Chapter 19: Proving Ground
"So what do you think we'll find once we get there?" Faye asked as they flew over the Earth's shattered surface.
"I don't know. We're just going to have to find out when we get there." John answered as he steered the captured transport. Neither of the seats were built to handle to weight of a Terminator so having Arnold fly was out of the question. There was also no way in hell either Faye or John were going to sit in the same compartment with him, at least not yet. On the spot John had decided that he was going to fly them there with Faye in the cockpit with him while Kyle and Arnold rode in the back. Knowing that they didn't have time to argue Kyle had agreed and both sat patiently in the back, waiting to arrive at their unknown destination.
"So you want to go jump headfirst into something that's more then likely going to kill you, not knowing anything about what might be waiting for us?" Faye questioned.
"Ever since I've teamed up with you guys that's all I've been doing." John replied, earning him a glare from Faye. "I don't know how but I've survived everything so far, and there's no reason to think that's going to stop now."
"And what happens if your incredible luck suddenly runs out?" Faye asked coyly.
"My luck is your luck." John answered. "If I'm screwed, so are you."
"So nice of you to bring me along for the ride." Faye grumbled. John smiled at the remark.
"Come on Faye, you're doing this for the same reason I am. Because it's right."
"Imagine that." She mused. John was about to say something about her admittance when she continued. "I've got to stop hanging around you so much, I might actually develop a conscience."
"Yeah, well you're not exactly the best influence either. I just stole a state of the art aircraft and a super advanced robot. If I keep this up much longer I might start to like it."
"There might be hope for you yet." Faye remarked with a smile. John sighed and shook his head.
"Defiantly a bad influence." He said. Faye remained silent but continued to smile. After a few more minutes of flight John saw the terrain start to become familiar. In the distance he saw the outline of the town, and as he passed over it he could see people no activity and no new damage from the last time they were there. Reaching up to the control panel he switched on the intercom to the back. "We'll be setting down in a few minutes. Faye and I will get out first, they know us and they'll listen. The two of you keep your rifles on your backs, especially you Arnold. They'll know you're a Terminator and after what we've told them they'll be less then receptive."
"Understood." Arnold answered. After circling a few times John found a place that he could set the transport down and landed the craft. Even before the engines had a chance to power down the craft was surrounded by men carrying guns.
"Well there's a good sign." John said with no trace of sarcasm in his voice.
"How is this a good sign?" Faye asked, thinking she hadn't heard John right.
"They're not shooting." John said as they went to the back of the craft. "If something strange landed in my backyard on top of everything that's happened I'd probably shoot first and ask questions later."
"Really?" Faye asked. John nodded and reached for the ramp controls. "Hold on a second." John hesitated for a moment and Faye got directly behind him. "Okay, whenever you're ready." John shook his head and lowered the ramp.
"You really need to learn to put some trust in people." John said as the ramp hit the ground. The first sound they heard after that was a shotgun racking a shell.
"Whoever's in there come out slowly and with your hands up!" A voice shouted.
"What was that about putting some trust in people?" Faye asked smugly.
"Just follow my lead." John said as he put his hands up and walked down the ramp. Faye smirked at his dodging the question and followed suit. When they got to the bottom they were greeted by several men pointing rifles at them. To their surprise the one with the shotgun who was leading the group was the man who had arranged their transport out of here the first time. He recognized the two of them and lowered his gun in surprise. "Didn't expect to see us again so soon did you?" John asked.
"We didn't expect to see you two again at all." The leader said as he motioned to the others to lower their weapons and John and Faye lowered their hands. "We thought you would be going after whoever was behind those things."
"That was the case but we decided that we should make sure everything was all right here before continuing." John answered. Faye began snickering. "What's so funny?" John demanded.
"We decided on this John?" Faye asked coyly. "When did you start thinking of yourself as more then one person? That sounds like something Ed would do." John coughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Could somebody please explain this? I'm a little confused." The man asked.
"To tell the truth it was my idea to come back here." John answered. "After finding out who agreed and who didn't we kind of… stole this ship and some weapons then headed here. We figured you would need help if anymore of those machines showed up." The group of villagers looked at them strangely but the leader stepped forward.
"I suppose we could use your help. You seem to more about these things then we do." He held out his hand, which John shook. "Name's Matt. I guess you can say I'm officially in charge of what's left."
"What's left?" John questioned.
"We took your advice and started evacuating the town." Matt explained. "Most of the people are gone we still have ones who are too badly wounded to move. To make matters worse some of their families refused to leave with the others. They're worried that something is going to happen and when your ship landed we thought something was about to."
"We're not sure if something will happen but if things hold true to form there'll be more robots coming your way. That's why the four of us are here." John explained.
"Four?" Matt asked.
