THE HIGH-COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, A FEW DAYS LATER

"This is not acceptable!" General Ashdown barked, banging his fist on the table. "Connor has gone too far this time."

"Calm down, please." said General Losenko, Ashdown's second in command.

Ashdown ignored Losenko. He began pacing inside the office with his hand behind his back. "I knew Connor was trouble from the beginning. Sending him and his team to secure the Skynet plasma factory gave me an opportunity to get rid of him for good. But that bastard somehow survived."

"General." Losenko said. "Can I talk to you as a friend?"

Ashdown sat down on his chair and lit a cigar. He nodded.

"I already voiced my opinion before about sending Connor and his team to that mission. Our soldiers already looked up to Connor. Getting him killed on purpose wouldn't help our cause. The Los Angeles base is already unresponsive to us." Losenko said.

Ashdown shot him a glare. "What are you suggesting? That we tolerate Connor's insolence? He already self-declared himself as the leader of the Resistance."

Losenko shook his head. "No. But if you want to stop Connor, there's a better way to deal with him other than killing him."

"What are you suggesting?" Ashdown asked, after taking a puff from his cigar.

"Invite Connor here alone and manipulate him to work under our orders. He is just a kid." Losenko suggested.

Ashdown looked at his second in command with an arched eyebrow. "And what good will it do to us?"

Losenko smiled. "We can't deny that Connor is a good leader. He is natural. Most people are ready to follow him. If we control him, then we control the people."

"And if he doesn't agree?" Ashdown asked, looking at Losenko intently.

Losenko took his seat on the opposite side of Ashdown. "Shoot him. Tell them that Connor tried to shoot you, to take over your position. Who do you think the people will believe? Us or a random all knowing kid?"

Ashdown nodded in satisfaction. "That will take care of Connor." Then he suddenly remembered something. "Has Sergeant Dietze reported yet?"

Losenko shook his head. "Not yet. But I can assure you that he won't betray us like the Reese brothers."

At that moment there was a knock on the steel door of the office. "Sir, Sergeant Dietz is here."

"Send him in." Ashdown ordered.

Losenko went down to sit down on his chair and both of them waited for Dietz to come in. It only took a couple of seconds for Dietz to come inside the office and salute his superior officers.

"Have a seat, Sergeant." Losenko gestured towards a small steel chair inside the office.

Dietz took his seat after thanking his superior officers. "What are the results Sergeant? Was the field testing successful?" Losenko asked.

"Yes sir." Dietz said with a smile. "The signal works. I have tested it on a HK."

"Excellent." Losenko exclaimed. "Outstanding work, Sergeant. We finally have something that can end the war."

"Thank you, sir." Dietz said.

"Go get some rest, Sergeant. You have earned it." Ashdown said.

Dietz saluted once again and left.

Ashdown got up from his seat and began to puff on his cigar absentmindedly. His lips slowly formed a smile. "We have Skynet by its balls."

"And we will also have Connor." Losenko added.

"Yeah." Ashdown said, looking at Losenko. "Come on. Let's celebrate a bit today before we begin preparation from tomorrow."

The two of them left the office, locking the door behind them. After a few minutes they had left, the office door opened again from outside. A resistance soldier stepped inside the room. The soldier was about five and seven inches tall, he had large eyes, fat lips and trimmed short hairs. His skin was also dark. He carefully looked towards the corridor before closing the door behind him. Without wasting any more time he attached a pen drive to the computer on the table and began to copy streams of data. All the time the data was getting copied he was watching the door and kept his ears sharp for sounds of footsteps with fear in his eyes. As soon as the data was copied he snatched the drive away and placed it inside his pocket. He then quickly removed all traces that anyone had used the machine before turning off the computer. When he was done, he bent down near the table and pulled out a small device from under the table. It was a tiny voice recorder.

Without any more delay he unlocked the door slightly and peeked outside. Satisfied that no one was there in the corridor, he quickly got out from inside the office and locked the door behind him, as it was.

