A/N: I apologize for the long wait, it's been almost twenty days since I've updated ;-; . Anyway, obviously this is chapter 6, and continuing with the theme of longer chapters, this is ~26 pages, give or take. I actually like this chapter better than my previous chapter, since there is more action, and more fighting. Anyway, before I up rambling, please enjoy, and share your thoughts on this chapter. Oh, and before i forget, someone dies. :p
September 25th, 2008, Charm Acres.
13:00
Sarah Connor swallowed, shifting in the wooden chair uncomfortably, trying again to break through the shackles binding her to the chair. She was in a concrete room, with a single lightbulb providing illumination for the room, and a heavy looking door that was locked shut. Other than her own chair, only a similar chair occupied the room. Earlier one of the terminators Kaliba had had brought some food for her, and fed it to her, but other than that, no one had come. Sometime between when she had passed out after being shot and when she had woken up, someone or something had taken care of her leg, removing the bullet, and bandaging up the wound. She screamed at the door in frustration, but if there was anyone on the other side of the door, they didn't bother replying to her, if they even heard her at all. She bared her teeth, and struggled against the shackles, failing to break them again. Hopefully John would use his head, and not come and try and rescue her. He didn't need to die trying to free her. No, her best option would be to bide her time, and wait for the perfect opportunity to escape.
14:02
Elena idly checked her email on her blackberry as she walked down to the second level basement, to interview Sarah Connor. Seeing nothing she viewed as worthwhile reading, she pocketed her phone, and pushed by one of the T600's on patrol. Nick was sitting in front of Sarah's door, reading. "Has she behaved?" Elena asked, stopping, and resting her hands in the small of her back, to help alleviate the weight of her baby.
Nick scowled. "Of course she has behaved. It's not like she can get out. All she's done is scream for the last hour." Elena nodded thoughtfully, and opened the door, shutting it quietly behind her. Sarah was alertly watching her as she carefully walked over to the empty chair, and gently lowered herself into it, and resting her hands on her swollen belly.
"How far along are you?" Sarah nodded at her stomach. Elena chewed her lip for a second, before looking away.
"Eight months. Just about another month, then I'll have a child." She watched Sarah nod thoughtfully. "You seem like a smart woman Miss Connor, so I'll cut to the chase. We want your sons location. We're prepared to keep you here until he either comes, or you give it up." Sarah snorted.
"Go to hell. You should know I won't ever give up his location to you. I'd die before I do that." Elena nodded, only paying a little attention.
"Can I ask you a question?" Sarah looked taken aback for a moment, but nodded.
"I can't guarantee I'm going to answer it." Elena nodded, idly tracing her belly with a long, slender finger.
"What is it like to be a mother?" Sarah blinked, apparently not expecting that question. Elena carefully watched her as Sarah tried to come up with a answer to the question.
"I'm not sure how to answer that question... it' hard to say. I can say that if you truly love your child, then you will do anything for them." Elena nodded, thinking.
"Is that why you sacrificed your own life for him, to give Mr. Connor the tools and training he needs to be able to try and beat Skynet?" Sarah nodded. "I wonder if I'd do the same thing for my child..." She trailed off, talking to herself, before nodding. "Yes, I think I would. It's strange, but even now I feel the need to protect it."
"It's called a motherly instinct, to protect your child." Sarah dryly commented. Elena nodded again.
"It makes me wonder though, if Judgement Day occurs, Skynet most likely wouldn't allow me to keep her. I wonder if I'm doing the right thing here... What do you think?" Sarah raised her eyebrow, looking at Elena like she was dumb. "Let me expand on that. What are your opinions on why I shouldn't continue with Skynet?"
"For starters, like you yourself just said, Skynet won't let you keep your baby. Secondly, is that how your really want your baby to grow up? Knowing that her mother was essentially responsible for billions of deaths, that the reason why she can't have any friends her own age is because her mother saw it fit to build a computer, knowing that it's going to nuke the world. Is that enough, or do you want me to continue?" Elena shook her head, staring up at the ceiling, musing. "Why are you even helping it in the first place?"
Elena looked back down at Sarah. "Don't get me wrong, I have no love for Skynet, I know what atrocities it has committed. However, Skynet is responsible for my creation, which I am in debt to it for. Plus, from my viewpoint, as I'm not a violent person by nature, I would rather just be responsible for creating a computer that will kill people by it's own decision and not be responsible for them myself, than the missions I would be doing instead if I hadn't come back."
"And what missions would these be?" Sarah was interested by this strange woman. She claimed not to be violent, but she had no qualms about creating a computer system that kills over three billion humans without a second thought.
"Killing humans. That is what I was designed to do. To end human life. Same as any terminator. Which incidentally, do you know a girl named Raven?" Sarah shook her head. "She's about 5'6", in her late teens, very pretty, black hair, and green eyes, very vivid green eyes." Sarah shook her head.
"I don't know any girls named Raven, why?"
"She was sent back by your son. She was the first organic terminator, if your willing to stretch it a bit. All of us are based off of her. She was born or created this year in fact, and she grew up in a Skynet work camp, giving Skynet access to her abilities, and allowing us to be created by way of her."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
"Yesterday, when you were shot, this young woman was observing you." Sarah jerked her head up in surprise. "Your son sent her back from the future, to do some sort of mission. Do you know what that was?" Sarah raised her eyebrows. "No?"
"This Raven, she is like you?"
"Yes... without Skynet enhancements. She is purely human." Elena pushed herself up, ready to leave. "Have a good afternoon, Miss. Connor."
17:23, Charm Acres
"When is Adam going to get back...?" Lilith was whining again. I gritted my teeth. She had to be the most annoying person I knew, or had known. Right now she was complaining about how she was hungry, which was what had prompted Adam to leave in the first place, to go to the store.
"I don't know, now please shut up. I'm trying to concentrate." Lilith groaned loudly. "Why are you always hungry, anyway?" She shrugged, and stretched her legs out, sighing loudly.
"I'm bored."
"Yeah, I know, I'm not deaf, I heard you the first time." She gave me a annoyed look. "Are you the only one who acts like this?"
"Like what?"
"So childishly."
"Yeah. All the others are more 'mature'." She told me, shaking her head as if she was mocking the notion she was the only immature one of them. "Just because they're all like five years older than me. Well technically we're all about the same age, but they were developed more than me, since I had a slightly different purpose than they did." I rolled my eyes. I don't care! I wanted to scream, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"What purpose is that?"
"I was designed to be more of a seductress, someone to tempt men into aiding us, or just into lowering their guard. Keep in mind that most men are naturally inclined to help a woman, especially a young, innocent, helpless one." I snorted. She wasn't any of those. "I wasn't initially given lessons in combat, instead I was supposed to just rely on my superior strength to overpower targets, but Elena taught me how to fight." She rolled her eyes. "It's kind of ironic I'm supposed to tempt men, considering, you know." I gave a dry laugh. It was ironic.
"Whatever. Just please stop talking until Adam gets back." She gave me another annoyed look, and flipped me off, before turning grumpily away. It was strange, sometimes she did act mature, but then other times, she does act like a eight year old. Maybe that's one of the adverse affects to using drugs and whatever else to accelerate someone's growth. Either that or it's just her emotion limiter going haywire again, I hypothesized. Next to me, Lilith sat upright, her brow creased slightly.
"Something is happening." She threw herself down on her stomach, her eyes glowing a faint red as she scanned the complex below. "They're moving all of the terminators out." I peered through my M82 scope, watching as somewhat grimy endoskeletons exited the building, and climbed into the trailer from before. Interspersed with the T600's were some humans, and the same man who I had knocked out yesterday. I silently counted the endoskeletons as they climbed into the truck, one by one. Fifty! He climbed into the truck, and waited for all the endoskeletons to get in the trailer, before driving off.
"What's going on down there?" Lilith shrugged, still keenly watching the humans milling about. Her eyes narrowed as Sarah Connor was carried out, bound, followed by Elena. Elena turned, scanning her surroundings. Her eyes traveled over our hill, and she smiled faintly. She said something, motioning with her arm, causing everyone to turn, and face towards us.
"We need to go, now." Lilith sprang up, grabbing my wrist, and forcing me after her. She kept a hold on my wrist as we ran down the hill, ducking through the trees at the bottom. Behind me, I could hear the high pitched whine of a H-K. "We need to split up, and confuse the H-K. I'll meet you at the safe house tonight, and if one of us doesn't show up, then we will assume they have been captured." I nodded.
