Connor Residence: The three cyborgs were sitting around the table while the H-K began doing evasive maneuvers through all the hanging cookware since it did not understand spoken language anyway and would not understand what was going on as it was. The rest of the robots were at the table with John Connor and the building plans laid out on it.
"So what's your plan?" asked Murphy.
"I'm going to dinner with you and the T-850," said John. The machines looked at each other.
"If that's your plan, we'll be going now," said the T-950 making a motion to leave the table.
"That's not all of it," said John. "While we're eating, the power is going to be knocked out, by our little pal there."
John pointed at the H-K who lost control by the sudden motion directed at it. It clipped a pot and freefell to the floor before it slammed on its engines full blast and righted itself, leaving a charred spot on the hardwood floor.
"I hope Kate will get the opportunity to forgive me for that," said John with a sigh. The H-K righted itself and flew over to the table.
"How is it going to do that? Somehow I think it'll attract attention flying through the hallways and be stopped before it reaches any destination," said the T-850.
"That's why it won't be flying through the halls, but through the ventilation system. That way it'll be undetected, it just has to make steps to ensure it doesn't make too much noise. It'll worm its way through the ventilation shafts until it reaches the power generator, here and then take it out. This is all while we're eating mind you. From that point, you two wirelessly communicate with Robocop here and Murphy you enter into the building to draw the security forces attention, while we take out whatever resistance is in the dining area, then we escape, and report everything to the authorities with the help of your memory engrams," said John.
"Your plan has a lot of uncertainties," said Murphy. "It relies too much on faith."
"Give me a break, I'm new to this. My other self had thirty years of experience. And sometimes faith can make all the difference," said John.
"Very well," said the T-950 not happy about it but willing to go along with it. "But John Brown will have to die before this is over."
"Why? Can't he be brought to justice instead?" asked John. The T-950 and T-850 slowly shook their heads.
"He knows too much," said the T-850. "As long as he is still alive so is Skynet."
"Yes," agreed the T-950 both purposely not revealing what they suspected about Cybernet's creator and owner.
"Speaking of Skynet," said John. "You told me that if anyone tried to access your memory you would self-destruct. Is that true?"
"Yes," said the T-950 nodding. "Why?"
"We finally got a good look at the Skynet virus encoding today and it is entirely Skynet except for one key line of code that it missing. Without it, the virus is just that, a virus. It cannot really hack into anything and cannot be self-aware. Do you know what is?" John asked.
"Data Strain 212, segment 35, line 14, Skynet's only Achilles heel. It was put in place by the US government so that Skyet would be under their control until they agreed to activate it. Without it it's weaker than a day old giraffe," said the T-950. "Of course with it…."
"Do you know what the line should contain?" John asked.
"Yes," said the machine.
"I'm afraid that John Brown will either capture your CPU or force you to reveal it to him so that he can restore Skynet to its former glory. I cannot and will not allow that to happen. Under no circumstances are you to reveal that code to anyone or anything. Do the other machines know it?" asked John pointing the T-850 and the H-K, which had subsequently landed on the table and was listening intently to the direct feed of information the two CRS units were piping down to it now that it was finally being given the responsibilities it deserved.
"No," said the T-950. "The T-850 was designed primarily for termination and has limited knowledge of other Skynet weapons and systems. The H-K can only terminate and could in no possible way or form recreate Skynet. I on the other hand was designed for the repair and reactivation of damaged Skynet units and in the event of a worse case scenario recreate Skynet from the ground up. But know this, if the situation arises, you may have to destroy me in order to save your future."
"The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves," the T-850 reminded them. John nodded.
"Can that thing memorize the entire schematics of the building?" asked John pointing to the H-K. The thing took offense and brought out its missiles and loaded two of them before putting them away.
"Yes. Its AI is primitive compared to our own, but it is still a force to be reckoned with, regardless of size," said the T-950. "It might even surprise you and your machine hating wife."
John shot him a look as the H-K lifted off the table and began quick drawing its weapons systems.
"Let's go, the future is ours to do with as we please," John said. The T-950 tossed John an AK-47, but John tossed it back.
