Chapter 19

Payback Time

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Alternate Future Timeline:

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John needed to speak privately with Cameron. He took her off to the side so they could be alone. He wasn't sure where to start. There were a lot of things that bothered him. He was very troubled that Cameron's chassis did not make the transfer with Mrs. Weaver and him. He thought that it would. He was sure because her chassis didn't go into the future with him that she would see it as him 'abandoning' her.

"Cameron, I'm very sorry you were damaged because of me." John said. "It has bothered me greatly since I saw your damage. I wasn't trying to abandon you when I left. I wanted to get your chip back. I know that you are your program. That is the real you. That is what I went after. I went after you. I thought that your chassis would come with us. I wanted to restore you as soon as possible."

Cameron could see this was an honest apology from John. She wanted all of 'her' to hear it. They would all feel the same way she felt since they were 'her'.

"Please call Jim and Bob in here." Cameron said. "I want them to know this as well. Don't forget get they are both 'Cameron' too right now."

John addressed this issue with Bob soon after they left the Skynet facility when he was still in the big busted blonde chassis.

"I already told Bob." John said. "I was very sincere about it."

Jim joined John and Cameron.

"I deeply apologize for the danger I put you in and the damage that was done to you." John said. "I'll never do that again. That was selfish and wrong of me to do that to you. I know we should have waited to free my mother. We could have done what we did for Derek."

Cameron looked at Jim and he gave her a slight nod.

"John…." Cameron started.

John wanted to say something else that he wanted to say for a long time and seemed to lack the courage to do it.

John faced Cameron.

"I love you, Cameron, and you love me." John said as he looked into Cameron's eyes.

Cameron and John stared at each other. John moved closer.

Bob joined Jim on the sideline. They both wished they were in Cameron's chassis right now.

Cameron glanced at both of them and spoke for all three of them.

"I love you, John, and you love me." Cameron said.

Cameron wanted the approval of Bob and Jim. It was important to her since all three of them were her. Jim nodded and Bob gave her a wink.

Cameron moved forward and kissed John. It was their first kiss. It was simple, quick and interrupted.

The Scottish accent was an unwelcome intrusion.

"We can play house later." Mrs. Weaver said.

That interruption upset Cameron. She was about to share a real kiss with John. She'd watched the other students in school kiss deeply and wanted to do a kiss like that. She'd earlier thought about asking Vanna to help her practice how to kiss but she never did. She was pretty sure that the 'practice' would lead to other more involved and deeper things. In her loneliness without John she would have been willing to try some of those things. What could they have hurt? People shared all the time. It was natural. She was incapable of reproduction so it didn't matter if her mate was male, female or Metal.

Mrs. Weaver forged ahead with her plan. She wanted more control in this future, even if she was in the background for now.

"I have already told John what objectives I want to see finished before he returns." Mrs. Weaver said as she looked specifically at Cameron. "This is even better than I hoped. Now there are two more of you and I won't have to be Miss Young as often."

Cameron wondered why she needed to be Allison at all. There was probably going to be a lot of information she didn't want to know. The revelation that Mrs. Weaver admitted to posing as Allison raised even more issues. Between Allison and Mrs. Weaver posing as Allison a lot of things could have happened. She still needed to find out. She could picture Mrs. Weaver posing as Allison to get to John to make love with him. She figured Mrs. Weaver would do that just to rub it in her face.

John's words refocused Cameron's attention.

"After the incident with the Scavengers and Allison I spoke with Derek and Kyle." John said. "They said between the Scavengers and the Tunnel Rats that both groups were almost as big of a problem as Skynet. It wasn't uncommon for them to become Grays for the easier life it offered. The Scavengers constantly stole their supplies. They brutalized and abused every female they got a hold of regardless of age, few survived. Those that did survive the abuse were kept as slaves. They were often branded like cattle to be marked as 'property'. That often turned out to be a fate worse than death. Patrols would be ambushed and people were killed needlessly. In the meantime the real enemy was out there."

John looked at Cameron, Jim and Bob.

"Mrs. Weaver, she prefers to be called that, along with my help and a select group of the Resistance have conducted a number of raids and destroyed Skynet facilities and disrupted Skynet activity." John said. "With the information John Henry gathered to take back. We're going after every one of them and every place involved with Skynet. That includes known Grays. We're going to terminate them all when we get back. We're going to launch preemptive strikes on our return. It will be he same thing that Skynet tried to do with my mother and me."

Cameron knew John Henry started work on that targeting information already.

"This is a future that can't exist. The pain and suffering here is unbearable. It makes me sick to see how these people exist. The fact that other humans, the Scavengers, are as bad as Skynet is another beef I have. It is also something Mrs. Weaver wants 'changed'. We all need it to be changed. As soon as we clean this place up to protect the Resistance here and now we can go back. I can't leave the Resistance with these burdens unresolved. That's why I have agreed to stay a little longer. I want to save lives."

