Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck, but if I did, Chuck and Sarah would get their heads out of their butts and love each other.
A/N: Ibis pronounced Eye-bis for clarification!
Chuck vs. the Scarlet Ibis
Chapter 1
Fulcrum Warehouse
Unknown Location
12:00 AM
February 01, 2008
It starts out like a regular mission for Team Bartowski. Get in, grab the information, and get back out. It's not the style of Team Bartowski to do the things the easy way though. Something always went wrong, like right now.
"CASEY? SARAH?" Chuck shouts when the communication gear starts registering the buzz of static. The instant they infiltrate the warehouse that is home to the information they are looking for, silent alarms are tripped and the communication links are cut.
Just before the com links are cut, Chuck hears Sarah scream, "CHUCK, GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" She fully knows Chuck will do his best to help them, but in this instant, she hopes he is not going to be a retard and go in and try to save them.
Chuck, on the other hand, knows what he was doing, but he has to make a quick stop at his house. Chuck pulls out his phone and dials a number that he hasn't dialed in two years.
***
"Beckman, secure."
"Scarlet Ibis, secure."
The name strikes Beckman like the cold hard steel of a gun barrel impacting against the side of her skull. The name rings with such intensity that it begins to reverberate in her head over and over. She hasn't heard the name in almost two years. A muffled, "General," comes through, shattering her from the reverie.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Requesting a search and rescue missions for Agents Sarah Walker of the CIA and Major John Casey of the NSA."
She listens to the cold and calculating voice, so different from the voice she has heard so many times before. She had heard stories about an agent, codenamed Scarlet Ibis. She never thought she would ever get to work with his prowess. She knew what Mr. Bartowski was capable of, but he just didn't have the right motivations to step up. She now had her secret weapon in play, ready to be deployed to the more deplorable situations. His legendary skills were a thing of legends and myths in the CIA ranks.
"Request acknowledged. Bring them home alive Agent."
"Understood."
"Approach with caution, two of our top agents were ambushed by those Fulcrum Agents.
"Don't doubt my skill General, this isn't my first mission."
"I have no reason to doubt you. Your skills are legendary."
"Thank you General."
"Ibis, I have one more objective to add to your current assignment. Work your way through the Fulcrum operatives in the facility and destroy the cell. Extract any information you may find. Bring those agents back alive. Understood?"
"Crystal, General. Ibis, out."
***
Echo Park, California
Casa Bartowski
12:40 AM
February 01, 2008
Scarlet Ibis pulls up to the apartment he shared with his sister. After this mission is over, he would have to reveal the life he had before the Buy More days. His whole life would change once again like it did with the addition of the Intersect in his head. He opens the door silently, making noise only when inserting the key into the lock and turning it. He moves stealthily to his room and turns on the lights. Reaching into his closet, his hand searches for a secret switch that will open the secret compartment in his closet. As his hand hits the switch, a retina scan begins and correctly identifies him as Agent Charles "Scarlet Ibis" Bartowski.
As the secret compartment opens, his mind drifts to thoughts about what Sarah would think about this new revelation about him. No doubt would she be angry because he kept this from her. She probably searched his name before moving to Los Angeles to retrieve the Intersect database. Little did she know, his mission dossiers and files were removed from the database when he returned to civilian life.
The click of the secret compartment opening breaks him from his musings and he reaches in and pulls out a USP .45. Next, he pulls out his custom made set of ceramic throwing knives that never dull. Ceramic made the flight patterns more random, but he had long ago learned to compensate. Besides, they are lighter and one of the greater perks were that he was able to move through airport security without getting stopped for carrying knives. He slides the knives through his hands getting familiar again with the feeling of the hilt against his palm, the knife edge, cold as steel against his fingers. He slides a finger down the blade, shuddering as the sharp edge ran its course against him. He then reaches in and pulls out a long silver case, which holds his signature gun, an L96A1 sniper rifle.
His mind brings the thoughts of the mission he had two and a half years ago to the front of his mind. He was stationed in Moscow, Russia and his mission objective was to eliminate Russian terrorist, Egor Danil.
