Terminator: Bond of Steel and Bone

by JasonVUK

Cameron and John realise what they mean to one another and take their relationship to levels they never imagined they would. A new deadly Machine makes it self known, what is it's mission? Story will Contain Original Characters. - Warning this story will contain scenes of explicit sexual nature, tissues will be needed, you have been warned.

8. Chapter 8

I'm glad I'm able to work on these previous chapters, make them flow a bit better. I feel the story keeps a decent more consistent tone. Quicker I get a few of these earlier chapters done the quicker I can work on a new chapter. Just work a little bit at a time.

---

Terminator

Bond of Steel and Bone

Chapter 8:

Near Death Experience.

---

Monday once more and the start of a new school week. John Connor kept his head against his pillow, now staring up to his ceiling as he wrapped his thoughts around what had happened over the weekend; the Triple Eight at Tech-Noir, the ending of his relationship with Riley, his renewed friendship with Cameron, recovering Danny Dyson and the little project he and Cameron were working on. A lot had happened in such a short time.

It was then John felt his bed dipping near his legs as a weight was being put onto it; Cameron.

"Good morning." He called without looking.

"Good morning John." Came Cameron's reply, a little softer in voice than the tone she'd use with others.

"What time is it?" He asked sleepily as he sat up to look at her, giving her a quick welcoming smile. "Hello."

"Hello," Cameron replied, returning his welcoming smile with one of her own, "it's quarter past 6 John."

John pressed himself back against the headboard of his bed then focussed on Cameron.

"Who else is up?" He asked.

"Sarah went out for a morning jog, Derek has just awoken and Daniel Dyson is still asleep on the couch."

John nodded then closed his eyes for a few seconds a soft groan escaping him.

"Any thoughts on that little project of ours?" John had guessed it would be something she'd be thinking about while everyone else slept.

Cameron tilted her head forward a little, "nothing more can be done until we get started."

"Fair enough." John replied plainly before cracking his knuckles.

"John," Cameron began, she waited till she had John's full attention, continuing only when his focus returned to her, "what are we going to do with Riley when we're at school?"

"We don't know if Jesse is watching us," John replied a frown formed across his lips as he stared straight ahead, lost in his thoughts over the two conspirators, "so for now we'll have to act natural" he looked back to Cameron, "get what I mean?"

"I get what you mean, we act as if nothing has changed between the three of us." John was glad Cameron understood him, "I've already added Jesse Flores to my search parameters, if she's watching us, I'll find her."

"Good to know," John smirked.

"When should we confront her?" Cameron asked slipping into her professional Terminator tone of voice.

'We've got her location, we have the drop on her, Cameron could do it at night, but I'd rather be there myself as well.' John thought to himself. "I'd say we should confront her when we're both free, I want to do this right, she's a trained resistance member so she can't be stupid." He eventually said aloud.

"I would prefer if you weren't there," Cameron was quick to reply, "for your safety, Jesse Flores may be mentally unstable."

"I wouldn't say mentally unstable," John corrected, "but she's not playing for our team that much is obvious."

"Regardless, I'd prefer you not to be there, she's a threat to you," Cameron repeated, "I cannot predict her reaction to being discovered."

"You're worried she'll pull a gun on me?" He gave Cameron a sarcastic grin, her only response was a silent stare, that was exactly what she was worried about, "alright, I get what you're saying, but you going there alone could end with things being a lot worse, I'd rather get answers from her myself," John further added, "besides, from what we got from Riley she doesn't seem to be your biggest fan, so with me there she may be less confrontational." John put extra emphasis on "less".

"Very well," Cameron relented, "but you stay close to me." John could tell from Cameron's stern look that she wasn't going to budge on that one thing, so he nodded in agreement.

"That's fair," re replied, then gave Cameron a sly look, "that way it'd be easier to protect you."

Cameron blinked, her stern expression switching to one like confusion.

John couldn't stop himself from laughing a little at her expression. "I could be the only thing standing between you and a face full of buckshot."

Cameron's expression immediately switched back to stern. "That isn't a laughing matter John, my mission is to ensure your survival, not the other way around, if Jesse Flores is hostile towards you, or a threat to your safety she will need to be dealt with."

The smirk dropped from John's face. He knew having to kill Jesse was always a possible outcome, but he didn't want more people's deaths on his conscience. "I know, but I'd rather be there to help diffuse the situation. I'd rather we not kill her." His explained in a sombre tone.

"I know," came Cameron's soft reply, she saw how her words on the situation affected him, this John was still deeply trouble by death even if he wasn't the cause, "but you have to know it's a possibility," Cameron reached out and placed a hand on John's shoulder, "if you come, you must be prepared for that to happen, some humans can't be reasoned with."

For a split second John felt cold, like ice had encompassed his heart, he wasn't alright with killing people even if it was for his safety, what'd happened with Sarkissian had left him with nightmares for weeks after. How did General John Connor give orders where he knew people would die?

"Okay," John finally replied, his voice but a whisper that just barely broke the silence in the room, "I understand." He looked to the cyborg beside him, forcing a tight-lipped smile. "I suppose we'll just play it by the ear," he suggested before chuckling softly as Cameron tilted her head slightly, displaying her confusion, "it means we'll let things go naturally, no plan."

"I think no plan is a bad idea." She countered.

John gave her a more natural grin. "Trust me on this."

She would though she was already going through possible scenarios and ways to ensure John's safety, no plan was a bad idea.

"Right, I'm gonna grab a shower, see you downstairs." He said as he got up. His night top and shorts covering his modesty.

---

While John was in the shower Cameron sat at the dining table packing their equipment for school downstairs. Sarah had yet to return from her morning jog, Derek was sipping coffee and reading a newspaper at the end of the table, and Danny Dyson was still asleep on the couch. The room was quiet other than the flicking of paper, the gentle efficient rearranging of school books and utensils in bags and the soft snoring of Danny.

John came down the stairs and noticed the silence.

"Someone die in here?" John asked jokingly, keeping himself quiet for Danny's sake.

Cameron looked up to him then glanced around. "No, Daniel Dyson is however still asleep." Cameron looks at him curiously.

"No Cameron I meant it's really quiet, people are normally quiet at funerals." John explained as he walked over to the table.

Cameron thought about it for a moment. "Oh. I understand."

John sat down on a chair opposite Cameron and stretches, the sound of his stiff joints popping adding to the small noises that disrupt the silence.

It was at that moment the door opened, Cameron and Derek turn to look at the door just as Sarah returned from her jog, a soft sheen of sweat covering her body from her exertion and the heat from outside.

"I'm back." Sarah called out.

"We noticed." Derek replied dryly, still looking to Sarah before taking another sip of coffee.

"Morning mom, good jog?" John asked.

"Not bad, hot day," she replied then looked to her watch a frown forming over her lips, "didn't beat my record though." She added sourly.

"I'm sure you'd do better than me." John replied with amusement adding a shrug of his shoulders.

"If that's true then someone needs to get his ass into gear and start exercising again." Sarah quipped back. She looked from John to Cameron then back to John. "You two ready for school?"

"We're ready," Cameron speaks up, as she closes up her bag, "everything is accounted for."

"I could've helped." John offered as he looked over to Cameron.

"It's quicker if I do it." She replied.

John's eyebrows raise high from the look on his face. "Are you saying I'm slow?" he asked with a little surprise, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Cameron looked at him squarely and replied. "No, I'm just faster and better coordinated." Her tone factual.

John snorted with a humorous smile on his face as he gets up to make himself breakfast. "Can't argue with that I suppose."

Derek looked over the top of his paper and watched John's interaction with the machine with a mix of annoyance and disgust.

'Saviour of mankind and he's making fun with the killer robot.' Derek thought with contempt. He wasn't going to say anything though. 'Jesse's right, the metal is bad for John, twisting him around it's little finger.' Derek kept his expression as neutral as possible, taking sips of his coffee as if everything were normal as he quietly eyed them. One thing was for sure in his mind though; the cyborg had to go. They had to get rid of it; him, Jesse and Riley had to get rid of it.

There was a sudden bang in the living room, Cameron was immediately up, Derek and Sarah turn immediately to the source of the noise. There is a quiet groan before a figure climbs back up to the couch.

"I'm alright," Danny says as he pulls himself into a sitting position, a small grimace of pain on his face from his wounded leg, "just rolled over in my sleep and fell over. Sorry." Danny apologised.

"How're you feeling today Danny?" Sarah asked as she walked around to him, concern edging into her voice.

The dark-skinned man carefully placed a hand over his wound and applied a little pressure, he grimaced again, but acknowledged to himself that the pain was bearable. "Still hurts, but I think I can take it. Thanks again Sarah." He replied giving Sarah a tired smile.

"Sure," Sarah replied before looking to the others, "I'm going to hit the shower, if I'm not down by time you go, have a good day at school," she said focussing on John.

"Thanks mom." He replied as he sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal, once sat down he looked back to his mother. "Oh hey! Are you doing to check out those coordinates I gave you yesterday?"

While routing through the hard drives from Epitome John had come across a few map coordinates, whatever they were the information was encrypted and took John some time to decipher, once done he'd told his mother about them. It didn't say what they were only the location and a reference number. He hadn't come across what the numbers meant yet, despite a few more hours of searching.

"I am, I'm taking Derek with me just in case." The older Connor replied before focussing on Derek. "Reese, make sure you're ready soon, I want to head to the closest one as soon as possible."

