Author's Note: Well here comes the next chapter in my story, hope you guys like it . It should be longer than the previous chapters so don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought.
Chapter Three: The Revelation
2008: Riley's House
Kane walked down the short path up to the blond girl Riley's house. As he was walking he glanced up, noticed the sun shining bright against his pale skin, and just smiled. It was good to feel the sun on his skin again.
Kane reached the door and knocked three times. For a few seconds there was no response and he briefly wondered if everyone was still asleep, but he was soon proved wrong as he heard a woman shout "Coming!" loudly from inside.
The door opened and a short woman looking to be in her late thirties, early forties was looking at him. "Can I help you?" she asked.
Kane smiled politely at the woman. "Hi, yes I'm a friend of Riley's, I was told she lived here, is she in?" He asked as innocently as he could manage.
The woman looked at the stranger claiming to be a friend of her foster daughter's. "Yes she's here, might I ask why you want to see her?" The woman responded.
"I have the same English class as her at school and I just need to ask her a question about the homework" Kane told her, lying smoothly.
The woman appeared to have bought it. "Well why don't you come in and I'll call her down" She said.
Kane smiled and walked inside. "Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea?" She asked him.
Kane turned and looked at the woman, staring at her exposed neck. He briefly considered feeding on her but decided against it. I have more important things to do he thought. "No thank you, I'll just go up and see Riley" he replied politely.
The woman nodded, turned to walk into the kitchen and responded. "Ok well if you change your mind, let me know."
Kane agreed that he would and walked up the stairs to Riley's room.
Riley had heard her foster mom talking to someone downstairs and left her room to investigate. As she walked to the stairs, she heard a whooshing sound and felt a tap on her shoulder. She was about to scream when a hand clamped over her mouth.
Kane turned Riley around and immediately saw the fear in her eyes. He stared into her eyes as his pupils dilated. He then spoke in a hypnotic tone of voice. "Calm down" he said.
Riley immediately felt herself calm down inexplicably. Kane removed his hand from her mouth. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked.
Kane's pupils dilated and he once again spoke in his hypnotic voice. "I'm going to ask you some questions, and you will answer them" he told her.
Riley immediately knew she would tell this stranger anything he wanted to know, no matter how secret or personal, whether she wanted to or not. "I will answer your questions" she said to him.
Kane thought about what to ask her first. "What does the name 'John Connor' mean to you?" he asked, his voice still layered and hypnotic.
Riley responded immediately. "He is the future leader of the resistance against Skynet and my boyfriend" she replied rather proudly, despite being compelled to reveal all her secrets to this stranger.
Hmm, so they have that kind of relationship he thought as he prepared to ask the next question this complicates things.
"Why are the two of you in a relationship?" he asked Riley.
"It's part of my mission to get John away from the machine, Cameron" Riley replied.
I figured as much Kane thought to himself.
"Are you doing this alone, or are you working with someone?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"A woman named Jessie Flores took me from the future and brought me here. This mission was her idea" Riley said.
"And where can I find this Jessie?" Kane asked, his voice heavy with hypnosis.
"She lives in an apartment downtown" she replied. She then gave him the exact address, which he wrote down.
"Thank you Riley, you've been very helpful" Kane said in his normal voice. His pupils then dilated again and he once more spoke in the hypnotic voice. "Once I leave, you will forget me, you will forget my questions, and you will forget I was ever here" he said. Riley just nodded and went back into her room to finish getting ready for school, where she would hopefully get to talk to John. Kane walked back to the stairs and, after making the foster mom forget him as well, left to go find Jessie.
2008: Connor Residence
John awoke to a smell any teenager would recognize anywhere: the smell of frying bacon. He unconsciously licked his lips as he got out of bed. He hastily threw on some jeans and a t-shirt before practically running down the stairs.
The first thing he noticed when he got into the kitchen was that his mother was not cooking, rather he could see his cyborg protector at the stove making bacon and eggs at the same time.
"Hey Cameron, what are you doing?" he asked. Cameron had heard him come down the stairs and turned to face him.
"I'm making you breakfast." She simply stated.
