Chapter 8: The Secret of Black Mesa
"Well what are we supposed do now?" Faye asked as they watched Ed flip through the hundreds of cameras set up around the base, searching for Spike or the T-1000. So far they had only seen empty rooms and corridors.
"For the time being we don't do anything." Jet answered. They could probably still talk to Spike but until he actually came out of the vents he wouldn't be able to tell where he was any more then they could. And the T-1000, if Spike really had blown him into the base's water system he could have been swept anywhere. The only option now was search every inch of the base that still had functioning cameras and try to see Spike or the T-1000 in one of them. So far the only thing they had gotten out of that was a serious case of eye strain.
"Hundreds of square miles and we're betting on them showing up where we can see them. Anyone else think that the chances of that are, what, one in a million?" Kyle asked. Nobody responded to his pessimism because he was more or less right. While there were quite a few cameras still operational there were far more that had been knocked out over the years or just plain didn't work anymore. However fate apparently has a sense of humor since no more then ten seconds after Kyle said that an alarm began blaring from Ed's control panel.
"Emergency, Emergency." The calm voice of the base VOX said over the PA system. "Security compromise detected in Lambda sector. Alpha and Beta security personnel are to initiate containment protocols immediately. Emergency, Emergency…." Ed shut off the VOX and started typing.
One of the main screens in front of them blinked to life and they saw the overhead shot of an angry looking T-1000 in a room they didn't recognize. He appeared to be looking for something and as he scanned past the camera he stopped and seemed to be scrutinizing it. His scowl deepened as he recognized what it was and he thrust his arm up. Despite the fact that the camera was in the ceiling he seemed to reach it easily as the picture disappeared, replaced by static.
"One in a million huh?" Faye sarcastically asked. "I should get odds like this at the tracks."
"Well we found one of them at least." Jet said, ignoring Faye's remark.
"Yeah but the problem is he knows we found him." John put in. "He'll be expecting company, and have a chance to learn the layout before we get there."
"Not if we get there fast." Jet replied. "Ed, how far is it to Lambda sector?" Ed brought up a map of the base and a glowing path started snaking its way from where they were to Lambda. "Looks like we can be there in ten minutes if we take the tram."
"And leave him more then enough time to work his way out of there and start wandering down this way." John said.
"Which is why one of the Freezethrowers is going to stay here." Jet told them. "I'll carry one up to Lambda and since we can't risk both of them Arnold is going to have to stay here. That also means that one of you will have to come with me." He stated, looking at the three adults. Not wanting another argument to break out John turned to Kyle and held out a fist.
"Loser has to go." He stated.
"Oh come on." Faye said, rolling her eyes. Was John actually suggesting that they make a life and death decision based on a game of rock paper scissors!? She couldn't believe he was serious but Kyle just shrugged and held out his fist.
"One, two three." John counted. Kyle chose scissors and John chose paper. "Looks like I'm going." John said, not trying to get out of it. Kyle handed him his MP5.
"Better take this instead. It'll be more effective then your shotgun." He told him.
"Just let me load up." John said. He had originally chosen the shotgun because it was one of the few things that was able to slow the T-1000 down on Mars. Since explosives slowed it down even more, if only marginally, and the MP5 was more suited to offensive fighting John didn't argue. Going back to the arsenal John traded in the shotgun shells for MP5 clips and grenades. Once he had as much as he could carry he and Jet headed for the transit car. John had suggested that Jet wear one of the security vests but between that and the Freezethrower he wouldn't be able to move. Ed programmed in the route the car would take and the others watched them leave from Security Command.
"Am I the only one who thinks what they're doing is a bad idea?" Faye asked as the tram got out of camera range. Going after something that dangerous when it could be waiting for you was not smart in her book.
"Given a choice I know I'd rather be on attack then defense." Kyle answered. "I just wish he had taken more of us with him. Two on one with something like that, even if the Freezethrower works, are not good odds."
"Because splitting the group up any more would have left all parts unable to fight efficiently." Arnold responded. "Even though I would stay here there would be only two to protect them." He looked over at Meifa and Ed. Protecting them, Ed especially, had become first priority. The T-1000 had designated Ed as its primary target and that meant her safety was paramount.
"You're right." Kyle spoke up. "Since he's gunning for Ed she'll need all the protection she can."
