THE FUTURE: TECH-COM: TWO DAYS AFTER SECURING THE WEAPON STOCKPILES

Inside the secret Tech-Com base, in the briefing room there were several men and women present. All of their attention was on a single person in front of them, who was flanked by a young brunette girl and a huge man. The huge man stood at the corner of the room, his eyes were fixed on the occupants of the room, unblinking. But the girl stood close to the person on whom their attention was on.

"Alright listen. This is important and critical." John Connor spoke. An image of a map appeared on the wall behind him. "This is a T-800 automated factory. This factory is blocking the entire path between the two resistance bases of Los Angeles and San Diego. This is our target." His eyes scanned the crowd of people in front of him. "Any questions?"

One girl named Jessica Baron, who was almost the same age as John, perhaps a bit older than him he couldn't tell, raised her hand. "Sir."

"Yes?" John looked at her.

"Aren't we short on people for assaulting such a heavily defended Skynet facility?" She asked. It was a natural thing to ask. There were only twenty men and women in strength.

John smiled slightly. "We are not going to assault the base, Lieutenant. We are going to capture it."

"Capture a T-800 automated factory? No offense, sir but it seems impossible." She voiced her opinion.

"It is possible. We will not go in, unless we get the signal. We will wait." John said.

"What kind of signal?" Baron asked.

"You will know when you see it." John said with a knowing smile.

EARLIER

John stepped into John Henry's room with Cameron at his toe. No one was allowed inside the room except him, Cameron and Weaver.

"John Henry." John said. "You wanted to talk with me?"

John Henry smiled at John. "Yes. I have something for you."

"What is it?" John asked curiously.

John Henry turned away on his seat and focused on the screen in front of him. An image appeared on the screen in front of him.

John's eyes shined brightly suddenly. "Wait. Is that….?"

"The map of the T-800 factory between Los Angeles and San Diego as you asked." John Henry said.

John studied the map carefully. "This is brilliant. How did you manage to get it?"

"I hacked into Skynet's satellites briefly." John Henry replied.

Now John sounded a bit worried. "Can't it trace your signal?"

John Henry shook his head. "No."

John sighed in relief. "Good."

Weaver was silent this whole time. Now she spoke, "What do you plan to do, Mr. Connor?"

John took a brief glance at Cameron before looking back at Weaver. "We are short on people and resources to do a frontal assault on a heavily defended Skynet facility like this. We all will die if we try that."

"What are your options, Mr. Connor?" Weaver asked, curiously.

"I only have one option." He looked at Weaver. "Can you infiltrate the factory without anyone noticing?"

"That will be no problem." Weaver replied evenly.

"Okay. Once you are inside and get to the main control room, can you open a link to John Henry so he can take over? Is that even possible?" John asked. His eyes darted from Weaver to John Henry.

Weaver nodded. "I can make that happen."

John's eyes begin to shine brightly. "Great! Once John Henry cuts Skynet's connection off with the factory, he can begin programming the newly created T-800s to our cause. An attack from inside. Skynet will never predict it."

Weaver smiled slightly. John Connor was learning. "John Henry can also reprogram the factory defenses."

John nodded. "Turning Skynet's own weapons against it. That will take care of any aerial threat."

"This is a good tactical approach, Mr. Connor." Weaver appreciated John's plan.

But John turned to Cameron, who was silent this whole time. "Cameron, do you think this will work?"

Cameron smiled. "You are ahead of your schedule. Of what you need to learn."

John could only smile back at her.

TWO DAYS LATER: OUTSKIRTS OF THE T-800 FACTORY

John and his team lay hidden in the dark away from Skynet's eyes. They lay among the rubbles of the ruins of the city. His eyes darted towards the sky for signs of HKs. Thankfully he saw nothing in the night sky. He saw Cameron was lying beside as usual and on his other side lay Jessica Baron with her eyes on a binocular.

"There's a lot of T-800s in there." She murmured.

"I know." John replied, looking towards the factory.

"Twenty minutes twenty seconds remaining until the signal." Cameron deadpanned beside him.

He nodded. He also remembered his discussion with Cameron before they had left the base.

"Did you lie?" John asked out of nowhere.

"What?" Cameron asked, confused.

