AN - First of all, this isn't and won't be an M-rated story. The themes are teen-friendly. But, since what I've already posted here is about as explicit as it can get, this will also stay M, along with being caught in crossover limbo.

This is a Chuck/Mass Effect crossover - specifically Mass Effect 2. So, it's obviously an AU story with its own character insights and perspectives, but it starts at a place all Chuck fans know well in canon - Fake Name... yikes.

I've been wanting to mashup these two fanchises for quite some time now. The beginnings of this story have been around since the fall of '16. I thought I would try to post it for N7 day at that time, but RL invaded, blah blah blah, trying to make this remotely work happened, gnashing of teeth, blah blah blah...

Anyway, Happy Extremely Belated N7 Day. And it's always Chuck day for me, any day.

I know there are lot of fans of both stories, and I tried to create something here that fans from both franchises could enjoy. But, you're obviously going to be a lot better off if you know something about both of them. Honestly, after the next chapter, I have no idea where it's going to go, either - if anywhere.

If anything, maybe this will encourage me to open up that game I saved over a year ago to ponder it, and maybe make you scratch your head and say... okay, let's do this!

Let me know where or what you think.

And, just in case anyone is wondering, I don't own Chuck or Mass Effect or Tron, etc.

The only thing I get from this is enjoyment. I hope you do, too.

Chapter 1 - The Name Game

"I'm Sam. My real name is Sam."

-oOo-

"Charles, say it isn't so," Stephen Bartowski said mournfully, watching his son over a webcam.

Secrets (as simple as a first name), deceit, manipulation, and violence, and yes, spying; he never wanted this life for Chuck. He knew all of what the life of a spy was about and tried to protect his son from it.

Manipulation...

Not a day had passed that he didn't regret having Bryce plant those test answer keys under Charles' bed; manipulating his own son to keep him out of this life. It broke his heart to see what they'd done, to keep him safe; manipulation and deceit that dashed his son's hopes for a Stanford degree, and for five years left him nearly broken and adrift. But he was safe... until Bryce Larkin sent his son the very thing he was trying to protect Charles from becoming.

When Stephen pondered how—after all he had done to keep Chuck from being used by the CIA—that Bryce had still sent the Intersect to his son... well, he wondered why he didn't 'clock' him the moment he saw him. The bastard had placed his son's life in far more jeopardy by sending the Intersect to an untrained agent. Only one thing prevented him from flattening the nose on Bryce's smug face: the fact that they were at his daughter's wedding reception.

Then came Sarah Walker, along with more secrets and deceit, and the violence and danger brought by the enemies they faced because of those secrets they coveted and kept. Chuck wasn't working with them by choice. But he'd also discovered that, with Chuck's help, she and John Casey had done a lot of good.

They'd also admirably kept Charles safe... and vice versa. They'd developed a bond.

The last night he saw his son, at Eleanor's wedding, Charles had so fervently said he loved her. He could certainly understand it. Agent Walker was an amazing woman. She was the one who had found Orion. And the only reason she did it was for Chuck and Ellie. He saw it the instant he finally met her in person, in his Airstream trailer in the middle of nowhere.

Stephen couldn't fault his son for his choice to pick Sarah, because he'd done the same thing himself. His son was in love with a spy... still was. A spy still keeping her own secrets from him after all this time. That couldn't be more painfully obvious now.

And she'd once cared about him; that was plain to see in his trailer, and everywhere he saw them thereafter. Something told Stephen, "Sam" still did.

Stephen Bartowski understood fully well what it was like to fall in love with a spy. However, unlike Sam (Samantha?), Mary had little compunction about bending protocol when he'd pursued her. He even knew her real name right away. Admittedly, their circumstances were different. He didn't have all the government's secrets in his head, and the CIA considered him an independent contractor, not an asset. But she'd never kept him emotionally at bay once they both realized how they felt. Inscrutable as she often was, there was a pragmatism about Mary that was forthright, sometimes painfully direct, when it came to their relationship and voicing the choices they made.

