Chapter 978

Chrome Bumper

A Terminator was spotted when the box truck arrived. He emerged from the cargo section when the truck stopped. What was more disturbing was he looked to be identical to 'The Enforcer'. It was a Terminator they thought they destroyed in Nevada with an H-bomb in an underground explosion in a mine.

John glanced over at John Henry. He was afraid it was going to get violent real soon since there was an enemy Terminator spotted. He was sure the Metal girls would see it as a threat they would want to deal with as soon as possible.

"I think things are going to heat up fast with a hostile Terminator there." John said. "I know Cameron will want to try to take him out now."

John Henry felt their force was superior and would prevail. Cameron would destroy him or capture him.

"You know Cameron is always looking for more 'recruits'." John Henry said. "You know how Cameron thinks."

John thought about it for a few seconds. He didn't believe he did. In fact, there was an awful lot he didn't know about Cameron. There was much about her which remained an enigma to him. There were a lot of things he didn't think he would ever know one way or the other. He was sure it was the same way with Future John. It was probably another one of the reasons why she was in the past, the present, now instead of in the future with Future John. There were probably some things he most likely didn't want to know why she thought about them.

"I really don't know what Cameron thinks." John said. "I don't think I ever have. I don't think I ever will either."

John Henry thought the Terminators were a little more predictable than humans were in their thought process. It wasn't always the case. Sometimes humans did things which were very predictable. Other times anything went. There didn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to it. There was no set or standard procedure.

"Who knows what anyone thinks?" John Henry asked. "I'm still looking for a possible destination when the truck leaves before it returns to the port area. I think it will make at least one more stop somewhere along the way."

It seemed to John the Resistance always needed to play 'catch up' to whatever the Skynet forces tried to do. Almost everything they did was a reaction to what Skynet did. They never knew where Skynet or the Grays were at until they stumbled upon them, or picked up some activity they were responsible for.

"Skynet and the Grays always seemed to be one step ahead of us." John said.

John Henry thought things could be a lot worse if Skynet was aware of the Resistance, and John Connor and Sarah Connor were still out there. The same applied to Mrs. Weaver and Savannah Weaver. They tried to remain in the shadows as much as possible. If Skynet thought they were all dead, it was best to keep it the same way.

"Be glad they're not trying to hunt us down." John Henry said. "As long as they think they were successful in terminating those who they set out to terminate, they no longer seem to look for those individuals."

John was aware there was a reason for it. It was Cameron.

"I think Cameron took the heat off of my mother and me." John said. "She placed it on herself."

They both knew Cameron made it a point to let every Skynet she defeated know it was her who terminated it. At least some of the information was passed on so other versions of Skynet knew who she was when she faced them. Every Skynet was aware when they faced Cameron, they would be terminated. There was nowhere for it to go when she showed up and all outside communication was cut off.

John Henry knew it was an effective strategy. It seemed to work. The only trouble was, it might put a bullseye on 'Allison Young'. It wasn't necessarily the case. Skynet only used Allison Young in Cameron's future so Cameron could assume her appearance. The goal was to get her inside the Connor compound so she could terminate John Connor. It shouldn't have anything to do with the person who the DNA was used from. It was still something they were all worried about. It was why there was a protection Detail who watched over both the Young and the Reese families. Cameron took the heat for all of them.

"It was Cameron's goal to take the heat." John Henry said.

John and John Henry waited for any additional developments with the truck at the old supermarket. It always seemed they needed to play the waiting game. The only trouble was they didn't know how long the Metal girls would be willing to wait before they acted. He knew they were the ones on the ground and would determine at what point something became a threat and they needed to act on it.

It wasn't long before they received an additional update.

Cammy was with Gail. They were in the alley behind the truck.

"They're taking something out of the back of the truck." Cammy said. "I'm going to send some cell phone footage."

John began to view the images as they came in. He was unsure what he looked at.

"What is it?" John asked.

Cammy wanted a better look herself. She was unable to do so currently.

"I don't know." Cammy said. "I can't move my position without being spotted by the Terminator."

Savannah didn't want any premature action from any of their Terminators. She wanted the truck to leave so it could be followed. There were two possible destinations it could go to. She wanted both of them identified. The old supermarket wasn't going anywhere.

