John Connor: The Rise of a Hero Chapter 1: First Night and Day, a terminator: sarah connor chronicles fanfic

9. First Night and Day

Foreword

This story starts right after where the prequel "John Connor: A New Hero Born" was finished (not counting the Epilogue). It is strongly advised to read that first, otherwise a lot of things in this story might not make sense. For those, however, who want to skip it, I collected John's powers, which he has used so far, at the end of this chapter.

No reference to the "Heroes" TV series is planned this time; the "Heroes" part was only necessary to introduce the superpowers. I wanted to create a Terminator/TSCC story, not a crossover. A Terminator story with a superhero John Connor. Still, I hope you like the cover art. ;)

This one is rated as "M" because... well, you'll find out why almost immediately when you start reading this story. :)

The disclaimer is quite the same here compared to my previous story: I own neither "Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles", nor "Heroes", nor "The 4400", nor any other TV Shows, nor the Terminator or Star Wars movies, nor the Firefly/Serenity universe. To put it simply: I own nothing. :)

Near the 'Broken Atom', Avila Beach, CA, Friday, November 16th, 2007, 2300 local

"I've got the feeling you're not coming with us," Sarah said.

"Well, can't leave the car here, can we?" John asked with an awkward smile.

"Wipe that triumphant grin from your face, John," Sarah said, but she couldn't help smiling. "I know what it is all about. I'd better not think about it what you're gonna do while we are driving."

John found it was better not to comment on this. "See you later, then. Drive carefully."

"You bet we will," Sarah said, and at the same time John closed his eyes while holding Cameron's hand and they disappeared.

"The return trip will be not as fast for me as the way to here," Wells sighed.

"Certainly not," Sarah replied. "But Kevin, we'll have time to get to know each other a little better."

"True," Wells smiled while Derek started the engine. "It was an honor to meet you, at last, Sarah. And you, Derek. Although I knew the other Derek well, we were friends."

"Now you come to mention it," Derek said, "what happened to me. I mean... me. Not the other Derek, who is obviously your Derek, and who is a teenage boy now and I occasionally watch him playing baseball with Kyle."

"You saw them?" Sarah asked suddenly. "Saw Kyle?"

Derek immediately regretted his slip of the tongue.

"Of course. First, I didn't want to, but I couldn't help finding them. It was very touching when I first saw them. Also very weird. Seeing myself, knowing where the ball would drop in the next moment, knowing which of my throws Kyle would hit the next moment..." He sighed deeply.

"Once I showed them to John as well. On his birthday. Yes, Sarah, I know Kyle is John's father."

"Will you... will you show them to me as well one day?"

"Sure, if you want me to." He sought eye contact with Kevin through the mirror when he was slightly illuminated by an oncoming car. "So, what happened to me in your future. I died, didn't I?"

"Yes," Wells admitted. "You were killed by a Triple-8 when you saved Savannah... I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Derek shrugged. "We'll just make sure it won't happen this time. And what happened to the Triple-8?"

"I know only a few details, but I know it was later terminated by Catherine Weaver. It certainly didn't know she was a T-1001."

"I admit, I'm not particularly eager to meet her," Sarah said. "I still have nightmares. Sometimes dreaming that a liquid metal terminator is chasing us... Not long ago I dreamed passing by a statue in a square. Only when I got real close it went silverish, its hand turned into a spike and impaled me in the shoulder."

She took a deep breath then changed the topic. "I still can't believe you'd run a few miles with a fatal wound, found our house and could write a lot of important stuff on our basement wall with your blood. I saw some tough guys in my life, but you..."

"But without John, I would be dead now," he replied.

"Yes, that's probably true... My dear only son," Sarah said. "He's probably losing his virginity right now. And so is she, apparently."

"They deserve each other, you know that," Kevin said.

"I know, I know. I fully approve of their relationship. Still, there are some details I'd rather not think about."

Derek and Kevin grinned.

"It's fascinating how your future is so different from Derek's future," Sarah said. "And I came to the conclusion that it's mainly because of Cameron."

"Indeed," Wells replied. "But let's not forget about Catherine Weaver and John Henry. John was not a loner in my future but worked in a highly competent team and the Resistance didn't start from scratch. But yes, I would say we would have been lost without Cameron Connor, just as we would have been lost without John Connor."

"What was he like? My son in your future," she asked.

"The resemblance is much closer than I'd expected," Kevin replied. "He was a bit careworn though. Sometimes sad. Losing you, Derek, and a lot of friends for long years marked his face with sorrow. But he was a guy who everybody would die for. He and Cameron. And he didn't change a bit after he was attacked and transformed into a T-5000. He used his abilities when he attempted to transform fatally wounded soldiers into T-3000 but I never saw him shapeshifting, for instance."

"There is one thing that worries me," Sarah said. "Why couldn't they prevent Judgement Day? Derek and I were dead, all right, but John still had Cameron. And that John Henry as an ally not to mention that liquid metal terminator Weaver. And the financial support of her company, that Zorro Corp."

"Zeira Corp."

"Whatever. In Derek's timeline, I was dead also. Cameron told me that I died of cancer. John was completely alone after Judgement Day. But in your future, he was much more powerful and prepared but J-Day still happened."

"I don't know too much about those times," Kevin replied. "John Henry told me once that he was attacked by pre-Skynet. His evil brother, as he put it. The attack left some traces in his system, so later he could identify a chunk of code which he found in most computer systems worldwide. Seemingly nothing happened for two years, then suddenly most systems started to malfunction, computer networks went down, online banking collapsed... In fact, all online things collapsed."

His voice trembled for a second.

"I was thirteen years old on that goddamned day. I vividly remember every detail, every little moment... We saw distant flashes. Then tiny fireballs started climbing up the sky which resembled what we saw in TV documentaries about Cape Canaveral. Only, those things weren't spacecrafts, they were Minuteman ICBMs... Our teacher stopped talking and stared at those shiny objects for a moment... I'll never forget his face... Then, in a calm voice, he ordered us to leave the classroom and to go to the basement, which later turned out to be not as much a basement, but rather a shelter with canned food and lot of water flasks. We complied without panic. The panic came later when the lights went out, the shelter seemed like being shaken by a giant hand, and we heard a huge blast followed by thunder. Peculiar thunder actually, not the same what you hear on a stormy day... Frankly, I'd rather give it a miss for a second time."

"I think neither of us jumped back in time to experience this shit again," Derek agreed.

"We didn't leave the shelter for three weeks to avoid contact with the nuclear fallout," Kevin continued. "But when we did we were all sobbing when we first saw what was left from the city. Then the army came. They were searching for survivors everywhere in L.A. Later, we found out that they were not the regular army, but an irregular one organized by a young couple. The Connors. There was also a redhead around who had a Scottish accent. The little redhead, her daughter, was always with her. Soon we gathered and we were told what this war was about. And also that it wasn't the first time. We learned about time travel and cyborgs who were created by Skynet but defected and joined the Resistance. The information was more shocking than the fact we learned that Mrs. Connor and the Scottish redhead were not human. And to our surprise, there was a third cyborg who otherwise seemed a bit childish sometimes with a silly grin on his face."

He stopped talking for a while. Sarah and Derek waited patiently for him to recall the painful memories as they didn't want to disturb him with questions. The oncoming traffic was light. Occasionally approaching cars were illuminating them for a while then their faces were hidden in the darkness again.

"We had an earthquake a few days later," he went on. "With a friend, we were wandering in the ruins of L.A. searching for food. We were inside the basement of a shop, or rather, something which used to be a shop, when the earthquake hit us. The upper building laid in ruins but some large concrete blocks were displaced by the earthquake and blocked our way so we got stuck inside. We were screaming desperately, but the chances that someone would hear us were slim. Still, soon we saw the two redheads, Catherine, and Savannah Weaver, on the other side of the blocks. We were aware that Catherine was a cyborg, yet we were truly shocked when she formed a shiny crowbar from her hand and easily moved the concrete block away. 'Mommy, I heard screams not far from here, shall we rescue them as well?' Savannah asked. 'Of course darling,' she replied and took the hand of Savannah with her own which was reformed in the meantime. 'You're welcome,' she added with a smirk then they left, hand in hand. We were so flabbergasted that we couldn't say a word. Couldn't even say 'thank you'. It was so surreal."

"Pretty different experience," Sarah said. "Compared to ours with the T-1000."

"Yeah. The only painful memory about her was when she died because we had no cure for the self destroying mechanism Skynet had implanted into her system... I strongly hope John will find a way to save her... with his superhuman abilities."

"Talking about John's abilities," Sarah interrupted, "what was that whole thing with the terrorist group? Would you fill me in?"

Kevin told them their virtual encounter with the Black Jihad group and with their supporter, al-Zahrani.

"So, we emptied his account which was kept for supporting terrorists and transferred some money to our new, well-hidden accounts.

"How much is that some money?" Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"157 million dollars."

"What?"

"Yeah, he did it with the help of that bodyless Triple-8."

"Vick?"

