Chapter 4

ZeiraCorp, L.A. Afternoon

After parking their SUV and entering the Zeira building they had to wait for the former FBI agent James Ellison currently Zeira's head of security.

The atmosphere was tense, Cameron despite making the best blank face she had seemed to be very troubled and conflicted, on one side was the mission on the other was John, she didn't understand why it was so difficult her mission was a priority but at the same time, she didn't want to comply despite it begin a big chance for the resistance.

She was troubled and conflicted because she didn't know what to do and John's words showed that perhaps he didn't hate her as much as she thought he had.

She wanted to be with him but at the same time, she didn't know how to find a way to comply with her mission and remain with him, and it seems that it isn't just about protecting him but something more than that, something she doesn't understand.

To say that John was nervous was an understatement he was terrified, he was about to face a machine from his worst nightmares, a liquid metal terminator who apparently rebelled against Skynet and now is building what seems to be the Anti-Skynet.

Another factor was the presence of Kyle Reese who of course is his biological father although not from the correct timeline which is confusing, he's also wondering about his mother where she is, and what she's going to do, his "father" said that future John has a mission for her but didn't get any more information.

And there's of course her, Cameron, who's still in his head, the way she reacted to Ellison's words and her visible tremor in her eyes unsettles him, if he didn't know better he would say that she's scared which should be completely impossible, she's a terminator, she can't get scared and yet he senses exactly that she is scared and he has to restrain himself from going to her and hugging her tightly to comfort her by saying that everything is going to be fine or something like that.

Kyle on the other hand seemed more relaxed although he was deep in his thoughts about how he should act during the meeting. Should he do it immediately or when the time is right, the wrong wove could make things difficult.

Finally, John asked Kyle "How and when did you meet me for the first time?"

Kyle told only "I will tell you after the meeting, then you will understand"

"Fine" John said and sighed, "How long do we have to wait"

"Not for long," a familiar voice said, it was Ellison, "Miss Weaver wants to see you now".

They entered the elevator, Cameron standing in front of John in case they were attacked.

"So, what do you do there exactly?" John asked Ellison.

"I'm the head of security here, it's better paid than FBI" Ellison tried to respond without revealing anything, but John could tell that he wasn't saying everything.

"Mr. Ellison we are aware that ZeiraCorp is developing an AI," Kyle said observing a sign of shock on Ellison's face.

"How do you know?" Ellison nervously asked.

"Everybody knows about John Henry when I come from" Kyle replied.

"You mean in the future?" Ellison asked this with curiosity.

"Yes" was the simple answer given by Kyle.

Ellison was about to ask something more, but the elevator has already arrived at the floor where the CEO's office was placed.

As they entered, they were about to enter Weaver's office John saw that Cameron seemed to be worried, so he put his hand on her shoulder just like she did before to him and said "Everything is going to be fine" he wasn't sure but hoped it would.

Cameron just smiled slightly at him as she again had that strange sensation.

They entered the office and saw a red-haired woman who greeted them with a Scottish accent "Hello Mr. Connor I was been looking forwards to our meeting, but first and foremost I want to thank you for your heroism regarding my daughter Savannah. She's the light of my life, I'd be lost without her".

John was about to say that Savannah isn't her daughter but restrained himself "It has been a pleasure to save Savanna's life, but I believe that there's another purpose behind our meeting".

"Straight to the point, I like that and you're right" "We have a common enemy, Mr. Connor. One we cannot fight with conational weapons or by conventional means" Weaver said to John.

"Skynet" was John's response, "I know that you have something that can help us fight it, John Henry".

Catharine Weaver was surprised that John Connor knows about "her son" and assumed he got that information from Savannah but before she can continue their conversation Ellison spots something out of the window approaching "What the hell?".

Weaver looked behind at the approaching object saying only "Get down"

They all managed to get down both Kyle and Ellison on their own meanwhile John was under Cameron who was protecting him with her body, at the same time Weaver to the shock of Ellison saw it reformed into liquid metal form creating a shield between them and the crashing drone.

Then Weaver ordered them to run before the drone explodes.

They went down the stairs.

"That looked like the drone from that town where the workers of Desert Canyon Heat and Air worked" John commented.

"It resembles the early Hunter Killer Aerials" Kyle added.

From upstairs came Catherine Waver who passed them "The basement, Mr. Ellison. We must protect John Henry".

"We have to get out of here, they are trying to kill us," John said.

"They are trying to kill my son; you may save the world Mr. Connor but you can't do it without him" Catherine responded to him.

They continued down the stairs until arriving at the basement, where Weaver opened a door for them when John entered, he eyed the room with curiosity all the computer parts until his gaze fell on a very familiar face that was creepily smiling at him before John could cry out Cromartie's name Weaver spoke: "Mr. Connor I present you, John Henry, you don't have to fear him, he only inhabits the body of cyborg that tried to kill you".

John Henry greeted John with his creepy smile "Hello Mr. Connor It's a pleasure to finally meet you".

John hesitantly also greeted him "Hello John Henry… for me, it's also a pleasure…".

"Would you like to play a game?" John Henry asked childishly.

Catherine Weaver approached John Henry "Not now, we have been attacked we must evacuate you immediately".

"But how Mrs. Weaver, I cannot move without begin killed" John Henry looked at Weaver hoping he would not have to die again.

"There is another way John Henry," said to him Weaver then turned to John Connor and Cameron "Mr. Connor I going to need your cyborg's chip to move John Henry".

"What?!" were the only words that come from shocked John Connor.

