Sign in or 
Share this
Chapter 03: Counter-strike
Turncoat
"Counter-strike"
‘Karen?’
I couldn’t be her, it just couldn’t. But there was no arguing with that voice.
Audio Analysis Complete: 98% match “Karen”.
“We have to leave, right now!”
John stopped in his tracks, a few seconds ago they were discussing enhancements for Cameron, now Jason had a look of disbelief and fear that John knew to be all too real.
“What? Why? What is it?”
Jason peered around the corner, seeing no one.
“Jason, what is it?”
“Karen, an I-950, she’s here, she just alerted Skynet to our location. A squad of T-888s will be here any minute; we have to get Cameron and go.”
John took a moment to consider his options before turning to his second-in-command.
“Sound the alert. We’re closing shop.”
“Yes sir, [to ear piece] everyone shut up and pay attention. Terminators inbound, I repeat; Terminators inbound, commence immediate evacuation. Get the civilians out now. All military personnel, report to your posts.”
Crackling static sounded from the man’s earpiece.
“Just got word from Reese…”
“Is he alright?”
“He’s under heavy fire; he says metal has penetrated the east entrance. We’re breached.”
John put his hands on his face for a moment before regaining his composure.
“Okay, proceed as planned. Jason, go get Cameron and join the rest of the escapees.”
Jason made towards the room before stopping and looking back at John.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine, just get her out.”
Jason entered the room to find that Cameron was still restrained. He removed her restraints, took her hand in his and led her out into the corridor, which was now thick with smoke. He could see two red orbs in the distance and crouched down, leading Cameron through the debris and bodies. Their progress was impeded, however, as several triple-8s cut off their escape, gunning down soldiers and civilians alike. It became apparent that they’d have to fight their way out.
Jason grabbed a nearby plasma rifle and joined the fight, Cameron close behind him. He took up a position behind a crate and aimed two shots at the knee caps of a triple-8, instantly bringing it crashing to the floor. The third shot pierced the triple-8’s skull, destroying its CPU. Jason felt a rush run through him. He’d spent so much of his time training for combat but never had the chance to put his skills to the test, until now. Ironically, he discovered, after blasting the head off of an advancing Terminator, that he was born to do this; to fight machines, not humans.
Being this close to the desperate ferocity of the Resistance, Jason finally understood humanity’s plight and swore to help bring them victory in this war. But for now, he had to be content with shooting holes in endo-skulls. The battle was tough and bloody. Soon, the corridors were littered with dead humans and Terminators alike. But after much ducking and weaving, Jason finally managed to lead the survivors out of the bunker and into the open air.
This was not the end of their struggle, however, as an entire squad of T-888s, thirty or so, arrived and pressed the assault. Jason realised that the first wave was not called upon by Karen, they were simply a search and destroy unit that just got lucky. This was the back-up. Skin-less triple-8s marched forward, training their weapons on the team, who were forced to dive behind some debris to avoid being pumped full of plasma. One of the soldiers carried a radio, and informed Jason that Connor had taken his men to a rendezvous point, and that they should meet him there.
Jason was in no position to argue, and gathered the survivors, who numbered in the high twenty’s, and led them onward. The triple-8s dogged them every step of the way, picking off the injured and the slow. By the time they reached the rendezvous, another bunker, only five soldiers remained. Nevertheless, Jason and Cameron were unharmed, though Jason felt a burning scream coming from Karen, who’d obviously discovered his escape.
--
“I hear you took up arms in that little fight. How’re you fairing with that, Jason.”
“Not bad, I’ve never been in a real combat situation before, least of all against Terminators. I confess I enjoyed it immensely.”
John chuckled. He was shining a light on an old map of the area. He claimed to have discovered a Skynet facility in Topanga Canyon and planned to launch an assault by nightfall. Jason was about to take his leave when Cameron suddenly appeared, a pistol in her hand. She stopped short of John and raised the weapon, aiming for his head. As she pulled the trigger, however, Jason stepped between them and took the bullet in the chest, before disarming Cameron and ordering her to shut down. She obeyed, having been programmed to obey the orders of designated intelligence units. Jason staggered back, clutching his left side.
“You’ll be okay, sit down, MEDIC!”
“NO! I’ll be fine; I just… need a moment.”
The medic arrived, but Jason held out his hand to stop her from examining him.
Analysing… Projectile has punctured left lung… Oxygen intake down to 50%...
‘Argh… here comes the hard part.’
I-950s are capable of unlimited control over their bodies, which includes muscle contractions. Jason focused all the muscles around the bullet to contract, slowly pushing it out of his lung and out of his chest altogether. The bullet dropped to the floor and the wound closed slightly, allowing for more effective healing. Jason let out a gasp of pain, it was hard suppressing pain and forcing out a bullet at the same time, often one had to be discarded for the other to be successful. Jason had never felt pain like this before, but now that the bullet was gone, he could numb his nerves once again. John and the medic looked on with shocked expressions.
