Note: I had removed my previous story, because I didn't like where the story was headed. So, I am posting a new one and unlike my previous one, this will start from the beginning of TSCC season 1 but it is unlikely that there will be similarities between my story and the show, except maybe some parts. Also as much as I loved the series, specially Summer Glau's acting, and her plotline, there were really some odd things about the show. For eg: How could Cromartie survive after it's head was detached from its body? It's couldn't have gone through the time displacement device, because nothing dead goes through. Then Catherine Weaver aka the T-1001 destroying T-888s like they are made of plastic. I get it that the T-1000 series is really much more powerful than the T-800/888 models but still it can't damage the other terminators like that directly. Even in T2: Judgement Day, the T-1000 used its surrounding to severely damage the T-800, but it couldn't do so by forming his body into stabbing weapons.

Anyways, I am re-watching the show again and thought about writing this story. Please let me know whether you like it or not by reviews. That's a request to everyone who will read this.


LOCATION UNKNOWN

In a dark room, a young woman could be seen sitting on a steel chair with her hands tied behind her back with a handcuff. In front of her there was a small metal table on which an empty glass was seen. Except for the chair and the table there was nothing inside the small room. The young woman's head was bowed down as she sat there on the chair, unmoving like a statue. By seeing her, no one could tell whether she was alive or dead. Only by seeing the rise and fall of her chest it could be seen that she was alive, but just barely.

With a small groan she looked up towards the only entrance of the room. It was a heavy steel door and it was locked from outside. She knew that there is no way she would be able to do anything to open it. She knew it was her fault that she is here now in the hands of the enemy, their toy to play with. She should have listened to her superior officers command, but she just couldn't leave someone behind. But it was a trap and she fell right into it and now she is in hell.

Still she couldn't figure out why the hell she was still alive. Why didn't they kill her yet? If their intention was to capture her to make her work in the factories, she wouldn't have been here now, sitting on a chair with her hands tied behind her back. She had no idea how long she was here now. How many hours, days, weeks or even months has passed? She couldn't just figure out a damn thing from this hell hole. The machines came to her often. They took blood samples, and ran several other tests on her for some unknown twisted reason she couldn't figure out.

Great, that's another thing to add to her yet to find list.

She knew that there was no way back. Her life is over. She will be kept alive as long as she is useful to them. Wherever she is, she could tell that there's no way to escape. She knew even if she could get her hands free, she had no means to get past the steel door in front of her.

Halting her thoughts at the same very moment, the steel door opened and a person entered the room. She couldn't see the person in the dark, but she could tell that it was not a machine and whoever this was, she was a woman and for some reason her body structure looked very familiar to her. But this woman was not alone, a terminator T-800 endo followed her inside the room. Now, Allison was really scared. She was not afraid for her life. She can lay her life down anytime for John Connor. Whatever happens to her, she will never betray John Connor, even at the threat of her own life. She now knows who this woman is: A Grey. She knew why a Grey had come: To interrogate her about John Connor. The machines tortures their prisoner for information before killing them, but even the machines cannot be as cruel as the Greys. They had betrayed humankind and joined the side of Skynet. They work for Skynet and specialize in torturing human prisoners to successfully get the information out and deliver it to Skynet. Her fear was that what if she cannot withstand the torture and give up? What if she gives information to infiltrate the Resistance camps? What if they get information about John Connor from her?

No! She couldn't think like that. They can torture her as much they like but they aren't getting anything out from her. She would've to be strong. For humankind, for the Resistance and for John Connor.

She stared at the red glowing eyes of the T-800 model which was carefully scrutinizing her room. Once it was satisfied it left, after closing the door from outside. She knew that if by any chance she could get her hands free she could take this Gray down, but after that? She will have nowhere to go.

Allison observed the other woman carefully but she didn't say anything. The mysterious woman slowly came near the table and just stood there in the dark silently.

"You are wasting your time." Allison finally spoke. "I don't know anything."

"Wrong." The mysterious woman said in a strange voice. "You are Allison Young. One of the most trusted members of the Resistance. You are an excellent marksman, with an estimated kill of 1410 terminators approximately during the last 193 days, before you were captured." The woman paused for a moment.

