Chapter 25
Upgraded. Thoughts of the future.
Blood, sweat and time.
That's what he'd put into the new parts. Going over Cameron's notes, he'd bought in secret equipment he'd need smuggle it into the shed and hide it in plain sight, he moved the small frame Triple-Eight Endoskeleton from under his bed and moved it into the garage each night to work, shrinking down the parts with files, grinders, a powered diamond bladed saw to cut down pieces. He'd caught himself by accident more than once, small droplets of blood smeared the new parts.
John Connor would glance at the clock each night, becoming more and more aware his body becoming weaker and more tired during the days from lack of sleep. Cameron would beg him to get some sleep but he refused, he'd set out to do this, he'd get it done, neither his mother or Uncle would approve of this he believed, they didn't trust Cameron like he did.
Cameron was there as well whenever she wasn't checking the perimeter of the house. She'd help in whatever way she could, doing whatever it was John asked of her.
As the new parts came to shape, she made note to John that they weren't exactly to her specifications, slightly bigger in fact, to this he merely smirked and replied with, "I know." before returning to work.
Days passed by, sleepless nights. But soon John was finished. A smirk of triumph on his face, he looked to Cameron who stood behind him, he'd have to cut her back open, her regeneration was near completed, it was a shame, but Cameron assured him everything would be alright.
Sunday 26th October.
Darkness had descended upon them now, tonight he would cut open his girlfriend and effectively replace her bones with a stronger set. It wasn't something he was fond of thinking of.
Cameron strode into the shed then gazed at John with the parts on a table infront of him, she felt something that could be called anxiousness well up in her CPU, she didn't know if these parts would fit or if they would cause some problems. She found herself hoping it wouldn't for John's sake more than her's.
Without a word they got to work. Cameron cut into her skin slicing it open to the part that would be replaced; upper and lower arm, lower and upper leg.
With a shaky breath and following both Cameron's notes and her words he pulled back the skin ever so slightly to reveal the bloody pistons, with all his might he fought back the urge to throw up, the imagine in his mind was like a scene from some deranged horror movie where a girl was sliced open, still alive.
With a deep breath he steeled himself and continued peeling back the rest of the skin to get easy access to each of the parts before following Cameron precise instructions of parts removal and disassembly.
"Get a drink John, you need one." Cameron spoke before John removed her left arm from above the 'bicep' piston.
"No, if I do, it'll probably …" he paused feeling the bile rise up to his throat before swallowing back down with great disgust and displeasure. "Just please, we have to finish this."
Cameron nodded understanding, John had a sickly green look to his face, while he accepted her for what she was, even kissing her skeletal structure, she knew this was making him incredibly uncomfortable.
Cameron stayed where she was as John quietly replaced the piston and pieces of the arm's frame with the custom parts. The process was long even for just this one arm and it wracked John's mind with doubt, what if he failed, what if he did something wrong?
'Focus Connor, focus!' he mentally berated himself before continuing on with his work.
Eventually the parts were replaced and John looked over the arm, the flaps of skin which had joined perfectly didn't quite reach each other anymore, as he expected. Turning to Cameron he reattached the arm to her small stump and smiled at her.
"That okay?" he asked the worry evident on his face.
Cameron analysed her arm, noting the increased length, but she said nothing, her CPU was scanning the attachment, analysing it and configuring power through it. "It'll take a minute for my body to accept the new arm." She explained.
John nodded before getting to work with her other arm.
While he worked Cameron looked over her arm as her systems reconfigured it to her body, slowly the arm came to life, piston by piston the arm began to move. She looked it up and down noting slight differences to it from its previous state, an inch longer, thicker due to the size of the pieces used, but still even with the size increase, it wasn't much heavier and still made her arms look slim.
CONFIGURATION COMPLETE …
POWER OUTPUT INCREASE … 11%
COMBAT EFFICIENCY INCREASE … 09%
Though the increase didn't seem high, this was still one arm, she began to wonder how effective she would become with her new upgrades in place.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw John move past her to reattach her other arm.
Once done John looked at Cameron. "How long will it take your arms to heal up?"
"They'll be healed by lunch tomorrow, we'll be at school, but don't worry I'll wear long sleeves." She reassured him. John nodded thankfully.
Without another word John got to work on her legs and slight alterations to her torso. It wasn't until the early hours of Monday morning until he was finished and Cameron was on her feet once more.
John looked into her eyes, she was almost eye level to him now, as he hoped.
"My systems have finished their diagnostic, an overall 40% combat efficiency increase." She stated proudly.
"Excellent. Now if you don't mind…" he said before falling onto her, to which she caught him with ease.
She smiled caringly at the boy in her arms, he was exhausted, mentally and physically, but his hard work was done. And from what Cameron could tell, the benefits were plenty.
She took him inside and laid him in his bed laying the covers over him before walking into her room removing her clothing and grabbed the medical kit from under her bed, and wrapped up her limping loose flesh in bandages to keep them still, this would make her recovery faster as she predicted. Once finished she looked at herself in the mirror, still naked.