"That's right." John said and motioned back to the craft. The villagers saw two men with rifles similar to the ones Faye and John had strapped to their backs. One of the newcomers was unfamiliar but they instantly recognized the second and aimed their own weapons. "HOLD IT!!" Reacting quickly John grabbed Matt's shotgun and made him point it straight up. "Take it easy friend. We don't need anyone getting hurt." Matt gave him a confused look. "You're right, that is a Terminator, just like in the picture. Now I know what I told you before, but this is different, he's one of the good guys." Now all of the villagers were looking at him with disbelief.
"It's true." Kyle spoke up. The crowd turned towards him. "I know it's hard to believe but he is on our side." The group still looked skeptical.
"Something tells me they're not convinced." Faye said, looking at all the guns still pointing at them.
"I guess they need a demonstration." Kyle said. "John, I think it's okay if you let him have his shotgun back." John hesitated for a moment before letting go of the weapon, which Matt promptly pointed at Arnold. Not showing any concern Kyle turned to Arnold and gave him an order. "Give him your rifle." He said, pointing at Matt. Without a word Arnold walked down the ramp and towards Matt, oblivious to the fact all the weapons were now pointed at him. As he approached Matt he unslung the rifle from his back, a move that got Matt's shotgun shoved in his face.
"Any closer and you can say goodbye to your head!" Matt warned, his voice a little shaky. Arnold stopped and held the rifle out. Matt looked at it like he had never seen a gun before.
"Take it." Arnold said. Intentional or not it came out sounding like an order. Nervously Matt lowered his shotgun and cautiously took the plasma rifle. Without another word Arnold turned and walked back to the group from the Bebop. Matt looked at the futuristic energy weapon in his hands and back at the machine that had just given it to him.
"Why did he just give Matt his weapon?" One of the villagers asked.
"Because I was ordered to." Arnold replied.
"Believe us now?" Kyle asked. Matt considered it for a moment. No one except a machine would give up such a powerful weapon no questions asked, and from what John had told them earlier someone else was controlling the machines. So if one was obeying their commands it meant that they were telling the truth when they claimed that this Terminator was on their side.
"I guess you've got us convinced." Matt finally said and again motioned for the others to lower their weapons.
"In that case could you give him the rifle back. He'll probably need it later." Kyle told him. Matt shrugged and tossed the rifle back to Arnold.
"So just who are you two?" He asked.
"I'm Kyle, he's Arnold." Kyle answered. "Don't ask, long story." He said, anticipating Matt's next question.
"So has anything happened since we left?" John asked. Matt shook his head.
"Nothing. The evacuation went smoothly and except for the wounded, their families and us idiots who decided to stick around and guard them nobody is left."
"Even the Memphis brothers?" John asked.
"Oh they went with the others, tied up and gagged of course." Matt said with a smirk. "There were a lot of arguments for leaving them behind but unfortunately acting humanly won out."
"Now that's a shame." Faye remarked. John smirked. He knew that Faye would have loved to see three trying to fend for themselves against a group of Terminators. "But at least this means that we didn't have anything to worry about and coming back here was unnecessary."
"Sorry Faye but we're not leaving yet." John said, seeing right through what she was saying. Faye let out a groan. "We'll stay until everyone is able to leave."
"We don't know when it'll be safe to move the worst of them." Matt told them. "It might be a few days. With any luck…" He didn't get any farther because the radio on his belt started to squawk.
"We've got incoming!!!" Someone on the other end shouted. Not bothering to respond Matt and the other villagers turned and started running. Exchanging glances the four was silent for second before John spoke up.
"Come on." He said and they started to run after Matt and the others. Following the locals to the edge of the town they saw a lone lookout frantically pointing at something in the distance. John and the others saw a brown haze that seemed to be getting larger. It wasn't hard to figure out that the cloud of dust meant that vehicles were approaching, and from the size of it there were a lot of them coming their way. Grabbing a pair of binoculars Matt scanned the approaching cloud.
"About eleven vehicles." He told the group. "From the look of them they're bandits. Probably heard about us leaving."
"There are thirteen vehicles." Arnold spoke up. "And they are not bandits, there are T-800's controlling all of them."
"Shit!" John said. He didn't need to ask if Arnold was mistaken, if his eyesight was as good as his hearing there was no reason not to trust him.
"Wait a minute!" Matt said. "T-800's? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means more of him are coming." Faye answered, jerking her thumb towards Arnold.
"SHIT!!!" Matt yelled.
"Exactly." John agreed. He turned toward Arnold. "How long until they get here?"
"Ten minutes. Fifteen at the most." Arnold answered.
"Nothing like working under pressure." Faye remarked. Matt was already talking.
"Get the wounded and their families to the shelter immediately!!" Matt ordered. "Then get those rockets we found and send everyone that can fight here! NOW!!" The others ran to comply and Matt turned to John. "So what do we do?"
"You know how they think." John said to Arnold. "How are they going to fight, and how do we counter it?"
"They will not be expecting heavy resistance." Arnold immediately responded. "So they will take the most direct approach into the area." John started thinking quickly and looking around.
