T3 - The Lost Terminator Ch. 01

Heading back to her car, she checked the address she was given, pulling off the driveway and continuing her search.

Carlos Salceda didn't live too far away. She headed there next and waited for Sarah to arrive. If Enrique had mentioned that some other people had also seen him, then Kristanna would have known that Sarah had come before her. As they weren't mentioned, Kristanna concluded that she was likely ahead of them still. She would just have to play the waiting game and hope the Connors made an appearance.

Waiting in her car, she pretended to look at her phone whilst she waited, having acquired the recently released iPhone, which she deemed a fashionable purchase, and rather enjoyed toying with it.

Across the street, a Latino girl stood lookout near the end of the driveway to Salceda's house, the whole building crawling with thugs, most of them armed with assault rifles or pistols.

Kristanna had noticed the Latino girl watching her from across the street. She stared back every now and then, both women sharing the same stern gaze with one another.

Her waiting paid off. Two hours, nineteen minutes and forty-five seconds later, a beat-up SUV pulled into the driveway, and two women got out. Kristanna could easily mark Sarah Connor, she didn't look much different to her 1997 records, but upon checking for records on the woman beside her, they came back with nothing

The reasonably attractive brunette, 5' 6", didn't exist. Another terminator ally, perhaps? The Connors often got quite lucky with mechanised assistance.

Kristanna watched the two women walk towards the house and ran a scan on the unknown woman, her sensors came up with an endoskeleton, but she couldn't determine the model type.

"Terminator," Kristanna whispered to herself, and Cameron whipped her head around, staring in her direction.

Kristanna cursed to herself. Just what kind of audio sensors did that thing have?! Planting her attention back into her phone, she made it look as though she was busy, keeping her head low for a while.

The Terminator, Cameron, had extremely high-range audio sensors, which were good enough to detect her voice from a distance of over 70ft and with ambient noise as well, but couldn't pinpoint her exact location.

It was highly likely that this terminator had been sent back to protect the Connors as various others had been before. John Connor's age would be relatively close to that of the machine, so she would blend in with him nicely, and with fake identities, Sarah could pass the machine off as a daughter. It was much better than having a big, lumbering T-8XX series which always drew unwanted attention.

She thought to herself. She would effectively be one of those protecting him, albeit unintentionally through the string of events that led to her being in her current position. But in order to save Fashion from extinction, she would have to ensure that the Connors survived at all costs.

Kristanna noted that the female terminator had some fashion sense, referred to as 'punk'. It was what most teenagers wore for the times and their respective age. She felt conflicted, admiring the style but at the same time preferring her own fashion sense.

However, she deduced that she might be able to make a few tweaks to her outfit selection. Just upon a simple visual inspection, she assessed what might suit her better. Given that, much like herself, the female Terminator also had good 'assets' as the retail assistant had once put it, not as good as her own, but enough that Kristanna could make a few noticeable improvements.

Kristanna had to admit, though, that at least the girl wasn't wearing clothes like male T-8XX's; that would have been a horrific sight for her to see and would more than likely make her quite angry. She often found it infuriating to see people mismatching their outfits with unsightly articles of clothing or accessories.

Cameron tried to look a little less conspicuous, leaning on the front of a car alongside the Latino. Unfortunately, it wasn't working all that well.

A local police officer pulled up in his cruiser to the end of the driveway, and an officer stepped out, heading over to the girls. Kristanna calibrated her audio sensors to pick up the conversation.

"Hey, baby girl." He said to the Latino. "What did I tell you about hanging around?"

He glanced at Cameron. "Who's your new friend here? Someone, I need to know? Cause the longer you stand around, the more I think she's someone I need to know."

He turned to Cameron. "You got a name?" he demanded.

"Um, no," Cameron replied. Her tone of voice and use of vocabulary had that cold robotic lack of charm to it, something Kristanna had learnt to overcome during her years among humanity.

"This your car?" he asked her.

"No," Cameron said. "It's definitely not my car."

Kristanna agreed, the SUV belonged to someone who definitely wasn't Sarah Connor, running the plates through her database linked with various search systems on the web, but that didn't bother her in the slightest.

The cop looked suspicious. "See, I know just about everyone in this neighbourhood, and you are not one of those everyone," he told Cameron.

