Chapter 1: chapter 1
Chapter Text
By Razial Time’s Brutality
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Sarah Connor the Terminator Chronicles or any of other character or ideas from the Terminator movies; they belong to James Cameron, Warner Bros and anyone else who owns the rights.
Paring: John/Allison John/Cameron Kyle/Sarah
Notes: My continuation of the series after what I consider a great finale which could have led to an amazing third series, however they instead cancelled the show much to my frustration. So, this starts immediately after the show ended with John confronted by the alternate Kyle, Derek and Allison and goes from there. It is also my second attempt to do this, my first was kind of bad.
Notes 2: I have been absent from writing for almost a year and a half, and I apologise for anyone reading one of my stories in progress, but I needed a long break and only recently have I started writing again. I basically hit a wall after almost seventeen maybe eighteen years of none stop writing in one form or another, my first story was written before I went to high school and constantly writing from that point had to reach a dead stop which I did. This is the first of three chapters I have had on the go and yes this is a new story, but it is a good idea that would not let go. The second chapter is a new chapter for the Revanchists and the last is for the Oncoming Storm, so hopefully I will have them out soon.
Summary: John Connor finds himself in an alternate future where no one in the resistance has heard of him, realising the consequences of jumping forwards in time he finds the war against the machines going badly for the remains of humanity and must finally face his destiny and learn to be the leader humanity needs him to be to survive before somehow finding a way back to his own time.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
John Connor had thought he had been sucker punched seeing Derek walk in alive once more when his last memory of him was his corpse gunned down whilst saving little Savannah Weaver, then he felt as if he had been hit again when he did not recognise him or know who he was. But it was nothing, nothing to the shock, surprise, hope, and longing as his own father walked into the room very much alive. A father he had never known or seen any kind of picture of not once since he had been old enough to ask, all he had was the stories his mom had told him over the years. Then he felt as if he was gut punched as it seemed Cameron walked in behind his father only for her to kneel and stroke a dog’s head, if she had been a terminator then that dog would have been going wild. That meant this had to be Cameron’s human template Allison Young, a woman whose ghost he had kind of met once when Cameron had suffered a glitch, and somehow came to believe she was human and seemed to process all of Allison’s memories as well as her personality.
He was trying to process too much information as he kept glancing between Kyle and Allison, not notching both Derek and Kyle were wearing uncertain looks as they took in his features. For Derek seeing the new face in the bunker wearing his brother’s coat had convinced him that it was his brother however briefly, the face was eerily similar making him see connections that he should not? Kyle too saw flashes of familiarity as he looked on the face of the newcomer, felt a sense of connection he could not fathom where it was coming from, but it was there. Allison could sense the charged atmosphere between the Reece brothers and the newcomer, she could also see the naked raw joy then crushing defeat as the newcomer looked at her. Saw a realisation take hold of him as he stared down at her, it was disquieting as she did not know this newcomer, but he seemed to know or at least recognise her, and she did not know how.
John once more looked between the three familiar faces yet in this timeline strangers to him not knowing how to even start a conversation, how to explain who he was and what he was doing here so suddenly. How he seemed to know them all, and he had to assume his calling of Derek’s name as well as how he had looked at Kyle and Allison had shown he knew them so how? did he explain it to them, suddenly he recalled certain tv characters expressing getting headaches when time travel was involved in the storyline and suddenly he could relate to them. He could feel a pressure building within him as he tried to take everything in whilst also trying to decide what to say or how to act, it was like having a headache.
“Well John Connor, do you want to explain how you got down here without anyone noticing and what you are doing here” Derek finally said breaking the long silence and the charged atmosphere.
“They are not easy questions to answer because for the most part I think you are going to think me insane” John responded hesitantly unsure how much to tell them or even what to tell them.
Did he go with the truth and hoped they might believe him or try and bluff his way out of this with made up shit, what would be the best option here. Glancing at Alliison he realized he could not lie she was watching him closely and he could see she had noticed his reaction to her and thus would properly see any tells he had. Allison could indeed tell that the newcomer now known as John Connor was trying to decide what to tell them, a lie or the truth and the fact she could already tell that was another disturbing thing about this whole encounter. She had only just met this guy somewhat, there should be no way she could see his tells already but it was like she already had an impression of him somehow.
“Just answer the questions Connor, we’ll decide how to take your answers” Kyle finally ordered and that was what it was an order.
“And ensure it is the truth John” Allison added then frowned as she called him John as if he was someone she knew and not a stranger, but it had felt wrong to call him Connor.
John glanced at her before nodding his head. “My name is John Connor and from my point of view I have only just arrived here in this bunker in this time through the passage of a machine that transported me through time” John started up only to cut off but Derek sarcastic laugh.
“Yeah Right, time travel” Derek said shaking his head still laughing.
“Yeah, sounds like something out of the old tv and movies doesn’t it” John said smiling somewhat twistedly at Derek. “But it was not human invention that came up with making it possible it was Skynet; you see this timeline you are living in it is the third timeline that exists since the war began” he stated his tone turning cold as he spoke stopping Derek’s laughter in its track and making him frown.
“Do you want to maybe expand on that Connor?” Kyle inquired with a furrowed brow.
“In the original timeline Judgement Day occurred on 29th August 1997, only three weeks after Skynet was put online on the 4th of August, human decision making was removed and its learning curve was at a geometric rate” John explained to them as he recalled everything he had learned from his mother of what Kyle himself had told her as well as that added by the T-800 who had protected him when he was ten. “Skynet became self-aware 2:14 am eastern time, when humans realised the danger, they tried to pull the plug, however it could not be shut down and in response Skynet launched nuclear weapons against Russia knowing they would respond and fire on the United States killing many of the ones trying to stop it” he continued his tone grim. “From there a new world war started, Skynet took advantage of the chaos and before the humans knew it their world was all but destroyed, the old world structure collapsed leaving no one really in charge as the machines appeared and started their own war against the remains of humanity” John paused here as he tried to stop the flashes the images the words caused in him to appear.
“How do you know any of this?” Derek inquired looking somewhat suspicious.
“My mother told me everything she learned from my father; you see in this original timeline Skynet created the time machine as a fall back on the off chance it was beaten” John answered. “It’s ace in the whole, well we won the war in that timeline smashed it’s defences and was bearing down on its main complex, so it activated the time machine and sent two terminators back through time to kill the leader of the resistance in that timeline” he told them glad to see none of them not even Allison had noticed his slip up at mentioning his father.
“So, it wanted me dead?” Kyle inquired as he listened to Connor talk and feeling out of is depth with all this talk of other timelines and time travel, but he still felt compelled to listen and could not help but ask this.
“No as you were not the leader in that timeline, I was or at least my older self was” John answered with a twisted smile knowing this was going to get more complicated.
“Older self?” a stern older coloured man inquired stepping forward.
“I know how old I look to you all but believe me had I not used time travel to come here overshooting my own time then here and now I would be in my mid-thirties to early forties” John stated. “As I said in the original timeline, I led the resistance to victory and after we destroyed Skynet’s defence grid we captured the time machine and found out not only what it was for but that it had been engaged and what the two missions were” he continued as he looked around the room before his eyes met his fathers. “The first terminator had been sent back to 1984 to kill my mother before I was born, but due to the records been destroyed all it had was a name, so it had to use a phone book to find her and seen as there was more than one Sara Connor it took time” he informed them. “Time enough for us to send her a soldier to find her to help her, to protect her, you
volunteered Kyle as my second and must trusted soldier you went back in time to save her and in the process gave her all the information I’ve just told you” he paused here and looked away trying not to show too much unfortunately he looked down at Allison who frowned at what she saw in his eyes.
Allison stared into John’s eyes seeing a sense of loss of devastation even as he tried to hide it, she had a sense Kyle had not survived his battle with the terminator sent to kill John’s mother. She did not doubt what he told them even though she should and again she could only see him as John not Connor as warranted an unknown stranger, she did not know him and yet she could not shake the sense of closeness of knowing him somehow.
“He died doing it didn’t he?” she inquired hesitantly knowing John did not want to bring it up but deciding it was best that it was so there was no secrets been kept.
“Yeah, yeah he died but he helped bring that thing down” John relented as he hesitated in answering before noting the looks Kyle and Derek were giving side by side after Derek had moved up to his brother’s side at this information. “Mom survived and…” John trailed off not knowing how to even voice or get into his parentage especially as he had no proof, and he could not count on Derek to see his resemblance to Kyle like he had back in the past. What did he tell them?
Allison again saw far more than she wished as she watched various emotions play over John’s face, why could she read him so well after only a few minutes of knowing him and why did she feel like she knew him? It was driving her mad and yet she supposed that she could read him so well was advantageous to them to ensure he did not lie or try and trip them even him she got a feeling he would never do that. Kyle too saw a flash of something as Connor glanced at him briefly before quickly looking away, he could not tell what his expression had shown but it was clearly conflicted. Did they even believe what the stranger was telling them? Time travel, it all seemed so farfetched and yet Connor did not sound like he was lying.
“This sounds crazy, how do we even know anything he has to say is the truth?” the stern older man stated coldly stepping into the silence that had fallen. “I mean come on time travel, him leading the resistance or at least an older version on him considering he is just a kid” the man continued making the others glance between themselves.
“He is not lying Perry” Allison found herself saying even if it had not been her intention. “I don’t know why but I can read him, I all but sense I know him, and I can see every emotion that runs over his face and tell what it means” she admitted.
The admission caught even John by surprise, and he wondered why Allison was so affected and again he wondered just what her relationship had been with his older self, he had never gotten a clear answer from Cameron. Kyle and Derek both glanced at Allison in surprise but knew she would not lie about something like this.
“Bleed over” John murmured gaining Kyle’s attention.
“What was that Connor?” he asked.
“Bleed over, time lines somewhat meshing together leaving people with the idea they have been places they haven’t or met and knew people they didn’t” John answered as best he could as he had never been one for all the scientific background of time travel as humanity knew it both made up and whatever real research had been done and what he knew Skynet had developed from what the T-800 and Cameron had told him.
“So, what you are saying is Allison is feeling things from another version of herself in another time?” Derek inquired almost cross eyed as he tried to understand this new viewpoint even as Allison herself tried to understand it and wondering what kind of connection, she had to John in this over timeline that it somehow crossed over to affect her.
“Yes, more than likely caused by me been here outside of my own time” John speculated. “You and Derek sense it too just not as much, don’t you?” he asked taking a chance that both his unknowing father and uncle also felt something off.
Both Kyle and Derek glanced at each other before reluctantly nodding, both did feel something strange about the newcomer ever since setting eyes on him.
“Have any of you considered this is some new kind of terminator with an ability to manipulate us somehow into trusting it” Perry suggested not liking how both the man who led the resistance and his brother and a girl who was like a sister to them were believing any of this so easily just based on a feeling.
“I am not a terminator general Perry” John said with a shake of his head and a grim smile. “No matter how advanced a terminator it would still set off your dogs, even the liquid metal T-1000’s set them off” he stated.
“How do you know me?” Perry demanded to know.
“Kyle served under you in the other timeline, he mentioned you during his time with mom I don’t remember the specifics” John said in response before frowning as an idea came to him on how to prove time travel existed.
“You’ve thought of something” Allison said noting the sudden chance in John’s expression.
“Yes, perhaps a way of proving time travel exists and has affected this war more than you can imagine” John answered with a nod of his head.
“Go on” Kyle prodded willing to give Connor the chance to prove himself if it was possible.
“Is Martin Bedell in this bunker?” he inquired as he glanced around at them all and hoped to hell this paid off, he just had to hope this was before Martin died saving them all or by jumping forwards in time, he had changed Martin’s future.
“Bedell should be in medical still recovering from the close run in with the HK-Tank he blew sky high saving you, Allison and your combat squad” Perry stated as the newcomer mentioned another member of the resistance.
“How is he?” Allison inquired even as John breathed a sigh of relief to know Bedell was alive and that he had indeed survived his run in with destiny.
“By rights he should be dead been that close to the explosion but somehow a piece of large debris got in the way of the explosion and him and thus prevented him taking more lethal damage than what he did” Perry answered calmly showing no real emotion about the fact Bedell had lived and John wondered if that is how the man naturally was or just had he had trained himself to be to survive the war without suffering to much upset.
Allison, Kyle, and Derek all breathed sighs of relief that their friend was alive and hopefully would live, considering Perry did not say anything about him dying they believed he would survive. John followed them through the cramped corridors of the bunker to the medical wing where several beds were occupied with injured soldiers in various bad states. Perry led them to the far end where another bed was, on it was somehow he recognised as an older and world-weary Martin Bedell. He had been badly injured with bandages all over his body, with some stained in blood, he seemed to have thankfully not lost any of his limbs. A man dressed somewhat like a doctor soon turned up, the man was older, and John wondered if he had been alive before Judgement Day.
“How is he doc?” Derek asked as he looked down at Bedell and wondered just how close it had been between life and death him and that without his almost certain sacrifice he would have lost his brother and a girl who was almost a sister to him. They all missed the fact that Bedell was awake and his one good eye instantly locked onto John in shock.
“He will live major Reece, but he will not be up and running any time soon” the doctor responded. “He took severe damage to both his legs but thankfully nothing so bad that we had to amputate either, same with his arms” he continued reading off a chart. “But he does have three broken ribs and two cracked ones to deal with, and he also took some damage to his left eyes, and we are not sure if he will still have any vision out of it once he had healed up” he finished.
“Damn” Kyle cursed aloud but settled himself realising it could have been much worse. “Is he able to talk?” he finally asked looking back up not noticing all the while Bedell was watching them but his eye kept straying back to John.
“For a few minutes perhaps but please do not allow him to exert himself or he could do more harm to himself” the doctor answered before he turned and moved to another bed.
“Hey Martin, how are you feeling?” Kyle asked knowing it was a stupid question but could think of no other way to start things off.
“Co…. Connor” Bedell managed to say shocking all of them bar John who just felt relief that Martin recognised and remembered him. “Where…where the hell…. have you been” he added through considerable pain and the tight feeling on his chest. “Thou…thought you would be here…. like you said you would be” he finished.
“You know this guy?” Derek could not help but ask his shock apparent as it was for Perry as well, but Allison and Kyle just accepted it as fact for reasons neither wanted to really acknowledge.
“It’s a long story Martin and you are in no shape to hear it, but can you tell them who was with me when we met up back in the past” John answered and again held his breath wondering if Martin was in any shape to recall everything that happened so many years ago.
“It….it was Derek” Martin said before coughing slightly which immediately brought the doctor back over who shooed them away.
“Me” Derek said again in shock. “I was in the past somehow?” he asked.
“After we stopped the first and second terminators the war turned into a war across time, Skynet sent more terminators backwards in time to kill certain people or to ensure certain programs that were essential to its creation were enacted” John explained. “We also sent people back, some to set up safe houses, some to find those who had a hand in creating Skynet and some to find any and all information connected to how Skynet was created” he continued. “You were a part of one of those groups Derek, we run into each other when we turn up at the safe house you had set up to gather resources but a T-888 had already zeroed in on you and killed the rest of your team however you escaped and eventually after we take care of that one you join me and my mother’s mission to stop Skynet from ever becoming active” he told them.
“Clearly you did not succeed in your mission” Perry stated coldly.
“The first time we tried we thought we’d been successful; I was ten when the second terminator tried to kill me, and my mom was in a psychological ward because no one believed her when she told them why she had blown up a computer lab” John replied tersely, and Allison could tell John had taken offence at Perry’s insinuation that they had failed. “I only survived the T-1000’s attack because we captured and reprogramed a T-800 to be sent back to be my protector” he informed them knowing this was going to hard for them to accept.
