Terminator – Humanity

Prologue - or - She did WHAT?

"If a machine, a terminator can learn the value of human life...maybe we can as well." – Sarah Connor.

Before any complaints – Shampoo is speaking in her native tongue so no broken speech.

Okay...I'm not sure what I was on when this idea slipped into my head. I think it was all the Avatar and James Cameron stuff that's been flying around recently that set it off. As my other stuff is stalled in rewrite hell, I'm putting this fic up. I'm pretty certain I know where it ends (for once I have a goal), it won't be massively long or epic but if it all goes well, you'll never watch T2 the same way again :P

Set a few years after Terminator Salvation.

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Bayankala range, Qinghai Province, China, 2025

The sun shone brightly down on the grassy plains, one of the few places that remained untouched by the nuclear fallout known as Judgment Day. On these plains, a herd of wild kyangs milled around, either heads down and feeding or eyes staring inquisitively out over the plains for anything unusual.

A distance high-pitched whine disturbed the quiet afternoon, one that rapidly grew louder. Ears flicked towards the sound and heads rose. The noise grew louder still and almost as one the herd scattered, darting away as the aerial HK shot past overhead with the whine of powerful turbines.

The HK flew low over the plains as it homed in on its target destination, where it would drop off its cargo. Four of Skynet's newest T800 infiltration and termination units sat in the cramped confines of the HK's small hold, all staring blankly ahead, silently waiting for when they reached the drop-zone. Each terminator was a different model, a 056, a 098, a 099 and finally a model 101.

Despite Skynet's successful attempts at shrinking the endoskeleton chassis of the latest T-series, the four infiltration units were all large, heavyset white Caucasian males. Different features, hair and eye colours did little to set them apart when they all were the same size and build, nor did the identical blank expressions, or the identical Chinese military uniforms help to distinguish them from one another.

If these terminators' chips were unlocked and they had a moment to contemplate their mission, they might have wondered how they would successfully blend into a possible rebel base filled with Chinese soldiers. However, their chips were read-only, and so they sat and waited for when they would carry out their orders.

The aerial HK rose gracefully into the sky as it approached the rocky mountain range, still keeping the high speed and avoiding obstacles with inhuman precision. It passed over the range and slowed as the first drop-zone came into visual range. As the HK passed over a small valley of pools, its sensors blipped out for a moment at the magnetic distortion in the area. For a moment, it had been flying blind. If it had been human it may have panicked at the sudden loss of sensory input, but it had passed by the interference within seconds and all systems came back online.

The HK recorded the minor malfunction in its systems for a systems check once it returned to base even as its turbines rotated towards the front to break. Soon it came to a halt and hovered over a clear patch of land. It lowered itself closer to the ground sending dirt and loose grass flying from the downwards thrust it was using. Its cargo bay door opened and the 101 smoothly rose and dropped the eight feet to land heavily on the ground in a crouch, its booted feet sinking slightly into the ground from its weight.

The terminator smoothly came out of the crouch and stood up straight as above it, the cargo door closed back up and the HK's turbines increased in power to lift it back into the sky. The terminator paid no attention to the powerful winds that whipped around it as the HK departed, heading off to the next drop-zone.

The terminator slowly scanned the area from left to right and then back once more, only its eyes and head moving. It paused for a second to decide the most efficient way to complete its mission. It decided to head straight towards the coordinates that the previous drones and T600's had reported before being terminated by some unknown force.

Skynet was baffled by this area's ability to seemingly destroy any terminator it had sent in so far. Satellite images showed a village just a few miles north of the terminator's current location, a village that had definite signs of human life, but no signs of any technology sufficient to destroy terminators. All images sent back from the previous incursions had shown empty huts and no sign of any inhabitants and then without warning the unit's sent in were attacked and destroyed one-by-one with great efficiency.

The terminator knew this; it was currently reviewing the footage even as it set off at a brisk walk. Skynet, like any intelligent being wanted to know whom or what it was up against, and if possible how to defeat them, which was why the four fully fleshed out T800's were heading in at this moment.

The terminator slowed for a moment to read the faded signpost it was passing. "Welcome to Jusenkyo" the sign stated in Chinese, Japanese, English and even Russian script. It stored the word Jusenkyo in its memory banks. It might clue Skynet in on what was happening in the area.

