Authors Notes: I'll caution some of my more "emotional" readers that this chapter will probably be one of the most shocking you will ever read (as far as TSCC is concerned).

CHAPTER 15

The old Ford F-150 bounced along the remnants of what had once been a roadway, although it could hardly be called one now. Potholes, debris, human remains, and a plethora of other objects were scattered along the trail. The hushed sound of air rushing past the cracked driver's side window could be heard as he drove onward. The cabin of the truck was dark, John had not even turned the headlights on so as to better conceal his movements. In the far distance he could see spotlights of what he knew could only be Skynet HK's along with random explosions that sporadically erupted from place to place.

The truck jolted to one side as it struck a small crater in the expressway. Still suffering from extreme fatigue due to recent events John widened his eyes attempting to better see the path in front of him. He fought the urge to momentarily stop the vehicle and give himself a short break. After his separation from Catherine Weaver and what he now assumed was Savannah Weaver's death, John knew of only one place to go.

After his conversation with Catherine, he had concluded that due to the secretive nature in which John Henry's body was being constructed it would take Catherine quite some time to actually complete her work. Perhaps it would be enough time for him to stop her and in turn save Cameron. While John did not have a specific plan of action in mind on how to accomplish this, he knew that he had to do something. He could not; he would not allow Cameron to vanish into the nothingness that Weaver was so casually prepared to cast her into. John increased the vehicle's speed as he made his way back towards the only destination that he was sure of.

.

.

.

"So this Connor…This John Connor was supposed to save the world?" Livie asked in a flat tone as he leaned back in a chair that creaked loudly as he did so. Several men who were also seated around the circular table looked over at Savannah Weaver with a decidedly skeptical gaze.

"Yes...well…" Savannah halted briefly in mid sentence, "…save the resistance, or better organize it…Or something. He's supposed to do what we have not done here. What Bedell, Derek, and Kyle Reese have been trying to do, unite the resistance into one fighting force against Skynet. We all know that without this kind of cooperation it will only be a short matter of time before this war is finally over and we are completely wiped out."

"And you know all this because you were told at the age of 9 that a 17 year old allegedly time traveled into our future, completely disrupting some sort of space time continuum?" An olive skinned Hispanic male with lieutenant bars and the name Cardoza stitched above his right breast pocket asked as he leaned forwards across the table staring unblinkingly at Savannah. She briefly glanced down at the table revealing some of her own insecurity upon being questioned in such an aggressive manner. After a split second Savannah looked back up.

"I'm not the only one that believed this…Martin…" Savannah balked correcting herself, "Colonel Bedell believed this as well."

"Isn't it strange that he didn't mention any of this information to us." a white male with black hair wearing the same digital desert camouflage as everyone else, save for Savannah asked. Master Sergeant Chevrons and rockers were sown onto the sleeves of his jacket and the name Wilder shown upon his chest.

"If you had been Bedell, would you have said anything?" Savannah asked, "I've been more involved in this than he was and I don't even know that I completely believe or understand it. And besides it was really all a moot point up until now anyways. Up until John came back."
"And what do you expect us to do about it now…he is dead after all?" Jonathan Parker, another lieutenant that sat opposite Cardoza asked. Savannah instantly glanced down towards the table again.

"I'm not sure…" She stated, "We have to at least stop Skynet from creating another time machine." Parker wrinkled his brow, a suspicious look about his fair skinned face.

"We don't even know they are actually creating one. The only reason why you think they are, is because this, Connor mysteriously appeared here." Savannah had never liked Parker. It seemed that he challenged her every chance he got.

"Believe me when I say, we should trust that Bedell knew what he was doing when it came to John Connor."

"And we all know why Bedell kept you around." Parker shot back, a snide innuendo unmistakably evident behind his words. Several more eyes instantly turned toward Savannah. Captain Livie shot Parker a harsh glance, and he nervously responded by slowly retreating back into his chair. But a glaring insecurity could still be momentarily seen within Savannah's eyes.

Shaken but undeterred Savannah looked over at an older, short, stocky, balding male seated near one of the darker edges of the table. He had yet to say anything at this conference.

"Mr. Murch, you said that you believed Skynet is working on something unique, something we hadn't seen before, correct?"

Matt Murch leaned forward slightly bringing his aging face into the light more fully.

"Ye...Yes…" Mr. Murch stated stuttering slightly, still displaying an almost stereotypical nervousness that he always seemed to have.

