Chapter Twenty-One - Chasing Angels
Edvard Harp sat at his desk, pencil in hand, scribbling down information in regards to the context of Kaliba's interests. He heard a knock on his office door.
"Come in." Edvard answered lazily with his eyes firmly planted on the paper.
His secretary, Katja Staczow walked in with a sealed envelope in her left hand. Like always, she was neatly dressed in a black business suit with a skirt, her low heel shoes, and black-framed glasses.
"Mr. Harp, You have received an letter from America." she announced, handing Edvard the envelope.
The high ranking CEO shot a small glare at the young woman, feeling rather annoyed at being pulled away from his important work being done in Europe to tend to a no doubt minuscule problem in America. He gently took the envelope from Katja's hand, and used his fingers to open the envelope with little mess left behind. He leaned back in his chair in disinterest, but the more he read, the contents of the note began to disturb him...
"Dear boss man.
It's D, from America. I want to keep this short, because if this letter gets intercepted by opposing parties, then you, I, and the whole company are in serious shit. With that said, Jade has come into possession of some information that would damage company interests. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but we have a reason to believe that a certain CEO of a certain software company in Los Angeles is working with "you know who". The police report says that the "they" kidnapped "her" and disappeared without a trace. We believe they may have used a TDE to escape the police, and they recently returned. There have been reports of electrical anomalies in L.A. but we don't know for sure. Give me a week to look into this; I'll have information for you."
- D"
Edvard sighed, closing the note. On top of the piles and piles of problems that were basically on a conveyor belt into his office only from Europe, he knew he couldn't afford any problems from the other side of the world. He stayed silent while Ms. Staczow stood patiently in front of his desk. Without facing her, he snapped his fingers in command.
"Notebook." he barked.
Katja pulled out a small notepad from the pocket in her uniform, and handed it to him. Without a seconds hesitation, Edvard snatched the pad from her hand, and began penning down his response.
The first thing John heard when he woke up that morning, was the sound of the blaring alarm that signaled the sun had risen. On top of the annoying blare from the alarm, he heard an aggressive knock on his door.
"John! Breakfast!" his mother's voice demanded, followed by another series of knocks.
John groaned and sunk deeper into the covers. He's had a weeks worth of fighting, running, and injury. Then, everything from last night hit him... the talk with Cameron, the confessions...
The kiss.
John felt every emotion possible run through his body in a matter of seconds. What had he been thinking? Out in the open like that? Anyone could have seen. The worst part was, he didn't regret it. Every moment between them that night meant the world to him. He wouldn't change it. His heart-felt pondering was interrupted by another bombing of knocks from his mother.
"John!"
John groaned even louder. "Shit, I'm coming!" he called back. He threw over the covers, and pulled on a pair of shorts over the boxers he was wearing. Before Sarah could put a dent in the foundation of the house with her knocking, John was out the door and following his mother down the stairs as quick as he could. John and Sarah's footsteps trudged down the steps, and Sarah made straight for the table, which Ellison and Derek already sat at; and they were already digging into the pancakes Sarah had made.
John stopped at the bottom of the steps, he spotted Cameron coming out of the bedroom. It seemed she had bathed for the first time since she and the others returned from the future. Her hair was smooth and bright, clean of debris and dirt, same with her skin. Her exposed metal face showed, but John didn't care... he found it just as beautiful as the untouched side. She beamed a smile at John, quick yet exquisite, which he returned. Cameron walked over to the kitchen window, and John took a seat.
Derek looked up at Cameron, and let out a sigh of disgust, his face twisting into distaste for Cameron's appearance. Derek stood up and picked up his plate of pancakes, intending to eat on the couch while watching the game, ridding himself of the machine.
He didn't get far before Sarah called him out. "We eat at the table."
Derek spun around, and Sarah eyeballed him as she forked in a piece of food. The Resistance soldier smirked at her out of spite, he wasn't in the mood for conflict, so he sat back down. He didn't even look at Cameron as he ate his food.
Asshole. John thought as he glared at his uncle from his seat. As if nothing else could brighten Derek's day, Catherine Weaver strut into the living room with Savannah in her hand.
"Good morning, everyone." she greeted with a surprisingly cheerful attitude.
John was about to shove a forkful of pancakes into his mouth, and stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Catherine's words. Since when did Catherine greet in such a happy tone? It's usually a 'fuck you, get up, we need to get going.' kind of tone. He shrugged, to early in the morning for this anyway.
