Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own Chuck.

Now would be a good time to mention that this is my first fic with any kind of action or combat skills involved. :L

I had some trouble getting this out, as I had to "intersect" two character lines. (Oh god, I'm hilarious sometimes)

Anyway, reviews, as always, are highly encouraged, so don't be shy, tell me what you like, and what you didn't, and even give a few suggestions. :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: I Hate First Days.

Three days before…

"Walker! Get down!" called a commanding voice.

There wasn't much more that she could do except follow that order. Not knowing who, or where it came from, she smacked down flat on the grass that framed the courtyard. A large force permeated every cell in her body, followed by the searing heat of a carefully planted Semtex explosive. Instantly, her fresh training kicked in, mixed with the developing instincts she'd began to rely on. Reacting quicker than a cheetah, she ran to a nearby pillar, throwing herself against it and taking solace in the cover that it provided. The ringing in her ears only began to become apparent to her when she tried to determine what just happened.

Okay, Bomb in the middle of the courtyard. No substantial injuries, but a slight loss of hearing.

The ringing took a few seconds to fizzle out and give way to the sounds that surrounded her, but when it did, she heard the sounds of several gunshots being fired filling her ears, and her handler, Kieran Ryker, shouting after her in a booming voice.

"Walker! Walker!" he yelled. "Get over here! Unidentified contact!"

As far as she could tell, the shots being fired weren't whizzing around her cover, or breaking chunks off of it. To her right, behind the cover of another pillar, Ryker was peeking out, squeezing off a shot or two at their mystery assailants. Keeping her head down, she bolted over to an adjacent pillar and took stock of her surroundings.

Across the courtyard, over the blackened crater that the explosive left, four unidentified foes clad in janitor uniforms were firing towards her and her handler.

"Here!" kicking over a gunmetal-black Glock-17 pistol and continued to return fire. "These guys are after the same guy we came looking for!"

Needing no orders, she clicked off the safety, waited for a break in fire, and popped out of cover, squeezing off several shots at the opposing agents. With her training still fresh in her mind, she managed to gun down one of the janitors, landing a hit directly through his shoulder.

"Good hit!" Ryker yelled.

"There's still three more! How are we supposed to get out of this?" she shouted back.

He peered around the cover, before zipping back into it, avoiding the bullets that whistled past him and broke open a drink machine. Lifelessly, several cans of Coke rolled out and bumped into her boots, giving her an idea.

"Ryker, hey, Ryker!" grabbing his attention. "When I tell you to, hit these cans of Coke okay?"

"What? Walker, don't forget, I'm YOUR fucking handler! You don't tell me what to do!" he snapped back.

"There's no time, just trust me on this!" she burst.

With no choice, he fired three more shots before ducking back into his cover to reload. In that time, Sarah vigourously shook up three cans of coke, and lobbed them through the air.

"GO!" readying her pistol.

Carefully, Ryker trailed the cans through the air, before shooting them just as they were level with the opposing agents. The cans burst into a foaming brown mess, emitting three distinct pops and distracting the three remaining bogeys, halting their fire for a crucial few moments. With no hesitation, Sarah popped off several shots, choosing to fire at the two that had their heads peeping out of cover, hitting them both dead-square between the eyes. Their final squad-mate was her next target, but she was beaten to the chase when Ryker let one last bullet go free and hit him in the chest.

"Come on, there's still one of those assholes down." ordered Ryker.

With their guns raised, they strode across the courtyard to find one of the men down and bleeding heavily. He was desperately crawling for the gun, but found it hard with his shoulder gushing blood.

"Hey! Don't move!" Sarah ordered, pointing the business end of the Glock at him, before lowering it and approaching him carefully.

"Fuck… Off." he managed to sputter, still reaching for the gun.

Predictably, Ryker lunged forward and whacked him in the face.

"Here, see this?" Sarah said, holding up a tiny white and orange canister. "It's an experimental blood clotting agent." pausing to let the gravity of the situation sink into his mind. "If you want to live another day, you'll tell us who sent you, and why you're here."

