Allison Young was sitting beside Derek Reese in the Humvee with her eyes fixed on the front of the road. Anyone who would see her that moment would certainly think that she was being vigil, keeping her eyes focused on her surroundings for signs of danger. But the truth was she was not. Far from it. Although her eyes were on the road, they were unfocused. Her mind was lost in thought. She was worried and terrified about John Connor. It has been a while since she had seen him, also she has no idea from where he was kicking Skynet's ass but she knew that he was safe out there and alive. There are people out there helping him. But after she got the news two hours ago about John Connor accepting General Ashdown's invitation, shook her heart in fear and worry. She knew why John had accepted the invitation of Ashdown. John wanted unity among the people. He always said unity is the key to defeating Skynet. It was no surprise that he would risk even his life to make sure that all people stay together. But Allison knew about Ashdown, she even heard from Derek what kind of desperate man Ashdown was. Ashdown never thinks twice about sending his men to death without any consequences. Allison had experienced it herself and others had too. They knew about Ashdown's leadership and some people were already rebelling against him. It was during that time when John Connor arrived out of nowhere and he made people respect and follow him although he was probably not much older than her, maybe one or two years older at most. John didn't ask people to follow him, he didn't force anyone to do his bidding or follow his command, they did it because John Connor did what no one was never able to do – he had rescued groups of civilians and resistance members from the depth of Skynet's strongholds. He did the impossible. It's true that he had help from an unknown source but he did take the initiative, which no one ever dared to take upon. He had refused to leave men behind and was ready to go for them alone. People didn't prefer him more than Ashdown not just because of his leadership but also because of his caring side. And Allison loved that trait of John Connor.

She still remembered when he had first seen him. He looked so lost and heartbroken. People were skeptical of him naturally because of his clean state, everyone thought that he was nothing but a Gray, but Allison had given him the benefit of doubt. There was no logical explanation why she did it though, but every time she looked at him, something inside her told her that he could never be a Gray. Although he looked scared and lost, there was a fire in those green eyes of his, a look of pure determination and hidden courage. Determination to find the girl he loved – Cameron, and he was ready to risk everything to find her. She had never seen such pure love and loyalty among humans. Sure, she cared for people around her, especially Kyle and Derek, she even mourns for her parents sometimes, who she could barely remember but John was different. The girl named Cameron, was everything to him, like his own existence depended on her. He needed her like he needed to breathe to survive. As the time went by and she get to know him well, she understood that John was not just someone who knew about Skynet better than anyone but also, he was genuinely a good person. She had often seen him staring at nothing, lost in his thoughts. Every time she had asked him, it was always the same answer, that he was reminiscing about his past, his mother and Cameron. Allison understood what it felt like to lose your own mother, so she never sympathized with John, but just stood beside him for support. And he had always appreciated that. But Allison knew there was something else about which John never talked about – Cameron. But she knew that Cameron was always on John's mind. He had even accepted that he was here with them just to find Cameron. It was all for Cameron and no one else. At first Allison was never much bothered about John's undevoted love for Cameron, but after John had accomplished the impossible and brought everyone back from certain death or imprisonment in Skynet camps, her thoughts were often clouded regarding him. Every time she thought about John's feelings for Cameron, she had started to get either irritated or downright sad. She wanted his attention on herself, and love for her, like he had for Cameron. She also used to get downright angry whenever any young female tends to get closer to John or flirt with him. She didn't understand her feelings during that time. But now she knows.

She was jealous.

Because she was secretly in love with John Connor.

At that moment she felt a hand on her arm and her thoughts regarding John came to a stop. It was Derek. He was looking at her with a questioning gaze.

"Allison, you, okay?" Derek asked softly. Allison glanced at Derek once and nodded before looking outside the window once again. "You worried about Connor?' Derek murmured in her ears.

"We all should be worried, Derek! You of all people know what kind of a man Ashdown is." Allison snapped angrily. "He will probably try to kill John. He is more of a threat to Ashdown than Skynet. Ashdown hates being challenged and John just indirectly challenged him. Men have started to follow a young man instead of a war veteran General. Do you really think Ashdown would take this lightly and just invite John for a chat?"

