Time's Brutality

by Razial

John Connor finds himself in an alternate future where no one in the resistance has heard of him, realising the consequences of jumping forwards in time he finds the war against the machines going badly for the remains of humanity and must finally face his destiny and learn to be the leader humanity needs him to be to survive before somehow finding a way back to his own time.

By Razial Time's Brutality

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Sarah Connor the Terminator Chronicles or any of other character or ideas from the Terminator movies; they belong to James Cameron, Warner Bros and anyone else who owns the rights.

Paring: John/Allison John/Cameron Kyle/Sarah

Notes: My continuation of the series after what I consider a great finale which could have led to an amazing third series, however they instead cancelled the show much to my frustration. So, this starts immediately after the show ended with John confronted by the alternate Kyle, Derek and Allison and goes from there. It is also my second attempt to do this, my first was kind of bad.

Notes 2: I have been absent from writing for almost a year and a half, and I apologise for anyone reading one of my stories in progress, but I needed a long break and only recently have I started writing again. I basically hit a wall after almost seventeen maybe eighteen years of none stop writing in one form or another, my first story was written before I went to high school and constantly writing from that point had to reach a dead stop which I did. This is the first of three chapters I have had on the go and yes this is a new story, but it is a good idea that would not let go. The second chapter is a new chapter for the Revanchists and the last is for the Oncoming Storm, so hopefully I will have them out soon.

Summary: John Connor finds himself in an alternate future where no one in the resistance has heard of him, realising the consequences of jumping forwards in time he finds the war against the machines going badly for the remains of humanity and must finally face his destiny and learn to be the leader humanity needs him to be to survive before somehow finding a way back to his own time.

+TB+

(Resistance Bunker 2028)

John Connor had thought he had been sucker punched seeing Derek walk in alive once more when his last memory of him was his corpse gunned down whilst saving little Savannah Weaver, then he felt as if he had been hit again when he did not recognise him or know who he was. But it was nothing, nothing to the shock, surprise, hope, and longing as his own father walked into the room very much alive. A father he had never known or seen any kind of picture of not once since he had been old enough to ask, all he had was the stories his mom had told him over the years. Then he felt as if he was gut punched as it seemed Cameron walked in behind his father only for her to kneel and stroke a dog's head, if she had been a terminator then that dog would have been going wild. That meant this had to be Cameron's human template Allison Young, a woman whose ghost he had kind of met once when Cameron had suffered a glitch, and somehow came to believe she was human and seemed to process all of Allison's memories as well as her personality.

He was trying to process too much information as he kept glancing between Kyle and Allison, not notching both Derek and Kyle were wearing uncertain looks as they took in his features. For Derek seeing the new face in the bunker wearing his brother's coat had convinced him that it was his brother however briefly, the face was eerily similar making him see connections that he should not? Kyle too saw flashes of familiarity as he looked on the face of the newcomer, felt a sense of connection he could not fathom where it was coming from, but it was there. Allison could sense the charged atmosphere between the Reece brothers and the newcomer, she could also see the naked raw joy then crushing defeat as the newcomer looked at her. Saw a realisation take hold of him as he stared down at her, it was disquieting as she did not know this newcomer, but he seemed to know or at least recognise her, and she did not know how.

John once more looked between the three familiar faces yet in this timeline strangers to him not knowing how to even start a conversation, how to explain who he was and what he was doing here so suddenly. How he seemed to know them all, and he had to assume his calling of Derek's name as well as how he had looked at Kyle and Allison had shown he knew them so how? did he explain it to them, suddenly he recalled certain tv characters expressing getting headaches when time travel was involved in the storyline and suddenly he could relate to them. He could feel a pressure building within him as he tried to take everything in whilst also trying to decide what to say or how to act, it was like having a headache.

"Well John Connor, do you want to explain how you got down here without anyone noticing and what you are doing here" Derek finally said breaking the long silence and the charged atmosphere.

"They are not easy questions to answer because for the most part I think you are going to think me insane" John responded hesitantly unsure how much to tell them or even what to tell them.

Did he go with the truth and hoped they might believe him or try and bluff his way out of this with made up shit, what would be the best option here. Glancing at Alliison he realized he could not lie she was watching him closely and he could see she had noticed his reaction to her and thus would properly see any tells he had. Allison could indeed tell that the newcomer now known as John Connor was trying to decide what to tell them, a lie or the truth and the fact she could already tell that was another disturbing thing about this whole encounter. She had only just met this guy somewhat, there should be no way she could see his tells already but it was like she already had an impression of him somehow.

"Just answer the questions Connor, we'll decide how to take your answers" Kyle finally ordered and that was what it was an order.

"And ensure it is the truth John" Allison added then frowned as she called him John as if he was someone she knew and not a stranger, but it had felt wrong to call him Connor.

John glanced at her before nodding his head. "My name is John Connor and from my point of view I have only just arrived here in this bunker in this time through the passage of a machine that transported me through time" John started up only to cut off but Derek sarcastic laugh.

"Yeah Right, time travel" Derek said shaking his head still laughing.

"Yeah, sounds like something out of the old tv and movies doesn't it" John said smiling somewhat twistedly at Derek. "But it was not human invention that came up with making it possible it was Skynet; you see this timeline you are living in it is the third timeline that exists since the war began" he stated his tone turning cold as he spoke stopping Derek's laughter in its track and making him frown.

"Do you want to maybe expand on that Connor?" Kyle inquired with a furrowed brow.

