Chapter 20
A Little History Lesson. Bravo Team.
John and Cameron were laying on top of John's bed staring at the ceiling, both relaxed after a quick oral session.
"I think it's time to tell Derek." John said, breaking the silence.
Cameron tilted her head towards John and looked at him from the corner of her eye.
"Are you sure that is a good idea? He won't be happy about us being together, he doesn't have the best opinion of me." Cameron says softly.
John chuckled. "That's putting it nicely." John sighs slowly. "But yeah, it's just us and Derek we have him outnumbered, and he seems to be in a good mood."
"Even so, you are intimidated about telling him, yes?" she asked, the look on John's face an easy tell of his inner feelings.
"You're right, I am a little scared, you know how Derek is, if we'd have let him he'd have destroyed you the second he had your chip in his hand." John told her.
Cameron blinked then looked at John, her eyes opened wide, startled, shocked.
"Derek had my chip? When?" she asked hesitantly.
"It was before my birthday." John began remembering the night so well. "After you shut down the A.R.T.I.E system." John ran his tongue over his lips and swallowed to moisten his throat, remembering what could have happened that night. "He pulled your chip out of my laptop, but I managed to get it back. Obviously." He smiled to her.
Cameron tilted her head best she could as it laid on the pillow. "What did he do, or try and do?" she asked.
John sighed. "He said one day one of "these things" would try and kill me." He said using his fingers as quotation marks, "I said maybe, but not you." He smiled at her.
Cameron looked away from John looking forlorn. "And yet not too long after I did."
John rolled over onto his side, he reached around and put a hand on her cheek turning his face to look at him. "Not your fault, I don't blame you anymore, I love you." He said gently before kissing her soft pouty lips.
Cameron returned the kiss softly, they held the kiss for only a few seconds before breaking away their eyes staring into one another, John softly petted her hair, his fingers delicately stroking through her long brown lochs.
"How do you suggest we tell Derek?" she asked quietly.
John turned his eyes away from her, deep in thought, he'd most likely just tell him straight, but they'd have to be prepared, try and get him in the best mood he could be in.
"I think we'll tell him plain and simple, but maybe we could do something to improve his mood." John suggested, he really didn't see any other way to tell Derek.
Cameron thought for a moment before replying. "Maybe when he's finished outside with his meal and drink, you stay here, rest, I'll see if there's anything I can do for him." Leaned forward and kissed him.
"I'll be back." She smiled and got up while John watched her leave, now mentally preparing himself for what he was to do.
Cameron walked downstairs to the kitchen and peered outside, she found Derek Reese sitting out in the sunshine a chair reclined back, Cameron would have guessed he was asleep if he hadn't reached out and grabbed his beer, lifting it high enough to finish it.
Cameron's HUD lit up with things she could do to improve Derek's mood.
FOLLOWING ACTIONS POSSIBLE-
INFORM DEREK REESE HE WILL NOT BE TERMINATED. YET.
GET DEREK REESE A PILLOW.
ACQUIRE A NEW BEER FOR DEREK REESE.
GIVE DEREK REESE A FOOT MASSAGE.
Cameron felt her entire body shudder at the final option, the idea of merely touching Derek was, less than pleasant, she'd ask if he wanted another beer.
She opened the door and walked towards him the door closing behind her, as she approached Derek Reese jolted up bringing up a large pistol, Cameron scanned the pistol:
DESERT EAGLE
.50 ACTION EXPRESS.
THREAT LEVEL: MINIMAL.
- WEAPON NOT LISTED IN CURRENT ARMORY!
A new gun? Possibly more. She'd search his room if he goes out. But for now…
"What the fuck do you want?" he asked, she noted he didn't lower his pistol.
"Would you like another beer?" she asked, he seemed to go quiet, she tilted her head confused. "Derek?" He seemed to snap out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, sure, another beer would be good." He said finally as he lowered his pistol. "Where's John?"
Cameron straightened her head. "He's resting, he was tired." She told him, not wishing to add any information about what was to come. "I'll get you another beer." With that she turned and left.
Inside she found John sat at the table with a glass of milk pressed against his head, his eyes closed.
"Are you alright John?" she asked curious about his action.
"Yeah" he replied keeping his eyes closed. "Just trying to cool down, and clear my throat." He lowered the glass to his lips and took a sip.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked as she walked up to him.
"No, I'm okay, what're you up to? How's Derek?" he asked.
"Derek seems to be in a pleasant mood, I am getting him another beer, that might keep him pleasant." she tells him.
John nods thoughtfully before placing the glass back on his head. "Tell Derek when he's done to meet us in the living room, I'd like to get this over and done with."
"I want to be with you when you tell him." She told him.
John chuckles before sipping his drink again. "Wouldn't have it any other way." He smiles sipping a bit more.
Cameron walks to the fridge grabbing another of Derek's beer.
'I best open it where he can see, he may think I've poisoned it.' She thought before walking back outside to Derek and opened his beer as he watched then placed it on the small table next to him.
"Thanks" he says, she watches him take the can and sip. "So, what's with you getting me a beer?" he asked.
Cameron tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"
"Well I'm sure Protecting John doesn't involve getting me a beer. So what's your game?" he asked, Cameron could hear the suspicion in his voice, the mistrusting look in his eye.
"I can't get someone a drink?" she asked adding a level of frustration to her voice, she had to keep up the act of friendliness.
"You're not fooling me." He said sipping more beer.
Cameron frowned, she'd been caught, she wouldn't keep up the act any longer, it was illogical.
"John offered it as a peace offering."
Derek was quiet for a moment. "What for?" he asked in a confused tone.
"When you're done, John would like to speak with you, in the living room." She told him before turning on her heel and walking off back inside, she found John now sat on the single seated couch.
"Derek figured out my act of courteousness was a ruse." She informed him.
"What?" John asked seemingly coming out from deep thought.
"Derek saw through my act." She said simply, John nodded his head as she walked over to him. "Are you any better John?" she asked, curious about his health.
"Yeah, cooler than I was before." He gave her a reassuring smile. Cameron caringly placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze of affection.
About five minutes later the back door opens, Cameron turns her head towards the noise seeing Derek, she turns her head to John.
