Title: Duality, Chapter 7

Author: C. Isaac

Character(s): Ensemble (Derek, Sarah, John, and Cameron all included.)

Rating: T for Teen

Word Count: 4,050

Warnings: This mentions events through the full season 1 of T:TSCC, and is the sequel to my story "Paradigm Shift" and mentions events in that short story.

Summary: This is the seventh chapter of the 'Second Episode' of my hypothetical second season. Cameron learns that her twin is real and her reaction to that. Cheri reveals the truth. The assault on CyberDyne begins. The trap is sprung.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything involved with Terminator or the Sarah Connor Chronicles. All rights belong to their respective owners, and I am making no profit from this.

Author Notes: Thank you to metroid13 and nikwdhmos for the assistance in beta reading and providing feedback. Thank you so very much.

Duality, Chapter 7

and we turn to the kinder side of the news, where a new animal shelter is opening its doors— Cameron clicked the remote control and turned the television off. Local media could not provide the answer to why John had pulled her out of school. She had queried John multiple times on the way home and he had refused to answer.

"…looked just like Cameron at the school…" The sound of conversation filtered in from the kitchen. Voice recognition software indicated John was the speaker.

Cameron glanced up towards the kitchen, where the sound of conversation had come from. Augmenting audio and noise filtering to levels necessary to hear clearly, she turned her gaze towards the blank television again as she listened.


John Connor stood next to the island in the center of the kitchen with his mother and uncle. Both of them wanted an explanation for why he had shown up with Cameron several hours before school was out. It was the first time he had seen them both in the same room together since Sarah had taken Derek down.

"You're positive?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah," said John as he tapped his knuckles along the wooden island. His hands had stopped shaking, but he still felt nervous. "She responded to Cameron's name, called me by name, was even dressed the same. They could have been twins."

"We can't even tell which piece of metal is on our side anymore. We should get rid of the bitch." Derek slammed his good hand into the island's top, causing it to rattle with the force of the blow.

Sarah and John both stared at him for a long moment in silence. He scowled back at them. "Better safe than sorry," he added.

"She was so close to me. She… it could have taken one step and broken my neck, but it ran off as soon as Cameron came around the corner," said John. "It was really weird. I'm… crap. There just aren't words for this."

Sarah squeezed John's shoulder in an attempt to comfort. "Terisa Dyson said that there was one with Danny. It's protecting him like Vick did."

"And it'll kill him when it's done with him," said Derek.

"Did Terisa know anything about who set CyberDyne up? Who paid for it?" asked John. He wanted more time to process the concept of two Camerons, and tried to steer the conversation to CyberDyne to give him time to think.

"Yes. James Coleman and Phillip Westin," answered Sarah. "She didn't know anyone else."

"Westin? There's a girl in my class named Cheri Westin."

"Can we get back to the fucking point, here? There's another of those things out there. That makes this one a bigger liability than before!" Derek's voice rose to a shout.

"Derek is right. I am currently a liability," Cameron announced solemnly as she stepped into the kitchen. Without further explanation, she turned to the door that lead to the back yard, and strode past the Connors and Reese towards it.

John turned to follow Cameron. "You were listening?"

"Of course." The Terminator opened the door and started walking across the lawn to the garage.

Ignoring Derek's protests, John followed Cameron out onto the lawn. He could hear his mother and Derek start arguing. John decided he did not care what they were starting in about as he kept moving.

He called out Cameron's name and when she did not respond he jogged to catch up. Following her purposeful stride to the garage, he asked, "What are you planning on doing?"

Cameron remained silent as she opened the garage door and walked over to the workbench that was built into one wall. She located her skinning knife and set it in the middle of the table before pulling her shirt over her head and off. Folding it neatly, she set the shirt off to the side.

John stopped in the doorway to the garage and watched. "Cameron, talk to me, please."

