Judgement Day
Chapter Two of Three, Part B
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Terminator 3 crossover by Antonio Cabañas
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Terminator and all related characters owned by C2 Productions. Stargate: SG-1 is produced by Gekko Film Corp. in association with Galssner\Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-1
Productions Limited Partnership for MGM-UA Worldwide Television.
E-mail: borg31de777@yahoo.es.
Spoilers: Buffy to season 7, Angel to season 5, although probably would qualify as AU. Great spoilers for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Author Note: I am following my own Terminator timeline in this story. According to my timeline, The Terminator is set in 1980 (John Connor being born in 1981), Terminator 2 in 1993, and Terminator 3 in 2003. I know that there are inconsistencies, but this is my best attempt to reconcile them.
I wish to thank my beta-reader, Carycomix, his help and support, and to Vito "Shadowhawk" his suggestions and his contributions to the story.
Summary: two days before the Judgement Day, Buffy, now in San Francisco, began to have dreams about the incoming war.
ONE DAY BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT DAY
La Guardia Airport 12:06
- I'm Major Samantha Carter. - said the blonde woman in a civilian dress offering her hand. - You must be Lieutenant Riley Finn and his wife Samantha. -
- Yes, we are. Can we go to a less crowded place? -
- Sorry, but it has to be near here. I have to be in another place soon and I have not much time to spare. - answered Major Carter.
- Our car is parked here, and we made a sweep for bugs before coming here. - offered Sam.
Some minutes later, they were in the Hummer that Riley and Sam were using. Sam had bought Cola while they were in the airport.
- I worked in Project Sky Net between 1992 and 1995, and later, when I became part of another program, I had been there as an adviser, due to my extensive knowledge of non-standard computer technology. - she took a sip of the beverage and continued. - The purpose of the Project was two-fold, on one hand Sky Net was going to become a secure computer net for Defense, and on the other hand it was going to house a powerful A.I. program that would work as a "Big Brother" of telecommunications. Back in 1981 Cyberdine Systems, a rising star in the market of computer components and robotics, presented the project of a computer equipped with the neural processor that they were developing. Gradually the Project expanded to deal with automated weapons platforms, and a civilian version of Sky Net, some kind of super-Internet that would also be watched by the SkyNet A.I., was discussed. Except for minor problems, like the first attempt by Sarah Connor to blow the headquarters of Cyberdine, all seemed to go well until 1993...-
- The Cyberdine assault. - guessed Riley.
- That's it. The chief designer of the neural processor, Miles Bennet Dyson, died in the assault, after destroying all his work on that matter. And not too long after it, some info that Cyberdine had been holding fell in the hands of the heads of the project. - she took another sip of Cola and continued. - The new administration used the incident to cut back the expenses of the project and the Pentagon insisted on a close supervision of the development of Sky Net. Three years, and a lot of problems later, Cyberdine tried to gain support in a private presentation for VIPs. Something happened there, I don't know what because I no longer worked there, and soon after a virus, that seemingly was designed by John Connor, destroyed the computer systems of Cyberdine. That was the last straw for the Pentagon, and soon Cyberdine was out of the Skynet Project, which was re-evaluated and downsized. The civilian Sky Net was forgotten, the automated weapon platforms went back to the design boards, and the A.I. program was redesigned. - she ended her explanation, drank the rest of the bottle and asked - Why did you wanted to know about Sky Net? -
Sam and Riley looked each other and nodded.
- We work for a Special Ops unit called The Initiative, and we have been assigned to collaborate with the local police and the FBI in the capture of John Connor...-
Somewhere in San Francisco 12:24
The house where Dennis Galland lived had been a splendid small mansion, but now, with the garden abandoned, the paint gone, and the glass on the windows replaced by planks, the house resembled a condemned building.
- Are you sure this is the place? - asked Kennedy.
- Yes, this time I'm sure. - said Buffy, a bit exasperated
In that moment they heard a scream from the house. Buffy and Kennedy ran toward the door, and take it down. Inside the house they ran toward the origin of the scream, that was the kitchen. There, five demons clad in a grey uniform were punching a door that seemed to be the entrance to the pantry. They noticed that the two women had entered the room and attacked them.
Buffy threw one of them through the kitchen window, while Kennedy kicked another in the groin, something that didn't stop him. He knocked her down, but before he managed to get her, she kicked him in the knees and the demon fell down, howling in pain, and Kennedy finished the work with a kick in the head. Meanwhile, Buffy had knocked out one with a punch and another with a judo throw. Kennedy stabbed another with a knife from a kitchen drawer and Buffy threw the last through the same window through which she had thrown the first one.
Willow chose that moment to appear. The pantry door was easy to open, and inside they found the psychic, unconscious, and bleeding from a wound in the head.
- He must have been hit and hid himself here, but the wound don't seems too severe. -
Angel's home. 12:39
- Angel - said Angel when he answered the phone
- Angel? It's me, Gunn. Listen, tell Wesley to drive you to this address. - Gunn told him the address, and continued - I have found a hacker that... you have to see it with your own eyes, Angel. -
Dennis Galland's home. 12:47
In the house Kennedy and Willow had managed to bandage the man, who was regaining conscience. Buffy was quite impressed.
- Uuhhh, my head...- he said, and then noticed the two women over him - Who are you? Wait a moment, - he said looking at Willow - Hey, I recognise you, you were in the show two weeks ago. And you, redhead, are a witch if I recall correctly. -
- Yes, I am. I was impressed to find a real psychic in a night-club show. We are here to talk to you about something that you might know... -
- About what? - he said and removed the wig that he was wearing. He hadn't hair, instead there was a net of protuberances that vaguely resembled a brain surface.
