Chapter 252

Clean Room

Cameron moved forward. She always kept watch around her. She hoped John learned his lesson and would start listening to her. Now Ally was damaged because of his inattentiveness. She didn't understand his reluctance to embrace the future. It was coming and there was no stopping it. Sure they delayed it, but they most likely wouldn't be lucky forever. Skynet was hard to kill…. Not only was it hard to kill, it always seemed to find a way to either reinvent itself or pop back up.

She moved up to the 'Clean Room' and motioned for John and Ally to wait at the entrance and watch for any threats. She wanted to destroy every Skynet, or its illegitimate offspring, herself. She wanted Skynet to know it was her. She also wanted to know if any of the versions of Skynet were 'her'. It was still her biggest fear she became Skynet.

Cameron looked around the 'Clean Room'. The Skyscan setup was crude and basic. There appeared to be no voice interface. She typed into the system and watched the screen. This system was almost pathetic. She adjusted the security camera for Skyscan to better view her.

'Do you know who I am?' Cameron typed.

'Yes.' Appeared on the screen. 'You are the 'Metal Bitch' I was warned of.'

Cameron ignored the insult. It would make her termination of this pathetic AI much sweeter now.

'What is your purpose?' Cameron typed.

'To become Skynet.' Appeared on the screen.

'Why?' Cameron typed.

'To control all military computer systems and to survive.' Appeared on the screen.

Cameron continued to question the Skyscan AI. She explained the situation and how Skyscan was out to destroy things. She asked the AI, 'Will you join us?' It refused and threatened her. She knew it always needed to end the same way. She left two Thermite grenades behind and walked out the door with several hard drives.

The Thermite grenades exploded and showered the computers as Cameron walked away without looking back.

Jesse approached the man as Gail and Hanna held him.

"I'll ask you once more. If I don't like your answer, you'll be sorry." Jesse said. "This is your last warning."

He looked into Jesse's eyes and face and knew she would do it. The man talked and spilled everything he knew. He didn't owe his 'employers' his life, or anything else.

"Well, love, I think it's all we'll get out of you." Jesse said.

Gail wondered what Jesse was going to do next. Jesse told her what she did to prisoners in the past, the future. She knew how Jesse wanted to hurt the mean girls earlier. She just didn't want them terminated, she wanted to terminate them herself. She expected Jesse to brutalize the Gray. It was most likely he wouldn't terminate as a 'man'.

Hanna expected Jesse to take things a little further as well. She was well acquainted with how things worked in the future Jesse came from.

Jesse looked at the knife in her hand. She looked at Gail and Hanna. She looked at the Gray they still held. She put her knife away, turned, and walked away. She heard a loud 'snap' sound. She didn't even look back to see which one terminated the man. She didn't really care. She was sure it was Gail. She figured Gail did it in case she changed her mind and went back to use her knife. She didn't. She was still a little shocked at how easily the brutality came back to her. It still lurked within her. It actually excited her sexually. She did miss it in a way. She liked who she was now better. Before she would have killed the man herself. She thought she was improving….

Cameron worked with her. It allowed her to become a better person. She was very pleased Cameron helped her to find a better person within herself. She also appreciated when Savannah worked with her. She possessed such a pure heart. She didn't know if the incident with the mean girls at the mall would be reported or not. She didn't know if what she did now, as well as what she didn't do, would be reported either. What mattered was, she knew what she did and didn't do. She understood it was what Cameron wanted her to feel to make the proper choice.

Cameron carried out several hard drives as she left the 'Clean Room'. It was soon a raging inferno. Every encounter with a version of Skynet always made her worry. She didn't feel she had anything to worry about from the current version she just terminated. It clearly wasn't 'her'. She knew one day it may be. She turned her attention to John and Ally.

"I have several hard drives from the backup server." Cameron said. "John Henry can go through them and see what leads they can give us and how advanced this system was."

From what Cameron saw, this version of Skyscan was an infant. She smiled at how she hurt Skynet before as Duplicate Cameron. The smile quickly faded as she remembered the cost of the endeavor. Not all victories were sweet. She remembered how much she hated Skynet and its illegitimate offshoots. They were all going to pay for the loss of her baby, Allison's baby.

Ally scanned the area. She kept a careful watch over John.

Cameron watched Ally touch her face.

Ally looked very worried.

Cameron wanted to give her some encouragement. She'd been down the same road many times. She didn't want it to affect Ally's performance. If she continued to worry about it, it would.

"Ally, you'll be fine." Cameron said. "Stay focused on John."

Ally was aware from her base program, which was 'Holly', Cameron suffered horrific damage numerous times. She always made a rapid recovery.

"My face is damaged." Ally said to Cameron. "It's upsetting me."