"In the original timeline Judgement Day occurred on 29th August 1997, only three weeks after Skynet was put online on the 4th of August, human decision making was removed and its learning curve was at a geometric rate" John explained to them as he recalled everything he had learned from his mother of what Kyle himself had told her as well as that added by the T-800 who had protected him when he was ten. "Skynet became self-aware 2:14 am eastern time, when humans realised the danger, they tried to pull the plug, however it could not be shut down and in response Skynet launched nuclear weapons against Russia knowing they would respond and fire on the United States killing many of the ones trying to stop it" he continued his tone grim. "From there a new world war started, Skynet took advantage of the chaos and before the humans knew it their world was all but destroyed, the old world structure collapsed leaving no one really in charge as the machines appeared and started their own war against the remains of humanity" John paused here as he tried to stop the flashes the images the words caused in him to appear.

"How do you know any of this?" Derek inquired looking somewhat suspicious.

"My mother told me everything she learned from my father; you see in this original timeline Skynet created the time machine as a fall back on the off chance it was beaten" John answered. "It's ace in the whole, well we won the war in that timeline smashed it's defences and was bearing down on its main complex, so it activated the time machine and sent two terminators back through time to kill the leader of the resistance in that timeline" he told them glad to see none of them not even Allison had noticed his slip up at mentioning his father.

"So, it wanted me dead?" Kyle inquired as he listened to Connor talk and feeling out of is depth with all this talk of other timelines and time travel, but he still felt compelled to listen and could not help but ask this.

"No as you were not the leader in that timeline, I was or at least my older self was" John answered with a twisted smile knowing this was going to get more complicated.

"Older self?" a stern older coloured man inquired stepping forward.

"I know how old I look to you all but believe me had I not used time travel to come here overshooting my own time then here and now I would be in my mid-thirties to early forties" John stated. "As I said in the original timeline, I led the resistance to victory and after we destroyed Skynet's defence grid we captured the time machine and found out not only what it was for but that it had been engaged and what the two missions were" he continued as he looked around the room before his eyes met his fathers. "The first terminator had been sent back to 1984 to kill my mother before I was born, but due to the records been destroyed all it had was a name, so it had to use a phone book to find her and seen as there was more than one Sara Connor it took time" he informed them. "Time enough for us to send her a soldier to find her to help her, to protect her, you volunteered Kyle as my second and must trusted soldier you went back in time to save her and in the process gave her all the information I've just told you" he paused here and looked away trying not to show too much unfortunately he looked down at Allison who frowned at what she saw in his eyes.

Allison stared into John's eyes seeing a sense of loss of devastation even as he tried to hide it, she had a sense Kyle had not survived his battle with the terminator sent to kill John's mother. She did not doubt what he told them even though she should and again she could only see him as John not Connor as warranted an unknown stranger, she did not know him and yet she could not shake the sense of closeness of knowing him somehow.

"He died doing it didn't he?" she inquired hesitantly knowing John did not want to bring it up but deciding it was best that it was so there was no secrets been kept.

"Yeah, yeah he died but he helped bring that thing down" John relented as he hesitated in answering before noting the looks Kyle and Derek were giving side by side after Derek had moved up to his brother's side at this information. "Mom survived and…" John trailed off not knowing how to even voice or get into his parentage especially as he had no proof, and he could not count on Derek to see his resemblance to Kyle like he had back in the past. What did he tell them?

Allison again saw far more than she wished as she watched various emotions play over John's face, why could she read him so well after only a few minutes of knowing him and why did she feel like she knew him? It was driving her mad and yet she supposed that she could read him so well was advantageous to them to ensure he did not lie or try and trip them even him she got a feeling he would never do that. Kyle too saw a flash of something as Connor glanced at him briefly before quickly looking away, he could not tell what his expression had shown but it was clearly conflicted. Did they even believe what the stranger was telling them? Time travel, it all seemed so farfetched and yet Connor did not sound like he was lying.

"This sounds crazy, how do we even know anything he has to say is the truth?" the stern older man stated coldly stepping into the silence that had fallen. "I mean come on time travel, him leading the resistance or at least an older version on him considering he is just a kid" the man continued making the others glance between themselves.

"He is not lying Perry" Allison found herself saying even if it had not been her intention. "I don't know why but I can read him, I all but sense I know him, and I can see every emotion that runs over his face and tell what it means" she admitted.

The admission caught even John by surprise, and he wondered why Allison was so affected and again he wondered just what her relationship had been with his older self, he had never gotten a clear answer from Cameron. Kyle and Derek both glanced at Allison in surprise but knew she would not lie about something like this.

"Bleed over" John murmured gaining Kyle's attention.

"What was that Connor?" he asked.

"Bleed over, time lines somewhat meshing together leaving people with the idea they have been places they haven't or met and knew people they didn't" John answered as best he could as he had never been one for all the scientific background of time travel as humanity knew it both made up and whatever real research had been done and what he knew Skynet had developed from what the T-800 and Cameron had told him.

"So, what you are saying is Allison is feeling things from another version of herself in another time?" Derek inquired almost cross eyed as he tried to understand this new viewpoint even as Allison herself tried to understand it and wondering what kind of connection, she had to John in this over timeline that it somehow crossed over to affect her.

"Yes, more than likely caused by me been here outside of my own time" John speculated. "You and Derek sense it too just not as much, don't you?" he asked taking a chance that both his unknowing father and uncle also felt something off.

Both Kyle and Derek glanced at each other before reluctantly nodding, both did feel something strange about the newcomer ever since setting eyes on him.