His job was done. Here.

TECH-COM BASE, 24TH JULY, 1400 HOURS

John Connor was preparing for his journey to the high command base. His presence was requested by the high command. General Ashdown wants to talk to him face to face, and come to terms. John agreed because he knew they needed to work together despite their differences. Apparently he will go with two of his soldiers to a pick up point. From there he will be guided to the secret high command base by the men working directly under General Ashdown. Barnes, Baron and many others had voiced their concern. But he had made them understand that he needed to do this. It's important. If there is a small chance that he could cut off the animosity between him and General Ashdown he would take it. It's for the future.

John thought about his mom. He had learned from Jessica Baron that his mom was still alive when they raided the T-800 factory. She was out there somewhere probably waiting for him. If his mom was here she would've never allowed him to visit the high command. He may be destined to become the leader of the Resistance, but to his mom he was just her son. John.

I miss you mom.

There is another person who would've acted the same way. And to her also he was no general. He was just John.

Cameron.

She was not in the base. She has gone on a different mission to scout areas near the Annihilation Line where a high amount of Skynet activities were detected. John knew if she was here, she would have insisted on following him to the high command base. He knew there was no way he could let her come with him. The soldiers would have known she was not human. John shivered at the mere thought of the consequences of such a thing ever happening. The high command would never understand, they would have killed Cameron for sure. So it was sure that she was not here. He also knew that despite the risks Cameron would have insisted on coming with him. Not because she had to protect him but because she cared for him.

John remembered that day in Red Valley, Mexico. The day he first met her. He was in the class listening to his teacher and was bored as usual. His concentration broke when he heard a voice to his right.

"Hey!"

John turned to his right only to get his mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw who had called him. It was a girl, and she was looking at him with a small smile on her red lips. She had large doe like brown eyes which were shining with suppressed joy, as if she was really happy to see him. Her silky long brown hairs were shining as the sunlight touched them. She also had a small cute nose.

"What's your name?" She whispered to him. Her voice was barely a whisper.

John was speechless. He could only stare at her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes upon. He could find no comparison to her beauty.

Maybe it was strange, but as soon as he laid his eyes upon her, he felt an instant connection with her. John couldn't understand why a beautiful girl like her would want to talk to a weird kid like him. To make sure that she was really talking to him, he looked around. And she was indeed talking to him and no one else. He turned his head towards her to see that she was still waiting for his answer with a curious expression on her face. John quickly realized how stupid he looked while she just stared at him with expectation.

"John." He managed to stutter out nervously.

"Cameron." She replied and smiled brightly.

Their conversation was cut short by the teacher. John turned away from Cameron and focused on the teacher with embarrassment.

At that moment John thought, maybe the school was not so boring after all.

After the class was over, John was walking out of the classroom. But Cameron surprised him again, by coming up to him. It seemed she was really interested in him.

"John? I haven't seen you around before. Did you just move here?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah. I did." John said, shyly.

She laughed and nothing was pleasant to John's ears at that moment, more than the sound of her laughing. The way her eyes and lips moved when she laughed, was fascinating to John.

"Sucks for you. My dad sells tractors. What about you?" She asked pleasantly.

"Insurance." John lied instantly. He was good at it. Years of practice.

"Really? What kind?"

"The boring kind." John said smiling.

She laughed again. "Those are the kind of tractors my dad sells. What about your mom? My mom stays home."

At this point John hesitated. He could've lied to her. But for some reason and after seeing the expression of joy on her face, he didn't have the heart to do it.

"You know, I really gotta get to the next class, so…." He trailed off, avoiding her question completely. At that moment John thought she would be pissed off at him for trying to ignore her and walk away. But to his surprise the joyful expression on her face didn't go away.

"So….maybe, I'll see you later?" She asked, expectantly.

John nodded with a smile. "Sure. Yeah."

"Okay. Well, bye." She then walked past him.

