I still don't any of Chuck. If you want to donate, I'll make a bid! :D
"Where are we going?" Sarah asks Matt Brown, who is taking her for a ride, driving a white Ford Taurus. "I don't like being left out of the loop."
"Listen, Agent Walker. I know you think you're hot stuff, but I'm running this outfit. This little meet is important for getting everything squared away. You checked with Agent Amros, like I suggested, didn't you?" Matt is driving through a reasonably deserted part of Baltimore, and not doing it too well. Seeing Sarah's sullen nod, he continues, "Then stop complaining and do your job."
Cut to the inside of the NSA building.
"Look," Chuck is saying, "Agent Brown was away from his partner and off-grid for exactly the same times as Tommy Cordero was, on the 15th of November, the 22nd of December, January 11th, and March 22nd. Their phone records indicate that both phones were in use simultaneously. They had to be communicating." Chuck pauses expectantly. He's talking to a person, but we see nothing of the person except a bit of the back of their head occasionally. We don't even know if the listener is male or female.
Chuck obviously doesn't get the reaction he wants. He sighs. "OK, and this. What about this? Agent Brown had a 72% efficacy rating between November and early April, when we captured Tommy. That almost exactly matches the record of Agent Sifton, who is a known Fulcrum agent, under observation. Sifton also reported to Tommy and the failed/successful missions match exactly. After Tommy's capture, both reverted to the near-perfect CIA average of 88%. That's not a coincidence."
Cut to the interior of the Buy More. Green shirts and Nerd Herders are lined up along both sides of the main passage, and Morgan is walking down the middle like a general inspecting his troops. Anna is with him. "All right, people," he says in a really poor John Wayne impersonation. "We've had a rough stretch here. But we're Buy More employees. We can rise to the occasion. We will make the TV wall glamorous again. We will take pride in our store. Can we do it?!?"
The people resound with nothing more than a quiet, indistinct murmur.
Morgan tries again. "Come on, you'd do it for Chuck." The rest of the workers at the Buy More perk up a lot. They're still grumbling, but a couple of the grumbles are starting to sound more positive.
"Let's make it happen! For Chuck!" The interest level continues to rise, but it's still very faint.
Anna speaks next. "You'll do it," she says, "or I'll use your hair for mopping my kitchen for the next month." Fear works where appeals didn't fully. Eyes open fully and nearly all the heads are now nodding.
Morgan is looking at his watch. "Alright, people," he says, "it's almost showtime. You know the drill. In 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 …." The scene fades to black as we hear a ringing sound.
The ringing sound is coming from a phone. Zoom out from the back of the phone (no idea who's calling). Sarah answers the phone, while still riding in the car with Agent Brown. "Walker here." Her voice is reasonably brusque – she's not so much angry as all business. She sends a quick glare at Matt but continues, "Secure." She listens for a moment, intently. "Got it. Walker out." No change in her demeanor is apparent.
Sarah, watching Matt carefully out of the corner of her eye, casually puts the phone deeply into her purse, in an attempt to disguise a quick search in it. Her hand comes out with a gun at the same moment that the car goes down a ramp into an underground parking lot. She whips the gun around to point at her new partner. "OK, that's far enough. Just pull over slowly."
Surprisingly, Matt smiles. "OK," he says simply, with an almost imperceptible shrug of his shoulders. "I was planning on stopping here anyway." He pulls the car over to where four reasonably large men are waiting. Sarah's gun on him never wavers.
The camera zooms in on the gun and fades out to a very different gun – a gun used for inventory. A small team of green shirts is working back in the storage area behind the Buy More, manually inventorying the whole store. Lester is there, with a laptop computer. "This isn't right," he says. "But it's close. We can work with this. Keep it up, guys."
Fade back to the underground parking garage, where the men are approaching the car. "Stay away," Sarah calls out, "or I'll shoot him." She gestures slightly at Matt Brown with the gun, to make her meaning clear.
