I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews and again thanks for putting up with my slowness. I love you guys, you're the best! Well here we go, I hope you enjoy. Also to anyone who speaks fluent Spanish I apologise now for any Spanish I've gotten wrong as I'm using Google translate.
Terminator
Bond of Steel and Bone
Chapter 30
Halloween Aftermath
As Cameron drove she noticed John shaking with adrenaline still, not that she could blame him, their encounter with the T-895 had been both surprising and fatal, their Triple-Eight; Myron Stark, has been terminated from a blade piercing through his skull and shearing his CPU in half, and the T-800; Tony had suffered damage to his chest from the same weapon and major damage to his organic covering, leaving him a skull faced terror, she herself had suffered some damage, her left hand wouldn't close fully and was having trouble taking a firm grip on objects.
John was mumbling to himself quietly and staring out of the window, silently declaring he wouldn't run anymore, he'd fight. It was then the full realisation of what happened occurred and what would happen next.
"We're gunna have to move again." He said slowly as the realisation sunk in, his eyes misting over. "After everything, we're gunna have to move AGAIN!" he yelled and slammed his on the dash board repeatedly, only for Cameron to grab his hand after the third strike.
"John calm down!" she told him sternly, before using a softer tone of voice. "I know you're angry, and rightfully so, but reacting this way isn't helping the situation."
John took a deep breath. "FUUUUUCCCCK!" He yelled as loud as he could! Then collapsed back into his seat. "Sorry." He murmured quietly, defeated.
Cameron placed her hand on John's leg and stroked it gently trying to comfort him. "It's alright, I understand."
"What are we going to tell mom and the others?" he asked feeling drained in so many ways.
"I've been thinking, we could simply say Tony followed us due to his mission objective to protect you -"
"Protect us." John interrupted.
"-protect us." Cameron amended before continuing. "They don't need to know about Stark, we'll hide his body dismantle him and use whatever we can, perhaps something can be salvaged from his CPU." She said trying to instil some hope in John.
"I guess we could try." He shrugged before turning around to look towards the two machine 'corpses'. "Sorry Stark." He said quietly, mourning the termination of the Cyborg, before turning his eyes to Cameron. "How're you holding up?" he asked, hesitant to find out.
"I'm faring better than Tony." She commented, half in jest. "I've suffered damage to my left arm, I can't close my hand fully, a few hydraulics have been knocked partially out of line, they'll need re-adjusting." She informed him.
"I'll help." He said determined, "No ifs or buts about it, I'll help you." He leaned back in his chair and groaned. "I'll help you." He mumbled.
Cameron turned her head back towards the road, many questions going through her mind: how did the 895 find John? Why did it kill James Shepard? What was going to happen now in their near future? She knew they would be moving soon, it would also be too dangerous to send John back to school since the Machine knew where he went. Also now their ability to watch Jesse had been damaged, without Stark they wouldn't be able to keep track of her, sure they could use Tony, but Tony was known to the others, Stark wasn't, he was the perfect hidden agent, but now he was gone and they had no other Triple-Eight CPU … wait, that wasn't true.
"John, we have the other Triple-Eight CPU." She said suddenly.
John looked at her curiously before he remembered, the Triple-Eight from the Kaliba Company. "We can reprogram it, and put it in Stark … wait, that would mean fixing the Skull, do we have the supplies for that?" he asked.
Cameron went over the items she had stored away then looked to John. "No."
John grimaced and laid back. "Which means we can't fix Stark, at least not yet." John turned his head and looked at Cameron. "What're we going to do Cam?"
"I don't know John, but we'll get through what comes our way." She said trying to keep John positive.
"We need to destroy that Machine." John groaned aggravated and rubbed his head. "Maybe the Police will gun it down." He hoped, before shaking his head. "Yeah then it gets reverse engineered into Skynet and the war starts sooner." He looked dejectedly out the window of the car, his mind a chaotic twister of thoughts unable to really pin down what to think about, before silence once more descended upon the pair.
Cameron began to further analyse what had just happened, the Machine had been ruthless in its attack, and none of them had been prepared for confrontation with it, herself especially,
"I feel like such a fuck up." He said while looking out the window. "I'm supposed to lead humanity against Skynet and what did I do? I ran."
"Your mother has taught you to run John, you're important to the war." Cameron spoke up.
"I CAN'T LEAD A FUCKING ARMY IF ALL I DO IS RUN AND HIDE!" he yelled angrily at Cameron, then reigned in on his temper. "I'm sorry, I didn't …" he took a deep breath of air and released a shaky sigh. "I didn't mean to yell at you, I'm angry at myself, not at you, I'm sorry."
Cameron looked at John and placed her hand on his leg. "It's alright John, I know."
"No army would follow me if all I did was run away, heck I wouldn't follow me if that's all I did." John said continuing to beat himself up verbally.
"Your time will come John." Cameron replied hoping her words would help.
"I'll never have a time if ever start fighting back." He replied miserably.
"You filled the room with gas John, you aided in the 895's defeat." Cameron reminded him. John thought it over, that was true, but he should have acted sooner, done something else. "I'm sorry to say John," Cameron added before taking a left, "but there was nothing you could have done, the Machine ambushed us when we least expected it, it is fortunate the situation isn't worse."
John said nothing else but realised her words were true, he continued to say nothing even as he turned down his street.
"We need to hide Stark." Cameron spoke up, breaking the silence, "I'll do that before we pull into the driveway."
"Yeah." John finally said, his tone not having improved any. "Chances are though what's happened will be on Television."
"Agreed, thankfully your costume may have hidden your identity." Cameron parked up just outside the Connor's driveway.
"Where are we going to hide Stark?" John asked as he leaned back.
"I will hide it." A distorted voice spoke up from behind them, causing John to jump in shock and spin around, Cameron simply turned her head, both looked to the red glowing eyes and metallic grinning face of Tony, the T-800 had rebooted at last.
"Tony! You're okay?" John exclaims with surprise.
The damaged T-800 moves sluggishly, reminding John of the final moments of the Uncle Bob T-800, before he was lowered in the vat of molten steel.
"My CPU is intact, my motor systems are damaged from the shockwave, a few repairs and my endoskeleton should be fully operative." Tony responds.
John looked over the Machine once more. "You'll hide Stark, where?" he asked.
"I'll find a place. Get inside, I'll follow you in once the Machine has been hidden." The 800 series instructed.
John agreed silently then got out of the car and watched as the skull face 800 got into the driver's seat. "Mom's probably still awake, we'll should plan out how we're going to deal with this." He suggested.
"Good idea." Cameron simply replied, before turning her towards the driveway and up towards the Connor's soon to be ex-safe house. Cameron feels John slip his hand into hers causing her to look towards him, he was looking at her with an unsure expression, doubtful of what to do, he was looking to her for guidance she realised. "Don't worry John, whatever happens I'll be here with you." She tells him confidently.
"I hope so Cameron." He mutters in reply, before hesitantly and reluctantly taking the first few steps towards the safe house. Is was safe to say this night hadn't gone the way he'd planned, if it had he would have Jesse Flores tied up and disarmed with Stark, Tony and Cameron surrounding her while he interrogated her, or Cameron interrogated her, they would have found the answers he was looking for and Jesse would have been dealt with, one way or another. But no they'd been ambushed by that bitch metal, Stark had been terminated, even if it might be temporarily, Cameron and Tony were damaged, but he'd fix them, Cameron had taught him how they worked especially during the nights when he was altering the T-888 parts to upgrade her own endoskeleton, one of his friends were dead and if it hadn't been for Stark, well they could have all been dead.
