Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
A/N: This is the chapter you all have been waiting for.
Enjoy
Chapter 15
Part II: The Reunion
Cameron took out the first HK without much effort, even without Cortana's assistance it hadn't stood much of a chance.
She quickly closed in on the second HK before it could ever take off. She reversed thrusters and landed on the machine as she fired a few shots to penetrate the armor. She then used her nanites to take it over so she could use it to extract John later.
This caused Skynet to activate the defence turrets positioned all over the ship's island, aka command tower. The automated machines quickly locked onto her heat signature and fired heavy plasma rounds at her.
She dived over the edge of the ship and reactivated her thrusters, causing her to hover under the edge of the ship for a moment while she considered her options. She couldn't risk using the HK yet and her cannons weren't fast enough to take out the defense systems.
"I have a suggestion, use the phaser on setting 16". Cortana chimed in, to which Cameron agreed. She used the MPA holding the rifle on her back to reassemble it. She grabbed it and set it to the maximum level. She jumped up with a burst from her boosters and fired a rapid salvo at the towers before gravity pulled her down again.
The nadion particle energy hit each target with precision and disintegrated large sections of the tower. She repositioned herself and pulled the same trick again, this time causing the tower to explode when a plasma conduit leading to the turrets ruptured.
"Nice shot". Cortana commented as she began scanning the ship in higher detail. She frowned mentally when she detected interference in the lower levels. Despite that, she detected 23 prisoners on the upper decks and nearly 30 T-888 series machines spread throughout the ship plus one she couldn't identify, but she did know that it had a tritanium endoskeleton.
She kept an eye on that one in particular.
"We've got company". Cortana warned as Cameron landed on the flight deck.
Cameron's only response was to pull out the energy sword. She flicked it on and the blade hissed into existence. The Starfleet rifle was in her other hand, now set to a lower setting to conserve the power cell.
"Display where the machines are coming from". She asked as she waited for the T-888s to make their appearance. Cortana displayed the hatches that the machines were emerging from, allowing Cameron to devise a tactical strategy. She ran at high speed and cut head of a T-888 emerging from a hatch with the energy sword. She swiftly shot her rifle down at several other machines coming up, killing them as the phaser energy disintegrated their skulls.
Plasma fire erupted from many different locations as multiple machines opened fire, Cameron used the TX-2 body to it's fullest extent as she rushed in and cut machines to pieces with the sword and fragged skulls with the phaser that were out of her reach. Not a single shot nor swipe was wasted as she continued to lay waste to the T-888's that were attacking her.
She took relatively few hits as she ducked, dived, and dodged the plasma rounds with speed her former body could have never achieved. Cortana only made her faster as the AI took over all menial system tasks and constantly updated enemy positions.
The duo made quick work of the machines, only taking three minutes to terminate them all.
"That was pretty awesome wasn't it"? Cortana said with a smirk on her blue face as her small comm window popped up on her HUD.
"Our teamwork was very effective". Cameron said causing Cortana to frown.
"And I thought the Chief was bad, you need to lighten up girl".
Cameron closed her eyes as small smile crept over her face. The blue AI was right, she did need to lighten up a bit, even the stoic Chief managed to crack a joke during battle.
She wasn't just a machine anymore.
"It was totally awesome". She said with a smirk as she dropped down the nearest hatch. She walked into the room where Cortana had initially labeled as where the prisoners were.
Only now there were no prisoners, just the animals were left.
"Where are they"? Cameron said nervously as she made her way down the hall.
"Checking..." Cortana said as she sorted through new sensor readings. "Most have jumped ship, but there is one heading back down towards sickbay, one deck below us". Cortana said as she continued to refine the scans. "Cameron, there's a female lifesign in sickbay, very weak".
"We'll check the ones in the water first". She said as she made her way to one of the hangers and looked out into the water. The sea was calm and the ship had stopped, thus the humans were not out of sight.
A quick visual scan turned up negative for John and Allison.
"Cortana, where's Weaver being held"?
"F deck aft, that's the best I can do with the interference I'm getting".
"We can't leave her behind, but we need to find John first".
"And Allison as well". Cortana said more as a rebuke than a reminder.
Cameron chose not to answer her as she climbed down to deck below her and closed in on the two flashing dots that were growing ever closer. There were three terminators closing on their position as well, causing fear to course through Cameron's mind and she broke into a sprint.
