Author's Note: This is the first chapter of a 'round robin' by several of the authors here on fanfiction[dot]net. Check out the Authors Intersect profile for an explanation of the project.

Thanks to MySoapBox and Poa for their proofreading of this chapter.

Oh, and the Authors Intersect doesn't own Chuck either, although we made a very lucrative offer involving some Nerds, Five Dollar Footlongs, a well-used Season 1 DVD collection, and some spare pocket change.

CHUCK VERSUS THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE,

NO GOOD, REALLY BAD DAY

Chapter 1

by Timewalker05

Prison Break!

Agua Caliente, High Desert - An abandoned service station

The team leader held up his hand and nine shadows - his special operations team - froze in place, each man still as a stone. The team leader, code named Stalker, slowly scanned the target - a deserted gas station - with his night vision goggles. With a hand signal, he motioned his team into their pre-selected cover locations. Now came the waiting.

One hour and twelve minutes later, the door to the station's rest room opened. Two men stepped out and walked a few feet from the door. There was a brief brilliance in Stalker's night vision goggles as the first man struck a match and held it up to the end of a cigarette, then passed it to his companion who did likewise. Stalker nodded slowly as the flame of the match illuminated the face of the second man.

After a few minutes of stomping in the cold desert air to keep warm, the two finished their cigarettes and turned to go back inside. The second man reached into his pocket, keyed an infrared strobe – invisible to any but those wearing night vision goggles – and dropped it to the ground, slapping the first man on the back at the exact moment that he did so to mask the quiet 'thud' as it hit the ground. Stalker nodded silently at the signal to begin the infiltration.

The door to the facility opened and the two went back inside. Stalker held up a hand with all five fingers extended. Five minutes. He glanced down at his watch and began the count. At sixty seconds he held up four fingers, then three, then two. When he held up one finger, his team began to move stealthily across the desert toward the station. He touched a button and a schematic of the facility appeared on the heads of display of his tac helment, with tiny dots showing each member of his team as them moved to their assigned locations - Alpha Team to the air vents and Bravo team to the service elevator.

Stalker moved silently up to the door that the two men had come through five minutes before and carefully laid a hand on the knob. His number two glanced over at him and held his breath. This was the most dangerous part of the entire operation; their greatest chance of being discovered and before they infiltrated the facility. Stalker had specifically designed the mission so that if things went south, only he and his 2IC (second in command) would be sacrificed in the initial infiltration.

Stalker slowly turned the knob and opened the door. No alarm sounded. His number two silently let out his breath. They stepped into the dirty, dingy men's room and immediately went to the sink. Turning the hot water knob three turns to the left and the cold water knob three turns to the left, the entire room started to slowly sink. Stalker allowed himself a rare smile.

At the same time, his Alpha Team popped the vents to the facility's air intakes and tossed in a half dozen gas grenades while the Bravo team used a plasma welder to cut its way into the shaft for the facility's service elevator.

Stalker and his 2IC checked their weapons as the restroom elevator slowed to a stop. The wall next to them opened and a surprised guard, sitting at a desk facing the elevator, jumped to his feet. Stalker pumped two bullets into the center of his forehead and he slumped over the desk. Stalker pulled the man's body aside and hit the button to send the elevator back to the surface where the Alpha Team was waiting. Pulling a small handheld device out of his tac vest, the 2IC connected it to the guard's computer console. Immediately, alarms began sounding and the lights of the facility went from a harsh fluorescent to a dim red. Stalker reached down and grabbed the key-card from around the dead guard's neck.

The door at the far end of the corridor opened and two guards emerged, only to have the 2IC drop them both with well-aimed shots. The elevator doors opened and the four men of the Alpha Team entered the facility. The team leader nodded to Stalker and the team put on their gas masks.

With the press of a button on a small remote, the gas grenades began pumping out billowing clouds of knock-out gas, which the ventilation system began to spread throughout the facility.

This was followed by a deep rumble which indicated that the Bravo Team had breached the facility as well, rappelling into the service elevator shaft. At a signal from Stalker, the men began to fan out in their carefully planned and carefully rehearsed choreography. Stalker headed down the main hall, checking the cells until he came to the last cell at the end of the corridor. He slid the guard's key-card into the slot by the door and the door to the cell slid open.

