Hello everyone Chapter three is already here. Man I'm banging these out quick, which makes me happy yes. Thanks to all my readers, and thanks or all the reviews, I love reading them, cheers.
Terminator
Bond of Steel and Bone
Chapter 3
Where it all Began. Pieces Falling Together.
Cameron watched as the bouncer turned to look at the camera. She didn't know why he had done nor did she care at that moment in time, she put herself behind a group of teenage girls and followed them towards the main doors, the bouncer took note of the girls, which allowed Cameron to slip around and into the club unseen, she looked across the room to the neon lit name of the club.
'Tech Noir'
Cameron tilted her head before walking further into the club, the blaring of the loud music pounding into her CPU. She recognized the track as an old 80s classic "Burnin' in the Third Degree" by Tahee Cain. Cameron stopped to look across the glass window at the dancing people before her. John was here somewhere.
"Hey!" came a woman's voice from behind, "that girl didn't pay!" The bouncer turned and walked up behind the motionless girl and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Miss-" was all he could get out before Cameron reached to his hand wrapping her slender hand around his proceeded to crush it, she would not be slowed down or deterred. The man cried out in pain falling to his knees as Cameron ignored him and walked into the club further, she stalked around the perimeter and began to fade away into the crowd.
Riley was dancing to the loud and vibrant music, the lights flashing giving the the club such life, the atmosphere was intoxicating to Riley, and to a far lesser extent John who was dancing rather reluctantly more out of self-embarrassment, he wasn't a dancer, he knew that much. He wasn't aware of the two machines looking for him intensely.
"You want a drink?," John called out, he'd do anything to get away from the dance floor. Riley however was still entrapped by the noise and the lights and didn't hear him. To get her attention John placed a hand on her shoulder, leaned forward and spoke louder. "I'm you want a drink?" he asked. Riley had invited him so he may as well pay for drinks, he reasoned.
"Yeah, you got sit down I'll get them!" she yelled out, her volume barely over audible. "You want a beer?" she asked.
"Nah just get me a soda!" He called back before giving her some money, "you get what you want!"
John walked over to a nearby table and sat down on it to rest his feet, as Riley happily walked over towards the bar.
The Triple Eight walked at a slow pace, its eyes scanning the area in front of it, each face highlighted on its HUD so far none were Connor, but it would find him soon enough, it made note of the two hidden weapons on its body and reserve magazines, both were easily concealed under its uniform, and easily reachable.
Cameron scanned the area she had to find John and make sure he was safe, Riley was bound to do something stupid before long, hopefully John wouldn't pay the price for Riley's foolishness. Cameron slithered her way around the humans, some dancing along with the music, others drunk and trying to flirt with her. Some tried to get a little pushy, Cameron wasn't truly in the mood to deal with them and pushed them away with a bit too much force making them stumble into other people.
Riley was ecstatic. The rumors were true; they did serve minors alcohol! As long as they paid extra and said nothing to the cops. Riley picked up the two drinks before her pocketing John's change. A small beer for herself in her left hand, and a medium coke from John. She had to admit, it was very hot in the place, even with cooling fans positioned in various places. Riley smirked. Everything was going great, no cyborg, no distractions, just her and John, before long she could be Mrs Riley Connor; wife of the savior of humanity. She herself could be legendary, she could get the cyborg scrapped, she'd have the most comfortable life if the war broke out first dibs on food, treasured items, people who'd want to protect her, both human and machines, albeit the former very reluctantly. She hated machines, but the idea of having one programmed solely to protect her had its appeal.
Riley was lost in thought as she accidentally bumped into someone, she looked up and smiled at him apologetically.
"Sorry" she continued on her way.
The Triple-Eight stalked around the outer rim of the club, it was coming up to the bar, so far no John Connor, thankfully Stan the bouncer may be able to grab him if he tried to leave. Humans were nothing if useful at times, it mused. It was so intent on its search it hadn't noticed who it bumped into. A young girl's face looked at it smiling at it.
"Sorry," the girl spoke before walking off. The machine had glanced at her and was about to continue on, when it almost did a double take, the girl, that girl. The Blonde one. With Connor. The machine stalked forward keeping its eyes on the girl as it following her from a distance.
John listened to the song playing over the speakers, he looked at the people before him, dancing and enjoying themselves, he felt a cold admiration and longing for those people; normal people, they hadn't the weight of the world upon their shoulders and expectations to live up too. Of all the things he'd heard about his future self: the great "General John Connor", he both hated and admired him, a man so strong to call in tough decision when they needed to be made, he didn't think he could do it, didn't think he was up to it, but again John hated him. On the other side of this shiny coin, was an ugly side, from what he heard, he was cold, almost ruthless, a monster of a man, possibly less human than the machines he had reprogrammed, a shut-in who saw no one and spoke to no one.
And yet still, everyone trusted him, even Cameron. She trusted him, whether she was programmed to or not, he didn't know. Derek trusted him, his future self, Derek almost seemed to worship him, and showed continuing frustration that he was not yet as strong as he would become.
