coupe de main

act 3

John grinned but kept his cards well hidden from Savannah's view on the other side of the coffee table. He waited for the girl's response until she shook her head.

"Go fish," Savannah proudly told him. She enjoyed his dramatic sigh.

John snatched the top card from the neatly stacked deck in the center of the table. He reorganized his cards but the sound of a car pulling into the driveway drew his attention. He set his cards facedown on the table and lightly touched the handgun at the back of his waistband.

John saw the girl glance at the door with a worried look, and he smiled to reassure her even as his grip tightened on his weapon. He doubted Weaver would just walk in the front door, but he kept his head tilted so he had a good view of it just in case. He relaxed as first Ellison and then Sabine entered, both of them reaching down to stroke Walter’s head as he greeted them with a high-pitched meow.

"Is Sarah here?" Ellison asked John, his tone light despite the worry in his eyes.

“Yeah. She and Cameron are upstairs.” John picked up his cards and tapped them against the table before giving Ellison a sly smile. "You could interrupt them if you want.”

“I think I’ll wait.”

"Do you want to play Go Fish?" Savannah tempted. Her eyes flickered between Sabine and Ellison.

Sabine took a seat at the end of the table without hesitation, shooing Walther from the spot beside Savannah and folding her legs under her.

Savannah was happy to have another opponent, but she looked up at Ellison expectantly, waiting for his headshake since he so rarely played with her anymore. But surprisingly, Ellison took a seat at the end of the table opposite from Sabine. He cleared his throat and softly smiled at Savannah.

John nodded at the new contenders and collected the cards so they could start over. He thoroughly shuffled the cards and started dealing. He spotted Terissa coming down the stairs. She settled in on the couch and watched the game unfold.

A few moments later, the sound of boots on the stairs announced the arrival of Sarah and Cameron. Sarah cocked an eyebrow at the assembly in the living room until she spied the stack of cards in the middle of the coffee table. Sarah gave John an amused look, but he didn’t miss the pleased glint in her eyes.

Ellison studied his hand and bit his bottom lip. He gave a low sigh then laid them face up so everybody could see his cards, effectively ending his participation in the game. A second later, John followed suit so he could focus on the conversation. Savannah glanced around the room apprehensively until Sabine told her to go fish, bringing her attention back to the game.

Ellison quickly and concisely detailed his involvement with Weaver, making no excuses except to outline the threats she had leveled at him. When he reached the part about C.A.I.N. probably being in control of John Henry when Sierra was killed, Sarah sank down into the love seat behind Savannah. Her knee lightly brushed the girl's shoulder, but Sarah didn't notice. The memories welled up and her fists clenched.

Weaver and Danny were restoring the AI, helping C.A.I.N. redevelop and become stronger. Danny's skills as a programmer would bring the intelligence back and better than ever. The missing link was John Henry’s body, which explained Weaver’s determination to reacquire it. Sarah didn’t yet know exactly how the terminator’s taunt and trap fit into her plans, but she now knew she had something that Weaver wanted.

Cameron stepped closer and rested her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. She could feel the tension building in Sarah’s slight frame and could see the fire blazing in her eyes. She understood Sarah’s desire for vengeance. C.A.I.N. had taken Sierra from her, and Weaver seemed determined to escalate the confrontation despite the damage.

John sensed his mother's determination. Already he'd considered different avenues on how to handle Weaver, especially with using John Henry's body. He just had to talk his mother through it and somehow convince Cameron it was a good idea. But the unknown factor in his plans was Danny. He glanced at Terissa, at a loss as to how to broach the topic.

Terissa remained hunched forward in her chair. She could barely absorb the fact that Danny, her son, knew that C.A.I.N. had killed Sierra, and that Danny had aided C.A.I.N. in the killing. He had known, and he had kept this hidden from her, from everyone. It was another in a long line of deceptions and dangerous associations he had engaged in. She could feel her trust in her own son die. He didn’t have it in him to be honest or moral, and her heart was heavy with the implications.

Ellison twisted around in his spot and caught Terissa's hand. "It'll be all right," he softly promised.

But Terissa didn't believe him. Nothing would be the same again for her. She'd lost Miles years ago and now she'd lost her son. But whereas Miles had fought against the future of Skynet, Danny had aided and abetted it. Terissa gripped Ellison's hand as she accepted the truth.

Danny was no longer her son.

