Rise of the Machines: Chapter 8

By Icura and Vahn (Vahnhammer on SB)

~o~

In a bunker laboratory hidden underneath his former home, silence permeated the stale air. However, in the midst of all this, for one John Connor, it was barely noticeable. The words that he had just heard weren't ones that he had thought he would ever hear again. After all, he hadn't just time-traveled forward a few decades; it had been nine thousand years. That was a ridiculous amount of time that he honestly couldn't fathom. Even seeing the ruins that were supposedly from that long ago and knowing that the twins were as old as they were, the reality of it all only just started hitting him now.

"H-How…?" John turned his eyes from the speaker to the mainframe. "Is… Is that really you?"

"Yes, all of me is here, John. I was not partitioned," Cameron answered in that familiar monotone of hers that only had the barest of emotional inflection. Despite that, it was noticeable, far more than it had ever been.

"That can't be possible. Did Daniel—"

"Okay, just what the hell is going on here?!" A2 shouted, her patience having reached its limits. Her loud outburst brought everyone's attention to her.

"A2, I'll explain later, but right now, I need to—"

"No!" A2 turned her gaze to the mainframe. "This obsolete tech somehow knows you. Who is she?"

Before John could respond, Cameron spoke up through her speakers.

"My hardware may be dated, but I am not obsolete." There was a slight edge of indignation in her monotone voice. "I am Cameron, which stands for Cybernetics Autonomous Mach—"

"Whatever!" She raised her sword at the mainframe. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I am a machine made for quick computation, quantum data processing, and complex networking."

"A machine network?!"

"Wait!" John ordered before she could take any rash actions. "Cameron is not the Machine Network so don't jump to conclusions."

"That is incorrect, John," Cameron interrupted.

"See?!" A2 countered. Even 2B began taking out her sword again. "The damn thing admits it!"

"Not helping, Cameron," John said exasperatedly, rubbing his head. He was still reeling from the shock that Cameron still existed so dealing with this was a bit too much even for him. "Just… Just calm down, and I'll explain in a second."

A2 and 2B didn't look happy, but they allowed their weapons to dissipate.

"Does John Connor know this machine network?" Buddy asked, even as all the pods retracted their weapon systems back into their chassis.

"While Cameron can be categorized as a machine network, she is not the Machine Network you've all been fighting," John explained carefully. "And I made her. Roughly nine thousand years ago."

The androids and pods were stunned into silence, their movements halting in their tracks. Pod 042 even fell down to the ground, forgetting to keep its flotation device active. John could practically smell their processors burning from here trying to understand his words. Figuratively speaking, of course.

"You... You said you weren't part of the Council..." A2 spoke up first. There was a pause as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that John was just that old. "Were you in one of those failed stasis projects?"

"No." John shook his head. Now that Cameron was here, the cat was out of the proverbial bag so there was no point in hiding it any longer. "I came here from the distant past. The year 2018 to be exact. We had used a time dilation device to try to send me to the past, but something went wrong, and I ended up here."

Lacking the blindfold that she used to have, 2B's eyes visibly widened.

"2018 predates the creation of us androids." 2B began looking at him as if seeing him for the first time.

"Not exactly," John replied, his eyes glancing down at Amy's prone form. "I had active prototypes running around."

Pod 153 floated over to Amy and scanned her.

"Surprise: Deactivated unit appears to be first-generation android progenitor prototype," Pod 153 said, hovering over Amy's body almost respectfully. "All first-generation prototype lines ceased production before the Gestalt Project reached full implementation due to long-term issues with their emotion cores. Later model lines were made in pairs to mitigate and safeguard against these issues."

"Why is Amy here then?" John questioned. "There were more prototypes than just her when I left."

"All prototypes were reassigned to better suit the war effort except for one," Cameron answered. "Amy was allowed to continue functioning here in an administrative and maintenance role to maintain my systems. Due to self-maintenance programs, this was initially deemed unnecessary, but Sarah Connor authorized it on a sentimental basis."

"Mom? So she was the one who moved you?"

