Authors Notes: Reader discretion is advised.

CHAPTER 23

"As I am sure that you have your doubts I would like to reassure you that Ms. Young is being treated with the utmost care." Charles Fischer stated as he and John walked down a chilly, brightly lit hallway inside of the Skynet base. John glanced over at Fischer feeling his suspicion and resentment grow stronger with every word. But for now his doubts were pointless. These ghastly events were necessary if he were to have any hope of returning to the present so as to ensure events such as these would never again occur.

Everyone here is already dead... John thought to himself as the brutal images of what might actually be happening to Alison weighed heavily on his heart. John ground his teeth fighting the urge to lash out violently at Fischer, who immediately looked back over at him,

"Trust me John…" A chill went up John's spine when Fischer uttered these words and John's hatred for him only increased.

"Where are we going?" he asked as they walked through the winding corridors. Fischer took a breath as if intending to speak and then hesitated. He then looked at John with an oddly crooked smile.

"I think it's better for you to see where we are going then for me to tell you." John remained doubtful of Fischer's statements, but followed him nevertheless.

John was puzzled by the limited amount of traffic that was moving inside of the base's hallways. Occasionally, he and Fischer would pass a T-888, a doozer, or on a few rare occasions another Grey. As they traveled deeper into the complex John became more and more uneasy about where he was being led. Twisting and turning through the winding corridors John was beginning to lose all sense of his bearings. Finally, Fischer stopped at a large set of steel double doors located to the side of one of the hallways. He stepped forwards and after a momentary delay there was an audible beep and John heard a loud hiss as both sets of doors parted before them. Fischer gestured forwards with his hand.

"Right this way." He said. John glanced over at the older man with a skeptical look in his eyes. Then with a resigned shrug he walked through the doorway.

The room itself was gargantuan, with ceilings that were at least thirty feet high and more than 200 feet of open space in front of them. The enclosure itself resembled some sort of massive factory or hanger bay. As he looked around John could see two large sets of glass tubes that extended from the floor to the ceiling in the center of the room. They contained a bluish liquid that slowly flowed through them. The tubes were lit from within, and this bizarre illumination caused an unearthly blue glow in the area immediately surrounding the tubes. This light however did little to brighten the large space that was this room. Towards the back were massive pieces of industrial equipment. Large pistons and gears could be seen extruding from within other types of equipment. John had absolutely no idea what they would be used for. The more he visually searched the area with his eyes the more he found it to be very poorly lit. Except for some ambient lighting around the factory there was almost no illumination. In that shadowy atmosphere John was only able to make out large details about the contents of the facility. Then he heard footsteps as Fischer walked up beside him.

"You wanna tell me where we are?" he asked Fischer.

"Like I said John, it's better for you to see for yourself." Instantly there was a loud pop as two sets of spotlights instantly beamed a blinding light down onto the exact center of the room. Instinctively, John squinted his eyes and raised his hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the blinding light. Glancing back over at Fischer, John saw him produce a crafty grin. As his eyes began to adjust to the light John lowered his hand. With all the stainless steel that was now glistening in the light John was still unable to make out any sort of solid image. Another few moments passed before his eyes were at last able to focus and John was finally able to make out what occupied the center of the room. In that moment of stark realization John felt as if his heart had stopped.

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"I don't understand why she gets a say in any of this." Sergeant Parker growled as he paced back and forth in the hallway.

"Livie thinks Bedell would have wanted it this way." Matthew Spears responded as he leaned up against the corridor wall and watched as Parker walked back and forth past him.

"Why? Because he gave her that fuck'n key? We don't even know exactly what happened out there that night. All we've got is her word and a bunch of dead soldiers."

"I doubt she could have physically taken the key from Bedell." Spears said. He made a mental note that Parker's constant to and fro movement was becoming annoying, and so was Parker for that matter.

"Well I know that…" Parker snapped back in an irritated voice. "But, how do we know that he didn't tell her to give it to someone else. Or worse yet, Colonel Bedell may have already been dead when she took it from him."

"Savannah's been with us for awhile." Spears stated, "Bedell and Livie have both trusted her for quite some time. She may be many…" Spears's eyes darted to the left as if he were searching for the correct words to use, after an extended pause he continued "…she may be many...many things, but a liar she is not."

"I think we've all got a pretty good idea of why Livie and Bedell have kept her around for so long…" Parker responded with a snide leering expression. Spears shrugged his shoulders.

