Chapter 4: Enter the Terminator

For Faye time seemed to stand still. It had all sounded so easy at the start. A three million bounty, dangerous and wearing some new type of super armor. Just come prepared for it and everything would turn out fine. She had come prepared, or so she thought. The ammo she had chosen should have cracked his ribs no matter what kind of armor he had on. He should have been knocked unconscious, or at least have the fight taken out of him. Instead he had absorbed every shot both Faye and the bartender put into him, then he had gotten up as easily as if he had just tripped and fallen, not like he had taken over a dozen shotgun blasts, one that had struck him in the head. Now he was staring at them missing the upper left part of his face, with one eye living yet dead and the other a glowing red orb that seemed completely dead but had a life all its own. The man, thing actually, did not show any signs he had been injured. Instead he began to raise the hand cannon of a pistol he was carrying. A clattering sound brought Faye out of her trance as she turned and saw the bartender running, his shotgun discarded. The thing's head followed the bartender's movement and it smoothly took aim and put a fifty-caliber bullet in the back of the man's head. Acting almost without thinking Faye reached into her pockets and pulled out several of her spare shotgun shells. Never taking her eyes off the thing she loaded as many of the shells as she could. She had gotten only two in when the thing started turn back in her direction. Dropping the remaining shells she chambered a round and took aim. She acted bravely but in reality it was terror that was now guiding her actions. She couldn't run otherwise she would be shot in the back to. She wouldn't be able to kill it, she didn't even know if it could be killed, so she took aim at the thing's hand and fired, knocking the pistol out of his grip. She then put one final blast into the thing's chest, dropped the shotgun and started to run as fast as she could.

The thing that she would later find out was called a Terminator did not immediately peruse. He looked at his weapon lying on the ground. Visual scan indicated that the weapon had been damaged too severely to be useful. Removing a smaller nine-millimeter pistol he took aim at his escaping target but it turned around a corner out of his firing zone. His neural net brain ran through several scenarios at once and in less then a second a decision was made. Though the target was no longer a viable threat she had compromised his camouflage, and staying true to his orders he would need to kill the target to keep his true nature a secret. It was also decided that the same would need to be done with anyone else who he came in contact with. As he began foot pursuit he ran the image of the bounty hunter through his data banks. Soon he had a complete file on her.

Name: Valentine, Faye

Age: Unknown

Planet of origin: Unknown, possibly Earth

Profession: Bounty Hunter

Known accomplices: Jet Black

Terminator accessed the file he had on Jet Black. Another bounty hunter, former member of ISSP, owner of interplanetary vessel designated Bebop. He recognized the file photograph as possibly one of the men who had tried to apprehend him in the subway. After comparing the photo with the image in his memory he calculated a one hundred percent chance that it was the same man. He then cross-referenced the image of the other who had been with Jet Black and came up with the name Spike Spiegel, a man who was listed as dead for three years. He calculated a ninety eight percent chance that the three were in league with each other and that Faye Valentine would tell them what she had seen. There was a seventy -five percent chance they would believe her but only a ten percent chance that anyone else would. A human would accept those odds but Terminator was anything but human. His programming would allow nothing else then a zero percent possibility of his discovery. It came to the conclusion that in order to preserve his secrecy he would need to terminate Jet Black and Spike Spiegel as well as Faye Valentine. All this processing was done even before he had turned the corner in pursuit of his target.

As things were unfolding on the street on the roof of an adjacent building two figures watched the events through binoculars. One wore a Mars Police Department uniform, a captain. The other wore a black coat and a face that was emotionless as the Terminator's had been. After arranging to have everything set up Vicious had come to witness it for himself. If something went wrong and the agent wasn't killed he would finish the job, making sure that the luckless bounty hunter received all the blame. When the bounty hunter in question had arrived Vicious had recognized her. If all went well he would be killing two birds with one stone, destroying the newest threat to his power and sending a message to the oldest. A few minutes after she had entered the bar the agent strode in. Gunfire was heard from inside, first the loud sharp crack of a pistol then the roar of a shotgun. The agent had then come flying through the door and lay motionless. As the bar patrons gathered around the fallen man Vicious saw blood on the agent's coat. Thinking the task completed he was about to leave when the agent got to his feet and started killing everyone around him. Then Faye and someone else began firing on the agent again. The man reacted to the shots hitting him but did not allow them to impede him. At first Vicious thought it was part of his genetic programming, ignore pain and continue. That changed when a shotgun blast tore part of his skull off and flung it several feet away from him. No one could survive that, let alone ignore it. But yet the man remained standing and faced down his attackers. Focusing in on the area of the head that had been shot away Vicious saw a glint of metal. The man then tore off more of his face and revealed a red mechanical eye. He then killed the man and was about to do the same to Faye when she shot the gun out of his hands then turned and fled. As the man, robot would be a better term, brought out another gun and began to pursue her Vicious and the captain lowered their field glasses.

