Author's note: Another chapter that follows two stories in tandem, let me know if you guys like breaking up the story with these future scenes. I'm open to any and all feedback . Enjoy guys, one of the most fun chapters I've written in awhile.

December 8th 2026

Battle of Avilla Beach, Serrano Point.

It was early morning. The sun was just starting to rise in the distance, casting an unearthly orange glow over the shattered landscape. The dull, rhythmic, drone and shaking of the helicopter was almost hypnotic. Kyle looked around the cabin. He was seated next to two Special Forces soldiers, across from him sat John Connor, the terminator called Cameron, and another terminator... an older T-800 Model 101. Kyle leaned over and peered out the window. Below them, Kyle noticed the hundreds of soldiers, both metal and flesh being thrown against each other in the battle, swarming around like ants. Their group had been one of the last two helicopters to leave. The initial strike teams being deployed in advance of General Connor's team, with the idea that they would have most of the facility clear by the time the General arrived. Kyle tried to remember how things got this way, the old John Connor he knew would have insisted on going in with the first team but recently he seemed content to take more of a traditional command role. Kyle didn't fault him for that. He'd earned it. The BCT had advanced all the way up to Serrano, and although Skynet was on its heels he noted the resistance forces were much smaller than when they set out. They took lots of losses. Derek's company would be somewhere to the east, Kyle hoped his older brother was faring better.

The two metal birds glimmered in the morning light as they streaked across the sky, a handful of the very few pre-war helicopters that survived in operational condition.

Irreplaceable resources.

Explosions and artillery fire cause the UH-1 Iroquois to vibrate violently, Kyle was nervous, although a quick way into the plant, the helicopters were venerable to fire from the ground. He hoped the battle would keep most of the land forces distracted. Kyle idly wondered how such an old and primitive craft managed to stay in the air. He glanced at John, who was peering out the window. Although he was sweating, his faced remained stoic. Cameron was seated next to him, impassive as ever, Kyle noticed her hand caress John's thigh, lingering for a moment before she removed it. He glanced up at her, shocked, she regarded him with an unreadable face. He turned, focusing his attention back out the window.

"Three minutes!" The crew chief called back to them. There were very few humans still trained to pilot such a vehicle, as such, it was a scrubbed Trip-eight behind the control stick.

The explosions grew louder. Below them they could see the sparks and flashing of plasma fire on the ground and the smoke trails of stinger missiles climbing up into the air, attempting to knock the few remaining aerial HK's around the battle-space.

"One minute!"

The anti-aircraft fire was coming faster now; it painted the sky in streaks of purple and blue. The second chopper took a plasma blast right through the cockpit, it erupted into a ball of fire and plummeted to the earth, smashing into the battle below them.

"Thirty seconds!"

Cameron readied her rifle and crouched near the door, hand grasping the handle, ready to be the first one out. She turned back to John and gave him a small, almost imperceptible smile, which John returned. Kyle didn't miss it, he was very observant, this machine was different from the others. Now was not the time to linger on such thoughts though, Kyle forced it from his mind. John glanced at Kyle, mistaking his contemplative look as worry for the battle he nodded reassuringly. Kyle nodded back. The chopper came in hot and touched down on the roof, shaking violently, as it skipped once before setting down.

"GO! GO! GO!" The crew chief called out Cameron slid the side door open and jumped out into the roof, raising her rifle and advancing, John right behind her. The two SF's and the T-101 exited the opposite side of the helo. Kyle readied his rifle, taking one last deep breath and followed John out onto the roof, stumbling as he hit the pavement and broke into a run. He dropped to the prone several meters away from the chopper, their squad setting up a defensive perimeter. Kyle looked up to see the chopper pull up and get away from the hailstorm of plasma. He scanned left and right, noting the roof was clear he got up to a kneeling position.

On the ground a platoon of resistance soldiers made a mad dash for the power plant. The path was clear until a small building caved in and an HK Tank, called an Ogre, came rolling out of it. It cut down no less than ten soldiers with its first wave of plasma fire, the others scrambled to cover and attempted to return fire. They didn't have the firepower to take it out however, and their offensive quickly ground to a halt. John observed this from his position on the roof and glanced back over his shoulder.

"Bob, I want that Ogre down now." John ordered, as he pointed at the tank. The terminator reached back and retrieved a Javelin launcher from its resting place on his back. Looking over the roof, there was one Ogre tank on the ground about one hundred meters in front of them. It was decimating the resistance forces attempting to knock it out.

