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Chapter 6: Deal or no Deal

Two weeks later, May 10, 2012

Cameron and Jim were running around the neighborhood, as the did every morning now. Cameron was in her usual disguise as to not draw too much attention to herself.

Despite her efforts, she still got a lot of looks from people, but Jim assured her that they thought she looked hot in running clothes.

Even though she wasn't happy with the attention, she was pleased with Jim's progress. With the intense training, his asthma symptoms lessened and he was able to run further each day. He was now able to run a 10 minute mile without collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.

However, Jim knew he had a long way to go in that area, but his weapons training was going much better. He was good with machines and mechanics so learning the in's and outs of all the guns Cameron had stolen wasn't hard. They had actually gone to the range and fired the ones that were legal.

Cameron instructed him how to properly hold and fire the different weapons, and Jim had made steady improvement in the past fourteen days with the different pistols, shotguns, and rifles. However, there was still the sniper rifle and the automatics that he needed to learn how to properly use, but for that they would need to finds somewhere very remote to fire them. Even on the farm there were still too many people around to fire automatic weapons without someone noticing.

Speaking of the farm, ground had been broken on the bunker last week and had been going according to plan so far.

John Henry had finalized the designs for the new reactor, and both Cameron and Jim were impressed with it. The output had been boosted to 2.15 Gigawatts while keeping the size the same.

Now that he had the designs finalized he was able to order the parts that could be shipped, while the others he had to get through less scrupulous means such as the black market. With a little help from Cameron, the cyborg duo had been able to order what they needed and set up the exchange.

The only issue was that the exchange was in California since the fuel needed to be shipped in from overseas and the business men didn't want to take more risk than they wanted.

Or so they had said, Cameron had been suspicious about their explanation. Perhaps they wanted them to come their turf and just take their money while disposing of them. Well that wasn't going to happen, not with her around.

When they walked in the house after the run, John Henry had already made breakfast for Jim and was sitting at the table with an few sheets of paper in front of him.

"Jim, Cameron, good morning".

"Good morning John Henry". Jim said as he sat down at the table. "Thanks for the food, what's the occasion"?

"You two need to leave for L.A. as soon as possible. The organization who's supplying us with the fuel contacted me an hour ago and gave me the necessary details about exchange". John Henry explained as he gave Cameron the documents.

She looked through them for a moment before she responded. Jim just continued to eat food, knowing he'd get filled in later.

"What about you John Henry"? She asked as she took a seat across from the cyborg.

"I'm going to stay here and wait for the other parts to arrive. Then I'm going to buy the CNC machines".

"Where are you going to put them"? Jim asked with a confused look on his face.

"I'm going to have it on delayed delivery, it will arrive when we want it to".

"Makes sense". Jim said as he dived back into his food and Cameron agreed.

"We'll leave as soon as we get packed". Cameron said as she stood up from the table and headed up to her room. Jim followed a few minutes later after finishing his breakfast.

Half an hour later and the duo was ready to go. Cameron had packed a twelve gauge Remington pump action with an 8 shell capacity along with the Desert Eagle and a Glock 17. She had also packed the Barrett M82A1 and the M16 so Jim could practice out in the desert, but she had taken care to hide the weapons out of sight just in case they were pulled over. California didn't allow civilians to own the Barrett, much less the M16.

They left the house at 7:00 am and head out west to meet their contacts in LA. About three hours into it, Jim suddenly remembered something he had totally forgotten about since Cameron had been reactivated.

"Hey, since were going to be out in the middle of nowhere shooting illegal guns, do you think it would be good time to test those flying skills of yours"? Jim said as he briefly turned his head toward her.

Cameron broke herself out of a memory when she detected that Jim was talking to her.

"What"?

"You were zoning out again". He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, we haven't spoken in almost two hours, I was examining more of my Allison memories".

"Oh, yeah that would do it". Jim said as he turned back to the road. "I asked if you were going to test out your flying abilities while were out in the desert".

She tilted her head for a moment while she pondered the question and she realized that it was something she had planned on doing eventually, but hadn't seen any immediate need for it.

"I will, thank you for suggesting it". Her tone held the slightest bit of excitement at the prospect and a small quirk adorned her lips.

Jim smiled in return, he couldn't wait to see how this turned out.

A flying Terminator... who'd a thought it!

A few seconds later she rolled down her window and laid her seat back as she stuck one of her bare feet out the window.

Jim watched in fascination as she wiggled her toes in the 75 mph wind. He turned back to the road chuckling to himself as Cameron tried to get away from it all... again.