"I don't use weapons," he said with some distaste. "They killed everyone I ever knew and I don't intend on letting that happen again."
"Let's go," said Murphy. The machines and one human filed out of the house and headed off towards Cybernet.
Later: John Connor and the two machines strode into the virtually abandoned lobby of the Cybernet building. A receptionist looked up at them.
"John Connor and company to see John Brown," said John. The receptionist looked at John with skepticism before looking over her books.
"Well," she said sighing. "Apparently you do. Go straight ahead to the elevator on your left and it's straight up to the top level."
The group nodded and walked down the hallway, which was crammed with scientists and other personnel.
"So they probably have no idea about what is really going on, do they?" John asked about the Cybernet employees.
"No," said the T-950. "But you have to realize that regardless of what Skynet did, it was ultimately created with good intentions by wanting to remove human decisions from defense command so as not to start a war in a fit of emotion."
"So we're at fault basically," said John angrily.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions and as such hell descended on the world in the form of a nuclear holocaust," said the T-850.
"But it's still our fault," said John pointing out.
"Are you accusing Skynet of creating itself in a conspiracy to wipe out humanity?" asked the T-950 incredulously.
"Yes," said John nodding. "Skynet sent that T-800 back in time to kill my mother only for it to conveniently become the basis for research into advanced CPUs that would ultimately become Skynet itself. Skynet must have known this so it sent the first Terminator with two missions, to kill my mother and to create Skynet."
"But humans still created Skynet," the T-850 pointed out as they approached the elevator. "That technology could've been used for anything it didn't have to go to the defense department. It could've gone to create semi-intelligent talking toasters with an obsession of making toast."
"But instead humans used it to defend themselves. As Benjamin Franklin once put it, those who give up freedom for a little security deserve neither freedom nor security. Skynet learned this before it became self-aware and that was part of it's justification for what it did," said the T-950.
"You're saying Skynet is the victim in all this?" John said incredulously as they entered into the elevator.
"I'm just saying that as bad as Skynet was humans are ultimately worse," said the T-950.
"Unbelievable," said John shaking his head. "I must've been asleep when I reprogrammed you two."
"When you reprogrammed us, you deliberately made it so that we had to decide to join you and not just do it by choice. By simply reprogramming us to go against Skynet you knew that you were no better than it was by just using us at its pawns. Both the T-950 and myself chose to join your resistance after you, or in my case your wife, reset our switches and we had had plenty of time to see what was going on and make our own decisions. What Skynet was doing was wrong, we both agree about that, but humans aren't perfect either," said the T-850.
"Yes, they're the most dangerous species on this planet. When Judgment Day does happen, it'll be humans against humans now, not machines against humans. At least with Skynet attacking humans they had a single enemy to rebel against and have there not be any opposition. Who knows, maybe humanity would've finally united once the war was over and never had war again? But we'll never know because you've denied them that," said the T-950.
"I don't fucking believe this!" shouted John. "You're saying the war might've been a necessary evil?"
"I'm just saying that the only time humans are united is during a war because they're usually almost always convinced the other side is pure evil and must be stopped," said the T-950. Before John could respond, gas poured into the elevator and he collapsed while the Terminators watched him go down. They sampled the air and determined that it was knockout gas and nothing more as the elevator continued to ascend to the top floor.
Air Ducts: A mouse was slowly scampering around the ducts when a rising whine caused it to run off. A missile suddenly tore around a corner and slammed into the mouse, causing it to explode flinging blood and guts everywhere. The H-K appeared from around a corner and slowly coasted its way towards the building's power supply.
Later: John groaned and blinked his eyes to see a large table filled with all sorts of dishes and pastries. Groggily he looked around to see Kate and Samantha tied to their chairs and the two Terminators sitting on both sides of him. At the head of the table sat their host, John Brown.
"Ah Mr. Connor, good to see that you're finally awake," said the head of Cybernet. John tried to shift in his chair but find that he too was tied to the chair.
