Six Months Later

Cameron had been gone six months! Six fucking months! Well, actually non-fucking months when Derek thought about it. Not that he missed her. Well, he missed the sex, but that wasn't the same as missing her. He couldn't miss something that wasn't actually a person. But he had to worry about the damage that a two-faced, lying metal bitch was capable of inflicting on the world. If a piece of her fell into the wrong hands it could make Skynet more powerful than ever. That could be the real reason she came back. The machines had calculated that introducing their technology into the timeline at an earlier date would create ripples in the future to destroy the human resistance. He knew she had been working for them all along. Skynet must have programming encoded in their advanced models that John and his techs couldn't unlock. What more obvious explanation to the times when those things "went bad" could there be? Cameron had gone bad and now it was his job to hunt her down and destroy her.

Trying to get John to see reason and forget the psycho metal bitch wasn't happening either. For six months John Connor abandoned everything to search for her. The kid barely ate, rarely slept, and was always, always checking the web, checking the news feeds, and even the paranoid message boards of conspiracy freaks and crypto zoologists, always searching for clues to where she went. And nothing his mother or Charlie or Derek said could get him focused back on the mission. He and Derek had fought physically once over the way John was letting everything go to hell. Before Charlie and Sarah pulled them apart, Derek realized he hadn't been fighting a boy. There had had been a no-holds-barred, John was mad enough to kill him, rage running through his nephew. Afterwards John became even more feral. He stayed barricaded in his room all the time with nothing but computers. Sarah was getting desperate. Dr. Hernandez hadn't sympathized with her. He said just let John be a moody teenage boy for awhile and everything would be all right. Lately, Sarah talked about taking John to a psychiatrist. Like that could possibly do any good. There was no way their cover stories could explain John's condition. Charlie agreed with Sarah, big surprise, but Derek knew anything that got them on the radar made it easier for the machines to find John Connor. Maybe flushing John Connor out of hiding for another machine to kill had been her mission. He never had understood how the machines made decisions.

Sometimes, it occurred to Derek when he thought about her late a night after waking up from those dreams he wished he could open up his skull and tear out of his mind, that Skynet could have programmed Cameron as a psychological weapon. Maybe the plans all along had been for her to get John emotionally involved and then disappear? There was more than one way to destroy a man and John was certainly fucked up now. If only she was capable of feeling pain, he would stretch her sensors to the breaking point before terminating her.

John came into the kitchen. For the first time in six months his eyes weren't in shadows. "There was a break-out at Pescadero three nights ago!"

"Cameron would not have been placed in Pescadero even if they had her in custody, not this soon," Sarah said.

"It wasn't a woman escapee. It was Dr. Silberman!" John said.

Derek vaguely recognized the name. Sarah had been institutionalized under the direction of a Dr. Silberman. He thought she was delusional paranoid schizophrenic. Years later with an F.B.I. agent on both their tails, she had encountered him again. Only now believed everything Sarah had told him in therapy.

John showed Derek and Sarah his laptop. A team extracted Dr. Silberman from Pescadero within minutes. Witnesses described them as female gang members, but the raid was done with military precision. John must have noticed his puzzled look before his mother did. That was good thing actually. John noticed something other than the space where Cameron wasn't. "Are they from the future?" John asked.

"Yeah," Derek replied.

"So this time, a whole squad was sent. The machines must be getting desperate." Sarah said.

"These may be ours. Amazons." Derek said.

"The Amazons were women warriors in Greek mythology," John said.

"We may not have many schools in the future, but people get educations. The Amazons are the craziest bunch of psycho-berserkers we've got." A lightning bolt struck Derek. The chola that lead them to Sarkissan! At the time she had kind of freaked him out. Later he realized it was because her strange silence had reminded him of Acevada and the menace that could ooze out of her one eye without the Amazon commander saying a single word. Now he realized, the girl hadn't vaguely looked like Acevada. She was Acevada! Damn, he wondered how many battles it would take to transform the barrio Venus to the diamond-hard, killing Cyclops he knew in the future.

"Two of them were injured. They're in critical care at county." John said.

Derek took over the laptop. "Then maybe they're not from the future. Amazons don't let themselves be captured." He scanned the medical data on the prisoners. They had knife cuts and burns, but none of the melted, clear scars he would have recognized as laser marks. No work camp tattoos either, but they had Amazon marks, all right, those two interlocking circles that in the future were a warning for a man to keep his hands to himself, if he wanted to keep them attached to his wrists.

So the Amazons began before Judgment Day. Or did they? Cameron and Acevada had always been thick as thieves. The Acevada post-Judgment Day could have sent Cameron back with an agenda for the Amazons. He never had trusted that psycho-bitch. New facts all opened doors he didn't want to cross over. The only good thing about the Amazons being involved was he knew Acevada would never work with the machines.

"We need to find that Hispanic girl that was with Carlos." Derek said.

Sarah started to piece together information. "Why didn't you tell us that girl was from the future?"

