A crackling sound was heard from a warehouse in the outskirts of corinth. Lightning and a bubble of blue energy appeared seemingly out of nowhere and made a perfect circular crater in the ground.

At the bottom of the crater crouched a woman, completely nude. She stood up and looked at her surroundings.

Time Displacement Successful... Running Systems Check...

Terminator Model Number: T-X

Endoskeleton Integrity: 100%

Mimetic Sheath Integrity: 100%

CPU Integrity: 100%

Power Source Status: Fully Charged

Onboard Weapons Status: Ready

All Systems Operational... Retrieving Mission...

Mission Retrieved...

Primary Mission: Terminate John Connor, Bella Connor and Cameron Phillips

Secondary Mission: Terminate Listed Targets

Elizabeth Anderson

William Anderson

Jose Barrera

Simon Taylor

Isaac Hall

Fritz Roland

Ted Snavely

Sharlene Gen

Vince Forcer

Tertiary Mission: Ensure the creation of Skynet and eliminate any threats to its creation

The terminatrix stepped out of the crater and considered how to proceed.

Action: Acquire Transportation

The terminatrix walked out of the warehouse and noticed a silver convertible on the side of the road. A blond haired woman in a red jacket stood beside the convertible with a cellphone in her hand. The terminatrix examined the car.

Scanning vehicle... No fuel detected in fuel tank... suggesting action...

The woman hung up the phone and noticed the terminatrix for the first time.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" She asked.

"Fine" the terminatrix replied, "I like your car."

The woman looked confused. She was about to reply when the terminatrix reached out and snapped her neck with one hand.

Fifteen minutes later, after she had found gas for the car, the terminatrix was driving down the road.

Action: Locate targets

The terminatrix pulled out the woman's phone and put it near her mouth. A mechanical tone was heard.

Hacking into city and school records...

Secondary targets located

Action: Proceed to nearest target

The terminatrix turned down the road and headed to her target.

Michael Kane stepped out of a time displacement crater that had formed in the middle of a road near a bunch of warehouses in the corinth industrial district.

He looked around and noticed no one else was in the immediate vicinity. He also noticed that he was surprisingly hungry. "Hmm, that's weird" he said to no one in particular. "I just ate before I came, time travel must have taken a lot out of me."

He noticed for the first time that he was naked. 'Well Connor did say this would happen' Kane thought.

Kane got off the street and walked around the warehouse. He then noticed a man walking down an alleyway behind the warehouse. He smiled to himself. 'Ahh perfect, dinner time' he thought. He walked up behind the man and tapped on his shoulder.

"Ahh! What the...?" The man turned around and saw Kane. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, you wouldn't happen to know the year would you?" Kane asked.

"Umm... 2009, you sure you're alright?" The man replied.

Kane smiled "actually now that you mention it, I am a little hungry."

The man looked confused, he was about to reply when Kane grabbed him by the shoulders and stared into his eyes. Kane's pupils dilated and he spoke in a tone slightly different than his normal one.

"You will not scream, cry out, try to run or fight back." Kane said in a hypnotic voice and the man, instantly entranced, just nodded.

Kane's eyes grew dark and he pulled back his lips to reveal razor-sharp fangs which weren't there before. He then sank his fangs into the man's exposed neck. The man winced in pain and looked like he wanted to scream but did not.

About 20 minutes later, Kane walked to the man's car wiping blood off his mouth and finishing putting on the man's clothes.

"Well, now it's time to go find Connor" he said to himself smiling as he got into the car and drove away. The terminatrix drove down a street in LA. The road was not very busy late at night so she drove quickly, well above the speed limit. Suddenly a siren sounded and the red and blue flashing lights of a police car appeared behind her.

The terminatrix pulled over to the side of the road and, having taken the form of the woman she killed earlier, waited patiently for the police officer to reach her window.

The police officer walked up to the window of the convertible and shined his flashlight in the terminatrix's face. "Lady, do you know how fast you were going?" he asked with clear annoyance in his voice.

The terminatrix didn't respond immediately and instead looked the police officer up and down.

Scanning subject...

Local law enforcement

Weapons:

Beretta 9mm semi-automatic

Threat: None

Action: Acquire weapon

"Alright let me see your license and registration please" the officer said, ignorant of the strange woman's stare.

"I like your gun" the terminatrix said.