"That means we can make them walk right into a trap." John said and pointed to one of the buildings. "Everyone onto the roofs, we'll take out the machines themselves." He turned back to Matt. "Have your guys take out the vehicles. Once they're out in the open leave them to us." Matt nodded and started yelling orders the other locals that were still with him. "Let's go." He told the others and started to climb the fire escape of the nearest building. Arnold ran for an adjacent building and climbed its fire escape. Faye and Kyle sprinted towards a building on the other side of the street.
"Has he always been like that?" Faye asked as they climbed up a maintenance ladder. She normally didn't like taking orders but John sounded like he knew what to do, despite the fact that this was a situation no one could have thought of.
"Pretty much." Kyle answered as he helped her onto the roof. "He was first in our class [I was second, thanks for asking.] and was the first of us to be promoted to lieutenant. Everyone said he was a born leader and would probably make captain before most of us made sergeant. Guess it comes from having a lot of cops in the family."
"That's right. He did say his uncle taught him everything he knew."
"You must mean uncle Bob." Kyle remarked. Faye gave him an inquiring look. Kyle glanced at the approaching dust cloud and was able to make out the incoming vehicles. "If we survive this remind me to tell you about that later." He turned towards John, who was within shouting distance. "They're getting a little too close for comfort!" He told John.
"Matt isn't ready yet." John yelled back. "We have to wait for them." Kyle nervously looked at the incoming enemy and was about to say something when they heard Arnold's voice.
"The standard radio frequency for these units is two point one five. Switch to that frequency and we will know how they will maneuver." There was a few seconds of silence before John said something.
"You heard him boys and girls. Better change frequencies before they're right on top of us." He didn't sound to enthusiastic in admitting that Arnold was right but they all saw the advantage in what he said. That didn't keep Faye from giving Arnold a dirty look. Like John Arnold sounded confident in what he was saying, and there was a very good chance he was right. But did he have to sound so damn arrogant about it? She looked out and was almost able to see the faces of the T-800's that were driving.
"What's taking them so long?!" She asked impatiently. Beneath them there was a loud whoosh and they saw a smoke trail heading towards the lead vehicle. It went up in a fireball and screeched to a halt. For a second there was no movement then someone got out of the car, and even though he was engulfed in flames he moved with a calm deliberate manner. If there were any doubts in the minds of the human members of the Bebop crew they disappeared as the flaming man started walking towards where the rocket had come from. Almost in response to the bizarre scene more rockets began to streak towards the convoy. Several more vehicles were struck and more Terminators came out of the burning wreaks. Patiently John and the others waited, wanting the targets to get within a 'can't miss' range so they could kill one robot and move on to the next. At their slow pace it was hoped that they could destroy or disable most of them before their CPUs could react. That plan was shot to hell when, as one, the rest of the cars stopped dead in their tracks, and the rest of the Terminators jumped out of their vehicles and started sprinting towards the town. Without waiting for an order the Bebop crew opened up with their plasma rifles. Several Terminators went down but the rest started to bob and weave, some of them raising the assault guns they had and returning fire. The fire had the desired effect.
"DOWN!!" John shouted and all of them, Arnold included, hit the deck. Bullets whizzed over their heads and kept coming. "BACK TO THE STREETS!! WE'LL HAVE TO OUTMANUVER THEM!!!" John's voice could barely be heard over the gunfire but the others started to crawl across the roof and run back down to the street. Faye and Kyle didn't bother to use the rungs and just slid down the ladder. As soon as they hit the ground they heard gunfire and screams. Running towards the sound they came across several locals who were fighting against a pair of Terminators, both had all of their camouflaged skin burned off. The locals managed to fire a rocket-propelled grenade that connected with one but did nothing more then knock it down. Raising their rifles Faye and Kyle each focused on one Terminator and fired. One took a plasma bolt to the head while the second one was hit in the neck, the resulting small explosion actually blowing it clean off.
"That was too close." Kyle said. It may have looked like an amazing display of accuracy but the truth was Kyle was actually aiming at its head and had missed. Only by dumb luck did he manage to hit it in a way that had disabled it. They turned their attention to the surviving locals. Three were alive while five more lay on the ground dead.
"They just came out of nowhere." One said as he clutched a bleeding arm. "We didn't hear any talking or nothing. They just came out of those alleys." He pointed at two alleys on opposite sides of the street. "Like they had planned the whole thing." Faye and Kyle didn't know what to make of it but they did know they had to get moving.
"Where did Matt have the rockets set up?" Kyle asked. Simple battle tactics dictated that you neutralize whatever would cause the most casualties and the rockets would be the first things the Terminators went after.
