Kayden took the stairs to get to the upper level. When he got to the upper level, he found out that the level which he had arrived at was still located underground. The stairs continued onwards and upwards, but there was a stair landing on the level which led to a steel door.

The door was wide open. Through the open door, Kayden could see a large room. The room was filled with many containers. The containers all seemed large enough to hold a human-sized object or person. The whole area looked like it was some kind of large warehouse or storage room. An assumption which Kayden immediately confirmed when he checked the sign on the door leading from the stair landing which he had just taken to the level.

COLD STORAGE LEVEL.

Kayden was curious about the room, and since he welcomed any clues that he could find in this place, he decided to give the room a quick check before returning to the stairs and continuing on his way. On entering the room, Kayden discovered that the room was filled with many containers. Many of the containers were open; the lids seemed to have been pushed open from inside by whatever had been stored in them. The lids of some containers were twisted and deformed, almost like they had been pummeled hard by whatever had been stored inside while they were trying to get out.

A faint haze of mist covered much of the level, caused by the cold air that had escaped from the open containers which seem to have served a purpose similar to that of refrigerators or freezers.

Curious about the containers, Kayden decided to quickly examine one of the containers before continuing on his way to the upper level. Therefore, he went to check the closest open container.

The whole container, including the lid, was made from steel. On the lid of the container, he saw a small LED-like display, lit with a green light, on the lid of the container. The display was showing some words.

T-1000 TERMINATOR ACTIVATED.

As soon as Kayden read those words, new data was displayed on his HUD. The displayed data contained a short summary information about a type of Terminator called the T-1000 Terminator.

“Liquid metal Terminator? This Terminator is even more advanced than the one I fought earlier? And it was being stored in this container. Then, why didn’t Skynet send it after me instead?”

Developing a suspicion about what the purpose of this level was, Kayden continued to check a few more containers, pausing often to check the LED displays of the containers he passed on his way. Every container he had passed by was open as were all the other containers as far as he could see. The containers all had the same words — ‘Activated’ — displayed. The only difference was the type of Terminator which had been stored in the containers.

T-1000s, T-1001s, T-1002s, T-Xs, REV-7s, REV-9s and so on.

Kayden’s HUD had declared all the Terminators to be the more advanced models among the infiltration-type Terminators — Infiltrators for short. They were the types of Terminators that Skynet usually sent out to infiltrate human survivor communities and assassinate human targets.

Although Kayden had not checked all the containers in the storage level, he estimated that there were more than a thousand containers in this storage area, all of which had once contained highly advanced Terminator models.

“More than a thousand advanced model Terminators had been stored here. This is bad. I need to get as far away from this facility as possible and as soon as I can. Although I defeated that Terminator earlier on, the ones that had been stored here will definitely be more difficult opponents. There are even more than a thousand of them. I don’t think I will survive a fight against Terminators of such numbers.”

Just as he was about to leave the storage room to take the stairs to the upper level, he noticed that two containers lying side by side at the back of the room were releasing electric sparks. As he focused on the containers, his eyes seemed to zoom in on the containers and gave him a closer view of the containers and also startling him in the process.

“Nice. What a convenient ability.”

Kayden saw that the cable connected to the two containers had been damaged, most likely from the shaking caused by a one of the more powerful explosions from the still ongoing outside attacks. But that was not what had caught Kayden’s attention. What had attracted his attention to the two containers, was something totally unexpected.

Both containers were still closed and locked.

Surprised by this discovery, Kayden rushed to where the containers were in order to get a closer look. On the closed lid of the containers, the small display screens showed a different type of message.

T-X TERMINATOR UNACTIVATED.

“This container has not been activated. The Terminator must still be inside.”

Filled with curiosity to find out what a T-X Terminator — a terminator which was more advanced than the one he had fought — would look like, since he may need to fight or evade the pursuit of such Terminators in the future, Kayden tried to pull one of the containers’ lid open. When he pulled on the lid, he found out that the lid was still locked to the container, and it resisted his attempt to open the container. So, Kayden pulled harder and succeeded in opening the container, destroying the container’s locking mechanism in the process.

Lying peacefully inside the container was a woman. The woman was beautiful and attractive, and also very naked.

The woman, who Kayden presumed was a T-X Terminator, judging by the indication on the container’s display, looked no different from a normal human woman, unlike the previous Terminator who looked more like a robot skeleton. Still, Kayden’s HUD confirmed that she was a T-X Terminator, having a mimetic polyalloy outer sheath — which was the reason why she looks human — over a tough and durable titanium alloy endoskeleton.

The T-X had a pretty face, long blonde hair, average-sized breasts, shapely hips, and straight long legs. All in all, she looked like a very attractive woman.

Kayden then opened the second container, and he found another T-X Terminator inside. This one looked identical to the first T-X Terminator in every way.

Kayden lightly slapped the cheeks of the T-Xs to check whether they would wake up, but there was no response from either of the T-Xs. They both just lay there inert, like they were dead.

“The explosions must have hit this place badly and caused severe damage to the cables connected to the containers. The damaged cables must have prevented the transmission of Skynet’s activation commands to these two T-X Terminators.”

Just as Kayden decided to leave because the explosions from the battle outside were getting too close for comfort, and cracks had begun to form in the reinforced concrete walls and ceiling of the room, new words appeared on his HUD.

[DO YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE THE T-X TERMINATORS?]

The question surprised Kayden. He had had no idea that he had such an ability: the ability to activate an inactive Terminator. But still, although he was excited about his newly discovered ability and wanted to try it out, he was worried that the T-X Terminators would attack him like the first Terminator if he activated it. Unlike the first Terminator, these T-Xs should be much more powerful and he had not had the time to check his neural net processor’s memory archives to read up the stored data files on Terminator information. He currently had just the bare minimum information about Terminators and had no idea about the various different abilities of the many Terminator models, especially the more advanced ones like the T-Xs.

But as Kayden saw the many cracks forming on the walls and ceiling, and heard the explosions coming from the outside, and as he glanced from the beautiful body of one T-X Terminator to that of the other, he thought that it would be a pity to leave them here to get destroyed.

“I will just run away from here fast after I activate them.”

Kayden place his hands on the heads of the two T-X Terminators, and choose to accept the activation request. As soon he agreed to activate the T-Xs, he felt a faint pin pricking sensation from his fingertips, and a thick black liquid — which his HUD called a carbon-based mimetic polyalloy liquid metal — came out of his fingertips and quickly covered every one of his fingers. The black liquid then continued upwards to cover his hands up to his wrists. The liquid metal quickly turned into a solid, hard, and strong metal form. Bluish-white light began pulsing down from his fingers and into the heads of the T-X Terminators.

A few seconds later, Kayden’s sharp eyes noticed a blue light come on within the eyes of both T-X Terminators. Kayden’s HUD also told him that he had successfully started the activation process.

Having completed his goal of activating the T-Xs and worried about the T-Xs attacking him, Kayden immediately ran out of the room and quickly took the stairs to the upper level.

On reaching the upper level, Kayden discovered that he had reached the end of the stairs, and unlike the previous level that he had passed through, this level was huge, and from what he could see, the level contained many buildings which were a few stories high. He could also see several tunnels which led to other places in this level.

Judging from the door sign on door that opened into this level from the final stairway landing, Kayden knew where he currently was.

He had finally reached the ground level.