"You know I never liked Connor." Mark said from the driver's seat. "But after what he did, I have utmost respect for that kid. He has guts and knowledge. I am with Allison on this one, sir." Mark added, glancing back at Derek from his position. "General Ashdown would certainly try to get rid of Connor."

Derek nodded and leaned back on his seat. "I know. Connor would never work under the General after what he did in the past, just like us. But Allison….. " Derek hesitated slightly. "Do you think it is wise to wage war among ourselves? This is the last thing Connor would want."

Allison glared at Derek. "Didn't you hear those people, Derek? They wanted nothing more than to save John from Ashdown's plans. To them John is not just a hero, he is the hope. For a better future."

Derek placed a hand on Allison's shoulder comfortably to calm down her anger. "Those people were right as you are, Allison. I know that you care for Connor, Allison and…. " Allison tried to open her mouth to protest but Derek stopped her with a knowing look on his face. "….don't even try to deny it. It's written all over your face. But we cannot march to the Resistance HQ base unannounced to rescue Connor. People would die, Allison. And even I do not know the location of the base. That's why we are going to meet someone who can help us."

Allison stared at Derek. She had no idea who Derek was talking about and he had never talked about someone else other than him and Kyle who knew the location of the Resistance HQ. "Who are you…." She tried to ask but was interrupted by Mark from the driver's seat.

"Sir… the T-800 factory is right in front of us. What should we do?" Mark asked after stopping the Humvee.

Before Derek could even give his opinion Allison cut in, "We drive straight through. They would let us pass."

Mark started from Allison to Derek. He knew that according to Connor the terminators are now working for them, but still he found it hard to believe. He couldn't make himself trust those tin cans.

Derek thought about the situation for a moment. He ordered the other two Humvees to remain hidden away from the machine's eyes and ordered Mark to proceed with Allison's words. Connor had said that those machines are on the side of the resistance now, it was time to test it. "Approach the gates slowly." Derek ordered.

Mark nodded hesitantly and drove the Humvee forward towards the gate of the T-800 factory. The sentry guns didn't fire on them, both Derek and Mark had quickly realized that. As the Humvee came near the gates the laser barriers protecting the gates disappeared and let them pass. As they were passing through the factory, they saw there were hundreds of T-800 there, some with weapons and others working but none turned hostile towards them. They didn't even acknowledge that a Humvee with three humans inside it was passing through. But Mark still slowly and carefully crossed the factory while Derek had his hands around his rifle, though he knew it wouldn't do any good. Allison on the other hand remained calm and composed, she was not bothered that they were passing through a factory full of killing machines. She had no trust in the machines but she had utmost faith in John.

Slowly the humvee crossed the factory without anything happening. Derek called the other two humvees to follow them and they were able to cross the factory without anything attacking them.

Mark let out a sigh of relief once they were out of the vision of the factory. "Damn! Connor didn't lie. Those machines are really on our side now."

Their humvees drove for another hour before they stopped. The moment they stepped outside the humvees all of them found themselves at gunpoint. Not machines, humans, resistance members, six of them. They had their auto rifles pointed at Derek and his team.

"Hands up in the air!" One soldier commanded. Derek indicated his team to follow the order and they all dropped their weapons on the ground.

"Who the fuck are you?! What do you want here?" Another soldier asked, still pointing his rifle.

Derek turned to the questioning soldier with his hands still above his head. "I am Derek Reese." He glanced at Allison and his other team members. "They are my team. We are from the base on the other side of the T-800 factory."

"You are Derek Reese?" One soldier asked, his eyes widened in surprise.

Derek nodded. "We are here to see Martin Bedell."

All the six soldiers looked at each other and nodded. "Follow me."

Derek and his team didn't need to be told twice. They immediately began to follow the soldiers towards the secret entrance of the base. Once they were inside, they were thoroughly searched and told to wait. Only two or three minutes passed and then they saw a man in his early thirties, a narrow chin, sharp eyes and a lean body walking towards them flanked by armed soldiers. He came to stop in front of them and immediately shook hands with Derek.

