Chapter 224

Protect Him

Cameron sought John out. She was irritated about the way John treated her program. Her program was essentially her. It wasn't her chassis. It wasn't her sheath. Both of those were changeable. She was her program. She felt John showed her great disrespect and discrimination towards her and to her kind….

Maybe she was built instead of born. She didn't have any more choice over her creation than a human did. Their existence was someone else's decision. She was pretty sure the only one who ever looked at her as an equal was Savannah. She was pretty sure the others all looked down on her, or at least they looked down on her kind. None of them were asked to do Skynet's bidding when they were created. She didn't want to get sidetracked. John was the problem. Once she found John she confronted him. She thought she knew what the real issue might be.

"John, why won't you touch me when I'm in a different chassis and sheath?" Cameron asked. "I can't understand. It's still ME. I'm the SAME inside. My program is ME. Do you only want my 'Allison appearance'? That's it. You want Allison."

John wasn't ready for the conversation, but he was used to it. It happened from time to time. He didn't want their discussion to turn into a big deal. It was usually what occurred. All he could do is point out the chain of events and the facts.

"Cameron, I didn't even know about Allison when I fell in love with you." John said. "You knew about her. I didn't. I never met Allison until I was in the alternate future."

Cameron called it out for what she believed. She remembered the way John looked at her. She saw the way he looked at other females. She wasn't blind. She wasn't stupid.

"You fell in love with my appearance. You fell in love with the way Allison 'looks'. I acted like 'Allison' and used my infiltration programming." Cameron said. "After you knew I was a machine, you wouldn't have me. You chose Future Riley instead. Then you rubbed it in my face on top of it. I still remember the smirk you gave me as you went up the stairs. You only use this sheath as a 'depository'. I'm like a 'blow up love doll' to you. I'm not a 'love machine', or a full size 'silicone love doll'. I feel like a Metal Whore. No, wait, a prostitute gets paid, I have to serve you. I'm a slave. I'm a Metal Slave."

John found it hard to believe what he just heard. Cameron was getting herself all wound up again. The current episode seemed a little worse than usual. They essentially always conducted the same argument. It was always the same questions and accusations with the same answers. Nothing really changed one way or the other. Once it started up again, it was like all the other ones before it didn't matter or never happened.

"Cameron, it's not it at all." John said. "You know I'm telling the truth without even having to scan me. Go ahead and scan me. Ask me about any of it. I have nothing to hide. I've done nothing wrong since we've been married. Since we've been married, I've never been with anyone but you, or who looked like you as 'Cameron'. You should take it as a complement rather than an insult."

John didn't want to get too specific when dealing with the events surrounding Duplicate Cameron. The only reason it probably wasn't a bigger issue was because they were all dead.

Cameron tossed her head up and off to the side. Things seemed to be more of an insult to her than a compliment.

"I'll think about it." Cameron said.

She huffed off, very upset and angry. The words Isabel told her started to creep into her mind. She quickly pushed them out. Isabel was terminated, all of them. She was the one responsible for all of them being terminated. Who did they think they were?

John wondered what went wrong now. This was obviously part of some other problem. One thing was for sure, there was never a shortage of them.

Allison was every bit the daughter Claire could have imagined and hoped for. She knew she would be a grandmother one day because it was Allison's destiny to be at John's side. The way she saw it, she might become a very young grandmother. It was a very real possibility since one version of her daughter was almost the same age as she was.

It saddened Claire to learn of 'Duplicate Allison's' death. What made it worse was she carried John's baby. It shocked her to know Cameron 'killed' another 'Allison' but risked everything to correct the mistake once she was freed from the enslavement of Skynet. She couldn't fault Cameron for following her programming. It wasn't something she had much control over at the time. What mattered was she went back and prevented it from happening. Cameron saved her daughter. Well, one version of her anyway.

Allison told her all the stories about the team. Allison wouldn't talk about what happened to her in her future. Allison talked of what happened to others like Vanna and Jesse, including other events she witnessed. Allison would never speak of what happened to her…. She thought as a mother it was better she didn't know. She did know it must be traumatic for Allison.

Based upon the stories she heard about Vanna and Jesse, as well as a multitude of others, she could only imagine some of the things Allison needed to go through to survive. It was quite evident females got a raw deal in the future. She always thought it was bad enough in the present. It was ten times worse in the future. She went through her own troubles growing up as well. Maybe one day they would trade stories.