As she turned one last corner she identified the sound of plasma fire, making her even more afraid. She quickly drew the energy sword and came up behind the one closest to her.
She stabbed the machine in the back before kicking it off her weapon. The other one barely had time to process her presence before it too was terminated by the energy sword's fury.
Cameron stepped over their bodies and proceeded into the room as she searched for her charge and threats to his existence.
"Behind the table". Cortana said as she displayed their positions.
Cameron's eyes quickly locked onto the half melted metal table and saw the two thermal signatures behind it.
She took two steps forward before one of them peeked out of cover with his rifle raised.
When her eyes met his, she didn't need facial recognition to tell her who she was looking at.
Target Identified:
John Connor
John was almost shocked when he heard the machines fall to the floor. He peeked underneath the table to make sure it wasn't a trick, but sure enough, the two remaining terminators were on the floor, unmoving.
His savior stepped over them, a machine by the looks of the feet. Why a machine was killing it's own brethren he didn't know, he wasn't about to think it was on his side just because they beat Skynet's ship security.
John had to protect himself and Allison, and so he had to have the advantage if he wanted to get out of this alive. He stood up quickly with his rifle pointed at whoever had entered the room.
His eyes widened in shock at what they saw.
It was a purple glowing endoskeleton, completely armored and unlike anything he'd ever seen.
He only hesitated on pulling the trigger when he saw the weapon it wielded. He recognized it from the Halo video game.
His pause only lasted a moment as he began to squeeze the trigger.
Then the machine did something he didn't expect, it froze like a statue. Its hands quivered slightly, causing the radiant blue plasma blade to twitch.
John couldn't figure why the machine just stood there, machines didn't do that. They attacked, they acted, but this one did not.
The machine flicked its wrist and the plasma blade disappeared, but its eyes never left his. Suddenly, the outermost layer of the endo turned silver and formed into clothing that loosely fitted the machine while a thicker silver tinted goo covered it's entire body beneath the clothing.
"I'm not here to hurt you". It said in a very familiar voice as the goo took on a very familiar shape.
He instantly figured it to be the new Cameron.
"Try telling that to Allison". He growled as he stood to his full height, his weapon's aim never wavering as he did.
"I didn't hurt her John".
Now it was his turn to freeze.
It knew his name, not surprising considering how much it had tortured Allison, but why was it trying to play him? A sudden chill ran through his body at several possibilities came to mind.
This machine could have hacked Weaver, but doubted it had happened so fast. She was too advanced to be broken by a Skynet that hadn't even made her kind yet.
Despite that, there was another that he wasn't even going to consider.
Not until tears streamed from its eyes.
"I love you John, and you love me".
He faltered when he heard the words that had haunted him for so long. It could be a trick, a choice of words chosen by two different machines, but the way the machine said it though... it didn't sound like before. It didn't sound like a pleading cry to keep oneself alive.
It sounded like a statement of fact.
His aim drifted off to the side as that thought entered into his head. The machine had tears running down it's face; it's eyes were so alive it scared him.
He knew that this was no ordinary machine. This was something else entirely, and that something else could only be one person.
Cameron, his Cameron.
He lowered his rifle, despite years of training telling him not to, and met her face to face. His eyes searching hers for any glimpse of the Cameron he knew, for anything that might make him 100 percent sure.
What made him sure wasn't what he expected. He searched those eyes and didn't find the stoic, curious Cameron he once knew, but instead found someone who had changed just as much as he.
John struggled for a moment to even accept that, after so long it was hard to imagine he would see her face and hear her voice and know that it was Cameron saying those words.
He reached up with one hand and touched her face. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
"I've waited so long for that". Cameron whispered as she opened her eyes.
"Cameron"?
She smiled as his voice filled her audio receptors for the first time in nearly a year, making her completely content.
"I'm sorry". She said as her head dipped in shame at causing him such pain.
"I forgive you". He had a long time ago. She looked back up at him with surprise on her face.
"You do"?
He nodded, and wanted to continue this, but right now he knew that they needed to get off this ship.
"It's time to go Cameron". He said softly as he stroked her cheek one more time before dropping his hand.
She wasn't happy with the loss of contact, but she knew he was right.
There was still work to be done.