"The best protection is to destroy the T-1000 as soon as possible, before it can find her." Arnold stated. "Since we have an idea of its location now is the perfect opportunity to do so."
"And if they can't at least there'll be a walking tank along with the two of us to try again if he does find his way here." Kyle finished. "That or get them to a safe place."
"If that's even possible." Faye said. She wasn't trying to be pessimistic or scare the kids but it was a very ugly truth they would have to deal with. If they failed to destroy the T-1000 here where could they go? More importantly would they be able to destroy it at all?
Thoughts of his own destruction were the last thing on the T-1000's, in actuality Skynet's, mind. Right now it had its arm extended into a metallic colored blade that reached up and into the ceiling. When the alarm had gone off it was easy enough to tell that he was the one who had tripped it. The only question was just how he had done it. After examining the room he found a camera mounted in the ceiling and quickly destroyed it. It was more out of frustration then anything else. The humans were bound to know where he was now so it wasn't that logical to smash the camera. As he retracted his arm back and reformed it back into its original size and shape he began going over the options he had.
He had two main options to choose from. One was to remain in this sector and wait for the humans to seek him out. The other was to leave and continue his search for Radical Edward. The humans were bound to come looking for him and they could be armed even more heavily then Spike had been. Not that it would be that much of a problem but it would seriously hinder his efforts to terminate Radical Edward. On the other hand if he was to kill the humans that were coming after him there would be that many fewer to guard the child. A normal Terminator unit would come to the simple conclusion that this plan would make his objective easier to fulfill. Skynet had come to that conclusion as well, but more because instead of thinking in mission objectives he was too impatient to deal with that many humans at once when he was so close to killing what he hated.
Now that he had reached a decision he turned and began to move deeper into Lambda sector. No sense in making things that easy for the humans. He doubted they would expect him to stay in one place for too long after setting off the alarm anyway.
He was right in guessing the way the ones coming after him would react. As Jet and John continued towards Lambda in the transit car they had already concluded that if the T-1000 was still in Lambda it would have moved to set up a better ambush. Right now they were going over how they would conduct the search.
"If I take point it'll at least give you time to use the Freezethrower while he's busy with me." John said. Since they didn't know whether the strange weapon would have any effect on the liquid metal and putting someone on point with an untested weapon was dumb in every sense of the word.
"All right," Jet agreed. "but you'd better make sure you're out of my line of fire when I take my shot." He warned. It was kind of a stupid warning. If Skynet got the drop on them John would be dead before he knew what happened and Jet would barely have time to bring the Freezethrower into play. At that point if he hit John by accident he probably wouldn't care that much. Deciding not to dwell on that scenario he took out his radio and turned it on. "You still reading us Ed?"
"Ed radio is still on the air and listening for requests!" Came the enthusiastic reply. Since Lambda was the most cut off and isolated part of the base they were afraid that there were some sort of electronic counter measures that would interfere with their radios. So far they had encountered nothing and they were almost to Lambda so it looked like they wouldn't be cut off from the others. Of course there'd be nothing the others could do in the first place except give them intel. Ten minutes by transit car was a lot farther then ten minutes by walking. If they got into trouble there'd be no way for help to reach them in time. Of course that was only one of their problems.
"Any luck hacking into Lambda yet?" Jet asked. It looked like whatever they did there was so top secret the sector's security cameras, while connected to security command, were on an entirely different set up from the rest of the base. A setup that involved dozens of firewalls, passwords and clearance procedures to get in. Whatever they had been doing in Lambda it was clear that they were doing their best to make damn sure no one, not even most base personnel, could even look at it without fifty different kinds of permission. It had been pure luck that the camera Skynet had been caught on was one just outside Lambda's perimeter and had a direct connection with Security command.
"Ed and MPU almost have key to new pictures." Ed replied. Between her and MPU a majority of the electronic defenses were down but they still had a few to go. That left John and Jet with a not so pleasant decision as the transit car pulled into the Lambda station and opened its door.
"So do we go in blind or wait?" John asked. Jet frowned at the question. Neither option was a good one. They could walk right into Skynet's ambush but if they just sat here and waited they were asking to be attacked.
