Terminator: Return of the Fallen
Part XXXXIII
When we arrive at Los Angeles, there is a car waiting for us. Catherine takes it and heads back to the Safe House. I take a taxi and go to get a bite to eat. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. I drive to some diner that I normally would not stop at to use the bathroom, but I'm starving and low on cash. So, this dive will have to do.
I grab a menu and wait for the waitress to take my order. The menu is covering my face, so I can not see the waitress and she can not see me. But, I can see the bottom of her waitress uniform and her legs. For some reason, her legs look very familiar.
"Hi, what can I get you?" I knew those legs looked familiar: it's Sarah Connor! What the hell is she doing here? I might as well have a little fun while I'm stuck in this dump.
"Um...yes, are your buns fresh? You know what, I will just see for myself". While keeping the menu in front of my face, I reach over and grab her butt. She obviously did not think it was funny, because she knocked the menu out of my hand and slapped me in the face. That is when she realized that it was me.
"You? When did you get back? And why did you just grab my butt?"
"Five minutes ago and I did it because it was funny. What are you doing here? Isn't there something more important for the C.O.'s mother to do?" Sarah smiles at me, which means she will probably not slap me in the face again.
"There is a future Resistance officer working here. Allison and I are here to check her out"
"Allison is here? Why didn't you just use Cameron?"
"Because I would like to leave at least one Terminator behind to guard the Safe House. Hey, Allison, look who's here!" Allison walks over to the table wearing an identical waitress uniform. I think these uniforms show off a little too much leg, but that could be because these women are like my family. Allison puts down her pen and pad and gives me a hug.
"Welcome back! How was Washington?"
"A war zone. How was Los Angeles?" Before she can answer the question, some fat bastard comes out of the kitchen and starts yelling.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? GET BACK TO WORK OR GET THE HELL OUT OF MY DINER!" Ok, this guy needs his ass kicked!
"Excuse me, sir? Did you just threaten my family?" Allison begins to panic. She knows exactly what I am capable of, and she is afraid that I will tear this guy apart.
"Don't do it! It's not worth it".
"You should listen to your family and sit your ass back down, shrimp".
"Hey, asshole! I did not spend my day defending YOUR nation's capitol from a division of renegade robots only to come home and find my family being pushed around by some civilian fat ass. Apologize, before I kick your fat ass back to whatever hole you crawled out of". He is so enraged that his nostrils are flaring. This is going to be fun.
"What....did...you.....say?"
"Which part: The part about flying a jet to keep your nation's capitol from being blown up by robots? Or the part about crushing you like the worm that you are?"
"THAT DOES IT!" He takes a swing at me. I catch his arm, twist it behind his back, and push him to the floor.
"What the...AAA! MY ARM!" I am twisting it; not hard enough to break it, just enough to be extremely painful.
"Apologize, or I will rip your arm out of its socket". I twist it even harder, just to emphasize my point.
"AAA! JESUS CHRIST!"
"On second thought, maybe it's time you took a bath in the deep fryer". This guy must weigh over two hundred pounds, but I lift him over my head without breaking a sweat. As I begin to carry this plus sized pinhead towards the kitchen, he begins to scream for mercy.
"HOLY SHIT! WHAT ARE YOU! OK! I'M SORRY! PUT ME DOWN!" I drop him on his fat ass. The impact actually makes the floor shake.
"There, now was that so hard?" He doesn't answer; he just scrambles to his feet and runs into the kitchen. Sarah starts laughing and then shouts at the cowering tub of lard in the kitchen.
"WE QUIT! Come on, girls. Let's get out of this dump".
"Right, Sarah. Come on, Kate. We're leaving". Kate? Who the hell is Kate? A young woman with red hair walks over to Sarah and Allison. "Captain Charles Zacks, meet Kate Brewster". This is Connor's wife. My God, she looks so young.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Brewster. You don't know this, but you have actually saved my life on several occasions".
"She's working her way through Medical School".
"I'm sorry...uh...it's nice to meet you Captain, but...this has all been a bit too much for me. Could you just take me home, please?" As we leave the diner, I lean over to Allison and whisper in her ear.
"Does Sarah know who she is?"
"No, and we aren't going to tell her yet. Ok?"
"Ok, for now. But we will have to tell her eventually".
"I know, but not yet. Let's just take Kate home and get back to the Safe House".
We drive Kate Brewster home and then head back to the Safe House. Allison is driving and I am sitting next to her, chatting about our days. Half way home, we get pulled over by a motorcycle cop. Allison starts to panic, because she does not have a driver's license. I tell her not to worry about it, because I will convince the cop to either make this all disappear to make himself disappear. Being invulnerable and immune to state laws does have its advantages.
"License and registration". As soon as the cop opens his mouth, Sarah appears to be frozen with fear. There is only one thing in the world that can scare Sarah Connor like that: the cop is a Terminator. I look down and spot a plasma weapon under my seat.
"Excuse me, officer. I believe what you are looking for is under this seat". I lean forward and grab the weapon. "ALLISON GET BACK!" She does, as I spring upright and fire the weapon at the cop's face. The right side of his face explodes, and then begins to reassemble itself. This is new. Before he has fully regenerated, I drop the weapon, run out of the car, and grab him. I throw him as far from the car as possible, and then I chase after him.
