Chapter Twenty-Eight: Good times


1995, Pasadena California, USA

A warm afternoon greeted James Ellison as he stepped out of the black sedan he was driving. He double-checked to make sure his Kevlar Vest was fastened upon his torso securely, and then clicked the safety off of his Beretta M9. He heard the passenger door slam shut and observed as his partner - Elliot Aldridge stepped out as well. The two looked and nodded at each other, signaling they were ready to go.

Ellison rallied the SWAT team to position themselves on the second floor of the Apartment they were going to assault. The two FBI agents began marching in unison to their respective positions.

"Do we really need an entire SWAT team for this guy? He's a Drug Dealer! Not Superman." Aldridge commented.

Ellison shook his head at the naive young agent. "You've got a lot to learn rookie. Back in 93' there was an eighteen-year old on heroin dealer who killed two cops. When back up arrived they learned he and four other guys had gotten a hold of some AR-15's and held out until they loaded their product on a truck, they managed to kill another officer before they rolled in a SWAT team to take him down. This guy's no joke." he replied.

Aldridge simply shrugged in response, this was his fifth time deploying with Ellison as his new partner. He liked the man well enough, but felt he had a big head sometimes; almost got it blown off on more than one occasion. When they reached the apartment stairs, the two trotted up quickly and took cover on opposite sides of the door. Ellison faced the commanding officer of the SWAT team.

"Situation?"

The man shook his head. "As far as we know nothing has changed; he killed the hostage about twenty minutes ago so he's got no leverage. He's dug in like a fucking prairie dog, though. One of the negotiating officers reported he had a semi-auto capable rifle. Barely missed a round in the gut when he retreated." he reported.

Ellison nodded. He peeked through the window only to see a dark living room greet his eyes. He searched through the darkness for a while, only seeing broken dishes and some blood which he assumed belonged to the hostage the man killed; but didn't see the man himself. Ellison sighed and removed his head from the window. He grasped the cross-tipped necklace he was wearing and said a silent prayer before he gave the order to barge in.

The primary breacher nodded, he used a large-metal object to bash in the door, and tossed a flash grenade into the living room. A few seconds went by before a loud "POW" was heard from the inside. Ellison and Aldridge were the first ones in, the two were immediately fired at by the man inside, wielding a semi-auto M14. The rounds narrowly missed Ellison, and a hail of gunfire from the SWAT team rushed behind him. The assailant managed to take cover behind a wall, and fired a single round into one of the officers neck, killing him instantly.

The rest took immediate cover behind furniture in the living room, some rounds from the M14 impacting the wall or even a shoulder. The man hopped to another portion of cover behind the wall and fired two more rounds at Aldridge. One of the Swat Officers managed to hit the man in the torso as evident by the fact he yelped in pain. It seemed he realized he was outmatched when he stood in the doorway and began firing again as a last-ditch effort to take the SWAT team down with him. Ellison saw this opportunity and unloaded his entire magazine into the man's chest - and he fell back, lifeless.

Ellison and Aldridge signaled for the SWAT team to give them cover as the two approached the corpse. With their guns raised, the two scurried over and examined the body; numerous bullet holes in the torso, leg, and arms confirmed it - this man was dead.

Ellison sighed and looked at Aldridge. "Nice work." he looked behind him to see the other SWAT officers attending to their casualty. Ellison looked back at Aldridge with sad eyes. "Gonna be a hell of a letter to his wife, though. Poor bastard."

Aldridge shrugged, seemingly unconcerned; although Ellison couldn't tell if he was truly indifferent or just in shock.

The two agents holstered their pistols and stood in a moment of silence. When words were next spoken, they were by Ellison.

"Most action you've seen, huh? I've had my fair share of rodeos, and believe me... this won't even come close to the worst." he said.

Aldridge sighed. "Well, definitely the most action I've seen, but not the craziest case I've been given..." he stated vaguely.

Ellison raised his brows. "What do you mean?"

Aldridge took a look around, seemingly scanning his surroundings for some unknown reason. Once he was satisfied he was in the clear, he nudged his head in the direction they came. Without waiting for Ellison's approval, Aldridge wandered off in the direction anyway. Ellison figured it wouldn't hurt to at least hear the man out and followed him. The two stepped outside to be greeted with a legion of journalists and reporters from various news outlets, barely avoiding them as they returned to the squad car. Ellison watched as Aldridge opened the glove compartment, take out a yellow folder, and hand it to Ellison.

