Terminators: No Fate But What We Make
Chapter: 28
Los Angeles, California, August 10, 2027: Downtown Ruins
Amongst the dark, and desolate ruins of what was once a sprawling metropolis hub for people, six soldiers scoured the landscape, searching for something. Their orders were clear cut, given by John Connor himself. Locate the bubble remnants, and find who, or what came out of it. When that was done, then he would personally oversee further actions.
"Tech Com Alpha, we are approaching the site, over?"
"Roger that, Alpha, I have your coordinates locked in," a female voice responded.
"What possibly makes you think that there is anything down here?" One soldier asked.
"We searched everywhere up here," the other soldier mentioned. "If the General says that there is an old basement beneath us, then that is where we are going to look."
"Let's just get this done quickly," the soldier said with nervousness. "I don't like being here with metal lurking about."
"Me neither."
"Will you two stop being such whiny babies and help me with this?" A female soldier irritably asked. The two stopped what they were doing and went over to the woman soldier.
There was a giant piece of rubble blocking the old stairwell. With all their might, they were able to move the concrete block aside and make their way down the old rusted stairs. Once down, they found the room to be very dark. All were forced to turn on their flashlights as they began to scour the place.
"Alright, Blaire, you're with me," The one male soldier ordered. "Carter, Walker, you're going to search every possible room that you can see. The rest will stay back and make sure no patrols come through. Got it?"
Everyone did what they were told and all began their assigned duties.
The walls had cracks, and old wires made themselves seen. The underlying structure was overall completely intact. Definitely, something to compensate for considering that the skyscraper above was demolished in the nuclear blast.
So far, there was nothing. Old papers and files were found, but aside from that, there was just dirt and undergrowth of some vegetation.
"This place gives me the creeps," Blaire muttered to herself. "It feels like a goddamn tomb."
"Tomb or not, the General wants us to find whatever was here," the soldier simply reminded.
"Well he's not here, is he?" Blaire muttered. "Besides, Rodriguez, why is this so important? What is here?"
"The General said it's highly confidential," Rodriguez explained. "No one here knows."
"No one aside from his damn pretty machine."
"Let's not judge the General on mere opinions on who he confides with."
"Even if it's an endo?" Blaire inquired.
"Even if it's a damn machine," Rodriguez agreed.
"Well, I think that the metal is starting to corrupt him," Blaire then began.
"What makes you think that?" Rodriguez asked.
"How much metal have we seen in our bases since that thing came along?"
"At least a handful at any given time."
"See. You can tell that the machine is getting too comfortable. He treats the damn thing like his damn daughter."
"General Connor had a daughter once. Maybe he's just trying to adjust to the situation. We all have different ways of grieving."
"Well if you saw what I saw, then you'd think otherwise," Blaire hummed.
Rodriguez stopped and turned to face Balire. "What makes you say that?"
"He hugged the damn thing after he was attacked by an Ogre!" Blaire explained. "It was disgusting."
The two continued along the halls until they came across a room that had its walls knocked down. There, they were able to easily access and entrance. It was still too dark, however. The only light that they could see, was fire strewn across the place. They then noticed something particular.
Blaire was the first to step up and evaluate the scene. She knelt down and felt the ground over the ring of fire. It was a crater. But too smooth to be anything else. No comet impact or explosion could have done this.
"Sir, we might have found what the General wanted," Blaire called out. When her leading unit member didn't respond, she frantically looked around. "Sir?"
"Over here, Private!" Rodriguez called out. Blaire got up and walked across the room, where she found her unit leader to be kneeling down, over what looked like a T-888 endoskeleton. But this one was more strange, to say the least. One single hole was located right on its breastplate, going clean through the machine.
"What the hell?" Blaire inquired.
"Well whatever was here, it definitely knew where its power source was. Knocked the sonofabitch right out of functional use." Blaire showed her unit commander where the crater was, to which he looked at with astonishment. "I better radio this in."
After informing the General on the location of what came out of the crater, something piqued Blair's interest. She continued to look around the rest of the room. There she noticed a faint glimmer from her tactical flashlight that was equipped on her plasma rifle.
As she shone her light at every square inch of the room, she noticed something that brought shivers down her spine.
"Sir!"
Rodriguez immediately joined Blaire, where he saw what she was shining the light upon. His eyes too widened at what he was seeing.
"What could have done this?" She asked. "What the hell came out of that crater?"
"I don't know, Blaire... I don't know…" was all that Rodriguez had to say.
Right in front of them, there were over two dozen dead T-888s. All of which had the same inflicted damage. One puncture mark to their power source. All were deactivated with what appeared to be one ambush.
Los Angeles, California, December 16, 2007: Present Day
What were they supposed to do? With everything going on right now, everything was now stressful. They just couldn't stay here forever. They definitely couldn't leave Chloe here too.