Everyone else besides Savannah seemed to have the same reaction, but Catherine brushed them off. "It seems you all are in as good a mood as I am." She said sarcastically as she pulled Savannah to the Kitchen table.
Sarah was kind enough to pull the paper towel off from the plastic plate that held Savannah's pancakes, and she used a fork to dump one of the them on the young girl's plate, receiving a 'thank you' with a smile from her in return.
After a seemingly long, silent, and awkward breakfast, Sarah and Ellison finished first. John, Derek, and Savannah continued eating. Sarah motioned for Ellison to follow her into the bedroom. The former FBI agent was intrigued, and he did so. As soon as they were both in the room, Sarah closed the door.
"I think it's time to discuss our next move." Sarah offered.
Ellison raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought after all that's happened you might want a break." he replied with slight incredulity.
Sarah smiled slightly. "Don't get me wrong, James. There's nothing more in the world right now that I'd want to do than spend time with my son... especially since we have Derek back. But every minute we waste playing 'normal', the more Skynet gets ahead of us. That's why I feel I should mention... Danny Dyson is missing."
James stumbled a bit in place, only seconds later he readjusted himself, and found himself staring at Sarah in minor shock. "Miles kid?" he asked.
Sarah nodded. "He went missing a few months ago. An FBI agent named Auldridge told me while I was in Jail."
Ellison's demeanor immediately became dismissive and somewhat non-worrying. "Oh, Auldridge. Look, Sarah. I know who he is, and I'll tell you... he was a major suck-up to the higher-ups. He'd do anything to get what he wanted; I bet my money he was just using it as an interrogation tactic."
Sarah frowned. She figured that was probably the case, but she didn't want to take any chances. "I'd rather call and ask Tarissa. Might as well not take chances, right?"
Even though Ellison thought Sarah might be overreacting a little, he figured maybe asking Danny's mother might not cause much harm. "It's worth a shot I guess. Just make sure to use an Alias; chances are the FBI are monitoring calls all over this damn city." James advised, leaving the room with Sarah alone.
"Plate?" John asked as he reached down to pick up Savannah's syrup-covered plate. She handed it to him with a cheerful smile.
"Thanks, John!" she thanked.
John smiled at the young girl, and she hopped up from her seat, running to the other room in a search for what John assumed was her mother. He saw Derek was still eating, very slowly, so John marched to the sink to wash his plate. When he walked past Cameron, he shot another nervous smile at the Cyborg, receiving one in return. John took a deep breath, glancing back to make sure Derek was still eating his food. He was, he was completely oblivious to the whole situation. John placed his plate into the right pool of the sink, and began washing.
Meanwhile, Cameron watched him from the window. To her, last night had caused her to awaken. She had never felt anything before like she felt with John last night at the window. As soon as their lips made contact, it's almost like she exploded. Her newfound passion had completely overtaken logic. Wait, was that even possible? To Cameron, Logic was the foundation of form, the very fabric of what made Cameron what she was; a machine. Her very existence was based on code, programming, all of that stuff, so how could passion overtake logic? What if her design had opened a completely new frontier for Artificial Intelligence?
Realizing she had been lost in her thoughts, she shot a subtle glance at Derek, whom was staring at her. But as soon as she turned her head, Derek immediately went back to his meal. How could she have been so stupid? Cameron knew she was smarter than that. Now Derek could be suspecting there was something between her and John. She knew he'd be watching them closely from now on.
After his brief exchange with Cameron, Derek picked up his finished plate, placing it on the counter for John to wash. He shot a look at Cameron that couldn't have been more clear; an 'I'm watching you' look. Cameron barely held back the return glare she wanted to give him, but she kept from doing so in order to prevent any escalating hostilities between them.
Once John was finished washing Derek's plate, he walked over to Cameron, he briefly glanced around the house to make sure no one was watching, and just for safe measure, he peered up the stairs that Derek previously walked up to make sure he wasn't eavesdropping. Satisfied that they were alone, John returned his attention to Cameron.
"Cameron? How's... How are you?" he asked. John couldn't lie... he was incredibly nervous.
The machine gave him a low, yet serene smile. "Last night... I liked it."
John grinned with her. "Yeah, I know. Look, can we talk? Upstairs in my room maybe?" he suggested.
Cameron tilted her head at his question. Was John already attempting to act on his teenage hormonal desires already? After subtly reaching out to hold John's hand, an action which he accepted readily, Cameron ran a body scan, and detected he was indeed nervous, but something in her metal gut told her that John wanted to talk rather than perform sexual activities with her. Putting her trust in him, she pulled him forward up the stairs.