"It's good to see you Reese." Bedell greeted shaking Derek's hand in a welcoming gesture.

"Nice to see you too." Derek said, with a small smile while shaking Bedell's hand.

"So…" Bedell started, looking at the time, "What Connor said was true? The machines are on our side now?"

Derek shook his head. "Not all of them. But some of them, yeah."

Bedell and his soldiers' eyes were rounded in shock. "How did he even do that?"

"No idea." Derek sighed. It was true, he really had no idea. "But he did it. He somehow turned the machines against their creator. I have seen it with my own eyes."

Bedell seemed lost in thought at Derek's words. "Maybe he is the one. Connor. Only he can save us."

"Maybe I am starting to believe that myself." Derek said, looking towards Bedell.

Bedell nodded. "So why are you and your team here, Derek?"

"We need your help, Bedell. We need you to guide us to the Resistance HQ." Derek replied.

"Resistance HQ?" Bedell seemed surprised at Derek's demand. "Why?"

"Did you hear that Ashdown wanted a meeting with Connor?" Derek asked. Bedell nodded. "We believe that it's a trap for Connor. General Ashdown had already tried to get rid of Connor and his loyal team before by sending them into suicide mission. It didn't work and somehow Connor survived and set up his own base. Now the General feels more threatened than ever before. He could see that people are looking up to Connor, a twenty year old kid, instead of him. We all believe that in the meeting something bad is going to happen."

Bedell stared at Derek for a few moments without his gaze wavering. "So you want to rescue, Connor?"

"We do." Derek nodded. "We all need him."

Bedell sighed sadly. "Then you didn't hear what really happened in the last hour."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked, with confusion written all over his face.

"The Resistance HQ is gone. Destroyed. Leveled to the ground by Skynet. General Ashdown and all his loyal soldiers are dead. There's nothing left there. So is the T-800 factory." Bedell revealed.

"What?!" Derek asked, his eyes widening in shock. Everyone in Derek's team was shocked at the news, but no one was heart broken more than Allison Young. All this time she was standing behind the soldiers and was listening to the conversation between Derek and Martin Bedell, not interrupting. But at this overwhelming news she couldn't remain calm. She pushed forward and came face to face with Martin Bedell himself.

"What happened to John?" She asked in a fearful tone.

At the sudden intrusion Bedell looked at the female member of Derek's team and his eyes immediately widened in shock. The same face, the same body structure, the same hair, the same eyes, the same pouty lips, it was just like a human carbon copy. Cameron Phillips.

"That's Allison Young." Derek introduced Allison to Bedell. "Second in command after me and Kyle."

Allison was too overwhelmed at that moment so she didn't notice how Bedell was staring at her with shock and surprise. Otherwise she would have questioned him. But at that moment all she could ask was what happened to John Connor. "What about John? What happened to him?" She asked anxiously.

"Bedell, tell us what you know. What the hell happened?" Derek stated in an urgent tone.

Bedell got over his shock and shook his head. Seeing that face was really a shock to him. But he could tell that Allison Young and Cameron Phillips are both different persons. They are not the same. He looked from Allison's panicked expression to Derek's questioning eyes. "You heard about the signal that General Ashdown was talking about would bring down Skynet?" Bedell asked.

Derek nodded patiently. But Allison was not so patient. She didn't get the answer she was looking for. She angrily stepped forward and grabbed hold of the front of Bedell's uniform. "Tell me what happened to John!" She demanded angrily. The two soldiers who were flanking Bedell immediately raised their weapons towards Allison, ready to shoot her down in a matter of seconds.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down Allison." Derek grabbed Allison from behind and with enough force he was able to separate Allison from Bedell. He looked at Bedell apologetically. To his surprise Bedell didn't seem angry at all. "I am sorry. She didn't mean any harm. She and Connor were good friends. So she kind of got shocked at the news more so than us." Derek tried to explain.

Bedell smiled sadly and instructed his men to put down their guns. "No apology needed, Derek. I can relate." He said, his gaze lingering on the angry Allison Young. "I would have done the same in her place. But yeah, Connor didn't die. He got out before Skynet destroyed everything. I don't know how or who rescued him."

