Chapter 318

Bonus

The battle was over and the area was secure. Cameron looked over her troops. She stopped at Gail.

Gail and Cameron looked each other over. It wasn't pretty.

"You're damaged." Gail said to Cameron.

Cameron was aware she was damaged.

"I've suffered worse." Cameron replied. "You're damaged as well."

Gail touched her damage. She wasn't usually shot up like this.

"I won't be able to hide this from Jesse. She's going to be upset." Gail said. "At least we have two female Terminators for Resequencing and reprogramming. I'm worried about you."

Cameron already figured it was going to be a problem.

"John isn't going to be happy." Cameron said. "He never is."

It didn't seem John and Cameron ever found very much to be happy about together anymore.

Cameron looked at each one of her troops and addressed the gathered Terminators.

"Everything that happened here tonight - happened." Cameron said. "No one needs to mention the two Terminators that Gail and I are 'disposing of'. Is that understood?"

"Affirmative." Rang out among the Terminators, everyone was loyal to Cameron.

As soon as they loaded the rest of the captured Metal in the other SUVs, Cameron called in the drone strike. Both drones hit the building with all their ordnance. It was soon a flaming pile of rubble.

The partially built drone they found was of the same construction as the one they encountered before. What was unclear was if they were building it or trying to reverse engineer it. The area it was in suffered a lot of damage from an HE round from the M79. There were some bloody human body parts covering much of it. The deceased Grays were left where they fell. The fire would take care of them.

A natural gas leak was retroactively entered into the system. All four vehicles were clear of the area before the first siren could be heard.

Cameron asked her two Terminators to take the two female Terminators back to her facility. They were to begin repairs on them as soon as they patched themselves up.

Cameron and Gail would return to the lab for repairs. She wanted to check on Vanna and Allison as well. She was deeply worried about Vanna. She was afraid of the direction she may turn. She was aware what these feelings did to someone inside and how the darkness could cloud one's judgment.

She was afraid it would stew inside Vanna and end up exploding in the wrong direction. It could lead her down a path she didn't need to follow. She knew how these things happened and took on a life of their own.

Al and Ed conducted a recon in search of some Coltan that they hoped to locate.

They placed two surveillance cameras in the building they just inspected and quietly pulled out. They went out the front door. They made sure the door was not wired before they opened it.

They were surprised to see the junk collector in the old pickup truck moving in their direction on the main street. It looked like something was off. They moved rapidly to the next property and took cover.

The old pickup passed slowly down the street.

"This looks like trouble." Ed said.

Al did think that was a lot of repeat activity, especially after being told to leave earlier.

"It's hard to say what it is." Al said.

They decided to pull out and head back to their SUV. They needed a little more information before they could act. They moved down the street in the front of the buildings and passed into the back through the first vacant building that they'd encountered.

They went through the back of another property and across a small street. They went over a fence and were almost back to their SUV.

John Henry's server contacted them.

"There's movement near your SUV." John Henry said.

Al and Ed picked up the pace. This was sure to lead to a confrontation of some type.

"We need to play this cool and avoid any gunfire." Ed said.

There were two men alongside their SUV when they jumped the fence. The two men didn't notice them.

"I can see stuff inside." The first punk said.

The second punk looked around.

"Someone must be around here." The second punk said.

The first punk didn't seem deterred.

"Let's just take the whole SUV." The first punk said. "We can go through it later."

The first punk worked on opening the driver's door.

"Nice night for a walk." Al said.

The two punks jumped. They were a little more terrified as they took in the size of Al and Ed.

"We were just making sure your SUV was OK." The first punk said. "This can be a troublesome neighborhood at times."

Al and Ed moved closer.

"I can see that." Ed said.

The two punks wanted to be away from there.

"Everything's cool." The second punk said. "You're vehicle is secure."

The two punks went to leave. Al and Ed blocked their path.

"Open your coats." Al said.

The first punk felt emboldened.

"You can't tell us what to do." The first punk said.

Al reached over and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. The punk struggled to get free.

"Wrong." Al said. "You will do as instructed."

The second punk opened his coat as Ed approached him.

There were several screwdrivers and a small pry bar inside his coast.

The first punk still struggled in Al's grasp. The second punk was fearful.

"I just found this coat." The second punk said.

Al and Ed didn't like liars.

"If you lie again you will be terminated." Ed said.

Al set the first punk down on his feet but he collapsed into a heap on the ground as he gasped for breath.

"You can't do this, man." The first punk gasped.

Ed looked over at Al.

"He appears to be a slow learner." Ed said.

Al reached for the first punk again.

"Let me give him a refresher." Al said.

The first punk came up with a knife and tried to stab Al.

