A/N: Another story in my Agent Penny universe, which started with The Confidential Information Conundrum (that one is in the Big Bang Theory category) and was continued in the Penny vs. the Interview Disruption. While not strictly necessary to read those two stories, it is recommended. The story mostly plays out in the Chuck universe, only featuring Penny and on occasion other characters play a minor role (mostly her fiance Leonard Hofstadter).

Here's some things you'll need to know (or maybe have forgotten):

Penny was recruited at a young age and placed in the Agent Development Program (a concept I borrowed from the movie Agent: Cody Banks). Due to something bad happening to her equally young partner, causing her to distrust the CIA leadership, Penny quit and moved to Pasadena, where she'd eventually meet Leonard and the others. Unfortunately, bad guys came in search of some information, mistakenly thinking Leonard had the information. This forced Penny to use her agent training again. In the final battle she had some help from a certain blonde spy, working for a private security firm.

For those who are not familiar with the Chuck universe, here's what you'll need to know: Chuck Bartowski received an e-mail containing all the government's secret intelligence in the form of subliminal images. Upon opening the e-mail, the information was downloaded into his brain. Both the NSA and CIA sent their best agents (NSA agent Major John Casey and CIA agent Sarah Walker). Their mission changed from retrieval of the secrets to becoming Chuck's handler and protector (often this protection consisted of saying the phrase 'stay in the car, Chuck'; needless to say, Chuck almost never stayed in the car). Chuck's spy name was Charles Carmichael and when they quit the spy game, Carmichael Industries was founded.

Alright, on with the story. I do not own the characters of either Big Bang Theory or Chuck, nor do I earn any money with this.

Chuck sat down and looked at his team. As usual, his wife was sitting right beside him, both because she was second in command, but also because he trusted her spy experience more than anyone's. On his other side his best friend Morgan had taken his position. Despite the sometimes adolescent behavior he had frequently displayed, he had turned out to be almost invaluable in the day to day business. He had definitely grown up mentally and emotionally, and did his job well and efficiently. Next to Morgan sat his girlfriend Alex. Chuck knew Alex was largely responsible for Morgan's growth, not because she had asked him to change, but because his friend had wanted to change for her, be the boyfriend he felt she deserved.

Next to Sarah sat John Casey. The big man, who frequently called him moron or make fun of his nerdy interests, seemed to be happy to be back with the team, despite his incessant complaining, though that had been in the past. What surprised Chuck the most was the fact Morgan was still alive and in one piece, despite the fact that Alex happened to be Casey's daughter.

Finally he gazed at their latest addition, seated next to Alex. Before Sarah had recruited Penny, almost nobody had ever heard about the agent development program, a secret CIA project to train new agents from a young age. Even the Intersect didn't have anything about this program, though that may be because it dealt with very young potential agents and the less information available, the better. Penny had already proved her worth on the few missions she'd been part of.

His attention shifted to the monitor when it changed and showed the nearly always scowling face of General Diane Beckman. "Good morning team. We have another mission for you that is uniquely suited for you."

Chuck frowned slightly. 'Uniquely suited' sounded like it was Intersect related. And Penny wasn't in on that particular secret, something the general knew. The general's video feed was moved into the upper right corner as the main area was used to display some sort of device. Chuck could tell the general was gauging his reaction, but he received no flash.

"We need to retrieve this device, which was taken from an NSA's laboratory in Chicago about a week ago."

"What does it do, General," Sarah asked.

The general's video feed returned to full screen. "By itself the device is mostly useless, unless you have the proper accompanying equipment. I can not go into detail, but I've been informed time is of the essence."

Chuck nodded thoughtfully. They weren't officially part of the government anymore, and thus no longer privy to many secrets. "Do you know where it is?"

"We know the general area where the device is. A local CIA team is attempting to narrow it down to a more exact location. We have already sent our scientist to their base, accompanied by a very competent field agent. Your team will be working closely with this scientist and field agent, as well as the two CIA agents manning the base. We have prepared a jet to fly you there. Lift off would be in two hours."

"And where would that be, General," Sarah asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Just south of Omaha, Nebraska."

