Chapter 25: Future Shock
Three knocks echoed throughout the house. Sarah was nearest to the door, so she held the burden of answering. She gripped her sidearm that was hidden in the back of her belt, and peaked through the eye-hole on the door. She saw Catherine on the other side, and frowned; she had hoped that the machine would be away longer, although, she only had herself to blame for the expectations. Sarah opened the door, and stepped aside with a noticeable bite of contempt.
"Sarah." Catherine greeted in her usual monotone manner. She walked inside the house, and Sarah noticed that she was carrying a bag of items. She watched Catherine put down the bag on the coffee table, and Sarah opened the bag out of curiosity. She pulled out a cosmetic item of sorts, and she inspected it for a moment.
She frowned slightly. "What's this?" she asked the machine.
"Hair dye." Catherine deadpanned.
Sarah eyed the item. She noticed a the artwork was of a model that was showing off her long, smooth, black hair, and she figured that was probably the color that came inside. Sarah set down the hair dye, and reached inside the bag again. She pulled out a different colored hair dye, Blonde. A pair of trimming scissors and female makeup items, among quick-heating meals that she assumed were for Savannah.
While holding the blonde hair dye in her right hand, she turned her attention back to Catherine. "You plan on us going outside soon? The heat's still bad." she reasoned.
Catherine glared at Sarah. "No, not you. Just John's machine." she answered.
Sarah raised a brow. "What? Why her?"
Catherine looked annoyed, questions, questions... so many questions. "Do you remember John Henry?"
Sarah thought for a moment. Suddenly, it all came flooding back to her, as much as she rather have it not. "You mean your... anti-skynet... thing?" she asked.
Catherine nodded, although she would've used less crude terminology herself. "Yes, John Henry shares a chip with Cameron. I need to extract him so he can develop. Where is Cameron?"
Sarah scoffed. "Where is Cameron?" she said back. "What about Savannah? Aren't you gonna ask about her?" she shot.
If Catherine were human, she probably would've scowled and balled up her fists, but she was above that. She simply settled for a seething glare, and she knew Sarah got the message she wasn't in the mood for games.
"Where is Cameron?" she repeated.
Sarah sighed quietly, even though she knew Catherine would hear. "On patrol, I'm sure you'll find her somewhere." she answered.
Suddenly, a voice from behind Sarah next to the stairwell was heard. "What do you need Cameron for?" it asked. The voice was unmistakably Johns. Catherine and Sarah looked over and faced the boy. He was leaning impatiently against the stairwell wall, with his arms crossed.
Catherine sensed an unwanted confrontation happening, but she wouldn't just roll over on this one. "I need the chip of your Cyborg. Where is she?" Catherine crudely demanded. She noticed Sarah looking between the two of them, John and Catherine. A true clash of Titans.
John raised a brow. "Why do you need her chip?"
Catherine took a step closer, shifting her head to one side of her body. "I need to extract John Henry." she answered.
John nodded. "How do I know you're not going to destroy her?" John asked suspiciously.
This time, Catherine actually cracked a grin at the stubborn nature of the boy. "Mr. Connor, if I wanted to hurt Cameron, I would've done so a long time ago. You have to trust me if we're going to make this Alliance a reality."
Suddenly, Sarah's eyes lit up and she butt in. "Wait, hold on! Alliance? What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded to know, apparently not caring which one answered.
John pursed his lips back in frustration. Dammit, how could I have been so stupid? he asked himself. He couldn't stand the smug grin Catherine shot his way as soon as she understood his mothers confusion.
"You haven't told her?" Catherine said.
Sarah took a step forward, now placing herself between the T-1001 and her son. "Tell me what? What the hell's going on?!" she demanded. There was brief pause as tension filled the air, her eyes darted between John and Catherine, her expression ever alert, demanding an explanation.
Catherine gave John a look that indicated she wasn't going to be the one to carry the weight of explaining the situation to her. John, upon realizing this, took in a deep breath.
