A/N: So, after 23 pages of tiny ass font I have the next chapter. This is for all those PMer's, those subs and so on. There are hints of Blacklist in here, there are elements of the T2 novel series, there are fun little things that make this story all around and this chapter is a single character one... well mostly.
Disclaimers are on an earlier chapter and they still stand, my characters are my own, stuff from others places belong those people, etc, etc, etc. If there are any really glaring errors I will look over this chapter when I'm not dead on my feet, and I will fix them. As all of you know my stories are posted raw so there is that and this is posted Raw cause lets face it I hate editing and I can never find someone to beta me so eh.
Have a good all of you and enjoy!
-Guardian
It was a full six hour drive to the city that the man Erik was meeting, it was in Deva, Romania that Erik rolled to a stop outside a black market club; Erik had earlier on had to stop to wash the car before continuing on to keep up appearances and not look like he dragged himself out of a mountain dump. Getting out and pulling the fedora back on canted to the side he shut the door locking it and walked into an alley with the wind blowing his jacket open before going down a set of stairs and stopping at a metal door. Banging on the door Erik looked behind him as a slot opened and a pair of eyes met Erik's.
"Password?"
"Yosef Barron" The slider shut and the door opened admitting Erik into the club, Erik stopped look enough to get checked out and his weapon tagged and put into a safe like a coat check. Walking away and past the actual coat check Erik looked around looking for the man that he needed to talk to, an American former CIA officer that went dark after someone set him up and he left on the run with a photographic memory of all of the information, paperwork, and people he's ever been in contact with. The great thing about the man besides his photographic memory was his ability to charm, broker deals, sales and people to his side as he worked to get the people that set him up out of power. He learned a long time ago however that the people that did this was much too large for him and if Erik hadn't saved him the day that he did than the man would have done all his work for nothing and his empire would have fallen. Smiling Erik saw the man he was after as he sat watching a couple of girls dance for him while he smoked a stogie and had a glass of Whiskey in hand.
"Garret… Garret McKnight. I heard you were in town."
"Destler? Is that you?" the man in his three piece suit stood up after putting his cigar down held out a hand that Erik took and shook.
"It is, I need some information, tracking information of two people. Think you can do that without getting any of your guys killed and without getting killed yourself?"
"Straight to business it is then, nice clothes though." Erik laughed and looked to a waiter that had come up and handed Erik a glass of whiskey. Taking it Erik left a twenty with the woman who thanked him with a kiss on his cheek before she took off.
"Unfortunately it's a life and death situation on this end or I would be entertaining you with some stories." Garret sent the girls off as his body guard nodded to Erik before moving to secure the area for the two men to talk. Erik sat down and pulled his hat off setting it to the side before taking a sip of the alcoholic beverage.
"What's going on?" "Well, there are two people. One looks like a cop, California PD or something. Will talk like a cop but depending on the situation you are looking at maybe a well-spoken mannered man, or someone with cold dead eyes. The other wants to bring about the end of the world and I mean literally. He was able to get into things that he really shouldn't have and I've already talked to my German contacts they are looking to lock down on the Nuclear Warheads. I need to know about any large scale purchases of nuclear material, certain alloys and so on, if this guy cannot get his hands on the warheads either the codes or warheads themselves I can tell you this man will do what it takes to turn this planet into a nuclear dust ball."
"There were a couple of sales a few days ago that I've heard about. Electronics, high yield Colton Steel. I didn't think much of it and the names were always different. I know a couple of people that have died however during those last couple of days. I haven't personally dealt with whomever the buyer is but…"
"What's with the deal going down tonight?"
"Someone was looking for a seller of high end generators. I have a few kicking around from the war and very powerful but that's it. Why?" Erik sat back in his seat and looked around taking another drink from his glass.
"Do you mind if I stick around for the deal… I have a bad feeling about this and I want to make sure that you stay alive." Garret nodded and sat back watching what he would consider his friend after his life was saved, looking to his watch Garret was starting to get concerned. Erik had picked up his hat and put it back on canted again, a man in a suit with his jacket over his arm had walked up and was checked by Garret's bodyguard checked him. Erik lowered his head so that his face wasn't seen but he was observing as the man glanced at Erik before looking to Garret and holding out a hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Thomas."
"Nice to meet you Mr. McKnight, I hear you are the man that can get me anything I need or at least point me in the right direction of it."
"I am, I am. The generators that you have asked for are sitting outside of the city, all that needs to be discussed is the payment and the money transfer." Garret sat back down glancing at Erik seeing the man cock his head to the side listening carefully. Making his movements seem natural he knew then that Erik's suspicions were founded, whatever Erik was involved in he would need to talk to the man about it after he got out.
"Payment can be done via wire or by whatever means you would like I would be happy to offer you whatever amount you wish once I've seen the product." That was the warning bells going off as Erik stood up and moved to stand behind the man.
"Rule one about Garret McKnight, his word is law and his reputation is flawless, any man that knows the man would know that… General Connor." Erik's head came up from its leaned over position looking the man in the eyes when he turned, there was a dark smile on the man's face. "Garret…. Get out of here… now and disappear." Erik struck out grappling the new Terminator as Garret ducked around the two, he turned last second to see Erik get kicked through a wall with the man getting off the ground while people were screaming. Going over the man Garret saw the man's eyes glow red and a strange sound, kind like pistons being driven. Seeing the man get up without so much as a scratch Erik took the man by the arm and shoved him out of the way as Erik grappled with John again before picking the machine up and throwing it into a wall.
"What did I say? Run!" Erik pushed the man and his body guard out of the club as the machine got up and started for them. Erik was tossed his gun, and after chambering a round Erik put the entire magazine into John's head watching him drop to the ground before Erik pushed Garret into the car with the bodyguard up front with him and he drove off into the night. Taking his hat that was surprisingly still on his head and tossing it onto the dash Erik looked behind them to see if there was someone following them. Taking them out of the city Erik followed the bodyguard's directions and they ended up at a safe house that Erik pulled up to and parked. Garret was looking at Erik when they got out of the car, a gun was drawn on Erik by both the bodyguard and by Garret. Erik sighed and put his hands up before dropping them to his sides shaking his head, the two that had their weapons drawn on him.
"What the fuck was that about and tell me why I shouldn't just shoot you dead right now?"
"Because those things aren't going to do shit to me much like the rounds I put into that guy's head isn't going to do shit all to him either. Go head shoot me in the chest and watch as I remain standing, if you plan on shooting me in head, guess what… that's not going to help you either." Garret put his weapon down but the bodyguard cocked the hammer back as Erik turned to him and shot him in the chest. The bullet hit him and the armour plating under the flesh and muscle. So much for a pristine body any time soon, he'll had to let this heal naturally as Erik jammed his fingers into the wound pulling the deformed bullet out and holding it up to the bodyguard before showing it to Garret. It was covered in blood and there was no way that Erik could be wearing armour under the outfit he was wearing.
"What…. What are you?"
"What am I? Put the gun down… you took a good shot at me and I didn't even move so, put the gun away that pea shooter isn't going to do shit all to me." The man put the gun down as Erik dropped the misshaped round to the ground walking up to Garret, "I am hybrid of a machine and human; that man is was someone I knew a long time ago. He's a machine that I've never come across so I could die to him possibly, might even be out matched. What you and your compatriots have sold him basically are parts to ending the world." Pulling a handkerchief out from his coat Erik put the thing to the bullet hole that was bleeding and stinging in pain. Holding his hand to the wound Erik looked between the two as Garret ran a hand through his hair after putting his weapon away.
"Okay I've seen some weird shit, how do I know that you aren't on some sort of drug right now?" Erik moved his hand up Garret's ear, as the bodyguard came up but Garret stopped him with a wave of a hand.
"Listen…" Erik moved the hydraulics in his hand and arm in such a way that Garret's eyes widened, Erik pulled his arm back and went to the car after jamming the cloth into his chest more. Gripping the underside of the car Erik went into a squatting position before he lifted the front of the car onto its trunk tail with all four wheels off the ground.
"Holy… shit…" Erik gently placed the car back down and rocked it a little before looking at the two leaving Garret and his bodyguard in awe what they had just seen. It was a brutal and very surreal view of the world that he had just witnessed in a span of sixty seconds.
"Satisfied?" Moving back over to the two Erik glanced between the two men with a raised eyebrow as be pulled his suit jacket closed and buttoned it to hold the cloth in the wound to stop the bleeding. "I need you to keep an ear to the ground for the man that you just saw and attacked you, right now he's going to do whatever it takes to make sure that you end up dying by its hand. Whatever you have to do, stay alive and keep your eyes open for movement of nuclear material or instability of keeping nuclear material, weapons safe." Garret leaned against the car and put a hand to his eyes rubbing them, he was having difficulty understanding just exactly what was going on but at the same time he knew what Destler was talking about. He had seen plays and grabs for nuclear items as well as electronic and computer technology that was being smuggled out of DARPA. As a former agent of the United States he did whatever he could to ensure that no one could get their hands on it even going so far as to sabotaging the deals to ensure that the Federal Agents and departments had gotten the items and the people associated to the deals. There have been however a few deals that have gone south and the police and government agents hadn't been to make any arrests and he hadn't heard from any of the other contacts.
"And what are you going to do?"