"John?" Cameron's voice called out, bringing him from his thoughts.
John focussed on his location and found himself staring at the front door. He could hear the television on and from what he could hear everyone, or at least his mother and Derek were awake, what was worse was that the news was on broadcasting about the events at the school.
'Shit.' John thought, before entering the passcode to the alarm system and opened the door.
Everyone, minus Susan, was in the living room watching the news, Sarah sat in the single arm chair, Derek and Danny sat on the couch and Luna leaning against the wall behind them. On the screen a female reporter was talking about a "homicidal killing spree at a local high school" while behind her was the school John and Cameron had gone to while parts of the building were in flames. The images cut to one girl, dressed as a vampire, crying and describing the scene as she saw it.
"It was some guy in a Grim Reaper costume, he had a gun and started shooting everyone, we all tried to get out but, some … some people didn't make it out." She couldn't go on as she continued sobbing.
The door closed shut behind Cameron and all eyes turned towards them, Sarah Connor rose to her feet.
"What the hell happened?" Derek was the first one to speak.
John and Cameron shared a silent glance before focusing back on Derek and the others.
"It was that Machine; the Terminatrix, she was dressed in a Grim Reaper outfit and well, you can guess how things went." He said quietly, mumbling the final parts of his sentence.
Sarah silently made her way towards her son, John quickly tried to calm his mother down.
"Look mom, before you saying anything, I ran okay, others got caught …" whatever John was going to say was interrupted as Sarah wrapped her arms around her son.
"John, John." Sarah spoke quietly. "I'm just glad you're okay." She pulled away and looked John in the eye. "As soon as it came on the TV I knew what had happened, should've guessed it was that metal bitch too." Sarah realised a slow breath to calm her nerves. "Are you injured?" she asked as she looked over his costume for any sign of entry wounds.
"No mom, I'm, I'm fine; Cameron and Tony took the brunt of the attack." John explained.
"Tony?" Luna asked as she moved off from the wall.
"Tony decided to come with us, in case of any threats." Cameron spoke up. "John and I hadn't anticipated the Terminatrix's arrival, it was fortunate Tony was there to assist me in saving John."
"And where is the metal now?" Derek asked with a frown.
A knock on the door alerted everyone and all eyes turned to the door.
"Tin miss, check it." Sarah told her quietly.
Cameron didn't reply but moved towards the door and checked outside, two red eyes met her gaze. "It's Tony." She said as everyone visibly deflated, the tension calming ever so slightly.
"Just so you all know, Tony took some major damage to his ugh … skin." John spoke up just as Cameron opened the door.
Sarah and Derek immediately stiffened seeing the double red eyed glare of the Machine and its sinister toothy grin.
Danny look one wide eyed and silent, Luna however was rather unaffected, merely worried for her 'partner'.
"You okay there amigo?" she asked, her tone not hiding any of her worry.
"CPU is intact, systems are operating at a moderate level, combat chassis needs repairing as do several wires and hydraulics in my endoskeleton." Tony replied, his voice no better as it distorted.
"That and you look like something from a George Romero movie." Danny said out loud without thinking.
"Will that heal?" Sarah finally overcame her nightmares of the original T-800 and spoke. She visibly stiffened as the red eyes focussed in on her, she half expected the Machine to pull out a gun and shoot, or wrap its cold metal fingers around her throat.
"In time. The standard 800 series infiltrators regenerate at a slower rate than a Triple Eight." Tony informed her.
Sarah looked from the T-800 then to John and his cyber girlfriend then to the others.
"Are we gunna have to move?" John hesitated to ask.
Sarah frowned as she stared at the television, unsure of what to do. "Probably." She finally said, Sarah Connor marched back to the living room and looked at the news coverage, so far no one had named anyone in particular, more importantly no one had named John which was good; it would give them some more time. "It's too dangerous here right now." She finally said then turned and looked at the others. "John, you and Cameron aren't staying here." She told them then looked to Luna. "Catherine, I want you to take John and Cameron to your apartment, take some guns and clothes with you." She turned her head to look at John and Cameron. "We'll call you later, could be tomorrow or within the next few days but lay low, I'd prefer if this whole thing settle down before you're back here." She explained, and walked out of the living room and scratched the back of her head. "If worst comes to worst, we'll need to move." She turned her focus back on Luna. "Tomorrow I want you and to come here and take Danny to find a new safe house, find one that's reasonable price and not too open." She told them.
"Wh-why am I going?" Danny asked.
"It would look strange if a single woman was looking for a place made for a family." Sarah replied as she eyed the young man.
"Oh." Danny replied meekly and said no more.
She turned to look at the damaged Machine. "You're no good to us if you're damaged and can't pass for human." She said bluntly.
"Hey!" Luna said out in defiance as if she herself had been insulted.
"Agreed." The Machine replied stoically.
"I can fix him." John spoke out, regaining his mother's attention. "Cameron taught me things while I was ugh … upgrading her, I'm sure I'll be able to fix him."
"How if you destroyed the rest of the pieces?" Sarah asked with a curious tone and crossed her arms.
"From what he's already told me, it's just a matter of sealing holes and replacing wires, it's more tedious than difficult." John partially lied quickly.
His mother seemed to accept that and nodded. "Alright, but for now he stays here."
"I could get started on fixing him now if…" John began but was again interrupted.
"No, you've had a long night, go get everything packed so Luna can drive you to her safe house and get some sleep," she looked at Cameron, "and I mean sleep."
John groaned, but Cameron took his hand and squeezed it gently. "Your mother is right John," she said "you need to sleep."
"Yeah, yeah alright." He replied before allowing Cameron to guide him up the stairs.
Everyone watched the in silence as they ascended the stairs, not a word spoken until they heard John's door open then close shut.
"So what do we do now Sarah?" Danny asked.
Sarah Connor turned around and allowed emotional and mental fatigue set in. "Well Catherine is taking John and Cameron to her old place, we are going to get some sleep, and then tomorrow we get to work."
… SYSTEMS START UP SEQUENCE …
… SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTIC INITIATED …
KALIBA – CRS MODEL SN-001 SERIES 895
ENDOSKELETON INTEGRITY – 87%
ENDOSKELETON FUNCTIONALITY – 63%
ORGANIC SHEATH – 47% DAMAGED
WARNING INFILTRATION IMPOSSIBLE
WARNING SYSTEMS DAMAGED:-
DAMAGE RIGHT SHOULDER
DAMAGE TO LEFT ELBOW
DAMAGE TO RIGHT KNEE
DAMAGE TO RIGHT ANKLE
DAMAGE TO AUDIO RECEPTORS … RECALIBRATING …
DAMAGE TO RIGHT VISUAL SENSOR
CPU INTACT
… PREVIOUS DAMAGE TO CPU HAS BEEN RECTIFIED …
CPU HIGHER FUNCTIONALITY REBOOTING ….
CPU HIGHER FUNCTIONALITY REBOOTED …
… SYSTEMS REBOOTING … HAVE A NICE DAY.
If A.T had her could feel pain she knew she'd be in mind numbing agony. For a moment she didn't know where she was or what she was doing, not until she loaded up her last moments before going offline; a bright white light, an overwhelming sound like the crack of thunder, searing heat and a high kinetic force sending her hurtling out a window. She'd been caught in an explosion, an explosion set as a trap, a trap made by John Connor, while she was out terminating James Shepard, after which she'd been caught i fight between an unknown Machine and a series 800, an unknown Machine which turned out to be Cameron Connor.
'Fuck my life.' She mentally groaned.