Not Chloe, John…. It's just a machine that thinks she is Chloe.
He knew it was only a machine. His cousin died only a month ago. She was shot and killed right in front of him. It was a sick reminder of what he failed to stop.
But that was the other issue. There was that voice telling him that although Chloe is dead, she somehow survived through this T-950? That was an extremely ludicrous idea to even consider. Many factors had to come into play before he could even consider that.
Although a machine, could she feel? Could she experience emotion like how she did before her death? How much did she remember about her past? These were all questions that he had. Only she could answer them.
It was getting late outside. The sun would set soon.
John rushed out of his deep thoughts when he noticed the time. He looked over at Cameron and the machine. From what he could see, Cameron was just curiously staring at the young machine. He knew that she would never let her leave her sight. Especially when this machine could possibly do some real harm.
Luckily Sarah called about a few minutes ago. She told them that the situation was clear and that it was safe to come home.
"Hey, we need to get home. Mom just called."
Cameron acknowledged John's suggestion and continued her long gaze at the Terminator. "We need to go."
"Where?" Chloe asked.
"Cameron, can I speak to you for a moment?" John asked.
Cameron obeyed and followed John back across the room. "Yes?"
"What are we going to do with her?" John inquired. "We can't take her back to the house."
"We don't have a choice," Cameron stated. "Deactivating her would be tricky. She doesn't trust us enough as it is. Her mind is in shock."
"Shock?" John asked with confusion.
"Her mind is still adjusting to being in a different time. She has no reclamation of where she is or even what she is yet. It's best to keep it that way."
"We still have to take her with us," John pointed out. He knew what they had to do. "Don't we?"
"If we can get her to trust us, then yes. But Derek, your mother and Alex seeing her is inevitable."
"That's what I'm afraid of…" John mumbled.
Cameron reassuringly kissed John on the cheek. "Don't worry, John. We'll tell them together."
"Good," John smiled with happiness. "Then let's gain her trust."
The two walked back over to the machine. Luckily she stopped acting skittish, and only just glared at the two. She was still on the floor but showed no signs of moving anytime soon. They needed to convince her that they were trying to help her.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," John began. "I'm John…. Connor," he hesitantly added that last bit. If they were going to establish trust then that's what he had to do.
The machine seemed to perk up. She no longer displayed any fear, and only looked at John with amazement.
"This is Cameron. She's my…. Protector."
Aside from having Chloe's memories, John was surprised to find that she didn't see what Cameron was. The Chloe he knew would have flipped out over a new machine.
"What about you?" John then asked. "What can you tell us about yourself."
"You're John Connor?" The machine asked with timidness.
"Yes," John agreed with a full-hearted smile. "Do you know who I am?"
"Yes," came the machines reply.
"Then you know that you can trust me, right?" John then asked. The machine reluctantly nodded, which brought great relief to John. He stood up and reached his hand out for the machine to take. She took his hand and he helped her up onto her feet. She was definitely heavier than his cousin.
"We need to go," Cameron reminded. John took that as their cue to leave. The two guided the machine to the truck, and with that being said, drove off, back home.
A million questions came to mind. Specifically what Sarah and more importantly what Derek would say if they saw her. When they see her. It was only a matter of time.
Los Angeles, California, December 16, 2007: Downtown L.A.
With his own eyes, everything was hectic. Clean up teams were still at the ready, trying to uncover as many survivors as they could. Every branch of law enforcement and even the community was undertaking such a task.
It's crazy when there is enough chaos around, people just come together to help one another.
Something was amidst. The FBI administrator called about finding something of interest to a past case. He was curious as to what it was.
As a police cruiser pulled up to the site, Detective Matthews hopped out, still looking around at all the destruction. Everything was still disorderly.
Anarchy.
He walked up to the nearest tent set up. From what he understood, it was a temporary base for logistics in the area. When he entered, it was just that. A few agents were looking through photos taken at the scene, and filling them away for later use.
At a desk in the far right corner, there was FBI Agent Sinclair. The new administrator for L.A. County. Sinclair was about twenty years older than him, from what he could tell.
Mathews walked up to the desk where the man looked up from his stack of files.
"Sir, I'm Detective-"
"Mathews!" Sinclair finished with a chuckle. "Please, sit, sit!
Matthews did so and took a seat on a folding chair. "So, you called me down here?"
"I did," Sinclair acknowledged. "But not for reasons regarding the investigation your department is helping with."
"So, what did you want to speak about?" Matthews inquired.
"I've read your file. A small town rookie who moved to the big city to become a big Detective like you are now. Many drug, and homicide busts, all of which have been solved. That's very impressive for a man your age."
"Why does it sound like you're offering me a job?" Matthews inquired confusingly.
Sinclair scratched his head in confusion as he continued to look at the file. "Well, I wasn't… But now that I think about it, we could use someone like you in our division."
