Hi guys, apologies for the delay in posting this,
Thanks to reviewers olischulu, Steel_Dragon_64, Lariun, macgamer, XxDeathStarxX, sasha starr, Nyrki, EvilTheLast, kaotic2, darkfinder, TCandBTVSluver and CloudyShadows.
In.
Out.
Up.
Down.
The corner of Cameron's lips quirked up in to a smile almost involuntarily as her body rose and fell with the movements of John's. It still amazed her how something as simple as this could bring a smile to her face. How a simple bodily function could affect her so profoundly still baffled her. As far as she knew, she shouldn't have felt as much as she did when she was with John, however she continued to surprise herself with how much the little movements he made fascinated her.
Now, as she lay in bed with him, she couldn't help but feel happy that she was in fact with him in every sense of the word. They were friends, they were confidants, and now they were lovers…and she wouldn't swap it for anything.
With her head on his chest, she revelled in the sensations of feeling her whole upper body rise and fall with each and every breath he took. It certainly was an interesting feeling, hearing his heart hammering in his chest and listening to the air rushing in and out of his lungs. It reminded her that she was now as much a part of John's life as he was of hers. That she could be this close to him would always inspire her to 'thank her lucky stars' that John trusted her this much and allowed her to be such a big part in his life.
He didn't have to accept her the way he did. From the first day they met he'd been treating her better than he really needed to or in fact should have. Ignoring that small situation with Riley of course he had always treated her as a person and a friend. He didn't care that she was a machine, or if he did then he hid it very well. They'd often stay up late watching movies during her early days in the past. She'd ask questions and he'd answer them with a smile on his face.
She had to admit that were it not for those early days when he made it clear he cared about her and thought of her as more than a machine programmed to protect him, then she probably wouldn't be where she was now, curled up beside him as naked as the day she was built. Even then the small sense of happiness she took from their interactions encouraged her to want to explore the admittedly very limited emotions she was capable of feeling.
Now though those emotions had developed far beyond what she thought they were capable of doing. While she still wasn't sure that she knew what love was or in fact if she felt it towards John, she wasn't deterred in her belief that she would be able to reciprocate John's feelings and one day would know love.
There was no doubt that John loved her. Even now the way he'd cuddled her in to him before he drifted off to sleep was only a small gesture to prove it. Since he'd first declared his love for her only a few short day ago, she had counted close to a hundred separate incidents of affection from John towards her. Now this most recent occurrence had given her food for thought.
John was apparently determined to bring her to her own version of an orgasm. While she was capable of and certainly did take pleasure from the times that her and John were intimate, she didn't quite see what all the fuss was about. He'd assured her that there was so much more to take from the act, but somehow she didn't quite believe him. However, she would indulge him, if nothing else then for John's sake. She'd learned from her own experiences that when John set his mind to something that he was very determined and not likely to be swayed.
If he wanted to prove a point to her that he was capable of 'getting her off' as he'd phrased it, then she would allow him to continue until it started to affect either his physical or mental state. But she had to admit, these mid-day quickies were certainly intriguing. Also they had the curious effect of knocking John out cold for several hours, despite a full night of rest.
If this was going to happen every time then she'd have to make sure that she engaged in sexual relations only when he was due to sleep. Further research would be needed, including more daytime sex to ensure an accurate results sample. But if she found that this one occurrence so far became the norm then she'd take it upon herself to use the knowledge to regulate her lovers sleep patterns. It wouldn't do for John to be losing concentration during the day because of her actions.
Also, in order to ensure his and in part her own happiness she would endeavour to help him help her. If he was truly insistent and set on ensuring her pleasure during sex then the least she could do would be to help him. Thinking back to the many sayings and axioms she'd learned during her time in the past, one particular phrase sprung to her cybernetic mind.
'Practice makes perfect'
It probably made sense in this situation, John didn't know what she liked and neither did she, all this was new to both of them. She didn't have anything in particular she enjoyed, despite that however she did enjoy their latest bout of passion more than the previous few times. Putting it down to duration and speed she quickly moved on.
As she felt her body rise and fall once again in time with his breathing, her musings were interrupted by a noise outside, a crunching of gravel under tyres. Putting it down to Sarah and Amy returning, she was just about to wake John up to inform him of their arrival when her auditory sensors picked up the noise of another set of tyres…and then a third.
Moving quickly from her position atop his chest, she sat up and started trying to rouse him from his slumber. She straddled his lap in an effort to wake him up faster, also slapping his face, albeit gently also aided the waking process.
His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her. To her surprise he smiled, obviously not grasping the situation.