"Everyone hold your position for now." Savannah said. "We want the truck to leave before we act. It's going to give us at least one more target if we follow it to its destination. More than likely we will have two targets. We might even end up with more. I don't want the truck dumped at a mall and whoever is in it to disappear inside the mall."

John cut his com. He was thankful Savannah was there with them. She would be the moderating force. The Metal girls would also listen to her and follow her directives. He wasn't so sure they would be willing to listen to him if they saw an opportunity to act.

"I'm glad Savannah is the one who said it." John said. "I know the Metal girls want to act."

John Henry understood Savannah's reasoning. It was an effective strategy.

"Savannah does too." John Henry said. "She wants to further the operation first."

John turned his com back on.

"I want to know if the Terminator goes with the truck or stays when it leaves." John said. "How long did the homeless female say the truck normally stays?"

Cam was the one who questioned the homeless female. She possessed the most information from her. She felt her name was important.

"Her name is Susan. She wasn't specific." Cam said. "She said normally it was no longer than a few hours."

Sheila was near Cammy.

"I don't think it will be the case today." Sheila said.

John wanted to know how she was able to make the determination.

"Why?" John asked. "Did something happen?"

Sheila was able to observe something removed from the back of the truck.

"From what is visible on our side, I see they're pushing something out of the rear door of the truck." Sheila said. "I can't tell what it is yet."

Ally looked at the strange looking container. She could only come to one conclusion as to what it actually was.

"I see it too." Ally said. "It looks like a cryogenic vat."

John didn't know the nature of the container. He wondered if it was capable of reaching anything close to absolute zero.

"What needs to be kept so cold?" John asked.

From his past experience John thought of something else. It wasn't a good feeling.

It was when he previously encountered a hostile Liquid Metal Terminator. He was temporarily frozen by liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately his incapacitation didn't last very long. He was soon after his mother and him again. He was able to get a hold of her and start to torture her to get him to show himself.

He briefly remembered Cameron also tortured his mother when they were in the LA River. Cameron could have used his mother's voice herself, but she didn't. She wanted his mother to cry out in pain for him to come to her aid. It wasn't long afterwards when he was faced with the choice to let Cameron survive or deactivate her. He still remembered how desperate her face was as she pleaded for her life when she was trapped between the two trucks. It was when she also first told him she loved him and he loved her.

Was Cameron telling the truth? He really didn't know at the time. If it wasn't for his mother constantly yelling at him to deactivate Cameron, he may not have done it on his own. Why? Was it because he believed her? Was it because he wanted it to be true? Was it because he loved her even if he couldn't admit it, even to himself? There were a lot of unanswered questions there were no answers for at the time. Maybe he wanted a chance at redemption in Cameron's eyes when it was time to burn her chassis. He put her chip back in instead. He wasn't really sure if cleaning the outside of it off actually did anything. He doubted it. All of the information was on the inside of it. The information included his termination order.

Did he believe in himself? Did he believe in Cameron? What did he really believe? Why did he do it? He took a chance and won. He was sure surviving would be considered winning. The sad part was how he threw everything away the next day when he got hooked up in the crosshairs of Future Riley. He swallowed everything, hook, line, and sinker.

John shook his head in disgust. He tried to focus on the unfolding operation. There was a hostile Terminator present as well as a cryogenic vat. The Skynet forces were up to something. Why did the Terminator look like 'The Enforcer'? There were a lot of questions with no answers.

Moments ago:

Savannah saw Cameron sit up with the latest revelation about the cryogenic vat.

"What's wrong, Cameron?" Savannah asked.

Cameron thought of her encounter 'in some future' with a frozen Mrs. Weaver, while Duplicate Cameron and Duplicate Allison faced off alone with Skynet. She was sure what it meant. It was bad news.

"I think they're working on something with Liquid Metal." Cameron said.

It spelled trouble no matter how it was viewed.

"Are you sure?" Savannah asked. "We don't have any facts yet."

Cameron was aware they didn't have anything factual to back up her suspicions yet. She could only rely on past experience from 'in some future' as well as information she was given by Duplicate Cameron.

