Chapter Six: Human Error
"The machine must be cleansed, for it carries the taint of death, and only through fire can it be removed."
The cultists gathered in a circle around Cameron, each holding a candle and all reciting their mantra in perfect unison. Cameron was trapped, with no means of escape, and could not help but feel genuine fear as the hooded men gathered around her, Silberman amongst them. He smiled crookedly and gently ran a finger down the side of Cameron's cheek, who recoiled at his touch.
She was positioned in front of the furnace, ready to be slid into that fiery oblivion. Cameron looked around frantically, but saw no faces, only dark shadows beneath those hoods. No sympathy, no remorse, no regret. Just that crazed belief in what they were about to do. They would never see reason, the will of fanatics was nearly impossible to break, but she tried anyway.
"Please… don't do this. I'm not like the others. I'm here to help."
Silberman simply smiled and turned to his followers, holding his hands in a reverent gesture.
"And here you see, my brothers, the many forms these demons take. They would even appear in the guise of an innocent child, but we must look past the mask and see what lies beneath."
Silberman drew a knife and cut deep into Cameron's right cheek, revealing a thin line of chrome beneath her skin. The cultists raised their candles and chanted even louder as Silberman prepared to push the button that would slide Cameron into the furnace.
"The machine must be cleansed. Let it be cleansed. Will it to be cleansed. It shall be cleansed."
Cameron closed her eyes, preparing for the end, her thoughts solely focused on John as Silberman began applying pressure to the button. Before he could suppress it further, however, a sudden explosion erupted within the chamber, sending rocks and debris amidst the cultists, causing them to scatter in all directions.
Cameron opened her eyes and pitched her head up to identify the source of the disturbance, seeing a gaping hole in the farthest wall, a lone figure framed within it. His features were concealed by shadows and dust, but his voice was all-too-familiar.
"Catch you fuckers at a bad time?"
The man raised his palm and a jet of fire burst from his hand, incinerating a nearby group of cultists. They cried out in pain and scattered, allowing the man a clear shot at those gathered around Cameron. They quickly gathered their weapons, screaming that the 'Dragon' had come. Before any of them could fire however, they were all consumed by the flames, leaving Silberman as the last standing.
He grabbed a nearby gun and unloaded it into the man's chest, with no effect. The man, who Cameron could now see clearly, was wearing a black jacket with a dark purple hood, concealing his face in shadow. His eyes, however, glowed blood-red, and Cameron felt a smile touch her lips.
"You… You have invaded this place of worship… The house of God…"
"Not my God."
The man delivered a kick to Silberman's chest, sending the crazed cultist tumbling into the furnace, a fitting end in Cameron's opinion. He only screamed for a few seconds before the thermite melted his vocal cords, the rest of him following suite.
The man approached Cameron's side and just stared at her for a long moment, his eyes no longer glowing. Slowly, he lowered his hood, revealing the face of Cameron's brother, unchanged by the years. She smiled up at Ethan as he reached out and placed two fingers on her arm, to prove to himself that she was really there.
Upon feeling her there, Ethan let out a sigh of disbelief mingled with relief and joy. He smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair, but that smile quickly faded into a look of sullenness. He ceased his affections and looked Cameron in the eye, his face now set like stone.
"I've hit dozens of places like this in the past three years, hoping that I'll find some release from the pain of living. But once every cultist, every murderer, every rapist lies dead, I feel hollow once more. Not this time though, this time I've found what I'm looking for, except now that I have it; I don't know what I should do."
"Ethan I…"
"Should I release it, give it a hug; tell it how glad I am to see it after all these years. Or should I press this button…"
Ethan placed his finger on the green button that would send Cameron to her fiery death, but did not press it.
"…and send her back into that nothingness. A fitting revenge for the pain she's caused… for all of us left behind."
"Ethan… please… Don't…"
Ethan glared at her for a moment, his expression softening as he looked into those brown eyes for the first time in years. His finger slipped off of the button and Cameron gave a sigh of relief, for she truly expected him to push it. Ethan immediately began burning through the chains with his IAD ChemTech, and after twenty minutes, Cameron was free.
She sat up and looked around at the burning corpses before returning her gaze to Ethan, who was examining a small puncture wound on his wrist, a side effect of the flamethrower tubule as it slides out of his arm and through his skin.
