Terminator: Resistance

Chapter Thirty: Data Hack

One would think that after avoiding a whole city full of HK's and Terminators for a few hours, sneaking up on a single disabled Tank would be easy. However, this was not the case, and somehow… somehow the HK's slow, swiveled movements made it even harder for Rivers to move to cover. Having been stopped in its tracks, probably by rockets or something, everything directly in front of the Tank, like buildings and wrecked cars, were all mostly intact, while there was nothing but a trail of flattened rubble behind it. This left a clear path to the back of the machine, but the Sergeant needed to go in front of it.

Staying where he was and watching its movements for a while, Rivers figured that the best way to do this was to swing wide and travel through the buildings that were still standing. After all, it would be easier to run between buildings and across alleyways instead of staying out in the open, so the Sergeant backed off. Retreating in the direction that he came, he put a good amount of distance between himself and the HK, before moving up to the empty window of a store… only to quickly drop down after seeing the red glow of a T-800's eyes.

Shit, they were in these buildings, too, Rivers thought while sitting against the wall underneath the window. This made sense, given that all the other non-flattened buildings had Terminators patrolling their interiors, and it wasn't like the Tank was going to start moving again anytime soon. The machine must have sensed some movement, because now the Sergeant could see the barrel of the T-800's plasma rifle sticking out of the window while he held his breath only a couple feet below… waiting… waiting for the machine to either walk away or sound the alarm.

Felt like he was sitting there forever while the Terminator just stood there in the window, probably just scanning its area of visibility for movement. Thing was, this could go on for a long time since Skynet didn't get bored or tired, and Rivers didn't dare trying to crawl away, since at this range the noise would give him away for sure. Finally the machine's weapon was slowly drawn back inside, allowing the Sergeant to let out a sigh of relief once the rhythmic thud-thud-thud of its mechanical footsteps faded away, and now… and now he was going to have to do something really, really stupid.

Staying low and moving back to his original position, Rivers waited until the searchlights were moving away, before coming out and sneaking up right behind the giant machine. All right, if he couldn't use those intact buildings for cover, than maybe the Sergeant could crawl right underneath the HK, getting the codes and crawling back again before it was even alerted to his presence. Okay, so far so good, he thought, using the Tank's own armor for cover the next time the searchlights passed by, now he just had to… uh… yeah, there was a bunch of half-crushed rubble underneath the body, making it impossible for anyone to crawl under.

Crap, crap, crap, he thought while looking around for inspiration for some other kind of plan, and now an Aerial was flying by, forcing Rivers to get down as flat as he could, right up against the rear armor of the Tank, and… and somehow the flying HK hadn't seen him. This was no good, if a Terminator came wandering by, or if the next Aerial was a little more to the left, then he would be spotted for sure, so it was time for something desperate. Waiting until the next time those searchlights slowly passed by, the Sergeant crept along the side of the HK, only to crawl into the track system so that he was climbing over the gears and fly wheels that the machine's tracks rolled over.

This could have never been done if the HK was fully operational, but in its damaged state Rivers was able to move like this all the way up to the front of the machine, ducking behind the larger gears any time a searchlight or Terminator passed by. Solid armor was on the other side, so he couldn't stay in there once he reached the end, so the Sergeant slipped back out, and hid in front of the giant machine the same way he had done around back, but now there was an added risk of a Terminator looking out the window and spotting him from inside one of the buildings.

"Dr. Mack, this is Rivers." He reported quietly into the radio. "I've reached the HK, but I don't have a lot of time… how exactly do I do this?"

"Just open the data port and plug the device in." The doctor's voice replied. "It didn't take too long when the stole the last ones, but I'm sure Skynet's improved their security since then, so… who knows how long it will take?"

Opening the port was easy, as was plugging in the device, but the indicator bar was going really slowly once it activated. At this rate, there was no way for him to remain undetected in that position for the whole time, so Rivers left the device hanging there while he retreated back to the inside of the track. There were no Terminators around at the moment, and no reason for one of them to even notice the device, and if they did… well, then all the Sergeant had to do was hold out until the code transfer was finished, and then who cared if he was detected? He just needed the codes first.

