Terminator: Resistance

Chapter Twenty Five: Signal Lost

"Wait, what do you mean we lost downtown?!" Rivers exclaimed in disbelief. "How did that even happen?!"

For a while after the recon mission, things were looking up for South Division, since an effective counter strike was implemented against two out of the three targets. Apparently the big cannon had been using long range attacks against the Resistance's North Division, under John Connor himself, but that stopped as soon as the explosives planted at the weapon's base were detonated, and it was a little hard for Skynet to do anything about that right away, not with the controlled demolition of their shiny new communications tower. That giant walker hadn't been seen lately, probably deployed to a different location before the counter attack, and the result of this was South Division retaking part of Pasadena's downtown area.

All was well for a couple weeks, and even better, Rivers had been able to mostly avoid the Commander in between his missions, since her actions always left him more confused than anything. But then one afternoon when the Private was returning from another recon mission, Baron summoned him into the command room to deliver some pretty shocking news. That news was that in spite of the soldiers and installed defenses, Skynet had overwhelmed the line and retaken what they had captured. Everything would have been lost if Alvin Scott, who had been doing an on-site inspection of some of the guns, hadn't been able to reactivate a few of them in time, but it was his report that was the most shocking.

"Alvin's report, along with a few other survivors, all have one thing in common." Baron explained, putting written copies on the desk for him to see. "They are chaotic, viewing the attack differently, but each one insists that a uniformed soldier brought orders from me to deactivate our defenses."

"From you?" The Private asked. "But that doesn't make any sense, why would you order the defenses down?"

The simplest answer was that she wouldn't, but the soldier was carrying a secured radio, and had a recorded message of her giving the order, including Baron's secret command codes. It was hard for Rivers to believe that any human would willingly assist the machines, but the Commander had no trouble at all. After all, she had seen such a man herself, living a great life and wanting for nothing while everyone else suffered… so long as he kept giving Skynet more information that it could use. She had heard that there were a number of those kind of collaborators at different camps, and she knew because she was once a prisoner there, herself.

"Never underestimate what a human is capable of; we can be worse than machines." She explained. "I had to suffer and starve there like everyone else, but then a T-600 separated me from the others, and they even gave me a shower and a change of clothes… before taking me to him."

The him in question was a Skynet collaborator who was living in secured quarters with a window that overlooked the main camp. It was still a cage, but a gilded one that was full of food and everything else he wanted, laughing as he helped a Skynet unit understand more about humanity, like emotions and other things they didn't understand. This time for the scumbag's reward, he wanted a pretty girl to play with, and he announced that he had chosen her because she was the prettiest one there… as if meeting his approval was something to be proud of.

"There's no other way to say it, I was his whore." Baron continued, anger flashing across his face for a moment. "He gave me just enough food to stay alive, and the machines punished me if I didn't please him… he said he liked seeing such a pretty girl hungry and weak… and then I killed him while the Resistance was liberating the camp… he didn't deserve freedom."

Shaking her head and getting back on topic, the Commander told Rivers that her selected runner had been implanted with a tracking device, a practice she always did just in case one of them went missing, and without their knowledge. And since Rivers was such an expert on solo operations, his next assignment was to track down the missing runner and find out whether or not he was a traitor. The assignment was simple enough, but there was another possible explanation for all this that the Private hesitated to even being up, especially since the Infiltrator was supposedly buried under tons of rubble.

"Well, then its even more important for us to find him." Baron replied. "Whether or not he's a traitor or its your stalker, we need answers to how the network was compromised. Tracker stopped moving in the local warehouse district, get the unit from the quartermaster, dismissed."

Returning to her work just as quickly as last time they talked, at least this time the Private didn't get beat up, and the warehouse district was a lot closer than Pasadena, so this mission should be a lot easer than the last one. Gearing up didn't take long, since he just had to pick up some ammo for the plasma rifle and the tracker unit, which was actually smaller than he imagined, fastening to his wrist like those posters for watches in the old stores, he turned it on, only to be informed by the quartermaster that it didn't work until he was on the surface, the concrete blocks the signal somehow… sure, whatever.

