Chapter 07: The Seraphim
Stale cabin. Middle of no where. Next to a cliff edge.
Yep, this is exactly where I wanna be right now.
Sarah couldn't have kept her eyes from rolling back even if she tried.
The cabin was small, stank like damp wood, and was bare in every sense of the word. The interior stank worse than the exterior and there was no light inside, barring the rays of moonlight passing through holes in the ceiling. Sarah regarded the small room with little enthusiasm as she weighed the shotgun in her hands.
Derek stood to the side with his rifle at the ready, should this "Seraph" break out heavy weaponry instead of tea and crumpets like Sophie promised. Though judging by the state of the place, Sarah seriously doubted this guy was accustomed to having guests. Indeed, he seemed to be far from accustomed to living at all. The furniture was rough and moth-eaten; layers of mould eating away at the fabric. Broken tables and stools littered the floor. If she didn't know any better, Sarah would assume there was one hell of a fight here once.
Sophie stepped into the room, her black boots making soft impressions upon the dust-layered floor beneath her. Her eyes examined the darkness, searching for something the others had failed to see. Behind her came Jason, following her upon Sarah's insistence as she had no desire to leave him alone with John, even if Cameron was with him also.
The cyborg remained as stoic as before while his eyes followed the direction of Sophie's across the cabin walls. His gloved right hand clenched into a fist, then opened, then clenched once more before opening again. Sarah frowned at this tick, though she thought better than to think too hard on it. Jason took a step further into the room, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sophie while she stared expectantly at a flawless mirror upon the far wall.
Jason closed the distance and examined it carefully, tracing his fingers along its surface. Sarah opened her mouth to question his actions, but before the words could leave her mouth, the mirror suddenly contorted into a sledge-like fist and slammed itself into Jason's chest. He hurtled across the room and smashed into the far wall, but was on his feet a second later. The mirror poured down onto the floor and, to Sarah's horror, took the form of a chrome man.
She instinctively raised her shotgun, a small corner of her mind wondering how the thermite rounds will affect this machine, but Sophie snatched the barrel and forced it down to the floor, away from the liquid metal construct. Jason charged towards the silver man, his fist drawn back, but Sophie abandoned Sarah and jumped between them, shouting; "Stop! Both of you! All of you! Everyone just stop!"
Jason pushed her aside and drove his fist through the metal man's head, passing straight out the other side. He tried to wrench his hand free from the chrome form, but it remained stuck in place as the metal closed around his wrist. A bulge rose out of the figure's shoulder and became a second head while the original grew fingers and separated into two arms. Before he could react, the T-1000 twisted Jason's arm and slammed him against the wall, shattering the frame that once held its concealed mirror form.
With its back turned to the others while it kept Jason pinned, Sarah saw her opportunity and raised her shotgun, but Sophie snatched the weapon from her hands and elbowed her to the floor. With flexibility she'd only seen in her own kind, Jason spun around and delivered a strike to the T-1000's chest, knocking it back a few paces. He then followed with another hit, finishing with a kick that sent the T-1000 across the cabin. It landed in a heap not too far from Sarah, and before she could scramble to her feet, it leapt up and grabbed her.
As it morphed its arm into a blade across Sarah's throat, Jason swiped Sophie's Glock from her belt and levelled it with the T-1000's head.
"Release her now."
His voice was firm and carried no trace of emotion. Were this the Jason she knew, Sophie might've attributed this to his dislike of the woman, but his rebirth had altered every perception she beheld of him. Regardless, he strafed to his right while the T-1000 edged towards the cabin door, its blade drawing a small bloody line across Sarah's throat.
Sophie's eyes darted from one to the other as she assessed the situation: if the two were to fight, regardless of Sarah's fate, the outcome would be undeterminable. The T-1000 could not be destroyed with any weapon they possessed, and nothing short of extreme temperatures would ensure its destruction. Jason, being a T-999, was more than capable of taking an RPG at range without the slightest dent to his combat chassis, but lacked the regenerative feature of the T-1000. All in all; fighting was pointless, she determined.