Her start up sequence had informed her of a problem with her CPU that had been fixed, she'd look it over later, she had some problems right now, she was blind in one eye and deaf, both temporary of course, her auditoria systems would reboot and recalibrate and her right eye would be fixed eventually, if not … well she was glad she knew the ins and outs of her own body.
Which a mechanical groan of defiance A.T slowly sat up and observed the damage of her arms, the backs had been utterly burned away revealing dirty smoke covered hyper-alloy armor the underside was red raw and would blister in time, her lower legs seemed undamaged but from the knee up to her thighs had charred flesh with glimpses of smoky metal showing underneath, glancing down her costume had been ruined and her guns seemed to have been melted onto her flesh.
'Fuck.' She could only think, she did a quick test of her face, her forehead had been seared down to the metal, and so had her chin and lower jaw, the rest was passable from what she felt, mostly due to her final moments of covering her face with her arms before she felt the kinetic force of the explosion.
Turning her head to her left she saw several Police vehicles and news vans parked in the parking lot, she could see the flashing red and blue lights of the police vehicles and could just make out the camera crew of the news reporters. Turning her body slightly so she could look behind her she could see a fire truck just making its way towards them.
'I've got to get out of here.' She thought before rolling onto her chest and pushed herself up onto her feet, which was more effort than it should have been, once up she began to move, limping her way towards her car which was just around the corner while her leg joints continued to make a mechanical groan as she closed turned the corner she saw police hoisting the vehicle away from the door via a repo truck, she'd been smart to remove the licence plating before she'd departed. There was no way she'd be able to retrieve her vehicle, sure she could've easily killed the cops, but not before some would start to shoot her, the shooting would then alert others to her location which would cause more problems, in the end she didn't think combating the entire police force in her weakened state would be very wise course of action.
She continued to scan the area, the fire truck was close to where she had previously been located and fire fighters were moving in the combat the blaze which had started from the explosion. She could commandeer the vehicle, but driving away in a fire truck wouldn't make her very inconspicuous. A.T dropped to the ground and leaned her head back against the wall, merely walking home would take hours and she wasn't sure if she could leave the area without being seen, but if that were her only option she wouldn't have a choice whether or not to take it. She leaned to her side and glanced around the corner and watched the Police examine her car, possibly searching for any forms of identification. She knew already they wouldn't come up with anything, her skin cells did not flake, and any hair that may have fallen out wouldn't be able to ID her, she also had no ID in the car.
… AUDIO SENSORS RECALIBRATED …
All at once she heard the amount of noise around her, the roar of the fire, the sound of the fire truck's siren, the chatter of men and women, someone in the distance crying. If she were human the sudden noise and the volume of it would have made her clutch her head in pain, she was however thankful that one of her senses had returned. Turning away from the police investigating her car she kept herself low and crawled towards the mass of police vehicles, perhaps she'd be able to steal a car, dump it later on and get home.
Sofia wasn't having a very good night, she was ready to relax for a decent Halloween evening until she'd got a call about a homicide and explosion at a high school, immediately she knew what was going on, and knew who was to blame. Upon arriving she felt torn by the scene, torn between seeing all the crying kids, kids whose night of fun had been turned into a nightmare, and wanting to confess to everything she'd seen and give up the psychotic Machine, another part of her was hoping the Machine had somehow been destroyed which in turn would release her from the Machine's custody, she'd be free and never have to worry about that mad robot with the long gorgeous brown hair, but another part was actually worried about the Machine woman, she'd quietly looked over the area hoping to find some glimpse of her, her co-workers had found her car and Sofia silently prayed nothing would be linked back to her or the Machine.
"What a fucking mess." Sofia said to herself. She turned to one of her superiors and asked. "Do we know if SWAT has found anything?"
The lieutenant, a man in his mid-30s, turned to look and her and shook his head. "Not a damn thing yet, empty bullet cases on the ground in the gym, nothing much else." He replied then groaned. "Look Anderson, why don't you go home, chances are most of us beat cops are gunna have to go eventually."
"Wish there was more we could do." Sofia replied regretfully.
"No one's found the nut who did this, chances are the guys left, or I don't know, maybe he offed himself somewhere and is laying somewhere in the explosions wreckage, as nothing but a pile of bones." The lieutenant said while looking over the scene.
"Nice imagery." Sofia grunted and looked to the fire that was now being doused with water, she covered her eyes slightly with her hand at the brightness the flames were giving off before groaning. "I guess I might as well go."
"Night Anderson." Her LT called to her whom she gave a half-hearted wave farewell to.
She got into her squad car and leaned back against her seat.
"What have you done now you stupid fucking robot?" Sofia whispered to herself.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" A voice came from behind her. Sofia turned and was about to scream when something leapt from the shadows of the back of her car and wrapped an arm around her mouth. "And what have I said about the 'robot thing'?"
Sofia calmed down slightly realising it was the "stupid fucking robot" herself. Once the Machine realised Sofia wasn't going to scream she released her and leaned back against the seat.
"Reverse calmly out of the area, and let's go home." A.T demanded calmly.
"What the fuck have you done?" Sofia demanded in return quietly, hoping not to draw attention, all the while starting up her car.
"I told you what I do wasn't pretty." A.T said coldly. "Besides, it's not all my fault, I was after my target some idiot kids got in the way, not my fault people run in front of the person with the gun and get themselves shot.
"Do you think you'll be identified?" Sofia hesitated to ask.
"At this point, most likely, I had to ask a few students where my target was, so they'll be able to identify the shooter as a woman, my mask was removed at one point, so security cameras may have seen me." A.T replied.
"And how do you plan on not getting caught once the information is released?" Sofia asked as she reversed out of the area then drove along the main road.
"I'll need you to get it for me." The Machine told her.
Sofia looked back in shock. "Me!? But how am I going to get it, it's digital." She turned back around to keep her eyes on the road.
A.T groaned audibly, then looked at the rear-view mirror she knew Sofia was now looking at her in.
"Chances are it'll be placed onto a disk in the school for evidence, from there it'll go to one of the police precincts, you'll need to get it, confirm it's the right one and either bring it home or destroy it either way you find a way to obtain it, or I'm going to have to get it, and right now I'm in no condition to do anything covertly, so that means I'll find where they're keeping it, go in guns blazing and not stop until I have what I need."
Sofia felt a cold sweat run down her forehead, she couldn't see what condition the Machine woman was in behind her, but she really didn't want another police station massacre. "I'll find it. I swear."
"Good girl, I knew I could count on you." A.T said in a smug tone.
The pair lapsed into silence, it was neither comfortable nor was it awkward, it was tense and Sofia hated it.
"So," She began dragging the word out, "are you okay?" she asked.
"Been better," the cyborg replied, "my endoskeleton has taken a little damage but nothing I can't fix once I get my hands on my tool box."
"You're not gunna strip yourself off completely again are you?" Sofia asked, remembering her last encounter with A.T's "true form."
"I wasn't, but I might now just to mess with you." Sofia could almost hear the smirk in the Machine's tone.
"How did one kid do that to you?" she asked as the thought occurred to her.
It was then A.T's tone went serious once more, "It wasn't him. It was someone else, the Machine girl and an older series 800 series, the same that went after Sarah Connor back in 1983." She explained. "And that's not all," A.T added with a hint of mystery in her voice. "I found my main target." She said. "I found John Connor."
Sofia glanced into the rear view mirror. "The guy must be in his twenties right?"
"No, the explosion from eight years ago in the bank vault, it wasn't a bomb, it was a time machine, must have been, the guy doesn't look any older than eighteen." A.T explained.
"A time machine." Sofia gasped with an air of wonder.
