A/N: I don't own Chuck nor make any $ from it
General Diane Beckman looked through the file on her desk and then at the man seated across her desk trying to read any perceptible trait of uncertainty. Satisfied that his report was accurate she closed the file and began to wonder how this could have happened. The previous 96 hours had been a nightmare. A major security penetration at the NSA by an unknown external entity revealed that the deputy director, a man named Neil Lomax was compromised, and the intersect project as well. Beckman knew about Lomax, who was now a fugitive having escaped before the net fell, but now she knew who compromised the intersect project, a junior agent named Daniel Shaw.
"So this Daniel Shaw uploaded a virus into the newest intersect," she glared at the man.
"I am sorry Ma'am. It appears that the virus was uploaded during the final beta test and remained dormant. It was not detected on diagnostics because it wasn't active. We believe that it was initiated during Agent Bartowskis first flash, possibly triggered by the increased neural synapse activity," the man replied.
" We knew that there was something wrong with Agent Bartowski, in particular the severity of his flashes, but we had direct orders from former deputy director Lomax to keep it confidential. I did not want to come to you until I had absolute proof and I needed to trace everything back to Shaw," the man replied.
Jack Reber was a 40-year veteran of "inside the beltway" life and was one of the original intersect support team that had worked with Steven Bartowski.
"What are the effects of this virus Dr. Reber?"
"Well Ma'am it's a complicated issue."
"How so?"
"Well technically Agent Bartowski should be dead by now."
"Excuse me?"
"Allow me to explain Ma'am" Reber said as he went into an explanation of what the intersect team theorized was going on with Chuck's health as well as new potential developments that sounded like pure science fiction.
Beckman was stunned by the explanation and barely realized that 2 hours had passed before Reber stopped talking.
"How is that even possible," she asked in a bewildered tone.
"At this point Ma'am we don't really know. All I can tell you is that Mr. Bartowski's brain is very unique" Reber replied.
"I don't doubt it," Beckman said with a sly smile on her face.
"So you do not believe that the intersect is causing Bartowski any harm," she queried.
"No Ma'am. As a matter of fact it is keeping him alive."
Beckman moved her eyes down to a picture on her desk of two young female Air Force lieutenants graduating from the academy, and slowly shook her head. How much does one family have to give she thought, as she brought her attention back to Reber.
"In regards to the other new developments that you mentioned; how will this affect him," Beckman asked.
"Well Ma'am if it means what we think it means, we might be seeing the next step in human evolution," he replied soberly.