'But knowing what I know now, could I do it? Could I become like him? Cold, alone, a biological machine?' John questioned himself, he groaned putting his hands over his eyes and stretched, accidentally knocking over the salt and pepper pots. John glanced over the side of the table at the dropped pots, with a groan he leaned down to pick them up, grabbing them he lifted his eyes and saw her.
Cameron moved past another drunken teen, Cameron wouldn't admit she was growing concerned for John's safety, she hadn't yet found him, and now she was at the actual dance floor, her eyes scanned the horde of humans she was coming up to, if John was amongst them she would never find him from this distance, she saw sudden movement in the corner near the dance floor and looked towards it.
'John!' she'd found him, he was alone and picking something up from the floor. 'He is alone, where did Riley go?' she thought when suddenly, he looked up as if he had a sixth sense of being watched then his eyes sudden met her's. 'He's seen me' she could see John looking at her confused as he sat up right. Cameron looked up further seeing someone walk up to him, she glared as Riley came up to him with two drinks in her hand, she smiled and said something to him. Cameron then noticed the large man following her with a blank expression on his face, she scanned him and her eyes opened wide in alarm. John had turned and saw her expression.
'Cameron?' John thought as she stared right at him. He was confused but anger was growing up in him. 'She followed me. I can't… actually I can ... I CAN believe it!' He ranted mentally to himself as he sat up right the pots still in his hands.
"Hey John I'm back," Riley spoke from behind getting his attention.
"Oh hey," he replied as she placed his coke in front of him. John turned back around to look for Cameron. She was glaring daggers at Riley, which only seemed to anger him more, he was about to suggest they leave when he saw Cameron adjust her gaze, suddenly her eyes opened wide as she began to move closer. Confused John turned to see what she was looking at.
He saw a large man walk into the small clearing around his table, the man's eyes immediately locked onto him, and his hand shifted into his security jacket. John's eyes opened wide.
"Riley get down!" He reached out to grab her, Riley spun around seeing the man she'd bumped into pull out a pistol with a black block under the barrel, she opened her mouth to scream as John grabbed her from behind and moved her aside.
A laser dot pointed at John as the machine fired the powerful .45 calibre bullet crashing through the flimsy seat John once sat in, piercing through it and into the ground.
John turned his attention immediately to the machine and threw the salt and pepper pots at the machine, the glass containers shattering against the machine's head, while undamaged the machine flinched as the glass shattered and some of the salt and pepper went into its eyes.
The Triple-Eight turned seeing John run into the crowd, and continued to fire, the shots, the screams making people turn their attention to the killer machine as it fired, people started screaming in panic and running to the exit, it dropped the empty magazine from its pistol and slammed another into place and released the slide to chamber the round, it was about to continue in its assassination attempt when a flimsy metal chair smashed into its face, the machine stumbled and turned seeing a young dark haired girl knock the pistol out of its hand with surprising strength. She reached down grabbing the cyborg by the jacket, pulled it up, spun herself around then threw it several feet across the room, people scream and scampered out of the way. John was left exposed, Riley was missing.
John gasped as he jumped over the D-J's workspace, he looked around seeing people running for their lives, he hoped Riley was with them, he saw the machine go flying across the room as Cameron threw it.
"John. Run!" Cameron yelled out not taking her eyes off of the machine. Problem was John wasn't going to risk running out in the open, and began to move from cover to cover.
The machine got up as Cameron moved towards it, she reached out to grab it once more only for the Terminator to grab her in turn, spin her around and throw her into a stone pillar which cracked upon impact, the machine heard feet scampering around behind it, pulling out its second concealed weapon: a Ruger MP9, a updated iteration of the Israeli Uzi. The machine opened fire with a stream of bullets, a girl shrieking was heard.
'Riley! She didn't leave!' John thought to himself as he looked from his new hiding space, he could see Riley on the ground, she was unhurt, just startled. 'Why didn't she leave?!' John questioned suddenly in alarm. The Triple-Eight advanced on her position Ruger still in hand, Cameron was just getting back up as the Machine turned to see Riley.
Riley looked up as the machine moved around the pillar to look at her. Terror chilled the blood in her veins as the Terminator zeroed in on her. It was just like Mexico all over again. The Machine raised the MP9 towards her.
"HEY! HEY OVER HERE!" John called out jumping up from his hiding spot, the machine turned and towards his voice, Cameron herself looked towards John in alarm. The Triple-Eight opened fired immediately as John dived towards another cover, the bullets ripped through the speakers he had been hiding behind and crashed into the rock pillar where took cover.
Cameron ran towards the machine, she had to protect John, she must! The machine turned towards Cameron and opened fire, the bullet pierced her skin sheath but dented against her metal frame, the magazine ran dry. The Triple-Eight dropped the Ruger then reached out to grab her. While not as strong or as heavy as the Triple-Eight, Cameron was faster, and more agile, she ducked under its reaching arm, grabbed the limb with both hands and twisted it, before bring her knee up against the cyborg's chest twice, followed with several quick strikes to its face, before spinning it around and pushed it several feet forward before throwing it with all her might towards the side of the room.
"Run John. Now!" Cameron called out again, quickly making her way towards the machine.