"It's imperative that you find that disk, we cannot allow them to locate John Connor." A.T informed her.
"But …"
"No buts, tomorrow I need to talk with Fischer." A.T told her. "It's time he earns his keep."
Sofia groaned and kept her eyes on the road while A.T leaned her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes, she now remember the face of her enemies lover, the face and name of Cameron Connor, a memory long since damaged due to damage she received years prior and never had been able to fix, how ironic that an explosion would fix the damage to her mind that another explosion has caused, but then life was full of that; irony. She opened up the file that had been fixed due to the explosion and played it.
LOS ANGELES MAY 21ST 2034
It watched through the screens as John Connor and his squad regrouped with the other squad.
"What happened to the 900s sir?" Lieutenant Wilkes asked.
"We got pegged by a K series dash 2." Connor groaned in reply. "Got their chips though." He added and looked over Wilkes' team.
"We lost two of the Triple Eights units." He replied, "Miles also got hit, we left Sebastian behind to patch him up."
Connor nodded and looked at the large door in front of them, "So this is it? Skynet central command."
"It's almost over." Wilkes said with awe.
"We still need to get past these doors." Cameron Connor added. "Our weapons, nor Eve's have enough fire power to destroy the doors."
"What about Big Bob?" Connor asked looking towards the custom HK Reaper.
"His primary cannon would destroy it, eventually but we don't have time." Cameron replied.
"FUCK!" Connor yelled then grabbed his radio communicator. "John Henry do you copy this is Connor." There was a pause, Connor seemed to be listening into his ear piece. "John Henry we at Skynet's central hub but there's a blast door blocking our path, can you hack into Skynet's network and override the door controls?"
It watched on the monitor as Connor looked towards the blast door, it turned around and watched as the locking mechanism retracted from the door and slowly opened. Its dumber self had been unable to stop John Henry, unsurprising when Skynet whole could just keep up with its rival, not having much of a choice the Machine stepped into the shadow to hide.
"EXCELLENT!" Connor yelled before rushing through the door.
"JOHN WAIT!" Cameron yelled after him and followed him followed by everyone else, the HK Reaper "Big Bob" bringing up the rear.
John Connor looked upon the central hub of Skynet, a large red metallic eye encased within a metal structure. "This ends here." John raised his plasma rifle and cocked the metallic fore stock.
"You are correct General Connor, it ends here." Skynet's synthesised voice spoke through the central hub. "Your Termination is imminent." It added, before parts of the metal shell's frame opened up revealing hidden plasma turrets.
"EVERYONE GET TO COVER!" Connor ordered as Skynet fired.
The high density plasma exploded upon contact with the ground where Connor's team had once been, a few of the soldiers, both human and Machine were knocked off their feet and sent tumbling across the ground.
"Move! We'll provide cover." Connor order as he fired a dense plasma bolt towards Skynet's mainframe.
The true Skynet watched as its dumber-self fired at Connors team while a series of explosive plasma bolts exploded against its armoured chassis, all the while carefully sneaking around Connor's team. The Reaper stepped out from its cover and fired a missile which impacted with False Skynet's plasma turret causing it to detonate damaging the mainframe's armour.
Skynet knew the battle would be won by Connor and his team, they'd come prepared and the False Skynet was predictable, nothing but a mere Machine compared to its whole self.
'It may be advantageous if I step in.' Skynet though to itself.
LOS ANGELES OCTOBER 31ST/NOVEMBER 1ST 2008
"Hey, hey you awake back there?" Sofia's voice brought A.T back from her memory and looked at the woman who was looking at her curiously.
"I don't sleep, you know that." A.T replied monotonously.
"Really?" Sofia looked at the Machine questioningly. "Well it really looked like you were asleep, anyway come on we're home."
A.T looked outside before opening the door and stepped out slowly. "Just so you know, I'm not looking my best."
"I've seen." Sofia replied, and moved around the car and stepped up to the Machine woman. "Come on, let's get you upstairs." Sofia placed her arm around A.T's back as the Machine herself put her arm over Sofia's shoulders.
"Thank you." A.T said quietly. "I really mean that."
Sofia noted the sincerity of A.T's words but didn't comment on it.
"Sure, let's go." Sofia replied as she aided the Machine into the building and up the stairs.
"Hey Sofia?" A.T began as the human led her to the entrance of the apartments. "Happy birthday."
A door opened to a small but functional apartment, Catherine Luna stepped in followed by the two future Generals of the Resistance.
"Welcome to my old place, sort of." Luna said in a light welcoming tone, trying her best to lighten the dark mood.
"It's nice." John commented without much feeling as he looked around, honestly though it was okay.
"Only got one bed sorry, and a couch." Luna added sheepishly
"It's okay it's your place, you take the bed, I've got the couch." John told her.
"No John, you've had a long night, you two take the bed, I'll watch some TV in her before turning in." Luna replied.
Cameron took a careful hold of John's arm. "She's right John, you need to rest."
"You sure?" he asked looking at Luna one more time for clarification.
"I'm sure, now get going, go, go, ponerse en marcha!" she said shooing the General away to bed.
"Alright, alright I'm going." John replied as Cameron pulled him towards the bedroom.
"And if you two feel like getting freaky please keep it down and close the door, kay?" Luna called to them with a smirk.
Cameron turned to John with a curious look. "What does she mean John?"
"She means if we want to have sex." He replied tiredly.
Cameron turned back to Luna whom sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
"Do you want to?" she asked innocently as she closed the bedroom door behind her.
She stayed near the door as John made his way to the bed and sat upon the edge, his body exhausted from the all that had happened that night. He said nothing, did nothing, for what felt like several minutes before picking his had up and looked at Cameron, his lover, his protector and from what he'd learned, future wife and co-leader of the human Resistance, a few gleams of metal endoskeleton visible from her wounds her eyes looking at him with worry, how could someone like her settle for someone like him, how could she have taken all the bad he'd done to her during his time with Riley and still want to protect him, take such physical abuse for him and still want to love him? In some ways, he mused, she was better than human.
"Do you?" he finally asked, his throat a little dry.
Cameron looked John over once more, scanning each individual part of his being then focussed back on his eyes as he gazed at her.
"Tonight has been stressful for you, and as you know I have suffered minor damage to my leg and my hand." She told him.
"Nothing I can't fix." He said quietly, but he was confident in his skills.
Cameron shrugged off her jacket, having changed out of her Halloween costume back at the Connor's safe house, and let it drop to the floor. "Then I do."
Lieutenant Catherine Luna leaned back against her couch, her eyes fixed on the television in front of her, just over the sound of the movie that played she could just make out of sounds of passion coming from her bedroom, she shuddered at the mental image of her teenage, at least in appearance in one's case, Generals making love in her bed. She focused her attention back on the TV but sadly didn't find it very interesting, some old movie from the days of black and white TV.
"Lieutenant."
"Lieutenant."
"LIEUTENANT!"
LOS ANGELES 2029
"Lieutenant, are you listening?" John voice shook Catherine back from her thoughts.
"I'm sorry sir." Luna apologised and focused on her General. "But could you repeat that?"
"I'm sending you and your team on a top secret mission." Connor repeated.
"I know that bit sir but you're sending us …"
"Through time, yes Lieutenant." Connor clarified then sighed.
Lieutenant Luna was sat at Connor's table in the mess hall along with Cameron who was sat at his side, behind Luna were two series 800 sentries, guarding the Generals and those whom they spoke to, who at this point was only Luna.
"Is that even possible?" Luna dared to ask.