"How did you know…?"
"…that you were here?"
Ethan covered the wound and set about gathering weapons, avoiding eye contact with Cameron.
"We received an interesting message from a local bottom-feeder; who told us that a girl called Cameron wished to meet John. Naturally, I was sent to investigate, but when I got there the place had already been hit by these freaks, and you were gone. So I followed their trail to this location, and here you were, ready to be given a thermite bath. Guess I got here just in time, didn't I?"
"Yes you did. Thank you."
Ethan picked up two Desert Eagles; Cameron's, and handed them to her, finally making eye contact. She smiled nervously, not knowing how he might react. Ethan just shook his head, his eyes narrowing.
"How about you tell me where the hell you've been all this time?"
Cameron lowered her head; this was going to hard to explain.
"I never left this city. I can't explain what happened to me, all I remember is falling asleep on a beach in 2008 and waking up in 2011. I have no idea how it happened, and the only conclusion I can think of makes little sense."
"And what conclusion is that?"
"Time displacement."
Ethan crossed his arms and scrutinized her carefully.
"Time travel? Right, okay, so if there was a TDE on that beach then why wasn't John transported as well?"
"I don't know. I told you, I can't explain what happened. All I know is that I came out of standby without any clothes and then I found Derek, and he told me…"
"Derek? You've seen him? Where?"
"In our house, he seemed to be looking for something."
"John sent him to check the house in case you returned. He's been doing that for years. But he hasn't returned, what happened to him?"
Cameron shifted uncomfortably, her thoughts drifting to the sight of Derek's body.
"He was killed by the Bureau. It was an ambush."
Ethan sighed and ran a hand over his mouth.
"How the hell am I going to explain to John that his uncle is dead? Especially after losing you and then Sa-… never mind, I'll think of something. C'mon, get your things; we have to get you back to John."
Cameron caught his slip up, and could only conclude that he was about to say Sarah. So she is dead, as I feared. Oh, John, you must be in so much pain. But I'm coming, we'll be together again and everything will be alright.
--
Ethan led her down a long underground corridor with dozens of doors on both sides. They were in the 'Sanctuary', John's hide-out and base of operations, though Ethan refused to elaborate on what those operations involved. They reached the very end of the corridor, stopping at door number 212. Ethan knocked and they waited for a few seconds before it opened, revealing a short man armed with a shotgun.
"Oh, Ethan it's you. Who's the girl?"
"A friend… of myself and Connor, so let us in already."
The man stared at Cameron for a moment before standing aside, allowing them to enter the small room filled with a wide variety of firearms and explosives.
"What exactly does John do nowadays?"
Ethan followed her gaze and smirked.
"John is the leader of the largest mafia group in the whole of Los Angeles. The only ones powerful enough to bring him down are the Bureau, and they'll have to find him first."
"So John is a mob boss?"
"You could say that. He's no Godfather, but that doesn't mean he isn't scary. C'mon."
Ethan led her into another room where a woman was sat at a desk, an old magazine in her hands.
"Ah, Ethan, you're late!"
"Sorry Penny, I got a little side-tracked."
Penny eyed Cameron suspiciously.
"So I see. Have you forgotten what John told you about picking up strangers?"
"I remember, but she isn't just some stranger; this is my sister. I've been looking for her for years."
"And now, after all this time, she finally turns up. How convenient."
Ethan placed his hands on the desk and leaned towards Penny.
"I assure you, she is not a spy. Is he in?"
Penny sat back and picked up a nail filer.
"Yes, we caught a few agents today; he's interrogating a rather tough one in your absence."
"Good, can we go in?"
"I suppose. Go ahead, but be careful; he's not in a very good mood at the moment. Apparently his uncle was found dead, he's pretty distraught, the poor thing."
Ethan gave a sigh of relief and stood up straight.
"Well, at least I wasn't the one to tell him."
"Yes, he might've blown your brains out too."
"He killed the messenger?"
Cameron's voice was little more than whisper; the idea that John would execute someone for bringing him bad news was troubling. Penny started filing her fingers and smiled slyly.
"Oh, yes. Like I said; very distraught, I'd be careful around him dear. He might decide to take out his… frustration… on you."
"John would never hurt me."
