Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 1

[forgot_my_life]

Oh yeah. This was bad. Grabbing a chair and ignoring the woman who had brought him in, Takaya crossed his arms and glared at the wall. He wasn't going to participate in this bullshit. Being told he had 'company' and that he should he happy about it had ruined what was otherwise an okay day

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[lost_turkey]

John was on edge when the nurse came up to him, informing him that there was a visitor waiting for him in the Lobby. That post about robots had him very jittery and he grumbled that it was about damn time someone showed up for him. For the past few days he'd been walking around, waiting for the shoe to drop and for some doctor, nurse or other patient to suddenly turn on him and attack him. Talking to John last night hadn't really helped, though his views on time travel were interesting. He made a mental note to track the man down later. For now, he hoped his mother was here with a plan to get him out of here.

He followed the nurse to the lobby and sat where she gestured, looking around the room as he marked the locations of the exits. It was best to be prepared especially if his mom came in with guns blazing. Or with Cameron blazing, as the case could very well be.

[damned_visitors]

It was neither that stepped into the room a few moments later, but a tall, muscular man dressed in faded camo pants and a simple grey t-shirt. The man glanced around the room, looking highly uncomfortable about being here in the middle of such clinical and sterile conditions, but when his eyes landed on John, he relaxed slightly, turning and moving casually in the boy's direction, his intent gaze quickly scanning John's form to make sure he was alright.

[lost_turkey]

John stood up when he saw his uncle walk into the room, a bit confused but relieved nonetheless. If Derek was here then he was certain his mom and Cameron were camped outside, rigging explosives or doing whatever it would take to get him out of here.

"Derek," he said, giving the man a small smile but his face still looked serious and somber as he was still relatively pissed that it had taken so long for someone to contact him.

[damned_visitors]

Derek walked over to John, giving his nephew a small smile as he clapped a hand on the teen's shoulder. Despite his friendly expression, there was real worry in his eyes as he studied him. "Hello, John," he greeted the boy. "How've you been holding up?"

[lost_turkey]

"Better now that you're here," he said, giving Derek a serious look before glancing around them, noticing the nurses at the edge of the room.

"Damn, there's no real place to talk," he scowled, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "You wouldn't believe the shit that goes on. Let's skip the part where you tell me what happened and get onto the plan."

[damned_visitors]

Derek hesitated, shooting the boy a cautious look, before nudging him back to the pair of chairs John had been sitting on before he entered. "Plan?" he echoed carefully, sitting down beside his nephew as he searched the teens face intently. "What plan?"

[lost_turkey]

John snorted dryly and nodded. "Right, of course, what plan." He glanced over his shoulder and moved closer to Derek, bending his head close.

"The plan to get me out of here," he whispered. "Mom must be having kittens by now."

[damned_visitors]

"Well, yes, but that's to be expected at the moment," Derek countered, his words chosen carefully. "She's... very upset. You gave her quite a scare, John."

[lost_turkey]

"I blacked out," John said, trying to remember the last few moments of his life before waking up here. "She forgot my birthday and Cameron went to get the cake and I blacked out. I don't know how I could have scared her, unless she's pissed I let myself get captured instead of running. But that's besides the point. Tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it. It'll be easy to create a distraction here. If Mom sets the explosives she could probably blow a hole into the wall by the Sunroom and if Cameron wards off the nurses then we can make a break for it."

[damned_visitors]

"You blacked out?" Derek echoed, a hint of frustration showing through his otherwise unreadable expression. "John, you seriously hurt your sister and then tried to claim she'd been trying to kill you. If your mom hadn't been able to drag her out of the car..." he trailed off, looking away as he took a moment to compose himself once more, raking his fingers through his hair.

"I know things have been tough on you recently, what with the move and all, but honestly, John, what were you thinking?"

[lost_turkey]

"Drag her out of the car?" John said, looking horrified. "You mean to tell me that explosion that I heard... that was..."

He clenched his fists. "Shit, they must have found out about us," he said. "Either more machines or those people we took the hard drives from. Is Cameron alright? She didn't blow any circuits did she because I can always fix her if she did."

[damned_visitors]

John's words made no sense, but from what Sarah had said, the boy had been babbling this way ever since that day. It's why she'd placed him here, certain that something had happened that had made him snap. She didn't have any other explanations.

"She's healing, slowly," Derek answered instead, ignoring the talk about circuits and machines for the moment. "She had to spend several weeks in the hospital and her burns were pretty bad, but she's healing."

Unsure if John were actually showing concern for his sister or not, Derek shook his head again, turning to face him. "Look, you've always known you can talk to me, John. If... if there were real problems, if you were so upset about something, why didn't you come to me? What could possibly possess you to... to... to do something like that?"

[lost_turkey]

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," John said, giving Derek a bewildered look. "Hospital? Please don't tell me you actually took Cameron to a hospital? Are you out of your mind?"

Something was wrong. Derek wasn't reacting as he expected him to. There didn't seem to be any concern about getting him out of here which troubled him. "Tell me what it is I did," he said slowly. "Why did I end up here, Derek? This doesn't have anything to do with the machines."

[damned_visitors]

"John, there are no machines!" Derek finally burst out in frustration, latching onto his nephew's shoulders. "I don't know where this came from. Of course we took Cameron to a hospital. Do you have any idea how badly she was hurt? You hurt her, John. Why would you ever think your own sister would try to kill you? She'd never do anything like that. Your mother said you were hysterical and paranoid and she didn't know what to do with you, but we never imagined you would ever do something like this? How did you even learn how to rig something like that up?"

[lost_turkey]

A cold chill ran through him and he pulled away from Derek, needing to distance himself from the other man. This insane. Derek had fought in the war and knew better then anyone that machines were real and would kill any human they set their sights on. Why the fuck was he telling him differently now? Even if he was just trying to keep up the charade he wouldn't go so far as to imply that he had tried to kill Cameron. Why the hell would he kill the cybor sent back to keep him safe?

"What year is it, Derek?" he asked pointedly. "Tell me what year it is and what year Judgement Day happened. Because this is wrong and you're all wrong. Cameron is not my sister. You don't even trust her because of what she truly is. If I rigged a bomb it was only to blow up Skynet and the stupid answer to how I know how to do that is because you and Mom showed me. So what year is it?"

[damned_visitors]

"I don't know what Judgement Day even is, John, and I sure as hell know your mother and I never taught you anything of the sort," Derek denied, his fingers clenching roughly against John's shoulders. "Your mom doesn't even know how to work jumper cables, for christ's sake. Cameron's been your sister for the last fifteen years and you've never had an incident like this. Why now? Was it the move? Some... some delayed form of teenage rebellion? I know you've always had to be the man of the house, when I couldn't be around as much as I wanted, or as much as you wanted me to be, but John, I just don't understand this. You've never been violent. Why?"