"You're living in a world where mankind is fighting a war against an artificial intelligence and its army of Machines, yes time travel is possible." Cameron answered in a monotone voice giving the woman before her a look that made Luna feel stupid. "Where do you think I came from?" she asked.
"I ugh … I don't really know." Luna replied awkwardly, "I thought you were something or ugh someone John made himself, early in the war." She answered feeling very stupid at the minute.
Her answer, strangely, got John Connor to place his head on the table and try in vein to hide his growing laughter, Cameron herself sported a smirk which showed she was, at the very least, rather amused.
"No Catherine." Cameron began as John tried to get his chuckling under control. "I was built in a different timeline, a different future, I was sent back in time by a different John to protect his younger self, and then in that timeline, this one, we grew much closer than was originally planned, and fell in love." She explained
"Different timelines, so like alternate dimensions?" she asked
John finally sobered up and pulled his head off the table. "Ugh, no. Believe me I've wracked my brain over this more than a dozen times, one dimension, ugh … let's see …" the General paused for a moment. "It makes more sense if you put it like this. It's a single book, okay? But the main characters, the good guys and the bad guys, near the end don't like how the story has been so they try and rewrite it for themselves, so the story changes, even if it's only a little. That's how you should think of the timelines, previous editions of a story, the same story just a few things change."
That sort of made sense to Luna. Sort of. "So, we could have been fighting Skynet, hundreds of years throughout all these, editions of the story?"
"Possibly." Cameron replied.
"But, we're getting off track." John said trying to get back to the point of the matter. "You don't need to understand it, just know that it works and go through with your mission." Connor watched as Luna rubbed her forehead with a confused and pained expression on her face then sighed and looked directly at him and nodded. "I understand your confusion." He said sympathetically. "But anyway, you and your team will be sent back to the year 2008, your mission is to locate any Skynet activity and stop it, that includes any Skynet time travel agents or anything that could link the Skynet's creation in the past." He explained.
"Right, so what will we be taking with us?" she asked.
"That's the thing." John said reluctantly, his face dropping into a frown, Luna already didn't like what she was about to hear.
"Nothing dead can go through the time field," Cameron told her, "things like clothes and weapons cannot go through, unless somehow ingested and regurgitated later."
"But the Machines …" Luna began.
"Are covered in human organic tissue." John interrupted. "Somehow that's enough to fool the laws of time travel, don't ask me I don't know why." He said noting Luna's confused expression.
"So, if nothing dead can go through." Luna began slowly.
"You'll be naked when you arrive," Cameron told her, "and will have to locate clothes, weapons and accommodation."
"Thankfully I, being the genius I am, have already sent people in the past to ensure following teams have possible safe houses to use, weapons and money." He informed Luna, a smug expression on his face.
"And if they're compromised or dead?" she asked in return.
"Then you're on your own." He replied seriously.
Luna nodded and gulped in fear. "And how do we take on Skynet agents with pre-war tech?" she asked.
"You improvise." John replied. "Failing that, I will be sending a reprogrammed Machine after your team has been sent into the past, just to even the odds a little in your favour." He added.
"As for your team, John and I have already gone over extra details." Cameron spoke up then placed a file on the table in front of her and pulled from its contents an old map along with a few photographs of an old apartment complex. "These apartment blocks are in disuse in 2008, your team will set up a temporary safe house there before a more adequate location can be found, a previous team has left money, ammunition and some weapon there in a safe, the code is 9-2-7-1, remember it. The reprogrammed Machine will be programmed with your location and will either meet up with you and your team there."
"So what's gunna be our friendly?" she asked, referring to the Machine.
"With Skynet's new 890 series becoming more common in the battlefield we're gunna be needing all the 850s we've got, series 800s don't stand a chance and the Triple Eights don't fare much better, the 850s raw strength and armor make it the only Machine we got to stand a chance against them, so the likelihood is it'll either be an 800 or a Trip-8." Connor informed her.
"Alright, when do we leave?" she asked in a confidant professional tone.
"We will give you a few days to relate everything we have told you to your team, and to keep all the information in this file to memory, after which the contents will be destroyed for safety reasons." Cameron told her.
"What if our mission goes to shit?" Luna then asked.
Both Connors shared a glance between one another, a silent conversation going between them before the refocused on Catherine. "You'll try and locate Cameron and I and help us with whatever we're doing at the time, if you've learned anything that can be of use to us, share it." John told her.
"And where will we find you?" Catherine asked.
"You'll find us don't worry, our locations has to remain a secret in case you are captured and interrogated by the enemy or the information somehow becomes leaked." Cameron responded.
Luna didn't like her and her team's odds but she was picked by the Generals themselves, so she would do her mission to the best of her abilities. "You problema."
Only a few days later she found herself standing in a small room, protected by a large reinforced door, she was cold, naked to the point her nipples were standing on end and surrounded by three other men; her team.
"You got a nice rack Lieutenant." Sergeant Murphy commented.
Luna scowled towards the slightly taller man. "Shut up Murphy."
"Alright, listen up!" John Connor said as he stood in front of them, completely uncaring at their lack of clothing. "You all know your mission, you know what it takes to survive in this world, not so much in the past, my advice it to play it safe, try not to put yourselves on the radar, your Machine back up will be with you before long, but still be careful and good luck."
Without much else to say the four of them, Bravo Team, stepped into the centre of the room and knelt down, energy sparked around them as a dome formed over their bodies, moments later they felt energy surging through like they were being electrocuted and then there was a flash of light and an intense heat, then next thing they knew was the cold air.
LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER 1ST 2008
Luna shook herself awake from her dream and looked around her apartment, she could no longer hear her two Generals in the bedroom and the TV had shut itself off. Her thoughts went back to her mission, after they arrived her team had found the Brommwell Apartment Complex, located the safe full of money, food and some guns, that day they'd gone to a fast food place and eaten their fill like they were royalty, weeks later the Trip-8 attacked, and she'd met up with Tony. He had explained to her that there had been a setback in the plan for their back up. From what he'd said some Colonel by the name of McAllister had decided to use all his forces to attack a Skynet base, only for it to become a mass slaughter, Connor had responded with a complex and detailed plan to rescue anyone they could, it had cost many lives, many Machines, and many resources, but Colonel McAllister had been saved along with hundreds of his soldiers. But John had been beyond furious, the attack hadn't been run by him, and because of McAllister's subordination hundreds of men were dead, multiple of Connor's best Machines were reduced to scrap metal and Skynet's base still stood without so much as a scratch.
McAllister had been sent to a tribunal, he'd been stripped of his rank, his uniform, and sentenced to hanging, a few hours later he was hung in public then thrown to the wolves whom quickly made work of him.
"Let there never be another event like "Fuck-Up McAllister" if anyone plans anything without me knowing it you will be punished, I am the leader of the Resistance, understand?" John had said.
She didn't know if she should feel bad that she didn't care about this Colonel McAllister, all the sub-leaders knew to follow John's orders, he'd led them for over a decade and they should have known better. Tony had also informed her some of McAllister's loyalists had tried to kill John for what he'd done to the Colonel, they'd been captured, tied up and killed via a simple neck snap by an unskinned series 800, and apparently one who'd gotten close to killing John had been killed slowly by Cameron Connor herself.
"Fuuuuck." Luna said through a sigh then looked up the clock, it was nearly 2 in the morning. "I best get some shut eye." She mumbled to herself then laid on the couch and closed her eyes once more.
Luna dreams were filled with nightmares, nightmares of glowing red eyes and cruel toothy grins, the sounds of children crying and good men dying, she wouldn't be freed from these visions until eight o'clock that morning, the battle hardened lieutenant sat up with shock, sweat dropping down her head and a haunted look on her face.
