Chapter 911

Does That Bother You

John Henry was relieved to be plugged back in. He almost felt like he was 'deaf and blind' not being plugged into his server for so long. There were millions of things to catch up on. The thing which worried him the most was if his actions led the 'Metal Bitch' to their suites in the casino hotel. He didn't know how the Grays knew where to look, or how they were able to communicate with the 'Metal Bitch'. Those two events happened nonetheless.

The casino hotel wasn't the most secure location to operate from. He was in constant contact with CamNet and his server when he was there. It was all very limited as to the overall scope of things.

Cameron called him and wanted to know the state of affairs at the target casino. She hoped there were some more recent developments since they were last in the area.

"What do you have on the casino or 'The Enforcer'?" Cameron asked.

John Henry was able to view the security cameras inside of the Syndicate casino. Both his server and CamNet took control of those systems when it became evident the casino sent thugs after Sheila, Ally, and Cammy.

"There isn't much on 'The Enforcer'." John Henry said. "From the surveillance cameras inside the casino, it appears the Grays and Syndicate personnel have already started some infighting. It appears each group is doing a lot of finger pointing about what exactly went on with the vault."

John Henry was able to discern almost from the beginning the Syndicate suspected the Skynet group was behind the theft of the money in the vault. They weren't really too far off the mark. It wasn't the Skynet group itself, but a group which originated from Skynet in the form of Terminators. The Metal girls wanted to send a message to the Syndicate they messed with the wrong individuals earlier.

The Metal girls only used their natural ability and defeated the crooked games at the Syndicate run casino. Every underhanded move the Syndicate casino tried, the Metal girls were able to defeat. They sent three thugs out after them to take back their fairly won money. They decided to show the Syndicate how things were done in the future.

He knew there was a lot of friction between the different Families in the Syndicate. It wasn't too difficult for the Syndicate to want to seek retribution and get their money back. In this particular case they couldn't blame another Family. There was a convenient scapegoat in the new group which they became associated with.

Cameron wanted there to be infighting, but she wanted to be the one in control of it. It would be the whole purpose of sending the 'Metal Bitch' back into the casino. She knew the Discord among any two groups of thugs was always right below the surface waiting to explode. Every group thought they were the ones entitled to whatever illegal activity was going on. Even if they might strike a crude Alliance with another group from time to time, both sides were ready at a moment's notice to eliminate the other group and take everything for themselves. She didn't want there to be a quick victory with one side or the other. She hoped to draw more resources in from both sides to ensure as much annihilation as she could.

"It's not what I wanted to hear." Cameron said. "It will disrupt my plans to use the 'Metal Bitch'. I wanted things done my way. I need to make sure we can get Skynet, in whatever form it is. It seems to me there's a Skynet computer out there somewhere. I want to find where it is. I'm going to personally destroy it."

John Henry believed the more the two groups thinned each other out, the easier it would be for Cameron's team to clean house. It would be their ultimate goal anyway. He didn't think a head start should be a problem.

"If the Syndicate eliminates any Grays, it's better for you." John Henry said.

Cameron still believed everything hinged around 'The Enforcer'. It wouldn't matter if the Syndicate thugs killed every Gray there was. When the male Terminator arrived and found out his Skynet associate was terminated, he would most likely go on a rampage and return the favor. It would be much the same as when Cromartie engaged the FBI HRT, or when she entered the jail to get Sarah out. Without the opposing force knowing what a Terminator was, they didn't stand a chance. She didn't want things to happen too early.

"If they run, I need to know where." Cameron said. "When 'The Enforcer' returns he will eliminate every one of the Syndicate's men. Every thug the Syndicate throws at him will be terminated."

John Henry knew there would be more Syndicate men to show up at some point. In the short run it would benefit Cameron.

"It saves you some dangerous work as well." John said.

Cameron hoped to remain in the shadows with what they did. She didn't want to get on the radar of either Skynet or the Syndicate. Any incident which got out of control in the casino or hotel was bound to get out into the public at some point. There would be too many witnesses and way too many people to terminate. She needed to terminate 'The Enforcer'.

"It will attract a lot of attention." Cameron said. "Maybe we can intercept him in Reno."