"Thank you, sir," Matthews acknowledged. "I'll take you up on your offer."
"Having someone like you has been a great help. We've managed to widen our search efforts now that we have a general idea on who may have done it."
"Who did it?" Matthews inquired.
Sinclair simply handed Matthews the file. As he looked at it, he saw a picture that displayed someone he just recently interviewed. The name "James Ellison" was written on the folder.
"What makes you think James Ellison is responsible for this?" Matthews inquired. "Wasn't he one of your best."
"He blamed the deaths of twelve of my men on a teenage girl. I never believed one word out of that man's mouth since I read his file on the failure to apprehend Sarah Connor back in 1997. Instead, he was laying on his ass while that terrorist blew herself up inside a bank."
"I'll look into him more then, sir."
"Good. After all of this, I'd highly consider someone like yourself to join the Bureau. I'll even give you a good word."
"Thank you, sir."
"Then we're done here, Detective. I trust you know the way out."
As Matthews exited the tent and went back to his car, he closely studied the file that Sinclair gave him. Ellison would need to be closely monitored. Who he is with, and what he is doing. If he was a suspect, and he was responsible for all those deaths. Then he would surely be brought to justice.
Connor Safehouse:
When home came into view, that butterfly feeling started to emerge again. What they were doing by sneaking in a machine that looks like Derek's daughter. There would be a lot of consequences for doing this. Mistrust, hate, and anger. There wouldn't be much to do to split everyone up.
"Are you okay, John?" Cameron asked from the front seat.
"Yeah…" John responded. "Just a little nervous. That's all."
"You've been nervous all day," Cameron pointed out. "I can help you relieve all that stress."
Well, that was certainly surprising to hear. What did she mean by that? She wasn't thinking about what he was thinking. Did she? No that's just crazy talk. Its highly unlikely that she would even consider doing that.
"What is this place?" the machine inquired from the backseat.
"Home," John simply answered. Chloe perked up as she looked at the house with curiosity. There was a sparkle in her eye it seemed.
When they pulled up, John shut off the truck. They both got out and still noticed that their new guests were here. If they weren't dead, then surely everything was alright now. Everything should be calm.
"So how are we doing this?" John asked. "Are we sneaking her through the window, or are we going through the front door?"
"I'll take Chloe through the backdoor," Cameron acknowledged. "For now I'll put her in your room until we can think of somewhere else."
"Why are we sneaking into our home?" Chloe asked. "I don't understand why?"
"Do you trust us?" John inquired. Chloe nodded in response. "Then you'll understand why we're doing this."
"Okay," she hesitantly agreed.
With that being said, Cameron took Chloe around the back, leaving John to waltz right through the front door as nothing happened. When he did so, he found everyone in the living room, going through what appeared to be documents.
"What's going on?" John asked, hinting towards the files.
"We're searching through Cyberdyne's lawyers," Sarah explained. "Weaver thinks that Adam White's lawyers know more than what we give them credit for."
"If there is anything that Mr. White wants in big bundles, then surely legal action will be taken," Weaver explained. "Research on AI development is very crucial for most tech firms nowadays."
"So what?" John inquired. "We're all good now?"
"As far as to work together, yes," Weaver agreed.
John then looked at Sarah. "Mom?"
"Everything here is fine, John," Sarah assured.
"Well, I'll leave you guys to it then," John simply said before disappearing upstairs.
While gone, Sarah glanced over at Markus and Alex who were studying old Cyberdyne papers. She couldn't help but see it as adorable. The only male contact Alex ever had with anyone was Derek or John. It was nice to see other's working together.
•••
Meanwhile upstairs, John cautiously entered his room, making sure to close and lock the door behind him. There he witnessed that Cameron was sitting on his bed, curiously watching the T-950 mess around with Legos found in his closet. Never has he seen a machine take such interest in pieces of plastic bricks.
"It's nice to know you got comfortable pretty quickly," John teased. Chloe glared at him in response and showed him what she was making. It looked like a gun of some sorts. "What is this?"
"It's a plasma rifle," Chloe answered. "Do you like it?"
If this is what plasma weapons look like, then no wonder I almost defeat Skynet.
"Uh, yeah," John nodded. "Definitely."
"Good," Chloe smiled. "I made it for you."
She stood up again, this time making her way to the closet, where she began throwing John's clothes to the side.
"Uhh, Chloe, maybe you should… stop."
His request was cut short when he noticed that she pulled out what appeared to be a black piece of cloth. It was almost as if out of all the clothes inside his closet, that one her interest more so. He knew what it was and immediately snatched it from her.
"Don't touch this," John hissed.
Chloe flinched in fright and backed away from the closet. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's not that… it's just…" He found it hard to explain to a machine that this jacket wasn't hers, yet it was. It was very confusing, to say the least. "This is off limits okay?"