"About three blocks over." The wounded local answered. "This way." He started to lead them but after they had only gone about a block someone stepped into the intersection they were approaching. Faye and Kyle raised their guns but hesitated for a moment, in case it might be human. What they saw was a dead ringer for Arnold and carrying a high tech looking rifle but it wasn't wearing the ISSP vest John had given him. Kyle, Faye and the Terminator all fired at the same time. Bolts of energy flew towards the enemy machine but to their astonishment also came flying back at them. Kyle and Faye's shots both struck the Terminator's head, causing it to explode and the rest of the body to fall forward, its strange rifle clattering to the ground. The bolt fired from the Terminator missed Faye and Kyle but struck one of the locals in the stomach. The man didn't even have time to register the pain from the impact before the bolt exploded and literally ripped him in half. The remaining two locals looked wide eyed in horror at what was left of their friend as Faye and Kyle fought to keep their stomach contents down. Both had seen their fair share of violence lately but neither of them were prepared to see what would happen when what obviously was a plasma rifle was used on a human being. Gathering himself Kyle went over to the fallen Terminator and picked up its weapon. It was much larger and heavier then their own plasma guns and its design made it awkward to hold. It would be impossible for a human to use but it wouldn't be a problem for a Terminator.
"What is that?" Kyle turned around and saw two locals looking at him. Faye was watching him also but she already knew what Kyle was holding.
"It's a sign that we've just lost our edge." He told them. He took out the weapon's clip and hid the gun inside of an abandoned building. "We'll come back for it later. Right now we need to get to where the others are." The wounded local nodded gravely and again started moving. As they got closer they could again hear the sounds of gunfire but this time they could hear the now familiar sounds of plasma rifles firing back. They were hesitant to move at first but when they started hearing explosions following most of the shots they knew that Terminators were on the receiving end. Turning a corner they were greeted with the sight of almost a dozen Terminators assaulting a building. From inside the building energy blasts came out and several machines went down but the others kept going.
"Let's give em a hand." Kyle said and started firing his rifle into the backs of the attacking Terminators. Faye followed suit and they took down several more machines. Now in a crossfire the Terminators tried to deal with both problems and the rest were quickly dealt with. When the last of the machines went down more bolts came from the building, hitting the still intact machines and rupturing their power cells, John and Arnold were obviously taking no chances. After the last machine had exploded they heard John's amplified voice come out of the building.
"You've got a clear path but not for long! Get in here quick!" Not needing any more encouragement then that Faye and Kyle's group made a run for the building. Sparing a glance at the area in front of the building Kyle saw it was littered with T-800 parts, and not just from the ones they had just destroyed. Once they got inside the building they saw a makeshift barricade made out of furniture and behind it were several locals with very large rifles as well as John and Arnold. "Behind the barricade. Now!" Not stopping to ask why all of them jumped over and ducked behind the barricade.
"Do we want to know what's going on?" Kyle asked cautiously.
"Those bastards have tried to overrun us twice already." John answered. "We've stopped them so far but we don't know how much power our rifles have left, and no matter how many they lose they just keep on coming. With you here we might have a chance to outlast these guys."
"Outlast?" Faye questioned. John nodded.
"According to his numbers," John said, motioning towards Arnold. "There was a total of twenty T-800's in the attack. Now by his count we've destroyed fifteen of these bastards. That leaves only five left."
"Two left." Kyle corrected him. "We managed to scrap three of them on our way here."
"Well at least we have some good news." John said. Faye shook her head.
"I hope you're ready for some bad news to." She said. John lowered his head.
"Good god, now what?!" He demanded.
"Everybody down!" Arnold said and they did, right before bolts of energy started chewing away the front of the building and punching holes in anything they hit. One local was too slow and took a direct hit. He fell to the ground with a hole the size of a basketball in his chest.
"That." Faye said, jerking her head away from the gruesome sight.
"Plasma guns?! Now they have plasma guns!?" John shouted, staying angry was the only way he could keep from loosing his lunch. "Can't anything go in our favor!?!?"
"They are approaching." Arnold said. Looking through the holes in the barricade they saw two Terminators standing in front of the building, holding weapons just like the ones Faye and Kyle had seen earlier. John looked at the others and saw they were all looking at him. Picking up a piece of plaster that had fallen then nodded towards the two Terminators. The others nodded and John threw the plaster across the room where it shattered. The other Terminators turned and fired in the direction the sound had come from and when they did the five who had plasma rifles stood and fired, riddling the two and sending them to the ground. Before they had even finished falling John and Kyle jumped over the barricade, and put a finishing bolt into the head of each machine. Somehow both the power cells had remained intact and didn't blow up in their faces.
"Thank god that's over." Kyle said. "It is over isn't it?" He asked Arnold.
"Affirmative." Arnold answered. "There were precisely twenty battle units in the group we encountered. If you're correct in your own count all have been terminated."
"Good." John said and looked back and saw the two locals that had come in with Faye and Kyle were staring at Arnold and slowly backing away. That had to be expected, when he brought Arnold into the building both of them had almost been shot on the spot. It was only because Matt was already inside that they hadn't been. After covering the dead local with his jacket Matt approached John and Kyle.