She turned to look at John, one hand reaching out for the knife. Her head tilted and eyes narrowed in consideration of him as she picked the blade up. Cameron did not respond as she turned back towards the knife, as if in contemplation of the blade.

"I guess you're not going to answer me." John walked up to the workbench to stand near Cameron.

"Please stand clear," warned Cameron just before plunging the blade into her own shoulder. She began to slice a clean circle over the top of her shoulder and through her armpit.

John winced and felt his own shoulder muscles tighten in sympathy as the knife flashed down into flesh. Recovering, he reached forward to try to grab the knife away from Cameron. He did not stop to think what was underneath the skin of the Terminator, just that she was hurting herself and he had to stop it. He pulled on the knife handle and his fingers slipped when Cameron's grip proved stronger than his own.

"What the hell?" John's finger slid over the razor sharp blade, leaving a long cut along his forefinger from the first to the third knuckle. It glared red up at him. "Don't do that! You're hurt—" He paused, realizing that it sounded wrong, but continued, "—hurting yourself."

"It does not hurt."

He sucked on the cut finger, mumbling around the digit as he spoke. "What are you doing?"

"I am flaying the skin from my endoskeleton," Cameron answered clinically.

John's brain tried to process that statement as he watched Cameron complete the circular cut around her shoulder and then start sliding the blade down through her bicep. The image was ghoulish as he watched the machine prepare the arm to be cut away and pulled off like a long glove. His mind's eye imposed an image of Vick's endoskeleton in place of where Cameron stood.

Gone would be the brown eyes and hair. The completely imperfect mole at the edge of her left eyebrow. The way she looked when she smiled, even if it she only did it to help her blend in as a human being. As the girl started to peel away to reveal the machine beneath, John's mind kept telling him she was hurting herself, no matter what she truly was made of. John knew there had to be a dozen other scenarios that did not need her to strip off her skin, and he needed to know why she had chosen this one.

"Stop. Just stop!" When she did not comply, John reached out and wrapped his hands around her lower bicep, fingers just ahead of the edge of the blade. "Don't do this to yourself."

Cameron stopped the dissection of her arm. The blade paused less than an inch away from John's fingers. "Please move your hand so you are not cut."

"No." Blood dripped from John's cut finger that dug into the flesh of Cameron's arm. It mingled with her own and dripped to the floor

She tried to pull away from him but he followed her steps as she tugged. Cameron held back from using her full strength and John could tell she did not want to hurt him by yanking away hard enough to break his grip. His fingers squeezed her arm as tight as he could.

"Please let go, John. I need to do this."

"No you don't. There have to be a dozen other things you've thought of that don't involve self mutilation."

"This is what I need to do, John. You don't understand." A growing insistence entered Cameron's voice. Leaving the knife embedded in her arm, she began to firmly, but gently peel John's fingers away from her.

"I could if you'd talk to me, damn it!"

Cameron looked back up at John from where she was peeling his hands off her. Her mouth opened, hand paused partway through its motion, and she hesitated. Hesitated in a manner John had never seen before – in fact, he had never been seen Cameron hesitate before. She brought her teeth back together with an audible clack and then looked away from him.

John watched with a curious expression. "Cam?"

Cameron brought her hand back up to the knife and jerked it out of her arm. It hit the floor with a clatter and bounced away before she sat down on the concrete suddenly. John found himself pulled with her before he could release her arm. His knee hit the ground hard, causing him to wince in pain.

He released Cameron's arm and wrapped one hand over the bruised knee as he collapsed down into a sprawled sitting position. The pain started to fade as he rubbed at the kneecap with one hand.

"I apologize. It was not my intent to hurt you."

"No, just yourself." John reached over and poked at a flap of skin that hung loose from Cameron's shoulder. The blood that came away on his finger felt like any other, even his own. "Why would you do this? Decide that this was the best thing to do?"

"To ensure the safety of—"

"Don't lie. Not to me. Not now." John gave her the same look he had given Derek when he had tried to shoot Cameron.

