I don't own Chuck et al.
Previously on Chuck vs La Republica….
The sand makes a hiss as the plane slides to a gentle stop.
"Come on, let's go and save the bad guys from your girlfriend."
7. Viva Republica Libre
The beach soon turned into a dangerous place to be. For some reason the ground defences boiled onto the beach like a stirred up ant nest. The angry bitey kind.
Chuck and Casey watched from the shrubbery off to one side. Casey grunted "Come on, let's go."
They had to take a wide detour to avoid the airfield and associated troops. After about an hour of visiting rooftops and backyards, Casey spotted the troops associated with 'Pancho' and 'Cisco,' who were out looking for them
The rebels greeted Chuck and Casey as conquering heroes. The observers had seen the attack taking out the entire nation's air force.
With bricks.
There was talk of a statue.
The plume of dust had risen some distance. Their success had been reported to Jimminez's main force. The main force of the rebels greeted the news with their own success. Knowing there would be no air support, they overran the regular army between them and the city.
Rafter was screaming at Bosco.
"What the f…..laming hell where you doing? How can you LOSE an ENTIRE air force? Bricks! They used god-damned bricks!"
"It is difficult, yes. We still have aircraft."
"What, that old Gooney Bird? That is the only thing we could use as a weapons platform. You only had two Blackhawks, and THEY are rotting for spares. We don't have TIME!"
"Might I remind you that you are a guest in my country? And that you should not speak to a Generalissim…."
"General of what! You lost and air force today, remember? Annnd YOU invited me here, remember?"
Bosco was losing patience with his guest.
Sarah stood in the corner. Surrounded by three guards, weapons ready.
She'd heard the shouting while she was being brought in, catching the last part about 'you lost an air force today'. The air of hostility in the room was tangible.
She could use that.
Both Rafter, and Bosco were after blood. Something had happened to the Eagle squadron, something they really didn't like.
Did that mean she was for the chop? Or would she have to ….. 'entertain the troops,' so to speak. A memory of an old British comedy Chuck loved surfaced. "A fate worse, than a fate worse than death. That's pretty bad."
One thing did puzzle her, just how do you lose an entire air force?
It was a good sign. To get them that angry, it meant Chuck was, well, being Chuck. He probably did something way out of left field. The thought caused a slight grin to cross her face.
Bosco began shouting into a telephone. "Bring the broadcast here. Immediately. I will make the announcement."
Rafter turned to her. "You will be of some use." He addressed her "We're about to announce something of great importance. With you visible in the background, your government will know we have….a negotiation point."
The generalissimo ordered breakfast.
Sarah managed to palm one of the forks from the table, before Rafter decided prisoners don't eat with their captors. Pity, Sarah was rather hungry.
'The hell with protocol, I've got to know. What did he do?' Sarah addressed Bosco "I'm curious, generalissimo, what happened to the air force?"
Rafter tried to shut Bosco up, but Bosco was both charmed by Sarah, and still annoyed with Rafter, and so overrode him.
"The rebeldes found a plane that was being used to fly touristas. They attack early this morning."
"I didn't hear any explosions."
Bosco turned red. Puce, really. A vein pulsed on his forehead.
'OK, end of discussion. Chuck, where are you? I'm dying to know what the heck you did.'
Casey and Chuck made their way back to the prison. Chuck was determined to find some trace of his love. Casey reminded Chuck "The last place we know she was, was the prison, right? Well, fascists love paperwork. There should be a prisoner transfer or something."
The rebel group wanted to help the heroes of the revolution. They weren't, however, too keen on being near the prison. Not the one they'd blown up.
The rebels found two 'volunteers' for uniforms that Casey and Chuck could wear. Finding one for Casey, in fact, took three 'volunteers.' The alleyway was getting a little crowded with unconscious, semi naked guards.
Chuck flashed up Spanish again, and he and Casey marched into the prison looking very guard like.
"Let me do most of the talking, Chuck. You've got a Los Angeles accent."
Bosco was being made up by the TV people. The camera crew were setting themselves up. They wanted Bosco at his desk. At first they wanted the window behind him. But there was damage to the building in shot, so the desk got moved.
They placed Republica flags and indoor plants in shot behind the desk. Sarah was kept in the corner. Apparently they would reveal her as an Americano spy during the speech.
After a bit, Bosco sat down, and addressed the nation.
Chuck was riffling through a filing cabinet frantically. Casey stood guard at the door.
"Nothing. I thought bad guys kept better records than this."
"Come on, we can't stay here too long Chuck. Let's go back, see if we can coerce some useful info from those guards in the alleyway."
It was on their way back out, they passed a guard break room. The TV was on.
Chuck grabbed Casey's arm.
They looked at the screen, and then each other.
Oh crap. Chuck had a bad feeling.
They didn't run for the front door. But they did walk quickly.
Bosco was denouncing both Jimminez and the USA for meddling with La Republica.
Sarah tried to move a little to the left (being the slightly closer guard). The rifle gestured for her to move back. After a little bit, she tried again. Again, the rifle hinted she should move back.
Chuck and Casey raced to the presidential palace followed by the rebels. They left the partly clothed, pile of guards behind.
Bosco was announcing to the nation, and the world, that La Republica was not to be trifled with.
"…as proof, we have captured Americano assassins. Sent here by the CIA." He gestured to have Sarah brought into view.
Prod with a rifle barrel.
Reaching past end of the barrel, Sarah grabbed the rifle (keeping the aim of the rifle away from herself, and stepped in past the flash suppressor), and swung the butt of the weapon at the second guard.