"I guess we owe you our thanks." He told them. "We lost some people but if you hadn't shown up they would have killed everyone, including the wounded."
"We're just thankful that we could get back here in time to help." John replied.
"I suppose you'll be leaving now?" Matt asked.
"Yes. And you should to. If they came back once that means they'll come back again." Matt did several minutes of hard thinking before turning to the other locals.
"John's right. Get everyone ready to go as quickly as possible."
"But the wounded…" One of them started.
"There's a chance they'll die, I know that." Matt answered. "But if we stay and there's another attack they'll have no chance."
"So just have them stay." Another said, motioning towards John and Kyle.
"We can't ask them to do that. They're the ones fighting these things, not us. If we keep them here there'll be more attacks like this in other towns. They have the best chance of stopping them and we've got to give them that chance." The other locals exchanged nervous glances but said nothing. Matt started to discuss how the evacuation was to proceed Faye and Arnold walked over to John and Kyle, the locals watched them with what looked like a great deal of suspicion. John couldn't blame them, they had seen some of their friends killed and now the ones who could probably protect them were leaving.
"So how did you get here?" Kyle asked, breaking into John's thoughts.
"Kind of interesting how that happened." John replied, pointing at Arnold. "He was able to trace the missiles' trajectory back to where they came from. We came here and the bucketheads must have followed us. It was probably wasn't even five minutes before the first attack came." He nodded towards the buildings' exit and lowered his voice. "There's something about that we need to talk about." They walked out of the building and out of earshot of the locals. "There was something strange about they way they acted during the fight. They were using professional, coordinated attacks."
"What's so strange about that?" Faye asked. "They're supposed to programmed with every trick in the book."
"It was strange because even machines need to communicate to pull off those kinds of tactics. We didn't hear any kind of radio traffic, not even calls for reinforcements when we pushed them back."
"That is weird. We didn't hear anything over the radio either." Kyle remarked. "The locals we ran into said the same thing. They didn't hear any communication between the Terminators they ran into. They just appeared out of nowhere."
"It gets weirder." John continued. "Attacks with no radios isn't exactly unheard of, but the T-800's didn't use any forms of communication, not even hand signals. They changed and adjusted their attack without even looking at any of the others, like they could read each others minds."
"Such communication between units would not be impossible." Arnold said. "However it was decided by the Red Dragon leadership that none were to be built in this way. Such a design would allow invasion and compromise of the CPU. There are also the plasma guns they were carrying. Those weapons were never considered for arming battle units for fear they would fall into enemy hands."
"So we've got robot types that weren't supposed to made, and weapons that aren't even supposed to exist." Faye remarked. "Maybe we should quit now before anything else decides to drop out of the blue."
"The most logical thing to do is to examine both the remains of a T-800's CPU as well as one of the plasma weapons." Arnold said, ignoring Faye's sarcasm.
"Well we've got a couple of their guns right here, but I don't think that there's an intact head anywhere." John said.
"Actually there is." Kyle admitted. "I managed to get a lucky shot and took the head off of one of them without destroying it."
"I'm not even going to ask." John said. "Arnold, you get both of the rifles from the building, we can't risk the wrong person finding them. Then we'll go get the skull and see what we can find."
"Then I guess we'll be seeing you." A voice said from behind them. They turned and saw Matt and the locals approaching. "We've decided how to get out of here and we'll be pulling out in about an hour." He held out his hand. "Good luck out there, I have a feeling you're going to need it."
"Thanks." John replied, shaking his hand. "I just wish there was something more we could do."
"We've lived on Earth all our lives Mr. Connor, we can adapt when we have to."
"So that's it!?" One of the locals behind Matt said. "We just let them walk off after everything they've done!?!?"
"Alex!" Matt warned.
"They brought those monsters here and we're just supposed to act like nothing happened!?!" Alex yelled, ignoring Matt. "Do you know how many people you killed!?" He said, pointing at John
"Shut up Alex!" Matt shouted. "They didn't bring them here on purpose. And if it wasn't for them everyone would be dead!" Alex gave Matt a disgusted look, then sucker punched him in the stomach. While everyone else watched as Matt went down Alex pulled out a pistol and pointed it at John. John tensed up and Alex started to pull the trigger when a large hand wrapped around his wrist and began to squeeze.
"ARGH!!" Alex yelled as Arnold increased the pressure and made him drop the gun. Arnold caught the gun with his other hand then shoved Alex to the ground. The others relaxed slightly, thinking the situation was over. That feeling vanished when Arnold leveled the gun at Alex. John was the first to react.
"NO!!" He shouted and pushed Arnold's arm just as the gun went off. The bullet whizzed past Alex and buried itself in the floor. "GIVE ME THAT!!" John shouted as he took the gun from Arnold, who gave no reaction and looked on blankly. Frank scrambled to his feet and put as much distance between himself and Arnold as possible. "JUST WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!?!" John demanded.