Al side stepped and tripped the first punk. He rabbit punched him as he fell. His necked snapped. He continued to the ground at an accelerated speed from the punch. His face impacted the pavement hard. He was obviously dead.

"He's terminated." Al said.

The second punk tried to run but Ed grabbed him. There was a liquid sound as Ed restrained him. It was clear that he'd urinated on himself in fear.

"You guys are going to jail, man." The second punk said as he struggled.

Ed snapped his neck.

"Dead men tell no tales." Ed said.

"Affirmative." Al said.

They threw both bodies in a dumpster and covered them over with some cardboard boxes.

They checked over their SUV and made sure it wasn't tampered with.

They drove out onto the small street. They drove it past several building and turned on another street. This one would take them past the alley and then street they last saw the old pickup truck on. It wasn't there.

They drove over one more street and spotted the old pick up truck. It was in the alley of the building across the street from where they'd checked the row of buildings.

It was parked and they could see at least one of the men was out of it. They were in the back of the building that was across the street from the building where the Grays we located.

"Something's up." Al said.

Ed agreed.

"They're watching the building the Grays were in." Ed said. "It is a probe of some type."

The question now was who really were these people?

"It's possible they are the anti-Metal faction." Al said.

They knew that was not going to go over well at the base. It was going to cause Cameron great distress.

"They could be another group of Grays too." Ed said. "We've encountered more than one group of Grays before."

That sounded even worse than a group of the anti-Metal faction.

They continued on to the next street and drove to the front of the building that the old pickup truck was in the rear at.

They parked and exited the SUV. They went over a fence and hurried to the rear of the building.

They listened to two men converse.

"I think we should go." The first man said.

"I want to know what they're doing." The second man said.

"We don't need anymore trouble." The first man said. "We already had enough tonight."

"Those other guys were just street punks." The second man said.

"Whatever." The first man said. "I still didn't like having a knife pulled on me."

"We probably won't ever see them again." The second man said.

Al and Ed looked at each other. They knew that unless the men with the old pickup truck looked inside of the dumpster that they wouldn't see them again.

"I hope not." The first man said.

After a few minutes the men returned to the truck and got back inside.

"Do you think that's all there is to it?" Al asked.

It seemed to be what it looked like.

"I think so." Ed said.

The old truck drove off.

"We need to move." Al said. "They will probably come back on the street we are parked on."

Al and Ed hurried back to their SUV. It appeared untouched from when they'd just left.

John Henry contacted them about having drone support. There were two drones that were used in the other raid. They only were still armed with the minigun at this point. The missiles were expended.

"It wouldn't hurt to have one scout around us for anyone else here." Ed said.

They filled John Henry in with further detail as to what they'd discovered.

They headed off to one of the other locations that they'd been given.

They inquired about the team and found out there been some damage to all involved.

"I don't think Jim and Bob will be back on this for a few more hours." Ed said.

It seemed like a long shot for anything else of value.

"Let's see what else we can turn up." Al said.

They moved down to the next street. They watched the old pickup pass by where they were just a few minutes ago.

Maybe they would have one of the drones keep an eye on it. They didn't want to tip their hand to the machine shop they'd found. They didn't want the junk collectors to blow it for them either.

Vanna and Allison held each other's naked body closely.

Just being in the company of each other was reassuring to them. It gave both of them great comfort.

They heard some commotion in the hallway.

"What the Hell?" Allison asked.

Allison got up to look. She was naked. She looked out into the hall then stepped out, still naked.

Sheila hurried away.

Allison rushed back into the room.

"Something's wrong." Allison said.

Vanna immediately stopped feeling sorry for herself and put her clothes back on. Allison did the same thing. They grabbed each other's clothes in the rush to get dressed. It didn't matter. Something was wrong.

Vanna and Allison headed for the lab.

"I think I grabbed your underwear." Allison said.

Vanna reached inside her pants.

"I think I forgot mine anyway." Vanna said.

The two girls entered the lab.

There were six Terminators there. All of them were damaged.

Vanna gasped as she saw Cameron, she was damaged as well. Much to her surprise, so was Gail. That was unusual. Gail was supposed to be out of combat.

Cam, Holly and Sheila all helped their brethren.

Cameron personally tended to Gail.

She noticed that Vanna and Allison were there. She didn't want to cause any further problems for them. She went to Vanna and Allison as soon as she saw they were there to help.

"I don't want you getting upset with this or stressed out. I need you to keep Jesse away from here. Tell Ally to stay with her. Holly, go with Allison and stay with her, keep her calm." Cameron said. "Vanna, you don't need to be here. Cam, please take Vanna away to rest."

