Chapter 34: The Hornet's Nest
Summary
Edvard arrives in California, forcing Daniel Dyson to confront him. Sarah, Derek, and Penny pull recon at the Kaliba warehouse. John reveals his greatest secret to the Engineer.
The sounds of a keyboard were all too familiar to Danny. He'd spent his time at University at a keyboard for the most part. Research for his papers, typing reports, doing homework. These were instinctual to his fingers. When he wrote the Black Widow virus, he had to train himself. He had never written code that complex before, and it wasn't easy to learn, nor master. When he received word that Edvard "Harp" Kleven, his boss, was coming to America through an airline and that he would be arriving today - Danny knew he had to type out a report. It was easy enough, it was a good return to form as it gave his hands a much-needed break from the complex strings of code.
The boy glanced at Cameron's deactivated body. Her lifeless eyes stared into the dark concrete walls to his left. He remembered what Jade had told her about the machine, how she was John Connor's greatest ally. How the only thing that truly stood between him and justice, was her. He remembered seeing her for the first time; that cool night in 1999 when Sarah had once again arrived at their door. He remembered the look on his mother's face, an expression of surprise mixed with anger. That's when he saw the girl, the one who looked no older than John did. She seemed harmless enough, but he remembered how upset his mother had been after they'd left.
The Dysons were never fond of the Connors. Who could blame them? Their first meeting resulted in the death of his father, the one man Danny had always looked up to, they had torn him away from them. They judged him on crimes he hadn't even committed yet. He'd risked everything, and he paid dearly. Was that fair?
He heard light footsteps behind him, the rhythm matching Jade - the liquid metal Terminator assigned to him. He didn't turn around to greet her, but he felt her presence all too well. He felt her eyes burn into his back, expecting some sort of acknowledgment; but nothing came.
"Mr. Kleven arrives in one hour. I suggest we make our way to the airport." Jade said simply, no emotion present in her voice.
Danny was silent for a moment. He thought about the man who had hired him, who had offered him Justice, using Jade as a conduit for his orders. It was a good deal, at least until Danny heard the terms. No family, no life to live until his obligations to Kaliba were complete.
"Alright." Danny answered dryly.
Disregarding her, Danny continued typing, not intent on elaborating why. The only sound that halted the silence was that of the clacking keys that Danny pushed. Jade regarded him for a moment before turning and walking away, with that same rhythmic pace she had approached him with.
LOS ANGELES OUTSKIRTS, MARCH 2ND, 2024.
The pitter-patter of rain impacting onto the concrete was starting to get to him. He had been listening to it for almost an hour. He had been waiting on Private Lanning to arrive with the Sniper Rifle, so they could pick off Terminator targets much easier. The main goal was to liberate a small Skynet work camp that was staffed with human prisoners. They weren't used as slaves to assist in the creation of Outposts, no. Those haven't been around since the beginning of the war. These humans were used by the greys to help the Terminators better understand human behavior. Infiltrators were already hard to deal with, one that could effectively blend in better than the others could be disastrous for the Resistance.
Derek heard the concrete shuffle behind him, and he quickly unsheathed his Beretta and pointed it at the source of the sound. That's when he saw Private Lanning step into what little light they had with his hands raised.
"Woah Woah. It's just me Sarge." he said. He had an Anti-Material Rifle slung over his back, a large weapon, probably the size of a man.
Derek lowered his sidearm and huffed in annoyance. "Where the hell have you been?" he asked venomously.
Lanning got on all fours and slowly crawled over to Derek's position. The debris crunching under his movements, and he didn't speak until he was right next to Derek on the overlook, with a nice view of the Skynet Camp.
"Dodgin' Metal ain't easy. I had to come alone, they couldn't risk an escort so I took a detour. Sorry to keep you waiting, sir." Lanning explained. He then pulled the rifle off of his back, aiming the scope ahead into the Skynet camp.
Derek nodded in understanding. He hadn't meant to be as moody as he was, but the war was beginning to take it's toll on him much more than it had before. His PTSD was getting worse, and he couldn't afford to lose what little sanity he had left.
"You see that one next to the car? It's the first one we gotta take out." Derek said.
Lanning focused on Derek's target, once the scope settled, his eyes widened with concern.
"Shit! That's the new Triple-Eight isn't it?" Lanning asked quietly.
"Yeah, but it's skull is just as vulnerable to those rounds as an 800, so don't sweat it." Derek replied.
Lanning shifted in the spot uncomfortably. "You do know this thing louder than hell, right? If I fire this thing, the whole damn base is gonna know where we are." he said in concern.
"That's why we wait for the thunder." Derek said.
Lanning nodded his head along with an "Ohhhhh" sound of realization, causing Derek to roll his eyes.
"When you see the lightning, that's your cue. Drop that son of a bitch when the sky lights up." Derek instructed.
"You got it boss." Lanning replied before he cycled the bolt on his rifle.
