Chapter 02: Bred In Captivity

LOS ANGELES (2030)

Crying like howling banshees, the Hunter-Killers swooped down upon their prey, blue plasma spilling from their underbelly cannons. The first blast struck the ground close to their target's right, forcing him to veer to his left sharply. He was fast on his feet, very fast, so fast in fact that the HKs had been pursuing him for over an hour. He dodged every shot, weaving in and out of wrecked vehicles and ruined buildings, desperately trying to escape his pursuers.

He scrambled up the side of a collapsed brick wall, his feet slipping beneath him as he struggled up the steep surface. High above him, one of the HKs came to a stop and took aim. The bolt struck the wall beneath his feet and he stumbled, falling backwards as the structure crumbled underfoot. He landed painfully on the ash floor, every inch of his body screaming in agony.

The HKs hovered above but did not fire, holding their position as if waiting for him to make a move. Their behaviour became clear when three T-900s came marching around an old tanker, their plasma rifles raised to kill. But like the HKs, they too did not fire. He regarded them closely, waiting for them to change their minds, but they didn't. The nearest machine marched forward and grabbed his injured arm, crushing it beneath its grip as it raised him to his feet.

A second machine shackled his wrists behind his back and pushed him into a steady march, its hand pressed firmly on his back to keep him moving. He complied with their demands and let them lead him to a monkey-wagon parked around the corner. They opened the cage and pushed him inside, the T-900 holding the rifle to his head as the cage closed again.

Jason stared down the barrel of the rifle and sneered.

Hard part over, he thought.

--

SOMEWHERE IN THE ARIZONA DESERT (PRESENT)

Jason stared down the barrel of Derek's rifle and sneered.

From the second-back seats, he and Sophie sat at gunpoint while Sarah punched it down the main road. John and Cameron were seated comfortably in the first-back seats of the truck, staring at the assault rifle between them. Jason remained passive, knowing all too well that one wrong word, or move, would ensure a bullet to his head. Though it wouldn't kill him, Jason knew it would cause him quite the headache.

"So… you gonna keep this up forever, or are you going to lower that gun?" he asked in fake concern.

Derek narrowed his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching in a mocking smile; "When you explain what the hell you're doing here."

Jason rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat; "Ugh, can't you figure it out yourself? Come on; use that extra 2% brain power I know you primates possess. It isn't too hard to understand, or do I have to draw you a pictogram with notations and-"

Derek jabbed the gun in his mouth, causing Jason to choke and brush it aside. The weapon fired a single round, piercing the car window to Jason's right. Everyone in the car, with the exception of Cameron, cried out in surprise. Sarah elbowed Derek sharply in the ribs and he recoiled, falling back into his seat up in front.

"What the hell are you doing, Reese?" she growled, flashing him an annoyed look before turning back to the road.

Derek grunted and put the rifle down, drawing his Beretta instead and kept it trained on Jason. "I wanna know what the hell he's doing here. Don't you?" he asked. Sarah sighed and gripped the wheel tighter in restraint. In truth; yes she did want to know what the hell Jason was doing sitting in their backseat, but at the same time she had other things to worry about. First and foremost was the machine they were currently escaping from.

Skynet

Understanding the hows and whys were proving impossible, though Jason's hasty explanations, if she were to believe them, were far from helpful. Pushing this aside, Sarah decided it better to take the situation at face value and focus on more immediate issues; such as why the hell Jason was sitting in their backseat.

Glancing into the rear view mirror, Sarah caught Jason's attention; "Okay, if you can explain in a single sentence why we shouldn't kill you now, I'll consider calling him off", she offered.

Jason thought for a second as he considered his options before nodding to himself; "You don't want to kill me because I saved your son's life and might very well be the only chance of keeping the rest of you alive." Yep, that should do it, he thought to himself as Sarah chewed on his words.

