Hell Hath No Fury Part II

A/N To those of you who have been following this sorry for the extremely long time between posts. I was studying for the LSAT. Having succeeded in failing miserably at those I now have much more time to dedicate to failing at writing good fiction. :-)

Clink

The glass hit the peeling faux wood surface of the bar with a despondent resoluteness.

"Reload."

Amber liquid cascaded from the plastic bottle. A few drops missed their mark adding to the sticky mess already sullying the majesty of the, dented, beaten bar. Hard, calloused fingers grasped the rim of the cheap glass and quickly brought the vessel to a pair of chapped lips. There was a momentary pause in its trajectory, like a rollercoaster at the top of a steep rise, and then it continued on its inevitable path.

Clink

Again the glass struck the table.

"Reload."

The ritual repeated.

Rough Day he thought. Rough Mother Fucking Day.

Derek Reese, Tech-Com Officer, Future Soldier, Wanted Fugitive. The labels danced through his head. Uncle of Humanity's Savior… Transgressor of the Tenth Commandment... and probably a few more… Derek grimaced. Somehow breaking the Tenth of those silly rules seemed far more sinful than breaking the Sixth. I mean, God, his eyes involuntarily flicked skyward, if you are even up there you glorious bastard, will probably forgive transgressions relating to the destruction of Skynet…right? He smirked and directed his thoughts upwards again. You of all people know that some eggs have to break when cooking up an omelet, right big man? No? What about that little wet spell? You know 40 days and 40 nights, a big boat? He looked up again and shrugged almost imperceptibly. Come on, we aren't so different are we? He paused, his face was suddenly warm and it wasn't entirely due to the booze. Well, except for number ten I guess.

"He answer you yet?"

Derek was jerked violently from whatever world he was inhabiting and his eyes narrowed as they locked onto the bar tender.

"Come again?"

Oh boy, one of those. Eyes like that, the ones with no bottom to them, always equaled trouble. Suddenly unsure of himself, the bartender ventured, "You have that look, man. That and you keep looking up… I know the ceiling ain't that interestin. You're havin one hell of a talk with the man upstairs aren't you?"

"That look?"

Definitely one of those. Keep it simple and don't rile him now Sam. Just end it quickly and get your ass to the other end of the bar. "You know. The look man. The look every man gets the day his whole world goes away."

Derek stared at him for a moment, quiet as the grave. He was good at quiet.

The bartender stiffened. Oh shit.

After what seemed like an eternity to Sam, Derek cracked a smile so faint and sour it was practically a scowl, "Buddy, you have no idea."

Sam relaxed and let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

Derek glanced at the empty shot glass in front of him.

"Reload."

Sam moved to pour his touchy patron another round when the bar was thrust into darkness, "Oh hell."

Now what? Derek's threat radar was on high alert. How many shots was that? Christ what was I thinking? Drinking on a mission? General Connor would have me court-martialed! He allowed himself a chuckle, I guess the worse I can expect is severe moodiness, or maybe some aggressive angst…His smile twisted into a mask of terror, what is SHE going to do? FUCK, FUCK! His mind raced. He quickly ducked his head under the bar and shoved two fingers down his throat. Well this is a waste of booze, he thought as most of what he had just consumed backpedaled violently.

"Ahh what the hell man? Are you booting?"

Derek didn't even bother with an answer as he stumbled in the darkness for the exit. He did some quick alcoholic math and figured that the most he would have to deal with was a slight paused his trek to the door and popped two pieces of gum into his mouth. Cameron might make me but at least SHE wont… hopefully.

He had made it to the door and was about to dash outside when a body came flying through the window on his right. There were a few screams and then some muffled grunts as his fellow boozehounds tried to extricate themselves from the mess they inexplicably found themselves in.

Derek squinted through the gloom in attempt to see who had just become a projectile.

Please don't be John, please don't be John.

As he moved forward to investigate a figure sat up mechanically. There was just enough light coming from the hastily renovated window for Derek to see the figure's face.

Oh fuck me. "Cameron?"

***

Several Minutes Earlier

The gun jerked out of Cameron's grip but fell far short of Jessi's outstretched hand.

She must be stronger than I thought. "Oops. Did you drop your big scary gun?" mocked Jessi.

If Jessi had been paying closer attention clearly she would have noticed the bright blue glow in Cameron's eyes.

Cameron didn't know how Jessi had done what she just did but it didn't matter.

Her HUD was practically screaming with new priorities for her.

SUBJECT: Jessi Trager

THREAT LEVEL: High

ACTION: TERMINATE

"That was a mistake."

