Chuck vs. the General
Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck, making no money from my muse's crazy tangents.
A.N.: This idea came to me suddenly and I ended up writing it out in a frenzy. I wanted to show a different side of two characters that I felt seemed plausible, as well as maybe starting a series. If nothing else, I wanted to show an possible evolution of Chuck that would allow him to keep his humor, but take his responsibilities more seriously.
Chuck Bartowski crept stealthily through the Orange Orange shop, the clock reading 3. He had set up this personal mission, planning every detail out, hoping that he had kept everything quiet from the two people in his life who knew almost everything about him these days, his handlers, Sarah and Casey.
After the mission in the suburbs, and his absorption of the so called "Dark Intersect", Chuck had started thinking heavily about his role in the team, in national security, and in the lives of the people he loved. His dreams had become strange and introspective, showing him a myriad view of possible futures, all of them dark and strange.
Strangely though, his spirits never quailed in the face of the images, instead they strengthened his resolve about the plan he was currently engaged in.
People viewed him as sweet and unable to manage the intricacies of the "Great Game", instead preferring to protect him from all the nastiness of the world.
Bryce had done it, derailing Chuck's possible acceptance of the larger world and denying him the training needed to maneuver through it properly.
Ellie Bartowski had done it, with all the kindness of someone trying to guard something intrinsically valuable that she couldn't be without; unfortunately, this had created a safe zone that had allowed Chuck to stay ignorant of the world for even longer after Bryce and Jill had betrayed him.
Now, and this had been the crux of the problem, Sarah Walker was doing it. Sarah obviously cared for Chuck, and to his chagrin, it was affecting his ability to get closer to her properly. She was under orders to protect his brain and it was causing her to pull away from his body.
When he had been thought dead for a moment when the team had saved Morgan, Chuck had seen the look on Sarah and Casey's faces, he had seen the look of people who had lost more than an asset. Chuck had realized that all three of them had been short changing them selves about their bond because of one thing.
Everyone, even Chuck for a while, thought that there was going to be a day when they could walk away from all of this. Their actions had specifically been tailored around the idea of hopefully releasing Chuck back into the "normal" world and going back to solo missions.
Except Chuck didn't think that he wanted that anymore, not for himself, and not for the people around him who had grown because of the situation they were in.
Activating the passage into the Castle, Chuck moved silently and plugged a flash drive into one of the computer array, uploading the files he had created recently and waited for the fallout as his little surprise began to go to work.
While he waited, Chuck reviewed what he DID want.
He wanted a life free from personal failure. He wanted the well being that filled him upon completion of a mission that he had acted well in and had been integral to it's completion. He wanted Sarah Walker to be his wife, to have a family and for them to be happy and strong.
Chuck had decided that these things required him to commit to being the Intersect and training to become an agent of some capacity, whether it be analyst or field work. It was the only way he'd be able to look himself in the mirror, and it was absolutely the only way Sarah would take him seriously in the long run.
Thus, Chuck had implemented his plan to evolve. To guide his vision for the future to fruition and negate the darkness that Fulcrum and their ilk wanted to infect the world with.
3
2
1
The main screen flared to life and an alert General Beckman was on screen.
"What the hell is going on Mr. Bartowski?" the general asked testily.
Chuck gave her a moment as he let Charles come out to play. "General, at this point your system has obviously been affected by my program."
The general's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Where is the rest of the team, Chuck?"
"I assume they're sleeping, Ma'am. It is three here. How is your morning, by the way?"
"It was going according to schedule until my home computer started playing old cartoons and keeping me locked out with the message 'urgent communication from the Castle' running across my screens."
"Not a bugs bunny fan, Ma'am?" Chuck allowed himself a small moment of levity to insure that this was him acting of his own free will.
"Of course I am, Bartowski, I'm a general – not a robot. Now when I clicked on the screen and I saw the Castle's system was calling me on a coded frequency, my sense of humor took a vacation."
"Ma'am, allow me to get to the point. I have slipped loose of Major Casey and temporarily disabled the security measures that would keep me out of the Castle. From my data, Agent Walker is sleeping in her hotel room and all is well, which you should be able to confirm now that your system is back on line."
General Beckman's eyebrows rose in surprise as she entered her passwords and the monitoring systems told her all of the above was completely true. "Mr. Bartowski, you are not convincing me that you don't need to be moved to a much more secure facility right now-"
"No Ma'am, hopefully I'm convincing you that I have the skills needed to be promoted from civilian asset to a contractor," Chuck interrupted her, his face conveying the seriousness of the situation.
