Chapter 19
Payback Time
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Alternate Future Timeline:
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John could see Cameron was upset because he didn't want to return to the past immediately. He felt he needed to present his case to her. He didn't need an audience to do it.
He needed to speak privately with Cameron. He took her off to the side so they could be alone. He wasn't sure where to start. There were a lot of things which bothered him. He was very troubled when Cameron's chassis didn't make the transfer with Mrs. Weaver and him. He thought it would. He was sure because her chassis didn't go into the future with him, she would see it as him 'abandoning' her.
"Cameron, I'm very sorry you were damaged because of me." John said. "It's bothered me greatly since I saw your damage. I wasn't trying to abandon you when I left. I wanted to get your chip back. I know you are your program. Your program is the real you. It's what I went after. I went after you. I thought your chassis would come with us. I wanted to restore you as soon as possible. I didn't want anyone else to have your chip. It didn't matter what the reason was. I wouldn't have gone with Mrs. Weaver unless I thought I could get your chip back. It was a little more complicated than I'd anticipated. I did get your chip back and returned it to you as soon as I could."
Cameron could see it was an honest apology from John. She wanted all of 'her' to hear it. They would all feel the same way she felt since they were 'her'.
"Please call Jim and Bob here." Cameron said. "I want them to know everything as well. Don't forget, they're both 'Cameron' too right now. They're both me, even as strange as it seems."
John addressed the issue with Bob soon after they'd left the Skynet facility when he was still in the big busted blonde chassis.
"I already told Bob." John said. "I was very honest about it."
Jim joined John and Cameron.
John looked directly at Jim.
"I deeply apologize for the danger I put you in and the damage done to you." John said. "I'll never do it again. It was selfish and wrong of me to do it to you. I know we should have waited to free my mother. We could have done what we did for Derek."
Cameron looked at Jim and he gave her a slight nod.
"John…." Cameron started.
John wanted to say something else he'd wanted to say for a long time . He seemed to lack the courage to do it. He wanted to say it now before anything else transpired. He wanted to make it clear how he felt about everything.
John faced Cameron.
"I love you, Cameron, and you love me." John said as he looked into Cameron's eyes.
Cameron and John stared at each other. John moved closer.
Bob joined Jim on the sideline. They both wished they were in Cameron's chassis right now. Technically, it was actually their chassis, since they were both program clones of Cameron.
Cameron glanced at both of them and spoke for all three of them.
"I love you, John, and you love me." Cameron said.
Cameron wanted the approval of Bob and Jim. It was important to her since all three of them were her.
Jim nodded and Bob gave her a wink.
Cameron moved forward and kissed John. It was their first kiss. It was simple, quick and promptly interrupted.
The Scottish accent was an unwelcome intrusion.
"You can 'play house' later." Mrs. Weaver said.
The interruption upset Cameron. She was about to share a real kiss with John. She'd watched the other students in school kiss deeply. She wanted to kiss the same way. She'd earlier thought about asking Vanna to help her practice how to kiss, but she never did. She was pretty sure the 'practice' would lead to other more involved and deeper things. In her loneliness without John, she would have been willing to try some of those things. What could they have hurt? People shared all the time. It was natural. She was incapable of reproduction. It didn't matter if her mate was male, female or a Terminator.
Mrs. Weaver forged ahead with her plan. She wanted more control in the current future, even if she was in the background for now.
"I've already told John what objectives I want to see finished before he leaves." Mrs. Weaver said as she looked specifically at Cameron. "Things are even better than I'd hoped. Now there are two more of you. I won't have to be Miss Young as often."
Cameron wondered why Mrs. Weaver she needed to be Allison at all. There was probably going to be a lot of information she didn't want to know. Mrs. Weaver's revelation about posing as Allison raised even more issues. Between Allison, and Mrs. Weaver posing as Allison, a lot of things could have happened. She still needed to find out. She could picture Mrs. Weaver posing as Allison to get to John to make love with him. She figured Mrs. Weaver would do it just to rub it in her face.
John's words refocused Cameron's attention.
