I don't own Chuck, I just worship at the alter.
This story goes AU at Chuck vs the Predator, and continues thru the first half of Chuck vs the Broken Heart. Then it REALLY goes in another direction. Hope it makes sense to you gentle readers.
The end of Chuck vs the Predator...
"Hello Chuck. If your watching this disc, then we never got to meet. I am most probably dead, or taken by one side or the other. I'm sorry. There was so much I wanted to say to you. Along with this disc you found some schematics. Schematics for the new Fulcrum intersect. Study them. If you can find it, if you can get to it, you can use it to remove the one you carry in your head. Don't share them with your handlers, you can't trust them with this. They may feel it's their duty to inform General Beckman. That would be bad, for you, and most probably for them. I need you to trust me Chuck. If you ever decide you need to run, there are things you need to know. My secret cashes of my computers and equipment, codes and passwords to get you into most any government data system. What to do, and more importantly, what not to do, to stay hidden, to stay safe. This disc has an Intersect update download. It's a small one compared to the one already in your head. You NEED to do this. I can't help but feel your going to need this information sooner rather then later. PLEASE trust me with this. If you find your going to need the data, you can force a flash by the trigger I set. Watch the movie Tron. Ya, I got the idea from the poster on your wall. One more thing, after you flash you'll find contact information for someone who goes by the name Father Time. You can trust him Implicitly. Help, advice, or as a cut-out. He WILL help you. Get ready ... NOW."
Hundreds of pictures flash across the screen.
"That's it Chuck, I wish there was more I could do. Good Luck. This disk will self destruct in 5 seconds... I always wanted to say that."
Seven Weeks Later...
Chuck was ready. From today there's no going back. Standing in the bathroom, he looked deep into into his own eyes. There was a hardness there he had become more and more familiar with over the last month.
Ease back Charles, don't give anything away – nothing to make Casey and Forrest suspicious. Just another day with the super nerd sitting at Castle trying to flash on the Intel provided.
He closed his eyes, then reopened them. It was surprisingly hard to bring back the old Chuck eyes. The well meaning, nervous, cowed by the threats, lost and sad eyes.
There they are, just keep them that way for a few more hours. Its almost done.
He left the bathroom and reentered his room. The Nerd Herd uniform he's worn for the last five years was waiting on his bed. This is the last day I'll ever wear it. Jesus, how many times had I said that before? How many times had I told Ellie I was quitting then disappointed her by going back. Well today I'm only going to destroy her life and break her heart in two. The fact it has to be done doesn't change that it sucks.
After dressing he looked around the room. There was nothing here he could take with him. Not even that, his eyes on the Tron poster his father had given him. Chuck tore his eyes away. He had already sanitized the room, nothing here would lead them to him, and the precautions he's made would take care of anything he missed. I hope no-one gets hurt, but I've minimized all the variables I could think of. I'll just have to live with it. He hated how much such reasoning made him sound like Casey and the General... No, she don't deserve that respect right now. She's Beckman, just Beckman.
He returned to the living room, again giving everything one more long look. Devon was sitting at the dinner table drinking one of his 'health shakes' and noticed his quizzical expression.
"Hay Chuck. Whats up with the look man?"
Chuck schooled his face, and turned towards his questioner. Putting a smile on his face he gave Devon the answer he'd rehearsed every morning for the last week, for if and when he needed it.
"Nothing Devon, just remembering all the stuff Big Mike asked me to take care of today. He's been on a bit of a tear since we helped him get rid of Emmett. I think being replaced by corporate scared the crap out of him, he doesn't want it to happen again."
Devon shared a chuckle with him. "Right on bro. We still meeting at the Orange Orange at lunch time right? To get to know John's new girlfriend?"
At the mention on the Orange Orange Chucks face fell. Give him the look just like you planned it, he thought.
"Sorry Bro, still bummed about Sarah leaving eh? Not awesome. I'm really sorry if I stepped in it."
Not yet Devon, but you will be. "No problem Devon, as Casey says, I have to man up. See you at noon."
"OK Chuck, I'm sorry Ellie can't be there, but she's working a double."
I'm not Devon, I planned it that way. Chuck nodded, grabbed his keys and walked out the door without saying a word. He didn't trust himself to speak, but his angry eyes could speak volumes.
Buy More- 3 hours later...
