AN: I'm once again nervous about this chapter. First, because it's the farthest I've drifted from an episode so far. Second, because it has a "Chuck ramble" toward the end that I wasn't sure about but I ended up including because I thought it was fun.

I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed, alerted or favorited this story so far. Especially TSYldChild, DanaPAH, jinxed97, Fire From Above, and PeteroinNJ because their encouragement helped me to push through the slight writer's block I had these last two chapters.

For those who were worried, Chuck and Morgan's Sandworm dance will make an appearance in this timeline - I just didn't see why they couldn't have another set of costumes on underneath.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck. I also do not own , from which I took the information about Duncan. Finally, I do not own DC comics, Star Wars, or The Ultimates, the last of which inspired the second section of this chapter.

Han versus The Shot Part I

October 28, 2007

"There he is, there he is." Morgan raised his hand and waved. Chuck looked up and saw Laszlo walking towards them. Chuck hid the flash that hit him the next moment. He had remembered Laszlo, but it had only been when Morgan had told Chuck he was going to the arcade after work that Chuck had remembered Morgan mentioning he had played against Laszlo earlier in the week.

"You man enough for a rematch?" Morgan asked Laszlo. Chuck fought the urge to toss his friend out of the way and grab Laszlo. It was too busy here and he didn't want to risk Laszlo escaping into the crowd, or worse.

"How much are you ready to lose?" Laszlo asked.

"Ten big ones says you're going to be the loser this time." Morgan boasted. Chuck tried not to roll his eyes.

"Bring it." Laszlo said before they both stepped onto the games platform. Morgan lost. Then he asked for another rematch, followed by best three out of five. Toward the end of Laszlo's seventh victory Chuck noticed his eyes drift toward the other side of the arcade. Following his gaze, Chuck caught a glimpsed of a man in a suit with his back turned towards them. Once he had finished the game, Laszlo grabbed the money from Morgan and made his way towards the man while Morgan squawked in indignation. Chuck stuffed some of his own money into Morgan's hand, and suggested he get them both Churros before carefully following Laszlo.

Sneaking around one of the machines, Chuck caught up to both men arguing. The suited man turned slightly and Chuck finally got a good look at his face. He flashed again, this time with the old Intersect. He hadn't even been sure if he could still do that for information. His surprise was short lived. A moment later, Laszlo pushed away from the man, Jason Duncan, and began threading his way toward the exit. Duncan looked like he was about to follow, but when he turned his eyes caught Chuck. A look of surprise shot over his face and he began running towards the arcade's back door. After a brief moment of indecision, Chuck turned and ran after Laszlo.

XXX

Chuck's fist made a thwacking sound against the bag. Strictly speaking he didn't need to spar or train. Each time he flashed, he remembered every move again just as fresh as the first time. It would draw attention if he didn't, however. Training also made sure that the muscles he used when he flashed were up to the challenge. The Intersect could only work with what it was given. If he wanted to use it effectively, and more importantly, without becoming incredibly sore, he had to stay in shape. Ordinarily he stuck to less violent exercises at what Casey referred to as his "girly gym." But even he had come to realize there were times when he found comfort in losing himself to mindless physical repetition and the slight sting of his taped hands against an opponent he didn't have to worry about hurting. Today was one of those times.

Chuck knew he had done the right thing. Laszlo was dangerous and unpredictable and Chuck wouldn't have been able to capture both him and Duncan at the pier. But he still felt like a failure to have a Fulcrum agent now wandering around Los Angeles that knew Chuck's face and possibly recognized him. And that didn't even consider whether Duncan had approached Laszlo in the first timeline, or what were the implications if he hadn't. Various worst case scenarios had already cycled through his mind several times before Chuck was interrupted by Sarah's voice from behind him.

"Hey," he said, sucking in breath. He must have been here longer than he realized. Sarah gave him a slight smile.

"Beckman called for a briefing." She eyed him a moment. "I'm pretty sure she can wait until you've taken a shower, through." Chuck glanced down. His t-shirt was now soaked in sweat. Swallowing another breath he looked back towards her.