It did not take the terminator long to see the first signs of human activity. It passed fenced and carefully ploughed fields, but no signs of humans. A large ox wearing a straw hat and a plough still attached to it watched the terminator pass by with curiosity.

The terminator noted and immediately discarded the various other animals scurrying about the fields. It was a suspicious large variety of creatures, cats, dogs, various fowl, but no humans. Therefore, it ignored them, even though they watched its passing with a keen intelligence in their eyes.

The sight of various terminator remains strung up over poles almost as if they were trophies made the terminator pause and study the sight. Lifeless metal skulls of T600's decorated the poles, like heads on pikes. It was a warning the terminator decided. Curious. It approached the nearest and stood before what would have been a grisly sight if not for the body parts all being metal.

The terminator studied the remains, seeking for the cause of termination. It reached out, picked one of the skulls up, and turned it around in its hands. The skull was remarkably undamaged aside from the neck, which had appeared to be shattered from the inside somehow. The terminator dropped the skull uncaringly and leaned closer to study the remains of a chest section. It too seemed to look as if a bomb had gone off inside the chassis, however it could not detect any signs of burnt materials.

Finally, the terminator's eyes fell upon the sign in Chinese, resting on the ground. "Metal skeletons will never defeat the Amazons!"

Amazons. The word was quickly isolated. The Amazons (Greek: μαζόνες, Amazónes, singular μαζών, Amazōn) are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia (modern territory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place them in Asia Minor or Libya.

The terminator straightened up, stared towards the village, and sought out any signs of humans, especially female ones. It saw nothing but the buildings in the distance of the village. Being a machine, the terminator did not feel concern; however, the warning signs told it to be alert. It reached for the phased plasma rifle with a 40 watt range that it carrier over one shoulder and armed the gun.

The weapon hummed faintly as the terminator held it in one hand and set off once more towards the village, eyes scanning the area constantly like a security camera, for signs of moment or life. The terminator saw nothing as it paused before the first hut and checked around for traps. After a moment, it raised its free hand and knocked on the wooden door.

There was no answer. It knocked again. Again, there was no answer.

"Hello." The terminator called out simply and with no inflection in its voice.

When it got no answer, the terminator pushed the door and it swung open smoothly on well-oiled hinges. The terminator noted the maintenance of the door as it stepped into the hut and looked around the simple dwelling. The hut looked lived in. It was clean and mostly neat and tidy. A large kettle hung over a simple fireplace and steamed away to its self. That signified someone lived here and had only just left or was hiding.

The terminator readied its weapon as it walked further inside. It checked under the table, looked into the cupboards and opened the doors to a stocked pantry. All the signs told it there was someone here, but so far, they were doing a fantastic job of hiding from the terminator.

A bump from the back room made the terminator whip around to aim towards the sound. It stealthily approached the door to the far room as only a large cyborg could. The terminator waited a second before bursting into the room and aiming around, seeking the source of the bump. A weasel shot out from under the bed and raced out between the terminator's legs. The terminator tracked the animal with the gun for a moment before relaxing its aim and forgetting about the animal. It then went about searching the room for a human or a possible hidden area. It found nothing. Soon it left the hut and began to search each of the other buildings in the village one by one.

As the minutes stretched towards an hour, the terminator moved from building to building searching them from top to bottom and finding nothing but a few animals. The terminator paused when it arrived in the centre of the village, a large area that looked almost like an arena. It scanned around the area as it tried to decide which building to search next. Its eyes rested on one of the larger buildings. The structure was slightly fancier than the other normal stone and wood dwellings.

The terminator approached the building and pushed the door open, not bothering to knock anymore. Inside was like the outside, a larger better layout than the other homes. The shutters at the windows were open and let plenty of light in. The terminator went through the rooms one by one carefully searching. Like the other buildings it found plenty of signs of recent activity, food left half prepared in the kitchen. A kettle had recently been boiled and a bowl of hot water sat on the floor, steam drifting lazily from it.

The terminator was the closest it was going to get to being frustrated. All the signs showed humans living here, ready for termination and yet it could not find them to fulfil its mission parameters. The village was a ghost town.