Chuck sat at the Nerd Herd desk waiting for for his own personal D-Day, H-Hour and reflected back over the last six weeks. Starting with the one amazing day and night spent with Sarah. The intimacy... the love, they'd shared. The shock when he awoke in her hotel room to find it empty, everything of her's gone. The frantic rush to castle looking for answers, and the heartrending pain of finding them.
Casey had tried to be gentle... well as gentle as Casey was ever going to be capable of being. Chuck had recognized in his handler, the man's own sadness and shock at the rending of what he considered a good team. But Casey had lost comrades before, to reassignment, and to death, and held it together in stoic calmness. A calmness Chuck knew he would not be able to match. Not now, probably not ever. Little did he know.
"Sarah is gone Chuck... reassigned. A 49B. The General decided she wasn't objective enough when it came to you. And she sort of proved her point when Walker's requested one personal night with you, before being 'escorted for her own safety' back to Washington. Beckman can be a cast iron bitch Chuck, but she gave you two that gift, with the understanding that Walker was to say nothing of the situation to you. I hope your one night with her was memorable, because I'm sorry to say, it won't happen again for a long time." If ever...
If ever... The words Casey had left unsaid had run through Chuck heart and head like a steel spike. Demanding to speak to the General, Chuck had lost it. He had reasoned, then he had begged, and finally he had threatened. If she did not bring Sarah back, he would no longer co-operate. None of it had worked. Beckman had threatened right back. Immediate life time protective custody for him and Ellie, if he attempted to be obstinate. She had then called Forrest into the room.
Seeing the shocked look on Chuck's face when Forrest was introduced to him, the General misinterpreted his reaction as shock weakness. "Mr. Bartowski, it's well past time for you to grow up. We will not coddle you anymore. That was Agent Walker's failure. You must learn to be ruthless in our fight with Fulcrum. Ruthless even with yourself. This is not a game we are playing. You will become a spy. You will be trained to be a full member of this team. You have been of use, but only reluctantly. That end now. You failed to join the fight willingly, so I have had to do what Agent Walker was reluctant to do because of your feelings. The intersect will not be removed from your head. You've been drafted Mr. Bartowski. You're in for the duration, and with the ongoing war on terror, I and only I, decide what that duration is." She had turned away to issue further orders to Casey and Forrest.
They both missed it, Chuck thought, they both missed that I flashed on Forrest. If I bring it up now they'll think I'm lying to get Sarah back. I am...no, WE are so fucked.
Two nights later at Awesome's bachelor party. He'd witnessed Forrest's lap dance, the fake seduction of Devon, to get his key-card. Seeing them together, he'd flashed again.
Only then had he truly realized just how far up the creek without a paddle he really was.
That night Casey observed Chuck just spacing out in his room. He was watching one of his favourite movies. The one he had a poster for on his wall. Casey thought nothing of it.
He'd spent the next six weeks learning, planning, preparing. He'd accepted their training sessions, pretending to do so reluctantly. It allowed him unlimited and unfettered access to Castle. They were not going to question him sitting in the cell he'd taken over as his own to use as study centre, office, and more and more frequenty, as crash pad. If he was locked in Castle overnight, he was that much more secured as far as they were concerned. The fact that it allowed him to access certain equipment, to install it in places they did not expect, and to quietly hack into supposedly secure computer systems, did not even cross their minds. Chuck always did exactly as they asked him to do. They believed he had excepted his fate, and dismissed him accordingly. Much to his surprise, he really did have to pretend to dislike the training. Much of it he found both fascinating, and even fun. Though some of the subjects made him cringe, both inside and out, because of their utter immorality. Casey had to reminded him that morality was a value judgement, of little value in the world of shadows they inhabited. Such hesitation could get you killed. Chuck had taken that lesson to heart. He would need all the steel in his soul... for today.
He glanced at his watch - Eleven am. It's time. He stood up and went looking for Casey and Forrest. She always came over to talk to the Major about this time. Good for the cover story. Ya right. Chuck was quite aware that Forrest had long since pulled Casey into her bed. Evil Bitch.
There they are. Spotting them over at the Beast-master display. Time to see if I'm as ruthless as the General wants me to be. Chuck smiled as he approached the pair.
Sarah Walker would have recognized the smile and the look in his eyes, they were the same ones she'd flashed the day she walked into the Buy More. The day she'd found Chuck. The calm eyes and smile of a hunter, sure of his prey.
Targets in sight.
That's the set up folks- get ready it's going to be a wild ride.