Okay so... this is my first T:SCC story, but I've been a huge fan, of Terminator since the beginning. This story takes place in the middle of 'Ourselves alone' after Riley cuts herself, but before she dies... and follows the story of John, Derek, Cameron, Sarah, and my own OC Troy. Heavy Jameron... possible others. Who knows. Anyway let's begin and let me know what you think, sorry in advance when it comes to the technical aspects regarding the machines... I'm not really tech savvy.

Another, Insane Choice

Enter Alex

'Knock.' 'Knock.' 'Knock.'

Riley's father let out a sigh as he opened the front door, revealing two men.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Yes. Is this the home of Riley Dawson?" One of the men asked, in a kind voice.

Riley's father eyed the two men, both were dressed in nice suits and they were both descent sized guys. Both stood about five foot, seven inches, they were both clean shaven and had short brown hair, one had green eyes and one had brown eyes. Other then the eye color and the hair, the two looked a lot alike, not like twins, but they could be mistaken for siblings.

"This is." He replied, after he finished his analysis.

"Are you her father?" The second man asked, even their voices sounded similar.

"I am. What is this about?" He asked, crossing his arms.

Both the men simultaneously held up badges, showing that they were with the police. "Your daughter Riley, filed a complaint with us a few days ago. We were asked to investigate." The first man replied, with a small smile.

"What do you mean complaint?" Riley's father asked, with a confused look.

"Miss Dawson, filed a complaint regarding a young man that she believed to be following her. We were asked to check in on her, and see if there was any validity to her complaint and if so, we wish to see if she would like to file for a restraining order." The second man explained.

"This is the first I've heard about it." Riley's father said with a shake of his head.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is Riley home?" The first man asked, with a curious look.

"No. She's out with her boyfriend right now." Riley's father answered, with a sigh.

"Does she have a cellphone, that we could call her on? My partner and I have a lot of work we need to do, and we would like to get this job done quickly, if you do not mind." The Second man stated, in a very formal, and respectful manner.

"Yeah... let me write it down for you." Her father stated, as he turned and vanished down a hallway, for a second.

He returned a few moments later, with a piece of paper. "Is there something that I need to be doing?" He asked as he handed one of them the paper.

"I would strongly suggest, you talk to her about this, at the earliest possible convenience. We'll have a chat with her, and see if there is anything to actually worry about." The First man stated, keeping his smile, as he turned to leave.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Dawson." The second man stated as he turned to follow his partner.

"Yeah... thanks." Riley's father replied, with a confused look, as he closed the door.

The two men walked down the driveway, to a black SUV, parked on the street. They both quietly hopped in the front. They sat silently for a moment before turning to look back at a third man sitting in the back of the car with a lap top.

"Trap and trace, ready." The Third man stated.

The First man took the phone number, and drew a cellphone out of his pocket, he quietly began dialing the number. It began to ring, a few second went by before Riley answered.

"Hello?" She asked, sounding confused.

"Riley! Thanks for picking up." The First man spoke, in a voice that mimicked her father's

"What is it?" She asked, she sounded almost relieved to hear his voice. "Who's phone are you calling from?"

"Sorry. Some damn kid, knocked mine, right out of my hands. The damn thing wont work. I borrowed someone's, to make a quick call. Listen, I haven't been able to get ahold of your mother, I need you to call her and let her know that I'm going to be late. I need to pick up a new phone." He finished dryly.

"Sure... whatever dad. I really need to go." Riley stated, in a slightly worried tone.

"Alright... I'll see you later." The First man finished with a small smile.

"Later." Riley replied as she hung up the phone.

The First man calmly hung up the phone and looked back at the third man. "Well?" He asked.

The Third man looked up and smiled, "We have an address."

"Good. Let us go." The Second man stated, as they drove off.

-20 minutes later-

Riley paced back and forth as John and his Mother spoke off to the side. Riley held a look of worry, she did not have enough energy to deal with all of the shit that had been going on recently. She glanced over just as the doorbell rang.

