Chapter 1556
Not Without Us
John Henry knew the assault was underway. The reports and body cam footage showed all the Grays in the third building were down.
Summer searched for new targets. There were drones that were in close now. It didn't matter who heard them at this point. It seemed that every Gray above ground was dead.
Young Allison knew there must be some Skynet Terminators involved in the operation. None had shown themselves yet. That was as good as it was bad. They were there someplace.
Anna received word from 'Coltan Overcast' and 'Cherry Bomb' that they were ready to enter the hanger. They couldn't support Young Jesse in the tunnel. They were ready for some active targets. She told them to hold for now. They weren't part of the 'strike package' yet. They might be needed elsewhere.
"I think this is going to get a little hotter before it plays out." Young Allison said.
Anna knew that was all too often the case.
"The teams have been lucky so far." Anna said. "I don't think Skynet or the Grays ever fully understood the nature of the threat."
Cam and Samantha would stick together as one element. They were one team of seven with three elements.
Hanna and Ally joined them. They would remain together as another element.
Richard, Michael and Cammy were further towards the hill and inside the building. They looked for the access to whatever led into the hillside. They were worried as much about what could come out of it as to what was inside of it.
Cammy wanted to make it four elements. She would strike out on her own if necessary. The 'Cameron' in her really showed. They all knew part of it was because Cameron was out with Savannah.
"I found it." Cammy called out. "I'm going in."
Cam and Samantha hurried over.
"Not without us." Cam said.
Cammy peered into the darkness of the opening.
"Stay back for now." Cammy said. "I think there's a door up ahead."
Samantha wondered why there were no reinforcements sent out for the Grays.
"They may not know the full extent of what's actually happened outside here." Samantha said. "Everything has been relatively quiet."
Cammy started ahead with her M4 ready.
"They'll know soon enough." Cammy said.
Cam was worried they could be about to walk into an ambush.
"Look alive." Cam said. "There could be anything waiting for us."
Holly was on top of John. She was after her own pleasure and fulfillment right now.
John was along for the ride.
He really enjoyed watching everything bounce on Holly with her movements. He tried to hold back and not finish too soon. He wanted Holly to make it twice if she could. He was pretty sure he was done for the night after this. It was actually almost morning at this point. He was tired and sleepy.
Holly already made it once and really picked up the tempo when she did. She made it again thirty seconds later and so did John. She slowed and stopped. She bent down to kiss John again. The look of love was in her eyes.
"I love you, John." Holly whispered.
John was caught up in the moment or was he.
"I love you too." John said.
John's feelings went back a long way with Holly. She'd been there everyday for him for fifteen months after the 'Day Of Loss'.
Holly pressed herself against John but kept her weight off of him.
"We should have done this years ago when we were together." Holly said. "I really mean that. I wanted to."
John thought about that time period more. They'd been close to it more than a few times.
"Maybe Cameron actually prevented you." John said.
Holly remembered Cameron 'told' her it was OK but she just couldn't.
"Maybe she did and made it seem like it was my choice not to." Holly said.
John wondered about that too. Cameron was the master of manipulation.
"It would be just like her." John said.
Holly even offered to allow Cameron to use her chassis when Cameron was on her chip.
"I really don't know." Holly said.
It seemed like wasted years at this point to John.
"Why didn't she use your chassis?" John asked. "The girls were gone too. She knew that."
Holly often wondered about that.
"Cameron believes you only care for her because of her appearance." Holly said. "She's always believed that."
John thought about it. Cameron always felt 'threatened' by Holly's appearance, especially when she was still a blonde. The pretty face, nice rack and hot figure all only added to Cameron's 'discomfort'.
"She was afraid I would love you instead of her if she used your chassis." John said.
Holly wondered if she'd been manipulated.
"That's probably why she didn't want to use Gail's chassis either." Holly said. "It was available with Gail deactivated at that time. I offered to let her have my chassis and I would take Gail's chassis if she didn't want that one."
John figured if he would have started a relationship with Holly back then it never would have stopped, even when Cameron returned from the 'dead'. It would have been a love relationship that would have needed be 'worked' in.
"We could have done this for years." John said.
Holly didn't want to talk about it anymore. She felt cheated.
"I need to go check on Precious." Holly said. "That's my assignment. I may have been here too long."
John and Holly shared a long kiss with a lot of touching by John. He hoped for a little more.