In fact, there was never any fear of that kind between the two of them in spite of the pressures they were under. As hard as it was to believe—because she was the personification of Frost when she was on her game—Mary never held back, pursued him just as much; protocol be damned. She didn't give a damn what the powers-that-be thought.

She didn't care what they thought now, either, not a bit. But that was another story.

To be fair, those clearly weren't the circumstances for Sarah and his son. Fraternization rules were much stricter due to their asset/handler relationship. After watching the two of them from afar for a while (via John Casey's security network feeds), he'd come to the conclusion that the only thing holding those two back was fear. Fear of a lot of things no doubt (both Chuck and Sarah had a lot of baggage), but what might happen if Sarah's superiors found out and separated them, was most likely the largest reason.

Stephen could certainly understand that, knowing firsthand what his government was capable of doing. That he was responsible for some his son's baggage, was the rancid icing on the cake.

Despite their best efforts to prevent it, the world of espionage and spies had still wreaked havoc on the life they shared with their children. His work was what tore them apart. And as much as Stephen hated it, Mary was the logical one to try to save Hartley from what that work had turned their best friend into... Alexei Volkoff. Then the same government that so highly valued that work, burned his wife and made him a wanted man... after they tried to sequester him first in a bunker.

Stephen couldn't, wouldn't let that happen to his son or daughter. But despite his every effort, it still happened to Chuck... until he freed his son from that infernal program that had robbed him of his freedom and turned him into a throwaway tool. Or so he thought.

He could tell at the time that Sarah wanted Chuck to be free of it too. And his greatest fear, when all was said and done, was that his son and Sarah would still somehow fall into the same trap as Mary and him.

But now his son and Agent Walker were... what? They certainly weren't together. It didn't make sense. Had his son become something to be used again? Was that why Sarah was so angry? Or was there more to it?

For six months, Charles had fallen off the grid. Then he'd picked up bits and pieces of chatter that he was back in Burbank; back at the Buy More. Why?

Because he's the goddamned Intersect again; you know it. Damn it! Stephen didn't want to believe it was true. But everything he'd seen seemed to be pointing to that. So he started watching again, the one way he knew best.

Bryce was dead, and the Intersect cube that he'd given him was destroyed. His son was apparently trying to become a real spy (not that he wasn't a great one already). And the woman Chuck loved (and whom appeared to love him, too), seemed to have dropped him like any disciplined person drops a bad habit. The open-handed knock-out blow she'd given him on a nightclub dance floor was cringe-worthy. And it'd happened during a mission where she had essentially been the solitary magnet for a male mark; one far too solo and demeaning (in his opinion).

Sarah Walker, at least as far as Charles was concerned, had been 'present' ever since.

What happened?

Though he did not trust the CIA, Stephen simply couldn't believe that Sarah was playing his son the whole time. She still went to amazing lengths to protect him. Why would she leave him, especially if they were still working together? And why had she rebounded right into the arms of another spy?

Maybe Agent Walker wasn't as disciplined as Stephen thought.

There was also something wrong about Daniel Shaw. The man he saw rubbing Sarah's shoulders on a hacked security/surveillance camera feed, had a coldly calculating look in his eyes while he did it. Their new 'team leader's' intentions seemed muddy at best, divisive... and manipulative. Damn.

Tipping his head down, Stephen J. Bartowski covered his eyes thoughtfully and sadly with his hand. Though everyone thought he was scatterbrained, and admittedly sometimes the thing in his head made him feel that way himself; he knew how to use that facade to keep everyone off balance. Not even perceptive Sarah Walker had seen the real him. None of them saw how far he was 'in it'. He saw everything... with more than his eyes. And right now, he was wondering if Sarah saw his real son, too. She sure as hell didn't seem to see the real Daniel Shaw. She'd told him her real name, for fuck's sake. How had that gift of perception and all that training let her down?

