Pinocchio

Marcus looks helplessly as John Connor ravaged by the injuries wither away…

(Marcus in off)

What am I? Where am I? Those were the first questions that went through my mind when all this happened; I remember vividly the last conversation that I had with that dying woman…what was her name again? Serena…Serena Krogen…the year was 2003, a year that promised redemption through the needle, the damn burning needle came but redemption that was taking from me.

You know those stories about the man becoming the hero…this is not one of those times…I was not a good man driven by love to my neighbor…I was brought up in a tough environment but I made no excuses for myself and I wait for no pity from the system or humanity as they seen themselves…I did what I had to do and that's that.

I wasn't supposed to go down like this… I wasn't supposed to meet this people or live past 2003, this is not my fight, I doubt anyone could see this fight as their own. At least that much is clear ….is not so much that I want punishment for my crimes, no my crimes stay with me…like Cain after slain Abel I'm tainted by god…. The veil was lifted and I see myself for what I am….a murderer.

He's dying… The infamous John Connor! A lot of resources have been spent into destroying this man, right now no more than a mere mortal wasting away in his dying moments …what a glorious opportunity have been lost for SKYNET? Of course I was the carbon print hat made it happened, I know and accept this now…I was the unwilling accomplice in the devil's plans. I was Judas if he ever existed.

Two days ago I never heard his name, I don't know him and he never knew me, if he did he probably wouldn't try to revive me when that machine beat me to a pulp…how else would I let him know that I didn't want to betray him? That I was being set up? He trusted me when he let me go, he gave me a choice… for that I will always be grateful.

Seeing the machine I told myself that is what I really look like underneath…chrome death is the term coined by the resistance; every particle of my being designed, having a functional brain strapped to a controlling chip…a mere puppet….pain and guilt won't change the outcome of this situation… the price we paid was too high.

I've just wanted to come back to them, now I know why….Now I know that I never had any control in my own fate, that I was an expensive marionette, but a pawn nevertheless… I look around and see Barnes and Kate… he wouldn't look at me after what he did to me…he shot me for plain fun…growing up hating machines what do you expect, he tries to console Kate who just can't seem to keep it together, she knows that he is will is the only keeping his eyes alive.

I looked at Kyle, not quite the same boy I left two days ago…something has change in him, he has transformed….he has gotten older, not so much physically but his eyes have a resolve they didn't have before, he has guilt in his eyes, they showed in the grip of his teeth, his clenched jaw… obvious sings of stress.

Is that an observation or do I run a program that gave the analysis?…. I don't know, I might never know…and frankly I don't care…. Skynet did say something that shocked me to the core….it said that I performed beautifully, mostly because I didn't know, that it was a sub-routine imprinted on me…. With all the decision taken from me I was bound to make the same mistakes again…but not this time…. Maybe Marcus Wright died that day in Texas, maybe he'll die today…but whatever happens it would be my choice.

Marcus knows what must be do now, call it an epiphany if you want to…he moves closer to Blair….she was different, she was the only person who so the man he might have been… she moves close sensing something is not quite right…

"Everybody deserves a second chance" This is mine!

I take my coat and put over Kyle's shoulders…he is the resistance now, whatever the world brings upon him, he would perform… I looked at Blair…she kissed me and I kissed her back even if now I'm fully aware that I can't feel her lips… The mute girl holds my metal hand…she wants to tell me something with her eyes, I understand….I see Kate's grateful eyes, she must think I'm a miracle of some kind…this is my last and maybe my only decision….everybody needs a second chance… I got mine. Last but no least I looked at the man who made this happened, he's dying but his will is strong and he holds my gaze…. I want think he said "thank you" but maybe that's just wishful thinking..

Marcus Wright is now off…….line.