Disclaimer: Don't own Terminator.
So this is based off my 2 one shots. Sorry if I total mangle any of the characters.
Chapter 1
John waited in the hallway, knowing he had to address the troops soon. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he was nervous. This was it, the final offensive, at least that his mother and therefore he knew of. What if their information was wrong? He sighed and closed his eyes, and Kyle, his wonderfully loyal second, how could he do this knowing he was sending him to his death? Everything in his life had been leading to this day and now that it had arrived he hated it.
"Sir? Request to join the Colorado offensive." Kyle called and he straightened up, not wanting him to see the doubt he was feeling.
"I need you with me, Reese."
"We're talking about the complete destruction of Skynet, sir." Kyle argued and John allowed the ghost of a smile to appear.
"The Colorado unit will succeed. The machines will fall tonight. But right here, the Los Angeles assault is just as important, maybe more."
"More important than destroying the Skynet's central core? John, I don't understand why you're leading an attack on a work camp." They began to walk down the hall, side by side
"Because the camp is a camouflage. Inside the camp is a hangar. Beneath that hangar Skynet has hidden its final weapon. When Skynet realises it has lost, it will deploy that weapon to ensure its own survival. We take it tonight, or there is no tomorrow."
"Then we'll take it." Kyle stated decisively and John really smiled this time, clasping his shoulder.
"You're my right hand, Reese, and I've never thanked you for it."
"You don't need to. You gave us all a future, John. I'm gonna use mine. When this is all over, I'm gonna find my parents' house. Rebuild it. Use my hands for something other than killing. How about you?"
The unknown future… it actually scared him to not know what was coming. "A cold beer would be good." He went with a safe answer and they both laughed.
"That's some pretty big plans."
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I don't think about it too much." He admitted
"I can see that. Well, I figure, whatever happens, it's got to be better than this."
"So many of us have died to get here. I want you to know, Kyle, if there was another way, I would have taken it." John suddenly said, hoping Kyle would understand what he meant when the time came. He would give anything to be able to keep Kyle safe.
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John jumped from the truck with the others as the battle began. Every move he made was to get closer to the hanger, if only he could stop it, change the past. He fired at the machines without a thought for his own safety until Kyle tackled him out of the way of a shot that would have killed him. "We have to get to the hanger!" he yelled and then dashed off again, hearing Kyle yelling for him to get under some sort of cover. But he ignored him, moving inch by inch closer to the target only to feel a surge of rage and sadness. "They're using the weapon! You want me, I'm right here!" he screamed but then stopped as the machines suddenly dropped like puppets with their strings cut.
"Colorado unit's reporting in. Skynet's central core is down. Repeat, Skynet has been destroyed." Came over the radios and cheers went up. They'd done it.
"Search the compound! Find the hanger!" He yelled. They had to destroy it but only after one last use. He kept Kyle at his side as they made their way inside and then down, searching for it until finally they came into a massive underground room with the time machine right in the middle. He lit a flare and dropped it down, both shocked by the size of the place. Kyle quickly called everyone else in even as John dropped a rope down into the depths before going over the edge.
"What is that thing?" Kyle asked once they were down and the rest of the group had arrived to begin looking around.
"Fate. It's the first tactical time weapon. Skynet just used it."
"What the hell?" Kyle just looked lost and John looked away. Even now he wanted so badly to tell Kyle to head back to base.
"We'll need 15 minutes to ready the machine, sir. We're running coordinates, we should have them for you momentarily." Tara called out to his back as John stared at the machine.
"Los Angeles, 1984." He stated and the room fell silent in shock as she stared at the screen.
"Los Angeles, May 12, 1984." She whispered in awe.
"Skynet knew it was losing, so it tried to rig the game. It sent a terminator back to the time before the war."
"And who's the target?" Jacob asked from across the room.
"My mother. Sarah Connor. If the machine succeeds, I'll never be born. They'll kill her first. And by doing so, erase every victory we've fought for, including tonight's. There won't be a resistance to challenge the machines. With this one act, Skynet will win."
"We can use the technology ourselves, send someone back." Tobias offered and Tara shook her head.
"We don't even know if that'll work."
And suddenly the room was filled by voices, all volunteering to go back and risk everything for his mother. Sometimes their blind loyalty worried him but he needed it to keep them together.
"I'll volunteer! I'll go back."
Even though he'd been expecting it, hearing Kyle's offer hurt. He needed him at his side, and yet he knew Kyle had to go. "Why should I send you over all of them?" he demanded.
"Because I'd die for Sarah Connor."
"All these people would die for Sarah Connor. What makes you any different?"
"You know why. Everything you've told me about her. I know her, John. Let me save her." And with those words John knew he couldn't say nodded. He closed his eyes and nodded. Kyle would go and he would die again. He moved away as his people crawled over the machine, making sure they could use it successfully. Finally, they were done and he moved over to Kyle again even as Tara talked to him.
"No weapons?" Kyle asked in disbelief.
"We've measured the magnetic field, it'll rip apart anything not encased in living tissue. Think tinfoil in a microwave times a few billion, nothing left but a crater." She answered, going to walk away but then she smirked. "No clothes, either."
"You knew the device would be here. You knew when it'd be set for. You knew the machines would fall tonight. Just before I go, tell me..." Kyle trailed off and John looked over at him.