Only this time she seemed to be having more success.

Jim jerked his head over in surprise when he heard a soft giggle coming from the passenger seat. He almost couldn't believe what his eyes saw; there was Cameron, a cyborg built to kill people, laughing as she felt the wind blow through her toes.

"I can feel" She said to no one in particular. "He was wrong, I can feel, I can feel everything".

A smile crept over his face once more at seeing the machine finding her full potential, well getting there anyway.

"If you really want to get away from it all, stop all simulations and tasks and just concentrate on the rhythm of the music and the wind blowing through your toes".

She looked at him curiously for a moment before doing just that. Jim turned up the radio a little and observed her reaction.

After a few minutes, Cameron seemed to enjoy 'getting away from it all', and he was glad the busy cyborg got a chance to relax as much as she could while she didn't have John or Skynet to worry about.

He left her in peace and continued driving to California, enjoying the break from training and getting a chance to relax on a long drive with the windows down.

21 hours later, L.A. California

Cameron had switched with Jim about half way there and let him sleep the rest of the way. It had taken them a whole day to reach L.A. but they were still twelve hours early for the meeting.

They had rented a motel room off of interstate 5 so they could store there clothing and the extra weapons. Cameron suggested that they not use their own truck, lest it be traced back to them.

"Were not stealing one".

"Its the best way". She argued with her arms crossed.

"We need to stay off the radar as much as possible, stealing trucks is not the best way to do that. We could rent a truck".

Cameron tilted her head as she thought it over.

"Maybe, but if the rental has a GPS tracker, we need to reprogram it and remove the license plates so they can't trace us through the company".

Jim nodded in agreement.

"We should also remove the rental company sticker on the back, throw them off even more". He added as he finished loading the Desert Eagle with 50 caliber rounds.

Cameron loaded the last shell into the shotgun and flipped the safety on.

"Effective, but we'd have to put it back on to avoid extra fines".

"Not a problem, now, I'm guessing you need to change your appearance, after all she lives around here".

"Yes, It would not bode well for her if they recognized me". She said in her typical flat tone, but her face gave a hint of concern for the actress.

Jim nodded again in agreement and pulled something out of his duffle. Cameron tilted her head when she saw two ski masks in his hand.

"I was going to suggest buying those, our buyers requested total disguise".

"I know, but I kept these in here just in case I broke down in cold weather". He paused as he handed her one. "You know, if these fools try anything they're gonna lose a lot more than their money". He jested as he turned back to his duffle.

Cameron's barely detectable smirk spoke volumes about how true she knew that was. Nothing on earth short of bunker busting munitions could touch her. The smirk disappeared as she thought about the possibilities of a fire fight.

"You're not ready for a fight, there's no need to risk yourself".

"I know that". His tone indicated he didn't like being thought of as too stupid to not know his limits. "However, don't think for a second that I'm gonna sit this out girl, cause you got another thing coming to you".

"I know, you like pulling your own weight. You drive the truck, I'll make the exchange".

"Deal".

They packed up their weapons and left to get the rental. They parked the Ram a few blocks away from the rental agency in a parking garage. They walked to the place and rented a small white truck. Cameron used her nano-technological transjectors, or NTJs to hack the GPS module and programmed it to send fake data. She also replaced the plates with fake ones she made herself.

Cameron directed Jim to the warehouse where the exchange was taking place, which was at the Port of Los Angeles and Jim hated driving through the ridiculous LA traffic. He made his opinion of it known too often for Cameron's taste.

After about the tenth time she was experiencing what she assumed to be her equivalent of irritation, and like Riley, she wanted it gone.

"You have made your opinion of this city's traffic known to me ten times, please shut up".

And the shocked Jim did exactly that, but more out of surprise than because she said so.

"Turn left at the next light". She said just a second later as she pulled her mask over her blonde hair. When the light turned red Jim did the same and placed the DE next to himself.

"Here we go". He said mostly to himself as swung the truck down the alley and drove it into the warehouse.

She pulled back the slide on her Glock in confirmation as Jim stopped the truck. She got out and knocked on the side door.

Someone with a Russian accent spoke through door.

"Who is it"?

"The buyers, that's who". Cameron said in a voice that sounded a lot like the original Cromartie. She had covered her figure so well it was hard to tell if she was a short man or a normal sized woman.

"Good, you vore disquise".

"Were not stupid".