"From the data I've been able to collect it does appear that Skynet is working on something completely different from anything we have seen up until this point." Savannah regained some of her confidence as Mr. Murch spoke.

"But there is no way for us to tell exactly what that is." Matt Murch added. "We only know that Skynet is gathering a massive amount of materials, for some sort of unknown project." Savannah secretly wished that he had left out that last part. The room grew silent, most of the command staff affixing their gaze upon Savannah, attempting to determine the value of her words.

.

.

.

John's body was knocked toward the ground, a split second later it slammed into the hard concrete floor with a fleshy thud. The impact kicked up small particles of dirt and momentarily knocked the wind out of him. Coughing and gasping for breath John attempted to stand, but suddenly felt the pressure of a boot pushing him back down towards the ground.

"I'm really starting to get sick of you kid." A voice from the shadows spoke. Still prone on the ground and trying to catch his breath John looked around the darkened room. Moments later Derek Reese emerged from the shadows. John's heart sank. His eyes scanned further around the room and he saw several other individuals gathering near him. Kyle, Alison, and two soldiers that he had met previously, one he remembered as Spears. He could not recall the name of the other one. It was the shorter Asian looking male, the one who had wanted to kill John when he first arrived here. This man was now the one pinning him to the ground with his foot.

"He came to the southwest entrance." The Asian male stated in a cold manner and then continued, "Said he wanted to speak to you and Lieutenant Reese."

"Oh, he's gonna speak with us" Kyle snarled as he knelt next to John, "First you manage to sneak in here…naked nonetheless. Then you manage to kill one of the best resistance leaders we have, and now you're actually stupid enough to think we would just let you back in here a second time?"
"I didn't kill Martin. Skynet attacked our helicopter." John immediately replied with an earnest sincerity behind his voice. He immediately noticed that Alison did not say a word, she stood perfectly still next to Spears, not moving, at all, a cold look of utter hatred on her face.

There was a metal screeching sound as Derek slowly pulled a steel chair towards the center of the room.

"Get him up…" Derek replied in a tone that was more a growl than a spoken statement. John felt his heart pounding within his chest as his anxiety increased exponentially. Kyle and the Asian male jerked John off the ground and over toward the chair. In a deliberately rough manner they shoved him down in the metal seat. Kyle then tied his hands and legs to the arm rests and legs of the chair with rope. The Asian male gave John an evil smile as he stepped away from him. Feeling the tight ropes around his wrists John spoke.

"I want to help you…" John said in a pleading tone, "Skynet is planning something..."

"And what's that kid?" Derek immediately responded as he began to walk around John. "Did you give Skynet our location so they could attack?" John did not know how to answer this particular question. None of this was going according to what he had planned. While he was unsure of exactly how much information he had told Fischer during his interrogation, he knew it was entirely possible that he might have divulged this faction's position.

John remained silent and before he could formulate an answer Derek took a step closer to him.

"Or is it that you're working with Skynet?" John eyes widened in disbelief,

"I'm not working with Skynet."

"Give it up!" Derek shot back, "We know all about you and your sick metal fantasy." John felt his heart drop into his stomach knowing exactly where the next line of questioning was going to lead.

"Your skin job girlfriend…The one you were here looking for." There was a weighted silence before Derek spit out the next set of words.

"The one that looks like Alison. We know all about it." John was speechless, so shocked that he nearly forgot to breathe.

How do they know, how could they know? He thought to himself as the disbelief and horror took hold of him.

"That's right kid…" Derek added, "Never thought that boy would make it out alive did you?" John instantly realized that, "that boy" was the young male he had released shortly after Catherine Weaver had freed him. He must have heard everything John had said during his drugged interrogation. John had no way of knowing that he made it back to Derek and Kyle's base. This changed everything. If he had been aware that this had happened he would never have returned, or at least not in the fashion that he did. John felt the panic creeping in.

"Is that the reason why you look at Alison the way that you do?" Kyle said in a low and slow voice. John did not immediately respond, but did flick his eyes over toward Alison. Venomous anger could be seen in her eyes.

"Was it your mission to kill Bedell or was it something else, something more?" Derek asked as he stepped back away from John resting his hands on his gun belt.

"I didn't kill Bedell…" John answered, his voice growing more urgent. "Skynet did!"

"So that was just an added bonus for you then? What was your real mission? Did it have anything to do with that skin job we destroyed?"

Cameron…John immediately thought the moment Derek mentioned the destruction of John Henry's body.

"I'm not with Skynet…" John said, "I'm here to help you." He then looked over at Alison who was standing perfectly still next to Sergeant Spears.

