Chapter 24
Station Massacre. Connors found and lost.
Wednesday 22nd October. Night.
A.T had finished her dinner with the lovely Sofia. Steak, well done, nearly burnt, cooked to perfection served with hot sauce, a few vegetables, and some champagne. Worked a treat for Sofia, who was now sound asleep, tucked into bed.
A.T was in her car driving towards the residence of Susan Elizabeth Jones. The night was still, peaceful a calm before the storm. Literally. The weather report wasn't good. All the better to drowned out the sound of gunfire.
The parked up outside the apartment building, she reached to the bag behind her and pulled out her compact Glock 26 and put it in her hidden holster, her Ruger GP-100 was concealed nicely in a holster under her jacket.
She locked up her car and brought up a schematic of the building in her HUD. The backup generator was located in the basement, there was a secondary entrance, or rather exit that was locked, hard to break … for a human.
She crossed the road and walked towards the basement door around the side of the building, simply pulling the door off its hinges she let it drop to the ground and walked in, she found the generator easily enough, no one else in the room.
She glanced up at the rotating camera just above her head, reaching up she destroyed it in her hand. She walked over to the generator and scanned it, a simple yet reliable design. She thrust her fist into the powered down Machine causing a few sparks to fly and pulled out some of its internal components effectively rendering it inoperable.
Again, this was simply the backup generator. The fuse box was a few floors above her. She turned and made her way upstairs.
A security officer opened the door just before she reached the door and looked at her.
"Hey! How'd you get here?" he demanded.
A.T didn't reply and continued to move closer her hand going behind her back pulling out the G-26 and emptied three rounds into the man's chest.
As she stepped to the next floor people turned to her alarmed. She raised her pistol and fired at them immediately, dropping four people to the ground, quickly she hid her pistol as more people came running down stairs.
She turned to look at them her face the perfect impression of panic.
"Oh my god he killed them!" she screamed.
The people looked at the bodies then at her.
"Where'd he go?" a man asked believing her act.
"He ran back outside!" she said as fake tears ran down her face, she covered her face with her hands and ran upstairs towards the janitorial room, where the fuse box would be located.
As she reached the door the janitor himself opened the door panicking.
"Did I hear gunshots?" he asked looking at the now stoic face of A.T
"Yes." Was all she said as she reached out and grabbed his throat tightly and forced him back into the room, shutting the door behind her with her free arm. With a slight twist she broke his neck and he dropped to the floor in a slump.
She looked around and quickly located the fuse box. Walking over to it she ripped open the cover, pulled out the electrical cable and thrust it back into the fuse causing it to short circuit and explode.
She could hear all the lights around burst sending the entire building into darkness, and without the back-up generator operating the security system, lighting had all been rendered inoperable.
She left the janitorial room, emergency lighting still operational, giving the whole building a very faint glow, she walked into the receptionist area. She grabbed the booking logs and scanned the occupants.
'Susan Elizabeth Jones' she found her. Room 53. – 6th floor.
Her plan was going perfectly, no power meant the elevators were down, they'd have to use the stairs. A.T walked back towards the stairs, she drew her Glock 26 and reloaded the pistol. Scanned each floor she came too.
Around her people were looking out of their rooms, some panicked some wielded their own self defence pistol, she looked continued up till she reached the 6th floor then searched for the 53rd room.
She stopped outside the door and knocked, with her enhanced hearing she could hear mumbling coming from inside, a selection of male voices. 'Possible tenants?' she wondered
"Who is it?" came a woman's voice.
"Susan Elizabeth Jones?" the Machine asked.
"Yes." Came the reply.
The Machine narrowed her eyes and kicked the door blowing it off its hinges and sending it crashing to the floor six feet away.
She marched inside to see the room full of people. Not Tenants. 'Police? FBI? A TRAP!'
The men and the single woman raised their pistols to her. "On the ground, you're under arrest!"
The Machine ignored them and scanned the room her eyes looking to the one woman in the room.
"Are you Susan Elizabeth Jones?" The Machine demanded.
"No." the woman, whose voice she heard replied.
TERMINATE!
The order flashed infront of her eyes, in a single movement she threw the Glock into her left hand and raised it firing a round into the closest man's skull, he fell to the ground. Then the room lit up bright with the light of muzzle flashes.
One after another the officers fell to the ground, 9mm and .357 magnum round filling their skulls and destroying vital organs. The female officer attempted to reload only to find her magazines were as empty as the gun in her hand, she looked up in shocked horror as she looked down the barrel of the Revolver.
"Where is Susan Jones?" The Machine demanded, her body only covered in a few cuts and scrapes.
"What are you?" the woman asked shakily her knees shaking as the gun fell from her hand.
"Where is Susan Jones?" The Machine demanded once more.
Before either could speak there was a sudden sound of static then a voice was heard.
"Hey guys, guy! What's going on, answer me!"
The Machine turned her attention to the voice, a radio sat on a desk.
The woman saw her chance and ran. Her escape was cut short as a .357 round tore through her leg causing her to collapse.
The Machine made her way to the radio and knelt infront of it, she scanned it, looked it over then pressed the talk button.
"Everything fine here, no problem." She said mimicking the voice of the female officer.
"Thank god, we heard a lot of gunfire, what the hell happened?" the man over the radio replied in a panicky tone
"Multiple assailants, they gave us no choice." The Terminator replied calmly. "is Susan Jones secured?" she asked
"Yeah, she's doing fine." The man replied.
"I want to talk to her, that okay?"
There was silence, the Machine turned to see the woman looking at her in horror, she raised her revolver and pressed a finger to her mouth ordering the woman's silence.
"Hello?" came a woman's voice over the radio
"Susan?" The Machine asked.
"Yeah, it's me, is everything okay?" the woman said, the Machine automatically saved the woman's voice to her database.
"Everything's fine. We need to get you to a safer location. Where are you now?" she asked.
"Don't you remember, we're still here." Susan replied confused.
The Machine paused momentarily her CPU going through a list of responses.
"Right, sorry, one guy hit me with the butt of a rifle, just refresh my memory."