"I didn't recognize her because she was so young." Derek said.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah demanded.

"I get it," Charlie said. "In your time, you've already met the older her."

Derek nodded.

"Is she important in the future?" John asked.

"Her name is Acevada. She's the leader of the Amazons and without them I don't think you can hold California." Derek explained.

"Does Cameron know her?" John asked.

"In my time Acevada was the closest thing Cameron had to a best friend," Derek said. Maybe John wasn't Cameron's primary target. Machines had been sent back to terminate others of importance. Destroy the Amazons and the Resistance was at least badly crippled. Acevada had been friends with Cameron even after the big reveal and the reprogramming memory wipe. In fact, as far as he could tell Acevada acted as if nothing had happened . But something wasn't right. No, more than not right, totally fucked up was a more apt description. Here in this time, the young Acevada didn't know Cameron was metal. But if Cameron met Acevada at this stage in the time line then by the time Acevada first saw her at Firebase Alpha, Acevada should have known Cameron was a machine. So why the hell hadn't she terminated the metal bitch on the spot? The only explanation was that Acevada or Cameron or both of them was trying to alter the future. The craziness was spiraling into the stratosphere. Amazons didn't work with machines! But until Riley, he never thought Jesse would do anything to hurt John Connor or jeopardize the Resistance either.

John's entire face lighted up. He smiled for the first time in months. "So, if we find Acevada, we find Cameron?" He started typing into his laptop.

Derek grabbed John's wrist. "I don't know where the name Acevada came from. Could be part of a Spanish family name or an alias or a nickname. All I know is it's the only one she goes by in my time."

"Well, it's the first lead I've had in weeks," John replied.

"Carlos was my contact point for our fake I.D. I never even heard him address that girl by name though. A cop once called her Baby Girl, but that's a common gang nickname." Sarah said.

Carlos was dead, so was the old man that sent them to Carlos. Cameron was a terminator needle and LA was the haystack. Derek accepted the fact that as much as he didn't want to deal with proto-Amazons and their psycho founder, they might be a path to the machine and he had to find Cameron and tear her apart. He scratched an Amazon mark unto a paper towel and shoved it toward John. "Start going through LAPD's gang graffiti and tattoo files. Look for this, especially one styled to look three dimensional."

John picked up the paper. "An infinity symbol?"

"It's the Amazon's main symbol. In the future, they leave it all over destroyed machine places and virtually all their members have it as part of their tattoos. But your average LA gangbanger wouldn't have it."

It took most of the day and even then it was barely a whisper, a trace foreshadowing of a future nightmare, but John did find Amazon marks in LA. Of course, John was ready to charge in looking for Cameron. At least, Sarah and Charlie managed to hold him at bay because Derek certainly couldn't. Walking through the neighborhood in pre-Judgment Day glory messed with his head.

"You know this place?" Sarah said as they scouted out the area around one cluster of Amazon signs.

"In my time, it's all rumble, but last time I saw Kyle was over there." He pointed down the street.

Her mouth formed a small o for a moment. Then, Sarah did something he hadn't believed was possible. She laid her hand on his shoulder. "I know this is hard for you. Keep focused on the mission."

"I am focused and this isn't hard," he replied.

Sarah glared at him. The family warmth was gone. "Every time you open your mouth about her, you dig your own grave."

What the fuck was she talking about? He felt like trying to shake some sense into her, but he didn't. Better to save his strength for the battle that might be coming, and Sarah was Kyle's widow in a way, he owed her respect even when she was acting stupid. So he followed her back to the motel room they were using as a base camp.

John was unexpectedly animated as he showed them the maps he had found. "According to city records all these storefronts were bought up by the Deckard Company a few months ago. There are very few records about Deckard, other than some minor IRS investigations. The kind of thing the Feds use when they are fishing for money laundering operations, but Deckard has avoided further scrutiny though what they actually do is a mystery."

Derek wasn't seeing the logic. "And somehow you know Cameron is connected to the Deckard Company?"

"Deckard was the name of the police detective in the movie Blade Runner. Cameron and I watched that movie hundreds of time. It's probably the only cultural artifact I ever saw her express any preferences for. She really liked that movie. She really liked the character Deckard. She said he was her favorite imaginary hero." John explained.

Machine really had learned to lie well. Derek tried to remember the plot of Blade Runner. He remembered it had cyborgs and the machines were evil. And there were humans whose job was to hunt the cyborgs down.

He should have cased out the place ahead of time and gathered more information about their setup. He should have had backup. Hell, he should have had a plan. But the minute Derek saw Acevada again, logic fled in the face of something more visceral and primitive. Find Acevada, find Cameron. Maybe John was right. She was their only lead. And he had to find Cameron. He didn't think he said anything to John, Sarah or Charlie just grabbed a pistol and headed out. And Acevada wasn't as good as she would be yet. He caught up with her in a straightforward, mindless blitz attack. The future her would have never been so stupid as to walk alone in the open.

