"It's so quiet."
She had been telling the soldiers about what it was like after the war. There she stood as a monument to them, proof that their efforts and their sacrifices would not be in vein. Amongst them she began to realize how happy she should be when she gets home, to a place where the war was over.
"I can go to sleep at night and not hear a sound."
The soldiers loved her, they loved her like fathers and mothers love their children. She was to them the embodiment of their children, their sons and daughter who shall live in this quiet world. A generation was coming, one who only knew of war, an entire generation will die in a war, but she was there as evidence that there will be more that will live and grow and grow.
"It all looks the same sort of." She nodded. "But it's more beautiful."
That was around the time the first bomb struck. The soldiers had grabbed at her, dragged her away in to safety. But she screamed at them, no, she couldn't move, she had to stay in the same place for Tyler, because she knew he'd be coming. The bombs continued down, so loud, so loud.
But there in the chaos she sat down, and saw him standing in the distance. He didn't move but there he was, in that odd police outfit, with a small smile across his face. She ran over to him obediently, wrapping her arms around him, wanting him to take them away.
But he grabbed her and he was cold, and no one heard her scream when she realized who it was.
The T-X is a patient creature. She is cunning and strong and patient. She had chosen not to take the form of a human to infiltrate John Connor's army, not with the T-1000 there with his machine eyes. She instead chose to only follow closely, observing, waiting. She had close encounters along the way; she had collected by then a very small army of T-800s and obtained their Aerial Air Craft. It hovered closely behind the human army, following her. And when the T-1000 had left his mission's side, and the bombs began to fall, she knew this was the perfect time. Her mission was nearing its end, the way was clear then. She would capture the child, this T-1000's so called mission. She would capture and use the Air Craft to get into the base. She would make contact with Sky Net and give Sky Net herself, and the advanced technology within her. And the child would make the T-1000 come to her, and she would capture him, and give him to Sky Net.
Sky Net would be twenty years ahead of humanity, Sky Net would win.
There was a satisfaction even the T-X knew of a mission nearing its end. Soon, her purpose would be fulfilled. Where a human might think this bittersweet, as after there would be no reason to live, it was all she wanted. All she knew to want. There would be no glory for her, other machines would not remember her, and she was not an individual to be remembered. But she didn't know what glory was. She didn't need to be remembered. She just needed to finish this mission. And she was close. She could feel it. Like a Predator nearing its Prey, she could taste it, as a human would say.
She took the child when the bombs fell, and no one knew. She held the fragile thing by the neck and threw it into the Air Craft and the thing flew off.
Tyler saw it just then. Everyone saw it, emerging from the debris like some sort of living behemoth. It rose easily and Tyler could see the beautiful face of the T-X standing in the open doorway. He clung to the walls as it looked down to the ground, as if searching specifically for him. And then she found him, running after the aircraft, running after her. She stared down, emotionless and cold, and said without words, come and get me.
Tyler ran up onto a pile of cars but the craft was too high and the thing was leaving. It entered Machine territory and for a moment the bombs were directed at it, but the T-X began to fire down upon the Machines, and headed towards the base. It disabled the base canons and landed safely on its roof. She was there already, she was there and she had Ellie.
Tyler only stood on the top of a mountain of cars staring with inhuman eyes. He felt the rhythm of the bombs beneath his feet, and a horrible surge of some alien emotion. There was a complete sense of helplessness that came to him, the burden of failure fell and he stood there, unsure of what to do.
"Tyler!" Kate Brewster was screaming. "TYLER!"
She had to climb the cars herself and grab him by the shoulder. He turned to her with a grim face.
"Ellie." He said. "She took Ellie!"
The human forces took heavy losses and were forced into a fall back. A small perimeter was secured and slowly the bombs had stopped falling. The T-800s were now too busy fighting the one enemy that had been able to cross their borders, the T-X. The automated aircraft still flew in the sky, raining down prototype lasers upon the then fragile metal. The T-800s were making their way into the interiors of the building seeking out their enemy. Humanity would have to wait.
But humanity, as persistent as it was, was plotting. John Connor sat in a circle with his lieutenants, Kate Brewster by his right side. And around this circle, encircled the entire army. They were all there this time, every one was going to have a say. The hurt were taken away and the rest sat there with their guns by their side and the sounds of the Machine Army fighting on their own echoing in the distance.
"What are they fighting?" A soldier called out.
"The T-X." John was quick to answer. "She has breached them, she is this close to getting to Sky Net."
John gestured with his fingers, and looked at random soldiers in the eye.
