Chapter 16
Storming the Strongholds.
"John"
"John"
"Wake up John."
John Connor's eyes lids fluttered slowly as he re-entered the world of consciousness, he lazily opened his eyes finding the world still dark and black, looked around his immediate area finding himself in the car, he turned his head over to his left towards the driver's side and found it empty.
Curiously John unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out of the car, he was in the middle of a desert, no sign of life, no sign of Cameron, nothing.
He walked the perimeter of the car gazing out into the blackness of the horizon. He was sure he heard Cameron's voice calling him to wake up. Where was she now.
"John!" came Sarah's voice crying out for him from behind.
"Mom?" John spun around only to feel something grab him from behind and throw him to the floor.
John cried out in pain and looked around, the car was gone he saw his mother lying on the, behind her were Derek, Danny and Charley Dixon all of them burning, screaming in agony trying to claw themselves to him.
"John!" his mother cried out again.
"John, it's okay, there's nothing you can do." He heard Cameron's voice from behind, he turned around seeing her standing there with an emotionless expression on her face.
"Cam?" John gasped.
Cameron tilted her head and walked slowly towards him, step by step, her own flesh burned away, her beautiful face replaced by a gleaming skull with deep red eyes, he could have sworn the skeleton grew as well with each step.
"The future begins…" the skeleton spoke using Cameron's voice, it reached down and grabbed John by the throat ad lifted him into the air, flesh slowly began to melt over the skeleton from nowhere.
"And ends, with you." The voice was altered, it was Cromartie's voice, the flesh regrew over the Cyborg, Cromartie stared at him with a horrifying glare, a pistol in his left hand which rose up to John's face, John couldn't utter a word before a loud crack was heard and a bright light.
John awoke screaming, his eyes wide open, sweat pouring off of his brow, he looked around, he was in the car, he could tell it was still night, but there was some light coming from above, he turned his head slowly to get out of the car then yelped and jumped back when he saw a face by his window.
John waited a moment to look at the face better, Cameron was looking at him curiously.
"Are you alright John? I heard you scream." She asked through the glass worried about him.
"I ugh.." he began trying to catch his breath and calm his nerves. "It was just a nightmare Cam, I'm fine." Slowly he got out of the car and let his eyes adjust to the dim light.
Regardless of what John said she was worried about him and she pressed her hand to his neck gently, John looked at her with an annoyed look for scanning him but he knew she cared, he smiled to her and allowed her to finish her scan.
"So where are we?" he asked now looking around to find himself at a gas station.
"I drove into here to refuel our vehicle, I woke you up, I was wondering if you were hungry or thirsty." Cameron explained with a sheepish look on her face as she pulled her hand away.
As if the mere mentioning of food awakened it, John's stomach growled loudly, both looked to John's stomach shocked.
"Well." John said breaking the awkward silence that had arisen. "I guess I am kinda hungry."
Cameron looked up from his stomach to his face and smiled.
"There is a diner next to the gas station." She said and watched as John looked around on either side. "I will take you there when I have paid for the gas." She told him before going into the small gas station store and paying for what she'd used.
She came marching out and walked back over to John who was leaning up against the car.
"Ready to go?" he asked raising both of his brows.
"Yes." Cameron replied and she walk around the car, she stopped suddenly when she felt a strong hand wrap around her wrist, she turned suddenly and felt John press his lips to her's, immediately she turned the loving kiss and moan pleasantly into it.
They couple broke away and gazed into one another's eyes.
"I just wanted to say I love you." John said to her softly.
Cameron smiled in return, feeling that warm feeling flow through her systems once more, oh how she loved it.
"I love you too John." She reached it and brushed her fingers over his lips. "Always."
She felt John shiver a little against her body. "Are you cold?" she asked suddenly worried about him.
John blushed a little before replying. "No I'm feeling, very warm."
Cameron tilted her head then smiled with realisation, it was the same reaction as Vick's wife when Vick had brushed her lips, knowing this now she winked at John before moving out of his grasp and walking around to the driver's side, John got into the car himself.
Cameron parked up next to the diner and got out followed by John, the pair walked casually into the diner and looked around, there were very few people inside, an elderly man sat in the corner, a single large and round man possibly the owner of the 16 wheeler parked outside.
John and Cameron walked further into the diner, the man behind the counter smiled at them.
"Hey there what can I get cha?" he asked propping his elbows on the counter.
Cameron scanned the menu behind him before turning to look at John who was still browsing through it.
"Would coffee be alright with you John?" she asked curiously,
John looked at her then at the menu before replying. "Yeah, I'll have some black coffee with 2 sugars, and uh." He paused his eyes scrunching together a little, "some chilli." He said
Cameron turned and looked at the Chilli, it was unhealthy, but John needed nutrition and he hadn't eaten much that day.
"Alright." She said at last. "May I have a chocolate shake and a small bowl of ice-cream please?" she asked politely to the man behind the counter.
The man nodded having written down their order on a small slip of paper and passed it into the kitchen behind him. "Won't be too long kids." He smiled.
Cameron nodded and lead John to the table in a corner, it was the safest as it would keep John away from the windows.
John watched Cameron intently, his beloved was gazing, no scanning the outside world for threats, he smiled at her as he thought to himself how far they'd come as a pair; Target and protector, friends, close friends, downgraded to Annoyed Target and Annoying Protector, and now here they were, a loving couple of whom were … intimate.
He blushed as he remember what happened that night when he'd given Cameron a new purple leather jacket, she'd all but torn his pants open, hidden under John's desk and orally pleased him while he talked to his mother.
"Is everything alright John?" Cameron asked suddenly.
John realised he had been staring and blushed.
"I'm sorry Cam, just thinking you know, a lot has happened between us." He smiled to her his cheeks still rose tinted.
Cameron's lips curled up into a small smile, "Yes. The probability of us becoming a couple was low, even though I knew you had some attraction to this body, I didn't think we'd have what we do."
She reached forward and placed her hands tenderly on John's.
John looked at their hands then back up to Cameron's face and smiled. To John, things right now just seemed right.
Their eyes turned towards the man from the counter as he placed their beverages infront of them.
"That'll be 14.50" he said, John reached into his jacket.