"Okay…" Chloe agreed.
With another item in the room sparking great interest, she ventured to the adjoined bathroom where she just stared into the mirror. Cameron and John just watched as she messed with the strands of her hair and was even touching her own face.
"I never even seen myself before," she muttered to herself.
In its own twisted, creepy way, this was actually quite adorable. She acted like a curious child, seeing what there was to offer in this alien time. It was almost the same as Chloe…. Yet it wasn't.
While the machine continued to play in the mirror, John turned over to looked at Cameron. "I guess she likes it here."
"Yes. But there is still the issue with Derek Reese and Sarah Connor finding out," she said with a whisper.
"I know…" John agreed. There was that. "There has to be some way to break it to them slowly, right?"
"I don't know yet…" Cameron answered. "I can't anticipate what their reactions will be until they see her."
"I'll just tell her to stay in my room, then," John clarified. "Occasionally your room when Alex isn't around."
"Yes. That is wise."
Everyone's attention was immediately put elsewhere when the sounds of a doorbell came from downstairs. Someone else was here. Cameron went over to John's window and peered out of it, only seeing a white vehicle that wasn't there when they arrived.
"John! Emily is here!" Came his mother from downstairs.
"Well, shit…" John huffed. Cameron only stared at him as he thought of what to do. "I'll handle this. Keep an eye on Chloe until I get back."
"I can kill her," Cameron purposed.
"No, no one is getting killed," John said in a stern manner. "I'll get her to go away. Just watch Chloe."
With John leaving his room in favor to talk to that Bitch Whore, Emily, Cameron locked the door once again and watched as Chloe was now playing with her new purple hair dryer.
"Don't touch that," she ordered. She took the object from the machines grasp and put it away. "If come to contact with water, this can hurt you."
Even for what appeared to be an eighteen-year-old girl, this machine still displayed naivety. She shouldn't be this curious about random objects. Not even she was interested in every single thing that she came into contact with.
"I need to talk to John. Can I leave you up here, alone, for two minutes?" Cameron asked.
"Yes," Chloe answered. "Where are you going?"
"Downstairs," Cameron responded. "I will be back in three minutes, forty-five seconds."
"Okay," Chloe acknowledged. Cameron watched as she just sat back down on the floor and began playing with the Legos again.
With that, she left Chloe to her little fun and went downstairs to see what was going on with John and Emily.
•••
Never did she know that she could hold so much anger for someone. That's not what she was designed to be. All emotion was ripped from her when she was in the tube. But why does she feel this anger? She had a very specific mission. But why can't Keran see that it failed? There was always another plan, another mission.
But alas she was here, on the Connor doorstep, with the intention to apologize to John so that she could talk to him. It was pointless, he already made his decision at the dance last night. John Connor would rather screw a terminator over a real girl. She was more real in that sense, but yet he chose her.
It didn't make any goddamn sense. Now was the time to change his mind for the better. She needed to further distract him from her and his mission.
Driving into the driveway was easy enough. There was no perimeter fence, no cameras. It was just a normal suburban house. One that allowed easy access to any enemy.
She got out of the car and began walking to the front door. There, she realized a lot of commotion going on inside. There was even another car parked outside. Not John's mother's Suburban, or his uncle's Dodge Ram. A simple tan sedan was present.
That is odd…
With more suspicion, she continued to march up to the front door. There the commotion was way louder. There was something going on.
Emily knocked on the front door and waited for someone to answer. But there wasn't anyone who heard it, so she decided to knock a little harder.
Finally, the door opened. She immediately recognized who answered. It was Sarah Connor, John's mother.
"Hello, Emily?" Sarah inquired.
"Hello, Ms. Baum," she greeted with a full smile. "Is John home?" She then asked curiously.
"He is," Sarah acknowledged.
Emily noticed how closed the door still was, only allowing her to see Sarah's face. Nothing more could be seen from beyond that.
"May I speak to him?" Emily then asked.
"Sure, just give me a moment," Sarah told the young blonde. Emily casually waited while Sarah closed the door. Something strange was amidst and she wondered what it was.
The door finally opened, and Sarah showed Emily inside. Everything was normal from what she could tell. The house mostly remained the same as she last saw it. Everything was the exact same.
She sighed in relief when she saw John descending down from upstairs. This was odd, he usually smiled when she was around. Why is it that he didn't smile now?
"John!" Emily exclaimed with delight and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I'll give you two some space," Sarah acknowledged and left the room.
"Emily, I need to talk to you about something."
I do, as well," she agreed.
John took Emily out to the backyard where they stopped right behind the shed. There, he was prepared on what he needed to say, but Emily beat him right to it.
"Look, John, I'm sorry about what happened last night. I was angry then, but not anymore."