"Where's Allison"? She asked, knowing the young woman was in the room. John's slight smile disappeared almost instantly before he bent down and picked up his friend's battered body.
He turned back to Cameron and saw the shock in her eyes, and he wondered if it was because it reminded her of what she'd done, or because it didn't.
"I don't understand" Her face scrunched in confusion as she scanned her.
"She's not in good shape Cameron, I predict she won't last longer than a few days". Cortana said to her internally as the shock of the young woman's condition passed.
"They've got Weaver, we need to find her". John said as he listened for any sounds, but heard nothing.
It was too quiet around here for his tastes.
Suddenly the lights flickered and stabilized. They did so again and again, causing Cameron to tip her head in confusion.
"It's a power drain". She said simply before her eyes widened in horror. "John, we need to go now"!
John didn't bother to ask, he'd learned that when someone smarter than you says to move, you do so.
"Weaver's below deck in cryo storage, but I can't risk taking you down there". She said, puzzled as to how to solve this enigma until Cortana gave her a perfect solution.
She took Allison from him and climbed up to the flight deck with John behind her. Once there she jogged over to the HK she'd taken over and pulled off an armored panel after setting the young woman down.
HK's actually had decent amount of empty space in their center fuselage, enough room to fit her and John in.
"Get in, I'm going to remote pilot the HK". She said as positioned Allison in behind the main CPU. John looked at her for a moment before getting in. She replaced the panel and got on top.
She got Cortana to pilot the HK while she calculated the jump she would make once they made a hole in one of the lower deck's hull plating. They took off and hovered next to the room where Weaver was being held.
The HK's plasma cannon fired and melted through the steel, Cameron jumped through the hole with precision and rolled into the room. She drew her sword almost immediately as she searched for threats, but there were none.
She put the weapon away and quickly strode over to the cryo freezer. Cameron tore away the locks and shut off the circulation pumps keeping the T-1001 frozen.
Cameron knew she needed to speed up this process or the Kraken that was closing in would kill them first. She put the sword away and drew the phaser and set it to a low setting, just enough to thaw Weaver and not damage her.
She fired a triple salvo that hit her frozen mass in three different spots to even the heat distribution. Weaver quickly thawed and began to slowly rise from her icy prison.
Cameron wisely put her weapon down as Weaver formed her basic shape.
"What do you want"? She said in her Scottish accent with plenty of malice laced in. Apparently she thought she was a Skynet machine.
"I onced asked you if you would join us, you said no. When you asked, I accepted". Cameron said, hoping Weaver would understand.
Weaver's body rippled for moment, and then turned into her Resistance look.
"About time you showed up. Where's my son"? She asked as she stepped out of the cryo freezer.
"He got me here, he's where ended up". She didn't look like she believed her. "He told me to tell you that you spent your 300,000 well".
"I see". She said as an acceptance of the message.
"We need to leave, I already have John and Allison in a hijacked HK". Cameron said as she brought the HK close to their position.
Weaver raised an eyebrow at that, but went along for now. Suddenly Cameron's expression changed, causing Weaver to worry.
"We have surface to air missiles incoming from a Kraken". She said with worry lacing her voice as she brought the HK higher and tore off a panel. "John, we have missiles incoming"! She yelled, prompting the young man to hand an unconscious Allison to her before jumping through the hole in the ship.
Just in time too, the missiles broke the water and headed straight for the HK as it veered away from the ship. The explosion knocked John off his feet, but was caught by Weaver as they headed deeper into the ship.
More missiles began striking the vessel, tearing apart the superstructure. Lights flickered and some blew out from overload, but that didn't deter them as continued to a destination that only Cameron knew of.
"Where are you taking us"? Weaver demanded as the cyborg kicked a steel door off its hinges.
"There was a power drain earlier, every time it happened I detected a subspace signal, I believe Skynet has created a matter/energy transporter".
That caused looks of confusion to cross both John's and Weaver's face.
"A transporter? Like from those old sci-fi shows"? John asked as Cameron kicked yet another door in.
"Yes". She said as they entered a rather large room filled with strange machines.
In the center of it was a pad with a ton of equipment attached to the ceiling and lots of big, thick wires attached to both the base and the top.
Cameron handed Allison to John as she began examining the equipment, the ship shaking all the while as the missiles tore it apart.
