Due to unusually high demand, we're back to more of Cameron's late night misadventures. Plus, I think my head will explode if I don't take a break from the other things I'm working on. Have fun.
The house was buzzing with activity as Cameron entered from the front door of the Connor household.
"Where were you all night?" Cameron froze and turned to face John who was standing right next to the doorway.
"Out." She replied without making eye contact.
"Uh huh. Yeah, I bet."
"Is there something wrong, John?"
"Well, mom's pretty pissed off. I gotta go meet with Riley to study for English. So whatever explanation you have, it better be good." John said. "Oh, by the way." He dumped a full laundry basket into Cameron's arms. "Riley's laundry machine is getting repaired, so some of her stuff is in there too. I'll see you around."
With that, John was out the door without a second thought. Cameron was overcome with absolute indifference as she headed to the laundry room.
"Well, well. Looks like we're taking machine wash to a whole new level." A sweaty Derek remarked as he passed Cameron in the hallway. Cameron conducted a brief scan and determined that he had just completed some physical activity, like jogging. He took the opportunity to add some more dirty clothes in Cameron's basket. "Glad I could help." Derek added with a sarcastic smile as he made his way into his room to change.
Cameron resumed her journey to the wash room.
"Hold it, girly." Again, Cameron stopped as Sarah Connor walked up behind her with her arms crossed.
"Yes?" Cameron asked innocently. She already new what the conversation topic would be before it even started.
"Where did you disappear to last night?" Sarah asked with a degree of venom in her voice.
"There was a disturbance." Cameron said.
"Disturbance." Sarah said mockingly.
"Yes, I was investigating the –"
"I don't want to hear it. We need you here, I've told you this a thousand times. What would happen if we were attacked? What use would you be then?"
"John spends most of his time with Riley now. I've been told not to follow."
"That's not an excuse to go do whatever you want."
"Perhaps Riley would provide some degree of protection should a threat arise."
"What?" Sarah said. "That doesn't make any sense."
"It would. She would make an adequate distraction." Cameron said as she turned. "Or little blonde meat shield."
Sarah just shook her head and walked away as Cameron kept going to the laundry room.
It was later that day when the topic came up again during lunch with Sarah, John, Derek, and Riley in attendance at the dinner table. With nothing better to do, Cameron took it upon herself to be head chef. In her spare time, Cameron had taken a liking to the local cooking show as a way to eat up more of her increasingly spare time. She was becoming quite good at it. She had even gone so far as to wear an apron that said "KISS THE CHEF" before Derek made her take it off. Asshole.
"God, why am I so itchy?" Riley said as she scratched at her sweater. "My whole body is just so… itchy right now."
"Maybe it was something you ate?" Derek said as he chewed freshly made toast in his mouth.
"No, I don't have any allergies to anything."
"Well, I think school can be a little stressful at times." Sarah said as she coffee. "Do you usually come down with hives before a big test or stuff like that?"
"No, not really." Riley said adamantly as she continued scratching.
"Perhaps it was a dysfunction in your hygiene patterns." Cameron said as she approached the table with a large pan of mashed potatoes.
"No! Never!"
John gave a quizzical look at Cameron before speaking. "Maybe your clothes –"
"No. I washed the entire household's clothes. They're perfect." Cameron interjected, taking pride in her clever wording.
"Alright, I'll deal with this later." Riley said.
"So, Cameron. Anything interesting going on with you?" Derek said. He didn't want to waste anytime stirring up trouble at the table after hearing of Cameron's lapse in security. "I heard you went out last night."
"Oh, wow. Cameron I didn't know you had any friends." Riley added, still scratching here and there. "Did you… you know go out, get crazy a little?"
Sarah, Derek, and John all shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the same time. Cameron remained standing where she was, still wearing oven mitts as she stared at Riley.
"No." Cameron answered. "But I did make a new friend though."
Sarah choked on her coffee for a split second.
Derek's face was of nothing but concern at this point. "Is this, uh, friend of yours… Is he… still around?" John and Sarah exchanged concerned looks as Derek spoke. Riley was too obliviously entranced by her graham crackers to pay any attention to the ongoing conversation within a conversation going on between the Connor household.
"Yes." Cameron finally answered.
A collective sigh gripped the table as Cameron leaned over to collect dirty plates and dishes.
"My coffee tastes a little funny." Riley changed the subject.
"That's a logical impossibility. Funny is subjective to human behavior. Coffee is inanimate. Therefore, coffee cannot be funny."
"No, what I'm saying is…" Riley was interrupted by a large groan that coming from her abdomen. "Oh. Oh, God."
Cameron summoned a small smirk on her lips as she watched Riley hurriedly make a run for the bathroom. It was maybe a few seconds later when everyone heard a little yelp from Riley followed by a large thud.
"Hey, you okay?" John got up from his chair and walked to the hallway.
"Who left all these marbles in the hallway?" Riley screamed.
Both Sarah and Derek looked at Cameron.
"I had them out earlier. I must have forgot." Cameron said.
"Since when do machines play with marbles?" Derek said as he finished his coffee.
"Furthermore, I'm really starting to wonder why... Oh, geez." Derek gripped his stomach as it let out a large moan.
"Use the bathroom upstairs." Cameron said as she watched Derek hurriedly take off from the table. It wasn't long before another thud was heard.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Derek yelled. "HOW MANY MARBLES DO YOU HAVE?"
Sarah exchanged a vindictive look to Cameron.
"GREAT. JUST GREAT. NOW I NEED NEW PANTS!"
"More coffee?" Cameron asked innocently as she held a new pot of it in her hand. Sarah eyed her cup before setting it aside cautiously.