"Mr. Connor if we going to save John Henry we need the chip of your cyborg, otherwise we won't be able to stop Skynet and save humanity" Weaver coldly responded.

He didn't know why he was doing it, but he took Cameron's hand in his squeezed it a bit at placed himself between her and both Catherine Weaver and John Henry to protect her from them, knowing very well that it was of no use against those two machines but still it was the right thing to do in his head. Even the thought of destroying Skynet once and for all and having a normal life seemed not worth sacrificing her.

Coldly he said to Weaver "Her name is Cameron, and I will never let anyone touch her chip and ever less have it".

"You should reconsider it, Mr. Connor, would you sacrifice and abandon everything for her?" Weaver asked him again coldly but with a sign of curiosity.

His only response was: "In a heartbeat".

Cameron whose hand was still held by John's had her eyes wide open, she couldn't believe what was happening, John didn't want her to go, he protected her reversing their roles, he was willing to sacrifice everything for her, he loved her. Her CPU was overwhelmed with feelings that could be described as concern for him, but at the same time proudness, admiration, devotion, astonishment, delight, joy, acceptance and the strongest of them all was love. Of course, she didn't understand any of those emotions but still felt them.

But she knew that Henry was more important to her John's success than her, and she was willing although reluctantly to comply with her mission and sacrifice herself for John. But before she could say anything Kyle interrupted.

Both John Henry and Kyle were observing the scene with great interest the scene that took place before them, Henry was analyzing John's affection towards Cameron meanwhile Kyle was proud of his General who was different and at the same time the same he had known in the future, he also observed in amusement Cameron's reaction and when she seemed to want to talk, he decided to intervene.

"Mr. Weaver you no longer need Cameron's chip," Kyle said and then pulled a small black case from his pocket and handed it to her.

She carefully took the case and opened it revealing a chip that John observed was very similar to Cameron's but seemed slightly more advanced.

"Where you got it from?" Weaver asked Kyle.

"From John Henry in the future" Kyle responded, "It contains information from a future where both John's defeated Skynet, they hoped that it would be useful in the past and help prevent Judgement Day from happening".

"Very well, Mr. Connor" she returned her gaze towards John, "We no longer will be needing her chip" directing her gaze towards a very surprised Cameron and then toward Henry, she morphed her hand into a knife and made an incision in Henry's skin where the chip port was located, she opened the port and put the chip inside with her hand morphed into pilers. She closed the chip port and they all waited until John Henry was downloaded on the chip given by Kyle.

Finally, when the operation was done Henry unplugged the cord from the back of his head and smiled creepily at Kyle saying, "Thank you".

Then Weaver moved towards a console and started typing coordinates facing Henry she said, "We should be going" then she looked shocked at Ellison, "James, could you take care of Savannah until I return".

"What… and you…" were the only words that came from Ellison.

"You should pick her up at 5:30 from gymnastics," she said to James then turned towards John, Cameron, and Kyle and told, "I will contact you when it's time".

They only nodded and observed as a bubble formed around Henry and Weaver a few seconds later there was a splash and the bubble and both were gone.

The others remained still in silence looking in the same direction until finally, Kyle broke the silence "Well, this is when the future starts to change".

Finally, all the others in the room locked at him with curiosity, especially John and Cameron who still were holding hands, meanwhile, Ellison was still shocked and confused.

"I will explain but later, we should also go out of there before someone comes" Kyle reasoned.

"I should go for Savannah them…" Ellison spoke.

"John is time to go" Cameron finally spoke, he just nodded, "Is there another exit?" she asked Ellison.

"Yes… there is" he simply said.

They left the room and got out of the building guided by Ellison

As they were about to leave Ellison addressed them "We should remain in contact".

"Yes, we should" John looked at him and then exchanged their telephone numbers, "Now we better go, Goodbye Mr. Ellison".

They got in their car and went searching for a motel without speaking a word all the way.

Motel room, L.A. Evening

John was completely exhausted after that day, he had not only met his own father from the future, not only meet the deadliest terminator ever created and talked to it but also almost lost Cameron and to prevent it he was willing to sacrifice everything he was fighting for, he arrived at the conclusion that he would even time travel if it was necessary to save her.

Only now did he discover how much did he care for her; he wasn't able to see it before but faced with the possibility of losing her perhaps forever he couldn't just ignore it and chose to fight for her. He was proud of himself for doing it even though he was scared when facing the liquid metal, he still stood up and defended her and finally recognized that he loved her, and now he was together with her and the man who probably saved them both, his father Kyle Reese.

Cameron was still shocked at what had happened earlier that day, in the morning she thought that she would be gone, no longer existing but it wasn't the case. She was still with John the man whom she had to protect but today it was him who protected him, she should be angry at him for what he has done but she couldn't she wasn't angry but happy, 'yes I am happy' she thought.

She finally understood that he didn't hate her, he loved her but have been scared to show it, she understood that both Derek and Sarah didn't make things easier for them and she herself was also to blame, after the explosion she tried to kill her and when he fixed her she told him that he couldn't be trusted anymore, she understood her mistake and wanted to fix it wanted to say sorry to John.

Kyle was now nervous because from now on the future wasn't written not for those two, it was now moldable, he didn't have much information about what happened after it was stored on Henry's chip and it wasn't accessible now so they had to wait, he would go and gather the financial resource for a safe house. But now the moment has come to speak to them about how he met John Connor in the future as he promised.

Kyle sat down in front of them "It's time to explain what I meant when I said: 'this is when the future starts to change, this will also answer your question John about how and when we meet for the first time".

They both looked at him and nodded to him to start.

"It all started when…"