"Affirmative." The T-101 called 'Bob' answered. The Javelin missile shot out of its tube and burned towards the Ogre. It impacted the torso of the tank, all that was left after the smoke cleared was a smoldering set of tracks. The soldiers the tank had pinned down just moments before rushed towards the plant with renewed vigor.

"Good work, Bob. They can handle the rest." John rushed over and took a knee next to Kyle. The two SF's were already by the doorway leading to the stairs into the plant, ensuring no unwelcome guests came up to greet them.

"Doing okay, Reese?" Connor asked him. Kyle grunted and nodded, gripping his rifle tightly and drenched in sweat.

"Never better, Sir." Kyle couldn't understand how John Connor could always remain so calm and collected, if it wasn't for him personally seeing the man injured in the past he would have mistaken the General for a metal.

"Good." John smiled. "Cameron! How are we doing?" He called out to the female terminator, she glanced at him, her hand pressed to the radio headset on her ear. Keeping low to avoid being hit from the ground she ran over to join John and Kyle.

"Romero squad has secured the TDE. All other teams are progressing on schedule. John… it's time." Kyle couldn't help but notice the exchange between them, even here, in the heat of battle, General Connor's expression seemed to soften when he spoke to her. And the truly stunning thing was that she seemed to do the same for him.

John nodded. "Alright… time to do this." He held eye contact with her for a beat, his face suddenly appearing very sad. He turned to Kyle.

"Kyle… stay close to me."

Present Day – Unknown Location

Sarah slowly regained consciousness, her head was throbbing, and she felt like throwing up. She went to stand up and realized that she was bound. She was tied to some type of cage in the back of what seemed to be an old van. She looked around and didn't see anyone, it was dark but there seemed to be some light filtering in on the outside. The events at the house rushed back to her and her first thought was for the safety of her son.

"John!" She gasped with realization.

"Ah! It sounds like someone's finally awake." A man's voice from outside the van said. The back doors suddenly opened. A man in a grey flight suit and black balaclava stepped into the van.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked through grit teeth.

"Don't worry about who I am. I think you may know who I work for, however." The man answered. Pealing his mask off, it revealed a Balding, middle-aged man with a square jaw and hard features.

"Those machines, they are amazing pieces of technology aren't they? But they can make mistakes, overlook things." The man pulled a bag of sunflower seeds from his pocket and opened them, taking a mouthful. "An old habit I picked up while trying to quit smoking. " He said, explaining the seeds. He was quiet for a moment, chewing the seeds when he suddenly spoke again. "We know your son and his two friends hit the shipment. We lost a lot of valuable resources in that load." The man spit onto the floor. "I'm here to find out why." He chewed for a moment before continuing. "Where did you get them from, the machines?" He knelt down to eye level with Sarah, searching her eyes for any hint of deception.

"Machines? What do you mean machines?" Sarah tried to bluff.

"No, no. That's not going to work." The man laughed dryly and stepped aside, Sarah noticed for the first time a table outside the back of the van. Cameron's body was laying on it; lifeless, if you could call it that.

"That one put up a hell of a fight, that's for sure." The man gestured to Cameron's inert body. "I gotta admit, though, it is a looker. I bet you all enjoy the hell out of this one. "He smiled to himself. "She your son's little plaything… or yours?" he asked with a smirk.

Sarah raised her head up and spit in his face.

"I guess the other one is more your flavor then, huh?" He pulled back and hit her in the eye. "You got some fight in ya. I like that. You and me" The man smiled crookedly as he lifted up a needle, tapping the side to remove any air bubbles that may have gotten trapped in the clear liquid. "We're gonna have some fun." He finished as he injected the fluid into her arm.

"It's based on the venom of the black scorpion, androctonus crasicuda." He continued, looking at Sarah as her struggling slowed, her breathing becoming rapid. "Don't worry, it's not fatal. This version is a lot more… specialized. It's causes paralysis but leaves the sensory functions untouched." He smiled down at her. "Like I said, we're going to have fun." Sarah closed her eyes, keeping her mind on how she was going to escape. She couldn't give up, she needed to be strong. She held her eyes closed tightly, a single tear escaping and rolling down her face.

She needed to be strong for her son.

