This is a bit difficult to explain without spoiling it - see the end notes instead. Bad language towards the end. Sorry, this is another one without any Kryptonians.

Down Mexico Way

They’d known going in that the deal was risky, but the FBI and Federales were strangling the cross-border arms trade, and the goods on offer – fully automatic weapons, sniper rifles with armour-piercing rounds, and some shoulder-launched missiles and C4 plastic explosive – were essential if they were to have any chance of success. What they hadn’t expected was the gang that attacked as they were collecting the shipment, and the masked lunatic who led them. Now they were pinned down miles from anywhere, their truck jammed between two boulders, with armed paramilitaries of some sort firing at anything that moved.

“Come out now,” said the muffled, vaguely German-accented voice of their leader. “We caught your daughter trying to escape; I will give her to my men if you do not surrender, and your deaths will be slow and painful.”

“What do you want?”

“Your son has skills I can use. Give him to me.”

“Go to hell!” shouted John.

Sarah shouted “Prove to me my daughter’s still alive. Show her to me.”

There was a pause then the leader appeared dragging the bound girl, one huge hand clasped around her neck, the other holding a gun to her head.

“Kill them all,” shouted Sarah.

The mercenary laughed then grunted as the girl head-butted him. There was ripping noise as the ropes around her wrists snapped, and she spun round and ripped the gun from his hand before he had time to react, firing at him then apparently randomly into the surrounding trees. There were screams and more shots, and the leader staggered back towards her, grabbed a shoulder, and tried to pin her in a wrestling hold.

“Crap,” said John, trying to get a clear shot at the masked giant. “I think he’s another terminator.”

“He’s bleeding too much. Wait.”

Cameron shot the leader again then emptied the remainder of the clip into the trees. Although she couldn’t see it, Sarah Connor was sure that there were now a lot less mercenaries. Cameron rarely missed.

Sarah spotted one of the gunmen trying to sneak around to get a shot at them, and shot him; he dropped, but she couldn’t tell if he was wounded, dead, or faking it, so put another bullet into his head to be sure.

There were still occasional shots, but they mostly seemed to be aimed at Cameron, who was watching the leader as he staggered towards her. As he started to run she side-stepped him, caught his arm, and swung him around so that his head hit a tree, then jumped on his back and put her arm around his neck. He staggered but didn’t go down, and tried to head-butt her back, only stopping when Cameron ripped the mask from his face. He screamed and began to convulse, then died as Cameron finally snapped his neck.

Once Cameron reached one of the bodies and got an assault rifle the rest was soon over; the remaining mercenaries died as fast as she could pull the trigger. After a minute or so she turned back towards Sarah and John. There were several bullet holes in her torso, seeping a little synthetic blood. It didn’t look like any of them had done much harm. “That’s the last of them.”

“What the hell was that about?” said John. “Who was that guy?”

“He would have been a resistance leader if he had lived,” said Cameron. “I didn’t recognize him until I removed the mask. He was killed before I was captured by your forces.”

“What was his name?” asked Sarah.

“He was called Bane. He led the resistance in the Gotham City area. Somehow he managed to get hundreds of police underground before Skynet attacked, without him most of them would have been killed.”

“Damn... Okay, tell Derek when we get back to LA, he might know if there’s someone who can take his place. Now, let’s get the truck fixed and get out of here before we have more company…”

end

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises / Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

This is a fairly old fragment - I wanted to explain why the events of The Dark Knight Rises didn't happen in the Supergirl Returns universe, and remembered that I'd mentioned Cyberdyne and Zeiratech in The Return, which meant that Sarah, John, and Cameron were around somewhere. For various reasons I've decided not to follow up on this idea as it is, but it works reasonably well as a stand-alone piece.


Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game