"Yes, I think, that is his name. He was also a learning platform to study the inner structure of a T-888 for reprogramming."

"Yeah, he told me after breakfast. But 157 million? And you call it some money?"

Kevin just shrugged. "Well, the money is certainly more useful for us than for a crazy terrorist group."

"And what are we doing with the terrorists? We can't let them just go on with their preparation," Derek asked.

"Certainly not," Kevin replied. "John is planning to send anonymous reports to the NSA and the CIA."

"That's a good idea," Sarah said. "I hope they'll know how to handle the situation."

"And what are we doing tomorrow?" Kevin asked.

"You mean today?" Sarah retorted with a smile.

"I always considered that the next day starts only when you wake up," Kevin smiled.

"John hopefully won't be too busy with Cameron so he'll find some time for planning our next move," Sarah quipped.

"Well, I'm sure they are very busy right now," Derek smirked.

Sarah scoffed but couldn't help smiling.

They appeared in the living room all of a sudden. Carl did not show any sign of surprise.

"Would you check the perimeter please?" John said, still grinning.

"Sure," the Triple-8 said and left the house.

"This trip was amazing, John," Cameron said. "This was actually our first time together."

"Do you want another first time with me, Cam?" John asked.

As an answer, she pulled him close and kissed him passionately while grabbing John's butt with one hand.

Being alone with Cameron John sensed the purring beast in his chest explode and he had the impression his blood was boiling as he felt extremely hot throughout his body. They stopped in the stairs for a moment just to start again wildly kissing. Rushing towards John's room they stopped a couple of times just to continue the kissing occasionally moving from the lips to the face, the ear, and the neck of each other.

As they entered John's room she started undressing and he pulled up her dress, threw it away and trembled with desire as he saw her in bra and panties. She pulled up his T-shirt around his head and stroke his sides with her hands.

John got goosebumps from her touch. With shaking hands, he got rid of his trousers, his boxers and he felt he was going crazy with desire when she touched his erect penis. He was so hard as never in his life. "Like a cannon barrel," he thought. He did two futile attempts to unbutton Cameron's bra but he failed with his shaking hands and she did it herself. She got rid of her knickers so they stood naked in front of each other.

John grabbed Cameron and shoved her against the wall. Pinning her there by her shoulders he started kissing her passionately. She kissed her back plunging her tongue into his mouth and their tongues entwined. He soon broke the kiss then went with hungry kisses for her chin, her cheek, her ear and finally for her neck. Cameron tilted her head and she gave herself up to the yet unknown feeling caused by John's tongue and lips on her neck.

He kissed his way down to her breasts and she couldn't help releasing a small scream as he kissed and sucked her nipples. He went down further eagerly kissing her stomach, then, bypassing her crotch area, her inner thigh.

Cameron felt overwhelmed by pleasure. Even though she didn't need air to breathe she was panting heavily. Warning messages appeared on her HUD indicating sensory overloads. She simply turned it off just when John touched first time her pussy with his lips.

John heard her screaming and felt with all of his sensory and extrasensory perceptions the overwhelming pleasure he caused her. The feeling was overwhelming for him too. Sensing her pussy under his tongue and noticing how she reacted to every tiny movement - that was something entirely new for John and triggered in him almost unbearable lust.

He was eating her out with ravenous kisses on her inner and outer labia switching back and forth with licking her clit, and all over around her pussy. He didn't have any other thoughts he ignored everything else, there was only one thing for him at this very moment: Cameron's lovely pussy, her sweet taste, her reaction for his every touch with the tongue which brought him to such a level of excitement which he'd never felt before.

It was more and more difficult to keep his mouth on target because of her small involuntary movements. He was doing some tender yet fast circles around her clitoris when she tautened convulsively. He heard her screaming, felt her pussy rubbing to his mouth, felt some extra moisture, and sensed the pulsating contractions with his tongue.

That was simply too much for John. When her orgasm subsided he stood up, placed some hungry kisses on her neck, then with a swift movement he plunged into her with all the strength of his suppressed desire lasting for months. She wrapped her left leg around him and moaned with pleasure.

He didn't want to be so vehement, but things seemed to get out of control. How they grabbed each other, their fingers left white marks on each other's skin. His heavy and quick thrusts caused loud thuds on the wall. They were both in trance during their first wild and rampant lovemaking.

It was over soon, shamefully soon, John thought. Cameron quivered, pulled him even closer, quietly screamed and he felt again her rhythmic muscle contractions and sensed her body twitching by the almost tormenting pleasure. Cameron's climax drove him over the edge too and with a groan, he came in her with heavy spurts.

Obviously, it wasn't his first orgasm. He didn't masturbate too often, just occasionally to release the tension. This orgasm with his lover, however, was an entirely different experience for him. First, just for a fraction of a second, it crossed his mind that he'd accidentally stopped the time, but the time was doing fine. John was, however, not aware of how many seconds had passed, not aware of his surroundings, not aware of anything except Cameron as her body was shaking in his arms.

Still keeping himself inside her he held her firmly. They were both panting heavily.

"I'm sorry," John said.

"Sorry? What for, John?"

"I always wanted our first time to be more romantic."

Cameron gave him a sweet smile.

"Oh, John! Trust me, for me it was very romantic. As romantic as it gets," she said and kissed him deeply.

"So, you liked it?"

"What do you think, silly?" she smiled. "Just look at me. I'm still shaking."

John slowly pulled his penis out of her and was captivated by the scene how his semen, leaving her pussy, started flowing down slowly on Cameron's inner thigh.

"But..." she smiled seductively. "If you have other ideas about romantic sex, I can help about that."

She led him to the bed, pushed him down gently and placed soft kisses, first on his throat, then his nipples, going down slowly and thoroughly towards his stomach licking and kissing the skin over the flat muscles of his belly. She took in his half-erect penis licking and swallowing the remainder of the cum. He twitched as his cockhead was still oversensitive. Feeling her unbelievably soft lips around his member, her tongue gently caressing him, and her hand gently massaging his balls made him ready very quickly. Cameron placed herself over him and slowly directed his dick inside her pussy. She bit her lips and closed her eyes as a reaction of the intense pleasure.

She started riding him, making occasionally some tiny circular movement as well, contracting and releasing her vaginal muscles which made him as hard as rock. Her hands went up and down on him stroking gently his shoulders, his chest, and his neck.

John closed his eyes. Being in heaven was an understatement for how he felt. He gave himself up to the pleasure for a while, accepted the joy he was given by his lover. As he got more and more excited, he became more active as well. He adjusted his movements to Cameron's rhythm, grabbed her ass firmly and as she leaned closer he started kissing and sucking her nipples.

She was moaning loudly, her movement became faster and less and less regular. He hugged her with his right hand while he kept holding her ass with his left, sucking her nipples more and more greedily. She responded with a squeak and with a sudden strain with her vaginal muscles she delivered them both.

After a minute he was still hugging her with both hands, kissing gently her breasts. Finally, his half-erect penis slipped out from her vagina followed by a decent amount of cum which landed on his stomach.

He was lying on his back while she was on her side cuddling up to him with one of her legs thrown lightly across his knee. His semen oiled them both.

"Which lovemaking did you like better, John?" she asked while she was gently stroking his hair.

"Which one is better?" he asked back with a smirk. "Deer steak with cranberries sauce or New York-style cheesecake with strawberry topping?"

"I don't understand."

"They both are excellent in their categories. Yet, you cannot directly compare the steak with the cake."

"Thank you for explaining," she said and kissed him. "So, which one is the cake and which is the steak?"

"I don't know. Maybe the first one was the deer stake and the second one was the cheesecake."

"John."

"Yes, honey?"

"Would you freak out if I told you that I'm hungry?"

"I'd be puzzled but wouldn't freak out. Are you?"

"Yes."

She placed his hand on her belly and he felt her stomach growling.

"Wicked," he said. "But how? You don't really have a stomach, do you?"

"I do, actually, something which we could call stomach and serves for digesting food. But this function of me, I mean the growling, was only implemented to make me more realistic. My digesting system doesn't need to growl. It actually belongs to my infiltration protocol. But since your birthday and the explosion it became independent just like my other functions. I feel cold, I can be tired and I can feel hungry."

"Curious," he said. "But not very surprising. Your emotional development, among others, just skyrocketed in the last few days.

"Yes, but I still can't see clearly the connection between being hungry and developing emotions."

"Well, maybe we'll find out together. Wanna eat something? Maybe we find something left in the fridge."

"No, I'd rather stay with you in bed. This is not the urge that I need food as a human does, I just have the feeling that I'd like to taste the foods you'd mentioned."

"But it can wait. I'd rather taste something else," she said lasciviously and started kissing him on his neck and on his shoulder while gently stroking his member then started licking the jizz from his body. John soon felt himself more than ready for the next round.

"You should have some sleep now," Cameron said after some gentle kissing and enjoying the aftermath of another orgasm together.

"You're right Cam," John said with a yawn then kissed her passionately once more. "But that doesn't mean we're finished."