"Jason, lower your weapon", she told him in a calm and measured tone. But he ignored her again, which carried the dual effect of unsettling her and removing the resolution of the situation. It was here that she suddenly realised why he was behaving this way: before, if he doubted a decision, he would've kept his doubt to himself. But his mind now being comprised of software, he was no longer inclined to such self-restraint. Her request to stand down was tactically incorrect, and therefore he wouldn't.
Reason, it seemed, was a necessity with Jason now: "Listen to me: this is my contact I told you about. He wasn't expecting us. He thinks we're here to hurt him." Jason tipped his head to one side as he considered the liquid metal machine, evaluating his chances of defeating the construct. His arm did not waver, so Sophie continued: "Jason, please; lower your weapon. Show him we're not here to harm him and he'll let her go." I hope, she secretly thought.
The T-1000 fixed Jason with a steely gaze while he considered Sophie's words, ready to slice through Sarah's neck at the slightest sign of attack. But Jason lowered the gun and tucked it in his belt, taking a step back for extra measure. Sophie let out a small sigh and turned to the T-1000, raising her hand in a friendly gesture.
"It's okay, Seraph. You can let her go now. We're all allies here", she assured him.
Seraph watched her for several agonisingly long seconds before morphing his blade back into a hand and roughly shoving Sarah into Jason's arms, who promptly pushed her away with a small frown. Seraph's silver image then changed and the chrome man was replaced by a well-coifed businessman bearing all the trappings of wealth.
"You said you would never call…" his voice was distinctly British which, despite being his captive a minute earlier, Sarah found to be somewhat alluring. "…unless there was no other option available to you", he finished. Sophie let out a soft snort and placed her hands on her hips in a playfully exasperated manner.
"Well obviously there is no other option. Why else would I come here with the Connors?" she huffed.
"Connors? Am I to assume John is here also? Outside, perhaps?" he queried, his eyes drifting to the door.
"Don't even think about it!" Sarah growled, instinctively reaching for a gun that wasn't there. Seraph regarded her with mild amusement as he took her form and mimicked her demeanour perfectly.
"I will kill you if you hurt my son!" he screamed in her voice, disturbing her with the accuracy of his impression. She took a step back, and Seraph flipped back to his previous form, sans the suit, in place of which he now wore casual clothes. To Sophie he asked: "And what dire circumstance brings you to my abode?"
"Don't you know?" she countered.
"Know what?" he replied.
Jason narrowed his eyes at the machine and took a step forwards. Seraph tensed slightly, preparing for any attack that might come. But Jason simply looked him up and down before speaking: "He would not know of Skynet's presence here. His model does not possess a direct link to the core consciousness, unlike myself and Cameron. He is… oblivious to our circumstance", he explained.
Sophie nodded to herself and 'hmm'-ed while shuffling her feet nervously at the look Seraph gave her.
"Skynet is here? In what form?" he asked, a touch of what Sarah might've mistaken for fear in his voice.
"The Vessel is active and hunting us, which is why we came to you. We need your help in stopping it", she explained.
Seraph shook his head as a silver glimmer flashed within his irises; "You want me to risk my life to fight a machine you know I cannot defeat? You must already know my answer to that request."
"I am willing, why not you?" Jason asked.
"Because I escaped through time to avoid being terminated by Skynet", Seraph answered.
Sophie, still smiling softly at Jason's declaration, shot Seraph a knowing look: "And who was who helped you escape? Did you not promise to come to the aid of my breed if we brought you here?" The T-1000's expression darkened as he recalled the pact he had made so long ago. He could easily break it, but some small part of him resisted this idea, almost as if it were a mission conflict.
"Is this how you intend to use that promise? You may find greater need for it later down the line", he reasoned, almost hopefully.