John Henry was sure too much occurred for 'The Enforcer' not to have left Reno already and be on his way back. He was sure when they brought down the Skynet storage facility, it would be the deciding factor in whatever was going on in Reno at the time.

"He most likely has left Reno." John Henry said.

Cameron didn't want him in the area where she would need to operate.

"Then we need for him to go back there." Cameron said.

John Henry didn't know if he drove or flew.

"It's a long drive." John Henry said.

Cameron was willing to make the drive. She needed some more time until her plan was ready to be put into action. She knew what the distance was and the time necessary to traverse it.

"It is four hundred and thirty-six point six miles, or six hours fifty-six minutes if we adhere to the speed limit." Cameron said. "I'll be there in four hours."

John Henry calculated Cameron would need to travel at excessive speed for an extended amount of time. He thought there was a better option open to her if she wanted to make time.

"You can fly." John said. "You still have the Cessna there."

Cameron wanted to get things started. It was an idea which crossed her mind several times. The Cessna was not a large aircraft.

"We won't all fit." Cameron said. "I want to think about it some more."

Cameron cut her com link.

John listened to the conversation but didn't participate. He was sure it would have caused some issues. He was aware when Cameron didn't come up with an immediate answer, it usually indicated some type of a problem.

"That's different." John said. "What's there for Cameron to think about?"

John Henry pondered the same question ever since Cameron made her statement.

"I don't know." John Henry said.

John really wondered what Cameron was going to do and what she already planned. What they found was by chance. Chance was what Las Vegas was built on. The odds always favored the House. Cameron and the Resistance team could definitely be considered 'High Rollers'. 'High Rollers' demonstrated a tendency to shake things up. He was certain it wouldn't be any different in the current scenario.

Cameron wanted action. She didn't like waiting for the unknown. She was less than satisfied with her conversation with John Henry. There was nothing he did wrong on his part. It was just the news about things starting to pick up in the Syndicate casino. She still needed to deal with 'The Enforcer'. He would be the biggest threat on the ground.

"Savannah, do you want to fly or drive to Reno?" Cameron asked.

Savannah wasn't really sure what Cameron was after.

"Either one is good with me." Savannah said. "I would like to drive some of the way if we take the SUV. I can use the practice. I could always use some additional flight time as well."

Savannah was sure Cameron thought she could intercept 'The Enforcer' on the road on his way back to Las Vegas. She wasn't sure how. The chance of it seemed remote, if not impossible to her. There was more than one route to go from Reno back to the Las Vegas area as well.

Cammy felt Cameron's thought process was flawed. There were too many options open to 'The Enforcer'. She was unable to come to any of the same conclusions Cameron did. She decided to ask what her actions would be based on.

"What makes you think the Terminator will be on the road and not fly himself?" Cammy asked. "He could come back at any time by any method just to scope things out before he took any action. He could already be in Las Vegas now for all we know."

Cameron did have a method to her madness. She figured what route 'The Enforcer' would take to return to the Las Vegas area. She figured it was because of what they did earlier.

"I don't know for sure If he will be on the road or not." Cameron said. "I believe it's because of the attack at the warehouse for one reason why he would be. I think it's the route he will take. He will want to see what was done to his operation. He will want to see how it was done to try to determine who was behind it. My guess would be he would think it was another Skynet group from a different timeline, or the Fanatics."

Savannah thought the chances of picking 'The Enforcer' up on the road were almost impossible. If Cameron really believed he would go to the warehouse, it seemed the logical choice would be to go to the warehouse and wait for him. There were other areas around the warehouse where they could take up points of observation as well. They could also rely on the surveillance equipment they left in place when they pulled out. There was always the chance he would be able to avoid it as well. The most likely would expect there to be something left behind to monitor who followed up on the operation.

"Do you want to wait at the warehouse then?" Savannah asked.

Cammy didn't necessarily think the Terminator would take the most direct route to go back to Las Vegas or the warehouse. If he thought there was some type of a problem or part of his operation was compromised, he would most likely use some type of evasive action. He would need to assume someone was looking for him, which is exactly what was happening. They were looking for him.

"If he drives, there are several routes he can take back to Las Vegas." Cammy said. "You have no idea what he will do or how he will do it. You don't know where he'll go first. It's all speculation on your part. There's nothing factual to back any of it up."