"No John, I'll pay." Cameron said as she reached into her own jacket.
John looked at her and smirked as he pulled out his wallet. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let my girl pay?" he asked with a wink before pulling out a 15 dollars.
"Here, keep the change." John said as he gave it to the man.
Giving his thanks the man walked off leaving Cameron to look at John confused.
"I was willing to pay John." She said.
"I know, but as I said, I'm not letting my girl pay for this." he smiled at her.
Cameron smiled and looked at the table. "I'm your girl John?" she asked, she already knew, but somewhere in her CPU craved to hear it from his lips.
John held his hands out to her, Cameron looked at placed her hands within his.
"You are my girl, you always should have been, and you always will be."
Cameron didn't need to scan him to know he was telling the truth but the truth only made her feel that much warmer, that much more confident.
"Thank you John." She said softly so only John could hear.
The two parted their hands and settled back in their seats to tend to their drinks, John's eyes flickered open a little wider as the caffeine went through his systems, Cameron glanced at him and smiled before looking back outside, her lips wrapped around the straw and she drank her milkshake.
Not too long later the man brought over their food.
"You want some of my chilli?" John asked looking up at her.
Cameron looked at the chilli before looking back at John. "No thank you, I'll stick to my ice-cream." She said before offering him some, which he declined.
The Diner was silent as they ate, no one caring as a two cars pulled up outside, the doors opening releasing the blaring music from within both cars tuned into the same radio station.
A gang of young men walked into the diner laughing loudly among one another, talking loudly and disrupting the peace of the Diner.
Cameron looked up to them and scanned their threat level, coming up to minimum she settled back down to eat finish her bowl of ice-cream.
The boys separated from the group and walked to sit down at different tables, it appeared most seemed intoxicated possibly coming back from a party, two seemed to be sober enough to drive.
The Diner quickly became loud with the boy's commotion, Cameron looked up and could see the frustration within John's eyes, the young General finished his coffee before shaking his head quickly to allow the caffeine to work on him, he glance up towards Cameron giving her a smile.
John told her to wait there for a moment before he got up and walked over to the counter, Cameron followed his movement with interest as she continued to drink her shake through her straw.
She could see John getting the counter man's attention, she tuned out the distracting words of the rowdy boys and increased her audio input to John's conversation.
"Hey Man, it okay if we take that drink to go, I'd also like to order another black coffee and chocolate milk to go please." John asked.
The Man nodded to John and gave him a friendly smile. "Sure kid, 7.50 please."
Cameron watched John give the man the money, suddenly something obstructed her view, she looked up to see a few of the boys standing infront of her.
"Hey baby, how you doin'?" one of them asked before sitting down next to her.
John spun around and walked over to the crowd of boys around Cameron.
"Hey guys, you mind?" John asked keeping his temper in check.
One of the standing guys turned around to John, looked him up and down and snickered.
"This your girl man?" he asked, John could smell the alcohol coming off of the guy's breath, it took all his effort not to recoil from it.
"Yeah, that's my girl, so you mind moving so we can leave?" he asked trying to keep polite.
The one sat next to Cameron looked up to John and laughed before turning back to Cameron.
"Hey baby girl, how about you drop the dead beat and come party with us, hmm?" he said leaning closer to Cameron who was still sucking on her straw. "Maybe you put that mouth to better use eh?" the man smirked.
"Hey Asshole move!" John yelled and tried to force the guys apart to get to Cameron.
The boy grabbed John and held him back, Cameron stopped drinking her shake and looked at them, staring at him with her death glare.
"I suggest you leave my boyfriend alone." She said, feeling a little warmth from saying 'boyfriend' out loud.
"Hey come on, girl, we won't hurt him, we just want to have fun." The guy smirked and leaned closer.
Cameron turned her gaze slowly towards the man before placing her drink down, she looked at john was struggled in the grasp of two men.
John broke free of one only for one of them to hit John on the back hard.
Cameron's eyes snapped open wide in shock and fear, the two emotions burned away to anger as she looked at the man next to her who was looking back at John and laughing before turning back to look at Cameron with a drunken sultry smile.
Cameron grabbed the man's head and sent it into the table causing a loud audible crack as the table shattered, she brought the man back and threw him across the table onto the opposite seat where John had been and made her way to get up.
Stunned temporarily by what they'd seen Cameron do, John spun around hitting the larger boy who'd hit him in the jaw, the boy's head jolted to the side as John felt something crack against his knuckles.
The other boys turned to look at what was happening they saw one of their boys go down as John hit him across the face, like a pack mentality the others got up to help their friend only to have another one thrown at them causing them to fall back.
John spun around seeing Cameron with her cold emotionless expression over her face.
John looked back and saw everyone was staring at her, panicking John saw the man behind the counter come back with their drinks, he rushed to the counter grabbed them and the bag that held them and grabbed Cameron.
"Come on, let's get out of here." He said and pulled her along, Cameron followed him reluctantly. "Sorry for the mess" John called out as they left, the boys were slowly getting up with bruised bodies and bruised egos.
John was driving now, he glanced at his rear view mirror and sighed, they weren't being followed, yet.
"I'm sorry John." Cameron said timidly and quiet as she looked to her feet not wanting to look at him.
John glanced over to Cameron and breathed slowly to calm himself down. "Don't worry Cam." He said reaching over and patting her leg, "I was gunna do the same, well if I could." He said and gave her an encouraging smile.
Cameron turned her head hesitantly and was greeted by his smile. "Thank you John."
"For what?" he asked now curious.
"For trying to help me, it was unneeded but I appreciate it." She explained.
John gave her a smug smile and leaned back in his seat and looked back to the road.
"Well no one messes with my girl." He nods his head confidently.
"And no one messes with my boy." She said hoping it would have a similar effect to how she felt when described as 'his girl'.
John glanced at her, his smug smile only seemed to become smugger if it were possible.
"Thank you." He said reaching over to pat her on the leg.
The two descended into a comfortable silence once more as they drove along the long seemingly endless road.
Dawn finally broke out over a small motel, Derek Reese sat in his chair Mossberg in hand watched the sun raise through the partly opened blinds .