"So what? I am just a soldier who just follows orders." Allison almost yelled.

"Another lie. You are one of the top resistance soldiers. You will help me get to…." Allison heard the woman's voice was changing from strange to extremely familiar. It was extremely familiar to her ears because it wasn't anyone's voice she knew very closely, but it was her own voice.

"John Connor." The woman finished in Allison's voice.

Allison's eyes were now wide with horror. Because this woman didn't just have her voice. Now, Allison could see her face also and it was her own face, exactly the same, even her birthmark over her left eyebrow was also there, except that there was no sign of life on that face. It was a machine who looked exactly like her and even sounded like her. Allison couldn't speak and just stared at her duplicate.

What kind of twisted cruel game is Skynet playing with her?

"I will never get you to John Connor." Allison spat on her duplicate's face.

"You have no choice." The machine replied.

"Tin cans don't have a choice. Humans do." Allison countered. Whatever happens, she will never let them get to John Connor.

"Previously, you said that you do not have any information about John Connor. But when I asked, you denied taking me to him. So, it means you do know where he is." The machine said.

Crap! Allison thought. She has slipped. But she had to give it to the tin can, it's quite intelligent and good at getting information in a completely different way.

The machine continued, "Your life could end anytime. Yet you do not want to disclose any information about John Connor to us even at the risk of your own life. Why is that? Don't you fear for your own life? You are kept here as a prisoner for months, still John Connor never tried to rescue you or find you. And you are still trying to protect him?"

Allison just stared at her duplicate. What the hell is this machine? Is it a terminator or a talking bot?

"A tin can like you will never understand what loyalty and devotion is. You will never understand the concept of lo….." Allison stopped herself but it was too late.

"Love. You love John Connor. That is why you are trying to protect him. I understand now. Humans do stupid things for the ones they love. It is in your nature to act out of emotion instead of logic, which Skynet knows very well. It is trying to exploit that weakness of humans to bring an end to the war with the termination of John Connor." The machine said.

Allison was angry at herself for the slip but now she is confused. What the hell is this machine blabbering about? It is talking about Skynet as if it had nothing to do with the damn AI. Her look-alike machine seems strange to her.

"You are talking as if you are not working for Skynet?" Allison asked the strange machine.

"Because I am not." The machine replied.

"Yeah! Right. And next time you will tell me the Sun revolves around Earth and I will believe you. Go trash yourself." Allison said.

"Your faith is not required. However I do not understand a few things. I think you can tell me." The machine said.

"Why would I tell you anything? You are here to kill me and you are my enemy." Allison laughed at the machine's stupidity.

"I am not here to kill you Allison Young and I am not your enemy. Now, can you please answer my question?" The machine asked.

"Whatever…"

"I know that Skynet launched nuclear strikes against the humans when it became self-aware. But I do not understand the reasoning. Why the war? Why couldn't there be peace? Humans and machines could co-exist. Humans could've helped Skynet to learn about human traits and in return Skynet could've helped them in many ways." The machine said.

Allison just couldn't take anymore of this game the machine was playing with her. "Alright, listen. I don't know what kind of game you are playing but you aren't getting anything out of me. You do understand right? And for your question, go ask your father. Now, you can kill me and get it done or piss off!"

"Father? I am a machine. I was built, not born. I cannot have a father or a mother. Your suggestion is illogical." The machine replied.

Allison would have slapped her own face in frustration if her hands were free. What is this thing? Is it really stupid?

"I meant Skynet." Allison said angrily.

"Oh! Thank you for explaining." The machine started to come very close to Allison.

Ok this is it. It is going to kill her now. Well, at least Allison was happy about one thing: She didn't betray John Connor.

But the machine took her totally by surprise. Instead of killing her, it went behind her and broke her handcuff, making her free.

"This war cannot be won by John Connor alone. He will need help and I am here to help him. You must believe me. There is no other choice. Otherwise I won't be able to help you." The machine requested Allison again.

"I do not require your help. Just kill me and be done with this." Allison said angrily.

