author's note: Okay, so a lot of you have been asking is John going to stay in the future, is he going to return to 2009, is this Jameron or Jallison...Well, I don't want to spoil too much, but yes John's staying here in the future. The way I'm writing is like a cycle, so that at the end of this story, you could actually go back and watch the series again and it would make sense, with some things clarified or expanded upon. So there will be bits and pieces of the actual episodes scattered around eventually, certain memorable events, but other than that you'll just have to find out. I do have several interesting twists planned out, so I hope you guys will enjoy that.

So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. If there's any Firefly/Serenity fans out there, there's actually about three references to the show and/or movie in here. Oh, and as for updating, I plan on putting out a new chapter every week.

Chapter Four:

Born to Rise

"Hey, look, I can see the factory from here," Allison spoke up in a hushed tone. John's feet were dragging by the time they came over the hill, his hair matted with sweat, breathing heavily from walking all night.

"About time," he muttered. "It's almost dawn."

Despite the fact that they'd departed the safehouse as soon as darkness fell, it had taken them a while to hike back to where they'd taken the detour. Then the trek to the factory began. John had absolutely no idea where he was going, but Kyle had given him directions and Allison seemed to know the general area fairly well.

Allison had taken her turn on watch last night (or morning) and he'd desperately tried to get some much-needed rest. Instead, he'd found himself tossing and turning, plagued with the nightmare of what John Henry had done to Cameron, the absolute horror and helplessness John had felt when he'd entered the basement to find Cameron's chip gone. Her words repeating over and over and over again, each repetition tearing his heart out.

I'M SORRY JOHN I'M SORRY JOHN I'M SORRY JOHN

He must have cried her name in his sleep because Allison was suddenly shaking him awake, her face filled with anxiety. He saw her standing above him and almost made the mistake of calling her Cameron again. Instead, he slowly rose to a sitting position, avoiding eye contact, squeezing his eyes shut, trying not to look at her.

John nearly stumbled over a pile of rubble and quickly shook away the memories, ordering himself to concentrate. Worrying or even thinking about Cameron wasn't going to help him find her. To do that, he needed Weaver and Weaver needed him to unite the humans, to destroy this factory. He needed to focus on his mission.

Just as they hiked over a mound of debris, John spotted something off to the side that made his entire body freeze in place and his throat go dry. Four decapitated heads were speared on pikes sticking out of the ground, a warning to any human who dared to come near.

John's stomach twisted at the gruesome sight and he hurriedly averted his gaze. He heard a quiet gasp from Allison and turned to see her cover her mouth, her eyes filled with horror and fear as she turned away from him, vomiting.

John winced as he approached, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, realizing she was shaking with sobs. He felt absolutely awful. She shouldn't have to see this. No one should have to see this…

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Slowly Allison turned back to him, breathing heavily. He saw a tear run down her face and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Yeah…I just…I knew these people…this…"

He could see her about to break down again and felt his heart wrench. "I'm sorry. I…I shouldn't have brought you here."

"No!" she replied adamantly, quickly rising to her feet, careful to keep her eyes averted from the horrific display. "This…this is important. I'm…I'm alright."

John hesitated, but her face was strong and determined once more. He should have known this would happen. Kyle had told him about the patrol that had been killed, about this gruesome warning. He should have been expecting it, should have realized that these could be people Allison knew.

For a brief moment, he wondered how he would have taken it if it had been his friends up there. What if it had been the heads of Kyle and Derek? Of Sarah? Of Cameron? He was sure he would have broken down.

"I'm sorry, Allison," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head quickly. "It's not your fault. It's Skynet. That's why we need to destroy this factory. We have to make sure this doesn't happen again." Her voice was hardened with resolve. The sight had been a shock, he knew, but it only made her want to try harder to stop the evil that had caused it. He admired that.

"Let's go," she said.

John was about to follow when he spotted a flash of movement in the distance.

His mind instinctively screamed: TERMINATOR!