They waited. The sky was dark and the rain didn't help. Visibility wasn't as bad as it could've been. Skynet had somewhat put itself at a disadvantage with all the lights in the base. There were enough to highlight the small buildings inside, the targets were clear to them. The Terminator patrols inside the base were harder to see but not impossible. Finally, the sky lit up, a flash of light tore across the horizon, and a second later, the thunder came.
Lanning pulled the trigger, praying he wouldn't miss. The thunder would cover the sound, but the dirt jumping up would surely alert the machines of a hostile presence if he missed. The round tore through the air, finding a destination in the head of the T-888 that had been standing guard. Its metal body fell right, hitting the ground with a surprisingly quiet thud.
"He's down." Lanning said coldly as he observed the unmoving machine.
"I saw. Nice shot." Derek said.
He continued to observe the area around the base. His eyes rested on a T-800 standing atop the roof of a burned-out car, scanning the horizon.
"There's a T-800 at your one o'clock. About 40 meters I'd say." Derek reported.
Lanning lowered the scope on to the machine, it stood still. A few seconds he waited, with only small rumbles from the sky, not loud enough to cover the shot. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, a beat of silence followed. After it passed, a loud drum of thunder shot from the sky.
Lanning pulled the trigger, another Anti-Armor round tore through the air. Lanning saw the spark from the electronics inside the Terminator's skull explode as the round made quick work of it from his scope.
"Got him." Lanning said.
Derek and Lanning continued to recon the surrounding area. It was a smaller base, hidden in a large area surrounded by canyons; both natural and created by debris. Derek used his binoculars while Lanning used the scope. Neither of them saw anything.
"Guess we got all the patrols. It's a smaller base, so I wouldn't expect too many patrols at the moment." Derek pulled out his radio from inside his coat. "Pride One, squire."
"Pride One, go ahead." the operator on the other end replied.
"Outer patrols eliminated. You can send your men up. We'll keep you covered from here." Derek said.
"Copy Squire."
2009, L.A. Docks
"Reese? Reese, you awake?" The frustrated Sarah Connor asked her silent brother-in-law.
Derek snapped out of his memory. He turned to see Sarah in the Driver's seat of the car and then eyed the center-view mirror to see the new metal in the backseat. The machine was focusing on the pier outside, scanning for patrols.
"Reese!" Sarah barked.
Derek turned his head to Sarah, giving her his full attention. The woman looked annoyed with him, not that he could blame her. She probably hated pulling recon on this place as much as he did.
"Your head in the game?" Sarah demanded in a patronizing tone.
Derek tore his eyes away from her, darting them around the interior of the car before sighing heavily.
"Yeah..."
Sarah could tell he was thinking about the war again. While she was sympathetic to her brother-in-law's experiences, the current situation requested his attention in the present, and not in the future.
"I count seven. You?" Sarah asked. She had asked Derek, but Penny was the one to reply.
"Twelve." she deadpanned.
Sarah glanced back at the machine, obviously not a fan of being contradicted even if she was wrong. The group was a far enough distance away from the dock that spotting patrols were difficult enough, so it was lucky they had a machine that was capable of optical manipulation in some sort.
"Two guarding the main door, two patrolling the left perimeter, two on the right. There are three snipers in three towers, each of them facing east, west, and north. The remaining four are guarding the back entrance; I saw the patrol turn the corner eight seconds ago." Penny elaborated. She turned her head to face Sarah before she continued speaking. "It is logical to assume there are more inside. I cannot get an exact estimate without visual confirmation."
Sarah glanced at Derek. She paused for a moment before returning her attention to Penny.
"Can you do it?"
Penny nodded. "Yes."
She proceeded to open the door to the car. The machine strolled forward toward the pier; a flabbergasted Sarah Connor rolled down the window and yelled after the headstrong machine.
"What if you get caught?" Sarah yelled.
"I won't." Penny deadpanned quietly, but just loud enough for John's mother to hear.
Ash carefully explained to John the specifics of reprogramming a Terminator. There were so many things involved and it would probably take months to master, but the Engineer tried his best to explain.
"Their CPU's are very complex. The AI was designed to be both obedient and independent, you may think to yourself 'Oh, there's no way Skynet will be able to control their machines if that's the case.' And that's where you're wrong, the code that blocks those two protocols from each other is extremely... John?"
Ashley saw the troubled boy staring into space, doing nothing. It's as if he was caught in a trance that had been bestowed on him by a supernatural force. The eyes were dead and he barely moved. The Engineer frowned, he then put a comforting hand on John's left shoulder.
"I'm sorry about Cameron, kiddo. They'll get her back, don't you worry." Ash said.
John gritted his teeth with anger; not at Ashley, but with Cameron's kidnappers. Kaliba started off as an inconvenience before evolving into the threat they are now. He and his mother had fought so hard, he and Cameron had found each other, for the first time in ages, he had been happy.
Now, this.
The worst part was that they weren't even machines. Kaliba did the bidding of Skynet no doubt, but they were human nonetheless. He remembered his Uncle's seething contempt for the Greys, and now he understood. He shared his hatred of them, perhaps even more so.
"John?" Ashley asked.
The teenager shook himself out of his trance and cleared his throat. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."
