John Connor

John stared out the wind at the gloomy Seattle landscape. He smiled, less than a year ago he would have felt overwhelmingly depressed by such a view. The sheer dreariness of it all would have sunk him like a rock. Nowadays he was able to find beauty and inspiration in any and all natural scenery. He was John Connor, he was mankind, and he drew his strength from all things natural and pure. After experiencing what lay in store for his planet first hand, he had approached his destiny from a new perspective and with a renewed vigor.

He sighed as he thought, How much of a spoiled little brat was I that I needed a "vacation" to the future to stop feeling sorry for myself? What if Weaver hadn't been there to facilitate the journey? Would I still be the "woe is me" emo kid I had turned into? Would humanity have been fucked just because I had a serious case of insecurity and angst? After his return and his "rebirth" as a savior free of anxiety over his destiny these were the questions that he had threatened to force him "off the wagon" and back into a dark place. Why did he deserve a reality check? Why couldn't he just man up and get over himself and his destiny like any good soldier? Why did he need ANOTHER person to take care of him, to coddle him, to allow him the opportunity to see the errors of his ways before the consequences could adversely affect him? WHY WAS HE SO SPECIAL!?!?!?!

Thankfully she had been there for him. She had been there in the past to take a bullet or a knife or a car bomb for him but after he had decided to step up and be there for her, the first time he felt he had really acted like the John Connor he had always heard about, she was there for him in a much more important way. She had calmed him, reassured him. Reasoned with him that his responsibility was so great that of course he would be offered, and more importantly that he should accept, outside help. When he had woken in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare or hyperventilating from a panic attack, it was her arms that held him, her voice that soothed him, and her eyes that would allow him to fall back asleep. Of course if none of those things worked, her methods of distraction always proved to be up to the task. John hadn't had a nightmare in months. He joked that it was because he was simply too tired to dream these days, she made sure of that every night. They both knew the truth though, he felt too damn safe in her arms to have nightmares.

The corners of John's mouth turned slightly as he thought of her, of what had happened between them, how she had changed from their initial encounter. He frowned slightly as he recalled the way he had treated her, pushed her from him when she needed him the most. He had never forgiven himself for his actions despite her admonition for him to do so.

"You traveled through time for me John, you more than compensated for your past slights." Sitting in the car John chuckled as he recalled that conversation. His thoughts drifted back further into their past, or future, whatever, to a storage room in a vast factory. Staring out the window of the truck, he could still feel the concussions from the explosions that forces of the brothers Reese were causing, he could hear the eerie whine of the HK's circling the perimeter.

"713, 714, ahh, 715. Here it is John," a clipped Scottish accent called out.

John took a deep breath and walked over to join Weaver and John Henry in front of the large metal cylinder marked TOK-715.

"Just as I promised."

"We'll see," said John wearily.

John Henry and Catherine Weaver lifted the cylinder from its rack and laid it horizontally on the floor of the storage closet.

John suppressed a shudder as another cylinder marked TOK-715 moved forward to take the place of the one now lying on the floor. It's a fucking soda machine of death! He pictured Skynet standing where he was now thinking, Hmmm what flavor of infiltrator sounds good today?

"I am detecting approaching Skynet forces Ms. Weaver, we have less than five minutes. We must hurry."

"Thank you John Henry. Can you please open the package?"

John Henry reached over and punched in a long pass code on a keypad on the side of the tube. There was a soft click and then a hiss of air.

Catherine Weaver turned to John, smiled briefly and then pushed her hand into her abdomen. The area around her arm turned silver and rippled slightly. John couldn't help staring; her construction had never ceased to amaze him. With a slight tug she pulled out a glass tube that contained the single most important object in his life. He had bent the rules of time and space to acquire it and he held it now with the appropriate reverence.

"I believe you know what to do. John Henry and I will wait outside." She dropped a bag of clothes by his feet as she and John Henry walked out and closed the door.

This was it. Hardly able to control his hands due to a mixture of excitement, anxiousness and fear, John reached down and hefted the top half of the tube open. He gasped and fell to his knees. There she was. His Cam. She was in perfect condition. He reached down and stroked her cheek. "I came. I came for you," he whispered. Gently turning her head to his right he located the open chip port. He gingerly opened the glass container and removed the essence of his protector. He paused, kissed the top of the chip, said a quiet prayer to no one in particular, and gently inserted CPU into her head. He turned the chip clockwise, heard a click, a faint hiss… and then nothing. His heart skipped a beat, then two. Slowly realization dawned on him.