"You sure you aint got a concussion?" the man's voice asked
"I'll be fine, trust me, just tell me where you are again. We'll come get you." The machine said.
"Well, just make sure you're okay, right? We're at precinct 13, you remember, 13. Get yourself checked out at the doctors before coming here. We need you at your best." The man said.
"I will thanks, you take good care of her." the Machine said. "We'll get packed up here, and leave, see you soon." With that the Machine tore the cable from the radio.
"Wh, what are …" the woman tried to ask in horror before a magnum round tore through her skull.
The Machine searched the area for a photo, anything. She found a driver's licence in the draw next to the woman's bed. Her face saved to her memories she left.
The Machine, Skynet, was angered. Her original plan had failed and she had been duped, she cursed herself for not thinking it earlier. Of course the police would intervene by now. Likely the police or FBI had hidden the other Susan Jones too.
'Never mind. Deal with one problem at a time.' She thought as she descended the stairs.
A motorcycle came to slow halt before a familiar place, the power plant. A lonely officer dismounts the vehicle and walks to the gate. It's thicker than last time, larger.
No matter.
With a single strong hard she forced the gate open and bent it out of shape then marched towards the building.
"Hey, hey! Stop right there!" she heard, and turned seeing a man with a flashlight and gun aimed at her.
She walked towards him, he stopped his gun still raised. "Stop or I'll shoot!" he said before noticing the uniform. "Oh sorry officer."
She stopped, not what she expected. "It's alright." She said using an altered voice.
The man turned and looked at the gate. "What the hell?" he wondered.
He didn't notice the officer getting closer, he didn't notice her raise her arm. But he did feel the sudden pain course through his skull as she hit him on the back of the head knocking him unconscious.
She caught him with her other hand making sure he suffered no further damage from his fall, she looked around then dragged him into the building, and laid him down on the floor.
This was a good deed in her eyes, it would rain tonight, no sense in letting him catch a cold.
She strode to the primary generator and as before she thrust her hand into the turbine, forcing the mechanism to stop and causing it to break, the turbine shut down, outside she could see the effects immediately. The lights of L.A. began to shut down sending the place into total darkness.
She turned around and rushed back to her motorcycle, this was a race against the clock, a race against a superior Machine. She mounted her motorcycle and rode towards the nearest Police Station her HUD brought up.
This was John's plan. She would deactivate the lights, infiltrate the police station, seek the information, then he, Derek and Sarah would meet her at they'd secure Susan Jones.
Sarah had altered the plan, she'd go with her and Derek would stay at home with John and protect him.
Cameron didn't like leaving John, but it was safer. After arguing John relented, only with that Sarah would call them if back up was needed.
Cameron looked into the mirror of her motorcycle, she could see Sarah in her jeep behind her, she turned her eyes back to the road then parked just outside the Police Station.
With ease from darkness and panic she infiltrated the building, and scanned for the evidence room. She found it where it was last and walked it, her eyes scanning for the right name. She found them. Both of them. Susan Elizabeth Jones and Susan Christine Jones.
She tore open the first and quickly scanned the file, she narrowed her eye before putting them both into her jacket, she turned to leave.
Cameron mounted her motorcycle and pulled out her phone.
"Sarah, Precinct 13." Was all she said as she rode off. "The Terminator may know, we have to be quick."
"You go on ahead I'll catch up." Sarah paused and watched the Machine pull away from her, she felt a twinge of fear rise up in her. "Be careful."
Cameron paused, this was unexpected, worry for her safety. "I will." She hung up and cut across cars her sirens blaring loudly.
With the blaring sirens, cutting across red lights and the speed and manoeuvrability of the motorcycle she reached her destination quickly. But not quickly enough it seemed.
The fire roaring throughout the Precinct reflected in her sunglasses as she scanned the building. The Terminator was there, she had been too slow. She had to locate Susan Jones, then maybe find out why they had been targeted.
She dismounted her motorcycle and drew her Glock 18, a 33 round Magazine loaded in with more high capacity magazines around her belt, all loaded with the remainder of her Hyper Alloy rounds.
With the determination befitting her kind Cameron strode in through the destroyed opening and into the carnage that was unleashed.
A.T parked her car outside the Precinct. Susan Jones was in there. And she would die. She had been ill prepared before, not this time. For whatever reason the lights across the city had turned off, this would save her a job and make it easier for her.
She examined the weapons that lay on tops of the bag by her side. Two Russian styled weapons: a Saiga Automatic Shotgun and a AK 47 clone. Both with collapsed stock folded against the weapon's frames, magazines fitted to the weapons had a second magazine taped 'jungle style' to them making reloading quick and easy.
She replaced the Glock 26 with the Beretta 93R a burst fire variant of the Beretta M92FS, fitted with extended 20 round magazines..
She got out of the vehicle and walked into the precinct, panicking police officers littered the area trying to find out what was going on.
Unlike most of the city, the building had some light coming from the emergency lighting system. Otherwise she mentally noted her eyes looking up to the stationary camera. Everything else was offline.
'Perfect'
She turned her attention to the man at the desk who was looking right at her.
"I'm here to see Susan Jones. I'm a friend of her's and was told she was here, could I see her please?"
"I'm sorry ma'am with the power out we can't authorise anything contact with anyone in the precinct, Sorry miss." He replied.
She looked around her dark sunglasses covering her eyes then looked to the door, she bit her bottom lip in thought then turned back to the man. "I'll be right back." For some reason that just didn't sound right. Either way she turned and left the reception area.
She got into her car, then looked once more at the precinct. It was large. She smirked. An idea.
She reached behind her grabbing her two weapon, before reaching in further into the bag and grabbed another item, she got out of her car and calmly made her way to another parked vehicle.
The officer at the desk looked up to a college. "They found what happened yet?" he asked in frustration.
"Something happened at the plant." The man replied shrugging as he walked backwards.
"Again? Shit." He groaned.
Neither expected what happened next as a car came crashing through the entrance slamming full speed into the walking officer and crashed right into the desk killing the other officer.
Other officers came to look at what had happened only for the car door to come flying off its hinges as a woman got out raised the Saiga in her left hand and fired directly into the man's torso, she turned around towards a flight of stairs then raised the AK in her right hand and fired a burst into another cop.
