Cromarties Last Stand

His systems shook with uneqaulled pain no statistic could comprehend as the bullet crashed through his eye socket. His fingers squeezed around the gun in his hand so tightly that he could feel it buckle under the pressure. There was a loud bang as another bullet hit the already severly damaged part of his skull, taking with it any last hope for survival. The next wave of pain he felt nearly offlined him and he fell. It felt for a moment like he was falling forever for the hard cold ground did not seem to be there, for he was so badly damaged that he had seemingly lost all sense of perception. Cromartie was well and truly spent. his empty hand still twitched as though the gun was still there, his finger still pulling a trigger that did not exist. He could still see, but white noise was buzzing with every wave of discerable pain he could still feel. All he wanted was for it to end, a release from these human feelings that were to him more like a curse. In his mind, he would still probably be able to move, even crawl if it were not for the all-comsuming agony he was in. Through the white noise and flickering distractions in his optics, he could make out the familiar shapes of the band of humans responsible for his current state. They looked down upon him, there faces tense, serious. Strangely, only Cameron, the reprogrammed terminator and protector of john connor, looked like she was feeling anything different. She looked down upon Cromartie with an almost pitiful look in her eyes. The gun she was holding, the weapon she had used to defeat Cromartie fell from her hands and landed with a heavy clank as it hit the floor.

John gave her a quick glance, but no one else looked away from the dying Terminator. She looked looked down at the gun momentarily, then she looked back to Cromartie. She knew that he could feel, and knew the others still thought that machines could not feel anything. They were so wrong.

Cameron stepped forward, falling to her knees beside her fallen enemy. Though her face remained blank, it was clear that she was feeling something akin to remorse for what she had done. Everyone exchanged looks, shocked ones. John also stepped forward, but his face was alive with anger and malice. he grabbed her arm roughly and attempted to pull her back.

"Cameron, what are you doing?! Get away from it!"

Cameron looked up at john, her face calm. She snatched her arm away from him.

"I..... regret... " She whispered quietly.

John moved back, still looking at her in confusion. Sarah's gun clicked as she loaded it and approached, she roughly moved Cameron and was about to finish Cromartie once and for all. Cameron grabbed her wrist swiftly and held sarah at bay.

"I want to responsible for his death."

And without another word, she moved sarah back towards john and returned to Cromartie's side. He was no longer moving, but his body still twitched and the stressed whirring of his internal servos showed that he was still, albeit barely, online. He didn't even know she was there until she leaned over him, causing him to make a barely noticable and feeble attempt to get away. Cameron carefully pulled Cromartie into her arms, holding the dying cyborg as though she had never considered him an enemy. For now, they were eqauls.

sarah walked forward, gun lowered and looked into his eyes, one blank damaged optic an one remaining human eye. There was something in his faraway gaze that reminded her of Johns childhood friend and father figure, a Terminator reprogrammed to protect and how he learned the value of human life. For in Cromartie's eyes, she thought she saw fear, raw and unwavering. Now she truly knew that beneath the metal chassis, the mechanics and servos and intergated into his synthetic mind, there was actual thought and feeling afterall. He was a slave to Skynet, he was programmed, misunderstood and feared. And now he was living his last moments. Sarah could now see Cameron's logic and wordlessly backed away, leaving her alone with the defeated terminator. All cameron could do now was to be there for Cromartie in his last moments. She ran her hand up the back of his neck and into his hair slowly, becoming very suddenly aware of how soft it was and how very human he seemed at that moment. As she continued, the frantic whirring noise of his internal mechanics became slower and slower until it was on the verge of stopping altogether. Cameron noticed the look of desperation in Cromartie's face as he felt his system's shutting down. Cameron tilted her head, she seemed strangely fascinated, yet also scared. Her brows were knit in thought as she suddenly clasped his hand, his skin freezing cold despite the stifling heat of the Mexican midday sun outside. His fingers twitched and slowly, weakly wrapped around Cameron's hand.

"I'm sorry, Cromartie"

Cameron spoke quietly, her tone was still as robotic as always, but her body language was different. The way she held him, the way she looked at him, the way she tightly held his hand showed that she was obviously feeling incredibly remorseful. Cromartie's body twitched violently, but Cameron being a mecha was strong enough to hold him still. His condition was detirorating and his pain was clearly worsening. She decided it was unfair to let his suffering continue and knew that the kindest thing she could do for him now was to put him out of his misery. John, Ellison and Sarah continued to silently watch. To Cromartie, they were now only dark sillouhettes, menacing shadowy figures. He turned his head away from them and stared blankly at the ceiling. Cameron slowly let go of Cromartie's cold hand and now requested sarah's gun. Sarah at first seemed hesitant, but then she remembered what Cameron said about wanting to be responsible for Cromartie's death. Sarah handed her the gun and moved back a little. Cameron considered the gun in her hand for a long moment before holding it to the side of his damaged skull, just where his temple would've been. She knew that a shot there would destroy what remained of his CPU and finally kill him. She leaned towards him, and spoke

"I promise you won't feel anything."

And then, without further delay, she pulled the trigger. The bang emitted by the gun seemed to echo eerily throughout the small church, before the silence came once again, dissolving all sounds. She felt his entire frame jump as the shot took his life. The others all gathered around looking relieved that their enemy was dead. Cameron got up, blankly letting Cromartie's body slide back onto the floor limply. She turned to the rest of the group and then walked towards the door and into the midday sun leaving her gun and her victim behind.