"I know what Duplicate Cameron told me from 'in some future', the unknown future." Cameron said. "It was when they inadvertently released the Liquid Metal Terminator. It was something Mrs. Weaver was working on. She ran into problems."

The logical deduction was it was the Liquid Metal Terminator who tried to 'interact' with John as he slept in his room. It was incomplete and not fully functional. It wanted to 'absorb' Allison when it found her. They never really understood exactly what it meant. It appeared it wanted more than Allison's DNA. It seemed as if it wanted to 'absorb' her in her entirety. No one was ever able to figure out what would have happened if it would have been able to encase her. Would it have turned Allison into a Liquid Metal Terminator? Would a Liquid Metal Terminator have been created with all of Allison's knowledge and attributes? Would all of her cells have been replaced by Liquid Metal? Vanna was there and she wanted to prevent it. Everyone arrived and they wanted to prevent it. The Liquid Metal Terminator was destroyed with a combination of Thermite and acid.

Savannah looked at the video feed from Sheila and Ally. There was something off there if it were the case. The container didn't look very big.

"Is there enough mass for it to be a full size Liquid Metal Terminator?" Savannah asked. "I'm not exactly sure how they are able to become larger or smaller as necessary. It just doesn't seem like there's enough physical space in the vat."

It was clear to Cameron it wasn't enough material to be a full size functioning Liquid Metal Terminator. It meant it was something else, maybe a test. If someone was conducting tests, the goal was obvious what they wanted to attain.

"I think it's an experiment." Cameron said. "They may want to start out small."

Savannah was as confused by Cameron's statement as she was by what exactly was happening.

"Are you saying it's test material, or it's like a child?" Savannah asked.

Cameron tilted her head slightly. She hadn't thought of it as a child. Maybe it was part of the problem with the other Liquid Metal Terminator which escaped from Mrs. Weaver before. Mrs. Weaver said it refused to accept programming. It could be it was 'child like' with its limited programming.

"I think it's test material." Cameron said. "In my future, Skynet planned to make 'Terminator children' and use them as infiltrators. Skynet thought they could slip past the sentries easier to infiltrate the bases, camps, bunkers, and tunnel systems. Skynet would have been able to gather invaluable intelligence as to exactly what was going on where. If they were identified for what they were, they would have been as deadly as 'full size' Terminators."

Savannah was a little worried at Cameron's latest revelation. She figured if they could have 'children' as infiltrators they could probably have 'animals' as well. If they were to make something of Liquid Metal, it could be anything. She knew Mrs Weaver assumed the role of a dog on more than one occasion. First it was a German Shepherd. Then it was an Irish Setter. Lastly, it was another German Shepherd 'in some future', the one she was in. She also could send out smaller sections of her mass as rodents or snakes to gather intelligence. She was sure there were other things which occurred she didn't know about.

"Maybe it's something smaller they have in there and not a teenager." Savannah said. "Maybe what they have in there isn't even a female at all…."

Cameron needed to think about Savannah's statement for a few seconds. She wondered if Savannah suggested the Grays put the grab on a smaller female so a Liquid Metal Terminator, of smaller stature, would be able to imprint and copy her to become her. What if it 'absorbed' her? They still didn't even know what 'absorbed' meant. A Liquid Metal Terminator with the appearance of a younger female who could mimic other children or animals could prove very deadly.

She thought maybe they were getting ahead of themselves. One thing is for sure, they needed to find out exactly what was going on inside the old supermarket.

Gail watched the Terminator from her concealed position.

"The Terminator's entered the building." Gail said. "The door has drop bolts at the bottom and looks like it takes a barricade bar. The door will take some effort to break down. It would probably need to be blown up. It would make a lot of noise and attract a lot of attention."

John Henry watched the action at the rear of the building from the drone footage. He wanted to make sure nothing was happening anywhere else in case what was happening at the back was a distraction.

"We still have nothing on the surveillance cameras." John Henry said.

Gail placed one of the surveillance cameras inside part of the old supermarket. She didn't believe the main part of the old supermarket was still connected with the rear part of the supermarket where the giant refrigerators and freezers would be at.

"We were near the old bakery part when we were by one side. The meat and frozen food section was on the opposite side." Gail said. "I think the Skynet group is actually walled off from the other sections of the old supermarket."

