A/N- thanks for all of the review thus far guys, really appreciate it. I'm hoping to expand on the storyline in this chapter. BTW I don't have a beta for this story, so if anybody is up to it please don't hesitate to contact me :)
Disclaimer- Don't own Chuck
Michael Tanner wasn't usually a patient man, but he had learned to deal with long winded situations; Of course being in the CIA for fifteen years he didn't have a lot of choice. His current predicament wasn't helping much though, ever since becoming new CIA director he had been stuck with clean up duty. With the fall of Volkoff Industries most of government resources had been concentrated on cleaning up what was left of his dwindling empire.
Unfortunately that wasn't the only problem he had to deal with, with the possession of the newly acquired Hydra network, his superiors were tasking him to look into new threats via this network. Most of those however were fairly dormant, but one such group had suddenly popped out of the woodwork seemingly overnight. Calling themselves 'The Core' consisting mainly of former intelligence agents but there hadn't been much more to go on, all he knew was that this group was fairly innocuous and didn't seem like an immediate threat.
But Tanner wasn't one to take things likely and decided to investigate into this group, but with this clean-up operation he was hopelessly under staffed and to top it off CIA/NSAs top team had been given time off, no thanks to Diane Beckman, though he sensed a higher power was involved. He instead had to resort to making use of an up and coming team to check out a lead which intel picked up regarding a flash drive which apparently contained information about this new group.
All this stress was giving him a headache, frankly he just wanted to go home and sleep for a few hours, but before he could think anymore his phone rang.
"Tanner secure" listening in to voice on the other side, his expression turned from one of exhaustion to one of shock "When did this happen" after a few more seconds "dammit, fine keep me updated" before he slammed the phone down. He sighed in frustration before reaching for the intercom.
"Sandy?" he called
"yes sir?" came the voice of his assistant
"I need you to get a hold of General Beckman immediately."
"Yes sir" came the reply.
He leaned back in his chair, wondering whether this day could get any worse.
Chuck, Sarah and Morgan walked down to the stairs of Castle, noticing that Casey was already there waiting for them. As if sensing their arrival General Beckman appeared on screen.
"What's the emergency, General?" Chuck said as he approached the conference table.
"Good, you're all here; unfortunately we have a situation that needs immediate attention."
The General clicked a button and the screen split revealing a middle aged man in a suit and tie.
"Director Tanner." Sarah commented.
"Agent Walker, Agent Bartowski, Colonel Casey and uhhhh Mr Grimes, we recently received intel into a possible new terrorist cell known as 'The Core'."
"The Core?" Morgan questioned "Where do these bad guys get their names from?"
"We sent out a couple of our top agents to retrieve a flash drive that we believe may have contained further intelligence into this new group, from a facility in New York." He continued on ignoring Morgan's comment. "But we lost contact with the agents a few hours ago."
"Ok, what is it you need from us, sir?" asked Sarah.
"I received a phone call from the NYPD who reported finding a body in a dumpster just a few miles from the facility. After searching the body it was confirmed to be of Agent Riley, one of our latest recruits and one of the agents I sent in to get a hold of this drive."
It was Beckman who jumped in to continue the briefing.
"We need you to find and bring back this flash drive as soon as possible."
"Do we know where it is?" Casey asked with interest.
General Beckman sighed, not really wanting to reveal what she was about to say.
"We believe it is in the hands of this man" She pressed another button and a dossier appeared on screen.
Casey grunted in shock. The other three noticed his reaction and turned to look at him.
"Do you know this guy, Casey?" He merely stared at the screen, ignoring Chuck's question.
"His name is Agent Simon Grier." Beckman stated. "One of NSAs most prestigious agents."
Casey continued to stare at the dossier before finally chiming in "Major Grier was one of the best soldiers I was deployed with, perhaps one of the loyalist too." He looked suddenly flummoxed "Ma'am are we sure that this is correct?"
"I'm afraid so Colonel Casey" Director Tanner said cutting in. "We received a signal from an outgoing phone call." This time it was the Directors turn to press a button.
"This is Grier."
"Do you have the flash drive?"
"I have it."
"Good, I take it the mission went without any hiccups."
"Better than expected, a little too easy in fact."
"Very good, you have your instructions agent Grier…..The Core thanks you."
Casey looked pissed at hearing this recording. He didn't like traitors let alone traitors who were considered to be friends. Chuck wanted to say something to him to try and help, but he knew it probably wouldn't do any good so he continued looking at the screen.