"We need to hurry before it gets into torpedo range". Cortana said privately to Cameron as both worked furiously to bypass the security. Luckily the link to Skynet had been cut when the tower got taken out.
With Cortana's help, she was through it in ten seconds flat and began reviewing the specs to make sure it was safe for organic travel. She was immensely relieved that it was, but was horrified as she recognized the configuration.
It had been derived from a 24 century Romulan design.
The shock of that passed quickly and she put in the coordinates to their destination.
"Torpedoes incoming"! Cortana yelled inside Cameron's head as the machine double timed it onto the pad.
"Quickly, we've got incoming torpedoes"! She yelled to the two motionless figures standing their with bewildered looks on their faces. Weaver and John snapped out their stupors and got onto the pad.
The machine charged before enveloping them in a swirl of green light. It took several seconds, but they were long gone before the Nimitz class carrier was torn to shreds by a half dozen torpedoes.
Back at Ziera base, things weren't going so well.
About thirty minutes after the machine left, Skynet attacked out of nowhere. T-888's appeared outside their base without any warning, and when they tried to escape down several of the tunnels, only for more machines greeted them.
The worst thing that happened was that a machine had appeared in the midst of it all posing as Allison. Derek had remembered Cameron's warning about what Skynet might be doing with John and Allison and had challenged her as soon as she approached.
The machine's face had gone rigid and looked rather pissed at being discovered. Derek tried getting off a shot in the midst of the confusion, but was forced to change targets at the last second to save Kyle from getting flanked.
The machine had used that second to pull out a strange weapon that looked like a pirate's pistol. The machine shot Marty in the chest before turning its attention to him.
Derek managed to dodge the shot and got off a wild one of his own. He moved again as the machine fired and got behind cover before it did so again. A quick glance at Marty told him he was dead, a gaping hole in chest where his heart used to be.
He gritted his teeth in anger and popped out of cover long enough to get a few shots off at the Allison look-alike. The machine got hit twice in the abdomen and once in the chest, but it merely vaporized the flesh. The metal underneath was completely intact. He was stunned just long enough for the terminator to grin devilishly and fire at him.
Years of combat were enough for him to dive to the side, but the round hit the rock in front of him, causing it to explode into superheated fragments. The hot shrapnel embedded itself in his shoulder, sending searing pain throughout his entire shoulder.
He immediately lost control of his arm, causing him to drop his rifle and grit his teeth in pain. He knew that he wasn't going to stay conscious long, the pain seemed to grow by the second.
Despite his impending death at the hands of a machine, all he cared about was his brother's safety and the safety of those under him, but he knew that was a pipe dream.
Skynet had them boxed in with no way out.
As the blackness slowly claimed him, he wished he had left long before John and Allison were captured.
The TDE room at Ziera Corps ruins was dark, only light up from time to time with the flash of plasma fire as the bolts raced up and down the corridors. The cries of men getting shot and sounds of metal feet marching filled the room more often than not.
That was until the room was lit up by green light and whirring sounds for a moment before everything grew quiet once more.
Cameron was the first to gain situational awareness, she being the only one of them who had been transported before, and with Cortana's constant vigilance she quickly realized what had happened in her absence.
Skynet had attacked in force, and if these scans were correct, they were beamed in by the same transporter as they.
The scans also told her that there were few humans left, if they were to save any, and she was sure John wanted to, then she had to act now.
"John, Weaver, you stay and guard Allison and the TDE, I'll see if I can save anyone". She as she handed John the phaser and Weaver the energy sword hilt.
"John, just aim and pull the trigger". She said to him before turning her attention to Weaver. "Flick your wrist and the blade will activate". She said simply as her arms turned into plasma cannons, causing John's eyes to widen and Weaver to raise one red eyebrow.
"I'll be back". She said as she ran down the corridor.
"It seems we've missed a lot". Weaver said pointedly as she activated the energy sword.
John looked at the familiar looking rifle and nodded in agreement before moving Allison's unconscious form to cover.
Weaver decided to be proactive and took guard by the outermost door to the chamber, but detected no machines. John did the same as he flipped over one of the tool benches and took aim at the door from behind it.
Cameron, meanwhile, was catching up to the trip-eights currently decimating the human soldiers and civilians. When she spotted the first one, she didn't hesitate to fire at its chip. Her aim was true and it vaporized the entire endoskull. She quickly spotted another and terminated it just as quickly.