"It's useless!" he spat. "Bryce Larkin's not here. So go back to your fucking iPhone, and your boy bands you little girl."

"Careful now, this 'little girl' just put a bullet through your shoulder!" warned Ryker.

"…lucky shot." the agent coughed.

This time, Ryker kicked him in his stomach, but was held back from launching another kick.

"I've got this." whispered Sarah to Ryker, who knew exactly what she was capable of.

"You're not going to get shit from me girl. The people I work for… the people I work for will fuck you up." he hissed at her back.

Coldly, and without hesitation, she shoved the barrel of her gun into his entry wound, causing him to squirm and writhe in pain.

"ARRRRRGHHHHH!" he painfully yelled. "Argh! You little bitch!"

"Just tell me, where the hell is Bryce Larkin?" she harshly asked.

"Lincoln High! Lincoln High!" he admitted under extreme duress.

"That's better." taking the gun barrel out of his wound, and squeezing the foam into it.

Without another word, she turned around and walked away. She knew what Ryker would do to him now that they had the information they needed. For a 16 year old teenager, watching a person getting executed wasn't something she'd want to see, even with her training. Killing an attacking enemy? Sure, she could deal with that. But she'd never kill someone who wasn't firing back at her. It just didn't feel right to her yet. As the gunshot rang through the empty corridors of Melinda Banks High School, she tried to focus on the intel that she'd just coaxed out of the opposing agent.

So all this time, Larkin's been hiding in Lincoln High huh? Looks like I'm gonna have to get my school books ready again.

Back at their undisclosed safe-house, the face of Director Graham was plastered on the main screen.

"Agent Walker, you continue to surprise me with your mission performances. For an agent as young, and as fresh from training as you are, you proudly show the best of what the CIA has to offer." praising her, before shifting his gaze towards Ryker.

"You too Ryker. It's apparent that the two of you have some sort of… uncanny teamwork. Which is why it's a shame to say that Ryker is being reassigned." he declared, nonchalantly.

"Reassigned, sir?" Ryker enquired.

"Yes. One of your old identities is calling back again it seems…" leaving that to hang for a moment. "More details later, I need you here in DC by 1600."

"I'll leave right away sir." nodding his head, and turning to Sarah. "Pleasure being your handler, Agent Walker, but it's not like you needed me." he announced.

Sarah did nothing but return his offered handshake, and nodding approvingly.

"Director, I'll see you back at Langley." before respectfully retreating to pack his things.

"Will that be all sir?" Sarah asked, in light of her being the only one left in the room.

"No. Walker, you will continue on with apprehending Bryce Larkin, but there's going to be a change in protocol." his voice carrying a grave tone with it.

"Change in protocol, sir? What do you mean?"

"The circumstances of a project which Larkin was a large part of, has drawn the attention of the NSA. I've spoken with the person in charge on their side of this op, and we came to an agreement that will allow us both to get what we wanted, while at the same time, keeping an agent like you in field duty. You're to be assigned to a new handler, who's taking orders directly from the NSA. If all goes according to plan, he won't need to be your handler for very long."

"Do I get any information regarding my new handler, sir?"

"His name is Colonel John Casey."

Present day. Monday, 27th of February.

Sarah hated first days. No matter what the occasion, any kind of first day just made her feel close to physically angry. The only thing she could take refuge in, was the fact that this was all just a mission for her. A mission. She was 16, and already she knew that her future was going to be filled with them. Not that she minded. In fact, the rush of it all actually calmed her down, overriding every other possible emotion that she could feel. A feeling of Zen washed over her as she rode along to her "next mission" in the passenger seat of her temporary NSA handler's Crown Victoria. Any other kid would've felt the cold and indifferent aura that seemed to radiate from Casey, but Sarah couldn't care less how accommodating her NSA handler was.

"Y'know I'm already risking my cover driving you to school." Casey grumbled. "The kids I look after go to school here."

"You have kids?" Sarah asked in absolute disbelief.

