John Connor thought his life of training for a future war was over. Judgement Day had been averted and both John and his mother were now free to live their lives. Then one day on a beach in Mexico, a Terminator showed up once again to try to kill John. Separated from his mother once again, John decided to end the fight once and for all, finding out the Skynet had sent four additional Terminators back with the T-1000 just in case the main assassin failed. Three of them were sent to target John, and the fourth was sent to strike at a young Kyle Reese…
The John Connor Chronicles: No Fate But What We Make #2 After destroying the rest of the first T-850 so there wasn’t a trace left for anyone to use to doom the world, I set out to get ready for the next Terminator that probably woke up the second I destroyed the CPU. If this last one was correct, they’ve already adapted to my EMPs and my dummy trick. I’m going to have to up my game while I track down Kyle Reese. Going to have to plan my next move carefully. 16-year-Old John Connor stared ahead of him, knowing the next move was critical. The entire morning depended on what came next. After several seconds of intense pondering, John finally made his choice. “I’ll take the strawberry,” The blonde teenage girl behind the donut counter opened the case and finished John’s order, putting the final donut in the box before handing it to him. “Never seen you around here before,” the cashier said, her name tag reading ‘Jade’. She noticed John the second he walked in, seeing how handsome he was. “Yeah, I just got here this morning,” John told her. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, I’m kind of expecting my Uncle Bob to arrive, but I don’t know how long he’s going to take.” “Well, if you’re going to be here for a while, maybe you could use a guided tour,” Jade told him. “I’d like that,” John smiled as the two started talking. Behind him, the door opened and in stepped a man dressed in a nice suit. He took immediate notice of John talking to his niece and frowned as he approached the couple, putting a hand on John’s shoulder, who reacted by nearly punching the older man. “Whoa, there, slugger,” the man said as he stepped back. “You always react that way to strangers coming up behind you?” “Sorry,” John told him. “I just jumpy sometimes.” “I’ve never seen you here before,” the man said. “I’m Warren Kincaid, the chief of police.” John extended his hand to shake, not getting one in return. He slowly pulled his hand back as Warren looked at Jade. “This guy giving you trouble?” “No, Uncle Warren,” Jade told him. “Everything’s fine. We were just talking.” “Make sure it stays that way,” Warren said as he poured himself a cup of coffee, taking note of John’s black motorcycle jacket and the custom Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle outside polished to perfection. “Nice bike. Is it yours?” “Yes, sir,” John said. “Built her myself. Fastest thing on two wheels.” “Then it should be fast enough to get you out of my town in the next five minutes,” Warren said as he got closer to John. “This a nice, friendly town, son. We don’t need your kind bringing trouble.” “My kind?” John asked. “Leather wearing, motorcycle riding punks,” John said. “I know your type all too well. Which is why if I see you here again, messing with my niece, you’ll spend the rest of your natural-born life in the state pen. I’m sure they’d love a pretty young thing like you. You’ll be the belle of the ball.” “Uncle Warren, he hasn’t done anything,” Jade told him. “We were just talking.” “Stay out of this,” Warren told him. “I’ll be keeping tabs on you, little boy. If I spot you in this town again, you’re done. Now get on your little toy and beat it.” “Nice meeting you, Jade,” John said as he exited the store. “You don’t have to treat every guy who treats me nice like that,” Jade told him. “Jade, your parents left you in my custody,” Warren told her. “Your father was my brother and best friend, and I’ll be damned if some leather wearing punk puts his hands on you. You see that little bastard again, call me and I’ll handle him.” * Outside, John’s shoulder started bothering him again. The injury he’d received from the T-850 shooting him through the shoulder years earlier was acting up again. Pulling out a small bottle of fentanyl, John took two pills and a drink from his water bottle as he got onto his bike and started riding down the street. I’ve already left clues to lure the next Terminator here. The junkyard here has the world’s strongest scrap magnet, which is perfect for picking up Terminators. But now I have to avoid Sheriff Asshole before Uncle Bob gets