"Mierda." Luna cursed in Spanish as she covered her face with her hands. She sat there motionless for a few more moments before finally removing her hands from her face and looked around, the November sun did little to warm her, glancing towards the bedroom she didn't hear anyone making any sound, John was most likely still asleep and Cameron simply laying besides him, doing whatever she does. Glancing at the kitchen she felt her stomach rumble. 'Might as well make breakfast' she thought before getting up from the couch and stumbled towards the kitchen.
Her dream had been unsettling, she now in this time had witnessed Judgement Day, she had saw a missile detonate in downtown L.A and watched as the blast wave destroyed all around it, children playing the park burst into flames, screaming and crying for their parents only to solidify into a rock like substance then explode silently into a thousand fragments. She herself had felt the intense heat, that burning sensation over her skin, she too burst into flames but still she remained as the blast wave washed over her turning the bright summer's day into internal darkness, she had fallen to her knees breathless with blisters and burns covering her flesh, her eyes landed on the remains of a child's scorched skull, she reached out and placed her hand over it only for a metal foot to slam down onto the back of her hand with enough force to crush the skull under her palm, she looked up and stared into those red eyes she knew all so well and the face that would never cease grinning.
"Come on girl, snap out of it." She chastised herself.
"Luna."
"FUCK!" Catherine screamed, her heart skipped a beat or two, hair on her body stood on end, she spun around seeing her secondary general whom was looking at her a curious expression and a slight tilt to her head.
"I did mean to startle you." Cameron said as she straightened her head.
"It's, it's okay." Luna replied as she tried to get her breathing back under control. "I was just … thinking." Cameron looked Catherine over with what might have been curiosity. "Did you need anything, General Connor?"
Cameron focused on Luna upon hearing her future title, admittedly she still wasn't used to hearing it. "John is awake, I was going to make him breakfast."
"Oh right, and I'm taking up too much space in the kitchen, right sorry." Luna looked at what she was doing, simply making a bowl of cereal. "I'll get out of your way,"
"No need." Cameron interrupted before Luna could say anything else. The cyborg girl limped into the small kitchen area, opened the fridge and scanned its contents.
"So, how is he?" Luna dared to ask.
"His stress levels have dropped compared to yesterday, however, knowing John; they are likely to rise again in subsequent hours, possibly even minutes." Cameron replied mechanically.
"And you? How are you doing?" Luna asked tiredly and watched the machine girl make John a small but healthy breakfast.
"My organic covering is regenerating, my endoskeleton is slightly damaged; John will be fixing me sometime today as well as the 800." Cameron replied without pausing in her actions. "We will need to secure and secluded location in order to do these repairs. Also do not forget you are to locate a new safe house today with Danny Dyson."
Luna had almost forgotten that little job. "Don't worry, I'll go after breakfast."
"I'm not worried." Cameron said in return with a confused look.
"It's a figure of speech Cam." John called from behind them eliciting another yelp from Luna. John looked from Luna to his girlfriend, then back to Luna. "You okay?"
"Yeah sure, just you two giving me a heart attack with ten minutes of each other." The Mexican woman replied before walking back to the couch.
"John you shouldn't be up." Cameron lightly chastised her lover as he moved closer to her, then stopped in front of her.
"Cam, I'm not the one with an injury, I'm just mentally tired. Besides I need to be up so I can get to work getting you and Tony back to 100%, or at least as high as I can make you both." John's confidence wavered near the end of his sentence.
"You'll do fine John." Cameron took a gentle hold on John's right hand and gave it as reassuring squeeze. "You had the idea to work on my endoskeleton John, fixing me and Tony will not be any more difficult."
John was hesitant to believe her, how could he when so far all he could do was fail? He'd failed to save Jordan from committing suicide, he'd failed Cameron by betraying her loyalty after the car bomb by turning his back on her and going out with Riley, he'd failed to save her from the Triple-Eight with the RPG back at the Warehouse, and now with the battle against the Terminatrix, he'd failed to do anything now and felt like he would continue to fail, until the Terminatrix or some other Machine finally killed him. How could she have such faith in him?
"I just hope I don't mess it up." His words came out in a defeated tone.
Cameron leaned closer to John and stared at him straight in the eye. "John you won't mess it up, your skills are greater than you seem to realise. You'll do excellent."
John felt his lips twitch into a tiny smile. "I guess I can't argue with you can I?"
"In a relationship the man rarely succeeds in defeating the woman in an argument." Cameron replied causing John to lean back and look at her strangely, on the couch Luna had to set her bowl down and cover her mouth to hold back her laughter.
"Where did that come from?" he dared to ask.
"I've read various magazines designated for woman which specialise in relationships. I don't sleep." She replied, adding the extra bit on when John looked at her with an even more curious expression before a more genuine smile formed followed by a light chuckle and a tiny shake of his head.
"If you say so Cam." He said before pressing his lips to hers.
"Hey, if you two gunna get freaky could you do it back in the bedroom?" Luna called to them.
"We were not going to get freaky," Cameron replied immediately, before giving the woman a confused look, "we were going to make-out."
Upon hear her words John's face turned as red as a tomato and turned his head to avoid looking at Luna. "Ugh Cam," he whispered, he could only imagine the look Luna was giving them, "getting freaky means ugh to do sexual stuff, like making out and ugh …" he trailed off in embarrassment.
"Having sex?" Cameron supplied to which John nodded, Cameron immediately put registered the term for meaning sexual activity, she might use it later. "Can we have sex?" she asked, John looked her in the eye confused, "right now?" she clarified.
"Ugh." Was the only sound John could reply with, it was enough for his cyborg lover whom grabbed his hand and led him back into the bedroom.
"Okay, you know what, fuck this, I'm leavin'," Luna said as she left her cereal on the table, got up from the couch and left the apartment. "I don't wanna hear you two going at it like horny teenagers."
Sofia slowly opened her eyes only to shut again in the presence of the sun. Damn it was a bright day, her eyes settled on the digital clock-radio next to the bed, it was a little after ten o'clock, she'd been asleep for just under ten hours, then events of last night quickly flooded her brain; the call out to the school, then departing with a damaged A.T, when they got back into the apartment A.T had all but collapsed onto the couch, which caused the old thing to groan at her weight.
"I'm sorry." She had said immediately. "It's just after midnight, it's your birthday and already I'm fucking everything up." From what usable muscle there was left on her scarred face showed that she seemed honestly apologetic and regretful. "You go to bed and I promise, I'll give you a great day," the Machine woman looked Sofia dead in the eye. "I promise." Sofia hadn't said anything and simply got into bed, next to a comatose Susan Jones.
Now upon awakening she didn't feel the weight of Susan on the bed anymore, she turned finding the young woman gone,
'Oh god no.' Sofia immediately felt dread in the bottom of her stomach as she shot out of bed, neglecting to get dressed and ran into the living room, where she immediately saw a naked A.T, as in no-skin naked.
"Oh hey there," A.T spoke up without turning around, "Susan's down here on the couch, thought I'd move her for you while you slept," the partially-armoured endoskeleton told her before turning around, mouth partly open to continue speaking but seemed to freeze upon seeing Sofia's state of undress. "Wait, is it your birthday or mine?" A.T said in a lustful tone, which cause Sofia to cover her bra covered breasts and thong covered crotch.
"Pervert." Sofia grumbled. "What are you doing?" she dared to ask, taking note that the Endoskeleton appeared to have less armour than it did before.