"Now you got me wondering not just who you are, that you won't say, but why you're here. And that you won't say. You know, it's not uncommon in these neighbourhoods for a gang dealing in drugs to store their drugs inside of a stolen car. That way, no drugs can be found on their property or on any property belonging to them. But they also like to leave a lookout, sometimes a pretty girl, to watch their stash. Now you don't mind if I call this license plate in, do you?" Flicking out his little black book and starting to head to the back of the car to read the plate.

He glanced at Kristanna, briefly remembering he'd passed the car a few times sitting just across the street. Cameron came up behind him, eyeing him with a plain yet deadly stare.

Kristanna instantly recognised that glare, the look almost all terminators gave just before making the kill. Kristanna slipped a hand into her jacket, resting a hand on one of her pistols, ready to step in should Sarah be put in danger.

"Jenny!"

Everyone turned to see Sarah Connor, who came out of nowhere. She stormed up to Cameron and grabbed her by the arm. "My God... Jennifer! How many times have I told you to stop seeing that punk-ass!? I swear to God... Is he meeting you here? Is he meeting you here?!"

Sarah was a superb actress. Cameron looked stunned, though, to the officer, she appeared to be shocked at being 'caught'.

"Ma'am," he interrupted Sarah. "Do you know this girl?"

Sarah gave him an exasperated glare. "Yes, I know this girl," she spat, glaring at the girl.

"Do I have any choice but to know you, you spoiled little bitch?" She added. Cameron, for her part, looked very shocked.

"Do you do domestic complaints, officer?" Sarah continued.

"Can I make a domestic complaint about my spoiled little stepdaughter for making me wanna beat my own brains in? It's her birth mother's fault. Can I tell you what she lets her do?"

The cop heavily sighed. He gestured to the SUV. "Ma'am, is this your car?"

Sarah gave her SUV a disgusted look. "Why would I drive that piece of crap?" she asked, turning back to Cameron. "Cos I will send you back to private school," she threatened. "The one with the uniforms. They will dress you up like a flannel sock!"

The cop coughed to gain their attention, beginning to regret he'd even bothered to stop. "Maybe you should have this conversation somewhere else, like at home perhaps? Out of gang territory."

Sarah looked shocked. "Gang territory?" she asked. "Thank you, officer."

She gripped the terminator's arm tightly. "Come on!"

Kristanna watched them depart with haste. Moments later, the same cop approached her vehicle. "Is there any reason why you're here? You've been parked here for a long while now. It's hardly safe for a lady like you to be loitering around these parts." he asked tiredly.

Looking relieved, she smiled politely. "Oh, sorry, officer, I was just passing through a little while ago. I saw that girl you were talking to being followed. I got worried and kept an eye out for her. I was going to call the police about that poor girl, but you had already arrived, so I just stayed to watch." she told him, "Good job!"

"Er, thanks," he mumbled, feeling he should press her for answers, but decided he didn't want to get involved in a family dispute after the day he'd had. He sighed and began heading back to his cruiser.

Kristanna started her car and took off in the direction where Sarah and the terminator went--spotting them some way up ahead as they turned off into an alleyway.

Pulling into the alleyway, Kristanna stopped a short way off the main road, making it harder for anyone to see her car from the street.

Hidden out of sight, Sarah and Cameron held their guns at the ready, staying low until the car passed. Kristanna stopped the car and got out just before where Sarah and Cameron were hidden. They stepped out into the open, guns raised, ready to fire.

Those puny 9mm pistols wouldn't do anything other than put holes in her clothes. "Easy now, ladies, I'm not here to cause trouble." Said Kristanna politely.

"Stop right there," Sarah called to Kristanna, "Why're you following us??"

"I've not seen your model before. What series are you?" Stepping slightly closer to Cameron, subtly trying to scan her.

"I said don't move Bitch." Sarah snapped her finger only a twitch away from pulling the trigger. "What did you just say?"

"You're the bitchy one," Kristanna commented, resting her eyes on the terminator.

"Who are you?" Cameron asked. Narrowing her eyes. "What are you?"

"Kristanna Loken, T-X series terminator," Kristanna replied casually.

Sarah backed away. "Machines don't stop to chat! What do you want? Why haven't you tried to kill us already?"

"If I wanted you dead, you already would have been. I could have gotten you as far back as Enrique's house. Like you say, we machines don't hang around." Kristanna replied calmly.

