TWO WEEKS LATER

"Jim. Police authorities are still adamant in their acknowlegement of an underground figure known as Mr. Big. We're going right now to the police commissioner's remarks earlier today."

"That hasn't been any inidication of the existence of a crime boss of that calibur in LA county. Mr. Big doesn't exist."

"Due to the recent surge of crime figures, Jim, I have reason to believe otherwise. We stand outside ZeiraCorp right now, which has appeared to be victim to an attack last night where a calling card stated as Mr. Big was later found. Ms. Weaver! Ms. Weaver! What do you have to say about this recent attack which resulted in the theft of half of your equipment?"

"No comment."

"Well, there you have it, Jim. While officials continue to deny any sort of involvement of such a figure, the name 'Mr. Big' is quickly becoming an urban legend among the citizens.

It was seven in the morning when John Connor woke up. He let out a heavy yawn and slowly made the descent down the household staircase leading right into the kitchen. Sarah followed shortly behind him, equally trying to shake the sleepiness from her system. She flipped the power button on the Mr. Coffee and began her latest attempt to cook scrambed eggs without the house burning down.

"Morning." John said as he doubled back from the fridge with a glass of milk.

"Good morning." Sarah replied. "How'd you sleep?"

"Alright." John looked around. "Have you seen Cameron around lately?"

"No. Trust me, I need to have another heart-to-heart conversation with her when she does show up?"

"You mean 'heart-to-nuclear power cell', right?"

"It's too early to start being smart, John." The smell of something burning was already taking over the kitchen. "But even you've seen her. Going out all night and coming back with cuts and bruises."

"Yeah, I know."

"Go ahead and start getting ready. We're leaving straight after breakfast."

"What, do we have a new lead?" John's curiosity perked. "For Skynet?"

"No." Sarah said as she scraped the pan. "Dental appointment."

At those words, John felt like a seven year old again, and let out a groan to let Sarah know it. He was still rubbing his eyes as he walked into the bathroom. He didn't notice Cameron in there with him as he started brushing his teeth in front of the mirror.

"Good morning." Cameron finally said and John almost felt his skeleton vacate his skin completely.

"Holy!" John yelped.

John turned to see the terminator sitting on the tiolet with her pants down near the bowl. In her hands, a book with the words "Criminal Law" on the cover was staged in front of her. John blushed as he did his best to look away immediately.

"Cameron. Don't. Do. That."

"I'm sorry." Cameron replied, still reading her book.

WHOOOOMP. John turned his head as he heard the peculiar moan come from the tiolet.

"Wait... Cameron, are you... pooping?"

"I'm conducting routine maintenance on my system involving the elimination of refuse particles." Cameron paused for a second to simplify. "Yes."

John's toothbrush was still dangling in his mouth at the realization.

"Well, I guess I learned something new today." John remarked.

"Terminator anatomy may prove useful to you." Cameron put her book down for second and looked at John. "If you would like, you can come closer and I can show you how it all works."

Before anything else could happen, Sarah had already reached in and grabbed her gawking son by the ear and dragged him out of the bathroom.

"We need to talk." Sarah said once John was evacuated, slamming the door behind her. "I need to know what you've been up to."

Cameron shrugged off her slight disappointment as she picked her book back up. She silently hoped Sarah hadn't discovered the new materials she had acquired in her closet.

"When I get back from the dentist, I want a full disclosure."

Cameron gave a curt nod and flipped another page of her criminal justice book. She had no intention of keeping that promise. At least not today. She would be busy.

LATER THAT NIGHT

The wind howled and screamed mercilessly as the smell of the downtown Los Angeles entered into Cameron's sensors again. Her purple cape was being tugged and pulled mercilessly by the all-consuming breeze, even at two o'clock in the morning. Her hair did much the same, but it was the farthest thing from a bother to her.

She stood seated next to a gargoyle that lay dormant on the fifty story building she was perched on. Like her, it was watching the city. She could see the entire intersection from this point, even though the purple mask she wore over her eyes at times obscured her vision. It was a necessary evil. Just like that black armor she wore on her body and legs. Not her tactical preference, but enough to covey both intimidation and anonymity to the prey she sought out.