Sarah and John both stopped talking and shared a look. Sarah immediately began to approach the door.

John took a few steps back, until he was at Riley's side. They both quickly shared a look, as Sarah peeked out through the peek hole.

She saw an average guy in a hula shirt and glasses, standing at the door. Sarah let out a sigh, as her gaze dropped to the floor. She stood there for a second until she heard another knock at the door. After a moment, she made a shuffling noise with her feet, to make it sound like someone was approaching the door, and then she opened it.

Sarah's eyes widened suddenly as she opened the door. The hula shirt, wearing guy was gone, and in his place were two men in suits.

"Hello miss. Is Riley Dawson here." The first man stated.

Sarah stared at him for a second, as she processed the question. "No... sorry. You must have the wrong house." Sarah stated with a smile.

"She doesn't live here. We were told she was with a friend." The Second man stated.

"Sorry... I don't know her." Sarah stated with a scratch of her head.

"Oh well..." The first man began to state, but he stopped as his eyes drifted off Sarah, and onto something behind her.

Sarah stared at the man for a moment, noticing a shift in his gaze. 'Please don't let her be behind me.' She said to herself as she glanced over her shoulder, Sarah felt her heart drop, as her eyes fell upon nothing, and she heard a click.

Sarah turned her head back around, only to be greeted with the sight of a silenced M9 handgun, pointed right at her forehead.

"Are you sure Riley Dawson, isn't here?" The second man stated with a smile, he was the one with the gun aimed at Sarah's head.

The First man also smiled as he stepped past Sarah into the house. As he passed her, he reached out and took the pistol that she had, tucked into the back of her jeans. Sarah, let out a sigh as she slowly raised her hands in surrender. The man with the gun didn't react or change his look, he just stared at her as she held up her hands.

"Come out! All three of you. We would prefer to not have to kill this woman." The First man stated.

'Don't be stupid. Run! Run! Run!' Sarah kept saying to herself, as the man in the Hula shirt appeared next to her and walked into the house.

"I know you're in the kitchen... and I know you're armed. Lay down your weapons and step out, we only want Riley, there is no need for the rest of you to die." The First man stated, as he raised a silenced handgun and aimed it into the kitchen.

"Three... Two..." The Man in the hula shirt began counting, right as he reached one, Riley stood up from behind a counter in the kitchen.

Sarah could just barely hear, a shuffling sound, coming from where she stood. Sarah guessed that it was Cameron, stopping John from intervening.

"Riley Dawson?" The First man asked, as she stepped into view.

Riley's eye were full of terror as she stood in front of the man, as she processed his question she slowly nodded as tears began to stream down her face.

"Good... Listen carefully... If you ever come into contact with a man named John Connor... you are to walk away... otherwise... we will kill you." The man in the Hula shirt stated.

John's eyes widened, as he listened from behind the counter, as Cameron pinned him down. Cameron listened intently to their speech patters, she could tell that they were machines, but something about their actions was off.

Sarah just listened, not moving an inch, though her brain let out a small sigh of relief, 'They don't know that John is here.'

"What?" Riley asked, her eyes wide with confusion and fear.

"One day very soon, you will meet a man named John Connor. When you meet this man you are to walk away, and never speak to him again. Otherwise we will kill you, and your whole family." The hula shirt wearing guy, explained.

"That's all?" Riley asked, her eyes trained on the gun that was pointed at her.

"That's all. When you meet this man... simply walk away. We will be watching." The First man stated.

"Are we clear?" The Guy wearing the Hula shirt asked.

"Yeah... just walk away. I think I can do that." Riley stated, with a weak nod.

"Good." The First man stated as he lowered his gun and began to walk towards the door.

The Hula shirt wearing guy quickly followed after him. As he walked past her The First man handed Sarah her gun.

"You should be careful playing with guns. Someone could get hurt." He stated with a smile as he handed it to her.