He had hoped to see Jennifer and Patrick before leaving, but it was only the little boy that was there, saying that his sister was out on a scavenging run. This was normal, since the Commander had quotas for all the civilians who stayed in the bunker, being it fixing things like Ryan now did, or scavenging for food and supplies. Patrick said he would say hi to his sister for him if she got back before he did, and then it was time to leave. There were still a couple hours of daylight left, and the light was good when searching for something specific, for example a missing runner, but the machines would have an easier time finding him, too.

At least this time Rivers didn't have to go blindly stumbling around in the hopes of finding something, because now he had the tracker unit, and just like the quartermaster said, the signal was coming in fine now that the Private was on the surface. So he moved out, leaving the bunker behind as he headed toward the old warehouse district, and feeling like it was only yesterday that he and Colin did a recon of this place just after escaping from the Annihilation Line in Pasadena. He had been trying to find the Resistance back then, and it was also the first time the Private got a close look at the Infiltrator.

"Rivers here, I've reached the warehouse district." He reported in after taking cover next to an old storm drain. "Tracker signal is coming in strong, so I should have something at next report."

"Making good time, Rivers, keep it up." Baron's voice replied. "I want you and our boy home for dinner, you get me?"

The Private knew enough not to say that he didn't get it around her, and then the transmission was ended. Why did it always have to be the Commander who was on the radio during these missions? Couldn't anyone else do it once in a while? Oh well, whatever, at least Rivers was far away from the bunker, so he could get a break from her physical presence… not that Baron was bad looking, not at all, but her attitude was shit sometimes and straight up confusing at other times. It was like the Commander hated his guts and had a crush on him at the same time, and that was weird, just… why couldn't she be more like Jennifer?

Oh well, he preferred Jennifer anyway, since the young woman from the hideout was so kind and compassionate, and friendly… not to mention one of the best looking women that Rivers had ever seen… but enough about that, he was getting closer to the signal. There had hardly been any machine activity there back when he and Colin were doing their recon, but now the place was completely dead as if Skynet was satisfied and moved on. No Spiders, no Walkers, no Drones… just the same empty buildings that Rivers had explored before, and the missing runner's signal was not coming from them.

And on the subject, what was a runner who delivered orders that were too classified to be spoken over the radio doing way out here in the warehouse district? There hadn't been any operations going on in that area since before the Annihilation Line came through Pasadena as far as he knew, but yet the signal kept leading him farther away from the old Resistance safehouses and toward a place that looked kind of like one of the garages that surrounded the hideout before they were all destroyed. According to the tracker unit, the runner was only a hundred or so meters ahead, so… inside the garage?

Well yeah, of course a human who was all the way out there would take shelter inside the building, what kind of an idiot would just be standing out there in the open waiting for someone or a machine to find them? There was still enough light coming in through the windows that Rivers didn't need his flashlight just yet, so he passed through the doors and into an office that was rusted from unuse, but… but now he was supposed to be standing right on top of the runner? No sign of the guy, so the Private started to head back, when he spotted a metal downward staircase. Oh okay, the runner hid in the basement to get some rest.

Still taking care to be quiet as he headed down into the darkness, now the Private needed his flashlight, clicking it on and then getting a whiff of something awful… like rotting meat, copper, and rust… just like the university hospital. Oh no, Rivers thought as he reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the tracker to its end, oh no, it's not possible. The signal ended at a body slumped on the floor as if it had been carelessly discarded… a body that was still wearing part of a Resistance uniform, and had all of its skin removed. This wasn't fresh, though, it was something that had happened a few days ago at least, but… did that mean the Infiltrator was still online? Had it gotten out of the rubble and… was that what the machines were doing with all that skin? Was the Infiltrator model wearing it like a disguise?

"Commander, Rivers here, I found the runner." He reported once well away from the smell. "He's been skinned and field stripped like the others, I think… I think the Infiltrator is still around."

"All right, we need to get you out of there, then." Baron's voice replied. "Meet me at the docks in two hours for extraction."

The communication ended, but something was wrong, why would she give away their position like that? Did Baron have a plan? Was this a trap? It wasn't like Rivers could use the radio to confirm, so he headed back up the stairs and out of the garage… it wasn't that far to the docks, but the Private needed to get moving if he was gonna get there within two hours.