"Emily…"
"I even got tickets to Disneyland for the both of us!" she continued.
"Emily!" John rose his voice. The petite blonde stopped running her mouth in favor of letting an aggravated John Connor speak. "Look, whatever happened last night, is done. We're done."
Her reaction was one he didn't expect. Instead of sadness, she appeared to be angry. "What? You're breaking up with me!?"
"We're not good for each other, Emily," John continued. "I just don't feel the same way about you."
"You can't just break up with me because of a stupid little fight!" Emily spat in anger.
"Well I am," John stated. "I'm sorry, Emily. But it's over."
As John turned to walk behind the house, he was caught off guard when Emily grabbed his arm, and with what appeared to be brute strength, he was whirled around where his lips came crashing into hers.
In complete shock, John didn't know what to do. Everything was too sudden. He backed away from the kiss as soon as he could and looked at Emily with disbelief. "Emily, what the hell!?"
"I love you, John. I know you love me too!" Emily exclaimed while closing in for another kiss. This time, John pushed her away from him.
"I think it's best if you leave."
Only able to look at John with disgust, Emily stomped away, where she got back in her car and drove off. He was sure that they would find an overturned mailbox with their name on it later.
John went back inside, finding everything the same. Everyone, who Emily didn't know, must've been hiding until she left. Now they were all back in the living room, continuing their search for Skynet.
Deciding to go back upstairs so that he could tell Cameron the good news, that's where he set off to. When he reached his room, he knocked on the door three times. There was no code in place, but surely, she would know it was him, right?
That was strange. There was no answer. "Cameron? It's me, can you open up?"
When there was no answer yet again, he decided to reach for the doorknob. When he twisted it, he found it to be unlocked. When she agreed to always lock it, she didn't. Why?
John entered the room, to find Chloe still sitting on the floor, and Cameron nowhere to be found.
"Where's Cameron?" John asked.
"She went downstairs looking for you," Chloe explained. "You didn't find her?"
"No, she's not downstairs," John stated. "She was supposed to watch you while I talked to…"
Then it hit him.
"Sonofabitch!" John berated himself.
Chloe could only observe as John stomped his way through the adjoined bathroom, and up to Cameron's door. As he expected, it was locked.
"Cameron, please open up!" John called out from the other side. He tried knocking in a semi-loud manner to get his point across. He wondered how much she saw. Did she see Emily kiss him? Did she see the fight that ensued after?
He was just as angry with Emily as she was, maybe even more. She was out of line in kissing him like that when he wanted to call things off with her.
"Cameron! Please talk to me!" John asked, getting more and more aggravated by being ignored. He didn't notice how hard he was knocking on her door.
Suddenly, he heard the door click. She must've unlocked it for him. Before entering the room, he told Chloe to stay put, which she agreed to. With that, he ventured off into Cameron's and Alex's shared room.
It was dark when he entered. Cameron turned off the lights, making it hard for him to see inside. It took him a solid few seconds to adjust. When he was able to see more clearly, he found Cameron sitting on the bed, her facing the window. Luckily the moonlight partially lit up the room, otherwise, he'd be stumbling around like a fool.
"Cameron?" He went up to her, seeing that she was avoiding eye contact with him. "Cameron?" He repeated.
She reluctantly turned, allowing him a somewhat clear view of her face. Through the moonlight, he could see that tears trailed down her face, and her eyes were red and puffy.
He felt like a complete and utter dick. To the one person he loves, what Emily did, could have drastic consequences. What could he do? What could he say?
"I thought you loved me, John," was all that she could quiver.
"Cam, what you saw was not what you think," John began to explain. "I do love you. I was trying to officially end things with Emily, but she got too hands-on with me. What you saw meant nothing to me. I only care about you in that way."
John placed his hand on her lap and began to rub her leg up in down in a reassuring manner. She did state that she did feel sensation one time. Hopefully, she would understand his careness for her through this simple display of affection.
This time she was able to look at him face to face. Her eyes were still red, but she managed to stop the tears.
"Do you still love me?" She asked innocently.
He responded by putting his arm around her and pulling her close. "I do still love you, Cam. I always have, and I always will."
Feeling the contact, she relished in being in his arms and buried her head under his neck.
After countless minutes of just sitting there, enjoying each other's company, John broke away and rose from the bed. "We better go make sure that Chloe isn't getting into any more mischief." To be courteous, he even gave her his hand and offered to help her up.
Despite not needing help standing, she gratefully accepted the offer and took his hand into her own. Together, they both then ventured out of her room and back to his, hand in hand.
Los Angeles, California, December 16, 2007: Location Unknown
John Connor was an idiot. He was smart but he was an idiot. Those were the words that rang through her head as she pulled close to home. He chose a machine over her. The future leader of the Resistance was in love with a damn machine and it was disgusting. She saw how the machine always looked at him, even when he wasn't paying much attention to it. She saw how he looked at it. That's why she kissed him after all, to try and get the attention of the machine and get it away from John.