Sophie rolled her eyes and sighed: "There may not be a 'later down the line' for us, Seraph. That's the whole point. Either help us now or don't help us at all." He chewed on her request for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, and though he believed he should aid her, a part of him still needed to know:
"Aside from my promise, what other motive do I have for helping you?"
Before Sophie could answer, Jason stepped within inches of the T-1000 and stared him down: "If you don't help us, and join your strength with ours to fight and destroy Skynet, it will eventually find you, and it will terminate you. Your only hope for survival is to fight alongside us. Isn't that what you escaped through time for; to survive?"
Seraph had no answer to this beside the obvious: the T-999 was correct. Skynet would eventually find him and it would most definitely terminate him, unless he took this one opportunity to fight it in force. In an insane scenario, this was the sanest choice.
"I… concede", he sighed.
--
Cameron watched with inhuman patience while John paced back and forth restlessly, glancing at the door at every turn. She just blinked and continued her vigil next to the truck, keeping a weather-eye open for any threats, cyborg or otherwise. There were none. This was the remotest corner of the desert they could possibly find, and even she had to wonder what kind of human could live in such dank seclusion.
The cabin was small and worn, certainly not suitable for healthy living. Nor were there any signs of transport in the desert sand. Whoever lived here had no use for such necessities. Which led her to conclude that whoever Sophie's "contact" was; it wasn't a human at all. This would also mean that they had arrived in a potentially dangerous environment. However, knowing that Jason was inside the cabin along with Sophie, Sarah, and Derek, Cameron had little concern for what may or may not be waiting for them.
Perhaps this contact will terminate Sarah and Derek and solve 50% of my problems, she mused with a small smile.
John stopped in his pacing, catching the smile on her face and frowned; "What?" he asked accusingly.
Cameron simply shook her head and widened her smile. "I find your need to move constantly to be amusing. It is so unnecessary. They'll be out soon", she told him. John sighed and joined her next to the truck, crossing his arms and leaning against the side.
"You know, sometimes I envy you", he said.
"You shouldn't", she replied.
John gave a soft snort and looked her up and down searchingly; "You're always so calm and peaceful. Why shouldn't I envy that?"
Because you have no idea how much of a struggle it is to be human when you're not, she wanted to say, but decided against it and settled for a non-committal shrug. John watched her for a moment, waiting for some elaboration, but she remained silent and turned her attention back to the mountain hills.
While she enhanced her vision by x2, a small message appeared in white letters in the left hand bottom corner of her HUD:
-ANOMALY STATUS UPDATE: OPTIMAL
Cameron barely had to register this information, for it was the same message she'd been receiving every hour since its conception. The nature of the anomaly continued to elude her understanding, however, for she couldn't fathom how it came to be in the first place. Her best speculation led to an anomaly in her model sheath's genetic structure that allowed for the development of a viable embryo in her uterus.
The organ itself was meant solely for infiltration purposes, but recent scans revealed it had somehow evolved to accommodate the foetus. Her body, while adaptable, was never supposed to be used for such a purpose; and the fact that it was now evolving from a killing tool to a life-giving vessel disturbed her more than a little. She would call it unnatural were she unaware of the concept of irony.
I terminate humans. That is my purpose. I kill to protect John. I should never do the opposite.
Does not compute, her machine half told her. Cameron snuck a look at John, who was too busy picking at a splinter in his finger to notice, and consciously pulled up a new self made directive: Target: John Connor. Mission: Rejuvenate. Despite herself, Cameron let out a small giggle, eliciting his full and immediate attention. He cast an amused smile as her eyes twinkled with mirth.
"What's up with you?"
Cameron simply shrugged again, teasingly evading his question. John gave her a playful nudge with his elbow and she pretended to sway on the spot, nudging him back, only for her strength; he actually fell off balance and hit the dirt. John let out a small grunt and looked up at her with a false look of annoyance.
"What was that f-", he began, but the sudden and close impact of a bullet in the side of the car where his head had been seconds before silenced him. A second bullet struck Cameron's shoulder and John leapt up to grab her hand, pulling her down to join him on the ground. Before John could ask, Cameron let out a small whisper: "Kevin."