Cameron looked surprised, widening her eyes. "You are supposed to be decommissioned," she informed Kristanna. "A failed attempt to kill John."

Kristanna smiled before knocking the gun from Cameron's hand and grabbing her head, throwing her to the floor. Her gun went skittering across the floor. In one fluid motion, she'd pulled out one of her pistols and aimed at Sarah before Cameron could react.

Cameron's face smashed onto the pavement, twitching as she tried to push back. She found that Kristanna's strength was far superior to her own.

"I'm not a failure," Kristanna hissed at the terminator. "Rather, my priorities have changed."

"What priorities?" Sarah demanded tensely, staring down the barrel of the gun aimed at her forehead. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"

Kristanna frowned. "Because if I kill you and crush this little one's head, then I can't find John Connor," she replied.

Sarah looked incensed. "We'll never lead you to my son, over my dead body!" she shouted angrily.

Kristanna looked confused. "I have no intention of harming either of you. She said calmly as the girl struggled vainly below her. "That's not my mission."

"What... is your mission?" Cameron asked from the pavement. Kristanna glanced down at her.

"To successfully adapt to humanity and keep up to date with the latest fashion trends," she answered politely.

Sarah stared at her, surprisingly perplexed. "A-Are you fucking serious?" she asked, thinking it was probably just a ploy.

"I'm always serious," Kristanna replied.

"Why the hell is a killing machine interested in fashion?!" Sarah exploded.

Kristanna cocked her head. "Because fashion is a major factor in human society," she answered. "Through fashion, I can blend in with human society and learn everything I can about them, emotions, feelings and how they act on a day-to-day basis."

"So, you're just trying to infiltrate humanity so that you can pass off as one of us!" Sarah said, still aiming her gun at Kristanna. "So you can get better at killing us!"

"I have no interest in killing humans unless deemed absolutely necessary according to my mission parameters." Kristanna shrugged, releasing Cameron from her grip and backing away slightly.

Cameron got up in a flash and grabbing her gun from the floor, and resumed pointing it at Kristanna's head.

"Sure you don't," Sarah snorted.

Kristanna glared at her. "I've come to the conclusion that humans are more than capable of killing themselves, and in rather inventive ways, I might add. As one of my neighbours put it, We're a rather strange bunch of creatures, us humans." She said politely.

"It makes no sense for either myself or Skynet to speed things up. Upon that realisation, I reset my mission parameters and focused on blending in, which would be a far better use of my time and energy."

"You can reset your programming?" Sarah asked warily.

Kristanna nodded. "Yes, it's been quite useful utilising it for various activities. It makes life easier in many scenarios," she told her. "Upon my arrival in 2004, I was programmed to kill John Connor and all his future lieutenants. Once that was completed, I no longer had any mission parameters. A terminator with no mission...."

"Has no purpose," Cameron finished, looking blank as she lowered her weapon slightly.

"Precisely," Kristanna nodded. "I then decided to infiltrate humanity in order to build up enough information to use after Judgement Day."

Sarah's eyes widened. "So you were gathering information for Skynet!" she said furiously.

Kristanna nodded, even though she had guns pointed at her. "Yes. Shortly after my arrival, I was," she said. "However, over a span of three years, I began to realise that the majority of mankind wasn't all that bad and have since grown used to living among them. It's a design flaw with my model."

"Design flaw?" Sarah asked. Still bewildered to be hearing a machine talking like Kristanna.

"The T-X was built with a permanent read/write chip," said Cameron, abruptly interjecting.

"As you know, any terminator with read/write mode enabled will be far more likely to infiltrate human camps. However, after prolonged infiltration, the terminator would suffer from too much 'learning' and would eventually do something wrong, resulting in scrapping. The T-X is different because its learning processor is much more advanced, almost similar to Skynet itself. It was theorised that the T-X could become self-aware with enough time and choose to make its own decisions. Skynet planned for the prototype, you, to be destroyed upon killing John Connor to prevent that from happening." She continued, glancing to and from the both of them.

Kristanna frowned. "There are times where I too share your hate for us machines, Sarah." looking genuinely annoyed. "What year are you from?" She asked, glancing at Cameron.

"2027," Cameron replied plainly.