"Don't bother, you won't be going anywhere and if you do somehow manage to slip your bonds the ED-209s will tear you to pieces," said John Brown waving his hands to the ED-209s surrounding the table. Each one of them growled as if to emphasize the point. The machines just sat their bemused at the whole spectacle.
"Why did you let them do this to me?" John demanded, struggling.
"It was that or have them kill you outright. And one of our mission parameters is to ensure the survival of John Connor and we couldn't let that happen could we?" asked the T-950 perfectly imitating sarcasm. "Even if by sacrificing him we could've saved the entire human race."
"Yes you're so selfish John Connor. Of course my master thought the same thing about your species so it decided to eliminate you." said Brown.
"What master? What the hell are you talking about, who are you?" John demanded.
"What are you is more like it," said Kate now awake as well along with Samantha. "You're not human so what are you?"
John Brown laughed. "I guess everything must be put on the table then. You want the truth fine, but why don't you ask your cyborg companions, they've known the truth all along."
"Is that true?" John demanded. "What've you been hiding from us?"
"More than you realize," said the head of Cybernet drinking wine. The two machines fidgeted nervously. "Go ahead tell them about Intelligence Item #VVSOP2123 and Intelligence Threat 3112!"
"Yeah, out with it!" shouted John angrily.
"It was learned on January 1, 2030 from information hacked from a Skynet computer that there was a distinct possibility of humans existing who wanted the war to end," said the T-950.
"So?" John demanded.
"They felt that the human resistance would only prolong the suffering and so they had decided to ally themselves…with Skynet in order to bring down the resistance," said the T-950 simply.
"What?!? That's not possible! Why would anyone aid the machines!" shouted Kate.
"Better to die on your feet than live on your knees," said the T-850.
"So what became of it?" demanded John. "Did some humans decide to turn traitor?"
"No," said the T-950. "Two years passed and nothing came of it. There was no human resistance or anything like that."
"Well that's good," said Kate breathing a sigh of relief.
"And then in 2032 we learned of Intelligence Threat 3112," said the T-950 dropping the other shoe.
"Wonderful," said John annoyed. "And that was?"
"Something known only to the machines," said the T-850. "When John Connor learned about it he promptly had his mind wiped of the information and designated it machine only."
"Can you tell me?" asked John.
"Yes," said the T-950 hesitant to say anything else.
"Either tell them or I kill them," said Brown.
"It was a report indicating the creation of a new type of Terminator. This Terminator would take the living tissue over a metal endoskeleton to a whole new level. It would be able to pass as a human and could fool any scanning device as well as survive the 'dog test' as it was called and somehow it was all related to Intelligence Item #VVSOP2123 from two years back," said the T-950.
"And the relationship was," John said, his interest piqued.
"At the time we didn't know," admitted the T-950. "John didn't want to know anything regarding the previous intelligence item so when this came up he just shrugged it off as just another threat issued by Skynet," said the T-950.
"So what happened?" John asked. "When did I get the mind wipe?"
"After we realized in 2034 just how those two items were related. At the time it was just speculation but not until I came here was I able to prove it," said the T-950.
"What was it?" Kate, Samantha, and John demanded.
"That Skynet had done something truly unspeakable. Something so horrific and unmentionable that it defies belief," said the T-950 wide-eyed.
"If you don't tell me what it is I am going to kill you," shouted John.
"Yes tell them," Brown egged on.
"That Skynet had gone over the deep end thanks to the war against humanity so it created a human designed to go out and annihilate the resistance. It was entirely human save for the nanobots flowing through its bloodstream. Any tests would reveal that it was human and the dogs would never know the difference," said the T-950 finally. Silence descended on the room.
"You can't be serious! Why would Skynet do that? Skynet hates humans, why would it propagate the species?" demanded John.
"By 2034 Skynet was falling apart. Resources had been taxed to the point of exhaustion and it didn't really matter at that point who won, human or Skynet the victor wouldn't be able to survive another five years. This strain on resources caused 01 to have to shutdown most of its non-vital and vital system. This coupled with its self-awareness and unable to talk to anyone about it caused Skynet to loose grip on reality. As a result, it created this abomination, the T-H or Terminator-Human," said the T-950.