***
Moscow, Russia
Unknown Location
9:00 PM
November 30, 2005
The snow falls around him, dropping in sheets of white, reminding him of his hometown in Hartford. He steals a glance into the sky before quickly resuming his surveillance on his target. Through the binoculars, he can see his target sitting down to his evening meal. His L96A1 sniper rifle sits at his side, camouflaged to blend into the snowy white environment. As he shifts his body to look through the scope of his sniper rifle, he notes the time. He is situated above a railroad station, and notices that in 10 minutes, the train will be running below him. It gives him ample coverage for the sound of the shot. As he lay prone in the snow, he let his thoughts drift to his sister, Ellie.
He looked up to his sister. His sister had always been there when their parents weren't. Their mother left them at a young age and their father was never really there after. He was there physically, but both Ellie and he knew his mind was a thousand miles away, walking along a train track in solitude, trying to sort out the mess his life had become. They supported each other and Ellie had helped him through the tragedy of family Bartowski. She had watched him grow from young boy, to an adolescent, to an adult. Well, he was technically an adult, but he still acted like he was 15 sometimes. Granted, he knew how to do many things those 15 year olds did not know how to do. She was there when his best friend at Stanford, Bryce Larkin, framed him for cheating and getting him expelled.
He was approached by two men shortly after his expulsion.
***
Echo Park, California
Casa Bartowski
5:00 PM
September 16, 2003
Hearing a faint knocking at the door, Chuck wondered who it could be at 5 in the evening. When he opens the door, he is surprised to see two men, dressed in black suits wearing sunglasses.
"Chuck Bartowski?" the man on the right asked.
"Hi, I'm Chuck Bartowski," he replied, clearly taken aback at how they knew his name.
"We would like you to come with us," the man on the left supplied.
"Who are you? What do you want with me? Was it about the car I scratched when I pulled into the parking lot the other day? I didn't mean to do that. I'm so sorry. If we can exchange insurance information –."
"The man on the left interrupted his babbling and flatly said, "No Mr. Bartowski, we work for the CIA and your performance at Stanford impressed us. We would like you to join us and serve your country.
Chuck was after all looking for a job after his expulsion from Stanford, and if the CIA thought he was a good candidate for a job, why not take take the job. The blow at Stanford made its way to the front of his mind and the thought resonated in his heart and he made a spur of the moment decision.
"What do I need to do?" he asked.
Both men smiled and the one on the right simply said, "Just follow us."
***
Moscow, Russia
Unknown Location
9:09 PM
November 30, 2005
As he comes back to his senses, he checks his watch and sees that it is 9:09, one minute until the train flies by. He readies his sniper rifle and adjusts the scope so that the shot will hit its target accurately, straight through the head. Adjusting for flight time and wind speed, as well as smashing through the tiny snowflakes that begin to come down quicker and harder, he steadies his breathing. The slow rhythm of his breathing calms down his nerves and the blood pounding in his ears begin to dissipate. He exhales the breath he holds in preparation of the shot. Squeezing the trigger, the bullet flies out into the night sky, hitting its apex, then making its descent to its target. The boom of the sniper rifle is silenced as the train flies by underneath him. The bullet penetrates the glass and whizzes straight to the head of Egor Danil before the glass can hit the ground. He pulls the bolt of the rifle up and back, causing the bullet casing to pop out with a soft clunk as it hits the ground. He peers into his sniper rifle once more to confirm the kill.
Egor Danil is lying face down across his dining table, face in his food as blood leaks out all over the table, running across the table and dripping to the floor. He can see the bullet hole in the back of his head and the bullet hole in the wall behind him. It was an eerie sight to behold. He has done this countless of times and the shock of it all is still there. How could he take a human life? What were his motives? Questions flew into his mind and he blew them off, stowing them into the back of his mind. As time goes on and his mission successes start to stack up, it begins to take its toll. He vows to himself that this is it. He is done with the Agency.