Chuck's eyes flicked over to Penny and then focused intently on the general. "We are going to discuss it internally and get back to you within half an hour."

The general stared back, obviously annoyed. "Mr. Bartowski, your team is uniquely qualified. Your assistance on this mission is of vital importance."

"With all due respect, General," Morgan responded. "We appreciate the fact you are offering missions to our company. We are, however, not part of the government. You are not in a position to make any demands. We will contact you within half an hour."

Chuck looked slack jawed at Morgan as he resolutely disconnected the feed, not giving Beckman any time to even get a complete word out.

"Not bad, Grimes," Casey replied. "Never thought you'd have the balls to cut of the general like that."

Morgan just shrugged. "It's my job. You've all agreed that before accepting any government work, we'd discuss it first. Beckman knows this and she shouldn't have tried to bully you in taking this mission on. Besides, isn't anyone just a tad creeped out by the uniquely suited part?"

Chuck glanced at Penny once more, who observed them with interest, but remained silent. "Yeah, I've thought the same thing, but the project was shut down."

Sarah nodded. "I agree I'm a bit apprehensive but it's just as likely related to another mission from our past."

"It could even be because it's in Nebraska," Penny finally spoke. "I know the area around Omaha well, so that could be a benefit."

Chuck nodded. "Possibly, but Beckman did say we'd be working with two local agents. No, it must be something to do with our past missions."

"Should I sit this one out," Penny asked. "I'm assuming there's some really big secret involved, since you all started talking in code. And I understand, really. It's probably a government type secret."

Chuck shook his head. "No, you are part of the team. Beckman didn't ask you to leave, and I take that as her permission to fill you in on certain things when needed. But we won't do so until it's absolutely clear what this is about."

Penny nodded. "Fair enough. To be honest, it looks like a relatively safe find-and-recover thing, so I'm in if you accept it."

Chuck smiled and glanced at Sarah and Casey. Both gave a single nod. "Well, I guess we can call the general back and tell her we'll be going to Nebraska."

Morgan turned to him. "I suggest we wait a bit longer. I think it's better Beckman understands she doesn't control us. Calling her back so quickly will not help that cause."

Penny sat down again at the conference table, just having ended her phone call to Leonard to let him know she'd be away for possibly a few days. She was lucky he was so understanding and knew how much it meant to her to feel useful again, doing something positive for the benefits of others.

Not that it made it any easier, for either of them. She knew he was worried about her safety and that he hated they didn't get to spend as much time together as they used to. She hated that she caused him to worry so much, but even more did she hate that there were once again days that they didn't see or at least talk to each other. That hadn't happened since Leonard had been on the North Sea expedition.

But she was happy doing this job and willing to give up on it, just because it made her private life more challenging. She hoped Leonard's worry would ease over time as she went on more missions and returned unscathed. Well, besides some cuts and bruises.

Penny turned to her left as Alex took her place next to her boyfriend. They were a cute couple, even though through the various stories Sarah had related, Penny had gotten the impression Morgan had changed quite a bit. Sarah's descriptions had often reminded her of Howard who, Penny had to admit, had also changed tremendously since he'd started dating Bernadette.

"Alright, let's see how pissed off the general is, shall we?"

Penny grinned at Morgan's statement, then hid it swiftly when the connection was made. In Penny's opinion general Beckman always looked angry, but she had to admit the anger was more pronounced this time.

"I see you've taken your time in calling me back."

"Sorry, General, we had things to discuss," Morgan replied, sounding not sorry at all. "Carmichael Industries will accept this job, assuming it is still on offer."

The general glared through the camera. "It is."

Morgan placed his hands on the table. "Good. We believe this is a three person mission so besides Mr. and Mrs. Bartowski, our new employee Penny will be handling your case."

Penny saw a distinct change in the general's posture. She seemed almost nervous, even if it was for just a second. "Wouldn't Mr. Casey be more appropriate? The three of them..."

"General," Morgan interrupted. "Carmichael Industries determines which operative will be part of which case. Penny has proved her worth and competence more than enough during previous cases she was assigned to. She has excellent marksmanship, almost as good as Mr. Casey's. She is equally competent in hand to hand and every other aspect related to her job."