"Ready when you are." He replied as he looked back to the morning paper.

"Danny; there's some cereal and coffee if you want anything." Sarah looked back to the man on the couch before heading towards the stairs.

"Thank you." He replied, honestly the man was more tired than he was anything else, despite his long slumber he felt like he could sleep for a few more hours.

"Hey Danny," John spoke suddenly drawing the man's attention, "who's Robert Kent?"

"Why?" Danny asked curiously.

Suddenly everyone turned their focus at him, including Sarah how'd only taken a few steps towards the stairs.

"When I was looking through the security feed, the machine asked the receptionist about him." John explained before putting a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

Derek turned his head away from the paper in his hands and looked to Danny, seeing the young man exhale sharply, any strength he had seemed to leave him in an instant.

"That's me." Danny eventually replied then notices the curious looks and decides to explain. "When they pulled me into the company they gave me a false name, false history, everything. All so no one could track me, no one would come looking for me. I think they did it with everyone, but I can't be sure."

"So the machine was looking for you. Know why?" John asked

"I damn well do!" Derek spoke up, contempt dripping from his words, he lowered his paper and gave Danny a hard cold stare. "It's Skynet. Skynet wants Danny alive or something, to make sure he could finish building it." Derek thought about reaching for his Beretta, but he doubted that'd gain him any favours.

"Then why kill everyone else?" John asks calmly, confusion evident in his voice, "if this machine was Skynet's, then it wouldn't kill everyone. Would it? Hell if Danny's right and they were building Skynet then it would be more likely to leave them alone."

"Not unless they were of unimportance," Cameron commented when a thought came to her; "or it's actually a Resistance machine."

That catches everyone off guard. "Then why would it attack you?" John asked.

"In case of capture; reprogrammed machines are only given information for their own missions, so they cannot jeopardise other priority missions." Cameron explains.

John admitted, he hadn't even thought of that. It was an interesting development.

Danny looked at her for a moment, then remembered what she was.

"Cameron right?" he asked, Cameron looked at him and nodded in confirmation. "I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Am I in this future of yours?" he asked.

Cameron blinked once then stared at him as her CPU scanned for the information.

DANIEL "DANNY" DYSON: KNOWN RESISTANCE PERSONNEL …
SEARCHING …
0 MATCH …
ROBERT KENT: KNOWN RESISTANCE PERSONNEL …
SEARCHING….
1 MATCH …
… ROBERT ALEX KENT …
… RANK: PRIVATE …
STATUS: TERMINATED.

Cameron had found a Robert Kent but it wasn't Daniel, he was younger, had longer hair and more noticeable he was white.

"I have nothing on file, there is a Robert Kent, but it's not you." Cameron informs him, Danny is unmoved.

"It could be me." He argued.

"He's white." Cameron replied ending the argument, John snickers.

"Okay it isn't me." Danny concedes.

"I'd like to talk to you later Danny if we get the chance." John spoke up regaining the older-looking man's attention.

"Sure thing." Danny replied before opening his mouth to yawn, "if I'm not passed out on this couch that is."

"Take your time, you're fine." John replied plainly.

With that Sarah made her way once more t the stairs, Derek got back to his paper grumbling inaudibly and John finished his breakfast.

"Time to go John." Cameron informed him as she grabbed their school bags and passed his over to him.

---

"So what do you think about our current situation?" John suddenly asked. The pair of them were a little over halfway towards school when John broke the silence between them. "I mean in general."

"Your ability to walk by machines unnoticed has been compromised, if the Tech-Noir Triple-Eight was working with others then threat is greater than originally predicted." Cameron listed off automatically. "Then there's the unknown cyborg, it's mission is unknown and it's combat capabilities are superior to a medium class Triple-Eight."

"Okay anything good?" he asked as Cameron paused.

"With the destruction of Epitome it may delay Skynet's creation." She replied.

"Not destroy it?" He asked then sighed, "actually don't answer that. Who am I kidding? Destroying Skynet is never that easy."

"You know that better than many people." Cameron replied. She reached up and patted his back in a reassuring manner, it seemed like the thing a friend would do.

"When whoever owned Epitome finds out what happened they're bound to find out Danny isn't amongst the dead, they may go after his family," John shook his head with disdain, "and I don't know if we can protect them."

"Not likely," Cameron replied, "at least not for long, it would put us at risk, and there's a high probability that protecting them may lead Skynet to you."

John couldn't argue that fact, but it didn't mean he liked it. Cameron was right but he still felt they owed it to Miles Dyson's memory to try and keep his family safe.

'No one's ever safe.' The mantra rattled around in his mind once more.

"We'll discuss it more with mom after school, she may have an idea." John finally said bringing an end to the topic before starting another. "We need to meet up with Riley at some point today." The pair of them were nearing the school now.

Cameron wanted to dissuade John from being around Riley, but knew there was likely a reason he wanted to see her. She acknowledged the girl still had some use to them. But still she asked why.

"I want her to try and keep tabs on Flores, or as best as she can, I'd rather us not be caught by surprise by anything." John told her.

"If she tells the truth," Cameron added, "she may feel siding with Jesse would be a better option than your offer."

John had a grim look on his face from that train of thought; if Riley betrayed them to Jesse things could and would get ugly quick. "Then we'll prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Together the pair stepped through the school doors and into the hallway.

---

Derek was riding shotgun in the car with Sarah in the driver's seat. The pair driving along a quiet dirt road following the co-ordinates that John had given them.

"Alright, so what's the plan when we find this place?" Derek asked.

"We need to know what we're dealing with first," Sarah began, looking to her phone then around their immediate area, "after that we'll judge our next move."

"Say there's metal there." Derek replied giving bored look.

"Then we'll deal with it." She replied plainly.

Derek snorted. "With what? Some rifles and shotguns?"

"It's why I brought the grenade launcher Derek." She glanced at him with a dull look.

Derek looked back at their gear once more and there just under the pile of weapons he made out the wooden stock of an M79 grenade launcher. That would work.

"Will that do for you Derek?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yeah that'll work." He replied before turning back around, the vehicle starting to go up an incline.

"I have to ask." Sarah asked slowly while not taking her eyes off the path. "Wouldn't it have been smarter to bring Cameron?"

Derek snorted. "In the future we didn't always have scrubbed tin cans to rely on, a lot of the time we got the job done ourselves so no we don't need the metal. Once John realises it's not essential; he'll get rid of it." Derek harrumphed and looked forward.

Sarah rolled her eyes but said nothing. Honestly she had hoped John would find out more information on the location, but she knew he could only do so much in a short space of time, but still a little more info would've been wonderful. For all she knew it could've been anything from a harmless Epitome execs get away house, to a full-blown Skynet related operation.

Once up the incline did the pair settle their eyes on what was likely their target.

"Two-hundred bucks says that's it" Derek pointed out as they came across a large concrete warehouse, that was just there in the middle of nowhere, no visible power lines, nothing surrounding it.

"You don't have two-hundred bucks." Sarah replied immediately, despite herself the corner of her mouth twitched upwards for a second.

"Why does everything have to be hidden?" Derek wondered aloud.

"Then it'd be easy to find and blow up." Sarah quipped and stopped the car. The pair exited the vehicle.

"You need a new set of wheels Sarah, we should find another jeep. They're reliable and bigger. I won't feel so damn cramped." Derek complained.

"Oh sure, I'll put it on our next shopping list, how's that sound?" she replied in an overly sweet and sarcastic tone before opening the door behind the driver's seat. "Come on gear up."

Derek's eyes and hand went straight for the Car-15. A souvenir Sarah and Cameron had brought back from Epitome. He checked a few magazines for the weapon each fully loaded with 5.56 ammunition and hid them on his person. He grabbed a pair of magazines that had been taped together Vietnam style with one upside down against the other and loaded it into the weapon. Sarah picked up her Remington 870 with collapsible stock and a belt of the 3-inch magnum 12 gauge shells she'd worked on. Lastly Derek took hold of the M79 launcher, opened the weapon to check it was loaded then slung it over his shoulder when he confirmed it was, he rooted around and located a few more grenades for the weapon.

"So do we sneak in and shoot out if we have to?" Derek asked to which Sarah nodded in reply before they both got back into the car and drove slowly onwards, stopping a short distance from the facility.

"Wonder what's in it." Derek thought aloud as they disembarked from their vehicle.

"We're about to find out." Sarah told him.

Neither of them liked the situation, there were no guards, no security checkpoints, not even a guard dog nor any cameras, there was no one there whatsoever; outside at least.

The pair pushed their bodies against the metal frame of the warehouse, listening intently, nothing. Not a sound.

"You move round the corner slowly, wait for me to get in position and wait for my signal, then you open the door I'll move in first I want you right behind me, got it Derek?" Sarah ordered. Derek nodded, when things were serious like this he switched back to his instincts. It was moments like these he could see how Sarah had trained John, she acted just like Captain Perry and Perry was trained by Connor.

Derek moved around the corner of the warehouse, his Car-15 with stock extended pressed up against his shoulder eyes trained down the iron sights. Nothing. No one.

"Clear." Derek whispered just loud enough for Sarah to hear, Sarah moved around the corner and got into position, shotgun at the ready.

Sarah gave Derek a nod, giving him the signal to open the door, the door didn't even budge.

"Locked." Derek grunted quietly.

Sarah was looking around the area just in case she spotted anything. "Well, it was never going to be too easy." She replied. "We'll need to find another way in."