Ash was never a comforting type. The most he had done was keep company during a friend's time of grief. But Ash knew more than anyone what it was like to have an emotionally-drained son. Usually, it didn't end well.
Before Ash could say anything, John spoke.
"Can I tell you something?"
Ash shrugged in confusion, but still curious as to what it was. "Sure."
"You can't tell anyone." John insisted firmly.
Ash shook his head. "Not a soul."
There was silence as John thought of the words to say. His emotions jolted left to right, anger to sadness before finally settling on a foul mixture of both.
"I want to kill them. All of them."
Hearing his words, Ash was taken aback. On instinct, he retracted his hand and moved it back to his side. He also unknowingly moved a short length away from John, giving himself space between himself and the Teenager.
"Who?" Ash asked, his voice cracking slightly.
John regained his composure, realizing he had made his companion uncomfortable. He rested his right hand on his temple, letting out a deep sigh as he did so, trying to find the right words.
"That wasn't me. That wasn't me." his inner voice said.
"I uh, I'm sorry that was uncalled for. It's just..." he started, once again halted by the lack of direction his brain was giving him.
Ash returned his hand back to John's shoulder. The older man didn't think himself to be wise, but he had enough experience with John. He'd seen that side of him before, it wasn't uncommon.
"I know, I know. It's not easy having someone taken away from you like that. Especially someone you love." he said.
John's head shot up, locking eyes with Ash.
"Wait... you know?" he asked.
The Engineer gave him a look with a 'come on man' grin.
John rolled his eyes. "Of course you know." he sighed quietly. "That obvious, huh?"
Ash gave John a pat on his shoulder. It didn't seem like the older man thought any less of John for whom he loved; it was obvious he had great respect and admiration for Cameron, unlike Derek and his mother.
"Kid, I've seen the way you look at her. The only thing that look says is that you love something." Ash playfully waved his hand away. "But I'm not gonna judge ya. Although I'm curious..."
"Does she..." Ash started.
"Love you back?"
John's frown slowly transformed upwards, his eyes were refilled with life, the joy and love that Ash recognized whenever the boy looked at Cameron.
"Yes." John answered simply.
Ash let out a deep, thoughtful breath. He knew immediately on that rainy night in 2027 when John had brought in Cameron, that something had to have been different about her. The way she moved, spoke, even the way she looked at people. There was always a brighter spark than other machines. He figured it was about time that Skynet created something it couldn't control.
"You always insisted she was special, you know?" Ash said.
John gave him a bewildered look. It was something that Cameron had failed to mention before; a part of him wished she had brought it up at some point. He realized Ash's words were probably true. There was no way John could look Cameron in the eye, even early in her existence, and say that she wasn't different.
"She is... I don't what it is. But she is." John replied quietly.
Ash pat John on the back. "You ever gonna tell your mom?"
John smirked, his first genuine one all day. "I don't think that's necessary."
Before anything more could be said, an alert went off on John's laptop. The steady beep was hard to hear at first, but it grabbed John's attention quickly. He gently brushed past the engineer and pulled the laptop onto the glass table in front of him. He moved the mouse to wake the device and saw a notification in the bottom-right corner.
"What is it?" Ashley asked.
John glanced at Ash. "I set it up to notify me in case any matches were found on any inquiries about tech companies that have a chain in Nevada and California, and it looks like..." John clicked the notification. "...we have a match."
An article appeared in John's browser. The picture showed a facility that was rather large, probably taking up over an acre in size alone.
A puzzled Ash squinted his eyes at the article. "Harp Corp? What the hell is that?" he asked.
An equally bewildered John shook his head. "It's a private facility. There's one sixteen miles west of Los Angeles, and another about thirty-one miles south of Las Vegas. Both discreet, heavily privatized. Based on these pictures, I imagine security is pretty tight." John explained.
John googled the name "harp corp" into his browser. A multitude of results appeared onscreen. The owner, Edvard "Harp" Kleven was linked to the official website, and John clicked it.
He narrowed his eyes into the article and began to read. "Edvard Harp... born in 1958 in Bergen, Norway. Became a millionaire at age twenty-five after he established Harp Corp. at age twenty-four, became one of Europe's most successful entrepreneurs in less than twenty years. He expanded his business to the United States in 2008 in order to branch out and gain favour with the American public." he read.
There was a moment of silence as John and Ash absorbed the information. The man in the picture was a middle-aged man with light brown hair posing for a black and white photograph. He had a reserved look, one complimented by the white dress shirt and black slacks he wore.
"You think this is our guy?" Ash asked.
John closed the laptop, staring ahead before he spoke.
"I'll be damned if he isn't."
LOS ANGELES OUTSKIRTS, MARCH 2ND, 2024.
Derek jolted as the Plasma fire tore through the torso of one of his squadmates. From his cover, he watched the man twitch helplessly before he went limp, his eyes staring into the clouds, the blood on his mouth washing away from the rain into the mud below. Derek turned back and addressed Lanning.
"We're pinned down here. Blademaster's grounded due to the weather, I'm outta smokes." He said.