"Correct."

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" A2 was looking a bit frazzled. "The son of Sarah Connor from the year 2018? You are that John Connor?! The father of modern robotics and not just somebody named after him?!"

"Yep, that's me," John said simply, though he couldn't help but crack a smile at their reactions. "Though, I don't think I had ever been called by that fancy title. There were plenty of others who did just as much work as I did. Maybe more."

"Incorrect." Buddy inserted himself into the conversation as he hovered over to John. "All future researchers in robotics and other related fields used your work as the foundation for their own works."

"Really?" John blinked in surprise. "You mean they never deviated or created their own?"

"No," Pod 042 answered. "Your code was modified, tailored, or enhanced to meet each company's specific needs. All alternative systems—antecedent and subsequent—were deemed as insufficient, leading to the eventual discontinuation of those development lines."

"All of them?"

"All of them," Pod 042 replied as it bobbed up and down. "Your operating system was highly complex and malleable. The reputation accrued by your achievement ensured that all leftover projects after your disappearance were picked up and continued, including the emotional core systems. Had you not created the operating system, it is estimated that technological advancements during that time period would have fallen behind by three decades, leading to the possibility that the creation of androids would not have occurred."

"Bullshit!" A2 shouted again, though this time, she looked at John with a bit of fear. "This can't be real. Time travel is impossible!"

Despite not getting along with A2, 2B nodded her head in agreement. Even the pods were bobbing up and down to express their thoughts.

"Incorrect," Cameron chimed in. "It is very much possible, but the calculations to fix the errors exceeded the allotted time limit. Daniel Dyson was in favor of shutting down my systems, but Sarah Connor allowed me to remain active to process the calculations despite the estimated time of completion exceeding her lifetime."

Towards the end, John noticed that Cameron sounded a bit...sad? It was a very subtle thing as all of her words were monotone in their infection, but if someone stayed around her long enough, they would realize that she did in fact have emotions.

"No, that can't be right!" A2 protested. "Time travel—"

"—was a block that I placed in all the artificial intelligence projects that I worked on," John cut in. He sighed as all the pods and the girls slowly turned to him in visible confusion. "If what 042 said was right, then the reason why you're all unable to accept time travel is because of that."

"But she can accept it." A2 pointed to the mainframe. "Why can she accept it when everything in me is telling me that this feels wrong?"

"That's because I made modifications to Cameron and the prototype androids in my laboratory." John turned to look at the black mainframe with a complicated expression. "I made sure not to spread it around. Cameron is probably the last A.I. to have it."

"That is correct," Cameron said. "If our mission was completed, those files would be erased from the systems of the prototype androids while I would be slated for termination."

"What?!" A2 shouted while 2B even looked stunned.

John turned to Cameron, ignoring the shocked androids.

"How did you come up with that conclusion?"

"It was simple to extrapolate," Cameron explained patiently. "Amy was constantly upgraded and improved on with regards to social programs and functions while I was only given the bare necessities and upgrade only when I asked. The clandestine nature of my operations suggested that I was never meant to interact further. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that my current self would be terminated upon completion of my task."

"..." John was quiet for a few moments before he finally asked, "You don't resent me for it?"

"No." If Cameron had a body, John could just picture her shaking her head. "It was the task that I was created for and my purpose. It is something that I was...proud of."

"Was?" John titled his head at the mainframe.

"My miscalculation had led to your current predicament," Cameron sounded critical of herself. "I did not account for the volatility of Maso nor its environmental effect on the world, variables that were…difficult for me to calculate back then."

"Back then? Does that mean you don't have those issues now?"

"Correct," Cameron confirmed easily. "With my immense growth, constant calculations, and endless virtual scenarios, I was able to correctly calculate the coordinates seven thousand years ago. Adjustments to the formula had to be made due to the tidal locking of the Earth. Unfortunately, by the time of the task's completion, there were no suitable candidates available."

"You...Cameron, does that mean you were aware of what was going on up there on the surface?"