Tarissa Dyson was still shaken from the call she received from her son not long ago. Her brain had been racking back in forth in her head all day; and she found herself in constant question of his safety. Not to be misunderstood of course, she had always been worried about Danny since he went "missing" a few months ago. Had the machines taken him? What were they doing to him? These questions burned through her mind like a crude forest fire, and nothing short of a miracle could fix it...
That was when the phone rang.
"Danny!" she instantly pursued.
She sat down the coffee she was drinking, and rushed over to the telephone that was sitting on the living room table. She shot her hand out and picked it up before the ring could fade way.
"Hello?" she answered, her voice full of misled hope.
"Tarissa?" The voice that returned from the other end of the call caused Tarissa to scowl in frustration, but was instantly replaced with curiosity.
"Sarah? Is that you?" Tarissa asked in a voice just above a whisper.
"Yeah." the voice came back; although the audio was slightly muffled from the poor condition of the phone, Tarissa could hear the subtle mix of sadness and reluctance Sarah's voice possessed. "I need to ask you a question."
"This isn't really a good time." Tarissa argued.
"It's about Danny."
Tarissa froze.
There was a slight pause as the two women seemed to assess the situation. After a few moments, Sarah's voice was the first to break the silence.
"Is it true that Danny is missing?"
Tarissa was told by Sarah many years ago that machines could imitate the voice of people. If that was true, and this wasn't really Sarah, then what end did her son possess the means to? What if John and Sarah were dead, and Danny was the only thing that blocked Skynet's goal for complete annihilation of the human race.
"How the hell do I know your really Sarah? How do I know you're not some machine imitating her voice?" Tarissa pressed.
The voice on the other end began to sound impatient. "Well, let's put it this way. You don't. It's not like you have much choice, but at least hear me out; even if you do think I'm just some hunk of metal on the other end."
Tarissa cocked a brow. Yup, that was definitely Sarah. No machine could perfectly replicate that sarcastic-bitchy attitude Sarah Connor had.
"Fine." she approved.
The voice on the other end paused, and then sighed. Tarissa knew that marked the beginning of a worrying story.
"I'm sure you heard about how a few days ago the police finally caught up to me. Well, when I was in Jail, a little birdie told me that Danny Dyson had gone missing a while back. Is it true?"
Tarissa smiled vigorously to herself. "That's one theory."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't say. Sorry, Sarah, but like I said, I don't know if it's really you, and even if it is, I don't know who is listening in to my calls."
Tarissa heard another annoyed sigh from the other end. "Fine, then we'll meet in person."
Tarissa scoffed. "Oh, that's rich! Sunnyvale is a five-hour drive to L.A.! I'm not made of gas money Sarah."
"So the future of humanity is only worth a couple bucks of gas money to you, huh? Fine." Sarah pretended she was going to hang up the phone, but Tarissa's cry of urgency stopped her.
"Wait!"
There was a long pause, and Tarissa held her forehead with her fingers, letting out a long sigh. "I'll go on one condition: One of you come to pick me up, and Blythe gets to come with me. Deal?"
Sarah seemed reluctant to answer, and Tarissa could practically sense the tension on the other side. In fact, 'sense' was to weak a word... she was being mentally assaulted by the tension. After what was a long, and painful pause, Sarah finally replied.
"Fine. I'll get someone over there. Where do they meet you?"
Tarissa answered rather quickly. "Tell them to meet me at the Public Library in the Civic Center. Be there by noon tomorrow." Without another word, she hung up the phone. Tarissa immediately ran to Blythe's room, calling for her teenage daughter, who was listening to music on whatever modern device had been invented for such a purpose, and when Blythe removed her headphones, she dreaded the look on her mother's face.
It was that We're in serious shit look.
At the other end of the call that took place only moments ago, Sarah hung up the payphone that she was using on a random Los Angeles street. It seemed even outdated, somewhat primitive technology had it's pros.
John quietly shut the door behind him, and he motioned for Cameron to sit down. She did, firmly on the leg-end of the bed, and John sat next to her. The teenager fiddled with his hands, wondering where to begin. For the first time during he and Cameron's heart-to-heart talks, the Cyborg herself looked very nervous herself.
"What did you feel last night?" John asked. Despite the weird structure of the question, he felt it was a good place to start.
Cameron looked at him, her good eye was more alive than ever. In fact, it seemed to be bleeding emotion now.
"I think humans would call it passion." she answered.
