Chapter 11: Raid on Cyberdyne
Getting to Cyberdyne took longer then anticipated. Cops were everywhere and with the bounties on their heads they couldn't risk being seen by anyone, they might turn out to be bounty hunters. When they got there it was well past midnight, and as they approached Spike saw several suspicious looking cars parked about half a block away. As they stopped in the parking lot they went over their plan.
"There are only one or two guards on duty and they'll be sure to recognize us as soon as we get in." Jet explained. "But John and Kyle's uniforms might be able to throw them for a second, so you two will be going in first. Once the coast is clear radio us and we can get in and out before they even know we're there."
"They might already know that we're here." Spike said. Everyone turned their attention to him. "Remember those black cars we passed on the way here?" The others nodded. "Why would they park in the middle of a block?"
"So you're thinking that this might be an ambush?" Jet asked. Spike nodded. "I was beginning to think that to. This place seems awfully quiet, and you'd expect to see a small army guarding the building."
"Maybe they do and we don't know it." Spike said.
"So that leaves us with two choices. Either we go through with this without knowing who's in there or how many. Or we leave and try this another time."
"We probably won't get another chance at this." Spike said. "Between the bounty hunters and the Dragons we won't be able to get within a mile of this place."
"Anyone think we should back out?" Jet asked.
"Not a chance." Faye spoke up. "We've come this far so we might as well go all the way."
"I'm sure as hell not ready to quit yet." John said.
"Same here." Kyle seconded.
"Then let's get this thing moving." Jet said. Kyle and John nodded then got out of the van. They walked up to the mostly glass front of the building and looked inside, they saw a single security guard at a desk. John pushed on the door and it opened with no resistance.
"Now there's a good sign." John said in a low voice.
"Very good." Kyle replied, also in a low voice. Both of them put their hands on their sidearms but did not draw them and entered the building.
"Excuse me!" John shouted to the guard. Kyle grimaced but said nothing. "We got news that there might be some trouble here so they sent us to give you guys a hand." The guard had been warned there would be some sort of trouble and he was expecting backup but not from regular cops. These two that had just walked in must have heard it through the grapevine and were looking to score points.
"Assignment of new security personal requires two forms of authorization." The guard replied. It was a standard reply and it always worked. Even if these two weren't bluffing they would have only one form of authorization. But instead of looking deflated and turning around the two kept walking towards him and drew their weapons.
"Here's one." John said, aiming his weapon.
"And here's the other." Kyle finished, drawing back the hammer of his Magnum. The guard looked at the two armed men that were holding him at gunpoint and then glanced down at the alarm button. He decided that his employers weren't paying him enough to die and slowly raised his hands.
"Smart move." John said, taking the guards and cuffing him with his own pair of handcuffs. "Check the rooms." He told Kyle. In the lobby, on opposite sides of the desk, there were two restrooms. Kyle went into the women's room and began to search it. He wasn't nervous about searching a woman's bathroom, he had done that before when clearing a building. When he found it empty he walked over to the men's room door and stopped, a feeling in the back of his head told him something was wrong. He had learned to trust his hunches so he stood to the side of the door, weapon ready.
"Got any good magazines in there?" He called out. His instincts had saved him as bullets started to punch holes in the door. John dove under the desk but the first guard was not so lucky. He was too slow to react and was struck twice in the chest. He fell to the floor and did not move. From inside the room Kyle heard frantic yelling.
"WE HAVE MULTIPLE INTRUDERS!!" The voice yelled. "THEY'RE BOTH COPS! SEND BACK UP NOW!!!"
"SHIT!!!" Kyle and John both cursed at the same time. John went for his radio and Kyle waited for the firing to stop. It did and he heard the distinctive clatter of a magazine being dropped from its gun. Positioning himself in front of the bullet riddled door he kicked it as hard as he could. Already weakened the door broke from its hinges and fell to the floor. Inside he saw another guard fumbling to pull back the slide of his automatic pistol.
"FREEZE!!" Kyle shouted at the man. The man ignored the command and managed to work the slide all the way back, chambering a round. "I said DON'T MOVE!!" Kyle yelled. Again his order went unheeded and the man raised his gun. Kyle didn't hesitate and pulled the trigger. It had been a long time since he had fired a Magnum and he had forgotten how powerful the recoil could be, it was so strong the gun almost hit him in the face. The other guy faired far worse. Being hit from such a powerful gun at close range had literally lifted the man off his feet and thrown him backwards. The .44 Rhino slug had passed through his chest and exploded out his back, continuing on its course and punching a hole in the far wall. How far it would keep going was anyone's guess.
While Kyle was dealing with the second guard John took out his radio and snapped it on.
"They know we're here!!" He yelled into it. In the van no sooner had he spoken those words then in the rearview mirror Jet saw the lights of those mystery cars come on. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see what was about to happen and Jet reacted instantly, putting the gas pedal to the floor.
"Hold on!" He told the others. The van shot forward and plowed through the glass front of the building. Turing the wheel he did a ninety-degree turn, putting the sliding door facing the inside of the building. "Everybody out!!" He ordered. Faye opened the slider and jumped out followed by Ed. Grabbing her grenade launcher she went to the hood of the vehicle, almost running into Spike who was diving out the passenger side door, a second later followed by Jet. Setting the launcher onto the hood she took aim and fired at the lead car. The shot fell short and exploded in front of the car but it was enough to make it screech to a halt. Adjusting her aim she fired as it started to move backwards, tires squealing. The shot went through the windshield and exploded inside the vehicle. The other cars stopped and men began to get out of them. They were all carrying assault rifles and all of them were wearing Red Dragon uniforms. Faye fired again and destroyed a second car but the men began to spread out, making well over a dozen small targets instead of several large ones. One grenade for one man would be a waste of ammo, both Faye and the Dragons knew it. Slowly the Dragons began to advance, opening fire with their assault guns, causing Faye to duck.