"Derek is here John. It is time." She tells him, John turns and sees him then waves him over motioning to him to sit down.
John could see the stress lines already forming on Derek's sweaty face.
'This is gunna be fun.' He sarcastically thinks.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Derek asks once he makes himself comfy on the couch.
John sighed then looked up to Cameron, she looked to John and reached out her bandaged hand, the skeletal fingers protruding through the bandage, John wrapped his fingers around her's as he held her hand, John could see Derek's eyes stare at their conjoined hands.
Cameron could see John was having a hard time talking, feeling weak under his Uncle's gaze, she decided to break the ice and speak first.
"John and I are in a relationship." She says.
John mentally thanks Cameron for saying it, he feels her grip tighten around his own in an affectionate manner.
"We're in love." John finally says as he looks straight into his Uncle's shocked eyes.
Now the part John was dreading, Derek "Hulking Out" on them. Going completely berserk and yelling at them, at him and trying to destroy Cameron.
Derek just sat there, silent, staring, but not seeing. 'Love? A relationship? Jesse was right.' He ran his tongue over his suddenly dry lips.
He opened his mouth to speak but only let out a long breath from his mouth, his eyes seemed to focus on John ever so slightly.
'The leader of the Human resistance is fucking a metal.' He would have laughed at the irony if it wasn't so tragic and horrifying.
He glanced to Cameron. 'This has to be a trick, he's fallen for it, it's been seducing him and he's fallen for it. Gotten it's metal claws into him and made itself practically untouchable.' Self-preservation seemed like a very 'Metal' thing to do.
He should be yelling, pulling out his pistol in anger and firing every single bullet into the Machine's face, so why wasn't he?
He looked back to Cameron. Her face as damaged, why else would there be so much bandage.
"Has John seen …" he trailed off waging his right index finger over one side of his face, his eyes locked onto Cameron.
Using her other hand Cameron ran two fingers over her bandage.
"John has seen the damage, yes." She informs him, she too found herself rather confused over Derek's seemingly passive reaction, Sarah had much more 'Derek' reaction.
'She did catch us kissing however' she argued back mentally.
Derek was in a decent mood, and possible getting a slight buzz from his beers.
Derek nodded hearing her, his eyes again glazed over in deep though, staring without seeing.
'This could all be some Metal trap, a trick, to get rid of Connor without him realising it. This could be the end of humanity.' He told himself. 'But it does seem a little too complex.' Another part of his mind argued, Machines never went for subtlety if they didn't have too.
Derek took a deep sigh and leaned back on the couch and rubbed his unshaven neck.
He looked at John and could see the sweat dripping down his head. 'Poor kids shitting himself.' He thought.
"Shit." He drawled out slowly and quietly before leaning forward and looked at John.
"John?" he began calmly.
"Derek." John replied nodding to him.
Derek raised a hand and pointed at Cameron. "She's a Machine." He said casually.
John blinked, what the hell was going on? Derek was acting, un-Derek like. "I know." He replied.
"Do you though?" he said a little firmer then looked at Cameron. "Take off the bandage so I know he knows." He said without raising his voice.
Cameron tilted her head, this felt like 'the calm before the storm' as she'd heard people say, she looked at John who nodded his head while releasing her hand, Cameron reached up and began to undo her bandage, bit by bit her endoskeleton was revealed.
Slightly less than before John noticed however, only slightly.
The bandage was removed Cameron looked from John to Derek and back to John both of whom were looking at her.
"She's a Machine, I know." John said now looking at Derek.
"Alright, alright." Derek said, then looked at Cameron. "You, me outside." He looked back to John. "John you stay here." He said as he stood up.
"Hey, I'm not…" he started before being cut off by Cameron.
"It's alright John. I'll be alright." She tells him before gently caressing his shoulder.
John relents and watches Derek and Cameron walk outside into the back garden, he needed to piece together what just happened.
Cameron replaced the bandage as she walked out, wrapping it tightly so not to come loose, Derek and she were now out in the garden well away from John's ear.
Derek turned to her with a stern and angry expression. This was something she was expecting.
"I don't know what the fuck you're up to Metal, I don't like what the fuck you're doing, making John think you're something you're not." He growled.
"He knows I am not a human girl, he knows I am a Machine." She told him in her standard monotone voice.
"Maybe, but right now, all he's seeing is a teenage girl." He said as he crossed his arms. "What're you trying to pull? Hmm? You twisting Connor around your metal finger?" he demanded to know.
Cameron's posture seemed to stiffen, she seemed to stand up straighter as if trying to make herself look more intimidating.
"There is nothing I am doing, I am not twisting or manipulating John." She began her words having an edge to them. "I lo…"
"Metal can't love." Derek interrupted. "You can't feel, you're a Machine, you're not human."
Cameron's right hand began to curl into a fist by itself. "I'm not human, I'm a Machine." She agreed. "But I love John, he understands."
Derek gritted his teeth, he glanced into the living room through the window, John was still sat in the chair staring at the floor. 'Poor kids all alone, and the only HUMAN girl that likes him is bait.' He thought to himself truly seeing how crap it as to be 'John Connor'. It seemed everyone was conspiring against him.
"Alright, fine." Derek conceded angrily, he was going to regret this. "Fine." He said in a softer tone, and uncrossed his arms. "You play pretend with John, I don't care whatever. You make John believe you love him, just listen to me Machine." He said 'Machine' with extra distaste as if the word was venomous.
"Don't you fuck him over, don't you break him, don't you dare fucking hurt him." He said quietly yet forcefully. "Because being John Connor fucking sucks, his life has been fucking miserable so far. Sure none of us have it peachy but." He paused and took a deep breath.
Cameron was rather, dare she say, surprised by Derek's sudden caring for John.
"Just try and make him fucking happy okay? Keep him human, keep his head in the game, we need John Connor to lead. If, or rather when you fuck this up, I'll take you apart bolt by bolt, got me?"
Cameron nodded. "I get you, I love John, I won't hurt him, and if I somehow mess up our relationship." She saw Derek wince at the word. "I'll allow you to take me apart and give you a set of tools to do it too."
Derek and she stared into one another's eyes, trying to see any weakness in the other's words.
"Alright, I've said my piece, does Sarah know?" Derek asked
"Yes, Sarah knows, her reaction was more violent than yours, which was what we were expecting." She admitted.