here and starts ripping people in half to get to me. That Jade girl was nice enough, though. Maybe if I can wrap this enough in time, I can come back and see there’s an actual chance of me having a happily ever after. * A fax came through as Warren looked at it before crumpling the paper in his hand. “This punk is unidentifiable,” Warren said to Officer Norton. “No fingerprints, no known photographs, no record of him to be found, it’s like he’s a ghost. You know what that means?” “No one’s going to miss him if he disappears,” Norton said with a laugh. “You think he’s skipped town already?” “Guys like that never do,” Warren told him. “He’s still here, and he’s going to be up to something. I want him found and I want to deal with him my way. You know what to do.” * John stood in the hotel bathroom with a towel around his waist, staring at the mirror ahead of him as he looked at the scar on his right shoulder from where he’d been shot 5 years earlier. The wound had healed and the scar was small, but he could still feel the sting of the bullet every time he thought about it. Slowly touching it, John still felt how much it had hurt the day he’d received it. The scar was a reminder that he may never truly be free of Skynet and a future war. “I’m going to finish this,” John told himself. “I’m going to find you, Mom. As soon as this is finished. I swear.” After getting dressed, John left the hotel where he was immediately spotted by Officer Norton, who picked up his walkie. “I got him, Chief,” Norton told him. “Should I bring him in?” “No,” Warren told him. “Plant the package as I told you to, then tell me when it’s done. Then wait for him to come back so we can nail him.” Norton broke into John’s room, planting a bag of cocaine in his dresser before laughing to himself and leaving the room. * After picking up a few supplies at the hardware store, John walked out and headed down the street when he heard a voice calling his name. “JOHN!” the familiar voice shouted. John turned around to see a red-headed young man running toward him “John Connor?” “It can’t be,” John said as he looked closer. “Tim?” “Holy shit, you’re alive!” Tim said as he hugged his long lost friend. “I haven’t seen you since that day at the mall! I thought that cop killed you! I mean, you were all over the news with your mom and that other guy, and then nothing! What the hell happened?” “It’s a long story,” John said as he looked Tim over. He’d lost his mullet and had a full head of red hair and looked like he’d put some muscle on. “A lot’s been going on since that day. What have you been up to? How did you know it was me?” “Are you kidding? You changed your hair color but you still look like a fucking Backstreet Boy,” Tim said. “Well, after the mall incident, my family ended up moving to Michigan. Town’s boring as shit, though. No real excitement like the trouble we used to get into.” “Yeah, anything to piss off my foster parents,” John said with a laugh. “I always wanted to try to come back to find you to tell you I was alright, but life kept getting in the way.” “Everyone kept wondering what happened to you,” Tim said. “The people that mattered, anyway. The kids at school, my parents who were glad you were gone… Kate.” “Kate Brewster,” John said with a smile. “I had such a crush on her. She was my first kiss at that party she held a few days before what happened at the mall. Whatever happened to her?” “After those news reports about the Cyberdyne attack, the military pulled her father to Washington, the whole family moved there,” Tim said. “Never saw her again, either. She really liked you.” “I liked her, too,” John said. “Look, I’m glad I found you. I need your help. We should find a place to sit down, and I’ll explain everything about that day at the mall.” * Just outside of town, the next T-850 walked to the town border, seeing the sign ‘Welcome to Michigan’. A file was brought up with 10-year-old John Connor’s picture (the last taken picture of John) along with recent internet activity leaving clues to where he was headed. The Terminator, wearing dark sunglasses and holding a sawed-off shotgun stepped over the border and walked toward the town while reviewing the last footage the other three T-850’s received before the previous one’s destruction. * “Whoa,” Tim said, trying to take in everything he’d been told. “Killer robots from the future? Assassins made of liquid metal? You weren’t doing cocaine back then, were you? Because I could have gotten you cocaine, we could have split it.” “No, I only ever smoked that weed with you,” John told him. “It all happened, I swear. You have to believe me, Tim. A Terminator is