Her body's new configurations made her an inch and a half taller and about seven pounds heavier, she checked her bandages making sure they were strong and tight before she practiced her maneuverability with ballet practise.
Her arms stretched up high, her long legs stepped and turned, her new torso twisted elegantly. Everything was working perfectly. An increase in strength, length and overall power, without sacrificing maneuverability or her agility. She looked at herself once more in the mirror still in the final pose of her dance, and she smiled, proud of her John, so very proud.
Monday 27th October. 7:25 am
School once more for John and Cameron.
John had awoken feeling more refreshed than he had done in days, though he was still tired. He showered, dressed and made his way downstairs where he found Cameron sat at the table with Danny who was tucking into some eggs and bacon.
"You're eating my mom's eggs and bacon?" John asked with a smirk on his face.
Danny nearly choked in surprise not knowing John was there, he coughed and swallowed a mouthful of orange juice before looking at John.
"I'm not that crazy John, my eggs and bacon." He smiled with pride.
"Would you like eggs and bacon John?" Cameron asked as she rose from her chair.
"It's okay, I'll have cereal." He walked to the cupboards. "You want anything Cam?" he called out.
"No thank you." She replied, before adding "Maybe some orange juice."
"Right." John called back as he poured himself a bowl of cereal and two glasses of orange juice.
John sat back down at the table giving Cameron her glass then took a sip of his own.
"So," Danny began as he looked to the two 'kids'. "What's on for today?" he asked nonchalantly.
"John and I will be going to school, our classes being, Math, English literature , Science – Biology, Geography then History." Cameron informed him in her monotone voice.
Danny nodded slowly as he thought. "Right." An awkward silence arose between Danny and the others before he spoke again. "And, what about, you two being, ya know?" he asked while pointing between them.
"Being what?" Cameron asked.
"He means being together Cam, being in a relationship." John tried to say while he had a mouthful of cereal, however Cameron seemed to understand.
"Oh I see, thank you for explaining." She smiled knowingly at John who chuckled in return.
"We're not sure what to do at this moment in time. We'd perhaps keep it a secret for the time being." She looked to John whom just swallowed his food. "What do you think John?"
John tapped his spoon against his chin lightly with his eyes cast low glazing over as he thought. "That's as good idea as any." He said thoughtfully. Cameron nodded and Danny was about to speak up once more when John added. "But maybe." He said before looking at Cameron directly. "We could start with subtle gestures, nothing big, kind of build it up over time, yeah?" he finished with a question.
Cameron's face remained stoic but her eyes seemed to shine with life and joy. John found himself being able to see even the deepest of expression in her 'emotionless' façade.
"Yes John." She replied before looking to Danny who seemed satisfied with the answer.
"Say where's my mom, she's normally up by now." John commented as the thought struck him.
"She and Derek are out, they left 30 minutes before you got up." Cameron informed him.
"They say where they went?" he asked.
"Yes. They went to take some of the weapons we all procured into storage, it would be dangerous leaving too many weapons in the house." She explained.
"That makes sense." He replied.
John finished his breakfast and soon enough they left for school.
"So, I'm left to do the dishes?" Danny asked no one. "Great." He groaned.
Derek groaned as he carried the heavy crate into the security locker and dumped it with a grunt onto the floor just to be chastised by the elder Connor.
"Watch it Derek! We may need these in time to come!" she barked before walking past him she spoke quieter but with no less annoyance. "Last thing we need is damaged weapons because of you."
Derek groaned and gave her the finger behind her back, no matter what he did he never seemed to do enough for her. 'Damn woman.' He groaned mentally.
Derek walked back to the jeep and picked up a smaller crate this one filled with ammo then carried it into the locker.
"So, what's on your mind Sarah?" he asked once he placed the smaller crate down, making sure to be more gentle this time around. "You're more snappy than usual." He commented before putting his right hand into his pocket with the other dangling to his side.
Sarah stared at him with annoyance, yet he just waited and waited, looking at her with the best nonchalant look he could manage under her glare, finally she caved.
"I know." She conceded before groaning and running her hand through her hair. "Just a bad night's sleep, and John hasn't been looking great recently either."
"So the kid's had bad nights sleeping, so?" Derek asked with a shrug of his left shoulder before crossing his arms.
"So, don't you think I know what that means?" she asked incredulously her voice raising.
"What?" Derek shrugged again.
Sarah groaned as she rubbed her eyes with her right index finger and thumb. "Just think Derek." She raised her left hand in a fist before sticking out her thumb. "One: John's got a new girlfriend who he sees every day nearly every waking minute."
Derek shrugged his shoulders making Sarah stick out of her index finger. "Two: Said girlfriend is physically attractive, it was obvious before the … the car bomb incident that John liked looking at Cameron."
Derek blinked his brow furrowed in deep thought. Sarah stuck out her middle finger.
"Three. John has been getting up looking like he hasn't been getting any sleep and has even complained of aching muscles." Sarah stressed and opened her eyes a little wider to Derek.
Derek looked at her confused as his mind put it together. New girlfriend, a hot attractive one, John wakes tired with aching ….