Gail thought it was done to further conceal what was really happening inside the structure. It created the illusion of an empty building when it wasn't the case at all. It appeared to be a grand sucker play. It was an effective strategy.

Cameron saw all the activity was occurring in the back at this point. She wanted to be closer to the action if something happened. She wanted to be ready to act

"I'm going to go up and take a look." Cameron said. "We're in the front. We've seen no activity. Surveillance hasn't picked up anything yet."

Savannah didn't want Cameron to go look for a fight. She thought it was too early to take action. She already told Cameron and the other Metal girls what she wanted to happen first. She would offer an alternative which could have action if needed.

"Cameron, I want to wait until the truck leaves." Savannah said. "If we see a female being taken to the truck, we'll act. Otherwise we need to wait."

Savannah gently put her hand on Cameron's arm to stop her.

Cameron looked at Savannah's hand as it gently held her arm down. It was clear what Savannah wanted. She needed to think things through some more.

"OK, Savannah." Cameron said. "We need to see the bigger picture."

The truck leaving unscathed was key to the next phase of the operation. It was going somewhere. They needed to know where. The best indication was it would stop at an intermediate location before it returned to the port area. Those were two targets they needed to identify.

"We don't know where the truck goes exactly, or where it's kept at near the port when it is there." Savannah said. "We need to see what else is involved. If there are more locations where there are Grays, there are also more locations where other female detainees may be held. We need to identify those locations so they can all be taken down and any captives freed."

Cameron wanted to act now. She needed to listen to what Savannah said. What Savannah indicated with her last statement was if there were other locations, there may be other females held at those locations as well. It was a sound possibility.

"I want to make sure there are no female captives at any of the other locations." Cameron said. "Thank you for explaining."

Cameron didn't feel Grays treated females much differently than Scavengers did. They certainly didn't value human life any more than Scavengers did when it came to the females. They were used and abused and then they were terminated. They were discarded like so much trash. She would like to return the favor in spades.

Maybe they needed to take a look in the dumpster behind the old supermarket. Susan hadn't actually checked for today. She was trying to avoid the Ogre. She proved unsuccessful in the end. One thing was for sure, it would never happen again. The Ogre wouldn't terrorize or abuse anyone else.

Sheila could see things looked like they were about to wrap up. It was actually quite a bit sooner than she anticipated.

"They're about to close up the truck." Sheila said.

John hoped for a more detailed report. So far he didn't hear much about what happened.

"Did they load anything?" John asked.

Sheila couldn't spot anything from her location. She knew Cammy and Gail were further down the alley, and in back of the truck.

"Nothing has been observed yet." Sheila said. "Cammy, are you able to see anything from behind the truck?"

Cammy continued to look at the back of the truck.

"I spot nothing on my side either." Cammy said.

John was more than a little worried at this point. It looked like the truck was getting ready to leave and there weren't any reports about the Terminator. He wanted to make sure they weren't being set up.

"Where's the Terminator?" John asked. "I want everyone to watch around them and not fixate on the truck. He may have spotted something and try to approach one of your positions from behind."

Gail checked around her position as she moved slightly to get a better look.

"He's inside the building." Gail said. "I have a clear view of the door. It's a very secure door when it is closed properly. Right now it is wide open."

From the drone footage a new threat was detected. It was in the alley and headed towards the girls. It came from the same direction the truck arrived from. If the truck were to leave now, it would head away from it.

"John, you better take a look at this." John Henry said. "There might be a problem about to happen."

John didn't want any more things to go wrong if they could be avoided.

"Now what happened?" John asked. "Is it the Terminator?"

John Henry thought it was more likely going to spook the Grays or the Terminator if things continued.

"It looks like there are three homeless people moving down the alley." John Henry said. "They may be trying to go to where they sleep, or they could be associates of the Ogre. They may have wondered what happened to him and his crew. It makes sense for them to look for him in the area where he was last reported to be."

John looked at the drone image. He could see it was going to put Sheila and Ally in a bind.

"They are going to come up behind Ally and Sheila soon." John said.

Ally and Sheila were aware of the new threat. They received the drone images from John Henry.

Ally didn't want the current part of the operation compromised.

