Time out of joint 2/?

[valandhir]

Time out of joint 2/?

Author: Valandhir

Summary: What is past and what is present? What has been then and what is new, what is changed? Meeting a person from his past, the future to be, Derek Reese finds himself in a tangle of past and present.

Rating: P13 may be higher for later chapters

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, names or various other parts of the Terminator/SCC universe, they all are right to their respective owners. This is a work of non-profit fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

 

 

 

2. The dangers we face

 

Nothing I can do that I have not done

No words I can say, no truth left that I can see

So must I let this end, and everything fall apart

Before I live my life as I have always done.

 

(VNV Nation: Rubicon)

 

The explosion shook the ground, whirling up dust and debris but did nothing to slow down the Triple 8. It was damaged, parts of the flesh burned away, but it advanced still. Derek’s well aimed shots did additional damage, but were nowhere strong enough to take it out. John fired too, two more hits, but the machine did only slow for moments. Derek saw the Terminator raise his semi-automatic, aiming for John. Moving left, he pushed his nephew down behind the rocks, before finding cover himself. Sarah was less lucky; a moment too slow to cower behind the rocks that gave them a meager amount of cover, the first of the shots hit her, flinging her backwards.

Derek saw John’s eyes widen, the intention to jump up and run over to his mother apparent. With an iron grip around John’s shoulder, he forced the young man to stay where he was. “We need to take out that thing first.” The triple 8 was advancing towards them again. Sarah wasn’t his target; she would never be a primary target again, since she had born John.

Fear, panic and grim determination warred in John’s face, determination winning out. “How?” This was the only question he asked, trusting Derek to know some more ways to get rid of a Terminator that had ambushed them.

Derek handed him his MP5. “You need to keep him covered with fire and distracted until I can reach him.” He said, taking the last two of their handmade grenades. “Can you do that?” In the grim mien of his nephew Derek clearly saw the traces of a far older man, a man he knew and trusted. Question answered.

Keeping below the cover of the rocks Derek made his way right, past the place where Sarah was lying. She was alive and relatively safe, having landed in a den. He did not stop, or cast her a second glance. First you take care of the HK’s then you take care of your wounded. Turning around the rock barrier he saw that John was giving the Triple 8 hell. He did good, because the machine was completely fixated on him. Derek knew what he was going to do was tricky, dangerous and possibly deadly. It was a tactic developed to take out when the early T-50 models had been state of the art and had been good for a lot of later models, series 600 included. Usually he wouldn’t try it on a Triple 8, but he was running out of options here.

Another garb of fire slowed the Terminator. Derek used the moment, sprinting over the open ground, coming at the Terminator from his hind flank. The moment the machine fired back, forcing John to take cover, Derek bridged the last few meters, stashing both grenades into the exposed skeletal construction of the back. The machine turned around, a hit flung Derek through the air. The impact was hard, Derek came to his feet sprinting away from the machine. The fuses were short, he had only seconds…

Another explosion shook the ground, more dust and debris whirled up. A metal foot landing on Derek, as the grenades ripped the machine apart. He coughed, spitting out some of the dust. Relieved to be alive, relieved to see the machine destroyed. Another battle won.

 

Derek and John reached Sarah at the same time. She had managed to sit up and lean against the rocks. He hand on her bleeding shoulder. “The triple 8?” She asked; her voice strained.

“Scrap metal.” John replied, kneeling down beside her. “Uhh… that doesn’t look too good.” The later comment was directed at the wound.

Sarah shook her head. “One of you secures the head of that thing. Derek, can you get that bullet out of me?”

While John took the gun and followed her orders to secure the head of the machine, Derek took a look at the wound. Shoulder hit, he hated those. The chance to loose your arm with one of those was too great. “No,” he said. “That needs surgery. I can do an emergency bandage and then we need to get you out of here.”

John returned with the chip of not the skull, by the time Derek had finished the bandage. “We both help her up, then slowly walk to the car.”

John’s answer was cut short by a new explosion, far more fiery than the ones before, a ball of burning gas erupting around what he been their car. Derek cursed, that damned Triple 8 had planned on stranding them here, if not on his it’s own destruction.

“We’ll walk back to the road.” Sarah said in a low voice. She was exhausted and had lost much blood. But she wouldn’t give in. She never did. It was something Derek admired about her.

“No, you wouldn’t survive that march.” He said. He could see a glimmer of fear flicker in John’s eyes. How often had his nephew been there already? On the brink of losing his mother, the only family he had ever had?

“There is no other way,” Sarah insisted. “or do you have some way to get someone to come driving down here? Nice middle of nowhere that it is?”