Lanning could barely hear Derek over the cataclysm of small arms fire erupting from the perimeter of the Skynet camp. It turned out the camp was better guarded than they had expected, and they were losing men quickly. The younger private looked around frantically for a solution, but none were presented. His eyes darted to Derek, begging for his input.
Derek saw the helplessness in his companion's eyes. But even he could not summon miracles of war. Before he could speak again, Derek heard a muffled voice over the radio attached to his utility belt.
The soldier retrieved the belt, trying desperately to hear the voice on the other side despite the weapon fire erupting all around him, occupying his only hearing space.
"SQUIRE!" The operator on the other end screamed. Derek could hear the fear in his voice. From his end, it seemed like they were engaging heavy Terminator Resistance.
"Squire! Go ahead!" Derek yelled back.
"Bravo-one has been wiped out by those fucking Reaper turrets, where's the damn demolition squad!?" the other soldier yelled.
"Let me check." Derek replied. He switched channels on his radio. "Goliath Actual, what's your position?!"
Silence. Private Lanning gave Derek a nervous look, his eyes darted left behind their cover. He saw three T-800's moving in quickly, all of them wielding 40-Watt Plasma Rifles. His eyes widened in fear.
"They're coming Sergeant!" Lanning yelled.
"GOLIATH ACTUAL! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!" Derek screamed, his voice full of anger. Again, there was no reply. "WATERS! ANSWER ME, GODDAMMIT!"
Lanning looked again and saw the machines closing in, only a few seconds away. There red eyes piercing through the darkness, scanning for a target before they landed on him. The Private moved just in time, one bolt of plasma shot past his left shoulder, it was so close that Lanning could smell the Ozone. Another bolt barely missed his right cheek. Lanning opened fire on the machines with his Anti-Material rifle; running to the left, trying to draw the machines away from Derek. The recoil from the weapon caused his shoulder to briefly dislocate. The pain was great, but the machines were too close, he couldn't stop now.
Sergeant Reese's eyes widened heavily at the actions of the soldier. He lowered the radio and took a step forward.
"LANNING! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Derek screamed.
Plasma weapons fired at Lanning as he responded. "Keep hailing em' sarge! I'll draw them away!" Lanning replied before cycling the bolt on his rifle. Lanning blind-fired the rifle, the round managed to penetrate the chassis of one of the machines, disabling it. However, the recoil caused the large rifle to fly out of Lanning's hands, and him to fall to the ground on his back.
The remaining two 800's raised their rifles, Lanning's eyes widened in horror, the last thing he saw were the barrels lighting up. Derek watched as the Plasma tore a gaping hole into Private Lanning's cranium, the maw of his head searing from the plasma.
Derek's heart stopped. His ears went deaf, his eyes widened. All he could feel was a shock, it felt as if time had ground to a halt. The only stimulus Derek could feel was that of the rain falling onto his skin. Finally, his catatonic state withered away, quickly being replaced by pure rage. A primal fury burned within him, and all he could do was scream at the machines.
The T-800 closest to him slowly turned around, the darkness enveloping its chassis. The Red Eyes tore through the space between them, the only beacon of its presence that Derek could make out clearly. The rain surrounded the machine, combining with the darkness to make the eyes seem like a dark, ancient predator that had located its prey. The Terminator fired at Derek, the soldier only barely managing to slide into cover. He wasted no time running the opposite direction toward the main battle between Bravo-two and the Reaper turrets. His feet kicked mud, he hoped the thunder covered the sound of his heavy panting as he skimmed along the Perimeter wall of the camp.
Derek reached two stacked metal crates that held god-knows-what, and he took cover behind them. It wasn't long before the two pursuing machines closed in. Their figures still obscured by night and the weather. The red eyes scanned for Derek as they came to a stop in front of the crates. Derek shut his eyes, the tight lids straining heavily beneath the pressure. The soldier gripped his G3 rifle tightly, feeling the make of the weapon in his gloved hand. He realized that he had armed himself with a single Pipe Bomb before he left for the mission.
Derek peaked around the corner of the crates and saw the two machines still there. The devilish grin that had become a prime feature of the endo-skull wasn't visible, as both machines had focused their search to their right, about ten feet away from him. He figured the only reason he wasn't dead already was because the thunder and rain had hidden the sound of his heavy panting from them. Derek moved his head out of sight and retrieved his lighter from his right pocket. It was proving difficult to light the pipe bomb due to the rain.
His heart beat quickly, and he heard one of the machines approaching the crates. The metal feet dug into the mud with each step, tearing away at the Earth beneath as it walked.
"Come on, Come on." Derek grunted quietly, still encountering difficulty lighting the bomb.
The lighter clicked once more, nothing. It did so again, still nothing. Derek could hear the machine getting closer - it was right on top of him now. He would be dead in a matter of seconds.
Finally, the lighter clicked and a flame shot out.
"Yes!" Derek thought to himself.
