"How powerful are you?" John asked before immediately adding, "Are you like thousands of years old? Cause all the Planeswalkers are like hella old and powerful."

"I'm only a couple of years older than you and I've only been one for a week or so," Xander replied.

"I've been gyped," John complained as Xander snickered.

"An older Planeswalker wouldn't have cared enough to help," Xander pointed out.

"You got a point there," John agreed. "Hey, ask first Bob!" He jerked the hand holding his deck away.

"May I look at your cards?" the T-800 requested.

"Say please," John ordered.

"Please," Bob said and tried to smile.

John winced and handed him the cards. "We have to work on your smile."

"Get fucked, fat boy," Bob replied in his usual monotone as he took out the cards and quickly sorted through them while John laughed at his response.

"You taught him that didn't you?" Xander asked with a grin.

"The dude has no chill, someone's gotta teach him," John replied.

"That's true," Xander agreed.

"Are you capable of performing all the functions on these cards?" Bob asked.

"Eventually," Xander said, "I'm still learning and some of them are going to require me finding a similar creature or effect to study."

"Paralyze is a single mana cost function that would neutralize the T-1000," Bob said.

"I may be able to handle that one," Xander said as he considered the seal Anko originally had before he'd altered it. "Yeah, I think I can handle that one, but I'd have to be in arm's reach and apply it like I did the enhancements."

"While the T-1000 is physically superior to an unenhanced T-800, I should be able to hold it in place long enough for you to teleport in and apply it with minimal risk," Bob suggested.

"I'm tapped out of Black Mana until sunrise, but any time after that I'm game," Xander said.

"Game?" Bob asked.

"He means affirmative," John translated. "You sure you can handle it? I mean, that shapeshifting prick is no joke."

"If I had the mana for it I could do it right now," Xander assured him.

"How do we acquire more Black Mana?" Bob asked.

"I'd have to visit a swamp or someplace similar," Xander said. "It takes me less than a minute."

"How about the Le Brea Tar Pits?" John asked. "It's not a swamp exactly, but it's filled with the bones of prehistoric animals. Not sure how much blacker you can get and it's on the way."

"Works for me," Xander said. "Just give me directions."

"Head towards downtown," John ordered, "They've got signs everywhere. You need blue too, right?"

"Yeah, I also need red, but not so much," Xander said. "I have basic elemental attacks, a couple of buffs and debuffs, some healing abilities, and a handful of summons."

"What summons do you have?" John asked excitedly.

"A handful of different ninja, including some sages and a kage," Xander said thoughtfully. "I've also got bears, dryads, squirrels, snakes, tigers, and of course T-800s."

"You can summon T-800s?" John asked in disbelief.

"A squad of T-800's would handle the T-1000 with little problem," Bob pointed out.

"I scanned Bob, so I can make more of him," Xander said. "Oh yeah and the two trickster types and some illusion abilities. When we have a defensible position I'll summon some, right now they'd attract too much attention."

"What's the stats on Uncle Bob?" John asked curiously.

"He's a two four artifact creature on summoning," Xander replied, "three mana any color."

"That's pretty good for three mana," John said, "and since you gave him Holy and Unholy Strength that would put him at five seven?"

"Exactly," Xander replied as they came to a stop light.

"And I'm a what, a five five?" John asked eagerly.

"You are a four four since you were a normal human without a shitload of training and muscles," Xander said.

"Dude, harsh," John said before grinning. "Bet I could sweep the Olympics now though."

"You probably could," Xander agreed. "You'd need to learn the skills, but everything physical you'd have down."

"This is so cool," John said before sighing, "but then after all the crap I've gone through something cool had to happen to balance it out."

"I wish," Xander said. "Karma is missing, shit happens and if you want fair you have to make things fair yourself."

"You sound kinda bitter for a Planeswalker," John said, "don't you have all kinds of cool powers and shit?"

"As I said, I only got them recently, shit sucked before then," Xander said. "Now things are pretty great, not going to lie, but before they were hell."

"So," John said thoughtfully, "since you haven't seen much fair in life you've decided to make them fair?"

"Nah," Xander said, "Your Mom and Bob teaming up is unfair for a T-1000. I almost feel sorry for it. I don't want things fair, I want a complete curbstomp for the good guys."

