Terminator: Realities

WEAPONS OF WAR

A little later that day, in a near-empty parking lot, one car parked next to another. The occupants of both vehicles exited, with only one man getting out of one of the cars. John, Kate, and Quin stepped out the other.

"Hey, Danny," John waved. "Thanks for coming.."

Danny waved back. "Hi, John," he said. "Kate." Then noticing Quin and giving him a wave.

Kate smiled and waved back. "Hi, Mr. Dyson."

John, with Quin, approached Danny.

Danny extended his hand to shake Quins. "Is this the man?" he asked.

"Danny, Quin," John said. "Quin, Danny. Gentlemen, let's hurry in please."

Kate pulled out a sniper rifle that didn't look like any regular sniper rifle before walking with the men inside.

In a low voice, Quin asked. "I don't usually disagree with you but, are you sure calling your boss was wise?"

"Yup," John answered. "Sounds like these Terminators are gonna be a problem whether we make them or not. Might as well make sure the tech falls into our hands rather than someone else."

Quin looked over at Danny, who was walking next to them. "So what's your deal? You believe all this?"

"My mom," Danny answered. "A few years ago, I thought she was going crazy when she told me this story about killer cyborgs from the future. It's why my dad died. I never told anyone about it. Then I get this call from the head of my security telling me pretty much the same thing. I still find all of this kind of hard to believe, but I'm also not going to pass up an opportunity to get my hands on technology from the future."

"Not the future," Quin corrected. "Different reality."

Danny shrugged. "Same difference."

They all entered a very large room filled with various assembly lines.

Quin looked around curiously and asked. "What do you guys do here?"

"Design and manufacture weapons," Danny answered.

"It's ok," John assured. "We do work mostly for law enforcement and the military. Our civilian department waits for approval and then designs a version for outside use. Me being an employee, I was able to get Kate a specialized sniper rifle."

"Specialized," Kate chuckled. "Try one of a kind. Not even the military can touch this."

Danny laughed. "It's not considered humane," he said, then turning to Quin. "Her rifle uses our patented Nector rounds. A combination of neural and electrical disruptors causes severe bodywide nerve damage, to the point of being permanent. Problem is, we can't fix it."

Kate chambered a round. "Nice thing is" she started. "It makes hunting easy. One hit anywhere on the body makes the animal drop instantly."

John placed a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Follow me, everyone," he said, taking them to the facility's security center. "Danny, you stay here and monitor us, you're the guardian angel," he added before grabbing several radio headsets for everyone and handing them out. "Kate, you go hide on the upper level of the assembly room we just passed," Opening a locker with some fairly high-tech weapons, he handed one to Quin. "You and I are going back to the assembly room to watch the only way in."

Kate then seemed confused. "I saw multiple doors though."

John smiled. "Yeah," he replied. "I was talking about from the main entrance. You can get to just about anywhere from the assembly room, but there's only one way in from the front doors."