Allison calmed down at the news, all her anger gone and there was a trace of slight liquid at the corner of her eyes. There was a sign of relief on her expression. She turned away from there to hide her tears from the others but remained within earshot, so she could listen to Bedell. Bedell let his gaze linger on Allison for a moment before turning back to look at Derek. "Anyway, the signal Ashdown was talking about which would end Skynet was actually a bait from Skynet. It was created to see that it works but in reality there was another hidden signal inside it. When Ashdown, ordered to relay the signal, Skynet tracked it and found the Resistance HQ. It was all a set up. Nothing survived. Same thing happened to the T-800 factory which Connor captured. Skynet had also destroyed it completely. It was a coordinated attack, in perfect synchronization."

Derek nodded sadly. Allison didn't move from her place but she was listening. "So how do you know Connor escaped before the blast or he had escaped at all?"

"It was an hour or so before the bombs dropped, someone in Ashdown's base exposed his treachery to the whole world. He was indeed planning to get rid of Connor, exactly as you said he would. We don't know what exactly happened but from the broadcast it was clear that Connor had managed to escape. We don't know where Connor is right now or with whom. He could be anywhere." Bedell explained.

"We will have to find him. He may need our help." Allison said, coming forward. Her face was full of determination. "We need to get to the location of the HQ where it all happened. From there we could try to track down John." She proposed.

Derek disagreed immediately. "It is too dangerous, Allison. Besides, we have no clue where to look for Connor."

Allison glared at Derek angrily. "How can you say that Derek? How can you be so selfish after what John has done for us? For everyone? Do you think John is stupid and he had no idea that Ashdown had laid a trap for him? He knew he was walking probably into his death. But he still did it. You know why?"

No one answered while Allison glared at all the people standing there. They had no idea and what Allison said was true. They all knew that. Someone who was intelligent enough to take over a T-800 factory wouldn't be stupid to realize to Ashdown's plans.

"I will tell you why!" She almost yelled at their faces. "He did it for us. For all of us. For all of humanity. Because John believes that the only way to defeat Skynet is to be united. And I know him well enough that he would try to do it, no matter the danger. And Derek!" She again looked at him with angry eyes. "We can't even go look for him? How can we remain hidden in our safe while he is out there, god knows where." While she was speaking her chest was beating rapidly in anger and shame at humanity. She just couldn't help but wonder why John was even risking everything to fight for these people? What's the point when they could only think about themselves? Then again she thought that maybe she was getting a tad bit emotional because it involves John and it was not really the fault of the people for acting the way they did, for the world has made them this way. They are just trying to survive and it was all Skynet's fault. Skynet needed to go and there is only one person who can do it. She needed to find him even if she had to go alone. She owes that to him.

"Fine." Allison added. "Just tell me how to find the HQ. I will go alone. I will find John."

Derek grabbed Allison by her elbow and dragged her away from earshot. "Allison what the hell are you doing? Do you have a death wish? You want to die for Connor?"

Allison looked at Derek's hand which was holding her elbow. She knew Derek was much stronger than her and there's no way she could free herself from his grasp without hurting him and that's the last thing she wanted. Instead she looked back into Derek's angry eyes. "Why not? He is risking himself for us, why can't I do the same thing for him?"

Derek didn't speak, he just looked into Allison's determined expression and eyes. Then he pulled his hands away from Allison's elbow, letting her go. Even Allison was surprised at his sudden change of mind. "You are letting me go? Just like that?" She asked, flabbergasted.

"I can't stop you. I couldn't even if I wanted to." Derek paused, still looking at Allison's eyes. "You love him." He said boldly in Allison's face in such a way that he left no room for Allison to argue. He knew what he said was true. He had suspected this. He had seen them together, had seen the way Allison acted around Connor or the way she looked at him. He thought maybe it was just an infatuation from her side because though Connor cared for Allison but he never looked at Allison the way someone looks at the woman he loved. "But I am not letting you go. I am coming with you." Derek added much to the surprise of a bewildered Allison.

"I am coming too. We all owe it to Connor." Bedell said, stepping forward.

