Chapter 973

I Serve My Duty

The information John Henry processed turned up a location owned by one of the individuals compromised by the 'shakedown' operation in Las Vegas. There was the possibility it was being visited by a Gray, or a group of them. It was from information gathered from the Skynet controlled and Syndicate run casino in Las Vegas. Gail went out to check on it. It seemed to be a clandestine target. It was an abandoned supermarket located next to two strip malls which were also defunct. It appeared the Grays were trying to hide in plain sight. What were they up to?

The Metal girls responded. It was decided to hold any further activity until darkness arrived. Surveillance devices were put into place. It turned into a surveillance operation at this point. Based on the nature of the location, and the fact it was equipped with large refrigerators and freezers, there were some questions raised as to what was inside the old supermarket. Could there be chemical or biological toxins inside there?

The teams of girls sat silently as they waited and watched. The hours slowly ticked by.

Cameron was with Cammy and Savannah. She thought the wait was unhealthy for Savannah in several ways.

"I want you to go back, Savannah." Cameron said. "We've been here for hours."

Savannah didn't want Cameron to fuss over her.

"The rest of our troops aren't going back." Savannah said. "I'm not either."

Cameron pointed out the obvious. The rest of the troops were all Terminators.

"They're machines." Cameron said. "They don't need to eat, or rest, or relieve themselves."

Savannah didn't want any special consideration on her part.

"Cameron, I always manage." Savannah said. "You've never heard me complain about anything. I serve my duty."

Savannah was always where she was supposed to be on an operation. It was usually at Cameron's side.

Cameron looked at Savannah and frowned.

"You know why I'm concerned." Cameron said.

Savannah knew it was because she was pregnant.

Cameron was worried about Vanna's baby. It was the baby Savannah carried inside of her for Vanna.

Savannah understood her limitations and knew she needed to play things carefully.

"I feel fine, everything is going very well." Savannah said. "Someone is always scanning me. I never even experienced any morning sickness this time. My body is acclimated to its true purpose."

Cameron didn't like the analogy, even if the purpose of every living creature was to reproduce to continue the species. She wondered when she made a clone like Cam, Camille, and Cammy, if it was a form of reproduction. They all came from her in their sheath appearance and their program. CamNet, Metal Summer, and Anna all were copies of her program. It was something to ponder anyway. She figured she better stick with the subject. She wanted Savannah to know she was more than a tool for reproduction.

"It may be true for the species, but it's not YOUR true purpose." Cameron said. "I've never treated you like it was."

Savannah felt a little defensive. Maybe the long wait did affect her a little more than she anticipated. She believed she did everything Cameron expected from her. She felt she needed to say something, even if she didn't think it was a good idea.

"Isn't it?" Savannah asked. "I promise to be where I need to be, when I need to be there. I PROMISE you Cameron. You KNOW this. I've done everything you WANTED, even if you didn't ask me. I know what you wanted."

Cameron's hand started to glitch.

She knew it to be a fact. Savannah followed through on all her promises, even if she hadn't specifically 'pushed' Savannah to do them. Savannah's first two pregnancies were Savannah's own doing. The current one was done specifically for Vanna using Vanna's genetic material so Vanna would accept the baby when it was born. She even hired a specialist to make sure there wouldn't be any problems. Vanna previously said she would never take Savannah's child from her. The baby would be Vanna's child which Savannah carried and nurtured for her. Even though they were the same person, it needed to be done this way for Vanna's peace of mind. It hadn't been too difficult to do and there was very little chance Savannah's body would reject her own genetic material.

The real worry was if the toxins, chemicals, and biological elements Vanna was exposed to in a Skynet future may have damaged her even further than they knew. They knew she could get pregnant. She just couldn't keep things long enough to progress very far. It wasn't her fault. It was the fault of the external circumstances which afflicted her.

Cameron wanted to help the girls. Allison made it clear what she wanted. It was currently covered two ways. One was with Allison herself. The other one was with an embryo implanted in Claire.

