the five of them stepped into cyberdyne's main building after dropping their bags outside. (y/n) watched as her shoes tapped on the weirdly patterned floor, only looking up when they reached the main desk.

"hi," dyson greeted the man who sat there flatly. "carl. right?" he paused, pointing at the desk man, then gesturing towards the four others. "friends. from out of town. i just thought i'd-"

"hi," john said in a low, seemingly shy, voice. (y/n)'s face uncharacteristically heated up once she glanced over to him. letting out a breath, she waved to the man.

"go upstairs and show 'em around," dyson continued with an awkward laugh.

"mr. dyson, now, you know the rules," the desk man said dryly. "no visitors allowed," he droned on about authorization until the terminator and sarah pulled their guns on him.

"i insist," the terminator spoke. the man didn't seem panicked, only flicking his eyes tiredly between the gun holders.

carl inched his hand towards the phone that resided on his desk, only for sarah connor to snap at him. "don't even think about it," she warned.

after a mere second of awkward eye contact, the two with the guns stepped towards him. sarah slipped his gun out of his waistband while the terminator pushed him out from

behind his desk. (y/n) tossed the tape into the air with a spin, the roll landing in john's hand.

ꫛ

the elevator doors opened, only to reveal another weird area. the fluorescents reflected clearly on the floor, the walls too, giving (y/n) a headache.

"it takes two keys to open the vault," dyson explained. "they have to be turned simultaneously. the other one is in a locker in the security station.

as the reached the end of the hall, dyson swiped his card to get into a door. he opened it, pushing the door wide and beckoning the others inside. he moved inside of the new room, swiping his card in the new slot by a safe. instead of opening easily like the door, a red light beeped on the slot.

dyson turned to sarah worriedly. "my card- it should access this. i-" he tried again, only to be met with the same denied signal. he tried once more. no access. in a last-ditch effort, he tugged on the safe.

"what is it?" questioned sarah.

the man only responded with a "damn it!" he peeked over the wall, looking at a device that hung on it. "the silent alarm's been tripped."

(y/n) watched as the adults scrambled over to a table with computer monitors on it. behind her, john dug around, pulling out a cable. she craned around to look at him, watching his eyes train intensely on the card slot. she knew what he was going to do.

the adults, however, were fretting. "nothing will open anywhere, now," exclaimed dyson. "we have to abort." sweat beaded down his face.

"no!" sarah's aggressive protest rang. "we go all the way," her voice softened, "okay?" he only nodded in response.

"you guys can go and get started on the lab," (y/n) called, leaning against the wall close to the safe. sarah's eyes only rested on the girl enough to see her grin, then flicked over to john.

"i can open this," explained john.

"alright." sarah sighed, looking between the two. she gestured to john, looking at the bored-looking girl. "watch his back." (y/n) only nodded in response, pushing off the wall where she'd been leaning.

the adults and the terminator trudged out of the room, dyson muttering along the way. (y/n) raised her hand to john's shoulder, her fingers absentmindedly tracing over the seams.

john's eyes nervously flitted over to her. "i can't focus with you looking at me like-" he began with a smile, only to be interrupted by a shout from sarah.

"john, (y/n)! fire in the hole!" the latter didn't have time to appreciate the use of her name as she pushed john against a wall. peeking around the corner with her hands still on john, she watched the explosion. a heated blast of air blew (y/n)'s hair back as the next room over erupted in flame.

john opened his eyes, only to be met with (y/n) flush against him. she didn't face him, though, her eyes wild as they reflected the fire in front of her. he couldn't tell if the heat in his face was from the explosion or from something else entirely.

he blew his hair out of his face as (y/n) pushed herself off of him with a laugh. as john worked, she creeped around the room. he began typing into the keypad, only looking up when she left the room.

with a silent celebration once he got the safe open, he ran to find (y/n). he peeked in a room, noticing her familiar (h/c) hair shining in the light from the window. "look!" he called, shaking the keys that rested in his hand. "told you it'd come in-"

"john," she interrupted, looking back at him, "there's tons of police guys out there. got a helicopter and everything." as if on cue, a bright light flashed through the window, causing the two to run from the room.

