Haven… The underground city. A cesspool. A rats’ nest. Crime flourished here, like weed. Gangs, brothels, smugglers, anything and anyone outlawed in the old world could be found here. A city nothing short of Sodom and Gomorra.
Whispers in the tunnels spoke of a pending collaboration of the human inhabitants of the city and the machines, and he was sent here by special request to check it out. The Informers, they had filed report after report of an increasing number of grays.
Civs, refs gone a.w.o.l., tired of fleeing, tired of war. They had found refuge in this city without laws, without rules. Skynet did not even bother to annihilate this place, probably finding it an unlimited source of test-subjects and collaborators. Humans who would betray their own in exchange for their life.
He was there on a mission: to verify if the whispers in the tunnels held truth, to speak with the mayor and to take, if necessary, measures.
A scruffy looking young woman, dressed in ripped rags, approached him.
“Nice night for a walk,” she whispered to him.
“Nice night for a walk,” he echoed.
“Quod licet Jovi non licet bovi[1],” she said softly.
“Morituri te salutant[2],” was his reaction.
It was the safe code that had been agreed upon between the Resistance and the Informers.
“Are you Devlin?”
He nodded slowly.
“We’ve been expecting you.”

The young woman, who had introduced herself as Isa, brought him to a small hut. Huts, houses made of debris determined the small and dirt-covered streets of Haven. He was in no hurry to meet the Informer, judging that taking in the city and its inhabitants was of the utmost importance for his mission. After finally arriving, she had pointed at what could be considered a couch once and had told him to wait while she would fetch ‘Walker’, the Informer who had brought this to John Connor’s attention.
After ten minutes Isa returned with an older man on her arm. He studied the man and frowned; the man looked like he could fall apart any moment now.
“Devlin?” The man asked hesitantly, eyeing him closely.
“Yes… Walker?”
“Call me Caleb,” the man said slowly as he still looked at him.
“Okay… Caleb. Tell me about your findings,” he said sternly.
“I like a man who doesn’t beat around the bush. The last one the General sent was a chatterbox,” Caleb smiled dryly. “Your reputation precedes you, Devlin, although I had expected someone older.”
“Cut the bullshit,” he ordered. “And tell me what you know.”
He noticed that the older man looked startled, even a little afraid.
“You must be high-ranked and used to giving orders,” Caleb mumbled impressed.
“My rank is none of your concern, Caleb. I’ve come here to verify and gather information. Not for idle chitchat,” he grumbled annoyed.
“First you’ll need other clothes. You look too much like an official,” Caleb remarked. “Isa, get him some proper clothes. We don’t want the attention of the Blues.”
“The Blues?” He asked, knowing that the Blues were some kind of law enforcement unit.
“Kowalski’s police. They run this town, and don’t like the boys from the Resistance snooping around,” Caleb answered.
“Kowalski?” He now asked, pretending not to know who Kowalski was.
“Edward Kowalski Junior. Edward Kowalski Senior is the mayor and he left his son in charge of the Blues… What? Did the General send a Rook this time?” Caleb sounded irritated.
His gaze followed the young woman who walked up to what should pass for a closet. She pulled out a pair of dirty torn jeans, a gray wool sweater and a pair of old, black sneakers.
“Here,” she said with a smile while she handed him the clothes.
“They’ll make you fit in more… For as far as that is possible,” Caleb mumbled as he looked at him again.

