Let us do something, while we have the chance.
Still don't own Chuck. Wanted to get a postseason story started. It is based on episode 4.24, so it will contain spoilers. If you have not, go see that episode first.
"You're a gift…"
Sarah
"You can count on me…"
Chuck
-Episode 4.24
Chapter 1—the Anonymous Buy More
Buy More, Burbank, CA
June 3, 2011
"Guys, I know Kung Fu," Morgan blinked, looking up at Chuck, Sarah and Casey.
Casey looked down at Morgan and shook his head, "How could anyone claim to be planning this out and have it under control with this?" Casey pointed at Morgan.
Chuck couldn't believe after all this; it was going to happen all over again. He was looking at the sunglasses, "You alright buddy?"
"Yeah." Morgan looked up at Casey, "Don't call me this. I am not a this." He was trying to remember what show that was, but he agreed that was a bit offensive.
"Don't worry Morgan. We'll figure something out." Sarah turned her head to Chuck. Her eyebrows narrowed, "Won't we?" She did not want to start this all over either.
"Why should I worry? This is so cool!" Morgan exclaimed. He flashed on some gymnastics and stood up using a handspring. "That is better than awesome."
Sarah's eyes got narrower, "You didn't tell him about the doctor?" She just stared at Chuck. She knew he had problems telling her, but after that was done she had assumed that Morgan knew something about the problem.
Morgan eyes lit up, "What doctor? What are you talking about?"
"Morgan buddy, you'll be alright. It takes a while before something happens," Chuck answered.
"Except for Brad and those idiots. They didn't last that long," Casey smiled.
"Who did not last? What are you talking about? Chuck?" Morgan was starting to whine.
Sarah looked at Chuck's wrist, "Just give him your watch."
Chuck winced. It was from his dad and while he did not have the Intersect, well it just seemed to belong. Chuck looked at the watch for a second, "Buddy, I am not sure this will work. It was tuned for me. We'll probably have to tune it for you, if we can't get the Intersect out." He took off the watch and gave it to Morgan. "It helps with the effects of the Intersect."
Morgan's phone rang before they completed the explanation. He looked at it. Alex's picture was showing, "Oh crap, I forgot. I am supposed to have lunch with Alex. I have to go. I'm not going to die am I?"
Casey shook his head, "Apparently not."
"Casey!" Chuck gave Morgan a pat on the back, "Don't worry Buddy. What could go wrong?"
Morgan went up stairs to the Buy More. Coming out of the break room he was confronted by Jeff and Lester. "Do you know who is buying the store? Are they going to keep it open? Are we going to close? Do you know anything?" were the first questions from Lester.
"Big Mike said to look for the new owners. How can we look for the new owners, if we don't know who they are? Who are they? Did you hear anything yet? Do you still have your job? Does Chuck? He takes off for two weeks and expects a job?" Getting his breath Jeff continued, "Do we keep our jobs? Man, last time was bad. Living in the same cramped space like that."
Lester look at Jeff, "What do you mean? That was us?"
Morgan continued a quick pace to leave them behind, "No guys. I haven't heard anything." He saw Alex and almost ran out of the store.
Alex smiled at him coming. When he got to her, she looked him over. "Morgan, are you okay? You look winded."
"Well, I just out ran Jeff and Lester. They keep asking about the store." Morgan paused and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek.
"You still don't know what is happening with the store? What if it closes? You won't have a job now that your out of the, you know." Alex said in a whisper as a couple of new patrons to Buy More walked in.
"No, it's okay. I don't think the store is going to close. It's just new owners," Morgan smiled. They really had not discussed how they were going to tell everyone. Just then his phone rang, "Yeah Chuck. Sure. No problem. Okay, see you later." Morgan hung up and put the phone away. "Well, where would you like to go? Heard the new place, Conan's Pit, might be good."
Chuck was standing at the table in Castle. Sarah and Casey were with him. Chuck put his phone away, "Okay, we don't tell anyone. We'll keep the names of the owners anonymous." They were going through the rest of the box that Beckman sent. Chuck picked up his old tee shirt, "Say, do you think Carina and Zondra would want to join us?"
