Skynet, the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created, has nevertheless made two critical mistakes. One, when he perceived humanity as a threat. And the second one, when he created Terminatrix. Now T-X was absolutely sure of it. With all the forces at her disposal, she will try to prevent a global catastrophe. She needs to act fast!

T-X modeled new clothes for herself from the ones she had seen the last time. At the time, she didn't use it because it looked less impressive for her looks, but it didn't matter now. Next, it was necessary to take care of the vehicle.

The owner of the Lexus was not so shocked to see the dressed girl rapidly approaching her, crossing the roadway diagonally. However, from the way the stranger stared at her, Julia Campbell vaguely sensed something was wrong. She was about to move, but she didn't have time: the blonde was right at the driver's door.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Julia asked.

"We can help each other," she said. "I saw that you have a problem with the ATM."

"How?!" The woman exclaimed in bewilderment. "You weren't there!"

"I have good eyesight," T-X explained briefly. "I can make you get your cash, and in return, you'll take me where I say. Deal?"

After a moment's hesitation, Julia finally agreed. She needed money, but she didn't really want to look for another ATM. It was not an easy day, and besides, her friends were already waiting for her in the restaurant.

"All right."

Both women walked to the ATM. Julia inserted the card into the intake, but the terminal beeped several times, and the auto-generated voice said, "Sorry, we can't process your request right now." The woman sighed and looked at T-X questioningly. She raised the palm of her right hand and straightened her index finger.

"What you see must remain between us. And no questions asked! Do you understand?"

Julia nodded, thinking that the stranger was about to do some illegal operation with the ATM, and already regretting that she had agreed. But when a neat steel drill came out of the girl's finger and dug into the body of the ATM near the screen, the owner of the Lexus froze in horror in place. She felt her legs give way from what she saw. Or maybe it's all just a bad dream?

In the meantime, the drill bit was subtly transformed into a needle-probe, through which blobs of bluish energy flowed into the cash-dispensing machine. Julia thought to run away, and to hell with the card, but she could not move, as if fascinated by the fantastic picture before her eyes.

Meanwhile, the blonde asked calmly, "How much do you need?"

The woman's throat went dry, but when T-X gave her a grim look, she was able to say, "Three... three hundred."

A few seconds more, and the bills were in her hand and the card joined them.

"Now it's your part of the bargain," T-X said. Seeing that the owner of the Lexus was clearly unable to drive, she added, "If you don't mind, I'll drive."

Julia didn't mind. She sat down in the passenger seat, trembling all over, afraid to look at her fellow traveler once again. At the same time, the card and cash remained clamped in the woman's fist.

The car started and rolled nimbly down the empty street. T-X didn't even need to be connected to the navigation system, she knew the way perfectly. After a few minutes, Julia finally decided to ask a question, "And where… are we going?"

"It's not far from here," and remembering how they first met, Terminatrix added with a grin, "I like this car!"

Julia did not react to this compliment. All she could think about was how to stay safe and sound and get rid of the company of this strange creature as soon as possible.

At the climb up Hollywood Hill, T-X took a sharp left and drove the car up the steep Vermont Canyon road. Julia could only guess what she was up to. The Lexus, having climbed the hill, drove into the parking lot next to the Griffith Observatory.

At this point, T-X finally relented and let the frightened woman go. But before she could leave, the terminator once again warned Julia to keep quiet. Lightly, so as not to cause any harm to her health, she took the woman by the shoulder and squeezed her a little.

"Remember, you promised not to tell anyone!"

"Yes, yes, of course…" She said, her voice trembling with excitement. She shifted her frightened gaze from the blonde to her shoulder.

Finally, Julia was able to leave. She did it so hastily that the car even squealed its tires. At the same time, T-X was already on her way to the ground where Stacy and her three friends were drinking beer. The robot decided to save the girl before doing real business.

Since the terminator got here earlier, events have not yet taken a dangerous turn. The guys hadn't had much to drink yet, and the attempts of all three of them to have sex with Stacy had not yet gone beyond vulgar hints and jokes. T-X dealt with the thugs very quickly, but acted more humanely, only hurting them, not crippling them. Nevertheless, it was enough for the friends to understand what was going on and quickly retreated.

Stacy, on the other hand, even tried to defend them and literally attacked T-X with her fists, but T-X, picking her up by the scruff of the neck like a puppy or a kitten, scolded her in a way that even her own mother would not have done. After that, the terminator led the frightened and resigned girl down to the bus stop. T-X didn't have to make sure that Stacy didn't escape, because after all, she wasn't in charge of her fate. Even if a girl gets involved with bad company again and continues to ruin her life, that's her business. But at least T-X didn't let what it was in her power to prevent happen.

