Connor Safe house
"Keep pressure on the wound." Cameron instructed John as she opened up the medical kit. Sarah lay on the kitchen table with John holding an old shirt over her wounded leg. Derek was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.
"Do we really want her to be doing this?" Derek asked.
"Derek, give it a rest. Cameron is fine." John looked at him. He didn't even feel like arguing with his uncle anymore. "It's not like there is another option, unless you're qualified?" Derek silently shook his head.
"What about your friend Charlie?" Derek asked.
"We've already caused him enough problems." Sarah said.
"I'm going to administer a local anesthetic." Cameron told Sarah, as she held up a needle from the med kit. "This will sting slightly." She injected the drug into Sarah's leg. "It will be a few moments before the numbing comes into full effect."
"Just get it over with." Sarah replied. Cameron paused and looked at her for a moment. Sarah shook her head yes. Cameron glanced at John before retrieving the forceps from the medical kit.
"Try to be still, I do not want to sever your femoral artery."
"That's comforting" Sarah replied.
Cameron removed the shirt from the wound and looked at Sarah. "You will feel some discomfort."
Cameron walked into John's room, not bothering to knock; she stopped doing that since the night they first kissed. She found John on his bed looking at his laptop.
"How is mom doing?" John asked.
"I just changed her bandage. She is still sleeping." Cameron climbed into bed next to John, resting her head on his shoulder.
"She was lucky." John replied. They lay there together, simply enjoying each other's company. The silence was interrupted by John's stomach rumbling loudly.
"I have lasagna in the oven. It should be done in seven minutes." Cameron informed John.
"You're too good for me, you know that?" John responded.
"Yes. I know that." Cameron replied causing John to raise an eyebrow and look down at her. Cameron saw this and leaned up and kissed him. "What are you looking for?" she asked.
"Just going through some of the files I pulled from the system mainframe. Virtue Corp is making several large shipments a month to a company called Kaliba. All they had in the log were the departing locations and the dates, not the actual product." John said.
"They don't want anyone to know what's being shipped." Cameron stated.
"Yeah, sure looks that way. ...Oh crap…" John said to himself as he noticed one of the dates on the files he saved to the flash drive was tomorrow.
"What is it?" Cameron asked.
"One of those shipments goes out tomorrow." John looked at her. "I say we go down there and see for ourselves what exactly they are shipping."
"That sounds acceptable."
"If we are going to do this, we need to do it soon before they move the product." John responded.
Cameron looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ok." She replied.
"Ok? …Just like that?" John was shocked that she went for it that easily.
"The experience will be good for you." She answered. "And you will have the T-850 and myself to protect you."
"Now the hard part, I gotta go talk to mom…" John said, trying to think of a way to convince his mother.
"We'll eat first. " Cameron stated. "We can make use of the weapons and armor Val acquired for you." She added, standing up.
"Are you sure we will need that?" John asked getting up to follow Cameron.
"If it's related to Skynet, we'll need it." Cameron passed John and headed down the hallway. He followed, wondering exactly what he had gotten himself into.
John was sitting at the kitchen table eating with Cameron when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up to see his uncle come into the kitchen.
Derek walked over to the counter and grabbed a plate, shoveling lasagna onto it without saying a word. He walked over to the refrigerator and took out a beer, turning to look at John. He looked from John to Cameron before finally looking at John again.
"That's a waste of good food." Derek said, referring to the small serving Cameron had allowed herself to indulge in. "I'll be in the basement watching TV, if anyone needs me." He said as he walked out.
John put his head in his hands. "Does he ever stop?" he asked himself. He looked at Cameron, who had stopped eating her food and sat with her hands on her lap. "Are you alright?" John asked her softly. She was silent for a moment before she looked at him and smiled.
"I'm fine." She said as she picked up her fork and resumed eating. John knew, however, that all was not fine. Cameron would never admit it, but John knew she wasn't always as strong as she appeared on the outside. Whatever happened during the explosion had changed her. The constant internal struggle with her Skynet programming also, undoubtedly, was having an effect on her. He wondered, not for the first time, just what kind of changes those would be.
Sarah was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. Her leg was numb, Cameron gave her some kind of painkillers, and they worked well but made her tired. She looked at the door, hearing a light knock, and saw her son come in with a trey of food.
"I brought this for you." John said placing the trey on her bedside table. Sarah scooted up into a sitting position and looked over its contents; lasagna and garlic bread…it actually looked and smelled good.
"Did you cook?" She asked with an expression of shock on her face.