She giggled. "Certainly not. Good night, John."

"Good night, sweetheart."

Cameron was lying at her side, her head on John's shoulder. He was already fast asleep. She closed her eyes and replayed visually everything since they arrived home. In fact, she only tried to replay but got only to their first lovemaking when John gave her oral pleasure and they had sex in a standing position. She couldn't go on with her thoughts because suddenly she became so horny again that she could hardly control herself. She heard John breathing slowly at a steady pace and she didn't want to wake him up at first. But she just couldn't help placing her hand on him, caressing his belly then touching his dick, fondling his balls. She heard a faint moan even though he didn't wake up. His member, however, definitely did. With a smile, she flung her right leg over him and inserted his dick inside her. A few seconds passed until he was awake.

"Technically, this is rape, you know that?" John quipped.

"Technically, you just shut up," she retorted with a sweet smile and placed a light kiss on his mouth.

They kept kissing, their tongues were fencing. John held her buttock firmly with both hands. Now, their superhuman abilities paid off. Cameron with her advanced sensors and John with his mind and CPU reading capabilities recognized even the tiniest reaction of each other. Their level of arousal, what touches the other liked the most, what actions led to the orgasm faster and what slowed it down. Within a few hours they gained such a deep knowledge of each other that takes weeks, months, or sometimes even years for ordinary couples. Not surprisingly, they reached the orgasm together again.

"Now you really need some sleep, John," she whispered.

But they had sex once more during that night when a decent hard-on made John awake. He woke up only one time again after his peculiar dream. When he was fast asleep Cameron rested her head and one hand on his chest sensing it lifting slowly up and going down and she was listening to his heartbeat. Now, she played back the events in the Broken Atom, their first real date, their first kiss, and tears welled her eyes again. This time, she avoided replaying their lovemakings, still, she was certain she was going to do that later countless times to savor every second of their beautiful first night.

Saturday, November 17, 2007, Baldwin Hills, 0840 hours local

Saying that this awakening was the happiest one in John's life is a complete understatement.

"Good morning, handsome," she said while placing her chin onto John's chest.

"Good morning, beautiful," he whispered. "Did you sleep well?"

"No, I didn't sleep," she said. "Apart from a few minutes of maintenance mode. It's not like when I went bad. That night I spent hours in kind of a standby mode. We could call it sleeping."

"I remember that. And I remember how happy I felt when you rested your head in my lap."

"You did?"

"Of course!"

She started gently stroking his arm. "Now I know too what happiness is. Laying by your side... listening to your heartbeat... skin to skin... knowing that you love me... that is happiness," she whispered and tears started to well up John's eyes. "I'm a happy cyborg, John."

"I never felt happier either," he whispered.

They started kissing. Those kisses were not particularly passionate, nor meant to be a part of the foreplay for another lovemaking. Those were just the kisses of mutual unconditional love.

Cameron broke the kiss. "Your mother is coming," she said.

Sarah just knocked on the door but didn't come in. "Hey, are you alive in there?"

"I guess so," he shouted.

"Time for breakfast!"

"Thanks, Mom, coming in a minute!"

They went down to the kitchen hand in hand and they were warmly greeted by the others. Sarah's infamous pancakes were already on the table. To John's surprise, Kevin seemed to be all right with Sarah's cooking skills as he stuffed himself with the pancakes. Derek, however, showed somewhat less enthusiasm.

"Did you have a pleasant drive from Avila Beach?" John asked.

"Yes, we did," Derek said. "Very mild traffic. I'm sure you had fun meanwhile," ha added absentmindedly.

"No, don't answer that!" he cried when he realized the context.

"I'd better not imagine what you two were doing to each other," Sarah said.

"Yes," Cameron nodded.

"Yes, what?"

"You'd better not imagine."

Everybody laughed, even Sarah.

"But frankly, I'm very glad to see you so happy," she continued. You both are just shining with happiness."

"We are?" Cameron asked.

"It's obvious," Kevin said. "By the way, those are really tasty," he gestured towards the pancakes.

Sarah's eyes narrowed a bit, and everybody was scrutinizing Kevin if he was making fun of her or not.

"What?" he asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

"On the contrary," Sarah answered. "It's probably the first time ever that someone praised my cooking."

"Wrong, Mom, I did it several times," John contradicted.

"Yes, when you were a small boy, very hungry, and had no benchmarks," Sarah said very self-critically.

"Not true, I always liked your pancakes," John said. "Well, your roasts sometimes not so much."

"Yeah, I remember the last time," Sarah said. "But for the record, I was busy calling Sarkissian. You could have really taken out the roast from the stove instead of telling me that it had been ready 18 minutes and 27 seconds ago," she turned her look towards Cameron accusingly. "With your heat-resistant hands."

"I'm sorry," she replied. "You're right. But that's not how I'd act now. Now, I would definitely take out the food when it's ready instead of waiting for you."

Sarah gave her a warm smile. "You changed a lot indeed. Within a few days."

"Anyone for jogging now?" Derek asked when everyone finished with breakfast. "Neither of you joined me so far."

"Yeah, why not?" Sarah said.

"I think I give it a miss now," Kevin said. "I simply ate too much."

"I don't think it'd be particularly useful for me," Carl said. "Unless you want me to join for security reasons."

"It's not necessary, I think," Sarah said. "How about you two?" she addressed Cameron and John.

"Yeah, why not?" John said. "Let's show them how to run, Cam."

Derek nudged him. "Getting a bit too big for your boots, are you?"

"We'll see," John smirked. He hadn't told them anything about his enhanced speed ability.

"Good idea, John," Cameron said. "Even you should improve your stamina."

"You got complaints about my stamina, Cam?" John grinned.

"It's not about that!"

"Wow, she's blushed!" Derek said. "I've never seen a blushing terminator."

"I have," Kevin said. "A few, actually."

"Did you have a lot of reprogrammed terminators in your future?" Sarah asked.

"We did," Kevin answered. "However, it was like a chess game between TechCom and Skynet. First, we tasered them and removed their chips to reprogram them. Then Skynet started to employ white phosphorus coating on the chips which ignited upon contact with air. Later, we had the idea to remove the chip under water. For that, we developed a device which zapped the terminators every two minutes until we found a bucket of water for chip removal. But as a next step, Skynet randomly used some highly pyrophoric materials which heavily reacted with water also."

"Carl, have you got something on your chip?" John asked.

"No, I don't think so," Carl replied. "I have no sensors there, though. I came from a separate future, where Skynet probably didn't use that treatment on chips."

"Well, I didn't need to remove your chip anyway," John said. "Probably it won't be necessary for the future."

"We still tried to use the underwater method, with precautions," Kevin continued. "After Operation Chrono, however, General Connor had the idea to use nanotechnology. With his scientific staff, they developed nanobots which were injected to the vicinity of the chips when we captured terminators. Those nanobots provided then the interface for reprogramming."

The others listened to him with great interest.

"Skynet experimented with a model, called T-X," Kevin went on. "It was a full endo model without biological sheath but with onboard weaponry. Plasma gun, flamethrower, even a built-in projectile weapon, you name it. Also tools like buzz saw and welder."

"I heard about them in my timeline," Cameron said. "But their outer sheath was mimetic polyalloy. We never met them in combat later, so it's fair to assume that only prototypes were built."

"Yeah, in my timeline the production was stopped after the prototype defected and joined the Resistance. After that, Skynet stopped experimenting with self-aware cyborgs. It had hard lessons to learn. In multiple timelines, it seems."

"And what happened to it?" Derek asked. "The T-X."

"Well, her," Kevin replied. "When the Resistance figured out how to produce mimetic polyalloy, she obtained a humanoid form. A female form actually, and she was called Eliza. Later, she became quite a nice person and she was also a kinda prototype for other T-X-like cyborgs we made in Tech-Com."

Everyone went into their room to change for jogging. Then they gathered in the living room. Cameron wore a tight short and a purple tank top. John needed to concentrate not to have a boner but he couldn't help biting her bare shoulder.

"Ouch!" Cameron cried out. Everyone froze.

"What was that?" Derek asked.

"He bit me in the shoulder!" she said accusingly.

"Not that."

"It was painful!"

Then she understood why the others stared at her.

"Oh. I see... But I don't understand what's happening, that's new for me."

John looked at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Cam! I didn't know." He placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder.

"It's all right, John," she smiled at him reassuringly.

"I worry a bit though," John said thoughtfully, "won't it hamper you in combat?"

"No, I don't think so," Cameron replied. "I think it is somehow related to you. Only you. You can cause me pain just as you can cause me pleasure, extreme pleasure. For example, when you..."

"It's okay, we get the picture," Derek raised his hand. "Please, don't go into details."

"I agree," Sarah said. "Let's go running instead."

"Where to start?" Derek asked when they left the house.

"I would rather not go to the South," Sarah said and gestured with head towards the pumpjacks in the oil field. "There is a path called Jim Webb Trail. Then we'll reach a dirt path which follows Hetzler Road. And we run up on the infamous steps."