"Have any of you considered this is some new kind of terminator with an ability to manipulate us somehow into trusting it" Perry suggested not liking how both the man who led the resistance and his brother and a girl who was like a sister to them were believing any of this so easily just based on a feeling.

"I am not a terminator general Perry" John said with a shake of his head and a grim smile. "No matter how advanced a terminator it would still set off your dogs, even the liquid metal T-1000's set them off" he stated.

"How do you know me?" Perry demanded to know.

"Kyle served under you in the other timeline, he mentioned you during his time with mom I don't remember the specifics" John said in response before frowning as an idea came to him on how to prove time travel existed.

"You've thought of something" Allison said noting the sudden chance in John's expression.

"Yes, perhaps a way of proving time travel exists and has affected this war more than you can imagine" John answered with a nod of his head.

"Go on" Kyle prodded willing to give Connor the chance to prove himself if it was possible.

"Is Martin Bedell in this bunker?" he inquired as he glanced around at them all and hoped to hell this paid off, he just had to hope this was before Martin died saving them all or by jumping forwards in time, he had changed Martin's future.

"Bedell should be in medical still recovering from the close run in with the HK-Tank he blew sky high saving you, Allison and your combat squad" Perry stated as the newcomer mentioned another member of the resistance.

"How is he?" Allison inquired even as John breathed a sigh of relief to know Bedell was alive and that he had indeed survived his run in with destiny.

"By rights he should be dead been that close to the explosion but somehow a piece of large debris got in the way of the explosion and him and thus prevented him taking more lethal damage than what he did" Perry answered calmly showing no real emotion about the fact Bedell had lived and John wondered if that is how the man naturally was or just had he had trained himself to be to survive the war without suffering to much upset.

Allison, Kyle, and Derek all breathed sighs of relief that their friend was alive and hopefully would live, considering Perry did not say anything about him dying they believed he would survive. John followed them through the cramped corridors of the bunker to the medical wing where several beds were occupied with injured soldiers in various bad states. Perry led them to the far end where another bed was, on it was somehow he recognised as an older and world-weary Martin Bedell. He had been badly injured with bandages all over his body, with some stained in blood, he seemed to have thankfully not lost any of his limbs. A man dressed somewhat like a doctor soon turned up, the man was older, and John wondered if he had been alive before Judgement Day.

"How is he doc?" Derek asked as he looked down at Bedell and wondered just how close it had been between life and death him and that without his almost certain sacrifice he would have lost his brother and a girl who was almost a sister to him. They all missed the fact that Bedell was awake and his one good eye instantly locked onto John in shock.

"He will live major Reece, but he will not be up and running any time soon" the doctor responded. "He took severe damage to both his legs but thankfully nothing so bad that we had to amputate either, same with his arms" he continued reading off a chart. "But he does have three broken ribs and two cracked ones to deal with, and he also took some damage to his left eyes, and we are not sure if he will still have any vision out of it once he had healed up" he finished.

"Damn" Kyle cursed aloud but settled himself realising it could have been much worse. "Is he able to talk?" he finally asked looking back up not noticing all the while Bedell was watching them but his eye kept straying back to John.

"For a few minutes perhaps but please do not allow him to exert himself or he could do more harm to himself" the doctor answered before he turned and moved to another bed.

"Hey Martin, how are you feeling?" Kyle asked knowing it was a stupid question but could think of no other way to start things off.

"Co…. Connor" Bedell managed to say shocking all of them bar John who just felt relief that Martin recognised and remembered him. "Where…where the hell…. have you been" he added through considerable pain and the tight feeling on his chest. "Thou…thought you would be here…. like you said you would be" he finished.

"You know this guy?" Derek could not help but ask his shock apparent as it was for Perry as well, but Allison and Kyle just accepted it as fact for reasons neither wanted to really acknowledge.

"It's a long story Martin and you are in no shape to hear it, but can you tell them who was with me when we met up back in the past" John answered and again held his breath wondering if Martin was in any shape to recall everything that happened so many years ago.

"It….it was Derek" Martin said before coughing slightly which immediately brought the doctor back over who shooed them away.

"Me" Derek said again in shock. "I was in the past somehow?" he asked.

"After we stopped the first and second terminators the war turned into a war across time, Skynet sent more terminators backwards in time to kill certain people or to ensure certain programs that were essential to its creation were enacted" John explained. "We also sent people back, some to set up safe houses, some to find those who had a hand in creating Skynet and some to find any and all information connected to how Skynet was created" he continued. "You were a part of one of those groups Derek, we run into each other when we turn up at the safe house you had set up to gather resources but a T-888 had already zeroed in on you and killed the rest of your team however you escaped and eventually after we take care of that one you join me and my mother's mission to stop Skynet from ever becoming active" he told them.

"Clearly you did not succeed in your mission" Perry stated coldly.

"The first time we tried we thought we'd been successful; I was ten when the second terminator tried to kill me, and my mom was in a psychological ward because no one believed her when she told them why she had blown up a computer lab" John replied tersely, and Allison could tell John had taken offence at Perry's insinuation that they had failed. "I only survived the T-1000's attack because we captured and reprogramed a T-800 to be sent back to be my protector" he informed them knowing this was going to hard for them to accept.

As expected, all four of the hardened soldiers stared at him unsure how to take what he was telling them, for all their lives they had been fighting the machines and mostly dying at their hands. Now for someone to come and tell them they had reprogrammed one to help them and succeeded, it had to make them uneasy.