"OH MY GOD!" He screamed his eyes wide in horror. "THEY'RE FUC … " He yelled before Sarah put her hand over his mouth muffling his words.
"Yes Derek, obviously. Don't tell the whole fucking world." Sarah hissed.
He stared at her wide eyed still. "I know Derek I know." She whispered.
Derek grimaced then mumbled something into her hand, she removed her hand. "What?"
"You breathe stinks Sarah." He groaned wafting the air infront of him with his hand.
Sarah almost growled and held back the urge to slap him. "Be serious Derek!" she scolded.
"I am being serious, but your right. Are you sure?" he asked while rubbing his temples.
"No." she shook her head. "But the evidence points to as much."
Derek looked around the storage locker before placing a hand on his forehead and exhaling deeply.
"We knew they'd … get to this, eventually" she said finding it hard to say the words.
"Yeah but I was hoping not or a long, LONG time." He replied back.
'Me too.' Sarah thought with a mental grimace.
"Girlfriend or not, it's disgusting, he's John … you know, he's supposed to lead us against the machines, not get into bed with them." He sat on the ground and groaned 'Or date them.' He mentally added. "But, you're right, I guess." He grimaced. "We both agreed to be okay with their relationship, right?" Sarah nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Then not much we can do about it."
"Like hell there isn't!" Sarah shot back. "If they're going to play boyfriend - girlfriend they're going to do it under my rules." She argued. "And the first thing is, no sex, not anymore, not for now anyway." She said before calming down.
Derek just sighed. "Well, at least he's a man now." He winced upon hearing his own words.
"Just help me with the rest Derek." Sarah groaned and she walked back to the Jeep.
After a few minutes of silence and a couple of more ammunition crates placed into the locker Derek spoke up again.
"That isn't all that's on your mind what else is it?" he asked.
"Kaliba." She replied with a huff. "The security force me and Danny encountered weren't what you'd normally expect in that kind of company, it was more … like a set of mercenaries, and from what Danny said, building an A.I, building Skynet? These may really be the people Derek. This may be the company we've been looking for." She exclaimed.
Derek ran all this through his mind. "You're probably right, which makes them very dangerous. Which is bad. We're gunna have to be real cautious about dealing with these guys Sarah."
Sarah looked from Derek to the floor her mind whirling with thoughts, too many for her to keep track of. "Me and Danny got lucky, but …" she let out a long sigh. "Derek I've never had to kill a human being before. Not even when my mind was set on it, I couldn't do it, but now."
"We kill who we have to, to survive, there are people working against us to stop us from doing what's right. We can't have them in our way. John Connor taught us that, he didn't like it either even if he was talking about traitors, but it had to be done." Derek frowned as he remembered the General's stone cold look on his face as he said those words.
Sarah didn't say a word, the act had left Danny worse off than her. She shouldn't have taken him, she was stupid, he did better than she expected but it was stupid, suicidal.
'You're losing it Sarah.' She chastised herself mentally.
"Come on lets finish up here." Sarah said glumly before making her way back to the jeep.
The pair finished their work and sat in the jeep, the key in the ignition Sarah didn't turn it on.
"No fate but what we make." She said out loud.
"John's phrase." Derek commented
"A phrase he got from me, I got from Kyle who got it from John." She replied
Derek groaned, more time travel mind-fucking. "Like what came first the chicken or the egg, who thought of the phrase first?"
"Not a clue." Sarah sighed.
"So why bring it up?" he asked.
"Kyle Reese, the one I met, told me the war began in 1997, and you say it was 2011 just like Cameron." Sarah said, Derek looked at her confused. "We've changed things Derek, maybe even now with Cameron becoming John's … you know, things might have changed again." Sarah groaned, this stuff really put her brain into a spin-cycle. "There is no set future but the one we make in the past." She said quietly to herself.
Derek nodded, he'd been doing that a lot recently and he could feel the strain in his neck. 'Damn it.'
"So, why's this getting to you?" Derek was almost reluctant to ask. Almost.
"Both the Resistance and Skynet can change the future to try and better themselves and destroy the other. A constant war of building up themselves and destroying the enemy, and that's even before the war's begun." Sarah sighed miserably. "Sometimes, it feels a little hopeless."
Derek saw how Sarah was getting leaned towards her. "Hey Sarah, listen, things are tough, but we knew they would be, we're fighting against companies, soldiers, and fucking Metal, so yeah things look hopeless." He swallowed to clean out his throat then placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "But if there's one thing I know, you and John will pull it off, because your Connors, your kind seem to pull miracles out your ass." He chuckled.
Sarah looked at him from the corner of her eye, breathed in and exhaled deeply before running a hand through her head. "Thanks Derek, really, you're right, you're right. Again, thanks." She smiled at him.
"Hey, no problem. And don't worry." He smirked with mischief. "I won't tell John I saw his mother act like a cry baby."
Sarah hit Derek in his chest causing him to groan and cough, Sarah chuckled briefly before turning on the ignition. 'Thanks Derek.' She thought to herself.