Derek gazed upwards at the warehouse walls. "Maybe a window or something." He suggested, the pair both looked up towards the windows, they were a little too high up. Derek glanced around the side of the warehouse then looked back to Sarah.

"I can see a low one, come on." He said gaining Sarah's attention and took her to it. Upon reaching it, the pair has quickly decided Sarah would be the one to go in, Derek lifted Sarah up, she placed her booted feet onto Derek's shoulders to which he gave a discomforted groan in response.

"Fuck Sarah, how about you lose some weight?" He quipped gaining a slight bounce from Sarah.

"Any more quips like that and I'll flatten you, and I don't mean your nose." She shot back while giving him a cold glare before returning her mind back to getting through the window.

She grasped the window frame and looked in. No one, empty. "I don't see anyone." She voiced her findings then smashed the window with the rear of her weapon before reaching in and unlocking it, with a grunt she hoisted herself up then climbed through the window, and dropped down feet first on the other side.

"I'll look for the door key." She called to Derek then looked around at her immediate surrounding. The place was big, huge even, she didn't think finding the key would be a quick nor easy job. It wasn't a moment later that Sarah had to cover her nose in disgust.

'Something reeks in here.' She thought as she took notice of the thick pungent smell of rot and decay, so thick that it made her eyes water, she could only guess at what was making that smell, and she didn't want to be right. Sarah swallowed the bile that she felt rising up to her throat. Grimacing she took hold collapsed stock folded on top of the shotgun, unlatched it from its place and unfolded it till it clicked into place, she placed the stock against her shoulder then began her search for the keys. Sarah moved carefully, quietly, first heading towards the doors, hoping she would find the key close by; nothing. The large metal door had been sealed shut with multiple thick steel locks.

"Derek?" she called quietly.

"Hurry it up Sarah!" Derek complained from the other side.

"I'm looking damnit! It stinks in here." Sarah growled back then looked around, they'd be here somewhere as the door was locked from the inside so someone or something was in there with her and knowing her luck, it would have the keys.

Sarah moved around the warehouse, there were multiple containers and boxes and numerous military vehicles such as jeeps and a SWAT van, she was half tempted to pry open one of the crates and look inside, but knew it would be better with Derek by her side. But she needed to find the damned …

"Oh God." Sarah gasped looking down in horror at the scene. She'd found the source of the smell.

Bodies. Around eight men all dead by a single gunshot to the head, from the smell and the decay of the corpses, with their sunken eyes, off coloured flesh that seemed to stretched dryly around their skulls, the maggots wriggling across over them and the flies buzzing around, they'd been dead quite a while. Even the blood on the floor had coagulated.

Sarah dropped to her knees and threw up her breakfast right then and there.

After a few minutes Sarah regained her senses, she pushed herself back up onto her feet.

"Oh shit." Sarah whispered. A tall lone figure stood still a short distance away from the bodies; Sarah rose her gaze to the figure standing motionless before her. 'Machine!' She thought as the figure stared ahead blankly, likely in standby as it didn't even acknowledge she was even there.

The Machine was tall as they usually were, but this one had the bulky muscular build of the old T-800s. It could have been a T-800 for all she knew. Regardless the machine was dressed in a casual short-sleeved grey shirt, dark brown pants and a pair of simple black shoes, in its left hand it held a polymer pistol. The single pocket of the shirt looked to be empty possibly meaning only one thing.

'The keys are in the pants.' Sarah thought with dread and upon lowering her gaze confirmed it to be true, as the machine's right pocket was fatter than the other. While the machine was dead to the world around it now, any nudge or movement would reactivate it, she'd have 15 seconds to get away from it, and with the keys in it's pants there'd be no avoiding touching the damn thing. Just to be sure she looked around the rest of the machine, looking at any other pockets. Nothing.

Sarah steeled herself.

One.
Two.
Three!

Sarah reached into the machine's pocket, the back of her hand running along the cyborg's leg, and touched something metal. 'The keys!' she thought taking a firm hold of them and pulled out a set of keys. Then Sarah placed both hands on the machine's still inert body and shoved it with all her strength knocking it to the floor and ran towards the door.

"Derek there's metal in here!" Sarah called out loudly as she reached the door, searching for the right key to fit the slot.

"Oh shit, come on Sarah hurry!" He called back from the other side of the door. Sarah removed the first lock

"Shit I can hear it." Sarah looked over her shoulder as she slid the key into the second lock and tried turning it, wrong key.

"You got this!" Derek encouraged her tensely.

"Shut up Derek." She growled quietly and tried a different key in the second lock, the key slid in and she turned it finally unlocking it, one more to go. Sarah turned to look over her shoulder just catching the Terminator rounding the corner, it's eyes immediately focusing on her and raised it's pistol.

"Derek down!" She called out before diving behind a stack of containers to her left just as the machine fired a short burst from it's pistol it's aim following Sarah, each bullet narrowly missing. Sarah cursed internally as this area was blocked off with more containers stacked atop another.

"Son of a bitch!" Derek yelled out from the other side of the hardened steel door.

The Terminator rounded the corner where Sarah had dived only to receive a hard steel slug to the side of its face jolting its head sideways. Sarah pumped her shotgun and fired again, the weapon recoiling hard in her hand from the 3-inch shells, another slug slammed into the machine's chest making it stumble. Sarah continued to fire until the machine fell to the floor after the sixth shot, the Glock pistol falling from its hand.

Sarah pulled back on the pump and hastily slid a shell directly into the shotgun's chamber before thrusting the pump back forward. She quickly dashed forward moving around the machine as quick as possible all the while fishing shells from her belt and slid them into her weapon.

"Derek!" Sarah called out

"Sarah! Are you okay?" Came his reply from the other side of the door.

"Yeah!" She cursed grunted as she started looking for the final key to the door. To her left the machine started to rise up to it's knees, noticing this Sarah held the keys between her fingers and fired her shotgun into the machine's back. The shot did little to slow it down.

Knowing it was under fire once more the T-888 kept it's knelt stance with both hands firmly on the ground as heavy slugs pounded into it's armoured back.

"Shit." Sarah cursed as her weapon ran dry.

"SARAH! AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" Derek yelled.

Sarah immediately knew what was coming and sprinted as fast as she could away.

The Triple-Eight stood back up its eyes falling to its fallen weapon and marched towards it, it knelt down and reached for its pistol. An explosion erupted from the machine's right blowing a large hole through the steel door bending the metal like it had been made of aluminium. The Terminator grabbed its pistol and aimed towards the hole.

Derek however wasn't stupid, he knew the likelihood that the metal had the door covered, he'd be shot dead before he even laid eyes on the thing. The reloaded the M79 and waited, as the smoke cleared from the explosion he could see Sarah lying on the floor, she was still moving.

"Sarah!" he called to her, not caring the machine knew he was there, all attempts at stealth were lost now.

Sarah rolled onto her back, she was fine, perhaps a little winded and had ringing in her ears but she was fine. She grabbed hold of her Remington, pressed the stock against her shoulder and aimed towards where the machine would appear from.

Nobody moved. Sarah and Derek knew the machine would kill them the moment they came into its line of sight. As for the cyborg itself an unknown variable with explosive munitions that could damage or destroy it, depending on the explosive yield of the weapon, lay in wait for it as was the human female with the shotgun. Somehow these people knew what they were getting into and had prepared for it. The likelihood of them being members of the Resistance was high. It could not be destroyed, the equipment housed in this warehouse would be beneficial to Skynet early in the war and it itself would be a devastating weapon against the Resistance and a source of intel for Skynet. The cyborg looked back. It was blocked in, trapped … however …

Sarah started to move. She slowly sat up; her weapon trained on where the Triple-Eight was, she glanced to Derek, giving him a hand signal to move forward. Derek understood and crept towards the door, M79 raised and ready. Sarah was on her feet and like Derek crept towards the corner. Something heavy hit the ground startling them both fingers twitching ever closer to the trigger, they could hear fumbling around, something moving and what jingling. The duo knew that distinctive sound, made louder by the largeness of the warehouse. The distinctive jingling of a belt of bullets.

Derek rushed towards Sarah and dived through the doorway and landed by Sarah narrowly avoiding a sudden burst and munitions fired in his direction. He'd seen it. The metal had got itself a large machine-gun and had placed itself behind the crate as cover.

"We need to fall back!" Derek grabbed her and pulled her deeper into the warehouse.

A hail of bullets suddenly erupted from the Terminator's position; firing pre-emptively as it turned the corner. Derek had anticipated the attack and the pair of them were able to narrowly evade it by ducking behind a transport truck.

The Triple-Eight stormed forward, a SAW or Squad-Automatic-Weapon in its right hand and a stockless Heckler & Koch G36K in its left. The machine fired a burst of munitions from its SAW at the transport.

Sarah and Derek separated with Derek moving around the back of the truck. The damned metal had them pinned so they needed to move fast. Derek held the M79 against his left shoulder, firing off hand was trained hard in the future till most soldier were practically ambidextrous shooters, Sarah would distract the machine and he would take it out.

Sarah poked her head around before ducking back as a burst of 5.56 narrowly avoided her head. She need to distract the damn thing. Without many options Sarah slung her shotgun and drew her Glock pistol then fired blindly in the machine's general direction while keeping herself hidden.