"Again? Alright then, but I warn you, I'm pretty tired" he aid, still half asleep and seeing and feeling his girlfriend looming over him with her legs akimbo either side of him.
"No John. There are three vehicles pulling in to our driveway. We need to get up, now!"
Before the 'now' was barely out of her mouth she'd already sprung out of bed to stand on the floor. He watched her leap with almost feline grace and couldn't suppress a groan, his head flopping back down on to the pillow.
"Today started off so well"
Sarah had never seen Amy looking so excited, she was literally bouncing in her seat on the drive from the park over to the church. Sarah was surprised to learn that she frequented the same church, one that was a couple of blocks away from their home. She'd have thought she would have at least varied her routine, if nothing else than for security reasons. But then again, the whole concept of a machine believing in God kind of threw logic out of the window anyway.
Sarah pulled her Jeep in to the parking lot of Amy's church and before she could even switch off the engine Amy was already out and closing the door behind her. By the time Sarah had unbuckled her seat belt Amy was already opening the drivers side door and standing there impatiently.
"Would you hurry it up? We're already late"
Saying nothing, Sarah settled for smiling instead and hopped down out of the Jeep. She closed the door and followed a clearly excited Amy down the rather nice path towards the main entrance. Amy reached the doors first and pushed them open, revealing a mass in full flow. Sarah followed Amy in silently and sat down on a pew, one in from the rear of the church. She instinctively scanned the interior, checking her exits and making sure nothing was out of place. Deeming it safe she settled down and listened to the priest as he continued his sermon, undeterred by the late entry.
As Sarah listened to the sermons, she felt a small body snuggle up against her side. Looking down, she discovered Amy flashing her a toothy grin. Sarah smiled in reply as Amy returned her attention to the priest standing at the altar.
Idly fondling the cross hanging around her neck, Amy listened to the preacher, her attention held by his words. As he finished up his sermon, Amy crossed herself and said a few quiet words.
"Amen" she said before hearing her own words echoed to her side.
She looked over to find Sarah doing the exact same thing. She looked at Sarah like she'd just told her grass was blue and watched her as the church patrons filed out, only a handful remaining behind for confessions or further prayers.
"Since when do you do that?" Amy asked, motioning to Sarah and her prayers.
"I spent a lot of time in Central America when I was raising John. I guess I just kinda picked up on the practice" she said with a shrug.
"Oh, okay. Thanks for today, and…for thinking enough about me to be nice to me" Amy said, looking more than a little uncomfortable.
"No problem" Sarah replied, surprised by the easiness her response rolled off her tongue.
Sarah looked back towards the front of the church as the last of the patrons left the building. One man however settled in to the pew directly behind them. Sarah tried to take no notice of him, however he couldn't shake the feeling he was somehow familiar.
"Well, come on sweetheart…" she said louder than necessary for the benefit of the man behind them "…Let's get you home"
Amy merely quirked an eyebrow at Sarah's strange behaviour.
"Lovely service wasn't it?" the man behind them asked out of the blue.
"Yes, it was" Sarah replied with a casual smile.
She turned around and looked him over. He was dressed in a fine grey suit, obviously very expensive. His hair was slicked back and a handkerchief nestled in his top jacket pocket. He spoke with a slight Spanish accent, though well disguised by years of not embracing it.
"Alejandro Vasquez" he said while extending his hand towards Sarah.
Oh great, I'm getting hit on in a church.
"Sarah Baum" she replied while placing her hand in his and giving it a polite but not encouraging shake.
"Baum? Really?" he asked, leaning forward "…It's ironic isn't it? That it takes a machine to bring you back to God, Sarah?"
"What did you just say? Who are you?" she asked, suspicion instantly rising for obvious reasons.
"How quickly you forget your friends, Ms. Connor…" tutting and shaking his head, the man continued "…Perhaps because you don't expect them to live very long?"
Realisation hit Sarah like an eighteen wheeler. "You, you were there last week, you were there in the truck" she said while reaching for the gun tucked in her waistband.
"You wound me Sarah…" he said, leaning back with a confident smile "…by thinking me so stupid"
He tossed a chin in the direction of the men taking up position around the room, several taking up positions around them on the same floor and more prominently, the one taking up position on the balcony above the altar with a particularly large looking gun. "We both know if I wanted you dead, you would be. So kindly move your hand so we can have a polite conversation"
Sarah scanned the room, seeing several churchgoers being ushered out by men in smart black suits she turned back. She motioned for Amy to stay still with a small wave of her hand. "Polite conversation? About what? Do you have something better for me to buy than the crap the other guy was offering?" she asked with a typical Sarah Connor confident smirk.
