Title: BLIND DATE

Author: Marla

Type: AU Terminator/Eve of Destruction crossover

Character/Pairing: The Terminator (as played by Arnold Swartzenegger)/Eve-8

Rating: PG

   Warnings: Spoilers for ‘Eve of Destruction’

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101831/                  

Summary: A meeting between two Cyborgs becomes a path for distruction.

Disclaimer: Eve of Destruction is the property of Interscope Communications

Terminator is the property of Hemdale Film/James Cameron

Author Notes: I wrote this story years ago shortly after Terminator 2 came out and published it in Issue 9 of the Celestial Toybox.   It’s totally AU in nature. John Connor is based on an extrapolation of the Edward Furlong version from the movie Terminator 2.

John Connor couldn’t help but find the whole situation amusing, much to the displeasure of his friend. The ‘friend’ in question was, of course, the Terminator. It still seemed quite odd to him that this thing his mother had taught him to fear had become so dear to him. So dear, in fact, that as soon as he had graduated from college, he had begun working on the technology to bring his friend back to life. Creating the technology had been easy to do since he possessed the chip necessary to help him along. He still felt a twinge of guilt over the fact that he had tricked both his mother and his friend that fateful day in the steel mill when they had changed the course of history. The chip he had thrown into the super heated steel had been the one from his safe cracking device, not the one from the first time the Terminator had visited.

“I do not see the humor of this situation,” a resonant masculine voice with a slight eastern European accent spoke to him, bringing Connor back to the current events.

“Of course you don’t, buddy, because you haven’t seen yourself in the mirror yet. Come and look,” Connor laughed as he took the Terminator by one massive arm and pulled him over to the full length mirror located in the department store dressing room they were currently occupying. Obediently, the massively built cyborg followed the smaller built human and found himself standing in front of the mirror.

“What is the humor?” he questioned when he took a good look at what he saw.

“You, in that monkey suit! Man, it’s a trip!” John chuckled as he looked his tuxedo-clad friend over from top to bottom.

“Monkey suit?” The big cyborg was puzzled by the descriptive term. “This cloth is 50% wool, 50% rayon, with a 100% silk vest and jacket lining. The buttons are plastic, and the zipper is steel.” He turned to stare at his friend in bewilderment. “Nothing is made of simian tissue or hair.”

“No, man, monkey suit is an expression. Get it.”

“Oh.” The Terminator filed the information away in his memory banks for future reference. He turned back to look at himself in the mirror again. “Why must I wear this ‘monkey suit’?”

“Because, my very large friend, you have a date,” John informed him solemnly, then laughed again. 

“Date,” the Terminator repeated, his eyes narrowing in puzzlement and with just a hint of suspicion. “What is ‘a date’?”

Connor sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. “Come over here and sit down. We need to talk.” John headed over to a couch that was located in the outer waiting area of the dressing room. The cyborg followed and sat down as was asked. “OK, this is the scoop, my friend. I was informed about a week ago that my Cybernetics research program is not the only one in existence, nor the only one being funded by the government.”

“This is not good?” the Terminator stated. The threat of Skynet still coming into existence was a very real one. If someone else could duplicate the process needed to create the chip, then the machines could very well take over. So far, John Connor had been able to keep the process to himself. Or so it had seemed.

“I should have known she, if anyone, could duplicate my work,” John laughed wryly. “After all, we went through six years of college constantly competing against each other.”

“She?”

“She is Dr. Eve Simmonds. She and her people have been working on creating Cybernetic spies to take the place of human field agents. They have been doing a lot of experimental work. I had thought they were done for and would discontinue their work after the serious malfunction they had in one of their top models.”

“Malfunction, what kind of malfunction?” The cyborg was curious.

“Severe personality dysfunction along with equipment failure. I’m not sure of all the details. The information they gave me was very sketchy at best.”

“Of course, we would do the same, right,” the Terminator commented.

“Yeah,” John conceded. “But it still bothers me to know someone else is doing research that I can’t keep track of. Yet evidently it bothered someone else as well, especially since the other project had such a near disaster on their hands. So, we’ve been invited to pool our resources and avoid such a problem in the future. I can’t say I’m looking forward to working with Eve, but I’ll be damn happy to have some say in her project and make sure she doesn’t duplicate the one part of the Cybernetic process that could make the Cyberdyne system a reality again.”

“Have you told your mother anything about this other project or the problems they had?”

“Hell no!” John Connor snorted. “The last thing I need right now is for my mom to freak out again about how I’m supposed to be the savior of the human race. It’s bad enough she didn’t speak to me for a whole year after she found out I still had the chip and intended to create you again. She’d lose it completely over this.”

“Yes, I agree. It wouldn’t be wise to tell Sarah about this until we have had a chance to assess the whole situation,” the cyborg agreed.