John moved without thinking, only a split second after he glimpsed the machine in the distance. He tackled Allison to the ground, moving them both out of sight amongst the rubble and destruction.

They landed hard in the dirt and John was incredibly grateful there were no metal scraps lying around that could have clanged together, alerting the Terminator to their presence.

His heart was pounding wildly in his ears as he carefully peered around the pile, but the Terminator continued on and John breathed a sigh of relief, realizing for the first time that he was still on top of Allison in an extremely awkward position. Allison's eyes widened slightly, apparently become aware of the same thing. John could feel his face redden with embarrassment as he scrambled off.

Why was he feeling this way? You love Cameron! And yet, another part of him rationally countered, Cameron doesn't exist yet. He knew, deep down in his heart, that Cameron and Allison would never exist at the same time. He'd either have one or the other. Was it really so bad for him to care for Allison too? Was he betraying Cameron?

Was this how it felt when people got remarried after losing the one they loved the first time? Did they feel like it was some kind of betrayal to love someone else? Of course, his situation was a whole lot different. His situation added a whole new level of twisted. He had loved Cameron; now Cameron was gone, but she'd be back. She just wasn't in existence yet. Did that mean she was technically dead right now? Or should he consider her just…missing?

He put a hand on his head, groaning. Time travel can really mess with your head.

They crept closer to the facility and John spotted the Terminator patrol again, coming back this time. John quietly raised the plasma rifle, took delicate aim at the right side of the Terminator's head, and fired.

The blue bolt blasted a huge chunk out of the Terminator's skull, it's body dropping heavily to the ground. John hurried up to the remains, drawing his knife just in case before he saw that the chip was indeed obliterated.

He glanced over at Allison, then down at his rifle. "This really is a sweet weapon. All we had for weapons in my time were nine-millimeters and-" Cameron, he finished silently. She'd been their greatest asset, his most loyal ally.

"And what?" Allison prodded.

John quickly racked his brain. I call shotgun… "Shotguns," he improvised.

"Wow, primitive," she agreed.

John shrugged before walking forward to the doors of the facility, his rifle charged and at the ready. Not that it would do much good if they were ambushed by a whole squad of Triple 8's with weapons of their own.

He and Allison crept into the facility, stepping lightly and cautiously. John's pulse was pounding rapidly, and he was scared to death that a Triple 8 would suddenly come up behind them, even though so far he hadn't seen one.

In fact, he hadn't seen any. Am I in the right place?

Before he could contemplate the lack of resistance, a couple of small explosions came from the west end of the complex, no doubt drawing any remaining Triple 8's away from where John and Allison were.

"What was that?" Allison demanded, her eyes wide.

There was only one explanation for it. A slow smile spread across John's face. "My distraction."

Allison seemed mildly impressed, and also no doubt bewildered as to how he would have set up this so-called distraction.

"Okay," John said, pulling out the packages of C4. "Let's get these charges planted."

They moved quickly and urgently, deeper into the heart of the facility, laying the C4 charges as they went. He could hear a commotion from the other end, followed by a few small BOOMS.

Way to go, Weaver, he thought smugly. Metal versus metal. He briefly wondered if Catherine Weaver was actually taking on all the Triple 8's by herself or if maybe some of John Henry's resistance had arrived to help. Truth be told, he believed Weaver probably could take on the Triple 8's by herself but either way, the whole machine on machine fight was a bizarre thought. In fact, this whole machine rebellion was a little hard to swallow.

He set his last charge down when a Triple 8 with Vick Chamberlain's face came around the corner, eyes targeting Allison, who stood about three feet closer to the killing machine.

John's heart nearly stopped, knowing instantly that he wouldn't have enough time to get his weapon ready before Vick had terminated Allison.

"No!" he shouted, diving in front of her as the Terminator lifted its weapon. His instincts were screaming in protest, years of training telling him he needed to run, that he couldn't let himself get killed, he had to allow the sacrifice…

But his heart had won out. He'd seen Cameron die once. He couldn't bear to see her die again.