She wasn't a fool. Sarah had a very long memory and recalled everything Jason had done to them, not least of which resulted in little Marty's death and tearing apart their family. By rights, she would've pulled over and filled him with lead herself, but he was also right. If John was to be believed and that machine was the Vessel of Skynet, then they needed every ally who's willing.

A tough decision and one that left more than a stale taste in her mouth, but Sarah made it regardless.

"Put down the gun", she told Derek, who glanced at her with an expression of incredulity.

"You gotta be kiddin' me. Sarah-", he began, but Sarah cut across him.

"I don't wanna hear it. We don't have a choice. We need his help. Live with it", she said.

Derek reluctantly lowered his weapon and turned back to face the road, his expression sombre.

"And what if he turns on us again?" he asked.

Sarah looked into the rear view mirror again before answering; "We splatter his brains all over this desert."

Jason chuckled and relaxed into his seat, knowing that he was safe from any one of them.

Derek sighed and kept an eye on the rear view mirror, just in case Jason decided to do something stupid, and a part of him wished he would. Just looking at the cyborg made the scars on Derek's chest burn in remembrance of their origin; Jason's titanium claws he once possessed. He and John were soundly defeated in that fight, and yet they still walked away the victors, injuries aside.

In the corner of the mirror Derek could see a lock of blonde hair fall into frame and turned the reflection to get a better look at the woman beside Jason. His jaw dropped as he looked upon who he at first mistook to be Cameron, but a second later he knew it couldn't be her. Cameron was sitting next to John, so the woman sat beside Jason…

"Who the hell are you? Another metal?" he asked suddenly, surprising everyone inside. Sophie looked around, unaware to whom he was speaking until catching his face in the mirror. She blushed and turned to Jason, who simply smirked and offered no assistance. Thanks a lot, honey, she thought as Derek turned around to look at her properly.

"No, I'm not a machine and it's a long story. I'm like Jason… sort of", she sighed, only vaguely aware of the Beretta in Derek's hand.

He glared at her for a long time, struggling to understand what he was seeing; she was identical to Cameron in almost every way, and yet at the same time she was completely different. Her blonde hair, her blue eyes, visible even in the dim light of the truck's interior. Her skin was lighter than Cameron's and she lacked the mole above her left eye. Put it aside, Reese, just turn around, he told himself.

He turned his attention back to the road and sighed, his mind awash in questions. Glancing at Sarah, he fought the urge to ask for her opinion, knowing all he'd get is a snappy retort to shut up, but try as he might…

"What the hell do you make of her then?" he asked abruptly.

Sarah didn't even bother looking in the mirror, instead she just sighed, a frown crossing her brow; "I don't have the faintest idea. Right now, we got an indestructible machine on our asses that just so happens to contain Skynet. Try figuring that one out. Not to mention that the man… thing that is likely the cause of all this is sitting two seats behind me with a Cameron lookalike", she ran down the list.

"What about her and John? What about what we set out to do?" he pressed.

This time Sarah did look up, catching her son's reflection in the mirror. Her face darkened as she saw him look to his left, to Cameron, and smile. Without any warning Sarah slammed her foot on the brakes, bringing them all to a sudden stop. She kicked her door open and stepped outside without explanation.

"Mom, what are you do-", John began, but Sarah cut him short by wrenching his door open and grabbing the boy by the scruff of the neck and tore him out of his seat. John stumbled to his feet, almost falling flat on his face as he regained his balance and faced his enraged mother. She drew her arm back and slapped him hard across the face, putting popping spots in his vision once again.

"John!" Cameron cried, stepping out of the truck and running around to the other side. Sarah drew her Glock and Cameron stopped in her tracks, whipping out her own weapon. Derek responded by jumping out of his seat, his rifle aimed at Cameron's head while Jason likewise hopped out, wielding two 9mms and aiming at Sarah and Derek both.

"What the hell are you getting involved for?" Derek asked him, drawing his Beretta and pointing it at Jason also.

The Infiltrator simply shrugged and adjusted his aim to target Derek's head; "I'm bored", he replied.