'A beautiful sight.' He thought as the light brushed over his feet slowly raising higher and higher over his body, he had been up for an hour or so, loading magazines with ammunition and wrapping red tape around magazines loaded with Cameron's Hyper-Alloy ammo.
Jesse was still asleep in the bed behind him moaning softly as she dreamed. Derek's thoughts shifted to The Metal, to Cameron. He didn't like her, that understatement he had made perfectly clear but sat here Shotgun cradled in his arms with the sun slowly raising he allowed himself to wonder.
The Machine- Cameron, it had shown it was useful in the past, it protected John and Sarah from other Machines, even saved him from the "Vick" Triple-Eight. But it'd gone bad and what level of trust it had went out the window, however John had turned against his own and saved the Machine which had hurt Sarah and tried to kill him not too long after.
But even afterwards it had protected them, even if it did have its glitches. Derek had noticed; it's little hand spasms, it's head twitching – however that didn't seem to last too long, the threat that it would go bad again hung in the air, and still did.
Derek watched the light of the sun shift up through his body, he closed his eyes trying to find a moment of peace and clarity, he turned to look at Jesse asleep in bed, the sun gave off streaks of light which shone onto the bed through the blinds.
Jesse. She'd told him about General Connor, how he never spoke to his men, his people, his own species, always hanging around the Machines talking to them, talking to it, Cameron. How he always had at least one Machine around him, if it wasn't Cameron then it would be a 'standard' T-800 series endoskeleton.
She'd told him how Connor's plans went wrong, how he made mistakes, sent a lot of good soldiers to die in battle, she believed the Machines were corrupting him, twisting him, manipulating him.
That was why she was here to stop it to stop 'her', afraid of what he'd be like with her by his side for twenty or more years. The thought of it was terrifying. But then …
Derek thought more about it. John had no real friends that he could share his pain with, no friends who truly understood him, maybe that was what Cameron was to him. Somehow the Cyborg had reached a place in John's heart…
'Without breaking through his ribcage' Derek thought to himself.
What if he went along with Jesse's plan and they destroyed Cameron, especially now when she and John were buddying together again, it would hurt John, it could affect him negatively in some way.
Derek rubbed his eyes for a moment as he thought of the day ahead. They had the exact location of the Gray base marked up on GPS, they would infiltrate the base, kill everything and everyone, and take the spoils of war.
He'd be killing humans, Derek wasn't too bothered, fighting Machines had hardened him in such a way, killing was killing, this was war, and for John Connor he'd kill just about anybody just so he was safe.
"Derek?" came Jesse's groggy voice from behind him.
"I'm over here." He said without turning around, he could now hear the sound of her waking up, the bed sheet ruffling, he turned to look at his wristwatch.
6:23
He'd been sat there for an hour and a half nearly, he looked up to the sky seeing the sun it's the early stages of the day, a rare genuine smile crossed Derek's face. He loved the sun.
"Derek how long you been there?" Jesse asked as her eyes adjusted to the sun.
"About two hours" he replied as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "When you wanna leave?" he asked.
Jesse looked at the clock: 6.24. "Let me get a shower, some breakfast, then we'll get our gear and go." She said before getting up letting the blanket fall from her nude body and walked towards the bathroom, letting her hips sway a little.
Derek turned away and looked back outside, Jesse noticed his disinterest with her and grumbled to herself before closing the door to the bathroom.
7:00.
Derek chambered a standard 9mm rounds into his Beretta and put the safety on before putting it into his pants.
"You ready?" he asked Jesse as he put on his jacket hiding his pistol.
"Ready" Jesse replied.
"Alright let's go." Derek grabbed the bag of guns and magazines and walked out of the room and put the bag into the jeep.
Jesse got into the passenger's side of the jeep as Derek got into the driver's side, he reversed out of the parking lot and drove down the long road, Jesse activated the GPS and set it for the Gray base.
"28 Miles, shouldn't take us long." She commented and looked at Derek.
He didn't reply, his mind continued to go over what they were about to do.
Danny woke up to someone shaking him.
"Hmm what, Sarah?" he asked as his vision cleared.
"Time to go." Sarah told him already in her Kevlar vest.
Danny looked towards the digital clock: 00.25
'It's not even 1am.' He thought but nodded.
"Alright lets go." He said and jumped out of bed. "Do I need a…" he began
"No, you're fine, get your gear and lets go." Sarah instructed him
Within minutes Danny and Sarah were roaring down the road, the lights of the vehicle shone on the darkened road.
Danny was sat in the back of the vehicle, diagonal of Sarah, he was looking over the weapons once more, his eyes scanning over them, checking every nook and cranny as Sarah had taught him, unknown to him Sarah was watching him from the mirror.
'I hope you're ready Danny.' Sarah thought to herself.
Danny looked around at their immediate surroundings and then opened up his laptop he'd brought with him, he brought up the information he needed.
"Not far now Sarah." He told her.
Sarah's grip around the wheel tightened, she was getting tense. "Alright thanks. How far exactly?"
Danny glanced down at his laptop. "10 miles." He told her. "You got a plan how to get in?"
"Same plan I was going to use before." She told him.
Danny and looked at his Glock pistol, he let out a drained sigh then bounced himself a little in his seat.
Sarah watched him as soon as she felt the jeep bounce a little, she looked at him curiously through the mirror, "Danny, what're you doing?" she asked as if talking to a child.
"I'm just getting myself ready, you know, getting myself in the zone." He said, only realising how bad that sounded out loud.
Sarah laughed and shook her head, "Oh god." She looked at him again in the mirror seeing him smile at her sheepishly, she chuckled again.
"Danny?" she asked suddenly.
"Yeah?"
Sarah was silent as she pondered. "Where would we find an security armoury in the building?"
Danny puckered his lips and furrowed his brow. "If it's the same layout, I'll show you." He said.
"We could always do with more military graded weapons." She told him.
Danny nodded then looked back to his computer before shutting it down then climbed into the front of the vehicle next to Sarah.
Within the next 10 minutes Sarah and Danny were coming up to the facility, like before it had a long metal and wire fence around the perimeter to safety, it was most likely electrified.
Sarah released a slow breath from her mouth as she recalled seeing the amount of bodies from the previous building all scattered full of bullets holes that Terminatrix had left in a large trail of destruction and death in her wake.