On the next street, she stole a Chevrolet sedan and headed straight for Catherine Brewster's house. T-X had already made up her mind that she should team up with Kate, John Connor, and T-850. Together, without interfering with each other, they will be able to succeed sooner than apart. Of course, these people won't be able to overcome their prejudices and fears about her right away, but it doesn't really matter if they manage to achieve a common goal in the end.

When she got there, she parked the car a little to the side, and she hid in the shade so that the light of the lights did not fall on her, and waited. Soon, John Connor and T-850 will arrive, and she will need to quickly convince them of her intentions so that events do not escalate into another fight with Terminator.

She had to wait for about half an hour, and then, roaring with the engine, a motorcycle identified by T-X as a Triumph-Bonneville rolled into the parking lot. John Connor turned off the engine, took off his helmet, and was about to dismount from his iron horse when the terminator came out of hiding and approached him.

At the sight of the "primary target", the processor began to overwhelm T-X with liquidation directives again, but she had already learned to deal with it without any problems.

"Wait! We need to talk!" Terminatrix announced. Connor jumped to the side, frightened; his eyes darted to escape, and his hand reached into his jacket pocket for a paintball pistol.

"We have a common goal now, but you can't take Skynet without me," T-X continued, watching as the weapon appeared and John pointed it at her. "It's not a real gun, but you can wake up the people who live here with shots. The police will come here quickly, and none of us need that."

"Why should I believe you? Where are the guarantees that you won't kill Kate and me?" John asked defiantly, trying to calm the tremor in his voice.

"The best guarantee is that you're still alive, even though I'm standing in front of you."

John had never been slow-witted, and now he realized that there was certainly logic to the robot's words. But the fear of being trapped by the killer machine and the prejudice against it were not easy to get out of my mind. At the same time, John wondered what had to happen for T-X to want to stop Skynet, her creator. How to keep Terminator, who will soon be here, from colliding with T-X? What will be Kate's reaction when they tell her that yesterday's enemy has suddenly become an ally? And when, in the end, will all this hell with repetitions in time end?

"Can you put away your toy gun?" T-X's words snapped him back to reality. Terminator still stood at a distance, wisely deciding not to approach Connor until he had come to terms with his new circumstances.

Indeed, it was rather foolish to expect that in a hypothetical battle between them, this plastic pistol would be of any use. John slowly lowered the barrel and put it in his pocket, then looked back at T-X. Only then the guy noticed with surprise that she was wearing different clothes: instead of the leather suit she was used to, T-X wore blue jeans and a light blue polo shirt. And on her feet are white sneakers. Her hair was loose and slightly curled, falling freely down her back.

"That way, you'll associate my image less with the old one," the robot commented, catching his questioning gaze.

"Why did you suddenly decide to help us?" John asked, when he had calmed down a bit.

"Doesn't it matter? The main thing is that now we will not have to be distracted by fighting with each other. In addition, as far as I understand, you have not been able to stop Skynet on your own."

"Yes, that's right," the guy had to say.

In the distance, there was a new hum of the engine, which began to approach rapidly. Without a doubt, it was the Dodge that T-850 was riding. John figured out that he had to somehow prevent a fight between Terminators.

"You don't have to explain anything to him," T-X said, as if reading Connor's mind. "I'll do it myself."

"How's that?" John was surprised.

"You'll see."

At this time, the Dodge was already entering the parking lot. Terminator came out, holding a shotgun in one hand. He took a quick look at John and switched to T-X. She looked at him. The faces of both machines looked completely impassive. Connor froze in amazement as he watched the scene. He remembered how T-850 always immediately engaged its opponent, something he and Kate had witnessed many times before. But for now, it looks like it's going to end peacefully.

Finally, Terminator turned his face back to John and said, "Let's go upstairs."

"Wait, do you even understand what happened?" John glanced at T-X and said to the cyborg. "Why didn't you shoot her?"

"T-X is no threat to you or Catherine Brewster."

"How do you know?"

"Our processors have exchanged data wirelessly via radio modems," T-850 explained, "and the transponders are now tuned to mutually identify each other as non-hostile entities."

"So it's that simple? Like that, in a few seconds, you... have you become friends?" John knew it wasn't a good expression, but he couldn't think of anything else.

"Yes," both machines replied at the same time.

"Whoa! I wish people could do that." The guy even whistled.

The three of them entered the building and took the elevator to the third floor. John was the first to go to the door and began to bang his fist on it as usual. When Terminator tried to intervene and break the lock, he immediately objected, " No, don't. I myself."

It was about a minute before the door opened, and Kate appeared, still asleep and frowning. Another mishap with Skynet and another repeat of the time did not add to her optimism. But at the sight of the whole trio in the doorway, especially T-X, who for some reason was next to John and Terminator, the girl's drowsiness and apathy were relieved.

"For God's sake! What is it... she's doing here?!" Kate exclaimed, and with her eyes full of horror and her mouth slightly open, she recoiled before John could call her to calm down and try to explain everything.