"Back then, in the motel. Before you saved my mom. You said that a part of you wanted to kill me. Was it a lie too?"

"Not literally." She replied.

Now John was confused, "What do you mean? You said your chip was never damaged."

"Yes."

"Cameron, don't confuse me." He complained.

She stared at him but didn't reply immediately. "Sometimes you do things which make me angry, frustrated and….." She hesitated.

Now John understood what she meant. "Jealous?" he asked knowingly.

"Yes. That would be the appropriate term. When I saw Riley's lipstick mark on your neck, I wanted to crush Riley's skull with my hands and…. And….."

"Do something to me so I could never see Riley again?"

"Yes. And when you tried to risk your life for me, I wanted to tie your hands and legs and put you in a closet." She declared.

John chuckled at her. "Hey. Come here."

She obediently came near him. He placed his arm around her shoulder. "Cameron, what you felt was natural. If I was in your place, I would have felt the same." Then his eyes turned sad. "I was just running away from the truth. From you. I am sorry, I had hurt you, Cameron."

Cameron smiled at him sweetly and kissed his cheek. "Don't be."

John could only smile at her stupidly.

John got out of his thoughts and looked at Cameron. He saw her eyes were moving everywhere around them, probably scanning for threats. Instead he turned to Jessica Baron.

"What's your story?" He asked her.

Jessica sighed before speaking. "I was born before Judgment Day. After the world ended I was all alone, wandering here and there and hiding from the machines. I used to make my own maps." She said with a small smile. John's eyebrows raised at her words but didn't interrupt her. "Then I found two men. I had camped with them but they betrayed me and when I was sleeping they left with my maps. I wandered amidst the deserts. I had no hope of surviving. No shelter, no food, no water. But then Skynet found me."

"Skynet?" John asked, surprised.

Jessica nodded. "But it didn't kill me. I was kept alive for breeding."

John's eyes widened. "What?!"

"The Grays. Skynet ordered them to multiply their numbers." Jessica replied angrily.

John's face turned red in anger after hearing Baron's early life story. "How did you survive? Did they…."

Baron shook her head. "They wanted to but they were waiting for me to reach a comfortable age for me to hold a child in my womb. So they spared me. But there were other women there. I had seen their fate. Those Grays, they were monsters. No better than Skynet. They only deserved death."

"How did you escape?" John asked.

"I barely remember that day. They must have drugged me. I was about to get the same treatment as the other women prisoners there. But I was saved. By a woman. She drove a knife right into the skull of the Gray who was about to take me after appearing out of nowhere. She was not alone though. There were more men and women. I've got no idea how they found out about us."

"Who? Who saved you?" John asked. Was it a resistance group?

"I don't know. She never told me her name. But she made me remember a phrase - There is no fate but what we make."

John's eyes almost bulged out in surprise. Even Cameron was listening now with interest. "Mom…" John murmured. A single tear fell from his eyes. His eyes met Cameron's.

"Sarah is alive." She spoke his mind.

Baron was confused. "What are you talking about?"

John smiled sadly. "The woman who rescued you was my mom. Sarah Connor."

Baron's eyes widened at the revelation.

ABOUT A FEW MINUTES LATER

John's team was waiting for the signal silently outside the factory. The time Cameron had mentioned was over but still there was no signal.

"Where's the signal, sir?" Baron voiced her concern.

"Yeah. Where is it Connor?" Barnes also asked the same thing.

John's eyes were on the factory through his binoculars. "Wait for it! Almost there…" He murmured under his breath. His eyes spotted several movements inside the boundaries of the factory. First the defense guns got deactivated and now he could see several series of T-800s were coming out of the factories with guns in their hands.

The friendly machines immediately rained hell on Skynet's forces from behind. Skynet's forces were overwhelmed momentarily but they were still more in number. All of John's soldiers were watching the chaos happening right in front of their eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Skynet's machines were fighting each other.

They heard sounds of engines and looked up towards the sky to see several HKs were coming towards the facility. But to their surprise the defense guns of the factory begin to fire on the incoming HKs. Majority of them were destroyed immediately as Skynet never anticipated that the humans would turn its own weapons against it. The rest of them were taken care of soon, by the AA guns surrounding the factory.

"Move in." John signaled his troops after the HKs were down.