He lit the Pipe Bomb, and with quick speed, he dropped the bomb to his right and sprinted away as fast as he could, back to where he ran away from. It only took a few seconds for the machine to realize what had happened. It raised its plasma rifle to its shoulder, the sight landing on Derek's back; but before it could fire, the Pipe Bomb went off. A loud explosion went off behind him, and the machine was thrown on its chest. Mud and debris flew around the blast area, and the second machine quickly came about, its eyes finding Derek easily.
The Resistance soldier looked back and saw the first Terminator standing back up, recomposing itself. He hissed in frustration after realizing the machine had only been mildly inconvenienced at best. Derek kept running, though. He eventually found himself at his original position, only a few feet away from Lanning's corpse. He once again gained his bearings; but before he could take off again, a bright, invasive light shone directly on him. Derek heard the engines roar as an aerial object hovered overhead.
Derek's eyes narrowed to see what it was, before they widened in horror at what he identified it as.
"Aerial. Shit!" Derek huffed.
He saw the nose-mounted laser turret take aim at him. He knew he was surrounded on all sides, and there was no escape. You could outrun a T-800 if you damaged it enough, but not an aerial. The inevitability of the situation didn't warrant debate; Derek knew his fate was sealed. The soldier closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable.
But no fire came, at least not from the aerial. An explosion went in front of him, the blast knocking him on his rear. Derek coughed from the impact, his vision unfocused and ears muffled from the sound. Derek's eyes refocused and he watched as the Aerial Hunter Killer went up in flames, losing control quickly. The Jet fell toward the ground, just behind him. He saw the two Terminators from earlier had finally caught up to him. They both failed to react as the flying machine crashed into the ground - crushing them both.
Derek picked himself back up and breathed a sigh of relief as the fire from the wreck illuminated the surrounding area. He no longer had to suppress his heavy panting, and that felt good.
"Squire? Squire, you copy?" Derek heard. The voice was familiar to him: Elton Waters.
Derek retrieved the radio from his utility belt, pleasantly surprised it survived the explosion.
"Where. the fuck. have you been?" Derek hissed.
"We got held up sir. The weather caused some a mudslide and we had an injury due to-"
"Just shut the hell up and get down here. You've got a Reaper turret and the men can't get past it." Derek snapped, interrupting Waters mid-sentence.
"Yes, sir."
Derek clipped the radio back onto his belt. He turned his head to face Lanning's corpse, or what was left of it. The Plasma tore through his cranium, leaving no eyes to see and virtually no part of his nose. Derek approached him slowly, his eyes resting on Lanning's tags. The soldier, still being engulfed by rainfall, crouched down and took them gently off of Lanning's neck. Derek wiped away the mud with his thumb before putting them in his left jacket pocket. He then reached over and picked up the Rifle, giving Waters one final glance before slinging the weapon over his shoulder, and walking away.
2009
It was busy, as most airports were. Full of people who had no idea what was coming, or if they did, they had chosen to ignore it. It was particularly hot that day, Danny's weather tool in his car informed him that the temperature had a high of 98 degrees. Luckily, they had been inside the airport for a while, being able to enjoy the expensive air conditioning the facility offered.
Danny sat next to Jade on a squad of chairs that were placed outside of a food court. A set of stores lined the central shopping center of the airport, each of them filled with people waiting to board their flight. It was loud, and Danny didn't like loud, especially in a public area where he could be easily recognized. He watched as a younger, brunette-haired woman walked by talking on a cellphone. She wore nice clothes and carried a suitcase in her right hand. Danny smiled to himself, the woman was probably going on a business trip, and those were something he was glad weren't greatly common in his current line of work.
"Loosen up." Jade deadpanned next to him.
Danny turned and gave Jade a demeaning look. "Me loosen up? You've been sitting straight and staring forward at nothing for the past twenty minutes. You look like a Psychopath." Danny shot back.
"I AM a Psychopath. I kill without remorse, I destroy families, and I like to wear red dresses in public." Jade replied, facing forward.
Danny raised a brow. "You're a morbid bitch, you know that?"
This time, Jade faced him. Any emotion she may have had was gone, replaced with a stone-cold expression that chilled Daniel to the bone.
"That's how you've stayed alive so long. What? You think Mr. Kleven sent me here to have morning coffee with his enemies?" Jade replied again in her emotionless tone.
Danny cocked his neck in agreement. "Good point." he replied. His eyes rose slowly to see a middle-aged Caucasian male stepping out of the boarding tube, carrying a single suitcase. The man wore dark sunglasses but Danny could tell who it was.
"There he is."
Edvard put his suitcase down. He adjusted his tie before taking a seat on to one of the chairs that were placed next to the boarding tube. It only took a few seconds before he was approached by a familiar face.
"Hello, Mr. Kleven." A sweet, silky voice said to him.
Edvard looked up to see a warm smile greet him, with a barely composed one on the face of her companion. Edvard stood up and returned Jade's smile.
"Jade, my dear." he greeted back as he took her left hand, and kissed her gently on the wrist. The older man's smile vanished quickly as he made eye contact with Danny.
"Daniel." Edvard greeted dryly.
"Hello, sir." Danny replied in a tone lacking composure or grace.