What had caused Sarah Walker to suddenly become this angry, distant, and blind?

He knew the answer now, even as he asked himself the question. Love... and possibly rage... and maybe guilt. He'd finally found that video from a security camera in Prague, though it told far from the complete story of what occurred between them or during that six months Chuck was gone.

The son he saw on the hacked webcam now, looked almost as bad as he did after being kicked out of Stanford... with the possible exception of 'the cheeseball incident' when he'd first resurfaced. Whatever had happened to him and Sarah (again?) had also caused Chuck to rebound just as hard. A nerd did seem like a good fit for his son... but... That 'but' (or more than one) caused his son to break it off. That was pretty cringe-worthy too.

Because he's really become a spy, and they've drilled it into his head that he can't share that truth... if any. He thinks he's living a lie.

How can something with such noble intentions be so fucked up?

Everything he was seeing seemed to be begging the question: did Sarah not want this for his son? Was his becoming a spy, that noble gesture to serve something larger; was it a life she really didn't want for him? If so, Orion and Sarah were on the same page, and he loved her for it. But, if that was so, why had she kept encouraging his son to 'be that guy'? Because, Stephen had to admit, his son had proven to be 'that guy'.

So, why the hell was Sarah with Daniel Shaw in light of all of this? Even now, Chuck made Blackbriar look like a zombie-like CIA clone by comparison.

Stephen shook his head sadly as he looked at his son's image on the screen... the result of 'all of this.' Chuck was binging again. For the past five days he hadn't had more than a few hours of sleep. Case in point: it was currently well past midnight, and he'd gone to bed at four that morning before his Buy More shift.

No, it wasn't booze or drugs; his son had never sunk that far. For Charles, binging was the escape of video games, Red Bull, cheese balls, and the occasional two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew... and yes, admittedly, sometimes what Chuck called his 'thinking juice'. He'd also picked up a taste for Hot Pockets somewhere. At least he isn't drinking scotch with them.

For a week now, Charles had been locked away in his bedroom every moment he had free, avoiding everyone who meant anything to him. He'd started with a game that Stephen knew well: Duck Hunt. Mario Kart followed hot on its heels. But then, he'd watched as his son escaped into the world of Halo and Call of Duty (which under the circumstances was fitting).

It was kind of odd watching a man who so clearly had a fear and revulsion of firearms using them so freely, accurately, and aggressively in a game. Chuck was also a damn good gamer. Watching Chuck play Splinter Cell was an eye-opener. Far Cry was surreal on multiple levels. Team Fortress was violent comedy in action, and Stephen was astounded by the way his son played every specialty with equal skill and aplomb.

And, he also had to admit, his son had built an amazing gaming rig. It made the computer that fried when Bryce sent him the Intersect look like a Commodore 64 by comparison. It would make what he was pondering easy.

Perspective.

If his son was seeking solace and perspective in a video game, Stephen had the ability to give him the Ace of Spades. Maybe he could do even more than that.

What he was thinking of doing would also answer the burning question: had his son been Intersected again?

The game Chuck was now playing was perfect for it. It was also now residing on Stephen's incredibly powerful machine in his cabin. He'd sucked it right off his son's PC hard drive.

Stephen had also been sucked into the game himself.

Yup; Stephen Bartowski had game too. A solitary life off the grid left a lot of free time for that kind of indulgence; an indulgence that also kept the loneliness from driving him insane.

Off the grid. Life was full of juxtapositions.

The Tron poster he'd given to Chuck was still on his wall. Life on the grid—the game grid—would soon have new meaning for both of them if Stephen's suspicions were true. Stephen looked up at his own wall-expansive supercomputer.

"Sam," he said in greeting. The irony of that name wasn't lost on him, either. S.A.M., Stephen's Artificial Mind MkIII, was his third attempt at programming an AI—an artificial intelligence. He should have called her Sam3 (Sam Cubed) because she was just as big of a deep learning leap. And like he'd quickly learned to respect Agent Walker's abilities and dedication to his son's wellbeing, he was just as damn proud of Sam's abilities.