"We have to wait for reinforcements." Someone suggested.
"We can't." John said.
"Why the hell not!? We're all going to die if we go out there again!"
John sighed.
"If the T-X gets in contact with Sky Net, all of us are dead. She has within her the history of our battles, and schematics of technology twenty years more advanced than us. That includes, if you don't think twenty years is that long, better bullet proof armor, laser guns, a liquid metal terminator," John gestured towards Tyler, "a faster thinking machine brain, newer, faster, better air carriers, studies on the weaknesses of humans, and of course herself, a shape-shifting, weapon-changing killing machine."
The speech made everyone hush down. Not from the shock, but also the idea that for the next twenty years that was what they could look forward to fighting.
"Meaning, we will lose this war no matter what." John said. "We cannot wait for reinforcements, we have to do it now, and I mean, now."
John waited to see if anyone had any objections.
"So. I'm going to say a plan I have, if anyone, anyone, has any contributions or disagreements, please say something."
Someone raised their hand in the crowd, and John pointed at them.
"Are we all going to die?" The man asked.
John took a moment to choose his words properly.
"We cannot lose this battle." He said. "Many of us are going to die."
"But if we don't do this!" Kate interjected, "Everyone will die!"
Tyler was not paying attention to the conversation. Tyler was sitting cross-legged with his head down. Tyler was trying to predict what the T-X was to do in a hostage situation. He had considered what his own programming had told him, but felt that Sky Net in its efforts to create a better killing machine would have created more direct programming about hostages. This was something that made him afraid and he was retracing his steps to his conclusion to see if Sky Net would have really done that. Then he considered the intellect and adaptability of the T-X and wondered knowing what she knew about Ellie, what she had done.
It pained Tyler to know that in her situation, he would have killed Ellie immediately.
"Most of us must stay behind to distract the Machines. A group led by myself will infiltrate the base via underground tunnels, the T-1000 will be our guide." John was finishing up.
"But what if it's working for Sky Net?" Someone called out.
Tyler looked up slightly.
"Then I will kill him." John Connor said. "Now, the rest of you must be divided into three groups, I want two to start, and the third to come from behind them as a surprise attack and…"
"What about Ellie?" Tyler interrupted.
John stopped, and took a moment.
"Do you think she's alive, Tyler?" John asked.
Everyone could tell John had asked this question before. Rescue missions were a rarity, and only if someone truly believed the person was alive would he ever dare attempt one. There was a horrible sense that John was forcing himself to look sad over Ellie's perhaps death. But it wasn't that. John was truly sorry for it, truly hurting in a way only the leader of mankind can when he finds someone who is just like him. But he had tried very hard to not show it, like he did for all the deaths lost in the battle. And when he attempted to show that real pain it somehow came out fake.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Tyler asked.
John licked his upper lip and nodded.
"We will kill the T-X, Tyler, that is my main objective, that is all our main objective. That is your mission now, Tyler." John said, remembering how to talk to a Terminator. "But if she is alive we will get her. Yet, remember, T-1000, your mission is to kill the T-X. If we do not humanity is dead, there is no future for you to take Ellie back to."
John had a way with speaking to Terminators, Tyler concluded in his head. Tyler was not comfortable with the idea of taking orders again in such a mechanical fashion, however, despite what Tyler felt, it was true. Ellie couldn't be his mission now, he was fighting not for her then, he was fighting for mankind. The idea stung Tyler in a way. He felt it was wrong for a machine like him to be fighting in a human army. Before he had done so for Ellie, but now she was gone.
He could gotten up just then, he could have gone into the T-800s and fought his way into the base, he could have found Ellie then and saved her. But instead he stayed to fight with John Connor, because he somehow knew, it was what Ellie would have told him to do.
"Yes, sir." Tyler said.
John Connor then proceeded to tell his army the plans. How the special operations unit was going to come with John and Tyler to the base. How Kate was to lead the armies, how there would be three and how they would handle such a massive fight. There were objections that John should stay behind; that he has the hope of humanity should stay safe. But John Connor simply smiled and said that he had dealt with time traveling business before, it made him the only expert on it, and as such he should be the one doing this.
John Connor knew what battles to fight; he knew some just required him to be there, he knew some demanded his hands. This was one of those battles.
And an hour later the will of humanity was ready to fight. Tyler was somewhat impressed by the efficiency, by the unity. Where once he saw them as nothing more than stupid organic creatures that had somehow become the pinnacle of the Earth, they seemed more and more deserving of winning this war. He had been made believing as Sky Net believed that their one true achievement was the creation of AI. But there before him was humanity working at its best, there was a passion that fueled them in ways no machine would know.