He slings the sniper rifle across his shoulder and looks through his binoculars once more. Nobody has moved to go check on the dead man yet. He turns around and begins to move towards the motorcycle he has hidden in the bushes. He pulls out his phone and dials a number that is all too familiar.
"Graham, Secure."
"Ibis, Secure. Mission complete. Returning to the nest. We have matters to discuss."
***
Echo Park, California
Casa Bartowski
12:43 AM
February 01, 2008
Returning to the matter at hand, he assembles the L96A1 sniper rifle with a deft hand that is accustomed to the motions. He can still see the hint of the white spray paint from the last mission he used his sniper rifle on. After attaching the normal sniper scope, he decides to remove it and he instead attaches a sniper scope that has the ability for night vision. After attaching suppressors to both his weapons, he slings the rifle across his shoulder and tucks the USP .45 into the waistbands of his pants. He straps the knives around his ankle and moves to open the Morgan Door. Taking one last look at the place he has called home for the last two years, he slinks into the night becoming a shadow, moving towards the surveillance van. He has one more stop to make.
Burbank, California
Storage Garage
12:57 AM
February 01, 2008
He opens the door of the garage, pushing it up and over. He looks into the dimly lit space. He spots the thing he is looking for. There it is, his black Yamaha R1 motorcycle, with a red streak across the front. Loading it into the back of the van, he gives it a once over and he seems to be satisfied with its condition. It has been ages since he had ridden the bike and he misses the feeling of the wind rushing through his curly, unkempt hair. He walks around to the front of the van and hops into the driver's seat. Flooring the gas pedal, he begins to head towards the warehouse where his CIA and NSA protectors, come friends, are being held and most likely, being tortured.
***
Fulcrum Warehouse (Interior)
Unknown Location
1:00 AM
February 01, 2008
As Sarah watched Casey get smacked around like a piñata strung up at a party, she couldn't help but let her mind wander towards Chuck. The first time she met him, she labeled him as the pinnacle of geekiness. The short sleeve, white button up shirt, the black slacks, and the well-worn out Chuck Taylors he always wore. He even had a pocket protector that was accompanied by a myriad of pens. Yup, he was what she epitomized as a geek. As she began to work with him, she started to see what kind of person he was. He was a good guy who would drop what he was doing to help a person in trouble. She had stared into his chocolate brown eyes countless of times, and she is always surprised to see his eyes alight and dancing. There was a shine that was lost long ago to her. She admired his positive outlook on life, believing that the world was essentially good even with all the evil running around. That had ceased to exist in her world as she began to work in the Agency.
Her heart shatters, when he fake breaks up their cover relationship. As she watches him walk across to go see the sandwich maker, Lou Palone, she feels jealous. As hard as she tried to suppress the emotion, she felt jealous. Sure she had felt jealous before, but nothing like this. She felt like her heart was going to be ripped out of her chest. It hurt to see the twinkle in his sepia spheres as he talked to the deli owner. She pushed the emotion to the back of her mind, essentially hiding it, but it came to rear its green head the next night as she essentially breaks up the relationship between Chuck and Lou. Deep down, she is happy it is over, but when Chuck confronts her about it, she denies feeling jealous, but essentially she is.
The next night find them at the docks where they are to intercept a shipment believed to be a bomb. As both find themselves in front of the bomb with only seconds to spare, they say their final good byes, and Sarah lets her emotional masks fall and lunges at him, capturing his lips in hers. It takes him a millisecond to react, opening his mouth to her probing tongue, taking in the taste of her fruity lip gloss. Her probing tongue wrestles with his, trying to dominate the other. Neither care about the victor of that fight, they just care that their mouth's are on each others. The other party also reacts to the kiss. The nerdy appearance he always had never eluded to the fact that he could kiss. And boy could he kiss. He slowly devoured her mouth, and if his arms weren't supporting her, she would surely have slumped to the ground, her knees giving out. She tasted him and she liked it. It was a spicy cinnamon taste that she recognized as his toothpaste mixed with another taste. She later deduced that taste to be a milk chocolate as she bit into the guilty piece. She loved the taste of him and how she felt when he kissed her. She had never felt more alive and wanted.
