'I lost you once...I'll never lose you again.'

The resurrected Allison Young

TERMINATOR: RISE

Pray For Answer:

Part One: Her Hope

Altered Future: 2027

Eight Months after the arrival of John Connor

Location:

Classified:

The night was still, the sound of the nearest vehicle over a kilometer away was barely audible. The sprawling mansion was situated well enough away from the other buildings along the long winding road, a sign of the power of the Skynet collaborator who owned it. A high stone wall with a locked gate surrounded the spacious complex. Inside one of the interior guard houses a light flickered inside- a guard lighting a cigarette.

Squatting just inside the wall, Sergeant Thomas Haden, listened to his team as they reported in over the secure tech-com radio attached to his right ear.

"Puma ready. Out"

"Leopard ready. Out."

"Tiger. Out."

Thomas' mind was already thinking ahead. Lynx had thirty seconds to report in or he would commence the mission without that unit's participation.

"Lynx ready. Out."

Thomas stood, his tall, lean build clad in black assault armor covered by a combat harness that bristled with an array of killing devices. His face was covered with a black balaclava and the stubby snout A70 night vision goggles. The silenced sub-machine gun fit intimately in his left hand. The stock was collapsed and the thin tube of the silencer followed in short arcs wherever he looked.

"Angel this is Jaguar, ready to deploy," Thomas calmly said, reaching up and flicking a toggle on the night-vision goggles.

Less then a millisecond later an image sprang to life in the viewer, showing the outline of the wall and the rest of the sprawling complex in an smear of false colors. Thomas gently pressed on the switch, adjusting the resolution until the imagers light filtration software filtered through the visible spectrum.

"Jaguar this is Angel. You have final clearance. Deploy," the voice sounded tinny through the heavily secured Tech-Com radio.

Thomas' face remained expressionless as he tilted his head and allowed the NVG's targeting software to track the guard that just come out from the protection of the building. He could clearly see the muted glow of the guard's cigarette as he lazily walked about, ignorant of what was to come.

"Deploy," He ordered over the radio and brought up his machine gun.

The three men and one woman moved with perfect unison towards the mansion as Ryan pulled the trigger.

The burst of subsonic bullets splattered the man against the door of the guardhouse, the gun giving off the muted sound of being fired. Lynx moved and stepped over the dead body, placing a small shaped explosive charge just above the door's security lock. They stepped back and waited. The blast was brief and the team sprinted in. The power went off as Thomas went through the door and everything plunged into darkness. Through the NVGs he saw a group of men react blindly in the dark.

He fired a burst to his right and the guards fell to the floor, no longer moving. The rest of his unit fanned out and secured the lowest part of the first floor foyer. He saw the shape of something move through the viewer and the targeting reticules locked on to the target. Thomas fired once and the man fell dead.

"Tiger. Three down B4." Thomas knew that Tiger Element had successfully secured the area.

The crump of an explosion coming from his right as more doors were blown in. That was good- there was the sound of return fire but his unit was trained better than these inexperienced scavengers. The deep roar of a automatic assault rifle sounded.

"Got that bastard!" Came an overjoyed voice over the radio. "Lynx. One down and dead. Section C4."

A new voice cut in as Thomas jogged up the second floor landing. "This is Leopard. I found the targets on thermal. They're hiding behind the bed. Going in."

He ran up the steps two at a time and turned the corner as the blast took out the bedroom door. The brief flash of light nearly overloaded the sensitive NVGs but the automatic filtration software kicked in and dimmed the optic sensor. Two of his men had handcuffed and blindfolded their target: a fat naked, old, blubbering, Skynet grey. He stared at the second occupant of the bed, a young exotic woman with long black flowing hair. She held the sheets tightly around her body as her dark-eyes briefly bore into Thomas' before glancing at the other masked people in the room.

"Get him the hell out of here!" Thomas brusquely ordered as Lynx and Leopard hustled the old man out of the room.