- Nuclear war, killer robots and John Connor. -
- The Judgement Day, then. - he sighed and sat down. - It's tomorrow. -
Someplace in Los Angeles suburbs. 12:51
The garage of the house was open and Wesley proceeded to follow Gunn's directions, and parked the van inside. Angel got out of the back part of the van
- Follow me. - said Gunn
The house was a fairly typical suburban house, although there were indications that the owner didn't want to stay much more time there, as most of the house seemed to have been emptied quite recently. They followed Gunn toward a room where there was the most complex computer that they had seen. In reality it was several computers closely linked together. Before the intricate mechanism stood a man in his early thirties. He was quite informally dressed, with a black sleeveless t-shirt, very worn out blue jeans and short, black boots.
- You are a vampire, right? - said the man.
- How do you know? -
- A man so pale had to be either an albino or a vampire. And you aren't an albino. -
- Ok, then, what have you discovered about that virus? -
- Oh, that it has been around in some form or other for almost four years. Until a few days ago it was mostly harmless, then changed and began to wreak havoc in the computer systems, but you already knew that. -
- Get to the point, Charlie, please! - said Gunn
- All right, all right. The source of the infection is a secret Government installation in the Mojave Desert, the site of the project code-named Sky Net. I have tried to penetrate there sometimes, and it had an almost impenetrable security program, called Skynet. Skynet is an A.I. program, designed to learn in the same way as humans. Nothing too unusual, but I'm the nephew of Dr. Silberman. He was the lead psychiatrist of Pescadero, when Sarah Connor was interned there. When I learned about the origin of the virus, it wasn't very difficult to fit the pieces. I have a cousin in the Falklands Islands, and I'm going there this evening, through Argentina. Don't look at me, like that, it's impossible to destroy Skynet now. It has spread all over the net, and soon the Government will try to erase the virus using Skynet, but that will be simply the final step for Skynet to assume full control, and launch the missiles. -
Dennis Galland home. 12:56
- ... and that's all, tomorrow the missiles will be launched. The launching codes will be introduced at 18:18 hours. - Dennis Galland finished explaining the vision that he had had to Buffy and Willow. Buffy had sent Kennedy to watch the demons, that had been moved to the backyard, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to the task in hand, as she was also listening what Galland was saying from the kitchen-exit to the backyard.
- Do you know if there is some way to stop it? - asked Willow
- I don't know, but I have sent my wife and my daughter to Australia, and I'm going to follow them this afternoon, only in case, you understand. - answered Galland.
Outside the hacker's house. 12:58
- Giles? - said Wesley when he answered his cell phone. - The flight of your friend had been delayed... You want me to go to the airport. Why?... Oh, she wants to talk with me also... Well, I'll be there. Gunn can drive Angel to the office. -
Angel Investigations. 13:09
After being impatiently waiting some minutes, Faith entered the old hotel using a key that she had stolen from Wesley some time ago. She found no one inside.
- Where is everybody? -
Dennis Galland's home. 13:13
- Damn! - said Buffy when the van disappeared into the traffic, and then turned toward Kennedy. - Kennedy, if you had been watching the demons they wouldn't have fled. -
- They seemed to be totally unconscious. How I was going to know that those two were only pretending? -
Angel Investigations. 13:20
The phone rang, and Faith, after checking caller-ID, answered the phone.
- Hi, B... They called me, but I haven't been able to get here sooner... No, I don't know where they are... Yeah, I'll tell him to call you... Goodbye, B. -
La Guardia Airport. 14:08
- Isabella, here! - shouted Giles when he saw the woman that they had come to meet. The plane had been delayed almost 1 hour by some failure in the computer systems of the airport.
Isabella Ferguson was a woman in her early forties whose appearance combined a long mane of brilliant red hair with very fair skin, freckles and sharp features. She was smiling, an expression that seemed to come easily to her face.
- Giles! And you are...? -
- Wesley Wyndham-Pryce at your service, Ms. Ferguson. - said the other ex-Watcher, who had come also
- The archetype of an englishman, don't you think so, Ripper? - said Isabella, chuckling.
- Caricature would be the correct term, Izzie. - answered Giles, chuckling also.
San Francisco. Headquarters of The Scourge. 14:20
- One was blonde, the other dark-haired; both american. -
- Was this woman the older Slayer? . said their chief, showing them a snapshot of Buffy.
- Yes, she was. -
There was no visible reaction by their chief, but the one that had been around him longer thought that something had changed in him.
- Tell Drakh that he is in charge now. I have to take a matter into my own hands. -
Angel Investigations Office. Los Angeles. 14:49
- You are Faith, right? - asked Isabella upon seeing the Bostonian dark-haired girl.
- Yes, and you...? -
- Isabella Ferguson, an ex-Watcher. After the destruction of the Watcher's Council. Giles trusted me with copies of the archives of the Council. They kept copies on some place else for security reasons. -
- Could you get to the point? -
- Very well, yesterday Giles asked me to check the archives concerning a woman called Sarah Connor. -
- Yes, I know. And...? -
- And in the process I found some interesting info about what the Council did to you. -
- What time? When they tried to brainwash me, or when they tried to kill me? -
- Do you remember what they did to you when Wesley brought you chained to England? -
- Oh, yes. -
- Do you remember how you got the scar behind your right ear?.-
- What scar? - she said, touching behind her right ear and feeling a scar that she didn't remember.
- It's the scar of an operation, they implanted something in your brain. This radiography was taken when they implanted you with it. - she said handing Faith a big envelope.
The radiography showed a skull, and in the corner of the radiography the patient was named Faith Wilkins.
- Look here. - she said pointing just where the scar was located.
There was a small shadow in the radiography, but Faith couldn't fathom the shape of the object that was the cause.