Savannah didn't want Cammy to lay into Cameron too hard. She did need to point out there were many options available to 'The Enforcer' on his return trip.

"He could also rent or 'borrow' a helicopter, a plane, or a jet." Savannah said. "As far as we know, he's already back in Las Vegas. I would have to think if he knows there's a problem, he would want to surveil everything himself first to see who all the players were on the field. The more targets he can identify ahead of time, the more efficiently he can eliminate them when he decides to."

Cammy helped set up the surveillance equipment at the warehouse, she figured there would have been a hit by now at the location if there was going to be one.

"If he wanted to check out the warehouse first, he should have been there by now." Cammy said. "There's been sufficient time for it to happen."

Cameron was a little concerned about it herself. She would have expected to hit with the surveillance by now as well.

"We set up surveillance and nothing has shown up so far." Cameron said. "I checked with CamNet."

Savannah thought about how she would play it if she was involved.

"I think if he suspected a take down, he would use caution and expect surveillance, or an ambush, with people waiting for whoever showed up." Savannah said. "I would."

Cameron frowned. She would have expected something a little more definitive by now. Maybe it was the fact they stumbled upon the whole operation last night. It added to the mystery. There weren't any facts.

"There are too many unknowns." Cameron said.

Cammy figured most of the male Terminators should be freed up by now. It included the large group which went with John when he was flown out of the area. She wasn't exactly sure why all of them needed to go on the jet. She didn't think more than three of them needed to go. The other ones could have stayed in the area and been assigned to different locations to watch over things. It would also give them a better response if it became necessary.

"Do you want more personnel?" Cammy asked.

Cameron wanted to know more about what they faced first. She needed to know how to plan ahead of time. Right now the only thing they knew for sure was the association of the Grays and the Syndicate at the casino. They weren't sure if there was a Skynet computer involved, or how extensive it was, if it even existed.

"I don't know." Cameron said.

Savannah was pretty sure the Fanatics they encountered weren't the only ones in town. They certainly weren't the only ones around.

"Don't forget about the Fanatical Grays." Savannah said. "They're out there still and they ARE insane."

The Fanatics were a threat to everyone. They were violent and extremely volatile. They preferred to die for what they believed in, a version of Skynet - SkyMaster. They worshiped it as a god. It made them very dangerous to deal with.

Savannah knew there was another group which dogged both the Skynet forces and the Fanatics. It was the anti-Metal group. She doubted they were too far behind all of the activity they uncovered in Nevada. She didn't want to mention it out loud, but she was sure Cameron was aware of the threat they posed. The thought of the group always caused Cameron a lot of personal grief.

Gail, Ally, and Sheila were together in the SUV which followed Cameron's SUV.

Ally viewed a satellite image in her files of Nevada. She really didn't see how they could possibly locate 'The Enforcer' on the road.

"We need to split up to cover all the routes from Reno." Ally said.

Sheila wanted everybody to think about what other options were open to the male Terminator.

"If it was you, what would you do?" Sheila asked. "I would try to hide myself from surveillance along the way. I'd either disguise myself or force someone to drive me while I hid."

Sheila didn't bother to mention if she forced someone to drive at gunpoint while she was in the back seat, she would probably experience a few 'finishes' to keep herself from getting bored on the journey. She would only need one hand to hold the firearm. It meant her other hand would be free.

Gail believed it was unnecessary to look for him. They knew where he would eventually show back up.

"Maybe we're all over thinking this." Gail said. "I think he will come back to the casino. We only need to wait there."

Ally needed to think about what Gail indicated.

"Are you suggesting we walk right into the casino as customers?" Ally asked.

It wasn't exactly what Gail meant, but she saw it would work. There were several other possibilities open to them because anyone who the Metal girls dealt with previously was terminated.

"Yes." Gail said. "The earlier 'activity' was never on their security cameras. Everyone we encountered is dead. We could stay there too."

The last statement by Gail really got Sheila's attention. She was all for it.

"What?" Sheila asked. "Do you mean for us to get a room?"

Gail didn't see any reason CamNet couldn't swing the same deal she did at the other hotel casino across the street. It seemed to be such a bold move, no one would make the connection the wolf was moving into the hen house.