"Here, take my M82, just in case I get captured. Let me see your M4." She shrugged, and we quickly swapped weapons. I stopping for a second before sprinting to my left, gracefully leaping over fallen branches and roots in the ground. Behind me, Lilith ran straight.
17:39
Lilith ducked out of view as the terminator filled trailer hurtled by on the highway. She looked back over her shoulder, hoping to maybe see Raven come out of the woods, but no one was in sight. She rested her hands on her knees for a second, catching her breath. This was the first time she had actually had to go flat out while running, and she didn't like it. Her eyes flicked upward, looking down the highway as a vehicle became visible in the horizon. She stepped out, standing in the middle of the road, patiently waiting for the truck to come closer. That was one of the downsides to having such good vision, you could see things from far away, but as a consequence, it took longer for the said thing to come closer.
The black truck slowed down, with a young man sticking his head out. He had short brown hair, intense eyes, although there was a glimmer of kindness in them. In the passenger seat was a young woman, with dark brown hair, and cold chocolate eyes, and in the backseat, there was a man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, although his face was mostly covered by shadows, with only a scruffy chin showing. Lilith sighed, and swung her gun up, pointing it at the driver. "All of you, get out of the truck, now." The driver snorted, and gave the girl a amused look. The girl gave him a faint smile, before sitting up straight, and climbing out of the truck.
"You don't threaten John." She coldly told Lilith, walking closer to her. Lilith scanned her. Shit, she was a terminator! Which means... he is John Connor? She grabbed Lilith by the neck, and lifted her off the ground. The boy sighed impatiently.
"Cam, you don't need to kill her, just take her gun, and we can go." Cameron gave Lilith a look of annoyance, but dropped her to the ground, ripping the M82 anti-material rifle from her hands.
"You're John Connor." Lilith gasped out, her hands massaging her throat, sucking in deep breathes of air. The machine whirled around, and the boy sat up, climbing out of the truck, followed by the man in the back. He looked familiar to her, but Lilith didn't know who he was. "Raven was looking for you..." Cameron's eyes widened slightly, and she shared a look with man behind John. The man had the same look as captured resistance soldiers, hardened eyes, a thick layer of stubble, and a feel of determination.
John knelt down in front of her, and flipped her wrist, looking for a barcode. "Who are you? And who is Raven?"
"Raven is one of your soldiers from 2027, that you sent back." The man stepped around John, and put a hand under Lilith's chin, forcing it up. "Who are you? I've never seen you before." Lilith closed her eyes, shaking her head. He shook her, trying to get her to answer.
"Derek..." John warned.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Who are you?" He repeated.
"Lilith..." She told him softly. "I'm working with Raven." She was took a deep breath.
"You're a grey?" Derek stood up, and pulled out his Desert Eagle, clicking the safety off, and pressing it against her temple. Lilith shook her head.
"No, I'm not a grey. I never was." Derek pushed the gun against her slightly harder.
"How do you know about John then?"
"She told me." Lilith looked up at Derek, who was dispassionately staring down at her. "And I know about him in the future. Everyone does, especially those that are under Skynet."
"So you do work for Skynet." John stepped closer, and gave Derek a warning look.
"I was created by Skynet, yes... but I didn't willingly work for it. And now I don't at all."
"Who, or what are you then?" Derek pressed the gun slightly harder against her temple, ignoring John's disapproving look. Lilith gave a tired sigh.
"I'm a I950, mostly human, with cybernetic implants. We were created as human infiltrators." She cast her eyes downward, before looking up at John. "Your mother is being held by Kaliba." John nodded, his face grim. "I can help you get her."
"Let me guess, you are just going to let her go?" Derek gave John a annoyed look. John shook his head.
"No, she is coming with us. She knows where my mother, and this woman, Raven, are, so we're going to go get them."
I could hear things running parallel to me, and the H-K buzzing behind me. I was starting to get tired, and slightly dizzy from running so far. I stumbled slightly, and nearly fell face first, but continued to go. I saw the glimmer of metal reflecting sunlight to my right, just before one of the endoskeletons jumped out at me, tackling, and crushing me underneath of its massive weight. A blond woman walked out from behind a cluster of trees to my left, panting heavily. "You should have known we'd capture at least one of you." She told me arrogantly, giving me a imperious look, her gray eyes staring daggers into mine. I decided I didn't like her. "Tie her up." She nodded at the T600, giving it the same disgusted look she gave me. She knelt down in front of me, and softly lifted my face up. "This time, you are not escaping." She reached back, and slapped my face. The T600 roughly bound my hands behind my back with a plastic pull-tie, and repeated it with my feet, rendering me mostly immobile. It grabbed the back of my head, and slammed my face into the ground, causing everything to fade.
I opened my eyes. I was in another concrete lined room, bound to a chair. In front of me was the same woman from before, the one who had gotten shot, Sarah Connor. She was looking at me, apparently comparing me to someone. "You're that girl, Raven. The one that redhead was talking about." I nodded.
"Elena," I told her. "That's the redheads name. She's a I950. Human, with neural implants." Sarah nodded, looking away. "How long have I been here?" Sarah shrugged.
"Just an hour or so. I don't know, it's hard to tell the time. All I know is that we're in some warehouse or something like that." Sarah nodded her head, to the door that was located in between us in the far wall. "They'll probably be coming in soon." I nodded as well. We both listened to the pipes gurgling in the walls.
18:24, Charm Acres
John pulled his truck over, and climbed out, with Cameron following suit. Partially covered in shrub, was a leg. John brushed the plants out of the way, revealing the dead body. It was Adam. Lilith sighed regretfully. Derek climbed out as well, and went over to examine the body, motioning for Lilith to follow him. "Who is it?" John asked.
"Adam. He was a loyal T800 on our side." Lilith knelt down, and examined his face. It was mostly blown away, from what appeared to be a minigun, and a rocket or a missile. She examined the rest of the body. It looked like he had been hit by something heavy, like a truck.
"What do you mean, loyal?" Cameron asked, kneeling down next to her.
"Loyal. He made the conscious decision to join the resistance." Cameron blinked in surprise, before looking up at John, then back down at the fallen terminator. "There is somewhere I need to show you. It's too dangerous to go back to the Kaliba warehouse right now." Lilith got up, and looked John directly in the eyes, shading her own from the setting sun. "I know you want to get your mother, and I want to get Raven, but right now that would be suicide."
Derek chewed the inside of his mouth, thinking. He held out Raven's M82, and looked at it, before examining the bullets. "Raufoss rounds?"
"Yeah, it was Raven's rifle. Is Raven's rifle." Lilith amended herself. Derek nodded. "They have at least fifty T600's. Even with Raufoss rounds you can't beat that many." John and Derek's eyes widened. "Built in this time." Lilith pulled out her cellphone, dialing a number. "Yeah, Danielle, we're going to have company. And Adam was terminated. It seems some of the T600's are armed with miniguns. Three people. All right." Cameron picked up Adam's body, and heaved it into the back of the truck, and tyed down the cloth cover for the truck bed.
21:47, Death Valley bunker
Danielle and Ari were waiting to greet them as they came through the door. Ari scanned them, his eyes narrowing as he didn't see Raven. "Lilith, were is Raven?" Lilith shook her head sadly.
"She hasn't answered her phone, or the LA safe house phone. I think she was captured." Ari clenched his fist, and slammed it on the table. "I'm sorry Ari, we're going to try and get her back." Ari hissed, before walking off. They could hear something rattle in the hallway, from Ari kicking something.
"What is his problem?" Derek asked, looking after him, mystified.
"They're mates, him and Raven." Danielle explained. "He is upset that she was captured." Derek rolled his eyes.
"Let me guess, you're a terminator as well? No human would say they are 'mates'." He groaned. "Fucking metal everywhere, just like back home." He shook his head, mumbling something.
"Correct. Model TX888." She nodded at Lilith, who left the room to find Ari. "Please, sit down." She motioned at the table. "We need to reacquire both Miss. Connor, and Raven, but Kaliba is well organized, and well armed. If you'd follow me please," she motioned at the stairway. "There is something I need to show you."