"Mom, you should sit down. This might be tough to hear."
"Who did you say you were looking for again?" the desk attendant asked the woman in front of him.
Penny looked down and gave the man an annoyed look. It was as if any minute she would reach down and tear his head from his body. With a degree of annoyance and contempt, Penny repeated herself. "Peter Henderson."
The man looked down and rolled his eyes at the employee sheet. He flipped over a page, and suddenly his eyes widened in sudden realization. He looked up at Penny.
"Uh, my apologies, but no one named Peter Henderson works here. Who did you say you were again?" he asked her.
Penny realized there was a scowl on her face from the man's incompetence. She quickly corrected herself and forced on a smile, something she found herself doing constantly. "We hooked up last night. He left some stuff at my house and I'd like to return it to him." she answered.
The man raised a brow. "Uh huh." he replied; although it was more out of indifference rather than suspicion. He moved aside some papers before continuing. "Well, no one named Peter works here, but wouldn't you know, the owner of the company is Ian Henderson. I can page him for you if you want? He should be up in his office right now."
NEW DATA ACQUIRED...
RELATIVE OF PETER HENDERSON... IAN HENDERSON.
RETRIEVING STATUS OF IAN HENDERSON... COMPLETE.
IAN HENDERSON STATUS: EMPLOYED AT HENDERSON SYSTEMS, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.
Penny shot the man a flirty smile. "Yes, please." she said sweetly. She watched with a hint of amusement as the man visibly squirmed in his seat. He pressed a button on a panel on his desk, and spoke.
"Mr. Ian, sir? There is a woman here looking for a Peter Henderson? She says she needs to return some items to him?"
There was a brief pause on the other end before a reply was heard.
"Yes, go ahead and send her up." a man with a deep voice said.
The man lifted his finger off the button and directed his attention to Penny. He pointed at the elevator behind him. "You can go ahead and head up. Take the elevator to the eighth floor. Take a left, and his office should be down the hall." the man instructed.
Penny commanded her smile to grow sweeter.
"Thank you." she said. As soon as she had turned her back to the man, her smile reverted to her previous, stoic expression, leaving a visibly shaken desk attendant behind her. She gave the man one last smile as she pressed the button for the eighth floor; although this one was less pleasant, and much, much more threatening.
Jade walked in on Danny at his computer, something that had been happening quite often.
"Danny." she quietly called to him, although no response was elicited from the young man. He seemed to be too busy focusing on his work. With an annoyed huff, Jade picked up the pillow on the couch and threw it at Danny.
Upon striking him, Danny panicked, and pulled out the hidden Colt M1911 he kept holstered under the desk of his computer with reflexes and speed that impressed even Jade. He almost pointed the gun at her, and even nearly pulled the trigger when his brain registered she was just trying to get his attention. He huffed and put the pistol back into it's holster. He glared at Jade.
"What the hell?" he barked.
"Did you watch the news last night? Catherine Weaver is back." she replied, not bothering to apologize for her intrusion of his peace.
Danny adjusted the nose of his glasses and looked at Jade with a mix of fear and surprise. "What? How? When?" he asked.
Jade walked over to him and took a seat on the couch. "According to her, she was kidnapped by John and Sarah Connor and was let go. Said something about her being 'too important', and 'everyone would be looking for her'. It looks like most people believed her."
Danny was taken aback. "What happened after the interview?"
Jade shuffled her brows. "I don't know. After the questions were done, she left her guards at Zeira Corp. and left in her car. No one knows where." she explained.
Danny sighed deeply. Based on the contents of the letter the CEO of Kaliba had sent him, he was VERY short on time. He took off his glasses, and wiped the sweat away from his face with the palm of his hand.
"...shit." was the only word he could muster.
Jade didn't look the least bit worried, although she was concerned in her own way. "Catherine Weaver is likely to make her presence at Zeira Corporation nonexistent. I will go tonight and take a look around."