"I hovpe not". The man said as he opened the door. He was tall and broad shouldered, obviously a man, and towered over Cameron by a foot. He held an AK-47 across his chest, safety off.

Cameron's Glock was resting in her right had, but she didn't make any threatening moves.

"Do you have what we asked for"?

"Yes, do you 'ave ze money"? He asked back, his voice just as toneless as hers.

"Yes, in the truck".

The man yelled at someone else in the building in his native tongue and the truck entrance opened with a loud squeak. Jim pulled in the truck and put it in park, but didn't turn it off. Cameron walked in behind and walked toward the man standing next to the two containers, one containing one kilogram of deuterium and the other containing the same amount of tritium. She put away her weapon to show she wasn't going to cause trouble and they extended the courtesy of not pointing their weapons at her.

"Let me see the packages to verify it's what we agreed on".

"Ov course". The lead Russian said in his heavy accent as he unlocked the two small white cubes. Cameron looked inside and let her optics scan the substances contained in the pressurized containers. They were genuine as far as her advanced scanners could tell.

"I don't know how you can tell vhether it's genuine vor not jist by looking at it".

"I just do, and it seems your reputation holds up". Cameron says in her disguised voice as she moved to get the money out of the truck.

"I like honest buyers". The man said as Cameron opened the large case of money. One of the big man's lackeys put on some glasses and went through it. After a few minutes the man turned to his boss and gave a simple nod in confirmation.

"Good, now I don't have to shoot you, some people underestimate us and try to negotiate. I don't negotiate once ve meet". The boss said as he crossed his arms.

"I understand, I don't like it when people change the plan. It... irritates me, and those people usually end up regretting it". Her male tone was still flat, but it carried that hint of dead seriousness.

The Russian's chest rumbled in deep laugh.

"I like you, maybe we do business in za future"?

"It's possible". She said as she signaled to Jim to help her move the containers to avoid unnecessary attention. He hopped out of the truck and they put the containers in the back of the small rental truck. The Russians were already packed up and moving out when they were getting back in the truck. Cameron told Jim to wait until they left and then they headed out in the opposite direction. After a few miles they took off their masks and Cameron put the weapons out of site.

"That went a lot better than I thought it would". Jim said as he let out a long sigh.

"Yes, it did, but most of our illegal exchanges went smoothly, I learned a lot from Sarah".

"Oh, well I'm glad you did. Anyway, do you think that's enough deuterium and tritium to start the reactor? Tritium's very rare and where 98% of that cash went".

"Yes, three times as much. Once the reactor is started it will produce it's own fuel".

"Just like yours".

"Yes, now we need to get the Ram. I was surprised that they put the fuel in small containers, normally humans get paranoid when it comes to radioactive material".

Jim nodded in agreement, but he knew that Tritium was only slightly radioactive, it's radiation not even able to penetrate the outermost layer of skin. Deuterium was common in the ocean and was not radioactive.

"I guess they did their homework". Jim said as he shrugged; Cameron simply nodded once and turned her attention out the window, her thoughts drifting towards John as they were now one step closer to getting home.

After they had picked up the Ram and transferred their cargo, the duo picked up the stuff from the hotel and headed out towards the Nevada Desert. Seven hours later they arrived at a remote location in the middle of the desert, miles away from any residence or highway. Cameron was pleased that this location was exactly the same as the one in her universe.

She brought out the M82A1 and showed him how to handle the weapon, how to carry it, and if needed, run with it. Though the weapon weighed nearly 31 pounds empty, he had to be able to run at least short distances with the weapon.

With the training Jim had been going through, he was able to do short distance sprints with the gun, but beyond that was something he just couldn't do. Jim was a pretty good shot with the weapon when there wasn't wind, but he lacked the skill to incorporate wind speed properly. Though he improved over the thirty rounds he fired, it wasn't enough for Cameron to ever recommend him for the position in a squad.

Despite his failings with the Barrett, he was exceptional with the M16, hitting most of his targets on the first clip and steadily improved with each progressing clip. By the time he shot his 5th and last clip he was hitting 92% of his targets at a distance of 85 ft.

When he was finished Jim took out the earplugs. He walked back over to the fold up table they had put out and began taking the weapon apart. Cameron looked up from cleaning the Barrett as she decided to comment on his performance.

"You did well, not even Derek could shoot that well with an automatic".

"Thanks, but you and I both know I can't shoot a pistol to save my life". He said with a chuckle as he pulled part of the firing mechanism out of the weapon.

"Your improving quickly, however, your physical endurance is still below what it needs to be".