Unfortunately, the kiss ends after a few seconds when both parties realize the fact that they aren't dead, which is followed by an awkward silence where one party is lamenting the fact that they had showed emotion while the other rejoiced in the show of emotion in the other.
They then leap frog over several obstacles, such as her ex-boyfriend, Bryce Larkin, rising from the dead and being shot again by Casey. Bryce told her their code word, "Omaha," signaling that she should follow him. Two weeks before, they were at Chuck's old school, Stanford. There they found a disc that talked about Chuck's recruitment into the CIA, but Bryce had interrupted on behalf of Chuck, saying that the work of a spy would break him. She would have met Chuck at Project Omaha if Bryce hadn't had a god/hero complex and she wondered what they would be doing right now if they had met at Project Omaha. They would probably be located in some seedy country, making love in the dim light, basking in the success of another mission. That hope was long ago dashed by Bryce Larkin when he got Chuck kicked out of Stanford.
Later that night, she found herself staring down at the City of Angels, Los Angeles, getting ready to leave with Bryce. As her hotel phone rang, she also found her iPhone buzzing. She stared in disbelief at the timing of each call. Looking between each, she thought about what she should do. Her CIA training told her to go with Bryce, taking down Fulcrum from within, while her heart told her another thing. Her heart told her to stay with Chuck. Her heart told her that Chuck is the better man. Her heart told her there was ONLY one Chuck Bartowski in the world. As she stood there lost in thought, her hotel phone ceases to ring while her iPhone continues its insistent buzzing. Smiling at the thought of Chuck's attempts at speaking to her, she strips out of her coat and into something more comfortable to sleep in and falls onto her bed and dives into a deep slumber.
The next morning finds her troubled and she lashes out at Chuck. Later at the Christmas party, Chuck and she make up essentially becoming friends, but they both knew, there was a greater emotion lying beneath the friendship. A connection that was so palpable that everybody she has met can tell. Ellie, Awesome, Carina, and even Casey can tell there is a connection. They then hop over the extraction of Chuck. On the helipad, she shows Chuck her emotions, letting the tears slide down her face as she watched him give his life for the ones he loved. He cracked a joke that made her smile, albeit a sad one. When Lizzy makes her surprise cameo and takes out Longshore, she is able to take Chuck and run for it. When she incapacitates Lizzy, they eliminate the threat of extraction for Chuck.
They dig around for Captain Awesome's ring in a dumpster. She complains about moving around in a trash can, but she bites back anymore complaining after he tells her it is a special ring that cannot be replaced. She admires his traits of loyalty and honesty and in that thought, she wishes for the normality he has shown her. She longs for the white picket fence and 2.5 kids as she watches him through the window, saving the day once again for his sister and her fiancée. Casey breaks her out of her thoughts and tells her what she already knows, he can't stay here forever. She sets her mind to the thought that she would do anything to try and give him his time with his sister for as long as he needed.
She is brought back to the present as Casey's grunts become less and less frequent; she slips in and out of slumber, the toll of staying awake for more than 20 hours finally hitting her. She falls into a deep slumber and the last thought she had was, "Chuck, be safe."
Fulcrum Warehouse
Unknown Location
1:34 AM
February 01, 2008
Before finding himself again at the front end of the Fulcrum warehouse, Ibis makes a stop at Castle to snag a few flashbangs and smoke grenades. Giving himself a once over, he prepares the L96A1, currently camouflaged in the green of the surrounding forest, to take the shot on the sniper on the roof. As he waits for the sniper to report, he wonders what is happening to Casey and Sarah. He hopes not too much damage has been done.
As he spots the sniper reporting in, he looks into the scope and points it towards the head of the sniper. From the safety of the bush he is lying prone in, he gently flirts with the trigger as he waits for the sniper to put the radio down. Seeing his chance, Ibis squeezes the trigger, the bullet soaring towards its destination and it lodges into the head of the enemy agent.