Danny looked uncertain. "You sure? That place is gonna be guarded like the White House on Election Day." he argued.
Jade raised a brow. "Uh, have you forgotten?" she asked him. She raised her right hand parallel to her head, and Danny watched as it turned to a silver goo, before quickly morphing itself into a sharp blade, and then retaking it's original form as her hand. All of it done with a crude satisfaction firmly in place on Jade's expression.
Danny gulped. "N-no babe. I haven't forgotten."
Jade smiled. "Good." She nodded at his computer screen, which was full of lines of code. "What are you working on?" she asked.
Danny glanced at his screen. "Ah, I'm glad you asked." He clicked his left mouse button, and the screen zoomed in to a single line of code as opposed to the hundreds he was working on before. When the screen focused, he pointed at the line for emphasis.
"I've been receiving tons of intel from Kaliba operatives here in California. Some of them have knowledge of John's Cyborg that I didn't know existed, they have loads of information about her code and CPU, a ton of shit. So I've been working on something along the lines of a virus. It's a very primitive form of one, but it sure as hell is enough to brick a T-800."
Jade looked between the code and Danny briefly. "You are referring to Cameron?" she asked.
Danny nodded. "Yup."
Jade looked indifferent, and to be honest, felt somewhat neglected. "Danny, I don't need the assistance of a Virus to take down Cameron. She's tough, but not tough enough for me."
Danny shook his head. "No, it's not like that. I believe Cameron could be useful to us. Like I said, she's a complex machine according to my contacts. She can have intel on the Connors that we didn't know was possible. Please, babe! Give me a chance on this!" he pleaded.
Jade threatened to sigh, although Danny knew better. She seemed to be assessing the pros and cons of this plan. "If this virus doesn't work, I can terminate her, right?" she asked.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. On the off-chance that my virus doesn't work, you cant 'terminate' Cameron." he said using air quotes, as if the idea of his plan backfiring was about as likely as the Moon crashing into the Earth in the next ten minutes.
Jade stood up and grinned at him. "I don't even need to run a scan to detect that massive ego you have Danny." she mocked. She leaned in close to Danny, and whispered silently into his ear. "I'm gonna doll myself up for tonight... want to get a sneak peek?" she said in a seductive voice.
Danny glanced at his computer, before settling on "fuck it" and clicking off the screen. He could use a little stress relief.
The Desk Attendant's instructions were precise. Up the elevator to the eighth floor, and a hard left, leading to the office. Here she was, standing in front of the desk of Ian Henderson, the CEO of Henderson Systems. The building reminded her of the facilities she had seen in Oregon in 2031. Clean, and quiet.
"Hello. Are you Ian Henderson?" she asked.
Ian nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I am. You're looking for my cousin Peter, right?"
Penny nodded in turn. "Yes. Do you know where he is?"
Ian adjusted his seat for a moment before replying. "Well, last I heard he told me he was going heading to the City of Angels for vacation from his job. I don't know where exactly though; but knowing him, he's probably passed out on some floor in an apartment complex somewhere." he answered, chuckling slightly. He cleared his throat before continuing. "But you don't have to drive all the way to that shit-hole to give whatever to him. I can give him a call and he can pick it up when he comes back." Ian offered.
SCANNING SUBJECT: IAN HENDERSON
DIRECTIVE... TERMINATE.
"I would appreciate it." Penny replied with a gentle smile. She reached into the pocket of her jacket, and pulled out a phone and wallet. She placed her hand outward, offering them to Ian. When he reached over to take the items, Penny shot her hand forward, and wrapped her fingers around his neck. Peter squirmed, struggling to both scream and breathe. As each second passed, he felt the grip grow tighter, until his windpipe was crushed under the force of the grip. With a thud, his head landed on the desk in front of him.
VITALS ACTIVE... NEGATIVE.
SUBJECT TERMINATED.
MISSION UPDATED...
