Chuck Versus the Padded Cell
A white room… Every day… Never Anything Else…
This was all that Charles "Chuck" Bartowski had to look forward to. One botched mission and it had all been over. The Ring knew all about the Intersect, all about him...
He had been faced with this before. Just weeks after being sent a highly advanced computer program containing Government secrets from the NSA and CIA called the Intersect by his old college roommate Bryce Larkin and having it burn terabytes of Information (that should have stayed in CIA hands) into his brain in the form of thousands of innocent looking pictures, Chuck's Identity had been compromised by Fulcrum. Fulcrum was an organization that would stop at nothing to bring down the American Government and replace it with their own. This had lead the top Brass back at CIA HQ at Langley deciding that Chuck would be safer and less dangerous underground… Literally.
Chuck sat, staring at the four walls that he would now have to call home. He had tried forcing the Intersect to give him the information and skills he needed to escape (causing what he and his CIA and NSA handlers had nicknamed a "Flash"), but he just could not do it. His emotions were getting in the way again, stopping him from focusing, from getting out of here.
Hours later, (or was it minutes? With no sunlight, Chuck had no idea how long he had been separated from the world that he knew. Working at the Burbank Buy More, Morgan's foolish attempts at wooing his colleague Anna, Jeff and Lester's oddly efficient branch of stalking.) The guard entered, carrying his thrice-daily tray of food. What was it today, Lasagne, Shepherd's Pie…? A cheeseburger with a side order of fries?
So much for CIA sophistication thought Chuck despairingly.
Then he noticed the watermark.
Although he could not force himself to Flash, if Chuck saw something that the Intersect thought was important it would force a Flash with all the information it had on the topic. The watermark had said McGinley.
…A Train…
…A Sunflower…
…Operation Standing KIA…
…A Train…
Chuck's Flash told him Lt. J McGinley, Second company platoons, KIA on operation standing. Chuck covered up his flash as much as he could, sneezing just after it had finished. A flash only took a fraction of a second, but the guards were trained to know what to look for. Everything was going to be reported back to their bosses, Director Graham of the NSA and General Beckman of the CIA.
"Good food huh?" Chuck questioned, "I thought good food was a roast dinner or a nice stew. All I have had so far is fast food. Are you fattening me up?" Chuck asked jokingly. This received a menacing smirk that made Chuck believe that they were trying to fatten him up, only to be replaced with a much bigger fear a few seconds later. As he saw the guard's face, he began to feel the Intersect taking over.
…A calm beach…
…A frozen mountain…
…Agent Quincy…
…Suspected Ring Operative…
…Suspected of assassinating John F Kennedy…
…A Calm Beach…
"Oh, that's how it is, is it? Make a human Intersect just to fatten him up like a pig so he can't escape huh?" Chuck retorted shakily. "Well you'll need more than that to keep me here."
What was he going to do? The Ring knew he was here and he knew that they would stop at nothing to get him and use him to find weaknesses in the CIA's defenses. However, with no escape route, Chuck had no choice but to hope that Quincy would be caught before that could happen.
Two days later, Chuck was musing over his last few meals. All five of the ones since McGinley had caused him to Flash because of something that would be missed by a guard checking his food. Was there a pattern? Going back over the Flashes it began to become clearer.
…Lt J McGinley, Second Company platoons…
…KIA Operation Standing…
…Operation Deadline…
…Moving hundreds of people "away"…
…Secret Nuclear testing Facility…
Operation Keyhole…
…A Ring double agent opened a door to a Warehouse in lower Burbank…
…Three Ring agents captured, four killed…
…Operation Dust cloud…
…Covering up an Explosion in London on 7th July 2005…
… Four CIA Agents wounded in an unexpected equipment malfunction…
…Operation Tomorrow…
…Final stage assault on a ring base…
…Success, all ring Agents captured and taken for questioning on new ring Intersect Project…
…Standing…
…Away…
…Door…
…Explosion…
…Tomorrow…
Tomorrow? What did that mean? Was someone coming to save him tomorrow? Was it Sarah Walker, his ex-CIA handler and friend? The one who had been horrified when she told him about having uploaded the Intersect 2.0, an improvement on the original design that gave access to a wide range of physical Abilities as well as information. She had spent so long tracking down her father, the original creator of the Intersect, so that Chuck could get the first one out that she had not slept for weeks and was always irritable. Except with Chuck. She had always been friendly and comforting if Chuck ever needed help with adjusting to his new life of Secrets and Lies. His family could not know about his other life. Agent Charles Carmichael was not allowed to mix with the Bartowskis. Chuck's Sister, Ellie, would be put in far too much danger if that were to happen.
Snapping upright, chuck realized that he must have fallen asleep thinking about his rescuers. Then another thought came to him. What if they were not his two loyal friends and protectors? What if the Ring wanted him away from the door so he would not be hurt in an explosion?
Knock Knock Knock
The Guard rapped on the cell door. A knot of apprehension twisted in Chuck's Stomach as he moved to the opposite side of the room to the door.
"Just leave it by the door thanks, I'm not really hungry right now, but if I want it It'll be there, right?" Chuck asked, feigning the first signs of social deprivation. Showing that he was beginning to lose it could help explain to the guard why he was on the other side of the room and making no attempt to move.
"Sure" the guard answered, placing the steaming plate of Lasagna next to the door.
The guard left through the door that he came in through and closed the ten tonne door with a strength that only a Spy could have.
Then Chuck a muffled sound coming through the door. Voices? One female and… two males?
Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the CIA Complex, forcing the door to his cell to fire across the room, with a fireball following closely behind. The door slammed into the wall just to the left of Chuck and fell to the floor with a noise that rivaled the sound of the explosion. Then, looking every bit the goddess that Chuck believed her to be, Sarah Walker stepped through the smoke and rubble and, holding out her hand, she said,
"Come on Chuck, Let's go home."
James Patrick-Gleed 11R English Coursework 19/01/11