Once past these two, she looked for survivors, but found none. She continued forward and killed several more machines but still found no surviving humans. Cortana mapped out the last group of humans in the center of the base, she noted the cyborg that was currently closest to the humans position was not like the others.
It seemed by now that there were relatively few machines left, no more than four remained in the battle. She reasoned that was due to her slaughter of the machines on the ship.
As she neared, she noted yet another human die and other wounded, now there was only one left. Cameron ran around the corner and into the room where the last human was taking on the machines by himself.
It didn't surprise her that it was Kyle Reese who had taken down three of the five remaining machines.
Now there was only two, just one T-888 and her successor. Before anyone knew of her presence, Cameron had killed the T-888 with a plasma round to the skull.
The other was quicker than she thought and turned its attention to her. It sidestepped her plasma round and countered with a shot from a Romulan disruptor.
Cameron managed to dive out of the way thanks to Cortana's early warning and did a somersault behind cover. She popped up in a different spot and fired a shot at the machine who she tracked via tricorder sensors in her head and hit the machine in the chest, sending it into the concrete wall behind it.
She stood up slowly while Kyle eyed her suspiciously for a moment before turning his attention to the machine who was embedded in the concrete.
Cameron was still confused as to how this machine was made of tritanium. It was the same material that many starships were made out of. The Skynet of her future was no where close to this knowing how to make it. It provided further proof that Skynet had access to technology from another universe.
Cameron stepped out of cover, constantly scanning the machine for activity, but she found that it was remote controlled by a subspace datalink.
In other words, it was being directly controlled by Skynet.
She charged her cannons fully and intended to melt the machine down till it was nothing but liquid tritanium, but Skynet's avatar beat her to the punch and shot her with the disrupter at point blank range.
Cameron had never truly felt pain before, but she quickly realized why so many humans sought to escape it at any cost.
The disruptor bolt tore through her abdominal armor like it was paper and quickly began to spread it's destructive energy throughout her systems, causing massive feedback that nearly overloaded her neural net.
She stumbled back from the shot as she cried out in pain. Her body quickly cut all communication with the damaged region and those below it to prevent further damage, causing her to fall as her legs gave way.
Kyle took the opportunity to unleash his plasma rifle on automatic, something they never did due to ammo shortages. He was only 6 feet from the machine, and his tried and true aim did not once miss the machine's head as it snapped back time after time as the plasma ate away at the super metal. He did not stop until the machine's head was nothing but molten slag.
His rifle stopped firing as the iridium magazine ran dry. He pulled it out and slapped in his last one as he checked the room's entrances for more machines, but found none.
He checked on Cameron first since she was closest, she was on the floor with a hand on her abdomen.
"You alright"? He asked calmly as he breathed out his pent up anger and adrenaline out of his nose.
"No, but I'll live". She said with what he thought was pain in her voice, but ignored it as he moved on to his brother, the rest he knew was dead. His shoulder wound wasn't bleeding and he had a steady pulse. He let out a sigh of relief as he dug around in the room for the old med kit. As he was searching, he heard footsteps coming down the hall.
He quickly got behind cover and positioned himself towards the door.
"It's Weaver, she won't hurt you". Cameron said evenly, but Kyle could still hear that hint of something else in her voice.
"You won't mind if I don't take your word for it". He said with his eyes totally focused on the door.
She chose not to respond as the redheaded terminator walked into the room with the energy sword attached to her hip, deactivated.
"If I wanted to kill you I would have done so two years ago". She said dryly as she walked past Kyle and straight to Cameron. She quickly noted the hole in her abdomen and the pained look on her face.
"What happened"? She asked as she knelt down next to her.
"Skynet had a Romulan disruptor, I don't know how it got it". She scrunched her eyes closed as Weaver heard something spark inside Cameron's body.
"You're talking about fictional technology". Weaver said pointedly, she knew enough from her conversations with her geeky staff to know. Cameron surprised Weaver with a small chuckle.
"Where John Henry and I ended up, so are you and I". She said as gritted her teeth against yet another wire short circuiting. Weaver's eyebrows raised a bit before picking the obviously paralysed cyborg up.