"I was acting as ordered." Arnold responded flatly.
"What kind of shit headed orders tell you to shoot an unarmed man!?" Faye demanded, just as angry as John was. Arnold calmly turned towards her and answered.
"In addition to obeying all members of the Bebop Ed has also ordered me to protect all of you." He stated in his neutral tone. "He was a threat to you and I was reacting to that threat." The group was stunned.
"And what gives you the right to kill him without a second thought?" Kyle asked.
"I have been ordered to neutralize all threats by any means necessary." Arnold responded.
"Maybe, but you can't just go around killing people!" John told him.
"Why?" Arnold asked.
"Why?" John responded, shocked. "Because it isn't right."
"Right?" Arnold asked. John threw up his hands in exasperation, knowing he would get nowhere trying to explain the difference between right and wrong to a machine.
"Forget it. We'll explain later." John told him. "In the meantime I'm giving you a new order, one that you're going to obey no matter who tells you to do different, even me. And don't even bother asking Ed about this because I can guarantee she'll agree with me. You are not to kill anyone!! Do you understand!?"
"Affirmative." Arnold replied.
"No, just saying you understand isn't enough. Do you know what that order means?" John asked.
"I will not kill anyone." Arnold repeated.
"All right." John said, sounding convinced. "Get the weapons then let's get out of here. We don't want to cause anymore trouble." Arnold nodded and walked back to the building, the other locals backing away from him.
"You sure we can trust him?" Faye asked John.
"Yeah. If nothing else he does follow orders. If he wasn't helping us we would have been overrun during the first rush. Ed was right, we can trust him, but it still kind of rattles me."
"Same here." Faye agreed as Arnold came back, carrying the two enemy Terminator's weapons, one in each hand, his own strapped to his back.
"Lets go." John said and they left without saying anything else to the locals. After stopping to pick up the third plasma rifle and the skull from the Terminator Kyle decapitated they went back to the ship and headed for the Bebop. Again Faye and John were in the cockpit while Kyle and Arnold sat in the back. The ride back was fairly quiet until Faye decided to break the silence.
"So we're sure what side our metal friend is on and that the bad guys have guns just as good as ours, probably better." She looked up at the ceiling and exhaled loudly. "I don't suppose giving up is an option?"
"You already know the answer to that." John answered without taking his eyes off course.
"All I know is the trouble we're in keeps on getting deeper and deeper."
"And it's going to keep on getting deeper until we find a way to stop it." John said.
"Of course nobody knows just how we're going to do that." Faye remarked. John didn't have an answer for that and they flew in silence for a few more minutes when they heard someone banging on the door separating the cockpit from the rest of the ship. John opened the door and Kyle walked in, holding what looked like a large computer chip in his hand. Setting the craft to auto pilot John turned around.
"What's that?" He asked Kyle.
"This is the reason why those Terminators didn't use radios." Kyle answered. "Arnold said it's some kind of transmitter chip. Kind of like the stuff that's used in remote controlled vehicles, only radically more advanced."
"Two questions." John said. "Is that part of the basic Terminator design? And, how did Arnold get that thing out of the skull?"
"To answer the first question no. Arnold said he doesn't have one of these in his head, and from what he can tell it connected all the Terminators on one circuit, and that they were probably being controlled from somewhere else."
"But where from?" Faye asked.
"Can't be sure." Kyle answered. "Although I'm willing to bet that it's from Skynet's main base. Now that it's sentient it looks like the Dragons want to see what it can do. Ed might be able to figure it out once we get back. To answer John's second question…" He looked back into the other section and curious Faye and John followed his gaze. On the floor they saw the Terminator skull, torn open and circuitry lying all around it. "I said something about having trouble getting to the inside of the skull and before I realized what he was doing he had already ripped it open and wrecked it." John just shrugged.
"At least he saved us the trouble of finding it." He said and went back to the controls. Faye looked to Kyle, who shrugged, put the chip in his pocket and went into the back to sit down.
Many miles away Skynet started to feel the beginnings of what humans would call frustration. First the missing team had been found, in the loosest sense of the word. The second team had been sent to the same location as the first and what they discovered did not factor in well. The truck that had been confiscated was found, with the remains of one of the team still inside it. A through search of the area failed to turn up the second part of the team, remains or otherwise. There were no humans, dead or alive, so Skynet concluded that the second T-800's remains had been taken for examination. Even Skynet could not have predicted that the truth was much more then just that. When Skynet had the force of T-800's attack the town Faye Valentine and John Connor were in some resistance was expected but to Skynet's surprise his forces were attacked by not two but four individuals with plasma weapons. One of those who were resisting was the missing T-800, which caused Skynet to think. All of them, Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black, John Connor and Kyle Reese, all were proving to be highly skilled but according to all available information none of them possessed the knowledge to reprogram a Terminator unit. If the information was to be believed accurate none of them would even be able to understand how these complex machines worked, let alone how to manipulate one. This led Skynet to the conclusion that they were receiving help from an outside source, and there was a high probability that it was from his former masters. It was almost a statistical impossibility but there was no way any human could figure out the programming of the T-800's without extensive prior knowledge.
