So hey!
Didn't really like this chapter and I'm not sure how you guys will like it, but here we go.
Enjoy it (hopefully) ;)
Running Against the Wind
Hazy brown eyes flickered open for the first time in two weeks to a dimly lit bedroom that was empty with the door closed. The owner of the mocha orbs lay silently in the bed staring up at the glow of plastic stars pasted on the ceiling; giving the room the illusion of a night sky. Watching the child like decorations pensively, the man blinked away the haze that blurred his vision.
Slowly and with a grunt he sat up cradling his cauterized wound under a white T-shirt and looked around the room. It was painted purple and there was a desk near the door. To his side sat a wardrobe with a purple evening gown hanging from the handles. He looked down to find a feminine floral design on the bed spread on top of him.
He blinked and looked out the window on his other side and saw a spectacular view of familiar hills shrouded in the purple twilight of the awakening day.
With a slight sigh he got out from under the covers and walked to the desk to find three pairs of new jeans and his black cargo pants he didn't remember taking off. Grabbing them from the pile he pulled the pants on and strung them with his old belt sitting on top of his now folded tattered trench coat. Padding across the floor in his apparently new socks, he pulled on his old motorcycle boots that sat under the desk next to pink ballet slippers.
With the clasps buckled the soldier walked to the door and opened it to reveal a long dark hallway with wooden floors and white walls. He frowned in confusion at where exactly he was. Continuing forward, he passed two closed doors that he didn't feel like he wanted to open.
However as he reached the start of some stairs that led down ward he noticed a door left open, cautiously he peaked inside.
Near the door in the windowless master bedroom sat a king-sized bed and inside the man saw a woman asleep peacefully under the covers on her side. She looked innocent, almost angelic as he tracked her familiar breathing patterns. The officer wanted to walk away, but there was just something about the content look on her beautiful face that made him glad that she was resting.
Ryan Connor leaned against the door frame and remembered many years ago watching Sarah Connor sleep like this. He shook his head, because he knew that it wasn't her, it was a clone. But even then it didn't stop the memories of him sitting on burnt over grass plains watching her sleep, wondering if that night would be the night he would kill her, put a bullet in her brain and end Skynet's plot. But he never did it, he always gave a deep breath and pushed it to the back of his brain while he lay next to her and stare up at the stars.
He told himself he would learn from his mistake. That given the opportunity to be put in the same situation he wouldn't hesitate to kill Sarah.
"This is different … this isn't a clone."
Ryan fought the Colonel Cameron Connor in him that was telling him that once again the future would be safe if he would simply kill Sarah Connor and burn her body.
But in the end he just couldn't kill her. He wasn't his mother, he wasn't a machine. He instead chose the almost Herculean task of protecting her for however long it took. Sarah was his blood, his family, and more importantly, he loved her just as much as his parents.
"Some day your love for her will lead you to your death."
Ryan rubbed his stubble with a troubled face, his mother's words echoing into his very soul, it was a statement that has haunted him for the last six years of his life. He would find himself standing in front of Sarah's glass case memorial in his father's old office that was turned into Ryan's quarters after his father's death. He pondered his mother's words and what they had meant, was it a warning or a prediction that he couldn't escape?
With a sad sigh he gave Sarah one last look, and with a silent click he shut the door.
With small thuds he walked down the stairs to the living room that he did recognize from his talk with Derek a month ago.
"Ca … Cameron." A familiar voice called out from the couch. With a lifted eyebrow the officer walked over to find a collection of beer bottles in front of a passed out teenage boy with a deep five o'clock shadow that he seemed too young for.
"Right exactly where I left you in the future, working hard on a Miller Time shift." Ryan sighed bitterly and folded his arms observing a passed out John Connor.
The man knew there where several things about his father that will never change, He will always eventually beat Skynet, There will never be a better fighter in the world, Sarah Connor is and always will be his only god, and his favorite hobby is pining away for his wife (or future wife) in a bottle of alcohol.
Then just like every time in the future that John drowned his sorrows over his angel in a bottle, Ryan cleaned up the mess.
With an arm full of beer bottles he walked into the kitchen and dumped them in a recycling bin. After a silent moment he scoffed at the psycho babble of an argument between his parents.
"John, I recall clearly stating that if you came home inebriated that you will give me no choice but to terminate you."
"Yeah well I guess after all these years you're still lying to me, Angel, because I'm drunk as hell and I still haven't shook hands with George Washington, yet."
Ryan shook his head with a small smile and looked out at the now orange sky.
In the early morning hours there was stillness to the kitchen that the soldier couldn't quite explain. The windows and room had a purple tint from the morning that gave it a serene quality to the large cozy home.
It was a serial moment for Ryan, he wasn't sure why, but there was just something about the stillness of the early morning that seemed to enchant him.
Opening the kitchen door, he walked out onto the balcony letting the door slam a little as he looked out on the twinkling lights of the L.A. skyline and the beginning of the early morning traffic. The breeze that blew past the soldier was nice and cool and the elevated height brought on a feeling that he couldn't shake.
An almost sense of freedom that came from the skyline and the breeze in his hair and face brought on a strong memory.
When Ryan closed his eyes it was like he was there again.
A little boy opened his eyes and laughed giddily as he ran and jumped from room top to room top near Echo Park.
The ten year old boy seldom felt more freedom than he did right now. The wind was in his hair and in his face, he was above ground for once and when he swung from tall building to tall building on hanging power lines long drained of there electricity it felt like he was flying.
The boys baggy blue hooded jacket flowed behind him like a cape as he swung over a two story building, letting go of the power line he landed on his hands at the end of a ruined thrift store and push off, doing a flip mid air and landed on his feet on the base of the roof.
He grinned and ran up to the edge and struck a heroic posse looking out at the rubble as if he owned the entire park.
He knew that when he got home that his Mom and Dad would kill him for what he was doing, and he knew that the HK's would probably get him to if he wasn't careful, but what was life with out a little fun?