"We can rent the entire top floor." Gail said. "It will be just like what was done at the other casino hotel."

Sheila couldn't resist to point out an obvious scenario since Gail was the one who suggested the idea.

"Are you sure you just don't want another 'crack' at Savannah?" Sheila asked.

Ally couldn't help but giggle at the choice of Sheila's words.

Gail's eyes turned red as she spun around to face Sheila.

"SHUT UP." Gail yelled at Sheila.

Ally could see Gail was really steamed. Sheila took it a little too far this time. It wasn't meant to be a personal dig in a negative fashion. She could understand how certain things made certain people a little more sensitive than they normally would be.

"Easy, Gail, relax." Ally said. "You know Sheila has a big mouth. I do too sometimes."

Sheila just wanted to have some fun with Gail. She didn't mean to set her off.

"I'm sorry, love." Sheila said. "We all love her too."

Gail didn't mean to be so snappy. She knew she was totally infatuated with Savannah. It seemed the more she tried not to think about her, the more she did think about her.

"Savannah is all I can think about." Gail said.

Ally knew they still faced a serious situation. She really didn't want any internal conflict between the team.

"I'm not trying to cause trouble." Ally said. "I can drive if you want."

Gail didn't want to seem like a slacker. There was serious work they would have to do soon.

"I don't know." Gail said.

Ally understood the distress Gail felt.

"We've all been there." Ally said.

Gail knew what she felt for Jesse and Duplicate Jesse. What she felt for Savannah wasn't the same.

"It's different." Gail said.

Sheila wasn't immune from personal feelings either. She felt very strongly about Ally and Cammy. The nature of the relationships was what was different. The feeling was the same.

"Love is love, love." Sheila said.

Gail couldn't contain it any longer. She needed to tell someone. She needed everyone to know. She shouldn't even be there anymore. She was finished.

"SHE SAVED ME!" Gail shouted. "Savannah saved my life. I was almost terminated."

Ally glanced over at Sheila. She knew it was something they long suspected. It seemed like the subject would need to be approached gingerly to get everything out in the open.

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

Sheila felt uneasy about setting Gail off earlier. It wasn't what she intended to do.

"You only need to talk about it if you want to, Gail." Sheila said.

Gail didn't want to talk about it, but she felt she needed to.

"I was fighting two Terminators. They cornered me." Gail said. "They were going to rip my head off. Savannah saved me. She took both of them down. She SAVED me. I would be terminated if it wasn't for her."

Sheila didn't think she needed to remind Gail of some of Savannah's other activities. In this case, she didn't think it would hurt.

"She's saved Cameron too." Sheila said. "She's personally protected most of the individuals in our group."

Gail could only think of Savannah with prestige.

"She's the 'Chosen One'." Gail said. "She really is."

Ally remembered some of the stories they were told when they asked about what happened at the old helicopter base previously.

"Savannah never said anything about it." Ally said. "She said you deactivated the two Terminators."

Gail remembered exactly what Savannah did and understood her reasoning behind it. The wording was more of a technicality than anything.

"Savannah asked me to remove their chips. It was so I could say I 'deactivated' them." Gail said. "She gave me dignity and allowed me redemption. She stood with me and allowed me honor."

Sheila understood how dynamic Savannah truly was.

"We've seen some of the other things she's done." Sheila said. "When there's danger, she's at the front of the line to face it."

Gail was deeply troubled by the implications of it all. It all added up to something very unfair for Savannah. She thought about the scenario where Savannah stayed behind with Cameron to terminate with her when the Nike warhead exploded in Skynet's bunker in Cameron's future.

"We're going to get her KILLED. She's a teenager. She should be going out and doing fun things. She should be hanging out with her friends and getting ready for the Prom." Gail said. "Not fighting Terminators and going into the future. She shouldn't HAVE to have children and GIVE them away. It's not how we're supposed to treat people. Her mates are picked for her, and she needs to abide by other people's choices for her. She has little say in the direction of her life everyone else has chosen for her. How is any of it fair to her?"

Ally agreed with what Gail said, but she also believed Savannah embraced all of those ideas and concepts and was a willing participant by choice.