Now, Allison and her were almost the same age. Allison was only a few years younger. Vanna was only a few years older than her. Vanna caught her eye as well. There was just something about her. They always shared long looks when Allison wasn't there. She was sure there was a personal connection of some type. Based upon what Allison told her about Vanna, she was very promiscuous around every female. She didn't think it was a bad thing the way Vanna helped a lot of abused females in the past, the future.

If Claire didn't know the truth about them, and wasn't married, she could have fallen in love with them herself as she did with Cameron. No wonder Allison loved Cameron. Nobody could be around Cameron and not love her, she thought. There was something about all of the girls from the future which resonated with her. Maybe it was because they were survivors. They didn't survive on luck. They weren't just girls. They were all real women. They were all strong women. All of them killed before. It didn't make them killers. They were survivors. It made them stronger. What didn't kill them, only made them stronger.

She saw the way her husband looked at Cameron. It was a look one learns to know what it 'means'. It was a look of desire and lust. Paul was a good man and never touched any of the girls, even if he wanted to. She asked each of them personally just to make sure. If she were still single, she would have touched them. If it wasn't for the 'pressure' from her family to 'get married and have kids' she would have pursued a different lifestyle…. The very lifestyle her daughter lived and shared was her preference when she was younger. Apparently ALL of her 'daughters', even in different timelines, lived the same lifestyle. Strangely enough, it was more accepted in the future than it was in the present.

Cameron promised to be there when Claire gave birth to her baby. She was told she was being 'scanned and monitored' every few hours by the Metal girls. It was a surprise to her. They could only tell so much. She was a little taken by the term 'Metal girls' when she first heard it. She quickly realized it was a term of endearment. She thought it actually sounded a little better than the 'Terminator girls'. For some reason it made her think it could be the name of a Heavy Metal, or Punk band. It would be an all girl group.

She remembered Cameron asked her several times if she wanted to know the sex of the baby. She always said she wanted to wait. She knew she didn't need to wait anymore. She did ask Cameron if she knew the sex of the baby. Cameron said she did. She finally asked Cameron and she told her. She told Cameron she liked the names Cameron and Summer as good choices for a girl. Cameron said she would rather have her name used as a middle name. She told Cameron she would name the baby Summer Cameron Young.

Cameron thought it was a good choice. She liked the name Summer, she wasn't sure why. There was just something about it…. It wasn't a common name, but it was a beautiful name. It seemed rather somewhat original to her. She knew if someone had an uncommon last name, with an uncommon first name, they might be the only people on the planet with the name. It would definitely make them unique in a world populated by billions.

Jesse looked over at Vanna. She was still asleep. She spent a lot of time with Vanna since Gail and Sheila were away. Allison was with Holly and they were away. It left Vanna and her with each other. They seemed to make the most out of it. It was something they both wanted, as much as they needed it. They were alike in some ways and different in many others. Maybe what made it all work is they both understood each other, and what life dished out to them. They went through Hell and survived. Their bodies still belonged to them. It was something no one could take away from them, even when they tried.

She still tried to get to John since Cameron wouldn't let up on her. Cameron 'pushed' her to do so. The trouble was, nothing ever seemed to happen. Cameron suggested she would get John drunk and switch places with her. Cameron wanted a 'real female' at John's side and in his bed. She wanted them to have a REAL relationship. John needed to be protected and she felt no one helped her to accomplish the task. It always seemed to anger Cameron when she spoke about it. She didn't think Cameron's plan was the foundation for a REAL relationship. She possessed plenty of experience in what wasn't a REAL relationship.

Derek what's the closest thing she ever had to a REAL relationship. Things happened, and things changed. Life moved on. Time waited for no one.

Jesse tried to explain to Cameron that John loved her too much to do it. All Cameron would say is John needed a 'real female' to protect him from the 'future'. It was very upsetting to her because she couldn't seduce John. NO ONE ever refused her before. It was actually a challenge now to her.

Like Cameron, Jesse didn't like to lose.

'I'll be the ONE to protect him.' Jesse vowed to herself.

Cameron was very upset at John at this point. She needed to hunt down some future Grays to quell the anger which brewed inside her. To deal a blow to the enemy, especially Skynet, was always able to calm her down and refocus her.

