Chapter 434

They Need My Help

Bob quickly got his team ready to take down the Skynet Terminators. They were last minute 'players' in the game. They just arrived. They didn't seem to know what was about to go down with the Resistance team.

Jim was notified to go in hard and hot from the back as soon as any shooting started. They didn't want to give anybody time to mount an effective defense against the Resistance team.

Bob knew of Cameron's wishes. He didn't agree with some of them. He didn't like to go easy on enemy Terminators. Then again, Cameron usually proved to be correct in the end. She kept them safe. They suffered no major problems or terminations.

The two Skynet Terminators entered the building. Bob's team tried to Taser them. The female Terminator fell instantly. She collapsed like a rag doll. The male Terminator dodged the hit. He came up shooting.

Jim's crew in the rear heard the shooting and responded. They crashed through the back door and back window. They engaged all targets. The targets were anything which wasn't their group of Terminators. Some of the targets scattered rather than fight. It only delayed their termination by a short period of time.

The male Terminator who dodged the Taser came up firing and scored a few hits on Bob and his team. Their protective vests prevented any sheath damage. They all opened up on the enemy Terminator. He was simply outgunned. His sheath was shredded. The Coltan projectiles disabled him. He fell like a ton of bricks.

Bob sent the rest of his team to back up Jim's crew while he Tasered the now fallen male Terminator as he struggled on the ground. The female Terminator started to reboot, he Tasered her again. He removed both of their chips. As soon as it was done, he joined the fight deeper inside the building.

Steve and Al moved from their observation point outside to go in to secure the Tasered Terminators.

Cameron indicated she was on her way.

Jim's team at first met little opposition. The Grays were totally unprepared and not expecting them. Their guard was inattentive, now they paid the price. The price was their lives.

Bob entered from the front section into the main part of the building. He entered soon after the rest of his team. They all shot at targets. Very few rounds were fired in return at them. In less than fifteen seconds it was over. Every Gray they could see was terminated.

Sheila was at altitude over the target location in the manned drone. She reported seeing two more vehicles headed their way at a high rate of speed.

John Henry sent one drone to intercept them. The scans didn't show any obvious Terminators in the vehicles. There still could be.

Cameron's Terminators said they were on an intercept path and they would handle the two approaching vehicles. They were held in reserve if the Resistance forces needed them. Sheila said she could take both of them with missiles. CamNet directed Sheila to backup the main operation instead.

Sheila wondered what it was all about. Then again, she knew CamNet was another version of Cameron. Nobody was going to argue with her, with 'Cameron'.

Bob and Jim looked over the area. It seemed like there should be more to it. It was almost too easy of a take down. There was definitely more substance to the operation, than the last one they encountered. The other operation turned out to be nothing and one of their teams was targeted by an HK drone when it left the area. The easy take down at this location raised a few red flags.

"I think there's more to this." Bob said.

Jim was in agreement.

"Isn't there always." Jim said as a statement.

Bob and Jim left it up to the rest of the team to collect what they could and get everything ready to move out. They wanted a better look around.

They looked around the first three sides of the building and moved to the last side once they checked everything else.

Bob was a little concerned about the lack of anything additional.

"Keep your eyes open." Bob said.

Jim thought he may have found something.

"Take a look over here." Jim said.

Bob went over and looked. There was a scuff mark on the floor. It appeared to have been repeated quite a few times. There was an old metal work shelf in front of it. He pulled on it and it moved. It rotated out from the wall like a door. There was an opening behind it. They found a hidden doorway. It could lead to another undiscovered section of the building, or possibly be an escape route. He looked at Jim and nodded.

Jim nodded back. It would need a closer inspection.

Bob went into the opening first. It led to the building next door. The other building was full of old office equipment and dusty storage boxes.

Jim pointed at the dusty floor. There was a path in the dust where people passed back and forth more than a few times.

They carefully followed the path. There were no deviations in the dust. It ended at a large flat wooden crate which was stored upright.

Jim went to move it. It swung out like the metal storage cabinet did. There was a doorway behind it. There was a staircase which led down.