As I approach him to punch him in the face, he turns his arms into blades and stabs me in the stomach. The blade hurts like hell, but it does not penetrate my armour. I connect with a right hook to the face followed by a left uppercut. He slashes my throat with his other blade. The wound is painful, but not fatal. In an attempt to destabilize him, I punch him in the nose and then kick him in the stomach. He staggers backwards, but he does not fall.
He charges at me and swings his right blade towards my face. I block it with my arm, and jump -kick him in the stomach as hard as I can. He doubles over, and I knock him to the ground with a right uppercut to the chin. He leaps to his feet and slashes both of my legs. Undoubtedly, his intention was to sever my legs. Instead of a crippling injury, all that I have is a flesh wound. Connor did a great job building me. As the stunned Terminator tries to figure out why I am still standing, I kick him in the face and knock him down.
As he jumps back to his feet, one of his blades slashes up the right side of my body. It hurts like hell, but I will not let the pain hold me back. I punch him in the stomach as hard as possible, then I uppercut him in the face. While he is moving backwards, he slashes my chest. I am being sliced up like a salami! Fortunately, he might have just made my job a lot easier.
A few weeks ago, John Henry and I built a small compartment that we attached to my right leg. It contains a plasma grenade, covered by a plate of coltan. By slicing up my right side, the other Terminator has granted me access to the plasma grenade. How ironic: a trick that we picked up by watching T-888s might just save my ass from a T-1000.
While I was busy thinking about how clever we were in hiding a plasma grenade in my leg, the T-1000 cut up the left side of my face. That does it: no more Mr. Nice Terminator! I charge the T-1000 and start punching like a maniac. I hit him in the stomach, side, ribs, and face. He tries to impale me with his left blade, but I grab it with both hands and throw him to the ground. He lands on his stomach, and then transforms his back into his front to charge at me.
This time, he is the one that is infuriated. He hacks and slashes at me like some psychopath in a horror movie. I block his strikes with my arms and legs. Though his blades are shredding my flesh, they are not damaging my internal systems. He attempts to slice up the right side of my face, but I manage to knock his blade away with my arm. Unfortunately, I lose my right ear in the process. I must look like a slab of cold cuts by now.
Finally, the T-1000 decides to end this fight hand to hand. He reconfigures his blades into arms and wraps his hands around my neck. This guy is a lot stronger than I had expected; he brings me to my knees in seconds. It's now or never. I pop open the compartment on my right leg and pull out the plasma grenade. Despite being brought to my knees by a pissed off Terminator, I have a huge smile on my face.
"What?"
"OPEN WIDE!" I pull the pin on the grenade and shove it down his throat.
Surprised does not even begin to describe the expression on his face. Seconds later, he explodes. The exploding plasma has completely vaporized the T-1000, along with most of my skin. It has also temporarily blinded me. I am now crawling on all fours like a dog, unable to see a damn thing. Suddenly, I feel someone's hand on my shoulder.
"WHO IS THAT?"
"It's me! Don't punch me". It's Allison.
"The T-1000?"
"It's been vaporized. You did it, Charley".
"Good. Are my eyes open or closed? I can't really tell".
"Uh, you have no eyelids".
"Oh. I must look terrible".
"We're used to it. Come on, I'll help you get back to the car".
Allison helps me get back in the car and we drive back to the Safe House. By the time we reach the Safe House, my eyesight has returned. When I first catch a glimpse of myself in the rear-view mirror, it takes me a couple of seconds to realize that the Terminator in the mirror is me. I was already reaching for a plasma rifle when I realized that I was looking at myself.
"Uh, maybe someone else should go in first". Sarah laughs and pats me on the shoulder.
"Good idea. I'll go in first". Sarah walks in through the doorway, followed by Allison and then me. "We're home". John walks into the hallway to greet us, and I put my hands behind my head. When he sees me, he starts laughing.
"You can stop surrendering now, Captain. If you were a hostile, my mother would have shot you long before you reached the Safe House. What the hell happened to him, anyway?" Sarah decides to answer his question.
"We were pulled over by a T-1000".
"Holy shit! Is everyone all right?"
"We are, thanks to him". Sarah sits on the couch and motions in my direction. "I froze, John. As soon as I heard his voice, I froze". Why does everyone in this family feel like a coward unless they have done some suicidal act?
"Sarah, there was nothing you could have done. I shot him at point blank range with a plasma rifle, and he recovered from it".
"He's right mom. The only thing that stopped the last one was dropping it in a vat of molten steel, and I doubt you had one of those lying around. What happened to the T-1000?"
"I shoved a plasma grenade down his throat and it vaporized him, along with my skin. Do you think you can grow me a new vat of flesh?"
"No problem. Catherine and Cameron have already taught me the recipe. It should take us about an hour to prepare".
"Thanks a lot, General. I really appreciate it".
"Thank you for saving my mother from a liquid metal killing machine".
"It's my job, Sir!" I snap to attention and salute him. He walks away laughing. Man, this has been a stressful day. I hope tomorrow is better. It can't possibly be any worse, can it?