He didn't ask permission as he thought he should have. Or at least tell John, give him a warning. But Tyler wanted to wear his uniform, his armor, as the rest of the army did. And so in the starlight he became that silver, reflective humanoid, ready to fight. Ready to go and get Ellie. It caused a bit of a stir up, but Tyler did not care as he stood upon some debris staring out to the base, watching the battle go on without them. The battle that hid Ellie from him.
"Hey." Kate Brewster said.
His smooth head turned and he for a line that became a mouth where his lips should have been.
"Crystal…" He started.
"I can tell it's you." She smiled.
She gestured to his new figure. A moment passed before she walked up to him and grabbed his fingerless hand.
"I wanted to tell you, it's going to be all right." Kate Brewster said.
She stared up at the reflection of herself on Tyler's face. Tyler smooth motion spoke all the words a human expression would have. His head wavered and then turned away, and turned back to her.
"I mean, she's fine, and we're going to go get her." Kate continued.
"Yes." Tyler simply said.
"Are you scared?"
"I…I couldn't protect her."
"No one could have known."
"I could have."
"You can't blame yourself like this. You're going to save her."
"I shouldn't have to go save her, she should be here, with me."
He moved away, this smooth silver figure. Tyler wondered for a moment if it was correct of Sky Net to extinguish the T-1000, after all he with all the experience of all the T-1000s that ever existed, he couldn't protect one little girl. He had failed, Machines do not fail, he does not fail. He does not get damaged, he does not fail. And there he was, a malfunctioning body that could no longer keep track of pathways or feel the vibrations of the world as clearly as it once did. His body was his eyes and he was becoming more and more blind. And now his mission, Ellie, was gone from him.
He realized that he missed her. As a Machine he couldn't understand why. He couldn't see why he had somehow become so attached to her that in her absence he would miss her. He could understand the sense of failure, but to actually feel, as though something was gone that shouldn't have been, like an arm he had lost and couldn't regenerate back.
A thought occurred to him. He wondered what the T-1000 who was sent to kill John Connor must have felt as it was dying, knowing it had failed.
"Hey."
Kate Brewster pulled him back.
"Listen. She's probably sitting around as the T-X does its business, bored. I'm sure, I'm so sure she's not even worried right now. She has you, she knows you're going to get her, and I know you're going to get her."
"You always state things you do not know, I mean humans do." Tyler said.
"You're calculating aren't you? The probability of success here?"
He didn't move but she knew it was true.
"Well." She said. "You can't factor a number to will power, Tyler, and that's half the battle."
He looked up at her, this wise human most fitting as the equal of John Connor.
"Come on, we're ready to do this." She nodded.
She led him down towards the soldiers.
"Protect John for me." She said.
The entire army was now divided into thirds, and they all stood just a hundred feet from Machine territory, safely tucked away behind a hill. They came up to John and the front of the army. Soldiers were rather taken aback by Tyler's appearance as they stared at themselves from his reflective skin. Tyler stood a good foot taller than he normally did then and bent down in an elegant way to John Connor.
"Tyler, take a look at the soldiers for me." John said, and Tyler did. "If you can, I want you to help them."
John gave a cough and sighed, jumping up and pumping his shoulders, readying himself.
"Now, if you will so do the honors…" John Connor gestured.
Tyler nodded and looked up to the hill. He saw with the eyes of his body Kate Brewster kissing John and whispering something in his ear. He saw the terrified eyes of new soldiers, and the anxiousness of old ones. But then Tyler began to run.
A T-800 was surveying the perimeter with others as the battle behind them raged on. It walked along, gun in hand. Then it thought it saw something, it's red eyes glowed and turned upwards. Attempts to identify the figure proved useless, it had never see something like this before. It attempted in those seconds to recall for further assistance in its identification but a battle was going on. Instead of investigating it, it was ordered to terminate it. That was when it realized it was that liquid metal machine they had encountered.
It raised its gun.
Then its skull was split in two.
The silver figure that was Tyler fell from the sky, a giant blade extended from his arm that must have been twenty feet long. Another T-800 turned to fire, but Tyler with the T-800 still in its blade swung it at the other. His blade arm became a solid-liquid; it became flexible enough to whip the one Machine at the other. The T-800's body slipped out of the blade and was swung into the other T-800, then Tyler's blade arm swung into it, cutting it in half.