Edvard turned back to Jade. "Shall we?"
It was a long walk back to the main entrance of the airport. The crowds were massive, condensed, and loud. Edvard didn't like them at all. There were loud airports in Europe, sure, but not to this extent. The three of them walked together; Jade on the right, Edvard in middle, and Danny on the left. It wasn't until they spotted a neatly-dressed man, wearing a suit jacket, clean black pants, and an equally black tie holding up a sign with the name "John Smith" written in a graceful font.
Immediately, Danny knew who it was. He faced Edvard and rose an incredulous brow.
"John Smith?" he asked.
Edvard shrugged. "What? It's an American name."
The tall European approached the man who was holding the sign, he reached into his right pant pocket and retrieved his wallet. He opened it and gently took out his Kaliba Identification badge. Edvard and his companions watched the man briefly inspect the badge before he nodded in satisfaction. He gestured for all of them to follow him. They walked outside of the airport and stopped in front of a black sedan that was parked about a hundred feet from the entrance.
The man opened and held the back door. Edvard got in first, taking a seat by the right-most window, followed by Danny and then Jade. The man closed the door and made his way to the Driver's seat, not saying a word to anyone as he did so.
"Where to, sir?" the man asked in a disciplined tone. His voice was heavy and dark as if all the uncertainty had been drained from it a long time ago. Danny guessed he was probably ex-military.
"Compound India." Edvard said. He didn't bother looking up at the man as he answered, he had opened his suitcase and began sifting through paperwork until he finally found what he was looking for.
As the car began its journey, Edvard held up the paper in front of him, as if it was a piece of treasure that had been discovered by an adventurer.
"This is your report." Edvard said to Danny.
Danny's face started to turn red from anxiety. Edvard began reading over the contents of the page, a task which only took a few moments. Danny didn't claim to be a professional writer, he didn't spice his reports up with any kind of pointless gibberish in the form of complicated words or painfully boring elaborations. He got the point, and that was good enough for his professor at least.
Edvard's neutral expression suddenly transformed into one of favor. "So, you made a virus that targets a machine's memories? Feeding them to Kaliba servers without them knowing?"
Danny nodded. "Y-yeah. They won't know it's happening because it'll be using a separate network; a 'Ghost Network' as I like to call it to carry the intel. Once it's in our hands, we send a Kaliba kill team to neutralize a target. It'll help weaken the Resistance."
Edvard gave Danny a smile of approval. "Very good, Daniel. I'm impressed."
Danny managed a small smile but made sure to keep his humility in check. "Thank you."
"And you've captured one already, correct?" Edvard asked.
Danny nodded. "That's right. Cameron." he reached into the pocket on his cheap dress shirt and pulled out a small photograph. One of a single, black-haired Hispanic woman probably no older than twenty-five.
Edvard took the photo from Danny and examined it. "Alicia Delgado? What's special about her?"
"She's an ally of the Connors. I don't know much about her, I only know what's been told to me. The name matches a Resistance Lieutenant based in New Mexico, apparently, she oversaw shipments of whatever rations or weapons the Resistance could salvage from shipwrecks. It didn't make Skynet's job hard, but it's still a loose end."
Edvard eyed the photo for another moment. The woman didn't look happy in the picture, he guessed it was probably a mugshot. Suddenly, his eyes looked as if new life had been breathed into them. His intense gaze fell upon Danny.
"Did you say Cameron?"
Penny had noticed quickly that the dockworkers and armed guards were both under the employ of Kaliba. However, the two obviously had different levels of access. Luckily for her, it was easy to distinguish which was which. The dockworkers wore orange polo shirts with a stylized "K" printed on the right breast and were usually seen lifting crates or generally performing physical labor, while the guards wore black combat shirts, a Kevlar vest, and were armed with Heckler & Koch MP5's, Remington Shotguns, or in the case of the tower guards - Remington M40 Sniper Rifles.
As she stepped into the dock, she noticed a large boat was docked already, with a pair of workers carrying a heavy crate onto a ramp that led onto the deck. There was some water on the concrete walkway that was being brushed back down with a squeegee by a dockworker. Penny scanned all of the humanoids in the area.
SCAN COMPLETE.
ALL ENTITIES WITHIN PERIMETER OF SCAN ARE HUMAN.
MACHINE PRESENCE NEGATIVE.
"HEY! Hey! Blondie!" a smoky voice called out from behind her.
Penny turned around with impressive speed. She saw an obviously frustrated, short Hispanic woman approaching her. The woman was older, around sixty, and had a cigarette in her mouth as she angrily marched at Penny.
"Listen sweetheart, once you clock in, you get to work! Mr. Gary don't like no slackers." the woman barked.
Before the Terminator could get a single word in, the woman glanced at Penny's torso, obviously searching for something; and groaned in annoyance when she didn't find it.
"Where the hell's your ID?" The woman snapped as she pointed at Penny's orange shirt, the cigarette between her middle and pointer finger.
Penny was about to give an excuse her processor provided, but the woman once again stopped her with another angry tirade.
"Bah! I'll have to make you another one." she said.