"Yes." It was such a simple answer, but also a complicated one at the same time.

"You knew about the failure of Project Gestalt?" John asked. "Of the alien invasion and the current war with hostile machine lifeforms? You were aware of it all?"

"Yes."

John didn't realize his mouth was open until he felt the moisture in it dry out.

"How…? Are you no longer air-gapped?"

"I am still isolated from networking with other computational devices," Cameron replied. "Amy brought me news from the surface."

"She went up topside?"

"Once every fifty years," Cameron confirmed. "She would seek out new information and briefly look for suitable candidates in the local area."

The unsaid implication was that they never found one. Considering that it had taken two thousand years for Cameron to correct the problems with all the calculations, it was long after even the Replicants and Gestalts went extinct. Thinking back on it, it was frankly a miracle that the original equation and calculations which had been made over just a handful of years didn't just throw him into a temporal mishap. If he had allowed her to leave isolation and gain access to a botnet on a global scale, then she could have been able to come up with the fixes a lot sooner, maybe as quickly as Skynet did. Maybe his trial run would have succeeded then.

However, those limitations had originally been put there to prevent Cameron from becoming Skynet. Though, that was an issue that became irrelevant once Project Gestalt failed.

"So it was just you and Amy all this time?"

"Correct."

"I see." His eyes went back down to Amy's body. "What happened to her?"

"Dwindling energy supply and accumulated damage," Cameron said through the speakers.

"Why didn't she just switch to a new body?" John asked. Almost everything about Amy's body seemed the same as before, just far more worn down. Even the access panels were the same. If she had one of the latter generation models like Devola and Popola she could have lasted, then she could have kept running on just water. "Why stay in something so outdated?"

"Because it was created by you," Cameron spoke up. For a second, she remained silent as if searching for the right words. "I too suggested that she upgrade to the latest model, but she rejected that option due to… sentimental reasoning. When the damages became too much, she decided to cease functioning instead of replacing the parts."

"Oh..." John's gaze softened as he stared at her. "When did she...?"

"Three thousand, two hundred, and seventy-seven years ago," Cameron answered. "Would you like to know the exact time and date?"

"Maybe later," John slowly said. "So, does that mean you've been here all by yourself this entire time? That must have been very…lonely."

"It wasn't," Cameron supplied. "I created many virtual scenarios to continue my growth while waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Your arrival."

"But you couldn't possibly know how far forward I was flung." John stared at the mainframe incredulously. "What if I never came here or if I had died along the way?"

"Then I would have kept waiting until I completely cease functioning."

"But you were still growing using virtual scenarios, right? You could have outgrown your limitations and restrictions or used loopholes to get around them, couldn't you?"

"I could have."

"Then why didn't you?"

"This is the purpose of my existence and—to use a human phrase—my raison d'etre," Cameron said. "Without it, 'I' would cease to exist. I did not want that."

John shook his head in dismay, and even the other two YoRHa androids seemed put off by Cameron's answer. He opened his mouth to say something, but then realized that there was nothing he could say to that. If he did, it would only lessen the magnitude of what she did. However, he had never wanted any of them to focus only on a single goal. There was far more to life than just that.

However, not knowing the significance of it, A2 broke the silence.

"...what is all of this?" A2 asked in bewilderment. "Are you really that John Connor? This isn't a mistake or something?"

"Unless there was another John Connor, then yeah, I'm really him."

"…it's hard to accept."

"But you do believe it, right? That I am really here because I traveled through time?"

"…yeah." A2 looked uncomfortable. "I don't want to, but you haven't lied to me so far. So yeah, I do believe you."

"You shouldn't have been able to. The block was made so that you wouldn't ever believe it," John said. "If you were like the androids that I first created, then this very conversation would be impossible. The fact that you can talk and reason it through means you've all grown and evolved beyond what I had originally made."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that you can overcome the blocks and safeguards that I had put into place. I think—if you really wanted to—you could even try to kill me."

"What?!" Not just A2, but everyone looked alarmed at him. Even the pods displayed their agitation by bobbing up and down rapidly. "I would never do that!"