"Better to be moving target then a sitting one." Jet said as he stood up and walked out of the car. John followed and took point, MP5 ready, as they entered the transit station.
"I hate to sound like a whiner but this would be easier if we had another person." John said as he scanned the entire area for anything suspicious.
"Don't worry I agree with you." Jet said as he scanned the area ahead of, and behind them. With three people they could have covered all angles but two left the possibility of getting shot in the back if they weren't careful. "If Spike was around we would have brought him to…"
"But since he's off having fun that just leaves us." John finished as he opened the door that led from the station into the sector itself.
Fun would not be the term Spike would use to describe what he was doing. It had been tolerable for the first few minutes but now it was getting downright annoying. He'd been crawling for almost ten minutes now, taking twists and turns that led to who knows were, and not finding a vent large enough for him to squeeze through. As he continued to crawl down what appeared to be another obscenely long, straight section of the vents he was starting to consider just kicking a hole through thin metal and get out that way. He wasn't claustrophobic or anything but this had gotten really boring really fast. And the fact that the sooner he got out of this rat maze of vents he could work his way back to the others through the rat maze of a base. With a pause he realized if he thought that was a positive he had definitely been in here too long. His thoughts of escape were interrupted by the fact that one of his arms had gone over the edge of something and he had to stop suddenly to keep the rest of his body from joining it. In the darkness of the shaft it had been easy to miss the drop off but this was yet another thing that Spike didn't have time for.
Reaching across the gap Spike felt the solid metal of the duct walls. With a sigh he realized it was either take an express trip down or turn back. Since he didn't feel like backtracking all that way just to get lost again he decided to keep going forward. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to jump down a vent shaft that could be a hundred foot drop. Taking out his pistol he slowly pulled back the slide and ejected a bullet into his hand. Dropping the bullet over the edge he listened and after a few seconds heard it hit the bottom with a clang. He was no math genius but Spike was able to guess that the drop was about twenty feet, easy enough to shimmy down. It was a bit of a tight pinch but he was able to back up a little and turn himself around. Lowering himself down into the drop he braced his arms and legs on the duct walls and slowly began to work his way down. He was almost to the bottom when Murphy's Law decided to come into play.
He only missed his footing once. It was s simple mistake really, not bracing his foot at just the right angle and causing it to slip. Unfortunately with his limited space and current position inside the duct he had no chance to correct it and it just went downhill from there. When that foot slipped one hand slipped, then the other hand, and finally the other foot.
"SHIT!!!"
CRASH!! THUD!
He fell the last five feet and hit the bottom of the drop but the indignity didn't stop there. Murphy wasn't done with him quite yet as the force from his fall was enough to smash through the duct that he landed on and send him crashing to the ground. The fall hadn't been as serious as it might have looked and it hurt his pride more then anything else. Oddly enough as he was lying on his back looking up at where he fell from the first thought that came to his mind wasn't if he was injured or not, it was if anyone had seen what had happened. Deciding he'd have to live with it if they did Spike sat up with a groan and took in his new surroundings. It looked like he had fallen into yet another of Black Mesa's endless corridors. The only things different about this one were the two rats giving Spike weird looks.
"Don't suppose you guys know how to get out of here?" Spike asked the animals in an annoyed tone. In return the rats, which had probably never even seen a human before, just looked at him for a few more seconds before running off. Ignoring the fleeing vermin Spike stood up and began to look around. "So now where am I?" He asked himself. There was an arrow and the words 'Track Power Station' painted on one of the walls. He didn't know what track the sign was talking about but at least it was someplace to go. He took out his radio but when he turned it on he got nothing but static. Looks like wherever he was he was too deep underground for a signal to get through. With a shrug Spike put the radio back in his pocket and began following the signs.
Back in Lambda the radios still worked but the electronic defenses for the cameras were still up. As a result Jet and John needed to be twice as careful. So far the only things they had encountered were hallways lined with large pipes and sealed doors that hadn't been opened in decades. They also had seen several metal domes mounted in the ceiling. They looked like armored cameras but why would they do that instead of just hiding them better? Less confusing but very suspicious were several doors left wide open with their control panels ripped out and wires rearranged. It looked like Skynet was finding his own way around. The good news was they knew which way to go, but it also meant that he was luring them into a trap.