Once Vanna and Jesse both started to nurse Precious, it was more than obvious they wanted offspring of their own. Vanna was currently taken care of. Young Jesse was ready to step up and deliver for Jesse. Neither Jesse nor Young Jesse experienced any qualms about using Young Jesse's genetic material. Jesse actually didn't want the baby to be from her own body because she felt she was tainted and didn't want the baby to be tainted as well. Her earlier attempts to have a baby ended much the same as Vanna's did. Nothing ever seemed to 'stick' for more than a few months.

She was concerned about one thing though. Young Jesse wanted a traditional conception this time. It meant she would need to 'be with' John physically.

Cameron wasn't opposed to John being with Young Jesse for the conception. Young Jesse was currently untouched by a male. John would be her 'first'. She already delivered a baby for Duplicate Jesse 'in some future'. It wasn't how she anticipated things would work out previously. She thought Savannah would be by John's side at this time. It wasn't the case. She better understood the true nature of Savannah's desires. She didn't want to force her into something she would be uncomfortable with. She understood Claire's predicament and what she needed to go through, until she was finally free to follow her true calling.

She wanted John protected from the anti-Metal faction. If Young Jesse and Claire wanted to be stand-ins for Savannah and Young Allison, she didn't have a problem with it. Love was about sacrifice. She was willing to sacrifice for John's safety and protection. John was the most important thing to her. She glanced over at Savannah. Well, maybe the second most important thing to her.

Savannah looked at Cameron and smiled.

Cameron definitely knew what the most important thing was to her at this point. It was someone who not only provided her with true unconditional love, it was someone who provided her with companionship and friendship. They were the things which seemed to make her existence whole. It was someone who always believed in her from the beginning. It meant something to her. It meant a lot.

She was certain if she was living her life over, she would have taken Savannah and disappeared into the past. The ideal time to do it was like the current situation where she was pregnant. They could have a child and raise it as a family. She knew there would be some push back depending upon where they ended up living in the past. She would be able to physically handle any threat anyone could put forward. She didn't want to set a bad example for Savannah's and her child. Maybe it happened. Maybe it would happen. Maybe it would never happen. She needed to stick to the here and now and not worry about 'what ifs'.

Cammy listened to Cameron and Savannah talk. She couldn't listen to anymore.

"I'm going to stretch my legs and get some fresh air." Cammy said.

Savannah and Cameron looked at each other. Cammy didn't need to do either of those things. They figured she was upset about something.

Cammy quickly got out. She walked away in disgust from the SUV. She didn't always like the way Cameron did things. She heard enough of the current conversation. She didn't need to listen to anymore to know it was Cameron's goal to steal Savannah from her. She knew it from her creation but the reality of it now was a very discomforting feeling.

She watched how Cameron continuously pushed Savannah. Savannah pushed back in her own way. Cammy was proud of Savannah. She knew Cameron set out to make Savannah, and later Young Allison, into human versions of herself. She shared Cameron's programming and programs. She knew Cameron wanted the girls to be as gifted as River was. She didn't know if it was possible for them. There may be other genetic and outside issues in play there as well with River. It seemed if anyone was going to be like River, it would be Summer. She wouldn't put any 'temporal malpractice' past Cameron as far as it went either. She actually wouldn't put anything past her.

Cammy looked around, it was quiet. She must have wandered several blocks away from the old supermarket. She noticed her hand started to glitch at some point. It was Cameron's fault. All of her problems were Cameron's fault. She was lost in thought about them. Since she lost some awareness of distance and time, she knew it was another flaw she 'inherited' from Cameron. It was Cameron's fault too. She needed to be close to Savannah in case Cameron put her in danger again. She needed to go back to the SUV.

She decided to get off the street and return through the back alley. She didn't like being exposed in an unknown location. She was aware her appearance attracted the 'riff raff'. She figured it was Cameron's fault as well. She was pretty sure everything wrong in her life was Cameron's fault since she was based on Cameron. Sometimes she wondered if Cameron created her, just so she could torture someone with her same problems.

Cameron really irritated her. She wondered how anyone could be such a Bitch.

Cammy was pleased she wasn't a Bitch like Cameron….