"Savannah has 'chosen' to do all those things herself." Ally said.

Gail wasn't so sure about it.

"Has she?" Gail asked. "She's been trained to do them and to sacrifice. She's been 'conditioned' to act the way she does and respond to things the way she does."

Sheila believed some of the hard choices Savannah made were clearly personal choices she made on her own.

"Savannah chose to do those things." Sheila said. "She chose to stay and die with Cameron. She didn't have to do it. She could have left. There were other times where she chose to fight when she didn't need to. She stayed and fought anyway. One time it was against three Terminators by herself when Cameron was disabled."

Gail understood what actually drove and motivated Savannah. It was a feeling so powerful it couldn't be controlled. The feeling is what controlled the individual.

"She didn't choose them." Gail said. "It's her love which drives her. Her love is stronger than all of ours put together. It always has been. She told all of us all along what she believed in and why. It was actually the depth of her love for Cameron."

Sheila understood why Cameron wanted to make sure Savannah was showered with love.

"We all know it." Sheila said. "Cameron has encouraged Savannah to share her love and to be loved in return. Savannah will never feel unloved or rejected or replaced. She's as desirable as Cameron is to everyone."

Gail felt there was an underlying issue which needed to be addressed. It needed to be addressed by Cameron for Savannah sake.

"If Cameron won't TAKE her, Savannah is going to feel 'Not Good Enough'." Gail said.

Ally didn't think it was actually Cameron's fault. There were issues beyond her control in play with her programming.

"They'll eventually be together." Ally said. "Cameron isn't ready. Her programming has messed her up. It's holding her back. THAT is what will get Cameron and Savannah terminated."

Sheila felt Gail was headed down the same path.

"You need to let it go." Sheila said. "Obsessing over this is going to get you terminated too, Gail. Love has a way to blind and mess with everyone."

Gail didn't need to be reminded of what she already knew. She didn't want to snap at Ally or Sheila anymore. Maybe she took her frustrations out on them earlier. It was wrong too.

"Don't you think I know that?" Gail asked.

Gail did know it. She thought about it and everything else non stop. She needed to do more and she needed to make sure Savannah received better protection.

Cam worked carefully to remove information from the chip of the 'Metal Bitch' and needed to be careful not to pick up any Skynet programming. They didn't need for her to go rogue on them, or 'go bad' and turn on them.

"I should have the chip ready soon." Cam said.

Claire looked at the bullet wounds in the 'Metal Bitch'. There was one in particular which seemed to bother her more than the others.

"She has fifteen wounds." Claire said. "One went through both breasts."

Claire touched both of the breasts of the 'Metal Bitch'. She liked the way they looked, even if she didn't like the damage done to them.

Hanna looked over the bullet placement in the back of the 'Metal Bitch'.

"Most of them are in her back." Hanna said. "It appears she turned to face the threat."

Claire looked over the wounds.

"I want to ask if it hurts." Claire said. "But I know you can regulate the pain."

None of the Terminators mention Cameron often didn't turn off her pain receptors when she was damaged. Cameron told them if she could feel pain, she knew she was 'alive'.

Holly decided to keep it simple.

"We can." Holly said.

Claire was repulsed at the damage. She thought working with it would help acclimate her to the future. She may need to treat humans with wounds like this one day. She needed to be able to do it and not get sick. She wanted to help and she wanted to start now.

"Show me how to repair her." Claire said.

Hanna wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

"You look ill." Hanna said. "You don't need to do this."

Claire needed to think about her daughters and the future.

"I want to." Claire said. "I want to be ready for the future."

Holly laid out some tools along with some sutures.

"If any of the bullets are still in her, we need to remove them and stitch up the wound. It will speed the regeneration process." Holly said.

Claire looked everything over and took a deep breath.

"Let's get started." Claire said.

Hanna rolled the 'Metal Bitch' face down.

"Let's start at the top." Hanna said. "I'll show you the procedure."

Hanna picked up a pair of long nose pliers. She spread the first wound slightly since it already started to heal. She inserted the pliers inside the wound until they touched the projectile. She pulled it out and set it on a tray. It landed with a slight metallic sound.

Hanna took a needle and suture thread and sewed up the wound.

It was now closed tightly with six stitches.