"Sounds good," Derek answered. "Hey, we've just started and you're dropping behind?" he addressed John.

"What do you mean behind," he smirked and ran passed them with superspeed. Derek's jaw dropped.

"I should've known you were about to deploy one of your dirty tricks."

They headed towards Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Quite a few people were walking, some running up on the concrete steps from Culver City.

"Not a bad place you'd selected, Sarah," Derek said looking around.

"Actually, I was lucky," Sarah replied. "I saw the ad two weeks ago and I just had the idea to rent a backup safe house as well."

"Now I can see I'm not in one league with you, lovebirds," Derek gestured towards Cameron and John. "But don't raise attention by running up in superspeed."

Cameron frowned. "You don't need to remind us, Derek."

"Really? You won't forget panting, will you? Just keep up the pretense."

"Don't worry, we will even sweat," John said smiling. "Now, let's go."

Of course, they reached the top first, but Derek and Sarah weren't slow either. However, they suffered both from hypoxia, especially Sarah.

"That was tough," she said when she could speak. "Those thousand goddamn steps."

"Only two hundred and eighty-two," Cameron corrected her.

"You really need to be always so pedantic, don't you?"

"Yes," Cameron said with a faint smirk. "It's absolutely necessary."

Sarah laughed a little. It wasn't easy for her because she was still panting heavily.

When they recovered they continued jogging towards the house. There were quite a lot of people around the Scenic Overlook, some tourists, most of them working out, but no one was around on the dirt roads leading to the oil field.

John checked again if nobody could see them, then started off with superspeed. He was so fast that the others couldn't see him running, they saw only the dirt he'd stirred up and felt only the wind he'd generated. He ran around the pumpjacks a few times and arrived back to his family. The entire detour didn't last five seconds. The others looked at him with undisguised envy - even Cameron.

"That's not fair," she said.

"Don't start complaining, Tin Miss," Sarah retorted. "With your servos and with your power cell."

Cameron chuckled. "Fair enough, Sarah."

"I'd better take a shower. You can use the three-quarter bathroom downstairs, Derek," Sarah said when they stepped into the house. "I'm sure the lovebirds take the other one upstairs," she smirked.

John blushed. "Are you coming, Cam?" he coaxed.

"I wouldn't miss it," she said with a seductive smile.

In the shower, they got aroused very quickly as they were soaping each other. John started fondling her breasts while grabbing her ass with his other hand. As a response, she grabbed his erect penis gently rubbing his frenulum with her index finger. They both were moaning simultaneously. He shoved then his hand between her legs and started caressing her pussy. She started rubbing his dick while pushing her hip hard to his hand.

They were kissing more and more passionately while giving pleasure to each other with their hands. In a few minutes, they were both on the edge. Cameron heard John groaning, sensed his body jerking with her entire body and suddenly felt the warmth in her hand as his cum started to flow between her fingers. The sensation brought her to the climax as well; she grabbed his shoulder heavily, moaned into his mouth while her body was twitching involuntarily.

The sexual tension was released but they kept each other in close embrace and enjoyed together the afterglow of their orgasms.

"We are wasting too much water," Cameron whispered eventually.

"Yeah, let's not forget to turn off the tap next time," John said.

Finishing with the shower they started drying each other with towels. As Cameron touched his genitals with the towel John immediately got a boner again. Cameron giggled.

"Cam, it's not a good idea," John grinned. "Don't get me wrong, I love it when you do it, but I don't want to get too horny again right now."

When they went down to the living room Sarah greeted them with a sarcastic smile.

"Wow, you finished much quicker than I'd expected!"

"We were both very much aroused and we reached the orgasm very quickly," Cameron answered with a very innocent facial expression.

Sarah quickly raised her hand to stop her. "Too much information Tin Miss. Just. Way. Too. Much. Information."

"You started it," Cameron shrugged and John burst into laughter and so did Derek.

"Be much more careful next time, Sarah," he quipped.

She gave him an annoyed look. "I think it's impossible to be careful enough with these two."

"I'm afraid I have to agree," John nodded just to get another annoyed look.

"Okay, let's do some work, shall we?" he said to Cameron. "Let's boot up Vick."

"I have some ideas for improvement," John said when he and Cameron entered his room.

Sitting in front of the heavily customized computer, waiting for it booting up John pulled Cameron closer and put his right arm around her waist. She rested her head on his shoulder and her left hand on his other shoulder.

"So, what is the mission for today," Vick asked finally.

"Surf on the net to find as many relatives of victims of the 9/11 attack as you can. Also, people who were there and are suffering from an illness caused by exposure to dust and toxins at Ground Zero. Especially those who haven't compensated too much so far. I read recently that there are still victims who are sick and worried that they can't afford their bills for treatment. But first, we'll have a closer look at the other bank accounts of al-Zahrani."

John mentally entered again the computer network and easily projected himself through bank firewalls. His eyes were closed and he felt her silky hair touching his face. While maintaining the connection with the banking network he established a mental connection with Cameron as well. And at the same time, he opened himself for her.

It was a strange sensation. Although they were aware of their physical environment, Cameron's eyes were open, so she could watch the monitor, they both felt something they hadn't felt before. It was as Cameron's computer mind and John's human mind had melded together to become a single entity. She could feel his mental strain, his concentration, while he saw all her idle processes running in the background, being now very close to human thoughts. The experience was similar to what he had felt three days before when she frantically tried to regain control, but this time instead of desperation he felt her happiness but also felt some of her concerns, even fears which didn't go away.

He opened himself even more, his heart and spirit. She suddenly realized that she totally knew John Connor. Knew everything about him, his fears, his highest joys, his hopes, and his private sorrows. She saw to the depths of his heart. She always thought she had known John well, but she never knew it was possible to reach such a depth and closeness to another person. Especially when it was between a human person and an artificial person. Never had she known such a relationship could even exist.

Neither did John. He was first so overwhelmed by the sensation that he forgot about their mission for a while. The sensation was so deep that he just couldn't help savoring it for a minute. Enjoying the pure happiness. Then he started to realize what they had just achieved. Apart from the pleasant and romantic nature of opening themselves to each other they had enormous power. John's abilities combined with Cameron's computer brain meant incredible exactitude.

Cameron was also fully aware of what they'd just achieved.

"No power in the Universe can stop us," she whispered.

"Have you got any idea for a name of our so-called hacker group?" Vick asked, interrupting their elation.

"Actually, I have," John replied. "How about Foundation for Law and Government. Abbreviated as FLAG. It's from a TV series. Well, that was a good one. A nice depiction of AI in the eighties with a highly intelligent car."

"Sounds a good idea, John. I like it," Cameron said.

They exchanged a kiss.

"It's much better that you have a girl for an AI, not a car."

"You're right. I definitely wouldn't kiss a Pontiac Firebird."

They both giggled.

"And when we have the list and that motherfucker's bank accounts, we'll transfer the money to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund," John said. With the list of less or not yet compensated victims. I hope they will do the rest."

"Only to those? None for your accounts?" Vick asked.

"No," John answered. "We've got more than enough money for now. If we need more I can always produce gold or even diamond."

"All right, I start the searching now," the bodyless Triple-8 said.

"If you're stuck somewhere just let me know and I'll help you get through the obstacle," he said.

"Now, let me show you that I was not just wasting the time while you were working in the powerplant", John said.

They all gathered in the living room and he showed the four thin and about two feet long wooden sticks, he'd prepared earlier. He gave two of them to Cameron.

"Try to hit me with them, Cam," he said.

Cameron shook her head. "I wouldn't harm you, John."

"Don't worry, these sticks won't do any harm," he said. "Besides, if I'm not wrong, you won't be able to hit me no matter how hard you try."

Cameron accepted the challenge. "We'll see," she said.

She tried to hit John's shoulders first from the left then from the right side but both attempts were easily warded off by John. The counterattack came very quickly which she could hardly parry. Attacks, counterattacks, parries came quicker and quicker from both of them until the pace of their fencing was impossible to follow visually by Sarah, Derek, and Kevin. The sound was like a silenced submachine gun fire, they moved back and forth with grace following a choreography they'd never agreed on before. Finally, John shuffled to the right and hit Cameron on the butt.

She frowned and started to hit John in a similar manner, however she hit only the air. The fencing continued until he placed another hit on her buttocks.

"Just you wait, John Connor," she said and attacked him just to suffer yet another hit on her ass from the other side. She lowered her arms.

"Is there a reason, John, why you keep hitting me on the ass?"

"That's because I just love your ass," he replied. "I adore it, I'm fascinated by your butt, so I can't help that your lovely gorgeous backside attracts my hands so much. I love your ass so much that I would rather..."

"Okay John, that's enough," Sarah interrupted him. "Please, continue this discussion elsewhere. Later, when you're alone."

"Sorry mom," he grinned.

"That was a very interesting performance," she said. "Where did you learn that?"

"Here, sitting on the sofa," he replied. "From an old Steven Seagal movie."