Surprisingly, Matt seems unconcerned. "Come get her," he calls out, "but don't mess her up too badly. I want … I mean, Fulcrum wants her to not lose her looks." He leers at Sarah, then focuses on the gun. "You should know I unloaded that thing this morning. You've gotten too trusting." He smirks at her surprised reaction.
As the first man nears the car door on Sarah's side, she slams the door open into his midsection. He starts to double over in pain, while she jerks the door back mostly closed, before kicking it back open, smashing the car door into the first man's head, sending him sprawling. Sarah follows quickly behind the door, running bent over. She is heading for a line of cars.
A shot is fired. A bullet whines near Sarah. But Matt Brown calls out, "No! Don't kill her. Fulcrum wants her alive. Just capture her. You have her outnumbered." By the time he's finished talking, Sarah has reached the safety of the vehicles and has darted between them, vanishing from sight. The three remaining goons holster their guns, draw dart guns, and take off into the gloom, toward the general area where Sarah disappeared.
Cut to the TV wall at the Buy More. Jeff is working with three greenshirts, trying to lift down a TV from the wall. The TV is obviously too heavy for them. Casey walks by and shakes his head, snorting quietly to himself. Or not to himself, as Morgan materializes in front of him. "Instead of mocking us non-gym-rats, do you think you could help us out here?"
"Help you guys?" Casey puts a lot of scorn into his voice. "Why would I do that?"
"Because it's your job? Don't you take any satisfaction in doing your job? Besides," Morgan adds semi-confidentially, "I promised Chuck. I owe him. You owe him, too, I would think." Morgan walks away.
Casey rolls his eyes with a snarl. He mutters something about owing Bartowski a swift kick. His snarl grows into a full-fledged growl as he turns around and lifts a TV, by himself, onto the wall. He turns to an opened box and flashes out a knife. The camera follows the knife, zooming in closely. The knife plunges into the tape holding the box together, slides through easily, and then is removed.
As the knife is being withdrawn, the scene changes to another knife being withdrawn. This knife is coming out of Sarah's ankle sheath. The camera zooms out to Sarah, squatting between two vehicles. She is actually standing on the rear tires of two SUVs with tinted windows.
The camera moves to the show the remaining three goons moving through the parking. They are taking it in turns to advance, while the other two look under vehicles at different angles, to visually inspect the area before it's moved into. The advancement is cautious but quick, as the three work together in tandem quite well.
The lead goon reaches the gap where Sarah is hiding. He turns in surprise, caught by a sudden whistling sound. Sarah's thrown knife catches him between chin and collarbone and he goes down in a heap. The other two react immediately. One gestures and within two seconds, they both leap into the gap, dart guns raining into the space where the knife originated.
Sarah is not there. The camera follows a dart as it is winging its way between the two vehicles. The camera starts showing the back wall, but turns during the flight to show one of the SUVs. At the last second, as the shot goes into slow-motion, we see Sarah behind the SUV. She is crouched, uncomfortably low, with one foot on the SUV and the other gripping a crack in the cement wall of the parking garage. She has a knife in her hand. The camera continues towards the wall, where it hits with a smack.
The smack was made by the sound of boxes hitting the floor. The camera reappears in the back room of the Buy More. Casey and Jeff are unloading boxes, which are coming off a truck. Casey is sweating fairly heavily. Jeff looks a little overwhelmed, but he is working. After they move about three boxes, Jeff starts to slyly reach into his pocket. He pulls out a flask. Before he can get a drink, however, Anna whizzes by on a Segway, snatching it out of his hand, with one hand. Her other hand contains papers.
The camera follows Anna's Segway, past the cage, where Lester and an anonymous Nerd Herder are both deep in repairing some of the mountain of machines. After she passes the cage, the camera catches a large stockpile of unboxed TVs, just sitting semi-haphazardly in the open space. Anna continues into the main Buy More area, which is now looking significantly better. The TV wall is essentially flawless, though a couple of screens have a slight list to them. She breezes past Morgan, who is exhorting other green-shirts. We catch a portion of his speech. "that we here highly resolve that those vacationers shall not have departed in vain – that this store, under Big Mike, shall have a new birth of sales – and that the store of the Green Shirts, by the…"
Anna screeches to a stop at the Nerd Herd station. She hands the papers to the fire detective who had been there earlier. He looks at them briefly and returns them. "All is in order. Thanks." He says to her, before turning to leave.