Bob let Steve know where they were, but said they hadn't detected a threat yet. Steve advised them to use caution.

They quietly went down the staircase. Everything was in total darkness. They weren't hindered much by it at all. They could use different vision spectrums as well as night vision.

There was a noise somewhere below them. It was a single metallic 'click'.

Jim held up his hand for Bob to pause.

"Don't make noise." The first Gray said.

"No one knows we made it here." The second Gray said.

"We need to get out of here." The third Gray said.

"Everyone else got creamed." The second Gray said.

"Quiet." The first Gray said. "If you don't shut up, we'll be next."

"We need to get away from here now." The third Gray said.

"Going outside is a death sentence." The first Gray said. "There's bound to be more of them out there. We need to wait this out."

"I think we made it out clean." The second Gray said.

Jim and Bob continued to move down the stairs.

"We haven't made it anywhere yet." The first Gray said. "All we did so far is survive the initial encounter."

"What about all this stuff?" The third Gray asked.

"It's all secured for now." The first Gray said. "We can come back for it some other time."

"Do we know who hit us?" The second Gray asked.

"It could be the anti-Metal clan or the Fanatics." The first Gray said.

"Maybe it's the 'Metal Bitch' we've heard about." The second Gray said.

"They say she's everywhere." The third Gray said.

"You know it can't be true." The first Gray said. "She would have been destroyed or captured by now."

"What if there's a whole army of her, or them?" The second Gray asked.

"Maybe we can capture her." The third Gray said.

"How would we be able to capture her?" The second Gray asked. "She would kill all of us in an instant."

"You clowns sound like morons." The first Gray said.

"I want to see if a 'Metal Bitch' is like the real thing." The third Gray said. "I got dibs on her first when we capture her. I don't care if she's deactivated or not."

"What would you know about the real thing?" The second Gray asked.

"I've visited the 'comfort bunk' more than a few times." The third Gray said. "I know what females are like too. I can't really say it's better."

"I need you imbeciles to shut up and work. Just collect some of this stuff and stop worrying about it." The first Gray said. "We're going to have a hard enough time explaining how we made it out."

"We can say we were busy with a bimbo tied up down here and were 'doing her' when it hit the fan." The second Gray said.

"We did have one until a week ago." The third Gray said. "I told you I know what the 'comfort bunk' is like."

"We'd still have her if you idiots didn't start carving her up so fast." The first Gray said. "Every time we snag someone off the street, we're asking for trouble."

"You know some of the guys can't get off unless they hear them scream." The third Gray said.

"Well, I'm not one of them." The first Gray said.

"No one cares about the homeless sluts we bag." The second Gray said. "They're more like things who got thrown away by everyone else."

"Yeah, it's not like they're real people or anything." The third Gray said.

"Be quiet and hurry up." the first Gray said. "I want to get out of here while we're still alive."

Bob and Jim were on the lower level now. There was a dim light up ahead.

They could see the three Grays collecting something. They were thoroughly discussed after listening to them talk about their treatment of females. If they weren't already going to be terminated because of their association with Skynet, they would be terminated for their disrespectful behavior and criminal acts against females.

"Let's go." The first Gray said. "This should buy us a reprieve."

"If we pass by any homeless chicks, let's put the grab on one of them." The second Gray said.

"I don't have a problem with it." The third Gray said.

"I need you clowns to be quiet until we're out of here and away from this area." The first Gray said. "If we can't get away from here alive, nothing else matters."

Jim and Bob both blended in on either side of the path. Much to their surprise, the Grays didn't come their way. They started out in a different direction.

They moved out to follow the Grays. They passed by a series of computers. All of them were stripped of their hard drives.

The Grays moved along in single file. Only the man in the lead carried a light.

Bob moved up in back of the last Gray and silently snapped his neck. Jim passed by them and did the same with the second Gray. They carefully set the bodies down and followed the first Gray. They figured it would save time to have him lead them to anything else of value. They decided to prompt him some.