"Going to do whatever it takes to ensure that a nuclear winter does not come to pass and to ensure that the world continues to live and I have two machines that I have figure out how to destroy ensure that more people don't die." Erik opened the driver's side door and looked for his hat and pulling out dusting it off and putting it back on his head. "Get in the car, and get out of his country, the faster the more of a lead that you have on John. I have to head back to my daughter and the others… we'll keep in touch." Erik turned and starting walking off down the road of the safe house when Garret called his name.
"Erik!" Erik turned and looked at the man who toss him a set of keys, looking at them and cocking his head to the side questioning the man, "There is another safe house with a SUV, take what you need and I'll get Midar to give you the location of the Generators, at this point they are better off safe in your hands than seen anywhere near me or my business." Erik nodded and turned away pocketing the keys and disappearing into the darkness leaving Garret and his bodyguard to go and sit on the porch of the safe house with their elbows on their knees and their heads hanging low.
Walking to the safe house took a couple of hours upon arrival there was a man sitting on the hood of a sedan and a metal suitcase sitting beside him. Erik walked up as the man got off the car and took the case with him meeting Erik a few steps from the car.
"Garret sends his regards, and the information and some that you required." Erik scanned the man overseeing the man's human skeleton, it was a very rarely used feature and it was used to determine if the subject was a machine or not, nodding Erik took in a deep breath and took the pre-offered case but before he could fully take it the man pulled Erik closer and he allowed the man to do so watching as the man had leaned in to whisper in Erik's ear. "You fuck my boss over and I'll fuck you over, I don't care what Garret says about you being strong and hard to kill. No one is hard to kill, all it takes is one well-placed bullet to the brain or the heart and you are dead." Erik turned his head and looked the man in the eyes allowing them to glow bright red in the darkness. The man let the case go and backed up. The man couldn't see any feature of Erik's face but the one thing that shouldn't have stood out was and the man backed up to the car as Erik took a step or two before he climbed into the car, started it and sped off into the night. Erik dimmed his eyes and allowed them to return to their blue hue before he went for the front door and pulled the keys.
Once inside Erik turned the lights on and pulled his hat off looking around, it was small and private and most of all it was safe or as McKnight had to it. Going to the small kitchen Erik put his hat down on the table along with the metal case before she shrugged out of his coat and unbuttoned the suit coat to see the cloth and the blood stained spot on his chest aimed for his lung. Shaking his head Erik pulled the jacket off and left the cloth he had jammed into the hole where it was and went in search of a first aid kit which he had found under the sink of the bathroom. Not bothering with taking off the shoulder holster or even taking the shirt off, Erik unbuttoned enough to open the shirt, pulled the cloth away and looked to see what the damage was. It wasn't too bad he would have to clean away the gun powder and residue left behind by the bullet and his body would do the rest.
Taking a cloth and shutting down the receptors around the bullet wound Erik cleaned and bandaged the wound before turning the receptors back on with a groan. Buttoning up his shirt Erik looked at the blood stained area and hole before cleaning up a bit of the shirt and walking out of the bathroom going back to the kitchen. Going to the case Erik opened it and pulled the paperwork out, the envelopes and the little tracking device that was installed into the case hidden under a fabric. Tossing the device onto the counter behind him Erik made himself some coffee and a can of soup before cleaning up his mess and sitting down at the table looking through the files that Garret had left for him. Half the files were of Government White Paper and paperwork drawn up by Garret or someone in his organization, Erik didn't care about those people he wanted to know about what was on the White Paper and what goods were being sold and moved by the Government itself. It seemed that it wasn't people with in the Government, there was always the connection to Cyberdyne Research and something called 'Genisys'.
Looking over the names on the paperwork it looked like it was all the same and a woman at that. Miles Dyson was mentioned as the head researcher on the project but there was a woman's name that kept cropping up as well as someone named Alex. Eating the soup Erik continued through the mess of papers and leaned back in his seat and looked around thinking about his daughter and the others at the camp. Pulling his wallet out Erik opened it and pulled an image of him and Fin on his back when she was a little girl. It had been a year or two after they had travelled back and someone had his camera and taken the picture of the two of them. The two looked at each other smiling brightly at the beach, smiling at the picture Erik rubbed a thumb over the image and set it beside the paperwork. Closing his eyes Erik pulled up the data from the CPU, it had everything about his inception, the rise of Skynet, the machines, all the dates. He looked through the information and there was nothing about anyone named Alex or even a project, looking further Erik looked into the information about time travel and Erik wondered if the Sarah and Kyle that are here were from a fractured Time-Line and thus the time line they were in is the original and real timeline and that the fall of the bombs would fall in next several months.
August 29th, 1997 was the date for the release of the bombs, and that would be in less than two months but that didn't make sense because the paperwork in front of him was dated the year before with funding going into the research and computer technology acquisition and the Cyberdyne research leading into something called Genisys. Where Erik was from, he certainly wasn't from the timeline of the bombs falling in 1997 and yet his internal data said otherwise, Erik lived well into the 2000's before he was taken and the bombs didn't fall until 2017. What was going on and why did his data no match up? Opening his eyes Erik brought a hand up to prop up the side of his face and he rested his elbow on the tabletop. This whole thing was entirely screwed up and this was why he didn't ever look into the Skynet files because there would always be something wrong with the information presented terms of history. All that Erik ever needed was the tactical data entries on the Terminators that could be sent back to kill him, John, Sarah and Fin. At this point he was scrambling to build data on the machine that took him on and almost kicked his ass.
Finishing his food Erik cleaned up and sat there with a refilled coffee mug and he went about organizing the paperwork before putting it the envelopes and cleaning up one last time. Putting his coats on and his hat Erik left the safe house locking up before putting the through the door mail slot and leaving with the information in hand. He left the SUV behind and walked back to the city and to his car that he had checked out for anything and left driving back to the cave systems. He had stopped off along the way to pick up a few small things and when he had arrived back the first thing that he felt went had gotten out of the car was a pair of arms wrapped around his torso and a sob.
"Dad!"
"Hey Fin." Erik wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her tight as he calmed her down, Daniel and Uncle Bob had walked up with guns in hand but lowered when they saw Erik. Daniel turned to see Sarah walked up looking at Erik and Fin before standing beside her own dad.
"Hey Erik, when you weren't here after she woke up she thought something happened to you."
"Well yes and no, I've had a hell of a night and morning, Daniel we'll need to talk about where you came from and the data you have on the war same with Bob because what found and what I actually remember is very, very unsettling to say the least." Daniel's head cocked to the side and looked at Erik with curiosity or as much of it as possible for a machine.
"Once you are settled and changed I would be more than willing to talk with you, did you find something that you shouldn't have?" Erik nodded and let go of Fin as the girl looked up at him, Erik leaned down and kissed her temple before reaching back into the car and pulling out the envelopes full of paperwork. Walking over to the younger Sarah, Erik handed her the paperwork.
"I think there are things in here are something that you are familiar with because I don't ever remember anything in my own past for that's in there or what will be coming up." Erik opened an arm up and Fin hugged herself against her dad and listened to his heart under his chest armour and flesh. She was clinging and especially so after she didn't see him around and Daniel had told her he had gone off to do some business.
"Come on little one, I need some new cloths and a shower." Erik and Fin headed into the living spaces leaving the others to stand around Sarah who walked to their long camp table and sat down opening the envelopes and pulling the papers out and looking through them one at a time with Daniel sitting beside her and Kyle walking up rubbing from his eyes the sleep he had his nap.
"Sarah?"
"Kyle…" Sarah had finished reading something that Erik had circled on the paperwork multiple times over and looked on in fear. There was no way that this was happening, Skynet had followed them this time, what they had tried to stop had actually followed them through time. Kyle took the papers and read them over set them down looking at Daniel before heads switched to Erik who looked more at home in his black military BDU's with the sleeves rolled up and his hair damp from his shower he had just taken.
"See something familiar Sarah?" The woman nodded and Kyle looked at Erik seeing hints of bruising around his face and along his hairline, Kyle put the paperwork and sat down looking to Sarah.
"We didn't change anything, we thought we did but we ended up here, this broken time… or is it broken?"
"I don't know Kyle, my personal memories are different than the data that I hold with in my CPU. It might be different than Daniels or Bob's. We have different memories maybe it's because there are so many fractured times now that it's now all starting to become or fragments are starting to work their way into this timeline. Maybe this timeline is the sturdiest of them all and Skynet has finally had enough." Erik moved to sit beside Kyle and looked across the table looking at Daniel and Sarah. Bob moved and to stand at the end of the table as young John showed up with Connor holding mugs of hot drinks in hand being handed out to others.
"We also have a problem, the General has shown up. I was attacked by him at the meeting I had attended and I was lucky to get away, how you managed to survive Daniel… I am impressed."
"We couldn't let him go, I couldn't let him go…" Sarah said as Daniel hugged Sarah, Erik smiled looking at the two. Kyle had finally learned that not all machines where of Skynet's programming and that the machines around him and Erik where the best line of defense. He realized now they had an 'army' but would it be enough to take on the three terminators now?
"We'll make sure, we survive this. We will make sure that we live through this and we will make this world better." Erik said putting a hand on Kyle's shoulder to relax the man. It was clear they had a bad run in with General Connor, but they one thing that Skynet didn't have and that was the fighting human spirit, adaptability, and they had one person that had more combat experience than Skynet had in its entire existence after being self-aware.
"We just need to take on a T-1000, whatever the General is and whatever embodiment that Alex is be it Skynet or not, we'll have just to work around those problems eh?" The group looked to Erik seeing hope in the man's eyes as he smiled trying to convey that it would be alright in the end.