The camera cuts to a view behind Sarah. She is moving slowly, carefully reaching into her ankle sheath, pulling out her final knife, having shifted her first knife to her left hand. As she withdraws it, her arm keeps moving, tossing the knife over her head, without watching it.
It clatters, unnaturally loud in the stillness of the garage. A fraction of a second later, Sarah leaps from her hiding place, catching the far man facing away and the near one with his gun slightly down. The near man never gets a chance to raise his gun, as Sarah kicks it away, while shifting her knife to her right hand.
Sarah is careful to stay between the goon and the wall. His right hand grabs above his left hip and comes out with a long, wicked knife, clutched in a backhand grip. His face is no longer calm but it is contorted with anger and rage. He raises the knife, blocks Sarah's kick with his left arm and begins a wicked stab aimed directly at her neck.
Then his eyes widen and he goes limp. Sarah deflects the knife, which was still falling, by gravity now, though, instead of with the man's force behind it. It cuts into her left arm, which begins bleeding. Her right arm has gone under his armpit, so she can half hold him up.
The camera switches to behind the remaining goon, who is firing his gun rapidly. Thump – thump, the tranquilizer darts hit his comrade's broad back. The form of the goon, with Sarah nearly invisible behind the body, is advancing. The remaining goon is backing up.
Thump. Click. He looks at the gun in disbelief. His head snaps back up, as his comrade's dead body falls to the floor. His eye suddenly blossoms with a knife hilt. He falls backwards, leaving all three bodies in a fairly neat row.
Cut to Sarah, who is breathing hard, her death mask on full display. She starts to carefully step past the men, when Matt appears, blocking her exit. He is smiling.
Cut to Big Mike's smiling face. The 'troops', sans Casey, are lined up, in their general inspection line. "I never would've believed it. You got this place back in shape without Bartowski! Who's responsible?"
The camera pans left across Jeff's eyes, which are looking to his left, to Lester's eyes, which are also looking left, to Morgan, who is looking ahead modestly, with a semi-cocky grin on his face, to Anna who is looking right, with a lustful grin.
Anna pinches Morgan's rear, causing him to jump forward. Morgan says "We all are, sir. Everybody worked on this."
Anna adds "Yeah, but you inspired us and got us going. Thanks, Morgan." She then adds in a sultry whisper that everyone can hear, "And I'll show my personal appreciation tonight." Morgan's smile grows, and he looks over his shoulder at her.
"I'm impressed, Grimes." Big Mike's voice shows his surprise. "Now, all y'all, get outa here!" The ranks break as they all run for the exit, except Morgan, who walks out slowly, basking in his moment.
The camera cuts back to a view of Sarah and Matt. Matt begins speaking. "Very nice, Sarah." He congratulates her with a lop-sided smile. "But now you're out of knives. And you haven't dealt with me yet." He gestures at himself with a flourish.
Sarah simply looks at him confusedly. She shakes her head slightly, smirks, and drops him with one roundhouse kick. He falls in a heap. Sarah checks his pulse and smiles.
Cut to General Beckman's office. She is smiling at Sarah. "Very, very good, Agent Walker. By apprehending Brown alive, you've given us a valid Intersect for experimentation and quick validation of certain images. We'll find many uses for him." Her smile has turned grim.
Sarah's question is on another topic. "How is Chuck doing, general?" Sarah tries to ask the question in an off-handed manner, but her voice betrays how important the question really is to her.
Beckman consults her notes, flipping through pages as she speaks. "Not well. In fact, I'm afraid I will have to deny your vacation request yet again. You are to accompany Mr. Bartowski back to LA and reinsert him into his normal life. Undo whatever damage Major Casey might have done with his cover story." During her talk, Sarah's face goes from concern to disappointment to hope to elation to serious.
