Chapter 292

Shell Game

John Henry came up with a list of targets for John to either recon or hit. He was sure it was a bad idea for any of the choices.

"Here are your targets." John Henry said.

John looked at the selection. He was ready to go.

"Perfect." John said. "I'll notify Bob and Jim."

John Henry wanted to make sure John took Metal with him so he personally made arrangements that some was available.

"I've already informed them and they are waiting." John Henry said.

John was a little surprised about that. He also noticed something about the potential targets. They were all 'soft' targets.

"Are there are only Grays on this list and no Terminators?" John asked.

John knew if they got into a scrape with Metal and Cameron wasn't along that it would turn into a major problem for him. It always seemed to anyway.

"As far as I can tell, you shouldn't run into a Terminator." John Henry said.

John figured that Cameron was going to know about this. More than likely John Henry told her.

"Did you notify Cameron?" John asked.

John Henry didn't think it was a big deal. He wanted to cover himself too in case something went wrong. Cameron would come down on him.

"Yes, I did. She said she made other plans for tonight and would send Hanna or Sheila to assist you." John Henry said. "I believe that both of them would be the best idea."

John looked forward to working with the Metal girls. They were amusing to be around the way they did things. They were a lot like the human girls they were patterned after. It also raised the issue as to what Cameron was up to.

"What are Cameron and Ally doing?" John asked.

John Henry asked that same question and it went unanswered.

"I really don't know." John Henry said.

John knew Cameron would be doing something she probably shouldn't be doing. She seemed to do a lot of that anyway. It seemed she'd spent a lot of time with Vanna the last week. She didn't spend too much time with him.

"I am afraid I don't want to know." John said.

John Henry nodded.

"Indeed." John Henry said.

John collected his gear and headed out to the carport. He spotted Jim and Bob standing by an SUV.

"I've been waiting for you." Bob said.

John smiled.

"Let's go." John said.

Vanna worked alone in the lab. It seemed she did a lot of things alone anymore. She needed to work on a few things for John Henry.

She wondered if she could move to Cameron's base. She knew it was an all Metal operation. It would give her a chance to get away from it all. Maybe the change would do her some good. Maybe it would make things worse.

Vanna looked over at the server Cameron was 'in' when she first 'met' her. That was so long ago it seemed. The server was still there but Cameron was long gone off of it. Vanna felt sad to think about it. The ones she loved were all 'gone'.

She didn't want to go 'there' with those thought. They were not a healthy place to dwell. She finished up early and went back to her room. She decided to take a shower before Cameron stopped by with the news. It would be about the direction her life would turn. She was upset her life stopped moving forward. It seemed to be stalled or even moving in reverse. It was times like this that she felt her life served no purpose. She figured when her life stopped moving, backwards even, at that point it was time to 'go'. She really didn't wonder anymore why Cameron felt the way she did at times, she was aware that she felt like that too.

Vanna stripped down. She looked at herself in the mirror. She knew she was getting a little older but she felt she was still pretty nice to look at. She touched herself as she looked in the mirror. She placed both her hands on her breasts. They were firm but soft to the touch. There was no sag or droop to her breasts. She looked and touched a little lower. She was as smooth as could be. The only hair on her body was on her head.

She felt she looked presentable until he remembered her scar. She put her hand over it to hide it.

'That was 'Allison's fault'.' Vanna thought for a second.

No. It was what saved her life when Allison spotted it and drug her out of the burn pile for the dead. They'd dumped her there when she was still alive, even if she was barley alive. She WAS still alive. Allison took care of her. Allison nursed her back to health and gave her life back to her.

She looked over at her phone. She wanted to call Allison. She NEEDED Allison right now. She missed her dearly. She looked away from the phone. That was over. It was time to move on or 'go'. She headed for the shower. Maybe she could find release in herself, again. It seemed she sure did a lot of that.

Vanna stepped into the warm water and let it wash away the pains of the day. She reflected on what may or may not happen. She was lost deep in thought. She reflected on her lost love and the direction her life was headed. She wasn't happy. It seemed she didn't have a lot to be happy about. She was about to redirect the water flow to pleasure herself. She seemed to let the water do that a lot lately too.

She was lost deep in thought.

The shower door opened.

Vanna felt her heart skip a beat.

Standing before Vanna was her dream come true.

Vanna looked intently at her. Her first impression was that it might be Allison. Who else would be so bold to enter her shower unannounced or uninvited.

"Allison?" Vanna asked.

There was no answer.

Maybe it was Ally. She wasn't usually around any more.

"Ally?" Vanna asked.

There was no answer.

There were a few other choices.

"…Cammy…?" Vanna asked.

There was no answer.

"…Cam…?" Vanna asked.

There was no answer.

Vanna really felt her heart flutter….

There was a razor in her hand. There was only one choice left.