Sarah kept one hand raised as she took the gun, her eyes never leaving, the man with the gun pointed at her head.

After a moment he lowered his gun and began to follow after, his two compatriots.

Sarah watched wide eyed as the three men... or machines walked in unison down their driveway. They made it about hallway, when suddenly a purple bolt slammed into each one. The Hula shirt wearing guy, was hit in the head, and he stopped dead in his tracks, while the other two were hit in the arm and the leg. Both shots resulted in the severing of the respected limbs.

Sarah watched, as the Second man's arm fell off, she could just barely make out the metal burnt endoskelatal nub, where his arm use to be. The First man lost his leg, and fell to the floor, neither reacted to their injuries other then to shoot glances in the direction of the shots. Suddenly another shot slammed into the First man's face, killing him for good.

The Second man tried to reach for his gun, but it had been in the hand of his now, missing arm. As he reached for it, another shot slammed into his chest knocking him back onto the grass. By now Cameron was passing Sarah, ready to join the fight, as the terminator passed her, Sarah finally broke out of her trance, and took cover behind the door frame.

She glanced behind her and saw John standing a few feet away with a loaded shotgun, after a moment her and John peeked outside, they saw Cameron standing over the Second man.

Sarah let out a sigh as she slowly stepped out and began walking towards Cameron, who was simply standing over the fallen machine, staring at it oddly.

Sarah glanced across the yard towards the direction from which the purple bolts came from. Slowly approaching them from the neighbors yard, was a man in a long brown coat. In his hand was a black handgun... or at least from this distance it looked like a handgun.

Sarah finally made it to Cameron's side, as John and Riley, slowly exited the house. John held the shotgun close, and Riley held onto the back of his shirt, as the two made their way to Cameron and Sarah.

"You're a machine." The Second man stated, staring up at Cameron.

"So are you." Cameron replied, as she tried to analyze his endoskeleton.

"Are you John Connor?" The Second man asked, as John and Riley, appeared next to them. John glanced over his shoulder at the mysterious figure that had stopped about twenty feet from where they were standing, the guy had his collar popped to hide his face, and he wore a black snow hat, and black sunglasses, from this distance John couldn't get a very good look at him. After a moment he looked down at the injured machine that sat lie in the grass, before them.

"You are aren't you? How interesting. You got here faster then anticipated." The Second man stated, addressing the mystery man, at the end.

"When is SkyNet going to stop underestimating, the stubborn bull, that is John Connor?" The Mystery man stated, as he finally approached them. His voice was raspy, but had a certain charm to it. He sounded youthful while at the same time, old.

"Stubborn bull... that is funny..." The Second man replied, with a smile, that looked remarkably like Cromartie's.

"Later..." The mystery man stated as he raised his sleek black handgun, that upon closer inspection looked like a sleeker version of the Desert Eagle.

"Before I die, can you tell me. Were we close?" The Machine asked.

"You wanna know what's funny? Connor didn't tell me shit." The Mystery man replied with a single laugh as he pulled the trigger. Instantly a purple bolt flew out of the gun, and blasted the machines, metal skull open. The shot tore it's skull in half, killing it instantly.

Sarah stared at the machine for a few moments, never before had she seen one so easily killed. It was almost unbelievable, but here it was, dead, and there were two more, just like it. After a moment she focused her attention on the mystery man. John and Cameron, were both already focused on their mysterious savior.

"Who are you?" John asked.

"Alex... Alex Cameron." The man stated without looking at him. John and Sarah both shared a look before, before glancing at Cameron, who had her head tilted, in that way she would, whenever something caught her interest.

"We should take them inside." Alex stated, after a moment.

Sarah let out a sigh, before, nodding in agreement, though she never took her eyes off of Alex.

Cameron knelt down and picked up on of the machines, she measured it's weight as she dragged it towards the house, '423.4312 lbs.' she learned as she continued to drag it.