Her earpiece came to life for the first time in hours. Even with all her planning, the LAPD communication still proved useful. Useful enough for her to break into a vacant cop car outside of a local donut shop and steal the radio. It was only a matter of converting it to a more portable means.

Tonight was the night.

She grabbed both ends of her cape and made a perfect swan dive to the world below.

"I'm not understanding how the cape is necessary." Cameron pointed out to Kevin. "It's too risky from a tactical standpoint."

"All good crime fighters have capes." Kevin stubbornly replied. "Trust me, you need to do this."

"But it only really applied to those who were capable of flight. I don't fly."

"Who says you can't?"

"Flight?" The physicist squeaked out as Cameron tightened the grip on his throat. If he hadn't been caught red-handed stealing money from the university he worked at, he wouldn't be in this situation. It was only a matter of time before Cameron would find him. "You want to be able to use that cape of yours to fly?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't think..." His eyes nearly bulged as Cameron readjusted her grip again.

"Okay." He squeaked again. "Maybe I can take a look at it."

The risk had paid off. Immediately, the twines he installed the cape came to life as she continued her descent to the streets below. Within seconds, the wind pushed up on her.

And she was flying.

All the work she put forth in the past two weeks toward realizing her current image was finally paying off.

But Cameron felt complete exhiliration nonetheless as she marveled at the streets below. She had never considered airborne operations in her mission to protect John. She had always felt restricted to her more ground-based approaches and never considered the alternatives. Now the tactical possibilities were enormous!

Even though the streets were mostly vacant at this time of night, Cameron looked ahead of herself and quickly found her first injustice for the night.

Below her, a man was struggling to rip the purse away from a screaming woman next to a nearby mailbox.

Cameron noted the event as she flew right past them without a second thought.

CAMERON CASE FILES #005: JAYWALKING

Claudia Vandersees was walking back to her apartment when she decided to skip waiting on the LA crosswalk to light up. The lights were notorious to keep people waiting for longer than normal cities. She blamed it on the times. But at the ripe age of sixty-eight, she felt that she was no longer deserving to waste her life waiting just like the rest of the people. Maybe it was the wine talking, but she decided to carry through her apt plan anyway. The streets were almost completely empty. What harm could it do?

About three steps into her venture, she found out.

Cameron saw her from over fifty yards away. She brought both of her arms inward and immediately set her trajectory at the lawbreaker.

Claudia was already unconscious when the terminator slammed into her at a speed upwards of seventy miles an hour.

"You were moving recklessly during normal traffic conditions." Cameron said as she recomposed herself and stood over Claudia. She was blissfully unaware that Claudia was now in a coma that would last for the next twelve hours, and would now need a metal plate put into her hip. "The rules apply to everyone. You are no exception."

Cameron picked up the woman and immediately set it on the sidewalk nearby.

She then pulled out her grapple gun and fired it with perfect accuracy onto a nearby building.

"Now you want something to get you airborne from the ground level?" The same physicist was paid a visit two days later. This time Cameron had a shotgun and was more straight to the point.

"Yes." Cameron pressed the barrell of the shotgun harder to the man's temple. "I like flying."

"I-I'll see what I can do."

He presented her with the grappling gun soon after.

CAMERON CASE FILES #006: LITTERING

David Anderson was just getting off from his shift at Wendy's when he decided to take some merchandise home with him. It wasn't a big deal, to him. All the food got thrown out at the end of the night anyway. It was common practice, even for managers, to take a little snake home after a long day of work.

He rounded the corner and was almost to his car when he finished his first burger. He immediately considered tossing the useless wrapper in the trash can he just passed, but chose to simply throw in on the ground. The girlfriend he had broke up with three days prior, the one that was studying "chemistry" at Pepperdine and thought that David's current ambitions at Wendy's were not a good prospect, was a huge environmental freak. Simply throwing the wrapper down on the ground was a quiet victory for him after she had broken up with him. He marveled gloriously at imagining her face in absolute horror at his unclean act. It brought a smile to his face. For half a second.