REACH LOS ANGELES, TERMINATE PETER HENDERSON.
Knowing the body would be soon discovered, Penny left the room quickly. She entered the elevator, and punched in the bottom floor button. It was a slow ride, and Penny knew time was of the essence. When she reached the bottom floor, she made her way to the exit. But before she opened the door to leave, she turned around, staring at the desk attendant. With a disturbing smile, she winked at him, and then left the building.
The man never felt more disturbed in his life.
There she was... Sarah Connor. Reduced to a puddle of confusion and anger. Her mouth was covered by her left hand, while an Alcoholic drink dangled towards the floor in her right. She had sat down for five minutes to hear the explanation her son had given her... the knowledge she had just uncovered. She took a sip of the beer as she realized she had been lying to herself ever since John had come back. In regards to Catherine Weaver; she didn't think it possible, but it was true... the machine was self-aware. Not only was she self-aware, but she and John were allied, at least loosely allied.
With a silent contempt, Sarah spoke.
"I can't believe you lied to me, John." she stated.
John looked ashamed, he couldn't even face his mother when he spoke.
"I'm sorry, mom. I didn't know how you would react if we told you." he said.
Sarah scoffed, looked away from him and shook her head. She licked her lips in frustration. It was one of the things she did to express disappointment sometimes.
"What? You think I'm just gonna go Rambo on her? Whip out my secret armory and go to town?" she asked.
Is it really that far-fetched? John asked himself, but thought better than speaking those words aloud. He tried to find a reply, but his brain wasn't working with him; not this time.
Upon seeing her son's ability to produce a retort difficult, she spoke again. "You don't trust me?" she said, feeling betrayed.
John's features soared to the sky, finding her conclusion unfair. "What? No, mom! I just don't know what you would've done! The war is going to be hard to fight, but with the assistance of machines? Machines that made a choice to rebel against Skynet? That's something we need!" he argued.
Sarah raised her tone to match John's, "Oh? And what do you think is going to happen once Weaver thinks you're of no more use to her? You think she's gonna pop out the Whiskey and throw you a party?" she barked back.
Catherine raised a brow. "I'm standing right here." she commented.
Sarah stood up quickly from her seat on the couch. "Fucking sue me!" she sneered at the machine.
Suddenly, the door to the house opened, sending the tension flying in it's direction. Sarah whipped out her Glock from the holster, and aimed it at the door.
"John, get upstairs." Sarah ordered.
John didn't move. "We don't even know who it is, mom." he protested.
Sarah turned around and glared at him. "Get. Up. Stairs." she hissed.
When John failed to move again, Sarah considered telling Catherine to drag him up, but the door opened before she could request her to do so. Sarah placed her iron sights on the figure that entered, and tightened her grip on the trigger.
Everyone besides Catherine breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Cameron walk in. Although she wore a baseball cap and a thick pair of sunglasses. When she took them off, everyone could see why. Cameron's skin coating had healed to such a degree, that only the red mechanical eye gave way to her Terminator nature, although there were still some scars exposing the skull underneath, but they weren't noticeable at a distance.
Upon seeing Sarah's weapon pointed at her, Cameron chose not to address it, since she entered the house unannounced, and concluded Sarah was just being cautious.
"Hello." she greeted to everyone in her sweet tone, placing down her baseball cap onto the stand next to the door.
John smiled, forcing himself to hold down a chuckled that threatened to make itself heard. "Hey Cameron." he greeted back. He looked over to see his mom had already pocketed the Glock.
Catherine greeted her next, "Your skin coating is healing quickly I see." she observed.
Cameron walked close to Catherine, standing next to her. "Yes." she replied simply.
The T-1001 tilted her head at the machine, her right jaw facing John.
"Good, since your skin coating has healed sufficiently, I require your assistance with extracting John Henry." she said.
Realizing she hadn't spoken with John Henry in a while, Cameron spoke to him.
"John Henry, are you still there?"
It took a moment for a response to display on her HUD.
