**Author's note** Okay, just as with the few previous chapters, I have to apologize relentlessly for not being able to churn out chapter after chapter. I am, unfortunately, in that point in my life where writing is extremely important to me…but not to everyone else, especially my college. I know that's no excuse, but that's why you're going to get several chapters at once right now! I'm sick and stuck in bed, so I decided to use my time constructively…that is, when I'm not sleeping the day away.

Anyways! I'm sorry if you've all got the feeling that my last couple chapters have been…well, filler chapters. I've just tried to figure out exactly how the ending is going to work out. (Yes, I will give you all the warning…the end is nigh!) But I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm having fun toying with my beta's emotions :3 So I have to thank her immensely! You've been the best beta a friend could ever ask for! (hugz!)

--Carissa 3

Chapter 11

My foot twitched as I stared at the cell phone laying on one of the hotel beds. I was waiting for a call from Alex that seemed like it'd never come. It had been three days since Cameron had ambushed poor Alex and I told him everything about Skynet. Now I was just waiting for him to call and hopefully tell me he'd help stop Skynet.

"Paranoid much?" Glancing up, I noticed John had walked in and flopped into one of the chairs next to the nearly non-existent table. A teasing little grin flickered across his face.

I forced a smile back, but it didn't ease my paranoia any. "He hasn't called yet."

John rolled his eyes slightly and shook his head. "Did you expect him to call instantaneously? Seriously, Mackenzie, don't press him. He's not the Alex you know, remember?"

Sighing, I nodded and tossed a pillow over the stupid cell phone. "I guess you're right. I just wish we'd hear something from him. Because I don't want Derek to…"

"Kill him? Yeah, neither do I. He seems like a decent guy. The one thing I don't get is why he even created this virus." John got up from the chair he sat in and walked over to sit next to me. "He'll call."

"But what if we told him too soon and now he won't cooperate with us?" I asked exasperatedly.

John shook his head. "He'll call," he said, glancing over at me. "Why is he so important to you? I know he saved your life once, but why is he so important?"

"He's kinda like family, you know?" I glanced up at John and studied his eyes for several minutes. "I never really had a family, and he, my mom, and my friends were the only people I could trust. Other than your future self, at least, but I only found that when I was a teenager."

He gave a short laugh and shook his head. "You still are a teenager. So am I, for that matter. But I know where you're coming from," he sighed. "I have trouble trusting people, so when I do trust someone I take their deaths harder."

I nodded. "Same here. I'm still having trouble dealing with Sierra's death, but who was it for you?" I asked him, hoping to learn something about him this time.

John shrugged and shook his head. His eyes grew a bit more acute and I could see the muscles in his face become strained. "Just…some girl. Not a big deal."

As much as I could see that it was a big deal, I let it slide. He hadn't gotten over her death, whoever this girl was. Deciding to get his mind off the thoughts that were undoubtedly running rampant, I thought I'd talk about my loss. "Sierra was the closest thing to a sister I've ever known," I muttered, looking down at my untied shoelaces. When John didn't reply, I just kept talking. "She and Tyler were my best friends, and I've known them since before I could talk. When Skynet captured me, I was trying to find Tyler after the toy we'd been playing with got lost outside the bunker. That's when I met Alex."

"So he's kind of like a father figure to you?"

A melancholy smile flickered across my lips and I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. More like an uncle or godfather, though, now that I've met my real father." John simply nodded, and I was nowhere near done explaining how much Alex and my friends meant to me. "After he helped me escape, I didn't see him for another couple years, but we kept in touch. He almost felt responsible for me after taking care of me for the six months I was in the work camp, and after Mom died. I learned how to be a soldier from everyone else I was around, but he ultimately taught me the importance of human life and told me to never lose hope or give up. And yet…" I shook my head and bit the inside of my cheek hard when I felt my cheeks get hotter and tears well up in my eyes.

"Yet what?" John asked sounding interested, at least.
"When I was fourteen, I stayed with Alex for the last few months of his life or so," I said after taking a deep breath. "Right before he took his life, he gave me a vial and said it was the antidote for the virus that had run rampant ever since my mother had died from it. When I asked how he got it, he said he created it. Naturally, I was upset with him for not telling me this for so long, so I left with the vial and swore I'd never speak to him again." I paused for several moments, closing my eyes and feeling the tears stream down my flushed cheeks. I couldn't decide if I was angry or sad at that moment, but it was nearly excruciating remembering everything again. I had suppressed it for so long… "I never got to apologize to him for being so immature. The next day, I went back to where Alex lived to apologize, and I found his body there… In the note he left, he apologized relentlessly for hurting me, and he said he hoped that somehow in the future I'd be able to correct the wrongs he'd done."