heading this way as we speak, and I have to destroy him before he hurts someone trying to get to me. I need your help to get into the local junkyard.” “Relax, John, I believe you,” Tim told him. “You’ve never lied to me, not even when my stepmom flashed her breasts at you after her surgery.” “They were nice,” John admitted. “Yeah,” Tim laughed a little. “I’ll help you. I know how to get you in. I dated the daughter of the guy who runs the place for a few months, she gave me the codes to get through the electronic locks. We used to sneak in there late at night to fu— forget about our troubles.” “Uh-huh,” John said with a raised eyebrow. “I appreciate any help you can give. I still have a few things to gather, but how about we meet there at midnight?” “Okay,” Tim said as they shook hands and hugged. “It’s really good seeing you here. Maybe you can stick around after your business with this robot douche.” “I want to, but I have a lot of things to do before I can settle down,” John told him. “But once that’s done, I’m definitely coming back to catch up on old times.” * John stopped off at a mechanic shop that was closed and broke in, laying the pieces he needed on the table. Opening his backpack, he put down other spare pieces he had. “The EMP might not work like it with the last one, but I can use all the weapons I can get at this point,” John said as he started building. A short while later, John returned to his motel room and started getting ready for his mission at midnight just as a knock came at the door. “Tim?” John asked as the door burst open and Norton pushed John into the wall. “No, sweetheart, just me,” Norton said in a hideous giggle as Warren stepped into the room. “What the hell’s going on?” John asked. “Got a search warrant for your room, sport,” Warren said as he started looking around. “I thought I saw cocaine on your lip earlier and decided to investigate.” “That was powdered sugar!” John said as Norton punched him. “No one said you could talk, punk!” Norton said as Warren opened the dresser drawer, finding a bag of cocaine. “That’s bullshit!” John shouted. “You planted that!” “Norton, take Christian Slater here to the station,” Warren said as he got closer to John. “You shouldn’t have tried tasting my niece’s doughnuts, kid. Get him out of here!” * At the police station, John had been strip-searched and forced to stand naked in front of a powerful fire-hose. “You gotta believe me!” John shouted as the ice-cold water from the hose hit him while in decontamination. “Something bad’s coming!” “Yeah, right, kid!” Norton laughed as John tried covering himself as he stood there. “The only bad thing here is you and now you’re going to spend your life in the pen!” “All because I talked to that asshole’s niece?” John asked. “What kind of corrupt police are you?” Norton just laughed as he kept blasting the hose. * “What hell is this?” Warren asked he looked through John’s backpack and the EMP. “Electronics bullshit? This thing has to be a bomb. For once we made the right call by bringing this punk in, he was going to blow something up! We might have just saved the town.” “What do we do with the kid?” Norton asked. “He’s drying off now.” “Well, this little doodad just ruled out going easy on him,” Warren told him. “So what do we do with him? We make his life a living hell. He’s going to wish for life in prison when we’re done with him.” * The Terminator had traced John to the motel he’d booked and stood at the window. “Have you seen this boy?” the T-850 asked. “He’s got dark blonde hair, but I’d say that’s him,” the clerk told him. “The police took him to the station an hour ago, they found drugs in his room.” “He won’t be back,” the T-850 said as he walked away. * John was pushed to the floor of an empty cell as Norton slammed the cell shut. “Hey, I get one phone call!” John shouted as he got to his feet. “You’re lucky you get to keep your kneecaps, scum,” Norton said. “Now behave yourself, we’re going to have lots of fun with you, druggie. No one knows you’re here, and no one’s ever gonna see you again.” “You sicko, people are going to die if you don’t let me out!” John said as he ran to the bars. Norton held up a can of mace. “One more word and I’m going to empty this entire fucking can into your eyes! Then you’ll be alone and blind! Now sit down and shut the fuck up!” Norton walked away as John looked around for a way to escape. After a short while, Jade entered the cell block and ran to the cell John stood in. “Jade, what are you doing here?” John asked. “I know my uncle set you up,” Jade told him. “I’ll get you out of here.” “Jade, something… bad is coming for me,” John told