Chuck Versus the 42

by: Sam Lincoln

Disclaimer: The characters of Chuck and Alias both belong to their respective rights holders and I make no claim of ownership on either

Summary: The Ring steals information, Chuck has a flash, and who is Sydney Bristow and how is she involved?

Spoilers: This story takes place after the events of Alias and during season 3 of Chuck, in between Chuck Versus the Honeymooners and Chuck Versus the Tooth

Prologue:

-Alexandria, VA

Outside of a top secret CIA storage facility a small team of masked men sat in an unmarked van. The leader of the squad checked his watch then nodded to the rest of the team. They silently exited the van and advanced on the warehouse, hugging the walls of nearby buildings to stay out of sight.

Inside the warehouse two guards sat at a station watching surveillance monitors. One of the guards frowned as one by one the monitors winked out. He turned to say something to his partner when the door to the guard station burst open and two of the masked men entered the room, silenced pistols drawn. Before the guards had a chance to react they were shot in the head by the intruders. Wordlessly one of the two men walked over to the security console and pressed a button unlocking the main vault.

The remainder of the team was waiting at the entrance of the vault. Two clicks on their radio signaled that the door was open and they entered with military precision. The squad fanned out looking for any additional guards while the leader strode through the stacks of the archive until he came to a stop in front of a nondescript box. He opened the box to verify its contents before pulling it off the shelf and exiting the vault. He tapped on his radio to announce to the rest of the team that it was time to go.

The robbers exited the warehouse as quickly as they entered and they were gone well in advance of the approaching police sirens. The van drove on in complete silence until it reached an abandoned lot with a lone black luxury car parked in it. The van came to a stop and the team piled out. All of the mercenaries, save for the leader pulled off their balaclavas and milled around chatting about how they would spend their paychecks and future jobs. The team leader, who had not let go of the box, walked over to the luxury care and set the box down on the truck lid. He reached into his pocket and thumbed on a remote detonator, triggering the Semtex he had carefully placed in the van earlier that day.

The blast tore through the mercenaries, killing most of them outright. The ones who survived the explosion were quickly finished off with a bullet to the head. The lone surviving robber tossed his gun into the flaming wreckage then returned to his car. He carefully placed the box into the car's truck and drove off.

It was only then that Julian Sark removed his mask and picked up a cellphone lying on the passenger's seat. He dialed the only number programmed into it and said. "It's done." He then hung up the phone and tossed it out the car's window.

-Burbank, CA

"This had better be important," CIA Agent Charles "Chuck" Bartowski said as he entered the secret CIA base known as Castle. "Lester and Morgan are about to go at it for the Buy More Call of Duty belt…" he trailed off when he realized his superior, General Diane Beckman was on the main video display. Chuck slid into the chair next to his fellow agent, and girlfriend, Sarah Walker. The other member of "Team Bartowski" Marine Lieutenant Colonel John Casey looked over at Chuck and grunted in disgust.

"Good morning agents," General Beckman said. "Earlier this morning an unknown group broke into and robbed a secret CIA storage facility."

"Did they steal anything related to the Intersect?" Sarah asked.

Beckman shook her head. "At this moment we don't know what exactly was taken, but we do know it had nothing to do with the Intersect. This facility only stores items related to concluded operations. There was nothing there n reference to active missions like yours."

"Well that's a relief," Chuck said. "Though I haven't been threatened with being placed in protective custody in quite some time. I'm actually starting to miss it." Casey cleared his throat, indicating to Chuck that it was time to be quiet.

Sarah glanced between her boyfriend and her partner with ill-hid exasperation before she returned her attention to General Beckman. "You said you don't know who attacked the facility, but you're talking to us. That must mean you think The Ring is responsible."

Beckman nodded. "We do. The attack was far too precise to be the work of anyone other than The Ring. They knew exactly what they wanted and where to find it."

Chuck held up his hand. "Uh excuse me, General? Could we get back to the part where we don't know what was stolen?"

"This might come as a surprise to you Agent Bartowski, but there are somethings even I don't have a clearance to know. We're still sorting through the facility's inventory, but at this time all we know is that it relation to an Operation Bluebird."

As soon as the words left General Beckman's mouth Chuck felt the world spin away and in its place was a series of garbled images that he now associated with an Intersect flash. He returned to the real world with one name and face firmly lodged in his mind.

"Uh General," he asked, cutting off whatever Sarah was talking about. "Who is Sydney Bristow?"

Author's notes: Okay here we go, Chuck Versus the 42. Really simple idea, I noticed that there weren't any crossovers of Alias and Chuck and decided to remedy that. I'm not quite finished with the first draft, but I have the next four acts written and I'm currently almost halfway through act five. I hope everyone enjoys this one. I think it's pretty good.

-sam, 2014-09-25