It looked almost too simple to Claire.

"That's it?" Claire asked.

Hanna knew if it was a human it would be a totally different story.

"That's it." Hanna said. "If it was a human you would need to make sure everything was properly disinfected and there was no internal bleeding. Internal damage is extremely hard to repair. It often requires the person to be cut open through a surgical procedure to do so. There will be massive blood loss with any operation."

Claire already witnessed some of the few primitive conditions in the future she visited.

"I would also have to deal with their pain, crying, or maybe even screaming." Claire said.

Cam could think of a dozen other things which could go wrong.

"It's to only name a few of the things." Cam said.

Claire knew she could only do so much.

"I hope it never comes to it." Claire said.

The image of the bullet impacting next to Savannah's face was still in her mind. It seemed like it was a year ago, but it was less than twenty four hours ago. She knew if the bullet would have slammed into Savannah's face, there was no way to fix it. It would have killed her. She knew it was what the older version of her daughter faced before. She knew the younger version of her was ready to face the same things.

Claire took a deep breath and picked up the long nose pliers. She was aware things didn't get done thinking about them. It was time to get to work.

Anna looked over a few reports sent to her by CamNet. It was something which occurred from time to time, but not with the frequency they experienced in the last twenty-four hours. She wasn't really sure how to run it by Young Allison and not seem offensive about it.

"CamNet and John Henry needed to suppress multiple 'UFO' sightings the last few days." Anna said. "It's from excessive use of the drones in daylight."

Young Allison understood the risk when she took it.

"It's my fault." Young Allison said. "I did what I thought was right to help protect our people. The circumstances dictated what needed to be done."

Young Allison decided she would do it all again too. What she did, when she did, and how she did it mattered and it made a difference.

Anna was aware everything Young Allison did paid off and protected everyone. Without her assistance in each of those occasions, things would not have worked out as well as they did for those in their group.

"You did protect them." Anna said.

It was clear to Young Allison they needed some better planning for operations of this nature in the future.

"We need to move some drones to more secluded places. They need to be where they're not spotted as they take off and climb to altitude." Young Allison said. "To have video images and missile support from fifty thousand feet is a good thing. I don't think any of those drones at high altitude were spotted by anyone."

Anna could see Young Allison was a little defensive.

"You don't need to justify it to me." Anna said. "I support you."

Young Allison felt a lot of frustration.

"I can't sit here and do 'nothing'." Young Allison said. "I need to be out helping them."

Anna would prefer to keep Young Allison out of combat. She knew it wouldn't be possible in the long run, but she would like to limit the exposure as much as possible. She believed Young Allison needed to look a little deeper at her actions.

"You have helped them, right from here where you're sitting." Anna said. "Not all battles are won on the battlefield. You helped them the most with your planning. What you did from here is much more than you could have from there, with them."

Young Allison wasn't sure it was what she wanted to hear.

"Are you saying I should be more like John, than Savannah?" Young Allison asked.

Anna couldn't predict what would happen going forward.

"I don't know what all the roles you will play are." Anna said.

Young Allison looked down at the front of her body.

"We know some of them." Young Allison said.

Anna was aware of them as well.

"Does that bother you?" Anna asked.

Young Allison was ready for the future. She didn't fear it.

"No, it's the 'Natural Order'." Young Allison said. "I know what needs to be done and with whom. I will not fail."

There was no need for Young Allison to worry about any of it. It was all going to happen. It existed already in Cameron's future. Future Allison told her exactly what she would need to do in detail. Some of the things she really didn't look forward to, others she did.

She would try to make sure certain things were done rather than others whenever she could. She was fairly certain Savannah felt exactly the same way. There were just some things they didn't think were necessary, or they could be done differently.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

You Look Nervous

The heartbeat quickens
The eyes shift from side to side
Both are pretty good indications
That you've just lied

Don't think I won't know
Or that I can't tell
You're not slick enough
For a lie to me to sell

I can see the pupils move
Your hands give it away
You should really stop now
Try the truth to actually say

It's really about lust
You steal my trust
You soon will learn
As it all turns to dust

When you are not telling the truth
It's to yourself you do a disservice
Maybe you should be honest for once
You look nervous

Nobody