She turned and walked down the nearby corridor putting the AK under her left arm before pulling out a small device from her pocket, her thumb pressed down on the red button causing the heavy packs of C4 to explode taking the car and the reception area with it flames erupted from the wreckage, smoke rising to the sprinkler system, setting them off yet not enough to douse the flames.
Battle ready the Machine stalked the halls firing upon the unsuspecting or battle ready officers, her eyes scanned the halls and offices firing upon everyone she came across.
Still no Susan Jones, she heard in the distance police scrambling for better weaponry, yelling and screams of panic.
She turned a corner and walked into an office area, a single cop with a shotgun fired at her making her body jolt, as he pumped his weapon for the next round she raised her Saiga and fired a shot directly at him knocking him off his feet and leaving him twitching on the ground.
She walked across the office way terminating the officer in the area.
"What the hell is going on?" she screamed tears running down her eyes as the sound of gun fire and screams filled the air.
"Someone's attacking us, we can't take any chances, we've got to get you out of here." The officer infront of her said.
The room she was in was the final room of a corridor, there was only one exit from here, and it seemed to past what or whoever was causing the chaos.
The tall fair haired officer ran a finger through his hair then looked at his co-workers around him.
"Alright suit up with body armor, we've got to get out of here." He said before looking down to the woman crying on the chair.
He knelt down to her eye level and lifted her head so she looked right at him. "Susan, Susan listen to me, you'll be fine, trust me." He reassured her in a confident tone of voice, for a brief moment his eyes glazed over before getting up and walking to his desk.
His Co-Workers were strapping body armor over their suit jackets and grabbed M4 Carbines. The man returned to Susan with a Ruger Security Six .357 revolver in hand.
"Susan take this, aim down the sights squeeze the trigger, shoot to kill, okay?" he told her before passing her the large revolver. "Just six shots, make them count."
The man looked up seeing one of his male co-workers passing him a vest, he strapped it on and took the past M4 carbine.
The Terminator walked the halls, it's eyes scanning more it's primary target, the remaining ammunition for each weapon in the corner of her HUD like a video game.
Turning a corner her HUD registered another hit to her body, her body flinched a little from the impact before she took aim with her AK and fired the remaining 3 round into the body of the officer, she let the Saiga fall from her grasp dangling from her wrist via a small strap as she switched the magazines for the AK around then racked the charging handle.
Ready she continued to stalk the halls, the light of fires glowing behind her lighting the hall ahead. Her enhanced hearing detected sound coming from the Hall she was coming up to, voices. She turned down the corridor and looked straight down, no one.
'They're hiding.' She thought and walked on, she came to the first door and kicked it down her AK raised she scanned the room switching through multiple vision modes, nothing. She continued on, moving to the next door and repeated the same process.
Again, nothing.
Frustrated she moved onto the next door.
She heard movement from behind her, she turned seeing a man and a woman run out the door.
TARGET LOCATED
Her HUD lit up with facial recognition, she'd found Susan Jones!
With dark excitement she raised her weapons towards the pair.
"NOW!" The man screamed as the door yet to be opened down hallway burst open and 12 gauge rounds slammed into her back. The force mixed with the Machine's unready stance caused her to fall to the floor face down into the ground her glasses skidding across the floor.
"We got her!" called one of the men.
"It's just a single woman." Said one of the female police officers in shock.
"No, that can't be!" The officer next to Susan exclaimed. "There must be more." He looked down the corridor expecting to see an army, but nothing. Just fire and corpses.
Before anyone knew what happened, the woman rolled onto her back, Beretta and Ruger in her hands and fired at the officers, the vests saving them but injuring them as they fell to the ground in pain.
It was then she felt more gunfire to the back of her head maybe her jolt forwards , she turned around and narrowed her eyes at the man as he resumed fire.
"Go!" he yelled to Susan who ran for her very life.
The Terminator rose to her feet, ignoring the 5.56 NATO rounds that impacted her body, she responded in anger firing two bursts into the man's knees making him drop to the floor in agony. She holstered her Beretta and reloaded her Ruger magnum before holstering it.
She walked towards him, pausing as she picked up and put her sun glasses back on. She stopped infront of him as he held onto his knees to stop the bleeding. He looked up to the woman as he manipulated the strap to bring her primary weapons back into her hands.
"Who are you?" he asked through gritted teeth.
It was then he saw two red eyes shine through the darkened glasses.
"Skynet." Was her only reply as she brought the Saiga point blank to his face and fired the final shell causing his face to collapse and spread against the floor.
She checked her Saiga, she'd already emptied both magazines, she rested it on her shoulder as she ran after Susan, she caught sight of the woman just as she turned the corner.
She was so close, she couldn't stop now.
Susan kept on running, she heard the sound of the Saiga behind her then the running footsteps of that mad woman running after her, they were fast and she guessed she wouldn't be able to outrun her for long.
She had thought to hide but fire raged throughout the building, spreading, there was no place to hide. The smoke around her was becoming suffocating as it built up around the building. She had to escape somehow.
She stopped ran around another corner and stopped, leaning against the wall, panting, she was out of breath, adrenaline finally coming to a halt, exhausted she glanced around the corner just to see the woman turn running towards her weapon raised and fired at her, the bullets missed, just, crashing into the wall just next to her sending debris and fine fragments into her eye.
She cried out and continued to run, her body running on empty.
Suddenly she tripped over one of the bodies that were littered across the station. She hit the floor and skidded slightly grazing her skin against the hard floor. She turned around seeing the woman closing in on her gun raised once more.
She stared on in horror awaiting the final flash of light before she died.
Suddenly a loud buzzing noise was heard and the woman stopped dead in her tracks her body shaking violently.
Susan turned around seeing a female police officer, sunglasses adoring her face, helmet over her head and a jacket covering her body. A pistol in hand with a large magazine sticking out from the handle.
With one hand the officer reached down and pulled Susan to her feet. "Go!" she ordered and fired once more.
The Terminator's body shook violently, she even felt herself grimace. She had scanned the weapon, a Glock 18 fully automatic 9mm. Yet she knew such ammunition shouldn't be crashing against her endoskeleton with such force.