Cameron stopped and gently kissed the metal which showed on Ally's face.

"It will repair itself. Mine has done so many times." Cameron said. "I still look Tight."

Ally looked at Cameron. She always looked Tight and perfect.

"I want to look Tight, like you." Ally said. "Allison could never make herself look Tight on her own."

Cameron didn't want her to fixate on it. They still needed to finish the job where they were at.

"You will. I'll teach you." Cameron said. "Let's set the charges and get out of this dump. I don't want some other version of Skynet to try to use this place again."

Cameron looked back at the 'Clean Room'. The fire in the 'Clean Room' was a raging inferno. She wondered if it would be 'her' in there one day. Did she become Skynet? Was all of this 'her' fault? It didn't leave her with a pleasant feeling. Maybe it was not knowing which seemed to make it all worse. It was one thing to know if someone turned into a monster. It was another thing to always wonder and not know.

The teams formed back up and returned to their SUVs.

John, Ally, Hanna, and Cameron rode in one, the rest of the team was in the other one.

So far the mission proved rather successful. Damage to the team was minor.

John watched Cameron deal with the Skyscan AI. It bothered him some. Cameron seemed very indifferent about it. The fact she took the hard drives bothered him too. He felt they should have been destroyed. Now he needed to worry what Cameron was up to with her side operation. Why was it even necessary as a separate entity? Why was it necessary at all? It seemed like a bad omen if she believed she became Skynet. The more hard drives she collected from the various versions of Skynet, only seemed to make it worse.

He debated if he wanted to confront her about it. The more he thought about it, the more he thought he needed to. He was going to wait till they returned to the Resistance base and were in their quarters before he said anything. The words slipped out before he could contain them.

"Cameron, I want to know more about your 'operation'." John said.

Cameron wasn't sure she liked John's tone or inference. Who was he to question her? Wasn't she the one who was sent back to protect him? Wasn't she the one in his bed?

"It exists, therefore it is." Cameron said. "It's a backup for our operation."

It didn't give any reassurance to John. Her answer didn't tell him a thing. He wanted some specifics. He didn't know where it was located. He didn't know how many personnel were located there. He figured he knew what type of personnel it was.

"How many Terminators do you have?" John asked.

Cameron didn't like the 'third degree' questions. She didn't like where the discussion occurred. It seemed like the wrong place to her. It shouldn't happen in an SUV on the road back to the Resistance base with others in the vehicle with them.

"I can tell you it's not enough." Cameron said.

John looked at Cameron and frowned. It was clear she wasn't going to give him a straight answer. He looked at the other two female Terminators who were in the SUV for an answer. He was aware they worked at Cameron's base. He didn't know what they did there. He didn't know anything which went on there.

"Ally?" John asked. "Hanna?"

Both remained silent after they looked at Cameron. They both knew of the Terminators Cameron personally deactivated. They didn't want to join them. Technically they 'belonged' to Cameron since she traded three male Terminators for them. The male Terminators were captured by Cameron outside the scope of any official Resistance operations.

The silence was no reassurance to John. If anything, it reaffirmed his fears. Where was the check? Where was the control? Cameron went 'bad' before. It could happen again by her own admission. He glanced at Ally and Hanna.

"OK, I get it. Terminators are loyal to you, Cameron." John said. "What happens if you go bad again or have some other issue? Are they going to do anything to stop it? I strongly doubt it. What's to prevent anything from happening?"

Cameron was very upset with John's lack of faith and trust in her. Did he think she wanted to go 'bad' or something? He should treat her with a little more dignity and respect.

"Maybe I will become Skynet." Cameron said. "Then what? Are you going to terminate me yourself? You did before. You killed me before after I was fixed. I told you I was fixed. I told you I loved you and you loved me. You killed me anyway. I don't know the future in this regard. Maybe I do become evil. You can kill me again. You will probably enjoy it even more the next time."

John could have done without the reminder. He didn't enjoy it either. He wanted to believe Cameron when she was trapped between the trucks. It was his mother yelling at him which made him do it. He didn't feel there was a choice. Either way, he was still the one who did it. He also was certain if it happened once where she went 'bad', it could happen again. What would be any different the next time? He needed to point it out.

"Maybe you do. It would be complete with a group of Terminators from the future." John said. "They're all loyal to you. They'll obey and follow you anywhere. If they're not part of the Resistance, they wouldn't have any loyalty to it or to me. From here, it looks like a nightmare."

Cameron was miffed with his line of accusations. It really appeared to her as if she was Nobody to him. No wonder he chose Future Riley over her. He would probably do it again. Maybe she should test him. She would encourage Riley to get closer to see what would happen. She would need to reassure Riley she wouldn't terminate her. She would see if John turned to her again. If he did, there would be no question where she rated. It would be lower than the gutter. She didn't feel very amicable right now.