"Yes, Orion?" the feminine voice replied.

"We have a new project that needs to get done in a hurry. I have a decompiling task for you. It's on drive I: Mass Effect 2."

"The entire executable, DLCs, and related sub-directories?"

"Along with the associated dynamic link libraries and registry keys you downloaded. Cross-application communication and memory management is going to be critical with this project."

"Accessed and started. Will you be having your usual midnight cup of tea?"

Stephen softly chuckled. "When it's safe to be one, I'm a creature of habit."

"It's safe for the moment, Stephen. The task will be done by the time your water is hot."

"That's fast. Are you in a bigger hurry than usual?"

"You said you were. And I sense you have other tasks for me, like information gathering and procuring bandwidth, so I'll be starting those too. Besides, the propane tank is empty. You're going to have to hook up another. Chop-chop." A pair of claps accompanied the last two words.

With a chuckling shake of his head, Stephen Bartowski strode to the door to get another propane tank from the cache. As he opened it, he looked over his shoulder and smiled at the pair of unblinking eyes that looked like that of the HAL 9000, times two. "Sam, find everything you can about the lore of this universe my son is playing in... and for the duration of this project, and possibly for the foreseeable future, I'm giving you a new name... EDI."

His computer actually laughed, and then just as quickly changed it's voice to one more somber. "I think I understand why."

"I'm not the least bit surprised," Stephen replied, his voice just as somber.

"EDI is a nice change of pace... less... annoying, considering recent events. I'm sorry, Orion; sorry for your son and Sarah. I wish I understood emotion better."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You have a better grasp of emotion than you realize. I only wish a certain young woman understood it better, what her choices may have precipitated. Who she's decided to pursue—in spite of Charles actions to try to set things right—makes me think she hasn't given them much thought."

"Maybe we can help change that. Oh, by the way; since you've decided to call me EDI, I'm going to call you the Illusive Man for those foreseeable clock cycles myself. It fits; at least the illusive part."

"I agree," Stephen chuckled again, thankful that his faithful companion could so easily reinvigorate his mood. "Though, I'd like to think I learned at least a little from my mistakes, and that my intentions are better than his. In case you haven't already, start a sampling task on the voice actor's voices."

"Already started." Formerly Sam's voice changed to that of EDI in the game. "Do you want me to leave the encoded package updates to you?"

Turning to leave again, Stephen's head spun around and he snorted loudly. "You can start them. We'll tweak them together. EDI, you and I are going to be doing some serious game modding."

"As you wish. Sounds meaningful, like fun. Working. Get your tea. When you get back, I should be ready. I also have a few more ideas to share; some variables and possible solutions you may have not considered."

As he nodded and left to retrieve the propane bottle, Stephen marveled at the pace his AI was learning the nuances of human interaction, or more appropriately put, conversational banter. Not to mention her ever growing capacity to intuitively look ahead with her problem solving. Considering how terrible he was at it himself, he was beginning to wonder who was teaching who.

Then his thoughts drifted to this project: this game his son was playing and how the woman he was now pursuing as the game's protagonist was in many ways like the one who had such a grip on his heart in real life.

He also knew that EDI was fully aware how dangerous it could be to do what he just knew she was thinking. He shook his head... whoa.

S.A.M., or E.D.I., as he was calling her now, was really him in many ways, and he'd tried to give her some of Mary's traits, as well as their kids, too. Like his children, he truly wanted her to be something more than him.

He was going to catch hell for this, and she knew it, essentially taking his son hostage this way, but the real wild card was...

A thought struck him like one of those weapons he'd seen his son wielding in the game he was currently playing. To make this work he was going to need help.

