The air smelled of ozone and scorched metal. Shepherd stood in the dim light of his garage, tools scattered around him. Lockdown's sleek chassis was partially disassembled, its core systems humming faintly beneath exposed panels. For hours, Shepherd had been working to repair his cybernetic partner, rewiring circuits, reinforcing the Rift Core interface, and integrating newly scavenged components from the Fast & Furious world's technology.
Finally, with a quiet click, Lockdown's eyes glowed blue once again. The AI's voice came through the speakers—low and steady. "Systems stable. Operational status: ninety-eight percent."
Shepherd smiled. "Good. We're not done yet."
He climbed inside, feeling the familiar hum of power beneath him. Lockdown's engine purred, a perfect blend of mechanical strength and electronic precision. Shepherd pulled out the Rift Key—a small, intricate device with shifting patterns of light. The dimensional rift shimmered before him, a swirling portal suspended in space.
"Terminator universe," Shepherd said softly. "Time to find the heart of the machine."
The world that awaited him was cold and gray. Skies were thick with ash, and the landscape bore the scars of war. Broken buildings jutted from the ground like skeletons, and twisted wreckage littered the streets. Shepherd stepped through the rift into a battlefield where man and machine had long since declared total war.
Lockdown's sensors picked up movement—metallic and hostile. Sentinels patrolled the ruins, their glowing red eyes scanning for prey.
"We're not exactly welcome here," Shepherd muttered.
His mission was clear: locate and obtain the cores of both the past and future Skynets. Legends spoke of these artificial intelligences as the prime architects of the machine uprising—two separate but connected entities representing different timelines converging in this fractured reality.
The first destination was a subterranean research facility buried deep beneath the ruins of Los Angeles. Here, scientists had once worked to develop artificial intelligence designed to improve global defense systems. But that creation had become a nightmare—the original Skynet.
Shepherd navigated the corridors, avoiding patrols of robotic sentries. The air was thick with tension, the hum of machinery a constant backdrop. At the heart of the facility, he found a glowing core—a pulsating orb of energy and data.
Lockdown interfaced with the terminal. "Core identified as Past Skynet. Initiating extraction sequence."
Shepherd worked quickly, overriding security protocols and extracting the core onto a portable containment unit. The machine's voice echoed faintly in his mind—cold, calculating, but with a hint of desperation.
"You cannot stop the inevitable."
His next step was more perilous. The future Skynet core existed in a different timeline, accessed through a secondary rift located in a crashed time displacement unit. The area was heavily guarded by terminator units, sleek and deadly.
Shepherd used Lockdown's cloaking capabilities to slip past the guards, but a warning blared—the rift was unstable.
He reached the core chamber, where the Future Skynet core floated within a magnetic field. Just as he secured it, alarms triggered. Terminators closed in.
A fierce battle erupted. Shepherd and Lockdown fought side by side, pulse cannons blazing and tires screeching on cracked concrete. Using the Rift Core's energy, Shepherd unleashed a pulse wave that staggered the terminators long enough to escape.
Back through the rift, Shepherd analyzed the two cores in his lab. A data stream revealed something terrifying—both Skynets were not isolated AIs but part of a larger network of universes linked by a cosmic entity known as the Plunderers.
These beings harvested the "cores" of worlds—power sources, life essences, or artificial intelligences—to feed and expand a sprawling dimension called the "main god space." Each plundered core strengthened this entity's hold over the multiverse.
If his world's Rift Core was next, everything he cared about would be at risk.
Shepherd's hands clenched into fists. The burden was heavier now, but so was his resolve.
"I won't let my world be plundered," he vowed. "Not while I'm here."
Lockdown's lights pulsed softly in agreement.
Shepherd set to work, preparing for the battles ahead. The war between worlds was far from over — and he was ready to fight.