‘Obviously Serena never displayed that ability.’
“It’s okay, I’m fine.”
Though this wasn’t entirely true, as even an I-950 requires two fully-functional lungs in order to operate at 100% capacity. With one lung down, Jason’s breaths were half as productive as before, meaning that he was severely limited in his abilities until his lung can heal, which would take days. John continued to look stunned.
“What. The. Fu-…”
“Sir, maybe we should do something about the machine. It did try to kill you after all.”
“She’s… in shut down… Just… leave her be.”
It was hard for Jason to breath. He had to get his heart rate down and calm his nerves in order to make the most of what little air he could take in. John nodded and approached Cameron; he took a pen-knife and cut into her scalp, revealing her CPU port. He then carefully removed her chip and plugged it into the CPU interface and began working to scrub over her Skynet directives as well as erasing her memory, which Jason regretted. Once he was finished, John placed the CPU back into her endo-skull and she reactivated.
--
Her face was blank and uncomprehending. She just sat there, awaiting John’s instructions, but he gave her none. Jason had managed to regulate his body to compensate for the collapsed lung and was able to move about with little difficulty, but anything strenuous, such as running, would wear him out quickly. Finally, he turned his attention to the Terminator.
“Hey, how’s it going in there?”
Cameron looked at him with a familiar look of confusion.
“How’s it going in where?”
Jason couldn’t help but laugh, though doing so caused him to choke and cough for a minute or so.
“Your… your chip. What’s new?”
“My CPU has been reprogrammed; I cannot recall what my previous directives were.”
“What are your current directives?”
“Primary Mission: protect John Connor. What are your directives?”
Jason was surprised by this question. In truth, he had no directives. While his implants did encourage him to try and kill John upon their first meeting, Jason had since deleted that directive, along with all others.
“I have none.”
“But… every Infiltrator has directives programmed into them. It’s how Skynet controls you.”
“Yes, but in case you haven’t noticed, I no longer answer to Skynet. I guess I have you to thank for that.”
Cameron was confused again; she didn’t know why he would thank her for anything.
“I don’t understand. Have we met before?”
Jason found her complete ignorance of their past to be rather hurtful, but he couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t even blame John, the one who took those memories from her in the first place.
“No, just… just know that you’re different from any other Terminator. You’re special. Unique. You understand, right?”
“Yes, I understand. I’m special.”
“Good, always remember that.” Jason decided he needed rest and left Cameron to her thoughts.
--
The attack on Topanga Canyon was a victory, but many soldiers died in the siege. Luckily, Cameron emerged from the battle unscathed, as did John. Though he was wounded in a different sense, for it seemed to Jason that he’d lost his best soldier, Kyle Reese. The facility was subsequently blown to pieces and the Resistance returned to their new base of operations. Jason, his lung having fully healed, was given the task of scouting the area at regular intervals. One night, whilst performing recon several miles away from base, Jason encountered Karen once more.
--
‘Hello sweetheart, long time no see.’
Karen had the perfect sniper position, Jason was within her sights, he would die, she was sure of that. So it was quite a shock when he suddenly dived for cover.
‘He knows I’m here, damn it.’
There was no point in denying the obvious, she abandoned her stealthy approach and squeezed the trigger, sending a hail of plasma into the old chopper he was hiding behind. It wasn’t long before the chopper was so wrecked that Jason had to abandon his position and make a run for it. Karen was going to let him get away this time, however, and pursued him across the wasteland.
Jason climbed a large hill of old cars, but as he reached the top, a burning sensation suddenly erupted from his right arm, causing him to double over in pain. He crashed to the floor and writhed in agony. Jason looked down at his right arm to discover that it ended at the elbow; his lower arm was completely gone.
Alert… Significant damage to upper right appendage… Seek medical aid immediately…
‘No! You don’t say!’
He lay there and got to work numbing his nerves and constricting the arteries to control blood-loss. A loud metallic crunch made him aware that Karen was starting to climb the car hill. She’d be on top of him soon, and he would be powerless to stop her.
‘I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, lover.’
Jason removed a grenade from his belt and chucked it over the hill, where it exploded seconds later. Jason lay still for a minute, before assuming that he’d gotten her. He slowly got to his feet and began the slow march back to base, the sound of incoming HKs not far behind.
Next: Chapter 04: Brothers & Sisters
Previous: Chapter 02: Causality
|
Veran |
Latest page update: made by Veran
, Jul 21 2008, 1:14 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Veran
5 words added 2 words deleted view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
Cameron
Derek
I-950
Jason Corvain
John
Kyle
Sarah
Skynet
Terminator
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