"Ten minutes?"

"Make it fifteen. The home theater back room is a bit small."

XXX

Sarah was literal when she said that Beckman had called the briefing; Graham didn't attend. After a brief discussion of Laszlo, she turned to the man Chuck had allowed to get away.

"The man who attempted to contact Laszlo's name is Jason Duncan. Duncan is a decorated veteran of the Desert Storm conflict. He was a Marine sharpshooter but following his honorable discharge he fell off the grid. Recent evidence suggests he is now working for Fulcrum."

"He's like a mirror world Casey." Chuck couldn't help but point out. Beside him Casey let out a low growl. Beckman cleared her throat impatiently.

"As oddly phrased as Agent Bartowski's statement may be Major, he is correct. You and Duncan have both a similar background and share the same training. That will be an asset in trying to locate him."

"We know that he's looking for a weapon's designer, why not have an agent pose as one and go in undercover?" Chuck offered. Casey grunted.

"Too obvious. He knows we're on to him, he'll be expecting us to try something like that." He concluded.

"Do we know what Duncan is doing for Fulcrum?" Sarah asked.

"We believe he may be part of the trying to create an Intersect for Fulcrum." Beckman said with some reluctance. Sarah's face showed a flash of surprise.

"Is that even possible?" Beckman's mouth twisted into a sour expression before she answered.

"Several years ago, an anonymous source brought forward evidence that one of the NSA scientists working on the coding for the Intersect had been selling secrets to North Korean intelligence as well as other crimes. Before a full investigation could take place Dr. Zarnow fled the country. Since then he has been associated with several criminal groups as a scientist for hire. It is believed that his latest client is Fulcrum."

"And Duncan is his handler." Chuck surmised.

"Correct, Agent Bartowski."

"So why would he attempt to recruit Laszlo?" Sarah asked.

"It's possible Zarnow is not as knowledgeable about the Intersect as Fulcrum hoped. I'm also sure Fulcrum has more than enough uses for a weapon designer Agent Walker. Whatever the reason, Duncan could lead us back to Zarnow as well as the rest of Fulcrum's team. Unless we can determine a way to draw him out, we may simply have to wait for him to make a mistake."

XXX

"What would you do Casey, if you thought you'd been ID'd as by an enemy agent." Chuck asked as the two entered into the Apartment courtyard. Chuck was surprised when rather than let off a sarcastic comment, Casey paused and appeared to think about the question.

"I'd probably go to a safe house. Wait out the heat before trying to leave the area." He finally said.

"And since we have no idea where Fulcrum's safe houses might be, we're pretty much back to waiting for him to screw up." Chuck finished.

"Cheer up." Casey said with a sardonic smile, "Maybe he'll just come after you."

"Ha. Ha." Chuck answered before Casey gave him another smirk and opened the door to his apartment. Chuck walked across the courtyard into his own apartment. Ellie and Devon were sitting on the couch watching TV when he walked in.

"What happened?" Ellie asked, "I got worried when Morgan drove your car home."

"Yeah. Sarah asked for my help with something so I gave Morgan the keys and had her pick me up at the pier." Chuck said as he sat down in one of living room chairs.

"Is everything alright?" Ellie asked

"Oh, yeah, just a minor yogurt emergency. I think I'm just going to head to my room. Its been a long day."

"Goodnight." The couple echoed as Chuck headed towards the hallway. Once inside, Chuck pulled out one of the lists he had begun compiling when he returned to Burbank. Now he just had to figure out how to investigate the Fulcrum hot spots he knew about without it appearing suspicious.

October 29, 2007

"Mystery Crisper?" Sarah asked incredulously as Chuck described the goings on at the Buymore earlier today. They were once again in the middle of a stakeout, stuck in a CIA issued van. The higher-ups had come up with a short list of possible Fulcrum safe houses. She and Chuck had taken one of the most promising possibilities, while Casey took the other.