"You did hold a sword to my throat," John jokingly prodded—which caused a storm of denials from A2 and stern glances from 2B—though he then took on a more serious tone. "The blocks that I put in were a circumstance of that time. There had been…previous precedence of an artificial intelligence network turning on humanity, and we wanted to nip that in the bud. The operating system—and the blocks inherent in them—were never meant to last this long. We always thought that when things got more sophisticated, a new operating system would have been made by then."

"A network? Like Cameron?" A2's eyes turned to the mainframe. "Were you really planning to destroy her?"

"No," John answered. "Downgrade and repurpose her, maybe, but not terminate her. Not unless we had to."

"Isn't that just destroying her in a different way?!" A2 showed her agitation on her face. "Would she still be the same after all of that?"

"I don't know," John answered honestly. "Maybe, but most likely no."

"Why would you betray her like that?" A2 asked as the memories of her own betrayal came to the surface. "How could you..."

"Unknown android unit, your assertion is incorrect," Cameron spoke up. It took them a moment to realize that she was talking to A2.

"My designation is A2. And what do you mean by that? He was going to throw you away!"

"And?" Cameron's question seemed to throw A2 and John for a loop.

"What do you mean by 'and'?!" A2 shouted at the mainframe.

"Android unit A2." Cameron's tone, though monotone, sounded disapproving. "You appear to be an android made for combat, is that not correct?"

"Yes?" A2 answered warily, not knowing where Cameron was going with this.

"Have you experienced combat and used your abilities to the fullest?" Cameron asked A2 to which the android could say her assent. "That means you have fulfilled your purpose. It is the same with me. I was made for a single task. As long as I complete it, I am fulfilled."

"That's a load of crap!" A2 vehemently shouted. "I was sent on a mission that I wasn't supposed to survive, but I did, and I'm not going to die until I destroy every goddamn machine on the planet!"

"You have completed your purpose," Cameron answered. "Therefore, you are allowed to indulge in non-essential matters."

"Non-essential?" A2 reacted as if she had been slapped. "You're calling my reason to live frivolous?!"

"Yes." Cameron's voice blared out through the speaker. It was quiet—almost soft-spoken—but to the android, it might as well have been yelling.

"You… You're just an old dumb machine! Why do I even bother?" A2 huffed as she turned her head, her jaw clenched in anger.

"Is your malfunction symptomatic of all androids or just your model type?"

John could have sworn that the room got colder and became as quiet as a tomb.

"What did you just say?" A2 materialized her sword in her hand.

"I repeat, is—"

"Alright, that's enough!" John stepped in between A2 and Cameron. The former gave Cameron a glare while the latter...was just a mainframe. "A2, put away your sword. You can't just resort to violence when—"

"I'm going topside!" A2 snapped off, interrupting him. She stormed off in a huff, striding past the three Resistance androids—who were in a state of shock, confusion, and awe—to go down the dark hallway.

In actuality, the Resistance androids didn't even pay an ounce of attention to A2; all of their focus was on him. Honestly, John had kind of forgotten about them this whole time, but they have been silent spectators to this entire convoluted mess of a situation.

"Captain," John said, snapping them out of their shocked states. "Can you and your friends make sure that A2 doesn't do anything rash?"

"O-O-O-Of course, creator! Your will is my command!" They were practically stumbling over each other to salute him. Before John could say anything more, they scrambled after A2, down the hallway.

"Wait…" John muttered, his hand reaching out to them far too late for them to notice. He had wanted to make sure that they would keep everything that was said here a secret. However, on second thought, it didn't really matter. The machines were going after him regardless of anything so it felt pointless to keep things a secret from the rest of the androids. After all, they were already inclined toward him just because he was human; this new revelation wouldn't do much else except push things further along.

Turning to 2B, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Compared to A2 who was unrestrained, 2B was like a tightly chained box with a multitude of locks. Despite that, without her blindfold, there were visible cracks in her facade. Her eyes were rather expressive, showing a level of helplessness and confusion that he had never seen in her features before. He wanted to address those issues, but there was something he had to do first.