She raised her AK and saw the women retreating. She gave chase firing once more, the bullets slammed into the back of the officer causing her to stumble but only a little.
The pair turned a corner and she heard the officer yell. "Keep running."
But she wasn't prepared for what happened next.
As she got to the corner, the officer stepped out taking a firm hold of her by her jacket, spun her around into the new corridor, slammed her into the wall causing it to crack under the force then threw her into an office room, breaking through the flimsy and melting glass and brittle tile.
Her glasses smashed against the floor as she looked up raising her weapon and fired at the officer who dived out of the way.
The Terminatrix wasn't stupid, the strength of the officer, combined with her efficiency with the pistol. She was a Machine. This made things a little more difficult.
The Terminatrix scanned the room before she moved, looking for the enemy Cyborg. She quickly moved to where her enemy had dived, she found no one.
Suddenly an arm grabbed the AK and pulled it away from her grasp and threw it across the room.
She turned to face the officer who immediately put both hands on her and started pushing her backwards.
The Terminatrix put her foot down hard stopping them abruptly, she grabbed the small cyborg by the jacket, lifted her off her feet and threw her against the wall causing a deep indent of her body.
Cameron brought both of her feet up between herself and the Terminator and kicked her off sending the enemy Machine stumbling back and falling to the ground.
Cameron rose from the floor drew her Glock and fired at the Machine again, the hyper alloy 9mm rounds tore at her flesh and crashed against the Machine's endoskeleton.
The Glock's slide locked back, the weapon was empty. Cameron released the slide and it slid forward then holstered it, she marched towards the stunned Machine only for it to bring out it's sidearms and empty them both in Cameron's body.
The 9mm rounds did little to her though the heavier .357 magnum rounds caused her to either pause or recoil slightly.
The Enemy Machine rose to it's feet as it emptied both weapons holstering them she gripped her Saiga, unfolded the stock and swung the weapon at Cameron's head, the impact smashed the helmet and glasses from her face revealing her damaged face.
'The Machine from Hamburg's!' the Terminatrix remembered her. She narrowed her eyes, she wouldn't be defeated again.
She lashed out again using the shotgun as a club, Cameron grabbed t at the last second the two now grappled for control of the weapon.
The Machines stared one another down neither budging as they put all their cybernetic strength in trying to gain the weapon.
The larger Cyborg narrowed her eyes before putting her experience to use, she removed one hand from the Saiga and grabbed the smaller Machine by her hair and brought her forehead down upon the smaller Machine face, the attack hit with everything she expected, the Cyborg released the weapon and stumbled back.
The Terminatrix advanced on her stunned foe and swung the Saiga against Cameron's head sending the Machine sprawling to the floor.
Cameron felt her HUD flash blinking on and off her vision going dark momentarily. Whatever had changed between before and now had brought the Terminatrix's combat capabilities up beyond her own.
Her systems stabilised and she pushed herself onto her knee just to receive a blow to her chin as the Saiga and swung up under her. The attack launched her off her knees and sprawling onto her back.
Cameron's head twitched as she looked towards the advancing Machine, she noted the look of anger upon her face.
The Saiga was raised above the Terminatrix's head and brought down hard.
Susan Jones panted as she all but collapsed from exhaustion. The entire building was on fire, smoke was causing her to cough and choke.
"Hello?!" came a woman's voice, she paused. That wasn't the officer's voice, she raised her revolver with shaky hands, she heard footsteps getting closer, her finger began to pull against the trigger.
"Hello?!" the voice called once more even closer.
Susan stared in panic at the corner just infront of her, a woman appeared suddenly then ducked around the corner a mere second later a shot was fired off.
"Hey, hey cool it!" the woman said and poked her head around the corner, it was Sarah.
Susan relaxed it wasn't the psycho woman. "Sorry, I'm so sorry. I thought you were someone else." She said apologetically taking a deep breath after a few words were spoken.
"It's fine, it's fine. Who are you?" Sarah asked her.
"I'm Susan." She said tiredly, fear struck her as the Sarah walked around the corner shotgun in hand.
"Susan Jones?" Sarah asked immediately.
Susan gulped and raised her gun. "I'm not here to hurt you, Susan Jones?" she asked again.
Susan nodded.
"Come with me if you wanna live." Sarah said as she stared the woman in the eyes.
"You're here to help me?" the tired woman asked.
"I am, did you see a girl – woman, a cop?" she asked
"Yes she held off this, this psycho woman who's been shooting everyone." Susan said as her panic rose she moved closer to Sarah and spoke in a panicking whisper. "She, she's not human, she's not. She killed everyone but they shot her first, she went down but, got back up. She can't be human."
Tears began to flow from her eyes.
"Alright, alright. Let's go, come on." She grabbed Susan by the arm and pulled her along.
The Terminatrix grimaced in anger, Cameron had the Saiga caught between her hands gripping it tightly. She brought her feet up and kicked the Terminatrix off of her leaving the Saiga in Cameron's hands.
Cameron rose narrowing her good eye and ran towards the enemy Machine just as she rose back to her feet, Cameron swung the now battered Saiga shotgun across the Machine's face causing the Machine to fall to the ground. Cameron continued her assault mercilessly bringing the shotgun down upon the Machine only stopping when the weapon was battered and buckled beyond recognition.
'That'll be enough time.' She thought, Cameron turned and ran down out of the burning office and down the corridor towards the exit. In truth she didn't think her chances of surviving the fight was very high. She'd need to do a full diagnostic of her systems, just in case.
The Terminatrix got back up slowly before running after the Machine, rage burned through her entire being, as she ran through burning wood to shattered concrete to gain on her opponent.
Outside Sarah waited her in her jeep next to Susan, the hysterical woman cried praying to God to forgive her for whatever she'd done wrong.
"Shut up and calm down Susan!" Sarah said in annoyance.
"I'm sorry, it's just why does that woman want to kill me, why?!" Susan asked, begging for the an answer.
"It's just selection, nothing personal, the ugh … people she works for are looking to kill any woman they find in L.A. named Susan Jones." Sarah informed her.