The first guard tried to hold on to his rifle. He was spun into his fellow guard, and the two went down in a tangle. Both then frantically trying to get back up.
Before Sarah could ready the weapon, the third guard grabbed her from behind.
She lost the rifle in the struggle to free herself.
"Shoot her!" the generalissimo was screaming. The camera panned to take in the blur of dangerous limbs that was Sarah.
Rafter produced a 9mm Browning and calmly shot at Sarah.
Sarah caught Rafter's movement as he was bringing his pistol up, she whipped around, dragging the guard (holding her from behind) with her. Rafter's double tap killed the guard, shot in the back.
She let the body fall to the carpet, and flung herself to one side. All the time Rafter was trained on her, firing round after round as she kept moving. The TV cameras panned away from the rolling Sarah (who wouldn't stay still for them) to the cinematic vision of Rafter calmly shooting. Sarah kicked her shoes off for increased traction as she was rolling.
While Sarah was desperately trying to keep moving, she was reaching inside her bra for…..she found the comb she'd hidden there. It was a hairdresser's comb, with a spike for a handle. Sarah didn't like it as a throwing weapon – too light, and the comb part would make for a poor trajectory – but right now, she had no option.
Sarah threw it at Rafter's right eye. As she feared, the plastic part of the comb interfered with the throw. Rafter was grazed on the side of his face, and he fired again, and again at the still evasive Sarah.
She tried to go for the hidden fork. She just didn't have the time. He kept her moving, trying to keep out of danger.
Shot. Shot. Click.
Rafter had used up all his ammunition. He flung the weapon aside, and threw himself at Sarah.
When he was in range, Sarah saw an opportunity, and even though she had the fork out now, was able to kick straight upwards from her crouch, her bare heel contacting his chin. Rafter rocked back, but was able to grab her leg as he reeled backwards. Sarah was dragged upwards, hopping forwards while Rafter held her other leg. One decent hop, and she was able get enough height for a kick into his face.
Sarah's heel smashed towards Rafter's cheekbone, but he was able to react, and threw his head back and to the side.
Which exposed his throat to Sarah.
Her heel caught him square across his throat, crushing his hyoid and larynx. Shutting off the man's windpipe. Sarah brought him down by sweeping the leg, as she forced him backwards. He hit the carpet with a solid thump.
She knelt on his chest, the fork poised for the kill. As he started choking, she realised she didn't need it.
Rafter thrashed on the carpet like a tiger shark landed in a small boat. His face straining, and his eyes bulging. It was oddly silent. No gasping or recognisable articulation passed his lips. The only sound he made was the thumping of his limbs as he slowly strangled to death. It was only fair, Sarah's foot hurt.
It took time. Eventually Rafter died, his face blue and his tongue protruding.
During all of this, everyone else had stood transfixed. The realization dawned on them, that this….giant blond she-male… was alive. And dangerous.
The one guard that still had a rifle realised what was in his hands, took a stance to aim at Sarah. The second guard was trying to pick up the weapon that she'd taken from him.
Sarah moved towards the standing guard, readying her weapon, the fork. He swung the barrel towards Sarah.
She parried his rifle barrel with the fork, and was able to rotate in towards him, elbowing his face. He dropped like a school bag. The middle tines of the fork were now bent out like a Vulcan salute.
And there was a power socket. If she could get the socket to arc, it could give enough distraction to get to one of the rifles lying on the carpet.
She flung it at the socket. Perfect.
There was a very loud ZAP accompanied by a blinding white flash.
All power in the suite died.
And the power surge cascaded. The building was old, and the wiring was over fifty years old in places. The fuse box for the whole building was toast.
The distraction from the zap allowed Sarah to take down her last problematic guard (who, to be perfectly honest, by this stage really didn't want to be here anymore). The other people in the room backed away now. She picked up the rifle. A quick spray at their feet sent the TV people running. She moved closer to Bosco.
Bosco didn't like the way she smiled.
The palace was in sight.
The smoke from the damaged fuse room was still billowing out from one side of the palace.
Chuck and Casey didn't delay with the guards at the front. They left them slumped (near) where they found them. They took their weapons with them.
They found the presidential suite by following the noise.
From the outside, they could hear Bosco screaming "Shoot her. Shoot her. She is mad!"
Chuck relaxed.
He knew then, that she was OK.
He strolled in though the open door.
"Hey, sweetie. There you are…are they looking after you OK?"
Sarah smiled hugely. She let go of Bosco, who collapsed to the floor, and was crawling to the first person he saw (Casey) begging him to "Save me. Save me. She's psycho."
Sarah and Chuck shared a silent look, and assumed a back-to-back stance. He asked her "do you need any ammo?" in the same tone he would ask if she wanted coffee with breakfast.
They both had the room covered. It felt nice to have his pleasant warmth and weight against her.
Casey dragged Bosco up by the scruff of his neck. He growled to Bosco "Smart move. How's you fighter squadron going?"
"…." Bosco looked at his saviour in horror. It was the bodyg….. Oh, no. Still, safer than…her.
Casey decided he'd had enough. He said to Chuck and Sarah "Let's go. Viva Jimminez!" he ended in a shout as he fired a burst in to the ceiling.
That cleared the room.
The 'Pancho and Cisco' rebels had taken the rest of the palace. They greeted Casey with open arms.
Bosco, they greeted with cocked rifles.
Pop quiz, hot shot(s): OK, who knows just which British comedy offered the "fate worse, than a fate worse than death?"
Anyone catch the 'Life of Brian' reference?
Deep Voiced Man: Next time! Don't miss the stunning conclusion to Republica!
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