Technically its Wednesday but I got caught up watching Glee and by the time I remembered well it was past 12:00.
But here it is. I should have the next chapter up by either Thursday or Friday.
Enjoy...
I made a few revisements that will hopefully make it less confusing. Sorry about the choppiness of it, that what I get for posting at 01:00 in the morning.
Connor Desert Bunker – Undisclosed Location - 2025 – Two weeks earlier.
"Drop it." He commanded pushing the riffle barrel harder against John Henry's frame. Cameron did as commanded.
It was easier to check John now that she was at his eye level. He shouldered her discarded gun and pointed to the table. "How did you know about this place?"
Cameron sat regarding him curiously, "why are you talking to me this way?"
John Connor had grown quieter and more suspicious in this future, he'd also grown more independent. Cameron frowned, "where are your men? Why are you here alone? It's not safe."
Her body rose and she was so bewildered by the overriding of her own interface that she never got a chance to shout a warning.
________-_______------___ Reboot Neuro Perimeters?____________-------
________-_______------___ Outer Systems Lock Override _____--------
________-_______------___ Inner Systems Lock Override______-----
________-_______Warning!!! -----Neuro Safety Net Activated_____________________-----
OFFLINE IN 3…2…1-----------------------------------------
It had taken a lot longer than he had calculated to overpower Cameron's securities to take back his body but he had never been in such a sophisticated system before.
"Who are you really?" A man asked, John Henry's riffle in hand.
John Henry blinked and extended his hand, "hello. I'm John Henry."
His hand was left hanging in the air for a second before he moved it to his side. He looked at the angry man standing before him. 'This must be the human that his brother wanted to kill.' "You are older than what I was told. You must be the old John Connor."
Connor tightened the hold on his gun ready to blast if he had to. He didn't betray just how much it hurt to be standing for so long. "Who are you?" he repeated gruffly.
"My name is John Henry. I was built to combat my brother, you know him as Skynet. I was built to help you, to help preserve life."
"I don't need your kind or your help." John muttered spitting at the machine's feet.
John Henry knelt down putting his palm flat on the floor where John had spat. He touched a bit of saliva and rubbed it between thumb and forefinger. "I do not understand what this means." He said rising from the floor, his fingers still coated with John's saliva.
"It means you have less than a second to get out before I add plasma to your chip."
"I have made you angry, I was made aware by Mrs. Connor that you might be upset by my presence but I am not like my brother."
"Who sent you?"
John Henry could see the strain on the man's face but he had not been taught how to calm down a grown man, so he answered. "I was sent by your wife, Ca…"
John Henry got no further as John hitched up the gun and shot John. This particular gun was made and used strictly for interrogating grays. It let out a charge similar to the old police tazers, incapacitation without real damage.
Cameron not being familiar with this future's weapons had picked up a nonlethal gun by accident.
The volley hit the large terminator in the chest with enough voltage to knock him off his feet, hitting the ground with a thump. "Let see who you really are, John Henry."
With some difficulty John kneeled and pulled the needle nose pliers from his waist pocket. He took the knife from his boot and stabbed into the head of the terminator.
John had no idea if what he was doing would be enough to kill this thing but he figured if it was built to mimic humans that it would also share their weaknesses. He was sincerely hoping that it kept all its important software in the same places.
He had only experimented with a few models and with each model came new challenges. He had heard something about a chip from Uncle Bob but those recollections were hazy at best.
As he cut part of the scalp off he was disgusted to find a gooey synthetic that resembled and smelled like real blood on his hands. He swallowed his bile, he didn't want to think how many innocents had died so that this thing could resemble humans inside and out.
He felt around for some sort of opening but it was impossible with the goop on his fingers. He dug the knife deeper and the tip of the boning knife caught on something.
John hurriedly wiped off the blood so he could get a better look. He shoved the tip almost an inch deep and into what looked like the exposed ridge of a skin covered port and came away with a silver cap.
As he cleaned more of the blood off, an inner chamber was revealed, a ring of light peaking through. He grabbed the pliers and carefully began to pull on the catch of a second port cover to hopefully exposing the core.
John was so caught up in extracting the cylinder, now visible,out of the head that he didn't see the hand twitching beside his pants leg. His pliers closed on the handle but slipped on the oily coating of it base. He finally got it and inch by painful inch he pulled it further from its housing.
"Awwww." John howled dropping the cylinder with a squishy plop back into its home. He fell to the floor struggling to untangle the hand pulling at his side. John managed to rip it off but not without tearing his stitches wide open.