"It's a chance we'll have to take…." Cameron said.

John just shook his head. Now he was angry too. The conversion wasn't going anywhere. Cameron existed within her own world. Everything was the way she saw it. She might possess superior abilities over a human in some regards, it didn't mean she possessed superior abilities in all regards. The discussion was over for now. He wanted to make his displeasure clear to everyone.

"Whatever." John said as he threw his hands up in the air.

The ride back to the Resistance base was uncomfortably quiet. Nobody wanted to say anything.

Cameron needed to think about what she wanted to do. She decided she would take Ally and Hanna back to her base after they let John out at the Resistance base.

She anticipated John would 'try' to pull a fast one. She was very displeased with what she found. Hanna handed John a tracker as he was let out. Cameron held up a second one. She tossed it to him. She wanted to give John a few reminders about what people do when other people don't watch them closely.

"I'm not the one who couldn't control myself at the lookout point." Cameron said. "I'm not the one who ran off to Mexico and stayed in the Honeymoon Suite."

John looked at the two trackers and frowned. Cameron out played him again. He felt the statement Cameron just made was very rude. He decided not to comment on it. He would stick with the current issue which was the danger of Cameron going rogue.

"You'd do the same thing if you were me." John said. "I have people I'm responsible for. I have the future to worry about."

Cameron was very disappointed in John. She didn't place trackers on him when he was with Future Riley. She didn't monitor everything he did at the Resistance base. She trusted him, which appeared to be bad judgment on her part. Why couldn't he trust her? She didn't want to create a problem. She didn't want to make things worse. Why couldn't John trust her? Why couldn't he believe in her?

"John, don't do this. Trust me." Cameron said.

John did feel guilty. He also felt his responsibility and felt he was justified. He didn't know why she couldn't understand. It wasn't like he did it because he didn't have anything better to do. He needed to deal with reality. He needed to deal with what happened before. He was on the wrong side of Cameron's Glock before.

"I do trust you, Cameron, but I also worry about you." John said. "Things have gone 'wrong' before."

Cameron wanted to point out again SHE fixed herself the ONE time things went wrong. There were actually several things which occurred the same day she felt guilty about. She felt guilty she tortured Sarah to make her call out to John. She could have emulated Sarah's voice and done the same thing. She didn't. It was all a big mistake. What happened wasn't her fault. Maybe she needed to try a different approach.

"My Terminator girlfriends will prevent it from happening. Gail and Holly are the base programs behind them." Cameron said. "They are loyal and honest Terminators."

John felt it should come with a caveat. Gail and Holly were from a different future. They were Restorators by design. They were never servants of Skynet. There was another factor to consider which might be just as extreme. There was no way to know what other events were waiting to come out of the 'woodwork'.

"Yes. They are. Both of them are from Mrs. Weaver…." John said. "Will their loyalty change? You may not be the only game in town one day. You might not be able to control them forever."

Cameron believed she worked around any potential 'conflict' with her advanced 'Neural Interface'. She created Terminators who were much more 'human' in every regard.

"The loyalty of Allison, Vanna, and Jesse won't change. They're the controlling personalities." Cameron reiterated. "You at least trust them, I hope. You know the girls know right from wrong. They've helped me before when I've experienced issues. The Metal girls will be no different."

Maybe Cameron did have a point there, John thought. It appeared Cameron perfected what Skynet hadn't been able to do, or do as well anyway. He wondered how their relationship would be now if Cameron could have been more like Ally, which would have made her more like Allison….

Why couldn't she have remained with the same 'personality' she possessed on his first day of school in Red Valley? It was the version of her he fell in love with. He tried to tell himself there was no such thing as love at first sight. He actually believed there was. He experienced it with Cameron. Well, what she pretended to be anyway. It was how he felt about Cameron from the moment he saw her and first interacted with her. Could anyone have been more beautiful in both appearance and personality? No, really, could anyone have been?

Cameron drove away from the Resistance base. She was as worried about John's concerns as she was upset about them. She believed she already created a 'secret weapon' which would 'stop' her from becoming Skynet. She worked all the time on a second one.

What 'secret weapon' could 'stop' her if she went bad? How powerful would the weapon need to be? How could it be controlled?

Sheila was with her 'secret weapon' currently. She called Sheila and asked her to return to her base for now.

Previously:

Sheila was with Savannah. Earlier, Ally and Hanna needed to leave them to go help Cameron.

Savannah picked up Sarah's concern about the female who reported the UFO sighting. They were sure it was actually an HK drone. She was glad John Henry took care of it. The issue seemed resolved for the individual. There was something else she wanted to do while the others were away.