"Don't struggle, if you want to live," he said pressing the gun barrel into her ribs.

The eyes were windows of the soul. Her eyes were ready to eviscerate him, but no words.

He glared down at the young Acevada. "You may have kicked my ass a few times in the future, but right now, little girl, I can take you out."

They moved slowly, half dragging Acevada, but he wasn't going to risk loosening his hold on her. He could smell gun oil and wondered how many shooters she had focused on this one entrance. "What do you got underground?" Derek demanded.

He could see real surprise in her eyes. Cool. He had never been able to faze Acevada before. "Oh yeah, I know you've gone underground. I bet you even have access to the tunnels. You going to show me how? Or do you want to lose that eye early?" Who knows? He never had learned how she lost that eye. Maybe he was the one that did it. That would explain why Acevada had avoided him so often. He followed her gaze to the back. At the end of the corridor there were two sentries who immediately sprang into action. "Stand down or whatever future you think you're creating ends now," Derek said.

He felt slight movement under his arm. Acevada must have signaled with a nod because they withdrew their rifles in unison. It was maddening to watch the Amazons already in play with the same their freaky mannerism they had in his time. The one on the left opened the door behind their watch post. Stairs, even cut metal stairs with emergency lights running along the side. What had the Amazons been building? A storehouse or a shelter maybe? If they had stockpiles of weapons and explosives that could be a very dangerous place for Cameron to know about. It was slow going down the stairs because he couldn't lower his guard. The sentries had fallen in behind him and Acevada. One weak move and they would be on him. The sentries' breath was on his neck. He could feel their fear, but not Acevada's. As always she was too fucking calm and he was almost distracted by the thought that in his time, they should have cross breed her and Timms. It would have made one hell of a silent predator.

Luckily his senses were still razor sharp, even when they were on the end of exploding. The world had gone crazy. What kind of nightmare was he in? He recognized the place now. The walls were cleaner, but this was Firebase Alpha or at least it would be the beginning of it. The main hatch would be constructed over the stairway he had just come down. When he saw the wall where Sayles would paint a lion with a terminator skull in its mouth and his catch phrase, "Hang in there, Baby," he dropped his hold on Acevada. His nightmare spiraled out of control. He walked past the spot where he slid Cameron's wedding ring on her finger. In his time it was where they always stood and kissed good-bye before he left on patrol. He raced down the corridors where the generators would be in the future; then came to an abrupt halt in the space that would be the mess hall. A dozen Amazons sat in a table cleaning AK-47s with Cameron in a chair at the head.

She wore a robe like some sort of prophet or goddess. An Amazon brought her a glass of water.

"What in goddamn hell?" Derek said.

All eyes turned toward him. Cameron handed her glass back. She gazed at him serenely. "Hello, Derek."

He walked closer. "I thought you were supposed to protect John, not abandon him?"

"I have other missions to fulfill," she said.

"I'll just bet you do." She was too calm, to fucking calm, for this to be anything other than machine plans. He went to the side of her chair. She didn't stand up. She just sat there like a fucking princess as if she expected him to kneel at her feet. "John sent me out looking for you? For six fucking months, I've been doing nothing, but looking for you. We've all been looking for you because that's the only way to keep John from going crazy."

"As I said I have other assignments to fulfill. All this is done to further the Resistance. Surely, you've realized what we've built here?" She replied.

More so than you're reprogrammed circuits ever well. "And those other assignments outrank your directive to protect John? What he's been doing is dangerous. It draws too much attention to him and the rest of us." Derek said.

She appeared to be thinking. Apparently she required more time to process information now. "Please, advise John, that I am well and in safe hands. I am doing very necessary work for the Resistance and will make a full report as soon as time permits."

"Not enough. Not in the state he's in." Derek said.

Cameron was stronger, but she looked disoriented and when she was in that state, he could get her to do things. He picked up her hand. "Come on, you're coming with me."

"That's not a good idea, Derek. I have important work here." Cameron said.

"You should talk to John face-to-face. It's important to him." Derek said.

"Then bring him here." Cameron said.

She wasn't just disoriented. On a human woman this would be nervousness even fear, but terminators didn't have those responses. He didn't know what was going on with her, but she was hiding something. "I think it would mean more to John if you came out to meet him. Why not give him a tour of this place if you're so proud of it?"

"It's unfinished. None of my work is complete yet." She sounded very defensive and utterly disoriented.

"What the fuck are you hiding?" He jerked her arm up hoping the element of surprise would be enough to temporarily stall out her physical strength and allow him to pull her up from her little throne.

Rifle clacks echoed all around. A dozen Amazon barrels were pointed directly at his head. He didn't notice. All he could see was the machine in front of him, the Metal Bitch that had fucked over his life and then followed him through time to screw over John Connor's life as well. Cameron was pregnant!

Before he could say anything, a camouflage-wearing, sidearm toting Silberman shoved him aside. "Idiot! You don't jerk a pregnant woman out of a chair."