Lieutenant Catherine Luna groaned and stretched, her joints cracking and she moaned in relief, the alarm clock net to her read: 8:45. Sitting up in bed she looked ahead and saw her partner, standing where he normally would staring out the window.
"Hey Tony." She greeted groggily.
"Good morning." The T-800 replied. "Sleep well?" he asked with an uncaring monotone delivery.
"Good as usual. Any luck last night?" She asked.
Tony turned his head towards her a little. "Negative, however this results in narrowing down the Connor's location." He replied.
For the past few nights Tony would drive down to where he and Luna had lost the Connors and from there had systematically scanned each passing house until the early hours of the morning, so far no luck, which only meant they were closing in on them.
"Ah well, maybe tonight then." Luna shrugged. "Now look away." She smirked as Tony turned around before she got dressed.
Within the next two hours, Luna dressed ate breakfast, showered, then redressed in clean clothes.
Catherine and Tony were at the breakfast table files and folders littered across it's surface, Luna placed her hand on top of one of the files.
"This is where we're going today. Dyna-core." She told him. "They're making plans to advance the A.I network, we need to scout it out and see if they're a threat or another dud."
"Affirmative." Tony picked up the piece of paper then looked out of the window once more before putting it down.
Luna watched him curiously. "Tony?" she asked cautiously.
"I am mapping the optimum route." He replied.
"Ah right, good, good." She patted the Cyborg's leg then got up. "Right let's go, you mind driving?" she asked.
"No problemo." He replied as they made their way out of the room.
Once in the car Luna found herself watching the world go by, the beautiful colour, the light from the sun, not like the future, not like the world she left behind, not like her dream.
Luna thought back, letting her eyes close slowly as her mind drifted back to the future.
December 21ST 2028
Luna awoke on the battered mattress that was her 'bed', at 27 years old she could barely remember the feel of a real mattress, a real bed. Before another conscious thought entered her mind, someone knocked on the door to her room.
"Who is it?!" she called out in an annoyed tone.
"Sergeant Luna." Came 'her' voice.
'OH…SHHHHH….' Luna's eyes bugged out as she stood up, not caring she stood in only her undergarments, she walked to the door and opened it to look into the chocolate eyes of her commanding officer.
There she stood, a stoic look on her face befitting all of her kind. Secondary General Cameron Connor. Catherine wasn't a short woman, standing a nice 5 foot 8 she was considered tall, but even she had to crane her neck up a little to look into her eyes.
"General Connor, ma'am." Luna saluted.
"At ease Sergeant." She said in her signature tone before her eyes glanced down to Luna's state of undress. "I hope you weren't expecting something from me Cat." Cameron said with a smirk on her as she looked at Luna coyly.
Luna looked down at herself and blushed. "Sorry ma'am, ugh, no, no I ugh. Don't swing that way." Luna fumbled a reply.
"Good to hear it, neither do I." Cameron replied still smirking. "I would like to congratulate you."
Luna stared at Cameron with unblinking eyes of surprise. "Congratulate ma'am?" she asked.
"Yes. I've been hearing praise from other officers based on your actions yesterday during the mission to L.A. East. You took control on your squad, kept a level head and got them to safety, your commanding officer was impressed, I'm impressed."
Luna couldn't believe it, Cameron Connor, THE CAMERON CONNOR. Was impressed with her, and she (along with her husband) was rarely impressed, they expected a lot out of their soldiers by default, so for either of them to come to a single soldier and tell them they were impressed was … it was barely ever heard of.
"Th-thank you ma'am." She stammered. "I was just doing my job ma'am."
"Acknowledged, you did excellent work, well done" Cameron turned to leave then paused turning her head back to Luna. "Lieutenant." She nodded smirking before leaving.
Catherine Luna stood there blinking still overwhelmed by what happened, when suddenly it clicked.
"Lieutenant?!" she gasped.
Cameron heard her having not walked too far and turned to the woman. "Congratulations."
Before another word could be heard screams could be heard throughout the base, Cameron's head snapped towards the source and took off running at full speed, Luna followed her quickly dressing in her uniform as she did so.
The screams came from the bases' civilian sector, it seemed one of the new Triple Eights had turned and begun gunning down every human it encountered, Cameron instantly recognized it's face, she had personally reprogrammed this Machine, it shouldn't have reverted. 'Sabotage!'
The large framed Triple Eight turned towards her firing it's machine gun full auto into her advancing form.
The bullets that slammed into her did nothing to slow her down, she leapt at the Machine tackling it with enough force to not only knock it off its feet but also to crash through the solid brick wall behind it.
Cameron quickly rose to her feet discarding the Machine Gun and grabbed the rising Machine by the back of its shirt and threw it through the hole and sending it crashing into another brick wall.
Cameron stalked out eyes narrowed, she turned her gaze to the bodies that littered the floor, some were alive, for now, she frowned sadly at the loss before turning her anger towards the Triple Eight which was now advancing on her, it's arm swinging at her with a punch.
Cameron grabbed the fist in her hand and stared the Machine down. With the amount of upgrades she'd received from John over the years, her strength had increased greatly.