"What?" the police officer asked, confused. The terminatrix then reached out and grabbed him.

After she had dealt with the police officer, the terminatrix continued on towards her destination. She pulled up to the Burger King downtown. She noted a sign which said open 24 hours. She then accessed her target profile:

Target: Lieutenant Jose Barrera

Age: 17

Occupation: Burger King Employee

Action: Terminate

She drove up to the drive thru and rolled down her window.

"Hi, welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?" a bored sounding voice asked.

"Jose Barrera?" the terminatrix asked.

"Umm, yeah?" Jose replied.

The terminatrix drove around to the window and looked at the man inside. She saw that his nametag read Jose Barrera.

Target Identified

Jose Barrera

Terminate

As the termination order flashed across her HUD, the terminatrix pulled out the pistol she had taken from the police officer.

Jose was about to say something when he saw the woman pull out the gun. He turned to run but was too late. The terminatrix shot the once future resistance fighter three times in the back of the head, watched him fall to the floor inside the restaurant, then drove away. She could hear screaming from inside the building as she left the parking lot.

Target: Jose Barrera

Status: Terminated

Proceed to next target

The terminatrix sped off down the road in search of her next victim.

John woke up again in the morning and as soon as he got out of the bed he heard two knocks on the door.

"Come in." He said.

Cameron closed the door behind her and John saw a box in her hand.

"Hey, Cameron, what's up?" John asked.

"Last night I studied traditions and cultural habits related to birthdays. I understand now that birthday presents like a flak west or this one are not the most appropriate ones, but it will be useful for you, nevertheless." Cameron said.

"Wow, did you really buy me a birthday present?" John asked.

"Actually I didn't buy it. I found it in the trunk of the Mercedes. Probably belonged to Sarkissian's thug. Or he might have stolen it somewhere. But open up the box." Cameron said.

John looked at the content of the box and felt dazed.

"The Company gun," he whispered.

"What do you mean Company gun?" Cameron tilted her head as usual when she didn't understand something. "This is a Strayer Voigt Infinity chambered in .45 ACP with 14 rounds. One of the most precise and valuable handguns out there. The compensator, with these vents here, reduces the recoil and helps you keep the gun on the target when you need to fire multiple shots quickly. That's because the gases are directed upward so they will exert a downward force counteracting the muzzle rise. Later, I'm going to prepare some armor piercing ammo for the gun so you will be able to stop Cromartie if you hit his chip. Might not kill him with it, but stop for a while."

"Thank you so much! I ... I don't know what to say, I'm surprised!" He hesitated to ask the important question. "Is it only my safety?"

"What do you mean, John?" Cameron asked

"Do you give me the present only because of my safety, or is there any other reason as well?" John asked.

"I wanted you to have a happy day," Cameron said in a low voice. "It is important for me that you are happy."

"But why? It is not your mission." John asked.

"I... I don't know why," Cameron said meekly. She looked up straight in John's eyes. "You are the only purpose of my existence."

John's heart sank for a moment and with a sudden movement he pulled Cameron into a tight embrace. "And you are very important for me," he whispered. Cameron hugged him back awkwardly but broke from the embrace a moment later.

"No, John!" she said with an unusual passion in her voice. "I cannot be important. You are important, only you!" she continued. "If you develop feelings for me that could be dangerous. If I'm damaged beyond repair, for example."

"I wouldn't let you down, Cameron!" John said.

"That's what I'm talking about... I know about Uncle Bob. Future You told me everything... Watching him get destroyed was one of the hardest things you had ever done. But you did the right thing! And you might have to do that again in the future if I go down. I don't want to be a liability! I can't let that happen," she whispered and John could swear that her eyes went watery. "Happy birthday," she said in a trembling voice then turned around and rushed out of the room.

John fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "What the hell was that?" he thought. "Those were clearly emotions." He was pretty certain, those were genuine, as he found no logical reason why she would fake those. "Damn, I think I'm in love! Just as if my life was not fucked up enough, already." He closed his eyes in desperation.

"John!" he heard his mother shouting. "Time for breakfast!"

"Coming!" he shouted back.