"Is there anything else, ma'am? Or can I collect my ass … the asset and return him home?" Sarah's voice betrays a bit of emotion, but she is guarding it pretty well.
"Actually, there is." Beckman puts down her notes to look seriously at Sarah, as the scene ends.
Casey is showing about as much emotion as he ever has – in other words, very little, though a little agitation is visible around the edges of his calm. He's wearing a t-shirt with a Crown Victoria on it, standing in front of the door of Ellie and Awesome's apartment. After a brief moment, he sets his face and knocks.
Ellie opens the door, wearing blue scrubs. "Yes, John, what is it?"
"Miss Bartowski, please sit down." Ellie is obviously confused by the formal address and the tone of Casey's request. Devon is already sitting, so Ellie snuggles up near him. The camera shows Casey scanning the room. As the camera pans across the room, it catches a brief movement behind Chuck's door.
"Mr. Grimes," Casey calls out. "You should hear this, too. Get out here." Morgan sheepishly exits Chuck's room, still holding an XBOX-360 controller. He moves to sit near Ellie, but her glare steers him to a chair. Casey remains standing.
"I have been ordered," Casey begins, chewing off his words, "to tell you that Chuck died in a skiing accident." All three members of Chuck's family gasp, but Casey doesn't let them really get started. "BUT", he says, holding up a finger, "that's not the truth."
"I've watched you," he continues. "I believe you can be trusted with this. Chuck has been put into a special underground security bunker, where he can continue to use his unique skills to further aid his great country." The camera shows horror, shock, and disbelief on Awesome and Ellie's faces, while Morgan is rapt with barely-contained excitement. Casey continues telling everything, "I am part of the NSA and I have been protecting him ever since…"
At this point, the door bursts open. Chuck pushes in, with the pink suitcase. Sarah is immediately behind, also carrying a suitcase. Casey is immensely shocked to see them, but he covers it up pretty quickly. Ellie is relieved to see him and comes over to give him a hug. "Chuck!" she cries out, excitedly. "John was just telling us some weird story about you being locked in an underground bunker."
"He was doing what?!?" Sarah asks, her anger directed at Casey and not at Ellie.
Morgan interrupts, while sideling up to Casey. "An NSA agent? That's cool, though not as cool it would be to be a CIA agent…."
"Morgan", Ellie's interruption is commanding, "not now!" She turns to her brother and asks "Chuck, what is going on here?"
Chuck sighs. "It's my fault," he says, while Sarah and Casey look on, Sarah semi-threateningly. "It all started with this email I got…" Sarah's eyebrows shoot up, but Chuck gestures that she should calm down. Chuck turns to Casey "I warned you that that new dot-hack Worlds of Solace cross-over was intense. I never should have let you borrow it."
Casey's look is intense. "What are you talking about, Chuck?" he growls.
Chuck sighs. "The new video game I was supposed to review? The one I wasn't going to have time for because of my vacation?" Chuck is visibly willing Casey to get it. The camera cuts to Morgan, who looks offended and aghast.
"I…you mean…" Casey is acting, now, and doing it semi-poorly. He still looks confused, but he's acting confused now. He's putting on a show. He turns to Ellie and Devon. "I'm sorry. I guess I got confused." He starts to walk out.
Devon escorts Casey out and grabs the remaining two suitcases from just outside the door. As he comes in, he shuts the door, shaking his head. "That dude really needs to learn to separate reality from fantasy." The camera catches the snort of laughter from both Chuck and Sarah, though Ellie doesn't.
Ellie comments with a sigh. "I thought maybe one of your friends would be different. I guess he's like the others." The last comment is punctuated with a glare at Morgan, who tries to look offended.