The Triple Eight lashed out grabbing her by the throat and forced her back into the brick wall, from there Cameron pressed her other hand against its torso and began to push slowly forcing it away from her.
Suddenly gunfire erupted to their side and slammed into her body, she turned to see the origin of the shots and saw a man middle aged with a pistol aimed at her. 'A Gray!' she thought immediately and saw another Machine walking towards her passing the Gray.
Using her momentary distraction the Triple Eight pulled back and threw Cameron against a wall.
"Hold her!" the man demanded before the Machines stalked over to her and pinned her to the ground.
The Gray smirked confidently as he approached Cameron. "Hello Mrs Connor." He smirked before removing a Taser. "What you know will be essential to Skynet."
Cameron stared at him in fear. She couldn't be offlined, not now. 'Where is security?' she thought.
The Gray aimed his Taser at her finger on the trigger.
Suddenly the first Triple Eight pulled viciously away from her and sent crashing through the wall behind them.
Everyone turned to see what had happened, the Gray coming face to face with a large brutish form.
'Bob!.' Cameron thought immediately seeing the large T-850 model 101.
'Bob' an 'aged' T-850 grabbed the other Triple Eight by the back of it's neck with his large hand and began to squeeze before literally tearing the enemy Cyborg away from his superior officer and throwing it to the floor.
The Gray backed up and fired the Taser into the resistance Machine a smirk upon his face. A smirk which quickly faded as the Machine's eye lit up a bright red as it absorbed the electricity forcing it to activate it's models special feature.
"An Eight-Fifty." The Gray let go of the Taser and ran down the hallway only to be tackled by an angry Luna.
The two Triple Eight rose and looked at Bob as he pulled Taser darts from his bulky chest his eyes still glowing red from the excess power.
They advanced on their 'brother' unit, the second grabbing Bob by his shirt only to have it's arm knocked away immediately then sent hurtling into the first Machine.
"General Connor." Bob greeted before giving her a hand up before turning his attention towards the two Triple Eights, he stomped towards them at a fast pace.
Bob grabbed the Triple Eight hoisting it into the air and slammed it back down into the ground head first causing it to get wedged deep into the concrete.
The Second rose to it's feet shoulder barged the 850 sending him stumbling back, continuing it's assault it slammed it's foot into his torso making him stumble once more, it was only now the Machine scanned Bob's endoskeletal structure.
INFILTRATOR UNIT SERIES 850 101
ENHANCED HEAT SIGNATURE DETECTED.
WARNING: ENEMY UNIT 'OVERCHARGED'
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH
ACTION: EVADE.
The Triple Eight turned to evade Bob. He grabbed it's arm immediately, then with his enhanced might pulled the Machine back as his fist went crashing into it's face, it's nose shattered, artificial blood spraying across it's face, the servos in it's neck became severed from the force nearly tearing the head from it's shoulder.
Cameron walked up to the Machine firing the Gray's Taser into it.
"Remove it's CPU." She instructed Bob.
She looked up seeing the approaching soldiers Plasma Carbines in hand, she almost snarled at them.
"Where have you been?" she said her voice barely containing her anger.
"Sorry ma'am we were at lunch. We got here as quick as we could." The first soldier said.
Cameron brought up his profile in her CPU. "Sergeant Smith, if I recall your break isn't for another 2 hours, you abandoned your post and risked the safety of this base. We have a …" she paused before firing the Taser into the first Triple Eight that had tried to escape. "We have a hostile Machine and a turned Resistance Machine running loose and a Gray."
Sergeant Smith gulped as her saw the look in her eye. "It was fortunate Bob was here to make sure your mistake hadn't caused too many problems." She paused from dramatic affect her eyes narrowed angrily. "Normally such failure to duty would have major consequences. But right now, there are more important things to deal with. Clean up the bodies, help the wounded, prepare for burial of the dead."
The soldiers before her hesitated to move. "NOW!" she snapped her eyes flashing a deep red.
The soldiers jumped before getting to work immediately just as Bob rose holding the Cyborg's CPU.
"Could you do the other please Bob then work off the excess energy. We don't need you shutting down." She instructed getting a nod from the Machine before she walked over to Luna and the now unconscious Gray.
"Good work Lieutenant." She said in a scarily calm tone of voice.
PRESENT DAY
Luna sighed as she remembered watching everything from a corner, body trembling with adrenaline. Cameron hadn't yelled at her and acknowledged that if she'd have intervened would have most likely have died.
John was BEYOND furious, understandably, and was more than happy to allow Cameron to have fun extracting information from the Gray, when Luna had next seen the Gray he had tears running down his cheeks blubbering like a baby, while Cameron had a pleased smirk on her face.
The Gray was then hung by a rope and his body placed somewhere in L.A. as a sign to all traitors. The last Luna saw of his body, birds were pecking at the rotting flesh.
She shivered.
"Are you alright?" Tony asked from the side of her as he continued to drive.
Luna looked at the clock. 11:15. And they were stuck in traffic.
"Yeah, just reminiscing." Luna sighed.
A.T ran the cloth over her large bowie knife, polishing the blade till it shone. Her eye were narrowed and focused, after she'd calmed down enough she'd returned home, only to release the rest of her frustrations on the poor innocent Sofia.