The woman made her way to a small kiosk that was situated near the back entrance of the warehouse. The kiosk smelt bad; there was a trashcan that looked like it hadn't been emptied and replaced in two weeks, there was an ashtray that held probably thirty Cigarette buds, and as a final foul touch, the lightbulb that hung at the top of the small structure was flickering.
"What's your name, hon?" The woman asked in a surprisingly calm tone as she dragged her cigarette.
"Penny." the Terminator answered firmly.
The woman wrote down the name onto a pre-made cutout of an ID. There was a barcode on the back that was used to slide into the terminal near the kiosk that workers used to punch-in to work. Once she was done, the woman handed Penny her ID.
"Now, before you go..." The woman started as Penny pinned her ID to her polo shirt. When that was done, she gave the woman her full attention.
"I'm guessing you're new. So here are the ground rules: Stay away from the sub-basement door. There are always two guards at the door, and those guns are loaded. Don't make any small talk with anyone; we hate that shit, believe me. And finally, stay the hell away from that otha' blonde chick." the woman's face distorted into one of disgust. "She gives me the creeps."
Penny nodded. "Thank you." she said.
The woman ashed her cigarette into the tray on the table. "Yeah." she replied dismissively.
Penny took her leave, continuing into the dock. She took note of many of the workers admiring her; she chalked it up due to her physical attractiveness, and realized always being watched would be a problem. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see a muscular dockworker approaching her from behind. She noticed that a smaller man had dropped the box they were both carrying, but the stronger man hadn't even noticed.
"Hey there sweetness." the man crudely greeted. He tried his best to stand up straight, straining his body in order to emphasize his already defined musculature.
Penny put on her most neutral expression. She made it clear she wasn't impressed by his aggressive demeanor.
"I am working." Penny deadpanned.
The man chuckled. "Shit, baby. Break time's in ten minutes. Whaddya' say we go to storage and get to know each other?" the man replied. Penny had to give it to him, he didn't hold anything back.
"BACK TO WORK PAUL!" the same smoky voice demanded from the kiosk.
The man groaned in annoyance, surrendering his confidence. Before he walked away, he winked at Penny. "Shit, maybe next time sweetness." he promised, clicking his tongue at the end.
Break time in ten minutes? It wasn't a large window, but it was good enough.
2024
Bullets tore past the already shredded cover. The remaining Resistance forces had finally caught up to the main siege force. All the machines outside had been eliminated, and the only remaining defense outside was the Reaper turret.
Derek pressed the comms button on his radio. "Waters, get your ass up here! Turret is tearing us to pieces."
"Copy sir. Almost there." came the reply.
Waters came up behind the other soldiers. One of them went down as a round tore through his shoulder, luckily, his comrades dragged him behind a wall. Waters pointed toward a destroyed car.
"Belfort, set up the AT-4 there. We've got one rocket, make it count." Waters ordered.
"Sir." The soldier acknowledged.
He took cover behind the car, another soldier helped him load the anti-tank missile into the tube. Belfort lifted the weapon onto his shoulder, aiming the sights at the Reaper turret.
"BACK BLAST!" Belfort yelled.
"Clear!" Derek yelled.
"Clear!" Waters yelled.
"Clear!" A final soldier yelled.
"Rocket!" Belfort sounded off.
The AT-4 fired a rocket at the turret. The force of the weapon kicking all the dirt upward.
The Reaper turret went up in flames. The smoldering ruin a beacon of victory for the Resistance fighters.
"Move in! GO GO GO!" Derek yelled.
The siege forces followed Derek inside, each Soldier checking corners for any remaining Terminators. The rain continued to fall, leaving dozens of imprints of boots in the mud. The fire from destroyed turret lighting the surrounding area. Derek and the other soldiers finally arrived at the central compound. Waters approached the door and placed a large breaching charge in the center.
"Cover." Waters said.
A few seconds went by before the charge detonated. Bravo-two, led by Derek were the first ones inside. They expected to find a defense force of machines, but the sight that they were rewarded with sent chills down their spine.
On the floor, every single human prisoner was dead. Upon closer inspection, Derek noticed that some of them had their necks broken, while the others had been shot with a Plasma Weapon. Derek heard a rustling sound two his left and pointed his gun at the sound. He saw a human, an older man with a poorly-kempt mullet and dry, high-class clothing attempting to escape.
"Cover me." Derek muttered to the other soldiers.
"Copy." One of them said.
Derek approached with his weapon still raised. The man was panicking and attempting to open the door. Derek knew he had gone mad, either from the battle or something else.
The man slowly turned around, his face and the front of his shirt were covered in blood. Once he saw Derek, the terrified expression on his face slowly morphed into some sort of twisted pleasure, and he began to laugh.
"They... left me." he said. He laughed again, almost like a mental patient.
Without a word, Derek raised his rifle butt and sent it crashing into the man's face.
"B.J. Fairchild." Derek said aloud. The Resistance fighter glared with fierce hatred at the man who was tied to the chair. They were in the holding cells in the Skynet base where the machines and greys had kept the prisoners. Derek was surrounded by two other Resistance fighters on each side of the cell; both of them had 40-Watt Plasma Rifles scavenged from Skynet troops at the ready.