That was only one of many problems that were developing. Not only had did the humans have proof that would completely compromise Skynet's secrecy but they had actually managed to defeat the attacking force of twenty Terminator units sent against them. With the help of the renegade unit only a force of four armed with plasma rifles and a band of poorly armed villagers had destroyed every last Terminator. It was not possible, Skynet had advantages in numbers, tactics, and even firepower and still he had lost. These humans were growing from a minor annoyance to a major threat and would continue to become an even bigger one if they were allowed to. Calculating the best course of action Skynet decided it was necessary to move up his plans for launching his strike against the humans, and if necessary make the strike a thousand times more destructive then originally intended. The factories would be pushed to their breaking point if need be, work on the transmission towers would be doubled to rush its completion. Skynet's priority project could not be rushed in any way but there was another way to gain the tactical advantage that the project would give him when it was completed. Readying several groups of Terminators under his influence and began to search its old files of Earth's defense systems.
When John landed on the Bebop he half expected everyone to be waiting in the hangar and Jet ready to chew them out. To his surprise when he set the craft down he saw only Doohan and Miles working on the Hammerhead. Judging from the amount of nuts, bolts and parts on the floor surrounding both the Hammerhead and Swordfish they had been at work for a while. Off to the side the Red Tail remained untouched, whether that was because they just hadn't gotten around to it yet or because they didn't want to risk getting Faye angry was something they couldn't tell. When they came out of the craft Doohan and Miles looked up from their work.
"Saw a bit of action did you?" Doohan asked, noticing their weary looks.
"Just a little more then a bit." Faye replied.
"Everyone in one piece?" Doohan continued.
"More or less." John answered. "We did manage to save most of the civilians."
"Sounds like you did what you went there to do." Doohan said as he went back into the Hammerhead's insides. "Don't know what Jet would think. Maybe you should go to ask him."
"Guess all the kids need a talking to." John said, though he was sure all the others caught the 'discrete' hint Doohan had given them. They found Jet in the lounge, looking at a disassembled plasma rifle. Spike was on the couch watching a news show on TV that thankfully wasn't about them. Ed, of course, was at her computer looking through all the data they had gathered.
"So was going there worth the risk?" Jet asked, looking up from the rifle parts. He didn't sound angry and in truth he understood the reasons behind John and Faye's actions. It was just that they couldn't afford to do things like this.
"I'd say so." John answered and began to recount the events that had happened in the town. When he was finished Kyle and Faye told their stories of the battle. At Kyle's mention of the transmitter chip Ed suddenly snapped out of her trance and to attention.
"I guess I can't complain then." Jet said when he had heard everything. "You did manage to save all those people, found out about this new chip, and managed to get away with it all. But I don't think that going off on these spur of the moment 'missions' would be advisable in the future." It wasn't so much a piece of advice as it was a warning.
"I guess so." John said. Kyle nodded in agreement, Faye let out a 'hurmph' and Arnold, of course, remained silent.
"Now that we've got that straightened out." Jet said, changing the conversation. "Let's get to that chip you guys found."
"Arnold said it's was a new type of transmitter that wasn't in his files so he doesn't know how it works." Kyle said as he reached into his pocket. "We were hoping that Ed would take a look…" He took the chip and held in the palm of his hand, at which point Ed didn't so much come up beside but just suddenly appeared next to him out of nowhere. "At it." Kyle finished, looking a bit baffled by Ed's sudden appearance.
"Kyle person doesn't need to hope. Ed would have looked even if Ed was not asked, because Ed wants to know everything." She told them and before Kyle could answer the chip had disappeared from his hand and Ed was sitting back down at Tomato, hooking wires into it.
"I'd like to know how she's able to do that." Kyle said as they walked over to Tomato. After typing in a few commands Ed was scrolling through the chip's programming code.
"So what can you tell us about it Ed?" Jet asked.
"Strange waves." Ed answered.
"Strange wave?" John asked.
"Signal waves from chip are verrrrry strange." Ed explained. Onscreen a digital readout showed a series of waves similar to a heartbeat monitor. Only all of them knew that radio waves were steady, repeating. What they saw was constantly changing, just like brainwaves. "Ed has never seen anything like it before."
"Can you find out where the waves are coming from?" Kyle asked.
"Easy as cake." Ed answered. The wave readout disappeared and in its place was a map of the North American continent. Slowly the picture zeroed in one specific area, one that Ed had shown them earlier. "Strange waves are coming from Big Brain!!" Ed announced.