Inside the truck, Sophie rolled her eyes and spread her legs across the back seat, twiddling her thumbs while the others worked out their little drama. Everyone took a moment to assess the situation before making any decisions: Sarah had two guns on her; Cameron's and Jason's. Derek had only Jason to worry about, and he had him and Cameron pinned. The only person who wasn't in the line of fire, though it made him feel no safer, was John.

Looks like I'm the designated arbiter in this, he thought to himself.

"Alright, everyone just chill, okay. Just put the guns down. Cameron?"

Cameron narrowed her eyes at Sarah, her aim perfectly steady; "Not until she and Derek lower theirs," she replied coldly.

"Not a chance," Sarah growled, glancing at Derek for backup. His finger touched the trigger of his rifle, but he didn't fire.

John sighed, gritting his teeth as frustration took hold. This is ridiculous! How can they do this with Skynet on their tails? he asked himself. Though he knew all too well that his mother was hardly a rational being when her heart got in the way, and that was what this was all about: her heart, which he broke when he left. John knew the day would come when he'd need to explain why he chose to abandon her.

"What do you want, Mom? What is this all about?" he asked her, already knowing the answer though wanting to hear her say it.

"What I want…" she began, her voice quivering with all the pain she'd suffered over the past five weeks; "…is to know… WHY?!"

Tears spilled from her eyes and upon seeing them, John's chest tightened.

"I love her", he answered. Behind him, Cameron placed a hand on her stomach and tipped her head to one side thoughtfully.

Sarah shook her head, her grimace intensifying into disgust and disbelief at his words; "That… THING… doesn't know what love is. It doesn't feel ANYTHING! For God's sake, John, it's a machine!"

"She's more than that! You just refuse to see it! Cybernetic ORGANISM, Mom! Organism; organic, alive", he argued, clenching his fists to fight back his anger. He hated using semantics to get his point across but he knew it was the only way he'd get her to listen. In some ways, in a lot of ways, he was smarter than she. But on the flipside, Sarah had lived through far more than he could imagine, and such experience granted her wisdom beyond his current capacity.

"You can dress her however you like, but that doesn't change what she is, John. She is not human", Sarah countered.

John nodded and turned back to look at Cameron, their eyes meeting; "You're right. She isn't human", he agreed. Cameron's expression became ashen and her lips parted and her eyes widened in sadness. He gave her a small smile and turned back to Sarah, his expression becoming one of grim determination; "But that doesn't mean she isn't a person", he declared.

For one fleeting moment Sarah had thought she'd gotten her point across, but she knew it to be too good to be true as Cameron smiled.

"She's not a person, John", she replied weakly, tired of beating her head against a brick wall.

John took two steps towards her, placing himself in her line of fire; "She is a person, and you can dress her however you like, but that doesn't change what she is; a person", he replied, mirroring her own words. Sarah had no retort for this, no snide comment to counter his words. She fell silent.

Derek could see her resolve crumbling and decided to wade in; "She's not a person, Sarah. He's been polluted by an illusion. It's all programming, just programming." John shot him a look that would've made milk curdle, and Derek felt his heart skip a beat as he no longer looked upon his nephew, and instead saw General John Connor.

"And what do you base your opinion on, huh? You know it's kinda hard to get an unbiased opinion when you're constantly looking at her through a sniper scope", he said, his voice a low rumble. Sarah shook her head again and stared venomously at Cameron, who looked back in her usual stoic manner.

"How do you know? How do you know she's not just faking everything to keep herself alive?" she asked.

John didn't have a need to reply as Cameron lowered her gun and walked over to them, placing herself within an inch of Sarah's Glock.

"Cameron, I don't think that's gonna help", John sighed; knowing how useless a 9mm was on a hyper-alloy combat chassis.

"The gun is loaded with seventeen modified rounds, the standard powder replaced with thermite compounds", she observed.