"So now what?!?" John yelled over the din.
"We stick to the plan!" Spike yelled back. "Ed, GO!!" Ed scrambled over to the desk John was using for cover and began typing at the computer that was there.
"Plan? What plan?" John asked.
"The plan we made up while Faye Faye was looking for you." Ed answered. John gave her a curious look and was about to say something when a klaxon began to blare over the loud speakers.
"This was you great plan, let everyone know we're here?!?" John shouted over the klaxon.
"Nope." Ed told him simply. "That's great plan!" She declared and pointed to the ceiling. John looked at what she was and saw a heavy sheet of metal being lowered to the floor at roughly the same spot as where the glass wall had been. The Dragons noticed it to and began to run forward, trying to get under it before it closed. A few did manage to roll under it and were quickly shot by Spike and Jet. The metal sheet closed with a loud booming sound and the klaxon became silent. Kyle, John and Faye exchanged confused glances before Kyle finally spoke up.
"Ok I give up. How did you do that?" He asked.
"When Ed hacked into Cyberdyne's computers we didn't find anything about the Terminators but what we did find is this building's security measures." He pointed to the metal wall. "Right now that's happening to every door and window leading to the outside. Pretty elaborate, not to mention expensive, security measures for a company that was bankrupt and had nothing but failures under its belt. With those things down no one can get in."
"And we're stuck with whoever's inside here already." Faye said.
"Well let's see where everybody else is. Ed?" Jet prompted. Ed activated the security cameras and on the display they saw most of the floors were empty but they also saw several squares that were nothing but static, indicating the cameras had been knocked out. Ed typed a few commands and they saw that all the cameras on the fifth floor were down.
"Looks like we've got some unexpected company." Spike stated.
"You'd better check it out." Jet told him. "Kyle, go with him. Take Ein with you to, he'll be able to tell of there are any Terminators up there or not. If there are get back down here." Spike and Kyle nodded but before they could go anywhere a voice came from the man Kyle had killed.
"Team two to post one, answer damn it! We can't get inside. What is the situation with the intruders? Damn!" The voice cursed again when no one answered and the radio degraded into static.
"You know I thought he was just an ordinary guard in the wrong place at the wrong time. Guess now I don't need to feel bad about having to kill that guy." Kyle said. Spike shrugged and they headed towards the stairs, the elevator would be too obvious, with Ein following them.
"So what do we do?" John asked when the two had left.
"We hold the fort, let Ed try to find anything we can use." Jet told them motioning to Ed who was hooking up Tomato to the guard's computer.
"How long do we have until they get through?" Faye asked, casting a suspicious glance at the metal wall.
"Depends. If they go at it the usual way, trying to cut through with torches or knock the wall down, it'll take at least an hour. They try unconventional it could take them only two minutes." Jet answered.
"I'm going to regret this but what is unconventional?" John asked.
"They try and blast us out." Jet replied. "We need to hope that whatever's in here is too valuable for them to try it."
Outside the building the Dragons were searching for a way in and setting up a perimeter. They had been assured that the police would be kept out this but they needed to keep nosy civilians at bay. When they tried to contact the insider they had there was no response.
"Idiot." Snarled the thug that had tried to make contact. Knowing that he couldn't restore contact with the guard he switched the radio frequency. "Team two to team three. Do you copy team three?"
"Affirmative team two." Came an answer over the radio. "We are aware of the situation. What are our orders?"
"At least something's going right." The thug mumbled. In a louder voice he said. "Your orders are to hold your position, they'll work their way up to you."
"Understood." Came the reply. The thug switched frequencies again, to one that he was told to contact only in such a situation.
"This is team two calling team one." High above the city a black craft that resembled an APC slowly patrolled the sky. There were many places that might be attacked and squads had been sent to all of them but this team had been too valuable to keep in one place so they had been ordered to remain mobile so they would be able to respond to any attack. The pilot of the craft reached over and activated the reply function of the radio.
"Do you have conformation?" The pilot said.
"Affirmative." The thug answered. "We have visual conformation at Cyberdyne headquarters."
"Understood. ETA is ten minutes." The pilot replied. "Lock and load back there." Behind him five men who looked almost identical turned towards him in unison. As one four of them chambered a round into the weapons they were carrying. The P90's they held were compact but very powerful, looking futuristic even by modern standards. With their hundred round magazines and a firing rate of nine hundred rounds a minute they were the perfect combination of firepower and concealability. The fifth Terminator had been designated to carry a heavier weapon and had a large metal container strapped to his back that despite its immense weight he was able to handle with ease. Attached to the container was possibly the most deadly anti-infantry gun ever created. Based on the gattling gun design the Minigun the fifth Terminator carried was capable of literally tearing even the most heavily armored foot soldier to shreds. With the safety on he pressed the trigger and the six barrels began to whirl with a loud whining sound. Convinced the gun was in working order he let go of the trigger and when the barrels stopped spinning he flicked the safety off. Each of the Terminators had noted the ETA the pilot had announced. On their present course and speed they would arrive in eight minutes.
Back at Cyberdyne Spike, Kyle and Ein had reached the fifth floor and stood at the doorway leading to it. Fully knowing there would probably be an ambush waiting both drew their weapons and prepared to move. Kicking the door open they moved into the hallway with a standard clearing procedure, Spike covering one end of the hallway, Kyle covering the other. The door didn't explode and they could see no one.
"Looks clear." Kyle remarked.
"Looks can be deceiving." Spike responded. As with most buildings there was a maze like feel to the area around them. Hallways twisted and turned, broke off in different directions and led to rooms that were probably just as confusing. All of this offered dozens of good hiding places and they needed to check all of them. "We could wander around for an hour and not run into anyone else."
