Chuck vs the Secret War Ch 2
2017
Operation Bartowski was perhaps the strangest gig Dain Hacker had ever been assigned to; with his job as a prison guard at Road Prison Work Camp in Florida, in the Fifties, coming in a very close second.
The reason wasn't all that far to seek.
Aliens in both places…
Of course, by now the Aliens were literally everywhere.
Wonder what Matt would think if he knew what lay ahead for Earth one hundred-plus years after his time…
Of note over the next few years was the Bartowski wedding, followed a few years later by the birth of twins; a boy and a girl.
Apparently, there wasn't as much actual field work as there used to be. Instead, Chuck would mosey down to Castle, and sort through thousands of photos scanned by multiple different operatives over the last twenty-four hours. Occasionally, the kid would Flash on those photos, and a team would be sent out to deal with it…whatever it was.
As General Diane Beckman put it, Chuck Bartowski was too valuable an asset to be casually risked in the open field.
Also, much to everyone's surprise, Bartowski was developing into a first-rate strategist and tactician.
Of course, that didn't necessarily mean Operation Bartowski was entirely free from danger. Sometimes, the Team did have to go out and see to things personally. And, sometimes, things went pear-shaped.
Such as right now…
…..
"I thought they said it was safe!" Dain Hacker could hear Chuck grousing over his ear-wig.
Both of us…stuck on the outer wall of a high rise during high afternoon…
Agents of the Ring were here, and Hacker hoped they weren't in the high rise across the street.
Stuck here, like a pair of dumb flies on a wall. It'd be a duck shoot.
Hacker looked up, looking for an open window, a balcony or porch…
Anything…
He, at least, had a utility belt securing him to the wall.
Chuck didn't.
If the kid lost his grip, it would be a thirty-story drop.
Oh, Mother Dear, pray what is that which looks like strawberry jam?
Hush hush, my dear, 'tis your Papa, run over by a tram.
There were days Dain Hacker wished he'd never heard that bit of doggerel.
"Uh-oh…" he heard Chuck's panicked whisper, looked up.
Kid's losing his grip…
Hacker saw the open window off to the right.
Just in time…
Chuck fell, and time stopped.
Hacker, somehow, managed to grab the kid, arm or leg, it didn't really matter, and hurled Bartowski in the general direction of the open window, praying as hard as he could…
The kid flew in through the window, like a scored basket, and Hacker sighed in relief. The boy wasn't going to die a strawberry-colored smear on the sidewalk.
Now, Hacker crept over to that open window, hoping Ring Agents wouldn't decide to try plinking away at him.
He could hear gunfire, thankfully not from the window he had just chu…tossed…Chuck in through.
Walker's keeping the Ring busy…
Then, he climbed in through the window, and now, he and Chuck were out of the line of fire. It was a very nicely appointed living room, with a huge plasma TV mounted on the wall.
Hacker remembered how stunned he had been when radio first started. Then came the telephone, and TV, and now everyone was connected, literally connected, all over the world.
He recollected himself.
First order of business, see how Chuck Bartowski is…
Bartowski seemed to be fine. But Hacker could see tears in the kid's eyes.
"Boy?"
…..
"Boy?" the worry in Hacker's voice was clear.
"I'm okay, Dain," Chuck wiped the tears away.
You just had to do that, didn't you? You just had to catch me when I fell…
Of course, if he hadn't Chuck would be very dead right now.
But Chuck would never forget how, only a few short years before, John Casey had done the exact same thing.
You! I love you!
Keep it in your pants Bartowski!
"You all right, boy?" Hacker's Texas-accented voice brought him back to now.
"Yeah…" Chuck gave himself a shake, reached into his pocket, pulled out the thing that had brought them here, to this particular mission.
A USB Drive carrying proof that the Ring had, indeed, been infiltrated by the Alien Colonists.
Just as Diane had feared…
The NSA, at least, was clear. Mandatory genetic testing of all Federal employees had cleared the NSA of any dangerous elements. There had been a few surprises along the way.
FBI Agents Dana Katherine Scully, and Fox William Mulder were both found to have Alien DNA.
But not the Immortal who was squatting by his side. Not Dain Hacker.
Hacker's immortality was simply the result of a de novo mutation.
Just nature's way of hurling a cream pie in everyone's faces…
Chuck felt Hacker place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Let's get out of here," the older man rumbled.