"We can shower and get cleaned up." John said.
Holly picked him up and carried him to the shower. He liked when the Metal girls did that.
They took a playful shower and then dried each other off.
John helped Holly dress and he walked her to the door.
"I meant what I said." Holly said. "I've always loved you."
John wasn't sure where this was headed. All the girls wanted more.
"I don't know what will happen." John said.
Holly felt 'short changed' by Cameron. That was probably why Cameron steered her towards Allison and shipped her off to Palmdale. It was to keep her away from John.
"I'll be back." Holly said.
She gave John a loving kiss and left.
John watched her walk away. He really wanted her for those fifteen long months of nothing but 'Rosie'. As usual, it was all Cameron's fault. He really planned to make up for being a 'pud knocker' for all that time. He thought he was off to a good start.
Earlier:
Riley and Claire were in the nursery. They were both naked now.
Derek secretly watched them from the hall through the crack in the door by the hinges.
Claire and Riley discussed what style of nipple rings Riley would like to get when she couldn't nurse any more.
Riley decided she want ones like Claire wore since they were the same as the one's Samantha wore.
"Would Derek be good with that?" Claire asked.
Riley looked over at the door to the nursery.
"We could ask him." Riley said.
Derek's eyes widened. He was sure he'd just been made. He didn't want to get caught spying. He was at 'full attention' right now and his robe did little to hide it. He quickly hurried away from the door. He reached the bedroom and looked back down hall. He didn't see anyone. Maybe that was just a statement.
Claire thought the choice should be Riley's to make.
"I'll let you do that." Claire said.
Claire and Riley got down to business and shared with each other. They both 'finished' twice.
"I should check on Precious. Claire said.
Riley thought that was her responsibility.
"I'll do it. I should go back before Derek misses me." Riley said.
Derek snuck back soon after his last retreat. He'd watched Riley and Claire share together. Now that Riley was on her way back, he made another retreat and got into bed. Riley joined him a few minutes later.
He looked over when Riley laid down. She looked at him and he was over the top of her in a second. Things went very smoothly.
Riley was taken by surprise but she was more than 'ready' for Derek. She was pleased at the way Derek preformed. He was good for this but she knew she still preferred females. The last few days reaffirmed that.
She didn't know in the darkness that she was 'Claire' right now to Derek in his mind as he 'pounded' away.
It was easy for someone to be 'anyone' in the darkness. The body parts were the same. The mind filled in the blanks.
Claire was going to get dressed but she dozed off. She was still naked.
The human girls were all on the 727 Executive Transport parked at the small airport. They were all heavily engaged with each other.
Allison was with Laura in the Executive Suite. Jesse was with Mary in the Master Suite. Vanna was with Leticia in the lounge area.
The girls all finished up and did another rotation.
Jesse was with Laura in the Executive Suite. Vanna was with Mary in the Master Suite. Allison was with Leticia in the lounge area.
The girls were all pretty beat by this point in time. That was where they all fell asleep when they 'finished' up. It was almost morning anyway.
Holly headed to the Command Center to see how things were going. She took one last look towards the direction of John's room before she entered.
Summer and John Henry greeted her when she arrived.
John Henry got her up to speed on everything. She'd followed a lot of the operation through her com.
"They're about to enter to hillside right now." John Henry said.
Holly wondered about Young Jesse. She was the only human on the mission and it was her first time out.
"How's the other team?" Holly asked.
"They're progressing rapidly on an intersect course with the other team." Summer said. "We were able to track them most of the way. We've almost lost the signal."
Holly sat next to Summer to watch. There were body cams on everyone now including Richard and Michael.
The signal was weak with Young Jesse's team because of the heavy metal door they'd passed. They put a repeater on each side of it but the signal was faint. If they encountered one more door like that, they would most likely lose the signal completely.
Cammy found the passageway into hillside. It was large enough for an HK Track to pass through. That probably wasn't a good sign. It only added to the worry of the HK subassemblies that Cam found earlier.
Michael and Richard would keep the exit open. They didn't want any surprises to develop behind them, especially if they lost contact.
Cammy wanted to go in alone but Ally and Hanna would follow close behind her. Cam and Samantha would follow a little behind them. They didn't know what the interior would hold.
Cam thought she should be up front with Cammy but she didn't need to be a 'glory hog'. The earlier activity in the mine was intense enough. She was still covered from head to toe with dirt ground into her clothes.