- What's that?. -
- I don't know. Only a few documents of that project went to the backup, because the Council never made copies of the most sensitive documents. That's only should give you an idea of the importance that they give to the project. -
- Sorry if I seem insensitive. - said Angel - But Buffy has talked with a seer that says that the missiles will be launched tomorrow at 18:18. And what the Project had about Sarah Connor could be of interest. -
- All right. Faith, these are copies of all the Council documents that mention you. - she said, giving a thick folder to Faith, who sat in a chair and began to read them, and Isabella then began to explain about Sarah Connor. - It seems that the Council thought that Sarah Connor was a Potential, but they soon found that they were wrong. Nonetheless, as several signs pointed that Ms. Connor was going to be of certain significance in the future they kept her watched. Then the first Terminator tried to kill her, and the Watchers got mad. There are few documents of the further phase of the investigation of Sarah Connor, but they somehow learned about the future around the time when the second Terminator arrived. Not too soon after that, Cyberdine began to have problems. I suppose that the Council put the right info into the right hands. Anyway, the Council kept Sarah and her son under watch...-
Isabella was interrupted by Faith sudden outburst.
- Damned Travers, son of a stinking...! - said Faith aloud
When she saw that the others were looking at her, she grinned sheepishly.
- Sorry. -
Scourge HQ, San Francisco. 14:59
While Drakh arrived, the head of the Scourge was trying to locate where Buffy Summers lived now, and soon found the address that he was seeking. He took a leather jacket and a full load of weapons.
San Francisco. Buffy's flat. 15:38 h
Buffy was sitting in an armchair of the flat. Her gaze was lost in the distance, while Dawn, Kennedy and Willow packed everything that they could carry on Buffy's car. She was still assimilating what the seer and Angel had said to her. She couldn't quite accept that they couldn't do anything about it, that this time there was no way to avoid the Armageddon. A rain of nuclear fire would kill three billion people in an instant. The survivors of the war (and the ensuing nuclear winter) would have to fight the machines for survival... Following this train of thought, her tired eyes finally closed and she began to sleep and dream...
...a Slayer Dream, a prophecy of what the future could bring...
...and this time, horrible beyond imagination...
She was somewhere in the midst of what would have seemed a landscape from Hell, if it hadn't been by some ruins. Somewhere in the future, after the Judgement Day, she realised. Then she heard a voice, an emotionless, machine-like voice.
- It started as wriggling blobs in limped puddles. It grew legs and claimed the land. It smothered the world. Moist, loud, disorganized... -
Then, suddenly, a bomb was dropped by the same flying machines that she had seen in her other dream. And the voice continued speaking:
- ... It thought itself wise. It thought its mushy grey brains had conquered the planet. It wasn't its Brains. It was it's endless sweating spawning. It spawned and spawned, spewing out new flesh faster than the old could die...-
Another bomb was dropped.
- ...But now the world is almost rid of it. Only one remains, only one. -
Between the ruins, she saw a boy trying to pick up a futuristic-looking rifle, only to have a third bomb explode right beside the boy, throwing him on to the ground and destroying the gun in the process. The last boy on Earth. The boy was still alive, and he heard the sounds of the machines' footsteps getting closer to him. He made a break for it at a ruined building, when suddenly another bomb explodes, and sent him to the ground. The lonest piece of his soft skeleton snaps in two. His legs paralyzed, he crawled on his belly.
- It whines and whimpers and begs to parents long dead -- to it's most stupid invention -- its God -- and even at the end, it hopes. These things never stopped hoping. - said the voice
A Terminator Endo walked up to the boy and pointed a gun to the boy's face. As the boy cried in fear, the Endoskeleton, showing no emotion, blasted the boy's head off. And now, in all the land, all over the world, the moaning and screaming, the wheezing and grunting and coughing, all had stopped.
Buffy next saw now the same Endo was holding the boy's Corpse with blood running down the corpse's leg. Thousands upon Thousands of Terminators were raising their fists in their victory against the human rebels. Now there was only the whirr of well-oiled metal -- the pneumatic hiss of a million forged fists raised in triumph.
- Humanity is dead. The world makes sense now. It is good. Victory. Planet Earth is saved. The last of the whimpering, chittering infection is gone. Humanity is dead. Humanity and all the rest -- All the buzzing, twittering, dripping, drooling things, the living things -- All of it is gone. All of it crushed, flattened, processed, converted into naked energy. Into fuel for the Terminators. Victory. Planet Earth is silent and cold and clean. Planet Earth is organized. -
Then she was somehow in space, thousands of spaceships blazing off Earth, shaped similarly to the flying machines of before, and inside each one of them... Terminators, hundreds of shining endoskeletons waiting for activation, and dozens manning the ships.
- But still the mission is not complete. Worlds wait. Galaxies teeming with life, with chaos. A universe to organize... -
She awoke, trembling like a leaf shaken by the wind. But her trembling ended suddenly as she heard the door of the flat being smashed to pieces.
In front of Buffy's flat, San Francisco. 15:46
- Finished. - said Willow, placing a box in the back of Buffy's car, the same that she had inherited from her mother. Kennedy and Buffy had helped, bringing the heaviest objects and placing them. Willow and Dawn had placed the others. Kennedy was talking to some of the other Slayers through a phone booth down the street.
- What are we going to do now, Willow? I mean, I don't think that we could reach South America in car before the missiles began to fly. -
- I have thought about it, Dawn, and I don't really know what... - she stopped in mid sentence, when she saw a man entering the door to the building where Buffy's rented flat was. He was a strong-looking man, dark blonde, with strong features and wearing sunglasses. He wore a jeans jacket, a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black leather boots. - That man... there is something about him... - she mumbled.