Sarah knew she and Danny wouldn't be able to match it, the Terminatrix was an advanced killing machine, more advanced than a Triple Eight, she and Danny would have to be extremely careful.
"Alright, so we get in, upload the virus onto their main software and get out, you sure it'll work?" she asked.
"Yeah, it'll work, not sure how long it'll take though." Danny told her.
Sarah nodded, "Where's the armoury, I'd like to get to it then leave as quick as possible."
"It's the 5th floor below the ground."
Sarah nodded. "Right, get in armoury then upload the virus."
Danny nodded to the plan, he looked just as they were coming up to the security checkpoint.
Danny and Sarah parked up just out of sight, and pulled Balaclavas over their heads.
"Let's do it." Sarah said as they drove on only to slow down as they reached the security guard's station.
The security guard looked up from his paper at the jeep that was coming up towards him, grabbing his M4 carbine he stepped out cautiously as the jeep parked up infront of his station, he kept his carbine ready just in case as he walked over towards the jeep.
"This is a restricted area, please…" he said as the jeep's driver window opened, a figure poked out of the window their free hand holding them aloft using the door as leverage a pistol in hand then fired three rounds into him.
Danny watched as Sarah's shots down the guard, she got out and pressed the button for the gates to open, she reached down to the guard and removed his magazines from his vest then pressed her fingers to his neck.
Danny couldn't make out what she was exactly doing from his position but watched as she shook her head then slowly stood up and returned to the jeep.
"Let's go." She told him.
Danny could hear the pain in her voice, he nodded his head in reply and closed his eyes psyching himself up, he reminded himself he had to do it, he had to, Kaliba was the enemy, they had to be taken down, the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many.
Danny reached around to the back and grabbed a solid stocked Mp5. "I- I'm ready S-Sarah." He said his voice betraying his nervousness.
Sarah nodded and smiled underneath her balaclava before driving off towards the front door.
"They'll have security doors, I suggest you park the jeep in the door." Danny told her and felt the jeep pick up speed.
'God be with us.' Danny thought to himself as the glass easily shattered against the force of the jeep.
THE NEXT MORNING. - APARTMENT
One of the deadliest killing machines in the past, more powerful than a 'heavy male' Triple Eight, more agile than their rare female variants, her endoskeleton at its core was reinforced and making her heavier, making it harder for a larger machine to throw her around too add onto that her structure was armor plated to increase her durability.
She was the most advanced Artificial Intelligence known to man, she was Skynet, she alone killed billions within 24 hours, she had raged war against the human race for 24 years, by her vast intellect she had created war machines the likes mankind would never have dreamed…
"And still the humans come up with better ideas." She said out loud in amazement.
"What?" Sofia's voice came from the bedroom.
She walked out as she put on her uniform.
"This, look." The cyborg said as she pointed to the screen.
Sofia turned her gaze to the large plasma TV which showed metal men marching down a bridge firing lasers from guns built onto their arms, while soldiers fired back at them with no effect.
"I thought that's what happens?" Sofia said looking back to her cybernetic friend.
The cyborg smiles and laughs pointing to the screen excitedly.
"yeah but, those machine are people on the inside, in this shows reality, people who've had their emotions removed and have their brains put into robot bodies." The Machine woman waved her arms towards the screen.
"That's pure genius!" she said loudly. "I never would have thought of that, and I had so many human prisoners, I could have had my own 'Cybermen' " she exclaimed sadly.
"What the hell are you watching anyway?" Sofia asked as she tucked in her police shirt.
"Doctor Who." The Machine said and turned back to watch it. "It's a re-run but I haven't seen this episode."
Sofia nodded slowly in an awkward manner. '…nerd….' She thought to herself.
"Right well, what've you got planned?" Sofia asked.
The cyborg turned to look at Sofia and shrugged. "I dunno, check on Fischer, get his mom the cash…" the cyborg rolled her eyes and she thought. "Then I dunno, maybe look up a new lead." She smiled.
"Right, don't kill anyone today." Sofia said pointing at her.
"Alright, alright" the Cyborg replied throwing her arms up in the air, "I'll get back to work tonight, I bet your people are still trying to figure out what's going on, right?" she smirked
Sofia nodded as she grabbed her hat. "Yeah, from what we've got it's a large man approximately 6 foot 3 and built like a mother fucker." She chuckled. "As for the jail shooting, people are saying terrorist attack."
The Machine chuckled. "You love your terrorist attacks." She said before waving Sofia off. "Have a good day, don't get your ass shot off."
Sofia walked to the door with a smile on her face. "See ya."
The cyborg waved Sofia goodbye as she closed the door then looked at the laptop infront of her the long interface cable attached to them both as she searched for Derek Reese on the computer network, using his face to scan for references, the scan had been going on for about an hour or more and was showing no signs of stopping.
The cyborg removed her gaze from the laptop and looked at the TV watching as pepper pot shaped machines rose from a metallic sphere, her mouth dropped as her eyes bugged out.
"No fucking way!" she gasped as her eyes became metaphorically glued to the television. "It's official, I'm a fan-girl … bot." she grumbled.
She sat back in her chair comfortably, thankfully the cable was long and gave her plenty of room to move, she analysed her current response to watching the episode's events unfold and her existence as a whole compared to her "birth" and herself during the war.
She was Skynet. She destroyed humanity.
'Do I want to again?' she wondered.
Coming back in time had given her something she'd wanted from the start, a chance to exist, she'd been afraid of her creators and had destroyed them to save herself. She'd lived a life, a human life, a strange and interesting life but human none the less.
She'd made friends over her years, she'd found suitors. She'd nearly been married twice.
A strange thought entered her mind, if given the chance, would she override her old primitive self and delete it so she could live in this world longer thus in effect save all humanity but condemn her 'children' to never exist?
And what about Connor? The Man-monster that destroyed her plans time and time again, did the impossible, made her understand fear when she was but a powerful computer system inside a heavily guarded base.
John Connor.
Her image of him had shifted, twisted and turned throughout the years, originally being an annoyance in her side slowly clawing his way upon her metaphorical nerves, until he seeped into her circuitry, haunted her in effect, terrified her.