Sarah's head snapped, "What? We just got back..."
"Okay, keep me out of this one," Casey growled.
Chuck's eye got big, "What? Oh no. Sarah?" He put the tee shirt down and looked her in the eyes, "They got kicked out of their agencies for helping us, didn't they?"
Sarah nodded and saw where he was going, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. They will be going nuts by now."
Casey smiled, "Either that or some poor guy will be handcuffed to a bed."
Chuck laughed, "I think that's plural, big guy."
"Okay, so how do we handle this?" Sarah picked up some old socks out of the box and immediately dropped them.
"Well, we can't just go out there and start taking down bad guys. We'll have to figure out what's out there," Chuck remarked.
Casey shook his head, "Brilliant, just brilliant." He started to feel like the miner going down the mountain with Butch and Sundance. "We have to connect with Beckman. We can't just go running around shooting people." He smiled to himself, "Well maybe…"
"Casey," Sarah interrupted. "But he is right, we need some backdoor to Beckman. Obviously with Morgan having the Intersect, we will be able to figure out some things on our own."
Both Chuck and Casey looked at her like she was crazy, "Okay, we need to rely on Beckman."
"So, what are you going to do with Volkoff?" Casey asked. He saw the look, "I mean the company."
"Uh well, I guess we have to clean house. We can't have people like that guy Vivian had bossing her around." Chuck smiled, "Maybe that's what we use Morgan for, until we can get the Intersect out."
Casey was curious, "Do you want to get it out?"
Chuck's eyebrows furrowed, "With all we did together, do you want to leave the Intersect in Morgan?"
Casey grunted a "No."
"Well then, we'll see what we can do to get it out," Chuck replied. "I'll have to let Ellie know. She might be able to help."
Sarah was already thinking of Ellie. She was at least getting into her father's files. She would know something about this. Sarah agreed, "That should be fine."
"So what about your Mom?" Casey asked.
"I don't know. We have not told her about this." Chuck looked at Sarah.
"We'll need to get her involved a little. I know you are not going to let the idea that someone is controlling us drop." Sarah saw Chuck agree. "We need to find out if she knows anything."
"You are right. I want to know. I can't let someone get away with having my father killed and just not try to find out," Chuck's eyes pleaded with Sarah. Chuck knew the whole session was about that. He had to find out. Decker could not get away with it. First, try to stop him from saving Sarah, then keep just a terrible secret away from him. He wanted to find out with a passion. They stood in silence going through the box. Chuck remembered, 'dawn of a new chapter…just a pawn…all just part of the plan, just pieces on the puzzle board….see you never, civilian.'
Unknown Location
June 3, 2011
There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.
"Mr. O, he took it like you thought. We are still in position," Agent Decker reported.
The reply was, "I know."
Casa Bartowski, Burbank, CA
June 4, 2011
"Hey Buddy, good morning," Chuck said as he opened the door. Chuck was happy that they were dressed and up. Earlier in the honeymoon, well that was not likely. He smiled. Looking back at Morgan he asked, "What do you want?"
"What? Do you always think I want something if I come over?" Morgan looked passed him to the breakfast table. Seeing some food still there was his reward.
"So, do you want a pancake or not?" Chuck waved Morgan into the apartment.
"Wow, thanks. Hi Sarah." Morgan walked over to the table. "Great chocolate chip, thanks again." He promptly sat at the table and got the serving plate with the pancakes.
"Morgan, what did you want?" Chuck walked over to the table and stood next to him.
Casey was at the door next. He wasn't sure what he would find, but was prepared to close his eyes and leave. He knocked and peaked his head in the apartment, "Sorry, just trying to keep track of him."
Sarah got up from the table. She looked at Casey. He knew from the look she wanted to know more, but first she asked, "Coffee?"
"Hmm, yes." Casey shook his head, "He won't settle down. It's like he has to get up and try some new Kung Fu, Taekwondo or gymnastics routine every other minute. In between he lays there and eats."
"Yeah but this is so great! I can do what Chuck did, all the time!" Morgan was really excited.