John looked out and decided to chance it he ran towards Riley seeing the girl get up slowly.
"Just like Mexico all over eh? What are the odds?" John tried his best to joke, but Riley looked at him terrified.
"Yeah," she finally replied, "small world." Riley and John began to make their way towards the exit when they heard the sound of brick and metal crashing to the ground. John stopped immediately and turned around to go to investigate
"Come on John!" Riley cried out.
"No. I've got to see if she's okay" John told her, his voice wavering a little in panic.
"You can't help her John. It's what she does!" Riley blurted out. John was about to protest when he turned to look at her confused and shocked.
"What…?" he asked slowly trying to get through his mind what she said.
"She's your sister, like back at school, she's always looking out for you." Riley replied quickly, before another crash was heard.
John released his hand from Riley's and ran towards the crashing noise. "Cameron!" he called out panicking, he stopped finding one of the doors broken open along with parts of the brick wall it had been attached to broken through, he looked down finding the Terminator's pistol; a Canadian Para 14-45, a laser sight connected under the barrel. He grabbed it and checked the slide and magazine, loaded and ready, he slowed his breathing and closed his eyes for a brief second to gather his nerves before running through the hole, and followed the destruction created by the two battling machines.
The Triple-Eight struck with a two-foot shard of steel it had ripped from some foundation of the club across Cameron's face causing her to stumble, it struck her again just as she brought up her arm to block the attack, the Triple-Eight leaned back and kicked her square in the chest knocking her onto her back, immediately Cameron pushed herself back up to her feet, catching the steel shard in her hands as the Terminator attacked her once more. Wrestling it from the assassin's grasp Cameron struck it across the face with the steel followed with a hard uppercut under the machine's chin knocking it onto its back.
Cameron straddled the machine's chest and began pounding away at its face repeatedly, the steel beginning to tear away the assassin's skin sheath revealing more and more shiny Titanium-Coltan hyperalloy. Cameron pulled back the shard of steel, and brought it down towards the Terminator's right optic in efforts of damaging it only for the downed cyborg to grab the steel at an angle diverting the tip away from its eye while the jagged metal cut into the flesh of its hand, it grabbed Cameron by her top with its free hand, pull her in close before shoving her off.
Still gripping the steel shard, now buckled and bent the Terminator mounted Cameron, place a knee on her chest and brought the steel down like a blade wanting to impale it through Cameron's throat in effort to sever her head from her body. As the Terminator had done Cameron grabbed the weapon, her skin sheath sliced open as the bladed edge of the steel cut into her. The steel piece began to slide from her grip, her blood lubing her grip making the blade slide a further, she tightened her grip around the metal causing it to bend, her grip reinforced.
The machine let go of the weapon, grabbed Cameron and threw her through a steel maintenance door, the door buckled under protest at her weight being rammed against it. Cameron got up slowly dropping the steel piece, she looked up just as the machine lifted its foot and kicked her sending her crashing through the door.
The Terminator made its way into the room as Cameron got up, it lashed out with a powerful fist, Cameron dodged the attack and grabbed the arm with one hand before thrusting her fist up into the machine's elbow bending parts of the alloy of its endoskeleton. The triple-Eight reached out with its other arm, only for Cameron to duck under it, wrap her hands around the arm and throw the Triple-Eight over her shoulder and slam it down onto the ground with a dull thud.
The Triple-Eight reached out and grabbed her leg with its right arm, in an attempt to bring her to the ground, it's arm whined as it tried to move at the elbow, the damage Cameron had done preventing it from moving. Cameron backed up then looked around for anyway to end the machine quicker, she looked ahead seeing a fuse box. An adequate tool.
The Triple-Eight slowly got to its feet in front of her she rushed towards it and kicked its torso sending it stumbled back it's back slamming against the fuse box cover, the machine looked back seeing what it was it'd hit. A threat, but also its own tool. Cameron stormed towards the machine which grabbed it's damaged arm and forced the joint back into place, a temporary repair. Cameron grabbed the Triple-Eight only for it to break her grip on it, grabbing her shoulder it turned and slammed her against the fuse box, before kneeing in the stomach region while pulling back on her head causing her to fall to one knee, the machine reached out with its damaged arm and ripped the cover off of the fuse box.
It slammed the cover against her head causing her to momentarily flinch, giving it enough time to grab her, it prepared to send her crashing into the fuse box before erupted from behind it, pistol rounds pounding into its back, the machine turned its head and looked over its shoulder, zeroing in on its new attacker.
TARGET IDENTIFIED: JOHN CONNOR
TAGRET PRIORITY
TERMINATE
Distracted, Cameron grabbed the machine from behind spun it around and send it head first into the fuse box, jumping back as the building's electrical current went coursing through the machine.
Cameron watched at the sparking machine John walked up towards her carefully.
"You okay?" he asked, worry evident in his voice.
Cameron turned around to look at him. "Yes John thank you for your concern." Cameron responded. Cameron turned back around as electricity continued to flow through the machines body still, the lights around them surging before overloading and blowing.