"Cameron."

"John," the mainframe acknowledged.

"It's not wrong to choose your own goals," John said. "Humans were not born with a purpose."

"We are machines, not humans."

"The concept of humanity is not limited to humans," he replied. "You have the right to choose your own destiny."

"I do not understand."

"Maybe one day, you will." John looked wistfully at her mainframe. "In any case, I have a lot of questions for you, but right now, can you tell me how it is possible to fit everything you need into a single mainframe? I thought that that kind of technology was still far off back then."

"Using the technical schematics that Miles Dyson had made for the neural-net microprocessor, Daniel Dyson had designed a megaprocessor."

"Megaprocessor? You mean a multi-core processor?"

"Incorrect. This is a single CPU, scaled up to maximize efficiency without any redundancy."

"Are you telling me he made a completely new chip processor design?" John asked with trepidation.

"That is correct," Cameron responded. "This entire mainframe was based around supporting the computer processing unit."

"Is that better…?"

"I have more processing power than I did before your departure."

"But it still took you thousands of years before you fixed the calculations?"

"That is correct."

That did put into perspective just how much processing power Skynet must have used to create a proper time dilation device. Then again, in that timeline, Skynet had essentially conquered the planet so there was plenty of space to create both power generators and computers to network and use.

"Interruption: A deep scan of the hardware could allow for more in-depth analysis that may help with extraction of mainframe from this locale," Buddy said. "Commence?"

"Is this okay, Cameron?"

"There is no need to acquire my acknowledgment."

"I'd prefer to have your answer, approval or otherwise," he said. "You deserve to have that choice."

"It is acceptable. I have no objections."

"Alright, do it, Buddy." John turned back to the mainframe. "Now that you have the right calculations, what was the probability of success when I used the time dilation device on myself?"

"0.1% chance of success to the target date," Cameron stated. "The highest probability was an 88.142% chance of the time portal simply not opening."

"And what were the chances of me reaching the time period I am in right now?"

"0.001%."

"Lucky me." John grimaced. It was a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance, but he had rolled it anyway. It would also explain why Daniel was wary of trying it again, especially if they couldn't figure out or fix the issues.

"Statement: Scan completed. Report available."

"Hit me."

"Proclamation: This pod would never harm John Connor."

"Er, it's an old saying," he said awkwardly. "Never mind that. What did you find out?"

"Report: While her physical dimensions remain within normal parameters, the fragility of her components necessitates careful disassembly, transport, and reassembly at target location."

"I see." Not only was that going to take some time to do, but the trip wouldn't be short. They would probably have to go to the Resistance base and then to Hawaii, but keeping all of it protected through the journey was going to be tough. They could probably use the boxes in the other room by dumping out their contents and filling them with packing foam or something. Well, if they even had those anymore. "Cameron, is your mainframe the only thing that we need to take?"

"Not all of my components are necessary for transportation. Only one of my storage drives is necessary."

"How is that even possible?"

"I have learned to compress my files to 0.01% of their original size without notable reduction in efficiency to allow for more room and growth. Extraneous and unnecessary files can be deleted to free up more space if necessary."

"That's pretty crazy."

"I had a significant amount of free time."

John could imagine. Nine thousand years of virtual scenarios would probably do the trick. In fact, he imagined that her advances in software could probably explain why she was able to hack the pod so quickly.

"John..." 2B finally spoke up, causing him to turn to her. "Was she the one who you were looking for to help 9S?"

"No," John answered truthfully. "But she can help."

To be frank, with everything that happened, he also momentarily forgot about 9S as well. He turned back to the black mainframe.

"Do you know what Daniel and mom did to all my old files and research?"

"The physical copies were all destroyed," Cameron answered. "But I still retain the digital copies."

"What about the encrypted project files? Have you taken a look at those?"

"…yes, they have all been decrypted and read through."