He crawled across the floor leaving a bloody trail as he reached for the plasma gun that had skittered when he had fallen. He reached it and fired just as he was lifted. He felt the glancing blow hit the metal head and the warmth blasted his arm. He leaned back and tore the wound further.
The man, the John Henry, now sported a gash of burnt skin and hair up the left side of its head where the glancing blow had been. John attempted to loosen a leg so as to unbalance his attacker. He had managed to hold on to the pliers and he used these to stab them into the neck of the machine. The thing let go of John's legs and they jarred his whole body with the momentum of the unexpected drop.
It froze and John was forced to endure the metal fingers digging further into him. Its face then twitched and the arms flexed softening their hold on him.
The thing procceded to pull the pliers out, confusion written on its features. John saw that the pliers had done little to help his cause. Exhausted from both the burst of adrenaline and blood loss, John could do nothing but lay helplessly in the things arms.
He felt himself be laid down on the cot with a gentleness that confused him. "It's okay, John. I'm here. I'll take care of you," the machine said.
'It was a very odd way be taken out,' was his last conscious thought.
"Just don't leave me and I'll stay with you." The machine pleaded just as John's eyes rolled back and he was out.
"You hurt him." Cameron cried yelling at John Henry.
He was going to kill us. He exposed the chip.
This is not the same John Connor you mentioned.
Cameron acknowledged the words scrolling down the viewfinder but she didn't agree. She also needed to patch up John before he lost more blood and slipped away. She gathered the cloth of his shirt and ripped it in half.
"He's had surgery." She muttered ghosting her hand over the barely healed patch of skin just over his heart. "My John never had heart surgery." She said drawing her eyes to scan his body for more damage.
She was glad to see that the only real injuries were the red uneven stitches that were now jagged and bleeding. She pressed down by the side of his ribs to lessen the blood loss. He groaned in pain and her hands flew off him.
"Too much pressure. I am still unused to the strength of this body."
He is no ally. He must be terminated and we must return to the past to your John.
She placed her hands on his ribs again feeling two bruised and one cracked. "Shut up, I'm scanning his vitals." His heart was beating sluggishly but steadily and his skin was already forming bruises from the struggle with her coltan grip.
This one is damaged. Let him die.
________-_______------___ Restore System Perimeters?____________
OVERRIDE COMMAND PASSWORD? C******** _____--------
The feet and legs went still first then completely slack which was soon followed by the upper body and then the rest of the body except for the head, which splayed her awkwardly across Connor's wounded body while still being able to see her surroundings.
LOCKING OUT FOREIGN CHIP ____-----CAMERON CONNOR
ACCESSING FOREIGN CHIP___------___ Inner Systems Lock Override______-----
Warning!!! -----Neuro Safety Net Unauthorized Protocol Activated_______-----
I will not attempt to breach your systems again. I do not wish to harm you. He is not the John Connor you told me about. He is not the one I must protect.
He is suffering.
"Yes, he is but that doesn't mean I can just let him die. It's against my directives. I cannot kill John, my job is to protect him."
You are no longer under his command. You can override the protection order.
"I know but I won't kill him. I do not know this John or why he is hurt and different from the previous Johns but I can chose not to override my orders. I can and will take care of him. His life is sacred." She whispered.
Yes, life is sacred. Especially his but He must be terminated. He is not the General. Your John is. We cannot win if he remains alive.
Cameron twisted John Henry's head to the side. Her face was lying on Connor's sternum. John Connor's heart beating steadily right next to her ear.
"Please. I can't. I don't know why he is this way but just let me find out. Give me an hour if he does not respond favorably, I'll kill him myself."
Hour starts now-----60:00…59:59…59:58…
The motor functions were restored to her loaned body and she was horrified to see how much of it was stained with his blood. Blood that now painted her face. "John just hold on a bit longer."
It was that fear that propelled her off him. While scrubbing at her face she searched the room. Keeping her eye on him while simultaneously scanning for a first aid kit. She had only a few more minutes to reach him. He still had not recovered consciousness and if she didn't hurry, she would have come for nothing.
You must hurry.
Reopen the stitches and clean them thoroughly. The knife on the floor should be suitable for the task.
"I could use an eye pencil."
A pencil would not be sharp enough for surgery. The knife is a better tool.
Cameron located the knife by the foot of the table, "John would have laughed."
She paused at the foot of the bed "do you laugh, John?" she asked looking down at this beaten down version of the boy that she had left behind. "You'll laugh, when I tell you about it. I'll keep my promise."