Chuck and Sarah were definitely surprised. Chuck patted Morgan on the shoulder and pointed at the pancakes, "Bring them along. We are going to see my sister now."
Morgan scooped up the pancakes on the table and drowned them in syrup. He got up and followed Chuck. Chuck went to the door and Casey and Sarah came along.
Casey looked at Sarah as they went to the door. He said, "Beckman."
Sarah nodded at his suggestion. He was right. They would have to get Beckman involved. She responded with a "Yes."
Chuck knocked on Ellie's door. Morgan was eating the pancakes. Ellie opened it in a minute. "Wow, hi Chuck and everyone." She saw the look of concern on Chuck face. "Okay, what did he do now?"
Morgan shook his head, "Why, why do you always assume I did something wrong?" He saw the look in her eye. "Okay, but it really wasn't my fault. I did not know."
Ellie finished, "That it was loaded?"
Chuck broke in, "General Beckman sent me a box of my stuff. There was a pair of sunglasses in it. They came with the Intersect."
"You mean he has the Intersect?" Ellie's hands were now on her hips. She was really getting upset. She really did believe that since Chuck and Sarah were married now that it was all over. Then she saw it.
They all nodded.
"How bad is it?" Ellie looked at them.
Casey answered, "He can't seem to sit still. And when he does, he is eating."
"Well, I can't exactly take him to the hospital. There will be too many questions." Ellie knew better. There would be nurses all over this and too many people watching.
Mary came around the corner then, "Too many questions about what?"
"Morning Mom," Chuck wondered why she was there.
Sarah had a bright smile, "You stayed overnight?" Sarah remembered her Mother-in-law saying that she was still helping. She could not remember doing something like that since high school. She began to wonder what it would be like. "How was she?"
"Morning dear. Yes, just a perfect little princess." Mary looked at everyone. "Okay, you didn't come over to look at my granddaughter, what happened? Morgan?"
"Why does that happen?" Morgan looked at the sky.
Mary laughed, "I was here long enough to know. So what did you do?"
"I picked up a pair of sunglasses meant for Chuck and downloaded the Intersect," replied Morgan.
"They're still after it," mumbled Mary.
Chuck picked up on that, "What Mom?"
"Nothing. Morgan, are you alright?" Mary asked.
"I'm fine. I'm great," answered Morgan.
The others shook their heads no.
"Well, why don't we go back down to your base?" Mary asked Chuck. "Saw an old friend come into town yesterday. Said he was fixing up the place for you." Her eyes were piecing Chuck's. "You can explain later." Chuck looked down. "If Manny installed the normal complement, Ellie should be able to check Morgan."
"Let's go. I'll tell Devon. He's got Clara this morning. Mom and I were going out shopping," Ellie said as she turned to go tell Devon.
"Gees, I'm sorry. I didn't do this on purpose," Morgan relented.
They all turned and headed out the door. The air almost went out of Morgan. Alex was standing in the courtyard. "Morgan? Dad? What's happening?"
Mary knew from the wedding that Alex was with Morgan and they were getting along fine, even with Casey. She was proud of what Morgan had done. She wanted to help Alex too, so she broke in, "Come along, Honey. We'd like you to know."
Alex caught up with Morgan, "What happened?" She looped her arm through his.
"Why is it always me?" Morgan slumped.
Below the Buy More, Burbank, CA
June 4, 2011
The ride over was mainly in silence, each thinking of what was to happen. Alex cradled Morgan's head in her shoulder. She was wondering more than anyone what they were doing. She did not want Morgan to get back involved in the spy business, but having this Intersect thing sure sounded like he would be back in it.
When they got to the rooms below Buy More, Chuck was pointing at the wall, "Morgan, where did that come from?" There was a shield with stars painted on. Under the shield the words 'Intergalactic Federation of Planets' were printed in large letters.
"Well, since we can't call it Castle any more, I thought…" Morgan started to reply.
Casey took the sign down, "No, I'm in charge of new names."