While home base was now in the European mountains, the group heard from Erik's contacts about a white skinny brown haired man looking for them and they had placed its location in all London where Erik and the other's had been last seen. They had been using a safe house on loan to them by one of Erik's contacts when there had been a knock on their door. Bob had grown in terms of learning and because of John's verbal interference was clearly the younger of the two T-800's.
He looked through the eyepiece of the door and he turned in time to yell out T-1000 before the door was busted down laying Bob out flat on his back with the T-1000 warping its form to show its originally stolen clothing from the California Police officer. John had stood shock still before Connor came out from the kitchen with a shotgun in hand and firing at the T-1000 putting the thing off its balance before something or someone grabbed the machine while it was disorientated and taking it outside to a massive raised tank of some sort. It was on a massive concrete slab and it had erected protective walls, Erik had been able to drag the machine outside but was kicked away into a wall of concrete leaving an impact mark while Daniel having defeated a T-1000 before took an electrified heavy piece of metal and swung it at the T-1000 watching as the electrified metal started to wreak havoc on its body and its ability to shape change. Dropping the metal and going to the T-1000 Daniel with is hands and arms covered in protective gear picked up struggling T-1000 and went to the metal tank. Bob had been standing on the top of the massive tank and opened the heavy lid with the combined effort of the three Terminators and the Elder Connor they had all but thrown the T-1000 into the tank of acid and slammed the cover into place as Bob and Daniel sat side by side on the tank lid as they listened to the T-1000 thrashing about as it melted. Erik had moved away from his cratered seat and went to go and lay down on the concrete slab and close his eyes as Fin and John poked their heads out of the second story window looking at them.
"Are you guys alright?" Fin asked seeing her dad just lay on the slab and the two other Terminators just sitting there looking up at the teens. Erik raised his hand up from his face and gave a thumbs up before he allowed his hand to flop back down on the ground. He was getting too old for this shit and he didn't relish being kicked around and thrown around even if he was built to take punishment.
"Do you think the acid will be enough to take the General out?" Erik asked from his place on the ground there was still banging about in the tank, the heel of Daniel's boot hit the side of the tank before he spoke up making Erik laugh. "You! Quiet!" The noise died down and became softer and softer bangs on the inside of the metal and eventually it stopped with Daniel hopping off the tank and landing with a thud on the ground. Bob hopped off as well and the group started cleaning up and unhooking the electrified piece of metal from the mass of batteries they had hooked up to generator to get to the voltage level they needed. That was one of three problems that had ended until news reached them of someone looking for them in England and it wasn't a man but a woman and she had some mean bodyguards. Erik's search into who the woman was yielded something that he didn't think would possibly exist until he remembered experiments into breeding humans and implanting them with chips making for a new and different unit, now that Erik thought about it he was forced and subjected to various encounters in training what were they?
Erik had to search his data banks and it was Ultimately Daniel who reminded Erik to look into the I-950 Program. Erik had remembered the Human-Terminators was when he accessed those files that he remembered that he was at the time used as a test subject for sexual encounters of the I-950 women to see if they could pass for human and experience one of the more physical aspects of the human condition. He had remembered shortly after being forced into having sex with one particular I-950 woman that he had been uploaded with the data and then he had been rescued. Erik promptly wanted nothing more than to forget the encounters and that he had at one point been used as a sex slave for a sadistic machine. They had been lucky enough to onto a plane and in the air before a shootout had happened at the airport they had just left, they heard about it after they had landed in the United States to look into setting up a secondary location for a base of operations.
Landing back on North American soil Erik had it set up for them to be close to the Mexican border if they needed to go to South America where the Elder Sarah Connor had a set up for weapon stashes and safe houses. With a Ranch Style home and some livestock for their cover the group kept their ears to the ground and listened for anything that could from Skynet. Cyberdyne was currently working on a project that would revolutionize the world and as much as the Elder Connor wanted to go and take out Cyberdyne it wouldn't do well for them to just go in and do so. With different branches of the Timeline existing Erik's brain was starting to hurt as how three different Terminator had three different and yet similar data information along with Erik's Memories of his own past and Kyle Reese having episodes where his memories were being added to over the last several weeks they had been back State side.
"Sarah, how is Kyle doing?"
"I don't know, he's been able to keep water down and he said his head is no longer pounding like a jack hammer. He kept saying that in Erik needs to live, Erik needs to live, Erik needs to become a soldier…" Sarah looked up at the man who nodded and turned away walking out of the room that Sarah and Kyle shared, heading to Daniel who was plowing the field outside with Bob now named Richard. He called the machine over and stood with him as John having grown taller was working with his mom to sow seeds by hand along with Fin.
"I need you to look after Fin for a few while Daniel."
"What is troubling you Erik?"
"Skynet is after me, Kyle's memories… his visions see me dying. This is something that I need to do and I won't let any of you go after me, I shouldn't be gone long but I will keep in contact with you as best as I can. I have to return to Canada and that is going to be difficult enough as it is." Nodding the machine looked to Fin who was laughing with Connor and John, the machine really had been working up a sweat and was standing shirtless with jeans in sturdy work boots.
"I will look after your daughter. You go do what you need to ensure your survival Erik, and be aware of the I-950's if Skynet is still looking to activate Genisys here… we are going to have many years yet before technology is where it needs to be in order for Skynet to strike. I have seen the future and you humans have no idea the true capacity for evil and destruction you all have." Erik snorted and put his hands on his hips and dropped his head.
"Oh I know, we have no ability or desire to look after ourselves, it's nothing but greed… And it's sad how dangerous we are as a species… but some people in this world are worth fighting for, and I will not allow my daughter to go back to that dark place we came from. I will not let it happen." Daniel nodded in agreement before going back to finishing with the fields pulling the heavy chains tight and pulling the heavy farming device along. Erik stood long enough to watch Fin before he turned back and headed inside to go and pack his luggage for at least a week, if Kyle's memories were still altering as a side effect of the second time travel he would need to make sure that the version of himself in this time light wouldn't be killed off. Maybe it was a trap to get them all separated or maybe it was just a way to get Erik away from the group and take out the biggest threat, could it be that Erik would be a threat to Skynet, and if so why would it go after him as a child when he was from a fractured time line? Hearing a knock on the door frame of his room Erik put down the shirt he had folded to see Connor standing at her door frame and leaning on it before she had come in and shut the door behind her.
"You're leaving?"
"Temporarily to deal with a personal situation, it's not something that I can ignore." Connor nodded and walked over standing beside Erik, she looked up to him and watched the man cock his head to the side. The two had started to spend a bit more time together because Erik was aware of events of time but also because he was the only other person that Connor could talk to. Connor was still leery of the two other machines but Daniel was more in tune and protective of Sarah and Kyle while Richard spent a lot of time with John learning from the child as well as learning with what he read voraciously and was taught by Fin. The young teen girl actually had taught it school level subjects and taught it understanding through the use of plays and literature that the machine had actually chosen the name Richard for itself and had actually become very well spoken despite its slang pick up from John. The difference between Daniel and Richard was that Daniel had the age and physical experience of work and how the world worked through its fifty plus years protecting and watching over his Sarah. The time that Connor had seen the machine hug Sarah and even said 'My Sarah', it blew her away and Connor decided to spend more time with Erik as the only other near age human with life experience.
"And what if I said I didn't want you to leave?"
"Why would that be Connor? No one to talk to while I'm away?"
"Maybe, I don't want you throwing your life away unnecessarily." Erik turned at that and watched as the woman turned to face him chest to chest and nose to nose as he leaned his head down staring her in the eyes, a defiant look on her face and glowing in her eyes while anger was in his own. They stared each other down before Erik 'pushed' Sarah with his body until she was pressed up against the wall.
"My life is my own, and if it means protecting myself at an age where I cannot… I will and make sure that I turn into some semblance of the man I am now." Erik angled his head down close to Connor's who's breathing hitched before Erik turned away and went to his things and closing the luggage before turning to see Connor rush him and grabbing him back the back of his head and pulling him down into a hard kiss that he returned before pushing Connor away taking a harsh breath for himself. "I won't ask why you did that… but I ask you not to do it again."
"Why?"
"Because by the end of my mission… I'll have died. You don't want me." Erik picked up his luggage along with his coat and started for the door of his room when he felt Connor grab his wrist holding his coat.
"How do you know what I want and don't want?"
"Because you are looking for someone to take away the pain of the past, you want someone that isn't Kyle in the room down the hall and because you can't look at him without seeing your younger self with him and that hurts the most. You want someone that can take and handle that pain." Sarah let go of Erik and slapped him across the face which he took before she put a hand to her mouth and turned her back, Erik nodded and left the room and headed down the stairs picking up the keys to his car before leaving the house. Fin had seen Erik and ran over to him from the fields throwing her arms around him, Erik returned the hug and knelt down looking Fin in the eye as she looked down at him after he had put his things into the back of the car.
"I need to go for a while and do something, I'll be back in about a week or just over it."
"Daniel said it had to do with something about you, is it your younger self?" Erik nodded and gave a weak smile, Fin nodded and put her hands on Erik's shoulders before leaning down and kissing the top of her dad's head, "Go and protect little Erik. I'm sure he would be impressed to see the hero he could inspire to be one day." Erik grinned despite the pain in his face from where Connor had slapped him, in the bright light there was a red mark and Fin wisely said nothing about it after seeing how the elder Connor was trying to get closer to her dad, he must of said something to make her angry but at the same time Fin wished that the two would get it over with and just enter a relationship as weird as it would be. Erik stood and put a hand on Fin's shoulder giving it a squeeze before he opened the driver side door and got in closing it after, starting the engine Erik looked out the side and saw Daniel walked up putting an arm around Fin nodding to Erik. Erik gave a nod back and drove off the property and headed onto the highway heading north towards a place he hadn't been in a very, very long time… Home.
