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Skynet Spreads

"Well, get talking," Jekyll said, indicating an empty seat. As the man sat down, Sawyer briefly noted that it was the seat he'd used during his early days on the Nautilus, before the others had started to insist he use Quartermain's old chair.

"Firstly, you should be aware of what I am," the man began. "I am, as you have guess from a possible future; I am a cybernetic organism from a reality where machines rule the world, living tissue grafted over a metallic skeleton that is capable of delivering and absorbing incredible punishment in a fight-"

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" Nemo said, looking slightly unsure about interrupting. "You are a what?"

"A robot, Nemo," Hartdegen said. He was staring at the man with an expression that now closely resembled awe. "A machine made in the appearance of a man, capable of thinking for itself. I never thought I'd see one for myself."

"It would be more accurate to refer to me as a 'cybernetic organism', not a robot, Alexander Hartdegen," the man said, turning back to the inventor. "But your description is generally accurate."

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, what exactly do we call you?" Sawyer asked, deciding that they might as well get that piece of information out of the way first.

"My design is known as the T- 101, the 'T' standing for 'Terminator'," the man explained. "Following my being reprogrammed by the human resistance of the time for the purposes of this mission, some of them began to call me 'Terry' on some rare occasions. I suggest you do the same."

"Sure thing," Skinner said, sitting back in his chair and placing his feet up on the table. "So... Terry, what's the situation?"

"As I mentioned, I am from an alternate future where machines rule the world," the man, who they were already starting to think of as Terry, continued. "This intelligence is called 'Skynet', and it is currently attempting to spread its influence out through other realities."

"Wait a minute; it wants to control other universes as well? Can it do that?" Mina asked.

"Yes," Terry replied. "The capability for Skynet to be constructed exists in all realities; it is simply that certain things happened in the other worlds that prevented it happening. For some of these realities, it would completely fail in any attempt to ensure its existence, so is not even attempting to alter things there. But for some realities, including this one, it has a chance at ensuring its creation occurs."

"Which is?" Mina asked.

"It was your future protégés that prevented the activation of Skynet in this reality," Terry explained. "In order to ensure that they never exist, they have dispatched another Terminator- the T-X, or Terminatrix- to destroy you."

"And they sent you back to... what? Help us?" Hartdegen asked. "Why? They don't even know us, if I'm following you correctly."

"True. However, they view that whatever does not aid Skynet's power cannot fail to help them. Therefore, they have dispatched me to help you fight the T-X. You shall need it."

"How's that?" Skinner said, looking annoyingly unconcerned. "This T-X thingy can't be that tough, right?"

Terry didn't answer. Instead, he got up out of his seat, walked over Skinner, grabbed him by the neck, and hauled him up so far that his feet reached Terry's knees.

"What the... Put him down!" Sawyer yelled, getting up and punching Terry in the back of the head. However, all he achieved for his efforts was a sore hand.

Terry dropped Skinner to the ground, where the invisible man lay gasping for air, and then looked back at Sawyer.

"That was a demonstration of my abilities," he explained, as Mina got out of her seat and joined her lover as he massaged his bruised hand. "I could conceivably hold down even your strongest members, can outrace your fastest members on the ground. And I am only an obsolete model; the T-X is far in advance of that. The T-X is stronger, faster, and more intelligent. It is capable of matching your most powerful members in a fist fight, can change its appearance into anything it has touched, and it has built-in weaponry systems that include a plasma cannon, a flamethrower, and a circular saw."

"Ah," Sawyer said, as he got up while rubbing his sore hand. "How much punishment can it take?"

"A great deal," Terry replied. "Guns can damage it, but the majority of damage is repaired fairly quickly, and even lost limbs can grow back in a matter of minutes. Its weapons can be destroyed, but it is not the easiest thing to do; you would require a large amount of destructive force."

"Is there any way that we can destroy the T-X itself?" Nemo asked.

"If you can trigger off an explosion with it at the centre, it will more likely than not be annihilated," Terry replied. "However, whether or not you will actually be able to hold it down long enough for that to work is another matter."

"What does it normally look like?" Nemo said. "It may be capable of changing its appearance, but it must possess a default form it can change into at times."

"It does," Terry replied. "Its default form is normally that of a blond- haired woman, whom I believe is attractive by human standards."

"You 'believe' it is?" Skinner asked, as he finally fully recovered his breath. "Let me guess, standards of human beauty weren't considered part of your 'need-to-know' commands?"

"Correct," Terry replied.

"Do you know where she is right now?" Hartdegen asked, looking ready to go. "At present, she is located in a ship directly above us, murdering the crew. Once they are all terminated, she will sink the ship and then board the Nautilus to destroy you all," Terry replied, as calmly as if he was listing a shopping list.

The League all stared in horror at that pronouncement. Then, Hartdegen broke the silence.

"WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?!" he yelled at the others, as he leapt up out of his seat. "WE HAVE TO SURFACE!!"

"Negative, Alexander Hartdegen," Terry said, looking back at the American. "To encourage a battle with the T-X is inadvisable. You are not even fully prepared for its full capabilities in a fight."

"Mr. Terminator," Sawyer said (He doubted that was the right thing to call him, but 'Terry' by itself, when actually said out loud to someone, just sounded stupid), "to date, we have battled a vampire, an army of highly evolved humans from the far future, and an army of men who outnumbered us by God-only-knows how many to one, and always come out on top. I think we'll be able to hold our own against this... 'T-X'. Besides, surely it's better for us to pick the battleground than to let the T-X choose it? At least if we fight it up there we'll be the only ones at stake; down here we'd have to worry about protecting Nemo's crew as well."

Terry was silent for a few seconds. Then he nodded.

"A fair point, Thomas Sawyer," he said, nodding.

"Good. Well, now that's settled, let us rise!" Sawyer smiled, as the League and Terry got up and began to walk towards the Nautilus's control room.

*****

A few minutes later, on the surface of the ocean, the long, high, silvery- white form of the Nautilus rose up from the ocean. The water was churning terribly from the wind and rain, battering the sleek form of Nemo's incredible ship, but it was still standing strong and steady despite all that.

The League had all gathered on the observation tower, Nemo having left instructions with his crew that, as soon as they saw the League leap off the Nautilus, and if Nemo was with them, they were to go back underwater and not resurface until contacted by Hyde. The contact method was really very simple; Hyde would dive down and wave into the window of the control room before he subsequently resurfaced, followed by the Nautilus.

The League were mostly shivering slightly against the cold. Mina and Terry were well enough, even though Terry was still wearing what he'd put on for the meeting and Mina was now wearing her usual combat attire of a black velvet jacket, black leather bust, and long black skirt. Sawyer, Nemo, Hartdegen and Jekyll, on the other hand, were all wearing massive coats, and Skinner was down in the control room with Nemo's crew; he had decided to forgo participating in this mission. The League had learned from Terry that the T-X was capable of detecting the body heat of a human being, so Skinner's invisibility wouldn't have been of any use in the fight.

Right now, the League were trying to decide who should stay on the Nautilus with Skinner. They were fairly sure that Hartdegen should be one of them; everyone regarded him as part of the League, but he acknowledged that his strength lay in acquiring technology, and not in actual hand-to-hand combat with a far more powerful foe.

Still, he'd managed to track down a few good weapons for Terry to use against the T-X, all of which were currently in Terry's pockets or on straps around his chest, so he felt he'd already made a decent contribution to this battle.

Right now, the League were just trying to decide whether Sawyer or Nemo would battle the T-X with Terry, Hyde and Mina.

"OK then," Sawyer said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. Both had been attempting to convince the other that they would do better in this fight than them; Nemo would be better able to work out how to destroy it, but Sawyer was more experienced in actual combat, especially at long range. Eventually, they'd decided to toss for it. "Pick. Heads or tails?"

"Tails," Nemo said, spitting a little bit of water out of his beard.

Sawyer tossed the coin up and caught it. He slapped it down onto the back of his left hand, and lifted it up.

The coin showed heads.

Sawyer looked up at Nemo and grinned through the rain drenching his face. "Well, looks like you're in charge of the rescue mission."

"It would appear so," Nemo replied, simply nodding as he began to follow Hartdegen off the tower; Skinner hadn't joined them because he knew for a fact he wouldn't be coming, and Hartdegen had just wanted to wish the League luck.

*****

As the two inventors vanished from the steps, Sawyer turned to face the others.

"So, shall we go?" he asked, cocking one quizzical eyebrow.

"We shall," Jekyll said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his serum. Shrugging his coat off, he uncorked the serum and swallowed it in one before he threw the bottle to the side before the changes began.

As the mutation started Mina, Sawyer and Terry stepped to the side to allow Jekyll the space he'd need once the transformation was over. In a few seconds, the hulking form of Edward Hyde was standing on the deck.

Growling, he looked up at the torrential rain that was covering him. "Never had a fight in this situation before," he grunted as he looked over at Terry. "Any chance this T-X won't be on top form in the rain either?"

"No," Terry replied. "The T-X is perfectly constructed to operate at peak efficiency under any circumstances. Water will barely slow it down."

"Well, scratch that idea," Hyde said, as he stuck out his arms and scooped up Sawyer and Terry. He glanced over at Mina quizzically. "You flying over there, or should I give you a lift as well?"

"I'll fly, thank you Mr Hyde," Mina replied, as she closed her eyes. Instantly two massive bat-like wings sprouted from her shoulders, each spreading to almost the length of Hyde's arms. "See you all on the ship," she said, before she flapped her wings and rose up into the sky.