He looked down at the Infinity again, observed its excellent build quality, measured its weight in his hand, just as he did in his dream. It was an M1911 style gun with a six-inch barrel and open hammer. The holes of the compensator made its look quite uncommon. The Infinity seemed a very new handgun, maybe had never been fired before. It was a piece of artwork. The gun was unloaded and the spare magazine in the box was empty too. He was unaccustomed to the .45 ACP caliber, though, as he had been trained to use 9x19 mm handguns most of the time. "I'm gonna need some .45 ammo and some practice with it, but it's worth it," he thought.

With a sigh he closed the gun back in the box, quickly dressed up fully and went to the kitchen. "You three are not going to school today," Sarah said firmly. "I already called them and told them that you had gotten the flu."

"Why?" Bella asked.

John raised his eyebrow questioningly. 'She might not have forgotten my birthday,' he thought.

"You need to work on the hard drive we acquired yesterday," she said. "I strongly hope you'll find something which will lead us to the Turk."

John frowned and felt disappointed again. With a sulking face, he was nibbling the pancake his mother had prepared. The infamous pancakes which were still good, at least by Sarah's standard. He stole a glance at Cameron, who stood like a statue in front of the window. "The only one, other then Bella, who didn't forget my birthday." he thought. He tried to imagine how a birthday cake, prepared by his mother, would look like, or smell like or taste like. He shivered a bit, and suddenly found the pancake a bit more tasteful.

"What did you do with the corpse and the Mercedes?" Sarah asked Cameron.

'Yet another excellent topic for breakfast,' John thought.

"I burned the corpse with a thermite," Cameron answered.

"To burn humans or terminators... you seem to prefer kinda standardization for such processes," Sarah said sarcastically.

Cameron left that uncommented. "I cleaned the car thoroughly and left it in a public place. Police won't check it for at least 30 days." A few minutes later John was working busily on his computer while his mother stood behind him eagerly watching him. After a few moments, she gently stroked his neck.

"Mom!" John said.

"Sorry." Sarah said.

"Look, he double-encrypted the hard drive. I've unlocked a lot of it but there's still a lot left to go through." John said.

"How much?" Sarah asked.

"About a thousand useful files, each takes about five minutes to decrypt... and I'm on number 37. You do the math," Bella said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until they heard Derek call to them from the living room.

"You guys better come see this" they heard him say.

The three of them walked into the living room where they saw Derek watching a news story on the T.V.

"... the victim was found in an industrial complex in south LA" the reporter said. "Police have identified the victim as 42 year old James Stevens, a worker at that same complex. Officials attribute the cause of death to severe blood loss from a wound in his neck, no suspects have been identified at this time, more on this story as it develops." John, Sarah and Derek exchanged glances as the reporter continued the news.

"In other news, 17 year old Jose Barrera was brutally shot to death last night at a local Burger King. The killer was a woman driving a silver convertible." A black and white stilled CCTV image of the woman firing through the drive-thru window appeared in the corner of the T.V. "The killer has not yet been identified and police urge anyone with information to call the crime stoppers hotline..." the reporter was cut off as Derek turned off the T.V.

"Well what do you guys think, machine?" he asked.

"The first man's name is not familiar to me, but the second is Lieutenant Jose Barrera of the resistance" Cameron said.

"So the second one is definitely a machine" John said "then we need to find it."

"We don't know where it is or who it will go after next" Sarah said "we need to wait until it shows a pattern."

"We can't just sit back and watch while one of those things goes around killing people!" John yelled.

"And we won't," Sarah replied "but we need more information first."

Sarah noticed of course that he was sulking, suppressed a smile and gently stroked his back this time. "Let me know when you have something."

John just briefly nodded.

She walked outside, exchanged a look with Derek who stood at the door waiting for the occasion being alone with John. When Sarah left Derek walked into John's bedroom.

"How're you holding up?"

"I'm all right," he said, his fingers running on the keyboard with a pace that impressed Derek.

Derek looked outside the window contemplating a bit about how to bring up his idea.

"So it's your birthday," he said finally.

"How... how'd you know?" John asked.

"You kidding? I celebrated your 40th with you." Derek said.

John smiled, releasing some of his tension. "How was that?"

Derek smiled too. "You got drunk as a skunk."

They both laughed.

"Come on," Derek said, "I'll buy you a beer."

"I'm 16." John said.

"All right, I'll buy you an ice cream cone... Come on, it's your birthday! When there are things to celebrate, they should be celebrated... Let's go." Derek said.

John stood up, saved his log file with a hotkey combination and they left the room.