Cammy was in combat most of the last week with Savannah. She didn't like Savannah to be with Cameron but she would rather have her there. Savannah was a little more secure than where she was at right now. The fact that Young Jesse was there was bad enough.
There was a large blast door ahead of them once they passed from the third building into the hillside itself. It wasn't closed tight. The five Metal girls slipped inside.
Samantha looked at the blast door as they passed it.
"I think we should jam this open." Samantha said. "We don't know how to control it."
None of them wanted to get trapped in there.
Cammy used her com and asked Michael to bring one of the drone subassemblies that were on the hanger floor and do that for them. She figured it should slow the closure of the blast door if nothing else.
The passageway went for about a hundred feet before it came to 'zigzag'. That was further protection for whatever was in the interior.
Cammy carefully peered around the edge of the zigzag. There was a second blast door. It was also not closed tight. It reminded her a lot of how CamNet's bunker was set up. There were three branches of the passageway on the other side of the second blast door.
"I need Cam and Samantha to take the left branch." Cammy said. "Ally and Hanna will take the right branch. I'll continue down the center branch."
The Metal girls weren't keen on separating but the more they could find out, the sooner they could take action. None of them except Cammy liked that she was a team of one.
Sheila led the team down the tunnel. It periodically went through a series of right angle turns. They'd come to another junction. It appeared to head away from the hillside. It was most likely an escape route.
Larry and Hank were sent down it to see where it went. The girls would go on for five more minutes and then wait for Larry and Hank to catch back up.
The girls continued until they reached another Metal door after another set of turns.
"We're going to lose contact here when we go through." Young Jesse said.
Gail was sure they were just about to the main part of whatever was inside.
"I think we're almost there." Gail said.
Young Jesse knew there weren't any facts to back that up. They were surrounded by the unknown.
"We don't know what's ahead." Young Jesse said.
Gail entered the combination that she'd used on the other door. The green light came on. She carefully opened the door a foot and a half and Sheila went through.
Sheila immediately came back through and silently closed the door.
"There's a patrol coming." Sheila said. "I heard at least three voices."
Gail locked the door. They quickly retreated back through the last set of turns and reached the junction Larry and Hank went down. There was no sign of them.
The girls could ambush the patrol at that point. It also gave them better cover.
The Gray patrol approached the metal door. They opened it.
"Keep moving." The leader said. "Pick it up."
"Why do we have to do this?" The first Gray asked.
"Shut up and stay alert." The leader said. "There are too many things happening we don't know the results of yet."
"We're technicians, not troopers." The second Gray said.
"So was Lang's crew." The leader said. "We don't know what happened to them either."
"I'll tell you what happened." The first Gray said. "They went out after a couple of lost female hikers. Once they nabbed them you know what happened. The whole crew is still taking turns. We'd have done the same thing. When we find them, I'm doing both of them myself."
"That's because we haven't had any fresh meat for a week around here." The third Gray said. "I'll tell you what. As soon as we meet up with them, I'm going first from this crew."
"Shut up." The leader said. "We don't know who was out there. It could be anyone."
"You don't think it's that 'Metal Bitch' we've all heard about do you?" The first Gray asked. "Some say she's a renegade from another version of Skynet."
"I heard that too." The third Gray said. "She wants to be her own version of Skynet."
"They can call that one Sky-Slut." The second Gray said.
Three of the Grays laughed. The leader didn't.
"Stay alert." The leader said. "The threat is real until we find out it isn't. You morons have been pushing buttons and connecting wires for too long. You've all lost the edge."
"What about those psychos from that one future Skynet?" The first Gray asked.
"He means the Fanatics. They worship SkyMaster as their god." The second Gray said. "They blow everything up including themselves."
"I'll give them something to blow." The third Gray said.
That produced another round of laughter.
The leader had enough.
"I'm going to shoot the next one of you clowns that opens their mouth." The leader said. "Take this seriously. We may have lost a lot of people tonight at the mine. Something is wrong here."
The Grays neared the intersection. They didn't appear to know it was there in the dim glow of the red lights. None of them had ever come this way before.
The girls listen to the conversation as the Grays drew closer. They were in the branch off of the main tunnel. Larry and Hank hadn't returned yet.
Sheila and Camille moved forward. They each held their silenced M9. Young Jesse moved up with them.