September 27th, 2008, Charm Acres
12:03
"What the hell?" Lilith commented, from inside the truck. The facility was destroyed, with only a enormous scorch mark in the earth remaining, ringing the huge crater in the ground. Derek and Ari both twisted around in their seats. Danielle quietly stared at the scorched ground.
"You want to explain what happened here?" Ari asked. "Where are they?" Lilith shrugged.
"They must have realized the location was compromised, and moved it somewhere else." Lilith rubbed her temples. "The only other place I can think of is our previous location, in New Mexico, but that would be too far out, and it doesn't have the facilities to house a terminator factory."
"So your saying you don't know where they are, right?" Derek sighed heavily as Lilith nodded, and slumped back in his seat.
"It's not a overall loss, I would say though. If we get close enough to the Kaliba main offices, I can hack into their computers, and probably find out where they are." Ari looked at her thoughtfully, before nodding.
"Where is it?" He started the truck, and reversed it, before whipping around, and racing down the drive.
"Los Angeles."
I groaned quietly. My entire body was sore from being bound to the stiff chair. Across from me, Sarah had fallen asleep. No one had came into the room yet. I struggled against my bindings again, but this time, they weren't taking a chance, and I could barely even move my arms. I leaned back, closing my eyes as the door clicked. I heard heavy booted steps enter the room, coming to a stop in front of me. "Wake up," A man snapped. I accidentally bit my lip as he slapped my face, drawing blood. Sighing, I opened my eyes. I blinked in surprise, my eyes wide as I recognized the shock of long black hair and the hooked nose. His cold gray eyes bored into mine, trying to intimidate me. I had to say, I was a bit shocked to see him, considering the last time I had seen him, his head had exploded all over me.
"How... how are you alive? I watched you get shot... you shouldn't be alive." Alex snorted, and put his hand under my chin, forcing my head up.
"The one you saw, that was just a mere clone of myself, nothing more. Absolutely inferior to the real me. Now, where is Connor?" He wrapped my hair around his fist, and pulled his hand down, yanking my head back. I winced slightly, but didn't answer him. He tilted his head slightly, before driving his fist into the pressure point on my thigh, causing my entire leg to go numb with pain. I swallowed, trying not to make a noise. He snorted, and drove his fist into my other leg, this time forcing a whimper of pain out.
"I don't know. I think I like Elena better when it comes to being asked questions." He rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure you do. Now, where is Connor? I don't really feel like screwing around." He gave me a cold look, before driving his clenched fist into my stomach. I violently coughed, some vomit mixed with blood dribbling out of my mouth. He sighed. "You can make this painless, you know? All you have to do is tell me where Connor is."
"I don't fucking know!" I spat out. He raised his eyebrows. "All I know is he is in Los Angeles somewhere." He gave me a cold look, before driving his fist into my stomach again. This time I vomited all over myself, and him. He gave me a disgusted look, before turning to Sarah. He examined her, brushing her clothes aside slightly to view scars and burns. I coughed again, feeling the aftertaste of the vomit, and dry heaving because of it. Alex snorted, seemingly amused, before he turned back to Sarah.
"You've got quite to collection of scars. I'm impressed." He traced one on her arm with his finger, ignoring her shudder of displeasure. He looked over at the door as someone knocked. Raising his voice, he called out. "Come in." The same gray eyed blond woman from before glared at me, looking revolted by the vomit on the floor and my front. "Hello Jen." Alex smiled coyly, leaning forward to kiss her. "I see you too are disgusted by Raven. You can deal with her if you want." Jen returned the kiss, brushing her hand on the side of Alex's face.
"Of course, I would be happy to." She faced me. "You know, the others tell me I'm pretty sadistic. I'll leave you to be the judge of that." She fumbled around in her pocket for a moment, before pulling out a lighter. I shivered slightly in apprehension. I thought I knew what she was going to do. She grinned at me, and flicked the lighter, lighting the butane fueled flame, and held it to my arm. Alex chuckled as I screamed, feeling the flame start to melt my skin. Jen smirked, before letting the flame die. "So... where is Connor?" I shook my head, biting down hard on my lip, drawing blood. She shook her head, and drew a knife, and gently poked the torched flesh. A hiss escaped my shut mouth, as the burn flared in pain. She laughed aloud, and poked it much harder, drawing another scream from me as blood trickled out from the cut, burned flesh.
"Leave her alone, she doesn't know where John is!" Sarah cried out. Jen rolled her eyes, and turned to face her. "She really doesn't know where he is." She told her quietly.
"Oh, I believe that. But I'm using Raven to make a example for you. She has a higher pain tolerance than normal humans, you see, so if she's screaming in agony from small wounds like this, how do you think you will feel?" She giggled, turning back to me. "Just something for you to think about." She flicked the lighter again, and held it up to my upper arm, slowly burning more skin. I screamed in anguish, resulting in her laughing delightedly. She seemed fascinated by the flames licking my flesh, and consuming it.
Alex and Jen had finally left, after my left arm was a mottled collection of burns. Sarah was staring at me in horror. She had never seen someone tortured like this before. "Raven, are you okay?" I halfheartedly shook my head. No, no I wasn't okay, I had just had most of my arm torched with a lighter. Of course I'm not okay, are you dumb? "Raven!" I heard her cry out as I blacked out.
2022
I tenderly sucked my finger, from where a burning ember had landed while I was disposing of bodies. I held it up closer, to check the flesh. It didn't seem too badly burnt. I could see the small white pinpricks from where embers had burnt me before. It didn't really hurt, it was just a itchy throbbing sensation. Behind me, one of the chrome skeleton guards, the T800, came up to me.
"Work." It told me, in a metallic voice, a voice that made me want to claw my ears out, one that sounded like metal scraping on metal, backed by the screech of metal being twisted in unnatural ways. I held my hands up, showing that I was getting back to work. It prodded me with its plasma rifle, so I picked up my empty cart, and hastily brought it back to the massive pile of bodies. I winced as a zipper dragged on the tender flesh where I had burned on the finger. Ignoring it, I loaded five bodies into my cart, and struggled for a second to lift the cart in the muddy dirt, before wheeling it over to the incinerator. The same T800 was carefully watching me.
"I'm not doing anything wrong," I told it. The reflection of the flames dancing on it's gleaming skull made it seem like it was evilly grinning at me, harkening back to stories told by people who had lived before Judgement day, about halloween, about evil skulls carved into pumpkins, and lit up, to scare people. Its red eyes seemed to glow brighter for a second, before it turned, and walked off. I sighed, and gripped the first body, heaving it into the inferno. My eyes followed the cloud of embers that rose into the air, thrown up by the body disturbing the immense pile of ashes. I repeated the process with the next three bodies, before stopping to look at the fifth body.
The faces of the corpses had long since ceased to bother me, since I knew they were beyond saving, but I looked into the young mans face anyway. His eyes were glassy, and his face was waxen, and sunken in around the bones of his face. I sighed, and heaved his body in, snarling as another ember landed on my outstretched hand. Why where so many embers landing on my hands recently? This was the seventh in two days. I rubbed the flesh where it had landed absentmindedly, thinking about how to escape this hell. I could just jump into the flames, and it would be all over, after a second or two. I wondered if I would even feel anything, or if I would just be incinerated. I had seen a man do it before, just walk up, look back at all the other humans enslaved, toiling to dispose of other bodies, other humans, then just jump into the seething flames, never to be bothered or haunted by dreams of machines killing him again. He hadn't screamed or anything, just jumped in, and was silent. No, I wouldn't take the easy way out... I would help bring Skynet down, with Kyle, and John Connor. No matter what.
I awoke, my chest heaving, remembering the decision my fourteen year old self had made. I tried to run my hand over my face, only to start in confusion as it was met with a unexpected resistance. Ah yes, I was bound to a chair. I remembered, looking around. My arm was now covered in half-healed burns. It must have been a day or so, since I had passed out. I could still remember Sarah desperately asking if I was okay. I turned my head instinctively as the door was opened, and the inert form of Sarah Connor was thrust into the room by a T600 endoskeleton, before she was roughly thrown into her chair, and had her restraints reapplied. I watched her head loll onto her shoulder, her hair covering half of her face, with a barely visible line of blood coming out from under her hair.. I could see her chest gently raising, and falling, so I knew she was alive. I briefly wondered what day it was. The terminator finished up, turning, and giving me a glance, before leaving the room, locking the door behind it. Looking back at Sarah, I saw her twitch in her sleep. "Sarah... psst, Sarah." She remained unresponsive, so I fell silent, staring at the small line of blood trickling down her face.