"Why?" he replied.
"Since Sarah is ill, I am filling in for her in this regard. You require a good breakfast to start the day, sit" she said as she pointed to the table.
John was somewhat surprised at this statement and he sat down. After a few minutes, Derek walked into the room, apparently following his nose, same as John had. He stopped when he saw who was cooking.
"Since when do you cook, metal?" he asked, John noted the barely hidden contempt in his voice.
"Since now" Cameron replied, seemingly oblivious to Derek's rudeness.
"Well I'm not eating anything you make" he said, though it was obvious he wanted to.
"It's not for you, it's for John" Cameron responded. John thought he could detect a hint of smugness in her voice as she said it. Derek didn't notice, however as he left the room grumbling under his breath.
Sarah walked passed Derek into the kitchen, noting his sour mood. "Hey what's he so mad about?" she asked. She got her answer as she saw Cameron making breakfast. "Hey, I didn't know you could cook tin miss." she stated as she took a seat across the table from John.
John was surprised that his mother was up and about. "Mom you should be in bed, you're still sick" he said, the worry in his voice obvious.
"Nonsense, I feel fine" Sarah replied as Cameron walked over and set a plate of food in front of John.
Both John and Sarah noticed that the food had been prepared perfectly. John immediately picked up a fork and started to eat.
"Mmm this is really good Cameron" John almost moaned as he continued eating. Sarah glared at him. "What?" he said indignantly. Sarah said nothing as she sat back and watched John eat.
"Thank you John" Cameron replied, a hint of pride in her voice. She was secretly worried that John wouldn't like her cooking and was glad he approved of it, though she couldn't understand why.
Sarah was eager to change the subject. "You two are skipping school today, you need to go tail Ellison and get Cromartie's body back" she said.
John stopped eating and looked at his mother. "What happed to 'absent gets you on their radar'?" he asked.
"This is more important" Sarah stated simply.
"I concur" Cameron said "we need to burn Cromartie's body."
John looked a little surprised that his mother and Cameron agreed on anything, but knew they were right.
"Alright, Cameron and I will go follow Ellison and get him to tell us what he did with Cromartie's body" John said. They sat in silence for a few minutes until they heard Derek call to them from the living room.
"You guys better come see this" they heard him say.
The three of them walked into the living room where they saw Derek watching a news story on the T.V.
"… the victim was found in an industrial complex in south LA" the reporter said. "Police have identified the victim as 42 year old James Stevens, a worker at that same complex. Officials attribute the cause of death to severe blood loss from a wound in his neck, no suspects have been identified at this time, more on this story as it develops." John, Sarah and Derek exchanged glances as the reporter continued the news.
"In other news, 17 year old Jose Barrera was brutally shot to death last night at a local Burger King. The killer was a woman driving a silver convertible." A black and white stilled CCTV image of the woman firing through the drive-thru window appeared in the corner of the T.V. "The killer has not yet been identified and police urge anyone with information to call the crime stoppers hotline…" the reporter was cut off as Derek turned off the T.V.
"Well what do you guys think, machine?" he asked.
"The first man's name is not familiar to me, but the second is Lieutenant Jose Barrera of the resistance" Cameron said.
"So the second one is defiantly a machine" John said "then we need to find it."
"We don't know where it is or who it will go after next" Sarah said "we need to wait until it shows a pattern."
"We can't just sit back and watch while one of those things goes around killing people!" John yelled.
"And we won't" Sarah replied "but we need more information first. Right now the best thing we can do is to get Cromartie's body back and burn it." John reluctantly agreed.
"Fine, come on Cameron, let's go find Ellison" John said as he got up off the couch and walked toward the door, grabbing the keys to the truck as he went. Cameron just nodded and followed him out the door.
2008: Downtown LA
Next target located… Lieutenant Simon Taylor
Objective: Terminate
The T-X drove down the road towards the high school she had located Simon Taylor at. She parked in front of the school and noticed it hadn't started yet. As she was walking up to the building, she passed a Hispanic boy and a blond-haired girl who were talking to each other.