"Do we want to take anything else with us?" Bob asked in the second Gray's voice.

"We're never going to be closer to it than we are now." Jim said in the third Gray's voice.

"What else is there to take?" The first Gray asked. "We have Skynet here with us. Well, a backup copy of it anyway."

Bob and Jim looked at each other. Maybe it's why the place looked like there should have been more. It was all about a backup for Skynet. The rest of the building was to direct attention from its real purpose.

The first Gray reached the back wall.

"We're here." The first Gray said.

He tripped a latch and opened a section of the wall. It led out to the side street. None of the Resistance team was on the far side. It was because there were no windows or doors located there. The Grays might have gotten away if one of the drones wouldn't have spotted them.

The first Gray looked back and saw four red eyes. He went to scream and run, but Bob grabbed him. They wanted to find out where he was going to go with the hard drives.

"It's time to tell us a little more." Bob said.

The Gray lifted his pistol and shot himself in the head.

Bob and Jim were surprised. It was the first time they encountered such determined behavior from a Gray before. They closed the opening, collected the phones, and hard drives. They went back up. They didn't tell anyone what they came across. Cameron would want the hard drives herself to go through.

They specifically heard the Gray state the hard drives were a backup for Skynet. it was possible it was a version they already took down. It was also possible it was a new version which may have recently been installed somewhere. Whatever it was, it indicated trouble.

Earlier:

Cameron grabbed Ally when she left.

Ally only recently returned with Sheila when their operation didn't pan out. She was a little disappointed when Sheila was given the job to pilot the manned drone. It was what she wanted to do. She already did it on one operation. She would have preferred Cameron used Sheila for the ground operation. Sheila would much more prefer to do the 'dirty work' when it came to getting answers. She also understood everyone needed to be fully trained on all the new equipment.

"What is it exactly we're going to face?" Ally asked.

Cameron filled Ally in on what was happening and what she wanted.

"I want the female Terminator." Cameron said.

Ally wondered what new plan Cameron contemplated. She knew some 'fresh skirt' was something to look forward to. She hoped to 'inspect' her before Sheila did this time. She thought Sheila got a little too carried away at times as she checked over every detail.

"You still have one female Resequencing now who is inactive." Ally said. "What's her story?"

Cameron played it close to the vest. She didn't elaborate on what her actual plans were.

"She will be needed for a temporal mission." Cameron said. "I want all the female Terminators I can get."

Ally was always ready for a new conquest before Sheila. Sheila usually cut to the front of the line.

"I'm all for the same thing." Ally said.

Cameron shot Ally an angry look. She was displeased with the high level of sexuality the other Metal girls exhibited. It was due to their 'Neural Interface' with the girls from the alternate future. It seemed their desire based on past practice was very dominant with them. Everything carried over to the Metal girls.

Ally smiled at her. She knew Cameron still hadn't tried a 'taco'.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it." Ally joked. "Once you try 'crack', you won't go back."

Cameron shot Ally another dirty look.

Ally knew she was pushing it. She possessed the 'Neural Interface' files from Allison. Allison liked females. She spoke with Vanna and Jesse about it too, they all preferred female companionship along with everything it offered. They all said they would try any 'fresh gash' in a flash. She remembered when Claire told her only a female could truly satisfy another female.

Cameron wanted Ally to focus on what they were doing now.

"Enough…." Cameron said. "We have people in combat right now. They could be damaged or worse."

Ally was aware any of them could be damaged or even destroyed. She knew Cameron received more damage than all of them combined over the years. It was clear it was a very personal issue to Cameron. She only tried to take some of the tension off of the current situation. It most likely would have worked for anyone else other than Cameron.

"I'm sorry, Cameron." Ally said. "I know you're worried about them. I am too. I just tried to lighten the mood some."

It all weighed heavily on Cameron. There was a certain amount of frustration with everything. There was always the worry of the unknown on top of it. There were many things she couldn't control, even if some of them could be foreseen.