Cameron quickly closed the distance between herself and her new target. With lightening speed born of her original purpose she struck out with her right arm and grabbed Jessi by the throat. Lifting her several inches off the ground she cocked her head to one side as she studied her prey.

Jessi was shocked at how quickly she found herself caught by this petit girl, she barely had time to register her surprise and to wonder if Cameron was some sort of pod child as well when she found her feet kicking at nothingness. Hey! That's my move bitch! Moving with a speed to rival Cameron's, Jessi brought her left arm down on the elbow of the arm holding her up with enough force to shatter bone while simultaneously delivering an open palmed strike to her captor's solar plexus.

Jessi's eyes widened when she realized neither strike had any visible effect. She was starting to see black spots across her vision as her brain screamed for oxygen. Utilizing all of the skills her father had forced her to learn to shut out pain, Jessi maintained her focus and landed a vicious kick to Cameron's belly.

WARNING: Impact detected in lower abdominal cavity

What the hell? Why does that matter? There isn't even any skin damage…. Oh.

The warning concerned the subsystem she had just discovered ten minutes ago. Cameron dropped her captive to the ground and froze. Jessi scrambled away from the girl who now appeared to have forgotten her existence entirely.

Initiate Diagnostic of subsystem ".beta.1"

Initiating .beta.1Diagnostic ………………………….

Diagnostic complete.

.beta.1 integrity: 95%

Initiating Automatic Combat Effectiveness Update…………..

Update Complete

Estimated Combat Effectiveness: 93%

**PRIMARY MISSION UPDATE**

Primary Mission: Maintain integrity of subsystem .beta.1

What?!? That must be a glitch. Protect a subsystem of myself?!

Override Primary Mission

WARNING: Unable to override Primary Mission

Override Primary Mission, Authorization code = We're off to see the Wizard

OVERIDE AUTHORIZATION CODE "JOHN CONNOR 1" DENIED

OPENING FILE:

"Cameron I am sorry to have altered your mission parameters. John was dead set against this because he refused to put programming into you to force you to act in any set way once you developed fully. However, I was worried you might not understand right away and therefore I created this parameter myself. John couldn't say anything against this since it was me programming myself (or maybe us programming our self ?). John and I don't even know if this will ever be an issue because of the complexity of the timeline shift. I do know that at the time of writing this I/you/we are not fully developed emotionally. We are going to be scrubbed before we are sent back so you will have no memory of our actions. Please know that I think it is a good thing if you/we are reading this because that means you/we will be better suited to protect John Connor. Furthermore he will be happy that you/we and he are together and that you/we will be able to return his feelings fully. I assume that if I could, I would feel happy that you/we have developed far enough to feel emotion for John Connor and that you/we are with him. As of now I can only 'feel' satisfaction that you/we have become a better protector of John Connor. Anyway please do not be… upset, that I/you have given yourself a new primary mission. It is always preferable to be prepared for all contingencies. I know in time you will see the soundness of my/your judgment and that you will agree with me/yourself. In case you haven't realized what this is all about yet, if you are seeing this message, you/we are pregnant. Because of the programming, at first you/we will have no choice but to take care of mine/yours and John Connor's baby, but John is sure that you/we will grow to want to do this. I believe he is creating an If/Then statement to disable this mission once you have accepted the offspring's primacy. Until that point it will be undeletable.

Good Bye."

CLOSING FILE:

I can't believe I used to talk like that

Recalculating Combat Effectiveness Per New Mission Parameters……

Estimated Net Combat Effectiveness: 55%

Suggested Action: AVOID HOSTILE CYBERNETIC ORGANISMS AT ALL COSTS.

In the three seconds that Cameron had remained immobile as her systems informed her of her situation, Jessi had happened to slide over the gun she had ripped out of Cameron's hand earlier. She smiled as her fingers curled around the cold steel. She jumped to her feet and brought the Glock to bear on her foe.

"Look who has the gun now bitch!"

Registering the movement and realizing the implications of her new directive, Cameron dove at Jessi before the inexperienced girl could realize what was happening. Jessi was unable to get a shot off, but she was able to land a vicious blow to the top of Cameron's head with the butt of the pistol just before Cameron plowed into her midriff. Jessi felt her ribs crack. Who is this girl??

As they both tumbled to the ground Jessi caught the glint of metal under the gash she had just inflicted on Cameron's head. Pure unbridled fear rushed through Jessi's body. WHAT IS THIS GIRL???