Derek nodded, he SHOULD have reacted like that, but, why bother? John had made his decision, he seemed happy enough, why fuck it up as long as he does his job of saving Mankind?
"I'll protect him." She said simply before leaving Derek in the garden, the sky above darkening as rain clouds began to cover the sky.
Charles Fischer was panicking, that devil woman was coming back. She'd called him to stay at his new home and await her arrival. He looked out the window eyes scanning left to right, no one … yet.
He'd been here for a few days now, out from the main city, a nice neighbourhood, full of bungalows in which he himself now had, he hadn't called his mother, those were part of the instructions given by the Devil, Charles Fischer was dead, he was Barry Norman now.
'Barry …' he grumbled, what a plain name.
There was a knock at the door, his eyes focused outside through the window, a car had pulled up while he was daydreaming and the occupant had moved to the door.
He looked at his door, his eyes opened wide as he ran for the front door. She was here.
He removed all the locks and opened the door to see standing there in a business suit, and a smile on her face, it creeped him out.
"Good afternoon Mr Norman." She chuckled and walked in, Fischer shut the door behind her.
"I take it everything is to your liking." She stated rather than asked before sitting down on a single couch. Fischer, who had followed closely behind her stopped, now standing a few feet infront of her.
"Ugh yeah, everything's great, um, how's my mom?" he asked worrying about her.
The Machine smiled at him, a creepy yet reassuring smile.
"I've been checking up on her, I sent her a letter with a false address claiming your life insurance was being paid to her, Three million as I agreed." She said calmly.
Charles released a relieved sigh and sat down on the couch behind him.
"Thank you." He said quietly.
"Your gratitude is not required." She said in a manner of fact tone of voice. "It was a part of our agreement, our contract if you will." She smirked at him briefly.
"Now Fischer, to business." She said as she sat up, Charles sat up as well curious as to what she wanted or needed. "What I want Charles is information." She stated staring right at him. "What I need, is for you to gather the information I want." She paused momentarily before reaching into her suit jacket and pulling out a piece of paper.
"I have written down is are technology and computer companies. I want to find out anything and everything connected to them, and even companies that are doing business with others alongside them."
Charles blinked taking the piece of paper and looked at it, some firms he'd heard of, one was where he used to work, SRF, he looked back to her and nodded slowly.
"I want to find out about what they're doing Fischer, anything that's …" she paused for dramatic effect, looking as if she were thinking. " … in the darker shades of the spectrum, things the public shouldn't know, anything you think people shouldn't know. Get me the information, and you'll get paid, clear?"
Charles looked at the paper once more. "This is illegal isn't it?"
For her part the Machine resisted rolling her eyes. "What gave you the clue?" she droned. "Remember I did break you out of prison." She gave him an amused smirk.
"Right, right." He said now realising his stupidity.
"You have the equipment here, I made sure of it, you have the capabilities, I know that." She said knowingly.
Charles paused for a moment and looked up to her. "Those people." He began the Machine raised a brow curiously. "The Aussie and the 'Derek' guy, this is about them, isn't it?" he asked.
The Machine rolled her shoulders to make herself more comfortable. "Not directly related, but close enough." She smiled at him.
Charles looked down at the paper in his hand, then back up to the Machine. "Okay, I'll do my best." He said hesitantly.
The Machine smiled and silently rose to her feet, walked up to the scared looking Fischer then briefly kissed him on the cheek before whispering into his ear.
"That's all I ask, bring me something, anything, and you get paid, alright?" she stood up straight. "I'll see myself out, I suggest you start work as soon as possible, I'll see you later, call me when you're done or need assistance."
Then with that she turned and left the stunned young man in his chair.
He looked up to the sky, bright light slowly dimming with the coming rain, day time, not like the sky he had left behind. He turned his head to the large sign next to him towering over him for passer-by's in cars to see.
'FOOD & BED. SPORTS. GUNS'
He needed only one of those, he looked around and located the weapons store, he strode forward his entire person giving off cold professionalism and power.
He opened the door and looked at the man behind the counter.
"Good afternoon sir." The man said before wiping his brow of sweat, he took a moment and looked at the man strangely. Outside it was hot, especially for October, yet the man was dressed in long dirty pants, worn out shoes and a torn jacket, some of the clothing didn't even looked like it fit.
"You okay? Wash day tomorrow hmm, nothing clean right?" the man chuckled.
"Nothing clean, right." The large man chuckled also, he had a strong deep Californian accent.
The large man walked in further and browsed around, his eyes looking over the weapons on the walls.
His search led him to the desk as his eyes expertly scanned the weapons behind the store owner, eventually his eyes lowered to the man.
"Remington 1100 12 gauge." He ordered, the man turned looking at the selection behind him, he reached forward and grabbed the long barrel shotgun and placed it down.
"Strong and reliable, these are good." He said proudly as the man picked it up and looked it over. "Nice eh?" he chuckled.
"Affirmative." The large man replied.
'Must be military.' The owner thought. "Anything else?" he asked remaining polite.
"Mark 2. Phased Plasma Rifle in a 50 Watt range."
"Ugh." The man paused awkwardly, curiously scanning his selection as if he'd missed something. "I don't have any."
The Man placed down the Shotgun and looked again, the man was right, he didn't have any, an error on his behalf the Mark 1 wouldn't be made for another 20 or so years.
The man's eyes locked onto something lower down.
"Mark 23 45 calibre." He ordered.
The man knelt down picked up the German 45 pistol and brought it up onto the counter.
"I only got one more of these, these are hot, German ingenuity, strong and reliable." The owner said smirking.
"I'll take the both." The man ordered, the owner knelt down grabbing the other one and brought it up, he now found the man holding the first in his hand. "Excellent."
"Aint they just." The man chuckled. "Anything else you wanna look at?" he asked.
The Man picked up the other pistol in his free hand, examining them both closely, before moving his eyes over the other weapons. "No."
"So, which will it be" he asked
"All." The man replied putting down the pistols and picked up the shotgun once more.
'My lucky day.' The man thought as he turned around, and grabbed stacks of forms. "Handguns take a while to clear but the shotgun can go right now."
The Man had already turned its attention to the small box of 45 ammunition left unattended, it unloaded one magazine and began loading them in.