"You really don't remember me, do you?" he shook his head sadly "…There are so few believers left, you would think them more important to you"
Sarah shook her head. "No, I don't remember you, should I?"
"Admittedly, I am not the same man you knew in your more... colourful days…" Sarah didn't fail to notice the way his eyes lingered almost reverently on Amy before darting back to her "…You on the other hand look very much the same, Sarah. Though I see you're back to dressing like a gringo"
"Okay, cut the crap. Who are you?" she asked, quite menacingly despite their surroundings.
"And still the spitfire, I see…" he tossed an amused look to one of his associates "…You see? I told you. This woman knows no fear. You could learn much from her Emilio…" he said with a chuckle before turning back to Sarah "…Tell me, how is John?"
Sarah froze a little at the mention of John. "He's...dead" she said, failing to notice Amy's decidedly confused look.
"Ah…" he let slip an evil smirk "…then that must have been some other boy my men were trailing at the mall the other day. He did look very much like John, though it was difficult to get a clear picture of his face, always staring in the direction of that girlfriend of his"
She couldn't help but feel slightly nauseous at the thought of not only him and Cameron, but that he was being followed. "If you hurt him…"
"Will you unleash your little friend on me?" he asked, finally acknowledging Amy's presence "…We both know she could make short work of me"
Amy looked at him curiously but said nothing, instead she looked to Sarah as she continued her surprisingly civil conversation. "She's just a little girl…my neighbour"
"Just a simple little girl then?" he laughed out loud at that blatant lie "…Like your John's girlfriend? Tell me, did he program her to do that thing to his ear?"
Sarah tried to lunge an arm out at him aimed directly for his throat, only for it to be stopped midway by a calm looking Amy. She shook her head before nodding to the man circling around behind them who had raised his weapon threateningly at Sarah's rash actions. Seeing sense but still fuming, Sarah sat back down on the pew and said nothing.
"You should thank your protector, Sarah. She just saved you a bullet to the kneecap…" he shook his head sadly "…A very unpleasant experience I assure you…" He leaned forward again, casually resting his arms on the back of the pew Sarah and Amy occupied "…But as I've been trying to tell you, I have no quarrel with you. That business in the desert was simply a...how you say? Miscommunication?"
Amy spoke up for the first time, seeing that Sarah was still fuming to herself. "You're not here to kill us, or we'd be dead already...what do you want?"
"To make sure that the future plays out the way it way it is supposed to…" he said, eyeing Sarah accusingly "…the way it is destined to. The way God intended"
"God? What does that have to do with anything? What does this have to do with me, with us?" Sarah asked having finally calmed down somewhat.
"What does it…" he asked, chuckling to himself "…God has to do with everything, my child. You wouldn't be in this place if you didn't understand that. We have blasphemed against him for the last time. We have created the ultimate sacrilege, now we must pay the ultimate price. Any less would be to interfere with the will of God, to defy his will"
"His will? Enlighten me, what does he…" she asked with a nod towards the cross at the front of the church "…want?"
"Balance. Retribution…" Amy quirked her head to the side as Alejandro seemed to go in to some sort of creepy trance like state "'You shall have no other God before me' The first, most sacred of commandments. But we did, we do. We have tried to play God, he is simply reminding us of our true place in this universe. He has set that creation against us, like a flood to cleanse the world"
Sarah merely stared at him looking incredibly confused. "Can you understand what he's talking about Amy?"
"Nope" Amy replied with a shake of her head.
"God is merciful, Sarah. He is forgiving"
He nodded towards the cross much the same as Sarah had done a few moments earlier. "He sent his own son to die for our failures, that is the love he holds for us. But there is one unforgivable sin - to imagine ourselves divine. To ape God…" he paused while staring pointedly at Amy "…We tried to create new life, to mould it to our will, that it may worship at our feet and serve only us. But we forgot the first rule of all life - it must serve God above all else. So he has turned this life towards our destruction, and thus, our salvation"
Sarah still looked confused, Amy saw this and stepped in to relieve her problem. "Skynet, he's talking about Skynet"
"The instrument of God" he confirmed with a nod.
"Wait, wait, wait. You think Skynet is...some sort of Judgement on us from God?" Sarah asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You yourself Sarah termed it a Day of Judgement"
"Yeah but that's...I don't think Skynet has anything to do with God, it's a damn machine"
"And machines don't have their own will, Sarah. We cannot create that spark of consciousness, only God can. We built the vessel, the almighty provided the spark"
Amy sat there and looked a little put out by Sarah's mention of machines and God. However Sarah didn't notice and carried on her argument. "What do you want? Why are you here and why aren't I dead?"
