Disclaimer: I still own nothing but ideas. I don't have a soundtrack song for this chapter. I just couldn't find anything good to listen to.

Lauren retrieved her guns from outside the cell and called for Angelus.

Animula? Are you alright?

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where you at?".

Just keep talking, I will find you. Bastian and Kris have succeeded and will be joining us shortly.

"Terrific. I just wanna shut this thing down and go home".

I know, Animula. You will soon.

"Hey Angelus, you know those beast machines and Skynet, they're both after you".

I know. I have known for several days now.

"But if you knew-".

Why I did not tell you? Animula, I wanted nothing more than to tell you the truth, but then destiny would've played its hand too soon.

Realization hit Lauren. One of them wasn't going to make it out alive, and that one was Angelus.

"No! That thing had to be lying! We can make this work!".

Do not worry yourself over this, Animula. Worry over it when the time comes. For now, we need to focus on shutting down Skynet.

"Right. Where are you now?".

"We're right here" Lisa answered.

Lauren turned and saw them standing, waiting for her. She rushed to her two friends and embraced Angelus, knowing this would be one of the last times she'd be able to.

"Hey" Kris's voice broke the silence, "Where's our hugs?".

She let go of Angelus and did the same for Bastian and then Kris.

"You guys saved me back there. Thanks".

"Wasn't a problem, Conner" Kris replied.

"Where do we go from here?" Lauren asked.

"Angelus and I found a staircase that leads to the mainframe. We can destroy Skynet from there".

"Great…how big's the staircase?".

Oh yeah, it was high. Lauren gazed up at the seemingly endless staircase. Angelus seemed to be able to read her mind.

8,824 stairs, Animula.

"Thanks Angelus. Uh…next time, could you keep crap like that to yourself? I don't like heights and that didn't help".

So they started out then, knowing it would take a while to get up there. About two hours to be exact.

"What is it with machines and heights?" Lauren asked when they were half way there.

"Machines have no fear. They have no problem with heights" Angelus answered.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious" Kris said, sarcastically.

"Again with the sarcasm, Kris. If I had nerves, you'd be relatively close to be getting on them".

"Sorry, I'll just shut up now".

To make a long story short, Angelus wound up carrying Lauren the rest of the way there.

"We are here, Animula".

"Yeah, we are. What…in the world…is that?!" Lauren asked about a giant, mechanical spider like thing guarding the mainframe.

Angelus set Lauren down, and drew his M-79.

"I will take care of this".

The spider let out a loud hissing noise and went to strike Angelus. But it got in the abdomen at least nine times. That was all it took to kill it.

"Okay, this is way too easy" Kris said.

"I know. I'm getting vibes that there's something wrong".

"Who cares? Let's just destroy its mainframe and get on with our lives" Lauren took out one of her shotguns.

She aimed at the controls and fired with a sudden angry look. So much suffering had occurred because of this thing. But no more, and it was all thanks to Lauren Conner.

"Is it…Dead?" Kris asked.

Lauren nodded. "It's gone".

"Then it's over" Lisa assumed.

Angelus had remained deathly quiet until now.

"No…no it is not over yet".

A/N: Nope, it ain't over yet. Next chapter: A bittersweet ending for one of my greatest works.