"Cameron helped a little." John smiled. Sarah gave him a look. "Ok, she might have helped a lot."
"That was thoughtful of her." Sarah said with a hint of sarcasm. John sighed and sat down on the side of the bed.
"She may not show it but it does affect her." John looked at his mother. "The things you and Derek say to her. She cares…more than she admits." Sarah was silent; the last thing she wanted was to get into another fight with her son.
"Where is Cameron, anyway?" Sarah asked. "Aren't you two attached at the hip nowadays?"
"She's downstairs getting Val. I actually needed to talk to you about that." Sarah could tell her son was up to something.
"What are you doing?" She asked him.
"We found a list, the files from Virtue corp. They were getting paid big money by another company called Kaliba Group."
"Paid for what?" Sarah asked.
"That's just it, we don't know. They had the shipping dates and locations but no record of what was being sold. One of those shipments is going out early tomorrow." John finished looking at his mother expectantly.
"What? No! Absolutely not, John."
"Mom, listen. We are just going in to look and see what they are shipping. Simple." John said.
"You expect me to let you go in there with-"
"What? With Cameron? With "metal"?" John interrupted.
"Without ME." Sarah finished. John looked away guiltily.
"I'm sorry, but this is something we need to do." John looked into her eyes. "I need to do this." Sarah sighed. She knew that John needed to start stepping up, with less than six months left until Judgment Day (assuming they couldn't stop it), he had very little time to prepare.
"You stay close to Cameron." John smiled at his mother. "I mean it John; don't leave her sight for a second. If it looks wrong you abort."
"Thanks mom. Derek is downstairs if you need anything." John hugged her.
"Thank me by coming back safe." Sarah replied, reluctantly letting go of her son.
Industrial District
The Jeep pulled to a stop a few blocks away from the shipping compound.
"So, this is it..." John stated nervously. Cameron reached out and took his hand in hers.
"Are you sure you want to follow through with this?" Cameron asked him.
"How am I supposed to become this great leader unless I start making decisions? I just… I don't want to make a mistake." Cameron looked at John for a moment before He spoke again.
"Let's go." He stated. As he opened the door and stepped out of the Jeep, Cameron followed closely behind. Val got out last and walked around to the back, pulling out a large black duffel bag.
They walked in silence for several blocks until they reached the compound. The place looked empty, save for one warehouse which had its lights on. Val tore the fence open and the trio continued to the warehouse, moving along to the back where the loading bay door was open.
"Wait." Cameron grabbed John's arm. "I hear movement ahead."
"She is correct." Val confirmed.
"What's in there?" John asked. Val peeked around the corner into the garage and quickly identified six armed humans, probably Grays, and three cyborgs. They were loading unmarked crates into trucks.
"Six humans and three T-888s armed with .45 and .223 caliber weapons, respectively" Val answered as he unsung his duffel bag.
"Grays." Cameron stated.
"Grays?" John asked.
"Humans who work for Skynet." She clarified. "Traitors to humanity."
"The threat level is low. Their weapons cannot do significant damage to my endoskeleton." Val said.
"Are you sure we can stand up to that?" John asked, looking at Val. He was wondering how the hell the three of them could stop nine enemies, three of which were metal-death-machines.
"I have prepared for this possibility." Val answered him.
"It's not too late to turn back." Cameron reminded John.
"We've come this far. We have to finish it." John said.
"We'll handle it." Cameron said as she removed a M1A SOCOM from Val's bag.
"No." John said. Cameron looked at him and tilted her head.
"I'm going with you." John reached down and removed a Colt AR-15 from the bag.
"John..." Cameron started but John interrupted her.
"Cameron, I need to do this. I can't sit back and let everyone else do the fighting for me." Cameron would rather John stay where it is safe but she knew that he was right, General Connor often led from the front. He was John Connor, it's what he did. What he does. That did not mean that Cameron had to like it, however. "You're sure about the 'Grays'?" John looked at Cameron. "They willingly work for Skynet?"
"Most negotiate deals. They serve Skynet in exchange for their lives." Cameron said.
"Liberty for security…" John looked thoughtful for a moment but Cameron's voice brought him back to the present.
"What do you want us to do?" Cameron asked.
"They work for Skynet." John let out a shaky breath. "They chose their side."
"Concentrate on the Grays', Val will handle the T-Triple eights." Cameron said coolly. "Stay behind me." John looked at her for a moment, wondering what caused the change in her tone.