Dust swirled around behind the Jeep as Val sped down the desert road. The GPS location of Cameron's phone was out in the middle of nowhere. With no idea what to expect when they got there, the three came prepared for war. Dressed in muted tan and brown colors and wearing the body armor Val had provided. This was the most at home Derek had felt since he came back to the past. Funny that the war had always felt more natural to him that this place. Finally they were talking the fight to the enemy, even if it was a rescue operation, it was still an offensive. No more laying in hiding waiting for the bombs to fall.

"Things are going to get nasty and I mean bloody. Whatever you do you keep moving. Do not stop to think about it. Got it?" Derek looked a John expectantly.

"I understand." John answered coolly.

"Pull off here." Derek motioned to Val. "This is close enough. We're two miles out, from here we walk." The Jeep rolled to a stop around some boulders several hundred feet off the road. The three piled out of the Jeep. John grabbed his daypack and weapon, slinging the pack over his shoulder he chamber check his weapon before slinging it around him. Derek unpacked tan camo netting from the back of the jeep and spread it over the vehicle. It wouldn't stop a close inspection but from a distance you wouldn't see it if you weren't looking. Val hoisted the duffle bag and the M72-LAW which he strapped to his back.

The desert sun was beating down on them, hot, dry, and miserable. To John it felt like they had been walking for hours. He checked his watch, an old mechanical military style, only forty minutes. I'm coming mom... I'm coming Cameron.

"We're at the lay-up point." Derek informed them, checking the GPS one last time. He dropped his desert-tan pack and readied his rifle. "Should be just over that ridge." He gestured to the ridgeline about fifty yards away.

"It is." Val agreed as he pulled a Mk. 48 machine gun out of the duffle bag. He attached a belt of ammo, black tip 7.62mm NATO. Armor piercing rounds, just in case any metal showed up. He had three more boxes of ammo on his web-gear. "Once we advance, stay behind me. Use the rocks for cover as we bound." He instructed John.

"I got it." John readied his weapon, one of the captured 6.8SPC M4's. Derek pulled a small ghillie out of his pack, little more than a cover for his head, shoulders, and back, it would do the job. Donning it, he wrapped his gun in a tan camo wrap and began a hunched creep to the ridge. "John, you copy?" Derek said into the mic.

"Yeah, I hear you." John adjusted the earpiece on his radio. "We're heading down the side of the hill now. We should be in position in ten."

Derek crested the ridge on his stomach, peering down the hillside, the base of the hill flattened into a valley, he could see the access road leading through the side of the hill and the facility marked by the GPS coordinates. It was large and modern looking, with a solar panel farm to the side of it. Undoubtedly, it was Skynet controlled and crawling with Greys. For once he found himself missing Cameron, if anything her combat skills would come in handy right about now. He shifted and watched though the scope of his rifle as John and Val made their way down the rocky hillside and through the desert towards the factory.

1st Recon position – Eastern flank of Serrano Point. 2026

The technical sped along, bouncing violently over the rough terrain. First Recon had successfully covered the Brigade Combat Team in their advance to Serrano. They lost some vehicles but they did pretty well all things considered, Derek thought. They were now advancing, all vehicles in-line, as they closed the noose around Skynet's forces. Derek sat in the bed of the truck, along with two other soldiers and the gunner. He glanced up in the sky as two helicopters approached the nuclear complex. One took a hit through the cockpit and burst into flames, crashing into the landscape below.

"Kyle…" Derek whispered. He prayed to whatever gods that his brother and General Connor weren't on that chopper. The other choppers had deposited their strike teams earlier before attempting to provide air support for the ground teams. Most were lost. The gunner in the truck suddenly let out a long bust and an explosion to their left rocked the vehicle violently, bringing Derek back to the present. The truck slowed to a halt and as Derek looked to his left and right he noticed all the vehicles in the company doing the same.

"Dismount and advance!" The soldier in the passenger seat, the radio operator, yelled. Time to go to work, Derek thought, as he climbed over the side and hopped to the ground.

Derek stalked thought the hallway of Serrano Point. Two weeks. Two whole goddamn weeks and no one has seen or heard from Kyle. The resistance successfully secured the complex, it was hard won but the tide of the war had turned. Everyone at the new base could feel it, Skynet had its back against the wall and it was just a matter of time now. This didn't do much to make Derek feel better, his brother had went missing. Worse, General Connor was nowhere to be found. Sealing himself away in the bowels of the facility where his new office was shortly after securing the complex. Major General Perry had assumed command in Connor's stead, refusing to tell Derek what happened to Kyle. It was classified. Bullshit. Derek thought to himself as he rounded the corner to see Connor's pet terminator approaching in his direction. He made a beeline directly for her. Stopping in her path. She tilted her head at him questioningly.

