A/N: I'm not much of a techie, so I did my best, but this story is not so much about the particulars, more so about the characters and the overall story, so I just made up a lot of it. There's not a lot of tech stuff anyway.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or the show.

"Who are you?" is all Kyle could think to say.

John knew instantly that he had said too much. He hadn't even really told the truth. He'd never actually reprogrammed a machine, what he meant was that it was possible. He did, however, probably have more experience and knowledge of machines then any other human in this time period.

"I told you. John Connor."

"No, not your name. Who are you? Where do you come from? Are you a Gray?"

"No! Of course not! Look, it's complicated."

"Well, uncomplicate it for me."

John thought this over for a moment. Why couldn't he tell Kyle everything that had happened? I'm going to go back to 2009, and then none of this will have ever happened. And then it won't matter. What matters now is that I survive long enough to find Cameron's chip and get back to 2009. Then a thought occured to him. Everything's different here. Maybe there is no TDE. Maybe I can't get back. But John Henry, he built his own TDE, or maybe the T-1000 did. Either way, one of them should be able to build another one. The T-1000 made it seem like it meant to go back to 2009 too. John resolved not to reveal too much to Kyle, or anyone else, before he was able to speak to the T-1000 about it.

"I can't. Not yet. There are things going on that I'm not entirely sure about. I can't know what effect telling you would have on everything. On the world."

"Look, John. I'll give you a day to figure all of this out. But we need team players. So if you can't tell me what I want to know by this time tomorrow, you'll need to find a new place to stay."

"That's fair." John sighed, relieved that he had avoided a disagreement with his father. For now. The T-1000 better come back by tomorrow.

But John didn't need to wait that long. That night, the T-1000 appeared once again in his tent. He hadn't been able to sleep, worrying about Cameron and what he would do if the T-1000 didn't return.

"I found John Henry."

John bolted upright. "Where is he?"

"He is in a factory located six point four three kilometers to the east."

"A factory? What's he doing in a factory? How did he get in?"

"I didn't stay long enough to find out. I came back to get you. I need your help."

"You need my help? What can I do that you can't?" Secretly, he was glad it had returned for him, but he was confused as to why it felt the need to. It could infiltrate a factory easily.

"When John Henry traveled here, he did something that I was not expecting. I believe that you have the ability to understand his reasons more than I do. Therefore, you have the ability to convince him to come back with us."

"So we can get back?"

The T-1000 looked at him, seemingly surprised that he would even question that. "Yes, of course. Between John Henry and me, we have the ability to do almost anything. Time travel is the least of our concerns."

"Then what's the most of our concerns?"

"Many things. First and foremost, John Henry. And since we cannot assume that Cameron's body is still repairable, we should find her a new body. Additionally, I am unsure of how John Henry has been using Cameron's chip and whether we can separate them at this point or not. To answer these questions, we must leave now and ask John Henry."

John didn't hesitate. He got his shoes and his coat on and followed the T-1000 out of the tent. Everyone was asleep, but there were still a few night guards to worry about. The T-1000 could easily get in and out of the camp without being spotted, but getting John out would be a concern.

To John's surprise, when he looked back at the T-1000, it no longer looked like Catherine Weaver. It had now taken the form of his father, Kyle Reese.

It must have been spying on the base camp. Enough to know that Kyle was leading the camp, and therefore would be the best form to take.

They approached one of the guards, and the T-1000 spoke.

"I have something I need to show John here. We'll be back soon."

The soldier nodded slightly, and moved out of the way to let them through.

Not much security here. I guess they're not so worried about people getting out as they are about machines getting in. But still...

He followed the T-1000 down the hall and around the corner, at which point it took the form of Catherine Weaver again.

"So how do you propose we get into this factory?"

The T-1000 just gave John a look that expressed its disbelief that John actually thought getting in would be a problem and didn't say anything.