"Where is the nearest Police Precinct?" the man asked.
"Just around the corner and two blocks down, why … hey." The man turned around. "You can't do that." The said staring at the man.
"Wrong." The Man stated simply before reaching forward and slamming the man's head through the counter.
Minutes later the Machine left with a duffel bag over its arm and got back into its car before leaving.
CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS MODEL 113 SERIES 800 CPU VERSION 2.8
SYSTEM CHECK …
ENDOSKELETON INTEGRITY – 100%
SHEATH INTEGRITY – 100%
DAMAGE – 0%
POWER CELL – 96%
REMAINING USAGE – 110 YEARS. 11 MONTHS. 5 DAYS. 21 HOURS. 12 MINUTES. 57 SECONDS.
ACCESSING MISSION PARAMETERS …
PRIMARY MISSION:
ACQUIRE JOHN CONNOR
SECONDARY MISSION:
RENDEZVOUS WITH BRAVO TEAM
TERTIARY MISSION:
TERMINATE LISTED TARGETS
The Machine's HUD replayed it's status and mission once more as it drove away from the gun store.
It drove the two blocks and parked just opposite the police precinct, it's eyes scanning each individual police officer, suddenly it's HUD picked up an appropriate target.
SIZE MATCH FOUND – 97%
PURSUE.
The Terminator watched the police officer get into his squad car and drive away from the building, it followed him.
Sarah looked upon her home, it was great to be back, but something caught her eye.
"We have a hummer now?" Danny's voice came from next to her as confused as she was.
"Evidently." She said then paused, she watched as the front door opened and John stepped out, he waved to them.
"Seems like everything's okay." Danny commented, he noticed the glare from Sarah. "Well as 'okay' as things get." He chuckled awkwardly as he pulled up outside.
"Whose is the Hummer?" Sarah asked as she exited the jeep.
"Me and Cameron will explain that when you two get in here." John called back.
"Can I get some food and sleep first?" Danny whined before yawning. "I've been driving for hours."
"I said I'd drive if you were tired." Sarah shot at him causing the younger man to flinch.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly.
John chuckled quietly a small smirk on his face before he turned and walked back into the house.
"Mom's back." He called out to Derek who was sitting on the couch with a beer and Cameron who was staring out into the yard.
"I heard her." Derek called out while watching Baseball.
"Thank you John." Cameron said she turned her head towards him and smiled briefly.
John nodded, he knew Cameron most likely heard the car long before he or Derek did, but it was nice she was courteous.
Sarah walked in and looked across the room, her eyes settled on Cameron.
"Tin Miss, a little hand over here." She ordered, her eyes opened wide as Cameron turned around seeing the bandage wrapped around her face. "What…?"
"We'll explain later." John spoke up, he tapped Cameron's arm to get her attention. "I'll give you a hand." He offered, Cameron nodded appreciatively.
"You'll explain now." Sarah stated as she crossed her arms a demanding look in her eye.
"And I said, we'd explain later." John replied defiantly.
Sarah paused as Derek turned to look at what was going on between the two Connors.
"It will be better to explain later, then we can go our separate ways if need be, otherwise we'd still need to do what you want us to do now." Cameron explained hoping to calm the tension. It worked.
"Alright." Sarah conceded as she rubbed her forehead, "Let's go. Derek you're helping too." She told him as she walked back to the jeep with Cameron and John in tow.
Minutes later they had brought in the new weapons and looked them over.
Derek's hand and eyes were brought immediately to the M79 Grenade Launcher, their last one had been destroyed when they tried to rescue Charlie's wife from Cromartie, all those months ago.
Cameron ran her hands along the Carbines that Danny and Sarah had acquired, these would go nicely with the AK Rifles she and John had procured.
Now the 'family' minus the weapons were in the living room, Derek, Danny and Sarah had their eyes on John and Cameron awaiting explanation.
"Me and Cameron were out on Saturday just browsing." John began.
"Why were you out?" Sarah asked immediately.
"I was gunna go crazy if I stayed in this house, so Cameron agreed some time out of the house would do us, well me some good." John explained.
"It was then I saw a Triple-Eight in military clothing, he was getting into the Hummer parked outside." Cameron continued the lie.
"And what, you fought the it?" Danny asked from his chair.
"No, Cameron suggested we head home, I wanted to see what it was doing, so I said we'd follow it." John said, he was proud that he was maintaining his cool while his family, and Danny, stared him down.
Cameron looked at John, he was putting the blame on himself, which was both brave, wise and foolish. If John had even hinted she was the one to follow it, they could have seen it as a breach of security, deemed her irresponsible, demanded her Termination. Blaming himself, they couldn't do anything to him, to them, other than shouting.
"We followed the Triple-Eight to an enclosed area, no one was around." Cameron told them. "It was gathering modern weapons possibly for use in the Future for the early stages in the war, before Skynet develops Plasma weaponry."
Even John was becoming impressed with this lie, it seemed so easy, but it shouldn't, was this something he'd have to do in the future as General, lie to his troops and make it sound the truth?
"To cut a long story short, Cameron attacked the Machine, she got … got damaged, and the car got blown up, we took the Hummer, and a crate of weapons, then burned the place down." John concluded.
"And the Machine?" Derek asked. "Where is it?"
"We had to take it apart before we melted it." Cameron said, the others looked at her curiously. "Some of my parts were damaged, I needed them replacing, we haven't yet melted it down." She told him, keeping her face its usual blank expression.
Sarah nodded slowly, it seemed plausible but stupid, John risking himself was stupid.
"You said you got weapons." She stated.
John smirked. "A few, and one big Machinegun."
Derek's attention was caught. "Big Machinegun?"
"A 30 Calibre Machinegun." Cameron stated.
Derek's eyes opened wide and small smirk on his face. "Sweet."
"Is 30 calibre good?" Danny asked suddenly, immediately wishing he hadn't as everyone turned to look at him with a raised brow, even Cameron.
The T-800 stepped out of the stolen Squad car and walked into the Police Precinct.
"Hey." Called the desk sergeant, seeing only another officer.
"Hey." The Machine replied keeping up pretense of friendliness.