"Yes, I am here, Cameron. We haven't spoken in a while. I see your relationship with John has improved?"
"Yes." Cameron answered simply. She knew better than to elaborate on her answer aloud, earning confused looks from Sarah and John.
"Excellent. Your development seems to be coming along well, as is mine. Now, to the subject at hand; I believe Miss Weaver would like to extract and return me to a physical body."
"Yes, she does." Cameron made eye contact with Weaver. "When should we do it?" she asked Catherine.
Catherine glanced at John and Sarah before answering. "As soon as possible. We can leave now if everything is in order." She glanced at the baseball cap on the stand, and sunglasses in Cameron's hand.
"Those will not do for a disguise." She said, seeing Cameron's stoic expression, she could tell the Cyborg was a little annoyed with the T-1001 questioning her judgement. Not caring, the Liquid Metal machine pointed at the cosmetic supplies on the table. Cameron tilted her head at the items, and approached them and eyed the scissors and hair dye. When her eyes settled on the Blonde dye, Cameron felt a sensation that didn't please her one bit, and felt it dissipate immediately as soon as she spotted the Black hair dye.
Without a word, Cameron picked up the scissors and Dye and looked at John.
"Will you help me with this, John?" she asked.
John nodded, and followed Cameron wordlessly to the bathroom.
When their presence made itself scarce, Sarah shot a seething glare at Catherine.
"Sarah-" Catherine started, only to be cut off by Sarah.
"IF you hurt my son, I will end you. Understand?"
Catherine, based on the intensity and grittiness of Sarah's voice, was actually mildly intimidated. That was something she gave the woman credit for, the machine had never truly feared anything in her entire existence.
"I understand." she replied. Locking her eyes with Sarah.
Realizing she had just threatened a Terminator, Sarah couldn't help but feel like she had just made a mistake. Feeling the tension stiffen the air, Sarah was relieved to see Tarissa walk in, with Savannah in hand.
"Mommy!" Savannah called, and rushed towards her mother.
Catherine summoned a warm smile, and caught her "daughter" in a hug.
"Hello, Savannah." she greeted warmly. "Have you been behaving for Sarah?" she asked.
Savannah nodded with a smile, facing Sarah with that same smile; totally ignorant of the confrontation between herself and Catherine barely twenty seconds ago. Sarah forced a smile back at the young girl. She turned to face Tarissa, who looked as confused as ever.
"What's going on?" she asked as she looked between Catherine and Sarah.
"Tarissa, this is Catherine Weaver. Catherine, Tarissa." she introduced them.
Tarissa studied the redheaded woman closely, she didn't need a hubble telescope to see the woman was a Terminator.
For the sake of Savannah, Tarissa smiled at the woman, although it wasn't as convincing as she would like.
"Nice to meet you." she said.
With not reply from the T-1001, Sarah decided to get straight to the point.
"We've got business to discuss."
John placed down the scissors and looked at Cameron in the mirror, seeing his satisfied smile in the reflection. Cameron ran her hands through the short bob John had made for her. She had jet black hair, and her left eye was covered as the hair favored that side a bit more. She looked up and smiled at John.
He smiled back and leaned in, placing a kiss on her right cheek. "You look great." he said.
Cameron's smile grew bigger. "You do a good job at hairdressing, John."
John laughed as he picked up the can of black hair dye. "John Connor: Leader of the human resistance." He placed down the the can of dye, and locked eyes with Cameron. "And master hairdresser." he quipped.
Cameron, for the first time, chuckled. John was shocked when he heard the sound, but he found it so inexplicably sweet, that he couldn't help himself but to lean down and kiss Cameron deeply on her lips. The two spent a moment of bliss, before he realized the door to the bathroom was still open, and stopped himself before they were caught. If they were, Cameron wouldn't see the end of it.
Cameron knew what he was doing, and gave him a sad smile before getting up from the chair. "It's time for Weaver and I to go. We'll need John Henry in a body as soon as possible." she said.