"Trust me." Val said with a smile as he reached into his duffel bag and lofted out an M35 grenade launcher and .50 Beowulf AR.
Val was first out of cover, one weapon in each hand. The Gray's and Terminators responded quickly to the unwelcome armed-guests and unleashed a hail storm of fire at Val. The Five-Five Six NATO and .45 ACP rounds bounced harmlessly off of his armor. He opened fire on the T-888's with his Beowulf, the .50 cal rounds slamming into the terminators with amazing force, shredding the skin and smashing their hyper-alloy frames.
John was resting his back against the wall, his palms sweaty as he gripped his Colt AR-15 tightly. Flipping the selector to semi, he went over his training in his mind. He cast a quick glance at Cameron, her face set in stone, ready for the battle.
Cameron turned to John. He was perspiring heavily and leaning against the wall. His pulse was elevated and his eyes dilated. His body was releasing adrenaline for the coming fight. She chambered a round into her M1A SOCOM, and smiled reassuringly at John. She didn't like his decision to put himself at risk, but any animosity between them could put John in even more danger. He was John Connor, she had to trust him.
To say John was nervous would be an understatement. His mother had trained him for this since he was just a boy, but training never really prepares you for the real thing. John had only taken one life prior to this, Sarkisian, he wasn't relishing the idea of having to take more. He looked at Cameron again, this time she offered him one of her reassuring smiles. Taking one last deep breath to steady himself, John spoke. "Let's do this."
Cameron followed Val out of cover delaying for just a moment. She opened up on the grays. The 7.62 by 51mm NATO round offered exceptional stopping power against the human targets. One grey found this out the hard way as his head exploded into pulp. Another as his heart was obliterated by the 150 grain projectile.
John was last, following Cameron, who was doing her best to keep herself between the return fire and him. Time seemed to slow down as he raised his rifle and aimed at one of the Grays, the muzzle flashes of his compatriots briefly reminding John of camera flashes at a concert or sports game. He pulled the trigger twice. One round hit center mass, the other struck the Grey in the thigh. The lightweight, high-velocity, round deflected off the man's femur and entered his stomach; blood started to spray wildly from the man's leg as he fell.
A hit to the femoral artery…Lethal.
John turned to the next Grey and fired two more times, the "hammer-pair" hit center mass the tumbling effect of the rounds liquefying his insides, killing the man instantly. He turned to the left to take aim at another Grey and saw the muzzle flash of the man's UMP submachine gun. He felt a punch to the chest, all the air knocked from his lungs. Suddenly he found himself crashing to the floor and everything went dark.
Val raised his other arm and quickly fired off all the rounds in his M-35. His aim was almost perfect. Of the six HE rounds in his MGL, four found the two T-888's in the garage, two rounds each. They were nothing but twisted metal and burnt pseudo-flesh when the smoke cleared.
The third Triple-eight managed to evade the grenades, which splattered an unlucky Grey who happened to be too close to the explosion.
Val scanned the room, locating the damaged T-888, he was out of ammo so he charged the machine. The two metal warriors collided with incredible force. If a terminator could register surprise the Triple-eight didn't show it as it struggled against the superior T-850. Val managed to snap one of the terminators arms off at the elbow, the T-888 proving to be no match for him as he forced it to the ground and pinned it there with one knee. It struggled vainly with its remaining arm until Val jammed it's severed forearm into its neck and twisted, severing the power conduit to the CPU and rendering it "dead".
He stood up and scanned the rest of the room. All threats were neutralized.
John awash in complete darkness, he faintly heard a beautiful voice calling his name. This must be what it's like to die and go to heaven, John thought. As the darkness slowly faded to light and finally clarity, John looked up to see Cameron hovering above him, an expression of worry on her perfect face.
"Are you an angel?" John asked.
"John, are you ok?" Cameron knelt down and ran her hands over John's chest, checking for wounds. She lifted his shirt and found two small impact marks on the concealable vest he wore, where the .45 rounds failed to penetrate SAPI plate in his body armor. Other than some bruising John would be fine.
"I'm ok." John answered, regaining his composure. "It hurt like a bitch but they didn't penetrate." He said, looking down at the impacts. "I don't know what knocked me down though."
"That would have been me." Cameron answered apologetically. "I had to get you out of the line of fire." Cameron offered him her hand.
"Thanks." John said taking her hand and smiling sheepishly. Cameron helped John to his feet and pulled him into a kiss so fast that he wasn't sure what was happening. She released him and they looked into each other's eyes.