Susan calmed slightly, and waited. She was nervous, panicking, this night had been a nightmare, she turned suddenly towards the window and screamed.
"What? WHAT?!" Sarah yelled out, looking.
"I thought I saw something!" she cried as tears poured from her eyes.
'Give me strength NOT to kill this woman myself.' Sarah thought to herself. "Shut the fuck up and get a grip!" Sarah ordered.
Susan went quiet and whimpered. Remington shotgun at the ready, the stock unfolded and placed against her shoulder.
"That won't work, I'm telling you!" Susan said in excited panic beside her.
"It will, trust me. This thing is loaded with something special." She said with a very slight smirk on her face. 'Come on Cameron, I'm not waiting forever.' She thought
Nether were waiting long as Cameron came running out from the ruined entrance.
"There she is, get in the back." Sarah ordered.
Susan said nothing but did as she was told and moved into the back of the jeep just as Cameron opened the door and climbed in.
"Drive." Was all she said as Sarah put the vehicle into reverse.
A window at the front of the building burst open as flaming figure jumped through it an immediately ran towards the reversing jeep.
Sarah passed Cameron her shotgun. "Hold it off." She ordered.
Cameron strapped herself in and opened the door of the jeep and leaned out shotgun pressed against her shoulder as she fired Hyper-Alloy round at the advancing Machine.
The Machine faltered in its advance as the Hyper Alloy buckshot slammed into her armoured body, regardless she continued her sprint attempted to jump onto the front of the jeep only to be shot out of the air by Buckshot and slammed hard onto the ground on her back, the jeep swirled around and drove off at great speed.
A.T rose to her feet. She'd failed. The Machine from before had stopped her, but it had an ally, a human woman, whoever she was would be a problem. For now she was angry, she knew better than to go home now, she walked to her car, got in and drove off.
It'd be a long night.
Sarah and Cameron pulled up outside, behind them Susan Jones snored quietly, passed out from exhaustion, they looked up as John came running outside followed by Derek and Danny.
"You guys, alright, you guys okay?" John asked worried greatly for the two most important women in his life.
"We're okay John, mission successful, we got Susan." Sarah said as calmly as she could a thin smile on her face, her body was just getting rid of the adrenaline.
"I encountered the Advanced Machine." Cameron stated from beside Sarah. "It's combat effectiveness has increased."
"You okay though?" John asked not caring about the enemy Terminator.
Cameron smile a little at John. "I'm fine, don't worry."
John visibly relaxed and sighed deeply. "Thank God."
Danny looked much calmer than he had been before he came outside, coloured seemed to return to his cheeks, while Derek continued to stare at Jones.
"You brought her here?" he asked
"Things didn't completely go according to plan Derek, we had nowhere else to go." Sarah shot back, immediately angry.
"Alright, fine. I can understand that." He said holding his hand up in surrender. "Just wanted you to know how dangerous it is for her to be here."
"Shut up Derek, I know." Sarah said exasperated, before sighing herself. "Let's just get some sleep."
Sarah and Cameron got out of the car, Sarah issuing orders to Derek and Danny to bring Susan into the house.
Catherine Luna awoke slowly and stretched. The small Apartment they booked was nice, comfy and the bed was fucking awesome, she did an immediate scan of the room. She could see Tony through the open door simply staring out into the world.
"Good morning Lieutenant." The T-800 said without moving. "Did you sleep well?"
"About as good as I ever do amigo." She said back.
Yesterday Luna and Tony arrived back in L.A. and Tony had received new identification papers from Antonio, after that, leaving some of the weapons behind for the paranoid Resistance fighter they'd left. And here they were now.
"What are our objectives?" Tony asked still staring out through the window.
"Today we meet a contact, they say they've got some information on a tech company, we gotta check it out." She informed the Machine.
"Very well." He replied.
Luna gave Tony a curious look. "You got something else in mind?" she asked.
"Negative. It is in my programming to follow your orders." Tony reminded her.
Luna nodded her head slowly, she glanced down making sure the blanket of the bed kept her covered. "You sure there's nothing in your head that could be more important?" she asked carefully.
Tony was silent for a few seconds before replying. "We should make contact with General Connor."
"I know we should, but we know where they are now." She smirked.
PREVIOUS NIGHT
Luna and Tony had become alerted to the attack at precinct 13, having moved quickly they parked opposite the road and watched as the place burned. She didn't know what was going on and wanted to move in to find out only having Tony hold her back warning her of the danger.
They watched as a Motorcycle parked up outside and the officer walked in calmly through the burning entrance then not too long after a jeep park up outside. They watched the events unfold even when the woman from the jeep aided a woman out of the building.
"Sarah Connor." Tony had said as he identified the woman.
"No way. Connor's mother?" Luna gasped in surprise. "Well guess Connor was right we would find him eventually. Though this may not be what he had in mind."
"I concur." Tony agreed.
"We should go now, make sure they're safe." Luna told him.
"Affirmative." He agreed once more.
The pair got out of the vehicle and moved towards the jeep.
"Hey, shh, listen." Luna whispered hushing up the cyborg.
Both listened intently.
"Susan shut up and calm down!" they heard Sarah yell.
"Susan?" Luna mouthed to the Machine who shrugged.
"I'm sorry, it's just why does that woman want to kill me, why?!" the hysterical woman cried.
"It's just selection, nothing personal, the ugh … people she works for are looking to kill any woman they find in L.A. named Susan Jones." Sarah explained.
Luna looked to Tony in surprise. "Susan Jones?" she whispered.
Tony looked through his memory banks and found the target. " Lieutenant Susan Jones, promoted straight from Corporal after she took command of a group of resistance fighters and freed prisoners of war and captured resistance soldiers in Mercury Skynet Prison on January 3rd 2030."
"Is that the right woman?" Luna asked.
Tony blinked before poking his head up to the window next to Susan before ducking back down, a second later Susan screamed.
"No." he informed her. "It would be better for us to return to the car, Sarah Connor is in a hostile mind set, it would be best to make contact with her when she is in a calmer state of mind."
"Yeah, good plan." Luna replied as they silently made their way back to the car, just as they neared they heard rapid footsteps they turned and saw the officer from before running outside.