She was a little worried about her last termination. She didn't terminate the individual right away as she should have. When there was a termination, she didn't usually delay. She was there to accomplish a task. it was usually what she did. In the case of the Gray who was abusive to the small animals, she wasn't efficient. She tortured him first. It wasn't for very long. She used the same chemicals on him as he used on the small animals, in the same way. It seemed like 'justice' to her, even if it wasn't very 'Terminator like'. Maybe what he did to the small animals reminded her of some of her actions when she was a slave to Skynet. No. She didn't enjoy what she did for Skynet like the future Gray did when he was abusive to the small animals. He got what he deserved. She actually thought he got off lucky.

Her next target involved a tech firm. They would go on to assist Skynet with programs to infect computer systems in the past. The main target she was after was Charles Fisher. He was currently in prison. It appeared there were some previous dealings involving him with Future Derek and Future Jesse based on the intelligence reports. It seemed Charles Fisher returned from the future and was terminated by them. She wasn't sure why they didn't terminate both of them. As long as any version of Charles Fisher existed, he was a threat to the future.

She arrived at the tech firm in broad daylight. She carried her Glock with her and the silenced .22 pistol all the girls liked to use. Maybe she would start out with it. She would be able to accomplish more before panic set in. She would switch to the Glock if there was any resistance.

It seemed like a good idea to wear a vest for some protection. She hooked four Thermite grenades to it and put a light jacket over everything. It was very bulky looking but covered what was about to happen from obvious view. She brought one satchel charge with her made from C-4. It should do a good job to bring down most of the building when she left.

Cameron parked a block away and approached the building. She walked in the front door. She was pleased to see the receptionist wasn't there. She called her away on a 'family emergency' right before she left the base.

She grasped the door handle and shoved the door in. It cracked open with a loud splintering sound. She carried the silenced pistol in her hand.

A head popped out of the first office to see what the noise was. Her pistol coughed once and the man fell. The bullet went through his right eye. She looked in the first office. Only the dead man was there.

She moved on to the second office. There was a man working at a computer. The silenced pistol coughed again when he looked up at her. The bullet went through his right eye.

Cameron was aware the bullets fired like this most likely followed the inner circumference on the inside of the skull. They would thoroughly scrambled the brain after a couple of revolutions through the gray matter.

She moved on to the third office. It was empty. The computer was on, but no one was in the room. She wasn't sure exactly where the person was at.

She approached the fourth office. A man walked out as he looked at a paper he held in his hands. He almost bumped into Cameron. He looked up slightly surprised because someone was right in front of him. The silenced pistol coughed once again. The man wore eye glasses. They didn't slow or deflect the silenced projectile as it punched through them into his right eye, and the gateway to the inside of his skull.

Each time she killed one of the men, she remembered John continued to disrespect her program. She wasn't sure if it gave her motivation, or made her try to forget John's negative actions. Somehow it seemed like it was both.

The fifth office was empty when she looked inside. The lights were off. There were now two men 'missing'. They were there right before she left to go the location. She verified it with the receptionist. The receptionist said she wasn't sure of all the names yet as she only started yesterday. It was why she called with a 'family emergency' a few minutes later. She wanted to spare the new girl's life. If she would have still been there, she would have died at her desk. A collaborator was a collaborator.

The last room was the restroom. The door was locked. She listened for a few seconds and smiled. It was clear to her what was going on inside. She was going to try something 'special' if everything was as it sounded.

She slowly turned the handle and the lock broke under her force. There was a metal 'snap' sound but it wasn't loud. She opened the door slightly. There was a man sitting on the toilet with another man in front of him on his knees. It was clear what was happening.

She aimed carefully and fired twice into the back of the man's neck who knelt. The fact his head bobbed up and down in a rhythmic fashion didn't affect her aim at all. The seated man on the toilet was about to let out a scream once he realized what just happened. The man who was shot in the neck fell off to the side. She fired twice more. She gave the seated man a shot in each eye. The scream died in the man's mouth as his head snapped back. The man on the floor was dead. So was the one seated on the toilet. She could see he was still at 'full attention'. Since his heart was no longer pumping blood, it wouldn't last long.