What was she going to tell Keran? That her mission has failed? That she can no longer go back to the Connor safehouse and work things out with John?
Of course not. Being terminated for failing her mission was not something that she wanted. It took Keran to make her finally realize that.
As she pulled up to the large house, she stopped the car and went inside. Keran was on the couch, looking into a laptop.
"John broke up with me," she suddenly spoke.
Keran stopped what she was doing and looked at Emily. She stood up and walked over to the girl where she stood just inches away. When she least expected it, Keran backhanded Emily in the face, to which she flinched in pain.
"What did you say to him!?" Keran exclaimed.
"I tried to apologize for what I did at the dance. He didn't accept it and broke up with me. I tried to tell him that I loved him, but he didn't listen. I even kissed him."
Keran slapped Emily one more time, this time, causing a large scratch across her face. "You are going to go back to John with that mark on your face. You are going to tell him that your rich parents got mad at you and beat you, so you ran away. You're going to give him a sob story on what happened so that he will feel pity for you. Then you are going to break him away from that damn machine. Do I make myself clear?"
Emily rubbed her new wound and nodded.
"Good. I don't want to see your pathetic little ass again until your mission is finished."
Emily glared at Keran before running out the front door. When she heard Emily drive off, she sat back down on the couch.
In anger, she swiped everything off the coffee table, and let out an irritated groan.
Los Angeles, California, August 10, 2027: Downtown Ruins
After what Tech Com Alpha found in the basement, he was called to investigate. It was better to act quickly though. Skynet had heavy patrol routes scouring the entire city. It was almost as if something had them on alert as well. Maybe they were trying to investigate the temporal displacement like they were?
Being under the strict protection of his new bodyguard, Cameron made it less terrifying to be in such a dangerous place. But be would never tell anyone that. Not even her. He needed to keep a gruff, General attitude if these men of his were going to respect him.
When John entered the room, the Resistance fighters had already set up lights around the room. That allowed better visual on what they were looking at. He, along with Cameron greeted with all the dead endoskeletons lying about, scattered throughout the room.
Curiosity peaked both of them. What happened here? What could have done this? He checked the damage situation on a majority of all T-888s in the room. They all had the same mark. It was too clean to be a plasma burn or a bullet hole. This was something else entirely.
"What are we looking at, Lieutenant?" John asked the leading search member.
The soldier saluted before continuing on with answering John's question. "Sir, we think that this was an ambush. For what exactly, we don't know."
"It appears that Skynet forces were here first," Cameron acknowledged.
John agreed to Cameron's statement and focused back on the Lieutenant. "What else have we found?"
The soldier showed John across the room where they came face to face with what must have come through. What was once a time bubble, is now a smooth, cold crater in the far corner. John curiously studied the surface, taking it all in. Cameron noticed that he was getting lost in thought.
"What do you think, sir?" Lieutenant Rodriguez inquired.
John stood up, brushing off his hands on the side of his combat pants. "It's a time bubble. Whatever came through is long gone, probably."
"There is no use in looking for whoever came out of there then," Cameron opinionatedly stated. "It's dangerous to be here any longer."
John curiously noticed something, as he continued to look at all the bodies that still laid scattered around the room. Each endo in the front was destroyed when facing the crater. But the ones in the back were facing the old stairwell that led to the surface. John ordered his team to take the lead in rechecking the surface area. They all did so and climbed the stairs until everyone was out.
In the post-apocalyptic world, they could only see the lights and Hunter Killers out in the distance. But beyond that, in the pile of rubble, they found another endo lying there.
Cautiously, they all approached the machine. Cameron made sure that it wasn't a ploy. Once she knew it was dead, she allowed John to approach it. She noticed how baffled he was. How he knelt down and felt what was left of its face. The blonde hair, mixed with the metallic skull. He pulled out a pocket knife from his coat pocket and went over to the seal port, popping it off, and seeing what was inside.
There was no chip. From what he could tell, at least.
Cameron witnessed the hope in his eyes fade. His almost innocent demeanor turned back into that of the cold General that she knew.
"What is it?" Cameron inquired.
"Nothing," John simply answered. He stood back up and put the knife away. His gaze still faltered, however. She assumed that he was searching for someone. Before long, John turned back to his men, with that cold expression written on his face once more. "There's nothing here. Everyone, let's get back to base."
Everyone followed command and started their trek back to the Jeeps. Even Cameron followed in line, but continued her mission in protecting John, by staying close to him. Something seemed off about his behavior. It was almost as if he recognized the machine that lay dead before him.