John saw her walking away and he instantly regretted his choice for not talking to her more. He knew his heart wanted to. But he couldn't. He couldn't afford to have any form of complications in his life. His life was already complicated and both him and his mother were criminals in the police record. It wouldn't be fair for Cameron to drag her into his life and turn her world upside down. She is better off without him, no matter how much he wanted the opposite.

Once he returned to his temporary home, he went straight to his home and flopped down on his bed, completely ignoring his mom who was painting one of the walls inside the house. He put on his headphones and began to hear a random song, trying to push his thoughts away from Cameron and her angelic face. But as he expected, his mom followed him inside his room.

"This is a hick town, mom." He said a little frustrated. He didn't like moving from one place to another constantly.

"We've been in worse places. A lot worse." Sarah said, sitting down on a stool beside his bed.

"Well, my clothes are all wrong. I need some different shirts." He complained, like a child. "You know everyone here wears boots. Like cowboy boots. I hate cowboy boots."

But even with all his complaints his mom never got frustrated or angry with him. She smiled slightly. "I'll see what I can do."

"Their computer's are like from the frigging '50s or something." He complained again.

Instantly the smile from Sarah's face vanished. She glared at him. "Their computers? I thought we agreed."

John shrugged. "No. It was not my fault. They switched my class."

Sarah looked at him angrily. "The last thing I need you is to be caught hacking."

Now John glared back at his mom. "I'm not hacking!" He raised his voice slightly to defend himself. "God. I know the rules. They're like written on the inside of my eyeballs, all right?"

Sarah sighed. She was angry at herself for losing her temper like that. She should've at least let John tell her things clearly. Now she just made him upset.

"Hey." She called him softly.

He looked at her still pretty much upset.

A small smile formed on her lips. "Have you met any pretty girls?"

John snorted and looked away. "No. I am telling you, it's a hick town."

She could tell that he was lying. John always had a tell whenever he lied. He may have fooled the others, but he couldn't fool his mother. "Come on." She said, with a knowing smile.

John glanced once towards his mother and couldn't help but smile. His thoughts drifted back to Cameron's smiling face. Her eyes, her hair, her lips. He quickly turned away though, completely embarrassed. From the corner of his eyes he could see his mother was still smiling. He couldn't help but feel that even at the most depressed time of his life, thinking about Cameron made his depression a lot better. A lot.

And he didn't expect her to turn up in his computer class, completely surprising him. He felt that he should tell her the truth now. Well, as much as he could tell about his messed up life. She didn't need to know the details.

"I lied to you yesterday. My dad doesn't sell insurance. He is dead. He was a soldier. He was killed on a mission."

She seemed really sympathetic at his confession instead of being angry towards him. "I am sorry." She said, softly.

John shrugged it off. "Oh. It's all right. My mom was pregnant with me when it happened. I never even knew him. So it's all right. My mom. She… she's" John hesitated because he didn't know how to explain. "She's kind of uptight." He snorted. "Actually, no. She is really uptight. She likes me to come home after school and hang out with her and that kind of thing, you know? I'm all she's got." John paused.

Cameron stared at him for a few seconds, before saying, "Thank you for explaining." She smiled at him. "It'll be our secret." She added looking into his eyes.

John nodded, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Their secret? He didn't realize there was an 'us' between them. Maybe he was just looking for too much meaning into her words? Maybe she just meant friendship? Or did she?

Then the new teacher entered his room. He began calling the student's name by register. As soon as John responded to his alias 'John Reese' the teacher pulled a gun on him. And all hell broke loose.

He and his mother both thought that the machines were gone. They had stopped Judgment Day. But the truth was they didn't. They only delayed it. And Cameron didn't didn't turn out to be who he thought she was. She was a terminator herself, sent back in time to protect him.

His heart had shattered. From his observation he had deduced that Cameron was not like other terminators. She was different. She herself acknowledged that truth. And his feelings for her didn't change at all, despite knowing what she was.