"Excuse me?"
"Ma'am, I have gone to considerable lengths to plan this interview, please hear me out. I took two weeks to write the code, nail down everyone's schedule and evade the tracking net my handlers have created for me. If Major Casey was to understand that he was dosed with melatonin and valerian root concentrate I will probably beg you to take me to the nicest bunker you have," Chuck said, staying with the formal ranks and speech so as to stay on message.
"Oh my, Mr. Bartowski, you are playing with fire aren't you?" the General said, her mouth almost quirking a smile.
"Indeed Ma'am. I am asking for the opportunity to become a full analyst for this team, to become more than an assignment for my partners. I admit to going about this in an unorthodox manner, but I felt that my mission would have a higher rate of success if I was the lone operative and showed lateral thinking. This wasn't an attempt to deride the security here, or the alertness of the agents stationed; I'm hoping that my abilities will convince you to see my real potential."
"This is going against everything you have previously asked for, Chuck, why the change of heart?"
Chuck was pleased that the General had referred to him by name, he felt as if he was gaining traction, "As you know, I have recently absorbed the "Dark Intersect". I'm now also privvy to the fact that there are features of the vehicles I use everyday that I've never seen," Chuck took a deep breath to keep pushing forward, "though these things seem unrelated, they have shown me that I have officially begun to play in deep waters and my life will never be civilian normal."
Chuck noted a slight thaw in the General's eyes and kept going, "To be honest, Ma'am, I no longer want that. I want to utilize my mind to protect my family. To protect my country. Evil is no longer an intangible to me, and for me to hope that it goes away isn't feasible, nor is it the kind of person I want to be. If this means 'staying in the car' from now on, I will allow for that, as long as the 'car' is occasionally a fully outfitted mobile intelligence unit that I'm cleared to use to assist my team and insure their continued longevity."
Chuck's voice had remained strong throughout his pitch, at least until the idea of Casey or, more importantly, Sarah, getting hurt crossed his mind.
"Will I be the emotionless weapon the government wants? No. But I swear to you that I will treat my duty as seriously as I do my dream of a safe and happy family. The blinders have come off and I want to be trusted, Ma'am. I want for those around me to be able to trust me to do right by them, no questions asked."
General Beckman held her hand up, indicating the message had been received.
"May I speak off the record, Mr. Bartowski?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"I think that this is a good move on your part, Chuck. You have a fine mind and could be trained to be a highly effective member of this country's security forces, your early recruitment analysis said as much, no matter what certain agents thought. In addition, I would certainly be much less opposed to a personal relationship between you an Ms. Walker if you lived up to your potential and became a "company" man, so to speak."
Chuck couldn't help himself as he snorted in disbelief at how everyone seemed to know how he felt about Sarah.
"Please, Chuck. I may be on the other side of the country, but you don't get to where I am by only being good at telling people what to do. I have a degree in Psychology and am also not blind," at this she did smile briefly, "Of course I cannot speak for Ms. Walker's feelings on the situation, nor would I speculate on this at all if asked about it in the future."
Chuck recognized that the conversation was turning and steeled himself for the change.
"Officially, I will require some time to see if this is the right course of action. You will need to undergo a series of psychological and physical tests to ascertain whether you are prepared for this, and that this isn't a spur of the moment idea. I am also concerned about the ease with which you compromised the security of the Castle and will require a full report from you as to your methodology, reasoning, and techniques."
"Ma'am?"
General Beckman stared at Chuck for a long moment, "Congratulations, Mr. Bartowski. Consider yourself having passed the first step in your plan. Think of the security report as homework until a facility is set up near you to start bringing you up to snuff. We will discuss financial considerations and the mountain of paper work you will need to fill out at the debriefing today at 1800 hours pacific time."
"Debriefing?"
"The debriefing where we introduce you to your team as Charles Bartowski, government contractor. As well as it being the amount of time I expect you'll need to formulate the optimal path away from Major Casey's fury at the fact that you pulled one over on him."
Chuck paled as the General got a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"I recommend John's apartment for the debrief, Chuck. Despite the fact that many of Major Casey's weapons are there, you probably know the best hiding spots in the area."
"Thank you General. I now fully understand the phrase, 'with friends like these, who needs enemies'", Chuck said with a half power grin.
"I do aim to educate those under my command," the General finished archly, pleased that it wasn't yet even breakfast time and she had just achieved a major coup for the long term success of Project Omaha.
end
So what do y'all think? Does this need to go forward in the form of a few separate snapshots of the future from here? Let me know.