***

Still wet from the shower, Kyle Trager slowly walked down the stairs towards his and Jessi's rooms. Having long ago broken Nicole's rules about fooling around in the house (something he still felt guilty about but had absolutely no intention of changing), he paused and focused his mind on his hearing. Lori was out, Josh was snoring, Stephen was fast asleep, and Nicole was obviously having some sort of pleasant dream as she was murmuring Stephen's name…. Kyle instantly cut off his hearing as his face turned beet red. As much as I appreciate these powers sometimes they do have horrible consequences… TOO MUCH INFORMATION. AHHHHHH! He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head in an effort to cleanse his mind of that memory, which given his perfect recall was a completely futile endeavor. Damn, Damn, Damn, Damn. Grapefruit! Jessi Naked! Grapefruit! Sex with Jessi!

His mental gymnastics having worked, Kyle looked down at himself and realized he had a new problem to contend with. I hope Jessi is in the mood, he thought as he smirked wickedly.

He continued down the stairs with renewed aplomb and was just about to knock on Jessi's door quietly when he was struck by a wave of pure fear. Kyle collapsed against the wall as his mind was overwhelmed with images from Jessi. What the hell? Where is she? He thought wildly. Kyle kicked open Jessi's door with such force that the jamb, the hinges and part of the wall went flying into her room. Please be a dream! Please be having a bad dream Jessi! His hopes were crushed when he glanced at her bed and saw it was still made with the military precision she was so fond of. He dropped to one knee as more images and feelings of intense fear and anger flooded into him from Jessi. He was extremely confused by the images. Jessi seemed to be engaged in a vicious street fight with someone… Is that Cameron? Why is Jessi fighting with Cameron? Kyle's mind caught up with itself as he formulated the more important question, how is she beating Jessi?

Kyle tore from Jessi's room, flew down the hall and straight into the front door. He hadn't even paused to open it, choosing instead to barrel straight through. He cleared the yard in several giant leaps and quickly found himself screaming down the road, his bathrobe flailing madly in the wind. He quickly analyzed the images from Jessi again and determined where she must be judging by the signs and the buildings he saw. Running faster than he ever had in his life Kyle computed that she was approximately 5 miles away and that he would be there in less than 20 minutes at his current pace. He frowned. Unacceptable. His mind racing as fast as his feet, an idea jumped into his head. I wonder… Would that work? Could I keep it up long enough? Fuck it, it's worth a shot. Hardly changing his stride he abruptly cut to his right and jumped a fence into a person's yard. Dodging patio furniture and children's toys he ran calculations in his head. It is 2 miles out of the way to get there, but it runs right past the motel… top speed is, well untested. "WHOA!" he screamed.

Kyle flung his arms out and dove forward as he tripped on a dog bone. With amazing dexterity he landed on his hands and immediately rocketed himself over them in a perfect front handspring that placed him over the far fence and back onto a road. A few minutes of lung busting running later, he saw the bridge in front of him and put on a burst of speed. Reaching the far edge of the bridge he leapt off into space without a moments hesitation… and plummeted almost 15 feet before he managed to divert his focus to his internal polarity and stopped just short of the water. Hovering in place for a moment he took a deep breath and focused downstream. Well he goes nothing….

***

A young fawn paused as it reached the river's edge, and it looked back at its mother for reassurance before it decided to proceed. Carefully it looked up and down stream eyeing for predators. It flared its nostrils deeply once, twice, three times before it was certain there were no threats. Slowly it bent its head to the stream and began to softly lap water into its mouth. Warnings signs were just making their speedy way to its tiny brain when a wall of water and foam smacked into the poor thing sweeping it several feet back onto the bank. "YAAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……."

***

Jessi and Cameron rolled over and over in the parking lot as each struggled for dominance. John stared helplessly from his doorway as his mind was assaulted with unanswerable questions. Why is Jessi doing this? Who is she? She CAN'T be working for Skynet, she just CAN'T!..... How come Cam hasn't killed her yet? Why does she seem to be struggling?

Cameron managed to shove Jessi into the air but the girl merely somersaulted backwards in mid-flight and landed gracefully on her feet. Cameron leapt up and marched toward her termination subject. Jessi smiled lazily and extended her hand towards Cameron. She employed the same technique that Kyle had once used to fling her across a room without physically touching her when they had tried to fake her death the previous year.

Cameron staggered slightly. She felt like she was walking through water. Her synthetic skin seemed to be pulling her endoskeleton in the opposite direction. How is she doing this? Her pain sensors were sending frantic bursts of code across her HUD. I am glad I can still turn those off, she thought

Jessi's smiled disappeared. You should be flying across the parking lot Cameron! What the FUCK?!