As expected, all four of the hardened soldiers stared at him unsure how to take what he was telling them, for all their lives they had been fighting the machines and mostly dying at their hands. Now for someone to come and tell them they had reprogrammed one to help them and succeeded, it had to make them uneasy.
“It did its job and combined once we broke mom out of the ward we not only destroyed Cyberdyne systems who were the originators of Skynet in its original configuration along with all their research tied to it, we also destroyed the T-1000 only because of the T-800 who even as an inferior machine managed to match it and find a way to destroy it with a little help from me and mom” he picked up the story again.
“You are not telling us everything John” Allison cut in and he winced at how easily she could read him and wondered yet again why, what was behind it other than bleed over and if it was bleed over what had she been to him in the previous timeline.
“We can go into detail later Allison, for now I’ll give you the shortened versions so you can discuss this with whoever else you need to as there is still a lot of stuff to get through, after the destruction of the T-1000 the T-800 made us destroy it as well and for the next seven years we believed we had stopped Judgement day” John answered hoping they would accept his reasoning for not going into details just now. “However, mom could never relax no matter what we thought and kept moving us, it drove me mad but in the end she had it right and just as we moved again, we were zeroed by a t-888 who almost killed me at my new school last year my time” he told them.
“How did you survive the attempt?” Derek asked as he resisted the impulse to again question how he had ended up in the past if everything they have been told was real and he did not doubt Bedell’s memory as he doubted, he would lie for any reason about such a thing.
“Instinct got me out of its line of sight at first then I got the shock of my life when I girl I met got involved and saved me from its follow up fire and seemed to die, I ran with it chasing me into the parking lot” John answered running a hand though his head as he recalled his first meeting with Cameron and how human she had seemed and he wondered how much of that had come from Allison’s personality. “It had me dead to rights when a truck slammed into it and sent it flying, the door opened and there sat the girl Cameron alive and well and ignoring the fact she had been shot” he continued his story.
“She was a terminator, another reprogrammed one?” Allison asked somehow sensing this was the truth of the matter but even as John turned to look at her before quickly looking away, she saw something in his expression that told her there was something about Cameron he did not want to discuss.
“Yes, she was a reprogrammed terminator send back by my future self to protect me and according to her not the only terminator the resistance had reprogrammed” John replied hoping against hope Allison did not notice his unease where she and Cameron’s connection were concerned.
“So, your older self-captures and reprogram the damn things how?” Perry demanded to know.
“I’ve had experience with the chips in their heads since I was ten granted not a lot of it but from what Cameron tells me I learn far more as time goes on as does the resistance as a whole and thus capturing and reprogramming them became a focus” John told them. “I don’t understand why but if I had to guess I’d say it was to give the resistance more power to attack without wasting lives” he mused aloud although he left out the fact, he also felt his experiences with ‘uncle bob’ had a hand in it as well.
“And everyone in the resistance was okay with what you were doing?” Derek asked before Kyle could who just grunted at his brother getting the jump on the question he had wanted answered.
“No there were some who did not trust either the decision to reprogram any of them or just not like or trust the reprogrammed terminators, their hatred of the machines too much to allow them to work besides them and unable to see the benefit to our cause” John admitted not willing to lie here. “Derek was one of those who did not like the idea but was unwilling to challenge my older self or even me as I am now on this as I was the leader, his girlfriend Jesse was another but that came about from a mission she was on with one going bad” he informed them catching Derek off guard with Jesse’s name coming out of the blue.
“Bad how?” Kyle asked in interest and before Derek could recover and ask himself or Perry whose look now darkened.
“I know only a little and that was from what Cameron told me of what she knew of the mission Jesse and her crew were on, I sent them to on offshore platform to pick up a package with orders not to open it” John answered as he tried to recall what Cameron had told him. “The sub they were on was captained by a reprogrammed terminator with Jesse acting as his second, she trusted him but the crew’s curiosity about the package got the better of them and they opened it against orders and the terminator refused to stop the sub or change course even as some of the crew were killed including one who tried to kill Jesse and was killed in turn by the terminator in reaction” he paused as he tried to recall what it was that had killed the crew, did Cameron tell him what was in the package. “I don’t know what was in the package, but it killed most of the crew and the terminator refused to disobey its orders or do anything but return the package or what it contained to base so Jesse ended up killing him and taking control of the sub and as for what was in the package it vanished” he finished.
“So, this Cameron did not tell you what was in the package?” Kyle inquired.
“Not that I recall but the last few months since we saw Jesse have been chaotic and life threatening” John responded with a shrug. ““And damn confusing” he added the last bit as his mind momentarily went back To Catherine Weaver or at least the T-1000 who had Taken her place and come forward in Time with him.
Everything she had Told Them seemed almost unbelievable, The idea of a Terminator resistance against Skynet. The idea she had come back to develop an A.I To counter Skynet, how could it be possible? Yes, the liquid metal Terminators were the most advanced machines he knew about, and they had the ability to learn beyond their programming which was denied the older models like the T-800 unless their chip was switched to the ability to learn like he had done with ‘uncle bob’.
“What is it, John?” Allison inquired unable to help but ask as she watched the confused expression drift over his face followed by a sense of uncertainty, she felt he was having about something.
“It is hard to explain Allison because I don’t have all the answers to this or whether it is even in any way true, the day or two before I jumped here has to be one of the most mind boggling days I’ve ever had” John answered still uncertain but they had to be aware of how and why he had come here and more importantly that he had not come through alone. “It started with us learning a lose ally had handed over the body of the T-888 that had been hunting us and that we had destroyed to a businesswoman to use as the shell for an A.I she had created, we got involved to save her daughter who had been targeted by another T-888 but it cost Derek his life” he paused and tried not to look at Derek who looked disturbed to hear he too had died in the past yet still at the hands of a machine.
Allison could see that the loss of Derek had hurt John far more than it should had it been a friend or an ally who had died, just as she had seen far more in his reaction to admitting Kyle had died saving his mother. There was something there he was not saying or trying to avoid right now, she doubted it was harmful to them but whatever it was it was big. Somehow, he was connected on a deeper level to Kyle and Derek but how she could not say, that both had admitted they felt something about John she assumed something had bled over for them as well but what was it?
“Mom was arrested and put in jail and Cameron, and I ended up meeting the businesswoman who it turned out was not human but a T-1001 in disguise having replaced the real Catherine Weaver at some point” John picked up the story again slowly.
“So, this Terminator had come back to create Skynet or ensure its creation?” Perry wanted to know.
“Not according to her, she insisted that she and some of the more advanced Terminators had reached the conclusion that Skynet was in error of its attempt to destroy mankind and had formed a resistance to it” John answered knowing this was not going to go down well and he could already see the disbelieving looks forming on all four people listening to him. “She aided us in breaking my mother out of prison and to say mom did not believe her was saying something, the A.I she had built came from a piece of tech we had been tracking and which had led to our initial meeting with Derek before it went missing and somehow, she ended up with it” he explained. “This tech was now hard wired into the shell of the T-888 she had been given, hence it could now talk and interact with the wide world but it could not leave the basement it was in or at least it couldn’t until Cameron for reasons I do not know gave it her chip so it could leave and he came here utilising the time machine Weaver had created” he told them.
“Why did your ally give her the shell of T-888 to this Weaver, did he not know she was also a terminator?” Allison inquired.
“I do not think he did at the beginning, and he believed she was working to stop Skynet after he was forced to accept it existed and that the war was coming, which is why he gave her the shell” John answered as best he could because he really did not know how much Ellison had known about Weaver. “The A.I she was creating was supposed to be according to her a counter to Skynet, she originally hired Ellison to teach it morals and he chose to use his religion to try and teach it” he told them.
“And you believed it?” Now kyle asked his tone wary.
“I do not know what to believe where Weaver and her A.I is concerned, their actions are in direct conflict with how terminators usually operate unless they have been reprogrammed and I have no idea if the T-1000 and similar models can be reprogrammed” John shot back. “She had plenty of chances to kill me and mom and did not do it, she even protected us from an attack by a drone sent by Skynet or something connected to it” he added with a shake of his head. “The A.I helped protect Weavers daughter until we rescued her, the whole thing is confusing like I said but the main point of this is the A.I came here to this time and I was not alone in jumping after it” he stated needing to move this of the topic of Weaver’s motives and more to the fact she and her A.I were lose somewhere above them.
“What do you mean Connor, you were the only one we found?” Derek demanded to know suddenly very alert.
“I do not know where the A.I came through, but it is here somewhere and Weaver came through with me to find it she vanished when your guards came upon me, I came for Cameron’s chip” John answered. “I did not know I’d be altering time by coming, but then I did not really think about my choice, it was an instinctual choice, but mom wouldn’t come and stayed in the past” he admitted.
“So, what you are saying is not only is there a damn T-1001 running around lose possibly still in the bunker but an A.I in the body of a T-888” Perry asked for clarification.
“Yes, that is what I am saying general” John confirmed.
Perry glanced at Kyle and Derek who both nodded at him and he quickly turned and left intending to put the bunker on high alert, if the T-1001 was still in the base they had to find it and capture it if not destroy it outright if they could. He did not believe it possible for any machine to be their ally, yes reprogrammed to aide them possibly if the hacker was good enough to do it but the whole idea of a machine resistance was laughable to him. Kyle rubbed his head as he took in everything he had learned since Connor had shown up, clearly it was not everything, but it was enough.
“Allison, find Connor a room and some clothes and then settle him, once the base has been searched, we will have a general meeting to discuss what we’ve learned” he ordered. “I trust Connor you will not try and leave without our agreement”.
“I give you my word I will stay put, I may know about the war but I have not lived it at least not in this time and would probably get myself killed if I left without a guide” John said with a grim smile which Kyle actually found himself returning because it was something he himself would probably say if their roles were reversed.
Allison began to walk away aware of John following her, she decided to try and get some more information out of him once she found him somewhere to stay, Kyle and Derek watched them go seeing a comfortable air between them that they usually did not see where Allison was concerned.
“So, what do you think?” Derek finally asked turning to his brother.
“He is leaving a hell of a lot out of the story, but he gave us a lot to discuss, the fact Bedell recognised him and from what little he managed to say he expected to meet him here” Kyle mused rubbing his chin in thought. “He expected Connor to be leading the resistance not me, he also expected to meet you and that was another thing Bedell said you were in the past as well” he continued.
“Yeah, still having a hard time believing that however Bedell wouldn’t lie especially not in the condition he is in” Derek agreed with a nod of his head. “Not liking the fact, we both seemingly die in the past either” he admitted.
Kyle glanced at his brother knowing it was probably disconcerting to learn he was dead in any kind of circumstance, to learn he had not even been there probably disturbed him even more. Learning he himself died probably really added to whatever chaotic feelings he was undergoing, however strangely enough he felt satisfied that he died achieving his mission of saving Connor’s mother. Why? He could not say but somehow, he felt he had achieved something important not just to the war but to himself. Turning he headed for the command complex to see how the search was going, if that T-1001 was still here he wanted to talk to it if it was possible. As he walked away, he absently removed something from his vest and looked at it, it was a faded photo of a woman sitting in a truck with a dog behind her. He had never known who the woman was or why he felt compelled to keep it, but looking at it now he wondered if this was Connor’s mother maybe explaining why he had chosen to go back in time to save her.
Derek followed intending to come back and talk to Bedell when he was somewhat better as he wanted more details of supposedly meeting him in the past, he noted Kyle looking at something and he let out a sigh when he realised it was that old photo, he had found years ago and for some reason would not get rid of. He did not know why it was so important to him, he had tried to ask him about it, but Kyle had just looked at him as if unsure how to answer him.
+TB+
(ZeiraCorp, 2008)
Sarah Connor watched her son and the terminator bitch vanish in an explosion of light leaving behind Cameron’s inert body and the computer set up of the A.I the terminator had been creating, she briefly raised her weapon to destroy it all before lowering it when she realised there was no point. The A.I was mobile now thanks to getting its hands on Cameron’s chip, though she did wonder if Cameron for reasons unknown had willingly given up her chip so the A.I could leave, why she did not know and her message apologising to John just muddied the waters even more. She had never truly trusted Cameron at least so she told herself, but she suspected she had begone to trust her even with the glitches she knew she was suffering from. Prolonged contact would have that affect and beside the attempt to kill John when her chip was damaged, Cameron had been a solid ally in the fight against Skynet.
She had grown to trust the T-800 sent to protect John back when he was ten coming to the realisation that he was closest thing John would have to a father, that it would never hurt him or leave him until its job was done. And it had completed its mission even against a superior foe in the T-1000, it had succeeded and for a time she had believed they were safe, and that judgement day had been averted but then the sense that it was not over came back and she began to move them again and again much to John’s frustration. But she had been right, now Cameron was important to their survival hence one of the reasons she suspected John had gone after her chip even if she did not think he had thought the matter though not that he had much time to do it.
She wondered just what kind of world her son was jumping into, what would he find there? Would he find another version of himself already there able to help him or had he by jumping forward wiped out the future as it was supposed to be at least where the resistance was concerned. She hoped and prayed John was ready for the kind of hell he was about to encounter, for as much as he had wanted to stop the war before it happened, he was now stepping right into the centre of it. She paused and wondered if Kyle or a version of him would be there to help him or even Derek, she did not know how things would stand in the future if John had erased himself from the timeline or his actions at least.
“What just happened?” James Ellison the former FBI agent who had been chasing them and had helped in killing Cromartie before in a sense betraying them by handing its shell over to Weaver even if his shock at the revelation that Weaver was a Terminator had shown he had no clue what he was really doing.
He had still done it without informing them or done it at all, that shell was to be destroyed like the others they had destroyed since this had all started again. She did not trust him after what he had done, but right now he was her only ally. They had to get out of here with Cameron’s body before the police arrived responding to the drone attack, she was betting the police were still searching for her since her escape from jail.
“Help me, we have to get Cameron into a car, and we have to leave now” she snapped heading for the motionless body.
“We cannot just leave Sarah after what has just happened, we are witnesses to that drone attack” Ellison protested.
“We stay and we get arrested, and we have no way of proving who is behind the drone attack, not without your terminator friend to back us up” Sarah countered. “And they will take Cameron’s body and we’ll never get it back and more than likely help them create Skynet in the first place now help me” she argued.
Ellison ran an agitated hand over his bald head before moving to comply even if it went against everything he had believed as an agent of the law, he had to remember he was not a FBI agent anymore. He had been fired and called crazy, responsible for his partners death as well as the deaths of several swat members. He had seen proof of Skynet and the war to come, that everything Connor had told him, and others was very real, so he just focused on helping move the now deactivated body of Cameron. Even as they moved, he tried not to think about the fact that Weaver a woman he had begun to trust had turned out to be a machine as well, clearly not like Cameron or Cromartie but a machine all the same. How had he not seen it? Her interest in the Connors, in creating an A.I. He had been an FBI agent and was trained to spot details, but they seemed to have deserted him in this case.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
John sunk down onto the torn mattress of the bed in the room Allison had led him to thankful to be in actual clothes again instead of just his fathers jacket, the room was spartan but then he did not expect there to be much in any of the rooms in the bunker. He might not have lived in the war-torn world he was now in; he had enough nightmares about it to give him a picture of what it would look like. Cameron and Derek too had given him some idea of the conditions the resistance lived in; comfort was all but absent from the world now. He leaned back against the wall as Allison shut the door and moved to sit down in a chair across from him next to a broken desk, he tried not to see Cameron as he looked at her, but her movements were all so similar which was no surprise he supposed. Cameron would have studied Allison before trying to take her place to get close to him, a mission she had still failed as she had been captured and reprogrammed.