The young woman hadn't been walking right for the past few days as a result.
A.T raised the blade to her face and looked it over with a professional eye, the Coltan-Titanium alloy blade was polished and sharpened to perfection. She ran a simulation of her piercing the blade through that little bitch Machine's skull over, and over and over again.
Happy with the results she slid the blade down into the black leather sheath then strapped it into place, no one else had died, her final three targets were all that was left from her list, other than Sofia and Rebecca that is.
Suddenly form behind her home phone rang. Turning towards it curiously she rose from her couch and walked into the kitchen to answer it.
"Hello?" she began as she answered the phone.
"Hey girl, it's me." Came the gruff British voice. It was her friend Tony 'Hyde' Hendrickson
"Hey Tony, sorry I haven't been in for a while." She apologise immediately.
"Hey it's no troubles, but listen, I need you tonight, please come on, I'm dyin' 'ere." The man begged.
A.T looked at herself in the mirror, she was presentable. "Sure Tony, I'll be there, 7 o'clock, promise."
"Ah! You're a good lass. Cheers." And with that he hung up.
A.T put the phone down and sighed. She deserved a break, get back into the flow of her life. Put the mission on hold, besides, she had just over two years before the whole world ended, plenty of time to kill three people.
With that thought, she felt her shoulders relax, the pressure in her CPU just seemed to disappear.
"Maybe I should take Sofia and Fischer out for dinner, my treat." She said out loud, they hadn't really hadn't any fun that wasn't X-Rated. "Mmmm, maybe just Sofia."
A.T walked to the laptop and plugged herself in, rapidly scanning through local fancy restaurants to find the best prices and highest quality, her search stopped at one, she looked at the number and dialled it on her cell-phone, booked two seats and smirked. Somethings were just nice when it was easy.
With this spare time, her thoughts went back to reminiscing the last clear moments she had before placing herself within her current body.
LOS ANGELES MAY 21ST 2034
Connor's group had separated into groups, meaning Skynet would have to separate it's already low number of forces, it watched through the video feed as both groups of Resistance moved through it's facility.
The HK Reaper suddenly stopped in it's tracks before moving quickly away from it's current location not even a second later a deep purple explosion erupted from the wall.
"John we have contact." Mrs Connor called out as she, John and the others moved behind cover.
"What is it?" John yelled.
"Twelve Hostile T-900s. Mark 2 Plasma Rifles, Mark 1 Plasma Launcher." Bob the veteran T-850 called out.
John nodded as the sounds of heated plasma pounded into their metal cover coupled with the explosion of super-heated condensed plasma from the Launcher weapon. John looked to the side seeing his soldier keeping cover along with a few Triple-Eight and T-900 endoskeletons.
John turned his head towards his wife and smirked. She looked at him wide eyed and shook her head frantically that was his typical 'I'm gunna do something crazy' smirk.
"Cover me." Was all he said before giving her a peck on the nose and ran out from cover and fired at the Machines blindly, which began firing upon him immediately.
"OPEN FIRE!" Mrs Connor yelled out as she and the others ducked out from cover and tore into the enemy 900s with Plasma fire.
After the enemies destruction the team regrouped the Reaper once again moving from the front.
"Keep a tight formation, I want everyone frosty." John said cautiously.
"The temperature is too high for us to freeze." Said one of the T-900 endoskeletons using a default mechanical voice.
"He means to stay alert." Mrs Connor explained, smirking a little at how she too was like that.
Eve, the T-X Endoskeleton placed a hand over her mouth and giggled in a girl tone her shoulders shaking as she did so.
Skynet still had ONE last ace up it's metaphorical sleeve, it's unit had already been unleashed it's mission to out both Generals in one attack, the other team was advancing quickly as well, time was running out for it.
SERIES 895 ENDOSKELETON COMPLETE.
CUSTOM ORGANIC COVERING MAPPED.
ACTIVATING …
Skynet watched as the T-895 endoskeleton was moved along the assembly line and into the Sheath Grafter. Skynet's back-up plan was already underway, the way things were going, it'd need it. It was already in the process of sending it's core self into the CPU. Doing so would leave this base and any other place it fled with a 'dumber' low thinking version of itself, but it had to be done. It had to survive.
The majority of it's attention was diverted back to the camera footage. Through multiple scans it could see it's assassin, Connor's group moving cautiously towards it.
John paused. He looked around, nothing.
"John? What's wrong?" Mrs Connor asked as she stood by him.
"Something's wrong Cam, I can feel it. I can feel it." He said cautiously, his hardened eyes scanning the immediate area.
"Everyone stay alert!" she ordered before turning back to John. "Stay close to me." She said softly, he nodded and moved closer to her the team advancing.
They came to a large pair of doors.
"Big Bob, what we got?" Connor called out to the Reaper.
"Research and Weapons." The synthesised 101 series voice spoke out.
Connor looked at the doors, they were large about 15 feet tall, thick and armoured, in the middle of them was a secondary set of doors, fit for anything within human height, Big Bob being a Reaper wouldn't be able to fit through the primary doors, unless someone opened up the larger set.