Suddenly an Aerial was heard flying overhead, but instead of passing by, it was just kind of hovering a short distance behind the disabled HK. This was fine since Rivers was toward the front, or at least it was until the cargo doors on its underbelly opened and some things fell out. A few metal crates landed hard on the ground, followed by a small group of T-800s, all landing much more gracefully than the crates, and now they were opening them before taking out the tools and metal components inside and… oh shit, it was the repair crew!

Getting out of the track and scooting back around front while the machines were opening the crates, Rivers looked at the device just in time for it to reach eighty five percent download. The Tank's searchlights continued to go back and forth after the Aerial flew away, and the T-800s in the buildings still hadn't noticed him, but… but the repair crew had reached the back of the HK. Ninety two percent… the repair crew began working to get the rubble unjammed from the track on the other side, must have happened when it swerved upon rocket impact, and now one of them was starting to do a slow survey around the Tank.

Ninety seven percent… come on, come on, you piece of shit, Rivers thought as the surveying Terminator got closer. They weren't armed, but the HK itself sure was, as were all the T-800s inside those nearby buildings. Ninety nine percent… come on just about there, and… yes, all done! Unplugging the device and putting it away, the Sergeant was just about to try sneaking away, only to go around the corner at the same time as the surveying Terminator. For an instant they just stopped and stared at each other, Skynet seeming to be just as surprised as he was, and then they reacted… the machine reaching out with its arm at the same time that Rivers raised his plasma rifle.

A red flash of light caused the Terminator to stumble backwards when it was hit in the shiny face, with two more hits to the torso sending it down, and then he had to run. No sooner had the Sergeant pulled his trigger, then the HK came to life, swiveling around until its searchlight was on him, and then opening fire. By this time Rivers had ran to the nearest building and jumped in through the window, landing hard on the floor, and getting the attention of the two T-800s that were inside. However, they hadn't even gotten to finish aiming their weapons when the wall exploded in a flash of violet light.

Both the building and the Terminators inside were shredded apart by the awesome power of the Tank's double barrel plasma cannons, filling the room with violet light and smoke while Rivers tried to get away. Even though they were unable to withstand the attack, the two Terminator's bodies had given him the couple seconds of cover that he needed to get up and dive out the next window, hitting the rocky ground and rolling to the side as that wall was destroyed too. Now the machines were definitely going to be on high alert, with their hurried footsteps heard approaching from upstairs and across the alleyway in reaction to the sighting.

"Rivers here, mission accomplished." He reported into the radio while starting to crawl. "I've got the codes, and I'm heading for the edge of the city."

"Excellent, Rivers, but be careful not to be spotted." Dr. Mack's voice warned. "Remember, Skynet has marked you as a very high priority target, and they will ignore all others in an effort to destroy you."

Yeah, what machine could resist a chance to take out Skynet's number three target, right? Clearly none of these units, because the Sergeant was still crawling down the alleyway toward the next set of buildings when some of the Aerials that had been patrolling the perimeter started to fly overhead. So far the Terminators hadn't realized that he escaped the first building, and Rivers could see them walking into the site to search, but it wouldn't take long for them to figure out that he got away. Once around the corner of the next building, he got to his feet and kept a crouched position while heading away from all the commotion.

The doctor hadn't been kidding about how badly Skynet wanted Rivers; more Aerials were passing overhead to the point where their searchlights were hard to avoid and their engines drowned out all other sound… but he could still see the HK Tank that was changing direction in order to head this way. In fact, a couple of them were being diverted from the perimeter of the city, slowly turning on their tracks and coming toward him, forcing the Sergeant to turn left and risk going down a main road.

Less buildings along this route, but other options for cover were available such as an overpass that he went under, and even a burnt up big-rig that offered him an empty trailer to hide in until the latest Aerial was gone. Skynet was swarming like a hornet's nest, searchlights illuminating the downtown district almost as if it was daytime while the rest of the city was completely dark… and that was fine with Rivers as he kept going, leaving Pasadena once again with the codes that would help the Resistance win the war.