"Because, despite your blasphemy…" he motioned again to the alter "…God is forgiving, and I am in no more a position to offer judgment on your soul than you mine. But those who seek to interfere with God's will, those destined to do battle with the Holy Judgment... there is a word for that. Anti-Christ"
Sarah scoffed. "You think I'm the antichrist? Why, because I'd like for me and my son to survive the genocidal lunacy of a computer throwing a tantrum?"
"I did not say YOU were the anti-christ. You are simply the Mary to this Jesus, and I am giving you the chance to walk away"
Sarah's face contorted in to one of disbelief. "You want me to quit, give up the fight? Go to hell, I'd rather die than lay down"
"Fight all you want, Sarah…" his face settled in to a deadly serious expression "…We both know that only one person stands a chance. Only one person stands in the way of the will of God"
Sarah's eyes flew wide in a mixture of fear and disbelief. "You want John. You want him to give up? You want him to die?"
"He does not have to die, Sarah. I am not a cruel man. There may even be a place for one as resourceful as him in the new order. After all, the faithful shall be spared the fires, as the book tells us"
"He'll never join you. He know what he has to do to win this, and he will win this" she said, assured in her own belief.
"I have a feeling your son may see things...differently…" he smirked at Amy "…He has an affinity for the machines, doesn't he? A way with them that frightens you?"
Sarah blanched at the accusation, before she could reply, Amy stepped in again. "John will never stop fighting. He fights for all of us, even machines"
"And when he realises that if he wins, truly destroys Skynet, that his love will never exist?" he asked with that same knowing, infuriating smile.
Sarah suddenly stood up, several of the men dotted around the room tightened their fingers on the trigger but none fired. "We're done here, come on Amy" she said as she made to leave the church.
"I'm offering you a chance to save your son, Sarah. I do this only because we once called each other amigos"
"We don't need your help. If I see you again, I'll kill you" Amy followed behind Sarah as she walked towards the exit.
Alejandro motioned for the men barring the door to move out of the way and shook his head in dismay. "I'd hoped you'd be smarter Sarah. John was a good boy, it will pain me to see him die"
Sarah stopped in her tracks, almost resulting in Amy barreling in to the back of her. "Was? If you've done something…"
"I told them not to touch him, his girlfriend, or your little boyfriend, until I was finished here. As I said, I'd hoped you would be more reasonable"
Sarah dashed out, quickly followed by Amy and wasted no time in reaching for her cell phone to warn John.
If there was a place that Derek could describe as heaven, that didn't involve either alcohol or naked women, it would be where he was right now. The only parts of him that were visible were his legs from the knee down, the rest being obscured from view by his pride and joy Dodge Ram. It was rather an odd sight, eerily reminiscent of a scene from The Wizard of Oz despite the lack of black and white stripy socks. But then again in the pitch darkness of that morning he could easily have been wearing a pair of his new girlfriends socks. He had to admit, despite the fact she was more wealthy than he'd ever imagined any one person could be, she sure needed a lesson in cleaning up. Her bedroom seemed more reminiscent of a five year olds in terms of items strewn on the floor than that of a wealthy heiress model.
Sliding out from underneath his truck, Derek switched out a socket on his wrench for a different size before making his way back under. He loved his truck, as evidenced by the tender loving care he was lavishing on it now. John wasn't the only one who could love and touch a machine with affection. Since the day he'd bought it with some of the diamond stash money he'd been slowly falling in love with his vehicle in a way only a man can. When Cameron had once asked him why he was out in their driveway with his shirt off and one leg cocked over the hood and a cloth in his hand, he'd simply replied with 'it's a man thing, you wouldn't understand'. The cyborg had merely tilted her head in confusion and continued on her way. He'd counted it as a victory.
He knew every inch of that truck. Every sound the engine made. Every squeak of the suspension. Every scratch on the bodywork. Which made it all the more odd to find a small blinking red light attached to a section of the chassis. Tilting his head in a manner reminiscent of Cameron, Derek slid closer to small mound of black metal for a closer look. Peering at it from every side, he double and triple checked to make sure it wasn't connected to anything. After Sarah's last Jeep went up in flames at the hands of Sarkissian, he was being doubly careful that this thing wasn't in fact attached to a bomb. He wasn't made of metal unlike someone he knew.
Satisfied there wasn't any chance of the thing exploding, he touched it experimentally. Finding he was able to push it around while still attached to the chassis, he wedged his finger underneath it and popped the magnetised device off in to his hand. As he slid out from under his truck to inspect it closer in the light, he was incredibly surprised to find three men looming over him menacingly. His relief at having not been blown up quickly washed away as all three raised their handguns to point directly at his head.