A man in an orange jumpsuit was sitting on the cell's bunk. He looked up as Stalker tossed him a gas mask, which he promptly donned. He checked the seals before standing and striding up to Stalker. Fulcrum Tommy's smirk was hidden behind the gas mask, but Stalker could see the amusement in his eyes. "Took you long enough," Tommy said.

They started back down the hallway. "Get Leader, Lizzie, and Ned," Tommy ordered. Then he stopped. "Wait. Let them all go. Let the CIA try and track all of us down."

Stalker nodded and keyed his mike. "Vent the gas and then open all the cell doors. Kill any remaining guards."

***

Echo Park, California - Casa Bartowksi

Chuck's alarm sounded and he rolled over and slapped at it. He looked at the time and moaned. Six a.m. He considered hitting the snooze button, but he only had forty-five minutes to shower, shave and pick up Sarah before heading to the airport to pick up Devon and Ellie Woodcomb - it was still a little weird thinking of his sister as 'Ellie Woodcomb' - from the airport. Why they insisted on taking the red-eye from Hawaii he had no idea.

He had just finished brushing his teeth and was walking back into his room to get dressed when there was a knock at the 'Morgan door.' The window opened and Casey and Sarah stepped in. Chuck looked at them, then down at the towel around his waist.

"Geeze, could you at least let me get dressed?" he griped as Casey scowled and Sarah smiled at him.

"Relax, Bartowski," Casey said. "Nothing I haven't been forced to look at daily for the past two years. And I'd think you'd be happy to be posing for Walker here."

"Shut it, Casey," Sarah said. "Good morning, Chuck. We have a situation."

"Can it wait?" Chuck asked. "I have to go pick up Ellie and Awesome from the airport."

"We've sent a limo for them," Sarah said. "They'll tell Ellie you arranged it as part of the whole reception planning."

"Where are we going?" Chuck asked.

"The Castle," Sarah said. "We have a briefing in twenty minutes."

"I thought the CIA was shutting down the Castle since Casey and I weren't at the Buy More anymore."

"We need somewhere secure and the Castle's our only secure facility in L.A. right now," Casey replied. "Some numbskull at Langley forgot to cancel the order to deactivate the secure lines to my apartment."

Chuck motioned to his towel. "Can I at least get dressed first?" he asked.

Sarah smiled. "We'll wait outside."

***

The Castle – Secret CIA Facility beneath the Orange Orange – Burbank, California

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in a partially dismantled Castle in front of the familiar large screen monitor on which was the equally familiar face of General Diane Beckman.

"Good morning, General," Chuck said. "You're looking well."

General Beckman scowled, followed by another scowl from Casey.

"At 0427 this morning, there was an attack on the Agua Caliente Threatmax Prison," Beckman began.

"The Agua what?" Chuck asked.

Sarah turned to him. "The Agua Caliente Threatmax Prison is a secret supermax detention facility where the CIA keeps its most dangerous prisoners. Those that cannot be kept in a normal prison facility or who need to 'disappear' so they cannot divulge information to their organizations."

"Agua Caliente is where we kept all the prisoners captured by Team Bartowski," Beckman said. "Fulcrum Tommy, Dr. Zarnow, La Cuidad, Reardon Paine, Lizzie the Pita Girl, Mr. Colt, Sasha Banacheck, Farrokh Bulsara, Leader, Ty Bennett, Ned Rhyerson - all of them."

"Who attacked the facility?" Casey asked.

"Unknown," Beckman said. "But what is clear is they had help, from both inside the CIA and inside the facility itself. All the prisoners escaped. Our analysis indicates that this may be a concerted effort to target the man responsible for putting them behind bars."

"But, but, but," Chuck stammered. "That would be me."

"That's correct," Beckman said. "Due to the unprecedented nature of this threat, I am initiating Operation Zodiac."

Sarah 's eyes went wide. Casey muttered, "Chuck me."

"Um, what's Operation Zodiac?" Chuck asked.

"Agent Walker?" Beckman said.

Sarah turned to Chuck. "In the event of a serious threat to the Intersect - to you, Chuck - the normal procedure would be to put you in lockdown until the threat could be neutralized."