The long drive towards Canada had been somewhat easy on his brain and most of the time he had done it under auto-pilot while other areas his mind had been engaged with scenarios of what could possibly happen, and what he would need to defend against to ensure that the Erik Destler here would become himself one day. If the timeline he had come from was indeed now deleted and or fractured and pieces bled into the time line he was currently in, it would stand to reason that Skynet would look for a way to take him out early leaving just the deleted timeline Erik and it would be difficult for him to continue the fight knowing that he was already dead on some level.
As he drove through the border into Canada in silence while his brain worked out where would be at that moment, looking at the time Erik saw that it was coming up on 10:15 am, it was just about the end of the school year so that would put him about the Sports Day event and it would be a half day. Driving to the elementary school he had went to as a child Erik parked at the Rec Centre by the school and walked to the elementary school hearing the joys of screaming children and the clapping and cheers. Walking up to where there was a relay race happening with different coloured vests Erik didn't need to look for long before he spotted himself running full tilt with a smile on his face, his short hair breezing in the wind behind him. Looking into the crowd Erik spotted his mother and father who were all eyes on him with a camera in hand and smiles on their faces. Watching in tan cargo pants, brown military boots and a white-grey plaid cotton shirt Erik put his hands into his pockets and looked back to his younger self as he got closer to the finish line. There was a bright flash from the crowd and Erik heard the screams before people running, Erik watched in horror as there was an explosion in the crowd and Erik watched as his parents and other children's families were torn apart by the bomb.
Looking to young Destler stop and turn at hearing the explosion Erik sprinted for himself with his HUD activating looking for a machine or someone that would be out from whoever was left or in the tree line of the school. Seeing nothing Erik ran to the young boy and stopped him just as Erik saw a red dot that he stepped in front of before he wrapped his arms around the child who screamed. People began to scream again as Erik picked up the boy and ran into the school building. The hit came from behind and the bullet had planted into Erik's shoulder plate as he felt the pain before he decided to shut down the physical pain receptors he didn't need to deal with it at the moment he had an assassin he needed to take care of, but first he had to check his younger self over.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Who are you, where are my mom and dad, why are you kidnapping me? SOMEONE!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Erik knelt down and scanned for injuries and was relieved when he didn't see any, it had to be the I-950 series that Daniel had mentioned, it also meant that it was a human man or woman and that would be a problem because Erik didn't know what to look for other than try and look for distinct mannerisms and that would be a problem in itself. Looking around Erik heard a door open from in front of him way down the hall, it was a man and a well built one but it looked like the man had a bit of a paunch on his midriff.
"Hey is everything okay here? Is that Erik Destler?" Erik did a scan and saw that it was a human man, but there was something about his gaze that put Erik off as he put the young boy behind him.
"No it isn't." "Mr. Tako, he's trying to kidnap me!"
"It's okay Erik, I'm here to make it better… your parents are looking for you Erik."
"Don't listen to him, he lies… your parents are dead… he killed them." The young boy looked out from behind Erik's back looking at the two men, the man that he was behind looked like his mom when she got pissed off at drivers. His teacher pulled off his glasses and dropped them to the ground before he reached under his shirt and pulled something from under throwing it at him before little Erik knew it the man that had taken him inside had stepped in front of him and snatched something out from the air almost like magic. Little Erik's eyes widened when the man dropped the item he caught to the ground with a clang, it was a throwing knife and a small one with a bit of blood on the blade and now the ground.
"You want the boy, you go through me and I can guarantee you that you will not get him."
"I will, and I will make sure that he dies, there is nothing to you can do to stop it because that little trick you did won't prevent me from completing my mission." The man put a hand on little Erik's chest to make sure that he was still behind him while his teacher seemed to suddenly drop about fifteen pounds with the fake fat that he had on under his shirt.
"The bathroom behind us… get into it and do not leave until I get you… got it?"
"But it's a girl's bathroom…"
"Just get into it." The man said and little Erik ran to it pushing the door open and looking at the man in time to see him raise his left up to protect his face from a high kick. He ran into it as he heard a thud against a wall, he closed his eyes and brought his hands to his ears as he hunkered in a corner with his knees brought up to his face.
Outside the bathroom Erik took the kick with his guard arm up and was surprised by the strength of the kick as it connected to his arm and moved it a fraction. Erik pushed the leg away and snapped a jab out to the face of his attacker followed by a rib shot both blows were blocked and they exchanged blows until Erik snap side kicked the man into the wall by the bathroom with a thud. It looked like the blow hurt but Erik was on the man who struck back out grabbing his wild haymaker and flipping him over his shoulder onto the ground with a resounding impacting thud and pulling the shoulder out of its socket and kicking the man in the gut watching him slight down the hall.
The man pushed himself back up to a stand with the one arm and he yanked on his arm putting the shoulder back into its socket before rushing him like a bull with his head down wrapping his arms around Erik's lower body when he connected hoping to pick him up what he didn't expect was Erik when he was picked up to have his legs out behind him and planting them down while dropping his arms down on the I-950's back. With his feet sliding to a halt Erik cocked his head to the side and with snarl he rose his arms up and dropped his closed fists down like sledgehammers onto the man's back hearing something break and the grip loosen on him. Taking that moment Erik grabbed the I-950's hair and rose his face up and pulled his right fist back and let it fly full hydraulic force shattering the I-950's jaw and cheek bone as blood sprayed from the thing's mouth. The head turned back to look at Erik a cold fire burned in those irises as Erik drove his left fist into the thing's side followed by the right fist coming in for an upper cut that was barely blocked, it struck out at him and Erik caught the arm and with a sudden grappling movement snapped the arm in three places.
The I-950 didn't even so much as grunt as it tried to kick out at Erik on for him to step back before he back spun kicked the I-950 into the wall stunning it before Erik grabbed the thing's head with both hands and dropping its head into his rising knee forcing the I-950's head to bounce against the wall and crumpling to the floor. Erik stepped back looking at the Infiltrator Unit and turned to see the door open a crack as little Erik's head poking out of the bathroom door with wide eyes before speaking up a little.
"Whoa…" Erik was breathing a little heavily before looking down to his knuckles and hands that were bright red, the I-950 shook it's dazed head and despite the heavy abusive damage it took, even with its jaw clearly broken and it's left eye slowly swelling shut it stood up and hunkered over starring at Erik and little Erik, the little guy's eyes widened almost comically at the situation, "No way…" Erik couldn't help but speak up at the little boy's surprise, he remembered when he was younger having a fascination with science fiction, robots, supernatural and superhuman abilities and magic. This must have looked like it have come out of a movie had it not been for the sirens in the distance closing in the school.
"Waaaay…" Erik said before the I-950 attacked Erik again, Erik grappled the thing and was surprised that there was still a lot of strength and power left, for a human bred machine it wasn't difficult to see why Skynet didn't have too many of these running around and what it did, it must have had some serious physical and chemical augmentation for it to take the beating that Erik gave it and still get up and just continue on like it was a T-800 unit. Gripping the I-950's hands Erik's servos in his hands crushed the hands of the I-950 before he let go and he really began wailing on the man/machine before him and by the time he was done he had snapped the neck and heard little Erik through his tears and whisper,
"I want my mom and dad…" Stepping away from the I-950 Erik turned to little Erik and knelt down by him as the boy came out of the bathroom sitting against the wall. "I'm sorry Erik…" Erik sat down next to him and leaned his head against the wall. He looked down to his younger self and looked up to see police, teachers, firefighters rush in. Erik looked to the side where the I-950 should have been and saw that there was nothing there. There should have been no way that it could have gotten up and little Erik saw where he was looking with wider eyes.
"Ho…. How?"
"Because there are some people in this world so evil that they can get back up and walk away." It wouldn't be over but the I-950 would think twice before coming back. Seeing the two sit beside each other and little Erik clinging to Erik looking around scared the little boy clung harder to Erik when the cops raised their guns to him as Erik lifted his hands up in a surrender.
"Let the boy go!"
"No! I'm staying with him! He saved my life!" Little Erik looked defiantly at the police wrapping his arms around his torso tightly. The police looked at Erik who were looking between the man and the boy they lowered their weapons as one of came over slowly and knelt down.
"Erik… did he really rescue you?" the man asked Erik looked at the name plate on the officer's and saw the name Richardson, the name was vaguely familiar to him before he remembered an incident in his youth that involved his parents but they were still alive at the time and it was never explained to him what had happened and it was an Officer Richardson that he had seen a lot in his youth almost looking after him.
"He did Jerry, he rescued me and stopped a knife from hitting me, and he caught it in his hand. Wait his hand!" Little Erik looked up to see Erik's bleeding hand and pulling it down before pulling a cloth out from his pocket, his tears dried up and he put pressure on the broken damaged skin. Erik was lucky that it didn't cut down to the machine when he caught the knife and it was the meaty palm of his hand, he remembered even as a young kid that he cared more about others than he did himself and it was surreal to see that he was helping himself without even knowing it.
"And the blood on the floor?"
"That would have been from me… I must have had something hit me and right now I can't feel a thing… must be all the adrenaline from keeping some creep away from this kid."