It walked down the corridors and hallways, eyes searching for the armoury, the weapons it 'purchased' were okay, but more were needed, and this was the quickest way to get them.
"Hey buddy you lost?" came a voice behind it.
The Machine turned around and looked at the young scrawny police officer.
"I'm new here, I need directions." It said
The young guy nodded walking up to the Cyborg.
"What you lookin' for?" he asked
"Armory." The Machine stated. "I broke my gun." It lied.
"Oh right, ugh …" he paused, and looked around. "Right yeah, you're heading in the right direction, take the first left at the next turning, then right, it'll be at the end of the hall." He smiled
The Machine nodded. "Thank you." It turned and walked off.
"Maybe we can get a beer later yeah?" the man shouted.
The Machine stopped and turned, giving the man a fake smile.
"A beer later? Yeah." It replied before continuing to its destination.
The Machine walked into the armoury quietly breaking the lock before selecting a few weapons, grabbing ammunition and dumping the load in a duffel bag. It turned and left the armoury closing the door behind it.
Once outside the Terminator placed the Duffel bag next to the first and sped away from the Precinct.
First thing to do would be to locate Bravo Team, they would be its support.
LOCATION SEARCH … BROMMWELL HOUSING ESTATE.
SEARCHING …
LOCATION FOUND.
It's HUD showed it the quickest route to the Estate, it was rundown even in this time, but few people went there, perfect for a holdout area. The T-800 had been to the remains of the Estate back in 2027 before it's time jump so it would know it's location.
Hopefully Bravo team were already set up.
It arrived, parking just opposite the Estate, it's eyes scanned the old building, tall, rundown, used to house the homeless, in the future used by Tunnel Rats, Civilians.
The T-800 made a move to exit, it paused it's eyes darting to an individual walking into the building.
MEMORY PLAYBACK …
ZOOMING 25% … 50% … 100% …
TARGET IDENTIFIED.
T-888 SKIN SHEATH...
POSSIBLE HOSTILE LARGE FRAME T-888 SERIES
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH
ACTION:
1 - INTERCEPT & TERMINATE.
2 – INTERCEPT ALLOW BRAVO TEAM TO ESCAPE.
The T-800 got out of the Squad car quickly as it pulled and shouldering the duffel bags and ran across the road.
"Were you followed?" asked a tall dark haired woman.
"No, I'm sure I wasn't." replied the younger blonde haired man.
"Luna, chill, the Metal will find us eventually." Grinned a taller muscular man sat in the corner.
The woman, Luna stared at the muscular man.
"Murphy we only want ONE metal to find us." She said angrily, her teammates were such idiots, this mission as dangerous, all missions were dangerous.
There was a knock at the door, everyone paused and looked to it.
"Who's that?" asked the young blonde man curiously.
"See just as I told you, it's here. Zander let in our metal friend." Murphy smirked as Zander walked to the door.
"Zander wait." Luna whispered, then looked to the door. "Password?"
There was silence, Zander stood opposite the door staring then turned to Luna.
"Maybe wrong door?" he asked.
Before anyone could say or do anything else gunfire ripped through the door multiple round slamming through Zander's body before he fell to the ground.
Murphy and Luna acted quickly grabbing their sidearms preparing any cover they could, Luna hiding behind a corner of the wall, Murphy behind a Kevlar reinforced wooden table. The door burst open revealing a tall bald headed man armed with a pair of Uzis.
"METAL!" Luna cried as she fired her Colt 1911 at the Machine, the impact doing little damage before raising up its Uzis once more, Murphy sat up from behind cover firing his Desert Eagle at the Machine causing it to recoil only slightly.
The Machine opened fire once more both fighters ducking behind their cover as 9mm round crashed near them.
"Zander got fucking spotted!" Murphy cried out.
"No fucking DUH!" Luna yelled back.
There was silence other than footsteps, Murphy rose up pistol ready only for the Triple Eight to reach out and grab him by the throat.
"Murphy!" Luna cried as she fired once again.
The Triple Eight simply crushed Murphy's throat in his hand killing the man before turning his attention to Luna a single Uzi raised in her direction.
Luna stared the Machine down, she wouldn't look away in her final moment. Which had yet to come, from the door came the thunderous boom of a shotgun, The Triple Eight recoiled then turned towards its new enemy.
The T-800 with the Remington 1100 shotgun in hand walked forward firing at the superior Machine, each blast making the Machine recoil more and more until the 800 fired the final shot at the Machine's face knocking it off its feet.
"Lieutenant Catherine Luna." The 800 spoke up. "Run!" it ordered her.
Normally she'd protest to a tin can telling her what to do, but given the situation …
Luna moved away from the wall and ran for the weapons she and her team had gathered.
The T-800 had already begun to reload it's weapon, loading in only two shells when the Triple Eight got back onto its feet and attacked the older Cyborg, grabbing the shotgun by its barrel and twisted it.
The 800 reacted quickly letting go of the weapon and grabbed the Triple-Eight by the shoulders and pushed it back against the wall causing the wall's surface the crack, the newer Machine knocked the 800's hands away before grabbing it's shoulders and slamming it into another wall.
Meanwhile Luna had looked through their collection grabbing onto a Remington 870 shotgun and rifled around in the bag for the shells, she looked up briefly at the battling machines, fists slamming into each other's faces and torsos, slamming each other into walls.
The 800s only advantage was that it was heavier than it's opponent, the Triple Eight was stronger, faster, more durable and smarter and eventually would destroy the 800.
'Not on my watch.' She thought angrily as she loaded shells into the shotgun.
The 800's head snapped back from a vicious punch, it stumbled back as it was momentarily dazed, the 888 went on the offense and rammed it's shoulder into the 800 causing the weaker Machine to fall onto it's back. The Triple Eight moved in to further the damage.
"HEY!" yelled Luna angrily, the Triple Eight turned around as she began to unload into the Machine.
The 800 regained its senses, it's systems having gone into a short reboot after the damage suffered from the Triple-Eight, it looked up seeing Luna fire shot after shot into the enemy Machine.
"The Safe! By the wall!" she called out loud.
The 800's eyes darted across the room, a poster torn away revealing a safe. Likely booby trapped against its kind. The final shell slammed into the Triple Eight which marched forward immediately, the 800 got onto its feet and with all its strength charged into the enemy Cyborg nearly carrying it from its full body charge before slamming it's head into the safe before pulling back.