John gently took hold of Cameron's hands, and caressed her knuckles, he then directed his free hand to her soft cheek before pushing aside the hair that was covering her eye. "Whatever you do, Cameron. Don't trust her. Are you sure I can't come with you?" he asked.
Cameron shook her head. "No, It's too risky. You could be spotted in public."
John nodded. "Alright, Cameron. I don't mean to be overprotective, I just don't want you to get hurt." he explained.
Cameron tilted her head, in that adorable way she had. "Thank you for explaining." she said.
Hearing those words, it almost brought a tear to John's eye. He hadn't heard them in such a long time, it stung his heart. Without a word, he brought his lips to Cameron's, and kissed her passionately. "Be careful." he said.
Cameron brought her head forward, touching their foreheads in a passionate way.
"I will."
When John and Cameron walked outside the bathroom, they saw that Savannah, Sarah, Catherine, and Tarissa were waiting for them.
"Are you ready to leave, Cameron?" Catherine deadpanned.
Cameron studied the other machine for a moment before replying. "Yes." she answered.
Catherine regarded the Cyborg for a moment before speaking. "Good. We should leave immediately." she suggested. She placed a kiss on Savannah's forehead before leaving. "I will be back soon, Savannah. Just a bit longer, I love you."
Savannah's expression saddened, but she nodded nonetheless. "Okay, mommy. I love you too."
Catherine smiled at the young girl. She stood herself up, and faced Cameron.
"Let's go."
Catherine retrieved the keys for the Lincoln SUV outside, and made her way outside with Cameron. The Cyborg turned around and gave John a reassuring look before leaving. When she shut the door, John frowned at the sight of his beloved Cameron leaving him again. Sarah studied her son, suspicion trumping over empathy.
Jade didn't like leaving Danny alone, but she felt he could fend for himself for the time being. She decided not to Terminate one of the maintenance workers at Zeira Corporation, and instead stole the safety vest of one who had fallen asleep on break. She had managed to slip by the guards in the parking garage by slithering by in her liquid metal form. She had infiltrated Zeira Corporation. She observed her surroundings, and aside from a few leftover FBI agents patrolling the floors, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
That was when she saw Catherine Weaver at the entrance desk, accompanied by someone... she peered closer at the woman, who was wearing a hat and sunglasses. She gasped in surprise at who she saw...
"Cameron."
The desk secretary, Alice, smiled as Catherine approached. "Hello, Miss Weaver." she greeted with a bright, shining smile, obviously forced.
Catherine was aware the woman didn't like her, due to the fact that the T-1001 made the woman work excessively long hours, but decided to keep their exchange pleasant for discretions sake.
"Good day, Alice. This is my friend Tina. I'd like to show her around, please grant her a guest badge.
Alice complied, and pulled out a guest badge for "Tina".
"Stand in front of the Camera please." Alice requested.
Catherine interrupted. "That won't be necessary, Tina won't be here long." she insisted.
Alice raised a brow, by obeyed Catherine's wishes nonetheless. "Yes, ma'am." she said.
"What's your last name?" she asked.
"Summers." Cameron answered.
Alice wrote down the surname on the badge, and handed it to Cameron. "Here you go."
"Thank you." Cameron said.
The pair of Terminators walked deeper into the building, and eventually reached the high-access wing.
"Is John Henry being kept here?" Cameron asked.
"Yes." Catherine deadpanned. She had led them to the same room where John Henry was being kept last time. The T-1001 punched in a few numbers to the keypad on the door, a security measure the substitute Security Chief must have taken after Catherine's disappearance. The door unlocked with a click, and they both entered the room. Cameron saw John Henry's body sitting on a table, and looked at Catherine.
"Please sit." the machine said.
Derek Reese grunted as he woke up. He checked the clock to see what time it was..
11:23 A.M.
