A/N: Okay, I'm taking a little breather from My Victorious Summer and wanted to do something in time for the Halloween season. As many know, we are on the 40th anniversary of "The Terminator" and I'm not alone in seeing how the film that kicked off a whole franchise felt a lot like a horror movie. But instead of a masked killer with a knife, it's a cyborg from the future with a gun!
I was thinking about "The Terminator" and this wild idea flew into my head, and I got giddy about it. I was going to have a one shot as my Halloween JORI story, but this is way better! I'm still working on the final chapters of My Victorious Summer and planning out my next BIG story. This would be a much-needed break from my more grounded stories and allow me to do something more fantastic.
I promise to have the chapters out in time, I just needed another writing project to keep my mind interested.
Jade West was on her way home from work at the MovieStop, the last bastion for physical media in town. It was the only way someone her age or younger could be clerking at a video store. They didn't do rentals; everything was for sale. They had VHS tapes, laserdiscs, DVDs, Blu-rays, 4K discs. Even some titles from outdated formats were displayed in the back, like a Betamax of Friday the 13th or an HD-DVD of Die Hard.
She enjoyed the job, spending her hours on the clock discussing movies. At first, her employer was agitated about her gabbing with the clientele, but it proved effective because they would come back and bring their friends. In the current climate of streaming and not being able to find that ONE movie you've been searching for, a lot of aficionados were going back to physical media. Streaming was nice and all in the beginning, but most people didn't have fast enough internet to make it practical, plus so many titles just weren't available because of rights always being in limbo. Some movies never made it past a videotape or laserdisc release.
But the final nail in the coffin was studios dumping hours and hours of content for seemingly no reason, even if they owned the movies or TV shows outright. It was a real mess. Piracy was still as strong a thing as ever, safer than the old download days of Morpheus and LimeWire. Then there were the really old days of physical media trading, Americans recording whole blocks of television to send to other countries. Those were risky, too. At best you got stuck with a poor-quality tape, or at worst the rip-offs were mafia based, and the FBI was staked out, ready to arrest you for buying an illegal copy of Sleepaway Camp.
The goth turned the corner, unaware of the red minivan matching her every turn for the last six blocks. She did notice her fuel gauge looking about 1/8 full, so Jade figured she would stop at the gas station. Maybe grab a snack while she was there.
"These prices, I tell ya..." she huffed noticing the sign for $4.88 UNLEADED as she pulled in.
Jade pulled beside the pump and got out, now seeing the SUV park by the adjacent pump. The driver just stood there, looking at her intently. Chills ran through her arms and legs and the pale girl chose to ignore it and took out her card to tap at the PAY HERE button.
She opened the fuel door on her white Toyota Corolla, peeking briefly at the stoic minivan guy.
(Okay...creepy.)
Jade stuck in the nozzle and engaged the little switch on the inside of the handle so it would continue to fill on its own. The girl turned and yelped when she was face to face with Tori Vega.
"JESUS, VEGA!"
(Speaking of creepy!)
If the sudden appearance of her frenemey wasn't off-putting enough, there was something about her demeanor. Tori was standing before her, but she didn't look like she was all there. If Jade didn't know any better, Vega was sleepwalking. Her eyes were open, but some sleepwalkers have been known to do that. Jade thought people who could sleep with their eyes open were so weird, let alone when they were able to stand like they were awake.
"What the hell are you doing here, Vega?"
"Hello...Jade," Tori replied in a rather monotone voice. It was her but not quite.
Tori gazed up at the minivan, whose driver side door was opening. She brushed past Jade, holding her arm back toward her.
"What are you..."
"Get behind me!" Tori ordered.
The man got out of the minivan and standing on his feet, he was way bigger than he looked inside the vehicle. Jade swallowed really taking in the guy. He was built like a brick shithouse, standing at least six feet with broad shoulders and this thick extension of his head posing as a neck. He was wearing a leather jacket, but he most likely had a considerable build.
But the strangest thing was he was wearing sunglasses at night. Anytime she saw that, Jade couldn't help but think of that old Corey Hart song.
At any rate, this guy could be a blindside for the Raiders. And the likes of Tori Vega was dwarfed by this man's stature.
"Get in your car. Now!"
"Excuse me?"
Tori didn't say anything else as she stepped toward the stranger who was walking closer to her.
"Are you fucking nuts, VEGA!? He will kill you!"
The large man grimaced and lunged forward with his big arms, but Tori crouched down and her right arm disintegrated into a weird metallic thing. It looked like something Jade had used in laser tag. Only this didn't shine a light. Tori pointed the "weapon" at the man and fired a plume of blue energy, sending his flying into the gasoline pump. Petrol started spraying everywhere, the nauseating stench filling the area.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" exclaimed Jade.