"I'm worried about everyone, EVERYONE." Cameron said. "I'm worried about everyone and everything. There's so much I need to do. There are choices I can't make. There are choices which need to be made. I can't keep hurting the people I love."

Ally felt the vehicle swerve a little bit. She saw Cameron remove her left hand from the steering wheel. It started to glitch. It seemed to get worse. She knew Cameron was really troubled by something more than usual. She wanted to ask Cameron what it was, but was afraid she would snap at her. She still wanted to comfort Cameron if possible.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ally asked.

Cameron briefly glanced over at Ally.

"NO!" Cameron all but shouted. "I'll handle it. I always do."

Ally was sure Cameron's eyes glowed red for a fraction of a second.

They sat in silence as Cameron drove.

The silence weighed on Cameron. She knew Ally was trying to make things less stressful. She was just worried about so many things. They all made her very uneasy. She didn't want to create any hard feelings.

"I'm sorry, Ally." Cameron said. "I wanted something to happen and I thought it was finally going to, now it won't. Not yet. Nothing has worked out the way I planned and wanted. I have no control over them."

Ally wasn't really sure what Cameron referred to at this point. It didn't seem like a good idea right now to press her on it. She still hoped to find out a little bit more. Cameron was always in control the way she saw things.

"Why don't you?" Ally asked.

Cameron felt the future weigh on her, all of them.

"The plan changed." Cameron said. "I have to put my Duplicate sisters before myself. I don't want to, but they need my help more. I need to return to my future and see what happened there. I need to return to the future Mrs. Weaver is in. I need to go to River's future. Something can go wrong on any of those missions."

Cameron already experienced one temporal error. It wasn't significant, but it could have been. She could end up any 'where' or any 'when'.

Ally wanted to offer Cameron her assistance and some suggestions. She wanted to help out Cameron as much as possible. All of the Terminators did.

"I can go in your place, Cameron. You can download your program onto my chip or give me a second chip port like Cammy. I can go 'with' you or as you in that manner. If you give me the second chip port, you can place your spare chip in me. You can always remove your duplicate chip from me later." Ally said. "We all want to help you, Cameron. I want to help you."

Ally noticed Cameron's glitch slowed but hadn't stopped. It looked like she gave Cameron an option she hadn't thought of, or she didn't want to 'ask' for. Upon further reflection she figured it was something Cameron already contemplated on her own. She doubted it would be something Cameron would have asked about before she did it. Then again, nothing like it ever occurred, so maybe not. She reached over and gently touched Cameron's cheek.

"We all care, Cameron." Ally said. "We all care about you. You know we will all do anything for you."

Cameron gave Ally a quick glance. She was worried she may have been too harsh on Ally earlier. It wasn't her intention to create animosity. It just seemed to happen sometimes. She knew they didn't always like the way she did things. She still did what she thought was right, or necessary. She did know they weren't always the same thing.

"Thanks, Ally. I know." Cameron said. "I know."

Cameron could hear some gunfire in the near distance. it must be the vehicles her team of Terminators engaged.

Ally finished armoring up.

Cameron wanted to have some protection too. She absent mindedly touched her right breast.

"We're almost there." Cameron said. "Give me my vest as soon as I get out. I don't want my new sheath component damaged."

Ally wanted to change drivers on the fly.

"I'll drive. I can switch with you." Ally said. "You can be ready when we get there."

Cameron liked the idea. It was a technique she used before.

"You slide over the top of me." Cameron said. "I'll move underneath you."

Ally was about to say they should face each other when they did it, but decided not to. Cameron was still on edge. There was no need to 'push' her.

She moved over and Cameron slid underneath her. She moved into the driver's seat. The vehicle barely slowed.

Cameron armored up as well while Ally drove.

Ally smiled. She heard the story of Cameron's 'replacement' breast and how she received it. She hoped one day to meet Ginger and Sandy herself. It was a true friend to do it for Cameron. She didn't think she could do it herself. Then again, if Cameron asked her, she knew she couldn't say 'no'. Upon further reflection, she decided she would probably volunteer.