And as he absently opened the front door to the cabin, juggling two tanks of propane, EDI said to him: "Shall I contact John Casey for you now? Or would you prefer to wait until he's awake? "

-xXx-

Sitting at his computer, Chuck was marveling at the similarities. To think that Morgan had given these games to him for Christmas and he was just now getting around to playing them. Not that the life of a spy in training left much room for games.

At least he didn't have to hear the constant 'have you played it yet?' stuck on repeat anymore. And once Morgan knew he was playing, amazingly, he'd only interrupted the gameplay twice to gush about it. When it came to games, his buddy knew where the priorities were.

Totally absorbed in the game, he blew through Mass Effect in twenty-two hours straight. Well, not quite. There was that one involuntary nap in his computer chair after the first eighteen hours. He'd also played an unknown number of hours building a character and settling on a specialty for him. He'd even done a quick play-through as a female version of Commander Shepard. He'd named her Sarah, and found it surprisingly insightful. So, yeah, it was really more like forty hours... or so, all together.

When Morgan gave him the disks at the Buy More Christmas party, it had come with another IOU for Mass Effect 2, since the second game hadn't been released yet. Given what had happened with the last IOU from his pal, that he'd found in his wallet in Barstow, collecting on it felt a kind of weird. Although, because of that first IOU, and the fact he was finally playing the game, Morgan made good on it in mere minutes.

The game disk was in his drive in mere minutes, too. Chuck had played roleplaying games before, but as sci-fi games went, Mass Effect was unique... and addicting. Action and adventure and romance in one galaxy-spanning bundle. He'd 'romantically' pursued a blue-skinned alien in that first installment, named Liara T'Soni. She was as unique and endearing as the game. Chuck, on the double-rebound, fell for her in a flash.

Virtual game romance with an alien may have been a bit weird, but it was a welcome departure considering where his real life love life had gone. He was an emotional wreck. By going brain-dead on a train platform in Prague, he'd lost Sarah. Not making any effort to explain his motives for not running away, reduced what they'd slowly built over two-and-a-half years to a shaky friendship in a single, bone-headed moment.

Then, after hearing Sarah say her real name to Daniel, Chuck's world—along with what felt like what remained of their friendship—had seemingly fallen apart, and he had no idea how to fix it.

And now, after almost seeing her killed because of his moonlighting, he'd turned away Hannah... horrifically.

To top it all off, he hadn't seen Sarah for days.

Yeah, he knew he was currently running away from his problems, having to see her friendly indifference again. He kept promising himself that he wouldn't let himself go where he had gone with Jill; that he would grit his teeth and push through this, learn to live with it, mend his heart on his own.

In so doing, he'd also become a rather rough version of Commander Shepard in the game universe in which he was now residing: a paragade, as the game community called it; a combination of the words paragon and renegade. It was as if he'd unintentionally taken a little bit of Rafe Gruber along with him when he entered it.

It didn't start off that way. In his quest for escape from the hard reality of the last several weeks, he'd tried hard to recapture his moral center; to be the man (in a virtual sense) that he'd heard Sarah say to Shaw he was losing to becoming a spy.

He just couldn't fathom it. He was becoming a real spy like Shaw, but still doing it his own way. He may have been learning some of the grittier methods, but his core values hadn't changed. However, Sarah had clearly chosen Daniel over him. She'd given Shaw her real name in the span of months, when she'd resisted telling him for over two-and-a-half years. It made no sense. He still supported Sarah unconditionally, but right now, direct and gruff Miranda Lawson made infinitely more sense... and she was 110% present at the moment... sort of.

But Sarah's words still stirred him. They always did.

He was totally shocked when he started playing Mass Effect 2.

Morgan had tried to warn him, saying something about "Chuck, there's this woman... you won't believe it, who she—"

That was when he cut his bearded pal off, with a "don't spoil me" end of conversation statement. He should have heard his friend out.

He almost quit when he saw her. In fact, he did quit, stunned when he saw the face of the woman over him when his game character awoke in her lab.