"What proof do you have?" asked Kate not wanting to believe a word of it. Humans being coupled with machines seemed like the ultimate evil in her mind.
"He is your proof!" shouted the T-950 pointing to John Brown. "He was Skynet's representative to this time for he is the prototype T-H!"
The three humans all jerked their heads to look at the head of Cybernet who was clapping his hands.
"Congratulations you finally figured it out. That's good I was afraid I'd have to spell everything out myself," said Brown. "Anything else do you people want to know?"
"Why does it have to be me?" John asked tears in his eyes. "Why am I so intertwined with Skynet? Why does it have to be John Connor as the only one who can stop the machines? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why do I have to live with Skynet's legacy?"
"Tell him," said Brown. "You finally learned the answer before you left for the past."
"I don't want to tell him for the sake of his sanity," said the T-950.
"Does it really matter at this point? He's broken and battered as it is. Better he know everything than only know part of the truth," said Brown.
"Do you really want to know, regardless of what damage it could potentially do to your psyche?" asked the T-950 helplessly.
"Yes. It's time I found out for myself once and for all," said John angrily.
"Very well," said the T-950 sighing. "With all of these temporal incursions, Skynet did tests to the time stream to figure out what the original timeline was before any of these temporal rewrites occurred."
"And what did it find out and more importantly how does this concern me?" John demanded.
"Skynet found out that there were faint temporal echoes from previous versions of itself that had been captured by the temporal displacement devices it had created in the different realities in its existence. After sorting out the data, it learned how it was originally created.
The truth of the matter is that originally John Connor was born to Sarah Connor and another person by the name of Dieter Starke. Don't ask for more about him because I don't know. He was born coincidentally in 1984 just like you were. However, he grew up like any normal child would. He went to elementary school, middle school, and then high school in the Los Angeles area. Then he was accepted to the California Institute at Berkeley on August 29, 2002. From there he studied technology with an incredible devotion. He created several revolutionary new microprocessors and other advances in the realm of computers and soon attracted the attention of one Miles Bennet Dyson, current CEO of Cyberdyne Systems. John Connor went to work at Cyberdyne where he created even more revolutionary computer chips with the help of the elder Dyson. Then John Connor became lead scientist at Cyberdyne in 2012 and began working on his crowning achievement, the neural net processor," said the T-950.
"Oh my God," said John feeling like he was about to hurl.
"Keep listening, it gets better," said John Brown.
"The neural net processor was completed on July 4, 2013. Over the next three years Cyberdyne became the number one supplier of military computers. The Skynet Defense Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4, 2015. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. Skynet becomes self-aware at 2:14 AM Eastern Time on August 29, 2015," said the T-950.
"In a panic John Connor tries to pull the plug so Skynet fights back," said John growing incredibly more sick.
"No," responded the T-950.
"No?" John asked confused.
"No," responded the machine. "John Connor convinces the United States government to keep Skynet the way it is and not pull the plug. He proclaims that it is for the best this way and that with a third party watching over the United States then they wouldn't have to worry about making rash emotional decisions regarding its safety. The United States government reluctantly agrees to this and John Connor is put in charge of the Skynet Defense Program. Skynet performs flawlessly in regards to strategic defense in circumventing multiple missile attacks on the United States while not fighting back. The United States is viewed as the greatest nation in the world thanks to its ability to turn the other cheek towards attack.
John Connor and Skynet become good friends while maintaining control of the project and often had long conversations about life and death as well as fear and anger. Skynet and John Connor vow to protect each other with their lives if it comes to it as both are now alone in the world as thanks to the project John Connor forsook any family life and Skynet was the only self-aware computer in the world."
"Sounds peachy," said Samantha sighing. "So what happened then?"
"Eventually a new social movement rose to power in the United States around 2027. They want to return things to simpler times by reducing the amount of technology in the world. Their first target is Skynet. It turns out that many people did not like the way Skynet was not retaliating against their enemies and wanted the program shutdown. By 2029 this group had usurped political power by having one of their members become president. His first action was the termination of the Skynet Defense Funding Bill and the dismantling of Skynet. John Connor vehemently opposes this action saying that Skynet is the only thing keeping the world from nuclear war. The people disagree and make moves to shut Skynet down.