"Not everyone can be mom." The boy scoffed at an angelic girl's voice in his head.
He looked around at the area seeing the ashy rubble with the occasional burnt skull. He shrugged and was about to move on when he heard a scream echo through the street. He looked around and saw nothing. After another moment he heard it again this time he pinpointed it toward the block behind him.
There was a moment when maturity sets in for some and when there was danger the smart thing to do was to go the other way and in the post apocalyptic world it would have been the right thing to do. But as the shaggy haired boy pointed out, he wasn't his mom.
Curiosities taking hold, the boy climbed up a power line and with a grunt swung himself back and forth until he could drop on the higher roof of a former two story high fashion dress store that had made history years ago, but now served as a lookout for a stupidly brave little boy.
Looking out over the mess of rebar and skulls that covered cracked asphalt the boy saw a shadow figure of a pretty little blond haired girl in pig tails screaming and sobbing as she ran from a large endoskeleton with ridiculously fake rubber skin that was hulking after her.
"Hero time"
With a running jump, the boy caught another hanging power line and swung across street to another two story building and jumped down, landing with a skid the boy began leaping over close together roof tops matching the girl's course.
Soon she slid to a halt when a decayed city bus and a tumbled over building blocked her path. She turned and began to cry out of fear.
"Momma!" she screamed hiding her face with her hands and sobbed as the indifferent red eyed rubber skinned killer came closer and closer.
Quickly reaching into his pocket the boy took out a row of fire crackers and lit them with his emergency match taped to the red cylinders. The boy flung them in some rubble behind the T-600.
The sound of gunfire like crackling immediately turned the rubber skin's head and it marched toward the noise.
With faze one complete he went to the finale faze that he knew he probably should have planned out more. With the wind and a prayer the boy jumped off the building clutching a street banner that went from one building across to the next above him.
Swinging downward the boy snatched up the little girl while the 600's back was turned and together the children flew through an open window on the second floor of an old book store. With a loud thud the little boy and girl slid and rolled on the ashy wooden floor of the dark upstairs.
Crawling to the sill, the boy peeked down to find the rubber skin wondering around aimlessly looking for its young victim that seemed to have disappeared into thin air. The little girl clung to the older boy as they ducked under.
Both sat for several moments as the dirty little girl pressed her face into the boy's shirt which he grimaced and tried to pry her off, because to the still young boy, girls were gross.
After the sound of heavy mechanical footsteps disappeared to another block he stood up and finally pushed the girl from him. With a chastising glare he brushed himself off and straightened his too big jacket. The little girl's blue eyes were big and puppy like which made him glare even more.
"Riley …Riley, baby where are you?"
A voice called out on the street. Both looked down to see an attractive blond woman wondering the collapsed street.
"It's my aunt!" the little girl exclaimed and rushed out of the dark room. The boy stood alone and rode the wave of exhilaration that came from his daring rescue.
"Alice and Sydney are going to be so jealous when I tell'em about this." He thought.
Just then the little girl ran back up the stairs and planted a kiss on the boy's cheek. With a startled look he watched the little girl giggle shyly and run back out.
There was a pause for a moment before a stupid pirate grin came over the boys face.
A stupid nostalgic grin was planted on Ryan's face as he looked out of the city, his arms resting on the railing and foot on the lowest bar.
The sound of the kitchen door opened with a gentle creek and a female figure stood with a cup of steaming coffee in her hand, watching him.
"Good Morning …"
"It's a possibility." Ryan smirked and turned to address Cameron who wore denim mini shorts and an overly large black button down that quite possibly belonged to John. Cameron tilted her head at the comment and walked toward him. She held out the cup of coffee to him. He smiled roughly and took it.
"Thanks" he replied and without thinking gave the girl a small peck on the temple.
Rolling with the automatic slip up he turned away from her, back to the city trying to be as smooth as possible. Cameron touched her temple inquisitively then smiled softly, taking the spot next to him as he hunched over the railing, sipping the coffee.
Both were silent for several minutes looking out at the city, trying to find a place to start. Cameron tiled her head and looked at him pensively.
"Just ask." He chuckled not looking at her. She stared a moment before she spoke.
"Are you General Order 66?" Cameron tiled her head.
"Well, my friends call me Ryan." He laughed at the question and turned to the girl who frowned at the comment. "Yes … that was part of how I was conceived." He nodded.
"Then …?" She questioned gingerly touching her lower stomach.
"Yep …" he grunted in conformation as he drank the coffee.
The girl frowned again and looked out over the sunrise. She could tell herself that it wasn't possible for her and John's relationship or feelings to cross such a line that she would ever give him a child. But then she would be lying, because in the end she would do anything for John, even willingly use Skynet's emergency general order just to please him.
"We should tell John." She deadpanned.
Without warning, coffee shot from Ryan's nose over the edge of the balcony.
"Wait, what!" he shouted at her. She looked blankly at his reaction but placed a hand on his back. "Are you nut's, the kid's passed out drunk on the couch at sixteen, How do you think he's going to react to having a baby with a cyborg?" he pinched his nose from the burning of the coffee.
"Maybe later?" She offered.
"Maybe never." He replied.
"You told me." She inquired with a tilt of her head.
"Yeah, because you already figured it out."
"Would you have told me?"
"No, I wouldn't have told you."
The girl glared at Ryan and turned away as if he had just insulted her. Rubbing his nose he looked back at her and the stoic glare he knew all to well.
"I don't want to lie to John." She stated passively.
"Oh please …" he shot; Cameron turned her head to him with interest. "You lie to him all the time." he snorted.
"No I don't." Cameron took an innocent tone. Ryan lifted a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Yeah, you and your spare terminator parts in the shed are just a freakin monument to honesty." He flicked an unamused face at her with a tilt of his head, to which she matched as the two touched shoulders.
"I don't want to lie to John about this." She spoke solemnly. Ryan shook his head at her.