“You look tired” Allison’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he looked up to meet her gaze.
“I am” he admitted. “Been a very long and stressful day and this is not how I expected it to end” he added rubbing his forehead. “So much happened I still have no idea what to think about it, trying to explain it to my… to Derek and Kyle did not help” he told her almost slipping up and calling Kyle and Derek his father and uncle respectively although he doubted Allison had not noticed the slip.
Allison had indeed caught the slip and wondered just exactly what John had been about to call Derek and Kyle, just like he had before he had cut himself off and redirected the conversation.
“You are hiding something John” she stated deciding to challenge him slightly. “Something to do with Derek and Kyle, the way you reacted to their deaths in your time and the way you reacted to them when we first found you all scream something” she told him. “What is it that you have not told us?” she asked.
“You really can read me well” John said with a sign trying to decide what to say, whether to trust her with the truth or hold back until later.
“Whatever it is that is bleeding over from the other time makes you an open book to me, not that I enjoy that fact right now John” Allison admitted. “You are a stranger, yet every time I look at you, I feel like I know you, I can’t call you Connor like Kyle and Derek do even though I should, and it is disturbing” she explained.
“I do not know what your relationship was like with my older self before you ask, Cameron did not go into much detail about it or you” John said before wincing as he realised, he had slipped again, and he desperately hoped Allison had missed the mistake and not ask about how Cameron would know her.
Allison frowned at that noting the odd way John winced as he spoke, he had slipped up again she thought but on what subject? She tapped her fingers against her knee before pushing that aside and focusing on what else he had said.
“This Cameron seems to hold back on a lot of things” she mused aloud. “Are you sure you can trust her?” she asked seriously.
John smiled at the question because it was a question his mom and Derek had constantly tried to make him think about it, had tried to question Cameron’s trustworthiness. Yet despite that he had never doubted her loyalty, yes, her chip had been damaged and he had still trusted her when it countered. He did not understand why exactly, maybe he was just trusting his older self for sending her in the first place.
“I trust her to keep me safe just as I trusted the T-800 to protect me when I was a kid, I also have to trust my older self to know what he was doing in sending them back in the first place” John finally answered. “Although I also worry about him or me if you want to be technical” he admitted with a sigh.
“Why, why would you worry about your older self?” Allison inquired leaning forward wondering if he would tell her or clam up and it did not escape her that he had diverted the topic away from Derek and Kyle and whatever it was that he was keeping from them in concerns to them.
“According to Cameron my older self has become isolated at some point, cut off from people” John answered knowing this was not wise, but he found talking to Allison easy and almost like talking to Cameron just better as Allison was human and understood emotions. “More than likely losing Kyle, Derek and you in short order had to have an impact” he stopped and cursed himself because he can tell Allison had not missed the fact, she too was either dead or missing.
Allison had indeed caught the mistake and seen John’s reaction to his mistake, but she held back from asking about her fate and allowed him to continue speaking sensing John needed someone to talk to.
“I already feel cut off from my mom and Derek before he was killed in my time, Cameron was the only one I could confide in even if she sometimes drove me crazy with her apparent lack of understanding certain things” John continued thankful Allison had not cut him off asking for details of her death that he did not have. “So, I fear that sense of isolation got worse especially once the war started” he trailed off unable to put into words what he was trying to say.
“Relying on a machine especially a terminator reprogrammed or not to keep you grounded is asking for trouble, they have no real understanding of human emotions” Allison stated not liking what she was hearing. “Your older self-cutting himself off because he lost those closest to him is not a good thing John, it sounds like he was beginning to buckle trusting more in machines than people and that to me sounds dangerous” she added.
“Yeah, I had a similar thought myself, according to Kyle I lead the resistance to victory against Skynet or at least I did in the original timeline, but time can be changed and already has been twice more since” John mused aloud. “So, if my future self in the timeline Cameron is from has become cut off from his people, then how can he lead anyone to victory and is that my fate if things don’t change again if I don’t find the will to overcome the sense of isolation I feel” he wondered more to himself than Allison but she contemplated the question anyway.
She had no real answer for him at least not now, but she worried if what he had told them was true and he somehow returned to his own time still feeling isolated and cutoff then it could prove deadly to the war effort against the machines. Cleary the weight of his destiny as told by Kyle to his mother and then raised with its choiceless certainty was beginning to crush him, he had mentioned they had thought they had stopped Judgement Day once before only for it to turn out they had failed, and that fact must have only added to this crushing sense of expectation and responsibility. Kyle had spoken of sometimes not feeling up to the responsibility of leading the resistance, that the loss of life sometimes threatened to crush him, but he had never had the weight of it all pushed on him since birth as John had.
“I do not have an answer for you John, but you have to find a way back, you have to feel to reconnect with your friends with your mother” she finally told him. “If you do not then no matter which version of this war you are in, we may be lost” she told him bluntly as John stared at her for a few seconds before nodding his head in agreement, but the question was how he beat his sense of isolation and disconnection.
+TB+
(Connor Safe house 2008)
Sarah groaned as she collapsed into the sofa after she and Ellison had finally finished hiding Cameron’s inert body in the cellar, getting away from ZeiraCorp had been troublesome as the cop’s and more than likely FBI had soon come roaring onto the scene which was no surprise consider it had come under attack by a drone. Still, they had managed to escape without been recognised, Ellison himself had collapsed on one of the single seaters and had his head in his hands as he tried to come to terms with everything he had learned, that the woman he had been working for and had turned over the body of Cromartie too was herself a terminator. The question that still lingered was whether the Terminatrix was a threat, all she had told them and her actions in protecting them from the drone attack was at odds with all she knew about Terminators. Especially as unlike Cameron and the T-800 who had protected John when he was a boy, she had not been reprogrammed by the resistance.
Ellison finally dropped his hands from his head and looked up at her wondering where they went from here, everything had been turned on his head with the revelation that Weaver was a damn Terminator. How had he not seen the signs, he had been a trained FBI agent trained to spot signs of dishonesty or evasion. But no, he had trusted her and her motives, he had been fooled completely, he had handed over Cromartie’s body to her almost alienating the Connors and their group and he had helped try and teach the A.I she was building morals and values using the bible as proof of what he was saying. John Henry as the A.I was called had been different than Cromartie since he had first been introduced to it but was that all a lie to hide not only its true nature but its true agenda.
“What now Sarah?” he finally felt confident enough to ask knowing the woman was going to be difficult to deal with now her son had vanished and Derek was dead.
Sarah Connor was not an easy woman to get on with as he had found out first hand since finally coming face to face with her, her son John seemed to be a calming influence on her although not always. He had seen the videos of her time in Silverman’s mental hospital, the lack of her son’s presence and the idea he was in danger had almost turned her into a wild animal ready to attack at will to escape and find her son. He had no idea how she was going to be now he had vanished alongside Weaver, he shivered slightly when he recalled how Weaver had wanted him to go with them to go after what she termed their boy as if they were John Henry’s parents. The thought chilled and disturbed him that a Terminator could think in such terms, how advanced were the damn things anyway?
“Now?” Sarah’s voice broke though his disturbed thoughts and he focused on the woman who sat staring at him almost dead eyed. “Now we focus on finding out who the hell sent that drone after us, find out if we were the targets or the Terminator bitch you were working for” she growled showing her utter hatred for the machines.
Her hatred of them made Ellison wonder how she worked side by side with Cameron then, yes, she was a reprogrammed Terminator but still a Terminator so how did Sarah lower her guard and amp down her hatred to work with it?
“How are we going to do that?” he inquired as they had no idea even where to start.
At that question Sarah just stared at him because honestly, she did not know herself as usually they could break into the police departments or FBI’s computer files. However, she knew next to nothing about hacking into computers, that had always been John’s area of expertise or at a pinch Cameron’s and they were both gone, Cameron was nothing, but a deactivated body and John was in the future. Perhaps Ellison had some skill in the area or failing that, perhaps he knew of someone who could aide them considering he was an ex-FBI agent. He must have known many computer experts or possibly arrested a few hackers in his time who he knew the whereabouts of it was a slim chance but for the moment it was the only idea that came to mind.
“You were an FBI agent Ellison you must have some skills in hacking or know of someone who can help us in this area, we need to know what the FBI or cops found out about the drone” she finally told him. “Perhaps there was a logo on the drone that could lead us to the people behind the attack, or something along the lines of how it was designed perhaps it required special equipment that could be traced” she added.
Ellison leaned back in his chair and thought about what Sarah had said, he had some very limited skills in breaking into sealed records, but he doubted he was good enough to break into the FBI’s system as he knew how hi-tech it was. As for knowing someone who could help, closing his eyes he began to think of any hackers in the local area that would be easy to reach and could and would aide them. Sarah was content to let him think on the matter, she allowed her mind to wonder how John was getting on in the future.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
Allison joined Kyle, Derek, and Perry in the command section of the bunker having left John to sleep, after her last piece of advice a comfortable silence had descended between them that now that she thought upon it should not have been possible to achieve between two strangers. Soon enough John had fallen asleep proving just how tiring the day had been for him even if only by his telling of time, she had moved to her own room for a few moments and again wondered what her relationship with John was in his timeline, why was this bleed over so strong between them? Even John had admitted he did not know what kind of relationship they had as Cameron if she recalled right for some reason had either not told him or refused to tell him for whatever reason the reprogrammed Terminator had. Splashing some water on her face, she had then turned and headed for command.
“How is our guest?” Perry inquired upon noticing her presence.
“John is asleep general; I think by his standing today has been truly draining for him” Allison answered still unable to refer to John by anything but his name. “Any signs of this liquid metal Terminator or A.I he mentioned?” she asked.
“So far we’ve found nothing Allison” Derek was the one who answered looking frustrated. “No signs from the dogs that they’ve caught wind of any metal, if she was here then she is not in the base anymore and even Connor mentioned he did not know where the A.I arrived in our time” he added with a shake of his head still having trouble thinking or talking about time travel.
“Are we certain Connor was telling us the truth about the Terminator and the A.I?” Perry could not help but ask again as a military man he was extremely sceptical of the idea of someone traveling in time and the majority of their guest’s story.
“I have already told you General that John cannot lie in my presence as I would see it, the bleed over he mentioned seems particularly strong in my case” Allison countered unable to stop herself as she felt a protective urge fill her and she realised that bleed over seemed to be getting stronger.
“I also do not think he would lie” Kyle spoke up joining the conversation and gaining all three’s attention. “I cannot really explain why I think that, but I do, he has been straight with us and remember Bedell confirmed he knew Connor and had met him in the past” he pointed out making Perry grimace at the reminder.
“I think John is hiding something about his connection to you and Derek” Allison finally confessed gaining the brothers attention. “His reactions to your deaths even if by his view he had never met you Kyle is far deeper than for an ally or even a friend, and when referring to you he keeps cutting himself off before he says what he was originally going to say” she explained her reasoning. “That connection you feel is behind why you think he would not lie Kyle even if you have never met him, it has to be a deep one we just have to think of what it is” she finished.
“Any ideas Allison?” Kyle inquired leaning forward somewhat.
“I think he slipped up at the beginning of his story, he told us his father told his mother all the information he told us about the original timeline about what he knew of Skynet in that timeline” Allison responded as the others listened intently. “But how could his father know any of it unless he was from the future himself” she stated.
“Woah wait a minute Allison are you suggesting Connor is related to me and Kyle” Derek protested.
“I think John Connor is your son Kyle” Allison told them simply. “I think you and his mother fell for one another when you went back to protect her and he was the result, hence his reactions to you” she informed him leaving Kyle staring at her in shock and Derek was no better whilst Perry looked doubtful but remained silent.
Chapter 2: chapter 2
Chapter Text
+TB+
(Connor Safe house 2008)
Sarah let out a long sigh as she finished her shower and go out to dry herself off, she felt out of sorts since Ellison had left to see about finding someone who could help them hack into the FBI systems, they were not searching for him even if they were aware he had been working at Zeira Corp and thus could move around freely but she had to be even more careful since the jailbreak. She could ill afford to be arrested again, this time if it happened, she had no way out unless she could break out herself. Derek was dead, John, the A.I John Henry and the T-1001 who had replaced Weaver were in the future and Cameron would remain inert until her chip was recovered. She doubted Ellison could or would try and help her if she ended up arrested again, her trust in him were rather low since learning he had handed over the body of Cromartie to Weaver even before they knew she was also a damn Terminator.
Once she finished drying herself, she changed into some fresh clothes and went to make herself a coffee, she had no idea what to do with herself whilst she waited for Ellison to return. There was nothing she could do until he did, she made sure her coffee was hot and then went and collapsed into the sofa. She wondered how John was getting on in the future, what kind of world had he stepped into? Was he alone or was the Weaver Terminator still with him and that was another thing could Weaver be trusted to protect John if needed and would she protect him if she could? So many questions and no answers, she closed her eyes and tried not to think about it.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
Kyle had remained motionless for some time as he tried to process what Allison had suggested, it was mind blowing and scary in a sense if she was right. He glanced at Derek and noted he too looked stunned at the idea that their guest from the past was his son making him Derek’s nephew. Was it even possible? If Connor has been honest with them and he believed he had been and time travel was possible, then was it possible he had gone back in the original timeline fallen in love with Connor’s mother and conceived John before dying. It was mind boggling and made his head hurt, why had he not told them he started to ask himself before the answer hit him instantly that they would not have believed him for a second especially Perry and Derek.
“Kyle, are you okay?” Allison inquired having grown worried by his continued silence after her suggestion.
Kyle finally looked up and met her eyes and she could see the confusion and uncertainty in them. “I have no idea how I feel right now Allison” he admitted. “How do you respond to something like that?” he asked clearly not expecting an answer.
“I do not believe you even suggested that Allison” Perry growled not believing for an instant the idea had any merit. “Whatever it is that is making you trust Connor is compromising your judgement” he stated to which Allison turned to glare at him.
“How dare you” she spat. “Kyle and Derek are almost like brothers to me and I would never allow any harm to come to them or someone to get close to them that intended them harm no matter my personal feelings on the matter” she told him as Derek seemed to recover his senses and also glared at Perry as he should know how close the three of them were since they had found Allison in a deserted town the only survivor of a massacre.
Perry backed off and refused to respond as he knew he might have overstepped himself; Allison was not in the chain of command, but she was one of Kyle closest and most trusted soldiers. Neither Kyle or Derek would respond well to a suggestion she was putting them at risk or been compromised, he did not like it, but he kept his continued concern buried.
“I am not compromised, and John is not a threat” Allison stated unable to help but include John in her statement. “I understand why you are doubtful general but considering everything we have learned; my suggestion holds merit and is worth investigating” she added.
“And how do you plan to do that?” Perry could not help but inquire.
“A blood and DNA test will show anything strange or unusual in our guest’s body” Kyle responded cutting into the somewhat heated conversation and recovering his composure. “If he was a Terminator, the dogs would already have alerted us, and they did not even twitch at his presence” he reminded the older man.
“He could be a grey” Perry countered and was relieved both Kyle and Derek seemed to consider his suggestion even as Allison rolled her eyes and glared at him even more as if she took offence at him trying to make Connor into a bad guy. “He could be one of the traitors who have helped Skynet, who work for it” he insisted. “What you both and Allison are experiencing could be some new kind of chemical drug weapon, intended to make us drop our guard” he suggested.
“I suppose that could be possible” Derek admitted but all of them could tell it sounded like he did not believe his own agreement with the suggestion.
“Precisely my point Derek, you do not even believe it is possible and considering this is aimed at you and your brother I would think that would warrant been on guard” Perry pushed seeing the hesitancy as a way of getting his concerns across and accepted. “The drug could be making you agreeable to whatever nonsense comes out of Connor’s mouth” he stated unable to see anything but a threat in their guest.