"Cameron…." Vanna stated as she reached out.

There was a shy look on the new arrival's face as she spoke.

"Teach me…. I'm ready…. I want to know…."

Vanna swallowed hard. She was a good teacher for females.

"Come and learn to dance…." Vanna said.

Earlier:

Cameron asked the Metal girls to help her out. There was another 'drug' operation that she wanted dealt with.

Hanna looked around.

"Isn't Ally coming?" Hanna asked.

Sheila liked to play around.

"Maybe that's why she isn't here." Sheila said.

Hanna knew that Sheila and Ally were 'sweet' on each other. It was something they always downplayed. When they did that, it only seemed to make it more obvious.

"You wish you were the one who'd get to make her do that." Hanna said.

Sheila held up her fist.

"I've got what she needs right here." Sheila said. "I don't mean to bounce off the side of her head either".

Hanna was aware what Sheila could do with her fist.

"I can assure you that's not a pleasant experience." Hanna said.

Sheila shrugged her shoulders.

"I get a little carried away sometimes." Sheila said. "Let's go deal with theses 'whackers'."

Hanna and Sheila left. They were on a strict timeline since they were supposed to 'babysit' John later on. He insisted on going on a mission with Bob and Jim. All he would do was prevent them from doing their jobs efficiently. Cameron wanted them to keep him in check and out of the way.

The Metal girls arrive four blocks away from the target location.

Hanna wondered why Sheila stopped so far way.

"Let's drive up there and be done with this." Hanna said. "We don't have time for you to fool around."

Sheila was a little offended.

"I never fool around." Sheila said. "It's called 'justice'. You should know better than anyone that there needs to be personal accountability for what people do to others."

Hanna did know. The 'Neural Interface' with Vanna gave her plenty of insight into the brutality of others. The difference between Sheila and her was that Jesse, unlike Vanna, dished out the same brutality later on and enjoyed it. That was why Sheila enjoyed it too. She didn't.

"Whatever." Hanna said. "You're going to do what you're going to do anyway."

Sheila smiled.

"Damn straight." Sheila said.

The two Metal girls closed on the target location on foot. They only carried sidearms. They left their Tasers in the SUV. No one would only be 'stunned' in this endeavor. They would be terminated. This was non Skynet related so there wouldn't be any Metal involved.

"There's the dealer." Hanna said.

Sheila smiled.

"I want to OD him." Sheila said.

"Let's just snap his neck." Hanna said. "You know how easy they break."

Sheila was well aware that human necks broke as easy as rotten twigs.

"I want him to die from the poison he peddles." Sheila said. "The same way many of his customers do."

Sheila headed straight for him.

Hanna looked around.

"There is going to be some muscle around." Hanna said.

Sheila closed on the target.

"That's what I have a 'Hannafor'." Sheila said.

Hanna looked at Sheila and tilted her head slightly.

"What's a 'Hannafor'?" Hanna asked.

Sheila didn't answer.

The drug dealer spotted Sheila and Hanna coming.

A smile blossomed on his face.

"I hope you two sluts are here to 'trade' instead of just buy." The dealer said. "That would make my day."

Sheila grabbed him and slammed him down on the ground hard.

The dealer was stunned.

There was a van parked nearby. The side door opened and two burly men got out of it and headed for Hanna and Sheila. They both carried bats. They most likely carried guns too but they were able to handle most of the problems with brute force. They weren't sure what happened but two scantly clad bimbos didn't look like much of a threat to them. They planned to drag them back to the van for some 'fun' before they beat them to death with their fists.

Sheila saw the dealer that she'd slammed down was unconscious right now. She was aware of the new threat.

"It looks like they want to play ball." Sheila said.

"Let's just shoot them." Hanna said.

"No." Sheila said. "I want to play ball."

Sheila and Hanna moved a few feet apart and stood there as the men approached.

The men saw this was going to be easy. They both raised their bats to knock the girls unconscious. They'd be easier to assault that way in the van. They could see the dealer started to move around. He looked like he'd make it.

The men swung the bats.

The bats stopped in mid air and were pulled from their hands. As that began to register, they were lifted off the ground as their wind pipes were crushed. They couldn't even scream even when they tried.

The one thug watched as the Asian female slammed his friend into the brick wall behind them. He slid to a sitting position. She took the bat she now held and swung it into the side of his head. The bat went half way through his skull before it broke. He saw the eye on the other side of his friend's head pop out from the socked and hang loose on his cheek.

The next thing he knew was he hit the same brick wall hard and went down. He saw the Asian chick take the bat from the redhead. He was sure the Asian chick laughed as she swung the bat. He knew for sure that she smiled. His world went black.

The dealer managed to get up on one elbow. He was dazed but he saw what happened to his 'protection'. They were both dead. He reached for his gun but it was gone. The two females approached him.