When everyone was back at the Jeeps, John called Perry to inform him about what was happening. Once that was done, he crawled in the back seat, while Cameron took her place at his side like usual. Skynet surely will be here soon, so he saw it best if they leave as soon as they can.
As the convoy of Tech-Com soldiers began to get away from the site, Cameron looked around curiously as the wind started to gust past her face. Then something caught her eye. Something that she never thought she'd ever notice.
"Stop the Jeep!" Cameron ordered. The soldier didn't like being told what to do by a machine, but did so anyway, and brought the vehicle to a complete halt. With everybody else doing the same, they all watched as Cameron got out and made her way to some pile of rubble. John and a few other personal decided to follow suit. What he found was astonishing.
A form of moving, silver mass, was on the ground, trying to take a human female form. He could tell what it was almost immediately. A machine made of liquid metal. What was even crazier, was that this machine was weakened. It looked like it was reaching out to him.
"What in heaven's name is that!?" Blaire shouted in complete fear.
John only knelt down, taking his right hand to run through the machine that lay before him. The metal was cold to the touch. The machine was reaching for his hand. But why? Why didn't it try to kill him as the rest of Skynet's minions do?
Unless…
He looked around the surrounding area. It was a battlefield like how it was down in the basement. Dead endos were lying about, while plasma burns covered the surrounding piles of rubble.
"Get whatever we can scavenge and get this back to base!" John ordered in a strict tone.
With his soldiers gathering everything they could find in a metal chest, John noticed something that was encased around the metal.
A Terminator CPU?
Los Angeles, California, December 17, 2007: Connor Safehouse
With all the chaos that was beginning to enter his life, it was tiring. Every day there was something new, Another problem to overcome. But now, that everything was settling down, he was able to sleep in for once. It was refreshing to finally reach those levels of calm and serenity.
When John awoke, he sat up and stretched. Last night wasn't too bad after what transpired with Emily. He, Cameron and Chloe spent a majority of the night playing a board game that Chloe found in his closet. Cameron didn't seem to take losing too well. Especially when it was to the young machine in the same room.
After that, he called it a night. He knew that Chloe didn't sleep, and neither did Cameron. She insisted on staying in the same room, watching over him and more specifically, the machine. Her lying in bed with him until he finally fell asleep was the best feeling he's ever had. Holding a loved one while you dream.
But this morning, Cameron wasn't here. That blank area on his bed made him look around the room in confusion.
Chloe looked up at John who was looking around the room, so she smiled and waved at the future leader. "Good morning, John."
"Morning," John grumbled tiredly. "How'd you sleep?"
"I wasn't tired…" she stated.
Well, that was a good way to start off the morning, John thought sarcastically. Did Chloe even know that she was a machine? Did she know that she no longer had the same needs as when she was human? Did she know that she was really dead and only a copy? It was best to ease into these questions and not get too ahead of himself. When the time was right she'd find out the truth.
"Where is Cameron?" John inquired.
"She said she needed to check the house perimeter?" Chloe answered unsurely. "She was very vague."
"She always is," John chuckled.
John got out of bed, where he decided to get dressed for the day. He wondered what was planned. What his mother had in mind now that she had a solid lead on the creator of Skynet. Who knows, it could be very interesting.
Deciding that it was best to get dressed in the bathroom, John quickly took a shower and changed clothes. When he was done, he felt like new. When he left the bathroom and went back to his room, where he was greeted with his machine cousin patiently waiting for him.
"Are you alright?" John inquired.
"When can I leave?" Chloe asked.
John was taken aback by this sudden question. "What do you mean?"
"I want to meet everyone downstairs. I want to be able to go outside," she explained. "When can I do that?"
"Not until I and Cameron can figure out a way to introduce you to everyone else downstairs without them going crazy about you."
"Then let's go meet them," Chloe suggested and started making her way to John's door.
In complete distress, John immediately ran ahead of Chloe and blocked the door himself. "Not yet!" He sneered.
"Please don't keep me in here," Chloe pleaded.
"I thought you liked it in here?" John scratched his head.
"I did when I first arrived. But I've already seen all that there is to be seen in here. Don't keep me in here any longer."
This was a problem. What was he going to do? He just couldn't let Chloe freely walk around the house. Everyone, more specifically Derek, would freak out. They didn't know what happened a week ago. They still thought that this machine was hunting them. They would probably try to blow her to pieces and he wouldn't be able to do anything.
Suddenly he felt his door open behind him and turned around to see Cameron walk in, already dressed in different clothes as compared to yesterday's attire. She looked on in confusion as to why John and Chloe were standing so close to the door.
"What is going on?" She asked with a head tilt.
"I need to talk to you," John immediately replied. He looked at Chloe with sternness and told her to "stay here," while he and Cameron went into her room. When they were alone, John spoke. "Chloe wants to leave my room."
"We can't do that until we can think of a way to tell Sarah and Derek," Cameron reminded.