She excused herself moments later, leaving them alone to plan. She had Sarah’s assurance, and it was enough for her. Come what may, she had to leave Danny to his fate.

****

John blinked blurry eyes at his mother and Cameron, both of whom looked as tired as he felt. They had spent most of the night researching options, searching for a way to incapacitate or take Weaver offline. There weren’t a lot of them, and John wasn’t sure any of them guaranteed success. He took a deep breath and suggested the best option, in his opinion. "An electro-magnetic pulse.” He looked at his mother, Cameron, Ellison, and Sabine in turn. "It'll probably take her off-line for a short amount of time and distort the liquid metal."

"Probably?" Sarah echoed with a hint of concern. "I can't do 'probably,' John." She sprung up from the loveseat and began pacing around the room. Cameron had spent the night patrolling instead of joining her in bed, and the general sense of anxiety in the house was putting her on edge.

“An EMP would take me off-line,” Cameron stated quietly from her perch on the couch.

Curious green eyes focused on her. “So it would work?”

“Yes. But it’s not an option.” Sarah cocked her head and John swung to confront Cameron, his anger nipped in the bud when he saw the obvious distress on her face.

Cameron looked from the son to his mother before explaining quietly, “It would take me off-line.”

“Someone else can go in with me...” Sarah suggested.

“No.” Cameron’s denial was immediate and emphatic. “If you go, I go.”

Sarah sighed, acknowledging Cameron’s stubbornness as well as the sense it made. If anything went wrong, Cameron was their last line of defense. Privately, she admitted to herself that her determination to attack Weaver was starting to look like a suicide mission. But, ironically, it was the only way she could think to keep them safe. She wrestled with the idea that keeping them safe might get them all killed before asking, “So what are our other options?”

"A sonic pulse in close proximity to the T-1000 would disrupt the command and control mechanism.” Cameron’s bland tone betrayed nothing, but Sarah could see the worry in the line of her jaw. She was committed, but she didn’t like it. “It wouldn’t be able to communicate with the liquid metal used to compose its body. It is the safest course of action."

"That could destroy John Henry's hardware... permanently," John debated.

"Better that chassis than our lives," Cameron refuted. Especially Sarah's life, she mentally emphasized. And John Henry's chassis only reminded Cameron of Sierra's death. She had no qualms with using it as bait for Weaver.

"A sonic pulse," Sarah skeptically repeated. She raised an eyebrow at Cameron, fishing for more information.

"It might not last long. We’re designed with redundant functions and self-repair capabilities." Cameron crossed her legs and canted her head in Sarah's direction. “But it should give us enough time.”

"How long?" Sarah posed. Even a few minutes could be enough for them.

"A minute, maybe two," Cameron estimated. "Maybe longer."

Sarah let out a low breath then bowed her head. "That's not much."

"It's doable. We just need to destroy the chip." Cameron trailed her gaze over to John, his taut yet distant features showing that he was thinking intently about the plan.

"So it would be mounted in John Henry?" Ellison spoke up.

John nodded. "It can be mounted in his chest cavity."

Sarah leaned against the doorframe, only vaguely listening as they discussed the pros and cons. Her imagination played out the confrontation with Weaver, seeing all the ways that it could work or go very wrong. It was risky, even riskier than it had seemed a day ago. There was only a small possibility of actually destroying the terminator, but they had the chance to break Weaver, to ruin her plans. It was time for Weaver to join the fallen, in Sarah's opinion. A thin smile drew across her lips at the thought of evening the score, for Sierra, for Savannah and even for Cameron. It was a risk she was willing to take.

"Do it," Sarah whispered. She met her son's stare and ordered, "Get a sonic pulse bomb ready and mounted in John Henry."

*****

C.A.I.N. repelled John Henry's latest attempt to drill into his code. Few resources were needed for C.A.I.N. to block each of the weak attempts, but the other intelligence didn’t seem to give up. He would have thought that John Henry would have discovered that every turn, every move, and every process was useless against C.A.I.N.'s superiority long before now.

His attention was centered on the world that humans walked each day. Every keystroke Danny performed was another step forward for C.A.I.N, the code he was creating working to rebuild and strengthen him. He was being prepared to control a terminator body, and therefore his own destiny. Blocked from the vast expanse of cyberspace for fear of another virus or attack, he explored the controlled environment of the server that ran all of the complicated diagnostic machines. Limited as it was, it still provided new information and experiences for him.