John let out chuckle. "Passion, huh?" he lifted up his right hand, gliding his fingers over Cameron's chin. Her skin was smooth, and she closed her good eye, as if she was feeling something beyond nirvana, and the smile on her face radiated pleasure.
"It sounds right." she replied. Her voice was gentle, beautiful in the way only Cameron possessed.
John studied her closely. This was something completely new to both of them it seemed. John moved his hand to caress Cameron's cheek, and she felt John's hand set her nerves on fire, and she felt many sensors in her system begin to overload. She reached her own hand to meet John's, rubbing his fingers. She placed her hand in her viewpoint, examining the skin that had previously been used to replicate John's actions only moments ago.
"Have you ever felt it before?" John asked.
Cameron studied her hand for another brief moment, before returning her attention to John. "In short moments, only in moments that were major."
John leaned in close. "What about other things? What do they feel like for you?"
Cameron pondered for a moment, before coming up with something rather recent event.
"There were times when I felt briefly uncomfortable. Most of the time it was when you were around Riley." she elaborated.
John didn't get it. "Like, what do you mean?"
Cameron looked around like a nervous puppy. "There were moments where my CPU briefly registered Riley as a Termination target, but it would go away just as quickly as it appeared. I never understood, and I felt a... "
John began chuckling, and Cameron's confused stare turned into an annoyed glare the more he did. "What's so funny?" she deadpanned.
John controlled himself long enough to explain. "That's called Jealousy, Cameron. It has a lot of different forms, but in this case, you were jealous that I hung out more with Riley than I did you." John explained. He found it funny, but seeing Cameron's sullen expression, he felt he may have struck a nerve with her. He felt like an asshole.
"Oh, I... I'm sorry I did that to you, Cameron. I am."
Cameron's beautiful smile returned slowly, and John felt it safe to continue their discussion.
"What else?"
The Cyborg's smile plummeted back down, her sad expression visible to the skies above it seemed.
"...Fear." she answered quietly.
The way it had come out, the tone, the pace, John knew exactly what she was talking about. No doubt it was their moment they had shared when Cameron had tried to kill him, remembering as she begged and pleaded not to kill her. How heartbroken he had been when he pulled her chip.
"You mean... you were actually scared?" he asked, thinking this whole time it had been a clever deception on her part.
"Yes and no. I felt... fear. I didn't want to die, but at the same time I had a mission to complete; I used my genuine fear to manipulate you to set me free, then I would have killed you. I'm sorry, John." Cameron didn't have any body language to read, but John trusted her word enough. Her voice was packed with emotion, and John had never heard her speak so slowly with a voice full of sorrow like she was now.
Then, something happened that made John's throat run dry, cause his blood to seemingly stop flowing for a second... a lone tear trickled down Cameron's right cheek, produced from the artificial duct in Cameron's eye. John reached his hand over, and scooped it up with his point finger before it could fall onto the bed frame, examining it as closely as his eyes would allow. It was definitely real. The young Connor looked at it in utter shock, as he truly didn't know Cameron was capable of crying.
After moments of pained disbelief, John returned his attention to the distraught Cyborg, noting the rainfall of tears that fell down her cheeks, causing John to hurt himself. He never pictured himself seeing Cameron so... tortured. But, this was the girl he loved, and he'd be damned before he watched her emotionally fall apart. So, he did the only thing that came to his mind, he gently returned his hands to Cameron's cheeks, and pulled her in for a close kiss.
This one lasted much longer than the last, with twice the passion. John longed to feel Cameron's soft lips on his own again, he caressed her arm as he did so, and Cameron copied his every move to the letter. This kiss lasted nearly two-minutes, though it was debate able whether it could be considered "making out" rather than kissing. John pulled back, finding satisfaction in the slight 'pop' as their lips released.
"Feel better?" he asked.
Cameron wiped away the last of her tears. "Yes."
John smiled, and was about to lean in for another kiss before he heard footsteps stalk up the stairs.
"Shit, hide!" he urged.
Cameron did so, springing up from the bed and making her way inside the closet. Meanwhile, John positioned himself under the covers of the bed in an attempt to make it look like he had fallen asleep.
Only moments later, the door to his room opened. A very distraught, seemingly frustrated Sarah Connor stood in the doorway. "Have you seen Cameron?"
John shook his head. "No, she might be outside, patrolling or something." he lied.
Sarah seemed to buy it. "Well, if you see her; tell her I need to talk to her. Alone." her voice was demanding, and she was pissed. She practically slammed the door shut, and left John worrying if his mother might have heard them talking.
This wasn't good.