After what seemed like a hour, or maybe it was longer, the door rattled, and Elena, and two terminators walked into the room, both with miniguns attached to their right arms. "Are you enjoying your stay?" She asked. She walked over, and gently examined my arm, shaking her head in disapproval. "Dammit Jen..." She muttered. "I told you not to do anything like this..."
"Alex said she could." Elena's head sharply arose.
"Alex is dead. Your boyfriend killed him." She snapped, angrily taking a step back, before kneeling down, and chaining my feet to a bolt in the floor I hadn't noticed before. She pulled out some handcuffs, and bound my wrist, then undid the other, and forced it over so she could lock the handcuffs around both wrists. Satisfied, she undid the other bindings, and pushed the chair back, causing me to tumble onto the floor. She gave me a dark look. "Don't try and play mind games with me Raven, Alex is dead. I buried him." I just shook my head.
"He said he cloned himself." She scowled at me, before sharply slapping me across the face.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear your lies." She turned away, and nodded at one of the terminators, before leaving with the other one. The T600 impassively bored its eyes into mine.
"Get up." It told me, in the same metallic screech I remembered from ones in the future. It pointed its gun at me. "Now." I climbed to my feet, warily watching it. I blinked in surprise as the sprinklers turned on, deluging us in icy water.
"So... I'm just supposed to just stand here?" The terminator silently burned my eyes with its own demon eyes. "Great..." I muttered. Almost as much fun as a work camp.
Elena chewed on her sandwich thoughtfully. Jen and Nick were giving her strange looks, and she had the feeling they were talking about her behind her back. She knew that Nick openly challenged her leadership, making it clear he would rather Alex had led them. She swallowed, and got up. Jen impudently watched her, before giving Nick a small smirk when she thought Elena couldn't see her. Elena frowned, and walked into her office, shutting, and locking the doors behind her. Why were they acting so strangely? She looked around her large office. Her terminator was standing by the windows, watching the cars on the ground far below.
"What are you doing?" Elena asked it. It silently watched the traffic for another minute, before turning.
"Just observing." It replied. Elena nodded in understanding, and moved to sit down in her chair.
"Do you think, that there is a chance Alex may be alive?" She asked, leaning forward, and intertwining her fingers. The T800 looked slightly taken aback by the question but shook it's head.
"No, how can there be? I saw his corpse, he was clearly dead. It's a design flaw of humans, once your head has been destroyed, so has your body." Elena nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes, I know that, but what I meant, was, say he had cloned his himself, would you think it's possible he managed to survive, and is now hiding?"
"It would be hard to say, if he had cloned himself, then, yes I would say he is alive. But when would he have cloned himself, and how?" Elena shrugged in response. "Does this have anything to do with the prisoners?" The T800 moved, and sat down in the seat across her desk, looking directly at Elena. She sighed.
"Yeah, with Raven. Jen tortured her, by burning her arm with a lighter, or something like that. When I said something about me telling Jen not to, Raven said that Alex had told Jen it was okay." Elena rested her head on her hands, tiredly looking at the T800. "And now, Jen and Nick are acting oddly."
"Raven said that Alex was there, that Alex himself had told Jen to do it?" Elena nodded. "That's interesting. I assume you considered that she may be just playing mind games with you, right?" Elena nodded again.
"I don't think she is thought, I think she genuinely thinks she saw Alex. When I told her I didn't believe her, she seemed to give me a pitying look." The T800 was silent. "If he did clone himself though, why wouldn't he show himself?"
"Perhaps, if he did manage to clone himself... perhaps he has ulterior motives?"
"What do you mean, ulterior motives?" Elena frowned at her T800, which stood up, and walked back to the window.
"Ulterior means-" Elena cut him off.
"I know what ulterior means, I want to know what you mean by ulterior motives."
"Maybe he is planning on doing something that he wouldn't want you to know about, something you wouldn't approve of, or something Skynet wouldn't approve of." Elena's eyes widened slightly.
It had been almost twenty hours since I had been forced to stand up, with the cold water raining down on us periodically, normally every four hours or so. Sarah had woken up right after the water had come down on us the first time, and now was glaring reproachfully at the endoskeleton watching us. I had been swaying back and forth where I stood, almost falling asleep, but each time the terminator would force me back up. I heard the door rattle, before it swung open. I glared at Alex as he walked in, followed by Jen. He smirked at me.
"Did you have a fun night?" He asked me, leering at my see-through white shirt.
"It was incredible." I told him, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. His grin grew even wider. He walked over, and roughly grabbed my half-healed arm, causing me to wince in protest, and he held it up for examination.
"You smell like shit." He held his nose, and made a big show of leaning back, theatrically waving his hand in front of his face. I hissed at him, causing him to grin. "It's our fault I suppose, but anyway, you really do smell bad." I glared at him. "It seems that your quite a fast healer. Maybe next time we should use something with a bit more firepower... like a welding torch?" I shivered slightly. He gave a harsh laugh, and pet my cheek. Jen smiled slightly, and walked over as well.
"Any ideas of what I should do?" She walked around, sneering at me. Alex shrugged. "I say we should let Nick in here. He's been talking about how he would like to get a piece of her." Alex nodded, shrugging indifferently.
"Sure. Should we leave Miss Connor in here, or go interrogate her some more?" Jen looked over her shoulder at Sarah, who had stiffened in response to having her name said aloud.
"Leave her here, she can enjoy the show." Alex gave me a twisted grin, and motioned for Jen to follow him. He left the door open. A few minutes later, another one, presumably Nick, walked in. He moved closer to me, making a big show of checking me out, while maintaining a slightly disgusted look. He motioned for the terminator to come over.
"They smell horrible, so I'm going to take them to the bath area, and allow them to bathe. You're going to have to keep an eye out on them, and make sure they don't try and run." The terminator nodded, and gripped the back of my neck with its titanium digits. Nick shrugged, amused, before leaning down, and unlocking the chains on the my arms and legs. The terminator held me aloft, about two feet off the floor, as I wildly swung my arms, and legs, trying to get free. Nick chuckled. "Feisty, aren't you?" He walked over to Sarah, with the terminator following, and unlocked her as well. The T600 grabbed the back of her neck as well, and picked her up, and carried her out the door, following Nick as he led the way to the bathrooms. The terminator roughly threw us onto the tiled floor, and stood in the doorway, blocking us from escaping.
Sarah and I both stood up, glaring at Nick from behind the terminator. He shrugged, and nodded at the terminator. "Bathe." It told us, in its metallic screech of a voice. Sarah flipped the machine off.
"I suggest you do bathe, since you probably won't get any more opportunities any time soon, and you probably won't like it if I wash you off in lieu of you doing it yourself." Nick laughed. Sarah glared at him. "No, I'm not going to leave. And there is some soap in the shower." Sarah groaned, and shrugged off her clothes, and went to occupy a shower, ignoring Nick's jeering. I glared at him. "Those clothes aren't going to take themselves off." I winced, and took the clothes off, and got into another shower. Ignoring Nick, I scrubbed myself, getting rid of the grime from who knows how long. Nick whistled, his eyebrows raised at me. "You know, you look a lot like Elena when she is naked. At least, when she's not pregnant. You both have smoking bodies."
"Fuck off." He smiled slightly.
"Trust me, what I'm gonna do, it'll be much more fun for me. And who knows, you may even like it." I shivered, knowing what he was going to do. "Hurry up, I don't have all day. And Raven, make sure you clean down there, I don't like dirty woman." He laughed. I shut the shower off, and moved towards the dirty clothes on the floor. Nick shook his head. "No, you guys aren't wearing these."
"What are we supposed to wear?" Sarah asked, dripping water. Nick's grin grew wider.
"Nothing, obviously." He nodded at the terminator, which grabbed us by the back of our necks, and hauled us back into our prison. Nick smiled as he chained us back up, and then stood over me, and unbuckled his pants.
I was still lying on the floor where Nick had finished with me, feeling incredibly dirty. I looked up at Sarah, who sympathetically grimaced. "I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened to you." I looked away. "That wasn't your first time... was it?" I didn't answer, but I think she got the message anyway. "I'm so sorry."