The Resistance Lieutenant grunted. He flipped over the covers, and reached over to the nightstand and took the remote. He clicked on the Television, and navigated to the news channel. He pulled on a shirt, and directed his attention to the TV. He saw a young reporter of African-American descent standing in front of a software company in San Diego.
"Ian Henderson was murdered at approximately nine-a.m. this morning, the perpetrator is assumed to be Sarah and John Connor, but no evidence has been uncovered as of yet."
"SARAH!" Derek yelled.
Within seconds, Sarah Connor had come running into the room with her son in tow. "What is it?" the woman asked.
Derek pointed at the TV. Sarah and John directed their attention to the TV, and their eyes widened at what they saw.
Jade had seen the numbers Catherine punched in from a distance. The machine was ecstatic. Cameron, the Cameron was here, not a hundred feet away from her in a room. She remembered Danny had asked her to spare Cameron, but he was wrong; what value could Cameron offer them besides her own Termination? Nothing. Danny's plan was irrelevant. With a smirk, Jade shifted into the form of the maintenance worker from before, a bald-headed, heavy-set man with a beard, and marched towards the door.
"Hold still Cameron, the chip extraction will go faster that way." Catherine insisted. She had made sure to disable all of the security cameras on the floor temporarily so the process could be done. She morphed her right arm into a blade, and cut open the side of Cameron's head with perfect precision. She snaked the blade to the rim of the chip port, and was interrupted when the door to the room opened.
What she saw in the frame, was a large bald-headed man staring directly at them. Without a word, the man charged straight for Cameron. Catherine reacted quickly, and met the machine in the middle. She wrestled with it, both of them fighting for dominance. The large man picked Catherine up by her neck, and threw her across the room. The man turned his attention to Cameron while he had the chance. The Cyborg stood battle-ready, and they marched towards each other with merciless vigor.
Cameron grabbed the man by his chest, but he knocked her arms down, and pushed her away, the same distance he had thrown Catherine. The man looked over to see Catherine had recovered and went on the offensive. The T-1001 had morphed both of her hands into blades, and began swinging them at him. He dodged every attempt, he punched Catherine with a right hook, and then grabbed her by her throat.
"Catherine Weaver." he stated in a gruff tone as he raised her up.
Catherine's eyes, for the first time in a long while, grew wide. Suddenly, the grip was released as Cameron grabbed the machine by his back, and tossed him back. She brought her fist back, and with all her might, punched as hard as she could the right cheek of their attacker...
Only it didn't even faze him. Where a human jaw used to be, there was a fist-sized hole of silver liquid. Cameron's eyes widened, much like Catherine before her, and she felt a sensation that caused her to freeze. The machine smirked at her, and the next thing she felt was the backhand of a strike that sent her flying into the wall.
Catherine made a beeline for the machine, she managed to tackle him to the ground. With her arms still blades, she began stabbing the machine vigorously. They did no damage, only leaving silver slashes where it's liquid metal coating was. The machine pushed Catherine off, only to be met with Cameron's fist crashing into it's nose. The machine fell onto it's back, but stood up without a single scratch.
Catherine and Cameron stood guard, side-by-side. Cameron's fists clenched, with Catherine holding her blades at face-level, ready for any sort of attack. The rival Terminator, seeing it's disguise as useful no more, morphed back into it's original form. It was female by gender, and had blonde hair, and she was very tall. A solid five-foot-eleven. The machine smirked at them both.
"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. It's a strange coincidence to see you both here." it stated.
Cameron ran a scan.
MODEL: T-1000(1)
DIRECTIVE: TERMINATE
Catherine returned the machine's smirk. "Then you have been waiting for your demise." Catherine taunted, she then marched towards the machine, although Cameron wasn't sure if she expected her to follow or not.
The rival T-1000 eyed the computers behind her. When Catherine was in grabbing distance, she grappled her by the top of her dress. Catherine struggled to break free, and before Cameron could intervene, she tossed Catherine into the machinery behind her. The resulting impact caused a mild voltage outburst, smashing the computers and causing a shock that briefly compromised the liquid metal in Catherine, causing her to briefly glitch.