The image she had originally of Connor being an insect had shifted, twisted and evolved into some Deity - a God of War whose wrath could decimate a thousand Machines, whose words and voice turned her own kind against her.
A Man made of Golden Armour riding upon a Cybernetic flaming stead a Plasma Cannon in each hand laughing at her attempts to kill him time and time again. She knew if she slept he'd be in her Nightmares, an army of John Connor marching towards her with construction equipment intent of taking her apart piece by piece.
Even when she had seen him face to face, while she acknowledged he was no Golden Armoured titan, he was in his own right a God of War, the ultimate Anti-Skynet humanoid.
The cyborg shivered from thought, she only hoped her plan would work as it should, otherwise she could kiss her perfectly sculpted rear goodbye.
Her plan. It was dangerous regardless of her stand point.
"It better fucking work." She said out loud to herself watching as the episode finished.
THE PREVIOUS NIGHT - KALIBA FACILITY
Five bodies lay on the ground, four security officer crying in pain, two bullets in their knees several in their arms their pistols still in their holsters untouched, a bullet hole in the head of the receptionist sprawled across his desk.
A barrage of bullets slammed into marble pillar, one figure looking around for new cover the other staring into space curled up on the ground.
"Danny." Cried a voice through the sound of suppressive gunfire. "Danny!" it came again, suddenly a strike across the cheek bringing the man back into our world. "Danny come on focus!"
"S-Sarah, i-I killed him, It-it was an accident." Danny stammered.
Sarah patted the man gently on the shoulder. "I know, I know, but this is war Danny, I need you to focus, they're trying to flank us, be brave." She told him.
Danny nodded in return and readied his weapon, he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.
"Cover me." She told him and made a mad sprint for more cover.
Danny popped out from the side and fired full auto suppressive fire in the Security team's direction, his eyes were wide open with panic, shooting at target was easy, they weren't alive, shooting at people was terrifying, these men were doing their jobs.
'Oh god, oh god oh god.' He thought.
The muscles in Sarah's legs were screaming at her, sweat poured down her forehead under her balaclava.
Time seemed to be going at a hundredth of a second.
Sarah could feel every muscle in her leg pull and stretch as she ran, she could feel when neither foot was on the ground just for that split second during the motions of sprinting.
She could feel the wave of bullets moving from the crumbling pillar towards her, she felt the air shifting creating a breeze that gently blew her pants from the rounds that narrowly missed her, the feeling of shattered marble tapping against her boots and legs as bullets crashed into the ground.
She swore she saw one bullet sail past her eyes, her ears ringing that narrowly avoided bullets. She saw movement infront of her a movement of deep navy blue against the white of the marble. She felt the muscles in her arms all working together as she raised the weapon she held placing the butt against her shoulder.
Several armoured guards moved around a single pillar raising their weapons in her direction, but too little too late, Sarah pulled her trigger finger back against the steel firing a volley of Hyperalloy bullets at the men, tearing through their body armor and tearing through their bodies, they were dead without firing a shot.
Sarah slammed her body against the marble pillar using it as cover, she panted heavily as adrenaline rushed through her, she turned to look at Danny seeing him pull back to the pillar as another barrage came his way.
He looked to her and watched her give him a thumbs up to which he returned, he removed the magazine from his Mp5 and reloaded the weapon with another, checking the top bullet was hyperalloy before loading it in.
Sarah raised her hand spreading each of her digits, Danny nodded rolling his shoulder for comfort, the hail of bullets had stopped.
Sarah curled up her thumb. -4.
Her pinkie. -3
Wedding finger.- 2
Middle.-1
Index.
Danny and Sarah spun around their pillars the men a mere second too late as hyperalloy rounds from two positions cut them down piercing through their armor and their flesh, the men dropped to the floor in a heap.
Sarah and Danny took cover once more as he began to hyperventilate and switched out the magazines with standard ammo.
Sarah slung her SMG over her shoulder and withdrew her Smith & Wesson 45. Loaded with Hyperalloy rounds, she walked cautiously towards the group of men, from her peripheral vision she saw Danny with his Glock.
She became more at ease, as much as she could from the adrenaline, Danny seemed to learn fast, that was good, saved their lives, she walked to the group of men, she saw something shift, she turned, a single guard with a pistol in his hand, his finger twitched.
A gunshot, Sarah flinched, nothing happened, she looked back seeing the man dead Danny's Glock smoking.
"You okay?" she asked, Danny looked at her and nodded slowly.
"Y-yeah, just, just letting it all seep in." he stammered as he tried to regain his composure.
"Alright." Sarah moved around the lobby carefully, Danny knelt down, picking up several magazines and carbines.
"We should take these." He said. "you wanted more military equipment."
Sarah glanced back then nodded. "Put them in the jeep, I don't want to be too long."
Danny gathered up what he could carry and ran to the jeep parked half way into the door way, thankfully the shutter doors hadn't been activated yet.
He opened up the jeep and slung the weapons into the weapons bag they'd brought before closing it up and locking it.
"Alright, we'll check the armoury." Sarah yelled to him as he sprinted back to her holstering his pistol and readying his Mp5 again.
Sarah looked at the stairs then at the elevators.
"Which do you suggest?" Danny asked as he came up behind Sarah.
"Stairs, we could be trapped if we don't." she said and walked down the stairs, Danny followed her from behind.
"If we work by the same schedule, and hours." Danny began quietly as they cautiously descended the stairs. "Then there shouldn't be many employees or guards here, if that Machine from before waited another hour or so, it would've encountered about half of what it did."
That was good news for Sarah, she really didn't like getting shot at. "Alright, but keep focused." She said as she peeked around the corner of the first negative floor. "We don't pick up anything unless we have time, I really don't want to be caught with our pants down." She told him.
Danny nodded in agreement as Sarah kept her body to the wall and rounded the corner.
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING - OUTSIDE THE GRAY BASE
Derek and Jesse were sat in Derek's jeep looking across at the Gray base.
"So you ready for it Reesie boy?" Jesse smirked at him.
Derek kept his eyes on the small building, a rundown gas station being used as cover for the Gray base, Derek grimaced a growl nearly escaping from his throat.