"Mr. Reese, I suggest bringing your brother to the TDE room, we'll be able to defend it better".
He chose not to argue and pulled his heavy brother over his shoulders before following Weaver.
Back in the TDE room, John was checking Allison's condition and it was the same as before.
Bad.
He'd have Weaver coat her in MPA to prevent infection from taking hold in her numerous wounds, but the internal damage was severe. It made him clench his fists in anger as he swore to never allow Skynet to get their hands on anyone he cared about again.
He swung around with the rifle raised as he heard heavy footsteps approaching, ready for anything but the sight of Weaver carrying Cameron in her arms.
"Is everything clear"? He asked anxiously as he put the rifle down. She nodded as he rushed over to assess Cameron's condition.
Before he even got there, she answered his unspoken question.
"I'll live John, I'll be fine". She looked at him with misty brown eyes as her hands covered her gruesome wound.
Weaver set her down on the floor, knowing that her weight was too great for the flimsy workbenches. John knelt down next to her with worry gleaming in his eyes, but before he spoke, he looked back at Weaver.
John reached down and tried to move Cameron's hand away from the seared sheath. She nearly moaned at the contact of his hand on hers, it had been something she had wanting to do since reactivating in this new body.
Actually, it was one of the many things she wanted to do with John.
John noticed that her body relaxed at his touch and that she seemed to look less tense. He didn't say anything for a moment, mainly because he just didn't know what to.
Cameron seemed to be in the same predicament as he, or she was content with him laying his hand on hers and staring into his eyes. John guessed it was the latter, Cameron was rarely lost for words when she had something to say.
God he had missed her... but there were so many things to say, so many things that needed resolved between them.
He cleared his throat finally just as Kyle walked into the room with Derek tossed over his shoulder. John looked at him briefly for a moment before turning back to Cameron, failing to notice the look his pseudo father was giving him. John began taking in all the changes in his beloved cyborg, and there seemed to be a lot he had missed.
Her breathing was something he found fascinating as he watched her chest rise and fall. He noticed earlier how expressive she was, far more than she had ever been, but at the same time maintaining that she was not human, and yet more than a simple machine.
He also wondered where she got this body, he'd seen only part of what it could do, but he knew it was far more advanced than the last.
Cameron tilted her head a little to the side, her mouth opening a bit before she spoke.
"You don't know what to say, but I do". She said softly as she wrapped her fingers around his hand. "You want to know why I left".
John swallowed a lump in his throat as he found his voice.
"Yeah, I've asked myself that once or twice".
She looked away for a second, ashamed by the pain that she caused him.
"I left because I was danger John, I was becoming increasingly ly unstable from the chip damage. It was only a matter of time before I would have lost control again". She explained slowly and softly as he stroked her small hand.
"And there was nothing I could do"?
"No". She said quietly. "It's why I gave you the watch, it's why I decided to save John Henry".
The John of two years ago probably would have stomped off in anger or some equally immature display, but now he just nodded. He completely understood why she did what she did. Being in this future had changed him in ways he couldn't have imagined before, but now he understood how Derek felt and why Cameron protected him so fiercely.
They both knew what lay ahead and tried to warn him, but he had needed a reality check, and he couldn't have asked for a better one.
"I get it, you did what you always do". He said back as he continued to stroke her hand. "You do what you think is best for me".
Cameron looked mildly surprised for a moment, sending a pang of guilt into John for being so mean to her in the past.
"Where were you? We waited... we didn't think we'd ever find either of you". He said as the thought of losing her forever chilled his heart.
"It's a long story, suffice it to say that John Henry and I were stuck in another universe, one where you and I are only a story. It took us ten months to build a machine to get us home, but John Henry had to stay behind to control it".
"This was as close as you could get"? John asked with a raised eyebrow, not understanding why she appeared two years after the fact.
"Trying to lock onto the right timeline and temporal coordinates in our universe was difficult, we needed an anchor. Marty accidentally turned the machine on and we were able to track the signal it sent into the space time continuum". She explained, hoping he understood how difficult it had been getting back.
John nodded his head slowly, he understood for the most part.
"I missed you" He said quietly, he didn't need any more explanations. Right now he just wanted to spend time with her.
Cameron tilted her head for a moment, but not because of anything he did.