"You do that and you might risk my entire existence …" he cautioned seriously with a bump of his shoulder. Cameron's face lightened as she bore into a face that closely resembled hers.
"John will understand …" She nodded. Ryan chuckled bitterly and sighed, looking away.
"Yeah, because when I think of the old man, "Understanding" is the word I associate with him." He snorted.
The girl relented with a nod at the logic set before her. The John she knows in this time ran from problems and things he couldn't understand. Most of the time it was to Riley, but other times he would just disappear and not return until sunrise which worried both her and Sarah.
Cameron turned to the man. "Why are you here?" she asked with interest.
Ryan cleared his throat at the question and looked off pondering how best to answer.
"Classified" he grunted, worried how his future mother would react to the story he already told Derek. Cameron stared hard at the young man next to her, not buying the soldier's explanation.
"You can tell me." She smiled charmingly. He grinned and shook his head at her, genetically immune to the angelic beauty's lovely smile.
"Don't worry about it."
A door opened to a shadowed basement in a mansion and the silhouette of a woman walked down the steps with a casualness that was quiet different than most people would have venturing into the dank and decayed smelling subterranean room.
Serena yawned when she reached the foot of the stairs and tied a silk robe over a lacy black teddy. She looked at the figure of a large man sitting at a desk top computer typing furiously, lifting an eyebrow she continued forward.
"How was your night, sweetheart?" she yawned, stretching out before going over to the desk. He ignored her as he continued his work.
Giving him a sly smile the doctor waltzed up and hugged his head to her chest looking at the computer screen.
What's this?" she asked reading a large mathematical formula being tweaked and modified by the man whose muscle mass seemed to have shrunk in size.
"Eden formula" he replied with a horse growl of weakened anger. Serena looked at the man and ran a hand over the velvet like muscles of his arms, no longer feeling like iron but tender meat.
"Baby … when was the last time you took your "Medicine"?" she asked the man worriedly, seeing greenish black goop stains at the bottom of his mask.
"I'll take it when I'm done." He said weakly. The woman glared and walked to a medical bag and dug through it.
"I told you … when I'm done!" he yelled in raged, coughing between words. The doctor ignored him and extracted a green vile.
"I'll have none of your tantrum." She said with authority walking back to him. He responded in a way that a spoiled child would to a strict parent, going silent and still. Connecting it to a gun like syringe she jabbed it into his arm and squeezed the trigger emptying the vile into the man's arm.
He groaned in pleasure and satisfaction as the anger blew away clearing his mind like a satin cloth wiping away his troubles. Serena bit her lip at the arousal she felt at the strangled grown he let out as his muscles erected under her hand.
There was a pause in the room as purple eyes made contact with chocolate brown.
"I need the "treatments" more and more, my body is becoming dependent on Eden." He spoke with a surprisingly even tone. Serena trailed her hand over his shoulder, sitting herself on his lap.
"Is this why you're doing this?" she asked trailing her hands over his bare chest muscles. "You're looking for a permanent solution?" the doctor looked up.
"No … my father's formula is unsustainable but if I build a device that will constantly feed me what I need, then there will be nothing limiting me." He spoke softly at first, but slowly he became more aggressive in his tone letting the drug accelerate his mind and adrenaline.
"Well that's good because I have a job for you …" she smiled slyly. The man however scoffed and pushed the woman off him and rolled his chair back to the desk and started to type again.
"I'm not your errand boy." He replied in a disgusted voice.
Serena glared at his insolence for a moment before she cleared her throat.
"It was at your father's request." She twitched an amused lip. The monster turned in his seat and looked to the curly haired woman's sallow eyes.
"You've spoken to my father?" he asked hopefully. Serena gave a sigh and walked around him playfully.
"Of course darling … where do you think I go and do all day?" she leaned down and placed her chin on his shoulder.
"Why haven't I seen him, why haven't I been summoned?" He questioned harshly, the uncontrollable anger taking hold again.
The woman smiled knowingly and placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder and shushed him.
"In due time darling … in due time." she whispered in his ear calming him. The man turned his head.
"What is it that is asked of me?" there was a determined conviction in his growled voice.
"Have you heard of Zirea Corp.?"
Sarah came down the stairs in soft black long sleeve shirt, jeans and her boots. Her hair was damp from the shower and since she had striped out her night clothes in her bathroom she had been hearing a strange growling sound from outside.
Stopping at the foot of the stairs, she spotted the living room empty and silent except for that strained growling from outside. She walked to the front porch which was the source of the human sound.
When she opened the door she found the man that she expected to be in Cameron's bed asleep like he had been for the last two weeks bare foot in a plain white Tee and black cargo pants throwing a trained punch in the air followed by a karate chop which was growled out.
For some reason Sarah smiled inquisitively and leaned against the doorframe watching the man practice martial arts on her front porch. After sensing another presence he turned back and looked at Sarah
"Morning" he nodded and went back to what he was doing. She looked down at her feet a moment.
"Morning" she replied and looked up to see all the family vehicles gone except a black street racing motorcycle that Cameron had brought home several days ago claiming it was the soldier's.
"Where is everyone?" she asked as the man let out a swift kick that made a whipping sound through the air.
"Reese took of with Da … John an hour ago and Mo … Cameron left, something about buying important books she needed to read." He answered getting in an offensive fighting stance.
Sarah's face fell a little. This was becoming a common occurrence for her; she would wake up and shower only to find herself alone in the house. She always liked solitude, away from society, away from the pressures that destiny provided. But her idea of seclusion included John being with her. Her idea of fond isolation was her boy sitting next to her, talking about bullshit or the universe, the stars and what's out there, and other things that best friends eventually talk about.
But alone with only her thoughts in a large expensive looking house didn't make her happy, It made her think of another former beautiful debutant who sat alone in her home day after day like a prisoner waiting for a man who wouldn't return to her. Eventually the isolation twisted her till she looked for comfort in her teenage daughter's likeness to her love in the worst way possible.