"So are we." Derek's team also stepped in.

They were all ready to do everything for John Connor, their savior. Thanks to Allison Young who has finally opened their eyes. Bedell's eyes fell on Allison's face and his thoughts drifted to several years back, before Judgment Day.

He still remembered that day the first time he had seen John Connor, Derek Reese and of course her. He was training in Presidio Alto military training academy, respecting the wishes of his parents. His whole family had served in the military, generation by generation. So he was expected to follow the same path and he did that. But that was not what he wanted in his life. He wanted to run away from there with his girlfriend, settle down in a different country and have a peaceful life. He was even considering it every day, every night. He had talked with his girlfriend about his thoughts but she had instantly told him to change his mind. She had told him that she respected him and was proud of who he was and she also believed enough in him that she was sure he wouldn't do anything in his life that would make her lose the respect she had for him. And despite everything his parents disliked her, he thought with a snort. Her thoughts didn't really change his mind because this is not what his heart wanted. But he had given her word that he would think about this.

And then just like everyday while he was in the shooting range, overlooking the training of the cadets, he spotted a random cadet helping another one to clear the jam of the rifle. It was a nice gesture, but if you are a soldier you need to learn to do everything by yourself. There might be no one on the battlefield to help you clear the jam of your gun. Then what would you do? Being a soldier means that you have to learn from the very beginning and make a habit of every training from the start so that the result of the training gets hardwired into you. Martin stepped into the situation.

"Baum. I am cadet Captain Martin Bedell. Commandant has asked me to keep an eye on you. And…. " Bedell looked towards the cadet whom John had helped, "that's a demerit. Next time you run into a situation, you contact a senior cadet. You love to run Baum? I love to run." Of course during that time Bedell had called John as Baum, which was false of course. But no one knew that. At that time he had no idea he had just met the future leader of the human resistance. He had already met Derek before who had asked him to keep eyes on John. Then afterwards they both had a run, and of course he had beaten John fairly, he was not the fastest runner for no reason. To Bedell's surprise John turned out to be a really nice guy and quickly they had developed a friendship between them. He had even told John about his desire to run away. John never commented anything, he just stared towards a random direction with a lost look and longing in his eyes. He had said only two words. "I understand."

Next day, Derek had set up a training exercise for them. But it was not just training, in reality Derek Reese and John Connor were simply setting an ambush for a machine that was coming to kill him. But he had no idea about that. The future, the apocalypse, Skynet, machines. He knew nothing. He was sure that day if it was not for the Connnors he would have died that day. The training for them was to stay hidden from the eyes of an unknown enemy. Derek had instructed them to lay low and quiet. But their plan failed. He failed to stay hidden from his enemy, a terminator. The most efficient killing machine. Bedell fell in front of the terminator face to face, but John had dragged him away when the machine raised its gun to fire at him. Bedell knew Derek was hiding somewhere and he was right. From somewhere in the dark and a short rangout, squarely hitting the man right on his forehead and dropping him to the ground. But Bedell saw to his complete shock the man immediately got on his feet and through the wound on his forehead Bedell could see shining metal instead of blood and gore. Even the high caliber round of Derek's sniper rifle could not stop the machine. It fired back and they all scattered.

Martin ran fast and quiet. He thought he could outrun the assassin but he was wrong. He tracked Martin down efficiently. As it raised its gun to end Martin's life, John appeared out of nowhere a few feet away from him. John waved his hand towards the machine and announced in a loud voice, "Hey look! It's me. John Connor!" To Martin's surprise, the killer immediately changed his target from him to John. It began to chase him. Martin knew John had saved him, but he didn't know how. And who the hell was John Connor? Martin knew it was time to return the favor. He tried to follow the man and John, but damn they were fast. He knew Derek was somewhere there too. But Martin didn't give up. For a few minutes he looked here and there but then he heard another gun shot from Derek's sniper rifle. He followed the sound and what he saw made his spine shiver. The killer's face was half blown away and instead of bone there was a shining metal skull and a red glowing eye. On the ground there at the killer's feet was Derek, lying down there with a broken sniper rifle, while John was pinned down. There was nowhere to go. Martin tried to think quickly what he could do to save John but he had not a single weapon in his hand. What could he even do?