"It did its job and combined once we broke mom out of the ward we not only destroyed Cyberdyne systems who were the originators of Skynet in its original configuration along with all their research tied to it, we also destroyed the T-1000 only because of the T-800 who even as an inferior machine managed to match it and find a way to destroy it with a little help from me and mom" he picked up the story again.

"You are not telling us everything John" Allison cut in and he winced at how easily she could read him and wondered yet again why, what was behind it other than bleed over and if it was bleed over what had she been to him in the previous timeline.

"We can go into detail later Allison, for now I'll give you the shortened versions so you can discuss this with whoever else you need to as there is still a lot of stuff to get through, after the destruction of the T-1000 the T-800 made us destroy it as well and for the next seven years we believed we had stopped Judgement day" John answered hoping they would accept his reasoning for not going into details just now. "However, mom could never relax no matter what we thought and kept moving us, it drove me mad but in the end she had it right and just as we moved again, we were zeroed by a t-888 who almost killed me at my new school last year my time" he told them.

"How did you survive the attempt?" Derek asked as he resisted the impulse to again question how he had ended up in the past if everything they have been told was real and he did not doubt Bedell's memory as he doubted, he would lie for any reason about such a thing.

"Instinct got me out of its line of sight at first then I got the shock of my life when I girl I met got involved and saved me from its follow up fire and seemed to die, I ran with it chasing me into the parking lot" John answered running a hand though his head as he recalled his first meeting with Cameron and how human she had seemed and he wondered how much of that had come from Allison's personality. "It had me dead to rights when a truck slammed into it and sent it flying, the door opened and there sat the girl Cameron alive and well and ignoring the fact she had been shot" he continued his story.

"She was a terminator, another reprogrammed one?" Allison asked somehow sensing this was the truth of the matter but even as John turned to look at her before quickly looking away, she saw something in his expression that told her there was something about Cameron he did not want to discuss.

"Yes, she was a reprogrammed terminator send back by my future self to protect me and according to her not the only terminator the resistance had reprogrammed" John replied hoping against hope Allison did not notice his unease where she and Cameron's connection were concerned.

"So, your older self-captures and reprogram the damn things how?" Perry demanded to know.

"I've had experience with the chips in their heads since I was ten granted not a lot of it but from what Cameron tells me I learn far more as time goes on as does the resistance as a whole and thus capturing and reprogramming them became a focus" John told them. "I don't understand why but if I had to guess I'd say it was to give the resistance more power to attack without wasting lives" he mused aloud although he left out the fact, he also felt his experiences with 'uncle bob' had a hand in it as well.

"And everyone in the resistance was okay with what you were doing?" Derek asked before Kyle could who just grunted at his brother getting the jump on the question he had wanted answered.

"No there were some who did not trust either the decision to reprogram any of them or just not like or trust the reprogrammed terminators, their hatred of the machines too much to allow them to work besides them and unable to see the benefit to our cause" John admitted not willing to lie here. "Derek was one of those who did not like the idea but was unwilling to challenge my older self or even me as I am now on this as I was the leader, his girlfriend Jesse was another but that came about from a mission she was on with one going bad" he informed them catching Derek off guard with Jesse's name coming out of the blue.

"Bad how?" Kyle asked in interest and before Derek could recover and ask himself or Perry whose look now darkened.

"I know only a little and that was from what Cameron told me of what she knew of the mission Jesse and her crew were on, I sent them to on offshore platform to pick up a package with orders not to open it" John answered as he tried to recall what Cameron had told him. "The sub they were on was captained by a reprogrammed terminator with Jesse acting as his second, she trusted him but the crew's curiosity about the package got the better of them and they opened it against orders and the terminator refused to stop the sub or change course even as some of the crew were killed including one who tried to kill Jesse and was killed in turn by the terminator in reaction" he paused as he tried to recall what it was that had killed the crew, did Cameron tell him what was in the package. "I don't know what was in the package, but it killed most of the crew and the terminator refused to disobey its orders or do anything but return the package or what it contained to base so Jesse ended up killing him and taking control of the sub and as for what was in the package it vanished" he finished.

"So, this Cameron did not tell you what was in the package?" Kyle inquired.

"Not that I recall but the last few months since we saw Jesse have been chaotic and life threatening" John responded with a shrug. ""And damn confusing" he added the last bit as his mind momentarily went back To Catherine Weaver or at least the T-1000 who had Taken her place and come forward in Time with him.

Everything she had Told Them seemed almost unbelievable, The idea of a Terminator resistance against Skynet. The idea she had come back to develop an A.I To counter Skynet, how could it be possible? Yes, the liquid metal Terminators were the most advanced machines he knew about, and they had the ability to learn beyond their programming which was denied the older models like the T-800 unless their chip was switched to the ability to learn like he had done with 'uncle bob'.

"What is it, John?" Allison inquired unable to help but ask as she watched the confused expression drift over his face followed by a sense of uncertainty, she felt he was having about something.

"It is hard to explain Allison because I don't have all the answers to this or whether it is even in any way true, the day or two before I jumped here has to be one of the most mind boggling days I've ever had" John answered still uncertain but they had to be aware of how and why he had come here and more importantly that he had not come through alone. "It started with us learning a lose ally had handed over the body of the T-888 that had been hunting us and that we had destroyed to a businesswoman to use as the shell for an A.I she had created, we got involved to save her daughter who had been targeted by another T-888 but it cost Derek his life" he paused and tried not to look at Derek who looked disturbed to hear he too had died in the past yet still at the hands of a machine.