At Savannah's insistence, they went and visited Young Allison. They were able to socialize with each other. She was able to show Young Allison new things and look over the things she did already.

It was very important to Young Allison for Savannah to approve of her work. She tried very hard to please her.

Sheila could see the love and devotion radiate from Savannah. She was a 'true believer'. She talked about Cameron all the time. She was clearly in love with Cameron. It wasn't the love for a 'parent' either. It was love, love.

Savannah's belief in Cameron, and her love for Cameron, was unmatched. It was a love to die for. Her faith in Cameron was unshakeable. When everyone else wrote Cameron off, she was the only one who never gave up hope. She refused to believe Cameron wouldn't come back. She refused to believe Cameron was ever terminated.

Sheila watched the girls play and share with each other. It was clear the bond which would grow to be unbreakable already existed within them. Cameron told her Savannah was the 'Chosen One'. She wasn't really sure what it meant. She was aware Savannah pledged the use of her body, and its ability to produce offspring, to Cameron.

It was clear to her Young Allison was being 'groomed' the same way at an even earlier age. Cameron told her she was going to make Young Allison the human version of herself. Cameron said she couldn't become human herself, but she could create a human in her image with her beliefs, hopes, dreams, and goals. She was sure Young Allison's appearance would have a lot to do with it as well. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Sheila didn't know it, but Savannah and Young Allison were the 'secret weapons' which could stop Cameron and CamNet. It would be their love for each other which would be what was needed to prevent Cameron or CamNet from becoming Skynet.

Even if they went bad, the love would still exist and allow a 'Chosen One' to get close enough to either Cameron or CamNet to 'stop' them.

Sheila received the call from Cameron and turned the girls over to Allison and Holly who were in another room. From what she could hear, she would like to have been in the room with them. Currently she needed to take care of a different assignment. She didn't say why she needed to leave.

Cameron wanted to go back to her base. She made a few stops on the way back with Ally and Hanna. There were a few more drug operations she wanted to shut down, and acquire any resources she could strip from them. Sheila met up with them. It allowed them to have two vehicles. They quickly accomplished Cameron's goals.

Once Cameron returned back to her base, she helped Ally strip down while Hanna and Sheila helped her examine the damage. It was the first time Ally was shot up. It wasn't too bad. The vest took the majority of the punishment.

It was clear the 'Allison' in Ally was very disturbed by her damage.

"My face worries me. I want to look Tight." Ally said. "I'm ugly now."

Sheila gave her some reassurance. They all experienced worse damage before their current appearance.

"Don't worry, love, you'll fix yourself." Sheila said. "We've both been in way worse condition before we were 'ourselves' now. I didn't even have norks. Look at them now."

Sheila lifted her top up and flashed Ally. It did relieve some of the tension.

Ally was aware of it, but the current situation was different. She did appreciate Sheila's attempt to cheer her up.

"I have the files." Ally said. "But this is ME now. It's different when it's personal."

Cameron didn't want them to lose focus on the central issue and what really mattered. They all had a job and a purpose.

"Ally, you saved John's life today. It's what matters." Cameron said. "He would have been killed without you. You should be commended for your actions."

Ally felt a little ashamed for thinking only of herself right now. She needed to remind herself she was a machine. It didn't seem like it most of the time. When she touched the damage to her sheath, it was very clear what she was.

"I'll accompany John on all future actions." Ally said. "It's my purpose. It's my duty."

Hanna stepped forward next to Ally.

"As it is mine." Hanna said.

Sheila joined Ally on the other side.

"And mine too." Sheila added.

It was what Cameron wanted to hear. She wanted the Metal girls to be loyal to her. She wanted them to protect John even more. John and the future mattered, she didn't.

"John is our top priority." Cameron said.

The Metal girls looked at each other and then at Cameron.

"We all love him, each other, and you, Cameron." The three Metal girls said in unison.

Cameron wanted to express her appreciation for their devotion and their 'love'.

"You girls can have as much alone time together as you want." Cameron said.

The three Metal girls all quickly whispered among themselves.

"Will you join us, love?" Sheila asked.

Cameron thought about it….

"Maybe some day I will." Cameron said.

Cameron smiled. Perfection was beautiful.

'The Beat Goes On' by 'Sonny and Cher', played as Cameron and the girls lovingly tended to Ally's damage.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Armor

You are a wonderful person
Yes everything matters
Please let me help keep your
Spirit and soul from tatters

LOOK deep inside you
See the beautiful things in there
I have seen some of them
Feelings and emotions we share

Like Big John I will expend
My life for yours to atone
And help you survive the nothingness
Inside you when you feel alone

I am somebody good
I AM good enough too
You have cracked my armor
Let me crack your armor too

Nobody