Looking up as the time displacement device activated, John made eye contact with the man who stood inside it; his confidant, his ally, his best friend…his father. Even though Reese didn't even know it, he was proud to call the younger man by that title. Kyle was strong, brave, loyal, and John was overwhelmingly proud of him.

As the glow of the machine became brighter, John nodded to the man now lifted into the air. This was it, the last moment in his time line where he'd see Kyle. It was bittersweet but necessary. Skynet's servers were blown and this event was one of the last loose ends that needed to be tied. Despite this being the moment that ended his knowledge of the future, he was confident that the battles that would take place now would be easier fought that previously. He would miss Reese though…the friendship they had and the never ending loyalty that vowed to protect him until the end. That loyalty was meant for his mother now.

A gun going off behind him drew his eyes from the machine to frantically search the room. The moment where he would have seen Kyle disappear was instead taken by a jerk and a flash of pain that had him dropping to one knee and crying out. Soldiers around him dropped like flies, one…three, six…as he reached for his holstered gun with shaking hands.

Despite the bullet that rested in his thigh, John leveled the gun at the aggressor, unloading the clip. The terminator didn't look like one he'd encountered before. It was dressed in full military gear, the same that he himself was wearing. And it seemed that every bullet that made contact with the machine was absorbed with little to no damage.

Gritting his teeth and raising to his feet painfully, the man unholstered a second weapon, unloading yet another meaningless clip into the terminator as he shuffled towards the door. There were only three survivors left in the room including him and his heart bled for every lost soul. He knew that they would die for him, and he knew equally that it was him that led them here and to their inevitable death.

Another man dropped and John became increasingly aware that the machine was not targeting him and instead clearing the room.

The last soldier hit the ground with finality when he was at the door. He didn't even make it ten steps down the hall before he heard the thing round the corner behind him.

"John Connor." It sounded human….they always do.

The military leader stopped. Knowing that with a bullet wound and only one extra clip on his waist he wasn't going to survive. "Why haven't you killed me?" He spoke bitterly, not turning around. "What's your directive?"

"Kill you?" The machine laughed…..laughed? "I don't want to kill you."

John turned finally, setting his gaze on the machine and his hand on the extra clip. "You…" His brows came together questioningly. "What are you? We destroyed Skynet's central server." Was this…even a terminator?

"Pawns, that's all you destroyed." The cyborg raised a brow, spinning the gun in his hand. "I am Skynet."

"You're….Skynet…..?" In a practiced movement, he reloaded the gun, raising it towards the other. Fear must have crossed his face because it made the machine laugh once more.

"Go ahead. Unload that gun into me and see what little good it does you-" The word was cut off as the AI stumbled a step back, a bullet lodged between its eyes. But even that didn't slow it down much; nor did any bullet that John hit it with as he emptied his clip a final pathetic attempt to kill it.

Dropping the gun to his side in defeat when the robot recovered, he swallowed, raising his chin in defiance. "If you don't want me dead that what is it you want?"

"I want you to join me." The AI spoke, a smile stretching across his face.

The military leader laughed harshly with his surprise. "You think…that I would actually join you? I would die first."

Skynet's AI shook its head, smirking as he took the time to switch the clip in his handgun for a different one. "Then you should have saved one of those bullets."

John's eyes widened as the gun was raised towards him and he wondered for a panicked moment if he could make it to the end of the hall. But even as he was turning on his heel, he felt the hard sting of something in the back of his neck. The sedative began acting almost immediately, clouding his mind as he took a limping step away. With his second step, his vision was nearly dark. His third step saw his legs giving out and his conscious form lying at Skynet's feet.

-
'Beep'

'Beep'

John woke to the quiet rhythmic sound of a machine. A heart monitor? "Reese..?" He grated out, his voice a dry rasp. On those occasions where he was injured on the field it was normally Kyle that was sitting at his side, the ever vigilant watchman. At the lack of response, he groggily opened his eyes. When his vision didn't quite clear fast enough, his heart lurched when he realized he couldn't lift his hand to rub his eyes.