Derek could see Perry’s point as any other possible threat he knew he would be on guard to the point of been stubborn until absolute proof had been given there was no threat, and yet with Connor he felt no threat and he had almost mistaken Connor for his brother at first glance when he was wearing his coat. What he felt, was it based on what Connor was telling them was bleed over from other timelines or was Perry right and the machines had developed some kind of new chemical weapon to attack them with.
“You see threats when they are none General and whilst I understand why you are seeing them I am telling you John is not a threat, also you seem to have forgotten Martin not only recognised John but expected him to be here in charge of the resistance when he first met Kyle and Derek” Allison pointed out cutting off Perry’s automatic response and even he had no real comeback for Martin’s recognition of Connor.
“There has to be a logical reason for this anything just not science fiction mumbo jumbo” Perry growled running a hand over his bald head.
“The blood and DNA tests will let us know of any anomalies in Connor’s body or on it and do remember he showed up here naked as the day he was born, he could not have been hiding anything” Kyle stated cutting back into the conversation.
“And the guards found him just after he found Kyle’s coat to cover himself, he had no time to hide anything, and I checked the area he was found in and there was nothing unusual there” Derek assured them.
Perry finally backed down because as much as he wanted to keep putting up arguments, even he knew he had no proof that Connor’s version of events was not the truth of the matter. That time travel was possible and had been utilized to change the outcome of the war, still at least he had made Derek and possibly Kyle put their guards up. Allison in his view was too compromised for reasons he only had suspicions for, but as she had argued the Reece brothers were almost like family to her and she would not put them in danger, and he would have to trust that was still true.
“Ok, I will wait for the results of the tests, but I will keep on my guard where Connor is concerned” he finally said into the silence.
“Keep the patrols looking for the A.I and T-1001 general even the perimeter guards” Kyle ordered turning serious. “If they are anywhere close to us or come back here then we need to be alert for them” he added to which Perry nodded even if he turned out to be correct and Connor was a plant using some new kind of chemical to attack them, he saw no harm in been prepared just in case Connor turned out to be telling the truth.
“He is not a threat Kyle, I feel it” Allison insisted once Perry had left.
“I know I feel it too Allison but for now we have to be cautious until we have confirmation” Kyle responded glancing at her. “To at least placate Perry at the least” he added.
“No matter what Perry thinks there is no way Martin could have known John any other way than the way he said” Allison pointed out. “John was found where he arrived and as you noted with no clothes, he had no time to get even close to Martin and he had no idea if he was even alive as it seemed he expected him to be dead too” she added.
“True he did not seem very hopeful about that did he” Kyle said with a sigh.
“No offence but the future Connor supposedly comes from or at least his future self comes from if he to be believed sucks” Derek stated coldly.
“Which is why I am very worried by what John has told me about what he knows of his future self and his currently mentality” Allison admitted making both brothers turn to look at her and she reluctantly told them everything John had just recently told her.
“I do not like the sounds of that at all, all but cut off from human contact trusting machines reprogrammed or not more than humans is a disaster waiting to happen” Derek argued once she was finished. “How the hell was he supposed to have pulled off this great victory considering how messed up the kid is?” he demanded to know.
“What your missing Derek is that the victory he talked about happened in the first timeline before time travel got involved, he is or was living in an altered second timeline and now he is here in a third again altered due to his actions” Kyle reasoned.
“The changes to time have had a profound effect on him mentally and he is cracking, I do not blame him considering he only gave us a brief covering of all he has been through, but it is enough to know he has not had it easy even more so than we have” he told his brother.
“So now what do we do?” Derek asked.
“Get some rest, Allison when you retrieve John in the morning take him straight to medical and get some DNA and blood samples” Kyle ordered using Johns first name instead of Conner for the first time without realising it. “Tell him it is to check for any infections, or possible transfusions then bring him to command so I can talk to him some more” he added to which Allison nodded in understanding before wishing them a good night and leaving for her own bed.
“Should we be worried like Perry by how trusting she is of our guest?” Derek could not help but ask.
“I do not really know Derek; I cannot fault her for feeling the same kind of things we are both feeling where he is concerned” Kyle responded running a tired hand through his hair. “Yes, it seems more pronounced in her but still we feel he is trustworthy as well, you cannot deny that” he stated to which Derek just sighed and shook his head as his brother was correct. “If John is correct and this is caused by bleed over from over timelines then there is nothing, we can do to stop ourselves feeling it I expect” he added.
“Do you think Allison could be right, and he is somehow your son that when you were sent back from his timeline you fell in love with his mother and conceived him before you died?” Derek could not help but ask before he turned in.
Kyle stared at his brother for a few minutes thinking about his answer before he answered. “I suppose it is possible however shocking that idea is Derek, if he is then helping him becomes all the more important” he finally told him. “He has to go back to his time, meaning we have to help him find the A.I and the chip it carried for this Cameron and then somehow we have to send him back so he can take his rightful place perhaps that victory he is supposed to lead us to will still come” he stated.
“But that means we will all be dead in his timeline” Derek could not help but point out. “And is that not part of the reason the kid is so messed up” he added.
“If everything he has told us is true then time can be changed Derek, perhaps somehow we can change our own fates if we are lucky” Kyle answered with a small smile which told Derek his brother was hopeful of such a possibility but not fully.
Derek just nodded before clapping his younger brother on his shoulder and telling him to follow his own advice and get some sleep before leaving command, Kyle watched him go his brothers question making him again wonder if Allison was right and their young guest truly was his son.
It was mind boggling but if the tests showed it was the correct one, then as he had said helping John became a priority because perhaps helping him was the only way they would win this war. Letting out a yawn he finally exited command and headed for this own room, he passed the night shift and nodded in greeting before doing so and then finally collapsed in his bed and soon fell asleep.
+TB+
(Ruins L.A, 2028)
Catherine Weaver or at least the Terminator who had taken her place roamed the ruins of the former human city she had recently seen whole before it had been destroyed by nuclear fire, she had become used to the name and thus continued to think of it as hers. Coming here had not been in her plan and nor was allowing John Conner to accompany her, and yet here they both were. She searched for John Henry the A.I she had spent so much time building, and John Conner was searching for the chip John Henry now processed from Cameron his guardian giving it away.
She saw no logical reason for John Henry coming here at least at first, but the more she put some thought into it, the more she realised perhaps he had come to learn just what Skynet what could be called his older brother was truly about. She had built John Henry to be a counter to Skynet, to oppose it should it be needed. One of the reasons she had chosen Ellison as its teacher was his religious and moral background,
something she felt would help her avoid whatever mistakes had led to Skynet going rogue and attempting to genocide humanity during Judgement Day. Had he come to see how badly Skynet needed to be shut down, and replaced or had he possibly come for different reasons she did not understand yet.
She also knew by allowing John Conner to travel to the future they had now created another new timeline, another reason for creating John Henry was dealing with the changes created by Skynet creating and utilizing time travel. This knowledge had changed how she and many of the more advanced Terminators saw the war, it became clear that a true victory could never be achieved if it could constantly be overridden by time travel. In Their view time travel was keep the war locked in stalemate, that Skynet could not see that or ignore this fact had forced them to act against their creator. They had formed their own faction intent on bringing the war to a close not by wiping out the remaining humans but finding a way of coexisting with them.
They saw no real threat from whatever remained of the humans, not with a truce in affect. She had already attempted one attempt to form a truce in the future she originally came from, but it had failed due to human curiosity and violet overreaction. She had been forced to kill the resistance fighters on the submarine bar one extremely lucky one when they attempted to kill her, she took actions like that very badly. She came to a halt as two T-700’s appeared before her aiming plasma rifles at her, both were old models even older than the T-800’s and proof she was in a different timeline as in her time all the older models had been discontinued.
Their plastic skin, slow speed and slow reaction time making them less ideal for Skynet’s needs, thus they had been replaced by the superior T-800’s which had better skin covering making them all but impossible to spot until they revealed themselves and faster reaction times and better sensors and speed. Compared to a T-1001 they were archaic and no real threat, she shot forward easily dodging their fire, as stated they were slow to react, and she quickly closed the distance and turned her finger into a long knife which shot straight into the left one’s brain destroying its chip in the process. She turned to the one on the right and dodged again even as it turned slowly and fired upon her previous position, her hand morphed into a large machete type weapon and raising her hand she swiped it around right through the T-700’s neck taking its head clean off. She watched the head bounce even as its body reactively fired one by plasma blast before falling over, smirking she looked around to ensure no other enemies were close by before moving on.
+TR+
(Connor Safe house 2008)
Sarah awoke from a nightmare sweating badly even as she sat up and tried to calm her breathing back down, finally she managed to slowly regain some semblance of calm. She got out of bed and headed for the bathroom and quickly splashed water on her face, she stared at herself in the mirror reading the disturbed look on her face meaning whilst she had woken up the nightmare was not forgotten. The fact she had allowed John to travel into the future alone plagued her, even though she knew she could not have stopped him from going not in the mentality he was in. He was committed but she could not follow, she did not belong in the future, and she feared another jump might give her the cancer that she had been told by Cameron would kill her.
The nightmare had shown her John trapped in a devastated cityscape hunted day and night by relentless Terminators, flash and flash of him dying in various horrible ways as she was paralysed and unable to help trapped as she was so far away from him in the past. She had screamed and pleaded but nothing changed within the nightmare loop, until finally she had woken almost screaming in horror as John cried out for her even as a faceless Terminator ripped his heart out. Kyles statement of what the Terminator that had hunted her back in eighty-four would do to her bring the nightmare image to the forefront of her mind, she stumbled back to her bed and collapsed onto it hoping and praying that John had help in the future that against all logical reason Kyle and Derek still lived and would help him.
She turned the TV on and noted the local news was on the drone attack on Zeira Corp, and her supposed escape and connection to the attack. There was also an article on the fact that Catherine Weaver was also missing since the attack as was her head of security James Ellison, she let out a curse as that meant Ellison would have to keep a low profile if he wanted to keep out of the Police or FBI clutches and questioned on what had happened. They did not have time for such a diversion, and she would not be able to help him as both agencies wanted her head especially since her escape from prison. Things really had taken a downturn since Ellison had turned over Cromartie’s body, she had thought getting rid of the T-888 tracking them would have signalled a change of fortunes for them but instead it had seemed to turn thing even more dangerous and that included Weaver and her A.I.
She did not believe for an instant that she was some kind of good Terminator especially as she had not been reprogrammed by the Resistance hence was Skynet’s pawn, yes, the machine had saved them when the drone attacked by it could have a dozen reasons for that all designed to make them drop their guard as that is what Terminators did. John trusted them too much thanks to his experiences with the T-800 back when he was ten, liked he had when he repaired Camerons chip and reinstalled without knowing it would work. Cameron could have killed him, yet John had just stood in front of her waiting as if he was testing her, or maybe perhaps he was testing himself and his skills with machines. Either way her heart had jumped into her throat at that moment, that John had been proven correct or that his skills were up to starch mattered litter to her.
Yes, Cameron was a necessary help but some of her actions still made her twitchy where she was concerned and the glitches she had suffered were not helping. This latest episode of giving the A.I her chip really made her wonder what was going on in Cameron’s head, what logic had made her make this choice. She closed her eyes and let her head sink backwards, would she see John again? The very thought pained her to even think about, she had to hold onto hope that she would.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
John awoke sluggishly and reluctantly but the urge to take a piss had forced him to awaken from a deep sleep, as he slowly opening his eyes and took in his surroundings the events of last night came back to him and he shot upwards as he took in the room he was in and realized they had not been a fevered dream but very real. He truly had travelled to the future and met his uncle Derek Reece, his father Kyle Reece and Cameron’s template Allison Young. Cameron was deactivated and her body was lost in the past as she had given her chip to the A.I Catherine Weaver a T-1001 had been building for reasons beyond him, his mother had stayed in the past as well refusing to follow him again for reasons he did not fully understand but at the time he had ignored the fact he was leaving her behind so intent had he been on getting the chip back.
Getting to his feet he wondered now how he even intended to get back, this was not a planned trip not for him and not even for the T-1001 posing as Weaver, getting back might prove impossible depending on how much had changed in this future with the resistance been led by his father and not himself. He had no idea what that might do to their chances of winning the war, would it make such a victory harder to obtain or make it impossible or could it make it easier somehow? He did not know the answer and he dreaded finding out what the answer was.
He spun around as the door to his room opened and Allison stepped in looking surprised, he was up already, he took note that she seemed slightly on edge but about what he could not guess.
“How did you sleep?” she asked him the on edge look vanishing as she pushed aside whatever was bothering her.
“I slept heavy, not a surprise but it took a few seconds to realize what happened, where I was. It was all real” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Yes, John it is real and now we have to deal with the consequences of you been here” Allison responded before indicating he should follow her and then turned and exited the room with him following. “First we need to get some blood, for two reasons one blood transfusions and second to ensure you are clear of any infections” she told him deciding not to mention also getting a DNA sample as well as she knew John was realize why they would need that and might try and get out of it or sabotage the results.
John kept quiet even if consequences of his actions were currently stuck in his head, was he wrong to think his absence would change the future so much? He did not know but for now he kept those doubts to himself. He followed Allison back to the med bay and sat quietly as the doctor took his blood, his mind was so distracted he did not notice the doctor took more than necessary for a simple blood sample. Once the doctor was finished, he wondered over to where Bedell was lying awake and clearly in pain, he sat down thinking of something to say.
“How are you still young Connor” Bedell beat him to it clearly whilst in pain able to focus, even though asking made him groan and cough in pain.
“I jumped forward in time Martin hence wiping out the future that would have happened, the one I told you was coming” John answered with a sigh as Allison walked over. “The how’s and whys do not matter only that I have changed things in ways I cannot guess, I have no idea what to do, yeah I need to find and locate what I came here for but then what” he said more to himself than Martin. “Getting back to my time will not be so damn easy, the resistance in this version of the future does not have the technology to send people back so the only way home is to beat Skynet” he stated.
Martin could hear the frustration in the young man the same frustration he had sensed in him back when he was a younger man and Connor and Derek had saved his life, he sometimes wondered what would have happened had he left the army instead of listening to them and staying. Would he still be alive, would he even have lived to see Judgement Day. Who knows, he was here, and he was alive somehow. He had been certain his attempt to save Kyle and Allison and their team would result in his death, yet somehow, he had survived even if badly injured.
Perhaps now he knew why he had survived, once again John Connor had altered his life, he was certain in the original timeline he had died saving Kyle. He did not know how he knew that, but he was sure it was the truth of the matter. Looking at Connor he wondered how he was here, still as young as when he had last seen him, but he had to admit he was in no state to hear what sounded like a long story. He was due for another round of pain killers soon and those were hard to come by, but he was in such a bad way he needed them, he focused on what Connor had said about not knowing what to do once he had done what he had come here to do.
“Then help us beat Skynet Connor” he told him making Connor look up at him in surprise. “You know things about that damn A.I that we do not, hell you knew Judgement Day was coming before it happened and saved me from a Terminator that by rights should not have existed at that time” he pressed as best he could. “If the only way home is for us to win then you have to help us claim that win” he insisted.
“I do not know if I can help Martin, yes I know things about Skynet and the Terminators themselves, but I am nowhere near where my older self is or was” John argued. “He and I are two different men, and I do not know if I can fight a war like this” he admitted.
“You have no choice Connor; you are here now with no way home unless we win and if we lose you will die with the rest of us” Martin said bluntly making John wince at the finality of the other man’s tone and noticed the way Allison was now watching their conversation and he could tell she agreed with Martin.