"I suggest we leave immediately." Cameron looked at John from the darkness. "I brought Sarah's car, there is a tool box in the trunk"
"Alright, you get the Triple-Eight out of here, remove it's chip just in case, I'd like to think that that surge did a little more than just put it into reboot, but I'd rather be safe than sorry." John instructed her.
"If that were true John, you wouldn't have come out with Riley." Cameron pointed out, John narrowed his eyes at her.
"Riley couldn't have known this thing was here Cameron, look, this isn't open for discussion. Get this thing out of here, I saw cameras around this place, delete the footage, and pull the car round to the front, cops will be here any minute, I'm going to go see if Riley left." John handed Cameron the machine's pistol before running off leaving Cameron to deal with the cyborg.
"Riley!?" John called out as he re-entered the dance floor. The girl in question began to run towards him from her hiding place.
"John, oh thank god you're okay." Riley went to embrace John but he grabbed her arms stopping her.
"Are you okay?" the girl nodded frantically I response. "Okay then." John looked around then picked up Terminator's Ruger MP9 and the empty magazines.
"What are you doing John?" Riley asked, as he pocketed the double stacked .45 magazine and loaded in the empty Ruger magazine.
"Not throwing away free stuff," he replied, "come on Cameron is meeting us up front." John said as he dragged her to the door, the sound of police sirens were heard in the distance.
As if on cue Cameron came around in the car.
"Get in!" She ordered, John got into the back with Riley, Cameron didn't voice her displeasure, though she glared at the girl from the mirror, Cameron drove off away from the club.
"You okay Cameron?" John asked again as a scared Riley leaned on him. John was trying to see her eye through the mirror, but the darkness made it too hard.
"I'm alright John, thank you for your concern." Cameron repeated she glanced at John through the mirror before returning her eyes to the road.
"My sister's a real bad ass," John joked trying to lighten the mood to Riley. Riley looked at him and just nodded slowly. He looked back to Cameron. "Hey, can you drop Riley off at home?"
"No John it's okay, just drop me off half way, I'll walk the rest, I need some air." Riley said her voice quiet and weak. John nodded reluctantly.
Later Cameron dropped Riley off John got out and embraced Riley who clung to him desperately.
"I'll eh, I'll see you later John," she said slowly before turning away and walking off, John merely gave a "yeah" as a reply before getting into the car next to Cameron, he knew when they got home he had a lot to think about.
The ride was quiet and awkward, John looked very thoughtful, trapped in his own mind as he thought about the current events. He looked over to Cameron.
"You followed us." He finally said breaking the silence, however there was no anger nor hate in his words.
"My mission is to protect you John, I have to keep an eye on you, it seems I was right to do so." Cameron replied before turning her head a little and looked at him before looking back to the road.
"Yeah, and thank you for that. I'd have been dead if it weren't for you, again." John admitted before letting out a deep sigh. "If that Triple-Eight hadn't come, I'd have been angry that you followed us. But, I guess this just proves one thing." He sighed in a defeated tone.
"What?" Cameron asked not even bothering to look at him.
"Machines are everywhere and they're all trying to kill me" he sighed and looked forward.
"I'll protect you John, I won't leave you." Cameron replied resolute almost caring tone, she turned to look at John, her eyes seemed alive, alive with something, what John couldn't tell, but he'd seen that look before, somewhere.
"Thank you," John replied offering Cameron a ghost of a smile. There was a minute or so of silence before, "I'm putting her in danger aren't I?" John spoke out suddenly.
"Yes, but I understand, however irrational it is. I won't tell Sarah, she'll freak." The two drove into the driveway, as Sarah opened the door to look at them.
"Oh shit." John said looking up at his mother, Cameron parked the car and John got out slowly while quickly trying to think of a cover story.
"Where the hell have you been?" Sarah asked. John was about to open his mouth.
"We went out for a drive." Cameron spoke out in her monotone voice as she got out of the car. Sarah looked at Cameron curiously. "John said he wanted to think, so I offered to take him around for a drive." Cameron stared at Sarah, almost daring her to challenge her word.
Sarah looked to John. "Why a drive?" she asked.
"You know." John thought on his feet. "I wanted to look at the world, in case we failed, really look at what we'd lose." John almost felt bad about how easy that came out, almost.
Sarah considered what he said. Somewhat placated she gave him a half smile.
"I know, but we're doing all we can to make sure we don't lose it. We won't lose it, I promise." Sarah said and paated John on the shoulder as he past her and walked into the house. In the light he noticed how Cameron had attempted to tidy herself up, obviously to avoid suspicion.
"Thanks mom, I think I'm gunna go straight to bed, that okay with you?" he asked, in truth he was tired, physically, mentally and emotionally tired. Sarah nodded as Cameron walked in behind John and followed him upstairs. Sarah closed the door behind them.
'My poor boy.' Sarah thought to herself and smiled albeit sadly.
Upstairs John flopped onto his bed with a loud groan, Cameron stood up in front of him.
"What a night," he sighed before rolling onto his back and pressing himself against the headboard of his bed.
"It wasn't satisfactory" Cameron quipped, John looked up at her and chuckled darkly.
"You got shot," he pointed out, Cameron nodded in return, "want me to help with that?"