"What do we do now sir?" The captain asked, trying to stay calm in spite of what he had just witnessed. Vicious did not answer. He approached this revelation as he would any other problem, with cold logic. He would have to find out what the agent truly was and more importantly how to stop him.

"Gather as many of your men as you can." He told the captain. "Follow whatever that thing is and destroy it by any means necessary." He turned and began to leave. The captain followed several steps behind and began to speak into his radio, not daring to question Vicious' orders.

"Suspect now headed north on 22nd, send all available ground units and contact any available S.W.A.T teams in the area. Approach with caution, suspect is considered armed and extremely dangerous." Vicious did not expect them to be successful, but he needed to buy as much time as possible to find out everything he could. For the first in a long time he was angry, not frustrated but truly angry. Angry at the corpses who led the clan for their deceit and at himself for not seeing through it. His spies were supposed to keep him informed of even the elder's most confidential projects. Heads would roll for this, in the most literal sense. But that was for later, now he needed to find out just who this mechanical being was. The most likely place to find answers would be the laboratories that produced the so-called clones and armored vests.

While Vicious began his search for answers Terminator had located his primary target. She had a considerable lead and was out of pistol range. Terminator broke into a run and rapidly began to close the distance. When he was back within effective pistol range he raised his weapon and started firing on the run. After several shots missed the target he had factored in all contingencies and was about to fire a killing shot when something struck him in the side and knocked him into the air.

Faye kept on running, not looking back even when bullets started whizzing past her head. Her only thought was to get away from that thing as fast as she could. A loud screeching assaulted her ears followed by an even louder crash. Finally risking a glance back she saw a police car careen out of control and run into a building. She also saw her pursuer land hard and tumble end over end after being struck by the vehicle. Not questioning her luck she kept running and didn't look back, where she had left the Red Tail was only a few blocks away and if she could make it there she would be home free.

Two cops dragged themselves out of the wrecked squad car. They were answering an emergency call when some idiot ran right out in front of them. They had hit him dead on and lost control, slamming into a building.

"You okay?" The driver asked his partner.

"Yeah. What the hell was that guy thinking?" He asked pointing to the motionless form.

"Well it's too late to ask him now." The two approached the body cautiously. "Probably high on something. That kind of shit makes you think you're invincible."

"All I know is that our ride is trashed and some psycho is running around loose." He looked at the body and back at his partner. "You don't think…..?"

"Could be." They were about to examine it when the 'dead' man stood up and faced them. Part of his face wasn't there, instead there was metal and a glowing red eye that seemed to look through them. They went for their guns but Terminator was faster, one hand lashed out like a snake and clamped down on the throat of the closest cop. He didn't even have time to struggle for breath when Terminator flicked his wrist and snapped the cop's neck like a matchstick.

"Unit three to base!!!" The other cop screamed into his shoulder mike. "Suspect has been spotted, send all available backup to….!!!!" Terminator did not give him a chance. With his free hand he smoothly drew the dead cop's still holstered gun and shot the second cop in the forehead as he struggled to unholster his own weapon.

"Base to unit three." A voice from the second cop's radio said. "Backup is en-route. Do not, I repeat do not approach suspect until backup arrives. Do you copy unit three?" Terminator did not answer. He could imitate the voices of both the dead policemen but would not be able to stop the others that were coming towards him. Even now he picked up the sounds of sirens approaching. "Unit three?" The voice asked. Ignoring the radio Terminator examined the car and found it to be inoperable. His target was now lost and sirens were converging on him from all sides. Several options were available to him, to flee and try to sneak past, to radio for help, or to fight. He could not conceal himself among humans so he could not flee. To radio for help would betray his masters. The only option that was viable was to fight. He would need heavier weapons and began to search for areas where they could be acquired. Searching through his records he found a gun shop that was used by his masters as a front for smuggling illegal arms only half a block from his current position and headed towards it. When he got there he found it locked for the night and smashed the door down to gain entry. Scanning the weapons available he found several that would be useful and began preparing them. He selected an AK-74 assault rifle, loaded several clips with armor piercing ammunition and an automatic shotgun with slug shells. He also managed to find a replacement Desert Eagle but even all this would not be sufficient to handle the number of officers that he could hear approaching. Going into the back of the building he came to a door with the sign 'Private' hanging on it. Judging it to be the most likely place where he kept all the arms he smuggled for the masters. With one punch the hinges gave way and the door collapsed. In the room he found what he would need and picked up several tube shaped objects. Walking back to the front he set the tubes next to his other weapons within easy reach.