"After the incident with the Scavengers, Allison and I spoke with Derek and Kyle." John said. "They said between the Scavengers and the Tunnel Rats, both groups were almost as big of a problem as Skynet. It wasn't uncommon for them to become Grays for the easier life it offered. The Scavengers constantly stole their supplies. They brutalized and abused every female they got a hold of, regardless of age, few survived. Those who did survive the abuse were kept as slaves. They were often branded like cattle to be marked as 'property'. Sometimes it turned out to be a fate worse than death. Patrols would be ambushed and people were killed needlessly. In the meantime, the real enemy was out there."
John looked at Cameron, Jim and Bob. He wanted everyone to assist in the effort. He wanted to keep friction down to a minimum as well. He'd already developed a plan on how to handle some of the problems. He was aware of what Skynet tried to do. He planned to return the favor.
"Mrs. Weaver, as she prefers to be called, along with my help and a select group of the Resistance, have conducted a number of raids and destroyed Skynet facilities and disrupted Skynet activity." John said. "With the information John Henry gathered to take back. We're going after every one of them and every place involved with Skynet. It includes known Grays. We're going to terminate them all when we get back. We're going to launch preemptive strikes on our return. It will be the same thing Skynet attempted to do with my mother and me."
Cameron knew John Henry started work on the targeting information.
"There's already been some movement to deal with the situation." Cameron said. "I've heard of some of the issues directly from Vanna and Allison. The Savannah Weaver from this timeline is referred to as Vanna in our time period."
John wanted to make his position clear. It was something he believed needed to be addressed to the fullest extent possible.
"This is a future which can't exist." John said. "The pain and suffering here is unbearable. It makes me sick to see how these people exist. The fact other humans, the Scavengers, are as bad as Skynet is another beef I have. It is also something Mrs. Weaver wants 'changed'. We all need it to be changed. As soon as we clean this place up to protect the Resistance here and now, we can go back. I can't leave the Resistance with the burdens unresolved. It's why I've agreed to stay a little longer. I want to save lives."
Mrs. Weaver looked at the group.
She assumed the form of a teenage girl, half clad in ragged clothing, with one plump breast mostly exposed.
"This is the bait I use. It's not long before a group 'captures' me and takes me to their den. I don't even have to hunt this way, they come to me. When I leave, I make sure it's obvious a Terminator was there. Every once in a while, I'll leave one 'punished' Scavenger alive to spread the word Terminators are now targeting Scavengers specifically. The 'punished' Scavenger is no longer a threat to a male or female afterwards. They've been told we're coming and nothing will stop us."
Mrs. Weaver resumed her preferred form of Catherine Weaver.
"If Cameron and 'Jim' are willing to help me, I feel this job can get done a lot faster." Mrs. Weaver said as she looked at Cameron. "Will you join us?"
Cameron felt a slight glitch impulse at her words. They seem to hit a little too close to home. She thought of the horrors Allison and Vanna may have endured and nearly died from. She could see John wanted to do it. It was important to him. It was important to her. She wondered if John was doing it for Allison. It didn't matter. She would back John's play. She wanted to lay down a few rules of her own. It was the only way she would proceed going forward.
"I'll do it. There must be a version of me, a 'Cameron', who will stay with John at all times. It needs to be one of us three. There will be no exception to the condition." Cameron said. "John's safety comes before everything else."
Cameron needed to restrain herself from mentioning John shouldn't even be in the timeline they were in. In fact, the timeline they were in wouldn't even exist if John hadn't gone into the future, a future.
Jim, who was really 'Cameron Two', spoke up first. It was a chance to get his program a little closer to John. His program was actually Cameron's program.
"I'd like to stay with John." Jim said.
Cameron thought it was a better idea than Jim and Bob alone together. She could see the animosity between them. It was really between 'herself'. It didn't leave her with a good feeling about herself to think about it.
Bob would have preferred to remain with John. He also understood they needed to accomplish the task as efficiently as possible.
"It's fine. I'll go with Cameron." Bob said. "I know the area. John knows the area as well to help Jim. Mrs. Weaver is quite capable and formidable on her own."
Mrs. Weaver was pleased a version of Cameron understood her ability. Bob's statement made it perfectly clear. She wanted vengeance and retribution as much as preventative action for the future.