"I got shot in the torso. You might be uncomfortable with certain points of impact."
"I know." John sighed and looked at nothing in particular. "But I owe you that at least." John insisted. Cameron hesitated before removing her black jacket, and placing it on John's chair. Before lifting her T-shirt just below her breasts and rolled it to make sure it didn't fall down, her lifted shirt revealed the multiple bullet wounds.
John looked at the wounds and winced, it dawned on him once more after so long what Cameron put herself through just to protect him, he reached under his bed and pulled out a small tool box an from it retrieved some pliers.
"You ready?" he asked himself more than Cameron, this never bothered her, she just nodded in response. "Okay lay on my bed, and I'll get started." John noticed there were further bullet holes higher than her shirt. Cameron noticed this however and spoke up.
"I'll remove those later, as they would make you feel awkward." she said her eyes staying on him as he began to work.
"Thanks." He replied as dug the pliers into the wound gripped the tip of the bullet and worked it out.
John and Cameron were in silence as he worked, Cameron's focus stayed on John as she analyzed every feature of his face, every detail, the way his eyes moved and his eye lids narrowed a little as he focused on her superficial wounds. There was positive reponse in her CPU as she looked at John, she found his face pleasing, his eyes were much more alive than the John she knew in the future, this John hadn't decided to close him off from everyone, to live a life alone and as free from heartache as he could. But just like future John he felt responsibility for anyone who got hurt because of him. She tilted her head a little as she looked him over.
Soon enough he was finished.
"There; all done, well except for those." He pointed above her top.
"Thank you John," she sat up and he smiled a little, "however could I ask a favor?" she asked suddenly, Jack frowned a little but nodded in confirmation. "Could you get these in my back?" Cameron began to turn around.
"I don't remember you getting shot in the…" John stopped when he saw the wounds, his eyes opened wide and his mouth opened a little. "When did this happen? Your wounds look rotten." He looked at the yellow discoloured skin hugging around different sized wounds from her front.
"Affirmative, these wounds are from the attack this week. A Triple-Eight was armed with a five-fifty-six carbine. I have been too preoccupied to remove them, so the flesh has started to rot." She explained.
"Why didn't you ask me to remove these before?" he asked confused and in shock at the sight of them. Cameron was quiet for a moment.
"You were angry with me John, I did not wish to bother you." Cameron explained in a submissive tone. John felt like an asshole, she hadn't come to for help because he was angry at her.
'For what?' he asked himself. 'For protecting me? For stopping me lying to myself that I can be normal, that I can have a normal life?' John felt like he'd been shot, stabbed and kicked. He felt awful.
"Will these heal up when the bullets are removed?" he asked his voice trembling a little.
"No." she began, John looked at her mortified, she looked back to him. "The rotten area will have to be removed before regeneration can begin…" she was interrupted suddenly by John.
"Okay sure, no problemo, I'll fix this I promise!" He declared and immediately got to her on her once more.
"Thank you." Was all Cameron said before she looked forward.
John removed 5.56 rounds and put them next to the bent 9mm rounds. John was sweating, these ones were harder to pull out due to their design, but he persisted.
'I've been a real ass. To everyone, mom, Cameron, to Der … to Cameron. They haven't deserved my attitude. I've been a real jackass, putting myself and everyone else in danger.' John chastised himself as he thought about his mood and personality recently.
John finished Cameron's back before reaching into his tool box and pulling out a small scalpel.
"Thanks for not telling mom," he said as he began to cut around the yellowish rotten flesh, puss bursting from the flesh as the scalpel blade cut into it.
"You're welcome. You escaped a near death experience, the last thing you needed was Sarah to yell at you, the stress may have had negative side effects, so I prioritized your health first, however you need to be more careful in future. Please John." She turned around to look at him, John looked into her eyes as saw what he could only describe as a pleading look. "I do not want to lose you." She added, if John hadn't known better he would have thought Cameron was about to cry. He gave her a small sad smile and nodded.
"I'll be more careful next time, I promise." He said as Cameron turned back around to let him continue. "If there is a next time." he mumbled to himself, but Cameron detected it.
"Why do you say that John?" she asked curiously but didn't turn around allowing him to continue his work.
"I don't know, I think. I think I have a lot to think about tonight. A lot to think about," he sighed sadly as he continued to cut off the yellow flesh,"how long will these take to heal?" he asked turning to a different subject.
"It should take approximately a day or two to heal over." she informed him, John gave her a curious but amused look.
"Approximately a day or two? No days, hours minutes?" he joked. Cameron however didn't pick up on his humour.
"Negative. I've learned people don't like exact time. You taught me that." She replied seriously before turning her head to look at him from the corner of her eye. She could see him smiling as he cut a ring around another piece, she saw his disgusted look as more yellow flesh was removed from her body.
To John, the task couldn't have been completed soon enough, the finally removed the last piece of rotten skin.
"All done" he said, Cameron lowered her shirt and looked at the bullets and removed flesh.
"Thank you John. It's nice to have help." She gave him a tiny appreciative smile that he'd been seeing a lot of lately, but he felt no less privileged to see it.