"Well we're going to have to start somewhere. That's a good a place as any." Kyle said motioning towards an automatic door that was labeled 'Clean Room'. Spike shrugged and both started to walk towards it. Ein dutifully followed with no objection but as they got closer to it his ears perked up and he became very alert, hearing something that neither Spike or Kyle could hear. As Spike started to reach for the door controls Ein grabbed one of his pant legs with his teeth and began to pull back on it. Normally Spike would have responded with a swift kick and a few choice cures words, but instead he just stopped and looked down at the little dog, who let go of his pants and looked from the door up to him several times. Both humans recognized it as a 'there's someone in their gesture' and if it had been any other dog they would have thought it was just an act of stupidity. With Ein they knew he was serious. Without saying anything Spike took a grenade out of his pocket and waved it. John got the message and took a grenade off his vest. Both pulled the pins, set themselves on opposite sides of the door and Spike reached for door controls.
"You're the distraction." Spike told Ein in the lowest voice he could manage. Even though Kyle was standing only a few feet away he couldn't hear what Spike said but Ein heard him perfectly and went where Spike pointed. With Ein in position Spike pushed the button and the doors hissed open.
Behind the door five Red Dragon operatives waited. They were only part of one of many teams that had been deployed to various locations in response to the threat posed by the group of bounty hunters and those two policemen. In all there was a total of twenty gunmen in this one building, scattered in various places on the fifth floor. The plan was a simple one, by knocking out all the cameras of one floor they would force them to investigate. When they did they would be walking right into a trap, and those two they heard talking were acting just as they should. What the gunmen couldn't have known was that Ein was with them. His ears were good enough to hear them breathing even through the door. That along with his sensitive nose told him that there was danger on the other side. The gunmen, oblivious to this fact, patiently waited for the door to open so they could greet their visitors with a hail of lead. When the door began to open they raised their MP5s, fingers on the trigger and ready to fire. No immediate targets were visible but they knew enough not to open fire with no targets, that was a standard trick. By firing right when the doors opened they would let whoever was out there know someone was waiting. By holding their fire they would lure whoever was on the other side into a false sense of security and they would blindly walk in, giving the gunmen easy targets. Instead of things going according to plan what they saw was a small dog standing the doorway. Not expecting this they lowered the their guard.
"A dog?" One of the gunmen asked. The dog barked and two round objects came through the door and started bouncing their way. With all their attention on the grenades they didn't see Kyle lean out, grab Ein by the collar and yank him out of the doorway. The explosion that followed sent flame and debris flying out into the hallway and shook the building. When the flames died down Spike and Kyle stepped into the room, weapons ready. The room was filled with smoke and several fires were going. As the sound from the blast started to fade they heard loud coughing.
"Contact with hostiles." They heard a voice say, accompanied by a loud coughing fit. "In the clean room, send help." The smoke began to clear and they saw the outline of one of the gunmen speaking into a radio. Spike and Kyle fired at the same time and the gunman went down. Running back into the hallway they looked around and saw more gunmen running towards them, from both sides.
"There they are!! Get em!!!" One of the thugs yelled. Doing the only thing they could they ran back into the stairwell and slammed the door.
"Up or down?" Kyle asked. The thugs answered for them as bullets started ripping through the door. Spike ran down the stairs and Kyle ran up. A second later the thugs broke down the door and saw Spike going into the fourth floor and Kyle going into the sixth.
"Squad three get that cop, he shouldn't be too hard to kill. The rest of you follow me." The leader barked. The group then spilt up, five men going after Kyle and ten going after Spike.
On the main floor Jet watched as Ed got deeper and deeper into Cyberdyne's mainframe, John had gone to fully secure the floor and Faye kept a watchful eye on the metal wall. Right now the Dragons on the outside were trying to cut through with acetylene torches and were nowhere near a breech, yet.
"Good news." John called out as he entered the lobby. "There's no one down here but us and I shut down the elevator, so the only way in or out is the stairs. How're you guys coming along?"
"DAMN IT!!" Jet yelled. He hit the table with his artificial arm so hard it actually cracked, making the once smooth surface look like a piece of broken glass.
"I guess not so good." John said.
"You might say that." Jet growled. "The good news is that we've managed to find out where the Terminators are made and how many there are."
"And the bad news?" Faye asked.
"It's not here." Jet answered. "Cyberdyne is mostly a research facility. They design the hardware and software but construction takes place at another location."
"So we went through all this for nothing! That's great, just great!!" Faye yelled.
"Not quite." Jet broke in. "While they don't actually make the Terminators here they do have all the technical information, and direct links to other facilities including the one where they're constructed."
"So?" Faye asked, not quite getting it.
"It means Edward can take all information and make it disappear." Ed answered.
"And without the ability to make more that will only leave us to deal the Terminator's already built." John said. "That means the only problem….." He was cut off as an explosion from upstairs shook the building. "What the hell was that!?!"
"Spike and Kyle running into trouble." Jet replied, motioning to the security camera screens. They showed Spike and Kyle splitting up and going onto different floors. Jet turned towards John "They're going to need back up. Faye, stay here, we should be back soon." Before they could leave another alarm went off.
"Now what?" John asked, getting tired of all these unwanted surprises.
"Proximity alarm on the roof." Jet told them. "Keeps unauthorized aircraft from dropping in." Turning on the roof camera they saw a black craft whose back opened into a ramp. Down the ramp came five men all dressed in black combat gear. Under current conditions it wouldn't have been that big a concern but when the camera zoomed in on them they saw that all of them were almost completely identical. If that wasn't enough one of the men was wielding a backpack feed machine gun like it weighed nothing. If there was any hope that these five might be human it vanished as one of them went over to the metal slab covering the door that led into the building, grabbed it, and proceeded to rip it off. The construction was sound and the metal strong but there was a considerable amount of give. It would only be a few minutes before they had access to the building.