The fact they were identical never crossed her mind.

With the lull in operations, Anna was able to get Young Allison out of the bunker to do some of the other things she liked to do. To follow the operations and offer input took up much more of her day, even if she did other things at the same time. Young Allison was excellent at multitasking. She observed Young Allison to be able to do two things at one time without any difficulty. She also observed Summer could do half a dozen of them at the same time without any difficulty. Summer could do everything perfectly and not make any mistakes. She kept her observations to herself. She was sure there was some 'temporal malpractice' involved with Cameron at some point which dealt with Summer.

Anna watched on her phone for any updates from John Henry or CamNet. Young Allison wanted to be kept in the loop. She would need to notify Young Allison if something developed or Young Allison would stay in the bunker and wait for the development herself. She currently watched and helped Young Allison practice her dancing.

Savannah stressed to increase stamina from the physical training and dance routines. It was a factor which improved her agility and prevented her from being hurt or killed several times. She made it clear to Young Allison. It was important Young Allison work on her physical training as well as her academic studies.

Anna observed Young Allison. To watch Young Allison was to see pure fluidity in motion. She was so precise and smooth. She seemed to do it all effortlessly and flawlessly.

Young Allison glided past Anna as if she walked on air.

"Did anything break loose yet?" Young Allison asked as she watched Anna check her phone.

Anna glanced up from her phone as Young Allison passed by her.

"No." Anna said.

Young Allison glided past her in the other direction.

"Summer wants to be a ballerina." Young Allison said.

Anna was aware of it. She informed Cameron of Summer's desire.

"I know." Anna said. "She told me."

Young Allison secretly trained Summer to help prepare her for a Skynet future. She didn't want it for her. She wanted her to have a real life. Maybe if Summer became a ballerina, she could do something more and might even get into acting. She would make a very beautiful and talented actress, as well as a ballerina.

"I want her to have a normal life." Young Allison said as she 'floated' by.

Anna looked around a little as Young Allison passed by.

"It may not be possible." Anna said. "We're all trying to prevent Judgment Day."

Young Allison was aware they never seemed to get ahead of Skynet. Maybe it was because they needed to deal with more than one version of Skynet. Every time they knocked one of them down, there was always another one to pop back up somewhere.

"I don't think we can." Young Allison said. "We can only delay it."

Anna wished there were some answers, but there weren't any.

"It's unknown." Anna said. "We're trying."

Young Allison figured she would use herself to experiment with. If all the temporal transfers worked out as they were supposed to, she would want Summer to do the same thing. She was aware the future could be a very ugly place after Judgment Day.

"If everything works out for me in the past, I want Summer to do it as well." Young Allison said as she spun around Anna. "I want her to be at least an older teenager before Judgment Day happens. I want her to be able to protect herself."

Anna was worried about the same thing for Summer, and all of the girls in a Skynet future.

"You don't want what happened to Vanna to happen to her." Anna said. "It happened to you too, well, Allison I mean, but only a few times."

Young Allison always asked Vanna for the truth as to what happened. Vanna finally told her the horror of being held down by a group of men as she violently 'became a woman'. She was younger than Young Allison was now when it happened. It was just the start…. It got worse from there. It happened more than a few times. The Scavenger camps sounded like they were the worst.

She understood Cameron's 'off the books' activities which were specifically directed at groups of individuals who would end up as Scavengers in a Skynet future. After she heard the stories from Vanna, she wondered if it shouldn't be something which was expanded. The current group in government didn't seem to think criminals were a problem. For some reason they thought the people who opposed criminals were the problem. They viewed criminals as victims. It was like everything was backwards when it came to reality.

She wondered if she could make a difference. She watched what Jesse did during her free time. She seldom went places or did things. It was speculated Jesse, along with Gail, hunted down future Scavengers, especially those who stalked and abused females. She understood it was a risk to Jesse. Even if Gail was with her, she could still be hurt or killed.

Maybe it was something she should ask to be a part of. It would need to be done clandestinely so her mother, and Savannah wouldn't give her a hard time about it. She knew it would involve the termination of the perpetrators. They would be killed, usually In cold blood. She felt very strongly about protecting females from abuse in the current time period. Females were abused, just because they were females. She tried to focus on the current conversation.