"You're welcome," he replied, he was about to ask more when Cameron suddenly seemed to focus on his hand.
"You're hurt." Cameron said with alarm, she grabbed his hand and pull it towards her.
John grimaced, now that his adrenaline was fading he could feel the wound across his palm.
"Yeah, I guess I cut myself on something, but don't worry its fine." He replied, trying to be reassuring.
Cameron placed a hand on his blood smeared palm, then started to run her hand over his arm, then over his chest, eliciting a surprised look from John.
"Uh, Cameron?" he asked, not sure of how to respond.
"You are otherwise undamaged, I had to ensure you weren't shot. You put yourself in too much danger back there John." Cameron chastised him lightly.
"I know, I know, like I said when it happens again, I'll be more careful, I promise." He gave her a reassuring smile. "You eh, couldn't do me two favours could you?" John asked, Cameron looked at him interested at how she could assist him. "Well one, could you get rid of the flesh and bullets for me?" Cameron nodded. "And two, can you get that machines CPU for me and dump it in the shed, we'll get rid of it tomorrow."
"I could melt it down tonight while everyone is asleep, however I would prefer to retrieve some spare parts from it, for replacement parts." Cameron replied, seeing as how it'd be safer to get rid of it while no one notices.
"Um yeah sure, go ahead." John replied with a smile, Cameron smiled back before getting up and leaving. "You hang on to the CPU, I'm gunna get some sleep. Kay?"
"Okay John, goodnight."
"Night Cameron."
Cameron left the room and closed the door quietly, John kicked off his jacket, and shoes before laying back down on his bed. His mind wrapping itself around what had transpired that day, or more to the point that night.
"You can't help her John. It's what she does." John thought about Riley's words back at Tech-Noir. Now that he had time to think, he could focus more on details, about what he saw, what he heard. Her words burned brightly in his mind.
'It's what she does.' John thought to himself. Riley had tried to relate her words to what had happened in school with Cameron when she defending him against the jock, but that excuse was weak at best, re called the momentary look of shock when he called her out on it. It was then he realized she hadn't even cared for her own safety having chosen to stay back with him despite the immense danger they were in, just like ...
"Just. Like. Mexico." John said quietly to himself his eyes opening wide.
'You can't help her John.' She had told him. But how would she know he couldn't help Cameron, unless she knew!
Realization began to dawn on John, his eyes opening wide with fury as he put the pieces of the jigsaw together. Riley knew about the machines, knew Cameron was a machine. Then she knew who he was!
"I'm so fucking stupid!" John groaned to himself and he put his hands over his face, it explained why Riley never said anything to anyone about the Mexico incident and continued to stay around him despite someone trying to kill him, twice now! It explained why she met up with him the day after the bombing incident, him a loner and a school loser, someone no normal high school girl would want to be around.
"It's Cameron Philips all over again." He groaned, connecting the two girls together, both were playing a role to get close to him, Cameron to protect him, Riley, possibly for her own needs, or uses, she didn't look, or act like a soldier. So how did she get here, and what was her purpose.
John realized the lies and the deceit and the betrayal, it hurt him down to the core of his heart and yet, the revelation wasn't surprising. If anything it was just another reminder of who he was and who he was destined to become ... his destiny. He was John Connor. Leader of the human resistance against Skynet, the one and only man who could pull it off, he realised now, no matter how hard he tried he'd never find an escape, he'd never outrun his destiny, his curse. Everything in his life was was there because of what his life meant. There was no running, there was no point. He realised that now, as hard as a pill it was to swallow, he had to face his destiny and he would. Starting now he would set right his wrongs, he would fix what was broken.
Tonight, at that very moment, John Baum was terminated. And John Connor rose from his corpse.
His thoughts went back to Cameron. She'd been right all along, Riley couldn't be trusted, she'd been right and he'd been blind, all this time he'd been fooling himself into thinking a normal girl would like him, he couldn't have a normal life, normal friends, not for long anyway, or a normal girlfriend. If he'd actually stopped to think about it, he'd have realised sooner how convenient the whole situation with Riley was.
Riley wasn't what he wanted in a woman or girl, he realized that now, but what was his ideal woman? Thinking to what could happen what would be his ideal woman? Definitely a strong willed woman, so she'd be able to take the upcoming apocalypse and what his life entailed into stride. But where would he find a woman like that? A woman strong enough to face it with him, no matter what happened, a woman who would care for him for being himself not for being the leader.
"Oh" John said softly to himself as he stared at the ceiling. He knew one girl like that. Correction he knew two women like that, one being his mother. "I am not dating my mother…" he said sternly to himself. But. There was still Cameron. "Could I love Cameron?" he wondered. "Does Cameron love me?"
'John I love you, I love you John and you love me!' Cameron's voice cried out, those words he'd heard on his 16th birthday, they still haunted him but were they true? How could he find out. He grumbled to himself. He'd sleep first before he thought anymore, it was late, and he was exhausted.
The scene at Tech-Noir was crawling with police, tape everywhere cornering off sections. One police officer walked into the scene and looked around.
"So what happened?" she asked one of her co-workers. A male police officer turned to look at her and rubbed his forehead.