"Yeah, I know that. I tried telling her. But she's bored. We need to think of something."
"Maybe we should tell them?" Cameron purposed.
"I don't know…" John sighed. "This will be too much to take in. What will they think?"
"There are many possibilities to how they can react. It's hard to be certain."
While Cameron and John continued their short discussion, they failed to hear the footsteps that lingered outside in the hallway. Only when they heard John's door open, did they realize that someone just entered the room.
•••
Sarah can never do anything herself, can she? Alex thought to herself.
Breakfast was being made downstairs, and she hated always being the one that had to wake John's happy ass up every morning. Waking a moody teenager was not what she signed up for when coming to the past.
"John, your mother said breakfast was ready!" Alex shouted from the other side. There was no reply, however. She put her ear up to the door where she heard footsteps. That's strange…
Deciding to see what was going on, she opened the door to see what all the commotion was about.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Chills went down her metal spine, as her eyes widened in disbelief at who was in John's room. What was standing in the middle of his room.
Without another thought given, Alex grabbed her gun from the back of her jeans and pointed it at the machine. However, she didn't react like how she thought it would. It didn't attack her, it didn't try to avoid the gun. She just timidly backed away.
The next thing Alex knew, Cameron and John came rushing back into the room.
"Cameron, get John out of here!" Alex ordered with haste.
"Alex put the gun down!" John requested. "She's with us!"
She couldn't help but look at John with disbelief. What the hell was going on here? Why is this machine here? Many questions ran through her mind, and she could seem to grasp on a plausible answer that made any sense.
"You have one minute to tell me what the fuck is going on before I get your mother," Alex hissed with venom.
John and Cameron glanced at each other for a short moment, giving a nod of approval. "I reprogrammed her."
"You got thirty seconds," Alex said impatiently.
"After she attacked me, we both decided that she could be a useful tool to help us. She's okay. She could have attacked me at any point last night, but she didn't."
"She also thinks she is Chloe," Cameron added that last part. John couldn't help but smack his forehead in disbelief.
"So let me get this straight," Alex took a step back. "You not only reprogram a Terminator that has been for the better part of three months, trying to kill you. But it thinks it is Chloe Reese?"
John and Cameron nodded in acknowledgment.
"You two are officially the dumbest people I have ever met!" Alex exclaimed. "When you were programming this thing," she pointed at the cyborg. "Did you even take a minute to consider how Derek might feel? Have you gotten that far to think about not only bringing that piece of scrap back here but how he might react?"
"We were trying to think of a way to break it to him," John explained.
"I'm getting your mother…" Alex sneered.
"Alex, wait!" John halted. She reluctantly turned back to face the three with an irritated expression on her face. "We'll tell her. Just let me be the one to do it."
"Fine," Alex mused. She waved at the door, motioning for them to leave. Taking one last glance at Cameron and Chloe, he led the parade out of his room.
When descending downstairs, he took a deep breath. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen. His mother was making her famous pancakes, while the two new Resistance fighters were eating. Derek just entered the house from being in the garage, and Catherine Weaver was in the living room.
"Good morning, John," his mother greeted. "I made you pancakes."
"Good morning, General," Jesse and Markus also greeted.
"John," Derek simply acknowledged.
All eyes were on him. There was no backing out now.
"Mom… Derek…" John hesitantly began. This was hard. What were they gonna think? His uncle will be disappointed in him for what he is about to show him. It was like a sick joke. He will never forgive him for this.
"What is it, John?" His mother asked with concern.
It was time to just come out with it. No holding back much longer. There was no use, the truth would inevitably spill.
"Chloe!" he called from the living room.
Derek only looked at Sarah who in return looked back with confusion before gazing back on her son. "John what are you-"
Her response was put to an immediate halt as he saw who came walking into the dining room. That petite, stature, along with that flowing, slightly frizzy blonde hair.
Derek's eyes just went wide, his mouth literally dropping to the floor. Her features turned soft when she had targeted him across the room. A part of him almost reached for the gun behind his waistband. But he stopped and thought for a second. He slowly walked up to her, and looked into her eyes, her returning the gaze.
Before he knew it, he grabbed a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear.
"Chloe?"
She responded by suddenly wrapping her arms around his waist, and pulling herself close to him. He just watched as she buried her face into his chest with disbelief.
As everyone smiled with warmth in their hearts, John looked across from him, only seeing the look of disappointment written on his mother's face.
•••
Author's Note: This was shorter than most chapters recently, but I was able to get this one done much quickly so here you go!
Next chapter we'll see everything begin to unfold. What Emily is going to do about trying to break apart John and Cameron, how the Connors is going to deal with an old face in their household, along with the consequences it will hold in store. Then finally what Cyberdyne has planned.
Reviews and constructive criticism are gladly appreciated!