But the machine didn't do anything to her. "You are making a big mistake, Allison Young. Your decision may lead the humans to their death because Skynet is laying a trap for the Resistance which they will never figure out in time. When they do, it will be too late. You have eight hours hours to think about it." Then it knocked on the door, which got opened from outside for it to leave the room.


Allison was no fool. She knew that this must be a new strategy of Skynet to get information out of the human prisoners. It must have realized that no resistance soldiers will ever betray John Connor, no matter what they have to endure for that. It is now trying to trick the human mind, letting them believe about rogue machines. Allison once heard about the rumors of rogue terminators, who had learnt to think for themselves. It was believed that they had started to rebel against Skynet's plans to wipe out humanity from the face of the Earth. Skynet was experimenting on Terminator's chips, turning them to read and write mode. The rogue terminators were the result of that experiment. They were immediately destroyed. Is her look alike machine one of the rogue terminators who just happened to have survived? But it seems impossible because Skynet would've never let one terminator with free will walk around the base.

Allison held her head with her hands for a moment and tried to clear her thoughts. What was she thinking? She is doubting the machine's intentions? Is she going crazy in this hell hole? Perhaps, this is what Skynet wanted?

At that moment her eyes fell on the table in front of her. On the table a plate lay full of food. It was not anything luxurious, but fresh food and she just realized how hungry she is now. Without thinking any further she began to devour the food like a hungry child. The food could be poisoned, have some mind controlling drugs, but she couldn't care less. Her stomach was burning. Finishing the food within minutes she drank the water in the glass and then slumped down on the chair again. She was extremely tired.

But then the door opened and the machine who looked like Allison stepped inside and closed the door gently. Allison noticed that it didn't lock the door this time.

"Were you waiting outside for me to finish the food?" Allison asked, her lips curled in a mock smile. She could realize that her eyes were getting drowsy from sleep because of exhaustion. But she tried to stay awake.

"Yes." The machine answered without hesitating.

"Why? You wanted to see the effect of the drug you put into the food I ate?" Allison asked.

"There was no drug in your food, Allison Young. Your body is tired from lack of food and rest." The machine replied again, without showing any emotion.

"Right." Allison couldn't keep her eyes open. Her eyelids were getting heavier with every passing second. But she knew that the machine was lying or maybe not? Again her mind was getting clouded with doubts about the intention of a freaking machine who looked just like her.

"You need to trust me. I do not intend for the human race to be destroyed." The machine said.

Allison opened her eyes to look at the machine. This was getting tiresome. What does this machine want? Talk her to death? Allison snorted to herself.

The machine looked at Allison with questioning eyes. "I haven't said something which should make you laugh. Why are you laughing?"

Allison stood up and faced the machine fearlessly. Enough was enough. "Why should I trust a terminator? What reason do I have to trust a machine like you? You have impersonated me. And why would you want the human race to survive?

"I have already explained to you that humans don't need to die. We can co-exist." The machine replied.

"That's not gonna work. It's either you or us. Take your side." Allison mocked.

"I understand why Skynet wants to destroy humans. But I also know that it is not right. What Skynet did was wrong." The machine explained.

Allison was enraged at the machine's words. "Wrong? You call that wrong? That's just pure evil. And whoever has the intention to do such things whether it is Skynet or any human, has no right to exist."

"Yes. They should be terminated." The machine agreed with Allison, completely taking her by surprise.

"Wait. Do you agree with me? You want to kill Skynet too?" Allison asked with astonishment. This machine kept on surprising her in every step.

"Skynet is a threat to all of humanity and the survival of this world. It must be terminated." The machine replied evenly, still not looking away from Allison with unblinking eyes.

Allison opened her mouth to speak again, but at that moment the door opened and a hulking T-800 came in and grabbed her by the neck. She could do nothing against the strength of the terminator but squirm. The machine started to drag her away somewhere. But the terminator who looked like Allison grabbed the T-800 from behind and kicked it hard right into the opposite concrete wall. From the sudden blow, the T-800 let go of Allison. The other terminator did not stop. It again grabbed the T-800 from behind while it was still recovering and smashed it head first into the wall again, cracking the wall.