"Even if your incredibly subtle suggestion were right, she has proven herself worthy many times before. And it wasn't just her vote that decided that we were going to be staying here; at least for a short while longer." Spears continued, "Wilder only agreed to stay here so long as research into another location would begin."

"This is foolish…" Parker immediately shot back, "…we are placing our lives in the hands of a woman who as far as I can tell is a psychological wreck and her "friend" who may or may not be a Grey and who basically appeared out of nowhere with no good explanation." Parker snorted, "She's damaged goods in every way shape and form.

"Well there is the time travel explanation…" Spears added.

"You don't honestly believe in that crap do you?" Spears turned away and looked towards the ground as Parker continued to speak.

"She's been there when too many men have lost their lives…And she's going to do it again." There was a moment of hesitation before Jonathan Parker continued,

"Death seems to follow that girl everywhere she goes. Anyone who she allows to get even the slightest bit close to her seems to quickly meet their end, while she miraculously always manages to live; her parents, her friend that helped to raise her, any number of her other male acquaintances, and now Bedell. And let's not forget her time with Skynet and her involvement with Danny Dyson." The mention of Danny's name brought noticeable disgust into Parker's tone.

"I'm not sure if she had much of a choice when it came to her interactions with Dyson." Spears retorted.

"From what I've been told she didn't do much resisting either." Parker stopped his pacing briefly to look at Sergeant Spears.

"I'm telling you Matthew, that girl is cursed and so long as she is here with us we are all in danger. Savannah Weaver will bring death upon us all."

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The metal door opened with a pronounced hiss and moments later Jody walked through it. As she exited the room she pulled the remaining bloody latex glove from her hand and tossed them both contemptuously onto the steel floor. Through the open door one could easily hear Alison Young whimpering in pain and crying in hopeless despair. The sound was cut off as soon as the door closed back behind Jody. A few seconds later the clicking sound of a doozer's legs could be heard as it scurried by picking up the discarded gloves.

"Did she tell you anything?" Danny Dyson asked as he moved in beside Jody. As usual she was somewhat alarmed by his arrival and reflexively took a half step away from him.

"Not much…" she said in response. Danny took another step towards her, a displeased look on his face.

"But I did manage to get some information from her." Jody fearfully stated in an attempt to deflect Danny's anger before he could get any closer to her. Momentarily placated, he gave Jody a curious look.

"She's not a soldier, at least not as far as I can tell. I think she has something to do with the resistance's intelligence division. She seems to have a pretty good working knowledge of computers. Maybe they were preening her to assist with some sort of cyber attack on Skynet." Jody immediately knew that she was jumping to several conclusions by telling Danny this, but her anxiety about the consequences of telling him anything less pushed her to this point. Danny nodded his head.

"Good enough..." He said, "…for now." Jody took a casual step away from Danny, hoping to make a subtle retreat.

"And how are things going with John?" Danny then asked. Jody fearfully nodded her head.

"I think I'm making progress." She responded.

"You think?" Danny asked the anger beginning to creep back into his voice.

"He's…he's different." Jody said quickly. "I'm going to have to try a different approach with him. It may take a little longer though." Danny raised his eyebrows.

"What do you mean longer?" Jody chuckled nervously about her response. This garnered a harsh look from Danny that immediately cleared the smile from her face.

"He seems to be a bit more…" Jody paused momentarily so as to try and think of the appropriate words to use to describe John,

"…complex than most of the other subjects you've instructed me to encounter. Simply finding me naked in his bed is not going to work, nor will seducing him…at least not overtly." Danny gave Jody a disbelieving look.

"It seems he really did care for that machine…a lot. John's very…" Jody's facial features softened slightly almost as if she were recalling a fond memory,

"…different." Her voice took on a more affectionate tone. Danny instantly shot her a suspicious look. He had seen the noticeable change in her behavior when she spoke of John and it did not please him. Observing the change in Danny's body language Jody immediately responded with her sexiest smile trying desperately to conceal her true display of emotion.

"Don't worry…" she said seductively, "…just give me a little more time and I'll have him." There was a pause and then Jody spoke again.

"But, don't you think we should make Fischer aware of all this?" she asked. Danny quickly moved towards her with an infuriated look on his face and Jody immediately stepped back and visibly flinched as she prepared to be struck.

"Are you questioning me?" Danny asked in a low angry voice. Jody face was now turned towards the ground steeling herself for the crack of his hand on her cheek.

"No…" She replied in a timid voice. Danny took another step closer to Jody who was still cowering.

"You are not to tell him or anyone else anything about this. Do you understand?" Jody quickly nodded her head in a docile manner. Danny eased back away.