It reached for the handle of the final room it had to check.

"Meow?"

The terminator instantly rounded on the cat that had snuck up behind the killer cyborg. The cat was pink and had little bells in its fur. It looked up at the terminator curiously and seemed braced, ready to move out of the way quickly.

The terminator relaxed its finger off the trigger and smoothly returned to weapon to a ready position already deciding to ignore the household animal. The cat meowed questionably once more as the terminator turned back to the door. Getting no answer from the large cyborg the cat padded over and lightly clawed at the terminator's closest calf, its claws catching in the tough material of the terminators pant legs.

The terminator turned its empty stare back down at the small animal. They studied each other for a moment before the cyborg broke the silence.

"Don't. Do that." It warned.

The cat cocked its head and studied the flesh-covered machine as if it understood it. That was the moment that all hell broke loose. The door opened startling the cat and causing the terminator to spin instantly towards the opening.

"Hey mom! Is it safe...to...come..." a red-haired girl of around sixteen, wearing a short, white, and tight fitting Chinese dress with little red bows poked her head out and addressed the cat. Her hair was styled in two buns. She trailed off at seeing the large man in the room. "Who are you?" she pointed warily.

"Meooow!" the cat wowled a warning as the cyborg took aim.

"Oh fudge!" the girl stated springing into motion and kicked upwards, catching the gun pointed at her and forcing it up as she raised her leg vertically. The force of the blow was strong, but not enough to make the terminator lose its grip, however it did cause it pull the trigger from reflex. A bolt of plasma discharged from the barrel and punched a hole through the roof sending plaster scattering everywhere.

The girl continued to move, coming out of the kick and spinning her leg back down to give herself more momentum. She spun around and kicked the terminator in the jaw. The machine's head was knocked back but it did not fall.

"Ow..." the girl stated lowering her foot in surprise at how hard the man's jaw was. The terminator turned slowly back toward her, completely unaffected by the blow. "Whoa!" the girl flung herself into a backwards somersault as the cyborg tried to decapitate her with the butt of the plasma rifle.

The cat sprinted and leapt towards the still hot bowl of water as this was going on.

The girl rolled to her feet as the terminator took aim again and fired.

"Yikes!" the redhead leapt over the blast, doing the splits in midair. The wall behind her gained a large round hole. She barely had landed when another blast followed. She shrieked and began dodging rapid plasma fire in panic. She had to twist and contort in ways that surprised the terminator, as its incredibly accurate targeting systems failed to calculate her moves accurately enough to hit her.

Just as it aligned with the girl's head, something large and heavy slammed into its own. The terminator flew to the side, crashed through the kitchen wall as if the wall were plywood, and landed on its back outside.

"You are in *big* trouble young lady!" Shampoo snapped as she roughly pulled a dress over her head that she had retrieved with the hidden weapons technique.

"Soooorrrry!" the girl whined. "It was so quiet I thought I could come out."

Outside, the terminator turned its head to see what had hit it with enough force to send it smashing though a wall. A large metal and now slightly dented Shuang Chui lay on the ground near its head. The terminator straightened and slowly sat up. From where it sat, it could see inside the house and saw that another human female had joined the girl, it roughly calculated the elder one's age to be late forties to early fifties. Neither should have been capable of throwing such a weapon with such force. There had to another human operating some type of catapult to throw such weapons.

As the terminator sat up, it checked the area for its weapon. It saw the plasma rifle had fallen out of its hands inside the building. The nearest weapon was one of the Shuang Chui. It picked the heavy mace-like weapon up and climbed back to its feet. A Shuang Chui user does not have any fancy moves; the weapons use just comes down to old-fashioned brute forced and beating your opponent to a bloody pulp, which suited a terminator perfectly.

The two females seemed to be arguing and ignoring it. The terminator moved in for the kill.

"If your father was still alive he'd be so ashamed right now Ranko!" Shampoo said heatedly. "I said wait till we give the all clear! What about that order is hard to understand?"

"Eh?" Ranko stared in surprise, before her face hardened. "Oooh! Right! Whenever I make a mistake it's always this!" She folded her arms and sniffed turning away angrily.

"Aiya! Ranko! Your father was the slayer of Saffron! You should-"

"So what!? My old man killed some mouldy phoenix. Doesn't mean *I* have to be some sort of ultimate warrior!"