"We tracked his vehicle, and was last seen heading back to LA, we believe he is meeting with Grigori Kukov at his manor in the Hollywood Hills."
Chuck felt the usual feeling of a flash coming on.
Beach ball
Ak47 machine gun
Umbrella
Pictured dossier
Suitcase
"Former Russian militant and black market arms dealer. Has sold some pretty nasty stuff to some pretty nasty people. We're talking anything from VX gas to anthrax." Chuck stated glancing around the room with a slight expression of horror.
"This is why we need to reacquire that drive" Tanner explained "He is throwing a party tomorrow night, sneak in and get that drive." With that he quickly logged off
"Be careful." Beckman warned "We don't know what it is we're dealing with. Dismissed" The monitor then blacked out. Casey quickly left growling all the way out as Morgan followed, leaving Chuck and Sarah alone.
"Well, looks like we get to hang out with the rich and famous." Chuck said showing off his usual Bartowski smile. Sarah merely returned his smile with one of her own as they made their way out of Castle.
The next day started off pretty normally for Chuck, he arrived a little later than usual to the Buy More only because Sarah insisted on more snuggle time, which he always took pleasure in. However as he made his way inside he noticed the distinct lack of customers, instead replaced by technicians and workers.
"Chuck" Morgan shouted as he ran up to him.
"Morgan, buddy whats going on?" Chuck asked still glancing around the store
"The government are ramping this place up again, something to do with security protocol"
A voice alerted the two of them
"Agent Bartowski, Mr Grimes." General Beckman called as she approached the two men.
"General Beckman?"
"We are making some upgrades to security, ever since Alexei Volkoff infiltrated the store, there's been some concern over the safety of its cover."
"Ummm General?" Morgan piped in "That wasn't a tech problem, that was down to Jeff and Lester."
"Maybe so, but Director Tanner went above my head on this one. After reading the reports he went straight to the Secretary of Defence, who insisted that the store have a complete security over haul." She handed Chuck a folder. "The CIA have been working behind the scenes with a select group of analysts and engineers to create a cover company known as ConceptTech. They were bought in to help with the over haul."
Chuck once again felt the effects of a flash, but it was over quickly.
"Huh, not much up here!" Chuck exclaimed pointing at his head.
"There wouldn't be, ConceptTech is a covert dummy company and was never fully included in the 2.0 since at the time it was so new."
Another voice alerted the three. And a voice Chuck vaguely recognised; he turned and saw a dark curly haired man approach him. Chuck squinted slightly trying to figure where he knew this man from. Then it hit him.
"Mark Ratner?" The man nodded in acknowledgement.
"I haven't seen you since Jen..Sarahs high school reunion."
"Mr Ratner has been helping us for the last two years. And is privy to the intersect project."
Chuck and Morgan both quickly glared at the general in alarm. But Beckman merely dismissed this.
"It's ok Agent Bartowski, I'm well aware of the risks of blabbing my mouth about the intersect." Chuck merely half smiled at this. "But it is kind of cool to actually meet the most successful human intersect host." Ratner said with a silly grin on his face.
"The Director has allowed Mr Ratner to join the team on a temporary basis. Think of him as a liaison to ConceptTech." She turned to Morgan. "Mr Grimes you will need to show Mr Ratner the Castle facility, make sure he is familiar with the setup."
"No problemo General B" Morgan mock saluted as he led Ratner to the home theatre room and the entrance to Castle. Chuck turned back to Beckman.
"Umm, General. Not one to tell you how to do your job, but are you sure this is above board."
"I understand your concern Chuck, but I have personally seen the development of this company for some time now, it is only now that we felt that the company had some practical use."
"And as far as Mr Ratner goes, he was recruited shortly after you took down Heather Chandler the first time around. The file you have will give you as much detail into the company as is needed. Make sure to look through it." The General then turned and walked away before Chuck could say anything else. He looked at the file briefly then headed down to Castle.
Casey was in the armoury sorting through the weapons, as he kept one eye on Morgan as he was showing Mark Ratner around Castle. He didn't like it much this sudden security over haul at the Buy More and the inclusion of this other member, also the fact that he had just learnt that an old teammate was supposedly some kind of sleeper agent for an enemy terrorist cell wasn't helping his bad mood.