“Sit down, Ty,” John smiled, gesturing at a chair.
“I prefer to remain standing, John. Not planning on staying here for too long,” Tyler remarked.
“So how’s mom?” He asked, knowing that the manner he had asked it in would tick his friend off.
“She’s doing fine. Went on a rynoing spree after Arcadia,” Tyler answered slowly. “Nice deal: you almost got caught and I get to pay for it.”
“Like you mind,” he laughed. “If someone can withstand ryno’s, it’s you.”
He caught the wry smile on Tyler’s face: “I certainly don’t mind… And she certainly made it up to me. Besides I happen to like it when she gets fiery and forceful with me.”
A shudder ran through him. He had accepted it, but to be confronted with it was an entirely different story. It pointed out the cruel and harsh reality of this world. Love was rare, and he was still worried about the effect it would have on his mother and his friend. Would they be weakened? Or would the knowledge of love strengthen them?
He looked at his long-time friend and brother-in-arms again. Having someone to love, to love him back had made his friend a very different man from the one he had known for a few days in his teenage years. Nevertheless so did the nanoattrioids. It had saved his friend’s life, but the effects had yet to surface. The nanoattrioids combined with him having been an Undertaker, it should result in a deadly force.
He had not heard of Tyler going on an insanely violent rampage, only that he would go out for a couple of hours and would return with metal skulls and a handful of c.p.u.’s. No one knew where he would go or what he would do.
Tyler ‘The Devil’ Devlin, a one of a kind fighter, who had not even begun to reach his full potential yet. Nevertheless John knew that with the right means of persuasion, the Devil would be deadlier than any machine. And that was why he had chosen him for this mission.

Out in the field, he was a very light sleeper, awake at the faintest noise, alert at the smallest movement.
“The Blues will be here soon, father,” he heard Isa say in a whisper.
“The Kowalski’s will be pleased,” Caleb said cheerfully. “I am most sure that they will fetch a big prize for this one.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t, father,” Isa suggested with worry seeping deep into her voice. “He isn’t like the others.”
“Isa,” Caleb sighed. “He’s not a knight in shining armor who will come to whisk you away and give you a better life. You’re a goddamn whore. He won’t even look at you twice.”
He kept his eyes closed in a natural manner and even pretended to snore when he heard movement close by. She had told him in a moment of honesty that she made a living on her back when a man propositioned her while they were staking out the city. His chivalry had kicked in and he had asked her if she had needed help.
“Still,” Isa muttered, sounding upset. “He isn’t like any of the others.”
“And that is exactly why we should,” Caleb insisted. “He’s different. And that makes me think that he is important to the General.”
“Think of all the goodwill we’ll get from the General when we let him walk,” Isa offered.
“Are you forgetting Junior and the Blues? Do you really want to go to jail just because he was nice to you once?” Caleb asked darkly. “If you even get to see jail? Instead of Junior killing us first. If we don’t turn this guy over, Junior will torture us until we beg to be put out of our misery.”
He heard her heave a deep sigh: “You are right, father, as always.”
Why wasn’t he surprised at their betrayal? Why wasn’t he surprised that the rats were in high places? It was one thing that had not changed since the old world.
He rolled over, on his other side, still pretending to be asleep. So he was to be held for ransom? Fighting off the slow smile that was forming on his face, they would have another thing coming.
“Junior will be here in a few minutes. It’s time for us to leave,” Caleb said in a soft voice. “He looks like a brawler, and things aren’t going to be pretty.”

John stared at the computer screen, at the picture of the younger version of the man out on the rooftop of the house across the street. In a way, it felt like a relief that he was no longer the only one who was so goddamn important to the Resistance. It should be a relief to his mom as well, but he knew how the mind of his mother worked. And he knew something that she didn’t.
She would flip a switch or two if she would know that the man on the rooftop had been her husband. He had asked Cameron more about it, but she had resorted to her standard answer of it not being in her files, which could be a lie or not.
It was absurd to think that his mom had been someone’s wife once, or would be in this case. It hadn’t happened yet, and he wondered if it would ever happen if his mom would ever find out. He knew that his mother would still pine for his father, but this Tyler Devlin… He was something different and maybe the man to mend part of his mother’s broken heart.
Catching the glances Devlin had casted at his mother during dinner. There had been a profound sadness in the man’s eyes. Would Devlin ever act on his old feelings? Or would he turn out to be the monster his Uncle had described him to be?
He had tried to kill him and his father in the future. That thought sent shivers down John’s spine. Added the fact that Devlin had been saved by Skynet technology, he wondered if Devlin was really to be trusted or if he had a hidden agenda as a Skynet infiltrator. Come tomorrow he would seek him out and try to get Devlin to talk about his mission, even if his mom would not like him climbing up to that roof.
Was Devlin to be trusted? Or not?