Instead of cones, they bought ice lollies and they kept them in their hands, occasionally licking, while they were walking through the park. It was a fairly cold morning, quite humid, but the air was unusually clear. John felt it very refreshing, taking deep breaths, one after another.

"Your mom has never killed anyone, has she? "Derek asked.

John just briefly shook his head.

"You know, she's got murder in her eyes all the time, but her heart's pure." Derek continued. "It's a good thing, you know. Keep a ... keep a pure heart.

They sat on a bench. John licked his ice cream, but Derek didn't care for his own. He didn't even notice that its top started melting and dipping as he was watching two kids close to them, playing baseball.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" Derek asked.

John nodded and he noticed also the two boys who were obviously having fun with the game.

Derek's face went serious. "When you stay long enough you start fooling yourself into thinking that this is ... how it's always gonna be... Then you remember what this place will look like when it's on fire. And you realize you'll do whatever it takes to keep from watching it burn again."

John agreed. This was what he felt all the time. In fact, that was the guideline for how he was raised. Even though he'd seen the world on fire only in his nightmares.

The older boy hit the ball and it rolled almost exactly to John. John picked it up and gave it back to the small boy. For a moment their eyes met and that was a very strange moment for John. As if he had some hidden connection with that little guy.

Derek just smirked watching the whole scene. The young boy smiled and ran back to continue playing. John sat down on the bench, but suddenly the older boy turned around and John saw the name on his jersey.

REESE.

And then he understood everything. He quickly turned towards Derek who smiled.

"Is that ... you?"

"And the younger one. Is that-?"

"Kyle," Derek said. "Throws pretty good for a 5-year old, huh?"

"And he looks really cute." Bella said.

John turned back looking at the boys. He was overwhelmed by his feelings.

"Your father always had a nice arm." Derek said.

John turned back with a skeptical expression on his face.

"How did you know?" John and Bella asked in unison.

"Every time I look at you, I see him," Derek answered. "Besides, your mom is his type," he smiled. "Happy birthday."

That was too much for John to take in. Seeing his father as a cute innocent 5-year old... The hope that they could save him if they prevent Judgement Day... John couldn't help but start crying silently, tears were running down his face, while their ice creams were dripping heavily, forming a not very delicious mass each.

"I reacted just as you are when I saw them first," Derek said. "And I cried a second time when I saw my parents again."

"Your parents... my grandparents. It'd be so nice to meet them. But I'm afraid they would just freak out and call the police when I'd greet them as 'Hi, I'm your grandson, son of your 5-year old son.' So that won't happen."

"Yeah, that's why I haven't contacted them," Derek agreed. "It breaks my heart but I can only watch them sometimes from a distance."

"Do you come here often?" John asked.

"Not as often as I'd like to," Derek answered bitterly. "I don't want to raise their suspicion. Besides, that would be very weird to talk to my younger self." He then changed the subject. "About what happened in the alley..."

John interrupted him, smiling. "It's okay. I realized that you're an excellent gunfighter."

"For a close range, I'd never miss. Besides, my Beretta is pretty accurate. I practice quite often and check my guns regularly."

"Cameron said that you were one of my best soldiers in the future," John said.

"Did she? That's very kind of her," Derek replied with slight sarcasm and a forced smile.

John sighed. "I'd better go. I might come with you next time as well. But now I need to get back to work to decrypt the hard drive."

"No problem," Derek said. "I'd rather stay here for a few minutes, though."

Derek watched John for a while as he was leaving the park. "He's a good kid," he thought. He felt much better to tell John the truth that he knew for a while that John was his nephew. He liked this young John much better than Future John.

Not only because the young one was his blood relative, but he found him more caring, somewhat more vulnerable... more human. Sometimes he showed the signs of the talent of General Connor, though.

The way he performed the operation against the ARTIE system... That brilliant plan and its efficiency were way too familiar for Derek. So was the fact that he used Skynet's creations against Skynet. "If only he wasn't attracted to the metal," he thought but stopped suddenly with his thoughts.

What if John's right about the cyborg. What if he, Derek, is the one who can't see clearly because of his hatred towards the terminators. What if Cameron is more than just a piece of metal covered by flesh. Maybe there was more to her than met the eye.

More than a highly advanced computer disguising herself as a pretty girl. He reluctantly remembered that she saved his life when she killed the rogue 888 in their common future. It was worrying however what she said to him afterward.