"Where's my brother?" Derek stated angrily.

"That's classified." Cameron deadpanned.

"Connor promised me he would keep him safe. What happened?"

"I'm not allowed to say." She sounded almost apologetic.

"Take me to Connor."

"John doesn't want to be disturbed." Cameron made to brush past him.

"Bullshit!" Derek snapped. Pinning Cameron against the wall and drawing his pistol. He held the barrel up under her jaw. Cameron glanced from the gun to him with curiosity. Several soldiers who were in the hallway retreated from the awkward situation hastily.

"You can't kill me." Cameron stated the obvious. Derek sneered at her statement.

"I can try." Derek growled. He let out a breath, calming slightly. "Kyle was my little brother… John promised me he would be safe… I want to talk to John Connor." Cameron's head tilted to the side.

"Follow me." She stated before brushing past him. Derek holstered his pistol and followed her down the hall.

Present Day

Sarah slowly came to consciousness standing in a dark void. She frantically looked around but there was nothing, just a sea of black in all directions.

"Where am I?' She asked herself as she began to walk, looking down she could not distinguish the ground from anything else, nothing. It was simply black…an absence of everything. "Am I dead?" She thought aloud.

"You're not dead Sarah, not yet." An unmistakable voice said from behind her. She whipped around in shock.

"Kyle!" Sarah teared up, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had to be dead… or crazy. Maybe this time she actually lost it.

"Sarah." Kyle walked over to her and embraced her. He felt so real. "You can't give up yet, Sarah. Our son still needs you." Sarah buried her face in Kyle's shoulder, letting out a soft sobbing.

"He doesn't Kyle… he has Derek, the machine, and… Cameron. He's changed, Kyle. I can see it. He's not a little boy who needs his mother anymore."

"Sarah… he'll always need his mother. Remember, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves." Kyle kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you Sarah... You need to be strong for our son. Now, get up! Get on your feet, soldier!"

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Derek rushed down the side of the hill with his M4, leaving the empty 'Fifty, after expending all the ammo on a squad of greys and two terminators. John and the machine were in trouble. There were more metal and grays here than they anticipated. A third terminator advanced on Val's position.

Val pulled the LAW off his back and took aim at the machine, firing, the rocked screamed through the air and hit the terminator in the upper torso blowing the right arm off and cracking the armor around the fuel cell. The machine slumped over onto the desert floor. A fourth Terminator had John pinned down behind a bolder, letting out an incessant barrage of 5.56mm fire from its SAW. Val turned and fired on the machine with his Mk48. The burst of armor piercing ammo causing moderate damage to the terminator, it turned to fire at Val. Now prioritizing him as the most dangerous target. John took this opportunity to pop up over the bolder and let of a burst of 6.8mm armor piercing rounds. They dug into the terminator, which was now getting hit from both sides. It succumbed to the combined fire, one of Val's rounds tearing through the eye socket and into the CPU. Val rushed over to John.

"We must get inside immediately and secure your mother and Cameron." He turned to John, who nodded at the machine. John winced as he took in Val's damage. The T-850 was missing the skin from his right jaw and eye, the red orb exposed. John hadn't seen damage like this since Uncle Bob.

"Let's go." John gripped his rifle tighter and made for the building, Val following closely behind. "Derek, we're moving in." John radioed his uncle.

Derek was running towards the facility, trying to catch up with John and the damned machine. Suddenly a very distinctive buzzing sound caused him to look up into the sky. A black helicopter buzzed overhead and proceeded to land on the opposite side of the complex, kicking up the desert sand as it did. The doors slid open and more armed men poured out, undoubtedly more metal as well. Val and John had already made it in side, Derek just had to catch up with them and get them out before this new group got to them. "John, you guys have incoming on the other side of the facility." He radioed. The rescue mission was going south quick. If they didn't get out of here soon, Derek reasoned, there was no getting out for anyone. John took priority, he always did.

Derek let out a shaky breath, and broke into a sprint, resolved to do all that was necessary to ensure that his nephew made it out of here alive.

Sarah jerked awake; she could move again, no longer bound, the toxin must have worn off also. Her body ached and she felt unclean.

