Terminator: Resistance

Chapter Thirty Six: Skynet's Last Stand

"The TDE's powering up again!" The radio crackled while Rivers ducked down behind a burned up truck. "They're about to send the second Terminator!"

Oh well, there wasn't much that could be done about that at the moment, since the advance had been halted as soon as they reached the perimeter of HK Tanks. The Sergeant knew that there would be Tanks guarding the perimeter of the complex, but he hadn't expected for them to be the perimeter, lined up so their tracks were touching as if they were trying to form some kind of wall. With dozens of double barrel cannons firing in all directions, the soldiers were doing everything they could in order to survive, with their support trucks and helicopters being unable to resist the awesome violet firepower.

Even Big Bertha was only able to do so much, destroying one tank and heavily damaging the tracks and weapons of the two next to it, before the friendly tank was itself destroyed. This did give the Resistance an opening in which to enter the facility, but it also gave the massive unit of T-800s guarding the place a path to march out onto the battlefield. The Terminators that Rivers and the others had plowed their way through must have just been an advanced guard, since now there were more than three times that many, all armed with plasma rifles, and marching toward the overwhelmed soldiers while under cover of turret fire.

Now instead of advancing, or even holding their position, the Resistance was forced to fall back just as the radio announced that the TDE was coming online for a third time. That was it, the last Terminator being sent into the past, or at least the last one that Conner knew about. Dr. Mack must have discovered this plan the same way he found out about the time equipment itself, or else how could he have known? Not important now, Rivers told himself as he was forced to fall back from behind the truck… after all, it was being struck with plasma fire from a T-800's rifle, so now was the time to fight back, not, well… think.

Crouching down and firing a couple shots as he moved back behind the wreckage of a downed Aerial, there were so many Terminators approaching that the Sergeant was pretty much guaranteed to hit something as long as he didn't aim straight up or down, but they just kept coming. Another wave of Aerials suddenly flew out over top of the Tanks, downing some of the retreating helicopters before turning their searchlights down onto the fleeing soldiers, and now without the rockets to cover them, the soldiers were easy pickings.

Rivers tried to shoot at one with his rifle as it passed overhead, but missed horribly, not that such a small weapon would have done any damage at that distance anyway even if he had scored a hit. More T-800s were closing in now, prompting the Sergeant to take one of the grenades off his belt and toss it into the crowd, maybe not enough to destroy any of them with such an indirect hit, but the high packed explosive sure knocked some of them down. Turning back and firing a few more shots as he ran for the next… hell, anywhere that he could use for cover, Rivers had to quickly dive sideways into what was left of a small car in order to avoid the sudden appearance of an Aerial's searchlight.

This cover didn't last long, either, with small arms fire from the Terminators' plasma rifles tearing through the old metal doors of the vehicle, even though the flying HK missed him completely. Aiming his rifle out the broken window and shooting at the nearest machine, the T-800 twitched heavily as it was struck in the chest three times before falling onto its back, but the others were still advancing. Trying to change position on the rusted bare metal frame of what was left of the car's backseats was difficult, but the Sergeant managed to get so that he was aiming at the second approaching Terminator… just before something latched onto his back and forcibly yanked him out of the vehicle.

Not only was Rivers pulled out of the vehicle, but he kept going for a second, flying backwards through the air until rolling backwards upon hitting the ground, and seeing that it was another T-800 that had grabbed him. Even though he was still a little dazed from that landing, the Sergeant managed to raise his rifle and shoot at the same time as the machine raised its own, and it was a good thing that Rivers' shots went wild, or he might not have survived this. Trying to aim for its chest or head, the violet plasma went more toward the Terminator's arm, missing the weapon but striking its shoulder hard enough so that the right arm became useless.

It was well known that all of Skynet's machines were ambidextrous, but they were in such close proximity to each other that the T-800 simply let its weapon fall in order to smack the Sergeant's rifle away before he could fire another shot. Closing its fist and punching him in the stomach, the body armor he was wearing was probably the only thing that saved his life as he was sent stumbling backwards. Falling down and gasping for breath while the machine came for him, Rivers took another grenade off his belt and pulled the pin, only to have the Terminator pull the explosive from his hand and toss it toward a nearby soldier.