Cameron tossed a Thermite grenade into each of the rooms with bodies. She left the satchel charge in the center of the building against the central support. She set the timer for four minutes. She wanted to make sure the fire was raging before the building collapsed in on itself and burnt everything.

What John said to her earlier didn't bother her right now. She checked her time and hurried back to her SUV. She needed to keep an appointment with John Henry and Bob.

She was pleased with the efficiency of her work. She simply did what needed to be done. She wasn't the judge or the jury. She was merely the Executioner who carried out the sentence. The individuals associated with Skynet sentenced themselves to termination.

It was time to run the drones through their paces.

John Henry was out in the field to test the drones. Bob and Cameron were with him. They brought a second drone with them.

Bob wanted to operate them one at a time.

Cameron insisted she control the second drone. She engaged John Henry in 'dogfights' and simulated aerial combat. She was always able to 'wax' him. They switched drones and the same thing occurred. Bob tried also. She smoked them both.

She looked at John Henry to see if he wanted to try again.

John Henry didn't even need to think about it. He was outmatched by Cameron before the contest would even start. He politely declined. He could see right away why Cameron was successful.

"It's obvious by you using irrational tactics, you're able to out perform both of us." John Henry said. "I'll use parts of your programming in each of the drones for autonomous control as well as mine for 'stability'."

Cameron wasn't sure she liked his response. She thought she was quite stable herself. She didn't think there was anything irrational about her responses. It seemed it was 'thinking outside of the box' to her. She believed everything was a matter of perspective. It made her think of a recent event. It was quite eye opening.

"It's not all about three dimensional thinking." Cameron said. "It's fluidity in motion. It's about where you want to be and don't want to be. It's about pushing the outside of the envelope. I recently 'appropriated' an F-16 from the Air Force and engaged two Navy F-18 fighters in mock combat. I flew the Falcon past the point where the G forces would kill a human pilot, to the point of even popping a few rivets. They are still trying to find out who the pilot was."

Her revelation worried John Henry. He came across multiple references to the incident in the military community. It was all kept very 'hush hush' for several reasons.

"It was you who did it?" John Henry asked. "I monitored the event and the investigation which followed. They never found the F-16."

The thought of the event and what followed made Cameron laugh.

"They never will." Cameron said. "I zoom climbed to 80,000 feet and bailed out over the Pacific. I opened my parachute right afterward. I rode the jet stream east. I ended up landing in Nevada. I thought I could go further. I didn't."

Bob and John Henry looked at each other. They were disturbed by the news. It was apparent Cameron took unnecessary risks, again. John would have to know….

John Henry would later cover everything up related to the incident.

Steve and Dan were on patrol. They routinely went through the neighborhood of the Young family in Palmdale.

Sheila called Holly and asked her to be extra vigilant. Holly said she would be and asked Allison to watch Young Allison. Holly understood what they wanted to do. She hoped they wouldn't ask Allison to go over. Then again, she hoped they did and Allison would look at her and then say 'no' to them. She understood she needed to share with Vanna, but she did want Allison for herself….

Allison told her she needed to respect her sexual freedom. Allison reminded her she was free to experiment as well. She didn't want to experiment. She just wanted Allison.

Gail and Sheila faced each other.

"I know we're the same program, but I can't look at you and not see 'Jesse'." Gail said. "I want you."

Sheila was ready for Gail.

"We are the same and I want you as well." Sheila said. "This should be quite an experience."

Gail thought about their current location. She felt they needed to take things easy. She didn't want to answer to Cameron about any damage done inside the Detail house.

"Let's try not to bust up the room." Gail said. "I don't want us to use any specific programming."

It seemed appropriate to Sheila.

"Affirmative…." Sheila said.

They both slowly undressed each other.

Then all Hell broke loose as soon as they touched each other…..

'Rock And Roll' by 'Led Zeppelin', shook the house.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Apparently Not

Memories die hard
But they fade, blur and die
The pain is what will forever last
Everyone always questions why

Everyone wonders and asks
Why can't what's good remain
Hurt and pain replaces the joy
Anguish attacks the brain

What does one remember
Is it what really did happen
Or do we only remember
What we wanted to happen

Were we ever really
On the same page
Or mindless puppets
Sacrificed on life's stage

We search for our love
Will they remember or not
No one is there – so
Apparently Not

Nobody