"So you took that to mean coming back in time," John stated, nodding slowly. Grabbing a quick glance at his face, he looked sobered by my story.

"Eventually, I did. It wasn't until a month before I decided to jump that I discovered he'd been part of the team who was improving the time-travel technology. He helped with the transportation of biological matter part of making the modules."

John blinked in confusion. "Wait, modules? You didn't jump by using some huge machine?"

I laughed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, the technology really changed since Derek jumped."

"Huh…" he said, mulling it over for a few moments while I reined my emotions back in. "I get why you're here now. You want to make amends for Alex's death."

Nodding slowly, I sighed deeply and played with the hem of my shirt. "Exactly."

"You're not responsible for it, though." John looked me straight in the eyes. "You did nothing wrong. You didn't cause him to take his own life."

I wished I could believe him, but I nodded to make him think I agreed. Deep down in my subconscious, though, I knew I probably was a big reason Alex killed himself. "Thanks, John. I think I needed to talk about it again. I don't think I've ever done that before."

John rubbed my back for a minute before getting up and grabbing the cell phone from under the pillow I had tossed over it, and the Jeep's keys from the kitchenette counter. "Come on, you need ice cream."

* * * * *

Alex's House

If there was ever a time where Alex wanted to pull his hair out, or scratch his eyes out more, he couldn't think of it. He'd been cooped up in his house for the past three days, trying to tell himself that everything Mackenzie had told him was not real. That's the only really hard part about trying to convince yourself otherwise of something you just have that gut feeling is actually real, huh? No matter how hard one tries, no matter how hard one pounds and engrains it into one's brain, said person's subconscious still overpowers and roots through the brainwashing he's put himself through.

Alex paced throughout his house, talking to no one but his cat, Kisa. "Logically, there was no physical possibility of a super-computer taking over the world and declaring war on the humans that created it. It sounds like a bad Japanese B movie." He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "And yet there's that annoying, niggling feeling in the back of my mind that says it's most certainly true…" he muttered under his breath.

Being so transfixed with his thoughts, Alex had lost the perception of the world around him. He jumped, startled at the buzzing and vibrating in his pocket. It took him several moments to realize his phone was ringing. "H-hello?" he answered, feeling like an absolute fool for being so scared of his own cell phone.

"Hello, Alex," replied the smooth, Irish accent over the other line. A voice he recognized immediately as Catherine Weaver, the exact woman Mackenzie had told him to be wary of. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"N-no, of course not." There goes my stuttering habit again, dammit! "I've just been…thinking…quite a bit actually."

"Very good! I hope you're thinking of that offer, Alex. It's been nearly two weeks."

"Yeah, I know. I've just had a lot of conflict over it and…"

"You're lucky that wasn't actually the reason I'm calling you. Are you interested in seeing my secret project, by any chance?" Catherine asked in that icy tone of hers that implied that you would regret declining her offer.

Alex hesitated slightly before answering. "Sure…"

"Good. There should be a chauffer awaiting you as we speak. I'll see you soon."

Hardly fifteen minutes later, Alex was walking up to the Zeira Corp building. Catherine was waiting for him at the front doors, looking just as sharp and cold as she always had. Except her expression wasn't the normal void-of-emotions expression. She looked almost excited, but something was off about her expression. It seemed that all of what Mackenzie had told him was making him paranoid. Catherine was a perfectly normal human being…right?

Catherine gestured for Alex to follow him without a single word. The next few minutes that ensued were perhaps the most awkward minutes of Alex's life. Catherine led him to the door he couldn't go in when he toured Zeira Corp. Before unlocking and opening the door, however, she turned to him and stared him down. "Are you at all familiar with androids or cybernetic beings, Alex?" she asked.

That question caught Alex for a loop. "Uhh, yeah. I know the Japanese are working at developing near-human androids. Why?"

Catherine smiled and the door behind her opened to reveal a man who looked undoubtedly human, sitting at a table in the middle of a room full of servers. "Because I want to introduce you to my friend John Henry."

Alex blinked extremely wide eyes at John Henry and just stood there in awe. A wave of sudden realization almost took Alex's breath away. This was what Mackenzie was talking about… It had to be! Now, it was only a matter of feigning interest until he could get out and call Mackenzie back.