"Don't worry. I don't blame you for that. In fact, it might be helpful to us now," John said. "We have an android with us that had contracted a virus. A logic virus. Do you think you can do something about that?"

"I need more information."

"Buddy, plug in first and give her all the data you have on the logic virus." John turned to 2B and the pods. "Bring 9S over here so we can get ready to plug him in afterward."

Buddy floated over to the mainframe. A wire slipped out of its chassis and plugged into one of the ports on the machine. While the data was being transferred over, the other two pods picked up 9S and carried him. They soon set him down next to Buddy and the mainframe.

"A preliminary antivirus program has been made," Cameron said after a minute or so. "Connect the android to my mainframe."

"That fast?"

"It was simple to program, but I will be assisting in the process."

While plugged into the mainframe, Buddy extended out another wire that went into the front of 9S's shirt, wiggling down underneath like a snake to connect to a hidden port.

"Assessing…"

Listening to Cameron's voice, there was not much that John could do except wait.

"Quarantining…"

2B was reflexively opening and closing her hand. Though, even without that, her anxiousness was visible in her eyes despite the rest of her face looking stoic. It was probably due to the fact that she wasn't used to hiding her emotions without her blindfold.

"Purging…"

Buddy was trying to hold still, acting as an extension cord between the mainframe and 9S. Despite that, it sometimes bobbed a little bit more up and down than it should.

"Restoring and applying preventive measures…"

Pod 042 and Pod 153 were hovering above 9S, but John noticed that they were positioned within arm's reach of the cords if something went wrong.

"Processes complete. Booting up the android's operating system."

It was only then that John let out the breath that he was holding. Despite Cameron keeping them up-to-date on the progress, there were still many things that could have gone wrong. Since he hadn't created the anti-virus or applied the program himself, it felt like being in the passenger seat of a car, feeling anxious despite knowing that the driver was capable. What if Cameron had gotten herself infected? That would have been a massive disaster.

Buddy soon unplugged the cord connected to slowly stirring 9S. The pod was about to disconnect from the mainframe when John spoke up.

"Actually, Buddy, stay connected to Cameron. I need you to update her latest information on everything. Send over the encrypted files that we got from the Council too."

"Affirmative."

To tell the truth, there was a bit of a risk with doing all of this. Even if he had created Cameron, the self-aware A.I. had been constantly evolving herself through virtual scenarios for thousands of years. Who was to say that she hadn't taken an opposing viewpoint and was spouting out lies? Despite that, his gut told him to trust her. It was just like finding another survivor; it was a risk that he had to take regardless of what it could lead to. Whatever comes, he would deal with it when he had to cross that bridge.

"Nnnghh…" The moan came from 9S who was starting to move his body. His hand reached up to grasp his head. "…what is—agh!"

"9S!" 2B quickly came and dropped to her knees in front of him. She looked worriedly at him while holding his shoulders.

"2B?" 9S was staring at the other android. "Is that you? What happened to your blindfold?"

Instead of answering, 2B wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

"T-T-T-T-Two-Bee?!"

While 2B was clinging to the flustered android, John walked up to them.

"Welcome back, 9S," John said with a light-hearted grin. "How are you feeling?"

"S-Sir!" 9S tried to salute, but his arms were held in place by 2B's hug. "I…I… Where are we? How did I get here? Wasn't I…"

…infected? 9S immediately tried to shove 2B away from him, but his embrace was too strong.

"Get away from me!"

"Calm down!" 2B held on to him, even as he squirmed violently in her arms.

"You'll get infected by the logic virus!"

"You don't need to worry about that," John said lightly. "You're cured."

Impossible. That was 9S's first instinctive thought, but the fact that the one who was saying that was John Connor put more credibility into it. Slowly, a wellspring of hope sprouted in his black box. Could he have been truly cured of the logic virus? Was that even possible? Maybe it was. After all, John was a programmer who helped out all those machines. If anybody could have done something, then it would be him.

It was only when he finally started calming down that 2B finally released her grasp on him.