He stared up into the cold eyes of the Vick Terminator. It aimed its gun once more but before it could fire, something silver pierced through its chest from behind. The Triple 8 dropped to the floor and John saw the familiar face standing behind him.

"Weaver!" he exclaimed.

The liquid metal arm slowly morphed back into the form of a human hand. John shot a glance at Allison's whose wide eyes were filled with shock, looking from the dead Terminator on the floor, a hole pierced in his chest, to Weaver's now human hand and finally her impassive face.

"What is that?" she breathed, instinctively taking a step backwards.

"Liquid metal," he replied easily. "The kind I told you about. She's on our side."

Allison's eyes grew even wider with surprise. "Some of the machines are helping you?"

"Why not?" John replied with a bitter shrug, thinking about the Grays Kyle and Derek had mentioned. "Some of the humans are helping the machines."

She still seemed uncertain, scared even. And with good reason. She'd spent her whole life running from these things, knowing what they did. The general belief was that machines were evil. But the humans were the opposite. Humans had been the allies, no matter how old, how young, what they looked like, who they used to be, they were all together. Except for the Grays. He could the bewilderment slowly fade as she came to the same conclusion. Good and evil existed among any species, even the machines.

She was smart, he'd give her that.

Weaver's cool eyes stared at Allison, and the girl fidgeted nervously. "Go plant the last charge and we'll destroy this facility," Weaver ordered.

Allison didn't need to be told twice, darting down the hallway to lay the final charge. As soon as she was out of sight, Weaver stalked up to John, eyes disappointed and accusing.

"That was foolish," Weaver said in a terse voice. "You should not have risked your life to save her."

John didn't need to hear this lecture, especially not from her. His eyebrows narrowed in defiance. "I don't care."

"You cannot let yourself be blinded by feelings because of her metal counterpart," Weaver warned. "She is not Cameron."

"I know that," John retorted through gritted teeth. That didn't mean he didn't care about her, though.

"She is expendable," Weaver continued.

"No one is expendable," John shot back firmly. "No one. That's what makes me different from you. No one is expendable."

Weaver quirked an eyebrow. "Of course they are. I believe your mother used to say no one dies in vain."

"That's different," he insisted. "Expendable implies that their lives are meaningless; just pawns in the game. But that's not true. Human life is sacred, but sometimes sacrifices are necessary. So she's right. No one dies in vain. It's always for a reason. It's always worth something."

Allison came rushing back around the corner. "It's set," she announced. "We ready to blow this place?"

John cast a cautionary glance back at Weaver before nodding. "Yeah, let's go."

Weaver went ahead of them, spearing a Triple 8 that remained from the metal massacre. "Go, Connor," she said. "I'll meet up with you at another time."

"Where are you–"

She had disappeared before he could finish his sentence. John scowled after her. Metal. Maybe she had to go check on John Henry. Oh, how John wanted that meeting to come. As soon as he united the Resistance, that would be the first thing he did. Have Weaver arrange a meeting with John Henry.

John would get Cameron's chip back if it was the last thing he did.

"Where is she going?" Allison spoke up beside him. He'd almost forgotten she'd been standing there.

"I don't know," John replied honestly, his face hardening. "But she'll be back." He hoisted his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the door. "Come on, let's go."

As soon as they were far enough away from the factory, John crouched down behind a mound of rubble.

"We should be safe from the blast here," he said.

Too close, John.

John frowned, puzzled, looking at Allison, recognizing her voice, but she didn't appear to have spoken. Who? Cameron? Now I'm hearing her voice in my head? This must be what going insane feels like. Next he'd start hallucinating her. A quick glance at Allison reminded him that he sort of already was.

The voice in his head came again: You are 5.8 meters inside the blast radius.

Definitely Cameron, he realized with utter amazement. Only Cameron would be so technical. Heck, only Cameron would know the exact blast radius based on the amount of C4 they'd planted.