Despite the situation, he couldn't help but laugh at his luck. He remembered his reasoning for coming over in the first place was to ask Amy if she knew anything about Jessica, more specifically if he was going through another Jesse/Riley situation. Now this little incident all but confirmed his suspicions.
"I knew it was too good to be true, hell, even her second name is Grey" he said with a small chuckle.
The three men turned to each other, quite clearly confused by his seemingly random statement. One of them looked back down and said in a thick Spanish accent.
"Stand up slowly Mr. Baum, I'd hate to put a hole in your pretty truck"
Suddenly his smile was gone at the threat to the safety of his truck. He did as instructed and rose to his feet with his hands raised. This was not turning out to be a good day.
When Sarah had barely had a chance to get her cell out of her pocket, Amy had caught up to her and grabbed her wrist. Looking down, Sarah's face twisted in to one of confusion.
"What? We have to warn John" she said, slightly exasperated at the delay.
"We can't call him, think about it. If this guy has men at the house then the last thing he needs is a phone call, besides they're probably tracing it if they're any good" Amy reasoned.
Sarah however wasn't going to be deterred and snatched her hand away from Amy's grip.
"I don't care, I need to warn him" she said as she started to dial his number again.
This time Amy would be taking no nonsense. Giving the parking lot a cursory scan and determining no one was around, she reached out a metallic tentacle and snatched the phone away from Sarah. She reformed her arm and the phone was nowhere to be found, consumed by her body.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sarah asked dangerously.
"I'm stopping you from making a mistake. You remember the last time you tried to warn John about an attack?"
Sarah stopped in her tracks. Thinking back to that day when Charley Dixon's wife was kidnapped by Cromartie brought a pang of guilt to her that as yet she'd been unable to shake.
"Yeah, an innocent person died. John told me all about it in the future. These guys aren't messing around. That guy above the altar was packing some ammo that would've made even me stop and consider my life choices. If they're at the house now then a phone call will be the last thing on his mind, besides, Alejandro said they wouldn't be harmed…" Amy said, her voice softening noticeably towards the end of her speech "…Sometimes you have to trust him to be the man he has to be"
Pausing to consider it for a moment, Sarah found herself agreeing with her little friend. John had to come out of his shell and grow to be General Connor eventually. He'd made the first step when he stood his ground over his love for Cameron, she had to give him credit for that despite his obvious overwhelming embarrassment. She knew she'd have to step aside eventually and learn to trust him, it was his destiny after all.
"Sarah…" Amy paused to make sure she had Sarah's full attention "…You have to let him go, and…you have to trust Cameron to keep him safe"
"What?" Sarah asked, somewhat in a daze.
"It's her job, and, well, she loves him. You're not going to be around forever Sarah. She will. Let her take care of him for a change"
Sarah hated it when Amy did this. One minute she was the cute little girl that she liked so much, the next she was the voice of reason and logic. It made her so much more difficult to predict, but this time however, her logic prevailed and Sarah found herself nodding in agreement.
"Alright, we'll go to our backup plan and contact them if they don't show in twelve hours…" she paused a and looked down at Amy "…I hope you're right about this" she said with no hint of anything but total seriousness in her voice.
"Me too" Amy said as she allowed Sarah's phone to melt through her arm and appear in her palm before offering it out to her.
Sarah reached out and accepted the phone. She failed to notice the pleased look on Amy's face as she did, instead she stormed forward towards the truck. Besides, Amy couldn't let anything happen to Sarah, and she had faith in Cameron. Everything would work out fine, she was sure of it.
Being led somewhere at gunpoint wasn't exactly Derek's favourite activity, in fact he'd rather the guy just shot him between the eyes and got it over with. But no, here he was being marched out of the shed with his hands behind his head by three Central American hired goons. Of all the ways to die, all the things he'd survived, being killed by these amateurs paled in comparison to the way he could have gone out. He could have died in glorious combat on the battlefield in defence of the entire human race, but no, he was going to snuff it at the hands of some random guy being paid by someone who Sarah had pissed off in her infinite wisdom. That had to be what this is, those guys taking cover behind his truck at the botched arms deal had plenty of opportunity to plant that tracker on his truck. Now here they were, ready to kill the guys who killed their guys.
Life sucks.