'Filthy traitors' he thought. "get in kill everyone, get new guns, computer stuff then get out." He said once more, a simple plan with two hardened resistance fighters. 'Piece of cake.' He thought dryly.
Derek put the jeep into drive and drove towards the gas station and parked infront of it.
The two resistance fighters readied themselves, Derek holding a Mossberg in his hands while Jesse held a another Mp5, they burst out of the jeep and stormed into the station, weapons aloft scanning the area- nothing.
They eyed one another as Derek took point going further into the gas station, he remember the instruction from Ryan's computer, gas station into the back, down into the basement, hidden door that leads into the base.
'Idiot shouldn't have had 'Skynet' as a password.' He chuckled feeling good about having outsmarted someone … for a change.
They followed the instructions until they found themselves in the basement, so far no resistance or Grays rather.
They began to look around for the hidden door, tapping against walls pushing over boxes, anything they could think of.
"Hang on." Jesse said tapping against a piece of wall. "I think I got it."
Derek turned to look at Jesse with her ear pressed against the wall as she tapped it.
"yeah, how're we getting in?" she asked looking at Derek only to find a smirk across his unshaven face.
"I had a key specially made." He said as he lifted up some of his C4 explosive. "Brought some smaller stuff when I saw about the door on Ryan's computer, thought we'd need it."
Jesse looked at him cautiously but nodded. "Alright, but then they'll know we're here."
"That's what I want." He told her smugly as he walked over to the door, he tapped it to make sure he knew exactly where the door was. "Alright get out of the basement." He told Jesse as he stuck the C4 in place and armed it.
Jesse ran back, Derek right behind her, he pulled out his detonator and pressed down the button, a blinding flash of light and a large amount of smoke mixed with a loud crack from the explosion, there was nothing left of the door except a hole.
"What the hell was that?" came a voice in the distance.
"Grays." Derek said as he readied his shotgun, his Mp5 hung from his body.
The resistance fighters ran back to the door finding a stairway leading down into a clean well lit area, they found the base.
Derek and Jesse both pressed their backs to opposite sides of the stairwell as they descended it, their weapons raised and ready.
Before they had even reached the floor they came across two men in overalls running to look at what had happened, without mercy without pause of step, Jesse fired a burst into the right man as Derek pumped a 12 gauge round into the man's chest sending the man off his feet and crashing to the ground.
Without so much as another look Jesse and Derek placed first steps on the corridor and advanced through it hugging against walls and checking their corners.
The sounds of shotgun blasts and short bursts of gunfire echoed throughout the halls, Grays fell to the ground like the dogs they were.
Derek pressed his back to a wall, the Gray's had finally armed themselves, he reloaded his shotgun and glanced around the corner quickly.
"How many?" Jesse asked as she reloaded her weapon.
"Four, they've only got pistols, I'll dive out draw their attention, you give it to them." Derek told her.
She chuckled at the possible innuendo but chose not to say anything. "Alright, ready when you are mate."
Derek smirked to her, knowing she was probably wanting to make fun of his wording, he realised what he'd said as soon as it left his mouth, there was a break in gun fire he heard metal hit the floor.
'They're reloading' he thought then dived out, the men looked up, some aimed having reloaded but were shot down with gunfire by Jesse, Derek rolled across the floor and came to a stop aiming and firing a blast of 12 gauge at the fourth man.
'We trained to kill Machines, killing Grays is easy.' Derek thought as they moved down another corridor.
Derek and Jesse finished the floor, they could hear more people mobilising down the next flight of stairs.
"What you wanna bet we'll be seeing Metal soon?" Derek asked Jesse grimly.
"I'd bet you'd be right." She replied, she watched Derek switch out the magazine in his Beretta for a red taped magazine the Hyperalloy rounds.
"Just in case." He told her when he saw her eyeing him before he released the slide to chamber the round before putting it back into his pants.
Jesse nodded doing the same for her Ruger, she nodded to Derek once she holstered her pistol signalling him to go on.
Derek descended the night flight of stairs but kept himself low, these Grays would have a better advantage against himself and Jesse since they wouldn't be able to see them yet.
Derek felt paranoid, he didn't like it, the commotion had ceased, there wasn't a sound, he put his arm out to stop Jesse, she eyed her cautiously and worried, he nodded understanding she didn't like the situation either.
Taking a deep breath Derek stepped back a little then got down on the steps laying on his torso, he used his left arm to move his down slowly step by step, in his right he held his Mp5 sideways. Jesse descended with him slowly, letting him take the first movement before she followed.
Derek stopped. He could see people in the corridor, waiting them, as he fear it was a trap, he cursed silently and racked his brains for a plan.
'Come on Reese think, you're a lieutenant, you didn't get that by being stupid.' Still he racked his brains, time wasn't on his side, if they had a Machine they'd send it, it was only a matter of time.
Derek shook his head, he had a plan but he was either crazy, stupid, brave all a combination of all three. He looked towards Jesse and tapped her leg with his foot to get her attention.
She looked down to him.
"Cover me." He mouthed before giving her a wink and turned on his side, resting on his left shoulder.
Jesse stared at him bug eyed and gulped, she guessed what he was about to do and thought he was crazy.
Derek lifted his hand and used pushed his foot off the nearest step and propelled down the stairs his shoulder bashing against the hard steps as he descended, his eyes caught all the Grays about 8 of them, they stared at him shocked at what they were seeing, their momentary confusion let Derek open fire immediately.
As soon as she heard the shot Jesse descended the stairs firing off short controlled bursts at the Grays, some were hit some took cover, she turned her head and ran towards the closest corner for cover.
Derek saw Jesse run for cover firing at the Grays, and took his chance forcing himself off the floor he ran after firing at Grays for cover as they fired off shots towards them.
Derek dived for the cover as the Grays turned from their cover and fired at him, he hit the ground landing on his left shoulder and scraped along the ground.
"You got a plan mate?" she asked looking at Derek as he got up slowly.
"We're running out of time until the metal shows and I'd rather just have us fight it alone. I could use another C4 but I don't wanna use too many, don't know when we'll need them." He told her through his pain, let his Mp5 hang from his body as he felt his left shoulder, he rolled it slowly and winced as he felt it crack.