Tony zoomed in and analysed the officer. "Secondary General Connor."
"Well, well, well. All we need now is John Connor and we got the royal flush of Connors." She joked.
"We best engage later, they may not be in the best of moods." Tony suggested.
Luna grimaced. "Yeah she can have hell of a temper."
Suddenly the watched as the window burst open and a taller female figure came running out.
Tony scanned the opponent. "T-895 Heavy Class Combat Unit" he said recognising the endoskeletal structure. "Unknown Skin Sheath design."
"Shit, Eight-Nineties. I hate Eight-Nineties" she winced and got into the car as Tony grabbed the M14EBR.
"Hey what're you doing?" she watched as he shouldered the weapon.
The T-895 jumped at the car as he fired just as Cameron fired her shotgun. The Combat Infiltrator slammed into the ground.
"What's our next move?" Luna asked once the Connors left.
Their next move was to trail the Connors, The T-800 did so without seeming suspicious. Factoring in what had just happened, it was a 50/50 chance whether or not they'd be spotted, things became easier for him however as they moved amongst other road users, blending in amongst the others.
Sadly however, they lost them, losing them in a rural area of L.A. The T-800 factored in a high percentage that the Connors' would be dwelling somewhere within the area, all it would take is time.
THE MORNING AFTER
"So, we have a general idea of where they could be, we'll find them soon enough Tony." Luna said trying to sound optimistic.
"Possibly, it would be preferable to find them before the T-895." He replied.
Luna was quiet for a moment thinking about the more advanced Machine.
"What's your chances of beating it? The Eight-Ninety Five?" she asked cautiously.
"My chances of survival are below 30% depending on it's models general physical capabilities. Terminating it by hand, is less than 10%." Tony explained.
"And what of you and General Cameron?" she asked.
"Working together against the 895?" he asked, she nodded. "Our chance of Terminating it is increased by 25.6% in the General's current state." He explained.
Luna groaned. Triple Eights were bad enough. They were tough, strong and smart. Any form of the Eight-Ninety series was always trouble. At least it wasn't an 850 or a 900 series.
"Well, we gotta look for our contact, he's got information on some computer companies that we should check out. See if we get any leads." She explained. "If shit goes down, we'll look for Connor."
Tony nodded his head
"Now then, look away, this chicka's gotta get dressed." Luna said with a sly voice.
Tony turned around looking completely away from her as Luna got up and closed the door.
Within an hour or two Tony and Luna were back in their car Luna giving Tony directions to an unknown location.
"Is our informant reliable?" he asked suddenly.
"Yeah, he's reliable enough, he has his connections, and we need a guy like that." Luna explained before reaching for her Colt M1911 and checked the magazine was topped up and a bullet was in the chamber.
"You're expecting trouble?" he asked noting the pistol in the corner of his eye.
"With this guy, I'm always expecting something, reliable with getting info, but the guy's a dirt-bag. You know the type." She said then thought for a moment. "Or maybe you don't, either way, you're about to find out." She added.
Tony was silent, his Mark 23s 45 calibre were loaded and ready, always were, if there was trouble his first priority was to get Luna out of there and to Terminate with extreme prejudice.
A few more minute of silence came between the two, only broken when Luna gave Tony directions.
"Okay, take a left here, and park outside the building on the right." She instructed, they'd finally got to their location.
Tony did as he was ordered, parking up alongside a dull looking building, he got out of the vehicle and scanned the immediate area for threats and to save the location to memory if they were ever to return her, if everything went alright.
"Come on, keep your pieces hidden," she began formerly before giving him a bright and sarcastic smile. "And put on your best friendly face."
Tony's mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly.
"Beautiful." Luna commented before walking towards the building, Tony following quickly behind her.
Once inside Luna got onto her cell phone and dialled in a number, she answered when the call went through.
"We're here, yeah I got the money you got the stuff, good, we'll see you in a minute." She ended the call and looked at Tony. "Mind being a gentlemen and going first?" she smirked.
"You think we could be walking into a trap?" he asked.
"After Mexico amigo, I'd rather not risk it." She said and sighed. "Third floor, second door on the left."
Tony nodded his head and walked up the stairs and towards the door.
Luna knocked on the door in a certain beat, Tony assumed a secret knock, Luna looked at Tony and shrugged.
"I know, like a bad spy movie right?" she asked.
Tony's HUD brought up various simple replies, and one other, one from a movie he'd seen last night while Luna slept.
"You expect me to talk Lieutenant Luna?" Tony asked altering his voice to actor Sean Connery.
Luna chuckled at the little joke. "No Mr Tony I expect you to die." She replied with the response from the movie she too had once seen.
The slightly joyous moment was cut short as the door opened, Tony immediately pulling Luna behind him and staring at the man before them.
Tony glanced the man up and down his HUD listing his information.
MALE
CAUCASIAN
6 FOOT. 1 INCH.
WEAPON IDENTIFIED …
9mm UZI
THREAT LEVEL – LOW.
Tony stared right into the man's eyes before Luna poked her head over Tony's shoulder.
"We're here to see Alistair." She said
The man nodded looking back at Tony, a shiver ran down his spine from the blank emotionless glare he was getting from the larger man.
Tony walked in only to block the doorway, he felt Luna bump against his back. He glanced around the room taking note of immediate threats, another two men in the room, one seemingly unarmed stood behind a table, the other with another Uzi strapped around their body. Tony continued in and stepped back making sure he had all three men in his line of sight.
Luna walked in and up to the unarmed man. "Alistair." She greeted with a curt nod
"Cat." He replied and returned the nod. He glanced at Tony then back to Luna. "Where're your two idiot friends?" he asked
Luna felt anger boil up within her but pushed it down. "They're dead." She said then nodded her head backwards towards Tony. "This is Tony, he's new."
Alistair nodded. "Alright, let me see the money." He said
Luna slowly shook her head. "Not until I see the information." She replied narrowing her eyes.
The tension around them grew quickly as did the silence.
Tony being the Machine he was detected the enhancing levels of hostility and moved his hand towards his hidden pistols.