Allison could see that the loss of Derek had hurt John far more than it should had it been a friend or an ally who had died, just as she had seen far more in his reaction to admitting Kyle had died saving his mother. There was something there he was not saying or trying to avoid right now, she doubted it was harmful to them but whatever it was it was big. Somehow, he was connected on a deeper level to Kyle and Derek but how she could not say, that both had admitted they felt something about John she assumed something had bled over for them as well but what was it?

"Mom was arrested and put in jail and Cameron, and I ended up meeting the businesswoman who it turned out was not human but a T-1001 in disguise having replaced the real Catherine Weaver at some point" John picked up the story again slowly.

"So, this Terminator had come back to create Skynet or ensure its creation?" Perry wanted to know.

"Not according to her, she insisted that she and some of the more advanced Terminators had reached the conclusion that Skynet was in error of its attempt to destroy mankind and had formed a resistance to it" John answered knowing this was not going to go down well and he could already see the disbelieving looks forming on all four people listening to him. "She aided us in breaking my mother out of prison and to say mom did not believe her was saying something, the A.I she had built came from a piece of tech we had been tracking and which had led to our initial meeting with Derek before it went missing and somehow, she ended up with it" he explained. "This tech was now hard wired into the shell of the T-888 she had been given, hence it could now talk and interact with the wide world but it could not leave the basement it was in or at least it couldn't until Cameron for reasons I do not know gave it her chip so it could leave and he came here utilising the time machine Weaver had created" he told them.

"Why did your ally give her the shell of T-888 to this Weaver, did he not know she was also a terminator?" Allison inquired.

"I do not think he did at the beginning, and he believed she was working to stop Skynet after he was forced to accept it existed and that the war was coming, which is why he gave her the shell" John answered as best he could because he really did not know how much Ellison had known about Weaver. "The A.I she was creating was supposed to be according to her a counter to Skynet, she originally hired Ellison to teach it morals and he chose to use his religion to try and teach it" he told them.

"And you believed it?" Now kyle asked his tone wary.

"I do not know what to believe where Weaver and her A.I is concerned, their actions are in direct conflict with how terminators usually operate unless they have been reprogrammed and I have no idea if the T-1000 and similar models can be reprogrammed" John shot back. "She had plenty of chances to kill me and mom and did not do it, she even protected us from an attack by a drone sent by Skynet or something connected to it" he added with a shake of his head. "The A.I helped protect Weavers daughter until we rescued her, the whole thing is confusing like I said but the main point of this is the A.I came here to this time and I was not alone in jumping after it" he stated needing to move this of the topic of Weaver's motives and more to the fact she and her A.I were lose somewhere above them.

"What do you mean Connor, you were the only one we found?" Derek demanded to know suddenly very alert.

"I do not know where the A.I came through, but it is here somewhere and Weaver came through with me to find it she vanished when your guards came upon me, I came for Cameron's chip" John answered. "I did not know I'd be altering time by coming, but then I did not really think about my choice, it was an instinctual choice, but mom wouldn't come and stayed in the past" he admitted.

"So, what you are saying is not only is there a damn T-1001 running around lose possibly still in the bunker but an A.I in the body of a T-888" Perry asked for clarification.

"Yes, that is what I am saying general" John confirmed.

Perry glanced at Kyle and Derek who both nodded at him and he quickly turned and left intending to put the bunker on high alert, if the T-1001 was still in the base they had to find it and capture it if not destroy it outright if they could. He did not believe it possible for any machine to be their ally, yes reprogrammed to aide them possibly if the hacker was good enough to do it but the whole idea of a machine resistance was laughable to him. Kyle rubbed his head as he took in everything he had learned since Connor had shown up, clearly it was not everything, but it was enough.

"Allison, find Connor a room and some clothes and then settle him, once the base has been searched, we will have a general meeting to discuss what we've learned" he ordered. "I trust Connor you will not try and leave without our agreement".

"I give you my word I will stay put, I may know about the war but I have not lived it at least not in this time and would probably get myself killed if I left without a guide" John said with a grim smile which Kyle actually found himself returning because it was something he himself would probably say if their roles were reversed.

Allison began to walk away aware of John following her, she decided to try and get some more information out of him once she found him somewhere to stay, Kyle and Derek watched them go seeing a comfortable air between them that they usually did not see where Allison was concerned.

"So, what do you think?" Derek finally asked turning to his brother.

"He is leaving a hell of a lot out of the story, but he gave us a lot to discuss, the fact Bedell recognised him and from what little he managed to say he expected to meet him here" Kyle mused rubbing his chin in thought. "He expected Connor to be leading the resistance not me, he also expected to meet you and that was another thing Bedell said you were in the past as well" he continued.

"Yeah, still having a hard time believing that however Bedell wouldn't lie especially not in the condition he is in" Derek agreed with a nod of his head. "Not liking the fact, we both seemingly die in the past either" he admitted.

Kyle glanced at his brother knowing it was probably disconcerting to learn he was dead in any kind of circumstance, to learn he had not even been there probably disturbed him even more. Learning he himself died probably really added to whatever chaotic feelings he was undergoing, however strangely enough he felt satisfied that he died achieving his mission of saving Connor's mother. Why? He could not say but somehow, he felt he had achieved something important not just to the war but to himself. Turning he headed for the command complex to see how the search was going, if that T-1001 was still here he wanted to talk to it if it was possible. As he walked away, he absently removed something from his vest and looked at it, it was a faded photo of a woman sitting in a truck with a dog behind her. He had never known who the woman was or why he felt compelled to keep it, but looking at it now he wondered if this was Connor's mother maybe explaining why he had chosen to go back in time to save her.