"Trust me; you don't want a better description." He told her. Sarah rolled her eyes, but didn't push.

"I have something for you." He said, after a short pause.

"You don't need to get me anything Chuck."

"It's not a gift really, it more," He thought a moment, "here, I'll show you." He reached into the back of the van and pulled out a cardboard box. She took it from him and opened the flaps revealing a gun that looked like a very odd variation of a Mauser C96 pistol.

"It's a tranq gun made to look like a blaster." He told her. She gave him a look which she hoped communicated that that didn't clarify anything for her.

"Morgan and I decided to dress up like Han Solo and Chewbacca for Halloween. I mentioned it to one of my friends in the CIA's version of the Q department and he made me a couple of those. I thought that if you decided to dress up for Halloween, you might want a weapon that you didn't have to hide for once."

"Thank you Chuck." She said somewhat uncertainly. Chuck looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment after that. He bit his lip before continuing.

"It was supposed to be Bryce's." He finally confessed. Sarah's heart clenched slightly. She turned and gave him a surprised looked.

"We hadn't decided who he would go as. I won the coin toss, so I was going to be Han Solo. He wanted to be Luke, but I thought the characterization was all wrong. I suggested we throw caution to the wind and he dress as Lando. I think he resented the implication that he would turn me over to the Empire. Anyway, one thing we both agreed on was that it would be cool it would be to have a real blaster."

"Chuck, I may have seen Star Wars, but I have no idea what you just said."

"Right." He said with a nod.

"I was actually more surprised at how long ago you must have planned this." She finally told him.

"I didn't get a lot of opportunities to come home for Halloween, much less drag Bryce too. The last time was the great DC disaster of '04 and after that we decided we should have a plan on stand-by." Sarah looked at him curiously, trying to rack her brain for what happened in D.C. three years ago. Chuck seemed to sense her confusion.

"We decided we were going to go as characters from Batman and Superman but we were both so busy we forgot to pin down which ones. I thought he'd want to go as Batman since the first Nolan film was coming out the next year, and I'm not sure what he thought but when we both ended up at my sister's party, Morgan was there dressed as Robin, but Bryce and I had both come as Superman."

"And that's bad?" Sarah ventured.

"You can't have Robin at a party without Batman. And you can't have two Supermen. Unless one's from a different universe or something I suppose." Chuck glanced over towards her and realized he wasn't really clarifying thing for her and gave her a sheepish grin.

"So my gift is a fake weapon for part of a Halloween costume that my late boyfriend didn't want to wear?"

"Yeah." He said, reaching for the blaster "You're right, it's a bit odd." Sarah held the blaster up away from him.

"No, it's sweet. Odd, but sweet. Thank you." They sat for a moment, staring at the building in front of them. After a few minutes Chuck spoke without turning toward her.

"This is a complete waste of time isn't it?" Sarah gave a slight shrug.

A few minutes later they were proven wrong. A shadow moved across the alleyway behind the car. Sarah shared a look with Chuck, and he slipped out of the passenger side to investigate.

XXX

Chuck slide along the edge of the building, making his way toward the alley. He was almost there when a bullet whizzed by him, that, had it not been for his slightly Intersect enhanced reflexes, would have splayed his brains across the buildings wall. He ducked and rolled, before hurrying into the alley and taking cover behind a dumpster. In the street he heard Sarah distracted with several adversaries of her own. He looked up, tracing the trajectory of his almost fatal shot to the roof across the street.

Another bullet landed far too close for Chuck's comfort. The only ideas Chuck had were rather crazy, even for him. Luckily, Casey chose that moment to come racing up to them in his own van. While the gunman was temporarily distracted, Chuck ran across the street and around the building the shooter was perched on. He climbed up the fire escape and over the lip of the roof before quietly making his way up to Duncan. At the last minute Duncan turned, setting off a wide shot before Chuck tackled him. They struggled for several minutes, back and forth. Finally Chuck was able to clang Duncan's head into one of the metal exhausts on the roof knocking him out cold.