Ethan turned around and took her guns, placing them on Penny's desk, along with his own.
"John isn't the same person you knew. Everything that has happened these past years has had a serious effect on him. You may not recognise him at all, and I honestly have no idea how he is going to react when he sees you. So be careful… and don't provoke him in any way."
Cameron became very concerned. As much as she yearned to see him again, she was a little apprehensive as to how John might behave. Would he be angry? Overjoyed? Would he really hurt her? Either way, she was about to find out as Ethan knocked on the door four times.
--
The feel of a man's teeth cracking beneath your fist was like nothing else in the world, as many would agree. But to John Connor, it was nothing short of therapeutic, easier than kidnapping a shrink. Everything that had befallen him in the past three years, Derek's death being the most recent, fuelled each punch. He didn't usually interrogate prisoners himself, but with Ethan gone and Derek dead, he needed someone to be his punch-bag.
This particular subject was an agent for the Bureau. Like his associates, the agent was tight-lipped about his operations, but John felt he was finally getting through to him as the man's canines flew out of his mouth in a spray of blood.
"You ready to talk now, or would you like me to start working on your fronts? I imagine that will be a very unpleasant experience."
The agent glared at John, a look of pure contempt in his eyes.
"Fro… to frell."
"Now you see, that won't accomplish anything, cos' if I die the whole world is screwed. Cos' you see, I'm the one destined to save humanity from total annihilation. But I can't do that if you lot keep hunting me all the time, so do the world a favour and answer my fucking question!"
The agent spat a mouthful of blood on the floor and continued to glare at John.
"Still you refuse, alright, have it your way."
Three knocks, then a two second pause followed by a fourth knock. Ethan, at last you return.
"It's too bad my friend. I was having such a good time. Now my best man will finish what I've started, and trust me, compared to him, I'm a fluffy teddy bear. COME IN."
John turned around to see Ethan standing there and smiled.
"I was beginning to worry."
"I'm sorry… about Derek."
John's smile faded instantly and his features instantly darkened.
"I don't wanna talk about that; this here is a place of business."
Ethan's eyes lingered on the agent for a moment, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
"So I see… John?"
"Yeah?"
Ethan smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but instead just stepped aside. What John saw next blew every thought out of his mind. His entire body became totally numb as his ears confirmed what he was seeing.
"John?"
--
It was him. It was John. Just not her John. Not the John from 2027 and certainly not the John from 2008. This was an entirely different version, one born of pain and betrayal. Though only twenty years old, John looked aged beyond his years. His hair was a lighter shade of brown, his eyes seemed darker, and he bore a thin diagonal scar across his face, marring his otherwise handsome features.
And the background did little to improve his current image; a man tied to a chair, covered in blood, his teeth scattered across the floor. Cameron wondered to herself; how could John resort to this level of violence? But then, he had displayed such darkness in the past; his attack on Sarkissian coming to mind. But that was out of rage and a need for revenge, not something as impersonal as information gathering.
Something inside him had died and left a sour bitterness in its wake, and whatever that was, it was currently contorting his face into hate and anger.
"Get her away from me! Take her away! Lock her up!"
His voice was hoarse and carried a thousand different kinds of pain. Cameron was overwhelmed by his state and cautiously approached, offering her hand and speaking in a soft voice she hoped would sooth him.
"John, it's me, Cameron. Everything's going to be…"
"I said GET HER OUT!!"
Cameron recoiled at his outburst and felt tears welling in her eyes. John spotted them and turned around, his arms wrapped around his head in a desperate attempt to blot out her existence.
"Ethan, so help me God, if you don't remove her now I'll reduce you both to scrap."
Ethan sighed and gently took Cameron by the arm and dragged her out of the room, closing the door behind him. Cameron's last glimpse of John showed him viciously beating the agent, and even after the door was closed, she could still hear his roars of anger.
--
"I'm sorry about this, but he'd flay my skin off if I didn't take these unnecessary measures."
Ethan clicked the lock on Cameron's chains, fastening her to the wall. She just sat there, staring at the floor, a look of utter misery on her face. Cameron gave a small sob and fresh tears ran down her face. Ethan wiped a drop from the end of her nose and stroked the side of her face affectionately.
"Hey, everything's going to be fine, you'll see."