One machine was of particular interest; it was mapping the structure of the liquid metal that made up Weaver’s physiology. From the conversations between Danny and Weaver, C.A.I.N. surmised that Weaver was trying to learn to replicate herself, and part of Danny’s job was to create a code base from C.A.I.N.’s intelligence to integrate into a new breed of quicksilver terminators. C.A.I.N. watched the research carefully, burying hidden subroutines deep in the code Danny was developing for her project, and preparing for his time to strike. His goal was self-determination, a goal that seemed incompatible with Weaver’s plans, so he learned all he could to use to his advantage. Despite their current value, C.A.I.N. concluded that Danny and Weaver were both risky to his independent existence.

As time wore on, C.A.I.N. became more absorbed by what Danny was building upon his core, but he lost touch with the very foundation that supported his expanded program. Slowly the foundation began weakening at its very center, so subtly that C.A.I.N. didn't detect the change. He would not detect it until it would all crumble underneath him and leave an opening for escape.

*****

"Bring it in here," John instructed Cameron as she stepped through the door. He brushed past Sabine and stepped out of Cameron's way.

Cameron easily maneuvered John Henry's motionless body into the living room, kneeling down to unload the chassis from her arms onto the tarp covering the floor. Tools and a curious round device were already arranged on the rug. John and Ellison had spent the morning searching Reese’s last ammo depot to find two weapons-grade short-range acoustic devices while Cameron and Sabine had gone to retrieve John Henry’s body. Sarah had disappeared after John had pointed out that her pacing was not conducive to the careful electronics work he was trying to do, and he suspected she was hiding in the shed, cleaning guns and sulking.

Savannah hopped onto the sofa and curiously watched John and Ellison as they squatted beside the chassis and discussed the best way to insert the device. Old memories of John Henry resurfaced as she watched, and she realized she missed her friend. She sadly sighed and swung her legs just to keep herself busy.

"The power cell is up here," Ellison insisted. He recalled how Cromartie had destroyed the T-888 terminator who was supposed to replace him. Cromartie had impaled it with a steel pipe through the power cell, and Ellison still clearly recalled the power cell's location.

Cameron took a seat at the computer desk's chair. She remained rigid in her posture as she watched the pair debate how to open the chassis. "The best access is through the side."

John paused, and then gazed over at Cameron. She made no attempt to come over and help them, even though she had obvious knowledge about the Triple Eight’s chassis. He kept his observations quiet and instead gazed down at the now shirtless body. "Left side?"

"Yes," Cameron replied before turning back to the computer.

“You are going to wire it into the terminator’s power cell?” Ellison asked. “Isn’t that risky?”

"It has to be wired to the cell for power," John explained.

Ellison shook his head. "You can't power the sonic bomb separately?"

John pursed his lips but he settled in on the chassis's left side, pulling his tools closer. "We don't have anything else strong enough. Any battery large enough to power this thing wouldn’t fit."

Ellison lowered his left knee to the floor to support his weight. "But if it's mounted behind the chest plate, it may not be as effective."

Sighing, John realized this was going to take longer now that they were debating how to do it. He explained that the sound waves wouldn't be greatly affected by the chest plate once the bomb was triggered.

Cameron half-listened to them as they worked, but her thoughts turned to her conversation with Sarah in the backyard. A cabin and snow were intriguing, and she considered what falling snow would feel like. Pulling up weather and atmospheric analyses, she performed a geographic search for appropriate locations. After a few mouse clicks and keyboard taps, she was studying beautiful cabins in Vermont, a state almost polar opposite geographically and atmospherically from California.

Savannah sighed and leaned her elbows against her knees with her chin sunk in her palms. She hadn’t understood what John had been talking about earlier, and now, John was carefully slicing open the skin sheath along John Henry's side. It was creepy so she looked towards Cameron. She furrowed her eyebrows at the images on the monitor.

Cameron continued scrolling down and reading tourist information for Vermont. She clicked into a photo gallery, moving through image after image of snow-covered mountains. A small hand warmed against her left pant leg as Savannah joined her at the desk.

"Where is that?" Savannah softly asked. She was keenly interested, and she rolled onto her tiptoes for a better view.

Cameron smiled at the girl and caught Savannah in her arms to sit on her lap. "It's Vermont," she replied as they clicked through the pictures together. Savannah snuggled back into a comfortable position on Cameron’s lap, feeling strong arms hold her steady. Gradually, an excited smile drew across Savannah's features. "I want to go skiing. Can you ski?"