The small 9mm rounds were ineffective against the machine as it marched ever closer towards it's quarry, the machine raised it's left hand and fired another burst from it's assault-rifle in woman's direction while searching for the male, right now the male took precedence as he was armed with explosive arms.

Derek aimed his launcher towards the Triple-Eight just before it took notice of him and fired continuously with its SAW in his direction forcing him to take cover.

'Shit, I can't get a bead on it.' Derek internally cursed. Derek couldn't even hear the machine over the sound of bullets pounding against the frame of the truck. It knew he had the launcher so he was its main target, he could run around the truck to give it to Sarah but there was always a chance the cyborg would out manoeuvre them, the Triple-Eights were smart like that.

If he could get her the launcher to her from under the truck.

"SARAH! DOWN!" he called as he ducked down low and looked under the truck.

Not seconds later he saw Sarah hit the floor, her eyes landed on him a confused look on her face. He grabbed the launcher by the stock and threw it under the truck towards her, the weapon skidded to a stop half-way through.

"Shit." "Damn it." Sarah and Derek cursed. Sarah gave Derek a sour look before crawling under the truck to the launcher.

Derek knew he needed to buy Sarah some time. He drew his Car-15 and fired blindly towards the machine. "COME ON! HEY! I'M OVER HERE!" He cried out hoping to distract it.

The small 223 calibre round pinged uselessly off the machine's reinforced chassis. It marched with accelerated speed ahead towards Derek, short bursts from its SAW echoed throughout the warehouse.

Underneath the truck Sarah silently cursed Derek for this plan, there could've been so many better ideas but he'd chosen this one, she crawled as quick as she could towards the launcher as 5.56 munitions were fired off she saw the feet off the Triple-Eight move quickly towards Derek as he stayed within cover.

"DEREK RUN!" She yelled at him. The Resistance soldier didn't wait a second longer and ran from his current position, not a second later the cyborg fired a long burst followed by Derek crying out as he fell to the floor. Sarah spared a shocked stare as the fallen soldier before continuing towards the launcher, she was so close now. The cyborg hadn't moved from its position, instead it waited, Sarah had the dreaded feeling the machine had figured out she was under the truck. A fear that was realised as the machine stepped back, dropped to its knees and looked under the vehicle. It's eyes scanning the underside a second before they landed on her. The machine dropped to its side, Sarah grabbed the launcher, the machine slid the barrel of its SAW under the truck, Sarah swung the launcher's barrel in the Terminator's position. The trigger was pulled.

The entire right side of the truck collapsed as the 40mm grenade detonated, the Triple-Eight was blown back its hard body colliding with a large steel container knocking the container over and the cyborg disappeared. Sarah screamed out briefly from fear the whole of the truck would collapse on her and the horrendous ringing in her ears.

Then all was still. All was quiet. The ringing in her ears finally went and her hearing returned to her. Sarah looked towards Derek's inert body, she feared the worst then Derek started to move, he turned his head towards her a grimace on his face.

"D-Derek?" she stammered accidentally.

"I'm alive," he groaned, "fuckin' metal got my arm and shoulder though."

"Can you move?" she asked.

"Yeah sure give me a minute and some painkiller." He shot back irritably.

If Derek had the strength in him to be an ass then he was fine, Sarah reasoned.

"This was the worst idea you ever had." Sarah commented before crawling towards the closest way out from under the truck.

"Yeah I figured that pretty quickly." He replied as he pushed himself up with his good arm.

Sarah finally pulled herself free from the underside of the truck and found Derek leaning against the wall of containers while holding his arm gently.

"How is it?" she asked as she unsteadily rose to her feet.

"I think the shots went right through, might've just nicked my shoulder thankfully," he replied then groaned, "still hurts like a bitch though."

Sarah unloaded the launcher, Derek used his good arm to fish out another grenade and passed it to her.

"We need to find the machine. Confirm it's dead." Derek looked towards where the machine had likely fallen.

Sarah didn't verbally reply, simply nodded her head and looked around to the collapsed side of the truck the two automatic weapons of the machine lay there destroyed and unusable. Sarah passed the launcher back to Derek who held it in one hand.

Sarah reloaded her Glock then holstered it and brought her Remington up.

"You good?" she finally asked.

"I can keep going." He replied.

Cautiously the pair stalked towards the fallen container where the machine had been blown. Sarah felt a bead of sweat trickle from her hair line down her forehead. Her weapon felt heavy in her nerve shot arms. Her breathing was soft, quiet as was the rest of her as she stepped up to towards her the cyborg's location. She hazard a glance to Derek who caught her eye, he nodded to her then focussed back on the container blocking their path and line of sight, the Terminator was on the other side of it.

Sarah pressed the stock of her weapon against her shoulder then pointed the weapon over the side of the solid steel container. Nothing. She scanned the floor before her and looked in every corner she could see.

"It's gone." She said with a sense of dread.

Derek looked over the container and confirmed she was right. "It's still here somewhere, keep your eyes open."

There was a pathway where the machine could have ran a wall of containers of either side making scaling it difficult. Sarah looked back to Derek and nodded her head towards down the pathway. Derek looked down the pathway himself before looking back to Sarah and confirmed her plan.

Sarah slid over the top of one container and landed back on the floor with her Remington still tight against her shoulder, she pushed forward quickly with Derek taking up the rear. The make-shift pathway was around six and a half feet wide, likely done so to secure all the containers and crates in place without the whole place being non-traversable. Sarah pressed herself against the far-right wall of containers when the pathway turned left.

'Couldn't have gotten too far.' She thought to herself

Sarah scanned the area, even up above just in case the Terminator had climbed up high, nothing. Where was the damn thing?

Suddenly a loud metallic bang echoed came from right beside Derek proceeded instantly by the upper of two containers toppling towards Derek. The veteran soldier barely had enough time to narrowly avoid being crushed but landed on his wounded arm causing him to cry out in pain.

The Triple-Eight still didn't show itself instead knocking over another container where Derek now lay, Derek saw the other end coming towards him and pressed himself tightly against the lower container beside him just as the steel crate slammed into the ground beside him, he looked across and saw the stock of the grenade launcher sticking out from under fallen crate.

Sarah looked across as the Triple-Eight climbed on top of the single steel crate. The flesh has been blown away from the machine's chest revealing the hyperalloy chassis, its head was mostly sans flesh except for pieces melted around the jaw, neck and back of its head and some stray tuffs of hair. Its twin red optics scanned the scene before landing on her. The cyborg's arms and legs were similarly damaged, pieces of the machine's shirt and pants remained intact along with its shoes, but large holes revealed burnt and melted flesh sticking to the hydraulics of the endoskeleton. Despite its grotesque appearance, the machine itself seemed mostly undamaged.

Sarah didn't waste another second and raised her weapon firing 3-inch magnum slugs at the machine. Three shots knocked the machine backwards causing it to fall from its perch.

Sarah quickly ran to Derek as the soldier pulled himself up. She looked down noticing the trapped launcher and cursed, their main weapon against the machine was stuck, Sarah was starting to run low on the 3-inch magnum shells she'd made and their other weapons were ineffective against the machine. They needed a new plan.

Not knowing it's enemies current predicament the T-888 repositioned itself and rose back to its feet. It scanned around the area before its optics landed on something of use. The cyborg glanced back with its shining red optics before rushing towards its new weapon of choice. It reasoned that killing two resistance fighters, or one and interrogating the other for information was worth causing damage to some of the equipment in the warehouse, there was still a few years to replace anything broken.

Sarah and Derek heard the machine running off by the sound of its soled feet against the floor and its leg hydraulics moving with enhanced speed.

Sarah raised her Remington as Derek brought up his Car-15 albeit with difficulty. Sarah and Derek stepped out from cover just as they saw the Triple-Eight disappear around a corner.

"We need to get after it." Sarah growled between grit teeth.

"I take it back," Derek suddenly commented, Sarah glanced at him with a curious and confused expression, "we should have brought the metal."

Despite the situation Sarah chuckled dryly and shook her head before climbing over the container in front of them then assisted Derek over. The duo then chased after the retreating cyborg all the while being cautious in case of it ambushing them once more.

"Fucking gone, again." Derek groaned quietly, as he used the strap of his Car-15, now tightly around his body, to assist him in aiming.

"That thing will know the layout and location of everything here Derek, it's got home field advantage." Sarah replied as she scanned the pathways and clearings between the walls of containers. It was only now that it dawned on them both just how many containers were in this building, hundreds most likely. Each carrying something the machine deemed worth while to keep locked up for the future. The place needed to be raided and destroyed.

The roar of an engine coming from somewhere behind the crates in front of them filled the pair with dread, only a few seconds passed by before the cyborg reappeared, bashing through a stack of containers, sending them tumbling across the floor, on the back of a forklift; the raising arms elevated to the right height to be used as impaling weapons. Sarah and Derek barely had a moment to think as instincts took over and the pair dived out of the way. The forklift and it's arms missing the pair by only a few feet. The Triple Eight spun the vehicle around drove towards its nearest target: Sarah.

Sarah was already getting to her feet when the vehicle spun around, she looked up just as the forklift came charging at her.

"SHIT!" she cried and ran out of its path, causing the machine to crash through another set of containers, piercing one through the metallic surface.

Derek grimaced in pain having landed on his wounded arm, he pushed the pain down, blocking it out best he could. He took focus of what was happening, he saw the cyborg crash through another container wall as Sarah moved out of the forklift's path.

