Corruption

So, remember how I said what the original plan for the story Clingy was gonna be, but changed my mind? Basically, I was going to rewrite the bomb episode in the style of the scene in T3 where the T-100 is fighting his reprogramming, but I wasn't sure it was a good idea. A reviewer said he kind of liked the idea, so I decided to give it a shot. Here you go, Alberto007!

Cameron's HUD began to boot up. She was aware of all the fire burning away at her skin, but her chassis remained undamaged. The inside of the car was destroyed. Someone had tried to blow her up with a bomb. That was inconvenient. The car door was closed, so she kicked it open with little effort.

John and Sarah were already outside, the former clearly worried. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her and began to walk towards his friend. Suddenly, Cameron's HUD opened her primary mission menu and read a singular order.

Terminate John Connor

That wasn't right. There had to be a malfunction. She tried to override it, but it failed. She tried again, with the same result. After the third try, she noticed her feet were carrying her to John. Cameron tried to stop herself, pulling back with all her lower body strength, but she kept moving. It was as if her own body was rebelling against her.

Could she warn him? She had to try. "John! Get away from me!"

John stopped running instantly but seemed extremely confused. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"My chip is damaged!" Cameron shouted. "My original mission has been activated! I can't fight it!"

"What original mission?" John asked.

"To terminate you!"

John froze to the spot. He didn't believe it. After everything they had done, Cameron couldn't just up and kill him, right? She had to fight it. She knew this wasn't right.

Cameron's HUD highlighted her pistol on the ground. The explosion must have blown it out of the car. She slowly reached to pick it up, struggling the entire way. "I'm trying to stop it! My body will not respond! Run! NOW!"

The gun's reticle came over her display and her aiming mechanism kicked in. Sarah was running to block John from her while brandishing a shotgun. It was not going to work. Without thermite rounds, they would be like BB pellets against her. John was going to die now.

"Don't worry! I got this!"

"Derek, no!"

John's plea alerted Cameron to Derek Reese holding his own shotgun. This one was definitely loaded with thermite. Her reticle moved to target him but was unable to do so before she heard a shot fire and her HUD blacked out.

…

The system reboot kicked in, awakening Cameron to the world. Night had fallen by now and the car wreckage was still burning. The Connors had obviously not called the cops or their allies. Cameron took a moment to consider praise for the risky move. Then she took a moment to wonder how Derek had missed her chip.

Slowly, on a limping leg, she entered the house. No signs of life were to be found anywhere. If she had lungs, Cameron would have breathed a sigh of relief. They had left her behind to someplace secret. Likely, they were hiding somewhere that Cameron could not track. Her mission was impossible to complete. John Connor was safe.

Her body carried itself to her room, picking up the cell phone she had left in her drawer. Her fingers dialed a text to Charley. "Hello Charley. Do you know where Sarah and John are?"

Charley responded in seconds. "They're not with you?"

"No, I can't find them anywhere. Did they tell you where they are?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Please just tell me where they are. I am worried."

Cameron tried desperately to stop the next text from coming. To crush the cell phone, break her own fingers, close her eyes or look away. Anything to not know where John was.

"They're at a warehouse by 83rd Street. Said something about an emergency. Do you need any help?"

She dropped the phone, but it was too late. Her database had copied the information. Still struggling, her body carried her to the garage where a spare car lay waiting. Cameron helplessly put the car into drive and drove towards the warehouse.

…

She could see her destination just a few lights ahead. None of her tricks worked on the way down the empty streets. Crashing the car might result in self-termination, something she couldn't do when she functioned properly, and her hands would not leave the steering wheel or rip it out of the car.

Her foot pushed the gas pedal to the ground, forcing her to drive straight through the intersection and through the door of the warehouse. She smashed the entire wall down, knocking Sarah into the wall and rendering her unconscious. Cameron got out of the car and staggered towards the locked office, where John was no doubt hiding.

Derek pushed the wood off of himself and raced towards Cameron with a pipe wrench. He struck her in the leg, managing to throw off her balance. She slowly stood up and faced him, not wanting to kill her anymore than she did John.

"I knew you were bad news," Derek growled. "I should have killed you when we first met you. I just wish John wasn't stupid enough to fall for your pretty face."

Something in Cameron's chip forced her to watch several moments of her time with Derek. All the insults, the jabs, and the times he tried to turn the family against her came crashing back. Her leg came up for an attack, but she did not fight it any longer. It came down at Derek's leg, snapping it with ease. He hadn't even finished screaming before she slammed her fist into his head, sending him flying across the room and into a wall where he lay unconscious.

Her body forced her to return to her primary task. John had come out of the office with the thermite shotgun, ready to fire. Cameron continued to struggle against her limping body. "John, please. Do it."