Sarah blinked, surprised that Cameron had discovered she was using the ammo Derek perfected a week ago. His "thermite round" could burn through coltan with relative ease, turning an underpowered weapon into an effective takedown tool. Cameron was aware of this, so Sarah knew she was not bluffing with her life at stake. A single shot at this range will burn a hole clean through her power cell, she knew.

Cameron looked back at John, genuine worry in her eyes; "She can terminate me with a single shot, John."

John understood what she was doing now, but he couldn't risk Sarah taking that shot, so he reached around Cameron and grasped Sarah's wrist. Before she could react, he'd twisted her arm around and taken the gun from her grip in one fluid movement. As she spun around to face him again, Sarah found herself looking down the barrel of her own gun.

Derek dropped his Beretta and held the rifle with both hands, moving forward, but Cameron raised her own gun and kept him at bay. Everyone had forgotten about Jason, who simply stood and watched now, his guns at his side. Cameron looked over her shoulder at John and frowned; "John, she's your mother", she reminded him.

"I know that. But I'm not gonna let her take you away from me, not now, not after everything we've… Not now", he declared, his hand shaking from the strain. "Do you see now why I left? I knew this would happen. I knew you would make me choose between her and you, Mom", he croaked, his voice becoming hoarse.

Sarah's gaze slid from the gun to his face and she felt her heart twinge at the pain she saw there; "How can you choose her over me?"

"I don't wanna choose. I don't want to have to choose. Why… Why can't we just accept things for what they are? Why must we always fight each other over who to love?" he asked, his voice finally cracking as tears fell down his cheeks. Sarah responded likewise, unable to control her own emotions. "I love you, Mom. But if you can't accept Cameron as a person, as the girl that I love, then how can we ever live under the same roof together? How can we be a family… if you refuse to let us be one?" he cried, letting his gun drop to the ground.

Sarah's lip quivered and she shook her head one more time before letting out a sob and swiftly pulling him into an embrace. John wrapped his arms around her and gripped the back of her shirt as she cried on his shoulder.

"I missed you so much", she moaned between sobs.

John stroked her hair and felt Cameron's comforting hand on his left shoulder; "I missed you too, Mom."

--

CENTURY PRISON CAMP (2030)

The shackles hit the floor with a clatter and Jason's arms came free, but before any thought could be given towards escaping, his guard hurled him into the cell and slammed the door shut. Jason turned onto his back and let out a short chuckle as the pain in his aching limbs faded. He looked up and saw the T-900 enforcer stalk away to attend to other watch duties, leaving him unattended in his bare cell.

Jason scanned his surroundings and recognised the cages as standard prisoner detainment enclosures. He was packed inside a Skynet storage facility, or as the humans called them; work camps. Pulling up a list of known facilities in a sidebar in his peripheral, Jason shortened the list down to three locations: Century, Sierra, or Kennedy.

This must be Century, he thought, matching the facility's size against those of the other two.

Closing the sidebar, Jason pushed himself into a sitting position and let out a sigh. At least I'm where I wanted to be, he mused.

"Hey, what's your name?" asked a voice to his left.

Jason snapped his gaze to the source of the voice and was surprised to see that his cage was in fact sat next to a dozen others, all lined in a row. Why he hadn't noticed this when he first arrived baffled him. Still, no use dwelling on useless musings, he thought. The voice belonged to a man, who like Jason, was sat on the cold floor, wearing a ragged prisoner tunic.

"Jason. Yours?" he replied, shuffling closer to the bars.

"Daniel. How'd you end up in here?"

Jason stretched his legs and moaned, feeling the strain of running over ten miles without rest finally take its toll.

"I was caught out in the open by an HK-Aerial. I couldn't get back to my hideout, so I ran, hoping to lose it and double-back later", he explained, slowly drawing his legs back and forth to ease circulation. "Another HK caught wind of the chase and joined in, so I couldn't go back", he continued.

Daniel nodded slowly, accepting Jason's story without reservation. "Why weren't you killed?" he asked.

"No idea. All I know is I was cornered by the HKs and then carted off by a team of T-900s and brought here", Jason replied.