"Allison and Vanna have made it very clear." Young Allison said. "I KNOW what was done to them, to US. It's not going to happen again."

Young Allison started to feel a little tired. She pushed on and concentrated even more. She knew this is where she needed to shine when she wasn't at one hundred percent. She didn't want to let anyone down in the field.

Anna was ready for the next phase of Young Allison's training for the day. It would be hand to hand combat. In order for it to be effective, it would need to come as a surprise without any warning. It was something she did from time to time to make sure Young Allison was always ready for an unexpected threat.

Young Allison was about to pass by her again. She could see she was physically taxed. She knew her concentration would be focused on what she was doing, more than what was around her.

Anna moved to trip Young Allison and attempted to pin her down. During the simulated hand to hand combat exercises. She would act as Young Allison's 'equal' and limit herself to only slightly more strength than Young Allison possessed. It was to make Young Allison 'work' to get out of a hold. Any blows to her chassis would be reacted to as if she was a human. Any blows to Young Allison would be checked by ninety percent with a note they were.

Young Allison dodged the trip and the blow Anna directed at her.

She spun around and swept Anna's feet out from under her and moved to put her in a choke hold. She was going to choke Anna out. She could snap her neck as well if she were actually a human.

Anna hadn't expected to be put in such a compromising position so quickly. She was pleased at Young Allison's level of skill.

Young Allison understood the training. The hand to hand combat now only happened without warning since she was more skilled and advanced. It was to acclimate her to a real life situation where she needed to act or react without any preparation or warning. There were few people who could be trusted in a Skynet future. It included those in the Resistance as well. When things started to deteriorate in any given situation, so did the trustworthiness of anyone around.

Anna managed to break free and came up with a knife.

Young Allison hoped it was the rubber knife they practiced with, but it sure looked real. Anna made a lunge at her. She used her agility to avoid the stab.

Anna thought for sure she would have scored with her move. She didn't. It appeared what Savannah stressed with Young Allison about agility just proved itself.

Young Allison knew Anna waited until she was already tired to start the combat training. It was done to push her further and make her stronger. She told all of them to push her, even if she told them to stop. She wanted them to push her some more first and MAKE her work.

Anna squared off with her as they faced each other.

Young Allison trained with different types of edged weapons. Cameron wanted her to be able to do as River did to the bikers in the desert. She personally liked the way she helped Ally handle it better with the other group of bikers in the desert. She knew those resources wouldn't always be available in a Skynet future. She would need to rely on herself. For some reason it reminded her of one of Cameron's rhythmic short stories. She remembered the name of 'Me, Myself, and I'. It always indicated when the bottom fell out, and push came to shove, there was no one else to rely on.

Anna came at Young Allison again with the knife.

Young Allison chopped Anna's forearm which caused the knife to fall from her hand. She kicked Anna's knee out and caused her to fall to her knees. She picked up the knife. She slammed her knee into Anna's back and pushed forward while she grabbed her hair and yanked her head backwards. It exposed her throat. In a smooth and graceful motion, she held it to Anna's throat and 'cut it'.

Anna understood she was dealt a fatal blow. She was terminated.

"I'm bleeding to death." Anna said. "You killed me."

Young Allison was already away from her as she searched for additional targets or threats. She moved to her regular clothes and traded the knife for her Model 66 and Taser.

There were no additional threats.

She looked around the empty house and was glad they were alone.

"I don't think my mom would like this part of the training." Young Allison said.

Anna was aware she needed to limit the training Claire was able to observe with Young Allison. She was sure she would be appalled at the full extent of it. She was even more sure Claire would be further appalled if she knew Young Allison trained Summer on the same things she learned.

"It's why we wait until she is out, or you're alone in the foothills." Anna said. "You're more proficient at this than Savannah is."

Young Allison wasn't sure if it was true or not. From what she observed and practiced with Savannah, she thought Savannah was superior to her.