Derek followed intending to come back and talk to Bedell when he was somewhat better as he wanted more details of supposedly meeting him in the past, he noted Kyle looking at something and he let out a sigh when he realised it was that old photo, he had found years ago and for some reason would not get rid of. He did not know why it was so important to him, he had tried to ask him about it, but Kyle had just looked at him as if unsure how to answer him.

+TB+

(ZeiraCorp, 2008)

Sarah Connor watched her son and the terminator bitch vanish in an explosion of light leaving behind Cameron's inert body and the computer set up of the A.I the terminator had been creating, she briefly raised her weapon to destroy it all before lowering it when she realised there was no point. The A.I was mobile now thanks to getting its hands on Cameron's chip, though she did wonder if Cameron for reasons unknown had willingly given up her chip so the A.I could leave, why she did not know and her message apologising to John just muddied the waters even more. She had never truly trusted Cameron at least so she told herself, but she suspected she had begone to trust her even with the glitches she knew she was suffering from. Prolonged contact would have that affect and beside the attempt to kill John when her chip was damaged, Cameron had been a solid ally in the fight against Skynet.

She had grown to trust the T-800 sent to protect John back when he was ten coming to the realisation that he was closest thing John would have to a father, that it would never hurt him or leave him until its job was done. And it had completed its mission even against a superior foe in the T-1000, it had succeeded and for a time she had believed they were safe, and that judgement day had been averted but then the sense that it was not over came back and she began to move them again and again much to John's frustration. But she had been right, now Cameron was important to their survival hence one of the reasons she suspected John had gone after her chip even if she did not think he had thought the matter though not that he had much time to do it.

She wondered just what kind of world her son was jumping into, what would he find there? Would he find another version of himself already there able to help him or had he by jumping forward wiped out the future as it was supposed to be at least where the resistance was concerned. She hoped and prayed John was ready for the kind of hell he was about to encounter, for as much as he had wanted to stop the war before it happened, he was now stepping right into the centre of it. She paused and wondered if Kyle or a version of him would be there to help him or even Derek, she did not know how things would stand in the future if John had erased himself from the timeline or his actions at least.

"What just happened?" James Ellison the former FBI agent who had been chasing them and had helped in killing Cromartie before in a sense betraying them by handing its shell over to Weaver even if his shock at the revelation that Weaver was a Terminator had shown he had no clue what he was really doing.

He had still done it without informing them or done it at all, that shell was to be destroyed like the others they had destroyed since this had all started again. She did not trust him after what he had done, but right now he was her only ally. They had to get out of here with Cameron's body before the police arrived responding to the drone attack, she was betting the police were still searching for her since her escape from jail.

"Help me, we have to get Cameron into a car, and we have to leave now" she snapped heading for the motionless body.

"We cannot just leave Sarah after what has just happened, we are witnesses to that drone attack" Ellison protested.

"We stay and we get arrested, and we have no way of proving who is behind the drone attack, not without your terminator friend to back us up" Sarah countered. "And they will take Cameron's body and we'll never get it back and more than likely help them create Skynet in the first place now help me" she argued.

Ellison ran an agitated hand over his bald head before moving to comply even if it went against everything he had believed as an agent of the law, he had to remember he was not a FBI agent anymore. He had been fired and called crazy, responsible for his partners death as well as the deaths of several swat members. He had seen proof of Skynet and the war to come, that everything Connor had told him, and others was very real, so he just focused on helping move the now deactivated body of Cameron. Even as they moved, he tried not to think about the fact that Weaver a woman he had begun to trust had turned out to be a machine as well, clearly not like Cameron or Cromartie but a machine all the same. How had he not seen it? Her interest in the Connors, in creating an A.I. He had been an FBI agent and was trained to spot details, but they seemed to have deserted him in this case.

+TB+

(Resistance Bunker 2028)

John sunk down onto the torn mattress of the bed in the room Allison had led him to thankful to be in actual clothes again instead of just his fathers jacket, the room was spartan but then he did not expect there to be much in any of the rooms in the bunker. He might not have lived in the war-torn world he was now in; he had enough nightmares about it to give him a picture of what it would look like. Cameron and Derek too had given him some idea of the conditions the resistance lived in; comfort was all but absent from the world now. He leaned back against the wall as Allison shut the door and moved to sit down in a chair across from him next to a broken desk, he tried not to see Cameron as he looked at her, but her movements were all so similar which was no surprise he supposed. Cameron would have studied Allison before trying to take her place to get close to him, a mission she had still failed as she had been captured and reprogrammed.

"You look tired" Allison's voice broke through his thoughts, and he looked up to meet her gaze.

"I am" he admitted. "Been a very long and stressful day and this is not how I expected it to end" he added rubbing his forehead. "So much happened I still have no idea what to think about it, trying to explain it to my… to Derek and Kyle did not help" he told her almost slipping up and calling Kyle and Derek his father and uncle respectively although he doubted Allison had not noticed the slip.

Allison had indeed caught the slip and wondered just exactly what John had been about to call Derek and Kyle, just like he had before he had cut himself off and redirected the conversation.

"You are hiding something John" she stated deciding to challenge him slightly. "Something to do with Derek and Kyle, the way you reacted to their deaths in your time and the way you reacted to them when we first found you all scream something" she told him. "What is it that you have not told us?" she asked.

"You really can read me well" John said with a sign trying to decide what to say, whether to trust her with the truth or hold back until later.