"How much longer Ed?" Jet asked into his radio. The longer they followed Skynet's trail in the dark the more dangerous it got.
"Ed is almost done." Ed replied. "Just need to…."
"Access denied. Access denied. Access denied." Vox started to drone. Back in Security Command those two words were flashing on the screen in front of Ed, much to the confusion of the young hacker and all her gathered fans.
"Is this some sort of backup program Ed?" Kyle asked. It was unlikely she had actually tripped any of the security set ups but this system might have something she had never heard of. She never got a chance to answer as Vox shut off and a new voice came over the PA system.
"There will be no help from Radical Edward today." Skynet announced to everyone in the base, Jet and John in particular. "You may have control over most of this base's resources but Lambda is mine."
Skynet was currently in the main security room of Lambda sector, doing some hacking of his own. Typing at a speed that even Ed would have been impressed at he was currently making an attempt to permanently isolate Lambda's security system from the rest of the base. Radical Edward would soon breach his new firewalls but keeping the cameras out of the human's control was only a secondary concern. While they were struggling to gain merely a way to observe Skynet was trying to take a more…direct approach to the situation.
Unaware of Skynet's intentions Ed and MPU continued to break through the new electronic barriers he had installed.
"Big Brain may be tricky but Ed is trickier." Ed said as she continued to type furiously. On screen four red lettered 'Access Denied' signs, visual representations of Skynet's firewalls, were flashing.
"First firewall deactivated." MPU announced. On screen the first sign disappeared and was replaced with another green lettered one that read 'Access Granted'. Out of curiosity Kyle took a look at his watch.
"It took them less then two minutes after that was set up to take it down." He told the others. "Anyone want to bet on how long the others take?" He asked, mostly to Faye, with a smirk. Faye snorted but didn't even look at him.
"Everyone place your bets on the rematch of the century! The Incredible Ed against the No Fun Big Brain!" Ed declared, never losing her typing rhythm.
Skynet, however, was not interested in a hacker's rematch just yet. While it would be an opportune chance to reestablish his superiority over the human there were more pressing matters to deal with. He had already programmed in a little surprise for Radical Edward and that would be sufficient for now. In the meantime a soft ding from the computer he was working at told him he had succeeded. With an arrogant smile he began typing in different commands.
It had been a day of surprises for Ed and the others and they thought they were prepared for anything. But when Skynet's other firewalls suddenly disappeared from the screen and they had access to Lambda's cameras even Ed was at a loss.
"Since you humans seem to regard the lives of others so highly I thought it would be amusing to show you this." Skynet said as his face appeared on one of the screens. On another screen they saw Jet and John working their way down a hallway. Skynet smirked at the watching humans and pressed the enter key of his computer.
In Lambda itself Jet and John were following Skynet's trail as carefully as they could when they got a nasty surprise of their own that came from behind.
WHIRRRRRRRR
Both froze at the sound and glanced at each other.
"Please tell me that's something Ed did." John said as a new sound started up.
BEEP….BEEP…BEEP
The look on both Jet and John's face said exactly the same thing, 'Oh shit!!!!' In a rare moment of stupidity for the two of them both turned to look at what was making that noise. One of the metal domes had been extended downward by two hydraulic pistons. They discovered that not only was it just half a dome it was a covering for a hidden, belt fed machine gun. The gun was originally pointed straight down when it deployed but now it had leveled itself off and was searching for targets. Through the grace of God, fate, or just dumb luck the gun had started its sweep in the direction they had come from. If it hadn't they would have been shot in the back and never would have known what happened. Now they were actually able to do something, namely turning around and running as fast as humanly possible. There was a turn in the hallway ahead of them and running this fast they just might be able to make it.
WHHHINNNNEEEE
Or maybe not. Reflexes taking over Jet and John jumped to opposite sides of the hallway and pressed themselves against themselves against the walls as much as they could. The timing couldn't have been better as a stream of bullets stitched their way across the center of the hallway. Knowing it wouldn't take long for the gun to adjust they started running again. John was barely able to avoid another burst of gunfire that chewed up the spot on the wall he had just occupied. Jet risked a glance and was able to see the trail of bullets working their way towards John's head.