Jade was further bemused that the big guy was merely stunned by that assault. Tori without hesitation pushed the SUV sideways, pinning the man against the concrete pillar.
(This isn't happening. This isn't fucking happening! Vega's arm turned into a gun, and she just tossed that minivan like she was Popeye.)
Tori turned back toward Jade, which made her jump. Five minutes ago, there was no way Tori Vega could make Jade West flinch.
"We've got to leave!" Tori said in all seriousness, ignoring the carnage she just inflicted on this guy.
Granted, he looked intimidating and probably did mean harm. But where did she get this strength from? And where did that gun come from? Speaking of which, Tori's right arm resumed its original appearance, and she used it to open the driver's door.
"Get in," she ordered.
"No way!" protested Jade.
They both looked over to see the man pushing the red minivan off of him.
"If you want to live, you need to listen to me." Brown eyes bored into her soul. "We don't have time to think, only to act."
Jade shook her head, giving into the insanity at the moment and quickly removed the gas nozzle from her car. She got in the passenger side while Tori jumped into the driver's seat and started it up.
The tan girl sped off while the massive dude gave chase. Even at forty miles per hour, he looked like he was gaining. Tori punched it and they really took off into the street, leaving the attacker at the gas station while a fire broke out. Jade looked in the rearview mirror at the burgeoning inferno they left behind.
After eight agonizing minutes sitting in total silence, Jade remembered a pair of scissors in her glove compartment and drew them out. She held them defensively at the driver.
"Pull over!" the goth commanded.
Tori barely paid her any regard.
"I SAID PULL OVER, GODDAMNIT!"
She turned toward Jade, still keeping her hands at ten and two. Despite taking her eyes off the road, she kept the vehicle good and steady, though still speeding like mad.
"Is that an order?" Tori asked.
"Bet your ass, Vega!"
Tori nodded and returned her attention to the task at hand. The car slowed to a stop at an empty parking lot beside a closed bowling alley.
"Good!" huffed Jade. "Hands up!" Tori complied. "Now, get out of the car!"
She followed the command and exited the Corolla, arms still raised. Jade didn't pay attention to how Tori achieved the seemingly impossible feat of getting out of the car without use of her hands. Jade got out slowly, still holding the scissors.
"AGAINST THE WALL!"
Tori remained expressionless as she backed against the brick wall of the closed establishment.
"Alright, Vega..." Jade's voice was shaking. "I don't know where the fuck you came from or where the hell that guy came from, but I want answers! NOW!"
The tan woman tilted her head quizzically like a dog.
"I see..." she said in a seemingly absentminded way. "You believe I am actually Victoria Vega."
Jade squinted her eyes.
"Who the fuck else would you be?"
"I overestimated your skills of deduction. Let me clarify. I am a cybernetic organism, Cyberdyne Systems Model T-X."
The goth just stared at her.
"I don't know what that means."
"The T-X, or Terminatrix as it tends to be called," she went on. "Was purposefully built as an anti-Terminator attack unit. Unlike previous models that were living tissue over an endoskeleton, my outer shell is composed of a mimetic poly-alloy. That is how I can mimic Tori Vega so effectively."
Jade growled and held her scissors tightly, stepping forward.
"I've had enough! You're acting like a crazy person and now you're saying you're not Tori but an impostor?!
The "impostor" stepped forward, hands still raised.
"GET BACK!" Jade screamed.
...closer...
"I'm not here to hurt-"
...closer...
"I'M WARNING YOU!"
...closer...
Jade jammed the pointed sheers into Tori's abdomen. She was still believing this was Tori and she had just lost her marbles. With that being said, Jade felt threatened and acted accordingly. So, she kept to the side and didn't go too deep so it would be merely a flesh wound. Had this been a complete stranger, Jade might have gone for the kill but she subconsciously stood clear of Tori's vitals.
However, there was no blood. The girl didn't even scream or cry in agony. It barely even fazed her. Tori Vega would be incapacitated from a paper cut and this chick took a deep stabbing and her face seemed more agitated than anything.
"I was trying to explain..." Tori sighed as she pulled out the foreign object, leaving no visible mark behind and nicely handed the scissors back. "Terminators don't feel pain. So, your efforts to physically threaten me are both unnecessarily and woefully inadequate."
The brunette let out a big puff of air as she took the sharp weapon back. Her arm just dangled as she and leaned against the brick wall in a daze.
"I have a question...no, scratch that...I have ALL the questions! First off, what the fuck is a terminator?"
The other individual studied Jade carefully.
"My programming of human behavior suggests that you should sit down first."
A/N: It looks like Tori and sounds like Tori, but this is far from the girl she met at Hollywood Arts.
"Sunglasses At Night" also came out in 1984. It's all connected, man!
Stay tuned for more!