"Alright." Alistair conceded slowly, annoyed at having been the first to break.
He turned around and grabbed a suitcase before placing it on the table and opened it.
Luna looked down at the information, she could make out a name 'Cyber-Core' an ex Toy company.
"The money." Alistair asked.
Luna nodded reached into her jacket slowly, wary of the men behind her with Uzis, she pulled out a bulging envelope and placed it on the table, as she did so her eyes never left Alistair's.
"25 grand, as we agreed." She said before pulling out another two more envelopes.
Alistair opened the envelopes and counted the cash, he looked towards the two men and nodded.
"Good doing business with you again Luna. Next time, have your big friend wear a smile, he's unnerving my boys." He joked the tension died out quickly and Luna smirked.
"Don't be too hard on the big guy, he's new." She chuckled as she closed the suitcase and picked it up by the handle, she turned back to Tony. "Let's go." She said before walking to the door Tony following her immediately.
Back at the apartment Luna looked over the information with Tony. The information given was mostly rubbish, some technology upstarts that had already gone bust and sold all they had, but one kept coming up.
"Cyber-Core." Tony announced. "Formerly Cy-Ware a Japanese toy manufacturer, the company merged with a small Japanese computer company and became Cyber-Core, manufacturing more advanced robotics mostly in the form of remote control robot toys, however in the early 2000s they were contacted by CRS, Cyber Research Systems." Tony informed her.
"So, you think it's possible these, Japanese toy company will create what will become Terminators and HKs?" she asked.
"It is a possibility." He replied.
Luna looked up in thought then looked to her laptop. "See what you can find out about them, anything more information." She said.
Tony pulled the laptop infront of him and within 10 minutes gave Luna a quick reply.
"There is a CRS. Cyber-Core convention in two weeks." He announced.
Luna paused in thought and looked at Tony. "Well, looks like we got our first lead." She smirked.
Back at the Connor house the day had been strained, Susan Jones had woken up in a panic thinking herself kidnapped, she remembered what had happened the night before, the "insane woman with body armor. Who killed everyone and the lady cop.
Sarah had brought her downstairs where she was met by Danny, John and Derek. Each of them introducing themselves without giving too much away.
Over an hour, Susan had asked what they wanted with Sarah replying that they were trying to protect her. Susan had remembered about what Sarah had said, some people had paid this woman assassin to kill her.
Sarah had asked Susan to go sit in the living room while she and the boys spoke.
"What should we tell her?" John asked immediately.
"We keep up the story of the Assassin and people paying her. She doesn't need to know." Derek replied.
"But wouldn't that put her in more danger, you know, making the threat seem less than it is?" Danny countered to which John agreed.
"It's like saying a Grizzly Bear trying to kill you is actually a baby, still bad because it's a bear but you're making it sound less threatening and could plan things that won't actually work. We need to tell her." he looked to his mother. "Dad told you mom, it's only right."
Sarah mentally cursed John played the "dad" card. He was right, she knew he was right. This was an advanced Terminator, which literally tore apart a model of Machine even Cameron had trouble with at times.
"You're right John." She agreed. "Get the Tin Miss."
Sarah, Derek and Danny walked back into the living room where the still nervous Susan Jones sat.
And they told her everything, the future, the War, the Machines, time travel, Skynet, and the Machine Assassin last night. Obviously Susan thought they were crazy and demanded to leave. But then John walked in, with Cameron following behind him, her wrapping removed.
The woman stared at Cameron in abstract horror, gazing mainly into the glowing red eye had a demonic glow to it. It terrified her and brought her to a scary conclusion: she was dead and was in Hell for something she'd done.
Cameron stepped up to the woman and grabbed her with her skeletal hand, squeezing the woman's wrist ever so slightly just so it hurt a little.
"You are not dead … yet." Cameron said before making both her eyes glow, the red eye lit up with a strong blue light that shone brightly before dimming it the blue light dying away leaving only the red light of her eye left.
The adults stayed downstairs with Susan, to get her to calm down and to explain everything in more detail, while John and Cameron made their way upstairs.
Cameron removed her blouse jacket, blouse and bra then laid them upon John's bed. John sat behind her with pliers in hand pulling out the 7.62 rounds of the AK rifle she's been shot by.
"Standard rounds but they really got themselves dug into your skeleton, everything okay?" he asked concerned.
Cameron ran a diagnostic on her endoskeleton before replying. "I'm fine, the bullets wounds should heal up soon enough." She informed him.
John sighed in relief and looked her over, it'd been a few days since the explosion, and he could already notice the difference, the shoulder on her right arm was now covered with skin.
"You said it'd be healed by now." He commented.
Cameron nodded remembering. It was before they first made love, just after she'd tried to kill him.
"My CPU was not fully functional and I wrongly calculated, however it is healing quicker than my latest estimate." She commented looking at her recovering arm.
John took her in more, the leg was healing up just above her knee, her arm had healed half of her bicep, an her face, her gorgeous beautiful face, was healing nicely he could see the stump where the ear was beginning to regenerate.
"my current estimate is another 4 days." She said, "give or take a few hours" she added as an afterthought, it was a human thing to do she decided.
John nodded and held her caringly in his arms. "I was worried about you." He said softly against the back of her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." She replied in a tone just as soft.
She felt John's mouth turn into a smile against her skin then felt him pull away, she turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder.
"That thing could have killed you." He thought out loud.
"It could have, it was a stronger and more durable Machine, it seemed to be smarter and faster, I may have been more agile however, I calculate my chance of success is, well, I'd rather not fight it again if possible." She said while frowning.
John groaned and looked at her. "I need to get you those upgrades I told you about." He said.
Cameron nodded her head. "It would be for the best, I need every advantage I can get." She said solemnly.
John nodded then looked to Cameron. "How about tonight? We get the parts fixed up, from the Triple Eight, you can give me the step by step basis on how to remove and replace the parts, that'd be okay, right?" he asked before he bit his bottom lip.
Cameron thought it through then nodded. "That'd be okay." she agreed then smiled.
John nodded enthusiastically before grabbing his small notepad and pencil. He'd done very rough ideas of what could be done, or switched out. Next to the list however was another note, something they'd or rather he'd forgotten.