"Things just keep going from bad to worse." John moaned. Jet let out a sigh and made a decision.
"John, you know how to arm the C4. Do it and set the timer for ten minutes. After he sets it we'll radio Spike and Kyle to make a break for it. We'll try to fight our way to the roof and make an escape, but with just one weapon that will only slow them down I don't know if we can do it."
"Edward can help." Ed spoke up. "Edward has found something that will work on machine men."
"At this point I'm willing to try anything." John said. They looked at Tomato's screen and saw a picture of what looked like a high tech looking assault rifle.
"M-25 phased-plasma pulse gun." Jet read from the screen. "You sure these things are real?" Ed nodded enthusiastically.
"Very real. There're lots of them on the third floor, room 80B. They'll fix machine men real good. ZAP ZAP!!!" She added for emphasis. Jet was a bit skeptical but Cyberdyne had been working on a plasma weapon before they had gone bankrupt and with the Predator technology it seemed like they had been successful. The question was did they really work? Looking at the feed from the roof he saw that the one Terminators had succeeded in tearing the metal away from the door and tossed it aside a piece of cardboard. That made his mind up right there. Quickly reading the instructions on the rifle he turned towards John.
"You follow me." To Faye he said. "You stay here, keep an eye on Ed." Not wasting anymore time he ran towards the stairs, followed by a surprised John.
While John and Jet raced up to the third floor on the sixth the Red Dragon gunmen were finding out Kyle wouldn't be as easy to kill as they thought he would be. When they entered the sixth floor they saw Kyle running down the hallway. To their displeasure they also saw a grenade rolling towards them. Ducking back into the stairwell they were able to avoid the worst of the blast and took no casualties. When they stepped back into the hallway Kyle was nowhere in sight but they knew what direction he had run and headed down that way. Kyle came to a fork in the hallway and turned down one path. Turning a corner he braced himself up against the wall, waiting for them to come.
"There has to be a way out of this! But where the hell is it!?!" He hissed to himself. He got an answer but not the one he expected when he heard a whine at his feet. Looking down he was surprised to see Ein looking back up at him. "Where did you come from?" He said in a voice that he realized too late was too loud.
"Over here! I heard something!" One of the thugs shouted.
"Shit!" Kyle cursed as he heard footsteps approaching. "Come on!" He shouted to Ein and sprinted down the hallway. Taking another turn he came to another long hallway that was a dead end. At the very end of the hallway was a door but he didn't want to become trapped in a room with only one exit. The approaching footfalls didn't give him much of a choice. Running to the end of the hallway he tried the door but it was locked. Knowing he didn't have time to waste he pointed his gun at the door handle and fired. The lock blew off and the door swung open. He rushed in and after making sure Ein was inside with him he slammed the door. Looking around his hopes began to fall. As he feared there were no other exits and the room was filled with desks and computers. He had cornered himself in a damned accounting office. Knowing he had to make due he dragged one of the heavy metal desks over to the door and used it to block the entrance. He flipped another one over and used it as a makeshift barricade. He heard something crash into the door, which shuddered but remained shut.
"Damn!" One of the thugs from the outside cursed. Using that moment of distraction Kyle emptied the rest of his gun through the door. He heard a yell of pain and thought his stunt would convince them to fall back. Instead it had the reverse effect.
"Blast him!" One of the thugs commanded. A second later a hail of gunfire started to punch dozens of holes in the door. Ducking down Kyle opened the gun and ejected the spent cartridges. Grabbing one of his speed loaders he reloaded the gun, snapped it shut and pulled back the hammer. Beside him Ein was lying on the floor trying to get as low as he possibly could in case a lucky shot managed to penetrate the table they were hiding behind. Even with bullets whizzing over his head Kyle had to grin at the fact that Ein, in effect, was ducking. Even his ears were flat, and Kyle guessed if he could Ein would be covering his head with his front paws.
"So, you got any bright ideas on how to get out of here?" He asked Ein. Ein responded with a loud whine. "Didn't think so." He waited for a lull in the firing so he could shoot back again or throw one of his two remaining grenades but to his surprise the shooting stopped completely.
"Who the hell are you?" He heard one of the thugs ask.
"I am from team one." Another voice answered. Kyle started and looked over at the door in shock. Beside him Ein began to growl and his fur began to bristle, he had caught it to. The deep voice with the weird accent, the robotic way the words were spoken. A Terminator was out there and they had no weapons that could destroy it. They were royally screwed.
When the Terminators had entered the building they were operating under a simple battle plan. Each one of them would take a floor and search it. After the search was completed they would stand guard at the entrance to that floor. There were five of them and six floors in the building, the only thing that meant was that the one who searched the second level of the building would need to go down and sweep the first floor clear of targets. Logic dictated that the one with the heaviest weapon would search the topmost floor and block any escape should the targets sneak by the others. As the Terminator with the Minigun searched the floor his audio receptors picked up the sounds of gunfire. Following the sound he came across four men who were firing into a door, the fifth stood to the side clutching a bleeding arm. The plan the masters had put in motion had required advanced teams to go to buildings most likely to be attacked and this group, according to the uniforms they wore, were one of those teams. As he approached the wounded gunman was the first to notice and pointed in his direction. The others stopped their firing and also looked his way.
"Who the hell are you?" One of the men asked, the leader most likely.
"I am from team one." The Terminator answered. Again secrecy was imperative and only the pilot of the transport knew who they really were. "Whoever is in there, are they still alive?" He asked so the humans wouldn't ask any more questions.