"I was selected for my mission because I was unique. There was no other like me. I cannot complete the mission laid out if— " She fell silent and looked away from John. At the knife on the floor and other objects around the garage. At anything other than him.

John watched Cameron and he found himself thinking of her as the girl she looked like. She looked confused and almost vulnerable as she stared at the ground. Even with bare endoskeleton showing through the wound in her shoulder. He tried to sound reassuring as he said, "You're nothing like her."

"I am the same series, therefore the same model. We are identical."

"No matter what logic this thing uses to tell you you're the same," John reached up to tap her on the side of the head with a fingertip. Right where her CPU port was hidden beneath her scalp. "You're Cameron. The only one I know."

"You've said that before."

He blinked in surprise before realizing it was not him she had referred to, but the other him. Future John. Her John. "It's the truth."

Cameron motioned towards the cut along the side of John's finger. "You're injured."

"I'm not the only one." John gave her a lopsided smile.

To his complete surprise, she smiled back.


Cheri Westin sat at a table in the cafeteria commons. The food on her plate cooled as she stared at a chemistry text. She almost did not notice when someone sat down across from her. Looking up, she stared at John Baum and his sister, who stood behind him.

"Hey," he said as he shoved the hood of his sweatshirt down. His right forefinger was wrapped in a bandage.

Cameron stood behind him and watched the whole of the cafeteria with a gaze that swept back and forth over the commons. Bandages could be seen sticking out from under her shirt's neckline near the left shoulder.

"Hey," she greeted in return. Cheri thought the Baums were absent and had been since vanishing mid-day the day before. "I found your homework on the floor, John. I gave it to Mr. Cook. He said he'd count it."

"Thanks." John looked around warily. Both John and his sister were tense, as if something were waiting to spring at them. "I need to ask you something. Who's Phillip Westin?"

Cheri blinked in surprise. "My, uh, dad. Why are you asking about him?"

"How is your father involved with CyberDyne?"

Cheri felt her stomach do a flip. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Don't ask about them."

"You've heard of them." John slipped around the table to sit right next to Cheri and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I need to know what you know."

"No, you need to stop asking questions." Cheri looked around nervously as she tried to think of how to get away without making a scene. "Just walk away from this, John."

John grabbed hold of her upper arm, grip tight. "This is important, Cheri. What is going on?"

"I don't know anything, John. Don't get involved in this."

"This is my life." John smirked.

"How did they know where to find John?" Cameron spoke for the first time since the Baums had shown up.

"They came after you?" The intense look on John's face gave Cheri her answer. She felt her face burning red as she stared back down at the ground. "I didn't mean to get you involved with them. I'm sorry."

John's grip tightened. "What'd you do?"

"That hurts, John! Stop!" She tried to keep her voice low, but it came out louder than expected. "I told one of them she looked like a girl in my school. She asked for Cameron's name. I didn't know what she'd do."

He swore under his breath and released Cheri's arm as other students nearby gave them odd looks. "Sorry, but I was within a couple feet of getting my neck snapped yesterday. I think I deserve some answers."

"I'm sorry, John. I don't know why they'd come after you just because your sister looks like…" Tears welled in Cheri's eyes as she spoke. Her voice faded to nothing as she stared up at Cameron. Really looked at her for the first time instead of just seeing John's sister. She realized that Cameron was not just a look-a-like, but completely identical in appearance, down to the mole on her left brow. "Oh, God."

Cameron stopped watching the commons to turn her gaze on Cheri. She stared, head tilted in contemplation.

"Cheri, I'm not asking for me. I'm asking so a lot of people can be kept safe. What's your father involved in?"

Cheri could not look away from Cameron now. Cold realization burned through her and melted into a fear that she could not shake. "You're him. The one they're all after. Only you would have another with you."

"What do you mean?" John's expression almost mirrored Cameron's.

"You're Connor."