Ellison glanced at his partner before opening it. What he saw was the image of a dark-haired female mental patient named Sarah Connor. She looked to be no older than twenty-seven. Seeing this, Ellison looked at Aldridge awaiting context.

With a smug grin, Aldridge pulled aside the picture and pointed out the paper covered in text. "This chick blew up the Cyberdyne Research building a month ago. She, her son, some big burly guy, and she even took hostage one of the scientists to try and cover her tracks." he explained.

Ellison sighed, his own way of weeping for humanity. "Yeah... I heard something about that, but I figured it was just some sort of Insurance Scam the PD would take care of. Didn't know there was actually something big behind it..." James said.

Aldridge nodded. "Oh, we haven't even gotten to the good part yet... I took a look at her Hospital file, and she believes that, and I quote, 'an artificially intelligent supercomputer called skynet will cause a mass-nuclear attack on all nations on Earth, declaring Humanity as a threat to it's existence. Her son, John, will lead the human race to victory. So in order to defeat him, Skynet sends a machine back in time to kill her and her son."

When Ellison looked up, he swore he'd never seen anybody in his life with such a flabbergasted expression, like he had just witnessed a toddler knock a professional wrestler out cold. Ellison took a moment to piece the story together, clearly having difficulty understanding how a human mind could go to such dark places.

"So... robots, time travel, nuclear war..." Ellison scoffed. "Comic Book fucking checklist!" he exclaimed.


2009 Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Another day, another dollar; A familiar expression, but a true one nonetheless to Ashley Diaz. Despite having a name that most would associate with a female, Ashley was a burly man of average height, 66 years of age. Not only that, but he's a retired soldier, a soldier who fought relentlessly under the banner of not a country - but mankind. All that was behind him now to the point where he'd forgotten about most of it. He had been a Technician in the war, and his reward was retirement; and it was something he greatly enjoyed.

Someone his age working in IT could be a strange sight to some people - but he didn't care. He loved it. Answering Questions was one of the things he loved most in life, granting knowledge to the less-experienced. So when his secondary phone rang, it was something that scared him, as his primary was the only one that ever rang. He didn't even remember why he had it in the first place.

Cautiously, he picked it up and spoke."Hello?" Ashley said.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Ash Diaz?" it asked. The voice was feminine, and it sounded so familiar, but he couldn't remember precisely where he'd heard it before.

"Who's asking?" Ashley asked in his deep voice.

Another moment of silence, as if the voice on the other end was contemplating options.

"This is Cameron." the voice deadpanned.

Ashley gasped and considered hanging up. When he left for the past, John Connor had made it absolutely clear that he would no longer be bothered as long as he accomplished the "task" he had been assigned. He had done so, and his curiosity transformed into annoyance in a heartbeat.

"Why are you calling me? What the hell are you even doing back here?" he asked angrily.

Cameron ignored him. "We must talk. John and I need a favor and you are the only one capable of accomplishing it." Cameron explained.

Ash seemed to consider Cameron's request for a moment, going over the pros and cons. After a few moments of thinking, he raised the phone back to his mouth and spoke again.

"No. I'm sorry, but I have a wife and kid who's about to graduate Basic Training for the Army - I can't just up and leave." he said. Then he looked up at the wall with a puzzled expression. "How the hell did you even get this number anyway?"

"The fail safe you gave John before you left. If an operative ever needed your help, they could call you with the number." Cameron reminded him.

Ash sighed in realization. It was true, before he had left for the past he had given John Connor a specific phone number a Resistance Member could use if they ever needed him had they been operating in the past. He had also informed him that participation in said assistance was also his choice entirely.

"Yeah... yeah, I remember. Look, I'm really sorry but I can't help you. I'm running a store and I've got a family... wait... did you say John was with you?" he said.

"Yes." Cameron replied.

Ashley felt conflicted, he looked around his store, observing all he had built in the last ten years. Pictures of him vacationing in Cancun, Moscow, Berlin and Tokyo lined the walls. He counted out the number of imported TV's that filled his sales racks, and stood in silence at the picture frame that held his wife and soon-to-be Army son. With much hesitation - he spoke again.