Val calmly walked back to where John and Cameron were standing.
"Area secure." Val stated.
"Let's go" Cameron said to John.
The trio continued into the complex. Cameron walked over to the crates the Grays had been loading and ripped the top off of one.
"John…"
"What is it?" John asked, as he walked to her. John peered into the crate and found that it contained several plastic boxes marked to contain electronically sensitive devices. He picked up one of the boxes and opened it. Inside was a very primitive looking neural-net processor, larger and less advanced than any terminators, but a neural-net processor none-the-less.
"They are producing them already?" John asked incredulously, wincing slightly from his sore ribs.
"It would seem so." Cameron answered.
"Why? What would they use them for in this time?"
"I don't know. It is likely that Skynet is stockpiling resources for the war. These are very similar to the CPU's used in early Hunter-Killer models. Perhaps it intends to incorporate them in modern day UAV's." Cameron speculated.
"In order to do that wouldn't Skynet have to be operational?" John's brow raised in confusion.
"Not necessarily, it could simply be sending terminators back to do this for it."
"I don't like it. No offence, but this seems too big to be just a couple of terminators."
"None taken." Val answered from behind John.
"We know Kaliba was buying. Do we know where they were shipping these?"
"Here." Val answered as he handed John a clipboard he pulled from the truck.
"Ok, let's get back to the house." John looked at Cameron. "We need to find this address, and then we take a closer look at this Kaliba Group." John said, noticing a glint of metal on her cheek bone and the many bullet holes that riddled her torso. "And get you patched up." He finished.
"What about the CPU's?" Cameron asked.
"Val, can you take care of the CPU's and Triple-eights?" John said as he placed one of the CPU's in his pocket.
"Yes. I can 'make them disappear'. I will return to the safe house when I'm finished."
"Salvage any spare parts you think we may need. See you there." John answered as he and Cameron set off towards the Jeep.
John and Cameron climbed into the Jeep, Cameron at the wheel. John had been absolutely silent on the walk back to the jeep. They sat in silence for several more moments before Cameron spoke.
"You're quiet." Cameron observed. John glanced at her.
"I just feel kinda sick." John answered looking down at his feet. Cameron placed her hand on his forehead and conducted a scan. He was pale, cool to the touch, and perspiring heavily. His heart rate was elevated and his pupils were slightly dilated.
"You're in shock. John, it's okay. You're safe now." She stated. John gently removed her hand.
"I killed two men today." John said as he placed his hand near the center consol. Cameron looked at it for a moment before realizing it was an invitation and placed her hand in his.
"It was them or you." Cameron told him. "They chose to work for Skynet. They chose their side." She echoed his words from earlier.
"I've gone my whole life thinking that the machines are the killers, the bad guys. Look at me now. How am I any different?"
"You feel something for what you've done." Cameron said causing John to look up at her.
"Machines don't feel. We don't care." She continued. "That's what makes you different."
"You're not a simple machine, Cameron. You care, you're different." John corrected
"About you, Yes." She squeezed his hand to emphasize her point. They sat in silence for a moment.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?"
"War is not easy, John."
"Sometimes, I don't think I'm cut out for this, leading humanity to victory." John said with a scoff.
"You are. You will." Cameron's voice was firm, resolute.
"How can you be sure?" He asked.
"I have faith in you. You're John Connor." Cameron answered. John was taken aback for a moment by her answer. Faith; a belief in something even without logical proof, something a machine shouldn't be able to express, yet Cameron was capable of that and so much more. Again, John realized just how special she truly was.
"Mom is going to be truly pissed when she finds out about this." John stated.
"Yes, she will be pissed." Cameron agreed.
"I think she might actually kill me this time." John said, only half joking.
"I'll protect you." Cameron smiled.
Connor Safe House
Derek Reese sat in the basement alone. With only an old lamp on, the basement was barley lit. A half-eaten plate of Lasagna, empty beer bottle, a dirty old rag, and a bottle of CLP sat on the table Derek was using, a faint brushing sound was all that could be heard.
He looked over his work thoroughly before putting a few more drops of CLP on the toothbrush and scrubbing away. After a few moments of this he set the M82 receiver down on the table.
Standing up, he walked to the corner and picked up an old green ammo can. Walking it over to the table, he set it down and dusted off the lid. The yellow lettering on the can read "CAL .50 MK211 MOD 0". He opened the can and reached inside.
He pulled out a .50 BMG round and held it up, watching the light reflect off the brass body.
"Hello Raufoss."