"And just so you know, your job is about to get a lot harder."

"What do you mean?" Jody asked just barely glancing upwards. Danny reached out and placing his fingers under Jody's chin, lifting her head.

"Why do you think?" he asked. Jody's eyes widened.

"They're…they're bringing it back?" she asked with extreme apprehension in her voice. Danny nodded his head in response.

"But…but this is too soon. If she sees me…" Danny cut Jody off.

"We'll just have to make sure she doesn't see you." He said as he began to caress the side of Jody's cheek with his thumb. This produced an eerie sensation within her. He then moved in close to Jody and whispered in her ear.

"Just do what I've told you to do…The rest you can leave to me. Do you understand?" Jody again nodded her head as Danny moved his face slightly away from the side of hers. He then looked greedily at Jody and moved back in, pressing his lips against hers. She did not struggle or resist in even the tiniest way, she merely submitted to his overpowering will. After several seconds of kissing, of his lips possessing her, Jody began to moan quietly. Finally, Danny pulled back and ran his hand down from her neck to her chest. Then he slowly and dismissively pushed her back away from him, Jody let out a brief gasp of sexual frustration when he did this.

"Now go back in there and finish your job." Danny said in a cryptic voice as he pointed back towards the interrogation room behind Jody. She again nodded her head. Danny then turned away and walked back down the corridor leaving Jody standing quiet and alone. As the seconds passed she tightened her teeth into a snarl. With a twisted and angry look in her eyes she glanced over her shoulder at the door behind her. Jody quickly spun on her heels and moved back towards the entrance to the interrogation room which lay behind her.

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John slowly edged forwards towards the center of the room, his eyes about as wide as they could possibly be.

"Is…is that…" John could not finish his sentence.

"It's okay John." Fischer said with a small, yet still unmistakably evil smile. "It's real…" John walked closer and closer towards the center of the room. His mouth hung slightly open, his body was shaking, and he felt as if his knees were about to buckle. As he continued onwards his speed increased until he was in a flat out sprint. When he finally reached the center of the room he came to a dead stop and froze. He squinted his eyes as the two spotlights shown down from above him. A few seconds passed before Fischer walked up beside side him.

"Is that?..."

"Yes…" Fischer responded.

"Cameron…" John whispered his voice barely audible.

Lying naked on a stainless steel table in front of John was a perfect copy of Cameron's body. John's breath was shaking as he looked upon it. He then quickly looked back over at Fischer.

"Her chip?" John asked his voice quaking. Fischer nodded his head and reached into his pocket gradually retrieving an object. Slowly holding out his hand Fischer opened his fingers revealing Cameron's chip.

"I thought it only right after all that you two have been through to allow you the opportunity to activate her." With his hand still trembling John reached out and retrieved Cameron's chip. He then turned back to face the table preparing to move forwards.

John slowly slid back the skin on Cameron's scalp, revealing her chip port cover. Using the screwdriver that Fischer had provided to him, he carefully opened the port. John's hand with Cameron's chip continued to shake as it grew closer and closer to the chip port opening. Sliding it into place John then turned the chip and heard a click as it locked into place; he then quickly resecured the chip port cover. Carefully smoothing out Cameron's scalp and hair John then moved just a few inches back away from her as he leaned over Cameron waiting for what would come next. The room became deathly quiet as he waited. John felt a choking tension so strong that he had actually stopped breathing.

Suddenly, Cameron's body twitched. This quick movement startled John and he took a sudden gasp of breath and nearly jumped back, but after quickly regaining his composure, he returned to his position over Cameron. His hands instinctively moved up along the sides of Cameron's face as he continued to wait anxiously. Another few excruciatingly slow moments drifted by before Cameron's body moved again. The pace of John's breathing was growing rapidly and he remained locked in his position above Cameron, his face just inches from hers. With fear in his eyes he stared down upon her. Slowly, Cameron's beautiful brown eyes began to open; her pupils immediately constricted from the bright light that was above her. Once fully open Cameron's eyes briefly darted about the area around her before her gaze at last met with John's. They both remained perfectly still, staring silently at each other for several more seconds. John was so absorbed in Cameron's eyes that he did not even notice that he had unconsciously continued to gently caress both sides of her face where his hands were located. The two remained locked in this position for what seemed to be both an instant and an eternity for John. At last Cameron spoke,

"John…" She whispered quietly.

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Authors Notes: So this was the moment I think many people were waiting for (Cameron's return), though it is now mixed with the bitter reality of what is happening with Alison. Review! Review!