"...Is he in trouble?" he asked.

"Yes, there is a machine that is operating near us. Law Enforcement is on high alert, leaving the area would prove difficult." Cameron responded.

Ashley put his fingers to his temple and sighed. "What do you need me to do?"

On the other end of the line, a tiny smile formed across Cameron's lips.


Sarah slowly opened her eyes, at first her vision was blurry but it cleared after a moment. She breathed in heavily, feeling the comfort of the cool air again.

"You okay?" her son's voice called to the side.

Sarah looked to her right and saw her son, she attempted to sit up but felt a sharp pain travel through her shoulder, impeding her attempt at doing so. She let out a sharp breath and laid back down.

John frowned. "James said you shouldn't sit up. He and Derek got the bullet out, but they said it would take a while for the wound to heal." he informed.

Sarah sighed deeply, her eyes drifting to the ceiling above - looking at nothing in particular.

"How long was I out?"

John thought for a moment. "About three hours."

"Where's Cameron?" she asked.

John gestured to the stairs. "Upstairs, patching herself up.

"And the machine?"

John was annoyed that Sarah brushed past Cameron's possible damage for protecting her, but he answered her question without conflict. He scratched the back of his head nervously as he answered.

"Well..."


"You've got to be shitting me." Sarah crudely commented as she stared over the lifeless body of the machine that had attacked her and Cameron. She held the impact wound with her left hand as she took a seat onto one of the dining room chairs.

The Terminator had the skin of a young woman, probably no older than twenty-seven, she had strawberry blonde hair, and she was very tall. It was obvious she and Cameron had brawled because there were rips in the machine's clothing and bloody wounds on her face.

Sarah shook her head. "John... do you have any idea how many things could go wrong with this thing in the house?" she asked as she glared at the machine's lifeless body.

John rolled his eyes and groaned. "Mom, I don't want to hear it..."

Sarah interrupted and ignored him. "Let me tell you! IF this ridiculous plan of reprogramming her actually works, what's stopping someone from flicking a switch like last time and making her go bad? What about the fact that you already have three other machines protecting you? You don't need another one, John. I won't allow it."

John had enough. "Mom! Will you listen to me?"

Slightly shocked that John had raised his voice at her, she made the decision to hear him out.

John sighed heavily before speaking, knowing that his words would require a long vessel to venture on. "I get it, okay? There's a lot of people in this house. But Catherine's working on that problem already. Tarissa and her daughter are going to move to an estate that Catherine set up, and as for the so-called 'danger' of this thing? Have you seen what goes on in my life, mom? You think this is a risk? Welcome to club Connor!" he said.

Sarah glanced at the machine briefly, going over her options in her head. Her son seemed determined to try and reprogram the machine, and as much as she hated to admit it, there was a part of her that agreed with him; he needs to know how to reprogram machines in the future. She HATED the fact that humanity might have to rely on the assistance of machines to win a war against machines, but life was a train in the wild west. If you lived in the countryside and worked in the city, you were gonna ride it whether you liked it or not.

She sighed deeply. "Is this the same one that attacked Cameron and Catherine at Zeira Corporation?" she asked.

John shrugged. "I don't know. I was gonna ask Cameron after we're done here." he replied.

Sarah nodded wordlessly. After a moment, she returned her attention to her son. "You have two days to reprogram her and convince me she's not a liability. If not, she goes in the furnace."

She shared one final look with her son before walking away. Leaving the young John to contemplate if he'd made the right decision in standing up to her or not.


"The arrangements have been made, Ms. Dyson. You are free to leave at a time of your leisure, but do not tarry here long." Catherine informed Tarissa.

The woman nodded, and looked at her daughter. "You ready to go?"

The girl nodded, an anxious expression present on her face. The future was uncertain for them, but facing it was a necessity.

Tarissa patted her daughter on the back gently before standing up and walking down the stairs with Blythe in tow. When she reached the bottom, she found Sarah sitting on the couch with wound dressing on her shoulder. Seeing this, the woman made her way over to her and took a seat.

"Healing up well?" she asked.