"I'll fall back and engage them." Ally said. "They could be an additional force of Grays connected with the operation. I'll terminate them before they reach the old supermarket to reinforce the Grays there."

John wasn't sure who they were. He didn't want Ally to jump the gun.

"They may be homeless." John said. "We need to find out more before we start any terminations. I don't want to create any bigger problems or compromise the location."

Ally would rather err on the side of caution and protect their forces.

"They're Grays until I decide otherwise." Ally said. "They could still be reinforcements. They could be on the payroll, even if they are homeless. They could provide information for money or for food. We need to think of everyone involved with our force as well."

John understood Ally's statement to mean they all needed to think about Savannah.

"Use discretion but stay safe." John said. "Remember, the goal is to get the truck to leave and head towards its next destination without any indication something is wrong or they're being watched."

Ally planned to handle things her way. She didn't want John to worry.

"'Safe' is my middle name." Ally said.

Sheila looked over at Ally.

"Hey, 'Safe' is one of my middle names." Sheila said. "I have a lot of them."

Ally shrugged her shoulders. She was sure Sheila was probably the most unsafe Terminator there was behind Cameron. She didn't want to make a big deal about it right now. There was a threat approaching them.

"I guess it means we're related." Ally said. "It looks like we're going to make some new acquaintances very soon."

Cameron didn't want to leave Sheila alone with the Grays and Terminator. She wanted to implement a new plan.

"Cam, drive over towards the newcomers. We can cut them off." Cameron said. "Ally, hold your position. I want you to stay with Sheila."

Hanna wanted to reassure everyone they were still in the front, even though they were across the street.

"We have the front covered." Hanna said. "Go, Cam."

Cam started the SUV and swung around in a wide U-turn.

Cameron checked the drone feed and watched them. They were still east of where Cammy encountered Susan earlier.

Savannah put her vest on.

"I'll get behind the wheel when Cam and you investigate, Cameron." Savannah said.

Cameron went over all the available information. She didn't believe the new arrivals were Grays. Whether they were associates of the Ogre or not was unknown.

"OK." Cameron said. "I don't think these are hard targets. You're armored up and will be in the SUV. I want you to stay there and be ready to move."

Savannah was aware some type of altercation might be sparked when Cameron confronted them.

"I'll be fine." Savannah said. "They'll want to know who you are. If they're associated with the Ogre, they will be ready to fight."

Cameron wanted to come up with something plausible. She would try to draw their attention and have them focus on her. Cam could box them in from the rear.

"I'll tell them I'm a 'social worker'." Cameron said. "I'll head them off. Cam can come in from behind them. They will be trapped between us at that point. If it's a hostile force of any type, it won't leave the location."

Savannah thought she could be of some assistance if an altercation were about to occur. She was aware the SUV was a two ton weapon waiting to be unleashed. It was four thousand pounds of unforgiving metal. Any human targets the bumper encountered were going to have a really bad day.

"I'll come barreling down the alley if there's trouble." Savannah said. "The chrome bumper does a number on people. I know. I used one before."

Savannah referred to the time she ran down a patrol of five Skynet operatives at the old helicopter base. She killed all five of them with the high speed impact. One of them was caught underneath the speeding vehicle as their arms and legs were torn off, one at a time as well as their head.

Cam remembered the incident as well. She was in the manned drone and taking fire from the same patrol. Savannah ended the threat to her. She watched as the one Gray was drug underneath the SUV and began to shed their limbs and eventually their head. A shredded torso was all that was left. It finally broke free from under the SUV.

Cameron wanted to go in light for the initial confrontation.

"I don't want to appear as a threat to anyone at this point." Cameron said.

Cam pulled up near the alley and Cameron hopped out.

Cameron only carried her Taser and pistol. She wasn't in full combat gear. It would put her ahead of the direction the homeless people were going.

Cam continued along until she was past where the transients were in the alley and stopped. She got out as Savannah slid over and took the wheel.

"I'll be there in seconds if you need me." Savannah said.

Cam looked back over her shoulder.

"If we run into Grays or a Terminator, we'll try and lure them into the center of the alley." Cam said as she ran to enter the alley.