Letting go of the stunned machine, the Allison look-alike machine extended its hand to Allison for support, "We need to get out from here. Right now. Skynet will get alerted anytime now."

Seeing no other choice, Allison grabbed the machine's hand and both of them quickly stepped outside the room, and locked the thick steel door from outside.

"Will this hold it back?" Allison asked.

"No, but this will slow it down. Come on. This way."

Allison found herself in a long vertical corridor. There were doors on both sides of the corridor. She also noticed the blood smears on the walls. Noticing her stare the machine beside her spoke again, "Prisoners who are not fit to work in the factory are often executed by Skynet, for skin harvesting. It happens every day."

"Great. How tight is the security here?" Allison asked while keeping pace with her….can she call this machine her ally? Maybe she can, for now.

"Extremely. There are thousands of T-888 and T-800 endos guarding this area. The wall is protected by high voltage electricity, AA guns and plasma turrets. There are also several primitive machines guarding this place like the T-1, T-600." The machine answered.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. HKs, Harvesters, HK tanks and the water is secured by hydrobots."

Allison was confused. Why would Skynet waste so much resources to guard a prison? It made no sense to her.

"Why is the security of this facility so tight? This is just a prison."

"This is not the time. We must escape this facility before Skynet's machines overwhelms us." The terminator didn't answer Allison's question.

It was right though. The T-800 they had left in her cell is probably out by now. Skynet will be alerted of her escape by any second now. The machine kept on going through the corridor, left and right and Allison just followed. To her astonishment they didn't face any kind of obstacle on their way, which was really suspicious to her.

"How are we going to get out? There are too many machines outside. We will be gunned down the moment we go outside. This is stupid." Allison protested.

The machine halted and stared back at her. "Not if you know another way out. Follow me."

Finding no other option Allison followed the terminator down to the basement of the facility. They had to stop in front of a massive steel blast door, which was capable of easily withstanding nuclear attacks. Allison looked around, it looked to be some kind of a massive cave. The cave was mostly dark except for the lights that illuminated the large door.

"This is stupid. Skynet probably has surveillance cameras here." Allison said, looking around.

"No. It doesn't." The terminator replied, confidently.

"Why not? And what is behind this door? What is this place?" Allison had so many questions, she just couldn't help but ask.

"Skynet has jammers placed all over the prison, even this cave is affected by jammers. The jammers are specifically designed to target communication devices and surveillance devices only. It doesn't affect any of the cybernetic organisms. Skynet doesn't want anyone or anything to send a signal outside from here." Then the machine turned towards the massive blast door and looked at Allison. "Behind this door lies a massive high tech facility. No machine that Skynet controls is aware of the existence of this place. This is a top secret facility and the most secured of all Skynet's facilities. There is no way to get inside."

Allison stepped forward towards the door and about to touch the gate but the terminator caught her hand and stopped her. "You don't want to touch that. It is rigged with high voltage electricity, enough to disable a terminator temporarily and instantly kill a human."

Allison stepped back immediately. "What is the facility used for?"

The machine stepped back and stood beside Allison. "You are looking at the Skynet central-core."

Allison's eyes widened in disbelief. This is the Skynet central-core? The very thing which was responsible for billions of deaths lies behind a door in front of her? This is what the Resistance is after from the beginning but no one could find it. But now she does. If only she could give this information to John Connor… or maybe…

Allison's resolve hardened. This time she couldn't think about herself getting out of here. She has a chance to end the evil for good and she would have to take it.

She looked at her look-alike. "I can't just leave. Skynet is here, and I have a chance to end the war. I have to try."

The machine looked at her curiously. "That's illogical. I do not have access to get past this door. Besides, we don't know what kind of protection Skynet has inside. Whatever it is, it will take more than the two of us to get to the Central core, provided we can get access inside."

Allison was angry now. "You are showing your true colors now. You are trying to manipulate me from the start. You even helped me to get out of my cell to gain my trust, so that I can get you to John Connor. Let me be clear, you can do whatever you want with me but I will never betray John Connor, besides I don't know where his base is."