Morgan finished showing Mark around Castle and led him back out again as Chuck appeared with the file in hand.
"What you got there Bartowski?" Casey asked seeing the file.
"Oh, just some info on ConceptTech." Casey grunted and continued sorting through the weapons in the armoury. Chuck and Morgan looked at each other noticing the particularly foul mood he was in.
"Everything ok buddy?" Chuck asked
"Yeah, everything is fine." Casey replied in a less than convincing tone
"Is this about agent Grier?"
Casey grunted and started to walk away. Chuck and Morgan followed him in the hope of finding out what was wrong.
"You know you can talk about it right."
"I don't feel like talking about it ok?"
Chuck wasn't sure how to proceed but Morgan decided to carry on.
"You know if you don't want to talk to us, you can always talk to Alex." Casey sharply turned and glared at Morgan. "Just saying" he conceded.
"We don't have time for this. We have a mission to prep for, remember?" With the Casey shoved past the two and stormed off.
Sarah was making her way into the kitchen after coming out of the shower and dressed, she hated waking up late the day of a mission but never minded too much when she got to snuggle with Chuck before he left. She opened the fridge to reach for some orange juice and put it into a glass from the washer. She leaned against one of the kitchen tops as she absentmindedly took a sip of her juice, thinking through the conversation she had with Chuck previous night about wedding plans and finding her family, but despite Chuck good intentions she was worried.
Once upon a time she would never have worried about a thing like this, life was far simpler jumping from mission to mission just trying to survive but now everything was becoming more clear; a family life, her future with Chuck. The conversation made her worried that he would think less of her if or when he would find out about the rest of her family. A knock on the door snapped her back to reality.
"Anyone in?" Ellie asked as she peeked her head in.
"Ellie." Sarah replied as she walked towards the door
"Hey Sarah, is Chuck here?"
"No, is there a problem?"
"No, no, no problem, actually it was you I wanted to talk to."
"Oh"
Sarah and Ellie made their way over to the couch.
"Do you want a drink or something?" Sarah asked attempting to be a good hostess.
"No, I'm fine." Sarah took a seat next to Ellie.
"….So, what's up?"
Ellie turned to Sarah and smiled
"Well it's just I haven't had a chance to talk to you in a while and since we're going to be sisters soon I'd like to help out with things, you know wedding stuff."
"It's funny I hadn't really given it much thought, I mean when he proposed to me in the hospital my only thoughts were of Chuck and I getting eloped somewhere." Ellie's smile faded and she frowned. "So you don't want a big wedding?"
Sarah sighed "Before I even met Chuck, marriage was something that was only considered to be part of a cover, but ever since I met him things started to change, my vision of the future became much brighter and I could honestly see myself getting married for real."
"So what's the problem?"
"I love your little brother more than anything in the world, but a conversation we had last night freaked me out a little." Sarah started to look down at her hands, trying not to look at Ellie directly. She took another breath.
"I never had a very good upbringing. My dad was in an out of prison and my relationship with my mum…well i didn't know much about mum before she left." Ellie placing her hand on Sarah's in support.
"When I was with my dad I never got a chance to settle down, we were always on the move. I never really had any friends so when I was offered a chance to join the CIA I jumped at the opportunity." Sarah shifted slightly on the couch to regain some of her composure "I became one of CIAs top spies. A cold and emotionless killer; a consummate professional. That was where life was heading for me, I forgot about my family life, my CIA became my new family." Sarah looked at Ellie and smiled sadly.
"Until now I never really understood the true value of family, but I'm just afraid that bringing up my past would make Chuck think less of me."
Ellie chuckled slightly at Sarah's confession. "Come on, this is Chuck we're talking about here. And as far as your family goes…well you still have us, you are practically my sister after all." Sarah's sad smile turned into a genuine smile. "Thanks Ellie, you can't imagine how much better this is to get off my chest.
Ellie moved in and gave Sarah a hug before she stood up and headed to the door, reaching it she stopped and turned. "You know one of these days we really should have a girl's day out, just the two of us."
"You know that sounds like fun, I'd love to" Sarah replied with a grin. As soon as Ellie left, Sarah started to think about how easy it was to talk to her. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all"
With that in mind she decided to head over to meet Chuck in Castle to prep for their mission later tonight.
A/N- Sorry for the delay, a little bit of laziness on my part, I hope to try and get the next chapter up a little sooner, but no promises.
