John was worried. They weren't back yet. John turned to his lieutenant, "Why aren't they back yet!"
"They must have gotten sidetracked," he said, feeling how concerned John was, "they couldn't have been killed on a simple reconnaissance mission like this."
"But maybe they were found," John responded as the group finally filed into the room, "Kathrine!"
"John, this is Paul," Kathrine Conner said, "he was near the factory we hit last week."
"How did you get there?" John said, regaining his wits, "That place must have been swarming with T800s!"
"They must have left," Paul said, "I was alone in the remains of the structure."
"Well, welcome," John extended his hand, Paul took it, cautiously, "First please come here," he took him too a survivor with his dog. Paul took a look at the dog, its eye had a red tint, a Thound. Paul extended his hand, the Thound smelled it and began to lick it. John was as surprised as the Thound owner was, "Isn't this dog mean?"
"The meanest," replied the owner.
"Animals tend to like me," Paul said. Just then, a man walked into the camp. The Thound began to bark, a T800 RIP. Paul ducked behind the owner's seat. The T800 fired his gun at the group that was at the arsenal of guns. Then the T800 began to walk over to John, he chucked him against the wall. Then Paul rose up and shot the T800 with a plasma rifle. John came around finally at around 2:45pm, by then Paul had dismantled the head of the T800.
"What are you doing?" John questioned rising to his feet.
"I didn't get a good look at what had destroyed its operating system" replied Paul, "if we can figure out what 'killed' it, then we can try and find new ways to destroy them."
John sighed, he knew it was pointless but still. As time passed, John came to trust Paul better than before, "Alright Paul are you ready?"
"Yes I am" Paul responded confidentially, "Let's go shut down SKYNET," It had taken months, but they had a lead on where SKYNET would be so they could shut him down permanently. As they approached the citadel, John paused and admired the building, it was a true architectural masterpiece.
"Don't get distracted," Paul warned, "there could be thousands of T800s here,"
"If we're lucky enough," John responded. As they approached the door, they saw a camera, "shoot it!" They put fourteen bullets into it, but the alarm must have triggered, four T800s came out the door and began to shoot the team. As John and Paul took cover, the rest of the team shot at them and dove for cover, only three made it to safety. Paul took a few blind shots at them, the sound of metal clashing against metal told them they were safe. They rose and took the ammo from the T800s and the dead soldiers. "Let's keep moving," John eyed the door curiously, he knew that SKYNET wouldn't send such a small number of terminators to handle intruders like this. As they moved into the citadel they were met by no terminators, "this is just bad news later," John warned as one of the party became arrogant and thought SKYNET was hiding, "it doesn't make sense." John replied.
"What if we missed him already" Paul said, "he could already have left and we didn't know it?"
"We couldn't have..." John was cut off as two twin TXs walked into the hallway.
"Hello boys," the left TX said, "we've been waiting for you." As the humans took cover the TXs began to fire at them, they went after John, but stayed away from Paul. Paul shot the TXs with his plasma gun. As they fell John got up, he wasn't hurt bad, but he still had to struggle to breath, "You will never winnn..." the TX said as it died off.
"Let's go, we need to shut off SKYNET." Paul said helping John to his feet. When they finally reached the "throne room" of the citadel John looked around in puzzlement, expecting there to be at least two TXs, there were no terminators in the room, except the TXs in the walls, they were on display, it looked like a memorial to the construction of the final TX model. "Impressive, isn't it?" Paul said, letting John fall to the ground, "This is what my legacy has come to, the TX is my masterpiece," as Paul was saying this, he walked along, looking at the models of the TX, finally he came to the throne.
"What are you!" John yelled as Paul sat on the throne.
"I am the programmer, I created SKYNET, and now I have my favorite little human just where I want him. My true name is Benjamin."
"You designed this machine army!"
"Yes I did, and I don't regret it for a second. What I did to design him is merely repaint the name of AI."
"You monster!" John yelled, shooting at Benjamin, the shot missed.
"Hello John," said the TX as the two twins strode into the room, "miss us?"As the TXs grabbed John's arms they walked into the center of the throne room, here they traded of, one TX took John's arms and held him on his knees, the other prepared its gun and aimed for John's head, "Prepare to die John Conner," before the TX fired, Benjamin raised his hand, stopping them.
"Why not have a little fun with him first, John, tell me which one is more advanced," as he said this, the TX lowered its gun. At the same time, two nearly identical terminator endoskeletons came forward, they looked like they were dogs. They stood there and looked expectantly at John, "If you can guess which one is more advanced, I'll let you live to see tomorrow," John panicked, he didn't know the answer to Benjamin's question.
Guess! John thought to himself, "The one on the left!" The TX raised its gun, then turned it back to its hand again.
"Good job John, I'll see you tomorrow then." The TXs took him to a holding cell, they tossed him into it.
"There will be a medical robot along shortly," the left TX said turning away in frustration. Soon a robot appeared and tended to his injuries.
"Let these sit for six hours and they will heal properly," the robot said through a metallic voice, "a meal will be brought to you in seven hours." As the robot left, John got an idea, he began to memorize the route to his cell, he didn't know what good it did him to know this, but he would think of something. As the seventh hour approached, another robot came, it carried a small tray of food, with it was a Thound endoskeleton.
The cell door opened, now was John's only chance to escape from the cell, John got up and dashed at the robot, it smacked him to the ground, "Don't even try," it said in a similar metallic voice, "eat up."
When the terminators returned, they opened the cell and pointed guns at him, "Get up," said a TX, "Benjamin is waiting for you," as they walked into the throne room again, Benjamin sat there waiting, he was dressed in a suit of armor.
"Like it? I designed it myself," Benjamin said. The suit was looked like it was metal muscle tissue, it curved out and in to different parts, it looked like it was breathing and moving as if it was alive on its own. Hanging near the throne was an identical suit on a temporary display rack, "that is for you to use in the fight."
"What fight?"
"You didn't think I was going to just let the only human that has entered the citadel and stayed a night to not die honorably did you?" John donned the suit, it adjusted to fit perfectly. John stood in the center of the room, Benjamin rose and joined him in the center, they both took fighting stances. The fight took twelve seconds, first John punched at Benjamin's side, Benjamin blocked it with his hand, as John began to punch again, Benjamin caught the fist and returned the fist into John's own stomach, as John fell Benjamin kicked him across the room. John hit the wall and got up as fast as he could, he eyed the door. Benjamin watched him escape out the door, "Kill John Conner," two Thounds bounded through the door and into the hall, John looked behind him as he left the citadel entrance, one of the Thounds pounced on him and he felt the air rush out of his lungs, it was extremely heavy. Before the hound could bite into John, he tossed it into the Thound coming out the door. John rose to his feet and ran into cover the hounds retreated into the citadel, as a TX came out the door. John ran and tackled it, the TX threw him off, it shot. The suit was heavily damaged but John was left unharmed. The TX stopped attacking, it strode into the citadel, the door closing behind it. John got away to the resistance base, he had lived, for now.