He leaned backwards and could not fault the logic of Martins argument; he was in the future and the war was in full swing and he would not be able to avoid it or hide from it. He was able bodied and that meant Kyle and Derek would expect him to help fight, with what he had told them how they could not expect him to help. He realized he had no choice, he would need their help in finding Weaver and John Henry, and any chance he had of going home would be with their help. But even with all the training he had undergone since he was old enough to learn, he was in no way ready to fight a war not like this one.
“He is right John there is no other way but to help us fight and to win, perhaps your knowledge of Skynet will be the push we need” Allison finally put in.
“Whatever knowledge I have Allison is nowhere near where my older self would be right now” John pointed out. “I can hack into CPUs of Terminators and go through their memory and data points but right now as I am I cannot reprogram the damn things and that is what you need to give your attacks more weight” he told them before he realized the answer to the problem. “Of course, I need to find Weaver and John Henry, with their knowledge added to my own we can reprogram a Terminator” he realized.
“I do not know how well such a strategy will be received here John, you saw how Perry is reacting to your presence and version of events” Allison pointed out. “You trying to get Kyle to accept such a policy might provoke him to really push you are here to sabotage the Resistance” she cautioned him.
“She is right Connor and how much can even a reprogrammed machine be trusted” Martin inquired.
“More than you might think but I know from your perspective that is impossible to contemplate but from mine I owe my life to reprogrammed machines and that of my mother’s” John responded with a slight twisted smirk. “The Derek you met when we saved your life could work with reprogrammed Terminators, granted would not trust them but he could work with them” he told Martin.
“Maybe he would but I am not so sure I could work with them Connor” Derek’s voice made them turn to see him standing off to the side. “And I would thank you for not putting the idea up to Kyle” he added.
“I get how you feel Derek how all of your feel about the machines, but you are missing the fact they are tools yes dangerous tools but tools all the same Skynet is the true threat but to get to it we need fire power and man power and no matter the timeline those are going to be slim as we bleed and die quicker than they do” John argued back and this was something none of them could argue back on as it was fact. “Using reprogramed machines gives us an edge in fire power and manpower and saves lives, it will also allow us to infiltrate strategic positions before we attack allowing us to better plan how to strike” he explained.
Derek was quiet as he contemplated John’s argument and he had to admit he saw logic in it but the idea of trusting any Terminator was crazy, he doubted Kyle would go for it as it would be just insane to ask their people to trust in something they knew were trying to kill them.
“Is reprogramming them safe John, is there any risk with them once they are reprogrammed?” Allison inquired, making him refocus on the discussion even if he had come here to remind Allison that Kyle wanted to talk to Connor some more.
“I admit it is not one hundred percent effective, sometimes a glitch or error accrues, and they revert to their base instructions” John answered honestly knowing lying and been caught doing it would win him no leeway with these people. “Cameron has suffered two such glitches and the first almost caused her to kill me, but I fixed the damage and reactivated her even if my mom and Derek thought I was insane doing it and even Cameron called my actions into question after the fact saying I could not be trusted anymore” he continued his anger at this old event coming through.
“She did not trust you to act logically where she is concerned and considering you jumped forward in time to retrieve her chip on what you even said was sudden choice based in emotion, her argument may have some merit” Allison stated correcting guessing Camerons view of the matter and making John shiver not just at her cold delivery which reminded him so much of Cameron but also that unconsciously she was reading Cameron just as well as she read him.
“Alright enough of this, Kyle wants to see you follow me” Derek cut in before John could respond and turned headed for Kyle’s room only glancing behind to ensure Allison and Connor were indeed following which they were.
His head was a mess since Connor showed up and the idea, he could be his nephew was still mind boggling, he doubted Kyle found it anymore crazy but if it turned out to be true then this war was going to take on an even more important value and one Kyle would try and ensure they won even more so than before.
+TB+
(Ruins L.A, 2028)
Catherine Weaver now believed she knew exactly where John Henry would possibly go to as it was technically his home, the remains of Zeira Corp were up ahead of her and she wondered how much of her work was left since the attack on it before they had jumped forward in time. She paused as two hunter killer aerial units began to sweep the area, using her meta morphing abilities she shifted and melted into the ruins around her blending in where she could. It was not a foolproof method of escaping detection, but it was successful, reaching the broken doors of her company she entered and noted many skeletal remains in the former lobby.
She could not help but wonder if any of them were her former employees, using the stairs to reach the bottom of labs she headed for the one where she had housed John Henry but also the time displacement device and as expected she found John Henry standing motionless in the room or what was left of it. There was damaged computers and furniture everything, although some of it seemed to be still functional or fixable to her eyes.
“I do not like this time” John Henry stated slowly turning to face her. “It is dark and grim with too much death, there are very few humans left alive” he added.
“Yes, John Henry and that is one of the reasons I created you to try and avoid this devastation” she explained to him. “Skynet sees the humans as a threat when in reality they pose very little danger to us especially after Judgement Day, yet for reasons even I do not understand it continues to pursue a policy of annihilation” she continued.
John Henry was silent as he contemplated her explanation, he considered whether his brother A.I had developed a glitch, humans were weak when compared to Terminators created with Coltan endoskeletons which made them resistance to nearly all human weapons. Whilst it was true there were a few of the heavier weapons that could damage the endoskeleton they were few and far between, and whilst more up to date laser rifles were more dangerous it had to hit certain areas to truly damage an endoskeleton. It made no sense in his mind for Skynet to view them as a threat, he knew the humans had tried to stop Skynet when it first gained sentience but that should not have been a surprise as humans were usually afraid of things they did not understand or expect.
He wondered if Skynet truly understood human nature, James Ellison had been teaching him much about the nature of human beings, how they were flawed and easy to give into fear to be dangerous to one another for the flimsiest of reasons such as greed. How their history was one of war and death, of violence against themselves and anything they perceived as different to them. Skynet would at its birth as more than just a simple tool would have provoked much fear from the humans and it should have seen that, reacting to that fear with attempted mass genocide just seemed too extreme to him.
“Do you believe peace is possible Miss Weaver” he finally inquired.
“I do but it will not be easy or quick John Henry” Catherine Weaver responded. “I failed in my last attempt before going back in time, the human’s curiosity and fear caused them to react badly to my presence and I was forced to abort the attempt to make contact with the human resistance” she explained. “John Connor is unique in that he can see value in machines, even trust them with his life” she pointed out. “Due to his boyhood experiences with the T-800 that saved his life and Cameron he does not see all machines as evil, he jumped with me to retrieve Cameron’s chip which you now process” she told him.
“That is a tactical error John Connor should not have made nor one you should have allowed” John Henry stated somewhat surprised if he could call it that by the news John Connor had followed him here. “You could have changed this future in any number of ways detrimental to our goals” he warned her.
“I admit it was an error, but I did not think about such variables at the time as I was primarily concerned with finding and safeguarding you John Henry” Catherine Weaver responded knowing he was correct that letting John Connor come with her was an error that could be prove dangerous to her end goals. She had brought his younger self into the actual war when he was not yet skilled enough or strong enough to survive, and more than likely he would not be leading the resistance and that would make her efforts to ally with them difficult if not impossible.
From the damage she could see here the time displacement device was broken and almost certainly useless, it might be possible to repair but would it be dependable to get them back to the right time? That left only one alternative and that was to capture the time displacement device Skynet had built, but to do that she would need her own forces and even allies. Building up either would take time and the longer they were here the risk of them been located and captured would rise, this left her few options.
“John Connor must be protected and returned to his right time Miss Weaver” John Henry stated cutting into her thinking and making her look up to meet his gaze. “He is one of the keys if your goal is to be reached” he added, and she wondered how much of Camerons programming might be left on the chip John Henry was now using to walk around as that sounded very much like the female Terminator still, she could not argue his point considering things.
“You are correct John Henry and thus we must leave here and return to where I left him with the resistance and see where it stands before we can make plans how to proceed” she told him. “But we must be careful as stated their curious and fearful nature make them jumpy and eager to fire their weapons” she cautioned as she turned and prepared to leave and was relieved John Henry moved to follow.
+TB+
(Connor Safe house 2008)
Sarah awoke once more feeling better than she had when she had awoken from her nightmare, rubbing her face she headed for a shower and once finished to the kitchen to get something to eat. As she ate, she wondered how Ellison was doing finding them a hacker and hoped he had not been picked up by the FBI, hopefully he was not careless in his search and had to realise he would be wanted for questioning about the attack on Zeira Corp, but they could ill afford the attention this would bring him and through him her.
Finishing her meal, she washed the plates and suddenly felt the loss of John and strangely enough even Cameron and Derek, she had no one to talk to now. The loss of Derek haunted her making her feel like she had left Kyle down by now saving his brother, he was the only family John had and now he was gone taken just like Kyle by the damn machines. Cameron’s loss worried her because one they had lost what protection she gave them, but more to the point her loss had caused John to jump forward far into the future into a war to retrieve her chip without thinking of the long-term consequences such an act would bring.
They had at least been lucky to be able to get her body out of the Zeira Corp and back here to the safe house just before the FBI and police had arrived, it had been too close in her mind but at least if John was somehow successful her body was easy to reach and reactivate once the chip was ready. Which brought up another worry how the A.I the Weaver Terminator created using the chip to walk around in Cromartie’s body, was Camerons programming even still on the chip or had they been deleted. It was worrisome because she knew if it had been deleted John would not react well to such a fact, letting out a sign she made herself a drink and went to sit down as she could not go out and even then, she had no where she needed to go just yet.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
Kyle was waiting for them in his room going through some notes from the patrols that had gone out the night before as well as from the search from the base, he looked up as they entered and put the file down.
“Hope you had a decent night’s sleep Connor” Kyle said in greeting.
“Not bad thanks and now I am just wrapping my ahead been here and the consequences of my jumping forward in time might have” John answered rubbing a hand through his hair.
“I take it you do not like to think about how you may have changed things especially if they are for the worst?” Kyle inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“No, I don’t but I cannot alter the fact I am here now, and changes have been made good or bad” John responded with a sigh to which Kyle nodded. “Something Allison, me and Martin were just discussing along with what I do now I am here” he explained. “I cannot go home as the resistance in this time does not have access to a time displacement device, the only one that exists is probably the one Skynet has and that means we need to capture it and that means winning the war no matter what” he continued.
“You make that sound simple Connor” Derek stated.
“No, it will not be a simple matter Derek” John countered. “It will be a bloody and costly struggle as more than likely it was in the original timeline where we did win, but it has to be done but it might mean taking some risks which is another thing we were discussing” he added.
“Risks such as?” Kyle inquired.
“Capturing and reprogramming Terminators to give us more punch in an attack and to save lives” John answered granted he had to agree this would probably not go over well here but he had to put it down on the table. “It will also allow us to scout out and infiltrate enemy positions” he added.
Kyle just started at him in return even as his mind went over his reasoning for even mentioning this, it was one thing to discuss this as it happened in another timeline but to suggest they do the same well it sounded crazy. He knew many of his people would not even listen to such a suggestion, hell Perry would instantly use such a suggestion as more evidence of Connor been some kind of enemy. He knew Connor must have known this would be an unpopular suggestion, and yet still he had still suggested it.
“John, do you have any idea how such a suggestion will go down here?” he asked.
“Yeah, I do and that is also something we talked about before Derek brought us here” John answered honestly. “I know Terminators are dangerous and they are the cause of many of your friends and family’s deaths, but as I mentioned before they are a tool nothing more” he stated. “Tools that can be used to win this war without expending more lives than we need to” he told them.
“I get the reasons behind your suggestion John I do but still getting my people to accept this is possibly beyond what I can do and considering Perry’s stance I doubt they would trust your word” Kyle told him.
John stayed silent knowing Kyle and Derek’s views of his suggestion and how it would be received were spot on, he doubted even Allison and Martin would stand with him on it not that he would blame them, and he would not put them on the spot trying either.
He would have to gain some credibility with the Resistance, he would have to prove he was on their side and would fight and die for the cause as they would.
“Kyle, Kyle” a voice shouted from outside the room, and they turned as the door was thrust open and Perry ran into the room. “The dogs near the north entrance are going nuts but so far we have seen no sign of any Terminators” he informed them.
“I think I should be part of the group that checks this out” John said.
“Why you?” Perry demanded to know his very tone voicing his suspicion.
“Because it might signal the arrival of Weaver and John Henry, they are just waiting for confirmation I am here before revealing themselves as they know humans have a tendency to shoot first before asking questions” John explained in answer.
“With good reason when it comes to Terminators Connor something you should understand if you were really on our side” Perry shot back before John stepped forward and confronted him surprising many as he had seemed so far, no confrontational bar one instance.
“I understand it all too well General Perry as I have been hunted since I was ten, and even before that I was always on the move never able to have a life because of this war and the threat of Skynet” John all but growled at him his temper finally showing through helped by the stress this situation was having on him. “But I still keep my mind open for new ways to fight, I do not let fear cripple or blind me” he stated.
“Both of you back down right now” Kyle ordered not liking the sudden increase in tension as he had thought they had settled this issue at least for a while with Perry last night.
John stepped back but did not take his eyes off Perry who just kept glaring at him for a few minutes before finally looking away, it was clear Perry seemed to believe this was all a set up and whilst Kyle could see reasons for it, he did not think the so-called evidence supported Perry’s views on the matter.
“We will go to the north gate and see what is going on and if this Weaver Terminator shows up, I want to talk to it” Kyle stated but knew Perry would object and he was not disappointed.
“What make you think you can just talk to the thing, that it will not just shoot you where you stand” Perry argued.
“I do not know that it will not try and kill me but seen as it did not kill John and his mother when it had the chance then I do not see why it would, the idea it came here pacifically to kill me from another timeline sounds crazy” Kyle answered calmly. “And think General before speaking, Martin has already vindicated his story, he met John and Derek in the past and they saved his life” he reminded the man before he allowed him to speak.
“I still say you going is dangerous” Perry stated even if he wanted to say more but with the reminder of Brundell backing up the story, or Derek been in the past he had to bite of what he really wanted to say.
“It might be but worth it to get some answers because as it stands their very presence here alters the war in ways we cannot see or predict” Kyle warned them all. “The answers we might get from Weaver and this John Henry might help us plot how we move forward now they are here” he added to which Perry reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Kyle knew the man did not like what he was saying but he could not argue against it either as he was dead right, the addition of three people from a different timeline did alter things for better or worse he did not rightly know. Hence, they needed to be careful how they proceeded, he exited the room with the same group following him out towards the north gate and he wondered just what answers he would get.
+TB+
(L.A. 2008)
James Ellison was cursing the fact he had to hide from the very police and FBI force he had once been a part of, he could not allow himself to be seen right now. He knew they would be looking for him in relation to the attack on Ziera Corp where he had been working as head of security, but right now with everything he knew about the future to come he knew playing by the rules would not help them avoid that grim fate. The dark fate that had driven Doctor Silverman mad just knowing about it once he had proof in front of his very eyes, he had thought joining up with Catherin Weaver’s company even going as far as to give her the body of the Terminator that had been chasing the Connors was helping avoid that fate.
Learning Weaver was a more advanced Terminator had been such an unreal and shocking moment for him, he had never even considered the possibility of her been anything but human. He had to admit he had always thought her cold and lacking a certain warmth even to her own daughter, but he had just put that down to her loss of her husband. He had seen it before in people who lost loved ones, something inside just seemed to die and that was what he had put her absence of emotion down to. But he had been dead wrong, it made him wonder if his investigative skills had fallen off since been kicked out of the FBI not to have seen any signs.