Another group of T-800s began running towards him. He extended his arm that split into five fine points that stabbed three in the head, the other two dodged out of the way. They opened fire and bullets flew through Tyler's chest. He swung his second bladed arm at one and the other continued firing. It ran up to Tyler who made a spike emerge of his chest that killed the T-800.
Tyler turned and cut another T-800 in half, with another one firing at the blade until it was blasted away. It ran up to Tyler, firing at him, but only hitting the dead Terminator still placed on a spike in Tyler's chest. The T-800 pulled the other one off of Tyler and grabbed for Tyler's neck, crushing it. Tyler's head slipped off from the neck into the back and a spike again emerged out of Tyler's chest that turned out to be his head, slicing through the machine's chest plate. The thing was still alive and opened fire on him again; Tyler grabbed him by the skull, crushed it and threw it at some more T-800s.
Two ran up to him and he had to stab them both with each arm, slipping them off he began to turn. A T-800 was leaping down towards him, and Tyler created a series of giant spikes that flew out of his back, piercing and separating the Terminator's head, from the chest and legs. Another came at him, grabbing his shoulder and jamming the gun into his neck until it forced the gun into the skin and it began to fire. The bullet flew through Tyler's interior, causing his core to become loose. He bent down and slipped off the range of the gun, and twisted like a corkscrew, to punch the T-800 with a spiked fist, and cutting off its head. Another one came behind him grabbed him, so that another one was able to shoot him in the chest. Tyler made his chest into a hole and T-800 actually only shot his comrade. The other fell and Tyler grabbed the standing T-800 and swung him down to the ground and stomped on its head, crushing it.
Others still came, and Tyler jumped at them, turning himself into a giant silver spear, piercing three of them. He fell over them, and formed legs again to pull himself out of their chests, and before he made a head and arms again, curved his back backwards, landing on the shoulders of a T-800. Hands clamped down on the machine and pushed it forward so Tyler could spear even through him. He was now an elongated arch, forming a head through the chest of the T-800. He made arms then and grabbed the gun the T-800 he went through held and started firing at the others.
He then slipped out of the T-800s, and made his head at the other end of his self, and created legs and humanoid shape again. He lunged at the nearest T-800, slicing through him, and turning to stab another in the chest, then created back spikes to get the ones behind him. He made his arms into long and fine spikes and swung them around, slicing anything in its path in two, he started twirling in a circle, killing anything in his reach.
He led them after all; he was a general of a Machine Army. He knew how to lead them so that their weaknesses wouldn't be exposed, and thus he knew how to get to those weaknesses. It felt strange, to stab his metal into metal, where flesh was an easy thing to cut through, this metal was proving more difficult. Yet he adapted, and he felt almost like his old self, this killing machine that knew how to kill so very easily.
It was at this moment a rain of bullets came down and the human army began to attack.
John Connor looked on last time at Kate who screamed out orders, and he saw his beautiful warrior woman. He smiled as he ran by Tyler and nodded at him. Tyler stopped and began running after John. Tyler saw with his many eyes bullets coming at John. He jumped and became a liquid wall to stop the bullets. Tyler fell with a thud but in a second was again a humanoid solid, he got up and ran with the others.
John Connor was to lead his special ops to the tunnel that Tyler had told about. The special ops soldiers were divided then, but all heading to the same direction. Other soldiers ran with them, as to not bring too much attention to them specifically.
The sounds of war filled Tyler. The explosions and the fires reflected off his surface. He jumped between debris and bodies and bombs. He ran twisted around and beheading a T-800 so John could pass. This was war; this was the thing he knew so very well. He was born in war as a weapon, and this was his natural environment. He could have fought for eternity in this battlefield with an endless supply of enemies. He was designed to be the last man standing and he could have been. The familiar vibrations so loud even he could feel them in his body. The ground shook with the hustle of armies and explosions, it was enough to make his very being vibrate. This was home. He knew it, this was home. He was a machine and this was home.
But even in all this, he remembered Ellie.
"Tyler!" John motioned.
Tyler began to run faster, with longer strides, his legs and arms blades, he ran on fine points that were his feet. Finally he skidded on the ground, and jammed his arms into a sewer case, stopping himself and prying it open. John jumped in followed by four other soldiers. Tyler then waited for the remaining eight who came momentarily, and then slipped in himself, closing the lid above them.
The tunnels were dark and deep but the war above run clearly. Lights came on, flashlights the soldiers had brought. Tyler shone brightly under them as he moved to lean down next to John Connor. He took the lead, scrapping his hands against the walls. If not for the battle above he probably couldn't have learned anything from touching the wall, but with the vibrations above he was able to get a clear understanding of the tunnel ways.