"I personally don't feel I am." Young Allison said. "Please don't ever tell her I am."

Anna thought it was a kind gesture on Young Allison's part.

"You don't want to upset her?" Anna asked. "It's very thoughtful of you."

Young Allison laughed to herself. She didn't really want to talk about it. She would try to joke about it and brush it off.

"I don't want to lose my advantage." Young Allison said. "I may need a little extra when we spar sometime. I think she holds back whenever we train together. I think she holds back a lot when we do everything."

Young Allison wanted to keep an extra edge for when they trained. She would be able to push Savannah further and Savannah would meet the challenge and push her further.

Anna could tell it was a calculated move on Young Allison's part.

"I can see you've been hanging out with Cameron too much." Anna said.

Young Allison wasn't done with her challenges for the day. She issued her own in a statement.

"Not as much as I will be when I get back." Young Allison said.

Young Allison faced Anna and waited for her to say something about her last statement.

Anna looked away and said nothing. She didn't want to encourage Young Allison to move ahead with her 'Temporal Adventure'. She was sure she felt the same way Savannah did about it. Young Allison was fine, just the way she was. It further raised the question as to who exactly Cammy and Sheila interacted with in the past if it wasn't Young Allison, the version of Young Allison right in front of her.

Was it Young Allison from a different timeline? Was it the offspring of any Allison Young? Was it something related to River? Was it some form of 'temporal malpractice' by someone? Did it even happen in the past?

Young Allison smiled to herself. She knew her destiny and looked forward to it, at least with Savannah and Cameron. She was aware John was something she would have to 'stomach'.

Cameron told her it was usually 'over' rather quickly. Cameron indicated the first time would probably last between thirty to forty seconds. The times after it for the first year would probably be two minutes with an occasional three minute stint. She would probably need to help herself finish during the encounters. Because of the briefness of the encounter, there usually wouldn't be a finish involved for her.

She was more than a little worried about what the future would bring. She watched plenty of videos on the internet about traditional male and female 'interaction'. She still felt it looked like an 'attack' on the female body more than anything. Some things seemed very common for a lot of people which she didn't want to try. There was no natural purpose for some of those things. She actually wondered what was wrong with some people. It seemed to her half of the males didn't even need to be with a female for the things they did. They could have done them to another male just the same.

John watched the monitors. He saw for some reason Cameron moved away from the target area. He wondered if there was a reason they didn't know. He thought perhaps a threat was detected and she was moving to either investigate it, or confront it.

"Where's Cameron going?" John asked.

John Henry checked his monitors and positional tracking to verify it. It wasn't Cameron.

"It's actually Cammy." John Henry said. "Cameron is still with Savannah in the SUV. I don't know where Cammy is going. She didn't say anything."

John looked at John Henry when he said it. He figured John Henry was probably correct, but he thought he saw something else which made him think it was Cameron.

"Have the drone zoom in on her." John said. "She may have a problem."

They quickly were able to view a zoomed in drone image. They both saw she looked upset and her hand glitched.

It was what John thought. He was around Cameron enough to know when these things started sometimes. He knew he was usually the one responsible for whatever it was which initiated it. Often he didn't even know why or what it was.

John Henry understood John's confusion better now.

"She appears to be having a 'problem' like Cameron has at times." John Henry said.

John knew sometimes Cameron wasn't always aware of her surroundings when she was having an episode which involved glitching. He figured something must have triggered it which occurred inside of the SUV.

"I bet it is from a conversation Cameron had with Savannah." John said. "I would have liked to have heard it."

John thought maybe he was being nosy and wanted to hear some 'girl talk'. He hoped to learn what he could from them. It seems he always learned something new when he heard the girls talk frankly among themselves.

Jesse told him one time he didn't need to eavesdrop. She said she would answer any question he asked about females, no matter what it was. She said she would also show him anything he wanted to see in regards to any of those questions. He could touch anything he wanted in any way. He could stretch some things a little further than he would think was possible. He knew exactly what she referred to. She told him her body was like a textbook ready to be read and studied by him. He could also share with her. It was something she said she wanted to do with him specifically.