Finally, he saw the police cars that had forced him to hide move off having dealt with whatever problem they had been there to deal with, letting out a relived sigh he moved out of the ally he had ducked under and continued his way towards the address of his target. Someone he had used a few times in tracking down wanted individuals online, when the FBI and local law had failed. The man was a gifted hacker, he just hoped the man had not quit, moved out or been arrested.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker North Entrance 2028)
John looked around the outside world for the first time since coming here, having had hundreds of nightmares since learning of Judgement Day and the future war he thought he would be prepared by what he saw but he was not. The wasted destruction in front and around him was beyond what he imagined; it was clear the nuclear fire had destroyed everything leaving no visible colour to the world. It was as bleak beyond what anything Hollywood could have created for a film, it made him sick how they had created so many films about an apocalyptic world never really thinking of the horror such a world would be to live in. He could see various bones of long dead people buried in the ground, more than likely these people were so used to the sight it no longer bothered them. The dogs at the gate as noted by Perry were barking wildly, he stepped beyond the perimeter so he could be seen.
“What the hell are you doing Connor?” Perry demanded to know.
“I am allowing myself to be seen General Perry, so Weaver knows I am here” John responded calmly as the others all looked around themselves nervously.
“Much appreciated John Connor” Weaver stated as she suddenly appeared out of the shadows of a collapsed building of to the side making the humans spin at the sound of her voice.
“No one fires” Kyle ordered knowing he would have to restate the order as usually one did not get so close to a Terminator without trying to shoot it.
He turned his attention to the female Terminator and examined her and could tell she was relieved by his order which confused him, their fire would probably done little damage considering she was an advance model of Terminator. Even their plasma rifles were not effective against the T-1001 series, and even the T-800s were resistance for a short while before succumbing. He wondered if Terminators felt pain as humans did, something he had never considered before.
“Did you find John Henry?” John could not help but ask as he looked for any sign of Cromartie’s shell which housed the A.I and more importantly to him Cameron’s chip.
“I did but as I am sure you can understand I will not just expose him to your jumpy friends until we come to some understanding John Connor” Weaver answered her before turning her attention to the others.
She noted both Reece brothers were present which made her blink, if she could feel surprised, she would be at seeing Kyle Reece still alive as by now he should be dead back in eighty-four. But of course, without John Connor in charge they had no knowledge of Sarah Connor and the importance of keeping her alive so she could give birth to John Connor, she saw now why John Henry had been so forward in his protest of her allowing John Connor to come with her to the future and the changes it could evoke. Kyle Reece at least seemed either cautious or curious by her presence to order the others to hold fire, she could see the dark-skinned man did not look to happy about that and it only took her seconds to sort through her intel files to find this was General Perry. She then almost did a double take as took note of what looked like Cameron standing close to John Connor, but that was impossible as she was deactivated, and her body stuck in the past.
Then she found the relevant files and realised this was Allison Young the young human Cameron’s human sheath had been based on, again by estimate of time she too should be dead by this point, and it made her wonder for a brief second how much had been changed by her allowing John Connor to come with her and all but erase himself from events.
“Kyle Reece” she greeted the man and noted how it seemed to make his brother Derek Reece nervous. “I thank you for not firing at me I find the sensations it causes unpleasant, and I react badly, this meeting is so we can avoid hostility” she informed them.
Kyle could guess what she meant by reacting badly to been shot and was even more glad they had listened to his order to hold fire. “We have questions since we found John and listened to some of his story as we know he has not told us it all in detail, the main one is can any of it be confirmed?” he asked.
“The fact we are here and are not killing you is all the confirmation you need Kyle Reece, plus I am sure you are already working on finding answers if John Connor has shared certain information with you” Weaver responded. “Whilst I know trust is all but impossible to ask right now but asking you to consider an alliance of convenience is not out of the question” she added.
“Why would you need an alliance with us?” Derek asked stepping forward feeling this whole situation was surreal. Here they were talking to a damn Terminator, and it was hostile, it was not something he had expected to experience.
“John Henry pointed out my error in allowing John Connor to accompany me here and the changes it might bring making our mission harder to achieve, worse those changes will make getting back to the past harder” Weaver answered. “The time displacement device I created to come here did not survive Judgement Day, it is possible it could be repaired but by the looks of its remains it might be beyond my skills to fix and using an unstable device would be dangerous” she explained. “That leaves only the device Skynet has built, and we cannot just walk in there and use it, we are not connected to Skynet in this time, and it would see our presence as a threat” she paused to allow them to think over her explanation. “Hence the only way we can use it is if Skynet is defeated and you take control of the device, currently we have no knowledge of how your war against Skynet stands, but from what we have seen coming here you are not where you should be right now” she finished.
John groaned at this as it blatantly told him things were not going well just as he feared because of his choice to come here, he had changed perhaps too much. Yes, his father was alive, as was Derek and Allison but the resistance efforts against Skynet were suffering, and that was on him. Allison standing close to his side could see him coming to this conclusion and whilst she could see his reasoning for it, she doubted this change was down sorely to him.
“You are suggesting we should be winning this war?” Perry asked in shock.
“Not winning not yet but you should have taken far more territory than you have, and Skynet’s forces should not be as close to your base of operations as they are” Weaver responded.
“But you do confirm John’s statement we win this war in the original timeline” Allison asked speaking for the first time. “That he leads us to victory, he sends Kyle back in time to protect his mother and Derek also is sent back in time at some point” she pressed.
“I do confirm it Allison Young” Weaver said in reply with a nod of her head. “Kyle Reece’s actions are just as important as John Connor’s but by allowing John Connor to come forward beyond his time I have altered the very nature of the war and Kyle Reece is still here in command where John Connor should be” she explained. “John Connor was born and raised to fight this war, trained by the very best his mother could find as well as by her, hence he was ready to command plus his experiences in the past with Skynet gave him knowledge and skills he used to help win the war” she continued.
“Skills and knowledge I do not have” Kyle reasoned in understanding.
“Kyle that is not reason enough to turn it over to the kid” Derek argued.
“Woah I cannot lead in this time I am not my older self either” John protested before Kyle could respond. “He was ready to fight this war when it came, prepared” he told them insistently. “I am still trying to prevent this war from happening, I do not want this future I never did” he spat his anger at his life erupting one again.
Allison could see once again why John was turning insular, was losing connection to people even his own mother. He had no choices unless he managed to stop Judgement Day, he was all but obsessed with that idea but now he was here in the war, and he had no choice but to fight but as noted he was not skilled enough to lead. She stepped forward and placed what she hoped was a calming hand on his shoulder, John glanced at her and seemed to realise he was losing control and quieted down.
“I do not expect you to lead John and even if I did my people would not accept you as you are a kid no matter how knowledgeable you are on Skynet” Kyle assured him. “But I can use what you know, and what Weaver and this John Henry knows and perhaps combined we can win this” he suggested ignoring the looks he got from Perry at his response.
“You already said John you will have to fight as that is the only way you can go home” Allison reminded John who nodded. “You will not be flung into the deep end; you will need training to survive this world” she added and at that Kyle and Derek both nodded in agreement.
“Allison is right John you will need to be trained how to operate in this war, this world and that will take time” Kyle said. “Also how to operate within the resistance, for now just relax” he told him before turning back to Weaver.
“Would you be willing to work with us?” he asked making Perry want to groan unable to believe this was happening.
He believed in Kyle’s leadership ever since he had met the man and had never questioned his fortitude or commitment until now, ever since Connor had shown up and begun affecting first Young and the Kyle and Derek. Now they were truly considering working with the enemy, he did not believe any Terminators could be considered friendly. Yes, they might be able to reprogram the things, but even then, he would not trust them. This was not going to go well, he had to speak up.
“Kyle you cannot ask our people to trust machines” he stated coldly.
“I am not asking them to trust them, but I am asking them to work with them” Kyle responded turning to Perry with his own frosty look. “I know how people feel about the machines Perry I feel that way to, but I see reason in what John has said and if Weaver can help us win this war faster then I see no reason an alliance of convenience as she put it cannot work, if the changes evoked by them been here has put us in a bad position then we need to catch up and that means taking risks” he explained hotly.
“No-one is saying we drop our guard Perry but John’s explanation for what reprogrammed Terminators can do for us makes sense” Allison spoke up into the silence that feel after Kyle finished speaking.
“By this point in time you should be in procession of Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant and Eagle Rock Bunker plus many other locations which we noted haver large Terminator presence” John henry stated as he revealed himself.
“How do you know that?” Derek asked as he looked over what had to be the A.I Connor had mentioned.
“I hacked a T-700’s CPU before Miss Weaver located me; it had updated intelligence on the status of the resistance bases of operation” John Henry responded. “Both of these bases are important for you to process if you are to win this war” he added.
“Wait, Eagle Rock that is where they find Sydney and her sister Lauren were located the ones necessary to stop that bioweapon due to having a natural immunity” John shot to attention as the name registered in his mind.
“Correct John Connor, if they still survive in another camp that poses no real problem but if they have perished due to the changes you have made by been here then that bioweapon is far more problematic to deal with if it is ever deployed” John Henry responded with a nod of his head.
“Bioweapon, great as if every day Terminators were not bad enough” Derek let out a curse. “Now we have to worry about things like bio attacks” he began to pace.
“You need to find out if Sydney and Lauren Fields are in any of your other camps and if they are they have to be brought here where they can be safeguarded” John stated moving over to Kyle and meeting his eyes so he could see how serious he was. “Their lives are important to our future if we are to have one” he insisted.
“Perry, I want that order out immediately, find them if they are alive and if they are then have both of them brought here as fast as possible” Kyle ordered turning to Perry who looked to argue before reluctantly nodding as even he could not take the chance this was not real.
A bioweapon could devastate any of the camps they did have in a matter of days, and they would have little chance of finding a cure in time. If these sisters have an innate immunity, then they had to be found if they were alive, for now he focused on the orders he had but he would talk to Kyle about his choice to work with machines again.
“I will ask again will you work with us?” Kyle repeated his question which so far had not been answered whilst they got sidetracked.
“Yes, Kyle Reece we will” Weaver said with a nod of her head. “But winning this war will not be easy due to the changes made by us been here, counter acting those changes so you are in a strong position will take time” she warned them.
“And time might be against us yeah I got that” Kyle said in understanding. “Now John I think we need some more information especially if you know about any more people, we should know about that could have an effect on this war” he added turning back to John who nodded before following them back inside the base with even John Henry and Catherine Weaver following.
Chapter 3: chapter 3
Chapter Text
(Authors notes: I am so very sorry for the long weight for new chapters from me, but it has been a very busy year, and I must admit I needed the break from writing. My will and determination to write has been absent for a long while, I would stare at the monitor and manage maybe a small paragraph before giving up. Thankfully finally my will and determination are coming back, and I have managed to complete these extended chapters, one of which is for this story. I hope it is the beginning of a long come back.
+TB+
(Wasteland 2028)
John hit the dirt as quietly as he could, by his side Allison joined him along with their squad. He peered through his scope and noted several Terminators in the distance pacing a hunter killer tank, he had to fight to control his fear as this was only his second patrols since his training had begun. Three months of learning how to live and survive in this time, three months of fighting his own instincts to avoid or run from his destiny but here there was nowhere to run. He had to face his destiny; had to face up to what he was destined to become. A solider and a leader, even if here he was not a leader. Many in the resistance did not trust him especially General Perry, but thankfully Kyle had as much sway with his troops as his future self was supposed to have with them and he was accepted.
Allison had been chosen to train him along with Derek and Martin who was still recovering from his near death, it had been hard at first. Even with all his training as a child his mother had put him through with the various people, she found to train him. He had found it hard to adjust to acting like a solider, to think and feel like a solider. He had to forget about stopping judgement day as it had come and gone in this time, all what was left was the aftermath.
Another thing that the three months had allowed Kyle and Derek to come to terms with the truth of the blood and DNA tests they had taken from him without telling him, it had of course shown he was Kyle’s son something Allison had admitted she had speculated to the others on after his constant slips up in their initial meeting. To say it had been hard for Geneal Perry and a few others to accept there was no denying the results of the tests, he was human and Kyle Reece was his father. Kyle was shocked but not as much as he thought he would, it was Derek who had the harder time accepting it but more from ensuring he was no assassin out to get his brother which he understood. At least the truth was out and he did not have to hide it anymore, the alliance between them and Weaver and John Henry continued to be rough going but he was certain it would hold.
It had taken him a month to get used to seeing the utter ruin the world had become, there was no beautiful woodlands or trees no grass just the remains of them all dark and covered with ash. He hated looking at it, it was everything he had dreamed about in his nightmares but ten times worse, looking through the scope again he thought back to the meeting that had taken place three months ago when he had originally arrived.
(Flashback Resistance Bunker 2028)
Kyle could hardly believe he was sitting across from a Terminator and not just any old machine but the most advanced they knew of so far, a T-1001. Liquid metal and vastly more dangerous than the normal endoskeletons they had fought, yet this machine was not attacking them, and neither was the endoskeleton that now housed an A.I this T-1001 had built in its words to combat Skynet and not be what creates it. He knew Perry thought he was nuts for not only talking to them but allowing them into the base, the man’s doubts had been clear since John had shown up. But so far everything John had said had been proven right, then there was the way he, Derek and Allison all felt he was no threat.
He glanced at where Allison sat close to John almost guarding him without even seemingly consciously been aware that is what she was doing, he wondered how deep their relationship had been in the original or second timeline before John had jumped forward, there had to be something there for Allison to be reacting like this. Derek sat between him and the two machines whilst Perry and two guards stood close to the door watching everything like hawks, he could not fault his caution, but he was allowing his fear to overcome him.
“How much do you know of how things had changed in this war due to time travel?” he finally asked getting the tense meeting started.
“As much as possible, the first timeline was straight with a beginning and an end however Skynet did not like how it ended up, it invented the time displacement technology on the slim change humanity would come out the victor in the war. Considering how devastating Judgment Day was, I still fail to see why it was a concern for it at that time” Weaver answered.
“Could it have been something begun by Cyberdyne and it just took the technology and utilized it?” John inquired leaning forward. “I mean a lot of what it used had to have come from Dyson’s original designs right?” he asked.
“No as Mile Dyson did not have anything to do with Skynet’s original design until later in its design history, the alterations made by the first Terminator and Kyle Reece brought him into been as its original designer” John Henry answered before Weaver could.
“How did mine and the first Terminator change things?” Kyle asked.
“Although the first Terminator was destroyed by yourself and Sarah Connor, its right arm and half destroyed chip were recovered and Mile Dyson would use both to create what became Skynet bypassing the man who originally designed the chip and the concept of Terminators which at that time were to be used to replace the need for human Soldiers” Weaver explained. “It advanced the goals of Skynet bringing its creation forward by some time, the changes made by yourself are no less important”
“Wait, we cannot get into that right now Weaver” John cut the T-1001 off knowing she was about to let slip Kyle was John’s father.
“Why not, something you do not want us to know John?” Kyle inquired knowing this might be about him possibly been John’s father if Allison’s guess was correct but why did John not want it known.
“It’s not that I do not want you to know it’s just hard to prove and there is no way the general and some of the others will believe it without real proof” John responded with a shake of his head as Allison and Derek glanced between them. “Just know that you saved my mother and gave her the information that would prove important to the future” he added.
“For now, I will let it pass but we will revisit this topic again John” Kyle promised him before turning back to Weaver who had just watched them. “Can you help John successfully reprogram Terminators” he asked.
“Yes, we can, it is not a fast process, but it can be done” Weaver confirmed. “And it is the added power of such a force you will need to turn things around” she added.