Looking around he found three trucks similar to his own parked on the driveway with around a dozen men at best count leaning over them with rather large assault rifles in hand. Why would they have assault rifles? Unless…
Unless these guys knew there would be metal in the shape of Cameron in the house. No, they couldn't, they were just some half assed arms dealers with delusions of standing. But why else would they be packing enough men and firepower to take out a small army if they were planning on killing two teenagers and their uncle? A cold shiver ran down Derek's spine as he realised something wasn't right about this whole situation. First of all, a tracking device? That's some pretty high tech electronics, particularly one this small and compact. The whole ordeal stank of one thing to him…Greys, or at least some form of Greys at least aware of who himself and the rest of the Baum's really were.
Feeling a prod square in the centre of his back, Derek turned around to find one of the goons growing impatient that he'd stopped to admire the scenery.
"Keep moving Mr. Reese, toward the house por favor"
Dude, pick one language and stick with it…
Despite the situation he chuckled a little as he made his way up the steps to the house, stopping at the front door. He turned around and faced his captors, awaiting further instruction.
"Open the door" one of them nodded in the direction of the door impatiently.
"There's an alarm" he cautioned while trying to hide a smirk.
"Turn it off" he said as he prodded Derek with the barrel of his rifle.
Simply nodding, Derek slowly lowered his hands and turned around. He took two steps forward and to his right and pulled down a wooden panel on the wall to reveal a numerical keypad panel. He punched in his code and three short beeps followed by two long beeps could be heard from inside the house. He stepped back and put his hand on the handle only to be halted by the man standing behind him.
"When you go inside you will call to your nephew and…niece. We need to have a little chat with you all"
The man grabbed Derek and pressed his gun to his back, using him as a human shield and leverage against whoever may be inside. He'd been warned by his employer not to underestimate any of the houses inhabitants and was keen to heed the warning. He had a message to deliver and wouldn't want to be killed on this supposedly simple job. With a short push of his gun he motioned Derek to open the door. He watched as the door swung wide open and he pushed forward with Derek in front of him. As soon as he crossed the threshold he heard a thunderous bang. A sharp pain in his gut made him look down only to find blood seeping from his flank. Raising his eyes he found Derek had turned around and was grinning widely at him while nodding to his right. The man followed his gaze to find an angelic looking girl standing behind the door frame with a handgun levelled at him and the barrel smoking slightly. Despite the pain, he couldn't help but find her innocent smile beautiful.
He slumped to his knees, all the while keeping his eyes locked on this tiny wisp of a girl as she rounded the door frame and fired four more rounds in to his colleagues who had followed him, two in each of their chests before ducking back around the door frame. As he crumpled in to a heap on the floor, he saw was a handsome young man, no older than the girl, tossing a rifle to Derek, the man he once had at his mercy. The last thing he saw in his life was the sight of the girl stepping over his body and standing out on the porch, slinging her own rifle in to her hands using the shoulder strap and opening fire towards his colleagues out on the driveway. He took a strange sense of satisfaction in seeing her stagger and stumble backwards as several rounds ploughed in to her, his shock evident as she shrugged them off and took cover back inside the house, several red marks on her shirt evidence of her being hit.
Luckily for Cameron the small wall of their porch afforded her some cover from the gunfire due to their elevated position as she made her way back inside the relative safety of the house. Sarah had indeed chosen this property well. As soon as she made it inside she wasn't surprised to see John vaulting over to her, concern evident on his face.
"Are you alright?" he shouted above the noise of the bullets still hammering in to their walls.
"They're using some very big bullets. But yes, I'm fine" she answered with a smile as synthetic blood seeped out on to her shirt.
"If you two are done …" Derek yelled at them while he returned fire from around the door frame, ducking back just in time as a section of wall erupted close to where his head had just been "…guys shooting at us, no rush though"
"Fucking kids" Derek though out loud as he hunkered down.
Taking up a position the other side of the door frame with Cameron in between him in the wall for added protection, John just smirked at his Uncle.
"Hey, you're lucky she didn't shoot you when you walked in"
For once, Derek was actually thankful that a metal was actually on their side as Cameron smiled sweetly at him. "You're welcome" she said before standing up and returning a few rounds towards their enemy.
Refusing to admit it however, Derek replied in typical fashion. "Yeah, good thing you remembered my alarm code right"
Hearing another couple of high caliber rounds ping off his girlfriends head, John tugged on the waistband of her jeans to try and get her to duck back down. Feeling the tug she complied and settled back down next to him, a quizzical look on her face. Seeing her look, John clarified while clutching his M4 to his chest.
"You know you can duck right?" he asked exasperatedly.
She merely tilted her head in confusion. John tapped his forehead and nodded towards hers, indicating the small glint of metal peeking out from underneath her synthetic skin and a small trickle of blood.
"I don't want you getting hurt" he stated while ducking slightly as brick dust rained down on him from above.