"Works for me," John said. "What are all the ninja like?"

"Complete horndogs," Xander replied, "at least the ones I hung around with."

"Seriously?" John asked.

"Oh yeah," Xander agreed with a fond smile, "they were all about having fun or blowing things up."

"And you can just… make more of them?" he asked.

"I can make similar people," Xander said, "they'd be a bit different, like siblings or cousins with the same tastes."

"But… you can make people," John said, a little awe in his voice as he really considered the enormity of it.

"And bears," Xander said cheerfully as he made a turn, "but anyone can do that, the people, not the bears, I just do it quicker."

John laughed. "You know what I mean."

"I do," Xander agreed, "and that's why I don't make disposable people. If I create someone I give them a purpose and set things up so they won't be lost without me. I can also create artifacts, which is basically anything man-made that I've scanned, which is where this Hummer came from."

"That's pretty cool of you," John decided.

"I thought so," Xander agreed. "The world would be a better place if people at least tried to avoid being dicks. And we're here." Xander pulled into the parking lot which was mostly empty, only having a few cars which were probably security and maintenance since the tourist attraction had closed some hours before.

"How close do you gotta be?" John asked eagerly.

"This close," Xander said, closing his eyes and getting a feel for the place, waiting for that final little click that connected him to the land. "Got it," he declared a second later.

"Is it black?" John asked, almost bouncing in his seat.

"Yep," Xander replied with a smile, "Tap for one Black Mana or to Sac X number of corpses for 2x Black Mana."

"Any corpses?" John asked.

"I'm going to assume they need to be at least the size of a dog, but yeah, any corpses."

"So it's Black Mana and a good way to cover up a murder," John decided.

"I've got raise dead," Xander said, "I can drop a Black Mana to vanish a corpse and bring them back as my summons for their casting cost."

"Dude," John said as Xander started the Hummer, "could you bring back Elvis, Freddie Mercury, and Jimmy Hendrix?"

"Ignoring the morals of the situation… Yeah," Xander agreed.

"What would be immoral about bringing back rock legends decades after their death so they can see what they sparked?" John asked. "I mean, it's not like they're immortal or anything and if they want to die again it'd take like two seconds."

"One point three," Bob corrected him, causing John to groan.

"Okay, you got me there," Xander admitted, "but let's try to solve the end-of-the-world first before we start resurrecting people for fun."

"Probably a good idea," John agreed. "Hey, take Pacific Coast highway, you can pick up more Blue Mana that way."

"Good idea," Xander said, turning to follow the signs.

After a while, John yawned. "Wish you'd grabbed an RV, it'd come in handy right about now."

"This vehicle has a lower profile and resists damage better," Bob pointed out.

"But has no beds," John said. "I'm getting tired and it'll be a couple of hours until we can spring my Mom. Wouldn't say no to some food either, truthfully."

"Switch with me," Bob says, "there is more room to sleep in the back and you'll be less visible lying down."

"And there's the beach," Xander said as they reach the Pacific Coast highway. "I'll pull into a scenic spot and you can switch." Xander spent one of his abundant Green Mana to create a bag of McDonald's food he'd scanned earlier and passed it to John.

"Thanks," John said, immediately digging in.

After a few minutes Xander saw a scenic lookout and pulled into it. "Okay, you two switch seats while I tap this place for more blue."

It only takes a few seconds before he connected with the land, feeling a dozen miles of road in both directions and noticing a few cars that had gone off into the water years past.

"I should drive," Bob says. "We are unlikely to encounter the T-1000 at this time and my driving skills are superior."

"That's a good point," Xander decided, getting out of the Hummer and stretching his legs. "I'm going to take a leak, give me a minute."

"No problemo," Bob replied as he slid into the driver's seat and adjusted all the mirrors.

It only took Xander a minute to finish and zip himself up before climbing in the passenger seat and buckling up. "Let's ride."

The T-800 had shut off all the running lights on the car and smoothly accelerated to over a hundred and twenty miles an hour in the dark in just under sixteen seconds.

"I really should have guessed this was your plan," Xander said. "If a cop tries to pull us over, don't take any hostile actions, just pull over and I'll use one of my spells to make him decide we aren't important and can go on our way."

"I do not believe that is one of the spells you have mentioned before," Bob noted.