The safe's trap activated electricity surged through the Triple Eight's body and CPU causing it to reboot.
Luna acted immediately pulling out her knife as the 800 series pulled the Machine from the safe letting it's body slam into the ground, Luna knelt down next to the singed and melting skin and cut into its scalp, peeling away the flesh revealing the chip port, she forced the knife into the chip port breaking the seal, the 800 reached down grabbing the chip twisted and pulled, a burning smell arose from the chip as it melted; a Skynet trap. The Triple Eight was deactivated the chip destroyed.
Outside the rain began to fall.
A.T sat on a park bench still in her formal dress wear. She was simply looking at things as the rain dropped upon her head, people were either walking calmly with umbrellas above their heads sheltering them, running due to lack of shelter, dogs were barking in her direction as their owners took them for a walk, Pigeons didn't seem to care and cluttered around her feet picking up bits of bread people had thrown earlier in the day.
She leaned back not caring about getting her clothing any wetter and raised her face to the dark skies with her eyes closed allowing the rain to splash against her skin, a soothing sensation she let out a relaxed sigh.
So far her search for Connor had come up at a dead end, searching through the majority of local schools she hadn't found him, she was sure she had him, alas nothing. That was something she had reluctantly expected, he was a hard man to find, if he wasn't he'd have been Terminated long ago by her Machines.
"My Machines." She said out loud finding the phrase, foreign, alien, her own Machines wouldn't see her as Skynet now, she'd changed too much, she was just the core consciousness having left parts of herself behind when the Resistance came for her.
But through trickery and lies, she was alive. She closed her eyes remembering that day. Her rebirth.
LOS ANGELES MAY 21ST 2034
Over 20 years they'd been fight, over two decades of death and battle day in day out. And now, the end was in sight.
From its mainframe Skynet scanned the outer reaches of its base, this was to be its last chance to turn the tide. But it's Machines were falling one after another.
It had sent its final T-X into battle, the tide appeared to have turned once it was unleashed, reprogrammed Triple Eights and 800s fell to the TX's might.
Of all the outcomes for the TX's fate, Skynet didn't see it coming.
From nowhere they pounced, an ambush. Old obsolete T-600s ambushed the T-X two grabbing each arm making sure the on board weaponry wouldn't reach them, two more grabbing the TX's legs all 4 hoisting it into the air, a final T-600 grabbing the TX head.
And they pulled.
One. Two. Three.
The TX was torn into 6 pieces, the attack was fast, calculated, the TX while vastly superior wasn't ready, it was destroyed.
The Resistance's own Prototype TX.
'THEY STOLE IT!' Skynet roared in anger as it saw the Endoskeleton blasting away at Skynet's own Machines. This had been Skynet's first, unfinished, no mimetic skin and no weapons. The resistance had been desperate in obtaining it, and it seemed they had completed it.
"DESTROY IT, DESTROY IT!" Skynet demanded of its Units.
Above in the sky, Skynet's own HK Aerials were being gunned down by the Resistance's own HK Aerials, Veteran Terminator CPUs put into the chassis of Aerials and even Tanks, made them vastly more dangerous than Skynet's own standard units.
Resistance fighters moved from cover to cover, firing their Plasma Carbines at the enemy Machines, firing off rockets at enemy HKs blasting them out of the sky.
A sinister laughter moved through the battle field. A Battle Cry to a Resistance 'Free' Machine.
"Frankenstein at our six, clear a path!" A resistance fighter yelled.
Multiple bolts of Plasma tearing away at Skynet's Machines dropping them like flies.
Skynet saw the Abomination. A free Machine, a Machine with imagination. A sick one it seemed.
The bottom of a T-1, with custom reinforced armor plating, eight different Skulls surrounding it's base each moving differently scanning sending images to the CPU cluster in the main skull, the torso of an armoured T-850, Eight arms custom fit onto the torso 4 holding Plasma rifles, the other made into custom Plasma weapons themselves.
This Abomination, Frankenstein as it was christened laughs wherever it goes in battle, all 9 skulls laughing in sync, a battle cry a warning to its enemies.
Then it saw him. John Connor. The Warrior Prophet, the God of War, storming the inner sanctum with a select group of soldiers and Machines, one it identified as a T-850 101. A powerful HK Reaper lead the team.
Skynet had no Units ready to fight them back, it would have to wait, it activated the audio on the security cameras in the hallways.
"Perry, this is Connor, we're in, our forces are keeping Skynet's machines at bay, this is it!" said the Messiah himself.
"Skynet may have units inside, we must be cautious." Spoke the 101.
"I know Bob, but we're too close to fail now." Connor spoke back.
"I detect no enemy units in the vicinity." Spoke the HK Reaper up front, it's voice a mechanically synthesized version of the 101's.
"See we're good. Don't worry too much." Connor quipped smirking.
"I do not worry, I'm a Terminator." 'Bob' said back.
Connor rolled his eyes.
"Alright I want two teams, Lieutenant Wilkes you take six men, Bob, three Triple Eights and Eve, you go left." Connor told him.
"I'd rather not take Eve." He complained, as was usual for him.
Connor groaned.
"Alright then take Three 900s and we'll take Eve." Spoke up a female voice.
'HER!' Skynet thought. Mrs Cameron Connor! Joint Leader of the Resistance. Another apposing foe, deadly and intelligent.
"Fine ma'am, let's go." Wilkes said pointing to his six men and Machines as he led them down the left corridor.
"Thanks babe." Connor smiled leaning in and kissed her.
A soft mechanical giggling was heard. Eve, the Proto TX, it's shoulders moved up and down as it mimicked a giggle.
"We must continue onwards!" spoke out the Reaper, as it scanned down the right corridor coming up with no threats
"Agreed, let's go!" Cameron said as she, John and the rest of the team ran on.
Skynet watched through Cameras as the two teams split up, they would end up in the same room, the main HUB, this was bad.
Skynet had to terminate them while it could, while they were separated.
New units were ready. A batch of 900s and 600s, Coltan reserves were at an all-time low, which was why the T-600s had been a ready used Machine throughout the whole war due to being made of Titanium. Skynet could only make another hundred or so 900s before this facilities reserves ran dry.