Sarah smiled weakly at Tarissa. "Well" was a bit of an overstatement, and definitely not the word she'd use to describe her condition, but it was certainly better than calling it hopeless.

"So far so good." Sarah replied.

Tarissa chuckled humorously. She and Sarah turned around when they heard two pairs of footsteps walking down the stairs, they were Blythe and Catherine. The T-1001 stood next to the door, gave Tarissa a look, and stood position. Blythe took a seat next to her mother.

Sarah raised a brow. "You heading out?"

Tarissa nodded with a frown. "We'll just be glad to be out of your hair. The machine was right, we can't all be bunched up. It'd just draw attention." Tarissa said.

Sarah shook her head. "No, it was no problem at all. It was the least I could do."

Tarissa saw the shame in Sarah's eyes even as she averted them. She couldn't lie, she still held some resentment for the woman, even though she no longer wanted to; and even though her husbands death was far in the past, she couldn't help the fact that resentment was a natural emotion that everyone felt.

The woman found herself leaning in and giving Sarah Connor a hug, something she never thought she would do if her life depended on it. It seemed Sarah was just as surprised as her as she attempted to pull away on instinct - an understandable reaction with someone who just grabbed you out of the blue. Eventually, Sarah leaned in and awkwardly returned the affection.

Tarissa let go and Sarah cleared her throat.

"Thank you, Sarah." Tarissa said.

Still bumbling from their awkward interaction, Sarah only mustered a mumble in response. "You're welcome." she said weakly.

A month ago, there were a dozen things Tarissa Dyson would say to Sarah Connor - most of them bad, but she just had no more words to say, to Sarah Connor or otherwise. Silently, she gestured for Blythe to follow Catherine Weaver outside. When the girl did so, Tarissa faced Sarah once more.

"I didn't want to say this in front of Blythe, but... I got a feeling Danny's not batting for our team, anymore." she stated.

Sarah gasped quietly, eyeing Tarissa down. "Why do you say that?" she asked.

Tarissa averted her eyes and gazed around the room, an anxious human reaction.

"Mother's intuition." she replied.

Sarah understood that, and watched as Tarissa turned around. Before the woman reached the front door, she found herself giving Sarah a look once more, one that spoke as if to present a warning.

"You keep an eye on that machine." she ordered.

Sarah glanced at the disabled female Terminator laying on a bench made from two dining chairs. She frowned and nodded.

"Yeah."

Tarissa shook her head. "No, not that one... the other one."

Sarah turned her head and gave a disconcerted look at Tarissa. She gazed down momentarily, before commenting in her head that she was way ahead of Tarissa on that one.

"And when you find my son... please, bring him home."

Sarah licked her lips in an anxious manner, seeing several scenarios of that particular outcome being less than possible. She didn't have the courage nor the fortitude to muster a verbal response, only replying by nodding her head.

Tarissa seemed not to catch on to Sarah's uncertain gesture, possibly seeing her as being capable of anything, and thus believing her to be incapable of weakness. The two had been mothers for a very long time, long enough to know that even the slightest hint of weakness could present a flaw in your defense of your family. But they were all human, fear was a natural part of life - even though neither Tarissa nor Sarah cared to admit it.

"Take care of yourself Sarah." Tarissa said.

Emotionally, Sarah Connor smiled. "You too."


"So... the future... homicidal computer..." Peter recapped for John and Cameron sitting in front of him. "You - the leader of mankind." he continued. Peter stared at nothing before burying his face in his hands. The information he had seized had left him flabbergasted.

John spoke tenderly to the man. "It's not easy to take in... I know." he sighed and took a seat next to Peter on the couch.

Peter licked his lips anxiously. "Under. Fucking. Statement." he replied vigorously. He faced John.

"You guys got a beer?" he asked.

John nodded and walked toward the fridge, opening it and taking out a bottle of Corona. He popped open the cap on the side of the kitchen counter and handed the alcoholic beverage to the man.

"Savor it." John advised.

Peter toasted to John. "Thanks kid." he said before taking seizing a large gulp from the bottle. He lost himself in thought for a long while as John and Cameron watched - letting the man soak in the new information they had given him.

Before John could further burden the man with more information, James Ellison unlocked the door to the house and stepped inside. He greeted the living room occupants with a nod before turning around and closing the door.