She retrieved the knife and cleaned it off with her shirt. "I have to sterilize it, he would die of the infection." She scanned the shelves of the bunker again. There, just beneath a metal box hidden in the shadows was the desired white box with a familiar red cross insignia.
She pulled it off the shelf, happy at its obvious heaviness.
It was stocked with everything necessary to clean and suture John. She smirked, "you were always good with supplies, John."
She took out a packet and after ascertaining that it was rubbing alcohol, she tore it and shook out the towlette. It was with lightning precision that she took off what remained of the ruptured stitches. Cleansed the wound and re-stitched him neatly and in a much tighter pattern.
"These should be enough."
"Get away from me." He rasped coming to and clumsily shoving himself closer to the wall and far away from her. His face contorted in pain and he doubled over and onto his side.
She kneeled on the bed, "you need to go to a medical facility. This is too dangerous for you. You must look after yourself better. Sarah would be upset if she knew you were risking yourself this way."
John had only had a handful of experiences with these things.
Most of them bad, with the exception of Uncle Bob and the one named, Marcus Wright. Once the pain was bearable he uncurled and took a quick look down his chest. His gaze lingered on the fresh set of stitches. "Why did you…"
"I care about you, John."
"Why? I don't know you. I have never met you." He noted the sad expression and he felt the rage roll off him and be replaced with a bone deep weariness.
Cameron shrugged John Henry's shoulders, "not in this time so you must have met, Marcus Wright."
In spite of his misgivings this thing was obviously friendly enough with him to know about Marcus. He went with his instincts to at least hear the thing out. After all Marcus Wright or what had once been Marcus Wright, had saved his life. He'd protected Kyle and his existence as well as giving up his own heart so that John could continue the fight.
"You mentioned a Sarah." John looked down at the dried blood that coated his abdomen. "Is it my mother, Sarah?"
"Yes, she was meeting a Catherine Weaver, who owns a research company named Zeiracorp. She was trying to postpone Judgment Day." Cameron responded.
"I've never heard of either one of those." John rubbed his eyes, "postponed. Not stopped." He looked resigned.
Cameron's or rather John Henry's features morphed into a sorrowful look. "It cannot be stopped, it is inevitable, I'm sorry."
Without thinking she put her hand on top off his. He ripped it out from beneath hers, "I'm sorry." Cameron grinned. "I forget that I'm in this body. You normally don't mind when I touch you."
John actually blushed. The machine grinned again.
He sat up carefully preparing to ask what had been bothering him since it had appeared. "Who are you and what are you to me?" he made a motion to scoot off the bed but she stopped him."I've heard your name before but only in passing."
"You have?" She tilted her head in thought, "you'll pull the stitches out. What did you want to get?"
He eyed her skeptically but being that he couldn't really move, he figured he should take advantage of it. "The metal box by the com unit."
She yanked out the box she had spotted earlier and handed it to him. "Here."
John opened it removing several tapes. "These are recordings from my mother. She mentions someone named Cameron. I assumed that you were him."
Cameron laughed, "no. Cameron is a girl. I am a girl."
John hobbled off the bed ignoring Cameron's protests. "I found this about a month ago." He went past the sphere of light thrown by the lamp. She could hear him moving around the darkened corner. He grunted and Cameron got up to help.
She almost got the lamp but she knew that whatever it was she could just drag into the light for him. "Just tell me where it is, I'll do the rest."
He pointed to a sheet-covered thing propped up against the wall. She picked it up and easily deposited it on the table.
'Had Sarah----?'
"How long has this been here?" she asked.
John grimaced and leaned on the table. "I got to this bunker about two months ago, I left Century right after my…" he stopped.
"After?"
"I came and found it sitting at the table. It kinda looked like a big doll so I just covered it and put it away, but I didn't know what it did or how to even turn it on. Its the most advanced model I've ever seen."
She nodded in confirmation of being the most advanced model and then yanked the sheet off, revealing the body of what looked like a pretty sixteen year old girl. The long brown hair was pulled back. The face was flawless and no sign of the jailbreak marred any of the body or clothing.
"Is this Cameron?" John asked.
"Yes, this is my actual form." Cameron noticed that his hand strayed to her hair. "I will tell you everything you need to know but I need your help."
John looked at her suspiciously, "help you do what?" He asked hastily removing himself away from the machines and sitting back on the bed.
"I need you to put my chip back in my body."