Late again… about one month late. I apologize to my readers, really. That's what I get when I get all stressed about exams.
48 hours later…
After two full days of research, Connor had decided to shut down the Owleye protocol, mostly because Skynet could possibly detect it. It was too dangerous. Even Allison had agreed to that. She had done it sadly, but not reluctantly. Because she knew perfectly Carter was not the whole Resistance, they could not risk being discovered just because of one man.
The young brunette was currently at the shooting field, firing her Desert Eagle at the targets. She did that often when sad thoughts crossed her mind, along with going to see Sam; those two things helped keeping her mind more or less clear.
And right now that was all she needed.
She pulled the trigger one last time and like always, the recoil of the huge gun made her step back a few inches. The empty case clinked on the ground, and she ejected the magazine with dexterity, inserted a fresh one before snapping the slide back and firing again.
The loud bang and the smell of powder overwhelmed her sense for a second. She liked that. Firing guns had become one of her favourite activities these last days.
Once again she emptied the magazine, but as she was about to reload, a male voice rang behind her: "Still here, huh ? You seem to enjoy doing that."
The girl turned around with the empty gun in one hand to find Derek Reese coming to the range, an HK 417 rifle in his hands, grinning.
Allison smiled back. "Well, yeah, it helps me not filling my head with depressing thoughts…"
Derek snickered and nodded, "This I understand. Sometimes weapons can be… well, more than weapons. If you see what I mean." he finished with a small hand gesture.
The girl laughed loudly. "I do."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountains, near the Death Valley…
The HK Transporter came closer and closer to the ground, the three small Hunter-Killers that were its escort hovering around, scanning every bit of terrain. When it finally touched down, the cargo bay opened. Three T-740s went out, holding a familiar-looking man by the arms and ankles. Eight others surrounded them, their modified M60s at the ready.
After a few steps, the chromed skeleton-like robots bent down and put the apparently unconscious man on the dusty ground. Then they backed away, and a fourth one came forward, holding a small square object in his left hand, and a scalpel in the other. It then bent over the man, and delicately turned his head, completely exposing his left side, and especially the temple.
Then, it prepared the scalpel.
1 hour later…
Two grey eyes opened, staring directly at the sky. It was becoming dark and the night was slowly falling over the mountains, so the light was no problem for the man. He did not squint or close his eyes. After a second he got up slowly, very slowly. His head swiveled as he calmly assessed his surroundings. But except rocks and dust, there was nothing to see. His expression was blank and strangely neutral. It betrayed no surprise or confusion.
The man stood there for a moment, apparently hesitating, stared at the sky for a few seconds, then began to walk in a seemingly random direction. His pace was determined and regular.
He was lost. Lost in the middle of an immense desert, with absolutely no landmark and no idea where he could be going.
He did not even seem fazed by this fact.
Actually he seemed to know for certain where he was going.
But, more important, what he was looking for.
As if some strange, inhuman instinct was guiding him.
Bakersfield Resistance Base, at the same time…
"Sir ?"
"What is it ?" The officer in the command post turned to the operator who just called.
"I got a signal from our scopes in the Death Valley area. Apparently a Transporter came here for about three minutes and took flight. Then nothing, except a single thermal signal heading west. A cyborg, it seems."
"You sure about that ?"
"Yes sir, absolutely sure. An Infiltrator probably. He's heading right to Ridgecrest."
The officer's eyes widened.
"What ! Crap, he's gonna discover our outpost there ! Send them a message, I want this cyborg captured and melted as soon as possible !"
"What's happening here ?"
The hoarse, drawl voice was unmistakable, and the officer turned around and saluted, now standing as straight as an antenna.
"Commander Connor, Sir ! Uh, there's a cyborg heading to Ridgecrest, it seems it was dropped near the Death Valley by a transporter. Our scopes confirmed it."
"A cyborg… ?" Connor put a hand on his chin, thinking. After a short moment he said in a low tone,"I see. Send an airborne patrol and bring it back here. Now."
The officer looked at the commander hesitantly. "But, sir..."
"Now."
When John Connor spoke that way, no one tried to disobey him.
After all, he knew more about machines than anyone else. And the officer was very well aware of that.
24 minutes later…
The two UH-1C Huey helicopters were flying as low as possible. They were still in Resistance territory but that did not mean Skynet could not detect them, and they took every possible precaution to avoid that. They were escorted by three AH-6 Little Bird light attack choppers loaded with GAU-19 .50BMG Gatling guns, Hydra 70 anti-materiel rockets, and Stinger air-to-air missiles, in case Aerial Hunter-Killers would attack.
Inside one of the Hueys, a certain fourteen-year-old brunette was checking the chamber of her FN FAL assault rifle. She had volunteered to be part of this mission. After all, that was another very good way to get some particular thoughts out of her head. She did not want to think about what the machines were doing with… him. Carter. Every time this question came to her mind she felt like she would never see him again.
This, actually, was probably true.
And she hated that.
Even the word "true" disgusted her now. She did not want to use it anymore for anything.
And she was ready to take any job she could, as long as it kept her thoughts away from this.