“That’s the game plan for now,” John stated, then glanced down at his watch. “Damn! We’re running late,” he exclaimed and hurried his friend out of the dressing room and to the cashier to pay for the suit.

Four hours later, Dr. John Connor and his greatest achievement arrived at the Seven Hills Country Club Grand Hall exactly on time. The valet took an involuntary step backward in surprise and fear as the massive form of the Terminator stepped from the passenger side of the fiery red Ferrari that had just pulled up.

“It’s okay,” John told the young man. “Just don’t make him mad,” he couldn’t help but add wickedly.

“No, sir, of course not,” the valet responded.

“And don’t damage the wheels,” the Terminator intoned in a low, deadly-sounding voice.

“No. . no sir!” the young man promised in a shaky voice as he took the keys from the driver and very carefully drove the car off.

“Love when you do that, man,” Connor laughed as he and his friend made their way into the Grand Hall.

Once Dr. Connor and his creation were in the entryway to the hall, they paused to survey the room full of people. “They sure turned out in droves for this, didn’t they,” John remarked as he snagged a fluted glass of champagne from a passing waiter and took an appreciative sip.

“A lot of weapons in there,” the Terminator gave his own assessment of the situation after doing a full scan of the area.

“Don’t doubt it for a minute, my friend. There’s a lot of high tech minds here tonight, and you can bet security’s gonna be tighter than a virgin’s. . . .”

“John Connor, how. . .interesting to see you again. So nice to know you’re still as colorful as ever,” a female voice, rich and smooth as silk spoke from behind, interrupting him. “Who’s your rather large and impressive looking friend?”

“Dr. Eve Simmonds, fancy finding a babe like you here,” Connor greeted her and watched the woman flinch at his choice of descriptive terms. It told him she was still as uptight as ever. “You like this big guy, huh? I think I did a pretty good job of designing him too.”

“This is your cyborg? I’m impressed,” she spoke with frank appraisal.

“You didn’t design me, Cyberdyne did,” the Terminator corrected Connor. “You only rebuilt me based on original design.”

“Honesty. What a function,” Eve commented dryly, enjoying the look of embarrassment on Connor’s face.

“I haven’t worked all the bugs out yet,” John informed her as he shot the Terminator a nasty look then was surprised to see him give a sly smile in return. Watch it, John old buddy, he’s learning quick. He turned back to the lovely blonde woman. “So, Eve, where is your little beauty?”

“Oh, she’ll be along shortly. She’s in the ladies room freshening up.”

“Vanity. What a function.” He threw out an intended taunt.

Eve refused to be baited. “As you were made aware of, Dr. Connor, my creation is designed for spy work and therefore must appear human in every way possible.”

“Yes, I’ve been told. What I’d like to know, however, is all the ways it’s not at all human.”

“I just bet you would,” Eve smiled enigmatically. “You tell me your secrets, and maybe I’ll tell you mine.”

John Connor had to step back to reassess the woman in front of him. It was quite obvious that somewhere along the line, she had gained a measure of assertiveness and self-esteem. This both pleased and disturbed him for it meant that she would be more difficult to figure out and to control. He finished his mental assessment and gave her a charming smile. “If I do, Eve, will you still respect me in the morning?” he teased playfully.

“My dear Dr. Connor, how can one lose what one does not already have?” she parried back in a nasty, subtle way.

“OUCH!” he muttered good-naturedly, trying not to let her see how much her words had stung.

His efforts, however, were in vain, and the blonde sighed in satisfaction at scoring a hit for the first time. Maybe working with Connor would be better this time now that she knew how to handle him (and herself) a whole lot better. “Well, I guess I’ll start this little game of show and tell if you’re not going to.” She spoke with a crisp, efficient tone.

“As they say, ladies first.” He bowed in mock deference to her.

The Terminator had stood by impassively throughout their whole display, taking in and storing all the pertinent information he received from his surveillance. The interaction between humans never ceased to intrigue him, especially when it came to his friend, John Connor. Based on the input he had just filed, his computer ‘brain’ had come up with the theory that Connor and Dr. Simmonds would end up as an ‘item’ very soon. He would wait to see if this theory was correct.

Connor, glancing up at his friend, saw an enigmatic smile touch his normally stoic features and wondered just what was going on is his mind. You probably don’t want to know, he admonished himself. “You were saying?” he prompted Eve aloud.

“Yes, I was saying I’ll start since you’re so reluctant, shall we say, to let go of your precious advantage.” She smoothed down her dress in a nervous gesture and took a sip of her drink before going on. 

Finally, she began. “My creation, Eve Vickers, is part of ‘PROJECT ROB’, which was founded over twenty years ago as a means of creating robot spies that could take the place of human agents in the field. Of course, the first attempts were very crude and in no way could pass as human. Yet, they kept trying and always without success, that was until about eight years ago.” She paused to gather her next words and to blush faintly at how she was going to phrase them.