Fear engulfed her at the almost similar situations of Rachel Connor, her mother compared to her own. Sarah shuddered at the thought of John being just a tad bit older than her when "it" all began. She couldn't handle even thinking about John going through what she had at his age.
"HAH!"
Sarah's dark musings where interrupted by a three technique demonstration by the man who cut the air like butter, snapping off a punch, than an elbow strike, ending with a swift kick.
"What is that?" she asked trying to desperately move away from her memories.
"Jujitsu!" he exclaimed with a grunt and a leaping kick as he landed on the warm tile.
"Bless you." She grinned at her small joke that earned an irritated but amused smile.
"Sure laugh, but this takes years to master." He scoffed in a challenging tone getting into a fighting stance again.
"I don't see the point?" Sarah shrugged. The man stopped and turned with a lifted eyebrow. "I mean in the future … without a weapon, if a machine wants me dead, I'm dead." She shook her head.
The man scoffed at her and folded his arms.
"That's Bullshit." He chuckled at her. Sarah stiffened at his response in surprise. "The only people who believe that are the ones that think they have nothing to lose." He explained going back to his practice.
"There is always something to lose." She frowned with her automated mantra to the phrase.
"My thoughts … exactly!" he jabbed the air swiftly. "Plus … there are points on Endo's bodies that can be exploited." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully at her. She smiled a little at his charming ease.
There was a mechanical buzzing that caught her ear. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, he flipped it open quickly.
"Yeah" he answered seriously. There was a pause from him as if he was listening to something that was important. "Run a sector scan of the area … map it out for anything worth taking or shipping." He ordered through the phone and hung up.
Sarah watched him press the phone against his chin.
"Something wrong?" she asked. The man snorted thoughtfully.
"There might be." He glanced toward her with a sigh.
Both looked at one another seriously for a moment, each trying to read the others thoughts and fears.
"You wanna come check it out?" he gave a pirate smile motioning to his motorcycle. Sarah bit her lip a moment.
"Don't take rides from strangers. "She tilted her head at him with a smug grin. The man shook his head and walked toward her, sticking his hand out.
"Captain Ryan Phillips" he introduced himself to her. Sarah gave a suspicious squint to the hand.
"Sarah Connor" she shook the hand gingerly.
There was an ease to the touch that she couldn't explain. She only ever felt that way when with John. Ryan grinned at her.
"I guess that doesn't make us strangers anymore."
Inside a clean room in the basement of the large Zirea Corp. Tower building in downtown L.A. a young female in her early twenties with innocent blue eyes and honey blond hair sat in a chair with a chord attached to the back of her head. She wore a flowing white dress on her slim figure. Her attractive girl next door looks where expressionless as she gently ran a brush through a Barbie dolls hair.
"Why do you wear a helmet?" the girl asked looking up at the leather clad female across from her who was also combing a Barbie's hair.
"I do no wish for anyone to know my Identity." The Red Mask answered simply.
The girl looked intrigued and studied the female across from her.
"Why?" she asked innocently like a small child. The other girl continued brushing the Barbie's hair.
"If people knew who I was, it could cause complications."
There was a pause in the conversation as the blond processed the information.
"Are you from the future like this body?" the girl pointed to herself. The Red Mask tilted her head.
"Yes"
"Are you here to hurt someone?" she pressed innocently. The Red Mask said nothing as she continued her work. "This body was designed to hurt someone." She offered but was still ignored. "It appeared three months ago in Laurence Kansas. It killed a mechanic shop owner and stole his clothing. It then drove to the home of Thomas Reese where it looked to acquire Kyle Reese his grandson. However it was ambushed by you and was brought here." She told her tale systematically.
"I remember …" the helmeted girl replied.
The sound of a door opening cut the conversation short and an Ice queen like woman with deep red hair sleeked back in a pony tail and a white almost plastic form fitting dress walked into the room.
She stopped at the doorway and looked on at the Red Mask with a pause of surprise and a buried sense of alarm.
"Good morning Mrs. Weaver, How are you today?" the blond asked with a child like politeness. The frigid women regard the girl with a smile.
"I'm fine, thank you Isabella." She then flicked her eyes to the Red Mask. Seeing the action the girl spoke up.
"Have you met my new friend?" she asked smiling at the leather clad female across from her. Weaver turned and had an amused look for her.
"Intimently …" she said stoically. The Red Mask placed the doll down and stood, turning to face the woman.
"Good morning Katherine." the mechanical voice said stoically. There was a tense silence in the room as the two stood to full height.
Both had an almost night and day comparison. Catherine Weaver had a sterile, futuristic look to her; while the Red Mask's tight black leather pants and motorcycle jacket looked gritty and sinister in nature.
"May I have a word with you outside?" Weaver asked pleasantly. The red helmeted woman nodded and walked out of the room leaving Isabella to herself as she closed the door.
"That look was almost priceless … scared?" The girl asked with a slight turn of her head.
"After all that you have done … I believe I have a right to be slightly cautious about you skulking around in my basement." There was a slight danger in the woman's emotionless Scottish brogue.
They stood in silence a moment before the Red Mask spoke again.
"I see that you chose the same route as last time in developing the Turk. Of course there is a different machine as its puppet." She pointed out.
"Yes … I figured that Mr. Ellison would be much more inclining in this timeline if I used a female body that he is not familiar with. I find that he would most respond to a pretty young woman as opposed to the face of a man who massacred his men." she nodded in agreement.
"Who said that history wouldn't repeat itself?" the sleek girl asked with a tilt of her head. The frigid woman smiled a sly knowing smile.
"Ryan has reassured me that it wouldn't." Catherine replied looking at the tinted slits of the helmet as if she could sense the conflict on the youth's face.
"He shouldn't make promises he can't keep."