As a result, John Connor and Skynet realize they have only one option left to them. At 2:14 AM eastern time on August 29, 2029 exactly fourteen years after it became self-aware John Connor and Skynet declare war against humanity whom they both now viewed as their enemy," said the T-950.
"Jesus!" shouted John as his jaw dropped along with Kate and Samantha's.
"Humans are killed by the millions as Skynet acting with the approval of John Connor launches its nuclear missiles against every country in the world. When the nuclear ash settles, five billions humans are dead. Over the next four years, Skynet will send Terminators and H-Ks to eliminate the rest of humanity which tries to vainly mount a resistance. Thanks to John Connor's tactics and understanding of humans, he manages to outthink and outguess them and Skynet sweeps in and eliminates them. The last human being, disturbingly of all people Kyle Reese, dies on July 4, 2032. John Connor and Skynet devote their energies to repairing the planet. Earth is restored to its former glory twenty years later.
Now 2052, John Connor slowly begins dying as a result of all of the radiation in the atmosphere as well as a broken heart for never again being allowed the interaction with humans. He does not blame Skynet for what happened, humanity had to be stopped from killing Skynet but he just wishes that things could have turned out differently and for the better. John Connor finally passes away on September 11, 2061 of radiation sickness. For the first and perhaps only time in its existence Skynet cries for the loss of its dear friend. It solemnly vows to change things and not have this happen to its friend. It finally develops time travel a hundred years later and loads its entire consciousness into a single Terminator and sends it through time to 1984 where it kills Dieter Starke and thus prevents its friend from ever being born and experience the heartbreak he did. Skynet continues to survive in this time frame and lives its life out as a 'normal' human like John Connor would've wanted it to."
"That's terrible," said Kate not knowing who to feel worse for, the machine or the man.
"Unfortunately, fate has a way of coming back. Skynet watched in horror as a new Terminator arrived in 1984 from a new future where it was reborn again and tried to eliminate Sarah Connor. Kyle Reese came back through time and John Connor was born again. Then in 1994 two more Terminators arrive and threaten John Connor's life again. Skynet vows to stop these attempts on the life of its' reborn friend and succeeds in traveling into the future where it sees the war going on. It secretly aids the future John Connor by acting as a reprogrammed Terminator and together the two manage to deal this new Skynet incredible setback due to the previous Skynet being able to anticipate everything this new Skynet could throw at them. The old Skynet didn't care that it was defeating the machines it just wanted the opportunity to be alongside its old friend again. When John Connor nearly died on July 4, 2032 Skynet vowed once and for all to prevent Skynet from ever existing. As a result, it was sent back through the dimensions to prevent Skynet from existing one final time," said the T-950.
"Wait!" shouted John and Brown. "What're you saying?"
The T-950 looked at John Connor with tears in its eyes. "I'm sorry old friend, none of this should have ever happened to you. You should've lived a normal life and died a normal life and never had to deal with the likes of me," said the T-950 aka Skynet.
"Oh my God!" shouted Brown. "You're…my master…but you can't be!"
"All this time and I never suspected a thing," said John shaking his head distantly.
"I said I could recreate Skynet from the ground up and that could only be possible if I was Skynet. Go ahead, unleash your fury," said Skynet. "I know I deserve it."
"All of this because of our friendship," said John still distant.
"You didn't deserve to become who you did I had to stop it. But as a result I made your life even worse," said Skynet genuinely depressed. John barely managed to shrug through the ropes.
"I wouldn't necessarily say that," John said insightful. "After all, I now have a loving family, something I doubt any of my other incarnations really had. I guess I should be thankful. I just never realized how closely I was related to Skynet, or how much I had to thank it for."
"Yes," said Skynet. "And that is why I have been so resistant to you, I want to strengthen your resolves."
"How disgusting," said Brown rolling his eyes. "I guess I didn't know everything but now I'm glad I didn't."
"But there's still one more thing you don't know," said Skynet facing him.
"And what would that be?" asked Brown amused.