It was later than night once all the humans began turning in to their respective bedrooms when Cameron went to hers. From there, she carefully climbed out the window and headed out into the night.
Kevin heard a light rapping at his window as he read his new comic books. He turned to see a kneeled down Cameron as she peered curiously inside.
"You can use the front door, you know." He said as he opened the window let the experience man-killing cyborg into his room.
"No. I thought it was important that we not disturb your mother." Cameron responded. "We talked about this before."
"Oh. Oh, right. She would freak out if she found out about this."
"I don't think this is a good idea either. We shouldn't act outside the social order of criminal justice. It draws unnecessary attention."
"But you said it yourself when you took care of those men last night." Kevin responded. "People need someone to watch over them at night."
"But this isn't my primary design." Cameron responded.
"Nah, it'll be fine, I promise." Kevin replied. He pondered for a moment before seizing in complete excitement as he came up with that plan.
"I know! I know! Let's do a test run. Tonight."
"It's nine o'clock. It's already past your bedtime."
"I can sleep in until whenever I want, silly!" Kevin said as he poked Cameron gently in the nose. "C'mon, I know where we can start."
He took Cameron's hand and led her back to the window and pointed to an apartment across the street.
"There's a group of guys who live across the street. The cops are always going in there. I know they're up to nothing good. But they always get off scot free. I don't know why."
"The legal system in Los Angeles County is heavily flawed." Cameron concluded. "It is possible they have access to superior legal counsel."
"See, that's what I'm talking about!" Kevin said. "You have all this information on you. And you can kick serious butt! You were made for this, Cammy!"
Cammy. John had called her that once. But that was a long time ago. Before Riley.
"Okay." Cameron said. "I'll deal with them."
"Hang on, let me go with you!"
"No, it's too dangerous. You should stay here."
"Aww, c'mon…"
Cameron reflected on her current position. She was now denying someone else from coming with her when she herself was facing the same dilemma with John and Riley. She would not let this happen again to someone else.
"Okay." Cameron relented. "But bring your coat."
CAMERON CASE FILES #001: DRUG POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE
"Who's that at the door?" One of the men yelled over the football game on the television.
"Well, would you look it here… we got ourselves a white girl." Another said as he looked through the keyhole.
"Don't just stand there, let her in!"
Cameron did a threat analysis of the room as the man let her in. Three men. One watching TV. Another packaging illegal narcotics on a nearby table. And the one in front of him. He was the only one carrying a firearm.
Kevin walked in behind her carrying a notebook.
"Whoa, sugar. Little man is going to have to wait outside, but we can still give you a good time for the right price." The man licked his lips as he eyed Cameron maliciously. "What can I get for you?"
"Tell him, tell him!" Kevin said excitedly. "Exactly as I told you!"
Cameron face went stone cold as she glared the man down in front of her.
"Justice."
She grabbed the man by the collar and delivered a powerful kick to his sternum. The man went sailing past the man watching TV and crashing into the wall behind him.
The two remaining men exchanged looks as Cameron pretended to crack her knuckles.
"Damn, this shit just got real!" The man fell back in his chair and tried desperately to reach the shotgun that he had stashed underneath the couch cushions nearby. He wouldn't make it.
Cameron grabbed his foot and drug him to the middle of the room. She then proceeded to beat the man's face into the floor as he screamed hysterically. Once he was finally unconscious did Cameron turn her attention to the last one who didn't move through the whole time Cameron had been there.
The man's eyes were completely wide as Cameron approached.
"Listen, take what you want. Drugs, money. Just please don't hurt me."
Cameron thought for a beat before making the ultimate decision to hurt the man anyway.
"You bring harm to those around you. You will pay for what you have done to society." Cameron balled her fist.
"Oh, god." The man gulped.
"Awesome!" Kevin yelled as Cameron drug him to the nearby bathroom and began drowning the man's head in the toilet.
Cameron kept him there for two minutes before dragging the gasping man out and delivering a final punch to this cranium.
"Cam! Cam! I hear sirens! We have to go!" Kevin's heart was racing as he watched Cameron comb her hair back into place with her fingers.
"Right." She agreed. She quickly grabbed Kevin and retreated out of the door as the sirens got louder.
"That was amazing!" Kevin said as both he and Cameron slipped back through his bedroom window.
"Yes. I suppose it was." Cameron agreed.
"This is it! This is where we can start planning!" Kevin said excitedly.
"Planning?" Cameron was slightly confused.
"We need to come up with your secret identity!"
"I don't understand."
Kevin pulled out an issue of Batman and flipped eagerly through the pages before showing Cameron a panel.
"'Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot.'" Cameron read from Bruce Wayne's dialog bubble. "'So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts.'"
"Right!" We need to get you a costume, a mask… a cape!"
"I'm still not following."
"You need an outfit to keep your identity a secret. So your loved ones won't become targets by criminals!"
John. Cameron thought.
Kevin's excitement was peak high once he handed Cameron the notebook he had with him during her raid on the apartment.
"What is this?" Cameron asked.
"This is a drawing I made while I watched you beat the crap out of those guys. Look!"
Cameron looked over the surprisingly well drawn sketch of her in various masks and outfits.
"What do you think?" Kevin asked.
Cameron eyed each of the sketches before settling her finger down on one.
"This one."
"You like it."
"Yes. It's tight." Cameron said as Kevin beamed with pride.
"One thing."
"Yeah? Tell me!"
"It needs more purple."
Originally, Uncle Derek was supposed to have much more terrible things happen to him in the bathroom, but I relented. It was pretty bad, even for my standards.
POLL: What should Cameron's superhero moniker be?