"Handy," she said. "I wish I had this ability."

"Yeah, me too," Derek agreed. "So basically, you became a martial artist just watching DVDs while we were at Serrano Point."

"Something like that, yes," he replied. "It's called adaptive muscle memory."

"Adaptive muscle memory," Derek repeated him thoughtfully. "Is it restricted to visual experiences?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean can you couple this ability to another one? Like telepathy?"

"No idea. Why?"

"Because in this case, you could learn some military training just by looking into my head."

John became enthusiastic. "Brilliant idea!"

"Any idea what to start with? You already know a lot, Sarah trained you well."

"Yeah, she did," John said and sent a warm smile towards his mother. "I also had some spec ops training from a crazy Green Beret guy... You're a good marksman, I suppose."

"I think so, yes."

"Well, I probably don't suck on this either, but I miss the sniper skills. I wouldn't fail as a squad designated marksman, but that's all. Are you a trained sniper?"

"Not as good as Kyle was, but yes, I had completed a sniper training as well. I used a .50 Barrett rifle with armor piercing ammo against terminators. And of course, I learned how to hide and how to use camouflage. Those were essential for surviving even if you didn't do sniper missions."

"So, that's the reason you'd picked the Barrett from the weapons cache. Did you use smaller rifles as well? Like .338 Lapua?"

"We had such rifles, but they were not as powerful against terminators as the .50 rifles were. But they were lighter and with full metal jacket I used one sometimes against the T-600s, which were made from titanium, not coltan. Once I hit one almost from a mile distance. We were hiding between the ruins in L.A. and took out an entire platoon of six-hundreds with sniper rifles. Those motherfuckers couldn't figure out our positions and soon they were all scrap metal."

"All right, first thing first," John said. "Concentrate on medium and long distance shots which include heavy scope adjusting, wind correction, elevation, angle, and others."

Derek did so, and John had the strange and vivid feeling as he was absorbing what he saw in his mind's eye.

"I think I got it," he said finally. "Now, it would be nice to test my new skills. But I don't have a sniper rifle... yet."

John and Cameron entered the shed and he showed her the hyperalloy tube he'd made for the pressure test.

"My version of hyperalloy seems optimal for weapon barrels", he said. "But I haven't figure out how to prepare one. I cannot maintain the precision."

"What we did before," Cameron said, "when we hacked together into the banking system. I think that is the solution."

"You mean, I form the material and you have the precise control on me?"

"Exactly."

"That's a... great idea, Cam," John said thoughtfully. "We, together, act as a living 3D printer."

"But I'm not alive," Cameron said with a sad expression on her face.

"Yes, you are!" Jon argued. "I strongly believe that. I've been thinking about that and I came to the conclusion that you are a new life form."

When he saw she wasn't fully convinced he added. "Just think of our first night, Cam! I can't imagine any woman on the face of Earth who'd have been more alive than you. Or remember the shower together."

Cameron blushed, then gave him a broad smile then kissed him on the mouth.

"In this case... do you want me to show you again how alive I am right now?" she whispered seductively and she started gently stroking his crotch area. "Your body is saying you do," she smirked noticing his sudden stiffy.

He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. Their eyes met from a few inches, then they started wildly kissing.

She unbuttoned his pants while he slipped his hand into hers fondling her buttocks. She shivered and gasped when he started to stroke gently her anus. She grabbed his erect penis giving him a tender handjob.

Suddenly they both stiffened.

"Somebody is coming," Cameron whispered.

"I can hear that too," John said. "Two people."

John was just finished with re-buttoning his pants when the door of the shed flung open.

"Oh, did we interrupt something?" Kevin asked.

"I'm sure we did," Derek smirked. "Why don't you two get a room?"

"We just did," John replied with a silly grin.

"But why here in the shed? Your room is not good enough?"

"Actually we started working here. We just thought we could take a break," Cameron said with an innocent face.

Derek burst out laughing. "Take a break, huh?"

"And what are you working on?" Kevin asked trying to change the subject.

"I'm thinking of weapon designs," John said. "And we actually have an idea," he showed up the hyperalloy tube he'd prepared the previous day. "We just need a design to start with. I'd prefer something simple."

"How about...," Derek started thoughtfully after a few seconds, "John, did you see the Day of the Jackal? I mean the movie. I was about ten when I saw that."

"You mean the older version? Not the one with Bruce Willis."

"No. The remake was good also, but I prefer the first one with Edward Fox."

"I remember," John said. "I liked that too. It quite closely follows the novel."

Then he understood. "Okay, I know what you mean. Perfect idea!"

"Could you elaborate it a bit more?" Cameron asked.

"According to the story, a terrorist organization hires an assassin to kill Charles de Gaulle," John said. "For that, a gunsmith prepares a special sniper rifle which is very simple and very easy to conceal."

"Yes, it contains very few parts," Derek said. "The barrel, the bolt, the stock, the silencer, the screw-in trigger, and the trigger mechanism with a spring. That's all."

"Yes, I remember," John said. "But our model could be a little more complicated than that with slightly higher performance."

"What caliber are you thinking of?" Derek asked.

"Well, in the movie it was .22 Winchester Magnum, I think," John replied. "However, we don't have any of those cartridges and I consider it too weak, anyway. So, I'd opt for the standard 5.56 caliber and simply use the ammo we have for the M4."

"Good choice, I think," Derek said. "The 7.62 would be too strong for a very light rifle like that, I guess."

"The breechblock would be a bit complicated because of the necked cartridge," John said. "And I prefer a handle for the bolt like in a standard bolt action rifle. Just rotating the end of the bolt with two fingers is a bit awkward. A screw-in handle would be good."

Cameron took John's hand. "John, could you concentrate on the design and send it to me telepathically?"

"Sure," John said. He closed his eyes and focused on the rifle. First, in the form, as seen in the movie, then the one with his modifications.

Cameron also kept her eyes closed. "I've got it," she said after a couple of seconds. "I can see the differences. You keep the silencer, the put-in stock but opt for a longer barrel and a trigger guard. The barrel and the breech would be both 22 inches long. Two holes for the trigger guard which would be fastened with a clockwise half turn. We don't have here a telescopic sight though, so we need to buy one when we go shopping."

"Exactly," John replied. He took some of the scrap metal they'd collected and sat back. Cameron sat next to him putting her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

Derek and Kevin watched with mouth agape how the piece of metal slowly transformed in John's hand into a tubular form. It was a perfect weapon barrel with the same inner and outer diameter everywhere. Cameron governed John's mental power so the caliber, the rifling, and all fine details were highly accurate with nanometer accuracy. Then the trigger, the trigger guard, the foldable stock and the bolt handle were prepared. They left for the last the silencer and the rail for the telescopic sight.

"Unbelievable," Derek shook his head.

"I can't wait to try it," John said. "Of course, first we need to buy a scope."

"We could look for a quiet place, John," Cameron said. "We've got some tracer ammo. With those, we could zero the rifle and the optical sight much easier."

John nodded.

"Cam, you told me you'd prepare some special ammo for my birthday present. To the Infinity handgun."

"I know you are very good in metallurgy, John, but we need also primer and gunpowder."

John held something in his hands. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he opened them he showed his palm to Cameron.

"You mean these?"

She gave him a surprised look. "Yes. Exactly these."

"It's a piece of cake compared to diamonds," he smirked.

"I bet it is... Now, we need to work together again."

"Great! I love it when we combine our powers. It just... confirms that you're my other part."

Cameron kissed him. "And you are my hero."

She cuddled to him and they both closed their eyes.

"So," he said. "You're thinking of a high-explosive incendiary armor-piercing projectile."

"Exactly," she replied. "Like the Raufoss Mk. 211, only in 5.56mm, not .50 caliber. All we need for this is thermite, tungsten carbide, PETN, steel, and copper for the jacket. And all of those in the appropriate arrangement within the projectile."

"Piece of cake," John said.

"Really?"

"No," John quipped. "It's complicated like hell."

"Well, consider it a challenge. And during the production we are together," she coaxed.

"Fine," he sighed. "After all, you're right. Let's get started."

In the next two hours, they produced ammo together. It started slow, but as he gained more and more experience, the time needed to produce a cartridge was strongly reduced. By the end of their joint efforts, they had two magazines, 15 rounds each for the Infinity and two mags with 30 rounds each for the M4 assault rifle.

Derek and Kevin left the shed meantime, but they returned with Sarah and Carl to check the progress. Cameron had an idea.

"Derek, what kind of cartridges have you got for your 40mm grenade launcher?"

"Standard high-explosives. Why?"

"Just as I thought. Not the best type for close range, is it? Especially indoor."

Derek shrugged. "I take cover if necessary."

Cameron shook her head. "It's still dangerous. Do you remember when I saved you from the rogue terminator with a same M79?"

"How could I forget? Especially your dramatic voice afterwards."

He imitated Cameron. "Sometimes they go bad. No one knows why."