"oh, shit," john cursed under his breath. they ran back to the computers in the first room, noticing the security camera footage. like (y/n)'d said, police were littered outside. "this is not good. not good!" he took the girl's hand, tugging her along as he ran to the others.

once they got into the room, she pulled her hand from his. "we've got company," she told the group.

"police?" asked dyson.

"how many?" sarah asked, her stern tone making it seem more like an order than a question. she stood, straightening the antenna on a remote control.

"like all of them," (y/n) guessed. john muttered things of agreement, commenting on the helicopter under his breath.

sarah nodded. "go. i'll finish here."

john accepted this without protest, simply taking (y/n)'s hand in his again. he walked with her towards the exit, raising his free hand to gesture towards dyson. "come on."

"i'll take care of the police," the terminator informed them.

"hey, wait! you swore!" scolded john, his pitch rising as he tugged (y/n) with him.

the terminator simply turned around. his lips spread into what could be described as a smirk. "trust me." he stepped out as (y/n)'s grin grew. in the distance, the policeman's screams accompanied the sounds of rapid fire. she stood in opening where the terminator blew a whole in the door, laughing to herself.

noticing she was still attached to john, she found herself being pulled again. stumbling for a brief moment, john looked back at her, laughing. (y/n) smiled back at him, happy they could still enjoy each other's company in a time like this.

following dyson, they eventually reached a room with two keyholes and a door. the man responsible for the end of the world turned towards the teenagers. "one of you take this," he instructed as he tossed a key. john caught it, twirling the key ring on his finger. "same time to the left."

the two separated. john moved to the right keyhole, dyson to the left. (y/n) stood in the middle, prepared to open the door. "one, two, three," dyson counted down, "go."

the turned the keys, and an audible lock clicked. dyson nodded at (y/n), and she pulled the door open. no lights flickered on dramatically like she's expected. it was dark, empty, and cold. the three of them filed in.

dyson pressed his fingers into the wall. pieces of the wall folded down, revealing encased pieces of metal. one appeared to be a metal arm, the other a chip. a CPU. dyson droned on about it, (y/n) paying no attention. she simply watched as john swiped his hand at the encased arm. the glass fell to the ground, shattering it.

(y/n) caught on quick. with a laugh, she picked up the encased chip, tossing it to the floor. john chuckled as she shifted through the glass to pick up the small piece. "we got skynet by the balls, now, don't we?" john laughed. the girl next to him snickered as dyson looked at him tiredly. "alright, let's book."

they all regrouped. the teenagers and dyson gave what they acquired to sarah, who shoved it in john's bag.

"it's time to go," the terminator spoke as he stepped heavily into the room. "now." sarah shoved a gas mask into john's arms, ushering him to go.

john shrugged his backpack on, following the terminator. when (y/n) didn't follow, he turned around. "come on." he beckoned her towards him, only for her to shake her head.

"i can help here. go."

"work on the door!" sarah called after them.

"miles, hand me the detonator." he did as asked, carefully handing it to her. she took it, pulling more equipment onto her shoulder and gesturing (y/n) to take certain things. just as they turned to go after john and the terminator, shots rang through the room.

sarah quickly went down, but the other two weren't as lucky. gaping, gray holes found their way to (y/n)'s abdomen, and normal-sized, lethal ones shot through dyson.

john wasn't deaf. he heard the shots pour through the room he'd just left. he whipped around, starting towards the door without hesitation. the terminator grabbed him by the back of his jacket, holding him in place. "(y/n)! mom!"

(y/n) ducked down close to dyson once she realized her supposed wounds were closing. he was shaking, sweat forming on his face. as her eyes traveled down to where his free hand laid, she knew. he was dying. "i'm- i'm gonna get you out of here." she stumbled over her words, nervously pressing her hands against his wounds. "it's gonna be okay."