"Aiyaa! Look out!" Shampoo suddenly realised the outsider had snuck up on them when the shadow of the large man fell over the pair. As proficient martial artists and proud Amazon warriors, they all had learned to develop an almost sixth sense of when someone wanted to attack you. A person gave off an almost undetectable intent to kill or hurt when they attacked and the best warriors could sense that even before their attacker had committed themselves to the attack and avoid it. A machine gave off no such feelings, even a machine design only to kill, and that was how Ranko barely had any warning to avoid the blow to the head from the terminator. It sent the girl flying across the room to land in an unconscious pile in the corner.

"Ranko!" Shampoo shouted and spun towards the cyborg. "You'll pay for that." She stated pulling her second Shuang Chui out as the terminator swung the first towards her head. The two weapons collided with bone rattling force and both stopped as machine strained against Amazon.

"Aiya! You are strong for an outsider male." Shampoo remarked as they separated. The terminator did not reply and just swung at Shampoo again with her own weapon. The Amazon casually sidestepped the attack and slammed her Shuang Chui into the terminator's head. The machine stumbled to the side before catching its balance and smoothly righted itself. It took another attempt to hit the female, which she deflected with a clang as the weapons collided once more.

The terminator took a single step back to gain a moment to decide how to defeat this impossibly strong human. It quickly targeted its dropped plasma rifle. It feinted an attack, to which Shampoo moved to avoid, and then the cyborg took the opportunity to move towards the weapon. They began to circle each other, each occasionally testing the other's defences.

'Who is this male?' Shampoo thought as they exchanged another blow that could shatter bones like twigs. 'The way he shrugs off my blows...It's like fighting lost boy.'

As they circled, the terminator blocked out the light from the window. With its head blocking the light, Shampoo saw the faint red glow behind its pupils and she realised what she was fighting, much to her surprise.

"You're one of those metal skeletons." She stated knowing know why the male seemed to not feel her attacks. She smirked. If that was the case, she could end the fight anytime she wanted. It did surprise her though just how human this one appeared. It seemed whoever kept sending the metal creatures at them, they were learning to make better disguises.

The terminator suddenly threw the Shuang Chui at Shampoo's head. The Amazon reacted instantly, dodged the weapon and as it passed by caught the handle. She spun to lessen the force of grabbing such a heavy weapon out of the air. The terminator meanwhile picked up its gun and aimed only to have both of Shampoo's weapons slam into the gun crushing it instantly as the Shuang Chui clapped together from either side.

For a second the cyborg stared, almost surprised by this last event, before Shampoo reared back and did a one, two combination. One blow hit its midsection with enough force to bend the terminator double, before the second slammed into its heavily armoured chest area. The terminator smashed through a second wall for the second time that day. It hit the ground hard and slid on its back into the village centre where it came to a grinding halt.

Shampoo jumped after the cyborg through the hole and stalked towards the machine as it once more began to sit up.

"Mousse! Restrain it!" Shampoo called out as the terminator got to its feet.

A thick heavy chain with a weight on the end wrapped around the cyborg's torso and pinned its arms to its sides, restraining it. The terminator paused at the new event and turned to look in the direction the attack had come from. Behind it a large crowd of Amazon's had appeared from seemingly nowhere. The one holding the chain, a male with thick glasses stared at it calmly.

The terminator returned its gaze towards Shampoo as it quickly realised its situation was looking grim. It attempted to break the chains holding it, but found them strong enough that it could do little more than make them creak. As a last ditch effort, the machine took a step forward, dragging its captor with it as it moved towards Shampoo.

"You're not going anywhere." Mousse stated and quickly threw the chain up and over a post. He heaved back and was joined by another two Amazon's who helped drag the terminator back and lift it into the air by a foot. They tied the chain off as Mousse quickly used a second chain to restrain the cyborg's legs from kicking out.

The Amazon's gathered around as Shampoo walked right up to the restrained killing machine. The terminator just stared back, knowing it was helpless for the moment.

"You!" Shampoo pointed to the nearest Amazon. "Check up on my daughter while I deal with this...thing."