"It falls under illusions," John offered in between bites of his burger. "It probably takes Blue Mana."

"Understood," Bob replied.

Xander closed his eyes and tried to get a feel for the land around them, feeling the connection instantly snap into place as they were still within the territory he had claimed. It didn't take all that long before they'd passed beyond the bounds of the land and onto another. Xander focused on the feel of it and felt it snap into place before they were a quarter of a way across it.

Xander grinned.

It took nearly three hours before they reached Pescadero and Xander was able to warn Bob to slow down and turn on his lights twice to avoid police attention as he collected fourteen more Blue Mana.

"We are here," Bob announced. "We need a plan."

"Is there an inconspicuous place to park near the facility?" Xander asked.

"There is an electrical substation that provides power to the hospital nearby," Bob replied.

"We can park there and send a couple of summons to sneak Sarah out," Xander replied.

"What are the capabilities of your summons?" Bob asked.

"Depends on the type of summons," Xander said. "I have many different kinds of ninja up to kage, all with different skills and abilities."

"Which is the one with the greatest probability of successfully completing the mission?" Bob asked, turning onto a gravel side road, the high security mental care facility visible as they drove towards the electrical substation.

"Kage," Xander replied. "Mana costs for summoning one are high at six mana, but once he's been briefed there's little he can't do. A kage is a force of nature in a human shell."

"Why have you not summoned one?" Bob asked as he pulled around the side of the transformers and parked.

"High cost and we haven't needed one yet," Xander replied. "I like to keep my options open, but now would be the perfect time."

Xander closed his eyes and started tapping lands. He needed a red, a blue, a green, and three additional ones of any color, so he chose blue, since he had a surplus at the moment. Xander let out a relieved sigh as he released the spell and an old Japanese man in grey robes with a triangular hat appeared next to the Hummer. He puffed on his pipe and gave a genial smile while waiting for orders.

Xander undid his seatbelt and climbed out of the Hummer, Bob doing so as well. "I'll have to wait until after sunrise to give you Unholy Strength, because I'm keeping that one Black Mana I have in reserve in case of emergency, but I have more than enough white and green to cast Holy Strength and Regeneration to return you to your physical prime."

"I would suggest waiting until I have time to train, as restoring me to my prime and enhancing me would throw my chakra control off," the old man advised.

"Point," Xander agreed. "I name you… Ryu."

"Good name," Ryu said. "What's my mission?"

Xander turned to Bob. "Give him all the details including the technology he's likely to run into. I'll see if John has a picture of his mom."

"On it, Bro," Bob said in his usual monotone.

Xander opened the back door and shook John's shoulder. "John, wake up. I need a picture of your mom."

"What? For what?" John asked confused as he sat up.

"Ryu is going to rescue your mom and he needs to know what she looks like," Xander explained.

"We're there?" John asked as he wiped his eyes and looked around.

"At a substation out of sight right next to it," Xander assured him.

"Okay, give me a second," John said as he picked up his backpack and pulled out his laptop. "I gotta boot up."

"Warn her we've got a T-800 repurposed to protect John with us," Xander said, interrupting Bob and Ryu's discussion of local security measures.

"It will be done," Ryu assured Xander with a patient smile, before returning his attention to Bob.

"Why'd you summon an old man?" John asked curiously.

"Ryu is based on Sarutobi, the kage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves," Xander explained. "Even enemy villages refer to him as the God of Shinobi."

"Holy shit, how much mana did he cost?!" John asked, impressed.

"Three colors of mana and six total," Xander replied.

"Killer," John said as he started typing away and four pictures appeared on screen. "Here's my mom." He turned the laptop sideways to show them.

"Impressive woman," Ryu said. "She should be easy enough to find."

"Do you need any additional equipment?" Xander asked.

"I believe I have everything I need on me," Ryu assured him. "What are my orders if I come across the T-1000?"

"Rescuing Sarah Conner takes precedence," Xander said, "but make sure it's her and not the T-1000 pretending to be her. If she's dead, bring me her body and I can resurrect her."

"As you command," the old man said with a kindly smile and took a puff on his pipe before letting out a cloud of smoke that obscured his form. As the smoke dissipated, it became obvious the old man was no longer there.

"It's kind of freaky to think of you resurrecting my mom," John said while turning off his laptop. "I hope she's okay."