"No. Just got roped in by an old favour."

"Sounds fun." the sarcasm was blatant in her voice.

"I don't like your tone, young lady." pulling over to the kerb. "Look, if all goes to plan, and you CIA's don't screw it up, we won't have to see each other again. Got it?"

It took almost every bone in her body not to karate chop him in the throat for insulting the CIA like that.

Don't compromise the mission Sarah. Just get through this, and maybe you can hurt him later for it.

She took a look around, and saw that the main entrance to Lincoln High was around the corner to where they'd stopped. Sarah was about to turn to Casey and ask why, but a glance at his stern face reminded her of the kids that he'd some how inherited and his cover. Without a single word, she shouldered her back pack over her grey jumper and got out of the car.

"Remember your orders, Walker." he grunted at her before driving off.

They were simple. Given her rookie status, Sarah was sanctioned with surveillance of the target, and advise on the right time to apprehend Larkin. That part of the operation was to be done by the NSA, and from there, the higher-ups would handle it. It seemed easy enough, but factor in a school full of unwanted witnesses and miniscule windows where he'd be alone, made everything complicated.

Just how I like it.

Then something hit her. This would be her first completed assignment as a CIA field agent, and one of their youngest field agents at that. A proud sense of premature accomplishment dawned inside of her. Nothing would make this go wrong. Nothing.

An hour later, Pre-Second Period.

Sarah tiptoed her way to the corner, peering around to get a glimpse at the hallway. This was it for her. She was just about to complete her final patrol around Larkin's room, and was about to call it in. It was easy slipping out of her Calculus class to get to Larkin in time; her teacher wasn't exactly all there in terms of attention, and she was fortunate to get a seat at the back of the classroom, right next to the door. A shrill ringing signalled the end of first period, and she inconspicuously broke into the locker she was next to, and hoped that it's owner didn't come looking.

School lockers? Childs play.

Students bustled around her, moving from one class to the next, while she just pretended to unpack her blank notebooks into the small locker. The crowd around her died out, and eventually, she was the only one left in the hallway. Shutting the locker, she took a look around the corner again to see Larkin's last student leave the classroom. The sight of him stirred something foreign in her stomach. There was an enigma about him, it was in the way his curly hair formed weird shapes. Something in the way he held his lanky frame up in a inward sense of confidence. In a nutshell, she was intrigued, until the sight of her mark knocked her back on track. Larkin stood in the doorway, saying something inaudible to the boy. Sarah thanked God when the mystery boy turned around to head further down the hallway, leaving Larkin visibly alone. Instinctively, her hand reached for her phone, and she ducked back around the corner to dial in the team. Until an irritating, high pitched cough stopped her.

"Excuse me, miss? What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Shit.

Down the hall…

What's so important about Level 6?

When he realised how late he was for his next class, Chuck began to streak down the hallways. Until a nagging voice at the back of his head told him to check his timetable. Still not slowing down, Chuck delved into his right pocket, unlocked his iPhone and pulled up his timetable.

What? Oh man, I thought I was late for Chemistry. That's a relief.

As of now, he was in a free period. Usually for him, that would mean going to the library and trying to study. But with the odd weight of the mysterious hard drive in his backpack, there was something more intriguing he could do.

Time to find out what Mr. Larkin was so anxious about.

Chuck doubled back to hide in a storage closet that he just passed, and sat back against the door. Eagerly, he opened his Alienware laptop, and plugged in the hard drive. Selecting the programming file for Level 6, he waited to see what was important and troubling enough to send Mr. Larkin into spiralling anxiousness.

"That's… weird."

The bright screen in front of him was no more, replaced by pure darkness. He was about to close the laptop when block lettering scrolled open in the centre of the screen.

Hello, Chuck. Press enter to begin.

At first, he was going to lamely tap 'enter' without considering what could possibly happen. Why would he? He'd pressed that one key enough times for it to be insignificant. Yet, something tugged at his conscience, telling him that he should be cautious.

Screw cautious.

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