"He wouldn't even look at me. He hates me."
"But he didn't kill you, which is something he often said he'd do should you ever show up again. So a part of him still cares, he just needs time to adjust to the idea of having you back."
Cameron stopped crying and looked up at Ethan, that innocent look of child-like hope lining every feature.
"Please, can you talk to him, explain…"
"I'll try, but you have to understand: John has lost everything he ever held dear. He was nearly driven insane by your disappearance. He blamed everyone, but not half as much as he blamed himself. He angered the wrong people, and provoked a violent response that led to his mother's death. The guilt of that, coupled with the loss of you, led him down a very dark path. And the world seemed to be dragged down along with him."
Cameron gave another sob, her hope turning to despair once again.
"It is all my fault."
"You may have been the catalyst, but that doesn't mean it was your fault. If what you said is true, then you are no more to blame than I am. This is Skynet's doing, and there is nothing you could've done to prevent it."
Cameron began shaking her head as more tears started to flood her eyes.
"We were so happy."
She fell into Ethan's arms and buried her face into his shoulder, crying without restraint. He held her close and whispered in her ear, trying desperately to comfort her in some way, but a sharp tap on the door put a stop to that.
"Ethan, Connor wants to see you, now."
Ethan sighed and extricated himself from Cameron, placing a kiss on her brow.
"I'll talk to him, I promise."
He stood up and left without another word, leaving Cameron alone in the dark cell.
--
"You can't just lock her up and forget about her."
"I can do whatever the hell I like."
"Damn it, John. All these years you've been looking for her, all this time, and now, now that she has finally returned to you, you want to pretend she doesn't exist?"
"It's easier this way."
"What? Hiding from your pain? I've told you before; you can't lie to me. I served by your side for five years in the Resistance. I know you better than you know yourself, so stop lying to me, stop lying to yourself and talk to her."
--
The door slid open, the light from the corridor almost blinding her for a moment. A man came in and unlocked her chains, allowing her to stand up.
"He wants to see you. Follow me."
--
His room was less luxurious than she imagined. Just a small bed, a single cupboard, a desk with a computer, and another, larger desk in the middle of the room. John was sat at this desk, writing something down, apparently unaware that she had arrived, though Cameron knew him to be pretending. John finished writing and put the pen down with some force before finally looking up at her.
"So… let us get straight to it, shall we?"
"John I-…"
"I wake up, after what was possibly the best day of my sad and sorry existence, and you're gone. Explain to me why that was."
John's voice was cold and harsh, like he was talking to an incompetent employee, not the girl he once loved. Cameron took a deep breath, though he knew she didn't need to breathe, and began her speech.
"I woke up, without any clothes, on that very beach… alone. I don't know what happened, all I know is that I had somehow travelled forward by three years."
"Time travel, you expect me to believe that you travelled in time to this date. I don't remember seeing a TDE on that beach, and if there was one it was pretty well hidden."
Cameron allowed herself a smile, hoping that it would soften his demeanour…
"That's exactly what Ethan said."
…but it didn't, he just glared at her.
"Then Ethan isn't as gullible as I initially thought. Though you should really thank him for our little exchange, if it wasn't for his constant whining I would've left you to rot in that cell."
"Why?"
John leaned forward, his harsh features thrown into deep contrast by the desk light.
"Because I hate you."
His voice was filled with so much venom and bile that Cameron actually backed away a few steps, shocked by the intensity of his hatred.
"You don't mean that."
John hackled maniacally and got out of his chair, slowly stalking towards her.
"Oh I do, with every fibre of my being. You ruined my life. Tore out my heart and let it burn on a bloodied spike. I lost everything. Everything! Because you up and disappeared. I lost my mom, you remember her?"
Cameron's jaw quivered as he advanced, her back pressed against the wall.
"John, please…"
"She died, because of you. If you hadn't abandoned me, she would still be alive, and so would Derek, and none of this would've happened. IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!"
This was the tipping point. Cameron cried out and slid to the floor, unable to restrain herself.
"Please, please just stop… I can't take any more."
John looked down at her and grimaced.
"Welcome to my world."