The redhead held a gun. It was the nickel plated revolver that one of his body guards carried. Both of their bodies were slumped over side by side. One now rested on top of the other.

The Asian girl approached him. There was a crushing blow to his windpipe that stunned him. There was a sharp pain in his right arm and in both of his legs. He felt his sleeve was ripped off. The Asian girl was there with several of his syringes. He tried to move his arm away as she injected him with them. There was another sharp pain in his left arm. He tried to scream through all of this but couldn't. He also realized he couldn't breath. Everything happened so fast.

Hanna kept a lookout with a gun from one of the deceased body guards. She watched Sheila crush the dealer's windpipe and break one arm and both of his legs. She pumped him full of his own 'poison' and broke his other arm.

Sheila stood.

"We're all done here." Sheila said.

A shot rang out from across the street. There were several more. Hanna raised the revolver and fired once. The man that was headed towards them and shooting went down.

"That's what I have a 'Hannafor'." Sheila said. "Let's go."

Hanna looked back at all the carnage. She could see how pleased Sheila was as she looked back too. They headed off for their babysitting job.

Once they finished their earlier assignment, Sheila and Hanna hooked up with John and his team near the target. They were right on time.

John looked them over. They looked like Jesse and Vanna to him.

"We will accompany you at all times." Sheila said. "This way Bob and Jim may operate at their fullest and do what they are best at, being Terminators."

Bob and Jim grinned at each other. They were going to have some fun tonight. They could operate totally unrestricted as they did when on proficiency missions with Cameron. Bob knew from experience Sheila and Hanna were just as skilled and deadly as they were. They would protect John and could fight with extreme skill.

That was fine with John. Maybe he could learn something from the two girls about Cameron. Then again they would be briefed on such an attempt. Maybe it was best to concentrate on the target and get the job done. The less he thought about Cameron or other things, the better he felt inside. Thinking of Cameron on a mission could be a death sentence if his mind wandered. He thought that would be ironic if that is how he died. Cameron could still kill him, even if she wasn't there.

They arrived at the location of the target. The target lived alone. They staked out the area and no others appeared to be around. There'd been no sign or indication of Metal. That was always the fear on taking down a Gray or future Gray. Skynet may try to protect its asset. It was the same way Terminators were sent back to protect John.

Bob and Jim moved out and headed for the target location. They did what Terminators do best; they went straight in the front door.

Terminators like to get the job done and accomplish the mission.

Bob slammed the door open and advanced on the target. Jim was right behind him.

The target was a smallish man and he was in his underwear. He held a sandwich with one bite out of it in one hand and a can of soda in the other hand. Both fell from his hands as he looked on in horror at the big brute of a man who approached him. He didn't have idea who they were or what this was about.

His crimes were committed in the future. Now it was time for his sentence, in the present. The sentence was termination.

Bob moved forward and grabbed his neck and squeezed it in this hand. The scream died in the man's lungs as his spine was crushed.

Jim moved swiftly through the house to make sure no one else was hiding. They would be terminated as well.

Bob and Jim prepared to exit.

They both heard some bad news over their coms.

"Trouble." Hanna said. "I hear an HK drone approaching and it is not one of ours…. I double checked with John Henry."

Vanna finished up with the razor. She smiled at her handy work. She hadn't done this for a long time, not since she last done it for Allison.

"That's really smooth. I can't wait to feel it on my cheeks. That will take some getting used to at first. We can make it 'permanent' if you want." Vanna said. "I would recommend it. I'd like that."

Vanna stood next to her as they looked in the mirror.

"When we're younger, we all want to grow up. Then when we do, we spend all our time trying to look like our younger selves again. This is one way. Now both of us are the same." Vanna said. "Go figure."

Vanna still couldn't believe this was really happening.

"I've wanted to do this for so long, Vanna. I wanted it to be with you. We were so close before…."

Vanna moved up and gently kissed her. The kiss was returned slowly and deeply.

"My programming is off. This is just you and me."

Vanna was gently lifted off her feet and carried to the bed….

That act made her feel very special and wanted.

'Wooly Bully' by 'Sam the Sham And The Pharaohs', filled the room.

"It's not 'wooly' any more." Vanna joked.

Both girls giggled.

"If that is what you like and want, it never will be again either…."

Shell Game

As one moves forward in life
They must sometimes take a chance
Often around the real or hard issues
They will hedge, dodge and dance

Is the grass really greener
On the hill's other side
Or is it only another way
To retreat, cower and hide

Some things in life we can take
Others we can only borrow
What will provide happiness
What will create more sorrow

At what point is anything enough
That's the decision that is always tough
Things are seldom smooth but rough
Does anyone ever really have the right stuff

We move around all the pieces
Yet it stays pretty much the same
Everything is right in front of us
But always one off in life's shell game

Nobody