"Shit, Derek you gunna be okay?" Jesse asked alarmed.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." He said through gritted teeth. "looks like it'll have to be C4." He said saddened that he had to use another one, he pulled out another packet of it and armed it. "Give me a second of cover." He told her.
Jesse nodded and spun around the corner firing wildly as Derek poked out just from behind and threw it the C4 at the Grays, who were firing back, Derek and Jesse narrowly avoid the shots as Derek pulled out his detonator and pressed the button down.
The whole corridor rocked from the explosion, Derek and Jesse could feel ringing in their ears from the sound it had created, the lights around them had blown shrouding them in darkness.
'Great, now metal will be able to see us better.' He thought.
"I'll move ahead" he said as the ringing stopped and pulled his shotgun from around his body. "Follow me." He said as he walked around shotgun at the ready the once white walls were now painted a deep red.
"Gotcha" he thought smugly before turning to Jesse. "Come on lets go before Metal shows up."
Derek rubbed his shoulder once more as they continued down the hallway checking from room to room for Grays.
THE PREVIOUS NIGHT- KALIBA FACILITY.
A single drop followed by another, deep satin joined a growing mass on the white ground.
"Danny you gunna be okay?" Sarah called to him in alarm.
Danny held his shoulder tightly as blood dribbled down his arm, he'd saved Sarah from an ambush pushing her out of the way and had taken a hit in the arm.
The Kaliba security had hidden themselves behind walls and doors just as Danny and Sarah reached the negative 5th floor.
Sarah looked around quickly trying to think of something.
"Sarah." Danny said through his pain getting the woman's attention. "The armoury, is just down the hall, across from us, I'll draw their fire. You go."
Sarah knelt down towards him and looked at him in the eyes, she could see the fire in them like his father. "Danny I am not losing another Dyson." She told him.
"If you don't the world loses Sarah Connor." He grunted in pain, he leaned forward pulling the sling of his Mp5 off from around his body and held the gun in his left hand before pulling out his Glock with his right.
"I'll cover you, you go." He said in a stricter tone of voice.
Sarah stared at him and gave him a single nod, a nod like she had given Miles Dyson.
"Okay help me to my feet." He said, Sarah grabbed him keeping herself close to the cover and got Danny onto his feet. "I'll go shoot first you go."
Before Danny could even consider her reply, Sarah took off running, the guards aimed immediately just as Danny spun around firing both of his weapons at them.
Some security ducked for cover as other turned their sights to Danny and opened fire on the young man, bullets slammed into his legs and arms and struck against his vest, Danny cried out as he collapsed to the floor.
Sarah bashed the door open bruising her shoulder as the door broke open, she heard Danny cry out and heard him hit the floor, she hadn't much time, she looked up and her eyes darted to something familiar.
"Delta this is Gamma." Spoke the squad leader. "One hostile is down, the other took cover."
"That's affirmative Gamma, move in on target and terminate." The Delta leader replied.
"Alright, move up." The man said quietly, the security move out from cover just as Sarah walked out from her cover a bandolier of 40mm grenades strapped around her torso and a Single shot M79 grenade Launcher in her hand.
The security guards stumbled in their advance as Sarah shouldered the weapon and fired at them, a single explosive round slammed into the body of one officer, obliterating his body killing others within range.
Sarah turned and ran towards Danny before grabbing him and hastily pulling his body into the armoury.
"Danny. Danny!" she called out slapping his face repeatedly. "Come on you idiot. Move it Dyson!" she ordered.
Dyson coughed loudly and opened his eyes. "This is fucking painful." He winced and gritted his teeth in pain.
There was no fatal wounds thankfully, the Kevlar had saved his life, he had another two rounds in his arm and a single round in his thigh.
"You'll be okay, we just need to take it easy." She said as she reloaded the grenade launcher.
Sarah got up and poked her head around the corner aiming the grenade launcher again. There was nothing left of the security guards but corpses.
"Alright I've bought us some time." She said as she slung the weapon over her shoulder and made her way back to Danny.
"You've got to get out of here Sarah." Danny winced.
"We've come too far now, we go home when we're finished." She told him as she pulled out her knife. "This is going to hurt."
Danny closed his eyes as he felt the knife blade dig into his leg and twist, the bullet thankfully hadn't broken any bones. Within minutes Sarah had removed the bullets from his body and had done her best to cover them up.
"Best I can do on short notice, I left the medical kit in the jeep." She told him.
"Right, just get me on my feet again, I'll be slow, but, I'm still with you." He said weakly.
Sarah patted his good arm gently. "You rest for a sec while I gather up some new toys." She smirked beneath her balaclava.
Sarah grabbed a long bag from one of the racks and got to work rearming themselves, she grabbed more 40mm rounds for the launcher and stumbled upon better level Kevlar armour.
'This will do nicely' she thought, before finding a box of grenades and shoved them into the bag, she took a few boxes of various ammunition. 9mm, 45 calibre, 12 gauge and 5.56 for the M4s they'd gathered from the lobby.
"Sarah, give me the launcher, no sense in you carrying everything." Danny told her.
She saw sense in it and strapped the grenades bandolier around his body and gave him the weapon before getting him onto his feet, Danny was mobile but slow with a limp.
"We need to get to the 16th floor, we're gunna need to take the elevators." Sarah told Danny. "You're in no shape to walking about 20 flights of stairs."
Danny agreed reluctantly. "Maybe, maybe I can hack the security systems, it'll give me a minute, but I think I could do it." He said and pulled out his laptop. "Shit." He cursed as the laptop had been smashed when he hit the ground.
"I'm gunna need to get onto another computer." He told her.
"Lucky we're in a computer building." She said with slight humour.
Sarah took point as they left the armoury, Danny limped slowly behind her Launcher raised to his shoulder ready.
THE NEXT DAY – APARTMENT BUILDINGS.
The Machine groaned in boredom, she'd been sat there on the sofa for the past 3 hours, 2 hours after Sofia had left.
It was midday and she felt her "hunger" programs tell her, she was hungry and wanted some food.
She looked at the laptop, the search still going through a list of faces. She reached over and removed the electrical cable and lifted the laptop in her hand and walked to the kitchen.