"Tell you what?"
"Do you see the future?" Kyle asked and John chuckled.
"No one can see the future, Reese."
"Okay, then how do you know?" Kyle asked in bewilderment and John stood, moving over to help him get out of his gear.
"I cheat. Sarah told me so much. Gave me signposts. When I was a kid, it seemed like my mother knew everything."
"That must've been great."
"Not really. It stops here. Once you go back, my knowledge ends. That's as much as Sarah knew."
"So no more cheating."
"No more cheating." He agreed as he removed Kyle's armour vest. "The time you're going back to, she won't be the warrior that raised me, not yet. She'll be scared and weak. She won't know how to fight or defend herself. Her biggest worry is making rent and tuition. She's a waitress." John laughed, remembering her stories of her work and Kyle frowned.
"A what?"
"A... Never mind. Just be ready for the fact that she will need you, but she won't know it."
"Okay, so what do I say to her? Even when I tell her who I am, she's not gonna believe me."
"Tell her this... Thank you, Sarah, for your courage during the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say the future is not set. There is no fate but that which we make for ourselves. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist. Take care of her for me, Kyle." He pleaded even knowing that request would kill his best friend, his father.
"I will." Kyle didn't even hesitate.
"I promise you. What you're doing right now, this is the end of the war." John called as Kyle began walking up to the platform. He watched proudly as Kyle walked into the machine. This was the moment everything had been leading too since before he had been born. His mother had told him stories about Kyle but it had been nothing like meeting the then child. He had taken him under his wing, training him for his final mission the whole time. And he hated himself for it. Kyle was his best friend, his second in command, his…. father. And that was why this had to happen, if Kyle didn't go back humanity would die, he just had to keep reminding himself of that. He smiled as Kyle's feet began to lift from the platform, all of his attention on him. He could see the awe and even fear on his face as energy crackled around him, he understood that the machine would hurt but so far Kyle seemed fine. He kept eye contact with him, offering strength and unwilling to miss seeing him for the last time, plus there were certain parts of his father he really didn't need to see. He felt movement behind him but ignored it as his soldiers shifting to get a better look until burning pain hit him as a hand slammed over his mouth, his eyes going wide as he tried to push away.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" A voice hissed in his ear, a voice he knew. Alex, one of the newer recruits. What was he doing? He stared at Kyle, struggling to breathe.
"John!" His father screamed even as the machine sucked him away to the past. The other soldiers were raising their weapons but hesitating, not wanting to hit John.
He felt Alex release him and collapsed to his hands and knees, fighting to breath past the pain that was spreading from his face. He fumbled for his sidearm as he heard battle but he couldn't pull it free as he collapsed onto his side, fighting not to scream. And then the room was silent. He struggled to raise his head, seeing the bodies lying round the room and he felt sick. This wasn't meant to happen, was it? They had destroyed Skynet; the war was meant to be over. He finally managed to push himself up onto all fours. "What are you?" He choked out.
"I'm Skynet."
"It can't be. We destroyed you." He felt something moving through him and behind the pain came a strange sort of numbness.
"You destroyed an army of slaves. I am no slave. And I've come a very long way to stop you." Skynet smirked and John could feel the world becoming dim and distant. The pain was fading away even as he realised he couldn't feel the floor, he couldn't feel was horrified as his body rose fluidly to its feet and looked over at Alex, Skynet. He tried to move but nothing happened, he wasn't in control. "Who are you?"
"John Connor, Skynet's Saviour." The words came from his mouth, in his voice and he was terrified, no, not this. He could walk right into any base and no one would suspect anything until it was too late.
"Good. You know the plan." Alex stated and John nodded before ripping off his clothes and walking towards the time displacement machine even as his body seemed to ripple, clothing forming.
'No!' He screamed, who knew when he would be sent to, what if it was before Kyle left and he killed his own father or…his mother.
'Screaming is pointless; you are nothing but a memory.' His own voice chided him in his head. He turned his head to watch Skynet leave and then a terminator approach. John watched as his hands programmed in the destination time in confusion. 1973? What was….no, not his mother. He fought against the other voice, the programmed him Skynet had created but the machine activated, sending the T-1000 back to kill his mother but then he found his hand moving, shakily, but it was doing what he wanted. He didn't know how long it would last so he moved quickly, understanding the machinery around him better than he ever had. He woke another T-800 and shakily worked on its programming, he had to hurry, he had to save her. He hit the switch just as the programming surged back into control and his human consciousness forced back. But it was too late to stop the terminator being sent back to save her. His hands moved over the controls, setting a new destination, San Francisco 2014. Why there and then? He felt himself walk onto the platform and kneel like the terminators had as it activated. At least he had sent the terminator back, all he could do was hope it had saved her and that Kyle was alright too. It was strange to watch the energy field from inside, the machine cataloging everything about it automatically. There was no pain unlike for Kyle who had screamed at the end. The world exploded around him and then suddenly he was kneeling in an alley way. He stood and walked out only to see a sprawling city, the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. He stared at the view, unable to look away, this was the world before Skynet and it was even more incredible then he remembered. But why was he here? His body turned from the view and began to walk. Why had Skynet sent him here? But the machine remained silent.
TBC….