"I'll take care of her," Puma said, the expression on his face hidden by the balaclava.

Thomas flipped the selector switch on his weapon and answered Puma's suggestion by firing a round into the woman's head. Blood and brain matter splattered all over the headboard as her body fell backwards hitting the bloodstained mattress. Vacant dark-eyes stared up at the ceiling as Thomas stepped forward, ripping the sheet away to reveal the pistol clutched in her lifeless hand. He looked up at and shook his head.

"She's an I-950." he scolded Puma. "One more second and we'd all be dead."

"Are you sure about that?" Puma questioned. "I still think that we should've brought Jessica for this operation."

"We don't need her," Thomas said. He took one more look at the grisly scene and spoke into the thin microphone built into the balaclava. "All units pull back. Repeat, all units pull back. Objective achieved."

The specially modified Stealth MH-53 Pave Low helicopter settled onto the grounds of the mansion just right at the right time and the members of the team quickly loaded, throwing the bound fat man in first. The back ramp closed and the chopper lifted silently due to the computerized noise cancellation system. The pilot pushed a button on the control panel and the skin of the aircraft briefly flickered . The reactive camouflage system came online eliminating the Pave Low's sound signature and visual signature, heat and radar were also eliminated.

The technology was years ahead of it's time and to the outside observer seem alien. It was developed by the TX series Terminator known as Jessica Kell from schematics downloaded from Skynet Central. The stealth technology was to be used for the next generation of Skynet Hunter Killer drones, but Jessica had seen to it that the Resistance would end up with the plans.

Thomas walked to the center of the cargo bay where the old man lay, the red lights reflecting off his pale skin. He slid up the night-vision goggles and pulled the black balaclava down, exposing his face and blue-eyes. He knelt down next to the man and stared. The interrogators back at base were waiting but Thomas had to know.

"Where is Charles Fischer?"

The man glanced up at him in confusion. "What?"

Thomas glanced up at Puma who sat along the seat bench lining the wall of the chopper. He looked back down at the man and lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "The Grey that stayed at your mansion. He knows the location of several kidnapped Resistance soldiers."

"I don't know," the old man said. "Your people broke into my mansion and Fischer ran. That's all I know!"

Thomas peered intently into the man's eyes. He was right. He felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. His instincts told him that he was telling the truth. Another false lead. He looked up at Puma and shook his head and lied. "Nothing."

Thomas wearily nodded, the adrenaline he felt from the mission rapidly dissipating and the anxiety beginning to build.

Puma squeezed his arm. "We needed Jessica. She could've handled things differently..." Puma paused before continuing. "Jessica would have been able to find information on Cameron!"

Thomas ran a hand across his forehead. "Doesn't matter anyway, I'm sure that Jessica will just lecture me on not taking her in the first place."

He walked forward to the cargo web seat and slumped down against the skin of the aircraft. Making sure he was away from the other members of his team, Thomas peeled off his gloves. He dug his hand into the right cargo pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a small silver watch. With his right hand he lifted it up to see the everyday . He was surprised that it still functioned. It was a birthday present from Jessica.

Thomas remembered the fear that was in the woman's eyes in the bedroom. He didn't know who she was or why she was there. His instincts warned him about the possibility of her having a weapon the second before he killed her. But there was no way to make sure if she had intended to use it. It was the killing reflex that had been drummed into him during his training in the Resistance.

Thomas felt a hole open in his chest and tried to push away the last two years of self pity and guilt. He closed his eyes trying to push it aside, but failed. Without thinking his hand went straight to his right hip and unstrapped the cover of the holster. He pulled out the pistol and flipped off the safety.

"Sergeant, there's a message for you," a tap on his shoulder startled him.

Thomas blinked and looked at the gun in his hand. The commo man stared for a moment before handing him a secure headset. He awkwardly placed the pistol back into the holster. "Haden here."