Satisfied that her play was successful, the liquid metal machine turned her attention to Cameron. She marched slowly towards her. Cameron stood in place, completely frozen, and she now understood why.
Fear.
The same smug grin from before had returned on the machine's face. Cameron backed slowly away, finally regaining her bearings. Something deep inside her systems ordered her to do something she would never have done in a situation like this.
"Run"
Cameron bolted towards the exit door, but the machine grabbed her by her shoulder, and slammed her against the wall with such a force that it left a silhouette of Cameron's body in the foundation.
"You can't run from me, Cameron." it insisted. "I have been waiting my entire existence to Terminate you, and now I'm going look into your eyes as you die." with one hand still holding Cameron down, she pointed her index finger at Cameron's head.
"You've failed John Connor." she leaned in closer to Cameron, only inches away. "He's next by the way. It won't be slow, either."
Suddenly, Cameron felt her power cell pump massive amounts of power into her combat protocols. With unimaginable force, she pushed the machine away, sending her flying across the room. Before she could recover, Cameron opened the security panel on the other side of the room, pulled out a SPAS-12 shotgun, loaded a shell, and fired. The blast left a gaping hole in the machine's lower leg, impeding her attempts to stand up. Cameron loaded another shell and fired again, this time the round impacted the machine's head.
Seemingly, before Cameron could load the weapon again, the female Terminator realized it was outmatched. Cameron and Catherine had the home-field advantage. With a frustrated growl, she summoned all the liquid metal that had been blasted off back to her form. Cameron cocked the shotgun for another blast, but before she fired, the machine escaped through the air vent before she could get the shot off, Cameron boosted her audio receptors, and heard the activity in the air vents get much less audible as each second passed.
A minute passed, and the vents were silent. Cameron suspected that the machine might be tricking them into thinking she had retreated, and ran over to where Catherine was. She was recovering from the battle, and saw the computer equipment had been heavily damaged due to her impact. Luckily they didn't need it to restore John Henry, it was where the originally kept his A.I.
But she was smart enough to know reactivating him now wasn't a good idea. She faced Cameron.
"That was another T-1000. She was strong." she eyed John Henry's body. "Grab him, we need to get out of here."
"What about security?" Cameron inquired.
Catherine brushed it off, taking Cameron's shotgun away from her so she could carry John Henry. "Don't worry about them, we will take the emergency exit at the end of the hall. In regards to the computer equipment, we'll just say I tripped and knocked them over. But not now, we need to leave as soon as possible."
Just as Catherine made her way into the hall, she heard her cell phone ring. "Catherine Weaver." she stated when she picked up, she heard Alice's voice on the other end.
"There's a call for you Miss Weaver. Says she's a friend at home? Needs to talk to you about the news."
Sarah. Weaver thought. "Send it through." Weaver said, she then turned around and waved for Cameron to follow. She complied with John Henry on her back. A moment passed before the hold ringing stopped, and Catherine spoke.
"This is Catherine Weaver." she greeted.
"Catherine? It's Sarah? We've got problems."
"So do we. The machine that is hunting us is a T-1000. We managed to drive her off, but she is very combat capable."
"Well that's just great." Catherine heard Sarah huff on the other end. "Well if that's true, she killed someone before you. Guy named Ian Henderson. Thing is, he has a brother. I met the guy and he's not exactly bright, but I want to make sure he's not the target. I've got to find him."
Catherine and Cameron marched down the hallway, and the T-1001 pushed open the emergency doors. Her head looked like it was on a loose pivot as she scanned her surroundings, keeping an eye out for the machine that had just attacked them.
"We will speak about this when we get back. In the meantime, watch yourselves. This machine might be after you next." Catherine said. When Sarah acknowledged, the T-1001 hung up the phone.
The stakes had just been raised.