John was about to make a move to help Alex as he knelt down to pick up the Machine that he had just executed but, surprisingly, (or not), Alex lifted it, and the other one with general ease. Sarah and John shared a look, as the same thought passed through both of their minds at the same time, 'Metal!'.

-Five Minutes Later-

The Connor's stood in their living room, the three machine corpses lined up in front of them.

"John and I should do an intricate study of their endoskeletons. They aren't the same make or model as the T-888." Cameron explained.

"So... these are newer?" Sarah asked with an angry huff.

"Possibly... I won't know, until we examine them closely." Cameron replied.

Alex simply stood, on the opposite side of the room, watching the Connor's from behind his sunglasses.

All the while, Riley sat silently on the couch, not making a sound. Hoping and praying that, they would all just forget she was there.

"So... He sent another one back." Sarah stated, with a mixture of anger and... fatigue.

John and Cameron both looked over at Alex, who just stared back.

After a moment, John approached, him. "That's some pretty impressive tech you've got there." John commented.

Alex raised his gun, looked it over, before spinning it around in his hand and offering it to John. "Seventy-Five Watt, Anti-Personal, semi-auto, repeating plasma pistol." Alex stated.

John stared at the gun for a moment, before he reached out to take it. He slowly began to examine it, in his hand, the first thing that he noticed was that it weighed about fifteen pounds. "Got some heft to it."

As he examined the gun, Cameron and Sarah both slowly made their way to his side.

"This is a plasma based weapon." Cameron stated, eying Alex.

"Yes it is." Alex replied, in a nonchalant tone.

"How did you bring it here?" Cameron asked.

"SkyNet figured out how to send back anything, it wants." Alex responded, Sarah and John both shot each other horrified looks.

"Are you serious?" John asked, praying that this was all a dream.

"Yep... I'm serious... We're all pretty boned." Alex stated with a smile.

"I do believe that is an accurate description of our current situation." Cameron agreed.

"So... John sent another one of you back?" Sarah asked.

"Another one?" Alex, responded, eying her curiously.

"Another machine. I saw what you could do. You lifted two of these machines like they were nothing." Sarah stated, her voice dark, and her eyes filled with contempt.

"Holy shit! He glares just like you." Alex said with a single laugh.

Sarah's expression, softened slightly, "You mean John?"

"Yeah... I can see where he gets his angry face." Alex stated, keeping his smile.

"You don't seem like one of them." John noted, "Are you new?"

"I'm not a machine, I'm a man... with bio-enhancements." Alex stated, staring at John.

"Bio... enhancements?" Sarah and John both shared a look.

"What year do you come from?" Cameron asked, suddenly.

"2044." Alex replied.

"Holy shit... and we're still fighting SkyNet?" John asked as he let out an angry sigh.

"Yes... but we're winning..." Alex stated, as he pulled off his glasses.

"Winning?" Sarah asked, not quite understanding, what that meant.

"Los Angeles. SkyNet's last foot hold in North America. We're a hop, skip, and jump away from retaking our first continent." Alex stated proudly.

"Seriously?" John asked with a smile. This was the first good news, that anyone from the future had ever brought.

"Yeah... and you look like shit." Alex answered with a smile.

"I bet. Fighting to save mankind, and winning a war against an army of unstoppable robots, tends to do that." John rebutted.

"So... you said you're not a machine. That you have some sort of enhancements..." Sarah, tried to wrap her head around, what that could possibly mean.

"John and the FM brigade, designed it..." Alex began, but John cut him off.

"FM brigade?" John asked, glancing at Alex, then at Cameron, seeing if she knew, about what he was talking about.

"They are called the Free Machines Brigade. We call them the FM's for short. Anyway they were the ones who designed this stuff... It's based off a similar principle to the Machines skin sheaths. It's bio-mechanical technology, installed into the human body, for a wide range of enhancements. John got the idea after he found an old book about a table top game called Shadow Run. Gotta tell ya... it hurt like a bitch, but it gets the job done." Alex explained.