"Whatever." I rolled over slightly, to hide my face from her as some tears rolled out of my eyes.
"When Cameron, and Derek come, I'll have Cameron kill him." I sighed. "Really, your first time should have been special."
"Yeah, whatever. Anything in the service of John Connor, right? What happens to us doesn't matter, as long as Connor gets what he wants." I rolled over, giving her a reproachful look. She sighed. "What about you? Was your first time special?" She laughed loudly, before looking away, amused, and shook her head.
"No, not really. Having drunk sex with someone you don't know in their parents bedroom really doesn't count for anything. I prefer to think of the time when John was conceived as my first time, per say." She smiled slightly, closing her eyes as she remembered it.
"Who was it with?" Sarah opened her eyes, and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, quickly averting them as the sprinklers turned on again. "It's okay if you don't want to tell."
"A soldier from the future, sent back by John to protect me. His name was Kyle Reese." She grinned slightly, before giving me a startled look as I sat upright. It couldn't be, not my Kyle... He is John Connor's father? I remembered when Connor had given Kyle the picture of Sarah Connor.
2025
I was perched on top of a crate of supplies, still wearing the same old black trench coat I had from the Skynet work camp. On each side of me, Kyle and Derek were slouched against the crate. Derek was idly playing with his plasma rifle, watching the procession grow closer from down the hall. Connor, and the other top ranking officials were touring Kansas Bunker. Kyle picked at one of his teeth, and then spat on the floor.
"Wonder what Connor is up too." He stated conversationally. Derek looked over, amused, and shrugged.
"Who knows, it's fucking Connor. All I know is that he manages to keep us from dying, so honestly, I couldn't care, as long as he keeps it up." He fiddled with his hair, trying to make himself look more presentable, but gave up, and just ended up putting his cap back on. Kyle shook his head, slightly annoyed.
"What do you think Raven?" Derek turned, and faced me. I shrugged.
"Like Derek said, he keeps me alive, so it doesn't matter that much to me, as long as I continue to remain alive. At least he is better than leading then Perry, remember when everyone thought Connor had died, last year, and Perry tried to take over, and ended up losing over half of our forces?" Kyle and Derek both nodded. "I dunno how Perry didn't lose his job over that, but anyway, at least Connor is keeping us alive." We all stood straight at attention as the procession started passing by us. Connor looked at me, and winked, a small smile gracing his face, before stopping in front of Kyle. All the other generals seemed annoyed at the interruption, but they didn't say anything.
"Sir." Kyle saluted Connor. Conner laughed, and waved it off.
"No need for that Kyle." He observed the three of us carefully, studying our frayed clothes. "How has it been in Kansas Bunker over the last few months?"
"Same as always sir, fighting off machines day in and day out." Connor nodded, thoughtfully, before reaching into his pocket, and pressing something into Kyle's hand.
"Think of it as a good luck charm." Connor grinned slightly, and walked away. Derek and I both peered over Kyle's shoulder as he looked at the item. It was a old picture, of a young woman.
"Who the hell is she?" Derek asked. Kyle shrugged, and flipped the picture over. Scrawled on the back, in nearly faded letters, was: Sarah Connor, 1984. "Is that Connor's mom?" Derek roared with laughter.
"Shut the hell up Derek." Kyle flipped the picture back over, and gently ran a finger over her face.
"Why the hell would he give you a picture of his mom. That's really sketchy." Kyle shrugged, and pocketed the picture. I gave Derek a amused look as he sighed heavily.
2008
"Hey, Raven. Raven!" Sarah was trying to get my attention. I blinked. "You okay?"
"Yeah... I was just remembering something... Kyle is Connor's dad?" I laughed incredulously. "No shit... now that I think about it, they are a lot alike." I laughed again, wincing slightly as my burned arm rubbed on the floor. "He always carried your picture around... I guess I'm not surprised."
"How do you know Kyle?" Sarah asked, curiously. She must not have known very much about him. "And what picture are you talking about? Kyle and Derek both said something about a picture, but he never really specified."
"I met him in the Century Work Camp, when I was really young. He basically took care of me, and looked out for me... basically he was like a father to me. As for the picture, I dunno." I shrugged. "It was you, when you were younger, it looked like you were in the desert somewhere, you had a headband on, and a German Shepard next to you." Sarah smiled slightly as she thought about it. "I take it John never met him?" She shook her head sadly. "How did he die?"
"He died protecting me from the terminator. I didn't find out I was pregnant until later. John is all I have left of him." I nodded thoughtfully. "The only thing is, John has to send him back. Otherwise, he won't ever be conceived, and humans will lose to Skynet. Poor Kyle, he's stuck in a loop. He's basically fated to die."
"It would be how he would want to go out, fighting the machines."
"Why the hell are you two naked?" Elena was standing in the doorway. I twisted slightly, to view her better. She warily looked around, looking for the terminator guard. "Where is the T600?"
"Ask your buddy Nick." Sarah spat. Her brow furrowed, before her eyes widened, presumably putting two and two together. She hissed, and clenched her fists, closing her eyes at the same time. She snapped her eyes back open, which were glowing red.
"Nick raped you?" She snarled. I nodded. I watched her jaw clench angrily. "NICK!" She screamed aloud. I could hear footsteps down the hall. "Get your fucking ass over here, now!" Nick appeared in the doorway, slouched slightly, with his hands in his pockets. The corner of his mouth lifted as he saw me, and he winked.
"You called?" He turned back to Elena, nearly falling over when she punched him in the face. "What the fuck? You stupid cunt!" He shouted, staggering back, feeling his jaw. Elena moved closer, her eyes still dangerously red with anger, as she grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into the door.
"You had better not touch either of them again. Understood?" Nick nodded, his face turning purple. She let him go, and he dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. He gave her a dark look, before getting up, and leaving the room. Elena glared after him, before turning back to me. Her eyes were still glowing red. "I'll bring some clothes down for you." She turned, and left as well.
"What the hell was that about?" Sarah asked, watching the doorway questioningly. I turned my head as I heard footsteps approaching, then Alex appeared in the doorway.
"Did you have fun?" He smirked, his eyes roving over the two of us.
"Fuck off." I spat at him. His jaw twitched, but he didn't say anything. "How come Elena doesn't know you're alive?" He smiled slightly.
"She doesn't need to know. She's only going to be useful for a few more days." He looked over his shoulder. "I'll be back later." He turned, and left the room.
Elena clutched the pile of clothes closer to her. Dammit Nick... I told you not to touch them. She shook her head, still silently seething. Now she had to give them new clothes, since he had probably thrown out their old ones. She rounded the corner, and froze in surprise as a familiar mane of black hair rounded the corner at the other side of the hallway. Alex? She moved as fast as she could to the other side of the hallway, and looked down the next hallway, but it was already empty. What the hell? That couldn't have been Alex... but no one else has black hair. Fuck! She silently screamed. She slammed open the door to the cell, startling both Sarah, and Raven. "Who was just in here?"
"Your dead boyfriend." Raven said, looking up at her sullenly. Elena looked back out into the hallway. "Still believe he's dead?"
October 5th, 2008, Baum Residence
08:22
"All right, I think I found the location where they're keeping them." Lilith stood up. "There is a cluster of old warehouses in the Port of Los Angeles. Kaliba bought them about a month ago, and hasn't done anything with them since, so it seems like a viable place for them to be." Next to her, Cameron nodded. "Are we going to wait for John to get up, or are we going to go wake him up?" Cameron shook her head.
"No, I'll let him sleep in a bit longer. He's a teen, he needs as much sleep as he can get. I'll make something for breakfast, and then we can tell him during breakfast. Plus we need to wait for Derek and Ari to get back from his run." Lilith nodded, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Okay, sounds good." Lilith looked around tiredly, before walking over to the couch, and falling into it. "I'm going to try and get a little sleep." Cameron nodded, watching as Lilith closed her eyes. A minute later, she was sound asleep. Apparently she could use her neural implants to make herself fall asleep instantly. Cameron watched her for another minute, before turning, and walking into the kitchen. She took out the pancake box, and examined the directions, before tossing the box aside, shaking her head. These pancakes wouldn't do. She grabbed her car keys, and walked outside, going to the store.