Cameron took a step forward but John waved her off. He leaned back in towards Cheri. "If I am, what's that mean to you?"

"There are men out there. Powerful ones. They believe that they've been given a vision of how to end the world. God told them they would be spared and chosen to be His agents on earth." She closed her eyes as she spoke and the world felt lighter as the burden finally came off by shedding her father's secrets.

"Your father…"

"… is one of them. They found what they call 'divine machines' sent to assist in destroying a decadent world." She gave a laugh that she knew sounded far too crazy. "Can you believe that bullshit? My dad thinks they're angels or something."

"Or demons," John muttered.

"Or demons, yeah. They were told the Anti-Christ would be named John Connor, and he had to be killed. Dad invested into CyberDyne with maybe a dozen other men who think like he does. Because the machines that run it told him he would be favored if he did."

"You don't believe any of this, do you?"

"I believe they're trying to blow up the world. Isn't that enough?" Cheri wiped at the tears on her cheeks. "I used to think my dad was just eccentric. Maybe a bit crazy, but harmless."

"But you don't anymore."

"I was dating a boy back in Wichita. Bobby Jenkins. I loved him – thought I loved him. Dad was at a business meeting with one of those things and I thought he'd be out till late. Bobby and I – we started making out on the couch and they both came into the house. Dad was furious. Yelled at me. Called me a whore. Finally, he told the machine that Bobby was a liability."

John and Cameron remained silent as they listened to Cheri's story. Sympathy mixed with growing horror showed on John's face and Cameron remained impassive. Cheri felt her hand squeezed by John's.

"It was like he'd flipped a switch when he said it. It hadn't cared one bit about the argument and then just came after Bobby like death itself. He screamed until I heard the bones break." Cheri shuddered at the memory of a young boy scrambling along carpet and then the remorseless brutality of his death. "That thing twisted his head all the way around. Dad locked me in the room with the body all night.

"Dad keeps Bobby's class ring still." Her voice dropped to a low whisper, "He shows it to me from time to time to remind me what happens if I don't do what he says. The day he saw me with you while picking me up, he showed it to me again. I didn't want to hurt you, John. I swear."

The expression on John's face showed his horror better than any words ever could. He sounded hoarse as he spoke. "I'm going to stop this, Cheri. I'm going to take back the future from them. I'll figure a way out for you, too."

Cheri gave him a small smile. "I don't know if there's a way out for me, but I have an idea of what I can do."

"What are you going to do?"

"It has to stop. Right?" She smiled at him even as she bit her lip.

He scowled. "What are you planning?"

"Doesn't matter." She silenced the coming protest with a kiss. Her lips pressed against his and she could feel the warmth of his breath in her mouth as she opened her lips to his. Cheri floated as she forgot time, troubles, and the end of the world in John Connor's embrace.

Wolf whistles and cat calls from other students brought them out of it. Cameron gave them both a disapproving frown. Cheri could not remember wrapping her arms around him but they were. She brought her lips up to his ear and whispered, "Go save the world, John."


"Miss Coleman, it's good to see you again. We didn't expect you back tonight."

One of the two uniformed security guards smiled at Cameron as he pulled out a sign-in sheet attached to a clip board. His smile wavered briefly as he surveyed the black fatigues, jacket, and combat boots that Cameron wore. He set it and a pen onto the guard desk situated in the middle of the CyberDyne lobby.

"Plans change," intoned Cameron before giving the guard a smile. Her gaze flicked to the second guard, who attentively watched camera screens for signs of activity in other parts of the building.

"Well, if you could just sign in. Procedures and—" The guard quieted as he found himself staring at a 9mm pistol pointed at the bridge of his nose.

"Get down on the floor and put your hands behind your head. Both of you." She paused, then added, "Please."

She watched as the two men lay flat on the floor. Satisfied with their compliance to her request, she pulled a radio out from her jacket, activated it, and said, "Lobby secure."