"Or permanently," Casey muttered.

Sarah gave him a dirty look and continued. "However, there was always the possibility of a mole inside the CIA or NSA, making lockdown itself unsafe. In that event, we would initiate Operation Zodiac."

Casey let out another grunt at the mere mention of the name.

"Under Operation Zodiac protocols, all agents with knowledge of the Intersect, or at least knowledge of your real identity, would be brought in to assist with protecting you and terminating the threat. That way, knowledge of your... status... wouldn't go beyond those who already know you. As an added bonus, they're all people we have worked with and we know we can trust."

"Hardly," Casey grunted.

"So, who's on this Zodiac team?" Chuck asked.

"Well," Sarah said, "Our initial contact would have been Bryce."

"And now that Bryce is dead..." Chuck said.

"Allow me, Agent Walker," Beckman said. "We have requested assistance from Roan Montgomery, Cole Barker, Carina, and Agent Alex Forrest. All these agents are currently on other assignments; we have sent recall signals, but I can't guaranty when or if they will arrive. We have also tried to get word to Orion, Stephen Bartowski, but he has gone off grid. I am afraid that until help arrives, you are on your own. I can detail some additional security teams to the Los Angeles area, but until we know who the mole or moles are in our operations, I can't assign any more agents specifically to watch Mr. Bartowski."

"Is Roan... well, last time we found him he wasn't exactly in fighting trim" Casey said.

"Agent Montgomery is still one of the best agents in the business. He was eager to come back from his... vacation... in Cancun to assist in Operation Zodiac," Beckman replied. "We've notified everyone on the Zodiac list. It may take some time for them all to reach L.A. In the meantime, you need to be extremely cautious. Several of the escapees already know about you, Chuck, and have no doubt informed the others. Fortunately for us, we do not believe that the escapees will trust each other enough to work together. Their lack of coordination should give us an advantage."

"Well, I guess that's something," Chuck said with a sigh. "This is like the last level of a video game where you meet all the bosses of all the levels at the same time."

Beckman frowned, clearly puzzled at the reference. "Look at it this way. This will be an excellent field test of your new abilities, Agent Bartowski."

"You know, General, I'm still not comfortable with this whole 'agent' thing," Chuck replied.

"You should have thought of that before you downloaded the Fulcrum Intersect," Beckman replied. She looked at Sarah and Casey. "I've assigned all the agents I can to tracking down the escapees, but I'm afraid that the lion's share of the responsibility will rest on your shoulders."

"Why don't we just lock Bartowski in the Castle until it's all over?" Casey asked.

"Leader knows the location of the Castle," Beckman reminded him. "Our analysis suggests he may make an attack on that facility."

"What about the Buy More?" Chuck asked. "A lot of those baddies know that I worked at the Buy More. Won't the people there be in danger?"

"We're hoping that some of them do make a play for the Buy More," Beckman responded. "When they do, it will give us an excellent opportunity to catch them."

Chuck frowned, clearly unhappy at using his friends at the Buy More as bait.

"If there is nothing else," Beckman said. "I need to coordinate our search teams." She didn't wait for a reply before terminating the connection.

Chuck slumped into a chair. "Great. Just great," he moaned. "Not only do we have Fulcrum and this mysterious Ring to deal with, now we've got every bad guy we've ever dealt with coming after us, too."

Sarah sat in the chair next to him and laid a hand on his arm. "It'll be okay, Chuck. Think of it this way. These are all people we've beaten before and we'll beat them again. And none of them know about the new Intersect."

"But Sarah," Chuck moaned. "I don't know about the new Intersect either. Before he disappeared again, I asked Dad about how it worked and he didn't know. It wasn't his design. I wish he were here."

"Beckman is trying to contact him," Sarah replied. "You can do this, Chuck. I know you can."

"As long as I have you beside me," Chuck said with a weak smile.

Casey began to make gagging noises. "Before you two go at it here on the conference table, can I remind you that there is a host of pissed off bad guys gunning for us and we don't know when our backup is going to arrive?"

"You know, the promotion did nothing for his attitude," Chuck said.

"Casey's right," Sarah said. "We need to come up with a plan. We know the Castle isn't safe."