Ari and Derek sat down on the small park bench. Danielle silently perched herself on a rock next to the bench. Derek silently took a sip out of the bottle of water he had with him, searching the people in the park, before smiling slightly as his eyes fell on two young boys tossing a baseball back and forth. Ari raised his eyebrows as he followed Derek's gaze. "Who are they?" He asked curiously.
Derek laughed slightly. "The older one is me. The younger one is my little brother, Kyle." Ari looked back at them, comparing the two. "Kyle throws pretty good for a six year old, doesn't he?" Ari nodded.
"Is this what you do when you go out on your runs? You watch your younger self and your brother?"
"Yeah, why not? Besides, it's a chance for me to see Kyle alive again." Derek silently took another sip of his water, before turning to Danielle. "Why did you come along?" She shrugged.
"It's not like I had anything better to do. Besides, it gives me an opportunity to study humans further." She silently observed the other joggers going through their early morning routine. "It's a good idea for you, at least, for humans to exercise regularly. Perhaps John should partake in a run every morning." Derek snorted.
"He should, but he's not going to. He'd rather sleep in until like ten." Ari laughed slightly.
"What I wouldn't give to be a teenager again." Derek snorted, and nodded. Danielle looked confused, but nodded anyway.
10:01
John stretched out, without opening his eyes, and jumped when his leg met a unexpected resistance. Cameron was sitting on the bed, peering down at him. She was holding a book in her left hand. "Cam, what the hell? I've told you not to do that. It freaks me out." She frowned.
"Why does it freak you out?" She batted her eyes slightly. John blushed, and sat up.
"It just reminds me of how my mom used to do that."
"Would it freak you out if I laid in bed with you?" She set the book down, and moved a bit closer. "John?" He blinked, and shook his head slightly.
"No, I guess not. At least I would know it wasn't someone else. Although if you're going to do that, make sure Derek doesn't find out."
"Or your Mom." John narrowed his eyes slightly.
"What do you mean? You don't know where she is... Wait, you found her?" John bolted out of bed, and started pulling clothes on. Cameron smiled slightly.
"Yes, Lilith and I were up all night looking for potential locations, and at 8:22 A.M., Lilith found a possible location where they are being held." Cameron stood up, and walked over to his curtains, and pushed them open, flooding the room with the sunlight.
"Why the hell didn't you wake me up sooner?" John yelled, as he finished pulling on his shirt, and looked around, searching his room for his belt.
"It's important you get sleep." Cameron explained, holding out his belt. John grabbed it, and quickly looped it into his jeans.
"Yeah, well my mother is more important."
"Besides, we had to wait for Derek to get back. And I made breakfast." John stopped, and gapped at Cameron.
"You made breakfast?"
"Yes. I made omelets. According to Derek, they're quite good, although he seemed rather reluctant to say so." John laughed, then stopped in surprise as Cameron laughed as well.
Kaliba Main Offices
Elena was pacing back and forth, staring out the window. She looked down at the gun she had clenched in her hand. She was certain she had seen Alex yesterday, but how? He was dead, she had buried him herself. And there was no way he had just been pretending to be dead, he couldn't have. His head was pretty much gone. "He said he had cloned himself." Raven had glared at her. When, and how could he have cloned himself? Current technology couldn't create a sentient clone, and she had conversed with the supposed clone. And what was his motive behind cloning himself. She frowned, then realized that all the automatic locks still allowed Alex to enter, and leave the facilities. She crossed over to her computer, and swiftly opened up a program, and then highlighting something, she deleted it. There, he wouldn't be able to access any facilities now. She then changed the password to the access of the programs, changing it to something only she knew. She sat down in her chair, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. Raven had said the Alex had mentioned how she was only going to be of use for another couple days. Does that mean he is planning on killing me? She spun around in her chair, and looked out the window, looking out over the smaller buildings. She sent a mental message to her T800.
Someone knocked once on the door, then waited a second, then rapped on the door twice. "Enter." She called. Her T800 came in, and closed the door behind him, before calmly sitting down opposite her. "How long would it take to pack up supplies for me to last another month, and then close down the Skynet program?" The T800 blinked slightly, slightly surprised, but its face became blank almost instantly.
"For a bag of supplies to last a month, I'd estimate maybe a hour maximum. For the Skynet program... I think it's too late for that. We've allowed it to take over too much of the internet. Why?" Elena silently got up, and walked to the window.
"Okay. I'd like you to get a bag of supplies ready for me and yourself, to last a month. Meet me back up here in a hour and a half." The T800 curtly nodded, and left, leaving Elena to pace around. She glanced down at her computer, then sat down again, and started typing.
11:13
Alex casually walked into the warehouse where Raven and Sarah were being held. He typed in the password, then snorted in amusement as it beeped at him, saying it was a invalid password. Elena had tried to change the passwords on him. He laughed aloud, then typed in a different combination, his backup password he had implemented long ago in case something like this happened. The door clicked, now unlocked, and he pulled the door open. Jen and Nick were in the small lounge area they had made, watching something on the big flat screen TV. Nick nodded his head in acknowledgement of Alex as Jen gracefully got up, and smoothly walked over to Alex, wrapping her arms around his neck, and returning the kiss he gave to her. Alex threw himself down on the couch, and allowed Jen to sit in his lap.
"What's up?" Nick asked, flicking through the channels. They all looked up as another brown haired man walked into the room, holding a soda. "Hey William." William nodded, and sat down next to Alex and Jen.
"Not much, Elena tried changing the passwords." They all laughed.
"She's mad at me." Nick said, not sounding like he cared. Jen laughed, rolling her eyes.
"Who cares, she's going to die anyway." Jen said, her voice sounding happy. Alex smiled slightly as Nick grinned in anticipation. "Even if she has her own bodyguard, we all have one as well, plus all sixty-three T600's."
"Leave her to me. I will take care of her." Alex smiled slightly, gently running his fingers through Jen's silky blond hair. "How are the prisoners doing?"
"Same as before." Nick laughed. "Raven tried to bite my fingers off when I brought food in."
"Kick the bitch." Jen suggested. "She is inferior to us, we should just kill her. Fucking Elena thinks she may be useful. Hurry up and kill her Alex." Alex kissed the top of her head.
"All in due time. I'm debating if I should get another clone from the future, just to be safe." Jen twisted in slightly so she could look up at Alex.
"You should be fine. You won't be killed as easily as that crappy clone, you know that." Alex laughed, and pecked her on the tip of her nose. She smiled slightly in response.
"You're right, of course."
I yanked on the chains again. I could feel the bolt holding my legs start to come lose. Sarah watched me, with her eyebrows raised, as I yanked upwards again, popping the bolt out of the floor. I smiled slightly. I fiddled with the chains wrapped around my legs, then stepped back triumphantly as they fell on to the ground, clinking together. "Come here." Sarah told me. I walked in front of her, and knelt down, as she slid a paperclip out of her mouth. I smiled at her, and took it, and after a few seconds, clicked the lock open on the handcuffs, and freed my hands. "Now do me." Sarah told me. I knelt again, and unlocked her.
"Feels good to be out of chains." I dryly told her, as I scanned the room. The sprinklers turned back on again, and started showering us with water. "How the hell are we gonna get out of here?" Sarah shrugged.
"Wait until they open the doors, then jump them?" I rolled my eyes, and started stretching my muscles. "What are you doing?"
"Stretching. If there is a fight, I don't want to be hurting later on. Besides, even if we did jump them, if there is more than one, then we'll end up being locked back up, unless you're secretly as strong as I am." She looked down.
"No, I'm not, but if there is one, then we can overpower him. Or her."
Derek looked back at Cameron, who was checking the M134 minigun she had on her lap. "Is that really going to be necessary?" Cameron looked down at it as well, then back up at Derek.
"I don't know, maybe." Danielle chuckled slightly from the passenger seat. She had a minigun as well, as well as several other assault rifles, and a M79 grenade launcher. "Danielle is more heavily armored than I am." Derek rolled his eyes. "You and Lilith should hang back, since you aren't bullet proof. Leave the heavy work up to Danielle and I." Derek nodded, and pet the M82 next to him.
"If I see anyone I don't know, they're getting one right between the eyes." Cameron nodded. Lilith sighed, and looked down at the MP5 she had. Derek gave her a amused look. "Maybe you should've considered bring a different weapon."