Savannah left the SUV running. She was ready to come to their aid. She made sure she kept track of everything happening around her. She didn't want any surprises to show up behind or alongside of her. If things got hot for the girls, she was coming in full throttle. She planned to let the chrome bumper do the talking for her.

They watched as two Grays entered the truck cab after closing the rear door of the truck.

Gail noted there was a change right away.

"The Terminator isn't getting back in the truck." Gail said. "He went inside the building and closed the door. I can hear he's bolting it from the inside. The door itself will be hard to breach."

John wanted the truck to leave before the altercation took place with Cameron's team.

"We see the truck moving." John said. "He's headed the opposite direction from where Cameron, Cam, and Savannah are."

Hanna and Holly were still across the street from the old supermarket. They were ready to take over their assigned function.

"We're ready to trail behind it." Hanna said.

John wanted a drone to track the truck. The Metal girls would only be backup in case any of the personnel exited the truck. They were always mindful if the enemy detected a threat, they might try to bolt in different directions to avoid apprehension or termination.

"Don't get too close. We have a drone on him." John said.

Savannah sat in the idling SUV. She knew they currently faced a lot of unknowns. She wanted to make sure Hanna and Holly were protected.

"Have a missile hot and targeted on the truck." Savannah said.

John looked over at John Henry. He wanted to verify what Savannah just said

"Do you want a missile strike in the city?" John asked.

Savannah didn't know what would happen. She wanted to be prepared for any contingency.

"We don't know what else is in the truck." Savannah said. "I want it as an option."

John gave instructions for the Metal girls to change their positions. Gail and Sheila were to remain in the back. Cammy was to move around to the front.

"Ally, go back and help Cameron. I want Cam and Savannah to follow Holly and Hanna." John said.

Savannah wasn't about to leave Cameron to face the unknown force without all the back up there could be provided.

"I'll pick Cam up once Cameron and Ally have the situation under control." Savannah said. "I'm not going to leave them before it's done. We already made plans to use the chrome bumper on the front of the SUV if an altercation develops in the alley. Cameron will expect me to come if she needs assistance."

John was very aware Savannah would stand up to him. He knew she wanted to protect Cameron and the other Metal girls. It was what he wanted to do for her. He wanted to protect her too.

He would prefer if she were away from the location since they didn't know what was inside the building. They speculated earlier it could be chemical or biological agents. The newest revelation was that it might be something dealing with a Liquid Metal Terminator. Either way, he would feel more comfortable with Savannah out on the road and as backup for Hanna and Holly.

Cameron heard running from the west side of the alley. Ally was on her way to assist her.

The homeless trio slowly approached from the east.

Ally arrived next to Cameron. She glanced over at Ally. Savannah told her to make some type of positive identification before they took action based upon what the individuals would do.

"Let's go see if these people need to go to a shelter or join the Ogre and his associates." Cameron said. "There's plenty of room for more bodies where they're at."

Ally wasn't sure what the threat would be.

"It sounds good to me." Ally said.

Cameron reviewed the drone footage. She was sure the trio who approached were homeless individuals. She didn't think they were Grays unless they were in disguise. She doubted it.

"Cam is behind them and Savannah is in the SUV behind her." Cameron said.

Cameron and Ally stepped out in front of the trio. They could see Cam as she closed in behind the trio. The SUV sat waiting in the distance.

It was clear there was going to be some interaction.

"Nice day for a walk." One of the homeless people said.

Ally and Cameron blocked their path forward.

"Nice day for a walk." Cameron repeated.

The homeless trio looked uneasy.

Ally felt they held the upper hand.

"Now it's a nice day for a talk." Ally said.

Cameron and Ally knew they would be able to bring down these three targets in seconds. Even if they carried weapons of some type, the most damage they would sustain would be minor.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

I Don't Understand

Is there not on my finger
A place for your band
But before I knew it
I was the one banned

A slap to my face
As sure as a backhand
Sending me into a tailspin
Causing me to crash land

Maybe my words
Caused the fire to be fanned
I never expected
To be the one canned

It is time to grow up
Pull your head from the sand
You know when it hits the fan
Who beside you, do you want to stand

It was written in a future past
You know what has been planned
Maybe there's something
I don't understand

Nobody