"Sergeant Haden," the voice of General Perry came over the secure line. "We just received a tip from your metal's people about the location of a possible Skynet lab. Some really advanced stuff. Drop your prisoner off at the base, our people will take care of the rest. Your new orders are to meet up with Jessica and escort her to this lab."

Thomas shook his head to clear it. "What?"

"You heard me. Meet up with your machine and get to that lab!"

Thomas felt the trepidation build up. "Sir, I haven't worked with Jessica for over three months! Send Connor with her. He likes metal!"

"You've worked well with Jessica in the past, before. I suggest you work past your issues with her."

"Yes, Sir," Thomas grudgingly relented.

The radio went dead and Thomas ripped off the headset, throwing it onto the floor. He pressed his hands against his temples, trying to block out the face of the blond haired haired, blue-eyed terminator that part him still felt something for, but failed. Now after all these months he was forced to work her again.

Resistance Bunker

Allison Young stood on the edge of the makeshift tarmac staring up into the western horizon. Overhead the dark cloudy night sky rumbled with thunder as a storm slowly begin to move in letting loose a light drizzle of rain soaking her light grey Resistance duty uniform. She turns her face skyward feeling the fresh rain mixing with the tears streaming down her cheeks. Only three hours ago she had been inside the lower tunnels of the bunker working on the unfinished Hang in there Baby! Mural of a lion with a T-888 skull in it's teeth. It was a personal pet project of hers to try and muster some fighting spirit for her fellow Resistance Soldiers in this endless war against the machines.

She was applying finishing touches to the lion's mane, listening in on the communication chatter through a small receiver, given to her by General Weaver, when Derek Reese came up behind her. The flurry of the radio transmissions brought her some sort of comfort trying to push away the worry she felt for Thomas while he was deployed on this mission. Her hand trembles from nervousness ,gently applying the red paint to the mane.

"That's nice work," Reese told her gesturing towards the unfinished painting. "You're really talented." Allison turns to face him, smiling gratefully from his compliment. Crossing his arms and regarding her with a thoughtful gaze. "It's just to bad that he can't see that."

Allison tips her head a little to the left feeling confused at Derek's last statement.

"What do you mean?" She asks, still listening to the transmissions as Bravo Element reports touchdown at the target site. Static hisses over the line for several seconds before the team reports back in deploying into point positions before approaching the objective.

Derek's usual scowl crosses over his unshaven face.

"You know who I mean, Allie," Derek grouses feeling frustrated not at her but at the man who was with a machine a year and a half ago. Even if Thomas thought Jessica was human, he should have picked up something was off about her and pushed the metal away sooner. "He deserves to be with you. Not it."

The smile fades from Allison's face at his words.

"She's not an it," She begins angrily defending her machine friend. "She has a name…and it's Jessica. She loves Thomas." Allison pauses looking away from Derek towards the unfinished mural as another transmission is received.

"This is Leopard," The voice of Thomas reports in causing her to slightly smile and Derek catches the look. "We are entering inside the building…whatever Skynet has been working on."

"Jessica is a machine," Derek says tightly trying to control the uneasiness that was flowing through him. "All she is good for is killing people. It might look a pretty girl on the outside but on the inside we have no idea what is going on."

"Jessica hasn't killed anyone," Allison counters with a shake of her head. "I trust her…completely."

"You don't know that!" Derek hisses out causing her to flinch. "She's metal. Built to kill and do whatever it does. It can't feel! Never can and never will." He looks at her apologetically. "I know that you love Thomas. Everyone knows it Allie…and he feels the same way about you."

"You don't know that," Allison tells him in a trembling voice, her upper lip begins to tremble as the radio goes deathly silent for several uneasy moments. She looks up at him with angry brown-eyes. "That's none of your business."

Derek lets out a deep breath trying to defuse the situation, she looks away from him placing her hand over the ear bud placed in her right ear as the static filled transmission broke in with the yelling voice of John Connor. Her brown-eyes begin to glisten with moisture looking back up at Derek with a face full of pain.