Chuck 's eyes widened as he had a sudden thought. "I need to warn Awesome. If they're after me, they may come after him and my sister. I wonder if we can get them to take another couple weeks in Hawaii. I still have a little of my spy money left."

Sarah looked at her watch and shook her head. "They've already landed. Besides, you don't want to blow your cover with Ellie."

"Yeah, but I do want to warn Awesome. He knows about me, now, and he can keep an eye on Ellie."

Casey grunted. It was obvious what he thought about Devon's ability to protect Chuck's sister from the likes of La Cuidad, Mr. Colt or Leader.

"We'll stop by the apartment, welcome them back from their honeymoon, and warn Devon," Sarah said. "You'll need to pick up some clothes. Your apartment may not be safe. We'll have to move in together until Operation Zodiac is over."

Chuck's eyes went wide."Sarah, I..."

"Non-negotiable, Chuck," Sarah replied. "I want you where I can keep an eye on you."

"Among other things," Casey snorted.

***

Casa Bartowski – Echo Park, California

"Sarah! Chuck! It's so good to see you!" Ellie cried when Chuck and Sarah came through the door. Ellie and Awesome were still in the living room surrounded by a mountain of luggage, the limo driver having dropped them off only a short time before.

"Hey, sis, welcome home," Chuck said, wrapping his sister in a big hug.

"How was the honeymoon?" Sarah asked as Ellie hurried over to wrap her in a hug as well.

"Awesome," Devon replied. "Windsurfing, parasailing, volcano hiking, and plenty of indoor recreation, if you know what I mean."

"Devon!" Ellie chided him.

"Hey, babe, I made an honest woman of you. I'm sure Chuck and Sarah know..."

"Sarah, you must have come over quite often," Ellie said quickly, cutting him off. "My brother didn't wreck the place while we were gone."

"Yeah, about that," Chuck said. "Sarah and I were talking, and since you two are newlyweds and all, we thought you didn't need your little brother hanging around while you settle into wedded bliss, so I was going to go stay with Sarah for awhile."

"Hey, bro, you know you're always... oof!" Devon was cut off by an elbow to his ribs from Ellie.

"That's a great idea!" Ellie said. "It will give Devon and I a chance to get settled in and give you and Sarah a chance to spend more time together. After all, she did catch the bouquet at the wedding."

Chuck glanced over at Sarah. Was she blushing? No. It must just be the light.

Ellie insisted on cooking breakfast, claiming she missed cooking while on her honeymoon. Since Chuck didn't have any food in the house, Ellie dragged Sarah to the store to buy the necessary groceries while Chuck packed and Devon unpacked.

As soon as 'the girls' were gone, Chuck turned to Devon. His look was suddenly very serious. "Devon, there's something we need to talk about."

"Is this about you being a spy?" Devon asked. "Awesome. Whatever you need, bro. I got your back."

"I'm glad you said that. I need you to keep an eye on Ellie. Sarah, Casey and I have... well, we've put away some very bad people during the last two years. Early this morning, there was a prison break and a lot of those bad people got away."

"Whoa," Devon said. "Not awesome. You think they're gonna come looking for you, dude?"

Chuck nodded. "Yeah. I think they will. But one of them is the guy who poisoned Ellie last year and he may have put two and two together and try coming after her again. I've asked for a CIA team to watch you and Ellie, but I need you to keep your eyes open and call me if anything, anything is out of the ordinary."

"You really think they might come after Ellie?" Devon said, looking suddenly a lot less like Captain Awesome and a lot more like a worried husband.

"I hope not," Chuck said. "But I want you to be ready."

"I've got your back, bro. Same as before. Same as always," Devon said, throwing Chuck a salute. "You can count on me."

"I know I can, Devon. Listen, don't take any chances. These are dangerous people. Killers. If anything happens, you grab Ellie and run."

Devon nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry about this," Chuck said. "Not a great way to come back from your honeymoon."

"No worries, bro. You're, like, protecting the country, right? You know you can always count on me for anything. We're family now, Chuck, and family takes care of their own."

Chuck smiled. "Devon, you're awesome."

Devon smiled back. "It takes one to know one, bro. It takes one to know one."