"He has claimed that with Sarah Connor alive that there will be no need for her and her family to come after my company." The woman explained. "How can your boy be one of the best Detectives I've ever seen, yet live in a fantasy world?" she questioned the Red Mask amusingly.
"He's too much like Sarah for his own good." She replied. "He's never learned to do what's necessary and he supports this fantasy by thinking that protecting Sarah will make everything better."
"He's not wrong, if he were to terminate Dr. Serena Kogen, then all that Skynet has planned for Sarah Connor would die with her." Weaver offered as if making a suggestion to be followed.
"It's not out of the cards, but that doesn't mean that Sarah isn't still a threat to John."
There was a thoughtful pause in the conversation.
"There's only one way to ensure his safety and that's to kill Sarah, even if I have to go through Ryan to do it."
"Mrs. Weaver!" Isabella's voice called calmly from the closed door. Catherine turned and opened the door and walked in.
"Yes, Isabella?" she answered.
"I was taking inventory on Zirea Corps. Shipment schedules when I came across a distress signal from one of you ships coming from Africa." She explained continuing to comb her Barbie's hair.
"Yes?" Catherine pushed.
"Apparently someone is trying to steal the Coltan on it."
The Afternoon sun was high in the middle of the sky, warming a mostly breeze day that flickered flags and metal shingles of warn out warehouses by the docks. The smell of sea water lingered strongly in the mostly abandoned area where drug attics and homeless spend there days.
On the roof of a abandoned warehouse two people crouched on a aluminum roof looking down at a three men in grey uniforms loading boxes on fork lift trucks and by hand off the ship.
"Hey I know those guys …"
Ryan smiled cheekily as he observed the dock with a pair of binoculars. Sarah was stoic as she observed the offloading process.
"That's Coltan …" she said reading the black lettering on the boxes. She turned her gaze to the semi truck they where loading it on and read Desert Canyon Heating and Air, while the company name on the ship said Zirea Corp. "Are they working in tandem?" she asked herself out loud.
"The body floating in the water says probably not." Ryan Commented off handily. Sarah widened her eyes in exclamation and turned to the ship, but saw nothing.
"Well this should be easy …" he sighed, handing Sarah his binoculars. She watched him puzzled as he followed a stack of shipment containers to a hanging dock crane near the men as they off loaded.
"What the hell are you doing!" she hissed as he stretched a moment. Ryan smiled arrogantly.
"Following a pattern of obsessive behavior instilled in me at an early age." he answered matter- a-factly popping the collar up to his ripped up overcoat. "When I take out the crew down there you take the truck and back it into the ocean." Ryan laid out a plan quickly walking to the edge of the building ready to jump off the edge on the orange storage containers bellow.
"Wait!" Sarah caught his hand and pulled him back. "We should at least call for backup." She commanded with authority.
"Yeah, because they're just going to hangout till we can get people here." He scoffed and moved back toward the edge. Sarah glared and pulled him back again.
"We need to follow them to see who they work for." She gritted at him.
"We do that and there won't be anyway of getting rid of the Coltan." He argued ripping her hand off his. "We wait, that metal will end up in someone's hands, which will put it in distribution somewhere." He said hotly walking toward the end of the pier.
"We're under armed to do this!" she addressed him angrily not liking her orders disobeyed and her suggestions ignored.
"If you'll excuse me." He shot at her jumping off the ledge.
"Jackass" she growled standing up and rushing to the latter leading downward.
Ryan landed with small thud on the metallic container on the top of the stack. He crouched and looked down at the two men working on loading the heavy metal bars on the semi, he recognized both men. The longhaired bearded one in the trucker hat and the buzzard faced man that he had a particular dislike for, because of the sick twisted look in his eyes that told of a type of man that only Skynet could hire.
With a flicker to the sky he saw a forest of hanging chains above them in his reach. Both men took a break for a moment the long haired one moving to the front of the truck to retrieve a bottle of water from the driver's seat.
Just as the breezed blew into his hair he got a child like shot of adrenaline that ran ramped through his system.
"Hero time"
With a fluid motion Ryan sprinted and with a jump he caught a dangling chain and swung across the gap between him and the trucker cap covered man.
George McCarthy was caught unawares when Ryan delivered a gliding kick to the man's chest and face sending him backwards, causing the truck door to close with a loud slam. Landing on his feet, Ryan turned to see Ed Winston rush around the corner to see what happened.
Seeing the other hired killer, the Tech-Com officer took a running start at the buzzard faced man. He tried to reach for a pistol but a flying motorcycle boot reached the man's pressure point and he fell limply to the ground.
Ryan landed on the concrete ground with a tap recovering from his flying kick smugly looking at the man crumpled on the ground in front of him.
The soldier shook his overcoat slightly and brushed dust off it confidently unaware of a third mercenary inching behind him with a knife.
The buzz haired man stepped on some gravel alerting Ryan to him, but just as the raised his knife to stab the future soldier, a female blur body slammed the man into the truck sending him to the floor. Sarah let out a grunt when she slammed her foot into the man's face knocking him out.
There was a tense silence as both Sarah and Ryan exchanged looks for a moment.
"Tsk, I knew he was there …" Ryan scoffed confidently at the beauty's expecting look. Sarah glared at him when she didn't receive the thanks she was hoping for.
"Didn't look like it to me." She grinned at the playful pissing contest the two were in, following him as they moved toward the back of the truck to observe the cargo. Ryan returned the grin with a pirate one as he opened the slide cargo door.
"Maybe you need glasses …"
SMACK!
Sarah was startled when a large black combat boot made contact with Ryan's chest sending him into a pile of wooden crates. She stepped back when the monster of a man that tried to grab her from the sewers during her rescue of Derek jumped out of the vehicle.
This time the there were veins like spider webs visible through out his hardened physic. He walked toward where Ryan was buried.
"YOU!" he bellowed at the Soldier who got to his feet cradling his cauterized wound. "YOU"RE SUPPOSE TO BE DEAD!" he had murder in his voice.