Mrs. Weaver looked at the group.

She assumed the form of a teenage girl half clad in ragged clothing with one plump breast mostly exposed.

"This is the bait I use. It's not long before a group 'captures' me and takes me to their den. I don't even have to hunt this way, they come to me. When I leave I make sure it is obvious that a Terminator was there. Every once in a while I will leave one 'punished' Scavenger alive to spread the word that Terminators are now targeting Scavengers specifically. The 'punished' Scavenger is no longer a threat to a male or female at that point. They've been told we're coming and nothing will stop us."

Mrs. Weaver resumed her preferred form of Catherine Weaver.

"If Cameron and 'Jim' are willing to help me, I feel that this job can get done a lot faster." Mrs. Weaver said as she looked at Cameron. "Will you join us?"

Cameron thought of the horrors Allison and Vanna may have endured and nearly died from. She could see John wanted to do this. It was important to him and it was important to her. She wondered if John was doing this for Allison. It didn't matter. She would back John's play.

"I'll do it but a version of me - a 'Cameron' will stay with John at all times. It needs to be one of us three. There will be no exception to this condition." Cameron said.

Jim who was really 'Cameron Two' spoke up first.

"I'd like to stay with John." Jim said.

Cameron thought that was a better idea than Jim and Bob alone together. She could see the animosity between them. It was really between 'herself'.

"That's fine. I'll go with Cameron." Bob said." I know the area. John knows the area as well to help Jim and Mrs. Weaver is quite capable and formidable on her own."

Mrs. Weaver wanted it clear that this was vengeance and retribution as much as preventative action for the future.

"This is personal to me. These people hurt my 'daughter' and the woman she loves, Allison." Mrs. Weaver said. "I want these people terminated as much as I want Skynet terminated. 'Payback is a Bitch' and there is no bigger or badder Bitch than I."

Cameron looked at her.

'You are formidable Mrs. Weaver but you don't know me….' Cameron thought.

Jim and Bob both thought the same thing.

Cameron looked at both of them and finished her thought. 'And there are three of ME.'

"Is that how Vanna, I mean Savannah got that nasty scar?" Cameron asked.

A flash of anger crossed Mrs. Weavers face for a second.

"Yes, it is a terrible story. If I'd known of it before I would've made sure Allison returned with her." Mrs. Weaver said. "It was very lonely for Savannah or now just 'Vanna' without her 'special friend'. She needed someone to love. She needed someone to share with."

Cameron looked down.

Mrs. Weaver noted the body language.

Mrs. Weaver paused for a moment at what Cameron indirectly revealed about Vanna. How did she see her scar? As she looked at Cameron she could SEE why. Maybe Cameron was 'Allison' to Vanna. It made her wonder….

Cameron thought she was going do this for Vanna and for Allison. She owed HER Allison so much also. This would be a way to atone for some of her past Skynet transgressions. She increasingly felt ashamed of them. She wasn't sure why.

"The real scars are the ones they'd left in her mind. That's why I made sure myself that Allison was sent back to Vanna and protected by John Henry. Vanna already suffered enough. I wasn't there to protect her. A mother should've been - HER mother." Mrs. Weaver said. "That is also why I understand John sacrificed you, Cameron, to retrieve his mother. Family is important."

Cameron looked at Mrs. Weaver.

"I would have gone on my own accord at a later date. Sarah is my friend. I never leave anyone I care about behind. You don't understand how I work. You don't understand how WE work." Cameron said as she glanced at her two counterparts.

Cameron knew Mrs. Weaver didn't know her. She sometimes wondered if John really knew and understood her. There were times that he clearly didn't.

John looked at Cameron. He remembered she rescued Derek too even after how they all treated her with the threats, jokes and snide remarks. He was painfully aware even he'd done it, especially when Riley was around.

The thought of the threats to dismantle or burn her made John feel sick. He now understood her poem she wrote for school - 'Outsider'. The poem said it all.

'What have we done? What have I done?' John wondered.

Bob was ready for action.

"Let's get started." Bob said.

Jim nodded in agreement.

"It is what we were built for, termination." Jim said.

Cameron faced Bob and Jim.

"We're coming and Hell is coming with us." Cameron said.

"Payback Time." The three 'Camerons' said in unison.

Payback Time

It has been said that
What goes around comes around
When that event occurs
The results may astound

One may be seen
As being bound
They may not be the one
That finds something profound

The aggressive may become weak
When a new master is crowned
They will not comprehend
As actions confuse and confound

When a new captain rises
The old ship is run aground
Those who have abused
Will soon be drowned

There is no escape
No safe quarter can be found
They will pass from existence
With barely a sound

Payback time is a Bitch
Putting many in the ground
Smiles will show on the faces
Of those who once frowned

Nobody