“And then you came along with your cybernetic research and kickstarted them into the future of their field, right?” Connor supplied for her with only the slightest hint of sarcasm. It was just enough, however, to make Dr. Simmonds defensive.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, that’s exactly what happened,” she replied coolly, her blush changing to a flush of anger.

“OK, so we got that part, and I know you’re pretty damn good, so what’s the scoop?” He was growing impatient.

“The scoop is Eve-8,” she snapped, “and she’ll knock your socks off!”

The petite, lovely blonde in the very flattering, low-cut gown stared critically at her reflection in the ladies room mirror. For the fifth time, she tugged at the bodice of her teal blue gown to adjust the line of the cleavage to show off more of her exquisitely designed bosom. Satisfied with that, she did a last minute touch up on her shiny blonde hair and flawless makeup. They had instructed her to look and act as human as possible tonight of all nights. Her creator, Dr. Eve Simmonds, had told her that there would be another cyborg at the gathering. If she could fool it, and at the same time not be fooled by it, then their work would be an even greater success than before.

She stared into the mirror once more, and her ‘brain’ told her that everything about her appearance was in order. Yet, it was that very appearance in itself that caused her anxiety. It was not the face she was familiar with. Gone was the exact duplication of Dr. Eve Simmonds’ facial structure. The last incident, of which she had only a vague memory, had elicited the change in looks. Now, though still extremely attractive, she bore only a passing resemblance to the woman who had created her. Intentionally, her emotional reactions were still a very close match to those of Eve Simmonds along with many of her thoughts, memories and feelings. The difference was, of course, that she, Eve Vickers, now had her own set of memories and experiences to draw on as well, and that made her slightly uncomfortable with herself. She was now truly a separate entity from the human woman.

Finally satisfied that she was ready for the test, Eve-8 took up her purse and sauntered out of the ladies room to do her thing.

The Terminator was only half listening to the conversation going on between Connor and Dr. Simmonds now. All the conversation would be recorded by his ‘brain’ for him to review at a later time if necessary. What occupied him most was some sort of energy field his sensors had just picked up. The field was faint, and he tuned his sensors to a higher scan mode in an effort to track down the source. After several seconds of scanning, he was able to narrow down his choice of areas to just one, the far left side of the huge Grand Hall. There were only a few humans milling around in the area, and they were mostly female in gender. The Terminator focused in his sensors on a point of energy.

“Excuse me, my dear, but could you do an old lady a favor?” the delicately-built, elderly lady at Eve-8’s side inquired in a quavery voice so soft and low that she only heard it distinctly because of her unusual auditory abilities.

“Yes ma’am, of course,” she responded politely as was her program.

“Oh, you’re just going to think I’m a paranoid old coot, but I have the uncomfortable feeling that big man over there is staring at me in a rather nasty way.” The older woman inclined her head in a nervous gesture.

Eve-8 allowed her gaze to follow the direction of the gesture, and her eyes rested on the sight of a huge, muscular male standing on the far right side of the room. He was indeed scowling in their direction. “Yes ma’am. I do believe he is,” the blonde informed the nervous woman at her side.

“Oh dear!” she exclaimed, placing a hand above her left breast protectively. “I hope he stays over there. I don’t think my pacemaker could take the strain if he didn’t.”

The massive cyborg had immediately identified the weak power source as an implanted device humans called ‘a pacemaker’. He also discerned that his surveillance of the owner had caused her to become distressed. Fortunately, John had taught him how to deal with this. He directed a polite, harmless smile towards the old lady.

“Don’t look now, but your bulky admirer is smiling at you,” Eve-8 informed the woman at her side.

“OH MY!” she squeaked.

“I don’t think you’re in any danger,” the female cyborg soothed. “In fact, he looks rather handsome and nice when he smiles.” She found herself giving the tall, well-built man a frank appraisal.

The Terminator took his attention off of the older lady with the pacemaker and fastened it onto the tiny blonde who was staring so boldly at him. His sensors immediately told him that her visage and body shape were familiar to him. He made a quick scan of his memory banks until a probable match was located. It was Dr. Eve Simmonds. He glanced over sharply at the woman, who with John Connor had drifted slightly away from him as they had become lost in their conversation. He returned his gaze to the other woman across the room. She gave him a soft, demure smile as she sauntered further into the center of the Grand Hall. Pausing briefly, she picked up a glass of champagne, from which she took a delicate sip before she continued her journey over to him.

The big cyborg was amazed at her every move. He had never seen a human female have such precise gracefulness. Not even the so-called ‘ballerinas’, who made their living being graceful. Less than two feet from him, the mysterious lady came to a halt.