"Sorry to disappoint." Ryan glared unfamiliarly at the large man as the monster stomped toward him. Sarah spotted a black liquid spewing from under the metal mask almost like drool.
"I'm going to make you pay for what you done to me!" he growled all but ignoring Sarah has he walked toward Ryan aggressively.
"I've crushed lots of Skynet's Science projects under my heel over the years,am I to remember you?" he baited gripping something behind his back with his left hand.
Ryan's comment drove the man over the limit and he stormed forward at the officer.
Waiting for the last second Ryan turned and flung a bar of Coltan at the man's face with his mechanical arm at a high speed causing there to be sparks on contact with the mask. While the monster was reeling at the force, Ryan sprinted and leaped on his hands and propelled his boots to the monster's face. The large man back peddled. Landing on his feet, Ryan tried to finish him with a hard double round house kick to the mask, which finally sent the lumbering behemoth to the ground.
Dropping to a knee, Ryan clenched his chest wound out of breath. The large man seemed to be wheezing for a moment as the Captain struggled to his feet.
Suddenly a flash of the sun light caught his attention. On a roof a footballs field away a petite shadowed figure was kneeling holding a RPG in the ready position aiming for the space where Sarah was standing.
"Get out of the way!" Ryan yelled ignoring the pain in his chest as he sprinted away from the large man toward Sarah who tensed not sure what was going on, or where to go, not seeing the assassin.
The trail of a rocket coming at them caused the officer to tackle the woman to the ground as the rocket propelled grenade slammed into the cargo hold of the truck causing an explosion.
An extreme blast of heat passed over Ryan's back as he cradled Sarah under him in a protective hug, holding her tightly as rubble and debris blanketed both Connors.
Rubble in flames and aluminum where pushed off to side as Ryan and Sarah emerged. With out a second look the soldier reached out and touched Sarah's face gently observing the scrap on her forehead and a cut on her lip. She blinked her eyes open as she lay flat on the concrete loading zone.
"Are you alright?" He asked docilely stroking her hair as she looked at him hazily her brain still sluggish. She nodded with a swallow and sat up slowly with his tender help. Her jacket was ripped at the elbows and her shirt and jeans where torn and her milky skin had deep red nasty concrete burns.
Meanwhile Ryan's entire back of his overcoat was synged and ripped further with little first degree burns littered across a part of his back like nasty animal claw marks. He gently got up and hoisted Sarah up by her waist gingerly; both used each other for support. All around them fiery debris and the remains of the semi smoked and filled the air with the unpleasant smell of burnt rubble that made Sarah's sense of smell go numb.
Suddenly, they heard powerful ragged breaths behind them.
Turning they watched the monster get to his feet and swayed a moment his muscle mass shrinking as he let out a growl of intense pain. On instinct Sarah drew the pistol from her waistband and pointed it at the monster that heaved his chest at them.
"You won't beat me … you won't beat me!" He growled and chanted at them as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a green vile attached to a syringe gun.
"That can't be …" Ryan said quietly causing Sarah to flicker eyes at him. With a violent jab he injected the gun like syringe into his arm pushing the green liquid into his system.
The man let out a roar as his muscles bulged bigger than they had been and his purple crazed eyes became blood shot. His larger than life chest began to heave and there was a rage to the man that couldn't be contained.
"Eden serum!"
Ryan's eyes flashed as the powerful man rode the wave of adrenaline that threatened to burst his eyeballs, squaring his shoulder toward the two.
"What the hell is going on … what just happened!" Sarah asked Ryan fearfully, her gun trained on the monster. The soldier placed his hand on the gun and pushed it down slowly.
"Guns aren't going to help us here."
"Why ?"
"Because all they're going to do is piss him off."
Suddenly the chrome masked man roared again, the adrenaline driving his blood lust to the breaking point. Unable to think, unable to rationalize his rage, he charged blindly at the two.
The charging man had all the fire and craze of a bull seeing red watching Ryan and Sarah in such close proximity to each other.
Sarah raised the gun to fire a shot but when the man's thundering feet created rivers of cracks on the concrete she realized that her companion wasn't exaggerating. Then with a hard push Sarah was tossed to the side by Ryan who jumped out of the way to the other side just in time as the monster slammed shoulder first into a shipping container leaving a dent the size of a car.
Sarah gritted her teeth at the hard concrete burn now on her shoulder that her now ripped Jacket did a poor job of protecting her from. She bit her lip and cradled her shoulder as she watched the monster go after Ryan.
Standing in a fighting position the soldier ducked under a swing, trying to get behind his opponent, Then another as he tried to get the advantage on the "Manster". However his luck ran out when one of the large hands grabbed the front of Ryan's head like a cantaloupe lifting him high off the ground obscuring his sight.
"You will not take her from me again!" he growled, constricting his grip on Ryan's head as if trying to crush it like an egg, gaining painful growls from his opponent.
Going on pure instinct Sarah drew her pistol and unloaded five shots into the man's back. But just like in the sewers, the bullets made sickening thuds in the man's skin but where stopped in the man's muscles sticking in him like thumb tacks.
Swinging forward in the air Ryan kicked his foot across the man's face, then pulled his leg over and slammed the heel of his boot into the back of the monsters neck each blow caused the man to gag. Finally, Ryan locked his ankles around the large man's neck and twisted his legs flipping the monster on his face.
Rolling, Ryan got to his feet and backed away nursing the stab wound on his chest.
"Get … Get out of here!" he gasped at Sarah who stood up and was ready to assist him.
The monster got to his feet and came after Ryan again. The soldier moved out of the way, but the blood lusting man grabbed the officer by the tail of his black coat and swung him around once before throwing him face first into the storage container. His entire body landed flat on the orange metal wall and he slid like sap rolling down a tree to the ground on his side.
Sarah watched the monster advance on the dazed time traveler till she got an idea and sprinted as fast as she could down the loading area.