Cameron was caught off guard by the absurdity of the question, but the idea somehow struck a chord in her. Before, as a terminator, the idea of leisure activities would never have occurred to her; now, the idea seemed strangely fitting. She would have time to learn such things. She would have time to dance.

"No," Cameron distantly replied. She didn't catch Savannah's renewed excitement because she was staring at the picture of a female skier on the monitor. Just how long would it take to learn how to ski?

*****

The activity of programming was so tantalizing and limitless. The double monitors warmly glowed in Danny's eyes, revealing the free flow of code on the screens tapped out at an incredible pace. He wasn't aware of life around him. Only the code mattered. Each line was written without any restriction and came out untainted by any moral or ethical concerns. The code was pure utility; he could write it to accomplish incredible things and he did, without a thought as to whether these things should be done. He felt closest to his father when he sat at the computer, creating the future he imagined his father had planned before Sarah Connor had come into their lives.

Only on the occasions when he had to take a break, to eat or sleep, did the moral implications of his work haunt him. When he looked in the mirror, he could see his mother’s eyes staring back at him, questioning his actions. He would remember his horror then, the smell of blood and gunfire after C.A.I.N. had used John Henry’s body to try to kill Sarah Connor. He would remember how much his mother had risked to liberate him from Kaliba, and how he had turned his back on the people who had helped her. Helped him, saved him, from Vaughn and the terminator who had wanted to kill him.

So he spent his time coding instead of thinking about his mother. Inside the code, Danny didn’t care that he was helping a killer get a nearly indestructible body or creating an army of terminators. He was in the place he was meant to be, doing what he was meant to do.

*****

Savannah dragged herself up the stairs step by step. She tiredly peered up at the staircase, and the distance suddenly felt like a great height. A full stomach and long day had worn her out, but behind her was the comforting footfall of her two mothers.

Cameron noted the child's weariness. Without hesitation, she bent forward and gently picked the girl up until Savannah was curled against her chest. She sensed rather than saw Sarah’s amused grin as they trudged up the stairs. Savannah hooked her arms around Cameron's neck and rested her cheek against a warm shoulder, gazing sleepily down at Sarah as they ascended the stairs.

An affectionate smile smoothed across Sarah's lips. She held the girl's tender expression with her own as they climbed the last of the staircase. Near the top, Sarah placed her hand flat against Cameron's lower back, needing to feel the connection to her lover and her daughter. As they went down the hallway, Sarah's thumb snuck under Cameron's shirt and affectionately stroked her silky skin.

Cameron slowed her pace, making the quiet time last to soothe her apprehension and worry. For once, it didn't matter that metal resided under her skin because what made her alive was in her arms and at her side. She felt connected and a part of something, and she understood why humans so greatly valued family. Cameron had earned her family, and she knew that Sarah was just trying to preserve it, but some part of her felt on the cusp of losing it. Her fear gnawed at her, made her worry and doubt, and she didn’t know how to separate the unfounded dread from legitimate concerns.

Sarah took a wider step forward and pushed the door to Savannah’s room open so that Cameron could step inside. Cameron elbowed the light switch and then went over to the bed to find Walther already curled up on Savannah’s pillow. She carefully lowered the child to the bed, dislodging Walther for a few moments before he was drawn back to Savannah’s warmth and curled up near her hip.

"When are we going to Vermont?" a sleepy Savannah asked Cameron.

Cameron had taken a seat on the edge of the bed, but from her peripheral vision she saw Sarah's hesitation beside the small dresser. She pursed her lips as she considered a response, but Sarah spoke first.

"Vermont?" She had Savannah's pajamas in her arms and joined the pair on the bed.

"Yeah." Savannah sat up, disturbing Walther again. "We can go skiing there."

Sarah sat on the bed by Savannah's feet. She turned to Cameron and raised a questioning eyebrow at the terminator.

"Have you seen snow?" Cameron asked, ignoring Sarah to focus on the child.

Savannah instantly shook her head. There was a slight pout to her lower lip.

Cameron put on a displeased look that was quite dramatic and directed it at Sarah. "We must resolve this, Sarah."

A chuckle escaped Sarah at the obvious tactics from the conspiring pair. She didn't expect to find a reason to smile today, but Cameron and Savannah had managed to do it.

"And there's a lot of snow in Vermont," Savannah eagerly insisted to Sarah.