"I had special rounds back then," she said ignoring his mockery. "With much less explosive and hardened metal pellets. One shot of that was more than enough for the crazy Triple-8, yet, it wouldn't have endangered even a human user."

"I didn't know that," Derek said. "Could you two prepare some similar rounds?"

"I think so," John replied. "Cam, just send the blueprint in my brain. Oh, and speaking about pellets, we should make armor piercing slugs as well for Mom's shotgun."

They continued working with the ammo. John felt it was more and more easy to manipulate materials at the subatomic level. Soon they had seven rounds for the M79 launcher and thirty slugs for 12 gauge shotgun shells.

"Good job," Derek noted. "If Cromartie appeared suddenly he would be scrap metal within a minute."

"We finished?" John asked.

"Not yet," Carl replied. "Sarah and Derek need combat helmets."

"We do?" Sarah raised her eyebrow.

"Certainly," the Triple-8 replied. "And also flak vests. You have enough firepower now, but you're still vulnerable."

"Okay," John said. "But let's make it three. Kevin needs those too."

With the joint effort of Cameron and John, they soon had three combat helmets. John applied a layered structure with hardened metal and durable plastic which was to absorb the energy of the incoming bullet.

"Now, you're much better protected against a Triple-8," Carl said. "As your protector, I just need to make sure you are."

"Thanks, Carl, I appreciate it," Sarah said.

"Yeah, me too," John nodded. "Now, let's have a look at Vick, whether he's made some progress."

Sarah, Derek, Cameron, and John gathered around the computer which hosted Vick's chip.

"Look what I've found, John," Vick said via the loudspeakers of the computer. Pictures appeared on the screen showing emails with geographical location and photos of a house.

"What's that?" John asked.

"It's al-Zahrani's safe house," Vick replied. "With two guards, a Toyota Land Cruiser, forged passports and a lot of cash and diamonds. Seems like he has an elaborate escape route. I guess, in case of emergency he would cross the Yemeni border and take a plane from there. Or hide there for a while, but I don't have any data about his properties in Yemen. The guards in the safe house have clear instruction to kill everyone who tries to trespass. The truck has a hidden compartment full of weapons."

The pictures abruptly disappeared from the screen and a footage of Barbara appeared instead.

"What's happening," John asked but got no answer.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to compose myself," Vick replied.

That was very weird to hear from a Triple-8.

"Now, I'm starting to understand what Future John meant by the success of reprogramming," Cameron whispered. "Why scrubbing the memory was necessary."

"Terminator having a conscience," Sarah said. "Sounds intriguing. I mean, not you, Cam, but the less sophisticated models. I was told once that terminators don't feel pity or remorse."

"We learn and evolve when we are in read/write mode," Vick said, displaying again the safe house. Remorse is a consequence. But for me, it starts to reach a level which endangers my mission. I cannot help but think of Barbara, what I'd done to her."

"Not to mention me, and especially my team," Derek said grimly.

New footage appeared on the screen showing Sayles' death and the screen started vibrating.

"You're not helping, Derek," John said in a low voice.

"What do you expect me to say, John?" he quipped. "Shall I give him a medal and hang it on his chip, or what?"

"No. But you should know that the part of his let's say personality which was responsible for his mission including killing you and your team is gone. I deleted every part of it without any traces. The remorse remained though."

"I need more thorough deletion," Vick said.

"I think I can scrub whatever you want," John said to Vick. "But I'm afraid of deleting something important. Which doesn't seem so now, but will be later for some reason."

"We'll need some time then to go through my visual memories and decide what to keep."

"One more important question," John said. "When you tricked me to raise the voltage and tried to get an internet connection via my phone. Did you try to call someone?"

"I know what you mean," Vick replied. "But no. I had no connection here, whatsoever. Skynet sent me back alone with the sole mission to ensure the deployment of the ARTIE system. Unfortunately, because in this case now we'd have a lead. By establishing internet connection I tried to collect information and evaluate my situation. By the way, what happened to the ARTIE system? If it's not destroyed it could be dangerous in the future."

"We brought it down. I wrote a virus and Cameron planted it in the system."

"I see. So, Skynet's plan failed and Barbara died for nothing."

No one said anything and no one could argue with that.

"For what it's worth," Derek said a couple of seconds later. "I believe, Sayles would have stopped her if you weren't around. So she was practically dead ever since Skynet had the idea to rely on her development as its nerve system. We were so desperate to stop it that we could give our lives without hesitation if necessary. Or kill anyone who had a key role in the creation of Skynet."

There was, again, silence.

"Okay, let's focus on our new target," John said finally. "Could you display again the safe house and the truck?"

Vick complied. "In the e-mails, al-Zahrani and the goons mention a small suitcase. That contains one million dollars in cash and some diamonds."

"The house is at the edge of the mountains," John said thoughtfully. He really thought the escape route through. Changes the car then disappears in the mountainous area."

"Unless the car breaks down somehow," Cameron said.

"And I'm sure it will," John smirked.

"Are you planning to teleport there?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. Before reporting his activity here, we travel there and sabotage his escape plans. Wreck his car and his weapons and take the money and the diamonds."

"When we are there we could find a quiet place to test your new sniper rifle, John," Cameron said.

"Good idea," John replied. "However, we need to do some shopping."

"I know a gun store not far from here," Derek said. "On Washington Blvd.

"We shouldn't pick a shop which is that close," Sarah argued.

"Don't worry, Mom," John said. "No one will remember our faces or any details about us after we'll have left the shop. I'll make sure."

"Okay, but for a shopping mall we should choose a more distant one," she suggested.

"Then I'm gonna drive you to one, in South Los Angeles," Derek replied.

"Some more cash wouldn't do any harm for shopping," John said thoughtfully. "Do you know a reliable fence, Derek? I could prepare some jewelry which could be traded for quick cash."

Derek scratched his head. "I know one, but his shop is surely closed today."

"So what? Let's visit him and I'm sure he'll gladly accept my offer."

"I strongly doubt it," Derek argued.

"Why?"

"Because it's Saturday. Sabbath. He is Jewish, and quite religious. He certainly won't touch your diamond stuff until it's sunset."

"Bummer," John said scratching his head. "I have some cash left but need more until we get the credit cards for our new accounts. A good rifle scope starts at two grand. And I want to buy two. One for the small rifle we'd worked on and one for a later one. I'm thinking of a full-fledged sniper rifle with high-performance ammo, large scope bipod for forward rest and a monopod for rear support and for precise adjustments. And much higher performance, say, .338 Lapua."

"We can buy the second scope later, John," Cameron suggested. "A small diameter concealable scope will be enough for now."

"Okay," John agreed. "You and Carl will also need traditional Arab clothing. You can't walk around in Saudi Arabia in a short and tank top."

"All right then," Derek said. "Let's go to the gun store then eat something then buy some clothes to replace those destroyed by the fire."

Carl stayed home, the other five members of the Connor team sat in the car heading for Washington Boulevard in Culver City.

John turned on the radio. He noticed happily that Metallica was on.

"Wow, I love this song!" Cameron said. She started singing along.

New blood joins this earth

And quickly he's subdued

Through constant pain disgrace

The young boy learns their rules

"What?" she asked seeing the slightly shocked facial expressions of the others.

"You sing very well, Cam," John explained, "but it's kinda creepy when you use James Hetfield's voice."

"But it's more authentic this way," she argued. "Don't worry, I wouldn't sing so in public. Only when only you are around."

"Still, it's a bit creepy," John said.

"Fine," Cameron frowned.

What I've felt

What I've known

Never shined through in what I've shown

"That's much better," John smiled. "In fact, it's too good."

In five minutes they stopped in Washington Blvd and entered the gun store.

"Hey, aren't you too young to buy a gun?" the clerk asked pointing to John.

"We're not here to buy guns," John replied. "Only a scope and some tools for leveling."

"For you?"

"No, it's gonna be a present for my Grandpa," he lied.

"How about that one?" Cameron asked pointing to a slim scope.

"Good choice if it's not picked for long-distance shots," the clerk replied.

"No, Grandpa has a 5.56 and he's interested in closer shots," John lied.

"This is a Leupold Mark 6 with a zoom up to six. Very light and accurate. It's actually not as much for hunters but rather for military forces and law enforcement. A bit pricy though, it costs twenty-two hundred bucks."

"No problem, we take it," John said. "And two spirit levels, please."

"You're gonna do the leveling?"

"No, Grandpa is," John lied. "I'm just not sure if he's got all the tools."

While the clerk was put the scope in its box and packed the spirit levels John concentrated on his message which he planted into the clerk's head.

"What a weird family," the clerk thought five minutes after they left the shop. "They might have a Scandinavian origin, that's why the very pale skin and the light blond hair for all of them. And even the women were 6 feet tall..."

Twenty minutes later they reached their destination. From outside, the mall, with its green corrugated sheet metal walls, seemed more like a cash & carry store than a mall. They left the car in the customer parking lot and went inside.

Cameron, who was in front, stopped suddenly by a Chinese self-service restaurant staring at the Hulatang soup.