"Yes Matriarch." The Amazon rushed off inside Shampoo's home to make sure the girl was okay.

"You metal creatures keep invading our lands and trying to kill my people." Shampoo glared. "You dare hurt my daughter and try to attack myself. You will pay."

The terminator remained silent.

"You can talk. Yes?"

"Yes." The terminator confirmed. It saw no benefit to remaining silent and perhaps it could discover what these people were before they terminated it. As Skynet was receiving everything that happened to it, at least the terminator's inevitable end might have some use, it reasoned. There was always a slim chance it could get free as well.

"The others couldn't. Or wouldn't."

"They were an obsolete model." The terminator stated.

"Then you'll answer my questions." Shampoo folded her arms. "Why do you keep invading our lands?"

"By Skynet's decree, all humans are to be terminated or captured. My mission is to terminate any human life in this village."

"Who is Skynet?"

"Skynet is the computer network that controls this planet."

"The one that dropped the bombs." Mousse surmised. They Amazon's were isolated, but they still knew of the nuclear war.

"Correct." The terminator confirmed. A murmur went through the gathered Amazon's.

"Then you'll take a message to Skynet." Shampoo demanded causing the villagers to go quiet again.

"Skynet knows of everything that occurs to myself." The terminator stated.

"Useful. That means we can kill you afterwards." Shampoo looked up at the cyborg and stared it in the eyes. "We Amazon's have over three thousand years of history. We will not lose in a fight. Leave us alone or you become an obstacle. And obstacles are for killing."

"Skynet's philosophies are similar." The terminator replied.

"Then we understand one another. Good bye metal man." Shampoo sneered. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" she jabbed her finger into the terminator's chest.

The crowd all blinked as one as nothing happened. Shampoo also blinked in surprise.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" she tried again with the same results. "What? You're metal? Why don't you break?"

If the terminator understood humour, it might have replied with a joke about being a strange piñata. It did not, so it remained silent.

"The other metal skeletons exploded. Why don't you?" Shampoo demanded. "What is the difference?"

The terminator did not know exactly what the human meant, but answered with a guess as to what the human wanted to hear.

"The T600's have rubber based skin. I am a cyborg. Living tissue over metal endoskeleton."

Shampoo blinked for a moment before slapping the base of her palm to her forehead. "Doh! Breaking point only works on inanimate materials. Guess we do this the old-fashioned way. We cut your head off." She withdrew a sword from somewhere and held it towards the strung up machine.

"My head hurts." Ranko stated as she approached her mother with wobbly steps and the help of the Amazon sent to check up on her. She rubbed the back of her head. "Mother, what's going on?" she asked seeing the stranger strung up.

"We're about kill this one for trespassing into Amazon lands." Shampoo stated. "You *will* be getting extra training after this embarrassment. Allowing yourself to be beaten by this thing."

Ranko winched at her mother's tone of voice and knew she was in for some hellish training soon for her latest mess up. The girl suddenly blinked a few times as she slowed down at rubbing the aching spot on her head. 'Wait-a-minute!'

The terminator merely stared at the girl and tried to figure out at how she was still alive after taking such a hard blow to the head. A human skull could not survive such force.

Ranko suddenly sprang at the strung up terminator and wrapped her arms and legs around it. She reared her head back.

"Wo Ai Ni!" and proceed to give the kiss of marriage, tongue and all.

The terminator did not understand what was going on and remained silent as it stared at Ranko's eyes.

'Oh by the Goddess!' she thought, mistaking the look for adoration. 'This is really it! Love at first fight!'

Shampoo's fingers went numb as the sword clattered to the floor. Her dress drooped off one shoulder and she stared in wide-eyed surprise as Ranko did the unspeakable. A full, kiss of marriage, and in front of the entire village yet! Amazon laws were a bizarre and incomprehensible set of rules to outsiders and most would say that it would not matter because it was a machine she was marrying. Nevertheless, it was Amazon Law; once the kiss was done, it was permanent.

Silence reigned supreme. That was until Mousse's chuckles started. Soon he could not hold it back and burst into full-blown laughter, tears streaming down his face and everything. To see this. This was the funniest thing he had ever imagined could have happen to the spawn of Saotome.

"%##***" Shampoo stated.

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Did I really just write that? O.o