"Alright. Eve, I want you to take point." The TX saluted and ran towards the front. "I want the T-900s by me and Cameron." He said as the armoured endoskeletons moved towards him, "I want you guys and the Triple Eights to remain here with Big and little Bob." He informed his human soldiers.
"Lets move." Mrs Connor said as she, John, Eve and the 900s moved into the room.
The room was vast, full of equipment that was building or repairing weapons including the Mark 1 and 2 Plasma Rifles and Plasma Launchers.
"Which way do we go?" John asked quietly.
"Not sure, should we split up?" Cameron asked.
"No." Eve whimpered her endoskeleton shuddering.
John had watched far too many horror movies during the older days to know splitting up a group was suicidal, but they had to find Skynet, the longer they waited the more Machines it could build to stop them.
"Alright, we'll split into two groups, Cameron take Eve and 2 T-900s." he instructed despite Cameron's shocked expression.
"John I don't think that a good idea, I need to keep you safe." She informed him for what must have been the 1000th time in all these years.
John just smirked. "I know, but I've got Three T-900s with me, and I need you to lead the others. Please." He pleaded.
Cameron wanted to argue, but saw his logic, Eve wasn't the leading type and the T-900s were simply soldiers. She nodded conceding to his plan.
"Let's keep it tight and quiet, the quicker we do this, the quicker we can go home." John said quietly, for whatever reason, he still couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling in his gut.
"Wall-E." Eve said happily.
John chuckled at the TX. "Yeah home to Wall-E."
Skynet watched the groups separate. '—m—ron.' Was what it heard Connor say from time to time, the noise from the factory muffling his voice. His wife perhaps? Probably.
Skynet's assassin was already watching the group slinking away stealthily and followed Connor and the T-900s, this was exceedingly dangerous, if the T-900s spotted it too soon, Plasma fire from the Mark 2 Plasma rifles alone would tear it asunder.
It could 'feel' itself dumbing down, it's core consciousness moving into the chip, it was writing security codes to keep the endoskeleton and chip safe from it's own security systems, in case things didn't turn out exactly as it planned.
Through superior scan modes it could see it's assassin moving.
Connor stopped, he paused then looked around, the T-900s paused around him and scanned the area.
"Anything?" he asked.
"Negative." The T-900s responded.
John sighed then moved on Plasma carbine in hand. "Let's keep moving."
Suddenly, a shimmer of light, something approaching fast from the corner of his eye, he dived out of the way a long dull grey blade impaling into machinery next to where he had been.
"K SERIES!" he yelled out. 'K-Series' being the slang for the T-1000 mimetic alloy Terminators.
The long thick blade retracted and slid back to it's original position on the ground, the whole blade began to morph into a dull grey humanoid shape it's two hand replaced with blades.
The T-900s scanned their enemy as they raised their rifles. They identified it's colourisation and unique abilities to match it to a T-1002.
Two of the T-900s opened fire at the hostile 'K-series' as the third moved towards John Connor in order to protect him.
The 1002 moved out of the way of the Plasma fire and moved around the Machinery to flank the endoskeletons which had begun to pursue it.
"Keep Together!" it heard Connor call out, the endoskeletons stopping their pursuit and regrouped with Connor.
It narrowed it's 'eyes' in what could be described as anger. It was hoping to use the T-900s inferior minds to it's advantage, hoping they would pursue so it would Terminate them one by one.
Connor waited, the T-900s creating a barrier around him.
"John, what's happening we head plasma fire." Cameron's voice came over his radio.
John grabbed it his eyes still scanning around.
"Hostile K-Series Cam be on the lookout in case there's more or IT comes for you." He warned.
"T-1002." One 900 spoke up.
"A 1002 Cam." He said into the radio
"We'll be fine, we have Eve, make sure you don't lose sight of it, Weaver told us the 1002s were trickier than even her model." Cameron warned in return.
Connor mentally cursed, he hated dealing with K-Series, the standard 1000s were incredibly dangerous, when they encountered models like this one or the 1001 that were still loyal to Skynet they were always a monumental challenge when unprepared; like now.
"Alright, roger that." He put his radio away and looked around once more, before turning his attention to the 900s. "Plasma grenades hot." He simply said.
The 900s reached forward with their free arm grabbing the solid metal fore-arm of their Mark 2 Plasma Rifle then cocked it.
"Scans?" he said as he aimed through the scope of his Carbine.
"Scans show negative." One T-900 informed him.
Connor groaned, the equipment around them would make looking for the Machine difficult.
"Get Down!" the T-900 behind John called out as it tackled John to the ground a long blade narrowly missing his head.
The other two Machine turned and fired immediately Plasma Rifles unleashing condensed plasma, the K series moved out of the way as Plasma exploded against the ground where it had just been, the long blade shape reforming it's body as it ran condensed and full auto Plasma following it's trail destroying the flooring and machinery around it.
The third T-900 rose from the ground picking it up discarded rifle and scanned the area, it's brethren now moving away from Connor's location get better sight of the 1002.