The vehicle wasn't fast, but in such a cramped space, it hadn't need to be. Derek got to his feet as the forklift turned around once more, he raised his carbine and began firing in bursts at the machine, all to little effect.

The cyborg turned its attention to Derek directing the forklift towards him and drove at top speed at him, the cyborg anticipated a dodge and was prepared for it. Derek grimaced as he got himself ready, he faked diving left then dived to the right at the last minute. The machine took Derek's bait as swerved left as Derek dived the other way. Turning its head to follow where Derek had landed the cyborg spun the forklift around its tyres screeching against the hard concrete floor coming to a halt when it collided sideways with a stack of metal crates.

'Oh shit.' Derek thought as the machine drove towards him as he got up.

Blasts from Sarah's shotgun filled the air as she fired at the machine repeatedly. A single slug caught the machine just on the corner of its right optic sensor jolting its head to the right causing it to miss Derek by a short distance.

'That was nearly it.' Derek panicked internally as he pushed himself back up and started to reload his carbine.

"How we doin'?" he called to Sarah. Sarah only shook her head in reply. Nearly empty. 'Fuck.' He thought as he reloaded his carbine.

The Triple-Eight turned the forklift around once more and charged towards Sarah. She fired her shotgun towards the Machine, heavy slugs pounded against its hyperalloy chassis but made little effect while it was sat down. Sarah faked going left as the cyborg neared then rushed right. The cyborg however anticipated the fake-out this time, turned right and chased her down. Both Sarah and the cyborg noticed that she was close to another container wall and with the cyborg getting close very quickly, she wouldn't be able to avoid it.

In a panic Derek raised his carbine and fired in rapid repeated bursts at the vehicle's tyres. Both left side tyres burst with a loud bang causing the Triple-Eight to lose control of the forklift, the vehicle turned far too quickly and toppled over on to it's side, the Triple-Eight fell from its seat and was dragged along the ground with its left foot caught under the vehicle, Sarah on instinct used all her strength and dived to her left, her foot just clipping the vehicle causing her to spin and hit the ground violently. The forklift and the Triple-Eight collided with a container wall which then toppled on top of it.

Amidst the flurry of curses currently going through Sarah's mind from the pain she was currently in, she was glad for her steel toed boots, the steel having taken the brunt of the impact, but she already knew there'd be some swelling around her foot or ankle soon.

"Sarah?" Derek called to her as he walked towards her, his carbine raised towards the fallen debris.

"I'm okay!" she growled out between grit teeth.

"Yeah and I'm Santa Clause." He replied sarcastically. "That looked like a pretty bad hit."

"I'll be fine, don't worry." Sarah replied in turn as Derek stepped up to her as she carefully got up to a kneeling position. Only then did she turn her sights towards where the forklift had ended up.

From what they could tell the cyborg had been buried under the collapsed pile of crates. They knew it wasn't destroyed not from something like that, but damaged? Possibly.

Derek let his weapon fall from his hand coming to rest against his body via its sling and held his hand out to Sarah, she took it immediately and he pulled her up to her feet. Immediately as she put pressure on her other foot did she groan with pain.

"Don't put pressure on it." Derek instructed her.

"No duh Derek." She spat back, placing her foot back down cautiously it was manageable for the time being, though she knew once the adrenaline wore off it'd hurt like hell.

The suddenly crash of metal on concrete brought their attention back to the mess of crates and containers. One of the higher up containers had fallen from its perch and slammed into the ground, spilling its contents across the ground. A skeletal hand rose up from behind the crate and latched onto the side as the cyborg pulled itself back up its head rising over the edge, then its shoulders and its chest, the cyborg pulled itself up onto the side of the fallen crate and stared at its enemies. Scanning the pair it now only realised one thing, they didn't have their explosive weapon. It was gone. The machine's head tilted ever so slightly as it came to realise this. They were defenceless.

Sarah and Derek meanwhile took in the sight of the Triple-Eight. Now barely more than an endoskeleton. It'd received further damage, the knee joint in its left leg was at an angle tilting inwards towards the right leg, the foot had been twisted around to the point the servos had either disconnected or snapped, the left hand had a missing pinkie and middle finger while the top half of the thumb was missing.

The cyborg glanced down to its damaged extremities focusing mainly on its left leg, it clenched what was left of its left fingers into a fist and hammer the bent section of its leg back into place, a temporary fix, it raised its leg as its left foot hung loosely at the ancle joint, it positioned its leg to the foot was right way around and would settle flat on the ground once its leg lowered. With force its slammed its left leg down, parts of the ancle joint and servos snapping back into place. It could still walk quickly at best, limp at the worst. The machine raised its bright red optics to its foes. A spark of something twitched through its CPU, a piece of unknown coding, if it were to further analyse what this stray rogue coding was, it would come to know what rage felt like.

The Terminator jumped down from its high ground and landed on the ground with a heavy thud, Sarah raised her shotgun and immediately started firing. Once more the heavy slug slammed into the T-888's chassis jolting it backwards with every shot till it collided with the crate wall behind it, Sarah then redirected her shots aiming for the cyborg's damaged knee joint before her weapon ran dry.

Derek raised his Car-15 and taking Sarah's initiative started firing at the Terminator's damaged joint.

Barely deterred by Derek's assault the machine pushed itself from the crates and stormed towards its foes despite its limp.

"We need a plan Derek." She said as she started reloading her shotgun with the last three shells.

Derek moved over to Sarah quickly as the machine approached. "Come on put your weight on me, we need to fall back." Sarah put an arm around Derek's shoulder, the Terminator was moving fast even with the limp Derek and Sarah moved as quickly as they could together.

In a flash Sarah recalled a similar scenario from the past, to where the beginning of her nightmare ended. She dragging a wounded and delirious Kyle Reese through the factory with the damaged T-800 limping after them. The night Kyle died. She wouldn't let this be a repeat. She could hear the machine drawing close behind them and knew she was slowing Derek down. They needed an idea quickly. Suddenly her eyes landed on another transport truck and she had a risky idea.

"Derek, keep it busy!" She ordered pulled herself away from him, she unslung her shotgun from her body and passed it to him before limping off towards the truck.

Derek looked to where she was going, then focussed on the approaching metal, his raised his Car-15 and aimed once more for the machine's knee joint and fired in controlled bursts, some shots went wide or hit the ground though a few good shots found their target and pounded into the Triple-Eight's damaged knee. But still the diminutive 5.56 calibre round did little to slow or damage the cyborg.

Derek cursed mentally, that was his last magazine and all he had left was a few rounds in Sarah's shotgun. Releasing his carbine he brought up Sarah's weapon, aiming it awkwardly with one hand while pulling the stock against his good shoulder he fired. The recoil jolted Derek backwards but he'd hit his target, the T-888 was temporarily stunned by the shotgun before it continued to limp towards him. Derek released the shotgun and caught it by the pump, cocking it with one hand before throwing it up into the air and catching the grip in his hand. He had no time to brace before he was forced to fire again at the approaching Terminator. Once more the Terminator was forced to pause in its approach before storming back towards Derek, the Resistance fighter struggled with cocking the shotgun once more bringing the weapon to bare just as the Triple-Eight reached out and grabbed the end of the barrel just as Derek fired the shot slamming directly into its left optic.

The shot disorientated the Terminator, its HUD flickering, but the bullet resistant lens of the optic withstood the attack, barely even scratched, this did however give Derek Reese enough time to release the weapon and put a fair bit of distance between himself and the cyborg. Said machine was finally able to focus on its retreating opponent once more, turning the weapon in its hand around it pumped the weapon aimed at Derek and pulled the trigger, only to receive an empty click in response, not sparing the weapon another glance, the cyborg flipped the weapon grabbing it by the barrel and threw it towards Derek, colliding with his back with enough force to knock him to the ground following a sickening cry of agony, with its prey down the cyborg marched towards it.

Derek growled deeply between his teeth the pain blooming from his back was excruciating and worser he'd landed on his bad arm, he could hear the metallic feet of the cyborg pounding and scraping against the hard concrete floor as it drew closer. With monumental effort Derek pushed the pain down to the back of his mind, he turned onto his side and drew his Beretta 9mm, levelled it at the approaching machine and fired while knowing it would do nothing to deter the bullet-resistant death machine he emptied the 15-round magazine regardless.

"Come on!" Derek yelled, empty pistol in hand. "Come on you metal mother fucker, KILL ME!" Derek roared at the top of his lung.

The cyborg approached Derek, its glowing red eyes focussed on Derek's prone form, it extended its left hand with fingers splayed out to grab him. The roar of an engine erupted behind them. The cyborg spun around to locate the source of the noise just before a transport truck burst through a container wall, the Terminator had little time to react before being struck. Immediately Sarah slammed on the brakes as the Terminator was flung backwards upon impact, crashing to the floor several metres away.

"Derek." Sarah called out from the driver's seat.

"I'm clear go!" Derek replied as he pushed himself out of the truck's path.

The Terminator was pushing itself back to its feet when Sarah put the truck back in gear and drove straight at it. The machine barely had time to dodge before it was struck once more Sarah slammed her foot on the break once more. Her strategy was sound, she wanted to keep an eye on the machine and hopefully pin it against a wall. If she kept driving there was the chance the machine could slip under the truck.

The machine collided into another stack of containers, knocking them over with one falling on top of it. This was a losing battle, it was damaged, the supplies were being destroyed, the mission it declared; was a failure. The Resistance knew about this place, knew about Epitome, falling back was not a viable option, terminating the two fighters may only bring a larger Resistance force to the facility.