That fucking bastard.

She quickly calmed herself, she had to think straight. She had to get out. The only thing that mattered was escape.

John.

She looked around to find that she was no longer in the van; she had been moved to a dimly lit room or, to be more precise, a cell. It was spartan to say the least, the old tattered mattress that she found herself on stood in stark relief on the bare, stained, concrete floor and unfinished walls. There were no windows in the room; the only source of light was the single bulb in the center of the ceiling. A solid looking, if slightly rusted, metal door was the only way in or out. Sarah slowly stood up and walked to the door, idly trying to open it but, unsurprisingly, it didn't budge - locked form the outside.

She heard a thundering boom from outside the building. Followed by several more in rapid succession, then the unmistakable sound of a machine gun burst. Distant, it must have come from the outside of the building. An alarm started to whine loudly and she could hear the sporadic return fire. Someone was righteously pissed off, she had hoped John wasn't stupid enough to come here but he had always been a stubborn kid.

The lock on the door suddenly turned. Sarah ducked to the side. A man with a M4 rushed into the room. Sarah caught him in the gut with her knee. Doubling over, he dropped the rifle. Sarah rushed to grab the rifle as the man was still winded. Bringing it to her shoulder, she flipped off the safety and let off a burst into his torso. He dropped to the floor, blood splattering the wall behind him. Sarah made her way through the hallways with urgency, ignoring the pain of her healing leg. She encounter little resistance. John's attack on the outside was drawing most of the security to them. That offered both relief and worry. She had to find Cameron and get into the fight as soon as she could.

Sarah burst through a set of double doors and stopped as she entered a room that could only be described as an operation room. It was sterile, brightly lit, and had a table with a lifeless body in the center of it and a small tray of tools of to the side. Cameron. Sarah approached the table and inspected Cameron's scalp. It was still peeled back. Her port cover lay beside her and her chip was gone. Somewhere in the back of her mind Sarah noticed that Cameron was still clothed, she was thankful for that.

She snapped the rifle up at the door when she heard the interrogators' voice in the hall; he was talking to someone on a cell phone.

"She gave us a few problems but nothing I couldn't handle. Yeah, we got her and the mother." a pause. "They traced her cell phone to this location. It makes no difference to me… It's not a problem. I have the chip and the body, she's ready for pickup." another long pause. "Yeah, the other one is with him… Rodger, we'll hold them off and wait for your arrival." He hung up the phone and pushed the double doors open. He really hated working so closely with these things; they freaked him the hell out. This one was the worst yet.

As he entered the operating room Sarah lunged at him from the side, butt-stroking him with the rifle. There was a loud pop and he yelped out in pain. Several teeth chattering to the floor. Sarah began to strike him repeatedly, knocking him to the ground.

"WHERE IS IT!?" She demanded, shoving the rifle in his face.

"Wha- What? Where is what?" The bastard pleaded, face bloodied from her repeated strikes.

"The chip! HER chip! WHERE IS IT!?" Sarah thrust the rifle forward, illustrating her seriousness.

"Here." He reached into his chest pocket, pulling out a small container. "Take it!" he tossed it to her. Sarah caught it with one hand, keeping the rifle trained on the Gray, she thumbed open the container and confirmed that it did, indeed, have Cameron's CPU inside apparently unharmed. Pocketing the container, Sarah looked down at the Gray with unsympathetic eyes.

"You bastard." Leveling the muzzle with his forehead, she pulled the trigger.

Sarah turned the chip over in her hand slowly letting out a breath. She ran her thumb along the ridges of the chip, basking in the irony of it all. This small, brittle, piece of plastic and silicon was remarkably unimpressive on its own… but it changed everything. It brought with it complications. Sarah longed for the simpler days, when it was just John and her on the run together. Before Skynet had reared its ugly head again, before she showed up…

She walked over to Cameron's inert form. Looking at the cyborg, she was forced to admit that it was beautiful, if artificial. Cameron looked peaceful, almost as if she were sleeping. Like Snow White…I guess that makes me the wicked stepmother, Sarah mused.

She placed the CPU on the table, the M4 carbine still in her hand. She looked at the chip for a moment. The sound of an explosion and more gunfire outside brought her back to the present. She slung the rifle on her shoulder and picked up Cameron's CPU, Cameron's soul.

"You're not getting a kiss… but it's time to wake up."