"This is personal to me. These people hurt my 'daughter', and Allison, the woman she loves." Mrs. Weaver said. "I want these people terminated, as much as I want Skynet terminated. 'Payback is a Bitch' and there is no bigger or badder Bitch than I."
Cameron looked at her. She felt her position was clear. She didn't think this was the proper moment to address it. There was great determination on her part when required.
'You're very formidable, Mrs. Weaver, but you don't know me….' Cameron thought.
Jim and Bob both thought the same thing.
Cameron looked at both of them and finished her thought. 'And there are three of ME.'
She wanted to know a little more information, if Mrs. Weaver knew it.
"Is it how Vanna, I mean Savannah, got her nasty scar?" Cameron asked.
A flash of anger crossed Mrs. Weaver's face for a second.
"Yes, it's a terrible story. If I'd known of it before, I would've made sure Allison returned with her." Mrs. Weaver said. "It was very lonely for Savannah, or now just 'Vanna', without her 'special friend'. She needed someone to love. She needed someone to share with. Her heart was stuck in the past, the future."
Cameron looked down.
Mrs. Weaver noted the body language. She paused for a moment at what Cameron indirectly revealed about Vanna. How did she see her scar? As she looked at Cameron she could SEE why. Maybe Cameron was 'Allison' to Vanna. It made her wonder….
Cameron thought she would do it for Vanna and for Allison. She owed HER Allison so much also. This would be a way to atone for some of her past Skynet transgressions. She increasingly felt ashamed of them. She wasn't sure why. She was under the control of Skynet at the time they'd occurred. It wasn't of her own choosing. She would never hurt Allison or Vanna on her own. Then again, she never should have tried to hurt John on her own either. It wasn't her fault she'd reverted after the explosion. She'd learned the internal scars were actually worse than the external ones.
Mrs. Weaver also understood where humans could actually hurt the worst. It wasn't on the outside.
"The real scars are the ones left in her mind. It's why I made sure Allison was sent back to Vanna and protected by John Henry. Vanna already suffered enough. I wasn't there to protect her. A mother should've been, HER mother." Mrs. Weaver said. "It is also why I understand why John sacrificed you, Cameron, to retrieve his mother. Family is important."
Cameron looked at Mrs. Weaver. She could have done without the reminder. The fact the timeline had been rushed unnecessarily still bothered her. She certainly didn't need to hear it from someone else, especially Mrs. Weaver. It was something she would have dealt with anyway.
"I would've gone on my own accord at a later date. Sarah is my friend. I never leave anyone I care about behind. You don't understand how I work. You don't understand how WE work." Cameron said as she glanced at her two counterparts.
Cameron knew Mrs. Weaver didn't know her. She sometimes wondered if John really knew and understood her. There were times he clearly didn't. She didn't want to think about some of his rude comments right now. Maybe some of them were funny to him. They weren't funny to her.
John looked at Cameron. He remembered she'd rescued Derek too, even after how they'd all treated her with the threats, jokes and snide remarks. He was painfully aware even he'd done it, especially when Riley was around. He wanted to stay away from the issue of Riley as much as possible.
The thought of the threats to dismantle or burn Cameron made John feel sick. He now understood her poem she'd written for school - 'Outsider'. The poem said it all.
'What have we done? What have I done?' John wondered.
Bob was ready for action.
"Let's get started." Bob said.
Jim nodded in agreement.
"It is what we were built for." Jim said. "We were constructed to terminate."
Cameron faced Bob and Jim.
"We're coming." Cameron said. "Hell is coming with us."
The Terminators all nodded in agreement.
"Payback Time…." The three 'Camerons' said in unison.
Closing monologue by Cameron:
Payback Time
It's been said
What goes around comes around
When that event occurs
The results may astound
One may be seen
As being bound
They may not be the one
Who finds something profound
The aggressive may become weak
When a new master is crowned
They won't comprehend
As actions confuse and confound
When a new captain rises
The old ship is run aground
Those who have abused
Will soon be drowned
There's no escape
No safe quarter can be found
They'll pass from existence
With barely a sound
Payback time is a Bitch
Putting many in the ground
Smiles will show on the faces
Of those who once frowned
Nobody