"Whatever it is that is bleeding over from the other time makes you an open book to me, not that I enjoy that fact right now John" Allison admitted. "You are a stranger, yet every time I look at you, I feel like I know you, I can't call you Connor like Kyle and Derek do even though I should, and it is disturbing" she explained.

"I do not know what your relationship was like with my older self before you ask, Cameron did not go into much detail about it or you" John said before wincing as he realised, he had slipped again, and he desperately hoped Allison had missed the mistake and not ask about how Cameron would know her.

Allison frowned at that noting the odd way John winced as he spoke, he had slipped up again she thought but on what subject? She tapped her fingers against her knee before pushing that aside and focusing on what else he had said.

"This Cameron seems to hold back on a lot of things" she mused aloud. "Are you sure you can trust her?" she asked seriously.

John smiled at the question because it was a question his mom and Derek had constantly tried to make him think about it, had tried to question Cameron's trustworthiness. Yet despite that he had never doubted her loyalty, yes, her chip had been damaged and he had still trusted her when it countered. He did not understand why exactly, maybe he was just trusting his older self for sending her in the first place.

"I trust her to keep me safe just as I trusted the T-800 to protect me when I was a kid, I also have to trust my older self to know what he was doing in sending them back in the first place" John finally answered. "Although I also worry about him or me if you want to be technical" he admitted with a sigh.

"Why, why would you worry about your older self?" Allison inquired leaning forward wondering if he would tell her or clam up and it did not escape her that he had diverted the topic away from Derek and Kyle and whatever it was that he was keeping from them in concerns to them.

"According to Cameron my older self has become isolated at some point, cut off from people" John answered knowing this was not wise, but he found talking to Allison easy and almost like talking to Cameron just better as Allison was human and understood emotions. "More than likely losing Kyle, Derek and you in short order had to have an impact" he stopped and cursed himself because he can tell Allison had not missed the fact, she too was either dead or missing.

Allison had indeed caught the mistake and seen John's reaction to his mistake, but she held back from asking about her fate and allowed him to continue speaking sensing John needed someone to talk to.

"I already feel cut off from my mom and Derek before he was killed in my time, Cameron was the only one I could confide in even if she sometimes drove me crazy with her apparent lack of understanding certain things" John continued thankful Allison had not cut him off asking for details of her death that he did not have. "So, I fear that sense of isolation got worse especially once the war started" he trailed off unable to put into words what he was trying to say.

"Relying on a machine especially a terminator reprogrammed or not to keep you grounded is asking for trouble, they have no real understanding of human emotions" Allison stated not liking what she was hearing. "Your older self-cutting himself off because he lost those closest to him is not a good thing John, it sounds like he was beginning to buckle trusting more in machines than people and that to me sounds dangerous" she added.

"Yeah, I had a similar thought myself, according to Kyle I lead the resistance to victory against Skynet or at least I did in the original timeline, but time can be changed and already has been twice more since" John mused aloud. "So, if my future self in the timeline Cameron is from has become cut off from his people, then how can he lead anyone to victory and is that my fate if things don't change again if I don't find the will to overcome the sense of isolation I feel" he wondered more to himself than Allison but she contemplated the question anyway.

She had no real answer for him at least not now, but she worried if what he had told them was true and he somehow returned to his own time still feeling isolated and cutoff then it could prove deadly to the war effort against the machines. Cleary the weight of his destiny as told by Kyle to his mother and then raised with its choiceless certainty was beginning to crush him, he had mentioned they had thought they had stopped Judgement Day once before only for it to turn out they had failed, and that fact must have only added to this crushing sense of expectation and responsibility. Kyle had spoken of sometimes not feeling up to the responsibility of leading the resistance, that the loss of life sometimes threatened to crush him, but he had never had the weight of it all pushed on him since birth as John had.

"I do not have an answer for you John, but you have to find a way back, you have to feel to reconnect with your friends with your mother" she finally told him. "If you do not then no matter which version of this war you are in, we may be lost" she told him bluntly as John stared at her for a few seconds before nodding his head in agreement, but the question was how he beat his sense of isolation and disconnection.

+TB+

(Connor Safe house 2008)

Sarah groaned as she collapsed into the sofa after she and Ellison had finally finished hiding Cameron's inert body in the cellar, getting away from ZeiraCorp had been troublesome as the cop's and more than likely FBI had soon come roaring onto the scene which was no surprise consider it had come under attack by a drone. Still, they had managed to escape without been recognised, Ellison himself had collapsed on one of the single seaters and had his head in his hands as he tried to come to terms with everything he had learned, that the woman he had been working for and had turned over the body of Cromartie too was herself a terminator. The question that still lingered was whether the Terminatrix was a threat, all she had told them and her actions in protecting them from the drone attack was at odds with all she knew about Terminators. Especially as unlike Cameron and the T-800 who had protected John when he was a boy, she had not been reprogrammed by the resistance.

Ellison finally dropped his hands from his head and looked up at her wondering where they went from here, everything had been turned on his head with the revelation that Weaver was a damn Terminator. How had he not seen the signs, he had been a trained FBI agent trained to spot signs of dishonesty or evasion. But no, he had trusted her and her motives, he had been fooled completely, he had handed over Cromartie's body to her almost alienating the Connors and their group and he had helped try and teach the A.I she was building morals and values using the bible as proof of what he was saying. John Henry as the A.I was called had been different than Cromartie since he had first been introduced to it but was that all a lie to hide not only its true nature but its true agenda.