"Hey Riley, you haven't seen John or Cameron anywhere have you? I want to show them something" Morris asked. The Terminatrx stopped in its tracks.
"Not today, no" Riley replied "if I see them, I'll tell them you were looking for them."
Morris nodded and turned to walk towards the school.
Name 'Cameron' matches records
Searching database for 'Cameron'…
Data found…
Cameron Phillips: TOK-715 series terminator reprogrammed to protect John Connor in this time
Mission Priority Override… Follow blond girl Riley until she makes contact with John
The T-X immediately forgot about Simon Taylor, walked back to her car and proceeded to observe Riley and wait for her to talk to John.
2008: Ellison's House
(Author's note: I am aware that in the show, this scene took place at a different point, however it worked well for my intentions here and since this is my story, I decided it's going to go here, and I am also altering it slightly. Please let me know what you think of it.)
The person in question currently sat in the driver's seat of the pickup truck as he stared out the window at Ellison's house, waiting for him to show up. They had been there for two hours and had apparently missed Ellison, as his car was gone.
John glanced over at the passenger seat where Cameron sat and noticed that she was sticking her bare foot out the window. Her behavior is getting stranger all the time he thought as he looked at her I wonder why, cause it seems she only acts this way around me. He pushed that thought out of his head as he finally spoke up.
"Cameron what are you doing?" he asked her in a slightly exasperated tone.
"Feeling what it's like to get away from it all" she replied as she wiggled her toes when she felt the wind blow.
"I don't think you are" John said.
"What do you mean?" Cameron asked as she turned her head to look at him.
"Well if you mean feeling like emotions, then I'm pretty sure you still don't have any of those, and if you mean what it feels like to have the wind blow through your hair or your toes… I'm pretty sure you can't feel that either" John stated.
Cameron looked at him. "I don't think you understand how we work" she said "I have sensation, I can feel. I wouldn't be worth much if I couldn't feel."
John had to admit she had him there. A thought suddenly struck him. "Hey Cameron" he said.
"Yes John?" she replied.
"If you can feel physical sensation, does that mean you can feel pain?" he asked, hoping that she would say no.
"I sense injuries so yes, you could say I feel pain, however it does not affect me like it does you. Don't worry" she said smiling, knowing he would worry about this fact.
John had briefly panicked when she said yes, but felt better after she said it didn't affect her. Another thought struck him as he looked at her.
"Hey Cameron, does that mean you can feel emotions too?" John asked.
Cameron considered it, and realized that she didn't know if what she felt were emotions or not. She decided that John would probably be able to help her figure it out.
"I don't know" she said "I have been getting many strange feelings lately that I don't recognize." John felt many of his suppressed feelings for Cameron trying to fight their way to the surface as she said this.
"What kind of feelings?" he asked.
"Bursts of positive and negative feeling in my chip during certain situations" she told him, thinking back to the self-diagnostic she had run earlier.
"When do you feel these feelings?" John asked her.
"I feel positive surges predominantly when I am around you" she stated simply.
John began to suspect what these emotions were, but he wanted more information. "And the negative feelings?" he asked.
"I feel negative surges when you are hurt, when I am away from you for too long, when you are mad at me, or when you are with Riley" she replied, still not understanding what these surges meant. John, however, was starting to get a pretty clear picture, but he decided to clarify it more.
"The negative feelings you get when I'm with Riley, do they happen when I'm with anyone else?" John asked her.
Cameron thought about it and out of all the people John had talked to since she showed up, only one other person had caused a similar reaction in her chip. "I had a similar feeling in my chip whenever you talked to Cheri Westin" she told him.
John remembered the girl from when he first went to his new school and suddenly it made sense to him. "Cameron, I think you're jealous of both Cheri and Riley" he said, this new information as much a surprise to Cameron as it was to John.
Cameron considered what John had told her. She analyzed all the facts and came up with the same conclusion John did, but it didn't make sense to her. Before she could ask him another question, however, she noticed a car pull into Ellison's driveway and she saw Ellison get out and walk towards his house. She made a mental note to continue this conversation with John later.