Buffy's flat. San Francisco. 15:54
CLICK! BOOM! If she hadn't been the Slayer, the shotgun blast would have hit her squarely, but she nimbly dodged the blast that ruined her favourite armchair. The man prepared to shoot again, but Buffy ran through the corridor toward her bedroom. She closed the door and moved a wardrobe before it. She searched the room for her bag of weapons, and heard how the man - although she had the nagging suspicion that he wasn't human at all - began to pound the door into splinters. While she was taking the battleaxe, she heard how the man pushed the wardrobe aside.
- Buffy Summers. - said the man when he entered the room - Prepare yourself for termination. -
Buffy's only answer was try to cut the arm that was holding the sawed-off shotgun. The axe blade bounced with a loud metallic THWANG. The Terminator looked at the wound, as if evaluating the damage, and tranferred the shotgun to the other hand. A try to kick the shotgun while he was changing hands was dodged with ease, and then the Terminator aimed at her. But, suddenly the weapon flew from his hands, as a bolt of energy impacted on it. Buffy used the opportunity to try to kick her opponent down, but it was useless. The Terminator blocked her leg with the left hand and caught her by the neck with the right, and began to squeeze, shrugging off the energy blasts that were impacting on its back. Kennedy tried to hit it, but the Terminator launched her to one side of the room. Buffy was beginning to lose consciousness when she saw Kennedy launching herself against the right arm of the Terminator. Effortlessly the Terminator caught her by the neck and lifted her. That was what Kennedy was expecting. She caught the shotgun that she had hid in her back and fired at the head of the Terminator, knocking it down, letting both Kennedy and Buffy on the floor.
Buffy was gasping sprawled in the floor when Kennedy took her arm and dragged her toward the door. The Terminator was beginning to get up, a good chunk of the right side of its face blown up, revealing the inner mechanisms of the metallic skull, and the glowing right red eye.
A hospital in LA. 15:59
- Are you sure that this was wise? - asked Gunn, while placing the inert form of Cordelia Chase in the back seat of his car.
- I don't know if it was wise or not, but I couldn't let her be fried in the nuclear blast. - answered Wesley, while he boarded the car.
Somewhere in the outskirts of San Francisco. 16:03
- I think that we have finally lost him. - said Willow, seeing the Terminator slowly getting up after a energy bolt from Willow destroyed one of the wheels of the bike that it was riding.
The Terminator finally got up. It slowly scanned its surroundings and saw a suitable vehicle for the pursuit. It walked toward the tanker, whose driver was out. It smashed the door and stepped in the vehicle. The Terminator touched the contact and the powerful engine started to roar.
- No, Willow! - said Dawn when she saw that Willow was beginning to cast a spell. - The tanker is full of chemical waste! If the tank broke... -
- Oh. - was the answer of Willow. - Kennedy, sped up! -
- Here we go again - said Buffy, in the co-pilot seat
Sky Net project site. 16:10
- Sam, I'm glad that you have come to see an old family friend, and all of that, but you wouldn't have come here only for that reason. - said general Robert Brewster. - By the way, how is Jacob? I haven't heard from him, in a long while. -
- My father is fine, and that's all what I can say you. - answered Sam
- Ah, I understand - was the only answer of Brewster. Jacob Carter was on some sort of secret mission, as he had guessed. - Well, what do you want? -
- Not too long after the Cyberdine assault, your predecessor and other high-ranking officers received some info that if I interpreted correctly was the cause of the downsizing of the project. --
- Sam, I can't give you that info. You aren't cleared to see it. -
- It's an unofficial petition from General Hammond of the SGC. You can discuss it with him if you want. -
- Hammond? I don't know... If Kinsey hears of it... - said Brewster
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:38
At the first opportunity they had headed out to the foothills, with the tanker still on their trail. Some cops had tried to intercept them, but as soon as they had left the road they had lost them. Buffy's car and the tanker were quite matched for speed, especially on the rugged terrain where they were running now.
- Do you think it's safe now? -
- I don't see anybody here, although I hope that there aren't any endangered species here. - said Dawn, but Willow didn't hear her, as she had beginning to cast a spell.
The magic energy bolt went through the cabin of the tanker, missing the Terminator by several inches. But the robot from the future wasn't the real target of the bolt. The tank exploded, spilling its content all over the zone and a splotch of the yellow greenish liquid fell on to the car. A hissing noise began to be heard as the liquid began to corrode the car's bodywork, and they quickly got out.
Buff's flat. San Francisco. 16:43
Among the remains of Buffy's ravaged flat, a cell phone was ringing.
Angel Investigations office. Los Angeles. 16:43
- Nothing. - said Giles hanging the phone. - I can't locate Buffy, Izzy. -
- She and Kennedy are the only Slayers who aren't headed to the South Hemisphere just now... Faith excluded, naturally. - said the scottish woman looking at the couch where the Slayer had been reading the report about her.
- Faith has always followed her own way. - said Giles - Did you warn all the ex-Watchers that you know? -
- Yes, all of them are warned, and I'm taking the next flight to Buenos Aires. Why don't you come with me? Buffy is old enough to take care of herself. -
- It's not only Buffy. I have reactivated an old contact of the Watchers inside the Initiative. Apparently, Riley has been assigned the task to help with the capture of John Connor, who is apparently coming here. When they had him located he will call me. -
- And if they can't? -
- I have contracted a charter flight to carry several people to South America tomorrow morning. Beyond that... Izzy, if I can't got out on time, the task to rebuild the Council fall in your hands. -
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:48
The car probably could be repaired. That was the good news. The bad news was the hole in the oil tank, so they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. They were discussing what to do, when they heard a noise from the remains of the tanker. Sounded like something was pounding the corroded remains from the inside. And then, suddenly, something arose from the metallic carcass and a metallic arm glistened in broad daylight.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
TO BE CONTINUED...