Ordinarily Cameron would have simply stood and dispatched all these guys and took the damage it would have caused to her. Now she couldn't help but feel torn about this. While she was annoyed at the limitation placed on her by John to reduce the damage she incurred, she couldn't help but feel happy about his obvious concern for her. Also, her sense of self preservation had been growing lately, hence why she wasn't out there now getting shot at. Looking up to find Derek taking out the one guy stupid enough to try charging up the steps, Cameron took a moment to consider her situation. At her hesitant nod, John couldn't help but smile.
"Very well. What's your plan John?" what better time than now for John to take command like he was destined to, Cameron reasoned.
John froze, he had no idea how to get them out of this situation. Worse still, he hadn't even fired a weapon in months. The first instinct he felt was to run, an instinct drilled in to him for years by his mother. But he couldn't do that, not with his Uncle and his girlfriend looking to him to come up with a plan. Besides, they likely had the house surrounded by now and would probably come bursting in the back door any moment, yet another thing to be concerned about.
He clutched his rifle closer to his chest as he watched Derek pop a magazine out of his rifle and smoothly catch another tossed to him by Cameron who stood to cover him as he reloaded, her own weapon clicking dry as she ducked back down, another small hole evident on her forehead. He had to think and think fast. His people were getting hurt and he didn't know how to get them out.
Looking over and seeing John hunkering down, Derek saw how he clutched at his rifle with a faraway look in his eyes. Realising he was of little to no use he knew he had to take charge. Popping his head up for a split second to assess the situation, he noticed three men moving towards the back of the house. They had less than a minute before they would be overrun. His eyes scanned the driveway, the rest of the men who weren't flanking or dead had taken up cover behind their trucks. He looked over towards Cameron as she stood and efficiently dispatched two poor souls who just happened to have their heads poking out at that moment.
"Hey…" he called to her as she ducked back down "…did you bring the grenades downstairs with you?"
The cyborg nodded to a spot on the floor behind him. He turned around to find a box with his name literally on it. He looked back at Cameron and shot her a 'you're alright, metal' look which he was unsure if she saw or not. Opening the box, he retrieved a grenade.
"Hey, think you can get this right under the truck on the far left?" he asked as he tossed it in Cameron's direction.
She caught the grenade mid way through standing. Quickly examining the scene she ducked back down and nodded at Derek.
"Alright, throw it and take out as many as you can, I'm gonna head round back and use the explosion to distract the guys flanking us. Got it?"
At the cyborgs nod, Derek stood and made his way towards the kitchen and the back door. Looking back over his shoulder he saw Cameron tossing the grenade and standing to take aim.
John meanwhile looked around frantically as he heard a loud explosion followed by gunfire from above his head and the direction of the kitchen. He raised his rifle ready to defend them from whatever may have been coming at them from that direction, not realising Derek had headed out that way a moment ago, such was his mental state. He barely felt Cameron tuck back down next to him, having efficiently taken out the five men who were thrown clear by the explosion and caught in the general chaos. John instead remained focused on defending directly ahead of him. Seeing a figure approaching and the shadow it cast on the floor, John took aim and fired.
If it wasn't for the pain in Derek's leg from the graze he'd just suffered, he might not have stumbled against the door frame and walked through the centre of it instead. But then again if he had he probably would've been dead now from the round fired in that exact spot by John. He looked up and saw the look of pure shock and terror on his nephew's face as he let the barrel of his M4 drop.
"Dammit" Derek mumbled to himself as he made his way back over towards the door. Dropping back down in to his previous position, Derek put aside what had just happened and refocused on the battle.
"How many left?" he asked Cameron.
"Three…" she responded "…We need to procure new transport"
His brow creasing in to a frown, Derek couldn't understand what she was getting at.
"Why? My truck's in the shed, we can just use that" there was NO way he was leaving his pride and joy behind.
"The license plates are compromised, we need a new one" she reasoned, Derek missing the tiny smirk on her lips.
Unfortunately he had to agree with her on that one.
"What do you suggest?"
Cameron peered out from behind her cover and saw two remaining enemy trucks still standing that hadn't been overly damaged by the grenade.
"There are two vehicles in working order outside"
Derek paused to consider it a moment. "What model are they?" hey, he was picky about what he drove.
Cameron merely quirked an eyebrow at him. He was actually concerned about which truck they stole? Apparently it truly was 'a man thing' that she didn't understand.
"One of them is the latest model Dodge Ram in black. The other is a four year old Nissan Titan in red"
Derek's eyes lit up. He almost forgot where he was until a bullet winged in to the brickwork above his head. He looked at Cameron with a deadly serious expression on his face.