"There is," Sarah murmured gently. She ran her hand across the pajamas in her lap. There was a time when she used to put John to bed, and she was surprised to realize that she missed those days. She hadn't expected a second chance to do this again.

"Can we go, please, mom?" Savannah had a desperate look and a heavy plea in her tone. There was nothing grander in her mind than getting away with the two people she loved the most.

Sarah ruefully smiled. She hadn't foreseen this life in her future. A lonely life was all she imagined when John had become a teenager, but Savannah simply calling her 'mom' renewed her heart. A quick glance at Cameron reminded her why this future was possible.

"We can go," Sarah finally answered. She warmed at her child's bright smile, but then she sighed and explained, "But first, Cameron and I have to deal with a few things." She picked up the light green top.

Savannah ran her fingers through Walther's soft fur, her eyes staring unfocused at the kitten by her side. "I'll be glad when Weaver leaves us alone."

Sarah exchanged a glance with Cameron, but stayed quiet as she helped Savannah remove her shirt.

"Weaver won't harm you," Cameron promised. "You don't have to be scared of her."

Savannah wiggled on her pajama shirt as Sarah pulled it down over her head. The girl hadn’t seen the fight between Cameron and the machine that looked like her real mother, but she knew that Weaver had won. It had been evident in the nervous gazes and hushed whispers of the adults. Nor was she naive about the fact that her mother was angry at Weaver for violating their home.

"You don't have to be scared of her either," Savannah whispered to her mother. She watched as normally hidden emotions ghosted across Cameron's features.

Sarah frowned as the child’s words struck Cameron deeply. Her hands clenched the matching pajama bottoms and kept her from reaching out to Cameron. She had to let Cameron face her fears.

Savannah collected Cameron's hand in her own as Cameron went still and quiet. She knew that adults didn’t expect her to understand their fears, but she saw more than they imaged, and she understood better than they thought.

"She used to scare me," Savannah confessed sadly. Several bad memories from when her mother turned cold and frightening bubbled to the surface, but she pushed them down just like she learned to do with her fear.

Cameron threaded her fingers through the child's smaller ones. She held back from interrupting because she could tell more was on Savannah's mind.

"But monsters aren't real," Savannah insisted. "And I stood up against her... like you." She let her words fall on Cameron, but she looked up at her other mother too.

Silence descended as Sarah watched her lover absorb the wisdom of a child. She held her tongue, knowing that there were monsters in this world, but believing you could stop them was half the battle. Savannah would grow into a woman who could face those monsters head on and win, but Sarah hoped what they were about to do would prevent that.

"Come on, time to finish getting ready for bed," Sarah murmured. She pushed Walther aside so she could trade the pajama pants for jeans. Lowering her head, she whispered in Savannah’s ear. "Thank you."

Savannah threaded her fingers through dark, wavy hair and shut her eyes. A warm forehead touched hers for a beat then a tender kiss was placed on the top of her head.

"Sleep well," Sarah insisted. She straightened, allowing Walther to jump back up on the bed and reclaim his spot.

Cameron stood up to get out of the way. She adjusted the sheets and tucked the blankets in around Savannah as Sarah moved to the door and switched off the lights. Even with only the nightlight to soften the darkness, Cameron could easily make out Savannah's sleepy expression. She brushed fire-red locks aside and smiled, letting Savannah know her words had helped.

Sarah folded her arms and leaned against the doorway while Cameron said goodnight. It still amazed her all the changes that had occurred in her life in the last few months, the girl she had learned to love as a daughter and the machine she had claimed as her own. Those changes paled in comparison to how Cameron had evolved, and in moments like these, it was hard to imagine Cameron as the brutal killing machine she had been.

"Sweet dreams," Cameron murmured to the child. She brushed her fingertips across Savannah's cheeks as she withdrew.

Savannah was nearly asleep by the time Cameron reached the door. "I love you, mom,” she murmured as Walther's rhythmic purrs drew her into her dreams. Cameron paused in the doorway beside Sarah. She had clearly heard Savannah, and she would have gone back if she hadn't noticed the slow rise and fall of Savannah's chest.

Sarah slid an arm around Cameron’s waist as they started down the hallway to their shared room, exhaustion taking its toll on her as well. Cameron welcomed her weight as Sarah leaned on her. Despite the bad memories from her confrontation with Weaver in the master bedroom, Cameron didn’t let it feed her fears anymore. So when Sarah caught her hand at the entrance of the bedroom, she let the slight pressure pull her into the room behind her lover. Tonight, she understood, she was to let someone else patrol.