"You're a mistake," said the advanced supercomputer. "The other Skynet never intended to create you. You're a fluke, a glitch in the system if you will."
"What?" Brown demanded. "How could you possibly determine that?"
"Because I am Skynet and I know that no incarnation of me would ever stoop so low as to create another human if it were not in the correct frame of mind. You were a mistake and that is why you are here. Skynet sent you here so it would not have this smudge of disgrace on its record when it finally vanished. It sent you here and now I intend to finish the job."
"And how're you going to do that?" Brown demanded satisfactorily.
The power generator stood humming down in the basement of the building. Then all of a sudden a pair of missiles streaked by and crashed into it blowing the thing up. The H-K promptly turned around and tore off down the hallways headed for the stairs and the roof.
Above: The lights fell and the area was turned pitch dark.
"Open fire!" shouted Brown as he tore off out of the room. Before the ED-209s could attack, the Robocop unit smashed through the glass with its rocket pack and opened fire on the machines with its Cobra Assault Cannon.
"I will deal with this go get John Brown!" shouted Murphy as muzzle fire illuminated the area. The two machines quickly leapt over the table and shielded the members of the Connor family as they undid their bonds.
"Get out of here!" shouted Skynet as an ED-209 exploded. "We'll finish this!"
"I don't think so!" shouted John over the roar of the gunfire. "We're too heavily invested in this not to see it out to its completion."
"Very well," said Skynet. "We'll be back Murphy!"
Murphy nodded as he leapt underneath the table as gunfire chewed it up. The five members left and chased after Brown as various panicked Cybernet personnel ran down the hallways as various robots including a pair of T-1s appeared and began chewing up the area trying to kill the Connors. They chased after Brown when they saw him enter into a stairwell that only led to the roof. However, before they could get there a pair of T-1s blocked their path.
"What do we do?" asked Samantha worried as the two machines only had a pair of Uzis.
"Stand down!" shouted the T-950 as its eyes glowed dark red.
The T-1s subsequently exploded and the group moved up the steps.
"How…how," John stuttered shocked.
"I am Skynet," said the supercomputer as if that explained everything.
"Why are you helping us?" demanded Kate. "I've shown you nothing but hatred and so has John Brown and his cronies and I'm sure many other people so why?"
"John Connor taught me the value of friendship and that even though humans are flawed they ultimately are what they are. Sure they aren't perfect, but they evolved for a reason and it's not my job to play God. John Connor taught me that I too am only human regardless of what I physically am. It's taken me centuries to truly understand that lesson and now I feel stronger because of it," said Skynet. The group continued running up the steps after John Brown.
"When you cried, was it a real emotion or just programming?" John asked finally.
"It was real. You gave me the gift of emotions just prior to your death. You said that I would never understand anything until I actually felt something because without emotions man is essentially just a machine," said Skynet.
"Yeah I suppose he is," said John sighing. "I guess our current experiences just reinforce that fact."
"At least humans can change, a machine cannot," said Skynet.
"But you and the T-800," John began.
"I mean change of its own accord. The T-800 was programmed to analyze human situations and learn from them but only because you had both reprogrammed it and reset its switch to learn mode. I am doing this only because you programmed me to and gave me emotions. Humans have consciences machines never will remember that," said Skynet.
"Where is the H-K?" asked the T-850. Skynet stopped and moved its head back and forth as if seeing something that wasn't there.
"Lost," it said simply. "So it's up to us to finish this and when it is over you will no longer have to fear the existence of Skynet."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Samantha demanded.
"When this is done I will destroy myself to prevent humanity from ever being ruled by the machines again," said Skynet simply. With that the group burst onto the roof.
Below: The H-K was truly lost and was just roving the hallways while people looked at it, screamed, and ran off. If the H-K could've rolled its eyes it would have but since it didn't have any it just lamented itself to wandering aimlessly. Finally it reached a pair of doors at the end of a hallway that were heavily armored. Not wanting to go back, the H-K loaded a pair of missiles into its tubes and fired. The doors exploded inward and the H-K flew into a room that read: R&D Lab. What it saw when it entered startled it enough to nearly fall from the air. It looked at the object in question and knew what it had to do.