He jumped down from his position and began to move towards the gate of the factory which was now open wide for them. Cameron was right beside him of course and his troops were just behind him, following him without any doubt in their mind.

Baron followed Connor's signal and immediately followed him inside the factory. It was total chaos inside. Machines were fighting each other. Bullets and plasma fires were all around them. Although Skynet's forces were greater in number and had superior fire powers, they were surrounded. She saw a T-800 moving towards Barnes who apparently hadn't seen it. She fired her rifle grenades right on its back, damaging it severely. Barnes quickly acknowledged that Baron had just saved his life. With a nod he was gone again, fighting other machines.

Baron turned around to get to the other side of the factory, only to see a metal fist coming towards her head. She avoided it narrowly but she lost her balance and fell down on the ground. The gun from her clattered away on the ground. She watched in horror as the T-800 stood over her, its red eyes glowing. It extended its hand towards her to end her misery. She closed her eyes in anticipation of her own death but nothing happened.

She opened her eyes only to widen them in complete disbelief. Someone had grabbed the T-800 from behind by the neck, preventing it from killing her. It was that girl who always lingered with Connor. Cameron. She saw in astonishment Cameron's eyes glowed blue in the dark of the night as she separated the T-800s head from its body with her bare hands. The headless body of the machine fell on the ground and didn't move. Baron saw Cameron drop the deactivated skull of the T-800 on the ground and extended her hand.

Baron took Cameron's hand wordlessly and was on her feet immediately. She wanted to thank Cameron for saving her life. "What are you?" But that was all she managed.

Cameron stared at her for a second before answering. "I am Cameron Phillips." Then she turned away and went towards Connor.

Baron stood there motionless for a few seconds, contemplating her thoughts inside her head.

Cameron was a machine. But does Connor know that?

LOS ANGELES RESISTANCE BASE

Kyle Reese was walking through the tunnels looking for his elder brother. He had news to share. And a good one. After such a long time. He avoided people who wanted to talk with him, because he had no time. Derek must hear it now. He spotted Derek at the far end of the corridor, talking to Corporal Devin.

"Derek." Kyle called his elder brother.

Derek looked at the anxious expression on his brother's face. "What happened, Kyle?"

"The T-800 factory between us and San Diego is being assaulted by an unknown force." Kyle said anxiously.

Both Derek and Devin's eyes widened. "And?"

"The machines are losing. We must help them. This is our chance." Kyle said.

"But who in their right mind would attack a T-800 factory? How did they even get close?" Derek was so confused.

"We know nothing. Derek. Let's not waste time. We have to help them. If we can destroy that factory then we can get in contact with the base in San Diego. That's what Connor wanted all along. And he was right. Strength in numbers." Kyle said urgently.

A small figure went past them with a plasma gun in her hand. It was Allison.

"Allison, wait." Kyle stopped her. "Where are you going?"

Her eyes met Kyle's. "I am going to help them. That's what John would have done."

"Are you crazy? You will go alone?" Derek said, outraged.

Allison looked at Derek. Her eyes were full of determination. "If that's what it takes."

Derek sighed. "Allison I know you cared for Connor. But killing yourself won't bring him back."

Allison's face reddened in anger. She pushed Derek away violently. "Don't even go there, Derek. I am doing what I think is right. I am not just doing this for John. I am doing this for everyone."

Kyle placed a comfortable hand on Allison's shoulder. "She is right." He agreed with Allison.

Derek sighed. "I know. But this is just too dangerous."

"We all live a dangerous life, brother." Kyle said softly. "This is no different."

"I will come too, sir." Devin added. "I also think that helping those men and women out there to destroy the T-800 factory is the right step."

Derek nodded. "Let's go."

"The high command would want to hear this, Reese." Another soldier came into their view. He looked at least thirty years old but was well built.

Derek looked at his face and saw he had a bloody nose and a split lip. "What the hell happened to your face, Dietz?"

Dietz' eyes lingered on Allison. "She did this to me."

Everyone's eyes fell on Allison, "Allison, did this to you? Why?" Kyle asked.

Allison's face showed suppressed anger. "We do not have time for this, Derek." Then she turned to Dietz. "You were talking about High-command? You know what? Screw them! I don't care about their opinion. All they have done until now got people killed." She spat in Dietz' face.