He led them up and to the right then another right then left down a long tunnel that would have led them to the base. But when they got there a horror came upon them, it was a dead end.
"Tyler?" John Connor asked.
The head turned and a mouth formed.
"I don't understand." Tyler said. "It should be here."
Then anger spread over John Connor's face. Not at Tyler but at himself.
"It's a trap!" One of the soldiers yelled. "This thing has trapped us!"
"No!" John yelled. "He's from the future." John sighed. "The tunnel he knows about hasn't been built yet."
Tyler stood, this tall figure that had to crouch down to be at the level of everyone else. His mouth dropped open and he didn't know what to say. He failed again. He should have known, he should have checked. What was happening to him? Why didn't he check? Why didn't he know? He felt a horrible shudder go through him. His body was dying, maybe his mind was too. He failed. He failed again.
Again.
"What the fuck do we do now!?" Someone yelled.
John Connor smiled.
All his life there were no plans. All through out his youth there was never a plan. There was reacting to an enemy. There was no battle plan to be carried out; there were only the attempts of surviving and killing it. And here they were, in a situation where the plan had failed, and now nothing was left to do but react.
"We plow through." John said. "Tyler."
He whistled and nodded upwards, and Tyler saw a sewer opening and elongated his chest to reach it and open it.
"Come on!" John yelled at his scared soldiers.
They followed him, climbing a ladder to the opening and slipping out. Tyler was last to pull himself up and close the case. They were apparently in what once was a junkyard, hidden by a wall of cars. The soldiers ran ahead to set up a perimeter and were climbing the walls to see the battle just a few feet away from them.
But John Connor was staring at something.
"John." Tyler said. "I am sorry, please…"
"Tyler." John stopped him, and then he pointed. "Do you think you can drive one of those?"
Tyler would have smiled.
"Of course I can, John Connor." Tyler said.
A few moments later the soldiers were running, grabbing stored up gas from anywhere they could find it. They climbed on top of the engine and poured it in, nice and easy, making sure the gas tank didn't leak. They didn't need a lot, just enough to get by, just enough to get by. The soldiers piled onto to the top of the load, and John Connor took a comfortable place in the passenger's seat. Tyler jumped to the driver's and had to make himself shorter to fit the cramp space.
Moments later an eighteen-wheeler with a few flat tires and a small gathering of soldiers on the top of its load busted through a wall of cars. The T-1000 knew of eighteen-wheelers from the original who was sent back in time. It was like riding a back for Tyler.
And just as John had said, they began to plow through the army of Machines.
John was smiling ear to ear. He climbed out of the window onto the load with the others. He stood and allowed the wind to go through his hair and coat, and he laughed. This was so ridiculous. This was all so ridiculous. His crazy mom made love to a man from the future and had him, and he lived his life surviving with machines. And now after years of killing them there he was on the top of a truck being driven by a machine who was protecting some kid.
He took his gun and fired down below at any Machines trying to stop them.
Tyler swung the driver's door opened and stuck his foot out, to stab at a Machine jumping towards him. Another Machine made it to the hood of the truck, to which Tyler stabbed with his arm and the thing slipped off and was crushed by the tires.
And he drove and pushed the truck as fast as he could, and saw the base getting closer and closer. He was coming. He was coming for her. Meaning both the T-X, and Ellie.
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"You know, Tyler wanted me to name you." Ellie said. "I didn't want to, but I'm doing it for him… I name you Mary, after my mom." She paused. "You should know I hated my mom."
The T-X stood across the aircraft, peering out to watch her small band of T-800s clear the path for her and the child. She did not want the creature to be damaged and thus couldn't have any machines got too close.
And Ellie sat, clinging onto a pole that divided the rooms, staring.
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Next Chapter Coming Soon.
Tyler will soon come face to face with the T-X. Here's a little taste for you:
"You are so beautiful."
It's gonna surprise you who exactly says this to who.
Coming up with the dialogue of that scene has been one of the more enjoyable things I've done.
I'd say there's about two or three more chapters left.
This fight here, Tyler against all the T-800s has been in my head for years. If it were up to me, one of the new Terminator movies they're making would have something like this. That fight would be extended and would be released as a teaser trailer. Hopefully the T-1000 is featured in the new Terminator movies, yes, plural, a new trilogy called Terminator Salvation. I think there's a good chance that with three movies one of them has got to give us a little T-1000, good or bad.
I heard the first one is going to have these T-600s, Terminators with rubber skin. If I knew about them beforehand they'd be in this story, sorry about that.
Anyway, happy holidays everyone!