Chapter 6

Wargames – Part 2

Sarah almost bounced into the Weinerlicious buoyed by her talk from Ellie and their delightful breakfast. She had ordered a fruit salad, a side of toast and treated herself to a few pieces of bacon. She thought of Chuck as she ate.

Sarah noticed that Ellie had raised an eyebrow at the way she savored every bite of the bacon but she couldn't help it, it reminded her of the day not that long ago when he brought it to the bathroom door. Maybe this next time he would be joining her in the shower.

Today she would get to see Chuck and it felt great.

--o--

Twenty minutes off the highway, Casey pulled into a small town outside L.A. Nothing appeared remarkable about the tiny town or the buildings in it. It seemed almost deserted; everything looking like it was still stuck in the late 60's or early 70's.

Casey slowed and pulled into what appeared to be an old deserted service station. He drove into one of the empty bays and parked on a hoist. Chuck looked at Casey, but knew better than to ask. "Ok then, I guess we get out", Chuck said to no one in particular as he exited the vehicle, mimicking Casey's actions.

"Stay with me Chuck." Casey said as he walked out of the service garage and down the street. Several steps out of the garage, Chuck heard a small whirring noise and looked behind them in time to see the suburban disappear into the floor and an empty hoist appear. "Cool," he muttered under his breath.

Moments later, they were climbing the stone steps towards the entrance of a building that Chuck supposed housed the archives. To him it just looked like an old run down two story office building. Once inside the building Chuck actually saw people moving about their business.

As they walked through the hallway towards the back of the building he turned to Casey. Anticipating his question Casey spoke, "It doubles as a city hall for the town and surrounding area. It's better if we use legit locations."

Chuck nodded as if it made perfect sense, not willing to anger Casey with any questions that might be deemed idiotic as they were no longer separated by a seat or seat belt.

Five minutes later and they were in a hidden elevator heading down below ground. The elevator door had opened up to a nondescript concrete hallway. They found themselves standing outside a set of double doors in short order. The plaque on the door simply stated 'Vehicle Simulations – Rm 7-1'. Chuck assumed that the 7 matched the 7th floor as that was how far down they came in the elevator. He had no idea what vehicle simulations meant, as all Casey had told him was that it was an archive facility and the door description didn't match anything to do with archives.

Casey turned to face Chuck, breaking him out of his inspection of the door. "You'll have to wait in here; you are not cleared for the archives."

Casey pushed through the doors, and Chuck followed. He stepped into what looked like a waiting room in an old doctor's office. Complete with the 1970 black vinyl covered chairs with square tubing arms and the small rectangular wood fastened as arm rests. The only item out of place was a mirror mounted in the wall to the left of the entrance. It looked like it had been pulled off of someone's bathroom medicine cabinet. A small round in-wall speaker was mounted above it. Next to the mirror was a solid looking metal door with no handle. There was nothing else in the room. No pictures, no magazines, nothing.

While scanning the room a disembodied voice asked for identification and waited while Casey responded and held up his ID to the mirror.

Not wanting to be left in this dismal room for God knows how long, Chuck griped. "What? I'm just supposed to sit here?"

"Relax Chuck."

"Agent Vascuraz, can you set up the chase simulator for Mr. Carmichael."

Chuck couldn't help wonder how Casey knew who was behind the mirror, but he didn't waste too much time thinking about it when he heard the rest of the sentence. "Chase simulator?" Chuck asked, as he took another glance around the room, confusion clearly evident on his face.

The voice sounded through the wall speaker once again. "Sure. What level?"

"Whatever he can handle. He's a big video game fan...so maybe lean a little on the high side."

Chuck was too surprised about the discussion of a CIA simulator to notice the sarcasm in Casey's voice. It was doubtful that he would have even cared as he was more than a little enthusiastic about playing games at a CIA facility. Maybe coming with Casey today won't be so bad. A click coming from the single steel door caught his attention.

The speaker voice sounded, "You have 15 seconds to enter before it relocks. I suggest you move quickly."

Casey grabbed Chuck by the collar and pulled him unceremoniously through the unlocked door and into the room beyond.