Lobby secure. The radio chirped and went silent as soon as the information had been relayed.

Sarah pocketed the radio and nodded to Derek and John. "Let's go."

She sprinted across the parking lot towards the CyberDyne building. The two men were right behind her. John held a bag full of assorted weapons and his laptop. Derek had a SPAS-12 shotgun in his good hand – easier to hit with due to the worse aim of his off hand he had explained. Sarah had chosen to finally break out the M-16 and had two pistols hidden under her jacket.

The building loomed over them as they approached. Concrete block had been the chosen architectural style with the company logo and emblem as the only adornments just beneath the roof. Blackened windows glared down at them, any of which could hide a threat. A sniper or a terminator lying in wait for the perfect time to strike.

Images of dozens of police cars, miniguns, and the dying act of Miles Dyson floated through Sarah's mind. The desperation of the flight away from the burning, dying building. The image of the slim, handsome face that hid a monster behind the wheel of a tractor trailer bearing down on them had never faded. She gritted her teeth as she fought down the self doubts and demons hiding in the past. She had decided it was not going to go down that way again.

"What was that?" Derek asked as he loped along beside her with ease.

"Nothing." Inside voice, Sarah. Inside voice, she thought. They were at the door to the lobby.

Tasteful decorations covered the room. All of them had a circuitry or computer motif. Oil paintings of motherboards hung from the walls. Plants the same color of blue LEDs sat in green, circuit etched pots. There were plenty of chairs for someone to sit on or use as cover. Copies of Wired and PC Magazine lay in neat arrangements on block shaped tables between the chairs. A security guard station stood between the main part of the lobby and a bank of two elevators.

Derek entered first, the barrel of the shotgun held in the crook of his right arm with his left holding the pistol grip. John came second, staying behind Derek, and Sarah entered third. She scanned the parking lot one last time for threats from behind and then shut the door and slid the manual locks shut.

Cameron finished stuffing the two security guards into the utility closet behind their desk. "You'll be safer in here," she warned them as she closed the door and used their keys to lock it, neatly snapping the key off in the lock.

"Where's their research done?" Sarah asked as she looked around the lobby.

"The company directory indicates research and development facilities are on the top floor – the fifth," said Cameron.

"Everyone knows the plan?" Sarah waited for the chorus of yeses.

"Let's go, then," Derek said as he pressed the up button for the elevator with the tip of his gun.


Gerald Metzger watched from the secondary security station on the top floor. Cameras in the parking lot had captured the other unit walking into the facility. They had also seen Sarah Connor, Derek Reese, and an unknown male aged approximately 16 enter the lobby. The unknown male could only be John Connor.

Metzger watched them enter the elevator and then smash out the camera inside the car. He turned to his laptop and sent a prepared email to an agreed upon address before activating the speed dial on a speaker phone that sat to his right. "They're here. Prepare to meet them at the fifth floor elevator bank."

Metzger stood, discarded his tie and jacket, and then picked up the shotgun that he had decided would be the best choice of weapon in this situation; an Ithaca police shotgun that had been loaded with solid slugs instead of buckshot. He carried it out to where the bank of elevators stood. Lights blinked along the display above them, indicating the elevator was rising.

Ten armed men had arrayed themselves in a semi-circle in front of the elevators. They dressed as security guards, but they were paid mercenaries with years of experience in active warfare. Hard men motivated only by money. They were easily understood by Metzger and he had no doubts about their effectiveness. Each of the men carried an H&K MP5 9mm sub-machinegun, pistols, and wore combat webbing with concussion grenades and spare ammunition.

Metzger racked his shotgun as the elevator displayed that it had reached the fourth floor. "On my command."

Ten bolt slides were pulled back in unison and then ten gun barrels trained on the elevator doors. The men tensed as the door binged out a chime to indicate that it had reached its destination. The door slid open.

"Open fire."

A sound like the world being torn apart echoed through the hallways.