“Cameron could…” John interjected.

“Cameron is in Seattle chasing down another lead.” Sarah cut the argument short, before it could erupt between Derek and John.

Derek bit his lip. He had actually. He could call Jesse, but he did not trust her. She had an agenda of her own, and while he was willing to risk his own life finding out what this agenda was, he wouldn’t risk Sarah’s life for it, and never ever John’s. But their choices were limited, weren’t they? He had taken out a Triple 8 with a tactic never intended for those models; a tactic he had learned when he was about John’s age, he would have to take another risk. The thought of said tactic made another idea spring up in his mind. He’d have to invent a story, would have to lie to a friend, but it might just be the solution they needed. “Give me a moment.” He said, rising and digging through his pockets to find his mobile.

 

***

 

“He is looking weird.” Julian stared quizzically at the charcoal drawing. Gabriel smiled, Julian was right of course. From a kid’s perspective the conflicted emotions on the face had to look weird. It was so easy to draw for kids, they wanted clear pictures, and clear emotions showing on faces, clear good-evil schemes visible in the appearance of the persons. No conflicted emotions, no sadness hidden behind a smile, no smiles that hid contempt, just clear pictures far more honest than the world was usually. His own thoughts had been carried away while drawing this and the result was a pained smile on a face that should not show pain or sadness.

“You are right, Julian – he looks weird.” Gabriel enjoyed drawing, and he enjoyed drawing for kids even more. It was something clear and simple about it, something honest that was rare. He liked that. And it was a nice change from the mathematical models and program solutions he had done before. Much as it was a challenge to find a mathematical model that would allow a computer to simulate and anticipate every possible movement of an aircraft, it always left an odd feeling with him. It reminded him of the Byzantine mathematician who had wanted to spend his live studying the works of Euklid and had ended up inventing a most deadly ballista by accident. Gabriel shook his head, putting aside his utensils. He had done what was necessary. He had needed the money, for his recovery, for giving Julian a good home. It was done.

The ring of his phone interrupted his thoughts. Wordlessly Julian pushed the small mobile into his direction. “Vandenbourgh here,” Gabriel cleaned off his hand on his jeans while talking.

“Gabriel? It’s Derek.” He would have recognized the voice easily. The slightly gruff tone was quite unique.

“Derek, what’s going on? Kacy was looking for Sarah last night, getting half the neighborhood worried.” This was more or less true. Kacy had mentioned some nasty events happening shortly after the Baum’s had moved into the house.

“We’re in a bit of a situation here, ended up in the middle of a shootout. The car was damaged and Sarah is injured. We’re miles off the next regular road.” Gabriel frowned. If Derek had his mobile he could have called for the police, an ambulance, any kind of rescue. If he did not, but turned to a rather new friend instead, something else must have transpired. Something he didn’t trust the police with. Gabriel could think of some things, that might fit the bill. He weighed what he knew against what he guessed. Ultimately he didn’t know enough, but Derek seemed a decent guy and had become something of a friend during the last some weeks. Inhaling deeply, Gabriel decided. Sometimes you needed to take a risk on a friend. It was like that. You could get hurt in the process but it was better to try and get hurt than to never try at all.

“You need someone to pick you up, I take it.” He replied. “Where are you?”

A short but precise description of the location followed. Gabriel listened closely, he had not much problems to follow on. In his mind he had something like a map already. “Okay, got that. I’m on my way. Any hostiles left I should worry about?”

For a moment the line fell silent. He could imagine Derek’s face, slightly annoyed that Gabriel wasn’t buying his story and wondering the same time how the hell he knew. “No, we took care of them.”

“Fine. Sit tight, I come as fast as possible.”

 

***

 

“Help is coming, you just need to hang on.” Derek had helped Sarah to sit down in a more shadowy place. She was weak, but held up well.

“If you give me that: ‘hang in there baby’ crap, I’ll shoot you.” She said, attempting a joke. It fell flat. “Whom did you call?”

“Gabriel. He’ll be here in four hours.”

Sarah didn’t answer to that. She had wondered when Derek had actually become friends with one of the neighbors, but not intervened. If it took some other veteran to draw Derek out and make him blend in better in the neighborhood, it was fine by her. Something was odd about their connection though. She couldn’t point her finger to it, but it was there.

“That was quite a risky tactic,” John spoke up. “what you did to take down the Triple 8.”

Derek shrugged. “It was a tactic for the earlier models, the T-60’s, the T90’s and the Double Nine’s. It worked like a charm on the series 600 once you got through their rubber skin. It was never intended for the infiltrator models.”