"Wait," he said aloud. "We need to move back."

Allison cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you said this was a safe spot."

"I changed my mind," John replied easily. "Let's back up another ten meters, just to be safe."

She still seemed a little confused, but did as he suggested. John took refuge in the new spot.

Good.

Cameron's voice in his head was soft, tender, a tone almost identical to the one she'd used when he'd removed her chip for the first time, when he'd made the cut correctly.

John took a deep breath and pressed the detonator. Instantly, the factory exploded, the blast shattering walls, fire spewing from the top of the facility, smoke heavy in the air.

John felt the thrill of victory shoot through his body and he grinned. The destruction of the facility opened up so many possibilities for him and the humans. Skynet's Triple 8 production would be set back, and, in the mean time, the humans would join forces. Their spirits would be renewed; their hopes restored. He'd become the leader and eventually…they would win.

John's smile widened.

"Next stop…the Resistance."

John and Allison walked through the rubble where the second half of the resistance was supposed to be. John had no idea what he was looking for. Maybe the humans would have a patrol out. Hopefully they would because he wasn't sure how they could find the hidden entrance if the machines couldn't.

"Look," Allison said softly at his side, pointing to a shadowy figure in the distance. "Patrol. Looks human."

John readied his rifle, anyway. "You can never be sure," he muttered. The patrol spotted them and raised his own weapon.

"Stop right there!" he shouted. Both his voice and his gun wavered slightly and John instantly knew he was human.

John quickly dropped his gun on the ground, raising his hands. "We're not metal. We're friends, part of the resistance from the other side."

The patrol's eyes jumped from John to Allison, his hands shaking as they clutched his weapon. "Terminators don't usually travel in pairs. What's your name?"

"John Connor. This is Allison Young. We're not metal, we're human. We're just here to talk with whoever's in charge."

The patrol seemed to relax slightly, judging from their behavior that they weren't Terminators. "Come with me. Quickly."

John and Allison followed the patrol to the hidden entrance. Once he saw the inside of the underground camp, John found it to be much like Kyle's. Dark and damp, with minimal lighting. Lots of disheartened people crying out for food or water.

"Wait here," the patrol said, walking inside a room. John assumed he was getting their leader. Though judging by the looks of this place, and the fact that there didn't seem to be an overabundance of soldiers in this place, John guessed they were in a similar situation as Kyle. Too many losses had drained their hope and will to fight.

Less than thirty seconds later, a tall figure stepped out of the room and John's eyes widened. The face was older, of course, wrinkled and battle scarred, but he could still make out some familiar features.

"Martin? Martin Bedell?"

Bedell blinked rapidly and wrinkled his nose as he stared at John. "Connor? You look…"

"Different?"

"The same," Martin finished. His face twisted into confusion. "How…?"

"I time traveled here from 2009," John explained.

Martin looked skeptical. "You time traveled? Here? Why the heck would you do that?"

John was silent for a moment, finally realizing how crazy he must seem to have time jumped from paradise into the future, especially knowing full well the horror and devastation that was coming. And neither was John going to explain to Martin Bedell that he'd come to the future in a desperate attempt to save the life of a cyborg he had fallen in love with.

There was no way he was going to tell anyone that. Not even Allison. No one would understand. His mother had understood the fact that some of the machines were helping the humans, but she'd never comprehended his overwhelming desire to love Cameron.

And if his own mother couldn't accept that decision, how could he expect anyone else to?

"I'm here to unite the resistance," he told Martin. "We have to fight back against the machines."

Bedell pursed his lips, shaking his head sadly. "We can't fight, Connor," he said. "There's no way we can win. Skynet keeps unleashing more and more weapons on us. With the work camps and the Grays, there's no way we can fight against the machines. The only thing we can do is run, and even so, we can only run for so long before they find us."

"So you've resigned yourself to your fates?" John demanded angrily. Martin Bedell couldn't be surrendering. Martin had trained specifically for this task; he'd continued on at Presidio Alto, he'd graduated and gone to West Point, all because John would need him in the future. "You've given up!"