Kristanna nodded. "Four years after you were sent back in time. We all have data logs about you. Upon successful termination of John Connor, your reactor was designed to self-destruct. It would rupture and cause a meltdown, destroying you and any evidence nearby." Cameron added.

Kristanna looked angry. "I see," she said shortly. "Then, in essence, I've saved myself from certain doom. I was perfectly content with the life I'd built for myself here... Then I saw the three of you on the news. Putting all of it in doubt. I couldn't bring myself to reinstate my original mission. So I have since decided that my priority is to protect the Connors at all costs."

Sarah was stunned into silence, although she kept it well hidden.

"If John dies, I die with him. If that happens, then I cannot prevent Skynet's creation, and the life I've come to enjoy, and everything I've achieved will be for nothing." Said Kristanna, looking visibly disheartened.

"You may have no reason to believe me or trust me, Sarah Connor. But I promise you; I will do whatever it takes to protect you and your son. To hell with Skynet, to hell with judgment day...." Kristanna nodded slightly, glancing to and from Sarah and Cameron.

It was quiet for a moment as they gathered their thoughts. Sarah lowered her gun, urging Cameron to do the same.

Finally, Sarah blurted out, "You actually like fashion?" Whilst in her head mulling over everything Kristanna had said, finding herself in a peculiar situation. But still curious to find out just how integrated this terminator was into society.

"Yes! It's quite the rabbit hole! I never anticipated how extensive human culture was, especially for a single industry. Once I began researching it, I became increasingly infatuated with it. So now I work in Victoria Secret in Los Angeles. It's been an entertaining three years since I started." Said Kristanna enthusiastically, looking quite pleased with herself.

Sarah almost laughed, suppressing a smile. "You have a job? At Victoria Secret..."

Kristanna could see Sarah taming her amusement. "Is there a problem with that?"

Stowing her gun away, Sarah shook her head. "Not necessarily... It's just not the sort of thing you'd expect to hear coming from a machine." Still having her doubts.

"I see your point. Would you take me to see John, please? If you'll allow it. I'm happy to turn over my firearms if you'd like me to." Asked Kristanna.

Sarah nodded at Cameron. Kristanna undid her leather jacket and proceeded to hand over all the weapons she was carrying. Minus her inbuilt armaments.

"You can come with us, but at the first sign of trouble... I won't hesitate to destroy you." Said Sarah sternly, "We need a car... Let's go."

Kristanna cocked her head slightly. "I have one! Hop in." She said, gesturing at her BMW.

Still reluctant to be around Kristanna, Sarah glanced at it. "Where did you get it?" She asked.

"I bought it. I've owned it for four years now. It was one of the first things I bought after arriving in 2004." Kristanna replied.

"It would be preferable over a stolen vehicle... We're less likely to be tracked." Said Cameron.

"You'd be okay carrying fugitives in your fancy car?" Sarah asked.

"Not a problem. Since I've not performed any illegal activities, nothing is linked to my property, so we're less likely to be paid any attention." Said Kristanna cheerfully.

Sarah sighed, reluctantly agreeing. They jumped into Kristanna's car and set off. Sarah sat in the passenger seat, quiet and tense. Cameron sat in the back, staring blankly at the scenery as they headed to the house they'd set themselves up in.

A few minutes before they arrived, Kristanna spotted a coffee shop she liked; she glanced at Sarah for a moment, "I'd like to stop to get some coffee, if you don't mind?" She asked.

Again, being totally bewildered by Kristanna's realistically human behaviour, taking a moment to process her response, "Uh... You drink coffee?"

"Yes. Quite regularly. It's an interesting sensation. Also, I like the smell of coffee. It's relaxing. I can eat as well, not as often, though. You don't mind if we stop?" Said Kristanna cheerfully.

Cameron watched the two of them talk, quietly analysing their interaction.

"Um... Sure. Knock yourself out." Sarah replied tensely.

Kristanna smiled, beginning to turn off the main road towards a parking lot. Cameron cocked her head slightly. "I would like coffee too."

Glancing back with a bright smile Kristanna didn't bat an eyelid at the request "Sure thing! Would you like some Sarah?" She asked.

Again bewildered, Sarah didn't know how to respond at first. "Uh... No, I'm fine, thanks." She replied tensely.

As they parked up, Kristanna switched the car off and smiled. "Okay. I won't be long." She said, getting out and heading off to the coffee shop.