"There's only one of them, and we don't know if he's still alive. But there's no way out of there so we've got him trapped." The leader answered. Terminator assessed the situation. He could hear breathing and movement, proof that the one trapped in there was still alive.
"Step aside." He told the thugs as he raised the Minigun. Just the sight of the weapon was enough to make them get out of the way. Terminator pressed the trigger of the weapon and the six barrels began spin, emitting a whirling sound. Inside the room Kyle heard the gun start to rev up and threw himself to the floor a split second before the whirling noise was replaced with a dull roar and more bullets then he could possibly hope to count began to fly. The rounds the Minigun spewed destroyed the room; computers exploded and were thrown off their tables. The walls became riddled with bullet holes, and even the table Kyle and Ein were hiding behind couldn't stop the high velocity rounds and they tore through it like paper. If they hadn't been lying flat both of them would have been killed. That didn't bring Kyle any comfort as some of the shots came so close he could feel the heat from the bullets. His Magnum was within reach but he knew that wouldn't be much use if he didn't have a clear shot. Between the MP5s and the chaingun rounds the door had been shot to pieces but he still couldn't get up. As carefully as he could he took a grenade off his vest and pulled the pin, holding the clip in place so the fuse wouldn't start burning. He knew that the Terminator would either have to stop firing or run out of ammunition. He was right and as soon as the firestorm ceased he stood and threw the grenade at what was left of the door. He dropped back down to the floor and covered his ears. In the hallway the Terminator had predetermined the number of rounds he would fire into the room and unlike the others he had been able to keep an accurate count and after that number had been reached he stopped firing and listened for any signs that whoever was in that room might still be alive. He did hear something hit the door but before he could analyze the sound and determine what the sound might be the door exploded outward, throwing flames and shrapnel at him. The explosion caused no damage to his chassis and his weapon was still functional.
"What the hell are you?" One of the thugs asked. Terminator looked and saw the humans backing away from him, some of them had their weapons raised. They were standing to the side and were out of the grenades blast radius but they had just seen this guy stand right in front of the blast and he hadn't flinched, even his eyes had remained open. That wasn't the only part of it. The explosion had thrown shards of metal that the man had ignored as he was struck. That wouldn't have been so strange if they had only hit the man's chest, body armor would have been able to stop that, but a good deal had been thrown into the man's face and not only did it not kill him but he didn't seem to notice it. Pain could be ignored but having your skin almost burned off and several large metal shards buried deep in your face was something no one could ignore. No one human anyway. All of the thugs were nervous and had their weapons trained on him but one of them squeezed the trigger a little too hard and fired a burst that struck the man in the forehead, and ricocheted off. The others panicked and opened fire, their nine-millimeter rounds doing nothing more then ripping off chunks of the man's skin. His camouflage had been compromised and that meant only one thing for the humans: termination. He raised his weapon and some of the thugs dropped theirs and ran while the others stood frozen. Pressing the trigger the Minigun again belched fire, literally ripping the men apart. As he killed them he also registered impacts on his back, it was easy to conclude that whoever was in that room had survived and was now firing on him. Once he confirmed that the five outside the room were dead he began to turn back to whoever was inside the room.
"God damn it!!" Kyle yelled as the Terminator began to turn. He had just fired three shots into the thing's back, all of them dead on and despite the power of the .44 rounds, despite the fact these were specialty rounds designed to shoot through almost anything, despite all of that they had had no more effect on this machine then the much smaller bullets the Dragon gunmen had used. Dropping his gun he took his final grenade off his vest pulled the pin, let clip fall and began counting. "One." The Terminator was almost all the way around. "Two." They were facing each other now. "Three." The gun began to rise. "Catch!!" He shouted and threw the grenade like a fastball, right at the Terminator's head. Letting go of the gun Terminator raised his left hand and motioned to catch the grenade, not because of what Kyle had said but because he calculated that if it continued on it's current path it would detonate in its face. He caught the grenade just before it hit his face and as soon as the grenade made contact with his hand it detonated. From behind the table Kyle heard the explosion then heard something drop to the ground. Stepping out from behind the table Kyle saw the room was filled with smoke, but he heard no movement. "Got him." He said with a sigh of relief.
"Negative." A voice said through the rapidly clearing smoke. Out of the smoke lurched the Terminator. The explosion had destroyed the arm up to the elbow and blew off all the skin on the front of its head, leaving a surreal sight of a metal face surrounded by burned flesh. The red, unfeeling eyes gave him a menacing look no human could ever hope to match, but they also gave Kyle an idea. Unfortunately he didn't have the reflexes to pull it off. Unable to aim the Minigun with only one arm the Terminator dropped it and took a Desert Eagle pistol out of a holster on his back. It began to take aim and Kyle knew there was no way he could dodge at this range so he stood calmly and waited for the end. The Terminator pulled the trigger but before the hammer could fall a small furry shape lunged at the machine and sank its teeth in the machine's wrist. Ein's bite didn't damage the Terminator, but it was able to throw its aim off just enough. The bullet from the gun that would have gone through Kyle's head instead grazed the side of it. Kyle fell backwards but as he fell he reached for his gun. When he hit the floor he grabbed it and took aim. Compensating for the extra weight on its arm the Terminator also took aim. Ein continued to thrash while keeping his jaws clamped down and that movement allowed Kyle to set his sights first and squeeze the trigger. Later he would wonder how he could be so scared and act so calmly, but right now all that mattered to him was hitting what he was aiming for. His aim was true and the bullet crashed into the Terminator's left eye. The Rhino bullet shattered the eye itself and, as Kyle had hoped, passed through the thin armor behind it, entering its head. If the bullet had continued on its path straight through it would have caused serious, but survivable, damage. However the skull was too hard and too thick for the bullet to go through so instead it began to ricochet inside the Terminator's head, unable to stop until its kinetic energy bled out. Before that happened it tore through the neural net brain again and again, completely destroying it and making the Terminator itself, for lack of a better phrase, spaz out. It began to shake uncontrollably and swung its one remaining arm wildly with such force that it flung Ein off. Not even thinking Kyle stood, started running, then leapt up and caught Ein like a football. He landed hard on his back and skidded to a stop.