her. “I have to get to the junkyard before it arrives. Your uncle took my backpack, I need it back.” Jade smiled at him and held his hand through the bars as she slipped him the keys. “Wait outside, I’ll bring it to you in the back alley. Don’t let anyone see you.” As she left the area, John looked at the key in his hand. Quickly opening the cell, he ran for the door only to find Norton waiting for him. “What do we have here? An attempted jailbreak,” Norton said as he punched John in the nose. As John landed on the ground, Norton smirked as he cracked his knuckles. “Now it’s playtime.” * The T-850 walked into the lobby and stared at the clerk behind the window. “I’m looking for John Connor,” “There’s no John Connor here,” the man said as he typed the name in. “Only prisoner brought in today was a drug dealer and he’s in lock-up. You’ll have to come back during visiting hours and—” The clerk looked up and saw the larger man was gone. The revving of a car was heard from outside. * As Warren sat at his desk, a loud crash was heard from the first floor, followed by gunshots. “What the hell is going on down there?” Warren asked he jumped up and left the room. Moments after he was gone, Jade snuck in and found John’s backpack. “Whatever’s in here better be worth it,” Jade said as she left. * Bullets flew past the T-850, who returned the fire in kind as nothing was stopping the descent toward the staircase to kill John Connor. Warren stepped into view, laughing as he saw the assassin stepping toward him. “Oh, isn’t this cute?” Warren asked. “How much did that punk pay you to do this? Looks like you’re both going down for this—“ The T-850 merely threw Warren out of the window, not slowing down for even a second. Upstairs, Norton kicked John in the stomach as he lay on the ground. “I hate punks like you,” Norton said as he kicked John again. “Worthless little brats who think they can get away with anything they please. Should have listened to the chief when he told you to get out of town.” Norton went to kick him again when he heard gunfire coming from outside. “That can wait, first I want to get a few more kicks in,” Norton said as the door was ripped off of its hinges and the Terminator stepped in. “I’m kind of busy right now!” The T-850 aimed his gun as Norton knocked it away. “I’m not done with this brat yet!” Norton shouted as the Terminator grabbed him by the shoulder and tossed him at the bars with his full strength. A bloody mess was the result as Norton’s body flew at the bars at full force, slamming through and leaving only blood and organs sprayed on the inside of the cell. The machine turned its attention back to John, who had already run out of the room and to the fire escape, where he saw Jade waiting in the alley. He quickly grabbed his backpack from her. “Find somewhere safe, he just wants me,” John told her. “I want to help!” Jade said. “Then make sure the cops stay away from the junkyard!” John said as he returned and give Jade a large kiss. “If I make it back someday I’d like to look you up.” “I’d like that, too,” Jade said as a bullet hit the ground. “Stay safe!” John shouted as he ran past Warren, who was trying to pick himself up from the broken window pieces he lay on, several of them embedded in his face. “I’ll kill that kid myself!” “Let it go, Warren,” Jade told him. “He’s trying to save us all.” * Tim paced around outside of the junkyard as John arrived. “He’s coming,” John told him. “He’s just up the street, we gotta hurry!” “Alright, just have to put in the code and…,” Tim entered the code but the locks didn’t open. “Are you kidding me? They must have changed the code!” “How bad the break-up?” “She… kind of got pregnant,” Tim told him. “It’s not like I refused to help raise the kid, but I’m 16 and I live at home, how was I supposed to raise a kid? Last I heard she put the baby up for adoption.” “We have to get in there,” John said. “Let me try something,” Tim said as he started typing. “Maybe it’s the last thing her father said to me. Motherfucking asshole?” The locks beeped as the gate opened. “We’re in!” John looked back to see the T-850 walking toward the junkyard. “Tim, you don’t have to stay for this. If you got hurt—“ “I spent the last 7 years feeling guilty that I didn’t help keep you safe from that psycho officer,” Tim said. “I’m not leaving you another killer dickbag. Let’s kick his ass together.” The two ran in and started looking for the scrap magnet. “You find the magnet, I’ll find the car crusher. We’re going to have to drop in one the magnet picks him up. Good luck.” “John, wait,” Tim told him. “If I end up dying… track down my kid and tell them that… I