Sarah waited with the truck in gear while the machine lay prone. It wasn't disabled and she wasn't going to check it, she could see its legs poking out from under one of the large steel crates.

"Fuck it." She growled with anger before putting her foot down on the pedal, the truck rocketed forward towards the mess colliding with it with explosive force, several steel crates were smashed open spilling their contents all across the floor with some crushed under the truck itself. The Triple-Eight slammed and skidded across the ground, fragments of hyper-alloy littering the concrete floor like shining glitter.

The machine's HUD alerted it to the critical damage to its endoskeleton, one of its waist hydraulics had become dislocated, the damaged knee joint had worsened, one of its neck joints was bent limiting how far it could turn its head. Still the machine continued, surrender was not an option. The cyborg looked around its immediate area for a viable weapon finding only a simple crowbar within reach, it would suffice.

The engine of the truck roared once more, the Triple-Eight took hold of the crowbar with its good hand before pushing itself to its feet. As predicted the truck came roaring towards it, the damaged cyborg braced itself before colliding with the truck, its feet grating across the floor causing a loud metallic screech which echoed throughout the warehouse. The machine pulled its right arm back holding the crowbar by the hook and thrust the straight part right through the truck's engine block and straight into the engine.

The truck slammed into the wall pinning the machine between the two, Sarah however could feel the truck losing power, she knew the machine must've done something at the front, likely somehow damaged the engine, if so it wouldn't stayed pinned for long as the truck would become dead weight. There to her left on the floor of the passenger seat she found a pair of grenades. Those could be the key to end this. Suddenly the truck lurched as the engine finally died and immediately she felt the vehicle being pushed backwards, Sarah dropped down and reached out from the grenades. While reaching she heard metal griding against metal. Outside the truck the Triple-Eight took hold of the straight end of the crowbar and slammed the hooked end through the trunk hood of the truck and pulled itself up, using its right foot to keep itself up, the machine pulled the crowbar out only to bring it down closer to the windscreen, the Terminator pulled itself closer.

Sarah grabbed the grenades just as the windscreen was smashed through, Sarah ducked by down to avoid being struck as the Terminator tore open the windscreen with the crowbar, she knew her plan now, she opened the passenger side door and waited. The Triple-Eight crawled through the battered windscreen, its eyes focussing on Sarah the whole time. Sarah unpinned the grenades and released the safety pins, she felt the Terminator endoskeleton on her legs and she spun around immediately, the cyborg raised the crowbar over its head as Sarah lashed out pushing the grenades between the Terminator's arm hydraulics just below its neck then kicked the machine backwards the crowbar narrowly avoiding her, Sarah grabbed the edge of the seat and pulled herself out of the truck falling to the floor.

The Terminator realised what had happened seconds too late as it reached for the explosive devices. Both grenades exploded simultaneously.

Sarah lie there on the ground, teething grit together, eyes scrunched shut groaning deeply as pain coursed through her body, she didn't know nor care how long she was there until she heard someone walking towards her.

"Reese?" she growled out in question.

"Yeah." He groaned in response.

"Did I get it?" she asked not bothering to move nor even open her eyes.

There was a few seconds of silence before she heard Derek reply. "Yeah, you got it, you got it."

"Good."

"Next time I'm staying at home and you can bring the metal." Derek droned out.

"Fuck off Derek."

---

At school it was time for lunch, Cameron and John were once more in the queue for food the pair slowly moving as the line Cameron staring towards the gathering of students eyes moving subtly from left to right. Despite outward appearances there was a new closeness to the faux siblings a closeness and friendship that hadn't been there for a long time. "You see Riley yet?" John asked as he himself scanned the throng of students milling about the cafeteria.

"Nothing, her lunch period may start a little later or she may have detention." Cameron replied.

"That would be just our luck." He groaned with a shake of his head. "How about you know who?" he asked, intentionally being vague.

Cameron did know who. "No, nothing." She scanned towards the entrance. "However, we may have a minor problem."

John looked to Cameron with a worried look? "What?" had another Terminator found them?

John looked towards the exit and his look of worry immediately melted away to annoyance, as they did every day the "in crowd" of the jocks came in loudly. John groaned audibly to himself at how clique the whole thing was. He wondered to himself how they got away with it when there was usual some members of faculty nearby. Regardless as with Friday the same Jock came up to him and Cameron, they had learned later after his little beating from Cameron that his name was Mike Tyrone. Mike marched up to Cameron and smirked. It seemed to John the guy's ego hadn't been bruised enough.

"Hey there Baum." He said to Cameron with a sly smile on his face as he moved in between her and John, much to their annoyance, and leaned against the food counter. Cameron stared up to him blankly. "I'll cut you a little deal; how about I forget what happened on Friday, if you ditch your brother and go out with me sometime?" He smirked, histone full of confidence.

John glanced around, elsewhere in the line he could see more of Mike's friends laughing amongst themselves while pointing in their direction. This whole encounter was a con, a charade. Chances were they were expecting Cameron to fold, like some outcast girl being given a chance to be cool by the main jock. John almost felt himself gag at the thought, it was like shitty high school soap opera.

Cameron however didn't care much for social class unless it aided in her mission, which in this case it didn't. She knew Mike Tyrone was expecting her to find him attractive, which admittedly for a guy his age, size and build she could understand why he'd be attractive such physical characteristic would also have made Mike Tyrone an excellent Resistance soldier if given the discipline and training. However he wasn't a soldier nor was she attracted to him. All she cared for was John. He was her friend, future commanding officer and leader. She did take that moment to analyse John's facial features, and analysed if he would be considered handsome.

"I'm not interested in going out with you." Cameron replied her internal thoughts taking less than a second in her CPU. Mike smirked still very sure of himself

"Sure. Sure, don't say anything now, wait until your loser brother is elsewhere." He chuckled a little.

"Hey man, she said she's not interested, leave her alone." John spoke up behind Mike, Mike in turn grumbled and turned his head to the side, but didn't look at John.

"Keep out of this jackass, I'm trying to have a conversation here." Mike replied sharply and rudely.

Cameron head tilted to the side, her hand started twitching again.

"Hey jackass, she said she isn't interested." John said more forceful than before and grabbed Mike's arm.

Annoyed, Mike spun around and punched John in the face causing him to fall into the person behind him. "Now where were we?" Mike said smirked and turned around.

Cameron grabbed Mike's shirt and brought her knee up to his crotch. Mike cried out as his legs suddenly felt numb and fell to his knees with tears starting to fall from his eye. Cameron placed a hand on the side of his head and simply pushed him aside.

"Are you alright John?" Cameron asked stepping around Mike and looked over John assessing his injury. John nodded slowly holding his hand protectively over his nose. It could be broken.

"What in blazes is going on in here!" called out one of the teachers, the aging woman of her 50s walked into the cafeteria and up to where all the commotion was, she found Mike on his side cradling his surely battered balls, John Baum with his hand over his nose and a very sad looking yet fine Cameron Baum.

"Care to explain what's going on?" The teacher asked looking between the three.

---

A pop, a crack and a muffled groan of pain.

"Your nose should be alright now John." The school doctor told him.

John was now in the school doctor's office; his nose had indeed been broken however the doctor just popped it back into place.

"Thanks Doc." John said a stray tear in his eye from the pain.

'Punched out by some roided jock, good work General.' He thought in a sarcastic, self-depreciating manner.

"Can't believe Cameron got a detention just for defending me." He complained aloud.

"I had a sister like that," the Doctor chuckled, "she looked after me when we were in school and got in trouble a fair bit but she didn't care. She was happy to look out for me because she loved me." The Doctor smiled to John. "Right well you get going for lunch while you can." John nodded his thanks to the Doctor, got up and left.

Ten or so minutes later John had gathered his lunch on a tray and located Riley sitting by herself in the far table. He walked over quietly, noticing some looks other students were giving him and whispering to one another as if he wouldn't notice. He sat down by Riley who turned her head to look up at him and smiled faintly.

"Where's the m… uh, where's Cameron?" Riley asked, hoping John didn't notice her slip

John did notice but didn't bring attention to it. "She got a detention for looking out for me." John replied regretfully. "I got busted in the face by Mike Tyrone, the jock guy from last Friday. Some saviour I'm turning out to be," he groaned shaking his head, "anyway you got anything for me?" he asked wanting to get down to business.

Riley smirked and leaned in closer to John. "I thought we were over." She chuckled.

John leaned away, his frown deepening while giving Riley a light glare. "We are, you were lying to me." John told her.

Riley huffed with indignation. "And you lied to me, you said you were John Baum." She whispered back.

"I have killer cyborgs from the future trying to kill me, you got to get out of a war by dancing to Jesse's tune?" He shot back harshly with a voice as cold as ice.

Riley suddenly looked sad and apologetic, he had her there. "Sorry." She sighed gently. "Anyway. I got a text from Jesse last night, saying she wanted me to have some sort of dinner date with you." Riley informed him.

John began his lunch while staring at his tray, chewing slowly as he thought.

"What's the chances Jesse will be around?" He asked without looking at her.

"Knowing her who knows? Sometimes I've glimpsed her on our dates sometimes I don't see her at all." Riley replied with a shrug.