"Ow." He moaned, his back hurting him more at the moment then the bullet graze. When he opened his eyes he saw a surprised looking Ein still in his hands. When Ein saw Kyle was all right he started wagging his tail. "Well how about that, it actually worked." Kyle said as he sat up and set Ein down next to him. Never again would he doubt the little dog's intelligence, or his value as a member of this team. Reaching up to his head his hissed as he touched the area where the bullet had grazed him. A piece of skin had been torn off and it would probably require stitches but thanks to Ein it was just that, a scrape instead of a bullet in the brain. "So ever think about going into police work?" He asked Ein, who didn't bark but seemed to smile at the remark. That smile turned into a growl as he turned his eyes. In front of them the Terminator had stopped shaking and stood there like a statue, its one remaining eye dark. That was a sure sign it was dead and Kyle calmly got up and retrieved his gun from where he had dropped it. He took the two remaining bullets out, ejected the rest and put in a fresh load of six. "Let's go. Spike is going to need our help." He told Ein, who barked an affirmative. As he passed the empty shell that had been a Terminator he decided to give it one last insult and pushed it. It teetered for a second then fell forward face first like an oversized domino. Satisfied Kyle started down the hallway but didn't hear Ein next to him. Looking back he saw that Ein had decided to give the machine one last insult of his own. Standing to the side Ein raised one of his hind legs and urinated on the defunct Terminator's head. Kyle roared with laughter as Ein quickly finished and rejoined him. "That was great." He told Ein as they made their way towards the stairwell.
Cyberdyne building: Third Floor
Jet and John weaved their way through the hallways and eventually came to a door that had 80B on it. Not wanting to use their guns or grenades to open the door and damage the weapons inside Jet took out his radio and called Ed.
"We're here Ed. Can you open the door from down there?" The other end was quiet. "Ed?" He said with a bit more concern.
"Ed is here." Ed's cheerful voice answered after a second.
"Good, I thought for a second something had happened. What were you doing?"
"Watching Kyle person fight a machine man." Ed answered.
"Did he manage to get away?" Jet asked.
"He managed to do one better." Faye's voice answered. "He killed the thing."
"Killed? How?! The grenades aren't powerful enough to do that." John asked.
"Don't know." Faye replied. "He just shot the thing and it stopped moving."
"Well it's nice to hear some good news." Jet remarked.
"Then you won't like this." Faye said. "There's a Terminator on almost every floor, including yours."
"Were exactly is he?" John asked.
"He's getting closer." Came Faye's reply.
"In that case have Ed open the door!" Jet almost shouted. A second later the door beeped and slid open. Going inside they found a rack containing several of the plasma guns, complete with shoulder straps. Picking up one of them John found it to be surprisingly light. He squeezed the trigger slightly and a red laser beam activated, putting a red dot on the wall. He pulled the trigger the rest of the way but nothing happened.
"Some super weapon, they don't even work." John complained.
"That's because they're not loaded." Jet said and tossed him a black box. "These things work like regular guns." He picked up another box from a high tech holding case and inserted it into his own rifle, near the back. "Insert clip." He flipped a switch on the side of the gun. "Turn off the safety, aim and fire." That sounded a little to simple for such a high tech weapon but John followed Jet's lead.
"Insert clip." He repeated and inserted the clip. It went in with the familiar click that always accompanied the loading of an automatic weapon. "Turn off the safety." He flipped the switch and to his surprise he heard and felt the clip being locked into place. "Aim and fire." He said and pulled the trigger, aiming at the far wall. There was a flash of purple light and a small explosion on the wall. John let go of the trigger and stared at the gun. Its report had sounded like a mix of regular gun and energy being discharged, but the best thing was it had virtually no recoil. While he marveled at the new weapon Jet went over and looked at the hole in the wall.
"Hey John. You'd better take a look at this." John walked over and examined the damage his rifle had done. The energy bolt had gone right through the wall and into the next room, and there was another smoking hole in the wall on the opposite side of that room.
"I like it!" John declared. "Now we have something that'll put us on even ground with those metal bastards!"
"Speaking of which." Jet said and took out his radio. "Faye? How close to us is that Terminator?"
"He's headed right for you." Faye replied.
"He must have heard us." John said. Jet nodded.
"Well at least we get a chance to see how well these things work." Jet stated and trained his weapon on the door.
"Anything else about this thing I should know?" John asked as he aimed his weapon.
"Just that the harder you pull the trigger the faster it fires." Jet replied. When John had fired the weapon for the first time he had felt a resistance in the trigger and what Jet had said explained it. If this weapon worked on the same principles as other guns it would have three modes of fire, single shot, burst fire and full automatic. He could experiment with that later but right now he heard the heavy footsteps of the Terminator.
"In here you turkey!!" John yelled, making sure the Terminator would come to them. It stepped into the doorway, unafraid of what might be inside. Jet and John didn't even give him a chance to raise his assault gun and opened fire. One plasma blot struck him in the stomach, forcing it back, and the second hit it in the chest, piercing its power cell. It fell back into the wall convulsing then the upper half of it exploded as the power cell went critical. John looked from the twitching remains of the Terminator to his gun and a sinister grin spread across his face. "You know what this means don't you?" He asked Jet.