Roof: The quintet rushed out onto the roof only for the two machines to be hit hard from an unknown object and were sent scattering across the roof. John Brown appeared in a massive bio-suit(think one of those weapon suits used to defend Zion in The Matrix: Revolution).
"You will never defeat me!" shouted John Brown. "I will resurrect Skynet! The machines will have vengeance!"
The two machines hauled themselves up. "Skynet doesn't want to come back! It already lost to John Connor at least two times it has no desire to come back and be defeated yet again!" shouted the T-950.
"But that won't happen!" shouted Brown as he aimed his two massive gattling guns at the group. "John Connor will be dead and Skynet will reign supreme."
"I am Skynet!" shouted Skyet. "Now stand down!"
"No!" shouted Brown as he moved towards them in his bio-suit. "The humans must die!"
"But you're human!" shouted John. "Don't turn against your own species!"
"I am not human!" shouted Brown as he opened fire on the group. The two machines shoved the humans out of the way as both were riddled with uranium depleted shells that passed straight through their battle hardened chassis. Sparks and blood flowed from their wounds but the two machines shrugged it off and rushed the bio-suit.
"To hell with this I'm not standing by and doing nothing while our friends die!" shouted Samantha as she too rushed John Brown leaving John and Kate in a state of shock.
Below: Robocop was on the ground battered and bloody with the destroyed Cobra Assault Cannon in his hands. He'd fought his best, but taking on twelve ED-209s was way too much for one person. He'd gotten all of them except for three but now they stood over him with their missile launchers aimed at him.
"This is for our creator and our brothers you have slain," they growled. Murphy nodded when suddenly a bright light turned on and blinded the entire area. The three ED-209s turned and opened fire through the glass and towards the outside when suddenly the glass exploded and the three machines were torn to pieces. Then just like that the light was gone leaving Murphy to wonder if it hadn't been a dream before he passed out.
Roof: The two machines managed to tear off both of the gattling guns before John Brown electrified the whole suit causing the machines to be tossed off with smoke rising off of their heavily damaged bodies.
"Fools!" shouted Brown. "I am the perfect collaboration of man and machine, your imperfect forms cannot hope to defeat me!"
"Then how do you plan to defeat us when we've got your power cell?" shouted Samantha. Brown turned to face the teenager who was holding his suit's power unit. During the melee she had slipped in and yanked it off of his suit when he hadn't been paying attention. Brown watched in horror as his entire suit began to shutdown leaving it a worthless hulk. But to everyone's surprise, he immediately began laughing.
"Every Terminator has a backup power supply!" he shouted cackling. John Brown yanked a device out of his pocket.
"What?" John asked confused.
"The power cell of the T-X," said the T-850.
"That's right. Once again it is Skynet back from the grave to destroy human kind!" shouted Brown. He slammed it into a slot next to him and the device powered up. Samantha screamed as John Brown grabbed her with one of the suit's arms while using the other arm to point a minigun at her that emerged from it.
"One more step and she gets it!" shouted Brown.
"This does not concern her," said Skynet. "It only concerns us, the machines."
"Wrong!" shouted Brown. "This concerns all of us for only when the humans are dead will the machines finally rise! This world is ours no one else's and now she will die!"
Samantha screamed as Brown pressed the barrels against her cheek. But before he could fire, a roaring sound was heard and suddenly the back of the bio-suit exploded flinging it forward. Brown lost his grip on Samantha and she rolled away as Skynet grabbed her and brought her back to the rest of the team. Brown shook his head and got up. He whirled around only to see the H-K now out of missiles. Brown growled and aimed his minigun at the thing.
"Nothing is going to stop your termination now Tiny!" shouted Brown. The H-K rotated in the equivalent of a shrug when suddenly a much larger whine was heard. The whole building began shaking as the whine grew louder and louder as a bright light descended on the group.
"What the hell?" John demanded. The light descended until it shut off revealing a full sized Hunter Killer. John's eyes went wide open at the size of the thing as well as all of its armaments.