"That means she either watches you sometimes, or sometimes you just don't see her. Could be bad." He guessed. He didn't like the thought that Jesse could simply disappear in to a crowd, but of course she could she was just a normal human being. If he brought Cameron to some sort of trap she could be spotted since Flores knew what Cameron looked like. He'd have to think of a plan with Cameron.

"You got a plan?" Riley asked as she leaned closer.

"Maybe. I need some time to think it through," John placed his fork down and rubbed his tired face, careful to avoid his nose, "likely brainstorm something with Cameron tonight." John told her.

"Why with the machine?" she snapped back a reply, disdain oozing form her words

"Firstly, you call Cameron by her name understand? I don't care if you like it or her or not." He replied, the finality of his tone and the dark stare he was giving her made Riley feel uncomfortable, nervous maybe regardless she nodded in agreement, "Cameron's smart girl, she and I work well together."

"Cameron's a Machine John. They're intelligent because they're made for killing and capturing people, I'll never understand why you have them so close to you." Riley said to him annoyed, she only just realised she'd labelled "it" as "she". Riley felt mentally ill from what she'd done.

"Exactly, who better to help me with this right? Besides I need her, she's helpful and she protects me, can't really take the risk when there's Terminators out there unless you can take a bullet to the chest Riley." He replied quietly then looked around the cafeteria.

Riley shook her head in defeat. "Alright so you need it, but do you really need to catch Jesse?"

"You want to make sure you stay alive?" he asked rhetorically, "I want to make sure she doesn't get in our way, so far she's been anything but helpful, an extra soldier is always nice in this time, but she's done nothing but hinder me. I know that now." He gave Riley a brief glare.

Riley flinched from the obvious jab at her.

"I'm here to win a war or stop it from ever being. Can't do that when people are butting in on my personal life playing matchmaker."

With that John got back to his food, he knew there'd be no time during school to talk to Cameron about the plan for any decent amount of time which meant they'd have to do it at home, that was fine with him. They had a lot of work to do soon.

---

The Terminatrix stood in her bathroom in her apartment, a long pink fluffy nightgown covered her nude body, her wet hair brushing over her face as she investigated her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

SCAN INITIALISED: …
SCAN COMPLETE …
ORGANIC TISSUE – 5% DAMAGED … INFILTRATION HINDERED
FURTHER REGENERATION REQUIRED:
… 22 HOURS. 6 MINUTES. T-MINUS 8 SECONDS.

The minor damage she'd suffered was already cleared up, what was left could be easily hidden with her hair or going out at night. Her organic sheath was advanced a later generation design specifically for advanced Infiltration models. The cocktail that created her organics was heavily based on the genetic make-up that was used primarily for the T-888 infiltration units, like theirs hers had genetic memory and a superior symbiotic relationship with her Endoskeleton which enhanced the rate of regeneration when she ate. Without food her skin would heal at the rate of a second-generation infiltration guise used by later 800 series.

Despite the flaws of the gen-1 infiltration guise used with the initial 800 series infiltrators, the genetic compound had been rapidly improved over the years with the Gen-3 being used by T-850s and the Gen-4 being used for the T-888 series; theirs healed much more rapidly.

She removed her nightgown and began to dress in some clean clothes before going into her living space, she sat down on her sofa. She had a lot to do, so many objectives and so many targets. If she were any other machine she'd be at a loss of where to start.

'What on the T.V.?' She wondered and turned it on and began to flick through the channels. Nothing was on. That wasn't exactly true however there was; sports, American soap operas, politics, gameshows but it was all junk. Suddenly she stopped and blinked, staring at the old movie actor running for governor of California.

"Sylvester Stallone?" she raised a brow, Stallone was running for governor? Here data banks didn't recall Stallone ever running for Governor. 'What are the chances?' She thought with a tiny smile. An automatic reaction. She was much more human than most machines, her infiltration protocol had become a part of her core programming, as such she described it to herself like a virus. "Humanity" it grew inside of you, of her, little by little before it takes over, and you find most logical things –while necessary and interesting- have become boring and as such she discovered boredom, there was a time she could stand around for hours do nothing, say nothing, see nothing and just think and analyse but not now that was boring and things such as mindless violence for the sake of violence and the idiocy of comedy was excellent.

She looked at her coffee table which her laptop was resting upon, she picked it up then took hold of the cable that was connected to it and plugged it into the back of her head. She searched for any activity that was either Resistance, Skynet, or the third faction.

So far she had very little, small things. Large and powerful tech companies like Zeira Corporations hadn't made a peep for years, the last interesting thing from them was the death of Lachlan Weaver some time ago and so far her new friends at Epitome had been quiet, she was sure someone would have discovered the mess she'd made by now, if not they would soon, perhaps they'd even come looking for her. She chuckled at the idea.

However, she needed a new contact as everything she'd gathered had gone dry. She'd done everything she'd found thus far mainly terminating select humans. There were others but she either hadn't yet found them, or they weren't in the country yet.

"Perhaps I should look again." She said out loud to herself. "See if any have come in yet." She decided to do so.

Her CPU hacked through air lines, cruise ships logins, every possible way to enter the country. There were thousands. She brought up her list of none-Terminated targets and ran a scan. This wouldn't take too long.

'Five more… they're here!' she thought with excitement, then frowned as she cross references information. 'Wait a second.' There was a problem, a big problem. One target, higher up on her list, there was multiple people with his name and more if she included surnames alone.

She didn't know how old he was, information on him wasn't that good, he'd never given in his date of birth, a rough estimate was within 10 years. But he was a high priority target.

She looked at her options, either go for the definite ones she had, or the one with multiple possibilities. A further scan proved more problems, more than one person had the same name.

'Shit, this will complicate matters.' She complained. With multiple targets of the same name and within an age group there were multiple ways to go about it, the brutish way of the T-800 by simply going to everyone with that name and blowing a hole through their head or she could watch them from afar, get to know them and learn about their personality, but even then there was a chance she'd be wrong, and she wouldn't allow herself to be wrong, sometimes simplicity was the best course of action.

The Terminatrix listed her targets, their locations and cross-referenced her assortment of arms, listing the weapons best used for the area and the outfit with which to wear. A woman had to look her best for all occasions of course.

---

Smoke and fire, burning away rapidly, brightly, with thermite mixed in nothing could survive the blaze.

"We got lucky today." Derek said amongst the quiet as he watched smoke billow out from the warehouse.

The pair were outside sitting by their car, Sarah had Derek remove his jacket and shirt to see the damage done to his arm, thankfully the bullets had gone right through or just nicked him, he'd been very lucky. Apply some antiseptic cream and pure alcohol Derek bit back a curse and continued to watch the blaze. After taking a breather from dealing with the Triple-Eight they'd open a few containers, some held weapons, some ammunition, some contained metallic alloys they recognised as coltan and titanium, the material needed to make Terminators. Taking what the deemed necessary they poured thermite on what they could and set it all ablaze. The was a likelihood that they'd need to come back and finish the job, but for now, they were content letting the cyborg and the metals burn.

"We'll be better prepared next time." She replied not taking her eyes off the fire.

"We were well prepared today." He countered in a grim tone.

"Better prepared then." Sarah exhaled and place a bandage around his shoulder. "What do you use against them in the future?"

"High explosives typically work well usually anyway. High calibre rifles usually 50-cal, mostly we use plasma rifles, Machines can take much of a beating from those." Derek replied then sighed.

Sarah thought about what John and Cameron had spoken about earlier. "We'll need to adapt; John and Cameron have a little project in mind."

Derek grimaced at the thought of John being with the machine, but he said nothing about that. "What're they doing?"

"A little work on our current munitions, make something a little more effective." She replied.

Derek shrugged with his good shoulder. "Be worth a shot I guess. Could make pipe bombs too, we make them in the future."

"I know," Sarah smiled softly, "Kyle told me, I helped him make a few," she chuckled suddenly at the memory, "I was a little too rough and Kyle nearly freaked out."

Derek scoffed and laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like Kyle. He did the exact same thing you did when we were being trained, our trainer Sergeant Reyes, some old ass pre-war veteran, nearly shit himself he yelled at Kyle and me to be as careful as possible unless we wanted to be paste on across the wall."

Sarah and Derek both chuckled together softly. For Sarah it was strange to share a story regarding his brother. To Derek it was funny just remembering him.

"Right that'll have to do," Sarah pulled away from him, "we'd better get out of here."

Derek stood up and carefully pulled his t-shirt over his head and held his jacket in his good hand, "How's your foot?" he asked.

"As long as the pain meds hold out, I'm fine, it's still swollen though." She replied.

"Want me to drive?" he offered.

"I think I got it." She smiled and opened the driver's door, she paused and looked the car over. "You know, maybe you're right." she said suddenly, Derek looked at her with confusion. "Maybe we could do with another jeep." She smirked at him and put away their first-aid kit.

"My god," Derek said suddenly regaining her attention, "it's only a little after three in the afternoon." He told her looking up from his watch, Sarah looked at him. "I feel like I could go back to bed." Derek groaned.

"I got an idea if you're feeling tough." Sarah said with a smirk.

"As long as it isn't fighting metal, I'm game." He replied as he got back into the car.

"Let's go see about a jeep." She got back into the car beside him

Sarah drove back into the city, both sighed periodically as the adrenaline wore off from their bodies, coming close to death would make someone tense.

"Okay. I saw a really good jeep around here the other day." Derek told her, looking around at the surroundings. "And it was going dirt cheap, I gave it a once over and everything seemed fine."