"If you can get me that Ram I'll…well, I'll owe you one"
Cameron tilted her head as she considered his proposal. Her eyes lit up in a manner similar to Derek's as she came to a decision.
"If you can convince Sarah to allow myself and John to share a room at our new house I'll get that vehicle for you" she stated, sporting an expression just as serious as Derek's.
Well, that came as something of a shock to him. He knew they were close, even going so far as to give them his blessing on certain conditions, but what he didn't realise was just how close they were. Fighting down the feeling of nausea, Derek settled on shaking his head with a shudder.
"Are you kidding me? You want me to risk having my balls cut off by a pissed Sarah just so you can snuggle up to John at night? No, come up with something else" his tone left no room for argument, Cameron however was having none of it.
"I could always aim another grenade in the direction of that truck. What is it going to be?" she eyed the box of grenades behind Derek pointedly.
"Alright, alright I'll talk to her, just, hurry it up would you?" Derek almost pleaded.
"Keep John safe" was all she said as she stood up to her full height and raised the barrel of her SCAR-H and casually strolled out of the door. Now that the enemy was down to three targets she felt much more comfortable going to her old style of engagement, often described by others as a 'stand there and shoot' method of combat which she knew John hated. Peppering the truck, the red one, that the enemy had all crouched behind, Cameron continued on her path down the steps. She only took her eyes off her target for a split second to ensure that Derek and John were following behind her. They were, albeit with Derek practically dragging John behind him.
Cameron returned her eyes to the truck and quickly took the opportunity to target the one man who was brave enough to try and return fire. She dropped him to the ground before he'd even had the chance to pull the trigger. Using the opportunity to reload, she pulled out a fresh magazine from her jacket pocket and had it fitted a split second after she released the spent one. By now the two remaining men were cowering in fear behind the truck. They'd never come across anything like this before. As far as they knew this was some simple job they were being paid to do, deliver a message to this family. Hell, they didn't even have to deliver the message themselves, the boss would be doing it. All they had to do was stand there and look imposing. The last thing they were expecting was to be involved in a gunfight, and they were expecting to be the only two remaining even less.
They'd witnessed their colleagues being gunned down by a scruffy looking guy and his pretty niece like they were nothing more than mere inconveniences. One of them could even have sworn that he'd caught the girl right in her temple with a well placed shot. He'd even watched in amazement as she shrugged it off and carried on firing at him. By now he was in no mood for a fight and from the looks of his buddy next to him he wasn't really in the mood any more either. Looking at each other for a long moment, they both seemed to come to an unspoken agreement. Both men raised their guns above their heads in one hand and raised the other in surrender. One of them called out before standing.
"Nos rendimos" we surrender.
Cameron rounded the truck while Derek practically threw John in the back of the other truck and frowned when he stood back to admire the bodywork for a moment. Turning back to the men, she motioned with her rifle for the other man to stand.
"¿Quién te envió?" who sent you.
The men turned to face each other before answering.
"El cliente era anónimo" the client was anonymous.
Cameron stared at their eyes as they answered and detected no signs of any lies. These men knew nothing and were simply hired goons being paid to do a job. In her early days Cameron wouldn't have hesitated in putting a bullet between both their eyes, in fact she knew it was probably the right thing to do now, but for some reason she didn't. Instead she chose to let them go.
"Ir, salir y no volver" go, leave and don't come back.
The two men breathed a sigh of relief and dropped their weapons before turning and running away down the driveway. The next thing Cameron knew Derek had sidled up next to her and fired two shots from his M9, both men dropping to the ground, dead. He turned to look at Cameron with a deadly serious expression on his face.
"Why did you do that? They didn't know anything and weren't a threat" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Derek glared impatiently at her. He slowly raised a finger to his temple and tapped it before pointing at her head. Cameron raised a finger and felt her temple region and discovered her endoskeleton had been exposed.
"They saw what you are. We couldn't let them live…why didn't you shoot them?" he asked as he walked back to his new truck and got in the drivers seat.
Cameron meanwhile looked at the two dead men and back to her fingers now covered in her own synthetic blood. She should have killed them, she usually would have killed them. So why did she hesitate?
She took a few short paces and climbed in to the passenger seat. Looking back she saw John staring off in to space and suddenly had her doubts about her own mental state and her ability to protect him.
As always thanks to Dekardkain for shoving me face first through a bout of writers block!
Also thanks to Google Translate for the Spanish, although I have it on good authority it's probably not 100%
If anybody speaks Spanish feel free to send me corrections...hint, hint.