"That's insane." John stated with a shake of his head.

"So you're a resistance fighter?" Sarah asked.

"Major, Alex Cameron, of the UFS. We don't call ourselves the resistance anymore. We stopped being a resistance, a long time ago. Now we're a nation, and a true army." Alex stated with a grin.

"UFS?" John asked, as he tilted his head.

"United Federation of States." Alex stated.

John just stared at him... this was unbelievable. They never got this kind of good news. Every time someone came back, they always told about a war, that just seemed to drag on. Though now, there was this guy, saying that the war, was turning in humanities favor, and not only that, but humanity had created their own nation. This was almost too good to be true.

"So... SkyNet, can send metal back, without them needing skin to protect them?" John finally asked after a moment.

"Yes... not only that, but it can send back the larger more powerful machines too." Alex explained.

"Fuck!" Sarah hissed angrily.

"What was you mission?" Cameron asked suddenly.

"I was sent back to ensure the survival of John Connor, and his future wife." Alex answered.

That drew, Sarah's, John's, and Riley's attention.

"Wife?" John asked, a little taken aback.

"Yeah..." Alex replied, understanding, the interesting turn of events, that must be occurring.

"Who is she?" John asked without thinking, though his heart skipped a beat as he realized why the terminators had come for Riley.

He and Sarah both glanced over at her, Riley just stared back, her eyes were wide.

"I don't think it's her." Alex stated, scratching his head.

"Why not?" John asked, refocusing his attention.

"One drunken night, John Connor told me about his wife... he said she was a brunette, light skinned, bright blue eyes. It get's a little graphic from there but, yeah, you get the point." Alex stated.

"You mean, you don't know what she looks like?" Sarah asked after a moment.

"I didn't even know John Connor had a wife, until a few years ago. According to Connor, I'm one of ten people who knows that he has a wife, and two others are him and his wife. People suspected, but they never had any proof. SkyNet did some digging and somehow learned that John met his wife before the war. So it started to send machines back to find the woman, that were known to have crossed his path... the woman that would be the most likely suspects." Alex explained.

"So that's why they came for Riley. To scare her off?" John guessed.

"Yep... All I know is that you're wife had a huge part to play in the formation, and stabilization of the FM brigade. I have no clue what that means, all I know is that Connor asked me to do this personally." Alex informed them.

"What's so important about the FM brigade?" John asked, curiously.

"In good time my friend..." Alex responded with a smile

"Personally? You spoke to John directly?" Cameron asked, as a small spasm shot through her arm.

"I know... that's how everyone reacts. Connor's had an interest in me since I was born. He even gave me my last name." Alex stated.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, with a confused look.

"Sometime after Judgment Day, my mother suffered from amnesia. John found her in a sewer, and nursed her back to health. She didn't know who she was, or where she came from. So John gave her a new name, Samantha Cameron. That's how I got my last name." Alex explained.

John and Sarah both shared a look, this was getting stranger by the second. Suddenly Sarah's phone rang.

She glanced down at it, 'Derek.'

She stepped aside, and hit the answer button, then clicked another button, to show that it was her.

"Sarah, you there?" Derek's voice came over the speaker.

"Derek... I don't care what you're doing... drop it, and get your ass over here. We need to talk!" Sarah stated forcefully.

"Okay... I guess I'll just tell you what I found when I get there." Derek replied.

"You do that." Sarah stated, as she hung up and looked over at Alex.

The young soldier simply stared back, Sarah could just barely make out lines under his skin, she could see then in his cheeks. 'Bio-enhancements...' Sarah thought, 'this is going to be interesting...'

Okay so that's it for chapter one... let me know what you think... I'm currently working on another story, along with this one, so You're going to have to wait about a weak before you can expect any updates. By the way a lot of my inspiration comes from Terminator: Salvation, as well as the rumored story behind Terminator 5. Anyway let me know what you think... later!