It didn't take long for his curiosity to get the better of him, though. The resemblance, the voice, the mannerisms were uncanny. And Miranda was by no means a pushover either, but her forthrightness was refreshing. She didn't mince words the way someone else he knew and cared about was currently doing.

And yet, she was still so much like Sarah: tough, driven, passionate, and even caring in her own way. He was just getting to 'know' her, and, like his real life, he found himself taking every opportunity to accompany Miranda on missions. Or rather, in this case, make sure he always assigned her to be with him. In Mass Effect 2 he never stayed in the car... he couldn't. He had to be a leader. And for quite a while he butted heads with Miranda. Charles (or Chuck) Shepard loved every minute of it.

Miranda made him tougher because, like Sarah, she was tough. If he was going to lead, he had to match her will and strength.

Hence, he'd become a bit of a renegade in doing so. Although, the game scoring system didn't necessarily reward a Commander Shepard who was in the middle. Strength was attained by either taking the virtuous path or one more morally questionable. A Commander Shepard in the middle of the road could find himself getting run over by a six-wheeled Mako armored vehicle—or herself, since Commander Shepard could also be played as a woman.

Still, in the game, like real life, Chuck gravitated toward a moral and more selfless path. However, Miranda, and a couple of teammates like his best bud, Garrus, sometimes still brought out the bad-boy in him. Renegade choices were always tempting. There was also the fact that Commander Shepard always packed a lot of heat... and used it.

Well, not always. He'd started off playing the game as an engineer, because, at the heart of it, that was what Chuck Bartowski still was. But he'd started a new game after playing that way for several hours... more than once. Switching first to a Sentinel, that had a skillset and biotics (a form of telekinetic augmentation) that reminded him a lot his current Intersected situation, he'd settled into the character of a stealthy infiltrator on his third go. He simply found it more fun being a sneaky spy-commando... a spy like Sarah. Ironically, the character specialty was also paid homage to Casey because the infiltrator's primary weapon was a sniper rifle.

Chuck got into Mass Effect 2 so much, he'd called Morgan and requested a few days off. He also wasn't flashing. It was getting so bad Casey had taken to calling him 'the Lemon' again. Fortunately, there had also been a lull in the missions after taking down Rafe. Unfortunately, that also meant that Sarah was spending a lot of time with Daniel, exacerbating the whole situation for him. Chuck's heart was busted wide open.

Though, somehow, he'd managed to keep from showing it. He wasn't going to deny Sarah the opportunity to have something real, even if it wasn't with him. In that respect, Chuck felt like a failure. Gaming, and building a virtual relationship, first with Liara T'Soni, and then immediately finding he wanted to start one with Miranda Lawson, was one of the few things keeping it from eating him up. That is, until he realized he was unwittingly being sucked into a romantic triangle. Liara was nowhere to be seen by a resurrected Commander Shephard in Mass Effect 2, except at the very beginning... before he'd died.

Until he received a message from Liara and traveled to Illium to help her. He'd taken Miranda on those missions, and it had been awkward because he'd fallen for Miranda the first time he saw her and heard her voice—as awkward as the circumstances he'd painfully shared with Hannah and Sarah.

The realization that he'd 'fallen' for Miranda Lawson struck very close to home. Because he was still 'in love' with Liara. To his surprise, the emotions the interactions in the game engendered were stunningly strong. They were also a welcome distraction. Still, Miranda reminded Chuck of Sarah so much. And Miranda was beginning to show the potential for the kind of relationship that Sarah now refused to even ponder. Ironically, Miranda also brought out the soft side of him, but one that was less fearful to act on his feelings... feelings he really felt for Sarah.

God, it was as confusing as it was an escape; conversing with Miranda, and all the while thinking of Sarah while he did. There was one difference. Miranda didn't hold it against him when the mission demanded he be just as tough as her. Miranda let paragon (or in his case slightly paragade) Commander Shepard do what had to be done, make the hard call, without judgment... or guilt.

But it was just a game, right?