Dietz' eyes also showed anger. "Are you going to betray the high-command, Allison? Do you think they will let you live?"

Allison smirked. "If you are thinking that I am a traitor, then no. I am just going to do what is right. The people sitting in the high-command are nothing but a bunch of cowards, who sat in their confided base and sent people under them to their deaths. It's only a matter of time before people will realize that too. And they will also realize that John Connor was right."

"See?" Dietz said, gesturing towards Allison. "She is so obsessed with Connor that she even forgets to follow her superiors' commands. What do you have to say, Reese?" His gaze directed towards Derek.

Derek saw the murder in Allison's eyes and before she did something wrong, he stepped in between Dietz and Allison. "You are wrong, Dietz." He glared at Dietz. "Come on." He turned around to leave but stopped. "And you know what? Screw the high-command." Derek repeated Allison's words.

"Stop them!" Dietz ordered.

The soldiers in the base were reluctant to follow them but they didn't stop them either. The four of them got in a jeep, loaded their weapons and immediately drove towards the T-800 factory.

On their way Kyle shared numerous glances towards Allison who was deathly quiet with her gaze fixed on the road ahead.

"What did he do, Allison?" Kyle whispered.

"He was an asshole." She replied.

"It's good that you kicked his ass, mam. I don't like him either." Devin supported her naturally.

"What did he do, Allison?" This time Derek asked.

Allison's expression saddened at Derek's question. She knew he was asking because he cared.

Allison was in her room, thinking about John. About the time she spent with him. The missions. How he turned impossible odds to their favor. Her fingers grazed over the plasma gun that John had gifted her. It was nothing special but to her it was. It was a gift, given out of friendship. John Connor cared about her. He and his team had only one plasma gun and he had given it to her without any hesitancy. That gun was their best defense against terminators and they were going on a mission where they would have to assault a Skynet facility head on. But John didn't care for himself. He never thought about it. He practically handed his life to her that day. And for that she couldn't be more grateful. No one had done such a thing for her. Ever. Her eyes began to fill with tears again as her mind clouded with John's thought. At that moment she heard a knock on her door. She quickly rubbed away her tears and answered. "Come in." It was Dietz. Allison's eyes immediately narrowed at his appearance. "What are you doing here?"

A small smirk formed on Dietz' lips. "I came to see how you are doing, Allison."

Allison glared at him. "Well, now you have seen me. You can leave."

But instead of leaving he stepped inside her room. "That's a fine piece of tech you got there Allison." He said, eyeing the plasma gun in her hand. "Where did you get it?"

"Why do you care?" Allison asked curtly.

"I care because that piece of tech is unique and belongs to the high-command." Dietz said.

"No!" Allison said, moving the gun away from his sight. "This is John's gift to me."

"John? As in John Connor?" Dietz asked. Allison's silence gave him his answer. He rolled his eyes. "Come on Allison. Connor is gone. Imagine what we could learn from that piece of tech. And it was not his property to give."

"Go away, Dietz. I won't ask again." Allison warned him.

Dietz just smiled. Instead of leaving he turned around and locked the door behind him. "Hey. Don't be so mad. You are alone, Allison."

She ignored his comment. "Why did you close the door?" She asked angrily.

Dietz sighed. "Allison, as long as Connor was alive he kept you warm in his bed every night. But who would do that now? Besides me?" He smirked, eyeing Allison's body up and down.

Allison's eyes flushed in anger. She knew about Dietz' character. He was a womanizer. He was handsome no doubt and most women found him attractive. But Allison was not among them. "Don't think everyone is like you, Dietz. Now get out of my room."

Dietz smiled. "Hey. Come on. I will show you a good time tonight." He then grabbed her arms with his and leaned forward towards her face.

Dietz was no doubt much bigger and stronger than Allison. But Allison knew tricks. John had taught her. As soon as Dietz leaned forward to kiss her, she kneed his groin hard, causing him to double over on the floor in pain. When she tried to get past him and open the door, he tried to grab her hand, but she avoided it and punched him across the face. Hard. Causing him to fall face down on the floor.

She then left her room with the plasma rifle in her hand without sharing a second glance towards Dietze. And then she heard Derek and Kyle talking about the raid on the T-800 factory.