“It’s an ingenious idea to use their skeleton to stash in the grenades.” John contemplated. “Risky but good.”

“The enemy’s greatest strength is also his most fatal weakness, or so Gabriel put it.” Derek replied, remembering the first T-60 he had taken down, remembering teaching Kyle how to do that.

“Gabriel? Like… like the one who’s coming for us?” John had picked up on it, of course.

Derek nodded. “He taught me…”

 

Derek was crouching behind a corner hearing the mechanical steps coming closer. His heart was racing, sweaty hands clung to the cylindrical grenade he had. In the pitch dark he could only trust his ears. The steps came closer, heavy mechanical steps splashing through mud, dirt, water and other things. Derek peered around the corner. Something silvery came closer, a silvery skeleton, walking. He wanted to close his eyes, he wanted to run, like he always did when those were around. He had never seen one up so close. But he remained where he was, standing unmoving. Waiting for the machine to come closer. The metal skull gazed in his direction, red eyes glowing. Derek hid again behind the corner, waiting. The steps came closer still. He hardly dared to breathe. Then he saw it. The machine walked by him, eyes on the corridor ahead. Derek acted swiftly, knowing he had only moments. Lighting the fuse and stashing the grenade between the metal leg bones. Then he ran, the machine fired at him, chasing after him into the tunnel. He raced on, why did this take so long? Had he failed? An explosion rocked the tunnel, throwing him into the mud. He didn’t mind, the stinking wet mud could not quench his elation. He had done it!

A hand extended to him, helping him up. Gabriel had taken out the other patrol. “You did good.” He said.

Derek grinned at him, short of hugging the older man. They had done it. They had actually fought back and lived to tell the tale. Nothing could take that away from them.

 

A grin spread on Derek’s face. “My first T-60. That day I felt like I could take on Skynet itself. For the first time in more than two years I wasn’t helpless.”

“So you and Gabriel were friends back then… or will be… whatever.” Speaking of the future that was Derek’s past was complicated the best of times and downright impossible at the worst.

“We stayed together after Kyle recovered from Fallout-P. Like Kyle and me Gabriel stayed away from the gangs and clans. He knew what they would have in mind for Julian, and I thought the same.”

 

“Why?” Derek asked, looking up from the grease he was scraping off the waterfilter. It was an odd job cleaning that thing, but it provided reasonably clean water. Something rare enough in this world. “Not that I want to sound ungrateful, Gabriel. You saved Kyle’s life. I owe you for that. But why offering him and me to stay with you and Julian? You don’t need backup, you fight well on your own.” Derek knew it would be hard to take Kyle away from them, for sure. Kyle and Julian were becoming friends rapidly, and Kyle liked their hideout. It was the best and safest place they had had in two years. Derek himself would have liked to stay, ever since meeting Gabriel he had learned a lot about fighting and about surviving. But a more distrustful side of him, a side that spoke from bitter experience in the tunnels, whispered that Gabriel, like all others had a hidden agenda, but was just more patient in pursuing it. Had he been on his own, Derek might have taken the risk, might have stayed and found out what price Gabriel had in mind. He might even be able to live with it, but he would never ever risk Kyle.

Gabriel put aside the tool and came up from below the filter plant, a filter staff full of dirt in his hands. He didn’t go on and cleaned it, but turned to Derek. “It’s more complicated than that, and it’s selfish, I am aware of that.”

Selfish… so Derek had been right. But it was the first time someone admitted to it. “I’m listening.” He was willing to give Gabriel the chance to explain, because he had helped Kyle.

“I might be good right now,” Gabriel began. “when it comes to fighting and surviving, but one day…” he took a deep breath. “one day it won’t be enough. One day this damn leg will give out the wrong moment, and I won’t be able to outsmart the machine coming after me. If I were alone, I wouldn’t care much. We all die, and dying is easier than living these days. But worry about Julian.” He didn’t speak on, but stared past Derek into the darkness. “It would be easier if I knew he was with some others, someone decent who will look out for him, when my time comes.”

Derek averted his eyes, looking at his hands. He understood where Gabriel came from, but he wouldn’t have expected to be a person that measured up to his standards where it came to trust. “How… how about that: we stick together, fight together and should something happen to one of us, the other takes care of the team?”

 

“It was a compact between us, whoever survived would take care of the team, of Kyle and Julian. Make sure they did not fall to the gangs or clans out there.”

“Could he be one of the names on the wall then, one of the abbreviations?” John said after a while. “He sounds like someone who gave Skynet enough trouble.”

