Author's note: Yep, we're still in the past, although not for long now :) Fans of Alias might find the guest star of this chapter familiar ;)
As always, many thanks to my wonderful betas, Lady Black-Malfoy and AwesomeQueenoftheLab for all their help, and to everyone who left a review, put it on story alert or favorited it! :) I'd love to get a bit more feedback from you guys, I can only improve this story if I know what you like or don't like about it!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I still don't own any of these characters. If only... :)
Chapter 6
A couple of days later
Bryce never had such a blast with training before. But then again, he didn't have the wide-ranged skill set of the Intersect before either. His new martial arts skills were pretty good, although not that interesting since he did have fight training previously. However, the rest proved to be a lot more fun than he thought it could be, like sitting in front of a piano and starting to play like a professional concert pianist after a short glance at the instrument, or being able to crack security systems at lightning speed thanks to the schematics in his brain. Looking at his fellow agents and all of a sudden knowing almost everything about them was also interesting – not that he had met many people since he came back to life for the second time. With the Intersect uploaded in his head, all of a sudden he became one of the most-guarded secrets of the Agency. General Beckman went to great lengths to make sure that this time Bryce Larkin was really dead to the world. Sarah was even sent to Lisbon to supposedly bury his ashes, and apart from Team Bartowski, only a handful of doctors and other trustworthy agents knew that he was still alive.
He was currently in the infirmary, testing his new field-medic skills under the supervision of the doctor who brought him back to life, when General Beckman showed up in the doorway with a thick folder in her hand. She gave a pointed look to the doctor, who understood her unspoken request and left the room quickly. As soon as he closed the door behind him, the General stepped closer to Bryce.
"I understand you've been doing well with your training," she said.
"Yes, General," Bryce replied. "Everything has been going perfect. The doctor also gave me a clean bill of health."
"So that means you're ready for your next mission," the General stated, looking him up and down.
"More ready than I've ever been."
"Good. Did you know what your next assignment was supposed to be after you uploaded the Intersect?"
"Yes," he said, drawing out the word. "Finding Ring agents infiltrated in the FBI. Has that changed? Will I get another assignment?"
"No, the mission is still on; however, due to recent events we have modified the original plans." She handed the folder to Bryce, who opened it. His eyes widened in surprise as he read the first page.
"I'm supposed to infiltrate the FBI as Neal Caffrey?"
"Do you have a problem with that?" the General asked.
"No– yes– I mean, how am I supposed to pull that off? Especially in New York! I'm sure you know about my history with the White Collar Crime Unit there– "
"Yes, I do, and that's exactly why we have decided to use this specific cover," the General cut him off, giving him a stern look. "The Neal Caffrey alias is well established, and because of your previous connection to Agent Peter Burke, nobody would suspect anything about your real identity, or your mission. Kate Moreau's disappearance really came in handy for us. After all, Agent Burke knows Neal Caffrey well enough to believe he would escape from prison because of her. In the folder you'll find detailed reports of the White Collar Crime Unit's recent cases, with sufficient additional information to make yourself useful to them."
"I see," Bryce responded while skimming the contents of the folder. A nickname on one of the case reports, "The Dutchman," had immediately triggered a flash for him.
"Anything important to us?" Beckman asked.
"No, nothing connected to the Ring," Bryce answered, shaking his head a little as if to get rid of the after-effects of the flash. "However, there is another problem," he finally said, looking up.
"What?"
"Neal Caffrey is supposed to have a vast knowledge about all kinds of arts, art reproduction, et cetera... There's no way I could pretend to know all that in front of the FBI, even with the Intersect."
"Don't worry, Agent Larkin. We've found a solution to that problem too." She turned on her heels and opened the door. "Follow me," she added when he didn't move.
Once again, Bryce found himself in front of the Intersect room. As he entered the white-walled room, he couldn't help but replay the last time he had been in that place. He stifled a chuckle as he realized that this was his first time in an Intersect room without bleeding all over the place.
There was already someone in the room – a short, stocky man in a white lab coat who was typing furiously on the keyboard of the Intersect computer. He had looked up when he heard the door open, and when he saw the General and Bryce enter, he started to wipe his hands nervously in his lab coat.
"General Beckman!" he greeted the woman, hurrying out from behind the computer. "And you must be Agent Larkin." He turned to Bryce. "I'm– " He stopped as he noticed the tell-tale signs of Bryce flashing on him. "I– I guess you already know who I am," he stammered.
"Yes, I do," Bryce responded, giving him an appreciative look. What he saw in the man's files was more than impressive. No one who met him for the first time would believe the nervous, nerdy guy used to work for the organization known as SD-6, and later for one of the CIA's most secret black ops group, APO.
"Is everything ready?" the General asked impatiently.
"Yes, yes, it is." The man went back to the computer. "I've set up a specialized version of the Intersect for you," he addressed Bryce again. "It consists of a vast database of everything related to art from the Stone Age to the latest trends, and a multitude of different artistic skills."
"So it's like an expansion pack to the Intersect 2.0?" Bryce asked. The man's eyes lit up at the analogy.
"Exactly!" He beamed, then hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"The Intersect – I mean, the flashes – are they like tapping into the Matrix? Because I've always thought they would be like that. Except that nasty plug in the brain thing, that was pretty gross..."
"You know, I haven't really thought about it, but yeah, I guess they are," Bryce responded, giving the man an encouraging smile. It was good talking to a fellow nerd after such a long time.
"I thought so!" The man became even more excited. "So, after the upload you can just go and say 'I know kung fu!' No, not that, I guess you already knew kung fu before the Intersect. But now you could say 'I know how to paint!'"
Bryce couldn't help but chuckle at the man's enthusiasm. It kind of reminded him of Morgan Grimes, Chuck's best friend since childhood, and a bit of Chuck Bartowski himself. It had been a long time since he allowed himself to be so enthusiastic about something, but uploading the Intersect did test his self-control. It took almost all of his efforts not to let his excitement about it show, at least not in front of General Beckman. Meanwhile, the technician kept on talking, oblivious to the General's growing impatience.
"I was actually thinking about uploading a test version myself – a beta version, if you will. You know, everything I work on I usually test on myself first, but I didn't get permission to do it with the Intersect. Seems like eidetic memory doesn't necessarily equal a high subliminal image retention rate. Although, I don't really want to mess up my brain either in case something goes wrong with the upload, and my wife would surely kill me if I left her alone with the four kids– "
"Mr. Flinkman!" the General finally cut him off, annoyed. "Could we get started?"
"Oh, of course," the technician stammered, and started to type on the keyboard once again. Bryce stepped closer and passed him one pair of the protective sunglasses lying on the table. General Beckman had already put hers on. Bryce decided to lean on the table with both hands, trying to brace himself for the inevitable impact. When the technician finally put his palm on the reader, thus starting the upload, the room went dark for a split second, then thousands of pictures started to light up the walls and bombard Bryce's brain. The whole process didn't last for more than a few minutes, and when it ended and the room lit up once again, Bryce felt his whole world going dark as his legs started to give out under him.