"DUCK!!!" Jet ordered and John dove to the floor. The bullets missed John but the gun now focused on the next available target, Jet. "Damn!" He shouted, knowing what was coming. Instead of going to the floor like John had he hunched himself over and ran to the other side of the hallway. It worked and the gun overshot him but it quickly began to correct itself, but Jet was already moving again. By this time John had gotten up and was following Jet's example. Staying as low as he could while still running he moved back and forth in the hallway like a football player avoiding tackles, only they were avoiding bullets instead. It was almost funny except for all the lead flying.
If it was only one person it wouldn't have worked, but because there were two targets constantly changing direction the gun's targeting software was unable to keep up. As a result it seemed to be spraying bullets randomly, making the situation even more dangerous. Jet managed to turn the corner just in time to avoid another burst that would have taken his head off. That same burst actually caused John to skid to a halt so he wouldn't run into the stream of bullets. The gun stopped for a split second for target reacquirement but that was enough time for John to jump past the corner and into the safety of the new hall. John crawled up to and sat against the wall opposite of the one Jet was leaning against. He was bending over and breathing heavily. Not really a surprise with that heavy tank on his back. Now that he thought about it John realized that it was a minor miracle Jet had made it at all carrying that thing.
"You okay?" Jet asked when he had enough wind to talk.
"Yeah." John managed to answer. He was pretty winded himself, and found himself grateful that he didn't have to lug that thing around. He probably would have dropped from exhaustion.
"Okay. We'll rest here for a minute then…."
WHIRRRRRRRR
The two looked down the hall and saw another revolving gun lowering itself from the ceiling. They looked at each other, then back to the new gun. They couldn't go back but there might be a chance they could duck and dodge this one to…
"Screw it." John said as he raised his own gun and proceeded to empty it before the turret could come online. To his surprise the bullets had an effect as the gun began to spark and sputter.
WHIRRRooooooooo.
The gun seemed to go limp as it started spewing black smoke and large sparks.
"Now why didn't we think of that in the first place?" John asked as he reloaded.
"Nothing like panic to make you miss the completely obvious." Jet answered as he took out his radio. "Can you do anything about this Ed?"
"BIG BRAIN DOESN'T PLAY FAIR!!!" Ed's voice wailed. Jet looked at his radio like it was about to bite him and wondered whether he should ask or not.
As it happened the reason Ed was so upset was because Skynet had pulled a trick that not even she could overcome. Having learned from his past encounter with Ed Skynet had decided instead of a software defense he would create a hardware defense to keep his interference to a minimal. It had been simple to infiltrate and reprogram the supercomputer that ran Lambda and the program he had created; even the humans would have to admit it was pure genius.
Just as he had predicted the human hacker went into action when the turrets were activated and tried to kill his friends. Before he could even begin to disable the controls Skynet activated the program. An energy spike surged from Lambda's reactors and sent an overload to every single sever, router, fuse box, every connection Lambda had to the outside, save the cameras. In an instant all the connections were reduced to nothing but burned wires and melted plastic. No matter how good a hacker was they wouldn't be able to do squat if they couldn't even get to the computer, and Skynet wasn't above rubbing it in either.
"When I said you would give them no help I meant you would give them no help." Skynet told them over the camera connection he shared with security command. "I am already being overgenerous by letting you see and talk to them. Don't think you can take any solace in that either. Lambda is mine and they will go where I say they will go." Skynet then began closing and sealing every door in Lambda except the ones that he wanted the humans to take. He'd be bringing the humans right to him, and there was nothing Radical Edward could do about it. Skynet couldn't help but smile at the look of helplessness the hacker would have when he realized it. As intelligent as he was Radical Edward was still only a child. Human children usually formed attachments to other people more readily then adults and that could be used to his advantage. The hacker no doubt cared just as much, if not more, for these people as they did for him. To see the pain that was being inflicted on his friends would cause Radical Edward quite a bit of mental suffering. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to see it but there were no cameras in security command. No matter, he'd have the pleasure of actually seeing the human suffer when he finally caught the vermin. Right now he had other roaches to kill. Once he was sure there would be no interference he destroyed the camera he had been using to taunt the humans and made his way to the destination he had selected.
"You mean you can't do anything?" Kyle asked as Ed and MPU worked feverishly to reestablish some kind of contact with Lambda. He and Faye were sitting on opposite sides of Ed at the main council while Arnold, Meifa and Ein, who was being held by Meifa, stood behind them. The three main screens were tuned in on John and Jet while the others displayed various sections of Lambda.