"He okay?" Ellison asked as the door clicked shut.

The way the question was phrased made it seem like Peter expected John or Cameron to answer for him. That wasn't the case as the man spoke up before either of them could do so.

"It's a lot to take in, and I sure as hell won't get used to it overnight... but, man it's just all crazy. When did you say this was supposed to happen again?"

"2011." Cameron answered.

Peter let out a deep breath. "Shit... that's only two years away."

Ellison cocked his brows in a sympathetic way. "Time's gonna fly." he said. The man looked at John and addressed him directly. "Tell Catherine I left Savannah's food in the fridge. I'm needed at Zeira Corp for security detail in about fifteen minutes. Matt's gonna give me a hell of an earful I just know it." he said.

John nodded at the man and briefly watched as he made his way into his room to search for his keys.

When Ellison was out of earshot, John turned to Cameron. "Was it the same one?"

The Cyborg didn't need further clarification to know what he was asking. "No. The one that attacked Catherine and I was different. She was all liquid metal, this one has living tissue over her torso and legs, but not her arms." Cameron turned and stared at the disabled machine with curious eyes. "I don't understand. Why would you make a machine half-endo, half-mimetic polyalloy? It's not practical in a combat situation." she speculated.

John frowned. "Yeah, maybe she's some sort of multi-tool? Like a... Swiss Army Terminator?" he jokingly questioned.

Cameron didn't seem to catch the hint of humor he offered. "Not likely. It's much easier just to give the necessary utilities to a T-1000 model. Perhaps the reasoning is that the endoskeleton is much more durable? The 1000 model can be halted by shotgun blasts while it's alloy reforms." she said.

John shrugged. "Maybe..."

Both of them didn't notice Peter giving them a hysterical look as they discussed the circumstances of the machine. "I'm sorry, uh... what's - Magnetic Polygon...alloy?"

Cameron faced him. "Mimetic Polyalloy." she corrected. "Liquid metal. It's an alloy that allows the Terminator to reform after sustaining damage in combat, and to take the form of any target it desires as long as it is of equal size. It's almost impossible to destroy one." she clarified.

Peter scoffed. "Oh! That's wonderful." he sarcastically remarked.

"You can kill one if you dip in temperatures hot enough. Back in 1995 my mom and I were hunted by one. We managed to destroy it after we blew it into molten steel." he reassured. "It went out with a bang. Literally." he joked.

Seeing the humor in his comment, Peter finally found the strength to smile genuinely once more. And it felt good.


"Why?! Why! After I asked you specifically not go after her!" Danny yelled.

Jade shushed him. "Be quiet Danny! The entire apartment complex can hear us!"

Danny growled in frustration, he took a seat on the couch and buried his fingers into his temple.

"I can't believe you, Jade!" he sneered in a tone more quiet, but much more aggressive.

"I almost had her." she argued.

Danny shot up. "Almost? ALMOST?! You almost got yourself killed! And you definitely let the Connors know that someone's on to them! Dammit we could've had the element of surprise Jade!" he yelled.

"She was scared." Jade said quietly.

The room fell silent, and Danny slowly looked up at his Companion. "What?"

A ghost of a smile fell across Jade's lips. "She was scared, of me."

Danny sighed. "Are you saying she's becoming self-aware?"

Jade shook her head. "No. I'm saying she is self-aware. For the majority of the fight I had the upper hand, but... I may have told her John Connor was next on my list after her."

Danny raised a brow. "Doesn't she know already?"

Jade's smile turned into a half-frown, the expression of someone who was about to admit a mistake. "I may have... taunted her."

Danny scoffed. "Great. Just great."

There was a silence between the two for a long while before Danny spoke up again.

"You realize this means I have to work double-time on the virus, right? If we want this plan to work, we can't give her ANY clue about what we're up to." Danny said.

Jade frowned. "Sorry Danny."

Danny Dyson fought the urge to roll his eyes. He'd been disappointed with Jade before, usually regarding her poor decisions, but this was completely unacceptable. Without another word, he walked to his computer and opened the program for the virus. The clacking sound of words being typed filled the room, and Jade found comfort in watching Danny work. He was upset, sure; but he'll live.


This was shorter than I'd like (especially considering how long I've been gone) I'm just super busy. Sorry guys!