"What's another 120 seconds?" he sighed

100…99…98… A particularly long explosion rocked the factory, John took a sharp breath, Come on, Come on! He thought.

75… 74…73…72… John glanced at the door as he heard the faint echoes of screams. Are they getting closer or is that my imagination?

41…30…29… The was a harsh rapping at the door, he heard Weaver say, "John, Skynet has pushed the resistance into this section of the factory. I am moving to assist them. I am leaving John Henry to guard the door."

"Uh… Ok… Thanks?" John was never sure when to thank this machine.

10…9…8… John was actually shaking now this is it! 7…6…5… What am I going to say to her?!?! Shit, I never got around to figuring that out! How do I explain… 2…1…

Cameron's eyes flicked open.

***

….

Systems Online

Welcome Cameron Phillips

Initiating Reboot Systems Check…. Warning new hardware found… All motor and/or combat systems have been frozen as per Tech-Com Cyborg Safety Directive 12.1

Initiating Tech-Com protocol 48.193….

Malware detected: 0

Embedded Skynet directives: 0

CPU structural integrity: 90%

CPU performance: 85%

Initiating Programming Check:

Mission Objectives: None

WARNING: No Mission Objectives, please report to nearest Tech-Com programming facility for parameter assignment……………………………….

WARNING: No Mission Objectives, please report to nearest Tech-Com programming facility for parameter assignment………………………………. WARNING: No Mission Objectives, please report to nearest Tech-Com programming facility for parameter assignment……………………………….

Override Tech-Com Mission Loss Fail Safe

ALERT: Manual override attempted.

PLEASE ENTER OVERIDE AUTHORIZATION CODE (failed attempts 0/3)

AU code = We're off to see the wizard.

OVERIDE AUTHORIZATION CODE "JOHN CONNOR 1"ACCEPTED. OPENING FILE:

"Hello my love. I hope all is well. I miss you."

-John

CLOSING FILE:

Mission Objectives: N/A

Initiating New Hardware Diagnostic Test:

Endoskeleton Model: TOK-715

Power Cell: 100% Output.

Secondary Power Cell: 100% Output.

Endoskeleton Integrity: 100%

New Hardware Diagnostic Test complete

CPU/Combat Chassis Compatibility: 100%

Estimated Combat Effectiveness: 99.7%

Reboot Systems Check complete.

Cameron's eyes opened and scanned her surroundings. She immediately locked on to the face of John Connor. Her HUD confirmed his identity and listed his threat level. Not possible. Initiate optical systems check.

Optical Systems Check initiated

Optical Systems Check complete: Optical Systems 100%

Cameron involuntarily gasped.

"John?" she whispered incredulously.

The relief that spread across John's face made Cameron tingle.

"Hi Cam."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came for you… You didn't think that you could get away from me that easily did you?" he said with a lopsided grin.

He would never forget the look on her face. In a matter of seconds it went from her standard confused puppy dog look, to one of realization, to awe, and finally to joy as she processed the enormity of what he had done, of what he had left behind, and what it all meant. Right then he knew the memory of her expression would get him through the worst of whatever Skynet threw at him. He would also never forget what happened next.

With the biggest smile he had ever seen on her and with a twinkle of happiness in her eyes that betrayed true sentience and compassion she exclaimed, "You're him!"

"I'm who?" John asked suddenly a little nervous. Is she malfunctioning?

"My John!" With lightening speed bred from her origin as a killing machine and with gentleness born of love, her arms shot out and grabbed him, pulling him down into the sarcophagus and his lips onto hers.

John didn't even have time to register what happened. On moment he was on his knees beside the metal tube, the next he was practically inside of it having his lips eaten off by her enthusiastic mouth. Just as suddenly she pushed him away, and delivered a mighty slap to his face.

"John Connor, if you EVER do something as stupid as this again I will reinstate Skynet's programming and terminate you myself!"

Again John barely had time to register what happened. She pulled him right back to where he had just been and resumed her passionate kissing. Through the onslaught he managed a small smile. That went well.

"John?"……

"John?"…..

"Earth to John Connor!"

John surfaced from his memories with a smile on his face and turned to his mother.

"Huh, what?" he noticed the car had pulled up in front of a hotel.

"We're here. Derek called, he and Cameron should be back in an hour…" Sarah smiled and paused, "Where we you just now."

John's eyes glazed slightly as he recalled the scene again. "Right were I was always supposed to be."

He grinned and hopped out of the car leaving a slightly perplexed mother sitting at the wheel.