"Good thing nobody took that bet on the trip back." Kyle remarked.
"Of course it's not really a surprise it's coming from Skynet is it?" Spike asked, giving his first input to the conversation.
"Not really." Jet answered. "Of course now the question is why is Skynet doing this?"
"Ed will ask!!" Ed shouted before anyone could answer and started typing.
Cheyenne Mountain Command Center
Skynet was sending its latest batch phony information to the Red Dragons while studying the new output report from the factory when it felt an invasion of its systems. Immediately alarms throughout the compound began to sound in their preprogrammed response to a security breach. The alarms were designed to warn the now dead human staff and were ignored by Skynet, who concentrated on fixing the problem. Bringing all electronic countermeasures to bare a counterattack was launched against whoever was foolish enough to try to invade him.
On the Bebop
"You're telling us that this chip lets communicate directly with Skynet?" John asked as Ed continued to type.
"Chip lets Big Brain talk to machine men and machine men to talk to Big Brain. Now that Ed has chip Ed can talk to Big Brain. What does Big Brain have to say?" She said has she turned back to Tomato. A few seconds later she got her answer as Tomato began to break up into static and then go black. Slowly a form began to take shape in the center of the screen. It looked like a ball of red electricity but it gazed around like a human eye. It 'looked' at Ed and to everyone's surprise it spoke.
"A child?!?" It said, sounding both surprised and very angry. Faye and John visibly stiffened at the sound of the voice. Both had heard it before and knew just what it was. The eye seemed to look past Ed and focused on Faye and John. "YOU!?!?!" The voice shouted, absolutely furious. Instinct taking over Faye and John lunged forward. Faye picked up Ed and pulled her away from Tomato, a move that saved her from injury as whatever was controlling the computer somehow made it release an electrical discharge that struck John instead. Fortunately the charge was insufficient to injure an adult so John was just stunned for a second. Recovering quickly he grabbed the chip, getting another shock for his troubles, and ripped it out. The electric eye blinked out and Tomato's screen slowly went back to normal.
"I'm getting really sick of this happening." John snarled as he got up, shaking his hand to get some feeling back into it.
"What was that about?" Spike asked as Faye set Ed down. Undaunted by what had just happened Ed went back to Tomato and looked at what was on screen.
"That voice. It was the same as the T-70." Faye answered.
"That means Skynet was in control of that to." Jet said. "Something isn't right."
"What Big Brain says isn't right either." Ed said pointing at the screen.
"What have you got Ed?" Jet asked and looked at the screen. "Oh boy." He said after reading for a few minutes.
"Now that sounds encouraging." Spike remarked. "What is it?"
"It looks like Ed was able to get a look at what Skynet was running before it fought back." He pointed to one of the windows. "This is a report going to the Red Dragons and it doesn't say anything about what's happened in the past few days. And this," He said, pointing to the second window. "Looks like a construction report. According to this over two thousand T-800s and almost two hundred T-70s have already been built, as well as several fighter craft. To make things worse, there's no plan to stop." He let the news sink in before continuing. "We're officially in way over our heads."
"So what do we do now?" Kyle asked.
"We call in a favor." Spike answered calmly. Ignoring the confused looks he was getting he turned to Ed. "Send a message to our mysterious friend. Tell whoever it is everything that's been going on. If he is on the inside he might be able to get us some help."
Red Dragon Headquarters
It had been an eventful few days for Vicious. Since being brought in on the project he had been given unlimited access to all the information he wanted. He had learned many things, including the construction plant on Earth and even the top secret Skynet project. That had proven to be a dead end. The project scientists had predicted that the computer would become sentient several days earlier but so far all the reports he had read showed they had a better chance of flying to Mars by flapping their arms. He was currently observing the testing of prototype energy weapons, and watching them fail. So far five had been tested and all of them had exploded. A sixth was being set up when one of his spies entered the room.
"There's been a development." The spy told him and held out a small laptop. Vicious took it and began reading the screen. Radical Edward had finally decided to contact them.
{Skynet is no longer under Red Dragon control.} The message began. Vicious raised an eyebrow. {It has been sending false reports. Constructing T-800s with no orders. Last count is over two thousand. More expected. Motive is unknown. Skynet now directly controlling all Terminator units. Encountered new battle units. Have been attacked repeatedly. Cheyenne complex main base of operation. Action needs to be taken. Files included. Will wait for reply.} A simple message but one that got the point across. Looking at the files that had been sent along with the message Vicious's face darkened even more then usual. This was indeed a problem. Radical Edward had no reason to lie to them, so the files were genuine. Skynet was becoming a threat, and if not dealt with quickly it would soon grow beyond even their ability to stop.
"Contact the elders. Tell them their little project has developed a problem." The spy nodded nervously and left. Vicious didn't know if the corpses would listen but if Skynet was becoming as dangerous as Radical Edward described he would need any help to neutralize that threat, or at least contain it to Earth.