"Payback time." Jet replied. Each of them grabbed several spare energy clips from their holding cases, not knowing how long their current clips would last, and each took a spare rifle. As they made their way back to the stairwell Jet again took out his radio. "Ed, Faye? I take it you both saw what just happened."
"Did we ever." Faye answered.
"Edward told you they would work." Ed spoke up.
"And you were absolutely right." Jet told her. "But right now we've got to find out where those other Terminators are. Now that we have a weapon that works we need to take them out as fast as we can."
"Right now there's one Terminator on the fifth, fourth, and second floor. The ones on the fifth and second are just walking around but Spike is on the fourth being chased by our friends that were hiding out on the fifth. He's doing ok so far but if that Terminator catches up to him…" She let the sentence hang.
"Don't worry it won't." Jet assured her as he opened the door to the stair well. Once inside they heard a familiar bark and saw Kyle and Ein coming down from the sixth floor.
"Man am I glad to see someone who isn't trying to kill me." Kyle said and Ein seconded the remark. "You guys would not believe what just happened…" He was cut off as Jet thrust a fully loaded plasma rifle into his hands. "What's this?"
"A Terminator killer." John replied. "Just point and shoot, but don't pull the trigger too hard." Kyle gave them a confused look.
"There's more then one Terminator in the building." Jet explained. "I'm going to help Spike on the fourth floor. Kyle you take the fifth floor, John you take the second. Keep in contact with Ed and Faye, they'll tell you where to go." Without wasting anymore time started walking up to the fourth floor and John started down towards the second.
"Come on." Kyle told Ein. He knew all the cameras were out on the fifth, making contact with Faye and Ed useless. Ein, on the other hand, would be able to detect a Terminator long before he could.
Cyberdyne building: Fourth Floor
Spike was still playing a cat and mouse game with his pursuer. When he and Kyle had split up the majority of the group had followed him. Odds like this had never bothered him in the past and they didn't now. When he had entered the floor he had pulled a pin from one of his grenades and set it on the ground. As a result when the first three thugs had walked through the door the only movement the saw was him and they started to pursue, so oblivious to the grenade that one of them almost stepped on it. They noticed when the grenade went off literally right underneath them, killing those three and throwing another who was just stepping onto the floor back into the stairwell. When they forced their way through Spike had been ready and fired three shots, sending three more of them to the ground. That cut their strength by more then half but the ones that were left started to wise up. Instead of entering the hallway one of them stuck his gun out and began firing in Spike's direction, forcing him to retreat around a corner. The remaining four entered the hallway still firing, acting like a military squad, advancing cautiously and keeping each other covered.
"Swell time for them to grow some brains." Spike grumbled as he retreated down the hallway. When they turned the corner Spike had another grenade ready and tossed it their way. Diving back into the first hallway they were able to avoid the blast.
"When I get my hands on that son of a bitch I'm gonna…." The lead thug started.
"You have already proven your incompetence. I will take over." A voice said from behind them. Spike heard the voice as he was running and it made him stop.
"Of all the times one of those things to show up." Spike mumbled to himself.
"And just who the hell do you think you are?!?" The lead thug shouted.
[So they don't know what that thing is. Maybe I can cause some dissention in the ranks.] Spike thought to himself. He loaded a fresh clip into his gun and listened to the conversation between the thug leader and the newly arrived Terminator.
"I have orders directly from the masters." The Terminator answered in his neutral tone. "You are no longer in command." Spike could almost see the look on the thug leader's face, solid red and looking like he was about to burst every blood vessel in his body. "Follow me." The machine ordered. Spike took aim down the hallway. He could have kept running during the confusion but if he was right what he was about to do would cut the number of his pursuers down to one. It should be the same as the police captain the first Terminator had blown away at the Moving Target shootout. The Terminator stepped into his field of vision and Spike opened fire, emptying the whole clip at the thing's head. The bullets tore off chunks of skin and ricocheted in every direction.
"He ain't human." A terrified voice said from behind the Terminator.
"Waste him!!" The leader shouted. The remaining thugs opened fire into the Terminator's back and Spike used the distraction to start running. True to its programming the Terminator turned and gunned down all those who had seen what it really was. Looking down the hallway where the first attack had come from he could see no one. Undeterred by his missed opportunity the machine stalked forward.
Spike had been ducking and dodging the Terminator ever since. A couple of times he almost had his head shot off and unfortunately for him his last few grenades did little to slow the robotic monstrosity. As he ducked down another hallway he head someone shouting.
"Spike!! You okay buddy?!" It was Jet!! Spike couldn't believe it, Jet was yelling at the top of his lungs even though there was a Terminator around. Turning around a corner Spike saw the Terminator halt and turned around at the sound of the voice.
"Jet, there's a Terminator up here! Get out of here now!!!" The Terminator focused his attention back to him.
"I know about the Terminator." Jet answered. "But I've got something here that'll make even these tin cans go down."
"Sure, you just happened to find a nuke in your pocket that you forgot you had." Spike ducked back behind the corner as the Terminator fired a burst in his direction.
"Nope. Got something better." Jet said as he stepped into the hallway. Risking a glance Spike saw three flashes of light come out of the weapon Jet was carrying and go right through the Terminator. The machine fell to the floor and after convulsing it exploded. Walking up to Spike Jet handed him a weapon just like his own. "No time for explanations, there's two more of these things running around and we've got to help John and Kyle find them." Knowing this wasn't the time to ask questions Spike nodded and followed Jet.