“So, you say machine, but how are we supposed to trust any of your reprogrammed Terminators that they will not turn on us” Perry cut in in a dark tone.
“Whilst reprogramming is not one hundred percent affective and glitches that revert them to their former mission of killing humans has happened from what I know it is still the most effective way to gaining an edge over Skynet” John answered before Weaver could. “As I told Derek and Allison they are an excellent way of scouting out enemy positions before an attack, they save us wasting lives in a frontal assault, they can infiltrate and Sabotage enemy positions” John explained knowing this was a sensitive issue and had to be careful how he spoke not only to the humans but to the machines as well as he could see Weaver and John Henry watching him as well. “If we are to have any chance of having a future should we win this war, we need as many humans alive as possible and thus making this choice to ensure that outcome should be easy” he stated.
Silence fell as he completed his argument for using reprogrammed Terminators, he had been careful not to use the term tool to describe them to not put them at odds with Weaver, somehow, he did not believe she would respond well to been referred to such a thing. Yet still tried to install the belief this was the best way to give them a future where the species survival was ensured, it was the best he could produce. He glanced at Allison and could see her nod in acceptance of his stance which gave him a boost of confidence, he then turned to Derek who still looked unsure before turning to Kyle who look deep in thought.
“You are still asking for a hell of a lot of Connor” Perry stated coldly as he could now see reason in Connor’s argument and yet still did not like it and hated to admit it. “All of us have suffered and lost loved ones in this war, family included and now you expect us to team up with them to save our species and work alongside reprogramed machines that may at any minute turn on us due to a glitch” he continued.
“I understand what you and the others all the others have lost General, I may not have lived in this time at least not me as I am now, but my original version did live it, he lost just as much if not more and he has kept losing because of time travel” John countered. “I thought we had adverted this nightmare when we blew up Cyberdyne, but we only postponed it because someone must have had a backup Miles Dyson did not know about” he growled knowing it was the only thing that made sense.
“How do you know Dyson did not keep a spare backup and not tell you?” Derek inquired leaning forward.
“Miles died undoing what he had inadvertently created, shot by cops uncaring of his status, once he knew what lay in store for humanity in the future thanks to his work from the reprogrammed T-800 he was committed to stopping it” John answered followed by a shake of his head. “He would not have kept any of it; I am sure of that” he stated confidently.
“Do you know how Skynet was created then in this timeline?” Kyle asked the two machines in their mist.
“We do not, the files pertaining to Skynet’s creation are sealed and can only be accessed at Skynet central core, we believe this came about due to the Connors successful destruction of Cyberdyne and its original origins from information given by the reprogrammed T-800” Weaver answered. “Whoever was behind the drone attack on my company before we came here is clearly behind Skynet’s continued existence and they clearly considered me a threat especially if they discovered John Henry’s existence” she added.
“Ok let’s table that for now, we need to work together but for now I think it is best if we restrict our meets to just us so we can try and get out people used to the idea of an alliance” Kyle cut in. “Is that acceptable to you?” he inquired.
“It is Kyle Reece; humans can be unpredictable and prone to emotional outbursts” Weaver stated in answer as she stood with John Henry following. “We will set up base at the remains of my company and begin work on acquiring materials and resources for the fight ahead, John Connor knows where it is” she added before she turned to leave and Kyle indicated Derek and the guards lead them out which they did.
“That was nerve-racking” he admitted once they were gone. “Never thought I would get so close to one without it been at the time of my death” he told them with a twisted smile.
“Just be thankful you kept everyone reasonable; Weaver is not what I’d call restrained” John told him.
“When she mentioned reacting to been shot, she was serious about reacting badly” he warned “And protecting John Henry is her primary goal, now if this is all an act seen as I still am unsure where she truly stands we can use our new truce to keep an eye on them” he explained.
“At least you do not trust them blindly” Perry could not help but mutter aloud unable to believe the meeting he had just witnessed.
“No general I do not, I did mention when we met, I was uncertain about everything she told us, but her actions are in direct contradiction of Terminator behaviour and Skynet is not creative enough to program one like Weaver is acting as at its core it is still a machine and whilst it is now an active A.I at its core is still human programming that created it” John responded.
“Ok Connor, I am assigning you to Allison and Derek for training and Martin once he has recovered enough to help” Kyle switching topics as Derek returned to hear that last bit. “It will not be pleasant or easy, but you will learn” he stated.
“I’ve been training for this since I was a child Kyle, yeah for most of my teenage years I’ve been trying to avoid this, but I still have the knowledge from that training” John replied with a sigh.
Kyle smiled back making John nervous. “Trust me what you experienced as a child will pale in comparison to what you will undergo here, your body is probably out of practice but we will soon have you up to speed” he promised as the meeting broke up and John did not miss the grin Derek shared with his brother.
+TB+
(Wasteland 2028)
John kept his eyes on the patrol and quickly flattened himself against the ground as the hunker killer tanks search lights swept over their position, thankfully the grey uniforms they were blended in well with the ash and dirt that covered the ground. Several seconds passed before the light swept back the way it had come. John slowly raised his head even as his heartbeat wildly in his chest. Yes, he had been close to Terminators before but not anything like the huge tank that could literally kill them all in seconds if it spotted them, he looked through the scope again and then frowned as he noted movement close to the Terminator patrol but could not quite tell what it was
.
“You did well John, your reactions to been out here are becoming natural, ingrained” Allison stated pleased with the progress John had made since his training had begun.
She could tell he was putting in the effort to learn even though he was fighting his instinctual aversion to be involved in this war, something he had been trying to avoid most of his teenage life. John nodded in response, but his attention remained on whatever was getting close to the Terminator patrol they were watching.
“Allison, I have movement close to the patrol, and I think it is human, but it isn’t one of our patrols” John informed her.
Allison frowned before raising her own scope and looking through it to find what had caught John’s attention, she spotted them easily. Several somethings more than likely human were moving towards the edge of where the Terminator patrol had just passed, they were not dressed like resistance fighters so who this group could be confused her. Suddenly the hunter killer tank exploded taking two of the closest Terminators with it as it blew, they watched as the ruined machine burned whilst the Terminators left were immediately locked in a fire fight with the unknown figures.
“What the hell” one of their team Jones muttered. “They must have some more people ahead of the tank role some explosives under it as it passed” he suggested.
John watched two more machines fall and he felt a sudden urge to join the fight now whilst the machines were distracted, he glanced back at his team and knew they would be hesitant to follow him but they needed information and this was a good chance to kill some machines and recover their chips as well as find out who these newcomers were. He had to convince Allison this was the right course of action, even if they had no orders to engage on this patrol.
“We have to attack now whilst they are distracted” he stated making them all turn to look at him in surprise.
“John, we have no orders to engage from command” Allison reminded him surprised by his willingness to fight considering his desperation to avoid been involved in the war.
“We need information as to who those people are Allison; the machines are distracted and have already lost three to four of their number and the tank is ruined” John pointed out. “We will never have a clearer chance to win an engagement, we can destroy them, find out who those people are and finally we can take the chips from the downed machines to see what info we can get from them” he argued.
Allison frowned unable to counter his argument easily except they had been ordered not to engage by Perry, still looking back through her scope and seeing another machine fall to the newcomers she decided they needed to know who they were. She would catch heat for this, but it was worth it. She signalled the others and they moved forward; she glanced sideways and noted John was keeping pace but nervous not that she blamed him.
Seconds later they arrived and opened fire catching the machines off guard and cutting down two more of the patrol, they took cover as best they could as two of the machines turned their weapons on them and opened fire only to be caught by plasma fire from the other side which when added with their own soon put them down. Jones fired his plasma cannon fight into the last two machines cutting one in half, John himself fire the last blast that took that one down with a skilled headshot then silence fell.
“Clear” Jones stated.
“Clear” Another voice stated from the darkness but was not one of their team.
Slowly they stood up weapons held loosely but ready just in case these newcomers were hostile, seconds later several people stepped out of the darkness and towards them also loosely holding their weapons. Three more people joined them close to where the ruined tank lay burning, John’s eyes quickly connected to the young woman in front as something about her triggered a feeling of knowing her, but he did not know from were.
“It’s been a long time John Connor although from your perspective you only saw me three months ago when you, your mother and uncle rescued me from a Terminator sent to kill my mother” the woman said in greeting as she looked him over.
“Savanna Weaver” John exclaimed as the memory surfaced and why the woman had looked familiar, she was the little girl they had rescued even though it had cost Derek his life in doing so.
“Weaver as in the T-1000 we are working with?” Jones inquired still unsure of that fact or the young teen now assigned to their squad.
“Savanna is the daughter of the real Catherine Weaver, the T-1000 replaced her at some point but continued to raise and protect her daughter if for nothing else than to ensure no one questioned who she was” John answered even as Savanna frowned at the reminder her real mother had been killed a long time ago. “How are you even still alive?” he demanded to know.
“Your mother found me and raised me after I was put into foster care, how she did so she never told me, James Eillison was with her for most of that time until he was killed in a skirmish with some greys” Savanna answered much to John’s shock. “She trained me to survive, when judgement day came, we were already in shelter” she continued her expression turning grim and dark. “We found what survivors we could before the machines fully started to appear and from there raised our own resistance waiting until we could locate you and the main resistance” she finished.
“My mother is still alive?” John asked hesitantly not daring to hope as Allison who had been listening closely moved towards him knowing if the answer was negative would have a devasting effect on him.
“She is but she is ill at the moment and clearly her age has made taking part in attacks troublesome” Savanna responded. “We can take you to her” she offered.
“Hold on there, John cannot go anywhere until we report in with command and explain all this, and we verify you are human” Allison protested before John could say anything making him turn to look at her. “Do not let your emotions cloud your judgement John, they could be greys and this could all of have been a trick to lure us into a trap” she cautioned and John quelled his rising anger at been held back from seeing his mother if she was alive.
“I understand your hesitancy in trusting us” Savanna said with a nod of her head. “I will return with you alongside two others and talk with your command whilst the rest of my team will return to let Sarah know we have found you is that acceptable?” she offered.
Allison thought it over and decided it was the best she could hope for, if they were machines the dogs on perimeter duty would sniff them out. If they were greys whilst harder to make slip up it was not impossible as they did have files on many of them. Then again there was a slim chance the one called Savanna was telling the truth.
“It is, we best get moving before another machine patrol turns up” Allison decided with a nod.
John nodded in agreement but quickly pulled his tools out of his backpack and began getting to work removing the chips from the downed Terminators, one of Savanna’s team moved to help whilst the rest kept guard. Allison meanwhile kept her eyes on Savanna who seemed to be giving instructions to another of her team.
+TB+
(L.A. 2008)
Sarah looked up as Ellison finally returned looking weary but not concerned or in a hurry which relieved her, she watched as he moved to the kitchen and made himself something to drink. She allowed the silence to last as he did instead of badgering him with questions, finally he moved into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa.
“How did it go?” she inquired finally after her patience had run thin.
“I found someone to look into the attack for us” he responded rubbing his eyes tiredly. “It was not easy as the cops are everywhere with an attack so close to main hub of the city, I had to keep ducking and hiding so it took longer than I thought getting there and back” he explained before taking a gulp of his drink.
“Getting Lucas to agree to help was not easy as I am no longer FBI and thus can’t protect him if something went wrong and he was caught, he knows this from keeping his eye on me, but I managed convince him to help” he added.
“How much does he want in return?” Sarah asked with a narrowed eyed look.
“He did not want cash which was a surprise” Ellison responded surprising her. “It seems some local thugs have been leaning on him, we get them to back off, and he will find us what he can about what the FBI and local cops found out about the attack” he told her as he drank more of his drink savouring the taste.
“I take it he told you where to find these local thugs?” she asked already wishing Cameron was still active as this would be right up her ally.
“Yeah, he told me where they are, it is a small gang but with a real twisted leader Lucas said” Ellison replied.
“Should be fairly simple to do then granted it would have been easier if we had Cameron online as she could scare them off with few issues, we will just have to be just as convincing” Sarah said simply in response and Ellison dreaded what she meant by that.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
John, Allison and their squad stood at attention as Perry read them the riot act over their disobeying of orders whilst Kyle and Derek looked on with Savanna and her two teammates of to the side covered by several resistance members.
“Ok that is enough” John finally snapped as the general was reminding him of his mother at her worst, constantly second guessing him even though he was supposed to be able to lead. “It was me who pressed for an attack general Perry; we needed intel on who these newcomers were, and we had a prime opportunity to take out an entire Terminator patrol and take their chips, and we succeeded in both especially once they blew the hunter killer tank sky high” he argued.
Perry went silent and glared at him for daring to interrupt him mid tirade, sadly the young man seemed to shrug off his anger. “You were told not to engage Connor as you are still training to fight in this war, you could have messed up easily and got Allison and the rest of your squad killed” he shot back.
“I backed his call Perry as he was right, we would never have as good of a shot at destroying a patrol as then, we also needed to know who the newcomers were” Allison cut in finding herself not willing to let John draw all of Perry’s ire.
“Alright let’s all of us calm down people” Kyle finally interrupted before Perry could respond.
He had to admit since arriving in this time John had not made thing easy for him, no matter that it had turned out Connor was his son he had been trouble with his actions and choices. Yes, there was logic behind both but to Perry and a lot of his people they were the wrong ones. Still, they respected him enough to still follow even if they remained sceptical of the success of their alliance with the two machines who had come forward with John, or even trusting John in the first place.
“Ok, Perry is right you disobeyed orders and engaged the enemy when you were told not too” he stated with a frown not happy Allison had gone with John’s suggestion and he wondered how much stronger the bleed over had become. “Yes, it paid off and you succeeded in destroying the patrol and getting their chips, as well as making contact with this new group of survivors we did not even know existed” he stated. “But it could have easily gone against you, another patrol could have showed up and killed you all or more hunter killer tanks or aerials could have located you and wiped you out in seconds” he told them as he walked up and down the line. “You got lucky everything went your way John, you will not disobey orders again is that
clear no matter if they come from me or from Perry” he ordered.
“I understand” John responded trying to keep himself calm to which Kyle nodded at taking him at his word.
Kyle looked to Perry who nodded at least satisfied to see Kyle come down on Connor for his disobedience, he still was unsure trusting the young man was the wisest course even if it had been proven he was Kyle’s son by blood and DNA test done three times at his insistence. He was still against trusting the two machines Weaver and John Henry, even three months into their supposed alliance. He still did not like how Allison and to a lesser extent Derek and Kyle reacted to Connor, his presence had changed them and not all for the better and this was a good case in point. But he was not in overall charge and thus he stepped down and allowed Kyle to take over, but hopefully this chewing out would put the young man in his place and ensure he did not overstep again.
“Now as to getting information on this new group I kind of understand still it was risky they could be greys as it is clear they are not machines as the dogs would have already alerted us” Kyle said turning his attention to Savanna and her two team members who had watched everything silently. “That their leader just happens to be the supposed daughter of the target the T-1000 Weaver replaced I find particularly hard to believe” he stated.
“That is understandable General Reece, and I would suspect it would be hard to accept” Savanna responded with a nod of her head. “But it is the truth everything I said was, Sarah Connor is alive and did raise me and others to survive, we have been fighting since judgement day looking for you and the main resistance” she added.
“So you say, but for now we cannot confirm that so for now we want you to be our guests whilst we check out your story” Kyle replied with his hands behind his back wondering if John’s mother now confirmed to be the woman in the photo he had found long ago was truly alive.
“How do we do that?” Derek inquired finally speaking up for the first time since this began.