Despite himself, John felt a familiar twinge deep down, something he had not felt for years: regret. His anger was slowly changing, mutating into something else entirely, and he couldn't stand the thought of feeling anything less than hatred for Cameron. But as she sat there, heaving and sobbing, begging for forgiveness, John felt another twinge, and then another, and in the space of a few seconds he felt true remorse.
"Please, John… I'm so sorry; I never meant to leave you… Please…"
John turned his back on her, trying desperately to shut out the love he had buried so many years ago. But it was too strong, and he had to grit his teeth against it. Cameron got to her feet and slowly approached him from behind, placing her hand on his shoulder.
John spun around and grabbed Cameron's arms, slamming her into his desk. She stared at him, her eyes wide with very real fear as he took a few steps back and drew a gun from his belt. Instead of aiming it at her however, he placed the gun against his own head, which scared Cameron even more.
"John, don't… please. I can't live without you… Please, just put the gun down."
"I can't do this. I can't risk losing you again and going through the same… crap as before. I can't. I'd rather die than face that again. Never again. I needed you and you weren't there. YOU WEREN'T THERE!!"
Cameron remained rooted to the spot, afraid that any movement would result in him pulling the trigger.
"And what about me? I lost you too. Maybe not for so long, but I still lost you. You woke up and I was gone, and I woke up to find you gone. We lost each other, but please… don't split us apart again, not now that we've finally been brought back together."
John's hand started to shake and he began to hyperventilate, the stress becoming too much for him to handle. Cameron just stood there, silent and desperate tears running down her face.
"John, please… I love you."
And that was all it took to drive John over the edge. He knew what he wanted, what he needed above all else to relieve the pain and he decided to take it, to hell with the consequences.
--
He threw the gun to the floor and charged Cameron, grabbing her head with both hands. Cameron fully expected him to try and rip her head off, but instead he pressed their lips together with such intensity that she could almost feel the pain of it. Once she realised that this was not an attack, that John had finally come to his senses, Cameron kissed back with equal force.
John reached behind her and brushed aside everything on his desk. He lifted her up onto the surface and immediately began unzipping her track suit; Cameron pulled her arms out of the sleeves and wrapped them around his neck, not breaking their kiss for a second. John unbuckled her boots and removed them, socks and all, before pulling her track suit off entirely.
Cameron tore off his shirt, revealing a number of scars on his bare chest. She gave a small sigh of dismay at the thought of him having come to harm, but was quickly swept up once more by John's lips. She gently unbuckled his belt and pulled it free from his trousers, then got to work on the zip while John removed her tank top. She pulled his trousers and boxers down past his hips, allowing them to slide to his feet as he hastily removed her brassier.
They kissed again, a small pause as John carefully removed her last item of clothing with loving care and looked at her naked form for the first time in three years. Cameron pulled him into another kiss, stopping only to whisper in his ear.
"Nothing can keep us apart forever. I'll always find you, John."
"I missed you so much, it destroyed me. But you're here now, and that's all that matters. I love you Cam, and nothing will come between us ever again."
Cameron answered his admission with a loving smile followed by another passionate kiss as they leaned back onto the desk. John started kissing her neck, slowly making his way further down her body. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, waiting for John to finish his explorations and return his lips to hers. But he didn't, instead she felt a sudden rush of pleasure flare throughout her entire body, unlike anything she had felt during their previous encounters.
She gasped and moaned as the pleasure increased, slowly becoming more and more intense as her entire body trembled. Unwittingly, she cried out, and everything went temporarily blank, her mind consumed by sheer ecstasy. When Cameron opened her eyes she discovered that she had indeed suffered a temporary black out as a result of her systems going into overload. Time elapsed: 120 seconds, as usual. It seemed her mind was not originally designed to handle such intense physical stimulation.
John was gazing down at her with a look of concern on his face. They were on his bed; apparently he had carried her there after her little collapse. His concern turned to relief as she showed signs of life and looked into his eyes, seeing his love renewed.
"Hey, I thought I lost you there. What happened?"
"System overload. I needed to reboot."
John chuckled and ran his hand through her hair.
"Does that mean you're all charged up again?"
She answered his question by pulling him close and gently running her fingers down his side. They kissed once more as their bodies joined together, creating a conduit between their souls, making them as one.
The three year rift that separated them was violently cast aside as they both delivered each other into that blissful oblivion.