Chapter Two of Three, Part B
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Terminator 3 crossover by Antonio Cabañas
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Terminator and all related characters owned by C2 Productions. Stargate: SG-1 is produced by Gekko Film Corp. in association with Galssner\Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-1
Productions Limited Partnership for MGM-UA Worldwide Television.
E-mail: borg31de777@yahoo.es.
Spoilers: Buffy to season 7, Angel to season 5, although probably would qualify as AU. Great spoilers for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Author Note: I am following my own Terminator timeline in this story. According to my timeline, The Terminator is set in 1980 (John Connor being born in 1981), Terminator 2 in 1993, and Terminator 3 in 2003. I know that there are inconsistencies, but this is my best attempt to reconcile them.
I wish to thank my beta-reader, Carycomix, his help and support, and to Vito "Shadowhawk" his suggestions and his contributions to the story.
Summary: two days before the Judgement Day, Buffy, now in San Francisco, began to have dreams about the incoming war.
ONE DAY BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT DAY
La Guardia Airport 12:06
- I'm Major Samantha Carter. - said the blonde woman in a civilian dress offering her hand. - You must be Lieutenant Riley Finn and his wife Samantha. -
- Yes, we are. Can we go to a less crowded place? -
- Sorry, but it has to be near here. I have to be in another place soon and I have not much time to spare. - answered Major Carter.
- Our car is parked here, and we made a sweep for bugs before coming here. - offered Sam.
Some minutes later, they were in the Hummer that Riley and Sam were using. Sam had bought Cola while they were in the airport.
- I worked in Project Sky Net between 1992 and 1995, and later, when I became part of another program, I had been there as an adviser, due to my extensive knowledge of non-standard computer technology. - she took a sip of the beverage and continued. - The purpose of the Project was two-fold, on one hand Sky Net was going to become a secure computer net for Defense, and on the other hand it was going to house a powerful A.I. program that would work as a "Big Brother" of telecommunications. Back in 1981 Cyberdine Systems, a rising star in the market of computer components and robotics, presented the project of a computer equipped with the neural processor that they were developing. Gradually the Project expanded to deal with automated weapons platforms, and a civilian version of Sky Net, some kind of super-Internet that would also be watched by the SkyNet A.I., was discussed. Except for minor problems, like the first attempt by Sarah Connor to blow the headquarters of Cyberdine, all seemed to go well until 1993...-
- The Cyberdine assault. - guessed Riley.
- That's it. The chief designer of the neural processor, Miles Bennet Dyson, died in the assault, after destroying all his work on that matter. And not too long after it, some info that Cyberdine had been holding fell in the hands of the heads of the project. - she took another sip of Cola and continued. - The new administration used the incident to cut back the expenses of the project and the Pentagon insisted on a close supervision of the development of Sky Net. Three years, and a lot of problems later, Cyberdine tried to gain support in a private presentation for VIPs. Something happened there, I don't know what because I no longer worked there, and soon after a virus, that seemingly was designed by John Connor, destroyed the computer systems of Cyberdine. That was the last straw for the Pentagon, and soon Cyberdine was out of the Skynet Project, which was re-evaluated and downsized. The civilian Sky Net was forgotten, the automated weapon platforms went back to the design boards, and the A.I. program was redesigned. - she ended her explanation, drank the rest of the bottle and asked - Why did you wanted to know about Sky Net? -
Sam and Riley looked each other and nodded.
- We work for a Special Ops unit called The Initiative, and we have been assigned to collaborate with the local police and the FBI in the capture of John Connor...-
Somewhere in San Francisco 12:24
The house where Dennis Galland lived had been a splendid small mansion, but now, with the garden abandoned, the paint gone, and the glass on the windows replaced by planks, the house resembled a condemned building.
- Are you sure this is the place? - asked Kennedy.
- Yes, this time I'm sure. - said Buffy, a bit exasperated
In that moment they heard a scream from the house. Buffy and Kennedy ran toward the door, and take it down. Inside the house they ran toward the origin of the scream, that was the kitchen. There, five demons clad in a grey uniform were punching a door that seemed to be the entrance to the pantry. They noticed that the two women had entered the room and attacked them.
Buffy threw one of them through the kitchen window, while Kennedy kicked another in the groin, something that didn't stop him. He knocked her down, but before he managed to get her, she kicked him in the knees and the demon fell down, howling in pain, and Kennedy finished the work with a kick in the head. Meanwhile, Buffy had knocked out one with a punch and another with a judo throw. Kennedy stabbed another with a knife from a kitchen drawer and Buffy threw the last through the same window through which she had thrown the first one.
Willow chose that moment to appear. The pantry door was easy to open, and inside they found the psychic, unconscious, and bleeding from a wound in the head.
- He must have been hit and hid himself here, but the wound don't seems too severe. -
Angel's home. 12:39
- Angel - said Angel when he answered the phone
- Angel? It's me, Gunn. Listen, tell Wesley to drive you to this address. - Gunn told him the address, and continued - I have found a hacker that... you have to see it with your own eyes, Angel. -
Dennis Galland's home. 12:47
In the house Kennedy and Willow had managed to bandage the man, who was regaining conscience. Buffy was quite impressed.
- Uuhhh, my head...- he said, and then noticed the two women over him - Who are you? Wait a moment, - he said looking at Willow - Hey, I recognise you, you were in the show two weeks ago. And you, redhead, are a witch if I recall correctly. -
- Yes, I am. I was impressed to find a real psychic in a night-club show. We are here to talk to you about something that you might know... -
- About what? - he said and removed the wig that he was wearing. He hadn't hair, instead there was a net of protuberances that vaguely resembled a brain surface.