"Are you hungry, Cam?" John asked.

"Yes, I am. A little bit," she replied.

"Chinese food?" John directed the question to the others.

Everyone nodded, however, Derek and Sarah showed a bit surprised face.

After lunch, they went separated. John stayed with Cameron, the others went shopping on their owns. For the lovebirds, the visit in the men's wear shop didn't even last five minutes. John didn't take too much trouble with the selection of clothes. Cameron, however, seemed very thorough looking around in the ladies shoe store.

"Which sandals do you like on me most, John?" she asked while showing him two pairs of sandals.

"Sandals?" John asked sheepishly.

"Why not? I like them and I feel I need to vary how I dress sometimes. Therefore I've decided to wear sandals occasionally, not only boots. So, which one do you prefer?" she showed a purple dress sandal with a low heel and a black one with slim straps with a somewhat higher heel.

"Dunno," he said. "Try both."

She put on first the purple, then the black one and walked a few steps in them.

"You look gorgeous in both, Cam," John said. "Why don't you pick both?"

When they left the shoe store, holding hands, John started to realize that the next stop, the women clothing shop, wouldn't be a two-minute visit. Indeed, Cameron, after walking around, picked eight different items and took them to the fitting room.

John made sure that nobody in the shop paid attention to them then sneaked into the fitting room.

"What are you doing here, John?" Cameron hissed.

"I wanted to see you naked."

"But you saw me naked four hours and fifty-one minutes ago," she retorted. "Wasn't that enough for a while? Besides, if we get horny here that would result in unwanted complications."

"Sorry, I couldn't wait," John whispered and started kissing her neck and stroking her side feeling her goosebumps under his fingers.

"John," she said. "John, stop it. Please stop it, before I get really horny as well... What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing particular," John said while adjusting his pants. "Only a painful hard-on."

Cameron kissed him on the mouth. "Okay. Now, be a good boy, please, and wait outside."

John showed her a sulking face, but they both giggled.

They left the shop with two moderately large shopping bags and they were heading towards the Oriental shop. When they entered they were greeted by a grumpy-looking shop assistant in traditional Arab clothing. Without glancing around, Cameron picked a thawb, and a keffiyeh with agal.

"Those are for Carl," she explained.

For herself, she picked an abayah and a niqab.

The shop assistant watched them with disgust. John didn't need to read his mind, the white-bastards-are-making-fun-of-us facial expression was unequivocal.

"For costume party?" he asked finally with a forced smile.

"Hell, no. Those will be presents," John lied.

The assistant's face softened.

"In this case," he said, "I recommend you something else. The quality of the clothes is significantly better with only a slightly higher price."

With two more shopping bags from the cosmetics department they were about to leave the mall when John saw a souvenir shop. His attention was caught by a small model of the WTC twin towers, not much larger than 4 inches.

"What's in your head, John?" Cameron asked.

"Well, it wouldn't be nice just to take the money from our terrorist friend without giving something in return, would it?"

"You're evil," Cameron smiled.

"I know," he said and kissed her.

"I guess, it's better if one of you does this," John, addressed Cameron and Carl who were watching him while he was busy trying to adjust the rifle in a perfectly horizontal position.

Cameron raised the barrel slightly then put a spirit level on the scope rail.

"Just perfect," John said. "Now, let's see the scope."

He tightened the bolts one by one on the rings holding the scope and used one spirit level perpendicular and one parallel to the rifle.

"What do you think?" he asked finally.

Cameron looked through the scope. "It's all right for now," she said. "We can make further adjustments during the test."

"I'm excited," John said. "I've never been outside of the American continent."

"So, what's the plan?" Carl asked while putting on his thawb. "We kill the two thugs, while you look around then take everything useful?"

"Not quite," John answered. "We won't kill them on sight. First, give them a chance. So the rule of engagement: do not attack, wait first for being attacked. Pretend you are lost and ask for information. Meanwhile, I replace the money with our little souvenir."

"Yes, general," Carl said. "And we'll speak Arabic, I suppose." He covered his head with the keffiyeh.

"Exactly," John replied. "I don't know too much about your language skills, but try a dialect which is spoken in Yemen, or near to the East Coast of Saudi Arabia."

"I was programmed to speak only Modern Standard Arabic," he said. "I don't know any specific dialects."

Cameron came in. "I know some Yemeni," she said. She was wearing the abaya and the niqab covered her face revealing only her brown doe eyes.

"Cam, you look gorgeous even in that dress," John sighed.

"Do you want me to wear this more often?" she coaxed.

"No, I didn't mean that. Maybe once in a blue moon... with nothing else under that," he grinned, but his face went serious soon. "We need to go. Now, you know the rules of engagement, let's go over the plan."

"You'll go invisible, and we'll approach the house pretending that our car was broken and we're lost," Cameron said.

"Exactly," John said. "I'll look around inside the house and find the money."

"If you want to be mean with the terrorist, how about upping the ante?" Cameron asked.

"What do you mean, Cam?"

"He will be in a hurry and maybe won't stop for checking the content of the briefcase if he feels the weight."

"Great idea," he said. "How much weight?"

"If it's one million dollars, that is almost exactly ten kilograms, in hundred dollar bills."

"So, we replace the money with, say, stones?"

"Yes. Wrapping in some clothes so they won't make a clash in the suitcase."

"Okay. Suppose the henchmen won't attack you or even they'll help you to find your way. In this case, I need to stop the time then replace the money with stones and wreck the car."

"All right, General," Carl said, "but the chances they remain friendly are slim."

"I know, I know. Still, we need a plan for this option as well... So, are you ready?"

Cameron and Carl nodded. John grabbed their shoulders closed his eyes and they disappeared.

They arrived at the edge of the desert. Sand dunes behind, small hills in front of them and some trees somewhat closer.

John felt his heart beating fast. He thought again that it was the first time he was outside of the American continent. He'd spent some time in various deserts in his childhood, but this one seemed different. He couldn't describe though what the difference was. Maybe the terrain, maybe the scarce plants. Maybe even the air.

Two hundred yards away they saw a house which they recognized from the photo. The house was almost in the shade of a large boulder.

"All right, I'm going invisible," he said.

The two terminators slowly approached the house. Carl first, Cameron few steps behind.

"Is anybody here?" Carl shouted in Arabic when they were close to their destination.

The two goons appeared in the door. They didn't say anything just started to walk towards the visitors with a wolfish grin on their faces.

"We are lost, and our car is broken," Carl continued. "We'd like to get to Abha."

The grin of the face of the first thug grew even wider. He pulled out a gun and shot Carl twice in the chest. Carl collapsed and didn't move. The goons kept going towards Cameron.

"I'm sorry, but you never gonna reach Abha," the first one said still grinning. "But we'll have fun now. A lot of fun."

He grabbed Cameron's shoulder trying to drag her inside the house. As a response, she caught him by the throat and lifted him in the air. Her eyes flashed red which was particularly creepy because her face was covered with the niqab.

"Wrong answer," she said in a demonic voice.

The second thug, in a complete panic, raised his gun at her and repeatedly pulled the trigger. She used the first one as a shield so all the bullets hit the first thug killing him instantly. The shooter kept hitting the trigger even when the gun was empty. He dropped the gun and turned around to escape... just to bump into Carl who got up in the meantime. His eyes were bright red as well.

"So much for the chances," he said, then broke the neck of the second henchman.

"Idiots," they heard John but they didn't see him as he was still invisible. "Did you notice anybody around?"

"No," Cameron and Carl said simultaneously.

John took a deep breath then activated his superhearing. He was listening to heartbeats which he could have heard even from a long distance. But there was none, only the wind was blowing.

"It's not fair you have better sensors than we do," Cameron said mockingly. John just smiled.

"Now, watch this," he said while pointing to the boulder. They heard a growling sound from the ground, then with a crack, a narrow hole was formed in the rock. They walked closer and saw that it was fifty feet deep with a small cave at the bottom.

"The grave for these two morons," John said.

Carl unceremoniously threw the bodies into the hole. Then John raised his hand again and the gap closed leaving no traces.

"I can repeat a human proverb about you, General," Carl said. "You give me the creeps sometimes."

"And that's not all," John smirked. "There are some more abilities I haven't shown to you. Now, let's get the suitcase."

They went in and after a ten-minute search, they still didn't found the suitcase.

"I guess, what we are looking for is a hidden safe," John said. "If you knock on the wall, can you detect a cavity from the sound?"

"Certainly," Carl said.

Cameron and Carl started knocking on the walls, however, John's eyes were caught by the cupboard which stood at a quite awkward place in the room. He pulled that aside and the safe in the wall exposed itself.

Cameron smiled. "You were always very good at finding hidden safes, John. But I'm afraid, the code is not the date from Judgement Day, this time."

"I don't need the code," John retorted. He reached in the safe through its door and pulled out the suitcase.

"Neat," Cameron said. "I guess, you won't have to make any attempt to find out the combination for the lock."