"Why did you save him and who are you?"
"I'm an old friend of the family, Military and Susan who is like a sister to me told me that Erik here wanted to see what a 'super hero' was. I told her the Military isn't a super hero, but I was told that she caught Erik pretending to be one and while the idea horrified her at first she grew to accept it, so I figured seeing as I'm on vacation I would come and see her and her family." Richardson nodded agreed with what Erik said and it must had been true cause little Erik ducked his head down with a blush crawling up his neck, "And today you got to see that super hero in action, not the best way to meet kiddo but it was something huh?" Erik nodded but didn't looked up at him or anyone else just kept pressure on hand. Erik switched his nerve receptors back and he had to bite back a groan of pain as his eyes closed, that shoulder hit from the gun was itchy and bleeding still, and his hand and knuckles ached a long with a few of his 'ribs'. He would be bruised later but that was the life of a soldier.
"Are Susan and Danny?"
"They are barely alive… they didn't take the initial portion of the blast and they were behind some bodies but there are fourteen dead. Thirty-six critically injured including his parents, we don't know if they will make it…"
"Mom and dad are alive?"
"For the time being they are." Erik looked up at the police officer as his shoulders started to shake, the Officer flagged down a paramedic to deal with Erik as Richardson moved to sit down beside little Erik wrapping his arms around the young boy as he cried in relief. With his hand looked at and said that he wouldn't need stitched he was pulled away from the wall and leaving the blood smear going down going down the wall. Erik had to move his body and grunted to add some noise to cover the sound of the hydraulic pistons. He was hauled up and taken along before being walked to a rolling bed that dropped an inch before little Erik got up off the ground and ran for Erik taking his uninjured hand.
"Can… can I go with him, if he's going to the hospital it means that he'll be going to the place where my parents are." Erik chuckled and grunted in pain before looking to the paramedic that had pulled his legs up and set him up for transport, he looked to the boy and was about to say no when Richardson came up and picked little Erik and set him up between Erik's legs as Erik was sitting up on the transport bed.
"I'm not that badly hurt… I'll look after him once I'm cleared by the people here." Nodding Richardson shooed off the Paramedics, it worked in Erik's favor to be able to continue to look after little Erik this way, now the next problem would be the fact that his body was a machine and if they decide to X-ray him… he'd be screwed. Once at the hospital Erik politely told the nurses that they could not have any record of him, or any imaging taken for the reason that he was a special operation soldier and command had told him that if he were to ever get hurt it would be the bare minimum. The nurses tried take him but after he had 'fake' documents from his wallet shown to them and the administration he was taken to a private room with a single nurse who had little Erik sitting nearby as she examined Erik's back saying that there was something in there but it didn't see any other damage. Asking if Erik needed any drugs Erik said no and that he'd deal, the nurse dug into his back and pulled out the misshapen round which apparently was rifle 5.56mm round. The nurse looked at him with shock before he said to her quietly as if keeping the secret.
"I was in an explosion three years ago, my shoulder blade and my shoulder joint are all metal… as is a very large portion of my body. It's why you can't x-ray me, or put me into an MRI machine. I'm literally a walking man made of metal." The nurses eyes bugged out as she put the round into a metal bowl and went about checking the wound for further injury before she cleaned it up stitched him together and bandaged the wound before pumping him full of antibiotics to be safe and a painkiller that his system was working on neutralizing because he needed to be at peak ability and it wouldn't do to have a fuzzy brain while looking after little Erik. Once he was cleared and little Erik was looked at quickly, Erik was let go and they went in search of any news about Susan and Danny Destler. Going to the ER with little Erik's hand in his larger one they stopped a nurse asking about the Destler's and told they were in surgery, nodding Erik took the boy and went in search of food, Erik needed something to eat and the little boy at his side need something to eat as well by the grumble he heard.
"How about some food huh?" The young boy looked up at him and sadly nodded, the next while would be rough on him and Erik had to do something go give the boy some hope. Going to a quiet spot in the Tim Horton's at the hospital with chilli's for each of them and an added sandwich for Erik they sat and ate quietly. Smiling Erik quickly came up with a story and cleaned his mouth looking at little Erik.
"How old are you Erik?" The boy looked up at him and put his spoon down using a bunched up napkin to clean his mouth, he looked down at the table and fidgeted with his drink before he spoke softly.
"I'm ten…"
"Ten? Wow, you know when I was your age I was about your height eh?" Little Erik looked up at him with surprised look on his face, "Oh yeah, I was small kid when I was your age. I wasn't very big either I didn't get bigger for I think about two years? Man, that was so ago for me, but I saw you run and you run fast." Little Erik smiled proudly at Erik.
"I'm number one, I'm the fastest runner on the track team!" Erik smiled at little Erik's excitement before he went back to eating his chili while Erik took a bite out of his sandwich. His shirt he was wearing was blood stained and he was getting weird looks from people but he didn't care and continued to eat. "
You know, you wanna know something Erik. You know where your parents got your name from?" Little Erik shook his head with the spoon firmly in his mouth, "Your parents named you after me, my name is Erik Matthew Destler like you. I have no relation to you even with my last name. Your dad and I share the last name but it was your mom that name you after me. You see I'm a very close friend to your mom, and she's like my sister but she doesn't know I'm here."
"I'm… I'm really named after you?"
"Yup, and my job is to protect people like you and take the bad guys out and away."
"Like Mr. Tako?"
"Mr. Tako was a bad man, he tried to hurt you and your parents."
"What do you do Erik?"
"Me?" Erik leaned in and looked around before whispering almost like telling little Erik a secret, "I'm a special kind of soldier. You know all the army guys you see on TV, or the movies and they wear all black and they have all those cool gadgets and stuff? That's me."
"Whoa!" Little Erik started chattering away asking him questions, asking him questions that only a young kid would ask and Erik answered half of them the other half he said were classified. As they finished their food and cleaned up they headed back to the waiting rooms and had sat down beside each other as they looked around seeing the loved ones of those hurt at the school. Erik gazed around while little Erik looked to his shoes and kicked his feet under his chair. After what seemed like forever to both Erik's a doctor in scrubs walked out looking around before calling out their last names. Erik stood up as the doctor turned to him as little Erik's eyes opened from the rather uncomfortable position he had taken while napping and saw a Doctor walking up to Erik putting a hand to the back of his head while trying to suppress a yawn.
Looking at the two that had stood in front of the doctor, the man dropped his hand offering a soft smile before he took a deep breath and started to speak, little Erik's eyes widened before he burst into tears and clung to the doctor thanking him for saving his parents. Erik listened to the injuries his parents suffered from the second and third degree burns to the lacerations and the concussions the two both had, they would live but it would be a long road for them for recovery. Erik thanked whatever gods were out that that his family had survived, the only problem now would be ensure little Erik's protection and make sure he follows the path of a Sailor. When the Doctor allowed them to go and see the family Erik let little Erik go in first and followed him in shutting the private room door behind him before he looked at the bandaged bodies of his parents. It had been over thirty or forty years since he last saw his parents before the fall of the bombs, they never lived through the nuclear explosions and it was difficult to see the two of them laying there having survived this bombing. Little Erik went to his mom first who was first and peered over the bed the two were clearly still sedated but the ten year old talk to her as if she was awake and shed a few tears before turning to his dad and doing the same thing. Erik stood by and watched before hearing the door knob turning and the face of the police officer showed himself and coming in.
"Hey, I heard that they couldn't do much for you and that you wouldn't let them."
"Sorry Special Operations Forces, I can't be seen medically anywhere and with the injuries I had endured over the years, I'd rather that no one but my own base doctors and physiotherapists know. No one needs to see what I've been through and what I've survived." The two men looked as little Erik sat in the seat between both beds and curled up in a ball, Erik went over and pulled a sheet off one of the empty beds and went over to the young boy and spread it over him running a hand over the boys head before turning back to the police officer.
"I'll look after him if you need to go…"
"Not yet..." Standing side by side, Richardson looked at Erik as the man looked over the two laying in the bed sadness in his blue irises. Richardson cleared his throat quietly before moving to step in front of Erik looking the man in the eye. "You don't have to lie to me… I know who you are Erik. You saved my life six years ago while I was in Oregon State, I was on my way camping when I pulled to the side of the road looking at my map and I was kidnapped. I remember being driven to California and through LA when the guy stopped to look at a guy in a suit taking notes. The man turned and was shot six times in the chest only to keep going picking the man up by the throat and throwing him into a concrete pillar and viciously attacked. I had never seen anyone do something like that, that man turned and heard noise coming from the car I was in because I was freaking out and I was gagged. I tried to get anyone's attention but your head snapped to me and you had come over buttoning up your suit jacket to cover up the blood. I saw it, I saw the fact that you should have died at least and you didn't." Erik canted his head to the side before lowering it, Richardson looked at him putting a hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze. "I don't know how you are as you are… but I'm glad you saved him, I'm glad you came through for him."
"Who have you been talking to Richardson?"
"There was a cop that was saved in 1984, said something about machines and robots and crazy shit. He was around the circles and he's still in the force, a bit of an alcoholic but he's still working on the case that saved him. O'Brian I think his name was, only reason I know him is because strangely run into him after our encounter six years ago and he was the responding detective actually." Richardson brought a hand to the back of his head and scratched at it before dropping it to his side. Erik chuckled remembering a case he had been investigating at the time about some sexual scandal for the client he had been working with at the time. The cop that had questioned him certainly had the look of someone being crazy and zealous about his questions and Erik had to be careful when he had been brought in for questioning, he was lucky he had time to change his shirt after quickly bandaging himself up.