Chuck's eyes bulged, his jaw dropping as he took in the view. In front of him was a huge room, easily large enough to house the multiple vehicle simulators spread out before him, and these were by no means kiddie rides. Each vehicle was hooked up to a vast array of hydraulics and rotating platforms. There was no question in Chucks mind that they could simulate almost anything.

Vehicles of all sizes and shapes covered the floor, sports cars, minivans, cube vans, semi's, even three wheelers, quads and a motorcycle, and that was just the ones in the front couple of rows. Obviously some simulators were more advanced than others, as shown by the amount of equipment surrounding them.

After Chuck had his fill of staring he turned to Casey and realized he was no longer standing next to him. "Casey?"

"Here", he called from somewhere off to the right. Following the voice he passed under an open arch and was greeted by Casey and another man. He looked to be of Mexican descent and likely Agent Vascuraz, the voice from behind the speaker. The agent was seated in the center of a large circular computer setup with monitors all around him, each accompanied by multiple gauges and displays for all the different equipment.

Casey had apparently already been giving instructions, finishing up as Chuck approached. Looking at Chuck he gave him a serious glare, "Don't break anything Carmichael or you bought it."

Chuck's eyes enlarged again until he caught the agent behind Casey roll his eyes. Chuck squinted back at Casey. "Thanks for the tip big guy."

Casey smirked and walked past Chuck. Agent Vascuraz will take care of you. Stay here until I get back. Understood?"

"Perfectly. Stay with the toys. Got it."

Casey grimace turned growl before heading out the door.

"Wow, he's a pleasant one isn't he?" Agent Vascuraz remarked.

"You think that's something, you should see him on his bad days."

"I'd rather not", he laughed. "So what would you like to try Agent Carmichael?"

Chuck's face scrunched up a little at the title. "Would you mind if we were little less formal. My friends call me Chuck." He held out his hand and gave the agent his trademark Bartowski smile.

A shake and quick introduction later and Chuck was scanning the room for his choice of vehicle. It only took a few seconds of hunting before he saw the perfect vehicle to try. "That one".

"Ohh, the Porsche. Nice choice. All the agents want to try that one. They say it makes them feel like James Bond. Jump in and I'll talk to you directly. Don't worry about a headset, the simulator is loaded with video and audio feeds. It's so accurate, you sneeze and I'll be wiping at my station...but let's hope it doesn't come to that", he grinned.

--o--

Fifteen minutes later and Chuck is feeling a little overwhelmed as the vehicle stops shaking. The agent's voice filled the cab as it came from the hidden speakers. "You do realize the missiles won't bounce off the Porsche, right?" Not waiting for an answer he asked. "You ok?"

Chuck stretched his neck by rotating his head in a circular motion. "Yah, just a bruised ego. I guess it's a little different than my 360 at home. I don't get slammed into the steering wheel when I crash." He chuckled.

Laughter is heard from the speakers. "Maybe try and take it easy. A lot of agents think of other things to relax. They say it helps them slip into a better frame of mind while concentrating on driving."

"I'll give that a shot. Thanks." Taking the agents advice he thought of his breakfast with Sarah a few weeks back. His breathing slowed, a smile crept out, and he felt much calmer.

The agent watched Chuck relax, using the Porsche's internal video feed. Once he was confident Chuck was comfortable he fired the simulator back up. The driving score rose substantially as he watched Chuck drive through various city environments, enduring multiple violent situations. Chasing and being chased. Most of them end with him crashing.

Even with the frequent crashes he is amazed as Chuck's time and score improves in every scenario each time he runs it. Agent Casey did say to push him, he thinks as he pulls up a seldom used scenario.

"Try this one on for size Chuck. We usually run it in one of the vans or emergency vehicles to add a little more realism, but we'll try it in the Porsche for fun. You game?"

"Sure. I can't do much worse than I have been."

If you only knew how well you're doing you wouldn't be saying that.

"What's the mission this time? Outrun the police, instead of the bad guys?"

"Ok, parameters loaded. No. This time you have a critically wounded person as a passenger. You're on a time limit. You make it, the person lives. You don't, they die and you lose. Timer starts...Now!" Vascuraz watched in the monitors as Chuck just sat there unmoving.

"Chuck? Your ten seconds in. You going or what?"