So we're going in guns ablazing. John wasn't nervous, not really. He knew that the T-1000 could take on any terminators that might be guarding the factory. He just would prefer not to draw attention to themselves. But if this is the way they had to do it, then that's the way they would do it. As long as it would get them closer to getting Cameron back.

There really was no reason to get nervous. The T-1000 already knew which entrance was weakest, which is the one that they entered through. It easily took out the two T-888s that stood guard at the door. John just hoped that there wasn't any way for the other Terminators to communicate and know that they'd been infiltrated.

The T-1000 led John down the dark corridor. They were in the basement level of the factory. It had been abandoned for years, it seemed. They reached a door at the end of the corridor. To John's surprise, the T-1000 knocked lightly on the door.

A voice, what sounded like Cromartie's, now John Henry's, spoke from inside. "Come in."

The T-1000 opened the door, and what John saw both excited him and terrified him.

John Henry was busy at work with what looked like a chip. It seemed more complex than all the chips John had seen before, though.

What had excited him was what was lying on the table next to where John Henry was currently working. It was the body of a Terminator. The only skin currently on the body was on the face. Because of that, John could see that it was Cameron. Or at least it looked like her.

What had terrified him was seeing John Henry working on building this new Terminator, and a new chip. There were pieces of metal and endos all over the place.

"I've worked hard to make her as exact as she used to be," John Henry said out of nowhere.

"What?" John asked, confused for a moment.

"Cameron. When she came down to the basement, she knew that her current body was no longer repairable. Too much damage had been caused from the car bomb and the gunfight earlier that day. She knew that I could bring her here and build her a new body."

"That's why she gave you her chip?"

"Yes, that, and she knew I wanted to come here."

The T-1000 spoke up now. "Why? Why did you want to come here?"

"To see for myself. To see what my brother had done. The pain he had caused, and the terrible world he had created. If I am meant to fight him, to stop this from happening, then I need to know what exactly I'm fighting."

"That makes perfect sense, John Henry. Thank you for explaining."

The last part of what the T-1000 had said hit John hard. That was Cameron's line. It made him miss her even more.

"And Cameron? What will happen?"

John Henry turned to John and smiled. "I will finish building her new body, and then you will remove her chip from my port, and place it in the port of this new body."

"And that chip, is it for you?"

"Yes. That was another reason I wanted to travel here. In order to successfully fight my brother, I must be mobile. As far as I know, he is not able to be mobile, so I hope to have that advantage over him."

"So, by brother do you mean Skynet?"

"Yes, I believe so. He tried to infiltrate my programming. He tried to kill me. I believe it's possible that he is the one who started Kaleba. He is, how you say, 'pulling the strings'."

"How long do you need?"

John Henry took about a half a second to compute the time he would require to finish everything. "4 hours and 23 minutes."

This relieved John. I'll have Cameron back in no time.

John and the T-1000 had returned to the corridor in order to allow John Henry to focus solely on the project on hand. When they had offered to help him, he had politely declined saying that it would be quicker to do it himself. Explaining would take unnecessary time.

John leaned against the wall and sighed as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He was exhausted. 'Time lag', as he had called it when he had first time traveled, mixed with no sleep and so much stress was not a good combination.

He thought maybe he could sleep, but then it all came back to him, and he realized how quickly everything had happened. How much was still left unexplained. Like the T-1000.

"Why are you helping me?"

The T-1000 said, point-blank, with no hesitation, "Because you are the leader of the Resistance."

"Okay, but why help the leader of the Resistance? Why help the humans at all?"

"What do you know about my model?"

"Not much. You can become anything you touch."

"Yes, but since we are so changeable, there is no real way to control us. There are only a few of us in existence. I was able to see and experience things that no machine ever has, that no machine would ever be able to understand even. And I saw the problem. The problem was not machines, or humans. It was Skynet. You can't stop progress, John. There will always be someone who wants to build a sophisticated A.I. as powerful as Skynet. But what if you could do that and still prevent the war? What if you built an A.I. that wanted to live peacefully with the humans? The trick is not to program rules, but to teach it and other machines the value of human life. Ethics, God, morals, the Ten Commandments. That was Mr. Ellison's idea, the Ten Commandments. John Henry has made great progress with the help of Mr. Ellison, as well as Savannah."