"Wrong."

David heard a slight ZING in the air followed by the searing pain that now appeared in his left leg. Something metal was in his leg. He pulled it out with great effort, finally seeing what it was that hit him. It was... a shuriken? What ninjas used? Hit was hit by two more in the same leg in mere seconds after that fact.

It was moments later as he lay screaming in the secluded parking lot when he saw a figure outlined in purple cape and mask emerge from the darkness.

"Jesus Christ!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Pick it up." Cameron commanded.

"Wh-What? Pick up what?" David said hysterically as he lay bleeding on the ground.

Another shuriken was thrown. And then another. And another. Now David's right leg was on fire.

"Pick up the wrapper." Cameron pulled back the hammer. "Evildoer."

Cameron watched as the twenty-two year old shakingly reached for the wrapper. She threw another shuriken near his head, prompting another yelp of terror as it ricocheted off a lamp post behind him.

"Put it in the trash can. Now."

David did as he was told, leaving a thick streak of blood on the concrete as he struggled to bring one kneecap in front of the other, and finally tossing the wrapper into the trash can with great care.

"Littering detoriates the environment around you and affects the quality of life for others. Cease this at once." Cameron turned around. "Or I'll be back."

Cameron back-kicked the man in the face and fired her grapple gun into the skyline once more.

CAMERON CASE FILES #007: INDECENT EXPOSURE

James and Melanie Ferguson had only been married for a month, but they still couldn't get enough of each other. At their every waking instant they found themselves able to claw at each other within moments. They both met at the modeling agency they worked at for the past year or so. They were both good-looking and they knew it. And many a night they secretly wanted to share that fact with the world during their nights of love-making. The curtains were never draw down, the lights were always on, the window was always open, and all their neighbors across the street between the third and fifth floors of their apartment complex got to see them in all their glory.

Both of them would never admit it, but they secretly loved having an audience - it made them go at it with even more intensity. All it took this night was an episode of True Blood to get them in the mood. Within seconds, the stage in their bedroom was set and they were going at it like made.

So much that neither of them noticed Cameron as she glided in and landed quietly on the open window sill. The terminator had every intention of stopping their indecent act almost right away, but soon found herself tilting her head and utterly fascinated just watching the couple do their dirty business. She was there for maybe three minutes before Melanie looked up and noticed the purple caped crusader and screamed.

"Hello." Cameron didn't know what else to say as her cape flowed with the fresh wind coming in through the window.

"What are you doing?" Melanie shrieked as James gave her a perplexed look.

"I'm watching you."

"W-Why?" Melanie pulled the sheets over her exposed breasts.

"Your window was open."

Melanie and James both exchanged another look as one of them clicked their lamp off.

"I knew if we kept doing this, it would be a bad idea." Melanie said with an air of honesty.

"Yeah, I know..." James responded. They knew they were busted.

"How long have you two been together?" Cameron asked.

"Little under a year." Melanie answered.

"You two were caught doing an illegal action." Cameron said plainly. "This could cause problems for your relationship."

"Yeah, I guess we were." Melanie replied.

"She started it." James pointed to his wife

"I did not!"

"And yet," Cameron said matter-of-factly. "You two aren't fighting." She immediately recalled Sarah's beratement of her whenever she killed someone. And John's crass comments he made whenever Riley was present. All the relationship data she acquired over the years predominantly came from them.

"I... guess not." James answered. "What do you mean?"

Cameron took the quiet invitation into the room and sat indian-style at the foot of their bed, like a kindergarten student listening to a teacher. Both James and Melanie shot each other another look and shifted themselves on the bed.

"Your relationship." Cameron began as she took off her bothersome mask. "How do you make it work?"

"Communication." They both said at once.

There's a heavy influence from DC Comics' Huntress character when it came to figuring out what Cameron the crimefighter would look like. If I decide to keep going with this story, this would be a prototype design though, so changes will probably be made to the suit later on. In case you can't tell, Cameron hasn't fully grasped the law yet so her flying past the site of a mugging in order to dive bomb a jaywalker is a result of that.