"Martin…He gave me a message for you." Alison's facial expression barely changed, but the subtle difference was noticeable enough for John to continue.

"He told me to tell you…" John balked still fighting back his own torrent of emotions that were now coursing over him.

"He told me to tell you, me too…"

Immediately both Kyle and Derek looked over at Alison. At first she had no reaction at all. She continued to stand perfectly still. Several seconds of complete silence drifted by before John began to notice tears welling up in Alison's eyes. A split second later she streaked across the room towards John. When she reached him, she reared her right fist back,

"You son of a bitch!" Alison shrieked as she struck John across the left side of his face. His body instantly jerked to the right from the impact. The next blow followed almost instantly. Another punch to the left side of John's face threw his body back over to the right. For a relatively small framed woman Alison could muster a surprising amount of force behind her blows.

Spears quickly moved up behind Alison grabbing her around the waist and pulling her away from John.

"I'll kill you!" Alison screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks. She flailed her arms and legs trying to break free of Spears's grasp.

"Get her out of here…Now!" Kyle yelled as he pointed towards the door.

"NO!" Alison yelled almost hysterically. Her voice overflowed with hatred and contempt as Sergeant Spears dragged her out of the room and into the hallway slamming the door as they exited. John could sense the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

Once Alison was gone, Kyle turned back towards John.

"No more games kid…Why are you here? What is Skynet's plan? Why do you need a machine that looks like Alison?"

"I'm not working for…" John's words were immediately cut off as he was struck again, this time by Kyle. However, this time the physical impact was far less painful than that of the emotional anguish of being struck by his own father. John felt his eyes welling up with tears again as a myriad range of emotions came crashing down on him.

"It only gets worse from here on out kid." Derek stated in a cold and callous tone as he moved back towards John.

"I'm not helping Skynet!" John shouted before Kyle hit him again.

This wasn't happening, John thought to himself. This can't be happening.

"When is Skynet planning their next attack?" Derek asked.

"I don't know…" John responded as he tried unsuccessfully to hold back his emotions. The next blow came to John's stomach. He again had the wind knocked out of him and this time the impact was so strong it produced a nauseating sensation.

Derek leaned down so that his face was parallel with John's.

"Tell us what you know!" he shouted. Still gasping John was unable to respond.

"How long have you been a Grey?" Kyle asked. Finally managing to draw some air into his lungs John gasped out an answer,

"I'm not a Grey!" he said in a pleading voice. Quickly drawling a large knife from his belt Kyle immediately cut deep into John's left forearm. John howled in pain. He was then struck across the right side of his face, this time by Derek.

"Tell us what you know and this will all stop." Derek remarked as flicked his wrist slightly trying to dispel the pain that was now in his knuckles.

"I'm not working for Skynet…" John said insistently.

"Then tell us who Cameron is…" Kyle demanded. This was a question John knew he could not answer honestly. Any explanation that he gave about Cameron would only make the situation even worse.

"So she's what all of this is about." Derek said upon receiving no response from John, "Tell us about her. Were you going to kill Alison and replace her with Cameron?"

"No!" John responded.

"Then what were you doing?" Kyle asked. John said nothing. He knew it was too late. No answer he could give would be good enough.

"Alright..." Derek responded and then added, "…we'll continue to do this the hard way..."

.

.

.

Spears watched as Alison paced back and forth in front of him, tears rolling down her face as she fought to contain her feelings. Quick gasps for breath came as she turned one way and then another.

"Please…" She said to Spears in a solemn voice. "Let me go back in."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Spears spoke in what he hoped was a soothing tone, noting the excruciating pain on Alison's face. She remained still for a moment, her body trembling from the emotions that she could not master. Spears felt his own anxiety increasing. He was certain that it would only be a matter of time before Alison attempted to gain entry into the room again. He did not have to wait long.

Suddenly, they heard John scream out in pain through the closed door behind Matthew Spears. No longer able to control herself Alison sprinted towards the entrance only to be grabbed around the waist again and dragged back away from the door. Spears made sure to keep a firm hold on Alison this time. After a brief struggle she finally collapsed to the ground at his feet sobbing uncontrollably.

"He killed him…" She whispered between quick breaths. Spears slowly knelt down next to her.

"He killed him…" Alison repeated as she nearly fell, weeping Spears's arms. The pair continued to listen without speaking as John screamed in pain from within the room just beyond them.

.

.

.

Authors Notes: I'm very curious to know what people think of this chapter. Please review.