That unlucky soldier screamed as the shrapnel from the small explosion tore into her face, making her fall over sideways while trying to put her hands over the wound. However, her suffering didn't last long, since the T-800 she had been running from shot her in the side of the head at point blank range before moving onto the next target, and then the one pursuing Rivers returned its attention to him… just in time to stumble back after getting struck hard with the large piece of concrete the Sergeant had picked up.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Holding the large piece of road with both hands, he struck the Terminator's shiny metallic head again and again, at least until his arms got tired and the machine was able to punch the improvised weapon into rubble. Suddenly the T-800 backhanded him, sending Rivers down hard, and then it grabbed him by the back of the neck, lifting the Sergeant into the air and looking at him with those horrible red glowing eyes as he pulled its fist back for the kill, and… and just stood there for a second before the light faded from its eyes.

Now that the machine was no longer actively trying to hold him up, the metal frame fell over from the weight imbalance, causing Rivers to hit the concrete once again. But this time the T-800 didn't get up, and that's when he noticed that something had changed. The HK Tanks were no longer shooting at the Resistance soldiers, and the remaining Aerials were crashing to the ground as if they had been critically damaged, but that wasn't all. The Terminators, who had been on the verge of winning the war completely, had all simply stopped, allowing the soldiers to shoot them, or even just push them over without resistance.

Rivers was confused, sitting there on the broken street next to the T-800 that almost had him, and only able to start getting back to his feet a couple minutes later. Some of the soldiers were yelling and cheering about something they heard over the radio, but the Sergeant's own communications unit had been destroyed, so it wasn't until he stumbled his way over to them that he heard the message loud and clear. It was from John Conner, and even though he had been through hell that night, Rivers couldn't help smiling even after it repeated several times.

"Skynet's defense grid is smashed!" The Commander announced. "I repeat, Skynet's defense grid is down! The war is over!"

He couldn't believe it, even though all of the killer machines were now lifeless like pre Judgement Day statues, and the surviving soldiers were able to walk right past the HK Tank's defense line as if they owned the facility beyond… actually, now that Skynet was down, the Resistance did own the facility… the facility and everything else in the whole world. This realization was enough to make the Sergeant join the others in cheering; everyone hugging each other and pushing over the lifeless Terminators as they made their way into the facility, but this time of happiness was not to last long… at least, not for Rivers.

"We stopped any more Terminators from going through." John Conner explained once the Resistance had completely secured the building. "But those first three are independent from Skynet, programmed to seek and kill their targets, and if they succeed, then this was all for nothing."

The first Terminator, a T-850 Infiltrator, had been sent back to 1984 on a mission to kill Conner's mother, Sarah, before he was even born. To counter this, Sergeant Kyle Reese was at this time being prepared to enter the time field… thing, to follow it. Stripped naked since nothing inorganic could pass through for some reason that Rivers didn't understand, the whole facility glowed blue just like it had done during the battle, and then in an incredibly bright flash, the young man simply vanished as the machine powered down. The tech at the modified controls reported successful sequence completion, meaning that Reese must have made it… and then something unexpected happened.

While the tech programmed the cooling down equipment for transport to a new destination, a big, muscular man who was already naked approached the platform. He had short hair and a blank look on his face, but… but then Rivers' eyes went wide when the big man stepped through the shadows for a second and his eyes were seen glowing red. Conner stopped him from raising the alarm, announcing that this was the result of Dr. Mack's reprogramming of the Infiltrator's CPU.

"The T-1000 that Skynet sent to 1995 to kill me as a kid is like nothing you've ever seen." The Commander explained as the equipment powered up. "Even the best soldier we have would be torn to shreds, but trust me, Rivers… this unit has what it takes."

Whether or not that was true, the Infiltrator was gone, vanished in a flash of light just like Kyle Reese, and then another destination was programmed for… hey, there wasn't anyone else getting prepped. This confused him until conner started talking again, this time offering the Sergeant a choice. The war could be over for him right now, Rivers had earned that, or he could step into the TDE, himself and go after the last Infiltrator on his own. After getting all the reports from both Baron and the ones the Sergeant made, detailing everything that the Stranger had done and had advanced knowledge of, there was only one logical conclusion.

"The hooded man you kept mentioning was you, Rivers." The Commander explained. "Your older self from another timeline sent back to protect you, and… by the looks of things trying to save your friends, too."

Him? The Stranger was himself? This was too fantastic to believe, but the more he thought about it, the more everything added up. The hooded man always knew where Rivers was going to be, from arrival in Pasadena all the way up to the observatory, even going as far as to prepare the hideout for escape from the first Infiltrator, and… and trying his best to save all of his friends. Was that what he meant about Mark and Laura? Had they originally died in the hideout? And what about Jennifer, Ryan and the others? Had they all originally died when the bunker was attacked?

"It's up to you, Rivers." Conner said. "If you don't go, then another soldier will go in your place… so what's it gonna be?"