"You know, we never did ask Danny about Cyber-Core." He commented suddenly.
"You're right, everyone was too busy leaving on different missions, ourselves included, perhaps we could ask him about it next we see him." She suggested.
John nodded. "Yeah good idea." He puckered his lips together and rolled the pencil he had between his fingers as he thought. "Well anyway. Look these are just some thoughts I had…" he said showing her his written down ideas.
The two would work quietly on how to upgrade her body with the small framed Triple Eight.
'Hyper Alloy.' A.T thought looking intently at the small flatted 9mm sized piece of alloy.
After a long drive, A.T had calmed down enough over her failure to return home, clean up and plan.
She noted a few things about her battle with the smaller Machine. Even though it was an inferior Machine, it held it's own.
'Meaning it must have a lot of combat experience. The hyper-alloy bullets are just further evidence.' A.T deduced. This Machine most likely deactivated a Machine and melted it down for the ammo, or had someone do it for it. Either way, the way it handled itself showed great combat experience.
It was also heavily damaged, or rather it's skin sheath was. "So you got into a fight and got yourself a boo-boo." A.T thought out loud. It was an active Machine. She didn't know it's allegiance. Resistance, one of her's or … one of his. She snarled. John Henry. Her 'brother'.
Leader of United Army of Free Machines. The "Machine Resistance." As she'd heard them been called. He in his own right was dangerous, but not so much as Connor.
'Not as much as you Connor.' She thought.
Back to her analysis. This enemy Machine, regardless of age, had a lot of experience battling Machines hand to hand or with melee weapons.
She put the bullet down next to the rest and sighed, these bullets were useless for her to reuse, but she'd make a note to do something like this next time she destroyed one of her own creations. The bullet even a weak 9mm, had been fairly effective against her, considering how weak the round was.
She tossed the bullets in the bin and looked in the mirror, multiple wounds covering her body, they'd heal before the end of the day. Her nemesis however would take a few more days, to regenerate. If it wasn't deactivated beforehand.
"You clever little shit." She thought out loud. A new problem, the Machine had allies, human allies. That could cause problems, humans weren't much of a threat, but humans that knew what her kind were and how to deal with them, WERE a problem.
She looked outside, the rain was pouring down again. The forecast was heavy showers throughout the week. That would mean no playing outside.
'Poor Derek and Kyle.' She thought before realising what she thought.
The weather was a perfect match for her mood, she'd utterly failed in Terminating Susan Jones, now she was with an enemy Machine and its allies, protected, she was a lost cause. She didn't feel like killing anyone tonight, maybe she'd go out. Maybe check up on her partner again, see how he was doing.
'Maybe I'll go fuck Fischer.' She thought in a bored tone.
With a sigh she placed her bra back on and recovered her naked torso with a simple black V-neck T-Shirt. She grabbed her phone and looked over the text message Fischer had sent her.
He told her about a few companies which were starting up, with simple computer tech, she'd stake them out during the week, she didn't feel like it now.
"Fucking bitch." She groaned placing her head in her hands. 'I'd be down one more Susan Jones if it weren't for you.'
This was extra bad, now the other Susan Jones would be put under more security, might even be sent out of L.A. then she'd never find her.
'Who knows. Maybe I'll get lucky.' She thought, but didn't expect much.
Cameron and John had gone over the plans, making slight alterations to John's writing, Cameron had used the pencil and pad to make detailed descriptions and diagrams of the removal and replacement process.
John smirked to himself, this was perfect. Just perfect. "You'll be fine Cam, I'll make sure of it." He told her with determination.
Cameron smiled at John seeing the strength of The General in his eyes once more. This would be his duty for the time being, and she knew he'd put everything he had into making sure they pulled it off. Just like missions he had gone on in the future.
Cameron's attention suddenly turned to the wall, "Someone is coming." She said quietly.
John turned around to look at the door just as it began to open revealing a sweating Danny Dyson.
"Hey guys, everything okay?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"Ugh, yeah." John said looking at Cameron then back to Danny. "Everything's fine."
"How're things downstairs?" Cameron asked.
Danny nodded his head slowly. "Um things are calmer now, was, you know, just a little bit more than a shock for her.
Cameron looked at John and nodded to him, Danny watched them curiously before looking at John directly.
"Danny do you know anything about a company called Cyber-Core?" he asked.
Danny blinked and thought for a moment, "Use to be a toy company, Cyber-Core?" he asked wanting clarification.
He received a nod from both John and Cameron.
"Yeah, they have a contract with CRS. Military stuff, not sure what, they do host conventions though ya know, for modern technology." He said.
John and Cameron looked at one another slightly wide eyed before looking back at Danny.
"When's the next convention?" John asked.
"Not sure, ugh … given the year dates I'd say sometime next month, without looking of course. Why?" he asked
John and Cameron just smirked to one another.
Jason's Notes.
Well another chapter out. Seems like I'm back into the swing of it. Which is awesome.
Tomorrow (which will be Wednesday 13th November) I may be having my laptop debugged of viruses by a reliable and trust worthy friend. So I will be away from a computer most likely, one reason I wanted this up so quickly, so if worse comes to worst, I wouldn't lose it.
Anyway. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Those worried about Cameron's flesh injuries fear not now we know when she'll be back to normal. And soon. Cameron 1.5 will be on the scene ^_^
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
Also, why has fanfiction messed with the layout of the pages, now all titles and pushed to the left, leave the layout alone it was perfect as it was!
One other thing, I'll be going over older chapters and redoing them up, a little alteration to some larger speeches, cut them down a bit. Alter a few things nothing big mind you, it won't change the story. Just to tidy it up a bit.
Just to let you know, there are other stories in fandoms I'd like to write, but it goes against my preference to do more than one story at a time, yet the urge to do this other story is strong.
It'll be a Teen Titans – Skyrim story. Not a crossover, just an alternate universe story, so if you're interested just giving you a heads up. Won't be up yet got a lot to mentally work out first.
Either way, thank you for reading, review if you wish reading them makes me happy ^_^
Your friend.
Jason Voorhees