"Plan for the worst, hope for the best," Xander said, "and since there's an afterlife, don't worry so much about death, worry about being a good enough person to get into one of the better afterlives."

"How good are we talking here?" John asked, looking for a distraction. "I'm not exactly real big on church."

"I'm not sure, but as long as you're not a complete asshole you should be okay," Xander told him. "Plus, saving humanity has got to add some major credit to your account."

"I haven't saved humanity yet and I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to," John said. "Cyborgs from the future aside, I have a hard time believing I will."

"That's adult you's problem," Xander said, "and that's only if we fail in stopping Skynet."

"Yeah," John said, cheering up, "and you're helping with that, right?"

"Yep," Xander agrees, "and I can add enough new elements to completely screw up attempts to manipulate the timeline."

"How do you mean?" John asked.

"The more changes I make, the further we are from the timeline Skynet was created in," Xander said. "If I know my comic books, that means it'll take a lot more energy to access this timeline, if it's even possible."

"Comic books?" John asked, amused.

"Reality is a bit stranger than you think," Xander told him.

"Fine, but I'm only accepting that because my life is already really fucking strange and you came from a card game," John said with a smile.

A wind sprang up next to the Hummer and suddenly Ryu was standing there with a muscular young woman with an intense gaze. She quickly ran her eyes over everyone present, stopping on the T-800 for a moment before seeing John.

"Mom!" he exclaimed and jumped out to hug her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she hugged him before holding him at arm's length and looking him over. "How are you so fit?"

"It's complicated and I'm being hunted by a Terminator," John explained. "What say we discuss on the way to some place way the fuck away from here?"

"I'll drive," Bob said before immediately getting in the driver's seat.

"Ryu, you get passenger," Xander said, waving towards the front.

The old man nodded and got in, closing the door behind him as the other three hopped in the back. "Very comfortable chair," he remarked.

Sarah sat behind the T-800 with John in the middle and Xander on the end.

"Okay, we're on the way, someone explain," Sarah ordered.

"My name is Alexander Harris, I'm not from your timeline and have abilities that you would describe as magic," he explained. "Bob, the T-800 was reprogrammed by John Conner and sent to protect his younger self from a T-1000 that Skynet sent after him. Ryu is a copy of a Ninja I know from another world that I created to break you out."

"I'd say that was impossible, but I've already seen Ryu do several things that I'd say were impossible," Sarah said as she considered how they'd gotten out. "How far can we get before morning and they notice I'm gone?"

"I left an illusion of you still being present," Ryu said, "it'll last until they try and wake you."

"That reminds me," Xander said, "it's almost morning, we should change vehicles so we have more space and I can burn some excess mana."

"It's an hour and forty-five minutes until sunrise," Bob replied, "we should get a minimum of twenty miles away before changing vehicles."

"Head south," Sarah ordered, "I have a weapons cache and supplies near the border."

"Then we should head east before changing vehicles," Bob pointed out, "to avoid being followed."

"Pick a low rent area," Xander ordered, "I'll leave the keys in the Hummer and someone will dispose of it for us."

"It's good to see you," John said to his mom.

"It's good to see you too," Sarah replied, giving him another hug. "How dangerous is the T-1000? What are its capabilities?"

"Liquid metal, changes shape, mimics anything," Xander listed off. "Can't mimic complex machinery, but other than that the sky's the limit. However it's unstable and will break down over time. If it gets within arm's reach of me I can paralyze it and Ryu can easily destroy it by alternating hot and cold elemental techniques."

"Is it immune to electrical attacks?" Ryu asked curiously. "Or magnetic ones?"

"Both may fry it," Xander admitted. "Which reminds me." He reached out and tapped three lands, two red and one blue, the hilt of a sword forming in his hand. "Thunder God's sword," he explained, handing it to Ryu.

"What did you just do?" Sarah asked.

"I created a legendary artifact weapon that's a bit like a medieval lightsaber," Xander explained. "You need chakra to use it, so only Ryu can actually make it work."

"How?" she asked.

"I'll let John explain," Xander said, knowing the boy would be happy to talk to his mom about just about anything.

Xander listened as the two talked and John showed off his deck, happy to find his mother interested in one of his hobbies as she realized the tactical nature of the game and she started talking about strategy with him.