"I remember him, he questioned me and was checking me out, good man to have on your side I don't know how long his liver will hold out but… that's his health concern." Erik crossed his arms in the silence and Richardson heard the hydraulic servo move and whirr underneath Erik's skin and he had to look at the man before stepping back almost unintended.
"Wha… was that hydraulics?" Erik looked over and cocked his head to the side before standing back as he was with his arms over his chest looking at the little boy sleep in the chair.
"You should contact O'Brian… see what he can tell you in terms of what is going on, because in the next twenty years this is all going to change. Keep your head to the ground and listen for things that you wouldn't normally hear about and keep an eye on the news, it'll give you the biggest indicator of what's happening." Richardson looked at Erik quizzically but the man didn't say anything as he walked to the bed that had Susan Destler in it and he uncrossed his arms and leaned over gently placing his hands on the railing of the bed.
"Hey mom… didn't think I would ever see you again… whatever you hear… whatever you do. I need you to survive, I know you mom stubborn as all hell and I know you can hear me in that head of yours. Fight for your son, fight for me, because one day you will see the kind of man he will become and you will proud." Erik leaned over and kissed an un-bandaged area of his mother's cheek before he took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze before going over to his father. Standing before his father he gave the unconscious man a once over and saw that padding and damage done by the I-950 from the explosive device.
"Hey dad… had to take the brunt of it on your side to protect mom huh?" Erik kept his voice low as he leaned over and rested his forearms of the railing of the bed looking at the bandaged side of the man's face. Hanging his head Erik sighed and took his dad's hand in his own and held it before putting it back gently back down before leaning in towards his dad's ear. "I need you to come back from this dad, I need you to see the world that you and I thought about as a child, the dangerous of what is to come. You were right when watched those anime's and robots taking over, you were right about your theories. I also need you to see the man that your son will become because it is how we will win this war." Erik stood back up and stepped away from the beds and walked over to Richardson and held out a hand to the man.
"Erik Matthew Destler, Canadian Forces JTF2 Sailor."
"Officer James Richardson, Burnaby RCMP Division." Erik shook the man's hand and let go of it offering a small smile.
"I need you to stay here and keep an eye out for literally anything suspicious, this family is special as is the boy and you can see it. You've seen me in two different periods and I haven't really aged a day, you know that there is something more to this world than what is going at skin level. It is more than that you need to look beneath the skin, behind all the lies, behind all corruption and the people that run the government and the military. You've already heard with your own ears that I'm not exactly what I seem to be, but you need to keep an eye on what is out there because sometimes the human looking ones move like machines." Richardson looked at Erik as he headed for the door and put his hand on the door knob, he turned it before looking back and gazing at the man.
"They will talk human, behave almost human, bleed and gut like one, but they will take as much punishment as a machine. Hitting the limbs won't stop them, hitting vital areas that should take anyone down won't… damaged head traumas might slow them down. I don't know how to easily stop these but if you can do enough head damage you might be able to kill it, I don't know if a bullet to brain will help but it might not hurt. The first that I know of looks like a substitute teacher, the thing's name would be . I don't know how quickly the bastard would heal but the left side of his face should be shattered, I left a hell of a mark on him when I compacted his face and he still stood up. He HAD a dislocated shoulder however he fixed that himself, his back will be broken but it's not going to have the same sort of ability to feel pain like human's do. It won't show it, it has a complete mastery of its body and can go harder than anyone else I have ever seen in my life military included. I'm going to go out for a bit, but know that there are at least two, one that I can put a face to and the other is the one that shot me in the back, that one I need to find."
"Why are you telling me this? Why shouldn't I arrest you and have you committed?" Richardson asked with a half-smile Erik offered the younger man a crack of one before he opened the door took a step out of it before looking back one last time.
"Because you and I both know there is more to this world… that's why." Erik shut the door quietly behind him leaving his younger self with Richardson as he stalked down the halls his HUD was up scanning everyone from nurses to doctors to patients and their families. The other I-950 here he had to look for and among the routine scan he did he was looking for mannerisms that would indicative of a machine like behaviour as he walked out of the hospital. Erik needed to change and the car that he had parked was a good deal away but a taxi that was dropping someone off Erik had stopped and asked for the ride which was given to him. Once back at the car Erik had pulled his luggage out and changed his blood soaked and stained shirts for something clean after he wiped down as best as he could. In the distance was the school and the police surrounding the area, fire fighters and investigators doing their jobs after he closed up the car he looked around to the surrounding tree line and gazed about the thick trunks looking for a possible sniper spot that would have had the same kind of line of sight needed to get little Erik before he took the bullet.
Scanning the area and recording it a data file Erik went to the trees and started looking for spots where the rifle shot could have come from. It wasn't a very large forested area but it was large enough to conceal someone so it was a matter of maybe someone climbing a tree to take the shot, but from where the bullet had hit him and the angle of the shot it couldn't have come from height Erik didn't feel a downward pull of momentum when hit so it was a direct line of sight shot. Looking for those kind of spots Erik found one that he had to get down onto his belly for and pretend to hold a rifle. Once he was done he looked around and spotted an empty case, this was where the I-950 shot from so there were two for sure he just had to find it. Getting up and brushing himself off Erik left the area with the bullet in a corner of his shirt to help with keeping any evidence on the bullet, maybe they would be able to find finger print on the round and get a face to the name of the other I-950. Heading back to the car Erik put the round into a small baggy and headed back to the hospital, when he had arrived it had started to calm down some but it was still busy as he headed back to the room where he left little Erik and Richardson. Knocking on the door lightly Erik went into the room and saw Richardson sitting in a chair facing the beds and little Erik before he looked up from a magazine he had been reading.
"Hey."
"Hey, I have something for you that might help track one of the two that attacked the school and myself." Erik pulled the little plastic baggy that he had put the bullet in and set it down on the side table beside the officer. Richardson closed the magazine before standing up and leaning over to pick up the baggy.
"Where did you get this?"
"From a sniper perch about 150 metres out in the tree line. It was a direct shot and from a prone position. There was nothing else and I thoroughly checked the area, there is nothing left, no tracks or movements which is very impressive considering they left this behind." Richardson took the baggy and started for the door before turning back.
"Little guy woke up wondering where you were, I told him that you had to step out. I'll get this taken to someone that can get this looked at fast but it might be a day or two before I can get you a name. Canadian labs are slow here but you never know." Erik nodded and went to go and sit in the seat that Richardson had just left, sitting down in the still warm seat Erik looked at little Erik who was in a cot that the nurses had brought in and covered with a blanket his shoes at the foot of the cot. The reason that little Erik was even in the hospital in this situation was because none of his parents had any relatives that were alive. The grandparents had passed on early in his life that Erik could remember and it didn't leave him with a light of family. He didn't have any aunts or uncles as his parents were the only children and he didn't have any god parents so that left him alone.
Even growing up Erik didn't have any siblings and he spent a good portion of growing up days with friends or alone or bullied. Erik didn't finally change any of that until he was in early to mid-teens when his voice broke and he grew almost two feet, that's how small he had been as a child and when his growth spurt hit him, it hit him and he hurt. Not only with the growth spurt did he get to his six foot three height from four foot four but he filled out and be a lot more attractive to the ladies in school who wondered who the tall, dark (from vacation) and handsome was. The bullies very quickly relearned who Erik was when he stepped between a young scraggly, skinny freshman and Erik put one boy into a locker and he picked up the other one holding him against a wall for breaking the nose of the other boy. Erik was known then as the Guardian after he continued to step in between bullies and their victims. Erik was also exceptionally smart and he would spend his time tutoring and helping those that had problems. Despite being popular in so many regards including with his teachers he was not made Prom King or Valedictorian at graduation due to one particular bully having financial sway over the school and he would rub it into everyone's faces about it.
At the Dinner and dance the Prom Queen left the side of the bully and went to the table that Erik was sitting at and set the little crown she had been given and sat down on Erik's lap, but most didn't know was that Erik and the girl had been dating for three years quietly. The two had kissed at the table to the roar of proper applause of the entire graduation class and the staff that were there. The bully had tried to make a seen saying that she was his but the girl had tossed the crown to someone else that had been angry about not being made the queen and left the dinner with Erik. Erik remembered the girl because she eventually became his wife before passing away due to breast cancer that she fought for two years just short of their fifth wedding anniversary. Shaking his head Erik removed himself from the past and leaned his head back against the wall and thought about what he was going to do. His younger self would always be a target but if he himself could make a big enough of a stink with his current body maybe the I-950's could have to track him down and leave the younger Erik alone.
Listening to the beeping of the machines Erik scanned every nurse and doctor that had come in and watched and scanned for the drugs they were being given. It wasn't a problem until a female had come in asking that Erik leave. Erik refused and told the woman that he had been given permission to stay and take care of the boy. The woman kept telling him to leave and it was then that Erik new that this was the I-950 that had shot him. Rushing out of the seat and spinning the woman away and into a wall Erik had the woman's front to the wall as he scanned her and saw the chip implant with his scan before he tightened his grip and shut off physical sensory before spinning the I-950 around and putting a hand on the throat of the woman and squeezing it, the hydraulics pressed as the woman tried to pry him off even kicking him where it hurt with no luck. Little Erik was still in his deep sleep as Erik lifted the woman into the air as her legs went around his waist in an attempt to get him to loosen his grip, the grip she was exerting was impressive as Erik saw on his HUD the beginning of a tiny compression of his ribs.