Spotting two more guards at the entrance, Chuck moves around to the side to take a single shot that would eliminate both men at the same time. He props himself onto one knee and takes aim, his movements precise and quick. His lithe form can be described as a ghost, floating across the ground, making no noise and giving no signs of its existence. Pulling the trigger once again, he takes out the two sentinels, a single bullet ripping through each skull only to find itself in the wall behind them. Moving stealthily up to each body, he drags both into the bushes, while simultaneously stripping them of their guns. Both guards carry a suppressed MP-7 submachine gun, perfect for close quarter combat situations. He slings both over his shoulder, but allows one to rest against his chest as he moves the other to rest in front of his shoulder.
Head cocked to the side, trigger finger at the ready, he reaches out with his left hand to open the door. Pointing the gun at the door, Ibis opens it and peers through and sees a long corridor.
He slowly approaches the first door off to the side, stacking up next to the door, he reaches over and opens the door. He flashes on both occupants, who scramble for their weapons. He had long ago learned how to control flashes, but for the sake of his civilian life, he acted like he didn't. Confirming both are Fulcrum, he takes two shots which pierce the head of both enemy agents. Stowing both bodies into the closet in the room, he continues his stealthy movement down the hall. After taking out whatever Fulcrum agents he found in the facility, he finally reaches the room housing Sarah and Casey.
Ibis reloads his MP-7 and rips two flashbangs off his belt. Pulling the pins off each, he quickly grabs the doorknob, yanks the door open, while throwing both the flashbangs in different directions. Quickly shutting it, he listens for the distinct sounds of the muffled "bang" and the white light that would surge under the door. As the white light flares and the muffled bang is heard, he yanks open the door sighting three enemy agents trying to take cover behind various objects.
Another agent is laying on the floor, unable to move, being fully stunned by the flashbang that landed to his side. Quickly moving into the room and taking cover, he takes the headshot on the man lying on the ground before moving his attention to the three other agents. They begin to return fire as their senses come back to fully functioning. As one peaks his head out from behind a wooden crate, Ibis peaks out and sights his weapon, shooting him in the head and splattering his brain across the wall. When he peaks back out, he see another agent poke his head out and he subsequently takes him out as well.
Not seeing the other enemy agent, he turns around to find him behind him gun out, taking the shot at his chest. Ibis feels the pain as his body is impacted by the bullet, but he is able to point the gun at the enemy agent's hand and shoot the gun away. Luckily, he is wearing a vest and survives the would be lethal shot. Rushing his attacker, he throws a right cross that connects with the enemy's face making him take a step back. Kicking out with his right leg, Ibis strikes his knees, popping it out of its socket and the agent falls to his knees. Moving swiftly behind him, Ibis wraps his left arm around the man's neck and squeezes and sharply jerks his forearm to the right while the right hand guides the man's head to the left, the familiar sound of a neck snapping signifying the loss of a life.
Fulcrum Warehouse
Sarah's Cell
1:59 AM
February 01, 2008
The sounds of fighting stir Sarah from her slumber. She takes a side glance at Casey, noting the damage done to his face. His left eye is swollen shut, cuts adorning his face, painting it red, and the underlying blue-black of the bruises across his face mix with the red creating an eerie sight. As she listens to the scuffling outside, she slows her breathing to get ready for what was going to open the door next. She hears a gunshot go off and she instantly snaps to attention. She closes her eyes, psyching her self up for the impending confrontation. The sounds of fighting die outside her room and she sees the doorknob start to turn. To say she is surprised to see who it is would be an understatement. She is shocked and surprised as a myriad of other emotions flitt across her face normally stoic persona, as her eyes registere the brown eyes and curly brown hair that she has come to care about.
A/N: I was reading fanfics one day and thought to myself, "Hm, why not write a fanfic?" I turned on Microsoft Word and stared at the computer screen thinking of a plot. Any and all mistakes are mine. This isn't beta'd and if you would like to beta it for me, just send me a PM! I'm pretty sure I dropped the ball on the Beckman/Ibis conversation, but hey, what can a little improvement do? Thanks for reading. R&R!