"Skynet doesn't take human prisoners anymore, so you must be-", Daniel began.

"An Infiltrator? Yeah, I'm one of them. I guess you are too", Jason finished. Daniel narrowed his eyes at him and knelt next to the bars, intrigued despite himself. Jason eyed him cautiously, knowing that one wrong word would ruin everything he'd planned for so long.

"There's only one I-950 called Jason that I know of, and he was terminated a year ago during a raid on Skynet's main complex. The whole facility was obliterated by the Resistance; there's no way you could've survived", Daniel said, the accusation in his tone evident. Jason shrugged and leaned his head back.

"Obviously I did. Skynet isn't the only one with nine lives", he replied.

Daniel frowned; "Nine lives?"

Note to self: avoid references to popular culture, Jason reminded himself.

"Nevermind. I managed to get out before the explosion but I was injured quite extensively, so I ducked into a small cache depot and stayed there until I was healed. When I came out, a passing Triple-8 took a shot at me. I thought that was a little odd, until it happened again. It didn't take me long to realise I'd been targeted as a hostile", he divulged.

Daniel seemed to accept this, and relaxed noticeably. In his mind, Jason kicked himself for putting the Infiltrator on alert in the first place.

"You wanna tell me why Skynet is rounding us up?" he added.

Daniel sighed and stood up, slowly pacing his cell as he explained the reason behind everything; "We, the I-950s I mean, knew the war was in the Resistance's favour. They'd disabled Skynet's primary node and reprogrammed an entire factory of Triple-8s, bolstering their forces with hundreds of battle units. We may have had the T-900s on our side, but they simply had more resources and were taking a factory every week. We didn't have a chance. Some of us… tried to explain this to Skynet. We… proposed a compromise."

Jason had heard all of this before, but he raised his eyebrows in mock intrigue regardless; "What kind of compromise, a ceasefire?"

"Yes, we suggested Skynet put an end to the war and reach an agreement with the Resistance", he admitted.

Just as he did when he first heard this story in 2008, Jason laughed his ass off without restraint, and just as he did in 2008, Daniel gave Jason a look that promised pain and punishment to come.

"You think that's funny?" he spat.

Jason settled into passive hysterics and sighed; "Ah, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. What did you expect would happen?" he chuckled.

Daniel didn't have an answer for this and leaned against the bars, his arms crossed and his expression sullen. Jason heaved himself to his feet and staggered over to Daniel, leaning opposite him as he spoke; "You've made quite a mess, Danny boy. I doubt you have a clue as to how to clean it all up, so here's what we're gonna do…"

The Infiltrator listened intently as Jason laid out his plan, a design long worked upon during his years in hiding after Judgment Day…

…a plan that would save them all.

--

DISUSED STORAGE FACILITY (PRESENT)

-CHECKING… VEHICLE HEADING DUE EAST

-ACTION: PURSUE

Skynet was crouched to the ground, one hand carefully brushing the tire-marked terrain beneath its feet, searching for any clue as to where the vehicle had come from and where it might be heading. However, even as it analysed every muddy detail, The Vessel could not triangulate origin of this truck. Too many soil samples to differentiate, it observed.

Slowly and cautiously, Daniel approached from behind, nursing his broken left arm as he staggered away from his dead comrades.

Every nerve in his body ached with the desire to tear Jason limb from limb for his betrayal. Sophie, too, would face the same fate when Skynet finally caught up with them and the Connors. They will not get away with this, he silently declared. Daniel took his shattered arm with his other and gently pulled downwards, snapping the bone back into place to allow it to heal. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he could already feel the marrow regenerating beneath the flesh.

"What do we do now? Can we follow them? Maybe catch them?" he asked.

Skynet rose to its feet but did not turn around, instead focussing its vision on the horizon while thinking on Daniel's query.

"I have a highly probable course trajectory calculated. I will chase them down and terminate them all."