Chuck let out his breath in a huge burst. He hadn't realized he was holding it.

Shaking off his sudden confusion, "Yah, sorry. I'm on it." With this simulation being so close to his real life experience a few weeks ago, he couldn't help but bring up an image of Sarah's pale face, her body covered in blood.

Goosebumps spread across his skin, an icy calm fell upon him as he focused on his destination. The pedal hit the floor.

--o--

Devon entered the apartment quietly. "Babe?" He waited for a response. When none was forthcoming he stepped further into the apartment, glancing down the hall. The bathroom door was closed.

"Babe, I'm back." With still no response he moved to the bathroom door and leaned towards it. The shower was running. Moving away from the door he made his way back to the dining room table. With one last glance around the room he pulled Ellie's purse towards him and reached in.

Seconds later he pulled out her cell, flipped it open and began pressing buttons. A few presses later and his eyes squinted, his mouth forming a flat line. "That's so not awesome" he mumbled quietly to himself. He closed the cell and placed it back in the purse and pushed it to its original position before spinning and heading out the front door.

Errands indeed, he thought.

--o--

"Again."

"Chuck. Don't you want to try another? You been at this one for almost an hour. Your scoring really well, but I gotta say, your much too reckless to complete without crashing."

"Again, please."

The agent sighed. "Ok, but you need to slow it up to complete. I guess I should have warned you ahead of time, this is one of our more demanding missions."

"I don't have a problem with the mission. I have a problem with the car. It feels like it has a rock tied to its ass. Everything I do feels like it takes way too long to respond."

"Don't know what to tell you Chuck other than it looks fine on this end." Maybe I should've stuck to the easier ones. Agent Vascuraz sighed. Gamers. "Starting simulation...Now!"

--o--

Casey looked at his watch; two hours, forty-three minutes had passed since he left Chuck. Agent Vascuraz buzzed him back in.

Skipping the small talk Casey headed straight over the console station. "How's he doing?"

"Pretty good actually. The video game playing must be paying off quite well in his case. His first scores were pretty random, varying from the low 30's to the high 60's. The low scores being mostly on the missions that had modified armament's. He wasn't used to the explosions affecting the vehicle. It's common of people that play video games. Consumer level gaming systems don't simulate everything that our system does."

Casey shook his head, "Geeks."

The Agent Vascuraz looked up over his glasses at Casey. It was obvious that the Major didn't approve of technically inclined people, preferring to call them 'geeks'. It was unfortunate that most field agents had his attitude. That being the case, Agent Vascuraz took some small pleasure in the next piece of news, smirking as he spoke. "Yah, he started pretty low. Now he's in the high 80's and climbing. He would probably be much better, but he has a tendency towards dangerous maneuvers that get him killed. He insists that the system timing is off, but I can't see that. I chalk it up to gamers ego."

Casey said nothing but gave the agent a look that screamed 'huh?'.

Having seen that same expression once too often from others he automatically explained what he meant. "When a person plays video games a lot, they seem to develop an ego that makes it hard for them to accept defeat by a computer. They simply replay it over and over until they beat it. I call that disbelief of a losing to a computer 'Gamers Ego'". Regardless, he is a natural in the simulator. A couple more hours at this and he should be pushing a solid 90 score."

"What! It took me months on that simulator to consistently get in the 80's."

"It's funny, but a lot of the pre-video game era agents have that problem. Seems to be that they are ill equipped for extremely fine motor control of their hands. As it stands, Chuck's only weakness appears to be his persistent compliant of 'lag'. Seems to think he's playing on an Xbox or something and the reaction times are off; similar to what he would experience while playing online games with other players. I say he's just played too many games. This system is state of the art."

Casey barely heard the agent, instead focusing on how Chuck could score so high. "You sure they didn't make the tests easier. You know, to boost enrollment for women and geeks." He growled.

"I'm not sure what your implying Major Casey, but yes the tests have changed.

A smirk appeared on Casey and he nodded his head up and down slightly as if that explained everything.

"They increased in difficulty last year."

Casey's smirk turned into a grimace.

"Matter of fact, if you scored in the 80's before you would likely score in the high 60's and low 70's based on the new tests" Agent Vascuraz stated with a smirk now on his mouth.