"John, Agent Ellison is home" she told John. John turned to look out the window and saw that she was right.
"Alright, let's go see what he knows" John said. I'll have to confirm my suspicions later John thought to himself as he got out of the truck.
2008: Jessie's Apartment
Kane pulled the SUV he had recently stolen up in front of the apartment building Riley had told him about. He got out of the vehicle and walked into the building. He took the elevator up to the floor Jessie's apartment was on. He walked up to the door to Jessie's apartment and knocked. As he was waiting for an answer, he heard someone moving around inside and the sound of a clip being slid into a pistol. Then the door opened and a tall, black-haired woman was standing at the entrance.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked in an Australian accent.
"You must be Jessie" Kane replied.
"Who are you?" she asked, neither confirming nor denying his statement.
"I'm an associate of Derek's" Kane said "I just arrived here from the future and he told me how to find you."
"What for?" Jessie asked.
"I have an update about John Connor and the machine" Kane said "would you mind if I came in?"
Jessie thought about it and decided that if this stranger wanted her dead, then she'd be dead by now. "Sure, come on in" she said as she turned to go back into the apartment.
Kane smiled and walked into the apartment after Jessie.
Jessie turned to face Kane. "So what's this update you've got for me?" she asked.
Kane just grinned then stared into her eyes. His pupils dilated and he once again spoke in his hypnotic voice. "How about first, you tell me exactly what you have planned for John, Riley, and Cameron" he said.
Jessie was instantly under his spell and she responded immediately. "The metal is supposed to kill Riley, which should make him hate it enough to send it away or burn it."
That's about what I figured Kane thought to himself.
He spoke in his compelling voice again. "Ok Jessie, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna stop trying to get John to get rid of the metal, it would never work anyway. You will also tell Riley to tell John the truth about where she comes from and why she's here." Jessie just nodded throughout this.
Kane thought about whether to say anything else and eventually decided that he had covered his bases pretty well.
"One more thing" he said "once I walk out that door, you will forget me and you will forget that I was ever here. You will think that everything I have told you here was just sudden inspiration and that it should be done no matter what." Once he finished speaking, Kane turned and walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.
Kane walked out of the building and back to the stolen SUV. He got in it and drove away. Hmm, I should go back to Riley's house, John should be there soon and I need to start following him from a safe distance. He thought as he turned to go to Riley's house.
2008: Connor Residence
John and Cameron walked back into the house after having failed to get Cromartie's body from Ellison. John saw that it was two in the afternoon and realized how hungry he was. He went into the kitchen and saw his mom sitting at the table. She looked up as she heard him enter. "Well how'd it go?" she asked.
"Ellison doesn't have Cromartie's body" John said as he made himself a sandwich.
"Dammit John we have to burn that endoskeleton!" Sarah said angrily.
"Don't you think I know that?" John replied as he started to eat his sandwich "don't worry, we'll get it."
Sarah didn't look convinced. "Every part needs to be destroyed John, every part" she said.
"I know that mom" he said as he finished his sandwich "we'll get it back." He then got up, left the kitchen, and headed for his room. When he got there, he noticed Cameron sitting on his bed.
"I wanted to continue our conversation from earlier" she said to him as John sat down next to her on the bed.
John thought for a moment and remembered where they had left off. "So you're jealous of Riley?" he asked.
Cameron nodded. "I think so" she said "but it doesn't make sense to me."
John thought about it. "What would make those negative feelings go away?" he asked.
Cameron responded immediately. "If you did the things you do with Riley, but with me instead."
John felt his suspicions all but be confirmed. He wanted to hear her say it though, just to be sure. He found the question incredibly difficult to ask as all his hopes, fears and desires came rushing up to the surface of his mind. He finally worked up the courage to ask the question he both hoped for and dreaded the answer to. "Cameron, are you in love with me?"
Author's Note: Hey my first cliff hanger, awesome. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter, and what you think of the length, it helps keep me motivated to keep writing as well as it gives me an idea about what you guys want. I'll try to put out updates for this story about once every week or two if possible (my schedule is a little hectic at the moment). Keep on reading, later guys.