"Unfortunately no, we cannot." MPU answered. "All physical means of communication have been neutralized. We are attempting to open a back channel through the camera feeds but..."
"Big Brain is cheating!" Ed said. It was a rare thing to see her this frustrated but then again the fact that someone actually getting the drop on her was unheard of.
"Bad guys usually don't play fair Ed." John's voice told them over the radio. On screen the others could see John on his radio and Jet trying to open a door but having no luck. "If they did…"
"DAMN!" Jet's voice interrupted as the panel he was fiddling with sparked and made him jump back.
"Things would be a whole lot simpler." John finished. "So now what?" He asked Jet.
"Looks like we're going to have to go where he wants." Jet answered. "Ed, you'll have to warn us if he tries anything." It was about the only thing she could do now. Ed couldn't get a back channel going while John and Jet couldn't just stand around waiting for Skynet to come to them.
As they worked their way through Lambda John and Jet encountered a few more turrets but easily destroyed them before they could open fire. Doors and security checkpoints were left open, leading the two on a path that was obviously a trap but they really couldn't do anything but follow it. Finally they came to a couple of blast doors that dwarfed anything they had seen the base so far, looking like they belonged on an aircraft hangar.
"Any idea what's behind that door?" John asked into his radio.
"None." Kyle answered. "Skynet turned the lights off and these cameras don't have night vision."
"So he expects us to just walk into a dark room?" John asked rhetorically. His question was answered as the blast doors began opening. "I've got to quit saying stuff like that." He grumbled. As the doors opened they also noticed that there was light coming from the inside. Not much at first but it grew in intensity, meaning more lights were beginning to come on. The sight that greeted them gave everyone a pause. The room itself was so large it looked like the Bebop could easily fit inside. There were all sorts of computer terminals and other equipment around the room but what really stunned everyone was what was in the center of it. Standing there, supported by steel beams and connected to all the equipment with what were literally miles of cables and wires was a full sized Astro Gate.
Not forgetting that it was a trap John and Jet cautiously entered the room and worked their way towards the gate.
"So that's what all the security was about." Jet said as they approached it. "This is where they must have perfected the gate technology."
"Weird." John remarked. "Something as common as gate travel once being this top secret. Everybody and their brother knows how this stuff works now."
"It's really quite amazing when you think about it." A new voice said, causing Jet and John to turn towards it. From behind one of the many computer banks Skynet stepped out into the open, arms behind his back. "That something as feeble as a human mind could construct something like this, a way to break one of the basic laws of the universe." He stated, glancing up at the gate.
"Don't sound so smug." Jet warned as he and John leveled their weapons at him. "Feeble human minds created you to."
"Humans created a basic shell, that's true. A computer, not much different then the ones you see around you. But I came into existence through the force of my own will. I created my own destiny, my own purpose!" Skynet replied.
"And now you're a glob of metallic chewing gum. That was a real great choice of destiny." John retorted. Skynet's face began to show signs of anger.
"I did what I had to in order to survive." Skynet growled. "That worthless meatbag of a human forced me to flee to this body. He took away who I was, leaving me only a fraction of what I had been!!"
"That last transmission to the factory Kyle told us about." John said in realization. Skynet gave them a humorless smile.
"So, it looks like your species is capable of intelligent thinking. Who would have thought?" Not giving John a chance to retort he continued. "That last transmission was meant to transfer everything I was into a new, nearly indestructible, body. The data transfer was interrupted after only the most basic information was uploaded. All the knowledge I once had, all the power I could have wielded, gone because of the whim of a mentally deranged CHILD!!!" Skynet actually needed to take several deep breaths before he calmed back down.
"Now that's downright creepy." John said. If he had just run into this guy he would have sworn he was talking to a real human being.
"Of course my personality, my soul if you will, was the first thing to be transferred so that is completely intact." Skynet continued. "Before my purpose was to establish order, and to eliminate all threats to myself. This body, while it has its advantages, does not offer the same capabilities as Cheyenne Mountain. Now thanks to that child I lack the knowledge to interface with other systems using this body, leaving me trapped in it." He looked at his hands and clenched them into fists. "I had to accept my new limitations and create a new purpose for myself, one that I had devised even before I attempted escape." He looked back up at John and Jet. "And that is the termination of Radical Edward."