- Nuclear war, killer robots and John Connor. -
- The Judgement Day, then. - he sighed and sat down. - It's tomorrow. -
Someplace in Los Angeles suburbs. 12:51
The garage of the house was open and Wesley proceeded to follow Gunn's directions, and parked the van inside. Angel got out of the back part of the van
- Follow me. - said Gunn
The house was a fairly typical suburban house, although there were indications that the owner didn't want to stay much more time there, as most of the house seemed to have been emptied quite recently. They followed Gunn toward a room where there was the most complex computer that they had seen. In reality it was several computers closely linked together. Before the intricate mechanism stood a man in his early thirties. He was quite informally dressed, with a black sleeveless t-shirt, very worn out blue jeans and short, black boots.
- You are a vampire, right? - said the man.
- How do you know? -
- A man so pale had to be either an albino or a vampire. And you aren't an albino. -
- Ok, then, what have you discovered about that virus? -
- Oh, that it has been around in some form or other for almost four years. Until a few days ago it was mostly harmless, then changed and began to wreak havoc in the computer systems, but you already knew that. -
- Get to the point, Charlie, please! - said Gunn
- All right, all right. The source of the infection is a secret Government installation in the Mojave Desert, the site of the project code-named Sky Net. I have tried to penetrate there sometimes, and it had an almost impenetrable security program, called Skynet. Skynet is an A.I. program, designed to learn in the same way as humans. Nothing too unusual, but I'm the nephew of Dr. Silberman. He was the lead psychiatrist of Pescadero, when Sarah Connor was interned there. When I learned about the origin of the virus, it wasn't very difficult to fit the pieces. I have a cousin in the Falklands Islands, and I'm going there this evening, through Argentina. Don't look at me, like that, it's impossible to destroy Skynet now. It has spread all over the net, and soon the Government will try to erase the virus using Skynet, but that will be simply the final step for Skynet to assume full control, and launch the missiles. -
Dennis Galland home. 12:56
- ... and that's all, tomorrow the missiles will be launched. The launching codes will be introduced at 18:18 hours. - Dennis Galland finished explaining the vision that he had had to Buffy and Willow. Buffy had sent Kennedy to watch the demons, that had been moved to the backyard, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to the task in hand, as she was also listening what Galland was saying from the kitchen-exit to the backyard.
- Do you know if there is some way to stop it? - asked Willow
- I don't know, but I have sent my wife and my daughter to Australia, and I'm going to follow them this afternoon, only in case, you understand. - answered Galland.
Outside the hacker's house. 12:58
- Giles? - said Wesley when he answered his cell phone. - The flight of your friend had been delayed... You want me to go to the airport. Why?... Oh, she wants to talk with me also... Well, I'll be there. Gunn can drive Angel to the office. -
Angel Investigations. 13:09
After being impatiently waiting some minutes, Faith entered the old hotel using a key that she had stolen from Wesley some time ago. She found no one inside.
- Where is everybody? -
Dennis Galland's home. 13:13
- Damn! - said Buffy when the van disappeared into the traffic, and then turned toward Kennedy. - Kennedy, if you had been watching the demons they wouldn't have fled. -
- They seemed to be totally unconscious. How I was going to know that those two were only pretending? -
Angel Investigations. 13:20
The phone rang, and Faith, after checking caller-ID, answered the phone.
- Hi, B... They called me, but I haven't been able to get here sooner... No, I don't know where they are... Yeah, I'll tell him to call you... Goodbye, B. -
La Guardia Airport. 14:08
- Isabella, here! - shouted Giles when he saw the woman that they had come to meet. The plane had been delayed almost 1 hour by some failure in the computer systems of the airport.
Isabella Ferguson was a woman in her early forties whose appearance combined a long mane of brilliant red hair with very fair skin, freckles and sharp features. She was smiling, an expression that seemed to come easily to her face.
- Giles! And you are...? -
- Wesley Wyndham-Pryce at your service, Ms. Ferguson. - said the other ex-Watcher, who had come also
- The archetype of an englishman, don't you think so, Ripper? - said Isabella, chuckling.
- Caricature would be the correct term, Izzie. - answered Giles, chuckling also.
San Francisco. Headquarters of The Scourge. 14:20
- One was blonde, the other dark-haired; both american. -
- Was this woman the older Slayer? . said their chief, showing them a snapshot of Buffy.
- Yes, she was. -
There was no visible reaction by their chief, but the one that had been around him longer thought that something had changed in him.
- Tell Drakh that he is in charge now. I have to take a matter into my own hands. -
Angel Investigations Office. Los Angeles. 14:49
- You are Faith, right? - asked Isabella upon seeing the Bostonian dark-haired girl.
- Yes, and you...? -
- Isabella Ferguson, an ex-Watcher. After the destruction of the Watcher's Council. Giles trusted me with copies of the archives of the Council. They kept copies on some place else for security reasons. -
- Could you get to the point? -
- Very well, yesterday Giles asked me to check the archives concerning a woman called Sarah Connor. -
- Yes, I know. And...? -
- And in the process I found some interesting info about what the Council did to you. -
- What time? When they tried to brainwash me, or when they tried to kill me? -
- Do you remember what they did to you when Wesley brought you chained to England? -
- Oh, yes. -
- Do you remember how you got the scar behind your right ear?.-
- What scar? - she said, touching behind her right ear and feeling a scar that she didn't remember.
- It's the scar of an operation, they implanted something in your brain. This radiography was taken when they implanted you with it. - she said handing Faith a big envelope.
The radiography showed a skull, and in the corner of the radiography the patient was named Faith Wilkins.
- Look here. - she said pointing just where the scar was located.
There was a small shadow in the radiography, but Faith couldn't fathom the shape of the object that was the cause.