"Sometimes they go bad. No one knows why."

Although he had insinuated it a few times, he didn't think seriously that she had a secret agenda. Besides, what he had seen a few days ago, was one of the weirdest things he had ever seen. Metal dancing ballet. Classical ballet. Not because it is her mission, but just for her own entertainment. That was something new and he found no logical reason behind that.

"But even she can go bad, in principle", he thought, "and God save us when it happens."

His thoughts turned back towards General Connor. He recalled from his memories the 40th birthday of him. So far Connor had been friendly with him but clearly had behaved like a military commander, not like a friend.

He celebrated with a few other soldiers. Kyle was there, as well as Perry, colonel at that time, not general yet. Perry secretly gave permission to a small group of soldiers to go to the Wastelands in order to acquire as much alcohol as possible.

The birthday party itself went pretty well. Not only Connor, but most of the participants got very drunk indeed, including Derek. Despite the strong headache the following day, he preserved good memories of that because it was the first time he could see the more human, more vulnerable, yet more likable side of General Connor.

As he was lost in his thoughts he didn't pay too much attention to how his younger self played with Kyle.

Finally, they stopped playing, and were heading home for some reason.

With a sigh, Derek stood up, threw the remainder of his ice cream into the trash bin and left the park. John had been busy working on the computer.

He noticed that the work went much more seamless than before the excursion in the park, but he didn't attribute too much importance to that. If he did, however, he could have realized that the computer did just work as his extended arm and mind.

The encoding went a lot faster, and the computer in a somewhat mystic way almost followed his thoughts.

He only noticed the presence of his mother when she was standing right in front of him.

"Have you seen Derek?" she asked.

"No. He's ... uh ... still in the park, I think.

"What were you two doing?"

John was unprepared for this question. He didn't know how his mother would react to hear that they'd gone to see the love of her life in a 5-year old form. "Nothing. Uh, just went to get an ice cream."

He sensed that his mother didn't quite believe him and felt better to change the subject quickly. "Here. Check these out." He gave some printed pages to her. "Looks like you weren't the only one looking for the Turk."

Sarah checked the photos with a worrying look. "Who is this?"

"I'm not sure. But he came in after Dmitri and before you."

"Enough time for Sarkissian to sell him the Turk," she said thoughtfully.

"It's not much to go on, but it is something," he said, sitting back at the computer.

Sarah stepped closer and sat down on his bed. "Why don't you take a break?"

"No, it's all right. I can keep going."

She inhaled deeply and gave him a tiny smile. "How are we supposed to celebrate your birthday if you're in front of a computer?"

John looked at her with a sudden smile on his face.

"You actually thought I forgot your birthday?" she asked.

John smirked but shook his head. He suddenly felt quite stupid for his previous sulking. Yet, quite relieved also. "We have much more important things to think about than my stupid birthday."

"Your birthday is important," she pointed out.

"No. It's... it's not important. Finding the Turk, stopping Skynet, Judgment Day, that's important. That's... that's our life."

"It's our mission," she corrected. "This is our life. If we stop caring about that, then we're lost."

He looked down for a second, seemingly scrutinizing his keyboard. "When you put it like that," he smiled.

"I sent Cameron to get a cake."

John laughed out loud at the idea that his badass protector would go into a candy store to scrutinize the cakes, sorting them by harmful additives and pick the one which was the least unhealthy for John.

"What do you want for dinner?" she asked.

"Well not to insult your cooking skills or anything, but do you mind if we went out?"

Sarah opened her mouth in a mock indignation, but then just smiled. "We can do that."

John smirked and turned back to his computer. "All right, let me... let me shut this down."

But his smile disappeared as he saw a familiar face on the screen.

Sarah jumped up seeing his serious facial expression. "What? What's the matter?"

"The guy that Derek killed in the alley..."

"Sarkissian?"

"I don't think that was Sarkissian."

They both felt shocked staring at the enlarged picture, clearly recognizing the guy in the coffee shop. John looked at his mother who was equally bewildered. Behind the enlarged picture there was a copy of two passport pages.

SARKISSIAN, MARGOS. Born: JANUARY 22, 1973, YEREVAN, ARMENIA

And then, suddenly a huge explosion shook the window. Deafening explosion... car alarms going off... smoke...