

Eric turned to Tara with a pouty face on upon hearing the clear disappointment in the car's voice. Tara made a '-_-' face and then sighed heavily. "Like I said, I'll go but it has to be on a weekend because I work during the week." she huffed as she patted Clutch's roof.

Eric grinned and ran over to Tara quickly hugging her repetitively saying, "Thank you!"

Tara growled and started pushing Eric away from her. "Get off you loon!" she rasped out. She managed to get him off of her after some prying and then glared at him. "You aren't getting behind his wheel though and YOU" she said pointing to Clutch, "are not racing whatsoever so don't even think about you."

She walked out of the garage and Eric giggled childishly as he leaned against Clutch. "She'll totally let you race with some pressure and a smolder." he chuckled.

Clutch listened in amusement. "No racing!" he said promptly enough before Tara left.

Clutch's pressure sensors beeped as Eric leaned against him. "I'm still not letting you behind the wheel. Not with your traffic record."

Eric chuckled as he patted Clutch's roof. "I only have crashed once. Can I at least sit behind the wheel and just hold the wheel if you race??" he asked in a begging voice. "I'll keep my feet off the pedals I swear! Please Clutch please?!" Eric whimpered making sure not to pretend cry because at this point it was a bad of his.

Clutch sighed, a blast of static over the speakers. "No you may not sit in the driver's seat. And we aren't going to race. Tara said we wouldn't." And if he did end up in a race, he wanted to make sure that there was a driver who understood that he, Clutch, could actually operate the vehicle without assistance.

To distract Eric, as well as fill himself in on details, he asked: "What do you know about Artificially Intelligent cars?"

Eric was about to complain when Clutch interrupted him. He blinked thinking about it for a second and then replied, "Honestly not a lot. I've only seen an AI car's engine once and I didn't even get a look at it. They are generally built the same way as cars with regular computer chips in them, but generally extra accessories are taken out to make room for a larger computer. Can I look??" he asked eagerly, now distracted from the idea of racing by the idea of looking around inside of Clutch's engine.

"I won't poke or prod I'll just look. I may have stripped the fine interiors from my Red Hot but I kept her running like the day she was made." he said with a chuckle. "Please??"

Clutch could have driven himself into a pole for all the stupidity of setting Eric up for the inevitable. Of course the guy would want to look for his computer chip.

"Gah! That's not what I meant! I don't want your demolition derby fingers in my engine, let alone my AI core! I only meant to point out that we're capable of handling ourselves, but only insofar as the drivers permit us. I can't be responsible for my actions if I have to worry about your hands on my wheel. Tara I can trust to let me drive--she's seen me in action. You haven't. Furthermore, you're a race car driver. I know your type."

Eric suddenly got serious, "I may be a race car driver but I'm not going to tear your engine out just because you opened your hood and showed me your goods. On top of that, I had Hot Red running like the day I bought her up until the accident. If you don't wanna show me thats cool, just say so. Don't act like it's my fault cause you're insecure though."