Without taking his glare off the man, Derek took a knee, coming face-level with his captive. "What'd they promise you? Hm?" Derek asked.
To his credit, the man tried his hardest to maintain his composure. Of course, Derek saw through it. Behind the stone walls the man's eyes attempted to convey, there was clear, obvious fear.
B.J. was silent after Derek asked his question. He figured he wasn't going to get out of this alive, and that this may be the only time he would ever be able to justify his actions to those he betrayed. So what the hell?
"I didn't go to them. I want you to know that." B.J. started.
"So they contacted you?" Derek said, he made sure to sprinkle his tone with contempt. He wasn't going to buy any of B.J.'s explanations, but he could at least try and understand.
"2019. Ventura. You remember?" the grey said simply.
Derek knew, the words took him back all the way to that year. It was the year Skynet began an aggressive push towards Northern California. The AI had it's machines slaughter anyone and anything that stood in its way. Its goal was to establish a foothold in Oregon, and then Washington. After doing so, it would begin an assault into Canada. Resistance Intel confirmed it had planned on building an assembly in the Canadian Yukon. The harsh conditions would make an assault on the factory extremely difficult, if not impossible. As a result, the 16th Locust Battalion, a Unit specializing in holding back Skynet assaults on cities, were sent in to stop it.
Derek nodded. "Yeah. We hammered Skynet with everything we had. We barely managed to push back the assault but it didn't matter. The got through anyway." he explained.
B.J.'s face melted into hatred; taking great offense at Derek's words. "Five-Hundred civilians died that day. Skynet only killed about a fourth of that number, everything else was you."
Derek opened his mouth to speak, but B.J. beat him to it.
"You gave us two hours to evacuate! You told us!" The man yelled, his voice laced with rage and betrayal. "But we only got thirty minutes before artillery started hammering the streets. Your men were firing blindly!" the grey accused.
Derek's temper rose, but not too much. He wasn't in the mood to waste any more feelings on this man. "The forward recon force had been killed, we had no way of knowing-"
"BULLSHIT!" B.J. screamed. He moved forward in his chair, appearing to try and lunge at Derek. Seeing this, both soldiers in the room quickly gripped their weapons and took a step forward. Derek didn't even flinch, and he put his hand back and told the Resistance soldiers to back away.
Derek opened his mouth to speak, but his mind was fighting a war with itself on what to say. No matter what he could do, there was no way he could justify what had been done. He hadn't been a part of the battle himself, but he read the after-action report. It sent the Resistance base into a day-long silence after that.
B.J.'s eyes started to become glassy. He shook his head in shame at Derek. "My wife had thirteen pieces of shrapnel lodged into her body. Four of them were stuck in her vital organs. It took her ten minutes to die, and she screamed the whole damn time."
Derek breathed in deeply. He couldn't imagine what the man had gone through, but that didn't justify his actions now, and it never would.
"So to get back at us, you took forty civilians and used them for your experiments?" Derek said.
The man let out a dry, venomous scoff. "I already told you, Sergeant. Skynet came to me. Told me to help it, or die."
"Bet it gave you some really nice clothes and a comfy bed to sleep in too, huh?" Derek accused.
The grey gave the man a contemptuous grin. "It's a hell of a lot better than skulking around in the dark, drinking your own piss and eating diseased rats just to survive, isn't it? I did what I had to do."
Derek stood up, intensifying his glare as he did so. "And all you had to do was fuck over the rest of us."
There was a moment of silence as Derek and B.J. stared at each other. The Resistance fighter pulled his pistol from his holster and aimed the weapon at the Grey's head. His finger closed in on the trigger, he felt the piece of metal hug his fingers.
A pair of footsteps scurried into the cell. A weathered Resistance Fighter approached hastily.
"Sergeant! Comms reports HK Bombers coming to level the facility. ETA, five minutes."
Derek gave the soldier a look. There wasn't any apparent message in it, but enough of a gesture to warrant a confused reaction from the man.
"Intel packed up?" Derek asked.
"Yes, Sergeant." the soldier replied.
Derek glanced back at the Grey but decided against shooting him and pocketed his pistol. "Tell the men to move out." he ordered.
"Sir." the soldier said before trotting away to perform his task.
Without saying a word, Derek gestured for the two guards to follow him as he exited the cell. He didn't bother looking at B.J. one last time before he left.
"You're not gonna shoot him?" One of the soldiers asked.
Derek shook his head. "No point in wasting the ammo."
The soldier shrugged in uncertainty. "What about the bombers?"
Derek continued walking, not bothering to face the soldier as he spoke. "Well, better hope he makes peace with his god before they get here."
Hello everyone! I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! In the previous months, I re-wrote this chapter FOUR FREAKING TIMES. I thank you all for your patience. Reminder to check my account "about" page for updates regarding any and all stories.
Also, I abandoned the Detroit story. I just can't find an angle for me to make it work. Sorry guys.