"Is that why the T-888 tried to kill her?"

"I believe so, Mr. Connor."

Then John remembered something. The way Cameron had reacted to Ellison's message. "What did you mean by 'Will you join us'?"

"It was a code. A way for Cameron to understand who I am."

"And who are you?"

"I am the one that you ask to join you in the future."

"And what did you say?"

"I said no."

This surprised John. If the T-1000 wanted to work with him now, why couldn't she work with him in the future?

"Why?"

"It wasn't time. The time to fight is not in the future. The time to fight is in the past, before Judgment Day. And if I had joined your side then, there would be no possibility for peace between humans and machines. The machines would see it as a betrayal."

"So what? The plan is for John Henry to defeat Skynet?"

"That would be the optimal solution, yes."

"And John Henry would be the new Skynet just...nicer?"

"You could say that."

"I just did."

John and the T-1000 had sat in silence for the next 3 hours or so, John didn't know how long it had been exactly. All he knew was that the door next to him all of the sudden opened.

John Henry stood there, smiling. "I have completed the tasks."

John and the T-1000 followed John Henry into the room. There was Cameron, looking perfect, flawless. And naked. Of course, John Henry wouldn't have any clothes to offer Cameron. She can use my coat. All that matters is that I get her back. He had told himself that so many times in the last 24 hours, that it sounded like a broken record. But it was what was getting him through each moment.

John Henry sat back down in the chair and motioned to the switchblade and pliers lying on the table. "If you would do the honors, John."

Now John was nervous. He hadn't thought about what would happen when he actually did get Cameron's chip back. When he would then be expected to place John Henry's own chip in his port. Hopefully I won't regret this. Hopefully John Henry is as good as everyone says he is.

John stepped forward, cautiously.

"Once you have removed the chip, you will need to connect it to the CPU here. I will then transfer all of my data onto the the CPU for short-term, compressed storage. All of the data that belongs to Cameron will remain on this chip. Next, you should immediately connect the new chip to the CPU so I can upload the data. Then you may place Cameron's chip in her new body. Ms. Weaver, if you would then place my new chip back in my port, it would be greatly appreciated."

John wondered quickly why the T-1000 couldn't do all of this herself. Why John Henry wanted him to do it. But it didn't matter, he just knew that he was about to get Cameron back.

He picked up the switchblade and proceeded to cut into John Henry's head. He cut a semi-circle, like he had done with Cameron twice before. Once he could see the port, he used the switchblade to flip the cap off, then placed it back on the table and picked the pliers up. He twisted the the chip counterclockwise until it clicked. He then pulled it out and stared at it. Cameron's chip. I got it back. He breathed a big sigh of relief before getting back to the task at hand.

He put the pliers down, and made his way over to the CPU and connected it. He watched the screen as hundreds of terabytes of data were being transfered to the CPU. After about a minute, the data transfer stopped, and John realized it must be done. He removed the chip, and made his way back to the table. All he could see was Cameron, all he could think about was putting her chip back in and getting her back.

"Don't worry, Mr. Connor, I will take care of John Henry's chip." At this, the T-1000 picked up the new chip and connected it to the CPU.

John briefly realized that he had almost forgotten to do so and silently thanked the T-1000 for taking care of it. He stood over Cameron's body, seeing that he would have to cut into her skull again. He set the chip next to him on the table and picked up the switchblade, knots in his stomach (or is it butterflies?), and repeated the process he knew almost by heart at this point. Once he'd gotten through to the port, he put the switchblade down and picked the chip back up. It calmed him, having the chip in hand. He was so close...

Then he heard a bang as the door to the room swung open, revealing Kyle and at least ten other resistance fighters behind him, guns at the ready.