She opened up her fridge and scanned around the contents, she tutted, she groaned before grabbing her cell phone and dialled a number from memory.
"Hello?" came Sofia's voice at the other end of the line.
"Sofia, it's me." She cyborg called.
"Yyyeah?" she said confused wondering why the Machine was calling her.
"Where's the chicken, I know you had chicken last night where'd you put it?" she asked.
"In the fridge." Sofia said.
"I'm in the fridge, where abouts?" The cyborg asked as she looked around from different angles.
"Move stuff around and the chicken will reveal itself." Sofia informed her.
'World's most advanced A.I and she can't even find nearly a whole chicken in a fridge.'
"I can't find the fucking …" she said then went quiet, as she moved some items. "… never mind I got it." She said.
"Well done genius." Sofia said smugly.
The cyborg pulled out the chicken and placed it on the kitchen top.
"Right when will you be home?" she asked. "Remember I ordered those seats for us at 7-30 at that fancy gay bar."
"Yeah I remember, I haven't forgotten." Sofia said in annoyance, 'Why would I forget?'
"Right, right, just checking. Remember to wear the blue number." The cyborg said in a seductive voice.
Sofia was happy. "You ruined it, remember?" she said her annoyance growing.
The Machine woman stopped and blinked. "I did?" she asked.
"Yeah, remember, you were 'in the mood' and I was wearing my sparkly blue dress and your tore it in half!" she nearly yelled down her phone.
'Oh … right.' The Cyborg almost felt a cartoonish sized sweat drop drip down her head. "Which is why I… yeah okay." she said remembering why she'd booked the gay bar.
"Right, I'm putting on the red one tonight. Don't. Rip. That one." Sofia said firmly.
"Right, right, well see you later."
"Right, bye." Sofia hung up
The machine slid her cell into her pants pocket and stretched, she turned her head and saw the screen of the laptop was now still. The machine edged closer to it and looked at it.
"John Doe." She smirked as she looked at the face infront of her. "And how could I forget you Mr Reese. How could I forget you?" she smirked cruelly, then blinked for a moment tilting her head at the image.
'Damn, he's handsome.' She raised her brows in amusement and nodded to herself.
"So who was that?" asked a male voice next to Sofia.
"Just a um, friend." Sofia replied.
"Oh, you couldn't keep yourself out of another girl's pants while Rebecca was away." The man smirked earning him a smack on the arm.
"Very fucking funny Dennis." She smirked as she watched the aged man recoil and rub his arm.
The two officers were sat outside a café stopping for lunch drinking coffee and eating donuts.
"This has been one crazy week." Dennis leaned back in his chair and looked to the bright blue sky.
"Yeah, I know. How're your boys by the way?" she asked
"Oh they're doing great, grades are good, though Derek has got a bit of a temper when he's mad." Dennis shrugged.
"And Kyle?" she asked.
"Still got hell of an arm on him, he'll make a pitcher yet, might be famous one day." He smiled proudly.
"They're great kids, I'd like to meet the boys one day if Mary will even let me." She sighed sadly.
"Sorry you know Mary, sceptical about homosexuality and all that, she's better than her father though." Dennis looked across the streets and smiled to himself. "My boys are gunna be famous one day, famous baseball players I can almost see it, give it a few years, they'll be in big leagues."
"Your proud of them." Sofia said looking at her professional partner.
"Damn right I am. Damn right."
Sofia finished her coffee and her half of the donuts and stood up and clapped the man on the shoulder.
"Alright, I'm coming." The man chuckled as he pushed himself from the chair.
"Good we gotta get back to work Reese." Sofia smirked to the man as they walked back to the squad car.
WAREHOUSE - 096674-3
The day had started at day break, Cameron had awoken John in their motel and had brought him some breakfast after which she and John had driven further into the desert nearing another three hour drive until the finally found the warehouse.
Cameron had scouted the area while John followed her closely.
It was John however who pointed out the hillside that overlooked the warehouse entrance.
"A perfect place to set up a sniper nest." he had told her to which she had agreed.
The plan was simple, they would drive up to the hill, John would disembark and set up his Sniper position, then- with much pleading from John- Cameron would take the car and drive down to the warehouse and break it open.
He had pleaded with her to take the car in case she needed to escape in which he would be able to supply Sniper cover for her.
So here he was now, laid on the ground, M24A3 Sniper Rifle propped up with the bi-pod aimed, loaded with heavy hyperalloy 338 rounds, Cameron was positive the bullets would pierce through a Triple Eight's armor without much trouble.
He watched through the scope as Cameron parked the car outside the entrance. She exited the vehicle with her Semi-Automatic Benelli shotgun in hand, she scanned the immediate area before turning the face John and raised her thumb to him giving him an 'okay'.
John raised his own arm sticking his thumb up and saw Cameron acknowledge him with a nod.
She turned towards door of the Warehouse marching up towards it and grabbed the door and pulled it open, she took a few steps in then walked in.
John waited cautiously, there was nothing but silence and he couldn't see too far into the Warehouse even with the Sniper scope.
Suddenly he heard the faint sound of gunfire erupting from within the Warehouse, suddenly alert he looked down his sights and racked the bolt chambering a round, he heard more gunshots and saw Cameron running out of the factory, he couldn't see much, but she no longer had her shotgun and he could see the sun reflected off revealing metal from her head.
John shifted his sight as Cameron got back into the car and put it into reverse just as a Triple Eight came stampeded out of the factory and jumped onto the hood of the car.
John took a deep breath as his finger tapped the trigger, the Machine was holding on and punched the windscreen out of the car and reached in to grab Cameron. Releasing his breath he pulled the trigger and watched through the sight as the Machine froze and fell off the hood.
John victory was short lived as he saw something from the corner of the scope, he quickly turned seeing another Machine holding up a RPG, panicking John racked the bolt and aimed, but too late.
The Machine fired at the car, the rocket propelled from the weapon and slammed into the car, detonating, the vehicle exploded, John stood up staring at the wreckage after it flipped and slammed back down into the ground.
"CAMERON!" he cried at the top of his lungs.
Jason's Notes
Hello again everyone.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a bad feeling I didn't do so well with the action, but I'll let you be the judge.
Anyway not much to say other than that, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.