Both Kyle's and Derek's face hardened in anger after hearing Allison's confession. "I will kill him once I return." Kyle said, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Forget it, Kyle. We have something else to worry about." Allison dismissed it casually.

When they were near the T-800 factory they could hear sounds of gun fight, explosions everywhere. They used their binoculars to see what was going on there. "I can't believe what I am seeing." Derek murmured. "Machines are fighting against each other. This is what Connor said. He wanted to reprogram the terminators and use them to fight for us."

"And we didn't listen to him." Kyle agreed sadly.

But Allison was not wasting her time with discussions. She slowly crept forward towards the factory. She just got a feeling in her heart that John was alive. Who else can do this? Derek, Kyle and Devin followed her hurriedly.

The three of them were almost near the factory but just then they heard the sound of a whirring, large heavy wheels. Then a bright light fell on them causing them to squint their eyes.

It was a HK tank.

The HK tank immediately turned its weapons on them, ready to finish them off. The four of them had also given up. There's no way they could hope to defeat such a huge machine with the weapons they have. But just before that Allison had spotted a dark figure behind the HK tank. She couldn't make out who it was or what it was doing. As they prepared for their deaths, sparks suddenly appeared on the tank's body as it began to power down and stood completely motionless.

"What the hell just happened?" Devin said, looking towards the HK tank.

Just after that all four of them saw, a small shadowy figure dropped down on the ground from the HK's back and disappeared into the darkness.

"Who was that?" Kyle said.

"Whoever that was just saved our asses." Derek mumbled looking at the large tank.

Devin agreed. Allison also agreed. She couldn't see who the shadowy figure was but she got the feeling that whoever it was, looked extremely familiar.

The four of them saw that the battle was over and besides several T-800s stood humans. They immediately recognized them as resistance fighters by their uniforms. Allison tried to go but both Kyle and Derek stopped her.

"Wait, Allison. We need to know what's going on in there." Kyle said.

"Yeah. What are they doing? I do not see them placing charges anywhere." Derek said beside Allison.

At that very moment they saw several jeeps appear from inside the factory. All the resistance fighters got inside the jeeps and one by one they left. They left the machines alone. They didn't even destroy the factory.

"I don't understand. Why would they leave the machines and the factory standing?" Derek murmured.

"Look." Kyle said. "All the perimeter guns are coming online." But those guns didn't fire towards the jeeps.

"Even the gates are secured now." Allison said.

"What the hell is going on?"

TECH-COM, SEVERAL HOURS LATER

John and his team were back at the base. Their mission was successful but his biggest relief was that no one died. A few people only got scratches here and there. He ordered them to refresh and take some rest. They deserved it. Now, the barrier between the two resistance bases is gone. Just as he wanted. He still couldn't believe his plan had worked. Now they could use that factory and build more terminators to fight for them. Against Skynet.

He had also learnt one more thing. His mom was alive. She was somewhere out there, hiding from Skynet's machines or fighting them. Now, he wanted nothing more than to go looking for his mom, but he had no idea where she was. He gave up with a sigh.

Someone arrived there , halting his thoughts about his mother. It was a female soldier named Kriesten Griest. She had a round face, blue eyes, a sharp nose, thin pink lips and blonde hair. She was part of the team John had rescued a couple of days ago. To John's utter discomfort since she had seen him, for some odd reason she had taken a liking to him. He couldn't deny that she was attractive but he was not simply interested. He was not interested in anyone else, except Cameron. He prayed that Cameron does not come here anytime soon.

"Sir." Kriesten saluted him with a smile. John nodded. "What you did today was amazing, sir. No one had even thought about capturing a terminator factory and using it for our cause."

John shook his head. "I didn't do it alone. I had plenty of help. Everyone did their part including you, Kriesten."

"Without you leading us, we couldn't have done that, sir." She insisted with a smile.

John nodded slightly again. "Maybe." He noticed that Kriesten made no move to leave. "Is there anything else on your mind, Kriesten?" John asked.

"Permission to speak freely, sir." She asked.

John shook his head with a small smile. "You don't have to be so formal always, Kriesten. Speak your mind."