Martin was sure that John would die but just when the machine was about to pull the trigger of his gun and end John's life, a figure appeared out of nowhere from the darkness and kicked the gun away from the killer's hand. It was a young girl, just about his and John's age. That was the first time Martin had seen Cameron Phillips. He saw with his mouth open how she sent rapid strikes at the assassin's chest, pushing him back and stunning him. She gave him no time and grabbed him by his neck and threw him into the stream of water that was running alongside. The assassin tried to get back on his feet but she pulled out a SPAS 12 shotgun from her back and fired consecutive rounds at the assassin, aiming towards his head. After four consecutive shots the man's skull or metal skull exploded sending shards of metal into the water. Martin saw as the assassin's remaining human eye became unfocused while the red light on his mechanical eye died down. He fell down on his back in the water and moved no more.

"Thanks, Cameron." Martin heard John saying. She only nodded and smiled slightly at John. Martin couldn't help but stare at the girl. She was gorgeous even without any kind of makeup. As Martin came running up to them he saw Derek was sitting on the ground, groaning in pain. "Fucking machine." Martin heard him curse under his breath. When Martin came up to them, the girl immediately stepped in front of John as if she was shielding John from him.

"It's okay, Cameron." John told her and stepped towards Martin.

"Who is this Baum?" Martin asked, looking at the dead body. "And who are you people?"

John sighed as if he was not planning to do this. "This is Derek Reese." He said, pointing towards Derek, "Cameron Phillips." He gestured towards the girl. "And I am John Connor."

"What's going on Connor?" Martin asked.

Then John Connor told him about the future apocalypse that was coming, the war, Skynet, machines. Martin would have never believed John if he didn't see everything with his own eyes. What John Connor said was impossible but there was no way Martin could not trust John Connor. The proof was lying just in front of him. While John was speaking, Martin saw with extreme discomfort that the girl's gaze was always on him, it never moved away even for a second. It was just odd and she kind of had a blank look on her face when she was staring at him. He just didn't understand.


He didn't understand everything that day but later he understood everything, almost. Except for the mystery of Cameron Phillips who looked exactly like the resistance fighter who was sitting beside him in the Humvee - Allison Young. He couldn't make any connection between them. Even if they were twins the similarities were just uncanny. They were now near the Resistance HQ. On the way here they saw what Skynet had done to the T-800 factory. There was nothing left of it. It was completely and utterly destroyed. Martin told them to stop as they had reached the location of the Resistance HQ. They could see the destruction done by Skynet. There was nothing left. They expected to find many bodies of soldiers but there were almost no bodies there.

"Sir!" Someone called Derek and they all immediately hurried to that location.

"What's going on Corporal?" Derek asked.

"Sir. Look at this." The Corporal said, indicating towards the ground.

As their eyes fell towards the ground, they saw one of the most dreadful things they had ever seen. It was General Ashdown. He was clearly dead. It was not his death that had shook them to their core but by looking at the state of his body. They could see a hole on the left side of his chest, just where his heart should have been and the bones of his chest were bent inward. Something powerful had pierced his chest.

"Oh God!" Someone cried.

All their eyes fell to their right and there they saw a human heart lying on the ground among blood.

"What do you think, Mark?" Derek asked. "What could've done this?"

"Someone just ripped out his heart sir and whoever did this was really angry. No human is strong enough to do this. So this points to only one way, it was a terminator and it was really angry." Mark deduced.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Don't be dramatic, Mark. Machines don't feel anything. They just follow their directives."

But Mark shook his head and denied. "I know sir. But this one seemed really angry. It just ripped out General Ashdown's heart from his chest while he was still alive."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock at Mark's revelation.


A/N: So Derek along with Allison, Bedell and others are looking for John. But where is Cameron?

In the show I really thought it was weird that Cameron would just stand there in the trees and watch John risk his life and she would do nothing. Yes, Derek was there but Cameron entrusted no one with John's safety, then why she just stood there? Anyway this is just my thought and I changed it here for her to do her part - protect John as she always does. :)