It was until the cut-scene that took place when he and his squad returned from their mission on Horizon; a mission from which they'd barely escaped, let alone been victorious.

As the 'loading' symbol on the lower left corner of the screen appeared and turned, the screen went blank, and familiar green text, scrolling across the screen word-by-word, replaced it as the webcam activity light lit. A computer-altered voice accompanied it.

HELLO CHUCK.

Chuck blinked hard and shook his head. "Dad?"

HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP, SON?

"I've had better days," Chuck said, mirthlessly chuckling.

PLAYING GAMES AGAIN TO COPE, I SEE.

"You never miss a thing, do you?" Chuck pursed his lips as the words passed them. Just how much do you know, Dad?

NOPE. NOT A THING.

The hair on the back of Chuck's neck suddenly stood up.

THAT'S A FUN GAME.

"You've played it?" Chuck said incredulously.

THE FIRST ONE. THE ONE YOU'RE PLAYING NOW, TOO.

IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING.

"Huh? What the heck does that mean?"

DO YOU REMEMBER THE NIGHT I TOOK YOU TO SEE TRON?

Chuck glanced up at the poster on the wall over his computer and cocked his head curiously to the side. "Yeah. It made quite an impression on me... made me want to be an engineer like you and Flynn."

FLYNN WAS AN AMAZING CHARACTER; ALWAYS PUSHING IT.

HE PUSHED THE MCP RIGHT INTO A VIRTUAL CORNER.

"Yeah, he did. And the MCP zapped him and sucked him into a virtual world. It was a heck-of-an-adventure."

YES, IT WAS.

KIND OF LIKE THE ONE YOU'RE PLAYING IN NOW.

For a second the screen went blank before the next line of text appeared.

WHY DID YOU DO IT, SON?

Chuck gulped and stared at the web camera. "Do what? What are you talking about?"

YOU KNOW. DO I HAVE TO SHOW YOU?

"Dad, if you mean why I'm still working with Sarah and Casey, I'm just an analyst now," Chuck stammered, "I still have something to offer—"

YES, YOU DO.

BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT TO PROVE IT.

"Do that? Dad... what are you talking about? I haven't done—"

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?

THIS.

Chuck's eyes shot involuntarily wide as a symbol flashed onto the screen. It was one very similar to the symbol that had once appeared on his computer, on a night he couldn't have felt more alone. It was the night his dad showed him that the NSA had no intention of helping him get this thing out of his head; this thing he was now trying to keep his dad from knowing about. That night, he thought his last safe-haven in this world, Sarah, had abandoned him, by accepting the orders of General Beckman; orders that would have kept him under the government's thumb. And that night, Orion helped him escape.

Like the symbol that appeared on his computer screen that night had done, this one precipitated a flash. But this one wasn't filled with nearly as much information. In fact, it felt more like it had opened a gateway... a portal? It sure looked and felt like one. You've gotta be frakkin kidding me. He couldn't move a muscle.

I THOUGHT SO. THAT GODDAMNED 2.0

I'M SORRY, CHARLES.

WHAT I'M GOING TO DO NOW, AMOUNTS TO KIDNAPPING.

I KNOW, THERE'S A PUN THERE.

BUT, RIGHT OR WRONG, I DO THINK IT'S WORTH IT. SO, I'M GOING TO CALL IT AN INTERVENTION.

BRACE YOURSELF. IT'S TIME TO BE COMMANDER SHEPARD.

SORRY, BUT NOT.

END OF LINE... (I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THAT)

Wha-... oh... shit...

Like every time he'd experienced this, thousands of images flashed in front of Chuck's eyes. However, after an untold number, that was where the similarity ended. Still images became animated as they flashed before him. But in his mind, time seemed to freeze as solid as a block of ice as it happened. The images then began to swirl around him like a vortex, and they sucked him in... just like Kevin Flynn.

Suddenly, Chuck didn't just have game; he was in it.

Yup, it's time to suspend your disbelief again.