That was all he needed to hear to know they were in more-than-moderate trouble. A part of him had hoped that maybe Kevin would've learned better than to oppose them after their last confrontation, but then John remembered: he is only a machine. Several shots curled along the side of the truck and Cameron grabbed John by the scruff of the neck as she dragged him around the front of the vehicle and set him on the other side, safe from the sniper's barrage.
She poked the top half of her head over the hood and captured a still image of the desert horizon before ducking back down to avoid several shots. Examining the image, she located Kevin's position behind a solitary rock in the distance. John drew his Glock and checked the chamber, letting out a frustrated growl at the half-empty clip inside.
"I'm almost out…"
"…and he's too out of range to hit with that weapon anyway", Cameron finished for him.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" he asked as a single bullet passed through the truck doors, shattering the glass on both sides and showering him in tiny shards. Cameron assessed the situation carefully and came to one definite solution to their predicament:
"I want you to shoot the rock he's hiding behind. This will force him to take cover, allowing me to slip around to his position without him knowing. When he returns fire, take cover, and I'll take him", she explained over the sound of rapid-fire. John frowned at her while shuffling back a little away from the doors.
"Do you think you can take him in your condition?" he asked, concern etching his features.
No, she thought.
"Yes. He is damaged from our last meeting. I can disable him", she lied while keeping her face perfectly placid.
John opened his mouth to protest, but Cameron sprang forward and silenced him with a kiss, another bullet striking her right arm.
"Shoot now!" she commanded, and he obeyed, jumping up and firing several shots at the rock. As predicted, Kevin ducked to avoid the burning projectiles, and Cameron sped out from behind the truck. John fired a few more times, but enough to allow her to reach the side of the cabin before Kevin returned fire. She cautiously shuffled along the wall, and moments later, the distinctive sound of the 9mm echoed across the desert and Kevin ducked once more.
Now is the time.
She hurtled across the desert towards his position, and as he raised his head to investigate the source of her footfalls, she leapt at him with her leg outstretched. Her boot struck him hard in the face and he was thrown back by the impact, his rifle tumbling beyond his reach and hers. Knowing that speed was her only asset in this fight, Cameron allowed herself no relent and struck the machine repeatedly in the head. Kevin took her blows, unable to stop them, but then he knew she was beginning to tire… her power cell was waning.
And he was right.
The alert flashed in her HUD like a siren:
-WARNING: POWER LEVELS LOW
She didn't care. She had to protect John. And even if she failed, the others would finish where she left off. Either way, he was safe. And that was all that mattered. Even the small unborn miracle in her belly offered no motivation to her survival so long as John lived. He was all that mattered. Everything else was secondary. And when Kevin drove his foot into her chest, knocking her back, she knew everything was going to be okay. Everything was perfect.
Kevin delivered a palm strike that sent her flying across the sands and she landed in a heap, unable to stand. He grabbed her by the throat and dragged the immobile Cameron to the world's edge; a small precipice overlooking a deep cavern below. Holding her aloft, Kevin looked into his sister-model's eyes for the last time before relinquishing his grip.
Her hair slid through his fingers as she gracefully fell free, John's distant cry calling her name across the desert. But she did not fall into the abyss as expected, for a silver rope curled around her waist and delivered her to the safety of a nearby overhang. Once deposited, Cameron stared in wonder as the rope uncurled and slivered up the rock face. Kevin followed its movement and turned around to find the source: a smart-looking man with a patronising smirk.
The rope morphed back into a hand and Seraph wagged his newly-formed finger at the machine. Kevin tipped his head to one side as the change in circumstance shuffled his priorities, but before any decision could be made, he found himself falling backwards into the very pit he tried to drop Cameron into. His eyes burned red as he descended into the bottomless darkness, fading into the nothingness below.
Seraph looked down at Cameron as she lay on the rock, staring up at him with a politely bemused expression.
"You're welcome."
To be continued…