"Some nut job, security guard goes nuts and starts shooting up the place, witnesses say he started firing at some kid, then tried to kill everyone else." The cop replied. "Problem is, we can't find the weapon or the guy and all the security footage is destroyed."
The female officer nodded and walked into the club, carnage was what she saw, but she saw it lightly and smirked, she looked at the large hole that some forensics lab workers were looking over, the officer looked around the area in more detail she came up on the bullet riddled DJ work station, peered around it and saw a small blood splatter on the on of the speakers, she looked around making sure no one saw her and stepped around to look get a closer look, she knelt down beside to blood splatter, ran her finger across it getting a fair amount on tip then placed it in her mouth before moving her finger, she clapped her lips together as if tasting it.
DNA MATCH COMPLETE: 87% COMPATIBILITY
SUBJECT: JOHN CONNOR
PRIMARY TARGET LOCATED
The woman's eyes opened wide suddenly. John Connor, she'd found him, at last after, well, after a VERY long time. She smirked, he was in the area somewhere. She'd find him eventually, but for now, she had to get ready, fore tomorrow she had an unscheduled appointment. The woman removed a handkerchief from inside her jacket and wiped the blood away before standing up and leaving the scene.
John sat up suddenly in a big sweat, he panted slowly his eyes bugged out. His nightmare was similar to others, but his friends, his family, they turned on him, they were machines, Derek, Morris, Riley, his Mother. They had all been machines trying to get close for him for their own personal gain, or more specifically to kill him. John groaned and leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. Saturday.
"What a way to start the weekend" he grumbled to himself. There was a knock on the door. "Hello?" he asked, the door opened to reveal his cyborg protector.
"John. Sarah has called you down for breakfast" she informed him
"Thanks. Oh hey did you, you know?" he asked not wanting to say it out loud just in case.
"Yes John. The Triple-Eight is gone, but it's chip was boobie trapped and melted, I am sorry." She almost seemed to regret informing him, John felt let down. Not by Cameron but not retrieving the chip.
"Alright. Thank you for trying." He smiled at her, which got a smile in return, "I'll be right down, just gonna get changed." He got up and changed into a clean pair of clothes. 'Today I fix what I've broken.' He mentally told himself, today was the first full day of being John Connor. Once dressed and sprayed with deodrant he walked out the door finding Cameron still waiting for him, he smiled at her made his way to the kitchen, Cameron following close behind him.
"Hey mom!" John called out to Sarah as she sat at the table, pancakes on a plate in front of her, another opposite her and a smaller stack next to him.
"Morning John." She smiled to him before going back to reading the newspaper she had been reading.
John sat down next to Cameron, who was now watching him intently, he didn't notice however as he cut a slice of the pancake and reluctantly putting it into his mouth, only to find it full of flavour and fluffy to the tongue, John almost did a double take as he began to chew, he looked over to his mother who was now looking at him with a smirk.
'No, this couldn't be mom's cooking, but then…' he turned his head slowly to look at Cameron staring at him, as if waiting.
"You cooked these didn't you?" he asked slowly as if he'd say something stupid.
"Yes John. What do you think, do you like them?" Cameron asked innocently wanting his approval. A part of her wondered exactly why she wanted his approval, of course him approving of her would have him be around her more, making it easier to protect him, but there was something else, she could not describe it.
"Actually, yeah. I do." He said almost surprising himself.
Cameron gave him a small yet appreciative smile, there was another positive response in her CPU, a feedback of sorts, the data would have to analysed in depth later, but for now it made her ... happy. She concluded that making John happy made her happy. If that was what she was feeling. Cameron offered him her pancakes, which he accepted only after she insisted, she didn't need any more food for a while. John ate her share appreciatively.
After breakfast Cameron was preparing herself for her unscheduled meeting with Michael P. Hamburg. John was washing up the dishes, a small thank you to Cameron for cooking.
"Plans today John?" Sarah asked him curiously.
"Today? Yeah; thinking, lots of thinking." He replied in a far off tone, he did have a lot to think about he told himself, things needed sorting out, his life needed to be put back together in a more stable way, it'd never be a perfect life, but it was his, and he'd make the most of it. He knew first and foremost, he needed to fix things with his mother and Cameron.
Both Cameron and Sarah looked at him confused, though their expression differed, Cameron had her standard blank facial expression while Sarah had a raised questioning brow, the two females looked at one another for a brief moment saying nothing, Sarah shrugged and got back to her paper.
"I'm going for my meeting with Hamburg. It should take me 2 hours and," Cameron stopped herself trying to put what she'd learned into better practise, "it should take me around three hours to get there, depending on the traffic."
John smiled at Cameron, using a more human way of speaking, he actually felt a little proud of her. Sarah looked at Cameron as she had John.
'What world have I woken up too?' Sarah thought to herself, she considered pinching herself incase she was still asleep, but thought to do it in privacy.
Cameron turned and left closing the door behind her.
Derek came up out from the basement.
"The metal finally gone?" he asked as he walked across to the kitchen.
"Yeah she just left." John said deciding to ignore the term "metal" Derek stopped next to John and looked at him.