"no," he choked out. "go. i'll- i have the detonator." (y/n) shook her head rapidly, shots still firing in the background. before she could protest, dyson spoke again. "i'm going to try to- try and save the world this time around."

she glanced behind her at where sarah was, noticing her on the move already. glass broke over top of her as she crawled into the other room. she sighed, moving her bloodied hands away from his wounds. she nodded, beginning to move away.

"thank you."

(y/n) offered him a smile. "yeah," she said softly, her emotions conflicting. as much as she wanted to save him, she knew what the smarter choice was. she had to let him do this. looking up, she noticed the terminator step into the room where sarah hunkered down. "no, actually," she said, looking back at dyson. "thank you. for doing this."

the dying man let out a gargled laugh between his rapid breathing. he smiled up at her, and waved his free hand. "go." and so, she did just that. she stood, letting the encore of bullets hit her as she ran. she watched as the terminator pulled sarah into the room with john. he noticed her, reaching out his hand. she took it.

looking the best she could through the drywall, she saw john looking back at her with a quick smile. almost immediately after she made her way through the makeshift hole in the wall, sarah shouted, "get down!"

they did as asked. john made his way to (y/n), hunkering down as the terminator blew a new hole in a new wall. fire littered the floor of the hall they ran down. "here!" john's voice rang out as he passed the things in his arms to his mom.

they made it inside the elevator, their previous room being hidden away behind the reflective doors. she turned to john, who was already looking in her direction. "dyson. he-" before she could finish her words, the elevator shook violently. john's hands found (y/n) as he tried to support himself.

the shaking calmed, everyone straightening back up. sarah's eyes flitted to john, seeing he was okay and in the other girl's arms. the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. sarah, breathing heavily, turned and beckoned them to get behind her.

(y/n), still holding john close to her, stepped out alongside him. the terminator scanned the room, only for a clatter to be heard next to him. he looked down, and gas rose from the small object. sarah, noticing what it was, pulled down john, bringing (y/n) with him. "here," his mom breathed, pressing the the gas mask to his face. his grip tightened on the other girl next to him. she soon took it off, placing it on herself. sarah knew (y/n) didn't need it, as did john, so he simply dug his face into the fabric of her sleeve.

"stay here," the terminator spoke, the smoke-like gas swirling around him. "i'll be back." sarah merely nodded.

the terminator stepped slowly through the gas. "get down on the floor face down!" the terminator simply disregarded this. "get down on the floor! now!" the policeman ordered, but the terminator kept walking. with another simple order, guns were going off, all aimed at the large machine. he faltered from the amount and speed of the bullets, but ultimately kept going.

the clang of metal against metal echoed from the terminator, his lifelike tissue being torn away. eventually getting close enough, he pulled a gun of his own. the handgun blew bullets in the legs of the police force.

groans echoed through the room, replacing the sound of bullets. only two remained standing. for these, the terminator grabbed the smoke-grenade launcher, hitting both of them in the abdomen with the capsules. after launching the remaining capsules into the crowd of policemen, he stepped out of the building.

the other three, however, remained hunkered down in the elevator. sarah peeked out, still sporting the gas mask. various men hopped around in the smokey room, griping about their legs. one man gave a shout, and a large van drove through the glass towards the front of the building.

the van spun towards the elevator, providing a place for the three to get in. sarah ushered the two teenagers out from their sitting position once john was given the mask. "let's go!" she ordered, behind the two, pushing them forwards. they all clambered in, sarah barking out another order to the terminator.

the van sped out of the building and onto the road. the tires squealed under the pressure of the sharp turns, the group inside attempting to hold themselves in place. john sat still while his mom ordered him around.

"no matter what happens, you stay under these vests, alright?"

"yeah," he agreed, but his gaze left the woman in front of him. "wait. what about (y/n)?"

this prompted sarah to turn towards the girl. she furrowed her brows at (y/n), who gave an awkward attempt at a wave. "you're metal, right? can't get shot?"

grinning, (y/n) sharpened one of her hands into a blade. "you know it."

"you're with me, then," she told her, then turning to john. "she'll be fine." the boy hesitantly nodded, only for sarah to press a vest to his face. this is going to be a long night.

~

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