Cyberdyne building: Fifth Floor
"It just had to be the one where we can't talk to anyone." Kyle complained. Since the cameras on the fifth floor were out they couldn't maintain contact with the others downstairs. As a result he had to wander the hallways with Ein as his only warning system. Ein didn't respond to his complaint and continued to sniff the air. Catching wind of something he didn't like Ein went into a defensive posture and started growling. There was only one thing that would make Ein react like that. "He's coming this way, right?" He asked. Ein barked an affirmative. Kyle listened and he could hear the heavy plodding steps coming his way. He aimed his new weapon, wishing that John had given him a bit more instruction on how to use it. Any thoughts he had vanished as a Terminator turned the corner and faced him. Panicking Kyle pulled the trigger as hard as he could. He didn't know what would happen but he wasn't expecting bolts of light to come pouring out of the barrel. He was even more surprised when the light hit the Terminator it reacted like a normal person would when they were shot. One shot struck it in the forehead and it dropped like a stone. Letting go of the trigger Kyle saw not only that not only the Terminator was shot full of holes but so was the wall behind him. By firing the gun on full auto he had missed more times then he actually hit his target. As he and Ein stared at the results of the new gun his radio came to life.
"Kyle are you there? We heard gunfire are you all right?" Jet's voice asked.
"I'm here, and I'm fine." Ein barked a complaint. "Sorry, make that we're both fine. You know this is some weapon."
"And you're going to have to use it again." Jet answered. "There's still one on the second floor and…" He was cut off as they felt another explosion rip through the building. "That came from downstairs!!" All three of them started running.
Cyberdyne building: Second Floor
As John entered the second floor he opened a channel to Faye and Ed.
"Ok you two, my life is in your hands now so please try to not get me killed."
"We'll think about it." Faye answered.
"Ha ha." John replied. "Just tell me where this thing is."
"Machine man is to the right." Ed told him. Kyle turned and started walking and came to a fork.
"Right or left?" John asked.
"Left." Faye answered. John followed his instructions but what neither of them could know was the Terminator was listening in on their radio frequency. He had tired to contact the other Terminators but found all of them were offline. Listening to the radio chatter he had heard the humans had found the plasma rifles Cyberdyne developed. Realizing the situation the remaining Terminator had developed a new plan. From the radio conversations he calculated that the two people guiding the others did not have plasma rifles and determined by terminating the two he would regain the advantage. So when he heard John Connor being directed to him he started changed his own course. Over the radio John heard Faye mumble something.
"Talk to me Faye. What's happening?"
"He's heading right for you." Faye answered. Hearing this Terminator broke into a run. "He's right on top of you!!" Faye yelled frantically. Stopping near a corner John trained his rifle on where the Terminator would come around. Instead of turning the corner the Terminator took a shortcut and just plowed through the wall. When the wall exploded John turned just in time to see the muzzle of the Terminator's P90 flash and felt something slam into his chest like a sledgehammer. He crashed into the wall and fell forward. Before John had even hit the ground the Terminator stepped passed him and headed for the stairwell. In the lobby Faye and saw John shot and go down. They also saw the Terminator heading for the stairs and he would reach them before any of the others did. "Get down Ed!" Faye ordered and grabbed the grenade launcher and took aim at the entrance to the stairwell. While she focused all her attention on the stairs Ed saw John forcing himself to get to his knees.
"John person is getting up!" Ed happily cried. That good feeling disappeared as bullets began to shoot through the door almost hitting both of them. Over the radio John heard both of them scream and he could hear the gunfire coming from the stairwell. Ignoring the burning in his chest he forced himself to stand and grabbed his plasma rifle. Moving as fast as he could he headed for the stairwell.
In the lobby both the girls were now hiding under the guard's desk and waiting for the shooting to stop. When it did Faye stood and again took aim. She saw the door being torn down from the other side and didn't wait for a target before firing. The explosion knocked the Terminator back and as John reached the door the shockwave from the blast hit him and threw him back into the second floor. Lurching back to his feet with a moan he staggered into the stairwell and saw a slightly charred, still smoking Terminator walking into the lobby. He heard more gunfire and rushed down the stairs as fast as he could. When he got to the door he saw the Terminator firing at the guard's desk.
"HEY ASSHOLE!!!" He shouted. When the Terminator turned to look at him he fired one shot that nailed it right between the eyes. It stopped moving and to make sure John put several more shots into its head until it exploded. The now headless body dropped to the ground with a loud thunk. "Serves you right you bastard." He snarled at the body. "Everybody all right?" He shouted at the desk. Ed jumped up from behind it and onto John, giving him another bear hug and knocking him down in the process. "GAAAAAA!!!" Ed didn't seem to hear him.
"Ed and Faye Faye thought John person was dead but he's all right!!" She said and tightened her grip.
"Thanks for your concern Ed but you're crushing the few ribs I have left!!" He shouted. Ed let go and John sat up.
"I think she's glad to see you." Faye remarked as she walked over and offered to help him up.
"Now whatever gave you that idea?" John said as he accepted her help, groaning and clutching his side.
"What happened?" They looked over and saw Kyle entering the lobby, followed by Jet and Spike.
"The son of a bitch shot me. Feels like he broke a couple of my ribs." John said motioning to the headless Terminator.
"Good thing you had your vest on." Jet remarked.
"Yeah. Nice to see ISSP doesn't go with the lowest bidder." John said.
"Well." Kyle spoke up. "We've managed to get what we came for, got some new weapons, and even managed to destroy five Terminators in the process. But now we have no way out of here."
"On the contrary." Jet told him. "We have an escape route all planned out." John looked over at the monitors which showed a small army of Red Dragon enforcers milling around outside.
"This I've got to see." John remarked.
[A/N: I don't know if a Terminator can be killed in the way that Kyle did, and I also don't know how the plasma rifles operate or what the Terminator's reaction is when they're hit by them. Lets face it, in all the movies you didn't see the plasma guns hit anything but humans. And before anyone says something about the flashback in the first movie you never saw the Terminator get hit. Anyway, I don't know if those are "right" but since I've heard nothing to contradict me that's how it's going to be.]