"Or I could have told Ari, and brought him." Derek rolled his eyes. "What? He technically has more training then you, making him more useful than you."
"Yeah, but I have more experience fighting terminators." Lilith rolled her eyes again.
"Whatever, I was just making a point." She idly tapped the MP5 off her knee. "But at least John won't be getting in trouble."
"Plus he might learn something from him." Derek pointed out. He slowly drove the truck along the pier. "That's it, right?" He pointed at the warehouses across the slipway. Lilith leaned forward.
"Yeah, those are the ones."
"So... what's the plan?" Derek looked at Danielle, who shrugged.
"Cameron and I are going to go in heavy, and you and Lilith will provide support?" She suggested, already getting out of the truck. Derek sighed, and got out as well, and dashed behind a container. Cameron walked behind Danielle as she gracefully walked around the slipway, and onto the parallel pier.
"Why do I get the feeling someone is going to end up dying?" Derek muttered under his breath. Lilith shrugged, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
14:03
"Uh, we have company." William called, his voice confused. "Two teenage girls armed with miniguns." Alex scowled, and got up, his face sour as he examined the security cameras.
"Terminators. Probably triple eights." He looked down the hallway, towards Raven and Sarah's room. He sighed, thinking of what to do. "All right, Nick, you get the terminators we have on hand ready to fight, thirty T600's and four T800's should be more than enough to kill two terminators. William, you go check on the prisoners, and kill them. We'll all meet in the back, and make a clean get away." They all nodded, and split up.
Danielle looked at the keypad, amused. As if that was going to stop a terminator like herself. She smiled grimly, and then took a step closer to the heavy metal door, reaching back with a fist, and then, bringing it forth, crumpled the door like tin foil. As soon as the door went flying across the room, bullets started flying from the terminators that were inside. T600's. They were a antiquated model, but shouldn't be underestimated. "Stay behind me." She ordered Cameron, and opened fire with her minigun.
I jumped in surprise as the door slammed against the wall. A man was standing in the doorway, the same one who I had broken their jaw. He blinked in surprise as he saw Sarah and I were free, and then he jumped at me. He tackled me onto the ground, and started pummeling the side of my face. I gasped for breath, then brought my knee up, and knee'd him in the kidney. He rolled off of me, wincing slightly, before getting up. I sucked in a lungful of air as I copied him. His eyes traveled to Sarah, and then back to me. Outside, I could hear rapid gunfire, sounding a lot like a minigun. Or fifty. The man stepped closer to me, then feinted to the right, before catching me with a left hook. I retaliated by swinging wildly at his face, but he easily side stepped it, and jabbed me in side. "You suck at fighting." He taunted me.
"Shut up." I swung at him again, the back of my hand just brushing off his face, as he grabbed my arm, and used it to hold me in place, as he kicked me in the chest with a roundhouse kick. I staggered back, my chest feeling like a it had just been hit by a truck. He laughed, and then moved with blinding speed in front of Sarah, and grabbed her by the neck, and picked her up. She vainly struggled, but couldn't break his iron grasp. He easily batted away her hands as she tried to poke him in the eyes. I took another deep breath, and jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and squeezing. He dropped Sarah, who gasped for breath, her eyes wide, and tried to buck me off. He reached around behind himself, and grabbed a handful of my hair, and wrenched it as hard as he could, dragging me off of his back. He glared at me, before throwing me back into the wall. Advancing on me, he drove his fist into my stomach, making me cough up blood. He snorted, and did it again, making my stomach feel like hell.
"Hey asshole!" Sarah shouted. He turned his head in surprise, then dropped as the chain that had bound me to floor smashed him in the eye, the peg that had bound it to the floor lodged in his left eye. His good eye widened in horror as he felt the damage. He staggered to his feet, wrenching the bolt out of his eye, his hand covered in blood, and he made a run for it, trying to make it out the door. Seizing the opportunity, I tackled him, and pinned him to the floor. He tried to buck me off, but I wouldn't let go, and I viciously jabbed him in his injured eye, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Bring me the chain." I commanded Sarah. She looked down at the bloody chain, and brought it over to me. Without thinking twice, I wrapped it around his neck, and pulled back. I heard him rasping, trying to suck in air through his blocked airway. "Pull back as hard as you can." I told Sarah. She grabbed the chain as well, and pulled back, before dropping the chain as his head was wrenched back with a sickening crunch, his spine snapped.
Danielle looked into the mirror, taking in her appearance. She had followed two of the T600's into the bathroom as they retreated, to finish them off. She poked the shredded flesh around her left eye. It was pretty much all gone, stripped right to the gleaming metal below. She amused her self for a milli-second by waving her hand in front of her red eye, watching the eye follow her hand. Motion in the mirror caught her attention. It was one of the T800's. She recognized the skin model, model 101. According to various resistance members, it was one of the scariest skin sheaths. She grinned slightly. Hopefully the T800 would be a challenge, unlike the T600's. The T800 stood in the doorway, waiting for her to move. She sighed, then wrenched the counter off the wall, and hurled it at the T800. It just raised its arm, and batted it aside, before advancing on her. It grabbed her shirt, and used its superior size to smash her through the bathroom stalls, before tripping on one of the T600 shells that was slumped on the floor. Danielle grabbed the back of it's head, and smashed it through the porcelain toilet, showering them in cold water. The T800 quickly recovered, and grabbed her shoulders. Danielle quickly copied it, and they each grappled with each other, each trying to get the physical advantage over the other. The T800 picked Danielle up, taking advantage of her lighter body, and forced her through the concrete wall, and into the hallway outside. It grabbed her legs, and swung her through the opposite wall, smashing a hole through it, allowing sunlight to filter through the dust into the hall.
Danielle reached behind her, and grabbed the M79 grenade launcher strapped to her back. She fired one into the T800's face, throwing it back, and completely destroying the skin tissue on it's face. She fired another one into it's stomach, destroying it's clothing, and the skin, and revealing the metal beneath. She shook her head, before firing another grenade point black into it's stomach area. The T800 fell down as the explosion severed the bottom half of it's spine. She sighed, and, taking advantage of the superior hydraulics in her arms, grabbed each side of it's head, and squeezed it as hard as she could, exerting thousands of pounds of pressure onto the metal, forcing it into a flattened disk about four inches thick, ignoring the screams of the metal being crushed into shape. She left the remains of the terminator on the ground, and walked down the hallway, looking for Cameron.
I grabbed Sarah's arm, and pulled her along the hallway, staying stooped down. We dashed by a hallway, seeing a T600 firing at something at the end of the hallway. Ignoring it, I kept pulling her along, pulling back just in time as another T600 retreated around a corner. "What's going on?" Sarah asked. I shrugged, not knowing myself.
"Just guessing, but I would say this is a break out attempt by Cameron, Derek, Ari, Danielle, and Lilith." We burst into a control room. Alex turned around, surprised. He grinned slightly.
"Hey girls, nice to see you out and about." He pulled out a gun, and motioned for me to step away from Sarah. I did so, keeping a eye on the gun. "Where is William?" He asked looking around.
"He's dead." Sarah told him. Alex's eyes narrowed, and motioned for me to move into the hallway. He followed me, stopping in front of Sarah. Alex looked at her for a second, before firing a shot into her chest. Sarah crumpled onto the floor, but before I could move forward, Alex pointed the gun at me again.
"Move." He motioned with the gun. I slowly walked down the hallway, with my hands held up slightly. "Stop." He pushed open a doorway in the side of the hall, and motioned for me to get inside. He flicked on the light, and told me to turn around. I did so, trying to push away as he grabbed my arms, and wrapped them in duct tape. He shoved me back roughly, into the wall. I twisted around, to see what he was doing. He was holding a large can in his hands, examining it.
"What're you doing?" I asked. He pointed at the label on the side of the can. Gasoline. Oh God. He's going to light me on fire. He unscrewed the can, and dumped it on the floor, watching it splash out onto the concrete floor. He splashed some on sides of walls, up to the ceiling.
"Adios." He stepped back, into the doorway, and pulled out a lighter. Sneering, he flicked it, and tossed it into the lake of gas on the floor. It instantly combusted. He watched for a second, the fire illuminating the shadows under his eyes, giving him a haunted look, before he turned, and closed the door. I shuddered, trying to break the tape. The fire in front of me roared, and started to climb up the walls.