"I know" He said almost absentmindedly as he continued cleaning the M16. When he finished cleaning the barrel he set the part down and looked back over at Cameron as something came to mind.

"Speaking of learning new tricks..." Jim lead on hoping she'd know what he was getting at.

"Yes, I need to test my flying abilities". She snapped the scope back on the sniper rifle and reached for another piece. "One moment".

Jim nodded and continued cleaning the assault rifle. Cameron got up while he was reassembling and put the M82A1 in the truck. While Jim was still busy with the M16, Cameron deactivated her sheath and removed her clothing.

She knew that she could not wear any clothes while flying. The RCS thrusters across her body were hidden by seamless armor panels that popped out when flight mode was engaged and thus why clothing wasn't an option. There were also booster thrusters beneath the shoulder blades and the front side of the breast plate. The breast plate boosters were revealed when two large pop panels hinged out where her breasts would be. The main thrusters were located in the hands and feet.

The mains were jet style thrusters in which the plasma super heated the air like a ram jet. The RCS and booster thrusters ran on plasma straight from reactor.

New fuel was taken in from intake vents on the front and back of the shoulders and converted into tritium and deuterium and fed into the reactor. This ensured that she wouldn't run out of fuel, however, if she ran too fast for too long she'd burn out the reactor core and shut down.

Jim inserted the clip into the M16 and checked the loading mechanism. When he looked back up he stepped back in surprise. He regained his cool quickly and set his weapon down.

"Wow, you look... awesome". He had never seen her endo active and moving around, and the purple glowing dark chrome machine was a sight to behold.

"Thank you"? She made it sound like a question.

"Ready to go"? Jim asked without recognizing her confusion.

"Yes, but I must warn you, I don't know how to fly, I know how to operate the parts, but I wasn't programmed to fly".

Jim became completely serious when she said that. He knew this could end badly if she made a miscalculation.

"Be careful". He said with concern.

"I will".

She walked about thirty meters away from both Jim and the truck and started the power up sequence. The RCS thrusters popped out on various points of her body and armor plates surrounding the plasma jets on her hands and feet receded. Plasma flowed to the main thrusters and rushed out the injectors at high velocity, throwing up sand and dust in all directions.

Cameron realized pretty quickly she wasn't going anywhere fast at this level of power and increased the plasma flow by 10 percent.

The result surprised her as she shot off the ground. The sudden change caused her to lose control rather quickly. She nearly hit the truck and Jim, but managed to get back under control before she roasted both with super heated plasma. She fired RCSs and bent her arms and legs to change her direction upward toward the sky. Cameron's phenomenal learning ability quickly began to understand how this body worked under flight conditions and soon she was flying it like she had been born for it.

Jim watched from below with admiration and a little jealously as she flew in figure eights, dove down close to the ground and straight up to the sky.

Cameron decided to push this body to its limits and activated the booster thrusters, pushing her velocity up as she approached the speed of sound. However she dared not break the barrier lest she attract unwanted attention. Despite that limitation she was steadily climbing past one mile, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, and then eight miles up.

Just before she reached nine miles, she stopped and hovered to take in the sight around her.

The view she had from up here was incredible, she could see for hundreds of miles with her advanced optics.

As Cameron hovered 47,000 feet in the air, she decided that she liked flying, a lot.

After about ten minutes of hovering she came back down and stopped about ten feet off the ground before cutting the power. She rose up from her crouched position and walked over to Jim who was clapping.

"I'm not bowing".

Jim gave her a look of mock hurt as he handed her the clothes she had been wearing. She disappeared in the truck and emerged a few minutes later as her old self.

By that time, Jim had already packed up the table and the weapons. Cameron promptly got back in the driver's seat and he into the passenger's.

As they pulled away Jim asked the question that had been burning a hole in his mind ever since she landed.

"What was like"? His excitement was barely contained."Flying through sky like Iron Man"?

She turned her head toward him, a half smile adorning her face.

"It was... awesome". She tilted her head at her own description of the experience. "Yes, it was totally awesome".

Jim couldn't help but smile, Cameron really seemed to have enjoyed flying. He was glad that she could find something to enjoy while trapped in a universe without John.

"Good, now lets go home. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed"!

"You wont have a bed where were going". She deadpanned.

"Oh... right".

Jim knew he still had a long way to go before he was ready...

A/N: A flying Cameron, that's never been done before. Eat your heart out Iron Man...

Okay, next chapter will be out in 3 days, or there's a ton of reviews.

Its entirely up to you readers.