"We are here," Bob announced, shutting off the engine.

Xander opened the door and hopped out. They were in an alley behind a liquor store, it was half filled with trash and broken bottles. It was perfect for what they'd planned.

"It's a very interesting method of travel," Ryu said as he got out, having watched how the others had opened the door and following suit. "Decent speed, very comfortable."

Xander nodded. "Most people don't drive with the headlights off at over two hundred miles an hour, but then most people aren't a super advanced cyborg who can see in the infrared spectrum and have reflexes that are as fast as lightning." A ten-year-old Winnebago appeared in the middle of the alley and everyone turned to look at him. "We're trying to blend in and no one is going to look at this twice."

Bob nodded. "I'll drive," he said firmly.

"Fine, but keep the headlights on and drive a couple of miles under the speed limit, we are going for stealth, not speed," Xander ordered.

"No problemo, fat boy," Bob said, as he retrieved their equipment from the Hummer.

Sarah stared at the cyborg in surprise until John poked her.

"I've been teaching him," John said proudly.

"Everyone in the Winnebago," Xander said.

"I'll take passenger," Ryu said, "I prefer to see where we're going."

"We need more weapons," Sarah said, "also food, money, and a complete set of Magic cards." She looked around the Winnebago, noting it was well taken care of before taking a seat at the table in the back, John quickly joining her.

Xander followed, closing the door behind him as Bob started up the fifteen foot RV and pulled out onto the street. "I can help with some of that right now." He sat at the table across from Sarah and pictured what he wanted, building a pallet worth of equipment in his mind before tapping the single mana needed and materializing it on the table in front of them.

"Interesting clothes," Sarah noted as she quickly sorted through the nin gear for a set that would fit, not even batting an eye. "Not standard camouflage, but the colors are dark enough to blend in anywhere."

"That's the idea," Xander agreed, "they blend in and are tough enough to stop most knives unless there's a lot of force behind them."

"I need to change," Sarah said, sliding out of the booth. "Be right back." She stepped into the RV's tiny bathroom.

"Probably a relief to get out of the hospital pajamas they made her wear," Xander said as he claimed a coke from one of the two McDonald's orders he'd created.

"How much mana did it cost to make all this?" John asked as he checked for some of the nin clothes in his size, since his recent 'growth spurt' had made them annoyingly tight.

"A single mana," Xander replied as John changed. "None of it is magical, so the cost is low."

"Guns are pretty powerful, so you'd think they'd cost at least a little," John said grabbing a Jonin vest and trying it on.

"Even a single mana is a great deal of power," Xander said, "and none of it is real complex."

"So computers and the like cost more?" John asked as he tried on some boots.

"They do," Xander agreed. "I could probably get three laptops for one mana, less if I'm including accessories."

"And a T-800 is how much?" he asked, examining the throwing knives.

"Three mana," Xander replied. "Any color since they are artifact creatures."

Sarah came out of the bathroom dressed in nin gear and looking a bit happier.

"How powerful are you and how much help can you provide?" she asked as she loaded up on weapons and ammo.

"Lean forward," Xander said, licking his thumb. "Since it's almost sunrise I can spend the one black mana I've been holding back to enhance you."

Sarah leaned forward and Xander ran a thumb on either side of her neck, casting two of his favorite spells, causing her already muscular frame to swell. "I feel stronger," she said as she examined her arms.

"You now have enough strength to rip apart a T-800," Xander told her. "I don't know how to categorize how powerful I am, but I can provide you with enough help to ensure that even if Judgment Day comes to pass, human kind will win even quicker than they already were going to."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked as she grabbed a bag of food.

"Because Skynet needs you and John out of the way or it loses and I can create three copies of you a day," Xander said bluntly.

"What?" the two chorused in shock.

Typing By: Abyssal Angel

TN: Yes, what could possibly be immoral about potentially ripping someone from Heaven without their consent and then telling them they can just kill themselves if they want to go back, which is generally regarded as one of the higher tier sins, thus preventing them from getting back to where they were in the afterlife if they follow through? Sounds perfectly open and shut with no problems to me, Xander-baka. XD

AN: He wasn't saying they could commit suicide if they didn't like it, he was saying he could simply kill them. Not their decision not their sin.