"This is the police!!" A voice from outside bellowed. "Come out with your hands above your head!!" Walking back out into the front of the shop he assessed the threats before him. Eight standard police cruisers formed a barrier manned by sixteen officers. Behind them an armored personnel carrier was offloading men wearing S.W.A.T gear and carrying assault rifles. In total thirty-five officers stood between him and escape. First Terminator would need an unobstructed field of fire. Taking one of the tubes he extended it and brought it to his shoulder, aiming at the front of the building. Pressing the firing button a rocket shot from the tube and blew out the front portion of the shop with an earth-shattering roar. The police instinctively took cover, dazed by the smoke and the noise from the explosion. Terminator was affected by neither and raised another rocket launcher. A second rocket whizzed by the stunned police officers and slammed into the APC, sending it up in a ball of flame. Several cops, struck by shrapnel, fell to the ground. All the others trained their weapons on the smoke cloud but were unable to see through it. Terminator had no such problems and fired his final rocket into the center of the barricade, destroying several of the cruisers and killing ten of the officers. After putting his new Desert Eagle into his holster he picked up both the rifles and walked forward.

"He's coming out!!" One of the cops yelled as a shadowy form walked through the smoke.

"Just hold your positions and don't fire until I give the word!!" The captain ordered. {How did I get my self into this?} He asked himself. Vicious had told him to get every man he could, that should have been enough to take down one guy, even if he was a robot. As he looked about he saw almost half his men dead and the other half scared almost out of their wits. The smoke was beginning to clear and out of it walked the suspect holding an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other, like they were both pistols.

"What the hell is that thing?!?" One of the cops yelled in undisguised fear. All now got a good look at Terminator's mechanical eye.

"Drop him!!" The captain commanded. As one the remaining cops opened up with everything they had. Shotguns, machine pistols, assault rifles, all were focused on the monstrosity walking towards them but Terminator walked through the barrage like a normal man would walk through a light rain. He acted slowly and deliberately, not spraying the area but firing carefully planed and precisely aimed bursts. As a result every time Terminator fired his shots hit and a cop went down, none of which got up again. The shrinking number of ISSP tired to fall back but Terminator continued to calmly kill police officers left and right. After running out of ammunition some cops tried to run but were shot in the back. One dove behind one of the wrecked cruises trying to find cover. Terminator's neural net brain was able to analyze the cop's trajectory and compute the most likely spot where the cop would land and fired a burst through the car. So accurate was the neural net calculations that the cop actually dived right into the incoming bullets. One S.W.A.T member, trying to be a hero, rushed forward emptying his M-16 into Terminator's chest. The machine calmly swung his shotgun around and fired three shots in quick secession to make sure he penetrated the man's body armor. The man was flung several meters and landed on his back, dead before he even hit the ground. The shotgun now out of ammunition Terminator dropped it and continued to fire his AK-74. When the clip ran out he stopped his advance and began to replace it with calm professionalism. As he did what was left of the small army of cops came out from behind their cover and fired until their weapons ran out. Terminator took no notice of the bullets hitting him and finished reloading his rifle. He then swept the gun in an arc in front of him, firing a burst and moving on to the next target so quickly he seemed to fire one long stream of bullets. The last officer went down and Terminator stopped to survey the situation among the burning vehicles and dead bodies. The enemy had suffered a one hundred percent casualty rate and damage to his own systems was negligible. He listened very carefully and could hear one of the officers moaning in pain behind a cruiser. Terminator walked around the vehicle and saw the police captain lying on his back, blood flowing from a chest wound. Without a word Terminator raised his rifle and started to pull the trigger.

"The Dragon's reach stretches beyond the heavens!!" The captain blurted. Terminator stopped pulling the trigger, recognizing the code an agent of his masters used. However his grip on the trigger did not loosen and he did not shift the rife.

"Out of the past will come a new force." Terminator said. The captain looked from the machine's face to the barrel of the rife that was pointed at his face. Hoping the thing was just trying to scare him he smiled nervously.

"Whatever you say pal." Terminator did not show any outward reactions.

"Wrong." He said coldly and put a bullet through the center of the captain's forehead. Before the captain hit the ground Terminator was already planning his next objective. Scanning the vehicles still intact he found one in operational condition and went over to it. Getting in he found the keys still in the ignition and started the car up. The radio came alive with frantic sounding voices trying to get in touch with the force that lay dead around him. He yanked the radio from the dash panel and tossed it out the window. Using information from his files he also found the homing transmitter all cruisers were equipped with and destroyed that as well. Now sure that he could not be followed he put the car in gear and drove off into the night.