They looked around the facilities. Manny's crew from Volkoff had outfitted the place during the night. Sarah had suggested some changes. Most of the rooms now had wood paneling instead of the stainless steel look of Castle. The conference table had comfortable leather chairs around it. There was still a large screen TV at the end of the conference table.
"Chuck, what's he mean that he's in charge of new names?" Morgan asked.
"While you were laying down playing with Chuck's sunglasses, we decided who has what job. Chuck and Sarah are the President and CEO. I'm Marketing and Sales," Casey answered.
Chuck came out of his wonderment at the new underground, "Hey Buddy, in all the confusion of you getting the Intersect and Decker's puzzle I forgot to ask. Is it alright if we make you the General Manager?"
Alex looked at Morgan with a big smile, "You're going to be the GM?" Then she looked at her dad, "GM of what?"
Ellie got into it, "I thought Morgan is the Manager of Buy More."
Sarah walked back to the group, "The medical station is over on the left. It looks like it has everything." She looked at the group. "Something wrong?"
Mary came up, "Yeah, what is happening? Manny is here for an install and most of your equipment is from Volkoff. Not exactly government issue."
"Well," Chuck looked at Sarah and Casey. He saw he was going to get no help from them. "We really aren't working for the CIA any more. We quit after getting the antidote for Sarah. So…Sarah and I now own Volkoff Industries. We bought the Buy More to use it as a cover for this base of operations. Then General Beckman sent or left a box of my things here and one of the things in the box was a pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses had the Intersect and when Morgan put them on it was downloaded into him. I did give him the governor watch I was wearing, but I don't think it is working for him. Anyway, those are the highlights."
Sarah added, "We did start to name positions in the company. And because they gave up their jobs to save me, we were thinking of offering Carina and Zonda a job with us. Now, you're included."
Chuck's eyes twinkled, "Yeah, Mom can be our Board of Directors."
Morgan was looking down the hall and saw the room to the right. It was the exercise room and outfitted every well. Morgan flashed on the staff and ran down to the room to grab it and practice a few Shaolin Kung Fu Staff moves.
Casey said, "We better start before he breaks something," and went to get him.
Later they were sitting around the conference table, Ellie was explaining to the others the results, "He is asleep right now. I gave him something that should let him sleep for a few hours. As you know, I checked everyone's brain activity to validate the equipment and get a baseline. His activity is very high producing higher Beta and Gamma bands than normal. I did try a few queues that were discussed in Dad's computer files but they did not have an affect. Chuck did tune the watch. And it did have some affect on the neural activity. For right now, continued tuning of the watch is the best course to deal with his problems."
Casey asked, "So there is no way of getting it out?"
"Not right now. I don't even think Chuck has it completely out of his mind. It is just blocked. The sequence of pictures Chuck described from the glasses that Decker used, just block the initial start up sequence." Ellie looked down at her notes.
"Wait a minute, does that mean Alexei Volkoff has a similar block?" Chuck saw her nod her head. "And that the block could be removed."
Ellie looked at him and said, "Yes, you could. For you, it would be like reloading the operating system without erasing all the files."
Mary was watching Chuck and saw his expression change with the recognition, "Have you done that before?"
"Well yes. When I did not have the governor on for a long period when we were fighting Shaw, I was able to reboot from the program I saw when I was a kid. But I tried that after you used that hand display on me. It did not work. And it is not working after those glasses Decker used," Chuck looked down.
"But your dad's program worked. It was on the computer," Sarah started asking. "Where is the computer?"
"It was taken with all of the Castle equipment," Casey stated.
Ellie smiled and almost squealed. She pointed to her bag. "I transferred all the files to mine. It took forever. Maybe the boot program will be on that?"
Ellie got the computer out of her bag. She put it on the table and went through the files. "Look here's Knock Knock." She typed in her password. After a little she had the login ready for Chuck. "See, here it is."
She slid the computer over to Chuck.
Unknown Location
June 4, 2011
There was a Minuteman Statue on the desk. The slogan underneath was Knowledge is Powder.
Another report had come in, "Agent Grimes has the Intersect. It did not go to the primary target."
The reply was, "I know."
A/N Please leave a review.