"Listen," he starts holding up his hands. "I'm just telling you truth." He stops in mid sentence seeing the look of shock and the tears streaking down her face. "Allie? What's wrong?"

"Thomas has been shot…" She gets out through a tightened throat her body trembling from the complete shock. "A sniper…" She doesn't finish hearing John's repeat of a medical evacuation.

Derek steps forward pulling Allison into a tight embrace, she grips onto him tightly her pained wails echoing off the flecking metal walls of the tunnel.

That was three hours ago. Now Allison Young stood with the Resistance Medics and other soldiers anxiously waiting for the MH-53 to return home with Bravo Unit. The news on Thomas' condition was not good as the wound from the hidden sniper looked very bad.

Gifted naturally as an artist, her father was an architect who taught her how to draw when Allison was little. Her mother, Carol, a music teacher listened to Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor for hours into the night. As a little three year old stumbling throughout the house following the haunting sounds of her mom playing the piano perfectly echoing the sheet music. Sometimes little Allie would walk into the music room of their house and watch with wide innocent brown-eyes as she played. Carol would warmly smile at her daughter, lovingly pulling the small child into her lap and try to teach the ever curious youngster the notes of a great master.

The cold downpour suddenly becomes a deluge falling heavily against the pitied concrete of the helipad as Allison tightens her grip on the small communications receiver. A small earpiece was inserted into her right ear listening to the flurry of radio chatter that came over the secure line. Her heart was thumping wildly in her heaving chest hearing the shocked voice of John Connor yell over the channel for a medical evacuation.

"We have a man down! I repeat man down! Need medical evac now!"

Her chest tightens at hearing those words, worry for Thomas floods through her shaking body like a tsunami destroying everything in it's path.

"Oh God," Allison quietly whispers balling her fists and fearing the worst for the man who she had grown up with during the years before joining the Resistance. Thomas had looked out for her during the time he was trained by Sarah Connor to be a soldier. He was always kind to her, making sure that Allison always had food to eat, even going as far to give up his own supply of rations so that she could have a full stomach. Sometimes Thomas would go without eating for days just to make sure that she was alright before taking care of himself. All that mattered to him was her safety.

Something with the mission had gone wrong.

Very wrong.

"Roger. Bravo Three," The pilot of the Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low curtly responds over the channel. "We have you on radar. Three klicks from your signal."

"Better make it fast," Connor demands. "Thomas is badly injured…he's bleeding out badly."

There is a slight pause in the communications as Savannah Weaver comes on the line. Allison clamps a hand over her mouth trying to control the sadness threatening to overwhelm her.

"John this is Savannah," She asks the worry evident in her voice. "What happened to Thomas ? Is he okay? Is Jessica alright?"

"Yeah!" John quickly says. "She's okay! There was a sniper that ambushed us after we left the building that contained the lab…he was shot." He pauses over the radio as if having trouble getting out his next words. "He's lost too much blood. Jessica believes that he won't make it…"

"Thomas," Allison breaths out in shock dropping the receiver to the concrete and sinking to her knees unable to control the soul crushing sobs. The falling rain mixes with the fresh tears rolling from her saddened brown-eyes, trying to cope with the troubling news. "No…this can't be…"

Her fingers tightly grip at the pitted pavement as the tears splash with the falling rain.

"No…Thomas."

The heavy falling rain finally lets up as the deep thumps of approaching helicopter blades sound through the cold air. She looks up to see the massive form of the chopper smoothly touch down at the edge of the tarmac. The back wash of the blades causes Allison to shiver from the cold temperature as the Resistance Medics rush forward to the MH-53 as the back ramp slowly opens. Her eyes widen in unbelieving shock at the sight of a very solemn looking John Connor and the tearful Jessica Kell, both of their uniforms stained with splotches of dark blood..

TO BE CONTINUED...