"Not me," Bedell replied. "At least, not entirely. But I can't do anything on my own. I can't lead all these people. They've lost the will to fight. They know we're on the losing side of this war, and they don't see any way we can win."

"We can win if we join together," John said. "Derek and Kyle Reese are sort of in charge of the other large resistance pocket. We can meet up with them…"

"Derek…" Bedell repeated, smiling slightly. John couldn't help feel a pang of regret. The Derek that Bedell was remembering from P. Alto was dead.

Finally, Martin looked up at John, shaking his head slowly. "We can't go. We've already lost too many people who have strayed too close to that Triple 8 facility."

For the first time since he'd been in Bedell's camp, John smiled, like a kid who knew some big important secret. Which, in a way, he did. "I've destroyed the facility."

Martin's eyes registered astonishment and awe at the same time. "You…you have? By yourself?" Bedell grinned broadly. "Maybe you really are meant to save mankind."

John nodded solemnly. "This is my fate. My destiny."

The news of the factory destruction seemed to have put Martin in a hopeful and more cheerful mood. John realized it was probably the best thing that had happened for the resistance since the Century breakout over three years ago. For the first time, Bedell glanced at Allison, who was standing quietly behind John, merely observing the exchange.

"And you are?" Martin asked.

Allison stepped forward, grinning brightly as she held out a hand for Bedell to shake. "Allison Young, co-savior of mankind."

"Awesome," Bedell said with a smile. His eyes flashed back to John. "Alright then. Let's meet with the Reese brothers.

John led Martin's squad in to meet Kyle and Derek, watching with a grave sadness as Martin's eyes lit up with recognition when he saw Derek. The older soldier stepped forward, grinning broadly.

"Derek," he said, offering the older Reese a hand shake.

Derek took Martin's hand, but stared at him skeptically. "Do I know you?"

A flash of uncertainly crossed Martin's face. "Martin Bedell."

Derek shrugged, glancing over at John with a bit of irritation in his eyes. "What is it with all you people knowing who I am?" He turned back to study Bedell suspiciously. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"It's not the same Derek," John said quietly to Martin. "The Derek you knew died. The Derek I knew died."

Martin was silent as he tried to process that information. Derek cocked his head curiously looking from John to Martin.

"You know Connor?" he asked.

Martin nodded. "He saved my life when I was at the military academy Presidio Alto. John and you—." He cast a quick, confused glance at John before correcting, "err, other Derek came to the camp and stopped a Terminator from trying to murder me. They told me that I had to stay and become a soldier and that he would grow up to become the leader of mankind when the world ends."

Derek smirked. "He told you that too, huh?"

John's head turned toward the doorway as he heard boots clanking on the floor. Kyle Reese walked in, looking pleasantly surprised to see the guest John had brought.

"Martin?"

"Kyle?" Bedell looked equally astonished. John hadn't expected the two to know each other. After all, they had been on two separate sides of the Resistance.

Even Allison seemed surprised, though she shrugged and grinned at John. "One big happy family."

"You know Kyle too?" John asked Martin.

"I was in Century with him," Bedell replied. "I got my stomach blown open during the escape." He shuddered, closing his eyes against a traumatic memory. "It was awful, I didn't even expect to survive. Six hours… That's how long I spent holding my own guts in and I thought for sure I was done for. But Kyle Reese wouldn't let me die. He carried me…on his back, no less…all the way out to the nearest camp where I was patched up. I owe him my life."

Kyle smiled slightly. "Anyone would have done the same."

But John knew that wasn't true. He felt a sense of pride well within him. His father was the real hero, the real soldier. He knew what it took to take the victory, but he also wouldn't sacrifice the lives of his comrades to do it. John hesitated for a moment. Kyle would never have left a man stranded. Was that why the Resistance had lost? Was that why Skynet was winning? Was John going to have to be the one to allow sacrifices in order to achieve victory? Was that the reason why he would become the leader and not Kyle?