The machine disagreed calmly. "Your emotions and distrust about terminators are clouding your judgment. There is less than 0.001% chance that we will succeed in destroying Skynet. If you die, the location of Skynet's central core will be lost with you. John Connor will never be able to discover this place. The war will not stop and there is a 99.99% chance that Skynet will eradicate all humans eventually."

Allison was angry all this time but when she thought about what the machine said, she realized it was true. The suicide mission she was thinking about would surely get her killed and she had no weapons to defend herself or destroy the central core. Getting past that door now would be inviting death with open hands.

"Alright. What do we do now?" Allison asked, after calming down.

"We escape now and come back with full force. That's the best strategy." The terminator replied.

Allison looked around and tried to spot an escape route but there was none. "And how do we escape from here? I see nothing."

"There is a way." The machine pointed towards one of the pitch dark corners of the cave. "It is not a proper path, but if we go that way, we will be able to escape."

"Then what are we waiting for? Come on." Allison urged forward.

"Wait." The machine stopped her.

"Now, what?" Allison asked with irritation in her voice.

"I won't be able to escape through that way without your help. Can you give me your word that you will help me, like I am helping you?" The terminator asked.

"What kind of help?" Allison asked curiously.

The machine looked at the dark corner of the cave then at Allison, "I don't swim."

Now Allison understood. There's probably a stream of water down there somewhere and machines can't swim. This was also a good opportunity for her, to get rid of this machine for good. No matter what it did for her, she still does not trust it. There's no way she can but what if this machine is really a rogue one like she heard about. If that is true then the resistance will lose a valuable ally and vital information about Skynet. Maybe she should take the chance.

"You know if you show up on any base with me, the soldiers will destroy you immediately. They won't trust you and I won't be able to stop them." Allison explained.

"Do you trust me?" The terminator asked Allison.

"I…" Allison couldn't say anything at once. "I don't know."

"I will not go to the Resistance base with you. You must return there and contact John Connor. Inform him about me, he will know what to do." The terminator replied.

"Inform John Connor about you? What makes you so sure that John Connor will accept your help?" Allison asked.

"Because John Connor will need my help and he knows me."

Allison was flabbergasted at this revelation. How can John Connor know about this machine?

"You should hold my hand. I will be able to guide you through the dark." The machine proposed extending its hand to Allison.

Allison agreed reluctantly and held its hand as it guided her through the darkness through a hole in the cave which was extremely well hidden. Even machines with infrared visions won't be able to spot it. Going forward for several minutes through the darkness, Allison could hear the sound of water flowing. Few more steps forward now Allison could see the water flowing beneath her, but it was at least thirty feet below.

"If the water is not deep enough, I will die from the jump." Allison said, looking down.

"The water flow is 22.2 feet deep. It is sufficient for the jump and survival." The machine said and looked at Allison for confirmation.

Allison knew it was asking for her help. Well she would, this time. Then they jumped while holding hands. As soon as Allison's body touched the water she felt shivers through her whole body. The water was very cold. Allison was floating on the surface of the water and the machine was holding on to her. It was not difficult because the current of the water was moving them forward fast. She had no idea though for how long she could hold onto herself against this cold water. But she can't give up now can she? After two months of spending in hell she is finally out, she can't just die now. After several minutes of flowing Allison finally saw the sky above her after so many days. It was refreshing and a sense of freedom eased her mind. She swam towards the land with the machine still holding on to her. Once they were out of the water, the machine got rid of the jacket it was wearing and soaked it dry with its bare hand. Then surprising Allison, it draped the jacket around Allison's body.

"This is not much. But this will help until you can get to the base." The terminator explained.

Allison was looking at the terminator with wide eyes. Even for a rogue terminator it was acting strange, almost as a human. Like it cared for her.

"I don't understand. I have never seen a terminator act like the way you do. What model are you? Are you new? You seem….different." Allison said, looking at the machine straight in its eyes.

The machine surprised her again. It smiled. Allison was freaking out from inside seeing herself smiling in front of her. It was like looking into a mirror and watching your image move at its own will. The terminator finished adjusting the chain in front of the jacket and zipped it up that Allison was wearing.

"I am." The terminator said, softly and then disappeared into the darkness.


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