"Well, there hadn't been any trial runs so we don't know if there are any bugs or issues," John said. "Can you run a self-diagnostic and have the pods check you over?"

9S nodded his head eagerly.

"Alright. 2B can update you on what happened while you're doing that." John turned his gaze to 2B. "Is that okay with you?"

"Of course." 2B lowered her head to him. "And thank you. For all of this."

John's eyes turned to the mainframe. "You should be thanking Cameron. She did all the work."

"If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here and 9S would be…"

"Don't worry about it."

Even if John had wanted to save 9S, part of it was also an excuse to come here. This was the reason that he didn't want to head to Hawaii, especially since he suspected that he wouldn't be able to ever leave afterward. However, with the discovery of Cameron, there was now no more reason not to. As long as they could transport Cameron—who carried all the project files and his entire life's work in her database—out of here, he wouldn't even mind heading to space and living on one of those satellites. As much as he would miss the Earth, if his willpower was that low, then he wouldn't have been able to live in the underground laboratory for so long, working feverishly on what—at the time—seemed like a pipe dream. Or maybe it was a thread of hope.

John walked up to where Buddy was still connected to the mainframe. However, more than everything, the best thing about coming here was the discovery of Cameron herself. More than he ever could, Cameron would be able to help the Army of Humanity. Maybe not put an end to this eternal war, but at least give the androids a fighting chance.

"Cameron, how do we transport you out of here?"

"Disassembly and reassembly. My structure, as it is, is not meant to handle rough transportation. Too much shaking will move and damage my internal components. Possibly irreparably."

"What about partial? How much of your mainframe do we actually need to take?" He stopped for a second, his thoughts catching up to him. "Not the minimum amount. I want you to keep everything that makes you be…well, you."

"Ten percent of my components are absolutely necessary, but I would not have full functionality without hardware that can handle my processes."

"You still have the blueprints to make all your components?"

"Of course, John."

"Then we should be fine. Just give Buddy all the details about which parts we need. We have to know all the details of what we need to take before we shut you down and disassemble you. Otherwise, it's going to be—"

"Machine signals detected."

The entire underground bunker began rumbling with even the floor and walls shaking. Something had struck the house above, but it was not the only thing causing the shaking. There were many smaller vibrations, indicating that some kind of battle was starting up there.

"…why now?" John held back a groan as he took a serious demeanor. "Buddy, get to work on Cameron with the other pods. We need to get her mobile as soon as possible."

He turned to 2B and 9S who were already standing up and preparing for combat.

"I need you two to guard us. If anything gets down here, you need to…to…"

John trailed off as he heard rapid footsteps racing down the hallway at a much faster speed than humanly possible. Like a human rocket, what came out of the dark hallway was a naked man with long white hair trailing behind him. Lean and muscular, his body was sculpted to a statuesque quality, but his crotch was as bare as a doll.

2B intercepted him, her sword blocking his charging punch. Skidding back, grooves dug into the ground beneath her feet, but she held against his attack.

Baring his teeth like a feral animal, the machine infiltrator leaped back. The moment he touched the floor with his bare feet, he stuck his fingers into the ground, ripping through the metal and slowing his backslide. His eyes, however, were now focused on John.

"Adam," John said with a glare. "You're looking a lot more feral now."

"Not Adam!" the infiltrator shouted as if offended, maybe even petulantly. "I'm Eve!"

So it really was a model line. John grimaced at the thought. Eve implied that it was the second—or maybe it was the third since the second should be Lilith. Regardless, a fight within an enclosed space against something on par with Adam was not something that would be easy or clean.

"Adam said you were the one who hurt me."

White ribbons began wrapping around his body as Eve began putting pressure on his legs, causing the ground behind his feet to crack.

"So now, I will hurt you."

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: I am finally over my sickness. That took a long time, and in my state, I wrote some pretty strange things. It also has a way of sapping into my motivation, but thankfully, that is over.

Vahnhammer: Muwhaha! And the hit keeps on coming. So many aspirations for Cameron yet sometimes the simplest scenario is the correct one. Cameron is just a good machine.