"Help!" I screamed, figuring that it wouldn't hurt. "Someone, help me!" I thrashed around, trying to break the tape, but Alex had wrapped it around my wrists too many times.
Derek turned in surprise as he heard a truck pull up. He cursed under his breath as he saw John and Ari get out of the truck. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" He shouted. John gave him a hard look, before walking around him, and out onto the edge of the pier.
"I'm going to get my Mom."
"It's too dangerous." Derek shouted, following him, and grabbing his shoulder, meaning to pull him back. John shoved him away.
"How am I supposed to become some big, badass leader if I only sit behind the lines, because it's too dangerous. Danger is a part of life Derek. I don't give a fuck if it's too dangerous, that's my Mom in there, and I'll be damned if I can't help her get out." He stared Derek in the eyes, waiting for him to back down. Unsurprisingly, Derek sighed, and looked away.
"Fine, but if you get hurt, I'm going to kick your ass." John smiled slightly, and looked back over at the other pier.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid, I have body armor on." He walked around, going to the other pier. Ari sighed, and followed. Derek and Lilith rolled her eyes, and stayed where they were, Derek scanning the pier for any threats.
Sarah gasped for breath as she pulled herself along the hallway. The place where Ari had shot hurt like hell right now, but she didn't care, she was getting out of here. She smelled smoke, but continued on. Hopefully Raven had managed to get outside. She pulled herself past a ruined terminator shell. She could see the open doorway up ahead. Sarah pulled herself out, and sprawled out, feeling the warm sun caress her body. She raised herself up on one elbow, gasping in pain as she did so, and examined the damage. Her shirt was covered in blood, and she could feel it running down her torso. Great.
"Mom!" She looked over, and saw John running towards her. He ran up to her, and pulled her into a hug. "Mom, what the hell happened?"
"I got shot. John, what are you doing here. You shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous." They both flinched as they heard a burst of gunfire from inside the building. "John, you need to get out of here before-"
"Well, well. Who do we have here?" Alex was standing in the doorway. John pulled back slightly. Alex sneered at him in contempt. "If it isn't the almighty John Connor." He pulled out a 9mm. Sarah shoved John back, ready to take any bullets. Alex chuckled slightly, and fired anyway, shooting John in the chest, knocking him over. Sarah screamed in anger, and somehow tackled Alex. Alex growled slightly, and shot Sarah in the chest again, before rolling aside in surprise as a bullet lodged itself in the concrete pier a millimeter from his face.
"Fuck. Just missed him." Derek cursed again. His hand had shook slightly when firing, causing the bullet to miss Alex's face. He took aim again, but Alex was already moving, not willing to take a chance with the bullet missing again. Derek fired again, and clipped Alex's shoulder before Alex dove into the building. Derek moved the scope back to Sarah. "Shit, Sarah looks bad." Blood was pooling around her still form. Ari had caught up to John, and was holding him back, partially shielding him from any other bullets that could come towards John.
"Let's go." Lilith was already running towards them. Derek grabbed the rifle, and followed.
I was curled up in the corner of the room, trying in vain to push myself away from the flames. I had used the flames to melt the duct tape off my arms, but that had been only partially successful, since the melted tape scalded my wrists. I screamed again as part of the ceiling collapsed. It was getting so I could barely breath, with the fire consuming the oxygen, and smoke mixing in with whatever was left. "HELP!" I screamed again over the roaring flames. I screamed again as another part of the ceiling collapsed onto me, landing on my back. I tried to brush it off, but it had caught my shirt on fire, and was starting to burn my right shoulder blade. Screaming, I rubbed it against the wall until it was ground out, but the damage was done. Panting heavily, I felt the burn, then screamed again as a intense burst of pain rushed to my brain when my fingers came into contact with the burned skin. "Help!" I screamed again, tears running down my face. I was starting to get dizzy from the limited oxygen I was getting. To my surprise, the door went flying across the room, impacting the wall inches from me. I watched through blurry eyes as Cameron scanned the room, and moved towards me, and scooped me up like baby, and carried me out of the room.
"Hey." I felt a large, calloused hand hold mine. I felt my surroundings without opening my eyes. I was lying on my stomach on a bed, with a blanket draped over my lower back, and legs. The right side of my upper back was hurting really badly, and my head and stomach both hurt. I could feel bandages wrapped around my wrists.
"Ari...?" I murmured.
"Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?" I blinked, and opened my eyes. It was somewhat dark in the room I was in. Looking over at the window, I could see it was raining outside. Ari was sitting in a chair next to my bed, smiling down at me.
"Like crap." He laughed. "What's the date?" He frowned for a second, mentally adding days.
"The eighth of October. You've only been out for three days." I groaned, and pushed myself up, crying out as my right arm nearly gave out. Ari quickly reached forward, and helped me sit up. "Careful, your upper back is burned pretty badly." I sighed, looking down at the rest of myself. I was dressed in white cotton pants, and had a white bra on. Ari helped me up as I got up.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Lilith and Danielle are hunting down the other I950's. Derek and Cameron, well, they're trying to keep John company." Ari looked down, his face sad.
"What about Sarah?" He shook his head.
"Alex killed her. John is really torn up about it. He just locks himself in his room. He hasn't come out since we buried Sarah two days ago." I closed my eyes, feeling tears build up in my eyes, and then overflow. I let out a soft sob, then allowed Ari to gently pull me into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know you two must have bonded a lot." He gently ran his hand through my hair as I nodded.
"I should talk to John." I whispered.
"Right now, you should concentrate on getting better." Ari told me, guiding me into the bathroom. "Here, fix yourself up, and I'll make you something to eat." He kissed to top of my head, and squeezed my hand, before leaving the room. I rubbed the tears out of my eyes, and looked in the mirror. I looked like hell right now. My hair was a huge mess, and my eyes were red and puffy. I looked down into the sink, and then splashed some cold water onto my face. I turned, to examine my back. I winced as I saw it. A large bandage covered my entire right shoulder blade, with several smaller ones around it. I looked down at my wrists, and saw similar bandages, covering where the duct tape had melted and burned my skin. My wrists didn't hurt though, so I peeled them off, and saw mostly healed blotchy white burns. I groaned, then looked up in surprise as Cameron entered the room. To my surprise, she looked weary, and almost upset.
"How are you?" She asked me, her voice soft. I shrugged. She nodded, and examined my back, then grabbed each of my wrists, and carefully looked at each of them. "Good, your wrists are pretty much all healed up. If you want, I can help you clean up." I wearily nodded.
Cameron was following behind me as I walked down the stairs, keeping a eye out for me. I brushed her off, and headed into the kitchen at the base of the stairs. Derek was sitting at the table, a beer in front of him. He looked a bit drained, and he didn't seem to have much life to him right now as he nodded up at me. "Hey Raven." He blinked tiredly, before taking another swig of the beer. I sat down, wincing as my shoulder throbbed, and looked over at Ari, who was leaning against the counter. He seemed
"Hey Derek. Got another beer?" Derek nodded towards the refrigerator. Ari quickly stood straight, and got a beer for me before I could get up. "Long day, huh?" Derek sighed, and nodded, taking another drink.
"Yeah, it's been a long day." He looked up at Cameron. "Is John still in his room?" Cameron looked back up the stairs.
"I don't know, I'll check." She disappeared up the stairs. Derek mutely shook his head.
"Can't believe Sarah is dead." He muttered. He drained the rest of the beer. "Remember how future John used to always tell us how she was the toughest person he had ever known?" I nodded. "Well, he wasn't lying. She really was the toughest person I ever met. She didn't deserve to go out how she did." He got up and grabbed another beer, before sitting down again.
"No, she didn't." I raised my beer. "To Sarah." Derek followed my example, and toasted her as well. We both looked up in surprise as Cameron hurtled down the stairs, her eyes wide in panic.
"John isn't in his room!"
A/N: Yes, Sarah is dead. I was actually planning on killing her off last chapter, but I decided not to, as it would have made this chapter a bit harder, since a lot of this chapter is focused on Sarah, and Raven bonding somewhat. You also may have noticed some Jameron. I'm going to start focusing more on Cameron/John, as well as developing Ari/Raven some more. All right, Adios, and please share your thoughts on this chapter.