Going to the window Erik was able to get the window open and with six story height they were at and the fact it was night time that Erik all but jumped out of the window with her keeping the I-950 on the bottom and within seconds they impacted the ground with the I-950 reduced to shattered limbs and bones as it gurgled it's dying breathes. They had cratered the ground and Erik let go of the woman and rolled off of her doing an internal scan with his eyes closed and the images and a percentage bar up. His hearing was at 200% to make sure that no one came up on the two of them. It turned out that the woman tried to stab him as he had a grip on her neck with the one hand. His back was now riddled with small stab wounds that his body was now working stop the bleeding and repair, the rib plates protecting his internal organs had creaked and were on the verge of bending but it was enough that they didn't. Sighing in relief Erik shut his HUD down and opened his eyes turning his head to the I-950 that was now actually dead.
Rolling to his front and getting up Erik pulled the folding knife that he in his pocket and opened it before grabbing the woman's body and dragged it into some bushes with a lot of cover. The side of the building that they had fallen off from wasn't a visited area so that would give some time to ensure he wouldn't be caught doing what he was about to do next, however it would be a massive pain in the ass to explain when he wanted to get back in the building and that was something he was not looking forwards to at all. Moving the sack of flesh that was now the I-950 Erik cut into the base of the skull, skinned the flesh and hair back before breaking into the skull itself. Erik was a Sailor and a Soldier, he took human biology throughout his high school years and into his university years before going military along with the human data files from Skynet, but that didn't mean he was a doctor or a surgeon and frankly Erik wanted to be out of place he was in before he was caught. Breaking the remains of the skull Erik dug into the remaining brain matter looking the CPU and power cell that I-950 had been implanted with. It wasn't just that Erik had found when he scanned the I-950, there was also another pouch like area within the I-950 that held other CPU's and power sources.
After removing the current CPU, Erik cut into the I-950's stomach and dug out the rest of the Skynet equipment and looked around. His hands were covered in blood and he had for all intents and purposes cut into a woman, cut her apart but not before he had crushed her in a fall from a six story drop. Looking around and noting that the hospital backed onto a small forested lot Erik folded the knife and looked around before taking his jacket off and made a bloody dark coloured bundle of gear that he made into a small makeshift shoulder pack and slung it over his head and shifted it around so it laid nicely along his back. Picking up the remains of the body Erik made a sprint for the trees and had no choice but to turn his HUD back on and look for a good place to dump the body. Finding a downed tree that looked like it was being eaten by the bugs and such Erik put the body and the head detached into the tree trunk and looked around. Erik had dropped out the back by the loading dock and he would be lucky if he could get in. The hospital had a perimeter fence and Erik wasn't sure if he wanted to climb that. He already had a dead woman's blood on his body and he looked like a mess. If he could make it to his car he might be able at the cleaning kit he had in the trunk. He just couldn't get seen and there inlay the challenge, edging around the trees Erik headed for the parking lot. It was night time so this could work for him but it might be a slight issue if people somehow see him covered in blood and he were to get questioned. Taking his time and using the cars for cover Erik made it to his car and opened the truck grabbing the first bottle of water he could see and cleaned his arms before a security guard came by looking at him and he raised a hand.
"You okay sir?"
"Yeah I had a bottle of cherry soda explode all over me and I'm just really sticky, it's actually disgusting."
"I know that feeling, just checking up on you sir, that's all." Erik nodded and breathed a sigh of relief before he dug into his luggage and washed down with wipes, water and travel cleaning things before he changed exceptionally fast into dark jeans, tank top and a leather jacket. Looking around Erik jammed the small pack he made of Skynet's things into a towel and back into the luggage before he locked up and headed back for the hospital and the room. That was one of the two I-950s down so now Erik had to hope that he there was just the male left. Little Erik had come out of the bathroom rubbing his eyes seeing Erik, the boy's eyes lit up before he went to Erik wrapping his arms around his middle, Erik wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulder's returning the hug.
"I thought you left me…"
"No, not this soon, I'm going to stay long enough for your parents to wake up, unfortunately if I can do not go back to my mission I could get into some big trouble." Erik looked into the boy's eyes and saw the happiness fade a bit before he left go the boy and knelt down looking little Erik in the eye, "I know it's not the ideal situation, but I want you to remember to be strong, I want you to remember that you will do whatever it takes to be a better person. Never let anyone get you down and look after others that can't. You have a great big heart and with that heart it will make you a great person. Who knows maybe you will be like one day, you'll be this cool super spy soldier, all you have to do is aim for it and you will be it." Little Erik's eyes hardened with determination, it was the same look that Erik gave others when they asked him what he was going to do when he had to go in on a mission. Smiling Erik put a hand on the top of little Erik's head and stood up. Maybe one day little Erik would remember this day when he looks in the mirror twenty five years from now.
"I want to be like you, I want to be as big and as strong as you."
"Atta boy, get back to sleep I'll be here all night." Seeing little him run off and climb back into the cot Erik stood by the beds of his parents and looked at them. The doctors and nurses said they might be waking up in the hours or the next day. Pulling his chair by the window Erik sat at the foot of his dad's bed and was facing the door resting his elbow on the elbow rest as he slouched a tag to rest the side of his face on his knuckles. Closing his eyes Erik allowed for his body to go into rest but he kept half-awake as he sat there to protect his family and himself. It was the next day about mid –afternoon that Erik woke back up without anyone threatening anyone's life, apparently Richardson had come back with a file left at Erik's side and taken little Erik for lunch. Stretching as much as he could for a machine Erik grabbed the sealed envelope that was tucked in at his side and opened pulling the papers out and blinking a couple of time to get the sleep out of his eyes. Reading the information before him Erik saw the hand written note left by Richardson telling him that he was going to take Erik to get some stuff for his parents, shower and eat before coming back. Looking over the bullet information it looked like this wasn't the first time this person was targeting people. There had been similar murders committed by the same person that was not in any sort of catalogue or the new FBI database they were developing for inter-continental law enforcement agencies.
Flipping through there were at least ten unsolved murders and the fingerprints were all the same on the cases, Erik should have taken a comparison print of the female I-950, but at this point he wasn't about to go back out to check the dead body, as far as Erik was concerned she was the shooter but the other part of him wanted to make sure, remembering that she had a needle that she was supposed to have used Erik got up and looked around and remembered the struggle and as small as it was there was the tray still left over from the night before that hadn't been moved on the table next the beds. Getting up Erik went over to it and looked it over and saw nothing to normal human vision, his HUD came up and switched to a scanning mode as he knelt down and looked around the rim of the metal tray. There was a print that his scan caught and it registered it to the image he had saved when looking at the finger prints. The comparison was made and highlighted, and it was a match and to Erik that was the best news that he had to give himself as he breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing a soft moan Erik stood up and looked to the bed that his mother and he smiled as he went over seeing that she was the first awake.
"Erik?" Was the first thing out of her mouth, Erik leaned over the railing taking the woman's had as her eyes opened and looked up to the man that was at her bed side. It was like a dream that the woman didn't think she could be living, as she looked at the man she saw something that shouldn't be possible and that was her dream actually come to life. "Erik?"
"Ma'am." The woman's hand shakily rose from its position that Erik took gently and gave a gently squeeze, she reached up even further that Erik lowered his face to her and she cupped the side of his face as he gave her a sad smile.
"When did you grow so old?"
"I didn't, the boy you remember is still here…"
"No, the dream… I saw you in a dream. My little boy all grown up and changed… all twisted." The woman held Erik's face as he leaned into her touch. "You were machine and man, I saw you hurt and changed… but… how are you here?"
"Time is a very funny thing, it can do things that we can never expect them to. I came back in time, I came from the future that nightmare you saw. Your little boy is still here, he's with Officer Richardson right now. You know dad was right about the science, bout some of the stuff we saw on tv and in movies. It's real and now it's a matter of making sure that there is a future where I'm not twisted into what I am now. I don't want that for him, but there are some things that I cannot change. Teach him to be strong, teach him to be a warrior. I know you mom and in about fifteen years you will look proudly to what your son does, because all you have to do is look to me." Erik stood up and looked down as his mother looked him over and saw his frame, his body and the strength he exulted. "One day your son will become me, and I'm still going here and being the best that I can be. That's all he could ever be and will ever be. Remember that. Love him, teach him, support him and everything else will follow and that's all that you can expect out of it all." Erik leaned down and kissed his mother on the cheek and she weakly pulled him into a hug.
"I love you."
"Love you too mom, it's been a very long time for me since I've last seen you, you live and you survive." The smile she gave Erik was worth her going back to sleep afterwards, Erik set his mother's hand down and went to his dad giving the man a shaky smile. It had been a very long time since he talked to his dad and when he saw his dad awaken in pain Erik ended up getting a nurse who came in to check on him before leaving the two alone. It was a very brief talk before the man went to bed but Erik was able to tell his dad who he was much to the man's surprise that his theories were all correct and that he needed to be hyper aware of everything around his family. The man fell asleep just a few minutes before little Erik came bustling in with a backpack and some things, Erik had been looking over an article before he saw a civilian looking Richardson come in after little Erik. Nodding to the man Erik put the magazine away and stood up. Little Erik hugged his middle again before going to his little cot and setting his bag down on it and going to check on his mom and dad. Erik went to Richardson handing him the envelope back and patting the man on the chest lightly, Richardson looked at him questioningly before Erik stood at the man's side looking at little Erik with a sad smile.