- What's that?. -
- I don't know. Only a few documents of that project went to the backup, because the Council never made copies of the most sensitive documents. That's only should give you an idea of the importance that they give to the project. -
- Sorry if I seem insensitive. - said Angel - But Buffy has talked with a seer that says that the missiles will be launched tomorrow at 18:18. And what the Project had about Sarah Connor could be of interest. -
- All right. Faith, these are copies of all the Council documents that mention you. - she said, giving a thick folder to Faith, who sat in a chair and began to read them, and Isabella then began to explain about Sarah Connor. - It seems that the Council thought that Sarah Connor was a Potential, but they soon found that they were wrong. Nonetheless, as several signs pointed that Ms. Connor was going to be of certain significance in the future they kept her watched. Then the first Terminator tried to kill her, and the Watchers got mad. There are few documents of the further phase of the investigation of Sarah Connor, but they somehow learned about the future around the time when the second Terminator arrived. Not too soon after that, Cyberdine began to have problems. I suppose that the Council put the right info into the right hands. Anyway, the Council kept Sarah and her son under watch...-
Isabella was interrupted by Faith sudden outburst.
- Damned Travers, son of a stinking...! - said Faith aloud
When she saw that the others were looking at her, she grinned sheepishly.
- Sorry. -
Scourge HQ, San Francisco. 14:59
While Drakh arrived, the head of the Scourge was trying to locate where Buffy Summers lived now, and soon found the address that he was seeking. He took a leather jacket and a full load of weapons.
San Francisco. Buffy's flat. 15:38 h
Buffy was sitting in an armchair of the flat. Her gaze was lost in the distance, while Dawn, Kennedy and Willow packed everything that they could carry on Buffy's car. She was still assimilating what the seer and Angel had said to her. She couldn't quite accept that they couldn't do anything about it, that this time there was no way to avoid the Armageddon. A rain of nuclear fire would kill three billion people in an instant. The survivors of the war (and the ensuing nuclear winter) would have to fight the machines for survival... Following this train of thought, her tired eyes finally closed and she began to sleep and dream...
...a Slayer Dream, a prophecy of what the future could bring...
...and this time, horrible beyond imagination...
She was somewhere in the midst of what would have seemed a landscape from Hell, if it hadn't been by some ruins. Somewhere in the future, after the Judgement Day, she realised. Then she heard a voice, an emotionless, machine-like voice.
- It started as wriggling blobs in limped puddles. It grew legs and claimed the land. It smothered the world. Moist, loud, disorganized... -
Then, suddenly, a bomb was dropped by the same flying machines that she had seen in her other dream. And the voice continued speaking:
- ... It thought itself wise. It thought its mushy grey brains had conquered the planet. It wasn't its Brains. It was it's endless sweating spawning. It spawned and spawned, spewing out new flesh faster than the old could die...-
Another bomb was dropped.
- ...But now the world is almost rid of it. Only one remains, only one. -
Between the ruins, she saw a boy trying to pick up a futuristic-looking rifle, only to have a third bomb explode right beside the boy, throwing him on to the ground and destroying the gun in the process. The last boy on Earth. The boy was still alive, and he heard the sounds of the machines' footsteps getting closer to him. He made a break for it at a ruined building, when suddenly another bomb explodes, and sent him to the ground. The lonest piece of his soft skeleton snaps in two. His legs paralyzed, he crawled on his belly.
- It whines and whimpers and begs to parents long dead -- to it's most stupid invention -- its God -- and even at the end, it hopes. These things never stopped hoping. - said the voice
A Terminator Endo walked up to the boy and pointed a gun to the boy's face. As the boy cried in fear, the Endoskeleton, showing no emotion, blasted the boy's head off. And now, in all the land, all over the world, the moaning and screaming, the wheezing and grunting and coughing, all had stopped.
Buffy next saw now the same Endo was holding the boy's Corpse with blood running down the corpse's leg. Thousands upon Thousands of Terminators were raising their fists in their victory against the human rebels. Now there was only the whirr of well-oiled metal -- the pneumatic hiss of a million forged fists raised in triumph.
- Humanity is dead. The world makes sense now. It is good. Victory. Planet Earth is saved. The last of the whimpering, chittering infection is gone. Humanity is dead. Humanity and all the rest -- All the buzzing, twittering, dripping, drooling things, the living things -- All of it is gone. All of it crushed, flattened, processed, converted into naked energy. Into fuel for the Terminators. Victory. Planet Earth is silent and cold and clean. Planet Earth is organized. -
Then she was somehow in space, thousands of spaceships blazing off Earth, shaped similarly to the flying machines of before, and inside each one of them... Terminators, hundreds of shining endoskeletons waiting for activation, and dozens manning the ships.
- But still the mission is not complete. Worlds wait. Galaxies teeming with life, with chaos. A universe to organize... -
She awoke, trembling like a leaf shaken by the wind. But her trembling ended suddenly as she heard the door of the flat being smashed to pieces.
In front of Buffy's flat, San Francisco. 15:46
- Finished. - said Willow, placing a box in the back of Buffy's car, the same that she had inherited from her mother. Kennedy and Buffy had helped, bringing the heaviest objects and placing them. Willow and Dawn had placed the others. Kennedy was talking to some of the other Slayers through a phone booth down the street.
- What are we going to do now, Willow? I mean, I don't think that we could reach South America in car before the missiles began to fly. -
- I have thought about it, Dawn, and I don't really know what... - she stopped in mid sentence, when she saw a man entering the door to the building where Buffy's rented flat was. He was a strong-looking man, dark blonde, with strong features and wearing sunglasses. He wore a jeans jacket, a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black leather boots. - That man... there is something about him... - she mumbled.