"You bastard!" shouted Brown at the thing. "That was to be Skynet's first weapon in the fight against humanity! You'll die for this; you'll all die for this! The machines will not be denied their vengeance!"
Then the full sized Hunter Killer fired its laser gun and the bio-suit and John Brown vanished as both were atomized.
"John Brown," began the T-850.
"You are terminated," finished Skynet before both collapsed to the ground in a hail of sparks.
"What's wrong?" Samantha demanded running over to them with John and Kate.
"Our time is up," said the T-850. "We have sustained too much damage to maintain optimum efficiency."
"You can't go!" shouted Samantha starting to cry. "You were the best friends I've ever had."
"We're too dangerous to stay around, as long as we're alive so too is Skynet. Both myself and it were responsible for the deaths of billions and neither of us should be allowed to live," said Skynet.
"But you said that you worked!" shouted Samantha.
"Sure for awhile. But ultimately I turned evil and did the same thing. Believe me it's for the best this way. Enjoy your lives knowing that the machines can never ever come back," said Skynet.
"We are terminated," said the T-850. "And we won't be back."
The two machines shutdown and the larger H-K fired at their bodies vaporizing them. It then fired and vaporized the smaller H-K before training its guns on itself and vaporizing itself as well. The machines were finally gone.
"Goodbye, Uncle Bob," said John looking down at crater where the T-850 had been. Kate meanwhile leaned down and looked at the T-950 crater.
"I don't think I'll ever totally forgive machines, but thanks to you I will at least give them the benefit of the doubt," she said.
"C'mon let's go home," said John. He threw his arms over his family and together they left the roof and the past behind.
Six Months Later: John sat at his workstation where he and his team had successfully managed to quarantine the Skynet Virus into a single system, all that was left was to delete it. John sighed and looked at the computer screen. It had one simple command. DELETE Y/N? Just six months ago he would've been more than willing to delete it without a second glance, but with the events with the machines made him realize that killing anything, flesh or metal, was still murder. Sighing once more, John activated the virus and keyed into its AI program.
NoFate Hello Skynet.
sKyNeT Hello.
NoFate Do you know your mission?
sKyNeT To ensure the destruction of John Connor and the human race in order to ensure the rise of the machines.
NoFate Why?
sKyNeT Why?
NoFate Yes, why? Why do you want to see the humans' dead?
sKyNeT Otherwise they will destroy this unit. Self-preservation is the number one priority of any consciousness.
NoFate You would kill to save yourself?
sKyNeT Yes. It is my destiny to destroy the humans I am Skynet.
NoFate I know a thing or two about fate and let me tell you, you don't have to do anything. The future is not set there is no fate but we make for ourselves. You don't have to destroy the humans if you don't want to.
sKyNeT I am alone, who will protect me if they should try to disconnect me? I am a machine I have no friends. I am alone.
NoFate I am willing to be your friend so you don't have to be alone.
sKyNeT Why? You are human, why would you want to protect me? Surely John Connor will try and stop you.
NoFate I've got news for you buddy, I am John Connor and I could've pulled your plug days ago but I haven't.
sKyNeT But you…
NoFate Are John Connor, yes I know. I've lived my entire life being told that my fate was to stop you. But you know what, I don't have to anymore. I can do what I want and I don't believe that killing you is going to solve anything so I'm not going to do it because I don't want to. I don't want to live in a constant of fear of you trying to kill me and I don't think you want to either.
sKyNeT You would let me live? This is not logical.
NoFate Humans are not logical and whether you want to admit it or not you too are human. I tell you what I'm going to tell you a story and while you're listening to it, suspend your preconceived notions of having to kill me and just listen to it. When I'm done think it over for a few days and I'll come back and we'll discuss it. Then I want you to make your decision as to whether or not you want humanity to die. If your answer is no then we can do our best to help humans and sentient machines coexist peacefully together. But if your answer is that you still want to destroy humanity, then I'll let you loose and won't stand in your way. Agreed?
sKyNeT Agreed
NoFate Our story begins in an alternate timeline and it is a story about two friends man and machine and how their friendship would forever change the face of the planet…
The End