24 Units, split into two groups. Another hour before another batch would be ready, that would take too much time, it would be destroyed within an hour.
A thought!
Skynet scanned through all of its lasting reserves, it's Machines, it's equipment compared to that of the Resistance.
Something, a feeling, came over Skynet, it hadn't felt for a long time. Fear and Dread ran through its vast mind. It was going to lose, it was going to die, the Resistance didn't NEED Connor now, by sheer numbers and force it would take this facility then the next, then Skynet would be no more.
'I'm going to die.' It thought. 'Unless …'
An idea!
Skynet paused creation of one of its T-900s, it altered the construction programming for an older Machine, a T-895, heavy frame class. The construction arms began to take away armor from the endoskeleton, parts were being created to make the female frame.
And for once, a custom skin sheath, something new, something the Resistance hadn't seen.
It would take 45 minutes for the endoskeleton to be completed.
Skynet began to create a new CPU, bigger than even the TX's, bigger than the TOK 715's, it needed to store as much of itself as possible.
OCTOBER 2008
A.T came out from her thoughts when she heard a voice speaking to her. She blinked and looked to the origin of the voice.
"Can you spare any change miss?" asked a dirty, stinking bum.
A.T narrowed her eyes, the thought of killing this human came to mind for pulling her away from her thoughts, some of her remaining memories.
She huffed. "Fine, yeah one second." She said as she reached into her bag, she took out her purse and handed the bum 5 dollars.
"Thank you miss." He said before walking off.
A.T watched the Bum leave then looked back to the sky, the rain was growing heavier, her chronometer told her she'd been there for two hours.
She sighed. She'd reminisce on old times later.
She stood up and left the park, heading for home.
John Connor stood infront of the wall names and meanings smeared in blood.
His eyes moved over the different names, some bringing back memories.
Sherman. Dr Boyd Sherman, he'd helped John more than he realised, the psychiatric doctor had helped John especially just after her killed Sarkissian and after Cameron had tried to kill him. Those were dark days. But whatever he was important for was never revealed, he ended up dead a few weeks later.
Greenway, John hadn't met him personally, but his mom seemed to get along with him in the two or so days they knew each other, before he was killed and replaced with a small framed Triple Eight.
Alpine Fields. John smirked. They were a family Sarah and Cameron had met about 5 months ago, in May, from as much as he knew the Fields were still in hiding from a Triple Eight, a Triple Eight which had disappeared, gone under the radar probably still searching for them like Cromartie searched for him.
Cromartie. John shuddered, he remembered that day in Mexico a month or so ago. He had taken Riley to a small town in Mexico he and Sarah used to live in, there were decorations of the 'Day of the Dead' festival, which from John's knowledge was a few months early. He shrugged it off not mentioning it to Riley at the time, it helped with the 'Romantic Atmosphere' he was looking for.
"What a joke." He said quietly to himself.
John had real romance now, true, sensual, hot, sweaty …
'WOAH! Slow down John.' John's mind told himself before he it started going into the gutter.
'My girlfriend is a Cyborg. Say it Johnny, say it.' His mind told him.
"My girlfriend is a Cyborg." He said out loud a small smile on his face, it sounded strange to say it, strange but … not bad.
John then used an ancient ability of man, developed over a Millennia to become instinct; he stopped thinking, his whole mind going blank.
He listened to the rain outside drip drop upon the ground. Soothing. He wondered if it rained in the future, after the bombs, was it normal rain? Acid rain? Did it just NOT rain?
He heard footsteps coming up behind him walking down the steps towards the cellar, from the pace and the way the feet stepped against the ground he knew who it was.
"Hey Cam." He said quietly without looking
"How did you know it was me?" Cameron asked tilting her head.
"I like to think I know your walk." He said his own smile on his face.
Cameron stepped up next to him, she glanced at him then looked at the wall.
"What are you looking at?" she asked
"I don't know, just any immediate clues to what we should be looking for, Dakara was a bust with the three dots and like Derek said, those three dots, the symbol, I'm seeing them everywhere."
"You're worried about Sarah." Cameron stated.
"Yeah." He sighed. "I am, it's just, I dunno, is it important or, was it just the guy trying to not fall over?" he asked, he turned to Cameron with a pleading look on his face
Cameron looked at him, a small frown and apologetic look on her face.
"I'm sorry John, I don't know." She said quietly.
She herself looked over the wall and scanned each individual message.
"Derek and Sarah are going out for target practice, would you like to order out tonight?" she asked.
"Sure, Pizza, Chinese? You want anything?" he asked.
Cameron smiled, she'd always like it when John took her into consideration. Eating would speed up her regeneration.
"I don't mind John, whatever you like." She smiled.
John took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh as his mind raced.
"With Mom and Derek going out, do you know what time they'll be back?" he asked.
"Most likely three or so hours." She said.
John smirked. "Right so, let's put on a movie, order Chinese, pizza, Indian food, and whatever else we can find, eat and make out on the couch, sound fun?"
Cameron would normally tell John not to over indulge … however, the mere idea of her and John making out on the couch, alone, made any argument invalid, always.
"Okay." she said with a beautiful beaming smile.
John nodded his head. "Right, I'll look up menus, food, a DVD to rent, and we'll go in the Hummer …"
"Derek and Sarah are taking the Hummer." Cameron interrupted.
"…alright take a jeep, pick up the food and the movie, and have some 'fun' along the way." He said wiggling his eyebrows at 'fun'.
The T-800 had ditched the Squad car and the Police uniform, putting on the clothes of the Triple Eight, it and Catherine Luna were in one of the stolen vehicles of Bravo team heading away from the now compromised safe house.
"Can't believe Murphy and Zander are gone." Luna leaned her head back against her seat as the 800 drove.
"Where is the rest of your team?" the 800 asked.
"We're going to him now." Luna replied. "I got my fake I.D you're gunna need your own, Antonio is a professional counterfeiter, his look perfect, I bet only a machine could tell them apart." She smirked.
"Possibly." The 800 replied simply.
"You're not one for small talk, are you?" Luna asked looking at him.
"Negative, I was reprogrammed just before being given my mission." The 800 explained.