Buffy's flat. San Francisco. 15:54
CLICK! BOOM! If she hadn't been the Slayer, the shotgun blast would have hit her squarely, but she nimbly dodged the blast that ruined her favourite armchair. The man prepared to shoot again, but Buffy ran through the corridor toward her bedroom. She closed the door and moved a wardrobe before it. She searched the room for her bag of weapons, and heard how the man - although she had the nagging suspicion that he wasn't human at all - began to pound the door into splinters. While she was taking the battleaxe, she heard how the man pushed the wardrobe aside.
- Buffy Summers. - said the man when he entered the room - Prepare yourself for termination. -
Buffy's only answer was try to cut the arm that was holding the sawed-off shotgun. The axe blade bounced with a loud metallic THWANG. The Terminator looked at the wound, as if evaluating the damage, and tranferred the shotgun to the other hand. A try to kick the shotgun while he was changing hands was dodged with ease, and then the Terminator aimed at her. But, suddenly the weapon flew from his hands, as a bolt of energy impacted on it. Buffy used the opportunity to try to kick her opponent down, but it was useless. The Terminator blocked her leg with the left hand and caught her by the neck with the right, and began to squeeze, shrugging off the energy blasts that were impacting on its back. Kennedy tried to hit it, but the Terminator launched her to one side of the room. Buffy was beginning to lose consciousness when she saw Kennedy launching herself against the right arm of the Terminator. Effortlessly the Terminator caught her by the neck and lifted her. That was what Kennedy was expecting. She caught the shotgun that she had hid in her back and fired at the head of the Terminator, knocking it down, letting both Kennedy and Buffy on the floor.
Buffy was gasping sprawled in the floor when Kennedy took her arm and dragged her toward the door. The Terminator was beginning to get up, a good chunk of the right side of its face blown up, revealing the inner mechanisms of the metallic skull, and the glowing right red eye.
A hospital in LA. 15:59
- Are you sure that this was wise? - asked Gunn, while placing the inert form of Cordelia Chase in the back seat of his car.
- I don't know if it was wise or not, but I couldn't let her be fried in the nuclear blast. - answered Wesley, while he boarded the car.
Somewhere in the outskirts of San Francisco. 16:03
- I think that we have finally lost him. - said Willow, seeing the Terminator slowly getting up after a energy bolt from Willow destroyed one of the wheels of the bike that it was riding.
The Terminator finally got up. It slowly scanned its surroundings and saw a suitable vehicle for the pursuit. It walked toward the tanker, whose driver was out. It smashed the door and stepped in the vehicle. The Terminator touched the contact and the powerful engine started to roar.
- No, Willow! - said Dawn when she saw that Willow was beginning to cast a spell. - The tanker is full of chemical waste! If the tank broke... -
- Oh. - was the answer of Willow. - Kennedy, sped up! -
- Here we go again - said Buffy, in the co-pilot seat
Sky Net project site. 16:10
- Sam, I'm glad that you have come to see an old family friend, and all of that, but you wouldn't have come here only for that reason. - said general Robert Brewster. - By the way, how is Jacob? I haven't heard from him, in a long while. -
- My father is fine, and that's all what I can say you. - answered Sam
- Ah, I understand - was the only answer of Brewster. Jacob Carter was on some sort of secret mission, as he had guessed. - Well, what do you want? -
- Not too long after the Cyberdine assault, your predecessor and other high-ranking officers received some info that if I interpreted correctly was the cause of the downsizing of the project. --
- Sam, I can't give you that info. You aren't cleared to see it. -
- It's an unofficial petition from General Hammond of the SGC. You can discuss it with him if you want. -
- Hammond? I don't know... If Kinsey hears of it... - said Brewster
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:38
At the first opportunity they had headed out to the foothills, with the tanker still on their trail. Some cops had tried to intercept them, but as soon as they had left the road they had lost them. Buffy's car and the tanker were quite matched for speed, especially on the rugged terrain where they were running now.
- Do you think it's safe now? -
- I don't see anybody here, although I hope that there aren't any endangered species here. - said Dawn, but Willow didn't hear her, as she had beginning to cast a spell.
The magic energy bolt went through the cabin of the tanker, missing the Terminator by several inches. But the robot from the future wasn't the real target of the bolt. The tank exploded, spilling its content all over the zone and a splotch of the yellow greenish liquid fell on to the car. A hissing noise began to be heard as the liquid began to corrode the car's bodywork, and they quickly got out.
Buff's flat. San Francisco. 16:43
Among the remains of Buffy's ravaged flat, a cell phone was ringing.
Angel Investigations office. Los Angeles. 16:43
- Nothing. - said Giles hanging the phone. - I can't locate Buffy, Izzy. -
- She and Kennedy are the only Slayers who aren't headed to the South Hemisphere just now... Faith excluded, naturally. - said the scottish woman looking at the couch where the Slayer had been reading the report about her.
- Faith has always followed her own way. - said Giles - Did you warn all the ex-Watchers that you know? -
- Yes, all of them are warned, and I'm taking the next flight to Buenos Aires. Why don't you come with me? Buffy is old enough to take care of herself. -
- It's not only Buffy. I have reactivated an old contact of the Watchers inside the Initiative. Apparently, Riley has been assigned the task to help with the capture of John Connor, who is apparently coming here. When they had him located he will call me. -
- And if they can't? -
- I have contracted a charter flight to carry several people to South America tomorrow morning. Beyond that... Izzy, if I can't got out on time, the task to rebuild the Council fall in your hands. -
Hilly terrain not too far from San Francisco. 16:48
The car probably could be repaired. That was the good news. The bad news was the hole in the oil tank, so they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. They were discussing what to do, when they heard a noise from the remains of the tanker. Sounded like something was pounding the corroded remains from the inside. And then, suddenly, something arose from the metallic carcass and a metallic arm glistened in broad daylight.
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TO BE CONTINUED...