"What now Sarah?" he finally felt confident enough to ask knowing the woman was going to be difficult to deal with now her son had vanished and Derek was dead.

Sarah Connor was not an easy woman to get on with as he had found out first hand since finally coming face to face with her, her son John seemed to be a calming influence on her although not always. He had seen the videos of her time in Silverman's mental hospital, the lack of her son's presence and the idea he was in danger had almost turned her into a wild animal ready to attack at will to escape and find her son. He had no idea how she was going to be now he had vanished alongside Weaver, he shivered slightly when he recalled how Weaver had wanted him to go with them to go after what she termed their boy as if they were John Henry's parents. The thought chilled and disturbed him that a Terminator could think in such terms, how advanced were the damn things anyway?

"Now?" Sarah's voice broke though his disturbed thoughts and he focused on the woman who sat staring at him almost dead eyed. "Now we focus on finding out who the hell sent that drone after us, find out if we were the targets or the Terminator bitch you were working for" she growled showing her utter hatred for the machines.

Her hatred of them made Ellison wonder how she worked side by side with Cameron then, yes, she was a reprogrammed Terminator but still a Terminator so how did Sarah lower her guard and amp down her hatred to work with it?

"How are we going to do that?" he inquired as they had no idea even where to start.

At that question Sarah just stared at him because honestly, she did not know herself as usually they could break into the police departments or FBI's computer files. However, she knew next to nothing about hacking into computers, that had always been John's area of expertise or at a pinch Cameron's and they were both gone, Cameron was nothing, but a deactivated body and John was in the future. Perhaps Ellison had some skill in the area or failing that, perhaps he knew of someone who could aide them considering he was an ex-FBI agent. He must have known many computer experts or possibly arrested a few hackers in his time who he knew the whereabouts of it was a slim chance but for the moment it was the only idea that came to mind.

"You were an FBI agent Ellison you must have some skills in hacking or know of someone who can help us in this area, we need to know what the FBI or cops found out about the drone" she finally told him. "Perhaps there was a logo on the drone that could lead us to the people behind the attack, or something along the lines of how it was designed perhaps it required special equipment that could be traced" she added.

Ellison leaned back in his chair and thought about what Sarah had said, he had some very limited skills in breaking into sealed records, but he doubted he was good enough to break into the FBI's system as he knew how hi-tech it was. As for knowing someone who could help, closing his eyes he began to think of any hackers in the local area that would be easy to reach and could and would aide them. Sarah was content to let him think on the matter, she allowed her mind to wonder how John was getting on in the future.

+TB+

(Resistance Bunker 2028)

Allison joined Kyle, Derek, and Perry in the command section of the bunker having left John to sleep, after her last piece of advice a comfortable silence had descended between them that now that she thought upon it should not have been possible to achieve between two strangers. Soon enough John had fallen asleep proving just how tiring the day had been for him even if only by his telling of time, she had moved to her own room for a few moments and again wondered what her relationship with John was in his timeline, why was this bleed over so strong between them? Even John had admitted he did not know what kind of relationship they had as Cameron if she recalled right for some reason had either not told him or refused to tell him for whatever reason the reprogrammed Terminator had. Splashing some water on her face, she had then turned and headed for command.

"How is our guest?" Perry inquired upon noticing her presence.

"John is asleep general; I think by his standing today has been truly draining for him" Allison answered still unable to refer to John by anything but his name. "Any signs of this liquid metal Terminator or A.I he mentioned?" she asked.

"So far we've found nothing Allison" Derek was the one who answered looking frustrated. "No signs from the dogs that they've caught wind of any metal, if she was here then she is not in the base anymore and even Connor mentioned he did not know where the A.I arrived in our time" he added with a shake of his head still having trouble thinking or talking about time travel.

"Are we certain Connor was telling us the truth about the Terminator and the A.I?" Perry could not help but ask again as a military man he was extremely sceptical of the idea of someone traveling in time and the majority of their guest's story.

"I have already told you General that John cannot lie in my presence as I would see it, the bleed over he mentioned seems particularly strong in my case" Allison countered unable to stop herself as she felt a protective urge fill her and she realised that bleed over seemed to be getting stronger.

"I also do not think he would lie" Kyle spoke up joining the conversation and gaining all three's attention. "I cannot really explain why I think that, but I do, he has been straight with us and remember Bedell confirmed he knew Connor and had met him in the past" he pointed out making Perry grimace at the reminder.

"I think John is hiding something about his connection to you and Derek" Allison finally confessed gaining the brothers attention. "His reactions to your deaths even if by his view he had never met you Kyle is far deeper than for an ally or even a friend, and when referring to you he keeps cutting himself off before he says what he was originally going to say" she explained her reasoning. "That connection you feel is behind why you think he would not lie Kyle even if you have never met him, it has to be a deep one we just have to think of what it is" she finished.

"Any ideas Allison?" Kyle inquired leaning forward somewhat.

"I think he slipped up at the beginning of his story, he told us his father told his mother all the information he told us about the original timeline about what he knew of Skynet in that timeline" Allison responded as the others listened intently. "But how could his father know any of it unless he was from the future himself" she stated.

"Woah wait a minute Allison are you suggesting Connor is related to me and Kyle" Derek protested.

"I think John Connor is your son Kyle" Allison told them simply. "I think you and his mother fell for one another when you went back to protect her and he was the result, hence his reactions to you" she informed him leaving Kyle staring at her in shock and Derek was no better whilst Perry looked doubtful but remained silent.