Vanna wanted to assist. She felt it was her duty.

"No, I'll stay and do my job. I'm needed here now." Vanna said. "What's done is done."

John burst into the room.

"Cameron!" John said.

John rushed past everyone else.

Cameron wanted John to act like a leader. She also wanted to thank Vanna.

"I'm fine, John. Check on your troops first and then come back to me." Cameron said. "Thank you, Vanna. You and Cam are both needed here."

There was some arguing at the lab door.

"I'm going in there." Savannah said. "MOVE."

John Henry unsuccessfully prevented Savannah from entering the lab.

"I must advise against this." John Henry said.

Everyone stopped and looked at the two of them They were now both inside the lab.

Savannah noticed everyone look at her and John Henry.

"Everyone, all of you. I'm old enough for this and EVERYTHING else too." Savannah said. "EVERYTHING. I'm a big girl now. ALL THIS is what my whole life had been patterned around. This is what you have all trained me for. I'm here to do my job."

Everyone returned to what they were doing.

Savannah went to Cameron and Gail and started following Cameron's instructions.

Vanna looked at Savannah. She was proud of her and 'herself'.

Cameron noted the attire that Savannah currently wore and smiled to herself. Savannah was a big girl now and a lot of it was 'showing'. She was proud of Savannah as well. She looked Hot and was Tight…. She needed to look again. Everybody did, it was impossible not too.

Everyone got to work and the repairs were soon finished.

John checked on his troops and then went to Cameron.

"Save it, John." Cameron said when John and Savannah finished up with her. "I'm fine."

John knew to push it now would only make Cameron disappear for a few days. Cameron usually didn't show up damaged like this. Gail appeared to be damaged as well. She was supposed to be off combat duty. He knew Cameron must have done something 'off the books' again.

Cameron wanted to put John at ease a little. She wanted to use Bob to deflect some of the 'third degree'.

"Bob will report to you everything that went down." Cameron said. "We destroyed the facility and blew up a partially completed drone. We wrecked an assembly line of some kind and captured several Terminators. Two of which should be easily repairable, the others will be used for parts."

John wanted to be with Cameron when she fought.

"I should've been there." John said.

Cameron indicated the battle damaged Terminators.

"So you could look like us or be dead?" Cameron asked. "LOOK at us! You were right where you were supposed to be."

John glanced at Savannah who casually bent down to pick something up. She turned her head, pulled her hair to one side of her face and smiled at him. She then stood and smoothed her outfit. He'd just saw 'everything'.

John looked away from Savannah and back to Cameron. He was aware that Savannah tried to deflect his attention away from Cameron.

"This is a new low, even for you, Cameron." John said to Cameron.

Cameron noticed what Savannah did to and why. It was part of her 'training'.

"You don't know how low I can go." Cameron said. "You don't want to find out. You WILL embrace the future. YOU can't stop the 'Natural Order'."

John looked at Cameron and went to check on his troops again before he left. He still couldn't help but do another 'once over' of Savannah as he left.

'Damn, she looks good….' John thought.

Savannah noticed and winked at John. It seemed to hasten his departure.

"I will win no matter how long it takes." Cameron said softly. "It is NEVER over until I win."

Savannah walked up behind Cameron. She heard her speak.

"Yes you will, WE both will." Savannah said just as softly.

She took Cameron's left hand and the glitch stopped immediately.

Cameron looked at Savannah.

"It's inevitable." Savannah said.

Cameron smiled and lifted her left hand. It brought Savannah's with it. She kissed the back of Savannah's hand gently.

"I know I can count on you. The future depends on you." Cameron said.

Savannah wanted Cameron to look at her too.

"Like you, I will keep my promises." Savannah said. "Like you, I will not fail either."

Cameron drew Savannah close to her.

"Thank you." Cameron said as she pulled Savannah into her arms and hugged her. "John MUST be protected. I'm counting on you. You MUST protect John."

Savannah smiled at Cameron.

"I promise." Savannah said.

Savannah wished the moment could last forever…. She knew at that moment if Cameron ever asked her what she 'wanted' that she was going to tell her. It was what she held this very moment….

'Can't Help Falling In Love With You' by 'Elvis Presley', was the song that filled Savannah's mind, as love filled her heart.

Bonus

When does one win
When do they lose
It all comes down to
What decisions they choose

What once seemed right
May soon seem wrong
Will they be weak
Or will they be strong

It's easier to go with the flow
Than it is to change course
Since there are no rules
There's nothing to enforce

No one wants to make waves
Or to get pushed out
To have that happen
Fills one with doubt

To get what one wants
May be seen as a bonus
The reality of the situation is
It's another way for someone to own us

Nobody