Derek shook his head. “No. That’s pretty unlikely…” His words were cut short by the noise of a car speeding towards them. The black pickup was well known to Derek. He rose and walked some steps out, so Gabriel could see him. He was relieved not to have to answer John’s question. Not now, not ever if possible.

 

The truck stopped only a few paces away from Derek. Gabriel opened the door and exited the care with the same cautious manner he always had when on unknown grounds. Derek saw a small figure on the other seat. Julian. He was a little shocked Gabriel had brought the boy along, but then there was hardly anyone where he could leave the boy. Somehow Derek managed a smile. “Hey, little one.”

 

“Hullo, Derek.” The four year old boy favored Derek with a bright smile, stretching both hands towards him. Derek lifted him up and hugged him. In the past weeks Julian had overcome his shyness towards Derek.

After a moment Derek set the boy down again. “Can you watch the car for us, while we get John and Sarah?” He saw the small boy nod gravely and knew he wouldn’t try to follow them.

Gabriel arched an eyebrow. “How bad is Sarah?” He asked while following Derek to their den.

“Stable, but she needs to get out of here.” Derek still dreaded the moment when Gabriel would start to ask questions, but he hoped he would do so out of Julian’s earshot.

John had risen too, as he saw them, Sarah was still sitting, leaning against the rock. She had grown paler over the last hour, her breath still stable, but a tad more faint. Gabriel managed to bent down beside her. “Damn it, that looks bad. Derek what are you thinking? She needs a hospital right away.”

“The bullet is in her shoulder and…”

“Right you are! And it might have caused nerve damage. Not talking of infection. This dressing may look clean but in these surroundings I doubt it is. She could loose her arm over this, she’s burning up with fever.” Gabriel’s eyes went to John. “We need to carry her over to the truck. I’ll need your help there.”

“John and me can do this.” Derek gruffly interjected. He and John carried Sarah over to the car, helping her to lie down on the backseat. She was shaking, her body burning with heat. She barely reacted to being placed in the car. Her attempts to move were weak. Gabriel had followed them over. “The next hospital is about twelve miles from here, east.” He said. “I’ll drive carefully to not make this worse on her.”

“No.” Derek said firmly. “No hospital. Too many questions.”

Gabriel walked up to him until they stood face to face. “Now listen, Derek: I don’t know what trouble you are in, but if you want Sarah to live and keep her arm, we bring her to a hospital straight away. Call your lawyer beforehand and have him come there, if the police is bound to show up.” He gestured towards the car. “But if you value her life at all, then you’ll bring her to a hospital.”

“Mr. Vandenbourgh?” John had come up to them, determined to break up the fight that seemed inevitable.

“The name is Gabriel, I left Mr. Vandenbourgh with the army.” Gabriel replied, turning to John.

John took a deep breath. “Gabriel, we can’t bring my mother to a hospital. You see – after my father died she was with that guy, not necessary to say much but he was bad. Really bad and when she tried to get away from him he pursued her. When he realized that he couldn’t make her stay with him, he… he framed her for a crime he committed.” John locked gazes with Gabriel, speaking intently. “If someone checks her fingerprints her identity will blow and she’d be imprisoned for a murder that she never committed.”

Derek held his breath. The John speaking there was not his teenaged nephew any more, not completely at least, it was the John Connor he knew. By extending some trust to Gabriel, he asked for more trust in return and would ultimately get it. He always did, he could convince people like nobody else Derek knew. And it worked, Derek could see it in Gabriel’s face, and even more in his eyes. He considered all the facts, filtering them through the fact that he liked the Baum’s, that he trusted them and perhaps even more the fact that like Derek he could pin Sarah as a person that had never killed in all her life.

Gabriel nodded slowly. “I believe you, John and I see why you don’t want your mother in a hospital. The problem is: you are getting the Ogre’s choice instead: we can either take her home, where her chances at survival are very slim, or you would have to trust me on finding a Doctor who doesn’t ask any questions.”

“I trust you.” Derek wondered how sincere John sounded and how much like General John Connor. Gabriel had been caught, taken it bait, hook and sinker. Derek had seen it before, and he still had to wonder how John did it. How did he manage to win over a man twice his age, to sway him so easily?

“Then let’s get moving, it will be a longer drive.” Gabriel was all business again. “John, you are smaller than Derek, you slip in with Sarah. See that she rests as calmly as possible, I’ll try not to shake her up badly, but the road is what it is. Derek…”

Derek already understood. Whoever took the other seat would also take Julian. The small boy had watched them intently, silently. Squatting down Derek offered the boy a hand. “Come along?” The boy extended both hands smiling. Derek obliged and lifted him up, carrying him to the other side of the car.