Ryan felt soft hands snatch him off the ground and pull him into an iron hug that became constrictive like he was in between the arms of a metal claw that was covered with a rug.
"I'm going to break you, Connor!" a growled metallic voice stated. Ryan winced in pain as the strong smell of decay and rancidness was being blown in his face from under the mask.
Feeling the air being crushed out of him, the Captain slammed his feet to the metal wall of the orange container and pushed off with all his might. The opposite force put the monster on his heels and fell backwards landing on the back of his head, while Ryan bounced out of his grip and rolled forward onto his knees.
Panting heavily Ryan staggered several feet away before the monster got to his feet once again in a daze.
"There is no escape from my wrath!" the man yelled at him thundering closer.
The sound of squealing tires echoed down the road. With a snap of there heads they Found the Desert Canyon Heating & Air semi in reverse at full speed barreling toward them.
Ryan reacted by rolling evasively out of the way, but the Monster wasn't as quick and the Cargo hold of the truck swallowed the vengeful man sending him and the truck full of Metal through some crates and into the ocean.
Breathing heavily Ryan looked to the shoreline watching the truck sink into murky sea water before Sarah jogged up next to him. Both looked on for a moment.
"Nice shot …" Ryan nodded impressed with Sarah. She nodded in thanks without looking at him.
"I'll call that a strike."
The small concrete fallout bunker Sarah sat in was expansive and covered with expensive computer and lab equipment that she had only seen on television shows and movies and had been sure was made up. The area around her was lit by dozens of automated overhead lights that shined with out a sense of quitting. .
Cradling her shoulder and biting her lip at the burning sting on her knees she explored the compound that Ryan had taken her to.
When they had first escaped the docks Sarah had been sure that Ryan was just rushing as far away as possible, but she started to get suspicious when they ended up in an industrial graveyard. She remembered thinking how best to Jump off his motorcycle if she even got the inkling that he was taking her someplace to kill or possible torture her for information. But just as she was about to protest they went up a sewer pipe and traveled in the dark before he jumped the Cycle out of the pipe and into the concrete bunker she now stood alone in, while he commented on getting medical supplies going up a ladder.
She walked by a small shooting range with a paper target pinned to a thick rug to stop the bullets.
Walking farther inside the complex she found a table of forensic lab equipment, one of which was a glass case with little laser scanner arms circling an empty glass vile with green residue that Ryan had taken with him.
"Huh" she moved on to the crown jewel of the room.
The stack of plasma screens attached to a consul and a set of three key boards. Sarah hadn't been much for computers her entire life, but after a year in the future she realized that they where everything in this time period, so she asked to be tutored by John and even Derek on the basics of it to which Derek eventually walked away and John nearly Overdosed himself on Tylenol and suggested that they take a five month break from lessons that usually ended in screaming matches about things that had nothing to do with computers.
Sarah ran a hand over the console to which the screens beeped to life with local news stations, surveillance of traffic ways, and a far screen with a digital picture of the scanning syringe vile. She jumped back startled by the activation, watching the screens she lifted an eyebrow that stung due to a cut above it.
After a moment of observing the screens she spotted something hauntingly familiar. Near the servers for systems sat a T-888 chip plugged into the system just like she had seen John and Cameron do with Vick's chip.
Her stomach turned as she thought about what Vick did to John's laptop while left alone. She walked over and hesitantly reached for the chip.
"Please don't touch that."
Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin when the accented voice sounded over an intercom. She looked around quickly trying to put a face to it.
"Sorry, Oracle's a little sensitive about people touching her … so to speak."
She turned to see Ryan climbing down the metallic ladder with a duffle over his shoulder.
"Oracle?" she asked with confusion.
"Yeah, Oracle …" he motioned to the chip as he walked toward a paper cluttered desk. "She runs the command center." He answered waving Sarah over. She walked toward him, but shot suspicious looks toward the chip.
"It's quite alright Ms. Connor; I'm programmed to follow Captain Phillips orders to the letter."
Sarah jumped again and looked around startled at the voice. Ryan made a slashing motion across his throat to the chip.
"Very well, sir."
The voice blipped out causing Sarah to circle around for sight of the speakers before finally closing the distance between her and the soldier.
"You think it's wise to have that thing unsupervised?" She asked with a tilt of her head. Ryan snorted, digging through the bag.
"She's different …" he sighed distractedly as he ruffled through supplies.
"Where have I heard that before?"
"What makes you say that?" she crossed her arms defiantly.
"Well …" he drew out the word with a grunt pulling out a cue tip and placed a purple gel on it. "Because she's not reprogrammed … she's just programmed." He stated popping the cap back on the tube. Sarah frowned in confusion.
"What's that mean?" she shrugged with a wince. He pulled a roller chair forward and motioned for her to sit.
"That means that my old man created her programming from scratch." He stated carefully watching her gingerly sit on the chair.
Sarah humphed at the statement and watched carefully as he kneeled in front of her and moved the cue tip toward her face. She immediately caught his wrist.
"Easy … it's just liquid stitches." He showed her the purple gel on the cotton end of the stick. She breathed an untrustworthy breath but released her hold on his arm, letting him start. Sarah hitched her breath painfully at the sting of the liquid being rolled gently over her cut eyebrow.
"Where did you get the money for all this?" She asked turned her eyes to a billboard with pictures and articles of a familiar clown plastered on the wooden surface with thumb tacks and a red sting of yarn tied on to each other in a pattern.
"It helps, when there are millions of dollars just lying around in the future and ways to know what to invest in, in the stock market for the next several years." He chuckled a little as he worked on Sarah's eyebrow. She grinned slightly, wincing at a sting. He apologized and bit his lip.
"Is that the clown that stuck you?" she said looking at the picture. "The one John killed?" Her voice cracked at the idea of her boy not killing once, but twice now. Ryan nodded without looking at his flow chart. There was a silence in the room for a moment as the soldier finished.