"Target lost." One of them said.
"Scanning." The second replied.
The third looked down putting it's hand out to help Connor up.
John groaned, the feeling of a full weighted endoskeleton come crashing down on you wasn't comfortable. "Thanks." He said as he reach out to grab it's hand.
Suddenly a blade impaled through the Endoskeleton's leg narrowly missing John's face.
"CONTACT!" he screamed out while shuffling back.
The impaled T-900 straightened itself and turned only for a blade to impale itself between the Endo's eyes, a third blade erupting from the 1002's chest decapitating the 900.
One of the other T-900s cocked it's weapon and fired. Click. The weapon was empty, dropping the weapon it charged towards the hostile Terminator and grabbed a hold of it trying to restrain it.
The three blade withdrew from the endoskeleton as the 1002 turned it's attention to the Machine behind it, it tensed ever so slightly before blades burst from the endoskeleton's skull and back.
"Hey! HEY! ASSHOLE!" Connor yelled as he fired the downed 900s Plasma fire at the Machine.
The 1002 turned away from Connor using the entrapped 900 as a shield while quickly dispatching the third Endo with a blade to the torso piercing the Machine power cell.
Connor had ceased fire not wanting to waste ammunition, he pumped the Rifle and awaited the Machine to turn once again. Anger turned to temporary horror as the 900s dropped to the ground, the 1002 missing.
"Where are you? Where are you, you fucker." He growled as he looked around.
The sudden sound of energy charging caught his attention, he began to turn just as a blast of super-heated plasma flashed by him followed by a sickening roar of pain, he turned towards the roar and saw the 1002 roaring in agony a huge chunk of its mass burning away. Immediately he fired the weapon sending a Plasma grenade into the Machine's body which exploded shortly after vaporising it.
"Bad." Came Eve's voice, John turned to see the TX lowering it's right arm-turned Plasma Cannon.
"Thanks." He sighed gently.
"Exit." She said before motioning John to follow her.
"Okay, just a second." He moved over to the downed T-900s and kneeled down to them, thankfully each one had their chips intact. They were 'alive' and would rise again.
"Never leave a downed soldier behind." He said pocketing the chips, picking up the empty rifles and followed Eve.
"Did you guys find the door controls?" John asked as he kept pace with the cyborg.
"Yes, door opening." She pointed to the large set of doors as Big Bob stomped in clearing a path towards the exit.
Skynet watched them regroup, it's enemies all but unscathed, it's last loyal 1000 series destroyed by it's own prototype TX. The other group had met with little resistance and now they were both converging on it's location, in it's final act it activated it's wall turrets before it awoke in a whole new body.
"Download complete." It spoke in a mechanical voice. "Voice synthesizing initialised." It said it's voice changing to that of a young woman mid-sentence. The custom port hatch closed up with a hiss before mechanical arm sealed the hole in its organic sheath.
MONDAY OCTOBER 27TH 2008
A.T sighed. M-Ron. Was that Connor's wife's name? M-Ron? She knew she'd heard her real name, seen her face later. But damage suffered during her time in the past had damaged some of her memory. The identity of Mrs 'M-Ron' Connor being one of the memories.
Where did she come from? What model was she? Was she with Connor now? These questions ran through A.T's mind.
Then her mind went to the other Machine, her nemesis as she now thought of her, she ran back the memory of their fights, saving images of her enemy from any possible angle, she scanned them once twice and once more.
Could she have been a petite framed Triple Eight. She recalled making a small handful of light weight female based Triple Eights. Most of which had been captured and reprogrammed, for what? She shuddered to think.
'No, impossible, no small frame Triple Eight could withstand the force of a T-895 … then what?'
She let out a long groan then leaned back in her chair. The Machine had bested her twice, 'pure dumb luck' she thought, then wondered if such a thing existed.
She stood up and walked to the large window of her apartment her eyes gazing out into the city.
This city she knew, full of millions of insignificant people, some had jobs, lives to live maybe even families, some were trash, homeless, penniless, worthless. Cannon fodder for those with power to do with as they liked, or so it should have been. There were those select few people who knew. Connor and his allies, resistance members that were sent back for some mission or another. Most teams would be made up of humans, she knew, some may have 'Metal' help.
"You're somewhere out there John, I'll find you." She said, not noticing the almost caring touch to her voice.
Jason's Notes
Hello again readers, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Apologies for being gone so long, someone had my laptop to fix it. Turns out it had no viruses, it was just full of muck and grime … I need to keep my play room clean. Anyway enough of that.
So we've seen Future Cameron more and what she'll be capable of. Perhaps she'd be Cameron 2.0.
The T-1002 (as by the Terminator wiki) could produce blades anywhere on it's body.
The Mark 2 Plasma Rifle is the "Plasma Rifle" used in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines video game and opening cutscene by the T-950s.
The Launcher is a weapon from Terminator 3: The Redemption.
This chapter was originally going to be part "Self-Made Man" the episode with the Myron Stark Triple-Eight. But that'll be for next chapter.
Your friend. Jason Voorhees.