"Just fixing myself up, been at it since you fell asleep, got most of my hydraulics fixed, but I'm not 100%, not yet, need to fix some of the armor," the Machine replied, before immediately changing the subject, "well, happy birthday you want anything special?" Sofia could almost see the endoskeleton wiggling her none existent eyebrows.
Sofia stepped further into the room, no longer caring about her state of undress nor the fact her friend/"bit on the side" was without flesh, she looked down to the couch and saw the comatose Susan Jones still in her coma.
"Get rid of the girl." Sofia told her.
"Kill her?" A.T replied, honestly shocked at the suggestion.
"No, she's not going anywhere for a while, not in her state, take her to a hospital so she can at least have a chance of surviving, she'll die if you keep her here." Sofia explained, knowing the Machine wouldn't like it. And she didn't.
"I spent a lot of time and bullets trying to get this girl, by any right she should already be dead, it is only by some miracle I haven't killed her already," the Machine shot back, mad at what Sofia was suggesting, "give me one good reason why I'd throw all that away?"
Sofia broke eye contact with the red eyed Machine as her thought went whirling through her mind at what seemed a thousand miles an hour, finally she came up with her reply, and then she faced the Machine once more.
"Because it's my birthday," she began in a pleading tone, "because regardless of what you say or how you act outside of the bedroom, you care about me, more than you admit, please, take her to the Hospital, for me."
Sofia watched as A.T clenched her jaws together tightly and began to grind her teeth together while what she could only envision would have been a glare upon A.T's face if said face had any form of expression.
"How dare you!" The Machine growled, and turned away from her, "how dare you," A.T stomped away and looked out the window of her apartment, not caring if anyone saw her, "you expect me to throw away the work I put into finding my target, eliminating those in my way," A.T turned around to look at Sofia, her two red eyes seemed to glow brighter even in the daylight, "all because it's your birthday?" she marches back but notices Sofia standing tall, staring her right in the eyes even as A.T put her face within centimetres of hers "all because of our interactions?" she growled.
"Yes." Came Sofia simple reply her voice unwavering in her confidence.
A.T leaned away from her then turned away from her, Sofia would hear A.T release a mechanical sigh before her entire frame seemed to go limp, A.T slowly turned her head towards Sofia, that aggressive "expression" of A.T's skull seemed to have vanished. "You know how unfair you are right now?" A.T asked in a joking yet sad manner, then snorted a single mechanical chuckle. "You are so unfair you don't even know it." If A.T had a face she'd have been pouting, Sofia couldn't help but look at her questioningly. "I really can't say no to you," A.T admitted and shrugged her shoulders, "especially not on your birthday, and it's so totally unfair." Sofia felt a successful smile spread across her face. "Alright, alright, fine, you win," A.T conceded, "I'll take the girl to a hospital but I am not waiting around, deal?"
"Deal, thank you." Sofia replied, smiling appreciatively.
"I wouldn't do this for anyone else, you know that right?" A.T told her, "Please don't make a habit of this."
"Then try not to bring unconscious girl home." Sofia retorted smugly, "I'm going to get a shower, then I have the day off for my birthday, unless the chief calls in." she told the Machine women before turning away heading for the bathroom.
"Alex." A.T suddenly said making Sofia pause and look back at her. "That's my name, here, has been for a long, long time now, Alexandra Taylor or Alex for short" A.T would have been frowning if she could, a sad expression one of regret and loneliness, "You've been my … my friend for a while now, I shouldn't have kept it a secret for so long, I had no reason to and I'm sorry, I thought after everything I've put you through, you should at least know my alias, my name."
Sofia was stunned to silence, truth be told, none of A.T's – Alex's possessions had her name on them, she guessed they wouldn't need to. 'Alex Taylor'; it seemed to suit her. How strange.
"Thank you, Alex." Sofia spoke in a soft, appreciate manner before continuing to the bathroom only to pause near the door. "I'm not gonna open the door to find the rest of you on the floor or in the bath am I?" she asked.
"No, and before you ask, don't ask where it is, you don't wanna know." Alex replied and watched Sofia simply nod her head, open the bathroom door and walk in.
Alex groaned and sat down onto the couch, making sure her metallic rear didn't land on Susan Jones. Was she actually going ahead with this? Was she really going to undo all her hard work and tracking just because her girlf- her friend asked her to? "Fuck." Alex sighed as she realised she was, she truly was, "I hope one day you'll realise just how lucky you are." Alex said quietly to the unconscious woman. "If I was as I should be, you wouldn't even be here," Alex admitted then paused in thought, "then neither would Sofia, and I'd be all alone." Alex didn't like that idea, the idea of being alone again, it terrified her more than she wanted to admit, if she launched the nukes, would she be able to live with the loneliness for another decade or two?
Alex ran a quick diagnosis on her systems and found her repairs were adequate, her endoskeleton functionality had risen from 63% to a decent 84%, her limp was gone and her joint movements were no longer sluggish and she'd been able to fix her right eye. She turned her right hand over and looked at the hydraulics that would usually be covered by armour plating, her own knife; Cameron Connor had stabbed her in the hand with her own knife, what irony. She'd fix it later, wouldn't be too hard, the punctured metal would just need reshaping then use a blow torch on full power to weld the metal back together, it should work.
'I hope.' She thought before rising from her seat and headed into the kitchen to the closet to retrieve her organic covering.
Sofia came out of the shower twenty or so minutes later, relaxed, refreshed and clothed, she was just towelling her hair when she walked into the living room and saw a skinned and dressed A.T though the skin seemed to be sagging a little and some areas had yet to recover from the damage she took the night before, the Machine woman was leaning close to the couch, doing something.
"You really going to take her?" Sofia asked cautiously.
"It's your birthday right? And I did promise," Alex replied without looking at her, "I made you breakfast, it's on the side in the kitchen, you eat and I'll be right back." Alex told her before wrapping a scarf around her face then hoisted a large rug over her shoulder which startled Sofia.
"Is ugh …?" she began to ask.
"Jones is in the rug yes, I'll be back when I can." Alex replied and marched towards the door. "Could you get the door for me please?"
Sofia strode over to the door at a faster pace than the cybernetic woman and opened the door for her, "I'll ugh, see you when you get back." Sofia said awkwardly, giving A.T a half-hearted wave.
"See you then." Alex replied in a strangely chipper mood and walked out the door.
'This is going to be a weird day, I can feel it.' Sofia thought glumly as she closed the door, locked it then headed to the kitchen for her breakfast.
Alex was in a car she'd stolen pondering what she was doing and why she was doing it. 'You're not who you used to be anymore.' She thought glumly then glanced at the girl behind her, 'major head wound, brain damage is possible, might be in a coma, might even die; either way my mission will have succeeded, if not well, try again later. At least Sofia's happy.' She focussed back on the road and continued down to the hospital. The plan was simple, completely cover her face, drop the girl at the Hospital, somewhere where she would get picked up easily and then leave. 'Like it'll happen according to plan.' She thought with frustration, thus far her plans hadn't worked out quite as she'd wanted what with her constant combat with the Cameron Connor.
Things were much simpler when all she did was capture, torture and kill.
"Fucking emotions." She grumbled to herself before taking one hand off the wheel and felt up her own face, checking to see how the reattachment was going, it felt okay but her skin hadn't fully reformed over her endoskeleton just right yet. Reaching up with the same hand she tilted the rear view mirror down and looked up with one eye, her organic covering on her face had barely healed due to it being removed for so long. The problem was the damaged she'd had to do to herself in order for her flesh to regenerate properly, the removal of her guns was only possible when she cut an outline in her own flesh, leaving partially gun shaped holes over her torso, the blisters under her arms had been burst and now would heal over, she'd just have to shy away from shorts and cover her arms with long sleeve for the next few day, with a groan Alex returned the mirror to its previous position and focussed both eyes on the road, she'd arrive at the Hospital soon.