She knew both Terminators and humans would do anything they could for Cameron. They all wanted to help her, but none wanted to hurt her. She was aware the young version of Jesse was there from Australia with her family. She didn't know if she would be more pliable to Cameron's wishes than the girls who needed to see Cameron everyday. Young Jesse would most certainly be one hot ticket in bed. She knew from personal experience Jesse and Sheila both were 'dynamite'.

On Ally's last rendezvous with Hanna, she was informed Claire would be with John any way Cameron wanted her to be. It was if Cameron would promise not to take Summer from her, like she 'took' Young Allison from her. So far Cameron hadn't agreed, or called in her marker. They all knew it meant Cameron was going to 'mature' Young Allison in the past and send her after John upon her return. A 'teenage Allison' who was as alluring and charming as Future Allison, would be hard to turn down. She knew she would take a 'crack' at her, if and when the opportunity arose. Some things in life were just too good to turn down.

Cameron informed Bob she was about to arrive in front. Bob went out the front door with the female Terminator in his arms. Cameron walked up with Ally. Steve and Al collected the shredded male Terminator and already took him away.

Cameron took the female Terminator from Bob's arms.

Bob wanted to ask who she was going to be Resequenced into but refrained. There was no need to give Cameron any more ideas. She seemed to have enough of them on her own. Some of them were quite questionable. They seemed to cause her more pain than they should.

Ally looked at the female Terminator Cameron now held. She was very intrigued with what she saw.

"She's beautiful." Ally said as she looked at her.

Cameron looked down at her and took in her beauty.

"Yes, she is." Cameron said.

The urge to be someone different flooded Cameron again. She could tether with her server and switch her chip into the new chassis. After she did, she could 'run away'. She really wondered what it was like to get away from it all….

"…CAMERON…." Ally said.

Cameron looked around.

"Sorry, my mind wandered." Cameron said. "Let's go."

Ally still possessed the keys.

"I'm driving." Ally said.

Cameron didn't seem to hear her.

"What?" Cameron asked as she looked at the new female Terminator's face.

Ally wondered what was going wrong now with Cameron.

"Oh, brother." Ally said.

Cameron looked a million miles away.

"Where are the keys?" Cameron asked.

Ally already told her she was going to drive. It was clear Cameron didn't hear her at all. She really seemed to be out of it right now.

"I'm driving." Ally said again.

Bob witnessed the exchange.

"I better go with you." Bob said as he looked at Cameron.

The blank look on Cameron's face worried both of them. Ally and Bob were afraid Cameron was about to have a 'problem'.

Bob assigned Dan to take over his team and finish gathering any intel along with Jim and then get out. He wondered how it was going to go over in the Command Center. He still needed to give Cameron the metal box with the chips in it. He also carried the hard drives he took from the Grays with a possible copy of some version of Skynet on it. He decided to do it another time, or at least later on. He questioned his actions right now but Cameron would be angry if she wasn't given everything herself. It would just need to wait.

John was in the Command Center with Derek and John Henry as they monitored the raid. Everything seemed to go fairly well. The Grays were dead and the two Terminators were down and secured. They collected intel and a back up force of Grays was terminated on their way to reinforce the target site.

Now Cameron was there for some reason. She didn't need to be. Ally was with her so John wasn't too worried. At least she wasn't alone.

Sheila indicated all was good in the sky and she would disengage and head back to the base. The drones were on wide ranging sweeps now, nothing new showed up. It was a good sign.

Everything looked good. Or was it?

Closing monologue by Cameron:

They Need My Help

The darkness is dark
It hinders one to clearly see
Maybe it really prevents them
From being all they can be

Guidance is seldom welcomed
Everyone thinks they know it all
It appears the end result of it
Is they just have longer to fall

Why won't someone listen
To one who has been down that path
To repeat the same mistakes
Only furthers another's wrath

To wade into the muck
Is a messy business indeed
The goal is to salvage
As well as hopefully reseed

When one cares for another
Some may question their actions
They need my help
As additions not subtractions

Nobody