"Sarah?"
SUBJECT/IDENTIFIED
SARAH CONNOR
MISSION:
PROTECT
It was impossible.
"Kyle?"
A wave of feeling washed over her, so violent that she shook from the impact of it. A mixture of shock and revelation, of horror and happiness all at once. She observed him openly; both mesmerized and repelled by him. His magnetism was real and potent, reaching out to her and drawing her in.
Yet she knew him for what he was. A machine controlled by a single thought, ruthless in pursuit of his goal. He was a demon, tempered in the inferno, but with a human guise that gave him the face of a hero. A fallen hero.
"METAL!" Derek finally screamed, gunfire erupting from the muzzle of his gun as he littered the body of the Terminator who looked like his brother with a stream of one hundred bullets. When his pistol fell quiet, he deftly ejected the magazine, immediately reaching behind him to replace it with a new one. Kyle hitched forward a step.
SUBJECT/IDENTIFIED
DEREK REESE
Cameron bypassed them both, slamming the intruder forcibly back into the wall, and then turned her head to address them: "Run." Derek fastened a hand around Sarah's wrist and pulled her along with him, towing her towards the window where John stood helpless, utterly powerless to move, gaping into the face of his father for the first time. The gruesome reality of the situation smothered him into submission, which was no doubt the intent. Vaguely he understood that was the reason he was created.
"Focus John!" Derek snapped.
"My mission is to protect Sarah Connor," Kyle said firmly. Cameron lifted him higher, and he locked his own grip on her forearms, making no attempt to break free. "Please," he pleaded. "I was sent back by John. John brought me back. My mission is to protect Sarah Connor," he maintained.
"Why isn't he fighting back?" John asked.
"It's a trick." Derek and Sarah spat at the same time.
"It's not a trick," Kyle responded. "Derek, it's me, it's Kyle."
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Derek growled. He spun around and crossed the room in three swift strides, drawing one of the duel 9mm from the back of his jeans and pressing it to the temple of the machine with his brothers face. "YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE A MACHINE!"
"I am," Kyle admitted. "I am part machine. I'm also part human."
"Wait," John exclaimed from across the room. "Wait!"
He approached the trio cautiously, reaching out to place a hand on his uncles outstretched arm, applying pressure until Derek submitted and lowered his gun, the ferocity never wavering from his eyes. "Promise?"
"Promise," Kyle replied evenly.
"Let him go Cameron," John said.
Cameron relaxed her grip, slowly lowering him back down to the floor, and then released him. She did not, however, take a step back.