Morgan gives up the effort and turns to confront Chuck. "What's the deal with sharing a new beta with that guy and not with me, huh?" he demands. Chuck just looks at him disapprovingly. Morgan cowers a bit, but he pushes on. "What? Just because I got you removed from one beta project…" Chuck raises his eyebrows further. "OK, fine, three projects, doesn't mean you have to cut me off completely."
Chuck looks at the controller still in Morgan's hands. "And why were you here tonight instead of at your place?" he asks.
Morgan pulls himself to his full height. "If you are insinuating that I came over to steal the codes to the new Gears of War, I am insulted." He hands the controller to Chuck and stalks out the door.
Chuck, with a big grin on his face, calls after Morgan, "I'll help you copy it tomorrow, buddy."
As the door shuts behind Morgan, Ellie says, "At the risk of being repetitive, that guy really needs to learn to separate fantasy from reality."
"Speaking of reality," Sarah jumps in. "I have to work tomorrow. Can I borrow Chuck for another couple hours to help with unpacking?"
Ellie isn't sure – "He just got home" she protests.
But Awesome knows the score. "Need one last tango to end things on?" he laughs. "Awesome."
Chuck looks at Awesome and indicates Sarah with his eyes. He looks like he's worried she might be offended. But Sarah just says, flatly, "That's pretty much it, yeah."
Chuck turns to look at Sarah, curiosity and hopeful joy warring across his face. Then he turns back to his sister. "OK, then. Bye." Chuck opens the door to let Sarah out. Ellie and Devon look at each other and shake their heads, as the scene fades out.
Chuck's voice comes from behind the closed door to Sarah's room, where keys are audible. "An update in the car? Seriously?"
The door opens. "Yeah, sorry about that. But there is one silver lining to this whole mission," Sarah is saying as Sarah and Chuck enter her room. Sarah is carrying a relatively small, heavy box, along with her purse. Her arm is bandaged but does not seem to be bothering her at all. Chuck has a larger box, walking in behind her.
As Sarah is putting her box down effortlessly on the bed (making a large depression – it's a heavy box), Chuck asks "What's that?" He adds, "Besides getting some of your old stuff out of storage?" as he plops down his box. It bounces a bit and makes a significantly smaller impression on the bed.
"Well," Sarah says, stretching her arms and moving towards Chuck, "I got the chance to convince General Beckman that we needed more private time together." She puts her arms around his waist, protectively.
Chuck's eyes widen slightly, while his smile widens greatly. "Why's that?" he asks, returning the hug, with his arms around Sarah's shoulders.
"To make…" she says slowly, tilting her head and leaning in. Camera changes to Chuck, leaning back in towards Sarah, while she continues "me hap…" She is interrupted by her phone ringing.
Snarling, she jams a hand into her purse and brings the phone to her face. General Beckman's picture is briefly visible on the screen as she brings the phone up. "Walker here. Secure. What?!?" Sarah snaps into the phone. She listens a moment. "Yes, Operation 'Nahal Sorek' is proceeding. Is that all?" but her angry voice is fading in volume after the words 'Nahal Sorek'.
When those two words were uttered, we see Chuck starting to flash. The standard flash music is playing behind two voices. One of the first flash pictures is a yellow rose.
"Actually, there is. We need to have more access to the asset," General Beckman is speaking, in her office, continuing the earlier scene, though Sarah is not visible. "You need to get closer to Mr. Bartowski, in every way possible. Casey's reports indicate the asset is in love with you. True?"
The replying voice is distinctly Sarah's. "Yes, ma'am, I believe he is. And I…"
The General cuts her off. "I am ordering you to commence Operation Nahal Sorek. You will seduce the Intersect and convince him to spend as much time with you as possible. Keep him happy but keep him in control." There is no pity in Beckman's voice.
"But, ma'am…" replies Sarah. The tone is impossible to read. It's a bit shaky, but the cause is unclear. It's part question, part plead, part shock, part everything.
"No 'buts', Agent Walker. Operation Nahal Sorek must proceed. Your feelings on this issue are immaterial."
The flash ends. We see Chuck's face, where horror and disbelief are clearly evident.
Go to black and run closing credits.
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