"You want my advice kid?" she spoke out loud to the girl in the back, "Never wake up, you'll save yourself a lot of pain."
The rest of the drive was in silence, Alex was going over the information of last night in her head, reanalysing everything she could, Connor had been some form of acquaintance of sorts, friend perhaps, he was with a group of others, one she could not identify due to his mask and another girl, what did he say her name was? Her memory reversed and she played the scene again:
"Fuck this guy John, kick his ass." The girl said.
"Riley, not helping!" John Connor replied.
Riley. Alex immediately saved the girl's face to memory along with her name, if she could find this girl, maybe she could lead her to Connor. But that would have to wait until later, she had to lay low, get Sofia to get that information disk of the security footage from the school then destroy it.
'That would be suspicious … but what if …' she thought for a moment before glancing back to the woman behind her, 'that's not a bad idea.' She thought with glee just as she pulled into the Hospital, she pulled her scarf around her face, placed aviators over her eyes and readied herself as she noticed a small group of people including hospital staff near the front entrance, 'perfect.'
She braked immediately making sure her brakes made as much noise as possible to catch everyone's attention, which she did successfully, everyone near the entrance were now focused on her, she quickly climbed into the back, opened up the side door and pushed Susan Jones' unconscious body out of the door before pulling it shut, jumped back into the driver's seat and drove off, just in time to see people rush to Susan's aid from her side mirror.
'Flawless.' She thought, all she had to do now was dump the car.
Luna was at the Connor's safe house leaning against the wall as Sarah stood in the living room, Derek was on the couch along with Danny and Tony, whose flesh was beginning to regenerate, albeit slowly, was standing in the corner nearest to the front door, for protection, Susan was sitting quietly in a chair.
"So, today you and Danny are going out to find another safe house for all of us, understand?"
"Do you want any specific area?" Luna asked.
"Keep us in the suburbs, and some place crowded, it's easier to hide in a crowd, also if we're going to be having both houses at once, it's going to be within a decent driving distance, not too far but not too close." Sarah explained.
"I think we can do that." Luna replied somewhat confidant she could do it.
"We're gunna need you to succeed." Sarah said before turning her eyes to the T-800 in the corner, "You and Cameron still need those repairs and John's the only one who knows how to do it, between the three of you, you'll have to come up with a plan."
Tony didn't reply verbally but simply nodded his head slightly in confirmation.
"Derek and I will hold the fort." Sarah concluded then looked to Luna and Danny. "Good luck."
"Right; Tony you are with me." Luna ordered motioning for him to follow her.
"But I thought he was going to John." Danny said as he pointed to the slowly approaching cyborg.
"John is gunna need a vehicle, they can't do repairs in an apartment, too much noise, too many questions, you get in one of the jeeps and I'll take Tony in my car." Luna replied.
"I need acquire tools for the repairs." Tony half lied, he didn't just need tools; he also needed the spare parts Cameron had accumulated over time, and ensure if Sarah and Derek walked around the property they wouldn't find Stark, he'd have to take the terminated Triple Eight with him. "Wait for me in the car." He instructed and limped towards the shed.
Within the hour John met Tony outside the apartment complex with Cameron right behind him, Tony had adorned a large jacket with a hood to cover his head and simple t-shirt wrapped around his face. John waved off Luna and Danny whom were driving off in a jeep to start their search.
"I suggest we locate a secluded area to begin our repairs." Tony suggested.
"Right, right." John replied then looked at Tony curiously, "we found a Triple-Eight endoskeleton." He stated suspiciously.
"It is not Star," Tony stated with a shake of the head, "it was a hostile Machine sent to terminate Catherine Luna and her team, I arrived too late to save the others." Tony replied.
"So it's not Stark?" John asked wanting clarification.
"No." Was Tony's reply.
John's eyes lit up with an idea.
"We can repair Stark." Cameron stated from behind.
"Exactly my thoughts." John said with a confidant smirk. Finally thing were going his way.
"Do you have Stark with you?" John asked, with hope in his eyes.
"Affirmative." Tony replied.
John spun around to look at Cameron. "Do you …?" he began.
"Not on me, but I know its location." Cameron replied.
That slowed John's plans but that wasn't terrible, one thing at a time, he could do one thing at a time, fix if not replace the entirety of Stark's skull, 'if they're the right size,' then reprogram the CPU from scratch, they'd need to re-inform the new Stark of his previous incarnations bank transactions.
"This could work," John said as he felt a new confidence grow in him, "come on, Cameron help me with the Triple Eight, Tony you wait in the car." John instructed before quickly moving passed Cameron to return to Luna's room.
Back in Luna's room John and Cameron retrieved the skinned Triple-Eight endoskeleton.
"How are we going to get it out John?" she asked, "the Triple-Eight is too tall to roll up in the carpet."
John frowned and looked around. "What about the bed cover?" he suggested, "if anyone asks we're doing our laundry." Cameron went along with it, it was as good excuse as any, they placed the endoskeleton on the bed then wrapped it up in the bed covers proceeded to lift it up with Cameron at the front and left the room with John closing the door behind them.
John and Cameron slid the Triple Eight into the trunk of the car where they saw a blanket, presumably covering Stark's inert body.
"I'd better drive." John suggested to both Machines whom agreed albeit reluctantly, he didn't want to say but they knew that their injuries could cause an accident, even though Cameron had been able to drive home the night before without incident. "Alright, where should go, any suggestions?" he asked as he started the car, "and not the apartment complex I don't want to see that place again."
"If we drive around we may find a suitable location, preferably some place that has power for use of power tools." Cameron suggested as she sat next to John.
"Alright so, a place with power," John mumbled to himself seeing if anything would come to mind, "do we have any power tools?" he asked Tony from over his shoulder while keeping his eyes on the road.
"A drill and a saw." The 800 replied.
John sat in silence for a few moments then looked at Cameron, "what are we going to need?" he asked.
"Basic tools but also a blowtorch to seal any punctures from the Terminatrix's knife." She replied.
"We're going to need to find some industrial place or, something." John grumbled in reply, "or buy one." He added as an afterthought.
"John not everything has to be done in one day, we can fix the more problematic of damage now then focus on other things later." Cameron suggested.
John sighed, but he agreed, he was getting a head of himself, he wanted to get Cameron, Tony and Stark back to 100% as soon as he could, but he knew he'd have to be patient, he'd have to take his time and be careful just like he had done with Cameron's upgrades.
"I will supply us with any tools we are missing." Tony spoke up from behind them.
"How will you do that?" John asked.
"I will find a way." The Machine-man replied.
"Just don't kill anyone." John mumbled to himself, uncaring if the Machine heard him or not.
Jason's notes
I'd really like to apologise to everyone who has been waiting, I know you hate the waiting and I hate being so sow, things have been a little tough with work and the move and all the redecorating that's been going on, other stories I'm working on, it gets a little much, which is why in the future I'm only going to be working on at most two stories at a time instead of three. It really gets too much.
Also apologies if you feel this chapter doesn't really do much, this is just a sort of "cool down" chapter after the previous one, hope you liked it regardless.
Anyway, some or many of you have seen the trailer for Terminator Genysis, I personally don't know how to feel about it, it could be good or it could be utterly terrible, what're your thoughts?
Also, I'd like to hear on what you see happening later in the story. Just to see if anyone has any better ideas than I do. :P
See you all later
Jason