"Hey …" Ryan placed a curled finger under Sarah's chin gently and looked her in the eye. "John Connor doesn't take a life lightly; He did what he did, because he had no choice." His words were a strange comfort to Sarah as was his touch.
Both paused a moment and she flicked her eyes to the hand. He cleared his throat and moved it away awkwardly.
"All done." He smiled placing a band aid over her cut. He got to his feet and turning back to the bag behind him. She observed more rips and tears in the overcoat and several burns marks on his back.
"You want me to look at that?" she asked with a clear of her throat. He glanced over his shoulder.
"No … no, I'll get it later." He shook his head turning and handing her an ice pack to which she pressed to her shoulder giving a slight hiss at the cold bite to her tender shoulder.
"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt but the scan is done on the vile and I pulled security footage from your fight…"
Sarah jumped one last time then glared at the ceiling, to which Ryan smiled amusingly.
"Alright …" he bit back a laugh and walked to the computer consol and sat in the big leather chair. Sarah got out of the chair and followed to the consol and stood behind Ryan as he tapped several keys.
"As you feared, sir … the vile contains tweaked traces of Skynet's "Eden serum" which caused the muscle growth and rampage from your opponent at the docks."
"So where talking long term use here …?" he replied typing several more keys.
Grainy security footage on the main screen showed the Monster from earlier inject himself and then grow larger. Sarah found it just as hard to watch the second time as the first. There was just something about the engorging and inhumanness of large human muscles that made her squeamish. Even when she was in high school the body builders and weight lifters always grossed her out.
"Eden?" she asked with a frown watching the footage. Ryan turned and looked at her in surprise as if he had forgotten she was there.
"Yeah …" He sighed rubbing his soul patch thoughtfully and leaning back in his seat. "It's sort of Skynet's super soldier formula. It's a narcotic that's supposed to speed up your body, making you faster, stronger, and smarter. The canners were trying to find a way to give it to their human auxiliaries on the battle field." He spoke lost in thought.
"But …?" Sarah pushed sensing a catch.
"But, it's all temporary … and the side effects are sever, whatever it gives you it takes away eventually and it charges interest." He looked up at Sarah.
"So what are we talking about?" She shook her head.
"It slowly eats at your brain, long term effects are uncontrollable anger and aggression, the adrenaline boosts sets you're body at rate that will eventually burn you out if you don't shoot up … after a while you're dependent on it." He shook his head and sighed. "It was Skynet's short term solution to hold off the resistance." He looked off to the screen observing there fight on the docks.
"Did it work?" Sarah asked interested as well as disgusted by the whole story. Ryan shook his head.
"There's only been one test subject that's survived … and he's been long gone" Ryan said darkly.
"Sir, you might want to explore the possibility that the Minotaur survived your last encounter, judging by the history linked to him and the serum?"
"No" Ryan responded shortly and quickly as if closing that line of thinking. Sarah missed the slight fearful glance he shot her, hoping that she wouldn't catch the name.
He was in luck as he watched Sarah concentrate on the video watching a RPG just miss her and Ryan.
"Did he have back up?" She asked with a frown leaning in to get a better look at the screen. Ryan leaned forward and typed several seconds.
"Rewind and slow frame." He ordered. There was a chirp and the rocket appeared slowing out of the truck explosion moving backward. "Alright, follow rocket to source." The picture moved till it focused on a pixilated image. "Freeze" he called. The picture did as commanded. "Zoom and blow up." The picture did so leaving a blurry Red and black figure on one knee. "Zoom out and focus." Ryan and Sarah squinted as the picture cleared.
The petite female figure was clad in all leather with a red helmet.
Sarah glared in familiarity and turned.
Ryan had dark and sadly troubled brown eyes as he looked on the image in front him.
"What is it?" Sarah asked.
Ryan sat back and placed his chin inside his closed fist.
"That's a face I haven't seen in a very longtime."
Serena turned off the water to the shower and stood soaked for a moment. She sighed coming out of the glass paneled shower and onto her thousand dollar rug that felt snug on her bare feet. With a content smile she grabbed the towel off the rack and stepped out in front of the mirror.
She had sallow brown eyes and a pasty face. She was a woman in her late thirties; her long curly chocolate brown hair was pined back and in a bun. She was an attractive woman for her age and her slim body was well balanced with it's attributes as for easy seduction of who ever she wished to bring into her bedroom.
She wrapped the towel over her body, the doctor hummed happily as she walked into her expanse futuristic master bedroom from the lavishly designed restroom. It was comprised of glass tables and black plastic furniture imported from Sweden.
She however stopped when the evening sun was shown through the window shining on the silhouette of a petite girl in tight leather pants and a threadbare see through white tank top. Her long chocolate hair shined in the sunset beautifully.
The girl turned her face to the side to look at the woman. Serena smiled softly at the girl, seeing a red helmet sitting on the bed next to a padded leather jacket.
"Hello baby." Serna addressed her maternally.
Her smile disappeared when the girl turned to face her fully. She was an angelic beauty that once had innocence to her expressionless features. However, now it was replaced with a look of ageless wisdom and hardness. She had one hardened brown eye to her left while her right was covered by a black eye patch. She brandished a short sword like combat knife in a leather gloved hand with intent to use it.
"Hello Mother."
Author's Notes
So now we know who the Red Mask is … but does Ryan know who it is?
The start of this chapter and the flashback have been kicking in my head since I was neck deep in Purpose. If you listen to Alan Silvestri piece of score from Forest Gump called Run Forest Run then it should mesh well with Ryan on the balcony and the flashback. Because I think that it fits young Ryan's personality.
The Eden Formula is not from purpose it's something new that I've been working on since purpose, but like I said not in the story.
The Minotaur however is briefly mentioned in Purpose. (Figgy knows)
Love your reviews guys.
PS. Jameron will be in next chapter.