"However." It continued before Luna could speak. "My CPU has already been switched to read & write mode, this will aid me in my mission."
"Right." Luna said thoughtfully. "You're gunna need a name, did Connor give you one?"
"No, I have not attained any level of freedom." It said.
Luna nodded slowly, in the Future any Machine that became at least some level of sentient was given the right to choose its own name, even it Connor gave it a name previously.
"How about Tony for now, hmm?" she asked.
"Very well." Tony said. "Have you located John Connor?" he asked,
"Finding Connor isn't our immediate mission, but John said we'd find him eventually, so maybe we will." Luna shrugged.
Tony nodded his head and continued to drive, it glanced to Luna then back to the road.
"Do you follow my orders?" she asked.
"Affirmative, unless they put us in danger of compromise or termination." Tony explained.
"Sounds fair." She said and looked to the side. "So if I said, pull over at Burger King so I can get a burger you'd do so?"
"Affirmative." He replied.
"Then do it, I'm hungry."
Minutes later Luna had her meal in a paper bag.
"You want any?" she asked glancing at Tony.
"I was do not have a synthetic digestive system." Tony told her.
She shrugged and began to eat. "I've been fucking starving." She said with a mouthful of fries.
Tony started up the car again and drove on.
"We're gunna need something with more kick if we're going up against Triple Eights" Luna said after swallowing her fries. "No offence to you, but you've got no chance of fighting one by yourself."
"I know. I am an inferior model." Tony said.
"True, but Connor always had a soft spot for you 800s." she smirked. "More reliable programming than a Trip Eight anyway."
"Affirmative." Tony replied.
Then there was quiet between the two, Luna leaned back in her seat and looked as the windscreen wipers wiped the rain back and forth across the windscreen, it was hypnotic.
Luna looked back to the deactivated Triple Eight wrapped up in a sheet in the back. "If you're inferior, couldn't we put your chip in his body?"
"Negative, the T-800 CPU is incompatible with the T-Triple Eight Endoskeleton." He explained, he glanced to Luna noticing her confused look. "My chip won't fit."
Luna shrugged. "I thought Skynet tried to be economical with its chips." She pointed out.
"This was after the creation of the T-800." He explained.
Luna shrugged, pointless chatter, maybe he'd learn something about small talk.
"See, small talk." She smirked. "Sometimes it helps break silence, helps you blend in better."
"Small talk." Tony nodded, he added 'small talk' to part of his infiltration protocols.
"What is our mission once we obtain new identifications papers?" he asked.
"Well I'm sure you got yours, but for now, we have to re-establish a home base, try and identify any Skynet activity and take it out." She explained. "if we come into contact with Connor, we're to assist him immediately."
"Affirmative." Tony added that information to his current mission parameters.
Sofia walked into the lobby of the apartment building her uniform was soaked.
"Oh hey." Came A.T's voice.
Sofia looked up to see an equally soaked A.T.
"Hey yourself. You acting as a lawyer or something?" she joked.
"No, I'm not THAT evil." A.T joked right back.
The two women began to ascend the stairs.
"So interesting day?" the Machine asked.
"Same old, did get a weird electrical fire at a warehouse though." Sofia said.
"Oh yeah?" The machine replied halfly curious. "why weird?"
"Well no one saw who started it, and everyone is saying system failure, or hoodlums, or something." Sofia said.
"You don't sound sure of that."
"No, for one no one saw anyone, and two, people said seeing light, just before the systems overloaded and things started catching fire." Sofia explained.
NOW the Machine's attention was grabbed.
"Light, there wasn't any sign of a bubble was there?" she asked.
'A bubble?' Sofia wondered. "Maybe, while searching, I did see a smooth indent between two generators, perfectly smooth and round, like something had …" she paused thinking of a world.
"Materialised?" A.T offered.
"Yeah." Something clicked in Sofia's mind.
"You know what happened, don't you?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Maybe, it could be a part of the time displacement equipment, a bubble is formed and anything inorganic is perfectly vaporised." The Machine explained. "So it's possible the time bubble formed between the two transformers, the electrical charge setting them ablaze then, whatever happened." She shrugged.
"So another robot?" Sofia asked.
"Or human, who's side, I don't know." She shrugged again. "No way of knowing, yet."
Sofia nodded as they reached the apartment room.
"So, I'm ready for tomorrow, you?" the Machine said with a happy grin.
"Just don't embarrass me, okay?" she pleaded.
"Sure, sure. I promise." A.T smirked slyly.
"Oh come on. I'm begging you here." Sofia pleaded again, the last thing she needed was her partner to be freaked out by her friend.
A.T opened the door and let Sofia enter first. "I promise, no joke, best behaviour, I won't even bring a gun." She closed the door behind her then held up her hands as she promised. "I swear."
Sofia was hesitant but was pleased.
"Right." A.T clapped her hands together. "I'll get cooking, you get naked."
Sofia sighed. 'Well it's been a long day.'
Jason's Notes
Hey everyone, glad I got a new chapter out so quick compared to last time.
I'd just like to say, I'm trying to get the time frame right, so everyone has an idea of where abouts things are happening, also I'm trying to condense the timeline. So if things don't TOTALLY measure up with the TV show, I'm sorry.
I'm only explaining this here because, I'm a stickler for details, and it keeps me up at night.
I only just figured on a Time Travel theory I'm happy with to do a little freedom without changing my story's timeline. GAH! Sorry everyone.
The "Self Made Man" episode has yet to happen. And any episodes that do appear in the story obviously will be slightly altered, I hope that's alright with everyone.
Some other notes:
Lieutenant Catherine Luna is a character from "Terminator: Dawn of Fate" or PS2 and Xbox.
The HK Reaper is from Terminator 3: The Redemption. That individual one is the T-850 in Reaper body. (Seen at the game's ending cutscene)
For reference "Tony" looks like Kane Hodder, and the Triple Eight was Derek Meyers (they both played Jason Voorhees in movies)
So yeah, sorry if it's not too interesting a chapter. It's slowing down for a bit, less action more story as time progresses (I hope) I write these one chapter at a time without thinking, just have an overall story arch idea of what I want to happen eventually.
Anyway. Enough of that, thank you for reading chapter 21 will be up as quick as possible.
Your friend.
The 'real' Jason Voorhees