Part of Terminator's battle programming was to make sure all enemy combatants were dead. With the threat of more police arriving and the addition of air units that he could hear coming he could not carry out that part of his programming without endangering himself to further risk of discovery. If he had the time to check the bodies that now littered the street he would find one of them still breathing. He was lucky. He had been standing near the APC when the second rocket blew it to scrap. A piece of metal flew from the explosion and struck the man in his head. The metal penetrated his helmet and skin but was stopped just short of bone. He was knocked unconscious and when he began to come to he could hear gunfire and screams. Slowly he opened his eyes and saw something slaughtering his fellow officers. No matter what was thrown at it he kept on coming, not stopping until all the others were dead. He saw it corner the captain and the captain said something that made the thing stop. They had been sold out!! The captain knew what they were going against and sent them in anyway!! The thing said something to the captain but when he answered the thing shot him at point blank range. The captain got what he deserved but that thing was still alive. Whatever it was turned and looked in his direction and felt his heart skip several beats. He remained absolutely still, not moving, not even breathing until it got into a cruiser and drove off. Even after that he dared not try to move until the paramedics got to the scene.

"We've got a live one here!" One of them shouted. A minute later several people were standing over him, including another police officer. He tried to get up but it was too painful.

"Easy son." The officer said. "You're going to be fine but we'll need your help later…."

"Red eye." The wounded officer mumbled.

"What?" The second officer asked.

"He had a… red eye." The wounded officer said before passing out again. He was quickly loaded into an ambulance and taken to the nearest hospital. The officer in charge watched it go as his second in command approached.

"He going to make it lieutenant?"

"Yeah." The lieutenant answered. "What about the others?" The second officer looked back and hesitated.

"You can tell the medics they can go home. The only thing we need here is body bags, lots of them."

"GOD DAMN IT!" The second officer nodded in agreement.

"Did the kid say who did this?" The lieutenant shook his head.

"Just that whoever it was had a red eye."

"Wait a minute. You're telling me that one person did all this?" He gestured to the carnage around them. "That's impossible!"

"After the Dragonslayer killings I wouldn't rule it out."

"So you think we're dealing with the same guy?" The lieutenant shook his head again.

"No. All of them were shot to death, no signs of edged weapons." He growled as he looked over the bodies. "Have someone waiting to question that kid when he wakes up. Find the missing squad car, our perp must have stolen it. Have everybody in a three block radius questioned, and find out who was at that bar he was spotted at earlier. I want this guy found at all costs."

"And after we find him?" The lieutenant's voice took on a sinister edge.

"We bury the fucker."

Terminator followed the map to a known safehouse where his secret was known and he could get help. Pulling on a raincoat he found in the car he had abandoned several blocks back walked up to the door and knocked three times.

"We don't want any!!" An angry voice yelled from inside.

"The Dragon's reach stretches beyond the heavens." Terminator said. The voice was silent for a moment.

"Are you of the special division?" The voice asked.

"Affirmative." Terminator answered. "Agent 001."

"Out of the past will come a new force….." The voice started.

"That will enable us to dominate the future." Terminator finished. The door was opened by a man in a labcoat.

"Were you followed?"

"Negative." Terminator answered. The scientist nodded.

"Get in here and close the door. We'll see to your repairs." Terminator nodded and complied.

At the Red Dragon's genetics laboratories Vicious had one of the scientists cornered, in front of several large glass tubes, each containing men who looked exactly alike.

"Now you're going to tell me everything you know." Vicious said menacingly. The scientist was ghost white and shaking profusely.

"I, I already informed you of our work here sir."

"No you haven't." Vicious said with certainty. He motioned to one of his men, who shot one of the tubes. It shattered and the man inside fell out, but when he hit the floor he landed stiffly with a loud clunk. The thug checked it for a pulse.

"It's plastic." The thug reported. The scientist gulped nervously.

"Open it." Vicious ordered. The thug took out a knife and flipped open the blade. Cutting a line down the back he peeled back the plastic skin and inside found several metal rods that gave it a basic human shape. The scientist turned another shade paler.

"I c…c...can't tell you. They'll kill me."

"No. I am going to kill you." Vicious told him. "You need to make a decision. Tell me what you know and die a quick and painless death, or spend your last few hours in agony." The scientist slumped against the wall.

"I'll tell you everything I know." He said, his voice drained of any will he had left.