Swallowing dryly, he blinked until his vision focused. It took about the same amount of time to remember what had happened. Kyle was gone, as was no doubt every living person that had been in his unit that day.

And him? Captured. He glanced down at himself.

He was lying on a slightly tilted steel table, arms fastened down at his wrists with mechanical restraints. He was wearing only his cargo pants, leaving his bare and scarred chest open to the air. Nodes were stuck to his skin, monitoring his vitals that appeared on a screen to his left. Right above one of the restraints an iv was taped to his arm. His wounded leg was crudely bandaged and throbbed with every heartbeat…every bleep of the monitor.

The room around him was the average size for a hospital room, lowly lit. Machine panels lit up almost every wall with tiny lights that blinked ominously every few seconds.

His thoughts raced with every possibility about why they would keep him alive. Skynet didn't take prisoners, it killed, that was all that it did. It killed humans. For the longest time he was its biggest target, its biggest threat. So why, now that it had him at its mercy, was he still alive?

He turned to watch the heart monitor beep faster as his heart began to race in panic.

Skynet had said that it intended for him to join it. Was it experimenting on humans? To what end? What was it going to do? Turn him into a cyborg? Plant a microchip in his head? Was he to be some obedient slave?

Footsteps drew his attention and he turned his gaze towards the approaching thing. Skynet. The same model AI that had captured him.

He narrowed his gaze, wetting his lips nervously as the machine stepped up beside him. "John Connor." It greeted him with a smile that was not reciprocated.

"What are you going to do?" He croaked, throat still dry.

"I already told you. You're going to join me." The AI, stepped towards one of the computer panels beside him, studying the readout.

"Why haven't you just done whatever you're going to do yet, then?"

The AI turned to look at him. "You're valuable, John Connor. I am still in the beginning phase of testing. I wouldn't want to terminate your life if I don't know yet if the procedure will even work."

The heart monitor jumped again as fear struck him. "Procedure?"

"Rewriting a human's genetic code on a cellular level using nano resin. You won't be human, nor will you be machine. You'll be more." John's jaw clenched at the words. He had to get out of here…escape somehow…or…end his own life. He couldn't be turned into some….weapon for Skynet.

Looking down at him, the AI smiled. "You won't be waiting long. As of now I am…" it paused, raising its gaze as if reading something in the empty space above him before glancing down again. "79 percent completed the preliminary testing on other captured subjects."

The words caused John to jerk his body in the restraints as if to get up in anger. "You're testing on people?" He growled at the machine, gritting his teeth as his leg throbbed. Killing humans was one thing…but this? This was so much worse.

"They are terminated after they serve their purpose." The AI said passingly as he turned to leave. "I will see you when preliminary tests are complete."

Shutting his eyes, John shuddered a breath. This was so wrong, this entire situation. Was this truly his fate in the time line? Since he was a child he was told he was humanity's savior. Thousands of people had died for him in the course of his life. Skynet worked furiously through even time itself to end him…and this…here… was to be his fate? Not days after his knowledge of the future ended he was to become a tool for Skynet? He felt like he was going to be sick.

John's thoughts wandered to Kyle then. His heart panged in emptiness and longing for his friend to be there, reassuring him that whatever decisions he made that got him here were the right ones, and that he would somehow pull through. But even Kyle was gone, destined to die for him before he was even born.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts. Pitying himself now wouldn't do him any good. He had to figure out some way to get out of the situation, either dead and useless to Skynet, or alive. It would be more difficult now without his pre knowledge of events. But that didn't change his training or skill set. He didn't live his life the way he did to give up and surrender on some operating table in the hands of the enemy.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep and calming breath. He had to think.

Authors note:

I don't care how many bad reviews the dang movie got. And I know really liking it is an unpopular opinion but I can't help it.
I loved, loved, Jason Clarke in the role of John Connor. I loved him as a protagonist, and it absolutely shattered me when he was in the end, evil. I think about it often and it still hurts.
So here's an alternate universe take on events? One that's less painful to me. ^^;;