Casey pulled in a deep breath to calm himself. He could not take the risk of using the simulators more than needed to assess Chuck and he didn't have time to spend stroking his own ego. Damn smart ass geeks.

Casey glared, knowing full well that the agent knew he had the upper hand. Agent Vasucruaz simply ignored Casey's stare and turned towards the monitors. "Anyway, he's already past most agents in ability, although that's not to say he could actually do the same in the vehicle real time. Simulation to real life doesn't always translate exactly. What did you say he does in the field?"

Casey knew that in this case, it looked more like Chuck was better in the field than on the video game. Odd, but still doesn't explain how he's doing it. Looking at the monitors as they showed Chuck concentrating on the game, he certainly didn't look like he was holding back. He did look like he was having fun, although he was a bit frustrated when he crashed. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the agent was staring at him and it occurred to him that he was still waiting for an answer. Gruffly he replied, "I didn't."

Watching the view screen Casey waited until Chuck has just crashed, rolling the Porsche in a magnificent and risky maneuver to avoid an incoming rocket. Taking the crash as the cue to leave he leaned towards the microphone, "Chuck, it is time to go."

Chuck started slightly from the unexpected voice, but nodded and exited the simulator with a smile.

Casey watched as Chuck began to exit the vehicle before turning from the screen, "Where are the recordings?"

"There are none, as he is not officially scheduled. I can burn you this last one, as it is still stored in memory."

"Do it." The process took only a few seconds, just enough time for a smiling Chuck to arrive at the control console as Casey pocketed the disc.

As they left the simulation room Chuck called back over his shoulder, "Thanks for the fun. Remember to check those reaction settings."

The agent raised his hand and nodded to acknowledge Chuck. He had no intention of checking any calculations. The simulation was fine. The people they sometimes bring in here. Most are so filled with their own ego, they barely even notice that he is the one setting up the simulation for them; instead treating him like a piece of hardware.

Chuck was definitely a more agreeable and likable agent, and he didn't seem to suffer from most ego issues, but telling him that the program wasn't working right just didn't sit well. He shook his head side to side, probably never see him again anyway.

Turning back to his real work, he failed to notice the last video simulation of Chuck was still displayed on the monitor.

--

Exiting the room Chuck asked, "Where to now Casey?

"Lunch. We'll grab some grub at the cafeteria, then I have to get a few more documents for you to look over. We can go over some of the ones I have already pulled while we eat." He raised a black briefcase that he had not been carrying on their arrival at the facility and patted the side. Lowering it he noted that Chuck seemed overly upbeat. Not the usual state for him when being presented with work involving flashes. "All right spill it. Why are you so happy?"

"Hmm, oh, considering this is a CIA installation, I thought it would be a little stale in here. More like the one where we...caught up with my old friend." He said, reluctant to mention Bryce. "This one is a lot more fun."

Chuck's eyes rolled up and to the slightly to the right, as he pondering something. Before Casey could ask, Chuck spoke, "Fun. CIA. Fun. CIA. Nope, just doesn't seem to fit."

Casey rolled his eyes. "It does if you get to shoot someone", Casey muttered but Chuck either didn't hear or simply ignored him.

"Hey if we're stopping for lunch, I should call Sarah. She'll be expecting me."

Casey glanced sideways at Chuck. He didn't want him to call her. He would likely let slip where they are. She can't know; at least not yet. "No Chuck. Keep your phone off. I'll call her and tell her you're with me."

Chuck had already started taking out his phone. Childish disappointment flashed across his face as he appeared to shift into an immediate pout. He was not happy about not being able to talk to her and tried to cover his displeasure by speaking as if he was ok with it, "Yah, sure. I understand."

Casey wasn't buying Chuck's agreement. It was obvious he didn't understand, but he didn't have time to hand hold because Chuck was feeling down. He pressed speed dial and waited for her to answer.

"Walker, Chuck is with me." ...

"No everything is fine, but he won't be making his regular lunch meeting. He thought you should know so you wouldn't worry. I'll have him home for supper. Casey out."

He didn't wait for a response and promptly hung up, turning off his phone at the same time as they arrive at a set of double doors clearly labeled Cafeteria.

--o--