John got out of his thoughts and focused on the task in his hand. He was done packaging and preparing. He wanted to inform Cameron but he was unable to contact her.

Perhaps it was for the best.

If she hears about him going to the high command she would have surely stopped him or tagged along with him. Then his eyes fell on the trunk under his bed.

Cameron's trunk, which he recovered from the desert safehouse.

Apparently she didn' open it yet.

John didn't want to open her things but curiosity got the better of him at the end. It was not locked. He opened the lid slowly. He found Cameron's favorite purple leather jacket, jeans she used to wear most of the time, and her 9mm gun. There were two more things, one of which surprised him greatly. There was a copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz inside at the bottom of her trunk. John turned the pages and he noticed one sentence was marked with red underline. It was where it was mentioned that the tin man always had a heart.

John's eyes turned glassy. All that time, he had yelled at her, spat at her, misbehaved with her, pushed her way and stopped being her friend, she was yearning to be with him. Feeling lonely, angry, frustrated and even jealous, unable to understand her growing emotions. She wondered all the time whether she really had a heart and he hadn't been there to tell her that she always had a heart. He couldn't imagine how much he had hurt her. Poor Cameron.

He didn't deserve her devotion, her friendship, her respect, her loyalty and least of all her love.

But there was also another thing which made him hate himself more. It was a diamond. The same diamond he had given her. She had kept it. He knew why. Because it was him who had given it to her. He picked up the diamond in his fingers and looked at it. He had done many wrong things in his life and maybe it is now time to make things right. He packed the rest of the things inside the trunk as they were before and pocketed the diamond.

This time I will make it up to you, Cameron. I promise. He said to himself.

RESISTANCE HIGH-COMMAND SECRET BASE, 25TH JULY, 2247 HOURS

General Ashdown regained consciousness with a groan. His whole body was aching in pain. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his surroundings. The entire base was gone completely. His friends, soldiers, everyone was just gone. He should've trusted Connor. And he had brought this on himself. He had no else to blame but himself. His audacity and recklessness brought him down in the end.

He was lying among the rubbles under the night sky. It was cold, outside. He was almost freezing. Maybe it was the effect of the injuries on his whole body. He tried to move but his leg was completely trapped and he couldn't even feel them anymore. He tried looking for help but there was no one left. He could see a few bodies lying, bloody and battered.

Was this his end?

Suddenly he heard footsteps.

Not machines. Humans. Someone was out there in the dark.

"Help." He called. "I am over here. Please help me." He struggled to speak, but he raised his voice desperately, as much as he could in his condition. It worked. Whoever was there, had heard him. He could hear footsteps coming towards him. Then he saw a small slender figure appear at the top of the valley. It was a woman.

"I am here." He called again.

The woman had spotted him apparently and was now coming towards him. She came to stop about ten feet away from where he was. He couldn't see her face in the darkness but he could see that she was armed to the teeth, carrying fire powers, powerful enough to destroy the terminators.

"Please, help." He called her but she made no move to save him. She just stood there motionless watching him.

"General Hugh Ashdown?" She asked in a flat tone.

"Yes. Please." Ashdown begged her to help him. "I am trapped. I can't move."

She still didn't move from her position. "Where is John Connor? He was supposed to be here." Ashdown could hear slight shakiness in her voice when she mentioned Connor's name.

He ignored her question. The pain in his whole body was almost making him lose his vision. He could tell that she could see his injury but she simply didn't care. He could feel her eyes on him.

"Please get me out of here, first." He begged her.

But just as the way he had ignored her question she ignored his request too. "First answer my question. What happened to John Connor?"

Ashdown knew that whoever this woman was wouldn't help him unless he told her the truth. "All right. But promise once I tell you everything, you will help me." Ashdown said looking at her shadowy form.

"I promise." She said instantly.

He sighed. "He is gone."

"What do you mean, he is gone?" He noticed a tone of extreme fear in her voice.

"He escaped. Before Skynet blew us up." He told the truth.