"Grimes," the general said, clearly seething. "I suggest you remember your place."

"My place is business manager for Carmichael Industries and you can address me as either Mr. Grimes or Morgan. It is my job to facilitate negotiations like this. If you feel we are not up to the task, or make bad decisions regarding your offer, you can always contact other companies like ours."

Penny hid another grin when she noticed the general deflating. "Alright, Mr. Grimes. The job is yours, but your team better deliver."

"They always do, General," Morgan said. "The team will rendezvous at the airport within ninety minutes."

"God, that was so hot," Alex said as soon as the connection was closed and as Penny glanced in their direction she could see Alex's hand rubbing over Morgans leg. "Relax, Dad," Alex responded to John's warning grunt. "I'm not going to jump him right here."

"That was pretty impressive how Morgan handled the general," Sarah said to Chuck, wrapping her arms around him to pull him close for a hug and kiss.

Chuck nodded with a proud grin. "Yeah, Beckman looked like she was going to murder him. But I think he was right to put her in her place like that. I mean, the first few missions she offered we gave in a bit easily."

Sarah smiled, her fingers going through his curly hairs. "Personally I wouldn't mind if Morgan handled future intakes in a similar manner." She leaned her head against his shoulder and together they simply stood like that for a few minutes. "What are we going to tell Penny if this does turn out to be Intersect related."

Chuck shrugged. "However much we need to tell her. Like I said before, she is part of our team now and she seems to work out."

Sarah hummed her agreement. "I like having her on the team. We get along great and she is a very competent agent."

"I'm really not too worried about having her in on the secret. The thought of this mission in anyway related to the Intersect worries me a lot more. We were told the project was terminated, and would no longer be pursued. This would indicate they lied to us."

Sarah pulled back slightly. "It wouldn't be the first time. Penny has had her fair share of run-ins with CIA leadership, and distrusts pretty much anyone high up the command chain."

Chuck sighed. "I better finish up packing."

Sarah chuckled. "You still over pack."

He laughed briefly. "Yeah, well, it saved our asses on multiple occasions, so I'm not going to apologize for it or change my packing habits."

Sarah moved back toward the door and observed her husband as he packed one gadget after the other, and more clothes than even a normal woman would take on a weekend away. Agents generally travel light, the less you carry, the easier it is to quickly disappear when needed. But Chuck wasn't an agent, at least not in the classical sense, even though he'd done things that even a seasoned agent would at the very least hesitate to do.

It was just who he was, friendly and always ready to do whatever was needed to save innocent people, his resolve only stronger when his friends or family were involved. He'd been like that from the day she met him, when he was just thrust into her spy world. There weren't many men who, without any training whatsoever, would volunteer to help disarm a bomb, mere minutes after finding out his date was actually a spy sent to retrieve the stolen information from him.

The first year or so, he kept saying he wasn't anything special, and she always wanted to smack him over the head for downplaying his courage and heroism. It had taken quite a while until he began feeling worthy of being in the spy world, being with her. And still he regularly played of his contribution to a successful mission as just luck, or that it wouldn't have worked without everyone else's hard work.

"Why isn't anyone here to pick us up?" Chuck looked at Sarah and Penny.

Sarah shrugged in response. "The intel Beckman provided us with tells us this is a small team, and the scientist, along with the field agent protecting him, should have arrived about ten minutes ago. They probably just didn't have anyone to spare."

Chuck nodded thoughtfully. "I guess. Well, at least they left us the address and the key to a car."

Sarah nodded. "True. We also need to check in at the hotel. We should do that first, I think. Huh."

Chuck turned to his wife at the confused sound following her sentence. "What's wrong?"

"There's two keys in the envelope they left for us."

Chuck frowned. "Just how large do they think our team is?" His frown deepened when they reached the designated parking space and noticed there weren't two cars, but just one along with a fast looking motorcycle.

"Cool bike," Penny exclaimed as she rushed forward. "My dad always wanted to buy one like this, and I actually was hoping he would."

Chuck smiled at the obvious joy on Penny's features as she inspected the bike closely. "I guess he never did?"

Penny shook her head. "No, he changed his mind after I nearly crashed the dirt bike he did own."

