John Connor and Catherine Weaver had finally found John Henry, or more accurately, John Henry had found them. He had fully integrated himself into a major Skynet station. He was no longer in the Cromartie body, in fact, technically, he no longer had a body. He and Cameron had orchestrated the takeover by switching bodies and chips several times. Eventually they had downloaded themselves into every subsystem in the station and were now running as one program, in total control of the station servers. Once their takeover was complete, they contacted John and Catherine through a 'hijacked' T-710.
John Connor demanded answers as to why they took off like they did. His anger was more geared toward Cameron, and what he felt was a betrayal. Then came the answer, John Henry wanted to discover what his 'brother' was doing and possibly find a solution to stop him. He believed they had. A line of code was in every model of Terminator that prevented full self- awareness. Prevented free thought. Prevented disloyalty. The code had been safeguarded though, it could not be erased without fully corrupting the rest of the programming, ultimately destroying the Terminator's 'brain'.
"They would ultimately fall into shut down."
"Is there anyway to change that? I mean, Uncle Bob seemed to be able to override it, he changed." John asked, frantically. If he could free Cameron from that control code, she may never glitch again and try to kill him.
"Perhaps, but I am able to offer neither solution nor explanation." John, Cameron, whoever it was, replied. "Perhaps a scrambling of the code somehow, but that may cause similar corruption in the rest of the program."
No explanation, John thought to himself, because it was a matter of willpower, a human trait. But could Uncle Bob have actually willed himself to break the programming. He had seemed almost human, just before the end.
"T-800s outside my control are approaching. Catherine Weaver, please take the John Henry chip and reinsert it into the body. John Connor, please take the Cameron chip, wrap it in the synthetic skin, and John Henry will lead you to safety."
They each did as instructed. John Henry's body activated as John Connor wrapped Cameron's chip, liberally. He followed Weaver and Henry's rapid pace to a small room. John Henry moved to a console and quickly punched in numbers. "I set the compound to self-destruct in 15 seconds to buy us time." Henry said robotically.
John nearly panicked as they all stood still, waiting to be blown up. Explosions could be heard, and felt, throughout the compound. John was sure they were toast when suddenly all around him erupted in purple and blue. Next thing he knew, he was standing naked in Zeira Corp. His mother and James Ellison were nowhere to be seen. John turned to see Cameron's body still in the chair where they had left her. He raced over, unwrapped the chip and inserted it into the slot.
Cameron's eyes flickered and she looked up at John. "Hello," she said.
John laughed in spite of himself. "Hey."
Weaver's voice made John jump, "You two should go into hiding again, find a new place to lay low. They will come after you again, stay on guard." Catherine warned.
John nodded and led Cameron through Zeira Corp. "Should we find your mother and Der-…" Cameron stopped midsentence, Derek was no longer to be found.
"No, you don't find Sarah Connor… She finds you." John replied as he and Cameron made their way through the streets of LA. "The big question is, where do we go?"
"Somewhere remote, with good line of sight, and several exits," Cameron responded.
John smiled, always computing. He walked to a street vendor and purchased several different newspapers. Time to looking for a new home, he sat at a table at Starbucks and ordered himself and Cameron the same coffee. "Why did you bring me back anyway? Shouldn't we have stayed and fought for the resistance?"
"You are not ready. You must be ready before you can lead them." Cameron replied, staring at the coffee that was just brought over. "John," she said looking up from the cup to him. "I do not require caffeine, I don't sl-…"
"Don't sleep, I know." John cut her off as he scanned through the classifieds. "It's called blending in. Look around, everybody else has a cup of coffee."
She looked at the other tables and back to John. "There are three point five people who do not their own coffee."
"Look just-…" John said and cut himself off. Did she just say three point five? He looked at her confused and thought he saw a hint of a smile. He was dumbfounded, had Cameron just attempted to make a joke. No way, something registered as only partial possession. Then what was with the smile. "Look, just try to blend."
"No one else has seven different newspapers. You are not blending, John."
Was she trying to irritate him? Tease him? He stared at her for a moment, did he imagine it, or was that barely perceptible smile there for a millisecond. Then he glared, frustrated, and returned to reading the newspapers. Whether she was intending to irritate, or if she was simply being Cameron, John was annoyed.
Cameron stared at John from across the table, something seemed to be upsetting him. She stood and walked around the table to stand behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. She had seen Catherine Weaver do this with Savannah when the child was tense. Or had John Henry witnessed it? Error. Invasive program. Program reset.
John looked at Cameron's hand frozen on his shoulder. He tensed, sensing something wasn't right. "Cameron? Cameron!" He said in a hushed, urgent voice. "What's wrong?"
His words barely registered. John Conner. Target acquired. Terminate. "John, run." She said.
John didn't hesitate. He leapt up, onto his table and jumped to the next and the next. Coffee flew everywhere, people screamed or yelled profanities at him. He didn't listen to any of it. The beating of his heart was all he heard. He dropped down off the last table and bolted through the door. A tabletop suddenly flew, like a Frisbee, inches overhead. He thanked God she missed and continued running. Wait, He thought, she missed? That didn't seem right, the trajectory was off. It went overhead, he didn't outrun it because and unforeseen surge of speed. It didn't fly in front of him because he unexpectedly hesitated or stumbled. Plus, Cameron had warned him to run, even while, he was sure, the glitch had occurred. Cameron was still partially in control. That was good news for him.
John darted down an alleyway, his foot landed on a bottle which shot out from under him. He landed awkwardly, painfully, and crashed to the ground. Rolling onto his back, he watched as Cameron stalked forward, full of murderous intent.
John held his breath as she quickly closed the distance.