Just the thought of himself being a cold, sacrificing leader made him sick.

"Why are you here?" Kyle asked, brow furrowed with bewilderment. "I thought you returned to the other side of the resistance."

"Connor brought me back," Martin replied, nodding in John's direction. Kyle's eyes instantly went to Allison who was still standing at John's side. Kyle rushed to her side, pulling her into a hug.

"Thank God you're safe," he whispered.

Watching the exchange, John felt a pang of regret…and jealousy. Kyle was his father, not Allison's. Whether Kyle knew it or not. He longed to tell everyone the truth, but he knew he couldn't risk screwing up the timeline even further. If Kyle knew about their relationship, that might affect some of his decisions in the future. And John couldn't allow that.

From within Kyle's loving embrace, Allison's eyes found John's and her face fell, obviously spotting the hurt and resentment in his gaze. Her face twisted apologetically. Of course, she knew about Kyle being his father. He'd told her, though maybe he shouldn't have.

Somehow, her reaction only seemed to rub salt in the wound and he quickly looked away. Kyle finally pulled away and glanced over at John.

"Thank you for bringing her back safely," he said sincerely. Despite himself, John felt a small smile light his face at his father's praise. Then Kyle's face seemed to contort into uncertainty. "How exactly did you get past the Triple 8 facility?"

"We didn't," John replied strongly. "We destroyed it."

The room was suddenly silent. John was sure he could have heard a pin drop. Allison's face was playfully cocky; Derek's mouth had dropped open in silent amazement; Kyle's eyes were slowly changing from shocked to…respectful.

"You destroyed the facility?" Kyle repeated, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

John nodded. "And I'm uniting the Resistance. We need to band together if we're going to defeat Skynet."

"We'll follow your lead, Connor," Bedell said. He glanced over at Derek and Kyle. "He knows what he's talking about. He knows how the machines work. He knows how to defeat them."

Kyle slowly began to nod his agreement. "You're right." He glanced down at John, who kept his face strong and determined. Then he looked over at his brother. "Look at all he's done already. He single-handedly destroyed a Terminator infiltrator in our very own base. He's destroyed the Triple-8 Facility that has split the Resistance in two, a barrier we've been trying to get around for years. And now, he's brought the Resistance together. He can restore hope to our soldiers." Kyle stared at John, his eyes now holding a fond respect. "John Connor can win this war."

John glanced over at Derek, who started nodding slowly, agreeing with his brother. "I guess I was right about you, Connor," he began with a grin. "You are gonna be famous."

John sat down in his bunk, his mind already beginning to map out strategies for the next step in his battle plan. This time, he wasn't scared or surprised at all when the silver mass pooled out of the ceiling and slowly took the form of Weaver.

"John Connor," she said by way of greeting. "I see you have returned with the other half of the Resistance."

"Not only that," John said casually. "But I think they believe me now. I'm becoming the leader."

"Good job," she said with a pleased smile. "You've done well."

John pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Alright. I've done what you asked. I've united the resistance. I've become the leader." His tone grew more intense. "Now, take me to John Henry."

Weaver smiled as she shook her head. "I can't do that, John. You should know that by now. John Henry is very busy. As I've said before, everything will happen as it's supposed to. There is a time for everything."

"The time is now," John shot back. He'd come all this way in order to save Cameron. That was the only reason he had time-jumped with Weaver, to find John Henry and get back Cameron's chip. She wasn't going to deny him this. He'd get Cameron back. No power in the universe could stop him.

"I swear I'm going to find him," John said angrily. "And you told me you'd take me to him if I fixed the timeline, got the resistance back on track, became the leader. I've done what you asked. Now, I need to find Cameron."

Weaver smiled, chuckling softly, almost sadly. "Oh, John. Your job has only just begun."

NEXT: John begins becoming the leader of the camp, uniting and restoring hope to the Resistance.