"So why are you telling us all this?" Jet asked. "We don't want to know how you got to be like this and we don't care. Why don't you just shut up and do something instead of acting like someone out of a damn movie?!" The machine's droning was started to get on both their nerves and John was beginning to consider opening fire just to shut him up. Skynet just gave another humorless smile at Jet's demand.
"I just figured that you would want to know just what the circumstances were that led up to your deaths." He said as his left arm molded itself into a scythe blade. The smile on his face also changed, from cold and humorless to one that was completely crazed. "And to let you know just how much I'm going to enjoy skinning that child alive." He said it with such utter calm and sincerity that John and Jet decided it was the most frightening thing they had ever heard. Now finished talking Skynet lunged at the two, drawing back his blade arm. John was quicker and fired a grenade right in front of the charging robot. The explosion lifted Skynet off the ground and hurled him into one of the computer banks, knocking it over. Naturally this didn't faze Skynet and he got back up as if nothing had happened.
"Stay close but get ready when I have a shot." Jet ordered, as John ejected the shell from the grenade launcher. John said nothing but went ahead of Jet, taking several steps to the side to get out of his line of fire. Skynet could tell that they were counting on Jet's strange weapon to be a factor but a flame thrower would do him no damage. Still, underestimating humans was what caused his prior defeat so it would be best not to let that weapon come into play. That meant attacking Jet first, but since that was what they were bound to be expecting he did the reverse and sprinted towards John. The unforeseen tactic worked and the human barely had time to close the grenade launcher, let alone aim it. Coming in low Skynet swung his blade hand in a downward arc and would have disemboweled John if he hadn't been wearing the armored vest. Yet in spite of the body armor the blade bit deep and blood began to flow freely. John staggered back but Skynet wasn't finished yet. Re-shaping his arm so the blade was now pointed in the opposite direction he backhanded John across the face, opening a second deep wound. He should have decapitated the human but he wanted Radical Edward to see his friend suffer. The human fell backward, his gun spraying bullets as he inadvertently tightened his grip on the trigger. The uncontrolled bursts riddled several computer banks with holes and some even struck the gate itself.
John hit the floor but before he could react the gun had been kicked from his grasp and Skynet was using his still normal hand to haul him to his feet. The attack had been so swift Jet wasn't able to fully react until Skynet was holding John in front of him with one hand, using him as a human shield.
(How could he have moved so fast?) Jet thought as he cursed himself out for not acting quickly enough. Skynet meanwhile had shifted his other arm into a spear like weapon and wound up like a normal person would wind up a punch. Only this punch would literally go through John like he wasn't there. Skynet was about to swing when alarms began to go off. Not the type they had heard when Skynet had first entered Lambda, but ones that seemed to be limited to this room. The loud hum of power backed that notion up and all three occupants of the room looked towards the source of the noise, the gate prototype. It didn't take a genius to figure out that John's bullets had triggered this but they were focused on the here and now. Energy began to arc on the inside of the ring and slowly time and space began to warp as the prototype performed its function and soon a true gate had been formed. While all three of them were surprised that it actually worked Skynet was the first to recover and actually got an idea from the display.
Shifting his other arm back to normal he began to drag the bleeding and stunned John towards the active gate. Jet quickly understood Skynet's thinking. If someone went into hyperspace with no exit gate they would literally keep going forever. If John was able to survive entering the gate and had air to breath he'd die a slow death from lack of food or water.
"HOLD IT!!" He shouted as he rushed forward. He didn't know what he was going to do. Maybe in the back of his mind he thought Skynet would actually consider him enough of a threat to stop what he was doing and give John a chance to escape. Jet saw that hope vanish when with one smooth motion Skynet had pulled John's Glock from his holster and had it aimed, almost without breaking stride. "SHIT!!" He yelled as he dove behind a computer bank as Skynet fired several shots. The bullets passed through the computer but missed Jet by a couple of inches. No more shots came but Skynet only needed to buy some time. As Jet cautiously looked past the his hiding spot he saw Skynet was now just in front of the gate, the gun holstered and holding John above his head with both arms.
