"There's nothing left," the man said, staring frustrated at the remnants of the Intersect computer. Chuck felt his mind swirling and spiraling. The air seemed thin to his heaving lungs and the floor unstable to his legs. He struggled to remain focused.
"So you lose," he heard Casey retort. He watched as the man circled back to his captives, Sarah and Casey. It all seemed fake to Chuck. Like it was a dream or some obscure glass window barring him from reality. Sarah looked at Chuck on the other side of that glass, her face a mask of shock and concern.
The man glared at Casey, "You should know this…no one stops us. No one ever has."
"Who are you?" Sarah demanded.
He smiled smugly as he lifted his gun toward her, "Spies, Agent Walker. The best."
Chuck's mind erupted with color-dissipating the haze and shattering the incorporeal glass into oblivion. Reality rushed in all around him, drowning him with a wave of panic. His body tensed as adrenaline pulsed through his veins and something greater than instinct commanded his mind. He blinked.
The thugs surrounding him shifted uncomfortably at the sight. "Sir," a thug called, "you should look at this."
"Chuck," Sarah called out, "did you just flash?"
The man turned toward Chuck, analyzing him. "He uploaded it," he said, his mouth agape.
"Oh, Chuck me," Casey groaned from across the room.
"Kill him," the man ordered in a voice rich with unease.
Chuck exploded into action. His arms shot out, sending pistols flying around him.
Thousands of images pounded through Chuck's mind, instructing every fiber of his body. His feet danced across the floor and his fists greeted multiple faces as he mentally watched himself pummeling the thugs around him. The world around him was black and white, friend or foe…except for Sarah. In the midst of the unnatural visions, Sarah glowed like a beacon.
Chuck's arms weaved in and out, fending off his attackers' feeble blows. An image instructed him to strike. His arm raced forward, sending a powerful punch into the assailant's chest. He stumbled backward as Chuck's foot crashed into his ribs. The man slammed into the wall and fell, defeated.
The images stopped and relaxed, then disappeared.
His muscles unclenched as life seemed to leap back at him, splashing him like icy water. His lungs breathed deeply of the stale air within the Intersect room. He looked hesitantly at his hands, as if they were foreign, then the fallen bodies around him.
"Chuck?" Sarah questioned hesitantly. Worry was evident on her face.
Chuck turned to meet Sarah and Casey's faces. "Guys," he said, pausing briefly, "I know kung fu."
