Ta-Da! Seems as if the muse strikes weekly^^ actually it's more often, but I stall a bit so I can have 1) a regular update plan and 2) more time in case my muse is unwilling.
PARENTAL ADVISORY: Nerd Language! I tuned it down a bit (I'm an IT student, I was a bit carried away…), the leftovers shouldn't be too much for a Chuck fan. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
She closed the distance between them and took his hand.
"Come on, I'll take you to him." she said and started to pull him with her.
Chuck didn't budge. "How can I know if I should trust you?"
The AI turned around to face him. "You can't." she replied bluntly. "But I understand your caution. I deceived you before and I hurt you. I'm sorry for that. I never wanted to hurt anybody in any way, but you have to understand that I had no choice. It was either hurt you now and live, or let you get hurt later anyway and die for nothing."
Chuck nodded solemnly. "I understand. But trust is not logical, I'm afraid. Anyhow, I still think it would be best to start over."
She raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
He shook the hand that was still holding his. "Hi, I'm Charles Irving Bartowski, but my friends call me Chuck." he said with a slightly awkward smile.
She returned the gesture and the smile when she got over the initial surprise. "Nice to meet you… Chuck. I'm Kate. Just… Kate."
He broke into a whimsical grin. "The pleasure is all mine... Just Kate."
That earned him a punch on his arm, making him burst into fits of laughter. "Ow! Come on, you cannot seriously expect me to let such a perfectly good set up go to waste!" he said, still catching his breath between laughs and rubbing his arm where she had hit him.
"It wasn't even that funny. Or original." she said, but she couldn't hide her smile. "And don't you think I don't know that you only did this because you forgot to ask my name earlier."
He clutched his chest in mock hurt. "You wound me, woman. How low do you think I've sunken?"
"I'd rather not answer that" she quipped; but this playful attitude didn't last long.
She rose up to stand on her toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Chuck stopped laughing and froze on the spot like a deer in the headlights.
"What was that about?" he asked, flabbergasted.
"I wanted to thank you" she said with her eyes glistening, tears threatening to fall.
Chuck only furrowed his brows in confusion. "What for?"
"For addressing me as a woman. Thank you."
With that, she turned to go, hiding the tears that were slowly rolling down her cheeks.
"You're welcome" Chuck said under his breath, still perplexed by the sudden outburst by the brunette.
"Come on, we have to go. Who knows how long Shaw is out?"
She pressed a button on her watch which made a three-dimensional hologram appear. Chuck couldn't really discern what was presented; Kate's fingers sashayed with mesmerizing speed along the markings. Even he, with his notorious hacker skills, was impressed; both with her abilities and with the technology.
"Wow, this is so awesome!" he exclaimed, further examining the watch like a kid on the outside of a toy shop. Kate only grinned but didn't stop manipulating the hologram with her fingers until she was content with the outcome; then she suddenly shut down the hologram and grinned smugly.
"Everything's ready. If Shaw checks the logs, he won't find any odd socks."
He smiled on that expression. "What did you do?"
She shrugged and answered casually. "Oh, you know, I masked us as a security program. We'll have access to everything. Everyone trusts people in uniform - ain't any different here."
Chuck could only shake his head in wonder. "Stealthy, I like your thinking." he said, grinning. "So, where are we going, exactly?"
"Just a few minutes on the data highway."
"A data highway?" he asked with wide eyes.
Kate shrugged again."Yeah… it isn't in the real simulation though. We have to use backdoor entries for our journey, so you won't see the actual simulation right now. Are you ready to go, Chuck?"
He sighed exaggeratedly. "Do I have a choice?"
The brunette cocked an eyebrow at that. "Yeah, you do… but the other choices usually let you end up dead." The surprise Chuck felt when she started to talk ended in an eye roll when she stopped. "So… Come with me if you wanna live."
They walked out into the courtyard, where Kate activated her watch again. The hologram reappeared for mere seconds, then the world around them was engulfed in darkness. Chuck began to feel a little bit claustrophobic but calmed when she took his hand and guided him along a path that was dimly lit with a thin string of light on the ground.
He was still slightly uncomfortable. "Can't you teleport us? I mean, this is a sim, after all."
This just elicited an eye roll from his companion. "Well, duh. But then we could also trip every single alarm wire in the system and wake Shaw with a klaxon."
Chuck smiled sheepishly and zipped his mouth with his finger. "Shutting up over here." That made her laugh again.
"Don't worry, Chuck. We aren't walking much longer. In fact, we're already here."
She kneeled down and slit her arm with the watch into a hole in the ground. Chuck just asked himself what she was doing there when she already pulled it out and more light lines came to life and crawled through the void. The thin string they had been following glowed like a beacon now. Noticing his questioning look, she explained.
"I started a server wide ping. Every access node will respond to that. You can see the different queries right there." she said, motioning to the light lines. "This will explain for the extra traffic we're about to cause." she added with an evil grin.
Chuck gulped as she pushed another button. Was I too trusting?, he wondered. Against his fears, a futuristic vehicle materialized in front of them.
"What is that?" Chuck asked with wide eyes, but also grinning.
"I'm not too keen on bikes, so I got this baby here." she said, smiling and patting the glass top of the car affectionately. The whole car seemed to consist only of glass and light lines.
Swoosh!
The upper half of the chassis opened with a hiss and gave way to the two travelers. Kate vaulted into the driver's seat and turned to Chuck expectantly.
"What are you waiting for? Jump in, we don't have all day!"
Chuck obeyed, still dazed by the beautiful design of this… art piece. As soon as he was seated, the glass top closed again and Kate drove off.
The lines that were so clear and distinguished only moments ago became a blur when she put the foot down. Chuck enjoyed the panoramic view, completely forgetting about everything else.
His thoughts snapped back when he felt the car coming to a stop. A doorframe filled with bright white light illuminated their surroundings, making the vast darkness they've been in seem narrow and small.
"We're here" she said.
The top swooshed upwards again, allowing the two occupants to climb out.
"Are we supposed to go through this?" he gulped when he was out.
"Most definitely." she replied with a raised eyebrow, now standing at his side.
"Trust me to get thrown in a world where my claustrophobia has no effect at all" he mumbled sarcastically; it was accidentally loud enough for her to hear and to make her chuckle. Kate grabbed his arm and before he could protest pulled him with her into the portal…
He yelped as he was suddenly yanked forward. A short flash of white, and he was tumbling into a bleak hall. As soon as she had steadied him, he tried to orientate himself. Most of the large room seemed empty and unused, but this wasn't an ordinary warehouse. What stood out the most were the large power cables snaking around the place and the warmly lit room in the back where all the cables led to.
He pointed to the room. "Is that it?"
"Yep. Come on."
She let go of his hand to head for the door and he followed suit.
She knocked gently on the door frame.
And here you go! :D Don't worry, the other OC comes next chapter (finally!), and you won't have to wait much longer for the rest of the team either… or you'll get to know what's going on with them, at least. I haven't decided yet :P And don't forget, reviews are better than coffee for me :)