CHAPTER ONE: The IntelliCell Again

"Please," said Chuck Bartowski, "take my wallet, my keys, whatever you want. Just, please not the watch?" At the moment, Chuck was being held at gunpoint in the back of a black SUV that was currently en route to he knew not where. He had been captured by these very interesting people some time ago (he wasn't sure how long precisely, but it hadn't been a day yet, at the very least), and found himself surprisingly unafraid of the larger man with the gun who looked like he could use a shave. After all, Chuck had gone toe to toe with a professional killer in a 747's cargo hold armed with naught but a fencing foil, and emerged triumphant (for the moment).

But the other person in the back of the van did scare him. Chuck knew from his own experiences, both with and without Sarah and Casey, that she was a professional spy and most likely knew several ways to kill him with or without pain.

The scary part of the equation was that she looked barely of legal age, if even that. And already, she wore the cold, emotionless mask of a deadly enemy agent. "It's not a watch," she said in a frighteningly calm, level voice. "It regulates your nervous system with bio-electric feedback."

"So, you can see why I'd appreciate you not removing it?" Chuck asked hopefully, wondering how in the world this girl knew what the Governor was at just a glance.

"Look kid," said the man with the gun. "You followed us, very noticeably, I might add, and we are onto what's going on back there. So spare yourself some pain and just tell us what you know."

The man had all the elegance of Casey on a bad day. They wouldn't kill him while he still had information they needed, Chuck was hoping. And that was considerably more information than he imagined they realized.

EARLIER THAT DAY:

Chuck walked into the brand new, just out of the package Buy More and let himself take it all in. Eight months had passed since the old Buy More had been demolished by some unfortunately placed explosives that had not-as-unfortunately been wrongly blamed on Jeff and Lester. But now, Chuck was back at his day job at the Nerd Herd.

It had been two months since the Buy More had drawn him back in, under General Manager Diane Beckman. After being lectured on the many ways he could be forced back into spy life without his family and friends ever knowing what had happened to him, Chuck had consented to come back to work. Morgan was enthused, Sarah was supportive, and Ellie… Poor Ellie had taken it hard, but was loath to admit she was unable to do anything about it. At least she was in the loop now, and Chuck vowed that she would be as much as he could safely keep her there.

The Buy More was only now having its Grand Reopening, and Chuck was quickly beset with customers looking for help that they just couldn't find at Large-Mart. There was a brief lull in the line before a dark-haired woman who appeared to be in her thirties walked up.

"Welcome to Buy More! How can I…" Chuck trailed off as his eyes fluttered and a number of images passed through his mind.

Mug shot; Pescadero State Hosptial

Audiovisual recordings; patient records; Pescadero State Hospital

Document; breakout from Pescadero State Hospital; 1995

Documents; Cyberdyne Systems Corporation; now defunct

Document; bombing of Cyberdyne Systems Corporation facility in Los Angeles; 1995

Warrant; murder; Miles Bennet Dyson; Director of Special Projects; Cyberdyne Systems Corporation; 1995

Audiovisual recording; bank lobby; 1999

Document; suicide bombing; bank vault; 1999

Video recording; cell phone; 2007

SARAH CONNOR – PRESUMED DEAD; 1999 – POSSIBLY ALIVE; AT LARGE; EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

"…help you?" Chuck managed to finish weakly as he looked into the eyes of the terrorist in front of him who was holding a cell phone in front of her.

"Oh, it's this phone. It stopped working a few hours ago. I was hoping you could…"

"Sure thing! No problem!" Chuck said as he picked up, "The InteliCell," he said heavily. Oh, the irony of it all, a voice was saying in his head. "Yeah, sure, there's a little screw here in the back that pops loose every now and then." He took a tiny screwdriver out of his shirt pocket. "Just give it a few quick turns, aaand… Good as new," he said, trying to capture the spirit of his first conversation ever with Sarah Walker.

Now another woman named Sarah was opening up her phone, testing it out a bit, it seemed, then turned to him with a smile. "Thanks a lot. How much do I owe you?" she said warmly enough.

"Oh, no charge. Just a simple service you can always find on the house here at Buy More." Chuck winced at his own voice. "That sounded too much like a sales pitch, didn't it?"

"A bit, yeah. Thanks for the help, though." And with that she walked away from the Nerd Herd desk and out the door.

Chuck had not yet had time to master the entrances to CASTLE from the Buy More, so he was forced to head to the Orange Orange across the mini-mall. Unfortunately, this took him roughly parallel to the path that Sarah Connor was taking back to her black SUV.

BACK IN THE CONNOR'S SUV:

"So, really, this is all a big misunderstanding. I was really just on my way to get a smoothie at the Orange Orange, and…"

"That building houses an entrance to the underground facility," said the creepy spy girl.

"You don't say?" said Chuck nervously. Silently, he prayed that Sarah and Casey would find him before these people did something that involved physical harm to one Charles Irving Bartowski.

Thank you all for reading. This is my first fanfic in years, so any constructive criticism or feedback of any kind would be very welcome. I'll post Chapter Two soon, and I'll try to keep it going as steadily as I can. A work very much in progress. Many Thanks once more!