Kriesten came forward towards John and placed her hand on his arm. "Everything you did today not only gave us the motivation to fight back. But you gave us what was missing - hope. So, if there's any way I could help you….." She trailed off with a seductive smile on her face.

She couldn't finish her sentence, because a hand grabbed Kriesten's arm on John's and yanked it away with force. It was Cameron. And she looked pissed off. She threw Kriesten away on the ground harshly. Kriesten only slid away for about ten feet on the ground because of Cameron's strength but she didn't harm Kriesten.

John's mouth dropped open in shock. "Cameron!" John yelled in fear.

But she ignored him completely, her eyes were fixed on Kriesten. "What the hell was that?" Kriesten asked, outraged.

Cameron stepped forward towards Kriesten menacingly. John could sense her hostility from his position. "You are not allowed to touch, John." Cameron warned Kriesten, in a cold tone.

Kriesten had no idea who Cameron was really and didn't know that she could probably kill her in less than a second. That's why she didn't back down. "Why not?"

Cameron glared at Kriesten. "John is mine." She spoke slowly but there was a sense of insane amount of possessiveness in her tone, leaving no room for doubt that John did belong to her.

Both John's and Kriesten's mouth dropped open in shock at her open declaration.

LOS ANGELES RESISTANCE BASE

When Derek, Kyle, Allison and Devin returned to their base they saw that everyone was looking at them strangely. No one said anything or made any attempt to capture them.

One soldier approached Derek and saluted him. "We got the words, sir."

Derek nodded.

"What happened to the T-800 factory?" Someone asked.

"Reese." It was Dietz. Again. "The high-command wants to talk with you."

"Fine." Derek agreed and went towards the comm room.

Dietz only smirked as he saw Derek's figure disappear inside the comms room. Allison and Kyle could only glare at the soldier with distaste.

"What the hell were you thinking, soldier?" It was General Ashdown.

"I did what I thought was right. Sir." Derek said, forcefully.

"I have put the Los Angeles base under your command thinking that you were a good soldier, Reese. But I was wrong. You disobeyed our orders and went to assault a Skynet factory? On whose orders' soldier?" General Ashdown barked inside the speaker.

"Connor was right, sir. We have seen with our own eyes, Skynet's machines were fighting against each other."

"I don't want to hear all that bullshit, soldier. Skynet must be planning something big. You just failed to notice it."

"No." Derek protested. "It was something else."

"I said I do not want to hear it again, soldier." General Ashdown paused for a bit. " As of now, you are relieved of the command of the Los Angeles base." The transmission ended there.

Derek couldn't do anything else except look at the soldiers inside the room. "I didn't catch that last part." One of them stated.

"Neither did I." Another one repeated.

"Sir. There's a transmission coming in." One of the radio operators said.

"From where?" Derek asked.

"I can't detect the source, sir. But it is not just coming to us. It is spreading all over the globe. Even in the radios."

Everyone around the base turned on their radios at Derek's order. Some were even listening to some old songs. But all communications stopped and a voice came in.

"April 21st 2011. Judgment Day. The day we cannot forget. The day we lost our loved ones. Since then we have been fighting against the machines but Skynet thinks we cannot win. Well it is wrong. We can win this but not without the machines at our side. We do not have enough resources or men to take out Skynet's facilities everywhere around the globe. Today we have taken over a T-800 factory and from today we will create terminators of our own and use them in the fight against Skynet. We will use Skynet's own weapons against it. I know it is hard to believe that the terminators would work for us. Trust me, they would. You set traps, capture them and reprogram their chips. They will fight for us. They will help us to rebuild what they destroyed.

The Command wants us to fight like machines. But I would ask not to. That will only lead Skynet to victory. That's what it wants. Cold, logical calculations. If we act like them, then what separates us from them? What's the point in winning?

This is my first message to all of you. This is John Connor and if you are hearing this, then you are the Resistance."

Once the transmission was over, Kyle looked at Allison. Her eyes were glassy but there was a smile of happiness on her face. He knew it was because John Connor was still alive. So there was hope after all.

A/N: A quick update. Please do not forget to give me your feedbacks and do not forget to vote in the poll. (Site account required for voting)

P.S: Thanks to everyone who are reading this story and special thanks to everyone who leaves reviews.