really did want to be a father to them. I know he’ll grow up hating me, but I was hoping to meet him or her someday to make sure they’re with a loving family. Do that for me, okay?” John pulled him into a hug. “I swear if we both make it through this, we’ll find them together and make sure they everything he or she needs.” John spotted the T-850 and pushed Tim to the side. “Move, now!” The two ran in separate directions as John kept a lookout for the car crusher, finally spotting it in the distance. A shot rang out as John ducked. Immediately flashbacks of what had happened a few years ago on that beach struck him as John started to panic. The pain raced through his shoulder as he started running. “I can’t stop moving now,” John said. “I can’t give up—“ The Terminator grabbed him by the arm and flung him a good twenty yards. He hit the windshield of an old car and rolled to the ground. His body in pain, the Terminator stomped toward him. John struggled to grab the EMP device from his backpack as the T-850 stood on his arm and lifted him into the air, causing him to drop the bag. John was starting to have trouble breathing as the Terminator started to squeeze harder as John struggled. “You are termina—“ the machine started to say as a loud buzzing was heard. While holding John by his neck, the T-850 lifted into the air, getting higher until it became stuck to the scrap magnet, by now holding John by his shirt, which was slowly tearing. “Oh, shit!” Tim said as he realized he wasn’t going to make it in time to John from plummeting to his death. He frantically looked around and swung the magnet as John’s shirt completely ripped from his body, causing him to plummet into a mountain of baby diapers. “JOHN!” John rolled down the large mountain, landing at the bottom as Tim ran to meet him. “I’m going to need a million showers after tonight,” John told him as he looked up at the magnet. “I think we know what we have to do.” Tim swung the magnet over the car crusher, dropping the robot in as John hit the button to start the crusher up. The machine started compacting what was inside as bolts of electricity started to rise until the machine was no more. “So, was that it?” Tim asked. “No, we have to get all the crushed pieces and melt them,” John said. “We have to prevent anyone from finding any of the parts and building Skynet into existence.” “Then you have to leave again,” Tim said sadly. “Just until I take out these last two fuckers,” John told him. “Then I have to find my mom and tell her I’m alive. But after that, I’m coming back to see you, and Jade.” “What about Chief Dipstick?” Tim asked. “I think I can handle him if I see him again,” John smiled. “Especially after what that Terminator did to Norton. Thanks for sticking around to help.” “Hey, we’re best buds,” Tim promised him. “You ever need me, I’m there.” * After destroying the remains of the T-850, John and Tim said goodbye as John headed out. By now the third robot was awake and leaving its hiding place to track him down, having the information of the previous two Terminators of what John was capable of. After sneaking the rest of his belongings out of the motel, John found a place to shower and change before getting on his motorcycle and taking one last look at the town. Two Terminators down, two to go. And now the others know to avoid junkyards so I’ll have to get creative with the next two. But at least I know I have allies in this town if I need them, so I have friends to come back to someday. * Somewhere in the Midwest In an old house, a kidnapped child sat in a closet blindfolded with his hands bound. He’d been kidnapped and held for ransom, with the kidnappers threatening to kill him if his parents didn’t pay up. As the boy sat there, he heard the faint knocking at the front door. Maybe it was his parents, coming to take him home. Suddenly the boy heard the sounds of screaming from outside, followed by gunshots and an explosion. After a few minutes, the boy got scared and huddled into the corner as the door opened and Sarah Connor walked in. “Come with me if you want to live. You’re safe, I promise.” Sarah carried the boy through the living room, making him close his eyes so didn’t he the carnage left behind as Sarah carried the boy to the car where she’d return him to his parents. After losing her son a few years ago, Sarah set on a mission while she searched for the Terminator that killed John. No one would ever lose their child again. To Be Continued…
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Tobias ChristopherUnfeeling killing machine. Archives
June 2020
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