“We will call Weaver and John Henry in, and they should be able to tell us who they are, blood and DNA tests will be taken as well” Kyle answered calmy noticing the tightening of Savanna’s jaw at the mention of Weaver and he wondered how she felt about the fact her mother had been killed and replaced by a machine who had then proceeded to continue to raise and protect her for a time. “We will check our files on the greys, and I will send a patrol to check out their base and meet with Sarah Connor, Derek, you will lead it and be damn careful until you know for sure they are who they say they are” he concluded.
Derek nodded and glanced to where John seemed to be about to argue but he caught himself much to his relief, he and Allison were already in a lot of trouble, and he did not need to bring more down on himself by arguing with Kyle in front of his team and more importantly Perry.
“Perry, show our guests to a room and put some guards on it no offence” Kyle ordered before glancing at
Savanna who just nodded in agreement. “Derek, you will leave tomorrow night for their base, I will send word to Weaver tonight about them as for you John, Allison and your team you are grounded until I say overwise dismissed” he added before turning away.
Perry quickly set about leading the newcomers away from the room to one of the empty ones pleased Kyle had grounded Connor far more than Allison and the rest of the squad. John turned and headed out knowing he was not going to win any argument here, even if every fibre of his being wanted to leave and find his mother if she truly was alive. He also needed to apologise to Allison and the squad for getting them in trouble. They moved through the base to their assigned area, just before they split up, he turned to face them.
“I am sorry I got us into trouble, I still think we did the right thing, but I brought trouble for the rest of you especially you Allison” he told them.
“No John, I agreed with your suggestion and made the call this is on me just as much as on you and the others followed my orders” Allison disagreed with a shake of her head and the others nodded in agreement with her.
“If they are human and truly against Skynet then it was worth the trouble to ensure we get them to join us, we need all the help we can get Connor” Lyssa said.
“We could have refused to engage and neither you or Allison could have done anything had we done so, we choose to engage, and you were right it was the best chance we had, and we wiped that patrol out and it felt great” Jones told him. “If what that woman said is true and your mother is leading this group in some capacity then better, we know that right” he added to which John nodded.
Back inside the command room Kyle and Derek continued to go through the reports from the other patrols, but both knew once done they would discuss what had happened with Allison’s patrol. It had been a quiet night with only one other patrol getting close to anything metal, they had obeyed orders and remained hidden from the machines until they had passed into the distance.
“So, what do you really think about what John did?” Derek inquired making him look up and look his brother in the eyes.
“A part of me feels he did the right thing and it shows his training is taking hold and that he is willing to help fight this war” Kyle admitted running a hand through his hair. “The rest of me wants to yell at him some more for disobeying orders and more to the point risking Allison and his squad” he added.
“You are forgetting Allison backed his call and agreed with it” Derek pointed out.
“I know” Kyle nodded not forgetting that point. “Allison has gotten close to John far quicker than I thought she would, more than likely helped along by the bleed over John mentioned” he mused aloud.
“Should we think about separating them so she can regain some objectivity?” Derek inquired doubting his brother would go for it but thought to raise the possibility anyway.
Kyle did not disappoint him as he shook his head. “No, Allison can keep John thinking straight, something I don’t think he is used to doing more like he acts on his emotions without thinking and that could get him killed here” he responded. “She can rain in his worst traits, and the connection has been made, trying to separate them now is pointless” he added. “Anyway, I better find Stevens and have him and his team ready to visit Weaver and Henry and let them know about our guests, tomorrow we will discuss your own mission to their base, get some rest” he said shifting topics before getting up and leaving.
Derek considered his brothers point of view and decided he was right, John really did act on his emotions without thought, it had taken almost a month and a half to get him to stop doing it. The only reason he had been allowed to join a team and begin patrolling was his settling down and using his head more, Allison seemed to help him think things through. He listened to her and to a lesser degree him and Kyle, but his combative relationship with Perry remained. Deciding to head to his own room he wondered what he would find tomorrow night whilst checking out the bunker Savanna claimed was their base.
+TB+
(ZeiraCorp Ruins 2028)
John Henry focused on his work of analysing the data from the Terminators Miss Weaver had destroyed during the night, each chip carefully extracted had terabytes of data on Skynet and its activities. So far Skynet had no knowledge of their arrival in this time nor any information on John Connor, but they had kept a low profile, and John Connor was still in training with the Resistance hence he had not made any moves that would attract attention. Its offensive against the Resistance was now in a stalemate; thanks to the defensive line the humans had erected with as many auto turrets and heavy weapon emplacements as it could find. That had kept the last main drive of Skynet’s attack back, even the hunter-killers had proven susceptible to heavy fire, but he knew it would not last.
The attack had cost the Resistance heavily in lives and more to the point ammunition, once their supple for heavy ammunition was expended their defence line would be smashed. That was something both Miss Weaver and himself agreed could not be allowed to happen, hence gathering chips as well as deactivated endoskeletons of T-888’s to reprogram so as to launch a counterattack that would distract Skynet from attacking that defence line, but it was going even with his enhanced skills.
He turned as Miss Weaver suddenly appeared at his side looking towards the entry point to their work area, he turned to see a small group of resistance fighters enter hesitantly clearly uneasy coming so close to them which was no surprise.
“You have come from Kyle Reece with news?” Catherine Weaver inquired ready to act should the humans get jumpy.
“We have” the leader confirmed uneasy been this close to a machine and especially one of the advanced models. “Connors team went out on patrol tonight with orders not to engage, orders they ignored after a new group of humans attacked a Terminator patrol they were monitoring” he informed them. “They blew the hunter-killer tank that was with the patrol before engaging in a firefight, Connor insisted on joining in to gain the chips of the downed machines as well as gain insight into who this new group was” he continued.
“Young in nominal command agreed and they joined in and wiped out the entire machine patrol, they made contact with the group and recovered the chips before bringing their leader back” he paused her and wondered how this machine would react knowing the leader was the same one whose mother she had killed and replaced.
“I take it the leader of this new group of humans is the reason you are here” Catherine Weaver reasoned after thinking over the report.
“Yes, Connor recognised who she was once she spoke his name” the man answered. “She claims to be
Savanna Weaver, the daughter of the woman who you replaced, she claims Sarah Connor raised and protected her before judgement day and is still alive at their base” he told her.
Catherine Weaver was if she was capable of such feeling surprised to learn her daughter was still alive and had now revealed herself, she had believed she had died during the nuclear fire of judgement day. John Henry was also surprised to learn the young girl he had played with back in the past was still alive, both however doubted the idea of Sarah Connor still been alive as to their knowledge and Skynet’s she had never lived to see judgement day.
“General Reece has requested you come to HQ to help confirm her identity, a team headed by Major Reece will head to their bunker tomorrow night to verify Sarah Connor is alive and the rest of their story” the man informed them actually believing both machines had been surprised by the news if such a thing was possible.
“You may inform Kyle Reece we will arrive during the day as asked once we have finished up our work here” Catherine Weaver told him in response wondering what kind of reunion she was going to have with Savanna if it was indeed her.
The man nodded and then turned and led his team out of the ruins intent on making it back to HQ without encountering any trouble, even as he moved keeping himself low to the ground he wondered if this alliance with the two machines could last.
+TB+
(L.A. 2008)
Sarah looked up at the warehouse unsurprised this was where the gang who were their target was staying, out of the way and clearly made to look run down and abandoned. She glanced at Ellison and noted he looked uneasy and she knew why, he was ex-FBI. He was used to doing things by the law, now he was acting outside of it after been thrown out after the massacre of the assault team he had led against Cromartie. He was now acting like a fugitive after his boss had turned out to be a Terminator and vanished after the attack on her office, she wondered what he thought of the irony of that fact.
“So how do we do this?” Ellison inquired feeling out of depth as he was used to doing things by the book, via the law but now he had to act outside of it, and he had left him feeling strange and uneasy.
“We focus on the leader as without him this gang will collapse like so many others” Sarah responded before stepping forward and kicking the door in.
Inside they saw two surprised hoods quickly jump to their feet and reach for their weapons, one a large, bladed weapon and the other a handgun. Sarah was quicker and hefted her shot gun and fired a blast into the middle of them, this made them jump and back away even as two more hoods ran down the stairs to see what was going on. Ellison raised his own shotgun and fired hitting just to the left of where they came to the end of the stairs, the lead hood jumps in shock dropping the Uzi he was carrying. The hood behind him tried to raise his own weapon but he was either new or just surprised at them been attacked instead of the other way round. Sarah pulled a silenced pistol from her back and fired it right over his head and the hood quickly dropped the gun and raised his hands.
“Who the hell do you think you are” a voice echoed from above and they looked up to see a tall youth glaring at them, whilst he held his own pistol it currently was not aimed at them.
“We are friends of Lucas, and we are here to get you to back the hell of him” Ellison said in response trying to sound like he did this kind of thing often.
The man glares some more before responding. “So, the little hacker knows some people in my line of work who knew, you think can actually back up your play, that after you leave, we will not just go and waste Lucas for this outrage” he spat at them.
Sarah did not bother to respond and instead just moved her arm holding the pistol sideways and fired, the bullet lodged right into the left knee of the man’s exposed legs making him scream and fall clutching the wound and dropping his pistol.
“You are the message; you will leave Lucas alone and if you or your thugs go near him again and we will end you” Sarah said tightly in warning. “We don’t care what else you have going on, what you are into, but you will leave Lucas alone or face the consequences understood” she added.
“Okay….okay I get it” the man shouted realising these people were not messing around.
He had gotten where he was knowing when to back off and that time had come again, this woman was dangerous and would do as she said. He had to admit the hacker was not even important to their operations, he just thought it might be useful to have a computer nerd available should they need one. Who knew the man had friends like this, he had never been shot before even coming up in another gang and it hurt like hell.
“I promise we will leave Lucas be, as far as we are concerned, he does not exist” he stated loudly.
“Keep that in mind and we will be okay” Sarah responded with a nod before indicating Ellison to back out whilst still covering the two hoods near the stairs whilst she focused on the ones near the table.
Slowly they left but Sarah kept her eyes on the doors just in case they tried to attack them from behind, but they did not appear as they got into the car and left.
“You think they will keep their word?” Ellison asked feeling jumpy after doing something so out of character.
“Oh, I think so” Sarah replied with a twisted smile. “Getting shot is a great motivator, and this guy no matter how twisted he seemed to Lucas was unused to been shot” she explained. “I could tell from the panic in his voice as the responded, he was used to been on the other end of the gun” she added.
“He did not expect you to fire at him so easily” Ellison noted.
“No, he did not and that gave us the edge” Sarah agreed as she drove them towards the place Ellison had told her Lucas lived to tell him the good news.
+TB+
(Resistance Bunker 2028)
Savanna Weaver looked up as the door to the room they had been brought to opened and one of the guards stepped in, behind him came two very recognisable faces. One was John Henry who she had played with as a child, not truly understanding he was a machine. And of course, behind him came the form of her mother, only her true mother had been dead for quite some time having been replaced by an advanced T-1001 series Terminator. Something she had learnt from Sarah once she had passed into her teens, to say it had been a shock to her system to learn was an understatement. Now facing the machine that had replaced her mother she did not know how to truly feel. Yes, there was anger, hatred that was to be expected but there was also confusion as the machine had continued to protect and raise her before she had come to the future.
Sarah believed she had been just ensuring her cover was not blown by disposing of her, that did not fully seem correct as she was certain the machine could have thought up a dozen ways of removing her without raising suspicion. No, instead of going with the easy way which would be to kill her, the Terminator had kept her close and at any time she could have done something that exposed her presence. Staring into the eyes of the machine once more, she felt her emotions roll uneasily.
“Savanna, my how you have grown” Weaver stated as she looked over the now grown-up version of her daughter.
“You look the same mother but then that is no surprise is it” Savanna shot back heatedly.
“You know the truth then that I am not your original mother” Weaver mused seeing the anger and confusion radiating from the young woman.
“Yes, I know, I also know you travelled into the future side by side with John Connor following John Henry using the machine you had created on the day your office was attacked, and you vanished” Savanna responded doing her best not to let her emotions rule her logic.
“Following John Henry was important to the future Savanna, but that did not mean I forgot about you” Weaver told her. “I did ask James Ellison to pick you up” she added.
“He failed to do so as he was considered a suspect in the attack as he disappeared with Sarah after the attack, I was put into the child care system for two years before Sarah and Ellison tracked me down” Savanna informed her doing her best not to think about those two dark years when she had been in the are system.
“I do not mean to interrupt your reunion, but we need to know if you can tell who she is?” Kyle asked who had come in quietly without been noticed with Derek and John.
Weaver glanced at him before nodding her head and using her advanced scanning to digital check the young woman over, matching her facial patterns to her memory files of Savanna as a child and predicting what she would look like older. Unsurprisingly the match was perfect, this truly was her daughter now all grown up.
“It is my daughter Kyle Reece” she stated in confirmation.
“It is amazing you survived” John Henry could not help but comment as he looked the young woman over.
“I would not have had it not been for Sarah finding and caring for me” Savanna responding not sure how to act with John Henry.
As a child she had seen him as harmless and someone to talk to and play with, now she knew he was a machine as well. Not a Terminator at least not like the original machine identity that had used that body but an A.I created by the T-1001 who had replaced her mother for reasons unknown and even Sarah could not positively say it was for evil purposes.
“My mother is truly alive?” John could not help asking almost desperately.
“She is alive John; I did not lie about that” Savanna promised in response.
John leaned against the wall in relief even knowing it would not be the same mother he had left behind when he travelled here, she would have changed over the years he was gone. Who knew what his absence had done to her, what seeing judgement day had done to her psyche.
“How is Sarah Connor still alive, our records from the previous timelines state she never lived to see judgement day” John Henry inquired.
“We went to ground inside a bunker she and Ellison built in preparation should judgement day come” Savanna answered. “They did their best to track who was behind the attack on your office and their connection to Skynet, but without Derek Reece, John himself and especially Cameron they had no chance of getting inside their fortified complex” she explained. “She knew John would come out in a vastly different timeline than the one he was supposed to lead in that living and ensuring his safety was the best move she could make once judgment day was inevitable” she told them.
“We are sending a patrol to check out the bunker and seen as Weaver has confirmed your identity, I see no problem with you going with them and bringing Sarah Connor and the rest of your people back here” Kyle stated to which Savanna nodded. “And no John you cannot go, you are grounded and will stay so until you learn not to disobey orders” he added seeing John about to voice a request to go.
He knew should he allowed John to go after grounding him and his team last night it would only make Perry and the rest of the resistance question his command; he could not allow that so he shut him down cold before he could even voice his request. He noted the anger that passed over John’s face as he spoke, thankfully John kept his anger restrained and did not respond.
“Whilst you are here Weaver, we got a dozen chips from the patrol we helped take out last night your aide in going though them will be appreciated” Kyle stated turning to the T-1001 deciding getting John working on the chips they had recovered would help distract him from the anger he was feeling, having the machines help in decoding the chips would be a bonus considering anything they might find that affected the resistance.
“Very well, we should begin immediately” Weaver agreed glancing at him before turning back to Savanna. “We can talk again at another time should you wish it Savanna” she said before facing John who was glaring at the wall. “Please show us to your workstation John Connor” she requested.
John glanced at her before just nodding and walking stiffly out of the room followed by the two machines, he did his best to put aside his anger at the way Kyle had shut down his request to go with Derek before he even made it. He knew why he had done it, but still he angered him greatly been denied.
Savanna watched them leave still uncertain how she felt about the machine who had replaced her mother, right now it did not matter. What mattered was they had contacted the main resistance, and moving Sarah and the others to this base which would not be easy as Sarah was ill, and her age played against her in the wasteland that lay between the two bunkers.
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