"Someone wants to meet you". She said with a small smile as she leaned up and held her brown hair back and reached for something at the base of her skull. John's eyebrows scrunched together at the strange action, and was even more surprised when she brought out a palm sized device in her hand.
"What is that"? He asked as he took it from her.
"A friend". She said as the golden lines on part of the device lit up. John nearly jumped out of his skin when a small blue figure popped out of the chip in a flash of light.
"Hello John, it's nice to meet you". Cortana said with a smile on her face.
"Uh, Cameron"? He asked in utter confusion.
"You've played Halo, you should know who that is".
"The video game you got me for my 17th birthday"? John asked with confusion still adorning his scruffy face.
"Yes, and I'm down here mister, I don't like being ignored". She huffed with her arms crossed and a blue eyed glare fixed on his green ones.
Despite himself, John laughed. To hear such words coming from an AI's mouth was almost too much for him.
"I remember you, you're Cortana". He said with an amused grin on his face. Cameron noted it was the first time she'd heard him laugh in a long while.
"Bingo"! She said as she pumped on blue fist in the air. "You know, Cameron's told me a lot about you".
John gulped, he didn't even want to know what Cameron had told the AI.
"I think you two still have a lot of talking to do, right now though I need to talk to your liquid metal friend". She said in a more serious tone and a pointed look that bounced between John and Cameron both.
John nodded and handed her to Weaver who had heard her name summoned. Once she was handed off, John turned his attention back to Cameron.
"Is that really..."?
"It is. We found her on a storage device from another universe".
He moved closer to her head, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Seems like you've been busy".
"You could say that". She said with a wry smile. "What about you? I've noticed that you and Weaver get along".
John scratched his head as he thought about T-1001.
"Yeah, she's become a good friend. She's saved my life many times over Cameron".
"She knows how important you are".
John let out a sigh, knowing how many times Weaver had nearly gotten herself killed protecting him.
"So... what are we doing next"? He asked, he honestly had no clue as to what they were going to do next.
Cameron shifted her gaze as she eavesdropped on Cortana and Weaver's conversation.
"It appears as though we're going to use the TDE to escape. My interdimensional beacon is deprived of power right now which means he can't extract us".
"And it's too dangerous to stay here". He figured as he looked around the room briefly. "I'm sure mom won't be too happy to you". He said with a small smile.
"I think Kyle will keep her mind off of me". Cameron said with a similar expression. "You do want to take them right"?
He simply nodded before explaining.
"We need good soldiers to stop Skynet. Kyle, Derek, and Allison are the best in this base".
He noticed that she winced a little at Allison's name.
"I didn't do that". She said softly as she averted her eyes. "I didn't torture the Allison I killed".
John let out a sigh.
"I didn't think so, machines weren't built to be cruel". He said with an upturn of the lips.
"Not most, but a machine did that to her". She paused as she let John absorb that bit of info. "It was Skynet, it was directly controlling the body, I detected the signal".
"What"? John managed to get out as the shock of that set in. "Skynet itself tortured Allison"? He finished a little louder than intended.
That got Kyle's and Weaver's attention.
"Yes, a high speed data link connected it to Skynets servers".
She saw him thinking that over, and she also realized that they needed to get going, there was a lot to do.
"John, we can finish this when we get back, right now we need to focus". She said tonelessly, but John knew that wanted to continue, but it was simply unsafe to.
He couldn't agree more, it was time to go home.
Since Cameron was paralyzed, she was tasked with running constant scans to watch out for the counter attack that was bound to come and finish the job. Cortana was project leader, despite Kyle's and Weaver's misgivings about taking orders from her.
Kyle patched his brother up and checked on Allison, he didn't notice the MPA because it had blended into her skin. John worked with Weaver to pull the remaining T-888 cells that were needed to finish the machine.
Thirty minutes later and the machine was finished. With the overabundance of T-888 power cells, it hadn't taken Weaver long to tie them in.
After a diagnostic run, Weaver and Cortana both agreed that the TDE was ready to roll as the quirky blue AI had put it.
Kyle Reese had his reservations though. He wasn't going to put his brother in this thing without some sort of game plan.
"What exactly are we going to do"? He asked John face to face, he being the only one he remotely trust out of those actually awake.
"We go back to April, 2009 to escape Skynet, fix Cameron's beacon and go get John Henry. Then we go from there". John said as he walked back over to Cameron.