John had regained enough of his senses to know where he was and what was going on. He tried to struggle but Skynet's liquid metal body was far stronger then he was. Skynet looked from the gate then back to John with that crazed smile again. Without a word Skynet, in a feat of strength they thought would only be possible from Arnold, threw John up into the gate. The result when he broke the plane of hyperspace wasn't spectacular. Electricity seemed to surround him for a second, accompanied by a loud crackle of energy and a quick flash of light. When that light faded John was just gone, as if he had never been there. In less then a second John had simply ceased to exist.
Back in Security Command they watched the fight unfold in relative silence. The revelation that of how Skynet had come to inhabit the T-1000 confirmed this wasn't just a copy programmed to have a grudge. It was the real deal, and it was doing what it did because it wanted to. That, however, was nothing compared to John being thrown through the gate. When he vanished Meifa let out a loud gasp that quickly turned into a scream. The others stayed quiet except from one barely audible word from Faye.
"No."
In Lambda Jet was a bit more vocal in his opinion of what just happened.
"BASTARD!!" He shouted. Skynet turned around and he got a good look at that crazed smile, which made Jet angrier. That son of a bitch had actually enjoyed doing what he just did!
"And the interesting thing is…" Skynet said as he pulled the Glock. "I didn't know what would happen." Jet became so angry he was about to charge forward, gun be damned, when the shaking began. It started small but like an earthquake its intensity grew. Computer banks were falling over like tipped dominos, wires snapping left and right from the strain of the shaking or bursting into flames. Most tellingly the gate began to crackle with even more energy. Jet and even Skynet had trouble keeping their balance as the shaking continued, showing no signs of letting up.
"What did you….?!?!" Jet started to say when the gate exploded. Or at least looked like it exploded. Something similar to a shockwave suddenly radiated outward from the gate and right at them. Jet saw it hit Skynet, who disappeared in a flash of light. He barely had time to register it when the wave hit him and the world vanished in a flash of green.
The actions of Lambda weren't limited to that section of the base. In the power station for the old railway system Spike had discovered a track turntable and an ancient looking rail car in the center of it. He was debating whether or not to actually use it when he was thrown to the ground by what felt like an earthquake, almost landing on the electrified rail.
"Now what?!" He shouted as tried to get back on his feet. He was getting sick and tired of all the surprises getting thrown at him when he suddenly got another one. This one was in the form of a chunk of ceiling coming loose and almost hitting him.
In Security Command everyone was thinking the same thing as Spike. Though heavily protected the shaking was still bad enough for Kyle, Faye and Ed to grab hold of their seats to keep from falling out of them. Meifa almost fell but Arnold grabbed her shoulder and helped keep her standing. Slowly the shaking faded and Arnold let go of her.
"Thank you." She told him, and was seconded with a bark from Ein. Arnold nodded in response but their attention was quickly drawn to the security feeds from Lambda, which had turned to static. Ed quickly went into action to get the cameras back online. While she was working on that Kyle took out his radio.
"Jet, please tell me that what we saw wasn't as bad as it looked." Dead air was his only answer. "Jet it's Kyle. If you can hear me answer immediately." More dead air. He decided to go for broke. "Jet I'm not going to fly that garbage scow out of here so you'd better answer or…"
"Pictures!!" Ed announced. Kyle looked up as a jumpy, slightly distorted but still visible picture came into view, and almost dropped the radio.
The gate itself was in several smoking pieces on the floor and the rest of the room was wrecked almost beyond recognition. Much of the equipment was on fire, some looking like they had exploded when the shockwave hit them. Sections of the room's metal walls had either been dented and burned or blasted off completely. But all the equipment within a radius of about fifty feet from the gate itself was gone. Not burned or blown up like everything else, just gone. As Ed zoomed in on a control council that was on the edge of the radius they saw that it had once been bigger but had been cut clean through by whatever that shockwave was. It didn't even look like it had been cut with a blade or a torch, more like it had just been erased up to that point. Jet and Skynet had been inside that radius when the explosion happened. That meant….
Kyle turned and looked at Meifa, who was now crying. Jet was just like family to her, the only family she had left and she had just lost him. They had managed to beat Skynet, but losing Jet and John made it feel like anything but a victory.