"Your looking forward to this a lot more than a man really should." She pointed out with little smirk gracing her lips, he reminded her of a kid getting a new toy.

"It beats the hell out of this car, and it beats walking every-damn-where." He complained. Sarah chuckled dryly. "Okay, okay, take a right here and it should be on our left." He instructed, she did what he said and turned around the corner.

They found the car retailers that sold second-hand cars. Sarah parked up as they walked into the lot.

"Okay it was over here." Derek said as he led Sarah to the jeep in question. He was taking it slow due to Sarah injury, making sure to stay near her in case she needed assistance. Sarah said nothing but knew what he was doing silently thankful that he was being patient. She knew they should be resting and recovering, but this wouldn't take too long.

The Jeep Wrangler was a of a deep grey colour, it was an older model but that didn't matter, the price wasn't bad and after Derek gave it a long inspection everything seemed to be in order, nothing rusted or broken, some parts looked worn down, but they could be replaced. Sarah would have Cameron do it.

A man walked over dressed in a suit, a large fake smile on his face.

"Hey there, you looking into buying?" he asked pleasantly. Both Derek and Sarah had to hold their tongues to reply with a rude remark.

"Sure are." Sarah said instead. "We're looking to buying the jeep." She smiled at him.

The man looked at the jeep and smiled.

"Ah yes. Good old thing. Ex-Military, stripped down, heavy and powerful." His smile never ceased, and it was irritating.

"Good to know," Derek spoke up, the jeep wasn't ex-military, heavy and powerful yeah that much was true. "How much? There's no price tag." He asked thumbing towards the Jeep.

The man rolled his eyes to look up as he thought.

"About $17 grand, that sound okay?" he looked at Derek then to Sarah.

"Could we wager the price?" Sarah asked.

"I guess, what're you suggesting?" the man asked.

"How about 15 and a half?" she offered. The man scrunched up his face.

"16 and a half" He offered back.

"15-75?" she retaliated, Derek's head moved back and forth between the two as the other spoke.

"16 and a quarter?" The salesman shot back quickly.

"16 in cash." Sarah offered. The man bobbed his head from left to right and chuckled.

"16 sure, sure. You got it now?" he asked, Sarah nodded. "Alrighty then, I'll go get the documents." The man turned and jogged back into the building.

"Not bad eh?" she smirked.

"You're a natural Sarah." Derek said dryly.

Sarah rolled her eyes then watched as the ever-smiling salesman came running back, Sarah took out her wallet and thumbed the money.

"Here you go Ma'am, I'm sure you and your husband will love this thing." The man said excitedly.

Sarah stopped, she and Derek looked at one another then to the man, who suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"We're not married, he's my brother-in-law." She smiled; Derek may as well have been.

The man nodded. "Oh sorry." He smiled sheepishly as he handed over the documents to Sarah as she gave him the money, he gave her the keys.

"Tank should be about full, so enjoy her." he smiled and walked off.

Derek looked to Sarah, "How're you holding up?"

"Pain killers are wearing off, we'd better get back now before they do." She told him and passed him the keys for the jeep.

"I'll drop you by the car, think you'll be okay to follow?" he offered.

She nodded wordlessly and got in the jeep.

---

The school day ended, Cameron and John were walking home.

"There's been a new development with Jesse." He said once he knew no one was listening.

"What did Riley tell you?" She asked immediately.

"So it seems Jesse wants Riley to take me out on a dinner date, there's a chance Jesse could be there too watching us. Apparently she sometimes follows us." He explained.

"Likely to keep tabs on Riley." Cameron offered in suggestion.

"Probably, regardless of that I want to go over a plan with you regarding Jesse." John told her; Cameron looked at him curiously.

"You want my input on a plan?" she asked innocently.

"Of course, you'll be involved in it and you're the smartest person I know." He replied as if it was obvious, he gave him a kind smile.

Cameron stared at John for a few seconds with a quizzical look. 'John identifies me as a person?' she wondered, usually Resistance fighters didn't see machines as people, just tools, but then John Connor has always been different, General Connor and more so this John. found she liked that John wanted her input, it made sense logically as she was a machine, but despite that she enjoyed the thought. It was nice being wanted again. Cameron's lips twitched up ever so slightly.

When John and Cameron finally arrived home, they immediately noticed the new jeep parked in the garage.

"That's tight." Cameron commented looking at it, her eyes scanned over it.

"Seems someone's been going shopping." John chuckled. "Didn't help with the other one getting trashed."

"It's old but efficient. It could be worth customising." She said as she looked at John, who was rubbing his chin in thought.

"Yeah, we'll give it a once over and see what could be possible." He agreed then continued to the door.

They both walked in the house and saw Danny sat up on the couch, Derek was asleep on the other one and Sarah was sat in the single chair, rubbing cream on a bruised swollen ankle.

"Hey John." Sarah said with a grimace as she looked at him.

"Hey Mom, nice jeep." John replied then looked at her leg. "What the hell happened?"

"Derek and I checked out those coordinates, it was a warehouse full of supplies, there was a Triple-Eight inside." She replied, frowning at the last part.

"Are you and Derek okay?" He asked as he rushed over to her.

"We'll be fine John don't worry. I got a bruised ankle and Derek got shot, but nothing bad, the shots went right through his arm." Sarah explained.

"Maybe we should let Cameron have a look, or maybe call Charlie." John wasn't made any happier knowing they'd been hurt, he looked back to Cameron hoping she would.

Cameron noted the look of worry and desperation in John's eyes and nodded her head in agreement. "Of course, it'd be no problem." She spoke softly earning a smile from John.

"That's a big no on calling Charlie, as for Cameron well that'll be up to Derek, he didn't like the idea last time." Sarah replied then sat back in the chair. "I want you and Cameron to sort through what we brought back, I'd do it myself but," she hinted towards her ankle, "I need to keep off this for a while."

"Once Derek awakens I'll see to his injuries," Cameron spoke up from behind John, "you may need to be there in the event he's being difficult."

John nodded, "Alright yeah, a sound plan." He exhaled and looked to his mother who just gave him a lopsided smile. "Okay uh … yeah." He started and finished lamely before moving back to the kitchen area and put his bag down. "Shall we get started?" he asked looking to Cameron. The cyborg nodded and placed her bag down besides John's. "Where shall we put everything?" He asked as he turned to his mother.

"The pair of you can put it in Tin Miss's room for now." Sarah replied and closed her eyes.

"It's a good idea," Cameron spoke up before John could protest, as he was about to do, "I don't use my bed we can go through everything there, afterwards we'll look at the jeep."

John looked at her and she nodded in confirmation, with that sorted the pair stepped outside.

Within the hour the pair had a sizeable arsenal laying across Cameron's bed with the ammunition to go with it.

"I take it this is for early days in the war." John commented while looking over a G36 assault rifle.

"These weapons will be effective for early Terminator units, also having these weapons keeps them away from Resistance forces." Cameron replied as she hefted up a SAW machinegun, "these weapons in particularly were used by T four and five hundreds."

"Or any surviving Trip-Eights." John muttered as he put the rifle down and started to disassemble it. "Say Cameron what size shoe do you wear?" he asked suddenly.

Cameron lifted her head from looking over the SAW and looked to John with a curious look, clearly confused, but she answered regardless.

"Size eight. Why?" she tilted her head, John smirked.

"Just curious is all," he replied aloofly before his expression turned serious, "so listen about Jesse …"

---

The Terminatrix put down her cloth, she had successfully cleaned the old piece. The revolver in her hand was unassuming, a blued snub-nosed Smith and Wesson .38 special. It wasn't robust nor was it overtly powerful, but its compact nature and strong build made it a good choice of firearm for concealment. Alongside it she's procured and cleaned up one of the SIG-Sauer P226s she'd acquired from Epitome. The weapons fully loaded, spare magazine and speed loaders in check. The machine-woman looked back to her reflection in the mirror, a small web of fresh skin was starting to grow back over the metal of her cheek. She smiled and looked towards the rest of the damage, most of it now only a few faint scars, in less than an hour the scars would be gone, then it would be time to get back to work.

---

Jason's Notes:

Hey everyone, another chapter up, sorry it wasn't up yesterday I ugh. Got distracted. Dawnguard came out for PS3 for Skyrim and I've been waiting AGES for it, so sorry. I'll try and get another one up on Sunday at the most. PROMISE!

I know about the Jacket now, so thank you to those who told me. I'm not correcting it but you did give me an idea. So thanks again. Again, I'm sorry if I'm over descriptive with the guns. And I'm sorry if it annoys you that my OC Terminatrix uses old guns.

I hope you are all like it. Don't forget to review/leave a comment I love reading your thoughts or anything.

Thanks again.

Edits:-

4th September 2021 – Removed Cameron's analysis of herself: I feel this wasn't needed in the rewrite.

20th September 2021- More intense T-888 fight in the Epitome Warehouse. I wanted to make the T-888's feel like actual upgrades of the T-800 thus making them even tougher to deal with rather than just a throw away inconvenience or a minor threat. So in a whole I'm depict the T-888's as tougher and more durable in this rewrite.

Early/Mid October 2021 – I officially think this chapter has taken the longest to redo! Oh god! But I persevered and I'm through it. Bloody hell. It was a tough one to do honestly, hopefully the rest won't be as bad. Also in accordance to taking the re-write more seriously, the use of the M712 Mauser has been removed, in place for the SIG P226 9mm and a .38 special snub nosed revolver.