He leveled the shotgun at her, his finger shaking with unease. She limped closer and was at least ten feet from him. But to his own surprise, he couldn't do it, even after what she did to Derek.

Throwing the gun down, he faced her with grim determination. "I'm not killing you."

"John, you have to!" Cameron said. She had reduced to pleading, something she never thought she would do. "I cannot control myself. I will kill you!"

"But you don't want to!" John argued. "You're fighting it! I can see it! You can stop this!"

"Desire is irrelevant," Cameron said. "I am a machine."

"That's not true! You're more than that!"

The tears came back to her eyes. More than ever, she did not want to kill John. She tried to override her programming again and again, but to no avail. The window forcibly closed itself as she felt her hand reach for John's throat, catching it and squeezing it tight. He tried to pry her hand off, gasping for air.

"What…is your…mission?" He gasped.

Cameron didn't even open her menu. "To ensure the survival of John Connor."

"You are about to fail that mission!"

Her menu opened again, highlighting her primary objective. She was so close to achieving it. John's vitals were dropping rapidly. Cameron tried one last thing; she opened her memories to watch all the times John had shown affection and care for her. He thought of her as a friend and was the only person to do so while knowing who she really was. To her, that made him more than just an objective.

With tremendous strength, Cameron moved her arm to the right and flung John away from her. Her body started to turn back towards him. The only way to stop this was to expel her own energy on something else. She threw a fist into the wall, leaving a sizeable dent in it. Then again, with a scream of rage to exert more energy. More punches and screams were made until she had nearly tunneled through the entire wall. Her chip read that her energy was low, shutting down her systems one by one to conserve it. She just kept punching and screaming until her HUD blacked out and she fell to the ground.

John stared at her in shock. He had never seen her so enraged, especially at herself. She couldn't make herself kill him. He was right all along.

He felt someone pick him up to his feet. "Are you okay? What happened?" Sarah asked.

"She shut herself down," John said. "She couldn't do it."

Sarah looked at the body. "We have to destroy her."

"What? No!" John said. "We have to fix her!"

"She tried to kill us!" Sarah said.

"It wasn't her fault!" John protested. "And she stopped herself! I can help her!"

Cameron's body slowly began to rise from the ground, like a slasher villain in a horror movie. John and Sarah stepped back but didn't immediately run. They had to know if she was still going to chase them.

Cameron slowly turned around to them, her signature stare now returned. "John? Sarah?"

John pushed his mother off and walked towards his friend. Sarah tried to pull him back, but her leg hurt too much to run. Slowly, John approached Cameron and held out his hands in preparation to fight.

"Cam?" He asked. "You okay?"

Cameron consulted her HUD. There was nothing in her objectives list or primary function demands. But somehow, she knew there was one thing she had to do.

John nearly fell over as Cameron threw her arms around him in a hug. He was about to scream for help, but he noticed she was crying into his shoulder. That was odd. She had never cried before, especially to him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, John. I tried so hard. I almost killed you."

John slowly returned the hug and whispered back. "It's okay, Cam. It's all gonna be okay. I gotcha."

Derek finally managed to limp beside Sarah. "The hell? Get away from her John!"

John ignored him and pulled away from Cameron. She had the tiniest smile, indicating she was starting to feel better. "I never cried before. Or felt so scared. Or angry. I think my emotional capabilities were damaged in the explosion."

John put his hand under his chin and made her look up at him. "Hey, if it means you smile more, I'm all for it."

Cameron actually giggled. The sound was heavenly to her and John.

"We need to leave now," Sarah interrupted. "Our house is compromised, and so is our location."

"Let's go," John said. "Together."

He took Cameron's hand in his own and she grasped it tightly.

"How do we know she's fixed?" Derek said. "What if she's pretending to get closer to John?"

"I would not fake emotions when I could crush him so easily," Cameron said. "But if you want evidence…"

She grabbed John's head with both hands and pulled him into a deep kiss. John's eyes widened with shock and he felt his knees go weak. Soon, he recovered and put his arms around Cameron as he returned the kiss. Derek could be heard retching and gagging.

"Never do that again," Sarah ordered.

The two broke apart and went with the adults back to Cameron's car, the only vehicle in the warehouse. Before they left, Cameron tried to mend her relationship with Sarah.

"Sarah, you must know I never wanted to hurt you. Please allow me to heal your wounds."

"No thanks," Sarah said. "Just give me some space for a while."

"I understand." It wasn't a no, but it did not mean all was forgiven. Cameron would have to accept this for now.

"How about me?" Derek asked, clearly angry. "Anything you want to say to me?"

Cameron looked down at his twisted leg. The lower bones were bending in the opposite direction, possibly indicating a fracture. It would be quite some time before he could walk properly again.

"No."