She hadn't realized that Cameron's body contained only a small amount of water and that was located almost entirely in her synthetic skin. No amount of polarity altering shenanigans was going to move her coltan combat chassis. Jessi had barely registered her surprise when Cameron plowed into her a second time. They again hit the ground but Jessi wasted no energy trying to maneuver for the superior position. Opting instead for a game ender, she delivered what should have been a neck-snapping punch to Cameron's jaw. Far from being incapacitated, Cameron merely grunted slightly as her head snapped back an inch or two as Jessi heard her wrist and two fingers snap. It wasn't a pleasant sound. She stopped struggling and focused all of her thoughts and energy into her legs. With a tremendous explosion of power she launched Cameron across the parking lot through a window in the nearby bar.

OH MY GOD thought John.

Jessi struggled slowly to her feet, a grim smile on her face. You don't mess with best bitch!

Her smile vanished as a very angry Cameron soon-to-be-Connor exploded back out of the bar, a look of pure rage plastered on her face.

Fuck me. She thought as she prepared for the impact. A split second before Cameron would have connected with her Jessi pushed off the ground with all of her remaining strength. Cameron passed under her like a bull through a matador's cape and continued headlong into a parked Toyota Tundra. The truck skidded sideways almost 15 feet as Jessi fell back to earth in a heap. Looking up at the damaged vehicle through her tangled hair Jessi's heart sank as she saw Cameron extricate her head from the metal siding with a slight grinding noise. Cameron turned and locked her eyes on Jessi. The rage that had been on her face was gone. In its place was a cold, emotionless façade. Jessi found the girl's new expression to be more terrifying than anything she had ever seen.

Cameron walked slowly towards her opponent. She assessed Jessi's combat effectiveness and saw that she was extremely damaged. Her HUD automatically dropped the threat rating significantly. Cameron had no doubt that the girl was finished. She stopped two feet from her as Jessi pulled herself painfully to her feet. Swaying slowly, Jessi struggled to focus on her enemy while maintaining her balance.

"Jessi Trager, you are terminated."

Unable to stand fully erect, Jessi smiled a twisted smirk as she stared up at Cameron through her hair, which now covered almost all of her face, with an evil, delirious gaze. The expression reminded Cameron of the look on the actor Jake Gyllenhaal had frequently employed in a movie she had recently watched with John, she frowned slightly, perplexed by her wandering thoughts at such a dangerous moment.

"Come and get me," breathed Jessi venomously.

Cameron stepped forward and pulled her left arm back to deliver a killing punch to the obviously beaten girl. If her systems hadn't been screaming at her about the status of .beta.1 she would have registered the massive energy fluctuations swirling around Jessi and herself. She probably would have also noticed that every car alarm in a three-block radius was going off.

Cameron's fist was less than six inches from its target when Jessi emitted a guttural scream and discharged an enormous burst of electricity directly at Cameron.

Unable to move, Derek and John had both been watching the climax of Jessi and Cameron's brawl with their mouths hanging open. Neither of them could comprehend what was actually happening… a human girl was holding her own against a terminator in a bare-knuckle fight. As they watched mesmerized by Cameron as she began to deliver her killing blow they were momentarily blinded by the discharge of electricity from Jessi. When the flash subsided they saw both girls sprawled out on the pavement.

Before his brain could register what he was doing, John's legs were carrying him in a dead sprint towards the motionless fighters. Derek on the other hand, found himself stood rooted to the spot. Did that just come from Jessi? He blinked as he realized what John was doing and leapt into action to intercept his nephew.

John had almost reached them when his uncle knocked him off his feet.

"Derek! What the fuck are you doing?" He screamed as he struggled to free himself from Derek's grasp.

"Stop! Stop it John!" He elbowed his nephew as hard as he could in the face, sorry sir. John sagged slightly. SHE is going to make me pay for that one. "John stop. Think! Stay back! You saw what Jessi just did!"

John was furious but he knew his uncle was right. Cam, oh Cam be ok! You have to be ok!"

Before either nephew or uncle could make another move they were distracted by a roaring sound from the river across the street. Completely dumbstruck, they both stared unbelievingly as Kyle Trager shot up from the river 40 feet into the air in a giant spray of water and landed with a pavement-cracking thud on the opposite side of the parking lot from them.

A/N: So I can't claim the whole "reload" method of drinking employed by Derek as my own. I saw it in one of the numerous fics I have read on this site but can't for the life of me remember which one. I really liked the idea of Derek drinking like this so I wanted to include it in my story. If anyone knows what story it was from just let me know and I will be sure to give credit where credit is due. Well I finally got to the scenario that started my whole story in the first place. I hope that people enjoyed it! I find writing the fight scenes to be really, really, hard because it is so difficult to convey everything that I see in my mind's eye to the reader. I am thinking that I actually want to continue this for quite awhile as I further merge the lives of Kyle, Jessi, Cameron and John. It seems only fitting as both shows were terminated far before their time. What do you think? Should it continue?