Eve-8 had to stop. Her sensors were overwhelmed by the sight in front of her! Never before had she seen a male who gave off such an aura of pure power as this one did. It was almost as if an energy field surrounded him, one that tapped into her own and drew her to him. Again she took a sip of her champagne, not for taste reasons, but because it gave her something to do. Having a program to follow helped to clear some of the confusion the powerfully built man created in her being.

“You are familiar to me,” he spoke in a deep, resonant voice that caused tiny sparks of electricity to scramble her circuits.

“F...Familiar?” she stuttered, her speech center momentarily disrupted.

“Yes, familiar.”

“I’m sure we’ve never met,” She paused to look him over. “I would have remembered that.” Vocal control had returned, and she was grateful.

“You are familiar,” the man stated again with conviction in that maddeningly distracting voice. The commanding surety of his tone made Eve-8 defensive.

“And I, sir, am quite sure we have never met.” She used a steely tone of her own.

“I didn’t say we had met. I merely said that you were familiar,” the Terminator corrected in a casual, slightly arrogant way. All the while, his cool blue/green eyes stared into her very essence.

Dr. Simmonds’ creation was very disconcerted by this whole encounter and decided quite rationally (or so she thought) to go back to the original program of seeking out the other cyborg that was supposed to be here somewhere. “Excuse me.” She smiled politely at him and turned to walk away.

Dr. Eve Simmonds and Dr. John Connor watched in total fascination as their creations met, conversed and then parted. Apparently, neither one recognized the other for what they were.

“Intriguing,” Simmonds whispered.

“Bizarre,” Connor muttered. They exchanged glances.

“Do you think we ought to tell them?” she questioned.

“Naw, let’s see if they figure it out.”

Eve-8 still felt the intensity of the big man’s gaze even with her back to him. Scan for cybernetic being, she commanded herself. The scan commenced.

The Terminator watched the delicate blonde walk away from him and tried to analyze the confusing information his sensors were being fed. He had never been affected by a human in this manner before. A piece of information was tugging at him, begging to be discovered. Replaying their last conversation, he analyzed every detail of input received. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to flame to a brighter shade as, with sudden clarity, the missing piece fell into place and he found what he was looking for! It had been her energy field that had so disrupted his own! An energy field that no human was capable of generating. She was the other cyborg! His computer ‘brain’ was a whir with the flurry of information it was sending and receiving as his thoughts coalesced into a solid program. Within that program was his mission, and he knew exactly what to do.

John Connor watched the impassive face of his large friend as the cyborg stood, lost in thought processing. Only Connor’s close, intimate working knowledge of his creation’s method of function clued him in that anything significant was occurring. The mental processes taking place in the cyborg had only taken minutes, and then John saw him make his body stance even straighter, his movements more precise, a clear signal something was about to happen. For some unknown reason he could not quite explain, John Connor felt a chill run down his soul at this realization. His only thought now - What have I done?

The Terminator knew what was to be done, what was destiny for him and for her. The massively built creation carefully straightened the jacket of his tux, turned to the table next to him, and plucked a small bouquet of long-stemmed red roses from a vase. This done, he strode purposefully across the room towards the direction of the blonde.

Eve-8 paused as she sensed the man coming near her from behind. As he drew closer, her own computer ‘mind’ finally filled in the missing piece of information for her just as his had done for him. A small, satisfied smile came to her lips as she turned to face him. The male paused only a scant foot from her. A lovely face tilted up to stare into the knowing eyes of her destiny, her mate. Flowers were held out in a gesture of offering. With gentle care, a small hand laid itself against the larger one that held the roses.

“For you,” the voice spoke to her again.

Nodding knowingly and accepting the flowers, Eve -8 held them to her face to inhale the fragrance of them. Through the petals, she spoke. “Just don’t call me bitch.”

The answering smile given to her was calm and reassuring as were the words spoken. “No problemo.”

“Good,” she approved. Then, linking an arm though the large one offered to her, they strolled sedately out of the Grand Hall.

Nine months later, Skynet was ‘born’!

Marlene Forte is living proof that success stories can happen to those who put their hearts, minds and fortitude into making them happen. Forte, a Cuban American immigrant, former teenaged mom and self-made business entrepreneur who spent six solid successful years as a video store owner, has turned herself into the female version of a Quentin Tarantino, with an encyclopedic knowledge of films, directors and actors. Both her impressive acting portfolio and her one of a kind story have positioned her as a creative voice and force certainly to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry.

With her current TV role as Rosie Hernandez in Tyler Perry’s TBS Sitcom ‘House of Payne’ and her upcoming big screen part in ‘Star Trek XI’, Marlene is living proof that it’s never too late to follow your calling, and her fiery Latin heritage doesn’t even begin to capture the extent of her resilience!

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