She finished her inspection. The weapon's chamber was clean and functioned properly, nothing to worry about. So she switched to the Desert Eagle.
"You seem to do that a lot", a loud voice boomed near her, she looked up to Derek Reeses, who was sitting near her. "You don't need to do it that often." he added.
Allison chuckled, which she was sure Reese did not hear thanks to the noise of the chopper's engine. "I know, but it helps me… concentrating. And it reassures me."
Derek's eyes widened. "Seriously ? A weapon is reassuring, this I know, but… doing that, heck it's so boring. I do it only when it's necessary."
"Well, we don't have the same habits it seems…" Derek laughed. "Yeah. Seems so."
All of a sudden, the copilot's voice rang: "We're approaching the target, ETA 1 minute. You better get ready."
"See ? I was doing it at the right moment." Allison said, grinning. Derek only rolled his eyes.
The wind blew dust all around the man as he kept walking and walking, apparently indifferent to the sand creeping under his coat. His pace was as regular as when he woke up, nothing showed he could be tired. As the night slowly fell, the temperatures dropped significantly, but he did not even seem to feel it.
In fact he did not feel it. He did not feel anything.
But he heard the noise coming. His head swiveled in its direction, and he quickly identified it as a helicopter's noise. Actually there seemed to be several helicopters coming.
Which was true. About twenty seconds later, two Huey Hog military helicopters armed with side-mounted M134 miniguns and door-mounted M60s came into view. They were followed by heavily-armed Boeing AH-6 choppers. He watched them circle around him with a blank face. Then, the Hueys came down until they almost touched the ground, dropping off thirteen soldiers armed with large-caliber assault rifles, light machine guns, and even one with a grenade launcher. They deployed around him, using rocks as cover.
He was completely surrounded.
However, he clearly saw the young girl, aiming at him with an assault rifle. He saw her eyes widen, and her expression turn from determined to shocked.
And instantly, something was triggered inside him.
SCAN TARGET…
TARGET IDENTIFIED AS "ALLISON YOUNG"
Action: ENGAGE INFILTRATION MODE
Allison crouched behind the rock, aiming her weapon right at the cyborg's head. From the corner of her eyes she saw the other guys encircle the target and grinned internally. Now it could not do anything without having its head blown off. Excellent. Now we can start with the serious business. And first… let's see what it looks like.
She squinted, concentrating on its face as the dust caused by the helicopters began to dissipate. Though she could not see clearly the cyborg's features, it already seemed strangely familiar. After a few seconds she could distinct more… blond, straight hair, a sharply defined nose…
A few seconds more and she saw everything. A gasp of surprise and shock escaped her lips as her eyes widened. She stood there, unmoving and speechless, unable to look away.
Carter ?
It was him, without a doubt. Same grey, inscrutable eyes, and this confused expression… she had already seen it, more than once, it was unmistakable.
It could not be anyone else.
But… wait. She frowned. He shouldn't be here… he was captured by Skynet, why would they…Then it hit her. There was only one reason for why he was here. And that was precisely what she had feared.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK ! She wiped a tear out of her eye and reached for her earpiece. "Reese, d'you copy ? Young here."
"I hear you. What is it ?"
"It's Lewis."
A silence followed before…
"What ? Are you sure ?"
"One hundred percent. I'd recognize this face anywhere. I assume Skynet reverted him, otherwise he shouldn't be here."
"… Oh, I see. And now, he's playing the part ?"
Allison reached for her belt and pulled the EMP rifle grenade she had brought before adjusting it on her weapon's barrel.
"Yeah."
SCAN WEAPON
Identification : FN FAL ASSAULT RIFLE
AMMUNITION : Mk. 54 Mod. 0 EMP GRENADE
WARNING
DIRECT IMPACT WILL SHUT SYSTEM DOWN
Action : GAIN TARGET'S TRUST
Allison secured the grenade and aimed at him again. She saw he was behaving differently now. He was backing slowly, very slowly, confusion written all over his face, his hands raised up. It was just like this moment, a long time ago, in the garage… after he turned bad for the first time.
He's trying to get me to trust him. I'm sorry, Carter. I can't. Not yet.
Then her finger tightened on the rifle's trigger.
BANG !
The grenade shot forward so fast he could not dodge it. The three claws in front of the projectile jabbed into his skin, then a high-intensity electromagnetic discharge burst out of the grenade. Instantly, Carter froze.
ALERT
SYSTEM OVERLOAD
CPU AREA 35-552 DISCONNECTED
CPU AREA 12-758 DISCONNECTED
CPU AREA 25-325 DISCONNECTED
SECONDARY CIRCUIT DISCONNECTED
...
Allison watched him as he twitched once, twice, then collapsed on the ground. His brain was simply knocked out for about one hour, but now an external power source would be needed to reactivate his cybernetic functions. That meant he could not move an inch, nor see anything.
The knot in her throat tightened. She felt guilty for treating him that way, but she had no choice. She could not afford any risk. And she knew it was just acting.
Skynet would not have let him out otherwise.
I'm sorry...
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