"She? Hmph. Don't get comfortable with it John, it's not a girl, it never was and never will be, it's a killing machine, that's all it can do, that's all it does no matter what the reason." Derek said his voice cold and dark. John turned to look at his Uncle.
"That and makes good pancakes" he commented as he put the last plate away he'd just dried.
Derek blinked confused at what John just said. "What?"
"And makes good pancakes. Cameron makes good pancakes." John said as he leaned against the sink.
"You actually ate food, it prepared? Didn't you even consider it could have been poison?" Derek grumbled his frustration already rising.
"Poison? Really? Sure maybe if she made you some. But she's had plenty of chances to kill me and mom, Derek." John commented.
"Yeah and she nearly did one day remember?" Derek grimaced, he didn't want to bring up the infamous 16th birthday. John visibly winced, he should have seen that coming.
"Alright yeah, sure. We almost got killed, but we didn't, we're alive. We're okay, for the time being." He replied. "Besides, we need Cameron, she's our best defense against Skynet right now, she's the only one who can take on a machine head to head and even hope of winning, we can't if you remember" John said. He felt good about himself defending Cameron, like he'd done before the incident. Why did this make him feel so good? He didn't rightly care at the moment.
"You watch it John, one day she'll put a gun to your head and try and kill you." Derek warned pointing a finger at John.
"And you listen to me!" John's raised voice caught both Derek and Sarah off guard. Sarah turned to watch her son. "Okay, I'll give you that she has tried to kill me before, she failed. She can't kill me, she won't kill me, you get it Derek? I'll argue with you later, but so far I've been having a good morning, and today I got a lot on my mind. So right now, I'm not in the mood." John warned, his voice seemed to change, at least Derek could hear it, the strong tone of voice of General Connor was demanding the Lieutenant to shut the fuck up. And he would do so. For now.
John leand against his mothers chair, leant down to her and kissed her on the cheek, surprising her further, "See ya later, love you mom!" John quickly walked back upstairs towards his room.
"What was that?" Sarah asked, very confused over what had already happened that morning. John's sudden mood change over yesterday was as different as night and day, she wondered exactly what happened last night.
"I don't know." Derek replied, something deep inside him almost saluted the young boy, almost.
Cameron was driving along, parts of her CPU focused on driving, the rest and the majority was thinking about John. Since yesterday their status quo seemed to have improved, with the way he spoke to her yesterday it was like it was before the car bomb incident which she approved of. She preferred the way things seemed to be between them now, he achknowledged her efforts, her protection, they were friends again. The corner of Cameron's mouth twitched upwards. Cameron began to analyse John in more detail, physically, in terms of Greek standards of beauty, John would be considered handsome, which was something she found herself agreeing with, she knew John once found her attractive but did she find him so? Yes, yes she did. She analysed the thought; she found John physically appealing. He was handsome.
'Very Handsome' Cameron corrected. This made her smile, this positive feedback that had been flowing through her CPU had her confused as to what it was, she didn't understand what she was going through, but she admitted she found it pleasant, dare she say she liked it.
She further analyzed her relationship with John, he was her mission priority, she was his protector, but why did she try and please him, no matter how small the task, be it breakfast or recieving aid from him, talking to him or even spending time with him. To be an effective protector she had to stay with him, she had accomplished that, but she'd wanted to do more. Why? To be his friend? They were already friends but still she sought to do more for him. Perhaps when she returned from Hamburgs she would be able to talk to John about it. Perhaps he would understand and in turn help her understand.
'John always understands' she told herself.
Cameron parked up in the car park in front of the large building labelled "Hamburg Industries" she walked towards the front door, not noticing the woman who strolled up next to her, both women opened the door at the same time and walked towards the elevator doors, they opened and the two got in. Cameron stopped, she looked over to the woman and looked her up and down sizing her up, she had long jet black hair, about as long as Cameron's in scale to their body, this woman was also a few inches taller than her, possibly about the height of Derek, the woman looked at Cameron and smiled.
"Hey there, floor six please." the woman asked. Cameron relaxed, or her version of it, cyborgs didn't bother with small talk, Cameron press the button for the sixth floor, incidentally the floor she wanted, she looked straight ahead not noticing the woman do the same.
Once the door opened both women marched out of the door and towards the reception area to Michael Hamburg, both reached for the handle at the same time, the women looked at one another immediately. Cameron had been wrong, this woman was a machine, possibly using an infiltration program for small talk, easier to blend in.
The two women backed off from the door and stared one another down.
Jason's Notes:
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I love writing this story, and I love hearing your comments.
Edit - November 2019- Added a paragraph about John realising he has to man up. Tried making more sense of Cameron's "love" but found it too difficult to explain. Made the fight against the Tech Noir Triple-Eight a bit longer and tried to make it more intense.
Swapped out the Terminator's arsenal, from the T1 loadout of a Colt .45 Longslide with laser sighting and an Uzi or a Para Ordnance 14-45 (a high capacity .45 1911) with an underbarrel laser and a Ruger MP9 submachine gun.
Overall tried to make the story flow better.
Thanks again!
Jason