"How shall I assist you?" Daniel asked, flexing his fingers and wrist to test his tendons.

Skynet became very still as it considered Daniel's offer; he was a single injured I-950, not suitable for the kind of heavy combat The Vessel was likely to be walking into. Could he be of use? Possibly. But more prudently; would he be able to keep up with The Vessel? Simply: no. Skynet slowly turned to face the last Infiltrator and raised its right arm, the pre-charged plasma weapon built and ready. Daniel's eyes widened, then his entire head became little more than a gelatinous puddle on the floor, his body accompanying it seconds later.

"Your assistance is no longer required."

With that, Skynet sped away from the storage facility, moving faster than any biped on the entire planet, covering miles in minutes.

--

SOMEWHERE IN THE ARIZONA DESERT

She is the epitome of beauty; that was his conclusion.

John couldn't keep his eyes away from her as the moon basked her in its twilight, pronouncing her elegant features perfectly. She hadn't noticed his attention, or she was pretending not to, as the truck trundled down the desert road. Her gaze was fixed on the world outside, her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed as if she were deep in thought. John had no idea how deep her thoughts truly were in this moment, though he knew her well enough to tell when she didn't want to share her contemplations.

This was one such moment.

Cameron was adept in hiding anything from anyone, even him, but the more he gazed at her the more he realised something was amiss. Her skin seemed to be glowing, or at least, she had a rosy tinge to her pallor. Despite his resolve not to pry, John reached over and placed his hand on her cheek, startling her with his touch. He gasped as the heat rolled off her in waves, scorching his fingers with the sheer intensity of it.

"Jesus, Cam, you're burning up!" he exclaimed, shuffling closer to her and tapping his fingers on the flesh of her arm.

Sarah shot a look at the two, a frown crossing her features as she returned her gaze back to the road, not fully trusting Derek's driving.

John continued prodding her skin, feeling the same heat she emanated from her cheek. Her entire body was stifling with it, her hair was drenched in sweat and tiny beads of fluid were winding their way down her moonlit face. He shook his head incredulously, thinking; why is this happening to her? What the hell is going on? He had no answers for these questions and Cameron simply stared at him blankly.

"Cameron, what the hell is happening to you?" he asked in a low voice, carefully brushing some of her sopping hair out of her face.

She blinked and pushed his hand away to keep it from being burned again; "I can't explain it to you now, John", she replied quietly.

"Why not? You can tell me anything, Cam, you know that. If it's something bad, I wanna know", he told her, taking her hand in his, defying the scorching pain from her heat. Cameron loosened her fingers and began wiggling them free from his, knowing he was in pain, but he squeezed harder and maintained the contact. "Please, Cameron. Tell me what's wrong. I have to know."

A bead of what John at first assumed to be sweat ran down her cheek, but following the watery trail to her eye, John realised it was in fact a tear. In the space of a nanosecond, John's stomach turned and his worst fear rose up to bite him; "Are you dying?" he asked in a hoarse whisper, his voice a desperate plea for her reassurance that she was not.

Cameron tipped her head back a little, her brow creased in pity as she answered; "No, John, I'm not dying."

"Then what is it?" he pressured, squeezing her hand tighter.

She wanted to tell him. She needed to tell him. But she couldn't. She wouldn't, not now, not with Skynet on their tail. He had enough to concern himself with right now, no need to add to that taxing payload. Cameron leaned forward and placed a swift kiss on his lips, branding him with her affection. John could feel his lips dry from the brief contact, but the heat of her petal lips did not retract from his appreciation of her touch.

"I'll be fine, John. Trust me. I just…" she began, her eyes dropping to their hands mid-sentence; "…I just don't think I can protect you anymore", she finished. Cameron looked up into his face, her eyes sparkling with tears; "I'm not strong enough anymore. I'm sorry", she breathed apologetically, her head tipped to one side in a pitying expression.