"Indeed not," John smirked. He reached in the suitcase and pulled all the money and diamonds through the side of the case then he put it in a duffel bag which they took with them.

John gave the bag to Cameron and Carl.

"Measure it," he said. "We need stones with exactly the same weight."

"Wow, there is something you cannot do with your superpowers," Cameron said mockingly.

John just smiled.

While the cyborgs were collecting stones John was busy searching for some clothes to wrap them.

"Why didn't I start with the obvious?" he sighed then opened the cupboard which had covered the safe in the wall.

Finally, he placed the carefully wrapped stones in the suitcase and put the WTC model on top.

"Now, he cannot say we didn't give something in return."

He placed it back through the safe wall and Carl pushed the cupboard into its original position.

"Now, let's destroy the car," he said. "I'm taking out the ignition coil."

"No, I have a better idea," John said. "Why don't you loosen the rear wheel screws so that when he starts the car he won't recognize anything but after a minute the wheels will fall out."

"Good idea, General," Carl said. "He'll lose precious time while running back to his first escape car."

They left the house. Cameron and Carl lifted the Land Cruiser with one hand while loosening the rim screws with the other. They were now estimated to release the rim after the first bump or when taking a curve.

"Excellent! Now, let's find the hidden weapon compartment," John said.

They didn't have to search for it long. The compartment was under the backseat. Inside, they found a MAC-10 submachine gun, a Glock 17, and several spare magazines for both. Furthermore, there were two smaller magazines. John was not familiar with them but Cameron identified them as part of a small Walter PPK handgun.

"The James Bond gun?" John asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen a James Bond movie," she replied.

"Me neither," Carl added.

"Well, I'll definitely show you some," John said. "Do you have suggestions for the sabotage?"

"I think the most simple is to remove the triggers," Cameron said.

"Okay, and how about the mags?"

"We squeeze them so they won't fit into the guns."

She deformed the spare mags. Not much, but enough to jam when someone tries to load a gun with them. Carl broke the triggers at the root.

After putting back the guns in the compartment under the seat they got out of the car.

"Before we leave for the rifle test, we need to wipe our tracks," John said.

They did so, ending up all in a rocky spot. John held firmly both cyborg's shoulder and they disappeared just to reappear a few miles away, where the terrain turned to hilly.

"That gulch over there will do," John said, showing towards a ravine.

"Good choice, John," Cameron said. "That's leeward, we probably won't need to calculate with the wind."

John assembled the rifle and attached the Leupold scope.

"Okay, let's start with 100 yards then increase the distance from there to 600 yards at 100 yards increments."

Cameron measured the distance and placed seven pieces of wood with paper targets nailed on them at every hundred yards.

John loaded the rifle, went prone on the ground, and used the duffel bag with the money as a support for the stock. He held his breath, kept the cross on the bullseye of the first target then pulled the trigger.

The first shot was slightly off in the 3 o'clock position. John extracted the empty shell and reloaded

"Three clicks will be enough," Cameron said.

"Okay," John replied. "The silencer is not bad though. The shot was not louder than a handclap."

He adjusted the scope and took aim again. The second shot was perfectly in the center.

"Lucky, we all have photographic memories, so we don't need to write down the scope settings," John said.

"We might do later if someone else in the team needs the rifle," Carl reminded.

"Right."

John took aim for the second target. The shot didn't leave the centerline, but it went one inch higher than expected.

"Interesting," he commented.

"That's because your hyperalloy has much less friction as compared to ordinary gunmetal," Cameron replied. "So the muzzle velocity must have been about 10% higher."

"Funny, we didn't even work on the surface treatment," John said. "Next time we could try something like a hardened surface with even less friction... So, four clicks now?"

"Yes."

John adjusted the scope with the top knob then took aim and hit the bullseye perfectly.

For 300 yards distance, he still needed two shots. For the remaining three distances they didn't insist to achieve very high accuracy. Especially for 600 yards, the drop was significant despite the lower friction of the barrel.

"After all, this rifle is not designed for long-distance shots," John noted.

They collected in a pile all pieces of wood with paper targets.

"Step aside," John said to the two terminators.

He unleashed blue flames which ignited the targets and turned them into ashes within five seconds.

"That was creepy indeed, John," Cameron commented.

"Really?"

"We were designed to be powerful," Carl said. "Much more powerful than an ordinary human. Maybe that's why it's eerie to see for us, terminators, a human whose power is almost incomparable to ours."

"But I'm very happy that this human is you," Cameron smiled and gently stroke his head.

John pulled her into a short embrace. His eyes were fixated on Carl's thawb.

"It's quite a pity you've got bullet holes in your garment," John said.

"No problem," Carl said. "It can be fixed. Besides, I didn't have any plan with this thawb after this mission. Cameron's abaya is unscathed though so you can use it later."

"For what?" John asked.

"To put it on without anything underneath. Isn't it what you'd told her before?"

John blushed and decided to leave this question unanswered. "It's time to go home," he said.

He took Cameron's hand, grabbed Carl's shoulder, squeezed his eyes shut then disappeared.

"John," Cameron said when he came out of the bathroom after a quick shower.

"Yes?"

"I'm extremely horny."

"Well, and what do you propose to do about this intolerable circumstance?" John asked mischievously.

"I have a few ideas," Cameron said slowly approaching John with her eyes wide open.

She pushed him towards the bed and quickly got rid of all of her clothes. He took off his T-shirt while she pulled down his boxers. Now, it was she who got carried away avidly kissing, licking, and gently biting his torso. With his position, John couldn't be very active, yet, he was intensively stroking her hair, her arms, and her back. He noticed that Cameron didn't overdraw a bit how horny she was. Her hand was slightly shaking when she inserted his dick into her pussy and started riding him with quick greedy movements. She obviously found an angle for the optimal stimulation of her clit because she seemed to be completely in a trance as she kept her eyes closed her mouth slightly open while she was loudly moaning.

John was far from the orgasm when she came. It crossed his mind that Cameron, during her climax, was probably the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

She dropped her head on his chest, panting heavily, her eyes were still closed.

John waited for a few seconds then grabbed her ass with his both hands and started moving in her. Remembering how he reacted to that, he started rubbing her butthole with his right hand.

Cameron cried out of pleasure and started moving on him. They started kissing wildly, held each other firmly and when they reached the orgasm together with loud cries they both felt like the time was stopped again.

When they breathing returned to normal she got off of him and placed her head onto his arm noticing he was really tired.

"Goodnight, my love," she whispered.

"Good... night... Cam," he replied under his breath. "I... love you."

"I love you too, John," she said but John didn't hear that as he was fast asleep. "I love you, I love you, I love you... There are no words to express how much I love you."

She cuddled up to him listening to his heartbeat. Strangely new feelings flooded her CPU. In fact, it didn't seem so for her any more that those thought and sensations are results of some computations or they are collected from her sensors. Her HUD was switched off most of the day. Feelings and impressions just came and they were gone, sometimes seemingly rather uncontrollably. Most intriguing was, however, her mental connection with John, how they became one entity. In fact, one extremely powerful entity. "What are our limits, John?" she thought. "Are there any at all?"

She smiled and felt that her race to learn had entered into the next stage.

Author's notes: I apologize again for the very long time since the prequel. I still cannot promise too frequent updates but at least they won't last for months. Also, the following chapters will probably be shorter than this one. Consider this one a double episode. :)

I don't think most readers complain about the amount of lemons. But for those who do: just imagine what could happen when two superpowered characters start to discover their sexualities after waiting for each other for some time. Lots of sex. :) In the later chapters lemon scenes will be less frequent, but still enough, don't worry, until I run out of ideas. ;)

I changed the name of the terrorist supporter to al-Zahrani from al-Zawahiri because it coincided with Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current al-Qaeda leader.

Also a huge credit to Anticipation of a new lover's who helped me a lot weeding out bad grammar and typos.

Appendix

Now, it might be useful to collect John's powers in order of the first usage.

Rapid Cell Regeneration (self-healing)

Phasing (phase through solid objects, penetrating walls)

Telekinesis (no need to explain this :) )

Electrokinesis (ability to generate electric arcs and manipulate electricity without external sources)

Technopaty (ability to manipulate networks, machines, traffic lights, etc. Not to mention terminator's chips.)

Teleportation

Telepathy (including implanting thoughts like a non-verbal version of persuasion)

Healing

Clairvoyance (ability to sense the locations of others)

Chrysopoeia (ability to change materials by altering their molecular structure at the subatomic level)

Enhanced Memory

Intuitive Aptitude (ability to understand how complicated things work)

Invisibility (in the visible as well as in the infrared range)

Space-Time Manipulation (including stopping the time)

Super Strength

Adoptive Muscle Memory (ability to learn and perfectly replicate any physical motion, without practice, just by witnessing it)

Precognitive Painting (including also painting the past and the present, not only the future)

Super Speed

Terrakinesis (control of geologic materials)

Pyrokinesis (ability to generate and control fire)

Of course, that's not all, there will be more later.