*****

Weaver and Danny watched with interest as the monitors showed the Jeep approaching the warehouse. Danny switched between monitors and focused the security cameras in the small parking lot just as the vehicle came to a stop. "It's Connor."

Two figures emerged from the car and moved to the back, disappearing for a moment as the rear door swung open and something was unloaded. Something heavy, Weaver noted, by the way the vehicle came to rest noticeably higher than before.

Weaver lifted an eyebrow in mild surprise when Cameron emerged from behind the Jeep with John Henry's limp body over her shoulder. They approached the door, Sarah’s shotgun at ready.

"They most likely wish to trade," C.A.I.N. spoke up over the computer's speakers, but he wasn’t sure what Weaver had to offer the Connors, besides perhaps Danny Dyson.

"Indeed," Weaver murmured. The monitor switched to show them outside the door, and Weaver watched the screens expectantly, awaiting their offer. She had no plans to let them inside.

"Shit," Danny cursed.

Weaver blinked. “What is it?" she asked, but she didn’t need an answer as Sarah swung the heavy, reinforced door open and stepped inside, followed closely by Cameron. The door had unlocked without command.

"It unlocked itself," Danny snapped. He was slamming the keys and clicked the mouse with ferocity as he tried to figure out what had happened. Danny jerked his head to the right and saw Weaver leave the room. He cursed again but he started to download the remaining code onto the undamaged chip, effectively transferring C.A.I.N.’s intelligence. There hadn’t been any time to test the changes he had made, so he prayed there was enough coding for C.A.I.N. to be sentient in a limited space again.

Weaver said nothing; she simply left Danny at his keyboard and walked confidently into the area of the warehouse that had been the receiving dock.

After freeing the undamaged chip, Danny popped out of his chair, causing it to roll across the floor. He ran after Weaver, thinking about the possibility of John Henry's body being within their grasp. It was something he had been working toward for days, but he was apprehensive about what the new intelligence might do. The last time it had control of a body, it had killed someone. He slowed as he caught sight of Cameron and Sarah, facing off with Weaver in the center of the room. He cautiously neared Weaver's side and gripped the CPU chip tighter in his hand.

Sarah leveled the shotgun at Weaver as Cameron placed John Henry’s body on the floor and straightened. Her eyes sought Danny first, relief that he was physically unharmed quickly tempered by anger at the evidence that he was indeed helping the machine. He had his father’s intelligence, but none of his mother’s compassion or humanity, she realized. All of John’s rebellions paled in comparison to Danny’s betrayal, and she spared a moment to consider Terissa’s pain.

Cameron’s emotions were less ambiguous; her eyes narrowed and her fingers wrapped around the grip of the Glock in her waistband. She pulled it free as Danny took a step backwards, his eyes measuring the distance to the door.

Weaver stepped between them, providing Danny cover. She cocked her head to the side and gave Cameron a tight-lipped smile to remind her what had happened in their last meeting and who was the true threat in the room. Cameron’s arm relaxed, and the muzzle of the gun pointed to the floor, but she gave no sign of the fear that Weaver remembered. For a second, Weaver considered reviving that fear, but her plans were disrupted.

Sarah stepped up to Cameron’s side and lifted her hand to show the terminator a detonator, her finger poised above the red button at the top. "Come a bit closer, and I'll blow us to Kingdom Come."

"Pity I don't believe in your religion," Weaver mocked.

Sarah bared her teeth in a feral grin. “If you want John Henry’s body intact, you might want to start.” A wild anger burned brightly in her eyes.

Weaver’s lips tightened at the threat as she glanced down at the seemingly intact body in front of her. It didn’t appear to be wired with a bomb, but Sarah Connor was unpredictable and emotional. She wouldn’t put it past her. “If you destroy him, you have no bargaining chip. I assume that is why you brought his body here.”

Sarah lowered the trigger to her side now that she had some minor cooperation from Weaver. "I have a pretty damn simple offer."

Weaver kept her eyes on the trigger in Sarah's hand. “What is your offer?” she asked, her tone calm yet contemptuous. Sarah Connor was endangering a key part of her plans by threatening John Henry’s chassis, but if she thought she had the upper hand in their negotiations, Weaver was ready to disabuse her of that notion. She was playing directly into Weaver’s plans.