John couldn't understand what was wrong with her, and he knew there was nothing he could do to convince her to tell him, so he resolved instead to take some of the hardship. He placed a hand on the back of her head and leaned her brow to his lips, placing a small kiss there while he stroked her hair as he had done with his mother earlier.

In the front passenger seat, Sarah watched eagle-eyed as John stroked Cameron's cheeks and wiped away her tears.

"You have been my protector all this time. You've saved me from death more times than I can count. Now it's my turn", he told her, noticing the heat gradually lessening with every passing second; "I will look after you from now on, okay? Not the other way around."

Cameron nodded slowly, fearing the consequences of his resolve but also knowing that there was nothing she could do that would dissuade him now. His devotion to her was no longer a question that required answering, for she already knew the answer. She would die for John Connor, and he would die for Cameron Phillips.

Sarah sighed and shook her head, still unsure as to how John could devote himself to an impossibility. She knew she may never understand it, so she turned her attention away from the couple and to the strange thud thud thud sound that seemed to come from the car. "What the… Can you hear that?" she asked Derek, who frowned and looked around the interior.

"Sounds like a flat tire", he posited.

"I don't think so, it's getting louder", Sarah realised, her eyes scanning the dashboard as if waiting for the answer to jump out at her.

Jason detected their concern and adjusted his ears to locate the source of the noise, but before he could gain a positive lock on its origin, the entire truck bucked as if shunted by a lorry. John flew forward, cracking his head on the back of Sarah's seat. Cameron pulled him back into a sitting position but received no response from John, whose head was bleeding from the impact.

Before she could tend to his injury, however, the roof of the truck suddenly peeled back like the lid of a sardine tin.

Standing atop the truck was the chrome form of The Vessel, its emerald eyes gleaming like death candles within the mercury covering. Everyone froze and time seemed to stop as Sarah reached for the shotgun at her feet, Cameron drew her Glock from her belt, and Jason pushed Sophie down to the floor.

Before anyone could act, however, he launched himself at the machine, catching it around the midriff and pushing them both off the back of the truck. He barely heard Sophie scream his name as he and The Vessel crashed to the desert floor, their bodies entwined as the truck sped away as fast as it could manage, stifling Sophie's cries with the sound of engines and crunching tires.

Skynet quickly disentangled itself and threw him clear, returning to its feet and taking aim with its plasma cannon. It was not directed at Jason, however, but at the fleeing vehicle that quickly approached the horizon. Jason rolled over onto his front and splayed his fingers, releasing a burst of crimson energy at The Vessel. As before, Skynet's targeting systems froze and the blast of plasma fell short of its target, impacting the desert sand without harm.

Jason leapt to his feet and drew both Glocks, bringing them to bear and unleashing every round into the machine's head. He might as well have been firing spit balls; however, for all the good it did him, as Skynet simply turned back and charged him. It struck first, but Jason countered the attack and drove his fist into its chest. The Vessel barely staggered, however, and countered with a crushing blow to his stomach. Its fist drove clean through his intestines and splattered out the other side.

Jason could barely feel the pain and grasped The Vessel's arm in a desperate attempt to wrench it free, but the machine was far stronger and used that superior strength to snap his spinal column.

-ERROR: MOTOR CONTROL CRITICAL FAILURE!!

His entire body became numb and limp as all bodily control ceased. Jason flopped to the floor like a dead fish and could only stare up into the eyes of his destroyer as it examined the blood on its chrome hand. Skynet's left arm reconfigured itself and Jason prepared himself for the inevitable, but it did not form a plasma cannon. Instead, it took the form of what Jason knew to be a neutraliser.

I'm not going to be let off the hook that easily, he mused as several thousand volts passed into his body, rendering all thoughts silent.

Skynet examined Jason carefully for a long moment, glancing in the direction of the now invisible truck and back to the Infiltrator again. Finding the Connors would prove to be very taxing on its own. It would need an agent to perform the deed, one who knows how the Connors think. Luckily for Skynet, it had that very agent in its grasp.

Not a total loss, it mused.

To be continued…