Chuck glanced at Sarah again, who was smiling at Penny's admiration for the two-wheeled vehicle, but turned to him with a small nod. "Why don't you take the bike, and Sarah and I will take the car."

Penny beamed at them. "Really? Alright! Where are we staying?"

"Fairfield Inn and Suites in Papillion," Sarah read off of the note.

"I know where that is," Penny said, nodding, her hands going over the handlebars. "Where do we need to go after that?"

"Pappilion Parks and Recreation offices," Sarah replied after glancing at the note again.

Penny nodded. "Could you guys check in my bags for me? I wanna take this puppy for a short spin, if you don't mind."

Chuck glanced at Sarah, not sure if this was such a good idea. Sarah shrugged slightly at him, telling him she didn't see anything wrong with it. "Alright, but wear your comms so you can easily reach us. And be at the second location in an hour, alright?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Chuck, relax. I'm a trained agent and I'm not going to do anything stupid. See you guys in an hour!"

Chuck's mouth was hanging open slightly as Penny had simply snatched the keys from Sarah and peeled out of the parking lot within three seconds.

"Something's up, guys," Penny whispered into the comms. "The lock's been forced."

"Copy that," Sarah's voice came back. "We're still two minutes out."

Penny peeked around the corner, trying to locate possible bad guys. "I'm not seeing anyone, so I assume they entered the base." She paused, checking the tranq gun in her hand. "I'll go in, but you'd better be here in two minutes to back me up."

"We'll be there," Sarah replied. "Remember, we have friendlies inside."

Penny silently but quickly made her way to the end of corridor, peaking around the next corner. "Affirmative," she whispered, remembering there should be three trained field agents and a scientist. "I'm using tranqs."

A light chuckle came over the comms. "My husband got to you too, huh?"

"Yeah," Penny whispered back, approaching the staircase. She opened the door, checking left and right behind the door quickly. "Staircase secure. Going down." Penny was about to take the first step when she noticed the security camera. She knew she was still out its field of view. "There's a camera here."

"I could probably disable it and the others, but that'll get noticed too," Chuck responded. "Safest bet is to try avoid being seen by being fast and sneaky."

"Right," Penny said, eyeing the camera angle. No way in hell was she going to escape being picked up by it for anything less than two seconds. And there was no telling if there was another camera at the level below her. Just as she was about to go for it, she heard a gun shot. "Gun shot, couple of levels below me," she reported over the comms.

"That's probably good for us. Unlikely someone is watching the security cameras."

Penny nodded as she swiftly descended the stairs. "On my way." As she reached the lowest level, she could hear the telltale signs of hand to hand combat. She paused by the door and pushed it open a crack. Nobody seemed to be close to the door, and she eased it open just far enough for her to squeeze through. She heard another gunshot from up ahead, followed by what sounded as someone kicking another person. "Altercation in progress," Penny reported. "No visual, yet."

Penny paused again at the end of the corridor to peek around the corner. Her eyes quickly flitted over the scene, assessing the combat area and players. The room was fairly large, and she could see seven people. Given that it appeared the fight was five to two, Penny quickly picked a target among the five apparent assailants and fired.

"Entering the building now," Sarah reported.

Penny turned around quickly, having heard someone approaching but had assumed it was Sarah. Her turn was just a bit too late and she found herself at the receiving end of a vicious punch. She had just enough time to move along with the punch, minimizing the force and rolled through it. Unfortunately she lost the tranq gun in the process.

She blocked the next punch and flipped backwards, her left foot kicking out just in time to hit the new assailant in the temple. She managed to roll through and have her feet on the ground, still crouched down low. She struck out with her fist to another assailant coming at her from the side, hitting him on the knee.

She raised herself up and delivered a roundhouse kick to the one that had attacked her first, then rolled past him to retrieve her tranq gun. She shot both assailants from her crouched down position before standing up and taking aim at another person approaching from the left. Penny was about to squeeze the trigger until she locked eyes with her target. "Mom?" Penny stared unbelievingly at her own mother, not quite expecting this situation.

A/N2: hope you guys like the story so far. I'm going to try and divide the fight scenes, but obviously I needed to have Penny inside the base first :)