"Escaped? Were you holding him hostage?" She asked him angrily, a tone of hostility in her voice.

"No. No." Ashdown denied immediately noticing the anger in her voice.

The woman now stepped forward towards him menacingly. Ashdown saw in surprise she removed the concrete slab effortlessly, which had him pinned down, with her bare hands. But in the next second he felt a grip like steel around his throat. He only made a gurgle sound inside his throat and saw in shock the woman lifted him up clean from the ground by his throat without breaking a sweat. He could now see her face clearly. She was not a woman but a teenage girl, no older than twenty. Her face looked devoid of any emotion but there was a suppressed anger behind her blank face.

"Do not lie to me." She warned him threateningly, still holding him up above the ground. "Tell me the truth. What did you do to John Connor?"

"Nothing." Ashdown spoke in a gurgling voice.

"Why did you bring him here? What was your intention regarding him?" She asked in a harsh tone.

Ashdown made more gurgling noise inside his throat. "Please, I had no intention to harm him. I am telling you the truth."

Immediately her expression hardened. She grabbed one of the fingers on his right hand and completely bent it in the opposite angle with an audible snap. Ashdown could only scream in pain.

"I told you not to lie to me." She replied in a cold tone.

"Alright. Alright." Ashdown said, trying to catch the breath he just lost from the pain of his finger breaking. "I brought Connor here so we could make him agree to work under us."

"And if he didn't agree?" She asked in the same cold manner.

Ashdown hesitated. "If I tell you, will you let me go?"

"Yes." She said, but still not dropping him on the ground.

"If Connor didn't agree with us, we had full intention to get rid of him." Ashdown confessed.

The girl's eyes widened in shock. For the first time since Ashdown had seen her face, this is the first time he saw signs of emotion on her face. "Why? What has John Connor done to you?"

Ashdown glared at her, despite the situation. "He was getting in our way and had become a threat to me. I am the leader of the Resistance, not a twenty year old kid."

"How did you plan to get rid of him?" She asked and her grip around his throat tightened to the point where he could hardly speak.

"Shoot him. Simple as that." Ashdown said, while struggling in her vice-like grip. "I have told you everything. Now please let me go."

She just stood there motionless still holding him. Her eyes were unfocused but he saw the fingers of her left hand were closing and opening continuously. "Please." He begged again.

Suddenly her eyes became focused as if she came back to reality from dreamland. Her brown eyes became fixed on his. "You tried to kill my John." The coldness of her voice sent shivers down Ashdown's spine. The way she was looking at him he could tell that she was beyond pissed off. She was furious.

"Please let me go. You promised." Ashdown repeated the same thing again, desperately.

"You tried to kill my John." She whispered, staring at him with anger in her eyes. Not blinking. "I can't let you go."

Ashdown's eyes bulged in fear. "But you said…."

"If I let you go, you would try to kill my John again. I can't allow that." She said in a deadly tone.

"You promised." Ashdown said, trying to struggle out of her grip. With desperation he tried to attack her hand with which she was holding him, but his attacks had no effect. She didn't even flinch. Instead her eyes, which were filled with anger, were boring into his fearful ones.

"I lied." She replied evenly

"Who… who are you?" Ashdown asked in a last ditch effort.

She looked at him blankly. "I am Cameron." Her eyes glowing blue in anger. Ashdown's eyes widened in both shock and fear.

While she held the body of General Ashdown with her right hand, she pulled back her left hand in a fist and drove her coltan fist right through his chest in anger, breaking his rib cage, and gripped his heart. She was unable to control her fury as she tore out his beating heart from inside his chest with her bare hand. The so-called leader of the Resistance didn't even get the chance to make any sound before he succumbed into the land of the dead. She threw his dead body on the ground carelessly before turning away and melting into the darkness of the night.

She had to find her John.

She couldn't let anything happen to him.

A/N: Well um, Ashdown got what was coming. Do you think he deserved what he got? Or Cameron should've let him go?