Gail still had the backpack nuke strapped to her back. She'd disabled two of the red lights before the branch turned. The group wouldn't be back lit now. They were in total darkness.
Camille didn't want Young Jesse so close.
"Stay back." Camille whispered. "They're almost here."
Young Jesse wanted to be part of the fight. She'd put her night vision on as soon as the red lights were disabled.
"We'll take them together." Young Jesse whispered. "It's time to put my training to use. I want to do this. I need to do this."
It was Showtime.
Gail was concerned for Young Jesse but Sheila and Camille were in front of her. They should hold the advantage in the near darkness.
She began to wonder what happened to Hank and Larry. It seemed like they should have been back by now. Maybe they should have checked out the other branches as they went along. Was there anyone else behind them? There hadn't been any explosions or gunfire yet.
Young Allison wasn't pleased with the way they started to lose contact with everyone.
"I want 'Coltan Overcast' and 'Cherry Bomb' to patrol the area along the road and the hillside where Young Jesse is at." Young Allison said. "There may be other ways out of that system they entered."
Anna brought them down closer to the ground. The two drones scanned for any signs of movement or heat signature. There was a drone up high that looked down on the entire section.
"There are three drones working that area." Anna said. "'Coltan Overcast' and 'Cherry Bomb' will instantly engage any threat."
Young Allison checked the scans for any hostile HK drones in the area but none were detected yet. That was always her worry.
Hank and Larry moved through the branch passageway. They figured it would lead to the outside. It was longer than they'd thought.
"There's someone ahead of us." Hank whispered.
They both paused.
"It sounds like at least three people." Larry whispered. "They probably went to flank the rest of the team."
It sounded like whoever it was, seemed to be in a hurry or careless.
Three Grays moved through the branch. They didn't know Hank and Larry were behind them.
"I'm telling you guys, we need to run." The first Gray said. "This whole operation is compromised."
"The 'Metal Bitch' and 'Robbie The Robot' didn't seem to think so." The second Gray said.
"The 'Metal Heads' never think they're in danger." The first Gray said. "That's why they can't recognize it."
"They were going to get the Skynet hard drives out." The third Gray said. "That sounds like danger to me. Why else would they fool around with that?"
"They lost all the troops and now they have us all doing this." The second Gray said. "Most of the technicians have never been on combat operations."
"That's why I'm telling you guys we need to run." The first Gray said. "We all felt that 'earthquake' earlier. We all know what that was."
"We really don't know anything." The second Gray said.
The three Grays slowed.
"We're here." The third Gray said. "This is the way out."
"We don't even know where we are." The second Gray said.
"We know this is an escape tunnel." The first Gray said. "We'll slip out and run."
The first Gray released the latch on the metal door. It opened inward with a slight squeak. He looked outside.
"What do you see?" The second Gray asked.
"It's dark out there." The first Gray said.
"Let me look." The third Gray said as he pushed his way forward.
"Easy, man." The first Gray said. "We don't know who's out there."
"It's better than dying in here." The third Gray said. "I'm done with this operation for good. I'm leaving."
"Not without us. I'm with you, bro." The second Gray said. "We'll put the grab on a couple of skanks and head for the high country."
"I want a blonde this time for one of them." The third Gray said.
"Most of those are fake blondes." The first Gray said.
"I know one way to tell." The third Gray said.
The three Grays all laughed.
They were away from the escape door by a few feet.
"Listen!" The first Gray said.
They all heard it.
"That's an HK drone." The third Gray said.
"Where is it?" The second Gray asked. "Is it ours?"
"Let's get back inside." The first Gray said. "Ours were all in pieces."
"It's probably those Fanatics." The second Gray said. "Who else would have an HK drone?"
"The 'Metal Bitch' that wants to be Skynet herself." The first Gray said.
"She kills everyone." The third Gray said. "I've head what the bodies look like. There are all kinds of things missing…."
The Grays turned and headed back for the escape door.
Anna saw that 'Cherry Bomb' picked up movement not too far out from the third building between the road and the hillside.
"We have contact. 'Cherry Bomb' didn't pick up a transponder code. All of the team should have one on." Anna said.
Young Allison thought they were in a good position.
"See if it can get a visual." Young Allison said.
Young Allison didn't want any 'friendly fire'.
Three seconds later the image of three unknown men came back.
"Fire…." Young Allison said.