She had been listening to their conversation and knew that he was here to get her.
"John, you can't lift me by yourself". She said as her brown eyes locked with his, her eyes were sparkling with amusement.
John chuckled to himself before giving Kyle a look.
Together, they picked up Cameron's 300lb body and moved her over to the TDE pad. They laid her on the floor, John staying by her side while Kyle went to get Derek.
Weaver brought over Allison and laid the young woman's unconscious body next to Cameron's.
"We need to wake them up". John said quietly as he stared down at Allison's face. "They might not believe what happened unless they experience it". John said wisely as he looked over at Weaver.
"I don't know if waking Allison up in her condition is wise, but I agree that we should wake Derek". She said as she finished typing in the last sequence.
"Alright, wake Derek". John ordered, causing Kyle to give him a look.
He was supposed to be commanding officer, but let it go in light of their current situation.
Kyle took his canteen and dumped the water out of it onto his brother's scruffy face. The thirty-four year old Lieutenant woke with a start and tried lashing out at the nearest thing to him which just happened to be his brother. Lucky for him, Kyle caught his brother's fist and deflected it, causing the wounded shoulder to which it was attached to cry out in pain. Derek gritted his teeth in pain as he clutched the wound and his back went to the floor.
Once he managed to calm himself, he immediately took in his surroundings. They locked onto the first familiar thing he saw, his brother.
"Kyle". His face showed immense relief as he looked around at the group in the room. "What the hell happened"?
Kyle explained as sadness crossed his face. "Cameron saved us, along with John and Allison, the rest of the base..."
"We're all that's left"? He asked as he tried to sit up, that only bought him another round of pain from his shoulder. "Help me up". He asked and Kyle pulled him up by his good arm.
Derek saw Cameron lying on the floor with a hole in her stomach, but he wasn't concerned about her. He saw John next who was staring at him with an undefinable look on his face. He was going to have a conversation with him later.
A very long conversation, but for now, he had greater concerns.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Allison next to Cameron, unaware of her condition.
Then he spotted Cortana across the room with whom he could only guess was the T-1001 judging from the description Cameron had given him.
"What's the situation"? He asked his brother.
"We're going back in time Derek, the machine's finished. They wanted you conscious to make your decision".
"I don't know, what other choice do we have"? The soldier said as he glanced at John.
"You don't. If we go back, there's a chance we can stop Skynet forever". John said as he handed Weaver the phaser rifle. She promptly disassembled it and absorbed it into her body along with the Covenant energy sword so they could bring them through the TDE.
"Hey, it's not going to be that simple John, Skynet has access to advanced Romulan tech, it may end up pulling the same trick us". Cortana explained from her perch on the TDE control panel.
"Romulan"? Derek asked confused.
"The Star Trek equivalent to the USSR, and if my suspicion is correct, we're in big trouble. We need to get Cameron repaired and get back to John Henry". Cortana's voice was filled with urgency and worry, and despite the fact that Derek knew very little about the old sci-fi series, he understood that it was bad news.
"She's right John, this situation just got even more complicated, we need to leave now". Cameron said as the same urgency shown through in her voice. She turned her head to Derek and continued. "It's now or never, Skynet's counterattack will be here in ten minutes".
Derek pressed his lips into a thin line for a moment, but his mind had been made up.
"Let's do it". He said simply. "What do we have to do"?
John answered him as he picked up Cortana and handed her back to Cameron. "Unlike the one Cameron used, this one will only allow Weaver and living tissue encased objects through, so we'll be naked when we arrive". John explained as he picked up Allison and Weaver, Cameron. They were forced to hold them in a standing position so everyone would fit.
Kyle said nothing and threw his weapon aside and stepped into the circle outlined on the floor by previous incursions. Derek did the same and everyone pressed together.
"We ready"? John asked and received a resounding yes. Weaver didn't wait and hit the execute button with a tentacle.
"This thing set to overload after we're gone"? John yelled as the noise got louder.
"Of course". She said evenly but gave him an irritated glare.
"No room for mistakes, I have a feeling this is our last chance". John said just before the bubble collapsed.
A/N: So... What did you think?
A good place to start Jameron off? Not too mushy and not skimming over it.
As soon as things wind down a bit, John and Cameron will have some alone time to work things out.