John Henry didn't think John needed to listen to the girl's private conversations.

"CamNet blocked it from us." John Henry said. "Sarah once told me all girls need a few secrets."

John wondered how many secrets Cameron kept from him. It was probably a lot. It was probably about important things as well. He didn't want to get into any discussion dealing with his mother. He concentrated on the zoomed in image of Cammy.

"I think we can see why." John said.

John Henry thought he should reach out to Cammy and inquire into her status as to exactly what she was doing.

"Do you want me to contact her?" John Henry asked. "We can get everything cleared up."

John doubted it would go over very well at this point. He didn't want to look like the bad guy.

"NO! The 'Cameron' in her will resent it." John said. "It will redirect whatever anger she feels at us instead of where it belongs, which is most likely Cameron. Just keep an eye on her. I don't want anything to happen to her."

John knew one of two things would happen if Cammy were 'gone'. Cameron would push Savannah on him even harder, or Cameron would take Savannah and leave. Either way, he would lose Cameron forever. It made him a little more concerned about Cammy's safety. He wanted to hedge to his bet a little.

"In fact, keep one drone on Cammy." John said.

It looked like a mild spell and Cammy should recover soon and quickly.

"I understand." John Henry said.

John really wondered what exactly was going on inside the SUV Cammy left Cameron and Savannah in. He wondered why Savannah didn't try to stop her or go with her. He was sure even if Cammy said she wanted to conduct a patrol of some type, Savannah would have went with her.

Allison rolled off the top of Vanna.

"I'm tired." Allison said.

Vanna offered Allison a little more.

"You can use this." Vanna said. "A little nourishment will do you good."

Allison thought about it, but then she reconsidered. Precious came first.

"I want to leave some in case you're needed for Precious." Allison said. "It needs to be your top priority for now."

Vanna wanted her breast size to be at least as big as Savannah's was when she returned from the future after giving birth in two different futures. She hoped if she could get as big, she might be able to get even bigger. She also considered the possibility she might be as big as she was going to get. Whatever afflicted her body elsewhere from the Skynet future, may have some effect on her. It appeared to have a major effect on Riley. She didn't want to think about it right now.

"The more you take, the bigger I'll get as I keep producing more." Vanna said. "You told me Savannah's tasted a little sweeter."

Allison gently touched Vanna's plump breasts.

"It did, but not by much." Allison said. "She was larger too."

Vanna look down at her nursing breasts as Allison fondled them

"This really means a lot to me, Allison." Vanna said.

Allison reached up and gently caressed Vanna's cheek with her hand.

"I know it does." Allison said. "I'm proud of you."

A phone rang.

Vanna looked at her phone. It was Riley.

"I guess it was a good thing you did stop." Vanna said.

Allison giggled a little bit.

"Hello." Vanna said.

Pause.

"Hi, Riley." Vanna said.

Pause.

"I'm not doing anything important." Vanna said.

Pause.

Vanna glanced at Allison and shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"No. I'm not busy." Vanna said.

Pause.

"It's never a problem." Vanna said.

Pause.

"Riley, I want to help." Vanna said.

Pause.

"I'll be there in a few minutes." Vanna said.

Pause.

"OK, the room on the east side." Vanna said.

Vanna hung up. She looked over at Allison.

"Let's get cleaned up and go." Vanna said.

Allison turned her head away from Vanna.

"I'm going to stay here." Allison said.

Vanna wondered if something was wrong.

"Please, come with me." Vanna asked. "I'd like it very much."

Vanna wanted Allison's company and support.

Allison looked back at Vanna and smiled faintly.

"Sure, Vanna…." Allison said. "I don't know what I was thinking…. We can do everything together, just like always."

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Eyes And Ears

I have eyes
I can see
Why are you doing
This to me

I have ears
I can hear
Do you think I don't know
What's happening here

There's no such thing
As a 'Good Lie'
I know what's occurred
It makes me cry

You're throwing me away
Like a piece of trash
You're filling me with abash
Causing my mind to crash

How would you feel
If I did the same thing to you
You've made your choice
It's over, we're through

Nobody