 

***

 

“Her shape? As bad as can be, fever rising, slow reactions and I am afraid the wound is infected. Yes, Ben I hurry. We are 30 minutes out and I am pushing 150 already! Heard that. Okay. Thanks, Ben.” Gabriel deactivated the cell phone, dropping it back to its place. Ahead the lights of the city were drawing closer.

Derek had half listened to the phone call, half watched Sarah who was getting worse and worse. John was sitting beside her, and whatever he felt, what fears or desperation might be in his heart, they were locked away now. “This Doctor, how long do you know him?”

“Ben? For years. We met while I was flying evac choppers, he was one of the oldest military Docs I met in the field. Old, grim and gruff but one of the best. One hell of a surgeon, don’t know how many lives he saved.” Gabriel slowed down some as they entered the city, no need for police attention. “He helped me through some rough times later on. He knows that life deals out some shitty dishes and that the law is often an idiot.”

Derek didn’t really listen to the conversation. His eyes were on John, as he was sitting beside Sarah. That look in John’s eyes; Derek had seen it before, in another, so much darker time…

 

Derek had taught Kyle to be brave, to sneak up to T-90’s and deliver a grenade that would rip them apart. Gabriel had taught them both how to use a gun and how to make various traps the metal couldn’t handle. But they had forgotten something on their training plan: brains. Kyle was sometimes very brave and very stupid. Like right now.

They had been up on the surface to scavenge some supplies. It was daring, especially as they had moved north. That was dangerous territory, but it also yielded larger findings. Derek and Kyle were an efficient team together. Derek often drew the attention of their attackers, while Kyle sneaked up to them and finished them off. That didn’t mean Kyle was invited to develop a ‘rescue-people’ streak. When Derek had seen that group of fighter, soldiers, whatever they were, fighting the machines he had know it was time to get the hell out of here. But Kyle had spotted that one HK getting in the back of their leader. Swift as only he could run, he crossed the ruined street, jumping up on a fallen metal beam, racing along it, jumping down right behind the metal and hooked it up with two grenades. Derek winced the load was too much…

The Explosion went off, ripping the metal in pieces. The soldier saved himself, by slithering down a skull pile and finding cover below some rubble. But Kyle, who was racing back the way he came, wasn’t as lucky. The explosion threw him off the broken metal beam, half burying him under other rubble. Derek checked the terrain, the air was clean. He ran over to dig Kyle out. Damn it, why must he play the hero? He knew the answer, deep down in his heart he knew that his brother would always look out for other, that he would never learn to care only about himself and his friends. That he had a capacity to hope, to trust and to love that Derek had lost on the day when the missiles were launched.

“Here let me help you with this.” Another man was dragging off a stone slab. It was the one Kyle had rescued. “What was that?”

“That was my brother saving your sorry stupid ass.” Derek growled. “By putting two grenades between the metal’s ribs.” They found Kyle. He was out cold, his body bruised, some bones perhaps broken, but alive. Endless relief flooded through Derek’s heart. Kyle lived. He hadn’t paid with his life for his stupid stunt.

“Whoa, that’s just a kid. Connor, you must be loosing it, if kids have to come your rescue.” Another one of the fighters cut in.

Derek freed Kyle’s feet from rubble and smashed skulls. “Kyle shouldn’t have tried in the first place.” He said heatedly. He could get himself killed that way.

“Kyle?” Connor’s voice had an odd tone. “I owe him one.”

 The glance he cast the unconscious boy was worried, Derek saw that. The guy had not wanted Kyle to get hurt, so Derek slowly relented. “Don’t worry. He’ll pull through. He’s tough.”

Connor’s mien shuttered, became cold, controlled, except for his eyes, that still mirrored some worry. “I’m sure he is. Do you think you can get him out of here on your own?”

Derek nodded an affirmative. “Sure thing.” He would carry Kyle back to the tunnels and from their to the hideout. Gabriel and Julian where somewhere East, they had split up because two people had more chances to evade the HK’s than four.

“Good. We’ll delay our blowing up of that place –“ a gesture to one of the surveillance towers, “for half an hour; enough for you to get to safety.”

Derek wasn’t sure why the man was giving them the chance, why he too that risk. Perhaps because Kyle had tried to help him out, perhaps because he didn’t want kids wounded in a mission of his. He didn’t know, and he didn’t really wait to find out. He took Kyle and began his way back to the tunnels, hoping he would never ever run into this Connor-guy again.

 

 

 

 

 

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