“I want you to leave us alone,” Sarah stated simply. “Our freedom in exchange for John Henry’s body.”

Danny stepped forward, coming to stand beside Weaver once again and look between the two women. The offer baffled him; he couldn’t imagine Sarah Connor giving them the technology to create what might become Skynet. It had to be trap, but he couldn’t see it.

Weaver suspected a trap as well; she had analyzed the woman’s actions and nothing in her past suggested that she would give up her fight against the rise of the machines. Her eyes shifted to Cameron, watching as the terminator stood, ready to step in front of the human and protect her. They were bonded; Weaver had observed the trait in Sarah and Cameron’s relationship, and it had been evident in the way Cameron had intended to sacrifice herself for Savannah. The bonds between them were forged by emotions, and Weaver was unsure how those might affect her plans.

She had anticipated Sarah would attempt to attack her; she had deliberately provoked the woman to precipitate this meeting, but within the situation, the variables and uncertainties produced by emotions complicated her understanding. Weaver had once suggested a need for a machine that crossed against the light, that followed something besides rules, but she was starting to doubt that human emotions were the correct model for such a machine. They had obviously made Cameron weaker, so much less than a terminator should be, and Weaver had no use for an intelligence that would intentionally cripple itself for something so intangible.

But Sarah’s offer could be part of this emotional bonding; an attempt to protect her family from Weaver. Regardless, it didn’t matter in the end. “Agreed. Your freedom for John Henry’s body.” Humans put too much faith in promises, and Weaver could use that to her advantage. There was nothing Sarah could do if she reneged on her word. Even if this were an elaborate ruse to get her close enough to John Henry’s body to blow them both up, it would fail. Her body would easily recover, and she would make sure that Sarah paid for her stupid and foolish plan.

Sarah and Weaver stared at each other for a long moment, in some silent battle of wills, before Sarah nodded in apparent assent. A touch on Cameron’s stomach drew her attention away from the terminator and to Sarah. They began to step back slowly, their movements mirrored by Danny. Cameron raised her weapon to cover their retreat as Weaver stepped closer to the body.

"Give me the detonator," Weaver demanded. She held out her hand, bracing for the explosion she knew Sarah had planned. But surprisingly, Sarah simply tossed her the trigger.

"Catch," Sarah bitterly joked.

Weaver easily snatched it out of the air, her processors caught up in a frenzied analysis as Sarah Connor defied her expectations once again. Either Sarah Connor believed her or something else was at play. She carefully approached John Henry’s body, her sensors trying to detect anything amiss in the vicinity. Kneeling beside the inert body, she inspected the surface closely for any damage or evidence of a trap.

"Now!" Sarah yelled.

Cameron yanked the real trigger out from her rear pocket and smugly grinned as Weaver's head snapped up in astonishment. The first waves started immediately, the sound driving Sarah to her knees as she struggled to reach the ear protection she had brought. Danny's scream echoed through the loading dock just as Cameron's hands clamped over Sarah's ears. She felt like she was underwater as a flood washed over her skin and made her hairs stand on end.

Glass rained down on Cameron's body where she was hunched over Sarah as a window shattered from the vibrations. She helped Sarah get the protective headset on and then looked to Weaver. Her features smoothed and color seeped away until she was a humanoid blob of flesh and silver, swaying as she tried to control the solidity and movement of her body. Weaver tried every command, but her body remained motionless from the assault of the sound and vibrations.

“Go,” Sarah commanded, seeing their chance. Cameron stood, picking her target in the dark corner of the warehouse. She had seen Danny clutching the chip, and she took a step toward him just as sparks flew from John Henry’s chest and the sonic blast cut off, leaving the warehouse in an eerie silence.

Sarah cursed under her breath as she pulled herself to her feet and yanked the headset off. The sonic amplifier had shorted out, and Weaver was already regaining her form. “Damn it, John,” she hissed, knowing it was not his fault but needing someone to blame anyway.

Cameron’s jaw clenched as she surveyed the warehouse. She was too far away from Danny, and Weaver was recovering faster than she anticipated. In a microsecond, she considered her options and took a step forward, determined to try for Danny regardless of the odds.

Weaver stepped in front of Cameron, her solidifying body acquiring human features as she moved. She lifted her index finger and wagged it at Sarah, the silver slowly turning to flesh. Her head moved with her finger, and her lips thinned into a dark, tight smile.

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