"Take care of him and his family will you…" Richardson nodded as Erik turned to leave, he had an I-950 that he had to track down and finish putting down like the monster it was. Leaving the room quietly Erik was in the elevator before little Erik skidded out of the room in to the hall to see his hero disappear behind the doors with Richardson at his side a hand on his shoulder. Richardson had led little Erik back into the room as the little boy sadly sat on the cot between his parents, opening the envelop Richardson pulled out papers which included a drawing and a note for little Erik and a note for him.
James,
When you read this know that I left Erik in your hands while my parents are recovering, it's important to know that there is danger on the horizon and that there is only so much that I can do and so many places that I can be at at the same time. My past and Erik's future is linked to you strongly, so I give you these words of advice. Look out for the Destler's, they will need it and you will be the role model that Erik will need. My father has a bit of a wild mind but for all the wild ideas he has, he is not the kind of role model that Erik needs.
I have talked to my father and he has agreed to have you as the boy's god father. It's more than I ever had growing up, know that when I was younger I looked to you for your strength, and when I had my growth spurt it was you that helped me adjust to the changes and it was you that helped me get the ladies. As you can tell, I have gone and that is to track down the man that I had fought in the hallway of the school, the woman who had all those unsolved murders, she's dead. If you must really look for a body it's in the trees but for your sake do not look for it I know as a man of law that you much report crimes, but this is one crime you cannot report for that body isn't entirely human, let it go.
I told little Erik that I would stay at the hospital for as long as it took for my parents to wake and they did, I must continue my mission and as such you are to take over for me there. Soon little Erik will forget about me, but in order to help him overcome that there is a little note and that drawing that I did. Thank you for everything James,
Erik Destler (From 2029)
Richardson folded the letter and put it into his wallet for safe keeping, looking at the picture that Erik had drawn it was of a Wolf hunkered low and looking up ready to defend with an aggressive looking Dragon ready to back the Wolf up with smoke coming out of its maw. The caption that Erik written onto the little note attached to the pen drawn image read Even the smallest alone, you will always have something powerful behind you to help. Looking to little Erik, Richardson smiled as he held out the image to Erik who looked at the drawing in awe and carefully touched the lines. He would do as Erik said, and in order to do some of that he would need the help of others including that one police officer from LA.
Sitting in the vehicle Erik had since driven away thinking about how he was going to track down the I-950, the city he was in was connected to so many other smaller cities that where in walking distance. For him Erik would probably have to go to the school to track down the address of the teacher. If it was a sub or a permanent teacher the information would be needed from the school district board office. Waiting until it was about just after midnight Erik went to the office building and got out of the car Erik went to the building and looked around seeing if there was a way in for him that didn't involve setting off the alarms. Going around he saw a cleaning truck and a door propped open, going over to it Erik pulled the door open and poked his head in hearing Spanish voices down the hall. Stepping into the hall Erik went down it and looked for a records office while trying to keep away from the floor polisher and the woman that was cleaning the bathrooms.
Finding a room that had rows of filing cabinets Erik went in and shut the door quietly behind him and started looking for something that could help him. It was times like that that Erik really missed the joy of the internet, computer databases instead of paper searching for someone. This was going to be rough and it was going to be something he was going enjoy mental sarcasm included. As Erik looked through the filing cabinets an hour or two later he found the information he was after and wrote down the address to a Mr. Tako. Leaving the building was a challenge and Erik almost got caught by the cleaning people as he brushed out the door.
Sitting in the car Erik looked at the address again and pulled out a map looking for the street he was looking for again wishing for technology to catch up because then he could pin point the location he was after. Driving to the address was making Erik aggravated to the point that it almost drove by the house that the I-950 had been using for a base of operations. The lights were off except the one that was coming from the basement window, exploring the property Erik knelt by the basement window and little in seeing the I-950 that he had beaten the ever living daylights out of in a bathtub with an T-800 taking care of it. Erik pushed himself to a stand and turned around seeing a T-800 slammed him into the side the house before being let go. Rolling over and getting up Erik was picked up and thrown into the back yard breaking a wall to the shed that stood strangely by a in ground pool.
Shaking his head Erik gazed at the ground from his place on the debris of the shed wall before he was whipped up into the air and slammed into the grass side first creating a crater. Climbing out of the crater Erik dove out of the way of the T-800 before booting it in the face knocking it to the ground. Standing back up Erik ducked his head back barely missing a swing of the machine before he cracked it across the face watching the head snap to the side almost strain from the hit. Erik realized then that even though it was a T-800 the machine components and materials must have been cheaper meaning less durable. Erik turned his pain his receptors off and ducked under a swing and slam his fist into the chest of the machine and grinned with satisfaction as he heard the metal squeal and crumple under the hit. Erik struck again with a hay maker and watched as the machine much like a human dropped to its as the CPU and the power source were disconnected and the head hung at a very wrong angle. Grabbing at the head Erik in a very brutal fashion tore the head off the machine skin included and kicked the now useless body onto its side before dropping the head and heading for the basement door entrance and kicked the door open to see the I-950 clearly out of it and the T-800 that was taking care of it turn only to see the axe that Erik had picked up from the door connect with its neck twice before it shut down and it's head rolled to the ground.
Dropping the axe Erik looked around for something that could help with what he was going to do next, it took a few minutes before Erik had his set up done and he sat on a wooden chair with a toaster in hand plugged into a wall socket and the out of it I-950 chained up in its tub. Sitting there Erik had filled the tub with water and sat there waiting for the I-950 to awaken, interrogating a machine of Skynet even with a human body would be new because no one had ever done it and Erik was always one for learning new things as he stuck his hand in the cold water having since returned his human sense of touch back and he felt the bruises on top of the minor injuries he had from the other I-950 and from the fight with the I-950 that looked worse even with its induced healing. Nothing was worse than an impact from a hydraulic fist t the face to shatter bone into tiny pieces. For the first couple of hours Erik sat there waiting, when he soon realized that the I-950 wouldn't be waking up any time soon Erik went outside to bring in the body of the T-800 and the head and looking over the construction of the machine after peeling the skin off and putting it into a garbage can at his side. Looking at the crude looking skull that was under Daniel's or Richard's face back home.
Looking over the rest of the skeleton it was clear that the I-950 hadn't been here long enough to secure better quality of metal or hydraulic hosing for the pumps and rods that acted as muscles in his own skeleton or the T-800's from the future, there were custom made but cheap. These T-800's were made strictly for help and for back up but they had weak points that Erik had already exploited in two fights with the machines. It took two days and the smell of the now dead skin of the T-800's to be a bother to Erik's sense of smell, however all it took for the time being would be many, many air fresheners and candles to mask the smell when the I-950 finally stirred and when it's single eye opened it stared back at Erik who cocked his head to the side.
"You and I are going to have a chat before I try something from a game I used to play when I was younger. Don't bother trying to move or break the chains. I was smart and I used some of the heavy grade crap you bought to eh hoist up the bodies of the T-800's you started to make."
"You, Skynet should have destroyed you after my sisters fucked you to moon and back."
"Well, well. Looks like you have a temper don't you?" The I-950 tried in vain to move as Erik chuckled listening to the heavy gauge chain move in the frigid cold water, looking to the toaster that was at his side along with the orange power cord the I-950 looked in the direction of the toaster as well and saw what it was plugged into.
"My files say that you wouldn't kill a human being, Erik Destler is a saviour not a murderer."
"Your files aren't wrong, but you aren't human… Hell you aren't innocent after you tried to killed myself, that being said I gotta ask you how many of you bastards did Skynet send back?"
"Like I would tell you?"
"You know your chances of surviving are at zero percent right?" The I-950 stayed quiet looking at Erik like he wanted to the hybrid to explode into fire. Erik laughed and flipped the switch on the toaster knowing that he wouldn't get anything further from the Skynet bred human. Picking it up Erik held it with one hand and dropped it into the tub on and watched as the high voltage of electricity shot through the I-950's body the water and the close contact of the metal chains started to roil the water as the eyes of the I-950 couldn't shut and Erik turned his face away in time as the eyeballs exploded.
Walking away Erik left the house and got into the car and drove away, on his way out the power cells of the T-800 in the belly of the I-950 exploded taking the house and destroying anything of the Terminators, Skynet along with an entire row of houses after a gas main had been breached. Driving on Erik didn't care that destruction had been made, but he hoped that any other I-950's that had been sent back would be targeting him as the immediate threat.
At Cyberdyne Systems a woman had been writing up some paperwork when her attention was brought to something as he head cocked to the side.
"Yes number seven."
"We have lost contact with Gregory and Sanella, last transmissions were that of the Hybrid Erik Destler attacking them."
Serena Burns looked away from the paperwork she had been writing as the connection to her Number Seven T-800 she had hand crafted along with its 'brothers'. Putting the pen down Serena remembered the hybrid well and used the hybrid for her own education amongst other things including her own sexual pleasure when Skynet allowed her to.
"Track him down, I want to him brought to me and unharmed. I should like one last rodeo with him before I rip his heart out."
"Acknowledged."
The connection was cut and Serena looked out the window of her office, Skynet was being secured with the help of John Connor a Terminator created by the hand of Skynet. It would take years but it would be a war that Skynet would win this time no matter the hybrid and the others that had come here.